This book's most important discovery is that the Suffering Servant is Ezekiel, the son of man, who dies as a substitute king of Babylon. (In ancient times an eclipse often marked the king for death. To avoid it the monarch enthrones and then kills a substitute.) In 571 B.C.E. Nebuchadnezzar crushes an uprising in Judah, launches a persecution against Babylonian Jews, and enthrones Ezekiel as a substitute king. However, the prophet resists torture and refuses to shift the eclipse's omens from Nebuchadnezzar to himself. Ultimately, Ezekiel agrees to substitute in exchange for freeing imprisoned rebels. Thus son of man and Suffering Servant are unified in Ezekiel's redemptive death.
New Testament Features
It reveals that the son of man and the Suffering Servant are one and the same, which clarifies why Jesus calls himself "son of man." Secrets shows how Mark and others embed the substitute king motif in their gospels. The book also discloses an exilic messiah of David's line. Messianic passages in Hebrew scripture about his Bethlehem birth and martyr's death are applied to Jesus in the New Testament. In addition, by using Ciphering Secrets reveals for the first time that Melchizedek, the king of righteousness, is really Cyrus the Great.
Why Jesus uses "Son of Man"
Secrets shows that in Hebrew scripture "son of man" and Suffering Servant are one and the same. This discovery breaks the New Testament's son-of-man deadlock and removes the dichotomy between Suffering Servant and son of man. Jesus chooses the "son of man" title to imbue himself with the servant's redemptive destiny. The authors of the synoptic gospels acknowledge this by employing a substitute king motif to shape their passion accounts. Secrets details these as well as the historical origins of messianic passages later applied to Jesus. The Exile's Messiah
Secrets of the Jewish Exile reveals the name of a Davidic messiah who lives during the sixth-century Babylonian Exile of the Jews. Half the 150 psalms are by or about him and many covenant promises to David are really addressed to this person. This Bethlehem-born messiah, like David, is first a humble shepherd and then leads his people in war. The messiah meets his end in Babylon as a substitute for King Nebuchadnezzar. This discovery of an exilic messiah is something that no student of scripture (including this author) could ever have imagined. Second Isaiah, Scripture's Greatest Writer
Second Isaiah, the hitherto-unknown prophet of the Exile, is the most excellent writer in all of scripture and makes the short list of history's greatest religious thinkers. Years ago a scholar concluded that Second Isaiah was "a man whose name we shall never know." But using new techniques, Secrets of the Jewish Exile discloses not only the identity of Second Isaiah but relates his extraordinary life and the central role he plays in helping to create the Bible. An entire appendix lists the hundreds of places Second Isaiah's "signature" appears within scripture. The Bible's Ciphering System
Ciphering is based upon athbash, a well-recognized biblical cipher. Expanding athbash provides 22 ways to spell any Hebrew word. Authors use the system to inform, sign, argue, warn, and memorialize. Ciphering helps date much of the Book of Psalms and shows that Second Isaiah and the great Ezra are exilic contemporaries. Secrets contains over a thousand Ciphering examples. Ciphering also names an exilic messiah and reveals that Cyrus the Great leads a disastrous (and previously unknown) revolt against Babylon. Who Wrote Psalms
No one knows who wrote the Book of Psalms or when any of the 150 psalms were written. Secrets of the Jewish Exile answers a large portion of both questions—and for good measure names places in Israel and Egypt where the psalms originate. Multiple authors and prominent roles for scribes are the norm for psalm composition. The main authors are Ezra, Baruch, Second Isaiah, and the exilic messiah, supported by a number of scribes (whom Secrets also names). As to the period of composition, it is the opening half of the Babylonian Exile.
