Some tidbits of Jude 1:11 study

Today I'll share 2 things that I've been working on in relationship to my Jude 1:11 study I'm composing.

The first is a paint picture of the study progression. I've posted the study methodology previously, but I wanted to draw something out. One of my professors in seminary, Dr. Tasha Chapman, would often say "If you cannot sketch out your concept, you don't have one".

The second is a paragraph that will be towards the end of the study - but has me fascinated over the past week. On Sunday prior to attending worship I had a bit of an epiphany moment. The ordering of events in Jude 1:11 is different than in their original chronology...and...well that gave birth to the following:

One of the strangest aspects of Jude’s menacing warnings is the ordering of the clauses. Cain is the first, then Balaam in the middle position, then in the last position Korah. The ordering of these stories is not chronological in the original texts (on a timeline Cain would be first, then Korah’s rebellion, then Balaam’s prophetic activity). This leaves us with something of a mystery. What is the significance of the ordering of these three OT events?

On Chronology:

Cain would have be the first story according to all counts - first in it’s sequence of record in the Pentateuch, first in its historical dating, and first in the menacing warnings in Jude 1:11. Yet continuity between chronology and order of sequence with Jude 1:11 ends with Cain. Chronologically the events of Korah’s rebellion happened much earlier in the travels of the ancient Israelites than the prophetic words of Balaam.

This is made most clear by the geographic path the post-exodus wilderness Israelites took.

In Numbers 22:1 the scene is set for Balaam’s prophetic work with Moab at the geographical center of the story. The people of ancient Israel had marched near Moab and were opposite of Jericho:

Numbers 22:1

Then the Israelites traveled to the plains of Moab and camped along the Jordan across from Jericho.

This verse alone doesn’t tell us if the events of Balaam’s prophecy were prior to or after the death of Moses. The rebellion of Korah happens while both Moses and Aaron are living. Numbers 20:1 gives the first geographic indicator of the position of the ancient Israelites since the rebellion of Korah:

Numbers 20:1

In the first month the whole Israelite community arrived at the Desert of Zin, and they stayed at Kadesh. There Miriam died and was buried.

The death of Miriam acts as something of a definite timestamp. Miriam was dead long before the Israelites traveled near the Jordan. Notice the Desert of Zin which acts as a thumbtack on a map for geolocating the path of the wilderness Israelites. The first Israelites to spy out the promised land post-exodus from Egypt were the 12 men commissioned and sent by Moses in Numbers 13 and 14. The details of these men’s journey show geographical indicators of places the Israelites had not yet traveled at the time of the spy mission, as well as the probable route the Israelites would follow based on the report of the returning spies.

Numbers 13:21-22

21 So they went up and explored the land from the Desert of Zin as far as Rehob, toward Lebo Hamath. 22 They went up through the Negev and came to Hebron, where Ahiman, Sheshai and Talmai, the descendants of Anak, lived. (Hebron had been built seven years before Zoan in Egypt.)

Here (13:21-22) is where the Desert of Zin is first mentioned in the flow of the movement of Israel and it later (20:1) is described as the place Israel arrives at. This clearly puts the events of Korah’s rebellion as taking place prior to the events of Balaam’s prophecy (22-24). The people of Israel had not yet reached the borders of Moab or the banks of the Jordan during the events of Korah’s rebellion.

This gives leaves us with a question. If Jude 1:11 isn’t set in a chronological order, what other order did Jude intend to use as he laid out these three Old Testament references? Or, in other words, what benefit or purpose would Jude have had by not following a simple timeline?

So I'm asking more questions, and enjoying every moment of study in Jude.