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I have been developing a theory about the ten torches on the upper portion of the throne noting that they have something to do with Moses' reception of the ten commandments from God. My good friend Rory Boid has further clarified that understanding and reinforcing our interpretation in the Real Messiah - i.e. that it was a reflection of the divine throne by showing me the exact reference the manufacturers of the object undoubtedly had in mind.
They were thinking of the theophany at the beginning of Deuteronomy 33:
And this is the blessing wherewith Moses the man of God blessed the children of Israel before his death. And he said: The LORD came from Sinai, and rose from Seir unto them; He shined forth from mount Paran, and He came from the myriads holy, at His right hand was a fiery law unto them. Yea, He loveth the peoples, all His holy ones--they are in Thy hand; and they sit down at Thy feet, receiving of Thy words. Moses commanded us a law, an inheritance of the congregation of Jacob. And there was a king in Jeshurun, when the heads of the people were gathered, all the tribes of Israel together.
This Rory Boid is so smart my friends. We all owe him an eternal debt of gratitude. This IS the exact reference that served as a background for St. Mark's enthronement and the subsequent enthronement of Coptic patriarchs after him down to 311 CE when this object ceased to be used by the Alexandrian Church (in order to make way for Nicaea).
We all have to THINK about the image of Mark - whoever he was (I say Marcus Julius Agrippa; you can come up with any other first century 'Jewish Mark' you want - sitting on a replica of the divine throne. I am not going to tell you what I think for now because I want YOU to match the scriptural passage with the relic and figure out the implications yourself.
One other important note. A third century Alexandrian head of the martyrium of St. Mark named Theognostus, argued that holy object LIKE the throne COULD be understood to be manifestations of the divinity. In other words, they weren't just ornaments. I will bring forward the passage shortly but again - I just want everyone to look at the object and simply THINK about its meaning in your own heads in light of the passage in Deuteronomy.
Okay, I will give you a clue from the Theological dictionary of the Old Testament, Volume 6 By G. Johannes Botterweck, Helmer Ringgren on Dt 33:5 "the text does not say who became king in or over Jeshurun; the Midrash even suggests [it was] Moses himself."
Another clue. I have already demonstrated that the Marcionite title for Jesus Chrestos (i.e. XC) comes from yashar which in turn is identified with Israel through Jeshurun.
Yet another clue. My book, the Real Messiah demonstrates that there is a hidden reference to Zech 9:6f on the backrest. I demonstrated there (with Rory's guidance) that Mark was understood to sit WITH/IN JESUS (i.e. Chrestos/Jeshurun) on the throne of St. Mark as the judge of the world (the tradition Coptic title of the enthroned representative of St. Mark).
There will be an essay question tomorrow (lol) ...
