WORD STUDY – THE ASAPHITES
Psalms 77:2: “In the day of my trouble I sought the Lord; my
sore ran in the night, and ceased not: my soul refused to be
comforted.”
The title of this Psalm attributes it to Asaph. Little is
known about Asaph. The traditional view is that he the chief
musician. However, I always had problems with that because a
chief musician would have lived a sheltered life and this old
boy seems to have gone through some real trials. But, he’s an
artist and an artist suffers. Still it is a little odd that
someone who wrote 12 Psalms (50, 73-83) would not have had
more biographical information given about him.
I tend to lean more towards my liberal brethren’s viewpoint
which is that Asaph was an office and not one person.
Although, there were individuals named Asaph, when applied to
the Psalms it was really not a person but a religious sect or
a musical sect. More than that, it was a group of prophets
who prophesied through music. Ok, am I getting some of you to
warm up to my foray into liberalism? Actually, when you look
at these twelve Psalms through textual criticism, which
incorporates the style and various Hebrew dialects, of these
twelve Psalms you find it is impossible to believe it could
have been written by the same person. It would have had to
encompass people from various points of geographical origin.
These musically gifted people formed a little club (let’s call
it that) and call themselves Asaphites. Like I said the
Asaphites were a prophetic group. Even my liberal friends own
up to that. I often wonder if in these last days we will see
a new Asaphite movement where musically gifted prophets will
arise and minister to the saints who are going through deep
trials. The word asaph in its root form means a harvest or a
fulfilled prophecy. It is believed by some that it could come
from a Semitic root meaning a portal. Thus, the Ashaphites may
have called themselves by this name to suggest that their
music helps to open a portal to the heavenly realm.
If
quantum physics has anything to say about it they teach that
music is simply vibrations, everything has a certain vibration
and hence God created the world through vibrations. When the
vibrations of music comes close to the creative vibrations of
God, a portal to the heavenly realm could open or possibly it
could help usher in fulfilled prophecy. Remember in Luke 8:46
where the woman with the issue of blood touched Jesus and he
said that power or virtue went out from him. In the Aramaic
that word is chayla which means vibrations. But I digress,
back to Psalms 77.
Look at Psalms 77, particularly at verse 2, can you relate? I
believe more and more in these troubled times believers will
begin to relate to the Psalms of the Asaphites or these
vibrators.
“In the day of trouble.” I’ve talked about this word trouble
or sarar which means a distress, a distress so great that you
can’t think, you can’t enjoy anything, you can’t sleep, all
you do is think about your trouble. That is sarar. We all go
through it.
So you seek the Lord, but nothing seems to
happen. Your “sore runs into the night.”
The word sore is
yad which means hand or could also mean human strength. This
runs into the night and does not cease. The word runs is
nagar which has the idea of being poured out. The word cease
is pug which is used in an imperfect tense. Pug has the idea
of being chilled or frozen. Water runs until it is frozen
then it stops.
Thus his strength is being poured out into
the night then freezes. Night is the worst. During the day
you have many distractions but at night there are no
distractions and your sarar (trouble) really takes hold of you
at that point and chills you to the bone. Your soul at that
point refuses to be comforted.
Ever feel that way? If you do this Psalm is for you. Check
out the prophetic word that is given in this song found in
verse 6: “I call to remembrance my song in the night.”
The
word song here is neganah. The root word is nagan spelled Nun,
Gimmel and Nun. This is a song that keeps repeating itself.
Ever have one of those tunes in your head and you can’t get
it out. That’s a neganah. Only this tune that keeps repeating
itself is one of faith and lovingkindness.
I could picture the Asaphites singing this song or Psalm. It
would start off slow and melancholy then as you approach verse
6 it picks up to a regular Fats Waller catchy rhythm with hand
clapping and dancing. Before long that tune get’s stuck in
your head and you keep singing it over and over and over and
can’t get it out of your head. But that is good, because it
is a tune of the Spirit of God that delivers you from your
sarar (trouble).
So next time you go through a sarar and you can’t sleep or you
can’t enjoy anything, ask the Spirit of God to give you a
neganah.
If you enjoy the Hebrew Studies please “like” our facebook
page, join our mailing list and/or pass along the Word Studies
to friends and family. Thank you and we truly appreciate all
your support!
WORD STUDY – THE SPIDER’S WEB
IN YOUR EYE
Matthew 7:3, “And why beholdest thou the mote that is in thy
brother’s eye, but considerest not the beam that is in thine
own eye?”
This was a well-known Jewish proverb during the time of Jesus
found in Oral Tradition and can today be found in the
Babylonian Talmud, Baba Bathra 15.2. Thus, the origins of
this proverb is in Hebrew and Aramaic rather than Greek. The
meaning is, of course very obvious.
You go around belly
aching about the faults of your brother while totally ignoring
your own faults which are worse.
The context indicates that this is a reference to the
Pharisees who went to great lengths to live a righteous life
and were highly critical of anyone who did not come up to
their standards of righteousness yet their sin of pride,
arrogance and condemnation was worse than the sins they were
accusing of others. What has always bothered me about this is
that it seems to suggest degrees of sin. Is not sin sin?
Actually, in Aramaic the word for consider is bachar which
means to choose, elect, compare and make a choice. When it
came time to compare sins they choose the lessor sins to hold
up as an example. In Luke 18:11 “The Pharisee stood and prayed
thus with himself, God, I thank thee, that I am not as other
men [are], extortionist, unjust, adulterers, or even as this
publican.”
Jesus is referencing an actual event. The
Pharisees took great pride in their righteousness such that
they would arrogantly stand in the temple and brag about their
righteousness and compare themselves to others whose sins they
perceived to be greater than theirs. In other words they were
willing to admit they were sinners, everyone is a sinner. In
fact it was considered a great sin to say you were not a
sinner. It is just that their sins were not as great as
others. I don’t think Jesus is talking about degrees of sin
here.
It is sort of like yesterday when I was righteously talking
about how churches would shorten their Sunday services so
people could go home to celebrate the Super Bowl. In most
states the Super Bowl starts long after the Sunday Service
normally ends, but people need time to get ready for the big
party so they decide to have a shorter service so they can get
home on Sunday. Like the good Pharisee that I am I explained
how I hate football and would much rather spend time with the
Lord than watch a football game. The person I was sharing my
righteousness with came back with the comment, “Is that why
you choose to not rest on the Sabbath?” I started to think
how I choose bachar to work the past two Sundays. I normally
drive the disability and senior services bus for the Town of
Cicero during the week. The driver for the weekend went on
vacation and I volunteered to work overtime and drive the bus
on Sunday. Sunday for me was no different than any other day
of the week and I choose bachar to not rest on that Sabbath.
Well, I mean after all, I was doing a service, I was helping
people who are disabled or too elder to make it to church on
their own and the Town graciously provides transportation for
these people to attend the various houses of worship on Sunday
and how noble of me to volunteer to drive for them (for
compensation of course).
Somehow I suddenly felt like that Pharisee in Luke 18:11,
“God, I thank you that I am not like those sinners who cut
their Sabbath short so they can party and watch a football
game.”
No sir I do a righteous act and drive a bus for the
elder and disabled so they can go to church. Why look at me,
I am wearing my body out, I am ruining my health by not taking
a day to rest or to cease from my normal activity as commanded
by God. Ok you can go into all the reasons for the Sabbath
and all the extremes in legally following a Sabbath day. I
mean if your ox falls in a ditch on the Sabbath you will pull
him out, right? Ok, you don’t own an ox. But the point is I
use my righteous act to brag to God and others how I get up
early Sunday morning and sacrifice a full day, wear myself
out so I can nobly drive the elderly and disabled to church
(and get compensated). Is my sin of pride, arrogance, and
looking down my nose at the Super Bowl fans any better than
theirs.
In the Aramaic the word for mote is gala which means a small
chip of wood or straw. Just a speck in your eye can cause
great discomfort. A secondary meaning of gala is something
that is revealed or exposed. You can barely see that speck
but it is revealed and exposed in your eye from the tearing
and pain. In other words why do you look that that obvious sin
that has been exposed in your brother? You know the one who
commits adultery and it is revealed to the church and everyone
whispers and gossips about him or her to the point where that
person leaves the church. You choose or bachar to focus on
that one sin that one mistake of your brother rather than your
own beam or which is the word qarath in the Aramaic. Qarath
does mean a board or plank but has a secondary meaning of a
foundation, a board or plank or anything used to build a
foundation. It is even used for a spider’s web, the foundation
of his home which is a trap. A foundation is made up of many
different things, stone, dirt, wood etc.
It is an
accumulation of many little things that form a foundation. In
this case it is an accumulation of many little sins that form
a foundation of pride and arrogance in you such that you do
not even see it. Yet, you will pounce upon a brother who has a
weak moment and commits adultery or some other noticeable sin
but ignore the many little sins in your own life.
What Jesus is saying in the Aramaic is that you focus on the
big and obvious sins while ignoring the subtle little sins in
your own life that begin to build a foundation of arrogance in
you.
No maybe you are not an adulterer, a fornicator,
extortionist or an unjust person. You may be a good loving
person who always tries to do the right thing and help others
while overlooking little white lies, petty jealousies, minor
thefts of borrowing and never returning or moments of anger,
etc. These are little things, no one gets hurt, not like the
drug addict or adulterer, no we are not that bad. Maybe not
but all the time we are letting the enemy build his little
qarath foundation or spider web in our lives which will
eventually trap us.
WORD STUDY – A PSALM OF DAVID
– HEEEELP!
Psalms 70:1 “To the chief musician, A Psalm of David, “Make
haste O God to deliver me, make haste O Lord to help me.”
“And he (Dirk Pitt) refused medical treatment and any food
until he was sure the children were all taken care of and the
dogs were fed.” Clive Cussler – “Cyclops”
A Psalm of David? What David are we talking about? Is this
our David, the one who faced a giant with three stones? Is
this the David who was a leader of men, a great warrior and
king? Is this the same David crying out for help and immediate
help at that?
This can’t be my David.
My David was a
champion, a hero, not some weak panic stricken coward crying
out for help.
I grew in a generation where heroes were real heroes. Take
Clive Cussler’s hero, Dirk Pitt, in his NUMA novels. You have
in the novel “Cyclops” where Dirk Pitt single handedly hijacks
a ship filled with enough explosives to blow up the entire
city of Havana, Cuba. He manages to detonate the explosives
at sea in time to save Havana except for its surrounding
port. There were casualties but not many and it was enough to
convince Cuban authorities that this was only a plot to draw
America into a war. Sadly Dirk Pitt is blown up with the ship
and his friends on shore mourn his loss while celebrating his
heroics. But wait, no, can it be? Off in the distance they
see a tall man badly injured carrying three injured children
singing “I’m a Yankee Doodle Dandy” while a group of dogs jump
around him barking. Now that is a hero, not only does he
survive his suicide mission, with great wounds, but he manages
to save some children and dogs in the process. But wait not
only that, when he is surrounded by people offering to give
him medical assistance and food he refuses it all until the
children are properly cared for — and the dogs are fed. Now
that is a real hero. You would never see Dirk Pitt cry out for
deliverance or help, no sir. He would go down fighting.
Someone once said that true courage is not being fearless, but
is being afraid, yet still moving forward and not quitting.
When I was growing our Hollywood heroes were never afraid,
never injured except maybe having a bum knee until the next
episode or getting shot in the shoulder. If our heroes do
call upon God they are seen like George Washington properly
dressed, quietly kneeling by his horse in frigid weather
saying a nice word of prayer. Put David in that scene and he
is laying spread eagle, sobbing out; “Oh God, Oh God.’ By the
way witnesses to George Washington’s little prayer times in
the snow report that it was not all that serene. George
Washington had his “Oh God” moments as well.
Indeed the Hebrew word for to make haste is chush with a
paragogic Hei.
In other words to put this verse into its
emotional context you would have to render this verse as, “A
Psalm of David; “Heeelp!!!!” Now that is some Psalms, it is
not the quiet, poetic, gentle poem you would expect. Yet,
David is being honest with his feelings. He might as well, God
knows them anyway.
But David is not just worried about his own gizzard. This cry
is for deliverance and help.
In the Hebrew the word for
deliverance is nasal and the word for help is azar. Nasal has
the idea of separation or to take away. It can also carry the
idea of deliverance. We need to note that this is in a Hiphal
form. This would suggest that he is not necessarily asking for
just a deliverance, but a deliverance that is God directed.
Sometimes when we need deliverance, at least for me, I don’t
care where it comes, so long as it comes. Yet David is saying
that he wants only a deliverance from God or none at all.
Also he is calling on Elohim for this deliverance where he
calls on Jehovah for the help. Now unless you subscribe to
the JEDP theory of higher criticism (which I don’t) then we
need to find another reason why David called on God by the
title of Elohim rather than Jehovah.
I find from reading Jewish literature that when the word
Elohim is used it is used to express a God of judgment. When
the word Jehovah is used, it is used to express a God who is
expresses the feminine nature, the nurturing aspect of God.
This may explain why David uses nasal (deliverance) in a
hiphal form. He is saying if I am in this mess because of my
own stupid blunders and you are correcting me or chastising
me, then don’t bother delivering me, let me receive your
chastisement, but if this affliction is not of you then get me
out of here and do it quick.
He then takes it one step further by saying something to the
effect of, “But it still hurts, kiss it and make it better.”
In other words he is saying to that that whether his
affliction is of God or not, it is still painful just “help
me.” The word help is ‘azar but this word has a particular
twist in its Semitic origins. It origins are rooted in the
role of a priest who is to lead one to God. So this help,
which is from the same root that we get a helpmeet from and is
meant to lead us to God.
David’s prayer in Psalms 70:1 isn’t just for his own physical
wellbeing. It is that he does not miss the opportunity to find
God in his present circumstances. Now that is a true hero.
He is scared to death to face the coming threat, but he will
stand tall and face it if this is from God, he will endure
whatever discipline, chastisement or correction God dishes
out. But if there is no correction from God in this threat,
then he is looking to Elohim the masculine, the protecting and
providing nature of God to get me him out of there. That is
not the talk of a coward, that is the talk of good sense. If
such a person as Dirk Pitt existed, he would need to be locked
up as he is not only a threat to himself but others with such
reckless disregard for his own safety. David probably used
more common sense than any modern pulp hero. He was afraid,
but he was willing to face the object of his fears as long as
God was in it.
Ultimately, it was Jehovah that loving nurturing aspect of God
that came and kissed it to make it better, whether the
disaster his own doing or not. Too often we turn David into
some sort of comic book, pulp hero when the Bible really
depicts him as a real person, a real person with fears,
questions and doubts.
He was a man who faced real life
adventures and they scared him to death.
David was your
average Joe like you and I who kept his senses about him and
when face with dire circumstances he sought to God in each
circumstance.
If you enjoy the Hebrew Studies please “like” our Facebook
page, join our mailing list and/or pass along the Word Studies
to friends and family. Thank you and we truly appreciate all
your support!
WORD STUDY
PEACE
–
STRENGTH
AND
Psalm 29:11: “The Lord will give strength to His people and
the Lord will bless His people with peace.”
In both cases where David says: The Lord he is using the name
Jehovah (YHWH). When David uses the name Jehovah (YHWH) he is
doing so to express his intimacy with God. In fact throughout
this whole Psalm David is invoking the name Jehovah (YHWH).
This is a Psalm of worship and in his worship he is expressing
the greatness of God. In this expression of God’s greatness
he concludes by bringing all of this to a personal level.
This great, powerful and mighty God will give his people
strength and will bless them with peace.
The Lord will give strength. The word strength is oz which I
have discussed in earlier studies. This not only means to
make physically strong but also to make one courageous. The
word before strength is nathan which means to give or impart.
God will impart courage to his people.
Who are his people? The word that is rendered for people here
is interesting.
David uses the word
amam.
This word
basically means to be hidden or concealed. It also is used to
express the idea of having something in common. When used for
people it is referring to a kindred.
Indeed the word is
spelled Ayin, Mem and Final Mem. The Ayin” represents inner
reflection. The Mem represents revealed knowledge of God and
the Final Mem represents the hidden knowledge of God.
His
people are those who incorporate into themselves the revealed
and hidden knowledge of God.
A perfect example of this
revealed and hidden knowledge is our salvation through Jesus
Christ.
For many the first reaction in reading that God gives strength
to his people is that David is referring to the Jewish
people.
Clearly David’s use of the word amam shows that he
is referring to not only the Jewish people but anyone who
receives the revealed and hidden knowledge of God which
culminates in the redemptive work of Jesus Christ.
So if we are in Christ Jesus we are promised by God Jehovah to
receive physical strength as well as courage to face whatever
life will throw at us. Not only that He will bless us with
peace.
The word bless is baruch which has a variety of
meanings but in the context of this verse it has the idea of
impartation. The Lord will impart peace to His people. Peace
is shalom. Shalom has a wide range of meaning. It involves
not only a feeling of rest, but healing, protection, and
shelter.
There is one rather unusual grammatical oddity here.
The
lack of a conjunction. The word and is not in the Hebrew text
in this verse.
Hebrew loves it’s conjunctions.
Where we
would say in English: “I will go to church to pray, sing,
worship, fellowship and praise God.” In Hebrew you would say:
“I will go to church to pray and sing and worship and
fellowship and praise God.”
David’s lack of the conjunction
as well as the multiple use of the name Jehovah suggest that
David is putting great emphasis on the fact that true courage
and peace comes from Jehovah alone. Jesus put it nicely when
He said “My peace I give unto you, not that the world gives,
give I unto you.”
There is a peace you can get from the
world, but it is not the peace of God.
A good example of David not practicing what he preaches is
that we find that in the later years of his life he calls for
a census. He is facing threats from the Assyrians and it has
him worried. Rather than rest on the courage and peace given
by Jehovah, he conducts a census to see how big an army he can
raise. Rather than really seek the courage and peace of God,
he sought peace and courage in the natural world. Somehow
just trusting in God was not enough, he also needed to know
just how big an army he could raise, then he could feel some
peace. Of course we all know how God felt about that and what
happened to David as a result of seeking this courage and
peace in the natural realm.
Poor David, if only he would
have practiced what he preached in Psalms 29:11.
But then, who am I to throw rocks at David, when I end up
doing the same thing.
If you enjoy the Hebrew Studies please “like” our facebook
page, join our mailing list and/or pass along the Word Studies
to friends and family. Thank you and we truly appreciate all
your support!
NEW
E
LEXICON
BOOK:
BEYOND
THE
We are happy to announce Chaim Bentorah’s new book
“HEBREW WORD STUDY: BEYOND THE LEXICON”
Now in Digital Format, click on line above to view book and
its reviews
Already ranked by Amazon as a Best Seller!
In His new book “HEBREW WORD STUDY: BEYOND THE LEXICON” (click
on title to view or to purchase) Chaim has written for the
Believer who wants to understand the nature and design of the
language God chose to reveal Himself through and speak to us
with. Also, for the one who does not necessarily want to learn
to speak Hebrew or spend long hours trying to understand
complex rules of grammar but simply wants to know if there are
deeper meaning to certain Hebrew words found in
scripture. Chaim has taught Biblical Hebrew for many years. He
has a nice balance of both academic credentials and a deep
personal relationship with Jesus. He has also studied with
Rabbi’s from whom he learned the spiritual nature of Biblical
Hebrew while working on the NIV translation as a graduate
student.
Have you ever read a verse and one word seems to really stand
out and you wish you had the tools and know how to follow Holy
Spirit’s prompting to dig deeper? In Chaim’s new book you will
find such tools and be amazed at how accessible God has made
it for us to search His heart through His Word using the
ancient Hebrew. It is Chaim’s calling and passion to bring the
academics of Biblical languages, the history,culture and
spiritual nature of scripture to each and every Believer who
has a hunger grow ever deeper in their relationship with
Jesus…The Word .
Click here to purchase :
“BUY NOW”
WORD STUDY – THE JEWISH GOD
Jeremiah
23:23-24 “[Am] I a God at hand, saith the LORD, and
not a God afar off? Can any hide himself in secret places
that I shall not see him? saith the LORD. Do not I fill heaven
and earth? saith the LORD.”
This passage literally reads “I am a God that is from near.”
The KJV renders the word for near which is miqarov as at hand
which is only a 17th century KJV paraphrase which has taken on
new meaning in our modern culture. Back in King James’s day
the phrase at hand suggested something that was a part of you
where today such an expression suggests it is like a tool that
you have for ready us.
The 17 th century idea of at hand is
more true to the Hebrew than our 21 st century concept of at
hand. Most translations will simply render miqarov as near.
Putting the preposition Mem in front of the word qarov creates
the idea of more than just being close by. The word qarov is
often used for a blood relative. It is also used for an inward
part, the heart, an actual part of your body. So God is not
saying I am hanging around you, but He is saying, I am a part
of you, I dwell inside of you, where you go I go. Orthodox
Jews will wear a kippah or skull cap to remind themselves of
Jeremiah 23:23 that they are always in the presence of God and
whatever they do they do as unto God. Yesterday I spoke of
how I imagine God hugging me. People call this make believe.
I call it Jeremiah 23:23, He is not an imaginary friend to me,
He is real and I do not question for a moment that He is
hugging me when I picture it in my mind. No matter where I am
at or what I am doing, I can pause and let my imagination
create the picture of what is really taking place and that is
God embracing me and when I do I feel his presence so much,
sometimes I weep. I did not learn this from my Christian
teachers, great as they are, I learned this from the people
God chose to teach us this lesson. I learned this from
studying Jewish literature as the Talmud, Mishnah, the Midrash
and others.
But there is more here. Miqarov in Hebrew is grammatically a
Pual Participle. A Pual will put this in a passive voice, an
intensive passive voice. In an active voice the subject is
the do-er or be-er where in the passive voice the do-er or beer is being acted upon. This is why it is put in an
interrogative or question form as God is comparing himself to
local deities asking, “Am I just some local deity that is just
in one spot or am I everywhere?”
However, putting this in a Pual form rather than a Niphal
opens us up to a very subtle suggestion that we really cannot
pick up in the English.
You see gods in those days were
local, sort of like precinct captains.
You move to a new
precinct or new country your got yourself a new god. Every
country had their own gods. When people moved from country to
country and took their gods with them their idea of that god
sort of merged with the idea of the god in their new land
taking on qualities of both gods. Sort of like in Haiti today
where a Catholic priest can also be a voodoo priest as well,
he just merged his beliefs in God Jehovah into that of
voodooist. Oh, bad. Right? Do we not do the same thing in
the Western world by merging our cultural religion, money and
materialism, into our beliefs in God Jehovah?
Do we not
market God like a new diet supplement? Buy God and He will
cure all your diseases, solve all your problems, and make you
prosperous. People will buy the product, after all God comes
cheap, just donate a few bucks. There is an old saying, “He
who sells miracles will have the devil knocking at his door.”
Yet that is our Western religion, we are selling miracles,
either as a soap product to give a sixty year old the skin of
a 20 year old or a god who will give you a new liver or lungs.
Buy ‘em today.
That is why God created the Jewish people as the chosen
people, that is why the Jews were commanded not to marry
foreigners because God wanted to have a race of people who
displayed his pure faith,
not one that got mixed up with
other gods into some sort of mish mosh of religion or natural
culture. I mean culture cannot help but influence our faith.
We walk into a church of Western architecture, play Western
cultural music with spiritual messages, that is ok, but when
we start mixing our state religion of materialism,
competition, celebrity worship, prosperity, good old American
values which are not God’s values into our faith in God, then
we have crossed a line. That is why God has kept a people and
a race to be a model for us. Yes, even if they have not
accepted Jesus as their Messiah, they still represent the pure
faith in God. I am talking about a God who doesn’t always
rescue you in the natural world as seen in the Holocaust and
the captivity of 740 BC, or a God who does not always give you
peace as the siege of Jerusalem under Sennachrib 700BC and the
siege of Israel in 2014 by Hamas. Who wants a God like that,
He sure would not sell in the United States. Yet, before the
IDF soldiers ever go into battle, there is a rabbi who leads
them into prayer. We are not supposed to do that with our
armies as Muslims soldiers, Buddhist soldiers Atheist soldiers
would be offended. However, Israel believes in one God, the
true God, they were chosen to display the true God who crosses
all cultural barriers, who is not a product of one’s culture.
He is not a God of wealth, although He can make you prosperous
for His purpose. He has made Israel rich enough to pay $40,000
for a missile to shoot down an $800 rocket. Not that he does
not heal for he healed a barren land and made it blossom like
a rose. In fact it is this land, this people that God sent
His Messiah, His very Son to bring us Salvation.
I have often been criticized for spending so much time
studying Talmud, the Mishnah, the Midrash and other Jewish
works when I should be studying Scofield and other Christians
writers. Hey, I love the works of C.S. Lewis, Bonhoeffer and
even D.L. Moody. But I taught speed reading in College and I
can afford the time to study the works of Jewish scholars as
well for it is in the works of Jewish literature, which I
admit are not inspired, but they do teach me the true heart
and soul of the inspired Word of God. I am not Jewish so I do
not wear a kippah (skull cap) but I do wear a baseball cap at
all times to accomplish this and often in difficult times I
reach up and touch my baseball cap and sometimes I almost weep
being reminded that even in that circumstance I am still in
the presence of God, something I learned from Jewish
literature.
The enemy wants to destroy the Jewish people and their nation
because it reminds the world that He is a God that is not a
national god, a cultural, or a political god but that He is
the God who created the entire world and everyone in it and
even sent his very Son through this Jewish, chosen race of
people to be the Savior of the world.
It is not Hamas
attacking Israel it is the very enemy himself who wants to
destroy this nation that was created to show us the true,
loving, forgiving and longing nature of God.
THERE IS AN APP CALLED RED ALERT-ISRAEL. I ENCOURAGE YOU TO
DOWNLOAD IT FOR WE ARE COMMANDED TO PRAY FOR THE PEACE OF
JERUSALEM. EVERYTIME THE NATION COMES UNDER ROCKET ATTACK THIS
APP WILL SEND AN AUDIBLE ALERT IN REAL TIME TO REMIND YOU TO
PRAY FOR THESE PEOPLE AND THIS NATION THAT GAVES US OUR SAVIOR
AND OUR BIBLE AND WERE CHOSEN TO TEACH US ABOUT THE HEART OF
GOD.
WORD STUDY – SATAN’S WAR OF
ATTRITION
Proverbs 3:24-25: “When you lie down, you shall not be afraid;
yea, you shall lie down, and your sleep shall be sweet. Be
not afraid of sudden fear, neither of the night of the
desolation of the wicked, when it comes. For the Lord shall be
you confidence, he will keep your foot from being taken”
“If there are ten problems walking down the road, you can be
sure nine of them will fall into a ditch before they reach
you.”
Calvin Coolidge
Sometimes I believe the enemy does not destroy a Christian by
one mighty frontal attack, but he carries on a sort of
guerrilla warfare. At least with me it seems to be a war of
attrition. He uses small, little daily sniper attacks to wear
you down.
The war in Vietnam was considered a war of
attrition. The enemy knew they could not defeat the United
States such they could walk into WashingtonD.C. and take
over. But they knew if they could sustain the war long enough
people in the United States would grow tired of the war, tired
of their losses and just pull out and leave. Satan realizes
the same thing. As we are in Christ Jesus, he can not defeat
us, he can move into our hearts and take the place Jesus now
possesses, but he can wear us down with his little sniper
attacks until finally we are ready to just give up, pull in
our forces and crawl under yon rock from whence we came and
let the hour glass of life run itself out, accomplishing
nothing for the kingdom of God.
As a king, Solomon realized this. He was the king of the most
powerful and richest nation in the world. He should not have
worried for anything, but those little nagging problems that
seem to always come up every day, were just wearing him down.
He tried to drown it in pleasure, sex, building great palaces
and a temple, but every day as he lay down to sleep he was
afraid, even being surrounded by sixty Navy Seal equivalents
of his day and sleep was not sweet.
The word afraid here is an unusual word for fear. It is not
your common word yarah but it is pachad. This is a sort of
dread, a Charlie Brown type black cloud that just hangs over
your head. It is those little things. The word is spelled
Pei which represents gossip, Cheth which shows suffering,
rudeness and
pushiness and Daleth which stresses the
insincerity of others that drive you to defeat.
None of
these things are life threatening and yet they are.
This
constant wearing you down causes you to loose hope. I will
come back to that word. Your sleep is not sweet. Good old
politically correct King James did not want to use the real
English word for this Hebrew word so they translated it as the
more acceptable word sweet. This Hebrew word is arav which
really means sexual intercourse. Actually, the word expresses
more of the feelings one receives during sexual intercourse
which is a warm comfortable feeling, a feeling of oneness,
where all life’s problems are distant. Every so often you get
one of those good nights sleeps where you wake up feeling
great. That is the idea behind the sweet or arav sleep. It
seems that the time when the struggles of the day really hit
you is at night, they seem to be manifested more at night than
during the day. Yet Solomon found that he could put aside all
those trials of being a king and have a sweet sleep because
the Lord was a confidence in him.
The word confidence is
kasal which is a word for loins, to be firm, or inward parts.
I will let your imagination work with that one since it seems
to be joined with the word arav.
Again the reference is not
to any action but to the emotion behind this. The word is
spelled Kap which indicates possession, Samek representing joy
and Lamed which speaks of receiving. The numerical value of
kasal is 110. The word for abiding is also 110 as is also the
word for foundation.
Ok, leave it Solomon to give us a sexual motif which
culturally, even in today’s modern Western society, is
difficult to address in our translations or even in our
sermons without becoming religiously, politically incorrect.
But we all know Solomon was up to his ears in wives and
concubines, I mean he was the Hugh Hefner of his day. You
can’t blame the old boy for throwing out a sexual motif.
Yet, the picture that is being shown is not really a
reference to a perverted, pornographic sexual expression so
much as it is the expression of the companionship, the joys,
and the security that is found in sexual activity within the
confines of a secure and loving marriage relationship.
It is that sense of joy a husband and wife feels when
awakening in the middle of the night and reaching over and
feeling their mate next them. The sense of security knowing
that that person is there, that that person will embrace you
when you need a hug, will stand with you when you go through
those numerous little pachad’s or dreads that you feel. When
that soulmate embraces you, suddenly everything is ok.
is what Solomon found God to be.
That
When the enemy carries on his war of attrition and you are
ready to just give up, you simply need to reach out and touch
Jesus who is one with you. He will respond with an embrace. He
will give you that hug to remind you that you are not fighting
this war alone.
Yesterday was such a day for me and I really just wanted to
reach out and touch Jesus. You know God gave us an
imagination. In fact Paul says in Hebrews 11:1 that faith is
the substance of things hoped for and the evidence of the
things not seen. The word hope in the Aramaic is a word used
for a positive imagination. So I just imagined Jesus was right
there with me and I just imagined receiving a hug from Him.
The Bible says in James 4:8 to draw near to God and He will
draw near to you. As I used the imagination He gave me, I
began to imagine that hug and I imagined receiving it. You
know what, I really felt that hug such that I began to weep
for joy.
In those moments of intimacy with Him in that
praise, worship and hope (positive imagination) I found that
sweetness or ‘arav and together with Jesus I watch all those
problems walking down the road toward me and as Calvin
Coolidge said I watched 90% of them fall into the ditch. If
one of them did happen to reach me, well, I knew that Jesus
was there to take it on and keep my foot from being taken or,
as we say today, to trip me up.