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The Two Witnesses to the Two Witnesses
Deuteronomy 32:1-32:52
2 Samuel 22:1-51
Psalm 71
Jn 5:24
Like music? So does the Creator! Do you use lots of words for song, like melody, tune, chorus? So does the Creator! There are many words for song in Hebrew, such as zemer, niggun, mizmor, or rinah. In Haazinu, which means "give ear, listen, heed," a specific word for song is used to describe the Song of Moses: shirah.
After much analysis of the shirim (songs, plural) in Scripture, scholars have identified the distinct definition of shirah:
A shirah is not so much a tune. In fact, the focus of a shirah is its message, not its melody. The Hebrew root shur, which forms the noun for shirah, can also mean a chant. The Hebrew Scriptures are all chanted. This Shabbat, you can hear the Song of Moses chanted in every synagogue.
Moses silenced Heaven and Earth to become witnesses to his song. That must have been pretty impressive!
Give ear, O heavens, and let me speak; and let the earth hear the words of my mouth. (Dt 32:1)
So two primary witnesses were silent hearers of the Song of Moses. Heaven and Earth. This is not simply a poetic preamble to the shirah. Instead, he is calling witnesses who also turn into executioners of the judgments, their "hands" being the first to act with famine (Heaven) and plague (Earth). The Song of Moses warns the Israelites that they will violate the two primary definitions of shirah by failing to perform the Creator's will and by serving other gods. Moses had previously warned the Israelites that a witness in such a case was to be the first to execute the penalty against the guilty:
But you shall surely kill him; your hand shall be first against him to put him to death, and afterwards the hand of all the people. So you shall stone him to death because he has sought to seduce you from the LORD your God who brought you out from the land of Egypt, out of the house of slavery. Then all Israel will hear and be afraid, and will never again do such a wicked thing among you. (Dt 13:9-11)
And surely Heaven and Earth, the two witnesses, did indeed execute judgments of famine and plague against apostate Israel. Later, "all the people," such as Assyria and Babylon, continued the punishments.
There are other silences that parallel it, but Revelation also records that there will be a silence such as the one in which Heaven and Earth witnessed the plan for long-term punishment and final redemption of Israel:
When the Lamb broke the seventh seal, there was silence in heaven for about half an hour. (Re 8:1)
Half an hour would be sufficient time for Haazinu to be sung or chanted.
Later, John records the singing of the Song of Moses specifically:
And they sang the song of Moses, the bond-servant of God, and the song of the Lamb, saying... (Re 15:3)
John also records the drama of the two witnesses:
These have the power to shut up the sky, so that rain will not fall during the days of their prophesying; and they have power over the waters to turn them into blood, and to strike the earth with every plague, as often as they desire. (Re 11:6)
Doesn't that sound familiar? The power of the two witnesses sounds exactly like two prophets whose miracles we know well. It was Elijah who shut up the sky, turning winter into summer. The winter is the time of the rainfall in Israel, and at Elijah's word, the winter became as summer. Moses had the power to turn the Nile into blood and strike the earth with his staff, releasing plagues upon Egypt.
The Midrash Rabbah to Haazinu states something that should sound familiar to any reader of Revelation as it concerns the two "witnesses," also described as the two olive trees and the two lampstands:
Great tzaddikim [righteous people] are able to reverse the laws of nature: the prophet Eliyahu [Elijah] turned winter, the rainy season, into summer. He promised, 'I swear there will be rain and dew according to my word.' (1 Ki 17:1) A drought then set in to punish the Jews for worshiping idols.
While the Heavens and Earth were two witnesses to the Shirah of Moses, they were also witnesses to Moses, the one who had the power to turn water into blood and bring down plagues, and the prophet Elijah, who shut up the sky. The two witnesses John describes are based in Jerusalem. The Midrash asks, "Why does G-d give tzaddikim the power to change laws of nature? So that people should fear them and thereby begin to fear Hashem." (The Midrash Says to Haazinu, p. 349)
This is the definition of a song. It celebrates the performance of God's will and affirms that only He is to be revered, loved, and served. The death and resurrection of the two witnesses, and the earthquake that follows, brings the intended result of the witnesses' signs:
And in that hour there was a great earthquake, and a tenth of the city fell; seven thousand people were killed in the earthquake, and the rest were terrified [Gr. emphobos = Hebrew yirat] and gave glory to the God of heaven. (Re 11:13)
Reverence is accomplished in the Holy City after the earthquake. In Chapter 15, the righteous sing the Shirah of Moses. In their proclamation of the Word, the two witnesses demonstrate that Moses' two witnesses have become the executioners of the Song. Heaven and Earth bore witness that the Torah will drop like rain and flow like dew. The famine, plagues, and fires break out from Heaven and Earth to bring about the final redemption of the righteous.
Heaven and Earth sing their shirim, witnesses to the Moses and Elijah, the Torah and Prophets. Heaven and Earth sing their songs, celebrating the performance of the Creator's will. The only question is will humankind also sing the Song of Moses? The two witnesses of the two witnesses are listening.
We will explore more details about the Song of Creation in
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