The Helmet of Deliverance

A Salvation Scientist Log 1.1 [Disclaimer: Log 1 describes my ‘deep-dive’ process. I usually only use the whole process for passages that I am preparing to teach on. I do use individual portions of this process to a lesser degree on my regular bible readings, especially when something grabs my attention or warrants further explanation.] Today we will continue our examination by considering the greater biblical context for the ‘helmet of salvation.’ There are actually two other passages that specifically refer to a ‘helmet of salvation.’ An Old Testament passage, which also refers to a breastplate of righteousness and may therefore have been the genesis for Paul’s parable in Ephesians, and a passage in 1 Thessalonians (also written by Paul) which predates Ephesians by about twenty years. It also makes reference to a breastplate, but one which represents faith and love rather than righteousness. The existence of these passages suggest that the parable of a soldier was well established in Paul’s teaching prior to the writing of this epistle. Therefore, understanding these passages should throw light on Paul’s meaning in the Ephesians passage. We will consider the OT passage first. “And justice is repulsed and righteousness stands far off. For truth is fallen in the street and equity cannot enter. So truth fails and he [who] departs from evil makes himself prey. And He saw that [there was] no man and He was appalled that [there was] no one entreating; therefore, His own arm brought deliverance (yasha) for Him and His own righteousness upheld Him. For He put on righteousness as a breastplate and a helmet of deliverance (yeshuah) on His head and He put on the garments of vengeance for clothing and was wrapped with jealousy as a cloak” (Isaiah 59:14-17). Sometimes when I first look at a passage, I miss little details that provide significant insights. In this passage, it took a few days of thinking until I suddenly realized a very important element that is implicit: God was searching for a man! God wanted to find a man He could appoint as an intercessor for His people, but there was no one. Now when I realized this, it immediately brought to mind the book of Judges. “Yahweh raised up judges who delivered (Hebrew: yasha) them out of the hand of those who plundered them” (2:15). This passage suggests that God looked for such a man to raise up as a judge who could deliver His people but could not find one. Therefore, He became the judge who would deliver His own people from those who plundered them. This judgment and deliverance was twofold: God acts as an avenger of wrong, wreaking wrath and recompense on His enemies (vv. 18-19), but also acts as a kinsman-redeemer to those who repent and receive His covenant (vv. 20-21). The separation of these two facets is brilliantly communicated in the text through the use of an a/b/b/a chiasm and a parallelism. The first four strophes form a unit wherein deliverance and righteousness are pictured as pieces of armor. His own arm brought deliverance for Him (a) and His own righteousness upheld Him (b) For He put on righteousness as a breastplate (b) and a helmet of deliverance on His head (a) The last two strophes picture God’s vengeance on His enemies and His jealousy for His people as robes. The word translated ‘garments’ can refer to anything from the rags of a beggar to the robes of a king. However, because it is parallel with ‘cloak,’ which also has the connotation of a royal robe, it can also be interpreted as such. and He put on the robes (garments) of vengeance for clothing and He was wrapped with jealousy as [with] a robe (cloak) Thus, the overall picture becomes that of a king who acts to deliver His people and to punish those who have oppressed them. It is in fact a prophetic picture of Jesus, who has come once as a Deliverer (Galatians 1:3-5), and is coming again as a Judge (Revelation 19:11-16). Now, this passage gets really interesting! The word translated 'deliverance,’ in the Hebrew, is pronounced as ‘yesh-oo'-aw.’ This sounds very much like the Aramaic name for Jesus, which is pronounced ‘Ye-SHOO-uh.’ I can’t help but think that some Aramaic-speaking believers might have referred to the helmet in this passage as the ‘Jesus helmet.’ At the very least, I think that Paul would have been delighted to point out this similarity to his listeners as he reasoned with them from synagogue to synagogue to prove that Jesus was the Christ (Acts 17:1-3), the judge whom God raised up to deliver His people from oppression, the one who ultimately fulfills this prophetic utterance. This passage provides some significant background for our understanding of the ‘helmet of salvation.’ However, before I jump to conclusions, I will, in our next post, examine Paul’s comments in 1 Thessalonians 5:1-11.