A Prophecy of Esau and Jacob

Who is God’s Suffering Servant?

•May 16, 2022 • Leave a Comment

Who is God’s Suffering Servant in Isaiah 52-53?

The broad consensus among Rabbinic Jews and Rabbi Tovia Singer / Jews for Judiasm are that the suffering servant in Isaiah 53 refers to the nation of Israel (or the house of Jacob), and their presentations undoubtedly have certain merits. The house of Israel, to be trained to be a kingdom of priest for the world (Exodus 19:6), needs numerous purifications in order to make them qualified.

Prime individual examples are Daniel and his three friends, Shadrach, Meshach and Abed-Nego, but become peripheral in the face of overwhelming evidence when compared to One individual who later identified Himself as the Son of God, the Messiah who would be the real High Priest.

Although Isaiah 53 is generally ascribes as the “suffering servant” it really started in the previous chapter, Isaiah 52, starting verse 13. So lets begin here:

Isaiah 52

¹³ “Behold, My Servant shall deal prudently, He shall be exalted and extolled, and be very high. — the Targum straightaway identifies and interprets the servant as the Messiah; He shall be exalted and extolled, and be very high;

— the English Targum verse translated by Etheridge in full:

“Behold, my servant the Messiah (מְשִׁיחָא) shall prosper, He shall be exalted and extolled, and He shall be very strong,” Isaiah 52:13 Jonathan. Same with Isaiah 42:1 Jonathan where my servant (מְשִׁיחָא) is also the Messiah;

The Prophet Isaiah speaks of his own people, Israel, which include their own blind shepherd, “Hear, ye deaf; and look, ye blind, that ye may see,” Isaiah 42:18.

— even from Jewish Sefaria, it is (הָא יַצְלַח עַבְדִי מְשִׁיחָא יְרוּם וְיִסְגֵי וְיִתְקוֹף לַחֲדָא:) that is,this Targum interprets מְשִׁיחָא as the Messiah; He shall be exalted and extolled, and be very high;

— the Targum is an indispensable source of understanding the Bible. Started by Ezra for those returning Jews from Babylon and for these returnees they could only understand the Sacred Text in Aramaic; hence the Targum is as if Ezra is speaking to us from the verses quoted. So why do the Rabbinic Jews today choose to ignore Ezra’s understanding and interpretation?

¹⁴As many as were astonished at thee—His visage was so marred more than any man, and his form more than the sons of men” — before Yeshua the Messiah was sentensed to death, he was plaited with a crown of thorns and put on his head, led away to be crucified, but first to be flogged by the Roman soldiers, including more scourging in the praetorium, revealed as stated in the previous verse, the whole world will be astonished to see he would be so marred – (משׁחת mishechath); so defaced, destroyed, disfigured; this was a disfiguration or defacement of his aspect, more than that of any man.

The Targum verse in full: “As the house of Israel anxiously hoped for Him many days, (which was poor among the nations; their appearance and their brightness being worse than that of the sons of men.)” — this phrase “the house of Israel anxiously hoped for Him” shows that the house of Israel and the Suffering Servant are two separate entities, hence the Suffering Servant could not be the house of Israel. This is another checkmate! Period!

Verse 15, which contains Messianic significance is not in the King James versions but appears in the followings:

¹⁵ The Targum translated by Etheridge: Thus shall He scatter many nations; before Him kings shall keep silence: they shall put their hands upon their mouths, for that which had not been told them shall they see: and that which they had not heard shall they consider. — since King David, Israel (or any ordinary man) had never “scatter many nations.”

— Or as in Chabad Bible: So shall he cast down many nations; kings shall shut their mouths because of him, for, what had not been told them they saw, and [at] what they had not heard they gazed.

— The Septuagint (Brenton): Thus shall many nations wonder at him; and kings shall keep their mouths shut: for they to whom no report was brought concerning him, shall see; and they who have not heard, shall consider.

— Young: So doth he sprinkle many nations. Concerning him kings shut their mouth, For that which was not recounted to them they have seen, And that which they had not heard they have understood! — the sprinkling of the blood of a sacrifice, which could mean the shedding of blood for our (Jews and Gentiles) sins; (He will cleanse many nations with his blood, GW).

— The JPS 1917:

So shall he startle many nations,
Kings shall shut their mouths because of him;
For that which had not been told them shall they see,
And that which they had not heard shall they perceive.

^{Isaiah 53}

Most theologians noted that the subject of the Suffering Servant, which the Targum Jonathan (Isaiah 52:13) identifies as the Messiah, should start from Chapter 52:13 and onto the end of Chapter 53. More commentaries of this Suffering Servant, its prophecies and fulfillments are at the end.

¹ Who hath believed our report? And to whom is the arm of the Lord revealed? — Our report; literally, that which has been heard by us, or reported to us. But the word is used technically for a prophetic revelation (see Isaiah 28:9,19; Jeremiah 49:14);

— here the word would seem to refer especially to the Messianic prophecies delivered by Isaiah. To whom is the arm of the Lord revealed? The “arm of the Lord,” which has been “made bare in the eyes of all the nations” (Isaiah 52:10); the word of God is expressly called the power of God, 1 Corinthians 1:18.

²For He shall grow up before Him as a tender plant, and as a root out of a dry ground. He hath no form nor comeliness, and when we shall see Him, there is no beauty that we should desire Him. — for he shall grow up as a tender plant and as a root out of a dry ground; and the reason or occasion why the Jews generally rejected Yeshua as their Messiah is because he didn’t come into the world with secular pomp and power, like an earthly monarch, as they carnally and groundlessly imagined; but

— he shall grow up (or, spring up, Heb. ascend, to wit, out of the ground, as it follows, brought forth, and brought up); before him (before the unbelieving Jews, of whom “my servant the Messiah” spoken of in Isaiah 52:13 (Targum) and which the Jews are blinded to, as springing up of a low and insignificant plant or shrub out of the earth; has no strength nor straightness, of body; without verdure, leaves, blossom, and therefore despised;

— he hath no form nor comeliness; when we shall see him, there is no beauty that we should desire him; when we shall look upon him, expecting to find incomparable beauty and majesty in his countenance, and carriage and condition, we shall be altogether disappointed and shall meet with nothing amiable or desirable in him.

³He is despised and rejected of men, a Man of sorrows, and acquainted with grief. And we hid as it were our faces from Him; He was despised, and we esteemed Him not. — nowhere in all the Old Testament is it so plainly and fully prophesied that the Messiah ought to suffer and the Jews esteemed him not; which is repeated to show the great contempt cast upon him, to be despised and rejected of men before he is destined to enter into his glory.

— no human, from Abraham to Jacob, nor from King David to Zerubbabel could have such intrinsic qualities; and of course, Israel or Jacob (whom the Jews thought was the suffering servant) doesn’t suffer for the sins of the nations. They suffer for their own sins, Stupid! The house of Israel is being descibed by God in Isaiah 48:4 as “that thou art obstinate, and thy neck is an iron sinew and thy brow brass!”

⁵But He was wounded for our transgressions; He was bruised for our iniquities. The chastisement of our peace was upon Him, and with His stripes we are healed. — but he was wounded for our transgressions; not for any sins of his own, but for humans, for our transgressions of his law, in order to make atonement and satisfaction for them;

— he was bruised for our iniquities; as bread corn is bruised by threshing it; he being broken and crushed to pieces under the weight of sin, and the punishment of it. The ancient Jews understood this of the Messiah; for in one place they say of King Messiah, “he was wounded for our transgressions; and bruised for our iniquities.” – Mechilta apud Yalkut, par. 2. fol 90.

— and with his stripes we are healed; or “by his stripe” so called from the gathering and settling of the blood where the blow is given. As a physician, the wonderful Messiah heals by taking the sicknesses of his people upon himself, by bearing their sins, and being wounded and bruised for them and by his enduring blows and suffering death itself for them;

— the Targum says, “when we obey his words, our sins will be forgiven us” but forgiveness is not through our obedience, but the blood of Christ.

⁶All we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned every one to his own way; and the Lord hath laid on Him the iniquity of us all. — all we like sheep have gone astray; all the children of God, whether Jews or Gentiles; whom he compares to “sheep” not for any good qualities, but for our own foolishness and stupidity;

— and particularly for their being subject to go astray from the shepherd and from their good pastures, and who never return of themselves until they are brought back by the shepherd; so the people of God, in a state of nature are like the silly sheep who go astray from God;

— and the Lord hath laid on him the iniquity of us all; that is, God the Father against whom we have sinned, from whom we have turned and whose justice must be satisfied; he has laid on his own Son, the sins of all his elect.

⁷He was oppressed, and He was afflicted, yet He opened not his mouth; He is brought as a lamb to the slaughter; and as a sheep before her shearers is dumb, so He openeth not His mouth. — he was oppressed and was afflicted; he was injuriously treated by both the Jews and Romans; they handled him roughly; he was oppressed and afflicted, both in body and mind, with their blows and with their reproaches;

— and he being the surety of his people was responsible for them and did answer, the debt they owed was required, the payment of it was called for and he accordingly answered; the punishment of the sins of his people was exacted of him and he bore it in his own body on the tree;

— so he opened not his mouth: not against his enemies, by way of threats or complaint; nor even in his own defence; nor against the justice of God as bearing hard upon him, not sparing him but demanding and having full satisfaction; nor against his people and their sins.

⁸He was taken from prison and from judgement; and who shall declare His generation? For He was cut off out of the land of the living; for the transgression of My people was He stricken. — he was taken away from due justice and judgement; that is, his life was taken away in a violent manner, under a pretence of justice; whereas the utmost injustice was done him; a wrong charge was brought against him, false witnesses were suborned, and his life was taken away with wicked hands.

⁹And He made His grave with the wicked, and with the rich in His death, because He had done no violence, neither was any deceit in His mouth. — and he made his grave with the wicked and with the rich in his death; these words are generally supposed to refer to a fact that Yeshua would die with two wicked men besides him as if he himself had been one, was buried in a rich man’s grave;

— neither was any deceit in his mouth: no false accusation was delivered by him; he was no deceiver of the people as he was charged; he did not attempt to seduce them from the true worship of God or persuade them to believe anything contrary to the law of Moses and the prophets; he was no enemy to the state, nor indeed guilty of any manner of sin, nor given to any arts of trick and dissimulation.

¹⁰Yet it pleased the Lord to bruise Him; He hath put Him to grief. When thou shalt make His soul an offering for sin, He shall see His seed, He shall prolong His days, and the pleasure of the Lord shall prosper in His hand. — yet it pleased the Lord to bruise him; the sufferings of Yeshua, the Son of God are signified by his being “bruised” as it was foretold he should have his heel bruised by the serpent, Genesis 3:15;

— but here it is ascribed to the Lord: he was bruised in body when scourged and nailed to the cross; and was bruised and broken in spirit when the sins of his people were laid on him, (for more, see The Missing Hours of Christ).

¹¹He shall see of the travail of His soul, and shall be satisfied. By His knowledge shall My righteous Servant justify many, for He shall bear their iniquities. — the travail of his soul is the toil and labour he endured in working out the salvation of his people; his obedience and death, his sorrows and sufferings;

— particularly those birth throes of his soul under a sense of divine wrath for the allusion is to women in travail; and all the agonies and pains of death which he went through. Now the fruit of all this he sees with inexpressible pleasure and which gives him an infinite satisfaction; namely, the complete redemption of all the chosen ones and the glory of the divine perfections as well as his own glory which follows.

¹²Therefore will I divide Him a portion with the great, and He shall divide the spoil with the strong, because He hath poured out His soul unto death. And He was numbered with the transgressors; and He bore the sin of many, and made intercession for the transgressors. — therefore will God divide him a portion with the great; the great ones of the earth: these are the words of God the Father, promising his Son that he shall have as great a part or portion assigned him as any of the mighty monarchs of the world, nay, one much more large and ample; that he would make him higher than the kings of the earth, and give him a name above every name in this world; and all this in consequence of his sufferings and as a reward of them.

~~~

More on the Suffering Servant and its Fulfilments

He will be exalted (52:13) Philippians 2:9
He will be disfigured (52:14; 53:2) Mark 15:17,19
He will make a blood atonement (52:15) 1 Peter 1:2
He will be widely rejected (53:1,3) John 12:37,38
He will bear our sins and sorrows (53:4,5) Romans 4:25; 1 Peter 2:24,25
He will be our substitute (53:6,8) II Corinthians 5:21
He will voluntarily accept our guilt and punishment (53:7-8) John 10:11; 19:30
He will be buried in a rich man’s tomb (53:9) John 19:38-42
He will save those who believe in Him (53:10-11) John 3:16; Acts 16:31
He will die on behalf of transgressors (53:12) Mark 15:27,28; Luke 22:37

Posted in Isaiah, Jews for Judiasm, Judiasm, Nature of God, R Tovia Singer, Targum

Famine Soon?

•May 14, 2022 • Leave a Comment

How war is hitting Ukraine’s farmers and threatening world food supplies. And global wheat prices have increased by more than 40% since the beginning of the year.

Euronews by Stefan Weichert • 06/05/2022

Ukraine, dubbed Europe’s breadbasket, is one of the largest exporters of corn, wheat and oats to the European Union.

Over 5.7 million Ukrainians on the Way to Western Europe

But the war is having a huge impact on the country’s farmers.

Beyond the destruction of agricultural land, Russia’s blocking of Ukraine’s Black Sea ports means grains can only be shipped out of the country by rail or road.

Prior to Russia’s invasion, Ukraine exported up to 6 million tonnes of grains a month. But, according to analysts APK-Inform, 300,000 tonnes were shipped out in March and 923,000 in April.

Roughly only about ten percent of the previous total!

A UN food official said on Friday that nearly 25 million tonnes of grains are stuck in Ukraine and unable to leave the country.

If a solution isn’t found soon, the consequences will be apocalyptic, warns Andrii Baran, who is CEO of the Ukrainian agricultural company Agroprodservice, which has more than 40,000 hectares of land.

“I think that this must be solved, and the European countries also have an interest in this,” says Baran, who warns of higher food prices and hunger.

“Otherwise, if we don’t provide all that food, they (the EU) will have a few more million refugees from Northern Africa.”

Famines, a Pale Horse as one of the Four Horsemen

New article from Sputnik 14/5/2022 Indian Govt Bans Wheat Export With ‘Immediate Effect’ as Production Falls

Or Alarabiya News 14 May, 2022 India bans wheat exports as heatwave curbs output, prices soar

Why is India’s Stock Running Out?

The demand for wheat or wheat-based products from India has increased since the beginning of Russia’s special military operation in Ukraine. Russia and Ukraine account for over 28 percent of global wheat exports.

Against the backdrop of the Moscow’s special operation to “demilitarise and de-Nazify Ukraine”, wheat supplies in nearly 55 nations have reportedly been been hit, due to high wheat prices and a shortage of supplies in particular, leading governments to look for alternative exporters.

The projected combined global shortfall in wheat supply due to the Ukraine crisis is reportedly around 60 million tonnes.

Apart from that, in India, wheat production was adversely affected due to a sudden spike in temperatures in the second half of March in the country. Due to this, farmers have reported a 15-20 percent decline in their production yield.

In 2021-22, the country’s opening stocks were 27.3 million tonnes (mt), with the government having procured 43.3 mt from farmers.

To be followed by Millions of Refugees from the South!

This year, the opening stocks were 19 mt, and so far, the government has procured 18.5 mt of wheat, the lowest amount since 2007-08, when 11.1 mt were bought. The government has extended the procurement deadline till June.

Earlier in May, India’s Department of Food and Public Distribution (DFPD), said that the government had been able to procure 16 million tonnes of wheat by 2 May, nearly 30 percent less than what it had been able to buy from farmers during the same period last year.

The world would suffer by the sword, by famine, by pestilence and by captivity. Could this trigger a mass migration leading to the start of the Sword from the Global South? For more see Ezekiel 4 – 390/40 Years and A Sword from the South!

“And I will bring a sword upon you that shall avenge the quarrel of My covenant; and when ye are gathered together within your cities I will send the pestilence among you, and ye shall be delivered into the hand of the enemy,” Leviticus 26:25

“A third part of thee shall die with the pestilence, and with famine shall they be consumed in the midst of thee; and a third part shall fall by the sword round about thee; and I will scatter a third part into all the winds, and I will draw out a sword after them,” Ezekiel 5:11-12

Posted in Armageddon, Famines

Daniel’s Prayer, a Critique

•May 13, 2022 • Leave a Comment

Daniel’s Prayer is an example for us to study and emulate, especially for forgiveness against the Law of Moses (Leviticus 26; Deuteronomy 28); Daniel was not merely praying for his comfort and protection in the darkness. His concern was to pray for God’s people, the acknowledgement of their sins and asking for forgiveness and great mercies.

What Daniel admitted is unlike what Rabbi Tovia Singer and other rabbinic interpretation have in their teachings by shifting blames by assigning the “suffering servant” of Isaiah 53 to the nation of Israel “who silently endured unimaginable suffering at the hands of its gentile oppressors.” That is, to Rabbi Singer, Israel’s suffering is attributable to their wicked neighbours and not to themselves!

Or, from another shifting of blames from Jews for Judiasm: “when the nations, astonished and in terror, will feel ashamed for their oppression of the Jewish people.” Again, they have no faults of their own but shift their suffering to their wicked neighbours and not attribute to themselves!

Making no excuses, Daniel confessed his people’s sin and acknowledged the justice of God’s judgement, severe though it had been. “We have sinned, we have done wickedly” Israel suffers because of her own sins; Period! In response from God, Daniel was greatly praised by the angel Gabriel, who was sent with further revelation or prophecy and said to Daniel, “I have come to show thee, for thou art greatly loved.”

Daniel is greatly loved, his example of a Prayer should be emulated and studied today. For example:

(1) Daniel does not say “they” but instead he says “we” incorporating the reality that all have sinned and all need forgiveness;
(2) instead of justifying like King Saul did, Daniel freely knowledges his and his nation’s iniquities, wickedness and rebellion against the Most High;
(3) nowhere in Daniel’s prayer did he put the blame on the wicked Chaldeans nor on Nebuchadnezzar, but squarely on themselves; and
(4) asks, “Open Thine ear and hear,” asks “O Lord, forgive! O Lord,” for forgiveness and for His great mercies on behalf of his people.

Daniel’s Prayer is found in Daniel 9

— seventy years of captivity in Babylon, for the house of Judah had forgotten God’s warning: “And I will scatter you among the heathen, and will draw out a sword after you; and your land shall be desolate and your cities waste,” Leviticus 26:33.

³ And I (Daniel) set my face unto the Lord God, seeking by prayer and supplications, with fasting, and sackcloth, and ashes.

⁵we have sinned and have committed iniquity, and have done wickedly and have rebelled, even by departing from Thy precepts and from Thy judgements.

— instead of justifying like King Saul did, Daniel freely knowledges his nation’s iniquities, wickedness and rebellion against the Most High, departing from His precepts and from His judgements.

⁶ Neither have we hearkened unto Thy servants the prophets, who spoke in Thy name to our kings, our princes, and our fathers, and to all the people of the land.

⁸ O Lord, to us belongeth confusion of face, to our kings, to our princes, and to our fathers, because we have sinned against Thee.

⁹To the Lord our God belong mercies and forgivenesses, though we have rebelled against Him;

¹⁰ neither have we obeyed the voice of the Lord our God to walk in His laws, which He set before us by His servants the prophets.

— for not obeying God’s voice and transgressing upon His laws, Daniel freely admits “the curse is poured upon us” and Daniel offers no stupid excuses, unlike his latter-days pretenders and other stout-hearted;

— three times Nebuchadnezzar was described as “Nebuchadnezzar the king of Babylon, My servant,” (Jeremiah 25:9, 27:6, 43:10); a savaging Nebuchadnezzar was just an instrument being used by God to horse-whipped Israel into shape;

— Ezra also freely admitted it was their sin or their fathers’ sin, “But after our fathers had provoked the God of heaven unto wrath, He gave them into the hand of Nebuchadnezzar the king of Babylon, the Chaldean, who destroyed this house and carried the people away into Babylon,” Ezra 5:12

— by trying to divert sins is very much like what God’s anointed King Saul did. When asked why he disobeyed God by not destroying Amalek and all that they have, his defence was “but the people took of the spoil, sheep and oxen,” and as a result he lost God’s favor: he lost a sound mind, consulted a witch and his kingdom was taken away from him.

13 “As it is written in the Law of Moses, all this evil is come upon us. Yet made we not our prayer before the Lord our God, that we might turn from our iniquities and understand Thy truth.

¹⁴ Therefore hath the Lord watched upon the evil, and brought it upon us; for the Lord our God is righteous in all His works which He doeth, for we obeyed not His voice.

¹⁵ “And now, O Lord our God, who hast brought Thy people forth out of the land of Egypt with a mighty hand, and hast made Thee a name, as at this day — we have sinned, we have done wickedly.

— what Daniel admitted is unlike what Rabbi Tovia Singer and other rabbinic interpretation have in their teachings by assigning the “suffering servant” of Isaiah 53 to the nation of Israel “who silently endured unimaginable suffering at the hands of its gentile oppressors.” What nonsense, “we have sinned, we have done wickedly” Israel suffers because of her own sins; Period!

— but trying to divert sin is a great sin by itself. King Saul justified himself by saying “for the people spared the best of the sheep and of the oxen to sacrifice unto the Lord thy God.” King Saul blamed his disobedience on “the people.” It wasn’t a small matter and for this, Saul’s kingdom was removed;

— by contrast, when David sinned, he sinned with no pretence that he was keeping God’s laws. He clearly did not believe that he needed to pay the penalty for each. When the seer Nathan rebuked David concerning his sin involving Bathsheba and Uriah, he made no excuses, but instead immediately agreed with God about his sin (i.e. confessed it), repented and returned wholeheartedly to God.

¹⁷ “Now therefore, O our God, hear the prayer of Thy servant and his supplications, and cause Thy face to shine upon Thy sanctuary that is desolate, for the Lord’s sake.

¹⁹ O Lord, hear! O Lord, forgive! O Lord, hearken and do! Defer not, for Thine own sake, O my God; for Thy city and Thy people are called by Thy name.”

— nowhere in Daniel’s prayer did he put the blame on the wicked Chaldeans nor on Nebuchadnezzar, but squarely on themselves; the vicious and ravaging Chaldeans were just mere instruments used by God as three time Nebuchadnezzar was described as “Nebuchadnezzar the king of Babylon, My servant,” (Jeremiah 25:9, 27:6, 43:10) to carry out His will;

— at no instance did Daniel called upon God to take revenge. Gentiles are not lilywhites, but God’s will for the Gentiles is His business alone, and He will carry out His judgement and revenge in His own space and time.

— Would the house of Judah need to go into captivity again, this time for forty years to be more like Daniel? See more in Ezekiel 4 – 390/40 Years.

Modern Israel, today as in the past, has many blind shepherd, for it was said: “Hear, ye deaf; and look, ye blind, that ye may see” Isaiah 42:18
“His watchmen are blind; they are all ignorant; they are all dumb dogs, they cannot bark, sleeping, lying down, loving to slumber” Isaiah 56:10
For a Spiritual perspective, see A Sword from the South!

Posted in Daniel, Judiasm, Prayers, R Tovia Singer

Hezekiah’s Prayer

•May 11, 2022 • Leave a Comment

II Kings 19

¹ And it came to pass, when King Hezekiah heard it, that he rent his clothes and covered himself with sackcloth, and went into the house of the Lord.

²And he sent Eliakim, who was over the household, and Shebna the scribe, and the elders of the priests, covered with sackcloth, to Isaiah the prophet the son of Amoz.

³And they said unto him, “Thus saith Hezekiah: ‘This day is a day of trouble and of rebuke and blasphemy; for the children have come to the birth, and there is not strength to bring forth.

⁴It may be the Lord thy God will hear all the words of Rabshakeh, whom the king of Assyria his master hath sent to reproach the living God, and will reprove the words which the Lord thy God hath heard. Therefore lift up thy prayer for the remnant who are left.’”

⁵So the servants of King Hezekiah came to Isaiah.

⁶And Isaiah said unto them, “Thus shall ye say to your master, ‘Thus saith the Lord: Be not afraid of the words which thou hast heard, with which the servants of the king of Assyria have blasphemed Me.

⁷Behold, I will send a blight upon him, and he shall hear a rumor and shall return to his own land; and I will cause him to fall by the sword in his own land.’”

⁸So Rabshakeh returned and found the king of Assyria warring against Libnah, for he had heard that he had departed from Lachish.

⁹And when he heard say of Tirhakah king of Ethiopia, “Behold, he has come out to fight against thee,” he sent messengers again unto Hezekiah, saying,

¹⁰“Thus shall ye speak to Hezekiah king of Judah, saying, ‘Let not thy God in whom thou trustest deceive thee, saying, “Jerusalem shall not be delivered into the hand of the king of Assyria.”

¹¹Behold, thou hast heard what the kings of Assyria have done to all lands by destroying them utterly. And shalt thou be delivered?

¹²Have the gods of the nations delivered them whom my fathers have destroyed, as Gozan and Haran and Rezeph and the children of Eden who were in Thelasar?

¹³Where is the king of Hamath, and the king of Arpad, and the king of the city of Sepharvaim, of Hena, and Ivah?’”

¹⁴And Hezekiah received the letter from the hand of the messengers and read it; and Hezekiah went up into the house of the Lord, and spread it before the Lord.

¹⁵And Hezekiah prayed before the Lord, and said:

“O Lord God of Israel, who dwellest between the cherubims, Thou art the God, even Thou alone, of all the kingdoms of the earth. Thou hast made heaven and earth.
¹⁶Lord, bow down Thine ear, and hear; open, Lord, Thine eyes, and see; and hear the words of Sennacherib, who hath sent him to reproach the living God.
¹⁷Of a truth, Lord, the kings of Assyria have destroyed the nations and their lands,
¹⁸and have cast their gods into the fire; for they were no gods, but the work of men’s hands, wood and stone. Therefore they have destroyed them.
¹⁹Now therefore, O Lord our God, I beseech Thee, save Thou us out of his hand, that all the kingdoms of the earth may know that Thou art the Lord God, even Thou only.”

²⁰Then Isaiah the son of Amoz sent to Hezekiah, saying, “Thus saith the Lord God of Israel: ‘That which thou hast prayed to Me against Sennacherib king of Assyria I have heard.’

²¹This is the word that the Lord hath spoken concerning him: “‘The virgin, the daughter of Zion, hath despised thee and laughed thee to scorn; the daughter of Jerusalem hath shaken her head at thee.

²²Whom hast thou reproached and blasphemed? And against whom hast thou exalted thy voice, and lifted up thine eyes on high? Even against the Holy One of Israel.

²³By thy messengers thou hast reproached the Lord, and hast said, “With the multitude of my chariots I have come up to the height of the mountains, to the sides of Lebanon, and will cut down the tall cedar trees thereof, and the choice fir trees thereof; and I will enter into the lodgings of his borders, and into the forest of his Carmel.

²⁴I have dug and drunk strange waters, and with the sole of my feet have I dried up all the rivers of besieged places.”

²⁵“‘Hast thou not heard long ago how I have done it, and of ancient times that I have formed it? Now have I brought it to pass, that thou shouldest be to lay waste fortified cities into ruinous heaps.

²⁶Therefore their inhabitants were of small power; they were dismayed and confounded; they were as the grass of the field and as the green herb, as the grass on the house tops and as corn blighted before it be grown up.

²⁷“‘But I know thy abode, and thy going out and thy coming in, and thy rage against Me.

²⁸Because thy rage against Me and thy tumult is come up into Mine ears, therefore I will put My hook in thy nose, and My bridle in thy lips, and I will turn thee back by the way by which thou camest.

²⁹“‘And this shall be a sign unto thee: Ye shall eat this year such things as grow of themselves, and in the second year that which springeth of the same; and in the third year sow ye and reap, and plant vineyards and eat the fruits thereof.

³⁰And the remnant that is escaped of the house of Judah shall yet again take root downward, and bear fruit upward.

³¹For out of Jerusalem shall go forth a remnant, and they that escape out of Mount Zion. The zeal of the Lord of hosts shall do this.’

³²“Therefore thus saith the Lord concerning the king of Assyria: ‘He shall not come into this city, nor shoot an arrow there, nor come before it with shield, nor cast a mound against it.

³³By the way that he came, by the same shall he return, and shall not come into this city,’ saith the Lord.

³⁴‘For I will defend this city to save it for Mine own sake, and for My servant David’s sake.’”

³⁵And it came to pass that night, that the angel of the Lord went out and smote in the camp of the Assyrians a hundred fourscore and five thousand; and when they arose early in the morning, behold, they were all dead corpses. — 185,000 soldiers dead overnight!

³⁶So Sennacherib king of Assyria departed, and went and returned, and dwelt at Nineveh.

³⁷And it came to pass, as he was worshiping in the house of Nisroch his god, that Adrammelech and Sharezer, his sons, smote him with the sword; and they escaped into the land of Ararat. And Esarhaddon his son reigned in his stead.

Posted in Doctrines, Prayers

Ezra (Ch 3-4)

•May 9, 2022 • Leave a Comment

The Samaritans are adversaries to the returning Jews because of (a) difference in defining what time at ben ha’arbayim when the Pascha lamb should be killed: the Jewish definition of ben ha’arbayim “between the two evenings” is “after noon and until nightfall,” whereas the Samaritans is sunset or dusk; (b) when is omer, which translated to English is rendered “wave sheaf” offering to be made: the Jews definition has it on the annual Sabbath after Pascha, whereas the Samaritans has it the day after the weekly Sabbath during the days of unleavened bread;

— (c) after counting seven weeks after the omer, on what day Shavuot is to be kept: the Jews have it on Sivan 6th, whereas the Samaritans always have it on a weekly Sabbath; (d) the three annual feasts are to be kept in Jerusalem, whereas the Samaritans have their feasts on Mount Gerizim, which they consider a sacred mountain; and (e) once in roughly three years, the Samaritan calendar starts one month later than the Jewish calendar.

Ezra 3

¹And when the seventh month had come, and the children of Israel were in the cities, the people gathered themselves together as one man to Jerusalem. — and when the seventh month was come; the month Tisri, when the Feast of Tabernacles was; or when it “was approaching” for before it was actually come some following things were done, the people met and an altar was built; for on the first day of it sacrifices were offered, Ezra 3:6,

— and the children of Israel were in the cities; their respective cities, settling their domestic affairs; the people gathered themselves together as one man to Jerusalem; the thing was universal and done with as much dispatch as if only one man was concerned; and it seems to denote as if they were under a divine impulse and came together without any consultation and without summons.

²Then stood up Jeshua the son of Jozadak and his brethren the priests, and Zerubbabel the son of Shealtiel and his brethren, and built the altar of the God of Israel to offer burnt offerings thereon, as it is written in the law of Moses, the man of God. — the name Jeshua is a mere variant of Joshua; his brethren the priests, as being all of them equally descended from Aaron, the priests were “brethren.”

— Zerubbabel; he was the chief or governor of the first band of returning exiles; accompanied by Joshua, the high priest and Nehemiah;

— and built the altar of the God of Israel; and to offer burnt offerings thereon, as it is written in the law of Moses.

³And they set the altar upon his bases, for fear was upon them because of the people of those countries; and they offered burnt offerings thereon unto the Lord, even burnt offerings morning and evening. — they set the altar upon his bases; they built the new altar upon the foundations of the old one, making it exactly conform to them. This was done, no doubt, to indicate that the religion which the exiles brought back from Babylon was in every respect identical with that which they had possessed before they were carried thither;

— for fear was upon them. Or, “though fear was upon them.” Notwithstanding their fear of the surrounding nations, they set up the altar; their neighbours were not Persians, but descendants of various idolatrous nations: Hamathites, Babylonians, Susianians, Elamites, Cuthaeans, who bitterly opposed to anything like a pure spiritual religion;

— they offered burnt offerings; morning and evening; it was their duty and they did not wait till the temple should be rebuilt and dedicated; but at the outset they resumed the daily service prescribed by the law (Exodus 29:38,39, Leviticus 6:9,11), as well as observed the annual seasons of solemn observance.

⁴They kept also the Feast of Tabernacles, as it is written, and offered the daily burnt offerings by number according to the custom, as the duty of every day required; — it was the autumn or vintage feast, the most joyous of all the annual festivals, the feast of tabernacles as it is written; according to the rules prescribed for the observation of it in Leviticus 23:34 this began on the fifteenth day of the seventh month:

— and they offered burnt offerings unto the Lord, even burnt offerings, morning (at 9 AM) and evening (at 3 PM); the daily sacrifice, as directed in Exodus 29:38. The heretic Sun-worshipping Samaritans interpret evening (ben ha arbayim) as sunset or dusk, at 6 PM as the Sun began to set.

⁵ and afterward offered the continual burnt offering, both of the new moons and of all the set feasts of the Lord that were consecrated, and of every one who willingly offered a freewill offering unto the Lord. — the new moons, the three feasts and the freewill offerings, added to the daily sacrifice, made up the essentials of the sacrifices; all being, like the arrangements in the Book of Leviticus, observed even before the Temple was built and afterwards continually.

— Q, was the new moons observed by the priests only or by all the people, and if observed by all the people, how?

⁶From the first day of the seventh month they began to offer burnt offerings unto the Lord. But the foundation of the temple of the Lord was not yet laid. — the altar service, with the daily morning and evening sacrifice, began on the first day of the seventh month; this daily sacrifice was regularly offered, according to the law.

⁷They gave money also unto the masons and to the carpenters, and meat and drink and oil unto those of Sidon and to those of Tyre, to bring cedar trees from Lebanon to the sea at Joppa, according to the grant that they had from Cyrus king of Persia. — they gave money also to the masons, and to the carpenters; to buy stone and timber with for the building of the temple:

— and meat and drink and oil unto them of Zidon, and to them of Tyre; which were more agreeable to them than money because there was not plenty of such things in their country as in the land of Israel:

— to bring cedar trees from Lebanon to the sea of Joppa; as they did at the first building of the temple by Solomon; they cut down cedars at Lebanon, which belonged to them and sent them by sea to Joppa, the nearest seaport to Jerusalem, about forty miles from it: see II Chronicles 2:16;

— according to the grant that they had of Cyrus king of Persia; for Tyre and Zidon being under his dominion as well as Judea, he not only gave leave to the Jews to get cedar wood from Lebanon, but gave orders to the Zidonians and Tyrians to furnish them with it, paying a valuable consideration for it; and so some render the word, “according to the commandment of Cyrus.”

⁸Now in the second year of their coming unto the house of God at Jerusalem, in the second month, began Zerubbabel the son of Shealtiel, and Jeshua the son of Jozadak, and the remnant of their brethren, the priests and the Levites, and all those who had come out of the captivity unto Jerusalem; and they appointed the Levites from twenty years old and upward, to press forward the work of the house of the Lord. — the building of the temple was begun as soon as ever the season of the year would permit, and as soon as they had ended the solemnities of the Passover. They took little more than half a year for preparing the ground and materials; so much were their hearts upon the work;

— and appointed the Levites from twenty years old and upwards to set forward the work of the house of the Lord; to put men to work upon it, and direct them what to do, and urge them to attend closely to it; ever since David’s time the Levites were employed at twenty years of age, when before not till thirty, or twenty five; see 1 Chronicles 23:24.

⁹Then stood Jeshua with his sons and his brethren, Kadmiel and his sons, the sons of Judah together, to supervise the workmen in the house of God: the sons of Henadad with their sons and their brethren the Levites.

¹⁰And when the builders laid the foundation of the temple of the Lord, they set the priests in their apparel with trumpets, and the Levites the sons of Asaph with cymbals to praise the Lord, according to the ordinance of David king of Israel. — after the ordinance of David, king of Israel; all goes back to earlier times. As the first offerings on the altar were according to what was “written in the law of Moses, the man of God,” so the musical ceremonial of this foundation is according to the precedent of David (see 1 Chronicles 6, 1Chronicles 16:25).

¹¹And they sang together by course, praising and giving thanks unto the Lord: “Because He is good, for His mercy endureth for ever toward Israel.” And all the people shouted with a great shout when they praised the Lord, because the foundation of the house of the Lord was laid.

¹²But many of the priests and Levites and chief of the fathers who were elderly men who had seen the first house, when the foundation of this house was laid before their eyes, wept with a loud voice; and many shouted aloud for joy, — but many of the priests and Levites, and chief of the fathers, who were ancient men; seventy or eighty years of age:

— that had seen the first house; the temple built by Solomon, as they very well might, since then it had been destroyed but fifty two years; for the seventy years captivity are to be reckoned from the fourth of Jehoiakim, when it began, and which was eighteen years before the destruction of the temple;

— that had seen the first house; not when first founded, for that was five hundred years ago, but in “its foundation” – they saw it standing upon its foundation, in all its glory, as the Septuagint version says;

— this house was before their eyes, wept with a loud voice; seeing what it was like to be by the foundation now laid, and was in their sight as nothing in comparison of the former; see Haggai 2:3,

¹³so that the people could not discern the noise of the shout of joy from the noise of the weeping of the people; for the people shouted with a loud shout, and the noise was heard afar off. — there was a remarkable mixture of emotions upon laying the foundation of the temple. Those that only knew the misery of having no temple at all, praised the Lord with shouts of joy;

— to them, even this foundation seemed great. We ought to be thankful for the beginnings of reinstatement, though it be not yet perfect. But those who remembered the glory of the first temple and considered how far inferior this was likely to be, wept with a loud voice;

— for the people shouted with a loud shout and the noise was heard afar off; the shouting being of young people, whose voice was strongest, and their shouting prevailed over the noise of weeping; and it was heard further, and at a distance appeared more distinctly to be the noise of shouting, that of weeping not reaching so far; but Rashi is of opinion that the noise of weeping was heard further than the noise of shouting, which seems unlikely.

Ezra 4

¹ Now when the adversaries of Judah and Benjamin heard that the children of the captivity were building the temple unto the Lord God of Israel, — the adversaries; the Samaritans, so identified by Nehemiah (Ezra 4:10). These were a mixed race, the original Israelite element of which was nearly lost in the tribes imported into the northern part of the land by Sargon, Sennacherib, and Esar-haddon;

— the Samaritans are adversaries to the returning Jews because of (a) difference in defining what time at ben ha’arbayim when the Pascha lamb should be killed: the Jewish definition of ben ha’arbayim “between the two evenings” is “after noon and until nightfall,” whereas the Samaritans is sunset or dusk; (b) when is omer, which translated to English is rendered “wave sheaf” offering to be made: the Jews definition has it on the annual Sabbath after Pascha, whereas the Samaritans has it the day after the weekly Sabbath during the days of unleavened bread;

— these adversaries, being not accepted in the building of the temple with the Jews, endeavour to hinder it; their false and malicious letter to Artaxerxes, Ezra 4:7-16. Artexerxes’ decree: the building is hindered, Ezra 4:17-24.

²then they came to Zerubbabel and to the chief of the fathers, and said unto them, “Let us build with you, for we seek your God as ye do; and we have done sacrifice unto Him since the days of Esarhaddon king of Assyria, who brought us up hither.” — as ye do; indeed, “They feared the Lord, but worshipped their own gods” (2Kings 17:33): thus they came either in the spirit of hypocrites or with an intention to unite their own idolatries with the pure worship of Yehovah. In any case, they are counted enemies of the God of Israel.

³But Zerubbabel and Jeshua, and the rest of the chief of the fathers of Israel said unto them, “Ye have nothing to do with us in building a house unto our God; but we ourselves together will build unto the Lord God of Israel, as King Cyrus the king of Persia hath commanded us.” — you have nothing to do with us to build an house to our God; being neither of the same nation, nor of the same religion:

— but we ourselves together will build to the Lord God of Israel; we and we only, who are together as one man, united in one body of people, and in the same religious sentiments, being Israelites; we separately, without admitting strangers among us, will build a temple to the God of Israel.

⁴ Then the people of the land weakened the hands of the people of Judah, and troubled them in building, — every attempt to revive true religion will stir up the opposition by Satan; the adversaries were the Samaritans, who had been planted in the land of Israel, II King 17. It was plain that they did not mean to unite in the worship of the Lord, according to his word. Let those who discourage a good work, and weaken them that are employed in it, see whose pattern they follow.

⁵and hired counselors against them to frustrate their purpose all the days of Cyrus king of Persia, even until the reign of Darius king of Persia. — the Samaritans endeavored by every means to molest the workmen as well as obstruct the progress of the building; and, though they could not alter the decree which Cyrus had issued regarding it, yet by bribes and clandestine arts indefatigably plied at court, they labored to frustrate the effects of the edict.

— their success in those underhand dealings was great; for Cyrus, being frequently absent and much absorbed in his warlike expeditions, left the government in the hands of his son Cambyses, a wicked prince, and extremely hostile to the Jews and their religion. In consequence of the difficulties and obstacles thus interposed, for a period of twenty years, the progress of the work was very slow.

⁶And in the reign of Ahasuerus, in the beginning of his reign, they wrote unto him an accusation against the inhabitants of Judah and Jerusalem. — and wrote they unto him an accusation against the inhabitants of Judah and Jerusalem; full of hatred and enmity, spite and malice, charging them as a turbulent, disobedient, and rebellious people.

⁷And in the days of Artaxerxes, Bishlam, Mithredath, Tabeel and the rest of their companions wrote unto Artaxerxes king of Persia; and the writing of the letter was written in the Syrian tongue, and interpreted in the Syrian tongue. — and the writing of the letter was written in the Syrian tongue, and interpreted in the Syrian tongue; or Chaldee, of which Ezra gives a copy in the Chaldee language; the meaning either is, that it was written both in Syriac letters, and in the Syriac language; for sometimes words are written in one language and in the character of another.

⁸Rehum the chancellor and Shimshai the scribe wrote a letter against Jerusalem to Artaxerxes the king of this sort:

⁹Rehum the chancellor, and Shimshai the scribe, and the rest of their companions, the Dinaites, the Apharsathchites, the Tarpelites, the Apharsites, the Archevites, the Babylonians, the Shushanites, the Dehavites, and the Elamites, — Rehum the chancellor; the lord of judgement, the counsellor of the Persian king, a conventional title of the civil governor.

¹⁰and the rest of the nations whom the great and noble Osnapper brought over and set in the cities of Samaria, and the rest who are on this side of the river and at such a time: — and the rest of the nations whom the great and noble Asnappar brought over, and set in the cities of Samaria, and the rest that are on this side the river, and at such a time;

— On this side the river – literally, “beyond the river,” a phrase used of Palestine by Ezra, Nehemiah, and in the Book of Kings, as designating the region west of the Euphrates.

¹¹(This is the copy of the letter that they sent unto him, even unto Artaxerxes the king.) “Thy servants, the men on this side of the river, and at such a time. — this is the copy of the letter they sent unto him, even unto Artaxerxes the king, which Ezra brought with him from Babylon, and is contained in the five following verses: thy servants the men on this side the river, and at such a time; this was the inscription of the letter, or the beginning of it.

¹²Be it known unto the king that the Jews who came up from thee to us have come unto Jerusalem, building the rebellious and the bad city, and have set up the walls thereof, and joined the foundations. — be it known unto the king; the intent of this letter was, that it might be known to the king what follows:
that the Jews which came up from thee to us are come unto Jerusalem;

— this they observe partly out of contempt of the Jews, having been lately captive in Babylon and partly to insinuate what ingratitude they were guilty of; that having got their liberty and come to Jerusalem, they made use of it to the king’s detriment;

— building the rebellious and the bad city; as they suggest it had been to kings, even his predecessors, in former times, Ezra 4:15; and have set up the walls thereof, and joined the foundations, which was a falsehood; for the most they had done was setting up the walls of their houses in Jerusalem and laying the foundation of the temple; as for the walls of the city, they had not as yet done anything unto them.

¹³Be it known now unto the king that, if this city be built and the walls set up again, then they will not pay toll, tribute, and custom, and so thou shalt bring damage to the revenue of the kings. — toll, tribute, and custom; the first was a poll tax, the second was a property tax, the third the excise dues on articles of trade and merchandise;

— their letter and the edict that followed, commanding an immediate cessation of the work at the city walls, form the exclusive subject of narrative at Ezra 4:7-23.

¹⁴Now because we have maintenance from the king’s palace, and it was not meet for us to see the king’s dishonor, therefore have we sent and certified this to the king, — now because we have maintenance from the king’s palace; in the Hebrew it is, we are salted with the salt of the palace; that is, are sustained by the king’s munificence, or have a stipend from the king’s exchequer. In ancient times it appears usual to allow those who had deserved well and on that account were honourably provided for at the king’s charge, among other things, a daily quantity of salt; it being a thing very necessary in human life;

— and it was not meet for us to see the king’s dishonour; to see any thing done injurious to his crown and dignity, to his honour and revenues, when we are supported by him; this would be ungrateful as well as unjust;

— therefore have we sent and certified the king; of the truth of what is before related; and, for the further confirmation of it, refer him to the ancient records of the kingdom. What a hypocrite!

¹⁵that search may be made in the book of the records of thy fathers. So shalt thou find in the book of the records and know that this city is a rebellious city, and hurtful unto kings and provinces, and that they have moved sedition within the same in old times, for which cause this city was destroyed. — the book of the records of thy fathers; “the book of the records of the Chronicles” which in Esther 6:1 is “read before the king.” This extended beyond his own fathers back to the times of the predecessors of the Medes and Persians empire;

— so shalt thou find in the book of the records and know that this city is a rebellious city and hurtful unto kings and provinces and that they have moved sedition within the same of old time; against the king of Babylon, particularly in the times of Jehoiakim and Zedekiah: for which cause was this city destroyed; as it was by Nebuchadnezzar; see II Kings 24:1.

¹⁶We certify to the king that if this city be built again, and the walls thereof set up, by this means thou shalt have no portion on this side of the river.” — We certify the king, that if this city be rebuilt and the walls thereof set up; as it formerly was, and now attempted, as they suggest:

— by this means thou shalt have no portion on this side the river; the river Euphrates; intimating that the Jews would not only shake off his yoke, and refuse to pay tribute themselves, but would seize on all his dominions on that side the river, and annex them to their own.

¹⁷Then sent the king an answer unto Rehum the chancellor, and to Shimshai the scribe, and to the rest of their companions who dwell in Samaria, and unto the rest beyond the river: “Peace, and at such a time. — then sent the king an answer unto Rehum the chancellor, and to Shimshai the scribe; this affair, upon examination, being found to be of importance, the king of Persia thought fit to send an answer to the above letter, which was doing them an honour, and gave them the power and authority they wished to have:

— and to the rest of their companions that dwelt in Samaria; in the kingdom, province, and cities of Samaria: and unto the rest beyond the river; the river Euphrates, the rest of the nations before mentioned, Ezra 4:9.

¹⁸The letter which ye sent unto us hath been plainly read before me. — hath been plainly before the king by such that understood both the Syrian and Persian languages; the letter was written in the Syrian language, and the king being a Persian, it was necessary it should be interpreted and explained to him.

¹⁹And I commanded, and search hath been made, and it is found that this city in old times hath made insurrection against kings, and that rebellion and sedition have been made therein. — the archives of the Babylonian kingdom would contain accounts of the insurrections raised, or threatened, by Jehoiakim, Jehoiachin and Zedekiah II Kings 24:1, II Kings 24:10, II Kings 24:20. It does not appear that there had ever been any rebellion against Persia.

²⁰There have been mighty kings also over Jerusalem, who have ruled over all countries beyond the river; and toll, tribute, and custom were paid unto them. — there have been mighty kings also over Jerusalem, which have ruled over all countries beyond the river; as David and Solomon, and the account of these they had in their records, see II Samuel 8:1,

— and toll, tribute, and custom, was paid unto them; as appears from the places referred to; and this served to strengthen the insinuation made to the king, that if these people were suffered to go on building, he would lose his tribute and taxes in those parts.

²¹Give ye now command to cause these men to cease, and that this city be not built until another command shall be given from me. — Give ye now commandment to cause these men to cease; thus he suffered himself to be imposed upon by their fraud and falsehood, and took no care to examine the allegations of their petition concerning what the Jews were now doing;

— but took all they had asserted for matter of fact and therefore was very ready to gratify them with an order of council to stay proceedings. Until another commandment shall be given; so that perhaps he kept his ears open to further information; which if he should receive, different from theirs, he might give other orders.

²²Take heed now that ye fail not to do this. Why should damage grow to the hurt of the kings?” — take heed now that ye fail not to do this; to put his orders into execution and at once, without any loss of time, oblige the Jews to desist from rebuilding the walls of their city, which he was told they were doing, though a great falsehood:

— why should damage grow to the hurt of the kings? of him and his successors to be deprived of their toll, tribute, and customs, and to have insurrections, mutinies and rebellions in the dominions belonging to them.

²³Now when the copy of King Artaxerxes’ letter was read before Rehum and Shimshai the scribe and their companions, they went up in haste to Jerusalem unto the Jews, and made them cease by force and power. — and made them to cease by force and power; as they abused the king by their misinformations in the obtaining of this order so they abused him in the execution of it;

— instigated by the Samaritans, for the order was only to prevent the building of the city and its walls, but, having power in their hands, they on this pretence stopped the building of the temple.

²⁴Then ceased the work of the house of God which is at Jerusalem. So it ceased unto the second year of the reign of Darius king of Persia. — then ceased the work of the house of God, which is at Jerusalem; how far they had proceeded is not said, whether any further than laying the foundation of it; though probably, by this time, it might be carried to some little height;

— however, upon this it was discontinued: so it ceased unto the second year of the reign of Darius king of Persia; the suspension of the general enterprise—called “the work of the house of God which is at Jerusalem”—lasted nearly two years; but it must be remembered that the altar was still the centre of a certain amount of worship; which would carry the age of Zerubbabel, who both laid the foundation of the temple and finished it, Zechariah 4:9.

Posted in Ezra

Is a Nuclear War a Possibility?

•May 8, 2022 • Leave a Comment

Russia Ambassador to US Says NATO Not Taking Nuclear War Threat Seriously

Newsweek by Tom O’Connor – May 5, 2022

Russia’s ambassador to the United States has told Newsweek that leaders of the US-led NATO military alliance do not grasp the true gravity of a potential nuclear conflict erupting, as a tense war of words among powers looms over the ongoing fighting in Ukraine.

Russia: NATO Not Taking Nuclear Threat Seriously

“The current generation of NATO politicians clearly does not take the nuclear threat seriously,” ambassador Anatoly Antonov told Newsweek.

While it’s widely believed that a direct war between NATO and Russia would quickly turn nuclear, the danger doesn’t appear to be factored into the Western approach to the war in Ukraine.

As officials and other influential figures of the US and allied nations accuse the Kremlin of summoning the specter of nuclear war over NATO’s support for Ukraine against Russia’s devastating invasion, Moscow’s ambassador Anatoly Antonov, disparaged what he called “a flurry of blatant misrepresentation of Russian officials’ statements on our country’s nuclear policy.”

Antonov reiterated Russia’s stance on the potential scenarios where it would use nuclear weapons. He said they “can be used in response to the use of WMD against Russia and its allies, or in the event of aggression against our country when the very existence of the state is jeopardized.”

The US and Russia possess about 90% of the world’s nuclear weapons, but today, there is only one major arms control treaty between the two nations, the New START, which limits the number of missiles, bombers, and nuclear warheads each power can have deployed. Early on in Biden’s presidency, he and Russian President Vladimir Putin agreed to extend New START for five years, but progress on arms control has stalled since.

At a summit in Geneva last June, Biden and Putin agreed that the US and Russia would hold arms control talks, but Antonov said the dialogue has been “frozen” by Washington. “Regrettably, Washington has unilaterally ‘frozen’ the bilateral strategic stability dialogue that was launched at the Geneva summit, thus jeopardizing the prospects of keeping the foundation of arms control in place,” he said. “Russia is ready to resume the consultations as soon as the United States is ready.”

“And I will bring a sword upon you that shall avenge the quarrel of My covenant; and when ye are gathered together within your cities I will send the pestilence among you, and ye shall be delivered into the hand of the enemy,” Leviticus 26:25
“A third part of thee shall die with the pestilence, and with famine shall they be consumed in the midst of thee; and a third part shall fall by the sword round about thee; and I will scatter a third part into all the winds, and I will draw out a sword after them,” Ezekiel 5:11-12

Posted in Armageddon, Russia, US

Ezra (Ch 1-2)

•May 7, 2022 • Leave a Comment

The decree of Cyrus: marking an epoch of very great importance and therefore repeated almost word for word from the end of Chronicles:

“Now in the first year of Cyrus king of Persia, that the word of the Lord spoken by the mouth of Jeremiah might be accomplished, the Lord stirred up the spirit of Cyrus king of Persia, so that he made a proclamation throughout all his kingdom and put it also in writing, saying,
“Thus saith Cyrus king of Persia: All the kingdoms of the earth hath the Lord God of heaven given me; and He hath charged me to build Him a house in Jerusalem, which is in Judah. Who is there among you of all His people? The Lord his God be with him, and let him go up.” II Chronicles 36:22-23

Ezra 1

¹ Now in the first year of Cyrus king of Persia, that the word of the Lord by the mouth of Jeremiah might be fulfilled, the Lord stirred up the spirit of Cyrus king of Persia, that he made a proclamation throughout all his kingdom and put it also in writing, saying, — by the first year of Cyrus is to be understood the first year of his sovereignty over the Jews, or 538 BC when he took Babylon from Belshazzar; because he was known to have became king of Persia twenty years earlier in BC 559;

²“Thus saith Cyrus king of Persia: ‘The Lord God of heaven hath given me all the kingdoms of the earth; and He hath charged me to build Him a house at Jerusalem, which is in Judah. — the Lord stirred up the spirit of Cyrus and charged him to build him an house at Jerusalem;

— that is, to give leave for the rebuilding of it and to encourage to it and assist in it; and to secure the favour of those who presided over different territories.

³Who is there among you of all His people? His God be with him, and let him go up to Jerusalem, which is in Judah, and build the house of the Lord God of Israel (He is the God), which is in Jerusalem. — in conformity with the command of God, Cyrus not only invites the Jews to return to Jerusalem, and to rebuild the temple, but also requires all his subjects to assist the returning Jews, and to give free-will offerings for the temple.

⁴And whosoever remaineth in any place where he sojourneth, let the men of his place help him with silver and with gold, and with goods and with beasts, besides the freewill offering for the house of God that is in Jerusalem.’” — and whosoever remaineth in any place where he sojourneth; is left behind and cannot go up through poverty, not having a sufficiency to bear his charges in his journey to Jerusalem:

— let the men of his place keep him with silver, gold, goods and with beasts; with money to bear the expenses of his journey, with goods to furnish his house, or trade with, when he came to Judea and with cattle to carry him and his goods, and to till the ground with, when he came thither;

— and the men exhorted to this are either the Gentiles that dwelt in the cities where these poor Jews were or the richer Jews who chose as yet not to go up until they saw how things would succeed; and are therefore called upon to assist their brethren who had a will, but no ability;

— besides the freewill offering for the house of God that is in Jerusalem: which they freely gave and sent by them for the rebuilding of the temple.

⁵Then rose up the chief of the fathers of Judah and Benjamin, and the priests and the Levites, with all those whose spirit God had raised, to go up to build the house of the Lord which is in Jerusalem. — only a portion of the Israelites took advantage of the permission of Cyrus. Many remained in Babylon, since they were disinclined to relinquish their property. They who returned were people whom God had especially stirred up to make sacrifices for His glory.

⁶And all those who were about them strengthened their hands with vessels of silver, with gold, with goods, and with beasts, and with precious things, besides all that was willingly offered. — strengthened their hands with vessels of silver, gold, goods and beasts and with precious things; which they either did of themselves at their own motion or by the direction and example of Cyrus, Ezra 1:4.

⁷Also Cyrus the king brought forth the vessels of the house of the Lord, which Nebuchadnezzar had brought forth out of Jerusalem and had put them in the house of his gods; — Cyrus brought forth the vessels of the house of the Lord; though it is said (II King 24:13) that these were cut in pieces, that would not be done to the large and magnificent vases; and if they had been divided the parts could be reunited. But it may be doubted whether the pieces is of further use in the temple.

⁸even those did Cyrus king of Persia bring forth by the hand of Mithredath the treasurer, and counted them over to Sheshbazzar, the prince of Judah. — Mithredath, or “Mithridates” the treasurer – this name which means “given by Mithra” or “dedicated to Mithra” whose birthday was on December 25, is an indication that the Sun-worship of the Persians was at least as old as the time of Cyrus.

⁹And this is the number of them: thirty chargers of gold, a thousand chargers of silver, nine and twenty knives, — large knives used in the killing of the sacrifices, which are here mentioned, because the hafts of them were made of or covered with gold or silver;

— nine and twenty knives; which, because the handles of them were of gold or silver, were valuable, and might be very large knives, and what the priests used in slaying and cutting up the sacrifices.

¹⁰thirty basins of gold, four hundred and ten silver basins of a second sort, and other vessels a thousand. — thirty basins of gold; cups or dishes with covers; but they could be vessels in which the blood of sacrifices was received and out of which it was sprinkled on the altar;

— silver basins of a second sort four hundred and ten; perhaps lesser than the other, however not so valuable, being of silver.

¹¹All the vessels of gold and of silver were five thousand and four hundred. All these did Sheshbazzar bring up with those of the captivity, who were brought up from Babylon unto Jerusalem. — all these did Sheshbazzar bring up with them of the captivity, that were brought up from Babylon unto Jerusalem: of whom there is a large and particular account in the following chapter;

— Sheshbazzar, the prince of Judah; that is, Zerubbabel, son of Shealtiel (compare Ezra 3:8; 5:16). He was born in Babylon, and called by his family Zerubbabel, that is, stranger or exile in Babylon. Sheshbazzar, signifying “fire-worshipper,” was the name given him at court as other names were given to Daniel and his friends. He was recognized among the exiles as hereditary prince of Judah.

Ezra 2

¹ Now these are the children of the province who came up out of the captivity, of those who had been carried away, whom Nebuchadnezzar the king of Babylon had carried away unto Babylon, and came again unto Jerusalem and Judah, every one unto his city, — children of the province; that is, Judea (Ezra 5:8), so called as being now reduced from an independent and powerful kingdom to an obscure, servile, tributary province of the Persian empire; now they are “the children of the province” as distinct from those who remained in Babylonia and Persia;

— that went out of the captivity, of those which had been carried away, whom Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon had carried away unto Babylon; who either in person or in their parents were carried captive by him and who were the tribes of Judah and Benjamin; and they are only mentioned because they were the principal that returned;

— came again unto Jerusalem and Judah, every one unto his city—either the city that had been occupied by his ancestors, or, as most parts of Judea were then either desolate or possessed by others, the city that was rebuilt and allotted to him now.

²who came with Zerubbabel, Jeshua, Nehemiah, Seraiah, Reelaiah, Mordecai, Bilshan, Mispar, Bigvai, Rehum, Baanah. The number of the men of the people of Israel: — which came with Zerubbabel; he was the chief or leader of the first band of returning exiles; conspicuous in the number are Jeshua, the high priest and Nehemiah.

³the children of Parosh, two thousand a hundred seventy and two;

⁴the children of Shephatiah, three hundred seventy and two;

⁵the children of Arah, seven hundred seventy and five;

⁶the children of Pahathmoab, of the children of Jeshua and Joab, two thousand eight hundred and twelve;

⁷the children of Elam, a thousand two hundred fifty and four;

⁸the children of Zattu, nine hundred forty and five;

⁹the children of Zaccai, seven hundred and threescore;

¹⁰the children of Bani, six hundred forty and two;

¹¹the children of Bebai, six hundred twenty and three;

¹²the children of Azgad, a thousand two hundred twenty and two;

¹³the children of Adonikam, six hundred sixty and six;

¹⁴the children of Bigvai, two thousand fifty and six;

¹⁵the children of Adin, four hundred fifty and four;

¹⁶the children of Ater of Hezekiah, ninety and eight;

¹⁷the children of Bezai, three hundred twenty and three;

¹⁸the children of Jorah, a hundred and twelve;

¹⁹the children of Hashum, two hundred twenty and three;

²⁰the children of Gibbar, ninety and five;

²¹the children of Bethlehem, a hundred twenty and three;

²²the men of Netophah, fifty and six;

²³the men of Anathoth, a hundred twenty and eight;

²⁴the children of Azmaveth, forty and two;

²⁵the children of Kirjatharim, Chephirah, and Beeroth, seven hundred and forty and three;

²⁶the children of Ramah and Geba, six hundred twenty and one;

²⁷the men of Michmas, a hundred twenty and two;

²⁸the men of Bethel and Ai, two hundred twenty and three;

²⁹the children of Nebo, fifty and two;

³⁰the children of Magbish, a hundred fifty and six;

³¹the children of the other Elam, a thousand two hundred fifty and four;

³²the children of Harim, three hundred and twenty;

³³the children of Lod, Hadid, and Ono, seven hundred twenty and five;

³⁴the children of Jericho, three hundred forty and five;

³⁵the children of Senaah, three thousand six hundred and thirty.

³⁶The priests: the children of Jedaiah, of the house of Jeshua, nine hundred seventy and three;

³⁷the children of Immer, a thousand fifty and two;

³⁸the children of Pashhur, a thousand two hundred forty and seven;

³⁹the children of Harim, a thousand and seventeen.

⁴⁰The Levites: the children of Jeshua and Kadmiel, of the children of Hodaviah, seventy and four.

⁴¹The singers: the children of Asaph, a hundred twenty and eight.

⁴²The children of the gatekeepers: the children of Shallum, the children of Ater, the children of Talmon, the children of Akkub, the children of Hatita, the children of Shobai, in all a hundred thirty and nine.

⁴³The Nethinim: the children of Ziha, the children of Hasupha, the children of Tabbaoth,

⁴⁴the children of Keros, the children of Siaha, the children of Padon,

⁴⁵the children of Lebanah, the children of Hagabah, the children of Akkub,

⁴⁶the children of Hagab, the children of Shalmai, the children of Hanan,

⁴⁷the children of Giddel, the children of Gahar, the children of Reaiah,

⁴⁸the children of Rezin, the children of Nekoda, the children of Gazzam,

⁴⁹the children of Uzza, the children of Paseah, the children of Besai,

⁵⁰the children of Asnah, the children of Meunim, the children of Nephusim,

⁵¹the children of Bakbuk, the children of Hakupha, the children of Harhur,

⁵²the children of Bazluth, the children of Mehida, the children of Harsha,

⁵³the children of Barkos, the children of Sisera, the children of Thamah,

⁵⁴the children of Neziah, the children of Hatipha.

⁵⁵The children of Solomon’s servants: the children of Sotai, the children of Sophereth, the children of Peruda,

⁵⁶the children of Jaalah, the children of Darkon, the children of Giddel,

⁵⁷the children of Shephatiah, the children of Hattil, the children of Pochereth of Zebaim, the children of Ami.

⁵⁸All the Nethinim and the children of Solomon’s servants were three hundred ninety and two.

⁵⁹And these were they who went up from Telmelah, Telharsa, Cherub, Addan, and Immer; but they could not show their father’s house and their seed, whether they were of Israel:

⁶⁰the children of Delaiah, the children of Tobiah, the children of Nekoda, six hundred fifty and two.

⁶¹And of the children of the priests: the children of Habaiah, the children of Koz, the children of Barzillai, who took a wife of the daughters of Barzillai the Gileadite, and was called after their name.

⁶²These sought their register among those who were reckoned by genealogy, but they were not found; therefore were they as polluted, put from the priesthood. — were they, as polluted, put from the priesthood R.V. were they deemed polluted and put, Heb. they were polluted from;

— Q1. Is the list polluated from the Samaritans? Were these names polluted or edited by Tobiah who had penatrated the Temple and altered the register? (for more see Tobiah in the Temple at the end)

— Q2. Did Tobiah entered his own posterity in verse 60 above as “the children of Tobiah?”

⁶³And the Tirshatha said unto them that they should not eat of the most holy things until there stood up a priest with Urim and with Thummim. — with Urim and with Thummim; without ark or temple, the people had not as yet that special presence of Yehovah before which the high priest could “inquire of the Lord by Urim and Thummim.”

— Zerubbabel might hope that this privilege would return and thought the official purity of the priestly line of sufficient importance for such an inquiry; but the holy of holies in the new temple never had in it the ancient “tokens “ and by Urim and Thummim Yehovah was never again inquired of.

⁶⁴The whole congregation together was forty and two thousand three hundred and threescore, — the particular sums recited above come to only 29,818; unto whom are added in this total sum, 12,542; which either were not counted; perhaps they were children, representatives of all the other tribes or for some other unknown reasons.

⁶⁵besides their servants and their maids, of whom there were seven thousand three hundred thirty and seven; and there were among them two hundred singing men and singing women.

⁶⁶Their horses were seven hundred thirty and six, their mules two hundred forty and five,

⁶⁷their camels four hundred thirty and five, their asses six thousand seven hundred and twenty.

⁶⁸And some of the chief of the fathers, when they came to the house of the Lord which is at Jerusalem, offered freely for the house of God to set it up in his place.

⁶⁹They gave according to their ability to the treasury of the work, threescore and one thousand drams of gold, and five thousand pounds of silver, and one hundred priests’ garments.

⁷⁰So the priests and the Levites and some of the people, and the singers and the gatekeepers and the Nethinim, dwelt in their cities, and all Israel in their cities. — in their cities; not in Jerusalem only but in the neighboring towns also, such as Bethlehem, Anathoth, Ramah, Gaba, Michmash, Bethel, Ai, Nebo and Jericho;

— all Israel; Ezra very determinately puts forward this aspect of the return, that it was participated in by representatives of all the other tribes (see 2:2; 3:1; 6:16, 17; 7:13; 8:29, 35, etc.). He does not, however, exclude the other aspect, that it was especially a return of Judah, or “Judah and Benjamin” (see Ezra 5:1; Ezra 10:9).

~~~

Tobiah in the Temple – Nehemiah 13:4-9

⁴ And before this, Eliashib the priest, having the oversight of the chamber of the house of our God, was allied unto Tobiah. ⁵ And he had prepared for him a great chamber, where previously they laid the meat offerings, the frankincense and the vessels and the tithes of the corn, the new wine and the oil, which were commanded to be given to the Levites and the singers and the gatekeepers, and the offerings of the priests. ⁶ But in all this time I (Nehemiah) was not at Jerusalem; for in the two and thirtieth year of Artaxerxes king of Babylon I came unto the king, and after certain days I obtained leave from the king. ⁷ And I came to Jerusalem and learned of the evil that Eliashib had done for Tobiah in preparing him a chamber in the courts of the house of God. ⁸And it grieved me sore; therefore I cast forth all the household stuff of Tobiah out of the chamber.⁹ Then I commanded, and they cleansed the chambers; and thither I brought back the vessels of the house of God, with the meat offering and the frankincense.

There are four things mentioned in particular that show the backsliding of the people: the presence of Tobiah in the courts of the Temple; the failure to provide adequately for the Levites; the desecration of the Sabbath; and the return to mixed marriages.

When Nehemiah came back to Jerusalem he saw something that must have both grieved and angered him. He found that the priest Eliashib had entered into an agreement with one of the men who had been at the forefront of the opposition to the wall rebuilding.

Not only was Tobiah personally a proven enemy of the people of God, he was an Ammonite, a part of the ‘mixed multitude’ put out of the temple years before. In Nehemiah chapter 6, Tobiah was exerting his influence from outside and maintaining contact with some of the nobles within by letter. But now he was right inside! It is not at all surprising that Nehemiah was upset!

(a) The temple rooms that Tobiah was occupying were supposed to be used for the storage of tithes and offerings for the priests and for the service of God’s sanctuary. It was unthinkable that rooms set apart for a holy purpose should be used by a pagan opponent of the work of God.

(b) Eliashib had failed as the spiritual leader of the people and had neglected to maintain the purity of the house of God. He had not recognised the danger of having an alliance with such a man. Possibly Eliashib thought the regulations for ‘separation’ and ‘no mixing’ were far too strict and uncharitable, but we ignore God’s commands at our peril!

Nehemiah was not just grieved but determined to take radical measures to solve the problem: He threw Tobiah and all his possessions out of the temple; He restored the temple rooms to their proper function. No doubt some would see his action as being harsh but like the Lord Jesus when he cleansed the temple Nehemiah had the wisdom not to confuse ‘love’ with ‘being nice’!

Posted in Ezra

Saudi Crown Prince shouted at Biden’s Envoy

•May 6, 2022 • Leave a Comment

Daily Mail By Emily GOODIN, 21 April 2022

The world has changed: Saudi Crown Prince Mohammad Bin Salman shouted at Biden’s NSA Jake Sullivan when he started threatening about Jamal Khashoggi when they met in September (2021). It arose in response when Mohammed bin Salman was not obliging the US’s national security adviser pressing the Saudi by pumping more oil to help the US out with rising prices.

Saudi Arabia Prince Mohammad bin Salman Al Saud at Odd with the United States

The staggering decline of US-Saudi relations under the Biden administration was outlined in a Wall Street Journal report that details actions the president’s fury with the de facto ruler of the kingdom and the prince’s infuriated response.

Sullivan brought up Khashoggi, the Washington Post columnist who was murdered in 2018 in the Saudi consulate in Istanbul.

MSB shouted at Sullivan in return and told him that he never wanted to speak of the matter again.

The White House is denying the story. The quick decline of American soft power is embarrassing. “Most of this story is categorically false, including both the basic facts and the overall premise,’ said Adrienne Watson, National Security Council spokesperson.

Relations have worsened since Russia’s invasion of the Ukraine. The US has repeatedly pushed the Saudis to pump more oil to help bring down gas prices but Saudi has refused, which is more in line with Moscow’s interests.

Saudi Arabia Prince Mohammad bin Salman Al Saud has spoken to Russian President Vladimir Putin twice since Putin invaded Moscow but had refused to take Biden’s call in March but held one with Putin.

“But, behold, I will raise up against you a nation, O house of Israel,” saith the LORD the God of hosts; “and they shall afflict you from the entrance of Hemath unto the river of the wilderness.” Amos 6:14

Posted in Ephraim, US

Lamentations (Ch 3-5)

•May 4, 2022 • Leave a Comment

In chapter 3 of 66 verses, Jeremiah proposes his own experience under afflictions, as an example as to how the Jews should behave under theirs, so as to have hope of a restoration; hence the change from singular to plural (Lamentations 3:22, 40-47). The stanzas consist of three lines, each of which begins with the same Hebrew letter א Aleph.

Lamentations 3

¹ I am the man that hath seen affliction by the rod of His wrath.

²He hath led me, and brought me into darkness, but not into light.

³Surely against me is He turned; He turneth His hand against me all the day.

The Targum: א

¹ I am that man who has seen affliction by the rod that chastises in his anger.
² He has led and brought me to darkness, and not to light.
³Indeed, against me he will turn, heaping upon me his blows all day.

⁴My flesh and my skin hath He made old; He hath broken my bones.

⁵He hath builded against me, and compassed me with gall and travail.

⁶He hath set me in dark places, as they that are dead of old.

The Targum: ב

⁴ My flesh is worn out from beatings, my skin from the blow. He has shattered my bones.
⁵ He has built siege works and surrounded the city. He has uprooted the heads of the people and wearied them.
⁶ He has caused me to dwell in a dark prison like the dead who have gone to the other world.

⁷He hath hedged me about, that I cannot get out; He hath made my chain heavy.

⁸Also when I cry and shout, He shutteth out my prayer.

⁹He hath enclosed my ways with hewn stone; He hath made my paths crooked.

The Targum: ג

⁷ He has locked me in so that I cannot go out from the prison. He has put heavy brass fetters on my feet.
⁸ Even when I cry out and pray the house of my prayer is blocked.
⁹ He has closed my paths with hewn marble stones. He has confounded my paths.

¹⁰He was unto me as a bear lying in wait, and as a lion in secret places.

¹¹He hath turned aside my ways, and pulled me in pieces; He hath made me desolate.

¹²He hath bent His bow, and set me as a mark for the arrow.

The Targum: ד

¹⁰ He is a bear lying in wait for me, a lion hiding in a hallow.
¹¹ He has confounded my path and rent me. He has made me desolate.
¹² He draws his bow and has set me as a target for the arrow.

¹³He hath caused the arrows of His quiver to enter into my reins.

¹⁴I was a derision to all my people, and their song all the day.

¹⁵He hath filled me with bitterness; He hath made me drunken with wormwood.

The Targum: ה

¹³He made the arrows of his quiver enter my vitals.
¹⁴ I have become a laughing stock to all the degenerate of my people; they mock me in song all day.
¹⁵ He has sated me with gall of snakes and made me drunk with wormwood.

¹⁶He hath also broken my teeth with gravel stones; He hath covered me with ashes.

¹⁷And Thou hast removed my soul far off from peace; I forgot prosperity.

¹⁸And I said, “My strength and my hope are perished from the Lord,”

The Targum: ו

¹⁶ And he crushed my teeth with gravel; he has pressed me into ashes.
¹⁷ And my soul shrinks from asking for peace; I have forgotten goodness.
¹⁸ And I said, “My strength is destroyed and the goodness which I had longed for from before the Lord.

¹⁹remembering mine affliction and my misery, the wormwood and the gall.

²⁰My soul hath them still in remembrance, and is humbled in me.

²¹This I recall to my mind; therefore have I hope:

The Targum: ז

¹⁹ “Remember the affliction of my soul and how my foes embittered me and caused me to drink wormwood and the poison of snakes.”
²⁰My soul surely will remember and bow down within me due to affliction.
²¹This consolation I call to mind, therefore I have hope:

²²It is through the Lord’S mercies that we are not consumed, because His compassions fail not.

²³They are new every morning; great is Thy faithfulness.

²⁴“The Lord is my portion,” saith my soul, “Therefore will I hope in Him.”

The Targum: ח

²² The goodness of the Lord, for his mercies do not end nor have they ceased.
²³ He brings forth new wonders in the mornings; great is your faithfulness.
²⁴ “The Lord is my portion,” says my soul; therefore I will hope in him.

²⁵The Lord is good unto them that wait for Him, to the soul that seeketh Him.

²⁶It is good that a man should both hope and quietly wait for the salvation of the Lord.

²⁷It is good for a man that he bear the yoke in his youth.

The Targum: ט

²⁵ The Lord is good to those who hope for his salvation; to the soul who seeks his instruction.
²⁶ It is good to wait and be silent until the salvation of the Lord comes.
²⁷ It is good for a man to train his soul to bear the yoke of the commandments in his youth.

²⁸He sitteth alone and keepeth silence, because he hath borne it upon him.

²⁹He putteth his mouth in the dust; if so it be, there may be hope.

³⁰He giveth his cheek to him that smiteth him; he is filled full with reproach.

The Targum: י

²⁸ Let him sit alone and be silent, bearing the corrections which have come upon him, for the sake of the unity of the name of the Lord, which have been sent to punish him for the minor sins which he has committed in this world, until he have mercy upon him and lift them from him so that he may receive him perfected in the world to come.
²⁹ Let him put his mouth to the dust and prostrate himself before his master perhaps there is hope.
³⁰ Let him turn his cheek to the one that smites, for the sake of the fear of the Lord, let him be filled with insult.

³¹For the Lord will not cast off for ever.

³²But though He cause grief, yet will He have compassion according to the multitude of His mercies.

³³For He doth not afflict willingly, nor grieve the children of men.

The Targum: כ

³¹ For the Lord will not neglect his servants forever, giving them over into the hand of their enemy.
³² But first he breaks and afterwards he repents and has mercy on the righteous in the abundance of his goodness.
³³ For since man did not afflict his soul nor removed arrogance from his heart, therefore he caused destruction to come upon the sons of men.

³⁴To crush under His feet all the prisoners of the earth,

³⁵to turn aside the right of a man before the face of the Most High,

³⁶to subvert a man in his cause—the Lord approveth not.

The Targum: ל

³⁴ Humbling and subduing all the prisoners of the earth under his feet,
³⁵ And perverting the justice of a poor man in the presence of the Most High,
³⁶ Confounding a poor man in his quarrels; is it possible that this will not be revealed before the Lord?

³⁷Who is he that saith and it cometh to pass, when the Lord commandeth it not?

³⁸Out of the mouth of the Most High proceedeth not evil and good?

³⁹Why then doth a living man complain, a man for the punishment of his sins?

The Targum: מ

³⁷ Who is the man who has spoken and an evil thing had been done in the world, unless because they did that which they were not commanded by the mouth of the Lord?
³⁸ From the mouth of God Most High there does not issue evil, rather by the hint of a whisper, because of the violence with which the land is filled. But when he desires to decree good in the world it issues from the holy mouth.
³⁹ What profit shall a man find who sins all the days of his life; a wicked man for his sins?

⁴⁰Let us search and try our ways, and turn again to the Lord.

⁴¹Let us lift up our heart with our hands unto God in the heavens.

⁴²We have transgressed and have rebelled; Thou hast not pardoned.

The Targum: נ

⁴⁰ Let us search and examine our ways; and turn in repentance before the Lord.
⁴¹ Let us lift our cleansed hearts and cast away theft and robbery from our hands. And let us repent before God the dwelling of whose Shekinah is in heaven above.
⁴² We have rebelled and been disobedient and since we did not return to you, you have not forgiven.

⁴³Thou hast covered Thyself with anger and persecuted us; Thou hast slain, Thou hast not pitied.

⁴⁴Thou hast covered Thyself with a cloud, that our prayer should not pass through.

⁴⁵Thou hast made us as the offscouring and refuse in the midst of the people.

The Targum: ס

⁴³ You have covered us in anger and pursued us in exile. You have killed and have not pitied.
⁴⁴ You have covered the heavens with your clouds of glory so that our prayers cannot cross to you.
⁴⁵ You have made us like wanderers and vagabonds among the nations.

⁴⁶All our enemies have opened their mouths against us.

⁴⁷Fear and a snare have come upon us, desolation and destruction.

⁴⁸Mine eye runneth down with rivers of water for the destruction of the daughter of my people.

The Targum: ע

⁴⁶ All our enemies have opened their mouths against us, to announce evil decrees against us.
⁴⁷ Panic and fear have come upon us because of them, trembling and destruction have seized us.
⁴⁸ Like streams of water my eyes flowed with tears because of the destruction of the Congregation of my people.

⁴⁹Mine eye trickleth down and ceaseth not, without any intermission,

⁵⁰till the Lord look down and behold from heaven.

⁵¹Mine eye affecteth mine heart because of all the daughters of my city.

The Targum: פ

⁴⁹My eye weeps tears and does not cease from crying. There is no respite from my anguish or anyone to comfort me;
⁵⁰ Until the Lord looks out and sees my humiliation from heaven.
⁵¹ The weeping of my eyes is the cause of the affliction of my soul over the destruction of the districts of my people and the humiliation of the daughters of Jerusalem, my city.

⁵²Mine enemies chased me sorely like a bird, without cause.

⁵³They have cut off my life in the dungeon, and cast a stone upon me.

⁵⁴Waters flowed over mine head; then I said, “I am cut off!”

The Targum: צ

⁵² My enemies, without cause, laid a trap for me like a bird.
⁵³ They caused my life to pass in the pit and cast stones at me.
⁵⁴ Waters flowed over my head. I said in my word, “I am cut off from the world.”

⁵⁵I called upon Thy name, O Lord, out of the low dungeon.

⁵⁶Thou hast heard my voice: “Hide not Thine ear at my breathing, at my cry.”

⁵⁷Thou drewest near in the day that I called upon Thee; Thou saidst, “Fear not.”

The Targum: ק

⁵⁵ I prayed to your name, O Lord, from the depths of the pit.
⁵⁶ You received my prayer at that time, and now do not cover your ears from receiving my prayer to give me relief because of my plea.
⁵⁷ You brought the angel near to save me, in the day that I prayed to you. You said by your Memra, “Do not fear.”

⁵⁸O Lord, Thou hast pleaded the causes of my soul; Thou hast redeemed my life.

⁵⁹O Lord, Thou hast seen my wrong; judge Thou my cause.

⁶⁰Thou hast seen all their vengeance and all their imaginings against me.

The Targum: ר

⁵⁸ You have fought, O Lord, against those who made a quarrel with my soul. You delivered my life from their hands.
⁵⁹ You have seen, O Lord, the wrong by which they wronged me. Judge my case.
⁶⁰ All their vengeance has been revealed before you, all their evil plans against me.

⁶¹Thou hast heard their reproach, O Lord, and all their imaginings against me,

⁶²the lips of those that rose up against me, and their devices against me all the day.

⁶³Behold their sitting down and their rising up; I am their — music.

The Targum: ש

⁶¹ Their taunts were heard before you, O Lord, all their evil plans against me.
⁶² The lips of the enemies are against me and their mutterings are against me all day.
⁶³ Look at their sitting and rising! I am [the object of] their taunt-songs.

⁶⁴Render unto them a recompense, O Lord, according to the work of their hands.

⁶⁵Give them sorrow of heart, Thy curse unto them.

⁶⁶Persecute and destroy them in anger from under the heavens of the Lord.

The Targum: ת

⁶⁴ May you return to them evil recompense, O Lord, according to the works of their hands.
⁶⁵ May you give them brokenness of heart and may your weariness wear them out.
⁶⁶ Pursue them in anger and destroy them from under the high heaven of the Lord.

Lamentations 4

Lamentations 4:1-22. The sad capture of Jerusalem, the hope of Restoration, and the retribution awaiting Edom and Idumea for joining Babylon against Judea.

¹ How the gold hath become dim! How the most fine gold hath changed! The stones of the sanctuary are poured out at the head of every street.

The Targum: א

¹ How the gold of the Temple has dimmed, the choice gold leaf has changed! The sacred jewels are scattered at the head of every street.

²The precious sons of Zion, comparable to fine gold, how they are esteemed as earthen pitchers, the work of the hands of the potter!

The Targum: ב

² The precious sons of Zion which were comparable in their appearance to that of fine gold, how the unclean people brought them down near to their beds and stare at them, so that their wives might bear sons as beautiful as they and they are considered as [clay] vessels the work of the hands of the potter.

³Even the seamonsters draw out the breast, they give suck to their young ones; but the daughter of my people has become cruel, like the ostriches in the wilderness.

The Targum: ג

³ Even the pampered daughters of Israel untie their breasts to the nations who are like the basilisk. And the young men of the Congregation of my people are handed over to cruel men and their mothers mourn over them like ostriches in the desert.

⁴The tongue of the sucking child cleaveth to the roof of his mouth for thirst; the young children ask bread, and no man breaketh it unto them.

The Targum: ד

⁴ The tongue of the youth clings to his palate from thirst. Children ask for bread, but there is no one who offers it to them.

⁵They that fed on delicacies are desolate in the streets; they that were brought up in scarlet embrace dunghills.

The Targum: ה

⁵ Those who used to eat delicacies were desolate in the markets. Those who were reared in the color crimson embrace dunghills.

⁶For the punishment of the iniquity of the daughter of my people is greater than the punishment of the sin of Sodom, that was overthrown as in a moment, and no hands stayed on her.

The Targum: ו

⁶ The sin of the Congregation of my people is greater than the sin of Sodom that was overthrown in a moment. And no prophets were left in her to prophesy, to turn her back in repentance.

⁷Her Nazirites were purer than snow, they were whiter than milk; they were more ruddy in body than rubies, their polishing was of sapphire.

The Targum: ז

⁷ Her Nazarites were purer than snow, smoother than milk. Their appearance was ruddier than crimson and their faces like sapphires.

⁸Now their visage is blacker than coal; they are not known in the streets; their skin cleaveth to their bones, it is withered, it has become like a stick.

The Targum: ח

⁸ Their appearance was darker than the blackness of the exile; they were not recognized in the markets. Their skin clung to their bones; brittle as a twig.

⁹They that are slain with the sword are better than they that are slain with hunger; for these pine away, stricken through for want of the fruits of the field.

The Targum: ט

⁹ Better were those who were slain by the sword than those who were slain by hunger, for those slain by the sword perished when pierced in their bellies because they ate of the gleanings of the field; and those who were bloated from hunger; their bellies burst from food.

¹⁰The hands of the pitying women have sodden their own children; they were their meat in the destruction of the daughter of my people.

The Targum: י

¹⁰ The hands of women who were merciful towards the poor boiled their young, they became sustenance for them when the day of famine broke, when the Congregation of my people was destroyed.

¹¹The Lord hath accomplished His fury; He hath poured out His fierce anger, and hath kindled a fire in Zion, and it hath devoured the foundations thereof.

The Targum: כ

¹¹The Lord has finished his anger; he has poured out his fierce wrath upon Jerusalem and he has brought up a raging fire in Zion, and it consumed her foundations.

¹²The kings of the earth, and all the inhabitants of the world, would not have believed that the adversary and the enemy should have entered into the gates of Jerusalem.

The Targum: ל

¹² The kingdoms of the earth did not believe, nor did those who dwell in the world, that the wicked Nebuchadnezzar and Nebuzaradan the enemy would enter to slaughter the people of the House of Israel in the gates of Jerusalem.

¹³For the sins of her prophets and the iniquities of her priests, that have shed the blood of the just in the midst of her,

The Targum: מ

¹³ The Attribute of Justice spoke up and said, “All this would not have happened but for the sins of her prophets who prophesied to her false prophesies and the iniquity of her priests who offered up burning incense to idols. They themselves caused the blood of the innocent to be shed in her midst.”

¹⁴they have wandered as blind men in the streets; they have polluted themselves with blood, so that men could not touch their garments.

The Targum: נ

¹⁴ The blind wandered about in the markets, defiled with the blood of those slain by the sword and since they could not see they touched their clothes.

¹⁵They cried unto them, “Depart ye; it is unclean! Depart, depart, touch not!” When they fled away and wandered, it was said among the heathen, “They shall no more sojourn there.”

The Targum: ס

¹⁵ “Turn away from the unclean!” cried the nations, “Turn away, turn away! Do not touch them!” For they quarreled, indeed they wandered. They said, when they were peacefully established among the nations, “They shall not continue to dwell [here].”

¹⁶The anger of the Lord hath divided them; He will no more regard them; they respected not the persons of the priests, they favored not the elders.

The Targum: ע

¹⁶ They were dispersed from before the face of the Lord, he no longer regarded them. Therefore the wicked peoples did not respect the priests nor did they spare the elders.

¹⁷As for us, our eyes as yet failed for our vain help: in our watching we have watched for a nation that could not save us.

The Targum: פ

¹⁷Our eyes still fail to see our help which we expected to come from the Romans, but which turned to naught for us. In hope we watched for the Edomites who were a nation that could not save.

¹⁸They hunt our steps, that we cannot go in our streets; our end is near, our days are fulfilled, for our end has come.

The Targum: צ

¹⁸ They prowled our paths so that we could not walk safely in our open places. We said, “Our end is near; our days are fulfilled,” for our end had come.

¹⁹Our persecutors are swifter than the eagles of the heavens; they pursued us upon the mountains, they lay in wait for us in the wilderness.

The Targum: ק

¹⁹ Our pursuers were swifter than the eagles of the heavens; unto the mountains they chased us, in the desert they lay in wait for us.

²⁰The breath of our nostrils, the anointed of the Lord, was taken in their pits, of whom we said, “Under his shadow we shall live among the heathen.”

The Targum: ר

²⁰ King Josiah, who was as dear to us as the breath of the spirit of life in our nostrils and was anointed with the anointing oil of the Lord, was entrapped in Egypt’s snare of corruption. It was he of whom we said, “In the shadow of his merit we will live among the nations.”

²¹Rejoice and be glad, O daughter of Edom, that dwellest in the land of Uz. The cup also shall pass through unto thee; thou shalt be drunken and shalt make thyself naked.

The Targum: ש

²¹Rejoice and be of good cheer Constantinople, city of wicked Edom, which is built in the land of Armenia with crowds from the people of Edom. Retribution is about to come upon even you, and the Parkevi will destroy you and the accursed cup shall pass to you and you shall become drunk and exposed.

²²The punishment of thine iniquity is accomplished, O daughter of Zion; He will no more carry thee away into captivity. He will visit thine iniquity, O daughter of Edom; He will uncover thy sins.

The Targum: ת

²² And after this your iniquity will be finished, O Congregation of Zion and you will be freed by the hands of the King Messiah and Elijah the High Priest and the Lord will no longer exile you. And at that time I will punish your iniquities, wicked Rome, built in Italy and filled with crowds of Edomites. And the Persians will come and oppress you and destroy you because your sins have been made known before the Lord.

The end of chapter 4 seems like a supplement to A Sword from the South in Ezekiel 20:45 to 21:5! It seems to offer the connection and reasons why events are to go off the way they would. Here again it is the children of Edom that shall be upon the neck of the children of Israel, “He will uncover thy sins.” If so, could this also tie in with Ezekiel 4 – 390/40 Years?

Lamentations 5

The coloured is from the Targum:

¹ Remember, O Lord, what is come upon us; consider, and behold our reproach.

א Remember, [O Lord], what was decreed to befall us; look from heaven and see our disgrace.

²Our inheritance is turned to strangers, our houses to aliens.

ב Our inheritance has been turned over to strangers; our house to foreign peoples.

³We are orphans and fatherless, our mothers are as widows.

ג We have become like orphans who have no father, our mothers like widows whose husbands have gone into the cities of the sea and it is uncertain if they are alive.

⁴We have paid money for water we drink; our wood is sold unto us.

ד We drink our water for money and our wood comes at a price.

⁵Our necks are under persecution; we labor and have no rest.

ה Upon the bone of our necks we were laden when we went into exile. The wicked Nebuchadnezzar saw that the commanders of the Israelites were going without any load [and] he ordered that they sew Torah scrolls and make sacks out of them. And they filled them with pebbles from the edge of the Euphrates and they loaded them upon their necks. At that time we were tired and there was no rest for us.

⁶We have given the hand to the Egyptians and to the Assyrians to be provided with bread.

ו We gave support to Egypt so that we might be sustained there and to Assyria so that we might have enough bread.

⁷Our fathers have sinned, and are no more; and we have borne their iniquities.

ז Our fathers sinned and are no longer in the world, but we have borne their iniquities after them.

⁸Servants have ruled over us; there is none that doth deliver us out of their hand.

ח The sons of Ham, who were given as slaves to the sons of Shem, ruled over us and there was no one to deliver us from their hands.

⁹We got our bread with the peril of our lives, because of the sword of the wilderness.

ט At the risk of our lives we gather bread to sustain us from before the slaying sword that comes from across the wilderness.

¹⁰Our skin was black like an oven because of the terrible famine.

י Our skin has become black like an oven, because of the exhaustion of starvation.

¹¹They ravished the women in Zion, and the maids in the cities of Judah.

כ Women who were married to men in Zion were raped by Romans and virgins in the cities of Judah by Chaldeans.

¹²Princes are hanged up by their hand; the faces of elders were not honored.

ל Princes were impaled by their hands and the faces of the elders they did not respect.

¹³They took the young men to grind, and the children fell under the wood.

מ The young men carried millstones; and the boys staggered under the beam of wood.

¹⁴The elders have ceased from the gate, the young men from their music.

נ The elders ceased from the gates of the Sanhedrin; and the young men from their houses of music.

¹⁵The joy of our heart is ceased; our dance is turned into mourning.

ס The joy of our hearts has ceased; our dancing has turned into mourning.

¹⁶The crown is fallen from our head. Woe unto us that we have sinned!

ע The crown of our head has fallen; Woe to us! for we have sinned.

¹⁷For this our heart is faint; for these things our eyes are dim.

פ Because of our Temple, which is desolate, our heart was weak. And because of these people of the House of Israel who went into exile from there our eyes have become dim.

¹⁸Because of the mountain of Zion which is desolate, the foxes walk upon it.

צ Because of Mount Zion which is desolate; foxes prowled on it.

¹⁹Thou, O Lord, remainest for ever, Thy throne from generation to generation.

ק You are the Lord. Forever your dwelling place is in the heavenly heights. Your glorious throne is from generation to generation.

²⁰Why dost Thou forget us for ever, and forsake us so long a time?

ר Will you forget us forever and forsake us for a long time?

²¹Turn Thou us unto Thee, O Lord, and we shall be turned! Renew our days as of old!

ש Restore us, O Lord, to yourself and we will return in complete repentance. May you renew our days for good as the festival days of old.

²²But Thou hast utterly rejected us; Thou art very wroth against us.

ת For you have utterly loathed us; you have been extremely angry with us.

Posted in Lamentations, Minor Prophets

Lamentations (Ch 1-2)

•May 1, 2022 • Leave a Comment

In the Hebrew Bible these elegies (a poem of serious reflection) of Jeremiah, five in number, are placed among the Chetuvim, or “Holy Writings” between Ruth and Ecclesiastes. But though in classification of compositions it belongs to the Chetuvim, it probably followed the prophecies of Jeremiah originally. For this reason alone we can account this book inclusive of the minor prophetical books as enumerated by Josephus [Against Apion, 1.1.8] as thirteen.

The Jews read it in their synagogues on the ninth of the month Ab, which is a fast for the destruction of their holy city. As in II Ch 35:25, “lamentations” are said to have been “written” by Jeremiah on the death of Josiah, besides it having been made “an ordinance in Israel” that “singing women” should “speak” of that king in lamentations.

Lamentations 1

¹ How doth the city sit solitary that was full of people! How she has become as a widow! She that was great among the nations and princess among the provinces, how she has become tributary! — these are the words of Jeremiah; so the Targum introduces them, “Jeremiah the prophet and high priest said,” How doth the city sit solitary;

— Jerusalem is here represented as a weeping female, sitting solitary on the ground without any attendant or comforter, the multitude of her inhabitants being dispersed or destroyed;

— the description shows the miseries of the Jewish nation. Jerusalem became a captive and a slave, by reason of the greatness of her sins; and had no rest from suffering.

The Targum, as translated by CMM Brady:

Jeremiah the Prophet and High Priest said, “How was it decreed that Jerusalem and her people should be punished with banishment and that they should be mourned with ´ekah (lamentations).
Just as when Adam and Eve were punished and expelled from the Garden of Eden and the Master of the Universe mourned them with ´ekah?” The Attribute of Justice replied and said, “Because of the greatness of her rebellious sin that was within her, thus she will dwell alone as a man plagued with leprosy upon his skin who sits alone.
And the city that was full of crowds and many peoples has been emptied of them and she has become like a widow. She who was great among the nations and a ruler over provinces that had brought her tribute has become lowly again and gives head tax to them from thereafter.”

— the Targum is an indispensable source of understanding the Bible. Started by Ezra for those returning Jews from Babylon and for these returnees they could only understand the Sacred Text in Aramaic; hence the Targum is as if Ezra is speaking to them in ancient times and to us today from the Sacred Text.

² She weepeth sorely in the night, and her tears are on her cheeks; among all her lovers she hath none to comfort her. All her friends have dealt treacherously with her; they have become her enemies. — the prophet Jeremiah sometimes speaks in his own; at other times Jerusalem as a distressed female, is the speaker, or some of the Jews. The description shows the miseries of the Jewish nation. Jerusalem became a captive and a slave, by reason of the greatness of her sins; and had no rest from suffering;

— all her friends have dealt treacherously with her, they are become her enemies; those who pretended great friendship to her, and were in strict alliance with her, acted the treacherous part, and withdrew from her, leaving her to the common enemy; and not only so, but behaved towards her in a hostile manner themselves.

Targum:

When Moses the Prophet sent messengers to spy out the land, the messengers returned and gave forth a bad report concerning the land of Israel. This was the night of the ninth of Ab. When the people of the House of Israel heard this bad report which they had received concerning the land of Israel, the people lifted up their voice and the people of the House of Israel wept that night.
Immediately the anger of the LORD was kindled against them and he decreed that it should be so in that night throughout their generations over the destruction of the Temple.
When it was told through prophecy to Jeremiah the High Priest that Jerusalem would be destroyed at the hand of the wicked Nebuchadnezzar unless they repented, he immediately entered and rebuked the people of the House of Israel, but they refused to accept it. Therefore the wicked Nebuchadnezzar came and razed Jerusalem and set fire to the Temple on the ninth day in the month of Ab.
On that night, the Congregation of Israel wept bitterly and her tears flowed down her cheeks. There was no one to speak comfortingly to her heart from among all her idols after whom she loved to follow. As a result, all her friends were wicked to her; they turned against her and became her enemies.

³Judah has gone into captivity because of affliction, and because of great servitude. She dwelleth among the heathen, she findeth no rest; all her persecutors overtook her in her straits. — Judah is gone into captivity because of affliction; her miseries have received their finishing stroke in a total captivity among, and bondage to, heathen and infidels, because of the oppression exercised by her rulers and others, and the servitude to which they obliged their subjects and inferiors;

— and retaining them in a state of bondage after their seven years’ servitude, contrary to the law of God; for which they were threatened with captivity, Jeremiah 34:13; including keeping their servants beyond the year of jubilee, when they ought to have set them at liberty;

Targum:

The House of Judah went into exile because they were oppressing the orphans and the widows and because of the great servitude to which they were subjecting their brothers, the sons of Israel, who had been sold to them. And they did not declare freedom to their servants and handmaids who were of the seed of Israel.
As a result they themselves were delivered into the hand of the nations. And the Congregation of the House of Judah dwells among the nations and finds no rest from the hard labor to which they subject her. [All who pursued her overtook her] as she was hiding in the border regions and they persecuted her.

⁴The highways of Zion do mourn, because none come to the solemn feasts; all her gates are desolate. Her priests sigh, her virgins are afflicted, and she is in bitterness. — because none come to the solemn feasts; this of the sanctuary itself, because all Israel were supposed to convene there; and the Targum interprets it of the feasts, the three solemn feasts of the Passover, Pentecost and Tabernacles at which all the males in Israel were obliged to appear;

— all her gates are desolate; the gates of the temple; none passing through them into it to worship God, pray unto him, praise him or offer sacrifice; or the gates of the city, none going to and fro in them; nor the elders sitting there in council as in courts of judicature to try causes and do justice and judgement;

Targum:

All the while that Jerusalem was built, the sons of Israel refused to go up to be seen before the LORD three times a year. Because of Israel’s sins Jerusalem was destroyed and the roads to Zion are made mournful, for there is no one entering her at the time of the festivals.
All the gates are desolate and her priests groan because the sacrifices have ceased. Her virgins mourn because they have stopped going out on the fifteenth of Ab and on the Day of Atonement (which is on the tenth day of Tishri) to dance the dances. Therefore she too is very bitter in her heart.

⁵Her adversaries are the master, her enemies prosper; for the Lord hath afflicted her. For the multitude of her transgressions, her children have gone into captivity before the enemy. — her adversaries are their chief; or “for the head” or are the head as was threatened, Deuteronomy 28:44; and now fulfilled; the Chaldeans having got the dominion over the Jews, and obliged them to be subject to them:

— for the multitude of her transgressions: her children are gone into captivity before the enemy; that is, the inhabitants of Jerusalem and Judea were carried captive by the enemy, and drove before them as a flock of sheep, and that for the sins of the nation; and these not a few, but were very numerous, as Mordecai and Ezekiel, and others, who were carried captive young with Jeconiah, as well as many now;

The Targum:

Those who oppress her were appointed over her as leaders and her enemies were dwelling at ease since the LORD had broken her due to her great rebelliousness. Her children go before the oppressor into captivity.

⁶And from the daughter of Zion, all her beauty is departed; her princes have become like harts that find no pasture, and they have gone without strength before the pursuer. — and from the daughter of Zion all her beauty is departed; the kingdom removed; the priesthood ceased; the temple, their beautiful house, burnt; the palaces of their king and nobles demolished; and everything in church and state that was glorious were now no more:

— her princes are become like harts that find no pasture; that are heartless and without courage, fearful and timorous, as harts are, especially when destitute of food. The Targum says, “her princes run about for food, as harts run about in the wilderness, and find no place fit for pasture:”

— and they are gone without strength before the pursuer; having no spirit nor courage to oppose the enemy, nor strength to flee from him, they fell into his hands, and so were carried captive; see Jeremiah 52:8.

The Targum:

All the glory of the Congregation of Zion has gone out from her. Her nobles were wandering for food, like stags who wander in the desert and find no suitable place for their pasture. They went out in great weakness and they had no strength to flee to safety (from) before the pursuer.

⁷Jerusalem remembered in the days of her affliction and of her miseries all her pleasant things that she had in the days of old. When her people fell into the hand of the enemy and none did help her, the adversaries saw her, and mocked at her Sabbaths. — remembered, or rather “remembers” now in her afflicted state. In the days of her prosperity she did not appreciate, as she ought the favors of God to her. Now, awakening out of her past lethargy, she feels from what high privileges she has fallen;

— they have mocked at her sabbath-keepings; or sabbath-keepings, the cessation from labor every seventh day struck foreigners as something strange, mocked and provoked their ridicule by way of derision; Sabbaths, plural, including the three solemn feasts of the Passover, Pentecost and Tabernacles at which all the males in Israel were obliged to appear.

The Targum:

Jerusalem remembered the days of old, when she was surrounded by walled cities and strong open towns, rebelling and reigning over all the earth, and all her lovely things which she had in earlier times. But because of her sins, her people fell into the hands of the wicked Nebuchadnezzar and he oppressed them and there was no one to save her. The persecutors watched her go into captivity and they laughed because her good fortune had ceased from her.

⁸Jerusalem hath grievously sinned; therefore she has become a wanderer. All that honored her despise her, because they have seen her nakedness; yea, she sigheth, and turneth backward. — Jerusalem hath grievously sinned; in sinning hath sinned or hath sinned sin: that is, sinned wilfully and deliberately; hath sinned that sin which of all others is the abominable thing which the Lord hates, the sin of idolatry.

— because they have seen her nakedness; being stripped of all her good things she before enjoyed; and both her weakness and her wickedness being exposed to public view. The allusion is either to harlots, or to modest women when taken captive whose nakedness is uncovered by the brutish and inhuman soldiers: yea, she sighs and turns backward; being covered with shame because of the ill usage of her, as modest women would.

The Targum:

Jerusalem sinned a great sin, therefore she has become a wanderer. All the nations that had honored her in earlier times treat her with contempt for they have seen her nakedness. But she groans and shrinks back.

⁹Her filthiness is in her skirts; she remembereth not her last end. Therefore she came down wondrously; she had no comforter. “O Lord, behold my affliction, for the enemy hath magnified himself!” — her filthiness is in her skirts; her sin is manifest to all, being to be seen in her punishment. The allusion is to a menstruous woman, to whom she is compared, both before and after; whose blood flows down to the skirts of her garments, and there seen; by which it is known that she is in her separation;

— she remembers not her last end; she did not consider in the time of her prosperity what her sins would bring her to; what would be the issue of them; nay, though she was warned by the prophets and was told what things would come to at last, yet she laid it not to heart, nor did she lay it up in her mind or reflect upon it, but went on in her sinful courses;

The Targum:

The impurity of the menstrual blood in her skirts has not been cleansed from her. And she did not regret her sins, nor did she think of what would befall her in the end of days. And she went down and fell and was set aside. And there was no one to speak comfortingly to her. Look, O Lord and see for my enemies have exalted themselves over me.

¹⁰The adversary hath spread out his hand upon all her pleasant things; for she hath seen that the heathen entered into her sanctuary, whom Thou didst command that they should not enter into Thy congregation. — the enemy hath spread out his hands on all her pleasant things; not the wealth and riches or the rich furniture in their own houses,

— but the precious things in the house of God: the ark, the table, the altar, the priests garments and vessels of the sanctuary, and the gifts of the temple and everything valuable in it; these the enemy stretched out his hands and seized upon, and claimed them as his own; took them as a booty, prey, and plunder;

— for she hath seen that the heathens entered into her sanctuary; not into the land of Israel only, the holy land, but into the temple, the sanctuary of the Lord; but called hers, because it was built for her use, that the congregation of Israel might worship the Lord in it; into this with her own eyes, though forced to it, and sore against her will, and to her great grief and trouble, she saw the Chaldeans enter, and ravage and spoil it:

The Targum:

The wicked Nebuchadnezzar stretched out his hand and drew forth his sword and cut off all her lovely things. Indeed, the Congregation of Israel began to howl for she saw foreign nations go into her Temple; those about whom you commanded by Moses the prophet concerning Ammon and Moab, that they were not worthy to enter your assembly. [Deuteronomy 23:3]

¹¹All her people sigh, they seek bread; they have given their pleasant things for meat to relieve the soul. “See, O Lord, and consider, for I have become vile.” — all her people sigh, not her priests only, Lamentations 1:4; but all the common people, because of their affliction, particularly for want of bread. So the Targum says, “all the people of Jerusalem sigh because of the famine;”

— they have given their pleasant things for meat to relieve the soul: or, “to cause the soul to return” to fetch it back when fainting and swooning away through famine; and therefore would give anything for food; part with their rich clothes, jewels and precious stones; with whatsoever they had that was valuable in their cabinets or coffers that they might have meat to keep from fainting and dying;

The Targum:

All the people of Jerusalem groan from hunger and search for bread to eat. They gave their precious things for the sustenance of bread in order to stay alive. Look O Lord and see for I have become voracious.

¹²“Is it nothing to you, all ye that pass by? Behold and see if there be any sorrow like unto my sorrow, which is done unto me, wherewith the Lord hath afflicted me in the day of His fierce anger. — Is it nothing to you, all ye that pass by? O ye strangers and travellers that pass by and see my distress, does it not at all concern you? does it not in the least affect you? can you look upon it, and have no commiseration?

— or is there nothing to be learned from hence by you, that may be instructive and useful to you? Some consider the words as deprecating; may the like things never befall you that have befallen me, O ye passengers; be ye who ye will; I can never wish the greatest stranger, much less a friend to suffer what I do; nay, I pray God they never may: others, as adjuring.

The Targum:

I adjure you, all who pass by on the road, turn around here. Look and see. Is there any pain like my pain, that which has been visited upon me because the Lord shattered me in the day of his great anger?

¹³From above hath He sent fire into my bones, and it prevaileth against them. He hath spread a net for my feet, He hath turned me back; He hath made me desolate and faint all the day. — from above; these words are probably figurative: the judgements that had fallen on Jerusalem were as a fire from heaven, piercing even to “the joints and marrow,” the innermost recesses of life;

— He hath spread a net for my feet; that is, God had brought me into a condition wherein I am entangled, and could not get out; to be the first cause of all the evil we suffered, and entitles God to our various kinds of afflictions, for the benefits of repentance;

The Targum:

From heaven he sent fire into my strong cities and conquered them. He spread a net for my feet. He caused me to shrink back before my enemies. He caused me to be desolate all day, unclean and weak.

¹⁴The yoke of my transgressions is bound up by His hand; they are wreathed, and come up upon my neck. He hath made my strength to fall; the Lord hath delivered me into their hands, from whom I am not able to rise up. — bound by his hand; as the plowman binds the yoke upon the neck of oxen so God compels Judah to bear the punishment of her sins;

— he hath made my strength to fall; by the weight of punishment laid upon her, which she could not stand up under, but sunk and fell: this may be understood of her strong and mighty men; her men of valour and courage, who yet stumbled and fell:

— the Lord hath delivered me into their hands, from whom I am not able to rise up; meaning the Chaldeans; nor were the Jews at last delivered from them by their own strength, but by the means of Cyrus the Persian conquering Babylon.

The Targum:

The yoke of my rebellion was heavy in his hand. Intertwined like the tendrils of a vine, they climbed upon my neck. My strength is weakened. The Lord has given me into the hands of one whom I cannot withstand.

¹⁵The Lord hath trodden under foot all my mighty men in the midst of me; He hath called an assembly against me to crush my young men; the Lord hath trodden the virgin, the daughter of Judah, as in a wine press. — the Lord hath trodden under foot all my mighty men in the midst of me; as a causeway is trodden; or as mire is trodden under foot in the streets; so were the mighty and valiant men, the soldiers and men of war, trodden under foot and destroyed by the Chaldeans in the streets of Jerusalem, and in the midst of Judea; the Lord so permitting it:

— he hath called an assembly against me to crush my young men; the army of the Chaldeans, which were brought against Jerusalem by a divine appointment and call; against whom the choicest and stoutest of them, even their young men, could not stand; but were crushed and broken to pieces by them. The word for “assembly” sometimes signifies an appointed time; a time fixed for solemn festivals, and for calling the people to them;

The Targum:

The Lord has crushed all my mighty ones within me; he has established a time against me to shatter the strength of my young men. The nations entered by the decree of the Memra of the Lord and defiled the virgins of the House of Judah until their blood of their virginity was caused to flow like wine from a wine press when a man is treading grapes and the wine of his grapes flows.

¹⁶For these things I weep; mine eye, mine eye runneth down with water, because the Comforter that should relieve my soul is far from me. My children are desolate, because the enemy prevailed.” — for these things I weep; the congregation of Judah, the godly among them, particularly Jeremiah, who represented them wept for the sins the people had been guilty of and for the punishment inflicted on them, or the sore calamities that were brought upon them;

— my children are desolate: those which should help and relieve her and be a comfort to her were destitute themselves: or were “destroyed” and were not and which was the cause of her disconsolate state, as was Rachel’s, Jeremiah 31:15;

The Targum:

Because of the infants who were smashed and the pregnant mothers whose bellies were ripped open, the Congregation of Israel said, “I weep and my eyes flow with tears, a spring of water, for far from me is any comforter to revive me and speak words of comfort for my soul. My sons are desolate for the enemy has become master over them.”

¹⁷Zion spreadeth forth her hands, and there is none to comfort her. The Lord hath commanded concerning Jacob, that his adversaries should be round about him; Jerusalem is as a menstruous woman among them. — Zion spreads forth her hands, either as submitting to the conqueror and imploring mercy; or rather as calling to her friends to help and relieve her. The Targum is, “Zion spreadeth out her hands through distress, as a woman spreads out her hands upon the seat to bring forth;”

— like a woman in labor-throes; menstruous woman, held unclean and shunned by all; separated from her husband and from the temple.

The Targum:

Zion spreads out her hands from anguish like a woman spread upon the birth stool. She screams but there is no one to speak comfortingly to her heart. The Lord commanded the House of Jacob to keep the commandments and Torah, but they transgressed the decree of his Memra. Therefore his oppressors completely encircle Jacob. Jerusalem is like an unclean woman amongst them.

¹⁸“The Lord is righteous, for I have rebelled against His commandment. Hear, I pray you, all people, and behold my sorrow; my virgins and my young men are gone into captivity. — for I have rebelled against his commandment; or “his mouth” – the word of his mouth which he delivered by word of mouth at Mount Sinai or by his prophets since; and therefore was righteously dealt with and justly chastised;

— my virgins and my young men are gone into captivity; in Babylon; being taken and carried thither by the Chaldeans; had it been only her ancient men and women, persons worn out with age that could have been of little use, and at most but of a short continuance, the affliction had not been so great; but her virgins and young men, the flower of the nation and by whom it might have been supported and increased; for these to be carried away into a strange land must be matter of grief and sorrow;

The Targum:

The Lord told the people of the House of Israel that they should not allow those who kill by the sword to pass through their land. Josiah the king went forth and drew his sword against Pharaoh the Lame on the plain of Megiddo, which he had not been commanded [to do] and he had not sought instruction from before the Lord.
Therefore archers shot arrows at King Josiah and he died there. Before his spirit left him he moved his lips and said, “The Lord is blameless for I have transgressed against his Memra.” Hear now all peoples, the lamentations that Jeremiah made over Josiah and see my affliction that has come upon me after his death. My virgins and young men have gone into exile.

¹⁹I called for my lovers, but they deceived me; my priests and mine elders gave up the ghost in the city, while they sought their meat to relieve their souls. — I called for my lovers, but they deceived me, either her idols with whom she had committed spiritual adultery, that is, idolatry; but these could not answer her expectations and help her: or the Egyptians that courted her friendship and with whom she was in alliance and in whom she trusted; and these in the times of her distress she called upon to make good their engagements, but they disappointed her and stood not to their covenant and promises, but left her to stand and fall by herself;

— my priests and mine elders gave up the ghost in the city; or died in the city of Jerusalem; not by the sword of the enemy but through famine; and so in the Arabic language, the word signifies to labour under famine and want of food and perish through it; and if this was the case of their priests that officiated in holy things and of their elders or civil magistrates, what must be the case of the common people?

The Targum:

Jerusalem said, when she was delivered into the hand of Nebuchadnezzar, “I called to my friends, the sons of the nations, with whom I had made treaties to come to my aid. But they deceived me and turned to destroy me. (These are the Romans who entered with Titus and the wicked Vespasian and they built siege works against Jerusalem.)
My priests and my elders within the city perish from hunger, because they searched for the sustenance of bread for themselves to eat, in order to preserve their souls.

²⁰“Behold, O Lord, for I am in distress; my bowels are troubled. Mine heart is turned within me, for I have grievously rebelled. Abroad the sword bereaveth; at home there is as death. — behold, O Lord, for I am in distress, thus she turns from one to another; sometimes she addresses strangers, people that pass by; sometimes she calls to her lovers; and at other times to God which is best of all to have pity and compassion on her in her distress; and from whom it may be most expected, who is a God of grace and mercy:

— my bowels are troubled; as the sea agitated by winds which casts up mire and dirt; or as any waters moved by anything whatsoever, become thick and muddy; or like wine in fermentation; it signifies expressive of great disturbance, confusion and uneasiness:

The Targum:

“Look, O Lord, for I am in anguish. Therefore my bowels are piled up and my heart turns within me, for I have surely transgressed the decree of the Memra of the Lord. Consequently, outside the sword bereaves and inside the agony of starvation, like the Destroying Angel who is appointed over death.

²¹They have heard that I sigh; there is none to comfort me. All mine enemies have heard of my trouble; they are glad that Thou hast done it! Thou wilt bring the day that Thou hast proclaimed, and they shall then be like unto me. — they have heard that I sigh; the nations contiguous to me, Egypt and others that before pretended to be my friends and allies have been no strangers to my bitter afflictions which have forced sighs from me;

— but there is none to comfort me, none of them can or will relieve my distress, but abandon me as in a desperate situation. They are glad that thou hast done it; they have even expressed gladness at the calamities that have befallen me; and they please themselves with the thought that thou our God, of whose favour and protection we used to boast, should forsake us and give us up as a prey to our enemies.

The Targum:

“The nations heard that I am groaning and there is no one to comfort me. All my enemies heard of the evil that overcame me and were glad. For you Lord are the one who has done it. You have caused them to bring upon me a day of retribution. You have summoned against me a coalition to destroy me. May you summon against them that they may be made desolate like me.

²²Let all their wickedness come before Thee, and do unto them as Thou hast done unto me for all my transgressions; for my sighs are many, and my heart is faint.” — let all their wickedness come before thee; the Targum adds, “in the day of the great judgement;”

— for my sighs are many, and my heart is faint; her sighs were many because of her afflictions, and her heart faint because of her sighing.

The Targum:

“May there enter before you on the great judgement day all their evil deeds which they have done to me. May you turn against them as you have turned against me because of my many rebellions, for my groans are many and my heart is weak.”

Lamentations 2

¹ How the Lord hath covered the daughter of Zion with a cloud in His anger, and cast down from heaven unto the earth the beauty of Israel, and remembered not His footstool in the day of His anger! — how hath the Lord covered the daughter of Zion with a cloud in his anger, by a pillar of cloud by day and a column of fire by night, as he did the Israelites at the Red sea, and in the wilderness, which he blots out as a thick cloud;

— and cast down from heaven unto the earth the beauty of Israel; all its glory, both in sanctuary and state; this was brought down from the highest pitch of its excellency and dignity to the lowest degree of infamy and reproach; particularly this was true of the temple which was the beauty and glory of the nation, but now utterly demolished: and remembered not his footstool in the day of his anger; again referring to the house of the sanctuary or the temple itself;

The Targum:

How the Lord has detested the Congregation of Zion in his fierce anger. He threw down from the heavens to the earth the glory of Israel and he did not remember the Temple that was his footstool nor did he spare it in the day of his fierce anger.

²The Lord hath swallowed up all the habitations of Jacob, and hath not pitied; He hath thrown down in His wrath the strongholds of the daughter of Judah. He hath brought them down to the ground; He hath polluted the kingdom and the princes thereof. — the Lord hath swallowed up all the habitations of Jacob, and hath not pitied; as he regarded not his own habitation the temple nor the ark his footstool;

— it is no wonder he should be unconcerned about the habitations of the land of Judea and of Jerusalem, particularly of the king, his nobles and the great men; these the Lord swallowed up in an earthquake, or by invasion so as to be seen no more;

The Targum:

The Lord destroyed and did not spare any of the choice dwellings of the House of Jacob. In his anger he destroyed the Congregation of the House of Judah and brought them to the ground. He broke the kingdom, crushed her leaders.

³He hath cut off in His fierce anger all the horn of Israel. He hath drawn back His right hand from before the enemy, and He burned against Jacob like a flaming fire, which devoureth round about. — all the horn of Israel; the horn here as in elsewhere is the symbol of strength, aggressive or defensive and may therefore stand here for every element of strength, warriors, rulers, fortresses; the cutting off of every horn means the depriving Israel of all power of defence or warfare;

— he hath drawn back his right hand from before the enemy; either his own right hand, with which he had used to fight for his people, and protect them, but now withdrawing it, left them to the mercy of their enemies; or Israel’s right hand, which he so weakened, that they had no power to resist the enemy, and defend themselves:

The Targum:

In his fierce anger he cut off all the glory of Israel. He drew back his right [hand]3 and did not help his people from before the enemy and he burned in the House of Jacob like a searing fire which consumes on all sides.

— Note: if these lamentations were restricted to Jeremiah’s warnings against the house of Judah, then this verse shouldn’t have reference to JACOB; thus the reference to Jacob means it is a prophetic message to both the house of Israel and the house of Judah in the latter days, our days!

— Parallel Scriptures in

Isaiah 28:1 Woe to the crown of pride, to the drunkards of Ephraim, whose glorious beauty is a fading flower, which is on the head of the fat valleys of them that are overcome with wine! — that is, the proud crown of the drunkards of Ephraim, the proud state and kingdom of the ten tribes. This pride is about Ephraim, the United States: “But if we have to use force, it is because we are America; we are the indispensable nation. We stand tall and we see further than other countries into the future, and we see the danger here to all of us,” Madeleine Albright; and the many and excellent vines among them, showing that the prophet’s work was not limited to Judah and Jerusalem, but extended to the northern kingdom, Israel;
— parallel Scriptures in Ezekiel 36, “the mountain of Israel” this prophecy is concerning the desolations of the United States, UK and France; “and to the hills, to the rivers and to the valleys” these are the hills: Ireland, Switzerland and the Scandinavian countries: Denmark, Norway, and Sweden, Finland and Iceland; and the valleys, the low countries: Belgium, the Netherlands and Luxembourg;
— shoot forth your branches; that is, the trees that grew upon them should; the vines, and the olive trees, planted on hills and mountains; these are their colonies: Canada, Australia, New Zealand, South Africa; American Samoa, Guam, the Northern Mariana Islands, Puerto Rico, and the Virgin Islands (US); Anguilla, Bermuda, Cayman Islands, Falkland Islands, Gibraltar, Virgin Islands (UK); Guadeloupe, Martinique, French Guiana, Mayotte, Réunion (France).
— is a fading flower; beauty (Isaiah 28:1) “whose glorious beauty or ornament is a fading flower” – the image of “drunkards” it was the custom at feasts to wreathe with flowers; so this indispensable Ephraim stood upon the head of the fertile valley,” that is, situated on a hill surrounded with the rich valleys as the best of a garland; but that garland is “fading,” and this intoxicated Ephraim is now close to ruin, not to be depended upon, soon to be destroyed and discarded away quickly.
— this maybe where Judah shall bear his iniquity for forty days: I have appointed thee a day for a year. Ezekiel 4:4-6 Septuagint. — after the start of the 10 tribes house of Israel and last for 150 years, the house of Judah shall join in for 40 years. (for more, see Ezekiel 4 – 390/40 Years)

⁴He hath bent His bow like an enemy; He stood with His right hand as an adversary, and slew all that were pleasant to the eye in the tabernacle of the daughter of Zion; He poured out His fury like fire. — He hath bent his bow like an enemy; God sometimes appears as if he was an enemy to his people, when he is not, by his conduct and behaviour; by his providence they take him to be so; he bends his bow, or treads it, for the bending or stretching the bow was done by the foot;

— he stood with his right hand as an adversary; with arrows in it, to put into his bow or with his sword drawn, as an adversary does. The Targum says, “he stood at the right hand of Nebuchadnezzar and helped him, when he distressed his people Israel:”

— and slew all that were pleasant to the eye; princes and priests, husbands and wives, parents and children, young men and maids; desirable to their friends and relations, both the house of Israel and the house of Judah, and even of the daughter of Zion;

The Targum:

He drew his bow and shot arrows at me like an enemy. He stood ready at the right of Nebuchadnezzar and aided him as if he were oppressing his people, the House of Israel. And he killed every young man and everything that was beautiful to see. In the tent of the Congregation of Zion he poured out his anger like a burning fire.

⁵The Lord was as an enemy; He hath swallowed up Israel, He hath swallowed up all her palaces. He hath destroyed his strongholds, and hath increased in the daughter of Judah mourning and lamentation. — the Lord was as an enemy; who formerly was on their side, their God and guardian, their protector and deliverer, but now against them; and a terrible thing it is to have God for an enemy, or even to be as one; this is repeated, as being exceeding distressing, and even intolerable;

— God had use Nebuchadnezzar to do his will as he was described as “Nebuchadnezzar the king of Babylon, My servant,” Jeremiah 25:9, 27:6, 43:10; and so was Cyrus, His anointed Isaiah 45:1; ‘He is My shepherd and shall perform all My pleasure,’ Isaiah 44:28.

The Targum:

The Lord has become like an enemy. He destroyed Israel. He destroyed all her forts and razed all her open cities. He has increased in the Congregation of the House of Judah mourning and grief.

⁶And He hath violently taken away His tabernacle, as if it were of a garden; He hath destroyed His places of the assembly. The Lord hath caused the solemn feasts and Sabbaths to be forgotten in Zion, and hath despised in the indignation of His anger the king and the priest. — and he hath violently taken away his tabernacle as if it were of a garden; the house of the sanctuary or the temple, which was demolished at once with great force and violence and no more account made of it than of a cottage or lodge in a vineyard or garden, set up while the fruit was, either to shelter from the heat of the sun in the day, or to lodge in at night;

— the Lord hath caused the solemn feasts and sabbaths to be forgotten in Zion; there being neither places to keep them in, nor people to observe them: the weekly and annual Sabbaths: “If thou turn away thy foot from the Sabbath, from doing thy pleasure on My holy day, and call the Sabbath a delight, the holy of the Lord, honorable, and shalt honor Him, not doing thine own ways, nor finding thine own pleasure, nor speaking thine own words,” Isaiah 58:13.

The Targum:

He uprooted his Temple like a garden. He razed the place appointed for the atonement of his people. The Lord has caused the joy of the festival and the Sabbath to be forgotten and in his fierce anger he hates the king and high priest.

He (God) hates their kings and high priests:

— a) and the house of Israel is still indulging in idolatry; worshipping Easter, which is another form of worshipping Astarte, one of the titles of the Chaldean goddess, the queen of heaven, the ancient Mesopotamian goddess of war, fertility and sex. She is featured in the Epic of Gilgamesh, and the “Ishtar Gate” was part of Nebuchadnezzar’s Babylon;
— b) and Mithra or Mitra (the Sun-God whose birthday many drunks honor and celebrate on December 25th which they christianised as Christmas), Zeus and others; called “gods of the earth” in distinction from the god of heaven; and men shall worship these earthly gods, acknowledging their supremacy, everyone from his place today, Protestants or Catholics alike;

— and those who persist in their blindness will be more than horsewhipped! They would suffer Judgement by the sword, by famine, by pestilence and spending years in captivity to reflect and repent there (for more see Ezekiel 4 – 390/40 Years and A Sword from the South!)

⁷The Lord hath cast off His altar; He hath abhorred His sanctuary. He hath given up into the hand of the enemy the walls of her palaces; they have made a noise in the house of the Lord, as in the day of a solemn feast. — the Lord hath cast off his altar; whether of incense or of burnt offerings, the sacrifices of which used to be acceptable to him, but now the altar being cast down and demolished, there were no more offerings; nor did he show any desire of them, but the reverse:

— he hath abhorred his sanctuary; the temple, by suffering it to be profaned, pulled down and burnt, it looked as if he had an abhorrence of it, and the service in it;

The Targum:

The Lord has abandoned the house of his altar. He has trampled his Temple. He has handed over the walls of the forts to the enemy. They raised a shout in the Temple of the Lord like the shout of the people of the House of Israel praying in it on the day of Passover.

⁸The Lord hath purposed to destroy the wall of the daughter of Zion; He hath stretched out a line, He hath not withdrawn His hand from destroying. Therefore He made the rampart and the wall to lament; they languished together. — He hath stretched out a line; the phrase implies the systematic thoroughness of the work of destruction;

— He made the rampart; even the very stones of the walls of Zion are thought of as “crying out” and wailing over their own downfall;

The Targum:

The Lord resolved to destroy the wall of the Congregation of Zion. He swung the plummet and did not turn back his hand from destroying it. He caused the rampart and the wall to mourn; they were destroyed together.

⁹Her gates are sunk into the ground; He hath destroyed and broken her bars. Her king and her princes are among the Gentiles; the law is no more; her prophets also find no vision from the Lord. — her gates are sunk into the ground; so completely destroyed that one might suppose they had been swallowed up in an abyss;

— her king and her princes are among the Gentiles; Zedekiah, and the princes that were not slain by the king of Babylon, were carried captive thither; and there they lived, even among the heathens that knew not God, and despised his worship:

The Targum:

Her gates have sunk into the earth because they slaughtered a pig and brought its blood over them. He has destroyed and shattered her doorposts. Her king and rulers were exiled among the nations because they did not keep the decrees of Torah, as if they had not received it on Mount Sinai. Even her prophets had the holy spirit of prophecy withheld from them and they were not told a word of prophecy from before the Lord.

¹⁰The elders of the daughter of Zion sit upon the ground and keep silence; they have cast up dust upon their heads. They have girded themselves with sackcloth; the virgins of Jerusalem hang down their heads to the ground. — the elders of the daughter of Zion sit on the ground, and keep silence; who used to sit in the gate on thrones of judgement, and passed sentence in causes tried before them; or were to give advice and counsel, and were regarded as oracles, now sit on the ground, and dumb, as mourners; see Job 2:13;

— they have cast up dust upon their heads; on their white hairs and gray locks, which bespoke wisdom, and made them grave and venerable: they have girded themselves with sackcloth: after the manner of mourners; who used to be clothed in scarlet and rich apparel, in robes suitable to their office as civil magistrates:

— the virgins of Jerusalem hang down their heads to the ground: through shame and sorrow; who used to look brisk and gay, and walk with outstretched necks, and carried their heads high, but now low enough.

The Targum:

The Elders of the Congregation of Zion sit on the ground in silence. They throw wood ashes upon their heads. They gird sackcloth upon their bodies. The virgins of Jerusalem bow their heads to the dust of the earth.

¹¹Mine eyes do fail with tears, my bowels are troubled; my liver is poured upon the earth, because of the destruction of the daughter of my people, because the children and the sucklings swoon in the streets of the city. — my bowels are troubled; all his inward parts were distressed: my liver is poured upon the earth; his gall bladder, which lay at the bottom of his liver, broke, and he cast it up, and poured it on the earth;

— because the children and sucklings swoon in the streets of the city; through famine, for want of bread, with those that could eat it; and for want of the milk of their mothers and nurses, who being starved themselves could not give it; and hence the poor infants fainted and swooned away; which was a dismal sight, and heart melting to the prophet.

The Targum:

My eyes are spent with tears, my bowels are piled up, my liver is spilt onto the ground because of the destruction of the Congregation of my people as youths and infants cried out in the open places of the cities.

¹²They say to their mothers, “Where is corn and wine?” when they swooned as the wounded in the streets of the city, when their soul was poured out into their mothers’ bosom. — they say to their mothers, where is corn and wine? Not the sucklings who could not speak, nor were used to corn and wine, but the children more grown;

— both are before spoken of, but these are meant, even the young men of Israel, as the Targum says; and such as had been brought up in the best manner, had been used to wine, and not water, and therefore ask for that as well as corn; both take in all the necessaries of life; and which they ask of their mothers, who had been used to feed them, and not knowing what was the reason of it, inquire after them, being pressed with hunger:

The Targum:

The young men of Israel ask their mother, “Where is the bread and wine?” as they thirst in the same way as one wounded by the sword [suffers] from thirst in the open places of the cities, as their life is poured out from hunger into their mother’s bosom.

¹³What thing shall I take to witness for thee? What thing shall I liken to thee, O daughter of Jerusalem? What shall I equal to thee, that I may comfort thee, O virgin daughter of Zion? For thy breach is great like the sea. Who can heal thee? — what thing shall I take to witness for thee? what can I bring forward as a witness to prove that others have sustained as grievous ills as thou? what can be called to convince thee, and make it a clear case to time that ever any people or nation was in such distress and calamity, what with sword, famine, pestilence, and captivity, as thou art?

— what thing shall I liken thee to, O daughter of Jerusalem? what kingdom or nation ever suffered the like? no example can be given, no instance that comes up to it; not the Egyptians, when the ten plagues were inflicted on them; not the Canaanites, when conquered and drove out by Joshua; not the Philistines, Moabites, Edomites, and Syrians, when subdued by David; or any other people;

— for thy breach is great like the sea; as large and as wide as that: Zion’s troubles were a sea of trouble; her afflictions as numerous and as boisterous as the waves of the sea; and as salt, as disagreeable, and as intolerable, as the waters of it: or her breach was great, like the breach of the sea; when it overflows its banks, or breaks through its bounds, there is no stopping it, but it grows wider and wider:

The Targum:

What can I bring to bear witness to you? Or to what can I compare you, O Congregation of Jerusalem? How shall I befriend you that I may console you, O Virgin of the Congregation of Zion? For great is your breaking, as great as the breaking of the waves of the Great Sea during the season of their gales. And who is the doctor who can heal you of your affliction?

¹⁴Thy prophets have seen vain and foolish things for thee; and they have not exposed thine iniquity, to return you from captivity, but have seen for thee false burdens and causes of banishment. — thy prophets have seen vain and foolish things; the words are eminently characteristic of Jeremiah, whose whole life had been spent in conflict with the false prophets (Jeremiah 2:8; Jeremiah 5:13; Jeremiah 6:13; Jeremiah 8:10; Jeremiah 14:14; Jeremiah 28:9, and elsewhere), who spoke smooth things, and prophesied deceit. They did not call men to repent of their iniquity;

— and they have not exposed thine iniquities: they did not tell them of their sins; they took no pains to convince them of them, but connived at them; instead of reproving them for them, they soothed them in them; they did not “remove” the covering that was “over their iniquity” as it might be rendered;

Example of not exposing their iniquities are:

— a) indulging in idolatry; worshipping Easter, which is worshipping Astarte, one of the titles of the Chaldean goddess, the queen of heaven, the ancient Mesopotamian goddess of war, fertility and sex;
— b) worshipping Mithra or Mitra (the Sun-God whose birthday many drunks honor and celebrate on December 25th which they christianised as Christmas), everyone from his place today, Protestants or Catholics alike;
— c) more than 98.5 percent of Christians are worshipping the Sun by observing Sunday, worshipping on a pagan sabbath. They have “their backs toward the temple of the Lord and their faces toward the east; and they worshipped the SUN toward the east; whose Godly judgement is to be stoned to death (Deuteronomy 17:3-5) – ’till they die.

— and those who persist against the Law of Moses (Leviticus 26; Deuteronomy 28), they would suffer Judgement by the sword, by famine, by pestilence and spending years in captivity to reflect and repent there (for more see Ezekiel 4 – 390/40 Years and A Sword from the South!)

The Targum:

The false prophets within you, they have seen falsehood for you and there is no substance to their prophecies. Nor did they make known the punishment that would overtake you as a result of your sin, in order to make you turn back in repentance. Rather, they prophesied to you vain prophecies and erring words.

¹⁵All that pass by clap their hands at thee; they hiss and wag their head at the daughter of Jerusalem, saying, “Is this the city that men call ‘The perfection of beauty, the joy of the whole earth’?” — all that pass by clap their hands at thee; strangers and travellers (Gypsies included) that passed by, and saw Jerusalem in ruins, clapped their hands at it by way of rejoicing as well pleased at the sight;

— they hiss and wag their head at the daughter of Jerusalem; by way of scorn and derision; hereby expressing their contempt of her, and the pleasure and satisfaction they took in seeing her in this condition;

The Targum:

All those who passed by the way clapped their hands at you. They hissed with their lips and wagged their heads at the Congregation of Jerusalem. They said with their mouths, “Is this the city which our fathers and elders of old called the perfection of beauty and loveliness; the joy of all the earth’s inhabitants?”

¹⁶All thine enemies have opened their mouth against thee; they hiss and gnash their teeth. They say, “We have swallowed her up. Certainly this is the day that we looked for; we have found, we have seen it.” — all thine enemies have opened their mouth against thee; or “widened” them; stretched them out as far as they could, to reproach, blaspheme and insult; or like gaping beasts, to swallow up and devour:

— they hiss and gnash their teeth; hiss like serpents, and gnash their teeth in wrath and fury; all expressing their extreme hatred and abhorrence of the Jews, and the delight they took in their ruin and destruction;

— they say, we have swallowed her up; all her wealth and riches were corns into their hands, and were all their own; as well as they thought these were all their own doings, owing to their wisdom and skill, courage and strength; not seeing and knowing the hand of God in all this. These words seem to be the words of the Chaldeans particularly;

— certainly this is the day that we have looked for; we have found, we have seen it: this day of Jerusalem’s destruction, which they had long looked for, and earnestly desired; and now it was come; and they had what they so much wished for; and express it with the utmost pleasure.

The Targum:

All your enemies open their mouths at you. They hissed with their lips and gnashed their teeth and say, “We have destroyed! Surely this is the day we have waited for. We have found it; we have seen it.”

¹⁷The Lord hath done that which He had devised; He hath fulfilled His word that He had commanded in the days of old. He hath thrown down, and hath not pitied; and He hath caused thine enemy to rejoice over thee; He hath set up the horn of thine adversaries. — the Lord hath done that which he had devised; it was not so much the Chaldeans that did it, though they ascribed it to themselves; but it was the Lord’s doing, and what he had deliberately thought of, purposed and designed within himself; all whose purposes and devices certainly come to pass;

— God’s will was to use Nebuchadnezzar to do his will and three times he was described as “Nebuchadnezzar the king of Babylon, My servant,” Jeremiah 25:9, 27:6, 43:10; and so was Cyrus, His anointed Isaiah 45:1; ‘He is My shepherd and shall perform all My pleasure,’ Isaiah 44:28.

The Targum:

The Lord has done what he planned. He completed the Memra of his mouth that he commanded to Moses the prophet long ago: that if the children of Israel did not keep the commandments of the Lord he was going to punish them. He destroyed and had no mercy. He has caused the enemy to rejoice over you for he has exalted your oppressors.

¹⁸Their heart cried unto the Lord. O wall of the daughter of Zion, let tears run down like a river day and night. Give thyself no rest; let not the apple of thine eye cease. — their heart cried unto the Lord; the heart of the Jews in their distress, when they saw the walls of the city breaking down, they cried unto the Lord for help and protection;

— O wall of the daughter of Zion! this is an address of the prophet to the people of Jerusalem carried captive, which was now without houses and inhabitants, only a broken wall standing, some remains and ruins of that; which is mentioned to excite their sorrow and lamentation: let tears run down like a river, day and night; incessantly, for the destruction and desolation made;

The Targum:

The heart of Israel cried out before the Lord, to have mercy on them. O wall of the city of Zion, weep tears like a torrent day and night. Give no comfort to your sorrows, to slacken in the prayer that is yours. May your eyes not cease from weeping.

¹⁹Arise, cry out in the night; in the beginning of the watches pour out thine heart like water before the face of the Lord. Lift up thy hands toward Him for the life of thy young children, that faint for hunger on top of every street. — arise, cry out in the night; that is, O daughter of Zion, or congregation of Israel, as the Targum; who are addressed and called upon by the prophet to arise from their beds, and shake off their sleep, and sloth, and stupidity, and cry to God in the night season; and be earnest and importunate with him for help and assistance;

— pour out thine heart like water before the face of the Lord; use the utmost freedom with him; tell him, in the fullest manner thy whole case, fit thy complaints; unbosom thyself to him; keep nothing from him; speak out freely all lily soul needs; do all this publicly and in the most affectionate way and manner, thy soul melted in floods of tears, under a sense of sin, and pressing evils for it.

The Targum:

Arise, O Congregation of Israel dwelling in exile. Busy yourself with Mishnah in the night, for the Shekinah of the Lord is dwelling before you, and with the words of Torah at the beginning of the morning watch. Pour out like water the crookedness of your heart and turn in repentance. And pray in the synagogue before the face of the Lord. Raise your hands to him in prayer for the life of your children who thirst with hunger at the head of every open market.

²⁰Behold, O Lord, and consider to whom Thou hast done this. Shall the women eat their fruit, their children of a span long? Shall the priest and the prophet be slain in the sanctuary of the Lord? — behold, O Lord, and consider to whom thou hast done this; on whom thou hast brought these calamities of famine and sword; not upon thine enemies but upon thine own people, that are called by thy name and upon theirs, their young ones who had not sinned as their fathers had;

— shall the priest and the prophet be slain in the sanctuary of the Lord? as very probably some were, who fled for safety when the city was broken up; but were not spared by the merciless Chaldeans who had no regard to their office and character; nor is it any wonder they should not, when the Jews themselves slew Zechariah, a priest and prophet, between the porch and the altar;

The Targum:

See, O Lord, and observe from heaven against whom you have turned. Thus is it right for the daughters of Israel to eat the fruit of their wombs due to starvation, the lovely boys wrapped in fine linen? The Attribute of Justice replied, and said, “Is it right to kill priest and prophet in the Temple of the LORD, as when you killed Zechariah son of Iddo, the High Priest and faithful prophet in the Temple of the Lord on the Day of Atonement because he admonished you not to do evil before the Lord?”

²¹The young and the old lie on the ground in the streets; my virgins and my young men are fallen by the sword. Thou hast slain them in the day of Thine anger; Thou hast killed and not pitied. — the young and the old lie on the ground in the streets; young men and old men, virgins and aged women; these promiscuously lay on the ground in the public streets, fainting and dying for want of food; or lay killed there by the sword of the enemy; the Chaldeans sparing neither age nor sex;

— my virgins and my young men are fallen by the sword; by the sword of the Chaldeans, when they entered the city: thou hast slain them in the day of thine anger: thou hast killed, and not pitied; the Chaldeans were only instruments; it was the Lord’s doing; it was according to his will; it was what he had purposed and decreed;

The Targum:

The young and the old who were accustomed to recline on pillows of fine wool and upon ivory couches were prostrate on the earth of the open markets. My virgins and youths have fallen, killed by the sword. You have killed in the day of your anger; you have slaughtered and shown no pity.

²²Thou hast called as in a solemn day my terrors round about, so that in the day of the Lord’S anger none escaped nor remained; those that I have swaddled and brought up hath mine enemy consumed. — thou hast called, as in a solemn day, my terrors round about; terrible enemies, as the Chaldeans were; these came at the call of God, as soldiers at the command of their general; and in as great numbers as men from all parts of Judea flocked to Jerusalem on the solemn feasts of Passover, Pentecost and Tabernacles;

— so that in the day of the Lord’s anger none escaped or remained in the city of Jerusalem and in the land of Judea; either they were put to death, or were carried captive; so that there was scarce an inhabitant to be found, especially after Gedaliah was slain, and the Jews left in the land were carried into Egypt:

The Targum:

You will declare freedom to your people, the House of Israel, by the hand of King Messiah just as you did by the hand of Moses and Aaron on the day when you brought Israel up from Egypt. My children will gather all around, from every place to which they had been scattered in the day of your fierce anger, O Lord, and there was no escape for them nor any survivors of those whom I had wrapped in fine linen. And my enemies destroyed those whom I had raised in royal comfort.

Posted in Lamentations, Minor Prophets

A Study Index of Isaiah

•April 29, 2022 • Leave a Comment

In the Study, we’ll find Isaiah’s prophecies were not solely meant for the house of Judah; although some of them were, but the majority of their warnings were for the house of Israel and is relevant a latter time, our time.

A Study Index of Isaiah

Table of Contents

Chapter 1

— Hear, O heavens, and give ear
— the ox knows his owner but Israel doth not know
— Your country is desolate, your cities burned with fire
— strangers devour it in your land
— Your new moons your appointed feasts My soul hates

~ Chapter 2

— “Come ye, and let us go up to the God of Jacob
— And He shall judge among the nations
— swords into plowshares and spears into pruning hooks
— men shall go into the holes and caves of the earth
— when the Lord arises to shake the earth terribly”

A Study of Chapters 1 and 2 HERE ~ —— ~

Chapter 3

— children to be their princes and babes rule over them
— for Jerusalem is ruined and Judah is fallen
— “Woe unto the wicked! It shall be ill with him
— the Lord shall uncover their secret parts
— thy men shall fall by the sword, thy mighty in war”

~ Chapter 4

— in that day seven women shall take hold of a man
—in that day shall the Branch of the Lord be beautiful
— a remnant that remains in Jerusalem shall be called holy
— the Lord shall wash away the filth of the daughters of Zion

A Study of Chapters 3 and 4 HERE ~ —— ~

Chapter 5

— Isaiah sing to his Well-beloved a song
— Woe unto them that join house to house
— Woe unto them that rise up early in the morning
— they may pursue strong drink; till wine inflame them!
— Woe unto them that call evil good and good evil

~ Chapter 6

— “Holy, holy, holy is the Lord of hosts
— the whole earth is full of His glory”
— “Whom shall I send, and who will go for Us?”
— Then said I, “Here am I. Send me!”
— Go tell this people: Hear ye but understand not
— and see ye indeed but perceive not

A Study of Chapters 5 and 6 HERE ~ —— ~

Chapter 7

— “Syria is confederate with Ephraim”
— “Let us go up against Judah and vex it
— and the head of Ephraim is Samaria
— within sixty-five years Ephraim shall be broken
— behold, a virgin shall conceive and bear a Son”

~ Chapter 8

— behold, the Lord bringeth up the king of Assyria
— many among them shall stumble, fall and be broken
— and be snared and be taken
— to the law and to the testimony
— if they speak not according to this word
— it is because there is no light in them

A Study of Chapters 7 and 8 HERE ~ —— ~

Chapter 9

— in Galilee of the nations
— people that walk in darkness have seen a great light
— the Everlasting Father, the Prince of Peace
— bricks are fallen but we will build with hewn stones
— the prophets that teach lies
— Manasseh, Ephraim; and Ephraim, Manasseh

~ Chapter 10

— “Woe unto them that decree unrighteous decrees
— “Woe to the Assyrian, the rod of Mine anger
— a consuming, even determined, in the midst of Israel
— yet a remnant of them shall return
— the Assyrian army shall cut down thickets of the forest”

A Study of Chapters 9 and 10 HERE ~ —— ~

Chapter 11

— a Rod out of the stem of Jesse
— the Spirit of knowledge and the fear of the Lord
— He shall smite the earth with the rod of His mouth
— the wolf also shall dwell with the lamb
— and He shall assemble the outcasts of Israel
— and Judah from the four corners of the earth

~ Chapter 12

— behold, my God Is my Salvation
— for the Lord Yehovah is my Strength
— “Praise the Lord! Call upon His name!”
— God’s name in Hebrew is יהוה‎ YHVH Yehovah

A Study of Chapters 11 and 12 HERE ~ —— ~

Chapter 13

— the burden of Babylon
— Howl ye, for the day of the Lord is at hand!
— it shall come as a destruction from the Almighty
— behold, the day of the Lord cometh
— therefore I will shake the heavens
— and the earth shall remove out of her place

~ Chapter 14

— for the Lord will have mercy on Jacob
— “How art thou fallen from heaven, O Lucifer”
— “I will ascend into heaven
— I will be like the Most High”
— His hand shall stretch out upon all the nations

A Study of Chapters 13 and 14 HERE ~ —— ~

Chapter 15

— the burden of Moab
— they shall gird themselves with sackcloth
— everyone shall howl, weeping abundantly
— rejoice thou not, Palestina
— because the rod that smote thee is not broken

~ Chapter 16

— the burden from Sela to the wilderness
— Let Mine outcasts dwell with thee, Moab
— Moab shall howl for Moab, everyone shall howl
— the remnant of Moab shall remain small and feeble

A Study of Chapters 15 and 16 HERE ~ —— ~

Chapter 17

— the burden of Damascus, Syria
— the glory of Jacob shall be made thin
— yet gleaning grapes shall be left in it
— the harvest shall be a heap in the day of grief

~ Chapter 18

— Woe to the land beyond the rivers of Ethiopia
— the Lord said unto me: “I will take My rest”
— “they shall be left together for the fowls of the mountains
— the beasts of the earth; the fowls shall summer upon them
— and the beasts of the earth shall winter upon them”

A Study of Chapters 17 and 18 HERE ~ —— ~

Chapter 19

— the burden of Egypt
— the princes of Zoan “we are the sons of wise men”
— Gypsies in Hebrew, their name from the city of Zoan
— the princes of Zoan are become fools
— the Lord hath mingled a perverse spirit
— in the midst of the princes of Zoan

~ Chapter 20

— the burden of Egypt and Ethiopia
— Isaiah called to walk naked and barefooted
— “if the mighty could not delivered their souls
— how shall we, the weak, be delivered?”

A Study of Chapters 19 and 20 HERE~ —— ~

Chapter 21

— the burden of Babylon, Edom and Arabia
— the pain as the pangs of a woman that travails
— watch in the watchtower, eat, drink; arise
— a chariot of asses and a chariot of camels
— the whole army of the Medes and Persians

~ Chapter 22

— the burden of the Valley of Vision
— Elam, the Persians; and Kir, the Medes
— Medes and Persians; a composite army
— and He will uncover the covering of Judah
— “Surely this iniquity shall not
— be purged from you till ye die”
— Shebna, the fallen one; Eliakim, My servant

A Study of Chapters 21 and 22 HERE ~ —— ~

Chapter 23

— the burden of Tyre and Sidon
— a report concerning Egypt and the Nile
— ye ships of Tarshish is laid waste!
— “after the end of seventy years
— that the Lord will visit Tyre”

~ Chapter 24

— “the Lord makes the earth empty
— and turns it upside down”
— and few men are left
— “Woe unto me!”
— the earth shall reel to and fro like a drunkard

A Study of Chapters 23 and 24 HERE ~ —— ~

Chapter 25

— I will praise Thy name
— God’s name is יהוה‎ YHVH Yehovah
— Thou hast made of a fortified city a ruin
— Thou hast been a strength to the needy in distress
— and He will cast away the veil over all nations

~ Chapter 26

— a song be sung in the land of Judah
— a righteous nation that keeps the truth
— Thy name to the remembrance of Thee
— they are dead, they shall not live
— awake and sing, ye that dwell in dust

A Study of Chapters 25 and 26 HERE~ —— ~

Chapter 27

— the Leviathan that is in the sea
— “A vineyard of red wine!”
— Fury is not in Me
— He smote those that smote him
— the great trumpet shall be blown

~ Chapter 28

— “Woe to the crown of pride
— to the drunkards of Ephraim
— whose glorious beauty is a fading flower”
— “Whom shall he teach knowledge?
— And whom shall he make to understand doctrine?”
— for precept must be upon precept
— We have made a covenant with death and hell

A Study of Chapters 27 and 28 HERE ~ —— ~

Chapter 29

— Woe to Ariel, to Ariel: “the lion of God”
— a multitude of nations will fight against Ariel
— Cry ye out, they are drunken, but not with wine
— they stagger, but not with strong drink
— the words of a book that is sealed

~ Chapter 30

— Woe to the rebellious children that add sin to sin
— the strength of Pharaoh and princes be your shame
— for they were at Zoan, “the royal city of the Pharaohs”
— a remnant as a beacon and an ensign on a hill
— the moon shall be as the light of the sun
— the light of the sun shall as the light of seven suns

A Study of Chapters 29 and 30 HERE ~ —— ~

Chapter 31

— Woe to them that go down to Egypt for help
— yet God also is wise, and will bring evil
— everyman shall cast off his idols of silver and gold
— then shall the Assyrian fall by the sword,
— but not of a mighty man; nor of a lowly man

~ Chapter 32

— a King shall reign in righteousness
— and princes shall rule in judgement
— the rash shall understand knowledge
— and the stammerers shall speak plainly
— rise up, ye women that are at ease

A Study of Chapters 31 and 32 HERE~ —— ~

Chapter 33

— Woe to those that spoils
— your spoil shall be the gathering of caterpillar
— the earth mourns and languishes
— thine heart shall meditate terror
— the Lord is our judge, our lawgiver, our king

~ Chapter 34

— Come near, ye nations, to hear and hearken
— the indignation of the Lord is upon all nations
— and His fury upon all their armies
— for My sword shall be bathed in heaven
— the unicorns shall come down with the bulls

A Study of Chapters 33 and 34 HERE ~ —— ~

Chapter 35

— the wilderness and the solitary place shall be glad
— the desert shall rejoice and blossom as the rose
— Say to them that are of a fearful heart
— “Be strong, fear not”

~ Chapter 36

— king of Assyria sent Rabshakeh to Jerusalem
— then came Eliakim, who was over the house
— and Shebna the scribe
— they exhort and insinuate each other

A Study of Chapters 35 and 36 HERE ~ —— ~

Chapter 37

— King Hezekiah covered himself with sackcloth
— and went into the house of the Lord
— but Rabshakeh continues insinuating Hezekiah
— but his commandment was, “Answer him not”

~ Chapter 38

— Hezekiah was sick unto death
— “Remember now, O Lord, I beseech Thee”
— the sun returned ten degrees backward
— a writing of king Hezekiah’s confession
— the Lord was ready to save me

A Study of Chapters 37 and 38 HERE ~ —— ~

Chapter 39

— Hezekiah to show them his precious things
— the silver and the gold, the spices and ointment
— and all the house of his armor and all his treasures
— thy sons thou shalt beget shall be taken away
— and they shall be eunuchs for the king of Babylon

~ Chapter 40

— “Comfort ye, comfort ye My people”
— a voice of him that cries in the wilderness
— every valley shall be exalted
— and every mountain shall be made low
— He that sits upon the circle of the earth
— and the inhabitants as grasshoppers

A Study of Chapters 39 and 40 HERE~ —— ~

Chapter 41

— “Keep silence before Me, O islands
— “But thou, Israel, art My servant
— “Fear not; I will help thee
— “I, the God of Israel, will not forsake thee”

~ Chapter 42

— “Behold My Servant, whom I uphold
— Mine Elect, in whom My soul delight
— He shall not fail nor be discouraged
— till He hath set judgement in the earth
— and the isles shall wait for His law”

A Study of Chapters 41 and 42 HERE ~ —— ~

Chapter 43

— “Fear not, for I have redeemed thee
— “For I have created him for My glory
— “Let all the nations be gathered together
— and let the people be assembled
— “Ye are My witnesses”

~ Chapter 44

— “Yet now hear, O Jacob My servant
— Is there a God besides Me?
— the Lord, thy Redeemer, that makes all things
— that stretches forth the heavens alone
— Cyrus, he is My shepherd and My pleasure

A Study of Chapters 43 and 44 HERE ~ —— ~

Chapter 45

— the Lord saith to His anointed, to Cyrus
— and make the crooked places straight
— I have called thee by thy name and surnamed thee
— though thou hast not known Me
— Woe unto him that strive with his Maker!

~ Chapter 46

— “Hearken unto Me, O house of Jacob
— and all the remnant of the house of Israel
— Remember the former things of old; for I am God
— and there is none other
— I am God, and there is none like Me”

A Study of Chapters 45 and 46 HERE~ —— ~

Chapter 47

— O virgin daughter of Babylon
— O daughter of the Chaldeans
— Thy nakedness shall be uncovered
— yea, thy shame shall be seen
— sorceries, astrologers and soothsayers

~ Chapter 48

— Hear ye, O house of Jacob
— not in truth nor in righteousness
— Hearken unto Me, O Jacob and Israel
— I am the First, I am also the Last
— All ye, assemble yourselves and hear

A Study of Chapters 47 and 48 HERE ~ —— ~

Chapter 49

— Listen, O isles, unto Me, and hearken
— ye people from afar; the land of Sinim
— Sing, O heavens, and be joyful
— “Can a woman forget her sucking child
— “Behold, I will lift up Mine hand to the Gentiles”

~ Chapter 50

— “Where is the bill of your mother’s divorce
— I clothe the heavens with blackness
— and I make sackcloth their covering
— “Who among you fear the Lord
— that obey the voice of His Servant?”

A Study of Chapters 49 and 50 HERE ~ —— ~

Chapter 51

— “Hearken to Me, ye that seek the Lord
— Lift up your eyes to the heavens
— ye that know righteousness, whose heart is My law
— Awake, awake, O arm of the Lord
— “Awake, awake! Stand up, O Jerusalem
— who hast drunk the cup of His fury”

~ Chapter 52

— Awake, awake! Put on thy strength
— My people shall know My name
— the Lord hath hath redeemed Jerusalem
— “Behold, my servant the Messiah shall prosper”

A Study of Chapters 51 and 52 HERE ~ —— ~

Chapter 53

— He is despised and rejected of men
— He borne our griefs and carried our sorrows
— He was wounded for our transgressions
— by His stripes we are healed
— He was bruised for our iniquities
— He is brought as a lamb to the slaughter

~ Chapter 54

— “Sing, O Jerusalem, that didst not bear!
— Enlarge the place of thy tent
— the Lord of hosts is thy Redeemer
— In a little wrath I hid My face from thee
— Behold, they shall gather against thee”

A Study of Chapters 53 and 54 HERE ~ —— ~

Chapter 55

— “Ho, every one that thirst
— Hearken diligently unto Me
— Incline your ear, and come unto Me; hear
— Seek ye the Lord while He may be found
— “For My thoughts are not your thoughts
— neither are your ways My ways”

~ Chapter 56

— Blessed is the man who keeps the Sabbath
— the sons of strangers that join to serve the Lord
— my house a house of prayer for all people
— their watchmen are blind; they are all ignorant
— they are all dumb dogs, they cannot bark

A Study of Chapters 55 and 56 HERE ~ —— ~

Chapter 57

— The righteous perish, rest into peace
— ye sons of the sorceress
— Are ye not a seed of falsehood
— inflaming yourselves with idols
— behind the doors also and the posts
— the wicked are like the troubled sea that cannot rest

~ Chapter 58

— “Cry aloud, spare not; lift up thy voice like a trumpet!
— and show My people their transgression
— and the house of Jacob their sins”
— ‘Why have we fasted and Thou seest not?
— why have we afflict our soul and thou take no note?’

A Study of Chapters 57 and 58 HERE~ —— ~

Chapter 59

— Behold, the Lord’s hand is not shortened
— For your hands are defiled with blood
— and your fingers with iniquity; your lips have spoken lies
— your tongue hath muttered perverseness
— We grope for the wall like the blind
— and we grope as if we had no eyes

~ Chapter 60

— Arise, shine, for thy light is come
— and the glory of the Lord is risen upon thee
— And the Gentiles shall come to thy light
— for in My wrath I smote thee
— I the Lord, am thy Savior and thy Redeemer

A Study of Chapters 59 and 60 HERE ~ —— ~

Chapter 61

— “The Spirit of the Lord God is upon Me
— because He hath anointed Me to preach the good tidings
— To proclaim the acceptable year of the Lord
— and the day of vengeance of our God
— “For I, the Lord, love judgement
— I hate robbery for burnt offering”

~ Chapter 62

— the Gentiles shall see thy righteousness
— and all kings thy glory
— “I have set watchmen upon thy walls, O Jerusalem
— who shall never hold their peace day nor night”
— the Lord hath proclaimed unto the end of the world

A Study of Chapters 61 and 62 HERE ~ —— ~

Chapter 63

— Who is this that cometh from Edom
— with dyed garments from Bozrah
— Why art thou red in Thine apparel
— And I will tread down the people in Mine anger
— and make them drunk in My fury

~ Chapter 64

— But we are all as an unclean thing
— and all our righteousnesses are as filthy rags
— Thou art our Father; we are the clay
— and Thou our potter
— and we all are the work of Thy hand

A Study of Chapters 63 and 64 HERE~ —— ~

Chapter 65

— I spread out my hands unto a rebellious people
— Behold, it is written: I will not keep silence
— Therefore will I number you to the sword
— and ye shall all bow down to the slaughter
— because when I called, ye did not answer
— when I spoke, ye did not hear, but did evils

~ Chapter 66

— “The heaven is My throne
— and the earth is My footstool
— Hear the word of the Lord, and tremble at His word
— For behold, the Lord will come with fire
— and with His chariots like a whirlwind
— “And from one new moon and one Sabbath to another
— shall all flesh come to worship before Me”

A Study of Chapters 65 and 66 HERE ~ —— ~

Posted in Isaiah

The Lord’s Prayer

•April 28, 2022 • Leave a Comment

Matthew 6

⁹Our Father who art in Heaven, hallowed be Thy name.
¹⁰Thy Kingdom come. Thy will be done on earth, as it is in Heaven.
¹¹Give us this day our daily bread.
¹²And forgive us our debts, as we forgive our debtors.
¹³And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil. For Thine is the Kingdom, and the power and the glory for ever. Amen.

Posted in Prayers

Isaiah (Ch 65-66)

•April 27, 2022 • Leave a Comment

The last two chapters of Isaiah seem like a supplement to Sword from the South in Ezekiel 20:45 to 21:5! They seem to offer the reasons why events are to go off the way being prophesised. Remember, the Scriptures are often shrouded in cryptic languages and our challenge is to decrypt them, especially as it relates to the latter days, our days. Here a reason is given, “I also will choose their delusions, and will bring their fears upon them, because when I called, ye did not answer; when I spoke, ye did not hear.” If so, could this also tie in with Ezekiel 4 – 390/40 Years?

Isaiah 65

¹ “I am sought of them that asked not for Me; I am found of them that sought Me not. I said, ‘Behold Me, behold Me,’ unto a nation that was not called by My name. — God isn’t sought of them that asked not for him; that this is a prophecy of the calling and conversion of the Gentiles is not to be doubted;

— God said, behold me, behold unto a nation that was not called by my name; which describes the Gentiles, who formerly were not called the people of God, even those who now are, Hosea 2:23.

²I have spread out my hands all the day unto a rebellious people, which walketh in a way that was not good, after their own thoughts; — God has spread out his hands all the day unto a rebellious people; meaning both the house of Israel and the house of Judah;

— which walketh in a way that was not good, after their own thoughts; in their own way, of their own devising, choosing and approving and which was only but wickedness; and after their own imaginations and inventions; after their own doctrines and their own dogmas.

³A people that provoketh Me to anger continually to My face, that sacrificeth in gardens and burneth incense upon altars of brick; — that sacrifice in gardens; to idols placed there as the Targum says as they were under every green tree; or in groves, where idols were worshipped; sometimes this refers to their having their sepulchres in their gardens, where they consulted their deadly spirits.

⁴who remain among the graves and lodge in the monuments, which eat swine’s flesh, and broth of abominable things is in their vessels; — they remained among the graves, either there expecting revelations by dreams or there consulting with devils, who were thought to delight in such places; or to practise necromancy, all which were forbidden, Deuteronomy 18:11, Isaiah 8:19.

— and broth of abominable things is in their vessels; or “pots” – broth made of swine’s flesh and of other sorts of flesh which were unclean by the law. The Targum paraphrases both clauses thus, “who dwell in houses built of the dust of graves and lodge with the corpse of the children of men.”

⁵who say, ‘Stand by thyself; come not near to me, for I am holier than thou!’ These are a smoke in My nose, a fire that burneth all the day. — these are a smoke in my nose, a fire that burn all day: very offensive to the Divine Being, as smoke is to the eyes and nostrils; very abominable to him; and whose proud and vain conduct raised indignation in him, and kindled the fire of his anger, which was continually exercised on them; see Luke 16:15. The Targum says, “their vengeance is in hell, where the fire burns all the day.”

⁶Behold, it is written before Me: I will not keep silence, but will recompense—even recompense into their bosom” — behold, it is written; this account of their sins; it was in his sight and constant remembrance and punishment for them was determined by him, written in the book of his decrees:

— God will not keep silence; but threaten with destruction and not only threaten but execute; plead against them really, as well as verbally, with sore judgements: but will recompense, even recompense into their bosom; full and just recompence of punishment for all their transgressions;

— the Targum says, “I will recompense to them the vengeance of their sins, and deliver their bodies to the second death.” So the Targum recognises the concept of “the second death.”

⁷your iniquities and the iniquities of your fathers together,” saith the Lord, “who have burned incense upon the mountains and blasphemed Me upon the hills; therefore will I measure their former work into their bosom.” — your iniquities, and the iniquities of your fathers together, saith the Lord; that is, the punishment both of the one and of the other; these being alike and continued from father to son and approved of and committed by one generation after another till the measure was filled up;

— and then the recompence of reward is given for all of them together at once: which have burnt incense upon the mountains and blasphemed me upon the hills; where they offered incense and other sacrifices to idols which was interpreted by the Lord as a blaspheming and reproaching of him; see Isaiah 57:7,

— therefore will I measure their former work into their bosom; punish them for their former sins as well as their latter ones and both together.

⁸Thus saith the Lord, “As the new wine is found in the cluster, and one saith, ‘Destroy it not, for a blessing is in it,’ so will I do for my servants’ sakes, that I may not destroy them all. — will I do for my servants’ sake, that I may not destroy them all; namely, for the sake of my servants, Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. I will bring a seed out of Jacob; a small number which shall be as a seed from whence others shall spring and out of Judah.

⁹And I will bring forth a seed out of Jacob, and out of Judah an inheritor of My mountains; and Mine elect shall inherit it, and My servants shall dwell there. — God will bring forth a seed out of Jacob; no seed bears a proportion to the tree or plant that it produces but in comparison with that is very little; yet it is enough, through the virtue which the God of nature hath put into it, to preserve and uphold the species to which it doth relate.

¹⁰And Sharon shall be a fold of flocks, and the Valley of Achor a place for the herds to lie down in, for My people that have sought Me. — Sharon was a place of great fruitfulness for pastures. David’s herds were kept there, 1 Chronicles 27:29. It was become like a wilderness, Isaiah 33:9.

¹¹“But ye are they that forsake the Lord, that forget My holy mountain, that prepare a table for that Gad, and that furnish the drink offering unto that Meni. — ye are they that forsake the Lord, that is the way of the Lord; it is a phrase opposed to a walking with God. Our walking with God is in the way of his statutes, forsaking him signifies a declining or turning aside from that way.

¹²Therefore will I number you to the sword, and ye shall all bow down to the slaughter; because when I called, ye did not answer; when I spoke, ye did not hear, but did evil before Mine eyes and did choose that wherein I delighted not.” — therefore will I number you to the sword; there is an elegancy in the expression, alluding to Meni, that number, they furnished a drink offering for or trusted in; and since they did, God would number them or appoint a number of them to the sword;

— and ye shall all bow down to the slaughter; or suffer them to be slain in great numbers, even from one end of their land to another, Jeremiah 12:12, they should be numbered and hold out, or care taken that none of them should escape the sword of the Romans, or not be taken by them: and ye shall all bow down to the slaughter; be obliged to submit to the conqueror and lay down their necks to be sacrificed by him;

— these passages seem like another version of A Sword from the South! Here a reason is given, “because when I called, ye did not answer; when I spoke, ye did not hear.”

— if so, could this also tie in with Ezekiel 4 – 390/40 Years?

¹³Therefore thus saith the Lord God, “Behold, My servants shall eat, but ye shall be hungry; behold, My servants shall drink, but ye shall be thirsty: behold, My servants shall rejoice, but ye shall be ashamed. — but ye shall be ashamed; of their vain confidence; of their trust in their own righteousness;

— indulging in idolatry; worshipping Astarte call Easter, and Mithra or Mitra which we Christianise as Christmas where the drunks celebrate on December 25th; which are all our own righteousness.

¹⁴Behold, My servants shall sing for joy of heart, but ye shall cry for sorrow of heart, and shall howl for vexation of spirit. — but ye shall cry for sorrow of heart, and shall howl for vexation of spirit; under the sore judgements of God upon them, the sword and famine;

— and more especially during the siege of Jerusalem, and when wrath came upon them at a latter time, in the destruction of our cities and nations, and they fell into the hands of terrorists, who carried them captive by the Sword and dispersed them in various places; and as the wicked will in hell for a time where is nothing but weeping, wailing and gnashing of teeth.

¹⁵And ye shall leave your name for a curse unto My chosen, for the Lord God shall slay thee and call His servants by another name, — for the Lord God shall slay them; by the Sword of Edom and Idumea, and by his judgements, which continue upon them; the Targum says, with the second death:

— again, these passages seem like an addition to our understanding of A Sword from the South!

¹⁶that he who blesseth himself in the earth shall bless himself in the God of truth, and he that sweareth in the earth shall swear by the God of truth, because the former troubles are forgotten, and because they are hid from Mine eyes. — God of truth, or in the God of truth; not indulging in the fictitious deities of the Gentiles, such as worshipping Astarte call Easter, and Mithra or Mitra which we call Christmas;

— worshipping God the Father, or God the Son, the only God as the Source of blessing; or swearing by that God who hath approved his truth and faithfulness by saving and delivering his people.

¹⁷“For, behold, I create new heavens and a new earth; and the former shall not be remembered, nor come into mind. — the entire existing state of things is to pass away. God will create a new heaven and a new earth and place his people therein; and the old conditions will be all changed, and the old grounds of complaint disappear.

¹⁸But be ye glad and rejoice for ever in that which I create; for behold, I create Jerusalem a rejoicing, and her people a joy. — God create Jerusalem; from the prophet’s viewpoint, as elsewhere, the earthly city, transformed and transfigured, occupies the central place in the new creation. In the Millenium the transfer of the promise to the unseen eternal city, the Jerusalem which is above.

¹⁹And I will rejoice in Jerusalem, and joy in My people; and the voice of weeping shall be no more heard in her, nor the voice of crying. — in the “new Jerusalem” there will be no sorrow, neither “weeping” nor “crying”

²⁰There shall be no more thence an infant of days, nor an old man that hath not filled his days; for the child shall die a hundred years old; but the sinner being a hundred years old shall be accursed. — life will be greatly prolonged to a hundred years for everyone;

²¹And they shall build houses and inhabit them; and they shall plant vineyards and eat the fruit of them. — and they shall plant vineyards and eat the fruit of them; they shall both live to dwell in their houses when built, and till their vineyards bring forth fruit and then eat of them; and they shall be preserved from enemies breaking in upon them and wasting their plantations; men will always enjoy the fruit of their labours and see their children grow up.

²²They shall not build and another inhabit; they shall not plant and another eat; for as the days of a tree are the days of My people, and Mine elect shall long enjoy the work of their hands. — and mine elect shall long enjoy the work of their hands; what they have built and planted; they shall live long in their houses and for many years partake of the fruit of their vineyards. The blessing of long life is carried on with the promises of all other instances of outward happiness.

²³They shall not labor in vain, nor bring forth for trouble; for they are the seed of the blessed of the Lord, and their offspring with them. — nor bring forth for trouble; for death, as the Targum says; or for a curse, as in the Septuagint: the tense is they shall not beget and bring forth children that shall immediately die by some distemper or another or be taken off by famine, sword or pestilence, to the great grief and trouble of their parents; but these shall live, and outlive their parents, so that their death will never be a trouble to them.

²⁴And it shall come to pass, that before they call, I will answer; and while they are yet speaking, I will hear. — and while they are yet speaking, I will hear; while they are praying to him, he hears and answers, and grants their requests, and more, as he did Daniel. This shows the readiness of the Lord to help and assist his people in any time of trouble, or when they may fear an enemy; and is a great encouragement to attend the throne of grace constantly.

²⁵The wolf and the lamb shall feed together, and the lion shall eat straw like the bullock; and dust shall be the serpent’s meat. They shall not hurt nor destroy in all My holy mountain,” saith the Lord.” — and all around will peace and harmony prevail, even in the animal world itself. “Wolf and lamb then feed together, and the lion eats chopped straw like the ox, and the serpent-dust is its bread.

Isaiah 66

¹ Thus saith the Lord, “The heaven is My throne, and the earth is My footstool. Where is the house that ye build unto Me? And where is the place of My rest? — the heaven is my throne; heaven is where God is having his seat or throne there; he speaks as a king; heaven is the place where he holds his court, from where he dispenses his commands, and from where he surveys all his works;

— but where is the house that ye build unto me? can there be a house built that will house me, who can encompass the heavens and the earth with a house? Where is the place of my rest? or where is the place wherein I can be said to rest in a proper sense?

²For all those things hath Mine hand made, and all those things have been,” saith the Lord. “But to this man will I look: even to him that is poor and of a contrite spirit, and trembleth at My word. — for all those things hath mine hand made; the heavens and the earth which are his throne and footstool; and since he is the Creator of all things he must be immense, omnipresent, omnipotent and cannot be included in any space or place:

— and such tremble at the Word of God; both at the wrath of disobedience of it and have a holy reverence for the Word of God and receive it, not as the word of man, but as the Word of God: and to such the Lord looks; he looks on these poor ones, and feeds them; on these afflicted ones, and sympathizes with them; on these contrite ones and delights in their sacrifices and dwells with and among them.

³“He that killeth an ox is as if he slew a man; he that sacrificeth a lamb, as if he cut off a dog’s neck; he that offereth an oblation, as if he offered swine’s blood; he that burneth incense, as if he blessed an idol— yea, they have chosen their own ways, and their soul delighteth in their abominations. — he that killeth an ox is as if he slew a man; or ‘He that slayeth an ox, killeth a man.’

— or ‘He who sacrifices an ox is as if he slew a man.’ The Septuagint, in a very free translation, renders it, ‘The wicked man who sacrifices a calf, is as he who kills a dog; and he who offers to me fine flour, it is as the blood of swine.’

⁴I also will choose their delusions, and will bring their fears upon them, because when I called, none did answer, when I spoke, they did not hear; but they did evil before Mine eyes and chose that in which I delighted not.” — God also will choose their delusions; God will punish them in their own way and set those over them as teachers who shall govern them by their traditions instead of my word;

— Or in the NT era, false Christs and false prophets to deceive them, Matthew 24:24; John 5:43.

— and will bring their fears upon them; the things they feared; such as the sword, famine and pestilence; and into the latter days into another captivity, an enemy who, they will feared, would come and take away their place and nation;

— this “will bring their fears upon them” appears like a parallel text where the ‘Sword of the Lord’ is mentioned. Could this be a clear connection to the Sword from the South in Ezekiel 20:45 to 21:5?

⁵Hear the word of the Lord, ye that tremble at His word: “Your brethren that hated you, that cast you out for My name’s sake, said, ‘Let the Lord be glorified, when He shall appear to your joy’; and they shall be ashamed.” — your brethren that hated you; men of the same stock with yourselves. The term could also be applied to the known leaders of the Samaritan community, like Sanballat and Tobiah (Nehemiah 2:10), but might be largely mean men of Israelitish descent, the Sadducees and in part, probably other Jews who had been spared in the general deportation of the people.

⁶A voice of noise from the city, a voice from the temple, a voice of the Lord that rendereth recompense to His enemies. — a voice of noise from the city; from the city of Jerusalem, as the Targum says; so that in the days of the Messiah shall go out of Jerusalem the voice from the temple, a voice of the Lord.

⁷“Before she travailed, she brought forth; before her pain came, she was delivered of a man child. — she was delivered of a man child; this is speaking of the Messiah; the Targum says, “before distress comes to her, she shall be redeemed; and before trembling comes upon her, her King shall be revealed.”

⁸Who hath heard such a thing? Who hath seen such things? Shall the earth be made to bring forth in one day? Or shall a nation be born at once? For as soon as Zion travailed, she brought forth her children. — or shall a nation be born at once? – Such an event never has occurred. A nation is brought into existence by degrees. Its institutions are matured gradually, and usually by the long process of years.

⁹Shall I bring to birth and not cease to bring forth?” saith the Lord. “Shall I cause to bring forth, and shut the womb?” saith thy God. — Shall I bring to the birth? – the sense of this verse is plain. It is that God would certainly accomplish what he had here predicted and for which he had made ample arrangements and preparations. He would not commence the work and then abandon it.

¹⁰“Rejoice ye with Jerusalem, and be glad with her, all ye that love her; rejoice for joy with her, all ye that mourn for her; — Rejoice ye with Jerusalem; the holy city is still thought of as a mother rejoicing in her new-born child; friends and neighbours, the nations friendly to Israel who had shown pity for her sufferings are now invited to participate in her joy.

¹¹that ye may suck, and be satisfied with the breasts of her consolations; that ye may milk out, and be delighted with the abundance of her glory.” — Jerusalem is here set out as the mother of us all, as indeed she was; for out of Zion went forth the law and the word of the Lord from Jerusalem, Isaiah 2:3.

¹²For thus saith the Lord, “Behold, I will extend peace to her like a river, and the glory of the Gentiles like a flowing stream; then shall ye suck, ye shall be borne upon her sides, and be dandled upon her knees. —for thus saith the Lord, behold, I will extend peace to her like a river; as the river Euphrates so the Targum says;

— or as the Nile, which overflowed Egypt, and made it fruitful; or as any flowing river, large and spreading, continuing to flow and brings blessings with it where it comes; and so denotes the abundance of this peace, the perpetuity of it and its blessed effects.

¹³As one whom his mother comforteth, so will I comfort you; and ye shall be comforted in Jerusalem. — the Targum says, “my Word shall comfort you; and ye shall be comforted in Jerusalem.”

¹⁴And when ye see this, your heart shall rejoice, and your bones shall flourish like an herb; and the hand of the Lord shall be known toward His servants, and His indignation toward His enemies. — your heart shall rejoice; for nothing can be matter of greater joy than these; these cause an inward, hearty and sincere joy and not mere outward expressions of it:

— and your bones shall flourish like an herb; in a well watered garden, or on which the dew lies; which revives, lifts up its head, and is green and flourishing: so the hearts of God’s people are comforted and filled with joy, it renews their spiritual strength; the bones that were dried up with sorrow become fat and flourishing and like a garden of herbs, whose springs fail not.

¹⁵For behold, the Lord will come with fire, and with His chariots like a whirlwind, to render His anger with fury and His rebuke with flames of fire. — for, behold, the Lord will come with fire, either with material fire, with which mystical Babylon or Rome shall be burnt, Revelation 18:8, or with indignation and wrath, which shall be poured out like fire and be as intolerable and consuming as that:

— and with his chariots like a whirlwind; making a great noise and striking great terror; alluding to chariots in which men used formerly to fight:

— to render his anger with fury, and his rebuke with flames of fire; a heap of words to show the fierceness of his wrath and how severe his rebuke of enemies will be; which will be not a rebuke in love as of his own people but in a way of vindictive wrath;

— these passages seem like another version of A Sword from the South! Here it is described as “the Lord will come with fire, and with His chariots like a whirlwind.”

— and if so, could this also tie in with Ezekiel 4 – 390/40 Years?

¹⁶For by fire and by His sword will the Lord plead with all flesh; and the slain of the Lord shall be many. — for by fire and by his sword; the sword is an instrument by which punishment is executed; and the slain of the Lord shall be many; that is, those that will be slain by the Lord the number shall be immense.

¹⁷“They that sanctify themselves and purify themselves in the gardens behind one tree in the midst, eating swine’s flesh and the abomination and the mouse, shall be consumed together,” saith the Lord. — eating swine’s flesh and the abomination, and the mouse; the eating of swine’s flesh and the mouse, were forbidden by the law of Moses, Leviticus 11:7.

¹⁸“For I know their works and their thoughts. It shall come that I will gather all nations and tongues, and they shall come and see My glory. — for God know their works, and their thoughts, that is, their evil works and thoughts, which are known to God the discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart, whose eyes are as a flame of fire to pierce and penetrate into them.

¹⁹And I will set a sign among them, and I will send those of them who escape unto the nations: to Tarshish, Pul, and Lud who draw the bow, to Tubal, and Javan, to the isles afar off who have not heard My fame, neither have seen My glory; and they shall declare My glory among the Gentiles. — Tarshish, Pul, Lud, Tubal and Javan are all sons of Japheth and perhaps, Ham; they are non-Israelites;

— this verse regarding a sign seems a bit odd coming toward the end of Isaiah; could it be that it is a sign that God will send the house of Jacob to the countries mentioned above? Especially after he had send a Sword from the South into Israel? It seems possible, perhaps Jacob or his posterity, could be a suffering servant (Isaiah 52:13) as the Orthodoxy believes; we’ll have to wait and see.

²⁰And they shall bring all your brethren for an offering unto the Lord out of all nations, upon horses and in chariots and in litters, and upon mules and upon swift beasts, to My holy mountain Jerusalem,” saith the Lord, “as the children of Israel bring an offering in a clean vessel into the house of the Lord. — they; that is, the Gentiles, out of all nations; the truth shall be proclaimed in all lands, and a vast accession shall be made from all parts of the world to the true teachings of God.

²¹And I will also take of them for priests and for Levites,” saith the Lord. — God will also take of them for priests; that is, even Gentile converts could be enrolled among the priests and Levites in the Temple of the new Jerusalem;

— non-Levites have been proven to be inducted into the priesthood as shown by the example of Samuel by adoption, who was most probably an Ephraimite, but certainly not from the Aaron priesthood where high priests were supposed to be drawn from.

²²“For as the new heavens and the new earth, which I will make, shall remain before me,” saith the Lord, “so shall your seed and your name remain. — for as the new heavens and the new earth; that is, during the Millenium; although a great mass of the world of nations may perish; but the seed and name of Israel, shall continues for ever.

²³And it shall come to pass that from one new moon to another, and from one Sabbath to another, shall all flesh come to worship before Me,” saith the Lord. — that keep one Sacred Sabbath to another; that means, from week to week, every Sabbath.

— a parallel prophecy of other Sabbaths occurs in Zechariah 14:16 : ‘And it shall come to pass, that every one that is left of all the nations which came up against Jerusalem, shall even go up from year to year to worship the King, the Lord of hosts, and to keep the feast of tabernacles.’

— these assemblies “from one new moon to another, and from one Sabbath to another” are the holy convocations on the seventh day Sabbath, at the feasts of Passover, Pentecost, at the blowing of the Trumpets, on the day of Atonement and Tabernacles: Leviticus 23.

²⁴“And they shall go forth and look upon the carcasses of the men that have transgressed against Me; “for their worm shall not die, neither shall their fire be quenched; and they shall be an abhorring unto all flesh.” — and they shall go forth; this verse evidently is that the pious and converted worshippers of God shall see the punishment which he will execute on his and their foes, or shall see them finally destroyed;

— this refers to the time when the kingdom of God shall be finally established and when all the mighty enemies of that kingdom shall be subdued and punished. The image is probably taken from a scene where a people whose lands have been desolated by mighty armies are permitted to go forth after a decisive battle to walk over the fields of the slain, and to see the dead and the bodies of their once formidable enemies.

Posted in Isaiah

What time is ben ha arbayim?

•April 26, 2022 • Leave a Comment

What time is ben (h996) ha arbayim (h6153)?

Understanding this term is important because it is the time to kill the Pascha lamb when in Exodus 12:6 the children of Israel were commanded at even (ben ha arbayim) to kill a Pasha lamb and eat the Passover meal that follows. The Jews say the killing of the lamb was the late hours of the Fourteenth, whereas others (adopted first by the the Samaritans, then followed by the Sadducees and Boethusians) say it is the early hours of the Fourteenth. So who are correct?

In all eleven passages where ben ha arbayim is used in the Scriptures, Strong’s concordance numbers and defines it as #6153, including it with ereb.

This phrase ben (h996) ha arbayim (h6153) occur 11 times, so let’s study them in details:

(1) And ye shall keep it up until the fourteenth day of the same month, and the whole assembly of the congregation of Israel shall kill it in the evening, Exodus 12:6.
(2) “I have heard the murmurings of the children of Israel. Speak unto them, saying, ‘At evening ye shall eat flesh, and in the morning ye shall be filled with bread; and ye shall know that I am the Lord your God,’” Exodus 16:12.
(3) The one lamb thou shalt offer in the morning, and the other lamb thou shalt offer at evening, Exodus 29:39.
(4) And the other lamb thou shalt offer at evening, and shalt do thereto according to the meat offering of the morning and according to the drink offering thereof, for a sweet savor, an offering made by fire unto the Lord, Exodus 29:41.
(5) And when Aaron lighteth the lamps at evening, he shall burn incense upon it, a perpetual incense before the Lord throughout your generations, Exodus 30:8.
(6) On the fourteenth day of the first month at evening is the Lord’S Passover, Leviticus 23:5.
(7) In the fourteenth day of this month at evening ye shall keep it in his appointed season. According to all the rites of it and according to all the ceremonies thereof shall ye keep it, Numbers 9:3.
(8) And they kept the Passover on the fourteenth day of the first month at evening in the Wilderness of Sinai. According to all that the Lord commanded Moses, so did the children of Israel, Numbers 9:5.
(9) The fourteenth day of the second month at evening they shall keep it, and eat it with unleavened bread and bitter herbs, Numbers 9:11.
(10) The one lamb shalt thou offer in the morning, and the other lamb shalt thou offer at evening, Numbers 28:4.
(11) And the other lamb shalt thou offer at evening; as the meat offering of the morning and as the drink offering thereof thou shalt offer it, a sacrifice made by fire, of a sweet savor unto the Lord, Numbers 28:8.

In Exodus 12:6 And ye shall keep it up until the fourteenth day of the same month, and the whole assembly of the congregation of Israel shall kill it in the evening (ben ha’arbayim). Most English Bibles translate this term ben ha’arbayim as “even or evening,” which are vague and uncertain; others translate ben ha’arbayim as “sunset, twilight or dusk” taking the Samaritans view.

But Rashi (Shlomo Yitzchaki; 1040-1105, France), who could be one representing the Jews, comments the phase ben ha’arbayim as “afternoon.”

Here is the explanation by Rashi quoted besides the Chabad Bible Exodus 12:6 And you shall keep it for inspection until the fourteenth day of this month, and the entire congregation of the community of Israel shall slaughter it in the afternoon:

in the afternoon: Heb. בֵּין הָעַרְבָּיִם From six hours [after sunrise] and onward is called בֵּין הָעַרְבַּיִם, literally, between the two evenings, for the sun is inclined toward the place where it sets to become darkened. It seems to me that the expression בֵּין הָעַרְבַּיִם denotes those hours between the darkening of the day and the darkening of the night. The darkening of the day is at the beginning of the seventh hour, when the shadows of evening decline, and the darkening of the night at the beginning of the night. Chabad Bible Exodus 12:6

When the Orthodox definition of ben ha’arbayim “between the two evenings” is interpreted as “after noon until nightfall,” all the pieces from the Passover puzzles fall into place. From the study of eleven cases above, there are five observations:

(1) The commandment to sacrifice a lamb daily in the morning and one in the evening: normally one at 9 AM and another at 3 PM, where ben ha’arbayim is defined as “after noon until nightfall” (3,4,10,11).
(2) The Passover lamb to be killed on the fourteenth at around 3 PM: (1,6,7,8,9).
(3) Lighting of the Sanctuary before nightfall, not after nightfall (5).
(4) Quails arriving as food for the Israelites in the “after noon” when there was light to do the catching, cleaning and cooking and not after nightfall (2).
(5) And most importantly, note that NONE of the above ben ha’arbayim were to start a Sabbath, or to start a new day, which would be after 6 PM (sunset, dusk, twilight) or after nightfall.

When ben ha’arbayim is interpreted as “after noon until nightfall,” there are ample time for killing, cleaning and roasting of the daily sacrifice and Passover lamb while there is still light. The Passover lamb were killed at around 3 PM Roman times in the afternoon so that Aaron and other priests wouldn’t stumble in the Sanctuary after darkness had fallen.

Revelation 3:14 “And unto the angel of the church of the Laodiceans write: ‘These things saith the Amen, the faithful and true witness, the beginning of the creation of God:
¹⁵I know thy works, that thou art neither cold nor hot; I would thou wert cold or hot.
¹⁶ So then because thou art lukewarm, and neither cold nor hot, I will spew thee out of My mouth.
¹⁷ Because thou sayest, “I am rich and increased with goods and have need of nothing,” and knowest not that thou art wretched and miserable, and poor and blind and naked, Revelation 3:14-17.

False prophets and false teachings abound everywhere so much so that, if possible, even the elect are deceived! In fact, they have already been well deceived; but be warned, God is ready to spew these pretenders out of His mouth!

Usually when it is spewed out of God’s mouth, it is into the FIRE! Selah!

For more, see THAT NIGHT WHEN CHRIST ATE HIS LAST SUPPER WAS ON THE THIRTEENTH!

Posted in Judiasm, Passover

Aaron Prayer or the Aaronic Blessing

•April 25, 2022 • Leave a Comment

The LORD bless you and keep you;
the LORD make his face shine upon you and be gracious to you;
the LORD turn his face toward you and give you peace.
Numbers 6:24-26

Rabbi Johnathan Cahn Proclaims The Aaronic Blessings

Posted in Doctrines, Prayers

Isaiah (Ch 63-64)

•April 24, 2022 • Leave a Comment

Edom and Bozrah, the capital city of Idumea; these two bits of information provide further hints as to whom the characters are in Ezekiel 20:45 to 21:5 where the ‘Sword of the Lord’ are associated with the South. Note: the Scriptures don’t say it is the ‘Sword of Edom or Bozrah’ but the ‘Sword of the Lord.’ Could this be a clear connection associating Edom and Idumea to the Sword in Ezekiel 20:45 to 21:5?

Isaiah 63

¹ Who is this that cometh from Edom, with dyed garments from Bozrah, this that is glorious in His apparel, traveling in the greatness of his strength? “I that speak in righteousness, mighty to save.” — that cometh from Edom; that is, Idumea, the country where Esau, sometimes called Edom, dwelt; Edom had been guilty of ruthless atrocities (Amos 1:9-11); they had carried off Jewish prisoners as slaves (Obadiah 1:10-11); they had been allies of the Assyrian invaders (Psalm 83:6), and had smitten Judah in the days of Ahaz (II Chronicles 28:17);

— the Targum indicates using the Edom and Bozrah “to execute vengeance of judgement of His people” – his people, of course, is the house of Jacob;

— the words Edom and Bozrah may be taken in the appellative sense, to denote in general, a field of blood, or a place of slaughter; the word Edom signifying red, and Bozrah a vintage; with dyed garments – that is, with garments dyed in blood, which in the prophetical idiom, imports God’s vengeance upon the wicked, His people;

— Bozrah, the capital city of Idumea; see further Isaiah 34:6, a parallel text where the ‘Sword of the Lord’ associated with both Edom and Bozrah are mentioned. Note: the Scriptures don’t say it is the ‘Sword of Edom or Bozrah’ but ‘Sword of the Lord.’ Could this be a clear connection to the Sword from the South in Ezekiel 20:45 to 21:5?

²Why art thou red in Thine apparel, and Thy garments like him that treadeth in the wine vat? — and thy garments like him that tread in the winefat? or winepress, into which clusters of grapes are cast, and these are trodden by men, the juice of which sparkles on their garments, and stains them, so that they become of a red colour.

³“I have trodden the wine press alone; and of the people there was none with Me. For I will tread them in Mine anger and trample them in My fury; and their blood shall be sprinkled upon My garments, and I will stain all My raiment. — God have trodden the wine-press alone; He has put on trial his people the house of Jacob; He has crushed them as grapes are crushed; Could this be a usual metaphor of Sword and Blood for both the house of Israel for 190 years and the house of Judah for 40 years in Ezekiel 4?

— perhaps the Orthodoxy (like Rashid) would have some merits if the Suffering Servant of Isaiah 53 relates to a suffering Jacob, incorporating wine pressing on them both; (190 years) for the house of Israel; and (40 years) for the house of Judah? (for more, see Ezekiel 4 – 390/40 Years)

⁴For the day of vengeance is in Mine heart, and the year of My redeemed is come. — the year of my redeemed; another rendering, is the year of my redemption:

— the red upon the clothes was the life-blood of the house of Jacob, which had spirted upon them and with which, as He, the Almighty God Yehovah, tread this wine-press, He had soiled all His garments.

⁵And I looked, and there was none to help; and I wondered that there was none to uphold. Therefore Mine own arm brought salvation unto Me, and My fury, it upheld Me. — And I looked, and there was none to help (comp. Isaiah 5:2, “He looked that it should bring forth grapes, and it brought forth wild grapes:” also Isaiah 41:28, “I beheld, and there was no man”). God is represented as looking for and expecting what might reasonably have been expected, and even as surprised when he does not find it (comp. Isaiah 59:16).

⁶And I will tread down the people in Mine anger, and make them drunk in My fury, and I will bring down their strength to the earth.” — make them drunk: the Hebrew often expresses calamities by a cup of wine, or strong drink, by which the distressed persons are made drunk, Psalm 75:8 Isaiah 51:21,22; they go as it were to and fro, not knowing what to do with themselves; and in special drunk with their own blood, Isaiah 49:26 Revelation 16:6.

— I will bring down their strength to the earth; whatever it is wherein their strength lies, their strong ones, or their strong places, or deep counsels; he will bring to the very dust, to nothing; like drunken men, they shall fall to the ground, not being able to stand; the most miserable condition that men can fall into, Psalm 36:12.

⁷I will mention the loving kindnesses of the Lord, and the praises of the Lord, according to all that the Lord hath bestowed on us, and the great goodness toward the house of Israel, which He hath bestowed on them according to His mercies, and according to the multitude of His loving kindnesses. — I will mention the loving kindnesses of the Lord; these are the words of the prophet Isaiah, great goodness towards the house of Israel, which he hath bestowed on them according to his mercies and kindnesses.

⁸For He said, “Surely they are My people, children that will not lie”; so He was their Savior. — He said, Surely they are my people. Israel was first recognized as “a people” in Egypt, when the creel Pharaoh said, “The people of the children of Israel are more and mightier than we “(Exodus 1:9). Soon afterwards God acknowledged them as “his people” (Exodus 3:7);

— children that will not lie; or deal falsely as the same word is translated in Psalm 44:17. The meaning is, that surely they will be faithful to God and not fall away from him into idolatry or irreligion. Isaiah 63:8.

⁹In all their affliction He was afflicted, and the angel of His presence saved them; in His love and in His pity He redeemed them, and He bore them, and carried them all the days of old. — in all their affliction he was afflicted; because of all the afflictions they endured in Egypt: this notes the sympathy that is in Christ, he having the same spirit that the Father hath.

¹⁰But they rebelled and vexed His holy Spirit; therefore He was turned to be their enemy, and He fought against them. — but they rebelled against God; this charge is often made against the children of Israel; and indeed their history is little more than a record of a series of rebellions against God.

¹¹Then He remembered the days of old, Moses and His people, saying, “Where is He that brought them up out of the sea with the shepherd of His flock? Where is He that put His holy Spirit within him, — the Targum paraphrases it, “he had mercy for the glory of his name, and because of the remembrance of his goodness of old, the mighty things he did by the hands of Moses to his people.”

¹²That led them by the right hand of Moses with His glorious arm, dividing the water before them to make Himself an everlasting name, — that led them by the right hand of Moses with his glorious arm; that is, through the Red sea: this was done by the right hand of Moses and the rod in it.

¹³that led them through the deep, as a horse in the wilderness, that they should not stumble?” — that led them through the deep; the depths, the bottom of the sea; not through the shallow but where the waters had been deepest, the descent greatest; and at the bottom of which might have been expected much filth and dirt to hinder them in their passage, yet through this he led them.

¹⁴As a beast goeth down into the valley, the Spirit of the Lord caused him to rest; so didst Thou lead Thy people, to make Thyself a glorious name. — the spirit of the Lord caused him to rest; or gently led him, that is, Israel, through the sea, with little danger as a beast walks on in a valley; this of leading Israel through the wilderness where often resting places were found for them and they were brought to the land of rest, Canaan, and settled there.

¹⁵Look down from heaven, and behold from the habitation of Thy holiness and of Thy glory. Where is Thy zeal and Thy strength, the sounding of Thy heart and of Thy mercies toward me? Are they restrained? — look down from heaven, and behold; attributes the prevalence of evil on earth to a suspension of Yehovah’s watchfulness; hence He is said to come down from heaven to enquire (Genesis 18:21), or here, to look down.

¹⁶Doubtless Thou art our Father, though Abraham be ignorant of us and Israel acknowledge us not. Thou, O Lord, art our father, our Redeemer; Thy name is from everlasting. — doubtless thou art our Father: thus they urge God with that relation he stands in unto them, Malachi 2:10; therefore we as thy children expect the bowels and compassions of a father.

¹⁷O Lord, why hast Thou made us to err from Thy ways, and hardened our heart from Thy fear? Return for Thy servants’ sake, the tribes of Thine inheritance. — O Lord, why hast thou made us to err from thy ways, and hardened our heart from thy fear? These are the words not of the wicked among the Jews but of the godly, lamenting and confessing their wandering from God’s ways, commands and ordinances, the hardness of their hearts.

¹⁸The people of thy holiness have possessed it but a little while; our adversaries have trodden down thy sanctuary. — the people of thy holiness; or thy holy people as being set apart for his servants; holiness being to be understood for a covenant separation from other people;

— have trodden down thy sanctuary; the temple, called the sanctuary from the holiness of it; this our adversaries the Babylonians by Nebuchadnezzar, and later the Greeks by Antiochus, and the Romans by Titus have trodden down, II Chronicles 36:19; and this also implies their ruining of their whole ecclesiastical policy.

¹⁹We are Thine; Thou didst never bear rule over them; they were not called by Thy name. — We are thine; we continue so; we are in covenant which they never were; and thus it is an argument they use with God to look upon them;

— Thou never barest rule over them; not in that manner, or in that relation to them, that thou didst over us. They were not called by thy name; neither owned thee, nor owned by thee: this phrase implies a near relation in some circumstance or other as wife or servant or child.

Isaiah 64

¹ Oh, that Thou wouldest rend the heavens, that Thou wouldest come down, that the mountains might flow down at Thy presence— O that thou wouldst rend the heavens, that thou wouldst come down; this is really a continuation of the prayer of Isaiah 63:15-19.

²as when the melting fire burneth, the fire causeth the waters to boil— to make Thy name known to Thine adversaries, that the nations may tremble at Thy presence! — the Targum says, “as when thou sendedst thine anger as fire in the days of Elijah, the sea was melted, the fire licked up the water to make Thy name known to the enemies of Thy people.”

³When Thou didst fearsome things which we looked not for, Thou camest down, the mountains flowed down at Thy presence. — when thou didst terrible things, which we looked not for, thou camest down; referring to the wonderful things God did in Egypt, at the Red sea, and in the wilderness;

— and particularly at Mount Sinai, things that were unexpected, and not looked for; then the Lord came down, and made visible displays of his power and presence, especially on Mount Sinai; see Exodus 19:18.

⁴For since the beginning of the world men have not heard nor perceived by the ear, neither hath the eye seen, O God, besides thee, what He hath prepared for him that waiteth for Him. — neither hath the eye seen a God beside Thee, who will work for him that waits for Him. The sense is not that God alone knows what He hath prepared but that no man knows (sight and hearing being used as including all forms of spiritual apprehension) any god who does such great things as He does.

⁵Thou meetest him that rejoiceth and worketh righteousness, those that remember Thee in Thy ways. Behold, Thou art wroth, for we have sinned; in those is continuance, and we shall be saved. — Thou meet him that rejoices and works righteousness, those that remember thee in thy ways: behold, thou art angry; for we have sinned: in those is continuance, and we shall be saved.

MSG Oh, that you would rip open the heavens and descend, make the mountains shudder at your presence— As when a forest catches fire, as when fire makes a pot to boil— To shock your enemies into facing you, make the nations shake in their boots! You did terrible things we never expected, descended and made the mountains shudder at your presence.

Since before time began no one has ever imagined, No ear heard, no eye seen, a God like you who works for those who wait for him. You meet those who happily do what is right, who keep a good memory of the way you work. But how angry you’ve been with us!

We’ve sinned and kept at it so long! Is there any hope for us? Can we be saved? We’re all sin-infected, sin-contaminated. Our best efforts are grease-stained rags. We dry up like autumn leaves— sin-dried, we’re blown off by the wind. No one prays to you or makes the effort to reach out to you Because you’ve turned away from us, left us to stew in our sins.

⁶But we are all as an unclean thing, and all our righteousnesses are as filthy rags; and we all do fade as a leaf, and our iniquities, like the wind, have taken us away. — and all our righteousness or justification are as filthy rags; as rags, they cannot cover us; as filthy rags, they would only defile us.

⁷And there is none that calleth upon Thy name, that stirreth up himself to take hold of Thee; for Thou hast hid Thy face from us, and hast consumed us because of our iniquities. — and hast consumed us because of our iniquities; by the sword, famine, pestilence, and captivity.

⁸But now, O Lord, Thou art our Father; we are the clay, and Thou our potter; and we all are the work of Thy hand. — but now, O Lord, thou art our Father; notwithstanding all this, thou art our Father, having both created and adopted us; therefore pity us thy children; we are the clay, and thou our potter;

— we are in thy hands as clay in the hands of the potter: thou canst form us, and dispose of us as thou pleases. And we will not quarrel with thee, however thou art pleased to deal with us.

⁹Be not sorely wroth, O Lord, neither remember iniquity for ever; behold, see, we beseech Thee, we are all Thy people. — CEV Don’t be so furious or keep our sins in your thoughts forever! Remember that all of us are your people.

¹⁰Thy holy cities are a wilderness, Zion is a wilderness, Jerusalem a desolation. — thy holy cities; Zion and Jerusalem mentioned immediately after; called holy because they were built upon God’s inheritance and because his Shekinah were there.

¹¹Our holy and our beautiful house, where our fathers praised Thee, is burned up with fire; and all our pleasant things are laid waste. — is burnt up with fire; this is true, both of the first and second temple; the first was burnt with fire by Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon, Jeremiah 52:13, and the second by the Romans under Titus in AD 70.

¹²Wilt Thou refrain Thyself for these things, O Lord? Wilt Thou hold Thy peace and afflict us very sore? —wilt thou refrain thyself; wilt thou refuse to come to our aid? Wilt thou decline to visit us and save us from our calamities?

— wilt thou hold thy peace; wilt thou not speak for our rescue and command us to be delivered?

Posted in Isaiah

Solomon’s Prayer (II)

•April 23, 2022 • Leave a Comment

Solomon’s Prayer of Dedication. When the Temple was built and finished, then Solomon said before the altar of the Lord, “The Lord has said that he would dwell in a dark cloud; I have built a magnificent temple for you, a place for you to dwell forever.”

So while the whole assembly of Israel was standing there, the king turned around and blessed them. Then Solomon prepared to offer a Prayer of Dedication of the Temple.

1 Kings 8

²²And Solomon stood before the altar of the Lord in the presence of all the congregation of Israel and spread forth his hands toward heaven;
²³and he said, “Lord God of Israel, there is no God like Thee in heaven above or on earth beneath, who keepest covenant and mercy with Thy servants who walk before Thee with all their heart,
²⁴who hast kept with Thy servant David my father what Thou promised him. Thou speakest also with Thy mouth and hast fulfilled it with Thine hand, as it is this day.
²⁵Therefore now, Lord God of Israel, keep with Thy servant David my father what Thou promised him, saying, ‘There shall not fail thee a man in My sight to sit on the throne of Israel, only if thy children take heed to their way, that they walk before Me as thou hast walked before Me.’
²⁶And now, O God of Israel, let Thy word, I pray Thee, be verified, which Thou speakest unto Thy servant David my father.
²⁷“But will God indeed dwell on the earth? Behold, the heaven and heaven of heavens cannot contain Thee; how much less this house that I have built?
²⁸Yet have Thou respect unto the prayer of Thy servant and to his supplication, O Lord my God, to hearken unto the cry and to the prayer which Thy servant prayeth before Thee today,
²⁹that Thine eyes may be open toward this house night and day, even toward the place of which Thou hast said, ‘My name shall be there,’ that Thou mayest hearken unto the prayer which Thy servant shall make toward this place.
³⁰And hearken Thou to the supplication of Thy servant and of Thy people Israel when they shall pray toward this place, and hear Thou in heaven Thy dwelling place; and when Thou hearest, forgive.
³¹“If any man trespass against his neighbor, and an oath be laid upon him to cause him to swear, and the oath come before Thine altar in this house,
³²then hear Thou in heaven, and do and judge Thy servants, condemning the wicked to bring his way upon his head, and justifying the righteous to give him according to his righteousness.
³³“When Thy people Israel be smitten down before the enemy because they have sinned against Thee, and shall turn again to Thee and confess Thy name, and pray and make supplication unto Thee in this house,
³⁴then hear Thou in heaven and forgive the sin of Thy people Israel, and bring them again unto the land which Thou gavest unto their fathers.
³⁵“When heaven is shut up and there is no rain because they have sinned against Thee, if they pray toward this place and confess Thy name, and turn from their sin when Thou afflictest them,
³⁶then hear Thou in heaven, and forgive the sin of Thy servants and of Thy people Israel, that Thou teach them the good way wherein they should walk, and give rain upon Thy land which Thou hast given to Thy people for an inheritance.
³⁷“If there be in the land famine, if there be pestilence, blight, mildew, locust, or if there be caterpillar, if their enemy besiege them in the land of their cities, whatsoever plague, whatsoever sickness there be,
³⁸what prayer and supplication soever be made by any man or by all Thy people Israel, who shall know every man the plague of his own heart and spread forth his hands toward this house—
³⁹then hear Thou in heaven Thy dwelling place, and forgive, and do, and give to every man according to his ways, whose heart Thou knowest (for Thou, even Thou only, knowest the hearts of all the children of men),
⁴⁰that they may fear Thee all the days that they live in the land which Thou gavest unto our fathers.
⁴¹“Moreover concerning a stranger who is not of Thy people Israel, but cometh out of a far country for Thy name’s sake
⁴²(for they shall hear of Thy great name and of Thy strong hand and of Thy stretched out arm), when he shall come and pray toward this house,
⁴³hear Thou in heaven Thy dwelling place and do according to all that the stranger calleth to Thee for, that all people of the earth may know Thy name to fear Thee, as do Thy people Israel, and that they may know that this house which I have built is called by Thy name.
⁴⁴“If Thy people go out to battle against their enemy, whithersoever Thou shalt send them, and shall pray unto the Lord toward the city which Thou hast chosen and toward the house that I have built for Thy name,
⁴⁵then hear Thou in heaven their prayer and their supplication, and maintain their cause.
⁴⁶“If they sin against Thee (for there is no man that sinneth not), and Thou be angry with them and deliver them to the enemy so that they carry them away captives unto the land of the enemy, far or near;
⁴⁷yet if they shall bethink themselves in the land whither they were carried captives, and repent and make supplication unto Thee in the land of those who carried them captives, saying, ‘We have sinned and have done perversely, we have committed wickedness’;
⁴⁸and so return unto Thee with all their heart and with all their soul in the land of their enemies who led them away captive, and pray unto Thee toward their land which Thou gavest unto their fathers, the city which Thou hast chosen and the house which I have built for Thy name—
⁴⁹then hear Thou their prayer and their supplication in heaven Thy dwelling place, and maintain their cause;
⁵⁰and forgive Thy people who have sinned against Thee and all their transgressions wherein they have transgressed against Thee, and give them compassion before those who carried them captive, that they may have compassion on them
⁵¹(for they are Thy people and Thine inheritance, whom Thou broughtest forth out of Egypt from the midst of the furnace of iron),
⁵²that Thine eyes may be open unto the supplication of Thy servant and unto the supplication of Thy people Israel, to hearken unto them in all that they call for unto Thee.
⁵³For Thou didst separate them from among all the people of the earth to be Thine inheritance, as Thou spoke by the hand of Moses Thy servant when Thou brought our fathers out of Egypt, O Lord God.”
⁵⁴And it was so, that when Solomon had made an end of praying all this prayer and supplication unto the Lord, he arose from before the altar of the Lord, from kneeling on his knees with his hands spread up to heaven.

Posted in Doctrines, Prayers

Russia’s New Missile!

•April 22, 2022 • Leave a Comment

As China and the Solomon Islands signed off a Security Deal, the Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison was accused of a ‘massive foreign policy failure’ in her backyard. That being so because Australia was deeply involved in helping Ukraine in sanctioning Russia in Europe, while also planning more navel exercises with other Quad members to fence off China in the Indo-Pacific region.

Russia successfully test fires ‘unique’ missile – Putin

RT April 20, 2022

Since RT.com is blocked and censored in many Western locations such as the EU, UK, US and Canada, here is a chance to share it with some excerpts:

Russia’s New ICBM launched in final tests before adoption by military

Russia’s new RS-28 Sarmat Inter-Continental Ballistic Missile was launched successfully from the Plesetsk cosmodrome in the north of the country, the military reported on Wednesday. The test launch was the first in a series of trials required for the adoption of the new weapon by Russia’s strategic forces.

The missile flew across the whole country, touching down at a test site in Russia’s Far East. “Inert warheads touched down in a designated area at the Kura training ground on the Kamchatka Peninsula,” the military said.

The new silo-based strategic missile is set to replace the R-36M/R-36M2 Voevoda ICBMs. Compared to its predecessor, the Sarmat can carry more weapons, as well as be fitted with new types of warheads, including “hypersonic glider units”, the military noted.

President Vladimir Putin called the launch an “event of great significance” for Russia, congratulating the military on the successful test launch.

“The new system has top tactical and technical characteristics and is able to penetrate all modern anti-missile defenses. It has no analogues in the world and will not have any for a long time,” Putin said.

SPUTNIK International reports, “The president stressed that the missile is built using elements and components manufactured in Russia, which will speed up its mass production. Today’s launch is the first in a series of test trials. After they are complete, the Sarmat will enter production.”

“O Ephraim, what shall I do unto thee? O Judah, what shall I do unto thee? For your goodness is as a morning cloud, and as the early dew it goeth away” Hosea 6:4

Clarke: O Ephraim, what shall I do unto thee? – This is the answer of the Lord to the above pious resolutions; sincere while they lasted, but frequently forgotten, because the people were fickle. Their goodness was like the morning cloud that fadeth away before the rising sun, or like the early dew which is speedily evaporated by heat. Ephraim and Judah had too much goodness in them to admit of their total rejection, and too much evil to admit of their being placed among the children. Speaking of the justice and mercy of God seem puzzled how to act toward them. These things induce God to exclaim, “O Ephraim, what shall I do unto thee? O Judah, what shall I do unto thee?” The only thing that could be done in such a case was that which God did.

Posted in Russia, US

Isaiah (Ch 61-62)

•April 21, 2022 • Leave a Comment

The Scriptures are often shrouded in cryptic languages and most Jews could not see the working of God’s providence in the revelation of the Messiah in the chapters here, or in the revelation to which he came to restore all the nations back to God. Our challenge is to decrypt them, especially as it relates to the latter days, our days.

Isaiah 61

¹ “The Spirit of the Lord God is upon Me, because the Lord hath anointed Me to preach good tidings unto the meek. He hath sent me to bind up the broken hearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives, and the opening of the prison to them that are bound, — we ask, “Who is the speaker?” – this refers to the Messiah is abundantly proved by the fact that the Lord Yeshua expressly applied it to himself (see Luke 4:16-21, also at the end);

— if Isaiah is the speaker, he was just a forerunner because his role in proclaiming the good tidings, etc, was limited;

— he hath sent me to bind up the broken hearted; whose hearts are smitten and made contrite by the Word of God, and are truly humbled under a sense of sin; who are cut to the heart, have wounded spirits; these Christ binds up, by speaking comfortably to them; by applying his blood; by discovering the free and full pardon of their sins; and for this, as Mediator, he had a mission and commission from his Father; he came not of himself, but he sent him:

— to proclaim liberty to the captives, and the opening of the prison to them that are bound; to such who were captives to sins and as it were prisoners to them, shut up by them, and in them, and held fast there; but Christ, as he is the author of liberty; obtains it for his people and makes them free with it a liberty from sin, or as of prisoners from the prison house.

²To proclaim the acceptable year of the Lord, and the day of vengeance of our God; to comfort all that mourn, — to proclaim the acceptable year of the Lord; the allusion is to the proclamation of liberty, in the year of jubilee when the trumpet was blown, and liberty was proclaimed throughout all the land (see Leviticus 25:9-10);

— Yeshua stopped before mentioning the days of vengeance, Luke 21:22, which calls for the destruction of Jerusalem the very expression made use of here. Perhaps there was a delay of 40 years when the Romans came and surrounded Jerusalem, then its capture and destruction in AD 70;

— but which sects escaped destruction and death? History recorded only two sects that escaped the inferno of AD 70:

(1) The Christians, known as Nazarenes in Acts 24:5. They escaped to a northern town called Pella, west of the Jordan River.
(2) Some Pharisees, those of the House of Hillel. They were headed by a Pharisaic rabbi, Johanan ben Zakkai, the head of the Sanhedrin, who was smuggled out of besieged Jerusalem in a coffin. They escaped to Yavne and, later, his followers re-emerged as Rabbinic Jews, who established the Hillel Calendar, which was revealed by Hillel II in about AD 359 concerning the rules of the calendar.

— all other sects of the Jews faced their days of vengeance and disappeared in the AD 70 inferno: All Sadducees, Herodians, Boethusians, Essenes, together with the House of Shammai Pharisees and those of its military arm, the Zealots. They all face their days of vengeance and disappeared from history. Were they receiving their “fire”? Were these sects facing their familiar Sodom and Gomorrah?

— were these not their days of vengeance or be “baptised in FIRE” as warned by John the Baptist? We need to note a very important point in this judgement. God included His holy city of Jerusalem in this judgement. God did not exclude them from judgement during their days of vengeance in the AD 70 inferno.

³To appoint unto them that mourn in Zion, to give unto them beauty for ashes, the oil of joy for mourning, the garment of praise for the spirit of heaviness, that they might be called trees of righteousness, the planting of the Lord, that He might be glorified.” — to appoint unto them that mourn in Zion; or “to the mourners of Zion” such who are of Zion and mourn for the corruptions in Zion’s false doctrines, their perversion, abuse, and neglect of God’s statutes and ordinances; for the disorders and divisions they cause; and the power of godliness;

— trees of righteousness; in Hebrew, ‘Oaks,’ by their being oaks of righteousness is a metaphor meant a people distinguished for righteousness or justice; instead of being subjected to money, wealth and bowing down as a reed to corruption, sin and wickedness.

⁴And they shall build the wastes of old, they shall raise up the former desolations, and they shall repair the waste cities, the desolations of many generations. — the waste places of olden time: that is, not merely the cities that had fallen into ruins during the exile, but those that had been lying waste for generations; and of modern wars.

⁵And strangers shall stand and feed your flocks, and the sons of the alien shall be your plowmen and your vinedressers. — strangers shall stand; like servants waiting for their master’s orders; that Israel is raised to the dignity of a priestly caste, leaving the rough work of the world to be done by foreigners, who stood on a lower level;

— one Report by McKinsey says of the 60 millions Latinos in the US that had migrated from the South; they often live in ‘deserts’ where adequate housing, groceries are hard to find. “Nearly 9 in 10 of the Latino residents in such communities lived in five states: California, Florida, New Jersey, New York and Texas.”

— McKinsey: Latinos are projected to make up 22.4 percent of the US labor force by 2030 and more than 30 percent by 2060 (Latinos population to 111.2 million by ’60).

⁶But ye shall be named the Priests of the Lord; men shall call you the Ministers of our God. Ye shall eat the riches of the Gentiles, and in their glory shall ye boast yourselves. — but ye; as contrasted with the “strangers.” Ye shall have no need to attend to your flocks and lands: strangers will do that for you; your exclusive business will be the service of Yehovah as His “priests” – Exodus 19:6 remains yet to be realized.

⁷For your shame ye shall have double, and for confusion they shall rejoice in their portion. Therefore in their land they shall possess the double; everlasting joy shall be unto them. — for your shame ye shall have double: though you have been little accounted of among your enemies, yet now you shall be greatly in their esteem, Zechariah 9:12.

⁸“For I, the Lord, love judgement; I hate robbery for burnt offering; and I will direct their work in truth, and I will make an everlasting covenant with them. — I hate robbery for burnt- offerings; I hate all things gotten by injustice, though they be for sacrifice. As God will not accept of that which cost nothing, so much less of that which is the effect of rapine and oppression.

⁹And their seed shall be known among the Gentiles and their offspring among the people; all that see them shall acknowledge them, that they are the seed which the Lord hath blessed.” — all that see them shall acknowledge them, that they are the seed which the Lord hath blessed; that they are the spiritual seed of Abraham as well as his carnal seed and are blessed with him.

¹⁰I will greatly rejoice in the Lord; my soul shall be joyful in my God. For He hath clothed me with the garments of salvation; He hath covered me with the robe of righteousness, as a bridegroom decketh himself with ornaments, and as a bride adorneth herself with her jewels. — I will greatly rejoice; the speaker is again as in Isaiah 61:1 the ideal Servant of Yehovah, Isaiah as well as the Messiah, who identifies himself with the people and slaves;

— the Targum, it may be noted, makes Jerusalem the speaker: “Jerusalem said, rejoicing I will rejoice in the Word of the Lord.”

¹¹For as the earth bringeth forth her bud, and as the garden causeth the things that are sown in it to spring forth, so the Lord God will cause righteousness and praise to spring forth before all the nations. — The Targum says, “so the Lord God will reveal the righteousness and praise of Jerusalem before all the people.”

~~~

Luke 4

¹⁶And He came to Nazareth where He had been brought up. And as His custom was, He went into the synagogue on the Sabbath day and stood up to read.
¹⁷ And there was delivered unto Him the book of the prophet Isaiah. And when He had opened the book, He found the place where it was written:
¹⁸ “The Spirit of the Lord is upon Me, because He hath anointed Me to preach the Gospel to the poor. He hath sent Me to heal the brokenhearted, to preach deliverance to the captives, and recovering of sight to the blind, to set at liberty them that are bruised,
¹⁹ to preach the acceptable year of the Lord.”
²⁰And He closed the book, and He gave it again to the minister and sat down. And the eyes of all those who were in the synagogue were fastened on Him.
²¹ And He began to say unto them, “This day is this Scripture fulfilled in your ears.”

Isaiah 62

¹ For Zion’s sake will I not hold my peace, and for Jerusalem’s sake I will not rest, until the righteousness thereof go forth as brightness, and the salvation thereof as a lamp that burneth. — for Zion’s sake; opinions differ as to the speaker. Is he the prophet, or the Servant of Yehovah, or Yehovah Himself? On the whole, the second view seems to be most in harmony with what follows. The true Servant will carry on what in the language of later theology may be called his mediatorial intercessory work, that there may be no delay in the fulfilment of the glorious promises that have just been uttered.

²And the Gentiles shall see thy righteousness, and all kings thy glory; and thou shalt be called by a new name, which the mouth of the Lord shall name. — and thou shall be called by a new name, which the mouth of the Lord shall name; this name is a new name; a renewed one, a name which shall be of significance.

³Thou shalt also be a crown of glory in the hand of the Lord, and a royal diadem in the hand of thy God. — and a royal diadem; in Hebrew, ‘A diadem of a kingdom.’ The diadem is the wreath or chaplet, usually set with diamonds, which is “encircled” (צניף tsânı̂yph from צנף tsânaph) to roll or wind around to encircle) around the head. It here means such as was usually worn by monarchs; and the sense is, that Jerusalem would become exceedingly beautiful in the sight of God.

⁴Thou shalt no more be termed Forsaken, neither shall thy land any more be termed Desolate; but thou shalt be called Hephzibah and thy land Beulah: for the Lord delighteth in thee, and thy land shall be married. — thou shalt no more be termed Forsaken; as a woman forsaken by her husband. Neither shall thy land be termed Desolate; neither shall thy places of worship be empty, and thine ordinances of service be unfrequented. He alludes to the desolation of Judah during the Babylonish captivity.

⁵For as a young man marrieth a virgin, so shall thy sons marry thee; and as the bridegroom rejoiceth over the bride, so shall thy God rejoice over thee. — for as a young man marries a virgin, so shall thy sons marry thee; as a young man, having married a virgin, possesses and enjoys her, and lives and dwells with her in great harmony and love, having a delight and complacency in her, there being a suitableness in her person and age.

⁶“I have set watchmen upon thy walls, O Jerusalem, who shall never hold their peace day nor night.” Ye that make mention of the Lord, keep not silence, — I have set watchmen upon thy walls, O Jerusalem; as the prophets of the Old Testament are called watchmen (Ezekiel 3:17; 33:2,7); pastors and ministers in the New Testament often come with false doctrines;

— parallel Scriptures in Ezekiel 34: And the word of the Lord came unto me, saying, “Son of man, prophesy against the shepherds of Israel, prophesy and say unto them, ‘Thus saith the Lord God unto the shepherds: Woe be to the shepherds of Israel that feed themselves! Should not the shepherds feed the flocks?

⁷and give Him no rest till He establish, and till He make Jerusalem a praise in the earth. — till he make Jerusalem a praise in the earth; that it may be the subject of universal commendation and rejoicing, instead of being an object of reproach and scorn.

⁸ The Lord hath sworn by His right hand and by the arm of His strength: “Surely I will no more give thy corn to be meat for thine enemies, and the sons of the stranger shall not drink thy wine for which thou hast labored; — surely I will no more give thy corn to be meat for thine enemies; and the sons of the strangers shall not drink thy wine, for the which thou hast laboured: this was threatened to the people of Israel, in case of sinning against God, and revolting from him; and was accomplished in the times of their captivity in Babylon, Deuteronomy 28:33.

⁹but they that have gathered it shall eat it and praise the Lord; and they that have brought it together shall drink it in the courts of my holiness.” — but they that have gathered it shall eat it; there shall be a state of security, so that every man may enjoy the avails of his own labor. Nothing is a more certain indication of liberty and prosperity than this – that every man may securely enjoy the avails of his own labor.

¹⁰Go through, go through the gates; prepare ye the way of the people. Cast up, cast up the highway; gather out the stones; lift up a standard for the people. — Go through, go through the gates; it is doubled by way of emphasis: make haste to your own land; as if Cyrus should say, Get you out of captivity as soon as you will, Isaiah 48:20.

— the Targum: “the prophet said, pass by, and return through the gates; turn the heart of the people to the right way; publish good things and comforts to the righteous, who remove the thought of the evil imagination, which was as a stone of stumbling; lift up a sign to the people.”

¹¹Behold, the Lord hath proclaimed unto the end of the world: “Say ye to the daughter of Zion, ‘Behold, thy salvation cometh; behold, his reward is with Him, and His work before Him.’” — Behold, the Lord hath proclaimed unto the end of the world; so it will be in the latter day when the truth shall be preached to all nations, from one end of the world to the other, Revelation 14:6;

— the word behold is three times used in this verse, to raise attention to what is said, and as pointing out something wonderful, and to express the certainty of it.

¹²And they shall call them the Holy People, the Redeemed of the Lord; and thou shalt be called Sought Out, a City Not Forsaken. — thus does the prophecy close by returning to a direct address to Zion-Jerusalem – “thee will men call derūshâh,” sought assiduously, i.e., one whose welfare men, and still more Yehovah, are zealously concerned to promote (compare the opposite in Jeremiah 30:17) – “a city that will not be forsaken,” that is, a city men will gladly settle, and which will never be without inhabitants again.

Posted in Isaiah

Solomon’s Prayer (I)

•April 20, 2022 • Leave a Comment

Solomon’s Prayer For Wisdom

Solomon’s Prayer is another example for us to study and emulate, especially what we should ask for if we are asking for something. His concern was to pray for God’s people, and he asked for wisdom to judge his people, which requires discernment.

It pleased the Lord that Solomon had asked this; and God replied not just a wise and discerning mind, but also what you have not asked, both riches and honor, so that no other king shall compare with him in all his days. And if he will walk in his ways, keeping his statutes and my commandments, as his father David walked, then God will also lengthen his days.

1 Kings 3:

⁵In Gibeon the Lord appeared to Solomon in a dream by night; and God said, “Ask what I shall give thee.”

⁶And Solomon said, “Thou hast shown unto Thy servant David my father great mercy, according as he walked before Thee in truth and in righteousness and in uprightness of heart with Thee; and Thou hast kept for him this great kindness, that Thou hast given him a son to sit on his throne, as it is this day.

⁷And now, O Lord my God, Thou hast made Thy servant king instead of David my father. And I am but a little child; I know not how to go out or come in.

⁸And Thy servant is in the midst of Thy people whom Thou hast chosen, a great people, that cannot be numbered nor counted for multitude.

⁹Give therefore Thy servant an understanding heart to judge Thy people, that I may discern between good and bad; for who is able to judge this Thy so great a people?”

¹⁰And the speech pleased the Lord, that Solomon had asked this thing.

¹¹And God said unto him, “Because thou hast asked this thing, and hast not asked for thyself long life, neither hast asked riches for thyself, nor hast asked the life of thine enemies, but hast asked for thyself understanding to discern judgment,

¹²behold, I have done according to thy words. Lo, I have given thee a wise and an understanding heart, so that there was none like thee before thee, neither after thee shall any arise like unto thee.

¹³And I have also given thee that which thou hast not asked, both riches and honor, so that there shall not be any among the kings like unto thee all thy days.

¹⁴And if thou wilt walk in My ways to keep My statutes and My commandments, as thy father David did walk, then I will lengthen thy days.”

¹⁵And Solomon awoke; and behold, it was a dream. And he came to Jerusalem and stood before the ark of the covenant of the Lord, and offered up burnt offerings and offered peace offerings, and made a feast for all his servants.

Posted in Doctrines, Judiasm, Prayers

The Feast of Tabernacles

•April 19, 2022 • Leave a Comment

The Feast of Tabernacles during the Millenium will be kept by people all over the world, regardless of localities or nationalities! The Q is, why are people not keeping it now?

Zechariah 14:16 And it shall come to pass that every one who is left of all the nations which came against Jerusalem, shall even go up from year to year to worship the King, the Lord of hosts, and to keep the Feast of Tabernacles.
¹⁷And it shall be, that whoso will not come up of all the families of the earth unto Jerusalem to worship the King, the Lord of hosts, even upon them shall be no rain.
¹⁸ And if the family of Egypt go not up and come not, upon whom there is no rain, there shall be the plague wherewith the Lord will smite the heathen who come not up to keep the Feast of Tabernacles.
¹⁹This shall be the punishment of Egypt and the punishment of all nations that come not up to keep the Feast of Tabernacles.
²⁰ In that day shall there be upon the bells of the horses: “Holiness Unto The Lord.” And the pots in the Lord’S house shall be like the bowls before the altar;
²¹ yea, every pot in Jerusalem and in Judah shall be holiness unto the Lord of hosts, and all those who sacrifice shall come and take of them and boil therein. And in that day there shall be no more the Canaanite in the house of the Lord of hosts. Zechariah 14:16-21

Posted in Sabbaths

Isaiah (Ch 59-60)

•April 18, 2022 • Leave a Comment

Zechariah 14:16 And it shall come to pass that every one who is left of all the nations which came against Jerusalem, shall even go up from year to year to worship the King, the Lord of hosts, and to keep the Feast of Tabernacles.

¹⁷ And it shall be, that whoso will not come up of all the families of the earth unto Jerusalem to worship the King, the Lord of hosts, even upon them shall be no rain. Zechariah 14:16-17

Isaiah 59

¹ Behold, the Lord’S hand is not shortened, that it cannot save; neither His ear heavy, that it cannot hear. — behold, the Lord’s hand is not shortened; he is not grown weaker than informer times, but is as omnipotent as ever he was; neither his ear heavy; or dull of hearing: he is not like your idol gods that have hands and cannot help, and ears and cannot hear.

²But your iniquities have separated you and your God, and your sins have hid His face from you, that He will not hear. — but your iniquities have separated; have been as a thick wall between you and your God; and have set him at a distance from you.

³For your hands are defiled with blood, and your fingers with iniquity; your lips have spoken lies, your tongue hath muttered perverseness. — your hands are defiled with blood: here the prophet comes from a more general to a more particular charge against them; by blood we are to understand either murders and bloodshed properly so called; or ways of injustice, extortion, oppression and cruelties, whereby men are deprived of a livelihood;

— your lips have spoken lies: or “falsehood” that is, false doctrines so called because contrary to the word of truth and which deceive men: like misplacing the Messiah in Isaiah 52:13 as Jacob in place of the Moshiach or Saviour, our Redeemer; willfully misidentifying the Suffering Servant by having their tongue muttering perverseness so as to make God’s revelation of no effect;

— that the lamb for Pascha was/is an act of defiance to the Egyptians who regarded lamb as the Egyptians’ deity, rather than a symbol of the death of the Messiah, our Moshiach or Saviour, our Redeemer, but the Orthodox still regard it only as an act of defiance to the Egyptians god, the Ram-god Khnum; the Scriptures nowhere say this, but is only a baloney figment of Jewish imagination, another muttered perverseness.

⁴None calleth for justice, nor any pleadeth for truth; they trust in vanity, and speak lies; they conceive mischief and bring forth iniquity. — none calleth for justice; none seek to redress these wrongs and violences; they commit all rapines and frauds with impunity; they trust in vanity; in vain and empty words, void of all consistency; or in vain things such as their idols were often called vanity and nothing;

— and speak lies; this may refer to the judges, lawyers and false prophets, who told them they should not go into captivity; or teach false doctrines:

— the house of Israel is still indulging in lies, they conceive mischief; worshipping Easter, which is another form of worshipping Astarte, one of the titles of the Chaldean goddess, the queen of heaven, the ancient Mesopotamian goddess of war, fertility and sex. She is featured in the Epic of Gilgamesh, and the “Ishtar Gate” was part of Nebuchadnezzar’s Babylon;

— and worshipping Mithra or Mitra (the Sun-God whose birthday many drunks honor and celebrate on December 25th but repackaged and christianised such idolatry as Christian in their mischief), Zeus and others; called “gods of the earth” in distinction from the god of heaven; and men shall worship these earthly gods, acknowledging their supremacy, everyone from his place today, Protestants or Catholics alike.

⁵They hatch adders’ eggs and weave the spider’s web; he that eateth of their eggs dieth, and that which is crushed breaketh out into a viper. — they hatch cockatrice’ eggs; or a poisonous serpent’s; they contrive and execute wicked purposes and practices whereby sure and sudden destruction is brought upon themselves and others. Of the cockatrice or basilisk, one kind is put for any venomous creature. The speech is proverbial, signifying by these eggs mischievous designs like Pascha for the Egyptian’s Ram-god Khnum discussed above.

⁶Their webs shall not become garments, neither shall they cover themselves with their works; their works are works of iniquity, and the act of violence is in their hands. — their webs shall not become garments; the spider’s web is unfit for clothing; that their works are as unfit to secure salvation as the attenuated web of a spider is for raiment;

— their works are works of iniquity: both of preacher and hearer; even their best works are sinful; not only as being imperfect and having a mixture of sin in them and so filthy rags, insufficient to justify them before God; and the act of violence is in their hands; they persecuting such that preach and profess the contrary.

⁷Their feet run to evil, and they make haste to shed innocent blood; their thoughts are thoughts of iniquity; wasting and destruction are in their paths. — their feet run to evil; make haste to commit all manner of sin, and particularly that which follows, with great eagerness and swiftness, taking delight and pleasure therein and continuing in it; it is their course of life;

— and they make haste to shed innocent blood: in wars abroad or at home, in quarrels and riots, or through the heat of persecution; which if it does not directly touch men’s lives, yet issues in the death of many that fall under the power of it; as in Iraq (under the pretext of getting rid of WMD); and Afghanistan (to bring peace and democracy there), killing millions along the way.

⁸The way of peace they know not, and there is no judgment in their goings; they have made them crooked paths; whosoever goeth therein shall not know peace. — there is no judgement in their deeds: they have made them crooked paths: whosoever goeth therein shall not know peace; they are of such turbulent spirits, living in such continual contentions and discords.

⁹Therefore is judgement far from us, neither doth justice overtake us; we wait for light, but behold obscurity; for brightness, but we walk in darkness. — therefore is judgement far from us; because we have no regard for justice or honesty, God will not plead our cause against our oppressors; neither doth justice overtake us; He does not defend our rights, nor avenge our wrongs; as if he had said, If we had executed judgement and equity among one another, they would not now have been far from us;

— we wait for light, but behold obscurity; for brightness, but we walk in darkness; or “for brightnesses” for much clear light; the Targum says, for brightness, but behold, we are walking in obscurity.

¹⁰We grope for the wall like the blind, and we grope as if we had no eyes; we stumble at noonday as in the night; we are in desolate places as dead men. — we grope for the wall like the blind; a blind man, not being able to see his way, feels along by a wall, a fence or any other object that will guide him. They were like the blind; they had no distinct views of truth and they were endeavoring to feel their way along as well as they could;

— probably the prophet here alludes to the threatening made by Moses in Deuteronomy 28:28-29, ‘And the Lord shall smite thee with madness, and blindness, and astonishment of heart; and thou shalt grope at noon-day as the blind gropeth in darkness, and thou shalt not prosper in thy ways.’

— we are in desolate places as dead men; or in fat places, dead in trespasses and sin and at most have only a name to live but are dead. Some render it, “in the graves” and the Targum thus, “it is shut before us, as the graves are shut before the dead.”

¹¹We all roar like bears, and mourn sore like doves; we look for judgement, but there is none; for salvation, but it is far off from us. — we roar all like bears; a heavy judgements awaits which could come upon them for their sins. The word rendered here ‘roar’ – to hum, spoken of bees, is applied to any murmuring or confused noise or sound. It sometimes means to snarl as a dog;

— mourns like doves in solitude: this expresses the secret groanings under a sense of sin, and the forlorn state of religion. The Targum paraphrases it thus, “we roar because of our enemies, who are gathered against us as bears; all of us indeed mourn sore as doves.”

¹²For our transgressions are multiplied before Thee, and our sins testify against us. For our transgressions are with us, and as for our iniquities, we know them: — for our transgressions; the word פשׁעונו here signifies sins of a high nature, namely, such as were wilfully committed against light and knowledge; rebellious sins;

— are multiplied before thee; they admit of no excuse; for they are committed before thee, and multiplied against thee, whereby thou art justly provoked to deny us all help; as for our iniquities, we know them; we are convinced of them; our guilty consciences must own and acknowledge them.

¹³in transgressing and lying against the Lord, and departing away from our God, speaking oppression and revolt, conceiving and uttering from the heart words of falsehood. — in transgressing; that is, we have been guilty of this as a continuous act;

— and lying against the Lord; we have proved false to God; though we have been professedly his people, yet we have been secretly attached to idols, and have in our hearts been devoted to the service of false gods. And departing away from our God; by the worship of idols, and by the violation of his law.

¹⁴And judgement is turned away backward, and justice standeth afar off; for truth is fallen in the street, and equity cannot enter. — and judgement is turned away backward; the word ‘judgement’ is used in the sense of justice, or lust decisions between man and man. The verse contains a further confession of the evil of their course of life; and, among other things, they acknowledged that they had been influenced by partiality and by bribes; they had condemned the innocent, they had acquitted the guilty.

¹⁵Yea, truth faileth, and he that departeth from evil maketh himself a prey. And the Lord saw it, and it displeased Him that there was no judgement. — yea, truth fails; that is, it is not to be found, it is missing; it means that truth had no existence there;

— and he that departs from evil makes himself a prey; he that does not give in to the prevailing vices of the age in which he lives, now become fashionable, but abstains from them, and departs from doctrinal as well as practical evils; from all false doctrines, and from all superstitious modes of worship; becomes a prey to others; a reproach and a laughing stock to them; they scoff at him, and deride him for his preciseness in religion;

— and the Lord saw it and it displeased him that there was no judgement; he took notice of all this and resented it that there was no judgement; no order or discipline observed; that are simple and innocent are outwitted by the crafty and fraudulent; that they are not willing, or rather daring, to oppose fraud with justice and to do all things in sincerity; that no justice done to evil teachings or punishments from the civil courts.

¹⁶And he saw that there was no man, and wondered that there was no intercessor; therefore his arm brought salvation unto Him, and his righteousness, it sustained Him. — and he saw that there was no man; that is, no wise and prudent man qualified to govern the affairs of the people. Or, that there was no man qualified to interpose and put an end to these evils; no one qualified to save the nation from the calamities which their sins deserved.

¹⁷For He put on righteousness as a breastplate, and a helmet of salvation upon His head; and he put on the garments of vengeance for clothing, and was clad with zeal as a cloak. — for he put on righteousness as a breastplate; here the Lord is represented as a warrior clothed with armour, and as he will appear in the latter day on the behalf of his people, and against their enemies, who is called faithful and true and in righteousness will make war;

— and was clad with zeal as a cloak; with zeal for his own glory, and the interest of his people and against all enemies against all pagan worship and false doctrines; and therefore his eyes are said to be as a flame of fire and vengeance against the foes of God at His second coming.

¹⁸According to their deeds, accordingly He will repay, fury to His adversaries, recompense to His enemies; to the islands He will repay recompense. — according to their deeds, accordingly he will repay; as the enemies of his people have treated them, so will the Lord deal with them; as they have shed their blood, he will, according to the laws of retribution and retaliation, give them blood to drink, as they deserve.

¹⁹So shall they fear the name of the Lord from the west and His glory from the rising of the sun. When the enemy shall come in like a flood, the Spirit of the Lord shall lift up a standard against him. — fear the name of the Lord; as hath been often showed, the fear to make his name renowned.

— from the west, viz. the western part of the world; His glory, or the glorious God; from the rising of the sun, viz. the eastern parts of the world. The whole world, the one half will be east and the other west; it shall fear and worship God, and make his name renowned, laying aside their idolatries; whether they refer it to the deliverance of his people out of Babylon, when they shall hear how God hath executed vengeance on his enemies; or to the redemption by Christ, and the calling of the Gentiles.

²⁰“And the Redeemer shall come to Zion, and unto them that turn from transgression in Jacob,” saith the Lord. — the Targum says, “and the Redeemer shall come to Zion and to turn the transgressors of the house of Jacob to the law.”

²¹“As for me, this is my covenant with them,” saith the Lord; “My spirit that is upon thee, and My words which I have put in thy mouth, shall not depart out of thy mouth, nor out of the mouth of thy seed, nor out of the mouth of thy seed’s seed,” saith the Lord, “from henceforth and for ever.” — the Targum interprets this of the words of prophecy; and of the law not departing from the disciples of wise men; but it is best to understand it of the truth not departing from all the elects and the seed of the elect.

Isaiah 60

¹ Arise, shine, for thy light is come, and the glory of the Lord is risen upon thee. — Arise, shine; the Targum and the Septuagint add, “O Jerusalem” and no doubt but the kingdom of God is addressed, composed of first the Jews and also incorporating the Gentiles later.

²For behold, the darkness shall cover the earth and gross darkness the people; but the Lord shall arise upon thee, and His glory shall be seen upon thee. — for, behold, darkness shall cover the earth; ignorance, idolatry and all kinds of errors and vices; and gross darkness the people; like that of Egypt; the most palpable blindness and infatuation as to divine things.

³And the Gentiles shall come to thy light, and kings to the brightness of thy rising. — the Gentiles shall come to thy light; or shall be allured by thy light to come to thee, as travellers in a dark night and out of their way when a light discovers itself make to it; and wish them much joy but shall rejoice to participate with them in their happiness.

⁴“Lift up thine eyes round about and see; all they gather themselves together, they come to thee; thy sons shall come from far, and thy daughters shall be nursed at thy side. — the Targum says, “lift up thine eyes O Jerusalem, round about, and see all the children of the people of thy captivity”

— all they gather themselves and come to thee: this seems to have respect not just the Gentiles, but to the Jews themselves who are scattered up and down in the world; but now shall gather together in a body and go up to Jerusalem, where they will go to keep the feast of tabernacles, Zechariah 14:16-21.

Zechariah 14:16 And it shall come to pass that every one who is left of all the nations which came against Jerusalem, shall even go up from year to year to worship the King, the Lord of hosts, and to keep the Feast of Tabernacles.
¹⁷And it shall be, that whoso will not come up of all the families of the earth unto Jerusalem to worship the King, the Lord of hosts, even upon them shall be no rain.
¹⁸ And if the family of Egypt go not up and come not, upon whom there is no rain, there shall be the plague wherewith the Lord will smite the heathen who come not up to keep the Feast of Tabernacles.
¹⁹This shall be the punishment of Egypt and the punishment of all nations that come not up to keep the Feast of Tabernacles.
²⁰ In that day shall there be upon the bells of the horses: “Holiness Unto The Lord.” And the pots in the Lord’S house shall be like the bowls before the altar;
²¹ yea, every pot in Jerusalem and in Judah shall be holiness unto the Lord of hosts, and all those who sacrifice shall come and take of them and boil therein. And in that day there shall be no more the Canaanite in the house of the Lord of hosts. Zechariah 14:16-21

⁵Then thou shalt see and flow together, and thine heart shall fear and be enlarged, because the abundance of the sea shall be converted unto thee, the wealth of the Gentiles shall come unto thee. — the forces of the Gentiles shall come unto thee; not only common people but even their armies; the soldiery will be converted as well as the seafaring men who are for the most part also exceeding wicked; not only kings will become real converts but their armies will be so too, their generals, officers and common soldiers.

⁶The multitude of camels shall cover thee, the dromedaries of Midian and Ephah; all they from Sheba shall come; they shall bring gold and incense, and they shall show forth the praises of the Lord.

⁷All the flocks of Kedar shall be gathered together unto thee, the rams of Nebaioth shall minister unto thee; they shall come up with acceptance on Mine altar, and I will glorify the house of My glory.

⁸“Who are these that fly as a cloud and as the doves to their windows? — who are these that fly as a cloud? – in multitudes so numerous, that they appear as a dense cloud; so numerous as to excite surprise, and to lead to the question, Who can they be? It is not uncommon to compare a multitude of persons to a cloud.

⁹Surely the isles shall wait for Me—and the ships of Tarshish first, to bring thy sons from far, their silver and their gold with them, unto the name of the Lord thy God, and to the Holy One of Israel, because He hath glorified thee. — surely the isles shall wait for me; the Targum says, “for my Word.”

— the Messiah and his coming; the isles of Great Britain may be intended, who, as they waited for his Kingdom and readily received it as soon as it was brought to them which was very early; so there are many here now waiting for the spiritual coming of the Messiah and his glory in the latter day and perhaps in other part of the world.

¹⁰“And the sons of strangers shall build up thy walls, and their kings shall minister unto thee; for in My wrath I smote thee, but in My favor have I had mercy on thee. — for in my wrath I smote thee for the Jews’ rejection of the prophets and the Messiah; wrath came upon them to the uttermost, upon their city, temple, nation and to each of their destructions.

¹¹Therefore thy gates shall be open continually; they shall not be shut day nor night, that men may bring unto thee the wealth of the Gentiles, and that their kings may be brought. — thy gates shall be open continually; it implies (1) a state of peace in which there would be no danger of attack; and (2) the constant stream of caravans of pilgrims, with their offerings, entering by night as well as day.

¹²For the nation and kingdom that will not serve thee shall perish; yea, those nations shall be utterly wasted. — the Targum says: for the nation and kingdom that will not serve thee, O Jerusalem, shall perish; yea, those nations shall utterly be destroyed.

¹³The glory of Lebanon shall come unto thee, the fir tree, the pine tree, and the box together to beautify the place of My sanctuary; and I will make the place of My feet glorious. — the glory of Lebanon; the prophet sees in the new Jerusalem a revival of the glories of the days of Solomon. The cedars of Lebanon, and other trees of the forest, are to furnish timber for its buildings or even to be planted in the courts of the Temple or in its open places and streets;

— the place of my feet is clearly parallel with the “sanctuary” of the previous clause; so the word “footstool” is used of the Temple in Psalm 99:5; Psalm 132:7.

¹⁴The sons also of them that afflicted thee shall come bending unto thee, and all they that despised thee shall bow themselves down at the soles of thy feet; and they shall call thee, the City of the Lord, the Zion of the Holy One of Israel. — the sons of them that afflicted thee; that is, even the descendants of those who had oppressed them would become tributary to them and acknowledge them as favored by the Almighty; shall come bending unto thee; shall come to time in a posture of humiliation and respect.

¹⁵“Whereas thou hast been forsaken and hated, so that no man went through thee, I will make thee an eternal excellency, a joy of many generations. — whereas thou hast been forsaken; thy being forsaken, that is, thy subsequent prosperity shall come in the place of thy being forsaken. The forsaking here refers to the various calamities, persecutions and trials, which she had been called to endure;

— so that no man went through thee; when the country was desolate and abandoned that no caravan passed from one part of it to another or made it a thoroughfare in going to other lands.

¹⁶Thou shalt also suck the milk of the Gentiles, and shalt suck the breast of kings; and thou shalt know that I the Lord, am thy Savior and thy Redeemer, the mighty One of Jacob. — the mighty one of Jacob; styled so either with reference to Jacob’s person, he being the first that gave God this title, Genesis 49:24;

— or with reference to Jacob’s posterity, viz. the Jews. These things will certainly be accomplished; for he is the mighty God, and so able; and the God of Jacob, so obliged by covenant and relation.

¹⁷“For brass I will bring gold, and for iron I will bring silver, and for wood, brass, and for stones, iron. I will also make thy officers peace and thine exactors righteousness. — for brass I will bring gold: here is the effect of the former promise: thy poverty shall be turned to riches, all things shall be altered for the best; an allusion to the days of Solomon, when gold was as brass: thus, on the contrary, when they change for the worse in the state, it uses to be expressed by the like metaphors, Isaiah 21 Isa 22 Isa 23.

¹⁸Violence shall no more be heard in thy land, wasting nor destruction within thy borders; but thou shalt call thy walls Salvation and thy gates Praise. — violence shall no more be heard; neither the threats and triumphs of those that do violence, nor the outcries and complaints of those that suffer it, shall be heard again, but every man shall peaceably enjoy his own.

¹⁹The sun shall be no more thy light by day, neither for brightness shall the moon give light unto thee; but the Lord shall be unto thee an everlasting light, and thy God thy glory. — the sun shall be no more thy light; the light of the sun and moon shall not be at all esteemed in comparison of the light of the Kingdom, which shall be so glorious as to eclipse all the light formerly enjoyed by her, the divine glory and majesty.

²⁰Thy sun shall no more go down, neither shall thy moon withdraw itself; for the Lord shall be thine everlasting light, and the days of thy mourning shall be ended. — the Targum says, “thy kingdom shall cease no more and thy glory shall not be removed.”

²¹Thy people also shall be all righteous; they shall inherit the land for ever, the branch of My planting, the work of My hands, that I may be glorified. — that I may be glorified; God would be glorified in having made so ample provision for our welfare, and in their being made glorious by him. He is always glorified when others enjoy the fruits of his benevolence and when they are made pure and happy as the result of his purposes and plans.

²²A little one shall become a thousand, and a small one a strong nation; I, the Lord, will hasten it in his time.” — a little one shall become a thousand; there shall be a great increase, as if one and that the smallest should be multiplied to a thousand;

— his time; not our time; we might wish to hasten it but it will come in due time as in the case of Yeshua’s first and second comings; so in that of the restoration of Israel and the conversion of the world in his time.

Posted in Isaiah

Daniel’s Prayer

•April 17, 2022 • Leave a Comment

Daniel’s Prayer is an example for us to study and emulate, especially for forgiveness against the Law of Moses (Leviticus 26; Deuteronomy 28); Daniel was not merely praying for his comfort and protection in the darkness. His concern was to pray for God’s people, the acknowledgement of their sins and asking for forgiveness and mercies.

Making no excuses, Daniel confessed his people’s sin and acknowledged the justice of God’s judgement, severe though it had been. In response from God, Daniel was greatly praised by the angel Gabriel, who was sent with further revelation or prophecy and said to Daniel, “I have come to show thee, for thou art greatly beloved.”

Daniel is greatly loved, his example of a Prayer should be emulated and studied today. For example (1), he does not say “they” but instead, “we” incorporating the reality that all have sinned and all need forgiveness, (2) instead of justifying, Daniel freely knowledges his and his nation’s iniquities, wickedness and rebellion against the Most High and (3) asks for forgiveness and mercies on behalf of his people.

Daniel’s Prayer is found in Daniel 9

³And I (Daniel) set my face unto the Lord God, seeking by prayer and supplications, with fasting, and sackcloth, and ashes.

⁵we have sinned and have committed iniquity, and have done wickedly and have rebelled, even by departing from Thy precepts and from Thy judgements.

⁶Neither have we hearkened unto Thy servants the prophets, who spoke in Thy name to our kings, our princes, and our fathers, and to all the people of the land.

⁸O Lord, to us belongeth confusion of face, to our kings, to our princes, and to our fathers, because we have sinned against Thee.

⁹To the Lord our God belong mercies and forgivenesses, though we have rebelled against Him;

¹⁰neither have we obeyed the voice of the Lord our God to walk in His laws, which He set before us by His servants the prophets.

¹³“As it is written in the Law of Moses, all this evil is come upon us. Yet made we not our prayer before the Lord our God, that we might turn from our iniquities and understand Thy truth.

¹⁴Therefore hath the Lord watched upon the evil, and brought it upon us; for the Lord our God is righteous in all His works which He doeth, for we obeyed not His voice.

¹⁵“And now, O Lord our God, who hast brought Thy people forth out of the land of Egypt with a mighty hand, and hast made Thee a name, as at this day — we have sinned, we have done wickedly.

¹⁷“Now therefore, O our God, hear the prayer of Thy servant and his supplications, and cause Thy face to shine upon Thy sanctuary that is desolate, for the Lord’s sake.

¹⁹O Lord, hear! O Lord, forgive! O Lord, hearken and do! Defer not, for Thine own sake, O my God; for Thy city and Thy people are called by Thy name.”

— nowhere in Daniel’s prayer did he put the blame on the wicked Chaldeans nor on Nebuchadnezzar, but squarely on themselves; the wicked Chaldeans were just mere instruments used by God as three time Nebuchadnezzar was described as “Nebuchadnezzar the king of Babylon, My servant,” (Jeremiah 25:9, 27:6, 43:10) to carry out His will.

Posted in Daniel, Doctrines, Prayers

Isaiah (Ch 57-58)

•April 16, 2022 • Leave a Comment

“If thou turn away thy foot from the Sabbath, from doing thy pleasure on My holy day, and call the Sabbath a delight, the holy of the Lord, honorable, and shalt honor Him, not doing thine own ways, nor finding thine own pleasure, nor speaking thine own words, then shalt thou delight thyself in the Lord; and I will cause thee to ride upon the high places of the earth, and feed thee with the heritage of Jacob thy father; for the mouth of the Lord hath spoken it,” Isaiah 58:13-14

Isaiah 57

¹ The righteous perisheth, and no man layeth it to heart; and merciful men are taken away, none considering that the righteous is taken away from the evil to come. — the righteous are delivered from the sting of death; the careless world disregards this. Few lament it as a public loss and very few notice it as a public warning; they are taken away in compassion and that they may not see the evil, nor share in it, nor be tempted by it. The righteous man, when he dies, enters into peace and rest.

²He shall enter into peace; they shall rest in their beds, each one walking in his uprightness. — he shall enter into peace, or ‘he shall go in peace.’ So the Septuagint, ‘his sepulchre shall be in peace.’ The idea is, that by his death the righteous man shall enter into rest; he shall get away from conflict, strife, agitation and distress.

³“But draw near hither, ye sons of the sorceress, the seed of the adulterer and the whore. — draw near to face God’s tribunal, to receive your sentence; though Hezekiah and Josiah had made a great change when each ascended the throne and had done their best to put down idolatry, yet it was still dear among the people, and was easily revived each of their sons; thus the Jews were guilty of idolatry before the captivity; but not after that affliction.

⁴Against whom do ye sport yourselves? Against whom make ye a wide mouth and draw out the tongue? Are ye not children of transgression, a seed of falsehood, — CSB Who are you mocking? Who are you opening your mouth and sticking out your tongue at? Isn’t it you, you rebellious children, you offspring of liars,

⁵inflaming yourselves with idols under every green tree, slaying the children in the valleys under the clefts of the rocks? — inflaming yourselves with idols; being inflamed or growing hot after idols; that is, lusting after them and mad upon them;

— under the clefts of the rocks; dark and shady groves; deep and sombre caverns were the places where the abominable rites of the pagan superstitions were practiced.

⁶Among the smooth stones of the stream is thy portion; they, they are thy lot. Even to them hast thou poured a drink offering, thou hast offered a meat offering. Should I receive comfort in these? — among the smooth stones of the stream is thy portion; or thy god; but the portion of Jacob is not like them, stocks and stones, Jeremiah 10:16;

— whenever they could pick up smooth stones and such as were fit for their purpose, whether in the stream of a brook or in a valley as the word also signifies, they polished and formed them into an image and made gods of them; and these were their portion and inheritance and which they left to their children.

⁷Upon a lofty and high mountain hast thou set thy bed; even thither wentest thou up to offer sacrifice. —upon a lofty and high mountain hast thou set thy bed; temples and altars which are usually built on high places where they commit spiritual adultery; that is, idolatry in imitation of the heathens who had their temples and altars on high places;

— the Targum says, “on a high and lofty mountain thou hast the place of the house of thy dwelling” which agrees very well with the great city the seat of the beast; like the temple at Mount Gerizim and later the church of Rome.

⁸Behind the doors also and the posts hast thou set up thy remembrance; for thou hast uncovered thyself to another than Me, and art gone up; thou hast enlarged thy bed and made thee a covenant with them; thou lovedst their bed where thou sawest it. — behind the doors also and the posts hast thou set up thy remembrance of thy idols, as the Targum says.

⁹And thou wentest to the king with ointment, and didst increase thy perfumes, and didst send thy messengers far off, and didst debase thyself even unto hell. — thou went to the king, that is, the king of Assyria or Egypt to whom the Israelites were very prone to seek, and trust and send presents.

¹⁰Thou art wearied in the greatness of thy way; yet saidst thou not, ‘There is no hope.’ Thou hast found the life of thine hand; therefore thou wast not grieved. — thou art wearied in the greatness of thy way; thou hast not eased or relieved but only tired thyself with all thy tedious journeys and laborious endeavours.

¹¹“And of whom hast thou been afraid or feared, that thou hast lied, and hast not remembered Me, nor laid it to thy heart? Have not I held My peace even of old, and thou fearest Me not? — and of whom hast thou been afraid or feared? and what or who are they the fear of whom drives thee to these wicked and desperate courses? Are they not men, weak and mortal creatures such as wholly depend upon me and can do nothing to thee either against me or without me?

— and hast not remembered me; or “for thou hast not remembered me nor laid it to thy heart?” or “put me upon thy heart” – the Targum says, “and hast not remembered my worship, nor put my fear upon thy heart.”

¹²I will declare thy righteousness and thy works, for they shall not profit thee.

¹³When thou criest, let thy companies deliver thee; but the wind shall carry them all away, vanity shall take them. But he that putteth his trust in Me shall possess the land, and shall inherit My holy mountain, — when thou criest; in the time of thy trouble;

— let thy companies deliver thee; properly, “a gathering; a throng; a collection.” Here it refers either to the throngs of the idols which they had collected, and on which they relied; or to the collection of foreigners which they had summoned to their assistance; if people trust to other objects for aid than the arm of God, they will be left in the day of trial to such assistance as they can render them.

¹⁴And shall say, ‘Cast ye up, cast ye up, prepare the way; take up the stumbling block out of the way of My people.’” — the Targum says, “and he shall say, teach and admonish, prepare (or direct) the heart of the people to the right way, remove the stumblingblock of the wicked out of the way of my people.”

¹⁵For thus saith the high and lofty One who inhabiteth eternity, whose name is Holy: “I dwell in the high and holy place with him also that is of a contrite and humble spirit, to revive the spirit of the humble and to revive the heart of the contrite ones. — for thus saith the high and lofty; the central truth for the comfort of God’s people is that the infinitely Great One cares even for the infinitely little;

— whose name is Holy; who is omnipotent, everlasting, and unchangeable, holy in all his words and ways, and therefore both can and will deliver his people, as he hath promised to do.

¹⁶For I will not contend for ever, neither will I be always wroth; for the spirit should fail before Me, and the souls which I have made. — for I will not contend for ever; I will not be angry with my people forever, nor always refuse to pardon and comfort them;

— the Targum says, for I will not take vengeance of judgement forever, neither shall my wrath be eternal.

¹⁷For the iniquity of his covetousness was I wroth and smote him; I hid Me and was wroth, and he went on waywardly in the way of his heart. — the Targum says, “my wrath is upon them on account of their robbed riches, and I smote them; I removed my Shekinah from them, and cast them out.”

MSG: A Message from the high and towering God, who lives in Eternity, whose name is Holy: “I live in the high and holy places, but also with the low-spirited, the spirit-crushed, And what I do is put new spirit in them, get them up and on their feet again.

For I’m not going to haul people into court endlessly, I’m not going to be angry forever. Otherwise, people would lose heart. These souls I created would tire out and give up. I was angry, good and angry, because of Israel’s sins. I struck him hard and turned away in anger, while he kept at his stubborn, willful ways.

When I looked again and saw what he was doing, I decided to heal him, lead him, and comfort him, creating a new language of praise for the mourners. Peace to the far-off, peace to the near-at-hand,” says God— “and yes, I will heal them.

But the wicked are storm-battered seas that can’t quiet down. The waves stir up garbage and mud. There’s no peace,” God says, “for the wicked.”

¹⁸I have seen his ways and will heal him; I will lead him also, and restore comforts unto him and to his mourners.

¹⁹I create the fruit of the lips; peace, peace to him that is far off, and to him that is near,” saith the Lord; “and I will heal him.

²⁰“But the wicked are like the troubled sea when it cannot rest, whose waters cast up mire and dirt. — but the wicked are like the troubled sea, when it cannot rest; disturbed by winds, storms and hurricanes, when its waves rise, rage and tumble about, and beat against the shore and sand, threatening to pass the bounds fixed for it;

— the Septuagint renders it, ‘But the wicked are tossed like waves and are not able to be at rest.’

²¹There is no peace, saith my God, to the wicked.” — but the wicked, who persist in the alienation from God are incapable of the peace which God brings to His people: they are like the sea in its tossed and stormy state; as this cannot rest and as its waters cast out slime and mud, so has their natural state become one of perpetual disturbance, leading to the uninterrupted production of unclean and ungodly thoughts, words and works.

Isaiah 58

¹ “Cry aloud, spare not; lift up thy voice like a trumpet! And show My people their transgression and the house of Jacob their sins. — Cry aloud; literally, with the throat, i.e., with no faint whisper as from stammering lips, but with full strength of voice; and so the Targum expresses it, “O prophet, cry with thy throat;”

— Lift up thy voice like a trumpet; Speak loud and distinct, so that the language of reproof may be heard; and show my people their transgression, and the house of Jacob their sins:

Hosea 1:11 I will also cause all her mirth to cease, her feast days, her new moons, and her Sabbaths, and all her solemn feasts. — her feast days; which “Christians” understand and practice are:

(a) Christmas, which honor the Mithraism – a form of nature worship based on the Sun-Goddess Mithra who on the darkest night of the year (December 20/21), gives birth to “Light” causing each day thereafter to grow longer until the Summer solstice; and

(b) Easters, a celebration of Ishtar, the Assyrian and Babylonian goddess of fertility and sex. Her symbols (like the egg and bunny) were and still are fertility and sex symbols; and to those who actually think eggs and bunnies have something to do with the resurrection; and

(c) her sabbaths which is Sundays, where the original keepers were the Samaritans, brought from Assyria: And the king of Assyria brought men from Babylon, and from Cuthah, and from Ava, and from Hamath, and from Sepharvaim, and placed them in the cities of Samaria instead of the children of Israel; and they possessed Samaria and dwelt in the cities thereof, II Kings 17:24.

²Yet they seek Me daily and delight to know My ways, as a nation that did righteousness and forsook not the ordinance of their God. They ask of Me the ordinances of justice; they take delight in approaching to God. — yet they seek me daily; they cover all their wickedness with a profession of religion, from time to time resorting to my house, pretending to ask counsel of me and to desire and seek my favour and blessing. And delight to know my ways;

— that is, either, (a) they seem to delight to know them, men being often said in Scripture to be or do that which they seem or profess to be or do: or (b) they really delight; for there are many men who take some pleasure in knowing God’s will and word, and yet do not conform their lives to them.

³‘Why have we fasted,’ say they, ‘and Thou seest not? Why have we afflicted our soul, and thou takest no note?’ Behold, in the day of your fast ye find pleasure, and exact all your labors. — in those solemn days of fasting which I have appointed; or in those times when I have called you by the course of my providence and counsels of my prophets, unto fasting, weeping and mourning, yet ye find pleasure, indulging in pride, covetousness and malignant passions.

— in the day of your fast ye find pleasure; better, ye carry on your business. Fasts were not governed like the Sabbath by a fixed law and the people consequently lost sight of the true end of fasting—prayer, meditation, penitence.

⁴Behold, ye fast for strife and debate, and to smite with the fist of wickedness; ye shall not fast as ye do this day, to make your voice to be heard on high. — ye fast for strife and contention; it produced a quarrelsome temper which even led to open violence,—“smiting with godless fist;”

— to make your voice to be heard on high; that is in strife and contention that your voice can be heard on the mountain top that their prayers would ascend to heaven and be heard by God.

⁵Is it such a fast that I have chosen? A day for a man to afflict his soul? Is it to bow down his head as a bulrush, and to spread sackcloth and ashes under him? Wilt thou call this a fast, and an acceptable day to the Lord? — a fast is a day to afflict the soul; if it does not express true sorrow for sin it is not a fast. These pretenders had shown sorrow on stated or occasioned fasts, but they indulged in pride, covetousness and malignant passions.

⁶“Is not this the fast that I have chosen: to loose the bands of wickedness, to undo the heavy burdens, and to let the oppressed go free, and that ye break every yoke? — is not this the fast that I have chosen? – or approve, fasting is right and proper; but that which God approves and follows by deeds of humility, justice and kindness.

⁷Is it not to deal thy bread to the hungry, and that thou bring the poor that are cast out to thy house?—when thou seest the naked, that thou cover him, and that thou hide not thyself from thine own flesh? — — to share your bread with the hungry and to offer shelter to the homeless poor, to clothe the naked when you behold them and not turn your back on your own kin;

MSG: “This is the kind of fast day I’m after: to break the chains of injustice, get rid of exploitation in the workplace, free the oppressed, cancel debts. What I’m interested in seeing you do is: sharing your food with the hungry, inviting the homeless poor into your homes, putting clothes on the shivering ill-clad, being available to your own families.

Do this and the lights will turn on, and your lives will turn around at once. Your righteousness will pave your way. The God of glory will secure your passage. Then when you pray, God will answer. You’ll call out for help and I’ll say, ‘Here I am.’ “If you get rid of unfair practices, quit blaming victims, quit gossiping about other people’s sins, If you are generous with the hungry and start giving yourselves to the down-and-out, Your lives will begin to glow in the darkness, your shadowed lives will be bathed in sunlight.

I will always show you where to go. I’ll give you a full life in the emptiest of places— firm muscles, strong bones. You’ll be like a well-watered garden, a gurgling spring that never runs dry. You’ll use the old rubble of past lives to build anew, rebuild the foundations from out of your past. You’ll be known as those who can fix anything, restore old ruins, rebuild and renovate, make the community livable again.

⁸Then shall thy light break forth as the morning, and thine health shall spring forth speedily; and thy righteousness shall go before thee; the glory of the Lord shall be thy rearward. — then shall thy light; cause of rejoicing, break forth as the morning; arise as certainly and speedily as in the morning the light arises out of darkness.

⁹Then shalt thou call, and the Lord shall answer; thou shalt cry, and He shall say, ‘Here I am.’ If thou take away from the midst of thee the yoke, the putting forth of the finger and speaking vanity, — “the putting forth of the finger” – pointing at those that could not comply with them, by way of scorn and derision and persecuting them for it; and so is the same with smiting with the fist of wickedness.

¹⁰and if thou draw out thy soul to the hungry and satisfy the afflicted soul, then shall thy light rise in obscurity and thy darkness be as the noonday. — then shall thy light rise in obscurity; that is, it will be as if the cheerful light of the sun should rise amidst the shades of midnight; their calamities and trials would be suddenly succeeded by the bright and cheerful light of prosperity.

¹¹And the Lord shall guide thee continually, and satisfy thy soul in drought, and make fat thy bones; and thou shalt be like a watered garden, and like a spring of water whose waters fail not. — like a watered garden; like a garden for the pleasure and beauty of it, a paradise; like a garden watered for the continual flourishing of thy estate; there shall be no withering or decay upon thy prosperous condition.

¹²And they that shall be of thee shall build the old waste places; thou shalt raise up the foundations of many generations, and thou shalt be called the Repairer of the Breach, the Restorer of Paths to dwell in. — thou shalt raise up the foundations of many generations; either such foundations as have been razed up and lay so for ages past; or raise up such as shall continue for generations to come;

— and thou shalt be called the repairer of the breach and the restorer of paths to dwell in; the Targum says, “they shall call thee one that confirms the right way, and converts, the ungodly to the law.”

¹³“If thou turn away thy foot from the Sabbath, from doing thy pleasure on My holy day, and call the Sabbath a delight, the holy of the Lord, honorable, and shalt honor Him, not doing thine own ways, nor finding thine own pleasure, nor speaking thine own words, — the sabbath is a sign between God and his people; his appointing it is a sign of his favour to them; and their observing it is a sign of their obedience to him;

— and call the Sabbath a delight; this appropriately expresses the feelings of all who have any just views of the Sabbath. To them it is not wearisome, nor are its hours heavy. They love the day of sweet and holy rest; they esteem it a privilege, not a task, to be permitted once a week to disburden their minds of the cares, and toils, and anxieties of life. It is a ‘delight’ to them to recall the memory of the institution of the Sabbath, when God rested from his labours.

¹⁴then shalt thou delight thyself in the Lord; and I will cause thee to ride upon the high places of the earth, and feed thee with the heritage of Jacob thy father; for the mouth of the Lord hath spoken it.” — then shalt thou delight thyself in the Lord: that is, if thou wilt delight thyself in the sabbath, then thou shalt delight in the God of the sabbath; or thou shalt have cause to delight in the Lord, in his goodness and faithfulness to thee and so shalt live by faith in him as the Fountain of all good.

Posted in Isaiah

Doing Without the Dollar

•April 15, 2022 • Leave a Comment

Pessimism used to be for monetary cranks; now even Goldman Sachs warns the dollar will go the way of the pound

ASIATIMES by David Goldman / April 13, 2022

NEW YORK – The staggering sum of US$18 trillion – nearly equal to a year’s gross domestic product (GDP) – is the amount that the United States has taken in from foreigners since the Great Financial Crisis of 2008.

**A $34 (plus $30 more?) trillion Bubble about to Burst?**

The notion that the dollar’s dominance in world finance might come to an end was a fringe view only five years ago when America’s net foreign investment position was a mere negative $8 trillion. Now one reads forecasts of the end of the dollar era in research reports by Goldman Sachs and Credit Suisse.

Washington’s seizure of Russian foreign exchange reserves seems like a self-defeating measure given America’s enormous and accelerating dependence on foreign borrowing. Paradoxically, America’s strength lies in its weakness: A sudden end to the dollar’s leading role in world finance would have devastating consequences for the US economy, as well as the economies of its trading partners.

In addition to the $18 trillion of net foreign investment in the US, foreigners keep about US $16 trillion in overseas bank deposits to finance international transactions. That’s $34 trillion of foreign financing against a US GDP of not quite $23 trillion. Foreigners also have enormous exposure to the US stock and real estate markets.

And David Goldman didn’t include the $30 trillion national debt to this $34 trillion Bubble!

No one – least of all China with its $3 trillion in reserves– wants a run against the dollar and dollar assets. But the world’s central banks are reducing dollar exposure, cautiously but steadily.

The trickle of diversification out of dollars could turn into a flood. What the International Monetary Fund on March 22 called “the stealth erosion of dollar dominance” prefigures a not-so-stealthy exit from the dollar. Unlike Nebuchadnezzars’ handwriting on the wall, the king’s soothsayers can read the message as plain as day.

**“Be afraid,” warns David Goldman, “Be very afraid!”**

Notably, Russia’s central bank cut the share of the US dollar in its reserves from 21% a year ago to just 11% in January, while increasing the share of RMB to 17% from 13% a year ago. Russia’s central bank has also bought more gold than any other institution in recent years.

With just 8% of world export volume versus China’s 15%, the reserve role of the US dollar no longer reflects American economic strength. It derives, perversely, from the rest of the world’s desire to save.

The populations of the world’s high-income countries are aging rapidly. In 2001, 28% of their people were aged 50 years or older; by 2040 the proportion will reach 45%. Aging populations save for retirement. The Germans and Japanese save nearly 30% of GDP, and the Chinese save 44%; Americans save just 18% of GDP.

For the past 15 years, American consumers have spent on goods each year roughly a trillion dollars more than were brought in by American exports.

The import-led consumption boom and the availability of cheap electronics from China and other Asian exporters fed a digital entertainment boom that inflated the stock prices of Apple, Microsoft, Google, Meta and other US software companies.

“Be afraid,” David Goldman warns of the biggest bubble of a $34 (plus $30 more?) trillions about to burst, “Be very afraid!”

Foreigners then invested their earnings from exports in US tech stocks, as well as government bonds, real estate and so forth. The tech boom harmed the US economy far more than it helped it, reducing American teenagers to risk-averse recluses addicted to smartphones and social media while generating stock market valuations never before imagined.

The result is the biggest bubble in world financial history. When the Covid-19 pandemic threatened to collapse the bubble, the US government added $6 trillion in stimulus to the economy. That restarted the tech bubble, which explains why the US net foreign investment position fell by another $6 trillion between 2019 and 2022, to today’s negative $18 trillion level.

Therefore the LORD, the God of hosts, the LORD saith thus: “Wailing shall be in all streets, and they shall say in all the highways, ‘Alas! Alas!’ And they shall call the husbandman to mourning, and such as are skillful in lamentation to wailing.
And in all vineyards shall be wailing, for I will pass through thee,” saith the LORD.
Woe unto you that desire the day of the LORD! To what end is it for you? The day of the LORD is darkness, and not light:
as if a man fled from a lion, and a bear met him; or went into the house and leaned his hand on the wall, and a serpent bit him.
Shall not the day of the LORD be darkness, and not light? Even very dark, and no brightness in it? Amos 5:16-20

Posted in Ephraim, US

The Sabbaths

•April 14, 2022 • Leave a Comment

The Weekly and Annual Sabbaths: “If thou turn away thy foot from the Sabbath, from doing thy pleasure on My holy day, and call the Sabbath a delight, the holy of the Lord, honorable, and shalt honor Him, not doing thine own ways, nor finding thine own pleasure, nor speaking thine own words,” Isaiah 58:13.

Both the Weekly and Annual Sabbaths; blessed are those who keep them!

Leviticus 23

¹ And the Lord spoke unto Moses, saying,
² “Speak unto the children of Israel and say unto them: ‘Concerning the feasts of the Lord, which ye shall proclaim to be holy convocations, even these are My feasts.
³ “‘Six days shall work be done, but the seventh day is the Sabbath of rest, a holy convocation. Ye shall do no work therein; it is the Sabbath of the Lord in all your dwellings.
⁴ “‘These are the feasts of the Lord, even holy convocations, which ye shall proclaim in their seasons.
⁵ On the fourteenth day of the first month at evening is the Lord’S Passover.
⁶ And on the fifteenth day of the same month is the Feast of Unleavened Bread unto the Lord; seven days ye must eat unleavened bread.
⁷ On the first day ye shall have a holy convocation; ye shall do no servile work therein.
⁸ But ye shall offer an offering made by fire unto the Lord seven days. On the seventh day is a holy convocation; ye shall do no servile work therein.’”
⁹ And the Lord spoke unto Moses, saying,
¹⁰ “Speak unto the children of Israel and say unto them: ‘When ye come into the land which I give unto you and shall reap the harvest thereof, then ye shall bring a sheaf of the firstfruits of your harvest unto the priest.
¹¹ And he shall wave the sheaf before the Lord to be accepted for you; on the morrow after the Sabbath the priest shall wave it.
¹² And ye shall offer that day when ye wave the sheaf a helamb without blemish of the first year for a burnt offering unto the Lord.
¹³And the meat offering thereof shall be two-tenths part of fine flour mingled with oil, an offering made by fire unto the Lord for a sweet savor; and the drink offering thereof shall be of wine, a fourth part of a hin.
¹⁴And ye shall eat neither bread nor parched corn nor green ears, until the selfsame day that ye have brought an offering unto your God; it shall be a statute for ever throughout your generations in all your dwellings.
¹⁵ “‘And ye shall count unto you from the morrow after the Sabbath, from the day that ye brought the sheaf of the wave offering; seven Sabbaths shall be complete.
¹⁶ Even unto the morrow after the seventh Sabbath shall ye number fifty days, and ye shall offer a new meat offering unto the Lord.
¹⁷ Ye shall bring out of your habitations two wave loaves of two-tenths part. They shall be of fine flour; they shall be baked with leaven; they are the firstfruits unto the Lord.
¹⁸ And ye shall offer with the bread seven lambs without blemish of the first year, and one young bullock and two rams; they shall be for a burnt offering unto the Lord, with their meat offering and their drink offerings, even an offering made by fire, of sweet savor unto the Lord.
¹⁹ Then ye shall sacrifice one kid of the goats for a sin offering, and two lambs of the first year for a sacrifice of peace offerings.
²⁰ And the priest shall wave them with the bread of the firstfruits for a wave offering before the Lord with the two lambs; they shall be holy to the Lord for the priest.
²¹And ye shall proclaim on the selfsame day that it may be a holy convocation unto you. Ye shall do no servile work therein; it shall be a statute for ever in all your dwellings throughout your generations.
²² “‘And when ye reap the harvest of your land, thou shalt not rid cleanly the corners of thy field when thou reapest, neither shalt thou gather any gleanings of thy harvest. Thou shalt leave them unto the poor and to the stranger: I am the Lord your God.’”
²³ And the Lord spoke unto Moses, saying,
²⁴“Speak unto the children of Israel, saying, ‘In the seventh month, on the first day of the month, shall ye have a sabbath, a memorial of blowing of trumpets, a holy convocation.
²⁵Ye shall do no servile work therein, but ye shall offer an offering made by fire unto the Lord.’”
²⁶ And the Lord spoke unto Moses, saying,
²⁷ “Also on the tenth day of this seventh month there shall be a Day of Atonement. It shall be a holy convocation unto you; and ye shall afflict your souls, and offer an offering made by fire unto the Lord.
²⁸ And ye shall do no work in that same day, for it is a Day of Atonement to make an atonement for you before the Lord your God.
²⁹ For whatsoever soul it be that shall not be afflicted in that same day, he shall be cut off from among his people.
³⁰And whatsoever soul it be that doeth any work in that same day, the same soul will I destroy from among his people.
³¹ Ye shall do no manner of work; it shall be a statute for ever throughout your generations in all your dwellings.
³² It shall be unto you a sabbath of rest, and ye shall afflict your souls. On the ninth day of the month at evening, from evening unto evening, shall ye celebrate your sabbath.”
³³ And the Lord spoke unto Moses, saying,
³⁴ “Speak unto the children of Israel, saying, ‘The fifteenth day of this seventh month shall be the Feast of Tabernacles for seven days unto the Lord.
³⁵On the first day shall be a holy convocation; ye shall do no servile work therein.
³⁶ Seven days ye shall offer an offering made by fire unto the Lord. On the eighth day shall be a holy convocation unto you, and ye shall offer an offering made by fire unto the Lord. It is a solemn assembly, and ye shall do no servile work therein.
³⁷ “‘These are the feasts of the Lord which ye shall proclaim to be holy convocations, to offer an offering made by fire unto the Lord, a burnt offering and a meat offering, a sacrifice and drink offerings, every thing upon his day”
³⁸ besides the Sabbaths of the Lord, and besides your gifts, and besides all your vows, and besides all your freewill offerings which ye give unto the Lord.
³⁹ “‘Also on the fifteenth day of the seventh month, when ye have gathered in the fruit of the land, ye shall keep a feast unto the Lord seven days; on the first day shall be a sabbath, and on the eighth day shall be a sabbath.
⁴⁰And ye shall take for yourselves on the first day the boughs of goodly trees, branches of palm trees, and the boughs of thick trees, and willows of the brook; and ye shall rejoice before the Lord your God seven days.
⁴¹And ye shall keep it a feast unto the Lord seven days in the year. It shall be a statute for ever in your generations; ye shall celebrate it in the seventh month.
⁴² Ye shall dwell in booths seven days; all that are Israelites born shall dwell in booths,
⁴³that your generations may know that I made the children of Israel to dwell in booths when I brought them out of the land of Egypt: I am the Lord your God.’”
⁴⁴And Moses declared unto the children of Israel the feasts of the Lord.

Posted in Sabbaths, Scriptures Studies

Isaiah (Ch 55-56)

•April 13, 2022 • Leave a Comment

“God’s favor rests on those who attend to justice, who devote themselves to doing what is right, Who keep the Sabbath and don’t disregard or belittle it, who keep from doing what is wrong: destructive, deceitful, or violent” Isaiah 56:2 VOICE

Isaiah 55

¹ “Ho, every one that thirsteth, come ye to the waters; and he that hath no money, come ye, buy, and eat; yea, come, buy wine and milk without money and without price. — Ho – (הוי hôy). This word here is designed to call attention to the subject as one of importance;

— every one that thirsts; the word ‘thirst’ often indicates intense desire and is thus applied to the sense of want which sinners often have and to their anxious wishes for salvation.

²Why do ye spend money for that which is not bread, and your labor for that which satisfieth not? Hearken diligently unto Me, and eat ye that which is good, and let your soul delight itself in fatness. — wherefore do ye spend money for that which is not bread? Lavish away time, opportunities, and strength, in reading and hearing false doctrine, which is not bread, but chaff; and the errors and heresies of false teachers:

— and let your soul delight itself in fatness; in the goodness and fatness of the Lord’s house, attending on the word and ordinances with spiritual pleasure and delight; and which is the way to become fat and flourishing in spiritual things.

³Incline your ear, and come unto Me; hear, and your soul shall live; and I will make an everlasting covenant with you, even the sure mercies of David. — Hear; hearken attentively and obediently to my counsel; hearing being oft put for obeying, as Deuteronomy 18:15; or as the Targum says, “Incline your ear and receive instruction of my law.”

⁴Behold, I have given him for a witness to the people, a leader and commander to the people. — behold, I have given him; this is evidently the language of God respecting the Messiah, or of David as representing the Messiah;

— a leader and commander to the people; he is a “leader” as David the type of him did; as a general leads out and on his armies to battle; as a shepherd leads his flock to good pastures; He is a “commander” in a military way, a wise, powerful and courageous, and always victorious as a King commands his subjects; the Targum says, “behold, I have appointed him a Prince to the people, a King, and a ruler over all kingdoms.”

⁵Behold, thou shalt call a nation that thou knowest not, and nations that knew not thee shall run unto thee because of the Lord thy God, and for the Holy One of Israel; for He hath glorified thee.” — and nations that knew not thee shall run unto thee; knew not even God himself as the Gentiles did not, much less the Messiah;

— they knew neither his person nor his offices, nor the way of peace, and were in a state of gross darkness; and to whom the Gospel was not known, which is a revelation of Christ, and of good things by him. The Targum adds, “to bring tribute unto thee.”

⁶Seek ye the Lord while He may be found, call ye upon Him while He is near. — Seek ye the Lord; the commencement of religion in the heart is often represented as a desire to seek God; and inquiring for his ways Deuteronomy 4:29;

— so the Targum says, “seek the fear of the Lord, while ye are alive.” Or as one in the Jerusalem Talmud interprets these words, “whilst the Shechinah is found in the sanctuary; before he hides his face, and causes his Shechinah to remove from you.”

⁷Let the wicked forsake his way and the unrighteous man his thoughts; and let him return unto the Lord, and He will have mercy upon him, and to our God, for He will abundantly pardon. — let the wicked forsake his way; his evil way, as the Targum paraphrases it, his wicked course of life; and which is his own way, of his own choosing, and in which he delights;

— and let him return unto the Lord; from whom he has departed, against whom he has sinned; and acknowledges his sin before the Lord, attends his word and worship; the Targum says, “and let him turn to the worship of the Lord.”

⁸“For My thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways My ways,” saith the Lord. — notice the remarkable order and alternation of pronouns in the first verse. ‘My thoughts are not your thoughts,’ saith the Lord; the things that God thinks and purposes are not the things that man thinks and purposes and therefore because the thoughts are different the outcomes of them in deeds are divergent.

⁹“For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are My ways higher than your ways and My thoughts than your thoughts. — the Almighty God’s thoughts transcend those of man as much as the heaven is higher than the earth.

¹⁰For as the rain cometh down and the snow from heaven, and returneth not thither, but watereth the earth, and maketh it bring forth and bud, that it may give seed to the sower and bread to the eater, — for as the rain come down and the snow from heaven return not; rain and snow come down from the clouds in the heavens and do not return again until they have done what they are sent to do, or have produced the following effects; otherwise they may be exhaled into vapours as they often are and drawn up again by the sun.

¹¹so shall My word be that goeth forth out of My mouth: It shall not return unto Me void, but it shall accomplish that which I please, and it shall prosper in the thing whereto I sent it. — this is set forth under a figure drawn from the rain and the snow. “For as the rain cometh down, and the snow from heaven, and return not till it has moistened the earth and fertilized it and made it green and offered seed to the sower and bread to the eater;

— so will my word be which go forth out of my mouth: it will not return to me fruitless, till it has accomplished that which I willed, and prosperously carried out that for which I sent it.”

¹²“For ye shall go out with joy, and be led forth with peace; the mountains and the hills shall break forth before you into singing, and all the trees of the field shall clap their hands. — for ye shall go out with joy, and be led forth with peace; though these words may literally respect the Israelites’ return from captivity to their own land, attended with joy and peace; as the preceding verse may respect the word of promise concerning it;

— as it is interpreted by the Targum, “for with joy shall ye go out from among the nations, and with peace shall ye be brought to your own land.”

¹³Instead of the thorn shall come up the fir tree, and instead of the brier shall come up the myrtle tree; and it shall be to the Lord for a name, for an everlasting sign that shall not be cut off.” — instead of the thorn shall come up the fir tree, and instead of the brier shall come up the myrtle tree; whereas your land was filled with thorns and briers, as was foretold, Isaiah 7:24, they shall be rooted out, and it shall be planted with fir trees and myrtle trees, and such other trees which are useful either for fruit or for delight.

Isaiah 56

¹ Thus saith the Lord, “Keep ye judgement, and do justice; for My salvation is near to come, and My righteousness to be revealed. — keep ye judgement and do justice: this phrase elsewhere signifies the duties which one man owe to another but here it seems to signify the duties which men owe to God, to be held fast and abode by; which are his statutes and judgments; and so likewise all the ordinances of the Lord, all these should be kept.

²Blessed is the man that doeth this, and the son of man that layeth hold on it; who keepeth the Sabbath from polluting it, and keepeth his hand from doing any evil.” — that keep the Sabbath from polluting it; here lies in the nature of the case that a devout king like David, Hezekiah and Josiah would be observers of the Sabbath;

— instead of observing the Sabbath, today, more than 98.5 percent of Christians are keeping Sunday, in fact they’re honouring the Sun by observing Sunday worship. They have “their backs toward the temple of the Lord and their faces toward the east; and they worshipped the SUN toward the east; whose Godly judgement is to be stoned to death – ’till they die.

— also, following the SUN-worshipping Samaritans, most Church of God Communities are showing their contempt for God by having their “wavesheaf offering” and Pentecost on a Sunday; always on a Sunday. And these are supposedly in God’s Sanctuary, but God says He is a jealous God, so these pretentious Christians could be spewed out of His mouth! A death penalty Deuteronomy 17:3-5 – ’till they die!

³Neither let the son of the stranger, that hath joined himself to the Lord, speak, saying, “The Lord hath utterly separated me from His people”; neither let the eunuch say, “Behold, I am a dry tree.” — the son of the stranger; the stranger who keep the Sabbath is as the blessed son of Israel, the same with the blessed man in Isaiah 56:2; the Gentile, who by birth is a stranger to God, and also of the commonwealth of Israel;

— neither would such a stranger who keeps the Sabbath says, Behold, I am a dry tree – A dry tree is an emblem of that which is barren, useless, unfruitful.

⁴For thus saith the Lord: “Unto the eunuchs that keep My Sabbaths, and choose the things that please Me, and take hold of My covenant, — for thus saith the Lord unto the eunuchs; even the eunuchs, who have hitherto been excluded from the privileges of the people of God and who have been regarded as a separated and degraded people shall be admitted to the same privileges as others;

— that keep my sabbaths – the word is used here in the plural, both the weekly and the annual Sabbath (at the feasts of Passover, Pentecost, Trumpets, day of Atonement and Tabernacles); the term could be used to represent other observances as well (more at the end).

⁵even unto them will I give in Mine house and within My walls a place and a name better than of sons and of daughters; I will give them an everlasting name that shall not be cut off. — even to them will I give in mine house and within my walls; the Targum says, “in the house of my sanctuary, and in the land of the house of my Shechinah” meaning the temple at Jerusalem;

— a place and a name better than of sons and of daughters; a far greater blessing and honour than that of having posterity which is but only temporal and so as to have a good name; and it is he that gives them the name, privilege, power, and relation of children, which shall never be cut off by any act of their own.

⁶Also the sons of the stranger that join themselves to the Lord to serve Him, and to love the name of the Lord, to be His servants, every one that keepeth the Sabbath from polluting it, and taketh hold of My covenant, — also the sons of the stranger; to be His servants, whoever keep the Sabbaths from desecrating it and those who hold fast to my covenant, the conditions on which they should be admitted to the same privileges and of course the same reward.

⁷even them will I bring to My holy mountain, and make them joyful in My house of prayer; their burnt offerings and their sacrifices shall be accepted upon Mine altar, for Mine house shall be called an house of prayer for all people.” — Mine house shall be called an house of prayer for all people; Jews and Gentiles shall have equal freedom of access to my house, and shall there call upon my name, Yehovah;

— a house of prayer for all people; Gentiles, the proselytes, the sons of the strangers as others, are all welcome to the church of God to come and worship and pray to the Lord there and that is in any place where the saints meet together; for holy hands may be lifted up everywhere, without doubt.

⁸The Lord God which gathereth the outcasts of Israel saith, “Yet will I gather others to him, beside those that are gathered unto him.” — Yehovah the Almighty God will not only restore the scattered outcasts of Israel (Isa 11:12; Ps 147:2) to their own land, but “will gather others (‘strangers’) to him (Israel), besides those gathered” to his gathered; that is, in addition to the outcast Israelites collected from their dispersion, John 10:16.

⁹All ye beasts of the field, come to devour, yea, all ye beasts in the forest. — all ye beasts of the field – this evidently commences a new subject and refers to some invasion of the land of Judea; signifying a great slaughter that should be made, like that in Revelation 19:17 to which the fowls of the heaven are invited, as to a supper;

— the Targum of the whole says, “all the kings of the people that shall be gathered to oppress thee, O Jerusalem, shall be cast in the midst of thee; they shall be for food to the beast of the field, the beast of the forest shall be satisfied with them.”

¹⁰His watchmen are blind; they are all ignorant; they are all dumb dogs, they cannot bark, sleeping, lying down, loving to slumber. — the Targum indicates plural ‘their’ for ‘his,’ their watchmen are blind; their priests, prophets and teachers; the teachers would be most shameful of them, because they are supposed to be knowledgeable and teaching others; but they are all ignorant;

— they are all dumb dogs, they cannot bark; and so useless; as a house dog, or one that is set to keep the sheep, if it barks not at the noise of a thief, or the approach of a wolf, to give notice to the family, or the shepherd, it is of no service. Some may design such who call themselves pastors or evangelists of the Word, and yet neither have knowledge nor how to preach, all all like dumb dogs; couldn’t reprove the errors and vices of men, nor warn them of their danger.

¹¹Yea, they are greedy dogs which can never have enough, and they are shepherds that cannot understand; they all look to their own way, every one for his gain, from his quarter. — yea, they are greedy dogs; insatiably covetous shepherds that have no truths nor understanding — Hebrew, that know not any understanding; that do not care, or love or desire either to understand the word of God themselves or to make the people understand it;

— they all look to their own way; that is, they are all selfish; they regard neither God’s glory nor the people’s good, but only the satisfaction of their own base desires. Every one for his gain from his quarter, in their places and stations.

¹²“Come ye,” say they, “I will fetch wine, and we will fill ourselves with strong drink; and tomorrow shall be as this day, and much more abundant.” — I will fetch wine out of his cellar, having good store of it, and that of the best and we will fill ourselves with strong drink; fill their bellies and skins full of it till drunken with it;

— the Targum confirms in this way, “saying, come, let us take wine, and be inebriated with old wine; and our dinner tomorrow shall be better than today, large, very large.”

~~~

Both the Weekly and Annual Sabbaths; blessed are those who keep them!

Leviticus 23

¹ And the Lord spoke unto Moses, saying,
²“Speak unto the children of Israel and say unto them: ‘Concerning the feasts of the Lord, which ye shall proclaim to be holy convocations, even these are My feasts.
³“‘Six days shall work be done, but the seventh day is the Sabbath of rest, a holy convocation. Ye shall do no work therein; it is the Sabbath of the Lord in all your dwellings.
⁴“‘These are the feasts of the Lord, even holy convocations, which ye shall proclaim in their seasons.
⁵On the fourteenth day of the first month at evening is the Lord’S Passover.
⁶And on the fifteenth day of the same month is the Feast of Unleavened Bread unto the Lord; seven days ye must eat unleavened bread.
⁷On the first day ye shall have a holy convocation; ye shall do no servile work therein.
⁸But ye shall offer an offering made by fire unto the Lord seven days. On the seventh day is a holy convocation; ye shall do no servile work therein.’”
⁹And the Lord spoke unto Moses, saying,
¹⁰“Speak unto the children of Israel and say unto them: ‘When ye come into the land which I give unto you and shall reap the harvest thereof, then ye shall bring a sheaf of the firstfruits of your harvest unto the priest.
¹¹And he shall wave the sheaf before the Lord to be accepted for you; on the morrow after the Sabbath the priest shall wave it.
¹²And ye shall offer that day when ye wave the sheaf a helamb without blemish of the first year for a burnt offering unto the Lord.
¹³And the meat offering thereof shall be two-tenths part of fine flour mingled with oil, an offering made by fire unto the Lord for a sweet savor; and the drink offering thereof shall be of wine, a fourth part of a hin.
¹⁴And ye shall eat neither bread nor parched corn nor green ears, until the selfsame day that ye have brought an offering unto your God; it shall be a statute for ever throughout your generations in all your dwellings.
¹⁵“‘And ye shall count unto you from the morrow after the Sabbath, from the day that ye brought the sheaf of the wave offering; seven Sabbaths shall be complete.
¹⁶Even unto the morrow after the seventh Sabbath shall ye number fifty days, and ye shall offer a new meat offering unto the Lord.
¹⁷Ye shall bring out of your habitations two wave loaves of two-tenths part. They shall be of fine flour; they shall be baked with leaven; they are the firstfruits unto the Lord.
¹⁸And ye shall offer with the bread seven lambs without blemish of the first year, and one young bullock and two rams; they shall be for a burnt offering unto the Lord, with their meat offering and their drink offerings, even an offering made by fire, of sweet savor unto the Lord.
¹⁹Then ye shall sacrifice one kid of the goats for a sin offering, and two lambs of the first year for a sacrifice of peace offerings.
²⁰And the priest shall wave them with the bread of the firstfruits for a wave offering before the Lord with the two lambs; they shall be holy to the Lord for the priest.
²¹And ye shall proclaim on the selfsame day that it may be a holy convocation unto you. Ye shall do no servile work therein; it shall be a statute for ever in all your dwellings throughout your generations.
²²“‘And when ye reap the harvest of your land, thou shalt not rid cleanly the corners of thy field when thou reapest, neither shalt thou gather any gleanings of thy harvest. Thou shalt leave them unto the poor and to the stranger: I am the Lord your God.’”
²³And the Lord spoke unto Moses, saying,
²⁴“Speak unto the children of Israel, saying, ‘In the seventh month, on the first day of the month, shall ye have a sabbath, a memorial of blowing of trumpets, a holy convocation.
²⁵Ye shall do no servile work therein, but ye shall offer an offering made by fire unto the Lord.’”
²⁶And the Lord spoke unto Moses, saying,
²⁷“Also on the tenth day of this seventh month there shall be a Day of Atonement. It shall be a holy convocation unto you; and ye shall afflict your souls, and offer an offering made by fire unto the Lord.
²⁸And ye shall do no work in that same day, for it is a Day of Atonement to make an atonement for you before the Lord your God.
²⁹For whatsoever soul it be that shall not be afflicted in that same day, he shall be cut off from among his people.
³⁰And whatsoever soul it be that doeth any work in that same day, the same soul will I destroy from among his people.
³¹Ye shall do no manner of work; it shall be a statute for ever throughout your generations in all your dwellings.
³²It shall be unto you a sabbath of rest, and ye shall afflict your souls. On the ninth day of the month at evening, from evening unto evening, shall ye celebrate your sabbath.”
³³And the Lord spoke unto Moses, saying,
³⁴“Speak unto the children of Israel, saying, ‘The fifteenth day of this seventh month shall be the Feast of Tabernacles for seven days unto the Lord.
³⁵On the first day shall be a holy convocation; ye shall do no servile work therein.
³⁶Seven days ye shall offer an offering made by fire unto the Lord. On the eighth day shall be a holy convocation unto you, and ye shall offer an offering made by fire unto the Lord. It is a solemn assembly, and ye shall do no servile work therein.
³⁷“‘These are the feasts of the Lord which ye shall proclaim to be holy convocations, to offer an offering made by fire unto the Lord, a burnt offering and a meat offering, a sacrifice and drink offerings, every thing upon his day”
³⁸besides the Sabbaths of the Lord, and besides your gifts, and besides all your vows, and besides all your freewill offerings which ye give unto the Lord.
³⁹“‘Also on the fifteenth day of the seventh month, when ye have gathered in the fruit of the land, ye shall keep a feast unto the Lord seven days; on the first day shall be a sabbath, and on the eighth day shall be a sabbath.
⁴⁰And ye shall take for yourselves on the first day the boughs of goodly trees, branches of palm trees, and the boughs of thick trees, and willows of the brook; and ye shall rejoice before the Lord your God seven days.
⁴¹And ye shall keep it a feast unto the Lord seven days in the year. It shall be a statute for ever in your generations; ye shall celebrate it in the seventh month.
⁴²Ye shall dwell in booths seven days; all that are Israelites born shall dwell in booths,
⁴³that your generations may know that I made the children of Israel to dwell in booths when I brought them out of the land of Egypt: I am the Lord your God.’”
⁴⁴And Moses declared unto the children of Israel the feasts of the Lord.

Posted in Isaiah

This is Just a Passover Lie

•April 12, 2022 • 1 Comment

As Pascha (Passover) is approaching, the Jews are still blind as to what the Lamb symbolises. The lamb for Pascha was/is symbol of the death of the Messiah, our Moshiach or Saviour, and our Redeemer, but the Jewish Orthodoxy still regard the killing and eating of the lamb as an act of defiance to the Egyptians who regarded the ram as their deity—the Ram-god Khnum—the Lord of the First Cataract in Upper Egypt, believed to preside over the annual rise of the Nile.

For more, see an article by Rabbi Tovia Singer

In fact, the calves, oxen or even the lamb (the Targum says “because we shall take sheep, which are the abomination of the Mizraee”) weren’t much of a deity of the Egyptians where both the children of Israel and the Pharaohs lived, but an abomination, not a deity, of these Egyptians in lower Egypt, Exodus 8:26.

The Egyptian Ram-god Khnum of the First Cataract

Second, the ancient Egyptians had more prominent gods and goddesses like Osiris, Isis and Horus but no defiance were ruled against them? Why? Why only a little known deity of Upper Egypt (near the city of Aswan) which the children of Israel would have little contact with since they lived in Goshen of lower Egypt? Also, the Pharaohs and their princes lived in Zoan, known as “the royal city of the Pharaohs” – a city of Lower Egypt.

The Scriptures nowhere say that the sacrifice of the lamb was a defiance of this pagan god, but to reject the Moshiach, they planted “a seed of falsehood (Isaiah 57:4)” and they developed further as a figment of Jewish imagination over time.

In fact, the blood of the Paschal lamb was to foreshadow the atonement of the blood of Yeshua at Calvary, but first, the blood of the lamb which was placed on the doorposts was to save the children of Israel in Egypt from death. And later apostle John identified Yeshua as the lamb when he came for baptism, for John exclaimed,

“Behold the Lamb of God!” (John 1:36) And under inspiration Nathanael identified him further and said, “Rabbi, Thou art the Son of God; Thou art the King of Israel,” (verse 49)

And in Isaiah,

“He was oppressed, and He was afflicted, yet He opened not his mouth; He is brought as a lamb to the slaughter; and as a sheep before her shearers is dumb, so He openeth not His mouth,” Isaiah 53:7.

In short, the lamb was the Lamb of God, and He was led to the slaughter; to be killed!

In the Targum version of Isaiah 52:13 it identifies “my Servant the Messiah” whom rabbinical Judaism says is Jacob or Israel. In Isaiah 53:7 it says, “He was oppressed, and He was afflicted, and He was brought as a lamb to the slaughter.” Of course, this clearly point to Yeshua, “my Servant the Messiah” that is, the slaughtered lamb was the Son of God, the Christ, the rejected Moshiach by the Orthodoxy.

Isaiah further says they lie, “O house of Jacob, which are called by the name of Israel . . who swear by the name of the Lord and make mention of the God of Israel, but not in truth!” Isaiah 48:1. “Not in truth” means falsehood or a lie.

Further, the Orthodoxy are not just denying who the suffering servant the Scripture is writing about, but purposely choose to be blind, groping around as if they have no eyes: “We grope for the wall like the blind, and we grope as if we had no eyes,” Isaiah 59:10.

The Targum was started by Ezra for those returning from the Babylonian exile, and for these returnees, they could only understand the Scriptures in Aramaic. Hence the Targum is as if the second Moses, Ezra, is speaking to them in ancient times and to us from the Hebrew Sacred Text.

They have to be thrown into captivity to get rid of idolatries, falsehood and other wickedness; do they have to go into captivity again to know this vital truth? For more, see Ezekiel 4 – 390/40 Years and the Sword from the South in Ezekiel 20:45 to 21:5?

Posted in Festivals of God, Jews for Judiasm, Judiasm, Passover, R Tovia Singer, Scriptures Studies

Isaiah (Ch 53-54)

•April 11, 2022 • Leave a Comment

^{Isaiah 53}

Many theologians noted that the subject of the Suffering Servant, which the Targum (Isaiah 52:13) identifies as the Messiah, should start from Chapter 52:13 and onto the end of Chapter 53. More commentaries of this Suffering Servant and its prophecy are at the end.

²For He shall grow up before Him as a tender plant, and as a root out of a dry ground. He hath no form nor comeliness, and when we shall see Him, there is no beauty that we should desire Him. — for he shall grow up as a tender plant and as a root out of a dry ground; and the reason or occasion why the Jews generally rejected their Messiah is because he didn’t come into the world with secular pomp and power, like an earthly monarch, as they carnally and groundlessly imagined; but

— He hath no form nor comeliness; when we shall see him, there is no beauty that we should desire him; when we shall look upon him, expecting to find incomparable beauty and majesty in his countenance, and carriage and condition, we shall be altogether disappointed and shall meet with nothing amiable or desirable in him.

⁴Surely He hath borne our griefs and carried our sorrows; yet we did esteem Him stricken, smitten of God, and afflicted. — the Septuagint renders the words, “he bears our sins” and the Targum, where the ancient Jews understood this prophecy of the Messiah, is, “wherefore he will entreat for our sins.” No human, from Abraham to Jacob, nor from King David to Zerubbabel could have such intrinsic qualities; and of course, Israel or Jacob (whom the Jews thought was the suffering servant) doesn’t suffer for the sins of the nations.

⁵But He was wounded for our transgressions; He was bruised for our iniquities. The chastisement of our peace was upon Him, and with His stripes we are healed. — but he was wounded for our transgressions; not for any sins of his own, but for ours, for our transgressions of his law, in order to make atonement and satisfaction for them;

— nar! the “with His stripes we are healed” is Isaiah speaking on behalf of “we” that is, Israel of boh houses; how then could Israel suffers for the sins of Israel?

— the Targum says, “when we obey his words, our sins will be forgiven us” that is, the Targum recognise the “his” and “we” are two entities, thus redemption of Israel is not through her own sacrifice, but by obedience to the word of Christ.

⁷He was oppressed, and He was afflicted, yet He opened not his mouth; He is brought as a lamb to the slaughter; and as a sheep before her shearers is dumb, so He openeth not His mouth. — He was oppressed and was afflicted; He was injuriously treated by both the Jews and Romans; they handled him roughly; he was oppressed and afflicted, both in body and mind, with their blows and with their reproaches;

— and he being the surety of his people, was responsible for them and did answer, the debt they owed was required, the payment of it was called for and he accordingly answered; the punishment of the sins of his people was exacted of him and did bear it in his own body on the tree;

⁹And He made His grave with the wicked, and with the rich in His death, because He had done no violence, neither was any deceit in His mouth. — and he made his grave with the wicked and with the rich in his death; these words are generally supposed to refer to a fact that Christ who died with two wicked men besides him as if he himself had been one, was buried in a rich man’s grave;

¹⁰Yet it pleased the Lord to bruise Him; He hath put Him to grief. When thou shalt make His soul an offering for sin, He shall see His seed, He shall prolong His days, and the pleasure of the Lord shall prosper in His hand. — yet it pleased the Lord to bruise him; the sufferings of Christ are signified by his being “bruised” as it was foretold he should have his heel bruised by the serpent, Genesis 3:15;

— but here it is ascribed to the Lord: he was bruised in body when scourged and nailed to the cross; and was bruised and broken in spirit when the sins of his people were laid on him.

~~~

More on the Suffering Servant and its Fulfilment

He will be exalted (52:13) Philippians 2:9
He will be disfigured (52:14; 53:2) Mark 15:17,19
He will make a blood atonement (52:15) 1 Peter 1:2
He will be widely rejected (53:1,3) John 12:37,38
He will bear our sins and sorrows (53:4,5) Romans 4:25; 1 Peter 2:24,25
He will be our substitute (53:6,8) II Corinthians 5:21
He will voluntarily accept our guilt and punishment (53:7-8) John 10:11; 19:30
He will be buried in a rich man’s tomb (53:9) John 19:38-42
He will save those who believe in Him (53:10-11) John 3:16; Acts 16:31
He will die on behalf of transgressors (53:12) Mark 15:27,28; Luke 22:37

Isaiah 54

¹ “Sing, O barren, thou that didst not bear! Break forth into singing and cry aloud, thou that didst not travail with child! For more are the children of the desolate than the children of the married wife,” saith the Lord. — Sing, O barren, thou that didst not bear; the Targum interprets this of Jerusalem, paraphrasing the words thus, “Sing, O Jerusalem, which was as a barren woman that bears not; rejoice with praise and be glad, who was like a woman that conceives not.”

²Enlarge the place of thy tent, and let them stretch forth the curtains of thine habitations; spare not, lengthen thy cords, and strengthen thy stakes. — enlarge the place of thy tent; to which the church is compared because of its uncertain and movable condition, being sometimes in one place and sometimes in another;

— and before the day of Pentecost, Jerusalem was like a barren woman; the number of converts were very small; few believed in the Messiah; the names of the disciples were but a hundred and twenty; but after Pentecost great multitudes were converted to the living God; which is a great rejoicing to the church; the bounds of the church were extended to other parts of Judea, Galilee, Samaria and beyond.

³For thou shalt break forth on the right hand and on the left, and thy seed shall inherit the Gentiles, and make the desolate cities to be inhabited. — for thou shall break forth on the right hand and on the left; to the south and to the north as the Targum says, like an inundation of water that breaks through and overflows the banks of the river and spreads itself in the adjacent countries.

⁴“Fear not; for thou shalt not be ashamed; neither be thou confounded, for thou shalt not be put to shame: for thou shalt forget the shame of thy youth, and shalt not remember the reproach of thy widowhood any more. — fear not; the fulfilment of these things, however unlikely they might seem yet God is able to perform them; and therefore way should not be given to a fearful, distrustful, and unbelieving heart:

— for thou shall not be ashamed; as men are when disappointed of what they have been hoping for and expecting; but so should not be ashamed of her hope, faith and confidence; for there would be a performance of all that the Lord had spoken: nor should she be ashamed of her barrenness which should cease; and of the fewness of her children or converts which would be many; and would now be enlarged.

⁵For thy Maker is thine husband; the Lord of hosts is His name and thy Redeemer, the Holy One of Israel; the God of the whole earth shall He be called. — for thy Maker is thine Husband, that is the Husband of the church, and of every true believer; who secretly betrothed them to himself in eternity;

— God’s name is the four-letter Hebrew word יהוה‎ YHVH Yehovah (not Jehovah since the letter J wasn’t around but only after the sixteenth century; (more on this at the end)

⁶For the Lord hath called thee as a woman forsaken and grieved in spirit, and a wife of youth, when thou wast refused,” saith thy God.

⁷“For a small moment have I forsaken thee, but with great mercies will I gather thee.

⁸In a little wrath I hid My face from thee for a moment, but with everlasting kindness will I have mercy on thee, saith the Lord thy Redeemer. — in a little wrath; or in a moment of indignation; the Syriac renders this, ‘In great wrath.’ The Septuagint, ‘In a little wrath.’

— In a little wrath might be 40 years for Judah and 190 years for Israel; see Ezekiel 4 – 390/40 Years;

— I hid My face from thee; the Targum says, “I removed my Shekinah for a short time from thee,” indicating here that the husband is the Father rather than the Son.

⁹“For this is as the waters of Noah unto Me; for as I have sworn that the waters of Noah should no more go over the earth, so have I sworn that I would not be wroth with thee nor rebuke thee. — for this is as the waters of Noah; for this is as the days of Noah, as the Targum and Syriac versions say;

— for as I have sworn that the waters of Noah should no more go over the earth; and confirmed it by a rainbow, so have I sworn that I would not be wroth with thee, nor rebuke thee; and not in wrath but in love; and of this he has given the strongest assurances; he has not only said it, but swore to it like unto Noah and the rainbow.

¹⁰For the mountains shall depart and the hills be removed, but My kindness shall not depart from thee, neither shall the covenant of My peace be removed,” saith the Lord that hath mercy on thee. — though the mountains should remove and the hills be shaken yet My loving-kindness shall not depart, neither shall the covenant of My peace be removed.

¹¹“O thou afflicted, tossed with tempest and not comforted, behold, I will lay thy stones with fair colors and lay thy foundations with sapphires. — O thou afflicted, tossed with tempests, and not comforted; Or “O thou poor” – for the first Christian churches chiefly consisted of poor persons not many mighty and noble being called; and which were greatly “afflicted” with false teachers who broached errors and heresies and made schisms among them; and “tossed with tempests” like a ship at sea;

— behold, I will lay thy stones with fair colours; or “with paint” such as women used to paint their faces or eyes with; the Targum is, “behold, I will lay with paint the stones of thy pavement.”

¹²And I will make thy windows of agates and thy gates of rubies, and all thy borders of pleasant stones. — the Septuagint and Syriac versions render it, “of jasper” a stone more fit for that purpose; and it is interpreted of the jasper in the Talmud so “the light” of the New Jerusalem is said to be like unto the “jasper stone” Revelation 21:11.

¹³And all thy children shall be taught of the Lord, and great shall be the peace of thy children. — the Targum says, “all thy children shall know the law of the Lord.” Of course, the law is the statutes and all the ordinances as in the Old Testament, except with some modifications, but the trunk is from there.

¹⁴In righteousness shalt thou be established; thou shalt be far from oppression, for thou shalt not fear; and from terror, for it shall not come near thee. — thou shalt be far from oppression, for thou shall not fear; so far from it that thou shalt not be in the least afraid of it, neither from within nor from outside your borders; not from any false teachers; nor from persecutors that oppress the people.

¹⁵Behold, they shall surely gather together, but not by Me; whosoever shall gather together against thee shall fall for thy sake. — Or as the Targum says, “at the end, the kings of the nations, which are gathered together to afflict thee, O Jerusalem, shall fall in the midst of thee.”

¹⁶Behold, I have created the smith that bloweth the coals in the fire, and that bringeth forth an instrument for his work; and I have created the waster to destroy. — both the smith that makes all warlike instruments and the soldier that uses them are my creatures; and totally at my command and therefore they cannot hurt you without my leave. To destroy; to destroy only whom and when I please.

¹⁷No weapon that is formed against thee shall prosper; and every tongue that shall rise against thee in judgement thou shalt condemn. This is the heritage of the servants of the Lord, and their righteousness is of Me,” saith the Lord. — no weapon that is formed; no instrument of war, no sword, or spear; no instrument of persecution or torture that is made by the smith, Isaiah 54:16; Shall prosper, that it shall not have final and ultimate prosperity. It might be permitted for a time to appear to prosper – as persecutors and oppressors have done; but there would not be final and complete success.

~~~

More on God’s name, Yehovah.

God’s name is the four-letter Hebrew word יהוה‎ YHVH Yehovah, which are embedded in the Masoretic text over 6000 times, yet when translated into our English language most had been translated as Lord, or LORD, which are titles, but not his name. His name is יהוה‎ Yehovah, or YEHOVAH (but there are no capital letters in Hebrew).

It wasn’t until 1524 that Gian Giorgio Trissino, an Italian Renaissance grammarian, invented the letter J that this new letter started to take a hold in the writings of western Europe. Even in 1611 when the English Bible the King James has our subject of study by the prophet Jeremiah, he was known as Ieremiah. So Jehovah is a very late comer.

The following verses with the LORD erred in translation. His name Yehovah should be used:

I am the LORD; that is My name. And My glory will I not give to another, neither My praise to graven images. Isaiah 42:8

And it shall come to pass, that whosoever shall call on the name of the LORD shall be delivered; for in Mount Zion and in Jerusalem shall be deliverance, as the LORD hath said, and in the remnant whom the LORD shall call. Joel 2:32

“I am sought of them that asked not for Me; I am found of them that sought Me not. I said, ‘Behold Me, behold Me,’ unto a nation that was not called by My name. Isaiah 65:1

When we call our God, the LORD, we err, because his name is not the LORD, which is a title. His name is YEHOVAH! May We all ask for his forgiveness, and may Our merciful God forgive us all.

Posted in Isaiah

Staged Massacre in Bucha

•April 10, 2022 • 1 Comment

Global Research, by Misión Verdad / April 07, 2022

After the Kiev regime of Volodymyr Zelensky published images depicting corpses in Bucha, supposedly killed by the Russian military, in the middle of the street and in mass graves, calls have been issued for Russia to be tried internationally for war crimes.

Reuters correspondents confirmed that they had seen bodies strewn in the streets, with their hands and feet tied, as if they had been arrested.

Russia claims Civilians Massacre in Bucha is Staged Three Days after they left

The Ukrainian Minister of Foreign Relations Dmytro Kuleba posted a series of tweets in English with the images, and requests for the G7 countries to roll out even more “sanctions” against the Russian Federation. He called the scene a premeditated “massacre” carried out by the Kremlin and pleaded for more international military aid. “Tanks, combat aircraft, heavy air defense systems. Provide them now,” wrote Kuleba.

Sergei Lavrov, Russia’s minister of foreign affairs, has responded that “another attack of false claims was made in the city of Bucha, in the Kiev region, after the Russian military had already left the area, as was planned and agreed upon. A few days later, they organized a staged event there which the Ukrainian spokespeople and their western sponsors have been disseminating throughout TV channels and social media.”

Additionally the minister of defense released a statement in which he rejected Kiev’s accusations:

All of the photos and videos published by the Kiev regime which supposedly show the “crimes” committed by the Russian military in the city of Bucha, in the Kiev region, are a novel provocation…
While this city was under the control of the Russian Armed Forces, not a single local resident was subject to violent actions. The Russian military delivered 452 tons of humanitarian aid to civilians in the Kiev region…
During the entire period that the city was controlled by the Russian Armed Forces and even after, the local residents could freely move through the city of Bucha and use their cell phones…
The exits from Bucha were not blocked off. All of the local residents had the opportunity to freely leave the city to the north, even towards Bielorrusia. At the same time, the south of the city, even the residential areas in the outskirts of the city, were bombarded for 24 hours by the Ukrainian troops with heavy artillery, tanks and various missiles…
We want to stress that the Russian military left Bucha on the 30th of March, a day after the peace negotiations which took place between Russia and Ukraine in Turkey…
Furthermore, on the 31 of March, the Mayor himself [of Bucha], Anatoli Fedoruk, confirmed in a video that the Russian military was no longer there and did not mention that any local residents had been arrested and shot in the street…
Thus, it is no surprise that all of this so-called “evidence of crimes” in Bucha has appeared four days later, when the Ukrainian Security Service and the Ukranian TV representatives had arrived to the city… The fact that none of the bodies in the images published by Kiev were suffering from rigor mortis is especially worrisome, they lacked the pale complexion characteristic of a corpse and were not covered in coagulated blood… All of this is irrefutable proof that the photos and videos published from Bucha were produced by the Kiev regime for the western media, just like the maternity hospital from Mariupol.

In this regard, the Russian version starkly contrasts with the Ukronazi version of events, which has so aptly been spread by the western media in a new chapter of the information war against Russia. Russia’s government not only rejected the claims of the Ukrainian president, but also affirms that the massacre was “staged” and is a “provocation.”

As the Zelensky government requests that the Kremlin be judged by the International Criminal Court for war crimes, the United Kingdom has contested Russia’s calls for a new session to be held at the United Nations Security Council in order to discuss the subject, which is surprising since this would be the ideal place to put forward the demands of Ukraine’s Foreign Minister.

When the events are carefully analyzed, it becomes apparent that the Russians are much closer to the truth that the Ukrainian regime.

Proof that the Ukronazi’s staged the events

The Russian military was present in Bucha, which is almost 40 kilometers outside of the capital, for approximately five weeks while it was positioned around Kiev.

The website War On Fakes, which has taken up the task of deconstructing the biggest lies, fake news, and psychological operations which have been promoted in relation to the Ukrainian battleground, has posted a chronology from March 30 to the present in order to determine if the Kiev regime’s accusations have any substance:

Russian troops leave Bucha on March 30. Here is the official declaration.
On March 31, the mayor of Bucha, Anatoly Fedoruk, posted a video declaring with a happy smile on his face that “March 31 will go down in the history of our settlement and the entire territorial community as the day of liberation from Russian orcs, Russian occupiers of our settlements, by our Armed Forces of Ukraine.”
War On Fakes put forth the following questions: “Would Fedoruk be so happy if dozens of his people were lying dead on the street? Why didn’t he say anything about the ‘atrocities of the Russian executioners’? About the torture, rape and murder?”
The media campaign, initiated this Sunday, April 3, was launched four days after the Russian Military had left Bucha. During this period, there was not a single report bearing similarity to Ukraine’s accusations.
The New York Times reported that between April 1 and 2, remnants of the neo-Nazi Azov battalion, which forms part of the Ukrainian military, entered the city of Bucha.
On April 2, the Ukrainian police published a news report on Bucha. There were no claims of a massacre or of corpses. There were no bodies in the recording and photos.
“Moreover, the first unit of the Ukrainian armed forces to enter Bucha was the special forces of the National Guard of Ukraine,” added War On Fakes. “The official telegram channel of the National Guard posted a video, filmed by the fighters of this detachment themselves. We can see on this video that the Ukrainian military calmly pass through the streets of the city—and no ‘mountains of corpses’ are visible on these streets.”
After seeing the videos one would have to ask themselves: “So where did the corpses on the streets of Bucha come from. And who are these people?”
To which War On Fakes responds: “The answer may lie in the video of the territorial defense of Ukraine, which clearly states the question ‘Can I shoot at them if there are no blue armbands?’ To which a positive response follows. The video was originally posted by the leader of the territorial defense Sergey ‘Botsman’ Korotkikh.”
The video can be found here, due to the fact that Botsman deleted it from his account.
The Telegram Channel Intel Slava Z, which has been following the Russian military operation with great detail from the beginning, has shown that in the cities in which there was a Russian military presence, civilians wore a white arm band as a sign of their non-military status, indicating that they were not directly involved in the conflict. In videos, civilians in Mariupol can be seen with the white arm band, as the city was recently freed from the neo-Nazi Azov Battalion.
“By the way, on the videos distributed by the Ukrainian side, almost all the corpses have white bandages,” wrote War On Fakes. “This is a distinctive sign of the Ministry of Defense of the Russian Federation and the civilian population.”
Intel Slava Z has also pointed out how the corpses lying on Bucha’s streets are next to supply rations which the Russians were providing to the Ukrainian population as humanitarian aid. The channel went on to comment that “the Armed Forced of Ukraine shot people regardless of whether they were armed or not. The main thing is that they were wearing white arm bands, which means they were not enemy soldiers. International journalists, open your eyes. It wasn’t the Russian troops who crushed the civilians in Bucha, it was the neo-Nazi regime that you have been supporting.”
War On Fakes concluded by saying that “Katerina Ukraintseva, a member of the Bucha City Council and a volunteer for the defense, admitted in an interview with Meduza that Russian troops did not shoot people in her presence. In the same interview, she confirms that the Ukrainian military is to blame for the main destruction: ‘If the Armed Forces of Ukraine had responded to the Russian army with all firepower, the city would have been completely destroyed.’”

As Misión Verdad has frequently reported, it has been the Ukrainian troops and the neo-Nazi paramilitaries who have taken up arms against the civilian population, using them as a human shield against the Russian military offensive.

Reports that the Ukrainian forces have assassinated civilians who have received Russian humanitarian aid, or who have been accused of treason, are not being shared by the western media (except on rare occasions, as can be seen in the following video). Western media is wholeheartedly attempting to whitewash the crimes repeatedly committed by the Ukrainian neo-Nazi regime.

A few conclusions can be drawn from these events, conclusions which go beyond the specifics of these particular events:

The reports from Bucha are an attempt to derail the peace negotiations taking place between Russia and Ukraine. According to The Times, the United Kingdom seeks to delay the signing of an agreement between the two nations. Again, Boris Johnson’s government refuses to convene at the United Nations Security Council on the question of Bucha.
With the staging of a “new Sbrebrenica,” as it was referred to by the Ukrainian Minister of Defense, the media and the spokespeople who corroborate his version of events are whitewashing the Nazi regime in Kiev, following the path of US psychological operations, which are an attempt to augment support for NATO protection.
Rolling out even more sanctions against Russia is another objective with geopolitical implications. After hearing about Ukraine’s version of the Bucha events, French President Emmanuel Macron has stated that he is in favor a new round of offensive economic steps against Russia, especially against the coal and oil sectors.

Bucha: Lavrov Says False-Flag Op Was Conducted in Town Outside Kiev After Russian Troop Withdrawal

“We requested an urgent meeting of the Security Council on this specific issue because we see such provocations as a direct threat to international peace and security”, Lavrov said during a meeting with Under-Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs Martin Griffiths.

According to the top Russian diplomat, the horrifying scenes in Bucha were staged after Russian troops left the city, with the Ukrainian authorities, induced by their “Western patrons”, promoting “fake videos” from Bucha via social media.

“Russian servicemen left this city on 30 March, on 31 March the mayor of the city solemnly said that everything was in order, and two days later we saw how that very performance was organised on the streets, which they are now trying to use for anti-Russian purposes”, Lavrov explained.

Lavrov’s remarks come after the Ukrainian and Western media fuelled accusations that Russia was behind the mass killing of civilians in the city of Bucha, spreading footage that showed dead bodies strewn across the streets of the town in the Kiev region. Moscow has categorically denied that Russia was behind the killings, calling the footage from Bucha “another provocation” produced by Kiev specially for the Western media.

NYT Confirms Ukrainian Atrocities: Russians Killed in Same Manner as Recent “Massacre”

Misled by the United States over reports of “gross and systematic violations and abuses of human rights” in Ukraine, Vote results at the UN General Assembly on a motion to suspend Russia from the Human Rights Council

“Ephraim shall be desolate in the day of rebuke; among the tribes of Israel have I made known that which shall surely be” Hosea 5:9
I, the Lord, will punish and wipe out Israel. This is my solemn promise to every tribe of Israel. CEV Translation Hosea 5:9

John Gill: The country of the ten tribes shall be laid desolate, the inhabitants of them destroyed either by the sword, or famine, or pestilence, and the rest carried captive, as they were by Shalmaneser.

Posted in Ephraim, US

Bretton Woods III

•April 9, 2022 • Leave a Comment

Bretton Woods III? China Begins Buying Russian Coal And Oil In Yuan

ZeroHedge By Tyler Durden April 8, 2022

Credit Suisse strategist Zoltan Pozsar’s stunning note last week that said the consequences of the Ukraine war are ushering in “the birth of the Bretton Woods III – a new world (monetary) order centered around commodity-based currencies in the East that will likely weaken the Eurodollar system and also contribute to inflationary forces in the west.”

Fast forwarding to the punchline, Poszar wrote that if the framework he has laid out previously (and again, in his latest note) is the right framework to think about how to trade interest rates in coming years, inflation will be higher; the level of rates will be higher too; demand for commodity reserves will be higher, which will naturally replace demand for FX reserves (Treasuries and other G7 claims); Meanwhile, demand for dollars will be lower too as more trade will be done in other currencies; and as a result of this, the perennially negative cross-currency basis (the dollar premium) will naturally fade away and potentially become a positive cross-currency basis.

Translation: the dollar is on its way out as the world’s undisputed reserve currency, a consequences of events that put in motion when Putin invaded Ukraine (with the implicit blessing of China and India) and when the West decided to expel Russia from the entire western financial system.

Pozsar spoke with Bloomberg’s Joe Weisenthal and Tracy Alloway this week and recited his Bretton Woods III thesis, suggesting:

“Instead of a Volcker moment, we got a Putin moment and we basically have war and out of this war, something will also emerge.
“Out of this, I think this ‘Bretton Woods III’ that I started to kind of develop and run with, is a world where we are, again, going to go back to commodity-backed money — where gold, once again, is going to play a big role. And not just gold, but I think all forms of commodities,” Pozsar said.

Moscow is also considering a rupee-ruble payment system for Indian oil traders, while Saudi Arabia could start pricing some of its brent in yuan for Chinese traders.

“The oil market, and by extension the entire global commodities market, is the insurance policy of the status of the dollar as reserve currency,” said economist Gal Luft, co-director of the Washington-based Institute for the Analysis of Global Security who co-wrote a book about de-dollarization.
“If that block is taken out of the wall, the wall will begin to collapse.”

China ranks as the biggest foreign holder of US debt. If it continues to divest itself of dollars, who will pick up the slack? The Federal Reserve has been buying Treasuries hand over fist for the last two years, keeping its big fat thumb on the bond market. But it’s tapering purchases and supposedly planning on shrinking its balance sheet. If global demand for Treasuries drop precipitously — and it would in a world without the petrodollar — the US government would either have to drastically cut spending or the Fed would have to continue printing money to monetize the debt.

Even if this is nothing but talk, it underscores the fact that the dollar is on shaky ground.

A background to Bretton Woods I & II by Forbes / Dan Runkevicius / Mar 10, 2022

Pozsar argues Bretton Woods II crumbled when the G7 countries seized Russia’s foreign exchange reserves. Keeping money inside financial institutions like the IMF was considered risk free. That is clearly no longer the case.

Similarly, Bretton Woods I collapsed when Nixon took the US of the gold standard back in 1971 when dollars were convertible to gold at a fixed exchange rate of $35 an ounce. This led to Bretton Woods II, backed by “inside money” or the dollar, which itself is not linked to gold or any other commodity.

Amos 5:16 Therefore the LORD, the God of hosts, the LORD saith thus: “Wailing shall be in all streets, and they shall say in all the highways, ‘Alas! Alas!’ And they shall call the husbandman to mourning, and such as are skillful in lamentation to wailing.
¹⁷ And in all vineyards shall be wailing, for I will pass through thee,” saith the LORD.
¹⁸ Woe unto you that desire the day of the LORD! To what end is it for you? The day of the LORD is darkness, and not light:
¹⁹ as if a man fled from a lion, and a bear met him; or went into the house and leaned his hand on the wall, and a serpent bit him.
²⁰Shall not the day of the LORD be darkness, and not light? Even very dark, and no brightness in it? Amos 5:16-20

Posted in Armageddon, China, Ephraim, US

Isaiah (Ch 51-52)

•April 8, 2022 • Leave a Comment

As Pascha (Passover) is coming soon, the Jews are still blind as to what the Lamb symbolised. The lamb for Pascha was/is symbol of the death of the Messiah, our Moshiach or Saviour, our Redeemer, but the Orthodox still regard it only as an act of defiance to the Egyptians who regarded lamb as the Egyptians’ deity, the Ram-god Khnum, the Lord of the First Cataract, who presided over the annual rise of the Nile.

The Scriptures nowhere say that the sacrifice of the lamb was a defiance of this pagan god, but to reject the Moshiach over time it developed further only as a figment of Jewish imagination.

In the Targum version of Isaiah 52:13 it identifies “My Servant” as the Messiah. Hence the Jews are not just blind but choose to be blind! “O house of Jacob, which are called by the name of Israel . . who swear by the name of the Lord and make mention of the God of Israel, but not in truth!” Isaiah 48:1. Not in truth means a lie.

The Targum was started by Ezra for those returning from the Babylon exile and for these returnees they could only understand the Scriptures in Aramaic. Hence the Targum is as if the second Moses, Ezra, is speaking to us from the Hebrew Sacred Text.

Isaiah 51

¹ “Hearken to Me, ye that follow after righteousness, ye that seek the Lord: Look unto the rock from whence ye are hewn, and to the hole of the pit from whence ye are dug. — hearken unto me; that is to the God of their fathers, who now addresses them. They are regarded as in exile and bondage and as desponding in regard to their prospects. In this situation, God, or perhaps more properly the Messiah is introduced as addressing them with the assurances of deliverance.

²Look unto Abraham your father and unto Sarah that bore you; for I called him alone, and blessed him and increased him. — for I called him alone and blessed him and increased him; he was without issue when he was “called” out of Chaldea into another country and also the only one of the family;

— and the Lord “blessed” him not only with flocks and herds, and gold and silver, but with a son in his old age; and so “increased” him that there sprung from him as many as the stars of the sky in multitude, and as the sand by the sea shore innumerable, Hebrews 11:12;

— the Septuagint version, between “blessed” and “increased” insert these words, “and I loved him” which are not in the Hebrew text. The Targum says, “and one was Abraham, alone in the world, and I brought him to my service, and I blessed him and multiplied him.”

³For the Lord shall comfort Zion; He will comfort all her waste places, and He will make her wilderness like Eden and her desert like the garden of the Lord. Joy and gladness shall be found therein, thanksgiving and the voice of melody.

⁴“Hearken unto Me, My people, and give ear unto Me, O My nation; for a law shall proceed from Me, and I will make My judgement to rest as a light of the people. — and give ear unto me, O my nation; not the nation of the Jews only but the Gentiles; a nation taken out of a nation even out of all nations; a chosen and a holy nation. The Septuagint version renders it “kings” such are made kings and priests unto God:

— and I will make my judgement to rest for a light; the word ‘judgement’ here is equivalent to law, or statute, or to the institutions of the true religion.

⁵My righteousness is near; My salvation is gone forth, and Mine arms shall judge the people. The isles shall wait upon Me, and on Mine arm shall they trust. — My righteousness is near; these righteousness are either the words of God the Father, or his Son, which he calls his own because he approves and accepts of it and with it justifies them. The words may be rendered, “my righteous One” – God’s righteous One who was near to come in the flesh in order to work righteousness;

— Or these are the words of Christ, speaking of his own righteousness which was near being wrought out by him as it was when he became the Chief Justice of the law by obeying its precept and setting an example as revealed in his commandment in the Gospel;

— many pretenders err in understanding here; if there is no law and statute how could anyone judge? His arms shall judge the people; to whom the arm of the Lord is revealed, both the arms of Christ are ready to execute the laws and statutes and to protect and defend them; and judge, condemn and destroy those that despise them.

⁶Lift up your eyes to the heavens, and look upon the earth beneath; for the heavens shall vanish away like smoke, and the earth shall wax old like a garment, and they that dwell therein shall die in like manner. But My salvation shall be for ever, and My righteousness shall not be abolished. — for the heavens shall vanish away; the heavens shall glide away to disappear as smoke is dissipated and disappears in the air;

— the earth shall wax old; shall wax old like a garment; and be folded up and laid aside and shall decay and be destroyed.

⁷“Hearken unto Me, ye that know righteousness, the people in whose heart is My law; fear ye not the reproach of men, neither be ye afraid of their revilings. — Hearken unto me, ye that know righteousness, the people in whose heart is my law; that is, the law to keep his Sabbath, weekly and annual, not idolatry like worshipping heavenly bodies;

— today, more than 98.5 percent of Christians are honouring the Sun by observing Sunday worship. They have “their backs toward the temple of the Lord and their faces toward the east; and they worshipped the SUN toward the east; whose Godly judgement is to be stoned to death – ’till they die.

⁸For the moth shall eat them up like a garment, and the worm shall eat them like wool; but My righteousness shall be for ever, and My salvation from generation to generation.” — and my salvation from generation to generation; it will abide through the endless ages of eternity.

⁹Awake, awake, put on strength, O arm of the Lord; awake, as in the ancient days, in the generations of old. Art Thou not It that hath cut Rahab and wounded the dragon? — the Targum interprets the dragon as Pharaoh and his army who were strong as a dragon;

— and that same mighty arm that destroyed Egypt and its tyrannical king can and will destroy that great city, spiritually called Sodom and Egypt and the beast that has two horns like a lamb, but speaks like a dragon and to whom the dragon has given his seat, power and authority; or rather this may be believed, the great red dragon has been cast out, or Rome Pagan has been destroyed by him.

¹⁰Art Thou not It which hath dried the sea, the waters of the great deep, that hath made the depths of the sea a way for the ransomed to pass over? — art thou not it which hath dried the sea, the waters of the great deep; that is the Red sea and the deep waters of it; by causing a strong east wind to blow which drove the sea back and made it a dry land and the same arm and mighty power can and will dry up the waters of the river Euphrates to prepare the way of the kings of the east, Revelation 16:12.

¹¹Therefore the redeemed of the Lord shall return and come with singing unto Zion, and everlasting joy shall be upon their head. They shall obtain gladness and joy, and sorrow and mourning shall flee away.

¹²“I, even I, am He that comforteth you. Who art thou that thou shouldest be afraid of a man that shall die, and of the son of man who shall be made as grass, — I even I am he that comfort you; the word ‘I’ is repeated here to give emphasis to the passage and to impress deeply upon them the fact that their consolation came alone from God and God alone; and that since God was their protector and friend they had no occasion to fear anything that man could do.

¹³and forgettest the Lord thy Maker, who hath stretched forth the heavens, and laid the foundations of the earth, and hast feared continually every day because of the fury of the oppressor, as if he were ready to destroy? And where is the fury of the oppressor? — and where or “but where” is the fury of the oppressor? where’s the fury of Pharaoh, that great oppressor of God’s Israel formerly?

— it is gone and vanished like smoke: where’s the fury of Sennacherib king of Assyria and his army that threatened Jerusalem with ruin? it was over in a short time in one night the whole host, or the greater part of it were destroyed by an angel: and where is, or will be, the fury of the king of Babylon? it will not last always; nor the fury of the an oppressor at endtime.

¹⁴The captive exile hasteneth that he may be loosed, that he should not die in the pit, nor that his bread should fail. — speedily shall the crouching captives be set free that he shall not die (and go down) to the pit nor shall his bread fail.

¹⁵But I am the Lord thy God, who divided the sea whose waves roared; The Lord of hosts is His name.

¹⁶And I have put My words in thy mouth and I have covered thee in the shadow of Mine hand, that I may plant the heavens and lay the foundations of the earth, and say unto Zion, ‘Thou art My people.’”

¹⁷Awake, awake! Stand up, O Jerusalem, who hast drunk at the hand of the Lord the cup of His fury; thou hast drunk the dregs of the cup of trembling and wrung them out. — which hast drunk at the hand of the Lord the cup of his fury; the effect of divine wrath and this signifies that judgement would begin at the house and church of God.

¹⁸There is none to guide her among all the sons whom she hath brought forth; neither is there any that taketh her by the hand of all the sons that she hath brought up. — following up the image in Isa 51:17, intoxicated and confused by the cup of God’s anger, she has none to guide her in her helpless state; she has not yet awakened out of the sleep caused by that draught;

— this cannot apply to the Babylonish captivity; for in it they had Ezekiel and Daniel, Ezra and Nehemiah, as “guides” and soon awoke out of that sleep; but it applies to the house of Jacob now, as all his posterity are infested by false shepherds everywhere; for examples:

— 1a) the house of Judah hasn’t come to term with what the Godhead is; it is composed of God the Father and God the Son, hence in Genesis, Elohim (God in the plural) created the heavens and the earth; but the Jews couldn’t identify the Son which is all over in the Scriptures, especially the Torah and later, the Prophets;

— 1b) the lamb for Pascha was/is symbol of the death of the Messiah, our Moshiach or Saviour, our Redeemer, but the Orthodox still regard it only as an act of defiance to the Egyptians who regarded lamb as the Egyptians’ deity. The Scriptures nowhere say this, but is only a figment of Jewish imagination;

— 2a) and the house of Israel is still indulging in idolatry; worshipping Easter, which is another form of worshipping Astarte, one of the titles of the Chaldean goddess, the queen of heaven, the ancient Mesopotamian goddess of war, fertility and sex. She is featured in the Epic of Gilgamesh, and the “Ishtar Gate” was part of Nebuchadnezzar’s Babylon;

— 2b) and Mithra or Mitra (the Sun-God whose birthday many drunks honor and celebrate on December 25th which they christianised as Christmas), Zeus and others; called “gods of the earth” in distinction from the god of heaven; and men shall worship these earthly gods, acknowledging their supremacy, everyone from his place today, Protestants or Catholics alike;

— and those who persist in their blindness will be horsewhipped! Nar, those who resist would suffer Judgement by drinking at “the hand of the Lord the cup of His fury” Isaiah 51:17 – by the sword, by famine, by pestilence and spending years in captivity to reflect and repent there (for more see Ezekiel 4 – 390/40 Years and A Sword from the South!)

¹⁹These two things are come unto thee—who shall be sorry for thee?” desolation and destruction, and the famine and the sword” by whom shall I comfort thee? — see, those facing judgement by drinking at “the hand of the Lord the cup of His fury” shall suffer “desolation and destruction, and the famine and the sword.”

— “A third part of thee shall die with the pestilence, and with famine shall they be consumed in the midst of thee; and a third part shall fall by the sword round about thee; and I will scatter a third part into all the winds, and I will draw out a sword after them.” Ezekiel 5:11-12

²⁰Thy sons have fainted; they lie at the head of all the streets, as a wild bull in a net; they are full of the fury of the Lord, the rebuke of thy God. — they lie at the head of all the streets; the head or top of the streets denotes the beginning and most important part of a street; the nation’s leaders, elders and princes, those who are in control or have influence where the nation is heading;

— and this “full of the fury of the Lord, the rebuke of thy God” is reaffirmed in Hosea 11:12 Ephraim compasseth me about with lies, and the house of Israel with deceit. “I have seen a horrible thing in the house of Israel,” Hosea 6:10; “And I will cast you [Judah] out of My sight, as I have cast out all your brethren, even the whole seed of Ephraim” Jeremiah 7:15; examples of “they lie at the head of all the streets”

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²¹Therefore hear now this, thou afflicted, and drunken, but not with wine. — but not with wine; with the cup of God’s fury; the Targum expresses it, with tribulation; with afflictions at the hand of God and persecutions from men.

²²Thus saith thy Lord the Lord, and thy God that pleadeth the cause of His people: “Behold, I have taken out of thine hand the cup of trembling, even the dregs of the cup of My fury; thou shalt no more drink it again. — thou shalt no more drink it again; or “any longer” – thou shalt no more be subject to similar trials and calamities.

²³But I will put it into the hand of them that afflict thee, who have said to thy soul, ‘Bow down, that we may go over.’ And thou hast laid thy body as the ground, and as the street to them that went over.” — but God will put it into the hand of them that afflict thee; the nations that have made war upon thee and that have reduced thee to bondage; the calamities which the elect had suffered, God would transfer to their foes.

Isaiah 52

¹ Awake, awake! Put on thy strength, O Zion! Put on thy beautiful garments, O Jerusalem, the holy city! For henceforth there shall no more come into thee the uncircumcised and the unclean. — awake, awake, put on thy strength, O Zion; this prophecy is sure to be fulfilled: by Zion is meant the church before the Millenium in the latter days, our days which is described as “wretched and miserable, and poor and blind and naked,” Revelation 3:17;

— which is called upon to awake out of sleep; and this is repeated to show what a deep sleep had fallen on her, the danger she was in through it, and the forcefulness of the speaker, “Awake, awake!” or the great concern the Lord had for her; and this is the very state of the church now.

²Shake thyself from the dust; arise, and sit down, O Jerusalem. Loose thyself from the bands of thy neck, O captive daughter of Zion. — shake thyself from the dust; or “the dust from thee” in which she had sat, or rolled herself as a mourner; or where she had been trampled upon; but now being delivered from them as well as from all carnal shepherds and false teachers, of false doctrine, superstition and false worship;

— loose thyself from the bands of thy neck, O captive daughter of Zion; or loose thou “the bands off thy neck from thee” which seems to denote the people of God in mystical Babylon, a little before its destruction who will be called out of it; and to throw off the Romish yoke, or her daughter’s protesting yoke and release themselves from that captivity and bondage who should free themselves.

³For thus saith the Lord: “Ye have sold yourselves for nought; and ye shall be redeemed without money.” — ‘Ye have sold yourselves,’ and become authors of your own bondage; as they who had made them prisoners had done so without paying any price for them, it was equitable that they should be released in the same manner.

⁴For thus saith the Lord God: “My people went down aforetime into Egypt to sojourn there, and the Assyrian oppressed them without cause. — the Septuagint renders it, ‘And to the Assyrians they were carried by force.’ Some have supposed that this refers to the oppressions that they experienced in Egypt, and that the name ‘Assyrian’ – so called because of his power and cruelty – is here given to Pharaoh.

⁵Now therefore, what have I here,” saith the Lord, “that My people are taken away for nought? They that rule over them make them to howl,” saith the Lord, “and My name continually every day is blasphemed. — and everyday my name is blasphemed continually; by ascribing their extent of power and authority, their dominions and conquests, not to the Lord but to their idols; opening their mouths in blasphemy against God, his name and tabernacle and his people, Revelation 13:5.

— the Targum says, “and always, all the day, because of the worship of my name, they provoke.” The Septuagint is, “for you always blasphemed my name among the Gentiles.”

⁶Therefore My people shall know My name; therefore they shall know in that day that I am He that doth speak. Behold, it is I.” — My people shall know My name; God’s name is the four-letter Hebrew word יהוה‎ YHVH Yehovah (not Jehovah since the letter J wasn’t around but only after the sixteenth century; (more on this at the end)

⁷How beautiful upon the mountains are the feet of him that bringeth good tidings, that publisheth peace; that bringeth good tidings of good, that publisheth salvation; that saith unto Zion, “Thy God reigneth!” — “Thy God reigneth! – the Targum is, “the kingdom of thy God is revealed.”

⁸Thy watchmen shall lift up the voice; with the voice together shall they sing: for they shall see eye to eye, when the Lord shall bring again Zion. — for they shall see eye to eye; the sense may be either that they shall see face to face, that is, distinctly, clearly as when one is near another; or it may mean that they shall be united – they shall contemplate the same object, or look steadily at the same thing.

⁹Break forth into joy, sing together, ye waste places of Jerusalem: for the Lord hath comforted His people, He hath redeemed Jerusalem. — the Lord shall return with his Shekinah and redeem Jerusalem.

¹⁰The Lord hath made bare His holy arm in the eyes of all the nations; and all the ends of the earth shall see the salvation of our God. — all the ends of the earth shall see the salvation of our God; all nations of the world shall with astonishment behold the wonderful work of God, first in bringing his people into captivity, then out of it in their redemption by the Messiah.

¹¹Depart ye, depart ye, go ye out from thence, touch no unclean thing; go ye out of the midst of her; be ye clean, that bear the vessels of the Lord. — the sacrificial offerings with return in Jerusalem as prophesised in Ezekiel 40-48; the Levites and the priests would cleanse themselves before taking up the holy vessels as the Targum says. And for the populace, presenting themselves three times a year before the holy city are essential; else there wouldn’t be any rain.

¹²For ye shall not go out with haste, nor go by flight: for the Lord will go before you; and the God of Israel will be your rearward. — for ye shall not go out with haste; as if driven out or compelled to flee. You shall not go from captivity as your fathers went from Egypt in a rapid flight and in a confused and tumultuous manner.

Many theologians noted that the subject of the Suffering Servant starts here and onto the end of Chapter 53

¹³“Behold, My Servant shall deal prudently, He shall be exalted and extolled, and be very high. (הָא יַצְלַח עַבְדִי מְשִׁיחָא יְרוּם וְיִסְגֵי וְיִתְקוֹף לַחֲדָא:) — from Sefaria, the Targum interprets מְשִׁיחָא as the Messiah; He shall be exalted and extolled, and be very high;

— “Behold, my servant the Messiah shall prosper, He shall be exalted and extolled, and He shall be very strong,” Targum Isaiah 52:13.

¹⁴As many as were astonished at thee—His visage was so marred more than any man, and his form more than the sons of men” — when the Messiah is revealed as stated in the previous verse, the whole world will be astonished to see He had been so marred – (משׁחת mishechath); so defaced, destroyed, disfigured; this was a disfiguration or defacement of his aspect, more than that of any man.

Verse 15, which contains Messianic significance, is not in KJ21, but appear in the followings:

¹⁵ The Targum translated by Etheridge: Thus shall He scatter many nations; before Him kings shall keep silence: they shall put their hands upon their mouths, for that which had not been told them shall they see: and that which they had not heard shall they consider. — since King David, Israel (nor any ordinary man) had ever “scatter many nations.”

— Or as in Chabad Bible: So shall he cast down many nations; kings shall shut their mouths because of him, for, what had not been told them they saw, and [at] what they had not heard they gazed.

— The JPS 1917:

So shall he startle many nations,
Kings shall shut their mouths because of him;
For that which had not been told them shall they see,
And that which they had not heard shall they perceive.

~~~

More on God’s name, Yehovah.

The following verses with the LORD erred in translation. His name Yehovah should be used:
I am the LORD; that is My name. And My glory will I not give to another, neither My praise to graven images. Isaiah 42:8

And it shall come to pass, that whosoever shall call on the name of the LORD shall be delivered; for in Mount Zion and in Jerusalem shall be deliverance, as the LORD hath said, and in the remnant whom the LORD shall call. Joel 2:32

“I am sought of them that asked not for Me; I am found of them that sought Me not. I said, ‘Behold Me, behold Me,’ unto a nation that was not called by My name. Isaiah 65:1

When we call our God, the LORD, we err, because his name is not the LORD, which is a title. His name is YEHOVAH! May We all ask for his forgiveness, and may Our merciful God forgive us all.

Posted in Isaiah

Isaiah (Ch 49-50)

•April 6, 2022 • Leave a Comment

This chapter deals with the second Being in the Godhead, which the house of Judah hasn’t come to term with; it is composed of God the Father and God the Son, but the Jews couldn’t see nor could identify the Son which is all over in the Scriptures, especially the Torah and the Prophets; and here in Isaiah 49 and 50.

Isaiah 49

¹ “Listen, O isles, unto Me, and hearken, ye people from afar! The Lord hath called Me from the womb; from the bowels of My mother hath He made mention of My name. — Listen, O isles, unto me; these are not the words of Cyrus, nor of the Prophet Isaiah, but of the Son, the Messiah or Christ, calling upon the inhabitants of the isles to hearken to him; by whom are meant the inhabitants of islands properly so called, probably of the house of Israel;

— “Isles” as before stand vaguely for “far off countries.” The invitation is addressed to the nations far and wide.

²And He hath made My mouth like a sharp sword; in the shadow of His hand hath He hid Me, and made Me a polished shaft. In His quiver hath He hid Me, — and he hath made my mouth like a sharp sword; or “he hath put his words in my mouth as a sharp sword,” as the Targum says; namely, the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God, the Logos, and is sharper than a two-edged sword and is said to come out of the mouth of the Son of God; Prophet Isaiah couldn’t have fulfilled this.

³and said unto Me, ‘Thou art My servant, O Israel, in whom I will be glorified.’

⁴Then I said, ‘I have labored in vain; I have spent My strength for nought and in vain; yet surely My judgement is with the Lord, and My work with My God.’” — yet surely my judgement is with the Lord; this indicates that below the Lord, the Highest, which could only being the Father, someone else is making judgement and who else except the Son?

— or is manifest before the Lord, as the Targum says; the Lord knew that he had called him to his office; how prudently, diligently and faithfully he had executed it; and what was his right and due and which would be given him; and with this he corrects his former complaint and makes himself easy and quiets and satisfies his mind.

⁵“And now saith the Lord that formed Me from the womb to be His servant, to bring Jacob again to Him, though Israel be not gathered—yet shall I be glorious in the eyes of the Lord, and My God shall be My strength” — who could “bring Jacob again to Him” that is, to confirm them in the worship of the true God; except someone of a high level in rank; not Cyrus, not prophet Isaiah, not any human; it’s an enormous task pointing that this Being is no one else except the Son.

⁶and He said: ‘It is a light thing that Thou shouldest be My servant to raise up the tribes of Jacob and to restore the preserved of Israel. I will also give Thee for a light to the Gentiles, that Thou mayest be My salvation unto the end of the earth.’” — “a light to the Gentiles” and not an enforcer of Israel’s systems and values upon the Gentiles however how good they think they are, such as democracy, human rights and others but only as a light to the Gentiles.

⁷Thus saith the Lord, the Redeemer of Israel, and His Holy One, to Him whom man despiseth, to Him whom the nation abhorreth, to a Servant of rulers: “Kings shall see and arise, princes also shall worship, because of the Lord who is faithful, and the Holy One of Israel; and He shall choose Thee.” — to him whom man despises; to Yeshua, the Son of God, to whom in the days of his flesh; this description most truly and fully agreed with that Isaiah 53:3, for men, both Jews and Gentiles, among whom he lived, did despise him from their hearts.

⁸Thus saith the Lord: “In an acceptable time have I heard Thee, and in a day of salvation have I helped Thee; and I will preserve Thee and give Thee for a covenant of the people, to establish the earth, to cause to inherit the desolate heritages, — thus saith the Lord; these are the words of God the Father to his Son continued;

⁹that Thou mayest say to the prisoners, ‘Go forth,’ to them that are in darkness, ‘Show yourselves.’ “They shall feed on the paths, and their pastures shall be in all high places. — show yourselves; among the people of God in his house of his laws, statutes and ordinances when called, converted and enlightened by his spirits;

— or “be revealed” or manifested when they are known to be, what they have not known before the people and children of God. The Targum says, “be revealed to the light.”

¹⁰They shall not hunger nor thirst, neither shall the heat nor sun smite them; for He that hath mercy on them shall lead them, even by the springs of water shall He guide them. — they shall not hunger nor thirst; all their needs shall be abundantly provided for as a Shepherd will provide for his flock.

¹¹And I will make all My mountains a way, and My highways shall be exalted. — mountains a way; God will remove all obstructions out of the way.

¹²Behold, these shall come from far—and lo, these from the north and from the west, and these from the land of Sinim.” — the western countries known to the Hebrews were some of the islands of that sea and a few of the maritime regions; probably referring to where the house of Israel had been taken to; they shall return;

— from the land of Sinim; there have been many different opinions in regard to the ‘land of Sinim’ – the Targum version renders it as land of the south in general; Isti de terra Australi; others, like Ptolemy and Gesenius say the country here referred to is Sina or China; both qualify as “these shall come from far.”

— Sinim; the Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary says “the Arabians and other Asians called China Sin, or Tchin; the Chinese had no special name for themselves, but either adopted that of the reigning dynasty or some high-sounding titles. This view of “Sinim” suits the context which requires a people to be meant “from far,” and distinct from those “from the north and from the west” [Gesenius].

— in the Book of Mormon reads: “And then, O house of Israel, behold, these shall come from far; and lo, these from the north and from the west; and these from the land of Sinim.” The index of this scripture of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints defines Sinim as “possibly [the] land of China.”

¹³Sing, O heavens, and be joyful, O earth! And break forth into singing, O mountains! For the Lord hath comforted His people, and will have mercy upon His afflicted. — Sing, O heavens; as in Isaiah 44:23, all nature is invited to join in the chorus of praise for the (1) deliverance of Israel; and (2) of the nations.

¹⁴But Zion said, “The Lord hath forsaken me, and my Lord hath forgotten me.”

¹⁵“Can a woman forget her sucking child, that she should not have compassion on the son of her womb? Yea, they may forget, yet will I not forget thee. — “Does a woman forget her sucking child, so as not to have compassion upon the child of her womb? –

¹⁶Behold, I have graven thee upon the palms of My hands; thy walls are continually before Me. — even though mothers should forget, I will not forget thee. Behold, I have graven thee upon the palms of my hands; thy walls stand continually before me.”

¹⁷Thy children shall make haste; thy destroyers and they that made thee waste shall go forth from thee. — MSG “Can a mother forget the infant at her breast, walk away from the baby she bore? But even if mothers forget, I’d never forget you—never. Look, I’ve written your names on the backs of my hands. The walls you’re rebuilding are never out of my sight. Your builders are faster than your wreckers. The demolition crews are gone for good. Look up, look around, look well! See them all gathering, coming to you? As sure as I am the living God”—God’s Decree— “you’re going to put them on like so much jewellery, you’re going to use them to dress up like a bride.

¹⁸Lift up thine eyes round about and behold; all these gather themselves together and come to thee. As I live,” saith the Lord, “thou shalt surely clothe thee with them all as with an ornament, and bind them on thee as a bride doeth. — all these, to wit, the Gentiles as sufficiently appear from what hath been already said and from that which follow. The sense is, thy kingdom shall not only be restored and established in Jerusalem but it shall be vastly enlarged and adorned by the accession of the Gentiles to it.

¹⁹For thy waste and thy desolate places and the land of thy destruction shall even now be too narrow by reason of the inhabitants, and they that swallowed thee up shall be far away. — and they that swallowed thee up; the enemies that laid waste thy land and that “absorbed,” as it were thy inhabitants and removed them to a distant land; they shall be all gone and the land shall smile again in prosperity and in loveliness.

²⁰The children whom thou shalt have, after thou hast lost the other, shall say again in thine ears, ‘The place is too narrow for me; give place to me that I may dwell.’ — the place is too strait for me; there is not room for us all; this is indicative of such an increase as took place when the return of the exiles and shall yet more abundantly than any time before that they will call for more land to dwell in.

²¹Then shalt thou say in thine heart, ‘Who hath begotten me these, seeing I have lost my children and am desolate, a captive and removing to and fro? And who hath brought up these? Behold, I was left alone; these, where had they been?’” — NOG Then you will ask yourself, “Who has fathered these children for me? I was childless and unable to have children. I was exiled and rejected. Who raised these children for me? I was left alone. Where have they come from?”

— MSG “And your ruined land? Your devastated, decimated land? Filled with more people than you know what to do with! And your barbarian enemies, a fading memory. The children born in your exile will be saying, ‘It’s getting too crowded here. I need more room.’ And you’ll say to yourself, ‘Where on earth did these children come from? I lost everything, had nothing, was exiled and penniless. So who reared these children? How did these children get here?’”

²²Thus saith the Lord God: “Behold, I will lift up Mine hand to the Gentiles, and set up My standard to the people; and they shall bring thy sons in their arms, and thy daughters shall be carried upon their shoulders. — bring … sons in … arms; the Gentiles shall aid in restoring Israel to its own land (Isa 60:4; 66:20). Children able to support themselves are carried on the shoulders from the East; but infants in the arms or astride on one haunch (Isa 60:12). “Thy sons” must be distinct from “the Gentiles,” who carry them; and therefore cannot primarily refer to converts among the Gentiles;

— another interpretation: behold, I will lift up mine hand to the Gentiles; to lift up the hand is a sign of beckoning to, or inviting; and the idea here is that God would call the Gentiles to partake of the blessings of the true religion and to embrace the Messiah (see also Isaiah 11:11; could this time period coincide with Ezekiel 390/40 years?)

²³And kings shall be thy nursing fathers, and their queens thy nursing mothers: They shall bow down to thee with their face toward the earth, and lick up the dust of thy feet. And thou shalt know that I am the Lord, for they shall not be ashamed that wait for Me.” — and kings shall be thy nursing fathers and their queens thy nursing mothers; who shall show favour and respect to the elect of God, grant them liberty and protect and defend them in their religious privileges:

— and since the Messiah is the King of kings, and Lord of lords; so this is to be understood not figuratively of apostles and other shepherds who are kings and priests unto God and who feed the church with the milk of the word and the breasts of ordinances; but literally also as kings and queens of the earth;

— and is thought to have had its fulfilment, at least in part in Cyrus, Ahasuerus, Esther and others; but more so as priestly kings and queens as Ezra and Nehemiah, Zerubbabel and others; and will have a far greater accomplishment in the latter day glory;

²⁴Shall the prey be taken from the mighty, or the lawful captive delivered?

²⁵But thus saith the Lord: “Even the captives of the mighty shall be taken away, and the prey of the terrible shall be delivered; for I will contend with him that contendeth with thee, and I will save thy children. — We were lawful captives to the justice of God, yet delivered by a price of unspeakable value. Here is an express promise: Even the prey of the terrible shall be delivered;

— we may view God’s enemies deprived of his prey, bound and cast into the pit; and all the powers that have combined to enslave, persecute or corrupt the church are destroyed; that all the earth may know that our Saviour and Redeemer is Yehovah, the Mighty One of Jacob. And every effort we make to rescue our fellow-sinners from the bondage of God’s enemies is, in some degree, helping forward that great change.

²⁶And I will feed them that oppress thee with their own flesh, and they shall be drunken with their own blood as with sweet wine. And all flesh shall know that I, the Lord, am thy Savior and thy Redeemer, the Mighty One of Jacob.” — MSG Can plunder be retrieved from a giant, prisoners of war gotten back from a tyrant? But God says, “Even if a giant grips the plunder and a tyrant holds my people prisoner, I’m the one who’s on your side, defending your cause, rescuing your children. And your enemies, crazed and desperate, will turn on themselves, killing each other in a frenzy of self-destruction. Then everyone will know that I, God, have saved you—I, the Mighty One of Jacob.”

Isaiah 50

¹ Thus saith the Lord: “Where is the bill of your mother’s divorcement, whom I have put away? Or which of My creditors is it to whom I have sold you? Behold, for your iniquities have ye sold yourselves, and for your transgressions is your mother put away. — where is the bill of your mother’s divorcement? – God speaks of himself as the husband of his people, as having married his chosen to himself, denoting the tender affection which he had for his people;

— ye have sold yourselves; that is, you have gone into captivity on account of your sins. It has been your own act and you have thus become bondmen to a foreign power only by your own choice; is your mother put away; retaining the figure respecting divorce; the nation has been rejected and suffered to go into exile on account of its transgressions.

² Why, when I came, was there no man? When I called, was there none to answer? Is My hand shortened at all, that it cannot redeem? Or have I no power to deliver? Behold, at My rebuke I dry up the sea, I make the rivers a wilderness; their fish stink because there is no water, and dieth for thirst. — wherefore, when I came, was there no man? – that is, when I came to call you to repentance, why was there no man of the nation to yield obedience? the Targum says, “why have I sent my prophets, and they are not converted?”

— when I called, was there none to answer? – none obeyed or regarded my voice. It was not, therefore, by his fault that they had been punished but it was because they did not listen to the messengers which God had sent unto them;

— is my hand shortened at all? – it was not because God was unable to save that they had been thus punished. The hand is an emblem of strength as it is the instrument by which we accomplish our purposes. To shorten the hand, that is, to cut it off, is an emblem of diminishing or destroying our ability to execute any purpose (see Isaiah 59:1). So in Numbers 11:23 : ‘Is the Lord’s hand waxed short?’

— behold, at my rebuke I dry up the sea; he was able to do it and did do it for the children of Israel and made a passage through the Red Sea for them as on dry land; which was done by a strong east wind he caused to blow, here called his “rebuke” Exodus 14:20.

³ I clothe the heavens with blackness, and I make sackcloth their covering. — God clothe the heavens with blackness; with gross and thick darkness; perhaps referring to the three days’ darkness the Egyptians were in, Exodus 10:12, or with thick and black clouds, as in tempestuous weather frequently; or by eclipses of the sun; there was an extraordinary instance of great darkness at the time of Christ’s crucifixion, Matthew 27:45.

⁴ “The Lord God hath given Me the tongue of the learned, that I should know how to speak a word in season to him that is weary. He wakeneth morning by morning; He wakeneth Mine ear to hear as the learned. — the tongue of the learned; the tongue of those who are instructed;’ that is of the eloquent; or the tongue of instruction (παιδείας paideias, Septuagint); that is, he has qualified me to instruct others; it means that on the subject of religion he was eminently endowed with intelligence and with eloquence;

— He waken me morning by morning; that is, he wakens me every morning early; from an instructor who awakens his pupils early in order that they may receive instruction. The idea is that the Redeemer would be eminently endowed under the divine instruction and guidance for his work; he would be one who was, so to speak, in the school of God; and who would be qualified to impart instruction to others.

⁵ The Lord God hath opened Mine ear, and I was not rebellious, neither turned away back. — hath opened mine ear; hath revealed unto me; or rathe, hath given me a power and will to hear and receive his commands as this phrase is used, Psalm 40:6 Isaiah 35:5.

⁶ I gave My back to the smiters and My cheeks to them that plucked off the hair; I hid not My face from shame and spitting. — I gave my back to the smiters; I submitted willingly to be scourged or whipped; this is one prophecy which can be applied to no other one but the Messiah; it was literally fulfilled in the Lord Jesus Christ (Matthew 27:26; compare Luke 18:33).

⁷For the Lord God will help Me, therefore shall I not be confounded; therefore have I set My face like a flint, and I know that I shall not be ashamed. — For, or rather, but as this is better rendered; the Lord God will help me; though as a man I am weak and inconsiderable yet God will strengthen me to go through my great and hard suffering.

⁸ He is near that justifieth Me. Who will contend with Me? Let us stand together. Who is Mine adversary? Let him come near to Me. — He is near that justifies me; His Father was “near” him in his whole state of humiliation; he left him not alone; he was at his right hand and therefore he was not moved;

— and “justified” him from all the false charges they brought against him and from all the sins of his people that were upon him; these he took upon him and bore them, upon which he was acquitted; and which is evident by his resurrection from the dead, by his ascension to heaven and session at the right hand of God.

⁹ Behold, the Lord God will help Me. Who is he that shall condemn Me? Lo, they all shall wax old as a garment; the moth shall eat them up. — they all shall wax old; all my enemies shall pass away as a garment is worn out and cast aside; the idea is that the Messiah would survive all their attacks; his cause, his truth and his reputation would live while all the power, the influence, the reputation of his adversaries, would vanish as a garment that is worn out and then thrown away.

¹⁰ “Who is among you that feareth the Lord, that obeyeth the voice of His Servant, that walketh in darkness and hath no light? Let him trust in the name of the Lord, and stay upon his God. — the persons addressed in this call to faith are ‘those who fear the Lord,’ and ‘obey the voice of His Servant.’ It is implied that these two things are necessarily connected so that obedience to Son, the Messiah is the test of true religion for the fear of the Lord does not exist where the word of the Son is neglected or rejected; but those that truly fear God, obey the voice of his Son.

¹¹ Behold, all ye that kindle a fire, that compass yourselves about with sparks! Walk in the light of your fire and in the sparks that ye have kindled. This shall ye have from Mine hand: ye shall lie down in sorrow. — behold, all ye that kindle a fire; this refers to the wicked; in times of darkness and calamity, instead of trusting in God they would confide in their own resources and endeavor to kindle a light for themselves in which they might walk; but the result would be that they would find no comfort and would ultimately under his hand lie down in sorrow;

— the phrase, ‘that kindle a fire,’ refers to all the plans which people form with reference to their own salvation; all which they rely upon to guide them through the darkness of this world; it may include all the schemes of human philosophy, of false religion, of paganism, of infidelity, deism and self-righteousness; all dependence on their own good works or charities ties. All these are false lights which people enkindle, in order to guide themselves when they resolve to cast off God and to resist his spirit.

Posted in Isaiah

Isaiah (Ch 47-48)

•April 4, 2022 • Leave a Comment

Although this chapter is expressively addressed to Babylon, many of the characteristics and challenges are relevant to to both the house of Israel and the house of Judah; for who else could have ever been described as virgin, tender and delicate? Perhaps the reference to Babylon is mystical Babylon and is thus relevant to the decaying state of the house of Jacob at the endtime, our time.

Isaiah 47

¹ “Come down and sit in the dust, O virgin daughter of Babylon; sit on the ground. There is no throne, O daughter of the Chaldeans! For thou shalt no more be called tender and delicate. — Babylon is represented under the emblem of a woman deeply in distress. She was to be degraded and endure sufferings; and is represented sitting on the ground, grinding at the handmill, the lowest and most laborious service.

²Take the millstones and grind meal; uncover thy locks, make bare the leg, uncover the thigh, pass over the rivers. — uncover thy locks; the picture of suffering is heightened by the fact that the female slave has to wade unveiled, and bare-legged, all sense of shame outraged; the Targum says, “uncover the glory of thy kingdom.”

³Thy nakedness shall be uncovered; yea, thy shame shall be seen; I will take vengeance, and I will not meet thee as a man.” — thy nakedness shall be uncovered, yea, thy shame shall be seen; not only stripped of their garments and have nothing to cover their naked bodies, being spoiled of all by the soldiers; but should have nothing to cover those parts which women are most ashamed to view.

⁴As for our Redeemer, the Lord of hosts is His name, the Holy One of Israel. — the prophet exults in the Lord of hosts as the Redeemer and Holy One of Israel. God often permits wicked men to prevail against his people; but those who cruelly oppress them will be punished.

⁵“Sit thou silent, and get thee into darkness, O daughter of the Chaldeans; for thou shalt no more be called the Lady of Kingdoms. — for thou shalt no more be called the lady of kingdoms; the magnificence, splendor, beauty and power, which have given occasion to this appellation and which have led the nations by common consent to give it to thee shall be entirely and forever removed.

⁶I was wroth with My people, I have polluted Mine inheritance and given them into thine hand. Thou didst show them no mercy; upon the ancient hast thou very heavily laid thy yoke. — God was wroth with his people; the sin of Babylon was that she had gone beyond her commission as the chastiser of Israel, casting off all reverence for age and making even the old men do the hard tasks of bond-slaves (Lamentations 4:16, 5:12; Zechariah 1:15).

⁷And thou saidst, ‘I shall be a lady for ever,’ so that thou didst not lay these things to thy heart, neither didst remember the latter end of it. — and thou said, I shall be a lady forever; this passage describes the pride and self-confidence of Babylon; she was confident in her wealth and splendour, the strength of her gates and walls; and in her abundant resources to resist an enemy or to sustain a siege.

⁸“Therefore hear now this, thou that art given to pleasures, who dwellest carelessly, who sayest in thine heart, ‘I am, and none else besides me; I shall not sit as a widow, neither shall I know the loss of children.’ — that dwell carelessly in vain security, without any consciousness of danger and without alarm.

⁹But these two things shall come to thee in a moment in one day: the loss of children, and widowhood. They shall come upon thee in their perfection for the multitude of thy sorceries, and for the great abundance of thine enchantments. — but these two things shall come to thee in a moment on one day; suddenly, at once, at one and the same time;

— the destruction of Babylon was very sudden; the city taken by surprise before the inhabitants were aware of it while the king and his nobles were regaling themselves at a feast; that very night Belshazzar was slain and Darius the Mede took the kingdom.

¹⁰For thou hast trusted in thy wickedness; thou hast said, ‘None seeth me.’ Thy wisdom and thy knowledge, it hath perverted thee; and thou hast said in thine heart, ‘I am, and none else besides me.’ — for thou has trusted in thy wickedness; the word ‘wickedness’ here refers doubtless to the pride, arrogance, ambition and oppressions of Babylon.

¹¹Therefore shall evil come upon thee; thou shalt not know from whence it riseth. And mischief shall fall upon thee; thou shalt not be able to put it off. And desolation shall come upon thee suddenly, which thou shalt not know. — and desolation shall come upon thee suddenly, which thou shalt not know; that is, before hand, neither the persons nor the time when it shall come;

— notwithstanding their astrologers, diviners and soothsayer, pretending to tell what would come to pass; but not being able by their art to give the least hint of Babylon’s destruction as to either time or means, the Chaldeans were in great security, ignorant of their ruin at hand as will the destruction of mystical Babylon.

¹²“Stand now with thine enchantments and with the multitude of thy sorceries, wherein thou hast labored from thy youth; if so be thou shalt be able to profit, if so be thou mayest prevail. — stand now with thine enchantments; a scornful challenge to Babylon’s magicians to show whether they can defend their city.

¹³Thou art wearied in the multitude of thy counsels. Let now the astrologers, the stargazers, the monthly prognosticators stand up and save thee from these things that shall come upon thee. — thou art wearied in the multitude of thy counsels; speaking of astrologers, diviners and soothsayers; who were never able to give any satisfactory answers to questions put to them, as appears from Nebuchadnezzar’s consultation with them about his dream; and Belshazzar’s about the handwriting upon the wall.

¹⁴Behold, they shall be as stubble; the fire shall burn them; they shall not deliver themselves from the power of the flame; there shall not be a coal to warm at, nor fire to sit before it. — they shall not deliver themselves from the power of the flame; from those dreadful calamities that shall come upon them like flames of fire; and if they cannot deliver themselves by their art and skill, how should they deliver others?

¹⁵Thus shall they be unto thee with whom thou hast labored, even thy merchants, from thy youth; they shall wander every one to his quarter. None shall save thee. — thy merchants or they with whom thou has traded from thy youth shall wander everyone to his own quarter. None shall save thee; they shall all leave thee and flee away with all possible speed to their several countries and habitations.

Isaiah 48

¹ “Hear ye this, O house of Jacob, which are called by the name of Israel and have come forth out of the waters of Judah, who swear by the name of the Lord and make mention of the God of Israel, but not in truth nor in righteousness; — Hear ye this, O house of Jacob; who were of the house and family of Jacob, his descendants and posterity; and are come forth out of the waters of Judah; that is, were of the seed of Judah;

But not in truth, nor in righteousness; not according to the complete will and truth of God; so what are their problems?

— and those who persist in their blindness will be horsewhipped! Nar, those who resist would suffer Judgement by the sword, by famine, by pestilence and spending years in captivity to reflect and repent there (for more see Ezekiel 4 – 390/40 Years and A Sword from the South!)

²for they call themselves of the holy city and stand themselves upon the God of Israel—the Lord of Hosts is His name: — although they call themselves of the holy city, they do not worship God in sincerity and truth;

— Jerusalem was called ‘the holy city,’ because the temple, the ark and the divine presence were there, and it was the place where God was worshipped. It was deemed sacred by the Jews, and they regarded it as sufficient proof of goodness it would seem as they are dwelling there.

³I have declared the former things from the beginning; and they went forth out of My mouth, and I showed them; I did them suddenly, and they came to pass. — God have declared the former things; that is, in former times I have predicted future events by the prophets which have come to pass as they were foretold. Though the fulfillment might have appeared to be long delayed, yet it came to pass at the very time.

⁴Because I knew that thou art obstinate, and thy neck is an iron sinew and thy brow brass, — that thou art obstinate; the sense is that they were obstinate and intractable, an expression probably taken from a bullock which refuses to bow down to receive the yoke.

⁵I have even from the beginning declared it to thee; before it came to pass I showed it thee, lest thou shouldest say, ‘Mine idol hath done them, and my graven image, and my molten image hath commanded them.’ — my idol hath done them; the idols and molten images had not foretold these events and when they came to pass, it could not, therefore, be pretended that they had been produced by idols;

— by predicting them, Yehovah kept up the proof that he was the true God and demonstrated that he alone was worthy of their worship.

⁶Thou hast heard; see all this, and will not ye declare it? I have shown thee new things from this time, even hidden things, and thou didst not know them. — even hidden things; events which are so concealed that they could not be conjectured by any human understanding or by any contemplation of natural causes. They are, as it were, laid up in dark treasure houses and they can be known only by him to whom ‘the darkness shineth as the day;

— compare to Isaiah 45:3; the “treasures of darkness and hidden riches of secret places” – for two examples, see Ezekiel 4 – 390/40 Years and A Sword from the South!)

⁷They are created now and not from the beginning, even before the day when thou heardest them not, lest thou shouldest say, ‘Behold, I knew them.’ — even before the day when thou heard them they were in the heart of God, kept and reserved in his mind and therefore they are God’s hidden things before the Israelites heard anything of them.

⁸Yea, thou heardest not; yea, thou knewest not, yea, from that time that thine ear was not opened; for I knew that thou wouldest deal very treacherously and wast called a transgressor from the womb. — yea, thou hear not; not only that these events could not have been foreseen by them but that when they were actually made known to them they were still stupid, dull and sceptical.

⁹“For My name’s sake will I defer Mine anger, and for My praise will I refrain for thee, that I cut thee not off. — for my name’s sake will I defer mine anger; and although thou dost justly deserve my hottest anger and most dreadful judgments, which if thou repent not, I will in time inflict thee into captivity; yet at present I will spare thee, not for thy sake, but for the vindication of my name and glory.

¹⁰Behold, I have refined thee, but not with silver; I have chosen thee in the furnace of affliction. — in the furnace of affliction; referring particularly to their trials in Babylon and perhaps one in the future. Afflictions are often likened to fire; from the fact that fire is used to purify or try metals and afflictions have the same object in reference to the people of God.

¹¹For Mine own sake, even for Mine own sake, will I do it; for how should My name be polluted? And I will not give My glory unto another. — for how should my name be polluted? blasphemed and evil spoken of among the house of Jacob; who would be ready to say that either the Lord did not love his people and was not mercifully disposed towards them; or that he could not save them and that their hands or their gods were mightier than he.

¹²“Hearken unto Me, O Jacob and Israel, My called: I am He; I am the First, I also am the Last. — hearken unto me, O Jacob and Israel; called out of Egypt, out of Babylon, and out of the world who had the name of God called upon them; so such who are called with a holy calling according to the purpose of God.

¹³Mine hand also hath laid the foundation of the earth, and My right hand hath spanned the heavens; when I call unto them, they stand up together. — mine hand also hath laid; I am the Creator of all things, and I have all power and am abundantly able to deliver you from all your foes.

¹⁴“All ye, assemble yourselves and hear. Who among them hath declared these things? The Lord hath loved him; He will do His pleasure on Babylon, and His arm shall be on the Chaldeans. — which among them hath declared these things? that are future, that concern the redemption and salvation of Israel? which of all the idols among the nations whom the Jews were prone to listen to that could foretell things to come?

— the Lord hath loved him; that is, Israel, as the Targum says, whom the Lord loved but would raise Cyrus to do his pleasure in Babylon as he does; and whom he distinguished from others by bestowing excellent qualifications on him; and whom he raised to great dignity by using him as an instrument in his hand for the deliverance of his people; and who was a type of the Messiah, the Son of God, in whom he is always well pleased.

— He will do his pleasure on Babylon through Cyrus, and his arm shall be on the Chaldeans; he shall do as he pleases with Babylon and with his army destroy the Chaldeans; this is also true of Christ, who will do his pleasure on mystical Babylon, destroy any antichrist activities with his mighty arm and power with the breath of his mouth and with the brightness of his coming.

¹⁵I, even I, have spoken; yea, I have called him; I have brought him, and he shall make his way prosperous. — I, even I, have spoken; the word ‘I’ is repeated to give emphasis; to furnish the utmost security that it should be certainly accomplished. It means, that Yehovah and he alone had declared this and that it was entirely by his power that Cyrus or the Messiah had been raised up and had been made prosperous.

¹⁶“Come ye near unto Me; hear ye this: I have not spoken in secret from the beginning; from the time that it was, there am I; and now the Lord God and His Spirit hath sent Me.” — I have not spoken in secret; the idea here is that he had foretold the raising up of both Cyrus and the Messiah in delivering his people in terms so plain that it could not be pretended that it was conjectured, and so clear that there was no ambiguity.

¹⁷Thus saith the Lord, thy Redeemer, the Holy One of Israel: “I am the Lord thy God who teacheth thee to profit, who leadeth thee by the way that thou shouldest go.

¹⁸O that thou hadst hearkened to My commandments! Then had thy peace been as a river and thy righteousness as the waves of the sea. — as a river; ‘that is, in abundance like a full flowing river that fills the banks and that conveys fertility and blessedness through a land;

— as the waves of the sea; large, abundant, infinite, persistent and continual.

¹⁹Thy seed also had been as the sand, and the offspring of thy loins like the gravel thereof; his name should not have been cut off nor destroyed from before Me.” — as the sand; this is often used to denote a great and indefinite number, for multitude according to his promise made to Abraham.

²⁰Go ye forth from Babylon! Flee ye from the Chaldeans! With a voice of singing declare ye; tell this, utter it even to the end of the earth; say ye, “The Lord hath redeemed His servant Jacob.” — say ye, the Lord hath deemed his servant Jacob; referring both the house of Israel and the house of Judah.

²¹And they thirsted not when He led them through the deserts; He caused the waters to flow out of the rock for them; He cleaved the rock also, and the waters gushed out. — He caused the waters to flow out of the rock for them; the allusions are that before this happen, they;

— (1) let them hear and say, “It is truth” (Isaiah 43:9) indicating there is no truth before that; and (2) “thou hast not known Me” (Isaiah 45:4,5) indicating that both the house of Israel and the house of Judah today have not known God;

— second, this also promised that much more truth would be revealed.

²²“There is no peace,” saith the Lord, “unto the wicked.” — there is no peace to the wicked beyond the grave. “A sinner can have no peace at the judgement bar of God; he can have no peace in hell.” In all the future world there is no place where he can find repose; and whatever this life may be, even if it be a life of prosperity and external comfort, yet to him there will be no prosperity in the future world and no external or internal peace there.

Posted in Isaiah

Evidence of Ukraine’s Bio-Weapon Labs

•April 2, 2022 • Leave a Comment

RT Mar 31, 2022

Since RT.com is blocked and censored in many Western locations such as the EU, UK, US and Canada, here is a chance to share it with some excerpts:

Russia presents new evidence of biolabs in Ukraine, comments on links to Biden and US
Documents detail fate of US-funded deadly pathogens that may have been tested on Ukrainians

The Russian military has presented documents showing Ukraine’s interest in using drones to deliver weaponized pathogens developed in US-funded biolabs. Names of US officials involved in the biolabs projects, and the role the current US president’s son played in the program, were also made public during the special briefing on Thursday.

US patent (No. 8,967,029) is a mechanism to deploy aerosolized pathogens from a drone

One of the key pieces of evidence was a letter from the Ukrainian company Motor Sich to the Turkish drone manufacturer Baykar Makina – makers of the Bayraktar TB2 and Akinci UAVs – dated December 15, 2021. The Ukrainians specifically asked if the drones could carry 20 liters of aerosolized payload to a range of 300 kilometers – putting them in range of a dozen major Russian cities and almost all of Belarus.

“We are talking about the development by the Kiev regime of technical means of delivery and use of biological weapons with the possibility of their use against the Russian Federation,” said Lieutenant General Igor Kirillov, commander of the Russian Nuclear, Biological and Chemical Protection Forces.

Kirillov also referenced a US patent (No. 8,967,029) for a mechanism to deploy aerosolized pathogens from a drone. The US response to a 2018 Russian inquiry about this patent did not deny its existence, but claimed that it technically did not violate Washington’s obligations under the treaties banning chemical and biological weapons, he pointed out.

Kirillov showed signed contracts between US government agencies – Defense Threat Reduction Agency (DTRA), the Pentagon, the Department of State – and the Ukrainian Ministry of Health, as well as the specific facilities inside Ukraine. The Pentagon spent more than $30 million for biological research at just one Ukrainian facility, the Public Health Center of the Ministry of Health, according to the Russian military.

Hunter Biden – son of the current US President Joe Biden – played “an important role in creating a financial opportunity to work with pathogens on the territory of Ukraine.”

DTRA official Robert Pope was “one of the key figures” in the program, and “the author of the idea of creating a central depository of especially dangerous microorganisms in Kiev,” Kirillov said. The Pentagon’s biological projects in Ukraine were coordinated by Joanna Wintrol, head of the DTRA office in Kiev, until she left in August 2020. She directly supervised projects UP-4, UP-6, and UP-8 to study deadly pathogens, including anthrax, the Congo-Crimean fever, and leptospirosis, according to Kirillov.

The US agency’s point of contact was Ukraine’s Health Minister (2016-2019) Ulyana Suprun, herself a US citizen, Kirillov noted, while a major go-between was the private contractor Black and Veatch, whose Kiev office was headed by Lance Lippencott. Another Pentagon contractor, Metabiota, also had a role in the project.

Kirillov said that Hunter Biden – son of the current US President Joe Biden – played “an important role in creating a financial opportunity to work with pathogens on the territory of Ukraine,” pointing to several emails between him and executives of Metabiota and Black and Veatch. In particular, he described the Metabiota VP as “a confidant of Hunter Biden,” based on their correspondence. According to the general, the “Western media” has confirmed the authenticity of these emails – presumably a reference to materials published last week by the British newspaper the Daily Mail.

According to Lieutenant General Igor Kirillov, commander of the Russian Nuclear, Biological and Chemical Protection Forces, all pathogenic biomaterials stored in Ukraine were “transported by military transport aircraft to the United States via Odessa,” in early February 2022, is this stored now at Fort Detrick? Anybody knows? On February 24, as Russian troops entered Ukraine, the ministry of health in Kiev ordered the remaining strains to be destroyed, the general said.

Kirillov said that the Russian intervention halted activities at five Ukrainian biolabs that had been working with anthrax, tularemia, brucellosis, cholera, leptospirosis, and African swine fever.

Victoria Nuland, Under Secretary of State for Political Affairs

And earlier this was confirmed by Victoria Nuland, “Ukraine has biological research facilities, which in fact we are now quite concerned Russian forces may be seeking to gain control of, so we are working with the Ukrainians on how they can prevent any of those research materials from falling into the hands of Russian forces should they approach,” said Victoria Nuland, Under Secretary of State for Political Affairs, during a Senate hearing on Ukraine; Mar 9, 2022

Who Are the Americans Coordinating Bioweapons Research in Ukraine Labs? Spuntnik April 1, 2022

FORT DETRICK – SOURCE of COVID-19?

Posted in Bioweapon, Ephraim, Fort Detrick, Ukraine, US

Isaiah (Ch 45-46)

•April 1, 2022 • Leave a Comment

Many believe Russia was and still is the main threat to the United States. Others, like warmonger John Mearsheimer of the University of Chicago, give incredible speeches around the world saying China is the main enemy.

And Mearsheimer brilliantly emphasizes the United States are protected by fish to the left and fish to the right, but foolishly negates to address America’s broken border in the South; and that the Scriptures say that America’s main “enemy” comes from the porous South! (for more, click here)

^{Isaiah 45}

¹ “Thus saith the Lord to His anointed, to Cyrus, whose right hand I have held to subdue nations before him; and I will loose the loins of kings to open before him the two leaved gates; and the gates shall not be shut: — thus saith the Lord to his anointed; that is, Cyrus, who is called the Lord’s anointed because he was raised up and ordained by divine counsel to perform God’s good pleasure.

²I will go before thee, and make the crooked places straight; I will break in pieces the gates of brass, and cut in sunder the bars of iron. — I will go before thee, and make the crooked places straight; or “level the hilly places” as pioneers do. The sense is that he would remove all impediments and obstructions out of his way and cause him to surmount all difficulties.

³And I will give thee the treasures of darkness and hidden riches of secret places, that thou mayest know that I, the Lord, who call thee by thy name, am the God of Israel. — and I will give thee the treasures of darkness; the treasures which kings have amassed and which they have laid up in dark and secure places. The word ‘darkness,’ here, means that which was hidden, unknown, secret.

⁴For Jacob My servant’s sake, and Israel Mine elect, I have even called thee by thy name; I have surnamed thee, though thou hast not known Me. — UNBELIEVABLE! Even God says both “Jacob My servant’s sake, and Israel Mine elect” have not known him! This is a serious charge coming from God Almighty himself, so how?

— the house of Judah hasn’t come to term with what the Godhead is; it is composed of God the Father and God the Son, hence in Genesis, Elohim (God in the plural) created the heavens and the earth; but the Jews couldn’t identify the Son which is all over in the Scriptures, especially the Torah and later, the Prophets;

— and the lamb for Pascha was/is symbol of the death of the Messiah, our Moshiach or Saviour, our Redeemer, but the Orthodox still regard it only as an act of defiance to the Egyptians who regarded lamb as the Egyptians’ deity. The Scriptures nowhere say this, but is only a baloney figment of Jewish imagination;

— and the house of Israel is still indulging in idolatry; worshipping Easter, which is another form of worshipping Astarte, one of the titles of the Chaldean goddess, the queen of heaven, the ancient Mesopotamian goddess of war, fertility and sex. She is featured in the Epic of Gilgamesh, and the “Ishtar Gate” was part of Nebuchadnezzar’s Babylon;

— and Mithra or Mitra (the Sun-God whose birthday many drunks honor and celebrate on December 25th which they christianised as Christmas), Zeus and others; called “gods of the earth” in distinction from the god of heaven; and men shall worship these earthly gods, acknowledging their supremacy, everyone from his place today, Protestants or Catholics alike;

— and those who persist in their blindness will be horsewhipped! Nar, those who resist would suffer judgement by the sword, by famine, by pestilence and spending years in captivity to reflect and repent there (for more see Ezekiel 4 – 390/40 Years and A Sword from the South!)

⁵I am the Lord, and there is none else; there is no God besides Me. I girded thee, though thou hast not known Me, — “though thou hast not known Me” is repeated to give double assurance, or the sake of emphasis or strong confirmation;

— they have not known nor understood Me; reaffirming emphatically that they are stupid, ignorant and blind.

⁶that they may know from the rising of the sun and from the west that there is none besides Me. I am the Lord, and there is none else. — I, Yehovah, beside me there’s no God: I equipped thee when you knew me not; that they may know from the rising of the sun, and its going down, that there is none without me.

⁷I form the light, and create darkness; I make peace, and create evil; I, the Lord, do all these things. — I Yehovah, and there is none else, former of light and creator of the darkness; founder of peace, and creator of evil.

⁸“Drop down, ye heavens, from above, and let the skies pour down righteousness; let the earth open, and let them bring forth salvation, and let righteousness spring up together. I, the Lord, have created it. — the Targum interprets this of the resurrection of the dead, paraphrasing as, “let the heavens from above minister, and the clouds flow with good; let the earth open, and the dead revive; and let righteousness be revealed together; I the Lord have created them.”

⁹“Woe unto him that striveth with his Maker! Let the potsherd strive with the potsherds of the earth. Shall the clay say to him that fashioneth it, ‘What makest thou?’ or thy work, ‘He hath no hands’? — woe unto him that strives with his Maker; that contends with him, enters into a controversy and disputes with him;

— or litigates or quarrels with his purposes and decrees; murmurs and repines at his providences and finds fault with his judgements: this seems to have respect to the murmurs, quarrels and contests of the Jews about the Son of God as the Messiah, the author of righteousness and the redeemer when he appears later.

¹⁰Woe unto him that saith unto his father, ‘What begettest thou?’ or to the woman, ‘What hast thou brought forth?’ — Woe unto him; this implied wickedness and foolishness for a son to complain of his father or mother in regard to his birth or of his rank and condition of life.

¹¹“Thus saith the Lord, the Holy One of Israel, and his Maker: Ask Me of things to come concerning My sons, and concerning the work of My hands command ye Me. — instead of striving with Me in regard to My purposes, your wisdom is in prayer to ask and even command Me, in so far as it is for My glory and for your real good; ask me of things to come; that is, I alone can direct and order future events; and it is your privilege to make inquiry respecting those events.

¹²I have made the earth and created man upon it; I, even My hands, have stretched out the heavens, and all their host have I commanded. — God have made the earth and created man upon it: I, even my hands have stretched out the heavens and all their host, that is, the stars, have I commanded.

¹³I have raised him up in righteousness, and I will direct all his ways; he shall build My city, and he shall let go My captives, not for price nor reward, saith the Lord of hosts.” — I have raised him up in righteousness; though this may be said with some respect to Cyrus, yet chiefly to the Messiah of whom Cyrus was a type; him the Lord appointed and determined to be the Saviour and Redeemer of his people; him he sent forth in time for that purpose.

¹⁴Thus saith the Lord: “The labor of Egypt and merchandise of Ethiopia and of the Sabeans, men of stature, shall come over unto thee, and they shall be thine. They shall come after thee; in chains they shall come over, and they shall fall down unto thee; they shall make supplication unto thee, saying, ‘Surely God is in thee, and there is none else; there is no god.’” — Surely God is in thee; in thee only is God. These of course are words of all the Gentiles to Israel, expressing their acceptance of the true religion. Israel’s God has proved Himself to be the God of history, the only true God.

¹⁵Verily Thou art a God who hidest Thyself, O God of Israel, the Savior. — the Septuagint renders this, ‘For thou art God, though we did not know it, O God of Israel the Saviour.’ We may be in the dark now, but in due time we shall be permitted to see his design and to witness results so glorious as shall satisfy us that his ways are all just and his dealings right.

¹⁶They shall be ashamed and also confounded, all of them; they shall go to confusion together that are makers of idols. — they shall be ashamed and confounded; that is, they shall find all their hopes fail and shall be suffused with shame that they were ever so senseless as to trust in blocks of wood and stone.

¹⁷But Israel shall be saved in the Lord with an everlasting salvation; ye shall not be ashamed nor confounded world without end. — or as the Targum says, “They are saved by the Word of the Lord.”

¹⁸For thus saith the Lord that created the heavens, God Himself that formed the earth and made it—He hath established it, He created it not in vain, He formed it to be inhabited: “I am the Lord, and there is none else. — not in vain, he formed it to be inhabited; Judah, lying waste during the Babylonish captivity, shall be peopled again by the exiles. The Jews, from this passage, infer that the earth shall be inhabited, for there can be no reason why the earth should then exist in vain any more than now.

¹⁹I have not spoken in secret, in a dark place of the earth; I said not unto the seed of Jacob, ‘Seek ye Me in vain.’ I, the Lord, speak righteousness; I declare things that are right. — God have not spoken in secret; the word rendered ‘secret’ (סתר sı̂ther) denotes a hiding or covering; and the phrase means secretly, privately. He did not imitate the pagan oracles by uttering his predictions from dark and deep caverns, and encompassed with the circumstances of awful mystery and with designed obscurity.

²⁰“Assemble yourselves and come; draw near together, ye that are escaped of the nations. They have no knowledge, who set up the wood of their graven image, and pray unto a god that cannot save. — and pray to a god that cannot save; itself, nor them; cannot hear their prayers, nor return an answer; cannot help and assist them in distress, nor deliver them out of their troubles; and therefore it must be the height of madness and folly to pray unto it.

²¹Tell ye, and bring them near; yea, let them take counsel together. Who hath declared this from ancient time? Who hath told it from that time? Have not I, the Lord? And there is no God else besides Me, a just God and a Savior. There is none besides Me. — Tell ye, and bring them near and let them take counsel together; and gather their gods, their makers and their worshippers and let them lay their heads together and consult what proof they are able to give of their divinities, particularly by foretelling things to come.

²²“Look unto Me, and be ye saved, all the ends of the earth; for I am God, and there is none else.

²³I have sworn by Myself; the word is gone out of My mouth in righteousness, and shall not return, that unto Me every knee shall bow, every tongue shall swear. — that unto me every knee shall bow; not only the Jews, but all nations shall worship him and submit to his laws, statutes and ordinances: which is signified by the bowing of the knee, a posture of reverence and subjection, and by one eminent part of God’s worship, swearing by his name.

²⁴Surely, shall one say, ‘In the Lord have I righteousness and strength. Even to Him shall men come, and all that are incensed against Him shall be ashamed. — shall be ashamed; the enemies of God shall see their own feebleness and folly; and they shall be ashamed that they have endeavored to oppose one so mighty and glorious as the Almighty God.

²⁵In the Lord shall all the seed of Israel be justified, and shall glory.’” — all the seed of Israel; all the spiritual seed or descendants of Jacob; all who have a character resembling that of Israel or Jacob; all who are the true children and friends of God.

Isaiah 46

¹ Bel boweth down, Nebo stoopeth; their idols were upon the beasts and upon the cattle. Your carriages were heavy laden; they are a burden to the weary beast. — Bel boweth down; Bel or Belus (בל bēl, from בעל be‛ēl, the same as בעל ba‛al was the chief god of the Babylonians and was worshipped in the celebrated tower of Babylon.

²They stoop, they bow down together; they could not deliver the burden, but themselves are gone into captivity. — the Targum understands this and the preceding clause; “they are cut off, and cut to pieces together, they could not deliver those that carried them.”

³“Hearken unto Me, O house of Jacob, and all the remnant of the house of Israel, who are borne by Me from the belly, who are carried from the womb: — hearken unto me; the prophet’s choice of words is emphatic: the false gods are borne away as a burden; the true God bears, that is, supports His people; he is able to bear their burden.

⁴And even to your old age I am He, and even to hoary hairs will I carry you. I have made, and I will bear; even I will carry, and will deliver you. — Even to your old age; the care of a mother ceases in the natural course of things before a man grows old but the fatherly, we might almost say the mother-like, maternal care of Yehovah for His chosen ones endures even to the end of life.

⁵“To whom will ye liken Me and make Me equal, and compare Me, that we may be like?

⁶They lavish gold out of the bag, and weigh silver in the balance, and hire a goldsmith, and he maketh it a god: they fall down, yea, they worship. — they who pour gold out of the bag and weigh silver with the balance, hire a goldsmith to make it into a god that they may fall down, yea, throw themselves down;

⁷They bear him upon the shoulder, they carry him and set him in his place, and he standeth. From his place shall he not remove; yea, one shall cry unto him, yet can he not answer nor save him out of his trouble. — they lift it up, carry it away upon their shoulder and set it down in its place: there it stands; from its place it does not move: men also cry to it, but it does not answer; it saves no one out of distress.

⁸“Remember this, and show yourselves men; bring it again to mind, O ye transgressors. — O ye transgressors; ye who have violated the laws of God by the worship of idols. During the time of Manasseh, the Israelites were much addicted to idolatry, and probably this is to be regarded as addressed to them.

⁹Remember the former things of old; for I am God, and there is none other; I am God, and there is none like Me,

¹⁰declaring the end from the beginning, and from ancient times the things that are not yet done, saying, ‘My counsel shall stand, and I will do all My pleasure,’ — declaring the end from the beginning; foretelling accurately the course of future events; this is an argument to which God often appeals in proof that he is the only true God.

¹¹calling a ravenous bird from the east, the man that executeth My counsel from a far country. Yea, I have spoken it, I will also bring it to pass; I have purposed it, I will also do it. — calling a ravenous bird; Cyrus is thus described as ravenous as Nebuchadnezzar is in Jeremiah 49:22, Ezekiel 17:3.

¹²“Hearken unto Me, ye stouthearted, that are far from righteousness: — ye stouthearted; the word like analogous terms in Ezekiel 2:4; Ezekiel 3:7, implies at once obduracy and ignorance.

¹³I bring near My righteousness; it shall not be far off, and My salvation shall not tarry; and I will place salvation in Zion for Israel My glory. — or Israel may be called his glory because he gives glory to them; not only grace here but glory hereafter when their salvation wilt be complete, that is, completely enjoyed.

Posted in Isaiah

Isaiah (Ch 43-44)

•March 30, 2022 • Leave a Comment

The Scriptures are often shrouded in cryptic languages; as usual a prophecy of Isaiah will start with the house of Judah and Jerusalem then spread to the house of Israel and soon it includes many prophecies concerning other nations surrounding the region. Our challenge is to decrypt them, especially as it relates to the latter days, our days.

Isaiah 43

¹But now thus saith the Lord who created thee, O Jacob, and He that formed thee, O Israel: “Fear not, for I have redeemed thee; I have called thee by thy name; thou art Mine. — the Lord that created thee; the title implies something more than “the Maker of heaven and earth.” The Almighty God, Yehovah has created Israel as specially answering for His own purpose. To “call by name” is a mark of individualising tenderness.

²When thou passest through the waters, I will be with thee; and through the rivers, they shall not overflow thee. When thou walkest through the fire, thou shalt not be burned, neither shall the flame kindle upon thee. — through troubles of any kind, that tenderness continues.

³For I am the Lord thy God, the Holy One of Israel, thy Savior; I gave Egypt for thy ransom, Ethiopia and Seba for thee. — God gave Egypt for its ransom: this was fulfilled when he smote the Egyptians, both first-born and others in Egypt and drowned Pharaoh and his host in the Red Sea, for the safety and benefit of his people.

⁴Since thou wast precious in My sight, thou hast been honorable, and I have loved thee; therefore will I give men for thee and people for thy life. — the sense is, from that time that God had chosen them for his precious and peculiar treasure and people, he has had a great esteem and affection for them.

⁵Fear not, for I am with thee; I will bring thy seed from the east and gather thee from the west; — fear not; I will bring thy seed, thy children; thy descendants; the sense is God will re-collect his scattered people from all parts of the world. The passage appears to have been taken from Deuteronomy 30:3, where God promises to gather his people together again if they should be scattered among the nations, and should then repent.

⁶I will say to the north,‘ Give up,’ and to the south, ‘Keep not back.’ Bring My sons from far and My daughters from the ends of the earth, — God will say to the north, Give up; Give up my people, or restore them to their own land.

— Bring my sons; bring all my people from the distant lands where they have been driven in their dispersion. This is a commanding passage because all lands are under the control of God and he could at once command and they would obey. He issues a command which is heard in all quarters of the globe and the scattered people of God come flocking again to their own land.

⁷even every one that is called by My name: For I have created him for My glory; I have formed him; yea, I have made him.” — everyone that is called by my name; to be called by the name of anyone is being regarded as his son since a son bears the name of his father (see Isaiah 44:5; Isaiah 48:1). The expression, therefore means all are to be regarded as the children of God.

⁸Bring forth the blind people that have eyes and the deaf that have ears. — to bring out a blind people: Heb. הוֹצִיא, like לְהוֹצִיא to bring out those currently in exile (verses 5-6 above), those minds are exiled because they became like blind; although they had eyes they did not see.

⁹Let all the nations be gathered together, and let the people be assembled. Who among them can declare this and show us former things? Let them bring forth their witnesses, that they may be justified; or let them hear and say, “It is truth.” — all the nations; rather all ye nations. Israel is a witness on the one hand a multitude of nations the other to assemble before him in Jerusalem, Zechariah 14:17 If any of the peoples of the earth do not go up to Jerusalem to worship the King, the Lord Almighty, they will have no rain. and there to celebrate the Festival of Tabernacles;

— and not Easter, which is another form of worshipping Astarte, one of the titles of the Chaldean goddess, the queen of heaven, the ancient Mesopotamian goddess of war, fertility and sex. She is featured in the Epic of Gilgamesh, and the “Ishtar Gate” was part of Nebuchadnezzar’s Babylon;

— nor Mithra or Mitra (the Sun-God whose birthday many drunks honor and celebrate on December 25th which they christianised as Christmas), Zeus and others; called “gods of the earth” in distinction from the God of heaven; and men shall worship these earthly gods, acknowledging their supremacy, everyone from his place today, Protestants or Catholics alike;

— those who rebel and continue to resist will be horsewhipped! Nar, those who resist would suffer judgement by the sword, by famine, by pestilence and spending years in captivity to repent there (for more see Ezekiel 4 – 390/40 Years and A Sword from the South!).

¹⁰“Ye are My witnesses,” saith the Lord, “and My servant whom I have chosen, that ye may know and believe Me, and understand that I am He. Before Me there was no God formed, neither shall there be after Me. — you are my witnesses, saith the Lord; the people of Israel, who could testify that the Lord had foretold their affliction in Egypt, their coming from thence and settling in the land of Canaan, many hundreds of years before they came to pass and which were exactly fulfilled.

¹¹I, even I, am the Lord, and besides Me there is no savior. — I, even I, am the Lord; the repetition of the pronoun ‘I’ makes it emphatic. The design is to affirm that there was no other being to whom the name ‘Yehovah’ pertained.

¹²I have declared and have saved, and I have shown, when there was no strange god among you; therefore ye are My witnesses,” saith the Lord, “that I am God. — God have declared; I have announced or predicted future events; I have warned of danger; I have marked out the path of safety. He had thus shown that he was the true God.

¹³Yea, before the day was, I am He, and there is none that can deliver out of My hand; I will work, and who shall turn it back?” — yea, before the day was I am he; before there was a day, before the first day of the creation; that is before time was or from all eternity, I am he that have spoken of it by all the prophets from the beginning of the world and now it is accomplished.

¹⁴Thus saith the Lord, your Redeemer, the Holy One of Israel: “For your sake I have sent to Babylon and have brought down all their nobles, and the Chaldeans, whose cry is in the ships. — the Targum paraphrases it to make the sense clearer, “because of your sins have I carried you captive unto Babylon”

— as Daniel had prayed for his people: And I prayed unto the Lord my God, and made my confession and said, “O Lord, the great and fearsome God, keeping the covenant and mercy to them that love Him and to them that keep His commandments, we have sinned and have committed iniquity, and have done wickedly and have rebelled, even by departing from Thy precepts and from Thy judgements, Dan 9:4-5.

¹⁵I am the Lord, your Holy One, the Creator of Israel, your King.” — I am the Lord, your Holy One; and therefore need not doubt of the performance of those promises: the Creator of Israel, your King; and therefore both able and willing to protect you.

¹⁶Thus saith the Lord, who maketh a way in the sea and a path in the mighty waters,

¹⁷Who bringeth forth the chariot and horse, the army and the power (they shall lie down together, they shall not rise; they are extinct, they are quenched as tow): — they shall lie down together, they shall not rise; they lay down in the Red sea where they sunk to the bottom and perished and never rose more at least to life, nor never will till the general resurrection:

— they are extinct, they are quenched as tow; or flax as the wick of a candle when put into water is quenched at once; so the Egyptian became extinct in the Red Sea.

¹⁸“Remember ye not the former things, neither consider the things of old. — so great and wonderful shall be God’s future interpositions in your behalf that what he has done great as that was shall be comparatively forgotten.

¹⁹Behold, I will do a new thing; now it shall spring forth; shall ye not know it? I will even make a way in the wilderness and rivers in the desert. — God will do a new thing; something that has not hitherto occurred, some unheard of and wonderful event that shall far surpass all that he had formerly done.

²⁰The beast of the field shall honor Me, the dragons and the owls, because I give waters in the wilderness and rivers in the desert, to give drink to My people, My chosen. — even the beast of the field shall honor Me, the dragons and the owls, for I give waters and rivers in the wilderness and the desert, how much more would give drink to My people, My chosen.

²¹This people have I formed for Myself; they shall show forth My praise. — this people have I formed for myself, that is, the elect who may include the Gentiles, compared to a desert and wilderness, distinguished from Jacob and Israel in the next verse, and the same with the chosen people before mentioned; who being chosen of God.

²²“But thou hast not called upon Me, O Jacob; but thou hast been weary of Me, O Israel. — thou hast been weary, as a people, you have been weary of me; they had accounted his laws grievous and oppressive; and they had groaned under what they regarded as burdensome rites and ceremonies;

— and so the Targum says, “and ye come not to my worship, O ye of the house of Jacob.”

²³Thou hast not brought Me the lambs or kids of thy burnt offerings, neither hast thou honored Me with thy sacrifices. I have not caused thee to serve with an offering, nor wearied thee with incense. — thou hast not brought me the small cattle of thy burnt offerings; the kids and the lambs which according to the law should have been brought for burnt offerings daily, morning and evening;

— and much less did they bring the larger cattle of burnt offerings as oxen and bullocks. The Targum renders it “the rams of thy burnt offerings”- the Septuagint version, “the sheep” – and these were not brought to him but to their idols; or however were not brought in a right way and manner or having the right principles or with the right attitudes.

²⁴Thou hast bought Me no sweet cane with money, neither hast thou filled Me with the fat of thy sacrifices. But thou hast made Me to serve with thy sins; thou hast wearied Me with thine iniquities. — thou hast made me to serve with thy sins; thou hast made me to bear the load and burden of thy sins, which are very grievous and oppressive to me, Amos 2:13.

²⁵“I, even I, am He that blotteth out thy transgressions for Mine own sake, and will not remember thy sins. — and will not remember thy sins; God forgives and forgets.

²⁶Put Me in remembrance; let us plead together; declare thou, that thou mayest be justified. — put me in remembrance, that is, remind Me of every plea which thou hast to urge before Me in thy plea.

²⁷Thy first father hath sinned, and thy teachers have transgressed against Me. — thy first father hath sinned, these words have been interpreted: (1) of Adam; (2) of Abraham; (3) of Jacob; (4) of the ancestors of Israel collectively; (5) of this or that high priest individually.

²⁸Therefore I have profaned the princes of the sanctuary, and have given Jacob to the curse and Israel to reproaches. — and have given Jacob to the curse; the Septuagint renders it, ‘I have given Jacob to be destroyed.’

Isaiah 44

¹ “Yet now hear, O Jacob My servant, and Israel, whom I have chosen. — yet now hear, O Jacob; although I have chastised thee for thy sins and had just cause utterly to destroy thee, yet in judgement I will remember mercy and will still own thee for my servant and chosen people.

²Thus saith the Lord that made thee and formed thee from the womb, who will help thee: Fear not, O Jacob, My servant, and thou, Jeshurun, whom I have chosen. — thou, Jesurun; the ideal name of Israel as “the upright one;” so the Book of Jasher is the book of the “upright” of the heroes of Israel.

³For I will pour water upon him that is thirsty, and floods upon the dry ground; I will pour My Spirit upon thy seed, and My blessing upon thine offspring. — for God will pour water upon him that is thirsty; including upon the thirsty land, as the Targum and the Syriac versions say, “in a thirsty place” as a dry land is a thirsty land; it thirsts for water, large quantities of rain to moisten it, and make it fruitful.

⁴And they shall spring up as among the grass, as willows by the watercourses. — they shall spring up as among the grass; they shall increase and flourish like grass and those herbs and plants which grow up in the midst of it.

⁵One shall say, ‘I am the Lord’s’; and another shall call himself by the name of Jacob; and another shall subscribe with his hand, ‘Unto the Lord,’ and surname himself by the name of Israel. — one shall say, I am the Lord’s, etc; there shall be an influx of proselytes;

— instead of the heathen nations looking scornfully on and uttering gibes and jeers at Israel’s fall, on seeing Israel’s rise they shall be anxious to have a part in it and shall hasten to enrol themselves among the worshippers of Yehovah;

— “One shall say, I am Yehovah’s” – while “another shall proclaim the name of Jacob,” as that in which he glories; and a third shall write on his hand, “I am Jehovah’s” and take as a surname the name of Israel.

⁶“Thus saith the Lord, the King of Israel, and his Redeemer, the Lord of hosts: I am the First, and I am the Last, and besides Me there is no God. — here God renews his contest with idols which he insists upon so oft and so much because his own people were exceeding prone to idolatry.

⁷And who, as I, shall call and shall declare it, and set it in order for Me, since I appointed the ancient people? And the things that are coming and shall come, let them show unto them. — since … ancient people; have given the house of Jacob predictions of the future ever since I appointed them as My people in ancient times; therefore they were qualified to be His witnesses.

⁸Fear ye not, neither be afraid. Have not I told thee from that time and have declared it? Ye are even My witnesses. Is there a God besides Me? Yea, there is no God. I know not any.” — is there a God besides me? that is a true God; for there were many fictitious and false deities but none omniscient and omnipotent that could foretell future events and accomplish them as he did; there is no god but the one God: the Father and Son.

⁹They that make a graven image are all of them vanity, and their delectable things shall not profit. And they are their own witnesses; they see not nor know, that they may be ashamed.

¹⁰Who hath formed a god, or molten a graven image that is profitable for nothing?

¹¹Behold, all his fellows shall be ashamed; and the workmen, they are of men. Let them all be gathered together; let them stand up; yet they shall fear, and they shall be ashamed together. — the uniqueness of God having been set forth, the prophet now turns to the images and the image-makers, overwhelming them with his scorn and ridicule.

¹²The smith with the tongs both worketh in the coals, and fashioneth it with hammers, and worketh it with the strength of his arms. Yea, he is hungry, and his strength faileth; he drinketh no water and is faint.

¹³The carpenter stretcheth out his rule; he marketh it out with a line. He fitteth it with planes, and he marketh it out with the compass, and maketh it after the figure of a man, according to the beauty of a man, that it may remain in the house.

¹⁴He heweth him down cedars, and taketh the cypress and the oak, which he strengtheneth for himself among the trees of the forest. He planteth an ash, and the rain doth nourish it. — he hews down cedars and taketh the cypress and the oak; to make gods of trees both pleasant and durable, but all useless.

¹⁵Then shall it be for a man to burn, for he will take thereof and warm himself. Yea, he kindleth it, and baketh bread; yea, he maketh a god, and worshipeth it; he maketh it a graven image, and falleth down thereto. — when shall it be for a man to burn, it will afford materials for a nice fire.

¹⁶He burneth part thereof in the fire; with part thereof he eateth flesh; he roasteth roast and is satisfied. Yea, he warmeth himself and saith, “Aha, I am warm; I have seen the fire.” — image-making is described, to expose more folly of idolaters.

¹⁷And the residue thereof he maketh a god, even his graven image. He falleth down unto it and worshipeth it, and prayeth unto it and saith, “Deliver me, for thou art my god.”

¹⁸They have not known nor understood; for He hath shut their eyes, that they cannot see, and their hearts, that they cannot understand. — they have not known nor understood; they are stupid, ignorant and blind. Nothing could more strikingly show their ignorance and stupidity than this idol worship.

¹⁹And none considereth in his heart, neither is there knowledge nor understanding to say, “I have burned part of it in the fire; yea, also I have baked bread upon the coals thereof; I have roasted flesh and eaten it. And shall I make the residue thereof an abomination? Shall I fall down to the stock of a tree?” — shall I fall down to the stock of a tree? or “the bud of a tree?” or that which is made out of a tree of my own planting, cutting down and hewing, part of which has been used to the above purposes; and the remaining lifeless log shall I worship it as a god?

²⁰He feedeth on ashes: a deceived heart hath turned him aside, that he cannot deliver his soul nor say, “Is there not a lie in my right hand?” — more pouring of scorn on idolaters; they make the gods they worship;

— they take a tree and saw it up: one log serves for a fire to cook their food, and with compass and pencil and plane they carve the figure of a man and then they bow down to it and say, ‘Deliver me, for thou art my god!’

²¹“Remember these, O Jacob and Israel, for thou art My servant. I have formed thee; thou art My servant. O Israel, thou shalt not be forgotten by Me. — remember these things which are now said about the folly of idolatry and the vanity of worshipping idols; the argument is to turn their attention to God and to lead them to put their trust in him.

²²I have blotted out, as a thick cloud, thy transgressions, and as a cloud, thy sins; return unto Me, for I have redeemed thee.” — God have blotted out as a thick cloud; as the sun commonly dissolves or the wind scatters the thickest and blackest cloud so as there is no remnant nor appearance of it left. Return from thine idolatry and other wicked practices.

²³Sing, O ye heavens, for the Lord hath done it! Shout, ye lower parts of the earth! Break forth into singing, ye mountains, O forest and every tree therein; for the Lord hath redeemed Jacob, and glorified Himself in Israel. — Sing, O ye heavens, for the Lord hath done it; done what he promised, the forgiveness of the sins of his people and the redemption of them. So the Targum says, “because the Lord hath wrought redemption for his people.”

— because the heavens are called upon to sing on this occasion as the angels of heaven did when the Redeemer was born, and who rejoice at the salvation of God’s elect, Luke 2:13, shout, ye lower parts of the earth; the earth, which is low in comparison of the heavens; the inhabitants of it especially the Gentiles, which dwelt in the lower parts of the world in comparison of Judea which lay high.

²⁴“Thus saith the Lord, thy Redeemer, and He that formed thee from the womb: I am the Lord that maketh all things, that stretcheth forth the heavens alone, that spreadeth abroad the earth by Myself; — that stretches forth the heavens alone, that spreads abroad the earth by myself; of himself and by his own strength and power;

— and he stretched out the vast space of the heavens as a curtain and spread out the earth in its length and breadth and the large surface of it to that great circumference which it has; a full proof of his proper deity! A man cannot stretch out a curtain or piece of tapestry of any size without the help of another; and much less can a creature stretch out the heavens and the earth.

²⁵that frustrateth the tokens of the liars, and maketh diviners mad, that turneth wise men backward, and maketh their knowledge foolish; — and makes their knowledge foolish; he makes them appear to be fools.

²⁶that confirmeth the word of His servant, and performeth the counsel of His messengers, that saith to Jerusalem, ‘Thou shalt be inhabited,’ and to the cities of Judah, ‘Ye shall be built, and I will raise up the decayed places thereof’; — all suppose that Jerusalem which in the prophet’s time was full of inhabitants, should be emptied of them, by the sword, famine, pestilence and captivity; yet nevertheless, there should be a return of the Jews from captivity;

— and this city should be peopled and inhabited again; and also that the cities of Judah should be laid waste, and all should be rebuilt and restored to a flourishing state again. The Lord had said it and it should be done.

²⁷that saith to the deep, ‘Be dry, and I will dry up thy rivers’; — that saith to the deep, be dry; the Targum says, “that saith to Babylon, be desolate.”

²⁸that saith of Cyrus, ‘He is My shepherd and shall perform all My pleasure,’ even saying to Jerusalem, ‘Thou shalt be built,’ and to the temple, ‘Thy foundation shall be laid.’ — that saith of Cyrus; this is the first time in which Cyrus is expressly named by Isaiah, though he is often referred to. Here is mentioned expressly by name and it was fulfilled about two hundred years later.

Posted in Isaiah

Who Are the Gypsies?

•March 28, 2022 • Leave a Comment

Who are the Gypsies? Who are the Romani people?

In the English language, the Romani people are widely known as Gypsies which is considered pejorative by many Romani people due to its connotations of illegality and irregularity as well as its historical use as a racial slur. But not so in Britain where many Romani proudly identify themselves as “Gypsies.” There the the English term Gypsy, or Gipsy, are known to have originated from the Middle English gypcian, which is short for Egipcien.

In Europe, Romani people are associated with poverty and blamed for high crime rates. Often thy make their living as wandering musicians and singers and are also accused of behaving in ways that are perceived as being antisocial or misappropriate by the rest of the population. Many saw them and continue to do so in many cases as dirty, thieving and undesirable, others as artistic, romantic and carefree, and they gained an often justified reputation as pickpockets, thieves and works of sorceries, astrologers, stargazers and soothsayers.

Wiki: Distribution of (about 10 million) Egipciens in Europe

In France, they are referred to as gitanes, in Spain they are called gitanos, and in Germany, zigeuner. Partly for this reason, discrimination against the Romani people has continued to be practiced to the present day.

Spain became the first country to issue an edict against the Gypsies in 1490, prohibiting their dress, language and customs in an effort to forcibly assimilate them, but it only made them keep a lower profile. France and England enacted expulsion orders in the 1530s, and many countries in central Europe forced the Gypsies into slavery, leaving them no choice but to continue their nomadic existence.

In the 20th century, the Gypsies faced a much more sinister foe than medieval villagers in the form of Adolf Hitler and the Nazis, who decided that all Gypsies must be exterminated. They were accused of many crimes that the Jews were also blamed for, including such things as child abduction and cannibalism. During the war, besides being occasionally rounded up, they were also often simply killed on sight. When World War II was over, a million were estimated had perished at the hands of the Nazis.

So who are these vagrant Gypsies? Could their fates have been found in the Scriptures?

Yes, they could be found in the Scriptures. They were they descendants of the Pharaoh and their princes of the royal city of Zoan. The majority traveled as free nomads with their wagons as alluded to in the spoked wheel symbol in the Romani flag, and they pride themselves having remained a tight knit community of families and as wise vagrants but were often considered as experts in wizardry and witchcrafts by their hosts.

Below are the Scriptures that are written of them:

Where are thy wise men? Where are the Egipciens? Scattered around the world now

Ezekiel 29, concerning ALL Egypt:

² “Son of man, set thy face against Pharaoh king of Egypt, and prophesy against him and against all Egypt.

³ Speak, and say, ‘Thus saith the Lord God: “‘Behold, I am against thee, Pharaoh king of Egypt, the great dragon that lieth in the midst of his rivers, which hath said, “My river is mine own, and I have made it for myself.”

⁴ But I will put hooks in thy jaws, and I will cause the fish of thy rivers to stick unto thy scales; and I will bring thee up out of the midst of thy rivers, and all the fish of thy rivers shall stick unto thy scales.

⁵And I will leave thee thrown into the wilderness, thee and all the fish of thy rivers; thou shalt fall upon the open fields. Thou shalt not be brought together, nor gathered. I have given thee for meat to the beasts of the field and to the fowls of the heaven.

⁶And all the inhabitants of Egypt shall know that I am the Lord, because they have been a staff of reed to the house of Israel.

But it would be for Egypt after facing God’s judgement for a period of forty years!

¹² And I will make the land of Egypt desolate in the midst of the countries that are desolate, and her cities among the cities that are laid waste shall be desolate forty years; and I will scatter the Egyptians among the nations and will disperse them through the countries.

¹³ “‘Yet thus saith the Lord God: At the end of forty years will I gather the Egyptians from the people whither they were scattered.

¹⁴ And I will bring back the captives of Egypt and will cause them to return into the land of Pathros, into the land of their habitation, and they shall be there a base kingdom.

¹⁵It shall be the least of the kingdoms, neither shall it exalt itself any more above the nations; for I will diminish them, that they shall no more rule over the nations.

In Isaiah 19:1,11, concerning the Princes of Egypt who were wise in their own eyes:

¹ The burden of Egypt: Behold, the Lord rideth upon a swift cloud, and shall come into Egypt; and the idols of Egypt shall be moved at His presence, and the heart of Egypt shall melt in the midst of it.

¹¹ Surely the princes of Zoan are fools; the counsel of the wise counselors of Pharaoh has become brutish. How say ye unto Pharaoh, “I am the son of the wise, the son of ancient kings”?

From “Gypsy” entertainers to “Romani” musicians

— surely the princes of Zoan (or Tanis as the Targum says), a city of Lower Egypt, known as “the royal city of the Pharaohs, “it was then the royal city and at one time the capital of the country, who claimed “we are the sons of wise men” are fools, the counsel of the wise counselors of Pharaoh is become brutish, the priestly counselors of the Egyptian king had lost all their wisdom;

— how say ye unto Pharaoh, I am the son of the wise, the son of ancient kings? In spite of the fact that they boasted their descent from wise and ancient counselors, even of royalty, they were unable to offer advice in their crisis to their Pharaoh;

¹²Where are they? Where are thy wise men? And let them tell thee now, and let them know what the Lord of hosts hath purposed upon Egypt.

— and God challenge them; where are they? where are their wise men? And, let them tell thee now, in a certain prophecy, and let them know what the Lord of hosts hath purposed upon Egypt, and it has deep consequences;

Isaiah 30:

⁴ For his princes were at Zoan, and his ambassadors came to Hanes.

— for Pharaoh’s princes were at Zoan, known as “the royal city of the Pharaohs” which is the same as Tanis, the metropolis of one of the provinces of Egypt; and so the Targum renders it, “Tanes” and the Septuagint version, “Tanis.” The Jews say there is not a more excellent place in all Egypt than Zoan, because kings were brought up in it, as it is said here, “his princes were at Zoan.”

— and more on Zoan: today, Gypsies are known as Roma, but in Hebrew, their name is derived from the Egyptian city of Zoan, or Tanis, at one time the royal and capital of the country; and this is from Wikipedia (Romani people);

Hebrew: צוענים‎, romanized: Tzoanim. Derives either from the biblical Egyptian city of Zoan, or from the linguistic root צ־ע־נ‎, meaning “wander.”

— the other called “Hanes” is the same with Tahapanes in Jeremiah 2:16 and Tahpanhes, Jeremiah 43:7 and so the Targum here calls it; it is thought to be the same with Daphnae Pelusiae; here Pharaoh had a house or palace; see Jeremiah 43:9 and this is the reason of the ambassadors (the Jeremiah’s entourage and the king’s daughters, after escaping from Ishmael, the son of Nethaniah, who smote Gedaliah the governor and who might also kill them) from the “children of God” had gone there.

Gypsy women were adored for their beauty and seductive charms:
“And they shall know that I am the Lord.”

Ezekiel 32:

¹⁸“Son of man, wail for the multitude of Egypt and cast them down, even her and the daughters of the famous nations, unto the nether parts of the earth with them that go down into the pit.

— “wail for the multitude of Egypt and cast them down. . . unto the nether parts of the earth” — the Gypsies, an ethnic group and were considered ‘wanderers’ or vagrants, an traditionally itinerant people now living in various parts of central Europe and the Balkans (Romania, Bulgaria, Serbia, Montenegro, Macedonia, Croatia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Slovenia, the Czech and Slovak republics, and Hungary) and Southern France, as well as Turkey;

— but the Gypsies, in one opinion, were alleged to have originated from northern India. Proofs are scanty, and are subjected to dispute; but if so, they were captured by Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon and perhaps some were brought to Persia and around the lower Euphrates region, where they could have migrated further eastward to the Indian subcontinent. Having arrived in the Punjab region their ancestors followed Hinduism; that they were identified as worshippers of the Hindu Goddess Kali and Lord Shiva.

— according to their proponents, the Romani people occupied the lowest rung on the Indian caste system of early medieval India, where they were classified as the untouchables and were subjected to discrimination and were also assigned society’s dirtiest jobs. Hence it could be for this reason that they continued to migrate westward first to the Balkans in Eastern Europe and then beyond, but nothing is proven, as Wiki also tells us, “There is also no known record of a migration from India to Europe from medieval times that can be connected indisputably to Roma.”

Still, if such legend is true, evidence point to the fact that perhaps at least a thousand years earlier, they had been dispersed during the conquest of Egypt by Nebuchadnezzar (reign 605–562 BC) and were scattered around various countries. That’s right, into many countries. That vast majority might not had been brought to Persia but scattered elsewhere, perhaps straight to Syria, Anatolia and into the Balkans and beyond. And back to some Scriptures from Ezekiel that say about the Egyptians being scattered, dispersed and dispossessed:

Ezekiel 29:

¹² “and I will scatter the Egyptians among the nations and will disperse them through the countries.”

¹⁹ Therefore thus saith the Lord God: Behold, I will give the land of Egypt unto Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon; and he shall take her multitude, and take her spoil, and take her prey; and it shall be the wages for his army.

— today, Gypsies are also known as Roma, but in Hebrew, their name is derived from the Egyptian city of Zoan, known as “the royal city of the Pharaohs” or Tanis (as the Targum says), at one time the royal and capital of the country; and in the English literature, described as “outlandish people calling themselves Egyptians.” And this is from Wikipedia (Romani people):

The English term Gypsy (or Gipsy) originates from the Middle English gypcian, short for Egipcien; the medieval French referred the Romanies as Egyptiens.

Hebrew: צוענים‎, romanized: Tzoanim. Derives either from the biblical Egyptian city of Zoan, or from the linguistic root צ־ע־נ‎, meaning “wander”

— and from the French entry:

French: gitan/tsigane, English gypsy, gipsy / dʒɪpsiː/, Irish: giofóg, Spanish/Catalan/Italian gitano, Basque: ijito, Turkish: çingene, all from Greek: Αἰγύπτιος, romanized: Aigýptios “Egyptian” (corrupted form: Γύφτος, Gýftos), and Hungarian: fáraónépe from Greek: φαραώ, romanized: pharaó “pharaoh” – referring to their allegedly Egyptian provenance.

Of significance is that the Gypsies were known as Gypcians or Egipciens in Middle English; the medieval French referred the Romanies as Egyptiens; in Hebrew as Tzoanim and Pharaó in Greek.

And finally in Ezekiel 30:

²⁶ “And I will scatter the Egyptians among the nations and disperse them among the countries; and they shall know that I am the Lord.” — ‘scatter and disperse’ repeated in Ezekiel 29:12 and 30:23

In Europe, Gypsies were expelled from the Meissen region of Germany in 1416, Lucerne in 1471, Milan in 1493, France in 1504, Catalonia in 1512, Sweden in 1525, England in 1530, and Denmark in 1536. From 1510 onwards, any Romani found in Switzerland were to be executed, while in England (beginning in 1554) and Denmark (beginning of 1589) any Romani which did not leave within a month were to be executed. Portugal began deportations of Romanis to its colonies in 1538.

in France, they were branded, and their heads were shaved; in Moravia and Bohemia, the women were marked by their ears being severed. As a result, large groups of the Romani moved to the East, toward Poland, which was more tolerant, and Russia, where the Romani were treated more fairly as long as they paid the annual taxes.

The Egyptians Act 1530 was an English Act passed to expel the “outlandish people calling themselves Egyptians” meaning the Gypsies. The Act accused Gypsies of using crafty and subtle devices to deceive people, palmistry, tell fortunes whilst committing felonies such as robbery; and goods which Gypsies had stolen were to be restored to their owners. The statute forbade any more Gypsies from entering the realm and those already in England sixteen days’ notice to depart from the realm.

Not able to cover Gypsies who were born in England or those who came by way of Scotland another Egyptians Act 1554 was passed during the reign of Queen Mary I to reinforce their complaint that “Egyptians” were plying their “devilish and naughty practices and devices.” The new Act allowed Gypsies to escape prosecution so long as they abandoned their nomadic lifestyle described as “naughty, idle and ungodly.” Gypsies were either forced to settle down, exit the realm or face potential death at the will of the Crown.

Queen Mary I of England, Reign: July 1553 – November 1558

The Egyptians were scattered (Ezekiel 29:12,19) by Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon (reign 605–562 BC) and after forty years (Ezekiel 29:13) some were brought back to their own land but only as a base nation. Others, especially who were of the Pharaohs and their princes, remain scattered throughout the world today these vagrants are known as the Romani people.

— after being scattered and dispersed among the nation “they shall know that I am the Lord,” reaffirms their survival at the end, coming into repentance by then knowing that the God of Israel is both omniscient and omnipotent. In fact, this phase “and they shall know that I am the Lord,” is repeated four times (verses 8, 19, 25, 26) in this chapter alone, reaffirming emphatically they’ll survive through the Lord’s redemption at the end.

For some Gypsies stories experienced in Europe, see A Brief Introduction to Gypsies UNZ Review by Larry Romanoff / April 22, 2022

Posted in Ezekiel, Isaiah, Scriptures Studies

Isaiah (Ch 41-42)

•March 26, 2022 • 1 Comment

The Targum is an indispensable source of understanding the Bible. Started by Ezra for those returning Jews from Babylon and for these returnees they could only understand the Sacred Text in Aramaic; hence the Targum is as if Ezra is speaking to us from the verses quoted. And in Isaiah 42:1 the Targum identifies “my servant” as “the Messiah.”

Isaiah 41

¹ “Keep silence before Me, O islands, and let the people renew their strength; let them come near, then let them speak; let us come near together to judgement. — O islands; this word properly means islands and is so translated here by the Septuagint and the Syriac. But the word also is used to denote maritime countries; Countries that were situated on seacoasts or the regions beyond sea.

² “Who raised up the righteous man from the east, called him to His foot, gave the nations before him, and made him rule over kings? He gave them as the dust to his sword, and as driven stubble to his bow.— who raised up the righteous man from the east; the Targum interprets this of Abraham, and so the Talmud; he was a righteous man, was raised up out of an idolatrous family from Ur of the Chaldees, on the other side the river Euphrates, which lay east of Judea.

³He pursued them, and passed safely, even by the way that he had not gone with his feet.

⁴ Who hath wrought and done it, calling the generations from the beginning? I, the Lord, the first, and with the last; I am He.” — Can any heathen god raise up one in righteousness, make what use of him he pleases and make him victorious over the nations? The Lord did so with Abraham; and more so he would do so with Cyrus, anointing him as king even before he was born.

⁵ The isles saw it, and feared; the ends of the earth were afraid, drew near, and came. — the isles saw it; the distant nations saw what was done in the conquests of the man whom God in this remarkable manner had raised up; and they had had demonstration, therefore, of the mighty power of God above the power of idols;

— and feared; were alarmed, and trembled. All were apprehensive that they would be subdued, and driven away as with the tempest.

⁶They helped every one his neighbor, and every one said to his brother, “Be of good courage.” — they helped everyone his neighbor; the idea is that these idolatrous nations formed confederations to strengthen each other, and to oppose him whom God had raised up to subdue them;

— the prophet Isaiah describes a state of general consternation existing among them when they supposed that all was in danger and that their security consisted only in confederation; in increased attention to their religion; in repairing their idols and making new ones and in conciliating the favor and securing the aid of their gods.

⁷So the carpenter encouraged the goldsmith, and he that smootheth with the hammer, him that smote the anvil, saying, “It is ready for the soldering”; and he fastened it with nails, that it should not be moved. — the carpenter, who brought wood to compose the body of the idol;

— the goldsmith who was to prepare golden plates for covering and adorning of the image which some of them beat out upon the anvil and others smoothed or polished as it is ready for the soldering; that we may put the several parts together and set it up to be worshipped. He fastened it to the wall or pillar, lest it should fall down, or be carried away from them.

⁸ “But thou, Israel, art My servant, Jacob whom I have chosen, the seed of Abraham My friend. — but thou Israel art my servant; thus the Gentiles show themselves to be the servants of their idols and own them for their gods: but Jacob art my people and I am and will be thy God.

⁹Thou whom I have taken from the ends of the earth, and called thee from the chief men thereof, and said unto thee, ‘Thou art My servant; I have chosen thee and not cast thee away’— Abraham, the father of the Jews, taken from the remote Ur of the Chaldees. Others take it of Israel, called out of Egypt.

¹⁰ fear thou not, for I am with thee; be not dismayed, for I am thy God. I will strengthen thee; yea, I will help thee; yea, I will uphold thee with the right hand of My righteousness. — fear thou not; this promise is plain in its meaning and is full of consolation;

— it is to be regarded as addressed primarily to the exiled Jews during their long and painful captivity in Babylon; and the idea is that they who had been selected by God to be his special people had nothing to fear.

¹¹ Behold, all they that were incensed against thee shall be ashamed and confounded; they shall be as nothing, and they that strive with thee shall perish. — all they that were incensed against thee; they who were enraged against thee, that is, the Chaldeans or other enemies who made war upon you and reduced you to bondage, shall be ashamed and confounded.

¹² Thou shalt seek them and shalt not find them, even them that contended with thee. They that war against thee shall be as nothing, and as a thing of nought. — thou shalt seek them; this denotes that it would be impossible to find them for they should cease to exist. The whole verse is emphatic, repeating in varied terms what was said before and meaning that their foes should be entirely destroyed.

¹³For I, the Lord thy God, will hold thy right hand, saying unto thee, ‘Fear not; I will help thee.’

¹⁴ “Fear not, thou worm Jacob and ye men of Israel; I will help thee,” saith the Lord and thy Redeemer, the Holy One of Israel. — fear not, thou worm Jacob; the servant of the Almighty is reminded that he has no strength of his own but is “as a worm, and no man” (Psalm 22:6);

— Jacob had not been chosen because he was a great and mighty nation for Israel was “the fewest of all people” (Deuteronomy 7:7). As if to emphasise this the prophet speaks of God-given strength.

¹⁵ “Behold, I will make thee a new sharp threshing instrument having teeth; thou shalt thresh the mountains and beat them small, and shalt make the hills as chaff. — behold, I will make thee a new sharp threshing instrument, having teeth;

— the Septuagint renders it “as the new threshing wheels of a cart in the manner of saws” for corn was threshed out by drawing a cart with wheels over it, which wheels were stuck with teeth or spikes of iron; or by a cart or sledge filled with stones to press it down, and at the bottom with iron teeth, which being drawn to and fro by oxen over the sheaves, separated the grain from the husk.

¹⁶ Thou shalt fan them, and the wind shall carry them away, and the whirlwind shall scatter them; and thou shalt rejoice in the Lord, and shalt glory in the Holy One of Israel. — to fan means to winnow, an operation which was performed by throwing the threshed grain up with a shovel into the air so that the wind drove the chaff away. So all their enemies, and all the obstacles which were in their way should be scattered.

¹⁷ “When the poor and needy seek water, and there is none and their tongue faileth for thirst, I, the Lord, will hear them; I, the God of Israel, will not forsake them. — the poor and needy; the promise may perhaps take as its starting-point the succour given to the return of the exiles, but it rises rapidly into the region of a higher poetry, in which earthly things are the parables of heavenly and does not call for a literal fulfilment any more than “wines of the lees.”

¹⁸ I will open rivers in high places and fountains in the midst of the valleys; I will make the wilderness a pool of water and the dry land springs of water. — I will open rivers; the words have all the emphasis of varied iteration. Every shape of the physical contour of the country, bare hills, arid steppes and the like, is to be transformed into a new beauty by water in the form adapted to each: streamlets, rivers, lakes and springs.

¹⁹ I will plant in the wilderness the cedar, the acacia tree, and the myrtle and the oil tree; I will set in the desert the fir tree, and the pine and the box tree together, — I will plant in the wilderness; a picture as of the Paradise of God (Isaiah 51:3), with its groves of stately trees, completes the vision of the future.

²⁰that they may see and know, and consider and understand together, that the hand of the Lord hath done this, and the Holy One of Israel hath created it.

²¹ “Produce your cause,” saith the Lord; “bring forth your strong reasons,” saith the King of Jacob. — bring forth your strong reasons, saith the King of Jacob; the true Israel of God, who acknowledge the Lord as their King and their God and whom he rules over, protects and defends;

— and this title is assumed for the comfort of them, that though he is King over all the nations of the world, yet in an eminent and peculiar sense their King; and he does not style himself the God of Jacob.

²² “Let them bring them forth and show us what shall happen; let them show the former things, what they be, that we may consider them and know the latter end of them; or declare us things to come. — God claims that the power of predicting the future is his own inalienable prerogative; let them show us what will happen;

— He defies the idol-gods and their votaries to give any clear prediction of future events; no doubt the claim to possess the power was made very generally among the idolatrous nations who almost universally practised based upon frauds and cunning deceits.

²³ Show the things that are to come hereafter, that we may know that ye are gods: yea, do good or do evil, that we may be dismayed and behold it together. — that we may know that ye are gods; the prediction of future events is the highest evidence of omniscience and divinity; and it would prove that they were worthy of adoration; and it is demanded, that if they were gods they should be able to make such a prediction as would demonstrate that they were invested with a divine nature.

²⁴Behold, ye are of nothing, and your work of nought; an abomination is he that chooseth you. — behold, ye are of nothing, or ‘Worse than nothing.’ This refers to idols; and the idea is that they were utterly vain and powerless, unable to render aid to their worshippers as absolute nothingness would be and all their confidence in them was vain and foolish.

²⁵ “I have raised up one from the north, and he shall come; from the rising of the sun shall he call upon My name. And he shall come upon princes as upon mortar, and as the potter treadeth clay. — I have raised up one, that is, Cyrus; in the previous verses God had shown that the idols had no power of predicting future events;

— He stakes, so to speak, the question of his divinity on that point and the whole controversy between him and them is to be decided by the inquiry whether they had the power of foretelling what would come to pass, power to foretell future events. In this he appeals to the fact that he had raised up Cyrus in accordance with his predictions and in such a way that it would be distinctly seen that he had this power of foretelling future events.

²⁶ Who hath declared from the beginning, that we may know? And beforetime, that we may say, ‘He is righteous’? Yea, there is none that showeth, yea, there is none that declareth, yea, there is none that heareth your words. — who hath declared from the beginning; the meaning of this passage is ‘there is no one among the soothsayers and the worshippers of idols who has predicted the birth, the character and the conquests of Cyrus.

²⁷ The first shall say to Zion, ‘Behold, behold them!’ And I will give to Jerusalem one that bringeth good tidings. — the first; I who am the first as I said before, Isaiah 41:4, and therefore capable of declaring or foretelling things to come from the beginning which your idols cannot do, Isaiah 41:26.

²⁸ For I beheld, and there was no man, even among them; and there was no counselor that, when I asked of them, could answer a word.

²⁹ Behold, they are all vanity! Their works are nothing; their molten images are wind and confusion. — for I beheld and there was no man; that is, no one who had foretold the future. Yehovah, speaking through the prophet, looks round in vain for that.

Isaiah 42

¹ “Behold My Servant, whom I uphold, Mine Elect, in whom My soul delighteth: I have put My Spirit upon Him; He shall bring forth judgement to the Gentiles. — Behold my servant whom I uphold; the word ‘servant’ may be applied either to Isaiah, Cyrus, or the Messiah; and the question to whom it refers here is to be decided in the Targum, which says, “behold, my servant, the Messiah;”

— this is the King Messiah; nor of Cyrus, nor of the people of Israel but of Christ as it is applied, Matthew 12:17 who is spoken of under the character of a “servant” as he is; not as a divine Being for as such he is the Son of God; but as man and in his office as Mediator; a servant of the Lord but of his divine Father; who chose him, called and sent him and assigned him his work;

— which was principally the redemption of his people and which he diligently, faithfully and fully performed; in which he was “upheld” as man and Mediator by his Father, not only in his being as man but was strengthened and helped in his mediatorial service so that he did not sink under the mighty weight of the sins of his people or of the wrath of God:

— this prophecy is ushered in with a “behold” exciting attention to what is said concerning Christ as of the greatest importance; directing the eye of faith to him for righteousness and salvation; and as expressive of admiration at him that he who was the Son of God should become a servant and undertake the salvation of men;

— he shall bring forth judgement to the Gentiles; the Gospel, the Kingdom of God, whose judgement is according to truth; the rule of human judgement in things spiritual and saving and by which the Son of God judges and rules in the hearts of his people; this he brought forth out of his Father’s bosom, out of his own heart and published it in person to the Jews and by his apostles to the converted by it, became subject to his rule and government. Gentiles, who being converted by it, became subject to his rule and government.

— the Targum, which identifies “my servant” as “the Messiah” is an indispensable source of understanding the Bible. Started by Ezra for those returning Jews from Babylon and for these returnees they could only understand the Hebrew Text in Aramaic; hence the Targum is as if Ezra is speaking to us from the verses quoted.

²He shall not cry, nor lift up, nor cause His voice to be heard in the street. — He shall not cry; either in a way of contention as anger is oft accompanied with clamour or in a way of ostentation. It seems to be meant both ways;

— He shall neither erect nor manage his kingdom with violence and outward pomp and state as Worldly princes do, but with meekness and humility; nor lift up his voice which is easily understood out of the following clause and from many other scriptures where that word is added to this verb to complete the phrase;

— nor cause his voice to be heard in the street; as contentious or in a menacing manner or like vain-glorious preachers frequently do.

³A bruised reed shall He not break, and the smoking flax shall He not quench; He shall bring forth judgement unto truth. — bruised: “It pleased the Lord to bruise Him” (Isa 53:5,10); so He can feel for the bruised; reed—fragile: easily “shaken with the wind”

— and although he favours the weak yet will he not spare the wicked but will judge them according to truth and equity.

⁴He shall not fail nor be discouraged, till He hath set judgement in the earth; and the isles shall wait for His law.” — fail; faint; man in religion may become as the almost expiring flax-wick but not so He in His purposes of grace; discouraged; literally, “broken,” that is, checked in zeal by discouragements;

— isles … wait; the distant lands beyond sea shall put their trust in His gospel way of salvation; may refer to the fact that the populations of which the Church was primarily formed were Gentiles of the countries bordering on the Mediterranean.

⁵Thus saith God the Lord—He that created the heavens and stretched them out, He that spread forth the earth and that which cometh out of it, He that giveth breath unto the people upon it, and spirit to them that walk therein: — thus saith God the Lord; the God of the world, as the Targum says;

— this, with what follows is a preface to the call of the Messiah to the great work of redemption; setting forth the greatness of God as a Creator, that calls him to it and thereby encouraging him as man and Mediator in it as well as their Saviour and Redeemer.

⁶“I, the Lord, have called Thee in righteousness, and will hold Thine hand, and will keep Thee, and give Thee for a covenant of the people, for a light of the Gentiles; — for a light of the Gentiles; ‘light’ is the emblem of knowledge, instruction and of the true religion. The Messiah is often called ‘light,’ and the ‘light of the world.’

⁷to open the blind eyes, to bring out the prisoners from the prison, and them that sit in darkness out of the prison house. — to open the blind eyes; this is equivalent to saying that he would impart instruction to those who were ignorant; it relates to the Jews as well as to the Gentiles; of the world which is often represented as one of darkness and blindness; He would acquaint them with God and with the way of salvation.

⁸I am the Lord; that is My name. And My glory will I not give to another, neither My praise to graven images. — I am the Lord; Hebrew, Yehovah; who have all being in and of myself and give being to all my creatures. The everlasting, unchangeable and omnipotent God, who therefore both can and will fulfil all my promises;

— that is my name which I must own and justify to the world; will I not give; I will not allow it to ascribed to another; and my glory will I not give to another; that is to another god, to a strange god, to an idol; I will not allow another to assume or receive the honor which is due to me;

— God’s name is the four-letter Hebrew word יהוה‎ YHVH Yehovah (not Jehovah since the letter J wasn’t around but only after the sixteenth century; (more on this at the end)

⁹“Behold, the former things are come to pass, and new things do I declare; before they spring forth I tell you of them.” — behold, the former things are come to pass; that is the former things which he had foretold. He had by his prophets foretold events which had now been fulfilled and this should lead them to confide in him alone as the true God;

— and new things do I declare; things pertaining to future events relating to the stewardship of the Messiah and to the universal prevalence of his religious truth in the world.

¹⁰Sing unto the Lord a new song and His praise from the end of the earth, ye that go down to the sea and all that is therein, the isles and the inhabitants thereof. — new song; such as has never before been sung, called for by a new manifestation of God’s omnipotence;

— to express which no hymn for former mercies would be appropriate. The new song shall be sung when the Lord shall reign in Jerusalem and all “nations shall flow unto it” (Isa 2:2; 26:1; Re 5:9; 14:3).

¹¹Let the wilderness and the cities thereof lift up their voice, the villages that Kedar doth inhabit. Let the inhabitants of the rock sing; let them shout from the top of the mountains. — let the inhabitants of the rock sing; it is uncertain whether the word ‘rock’ here (Hebrew, סלע sela‛, Greek Πέτραν Petran, ‘Petra’ or ‘rock’) is to be regarded as a proper name or to denote in a general sense those who dwell in the rocky part of Arabia;

— Kedar was a son of Ishmael, the father of the Kedarenians or Cedrei; they often changed their place in the neighborhood of Petra, or Sela, as they were the names of the celebrated city that was the capital of Idumea; also the capital of the Nabatheans, and the connection here would rather lead us to suppose that this city was intended here, and that the inhabitants of the capital were called upon to join with the dwellers in the surrounding cities and villages in celebrating the omnipotence of God.

¹²Let them give glory unto the Lord, and declare His praise in the islands. — and declare his praise in the islands; as on the western continent and the isles of it; so on the eastern continent and the islands of it, the islands of Greece, the islands in the Aegean sea.

¹³The Lord shall go forth as a mighty man; He shall stir up jealousy like a man of war. He shall cry, yea, roar; He shall prevail against His enemies. — our Lord the Almighty, Yehovah will no longer restrain His wrath: He will go forth as a mighty warrior (Ex 15:3) to destroy His people’s and His enemies and to deliver Israel and His elects.

¹⁴“I have long time held My peace; I have been still and refrained Myself. Now will I cry like a travailing woman; I will destroy and devour at once. — cry like a travailing woman who after having restrained her breathing for a time at last overcome with labor pain lets out her voice with a panting sigh; so Yehovah will give full vent to His long pent-up wrath; I will at once breathe hard and pant, namely, giving loose to My wrath.

¹⁵I will make waste mountains and hills, and dry up all their herbs; and I will make the rivers islands, and I will dry up the pools. — I will make waste mountains and hills; not dry and barren ones for these were waste already but such as are clothed with grass and herbs as the following words imply; which is to be understood metaphorically of God’s destroying his most lofty and flourishing enemies who are oft compared in Scripture unto mountains and hills.

¹⁶And I will bring the blind by a way that they knew not; I will lead them in paths that they have not known. I will make darkness light before them, and crooked things straight. These things will I do unto them, and not forsake them. — and I will bring the blind by a way that they knew not; the Targum interprets this of the people of Israel, thus “I will lead the house of Israel which are like to the blind in a way which they knew not.”

¹⁷They shall be turned back, they shall be greatly ashamed, that trust in graven images, that say to the molten images, ‘Ye are our gods.’ — they shall be turned back; from their former course, from their idolatry and their idols and be converted and turn to the living God; and should fly to the rocks and mountains to hide and cover them from the wrath of God; for this phrase is used of the overthrow of enemies of their being obliged to turn their backs and flee.

¹⁸“Hear, ye deaf; and look, ye blind, that ye may see. — as in verse 16, the Targum interprets this of the people of Israel, who are blind; and deaf here.

¹⁹Who is blind, but My servant? Or deaf, as My messenger that I sent? Who is blind as he that is perfect, and blind as the Lord’s servant?” — Who is blind, but my servant? – these words continues to be spoken to both the house of Israel and the house of Judah; who are so blind and deaf as Israel is, the servant of the Lord, his messenger and an imperfect one as he is called.

²⁰seeing many things, but thou observest not, opening the ears, but he heareth not.”

²¹The Lord is well pleased for His righteousness’ sake; He will magnify the law and make it honorable. — He will magnify and elaborate what the law means; how to keep them: the law, the statutes and all the ordinances, including all his promises and pledges, in spirit and in truth.

²²But this is a people robbed and spoiled; they are all of them snared in holes, and they are hid in prison houses. They are for a prey, and none delivereth; for a spoil, and none saith, “Restore.” — for a spoil, and none saith, restore; there is none to be an advocate for them; no one that asks for their restoration;

— for almost almost two thousand years they have been in this condition and yet none of the kings and princes of the earth have issued a proclamation for their return to their own land as Cyrus did; and no one moves for it, either from among themselves or others.

²³Who among you will give ear to this? Who will hearken and hear for the time to come? — who among you will give ear to this? – who is there in the nation that will be so warned by the judgements of God, that he will attend to the lessons which he designs to teach, and repents his life and return to him?

²⁴Who gave Jacob for a spoil and Israel to the robbers? Did not the Lord, He against whom we have sinned? For they would not walk in His ways, neither were they obedient unto His law. — it was Yehovah, the God of their fathers and of their nation who had brought this calamity upon them. It was not the work of chance but it was the immediate and direct act of God on account of their sins.

²⁵Therefore He hath poured upon him the fury of His anger and the strength of battle; and it hath set him on fire round about, yet he knew not; and it burned him, yet he laid it not to heart. — yet he knew not; they refused to attend to it nor lay it to heart. They pursued their ways of wickedness, regardless of the threatening judgements and the impending wrath of God given by his prophets. They did not consider that these evils were inflicted for their crimes nor did they turn from their wicked ways when they were thus threatened with the wrath of God.

~~~

More on God’s name, Yehovah.

The following verses with the LORD erred in translation. His name Yehovah should be used:

I am the LORD; that is My name. And My glory will I not give to another, neither My praise to graven images. Isaiah 42:8
And it shall come to pass, that whosoever shall call on the name of the LORD shall be delivered; for in Mount Zion and in Jerusalem shall be deliverance, as the LORD hath said, and in the remnant whom the LORD shall call. Joel 2:32
“I am sought of them that asked not for Me; I am found of them that sought Me not. I said, ‘Behold Me, behold Me,’ unto a nation that was not called by My name. Isaiah 65:1

When we call our God, the LORD, we err, because his name is not the LORD, which is a title. His name is YEHOVAH! May We all ask for his forgiveness, and may Our merciful God forgive us all.

Posted in Isaiah

Isaiah (Ch 39-40)

•March 24, 2022 • Leave a Comment

Isaiah 39

¹At that time Merodachbaladan, the son of Baladan, king of Babylon, sent letters and a present to Hezekiah; for he had heard that he had been sick and had recovered. — he sent letters and a present to Hezekiah; by his ambassadors, the purport of which their spies and secret agents were to congratulate him upon his recovery, and to inquire concerning the miracle that was wrought in his land; either the destruction of the Assyrian army in one night by an angel;

— or rather the sun’s going back ten degrees; as Josephus says, to enter into an alliance with him; and this seems to be the true reason of sending these ambassadors; desirous of entering into a league with Hezekiah.

²And Hezekiah was glad with them, and showed them the house of his precious things — the silver and the gold, and the spices and the precious ointment, and all the house of his armor, and all that was found in his treasures. There was nothing in his house nor in all his dominion that Hezekiah showed them not. — shewed them the house of his precious things; this fixes the date of the embassy at a time prior to the payment to Sennacherib (II Kings 18:15-16), unless we were to assume that the treasury had been replenished by the gifts that followed on the destruction of Sennacherib’s army;

— but this, as we have seen is at variance with both the received and the rectified chronology. The display was obviously something more than the ostentation showing of his treasures. It was practically a display of the resources of the kingdom, intended to impress the Babylonian ambassadors, spies and secret agents, with a sense of his importance as an ally;

— the silver and the gold; large quantities of not only which he and his predecessors had laid up, which had been very lately greatly exhausted by the demand of three hundred talents of silver, and thirty talents of gold by the king of Assyria; to answer which Hezekiah had given all the silver in the temple and in the treasures of the king’s house, and was so drove by necessity, that he cut off the gold from the doors and pillars of the temple, II Kings 18:14,

— so that it might be reasonable to ask, how came he so soon by all this treasure? it is possible that some part of the royal treasure might be unalienable, and he might have since received presents from his own nobles and from foreign princes; but this was chiefly from the spoils found in the Assyrian camp after the angel had made such a slaughter of them, II Kings 19:35.

³Then came Isaiah the prophet unto King Hezekiah and said unto him, “What said these men? And from whence came they unto thee?” And Hezekiah said, “They have come from a far country unto me, even from Babylon.” — the prophet Isaiah did not come of himself, but was sent by the Lord, not by the king; in the time of his distress and illness he could send for him but now being well and in prosperity he forgot the prophet to send for him and have his advice, how he should behave towards these men as not to offend the Lord:

— what said these men? – What proposition have they made? What is the design of their coming? It is implied in the question that there had been some improper communication from them. To this question Hezekiah makes no answer to this first question;

— but he replies at once to the second and said they are come from a far country even from Babylon; as being what his heart was lifted up with, that ambassadors should come to him from a very distant country and from so famous and renowned a place as Babylon; which showed that his name was great in foreign regions and was in high esteem in distant countries and even so great a prince as the king of Babylon courted his friendship.

⁴Then said he, “What have they seen in thine house?” And Hezekiah answered, “All that is in mine house have they seen. There is nothing among my treasures that I have not shown them.” — coming nearer to the point he had in view, then said he, what have they seen in thine house? that he had shown them what he ought not to have done, and especially from such a principle of pride and vanity as he did:

— and Hezekiah answered without any reserve, not suspecting that the prophet had come with a reproof to him, or to blame him or would blame him for what he had done: all that is in my house have they seen; the several royal apartments and the furniture of them:

— there is nothing among my treasures that I have not showed them: which were more secret, laid up in cabinets, under lock and key; his gold, silver, jewels and precious stones, spices and ointments. Most probably the furniture and vessels of the temple, though he does not mention them.

⁵Then said Isaiah to Hezekiah, “Hear the word of the Lord of hosts: — Hear the word of the Lord of hosts; hear what the mighty God that rules in heaven says of this. This is an instance of great fidelity on the part of the prophet; who felt himself sent from God in a solemn manner to rebuke sin in a monarch, and a pious monarch. It is an instance that resembles the boldness and faithfulness of Nathan when he went to David, and said, ‘Thou art the man.’

⁶‘Behold, the days come that all that is in thine house, and that which thy fathers have laid up in store until this day, shall be carried to Babylon. Nothing shall be left,’ saith the Lord. — behold, the days come; the captivity of the Jews in Babylon commenced about one hundred and twenty years after this prediction;

— nothing shall be left, saith the Lord; this was measure for measure as there was nothing that was not shown to the ambassadors, spies and secret agents, so nothing should be left untaken away by the Babylonians;

— Moses had declared repeatedly, that, if they were a rebellious people, they should be removed from their own to a foreign land; but he had not designated the country Leviticus 26:33-34; Deuteronomy 28:64-67; Deuteronomy 30:3.

⁷‘And of thy sons who shall issue from thee, whom thou shalt beget, they shall be taken away; and they shall be eunuchs in the palace of the king of Babylon.’” — and of thy sons that shall issue from thee, which thou shalt beget, they shall be taken away; Manasseh his immediate son was taken and carried to Babylon, though afterwards released; nor does it appear that he was made a eunuch or an officer there;

— this had its fulfilment in Jeconiah and his children and in others that were of the seed royal, as Daniel, Hananiah, Mishael and Azariah; this is expressed in different words, signifying much the same, to affect the mind of Hezekiah the more:

— and they shall be eunuchs in the palace of the king of Babylon; or “chamberlains” and who very often were castrated for that purpose. The Targum renders it “princes” and such an one was Daniel in the court of the king of Babylon; and his three companions were also promoted, Daniel 2:48.

⁸Then said Hezekiah to Isaiah, “Good is the word of the Lord which thou hast spoken.” He said moreover, “For there shall be peace and truth in my days.” — then said Hezekiah to Isaiah, good is the word of the Lord which thou hast spoken; Hezekiah was at once convinced of his sin, acknowledged it and owned that the sentence pronounced was but just and right; and that there was a mixture of mercy and goodness in it, in that time was given and it was not immediately executed:

— he said moreover, for there shall be peace and truth in his days; or a confirmed peace, lasting prosperity, peace in the state of temporal mercies, for which he was thankful; but that he was unconcerned about posterity, but inasmuch as it must be, what was foretold and which he could not object to as unjust, he looked upon it as a mercy to him that there was a delay of it to future times; or it may be considered as a wish, “O that there were peace” in his days.

Isaiah 40

¹ “Comfort ye, comfort ye My people,” saith your God. — Comfort ye, comfort ye; twice repeated to give double assurance. Having announced the coming captivity of the Jews in Babylon, God now desires His servants, the prophets (Isa 52:7), to comfort them. The scene is laid in Babylon; the time near the close of the captivity; the ground of comfort is the speedy ending of the captivity, the Lord Himself being their leader.

²“Speak ye comfortingly to Jerusalem, and cry unto her that her warfare is accomplished, that her iniquity is pardoned; for she hath received from the Lord’S hand double for all her sins.” — speak ye comfortably to Jerusalem, and cry unto her; or “speak to or according to the heart of Jerusalem” to her very heart, what will be a cordial to her, very acceptable, grateful and comfortable; and let it be proclaimed aloud, that she may hear and understand it. By “Jerusalem” is meant the inhabitants of Zion and the true elects living there.

³The voice of him that crieth in the wilderness: “Prepare ye the way of the Lord; make straight in the desert a highway for our God. — the voice of him that cries in the wilderness; that is, the voice of one called John the Baptist, who fulfilled this prophecy;

— prepare ye the way of the Lord, make straight in the desert a highway for our God: by whom is meant the Messiah to whom a deity a noble testimony is bore here, being called “the Word” and “our God” whose way John prepared himself, by preaching the doctrine of repentance, administering the ordinance of baptism, pointing at the Messiah.

⁴Every valley shall be exalted, and every mountain and hill shall be made low; and the crooked shall be made straight, and the rough places plain. — every valley shall be exalted and every mountain and hill shall be made low; the meaning is that in consequence of John’s ministry and our Lord’s coming, such who were depressed and were low and humble in their own eyes, should be raised up and comforted; and that such who were elated with themselves and their own righteousness should be humbled; their pride and haughtiness should be brought down.

— and the crooked shall be straight and the rough places plain; what before was dark and intricate in prophecy should now become clear; and such doctrines as were not so well understood should now become plain and easy.

⁵And the glory of the Lord shall be revealed, and all flesh shall see it together; for the mouth of the Lord hath spoken it.” — and the glory of the Lord shall be revealed; the Son himself who is also the Messiah reflects the brightness of his Father’s glory and his own glory.

⁶The voice said, “Cry!” And he said, “What shall I cry?” “All flesh is grass, and all the goodliness thereof is as the flower of the field. — the voice said, cry; not the voice of an angel but a voice from the Lord; it is the Lord’s voice to the prophet, giving them an order to prophesy;

— all flesh is grass; declare the frailty and mortality of men; all princes, nobles and monarchs; all armies and magistrates are like grass and will soon fade away;

— and all the goodliness thereof is as the flower of the field; all the goodliness and glory of man; all that is excellent and valuable in him; his riches, honours, strength and knowledge; yea all his seeming holiness and righteousness; which are all fading and perishing like a gay flower, which appears lovely for a while, and on a sudden falls off or is cropped or trampled upon; to which a flower of the field is more liable than that of the garden.

⁷The grass withereth, the flower fadeth, because the spirit of the Lord bloweth upon it; surely the people is grass. — the grass withers, the flower fades; and so does man and all his glory and goodliness: because the spirit of the Lord blows upon it: alluding to some impetuous and blasting wind blowing upon herbs and flowers to the withering and fading of them.

⁸The grass withereth, the flower fadeth; but the word of our God shall stand for ever.” — the grass withers; this is repeated from the former verse for the sake of emphasis or strong confirmation.

⁹O Zion, that bringest good tidings, get thee up into the high mountain; O Jerusalem, that bringest good tidings, lift up thy voice with strength. Lift it up, be not afraid; say unto the cities of Judah, “Behold your God!” — O Zion, that brings good tidings; or rather “Oh, thou that brings good things to Zion; thou that brings good tidings to Jerusalem;”

— behold your God! that divine Being is here that was promised, prophesied of and expected; even Immanuel, God with us, God in our nature, God manifest in the flesh, God our Saviour;

— your Lord and your God; the Targum says, “the kingdom of your God is revealed.”

¹⁰Behold, the Lord God will come with strong hand, and His arm shall rule for Him; behold, His reward is with Him, and His work before Him. — behold, the Lord God will come with a strong hand; this is of the second coming of the Son of God, his coming is certain, such assurances being given of it by promise and prophecy; and will be attended with power, summon all nations before him, and pass and execute the proper sentence on them; when his arm shall openly bear rule, he will take to himself his great power and reign.

¹¹He shall feed His flock like a shepherd; He shall gather the lambs with His arm and carry them in His bosom, and shall gently lead those that are with young. — He shall gather the lambs with his arm; denoting the care of God the Saviour for the feeblest and weakest of his people, and for the young and feeble in years and piety; the tender lamb, unable to keep up with the flock, becomes weary and exhausted; and the shepherd naturally takes it in his arms and carries it.

¹²Who hath measured the waters in the hollow of His hand, and meted out heaven with the span, and comprehended the dust of the earth in a measure, and weighed the mountains in scales and the hills in a balance? — and weighed the mountains in scales and the hills in a balance; as easily as a man can throw in his goods into a pair of scales and take the true weight of them with equal ease did the Lord raise the mountains and the hills in a proper proportion;

— the answer to the above question is that it was the same divine Being of whom it is said, “behold your God, and who should come with a strong hand, and feed his flock.”

¹³Who hath directed the Spirit of the Lord, or being His counselor hath taught Him? — who did God either need or take to advise him in any of his works, either of creation or the government of the world? were they not all the effects of his own sole wisdom?

— therefore though all the nations of the world contrive and conspire against him and against this work of his as indeed they will do, yet his own counsel shall confound all their devices and carry on his work in spite of them.

¹⁴With whom took He counsel, and who instructed Him, and taught Him in the path of judgment, and taught Him knowledge, and showed to Him the way of understanding? — with whom he took counsel and who instructed him; this is the same as before only repeated in other words, the more strongly to deny that any mere creature counselled, taught and instructing and managing the works of creation.

¹⁵Behold, the nations are as a drop of a bucket, and are counted as the small dust of the balance; behold, He taketh up the isles as a very little thing. — Behold, the nations, all the nations of the earth. This is designed to show the greatness of God, in comparison with that which strikes man as great – a mighty nation;

— and the main object seems to be to show that God could accomplish his purposes without their aid and that they could not resist him in the execution of his plans. If they were as nothing in comparison with him, how easily could he execute his purposes! If they were as nothing, how little could they resist the execution of his plans!

¹⁶And Lebanon is not sufficient to burn, nor the beasts thereof sufficient for a burnt offering. — and Lebanon is not sufficient to burn the trees of it, as the Targum says; these are not sufficient to burn a sacrifice with, suitable to the dignity and majesty of God.

¹⁷All nations before Him are as nothing, and they are counted to Him less than nothing, and vanity. — all nations before him are as nothing as if they were non-entities and were not real beings in comparison of him, who is the Being of beings, the author of all beings which exist in all nations; who are all in his sight and are not only as grasshoppers as is after mentioned but even as nothing.

¹⁸To whom then will ye liken God? Or what likeness will ye compare unto Him? — to whom then will ye liken God? there is nothing in the whole creation that can bear any resemblance to him or he to them; since all nations are as a drop of the bucket as the small dust of the balance as nothing, yea, less than nothing and is only vanity: “or what likeness will ye compare unto him” ordain and appoint for him?

¹⁹The workman melteth a graven image, and the goldsmith spreadeth it over with gold and casteth silver chains. — the workman melts a graven image; or “the founder” melts some sort of metal as iron, brass, copper or lead, which he casts into a mould for an image and afterwards graves or gets it graved.

— and the goldsmith spreads it over with gold; or “the finer” he stretches out plates of gold and covers it with them so that it looks as if it was made of solid gold and deceives the eyes of men; such stupidity and vanity are there in mortals to believe that there can be deity in such a piece of workmanship!

²⁰He that is so impoverished that he hath no oblation chooseth a tree that will not rot; he seeketh unto him a skillful workman to prepare a graven image that shall not be moved. — he that is so impoverished that he hath no oblation; who is so poor that he cannot bring an offering to his God, yet he will have one; and though he cannot purchase a golden or silver one, or one that is gilt and adorned with either; yet he will have a wooden one.

²¹Have ye not known? Have ye not heard? Hath it not been told you from the beginning? Have ye not understood from the foundations of the earth? — Have ye not known, God to be the only true God, the Maker and Governor of the world and all its inhabitants? how can you be ignorant of so evident a truth? He addresses his speech to the idolatrous Jews themselves in the times of Manasseh, when idolatry abounded, or to all idolaters.

²²It is He that sitteth upon the circle of the earth, and the inhabitants thereof are as grasshoppers, who stretcheth out the heavens as a curtain and spreadeth them out as a tent to dwell in, — that sits as a judge or governor upon his throne;

— upon the circle of the earth; or, above the circle; far above this round earth, even in the highest heavens; from whence he looks down upon the earth, where men appear to him like grasshoppers.

²³who bringeth the princes to nothing; He maketh the judges of the earth as vanity. — that brings the princes to nothing; that is, all princes and kings, no matter how great their power, their wealth and their dignity, they are by his hand reduced to nothing before him.

²⁴Yea, they shall not be planted, yea, they shall not be sown; yea, their stock shall not take root in the earth. And He shall also blow upon them, and they shall wither, and the whirlwind shall take them away as stubble. — yea, they shall not be planted; the kings and rulers, especially they who oppose God in the execution of his purposes. The idea in this verse is that their name and family should become extinct in the same way as a tree does from which no shoot starts up.

²⁵“To whom then will ye liken Me, or shall I be equal?” saith the Holy One. — to whom then will ye liken me? – the prophet Isaiah having thus set forth the majesty and glory of God, asks now with great emphasis what could be an adequate and proper representation of such a God. And if God was such a Being, how great was the folly of idolatry and how vain all their confidence in the gods which their own hands had made.

²⁶Lift up your eyes on high, and behold who hath created these things, who bringeth out their host by number. He calleth them all by names by the greatness of His might, for He is strong in power; not one faileth. — lift up your eyes on high; direct your eyes toward heaven and in the contemplation of the wonders of the starry world, and of God’s power there, learn the evidence of his ability to destroy his foes and to save his friends.

²⁷Why sayest thou, O Jacob, and speakest, O Israel: “My way is hid from the Lord, and my judgment is passed over from my God”? — my way is hidden from the Lord; meaning not their course of life or their religious actions, their attendance on public worship, their prayers and other duties of religion; but their sufferings for his name’s sake, the tribulations they endured which they imagined God took no notice of;

— and my judgement is passed over from my God; my cause and case are neglected by him; he does not undertake my cause or right my wrongs, and avenge the injuries done me, or deliver me out of the hands of those that contend with me.

²⁸Hast thou not known? Hast thou not heard, that the everlasting God, the Lord, the Creator of the ends of the earth, fainteth not, neither is weary? There is no searching of His understanding. — there is no searching of his understanding; it is infinite, it reaches to all persons and things and therefore he cannot be at a loss to provide for his people or plead their cause; nor can their case be unknown to him, or he want either power or skill to help them.

²⁹He giveth power to the faint, and to them that have no might He increaseth strength. — He gives power to the faint; who are ready to faint under afflictions because they have not immediate deliverance, or their prayers are not answered at once, or promises not fulfilled as they expected;

— to such he gives fresh supplies of spiritual strength; he strengthens their faith and enlarges their views, to behold the goodness of the Lord in the land of the living and confirms his blessings and promises of grace unto them.

³⁰Even the youths shall faint and be weary, and the young men shall utterly fall; — even the youths shall faint; the most vigorous young men, those in whom we expect manly strength and who are best suited to endure hardy toil. They become weary by labor; their powers are soon exhausted;

— the design here is to contrast the most vigorous of the human race with God and to show that while all their powers fail, the power of God is unexhausted and inexhaustible.

³¹but they that wait upon the Lord shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings as eagles, they shall run and not be weary, and they shall walk and not faint. — they shall mount up with wings as eagles; which fly most strongly and swiftly, and high out of the reach of all danger; they shall run and not be weary; and they shall walk and not faint; they shall be enabled to run or walk in their way as they please without any weariness.

Posted in Isaiah

Mariupol, Ukraine’s Far-Right

•March 23, 2022 • Leave a Comment

“Ukraine has biological research facilities, which in fact we are now quite concerned Russian forces may be seeking to gain control of, so we are working with the Ukrainians on how they can prevent any of those research materials from falling into the hands of Russian forces should they approach,” said Victoria Nuland, Under Secretary of State for Political Affairs, during a Senate hearing on Ukraine; Mar 9, 2022

Is Fort Detrick the Source of Covid-19?

TIME January 7, 2021 Ukraine’s far-right Azov movement centres at one of Azov’s bases near the frontline city of Mariupol

BBC 28/2/2014 by BBC Newsnight Neo-Nazi threat in new Ukraine

Marches of the military wing of Ukraine’s far-right Azov movement, the Patriot of Ukraine, from a pristine city to one of oblivion!

“It might seem ironic for this hub of white nationalists to be situated in Ukraine. At one point in 2019, it was the only nation in the world, apart from Israel, to have a Jewish President and a Jewish Prime Minister. Far-right politicians failed to win a single seat in parliament in the most recent elections. But in the context of the white-supremacist movement globally, Azov has no rivals on two important fronts: its access to weapons and its recruiting power.

Patriot of Ukraine, its banner an emblem derived from a Nazi symbol, the Wolfsangel

“The movement arose as a product of the revolution that swept Ukraine in 2014. In one of their first official acts, the revolution leaders granted amnesty to 23 prisoners, including several prominent far-right agitators. They included Andriy Biletsky, who had spent the previous two years in jail on charges of attempted murder. He maintained that the case against him was politically motivated, part of an unfair crackdown on local nationalists.

“Ukrainian police had long treated his organization, Patriot of Ukraine, as a neo-Nazi terrorist group. Biletsky’s nickname within the group was Bely Vozhd, or White Ruler, and his manifesto seemed to pluck its narrative straight from Nazi ideology. Ukrainian nationalists, it said, must “lead the white nations of the world in a final crusade for their survival, a crusade against the Semite-led Untermenschen,” a German term for “subhumans” with roots in Nazi propaganda.

“Within days of his release, Biletsky set out to assemble a far-right militia. “That was our rise to the surface after a long period underground,” Biletsky told TIME in an interview that winter in Ukraine. The insignia he chose for the militia combined two symbols—the “black sun” and the “wolf’s hook”—both of which were used by the German Nazis during World War II.”

“I beheld, and lo, the fruitful place was a wilderness, and all the cities thereof were broken down at the presence of the LORD and by His fierce anger” Jeremiah 4:26.

“And the most proud shall stumble and fall, and none shall raise him up; and I will kindle a fire in his cities, and it shall devour all round about him” Jeremiah 50:32.

Posted in Armageddon, NATO, Russia, Ukraine

Isaiah (Ch 37-38)

•March 22, 2022 • Leave a Comment

The Russian bear seems to have bitten a porcupine which has now got stuck to its mouth, unable to swallow it nor to dislodge it, creating lots of anxieties.

Is Fort Detrick the Source of Covid-19?

Isaiah 37

This chapter is the same as II King 19

¹ And it came to pass, when King Hezekiah heard it, that he rent his clothes and covered himself with sackcloth, and went into the house of the Lord. — and went into the house of the Lord; to the temple to pray there: he could have prayed in his own house (as Daniel did), but he chose rather to go to the house of God, and was used to hear the prayers of his people; also it was more public and would be known to the people and set them an example to follow him in.

²And he sent Eliakim, who was over the household, and Shebna the scribe, and the elders of the priests, covered with sackcloth, unto Isaiah the prophet the son of Amoz. — unto Isaiah the prophet; at last the people did consult and see their counsellor; in that supreme hour of calamity the prophet who had been despised and derided was their only resource. What could he do to extricate them from the evil net which was closing round them?

³And they said unto him, “Thus saith Hezekiah: ‘This day is a day of trouble and of rebuke and of blasphemy; for the children have come to birth, and there is not strength to bring forth. — for the children are come; the meaning of this figure is plain: there was the highest danger. It was as in childbirth in which the pains had been protracted, the strength exhausted and where there was most imminent danger in regard to the mother and the child;

— so Hezekiah said there was the most imminent danger in the city of Jerusalem; they had made all possible preparations for defense; and now in the most critical time they felt their energies exhausted, their strength insufficient for their defense and they needed the intervention of God.

⁴It may be the Lord thy God will hear the words of Rabshakeh, whom the king of Assyria his master hath sent to reproach the living God, and will reprove the words which the Lord thy God hath heard. Therefore lift up thy prayer for the remnant that is left.’” — Rabshakeh; a name or a title serving the king of Assyria, probably the chief officer or cup-bearer;

— wherefore lift up thy prayer for the remnant that is left; lift up thy voice, thy hands and thine heart in prayer to God in heaven; for those that are left; the two tribes of Judah and Benjamin, the other ten having been carried captive some time ago; the few that remained seems to be made use of as an argument for prayer in their favour.

⁵Thus the servants of King Hezekiah came to Isaiah. — so the servants of King Hezekiah came to Isaiah; and delivered the above message to him;

⁶And Isaiah said unto them, “Thus shall ye say unto your master, ‘Thus saith the Lord: Be not afraid of the words that thou hast heard, wherewith the servants of the king of Assyria have blasphemed Me. — wherewith the servants of the king of Assyria have blasphemed God; by representing God as no better than the gods of the Gentiles, but unable to deliver out of the hands of the king of Assyria the city of Jerusalem, when he had said he would.

⁷Behold, I will send a blast upon him, and he shall hear a rumor and return to his own land; and I will cause him to fall by the sword in his own land.’” — I will put a spirit into him; a spirit of fear and dread, which will oblige him to desist from his purposes, and flee; as he did which cut off his army in one night.

⁸So Rabshakeh returned and found the king of Assyria warring against Libnah, for he had heard that he had departed from Lachish. — and found the king of Assyria warring against Libnah; a city in the tribe of Judah and lay nearer to Jerusalem than Lachish where Rabshakeh left him; so that he seemed to be drawing his army towards that city on which his heart was set.

⁹And he heard say concerning Tirhakah king of Ethiopia, “He has come forth to make war with thee.” And when he heard it, he sent messengers to Hezekiah, saying, — the Ethiopians in those days retained Upper Egypt under Tirhakah, with Thebes as the capital. Tirhakah’s fame as a conqueror rivalled that of Sesostris; he and one at least of the Pharaohs of Lower Egypt were Hezekiah’s allies against Assyria. The tidings of his approach made Sennacherib the more anxious to get possession of Jerusalem before his arrival.

¹⁰“Thus shall ye speak to Hezekiah king of Judah, saying: Let not thy God in whom thou trustest deceive thee, saying, ‘Jerusalem shall not be given into the hand of the king of Assyria.’ — thus shall Rabshakeh speak to Hezekiah king of Judah —

¹¹Behold, thou hast heard what the kings of Assyria have done to all lands by destroying them utterly. And shalt thou be delivered? — behold, thou hast heard what the kings of Assyria have done to all lands, by destroying them utterly; he boasts of the achievements of himself and his ancestors; to gratify their lusts; but though many had been destroyed by them yet not all; not Ethiopia whose king was come out to make war with him; nor Egypt which was in confederacy with Ethiopia; nor Judea, he was now invading; but this he said in a taunting way to terrify Hezekiah:

— and shalt thou be delivered? canst thou expect it? surely thou cannot. Is it probable? yea, is it possible thou shouldest be delivered? it is not; as sure as other lands have been destroyed so sure shall thine.

¹²Have the gods of the nations delivered those whom my fathers have destroyed, as Gozan and Haran and Rezeph and the children of Eden who were in Telassar? — have the gods of the nations delivered them which my fathers have destroyed? asked Sennacherib; they have not. But what then? is the God of Israel to be put upon a level with such dunghill gods? so Sennacherib reckoned him as Rabshakeh before, in his name.

¹³Where is the king of Hamath, and the king of Arphad, and the king of the city of Sepharvaim, Hena, and Ivah?”

¹⁴And Hezekiah received the letter from the hand of the messengers and read it; and Hezekiah went up unto the house of the Lord and spread it before the Lord. — and Hezekiah went up unto the house of God; the temple, the outward court of it, further than that he could not go:

— and spread it before the Lord; not to read it as he had done or to acquaint him with the contents of it; he brought it as a proof of what he had to say to him in prayer and to support him in his allegations, and as a means to quicken himself in the discharge of that duty.

¹⁵And Hezekiah prayed unto the Lord, saying,

¹⁶“O Lord of hosts, God of Israel, who dwellest between the cherubims, Thou art the God, even Thou alone, of all the kingdoms of the earth; Thou hast made heaven and earth. — the prayer opens with a solemn invocation of Yehovah, first his name as the God of Israel and second as the only true God and Creator of all things.

¹⁷Incline Thine ear, O Lord, and hear; open Thine eyes, O Lord, and see; and hear all the words of Sennacherib, who hath sent to reproach the living God. — and hear all the words of Sennacherib which he hath sent to reproach the living God; the Septuagint understands it of the words which Sennacherib sent in the letter to reproach the Lord; but in 2 Kings 19:16, it is, “which hath sent him” the messenger, Rabshakeh, or whoever was the person that brought the letter to Hezekiah. The Targum paraphrases the latter part thus, “to reproach the people of the living God.”

¹⁸In truth, Lord, the kings of Assyria have laid waste all the nations and their countries, — the kings of Assyria have laid waste all the nations and their countries: or “all the lands and their land” the Targum says, “all provinces and their lands” the countries and town and villages in them.

¹⁹and have cast their gods into the fire; for they were no gods, but the work of men’s hands, wood and stone. Therefore they have destroyed them. — for they were no gods, but the works of hands, wood and stone; they were made of wood or of stone, and therefore could not be called gods; nor could they save the nations that worshipped them, nor themselves from the fire:

— therefore they have destroyed them; the Assyrian kings were able to do it and did do it because they were idols of wood or stone; but it did not therefore follow that they were a match for the God of Israel, the true and living God.

²⁰Now therefore, O Lord our God, save us from his hand, that all the kingdoms of the earth may know that Thou art the Lord, even Thou only.”

²¹Then Isaiah the son of Amoz sent unto Hezekiah, saying, “Thus saith the Lord God of Israel: Whereas thou hast prayed to Me against Sennacherib king of Assyria,

²²this is the word which the Lord hath spoken concerning him: ‘The virgin, the daughter of Zion, hath despised thee and laughed thee to scorn; the daughter of Jerusalem hath shaken her head at thee. — the virgin, the daughter of Zion; hath despised thee; that is the inhabitants of Zion, called a “virgin” because it had never been forced or taken and to show that it was a vain thing in Sennacherib to attempt it as well as it would have been an injurious one;

— since God, the Father of this virgin, would carefully keep her from any sexual contamination; and he who was her husband to whom she was espoused as a chaste virgin, would defend and protect her.

²³“‘Whom hast thou reproached and blasphemed? And against whom hast thou exalted thy voice and lifted up thine eyes on high? Even against the Holy One of Israel. — whom hast thou reproached and blasphemed? A creature like thyself? no, but a God, and not one like the gods of the nations, the idols of wood and stone, but the living God, the Holy One of Israel.

²⁴By thy servants hast thou reproached the Lord, and hast said, “By the multitude of my chariots have I come up to the height of the mountains, to the sides of Lebanon; and I will cut down the tall cedars thereof, and the choice fir trees thereof; and I will enter into the height of his border and the forest of his Carmel. — Isaiah continued his reply: the Assyrian king, Shalmaneser, are full of like boasts, the multitude of his chariots —

²⁵I have dug and drunk water; and with the sole of my feet have I dried up all the rivers of the besieged places.” — I have dug and drunk water; this again was one of the boasts of the Assyrian conqueror, Sennacherib —

²⁶“‘Hast thou not heard long ago how I have made it, and of ancient times, that I have formed it? Now have I brought it to pass that thou shouldest be to lay waste fortified cities into ruinous heaps. — Hast thou not heard; the speech of Sennacherib ends, and that of the Holy One of Israel begins. The adverb “long ago” should be connected with the words that follow; the events of history had all been foreseen and ordered, as in the remote past, by the counsels of Yehovah.

²⁷Therefore their inhabitants were of small power; they were dismayed and confounded; they were as the grass of the field and as the green herb, as the grass on the housetops and as corn blighted before it be grown up. — they were dismayed and confounded; not so much at the sight of Sennacherib’s army but because the Lord had dispirited them and took away their natural courage from them so that they became an easy prey to him:

— they were as the grass of the field: which has no strength to stand before the mower; as the grass on the housetops: which has no matter of root and is dried up with the heat of the sun.

²⁸“‘But I know thy sitting down, and thy going out and thy coming in, and thy rage against Me. — but I know thy abode and thy going out and thy coming in; where you dwelt, what you did at home, your secret councils, cabals, contrivances, schemes and plans of subduing of kingdoms and your scheme into the land of Judea; so the Targum says, “thy sitting in council, and thy going out abroad to make war, and thy coming into the land of Israel, are manifest before me.”

²⁹Because thy rage against Me and thy tumult have come up into Mine ears, therefore will I put My hook in thy nose and My bridle in thy lips, and I will turn thee back by the way by which thou camest.’ — because thy rage against me and thy tumult is come up into mine ears; the rage which Sennacherib expressed both by Rabshakeh, and in his letter against Hezekiah and his people is taken by the Lord as against himself;

— therefore will I put my hook in thy nose and my bridle in thy lips; comparing Sennacherib to leviathan, or to some unruly fish, not easily caught and managed; or to a bear or buffalo in whose noses men put iron rings and lead them about at pleasure; signifying hereby the strength, fierceness and fury of the Assyrian monarch and the power of God to restrain him.

³⁰“And this shall be a sign unto thee: Ye shall eat this year such as groweth of itself, and the second year that which springeth of the same; and in the third year sow ye and reap, and plant vineyards, and eat the fruit thereof. — and this shall be a sign unto thee; not to Sennacherib but to Hezekiah; for here the Lord directs his speech to the latter in order to comfort him under the dreadful apprehensions he had of the Assyrian monarch; assuring him of deliverance; giving him a sign or token of it:

— ye shall eat this year such as groweth of itself: and the second year that which springeth of the same: and in the third year sow ye and reap and plant vineyards and eat the fruit thereof: all which was wonderful; whereas either through the invasion of the land or the siege of the city they could not till their land as they had used to do, or was destroyed or eaten up by the Assyrian army.

³¹And the remnant who have escaped of the house of Judah shall again take root downward and bear fruit upward. — and the remnant that is escaped of the house of Judah; the few that escaped out of the cities of Judah upon Sennacherib’s invasion of the land and besieging and taking the fenced cities thereof, who fled to Jerusalem for safety;

— shall again take root downward, and bear fruit upward. The Targum says, “as a tree which sends forth its roots below, and lifts up its branches above.”

³²For out of Jerusalem shall go forth a remnant, and they that escape out of Mount Zion. The zeal of the Lord of hosts shall do this. — shall go forth a remnant; the word ‘remnant’ means that which is left; and does not of necessity imply that it should be a small portion. No doubt a part of the Jews were destroyed in the invasion of Sennacherib, but the assurance is here given that a portion of them would remain in safety and that they would constitute that from which the future prosperity of the state would arise.

³³“Therefore thus saith the Lord concerning the king of Assyria: ‘He shall not come into this city nor shoot an arrow there, nor come before it with shields, nor cast a bank against it. — he shall not come into this city; Sennacherib encamped probably on the northeast side of the city and his army was destroyed there;

— nor shoot an arrow there; that is, nor shoot an arrow within the walls of the city; nor come before it with shields; the meaning here is that the army should not be permitted to come before the city defended with shields and prepared with the means of attack and defense.

³⁴By the way that he came, by the same shall he return, and shall not come into this city,’ saith the Lord.

³⁵‘For I will defend this city to save it for Mine own sake and for My servant David’s sake.’” — not for the merits of the inhabitants of it but for the sake of his own name and glory who had been blasphemed by the Assyrian monarch and his general; and for the sake of his servant David in whose seed he had promised the kingdom should be established.

³⁶Then the angel of the Lord went forth and smote in the camp of the Assyrians a hundred and fourscore and five thousand (185,000); and when they arose early in the morning, behold, they were all dead corpses. — a prodigious slaughter indeed! which shows the power and strength of an angel of the Lord; behold, they were all dead corpses; the whole army, excepting a few; this may well be expressed with a note of admiration, “behold!” for a very wonderful thing it was.

³⁷So Sennacherib king of Assyria departed and went, and returned and dwelt at Nineveh. — dwelt at Nineveh; for about twenty years after his disaster, according to the Assyrian inscriptions. The word, “dwelt” is consistent with any indefinite length of time.

³⁸And it came to pass, as he was worshiping in the house of Nisroch his god, that Adrammelech and Sharezer his sons smote him with the sword, and they escaped into the land of Ararat; and Esarhaddon his son reigned in his stead.

Isaiah 38

¹ In those days was Hezekiah sick unto death. And Isaiah the prophet, the son of Amoz, came unto him and said unto him, “Thus saith the Lord: ‘Set thine house in order, for thou shalt die and not live.’” — in those days Hezekiah was sick unto death; this was about the time that Sennacherib invaded Judea, threatened Jerusalem with a siege and his army was destroyed by an angel from heaven; but whether it was before or after the destruction of his army, no one is sure.

²Then Hezekiah turned his face toward the wall, and prayed unto the Lord — then Hezekiah turned his face to the wall; either to the wall of his bedchamber where he lay sick that his tears might not be seen, and his prayers interrupted; or else to the wall of the temple, as the Targum says, towards which good men used to look when they prayed.

³and said, “Remember now, O Lord, I beseech Thee, how I have walked before Thee in truth and with a perfect heart, and have done that which is good in Thy sight.” And Hezekiah wept sorely. — wept sore; Josephus says, the reason why he wept so sorely was that being childless; he was leaving the kingdom without a successor; but his wishes, when gratified, prove a curse!; for he lived to have a son; that son was the idolater Manasseh, the chief cause of God’s wrath against Judah and of the overthrow of the kingdom.

⁴Then came the word of the Lord to Isaiah, saying,

⁵“Go, and say to Hezekiah, ‘Thus saith the Lord, the God of David thy father: I have heard thy prayer, I have seen thy tears. Behold, I will add unto thy days fifteen years. — God of David thy father; God remembers the covenant with the father to the children (Ex 20:5; Ps 89:28, 29).

⁶And I will deliver thee and this city out of the hand of the king of Assyria, and I will defend this city. — and I will deliver thee and this city out of the hand of the king of Assyria; so that it seems that Hezekiah’s sickness was while the king of Assyria was near Jerusalem and about to besiege it and before the destruction of the Assyrian army.

⁷And this shall be a sign unto thee from the Lord that the Lord will do this thing that He hath spoken: — and this shall be a sign unto thee from the Lord; which it seems Hezekiah asked and it was put for him to choose, whether the shadow on the sundial should go forward or backward ten degrees and he chose the latter, 2 Kings 20:8, which was a token confirming and assuring.

⁸Behold, I will bring again the shadow of the degrees, which has gone down in the sundial of Ahaz, ten degrees backward.’” So the sun returned ten degrees by which degrees it had gone down. — so the sun returned ten degrees, by which degrees it was gone down; and so this day was longer by these degrees than a common day, and accordingly, we suppose the sun went back, suddenly or as it usually moved, though in a retrograde way and made the same progress again through these degrees.

⁹The writing of Hezekiah king of Judah when he had been sick and had recovered from his sickness: — the writing of Hezekiah king of Judah; the Septuagint calls it a “prayer” but the Targum is much better, “a writing of confession.”

¹⁰I said, “In the cutting off of my days I shall go to the gates of the grave; I am deprived of the residue of my years.” — Hezekiah shall go to the gates of the grave; he perceives that he must die without any hopes of prevention; the grave is called a man’s long home.

¹¹I said, “I shall not see the Lord, even the Lord, in the land of the living; I shall behold man no more with the inhabitants of the world. — I shall behold man no more with the inhabitants of the world; or “time” of this fading transitory world, which will quickly cease.

¹²Mine age is departed and is removed from me as a shepherd’s tent; I have cut off like a weaver my life. He will cut me off with pining sickness; from day even to night wilt Thou make an end of me. — mine age is departed; the time of my life is expired; as a shepherd’s tent, which is easily and speedily removed;

— I have cut off, to wit, by my sins, provoking God to do it. Or I do declare and have concluded that my life is or will be suddenly cut off; for men are oft said in Scripture to do those things which they only declare and pronounce to be done; as men are said to pollute and to remit and retain sins and the like, when they only declare men and things to be polluted and sins to be remitted or retained by God.

¹³I reckoned till morning that, as a lion, so will He break all my bones; from day even to night wilt Thou make an end of me.” — I reckoned till morning; or “I set my time till the morning” – he thought he should have died before the night came on and now it was come, the utmost he could propose to himself was to live till morning; that was the longest time he could reckon of; the Targum says, “I roared until morning, as a lion roars.”

¹⁴Like a crane or a swallow, so did I chatter; I did mourn as a dove; mine eyes fail with looking upward. O Lord, I am oppressed; undertake for me! — rather “like a crane and a swallow” – both are sometimes loud and clamorous like a crane when the pain was very acute and grievous; and sometimes very low, through weakness of body like the twittering of a swallow; or the moan he made under his affliction was like the mournful voices of these birds at certain times;

— I did mourn as a dove; silently and patiently within himself for his sins and transgressions; and because of his afflictions, the fruit of them.

¹⁵What shall I say? He hath both spoken unto me, and Himself hath done it. I shall go softly all my years in the bitterness of my soul. — what shall I say? in a way of praise and thankfulness, for the mercies promised and received; I know not what to say; I want words to express the gratitude of my heart for the kindness bestowed. What shall I render to God for all his benefits? So the Targum says, “what praise shall I utter, and I will say it before him?”

— I shall go softly all my years in the bitterness of my soul; before he did not reckon of a day to live, now he speaks of his years, having fifteen added to his days, during which time he should “go softly” in a thoughtful meditating frame of mind; frequently calling his bitter affliction and recovery out of it, acknowledging the goodness and kindness of God unto him.

— cheerfully, after the bitterness of my soul as it may be rendered; that is, after it is over, or because of deliverance from it. So the Targum says, “with what shall I serve him, and render to him for all the years he hath added to my life, and hath delivered me from the bitterness of my soul?”

¹⁶O Lord, by these things men live, and in all these things is the life of my spirit; so wilt Thou recover me and make me to live. — O Lord, by these things men live; not by bread only but by the word of God: by the promise of God and by his power performing it; and by his favour and goodness continually bestowed.

¹⁷Behold, for peace I had great bitterness; but Thou hast in love for my soul delivered it from the pit of corruption, for Thou hast cast all my sins behind Thy back. — behold for peace I had great bitterness; meaning not that instead of peace and prosperity which he expected would ensue upon the destruction of Sennacherib’s army, came a bitter affliction upon him;

— for thou hast cast all my sins behind thy back; as loathsome and abominable; for though God sees all the sins of his people with his eye of omniscience and in his providence takes notice of them and chastises for them, yet not with his eye of avenging justice.

¹⁸For the grave cannot praise Thee, death can not celebrate Thee; they that go down into the pit cannot hope for Thy truth. — for the grave cannot praise thee, death can not celebrate thee; that is they that are in the grave, they cannot celebrate the praises of God; their souls may praise him but they in their bodies cannot till the resurrection morn, or as long as they are under the dominion of the grave; so the Targum says, “they that are in the grave cannot confess before thee, and the dead cannot praise thee.”

¹⁹The living, the living, he shall praise Thee, as I do this day; the father to the children shall make known Thy truth. — the living; only the living; emphatic repetition; his heart is so full of the main object of his prayer that for want of adequate words he repeats the same word;

— father to the children; one generation of the living to another. Hezekiah probably also hints at his own desire to live until he should have a child, the successor to his throne to whom he might make known and so perpetuate the memory of God’s truth.

²⁰The Lord was ready to save me; therefore we will sing my songs with the stringed instruments all the days of our life in the house of the Lord. — the Lord was ready to save me; the Lord was at hand to save him; God was a present help in time of need; he arose for his help, and that right early; he who one day expected death every moment was the next day in the temple praising God.

²¹For Isaiah had said, “Let them take a lump of figs and lay it for a plaster upon the boil, and he shall recover.” — for Isaiah had said; before the above writing was made, which ends in the preceding verse; for this and the following are probably added by Isaiah or some other person. The Septuagint version adds, “to Hezekiah” but the speech seems rather directed to some of his servants, or those that were about him;

— let them take a lump of figs, and lay it for a plaster upon the boil, and he shall recover; which was done and he did accordingly recover; this was a miracle within a miracle since figs are hurtful to ulcers; it was not from the natural force of these figs but by the power of God that this cure was effected.

²²Hezekiah also had said, “What is the sign that I shall go up to the house of the Lord?” — Hezekiah also had said; what evidence or proof have I that I shall be restored and permitted to go to the temple? The miracle on the sun-dial was performed in answer to this request and as a demonstration that he should yet be permitted to visit the temple of God.

Posted in Isaiah

Four Marines Crashes in Norway!

•March 20, 2022 • Leave a Comment

Fox News March 18, 2022

US Marine Corps aircraft with 4 aboard crashes in Norway during NATO exercise: ‘We’ve seen no sign of life’

A MV-22B Osprey that Crashes in northern Norway

A US Marine Corps aircraft carrying four occupants crashed in northern Norway during a NATO exercise Friday evening, according to officials. The exercises began on March 14 and to end on April 1.

None of the occupants were believed to have survived, Nordland police chief of staff Bent Eilertsen told Reuters, adding that the victims were all US nationals.

“We’ve discovered an aircraft that has crashed,” Eilertsen said, “We’ve seen no sign of life.”

The Marines said only that an “incident” occurred in northern Norway, and that the aircraft was an MV-22B Osprey that was part of NATO Exercise Cold Response 22. It involves some 30,000 troops, 220 aircraft and 50 vessels from 27 member countries.

The incident remained under investigation, the Marines said in a Twitter message.

“Ephraim shall be desolate in the day of rebuke; among the tribes of Israel have I made known that which shall surely be” Hosea 5:9
I, the Lord, will punish and wipe out Israel. This is my solemn promise to every tribe of Israel. CEV Translation Hosea 5:9

Posted in Ephraim, US

Ukraine Bio-Weapon Labs!

•March 19, 2022 • Leave a Comment

Russia presents new evidence from US-funded Ukraine biolabs

RT / Sputnik Mar 17, 2022

Tucker Carlson: The questions about the biolabs in Ukraine that everyone should be asking

Pentagon-backed facilities made “biological weapons components” and tried to cover it up, Russian military says.

US-funded bio-weapon labs in Ukraine on a screen during a briefing by Lieutenant General Igor Kirillov in Moscow, Russia. March 17, 2022 © Sputnik/Russian Defense Ministry

Moscow alleges that laboratories in Ukraine funded by the US military were making biological weapons, but local staff were kept in the dark about their research, a senior Russian general said on Thursday.

Lieutenant-General Igor Kirillov, who commands the Nuclear, Biological and Chemical Protection Forces of Russia, presented documents and imagery showing why the military has come to such a conclusion.

“We believe that components of biological weapons were being made on the territory of Ukraine,” said Kirillov.

One document, dated March 6, 2015 confirms the “direct participation of the Pentagon in the financing of military biological projects in Ukraine,” Kirillov said. The US officially funded the projects through the Ukrainian Ministry of Health, according to the Agreement on Joint Biological Activities. However, the evidence shows that the real recipients of some $32 million in funds were Ukrainian Defense Ministry laboratories in Kiev, Odessa, Lvov and Kharkov.

These facilities were chosen by the US Department of Defense’s Threat Reduction Administration (DTRA), and the contractor Black and Veatch, to carry out the U-P-8 project, aimed at studying the pathogens of Crimea-Congo hemorrhagic fever, leptospirosis, and hantaviruses, Kirillov said, pointing to a slide with the Pentagon’s request.

“From our point of view, the interest of US military biologists is due to the fact that these pathogens have natural foci both in Ukraine and in Russia, and their use can be disguised as natural disease outbreaks,” the general said.

According to the evidence, the labs isolated three bacterial pathogens (causing plague, brucellosis and leptospirosis) and six families of viruses, including coronaviruses, all of which were drug-resistant and spread rapidly from animals to humans. A number of documents confirmed the samples taken in Ukraine to other countries – Georgia, Germany, and the UK.

Kirillov pointed to mass outbreaks of avian flu in Russia and the EU in 2021, causing billions in damages, while the Kharkov Institute of Veterinary Medicine was studying wild birds as transmission vectors and assessing conditions under which the spread could cause economic damage and food insecurity. Evidence now shows the institute collected strains of avian flu capable of jumping species, Kirillov said, calling for an international investigation into the matter.

Some of the documents at the Kherson laboratory appear to be missing and may have been destroyed, Kirillov said, suggesting it was related to the 2018 outbreak of a mosquito-borne parasitic disease in that region, and a possible cover-up.

Four cases of dirofilariasis were detected in February that year, which is not typical for mosquito life cycles, the general said. Pentagon representatives visited the local hospitals in April, collecting medical records and getting briefed on the epidemiological investigation. However, “no documentary evidence regarding this outbreak has been found in the Kherson laboratory,” leading the Russian military to believe that “the urgency of destroying such documentary evidence is explained by the desire to prevent access to them by Russian specialists.”

Earlier, Victoria Nuland, Under Secretary of State for Political Affairs, had admitted during a Senate hearing on Mar 9, 2022, “Ukraine has biological research facilities, which in fact we are now quite concerned Russian forces may be seeking to gain control of, so we are working with the Ukrainians on how they can prevent any of those research materials from falling into the hands of Russian forces should they approach.”

“I have seen a horrible thing in the house of Israel; there is the whoredom of Ephraim, Israel is defiled” Hosea 6:10
“Ephraim shall be desolate in the day of rebuke; among the tribes of Israel have I made known that which shall surely be” Hosea 5:9
I, the Lord, will punish and wipe out Israel. This is my solemn promise to every tribe of Israel. CEV Translation Hosea 5:9

FORT DETRICK – SOURCE of COVID-19?

Posted in Bioweapon, Ephraim, UK

Isaiah (Ch 35-36)

•March 18, 2022 • Leave a Comment

Isaiah 35

¹The wilderness and the solitary place shall be glad for them; and the desert shall rejoice and blossom as the rose. — this is a continuation of Isaiah the 34th chapter; the wilderness and the solitary place shall be glad for them, either for the wild beasts, satyrs, owls and vultures, that shall inhabit Edom or Petra and because it shall be an habitation for them; or they shall be glad for them, the Edomites and for the destruction of them; that is, as the Targum paraphrases it, “they that dwell in the wilderness, in the dry land, shall rejoice.”

²It shall blossom abundantly, and rejoice even with joy and singing. The glory of Lebanon shall be given unto it, the excellency of Carmel and Sharon; they shall see the glory of the Lord, and the excellency of our God. — the glory of Lebanon shall be given unto it, the excellency of Carmel and Sharon; the wilderness shall be as pleasant and fruitful as Lebanon, Carmel and Sharon; which were eminent parts of the land of Canaan as hath been oft noted.

— they, who are understood by the wilderness shall see the glory of the Lord; the glorious discoveries and effects of God’s power and goodness to his people.

³Strengthen ye the weak hands, and confirm the feeble knees. — strengthen ye the weak hands; ye prophets and shepherds of God, comfort and encourage his people who are now ready to faint with hopes of that salvation which in due time he will work for them. The prophet mentions hands and knees because the strength or weakness of any man eminently appears in those parts.

⁴Say to them that are of a fearful heart, “Be strong, fear not. Behold, your God will come with vengeance, even God with a recompense; He will come and save you.” — say to them that are of a fearful heart; who because of their own weakness and the strength of their enemies are discouraged and cast down:

— be strong, fear not, resist your fears, confide in the power, love and faithfulness of God who has promised to deliver those that trust in him and has engaged that as your day is your strength shall be, and you shall become strong. Behold, your God will come though he seem to be absent and to have departed from you, he will come and abide with you.

⁵Then the eyes of the blind shall be opened, and the ears of the deaf shall be unstopped. — then the eyes of the blind shall be opened; the images are of joy and exultation, the times of happiness when God would come to save them from their foes;

— this passage is a description of what the Messiah, the Lord Jesus did that it doubtless refers to the miracles which he would perform. In not a few instances did he in fact restore the blind to sight, giving thus the most unequivocal proof that he was the Messiah sent from God;

— and for the house of Israel, their blind would see their idolatry worship; such as (1) Astarte, the queen of heaven; from whom Easter is derived; and (2) Mithra, worshipping the sun-god, when a mystical white Christmas of Babylon have been worshipped without their knowing.

⁶Then shall the lame man leap as a hart, and the tongue of the dumb sing; for in the wilderness shall waters break out, and streams in the desert. — an hart demoting the stag, or male deer; sometimes refers to any species of deer or antelope and this is referred to here from its quick and sprightly nature;

— and the tongue of the dumb sing; shall be able to sing and to praise God. On the restoration of the dumb to the benefits of language.

⁷And the parched ground shall become a pool, and the thirsty land springs of water; in the habitation of dragons, where each lay, shall be grass with reeds and rushes. — and the parched ground shall become a pool and the thirsty land springs of water; such persons who have been like the parched earth, barren and unfruitful or like the earth scorched with the sun shall be comforted and refreshed; shall now enjoy peace and prosperity.

⁸And a highway shall be there, and a way, and it shall be called the Way of Holiness. The unclean shall not pass over it, but it shall be for those; the wayfaring men, though fools, shall not err therein. — God shall be with them walking in the way; that is, he shall be their companion and guide in the way. Hence though fools they shall not err therein; the way shall be so plain and straight that even the most foolish travellers cannot easily mistake it.

⁹No lion shall be there, nor any ravenous beast shall go up thereon; it shall not be found there, but the redeemed shall walk there. — no lion shall be there; lions abounded in all the countries adjacent to Palestine; they are objects of dread and alarm. The prophet Isaiah therefore suggests that there should be no cause for such dread and alarm as they walk there.

¹⁰And the ransomed of the Lord shall return, and come to Zion with songs and everlasting joy upon their heads; they shall obtain joy and gladness, and sorrow and sighing shall flee away. — and the ransomed of the Lord shall return and come to Zion with songs and everlasting joy upon their heads: they shall obtain joy and gladness, and sorrow and sighing shall flee away;

— sorrow and sighing shall flee away; which expressions are too magnificent and emphatical to be satisfied by the return of the Jews from Babylon to their own land; and from another captivity of 190/40 years just before the Millenium.

Isaiah 36

¹ Now it came to pass in the fourteenth year of King Hezekiah that Sennacherib king of Assyria came up against all the fortified cities of Judah and took them. — the fourteenth year of Hezekiah was BC 714 or 713. Sargon was then King of Assyria and continued king till BC 705. Sennacherib did not ascend the throne till that year and he did not lead an expedition into the land of Judea till BC 701.

²And the king of Assyria sent Rabshakeh from Lachish to Jerusalem unto King Hezekiah with a great army. And he stood by the conduit of the upper pool in the highway of the Fuller’s Field. — Rabshakeh; a name or a title, probably the chief officer or cup-bearer;

— a penalty of three hundred talents of silver and thirty talents of gold was imposed and paid, Hezekiah being reduced to empty his own treasury and that of the Temple and even to strip the Temple doors and pillars of the plates of gold with which they were overlaid.

³Then came forth unto him Eliakim, Hilkiah’s son, who was over the house, and Shebna the scribe, and Joah, Asaph’s son, the recorder. — Eliakim; it is significant that Eliakim now fills the office which, a short time before had been filled by Shebna while the latter is reduced to the inferior position of a scribe (Isaiah 22:15-25). The change is clearly traceable to Isaiah’s influence. The “scribe” was the secretary who formulated despatches and degrees; the “recorder” probably the registrar of the official annals.

⁴And Rabshakeh said unto them, “Say ye now to Hezekiah, ‘Thus saith the great king, the king of Assyria: What confidence is this wherein thou trustest? — say ye now to Hezekiah; tell him what follows; he does not call him king as he does his own master: thus saith the great king, the king of Assyria; this he said boastingly of his master and in order to terrify Hezekiah and his subjects; whom he would represent as little in comparison of him who had subdued many kingdoms and aimed at universal monarchy.

⁵I say, thou sayest (but they are but vain words), “I have counsel and strength for war.” Now on whom dost thou trust, that thou rebellest against me? — the first part of the words are Hezekiah’s, “I say (sayest thou)”; and the latter, Rabshakeh’s note upon them; though they may be understood as Hezekiah’s or what he is made to speak by Rabshakeh.

⁶Lo, thou trustest in the staff of this broken reed, in Egypt, whereon if a man lean, it will go into his hand and pierce it. So is Pharaoh king of Egypt to all who trust in him. — Lo, thou trust in the staff of this broken reed on Egypt his ally and auxiliary; and which is rightly called “the staff of a broken reed” if trusted to and leaned upon the banks of the river Nile in Egypt.

⁷But if thou say to me, “We trust in the Lord our God,” is it not He whose high places and whose altars Hezekiah hath taken away, and said to Judah and to Jerusalem, “Ye shall worship before this altar”? — Rashid: Whose high places… has removed: He abolished all the pagan temples and the altars and the high places and has coerced all Judah to prostrate themselves before one altar.

⁸Now therefore give pledges, I pray thee, to my master the king of Assyria, and I will give thee two thousand horses, if thou be able on thy part to set riders upon them. — there was something absurd in the idea of Judah coming out as strong in its cavalry. Had they two thousand men who could manage their horses if they had them?

⁹How then wilt thou turn away the face of one captain of the least of my master’s servants and put thy trust on Egypt for chariots and for horsemen? — how then wilt thou turn away the face of one captain of the least of my master’s servants and put thy trust on Egypt for chariots and for horsemen? that is, he reproaches Hezekiah’s small power which is not able to resist one of Sennacherib’s least captains.

¹⁰And have I now come up without the Lord against this land to destroy it? The Lord said unto me: “Go up against this land, and destroy it.”’” — Rabshakeh would insinuate that he had a commission from the Lord God, a boastful inference from the past successes of Assyria, designed to influence the Jews to surrender.

¹¹Then said Eliakim and Shebna and Joah unto Rabshakeh, “Speak, I pray thee, unto thy servants in the Aramaic language, for we understand it; and speak not to us in the Jews’ language in the ears of the people who are on the wall.”

¹²But Rabshakeh said, “Hath my master sent me to thy master and to thee to speak these words? Hath he not sent me to the men who sit upon the wall, that they may eat their own dung and drink their own urine with you?” — Speak, I pray thee, unto thy servants; the king’s officers, knowing the “little faith” of their people are not, perhaps without misgivings of their own and listening eagerly on the wall, recognise in Rabshakeh’s words an echo of Isaiah’s and lose courage as feeling that they were fighting against the God who was chastising them?

— the Syrian or Aramaic was a common ground for the ambassadors on both sides as being the language of commerce and diplomacy. Rabshakeh, it would seem, could speak three languages, Assyrian, Syrian and Hebrew; Hezekiah’s ministers the two latter; the “people on the wall” only the last.

¹³Then Rabshakeh stood and cried with a loud voice in the Jews’ language, and said, “Hear ye the words of the great king, the king of Assyria! — then Rabshakeh stood, indicating the posture of a man who intends to speak to them at a distance. And cried with a loud voice so that those on the wall could hear.

¹⁴Thus saith the king: ‘Let not Hezekiah deceive you, for he shall not be able to deliver you. — thus saith the king, the king of Assyria, whom he personated, whose general and ambassador he was; so he spoke to command the greater awe of the people and the more to terrify them:

— let not Hezekiah deceive you; with fair words, promising protection and safety, making preparations for the defence of the city and to oblige the besiegers to break up the siege of it: for he shall not be able to deliver you.

¹⁵Neither let Hezekiah make you trust in the Lord, saying, “The Lord will surely deliver us; this city shall not be delivered into the hand of the king of Assyria.” — neither let Hezekiah make you trust in the Lord; Hezekiah trusted in the Lord himself and he endeavoured, both by his own example and by arguments to persuade his people to do so likewise; of this Rabshakeh was sensible and was more afraid of this than of any thing else and therefore laboured this point more than any other;

— saying, the Lord will surely deliver us, this city shall not be delivered into the hand of the king of Assyria: which he might say with the greatest confidence; since the Lord had promised to defend it, Isaiah 31:5 since it is expressly promised by the Lord that he would deliver him and the city out of the hand of the king of Assyria.

¹⁶Hearken not to Hezekiah, for thus saith the king of Assyria: Make an agreement with me by a present, and come out to me; and eat ye every one of his vine and every one of his fig tree, and drink ye every one the waters of his own cistern, — Hearken not to Hezekiah, to his exhortations and persuasions to trust in the Lord; nor would he have them obey him in things civil any more than hearken to him in things sacred, and so the Targum says, “do not obey Hezekiah” or receive any orders from him, or pay any regard to them:

— Make an agreement with me, that is, “make peace with me” and the Septuagint version is, “if ye would be blessed” or happy, come out to me; forsake your king, throw off your allegiance to him, surrender yourselves and city to me.

¹⁷until I come and take you away to a land like your own land, a land of corn and wine, a land of bread and vineyards. — until I come; these are the words of the king of Assyria delivered by Rabshakeh. It was proposed that they should remain safely in Jerusalem until Sennacherib should himself come and remove them to his own land.

¹⁸Beware lest Hezekiah persuade you, saying, “The Lord will deliver us.” Hath any of the gods of the nations delivered his land out of the hand of the king of Assyria? — beware lest Hezekiah persuade you; to trust in the Lord, stand up in your own defence and not listen to these proposals; or lest he “deceive you” with vain words;

— hath any of the gods of the nations delivered his land; over whom he presided and to whom the people of it were devotees: out of the hand of the king of Assyria? this reasoning would have had some weight in it had the Lord God of Israel been like the gods of the nations but he is not.

¹⁹Where are the gods of Hamath and Arphad? Where are the gods of Sepharvaim? And have they delivered Samaria out of my hand? — where are the gods of Hamath and Arphad? What become of them? where are they to be found? where’s their power to protect and defend the people they presided over?

— and have they delivered Samaria out of my hand? the gods of the above places which were worshipped in Samaria or the gods peculiar to that place; though Samaria was not taken by the present king of Assyria, Sennacherib but by a predecessor of his, Shalmaneser.

²⁰Who are they among all the gods of these lands that have delivered their land out of my hand, that the Lord should deliver Jerusalem out of my hand?’” — who are they amongst all the gods of these lands, that have delivered their land out of my hand? Not one of them, it is suggested; wherefore then should it be thought practicable;

— that the Lord should deliver Jerusalem out of my hand? thus blasphemously setting the Lord God of Israel upon a level with the fictitious gods of the Gentiles; though these could not, the Lord could, being the Lord God Almighty. If Rabshakeh was an apostate Jew he must have known better but the malice of such is usually the greatest.

²¹But they held their peace and answered him not a word; for the king’s commandment was, saying, “Answer him not.” — but they held their peace; Hezekiah seems to have commanded silence as if distrustful either of the wisdom of the ambassadors or of the effect which any chance words might have upon the garrison and people of Jerusalem.

²²Then came Eliakim the son of Hilkiah, who was over the household, and Shebna the scribe, and Joah the son of Asaph, the recorder, to Hezekiah with their clothes rent, and told him the words of Rabshakeh. — with their clothes rent the act was the natural expression of their horror at the blasphemy of Rabshakeh’s words; they would not reply to that blasphemy and trusted to the effect of this silent protest on the minds of the people who had heard it.

Posted in Isaiah

Saudi Considers Yuan For Oil

•March 16, 2022 • Leave a Comment

This is a game changer! Sputnik March 16, 2022

Saudi Arabia’s Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman Invites China’s Xi to Visit Kingdom amid Strained US Relations. It appears that the Saudis no longer care much about US “security guarantees” and instead are switching their allegiance to China. Trip could happen as soon as May as alliances shift in the Middle East and Washington’s regional partners seek out new security and economic ties.

According to various reports, talks with China over yuan-priced oil contracts have been off and on for six years but have accelerated this year as the Saudis have grown increasingly unhappy with decades-old US security commitments to defend the kingdom.

The dynamics have dramatically changed. The US relationship with the Saudis has changed: China is the world’s biggest crude importer and they are offering many lucrative incentives to the kingdom.

China buys more than 25% of the oil that Saudi Arabia exports and if priced in yuan, those sales would boost the standing of the yuan and set the Chinese currency on a path to becoming a global petroyuan reserve currency.

“Simply, I do not care” said Saudi Arabia’s Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman

The news comes after the rulers of Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates both refused to answer phone calls from the White House. In an interview with The Atlantic earlier this month, the Saudi Crown Prince told the magazine “Simply, I do not care” whether Biden understands him or not. “It’s up to him to think about the interests of America. Go for it.”

“All your lovers have forgotten you; they no longer care for you anymore. I have wounded you as an enemy would. I have punished you as the cruel would, because your guilt is so great, because your sins are so many” Jeremiah 30:14.
All thy friends have forgotten thee; they shall not ask about thee at all, for I have smitten thee with he stroke of an enemy, even severe correction: thy sins have abounded above all thine iniquity. Septuagint Brenton Translation

Posted in Ephraim, US

Isaiah (Ch 33-34)

•March 16, 2022 • Leave a Comment

The Russian bear seems to have bitten a porcupine which has now got stuck to its mouth, unable to swallow it nor to dislodge it, creating lots of anxieties.

Is Fort Detrick the Source of Covid-19?

Isaiah 33

¹Woe to thee that spoilest, and thou wast not spoiled; and dealest treacherously, and they dealt not treacherously with thee! when thou shalt cease to spoil, thou shalt be spoiled; and when thou shalt make an end to deal treacherously, they shall deal treacherously with thee. — thou shalt be spoiled; this was literally fulfilled when the Assyrian monarchy lost its splendor and power and was finally taken over by the more mighty Babylon empire.

— they shall deal treacherously with thee; that is, ‘thou shalt be dealt with in a treacherous manner.’ The result was that Sennacherib was treacherously slain by his own sons as he was ‘worshipping in the house of Nisroch his god’ Isaiah 37:38, and thus the prophecy was literally fulfilled; God would reward their desire of plundering a nation that had not injured them by the desolation of their own.

²O Lord, be gracious unto us; we have waited for Thee; be Thou their arm every morning, our salvation also in the time of trouble. — we have waited for thee; time after time, year after year, in the use of means; hoping for his kind appearance; expecting help and salvation.

— be thou their arm every morning; when they pray unto thee, the morning being the time of prayer; and also be their arm all the day long, to lean and depend upon, to support, protect and defend them; there is a change of person from the first to the third, usual in prophetic and poetic writings; and the Targum, “our strength.”

³At the noise of the tumult the people fled; at the lifting up of Thyself the nations were scattered. — at the noise of the tumult; which shall be made upon the angel’s destroying the army; the people fled; those of the army who escaped that stroke. At the lifting up of thyself to execute judgement, the nations were scattered, the people of many nations which made up Sennacherib’s army.

⁴And your spoil shall be gathered like the gathering of the caterpillar; as the running to and fro of locusts shall he run upon them. — and your spoil; the treasure which you have raked by spoiling diverse people; shall be gathered; but you shall be forced to flee with all possible speed, leaving your spoils; behind like the gathering of the caterpillar; as caterpillars gather and devour all the fruits of the earth; or as the running to and fro of locusts; as locusts, especially when they are armed by a commission from God, come with great force, devouring every thing before them;

— or like the Russian oligarchs, who are charged complicit in crimes, that sail their superyachts (private jets, posh homes, football clubs and other trophies) scurrying away like rats to other places of refuge like Dubai, Bahrain, Doha or other safe havens before being seized by Western officials after their wealth are deemed stolen from the Russian people!

⁵The Lord is exalted, for He dwelleth on high; He hath filled Zion with judgement and righteousness. — the Lord is exalted; by the destruction of so potent an army and by the defence of his people. For he dwelleth on high; He is, and will appear to be, superior to his; He dwelleth in heaven, whence he can easily and irresistibly pour down judgements upon his enemies.

⁶And wisdom and knowledge shall be the stability of thy times and strength of salvation; the fear of the Lord is his treasure. — and wisdom and knowledge; to govern thyself and the people well; the fear of the Lord is his treasure; thy chief treasure and delight shall be in promoting the fear and worship of God.

⁷Behold, their valiant ones shall cry without; the ambassadors of peace shall weep bitterly. — behold, their valiant ones shall cry outside: the ambassadors of peace or to beg peace of the Assyrian shall weep bitterly.

⁸The highways lie waste, the wayfaring man ceaseth; he hath broken the covenant, he hath despised the cities, he regardeth no man. — the highways lie waste; a description of the desolations that had been caused by the invasion of Sennacherib; in the consternation and alarm that was produced by his approach, the roads that had been usually thronged were now solitary and still. A mournful desolation already prevailed and they apprehended still greater calamities and hence they wept;

— he hath broken the covenant; Sennacherib broke his oath given to Hezekiah of departing for a sum of money, II Kings 18:14,17; he hath despised the cities; the defenced cities of Judah which he contemned and easily took; he regarded no man; either to spare them or to fear them.

⁹The earth mourneth and languisheth; Lebanon is ashamed and hewn down. Sharon is like a wilderness, and Bashan and Carmel shake off their fruits.

¹⁰“Now will I rise,” saith the Lord; “now will I be exalted; now will I lift up Myself. — now will God be exalted; that is, in his power by the destruction of the enemies of the elect; and in the hearts and mouths of his people, on account of their deliverance and salvation:

— now will God lift up himself; show himself above his enemies, higher and greater than they, and reduce them to a low estate and condition. The repetition of the word “now” has its emphasis and is designed to observe the time of God’s appearing in the cause of his people and the firmness of his resolution to do it without delay which he would set about it.

¹¹Ye shall conceive chaff, ye shall bring forth stubble; your breath, as fire, shall devour you. — ye shall conceive chaff, ye shall bring forth stubble, instead of solid corn. Your great hopes and designs, O ye Assyrians! shall be utterly disappointed;

— your breath, as fire, shall devour you; your rage against my people shall bring ruin upon yourselves.

¹²And the people shall be as the burnings of lime; as thorns cut up shall they be burned in the fire. — and the people shall be as the burnings of lime; like chalk stones that are burnt to make lime of; which may denote not only their hardness and impenitency which brought upon them and issued in the wrath of God;

— as thorns cut up shall they be burned in the fire; thorns are a fit simile to express the unfruitfulness, uselessness and harmfulness of wicked men and these “cut up” and so not green and moist, but dry and fit fuel for the fire, which burn the more easily and quickly.

¹³Hear, ye that are far off, what I have done, and ye that are near, acknowledge My might.” — Hear, ye that are far off, indicating that the destruction of the Assyrian army would be to signal that it would be known to distant nations and would constitute an admonition to them;

— the signal deliverance of Jerusalem will be a great demonstration to all the world of the omnipotence of the God of Israel.

¹⁴The sinners in Zion are afraid; fearfulness hath surprised the hypocrites: “Who among us shall dwell with the devouring fire? Who among us shall dwell with everlasting burnings?” — sinners in Zion; who had the guise and form of religion but not the power of it and were for fleeing to Egypt and trusting in Pharaoh but not in the Lord; these are pretenders with a false religion among the elect.

¹⁵He that walketh righteously and speaketh uprightly, he that despiseth the gain of oppressions, that shaketh his hands from holding of bribes, that stoppeth his ears from hearing of blood and shutteth his eyes from seeing evil— he that walks righteously; this describes the characteristics of the righteous who put their confidence in God;

— and speaks uprightly; his words are well-ordered, words which are not false, perfidious, slanderous or obscene; for an individual his words are simple, honest and true; for a magistrate his decisions are according to justice;

— he that despise the gain of oppressions; by ‘Deceits’ – he abhors the gain that is the result of imposition, false dealing and false weights. Or if it means oppressions as the word usually does, he does not oppress the poor or take advantage of their needy condition or affix exorbitant prices or extort payment in a manner that is harsh and cruel.

¹⁶he shall dwell on high; his place of defense shall be the fortifications of rocks; bread shall be given him; his waters shall be sure. — he shall dwell on high; heights or high places were usually places of safety, being inaccessible to an enemy; he should be safe from the anger, wrath and consuming fire.

¹⁷Thine eyes shall see the King in His beauty; they shall behold the land that is very far off. — thine eyes shall see the King in his beauty in his royal robes and with a cheerful countenance, as a King reigning gloriously before his elects in Jerusalem: the Targum says, “thine eyes shall see the glory of the Majesty of the King of worlds in his praise;” that is, the glory of the Majesty of God.

¹⁸Thine heart shall meditate terror: “Where is the scribe? Where is the receiver? Where is he that counted the towers?” — thine heart shall meditate terror: this is either premonition concerning a future judgement as if he said, Before these glorious promises, thou shalt be brought into great straits and troubles. Or rather, a thankful acknowledgment of deliverance from a former danger; as if he had said, When thou art delivered, thou shalt with pleasure and thankfulness recall to mind thy former terrors and miseries;

— where is the scribe? who enrolled and pay the army; or who prescribed the tribute to be paid; or who kept an account of the spoil; perhaps a secretary of state or of war or an inspector-general who had the charge of reviewing an army and who made an estimate of the strength of Jerusalem.

¹⁹Thou shalt not see a fierce people, a people of a deeper speech than thou canst perceive, of a stammering tongue that thou canst not understand. — fierce people; the Assyrians shall not be allowed to enter Jerusalem. Or, thou shalt no longer see fierce enemies threatening thee as previously; such as the Babylonians, Romans or any endtime enemies that is yet to assail Jerusalem;

— a people of a deeper speech; a people whose language is so deep, that is, so dark or obscure that it cannot be understood by you. This refers to the army of the Assyrians, who spoke the Syrian language, which was understood by some of the Jews, but which was unintelligible to the masses.

²⁰Look upon Zion, the city of our solemnities; thine eyes shall see Jerusalem a quiet habitation, a tabernacle that shall not be taken down; not one of the stakes thereof shall ever be removed, neither shall any of the cords thereof be broken. — Look upon Zion; contemplate Zion’s beauty and safety, and her glorious and peculiar privileges; it is an object worthy of thy deepest meditation;

— the city of our solemnities: the chief part of Zion’s glory and happiness that God was solemnly ordained and the solemn assemblies and feasts kept in Zion. A quiet habitation which was but very obscurely and imperfectly fulfilled in an earlier Zion; but was clearly and fully accomplished in a latter Zion, the kingdom of God in the times of the Millenium against which we are assured that the gates of hell shall not prevail.

²¹But there the glorious Lord will be unto us a place of broad rivers and streams, wherein shall go no galley with oars, neither shall gallant ship pass thereby. — there in and around Zion the glorious Lord will be unto us a place of broad rivers and streams: as if we were surrounded with such great rivers as the Nile or Euphrates, which were a great security to Egypt and Babylon;

— wherein shall go no galley with oars, neither shall gallant ship pass thereby; but they shall have from God the security of a great river yet they shall be freed from the disadvantage of it; which is that the enemies may come against them in ships; for no galleys nor ships of the enemy’s shall be able to come into this river to annoy them.

²²For the Lord is our judge, the Lord is our lawgiver, the Lord is our king; He will save us. —that is, “The Lord, our judge, the Lord, our lawgiver . . . He will save us.”

²³Thy tacklings are loosed; they could not well strengthen their mast, they could not spread the sail; then is the prey of a great spoil divided; the lame take the prey. — thy tacklings are loosed; God directs his speech to the Assyrians; and having tacitly designed their army under the notion of a gallant ship, he represents their broken and undone condition by the metaphor of a ship tossed in a tempestuous sea, having her cables broken and all her tacklings loose, and out of order so as she could have no benefit of her masts and sails; and therefore is quickly broken or swallowed up by the sea;

— they; the Assyrians, then is the prey of a great spoil divided; the lame take the prey; they who came to spoil and prey upon my people shall become a prey to them and shall be forced to flee away so suddenly, that they shall leave so many spoils behind them that when strong and active men have carried away all that they desired, there shall be enough left for the lame who come last to the spoil. The general sense of the place is, that God’s people shall be victorious over all their enemies.

²⁴And the inhabitant shall not say, “I am sick”; the people that dwell therein shall be forgiven their iniquity. — the inhabitant, to wit, of Jerusalem, God’s people shall not say, I am sick; shall have no cause to complain of any sickness or calamity; shall be fully delivered from all their enemies and evil occurrents; shall enjoy perfect tranquillity and prosperity. The people that dwell therein shall be forgiven their iniquity.

Isaiah 34

¹Come near, ye nations, to hear; and hearken, ye people! let the earth hear, and all that is therein, the world, and all things that come forth from it. — the Judgement on all nations are concerned, but particularly of Edom or Idumea;

— let the earth hear and all that is therein: not just the land of Judea but all the earth and the inhabitants of it: the world and all things that come forth of it; which may either be understood of those that dwell in it, as the Targum interprets it;

²For the indignation of the Lord is upon all nations, and His fury upon all their armies; He hath utterly destroyed them; He hath delivered them to the slaughter. — for the indignation of the Lord is upon all nations; all the nations of the earth which have committed fornication with either the Assyrians, the Chaldeans, the Persians, the Greeks or the whore of Rome, or have given in to her false worship, superstition and idolatry; which is the reason of God’s wrath and indignation against them and of such severe punishment being inflicted on them.

³Their slain also shall be cast out, and their stench shall come up out of their carcasses, and the mountains shall be melted with their blood. — their slain shall be cast out into the fields where they shall lie unburied and be left for a prey to all ravenous birds and beasts; whereby he implies, either the vast numbers which shall be slain so as they could not have time or place to bury them; or the curse of God upon them and the people’s contempt and abhorrence of them;

— shall be melted with their blood; shall be filled with their blood which shall run down abundantly from the mountains with great force and dissolve and carry down part of the earth of the mountains with it as great showers of rain frequently do.

⁴And all the host of heaven shall be dissolved, and the heavens shall be rolled together as a scroll; and all their host shall fall down, as the leaf falleth off from the vine, and as a falling fig from the fig tree. — and all the host of heaven: the sun, moon and stars; shall be dissolved; also in the prophetic language the heavenly luminaries represent kings, empires and states:

— shall be dissolved; so great shall be the confusion and consternation of mankind as if all the frame of the creation were broken into pieces as of the general judgement;

— the heavens shall be rolled together as a scroll, Heb. as a book; for books were then written in scrolls, which they usually rolled up together; and when they were so no man could read any word in it; and no more shall any man be able to see those truths and lights of heaven for they shall all be obscured and confounded.

⁵“For My sword shall be bathed in heaven; behold, it shall come down upon Edom and upon the people of My curse in judgement.” — for my Sword shall be bathed in heaven; that is, the Sword of the Lord, as it is called in the next verse Isaiah 34:6, and it is he that is speaking; it designs the vengeance of the Lord, the punishment he will inflict on the wicked, said to be “bathed in heaven” because it was determined and prepared there; the allusion may be to the bathing of Swords in some sort of liquor to harden or brighten them, and so fit them for use;

— it shall come down upon Idumea; upon the Edomites, who, though they were nearly related to the Israelites yet were their implacable enemies. But these are named for all the enemies of God’s elects, of whom they were an eminent type;

— Chabad Bible: “upon the nation with whom I contend [with]” – in great probability this would refer to the house of Jacob and not so much to Edom; if so this few verses would be tied to Ezekiel 20:45 to 21:5 where the Sword of the Lord or My Sword is similarly mentioned.

⁶The sword of the Lord is filled with blood; it is made fat with fatness and with the blood of lambs and goats, with the fat of the kidneys of rams; for the Lord hath a sacrifice in Bozrah, and a great slaughter in the land of Edom. — is filled with blood; shall drink its fill of blood. The metaphor is here taken from a great glutton or drunkard, who is almost insatiable with meat and drink;

— with the blood of lambs and goats, with the fat of the kidneys of rams: by lambs and goats and rams, he means people of all ranks and conditions, high and low, rich and poor. A sacrifice; so he calleth this bloody work because it was done by God’s command, and for his honour; and therefore was a service acceptable to him.

— Bozrah, the capital city of Idumea; see further Isaiah 63:1, a parallel text; where Edom and Bozrah are mentioned. Could this be connected to the Sword from the South in Ezekiel 20:45 to 21:5?

⁷And the unicorns shall come down with them, and the bullocks with the bulls; and their land shall be soaked with blood, and their dust made fat with fatness. — and the unicorns shall come down with them; together with the bullocks and bulls, which are also mentioned in Deuteronomy 33:17 His glory is like the firstling of his bullock and his horns are like the horns of unicorns. With them he shall push the people together to the ends of the earth; and they are the ten thousands of Ephraim and they are the thousands of Manasseh.”

⁸For it is the day of the Lord’s vengeance, and the year of recompenses for the controversy of Zion. — the year of recompenses for the controversy of Zion; the long-delayed day of retribution should come at last; this would be the outcome from the hand of the Almighty God for the persistent hostility of the Edomites to the city which He had chosen.

⁹And the streams thereof shall be turned into pitch and the dust thereof into brimstone, and the land thereof shall become burning pitch. — the streams thereof shall be turned into pitch; the imagery of the punishment which is to fall on Edom is suggested partly by the scenery of the Dead Sea, partly by the volcanic character of Edom itself with its extinct craters and streams of lava.

¹⁰It shall not be quenched night nor day; the smoke thereof shall go up for ever. From generation to generation it shall lie waste; none shall pass through it for ever and ever. — and Edom shall be a desolation as in the overthrow of Sodom and Gomorrah and the neighbouring cities thereof.

¹¹But the cormorant and the bittern shall possess it; the owl also and the raven shall dwell in it; and He shall stretch out upon it the line of confusion and the stones of emptiness. — but the cormorant and the bittern shall possess it; the word for “cormorant” is rendered a “pelican” in Psalm 102:6 they were both unclean fowls; the owl also and the raven shall dwell in it; which were likewise unclean creatures.

¹²They shall call the nobles thereof to the kingdom, but none shall be there, and all her princes shall be nothing. — the idea is that the kingdom would be desolate; there would be no people to rule. Or, there will be no nobles there who shall survive the destruction to undertake the government of the state.

¹³And thorns shall come up in her palaces, nettles and brambles in the fortresses thereof; and it shall be a habitation of dragons and a court for owls. — an habitation of dragons and a court for owls; the wild creatures named are identified, as elsewhere, with “jackals” (“wild dogs”) and “ostriches” like the ruins of Petra.

¹⁴The wild beasts of the desert shall also meet with the wild beasts of the island, and the satyr shall cry to his fellow; the screech owl also shall rest there and find for herself a place of rest. — and the satyr shall cry to his fellow; or the “hairy” one; from which word the goat has its name; and these creatures are described by the ancients as half goats and half men; the Targum renders it demons (Rashid: the name of the female demon); and with this well agrees the account of Babylon or Rome as fallen, that it shall be the habitation of devils and the hold of every foul spirit.

¹⁵There shall the great owl make her nest, and lay and hatch and gather under her shadow; there shall the vultures also be gathered, every one with her mate. — there shall the great owl make her nest, lay and hatch, and gather under her shadow: there shall the vultures also be gathered, every one with her mate; signifying that Idumea (like the wilderness of Petra) would be a horrible desolation and barren wilderness.

¹⁶Seek ye out of the book of the Lord, and read: No one of these shall fail, none shall lack her mate; for My mouth, it hath commanded, and His Spirit, it hath gathered them. — Seek ye out of the book of the Lord and read; this of the book of the law of Moses and of the prophets; which being consulted, it will appear that punishment was threatened to be inflicted on the enemies of God’s people, particularly the Edomites.

¹⁷And He hath cast the lot for them, and His hand hath divided it unto them by line; they shall possess it for ever; from generation to generation shall they dwell therein. — God hath divided the land to them, as it were by lot and line as Canaan was divided among the Israelites. The Targum adds, “by his word” and his hand hath divided it unto them by line; the same adds, “by his will.”

Posted in Isaiah

Isaiah (Ch 31-32)

•March 14, 2022 • Leave a Comment

Isaiah 31

¹Woe to them that go down to Egypt for help, and depend upon horses and trust in chariots because they are many, and in horsemen because they are very strong, but they look not unto the Holy One of Israel, neither seek the Lord! — woe to them that go down to Egypt for help; or “O ye that go down.” Such were their rulers and people, or ambassadors sent to the king of Egypt, to supply them with men and horses against the king of Assyria, contrary to the express command of God;

— and stay on horses, and trust in chariots, because they are many; and in horsemen, because they are very strong; having their dependence upon, and placing their confidence in, the strength and numbers of the cavalry of the Egyptians.

²Yet He also is wise, and will bring evil, and will not call back His words, but will arise against the house of the evildoers and against the help of them that work iniquity. — Yet he also is wise; that is, God, the Holy One of Israel, whom they disregarded; and wiser too than the Egyptians; so wise as to know all their schemes, and able to confound them, as well as most certainly and fully to complete his own; and it would have been therefore the highest wisdom to have attributable to him and not to men;

— and will bring evil; the punishment or affliction on wicked men which he has warned and which they could in no wise escape; and will not call back his words; his warnings delivered by the prophets: these, as he does not repent of, he will not revoke or make void, but fulfil and accomplish;

— but will arise against the house of evildoers; against the ten tribes of Israel, against the Jews, or it may be the royal family, chiefly concerned in sending the embassy to Egypt, or in advising to it; though it may be for the plural, as the Septuagint renders it “the houses” and so may design all those great families are therefore called “evildoers”

— and against the help of them that work iniquity; that is, against the Egyptians, the helpers of the Jews, who were workers of iniquity, and therefore their help and hope in it would also be in vain; who were wicked and idolatrous and so not to be sought unto for help or trusted in, since God being against them, it would be to no purpose as he is against all workers of iniquity.

³Now the Egyptians are men, and not God; and their horses flesh, and not spirit. When the Lord shall stretch out His hand, both he that helpeth shall fall and he that is helped shall fall down, and they all shall fail together. — now the Egyptians are men, and not God; be it that they are mighty before men, but not before God; and indeed they are but frail, feeble, mortal, and mutable men, and therefore not to be trusted in, and depended on; or to be put upon an equality with God;

— and the Jews that are helped shall fall down; helped by the Egyptians, who should also fall and be destroyed, though not now; yet hereafter by the Chaldeans as they were: and they all shall fail together; both the Egyptians and the Jews.

⁴For thus hath the Lord spoken unto me: As the lion and the young lion roaring on his prey, when a multitude of shepherds is called forth against him, he will not be afraid of their voice, nor abase himself for the noise of them; so shall the Lord of hosts come down to fight for Mount Zion and for the hill thereof. — like the lion and the young lion roaring on his prey; or “growling over his prey” for the lion roars when he is hungry and wants a prey and not when he has got one; but when he has one and feeding upon it, he makes a lower noise, a growling one;

— so shall the Lord of hosts come down to fight for Mount Zion; that is, he shall come down from heaven with his angel and fight against the Assyrian army, in favour of the inhabitants of Zion or Jerusalem and deliver them; and there will be no more withstanding him or putting him off from his purpose, or preventing his good designs and resolutions than the shepherds are able to divert a lion from his prey.

⁵As birds flying, so will the Lord of hosts defend Jerusalem; defending, also He will deliver it; and passing over, He will preserve it. — as birds flying, so will the Lord of hosts defend Jerusalem; as birds in the air at a distance, especially the eagle, have their eye upon their nests and their young ones in them and when in danger fly to their assistance and hover over them to keep off those that would hurt them, so the Lord, on high sees his people when in distress and hastens to surround, protect and defend them.

⁶Turn ye unto Him from whom the children of Israel have deeply revolted. — turn ye unto him from the Egyptians to whom they sought for help unto the Lord, whom they had neglected; from evil ways and practices, idolatry and impiety to the true worship of God, to his word and ordinances, statutes and commands. The Targum says, “turn to the law” which they had rejected and broken.

⁷For in that day every man shall cast away his idols of silver and his idols of gold, which your own hands have made unto you for a sin. — every man shall cast away his idols of silver and his idols of gold; with contempt and abhorrence of them; every man “his” own idol and even those that were of the greatest value, which were made of gold and silver;

— which your own hands have made; their idols were the work of their own hands and were made by them in order to commit sin with, the sin of idolatry; for the punishment which your hands have made; it was a sin to make such idols especially with a view to worship them.

⁸“Then shall the Assyrian fall by the sword, but not of a mighty man; and the sword, not of a lowly man, shall devour him; but he shall flee from the sword, and his young men shall be discomfited. — then shall the Assyrian fall with the sword, not of a mighty man; that is, the Assyrian army under Sennacherib their king, which besieged Jerusalem in Hezekiah’s time; which as soon as the people were brought to a sense of their sin and cast away their idols as a proof of it, were utterly destroyed; but not in battle, not by the sword of Hezekiah, nor any of his valiant generals;

— and the sword, not of a mean man shall devour him; neither the sword of a general, nor of a private soldier, nor indeed of any man but of an angel; see II Kings 19:35;

— but he shall flee from the sword; from the drawn sword of the angel, who very probably appeared in such a form as in 1 Chronicles 21:16 which Sennacherib king of Assyria seeing, as well as the slaughter made in his army by him, fled from it; in the Hebrew text it is added, “for himself” he fled for his life, for his own personal security; see II Kings 19:36;

— and his young men shall be discomfited; his choice ones, the flower of his army, they “melt away” through fear; or die by the stroke of the angel upon them.

⁹And he shall pass over to his stronghold for fear, and his princes shall be afraid of the ensign,” saith the Lord, whose fire is in Zion and His furnace in Jerusalem. — and the king of Assyria shall pass over to his stronghold in fear; this is of departing in haste from the siege of Jerusalem to some stronghold in his own country, particularly his strong city Nineveh, for fear of the angel and destruction following him; nor could he think himself safe until he had got there;

— others render it (and the original will bear it), “and his rock shall pass over for fear” his mighty men, his men of valour, in whom he trusted who were his strength upon which he depended; these as many as were left of them, fled away. So the Targum says, “his princes shall flee for fear.”

Isaiah 32

¹ Behold, a King shall reign in righteousness, and princes shall rule in judgement. — behold, a King shall reign in righteousness; not Hezekiah; at least only as a type, but rather the Son of God, the Christ himself, who is also the “King” not only of Judah, but the whole world, and in particular is King of all the saints; and who “reigns” in and over his Kingdom and people, being set as King by his Father over his holy hill of Zion;

— and princes, the elects of God, shall rule in judgement: who are set over the Kingdom and who rule with righteous judgement when they rule according to the word of God; they who shall teach the truth and administer ordinances, statues and the law.

²And a man shall be as a hiding place from the wind and a covert from the tempest, as rivers of water in a dry place, as the shadow of a great rock in a weary land. — and a man; evidently, the princes referred to in the previous verse; shall be as an hiding-place from the wind, a place where one may take refuge from a violent wind and tempest.

— a covert, a place of shelter and security. Wind and tempest are emblematic of calamity and oppression; and the sense is, that the princes would be the protector of other people and would save them from the calamities to which they had been subjected to in former reigns.

³And the eyes of them that see shall not be dim, and the ears of them that hear shall hearken. — and the eyes of them that see; that there shall be, under the reign of this wise and pious prince, on the part of the prophets and teachers, a clear view of divine truth, and on the part of the people who hear, a disposition to hearken and to attend to it.

⁴The heart also of the rash shall understand knowledge, and the tongue of the stammerers shall be ready to speak plainly. — the heart also of the rash shall understand knowledge; who have been hasty and who have not given themselves time to consider what they have read or heard, and have hastily received every thing that has been suggested to them, especially by carnal sense and reason, shall now sit down, and coolly consider things, and so gain an understanding of divine and deeper spiritual knowledge, of the knowledge of God, his Son, the Messiah, the Christ, of his person, offices, his righteousness and redemption.

— and the tongue of the stammerer shall be ready to speak plainly; or “shall make haste to speak neatly” elegantly and politely; such who hesitated in speech, and spoke in a blundering manner, or scarcely intelligibly, especially when they spoke of divine and spiritual things, yet now, without the least hesitation, in the freest and most ready manner, with all plainness and propriety shall talk of these things, to the great delight, satisfaction and use of those that hear them.

⁵The vile person shall be no more called liberal, nor the churl said to be bountiful. — the vile person; the base and worthless men shall be no more called liberal; they shall no longer be reputed honourable, because of their high and honourable places, but wickedness shall be discovered wherever it is, and virtue manifested and rewarded;

— nor the churl said to be bountiful, the sordid and covetous man; but under this one vice all vices are understood, as under the opposite virtue of bountifulness all virtues are comprehended.

⁶For the vile person will speak villainy, and his heart will work iniquity, to practice hypocrisy and to utter error against the Lord, to make empty the soul of the hungry; and he will cause the drink of the thirsty to fail. — for the vile person will speak villany; men shall no longer be miscalled; for every one will discover what he is by his words and actions. And will work iniquity; he will, from time to time, be devising wickedness, that he may execute it when he hath opportunity. To practise hypocrisy; to do bad things, though with a pretence of religion and justice. To utter error; to pass unjust sentences, directly contrary to the command of God. To cause the drink, whereby they take away the bread and drink of the poor.

⁷The instruments also of the churl are evil; he deviseth wicked devices to destroy the poor with lying words, even when the needy speaketh right. — the instruments also of the churl are evil; a word that signifies any person or thing which is employed in a man’s service; the sense is that such covetous or wicked princes most willingly choose and employ wicked men in their affairs, because such men will, without any regard to conscience or justice: serve all their exorbitant desires;

— he devises wicked devices to destroy the poor with lying words, even when the needy speaks right; he consults, contrives and forms schemes with all craft and cunning, on purpose, to corrupt the poor and meek, humble and afflicted souls, with false doctrines; even when these poor and needy ones, who want to have sound and comfortable doctrine delivered to them, speak and ask for that which is right and just, agreeably to the oracles of God; therefore such a man is unfit to be a ruler in the house of God.

⁸But the liberal deviseth liberal things; and by liberal things shall he stand. — liberal, or rather “noble-minded” – he who is truly liberal and virtuous will show it by designing and practising liberal or virtuous actions;

— liberal, who devises liberal things, and persists or continues in liberal things. But the liberal; the word ‘liberal’ means generous, noble, benevolent; a man of large views and of public spirit; a man above covetousness, and self-seeking; a man who is willing to devote himself to the welfare of his country, and to the interests of his fellow-men. It is implied here that such persons would be selected to administer the affairs of the government I under the wise and virtuous prince of whom the prophet speaks.

⁹Rise up, ye women that are at ease; hear my voice, ye careless daughters; give ear unto my speech. — ye women that are at ease; they who are surrounded by the comforts which affluence gives, and that have no fear of being reduced to other than a princess.

— ye careless daughters – Hebrew, ‘Daughters confiding;’ that is, those who felt no alarm, and who did not regard God and his warnings and threats.

¹⁰Many days and years shall ye be troubled, ye careless women; for the vintage shall fail, the gathering shall not come. — many days and years shall ye be troubled, or “days above a year” – a year and somewhat more, or days upon a year, year upon year, one year after another; and so denotes a long duration of their troubles; and so the troubles of the Jews, before their utter destruction by the Romans lasted a great while;

— for the vintage shall fail – A large part of the wealth and the luxury of the nation consisted in the vintage. When the vine failed, there would be, of course, great distress. The sense is that in consequence of the invasion of the Assyrians, either the people would neglect to cultivate the lands or they would fail to collect the harvest. This might occur either from the dread of the invasion or because the Assyrian would destroy everything in his march.

¹¹Tremble, ye women that are at ease; be troubled, ye careless ones. Strip you and make you bare, and gird sackcloth upon your loins; — tremble, ye women that are at ease; the call to repentance includes their stripping themselves of their costly finery, and putting on the “sackcloth” and put on the habiliments of mourning, indicative of a great calamity.

¹²they shall lament for the teats, for the pleasant fields, for the fruitful vine. — they shall lament for the teats; either of the beasts of the field, that should be dried up; or else of the women, their breasts and teats, which should afford no milk for their infants, through the famine that should press them sore, which would occasion great lamentation, both in mothers and children.

¹³Upon the land of my people shall come up thorns and briers, yea, upon all the houses of joy in the joyous city. — upon the land of my people shall come up thorns and briers; the curse of the earth, being uncultivated, and this through want of men, they being destroyed or carried captive by the enemy; this is to be understood of the land of Judea and of Samaria; which is mentioned to show the apostasy of both houses, for which ruin came upon their land;

— upon all the houses of joy; that is, Jerusalem, the joy of the whole earth; and the “houses of joy.”

¹⁴Because the palaces shall be forsaken, the multitude of the city shall be left; the forts and towers shall be for dens for ever, a joy of wild asses, a pasture of flocks, — because the palaces shall be forsaken; the palaces of the princes and nobles shall be forsaken; they being obliged to flee from the enemy or being taken and either slain or carried captive. The word in the Hebrew is in the singular number, “the palace”, meaning the royal palace; and so of the king’s palace; though the Targum paraphrases it the house of the sanctuary, or the temple;

— a pasture of flocks; where flocks of sheep feed, instead of being inhabited by men; for the desire or at the will of the Ishmaelites and their army and certain it is that Jerusalem now is in the hands of the Ishmaelites, Turks or Moslems. The Targum says, “the place which was a house of joy and gladness for kings is now become a spoil for armies.”

¹⁵until the Spirit be poured upon us from on high, and the wilderness be a fruitful field, and the fruitful field be counted for a forest. — until the Spirit be poured upon us from on high; that is, Jerusalem shall lie in ruins until the effusion of the Spirit on the day of Pentecost, which, as it was before the destruction of the city by the Romans, so the desolation it was brought on until the fulness of the Gentiles are fulfilled;

— and the wilderness be a fruitful field, and the fruitful field be counted for a forest; this will be the consequence, fruit and effect of the effusion of the Spirit in the latter day; that such parts of the world as were like a wilderness, barren and unfruitful, producing nothing but the briers and thorns of impiety, infidelity, superstition and idolatry, should now become like a fruitful field.

¹⁶Then judgement shall dwell in the wilderness, and righteousness remain in the fruitful field. — then judgement shall dwell in the wilderness; in the desert part of the world, inhabited by Gentiles where the Scriptures, the rule of judgement and where the Gospel, sometimes called the judgement of the Lord had no place, now they shall have one and such as do justice and judgement shall dwell there.

¹⁷And the work of righteousness shall be peace, and the effect of righteousness, quietness and assurance for ever. — and the work of righteousness; that which righteousness produces; or the effect of the prevalence of righteousness on the nation; shall be peace; there shall be no internal agitation and no conflicts with foreign nations.

¹⁸And my people shall dwell in a peaceable habitation, and in sure dwellings and in quiet resting places — in a peaceable habitation and in sure dwellings; where they may dwell safely and confidently, secure from all enemies, in no fear of them and free from all hurt and danger by them:

— and in quiet resting places where they may sleep and rest quietly and none to disturb them and make them afraid; and where they shall enjoy much spiritual prosperity and safety, great peace and quietness, comfort and rest;

¹⁹when it shall hail, coming down on the forest; and the city shall be low in a low place. — when, or rather, and it shall hail; as my blessings shall be poured down upon my people, who, from a wilderness, are turned into a fruitful field so my judgements shall fall upon them who were a fruitful field but are turned into a forest;

— and the city, Jerusalem, which, though now it was the seat of God’s worship and people, yet he foresaw would be the great enemy of the Messiah; shall be low in a low place; that is, shall be greatly humbled or brought very low.

²⁰Blessed are ye that sow beside all waters, that send forth thither the feet of the ox and the ass. — blessed are ye that sow beside all waters; a golden age of agriculture receives its final touch: the whole land should be irrigated by calmly flowing streams and men should cast their seed broadcast and the oxen and the asses should draw the plough over a rich and fertile land. Amen.

Posted in Isaiah

Isaiah (Ch 29-30)

•March 12, 2022 • Leave a Comment

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Isaiah 29

¹ “Woe to Ariel, to Ariel, the city where David dwelt! Add ye year to year; let them kill sacrifices. — Woe to Ariel, to Ariel; the name interpreted as “the lion of God” or “the hearth of God,” and belongs to the same poetic synonym the Valley of Vision (Psalm 22:1);

— so called because Jerusalem was the place in the observance of the feasts: of the Passover, Pentecost and Tabernacles; burnt-offering, or of the public worship of God; the place where the Sanctuary is, the Shekinah and fire is, as on a hearth, continually burned on the altar.

²Yet I will distress Ariel, and there shall be heaviness and sorrow; and it shall be unto Me as Ariel. — yet God will distress Ariel; or “straiten” it, by causing it to be besieged; and this he would do, notwithstanding their yearly sacrifices and their observance of their solemn feasts;

— and there shall be heaviness and sorrow; on account of the siege; by reason of the devastations of the enemy from outside, invading all the cities and towns in Judea round about; and because of the famine and bloodshed in the city;

— and it shall be unto me as Ariel; the whole city shall be as the altar, a sacrifice; as that was covered with the blood and carcasses of slain beasts, so this with the blood and carcasses of men;

— and so the Targum says, “and I will distress the city where the altar is, and it shall be desolate and empty; and it shall be surrounded before me with the blood of the slain, as the altar is surrounded with the blood of the holy sacrifices on a solemn feast day all around”

— this maybe where Judah shall bear his iniquity for forty days: I have appointed thee a day for a year. Ezekiel 4:4-6 Septuagint. — after the start of the 10 tribes house of Israel and last for 150 years, the house of Judah shall join in for 40 years.

³And I will camp against thee round about, and will lay siege against thee with a mound, and I will raise forts against thee. — and God will camp against thee, that is, by those enemies whom God will assist and enable to take and destroy thee; this may refer to different sieges of Jerusalem, that of Sennacherib, that of the Chaldeans to that of the Romans, or even another one at the endtime?

⁴And thou shalt be brought down and shalt speak out of the ground, and thy speech shall be low out of the dust; and thy voice shall be as of one that hath a familiar spirit, out of the ground, and thy speech shall whisper out of the dust.” — thou shalt be brought down; thy speech shall be low; thou, who now speaks loftily, shalt be humbled, and in a submissive manner, and with a low voice, shalt beg the favour of thine enemies as one that hath a familiar spirit out of the ground.

⁵Moreover the multitude of thy strangers shall be like small dust, and the multitude of the terrible ones shall be as chaff that passeth away; yea, it shall be at an instant suddenly. — moreover the multitude of thy enemies shall be like small dust, or fine dust that is easily dissipated by the wind;

— and the multitude of an invading, besieging army, the terrible ones shall be as chaff that are blown away: yea, it shall be at an instant suddenly; like the forces of Sennacherib were destroyed in a single night by the angel of the Lord.

⁶Thou shalt be visited by the Lord of hosts with thunder and with earthquake and great noise, with storm and tempest and the flame of devouring fire. — but thou, that is, Ariel, or Jerusalem, shalt be visited by the Lord of hosts with thunder and with earthquake and great noise, with storm and tempest and the flame of devouring fire; revisiting of the days before Mount Sinai;

⁷And the multitude of all the nations that fight against Ariel, even all that fight against her and her fortifications, and that distress her, shall be as a dream of a night vision. — and the multitude of all the nations that fight against Ariel, a new revived “Roman army” which consisted of men of all nations, that fought against Jerusalem; the city in which was the altar;

— as the Targum paraphrases it: even all that fight against her and her munition and that distress her; that besieged it and endeavoured to demolish its walls, towns and fortifications as they did; shall quickly fall and pass away and come to nothing, like a dream in the night.

⁸It shall even be as when a hungry man dreameth, and behold, he eateth; but he awaketh, and his soul is empty. Or as when a thirsty man dreameth, and behold, he drinketh; but he awaketh, and behold, he is faint and his soul hath appetite. So shall the multitude of all the nations be that fight against Mount Zion. — his soul is empty; his appetite or desire is unsatisfied. Or his stomach or body is empty;

— so shall all the multitude from all nations that fight against Mount Zion; either shall quickly perish; or having raised their expectations and pleased themselves with the booty they should obtain, of which they thought themselves sure, shall find themselves mistaken and all like an illusive dream.

⁹Stay yourselves, and wonder! Cry ye out, and cry! They are drunken, but not with wine; they stagger, but not with strong drink. — stay yourselves and wonder, stop a while, pause a little; cry ye out and cry: they are drunk but not with wine; they stagger but not with strong drink; consider yourselves the case and circumstances of these people and wonder at their stupidity.

¹⁰For the Lord hath poured out upon you the spirit of deep sleep, and hath closed your eyes; the prophets and your rulers, the seers hath He covered. — the Lord hath poured out upon them the spirit of deep sleep; of spiritual blindness, a reprobate mind, a mind void of sound judgement and sense by their shepherds and the seers;

— a hardness of heart and insensibility to dangers, by their rulers, magistrates and ministers and other chief of the people what we call a judicial blindness that they which see might be made blind against the light.

¹¹And the vision of all has become unto you as the words of a book that is sealed, which men deliver to one that is learned, saying, “Read this, I pray thee”; and he saith, “I cannot, for it is sealed.” — and the vision of all; all the prophetic books, plus the book of Revelations, every vision by these writers; is unto you as the words of a book that is sealed;

— which no man can read while it is sealed up, being in the form of rolls, which men deliver to one that is learned, saying, read this, but he replied, I cannot; for it is sealed. Ordinary human learning, without supernatural light, will not be to understand the word of God and things divine.

¹²And the book is delivered to him that is not learned, saying, “Read this, I pray thee”; and he saith, “I am not learned.” — the Scriptures is a sealed book to every man, learned or unlearned; it is encrypted with signs and symbols, until he begins to study it with a simple heart and a teachable spirit, and only upon God’s spirits, that he may thence learn the truth and the will of God; otherwise he would be blinded.

¹³Therefore the Lord said: “Inasmuch as this people draw near Me with their mouth and with their lips do honor Me, but have removed their heart far from Me, and their fear toward Me is taught by the precept of men, — but there are many whose religion is lip-service only, they pretend to be speaking to God, they are pranks, they mix some truths with a thousand foolish things; honouring Astarte from the Egyptians and Mithra from the Persian as they worship the God of Israel according to their own devices.

¹⁴therefore, behold, I will proceed to do a marvelous work among this people, even a marvelous work and a wonder; for the wisdom of their wise men shall perish, and the understanding of their prudent men shall be hid.” — therefore, God will proceed to do a marvellous work among these people, perhaps referring to the captivity of Israel for 190 years and Judah 40; even an wonderful work and a wonder:

— for the wisdom of their wise men shall perish, and the understanding of their prudent men shall be hidden, because of their disobedience, idolatry and wickedness, their regard to men’s doctrines and commandments, and not to the will and word of God, therefore he determines “to deal marvellously and a wonder with this people.”

¹⁵Woe unto them that seek deep to hide their counsel from the Lord and their works are in the dark, and they say, “Who seeth us?” and, “Who knoweth us?” — woe unto them, or “O ye” that seek deep to hide their counsel from the Lord; which though they consulted in private, and formed deep schemes, imagining they were not observed by the Lord, yet he that sits in the heaven saw them and laughed at their vain imaginations, Psalm 2:1;

— and their works are in the dark; in the dark night as if the darkness could conceal them from the all seeing eye of God; such works are truly works of darkness but cannot be hidden, though they flatter themselves they will;

— and they muse, Who see us? and who know us? as no man, they imagine, but not God himself could; into such atheism do wicked men sink when desirous of bringing their schemes into execution, they have taken great pains to form; and which they please themselves are so deeply laid as that they cannot fail of succeeding.

¹⁶Surely your turning of things upside down shall be esteemed as the potter’s clay; for shall the work say of him that made it, “He made me not”? Or shall the thing formed say of him that formed it, “He had no understanding”? — surely your turning of things upside down is a reinstatement of Isaiah 5:20 Woe to those who call evil good and good evil, who put darkness for light and light for darkness, who put bitter for sweet and sweet for bitter;

— thus reversing all principles of Godly morality; that is, that excuse the one and reproach the other; that put darkness for light and light for darkness, particularly in palliating the wickedness of sin, in representing avarice, luxury, the lust of the flesh as harmless; and pervert the order which God hath appointed; witness what LGBTQIA lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer (or questioning), intersex, and asexual (or allies) has progressed!

— “He made me not”? shall the potter be counted as the clay? The words bring out the character of the perversity, the upside-downness of which the prophet denounces; the men whom he condemns were inverting the relations of the Creator and the creature, the potter and the clay, acting practically as arrogant atheists, denying that there was a Divine order of which they formed a part.

¹⁷Is it not yet a very little while and Lebanon shall be turned into a fruitful field, and the fruitful field shall be esteemed as a forest? — Is it not yet a very little while; the projection in time is here foretold, when there would be a strange change and alteration made in the world, and by which it would appear, that the Lord not only knows, but foreknows, all things;

— when Lebanon shall be turned into a fruitful field; that is, that the Gentile world, which was like a forest uncultivated, and full of unfruitful trees, should through the preaching of the Gospel be manured, become God’s husbandry and be like a fruitful field, abounding with people and churches, fruitful and be part of the Kingdom of God.

¹⁸And in that day shall the deaf hear the words of the book, and the eyes of the blind shall see out of obscurity and out of darkness. — shall the deaf hear the words of the book; they who now have the Scriptures, its prophecies and concerning the coming of the Messiah; and do not understand it, the people who seem to be deaf to all that God says, shall hear and understand it;

— shall see out of obscurity; that is, their eyes closed and ignorant, the darkness being removed, they shall see clearly the truth of God, and discern and love its beauty. Their eyes are now blinded, but then they shall see clearly.

¹⁹The meek also shall increase their joy in the Lord, and the poor among men shall rejoice in the Holy One of Israel. — the meek, rather, the afflicted, the idea is, virtuous suffering; poor among men, that is, the pious poor; rejoice when they see the Holy One of Israel.

²⁰For the terrible one is brought to nought, and the scorner is consumed, and all that watch for iniquity are cut off — for the terrible one, the violent one, the oppressor, who had exercised cruelty over them, refers to those who held offices of power, and who abused them to oppress the poor and needy;

— and the scorner is consumed; shall be entirely destroyed; and all that watch for iniquity, that is, those who seek anxiously for opportunities to commit iniquity.

²¹who make a man an offender for a word, and lay a snare for him that reproveth in the gate, and turn aside the just for a thing of nought. — that make a man an offender, literally, ‘who cause a man to sin’ who hold a man to be guilty, or a criminal;

— the Targum says, they “that falsely pervert the judgement of the innocent” they that turn away their judgement, decline doing them justice, but condemn them on frivolous pretences.

²²Therefore thus saith the Lord, who redeemed Abraham, concerning the house of Jacob: “Jacob shall not now be ashamed, neither shall his face now wax pale. — the One who redeemed Abraham; that is, who brought him out of a land of idolaters, and rescued him from the abominations of idolatry. The word ‘redeem,’ here properly denotes “to ransom, that is, to redeem a captive, or a prisoner with a price paid;

— so Jacob shall not be ashamed, that is, the posterity of Jacob, who had great cause to be ashamed for their infidelity, for their persecutions of God’s prophets and righteous servants, and for their rejection of their own Messiah, who also has redeemed them, shall, at last, be brought back unto the God of their fathers and be their Messiah.

²³But when he seeth his children, the work of Mine hands, in the midst of him, they shall sanctify My name, and sanctify the Holy One of Jacob, and shall fear the God of Israel. — when he sees his children; when the believing seed of Jacob see those children, whom they have begotten to God by the preaching of the gospel, even the Gentiles, converted by their ministry;

— the work of mine hands; the children, not of the flesh, but of the promise, whom I, by my almighty power and grace, have created or regenerated, of stones raising up children to Abraham. In the midst of him; which Gentiles shall be incorporated with the Jews into one and the same body and Kingdom;

— they shall sanctify my name; the name Yehovah; they shall not despise and hate the Gentiles, but shall praise and glorify God with them and for them, as all the believing Jews and Gentiles would.

²⁴They also that erred in spirit shall come to understanding, and they that murmured shall learn doctrine.” — shall learn doctrine; the doctrine of the Messiah, the truth; they “shall receive discipline” or “instruction,” that is, come to understanding and learn true doctrines, the law, and true justice.

Isaiah 30

¹ “Woe to the rebellious children,” saith the Lord, “that take counsel, but not of Me, and that cover with a covering, but not of My Spirit, that they may add sin to sin; — woe to the rebellious children, saith the Lord, the house of Jacob, who were the “children” of God, but had turned their backs upon him, and departed from his worship and ordinances; and therefore a woe is pronounced against them;

— that take counsel, but not of me; they met and consulted together about their safety, when in danger, but did not ask counsel of the Lord; they did not consult his word, nor his prophets, nor by Urim and Thummim, as in case of whether to go to war;

— that they may add sin to sin; the sins of rebellion and apostasy: so wicked men, who are enemies in their minds, by wicked works, to God, and commit acts of hostility against him, and are in danger thereby of eternal ruin.

²that walk to go down into Egypt, and have not asked at My mouth, to strengthen themselves in the strength of Pharaoh and to trust in the shadow of Egypt! — they strengthen themselves with the might of Pharaoh, by forming an alliance with Pharaoh, that thus they hoped to repel the threatened invasion, putting their thrust in the emptiness of a shadow.

³Therefore shall the strength of Pharaoh be your shame, and the trust in the shadow of Egypt your confusion. — therefore they shall be disappointed of the help and assistance they expected from him, and be ashamed of their ally and the trust in the shadow of Egypt and their confusion; and be confounded.

⁴For his princes were at Zoan, and his ambassadors came to Hanes. — for Pharaoh’s princes were at Zoan, known as “the royal city of the Pharaohs” which is the same as Tanis, the metropolis of one of the provinces of Egypt; and so the Targum renders it, “Tanes” and the Septuagint version, “Tanis.” The Jews say there is not a more excellent place in all Egypt than Zoan, because kings were brought up in it, as it is said here, “his princes were at Zoan.”

The English term Gypsy (or Gipsy) originates from the Middle English gypcian, short for Egipcien.
Hebrew: צוענים‎, romanized: Tzoanim. Derives either from the biblical Egyptian city of Zoan, or from the linguistic root צ־ע־נ‎, meaning “wander.”

Ezekiel 29:12 “and I will scatter the Egyptians among the nations and will disperse them through the countries.”

⁵They were all ashamed of a people that could not profit them, nor be a help nor profit, but a shame and also a reproach.” — they (Judah’s princes that appeared in Zoan; and his ambassadors in Hanes) were all ashamed of a people (Pharaoh and his princes) that could not help them; the princes, the ambassadors that were sent unto them, and the king or people, or both, that sent them, who hoped for and expected great things from them, but being disappointed, were filled with shame;

— nor be an help, nor profit, but a shame, and also a reproach: so far from being of any advantage to them, by helping and assisting them against their enemy, wanting either inclination or capacity, or both, that it not only turned to their shame, but even was matter of reproach to them, that ever they made any application to them, or placed any confidence in them for help.

⁶The burden of the beasts of the South: Into the land of trouble and anguish, from whence come the young and old lion, the viper and fiery flying serpent, they will carry their riches upon the shoulders of young asses, and their treasures upon the humps of camels, to a people that shall not profit them. — the burden of the beasts of the south, the word ‘south’ here refers doubtless to the country to the south of Judea; and particularly to Egypt;

— from whence come the young and old lion, the viper, and fiery flying serpent; creatures with which Egypt abounded as historians relate and where some of them at least were worshipped and where also men dwelt comparable to these creatures as for craft and cruelty.

⁷For the Egyptians shall help in vain and to no purpose; therefore have I cried to her concerning this, “Their strength is to sit still.” — for the Egyptians shall help in vain; that is, if they enter into the alliance, they shall not be able to defend you from the invader, though they may make a show of help and attempted to help them or seemed to do so, yet failed to do it;

— their strength is to sit still; either concerning this embassy, that it would be better for the ambassadors to have spared all their toil and labour and strength and have remained quiet and easy in their own country than going down to Egypt.

⁸Now go, write it before them on a tablet and note it in a book, that it may be for the time to come for ever and ever, — now go, write it before them; write this prophecy and warning, which Isaiah have now delivered, in their presence; in a table and in a book;

— so it was to be written twice over, once in a table, to be hung up in some public place, for the people then at that time might read it; and again in a book, that it might be kept for the use of posterity; that is to us at a latter day, because prophecies are often dual in purposes;

— that it may be for the time to come, as a witness for me and against them, that God have given them fair warning, and they have wilfully run upon their own ruin; so the Targum confirms, “and it shall be in the day of judgement for a witness before me for ever.”

⁹that this is a rebellious people, lying children, children that will not hear the law of the Lord, — that they are lying children, who tell lies as easily as one breaths; and lied and were guilty of lying, not only to God but to one another; they that will not hear the law of the Lord, the commands of God, either contained in the Scriptures, or delivered by the mouth of the prophets, whereby these warnings are expressly concerning them;

¹⁰who say to the seers, “See not,” and to the prophets, “Prophesy not unto us right things; speak unto us smooth things; prophesy deceits. — speak unto us smooth things; that is, those things which are in accordance with our feelings, prejudices and desires; which assure us of prosperity and success and which will not disturb us with the apprehension of punishment;

— prophesy deceits, not that they would openly and avowedly demand to be deceived, but they demanded that which the prophet says would be deceits. No man “professedly” desires to be deceived; yet many a man is willing to put himself under that kind of teaching which is deceit and which he might know to be falsehood if he would examine it.

¹¹Get you out of the way, turn aside out of the path, cause the Holy One of Israel to cease from before us.” — Get ye out of the way: turn aside out of the path; these two expressions mean one and the same thing; either that the prophets would go out of their usual way of threatening ruin and destruction;

— or that they would go out of the way of the people, and not stand in it to hinder them pursuing their own lusts and pleasures; or that they would go out of the right way, in their ways: cause the Holy One of Israel to cease from before us; do not so often make mention of his name, or come to us with a “thus saith the Lord”; let us hear no more of him; as the Targum says, “remove far from us the word of the Holy One of Israel.”

¹²Therefore thus saith the Holy One of Israel: “Because ye despise this word, and trust in oppression and perverseness, and stand thereon,

¹³therefore this iniquity shall be to you as a breach ready to fall, swelling out in a high wall, whose breaking cometh suddenly at an instant. — therefore this iniquity shall be to you as a breach ready to fall, or “as a falling breach” contempt of the word of God, rejecting the counsel of God, these would be the cause of ruin; signified by the breach of a falling wall or by a breach in a wall, by reason of which it is in danger of falling and is just ready to fall.

¹⁴And he shall break it as the breaking of the potter’s vessel that is broken in pieces; he shall not spare, so that there shall not be found in the bursting of it a shard to take fire from the hearth, or to take water out of the pit.” — that is broken in pieces; he shall not spare; or that is broken in pieces without mercy, as the Targum says; no pity shall be shown by the enemy nor mercy from the Lord.

¹⁵For thus saith the Lord God, the Holy One of Israel: “In returning and rest shall ye be saved, in quietness and in confidence shall be your strength; but ye would not. — in returning and rest shall ye be saved; or “may be saved” namely, by “returning” from their evil ways and to his worship and ordinances; and so the Targum says, “if ye return to my law.”

¹⁶But ye said, ‘No, for we will flee upon horses’; therefore shall ye flee! And, ‘We will ride upon the swift’; therefore shall they that pursue you be swift! — but ye said, No, for we will flee upon horses to get help and assistance; and then face the enemy;

— therefore shall they that pursue you be swift; yea, swifter than the horses and camels they rode on and overtake them and either put them to death or carry them captive.

¹⁷One thousand shall flee at the rebuke of one; at the rebuke of five shall ye flee, till ye be left as a beacon upon the top of a mountain and as an ensign on a hill.” — at the rebuke of one, the number one here is put to denote a very small number; a number in the ordinary course of warfare entirely disproportionate to those who would be vanquished, which is a reference here to the prediction in Deuteronomy 32:30;

— and as an ensign on a hill; the idea is that those who should escape would be few in number, a remnant and would stand alone, as a beacon in view of all the nations, to admonish them of the justice of God and the truth of his threats, like an ensign floating on a hill that can be seen from afar.

¹⁸And therefore will the Lord wait, that He may be gracious unto you, and therefore will He be exalted, that He may have mercy upon you. For the Lord is a God of judgement; blessed are all they that wait for Him. — His waiting is very patient; the divine husbandman waits for the precious fruit of the earth, being patient over it. How wonderful that in a very real sense He attends on our pleasure, as it were, and lets us determine His time to work.

¹⁹For the people shall dwell in Zion at Jerusalem; thou shalt weep no more. He will be very gracious unto thee at the voice of thy cry; when He shall hear it, He will answer thee. — for the people shall dwell in Zion at Jerusalem, or “for the people of Zion shall dwell in Jerusalem” those that belonged to the fort of Zion should dwell in Jerusalem, or “abide” there, both they and the inhabitants of it, at least many of them should quietly continue there, waiting the Lord’s time to appear for them;

— although the time is coming when the people shall be banished from Jerusalem and carried into captivity; yet after a set time they shall return and have a fixed and comfortable abode in Jerusalem, the seat of their religion, and metropolis of their Kingdom.

²⁰And though the Lord give you the bread of adversity and the water of affliction, yet shall not thy teachers be removed into a corner any more, but thine eyes shall see thy teacher. — and though the Lord give you the bread of adversity; the bread that is eaten in a time of calamity; that is, he would bring upon them sore distress and wan; the water of affliction, ‘oppression.’ That is, water drank in times of affliction and oppression, or in the long and weary days of captivity;

— Rashi: your Teacher: The Holy One, blessed be He, who teaches you for your profit.

²¹And thine ears shall hear a word behind thee, saying, “This is the way; walk ye in it,” when ye turn to the right hand and when ye turn to the left. — it seems best to understand the Scriptures of truth as the word of God, saying, This is the way, walk ye in it; it directs to the Messiah the way, and who is the only way of life and which is the right way; so the Targum paraphrases it, “this is the right way.”

²²Ye shall defile also the covering of thy graven images of silver and the ornament of thy molten images of gold. Thou shalt cast them away as a menstruous cloth; thou shalt say unto it, “Get thee hence.” — ye shall show your contempt of it; defile the covering of thy graven images; the leaves or plates, wherewith their wooden images were frequently covered: and the ornament of thy molten images;

— or, thy coat, or covering; the ephod, a costly and glorious robe. The images also were of gold: for thou shalt cast them away; thou shalt so deeply abhor idolatry that thou shalt cast away, with indignation, “Get thee hence.”

²³Then shall He give the rain of thy seed, that thou shalt sow the ground therewith, and bread of the increase of the earth, and it shall be fat and plenteous. In that day shall thy cattle feed in large pastures. — then shall he give the rain of thy seed; that is, he shall send rain on the seed which is sown; and you will be allowed to cultivate the soil without molestation, and God will give you fruitful seasons and abundant harvests;

— the Targum interprets it thus, “and the righteous shall be nourished with their cattle at that time, with the fat of tender and fat things” as the earth would be fruitful, the cattle would be well fed; and so there would be plenty of provision for man and beast.

²⁴The oxen likewise and the young asses that till the ground shall eat clean provender, which hath been winnowed with the shovel and with the fan. — the Septuagint renders it, “they shall eat chaff mixed with winnowed barley” but if they were to eat chaff with it, there would be no need to winnow it.

²⁵And there shall be upon every high mountain and upon every high hill, rivers and streams of waters in the day of the great slaughter, when the towers fall. — in the day of the great slaughter; when the enemies of the people of God shall have been destroyed; probably in a time subsequent to the slaughter of the army of the Assyrians as a historical type, and so, perhaps, awaiting a prophetic one.

²⁶Moreover the light of the moon shall be as the light of the sun, and the light of the sun shall be sevenfold, as the light of seven days, in the day that the Lord bindeth up the breach of His people and healeth the stroke of their wound. — moreover the light of the moon shall be as the light of the sun; an hyperbolical expression, used to set forth the exceeding great light, comparable to the moon, immeasurable as the light of the sun exceeds the light of the moon;

— and the light of the sun shall be sevenfold; as if the light of seven days was collected together; or as if there were seven suns shining together. The Targum not only makes it to be seven times seven, that is, forty nine; but multiply forty nine by seven, and make it three hundred and forty three or as the light of so many days.

²⁷Behold, the name of the Lord cometh from far, burning with His anger, and the burden thereof is heavy; His lips are full of indignation and His tongue as a devouring fire. — behold, the name of the Lord cometh from far, it is introduced with a “behold” as declaring something of importance worthy of attention, and even wonderful;

— burning with anger; against his army, the kings of the earth; his “eyes” shall be “as a flame of fire” and when he comes to judge the world, he will descend in “flaming fire”, Revelation 19:12 the day of the Lord will burn as an oven, Malachi 4:1.

²⁸And His breath, as an overflowing stream, shall reach to the midst of the neck to sift the nations with the sieve of vanity; and there shall be a bridle in the jaws of the people, causing them to err. — the breath of his nostrils or the blast of the breath of his nostrils; in both instances it is a sign and effect of God’s anger and the cause of the destruction of those against whom it is directed;

— to sift the nations with the sieve of vanity; that is, the breath, wind or spirit of the Lord, compared to an overflowing stream should have this effect to sift the people of several nations so as to dash them one against another and utterly destroy them; for they were to be sifted, not with a good and profitable sieve, which retains the corn and shakes out the chaff or so as to have some taken out and spared; but with a sieve that lets all through and so be brought to nothing.

²⁹Ye shall have a song as in the night when a holy solemnity is kept, and gladness of heart as when one goeth with a pipe to come into the mountain of the Lord, to the Mighty One of Israel. — ye shall have a song; that is, ye inhabitants of Jerusalem shall rejoice when the army of the Assyrian, or another prophetic one, is destroyed;

— as in the night when a solemnity is kept; the word ‘solemnity’ here (חג châg) denotes a festival, or feast; and refers by way of eminence to the Passover where the “death angels” passed, which is usually designated as “the feast” that is, the principal festival of God’s people.

³⁰And the Lord shall cause His glorious voice to be heard, and shall show the lighting down of His arm, with the indignation of His anger and with the flame of a devouring fire, with scattering and tempest and hailstones. — His glorious voice; his thunder, which is Called God’s voice, and said to be full of majesty, Psalm 29:4. But then thunder is metaphorically taken for God’s judgement;

— and tempest and hailstones; it is rare that a storm of hail would be severe enough to destroy an army. But in this case, storms of hail are not unfrequently of sufficient violence to do it if the army were encamped in the open field something could fall from the heavens with a heavy splash; they were large balls of ice falling.

³¹For through the voice of the Lord shall the Assyrian be beaten down, who smote with a rod. — which smote with a rod; who was accustomed to smite as with a rod; as an instrument in God’s hand; that is, his government was tyrannical and severe; as he had been accustomed to smite in that manner, so he would now meet the proper reward of his oppression of the nations.

³²And in every place where the grounded staff shall pass, which the Lord shall lay upon him, it shall be with taborets and harps; and in battles of weapon shaking will He fight with it. — it shall be with tabrets and harps; that is, at every stroke of God’s judgements upon God’s enemies, Israel should raise its song of triumph with the timbrels and harps.

³³For Tophet is ordained of old; yea, for the king it is prepared. He hath made it deep and large; the pile thereof is fire and much wood. The breath of the Lord, like a stream of brimstone, doth kindle it. —Tophet, literally, “A place of abomination” the valley of the sons of Hinnom, southeast of Jerusalem, where Israel offered human sacrifices to Moloch by fire; hence a place of burning;

— the breath of the Lord, like a stream of brimstone, doth kindle it; the pile of fire and wood; the Targum says, “the word of the Lord, like an overflowing torrent of brimstone, shall kindle it.”

Posted in Isaiah

Isaiah (Ch 27-28)

•March 10, 2022 • Leave a Comment

George Kennan, the top American-Russia scholar who laid the foundation for US Cold War foreign-policy strategy, said NATO’s expansion into Central Europe in the 1990s was “the most fateful error of American policy in the entire post-Cold War era.” He warned that expanding NATO would damage the US-Russia relationship so deeply that Russia would never become a partner and would remain an enemy.

The US Ambassador to the Soviet Union from 1987 to 1991 penned an essay nine days before the invasion, answering the question of whether the brewing crisis was, at that point, avoidable. “In short, yes,” he explained. On whether it was predictable, “Absolutely. NATO expansion was the most profound strategic blunder made since the end of the Cold War.” RT by Bradley Blankenship 4 Mar, 2022.

Isaiah 27

¹ In that day the Lord with His sore and great and strong sword shall punish Leviathan the piercing serpent, even Leviathan that crooked serpent; and He shall slay the dragon that is in the sea. — the “dragon” is as in Psalm 74:13-14; Ezekiel 29:3; Ezekiel 32:2, could be the standing emblem of Egypt: the other, so specifically mentioned, the “leviathan” in Job 41:1, there is always a possibility of an endtime revelation, that is, it could be real!

²In that day sing ye unto her, “A vineyard of red wine! — in that day sing ye to her: a vineyard of red wine; meaning, of the best wine, which this vineyard, that is, the Kingdom would bring forth as pleasing to the Lord.

³I, the Lord, do keep it; I will water it every moment. Lest any hurt it, I will keep it night and day. — I the Lord do keep it; it is understood here or implied as ‘Yehovah said’ (compare Psalm 121:3-5); I will water it every moment; that is, constantly, as a vinedresser does his vineyard.

⁴Fury is not in Me. Who would set the briers and thorns against Me in battle? I would go through them; I would burn them together. — Fury is not in me; Or, wrath have I none; that is, wrath isn’t a natural character of God, but because of briers and thorns, symbols of God’s enemies (sins and wickedness), against Me, I am provoked into anger and fury and burn them together.

⁵Or let him take hold of My strength, that he may make peace with Me; and he shall make peace with Me.” — Or let my enemies take hold of my strength, that they may make peace with me; and they shall find peace with me.

⁶He shall cause them that come of Jacob to take root; Israel shall blossom and bud, and fill the face of the world with fruit. — Or, In the days that come Jacob shall strike root;

— Israel shall blossom with bud and fill the face of the world with fruit; in all parts of the world; or of the great number of converts made everywhere; so the Targum says, by “fruit” to mean children’s children; the sense is, that when the Kingdom of God is settled and established, grounded in the right doctrines of truth, it shall be flourishing and fruitful, abounding in good works and with increased numbers of converts;

— it shall be like the mustard tree, when it becomes so great a tree as that the birds of the air make their nests in it; and as the stone cut out of the mountain without hands, when it becomes a great mountain and fills the whole earth.

⁷Hath He smitten him, as He smote those that smote him? Or is he slain according to the slaughter of them that are slain by him? — that is, “Hath He (Yehovah) smitten him (Israel) as He smote those that smote him; or is he slain according to the slaughter of those that are slain by Him?”

⁸In measure, when it shooteth forth, Thou wilt debate with it; He stayeth His rough wind in the day of the east wind. — Rashid: when they sent them out, it strove with it: When Egypt sent Israel out, it strove with it, the seah of the measure with its seah; He spoke with His harsh wind: (הָגָה) He spoke with His harsh speech; on the day of the east wind: On the day (concerning which Scripture states) (Ex. 14:21): “And the Lord led the sea with a strong east wind.”

⁹By this therefore shall the iniquity of Jacob be purged; and this is all the fruit to take away his sin: When he maketh all the stones of the altar as chalkstones that are beaten asunder, the Asherah poles and sun images shall not stand up. — by this therefore; by this manner of God’s dealing with his people shall the iniquity of Jacob be purged;

— the groves and the images shall not stand up; erect to be worshipped; but shall be thrown down, demolished and broke to pieces; and by thus abandoning their idols and idolatrous practices;

— sun images shall not stand up; today we are honouring the host of heaven with more than 98.5 percent of Christians honouring the Sun by observing Sunday worship. They have “their backs toward the temple of the Lord and their faces toward the east; and they worshipped the SUN toward the east; whose Godly penalty is to be “cut off” to death (Deuteronomy 17:3-5) – ’till they die’ or ”shall not stand up.”

¹⁰Yet the fortified city shall be desolate, and the habitation forsaken and left like a wilderness; there shall the calf feed, and there shall he lie down and consume the branches thereof. — yet the fortified city; most probably this means Jerusalem, shall be desolate.

¹¹When the boughs thereof are withered, they shall be broken off; the women come and set them on fire, for it is a people of no understanding. Therefore He that made them will not have mercy on them, and He that formed them will show them no favor. — for it is a people of no understanding; and may be applied as Isaiah 1:3; Jeremiah 8:7; Deuteronomy 32:28, to Israel as an apostate;

— will not have mercy; will show them no favor; that is, “will not spare.” God will have “measure” and “mercy” in his punishment of Israel but will not so have mercy as not to punish severely.

¹²And it shall come to pass in that day that the Lord shall beat off from the channel of the river unto the stream of Egypt, and ye shall be gathered one by one, O ye children of Israel. — from the channel of the river unto the stream of Egypt; from Euphrates to the Niles, which were the two borders of the Land of Promise, Joshua 1:4. All the Israelites which are left in the land; which are here opposed to those of them that are dispersed into foreign parts, such as Assyria and Egypt.

¹³And it shall come to pass in that day that the great trumpet shall be blown; and they shall come who were ready to perish in the land of Assyria, and the outcasts in the land of Egypt, and shall worship the Lord in the holy mount at Jerusalem. — In the land of Assyria, the ten tribes were carried away in II Kings 17:6; and it is probable that many of the other two tribes were also with them. A portion of the ten tribes would also be re-gathered, and would return with the others to the land of their fathers upon the blowing of the trumpet.

Isaiah 28

The twenty-eighth through thirty-third chapters form almost one continuous prophecy concerning the destruction of intoxicated Ephraim, the impiety and folly of Judah, their dangers to make allies with Egypt or Assyria.

¹ Woe to the crown of pride, to the drunkards of Ephraim, whose glorious beauty is a fading flower, which is on the head of the fat valleys of them that are overcome with wine! — that is, the proud crown of the drunkards of Ephraim, the proud state and kingdom of the ten tribes. This pride is about Ephraim, the United States: “But if we have to use force, it is because we are America; we are the indispensable nation. We stand tall and we see further than other countries into the future, and we see the danger here to all of us,” Madeleine Albright; and the many and excellent vines among them, showing that the prophet’s work was not limited to Judah and Jerusalem, but extended to the northern kingdom, Israel;

— parallel Scriptures in Ezekiel 36: “the mountain of Israel” this prophecy is concerning the desolations of the United States, UK and France; “and to the hills, to the rivers and to the valleys” these are the hills: Ireland, Switzerland and the Scandinavian countries: Denmark, Norway, and Sweden, Finland and Iceland; and the valleys, the low countries: Belgium, the Netherlands and Luxembourg;

— shoot forth your branches; that is, the trees that grew upon them should; the vines, and the olive trees, planted on hills and mountains; these are their colonies: Canada, Australia, New Zealand, South Africa; American Samoa, Guam, the Northern Mariana Islands, Puerto Rico, and the Virgin Islands (US); Anguilla, Bermuda, Cayman Islands, Falkland Islands, Gibraltar, Virgin Islands (UK); Guadeloupe, Martinique, French Guiana, Mayotte, Réunion (France).

— is a fading flower; beauty “whose glorious beauty or ornament is a fading flower” – the image of “drunkards” it was the custom at feasts to wreathe with flowers; so this indispensable Ephraim stood upon the head of the fertile valley,” that is, situated on a hill surrounded with the rich valleys as the best of a garland; but that garland is “fading,” and this intoxicated Ephraim is now close to ruin, not to be depended upon, soon to be destroyed and discarded away quickly.

²Behold, the Lord hath a mighty and strong one, which as a tempest of hail and a destroying storm, as a flood of mighty waters overflowing, shall cast down to the earth with the hand. — behold, the Lord hath a mighty and strong one; they have a powerful king with a mighty army; which as a tempest of hail; that beats down herbs and plants, and branches of trees, men and beasts:

— and a destroying storm; which carries all before it, blows down houses and trees, and makes terrible devastation wherever it comes: as a flood of mighty waters overflowing; whose torrent is so strong there is no stopping it;

— the Targum says, “so shall people come against them, and remove them out of their own land into another land, because of the sins which were in their hands.”

³The crown of pride, the drunkards of Ephraim, shall be trodden under feet; — so this mighty and powerful prince shall cast down upon intoxicated Ephraim, the crown of pride, the people of Israel, and the king of it; he shall take the crown from his head, and cast it to the ground with a strong hand;

⁴and the glorious beauty, which is on the head of the fat valley, shall be a fading flower and as the early fruit before the summer, which when he that looketh upon it seeth; while it is yet in his hand he eateth it up. — and the glorious beauty which is on the head of the fat valley; meaning the riches and fruitfulness of the ten tribes, and especially of Ephraim the head of them:

— shall be a fading flower; as before declared, Isaiah 28:1 and here repeated to show the certainty of it, and to awaken their attention to it; and as the hasty fruit before the summer; the first ripe fruit, that which is ripe before the summer fruits in common are; the Septuagint render it the first ripe fig; and so the Targum: which when he that looks upon it sees it; that it is goodly and desirable, and so gathers it, Micah 7:1;

— while it is yet in his hand he eats it up; and as soon as he has got it into his hand, he cannot keep it there to look at, or forbear eating it, but greedily devours and swallows it down at once; denoting what a desirable prey the ten tribes would be to their enemies from the South, and how swift, sudden and inevitable would be their destruction.

⁵In that day shall the Lord of hosts be for a crown of glory, and for a diadem of beauty unto the residue of His people, — in that day shall the Lord of hosts be for a crown of glory, and for a diadem of beauty, to the remnant of his people, signifying that the faithful who do not put their trust in any worldly prosperity but made God their glory, will be honoured with a diadem of beauty.

⁶and for a spirit of judgement to him that sits in judgement, and for strength to them that turn the battle to the gate. — and for a spirit of judgement to him that sit in judgement; that is, the Lord would give honour and glory to the people in general, so wisdom and prudence, a spirit of judgement and discerning, to those who sit in the Sanhedrin in particular, who sit to do justice, and execute judgement among their subjects;

— and for strength to them that turn the battle to the gate; as wisdom is promised to the king and judges, so strength of body and mind, valour and courage, to the prince and his army; so that they should turn the battle, and cause their enemies to flee before them, and pursue them to the very gates of their cities.

⁷But they also have erred through wine, and through strong drink are out of the way. The priest and the prophet have erred through strong drink; they are swallowed up by wine, they are out of the way through strong drink; they err in vision, they stumble in judgement. — but they have erred through wine; through strong drink are out of the way;

— the priest, to whom strong drink was expressly forbidden, the prophet; the teachers, they run into the same excess of wine and strong drink, whereby they besot themselves and fall into numerous errors; they err and stumble in judgement; their intoxicated shepherds mistake in the teaching, pronouncing and discharging the sentence of the law.

⁸For all tables are full of vomit and filthiness, so that there is no place clean. — the subject is still the drunkards of Ephraim; so that there is no place clean or free from vomit and filthiness, no table, or part of one, of prince, prophet, priest, and people; the Targum adds, “pure from rapine or violence.”

⁹“Whom shall he teach knowledge? And whom shall he make to understand doctrine? Them that are weaned from the milk and drawn from the breasts. — whom shall he teach knowledge? – not the drunken priest or prophet, who were both unfit for teaching men knowledge; but either the true priest or prophet of the Lord, or the Lord himself; these are of age and free; and not subjected to false doctrines; there among his people that are capable and willing to be taught the good knowledge of God.

¹⁰For precept must be upon precept, precept upon precept, line upon line, line upon line, here a little and there a little.” — for precept must be upon precept, precept upon precept, signifying, that a single concept must be dealt with as children do, from the letter a and then b when first instructed in the rudiments of a language, then one rule given and then another, and so one after another, until letter z, till they have gone through the whole:

— line upon line, line upon line; who are taught first to write one line, and then another; or to draw one line and write after that and then another; or where to begin one line and when finished where to begin another;

— here a little, and there a little; a verse or two on the same subject here (like studying the subject of Ephraim) out of one book and a similar subject out of another; a little a day and a little the next and so on, that the whole picture may not be overburdened at once.

¹¹For with stammering lips and another tongue will He speak to this people, — with stammering lips in and another tongue by people of a strange language, whom God will bring them into whose power He will deliver them; will He speak to this people; this is because they are not hearing Him speaking now by His prophets in their own language, they shall hear their enemies speaking to them in a strange language. In misery of the house of Jacob, during their captivity, a time of Jacob’s trouble, that they may then be compelled to understand the language of their enemies.

¹²to whom He said, “This is the rest wherewith ye may cause the weary to rest,” and, “This is the refreshing” — yet they would not hear. — to whom he said, the Lord himself, or the prophet Isaiah; so the Targum says, “to whom the prophets said” that is, the true prophets of the Lord said to the people, as follows:

— this is the rest for those weary to rest: and this is the refreshing: that is, by teaching the word of God, the true knowledge of him, and the sound doctrines; this would be the best way of refreshing the minds and health of the people, burdened, distressed and disconsolate through afflictions and calamities upon them, preserving them from captivity, and other judgements;

— yet they would not hear; having no regard to the Lord and his prophets; nor any compassion to their countrymen, afflicted and distressed in mind or body; nor to the true knowledge of God.

¹³But the word of the Lord was unto them precept upon precept, precept upon precept, line upon line, line upon line, here a little and there a little, that they might go, and fall backward, and be broken and snared and taken. — but the word of the Lord was unto them precept upon precept; which were despised and derided by them; they took the prophet’s words out of context, and in a scoffing manner repeating them;

— precept upon precept, precept upon precept; the words may be rendered, “though the word of the Lord was unto them precept upon precept” which were delivered in a plain and easy a manner to understand, yet so stupid were they as not to receive those precepts, and so perverse and stubborn as wilfully to reject them; hence they were given up to judicial blindness and hardness of heart;

— that they might go and fall backward, and be broken, and snared, and taken: that they may fall backward, backslide from God, and be broken; and be ensnared and taken in a net by their enemies and again be carried away into captivity; and then be dispersed among the nations.

¹⁴Therefore hear the word of the Lord, ye scornful men, that rule this people which is in Jerusalem, — the prophet, Isaiah, now directly attacks the great men of Jerusalem, as being the leaders in crime, and as being eminently deserving of the wrath of God.

¹⁵because ye have said, “We have made a covenant with death, and with hell are we in agreement. When the overflowing scourge shall pass through, it shall not come unto us; for we have made lies our refuge, and under falsehood have we hid ourselves.” — we have made a covenant with death, and with hell are we at agreement: as safe from death and secure from hell or the grave, as if a covenant and compact had been formally entered into between them. The phrases are expressive of their being fearless of them, and of their confidence and assurance that they should not be hurt by them;

— for we have made lies our refuge, and under falsehood have we hid ourselves; not what they themselves reckoned so, but what the prophet Isaiah or the Lord by him, called so, whose words they used and in whose language they spoke; meaning either their lying prophets and the false doctrines they delivered to them, promising them peace when destruction was at hand; or their idols which are falsehood and lying vanities; or their carnal policy, and crafty methods of acting with their enemies;

— by which they hoped to deceive them; or else their wealth and riches, got by lying, stealing and fraud; and perhaps all may be intended in which they might put their trust and confidence and on account of them expect security from threatened evils, though no other than lies and falsehood; and the same may be observed of all outward acts of religion, rites, ceremonies and works of righteousness done by men, in which they place their trust and hope to be saved by them from wrath to come;

— this verse describes America’s most prominent lying secretary of state in history, Mike Pompeo: “I was the CIA director. We lied, we cheated, we stole,” former CIA director and now Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said on April 15, 2019 at a forum at Texas A&M University, TX. “It was like – we had entire training courses. It reminds you of the glory of the American experiment.” Interestingly, a Christian religious news broadcaster picked up on Pompeo’s words and described it with such precision as follows: “that’s not the resume of the Secretary of State… that’s the resume of Satan.”

¹⁶Therefore thus saith the Lord God: “Behold, I lay in Zion for a foundation a stone, a tried stone, a precious cornerstone, a sure foundation; he that believeth shall not make haste. — behold, the one foundation on which building, we can build secure, and safe as well as secure, is that foundation which is laid in the Messiah, the Son of God, a tested stone, a precious stone, a stone that has borne all the weight that the world has laid upon it, and borne it up;

— cornerstone; uniting the several parts of the building together, making Ephraim and Judah, now sadly divided, one stick; and Jews and Gentiles, now implacable enemies, one church, one people and one Kingdom.

¹⁷Judgement also will I lay to the line, and righteousness to the plummet; and the hail shall sweep away the refuge of lies, and the waters shall overflow the hiding place. — Judgement also will I lay to the line; that is, God will execute just judgement, as it were by a line and plummet annexed to it; that is, with exactness and care. I will severely punish and utterly destroy all who reject that stone;

— and the hail shall sweep away the refuge of lies, the lies they made their refuge; God’s judgements, which in the Scriptures are compared to a storm of hail or rain, shall discover the vanity of all their crafty and wicked devices and shall sweep them away by the rushing waters that shall flush them out from their hiding places.

¹⁸And your covenant with death shall be disannulled, and your agreement with hell shall not stand; when the overflowing scourge shall pass through, then ye shall be trodden down by it. — disannulled; made void, or of none effect; it shall stand you in no stead; ye shall be trodden down by it; which you flattered yourselves that it should not come unto you, would be thrown down and trampled upon by it as the mire of the streets.

¹⁹From the time that it goeth forth it shall take you, for morning by morning shall it pass over, by day and by night; and it shall be a vexation only to understand the report.” — from the time that it goes forth it shall take you; as soon as this overflowing scourge or judgement shall go forth; into the land, it shall take or seize upon you scoffers, or carry you away, which agrees with the metaphor of a flood;

— morning by morning it shall pass over; it shall not only come to you, contrary to your presumption, but it shall abide upon you; and when it hath passed over you, it shall return again to you, morning after morning; and shall follow you day and night, without giving you the least respite.

²⁰For the bed is shorter than that a man can stretch himself on it, and the covering narrower than that he can wrap himself in it. — for the bed is shorter; that is, for those lying refuges, to which they trust, will not be able to give them the protection which they expect from them;

²¹For the Lord shall rise up as in Mount Perazim; He shall be wroth as in the Valley of Gibeon, that He may do His work, His strange work, and bring to pass His act, His strange act. — the Lord shall rise up as in Mt Perazim, the point of the reference to David’s victories at Baal Perazim (1 Chronicles 14:11), and at Gibeon (1 Chronicles 14:16) is that then Jehuah had interposed on behalf of His people against their enemies. The “new and strange” work, the very paradox of prophecy, was that He would now rise up to overthrow His own people.

²²Now therefore be ye not mockers, lest your bonds be made strong; for I have heard from the Lord God of hosts a consuming even determined upon the whole earth. — now therefore be not mockers, for their own sakes do not make a mock of God’s word and threats, lest their bands be made strong, more sure and unavoidable, and more severe and terrible, as bands are when they are tied faster and more strongly upon a prisoner;

— for I have heard from the Lord a consumption; God hath assured Isaiah that he will utterly root out the people of Israel, the kingdom of the ten tribes; and the Jews, the kingdom of the two tribes, even the whole earth.

²³Give ye ear and hear my voice; hearken and hear my speech. — therefore, give ear, and hear my voice, so said the prophet because what he was about to say was of importance and required attention.

²⁴Doth the plowman plow all day to sow? Doth he open and break the clods of his ground? — do the ploughman plough all day to sow? Or “every day” he ploughs in order to sow; by ploughing he prepares the ground for sowing; and he does not plough every day in the year; he has other work besides ploughing; such as breaking of clods, sowing seed and threshing the grain after it is ripe, reaped and gathered.

²⁵When he hath made plain the face thereof, doth he not cast abroad the dill and scatter the cummin, and cast in the principal wheat and the appointed barley and the rye in their place? — as the plowman has his appointed time and various instruments for his labour, so has the Lord for his selection: for he selects and punishes some at one time and some at another; some after one sort and some after another, so that his chosen seed is beaten and tried, but not broken as are the wicked.

²⁶For his God doth instruct him to discretion, and doth teach him. — for his God gives the husbandman instruction and discretion how to sow his seed at what time and in a proper place; for this refers to what goes before and after; threshing or beating out of corn, according to his knowledge and discretion God teaches him.

²⁷For the dill is not threshed with a threshing instrument, neither is a cart wheel turned about upon the cummin; but the dill is beaten out with a staff and the cummin with a rod. — the lesson of the parable is that it comes to nations and individuals in season and in measure in bringing in the minute details and drawing this lesson from them; that the method suitable to one kind of grain would be ruinous to another; and that even the rougher methods are applied with moderation.

²⁸Bread corn is beaten, because he will not ever be threshing it, nor break it with the wheel of his cart, nor bruise it with his horsemen. — “bread corn” of the wheat or barley is beaten, for this a severer chastisement, a more thorough threshing is needed; but the end of threshing is the preservation not the destruction of the grain.

²⁹This also cometh forth from the Lord of hosts, who is wonderful in counsel and excellent in working. —in counsel and in giving counsel to man, this cometh from the Lord of hosts; all this wisdom the husbandman has, in manuring his ground, in sowing it with proper seed and in threshing it out in a manner suitable to it, agriculture or husbandry, even among the heathens, is always ascribed to God as an invention of his and it was the first work which God put man to, and instructed him as all other arts and sciences that come from God.

Posted in Isaiah

Isaiah (Ch 25-26)

•March 8, 2022 • Leave a Comment

The Russian bear seems to have bitten a porcupine which has now got stuck to its mouth, unable to swallow it nor to dislodge it, creating lots of distractions.

Isaiah 25

¹ O Lord, Thou art my God. I will exalt Thee, I will praise Thy name, for Thou hast done wonderful things; Thy counsels of old are faithfulness and truth. — O Yehovah, thou art my God — In covenant with me: my friend, my father, my portion. Isaiah speaks in the name of the whole elect. I will exalt thee, I will praise thy name, Yehovah. Those that have Yehovah for their God are in duty bound to praise him;

— for thou hast done wonderful things. Thy counsels of old, signifying not only counsels long before taken, but which thou hast from time to time revealed to thy prophets, which were of old, being conceived from all eternity, are true and firm, and shall certainly be accomplishe;

— God’s name is the four-letter Hebrew word יהוה‎ YHVH Yehovah (not Jehovah since the letter J wasn’t around but only after the sixteenth century; more on this at the end).

²For Thou hast made of a city a heap, of a fortified city a ruin, a palace of strangers to be no city; it shall never be rebuilt. — Thou hast made of a city an heap; the city spoken of as “the palace of strangers” was, probably identified with the oppressors and destroyers of his people—that is, Nineveh, Babylon or Rome; but that city was also for him the representation of the world-power which in every age opposes to the Kingdom of God;

— it shall never be rebuilt; their cities and palaces have been or shall be utterly and irrecoverably destroyed.

³Therefore shall the strong people glorify Thee; the city of the terrible nations shall fear Thee. — therefore shall the strong people fear thee; thy stoutest enemies, observing thy wonderful works, shall be forced to tremble before thee.

⁴For Thou hast been a strength to the poor, a strength to the needy in his distress, a refuge from the storm, a shadow from the heat, when the blast of the terrible ones is as a storm against the wall. — for thou hast been a strength to the poor; hast defended thy poor and helpless people against the fiercest assaults of their enemies.

⁵Thou shalt bring down the noise of strangers, as the heat in a dry place, even the heat with the shadow of a cloud; the branch of the terrible ones shall be brought low. — Thou shalt bring down the noise; the tumult; the sound which they make in entering into battle; or the note of triumph, and the sound of revelry.

⁶And in this mountain shall the Lord of hosts make unto all people a feast of fat things, a feast of wines on the lees, of fat things full of marrow, of wines on the lees well refined. — and in this mountain, that is, in Mount Zion, Jerusalem, very frequently meant by the names of Zion and Jerusalem; a feast of fat things, of the ultimate glory of the saints in heaven; which is sometimes represented by a feast; and the participation of it, by sitting down with the saints at a table in the kingdom of God, and by drinking wine there.

⁷And He will destroy in this mountain the face of the covering cast over all people, and the veil that is spread over all nations. — this mountain, in Mount Zion; the covering of the face, or the veil, of their ignorance of God, and of the truth; cast over all people; which then was upon the Gentiles and all people. This is a manifest prophecy concerning the illumination and conversion of the Gentiles;

— For I, brethren, would not have you be ignorant of this mystery, lest ye should be wise in your own conceits: that blindness in part has happened to Israel until the fullness of the Gentiles be come in. Romans 11:25

⁸He will swallow up death in victory; and the Lord God will wipe away tears from off all faces, and the rebuke of His people shall He take away from off all the earth; for the Lord hath spoken it. — He will swallow up death in victory, or rather, He will abolish death for ever;

— and will wipe away tears; take away from his people all sufferings and sorrows, with all the causes of them, which deliverance is begun here and perfected in heaven. The rebuke of his people; the reproach and contempt cast upon his faithful people;

— for the Lord hath spoken it; therefore doubt it not, though it seem incredible to you.

⁹And it shall be said in that day: “Lo, this is our God; we have waited for Him, and He will save us. This is the Lord; we have waited for Him; we will be glad and rejoice in His salvation.” — it shall be said in that day; the speakers are obviously the company of the redeemed, the citizens of new Jerusalem;

— we have waited for him; amidst many trials, persecutions, and calamities, we have looked for the coming of our God to deliver us, and we will rejoice in the salvation that he brings.

¹⁰For in this mountain shall the hand of the Lord rest, and Moab shall be trodden down under Him, even as straw is trodden down for the dunghill. — for in this mountain, in Mount Zion, Jerusalem, God will dwell with men again, in his new Sanctuary;

— and Moab shall be trodden down under him, even as straw is trodden down for the dunghill; by Moab are meant all the enemies of his Kingdom.

¹¹And He shall spread forth His hands in the midst of them, as he that swimmeth spreadeth forth his hands to swim; and He shall bring down their pride together with the spoils of their hands. — the Septuagint renders it, ‘Upon whatsoever he lays his hands,’ that is, God shall humble the pride of Moab in respect to everything on which he shall lay his hands;

— the word signifies snares, ambushes, craft; and then by the plunder or spoils which he had obtained by snares and ambushes; that is, their “craftily acquired spoils” would all perish with Moab and the land would thus be completely subdued.

¹²And the fortress of the high fort of thy walls shall He bring down, lay low, and bring to the ground, even to the dust. — and the fortress of the high fort of thy walls; as interpreted to be Moab as the stronghold of the nations. Beyond this they predict a like destruction of every stronghold, every rock-built fortress of the great world-power of which Moab was for the time only a type.

Isaiah 26

¹ In that day shall this song be sung in the land of Judah: “We have a strong city; salvation will God appoint for walls and bulwarks. — the prophet Isaiah appears once more as in the character of a psalmist, that the land of Judah is destined for nothing less than the worship of the heavenly King; the walls of the city are not built of stone or brick, but are themselves as a living force; there is no need for other defenses.

²Open ye the gates, that the righteous nation which keepeth the truth may enter in. — open the gates of the celestial city, New Jerusalem. The righteous nation which keeps the truth; literally, a righteous nation; and these will be a set of men that “will keep the truth” or as the Targum renders it,” who keep the law with a perfect heart,” that is, the truth is about keeping the law, the perfect law, which is the truth.

³Thou wilt keep him in perfect peace, whose mind is stayed on Thee, because he trusteth in Thee. — thou wilt keep him, etc; literally, the steadfast mind thou wilt keep in peace, in peace; that is “in perfect peace” peace at all times, and under all circumstances; thou shalt preserve (it, namely, the righteous nation) in perpetual peace.”

⁴Trust ye in the Lord for ever, for in the Lord Jehovah is everlasting strength. — trust ye in the Lord for ever; the sense is, ‘Let your confidence in God on no occasion fail. Let no calamity, no adversity, no persecution, no poverty, no trial of any kind, prevent your reposing entire confidence in him.’

⁵For He bringeth down them that dwell on high; the lofty city, He layeth it low; He layeth it low, even to the ground; He bringeth it even to the dust. — for he will bring down them that dwell on high, the lofty city, so the accents require the words to be rendered; and accordingly the Targum is, “for he will bring low the inhabitants of the high and strong city” he layeth it low: he layeth it low, even to the ground; he brings it even to the dust; all which expressions denote their utter destruction.

⁶The foot shall tread it down, even the feet of the poor and the steps of the needy.” — the foot shall tread it down; trample upon it when brought down, laid low, and level with the ground, as mire is trodden in the streets, and straw for the dunghill; as grapes in the winepress, or grass by the feet of cattle;

— the righteous as the Targum paraphrases it; the saints of the most High, to whom the kingdom and dominion under the whole heaven will now be given, and who will be just come out of great tribulation.

⁷The way of the just is uprightness; Thou, Most Upright, dost weigh the path of the just. — the way of the just is righteousness; the just proceed steadily on in the practice of the various duties of righteousness, which they owe to God and man.

⁸Yea, in the way of Thy judgements, O Lord, have we waited for Thee; the desire of our soul is to Thy name and to the remembrance of Thee. — to thy name, and to the remembrance of thee; the “name” of God is, as always, that of Yehovah. God’s name is the four-letter Hebrew word יהוה‎ YHVH Yehovah (not Jehovah since the letter J wasn’t around but only after the sixteenth century; more on this at the end).

⁹With my soul have I desired Thee in the night; yea, with my spirit within me will I seek Thee early; for when Thy judgements are in the earth, the inhabitants of the world will learn righteousness. — with my soul have I desired Thee in the night; by desiring God in the night (in captivity), and by seeking him early, is meant that the desire to seek him was unremitted and constant. The prophet speaks of the pious Jews who were in captivity in Babylon; and says that it was the object of their unremitted anxiety to please God, and to do his will.

¹⁰Let favor be shown to the wicked, yet will he not learn righteousness; in the land of uprightness will he deal unjustly, and will not behold the majesty of the Lord. — let favour be showed to the wicked; if thou dost spare them, when thou chastise thy own people, and grant them health, prosperity and other blessings; yet will they not learn righteousness, they will not be led to repentance by thy goodness; and therefore it is requisite thou shouldest send thy judgements.

¹¹Lord, when Thy hand is lifted up, they will not see; but they shall see and be ashamed for their envy at the people; yea, the fire of Thine enemies shall devour them. — when the arm of the Almighty, the symbol of His power, was simply lifted up for the protection of His people, the evildoers closed their eyes and would not see it. A time will come when judgements shall fall on them, and so they shall be made to see;

— the Targum says, “Lord, when thou shall be revealed in thy power to do good to them that fear thee, there will be no light to the enemies of thy people” but they shall see; whether they will or not; the judgements of God will be manifest, both in his vengeance and in glorifying his own people.

¹²Lord, Thou wilt ordain peace for us; for Thou also hast wrought all our works in us. — Lord, thou wilt ordain peace for us; that is, henceforth thou wilt give us an existence of perfect peace, untroubled by adversaries. For thou also hast wrought all our works for us. The “work” intended seems to be the work of deliverance.

¹³O Lord our God, other lords besides Thee have had dominion over us; but by Thee only will we make mention of Thy name. — but by thee only will we make mention of thy name; this may be better rendered, ‘but only thee, thy name will we henceforward commemorate.’

— God’s name is the four-letter Hebrew word יהוה‎ YHVH Yehovah (not Jehovah since the letter J wasn’t around but only after the sixteenth century; more on this at the end)

¹⁴They are dead, they shall not live; they are deceased, they shall not rise; therefore hast Thou visited and destroyed them, and made all their memory to perish. — they shall not rise; those tyrants and enemies are utterly and irrecoverably destroyed, so as they shall never live or rise again to molest us; the Targum says, “they worship the dead, who do not live; and their mighty men, who shall not rise;”

— destroyed them and made all their memory to perish; thou hast destroyed both them and theirs, and all the monuments or memorials of their greatness and glory.

¹⁵Thou hast increased the nation, O Lord, Thou hast increased the nation. Thou art glorified; Thou hadst removed it far unto all the ends of the earth. — Thou hast increased the nation, O Lord, thou hast increased the nation; the righteous nation, Isaiah 26:2 the Kingdom of God by the numerous conversions of Jews and Gentiles; when the Kingdom of God shall be born and the fulness and forces of the Gentiles are brought in.

¹⁶Lord, in trouble have they visited Thee, they poured out a prayer when Thy chastening was upon them. — O Lord, amidst the various calamities brought upon them for their correction and especially in their captivity, they poured out a prayer when thy chastening was upon them.

¹⁷As a woman with child, that draweth near the time of her delivery, is in pain and crieth out in her pangs, so have we been in Thy sight, O Lord. — like as a woman with child; by this simile are set forth the great distresses and afflictions of the birth of the Kingdom of God before redemption and deliverance before the yoke comes.

¹⁸We have been with child, we have been in pain; we have, as it were, brought forth wind; we have not wrought any deliverance in the earth, neither have the inhabitants of the world fallen. — we have been with child; like women with child, we have been full of hopes and expectations of great things, of deliverance from our enemies, and of the kingdom of God being at hand.

¹⁹Thy dead men shall live; together with my dead body shall they arise. Awake and sing, ye that dwell in dust; for thy dew is as the dew of herbs, and the earth shall cast out the dead. — the answer to these utterances of disappointed hopes is the promise of the Resurrection.

²⁰Come, my people, enter thou into thy chambers, and shut thy doors about thee; hide thyself as it were for a little moment, until the indignation be past. — when dangers threaten, it is good to retire and lie hid; when we commend ourselves to God to hide us, he will hide us somewhere under heaven or in heaven. Thus we shall be safe and happy in the midst of tribulations. It is but for a short time, as it were for a little moment; when over, it will seem as nothing.

²¹For, behold, the Lord cometh out of His place to punish the inhabitants of the earth for their iniquity; the earth also shall disclose her blood, and shall no more cover her slain. — for, behold, the Lord cometh out of his place to punish the inhabitants of the earth for their iniquity: the earth also shall disclose her blood, and shall no more cover her slain. The earth will vomit and cast out the innocent blood, which it has drunk, that it may care for vengeance against the wicked.

~~~

More on God’s name, Yehovah.

The following verses with the LORD erred in translation. His name Yehovah should be used:

I am the LORD; that is My name. And My glory will I not give to another, neither My praise to graven images. Isaiah 42:8
And it shall come to pass, that whosoever shall call on the name of the LORD shall be delivered; for in Mount Zion and in Jerusalem shall be deliverance, as the LORD hath said, and in the remnant whom the LORD shall call. Joel 2:32
“I am sought of them that asked not for Me; I am found of them that sought Me not. I said, ‘Behold Me, behold Me,’ unto a nation that was not called by My name. Isaiah 65:1

When we call our God, the LORD, we err, because his name is not the LORD, which is a title. His name is YEHOVAH! May We all ask for his forgiveness, and may Our merciful God forgive us all.

Posted in Isaiah

Isaiah (Ch 23-24)

•March 6, 2022 • Leave a Comment

A Sword from the South!

Who are the enemies that will desolate the house of Israel, identified here as the United States? Many believe Russia was and some still believe it is the main threat of the United States. Others, like warmonger John Mearsheimer of the University of Chicago, give incredible speeches around the world saying China is the main threat.

Isaiah 23

¹The burden of Tyre: Howl, ye ships of Tarshish! For it is laid waste, so that there is no house, no entering in; from the land of Cyprus it is revealed to them. — Tyre was a ancient city in Phoenicia, which exceeded in renown and grandeur all the cities of Syria and Phoenicia and was much known for its trade and navigation, for which it was well situated by the sea; and indeed new Tyre stood today.

²Be still, ye inhabitants of the isle, thou whom the merchants of Sidon that pass over the sea have replenished. — thou whom the merchants of Sidon, that pass over the sea, have replenished; Sidon was a very ancient city of Phoenicia, more ancient than Tyre.

³And by great waters the seed of Shihor, the harvest of the river, is her revenue; and she is a mart of nations. — and by great waters the seed of Sihor; which is the river Nile in Egypt; it had its name from the black colour of its waters;

— harvest of the river—the growth of the Delta; the produce due to the overflow of the Nile: Egypt was the great granary of corn in the ancient world; She is a mart of nations; how true this was: no place was more favorably situated for commerce; and she had engrossed the trade nearly of all the world.

⁴Be thou ashamed, O Sidon; for the sea hath spoken, even the strength of the sea, saying, “I travail not, nor bring forth children, neither do I nourish up young men nor bring up virgins.” — be thou ashamed, O Sidon, a city about twenty five miles from Tyre; Tyre is called the daughter of Sidon, Isaiah 23:12; these two cities were closely allied and traded much with one another, so that the fall of Tyre must be distressing and confounding to Sidon; and besides, Tyre was a colony of the Sidonians.

⁵As at the report concerning Egypt, so shall they be sorely pained at the report of Tyre. — the Targum says, “as they heard the plague with which the Egyptians were smitten” so shall they be sorely pained at Tyre; because of their inter-trade and the judgments of Egypt has upon their neighbours.

⁶Pass ye over to Tarshish; howl, ye inhabitants of the isle! — the Tyrians fled to Carthage and elsewhere, both at the siege under Nebuchadnezzar and that under Alexander; pass ye over to Tarshish either to Tartessus in Spain, or to Tarsus in Cilicia, which lay over to the north of Tyre and to which they might transport and trade with greater ease; or “to a province of the sea” as the Targum indicates, any other seaport; the Septuagint says to Carthage, which was a colony of the Tyrians.

⁷Is this your joyous city, whose antiquity is of ancient days? Her own feet shall carry her afar off to sojourn. — is this silent ruin all that is left of your once joyous city (Isa 23:12)? antiquity; the Tyrian priests boasted in Herodotus’ time that their city had already existed 2300 years: an exaggeration, but still implying that it was ancient even then; her own feet—walking on foot as captives to an enemy’s land.

⁸Who hath taken this counsel against Tyre, the crowning city, whose merchants are princes, whose traffickers are the honorable of the earth? — “The Lord of hosts” who answered in Isa 23:9; crowning cities, that is, the cities from which dependent kingdoms had arisen, as Tartessus in Spain, Citium in Cyprus and Carthage in Africa (Eze 27:33).

⁹The Lord of hosts hath purposed it, to stain the pride of all glory, and to bring into contempt all the honorable of the earth. — the Lord of hosts hath purposed it, to destroy Tyre; who is wonderful in counsel, capable of forming a wise scheme, being proud of its riches, the extent of its commerce.

¹⁰Pass through thy land as a river, O daughter of Tarshish; there is no more strength. — as refugees the Tyrians are bid to pass to the daughter of Tarshish, that is, to Tarshish itself, to make their escape out of their own land and flee thither for safety.

¹¹He stretched out His hand over the sea, He shook the kingdoms; the Lord hath given a commandment against the merchant city, to destroy the strongholds thereof. — that is, the Lord of hosts, who had purposed to destroy Tyre, stretched out his hand over it, called the sea as in Isaiah 23:4 in like manner as he stretched out his hand on the Red Sea and destroyed Pharaoh and the Egyptians in it.

¹²And He said, “Thou shalt no more rejoice, O thou oppressed virgin, daughter of Sidon. Arise, pass over to Cyprus; there also shalt thou have no rest.” — when her calamity should come upon her, her jovial time, her time of mirth, jollity and revelling would be over;

— O thou oppressed virgin! Tyre is called a “virgin” because of her beauty, pride and lasciviousness and had never being subdued or taken before: and “oppressed” because now deflowered, ransacked, plundered and ruined by Nebuchadnezzar.

¹³Behold the land of the Chaldeans. This people was not, till the Assyrian founded it for those who dwell in the wilderness. They set up the towers thereof, they raised up the palaces thereof, and he brought it to ruin. — behold the land of the Chaldeans; this expresses the source from where these calamities were coming upon Tyre; and as it states some historical facts of great interest respecting the rise of Babylon; as the prophet Isaiah had foretold the destruction of Tyre and had said that whoever was the agent, it was to be traced to the overruling providence of God.

¹⁴Howl, ye ships of Tarshish, for your strength is laid waste! — for your strength is laid waste; meaning Tyre, a strong seaport and so it was the strength and support of their country; but was now destroyed, and therefore was matter of lamentation and mourning.

¹⁵And it shall come to pass in that day that Tyre shall be forgotten seventy years, according to the days of one king; after the end of seventy years shall Tyre sing as a harlot. — “forgotten seventy years” so it is in the Septuagint version, “as the time of a man” and after the end of seventy years shall Tyre shall sing as an harlot; being rebuilt and restored to its former state; as a harlot who has been cast off by her lovers.

¹⁶“Take a harp, go about the city, thou harlot that hast been forgotten; make sweet melody, sing many songs, that thou mayest be remembered.” — the desolations of Tyre were not to be forever; the Lord will visit Tyre but when set at liberty, she will use her old arts of lasciviousness; the love of worldly wealth is spiritual idolatry; and covetousness is spiritual idolatry.

¹⁷And it shall come to pass, after the end of seventy years, that the Lord will visit Tyre; and she shall turn to her hire and shall commit fornication with all the kingdoms of the world upon the face of the earth. — and she shall return to her hire; trade and merchandise; that shall revive, and be as in times past; and shall commit fornication with all the kingdoms of the world, upon the face of the earth; be a mart of nations again, as in Isaiah 23:3;

— that is, trade and traffic with all nations of the earth, in the most ample and public manner; this is called committing fornication, in agreement with the simile of a harlot before used, whereunto Tyre is compared; as well as to observe the illicit ways and methods used in her commerce;

— the Targum says, “and her merchandise shall be sufficient to all the kingdoms of the people, which are upon the face of the earth” and the Septuagint, “and shall be a mart to all the kingdoms of the world, upon the face of the earth.”

¹⁸And her merchandise and her hire shall be holiness to the Lord. It shall not be treasured nor laid up, for her merchandise shall be for them that dwell before the Lord, to eat sufficiently and for durable clothing. — after her restoration her merchandise shall be holiness unto the Lord, Yehovah.

Isaiah 24

¹ Behold, the Lord maketh the earth empty and maketh it waste, and turneth it upside down, and scattereth abroad the inhabitants thereof. — “the whole world” the “emptying” of it, is the removal of the inhabitants of it by wars and slaughters, which will be made when at a latter time, our time, the seven vials of God’s wrath will be poured upon God’s enemies;

— this is a prophecy of calamities upon the whole world, turning the earth upside down for their sins; of the preservation of a remnant.

²And it shall be, as with the people, so with the priest; as with the servant, so with his master; as with the maid, so with her mistress; as with the buyer, so with the seller; as with the lender, so with the borrower; as with the taker of interest, so with the giver of interest to him. — that is, no order or rank of men will fare better than another; their dignity, in things civil or ecclesiastical, will not secure them from ruin; it will be no better with princes and priests than the common people; they shall all alike share in the common destruction.

³The land shall be utterly emptied and utterly despoiled; for the Lord hath spoken this word. — the land shall be utterly emptied, and utterly spoiled, entirely emptied of its inhabitants, and wholly spoiled of its riches and substance; this is repeated, and with greater strength, to confirm what is said before, and which receives a greater confirmation by what follows:

⁴The earth mourneth and fadeth away; the world languisheth and fadeth away; the haughty people of the earth do languish. — the earth mourns and fades away because of its inhabitants being destroyed; and it fades away, because stripped of its wealth and riches: so the kings of the earth and merchants of it are represented as weeping and mourning at the destruction of Babylon because of its judgements and the loss of its trade and riches.

⁵The earth also is defiled under the inhabitants thereof, because they have transgressed the laws, changed the ordinance, broken the everlasting covenant. — because they have transgressed the laws; of God and man, as his shepherds have dispensed with the laws of God and in innumerable instances has transgressed them, casting all contempt upon them, and bidding all defiance to them, as being not at all bound and obliged by them;

— changed the ordinance; or “ordinances” the singular for the plural, a collective word; the ordinances of divine revelation, of Passover, Pentecost and Tabernacles to those of (1) Astarte, the queen of heaven; from whom Easter is derived; and (2) Mithra, worshipping the sun-god, when a mystical white Christmas Babylon has been well embedded, breaking “the everlasting covenant,” saith the Lord of hosts.

⁶Therefore hath the curse devoured the earth, and they that dwell therein are desolate; therefore the inhabitants of the earth are burned, and few men left. — therefore hath the curse devoured the earth; the inhabitants and the fruits alluding to the earth being cursed for the sin of man, bringing forth briers and thorns; this may denote the seven vials of God’s wrath poured upon the earth; or by the curse, understand perjury or false swearing; so the Targum says, “therefore, because of perjury (or a false oath) the earth is become a desert.”

⁷The new wine mourneth, the vine languisheth, all the merryhearted do sigh. — all the merryhearted do sigh; whose hearts wine has formerly made glad shall now sigh for want of it; and such who have lived deliciously with the whore of Babylon and have had many a merry bout with her shall now bewail her and lament for her, when she shall be utterly burnt with fire.

⁸The mirth of taborets ceaseth, the noise of them that rejoice endeth, the joy of the harp ceaseth. — the mirth of tabrets ceaseth; or of drums, or any such musical instruments used at junketings and jovial feasts. So when Babylon is fallen, the voice of harpers and musicians, and of pipers and trumpeters, shall be heard no more therein.

⁹They shall not drink wine with a song; strong drink shall be bitter to them that drink it. — strong drink shall be bitter to them that drink it; they shall have no gust for it or relish of it as they formerly had; either through bodily diseases upon themselves or because of the calamities upon the nations and states in which they dwell.

¹⁰The city of confusion is broken down; every house is shut up, that no man may come in. — even the city of Babylon in which there shall be nothing but disorder and irregularity, no truth nor justice; a city of vanity, full of superstition and idolatry; shall be broken to pieces by the judgements of God, to ruin and desolation.

¹¹There is a crying for wine in the streets; all joy is darkened, the mirth of the land is gone. — all joy is turned into the darkness of misery and distress; and men will gnaw their tongues for pain, and yet not repent of their sins, but blaspheme the God of heaven.

¹²In the city is left desolation, and the gate is smitten with destruction. — in the city is left desolation; palaces, houses and temples burnt, inhabitants destroyed; none but devils, foul spirits, hateful and unclean birds inhabiting it.

¹³When thus it shall be in the midst of the land among the people, there shall be as the shaking of an olive tree, and as the gleaning of grapes when the vintage is done. — as when an olive tree is shaken, or beaten with a staff, there would be a few left upon the uppermost or outermost branches, which cannot be reached; and as, after the vintage is got in, there are some grapes to be gleaned and gathered from the vines; so it is but a few, a remnant;

— the Targum says, “for now shall be left alone the righteous in the midst of the earth, among the kingdoms, as the shaking of olives, as the gleaning of grapes after the vintage.”

¹⁴They shall lift up their voice, they shall sing; for the majesty of the Lord, they shall cry aloud from the sea. — they, those who are left: the remnant, shall sing for the majesty of the Lord; who has so mercifully preserved them; from the distant lands beyond the sea, whither they have escaped.

¹⁵Therefore glorify ye the Lord in the valleys, even the name of the Lord God of Israel in the isles of the sea. — wherefore glorify ye the Lord, in the fires; these are the words of the remnant, now triumphing and singing, calling upon others also to glorify the Lord in the fires of affliction and tribulation,

— even the name of the Lord God of Israel in the isles of the sea; whose name Yehovah will now be known, not only in Israel or among the Jews only, but in all foreign countries, which are sometimes meant by the isles of the sea; and from even in the most remote to glorify God, whose name Yehovah will now be great in all the earth;

— God’s name is the four-letter Hebrew word יהוה‎ YHVH Yehovah (not Jehovah since the letter J wasn’t around but only after the sixteenth century; more on this at the end)

¹⁶From the uttermost part of the earth have we heard songs, even glory to the righteous. But I said, “My leanness, my leanness, woe unto me! The treacherous dealers have dealt treacherously, yea, the treacherous dealers have dealt very treacherously.” — my leanness! my leanness! — Isaiah faint and pine away in grief for the following reason: the treacherous dealers have dealt treacherously which were led by both the house of Israel and the house of Judah, “the treacherous dealers” (Jeremiah 5:11), who have been frequently guilty of great perfidiousness toward God, and now Isaiah felt ashamed and voluntarily bearing the blame for the house of Jacob, “Woe unto me!”

¹⁷Fear and the pit and the snare are upon thee, O inhabitant of the earth. — fear and the pit and the snare, these are rapid succession of inevitable calamities, in imagery drawn from the several forms of the hunter’s work.

¹⁸And it shall come to pass that he who fleeth from the noise of the fear shall fall into the pit, and he that cometh up out of the midst of the pit shall be taken in the snare; for the windows from on high are open, and the foundations of the earth do shake. — there is fleeing from the terror of the startled beast; then the pit dug that he might fall into it; then the snare, if he struggled out of the pit, out of which there was no escape (Isaiah 8:15; cf. Amos 5:19). The passage is noticeable as having been reproduced by Jeremiah in his prophecy against Moab (Jeremiah 48:43-44).

¹⁹The earth is utterly broken down, the earth is clean dissolved, the earth is moved exceedingly. — in the pit and snare those who escaped they shall be utterly broken down; this is repeated to show the dreadfulness and certainty of these judgements and to ensnare the escaping refugees.

²⁰The earth shall reel to and fro like a drunkard, and shall be removed like a cottage; and the transgression thereof shall be heavy upon it; and it shall fall, and not rise again. — the earth shall reel to and fro; the people of the earth, the inhabitants of the land, shall be sorely perplexed and distressed, not knowing what to do, or whither to go.;

— the earth shall reel to and fro like a drunkard in the day of His fierce anger, shaking the earth out of her place; its waves would mean a hundred times the waves of Fukushima over! Cottages fall like dried leaves and gust away like flotsam.

²¹And it shall come to pass in that day that the Lord shall punish the host of the high ones that are on high, and the kings of the earth upon the earth. — in the latter days, the Lord shall punish the host of the high ones, the proud and those who possess the high places of the earth; the kings and queens, the great elites of the world, who scorn and trample on his people.

²²And they shall be gathered together, as prisoners are gathered in the pit, and shall be shut up in the prison, and after many days shall they be visited. — prison, that is, as in a prison; this sheds light on the “shutting up” of the Jews in Jerusalem under Nebuchadnezzar, and again under Titus, was to be followed by a visitation of mercy “after many days” – seventy years in the case of the former – the time hasn’t yet quite elapsed in the case of the latter;

— second, the word “visited” could be in a bad sense, namely, in wrath, as in Isa 26:14; compare Isa 29:6; the punishment being the heavier in the fact of a delay. Probably a double visitation is intended, deliverance to the elect, wrath to hardened unbelievers; as Isa 24:23 plainly contemplates judgements on proud and unrepentant sinners, symbolized by the “sun” and “moon.”

²³ Then the moon shall be confounded and the sun ashamed, when the Lord of hosts shall reign in Mount Zion and in Jerusalem and before His elders gloriously. — the moon shall be confounded; the thought implied is that the most glorious forms of created light will become dim, the moon red as with the blush of shame, the sun turning pale, before the glory of the Lord, before the Almighty Yehovah’s presence.

~~~

More on God’s name, Yehovah.

The following verses with the LORD erred in translation. His name Yehovah should be used:

I am the LORD; that is My name. And My glory will I not give to another, neither My praise to graven images. Isaiah 42:8
And it shall come to pass, that whosoever shall call on the name of the LORD shall be delivered; for in Mount Zion and in Jerusalem shall be deliverance, as the LORD hath said, and in the remnant whom the LORD shall call. Joel 2:32
“I am sought of them that asked not for Me; I am found of them that sought Me not. I said, ‘Behold Me, behold Me,’ unto a nation that was not called by My name.” Isaiah 65:1

When we call our God, the LORD, we err, because his name is not the LORD, which is a title. His name is YEHOVAH! May We all ask for his forgiveness, and may Our merciful God forgive us all.

Posted in Isaiah

Isaiah (Ch 21-22)

•March 4, 2022 • Leave a Comment

“Putin may circle Kyiv with tanks but he’ll never gain the hearts and souls of the Iranian people,” President Biden said during his State of the Union speech (March 1, 2022).

Chapter 20 continues with a prophecy of the burden of Babylon, Edom and Arabia; but in a rare incidence, Chapter 22 contains a prophecy of Judah and Jerusalem and none of the house of Israel. Why Jerusalem would be such a place of terror? Her slain men are not slain with the sword, but with famine; or slain with fear, disheartened. Q. could this be the prophecy of Judah’s iniquity for forty years bored by Ezekiel in Ezekiel 4?

Isaiah 21

¹ The burden of the Desert of the Sea: As whirlwinds in the South pass through, so it cometh from the desert, from a terrible land. — the burden of Babylon, Edom and Arabia; the Targum says, “the burden of the armies, which come from the wilderness, as the waters of the sea.”

²A grievous vision is declared unto me; the treacherous dealer dealeth treacherously, and the spoiler spoileth. Go up, O Elam! Besiege, O Media! All the sighing thereof have I made to cease. — dealeth treacherously; referring to the military stratagem employed by Cyrus in taking Babylon; Go up; Isaiah abruptly recites the order which he hears God giving to the Persians, the instruments of His vengeance (Isa 13:3,17).

³Therefore are my loins filled with pain; pangs have taken hold upon me, as the pangs of a woman that travaileth. I was bowed down at the hearing of it; I was dismayed at the seeing of it. — Isaiah imagines himself among the exiles in Babylon and cannot help feeling pains moved by the calamities which come on it; the pangs of a woman that travails; which come suddenly and at once, sharp and strong.

⁴My heart panted, fearfulness affrighted me; the night of my pleasure hath He turned into fear unto me. — my heart panted or fluttered about and could hardly keep its place; fearfulness affrighted me; the terror of Cyrus’s army seized him; the writing on the wall threw him into a panic and the news of the Medes and Persians having entered the city increased it.

⁵Prepare the table, watch in the watchtower, eat, drink; arise, ye princes and anoint the shield. — the night the city was taken: these words are directed to the king (and princes) of Babylon by his courtiers or queen in order to remove his fears.

⁶For thus hath the Lord said unto me: “Go, set a watchman, let him declare what he seeth.” — God’s direction to Isaiah to set a watchman to “declare” what he sees. “Come, let him who stands on the watchtower report what he sees.”

⁷And he saw a chariot with a couple of horsemen, a chariot of asses and a chariot of camels; and he hearkened diligently with much heed. — a chariot of asses, and a chariot of camels; by the former may be meant the Persians, who very much used mules or asses; and the Medes by the latter, who abounded in camels: hence as a whole may signify the whole army of the Medes and Persians.

⁸And he cried, “A lion! My lord, I stand continually upon the watchtower in the daytime, and I am set at my post whole nights. — the lion’s eyelids are short, so that even when asleep, he seems to be on the watch, awake; hence he was painted on doors of temples as the symbol of watchfulness, guarding the place.

⁹And behold, here cometh a chariot of men with a couple of horsemen!” And he answered and said, “Babylon is fallen, is fallen! And all the graven images of her gods He hath broken unto the ground!” — Babylon is fallen, is fallen: which is repeated to show the certainty of it. The same words are used of the fall of mystical Babylon, Revelation 14:8; the Targum says, “it is fallen, and also it shall be, that Babylon shall fall” that is, a second time, and hereafter;

— and so it has two falls, one by the Medes and Persians, and the other by the hand of heaven or God himself: literal Babylon fell by the former; mystical Babylon will fall by the latter, even by the breath of the Messiah and the brightness of his coming and so put an end to idolatry; such as (1) Astarte, the queen of heaven; from whom Easter is derived; and (2) Mithra, worshipping the sun-god, when a mystical white Christmas Babylon will be destroyed.

¹⁰O my threshing and the corn of my floor, that which I have heard of the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel, have I declared unto you. — O my threshing, and the corn of my floor; which could be understood to be the Babylonians, now threshed or punished by the Lord, and whom he had made use of as instruments for the punishment of others.

¹¹The burden of Dumah: He calleth to me out of Seir, “Watchman, what of the night? Watchman, what of the night?” — the burden of Dumah; whether this prophecy concerns the Edomites or Idumeans, or whether the Arabians, particularly the Dumean Arabians, is a question, since Dumah was a son of Ishmael, Genesis 25:14;

— Seir; a mountain inhabited by the Edomites, the posterity of Esau; the principal mountain in Idumea, South of the Dead Sea, a prophecy concerning Edom; that lay to the South.

¹²The watchman said, “The morning cometh, and also the night. If ye will inquire, inquire ye; return, come.”

¹³The burden upon Arabia: In the forest in Arabia shall ye lodge, O ye traveling companies of Dedanites. — the burden upon Arabia; which lay heavy upon it, as a burden upon a beast; or “concerning” it, or “against” it, which Arabia or what part thereof is meant may be gathered from the names after mentioned. The Targum says “the burden of the cup of cursing, to give the Arabians to drink.”

¹⁴The inhabitants of the land of Tema brought water to him that was thirsty; they were ready with their bread for him that fled. — the inhabitants of the land of Tema; this country had its name from Tema, one of the sons of Ishmael, Genesis 25:15. The Targum calls it the land of the south, as if it was Teman.

¹⁵For they fled from the swords, from the drawn sword, and from the bent bow and from the grievousness of war. — they fled from the swords; the fugitive Dedanites and other Arabs.

¹⁶For thus hath the Lord said unto me: “Within a year, according to the years of a hireling, all the glory of Kedar shall fail. — and all the glory of Kedar shall fail; these were another sort of Arabians as the Targum calls them: they descended from Kedar, a son of Ishmael, Genesis 25:13.

¹⁷And the residue of the number of archers, the mighty men of the children of Kedar, shall be diminished. For the Lord God of Israel hath spoken it.” — the mighty men of the children of Kedar shall be diminished; their military men, the most expert at the use of the bow, and the most valiant and courageous; the few of those that were left, and did not fall by the sword of the Assyrians, should gradually diminish, and be fewer and fewer.

Isaiah 22

In a rare incidence, Chapter 22 contains a prophecy of Judah and Jerusalem but none of the house of Israel. Why is Jerusalem in such terror? Their rulers fled, but were overtaken. All the horrors of a city taken by storm, faintly shadow forth the terrors of the day of wrath. Q. could this be the prophecy of Judah’s iniquity for forty years bored by Ezekiel in Ezekiel 4?

¹ The burden of the Valley of Vision: What aileth thee now, that thou art wholly gone up to the housetops? — the burden of the valley of vision; a prophecy concerning Jerusalem, so called because it lay in a valley, encompassed about with mountains and which was the habitation of the prophets or seers, and the seat of vision and prophecy; and perhaps there is an allusion to its name, which signifies the vision of peace or they shall see peace;

— the Septuagint version calls it, “the word of the valley of Sion” and the Arabic version, “a prophecy concerning the inhabitants of the valley of Sion, to wit, the fields which are about Jerusalem.” While the Targum says, “the burden of the prophecy concerning the city which dwells in the valley, of which the prophets prophesied,” by all which it appears, that not the whole land of Judea is meant.

— that thou art wholly gone up to the housetops? they went up on the flat balustraded roofs to look forth and see whether the enemy was near, and partly to defend themselves from the roofs.

²Thou that art full of stirrings, a tumultuous city, a joyous city; thy slain men are not slain with the sword, nor dead in battle. — thy slain men are not slain by the sword, nor dead in battle; therefore those that died were put into or through famine or pandemic like what we are having Covid-19 today that make our once joyous cities and high streets desolate.

³All thy rulers have fled together; they are bound by the archers. All that are found in thee are bound together, who have fled from afar.

⁴Therefore said I, “Look away from me; I will be bitter in weeping. Labor not to comfort me, because of the despoiling of the daughter of my people.” — therefore said Isaiah, the prophet to those that were about him, his relations, friends, and acquaintance:

— look away from me; turn away from me, look another way; cease from me, let me alone; leave me to myself, that I may weep in secret, take my fill of sorrow, and give full vent to it;

— because of the spoiling of the daughter of my people; Isaiah’s countrymen, which were as dear to him as a daughter to a tender father, now spoiled, plundered and made desolate by the ravages of the enemy, in many cities of Judea.

⁵For it is a day of trouble and of treading down, and of perplexity by the Lord God of hosts in the Valley of Vision, breaking down the walls, and of crying to the mountains. — referring to a day of trouble of the valley of vision; a prophecy concerning Jerusalem; could this be the prophecy of Judah’s iniquity for forty years bored by Ezekiel in Ezekiel 4?

— breaking down the walls: of the fenced cities, with their battering rams, at the time they besieged and took them; and of crying to the mountains: looking and running to them for help and succour, for shelter and protection; and crying so loud, by reason of their distress, as that it reached the distant mountains, and made them echo with it.

⁶And Elam bore the quiver with chariots of men and horsemen, and Kir uncovered the shield. — Elam and Kir; two nations are named as the chief elements of a composite army when invading Judea; Elam; or the Elamites as the Targum and Septuagint say, that is, the Persians; and Kir uncovered the shield; this was a city in Media, and signifies the Medes;

— the Medes and Persians have never fulfilled this prophecy against the house of Judah in the past, indicating that modern Persia, IRAN, will fulfil this; if not why not; who else?

⁷And it shall come to pass that thy choicest valleys shall be full of chariots, and the horsemen shall set themselves in array at the gate. — and it shall come to pass, that thy choicest valleys; the valleys that were near Jerusalem that used to be covered with the choicest corn or vines or with grass and flocks of sheep and used to be exceeding delightful and pleasant:

— shall be full of chariots; where they can be more easily driven than on mountains; these were chariots not for pleasure but for war; chariots full of soldiers to fight against and besiege Jerusalem:

— and the horsemen shall set themselves in array at the gate of Jerusalem: to take them that come out of the city and to force their way into it; as well as to protect and defend the foot while they made the assault and scaled the walls and to be ready when the gates were opened to them.

⁸And He uncovered the covering of Judah, and thou didst look in that day to the armor of the House of the Forest. — and he uncovered the covering of Judah, by God himself, who uncloaked them of their sins and secret dealings; or took away his protection of them and expose their weakness;

— and thou, didst look in that day to the armour of the house of the forest; to see what store of ammunition the house of Judah has in their secret warehouses, in what condition they are and to take from hence and be ready to furnish their soldiers with them.

⁹Ye have seen also the breaches of the City of David, that they are many; and ye gathered together the waters of the lower pool. — of the city of David; that is, of Jerusalem, so called because it was the royal residence of David. Zion was usually called the city of David, but the name was given also to the entire city;

— and ye gathered together the waters of the lower pool: the Septuagint version is, “and he turned the water of the old pool into the city” but the old pool was another pool hereafter mentioned, and was outside the city, the same with the upper pool; whereas this was the lower, and was in the city. The Targum says, “and ye gathered the people to the waters of the lower pool.”

¹⁰And ye have numbered the houses of Jerusalem, and the houses have ye broken down to fortify the wall. — and ye have numbered the houses of Jerusalem; to know what number of men were in them, and how many could be spared to do duty, either as watchmen or soldiers; to spread the charge of defending the city;

— and the houses have ye broken down to fortify the wall; either such as were outside the wall, which, had they let them stand would either have been destroyed by the enemy, or have been a harbour for them; or those inside the city, with the stones and timber of which houses, when broken down they could strengthen the wall and so served a better purpose than if they had stood.

¹¹Ye made also a ditch between the two walls for the water of the old pool; but ye have not looked unto the Maker thereof, neither had respect unto Him that fashioned it long ago. — for the water of the old pool; which, being outside the city, was by this means drained into this ditch or receptacle; and so their then enemy Assyrians were deprived of it, and the inhabitants of Jerusalem more abundantly supplied; this was wisely contrived to distress the enemy, and to enable themselves to hold out the siege the longer; and for this and other methods they took they are not blamed;

— but ye have not looked unto the Maker thereof; either of the distress and calamity which came upon them for their sins, with the will and by the decree of God; or of the water of the pool, which is a creation of his; for who can give rain or water but God?

¹²And in that day did the Lord God of hosts call to weeping and to mourning, and to baldness and to girding with sackcloth. — call to weeping and to mourning; to confess and mourn over their sins, the cause of these calamities; to lament their unhappy case; to humble themselves under the mighty hand of God and by prayer and supplication with tears to implore his help and assistance and grant them deliverance;

— and to baldness and to girding with sackcloth; these were external signs and tokens of inward sorrow and repentance; the former of which was done by shaving the head or plucking off the hair and was forbidden on private occasions, yet might be allowed in a public case.

¹³But behold, joy and gladness, slaying oxen and killing sheep, eating flesh and drinking wine! “Let us eat and drink, for tomorrow we shall die!” — and behold joy and gladness; as if it was a time of rejoicing, after days of weeping and mourning; as if they were at a festival of lamb and wine and in the greatest prosperity and liberty and not besieged by a powerful army.

¹⁴And it was revealed in mine ears by the Lord of hosts: “Surely this iniquity shall not be purged from you till ye die,” saith the Lord God of hosts. — the Targum says, “the prophet said with mine ears I was hearing when this was decreed from before the Lord of hosts”

— surely this iniquity shall not be purged from you till ye die; it being of heinous nature, so daring, insolent and affronting, such a contempt of God and his word and discovering such impenitence and hardness of heart; it should not be forgiven; till they died.

¹⁵Thus saith the Lord God of hosts: “Go, get thee unto this treasurer, even unto Shebna, who is over the house, and say: — get thee unto this treasurer or governor, as the Targum says; treasurer in the house of King; even unto Shebna, which is over the house; that is, over the king’s house; so the steward that had the ordering of all the affairs civil and domestic in it, which was a very high post; he had the keys of the money, stores and provisions of the state.

¹⁶What hast thou here? And whom hast thou here, that thou hast hewed thee out a sepulcher here, as he that heweth him out a sepulcher on high and that carves out a habitation for himself in a rock? — what hast thou here? The prophet’s indignation is roused by Shebna’s last act of arrogance, who had no “sepulchre of his fathers” to deck with fresh stateliness as like the kings had built one for himself, hollowed out a cave on one of the hills of Jerusalem, to be his own everlasting “habitation.”

— Q. Could Shebna be a type for Lucifer, the fallen one?

¹⁷Behold, the Lord will carry thee away with a mighty captivity, and will surely cover thee. — instead of a sepulchre for himself inside a rock, behold, the Lord will carry Shebna with a mighty captivity; as the Targum indicates, the phrase has the signification of flying; and so interprets it: he shall cause thee to fly like a bird into captivity; that is, very speedily and swiftly; or so the Vulgate version says, “behold, the Lord shall cause thee to be carried away as a cock is carried away.”

¹⁸He will surely violently turn and toss thee like a ball into a large country. There shalt thou die, and there the chariots of thy glory shall be the shame of thy lord’s house. — violently turn and toss—literally, “whirling He will whirl thee,” that is, He will whirl thee. “He will whirl thee round and round, and (then) cast thee away,” as a stone in a sling is first whirled round repeatedly, before the string is let go;

— the “large country” is probably one along the plain of Mesopotamia, where Shebna is to end his days in exile; in the land of the Medes and Persians? (verse 6)

¹⁹And I will drive thee from thy station, and from thy state shall he pull thee down. — shall he pull thee down; that is, “God” shall do it; the prophet here uses the third person.

²⁰“And it shall come to pass in that day that I will call My servant Eliakim the son of Hilkiah. — My servant Eliakim; on the dignity of this title when given by God himself, that is, prophetically a man who will be faithful to God who will be trustworthy and to whom the interests of God and the city may be safely confided; a man who will not seek to betray it into the hands of the enemy.

²¹And I will clothe him with thy robe and strengthen him with thy girdle, and I will commit thy government into his hand; and he shall be a father to the inhabitants of Jerusalem and to the house of Judah. — and God will clothe Eliakim with Isaiah’s robe; which was a badge and token of his office. If he was a priest, this was his priestly robe, by which the high priest was distinguished from others; but Eliakim seems to be a civil officer, who wore a garment distinctive of it; in which he would be a type of Zerubbabel of a kingly office, crowned with glory and honour;

— the Targum takes in both, “and I will give the key of the house of the sanctuary, and the government of the house of David, into his hand.”

— Q. Could Shebna be a type for Lucifer, the fallen one? And Eliakim, My servant, be a type of the Logos, the righteous one?

²²And the key of the house of David will I lay upon his shoulder; so he shall open and none shall shut, and he shall shut and none shall open. — in the sense, the Messiah or Christ is said to have this key, Revelation 3:7 where the following words are applied to him: so he shall open, and none shall shut; and he shall shut, and none shall open;

— all which is expressive of the Godly government being on his shoulders, and of his absolute and uncontrollable power over it; who opens the treasures of his Word, of his wisdom and knowledge and communicates them and shuts or hides them from, whom he pleases; who opens and shuts the door of the kingdom of heaven, and introduces into it his own people, and excludes others.

²³And I will fasten him as a nail in a sure place, and he shall be for a glorious throne to his father’s house. — this is an expressive of the strength of the Messiah, the Christ, as the mighty Son; and as the man of God’s right hand, made strong to be the Saviour and mighty Redeemer.

²⁴And they shall hang upon him all the glory of his father’s house, the offspring and the issue, all vessels of small quantity, from the vessels of cups even to all the vessels of flagons. — the glory of building his Father’s house; the Targum says, “and all the glorious or noble ones of his father’s house shall lean upon him, children and children’s children:”

— all vessels of small quantity; from the vessels of cups, even to all the vessels of flagons; meaning those of his family, that were some of lesser, others of greater capacities, for whom he provided places and posts under him, suitable thereunto; none were forgotten or neglected by him: this simile, of vessels of various sorts and sizes, is made use of, in perfect agreement with Eliakim’s being compared to a nail, on which vessels in a house are hung by their handles.

²⁵In that day,” saith the Lord of hosts, “shall the nail that is fastened in the sure place be removed and be cut down and fall, and the burden that was upon it shall be cut off; for the Lord hath spoken it.” — in that day, saith the Lord of hosts’that is, when Eliakim put in his place:

— shall the nail that is fastened in the sure place be removed, and be cut down, and fall; meaning, not Eliakim before spoken of, who really was a nail fastened in a sure place, and not to be removed; but Shebna, who thought himself to be as a nail in a sure place, being put into it by the king, and supported by his authority, and courted by his friends and flatterers; for to him the whole preceding prophecy is directed, which is carried down to this verse; for all that is said of the glory and usefulness of his successor Eliakim was to be told to him, which would make it still the more grievous to him, to be degraded and disgraced as he would be, signified by his being removed, cast down, and falling;

— and the burden that was upon it shall be cut off; those that were dependent upon him, his family, his flatterers, and friends, such whom he had raised by his influence and authority to considerable places, and whom he supported in them; these would fall with him, as is usual when a royal favourite, or prime minister of state, falls into disgrace, and is removed; an instance of this may be seen in Haman, whose family and friends were involved in the same ruin with him, Esther 9:12 and it may be observed, that many dependents, which a minister of state always has, are a burden to him. The Targum interprets this of the burden of prophecy; “for, so it is decreed by the word of the Lord.”

Posted in Isaiah

A Sword from the South!

•March 3, 2022 • Leave a Comment

Ezekiel 20:45 Moreover the word of the Lord came unto me, saying,
⁴⁶ “Son of man, set thy face toward the South, and drop thy word toward the South, and prophesy against the forest of the Southland.
⁴⁷And say to the forest of the South: ‘Hear the word of the Lord. Thus saith the Lord God: Behold, I will kindle a fire in thee, and it shall devour every green tree in thee and every dry tree. The flaming flame shall not be quenched, and all faces from the South to the North shall be burned therein.
⁴⁸ And all flesh shall see that I, the Lord, have kindled it; it shall not be quenched.’”
⁴⁹ Then said I, “Ah, Lord God! They say of me, ‘Doth he not speak parables?’”
Ezekiel 21:1 And the word of the Lord came unto me, saying,
² “Son of man, set thy face toward Jerusalem, and drop thy word toward the holy places, and prophesy against the land of Israel;
³ and say to the land of Israel, ‘Thus saith the Lord: Behold, I am against thee, and will draw forth My Sword out of his sheath and will cut off from thee the righteous and the wicked.

⁴ Seeing then that I will cut off from thee the righteous and the wicked, therefore shall My Sword go forth out of his sheath against all flesh from the South to the North,
⁵ that all flesh may know that I, the Lord, have drawn forth My Sword out of his sheath. It shall not return any more.’(Ezekiel 20:45-21:5)

The Scriptures above are shrouded in cryptic languages and so the Qs are: how would such scenarios be played out? The current Russia/Ukraine and China/Taiwan arises are just two major distractions, but more importantly, who are these enemies the Prophet Ezekiel identifies coming from the SOUTH, and how would God says He will kindle a fire and “because thou hast despoiled many nations, all the remnant of the people shall despoil thee?” Habakkuk 2:8

Furthermore, could Isaiah 34:6 indicate where the Sword comes from? It says “the Sword of the Lord is filled with blood; it is made fat with fatness and with the blood of lambs and goats, with the fat of the kidneys of rams; for the Lord hath a sacrifice in Bozrah, and a great slaughter in the land of Edom.”

Note: the Scriptures in Isaiah 34:6 don’t say it is the ‘Sword of Edom or Bozrah’ but ‘the Sword of the Lord.’ This tie in with ‘My Sword’ mentioned three time in Ezekiel 20:45-21:5 highlighted above. Isn’t this really significant?

Continuing in Isaiah 34:7, ”And the unicorns shall come down with them, and the bullocks with the bulls; and their land shall be soaked with blood, and their dust made fat with fatness.” The unicorns symbolise the British while the bulls/bullocks symbolise the United States, and “their land shall be soaked with blood” (for more see Ephraim and Manasseh).

And in Isaiah 63:1 a question was asked, “Who is this that cometh from Edom, with dyed garments from Bozrah, this that is glorious in His apparel, traveling in the greatness of his strength?”

In Obadiah 20 “And the captives of this host of the children of Israel shall possess that of the Canaanites, even unto Zarephath; and the captives of Jerusalem who are in Sepharad (בִּסְפָרַ֑ד Hebrew 5614) shall possess the cities of the south.” — for the word ‘Sepharad’ Jonathan renders: Spain (Rashi quoting the Targum: Sepharad shall inherit the cities of the Southland as Spain); the Targums identified Sepharad with Spain, hence, Spanish Jews are called Sephardim!

One Report by McKinsey says of the 60 millions Latinos in the US that had migrated from the South; they often live in ‘deserts’ where adequate housing, groceries are hard to find. “Nearly 9 in 10 of the Latino residents in such communities lived in five states: California, Florida, New Jersey, New York and Texas.”

McKinsey: Latinos are projected to make up 22.4 percent of the US labor force by 2030 and more than 30 percent by 2060 (Latinos population to 111.2 million by ’60); is this analysis wrong? Am I mistaken? Do feel free to present your opinion; thanks. (Originally under Ezekiel (Ch 21-22)

For a Discussion at Unz Review, click Goodbye America!

Posted in Ephraim, Ezekiel, Ezekiel Timeline, Jacob's Trouble, Southern Border, US

Isaiah (Ch 19-20)

•March 2, 2022 • Leave a Comment

Isaiah 19

¹ The burden of Egypt: Behold, the Lord rideth upon a swift cloud, and shall come into Egypt; and the idols of Egypt shall be moved at His presence, and the heart of Egypt shall melt in the midst of it. — the burden of Egypt; a prophecy in the future, very grievous one, declaring many calamities that should come upon them. The Targum says, “the burden of the cup of cursing, to make the Egyptians drink.”

— behold, the Lord rideth upon a swift cloud, coming on light clouds as His chariots, in order to pass sentence, and shall come into Egypt; and the idols of Egypt shall tremble with terror at His presence and the heart of Egypt shall melt in the midst of it, namely, for fear of the impending punishment.

²“And I will set the Egyptians against the Egyptians; and they shall fight every one against his brother and every one against his neighbor, city against city, and kingdom against kingdom. — and the Lord will set the Egyptians against fellow Egyptians, inciting them to civil war and anarchy; and they shall fight every one against his brother and every one against his neighbor; city against city and kingdom against kingdom.

³And the spirit of Egypt shall fail in the midst thereof; and I will destroy the counsel thereof; and they shall seek the idols and the charmers, and them that have familiar spirits and the wizards. — and the spirit of Egypt shall fail in the midst thereof, particularly to Osiris and Isis, to Apis, Latona and others; so that the courage of the Egyptians would, literally, “be emptied out” and God will destroy the counsel thereof, swallowing all their plans, so that the rulers would be helpless in the situation;

— and they shall seek their idols, appealing to them for help, and to the charmers, literally, “the murmurers, or mutterers,” those who professed to be in touch with the spirit world, magicians and conjurers and to them that have familiar spirits, the spiritists of those days, and to the wizards, those actually in league with the Evil One. Then, as has always been, people who refused to accept the true God resorted to superstitious rites and to the assistance of the spirits of darkness.

⁴And the Egyptians will I give over into the hand of a cruel lord, and a fierce king shall rule over them,” saith the Lord, the Lord of hosts. — and the Egyptians will I give over into the hand of a cruel lord, the reference being either to one of their own tyrannical rulers or to the Assyrian conquerors; and a fierce king shall rule over them, saith the Lord of hosts. Three Pharaohs, namely, Psammetichus, Necho, and Hophra, oppressed the Egyptians so severely that the land never recovered from their tyranny.

⁵And the waters shall fail from the sea, and the river shall be wasted and dried up. — and the waters shall fail from the Red Sea, the waters from the Nile shall be wasted and dried up, perhaps none flow from the Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam; this drying up would be a calamity for Egypt, since Egypt depended entirely upon the Nile for drinking and irrigation (see also Ezekiel 30:12 and Zechariah 10:11).

⁶And they shall turn the rivers far away, and the brooks of defense shall be emptied and dried up; the reeds and flags shall wither. — and they shall turn the rivers far away, rather, “and the rivers shall produce a stench,” being reduced to stagnating pools; and the brooks of defense shall be emptied and dried up, that is, the canals of the Nile, especially around its delta and in the irrigation systems, would carry no more water; the reeds and flags, principally the papyrus-plants depending altogether upon the moisture of the river, shall wither.

⁷The paper reeds by the brooks, by the mouth of the brooks, and every thing sown by the brooks shall wither, be driven away, and be no more. — the paper-reeds by the brooks, literally, “the naked places,” the meadows on the Nile, by the mouth of the brooks, along the banks of the river, and everything sown by the brooks, the grain-fields along the very edge of the Nile, shall wither, be driven away, scattered by the wind in the form of dust, and be no more;

— since Egypt in history, had never experienced the Nile drying up, this could only been a prophecy; not just here, but perhaps the whole chapter, including “a cruel lord and a fierce king shall rule over them.”

⁸The fishers also shall mourn, and all they that cast hook into the brooks shall lament, and they that spread nets upon the waters shall languish. — the fishers shall also mourn, because they would be thrown out of a livelihood, and all they that cast angle into the Nile shall lament, and they that spread nets upon the waters shall languish, since the rich fisheries of the Nile or its brooks would no longer exist.

⁹Moreover they that work in fine flax and they that weave network shall be confounded. — moreover, they that work in fine flax, fine linen cloth and yarn; and they that weave networks, white cotton cloth, shall be confounded, since neither flax nor cotton would grow, and this important industry would thus be made impossible.

¹⁰And they shall be broken in the purposes thereof, all that make sluices and ponds for fish. — and they shall be broken in the purposes thereof, all that make sluices and ponds for fish, literally, “and shall be her foundations ruins, all laborers for hire swamps of the soul,” that is, the upper castes of the nation would lose their power, and the poorest people of the country would give way to hopelessness and despair;

— the Syriac version says “and all they shall be humbled that make strong drink, for the drink of the soul” that is, for their upper castes to drown their sorrows.

¹¹Surely the princes of Zoan are fools; the counsel of the wise counselors of Pharaoh has become brutish. How say ye unto Pharaoh, “I am the son of the wise, the son of ancient kings”? — surely the princes of Zoan (or Tanis as the Targum says), a city of Lower Egypt, known as “the royal city of the Pharaohs, “it was then the royal city and at one time the capital of the country, who claimed “we are the sons of wise men” are fools, the counsel of the wise counselors of Pharaoh is become brutish, the priestly counselors of the Egyptian king had lost all their wisdom;

¹²Where are they? Where are thy wise men? And let them tell thee now, and let them know what the Lord of hosts hath purposed upon Egypt. — where are they? where are their wise men? And, let them tell thee now, in a certain prophecy, and let them know what the Lord of hosts hath purposed upon Egypt, and it has deep consequences;

— today, Gypsies are known as Roma, but in Hebrew, their name is derived from the Egyptian city of Zoan, or Tanis, at one time the royal and capital of the country; and this is from Wikipedia (Romani people);

Hebrew: צוענים‎, romanized: Tzoanim. Derives either from the biblical Egyptian city of Zoan, or from the linguistic root צ־ע־נ‎, meaning “wander.”

The English term Gypsy (or Gipsy) originates from the Middle English gypcian, short for Egipcien.

Ezekiel 29:12 “and I will scatter the Egyptians among the nations and will disperse them through the countries.”

— for more, see a study commentary in Ezekiel 32.

¹³The princes of Zoan are become fools; the princes of Noph are deceived; they have also seduced Egypt, even they that are the stay of the tribes thereof. — the princes of Zoan are fools in their counsels to Pharaoh; the princes of Noph, of Memphis, on the western bank of the Nile, capital of Lower Egypt, are deceived; they have also seduced Egypt, led its people astray by their false claims and foolish counsel, even they that are the stay of the tribes thereof, upon whom the people depended for leadership.

¹⁴The Lord hath mingled a perverse spirit in the midst thereof; and they have caused Egypt to err in every work thereof, as a drunken man staggereth in his vomit. — the Lord hath mingled a perverse spirit in the midst of the princes of Zoan, for the false wisdom of the leading castes acted like a spirit of intoxication; and they have caused Egypt to err in every work thereof;

— as a drunken man staggered in his vomit, who is so very drunk, that his head is quite giddy, and cannot walk upright, but staggers as he goes, and vomits as he staggers, and falls down, and is rolled in it as the Targum says; just like such a man were the princes and governors of the Egyptian provinces, unable to find their way out.

¹⁵Neither shall there be any work for Egypt, which the head or tail, branch or rush, may do. — neither shall there be any work for Egypt which the head or tail, branch or rush may do, that is, no person in Egypt, whether of the ruling or of the serving class, whether lofty or humble, will be able to do anything to stop the general destruction;

— the Targum interprets the whole of their chief men thus, “and the Egyptians shall have no king to reign, nor prince, noble, governor, or ruler.”

¹⁶In that day shall Egypt be like unto women; and it shall be afraid and fear, because of the shaking of the hand of the Lord of hosts, which He shaketh over it. — in that day shall Egypt be like unto women, weak and feeble, as the Targum says; fearful and timorous, even their military force; and devoid of wisdom, even their princes and nobles: on account of the greater timidity which usually characterizes the weaker sex;

— and it shall be afraid and fear because of the shaking of the hand of the Lord of hosts which He shakes over it, His judgements and punishments when He lifts up His rod, and holds it over a people, thus being scattered by means of the invaders of Egypt.

¹⁷And the land of Judah shall be a terror unto Egypt; every one that maketh mention thereof shall be afraid in himself, because of the counsel of the Lord of hosts, which He hath determined against it. — and the land of Judah shall be a terror unto Egypt, that if the judgements of God fell so heavy on his own people, what might they expect? either because the mere mention of the name struck terror to their hearts at this time, or because Judah was now allied with Assyria against the king of Egypt;

— every one that makes mention thereof, namely, of Judah, shall be afraid in himself because of the judgement of the Lord of hosts which He hath determined against it, for they all dreaded the punishment which they felt was now inevitable.

¹⁸In that day shall five cities in the land of Egypt speak the language of Canaan and swear to the Lord of hosts; one shall be called the City of Destruction. — in that day shall five cities in the land of Egypt speak the language of Canaan, that is, the Hebrew language and accept the true, revealed religion, and swear to the Lord of hosts, pledging themselves to Him with a sacred oath; one shall be called The City of Destruction, literally, “Ir-ha-heres,” which may have been the city of the sun, or Heliopolis. The prophecy of Jeremiah 43:13, also means to point to the destruction of this or a similar city.

¹⁹In that day shall there be an altar to the Lord in the midst of the land of Egypt and a pillar at the border thereof to the Lord. — in that day shall there be a reference is either to the establishment of the religion of Yehovah in Egypt during the Millenium with a foothold which the true religion gained in Egypt at a very early date of a new era.

— The “Altar to Jehovah in the Land of Egypt” (Isaiah 19:19). This Is Appendix 81 From The Companion Bible. The fulfillment of this prophecy took place in 1 BC is recorded by Josephus (Antiquities xiii.3.1-3;6; Wars 7.10,3; and Against Apion, 2.5):-

In consequence of wars between the Jews and Syrians, ONIAS IV, the High Priest, fled to Alexandria; where, on account of his active sympathy with the cause of Egypt against Syria, he was welcomed by PTOLEMY PHILOMETOR, and rewarded by being made prince over the Jews in Egypt.

²⁰And it shall be for a sign and for a witness unto the Lord of hosts in the land of Egypt; for they shall cry unto the Lord because of the oppressors, and He shall send them a savior and a great one, and He shall deliver them. — and it shall be for a sign and for a witness unto the Lord of hosts in the land of Egypt, so that their contemporaries could see the evidence of their worship and their descendants have this proof of their religion;

— for they shall cry unto the Lord because of the oppressors, and He shall send them a savior, and a great one, a mighty warrior, and he shall deliver them, whose coming was a deliverance to Egypt in various ways.

²¹And the Lord shall be known to Egypt, and the Egyptians shall know the Lord in that day and shall do sacrifice and oblation; yea, they shall vow a vow unto the Lord and perform it. — and the Lord shall be known to Egypt, and the Egyptians shall know the Lord in that day, namely, when Yehovah would visit Egypt in judgement and cause the truth to be proclaimed to its people, and shall do sacrifice and oblation, perform the acts of true worship to the only God; yea, they shall vow a vow unto the Lord and perform it, pledging themselves to Yehovah and His service.

²²And the Lord shall smite Egypt; He shall smite and heal it; and they shall return even to the Lord, and He shall be entreated by them and shall heal them. — and the Lord shall smite Egypt, in order to bring its people to repentance; He shall smite and heal it, for His purpose is always one of redemption; and they shall return even to the Lord, His punishment having taken the right effect, and He shall be intreated of them and shall heal them. Cf Leviticus 26:44; Deuteronomy 32:36.

²³In that day shall there be a highway out of Egypt to Assyria, and the Assyrian shall come into Egypt and the Egyptian into Assyria, and the Egyptians shall serve with the Assyrians. — in that day shall there be a highway out of Egypt to Assyria, permitting free and friendly communication, and the Assyrian shall come into Egypt and the Egyptian into Assyria, and the Egyptians shall serve with the Assyrians, proselytes and Jews from both countries meeting at Jerusalem and elsewhere for the worship of Yehovah.

²⁴In that day shall Israel be the third with Egypt and with Assyria, even a blessing in the midst of the land, — in that day shall Israel be the third with Egypt and with Assyria, the believers of the three countries being joined by the one faith, even a blessing in the midst of the land, since blessings would go forth from them to the inhabitants of other countries all over the world;

²⁵whom the Lord of hosts shall bless, saying, “Blessed be Egypt My people, and Assyria the work of My hands, and Israel Mine inheritance.” — whom the Lord of hosts shall bless, saying, Blessed be Egypt, My people, admitted to all the spiritual privileges formerly held by Israel alone, and Assyria, the work of My hands, His workmanship in the spiritual sense, and Israel, Mine inheritance, still designated thus as the actual son of the Kingdom of God and head of His family. Altogether, they set a splendid example of the spread of the true religion under the merciful direction of God during the Millenium.

Isaiah 20

¹ In the year that Tartan came unto Ashdod (when Sargon the king of Assyria sent him), and fought against Ashdod and took it, — in the year 711 BC that Tartan, the commander of the Assyrian armies, II Kings 18:17, came unto Ashdod, one of the cities of Philistia which had revolted against the Assyrian supremacy and fought against Ashdod, and took it,

²at the same time spoke the Lord by Isaiah the son of Amoz, saying, “Go, and loose the sackcloth from off thy loins, and put off thy shoe from thy foot.” And he did so, walking naked and barefoot. — at the same time the Lord spoke by Isaiah, saying, Go and loose the sackcloth, the loose outer garment of coarse cloth which Isaiah wore, from off thy loins and put off thy shoe from thy foot;

— and he did so, walking naked, that is, with only his tunic or shirt-like garment, and barefoot, presenting the appearance of one who bad been robbed or spoiled, stripped of his possessions, like a beggar or captive of war. The very dress of Isaiah called attention to his message of repentance.

³And the Lord said, “As My servant Isaiah hath walked naked and barefoot three years for a sign and wonder upon Egypt and upon Ethiopia, — and the Lord said, As My servant Isaiah hath walked naked (not wholly naked, for that would have been very indecent and dangerous indeed; but without his upper garment) and barefoot three years, to bring home with great emphasis the lesson which the Lord wished to convey, for a sign and wonder upon Egypt and upon Ethiopia, for a portentous type against the double kingdom,

⁴so shall the king of Assyria lead away the Egyptians prisoners and the Ethiopians captives, young and old, naked and barefoot, even with their buttocks uncovered, to the shame of Egypt. — so shall the king of Assyria lead away the Egyptians prisoners, and the Ethiopians captives, young and old, naked and barefoot, as foretold by the symbolic act of Isaiah, even with their buttocks uncovered, as a sign of extreme disgrace, II Samuel 10:4-5, to the shame of Egypt.

⁵And they shall be afraid and ashamed of Ethiopia their expectation and of Egypt their glory. — and they, the inhabitants of Palestine, also the Jews, who looked to Egypt as a possible ally against Assyria, shall be afraid and ashamed of Ethiopia, their expectation, finding themselves disappointed in their hopes of help from this quarter, and of Egypt, their glory, of whose power they had boasted and on whose strength they had relied.

⁶And the inhabitants of this isle shall say in that day, ‘Behold, such is our expectation wherever we flee for help to be delivered from the king of Assyria! And how shall we escape?’” — and the inhabitants of this isle, of the coastal country along the Mediterranean, including Philistia, Phenicia, and the kingdom of Judah, shall say in that day, Behold, such is our expectation, whither we flee for help to be delivered from the king of Assyria, that is, such was the lot of those to whom they looked for help and deliverance from the power of Assyria;

— and how shall we escape? The nation which they considered strong and mighty had proved itself powerless against the common enemy; how, then, could the weaker states hope to escape? It is but another instance of the folly of men in placing their trust in the power of flesh and believing that they can escape the Lord. So the Targum asks, “if the mighty could not delivered their souls, how shall we, the weak, be delivered?”

Posted in Isaiah

Isaiah (Ch 17-18)

•March 1, 2022 • Leave a Comment

This chapter contains a prophecy of the ruin of Syria and the ten tribes, Israel; who were in alliance; and also of the overthrow of the Assyrian army. Often, Israel is being referred to as the house of Jacob which would include Judah. The destruction of Damascus, the metropolis of Syria and other cities are under judgement.

Isaiah 17

¹ The burden of Damascus: “Behold, Damascus is taken away from being a city, and it shall be a ruinous heap. — the Targum says, “the burden of the cup of cursing to give Damascus to drink.”

²The cities of Aroer are forsaken; they shall be for flocks, which shall lie down, and none shall make them afraid. — Aroer was a city by the river Arnon, on the borders of Moab and Ammon, their inhabitants of these Syrian cities being slain or carried captive or obliged to flee;

— the Syrian civil war started on March 15, 2011 as part of the wider Arab Spring protests which led to much destruction of the country; many Syrians were forced to flee to neighbouring countries or even to Europe as refugees.

³The fortress also shall cease from Ephraim, and the kingdom from Damascus and the remnant of Syria; they shall be as the glory of the children of Israel,” saith the Lord of hosts. — Ephraim, the ten tribes, now in confederacy with the Syrians, whose metropolis or fortress was Samaria, which seems to be intended here; and should be destroyed, at least taken out of the hands of the Israelites, and they be carried captive by Shalmaneser king of Assyria.

⁴“And in that day it shall come to pass that the glory of Jacob shall be made thin, and the fatness of his flesh shall wax lean. — and in that day it shall come to pass; that being much about the same time that both kingdoms were destroyed by the Assyrians;

— that the glory of Jacob shall be made thin; the same with Ephraim and Israel, the ten tribes, whose glory lay in the superior number of their tribes to Judah; in the multitude of their cities, and the inhabitants of them; but now would be thinned, by the vast numbers that should be killed by the Sword, famine or pandemic, with a remnant carried away as captives:

— second; that the glory of Jacob shall be made thin; could this be speaking of Ezekiel 4 – the 190/40 Years of iniquity for Israel/Judah?

— and the fatness of his flesh shall wax lean: like a man in a consumption, that is become a mere skeleton, and reduced to skin and bones: the meaning is, that all their health, wealth and riches should be taken away; so the Targum says “and the riches of his glory shall be carried away.”

⁵And it shall be as when the harvestman gathereth the corn and reapeth the ears with his arm; and it shall be as he that gathereth ears in the Valley of Rephaim. — and it shall be as when the harvestman of the house of Jacob gathereth the corn and reapeth the ears with his arm, literally, “and his arm reapeth the ears”

— and it shall be as he that gathereth ears in the Valley of Rephaim, the fertile plain southwest of Jerusalem, toward the country of the Philistines. Cf II Samuel 5:18-22. The picture is that of a farmer going into a field of grain and gathering an armful of stalks with his left hand, while he cuts off the grain below with a sickle in his right hand.

⁶Yet gleaning grapes shall be left in it, as the shaking of an olive tree, two or three berries in the top of the uppermost bough, four or five in the outmost fruitful branches thereof,” saith the Lord God of Israel. — yet gleaning grapes shall be left in it; that is, a remnant left in the land of Israel, as the shaking of an olive-tree, two or three berries in the top of the uppermost bough, four or five in the outmost fruitful branches thereof, saith the Lord God of Israel;

— in harvesting olives, the trees were first shaken, whereupon a few berries within reach were knocked down with sticks, but those which hung in the tree-tops, beyond reach, remained hanging. Thus only a few poor inhabitants would be left as remnant in Israel.

⁷At that day shall a man look to his Maker, and his eyes shall have respect for the Holy One of Israel. — at that day shall a man look to his Maker, instead of trusting in fortresses and in the strength of man’s arm, as heretofore, and his eyes shall have respect to the Holy One of Israel, for the small remnant of Israel and also of Judah shall return to the true God and His worship;

— that is, this indicates that until ‘that day’ comes both the house of Israel and the house of Judah have very little ‘respect’ for the Holy One of Israel. Pretending Christians have no idea of what keeping the law is and what judgement truly is; while the Orthodox Jews has no clue that the Scriptures have numerous references to the Son scattered all over that they are blinded to.

⁸And he shall not look to the altars, the work of his hands, neither shall respect that which his fingers have made, either the Asherah poles or the sun images. — and the house of Jacob shall not look to their altars, the work of mere hands, which the children of Israel had formerly devoted to idolatry;

— neither shall respect that which his fingers have made, either the groves, the Asherah-idols picturing one of the Semitic goddesses, very often identified with Venus, or the images, those of Baal, the sun-god, so that all the hosts of heaven were included in this idol-worship. Cf II Kings 21:7; II Kings 23:5.

⁹In that day shall his strong cities be as a forsaken bough and an uppermost branch, which they left because of the children of Israel; and there shall be desolation. — in that day shall his strong cities, especially those of Ephraim, be “like the forsaken places in the forests and mountain summits,” having fled from before the enemy, or being slain or carried captive; like a bough of a tree, that is forsaken stripped of its leaves, and an uppermost branch of a tree that is dead and dry, and has nothing on it; becoming ruin strongholds in remote parts of the country;

— which they left because of the children of Israel, and there shall be desolation, all the great fortresses and factories of Israel sharing the fate of antiquated castles. The prophet now addresses Ephraim directly: that is, the United States, be as a forsaken bough and an uppermost branch, like Cleveland, Newark, Pittsburgh, Detroit and many other sunset cities all along the rust belt, all shall be a desolation;

¹⁰Because thou hast forgotten the God of thy salvation and hast not been mindful of the Rock of thy strength, therefore shalt thou plant pleasant plants, and shalt set them with strange slips. — because thou hast forgotten the God of thy salvation, the only one who can bring true redemption, and hast not been mindful of the Rock of thy strength, Yehovah being the one true Rock of Ages, Deuteronomy 32:15-18;

— therefore shalt thou plant pleasant plants and shalt set it with strange slips; with strange slip, that is, with foreign strange doctrines, such as are brought from some ancient natives; Astarte from the Egyptians, who earlier learned from the Canaanites and the Phoenicians; Mithra from the Persian which are also set with strange slips, strange concepts which permeate the house of Israel today.

¹¹In that day shalt thou make thy plant to grow, and in the morning shalt thou make thy seed to flourish; but the harvest shall be a heap in the day of grief and of desperate sorrow. — in the day shalt thou make thy plant to grow; the northern kingdom, on the whole, had left the true God that its people had, literally, “planted plantings of pleasantness,” had taken up the various heathen cults and had then planted a strange vine in their own garden, namely, by becoming allies of the king of Syria, Damascus;

— the new plant had then been carefully fenced in, namely, by shrewd political schemes, so that the strange plant grew to maturity very rapidly, like a hothouse plant, for the alliance brought about a plan to attack Judah. But the whole scheme was frustrated by the action of the Almighty, who promptly reserved the garden of Ephraim as a heap, heaped up in the harvest, in the day of grief and a day of desperate sorrow.

¹²Woe to the multitude of many people, who make a noise like the noise of the seas, and to the rushing of nations, that make a rushing like the rushing of mighty waters! — woe to the multitude of many people that made up the Assyrian army under Sennacherib, which consisted of people of many nations, with the turmoil and tumult of their advance;

— which make a noise like the noise of the seas; and to the rushing of nations, the rattling of their armour and chariot wheels and prancing of their horses; and to the hectoring, blustering that make a rushing like the rushing of mighty waters! The enemies of Israel, who are also types of the enemies of God’s Kingdom, are pictured as being in a state of seething unrest, anxiously striving to harm the Lord’s people.

¹³The nations shall rush like the rushing of many waters; but God shall rebuke them, and they shall flee far off, and shall be chased as the chaff of the mountains before the wind and like a rolling thing before the whirlwind. — the Assyrian army from various nations shall rush like the rushing of many waters, in an apparently irresistible tidal wave; but God shall rebuke them, and they shall flee far off, rather, it, the threatening tide of hostility;

— and shall be chased as the chaff of the mountains before the wind, the picture being taken from the open threshing-floors of farmers, which were usually situated in elevated places, and like a rolling thing before the whirlwind, like whirling dust or particles of straw from the threshing-floor, as the wind picks them up and flings them away.

¹⁴And behold, at eventide, trouble; and before the morning, he is no more. This is the portion of them that despoil us, and the lot of them that rob us. — and behold at the evening or night, horror falling upon the approaching enemies; even before the day dawns, they are destroyed. This is the portion of them that spoil us, and the lot of them that rob us. Thus the Lord will finally carry out His sentence of punishment upon all enemies of His Kingdom and its work.

Isaiah 18

1 Woe to the land shadowing with wings, which is beyond the rivers of Ethiopia, — the Targum says, “Woe to the land to which they come in ships from a far country, whose sails are stretched out, as an eagle that flies with its wings;”

²that sendeth ambassadors by the sea, even in vessels of bulrushes upon the waters, saying, “Go, ye swift messengers, to a nation scattered and peeled, to a people terrible from their beginning hitherto; a nation meted out and trodden down, whose land the rivers have spoiled!” — that sendeth ambassadors by the Red Sea, traversing the waters of that far country, even in vessels of bulrushes upon the waters, light and fleet boats made of the papyrus-reed, saying, Go, ye swift messengers, to a nation scattered and peeled, rather, extended far and polished, gleaming, or shining;

— to a people terrible from their beginning hitherto, a handsome, ruling, and victorious people, one of great hidden beauty and power; a nation meted out and trodden down, whose land the rivers have spoiled, literally, “a nation of line, line,” and treading under foot, under the command some kings beyond Ethiopic, whose rule often bordered upon oppression, and whose land was carried down the sea lanes in the annual inundations; full of excitement on account of making various invasions to spoil other nations.

³All ye inhabitants of the world and dwellers on the earth, see ye, when he lifteth up an ensign on the mountains; and when He bloweth a trumpet, hear ye. — all ye inhabitants of the world and dwellers on the earth, called upon, either by the Lord, or rather by the prophet, to be eye and ear witnesses of the judgement that should be inflicted upon the above nation;

— see ye, always on the lookout for important happenings, when he lifteth up an ensign on the mountains, really, with an impersonal subject, when one does this, when this happens; and when he bloweth a trumpet, hear ye, the trumpet sounding as an alarm of war; all the people concerned should be watching, for something of great event will happen.

⁴For so the Lord said unto me: “I will take My rest, and I will consider in My dwelling place, like a clear heat upon herbs and like a cloud of dew in the heat of harvest.” — for the Lord said unto me, I will take My rest, and I will consider in My dwelling-place, for though the Lord may seem sometimes to take no notice of what is done on earth, yet He sees and knows all things, and considers in His own mind what is fit and proper that He should do, who works all things after the counsel of His own will:

— calmly looking on, apparently without the intention of interfering, like a clear heat upon herbs, while it is pleasantly warm in the sunlight, and like a cloud of dew in the heat of harvest, while the plants, refreshed by the heavy dew of the harvest season, grow to maturity. It seems that the Lord is letting things go on as they please, that He is not actively interested in the affairs of the world; but it only seems so to such as do not know Him;

— the Targum says, “blessings and consolations will I bring to them quickly, as heat burning by means of the sun, and as a cloud of dew in the heat of harvest.”

⁵For before the harvest, when the bud is perfect and the sour grape is ripening in the flower, He shall both cut off the sprigs with pruning hooks, and take away and cut down the branches. — for before the harvest, when the bud is perfect, after the blossom has withered, and the sour grape is ripening in the flower, while the fruit is slowly maturing, He shall both cut off the sprigs with pruning-hooks and take away and cut down the branches, then the Lord would overthrow their present plans and prevent them from forming any future ones.

⁶They shall be left together for the fowls of the mountains and to the beasts of the earth; and the fowls shall summer upon them, and all the beasts of the earth shall winter upon them. — they shall be left together unto the fowls of the mountains, that is, both sprigs and branches; with the fruit of them, which being unripe, are disregarded by men, but fed upon by birds and beasts;

— the birds of prey feeding on their carcasses, and to the beasts of the earth, to the foxes, hyenas, and jackals; and the fowls shall summer upon them, and all the beasts of the earth shall feast upon them, finding abundance of food the year around on the field of battle.

⁷In that time shall a present be brought unto the Lord of hosts of a people scattered and peeled, and from a people terrible from their beginning hitherto, a nation meted out and trodden under foot, whose land the rivers have spoiled—to the place of the name of the Lord of hosts, the mount Zion. — in that time, before the Millennium, shall the present, namely, a tribute or sacrificial gift, be brought unto the Lord of hosts, the true God;

— of a people scattered and peeled and from a people terrible from their beginning hitherto, Cf v. 2; a nation meted out and trodden under foot, whose land the rivers have spoiled, to the place of the name of the Lord of hosts, the Mount Zion, the Kingdom of God. In the very midst of a prophecy describing the punishment meted out by God we have a Messianic promise; even the Kingdom of God would gain a foothold in Ethiopia and Egypt, described Isaiah 18:2 as here, who being converted, shall stretch out their hands to God, submit unto him and will flourish there for centuries.

Posted in Isaiah

Isaiah (Ch 15-16)

•February 28, 2022 • Leave a Comment

The Russian bear seems to have bitten a porcupine which has now got stuck to its mouth, unable to swallow it nor to dislodge it.

Moab is located east of the Dead Sea and the Jordan River. It corresponds to the present-day country of Jordan. It is a people related to Israel, for Lot, the ancestor of Moab, is a cousin of Abraham.

Isaiah 15-16 form a whole and contain “the burden of Moab.” But a more complete description of the judgement on Moab can be found in Jeremiah 48; where there is a restoration for Moab in the end times but that remnant shall remain small and feeble.

Isaiah 15

¹ The burden of Moab: Because in the night Ar of Moab is laid waste and brought to silence, because in the night Kir of Moab is laid waste and brought to silence, — the burden of Moab, a heavy, grievous prophecy, the nation descended from the elder daughter of Lot, occupying the country southeast of the Dead Sea; the Targum says, “the burden of the cup of cursing, to give Moab to drink.”

²he is gone up to Bajith and to Dibon, the high places, to weep. Moab shall howl over Nebo and over Medeba; on all their heads shall be baldness and every beard cut off. — he, the king or people of Moab, standing collectively for all the inhabitants of Moab, is gone up to Bajith, to the house of the temple, and to Dibon, a city not far from the Arnon;

— the high places, to weep, before the altars of the country’s idols. Moab shall howl over Nebo and over Medeba, rather, “on Nebo and Medeba of Moab howling is going on”; for in these two towns in the hills toward the west they had sanctuaries. On all their heads shall be baldness and every beard cut off, mutilated, as a sign of deep mourning, Leviticus 21:5.

³In their streets they shall gird themselves with sackcloth; on the tops of their houses and in their streets every one shall howl, weeping abundantly. — in their streets they shall gird themselves with sackcloth as well as a token of mourning for the dead thus exhibiting their grief openly; on the tops of their houses, which are flat in the Orient, and in their streets every one shall howl, weeping abundantly, being dissolved in tears.

⁴And Heshbon shall cry, and Elealeh; their voice shall be heard even unto Jahaz; therefore the armed soldiers of Moab shall cry out; his life shall be grievous unto him. — and Heshbon, a former Amorite city, but regarded as belonging to Moab, shall cry; the armed soldiers of Moab shall cry out, impelled thereto by the greatness of the horror; his life shall be grievous unto him, literally, “his soul trembles for him,” the entire nation being shaken by the bitterness of the punishment.

⁵“My heart shall cry out for Moab; his fugitives shall flee unto Zoar, a heifer of three years old; for by the mounting up of Luhith with weeping shall they go up; for in the way of Horonaim they shall raise up a cry of destruction. — the prophet Isaiah shall cry out for Moab; his fugitives shall flee unto Zoar, an heifer of three years old, literally, “whose bolts (extended) to Zoar, the three-year-old heifer,” that is, the locks or fortified boundaries of Moab reached as far as Zoar, the city of Lot’s refuge, on the peninsula extending into the southeastern end Of the Dead Sea.

⁶For the waters of Nimrim shall be desolate; for the hay is withered away, the grass faileth, there is no green thing. — for the waters of Nimrim, known for the freshness of their springs, shall be desolate, filled with earth or rubbish by the invaders; for the hay is withered away, the grass faileth, there is no green thing, the entire land being devastated, the vegetation drying up for want of care, and the crops apparently even burned up by the foes.

⁷Therefore the abundance they have gotten, and that which they have laid up shall they carry away to the Brook of the Willows. — therefore, the great substance which the Moabites had got, and hoarded upon account of the abundance they have gotten and that which they have laid up by hoarding; shall they carry away to the brook of the willows, a small stream on their southern boundary, which the Moabite fugitives forded in order to find refuge with the people of Idumea.

⁸For the cry is gone round about the borders of Moab; the howling thereof unto Eglaim and the howling thereof unto Beerelim. — for the cry is gone round about the borders of Moab, the cry of destruction and howling; thus filling their entire country; the howling thereof unto Eglaim, a town near the Dead Sea, and the howling thereof unto Beer-elim, in northeastern Moabitis, that is, the cry of distress reaches from one end of the country to the other.

⁹For the waters of Dimon shall be full of blood; for I will bring more upon Dimon, lions upon him that escapeth from Moab and upon the remnant of the land.” — for the waters of Dimon, the river Arnon, shall be full of blood; for I will bring more further misfortune upon Dimon, lions upon him that escapeth of Moab, and upon the remnant of the land, the reference being either to another enemy among foreign nations or to wild animals whom the Lord would send to complete the devastation of the land; the Targum says, “a king shall ascend with his army, and so spoil the remainder of their land.”

Isaiah 16

¹ Send ye the lamb to the ruler of the land, from Sela to the wilderness, unto the mount of the daughter of Zion. — send ye the lamb as tribute which started when David conquered them from the land of Moab to the ruler of the land from Sela to the wilderness, unto the mount of the daughter of Zion; Moab here, having found refuge in Petra of Idumea, being admonished to send its tribute of lambs to the ruler of the land, to the king reigning at Jerusalem, the road to this capital, whose most important section was Mount Zion, leading through the wilderness south and west of the Dead Sea. To submit to Judah, in both the physical and the spiritual sense, was Moab’s only hope

— Sela, or Petra; the capital of Idumea; also the capital of the Nabatheans.

²For it shall be that as a wandering bird cast out of the nest, so the daughters of Moab shall be at the fords of Arnon. — for it shall be that, as a wandering bird cast out of the nest, like birds aimlessly fluttering, like a nest whose occupants have suddenly been turned out; or as a bird that has forsaken its nest, so the daughters of Moab shall be at the fords of Arnon; for here, at the boundary of their land, they assemble in huddled bands, looking for help and deliverance.

³“Take counsel, execute judgement; make thy shadow as the night in the midst of the noonday; hide the outcasts, betray not him that wandereth. — take counsel to decide what is just and right; to decide paying tribute to the king of Judah, execute judgement, planning deliverance instead of oppression, as heretofore; make thy shadow as the night in the midst of the noonday, thereby concealing all those who trust in this shadow as completely as if the darkness of night enclosed them;

— hide the outcasts, those who are driven from home without cause; such as were driven out of their land through the fury and persecution of the enemy, receive and conceal, as Rahab did the spies: betray not him that wandereth, betraying him not into the hands of the enemies.

⁴Let Mine outcasts dwell with thee, Moab; be thou a covert to them from the face of the despoiler; for the extortioner is at an end, the despoiler ceaseth, the oppressors are consumed out of the land. — let Mine outcasts or refugees dwell with thee, Moab; be thou a covert to them from the face of the spoiler, such as when first the Assyrian monarchs and later king Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon came to ravage Judea, thus giving shelter to all who might become fugitives from Judah in the uncertain circumstances obtaining at that time;

— for the extortioner is at an end, the great world-power which made it a practice to destroy and tread under foot was itself overcome, the spoiler ceaseth, destruction is no longer to be found, the oppressors are consumed out of the land. Jerusalem was delivered from the Assyrian affliction, which represented, at the same time, all the forces of evil arrayed against the Chosen people.

⁵And in mercy shall the throne be established; and He shall sit upon it in truth in the tabernacle of David, judging and seeking judgement and hastening righteousness.” — and in mercy shall the throne, that of Judah, of the Messiah, be established, prepared and confirmed; and He, the Messiah Himself, shall sit upon it in truth in the tabernacle of David;

— one in whom the truth of the Lord’s promise is fulfilled, one who Himself is the Truth, judging, and seeking judgement, and hasting righteousness, for those are the principles of His government. There is only one way for Moab to escape the threatening everlasting Judgement, and that is by acknowledging and throwing itself upon the mercy of this King.

⁶We have heard of the pride of Moab—he is very proud” even of his haughtiness and his pride and his wrath; but his lies shall not be so. — the nation of Israel has heard of the pride of Moab, its conceit and foolish dependence upon its own strength, Jeremiah 48:14-29; he is very proud; even of his haughtiness and his pride and his wrath, his senseless anger against Israel; but his lies shall not be so, his false boasts would soon be shown to be vain.

⁷Therefore shall Moab howl for Moab, every one shall howl; for the foundations of Kirhareseth shall ye mourn; surely they are stricken. — therefore one Moabite shall mourn for another, lamenting its own ruin; every one shall howl; for the foundations of Kir-hareseth, the ruins of its strongest fortress, shall ye mourn, for this citadel of brick would be razed, or its grape-cakes would no more be available; surely they are stricken, rather, the people of Moab, utterly stricken by this calamity, would lament.

⁸For the fields of Heshbon languish, and the vine of Sibmah; the lords of the heathen have broken down the principal plants thereof. They are come even unto Jazer; they wandered through the wilderness; her branches are stretched out; they are gone over the sea. — for the fields of Heshbon languish and the vine of Sibmah, their richest products being ruined by the invaders; all the fine plants of the vine whose culture was so extensively carried on in this country; they, namely, the grape-vines in all parts of the country, all were appointed to destruction.

⁹Therefore I will bewail with the weeping of Jazer the vine of Sibmah; I will water thee with my tears, O Heshbon and Elealeh, for upon thy summer fruits and upon thy harvest the shouting has fallen. — therefore Isaiah will bewail with the weeping of Jazer the vine of Sibmah, the prophet’s tears joining in pity and in lament with those of the rich districts of Moab;

— Isaiah will water them with tears, O Heshbon, and Elealeh, weeping on account of the hardness of heart shown to the Moabites, which resulted in such a terrible punishment; for the shouting for thy summer fruits and for thy harvest is fallen, rather, “for the vintage-shout ( hedad) is fallen on thy fruits and on thy vintage,” namely, the invader, whose shout of triumph accompanied his trampling the harvest of fruits and grapes into the ground.

¹⁰And gladness is taken away and joy out of the plentiful field; and in the vineyards there shall be no singing, neither shall there be shouting. The treaders shall tread out no wine in their presses; I have made their vintage shouting to cease. — and gladness is taken away and joy out of the plentiful field, out of the garden-land; and in thy vineyards there shall be no singing, neither shall there be shouting, as when the harvest was gathered in times of peace;

— the treaders shall tread out no wine in their presses; their destruction wrought by the enemy has brought about the end of all happy harvesting.

¹¹Therefore my heart shall sound like a harp for Moab, and mine inward parts for Kirharesh. — wherefore Moab shall sound like the sounding-board of a stringed instrument, which vibrates with the depth of his emotion.

¹²And it shall come to pass, when it is seen that Moab is weary on the high place, that he shall come to his sanctuary to pray; but he shall not prevail. — and it shall come to pass, when it is seen that Moab is weary on the high place, when its people have lamented themselves weary, that he shall come to his sanctuary to pray,

— that is, turning to the high place consecrated to his god Chemosh and tormenting himself to utter fatigue; but he shall not prevail, for the god in whom he foolishly trusts is nothing but a dead idol. Such is ever the result when men place their confidence in an idol of their own invention.

¹³This is the word that the Lord hath spoken concerning Moab since that time. — this is the word that the Lord hath spoken concerning Moab since that time, that is, the prophecy recorded till now had been made some time before. The accurate time of its fulfilment is now added by prophet Isaiah:

¹⁴But now the Lord hath spoken, saying, “Within three years, as the years of a hireling, and the glory of Moab shall be condemned with all that great multitude; and the remnant shall be very small and feeble.” — but now the Lord. hath spoken, saying, Within three years, as the years of an hireling, very carefully measured, and the glory of Moab shall be condemned;

— that is, covered with shame, with all that great multitude, the whole mass of its inhabitants; and the remnant shall be very small and feeble, in no sense large, there would be but an insignificant remainder of the former mighty nation. The ruins of the places mentioned in this prophecy, whose names have been preserved even to this day, testify to both the inspiration of prophecy and the punitive judgement from God.

Posted in Isaiah

Isaiah (Ch 13-14)

•February 26, 2022 • Leave a Comment

Isaiah 13

¹ The burden of Babylon, which Isaiah the son of Amoz saw: — a prophecy concerning Babylon, described as the burden of Babylon, the sentence of judgement revealed by special inspiration of the Lord, which Isaiah the son of Amoz prophesied.

²“Lift ye up a banner upon the high mountain; exalt the voice unto them, shake the hand, that they may go into the gates of the nobles. — lift ye up a banner upon the high mountain, raising the standard of battle upon a deforested peak, where it may be visible from all sides, exalt the voice unto them, calling in urgent invitation, shake the hand, in a beckoning gesture, that they may go into the gates of the nobles, summoned to celebrate a victorious battle, a war against the enemies which would result in a glorious triumph.

³I have commanded My sanctified ones; I have also called My mighty ones for Mine anger, even them that rejoice in My highness.” — God has commanded his sanctified ones; meaning Cyrus, Darius and the officers of their armies, with the common soldiers, who were furnished with might and strength to do his will, to which they were called in his providence:

— Yehovah Himself summoning these warriors consecrated to His work; he have also called his mighty ones for his anger, the heroes who should carry out the purposes to execute His judgement, even them that rejoice in his highness, boasting of the victory won in His might.

⁴The noise of a multitude in the mountains, as of a great people! A tumultuous noise of the kingdoms of nations gathered together! The Lord of hosts mustereth the host of the battle. — the noise of a multitude in the mountains of Media and Persia, like as of a great people, a turmoil as when masses of people, great armies, congregate; a tumultuous noise of the kingdoms of nations gathered together, an exceptionally large and powerful host;

— the Lord of hosts, the Commander-in-chief of all heavenly forces, mustereth the host of the battle, ready to carry out His plan of punishment when the army under Cyrus was marching towards Babylon.

⁵They come from a far country, from the end of heaven, even the Lord and the weapons of His indignation, to destroy the whole land. — they come from a far country, from the end of heaven, from the ends of the earth; the furthermost parts of it, as Persia and Media were: from beyond the horizon, where the earth appears to be hounded by the sky;

— even the Lord, and the weapons of His indignation, to destroy the whole land, literally, “to overturn the whole earth” for the entire world, then known, would feel the ravages of the war of destruction determined upon by the Lord of hosts, Yehovah. The prophet now turns directly to the nations, the whole land of Chaldea, with Babylon in the lead; the Targum says, “to destroy all the wicked of the earth.”

⁶Howl ye, for the day of the Lord is at hand! It shall come as a destruction from the Almighty. — Howl ye, in consternation and terror; these words are an address to the Babylonians, for the day of the Lord, or the Lord’s Day, is at hand when He intends to carry out His judgement; it shall come as a destruction from the Almighty, all the enemies being included in his punishment suddenly, swiftly and irresistibly; and all opposition being useless from the start.

⁷Therefore shall all hands be faint, and every man’s heart shall melt. — therefore shall all hands be faint, hanging down limp and without strength, and every man’s heart shall melt, like water, like wax before the fire; be dispirited and lose all their valour and courage have neither power nor heart to resist their enemies, and of an utter lack of courage, of complete hopelessness.

⁸And they shall be afraid; pangs and sorrows shall take hold of them. They shall be in pain as a woman that travaileth; they shall be amazed one at another; their faces shall be as flames. — and they shall be afraid, troubled, dismayed, frightened, terrified in bewilderment; pangs, convulsions and pains in the bowels shall take hold of them, their terror showing in convulsive movements;

— they shall be in pain as a woman that travaileth, Joel 2:6; they shall be amazed one at another, staring with all evidences of extreme terror, their faces shall be as flames, alternately reddening and blanching as their fear drives the blood back and forth in the body.

⁹Behold, the day of the Lord cometh, cruel, both with wrath and fierce anger, to lay the land desolate; and He shall destroy the sinners thereof out of it. — behold, the day of the Lord cometh, the day of His vengeance, cruel both with wrath and fierce anger, consuming with its heat, to lay the land of the Chaldean desolate; and He shall destroy the sinners thereof out of it, for the Lord here has the whole earth in mind.

¹⁰For the stars of heaven and the constellations thereof shall not give their light; the sun shall be darkened in his going forth, and the moon shall not cause her light to shine. — for the stars of heaven and the constellations thereof shall not give their light, the figure of utter darkness pointing to the severity of the punishment;

— the sun shall be darkened in his going forth, ceasing to shine as soon as it rises, and the moon shall not cause her light to shine so that it would be very uncomfortable; day and night, neither sun, moon nor stars appearing. All this, as in Joel 3:4 and Amos 5:8, indicates that all hope would be vain.

¹¹“And I will punish the world for their evil and the wicked for their iniquity; and I will cause the arrogance of the proud to cease, and will lay low the haughtiness of the terrible. — and God will punish the world for their evil and the wicked for their iniquity; and he will cause the arrogancy of the proud to cease, so that the voice of boasting is no longer heard, and will lay low the haughtiness of the terrible, putting down the tyrants and stopping their violence.

¹²I will make a man more precious than fine gold, even a man than the golden wedge of Ophir. — the scarcity of men in Babylon through the slaughter as God made a man more precious than fine gold; even a man than the golden wedge of Ophir, in this manner would the Lord visit the world with His anger, to punish and annihilate it in the extremity of His wrath.

¹³Therefore I will shake the heavens, and the earth shall remove out of her place, in the wrath of the Lord of hosts and in the day of His fierce anger. — therefore God will shake the heavens, namely for the purpose of punishing the earth and making men scarce on it, and the earth shall remove out of her place, being crowded aside, as it were, by the immensity of God’s indignation;

— in the wrath of the Lord of hosts and In the day of His fierce anger. He is going to shake the earth out of her place, of course literally, which would mean a hundred times the waves of Fukushima over!

¹⁴And it shall be as the chased roe, and as a sheep that no man taketh up; they shall every man turn to his own people, and flee every one into his own land. — and Babylon and its inhabitants shall be as the chased roe, the timid gazelle, which is so easily startled, and as a sheep that no man taketh up, like a panic-stricken flock which simply cannot be brought together again;

— they shall every man turn to his own people and flee every one into his own land, that is, the great mass of strangers gathered in the great world market, first with Babylonia, then the house of Israel and the house of Judah would, at the Lord’s shakings, the tribes scatter in all directions, every one anxious to reach the protection of his own country;

— Q. could “every man every one into his own land” also mean that the house of Israel, the ten-tribes headed by the United States, finally realised their land is in the Promised Land in Palestine; and flee to reclaim, first, with the “West Bank” then the others? Especially what could have happened after Ezekiel 20:45 to 21:5?

Ezekiel 20:45 Moreover the word of the Lord came unto me, saying,
⁴⁶ “Son of man, set thy face toward the South, and drop thy word toward the South, and prophesy against the forest of the Southland.
⁴⁷ And say to the forest of the South: ‘Hear the word of the Lord. Thus saith the Lord God: Behold, I will kindle a fire in thee, and it shall devour every green tree in thee and every dry tree. The flaming flame shall not be quenched, and all faces from the South to the North shall be burned therein.
⁴⁸ And all flesh shall see that I, the Lord, have kindled it; it shall not be quenched.’”
⁴⁹Then said I, “Ah, Lord God! They say of me, ‘Doth he not speak parables?’”
Ezekiel 21:1 And the word of the Lord came unto me, saying,
² “Son of man, set thy face toward Jerusalem, and drop thy word toward the holy places, and prophesy against the land of Israel;
³ and say to the land of Israel, ‘Thus saith the Lord: Behold, I am against thee, and will draw forth My Sword out of his sheath and will cut off from thee the righteous and the wicked.
⁴ Seeing then that I will cut off from thee the righteous and the wicked, therefore shall My Sword go forth out of his sheath against all flesh from the South to the North,
⁵ that all flesh may know that I, the Lord, have drawn forth My Sword out of his sheath. It shall not return any more.’

¹⁵Every one that is found shall be thrust through; and every one that is joined unto them shall fall by the sword. — everyone that is found, not having sought safety in flight, shall be thrust through, and every one that is joined unto them, rather, intercepted in flight, shall fall by the sword, for it is a general slaughter which will come upon the mixed population of the United States.

¹⁶Their children also shall be dashed to pieces before their eyes; their houses shall be despoiled and their wives ravished. — their children also shall be dashed to pieces before their eyes, their parents witnessing their murder; their houses shall be spoiled, everything plundered, and their wives ravished, for war ever brutalizes men, in many cases placing them below the level of beasts.

¹⁷“Behold, I will stir up the Medes against them, who shall not regard silver; and as for gold, they shall not delight in it. — behold, God will stir up the Medes against them, the Medo-Persians being the world power which conquered Babylon;

— which shall not regard silver; and as for gold, they shall not delight in it, that is, it would be impossible to bribe them, to buy them off, and thus save the city whose destruction was firmly determined upon by the Lord; also the original Medo-Persians had pleasure by their spoiling of the houses of the Babylonians, but these don’t have any pleasures, hence it is another scenario; Q. Could this be a latter day prophecy of the United States?

¹⁸Their bows also shall dash the young men to pieces; and they shall have no pity on the fruit of the womb; their eye shall not spare children. — their bows also shall dash the young men to pieces, a very vivid description of the effect which would attend the wholesale slaughter; and they shall have no pity on the fruit of the womb, not sparing even the unborn children, II Kings 8:12; II Kings 15:16; Hosea 14:1; Amos 1:13; their eye shall not spare children, for the enemies would be devoid of all pity.

¹⁹And Babylon, the glory of kingdoms, the beauty of the Chaldeans’ excellency, shall be as when God overthrew Sodom and Gomorrah. — and Babylon, the glory of kingdoms, an ornament of beauty in the midst of conquered nations, the beauty of the Chaldees’ excellency, to which they all pointed with pride as the greatest capital of the world, shall be as when God overthrew Sodom and Gomorrah, utterly destroyed, an eternal wilderness.

²⁰It shall never be inhabited, neither shall it be dwelt in from generation to generation; neither shall the Arabian pitch tent there, neither shall the shepherds make their fold there. — it shall never be inhabited, neither shall it be dwelt in from generation to generation; neither shall the Arabians, the Bedouin nomads, pitch tent there; neither shall the shepherds make their fold there, total desolation should reign there forever.

²¹But wild beasts of the desert shall lie there, and their houses shall be full of doleful creatures; and owls shall dwell there, and satyrs shall dance there. — but wild beasts of the desert shall lie there, making their dens in the midst of the ruins; and their houses shall be full of doleful creatures, the howling jackals probably being meant; and owls shall dwell there, rather, ostriches, and satyrs, or wild goats, thought to be possessed of demons, shall dance there.

²²And the wild beasts of the islands shall cry in their desolate houses, and dragons in their pleasant palaces; and her time is near to come, and her days shall not be prolonged.” — and the wild beasts of the islands, probably hyenas, shall cry in their desolate houses, in the ruined palaces of the city, and dragons in their pleasant palaces.

Isaiah 14

¹ For the Lord will have mercy on Jacob, and will yet choose Israel and set them in their own land; and the strangers shall be joined with them, and they shall cleave to the house of Jacob. — for the Lord will have mercy on the house of Jacob, it is His plan for His people to lead the way for the Kingdom of God; which caused Him to bring the judgement of punishment and destruction by the rod of Babylon, then the Romans;

— but will yet choose Israel in accordance with His plan of redemption and set them in their own land, the Promised Land; His elect being called a peculiar people; and the strangers from the nations, people who are not members of Israel according to the flesh, shall be joined with them, into a kingdom of saints, and they shall cleave to the house of Jacob, to be reckoned members of God’s people.

²And the people shall take them and bring them to their place, and the house of Israel shall possess them in the land of the Lord for servants and handmaids; and they shall take them captive whose captives they were, and they shall rule over their oppressors. — and the people that take them and bring them to their place, that is, the Chaldeans, will them play a reverse role;

— that is, the Jews that dwelt in Babylon shall rule over their oppressors, the Chaldeans, the nations; and similarily, the house of Israel shall possess them in the land of the Lord that have given to them, the former enemies of the children of Israel surrounding the region will be glad to serve Him in this manner.

³And it shall come to pass in the day that the Lord shall give thee rest from thy sorrow and from thy fear and from the hard bondage wherein thou wast made to serve, — and it shall come to pass in the day that the Lord shall give thee rest from thy sorrow from captivity and from thy fear of worse evils, most cruel usage, and death itself, under the terror of which they lived: and from the hard bondage wherein thou wast made to serve;

⁴that thou shalt take up this proverb against the king of Babylon, and say: “How hath the oppressor ceased! The golden city ceased! — that thou shalt take up this proverb, a song of triumph, against the king of Babylon and say, How hath the oppressor ceased! the golden city ceased! literally, “Ended is the driving despot, ended the exacting” (of gold), or “the oppression” for the greatest burden which Babylon laid upon the people under her dominion was that of a tribute, a tribute of gold.

⁵The Lord hath broken the staff of the wicked and the scepter of the rulers. — the Lord hath broken the staff of the wicked and the scepter of its rulers, since it was used only for authority; the “staff” and “sceptre” are emblems of power and government and “breaking” them signifies the utter destruction and cessation of authority and dominion.

⁶He who smote the people in wrath with a continual stroke, he that ruled the nations in anger, is persecuted, and none hindereth. — the king of Babylon smote the people in wrath with a continual stroke, namely, the scepter of the tyrant, he that ruled the nations in anger, is persecuted, and none hindereth, that is, none of the neighbouring kings and nations, either tributary to him, or in alliance with him, give him the least help or assistance.

⁷The whole earth is at rest and is quiet; they break forth into singing. — the whole earth is at rest and is quiet, now that the enemy is overthrown, the peace of God’s kingdom being pictured; they break forth into singing song of praise, the believers praising the Lord for His deliverance.

⁸Yea, the fir trees rejoice at thee, and the cedars of Lebanon, saying, ‘Since thou art laid down, no hewer has come up against us.’ — yea, the fir-trees, or cypresses, rejoice at thee, at the tyrant’s misfortune, and the cedars of Lebanon, for their wood had been exported and furnish for building houses; saying, Since thou art laid down, Babylon having fallen, no feller is come up against us, to strip the mountainsides of their forests.

⁹Hell from beneath is moved for thee to meet thee at thy coming; it stirreth up the dead for thee, even all the chief ones of the earth; it hath raised up from their thrones all the kings of the nations. — hell or the “grave” from beneath is moved for thee, to meet thee at thy coming; it stirreth up the dead for thee, the specters or giants inhabiting hell, even all the chief ones, literally, “the leaders” of the earth, as many as are in the dominion of darkness;

— it hath raised up from their thrones all the kings of the nations; all these dwellers are pictured as astonished and excited at the prospect of seeing the kings of Babylon or the Pharaohs of Egypt, feeble and powerless, coming out from their place of abode.

¹⁰All they shall speak and say unto thee: ‘Art thou also become weak as we? Art thou become like unto us?’ — all they shall speak and say unto thee, the kings of Babylon or the Pharaohs of Egypt, not in contempt and mockery but in honest astonishment, Art thou also become weak as we, void of all strength? Art thou become like unto us?

¹¹Thy pomp is brought down to the grave, and the noise of thy viols; the worm is spread under thee, and the worms cover thee. — thy pomp is brought down to the grave, all Babylon’s and Egypt’s earthly glory and majesty destroyed, and the noise of thy viols, the sound of the harps which accompanied his feasts of merrymaking on earth;

— the worm, the flesh-eating maggot, is spread under thee, and the worms cover thee, the most repulsive creatures, symbols of decay, taking the place of the precious Babylonian carpets, tapestries, and coverings to which the king had been accustomed here on earth.

¹²“How art thou fallen from heaven, O Lucifer, son of the morning! How art thou cut down to the ground, who didst weaken the nations! — How art thou fallen from heaven, O Lucifer, son of the morning! literally, “O day-star, son of the dawn,” the reference is to be understood of the fall of Satan, and the apostate angels, comparing him to the high and influential position occupied by the Babylonian ruler. How art thou cut down to the ground, like a giant tree which has been felled, which didst weaken the nations, in conquering and subduing them;

— Lucifer = “light-bearer” however, renders from the Hebrew [hêlēl H1966]; I will ascend above the heights of the clouds; I will be like the Most High.’ Isaiah 14:14

¹³For thou hast said in thine heart, ‘I will ascend into heaven, I will exalt my throne above the stars of God; I will sit also upon the mount of the congregation, in the sides of the north. — for only Lucifer, not even Nebuchadnezzar, could have said in his heart, I will ascend into heaven, I will exalt my throne above the stars of God, the residences of the spirits of God;

— I will sit also upon the mount of the congregation, in the sides of the North, this being said according to the hint of the Heavenly Throne where the Lord God is, on the North side of the earth, in the far North.

¹⁴I will ascend above the heights of the clouds; I will be like the Most High.’ — I will ascend above the heights of the clouds, considered the chariots and thrones of the ancient deities; I will be like the Most High, many of the emperors of old regarding themselves as the sons or the offspring of God and laying claim to divine honors;

— the Targum says, “I will be higher than them all.’

¹⁵Yet thou shalt be brought down to hell, to the sides of the pit. — yet thou shalt be brought down to hell, to the sides of the pit, his reception in the place of everlasting destruction.

¹⁶They that see thee shall narrowly look upon thee and consider thee, saying, ‘Is this the man that made the earth to tremble, that did shake kingdoms, — the dead that see thee, after the great downfall which has been so graphically pictured, shall narrowly look upon thee and consider thee, musing upon the terrible fate which struck their former companion or acquaintance, saying, Is this the king or Caesar that made the earth to tremble, that did shake kingdoms, as the great Babylonian or Roman empires often did;

¹⁷that made the world as a wilderness and destroyed the cities thereof, that opened not the house of his prisoners?’ — by destroying the inhabitants of it, that made the world as a wilderness and destroyed the cities thereof; and by laying waste cities, towns; that opened not the house of his prisoners, showing no pity by dismissing them to their prisons.

¹⁸All the kings of the nations, even all of them, lie in glory, every one in his own house. — every king of the nations who lie in wait for glory; their bodies, properly prepared for burial, lying in state in the tombs of their ancestors.

¹⁹But thou art cast out of thy grave like an abominable branch, and as the raiment of those that are slain, thrust through with a sword, that go down to the stones of the pit, as a carcass trodden under feet. — but thou art cast out of thy grave like an abominable branch, where it lies and rots like a worthless twig or parasite, which hinders the growth of the tree.

²⁰Thou shalt not be joined with them in burial, because thou hast destroyed thy land and slain thy people. The seed of evildoers shall never be renowned. — thou shalt not be joined with them in burial, his punishment reaching even beyond his death, because thou hast destroyed thy land and slain thy people, making it the instrument of his tyrannical lust of conquest; the seed of evil-doers shall never be renowned, his race becoming extinct as godless and cursed.

²¹Prepare slaughter for his children for the iniquity of their fathers, that they do not rise, nor possess the land, nor fill the face of the world with cities.” — prepare slaughter for their children for the iniquity of their fathers, on whose account a dynasty shall be destroyed, that they do not rise, nor possess the land, nor fill the face of the world with cities, preventing them from establishing their dominion and regaining their former power.

²²“For I will rise up against them,” saith the Lord of hosts, “and cut off from Babylon the name and remnant, and son and grandson,” saith the Lord. — for the Lord of hosts will rise against them, against the children of the Babylonish monarch; and cut off from them their name and remnant, all the descendants that are left; any son or nephew.

²³“I will also make it a possession for the bittern, and pools of water; and I will sweep it with the besom of destruction,” saith the Lord of hosts. — God will also make it, the site of Babylon, a possession for the bittern, or an animal something like the porcupine which inhabits the wastes of the Euphrates Valley, and pools of water, swamps resulting from the annual overflow of the river.

²⁴The Lord of hosts hath sworn, saying, “Surely as I have thought, so shall it come to pass, and as I have purposed, so shall it stand; — the Lord of hosts hath sworn, saying, Surely as He had disposed or planned, so shall it come to pass, and so shall it stand.

²⁵that I will break the Assyrian in My land, and upon My mountains tread him under foot. Then shall his yoke depart from off them, and his burden depart from off their shoulders.” — God will break the Assyrian in his land, overthrowing his power within the boundaries of Judah, particularly the mountains which were round about Jerusalem; and upon his mountains tread him under foot;

— then shall his yoke depart from off them, namely, the inhabitants of Judah, and his burden depart from off their shoulders, so that the design of the invader could not be accomplished.

²⁶This is the purpose that is purposed upon the whole earth, and this is the hand that is stretched out upon all the nations. — this is the purpose that is purposed upon the whole earth; the Targum says, “all the inhabitants of the earth” in the counsel of the Lord, in whose hand is the government of the whole earth; and this is the hand that is stretched out upon all the nations, and every decree of the Lord has significance “on all kingdoms” that is, for all men.

²⁷For the Lord of hosts hath purposed, and who shall disannul it? And His hand is stretched out, and who shall turn it back? — if the Lord of hosts hath purposed, and who shall disannul it? And if his hand is stretched out, who shall turn it back?

²⁸In the year that King Ahaz died was this burden: — in about 727 BC the year that King Ahaz died, was this burden, this sentence of judgement upon the Philistines, who just at this time prepared to regain their ancient power:

²⁹“Rejoice not thou, whole Philistia, because the rod of him that smote thee is broken; for out of the serpent’s root shall come forth an adder, and his fruit shall be a fiery flying serpent. — rejoice thou not, whole Palestina, that is, Philistia, because the rod of him that smote thee is broken, the Philistines being of the opinion that the alliance of Syria and the Northern Kingdom, as a consequence of which Ahaz and Judah had become vassals of Assyria, II Kings 16:5-9, had resulted in breaking the power of Judah, which had only just before that been asserted by Uzziah, II Chronicles 26:6;

— for out of the serpent’s root shall come forth a cockatrice, that is, an adder, a still more poisonous serpent, and his fruit shall be a fiery flying serpent, the reference probably being to Hezekiah, who promptly smote the Philistines and definitely brought about their destruction, II Kings 18:8.

³⁰And the firstborn of the poor shall feed, and the needy shall lie down in safety; and I will kill thy root with famine, and he shall slay thy remnant. — and the first-born of the poor shall feed, and the needy shall lie down in safety, that is, the inhabitants of Judah would enjoy peace and safety under the reign of God over Philistia; but God will kill thy root with famine, thus eradicating the Philistines as a people, and he shall slay thy remnant, thereby carrying out his punishment upon the ancient enemies of Judah.

³¹Howl, O gate! Cry, O city! Thou, whole Philistia art dissolved! For there shall come from the north a smoke, and none shall be alone in his appointed times.” — Howl, O gate! the strong fortifications of the Philistine cities being meant. Cry, O city! Ashdod and Gaza having retained much of their ancient glory. Thou, whole Palestina, art dissolved, melting away to nothing;

— for there shall come from the North a smoke, namely, the Assyrian hordes with their ruthless devastations, and none shall be alone in his appointed times, literally, “and none is by himself in his armies,” the Assyrian soldiers knowing neither weariness nor insubordination, but all filled with that one idea the lust of conquest.

³²What shall one then answer the messengers of the nation? “That the Lord hath founded Zion, and the poor of His people shall trust in it.” — what shall one answer the messengers of the nation? What answer do the messengers of the nation bring? What report did the ambassadors of various nations make when they returned to their own land after viewing the results of God’s punishment of Philistia and His protection of Judah? That the Lord hath founded Zion, and the poor of His people shall trust in it, the troubled refugees being safe within its walls. In this way the Lord protects those who believe in Him against all enemies, He Himself being their Refuge and Strength.

Posted in Isaiah

Isaiah (Ch 11-12)

•February 23, 2022 • Leave a Comment

Isaiah 11

¹ And there shall come forth a Rod out of the stem of Jesse, and a Branch shall grow out of his roots. — and there shall come forth a Rod, a fresh shoot or twig, out of the stem of Jesse; he is called a “rod” either because of his unpromising appearance, arising “out of the stem of Jesse” from him, in the line of David, out of the stock and a Branch shall grow out of his roots, Zechariah 3:8; Zechariah 4:12; Jeremiah 23:5; Jeremiah 33:15, the root-stock being all that was left of the former grandeur of David’s house, the renewal of his family by this singular Scion would indeed be a miracle;

— second, he is called a “rod” probably he is an instrument of executing a punishment from the hand of the Father to horsewhip his children; the Targum agrees, paraphrasing the words thus, “and a King shall come forth from the sons of Jesse.”

²And the Spirit of the Lord shall rest upon Him—the Spirit of wisdom and understanding, the Spirit of counsel and might, the Spirit of knowledge and of the fear of the Lord” — and the Spirit of the Lord shall rest upon Him; the rod and branch, the King Messiah, so qualifying him for his office, and the discharge of his duty with the fullness of His divine power;

— the Spirit of wisdom, which searches all things, even the secrets of God, and understanding, able to make the proper distinction concerning all things, the Spirit of counsel, by whom the Messiah is endowed to be the Counselor, and might, for Christ is the mighty God, Isaiah 7:6, the Spirit of knowledge, by means of which He is familiar with all the mysteries of God;

— and of the fear of the Lord, yea “of the fear of the Lord” even the Son has to pay homage to God the Father, the “only true God” praying to His heavenly Father and seeking His leadership, and He was and is to fear the Lord, his father, according to His divine nature united with Him in an everlasting union as One;

— that night, the night he was betrayed, he had two desires but his requests were denied (1) his desire to eat the Passover with his disciples; (2) his desire for the “cup” to be removed from him (for more see THAT NIGHT COULDN’T BE THE FOURTEENTH!

³and shall make Him of quick understanding in the fear of the Lord; and He shall not judge after the sight of His eyes, neither reprove after the hearing of His ears. — Rashi: and he shall be animated by the fear of the Lord: He shall be filled with the fear of the Lord; that is, even the Son is motivated by the fear of the Lord, Yehovah; the “only true God” John 17:3.

— Q, how did the Son (the only begotten Son) came into being? Also, could there be another ‘son’ that went bad?

— He is highly pleased when men bring to Him the sacrifice of their fear of God; and He shall not judge after the sight of His eyes, neither reprove after the hearing of His ears, rendering judgement not according to external appearances, rather according to His understanding of the heart and soul;

⁴But with righteousness shall He judge the poor, and reprove with equity for the meek of the earth; and He shall smite the earth with the rod of His mouth, and with the breath of His lips shall He slay the wicked. — but with righteousness shall He judge the poor, His Savior’s-interest turning especially to the lowly, to those who bear the enmity of the world on account of their faith with the proper meekness, and reprove with equity for the meek of the earth, taking the part of those who are persecuted for their confession’s sake;

— and He, the Son, shall smite the earth with the rod of His mouth; the ministration of his word, the rod of his strength, rebuking and horsewhipping in a most emphatic manner the hostility of the disobedient world, and with the breath of His lips, His Word, which bears almighty power, shall He slay the wicked, overthrowing the power of Satan and revealing the true character of the Kingdom of God.

⁵And righteousness shall be the girdle of His loins, and faithfulness the girdle of His reins. — and righteousness shall be the girdle of His loins and faithfulness, upon which His believers may rely with full confidence, the girdle of His reins; he was faithful to God, that appointed him as King and Head of the Kingdom; faithful as a Prophet, in declaring his mind and will; and is a faithful High Priest, holding up His clothes at His hips.

⁶“The wolf also shall dwell with the lamb, and the leopard shall lie down with the kid; and the calf and the young lion and the fatling together; and a little child shall lead them. — the wolf also shall dwell with the lamb, and the leopard shall lie down with the kid; and the calf and the young lion and the fatling together; and a little child shall lead them, a figurative representation of ideal spiritual conditions; the Targum introduces in this manner, “in the days of the Messiah of Israel, peace shall be multiplied in the earth.”

⁷And the cow and the bear shall feed; their young ones shall lie down together; and the lion shall eat straw like the ox. — during the Millenium the cow and the bear shall feed, all the bloodthirstiness of the latter forgotten; their young ones shall lie down together; and the lion shall eat straw like the ox, his nature so completely changed that he is no longer a carnivorous, but a herbivorous animal.

⁸And the sucking child shall play on the hole of the asp, and the weaned child shall put his hand on the adder’s den. — and the sucking child, the unweaned infant, shall play on the hole of the asp, on the entrance of the adder’s cave, and the weaned child shall put his hand on the cockatrice’s den, or stretch out his arm to touch the sparkling eye of the basilisk, the poisonous serpents having lost all their vicious habits. All this poetic description is now explained.

⁹They shall not hurt nor destroy in all My holy mountain; for the earth shall be full of the knowledge of the Lord, as the waters cover the sea. — they shall not hurt nor destroy in all My holy mountain, all the members of God’s kingdom, whose former state was characterized by the comparison with the various animals named above, would lose and lay aside their hostile habits toward one another;

— for the earth shall be full of the knowledge of the Lord, as the waters cover the sea. Knowledge of Yehovah, love and fear of God, is the motive in all acts of all believers; because they fear the Lord, because they know Him the one true God, and the Messiah, Yeshua or Jesus Christ, whom He has sent as the Savior of the world, therefore they, the inhabitants of His holy mountain, the members of His Kingdom, who previously live in the midst of a hateful and hostile world, now live together in peace and harmony.

¹⁰“And in that day there shall be a Root of Jesse, who shall stand for an ensign of the people; to It shall the Gentiles seek, and His rest shall be glorious.” — and in that day there shall be a root of Jesse, that same wonderful Scion, the Son of David spoken as a most proper person “the Gentiles seek” to be consulted on all occasions, he being the wonderful Counsellor, Isaiah 9:6.

¹¹And it shall come to pass in that day that the Lord shall set His hand again the second time to recover the remnant of His people who shall be left, from Assyria, and from Egypt, and from Pathros, and from Cush, and from Elam, and from Shinar, and from Hamath, and from the islands of the sea. — and it shall come to pass in that day, before the Millenium, that the Lord shall set His hand again the second time, stretching it out as once before when He led His chosen people out of Egypt, to recover the remnant of His people which shall be left, not, only the believers of Israel and Judah, but those from all the nations of the world;

— from Assyria, the mighty nation in the, valley of the Euphrates, and from Egypt, the empire toward the southwest, and from Pathros, Upper Egypt, and from Cush, or Ethiopia, and from Elam, Southern Media, and from Shinar, Southern Mesopotamia, and from Hamath, the country or province on the Orontes, north of Palestine, and from the islands of the sea, an expression which refers to the entire coast of the Mediterranean and the adjacent countries;

— see also Isaiah 49:22 where will lift up his hand to the Gentiles; to lift up the hand is a sign of beckoning to, or inviting; that God would call the Gentiles to partake of the blessings of the true religion and to embrace the Messiah; could this period also coincide with Ezekiel 390/40 years?)

¹²And He shall set up an ensign for the nations, and shall assemble the outcasts of Israel, and gather together the dispersed of Judah from the four corners of the earth. — and He shall set up an ensign for the nations, around which all the believers might rally, and shall assemble the outcasts of Israel, those of remnant of the house of Israel, his people among the ten tribes; and gather together the dispersed from the house of Judah, the Jews, from the four corners or wings of the earth so that they will march under His banner, united in spirit, though outwardly separated by race and language and customs.

¹³The envy also of Ephraim shall depart, and the adversaries of Judah shall be cut off; Ephraim shall not envy Judah, and Judah shall not vex Ephraim. — the envy also of Epraim shall depart, this hostility having been the chief factor in keeping up the division of the nation during the time of the kings in the Old Testament, and the adversaries of Judah shall be cut off: Epraim shall not envy Judah, and Judah shall not vex Ephraim, that is, the children of Israel would then be a perfect and harmonious union, its various parts living together in perfect harmony.

¹⁴But they shall fly upon the shoulders of the Philistines toward the west; they shall despoil them of the east together. They shall lay their hand upon Edom and Moab, and the children of Ammon shall obey them. — but they, the house of Israel and the house of Judah, shall fly upon the shoulders of the Phillstines toward the west, this nation being the embodiment of the fiercest hostility since the early history of Israel; they, the house of Israel and the house of Judah, shall spoil them of the east together, the Bedouin hordes of Arabia;

— they shall lay their hand upon Edom and Moab, which is today’s Jordan, conquering the country of these ancient enemies; and the children of Ammon shall obey them, literally, “their obedience.” These scenarios show the manner in which the Lord, through His Kingdom will judge and destroy His enemies. The Last Day will spell their doom, and the children of Jacob, the remnants left of the Day of the Lord, will be present to celebrate their victory.

¹⁵And the Lord shall utterly destroy the tongue of the Egyptian Sea; and with His mighty wind shall He shake His hand over the river, and shall smite it in the seven streams and make men go over dryshod. — and the Lord shall utterly destroy the tongue of the Egyptian sea; a bay of the Egyptian sea, so called because in the form of a tongue; or the fork of the Arabian Gulf known as the Red Sea as at the time when the children of Israel left the house of their bondage;

— and with His mighty wind shall He shake His hand over the river, over the Euphrates, and shall smite it in the seven streams, separating it into seven shallow brooks, and make men go over dry-shod, walking through its bed on sandals; in references the Lord here promises to the spiritual people of God a wonderful salvation, like that out of Egypt or out of the captivity of Assyria;

— and so the Targum says, “and the Lord shall dry up the tongue of the Egyptian sea, and shall lift up the stroke of his strength upon Euphrates, by the word of his prophets” and this designs the destruction of the land of the Muslims which is signified by the drying up of the river Euphrates; that is, from the Nile to the Euphrates would the house of Israel and the house of Judah return to.

¹⁶And there shall be a highway for the remnant of His people who shall be left from Assyria, as it was to Israel in the day that he came up out of the land of Egypt. — and there shall be an highway for the remnant of His people, cast up or purposely built for the believers in the Lord’s Kingdom, which shall be left, from Assyria, permitting the captives to return to their inheritance;

— far more than it was to Israel in the day that the house of Jacob came up out of the land of Egypt. This redemption of His people out of the hand of all enemies and oppressors is the last great deed of the Messiah, and its completion will usher in the peace and glory of eternity. In this way the despised Branch out of the house of David established His kingdom, which, although jeered at on all sides, will still conquer in the end.

Isaiah 12

¹ And in that day thou shalt say: “O Lord, I will praise Thee; though Thou wast angry with me, Thine anger is turned away, and Thou comforted me. — and in that day, when the redemption of the spiritual Israel, of the Kingdom of God, shall be completed, thou shalt say, the Saviour triumphant breaking forth in a song of praise;

— O Lord, I will praise Thee, my Lord, my Redeemer and my Saviour; though Thou wast angry with me, in a just wrath over the natural sinfulness of those whose redemption was perfected, Thine anger is turned away, through the atonement made by Christ, and Thou comfortest me, the fact of the salvation gained through the Messiah is the highest consolation of the believers in time and eternity.

²Behold, God is my salvation; I will trust and not be afraid; for the Lord Jehovah is my strength and my song; He also has become my salvation.” — behold, my God Is my Salvation, literally, “Behold the God of my salvation,” Him who planned and carried out the redemption of a world lost in sin; I will trust, placing full reliance upon His promise of help, and not be afraid, not being brought to shame on account of the confidence resting in Him;

— for the Lord Yehovah is my Strength, giving full evidence of His power in redeeming His people, and my Song, the object of His elect’s endless praise; He also is become my Salvation, the blessings of which are now enjoyed by all in the Kingdom of God.

³Therefore with joy shall ye draw water out of the wells of salvation; — therefore with Joy shall ye draw water out of the wells of salvation, partaking of its benefits richly and endlessly. “At the Feast of Tabernacles water was drawn from the fountain of Siloam for a drink-offering. From the priest that so brought it with solemnity into the Temple, another took it, and, while pouring out the water, used the words of our text.”

⁴and in that day shall ye say: “Praise the Lord! Call upon His name! Declare His doings among the people; make mention that His name is exalted. — and in that day, while enjoying the fullness of the redemption, shall ye say, the prophet here addressing all the members of the Kingdom of God, Praise the Lord, call upon His name, loudly proclaiming the miracles of His redemption, declare His doings among the Gentiles, making them known throughout the earth, make mention that His name be exalted, their only Saviour and Redeemer, thus giving all glory to Him.

— God’s name is the four-letter Hebrew word יהוה‎ YHVH Yehovah (not Jehovah since the letter J wasn’t around but only after the sixteenth century; more on this at the end)

⁵Sing unto the Lord, for He hath done excellent things; this is known in all the earth. — sing unto the Lord, in psalms, hymns and songs, for He hath done excellent things, proving His excellence and majesty in the various acts of His redemption; this is known in all the earth, it should be announced to all mankind.

⁶Cry out and shout, thou inhabitant of Zion! For great is the Holy One of Israel in the midst of thee.” — Cry out and shout, thou inhabitant of Zion; singing aloud with the high praises of God in their mouth, from the mountain where the house of true divine worship warn located; for great is the Holy One of Israel in the midst of thee, as the Giver of victory and the Fountain of life. Thus this wonderful hymn, modeled after so many psalms of praise in the Old Testament, especially that sung upon the delivery of the children of Israel at the hands of Pharaoh, Exodus 15:1-18, sets forth the joy of the redeemed of the Lord, of the Chosen triumphant, when entering upon the blessings of eternal redemption.

~~~

More on God’s name, Yehovah.

The following verses with the LORD erred in translation. His name Yehovah should be used:

I am the LORD; that is My name. And My glory will I not give to another, neither My praise to graven images. Isaiah 42:8
And it shall come to pass, that whosoever shall call on the name of the LORD shall be delivered; for in Mount Zion and in Jerusalem shall be deliverance, as the LORD hath said, and in the remnant whom the LORD shall call. Joel 2:32
“I am sought of them that asked not for Me; I am found of them that sought Me not. I said, ‘Behold Me, behold Me,’ unto a nation that was not called by My name. Isaiah 65:1

When we call our God, the LORD, we err, because his name is not the LORD, which is a title. His name is YEHOVAH! May We all ask for his forgiveness, and may Our merciful God forgive us all.

Posted in Isaiah

Isaiah (Ch 9-10)

•February 21, 2022 • Leave a Comment

This prophecy of Isaiah starts some cryptic messages about the prophecised coming of the Messiah; in Galilee, people who live in the dark but were privileged to see a great light.

The Q remains; if these chapters are prophetic, who then are the Assyrians to punich Isreal? Are they the Germans? If so, how would this play out?

Isaiah 9

¹Nevertheless the dimness shall not be such as was in her vexation, when at the first He lightly afflicted the land of Zebulun and the land of Naphtali, and afterward more grievously afflicted her by the way of the sea, beyond the Jordan, in Galilee of the nations. — nevertheless, the (dimness) gloom of those people shall not be such as was in her vexation; these words may be rendered, “for there shall be no weariness to him that straitens” or “afflicts” them; so could refer to the king of Assyria; or Titus Vespasian, who would not be weary of, but tirelessly in carrying on the siege of Jerusalem and in distressing the Jews in all parts of Judea, including the land of Zebulun and Naphtali:

— as shown in Matthew 4:12-17, this prophecy was literally fulfilled during the Galilean ministry of Yeshua, when He made Capernaum the center of activities and from there set forth on His journeys, not only throughout Galilee, but also into the country east of Jordan, by the way of the sea;

— in Galilee of the nations; which was inhabited not only by Jews, but by persons of other nations; now these places suffered much in the wars between the Jews and the Romans; and all Galilee, were lightly esteemed of, being mean and illiterate, not famous for any arts or sciences and having no prophet among them, should, in the days of the Messiah be highly honoured and made glorious by his presence, ministry and miracles performed there; Matthew 14:13.

²The people that walked in darkness have seen a great light; they that dwell in the land of the shadow of death, upon them hath the light shined. — the people that walked in Galilee have seen a great light; the inhabitants of Galilee in the times of the Messiah; see Matthew 4:16 John 1:48 and is a true character of all the people of Galilee are in a state of darkness;

— have seen a great light, the prophet, speaking as the mouthpiece of the eternal and omniscient God, views the Messiah there had seen a great light, for so certain is the fulfillment of God’s promise.

³Thou hast multiplied the nation and not increased the joy; they joy before Thee according to the joy in harvest, and as men rejoice when they divide the spoil. — Thou hast multiplied the nation, that is, with light, knowledge, honour and glory, even Galilee of the nations; so the prophet addresses the Lord in a direct hymn of praise, since He, beginning with Galilee, extended the circle of believers in Him until His Church was spread over the whole world;

— and not increased the joy, or “to whom Thou didst not magnify the joy,” the reference once more being to the time of great sorrow and distress under heathen conditions; they rejoice before Thee according to the joy in harvest, when the sacrificial feasts were eaten by grateful worshipers, Deuteronomy 12:7; Deuteronomy 14:26, and as men rejoice when they divide the spoil, after a victorious campaign against their enemies.

⁴For Thou hast broken the yoke of his burden and the staff of his shoulder, the rod of his oppressor, as in the day of Midian. — for Thou hast broken the yoke of his burden, the spiritual slavery with which the people were burdened, and the staff of his shoulder, the reference being to the cudgel of the overseer in striking the back of the slave;

— the rod of his oppressor, with which the people were kept in subjection, as in the day of Midian, Judges 7:15-22. Even as the Lord, at the time of Gideon, had delivered Israel from the oppression of the Midianites in a miraculous manner, so He effected a deliverance from everlasting bondage, from spiritual slavery, so the Messiah overcame all the enemies of mankind and now divides the spoil among the believers everywhere.

⁵For every battle of the warrior is with confused noise and garments rolled in blood, but this shall be with burning and fuel of fire. — for every battle of the warrior is with confused noise…. with the sound of the trumpet and as now with beating of drums, and the huzzas and shoutings of the soldiers, the stamping and neighing of horses, the rushing of chariots, and rumbling of wheels, and the clashing of swords, spears, and shields, and these sometimes striking one against another;

— and garments rolled in blood; but this shall be with burning and fuel of fire, literally: “For every greave” (armor, especially to protect the feet and legs) “of him who girds on his armor with noise, and the soldier’s cloak rolled in blood, it shall become a burning, food for the fire.” With the coming of the Messiah spiritual oppression and slavery, wrath, punishment and judgement will be brought to an end, for His deliverance is a perfect, an everlasting salvation.

⁶For unto us a Child is born, unto us a Son is given; and the government shall be upon His shoulder. And His name shall be called Wonderful, Counselor, The Mighty God, The Everlasting Father, The Prince of Peace. — for unto us a Child is born, unto us a Son is given, the eternal Word being made flesh for us, not only in our stead, but for our benefit, for the eternal salvation of all believers; and the government shall be upon His shoulder, the absolute and unlimited power, the divine authority in its fullest sense, rests upon Him, He is, from His birth, in complete possession of the eternal power and Godhead;

— and His name shall be called Wonderful, not only His birth, but His entire essence being a miracle, Counselor, for He not only knows the right and proper counsel in every difficulty of body and soul, He also carries out His plans for the benefit of men, the Mighty God, for the Messiah, true man as He is, is at the same time above all, God blessed forever, altogether identical with Yehovah;

— the Everlasting Father, this description isn’t in the Septuagint nor in the Targum; so what could we make of this? The Messiah, the Son of God has never been described as the Father anywhere else in the Scriptures. Is this not the lying pen of the scribes as described in Jeremiah 8:8? Is this another one of the self-deceptions of rabbinical Judaism to keep themselves blinded (who claim that King Hezekiah fulfilled this prophecy)?

— the Prince of Peace, the true Shiloh, Genesis 49:10, who has restored the right relation between God and man, making peace by abolishing in His flesh the enmity which existed since the fall of man, Ephesians 2:14-15.

— the full Targum says, “The prophet said to the house of David, For unto us a Child is born, unto us a Son is given, and He has taken the law upon Himself to keep it. His name is called from eternity, Wonderful, The Mighty God, who liveth to eternity, The messiah, whose peace shall be great upon us in His days” — yes, this verse confirms the Messiah had been prophesised but nothing about ‘the Everlasting Father’ and he was to be born, the Son and He was from eternity to eternity;

— the Targum is an indispensable source of understanding the Bible. Started by Ezra for those returning Jews from Babylon and for these returnees they could only understand the Sacred Text in Aramaic; hence the Targum is as if Ezra is speaking to them in ancient times and to us today from the verses quoted.

⁷Of the increase of His government and peace there shall be no end, upon the throne of David and upon His Kingdom, to order it and to establish it with judgement and with justice from henceforth even for ever. The zeal of the Lord of hosts will perform this. — of the increase of His government, in extending the boundaries of His spiritual kingdom, and peace there shall be no end, that is, He brings about a condition of eternal peace between God and man,

— upon the throne of David and upon his kingdom, for the kingdom of David continued and established in order to establish the foundation for the Kingdom of God with judgement and with justice from henceforth even forever;

— the zeal of the Lord of hosts, the eagerness of His love in seeking the salvation of mankind, will perform this. All this was fulfilled in the Son of God, of whom the angel says: “He shall be great and shall be called the Son of the Highest; and the Lord God shall give unto Him the throne of His Father David, and He shall reign over the house of Jacob forever, and of His kingdom there shall be no end.

⁸The Lord sent a word into Jacob, and it hath lighted upon Israel. — the Lord sent a word into Jacob, a warning against His people, and it hath lighted upon Israel, falling from heaven like a morsel intended for the whole nation. God revealed His intention to His servant, and by the preaching of the prophet it reached the place for which it was intended.

⁹And all the people shall know—even Ephraim and the inhabitant of Samaria” that say in the pride and stoutness of heart: — and all the people shall know, even Ephraim and the inhabitant of Samaria, the northern kingdom with its capital being emphatically mentioned first, as being leaders in disobedience and haughtiness, that say in the pride and stoutness of heart.

¹⁰“The bricks are fallen down, but we will build with hewn stones; the sycamores are cut down, but we will change them into cedars.” — evangelical Jonathan Cahn has lots to say about this verse: the bricks of the World Trade Center had fallen down, but we will build with hewn stones; the sycamores are cut down, but we will change them into cedars, that is, they intended to replace their former lowly dwellings of dried clay and the cheap wood of the sycamore fig-tree by splendid palaces of stone and costly cedar-wood. It is the height of presumption and blasphemous pride if men scorn the punishment of the Lord;

— and notice this is speaking of Ephraim, even Ephraim and the inhabitant of Samaria, one who has lots of “pride and stoutness of heart,” verse 9 above, Ephraim refering not to the United Kingdom but the United States.

¹¹Therefore the Lord shall set up the adversaries of Rezin against him and join his enemies together, — therefore the Lord shall set up the adversaries of Rezin against him, namely, the Assyrians, who, according to God’s plan, conquered Syria took Rezin the king of Syria, and then advanced upon the northern kingdom, Ephraim, and join his enemies together, rather, Yehovah will stir up Ephraim’s enemies against him;

— Q, is this a prophecy for the endtime or an historical record?

¹²the Syrians before and the Philistines behind; and they shall devour Israel with open mouth. For all this His anger is not turned away, but His hand is stretched out still. — the Syrians before, for as allies of the Assyrians they would attack Israel from the east, and the Philistines behind, for these ancient enemies made use of every opportunity to wreak vengeance upon Israel and Judah, Cf II Chronicles 28:16-19;

— and they shall devour Israel with open mouth, eating with a full mouth, pillaging the land almost to the point of destruction. Thus the Lord punishes the pride of unrepentant sinners. For all this His anger is not turned away, but His hand is stretched out still. The misfortunes here described were but the beginning of the great destruction which would strike the entire nation for its disobedience, and so the Lord would not withdraw His chastening hand;

— “and they shall devour Israel with open mouth” Q: Could this refer to the captivity of Israel for 190 years and Judah for forty years as phrophecised by Ezekeil in the latter days? Ezekiel 4 – 390/40 Years.

¹³For the people turneth not unto Him that smiteth them, neither do they seek the Lord of hosts. — for the people turneth not unto God the Almighty that smiteth them, neither do they seek the Lord of hosts. The object of His punishment, therefore, is not realized, they refuse to repent of their sins and thus give Him a new cause for harsher punishment for them;

— not many repent even with Covid-19 now with more than 5 million deaths! Q: should we expect a more potent variant killer to emerge in the near future?

¹⁴Therefore the Lord will cut off from Israel head and tail, branch and rush, in one day. — therefore the Lord will cut off from Israel, in wreaking His final vengeance upon the rebellious people, head and tail; the head being interpreted as “the ancient and honourable” men in high places, civil magistrates, judges, governors, and elders of the people, the king as supreme, and all subordinate officers; and so the Targum says, “the Lord will destroy from Israel the prince and the ruler;”

— branch and rush, in one day, “great and small” like branches of trees; the latter the common, people, like reeds and rushes, weak and feeble; “the strong and the weak” in one great destruction.

¹⁵The ancient and honorable, he is the head; and the prophet that teacheth lies, he is the tail. — the ancient and honorable, the princes and nobles of the people, he is the head; and the false prophet and false shepherds that teacheth lies, he is the tail. The false prophets considered themselves leaders among the people, but they are here told, with bitter irony, that they are morally the basest of the people, the vilest part of the nation.

¹⁶For the leaders of this people cause them to err, and they that are led by them are destroyed. — for the leaders of this people cause them to err, thereby showing themselves utterly unfit for leadership; and they that are led of them are destroyed, literally, “swallowed up,” namely, by the error and its peril, just as the humble rush must perish if submerged and covered with a flood of filthy water.

¹⁷Therefore the Lord shall have no joy in their young men, neither shall have mercy on their fatherless and widows; for every one is a hypocrite and an evildoer, and every mouth speaketh folly. For all this His anger is not turned away, but His hand is stretched out still. — therefore the Lord shall have no joy in their young men, the All-powerful, who formerly granted success to the arms of Israel’s young men, would withdraw His assistance;

— neither shall have mercy on their fatherless and widows, who formerly had been the special objects of His fostering care; for every one is an hypocrite and an evildoer; that is, corrupt, atrociously bad, inclined to every form of wickedness,

— and every mouth speaketh folly, and every mouth speaketh folly; or falsehood; a lie, as the Targum says as all lies are foolish; as also all vain words, all impious ones; or the savour of irreligion or superstition, and indeed every idle word, and all unsavoury and corrupt speech, and there is particularly foolish talking, which is not convenient; for all this His anger Is not turned away, but His hand Is stretched out still, ready to apply further punishment.

¹⁸For wickedness burneth as the fire; it shall devour the briers and thorns, and shall kindle in the thickets of the forest, and they shall mount up like the lifting up of smoke. — for wickedness burneth as the fire, challenging God to continue in His course of punishment, bringing forth its own destruction; it shall devour the briers and thorns, the great mass of the lowly people, who have become weeds and thistles on the face of the earth;

— and shall kindle in the thickets of the forest, of the standing timber, of the upper classes of Israel, and they shall mount up, the fire lifting them up in a heavy column, like the lifting up of smoke. Thus the fire of God’s wrath, growing out of the nation’s wickedness, would bring destruction upon the entire people, the picture being that of a devastating forest-fire.

¹⁹Through the wrath of the Lord of hosts is the land darkened, and the people shall be as the fuel of the fire; no man shall spare his brother. — through the wrath of the Lord of hosts is the land darkened, but the Septuagint version renders it, “the whole land is burned” – burned out to ashes, utterly destroyed and the people shall be as the fuel of the fire to be devoured without mercy; no man shall spare his brother for selfishness takes account only of its own safety, disregarding all considerations of charity, patriotism and kinship.

²⁰And he shall snatch on the right hand and be hungry; and he shall eat on the left hand, and they shall not be satisfied; they shall eat every man the flesh of his own arm. — and he (impersonal subject; his hand, his teeth), that is, every man, shall snatch on the right hand and be hungry, like a beast snapping in every direction; and he shall eat on the left hand, and they shall not be satisfied; they shall eat every man the flesh of his own arm, the members of his own family and tribe:

— the Targum says, “he shall spoil on the south, and still be hungry; and he shall destroy on the north, and not be satisfied.” Q, just curious, could this Targum version refers to the killings from the South to the North as in Ezekiel 20:45 to 21:5?

²¹Manasseh, Ephraim; and Ephraim, Manasseh; and they together shall be against Judah. For all this His anger is not turned away, but His hand is stretched out still. — Manasseh, Ephraim; and Epraim, Manasseh, in a form of deep hatred or civil war in which every man’s hand would be turned against his neighbor;

— and they together shall be against Judah, for the hatred which obtained between Israel and Judah continued in the nation even as late as the siege of Jerusalem by the Romans, when their murderous selfishness reached its climax. For all this His anger is not turned away, but His hand is stretched out still; for if sinners will not heed His warning here in time, His destruction will be upon them throughout eternity;

— which is to be understood of their quarrels, contentions, and wars among themselves, whereby they bit, devoured, and consumed each other, though they were brethren; which explains and confirms what is before said, of no man sparing his brother, and everyone eating the flesh of his own arm. The Targum paraphrases the words thus;

— the Septuagint says “Manasseh” shall eat or devour “Ephraim” and “Ephraim” shall eat or devour “Manasseh” — the Targum paraphrases the words, thus, “they of the house of “Manasseh” with those of the house of “Ephraim” and they of the house of “Ephraim” with those of the house of “Manasseh” shall be joined together as one, to come against them of the house of Judah.”

Isaiah 10

¹“Woe unto them that decree unrighteous decrees, and that write grievousness which they have prescribed — woe unto them that decree unrighteous decrees; against lawgivers and judges, political rulers and governors of the people, that made unrighteous laws;

— in tyrannical legislation, laws which were not agreeable to the law of God, nor right reason; and were injurious to the persons and properties of men; and that write grievousness which they have prescribed, making and enforcing laws which bring unbearable oppressions to the poor of the land,

²to turn aside the needy from judgement and to take away the right from the poor of My people, that widows may be their prey, and that they may rob the fatherless! — to turn aside the needy from judgement, that is, to deprive them of their rights, of the justice due them, were harassed with such long, vexatious, and expensive suits; and to take away the right from the poor of My people, willfully and maliciously taking it from them;

— that widows may be their prey, and that they may rob the fatherless, the tyrants making themselves possessors of the property of the defenseless. They have reached the very heights of oppression and injustice.

³And what will ye do in the day of visitation, and in the desolation which shall come from far? To whom will ye flee for help? And where will ye leave your glory? — and what will ye do in the day of visitation, when God will visit their injustice upon them, and in the desolation, the sudden storm, crash, and collapse; and so the Targum says, “what will ye do in the day that your sins shall be visited upon you?”

— which shall come from far? It is here hinted that God would send the enemy who should avenge the poor by destroying their oppressors from a far country. To whom will ye flee for help? this being a reference to Israel’s custom of seeking help from foreign nations. And where will ye leave your glory? that is, the treasures, valuables which they had piled up in practicing injustice and in treading down the poor.

⁴Without Me they shall bow down under the prisoners, and they shall fall under the slain.” For all this His anger is not turned away, but His hand is stretched out still. — Without Me, rather, Nothing remains; are not My people, and do not hearken to Me, but that they shall bow down as captives; they would either be bound and carried captive, or else slain with the sword; their lot being even worse than that of other captives;

— and they shall fall under the slain, trodden under foot by others, hewn down in cold blood by their captors. Such is the lot of those who were formerly honorable and powerful, but abused their authority by tyrannical measures. For all this His anger is not turned away, but His hand is stretched out still, for it is impossible to escape the punishment of the Lord when once He sets out to pronounce His judgement on the wrongs committed against the poor and defenseless.

⁵“Woe to the Assyrian, the rod of Mine anger, and the staff in their hand is Mine indignation! — O Assyrian, the rod of God’s anger, because they were made use of by God as an instrument to chastise and correct Israel for their sins; and the staff in their hand is Mine indignation, literally, “Woe to Asshur (which is) the rod of My wrath, and the staff, that in their hand, Mine indignation.” The Lord here pronounces a woe upon Assyria; for whereas He wanted to use this nation merely as His instrument in punishing Israel, the Assyrians took the opportunity to gratify their own lust for conquest and bloodshed.

⁶I will send him against a hypocritical nation, and against the people of My wrath will I give him a charge, to take the spoil and to take the prey, and to tread them down like the mire of the streets. — God will send the Assyrian against an hypocritical nation, Israel, a nation corrupt and wicked, and against the people of His wrath will God give the Assyrian a charge, bidding them to smite Israel for her sins;

— to take the spoil and to take the prey and to tread them down like the mire of the streets, destroy their power, render them utterly helpless. So much the charge of the Lord to Assyria included, not, indeed, as if the Lord had sent this command by some messenger, but that He places even the heathen nations into His service to carry out His plans, to punish the disobedient;

— Q. if this is prophetic, who then are the Assyrians to punich Isreal? Are they the Germans? If so, how would this play out?

⁷Yet he meaneth not so, neither doth his heart think so; but it is in his heart to destroy and cut off nations not a few. — howbeit he, that is, Assyria, meaneth not so, does not hold the same idea that the Lord holds, neither doth his heart think so, but it is in his heart to destroy and cut off nations not a few, that is, Assyria was driven only by the thought of conquest and destruction and therefore was guilty before God, even while carrying out His plans.

— another way of saying, the Assyrian purposes, intentions and thoughts were not as the Lord’s; they did not imagine that they weres only the rod of God’s anger and the staff of his indignation, an instrumant of his wrath. The selfish and blameworthy pride of Assyria is now described; their plans are no less to be condemned though they by them unwittingly fulfill God’s designs.

⁸For he saith, ‘Are not my princes altogether kings? — for he asked, Are not my princes and commanders altogether kings? Assyria was a world-power, and even its provinces had the extent and the might of kingdoms, so that their governors could well rank with kings.

⁹Is not Calno as Carchemish? Is not Hamath as Arpad? Is not Samaria as Damascus? — is not Calno, a large city on the Tigris, as Carchemish, an important commercial center on an island in the Euphrates? Rashi: “as the children of Carchemish are princes and rulers, so are the children of Calno;”

— is not Ramath, an important city and formerly a capital on the Orontes, as Arpad, a city in Syria proper? Is not Samaria as Damascus? Three pairs of cities are named in such a way that boasting Assyria emphasizes the great ease with which its conquests were made.

¹⁰As my hand hath found the kingdoms of the idols and whose graven images excelled them of Jerusalem and of Samaria, — as the hand of Assyria hath found Israel, the kingdoms of the idols, conquering those upon whom the people of Israel and Judah looked down as idol-worshipers, and whose graven images did excel them of Jerusalem and of Samaria, being more plentiful than they and therefore supposedly better able to defend their cities;

— from the Message Bible:

“Doom to Assyria, weapon of my anger. My wrath is a club in his hands! I send him against a godless nation, against the people I’m angry with. I command him to strip them clean, rob them blind, and then push their faces in the mud and leave them. But Assyria has another agenda; he has something else in mind. He’s out to destroy utterly, to stamp out as many nations as he can. Assyria says, ‘Aren’t my commanders all kings? Can’t they do whatever they like? Didn’t I destroy Calno as well as Carchemish? Hamath as well as Arpad? Level Samaria as I did Damascus? I’ve eliminated kingdoms full of gods far more impressive than anything in Jerusalem and Samaria. So what’s to keep me from destroying Jerusalem in the same way I destroyed Samaria and all her god-idols?’”

¹¹shall I not, as I have done unto Samaria and her idols, so do to Jerusalem and her idols?’” — shall the Assyrian not, as they has done unto Samaria and her idols, which had been destroyed in the sacking of the city, do so to Jerusalem and her idols? The God of Jerusalem, so the speaker boastfully asserts, would no more be able to protect this city titan the gods of the other cities had succeeded in doing. Cf. Isaiah 36:18-20; Isaiah 37:11-13. This blasphemous boast could not remain unpunished, as the Lord now shows.

¹²Therefore it shall come to pass when the Lord hath performed His whole work upon Mount Zion and on Jerusalem: “I will punish the fruit of the stout heart of the king of Assyria and the glory of his high looks. — wherefore it shall come to pass that when the Lord hath performed His whole work upon Mount Zion and on Jerusalem, Assyria being His instrument of chastisement upon those whom He had chosen for His people, and a remnant of whom remained true to Him in the general apostasy and now bowed under His chastening hand;

— I will punish the fruit of the stout heart of the king of Assyria, the blasphemous pride which showed itself in his boasting, and the glory of his high looks, literally, “the haughtiness of the loftiness of his eyes,” the description showing the self-complacent nature of his assumed glory; the Targum says, “and it shall be, when the Lord hath finished to do all that he hath said in Mount Zion, and in Jerusalem.”

¹³For he saith, “‘By the strength of my hand I have done it, and by my wisdom, for I am prudent; and I have removed the bounds of the people and have robbed their treasures, and I have put down the inhabitants like a valiant man. — for the king of Assyria saith, By the strength of my hand I have done it, and by my wisdom, ascribing his success entirely to his own ability; for I am prudent, always making use of proper understanding;

— and the king of Assyria continued his boasting: I have removed the bounds of the people, changing their boundaries to suit himself, and have robbed their treasures, taking at will everything that they had accumulated, and I have put down the inhabitants like a valiant man, butting down those occupying thrones like a mighty hero or an angry steer.

¹⁴And my hand hath found as a nest the riches of the people, and as one gathereth eggs that are left, have I gathered all the earth; and there was none that moved the wing, or opened the mouth, or peeped.’” — the king of Assyria continued: my hand hath found as a nest the riches of the people, locating them with an experienced hand; and as one gathereth eggs that are left, forsaken by the mother bird,

— have I gathered all the earth, and there was none that moved the wing, in defense, or opened the mouth, or peeped, in terrified protest. All nations had bowed in dumb resignation under the hand of the mighty Assyrian, and for this he took all credit to himself. But the prophet counters with a reproof of bitter irony:

¹⁵Shall the ax boast itself against him that heweth therewith? Or shall the saw magnify itself against him that shaketh it? As if the rod should shake itself against them that lift it up, or as if the staff should lift up itself, as if it were no wood! — Isaiah asked: shall the ax boast itself against him that heweth therewith? Or shall the saw magnify Itself against him that shaketh it, drawing it to and fro in severing the wood? It is just as foolish for a tool to boast over against the workman as for the king of Assyria to ascribe to himself all the might which he possesses only by divine permission;

— Isaiah continued: as if the rod should shake itself against them that lift it up, or as if the staff should lift up itself, as if it were no wood, literally, “as if a staff should lift up” (that which is) “not wood,” that is, the person handling it. That rod or staff should lift up or shake those who have hold of them presents the very extreme of absurd presumption. So it was utterly absurd for the king of Assyria, who, although unknown to himself, carried out God’s punishment upon Israel, to ascribe to himself the wisdom and power, the design and success of this campaign. The very evil in the world is used by God to serve His objects. Cf Genesis 50:20. The punishment upon Assyria is now pronounced:

¹⁶Therefore shall the Lord, the Lord of hosts, send among His fat ones leanness; and under His glory He shall kindle a burning like the burning of a fire. — therefore shall the Lord, the All-powerful, the Lord of hosts, who commands the untold legions of heaven, send among his fat ones leanness, consuming the mighty ones of Assyria, and under his glory He shall kindle a burning like the burning of a fire, to consume it in a moment, with a mighty crackling and hissing.

¹⁷And the Light of Israel shall be for a fire and his Holy One for a flame; and it shall burn and devour his thorns and his briers in one day, — and the Light of Israel, the Holy One of Israel Himself, shall be for a fire and His Holy One for a flame; and it shall burn and devour his thorns and his briers in one day, the Assyrian nation being devoured in one great destruction,

¹⁸and shall consume the glory of his forest and of his fruitful field, both soul and body; and they shall be as when a standardbearer fainteth. — and shall consume the glory of his forest and of his fruitful field; the Assyrian army is compared to a “forest” the majesty of his leaders and the wealth of his merchants, both soul and body, in a complete destruction; the Targum says, “the glory of the multitude of his army, and their souls with their bodies, it shall consume.”

¹⁹And the rest of the trees of his forest shall be few, that a child may write them. — and the rest of the trees of his forest, the few that have survived the devastation of the fire, shall be few, that a child may write them, put down the number which he easily counted. Thus the Lord, even in the midst of His enemies, has some few whom He has chosen, who are saved in the general destruction which will come upon the unbelievers.

²⁰And it shall come to pass in that day that the remnant of Israel, and such as have escaped of the house of Jacob, shall no more again depend upon him that smote them, but shall stand upon the Lord, the Holy One of Israel, in truth. — and it shall come to pass in that day; here begins a prophecy relating to the house of Israel, concerning things that should befall them in the latter days, that the remnant of Israel, and such as are escaped of the house of Jacob, whom He has chosen from among the nations;

— shall no more again stay among the Assyrian who smote them, placing their confidence in Assyria, the nation to whom the kings of both Israel and Judah turned time and again, but shall stay upon the Lord, the Holy One of Israel, making Him alone the full basis of their trust. The Targum say “they shall no more lean on the people whom they served; but they shall lean upon the Word of the Lord, the Holy One of Israel.”

²¹The remnant shall return, even the remnant of Jacob, unto the mighty God. — in the latter days, the remnant shall return, even the remnant of the full house of Jacob shall return to the true worship before the Almighty God.

²²For though thy people Israel be as the sand of the sea, yet a remnant of them shall return; the consuming decreed shall overflow with righteousness. — for though thy people, Israel be as numerous as the sand of the sea, a countless multitude, yet only a remnant of them shall return, unfortunately only a remnant, the great mass being killed by the Sword coming from the South Ezekiel 20:45 to 21:5.

²³For the Lord God of hosts shall cause a consuming, even determined, in the midst of all the land. — for the Lord God of hosts shall make a consumption, that is, most are killed, even extermined, “and that which is decreed,” in the midst of all the land;

— there is no escaping the wrath of the Lord when once He sets the machineries of destruction are in motion, when He begins to carry out judgement upon Israel and issuing His decree of punishment is merely a preliminary act and the beginning of His Kingdom.

²⁴Therefore thus saith the Lord God of hosts: “O My people that dwellest in Zion, be not afraid of the Assyrian. He shall smite thee with a rod and shall lift up his staff against thee, after the manner of Egypt. — therefore, because the Lord will judge and destroy the unbelieving world, thus saith the Lord God of hosts, in a call full of reassuring comfort, O My people that dwellest in Zion, those that had fled to Jerusalem, dwelling in His merciful presence, be not afraid of the Assyrian, the oppressor typifying all the enemies of the children of Israel;

— he Assyrian shall smite thee with a rod, with tyrannical behavior, and shall lift up his staff against thee, like an overseer of slaves, after the manner of Egypt, when the children of Israel were in the house of bondage and suffered severely from their oppressors. In the midst of all these afflictions the believers should not let fear and terror possess their hearts.

²⁵For yet a very little while and the indignation shall cease, and Mine anger in their destruction.” — yet for a very little while, and the indignation ceases, God’s people being delivered from the enmity of the godless, and Mine anger in their destruction, rather, “My wrath has the object to destroy them,” the enemies of His Chosen, to wear them down to nothing;

— the Targum says, “for yet a very little while, and the curses shall cease from you of the house of Jacob; and mine anger shall be upon the people that work iniquity, to destroy them” that is, the Assyrians.

²⁶And the Lord of hosts shall stir up a scourge for him according to the slaughter of Midian at the rock of Oreb; and as His rod was upon the sea, so shall He lift it up after the manner of Egypt. — and the Lord of hosts shall stir up a scourge for the Assyrians, according to the slaughter of Midian at the rock of Oreb, when Gideon’s forces annihilated the army of the Midianites, Judges 7:25;

— and as His rod was upon the sea, namely, when Moses stretched out his hand over the Red Sea and parted it for the safe passage of the children of Israel, Exodus 14:26, so shall He lift it up after the manner of Egypt, lifting Assyria up and dashing it to pieces as He destroyed the forces of Pharaoh.

²⁷And it shall come to pass in that day, that his burden shall be taken away from off thy shoulder and his yoke from off thy neck, and the yoke shall be destroyed because of the anointing. — and it shall come to pass in the latter day, before the time of the Messiah’s reign, that his burden shall be taken away from off thy shoulder and his yoke from off thy neck, the Lord Himself taking away the oppression of Assyria, of all the enemies of the house of Jacob, and the yoke shall be destroyed because of the anointing, rather, on account of the fat;

— the picture is that of an ox who becomes so fat and strong in spite of the yoke laid upon him that he breaks the yoke on his neck to pieces. Thus the Church is to overcome the world by strength from within. Thus the deliverance of the Church is described as it begins in and with Immanuel, and as it is completed on the Last Day, the day of redemption. The prophet now, in a very vivid picture, describes the progress of the Assyrians in attacking Jerusalem, and their complete destruction by Yehovah.

²⁸He is come to Aiath, he is passed to Migron; at Michmash he hath laid up his baggage. — the Assyrian and his army is to come to Aiath, hardly ten miles northeast of Jerusalem, he is passed to Migron, a hamlet still nearer to the capital; at Michmash he hath laid up his carriages, leaving the baggage in order to move forward with greater speed.

²⁹They are gone over the passage; they have taken up their lodging at Geba. Ramah is afraid; Gibeah of Saul is fled. — they are gone over the passage, a deep, rough ravine, now known as the Wady-es-Suweinit; they have taken up their lodging at Geba, rather, “Let Geba be our lodging!” halting only for the night; Ramah, the home of Samuel, is afraid; Gibeah of Saul is fled, its inhabitants forsaking their city in terror.

³⁰Lift up thy voice, O daughter of Gallim; cause it to be heard unto Laish, O poor Anathoth. — lift up thy voice, crying in consternation over the impending calamity, O daughter of Gallim, the inhabitants of another village in the path of the Assyrian army; cause it to be heard unto Laish, the shrieks of terror echoing far and wide through the country. O poor Anathoth! only three-fourths of an hour distant from Jerusalem and therefore bound to suffer from the enemies.

³¹Madmenah is removed; the inhabitants of Gebim gather themselves to flee. — Madmenah is removed, the people forsaking their homes; the inhabitants of Gebim gather themselves to flee.

³²As yet shall he remain at Nob that day; he shall shake his hand against the mount of the daughter of Zion, the hill of Jerusalem. — as yet shall the Assyrian army remain at Nob that day, a hill to the north of Jerusalem, overlooking the city, which the enemy would reach that very day;

— the Assyrian army shall shake his hand against the mount of the daughter of Zion, the hill of Jerusalem, all ready for the attack which would surely bring ruin to the capital. Thus Assyria, typifying the army of the ungodly, the enemies of the Kingdom of God, is here pictured as going forward to the attack with an irresistible force, and the doom of the city, the City of Jerusalem, seems to be impending. But here the Lord interferes.

³³Behold, the Lord, the Lord of hosts, shall lop the bough with terror; and the high ones of stature shall be hewn down, and the haughty shall be humbled. — behold, the Lord, the All-powerful, the Lord of hosts, shall lop the bough with terror, cutting them down as branches are felled with an ax;

— and the high ones of stature shall be hewn down, and the haughty shall be humbled, all their plans being foiled at the very moment when they seemed to mature according to calculation.

³⁴And He shall cut down the thickets of the forest with iron, and Lebanon shall fall by a mighty one. —the Assyrian army is compared to the forest of Lebanon; and He, the Lord in His avenging wrath, shall cut down the thickets of the forest with iron, with a sharp instrument of destruction, and Lebanon, the name under which all the hostile forces are comprehended;

— the Assyrian army shall fall by a Mighty One, by Him who possesses the majesty of the almighty and eternal God, who is both the Defender and the Deliverer of His Kingdom.

Posted in Isaiah

Isaiah (Ch 7-8)

•February 19, 2022 • Leave a Comment

Isaiah 7

¹ And it came to pass in the days of Ahaz the son of Jotham, the son of Uzziah, king of Judah, that Rezin the king of Syria and Pekah the son of Remaliah, king of Israel, went up toward Jerusalem to war against it, but could not prevail against it. — and it came to pass in the days of Alias, the son of Jotham, the son of Uzziah, king of Judah, II Kings 15:37; II Kings 16:5-6; II Chronicles 28:5-6, that Rezin, the king of Syria, and Pekah, the son of Remaliah, king of Israel, who had formed an alliance, II Kings 15:37;

— and went up toward Jerusalem to war against the house of Judah, but could not prevail against it. According to the historical accounts this war took place about 743-739 BC with the preliminary advantage entirely on the side of the northern allies; for Rezin took the harbor of Elath on the Elanitic Gulf, and Pekah gained a victory over a large army of Judah. Nevertheless, Jerusalem was not taken, very likely because the allies did not even find occasion to lay siege to it; their plans were overthrown.

²And it was told the house of David, saying, “Syria is confederate with Ephraim.” And his heart was moved, and the heart of his people, as the trees of the wood are moved with the wind. — and it was told the house of David, the reigning monarch of that line, in this case Ahaz, the princes of the blood, his court and counsellors; saying, Syria is confederate with Ephraim, the ten tribes; depending upon the northern kingdom as a faithful ally, its armies having joined Israel’s forces to strengthen them, or being supported by them.

— and the king’s heart was moved together with the heart of his people, both King Ahaz and all the people of Judah being frightened by the invasion, as the trees of the wood are moved with the wind, their terror being intensified by their feeling of fear. Q: would such fear strike the modern states of Judah and the house of Israel today?

³Then said the Lord unto Isaiah, “Go forth now to meet Ahaz, thou and Shearjashub [that is, The remnant shall return], thy son, at the end of the conduit of the upper pool in the highway of the Fuller’s Field, — then the Lord said unto Isaiah, Himself taking charge of affairs in this emergency, Go forth now to meet Alias, thou and Shear-jashub (“A remnant returns”), thy son, at the end of the conduit of the upper pool, one of the reservoirs where the water of the city was stored, Isaiah 36:2,

— in the highway of the fuller’s field, which was also situated west of the city, near the pool, this highway apparently being the main caravan road leading from Jerusalem to Joppa;

⁴and say unto him: ‘Take heed, and be quiet. Fear not, neither be fainthearted at the two tails of these smoking firebrands — at the fierce anger of Rezin and Syria, and of the son of Remaliah. — and say unto him, who was probably engaged in having the fortifications strengthened, Take heed and be quiet, perfectly unconcerned and without worry;

— fear not, neither be faint-hearted, literally, “and thy heart, not be soft with despondency,” for the two tails of these smoking fire-brands, burned-out and quenched stumps of torches, for the fierce anger of Rezin with Syria, with his whole great army, and of the son of Remaliah, as Pekah, king of Israel, is contemptuously called.

⁵Because Syria, Ephraim, and the son of Remaliah have taken evil counsel against thee, saying, — because Syria, or Aram, with its confederates, Ephraim, and the son of Remaliah, the northern kingdom and its ruler, have taken evil counsel against the house of Judah, saying,

⁶“Let us go up against Judah and vex it, and let us make a breach therein for us, and set a king in the midst of it, even the son of Tabeel,” — let “a confederation of Syria with Ephraim” go up against Judah and vex it, throw it into consternation, fill it with terror, and let the Syria/Ephraim alliance make a breach therein, take the capital, and set the king of Judah in the midst of the battle, even the son of Tabeal, an unknown man, to be the vassal king of Judah, for such was the plan of the alliance:

⁷thus saith the Lord God: It shall not stand, neither shall it come to pass. — thus saith the Lord God, It shall not stand, that is, the counsel they had taken against Judah to vex it, make a breach in it, and set a king of their own liking over Judah; that counsel shall not stand; neither shall it come to pass, since He Himself had decided to hinder it.

⁸For the head of Syria is Damascus, and the head of Damascus is Rezin; and within threescore and five years shall Ephraim be broken, that it be not a people. — for the head of Syria, its capital and metropolis, is Damascus, and the head of Damascus is Rezin; and within sixty-five years, Ephraim, the northern kingdom, shall be broken that it be not a people, that it would cease to exist as a nation.

⁹And the head of Ephraim is Samaria, and the head of Samaria is Remaliah’s son. If ye will not believe, surely ye shall not be established.’” — and the head of Ephraim, its capital and chief city of Ephraim is Samaria, and the head of Samaria is Remaliah’s son. The meaning of this somewhat enigmatic saying is evidently this, that both Syria and the kingdom of Israel would be confined to the territory now occupied by them, since their schemes of conquest would fail;

— moreover, Ephraim would be destroyed within the next sixty-five years, Shalmanezer of Assyria taking the majority of his people into exile in the year 722 BC and the downfall of the country being completed with the settling of the captives, about 675 BC II Kings 17:24; Ezra 4:2

— if ye will not believe, surely ye shall not be established, that is, if Judah, both its king and its people, would not firmly cling to God’s Word and promise, they would also cease to exist, too; they would be destroyed.

¹⁰Moreover the Lord spoke again unto Ahaz, saying, — moreover, the Lord, through the prophet Isaiah, spoke again unto Ahaz, who had not answered upon the consoling message of the Lord’s messenger, since he had already made arrangements to get the assistance of Assyria, saying, in an earnest endeavor to have him place his trust in the help of the Lord,

¹¹“Ask thee a sign of the Lord thy God; ask it either in the depth or in the height above.” — ask thee a sign of the Lord, thy God, this offer to perform a miracle being intended to confirm the promise just made; ask it either in the depth, in the underworld, in hell, or in the height above, in heaven.

— the Targum says, “ask that a miracle may be done for thee upon earth, or that a sign may be shown thee in heaven” the Lord permitted Ahaz to attach his faith to a condition named by himself, so that every excuse of unbelief would be taken from him.

¹²But Ahaz said, “I will not ask, neither will I tempt the Lord.” — but Ahaz, in wicked unbelief and hypocrisy, said, I will not ask, neither will I tempt the Lord. Having already decided upon enlisting Assyria’s help, he rejected the offer of God the Almighty with a hypocritical pretext; trusting in an earthly ally; this was the very climax of obduration. When unbelief assumes the garments of piety, the effect is much more loathsome than open blasphemy and mockery.

¹³And Isaiah said, “Hear ye now, O house of David! Is it a small thing for you to weary men, but will ye weary my God also? — and Isaiah, through whom the Lord was addressing the apostate king, said, Hear ye now, O house of David, not only the present monarch being addressed, but all his associates as well:

— is it a small thing for you to weary men, making the prophet, who had labored so long and faithfully in trying to win him for the truth, both disgusted and weary, but will ye weary my God also? so that He also becomes filled with weariness and turns from the reprobate people in disgust and delivers them into the destruction they so deliberately sought.

¹⁴Therefore the Lord Himself shall give you a sign: Behold, a virgin shall conceive and bear a Son, and shall call His name Immanuel. — in a significant revelation of His almighty power, the Lord Himself shall give you a sign, cause a miracle to happen which would have abiding significance. Behold, an exclamation calling attention to the extraordinary prophecy now following, a virgin, literally, “the virgin,” that certain virgin whom the Lord had even now selected for this purpose, not merely an unwed woman of marriageable age as the Masoretic text says, but an undefiled maiden, Psalms 68:25; Matthew 1:25,

— the Targum says, “Therefore the Lord Himself shall give you a sign: Behold, a virgin shall conceive, and bear a son, and she shall call His name Immanuel.”

— the Septuagint says, “Therefore the Lord himself shall give you a sign; behold, a virgin shall conceive in the womb, and shall bring forth a son, and thou shalt call his name Emmanuel.”

— this is an example of the lying pen of the scribes in Jeremiah 8:8, “How can you say, ‘We are wise, and the law of the Lord is with us’? But behold, the lying pen of the scribes has made it into a lie.'”

— shall conceive, without the carnal knowledge of man, and bear a son, the event being represented as happening now, in the everlasting present of the eternal God, and shall call His name Immanuel, which is correctly interpreted by Matthew as meaning, “God with us.” This name characterizes the person, the essence, and the work of the Messiah. The son of the virgin, conceived and born a true human being, yet without sin, is at the same time true, almighty, eternal God. It is the great mystery of godliness: God manifest in the flesh, the Messiah, the true Savior, Creator, Protector and Redeemer of all men;

— and finally, it is a sign of present deliverance to Judah from the confederacy of the two kings of Syria (representing the Gentiles) and Israel (representing the ten-tribes house of Israel); and of future safety, since it was not possible that this kingdom should cease to be one until the Messiah was come, who was to spring from Judah, and be of the house of David; wherefore by how much the longer off was his birth, by so much the longer was their safety.

¹⁵Butter and honey shall He eat, that He may know to refuse the evil and choose the good. — butter, the thick curdled milk, which is a favorite in the Orient, and honey shall the Messiah eat, that He may know to refuse the evil and choose the good, such would be His food beginning with the age of discretion and throughout His life, partaking, as a true human being, of the food of a desolate country.

¹⁶For before the Child shall know to refuse the evil and choose the good, the land that thou abhorrest shall be forsaken of both her kings. — for before the Child shall know to refuse the evil and choose the good, before He would reach the age of adolescence, the land that thou abhorrest shall be forsaken of both her kings, rather, “desolate will be the land, of the face of whose two kings thou hast a horror,” the judgement of the Lord having been carried out upon it.

¹⁷The Lord shall bring upon thee and upon thy people and upon thy father’s house days that have not come since the day that Ephraim departed from Judah: even the king of Assyria.” —the Lord shall bring upon thee; these words are directed to Ahaz to show that though he and his kingdom would be safe from the two kings that conspired against him, yet evils should come upon him from another quarter, even from the Assyrians he sent to for help, and in whom he trusted; in which the Lord himself would have a hand, and permit them in his providence, in order to chastise him for his unbelief, stubbornness, and ingratitude in refusing the sign offered him;

— even the king of Assyria, this kingdom being introduced here as the representative of the great world powers which finally overthrew upon “thy father’s house” that is, Israel (and certain parts of Judah II Kings 18:13); but Judah was spared a hundred years over; and her disintegration began soon after with the captivity of Babylon and continued for centuries.

¹⁸And it shall come to pass in that day that the Lord shall hiss for the fly that is in the uttermost part of the rivers of Egypt and for the bee that is in the land of Assyria. — and it shall come to pass in that day, at the time when He would send His judgement, first upon Israel then Judah;

— that the Lord shall hiss for the fly that is in the uttermost part of the rivers of Egypt, the various canals of the Nile, and for the bee that Is in the land of Assyria; that is, the Assyrian army, so called because the country abounded with bees; and because of the number of their armies, their military order and discipline, and their hurtful and mischievous nature;

— the Targum paraphrases the whole thus, “and it shall be at that time that the Lord shall call to a people, bands of armies, of mighty men, who are numerous as flies, and shall bring them from the ends of the land of Egypt; and to mighty armies, who are powerful as bees, and shall bring them from the uttermost parts of the land of Assyria,” and with what swiftness and readiness those numerous and powerful armies should come; and the allusion is to the calling of bees out of their hives into the fields, and from thence into their hives again, by tinkling of brass, or by some musical sound, in one way or another.

¹⁹And they shall come, and shall rest all of them in the desolate valleys and in the holes of the rocks, and upon all thorns and upon all bushes. — and they shall come and shall rest, all of them as a scourge to his people in the desolate valleys, rather, in the valleys of the declivities, and in the holes of the rocks, in the clefts of the mountains, and upon all thorns and upon all bushes, in all the rich meadow-lands, with the object of devouring and destroying everything in sight;

— the Targum of the whole verse is, “and they shall all of them come and dwell in the streets of the cities, and in the clifts of the rocks, and in all deserts full of sedges, and in all houses of praise,” the sense is, that they should be in all cities, towns, and villages, whether fortified or not, and in all houses of high and low, rich and poor, in cottages and in palaces; there would be no place free from them, nor no escaping out of their hands; all caught in a snare: Ezekiel 12:13, My net also will I spread upon him, and he shall be taken in My snare.

²⁰In the same day shall the Lord shave with a hired razor (namely, by those beyond the river, by the king of Assyria) the head and the hair of the feet, and it shall also consume the beard. — in the same day shall the Lord shave with a razor that is hired, through an army which He placed in His service, to carry out His will, namely, by them beyond the river, by the king of Assyria, the head, and the hair of the feet; and it shall also consume the beard, the land being depopulated and the entire body of the nation destroyed by the heathen power summoned by the Lord;

— the Targum says, “in that time the Lord shall slay them as one is slain by a sharp sword, by clubs, and by saws, by those beyond the river, and by the king of Assyria; the king, and his army, and even his rulers, together shall he destroy.”

²¹And it shall come to pass in that day that a man shall nourish a young cow and two sheep; — and it shall come to pass in that day that a man shall nourish a young cow and two sheep; this seems to denote both the scarcity of men and cattle, through the ravages of the army of the Chaldeans; that there should not be large herds and flocks, only a single cow, and two or three sheep; and yet men should be so few, and families so thin, that these would be sufficient to support them comfortably.

²²and it shall come to pass, for the abundance of milk that they shall give, that he shall eat butter, for butter and honey shall every one eat that is left in the land. — and it shall come to pass for the abundance of milk that they shall give; the cow and the two sheep, having large pastures, and few cattle to feed upon them, those few would give such abundance of milk, that the owner of them would make butter of it, and live upon it, having no occasion to eat milk; and there being few or none to sell it to;

— he shall eat butter; for butter and honey, which was abundant in the wild state, shall everyone eat that is left in the land, signifying that though they would be few, they would enjoy a plenty of food as their small flocks and herds would furnish them with. The Targum interprets this of the righteous that shall be left in the land; but it is rather to be extended unto all, righteous and unrighteous.

²³And it shall come to pass in that day in every place where there were a thousand vines worth a thousand silverlings, that it shall be even for briers and thorns. — and it shall come to pass in that day, at the time when God’s judgment would be carried out, that every place shall be, it shall even be for briers and thorns for want of persons to stock the ground and cultivate it.

²⁴With arrows and with bows shall men come thither, because all the land shall become briers and thorns. — with arrows and with bows shall men come thither, for fear of wild beasts, serpents, and scorpions to hunt wild beasts in the former orchards, because all the land shall become briers and thorns. Q: is this a prophecy or an historic account?

²⁵And on all hills that shall be dug with the mattock, there shall not be a coming thither for fear of briers and thorns, but it shall be for the sending forth of oxen and for the treading of lesser cattle. — and on all hills that shall be digged with the mattock, which ordinarily were hoed and cultivated, there shall not come thither the fear of briers and thorns, that is, there shall be now no fences made of briers and thorns which deter cattle from entering into fields and vineyards thus fenced;

— but it shall be for the setting forth of oxen, and for the treading of lesser cattle; there being no fence of briers and thorns to keep them out, cattle both of the greater and lesser sort should get into the corn, and feed upon it, and make such places desolate, where much pains were taken to cultivate them. The Targum says, “it shall be for a place of lying down of oxen, and for a place of dwelling of flocks of sheep.”

Isaiah 8

¹Moreover the Lord said unto me, “Take thee a great scroll, and write in it with a man’s pen concerning Mahershalalhashbaz.” — moreover the Lord said unto Isaiah, ”Take thee a great roll,” evidently this is another prophecy, a large writing-tablet of the kind usually employed, and write in it with a man’s pen, the stylus making impressions on the wax covering the tablet in such a way that the ordinary man could read the script;

— concerning Mahershalal-hash-baz (“Make speed to the spoil Hasten to the prey”). The inscription, as made by Isaiah, was purposely enigmatic, the purpose being to arouse the interest and curiosity of the people, to make them feel that the announcement contained in these mysterious words was very important;

— the Targum says, “write in it a clear writing;” that is, very plain, explicit and legible.

²And I took unto me faithful witnesses to attest: Uriah the priest and Zechariah the son of Jeberechiah. — and Isaiah took unto himself faithful witnesses to record concerning the spoiling of Syria and Israel; this the Lord Himself choosing them through the prophet to be present and to testify to Isaiah’s preparing the tablet, Uriah, the priest, II Kings 16:10, and Zechariah, the son of Jeberechiah. These men could later, when the prophecy was fulfilled, vouch for the fact that Isaiah had written concerning the future. But in close connection with this event there was another.

³And I went unto the prophetess, and she conceived and bore a son. Then said the Lord to me, “Call his name Mahershalalhashbaz. — and I went unto the prophetess, his own wife, so called not because she prophesied but because she was the wife of a prophet; and she conceived and bare a son. Then said the Lord to Isaiah, Call his name Maher-shalal-hash-baz, the same mysterious words which had been written on the tablet almost a year before, the word signifying either “Make speed to the spoil; Hasten to the prey,” or “The spoil hastens Robbery hastens forward.”

⁴For before the child shall have knowledge to cry ‘My father,’ and ‘My mother,’ the riches of Damascus and the spoil of Samaria shall be taken away to the king of Assyria.” — for before the child shall have knowledge to cry, “My father,” and “My mother,” that is, before the passing of another year;

— the riches of Damascus (Syria) and the spoil of Samaria (Israel; II Kings 17:6) shall be taken away before Assyria, so that all their wealth would be borne as a trophy before their king. This happened about the year 739 BC; Syria being entirely overthrown, together with that part of the northern kingdom which was east of the Jordan and the beginning of Israel’s destruction.

⁵The Lord spoke also unto me again, saying, — the Lord spoke unto Isaiah again, in a series of prophecies whose final object was rich comfort to the true believers in Judah, saying,

⁶“Inasmuch as this people refuseth the waters of Shiloah that flow softly, and rejoice in Rezin and Remaliah’s son, — forasmuch as this people refuseth the waters of Shiloah, the same with Siloam, the spring and tiny brook which sprang up at the foot of the Temple-mount and with another spring, the Gihon, fed the pool Siloam;

— that go softly, with none of the boisterousness of a large stream, such as the Euphrates, the people despising the quiet manner in which the kingdom of God works in the midst of men, and rejoice in Rezin and Remaliah’s son, the latter statement referring chiefly to the people of the northern kingdom with their trust in the strength of men and in the power of huge armies;

— the Targum paraphrases the words thus, “because this people loathed the kingdom of the house of David which ruled them quietly, as the waters of Shiloah which flow softly.”

⁷now therefore, behold, the Lord bringeth up upon them the waters of the river, strong and many, even the king of Assyria and all his glory; and he shall come up over all his channels and go over all his banks. — now, therefore, behold, the Lord bringeth up upon the Euphrates, usual for mighty kings, kingdoms, and armies to be signified by such waters, for their multitude and strength; typical of an entire heathen power bent upon the destruction of Israel;

— strong and many, even the king of Assyria and all his power; he shall come up over all his channels and go over all his banks, like a mighty river overflowing at the time of the spring freshets;

— the Targum says, “therefore behold the Lord shall bring and cause to ascend upon them, the army of the people, who are many as the waters of a river, strong and mighty, the king of Assyria, and his army; and he shall come up upon all his rivers and shall overflow all his banks.”

⁸And he shall pass through Judah; he shall overflow and go over, he shall reach even to the neck. And the stretching out of his wings shall fill the breadth of thy land, O Immanuel.” — and, he shall pass through Judah, penetrating to its remotest ends; he shall overflow and go over, he shall reach even to the neck, that is, to Jerusalem: the whole land is compared to a body, of which Jerusalem was the head; the Assyrian army, comparable to the waters of a great river, overflowed the whole land, took all the fenced cities of Judah, and came up even to Jerusalem, so that the whole was in great danger of being drowned and destroyed; threatening Judah’s very life;

— and stretching out of his wings, as the streams overflow the main channel of the river on either side, shall fill the breadth of thy land, O Immanuel, Judea, called Immanuel’s land, because the Messiah would be born there. Thus the judgement would begin in Israel and progress southward to encompass Judah as well, threatening its existence. Therefore the end of the sentence is a call for help addressed to Immanuel, the Messiah, not to forsake His people, but to remember them in his redemption.

⁹Associate yourselves, O ye people, yet ye shall be broken in pieces! And give ear, all ye of far countries. Gird yourselves, and ye shall be broken in pieces; gird yourselves, and ye shall be broken in pieces! — associate yourselves, O ye people, both of Syria and Israel, whose two kings were confederate against Judah; and ye shall be broken in pieces, for all enemies directing their attacks against the people of God will finally be destroyed;

— and give ear, all ye of far countries, the nations inhabiting distant parts of the earth; gird yourselves, in preparing for battle, and ye shall be broken in pieces. The double imperative in the Hebrew and the repetition of the command makes it all the more impressive; it places the majesty of God in contrast to the feeble endeavors of men to overthrow His power.

¹⁰Take counsel together, and it shall come to nought; speak the word, and it shall not stand, for God is with us. — take counsel together, against the Lord and against His people, Psalms 2:2, and it shall come to naught; speak the word, in discussing the attack, and it shall not stand, it will most certainly be frustrated; for God is with us. With Immanuel on their side, the children of God have a refuge against all enemies. Even if all the powers of this world combine to attack the Church, they are bound to suffer defeat.

¹¹For the Lord spoke thus to me with a strong hand, and instructed me that I should not walk in the way of this people, saying, — for the Lord spoke thus to Isaiah with a strong hand, literally, “while His hand became strong,” while His Spirit came upon the prophet with power, and instructed Isaiah that he should not walk in the way of this people, saying, namely, in warning the prophet and those who adhered to his people against the great mass of reprobates in Israel and Judah,

¹²“Say ye not, ‘A confederacy,’ to all those to whom this people shall say, ‘A confederacy’; neither fear ye their fear, nor be afraid. — say ye not, “A confederacy,” to all them to whom this people shall say, “A confederacy,” literally, “Do not call conspiracy all that this people calls conspiracy,” the prophet and his disciples should not be filled with apprehension on account of the conspiracy and confederation of Syria with the northern kingdom;

— neither fear ye their fear nor be afraid, let not the same fear possess you as does them, on account of Syria and Israel combining together against Judah; nor be afraid of their two kings as they were; since there was nothing to fear from them.

¹³Sanctify the Lord of hosts Himself; and let Him be your fear, and let Him be your dread. — sanctify the Lord of hosts Himself, giving Him the honor, setting Him apart for adoration as the almighty Ruler of the universe, and let Him be your fear and let Him be your dread, that is, the object of fear and dread; not of a servile fear and dread, but of a holy reverence and godly fear; standing in awe of Him and taking care not to make Him angry by a show of little faith, for He wants the believer’s full confidence, their undivided trust.

¹⁴And He shall be for you a sanctuary, but for a stone of stumbling and for a rock of offense to both the houses of Israel, for a trap and for a snare to the inhabitants of Jerusalem. — and the Lord of hosts shall be for a sanctuary, a safe, sheltering, holy asylum to all believers; but for a stone of stumbling and for a rock of offense to both the houses of Israel, causing them to fall, for a gin, a trap set in the way, and for a snare to the inhabitants of Jerusalem, namely, to those who do not truly fear Him.

— Although Isaiah 8:14 refers to “both houses of Israel” or the “two houses of Israel” it implies the two houses of Jacob, the full twelve tribes. But more often the names of the two houses are seperated, namely the 10-tribes “house of Israel” and the 2-tribes “house of Judah.”

¹⁵And many among them shall stumble and fall and be broken, and be snared and be taken.” — and many among them, all those who persist in their enmity toward the Lord, shall stumble, by their own fault, and fall, and be broken, and be snared, and be taken; and so die in captivity for their sins and even to perish eternally. The allusion is to birds being taken in a snare or trap or with bird lime and therein or thereby held and detained.

¹⁶Bind up the testimony, seal the law among my disciples. — bind up the testimony, so the Lord says to Immanuel, the Messiah, or directly to Isaiah, seal the Law among My disciples, so that the Word of the Lord is sealed and kept safe through the power of the Savior exerted through the Gospel message; which is the testimony from the Son of God.

¹⁷And I will wait upon the Lord, who hideth His face from the house of Jacob, and I will look for Him. — and Isaiah will wait upon the Lord, so Immanuel or the prophet calls out in cheerful confidence, that hideth His face from the house of Jacob, by rejecting the great mass of unbelievers among the people, and Isaiah will look for Him, trusting in the riches of His mercy, in the certainty of the salvation of His chosen people.

¹⁸Behold, I and the children whom the Lord hath given me are for signs and for wonders in Israel from the Lord of hosts, who dwelleth in Mount Zion. — behold, the Messiah and the children whom the Lord hath given Him, all those who have accepted the Don of God in true faith, who belong to the elect of the Lord, are for signs and for wonders in Israel, placed before the eyes of all men of the whole world, as a remarkable evidence of God’s love;

— from the Lord of hosts, which dwelleth in Mount Zion; the Son and Mediator, Yeshua, through His Word, as proclaimed by the mouth of His servants, gains those whom the Father has given Him and will, on the Last Day, present this entire host to the Father in the temple of heaven. Cf Hebrews 2:13. We are kept by the power of God, through faith, unto salvation. The prophet now adds a strong warning against necromancy and spiritism.

¹⁹And when they shall say unto you, “Seek unto those who have familiar spirits and wizards, who peep and who mutter,” should not a people seek unto their God? For the living, to the dead? — and when the unbelieving people shall say unto you, in endeavoring to coax the faithful away from the truth of the revealed Word, Seek unto them that have familiar spirits, those asserting that they possess the ability of interviewing departed souls;

— and unto wizards that peep and that mutter, that is, to those given to sorcery and the magic world, said of the murmuring noises made in imitation of the shades in the realm of death and of the whispering of magical formulas which they claimed to have received from disembodied spirits, just as the modern tribe of spiritists does: should not a people;

— so the Lord indignantly asks, seek unto their God? turning to Him for counsel and assistance in every emergency in life, for the living to the dead? How can men be so foolish as to seek help from the dead? as the spiritists insist that they are quoting the spirits of the departed. Over against this blasphemous foolishness the Lord places His urgent summons:

²⁰To the law and to the testimony! If they speak not according to this word, it is because there is no light in them. — to the Law and to the testimony! Turn to the Word and the promises of the Lord alone; search the Scriptures, trust in His Message, in the glorious assurance of salvation contained therein; make the clear exposition of His Word the one guide of your lives!

— if they, the unbelieving majority, speak not according to this word, if they do not join in this call and invitation nor heed its summons, it is because there is no light in them, of the punishment that should be inflicted on the Jews for their neglect of the prophecies of the Old Testament and their rejection of the Messiah.

²¹And they shall pass through it sorely beset and hungry; and it shall come to pass that, when they shall be hungry, they shall fret themselves and curse their king and their God, and look upward; — and they, the unbelievers, shall pass through it, walking about blindly in the land, hardly bestead, oppressed both from within and without, and hungry, being hungry often and earnestly desirous of the coming of their vainly expected Messiah, as a Saviour to them; in the very depths of misery because they couldn’t find him;

— and it shall come to pass that when these unbelievers shall be hungry, in the midst of tribulation besetting them on every hand, they shall fret themselves, be filled with a helpless rage, and curse their King and their God, blaspheming the Lord and His Son, the true Messiah, who is the King of Israel, and God manifest in the flesh; whom the unbelieving Jews called accursed and blasphemed.

²²and they shall look unto the earth and behold trouble and darkness, dimness of anguish, and they shall be driven to darkness. — and those people in distress, upwards and downwards, they shall look unto the earth, seeking alleviation and deliverance from their affliction, and behold trouble and darkness, dimness of anguish, adversity and miseries of all kinds, not a ray of relief and salvation penetrating the night of their suffering;

— and these unbelievers shall be driven to darkness, cast out into utter darkness. Such is the punishment of God upon the wicked, upon those who reject the Messiah, even here on earth; how much more terrible, then, will the condemnation of eternity be into which the present punishment will merge!

Posted in Isaiah

Isaiah (Ch 5-6)

•February 17, 2022 • Leave a Comment

Answering his call, Isaiah said, “Here I am; send me” (Isaiah 6:8); we learn that this that this was the beginning of his mission, and this prophecy was written later. Hence understanding the timing of the message of the wordings in Isaiah are more subjective than either the books of Ezekiel or Revelation.

Isaiah 5

¹Now will I sing to my Well-beloved a song of my Beloved concerning His vineyard: my Well-beloved hath a vineyard on a very fruitful hill. — now will Prophet Isaiah sing to his Well-beloved a song of his Beloved God the Father, singing to Yehovah, the Lord of hosts, expressing the thoughts of the Lord with all his heart and soul,

— touching His vineyard, that of His Kingdom at the time of the prophet. His Well-beloved hath a vineyard in a very fruitful hill, literally, “on the horn, or summit, of a son of oil,” the vineyard being situated on a hill and having most fertile soil;

— the Targum, whose origin in the Aramaic language could be traced to Ezra, paraphrases the words thus, “the prophet said, I will sing now to Israel, who is like unto a vineyard, the seed of Abraham, my beloved, a song of my beloved, concerning his vineyard. My people, my beloved Israel, I gave to them an inheritance in a high mountain, in a fat land.”

²And He fenced it, and gathered out the stones thereof, and planted it with the choicest vine; and built a tower in the midst of it, and also made a wine press therein. And He looked for it to bring forth grapes, and it brought forth wild grapes. — and He fenced it, rather, spaded or hoed it thoroughly, and gathered out the stones thereof, which hindered the proper cultivation of the ground, and planted it with the choicest vine, a very fine Oriental variety of grape, called sorek, and built a tower in the midst of it, this being interpreted as a watchtower; but the Targum says, “and I built my sanctuary in the midst of them:”

— and also made a winepress therein, the lower trough into which the grape-juice flowed from the winepress proper; and He looked that it should bring forth grapes, the fruit of the excellent vine which He had planted there, but it brought forth wild grapes: bad grapes; corrupt, rotten, stinking ones, the sour product of the wild vine or of a similar plant;

— that is, God had planted the vineyard indeed which was composed of Israel and Judah; He would now remove all of the protection from his people and cause them to be overrun and be destroyed.

³“And now, O inhabitants of Jerusalem and men of Judah, judge, I pray you, between Me and My vineyard. — and now, O inhabitants of Jerusalem and men of Judah, to whom the prophet is specifically addressing himself, appealing to them to be judges in this difficult situation, judge, I pray you, between Me and My vineyard, making their decision on the basis of the evidences presented to them, which were visible to even the casual onlooker.

⁴What could have been done more to My vineyard than I have not done in it? Why, when I looked for it to bring forth good grapes, brought it forth wild grapes? — what could have been done more to My vineyard that I have not done in it? The Targum says, “what good have I said to do more to my people, which I have not done to them? and what is this I have said, that they should do good works, and they have done evil works?”

— wherefore, when I looked that it should bring forth grapes, but it brought forth wild grapes? Surely if the Lord now abandoned this vineyard, the people themselves must admit that they had fully deserved such treatment, that they had but themselves to blame for their destruction, as the Lord states.

⁵“And now, I will tell you what I will do to My vineyard: I will take away the hedge thereof, and it shall be eaten up; and break down the wall thereof, and it shall be trodden down. — and now God will tell you what He will do to His vineyard, the Judge Himself announcing judgement and punishment which He had decided upon:

— I will take away the hedge thereof, one of thorns and briers being the usual protection of vineyards of the nation, and it shall be eaten up, and break down the wall thereof, as a second means of keeping out marauders, and it shall be trodden down, the emphatic statement of the original being “for a treading down”

⁶And I will lay it waste; it shall not be pruned nor dug, but there shall come up briers and thorns. I will also command the clouds that they rain no rain upon it.” — and God will lay it waste, for a complete ruin; it shall not be pruned, to remove the superfluous shoots, nor digged, to loosen the ground for the admission of air to the roots;

— but there shall come up briers and thorns, making the growth of vines of the right and welcome kind impossible; God will also command the clouds that they rain no rain upon it; hence the land would turn into a desert.

⁷For the vineyard of the Lord of hosts is the house of Israel, and the men of Judah, His pleasant plant. And He looked for judgment, but behold, oppression; for righteousness, but behold, a cry. — for the vineyard of the Lord of hosts is the house of Israel and the men of Judah, His pleasant plant, literally, “the plant of His pleasure” and He looked for justice and judgement would be executed in the land in all respects; that the people would do what is right and good;

— but behold oppression resulted, the infringement of rights by graft and other forms of corruption and wickedness; for righteousness, that is, an outward dealing according to the demands of a righteous conduct, but behold a cry, namely, that of the people who suffer wrong and duffered for such oppression.

⁸Woe unto them that join house to house, that lay field to field, till there be no place, that they may be placed alone in the midst of the earth! — woe unto them that join house to house, the insatiable desire of men to own more and more is the direct and certain result of a gross materialism in the heart of men, in a greed for wealth which is never satisfied, that lay field to field, their covetousness causing them to add one piece of property to another;

— till there be no place, no room for any one else, that they, literally, “ye” for the prophet here turns directly to the Jews, may be placed alone in the midst of the earth, thus violating the statutes both concerning the inheritance of real estate and the year of jubilee, Numbers 27:9-11; Leviticus 25:10-13.

⁹In mine ears said the Lord of hosts: “In truth many houses shall be desolate, even the great and fair, without inhabitant. — in mine ears said the Lord of hosts, the cry of the sins of covetousness and ambition before mentioned; the great Ruler of the universe Himself making it known to His prophet,

— of a truth many houses shall be desolate, even great and fair, the beautiful homes of the rich, such as the houses of the king, of the princes, and nobles, judges, counsellors, without inhabitant, as a punishment upon their greed.

¹⁰Yea, ten acres of vineyard shall yield but one bath, and a homer of seed shall yield but an ephah.” — yea, ten acres of vineyard shall yield one hath, for their fields shall be barren and unfruitful; and the seed of an homer, about eight bushels, shall yield an ephah; the Targum makes this barrenness to be the punishment of their sin, in not paying tithes paraphrasing the words thus, “for because of the sin of not giving tithes, the place of ten acres of vineyard shall produce one bath.”

¹¹Woe unto them that rise up early in the morning, that they may pursue strong drink; that continue until night, till wine inflame them! — woe unto them that rise up early in the morning that they may follow, eagerly pursue, strong drink, a kind of brandy prepared from dates, apples, pomegranates, honey, and barley;

— that continue until night, protracting their session of excessive indulgence until the cool of the evening and beyond, till wine inflame them, putting them into a condition where they are ready for all the works of darkness. Note that the moderate use of even intoxicating beverages is not in itself condemned, but every form of excess, as further description shows.

¹²And the harp and the viol, and the taboret and pipe, and wine are in their feasts; but they regard not the work of the Lord, neither consider the operation of His hands. — and the harp, or zither and the viol, a guitar-like instrument, the tabret, the tambourine and pipe, a kind of flute and wine are in their feasts, so that they lived jovially and merrily, of these their banquets consist, this is all they have in mind in planning and executing their drinking-bouts;

— but they regard not the work of the Lord, meaning the work of the law as the Targum says; they were deaf to the message of Yehovah the Almighty in the law, in nature, in history, especially in the preaching of His prophets, neither consider the operation of His hands, in preparing the punishment of all unrighteousness and wickedness for all the guilty.

¹³Therefore my people are gone into captivity, because they have no knowledge; and their honorable men are famished, and their multitude dried up with thirst. — therefore My people, as the Lord still affectionately calls them, are gone into captivity, the visitation of the Assyrian captivity for the house of Israel being pictured as already taken place, because they have no knowledge, or as some render it, “because they knew not the Lord” not only it caught them unaware but because they had hardened their hearts against all understanding;

— and their honorable men are famished, literally, “become starvelings,” people suffering hunger, and their multitude dried up with thirst, a vivid description of Israel as it was driven into exile. Such is ever the consequence when the greed and luxury-craving people of this world deliberately exclude the understanding of spiritual things from their hearts.

¹⁴Therefore hell hath enlarged herself, and opened her mouth beyond measure; and their glory and their multitude and their pomp, and he that rejoiceth, shall descend into it. — therefore hell, that is, the grave, to receive the dead who die from famine and thirst; signifying that the number of the dead would be so great, that the common burying places would not be sufficient to hold them hath enlarged herself and opened her mouth without measure, to receive the great number of victims;

— and their glory, the splendor of their wickedness and their multitude and their pomp, the tumult and noise of their drunken shouting, and he that rejoiceth, those finding their enjoyment in the excesses of this world shall descend into it. Then all the laughter and shouting of the children of this world will be changed to cries of woe, weeping and gnashing of teeth.

¹⁵And the lowly man shall be brought down, and the mighty man shall be humbled, and the eyes of the lofty shall be humbled. — and the mean man shall be brought down, and the mighty man shall be humbled, laid low in the dust, and be equal to the poor; for in the grave, princes and peasants are alike; men of every rank and station being included in the Lord’s condemnation, and the eyes of the lofty shall be humbled, so that they are no longer lifted up in pride.

¹⁶But the Lord of hosts shall be exalted in judgement, and God who is holy shall be sanctified in righteousness. — but the Lord of hosts, the Father, He who exerts unlimited authority over the world and all its fortunes, shall be exalted in judgement, the very overthrow of the wicked redounding to His glory, and God that is holy shall be sanctified in righteousness, give evidence of His holiness in exercising justice upon the ungodly.

¹⁷Then shall the lambs feed according to their manner, and the waste places of the fat ones shall strangers eat. — then shall the lambs feed after their manner, that is, the people of God, the disciples of Christ, as on their usual pasturage, and the waste places of the fat ones shall strangers eat, the nomad tribes of the desert again occupying the land which had been held by similar people in ancient days. Thus the land of Canaan would become a monument of God’s justice.

¹⁸Woe unto them that draw along iniquity with cords of vanity, and sin as it were with a cart rope; — woe unto them that draw iniquity with cords of vanity, their first excuses to themselves being like hair-strings, but their increasing callousness finally causing them boldly to draw their guilt to them as with heavy cords;

— and sin, as it were, with a cart-rope, they hitch it to them like draft-horses dragging a heavy wagon, laying themselves to the traces with all their might, utterly ignoring the thought of a day of vengeance; thus the Targum interprets it of such that begin with lesser sins, and increase to more ungodliness; paraphrasing it thus, “woe to them that begin to sin a little, and they go on and increase until that they are strong, and “their” sins “are” as a cart rope”

¹⁹who say, “Let Him make speed and hasten His work, that we may see it; and let the counsel of the Holy One of Israel draw nigh and come, that we may know it.” — that say, Let Him make speed and hasten His work that we may see it, that is, the threatened retribution, and let the counsel of the Holy One of Israel draw nigh and come that we may know it!

— their blasphemous mockery will surely draw down upon them the punishment of the Lord. And so far as the mockers of our day are concerned, the time will come when they, overcome with terror at the revelation of God’s judgement upon them, will call upon the mountains to fall upon them and to the hills to cover them.

²⁰Woe unto them that call evil good, and good evil; that count darkness as light, and light as darkness; that put bitter for sweet, and sweet for bitter! — woe unto them that call evil good and good evil, or that call evil men good, and good men evil; thus reversing all principles of true morality; that is, that excuse the one and reproach the other; that put darkness for light and light for darkness, particularly in palliating the wickedness of sin, in representing avarice, luxury, the lust of the flesh as harmless; and pervert the order which God hath appointed;

— it started with the ten tribes preferring the worship at Dan and Bethel, before that at Jerusalem; and today, they prefer worshipping (a) Astarte, the queen of heaven; from whom Easter is derived; and (b) the palm tree, Mithra, the Persian Sun-god now proliferates during Christmas; with decorated with lights; in preference to God’s commandments in their celebration of the Passover, Pentecost and Tabernacles, which are dismissed as legalism (more at the end);

— that put bitter for sweet, by condemning the godly, the children of God as enemies of mankind, and sweet for bitter, by glossing over transgression and thus leading men into further destruction.

²¹Woe unto them that are wise in their own eyes, and prudent in their own sight! — woe unto them that are wise in their own eyes, arrogant in their self-conceit, prudent in their own sight, such people being beyond the necessity of learning, their lack of humility causing them to reject all instruction that is brought to their notice, especially the message from the prophets of the Lord of hosts.

²²Woe unto them that are mighty to drink wine, and men of strength to mingle strong drink, — woe unto them that are mighty to drink wine, and men of strength to mingle strong drink, champions of dissolute living, selling justice in order to obtain the means to indulge in the service of mammon and luxury; the Targum interprets it, “men of riches” one who can afford to drink wine and strong drink; which carries the sense not to the strength of their bodies, but of their purses;

²³who justify the wicked for a reward, and take away the righteousness of the righteous from him! — speaking of judges and civil magistrates, which justify the wicked for reward, openly seeking bribes and in fulfilling the promises made on the strength of such gifts, take away the righteousness of the righteous from him, deciding against him in court and thus frustrating the ends of justice; note that all the sins which are here condemned with such harsh words are found in our day and age as in the days of Isaiah.

²⁴Therefore as the fire devoureth the stubble, and the flame consumeth the chaff, so their root shall be rottenness, and their blossom shall go up as dust; because they have cast away the law of the Lord of hosts, and despised the word of the Holy One of Israel. — therefore, as the fire devoureth the stubble, and the flame consumeth the chaff, in a sudden and thorough destruction, so their root, the supposed firm hold of these transgressors, shall be as rottenness, moldy and decayed;

— and their blossom, their outward prosperous appearance, shall go up as dust, flying away like small particles, because they have cast away the Law of the Lord of hosts, in a deliberate, blasphemous rejection, and despised the Word of the Holy One in Israel as in Leviticus 23 to keep His commandment to celebrate the Feasts of Passover, Pentecost and Tabernacles.

²⁵Therefore is the anger of the Lord kindled against His people, and He hath stretched forth His hand against them, and hath smitten them; and the hills did tremble, and their carcasses were torn in the midst of the streets. For all this, His anger is not turned away, but His hand is stretched out still. — therefore is the anger of the Lord kindled against His people, and He hath stretched forth His hand against them and hath smitten them, the scene again being painted before the eyes of the people, in order to urge them to repentance;

— and the hills did tremble, under the blow delivered bythe Almighty as from a mighty earthquake, and their carcasses were torn in the midst of the streets, lying there as dung, even as it had happened before, II Chronicles 28:6. For all this, although the punishment of the Lord has repeatedly gone forth, His anger is not turned away, but His hand is stretched out still. So great was the apostasy in Israel cerebrating Astarte and Mithra that the wrath of the Lord was not yet appeased, especially since the nation showed no signs of any repentance; it will be a shaking of every nation before the wrath of God’s Judgement.

²⁶And He will lift up an ensign to the nations from afar, and will hiss unto them from the end of the earth; and behold, they shall come with speed swiftly. — and He, the Lord of hosts in delivering the last great blow, will lift up an ensign to the nations from far, as a signal for them to attack and punish Israel;

— and will hiss unto them from the end of the earth, the figure being taken from the work of the bee-keeper, who coaxes the bees from their hives by a hissing sound; and, behold, they shall come with speed swiftly, most eager to carry out the Lord’s will upon the house of Israel, like Shalmaneser and Nebuchadnezzar did as the Lord’s horsewhips; as the Targum paraphrases it, “and behold, a king with his army shall come swiftly, as light clouds.”

²⁷None shall be weary nor stumble among them; none shall slumber nor sleep; neither shall the girdle of their loins be loosed, nor the latchet of their shoes be broken; — none shall be weary nor stumble among them; none shall slumber nor sleep, neither shall the girdle of their loins be loosed, to retard their movements; they should make such haste, they should not stumble at any thing by the way, nor rush one against another,

— nor the latchet of their shoes be broken, all this being descriptive of their tireless activity, their unwearied zeal, and their readiness for battle;

²⁸whose arrows are sharp, and all their bows bent, their horses’ hoofs shall be counted like flint, and their wheels like a whirlwind. — whose arrows are sharp and all their bows bent, ready to shoot their arrows upon any occasionready to send the arrows to their mark;

— their horses’ hoofs shall be counted like flint, a most important attribute for a campaign of war carried to such distances, and their wheels like a whirlwind, for their rolling resembled the sound of an advancing tempest; the Targum says, “and his wheels swift as a tempest.”

²⁹Their roaring shall be like a lion; they shall roar like young lions; yea, they shall roar and lay hold of the prey, and shall carry it away safe, and none shall deliver it. — their roaring shall be like a lion, a fearful battle-cry, they shall roar like young lions, eager for their prey;

— yea, they shall roar and lay hold of the prey, Israel becoming an easy victim, and shall carry it away safe, and none shall deliver it, no one being strong enough to come to Israel’s aid in this emergency laid upon it by the Lord.

³⁰And in that day they shall roar against them like the roaring of the sea; and if one look unto the land, behold darkness and sorrow; and the light is darkened in the heavens thereof. — and in that day they shall roar against them like the roaring of the sea, the surf breaking on the precipitous shore with a fearful thunder;

— and if one look unto the land, seeking a firm foothold, behold darkness and sorrow, and the light is darkened in the heavens thereof, literally, “darkness distress and light night in the clouds of heaven above,” that is, tribulation and relief would change off quickly in the fate of Israel; but the final result would be the blackest night, shutting out all light. That, in brief, is the outline of Israel’s history until the exile, not only the conquest of Nebuchadnezzar, but that of the Romans in the year 70 AD as well.

~~~

Parallel Scriptures in Malachi 2:

³ Behold, I will corrupt your seed and spread dung upon your faces, even the dung of your solemn feasts; and one shall take you away with it. — even the dung of your solemn feasts, that of the excesses of such pagan feasts (1) Astarte, the queen of heaven; from whom Easter is derived; Jeremiah 7 and Jeremiah 44; (2) Mithra, the sun-god, the palm tree, now proliferates during Christmas; with decorated with lights, tinsel, red and green ribbon, poinsettias and other crowning glory; Jeremiah 10:3-5;

— (3) heavenly bodies, especially the Sun, hence professing Christians have shifted the Sabbath from Saturday to Sunday by outlawing the keeping of the Sabbath. — thus saith the Lord: “Learn not the way of the heathens. . .” Jeremiah 10:2; His wrath and subsequent judgement of throwing dungs onto our faces is the central theme of Jeremiah’s message against idolatrous worship!

— and one shall take you away with it, treating them as though they were themselves dung, to be thrown out in disgraceful heaps; with the dung spread upon them; they looking like a heap of dung, being covered with it, and had in no more account than that;

— the Targum says, “I will make manifest the shame of your sins upon your faces; and will cause to cease the magnificence of your feasts.”

Isaiah 6

¹ In the year that King Uzziah died, I saw also the Lord sitting upon a throne, high and lifted up, and His train filled the temple. — in the year 758 BC when King Uzziah died, that is, in the last year of this king’s successful reign, II Kings 15:1-7; II Chronicles 26, saiahI saw the Lord, the Almighty, sitting upon a throne, high and lifted up, the prophetic vision, not face to face, beyond the range of the normal ability of human senses, permitting the prophet to see the revelation of God,

— for God dwells in an inaccessible light, in a manner which uncovered the divine glory to his inner mind, and his train (the “train” is the skirts, borders, or lower parts of the garments) filled the Temple, that is, His kingly robe with its majestic train, fitting emblem of the divine glory, covered and filled the heavenly Sanctuary; the Targum says, “and the temple was filled with the splendour of his glory.”

²Above it stood the seraphims; each one had six wings: with two he covered his face, and with two he covered his feet, and with two he flew. — above the temple stood the seraphim, heavenly spirits of the highest rank, ministers of the Lord serving as guardians of the throne. Each one had six wings, in accordance with their nature as heavenly beings;

— with twain he covered his face, for even the seraphim cannot endure the sight of the essential holiness of God, and with twain he covered his feet, for even the angels, with a proper feeling of humility and modesty, prefer to keep their forms covered before the eyes of the Most Holy One, and with twain he did fly, floating about the throne of the Lord.

³And one cried unto another and said, “Holy, holy, holy is the Lord of hosts; the whole earth is full of His glory.” — and one cried unto another, in a wonderful antiphonal chorus, and said, Holy, holy, holy, is the Lord of hosts, thrice holy not only on account of the supreme excellence of His essential holiness, but false shepherds had taken the opportunity to propagate the false doctrine of the Trinity of the Godhead;

— the whole earth is full of His glory, literally, “filling the whole earth is His glory” for all men on earth will see the revelation of His divine majesty, all His works, in creation, redemption, sanctification, will serve to magnify Him as the supreme and only God. Cf Revelation 4:8.

⁴And the posts of the door moved at the voice of him that cried, and the house was filled with smoke. — and the posts of the door of the temple, the foundations of the sills, or thresholds, the heavenly temple with its portals down to the lowest foundation;

— moved at the voice of him that cried, the powerful sound of the entire chorus, and the temple was filled with smoke, as from the incense of all the prayers of the saints, uniting with the angels above to give praise and adoration to the great Lord of heaven, Revelation 5:8; Revelation 8:3-4.

⁵Then said I, “Woe is me! For I am undone, because I am a man of unclean lips and I dwell in the midst of a people of unclean lips; for mine eyes have seen the King, the Lord of hosts.” — then said Isaiah, overcome with awe and terror at the tremendous impressiveness of the scene, Woe is me! for I am undone, lost, threatened with death and destruction,

— because I am a man of unclean lips, the feeling of his own sinfulness coming over him all the more strongly in view of the perfect holiness which he had just seen, and I dwell in the midst of a people of unclean lips, descendant and member of a generation of sinners; for mine eyes have seen the King, the Lord of hosts, between whom and man is not only the gulf separating the Creator from His creatures, but the greater abyss between the holy God and the world of sinners. Cf Exodus 33:20.

⁶Then flew one of the seraphims unto me, having a live coal in his hand, which he had taken with the tongs from off the altar. — then flew one of the seraphim unto Isaiah, having a live coal in his hand, which he had taken with the tongs from off the altar, the altar of incense evidently being referred to;

⁷And he laid it upon my mouth and said, “Lo, this hath touched thy lips; and thine iniquity is taken away, and thy sin purged.” — and he laid it upon Isaiah’s mouth, he caused the glowing coal to come into contact with the prophet’s lips, and said, Lo, this hath touched thy lips; and thine iniquity is taken away and thy sin purged, which was abominable in his sight; a burden to him, and the cause of his distress; even all his iniquity, all atoned for;

— the act of the angel evidently had a symbolical meaning, first of all with reference to the atonement made in and through the person of the Messiah, Jesus Christ, the work of redemption carried out in accordance with God’s counsel. Not only, however, is the prophet, sinful man as he was, assured of the redemption and grace of God, but the Lord also imparts special strength to him and fits him to be the instrument of His inspiration.

⁸Also I heard the voice of the Lord saying, “Whom shall I send, and who will go for Us?” Then said I, “Here am I. Send me!” — also Isaiah heard the voice of the Lord, of the All-powerful, the great Ruler of the universe, saying, Whom shall I send? the call being for volunteers to proclaim the atonement set forth in the vision just vouchsafed the prophet.

— And who will go for Us? Then Isaiah said, ‘Here am I; send me.’ The prophet, in the spirit of voluntary service wrought by the Lord, a principal requisite for the proper and effective ministry of the Word, is ready to undertake the task.

⁹And He said, “Go, and tell this people: “‘Hear ye indeed, but understand not; and see ye indeed, but perceive not.’ — and God said, Go and tell your people, to which He no longer refers as His people, but as strangers, in the third person, Hear ye indeed, constantly within reach of the Word of God, but understand not; the great works of God by which He reveals Himself to mankind, but they perceive not, not really grasping their significance nor applying them to their own condition.

¹⁰Make the heart of this people fat, and make their ears heavy, and shut their eyes; lest they see with their eyes, and hear with their ears, and understand with their heart, and convert and be healed.” — make the heart of this people fat, insensitive to impressions for good, so that feeling, reason, and will become callous, cold or heartless, and make their ears heavy, the hearing of the mind becoming impaired beyond the possibility of understanding;

— and shut their eyes, namely, those of the spirit, lest they see with their eyes, and hear with their ears, and understand with their heart, and convert, that is, be converted, and be healed. Note that the members or organs spoken of are given in inverted order in the second part of the sentence, to increase its impressiveness. It is the judicial hardening, the judgement of obduration, which is here described; it is not that God works obduration, but He surrenders the godless to their evil intent; He withdraws from their hearts with His spirit of understanding.

¹¹Then said I, “Lord, how long?” And He answered, “Until the cities be wasted without inhabitant, and the houses without man, and the land be utterly desolate, — then Isaiah asked, Lord, how long? that is, how long would this hardening continue?

— and the Lord answered, Until the cities (Detroits, Chicago, New York, London, Paris) be wasted, altogether desolate, without inhabitant, and the houses without man, without a protector, and the land be utterly desolate, literally, “made desolate a desert,”

¹²and the Lord have removed men far away, and there be a great forsaking in the midst of the land. — and the Lord have removed men far away; not to nearby Babylon, but to the ends of the earth, into the most distant countries, by having them led away into exile, and there be a great forsaking in the midst of the land; and dispersing them among several nations of the world.

¹³“But yet in it shall be a tenth, and it shall return and shall be eaten, as a teil tree and as an oak whose substance is in them when they cast their leaves: so the holy seed shall be the substance thereof.” — but yet in it shall be a tenth, and it shall return and shall be eaten, that is, it shall be burnt again; it was burnt a first time by Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon, and his army, Jeremiah 52:13 and a second time by Titus Vespasian, to which this prophecy refers; “And if there is yet in it a tenth, it will once more become subject to devouring,”

— and as an oak, whose substance is in them, a mere stump being left, when they cast their leaves, when they are felled, so the holy seed shall be the substance thereof, the stump or stem. Thus the obduration upon Israel would continue until the last wrath would come upon Israel, resulting in its destruction; the “holy seed” understand the Messiah; and yet, after the trunk would be hewn down, the stump which remained would bring forth new shoots, a people, the Kingdom of God, consecrated to God. As in Israel, so in all the nations of the world the Lord has His holy seed, people who by His grace accept the Gospel and are saved.

Posted in Isaiah

Isaiah (Ch 3-4)

•February 15, 2022 • Leave a Comment

The whole prophecy of Isaiah starts with Judah and Jerusalem but soon it includes many prophecies concerning the house of Israel and other nations and cities.

Isaiah 3

¹ For behold, the Lord, the Lord of hosts, doth take away from Jerusalem and from Judah the stay and the staff, the whole store of bread and the whole store of water, — a famine is coming as the Lord takes away the whole store of bread and the whole store of water from Jerusalem and from Judah;

²the mighty man and the man of war, the judge and the prophet, and the prudent and the ancient, — also, the Lord takes away men fit to be generals of armies; removed by death before this time, including other staff: wise men, mighty men and honourable men;

³the captain of fifty and the honorable man, and the counselor and the skilled artificer and the eloquent orator. — again, more staff and counselors taken away; an eloquent orator is one skilful in enchanting serpents, even then these are taken away;

⁴“And I will give children to be their princes, and babes shall rule over them. — and only given children and babes to be our leaders, commentators, newsreaders, etc; a reference to the incompetence, weakness and ignorance of the people that will be elevated to places of authority as the decline of Israel continues.

⁵And the people shall be oppressed, everyone by another and everyone by his neighbour; the child shall behave himself proudly against the elder, and the base against the honorable.” — the arrogant rejection of authority and the utter disregard of God’s law concerning respect for the aged; all respect for the God-given rights of others having vanished; the child shall behave himself proudly against the ancient, without the slightest regard for his superiors,

— and the base against the honorable, not only by ignoring all distinction of rank, but by setting aside the government instituted by God. In other words, tyranny is followed by mob-rule, and this, in turn, by anarchy so that everything is in a turmoil, every semblance of governmental control has vanished;

⁶When a man shall take hold of his brother in the house of his father, saying, “Thou hast clothing; be thou our ruler, and let this ruin be under thy hand,” — one of the same kindred and family; or one of their brethren, not one that is most qualified, that might rule over them — nepotism and corruption — thou hast clothing, having saved at least a decent suit of clothes in the general overthrow, be thou our ruler and let this ruin;

⁷in that day he shall swear, saying, “I will not be a healer, for in my house is neither bread nor clothing: Make me not a ruler of the people!” — in that day shall he refusing to take an obligation upon responsibilities, swear, saying, calling out loudly in protest, I will not be an healer, in trying to save the wreck;

— make me not a ruler of the people; this shows that the state of the nation must be very bad indeed, that men, who are naturally ambitious of power and honour, should refuse government when offered to them; the Targum says, “I am not fit to be a head or governor.”

⁸For Jerusalem is ruined, and Judah is fallen, because their tongue and their doings are against the Lord, to provoke the eyes of His glory. — for Jerusalem is ruined, and Judah is fallen, outward and inward decay is evident, because their tongue and their doings are against the Lord, their apostasy and blasphemy have reached the limit, to provoke the eyes of His glory, the glorious appearance of His holy essence, for they challenge the wrath of the Lord by deliberately planning and executing evil.

⁹The show of their countenance doth witness against them, and they declare their sin as Sodom; they hide it not. Woe unto their soul! For they have rewarded evil unto themselves. — for they have rewarded evil unto themselves, they are bound to bring punishment upon themselves. With a few strokes the prophet draws a picture of moral filth, which fills the reader with loathing of such depths of wickedness.

¹⁰Say ye to the righteous that it shall be well with them, for they shall eat the fruits of their doings. — say ye to the righteous, to the few who are still found in the midst of the general decay, that it shall be well with him; for they shall eat of the fruit of their doings, their good works, the fruit of their faith, do follow them.

¹¹Woe unto the wicked! It shall be ill with him, for the reward of his hands shall be given him. — woe unto the wicked! it shall be ill with him, his will be a lamentable fate; for the reward of his hands, that which he earned by his evil deeds, shall be given him. The godless will have no one to blame but themselves when everlasting destruction comes upon them.

¹²As for My people, children are their oppressors, and women rule over them! O My people, they that lead thee cause thee to err, and destroy the way of thy paths. — children, incompetent and ruthless youngsters are their oppressors, and women, subject to whims and moods, rule over them. O My people, they which lead thee cause thee to err, the leaders becoming misleading, and destroy the way of thy paths, devouring it by their false, erroneous preaching, so that the way of divine truth is no longer visible.

¹³The Lord standeth up to plead and standeth to judge the people. — the Lord stands up to plead, to take up the case of the world, and stands to judge the people and nations of the world, to convict them of their wickedness.

¹⁴The Lord will enter into judgement with the elders of His people and the princes thereof: “For ye have eaten up the vineyard, and the spoil of the poor is in your houses. — the Lord will enter into judgement with the ancients of His people, who were supposed to be their leaders, and the princes thereof, to whose guidance He had entrusted Israel; for ye have eaten up the vineyard, crushing the Kingdom of God; the spoil of the poor, of whom the Kingdom largely consists, is in your houses, due to the persecution of the rulers.

¹⁵What mean ye that ye beat My people to pieces and grind the faces of the poor?” saith the Lord God of hosts. — what mean ye that ye beat My people to pieces, crushing them with the most severe tyranny, and grind the faces of the poor in trampling them under foot, saith the Lord God of hosts;

— that is a special sign of the time preceding the Last Days: oppression and persecution of the Kingdom of God and for this the Lord will punish the wicked in full measure. However, it is not only the princes and rulers of the people who have brought God’s judgement upon themselves, but also the women of the land.

¹⁶Moreover the Lord saith: “Because the daughters of Zion are haughty, and walk with stretched forth necks and wanton eyes, walking and mincing as they go, and making a tinkling with their feet, — the daughters of Zion are haughty and walk with stretched-forth necks, proudly thrown back, and wanton eyes, winking in feigned innocence;

— but with hidden invitation, walking and mincing, with affected, tripping steps, as they go and making a tinkling with their feet, the ankle-chains, which brought about the mincing steps, also producing a delicate ringing,

¹⁷therefore the Lord will smite with a scab the crown of the head of the daughters of Zion, and the Lord will uncover their secret parts.” — the Lord will smite with a scab the crown of the head of the daughters of Zion, where long hair now is decorated handsomely, will be found nothing but loathsome uncleanness, and the Lord will discover their secret parts, exposing them to shame and disgrace before the whole world.

¹⁸In that day the Lord will take away the bravery of their tinkling ornaments about their feet, and their hair nets and their round ornaments like the moon, — the Targum renders it, “the ornament of the shoes”; these were put about the place where the shoes were tied; and in the Talmud the word is explained by קורדיקייה, “shoes” which the gloss interprets of wooden shoes: the ornament of their clothing; as if this was the general name for the particulars that follow:

— in the form of the moon; they were no other than bracelets, necklaces or golden chains and the word in the Talmud is rendered עונקייה, “chains.”

¹⁹the chains and the bracelets and the spangled ornaments, — the chains, the ear-pendants and the bracelets or chains worn on wrist or arm and the mufflers, fluttering veils,

²⁰the bonnets and the ornaments of the legs, and the headbands and the tablets and the earrings, — the bonnets, turban-shaped diadems, and the ornaments of the legs, the step-chains connecting the ankle-bracelets, and the head-bands, beautiful girdles, and the tablets, perfume capsules, the favorite odor being musk and the earrings, small amulets with verses of magic,

²¹the rings and nose jewels, — the rings on their finger and nose jewels; the same with the jewels on the forehead or nose,

²²the changeable suits of apparel and the mantles and the shawls and the crisping pins, — the changeable suits of apparel, the finest street dresses and the mantles, roomy tunics with sleeves and the wimples, costly shawls, and the crisping pins, beautifully worked hand-bags or boxes,

²³the mirrors and the fine linen, and the hoods and the veils. — looking glasses by which they dressed themselves,

²⁴And it shall come to pass that instead of sweet smell there shall be stench; and instead of a girdle, a rent; and instead of wellset hair, baldness; and instead of a sash, a girding of sackcloth; and branding instead of beauty. — and it shall come to pass that instead of sweet smell, the delicate perfume of balsam, there shall be stink and instead of a girdle a rent, nothing but a rope to hold the garments together

²⁵Thy men shall fall by the sword, and thy mighty in the war. — thy men shall fall by the sword, the defenders of Jerusalem a prey of war and thy mighty in the war.

²⁶And her gates shall lament and mourn; and she, being desolate, shall sit upon the ground. — and her gates where the chief men of the city were wont to discuss the welfare of the city, shall lament and mourn, because the seats of the men are empty; and she, the daughter of Zion, the city itself, being desolate, shall sit upon the ground, a picture of desolation.

Isaiah 4

¹ And in that day seven women shall take hold of one man, saying, “We will eat our own bread and wear our own apparel; only let us be called by thy name to take away our reproach.” — and in that day, due to the fact that many men have fallen in battle, seven women shall take hold of one man, in an unnatural denial of womanly modesty, saying, We will eat our own bread and wear our own apparel, not depending upon him for support;

— only let us be called by thy name, that they might be known as his wives, to take away our reproach, for it was considered a disgrace not to be married and bear children. Such are the scenes which preceded the fall of Jerusalem as in the days of Vespasian and Titus, and similar scenes will precede the end of the world.

²In that day shall the Branch of the Lord be beautiful and glorious; and the fruit of the earth shall be excellent and comely for those who have escaped of Israel. — the Targum paraphrases the words thus, “at that time shall the Messiah of the Lord be for joy and glory.”

³And it shall come to pass that he that is left in Zion and he that remaineth in Jerusalem shall be called holy — even every one who is written among the living in Jerusalem — and it shall come to pass that he that is left in Zion and he that remains in Jerusalem, the elect of the Lord, shall be called holy, consecrated to the Lord and serving Him in a holy life, even every one that is written among the living in Jerusalem, those who are appointed by God unto eternal life, Acts 13:48, whether they be of Jews or Gentiles,

⁴when the Lord shall have washed away the filth of the daughters of Zion, and shall have purged the blood of Jerusalem from her midst by the spirit of judgment and by the spirit of burning. — when the Lord shall have washed away the filth of the daughters of Zion, namely, the moral uncleanness and sinfulness which no amount of outward ornament can cover before His eyes;

— and shall have purged the blood of Jerusalem, the outstanding acts of wickedness and guilt, from the midst thereof by the spirit of God rebuking the evil and destroying all wickedness by a thorough winnowing and sifting, for conversion is entirely and alone His work.

⁵And the Lord will create upon every dwelling place of Mount Zion, and upon her assemblies, a cloud and smoke by day and the shining of a flaming fire by night; for upon all the glory shall be a defense. — and the Lord will create upon every dwelling-place of Mount Zion and upon her assemblies, wherever there are congregations of believers, a cloud and smoke by day and the shining of a flaming fire by night;

— these being the vehicle and sign of the merciful presence of Jehovah in the midst of His people; for upon all the glory, in every place of glory where believers are assembled in His name, shall be a defense, a covering, or canopy, the Lord Himself, as the King of Grace, having His throne in every congregation and causing it, by the gifts of His mercy, to be a glory, a place where His glory shines forth.

⁶And there shall be a tabernacle for shade in the daytime from the heat, and for a place of refuge and for a covert from storm and from rain. — and there shall be a tabernacle for a shadow in the daytime from the heat, the Messiah Himself dwelling in their midst;

— and for a place of refuge and for a refuge where one may hide in safety from storm and from rain; for the Messiah is the Protector of His Kingdom against the manifold dangers with which it is surrounded. In this way the Branch of the Lord serves for glory to His elect, and the believers cheerfully trust themselves to His keeping.

Posted in Isaiah

Isaiah (Ch 1-2)

•February 13, 2022 • Leave a Comment

Isaiah stands first of all the major prophets according to the Jewish chronology, Isaiah, Jeremiah, Ezekiel, Daniel and the twelve. Though the order of the prophets, Isaiah appeared during the reign of Hezekiah and therefore was well before Jeremiah and Ezekiel. Here in this book of Isaiah, the order of the chapters is no indication of the chronological order.

The Scriptures are often shrouded in cryptic languages; and as usual a prophecy of Isaiah will start with the house of Judah and Jerusalem then spread to the house of Israel and soon it includes many prophecies concerning other nations surrounding the region. Our challenge is to decrypt them.

Isaiah 1

¹ The vision of Isaiah the son of Amoz, which he saw concerning Judah and Jerusalem in the days of Uzziah, Jotham, Ahaz, and Hezekiah, kings of Judah. — Rabbi Rashi: we have a tradition from our ancestors that Amoz and Amaziah, king of Judah, were brothers;

— we learn from Isaiah 6:8 where he said, “Here I am; send me” that this was the beginning of his mission, and this prophecy in chapter 1 and other were written afterwards. Hence the order of the chapters is no indication of the chronological order in this book of Isaiah;

— the whole prophecy of Isaiah starts with Judah and Jerusalem but soon it includes many prophecies concerning the house of Israel and other nations and cities.

²Hear, O heavens, and give ear, O earth! For the Lord hath spoken: “I have nourished and brought up children, and they have rebelled against Me. — God have nourished and brought up children; meaning the children of Israel; “my people, the house of Israel, whom I have called children,”

— and they have rebelled against their Lord and King; for the house of Israel were under a theocracy; God, who was their Father, was their King, and they rebelled against him by breaking his laws, which rebellion is aggravated by its being not only of subjects against their king, but of children against their father; the law concerning a rebellious son, see in Deuteronomy 21:18;

— Q: is Isiah the son of Amoz born of the northern house of Israel or of the southern house of Judah?

³The ox knoweth his owner and the ass his master’s crib; but Israel doth not know, My people doth not consider.” — the ox knoweth his owner… knows his voice when he calls him; and follows him where he leads him, whether to plough in the field or feed in the meadows;

— and the ass his masters crib, or “manger” where he is fed and to which he goes when he wants food and at the usual times; but the house of Israel doth not know his Maker and Owner, his King, Lord, and Master, his Father, Saviour, and Redeemer; he does not own and acknowledge his Son, but rejects him; see John 1:10;

— the number of different words used to describe the sins of Israel are rebellion (Isaiah 1:2), ignorance, lack of consideration (Isaiah 1:3), sin, iniquity, evil-doing, corruption, forsaking God, estrangement from God, backsliding (Isaiah 1:4), revolt, transgression, disobedience, sickness, (Isaiah 1:5) and unsoundness (Isaiah 1:6).

⁴Ah, sinful nation, a people laden with iniquity, a seed of evildoers, children that are corrupters! They have forsaken the Lord, they have provoked the Holy One of Israel unto anger, they have gone away backward. — a seed of evil doers; this is said both of their fathers and of themselves; they were planted the right seed but they had degenerated, becoming a wicked generation;

— they have provoked the Holy One of Israel to anger; by their numerous sins, both of omission and commission;

— as a result the wounds and bruises of Israel mentioned here should not be viewed as resulting from the hostile attacks of her enemies but as the result of the stripes of punishment laid upon Israel by the hand of God.

⁵Why should ye be stricken anymore? Ye will revolt more and more. The whole head is sick, and the whole heart faint. — ye revolt more and more or apostatize more and more; and grow more obdurate and resolute in it.

⁶From the sole of the foot even unto the head, there is no soundness in it, but wounds and bruises and putrefying sores; they have not been closed, neither bound up, neither mollified with ointment. — from the sole of the foot even unto the head…. every member of the body politic was afflicted in one way or another or sadly infected with the disease of sin; see Psalms 28:3;

— the Targum, whose origin in the Aramaic language could be traced to Ezra, says, “from the rest of the people, even unto the princes, there is none among them who is perfect in my fear.”

⁷Your country is desolate, your cities are burned with fire; your land, strangers devour it in your presence, and it is desolate, as overthrown by strangers. — this must be speaking of the endtime; and second, was applying the issues or strangers and migrants more to the house of Israel than to the house of Judah;

— if “your country is desolate, your cities are burned with fire” then it is worthwhile to consider some other parallel Scriptures elsewhere; and one is found in Ezekiel:

So who are the strangers that will desolate the house of Israel, identified here as the United States? Many believe Russia was and some still believe it is the main threat of the United States. Others, like warmonger John Mearsheimer of the University of Chicago, give incredible speeches around the world saying China is the main enemy.

Ezekiel 20:45 Moreover the word of the Lord came unto me, saying,
⁴⁶ “Son of man, set thy face toward the South, and drop thy word toward the South, and prophesy against the forest of the Southland.
⁴⁷ And say to the forest of the South: ‘Hear the word of the Lord. Thus saith the Lord God: Behold, I will kindle a fire in thee, and it shall devour every green tree in thee and every dry tree. The flaming flame shall not be quenched, and all faces from the South to the North shall be burned therein.
⁴⁸And all flesh shall see that I, the Lord, have kindled it; it shall not be quenched.’”
⁴⁹ Then said I, “Ah, Lord God! They say of me, ‘Doth he not speak parables?’”
Ezekiel 21:1 And the word of the Lord came unto me, saying,
² “Son of man, set thy face toward Jerusalem, and drop thy word toward the holy places, and prophesy against the land of Israel;
³ and say to the land of Israel, ‘Thus saith the Lord: Behold, I am against thee, and will draw forth My Sword out of his sheath and will cut off from thee the righteous and the wicked.
⁴ Seeing then that I will cut off from thee the righteous and the wicked, therefore shall My Sword go forth out of his sheath against all flesh from the South to the North,
⁵that all flesh may know that I, the Lord, have drawn forth My Sword out of his sheath. It shall not return any more.’ (Ezekiel 20:45-21:5)

The Scriptures above are shrouded in cryptic languages and so the Qs are: how would such scenarios be played out? The current Russia/Ukraine and China/Taiwan arises are just two major distractions, but more importantly, who are these enemies the Prophet Ezekiel identifies coming from the SOUTH, and how would God says He will kindle a fire and “all the remnant of the people shall despoil thee?”

One Report by McKinsey says of the 60 millions Latinos in the US that had migrated from the South; they often live in ‘deserts’ where adequate housing, groceries are hard to find. “Nearly 9 in 10 of the Latino residents in such communities lived in five states: California, Florida, New Jersey, New York and Texas.”

⁸And the daughter of Zion is left as a cottage in a vineyard, as a shed in a garden of cucumbers, as a besieged city. — this is speaking of the house of Judah, a much small house, compares to the 10-tribes house of Israel, just as a small cottage left in the vineyard as Isaiah saw it.

⁹Unless the Lord of hosts had left unto us a very small remnant, we should have been as Sodom, and we should have been like unto Gomorrah. — some in the north of the house of Israel who had escaped the general desolation, came to the south of the house of Judah and found refuge and protection behind the walls of Jerusalem, which had yet to fall.

¹⁰Hear the word of the Lord, ye rulers of Sodom; give ear unto the law of our God, ye people of Gomorrah: — this is a warning of what they will be like if they continue with the rebellion and abominations as Sodom and Gomorrah; unless repented off, they would face the same fire and brimstone.

¹¹“To what purpose is the multitude of your sacrifices unto Me?” saith the Lord. “I am full of the burnt offerings of rams and the fat of fed beasts; and I delight not in the blood of bullocks, or of lambs or of hegoats. — more important is their altitude, their gratitude, their humanity, their repentance if any, which is well below expectation.

¹²When you come to appear before Me, who hath required this from your hand, to tread My courts? — the Sanhedrin in Jerusalem is the highest court which the Most High has set on this earth;

— and the tenets of the Sanhedrin in setting the calendar were ignored; king Jeroboam took the law upon himself and worshipped on the Feast days a month later;

— and he established Bethel and Dan as places to offer sacrifice, against God’s expressed will to be in Jerusalem;

— for his rebellion, Jeroboam was greatly punished: his dynasty would end badly. “His family was eventually wiped out.”

¹³Bring no more vain oblations; incense is an abomination unto Me. The new moons and Sabbaths, the calling of assemblies, I cannot endure. It is iniquity, even the solemn meeting. — Jeroboam’s new moon and sabbaths were an abomination to God; it was outright malicious and rebellious, hence God couldn’t endure and so send them, the house of Israel, off into captivity;

— these assemblies called were the holy convocations on the seventh day Sabbath, at the feasts of Passover, Pentecost, at the blowing of the Trumpets, on the day of Atonement and Tabernacles: Leviticus 23.

¹⁴Your new moons and your appointed feasts My soul hateth; they are a trouble unto Me, I am weary of bearing them. — again, this new moon and their appointed feasts are repeated to show how God hates them;

— God was and is referring to the house of Israel; their appointed feasts a month late, and at Dan and Bethel, instead of in Jerusalem, where he ordains it to be the holy place;

— and they maliciously change the day of worship from Sabbaths to Sundays.

¹⁵And when ye spread forth your hands, I will hide Mine eyes from you; yea, when ye make many prayers, I will not hear; your hands are full of blood. — and even when they spread forth their hands in a gesture which is a caricature of true prayer, God would hide his face from them, for they were full of rebellions, and their hands are full of violence and injustice before God.

¹⁶Wash you, make you clean, put away the evil of your doings from before Mine eyes. Cease to do evil, — put away the evil of their doings from before God; the exhortation is not barely to put away their doings, but the evil of them, and that not from themselves, but from the eyes of God, from the eyes of his justice.

¹⁷learn to do well. Seek judgement, relieve the oppressed; judge the fatherless, plead for the widow. — learn to do well, not just mere knowing, but the doing being emphasised; seek justice, doing that which is right, relieve the oppressed, aiding them in obtaining justice;

— plead for the orphans, widows and fatherless, and those deprived of their any protection; in today’s world, it should include the homeless and the refugees.

¹⁸“Come now, and let us reason together,” saith the Lord. “Though your sins be as scarlet, they shall be as white as snow; though they be red like crimson, they shall be as wool. — though your sins be as scarlet, blood-red with guilt, they shall be white as snow; though they be red like crimson, the color apparently fast and fixed beyond the possibility of fading, they shall be as wool;

— though laden with guilt, God’s people are not condemned to everlasting damnation, but are given and imputed to them perfect righteousness upon repentance.

¹⁹If ye be willing and obedient, ye shall eat the good of the land; — being obedient to his commandments and not rebel against them, they would continue with the full enjoyment and blessings of the land.

²⁰but if ye refuse and rebel, ye shall be devoured with the sword”; for the mouth of the Lord hath spoken it. — with God’s judgement, his wrath and vengeance, the sword shall be drawn against them;

— for the mouth of the Lord hath spoken it; and he will surely make it good for the maintaining of his own honour.

²¹How the faithful city has become a harlot! It was full of judgement; righteousness lodged in it, but now murderers. — how is the faithful city become a harlot!… the city of Jerusalem, in which were the temple, and the pure worship of God, and was in the tribe of Judah, which ruled with God, and was very faithful;

— and probably speaking of Samaria, when the ten tribes revolted, and fell in with the sin of Jeroboam it became like a treacherous wife to her husband;

— and it could be prophetic like modern cities today: New York, Chicago, London, Paris; all are filled with murderous blood.

²²Thy silver has become dross, thy wine mixed with water. — thy silver is become dross… meaning either that such persons, who had the appearance of goodness, looked like genuine silver, were now reprobate as the wicked of the earth are like dross;

— thy wine, the leaders and nobles, mixed with water, that is, the judges and rulers of the city had turned from integrity and sincerity to moral impurity.

²³Thy princes are rebellious, and companions of thieves; every one loveth bribes, and followeth after rewards. They judge not the fatherless, neither doth the cause of the widow come unto them. — thy princes are rebellious, obstinately opposing God and His covenant, and becoming companions of thieves, thinking only of ways and means to satisfy their greed;

— everyone loveth gifts, and followeth after rewards;

— the Targum, whose origin in the Aramaic language could be traced to Ezra, paraphrases it, “everyone says to his neighbour, do me a favour in my cause, I will return ‘it’ to thee in thy cause;” and so justice is perverted.

²⁴Therefore saith the Lord, the Lord of hosts, the Mighty One of Israel: “Ah, I will ease Me of Mine adversaries, and avenge Me of Mine enemies. — therefore, saith the Lord, the Lord of hosts, the mighty One of Israel… all these names and titles, which are expressive of the majesty, power and authority, are to give greater solemnity and weight to what follows; and to show that he is able to accomplish what he determines and threatens to do;

— I will ease Me of Mine adversaries, and avenge Me of Mine enemies; thus God, speaking after the manner of men, represents himself as feeling satisfaction in executing justice upon obstinate and incorrigible offenders.

²⁵And I will turn My hand against thee, and wholly purge away thy dross, and take away all thy tin. — and I will turn My hand upon thee, namely, against Samaria, the faithless, sinful city that Jeroboam had established with the house of Israel; and purely purge away thy dross, melting it out with lye, removing the obstinate and wicked leaders; and take away all thy tin, the lead mixed with the precious metal, the ungodly in high and low places;

— and the northern house of Israel was carried away in stages during the time of Hezekiah when Isaiah was prophesying;

— and the house of Israel was forgotten, all the noise of the tin is gone, forgotten, until the endtime when God will restore them.

²⁶I will restore thy judges as at the first, and thy counselors as at the beginning. Afterward thou shalt be called the City of Righteousness, the Faithful City.” — this is flashing forward into the Millennium when the seventy judges of the Sanhedrin and other counsellors will be fully restored in Jerusalem;

— and building of the Ezekiel Jerusalem; and after the Millennium, the New Jerusalem.

²⁷Zion shall be redeemed with judgement, and her converts with righteousness. — Zion shall be redeemed through justice; since there will be people who practice the right kind of justice; and they shall be redeemed from their iniquities.

²⁸And the destruction of the transgressors and of the sinners shall be together, and they that forsake the Lord shall be consumed. — and the destruction of the transgressors and of the sinners shall be together…. of the beast and false prophet, of the followers of antichrist, the man of sin, all are transgressors of the law of God; these sinners will all be consumed together.

²⁹For ye shall be ashamed of the oaks which ye have desired, and ye shall be confounded for the gardens that ye have chosen. — for they shall be ashamed of the oaks which ye have desired; they will be brought to shame on account of the groves where they practiced idolatry and ye shall be confounded for the gardens that ye have chosen where idolatry and other vices held full sway.

³⁰For ye shall be as an oak whose leaf fadeth, and as a garden that hath no water. — for ye shall be as an oak whose leaf fadeth, dying for want of nourishment; and as a garden that hath no water, whose flowers and fruits are bound to die.

³¹And the strong shall be as tow, and the maker of it as a spark; and they shall both burn together, and none shall quench them. — and the strong shall be as tow, that is, the well-to-do will be as a lamp-wick; and the maker of it as a spark, rather, his work as a spark, for the idol causes a consuming fire, which devours the idolaters themselves; and they shall both burn together, and none shall quench them;

— when the final Judgement comes and the fate of men has been decided, then the verdict of condemnation will strike the ungodly, and their worm will not die, neither will their fire be quenched, and they will be an abomination to all flesh.

Isaiah 2

¹ The word that Isaiah the son of Amoz saw concerning Judah and Jerusalem: — the Targum paraphrases the words as, “the word of prophecy, which Isaiah, the son of Amoz, prophesied:”

²And it shall come to pass in the last days that the mountain of the Lord’S house shall be established on the top of the mountains, and shall be exalted above the hills, and all nations shall flow unto it. — in the last days; the days when the Messiah commences;

— at the top of the mountains; on a mountain that is the head of all the mountains in the importance of mountains;

— and all nations shall stream into it; will gather and stream to it like rivers.

³And many people shall go and say, “Come ye, and let us go up to the mountain of the Lord, to the house of the God of Jacob; and He will teach us of His ways, and we will walk in His paths.” For out of Zion shall go forth the law, and the word of the Lord from Jerusalem. — and many people shall go and say… this is a prophecy of the numerous conversions among the nations in the latter day as also said in Zechariah 8:20;

— and he will teach us of his ways: that is, the Lord the God of Jacob; he is the teacher and there is none teacheth like him; and happy are they who are taught by God;

— for out of Zion shall go forth the law and the word of the Lord from Jerusalem; by which is meant the law, not to be mistaken as faith, of the Messiah, Isaiah 42:4 for the law; called the “word of the Lord;”

— this began to be preached first in Jerusalem and from there it went forth into the world; and in Zion, in the Kingdom of God, it is now preached and will be more fully in the latter day; and so is an encouraging reason to engage persons to go up and hear it.

⁴And He shall judge among the nations, and shall rebuke many people; and they shall beat their swords into plowshares, and their spears into pruning hooks; nation shall not lift up sword against nation, neither shall they learn war anymore. — and He shall judge among the nations and shall rebuke many people; stating His decisions, performing the functions as King and Judge in governing the people under His spiritual rule;

— for example, today we are honouring the host of heaven with a pagan-named week and a paganised monthly calendar; and more than 98.5 percent of Christians are honouring the Sun by observing Sunday worship. They have “their backs toward the temple of the Lord and their faces toward the east; and they worshipped the SUN toward the east; whose Godly penalty is to be “cut off” to death (Deuteronomy 17:3-5) – ’till they die’;

— and they, under the influence of the Lord’s Spirits, shall beat their swords into plowshares, the broad knives fastened to the shaft of the plow by Oriental farmers, and their spears into pruning-hooks, that is, with which they prune their vineyards;

— nation shall not lift up sword against nation, neither shall they learn war any more, for under the government of the Prince of Peace, there is nothing but peace, unity, and love. It is a wonderful description of the Messianic kingdom and its beauties which is here given.

⁵O house of Jacob, come ye and let us walk in the light of the Lord. — O house of Jacob, the children of Israel, though specifically the inhabitants of Judah and Jerusalem being addressed above, it also includes the other 10 tribes of Israel.

⁶For Thou hast forsaken Thy people, the house of Jacob, because they are replenished from the East, and are soothsayers like the Philistines; and they please themselves with the children of strangers. — they are filled with divination from the east; the general meaning seems to be, that their land was full of idolatrous manners from eastern nations: the Ammonites, Chaldeans and Persians, and perhaps also they had encouraged these heathen to settle among them, that they might learn their customs.

⁷Their land also is full of silver and gold, neither is there any end of their treasures; their land is also full of horses, neither is there any end of their chariots. — this heaping up of material wealth is contrary to divine inspiration.

⁸Their land also is full of idols; they worship the work of their own hands, that which their own fingers have made. — their land is also full of idols; of the goddess Semirami, later transformed into the Virgin Mary, and of saints departed, whose images are set up to be worshipped in all their churches and in private houses;

— which their own fingers have made:, idols of gold, silver and brass; wood and stone.

⁹And the lowly man boweth down, and the great man humbleth himself; therefore forgive them not. — and the great man, the nobles and leaders among the people, humbleth himself, is humbled by God;

— therefore forgive them not; their sins of soothsaying, covetousness and idolatry; and such that worship the beast and his image shall not be forgiven, but drink of the wine of divine wrath and be tormented with fire for ever and ever.

¹⁰Enter into the rock, and hide thee in the dust, for fear of the Lord and for the glory of His majesty. — enter into the rock, as people hide before a cruel enemy, and hide themselves in rocks and caves of the earth in the wilderness;

— so for fear of the Lord, lest he should pour out his wrath and judgement upon them and be a consuming fire to them; for this is to be understood not of a filial reverence of God, but of a servile fear of punishment; and these words are sarcastically said, suggesting that rocks and mountains will be no protection or security for them.

¹¹The lofty looks of man shall be humbled, and the haughtiness of men shall be bowed down; and the Lord alone shall be exalted in that day. — the lofty looks of man shall be humbled, every gesture indicating pride will be beaten down and the haughtiness of men shall be humbled like dust and the Lord alone shall be exalted in that day, standing secure in the perfection of His essence.

¹²For the day of the Lord of hosts shall be upon every one that is proud and lofty, and upon every one that is lifted up—and he shall be brought low” — here “the day of the Lord” is the same as “the Lord’s day” in Revelation 1:10 “I was in the Spirit on the Lord’s Day,” – it is a period (or timeframe of a single day or of many years, depending on context as each case is different) a day of God’s Judgement!

— every one that is proud and lofty and upon every one that is lifted up, the day being, as it were, kept in reserve by the Lord, to come as a surprise upon the haughty ones of His grace; and he, every proud sinner, shall be brought low in the Day of Judgement.

¹³and upon all the cedars of Lebanon that are high and lifted up, and upon all the oaks of Bashan; — and upon all the cedars of Lebanon that are high and lifted up, pictures and emblems of the proud sinners.

¹⁴and upon all the high mountains, and upon all the hills that are lifted up; — high mountains and hills, to signify big countries and small ones; or to signify states and cities.

¹⁵and upon every high tower, and upon every fortified wall; — high towers and fenced walls, those who excelled in ingenuity, wisdom and strength.

¹⁶and upon all the ships of Tarshish, and upon all pleasant sights. — those who excelled in shipping and merchandising, bringing beautiful works of art from far-away land, creating self-esteem and wealth.

¹⁷And the loftiness of man shall be bowed down, and the haughtiness of men shall be made low; and the Lord alone shall be exalted in that day, — and the loftiness of man shall be bowed down, since all the objects of man’s pride will be destroyed, and the haughtiness of men shall be made low; and the Lord alone shall be exalted in that day, the highest and most glorious in the majesty of His essence;

— also; those atheists or followers of antichrist, who have boasted of their wisdom and knowledge, of their number, power, greatness, and authority, of their wealth and riches, and of their merits and works of supererogation; their pride will now be stained, and all their glory laid in the dust.

¹⁸and the idols He shall utterly abolish. — literally, “they will be changed,” they will vanish away, their vanity will be apparent before all men.

¹⁹And they shall go into the holes of the rocks, and into the caves of the earth, for fear of the Lord and for the glory of His majesty, when He ariseth to shake terribly the earth. — and they, the idolaters, shall go into the holes of the rocks and into the caves of the earth, in cellars or cisterns dug into the ground, for fear of the Lord and for the glory of His majesty, when He ariseth to shake terribly the earth;

— or shake the earth terribly; up and down, down and up; and sideways; imagine how many will die with those rushing Fukushima waves!!!

²⁰In that day a man shall cast away his idols of silver and his idols of gold (which he made each one for himself to worship) to the moles and to the bats, — in that day, under the influence of a repentant spirit they could have come too late, a man shall cast his idols of silver and his idols of gold, which they made for himself to worship, to the moles (a species of rodents that dig into the earth) and to the bats, into the first convenient crevice, in an effort to rid himself of their incriminating presence.

²¹to go into the clefts of the rocks, and into the tops of the ragged rocks, for fear of the Lord and for the glory of His majesty, when He ariseth to shake terribly the earth. — to go into the clefts of the rocks, and into the tops of the ragged rocks, his terror driving him to seek safety anywhere and everywhere, for fear of the Lord, namely, dread of the inevitable punishment, and for the glory of His majesty, when He ariseth to shake terribly the earth, to spread terror throughout the world, for His wrath will find His enemies in the most remote corners and hiding-places of the earth.

— or shake the earth terribly, again; up and down, down and up; and sideways; imagine how many will die with those rushing Fukushima waves! Nar, it would be hundred times more terrifying than those Fukushima waves!!!

²²Cease ye from man, whose breath is in his nostrils; for of what account is he? — cease ye from man, whose breath is in his nostrils, all men are admonished not to place their trust in man, weak and powerless as he is in all that he undertakes, dependent upon a breath which quickly disappears;

— for wherein is he to be accounted of? All human props may and will be taken away in the twinkling of an eye. It is time to trust in the Lord and not to put confidence in man, especially in view of the soon coming Day of Judgement, or the Lord’s Day, or the Day of the Lord, which will show the vanity of man’s pride and of all his accomplishments.

Posted in Isaiah

Nahum (Ch 1-3)

•February 10, 2022 • Leave a Comment

The prophecy of Nahum chiefly relates to the Assyrian empire and its chief city, Nineveh of their destruction. God used Assyria as a rod of his anger to punish His guilty people of Israel but finally this rod had to be punished itself for its own haughtiness and malice.

Some references over Assyria are yet to be fulfilled. The king of Assyria will come towards Israel and Egypt again in a day to come and will find his end in Palestine. Psalms 83.

The period in which Nahum prophesied may approximately before the destruction of Nineveh in the year 606 BC but after the dissolution of the northern kingdom through the Assyrian hosts and after some serious visitation which struck the southern kingdom.

Nahum 1

¹ The burden of Nineveh. The book of the vision of Nahum the Elkoshite. — the burden of Nineveh; a burden is a heavy message of weighty importance, heavy in the sense that it produces sorrow or grief. Jonah was earlier sent to this city to threaten it with ruin for its sins; at that time the king and all his people humbled themselves and repented and the threatened destruction was averted; but they soon relapsed to their former iniquities, and that Nahum prophesied after Jonah a considerable time, perhaps a hundred to a hundred and fifty years later;

— this prophecy is called a burden; it was taken up by Nahum the prophet at the command of the Lord, and was sent by him to Nineveh; and that ‘burden’ was a hard, heavy and grievous prophecy to that city, predicting its utter ruin and desolation.

² God is jealous, and the Lord avengeth; the Lord avengeth and is furious. The Lord will take vengeance on His adversaries, and He reserveth wrath for His enemies. — God is jealous of his own honour and glory and for his own worship and ordinances; and will not give his glory to another, nor to graven images;

— the Lord is furious and avenges; or is “master of wrath” full of it or has it at his command; he can restrain it and let it out as he pleases, which man cannot do. The Lord’s avenging is repeated for the confirmation of it; yea, it is a third time observed; which some Jewish writers think has respect to the three times the king of Assyria carried the people of Israel captive and for which the Lord would avenge on Israel’s behalf, by punishing him, too:

— the Targum explains it, “that hate his people;” vengeance belongs to the Lord, and he will repay it sooner or later;

— and He reserves wrath for His enemies; and them for that; if not in this world, yet in the world to come; he lays it up among his treasures and brings it forth at his pleasure. The word “wrath” is not in the text; it is not said what he reserves for the enemies of himself and church; it is inconceivable and inexpressible.

³The Lord is slow to anger and great in power, and will not at all acquit the wicked. The Lord hath His way in the whirlwind and in the storm, and the clouds are the dust of His feet. — the Lord is slow to anger, long-suffering and patient against wickedness of long standing; His almighty strength becoming evident when He does strike and will not at all acquit the wicked;

— the Lord hath His way in the whirlwind and in the storm, which are but instruments and exhibitions of His power, and the clouds are the dust of His feet, they are insignificant before Him and He uses them as He pleases;

— a parallel Scripture in Isaiah says: “Behold the day of the Lord cometh cruel, both with wrath and fierce anger to lay the land desolate. And he shall destroy the sinners thereof out of it … Therefore I will shake the heavens, and the earth shall move out of her place in the wrath of the Lord of hosts and in the day of his fierce anger” (Isaiah 13:9,13).

⁴He rebuketh the sea and maketh it dry, and drieth up all the rivers; Bashan languisheth and Carmel, and the flower of Lebanon languisheth. — when He rebukes the seas they becomes dry as when He caused the Red Sea to part before the children of Israel, Exodus 14:15, and dries up all the rivers, since they all are subject to His directions; Bashan, the rich pasture-land east of Jordan, languishes; and Carmel, the wooded slopes of the mountain overlooking the Mediterranean and the flower of Lebanon, otherwise a symbol of rich fertility, languishes, namely, when He withholds the moisture or bids the river go dry;

— and drieth up all the rivers; that is, he can do it if he will; he divided the waters of Jordan, through the midst of which the Israelites passed on dry ground; and will dry up the river Euphrates to make way for the kings of the east; and as for Tigris, on the banks of which the city of Nineveh stood;

— “Bashan … Carmel … Lebanon …” these names are associated with the richest and most-favoured dwelling places of antiquity; and they were mentioned here to show that no place on earth is beyond the judgement of God when the sins of its inhabitants require their punishment. The Tigris valley, where Nineveh lay, was another of the garden spots of the earth; but today it’s a desolation!

⁵The mountains quake at Him, and the hills melt, and the earth is burned at His presence, yea, the world and all that dwell therein. — the mountains quake before Him, or in front of Him; as at Mount Sinai, when the Lord descended on it, Exodus 19:18. Mountains figuratively signify large countries; hills are smaller countries;

— and the hills melt before Him as at the time of terrible earthquakes, and the earth is burned at His presence, yea, the world and all that dwell therein, both men and any irrational brutes.

⁶Who can stand before His indignation? And who can abide in the fierceness of His anger? His fury is poured out like fire, and the rocks are thrown down by Him. — who can stand before His indignation? before His wrath when it burns freely. And who can abide in the fierceness of His anger? Cf Jeremiah 10:10.

— His fury is poured out like fire in a torrent consuming everything before it, Deuteronomy 4:24, and the rocks are thrown down by Him. Cf Jeremiah 23:29. But this wrath of God may or may not strike those who keep His commandments and put their trust in Him.

⁷The Lord is good, a stronghold in the day of trouble; and He knoweth them that trust in Him. — the Lord is good, even in the midst of His judgements, a strong refuge in the day of trouble, a safe place when distress and misery come upon believers; and He knows them that trust in Him; He has that intimate knowledge of them, that peculiar insight into their needs which guarantees them His help.

⁸But with an overrunning flood He will make an utter end of the place thereof, and darkness shall pursue His enemies. — but with an overrunning flood, a deluge which carries everything before it; He will make an utter end of Nineveh, so that Nineveh would cease to be a city and its very site be used for altogether different purposes, and darkness shall pursue His enemies, a figure of a complete desolation.

⁹What do ye contrive against the Lord? He will make an utter end; affliction shall not rise up the second time. — what do ye imagine against the Lord? O ye Ninevites or Assyrians; do you think you can frustrate the designs of the Lord, resist his power, and hinder him from executing what he has threatened and has determined to do?

— He will make an utter end; affliction shall not rise up the second time, for the one blow on the part of the Lord would be sufficient so that the affliction which Judah suffered on the part of Assyria would not arise twice. Q: if so our understand of Psalm 83 would be faulty!

¹⁰For while they are folded together as thorns and while they are drunken as drunkards, they shall be devoured as stubble fully dry. — for though the Assyrians are folded together as thorns, braided together or entangled;

— and while they are drunken as drunkards, though they are drowned in their carousing in their wine, so that it might seem that fire would not be able to reach them or to affect them seriously, they shall be devoured as being fully dried up.

¹¹There is one that comes out of thee, that imagineth evil against the Lord, a wicked counselor. — there is one come out of thee, namely, Sennacherib or one of the other rulers who invaded Judah, that imagined evil against the Lord, meditating and speaking in this sense, a wicked counselor, one who advised worthlessness, things that were foolish and brought no results. Cf Isaiah 36:14-20.

— or as the Targum says: formed a scheme to invade the land of Judea; take the fenced cities and seize upon Jerusalem and carry the king, princes and all the people captive as Shalmaneser his father had carried away the ten tribes.

¹²Thus saith the Lord: “Though they be quiet and likewise many, yet thus shall they be cut down when he shall pass through. Though I have afflicted thee, I will afflict thee no more; — thus saith the Lord, Though they be quiet and likewise many, no matter how tranquilly secure and how numerous they are, yet thus shall they be cut down;

— suddenly disappearing as though mowed down, when he shall pass through, rather, and he passes away, namely, the daring invader who had meditated evil against Yehovah. Though God have afflicted them, bending Judah down to the ground, He will afflict them no more, this being a source of consolation to the Lord’s people.

¹³for now will I break his yoke from off thee, and will burst thy bonds asunder.”

¹⁴And the Lord hath given a commandment concerning thee, that no more of thy name be sown: “Out of the house of thy gods will I cut off the graven image and the molten image. I will make thy grave, for thou art vile.” — and the Lord hath given a commandment that no more of their name be remembered, that the dynasty of the Assyrian kings should become extinct;

— out of the house of thy gods will God cut off their graven image and the molten image, their goddess Ishtar, and others in whom the Assyrians placed their trust; God would make their graves for thou art vile, morally unworthy, no longer fit to live and to be in power. Thus the destruction of the power of Assyria was clearly set forth, in outlines that could not be misunderstood. Thus the Targum says, “there will I put thy grave.”

¹⁵Behold upon the mountains the feet of Him that bringeth good tidings, that publisheth peace! O Judah, keep thy solemn feasts, perform thy vows; for the wicked shall no more pass through thee; he is utterly cut off. — behold upon the mountains the feet of him that brought good tidings of the messenger of joy hastening forward to bring the good news, that publishes peace, announcing to Judah the overthrow of the enemies;

— O Judah, keep thy solemn feasts, resuming their celebration of the Passover, Pentecost and Tabernacles especially at this time, when the deliverance of the Lord’s people from violence and oppression constituted a further incentive for joy and thanksgiving, perform thy vows, those made in anticipation of this deliverance; for the wicked Assyrians shall no more pass through thee, they were utterly cut off.

Nahum 2

¹ He that dasheth in pieces has come up before thy face. Man the defenses! Watch the way! Make thy loins strong! Fortify thy power mightily! — “He that dasheth in pieces …” is the Lord of hosts; the instrument by which His will would be executed upon Nineveh was Babylon. The fourfold warning of “keep… watch … make strong … fortify” is irony. Who can stand against the Almighty? What human strength could avail against the Lord?

²For the Lord hath turned away the excellency of Jacob, as the excellency of Israel; for the emptiers have emptied them out and marred their vine branches. — for the Lord hath turned away the excellency of Jacob; “Jacob” is used here, not Judah; and Jacob necessarily included all of Israel, northern and southern; Yehovah being on the side of the invading army, making them captives before He restored them back their glory as when the covenant nation was at the height of its glory;

— for the invaders have emptied them out, or “plunderers have plundered them” and marred their vine-branches; the Targum interprets it of their renowned cities; these and towns and villages, being to the land as branches to the vine; and which had been ransacked and pillaged by the Assyrians outrageously destroying the land and outraging its inhabitants, so that the Lord felt obliged to avenge this indignity.

³The shield of his mighty men is made red, the valiant men are in scarlet; the chariots shall be with flaming torches in the day of his preparation, and the fir trees shall be terribly shaken. — the shield of His mighty men, of the heroes commissioned by the Lord to execute His punishment, is made red; red, either with the blood of the slain or thus coloured on purpose to inject terror to their enemies; or this may express the lustre of them, which being gilded or made of gold or brass in the rays of the sun glittered, and looked of a fiery red; all shining for the battle;

— the valiant men are in scarlet; their shield are red as are their cloaks; clothed in scarlet; partly to show their greatness and nobleness and partly to strike their enemies with terror and to hide their blood should they be wounded and so keep up their own spirits and not encourage their enemies:

— the chariots shall be with flaming torches in the day of his preparation, blazing with their iron equipments and the fir-trees shall be terribly shaken, the spears made of cypresses are brandished.

⁴The chariots shall rage in the streets, they shall jostle one against another in the broad ways; they shall seem like torches, they shall run like the lightning. — the chariots shall rage in the streets of Nineveh as they are driven furiously in the attack, they shall jostle one against another like madmen in their broadways, running to and fro in the market-places of Nineveh, all confused by the attack of the enemy;

— they shall seem like torches as the light struck the steel ornaments of the chariots; because of their numbers and the haste they shall make, they shall run like the lightnings, namely, as lightning plays in blinding flashes.

⁵He shall muster his worthies; they shall stumble in their walk; they shall make haste to the wall thereof, and the defense shall be prepared. — the Assyrian king shall recount his worthies; remembering and counting on his nobles and the troops; but they shall stumble in their charge; being many and in haste to obey the orders of their commander, all became confused and uncertain in their effort to reach the point where the attack is launched against the city;

— they shall make haste to the wall thereof but the defense shall be readied. The entire paragraph pictures the haste and confusion which takes hold upon the citizens and the soldiers of a city which has been too secure and now finds itself surrounded by a host of enemies.

⁶The gates of the rivers shall be opened, and the palace shall be dissolved. — the gates of the city which lay nearest to the river Tigris shall be opened, the reference being to some natural or artificial inundation of the city which helped in its destruction, and the palace shall be flooded, its inhabitants being overcome with terror and losing all semblance of careful thinking and planning.

⁷And Huzzab shall be led away captive, she shall be brought up; and her maids shall lead her as with the voice of doves, beating upon their breasts. — and the queen of Assyria, Huzzab, perhaps a reference to the patron goddess of Assyria, Ishtar; shall be led away captive as the Targum says, literally, “It is determined,” by God; “she is made bare,” namely, Nineveh, “like a ravished woman, and carried away.”

— or the king himself may be intended as Huzzab, who may be represented as a woman for his effeminacy; she shall be brought up, and her maids shall lead her, the inhabitants of the city being so regarded, as with the voice of doves, with mournful cries;

— she shall be brought up; the queen or the king, out of the palace or private retirement, where they were in peace and safety; or Nineveh and its inhabitants out of their secure state and condition:

— as with the voice of doves, tabering upon their breasts; mourning like doves, inwardly and secretly, not daring to express their sorrow more publicly because of their enemies; but knocking and beating upon their breasts, as men do upon tabrets or drums, thereby expressing the inward grief of their minds;

⁸But Nineveh is of old like a pool of water; yet they shall flee away. “Stand, stand!” shall they cry, but none shall look back. — but Nineveh is liked an old pool of water; this was a very ancient city, built by Nimrod, as some say; or rather by Ashur, as appears from Genesis 10:10

— and it was like fish pool, full of people as it was in the times of Jonah, an expression of her great population and prosperity; yet they shall flee away, her great population leaving her to her fate. Stand, stand! shall they cry, in an attempt to stop the heedless rush; but none shall look back, refusing to return to the ravished city.

⁹Take ye the spoil of silver, take the spoil of gold; for there is no end of the store and glory of all the pleasant furnishings. — the looting by Assyria is taking place: take ye the spoil of silver, take the spoil of gold! For there is none end of the store and glory out of all the pleasant furniture, of the various rich treasures with which the palaces of the city of Nineveh were filled;

— no people who ever lived on earth knew any more about looting than the Assyrians; and now it was their turn to be the looted! What a fat city Assyria was! It was the grand central warehouse of looted treasures of the whole ancient world; that there was nothing else like it on earth; and yet all that wealth was carried away, leaving nothing but a mound of ruins forever!

¹⁰She is empty and void and waste; and the heart melteth, and the knees smite together; and much pain is in all loins, and the faces of them all gather blackness. — the city of Nineveh, now empty, void and in waste, literally, “emptiness and being emptied out and desolation!” and the heart melted in utter discouragement;

— and the knees smite together in the terror which cannot control itself and much pain is in all loins, Isaiah 21:3, and the faces of them all gather blackness, all of them pale with fear. Thus the mighty city would be destroyed with all its rich treasures;

— and the faces of them all gather blackness; like a pot, as the Targum adds; being in great distress and disconsolation, which make men appear in a dismal hue, and their countenances look very dark and gloomy; see Joel 2:6;

— the story of the Assyrians or the city of Nineveh is not just a manifestation of a people or a city but a manifestation of any nation or tribe before God’s Omniscience and Omnipotence.

¹¹Where is the dwelling of the lions and the feeding place of the young lions, where the lion, even the old lion, walked, and the lion’s whelp, and none made them afraid? — of the kings of Assyria, comparable to lions for their strength, courage, and cruelty, tyranny, and oppression; such as Pul, Tiglathpileser, Shalmaneser, and Sennacherib. So the Targum says “where are the habitations of kings?”

— “Where is the den … etc,” the city of Nineveh, long a center of terror for the whole world, where was it when the blow fell? Where were the powers dreaded all over the earth? Where was the mighty king? Where was the rapacious army, red with the blood of all peoples? Where was it? Where is it now? Where has it ever been since “the day of the wrath of the Lord?”

— Q: if the Assyrians or Nineveh will never rise again our understand of Psalm 83 would be faulty!

¹²The lion tore in pieces enough for his whelps and strangled for his lionesses, and filled his holes with prey and his dens with rapine. — the lion did tear in pieces enough for his whelps as much as his young ones desired and strangled for his lionesses and filled his holes, the dens occupied by him, with prey and his dens with ravin, his lurking-places with spoil. Even so the kings of Assyria heaped up treasures taken from every part of the world for the use of the inhabitants of Nineveh.

¹³“Behold, I am against thee,” saith the Lord of hosts, “and I will burn her chariots in the smoke, and the sword shall devour thy young lions; and I will cut off thy prey from the earth, and the voice of thy messengers shall no more be heard.” — Behold, I, the Lord is against thee, against Nineveh and the whole Assyrian empire for such rapine, violence and oppression, saith the Lord of hosts, the ruler of the heavenly armies, and God will burn her chariots in the smoke, so that all her war material goes up in smoke, and the sword shall devour thy young lions, the mighty men of the city;

— and God will cut off thy prey from the earth, and the voice of thy messengers shall no more be heard as they boasted of the might and prowess of Assyria and Nineveh. God has ways of subduing even the mightiest enemies, no matter how mightily they rise up in their own conceit. — Q: if so, could Psalm 83 be historic?

Nahum 3

¹ Woe to the bloody city! It is all full of lies and robbery; the prey departeth not. — woe to the bloody city, Nineveh, in which many murders were daily committed; or “O city of blood, of blood-guiltiness!” It is a city full of lies and robbery, so that deceit, violence and extortion were the order of the day; the prey departs not, robbery goes on without ceasing; like the cities of New York or Chicago today!

— or the real CIA as Mike Pompeo, Donald Trump’s Secretary of State, admitted:

“I was the CIA director. We lied, we cheated, we stole,” former CIA director and now Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said on April 15, 2019 at a forum at Texas A&M University, TX. “It was like – we had entire training courses. It reminds you of the glory of the American experiment.”

— the prey departeth not; Gill: they go on in making a prey of their neighbours, in pillaging and plundering their substance; they repent not of such evil practices, nor desist from them; or because of the above sins they shall fall a prey to the enemy, who will not cease plundering them till he has utterly stripped them of all they have; and who is represented in the next verse Nahum 3:2 as just at hand.

²The noise of a whip and the noise of the rattling of the wheels, and of the prancing horses and of the jumping chariots! — the noise of a whip, its sharp crack heard as the horses are urged forward in battle, or of a horseman or chariot driver whipping his horses to make speed to Nineveh, and the noise of the rattling of the wheels and of the prancing horses and of the jumping chariots, bounding along over the ground as the horses broke into a gallop.

³The horseman lifteth up both the bright sword and the glittering spear, and there is a multitude of slain and a great number of carcasses. And there is no end of their corpses—they stumble upon their corpses” — the Ninevites in fleeing and endeavouring to make their escape from the Chaldeans pursuing them; the horseman mounting, rather, “horsemen rearing,” as they directed their mounts to charge, both the bright sword and the glittering spear, or “the name of the sword and the lightning of the lance”

— and there is a multitude of slain or of wounded and a great number of carcasses, a wall of corpses heaped up; they, the invading enemies, stumble upon their corpses, unable to pick their way forward because the entire battlefield is strewn with the dead;

⁴because of the multitude of the whoredoms of the well-favoured harlot, the mistress of witchcraft, that selleth nations through her whoredom, and families through her witchcraft. — because of the multitude of whoredoms, meaning Nineveh; which as it was an ancient city, was a well built one; full of stately and beautiful buildings, the seat of the kings of Assyria, and the metropolis of the nation, and abounded with wealth and riches; the acts of idolatry and wickedness;

— of the well-favoured harlot, the mistress of witchcrafts, idolatry and witchcraft being the special marks of the heathen character, that seduced nations through her whoredoms, with her hypocritical friendship and feigned interest, and families, smaller tribes, through her witchcrafts, namely, by her political schemes and intrigues, enslaved whole kingdoms and brought them under her power and dominion, to be her vassals; but the Lord will plunge Nineveh into a shameful destruction.

⁵“Behold, I am against thee,” saith the Lord of hosts, “and I will uncover thy skirts upon thy face; and I will show the nations thy nakedness and the kingdoms thy shame. — Behold, I am against Nineveh, saith the Lord of hosts, and I will uncover thy skirts and throw them up so high that they would reach over her face, and I will show the nations thy nakedness as that of a lewd woman, and the kingdoms thy shame, in bringing the utmost disgrace upon Nineveh and the kingdom of Assyria;

— Q; is God intending this “uncover thy skirts” for the house of Israel at a latter day, too?

⁶And I will cast abominable filth upon thee and make thee vile, and will set thee as a gazingstock. — And I will cast abominable filth upon thee, as an expression of the utmost disgust and loathing, and make thee vile, an object of disgrace, and will set thee as a gazing-stock, upon which men would look with contempt and derision.

⁷And it shall come to pass that all they that look upon thee shall flee from thee and say, ‘Nineveh is laid waste! Who will bemoan her?’ From whence shall I seek comforters for thee?” — and it shall come to pass that all they that look upon thee shall flee from thee, with a feeling of deepest revulsion, and say, Nineveh is laid waste; who will bemoan her? Whence shall I seek comforters for thee? so the prophet interjects his question. No one would have the slightest sympathy with the stricken city because she had so thoroughly deserved her judgement and its subsequent punishment.

⁸Art thou better than populous No, that was situated among the rivers, that had the waters round about it, whose rampart was the sea and her wall was from the sea? — Art thou better than populous No, that is, No-Amon, Thebes, the capital of Upper Egypt, that was situate among the rivers, that had the waters round about it, namely, in the great irrigation canals, whose rampart was the sea, and her wall was from the sea? the great expanse of the Nile;

— No Amon signifies the mansion or palace of Ham, or Hamon; the Egyptians, as Herodotus says, call Jupiter by the name of Ammon; thus the Targum interprets it of Alexandria the great, a city so called long after this, when it was rebuilt by Alexander the great;

⁹Ethiopia and Egypt were her strength, and it was infinite; Put and Lubim were thy helpers. — Ethiopia and Egypt were her strength; that is, the strength, support, protection, and defence of No, whether Alexandria, or Thebes or Memphis: Egypt was for these cities were in it, and subject to it; or if this was a free city, as some think, yet in alliance with Egypt and under its protection; and in like connection it was with Ethiopia, a country that lay near to it; and yet, though it was strengthened by such powerful neighbours and allies, it was not secure from the devastation of the enemy.

¹⁰Yet was she carried away; she went into captivity. Her young children also were dashed in pieces at the top of all the streets; and they cast lots for her honorable men, and all her great men were bound in chains. — yet, in spite of all her own power and the strength of her allies, was she carried away, she went into captivity, after a conquest by either Sennacherib or Sargon; her young children also were dashed in pieces at the top, that is, at the corners, of all the streets; and they cast lots for her honorable men, the conquerors dividing them among themselves by lot, as slaves, and all her great men were bound in chains.

¹¹Thou also shalt be drunken; thou shalt be hid; thou also shalt seek strength because of the enemy. — thou also, namely, Nineveh, shalt be drunken, upon receiving the cup of God’s fury in judgement; thou shall be hid, covered over, as though she had never existed; thou also shalt seek strength because of the enemy, protection or refuge before the advancing enemy, without being able to find it;

— thou shalt be hid; as Nineveh is at this day, “hid” from the sight of men, not to be seen any more; so the Targum says, “thou shall be swallowed up or destroyed.”

¹²All thy strongholds shall be like fig trees with the first ripe figs: if they be shaken, they shall even fall into the mouth of the eater. — all thy strongholds, the fortresses and castles of the Assyrian country, shall be like fig-trees with the first-ripe figs, considered a special delicacy; if they be shaken, they shall even fall into the mouth of the hunter, they would readily be taken or consumed by the invading enemy.

¹³Behold, thy people in the midst of thee are women; the gates of thy land shall be set wide open unto thine enemies; the fire shall devour thy bars. — behold, thy people in the midst of thee are women: weak and feeble, fearful and timorous; frightened at the first approach of the enemy; without strength and courage for the battle;

— the gates of thy land shall be set wide open, the Lord making the land easy of access to the invaders, unto thine enemies; the fire shall devour thy bars, those which held the great gates of the city shut.

¹⁴Draw thee waters for the siege! Fortify thy strongholds! Go into clay and tread the mortar; make strong the brickkiln! — draw thee waters for the siege; before the siege has begun, fetch water from the river, wells, or fountains outside the city, that needed for a long period of siege of the enemies; fortify thy strongholds, strengthening the forts; go into clay, for making bricks and tread the mortar in order to fashion bricks for the bulwarks; make strong the brickkiln, in order to burn the bricks.

¹⁵There shall the fire devour thee; the sword shall cut thee off; it shall eat thee up like the cankerworm. Make thyself many as the cankerworm, make thyself many as the locusts. — there shall the fire devour thee, either the fire of divine wrath; or the fire of the enemy in the very midst of these preparations; the sword shall cut thee off, it shall eat thee up like the cankerworm, as locusts destroy; make thyself many as the cankerworm, like devouring insects; make thyself many as the locusts;

— the thought is this: The fire and the sword, like locusts devouring everything before them, would consume Nineveh, even though the city with its masses of houses and inhabitants, in swarms and innumerable, would in turn, resemble a swarm of locusts.

¹⁶Thou hast multiplied thy merchants above the stars of heaven. The cankerworm despoileth, and fleeth away. — thou hast multiplied thy merchants above the stars of heaven, the number of its people engaged in commercial pursuits of every kind being very great; the cankerworm spoileth, literally, “the licking locusts enter to plunder,” and fled in haste, or be suddenly stripped of their power or riches; the military might of Assyria being powerless before the armies of the invaders.

¹⁷Thy crowned ones are as the locusts, and thy captains as the great grasshoppers, which camp in the hedges in the cold day; but when the sun ariseth they flee away, and their place is not known where they are. — thy crowned, the vassal princes are as the locusts, and thy captains, the commanders of her armies as the great grasshoppers, or “locusts of locusts” which camp in the hedges in the cold day, too chilled to use their wings;

— but when the sun ariseth, they flee away, and their place is not known where they are. In a similar way the Assyrian army would vanish from sight; it would not be in evidence to withstand the invaders.

¹⁸Thy shepherds slumber, O king of Assyria; thy nobles shall dwell in the dust; thy people are scattered upon the mountains, and no man gathereth them. — thy shepherds slumber, O king of Assyria, that is, the mighty ones, the leaders of the people, were resting in a false security; thy nobles shall dwell in the dust, rather, “thy powerful ones are lying still” not making a move to defend their country;

— thy people is scattered upon the mountains, and no man gathereth them, like sheep without a shepherd, which being frightened by beasts of prey, run here and there, and there is none to get them together, and bring them back again; no one assumes the leadership over them, and so their identity as an Assyrian nation is lost.

¹⁹There is no healing of thy bruise; thy wound is grievous. All that hear the report of thee shall clap the hands over thee. For upon whom hath not thy wickedness passed continually? — there is no healing of thy bruise, the ruin of it was irreparable and irrecoverable; of the fracture which the Lord had inflicted; thy wound is grievous, the stroke or ruin being deadly;

— all that hear the bruit, the report, of thee shall clap the hands over thee, in a gesture of joy over the downfall of the oppressor; for upon whom hath not thy wickedness passed continually? The Lord indeed used Assyria as His scourge, but He, at the same time, wanted Assyria to acknowledge His sovereignty. When Nineveh and the entire country, therefore, persisted in its wickedness, His punishment came upon the land with crushing force. But the Q remains: Is this exposition speaking of the house of Israel instead or in addition to the Assyrian empire? Selah!

Posted in Minor Prophets

Jonah (Ch 3-4)

•February 8, 2022 • Leave a Comment

The disobedient prophet Jonah had received a severe lesson at the hand of God, but being profited by his lesson he was ready to undertake the commission which had originally been issued to him.

The story of Jonah before God’s Omniscience and Omnipotence is not just a manifestation of himself or even for Jerusalem, Judea or Israel but a manifestation of the whole human race.

Jonah 3

¹ And the word of the Lord came unto Jonah the second time, saying, — Jonah having been scourged by the Lord for his stubbornness and disobedience, and being humbled under the mighty hand of God, is tried a second time; perhaps Jonah had settled down “somewhere” for the Word of God that came the second time, said, “Arise and go (Jonah 3:2)” and that is inconsistent with the idea that Jonah was already on the way after his first bad experience.

²“Arise, go unto Nineveh, that great city, and preach unto it the preaching that I bid thee.” — Arise, go unto Nineveh, that great city, the Assyrian capital and metropolis, and preach unto it the preaching that God bid him, loudly proclaiming the message which the Lord would reveal to him in due time.

³So Jonah arose and went unto Nineveh, according to the word of the Lord. Now Nineveh was an exceeding great city of three days’ journey. — so Jonah arose and went unto Nineveh, according to the word of the Lord, in unquestioning obedience. Now, Nineveh was an exceeding great city, literally, “a great city to God,”

— of three days’ journey; in compass, being sixty miles from end to end; allowing twenty miles for a day’s journey on foot.

⁴And Jonah began to enter into the city a day’s journey, and he cried and said, “Yet forty days, and Nineveh shall be overthrown.” — and as Jonah began to enter into the city the first twenty miles toward the center of Nineveh, he preached wherever he found a suitable place and a fitting opportunity; he cried and said, Yet forty days and Nineveh shall be overthrown;

— the word “overthrown” here, literally means, “Destroyed from the very foundation” and is the same word used in speaking of the destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah;

— likely to be in Aramaic, which was a lingua franca for the people at the time, understood by Jews and Assyrians alike.

⁵So the people of Nineveh believed God, and proclaimed a fast and put on sackcloth, from the greatest of them even to the least of them. — so the people heard the Word of God, believed and obeyed it; and were filled with wholesome fear; they proclaimed a fast as an outward evidence of their sorrow and put on sackcloth, the garment of mourning, from the greatest of them even to the least of them, old and young, all without exception.

⁶For word came unto the king of Nineveh; and he arose from his throne, and he laid his robe from him, and covered himself with sackcloth and sat in ashes. — for word came unto the king of Nineveh, into the neighborhood of whose palace the prophet had very likely progressed in his first day’s journey, and he arose from his throne, symbol of his earthly power, and he laid his imperial robe from him, his royal mantle, and covered him with sackcloth, also adopting the mourning-dress, and sat in ashes, all signs of sorrow and repentance. Cf Job 2:8; Ezekiel 27:30.

⁷And he caused it to be proclaimed and published through Nineveh by the decree of the king and his nobles, saying, “Let neither man nor beast, herd nor flock, taste anything; let them not feed, nor drink water. — and the king caused it to be proclaimed and published through Nineveh by the decree of the king himself and his nobles, the royal heralds being dispatched in accordance with the custom of making edicts of this kind known, saying, Let neither man nor beast, herd nor flock, taste anything, as sufferers with the people; let them not feed nor drink water.

⁸But let man and beast be covered with sackcloth and cry mightily unto God. Yea, let them turn every one from his evil way, and from the violence that is in their hands. — but let man and beast be covered with sackcloth, clothed in mourning, and cry mightily unto God, the very lowing of the cattle and the bleating of the sheep in their distress being considered appeals for mercy; yea, let them turn every one from his evil way, from his sinful habits;

— and from the violence that is in their hands. Cf Isaiah 59:6; their rapine and oppression, their thefts and robberies, and preying upon the substance of others; which seem to be the reigning vices of this city, in doing which many murders were committed also; see Nahum 3:1.

⁹Who can tell if God will turn and repent, and turn away from His fierce anger, that we perish not?” — who can tell if God will turn and repent, the possibility of His doing so being suggested by His interest in sending a prophet to warn them, and turn away from His fierce anger that we perish not? It was a true repentance on the part of the Ninevites and is so cited by the Messiah in reproof of those who, with much greater light and privileges, did not repent. Matthew 12:41; Luke 11:32, even if its effects were not lasting.

¹⁰And God saw their works, that they turned from their evil way. And God repented of the evil that He had said that He would do unto them, and He did it not. — and God saw their works, that they turned from their evil way, from the security of their open transgressions of the Lord’s will;

— and God repented of the evil that He had said that he would do unto them; and He did it not, letting His mercy guide His actions rather than a stern and immutable justice. As God spared Nineveh when its inhabitants turned to Him in repentance, so He is ready to show mercy to all those who lay aside their obstinate impenitence and plead with Him for forgiveness.

Jonah 4

¹ But it displeased Jonah exceedingly, and he was very angry. — but it displeased Jonah exceedingly, namely, that the Lord did not carry out His threat of punishment upon the people of Nineveh, and he was very angry, provoked, filled with grief and vexation;

— whatever the reasons for Jonah’s anger, he was wrong; his anger was as much a repudiation of God as was his flight in Jonah 1. It was an anger that could not tolerate the thought of God having compassion upon the heathen; and even among the Elects from the nations/Gentiles ahead of those from the Israelites.

²And he prayed unto the Lord and said, “I pray Thee, O Lord, was not this what I said when I was yet in my country? Therefore I fled before unto Tarshish; for I knew that Thou art a gracious God and merciful, slow to anger and of great kindness, and repent of the evil. — and Jonah prayed unto the Lord and said, I pray Thee, O Lord, was not this my saying, the argument which he had used within himself;

— when Jonah was yet in his country? when he first received the commission to go to Nineveh, he fled before unto Tarshish, that is, he anticipated the fruitlessness of his errand, the fact that his prediction against Nineveh was not fulfilled; for he knew that Thou art a gracious God and merciful, slow to anger and of great kindness, and repent Thee of the evil. Cf Exodus 34:6.

— the words were spoken out of a very decided ill humor, because Jonah, as he thought, had been sent to deliver a message which the Lord intended to revoke and which so readily produced repentance. It was a sad contradiction between an irritable mood and the better knowledge of his head and heart.

³Therefore now, O Lord, take, I beseech Thee, my life from me, for it is better for me to die than to live.” — therefore now, O Lord, take my life from me, Jonah beseech God; for he thought it was better for him to die than to live, his impatience of life under disappointed hopes of Israel’s repentance through the destruction of Nineveh is like that of Elijah at his plan for to reform Israel, 1 Kings 18, failing through Jezebel. Cf 1 Kings 19:4;

— the entire world of spiritual reality, as Jonah had misunderstood it, had come crashing down around him; and his frustration was complete; not being able to bear the reproach of being a false prophet.

⁴Then said the Lord, “Doest thou well to be angry?” — then said the Lord, in a preliminary reproof, Do thou well to be angry? Was there any justification for Jonah’s attitude? – an endeavour on the part of the Lord to provoke in Jonah for a self-examination of his own emotions and attitudes;

— the Targum says, “art thou exceeding angry?” and so other interpreters, Jewish and Christian understand the vigour of his anger.

⁵So Jonah went out of the city and sat on the east side of the city, and there made himself a booth and sat under it in the shadow till he might see what would become of the city. — so Jonah, still smarting under the displeasure which he felt, went out of the city and sat on the east side of the city, choosing an elevated portion in its immediate neighborhood, hoping it would provide a better vantage point for seeing the city overthrown,

— and there made him a booth, a temporary hut of branches and leaves, and sat under it in the shadow, till he might see what would become of the city, whether the original judgement would not, after all, be carried out upon it; for the forty days named in his message had not yet elapsed.

⁶And the Lord God prepared a gourd, and made it to come up over Jonah, that it might be a shadow over his head to deliver him from his grief. So Jonah was exceeding glad for the gourd. — and the Lord God prepared a gourd, the castor-oil plant, commonly called palm-crist, and made it to come up over Jonah, the plant growing up very rapidly, with its large leaves quickly casting a pleasant coolness,

— that it might be a shadow over his head, to deliver him from his grief, to cause his peevishness to disappear and thus to afford him some relief. So Jonah was exceeding glad of the gourd, he enjoyed the shadow offered by the green plant.

⁷But God prepared a worm when the morning rose the next day, and it smote the gourd so that it withered. — but God, intending to teach Jonah a further lesson, prepared a worm, appointing it to that end, when the morning rose the next day, at the breaking of the dawn, and it smote the gourd that it withered, for it is a peculiarity of the castor-oil plant that it fades readily when injured.

⁸And it came to pass, when the sun arose, that God prepared a vehement east wind; and the sun beat upon the head of Jonah, so that he grew faint and wished in himself to die, and said, “It is better for me to die than to live.” — and it came to pass, when the sun did arise, that God prepared a vehement east wind, blowing with a sultry heat;

— and the sun beat upon the head of Jonah that he fainted, overcome with the heat, and wished in himself to die, the reaction once more being rapid and furious, and said, It is better for him to die than to live, namely, in such circumstances, with everything combining to make life frustrated.

⁹And God said to Jonah, “Doest thou well to be angry over the gourd?” And he said, “I do well to be angry, even unto death.” — and taking this opportunity to drive home His lesson, God said to Jonah, Does thou well to be angry for the gourd? And Jonah replied with a sudden flare of bitterness;

— and he said, I do well to be angry, even unto death; or, “I am very angry unto death” as the Targum says; Jonah was so very angry that he felt he cannot live under so much fretting and vexing.

¹⁰Then said the Lord, “Thou hast had pity on the gourd for which thou hast not labored, neither madest it grow, which came up in a night and perished in a night. — then the Lord said, Thou hast had pity on the gourd, for one thou hast not labored, which had cost him no toil to rear, neither made it grow, Jonah not being obliged so much as to water it; which came up in a night and perished in a night, being, as the Hebrew has it, the son of a night, of only a night’s duration;

¹¹And should not I spare Nineveh, that great city, wherein are more than sixscore thousand persons who cannot discern between their right hand and their left hand, and also many cattle?” — and should not God spare Nineveh, that great city, wherein there are more than six-score thousand persons that cannot discern between their right hand and their left hand, that is, 120,000 infants, who could not be accused of any particular wrong-doing, and also many cattle? This limitation would include children of three or four years old; and taking these as one fifth of the population, we should set the inhabitants at six hundred thousand in number;

— Jonah despised the Gentiles, being perfectly happy and satisfied of being an Israelite, a perfect type of the self-satisfied, complacent and indifferent elite, unmindful of its duty to be a light to the heathen, enjoying the favors and privileges that undoubtedly came to him as a popular prophet of God; this argument of Yehovah, in exposing the selfishness of the today’s prophets or shepherd, was at the same time sufficient to silence Jonah, as he stood rebuked before this exhibit of God’s Omniscience and Omnipotence;

— moreover, the tidings which Jonah was able to bring back to his countrymen was a most emphatic call to repentance, as the Messiah brings out in His reference to the repentance of the Ninevites. Israel failed to learn the lesson and therefore was cast out of its land. All the more is it necessary for us to consider the sign of the prophet Jonah and to cling to the confession of Him who could say of Himself, “Behold, here is more than Jonah!”

Posted in Minor Prophets

Jonah (Ch 1-2)

•February 6, 2022 • Leave a Comment

The Book of Jonah is a historical account of the chief events connected with the sending of Jonah to Nineveh. It abounds in miraculous circumstances, such as that of the great fish in whose stomach the life of the prophet was preserved, of the terrible storm sent by God, which died down as soon as the prophet had been delivered to the waves.

The period in which Jonah lived was approximately that of the prophets Amos and Hosea in the northern kingdom and of Isaiah and Micah in the southern kingdom. The story of Jonah is not just a microcosm for Judah or Israel, but a microcosm of the whole human experience.

Jonah 1

¹ Now the word of the Lord came unto Jonah the son of Amittai, saying, — “The word of the Lord” signifies a prophecy from the Lord of hosts; and so the Targum renders it, “the word of prophecy from the Lord” and it may be so interpreted, since Jonah, under a spirit of prophecy foretold that Nineveh should be destroyed within forty days; though the phrase here rather signifies the order and command of the Lord to the prophet to do as is expressed in the next verse;

²“Arise, go to Nineveh, that great city, and cry out against it; for their wickedness has come up before Me.” — Nineveh was the metropolis of the Assyrian empire at that time; it was an ancient city built by Ashur, not by Nimrod; though he by some is said to go into Ashur or Assyria, and build it, Genesis 10:11;

— and cry against it; or prophesy against it as the Targum says; Jonah was to lift up his voice and cry aloud as he passed along in it that the inhabitants might hear him; and the more to affect them and to show that he was in earnest and what he delivered was concerning them, of greatest importance: what he was to cry or preach, see Jonah 3:2;

— for their wickedness is up before me; it was a very great height; even unto the heavens; it called aloud for immediate judgement; the inhabitants ripe for destruction; it was committed openly and boldly with much impudence in the sight of the Lord and was no more to be suffered and connived at: it includes idolatry, bloodshed, oppression, rapine, fraud and lying; see Jonah 3:8.

³But Jonah rose up to flee unto Tarshish from the presence of the Lord; and he went down to Joppa, and found a ship going to Tarshish. So he paid the fare thereof, and went down into it to go with them unto Tarshish from the presence of the Lord. — Jonah was not obedient to the heavenly vision; he rose up, but instead of going to Nineveh, he intended to go to Tarshish; the reverse of it; to the sea as the Targum says, the Mediterranean sea, which lay west as Nineveh was to the east;

— and went down to Joppa; formerly called Japho; a seaport town in the tribe of Dan upon the Mediterranean sea where there was a haven of ships; and Tarshish could be in the southern coast of Spain.

⁴But the Lord sent out a great wind into the sea, and there was a mighty tempest in the sea, so that the ship was likely to be broken. — winds are an instrument of God which he commands at his pleasure, and fulfil his will and this was sent in pursuit of Jonah to stop him in his voyage when he thought he had got clear off and was safe enough;

⁵Then the mariners were afraid, and cried every man unto his god, and cast forth the wares that were in the ship into the sea to lighten it of them. But Jonah had gone down into the inner parts of the ship, and he lay and was fast asleep. — then the sailors were afraid; perceiving that the storm was not ordinary but a supernatural one; and that the ship and all in it were in extreme danger and no probability of being saved; as the storm must be very violent to frighten such men who were used to such storms and were naturally bold and intrepid.

⁶So the shipmaster came to him and said unto him, “What meanest thou, O sleeper? Arise, call upon thy God, if it so be that God will think upon us, that we perish not.” — so the shipmaster came to him and said unto him, What meanest thou, O sleeper? Why should he withdraw at the time of this great peril? Arise, call upon thy God, if so be that God will think upon us that we shouldn’t perish, by lending them His assistance and rescuing them from the impending destruction.

⁷And they said every one to his fellow, “Come, and let us cast lots, that we may know for whose cause this evil is upon us.” So they cast lots, and the lot fell upon Jonah. — after Jonah had obeyed the call of the captain, everyone said to his fellow, Come and let us cast lots, a common method of determining the guilt of men at that time, that we may know for whose cause this evil is upon them, who was to blame for the present condition of affairs. So they cast lots, and the lot fell upon Jonah.

⁸Then said they unto him, “Tell us, we pray thee, for whose cause this evil is upon us: What is thine occupation? And from whence comest thou? What is thy country? And of what people art thou?” — then they said unto him, Tell us, we pray thee, for whose cause this evil is upon us, who and what was responsible for this condition of affairs. What is thine occupation? his business, which might have been of a nature to arouse the wrath of God.

— and whence are you from, from what nation and people? What is thy country? And of what people art thou? The questions are shouted in a confused mass, as always under the stress of great emotion.

⁹And he said unto them, “I am a Hebrew; and I fear the Lord, the God of heaven, who hath made the sea and the dry land.” — and he said unto them, in a confession of his guilt, I am an Hebrew, the usual name applied to the people of Israel by the surrounding nations; and I fear the Lord, the God of heaven, worshiping Him alone, which hath made the sea and the dry land, the one Creator of the world and all it contained.

¹⁰Then were the men exceedingly afraid, and said unto him, “Why hast thou done this?” For the men knew that he fled from the presence of the Lord, because he had told them. — then the men were exceedingly afraid, filled with terror at the scope of this confession, which showed them that they were, although unwittingly, assisting Jonah in his effort to escape the Lord,

— and said unto him, Why hast thou done this? a cry of horror and fear more than a question, for the God of the Hebrews was known as a powerful Deity. For the men knew that he fled from the presence of the Lord, because he had told them, even non-Hebrews quake at any evidence of the wrath of God, much as they otherwise scoff at those who worship Him.

¹¹Then said they unto him, “What shall we do unto thee, that the sea may be calm unto us?” For the sea grew more and more tempestuous. — then they asked him, What shall we do unto thee that the sea may be calm unto us? What would Jonah himself suggest or advise in order to turn away the wrath of God from those who were not implicated in his guilt?. For the sea wrought, continued to rage, and was tempestuous, still rising in angry billows.

¹²And he said unto them, “Take me up and cast me forth into the sea. So shall the sea be calm unto you, for I know that for my sake this great tempest is upon you.” — and Jonah said unto them, showing the right spirit in offering himself up as a sacrifice in their behalf, Take me up and cast me forth into the sea; so shall the sea be calm unto you, be quieted down; for Jonah knew that for his sake this great tempest is upon them.

¹³Nevertheless the men rowed hard to bring it to the land; but they could not, for the sea was wrought up and was tempestuous against them. — nevertheless the men, not desiring to carry out the prophet’s suggestion, rowed hard to bring it to the land, that is, they tried everything they knew in the line of seamanship in order to break through the billows which hemmed in the ship; but they could not, for the sea was raging and was tempestuous against them so that they could make no headway against the surging waves.

¹⁴Therefore they cried unto the Lord and said, “We beseech Thee, O Lord, we beseech Thee, let us not perish for this man’s life, and lay not upon us innocent blood! For Thou, O Lord, hast done as it pleased Thee.” — wherefore they cried unto the Lord, in this case addressing Yehovah, His true name, and said, We beseech Thee, O Lord Yehovah, we beseech Thee, let us not perish for this man’s life, be held accountable for the fact that they would now deliver him to what appeared to them a certain death,

— and lay not upon us innocent blood, by imputing it to them, since Jonah had not harmed them in any manner; for Thou, O Lord, hast done as it pleased Thee; He had determined it, the lot, as directed by Him, made the execution necessary.

¹⁵So they took up Jonah and cast him forth into the sea, and the sea ceased from her raging. — so they took Jonah and cast him into the sea; and the sea ceased from raging, it stood still and no longer rose in such tremendous billows.

¹⁶Then the men feared the Lord exceedingly, and offered a sacrifice unto the Lord and made vows. — then the sailors, seeing in this as the almighty hand of God, feared the Lord exceedingly and offered a sacrifice unto the Lord and made vows, possibly a vow that the God of the Hebrews should be their God, and that they would for the future serve and worship him only; that they would become proselytes, as men will under the stress of such a fear and emotion.

¹⁷Now the Lord had prepared a great fish to swallow up Jonah. And Jonah was in the belly of the fish three days and three nights. — now, the Lord had prepared a great fish, not a whale, but a special sea-monster, to swallow up Jonah. And Jonah was in the belly of the fish three days and three nights, being alive and conscious through the power of the Lord, whose plans called for a further use of this prophet.

Jonah 2

¹Then Jonah prayed unto the Lord his God out of the fish’s belly, — then amidst agonies, stinks of the fish’s stomach, sufferings and near death, Jonah prayed unto the Lord out of the fish’s belly, his prayers occurring again and again during his awful experience,

— the story of Jonah is not just an archetype for human being like himself or even for the children of Israel, but an archetype that the whole human race could one day face.

²and said: “I cried by reason of mine affliction unto the Lord, and He heard me. Out of the belly of hell cried I, and Thou heardest my voice. — and Jonah cried by reason of his affliction, out of the midst of the distress which he was suffering, unto the Lord, and God heard him; out of the belly of hell, literally, “out of the womb of sheol,” the realm of death, cried Jonah, and He heard his voice, delivering him from what seemed to be certain destruction, Cf Psalms 18:6; Psalms 30:4.

³For Thou hadst cast me into the deep, in the midst of the seas, and the floods compassed me about; all Thy billows and Thy waves passed over me. — for the Lord had cast Jonah into the deep, the sailors on the ship being but the executors of the punishment placed upon him by the Lord in the midst of the seas, literally, “into the heart of the oceans” and the floods compassed him about, namely, as he sank to the bottom; all Thy billows and Thy waves passed over him. Cf Psalms 42:8.

⁴Then I said, ‘I am cast out of Thy sight; yet I will look again toward Thy holy temple.’ — then Jonah said, I am cast out of Thy sight, under the eye of his omniscience, which saw him in the fish’s belly; yet Jonah will look again toward God’s holy Temple, certain that he would again be permitted to worship with the Lord’s people.

⁵The waters compassed me about, even to the soul; the depth closed me round about, the weeds were wrapped about my head. — the waters compassed Jonah about, even to the soul, so that he was ready to despair of his life, Cf Psalms 18:5; Psalms 69:2; the depth closed him round about; Jonah in the fish’s stomach were wrapped around his head, the seaweeds, of which there are great quantities from the sea apparently, enclosing him so that he could hardly move;

— so the Targum says, “the waters surrounded me unto death.” In this Jonah was an archetype for any other human being trapped in his afflictions and sorrows, which were so many and heavy before repentance, that he is said to be “exceeding sorrowful” or surrounded with sorrow, “even unto death.

⁶I went down to the bottoms of the mountains; the earth with her bars was about me for ever; yet hast Thou brought up my life from corruption, O Lord my God. — Jonah went down to the bottoms of the sea-mounts, the very depths of the ocean abyss, where the mountains have their foundations; the earth with her bars, the walls of the sea-basin, was about him forever; yet God brought up his life from the pit which threatened to be his grave, ‘O Lord, my God,’ he pleaded.

⁷“When my soul fainted within me I remembered the Lord; and my prayer came in unto Thee, into Thine holy temple. — when Jonah’s soul fainted within him, when he was at the point of yielding to the night of death, he remembered the Lord; and his prayer came in unto Thee, like a petitioner presenting his appeal in person, into Thine holy Temple, where the Lord had promised to hear those who put their trust in Him;

⁸They that observe lying vanities forsake their own mercy, — they that observe lying vanities or in riches, or placing their trust in idols and in false worship, forsake their own mercy, deliberately abandon their one hope of deliverance, namely, through the loving-kindness and tender mercies of Yehovah.

⁹but I will sacrifice unto Thee with the voice of thanksgiving; I will pay that which I have vowed. Salvation is of the Lord.” — but Jonah pledged to sacrifice unto God with the voice of thanksgiving, loudly proclaiming his gratitude for mercies received, Psalms 42:5; Jonah will pay that what he have vowed. Cf Psalms 50:14-23. Salvation is of the Lord, it belongs to Yehovah, it is in His power. He alone can grant deliverance from all evil.

¹⁰And the Lord spoke unto the fish, and it vomited out Jonah upon the dry land. — and the Lord spoke unto the fish, giving it a definite command, and it vomited out Jonah upon the dry land, very likely back on the coast of Joppa, where he started.

— the story of Jonah is not just an archetype for human being like himself or even for Israel, but an prophecy of an archetype of bringing repentance for the whole human race. And the lying vanities” “could mean the false worshipping of

Posted in Minor Prophets

Joel (Ch 1-3)

•February 2, 2022 • Leave a Comment

The Prophecy of Joel describes a dreadful calamity upon the people of the Jews by locusts, caterpillars and drought. Rashi thought Joel was a contemporary with Elisha and say he prophesied in the days of Jehoram the son of Ahab, when the seven years’ famine called for came upon the land; and it seems indeed as if he prophesied after the ten tribes were carried captive, which was in the sixth year of Hezekiah’s reign, since no mention was made of Israel but with respect to future times, only of Judah and Jerusalem.

Joel 1

¹ The word of the Lord that came to Joel the son of Pethuel. — Rashi: to Joel, son of Pethuel: the son of Samuel the prophet who persuaded God with his prayer (פִתָּה לְאֵל). Some say that this prophecy was said in those seven years in which Elisha said: “For the Lord has decreed a famine etc.” and they took place during the days of Jehoram son of Ahab.

²Hear this, ye old men, and give ear, all ye inhabitants of the land. Hath this been in your days, or even in the days of your fathers? — Hear this, ye old men, whose memory reached back through generations of men and give ear in yielding a most willing and careful attention;

— all ye inhabitants of the land. It is a spirited challenge to all the people of Judah to mark the lesson of the great calamity which has befallen them. Hath this been in your days or even in the days of your fathers? A visitation of this kind and grievous to this extent had never yet been seen in Palestine.

³Tell ye your children of it, and let your children tell their children, and their children another generation. — tell ye your children of it and let your children tell their children and their children another generation, passing it on from father to son, all of them accepting this tradition with awe, fear and trembling as being an unparalleled manifestation of God’s anger against men on account of their sins.

⁴That which the palmer worm hath left hath the locust eaten; and that which the locust hath left hath the cankerworm eaten; and that which the cankerworm hath left hath the caterpillar eaten. — that which the palmer-worm, literally, “the gnawer-off,” hath left the locust eaten, the swarming or multiplying locust of the desert;

— and that which the locust hath left hath the canker-worm, the devouring grasshopper, eaten; and that which the canker-worm hath left hath the caterpillar eaten, that is, the consuming locust; the desolation wrought by the plague of the locusts is described in the most graphic manner; one feature after another being depicted in a way to arouse the people to a realization of the seriousness of the situation.

⁵Awake, ye drunkards, and weep; and howl, all ye drinkers of wine, because of the new wine, for it is cut off from your mouth. — awake, ye drunkards and weep; howl, all ye drinkers of wine, because of the new wine, since the supply of grapes and therefore of the liquor made from them was not available; for it is cut off from your mouth. This appeal is introduced to describe the complete devastation of the country.

⁶For a nation has come up upon my land, strong and without number, whose teeth are the teeth of a lion, and he hath the cheek teeth of a great lion. — for a nation of locusts come up upon My land, a great and mighty army of fierce warriors, strong and without number in swarms of countless myriads;

— whose teeth are the teeth of a lion,and he hath the cheek-teeth of a great lion or like the “the grinders” of teeth being hard, strong and sharp to bite off the tops, boughs and branches of trees: the jaw-teeth of a lioness protecting or avenging her young, grinding to pieces everything that came in their path.

⁷He hath laid my vine waste, and barked my fig tree; he hath made it clean bare and cast it away; the branches thereof are made white. — the locust hath laid the Lord’s vine waste, that is, and spoiled the vines by consuming its foliage and barked at His fig-tree; gnawing off the bark and laying bare stem and branches, so that they hath made it clean bare and cast it away; by the complete removal of the bark, stripped it of its leaves, fruit and bark also: this being the condition in which the land was left after the visit of the locusts, the prophet now urges his countrymen to mourn.

⁸Lament like a virgin girded with sackcloth for the husband of her youth. — lament like a virgin, girded with sackcloth, the dress of mourning for the husband of her youth, whom after their betrothal, death took away. The grief of a bereaved virgin and bride is represented also in other passages as deep and overwhelming. Cf Isaiah 54:6.

⁹The meat offering and the drink offering is cut off from the house of the Lord; the priests, the Lord’S ministers, mourn. — the meat-offering and the drink-offering, the sacrifices in the worship of God Almighty is cut off from the house of the Lord because it was impossible to procure the necessary materials since everything was destroyed; the priests, the Lord’s ministers, mourn on account of the decay resulting from the devastation which was followed also by a dearth of the animals used for sacrificial purposes.

¹⁰The field is wasted, the land mourneth, for the corn is wasted; the new wine is dried up, the oil languisheth. — the field is wasted, made desolate; the land mourneth, both the uncultivated and the cultivated sections of the land suffering in the same measure; for the corn is wasted, the grain completely consumed; the new wine is dried up, the grapes being spoiled for want of foliage on the vines; the oil languisheth because the olive-trees produced no fruit.

¹¹Be ye ashamed, O ye husbandmen; howl, O ye vinedressers, for the wheat and for the barley, because the harvest of the field is perished. — be ye ashamed, O ye husbandmen, bearing the shame of disappointed hopes after working hard for a crop; howl, O ye vine-dressers; these two representing the agricultural classes of the land for the wheat and for the barley because the harvest of the field is perished, this being the cause of the farmers’ lament.

¹²The vine is dried up, and the fig tree languisheth; the pomegranate tree, the palm tree also, and the apple tree—even all the trees of the field are withered, because joy is withered away from the sons of men. — the vine is dried up and the fig-tree languisheth so that gardener and horticulturist likewise had reasons for mourning; the pomegranate-tree, the palm-tree also, the date-palm, which ordinarily escaped the onslaughts of the locust;

— and the apple-tree, or the quince, even all the trees of the field are withered; because joy is withered away from the sons of men so that there could be no rejoicing over a bountiful harvest as usual; Cf Psalms 4:7; Isaiah 9:3.

¹³Gird yourselves and lament, ye priests; howl, ye ministers of the altar. Come, lie all night in sackcloth, ye ministers of my God; for the meat offering and the drink offering is withheld from the house of your God. — gird yourselves, namely, with garments of mourning and lament, ye priests; howl, ye ministers of the altar, whose chief duties were concerned with the sacrifices brought on the two altars of the Temple;

— Come, lie all night in sackcloth, ye ministers of my God, extending their exercises of mourning even through the night season; for the meat-offering and the drink-offering is withholden from the house of your God, Cf v. 9, so that all the usual sacrifices had to be discontinued.

¹⁴Sanctify ye a fast; call a solemn assembly. Gather the elders and all the inhabitants of the land into the house of the Lord your God, and cry unto the Lord! — sanctify ye a fast, appointing a day or a number of days for a special religious service, during which the depth of the people’s grief should be indicated by their abstaining from food;

— call a solemn assembly, such as were held in connection with the great festivals; gather the elders and all the inhabitants of the land into the house of the Lord, your God, and cry unto the Lord with impetuous and importunate praying.

¹⁵Alas for the day! For the day of the Lord is at hand, and as a destruction from the Almighty shall it come. — alas for the day! so the prophet himself laments for the day of the Lord, the time of His stern visitation is at hand and as a destruction from the Almighty shall it come, bringing its desolating scourge upon the land.

¹⁶Is not the meat cut off before our eyes, yea, joy and gladness from the house of our God? — is not the meat cut off before our eyes? as their food supply was destroyed by the invading hordes of locusts, yea, joy and gladness from the house of our God? since the various sacrifices and meals of thanksgiving were no longer possible.

¹⁷The seed is rotten under their clods, the garners are laid desolate, the barns are broken down; for the corn is withered. — the seed is rotten under their clods, withering in the soil on account of the terrible drought; the garners are laid desolate, the granaries being empty because there could be no harvest;

— the barns, which otherwise harbored such rich crops are broken down, falling to pieces for want of money to repair them; for the corn is withered.

¹⁸How the beasts do groan! The herds of cattle are perplexed, because they have no pasture; yea, the flocks of sheep are made desolate. — how do the beasts groan! since the meadows also were dried up. The herds of cattle are perplexed, restless hunting of hungry cattle because they have no pasture; yea, the flocks of sheep are made desolate, bearing their sufferings as a consequence of the transgressions of the people of the land. All this causes the prophet to lift up his voice to the Lord in a cry for help.

¹⁹O Lord, to Thee will I cry! For the fire hath devoured the pastures of the wilderness, and the flame hath burned all the trees of the field. — O Lord, to Thee will I cry; for the fire, the parching heat hath devoured the pastures of the wilderness of the great Judean steppes;

— and the flame, the fierce heat of the drought hath burned all the trees of the field.

²⁰The beasts of the field cry also unto Thee; for the rivers of waters are dried up, and the fire hath devoured the pastures of the wilderness. — the beasts of the field, both domestic and wild animals, cry also unto Thee, their dumb misery being a powerful appeal for help;

— for the rivers of waters are dried up and the fire hath devoured the pastures of the wilderness. Cf Job 38:41; Psalms 104:21; Psalms 145:15; Psalms 147:9; Jeremiah 14:5-6. All creation groans and travails in pain together until now on account of the burden of man’s guilt. Romans 8:19-22.

Joel 2

¹ Blow ye the trumpet in Zion, and sound an alarm in My holy mountain! Let all the inhabitants of the land tremble; for the day of the Lord cometh, for it is nigh at hand— — blow ye the trumpet in Zion; this signal of the priests announcing the coming calamity and sound an alarm in the Lord’s holy mountain, from the Temple mountain, as the center of Yehovah’s worship and the place of His presence in the midst of His people;

— let all the inhabitants of the land tremble, shaken up out of their care-free condition; for the day of the Lord cometh, for it is nigh at hand, the visitation is no longer in the dim and distant future, but is an event to be expected very soon;

— the whole world will be given a Mount Sinai experience as the children had when they came out of Egypt; so that the fear of the Lord will always be embedded in them, all the nations of the world to fear Him; Exodus 19:16-18, 20:18-21.

²a day of darkness and of gloominess, a day of clouds and of thick darkness, as the morning spread upon the mountains. A great people and a strong, there hath not been ever the like; neither shall be any more after it, even to the years of many generations. — a day of darkness and of gloominess as when the light of the sun is shut out by immense swarms of locusts, a day of clouds and of thick darkness of heavy, dense and obscuring cloudiness;

— as the morning spread upon the mountains, a great people and a strong, the wings of the locusts reflecting the rays of the sun in a murky light before their immense numbers shut out the sun altogether. There hath not been ever the like, neither shall be any more after it, even to the years of many generations, Cf Joel 1:2.

³A fire devoureth before them, and behind them a flame burneth. The land is as the Garden of Eden before them, and behind them a desolate wilderness; yea, and nothing shall escape them. — a fire, a most intense and parching heat, devoureth before them in preparing for the desolation to follow; and behind them a flame burneth, the terrible, withering heat continuing even after the swarms of grasshoppers had passed;

— the land is as the Garden of Eden before them like the beautiful park of paradise described in Genesis 2, and behind them a desolate wilderness; yea, and nothing shall escape them, the devastation would be thorough.

⁴The appearance of them is as the appearance of horses; and as horsemen, so shall they run. — the appearance of the locusts is as the appearance of horses, whom they resemble as to the shape of their heads; and as horsemen, so shall they run with uncanny swiftness.

⁵Like the noise of chariots on the tops of mountains shall they leap, like the noise of a flame of fire that devoureth the stubble, as a strong people set in battle array. — like the noise of chariots on the tops of mountains as they clatter along over rough mountain roads shall they leap; such would be the noise of their crackling movements in a great mass;

— like the noise of a flame of fire that devoureth the stubble as a strong people set in battle array for there is a strong similarity to all these rushing, pounding sounds in the movements of vast swarms of locusts.

⁶Before their face the people shall be much pained; all faces shall gather blackness. — before their face as they proceed on their path of devastation, the people all those so visited, shall be much pained, trembling and helpless with terror;

— all faces shall gather blackness, losing the glowing color of health, growing pale with conscious helplessness.

⁷They shall run like mighty men; they shall climb the wall like men of war; and they shall march every one on his ways, and they shall not break their ranks. — they shall run like mighty men, straightforward to the attack; they shall climb the wall like men of war in an advance that cannot be stopped;

— and they shall march every one on his ways and they shall not break their ranks, this peculiarity being noted by all observers. It was and is vain to resist them by the means ordinarily used to stop the progress of an invading army.

⁸Neither shall one thrust another; they shall walk every one in his path; and when they fall upon the sword, they shall not be wounded. — neither shall one thrust another, not pressing ahead, upon those going before; they shall walk every one in his path, like a well-drilled army; and when they fall upon the sword, they shall not be wounded for they are represented as an invincible army of the Lord.

⁹They shall run to and fro in the city, they shall run upon the wall; they shall climb up upon the houses, they shall enter in at the windows like a thief. — they shall run to and fro in the city, being altogether unhindered in their advance; they shall run upon the wall, they shall climb up upon the houses; they shall enter in at the windows like a thief;

— when the locusts come and fill the whole space between earth and sky, they fly in perfect order, as if obedient to a divine command so that they look like the squares of a pavement; each one holds its own place, not diverging from it even so much as by a finger’s breadth. To these locusts nothing is impenetrable, fields, meadows, trees, cities, houses, even their most secret chambers.

¹⁰The earth shall quake before them, the heavens shall tremble; the sun and the moon shall be dark, and the stars shall withdraw their shining. — the earth shall quake before them, terrified by their dreadful host, the heavens shall tremble, resounding with the rushing of their flight;

— the sun and the moon shall be dark and the stars shall withdraw their shining, their light shut out by the immense hosts of locusts.

¹¹And the Lord shall utter His voice before His army, for His camp is very great. For He is strong that executeth His word; for the day of the Lord is great and very terrible, and who can abide it? — and the Lord shall utter His voice before His army, which the grasshoppers here represent; for His camp is very great, the host under His command exceedingly large; for He (the Son?) is strong that executeth His word, carrying out the will of the Lord; for the day of the Lord, His coming visitation, is great and very terrible; and who can abide it?

— it is evident that the entire description is incidentally symbolical of the great and mighty Judgement Day of the Lord, which, in its preliminary features, is seen in the Deluge, in the two destructions of Jerusalem and in various other calamities and cataclysms, but which is destined to be immeasurably greater than man can conceive of when it actually comes to pass. Cf Malachi 3:2. This being true, the admonition of the prophet comes with particular force.

¹²“Therefore also now,” saith the Lord, “turn ye even to Me with all your heart, and with fasting, and with weeping, and with mourning.” — therefore also now, saith the Lord, turn ye even to Me with all your heart, in a true repentance and with fasting and with weeping and with mourning, as outward indications of the change of heart,

¹³And rend your heart, and not your garments, and turn unto the Lord your God; for He is gracious and merciful, slow to anger, and of great kindness, and repenteth of the evil. — and rend your heart in a true and unfeigned sorrow, and not your garments for the latter may be done also by hypocrites;

— and turn unto the Lord, your God; for He is gracious and merciful, slow to anger, and of great kindness, and repenteth Him of the evil, that is, He is persuaded not to let stern justice alone rule. Cf Exodus 34:6.

¹⁴Who knoweth if He will return and repent, and leave a blessing behind Him—even a meat offering and a drink offering unto the Lord your God? — who knoweth if He will return, not carry out the threatened punishment, and repent and leave a blessing behind Him, namely, when He, as men pictured Him, returns to His throne in heaven;

— even a meat-offering and a drink-offering unto the Lord, your God? for by an abundant harvest which He may be persuaded to give, the people would again be enabled to bring their usual sacrifices in the Temple. In order to accomplish this, however, it was necessary that the people unite in a great service of prayer and supplication.

¹⁵Blow the trumpet in Zion, sanctify a fast! Call a solemn assembly, — blow the trumpet in Zion, the call once more going forth; sanctify a fast; call a solemn assembly,

¹⁶gather the people! Sanctify the congregation, assemble the elders, gather the children and those that suck the breasts; let the bridegroom go forth from his chamber and the bride out of her retreat. — gather the people for a great meeting of worship and supplication; sanctify the congregation, so that no one would be Levitically unclean;

— assemble the elders, the aged people of the congregation; gather the children and those that suck the breast for no one is to be omitted in this great appeal for mercy, since all of them, from the smallest to the greatest, were guilty;

— let the bridegroom go forth of his chamber and the bride out of her closet, where they were preparing for the coming wedding. The fact that even infants in arms and bride and groom were included in the appeal of the prophet shows that the guilt was universal and beyond excuse.

¹⁷Let the priests, the ministers of the Lord, weep between the porch and the altar; and let them say, “Spare Thy people, O Lord, and give not Thine heritage to reproach, that the heathen should rule over them.Why should they say among the people, ‘Where is their God?’” — let the priests, the ministers of the Lord, who occupied the position of mediators between God and His people, weep between the porch and the altar and let them say, in a solemn litany chanted at the very door of the Holy Place;

— Spare Thy people, O Lord, and give not Thine heritage, the people of His own possession to reproach, Cf Exodus 32:11-12, that the heathen should rule over them, or “make mockery of them.” Wherefore should they say among the people, among the heathen nations everywhere, Where is their God? thus bringing disgrace upon the holy name of the Lord.

¹⁸Then will the Lord be jealous for His land, and pity His people. — then, when the Lord saw that His people were truly penitent, will He be jealous for His land be filled with the zeal of His love, rather, He was so filled and acted accordingly, and pity His people.

¹⁹Yea, the Lord will answer and say unto His people: “Behold, I will send you corn and wine and oil, and ye shall be satisfied therewith; and I will no more make you a reproach among the heathen. — yea, the Lord will answer and say unto His people, actuated with the zeal of His love for them, Behold, the Lord will send you corn and wine and oil, the richest temporal blessings made possible by the renewed fertility of the land;

— and ye shall be satisfied therewith; and the Lord will no more make you a reproach among the nations of which their prayer had complained.

²⁰But I will remove far off from you the northern army, and will drive him into a land barren and desolate, with his face toward the east sea, and his hinder part toward the utmost sea. And his stink shall come up, and his ill savor shall come up” because He hath done great things. — but the Lord will remove far off from you the northern army, the swarms of locusts which came from that direction, and will drive him into a land barren and desolate into the desert of Arabia;

— with his face toward the East Sea, that is, the Dead Sea and his hinder part, his rearguard toward the utmost sea, that is, the Mediterranean; and his stink shall come up, the terrible stench of the decaying insects, and his ill savor shall come up, because he hath done great things;

The Message Bible offers a more colorful description:

At that, God went into action to get his land back. He took pity on his people. God answered and spoke to his people, “Look, listen—I’m sending a gift: Grain and wine and olive oil. The fast is over—eat your fill! I won’t expose you any longer to contempt among the pagans. I’ll head off the final enemy coming out of the north and dump them in a wasteland. Half of them will end up in the Dead Sea, the other half in the Mediterranean. There they’ll rot, a stench to high heaven. The bigger the enemy, the stronger the stench!”

²¹ Fear not, O land; be glad and rejoice, for the Lord will do great things! — fear not, O land, the entire country being included in this new admonition, as before; be glad and rejoice, namely, over the hosts that laid waste the country; for the Lord will do great things, Yehovah is able to perform marvelous works in delivering His people.

²²Be not afraid, ye beasts of the field; for the pastures of the wilderness spring up, for the tree beareth her fruit, the fig tree and the vine do yield their strength. — be not afraid, ye beasts of the field which had been so sorely in need of food supplies; for the pastures of the wilderness of the great prairies of the South, do spring, once more verdant with an abundance of grass;

— for the tree beareth her fruit as before the terrible visitation, the fig-tree and the vine do yield their strength so as to bring forth fruit as of old.

²³Be glad then, ye children of Zion, and rejoice in the Lord your God; for He hath given you the early rain moderately, and He will cause to come down for you the rain, the early rain and the latter rain in the first month. — be glad, then, ye children of Zion, the inhabitants of Judah, the children of the Lord and rejoice in the Lord, your God, the God of the covenant, the Lord of mercy;

— for He hath given you the former rain moderately, literally, “a teacher for righteousness” or “rain in just measure” and He will cause to come down for you the rain, the former rain and the latter rain in the first month, the former rain being due right after seeding-time, in the fall, and the latter rain coming just before harvest, in the spring.

²⁴And the floors shall be full of wheat, and the vats shall overflow with wine and oil. — and the floors, the threshing-floors shall be full of wheat, the result of a new, rich harvest and the fats shall overflow with wine and oil, the receptacles of the vineyards being unable to hold the rich measure of blessings.

²⁵“And I will restore to you the years that the locust hath eaten, the cankerworm and the caterpillar and the palmer worm, My great army which I sent among you. — and the Lord will restore to you, make up the years that the locust hath eaten, the canker-worm and the caterpillar and the palmer-worm, His great army which He sent among you, the insects of Joel 1:4 being named in the reverse order.

²⁶And ye shall eat in plenty and be satisfied, and praise the name of the Lord your God that hath dealt wondrously with you; and My people shall never be ashamed. — and ye shall have plenty to eat, having an abundance of the best food and be satisfied and praise the name of the Lord your God that hath dealt wondrously with you, making His wonders known through the manner in which He dealt with them;

— and the Lord’s people shall never be ashamed again, never to be heaped with mockery and disgrace, since it would be so evident that the Lord was on their side. This would, moreover, be substantiated more than ever by the fullness of spiritual blessings which He intended to pour out upon His children after their restoration to His sonship.

²⁷And ye shall know that I am in the midst of Israel, and that I am the Lord your God, and none else; and My people shall never be ashamed. — and ye shall know that the Lord is in the midst of Israel as His chosen people, and that Yehovah is the Lord, their God, the God of the covenant and none else; and His people, the true spiritual Israel shall never be ashamed again.

²⁸“And it shall come to pass afterward that I will pour out My Spirit upon all flesh; and your sons and your daughters shall prophesy, your old men shall dream dreams, your young men shall see visions; — and it shall come to pass afterward, in the Millenium toward which this prophecy converged, that the Lord will pour out His Spirit upon all flesh, upon men of every race and nation;

— and your sons and your daughters shall prophesy, openly proclaiming the great deeds of God, your old men shall dream dreams, your young men shall see visions, the great possibilities of the Lord’s work and the energy for carrying out the plans of the Lord coming to them and urging them forward with irresistible power, the barriers of both sex and age being removed, except as limited in other parts of the Scriptures;

²⁹and also upon the servants and upon the handmaids in those days will I pour out My Spirit. — and also upon the servants and upon the handmaids, upon the lowliest of the land; in those days will the Lord pour out His Spirit, all social distinction being abandoned during the Millennium as far as the work of the Kingdom is concerned;

— this prophecy was fulfilled, so far as its beginning is concerned, on the Day of Pentecost, as Peter also states in the introduction to his powerful sermon held before the astonished inhabitants of the city of Jerusalem, Acts 2:17-21. But this event by no means exhausted its wonderful promises;

— for the spirit of the Lord is being poured out on the members of the Church of the New Era and will continue to be given to all true believers until the end of time. But this great and wonderful deed of the Lord is placed side by side with His judgement upon the nations.

³⁰“And I will show wonders in the heavens and in the earth— blood and fire and pillars of smoke. — and the Lord will show wonders in the heavens and in the earth, strange and terrifying portents, blood and fire and pillars of smoke, miracles in the sky above and signs of His majesty on the earth beneath, blood and fire and smoky vapor.

³¹The sun shall be turned into darkness and the moon into blood, before the great and the terrible day of the Lord come. — the sun shall be turned into darkness, being changed into a dark and cold mass, and the moon into blood, as bloody wars and devastations would occur on the earth, before the great and the terrible Day of the Lord come, namely, the day of the final Judgement. Cf 1 Thessalonians 5:2; 1 Corinthians 1:8; II Corinthians 1:14; II Thessalonians 2:8.

³²And it shall come to pass, that whosoever shall call on the name of the Lord shall be delivered; for in Mount Zion and in Jerusalem shall be deliverance, as the Lord hath said, and in the remnant whom the Lord shall call. — and it shall come to pass, throughout this great period of the Lord’s preparation for the final Judgement, that whosoever shall call on the name of the Lord, Yehovah, confessing the Messiah and accepting Him as the one Savior of mankind, shall be delivered, saved from the wrath to come;

— for in Mount Zion and in Jerusalem shall be deliverance, the Gospel-message proclaimed in and by the Chosen people of God bringing redemption and the assurance of eternal life to all believers, as the Lord hath said, and in the remnant whom the Lord shall call;

— namely, the remainder according to the selection by the Lord, Yehovah, the people whom the Lord has chosen from all nations of the earth. This glorious promise is held out to this day to all who turn to the Lord in keeping His commandments, repentance and faith, confessing His name as the only Savior and fervently calling upon Him for deliverance from all evil, especially that of the body of sin;

— God’s name is the four-letter Hebrew word יהוה‎ YHVH Yehovah (not Jehovah since the letter J wasn’t around but only after the sixteenth century.

Joel 3

¹ “For behold, in those days and in that time, when I shall bring back the captives of Judah and Jerusalem, — for behold, in those days and in that time, heading towards the Millennium which had just been described according to its outstanding features, with the Day of Judgement very prominent in the description, when the Lord of hosts shall bring again the captivity of Judah and Jerusalem for forty years, by the deliverance through the Messiah, of which the return of Judah from exile was but a type.

²I will also gather all nations, and will bring them down into the Valley of Jehoshaphat, and will plead with them there for My people and for My heritage Israel, whom they have scattered among the nations, and parted My land. — the Lord will also gather all nations, with the great and mighty heathen nations, and will bring them down into the Valley of Jehoshaphat, which is here made the scene of the last great Judgement upon men, and the Lord will plead with them there, conducting a formal trial with them;

— for the Lord’s people and for His heritage Israel, in the interest of the Lord’s, whom they have scattered among the nations, in the various oppressions and captivities which have struck the Lord’s people from the earliest days, and parted His land, appropriating it or dividing it as they saw fit.

³And they have cast lots for My people, and have given a boy for a harlot and sold a girl for wine, that they might drink. — and they have cast lots for the Lord’s people, after they had taken them captive and have given a boy for an harlot, namely, as the price for which they secured the services of a prostitute;

— and sold a girl for wine, for the sake of a drunken debauch that they might drink. The description is typical of the manner with which the Lord’s enemies have ever dealt with the captive Israelites.

⁴Yea, and what have ye to do with Me, O Tyre and Sidon and all the coasts of Palestine? Will ye render Me a recompense? And if ye recompense Me, swiftly and speedily will I return your recompense upon your own head, — yea, and what have ye to do with the Lord, O Tyre and Zidon and all the coasts of Palestine? that is, what object did they have in acting as they did, when not only the capitals of Phoenicia but also the state of Philistia were showing such enmity against Him?

— Will ye render the Lord a recompense? seeking revenge for what they consider a wrong done them. They had neither cause to seek revenge nor occasion to carry it out. And if ye recompense the Lord, swiftly and speedily will He return your recompense upon your own head, Cf Psalms 7:17,

⁵because ye have taken My silver and My gold, and have carried into your temples My goodly, pleasant things. — because ye have taken silver and gold from the Lord, in the Temple-treasures and throughout the city of Jerusalem, and have carried into your temples, including also the palaces of their rulers, the Lord’s goodly, pleasant things, His most costly possessions;

⁶The children also of Judah and the children of Jerusalem have ye sold unto the Grecians, that ye might remove them far from their border. — the children also of Judah and the children of Jerusalem have ye sold unto the Grecians, the Philistines being those who reduced the captives to slavery, the Phoenicians those who acted as agents in selling the Hebrew slaves that ye might remove them far from their border, to be slaves in distant countries.

⁷Behold, I will raise them out of the place whither ye have sold them, and will return your recompense upon your own head. — behold, the Lord will raise them out of the place whither ye have sold them, delivering them from the masters to whom they had been sold, and will return your recompense upon your own head so that their revenge would react upon themselves.

⁸And I will sell your sons and your daughters into the hand of the children of Judah, and they shall sell them to the Sabeans, to a people far off; for the Lord hath spoken it.” — and the Lord will sell your sons and your daughters into the hand of the children of Judah, when Tyre and Sidon were captured and their inhabitants either killed or reduced to slavery and they shall sell them to the Sabeans who are mentioned as being the remotest nation toward the east in the Arabian Desert;

— to a people far off; for the Lord hath spoken it. The imagery of this paragraph is based, at least in part, upon happenings of those days; but the application includes far more than this for the Lord makes those incidents typical of the punishments which He intended for all His enemies.

⁹Proclaim ye this among the Gentiles: Prepare war! Wake up the mighty men! Let all the men of war draw near; let them come up. — proclaim ye this among the nations as they made ready to wage war against the Lord’s people. Prepare war, consecrate the undertaking by means of sacrifices, wake up the mighty men, let them arouse themselves from their inactivity, let all the men of war draw near, let them come up, assembling for the campaign.

¹⁰Beat your plowshares into swords, and your pruning hooks into spears; let the weak say, “I am strong.” — Beat your plowshares into swords and your pruning-hooks into spears, bending every effort toward the winning of their unholy war. Let the weak say, I am strong, as when warlike excitement takes hold of a whole nation.

¹¹Assemble yourselves and come, all ye heathen, and gather yourselves together round about; thither cause Thy mighty ones to come down, O Lord. — assemble yourselves and come, all ye nations, and gather yourselves together round about for the Lord’s people are ever regarded as occupying a central position in the earth; thither cause Thy mighty ones to come down, O Lord, to meet the invasion of the enemies with a fearless countercharge.

¹²“Let the heathen be wakened, and come up to the Valley of Jehoshaphat; for there will I sit to judge all the heathen round about. — let the nations awake, stir up to warfare and come up to the Valley of Jehoshaphat; for there will the Lord sits to judge all the nations round about, all the nations of the world, since they all, by the time of the final Judgement, would have come into contact with the God of Israel.

¹³Put ye in the sickle, for the harvest is ripe. Come, get you down; for the press is full, the vats overflow—for their wickedness is great!” — put ye in the sickle so the Lord shouts to His mighty champions for the harvest is ripe, the crop of the world having reached its maturity. Come, get you down, stamping the vats of gathered grapes;

— for the press is full, the fats overflow, the earth being more than ripe for the Lord’s Judgment; for their wickedness is great. Cf Revelation 14:15-18

¹⁴Multitudes, multitudes in the valley of decision; for the day of the Lord is near in the valley of decision. — Multitudes, multitudes in the Valley of Decision for with the preaching of the Kingdom of God among all nations the hour of decision for them all is come, Cf John 3:18-21; for the Day of the Lord, the Day of final Judgement, is near in the Valley of Decision, bound to be revealed as soon as all men would have had an opportunity to learn the Warning.

¹⁵ The sun and the moon shall be darkened, and the stars shall withdraw their shining. — the Lord wants the whole world to fear Him; Targum of Zephaniah 2:3 says, “seek the fear of the Lord, all ye meek of the earth, who do the judgements of his will; seek truth, seek meekness; it may be there will be a protection for you on the day of the Lord’s anger.”

¹⁶The Lord also shall roar out of Zion, and utter His voice from Jerusalem, and the heavens and the earth shall shake; but the Lord will be the hope of His people, and the strength of the children of Israel. — the Lord also shall roar out of Zion, with a voice of thunder terrifying His enemies, everyone given a Mount Sinai experience, and utter His voice from Jerusalem, in the Word which was proclaimed there for so many centuries;

— and the heavens and the earth shall shake; but the Lord will be the Hope of His people and the Strength of the children of Israel. “Zion, or Jerusalem, is naturally not the earthly Jerusalem, but the Holy City of the living God, in which the Lord will be forever united with His saved and glorified congregation.”

— as in Joel 2:1 above, “the earth will shake” that is, the whole world will be given a Mount Sinai experience as the children had when they came out of Egypt; so that the fear of the Lord will always be embedded in them, all the nations of the world to fear Him; Exodus 19:16-18, 20:18-21.

¹⁷“So shall ye know that I am the Lord your God dwelling in Zion, My holy mountain. Then shall Jerusalem be holy, and there shall no strangers pass through her any more. — so shall ye know that Yehovah is the Lord, your God, dwelling in Zion, His holy mountain, in the midst of the congregation of Israel. Then shall Jerusalem be holy, a true congregation of the saints; and there shall no strangers pass through her any more, only those who have been brought nigh by the blood of the Messiah (the Lamb, the Christ).

¹⁸“And it shall come to pass in that day, that the mountains shall drop down new wine, and the hills shall flow with milk; and all the rivers of Judah shall flow with waters, and a fountain shall come forth from the house of the Lord and shall water the valley of Shittim. — and it shall come to pass in that day when the blessings of the Millennium would be dispensed that the mountains shall drop down new wine and the hills shall flow with milk and all the rivers of Judah, most of which were dry except during the rainy season;

— shall flow with waters, and a fountain shall come forth of the house of the Lord and shall water the Valley of Shittim, otherwise an arid desert and bringing fertility even to the unfruitful places of the earth, to the hearts of unbelievers and all other nations everywhere.

¹⁹Egypt shall be a desolation, and Edom shall be a desolate wilderness, for the violence against the children of Judah, because they have shed innocent blood in their land. — Egypt shall be a desolation and Edom shall be a desolate wilderness, these two being representative of the Lord’s enemies, for the violence against the children of Judah and Israel, the representatives of the Lord’s Chosen because they have shed innocent blood in their land.

²⁰“But Judah shall dwell for ever, and Jerusalem from generation to generation.

²¹For I will cleanse their blood that I have not cleansed, for the Lord dwelleth in Zion.” — for the Lord will cleanse their blood that He has not cleansed before, namely, through the atonement wrought by the Messiah; for the Lord dwelleth in Zion. The entire description clearly does not speak of a mere earthly, temporal glorification of Jerusalem and a corresponding desolation of Egypt and Edom;

— but the latter are types of the powers opposing the Kingdom of God and is setting forth the blessings which the work of the Church is bringing to men on the basis of the redemption brought about by the Messiah. Cf Revelation 22:2. The Lord is dwelling in the midst of His Kingdom and revealing Himself as the King of His people, partly by the destruction of His enemies, partly by the perfection of His Kingdom in glory.

Posted in Minor Prophets

Haggai (Ch 1-2)

•January 28, 2022 • Leave a Comment

Haggai, Zechariah and Malachi were among the last of the prophets; but Haggai’s prophecy about Zerubbabel the governor of Judah and Joshua the high priest set the intriguing scenes of a prophetic endtime.

The hand of Zerubbabel with those seven eyes of the Lord which are also the seven spirits of God, sent forth to and fro into all the earth; only a Divine Being could have seven eyes or seven spirits of the Lord which run to and fro through the whole earth; thus the Scriptures testify that Zerubbabel is the Son of God, the Messiah.

Haggai 1

¹In the second year of Darius the king, in the sixth month, on the first day of the month, came the word of the Lord by Haggai the prophet unto Zerubbabel the son of Shealtiel, governor of Judah, and to Joshua the son of Jehozadak, the high priest, saying, — in the second year of Darius, king of Persia, the year 520 BC in the first day of the sixth month, a feast of the new moon, the month Elul, that is, of the Jewish Sacred year, came the word of the Lord to Haggai, the prophet unto Zerubbabel the governor, and to Joshua the high priest, Cf Ezra 3:2, saying,

— today, we have repudiated God’s way of numbering months that He has given us but adopted a system to honor the host of heaven with a pagan-named week and a paganised monthly calendar; hence we have Covid and yet not realizing what is happening (more at the end);

— the Targum of Zephaniah 2:3 says, “seek the fear of the Lord, all ye meek of the earth, who do the judgements of his will; seek truth, seek meekness; it may be there will be a protection for you on the day of the Lord’s anger.”

²“Thus speaketh the Lord of hosts, saying: This people say, ‘The time has not come, the time that the Lord’S house should be built.’” — thus speaketh the Lord of hosts, saying, This people say, ‘The time is not come, the time that the Lord’s house should be built,’ it was not a time fit and convenient to carry on such a building effort; that being showing their ingratitude and the lame excuse with which the people tried to cover their indifference for they had allowed themselves to drift along.

³Then came the word of the Lord by Haggai the prophet, saying,

⁴“Is it time for you, O ye, to dwell in your ceilinged houses, and this house lie waste?” — Is It time for you, O ye, to dwell in your panelled houses, for yourselves to dwell in the most expensive manner, showing that they lived not only in comfort, but in luxury, and this house of God to lie in waste? since it had never gotten beyond the foundations, only the altar of burnt offerings standing on the top of Moriah.

⁵Now therefore, thus saith the Lord of hosts: “Consider your ways! — Now, therefore, thus saith the Lord, Consider your ingratitudes, “Set your hearts upon your ways,” contemplating the consequences of your bad behavior and upon the manner in which the Lord would have make judgement on your self-indulgence.

⁶Ye have sown much, and bring in little; ye eat, but ye have not enough; ye drink, but ye are not filled with drink; ye clothe yourselves, but there is none warm; and he that earneth wages, earneth wages to put it into a bag with holes.” — Ye have sown much, or have been sowing much, in the expectation of big crops but bring in little, the harvest being small in spite of all their efforts; ye eat, but ye have not enough, they were not really satisfied in spite of their abundance;

— ye drink but ye are still thirsty; ye clothe yourselves, seemingly having enough clothes; but there is no warm; and he that earn wages earn wages to put it Into a bag with holes, that is, they found themselves unable to buy much. All this indicated that there could be no real prosperity without the blessing of the Lord and that was evidently lacking as it always is when people think only of themselves and not of Him.

⁷Thus saith the Lord of hosts: “Consider your ways! — thus saith the Lord, Consider your ways, think them over very carefully, for the matter was urgent,

⁸Go up to the mountain, and bring wood and build the house; and I will take pleasure in it, and I will be glorified,” saith the Lord. — Go up to the mountain, to the great forests of Lebanon, to cut down cedars, and bring them from thence for the building of the temple; and bring wood, timber for building;

— and build the house; and the Lord of hosts will take pleasure in, glad to regard it as the house where He might be worshiped, and the Lord will be glorified, receiving the honor which was due to Him, causing his Shekinah to dwell here in glory as the Targum says.

⁹“Ye looked for much, and lo, it came to little; and when ye brought it home, I blew upon it. Why?” saith the Lord of hosts. “Because of Mine house that is laid waste, and ye run every man unto his own house. — Ye looked for much, expecting still greater crops and a corresponding prosperity, and, lo, it came to little; and when ye brought it home, believing that at least the little which they had gotten was safe, the Lord did blow upon it, thus dissipating and scattering it; as the Targum interprets it, “behold, I sent a curse upon it:”

— Why? asked the Lord of hosts; He Himself undertakes to explain this condition to the people in order to explain it to them more impressively. Because of His house that is in waste, still unfinished and desolate, and ye run every man unto his own house, in a base selfishness, which regarded only their own interests.

¹⁰Therefore the heaven over you is stayed from dew, and the earth is stayed from her fruit. — therefore the heaven over you is restrained from dew, withholding the moisture necessary to insure full crops and the earth is withheld from her fruit, it does not yield even its ordinary harvest.

¹¹And I called for a drought upon the land, and upon the mountains, and upon the corn, and upon the new wine, and upon the oil, and upon that which the ground bringeth forth, and upon men, and upon cattle, and upon all the labor of the hands.” — and the Lord of hosts called for a drought upon the land, upon the cultivated fields and upon the mountains, with their rich meadows and upon the corn, the grain products;

— and upon the new wine and upon the oil, all the chief products of the country; and upon that which the ground bringeth forth and upon men and upon cattle and upon all the labor of the hands, His blessing being withheld from all animate and inanimate beings. This earnest rebuke was heeded by the people.

¹²Then Zerubbabel the son of Shealtiel, and Joshua the son of Jehozadak, the high priest, with all the remnant of the people, obeyed the voice of the Lord their God and the words of Haggai the prophet, as the Lord their God had sent him; and the people feared before the Lord. — then Zerubbabel the governor, and Joshua the high priest, with all the remnant of the people, all the rest of the returned exiles;

— obeyed the voice of the Lord and the words of Haggai as the Lord had sent him, considering them as coming from the Lord himself and the people did fear the Lord with reverence and awe.

¹³Then spoke Haggai, the Lord’S messenger, in the Lord’S message unto the people, saying, “I am with you, saith the Lord.” — then, when the people showed such obvious signs of repentance, Haggai spoke unto the people, saying, the Lord is with you, He has accepted your repentance as genuine and acted accordingly.

¹⁴And the Lord stirred up the spirit of Zerubbabel the son of Shealtiel, governor of Judah, and the spirit of Joshua the son of Jehozadak, the high priest, and the spirit of all the remnant of the people; and they came and began work on the house of the Lord of hosts their God, — and the Lord stirred up the spirit of Zerubbabel, governor of Judah and the spirit of Joshua, the high priest and the spirit of all the remnant of the people and they came and worked; they took steps to continue the building operations in the house of the Lord,

¹⁵on the four and twentieth day of the sixth month, in the second year of Darius the king. — in the twenty-fourth day of the sixth month, twenty-three days after the first message of Haggai, in the second year of Darius, the king, the people were filled with the spirit of repentance and of the fear of the Lord and they took up the work which the Lord has entrusted them.

~~~

More about today’s Repudiation of God’s Sacred Calendar and Adopting a Paganised calendar:

— Days of the Week Names: “Sunday” is the Sun’s day and “Monday” is the Moon’s day. “Tuesday” is Tiw’s day; Tiw is an Anglo-Saxon god of war. “Wednesday” comes from Woden, the Anglo-Saxon king of the gods; in Saxon the name is Wodnesdaeg. “Thursday” is Thursdaeg, Thor’s day; Thor is a Norse god of thunder, lightning and storms. “Friday” is Frigedaeg, Frigga’s day; Frigg is a Norse goddess of home, marriage and fertility. “Saturday” is Saeterndaeg, Saturn’s day; Saturn is an ancient Roman god of fun and feasting;

— Months of the Year Names: January (derived from the Latin Januarius) is to honor their Roman gods Janus; and March, named for Mars, is the Roman mighty god of war; February is derived from the Februa festival or its eponymous februa (“purifications, expiatory offerings”); April relates to what the Romans called the month Aprilis; from a word meaning “to open” and further back from Aphrodite, the Greek name for the goddess of love. May – named for Maia, is the Roman goddess of spring and growth;

— June is a name attributed to Juno, the female mighty wife of Jupiter in Roman mythology. She is also called the “Queen of Heaven” and “Queen of Mighty Ones.” July is to honor Julius Caesar; the Roman Senate named it “Julius” in honor of Roman emperor Julius Caesar. August honor Julius Caesar’s successor, the emperor Augustus; and the months September, October, November, and December are archaic adjectives derived from the ordinal numbers 7 to 10;

Should we think we can get away from His wrath and judgement by repudiating His Word and His Calendar; adopping paganisation and get away with impunity?

Haggai 2

¹ In the seventh month, on the one and twentieth day of the month, came the word of the Lord by the prophet Haggai, saying, — after a short time after the construction of the Temple had resumed in the seventh month, month Tisri, in the twenty-first day of the month, came the word of the Lord by the word of prophecy to Haggai, as the Targum says;

²“Speak now to Zerubbabel the son of Shealtiel, governor of Judah, and to Joshua the son of Jehozadak, the high priest, and to the residue of the people, saying:

³‘Who is left among you who saw this house in her first glory? And how do ye see it now? Is this not in your eyes by comparison with it as nothing? — Who is left among you that saw this house in her first glory? the Temple of Solomon with its almost unequaled rich ornamentation. And how do ye see it now? What impression did this second Temple make upon them as they observed it?

— it appears by this question of the prophet, that some of the Jews there present had seen the former temple when young, before they were carried to Babylon, and could remember what a magnificent building it was. Is it not in your eyes as nothing? that is, in comparison of the former; as seen from Ezra 3:12;

⁴Yet now be strong, O Zerubbabel,’ saith the Lord; ‘and be strong, O Joshua, son of Jehozadak the high priest; and be strong, all ye people of the land,’ saith the Lord, ‘and work, for I am with you,’ saith the Lord of hosts. — Yet now be strong, O Zerubbabel, saith the Lord of hosts, filled with reassuring comfort; and be strong, O Joshua, the high priest; and be strong, all ye people of the land, saith the Lord, all filled with the same reassurance and work to complete the erection of the Temple; for the Lord be with you;

⁵‘According to the word that I covenanted with you when ye came out of Egypt, so My Spirit remaineth among you. Fear ye not.’ — according to the word that the Lord of hosts covenanted with you when ye came out of Egypt, when Israel was formally accepted as Yehovah’s people in the great assembly at Mount Sinai, so the Lord remaineth among you, to strengthen them for the successful conclusion of their work. Fear ye not!

⁶For thus saith the Lord of hosts: ‘Yet once, it is a little while, and I will shake the heavens and the earth, and the sea and the dry land. — for thus saith the Lord of hosts, the same powerful God of the covenant who had entered into fellowship with them at Horeb, Yet once, it is a little while, but a short time as men reckon time, and the Lord will shake the heavens and the earth and the sea and the dry land, in a mighty commotion involving practically the entire known world, such as took place when the Roman emperors ordered their periodical censuses of the empire.;

— as in Joel 3:16, “the earth will shake” that is, the whole world will be given a Mount Sinai experience as the children had when they came out of Egypt; so that the fear of the Lord will always be embedded in them, all the nations of the world to fear Him; Exodus 19:16-18, 20:18-21.

⁷And I will shake all nations, and the desire of all nations shall come; and I will fill this house with glory,’ saith the Lord of hosts. — and the Lord of hosts will shake all nations, that is, every nation will be having a Mount Sinai experience as the Israelite had, all of them being drawn into this agitation, and the Desire of all nations, the long-expected Messiah, shall come; and the Lord will fill this house, now so lowly and unpretentious, with glory.

⁸‘The silver is Mine, and the gold is Mine,’ saith the Lord of hosts. — the silver and the gold belong to the Lord of hosts, for which reason it would be a small matter for Him to fill any mere earthly house with ornamentation and treasures beyond the dreams of avarice. But that is not the Lord’s chief concern.

⁹‘The glory of this latter house shall be greater than of the former,’ saith the Lord of hosts. ‘And in this place will I give peace,’ saith the Lord of hosts.” — the glory of this latter house, of the Millenium shall be greater than of that of Solomon’s, saith the Lord of hosts; and in this place will He give peace, namely, the peace of the redemption gained by the promised Messiah.

¹⁰In the four and twentieth day of the ninth month, in the second year of Darius, came the word of the Lord by Haggai the prophet, saying, — in the twenty-fourth day of the ninth month, the month Chisleu, a little more than two months later, in the second year of Darius, came the word of the Lord by Haggai, saying,

¹¹“Thus saith the Lord of hosts: Ask now the priests concerning the law, saying,

¹²‘If one bear holy flesh in the skirt of his garment, and with his skirt toucheth bread, or pottage, or wine, or oil, or any meat, shall it be holy?’” And the priests answered and said, “No.” — if one bear holy flesh in the skirt of his garment, namely, the meat of sacrifices which had been offered, and with his skirt do touch bread or pottage, any of the holy food that was sodden, or wine or oil or any meat, such as was used in offering sacrifices or in connection with sacrificial meals, shall it be holy?

— and the priests answered and said, No. This was in agreement with the Law, Leviticus 6:20-27; for though the garment itself was sanctified by such consecrated food, it could impart no holiness to one who, by neglecting the will of the Lord, had become unholy.

¹³Then said Haggai, “If one who is unclean from a dead body touch any of these, shall it be unclean?” And the priests answered and said, “It shall be unclean.” — then said Haggai, If one that is unclean by a dead body, by touching a corpse, touch any of these, shall it be unclean? And the priests answered and said, It shall be unclean, again in perfect agreement with the Law and Ordinances established since the days of Moses, Leviticus 22:4; Numbers 5:2; Numbers 9:10.

¹⁴Then answered Haggai and said, “‘So is this people, and so is this nation before Me,’ saith the Lord, ‘and so is every work of their hands; and that which they offer there is unclean. — then answered Haggai and said, So is this people, and so is this nation before the Lord, in His presence as Ruler and Judge; and so is every work of their hands, everything that they might undertake;

— Rashi: So is this people: Just as you err in this, so do you err in many halachot (‘Jewish’ Laws and Ordinances established since the days of Moses);

— and that which they offer there is unclean. The children of Israel were in disgrace because of their neglect to finish the house of the Lord, and though their land was holy land, consecrated to the Lord, yet its fruits found no favor in His eyes and could not serve to make the people clean by a mere outward service, as long as their hearts were not in the right relation to Him, so that they were constrained to give Him the worship which lie desired.

¹⁵And now, I pray you, consider from this day and upward, from before a stone was laid upon a stone in the temple of the Lord: — and now, I pray you, consider from this day and upward, by applying their hearts to this problem, from before a stone was laid upon a stone in the Temple of the Lord, before its reconstruction was resumed;

¹⁶Since those days were, when one came to a heap of twenty measures, there were but ten. When one came to the wine vat to draw out fifty vessels out of the press, there were but twenty. — since those days were, when one came to an heap of twenty measures, a stack of sheaves which promised a yield of twenty bushels or pecks, there were but ten; when one came to the press-fat for to draw out fifty vessels out of the press, thinking that the harvest should have brought that much, there were but twenty.

¹⁷I smote you with blight and with mildew and with hail in all the labors of your hands; yet ye turned not to Me,’ saith the Lord. — the Lord of hosts smote you with blasting, with blight of the fruits and grains, and with mildew, from excessive moisture, and with hail in all the labors of your hands, the harvests over which they had worked so hard; yet ye turned not to the Lord, all His punishments did not have the desired effect.

¹⁸‘Consider now from this day and upward, from the four and twentieth day of the ninth month, even from the day that the foundation of the Lord’S temple was laid, consider it: — Consider now from this day and onward, applying their hearts to the consideration of that which pertained to their best interests, from the twenty-fourth day of the ninth month, even from the day that the foundation of the Lord’s Temple was laid,

— consider it, for the entire period of time since the Jews, in accordance with the decree of Cyrus, had first laid the foundation till the day of the assembly at which these words were spoken, was a time during which the blessing of the Lord was not poured out in its fullest measure, because all their labor for the new Temple had been fitful.

¹⁹Is the seed yet in the barn? Yea, as yet the vine, and the fig tree, and the pomegranate, and the olive tree hath not brought forth. From this day will I bless you.’” — Is the seed yet in the barn? They were still suffering as a consequence of the shortage. Yea, as yet the vine and the fig-tree and the pomegranate and the olive-tree hath not brought forth, the results of their former lack of zeal were still in evidence; from this day will the Lord bless you;

— times would now change, since they were showing evidence of the change which had come over their hearts. If men turn to the Lord in true repentance, He may turn to them in mercy and give them blessings of this life in rich measure.

²⁰And again the word of the Lord came unto Haggai in the four and twentieth day of the month, saying, — and again the word of the Lord came unto Haggai in the twenty-fourth day of the month, this being a second revelation on the same day, saying,

²¹“Speak to Zerubbabel, governor of Judah, saying: ‘I will shake the heavens and the earth. — Speak to Zerubbabel, governor of Judah, saying, in a message of encouragement which was nevertheless intended for the entire assembly of returned exiles, the Lord will shake the heavens and the earth, setting their machinery in motion in the interest of His plans for His people;

— as in Joel 3:16 and Haggai 2:6 above, “and I will shake the heavens and the earth” that is, the whole world will be given a Mount Sinai experience as the children had when they came out of Egypt; so that the fear of the Lord will always be embedded in them, all the nations of the world to fear Him; Exodus 19:16-18, 20:18-21.

²²And I will overthrow the throne of kingdoms, and I will destroy the strength of the kingdoms of the heathen; and I will overthrow the chariots and those who ride in them, and the horses and their riders shall come down, every one by the sword of his brother. — and the Lord of hosts will overthrow the throne of kingdoms, all the world-powers opposed to His reign and He will destroy the strength of the kingdoms of the heathen, all the forces of evil that are opposed to the Kingdom of God;

— and the Lord will overthrow the chariots and those that ride in them, the leaders of the hostile forces; and the horses and their riders shall come down, being overthrown and destroyed, everyone by the sword of his brother; for that, in the end is a condition which favors the Lord’s Kingdom, the fact that the enemies are often not at peace among themselves, but turn their weapons against one another.

²³In that day,’ saith the Lord of hosts, ‘will I take thee, O Zerubbabel, My servant, the son of Shealtiel,’ saith the Lord, ‘and will make thee as a signet; for I have chosen thee,’ saith the Lord of hosts.” — on that day, the Lord God will take thee, O Zerubbabel, My servant, and will make thee as a signet, a very precious possession in the eyes of its Oriental possessor; for the Lord have chosen thee;

— the fulfilment of tills prophecy is found in the Messiah, the son of David for He established the Kingdom of His father David in a most unique manner, as a spiritual rule and reign, which is to last throughout eternity. Cf Luke 1:32-33. The Targum says of Zerubbabel: “for in thee I am well pleased.”

~~~

More on Zerubbabel, from Zechariah 4

¹⁰For who hath despised the day of small things? For they shall rejoice and shall see the plummet in the hand of Zerubbabel with those seven. They are the eyes of the Lord, which run to and fro through the whole earth.” — “the hand of Zerubbabel with those seven” and these seven are “the seven eyes of the Lord” which are also the seven spirits of God, sent forth “to and fro” into all the earth; Revelations 5:6;

— only a Divine Being could have seven eyes or seven spirits of the Lord “which run to and fro through the whole earth,” thus the Scriptures testify that Zerubbabel is the Son of God, the Messiah. Selah!

Posted in Minor Prophets

Zephaniah (Ch 1-3)

•January 26, 2022 • Leave a Comment

Zephaniah the son of Cushi, which would be the most ancient of the prophets, and to be contemporary with Jeremiah, Habakkuk, Amaziah and Uzziah, kings of Judah, about the year 625 BC when he is expressly said to prophesy in the days of Josiah. Its theme is the great day of judgement, the Day of the Lord, or the Lord’s Day, upon Judah and Jerusalem, as well as upon the entire world in graphic details. His name, which is compounded of Saphon, to hide, and Yah the Lord, signifies the secrets of the Lord.

Zephaniah 1

¹ The word of the Lord which came unto Zephaniah the son of Cushi, the son of Gedaliah, the son of Amariah, the son of Hezekiah, in the days of Josiah the son of Amon, king of Judah. — the word of the Lord which came unto Zephaniah, the son of Cushi; when the name of a prophet and his father’s name are mentioned, he is a prophet, the son of a prophet; or whether a prince, a person of some great family, or maybe of the blood royal;

— the son of Gedaliah, the son of Amariah, the son of Hezekiah, four representative members from his ancestry being given, in the days of Josiah, the son of Amon, king of Judah, there were but three generations from him to Josiah, in whose days Zephaniah prophesied as though it is very probable that these progenitors of the prophet were men of note and character.

²“I will utterly consume all things from off the face of the land,” saith the Lord. — the Lord of host will utterly consume all things from off the land, sweeping it off the face of the earth in an utter devastation.

³“I will consume man and beast; I will consume the fowls of the heaven and the fishes of the sea, and the stumbling blocks with the wicked; and I will cut off man from off the land,” saith the Lord. — God will make His judgement to consume man and beast, even the creatures being affected by the universality of the decision;

— He will consume the fowls of the heaven and the fishes of the sea and the stumbling-blocks with the wicked, that is, whatever men have offended and transgressed with together with the objects of their idolatry; He will cut off man from off the land, certainly destroying them off the face of the earth, in a great fiery destruction.

⁴“I will also stretch out Mine hand upon Judah, and upon all the inhabitants of Jerusalem; and I will cut off the remnant of Baal from this place, and the name of the Chemarim with the priests, — God will also stretch out his hand upon Judah and upon all the inhabitants of Jerusalem, for the people of the land followed the inhabitants of the capital in their transgressions; and He will cut off the remnant of Baal from this place,

— for there were still such as adhered to his idolatrous worship, and the name of the Chemarim, the idol-priests, those engaged in the worship of Baal, with the priests, for these also had polluted themselves and were therefore destined for destruction;

— a parallel Scripture in Malachi 3:2 speaks of a “refiner’s fire” that shall purify the sons of Levi; hence within 700 years later, both the Boethusians, who hailed from Egyptian’s “idolatrous priests” and the Hellenised Sadducees, who played harlotry with the Greek gods of Zeus and goddess Athena, were consumed in the AD 70 inferno. The Boethusians and the Sadducees were members of two Jewish sects that kept a heretic passover, and that flourished for a century or so before their destruction in the prophesied refiner’s purification of the Levites;

— the Essene/Qumran has their own 364 day solar calendar totally at odds with the calendrics of the Sanhedrin; they acted presumptuously by repudiating the Calendar that God has instituted through His Word; they, too, were wiped out during the AD 70 inferno.

⁵and them that worship the host of heaven upon the housetops, and them that worship and that swear by the Lord, and that swear by Milcom, — and them that worship the host of heaven upon the housetops, had a full view of the host of heaven, regarding the Sun, Moon and Stars as their gods; and them that worship and that swear by the Lord and that swear by their pagan deity, Malcham, so that they tried to combine the service of the true God and that of Baal, solemnly pledging themselves to the latter’s service;

— a parallel in Jeremiah 8:2 the heads of the twenty-four courses of the priesthood, led by the high priest, making up the “twenty five men” were not only worshipping the SUN: they were doing so in the very temple of God, with their backs turned upon the presence of God!

— today, we all honor the host of heaven with a pagan-named week and a paganised monthly calendar; and more than 98.5 percent of Christians are honouring the Sun by observing Sunday worship. They have “their backs toward the temple of the Lord and their faces toward the east; and they worshipped the SUN toward the east; whose Godly penalty is to be “cut off” to death (verse 3) – ’till they die (more at the end).

⁶and them that are turned back from the Lord, and those that have not sought the Lord nor inquired for Him.” — and them that are turned back from the Lord, their backs against the temple of the Lord and their faces toward the east, worshipping the Sun; and those that have not sought the Lord nor enquired for Him, both the openly wicked and the irreligious or else seeking advice from other gods: Egyptian, Babylonian, Greek or Roman.

⁷Hold thy peace at the presence of the Lord God, for the day of the Lord is at hand. For the Lord hath prepared a sacrifice; He hath bidden His guests. — hold thy peace at the presence of the Lord God! ready to submit to His judgment as outlined above; for the day of the Lord—the Lord’s Day; as in Revelation 1:10; not Sunday but the day of His Judgement—is at hand, when His punishment must strike the transgressors soon;

— for the Lord hath prepared a sacrifice, the Jewish nation itself, his people the Jews, who were to fall to his justice, to atone for the injury done to their sins, He hath bid His guests, namely, the world-powers, the Chaldeans, the greeks, the Romans and their allies, all ready to devour Judah.

⁸“And it shall come to pass in the day of the Lord’S sacrifice, that I will punish the princes and the king’s children, and all such as are clothed with strange apparel. — and it shall came to pass in the day of the Lord’s sacrifice, when His punishment is put into effect, that the Lord of host will punish the princes, the mighty ones, the dignitaries of state, and the king’s children, all those belonging to the royal family;

— and all such as are clothed with strange apparel, their dress showing that they were estranged from the national spirit and customs; the Targum says, “and upon all those that make a noise at the worship of idols.”

⁹ In the same day also will I punish all those that leap on the threshold, who fill their masters’ houses with violence and deceit. — in the same day also God will punish all those that leap over the threshold, namely, that of the temple of Dagon, the idol of the Philistines, 1 Samuel 5:5 which fill their masters’ houses with violence and deceit;

— this also sounds like a dramatic transformed pale-looking cancer-denying Mike Pompeo CIA’s “We lie, we cheat, we stole” in bringing power, wealth, money and influence, unjustly acquired through “violence and deceit” into the houses of the Pentagon which they hope to get away with impunity, for the moment at least.

¹⁰“And it shall come to pass in that day,” saith the Lord, “that there shall be the noise of a cry from the Fish Gate, and a howling from the Second, and a great crashing from the hills. — and it shall come to pass in that day, the Lord’s Day, saith the Lord, that there shall be the noise of a cry, of a woeful shout, from the fish-gate, that through which the road to Joppa passed;

— and an howling from the second, from the lower city, where the attack of the enemy would be launched, and a great crashing from the hills, those extending upward from the lower city. The Lord set out to punish, and His Judgement was thorough, as it always is in the case of such as refuse to heed His warning.

¹¹Howl, ye inhabitants of Maktesh, for all the merchant people are cut down; all they that bear silver are cut off. — howl, ye inhabitants of Maktesh, meaning the mortar, a small section of Jerusalem, so called because it presented a depression or hollow; the Targum says differently, “howl, all ye that dwell in the valley of Kidron;”

— for all the merchant people are cut down, entirely destroyed; all they that bear silver, the traders laden with silver, who occupied that part of the lower city, are cut off by the sword of the enemy.

¹²And it shall come to pass at that time that I will search Jerusalem with candles, and punish the men that are settled on their dregs, that say in their heart, ‘The Lord will not do good, neither will He do evil.’ — and it shall come to pass at that time that the Lord of host will search Jerusalem with candles, investigating even the dark and hidden corners, so that not one of the wrong-doers is overlooked, and punish the men that are settled on their lees, like old wine which is not drawn off, a fit picture of moral and religious indifference, Jeremiah 48:11,

— that say in their heart, The Lord will not do good, neither will He do evil, which is a flat denial of his providence; saying that he takes no notice of what is done by men on earth, whether good or bad; and neither rewards the one, nor punishes the other. So the Targum says, “it is not the good pleasure of God to do good to the righteous, or to do evil to the wicked;” that is, there is no need of worry, matters will go on as they always have been.

¹³Therefore their goods shall become a booty, and their houses a desolation. They shall also build houses, but not inhabit them; and they shall plant vineyards, but not drink the wine thereof.” — therefore their wealth will be plundered by the enemies, and their houses a desolation, in the overthrow of the city;

— they shall also build houses, but not inhabit them, the destruction taking place before they can move into them, and they shall plant vineyards, but not drink the wine thereof. Cf Amos 5:11; Micah 6:15.

¹⁴The great day of the Lord is near; it is near and hasteneth greatly, even the voice of the day of the Lord; the mighty man shall cry there bitterly. — the great Day of the Lord, “the Lord’s Day” as in Revelation 1:10; not Sunday but the day of His Judgement, is near, it is near and hasteth greatly, there will be no further delay, even the voice of the day of the Lord, or “Hark! the day of Yehovah”

— the mighty man shall cry there bitterly, the mighty men within the city of Jerusalem besieged, as was in AD 70; the Boethusian and Sadducaic elites of Jerusalem, crying in bitter lamentation, because he cannot save themselves, but must yield to the foe.

¹⁵That day is a day of wrath, a day of trouble and distress, a day of waste and desolation, a day of darkness and gloominess, a day of clouds and thick darkness, — that day is a day of wrath and judgement, Cf Isaiah 19:18, a day of trouble and distress, of anguish and pressure, Job 15:24, a day of wasteness and desolation, of the greatest devastation, a day of darkness and gloominess, Joel 2:2, a day of clouds and thick darkness, Deuteronomy 4:11,

¹⁶a day of the trumpet and alarm against the fortified cities and against the high towers. — a day of the trumpet and alarm against the fenced cities, in proclaiming God’s power upon a sinful people, in the war-signal of desolation and against the high towers, these signify their princes, magistrates and great men, well-protected by the battlements of their forts.

¹⁷“And I will bring distress upon men, that they shall walk like blind men, because they have sinned against the Lord; and their blood shall be poured out as dust, and their flesh as the dung.” — and the Lord of host will bring distress upon men, that they shall walk like blind men, not knowing which way to go, groping about in a futile effort to escape from existing evils;

— because they have sinned against the Lord; and their blood shall be poured out as dust, in endless quantities, and their flesh as the dung, or their carcasses, that is, their dead bodies shall lie unburied, and rot and putrefy and shall be cast upon fields like dung, to fatten them.

¹⁸Neither their silver nor their gold shall be able to deliver them in the day of the Lord’S wrath; but the whole land shall be devoured by the fire of His jealousy, for He indeed shall make a speedy riddance of all them that dwell in the land. — neither their silver nor their gold shall be able to deliver them; like the Medes when they took on Babylon, Isaiah 13:17 in the day of the Lord’s wrath, they would not be able to buy themselves off when His fury is once set in motion;

— but the whole land shall be devoured by the fire of His jealousy, His indignation jealous for His honor; for He shall make even a speedy riddance of all them that dwell in the land, consuming them with a suddenness which they had not anticipated. Even so will the Day of Wrath come upon a world which, as a whole, is not prepared for the coming of the Lord’s Day of Judgement. Cf Matthew 24:44.

Zephaniah 2

¹ Gather yourselves together, yea, gather together, O nation not desired, — Gather yourselves together, yea, gather together, to call a solemn assembly, to gather the people, priests, and elders, together, to some one place, as for a penitential assembly with earnest self-examination, O nation not desired, literally, “that does not grow pale,” not desirable to God, which till now has felt no sense of shame,

— Rashi: O nation that has no desire: That has no desire to return to the Torah.

²before the decree bring forth, before the day pass as the chaff, before the fierce anger of the Lord come upon you, before the day of the Lord’S anger come upon you! — before the decree bring forth, when, according to God’s plan, the day of judgement upon Judah would suddenly come, before the day pass as the chaff, coming on quickly as when the wind carries the chaff along, before the fierce anger of the Lord come upon you, before the day of the Lord’s anger come upon you, as it surely would if they would not show the proper repentance;

— the Targum explains more fully, “before the decree of the house of judgement come out upon you, and ye be like chaff which the wind blows away, and like a shadow which passes from before the day,” like the Boethusian and Sadducaic elites during the AD 70 inferno; see Psalms 1:4.

³Seek ye the Lord, all ye meek of the earth, who have wrought His judgement; seek righteousness, seek meekness; it may be ye shall be hid in the day of the Lord’S anger. — seek ye the Lord, in proper repentance, all ye meek of the earth, the humble of the land, those who were still disposed to he guided by His will, which have wrought His judgement, observed His right, trying to fulfill the decrees of His holy Word; seek righteousness, with ever greater truth and sincerity, seek meekness, with all humility, with a constant sense of their own unworthiness;

— it may be ye shall be hid in the day of the Lord’s anger, so that the Lord would make use of mercy rather than in wrath and fierce anger and save them in the general overthrow. This exhortation is now supported by a reference to the doom of many nations;

— the Targum of the whole says, “seek the fear of the Lord, all ye meek of the earth, who do the judgements of his will; seek truth, seek meekness; it may be there will be a protection for you on the day of the Lord’s anger.”

⁴For Gaza shall be forsaken, and Ashkelon a desolation; they shall drive out Ashdod at the noonday, and Ekron shall be rooted up. — for Gaza shall be forsaken, overthrown and forgotten. and Ashkelon a desolation; they shall drive out Ashdod, the chief seat of the worship of Dagon, at the noon day, since she would be helpless even at midday, so that there would be no need of resorting to a night attack, and Ekron shall be rooted up. The four Philistine city-states here mentioned are clearly representative of the entire country.

⁵Woe unto the inhabitants of the seacoast, the nation of the Cherethites! The word of the Lord is against you, O Canaan, the land of the Philistines: “I will even destroy thee, that there shall be no inhabitant.” — Woe unto the inhabitants of the seacoast, of the plains along the Mediterranean sea, the nation of the Cherethites, for a part of the Philistines, at least, traced their descent to the ancient people of Crete; the word of the Lord is against you, O Canaan, the land of the Philistines, the word Canaan here applied chiefly to the lowlands of Palestine to the west; the Lord of host will even destroy thee that there shall be no inhabitant, the nation as such to be destroyed;

— Rashi: the nation of Cherethites: the people liable to destruction. Who are the inhabitants of the seacoast of Canaan, the land of the Philistines? The Philistines, who dwell on the coast of the western sea, in the west of Eretz lsrael, within its boundaries. Although Jonathan explains this phrase homiletically as [the nation of] destruction, the nation of the Cherethites is a province of the Philistines; its name is Cherethi. So Scripture states (I Sam. 30:14) regarding Ziklag: “We made a raid upon the south of the Cherethites, etc.” Jonathan translates: on the south of Cherethi. Below (ibid. 30:16) it is written: “Because of all the great spoil which they had taken from the land of the Philistines and from the land of Judah.”

— note – this seacoast in Cherethites is destined for destruction; yet the same seacoast in the next verses are prophesied to be a place of refuge for shepherds and folds of flocks – the remnant of the house of Judah, for the Lord their God shall visit them and return them from captivity!

⁶And the seacoast shall be dwellings and cottages for shepherds, and folds for flocks. — and the seacoast, then teeming with the life of rich commercial cities, shall be dwellings and cottages for shepherds, dugouts and shanties, or places for pastures where they would carry on the work of their calling, and folds for flocks, the land reverting to the use of nomads;

— Rashi: breakfast nooks for shepherds: a temporary dwelling where the shepherds eat bread in the morning. כְּרֹת is an expression related to (II Kings 6:23) “He prepared for them a lavish feast.”

— Yavne, where it is a “dwellings and cottages for shepherds and folds for flocks” on the Mediterranean coast, seems to fit this verse perfectly in a subtle way by God of referring to this seacoast!

Yavne, near the Coast shall be for the remnant of the house of Judah

⁷And the coast shall be for the remnant of the house of Judah; they shall feed thereupon. In the houses of Ashkelon shall they lie down in the evening; for the Lord their God shall visit them, and return them from captivity. — and the coast shall be for the remnant of the house of Judah, those whom the Lord would lead hack to their own country; the Pharisees of the House of Hillel; they escaped to Yavne on the Mediterranean coast and, later, his followers re-emerged as Rabbinic Jews, who established the Hillel Calendar; they shall feed thereupon, making the country a pasture-ground; their God shall visit them, to make the nucleus of a renewed people, members of the Jewish nation that returned;

— Rashi: And it shall be a lot for the remnant of the house of Judah: And that border shall be a lot for the remnant. This חֶבֶל is an expression of a lot. In this manner, Jonathan rendered: And it shall be a lot for the remnant of the house of Judah.

— with them the Jews are also embedded with the Oral Law, the knowledge of where the Vowels are in the Scriptures (which were then written only in consonants and no spaces nor punctuations); and how and when to use them; Romans 3:1-4; see a Study here and here; that’s why God provide a refuge for them; and bring them back from captivity!

⁸“I have heard the reproach of Moab, and the revilings of the children of Ammon, whereby they have reproached My people, and magnified themselves against their border. — the Lord of host have heard the reproach of Moab, Cf Jeremiah 48:27, and the revilings of the children of Amman, two people that descended from Lot, east of Jordan and of the Dead Sea, but later became the enemies of God’s people and made known their hostility in bitter blasphemies;

— whereby they have reproached God’s people, in proud mockery and scorn, they spoke reproachfully of the land of Israel, and magnified themselves against their border, acted violently against the boundary of the Lord’s people, constantly attempting to get into possession of some of Israel’s territory;

— Rashi: who taunted My people: When [the people of] Israel were being led into exile toward the land of the Chaldeans, and they were passing through Ammon and Moab, and they would see Israel weeping, sighing, and crying out, they would taunt them and say, “Why are you suffering? Aren’t you going to your father’s house? Your fathers dwelt on the other side of the river from earliest times.” (Josh. 24:2).

⁹Therefore as I live,” saith the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel, “surely Moab shall be as Sodom, and the children of Ammon as Gomorrah” even the breeding of nettles and salt pits, and a perpetual desolation. The residue of My people shall despoil them, and the remnant of My people shall possess them.” — therefore as the Lord of host lives, the God of Israel, the supreme Ruler of the world, Surely Moab shall be as Sodom, and the children of Amman as Gomorrah, being overwhelmed by the destruction which was the fate of their ancestor’s cities;

— even the breeding of nettles, a plant with pointed leave; a weed growing only in desolate places, and salt-pits, on the shore of the Dead Sea, and a perpetual desolation, a waste, barren and uncultivated; a desert until the end of time; the residue of God’s people shall spoil them, take possession of their land, and the remnant of His people shall possess them; that is, the Jews, the remnant of them that returned from Babylon: these events being typical of the destruction of the sinners in contrast to the redemption of the Lord’s people;

— Rashi: for Moab shall be like Sodom: You, too, shall return to your previous dwelling. Was not your father, Lot, from Sodom?

¹⁰This shall they have for their pride, because they have reproached and magnified themselves against the people of the Lord of hosts. — this shall they have for their (that of the Moabites and Ammonites) pride, in proper retaliation for the manner in which they had dealt with Yehovah’s people, because they have reproached and magnified themselves against the people of the Lord of hosts; they spoke contemptibly of them, of their nation and religion.

¹¹The Lord will be fearsome unto them; for He will famish all the gods of the earth; and men shall worship Him, every one from his place, even all the isles of the heathen. — the Lord will be terrible unto the Moabites and Ammonites; dealing with them in a manner which is hound to strike terror to their hearts; for He will famish, make them extremely hungry, or destroy;

— all the gods of the earth, all the idols in which men placed their trust: Dagon, Chemosh, Molech, Bel, Astarte, Mithra or Mitra (the Sun-God whose birthday many drunks honor and celebrate on December 25th), Zeus and others; called “gods of the earth” in distinction from the God of heaven; and men shall worship these earthly gods, acknowledging their supremacy, everyone from his place, Protestants or Catholics alike, even all the isles of the heathen, that is, men from every nation of the earth.

¹²“Ye Ethiopians also, ye shall be slain by My sword.” — ye Ethiopians also, not just Ethiopians in Africa but all beyond Egypt, ye shall be slain by My Sword, an instrument in the hand of God for punishing all the nations of the earth.

¹³And He will stretch out His hand against the north and destroy Assyria, and will make Nineveh a desolation and dry like a wilderness. — and the Lord of host will stretch out His hand against the North and destroy Assyria, powerful though it was at that time, and will make Nineveh, the capital of Assyria, Jonah 1:2, a desolation, although it was then surrounded by a network of irrigation canals, and dry like a wilderness.

¹⁴And flocks shall lie down in the midst of her, all the beasts of the nations: both the cormorant and the bittern shall lodge in the upper lintels of it: their voice shall sing in the windows; desolation shall be in the thresholds; for He shall uncover the cedar work. — and flocks shall lie down in the midst of her, the former great city had been leveled to the ground and reverted back to a pasture-ground, all the beasts of the nations, beasts of all kinds in droves or great masses;

— both the cormorant, the pelicans, and the bittern, or hedge-hog, shall lodge in the upper lintels of it, on the capitals of pillars standing in the midst of the ruins; their voice shall sing in the windows, or, “hark how tile singer sings in the window,” where he has built his nest; desolation, or dirt, shall be in the thresholds; for the Lord of hosts shall uncover the cedar work, all the beautiful cedar paneling of their palaces the Lord has torn away, and it has fallen into decay;

— Rashi: for the cedarwork has been destroyed: For he has uprooted its cedars, as in (Ps. 137:7) “Raze it, raze it.” Jonathan rendered: And they demolished its roof. That is the roof of the house that is ceiled with cedar; even stone houses are ceiled with boards of wood.

¹⁵This is the rejoicing city that dwelt without care, that said in her heart, “I am, and there is none besides me.” How she has become a desolation, a place for beasts to lie down in! Every one that passeth by her shall hiss and wag his hand. — this is the rejoicing city, where shouts of gaiety were heard without ceasing, that dwelt carelessly, in perfect security;

— that said in her heart, in proud self-confidence, I am, and there is none beside me. How is she become a desolation, a deserted place, a place for beasts to lie down in, a lair for the animals of the desert. Everyone that passeth by her shall hiss and wag his head, in scorn and derision, both astonished and gratified at the overthrow of the proud city, a consequence of the ending in which the Lord carried out His judgements upon His enemies.

Zephaniah 3

¹ Woe to her that is filthy and polluted, to the oppressing city! — Woe to her that is filthy and polluted, meaning the city of Jerusalem, and its inhabitants; not just before the Babylonish captivity, but after their return, under the second temple, stubborn and full of uncleanness.

²She obeyed not the voice; she received not correction; she trusted not in the Lord; she drew not near to her God. — she obeyed not the voice of his servants the prophets, paying no attention to the Lord’s admonitions; she received not correction, the instruction or discipline which was intended to be of benefit to her; she trusted not in the Lord, placing no confidence in His exhortations and promises; she drew not near to her God, she has become indifferent to Yehovah.

³Her princes within her are roaring lions; her judges are evening wolves, they gnaw not the bones till the morrow. — her princes within her are roaring lions, bent upon rapine and murder; her judges are evening wolves of civil magistrates in common; the members of the Sanhedrin; their princes with their mouths like ravening and roaring lions driven forth by hunger in the evening, their greed being insatiable; they gnaw not the bones till the morrow, that is, they leave not the bones till the morning; they are so hungry that they eat up bones and all at once, their voracious appetite causing them to devour their victims instantly.

⁴Her prophets are light and treacherous persons; her priests have polluted the sanctuary, they have done violence to the law. — her false prophets are light and treacherous, dishonest, unscrupulous, boastful and faithless; her priests have polluted the Sanctuary, desecrating the Temple by their neglect of the prescribed sacrifices or by their blasphemous manner in offering them; they have done violence to the Law, simply setting aside the precepts of God whose guardians they were supposed to be.

⁵The just Lord is in the midst thereof; He will not do iniquity: Every morning doth He bring His judgement to light, He faileth not. But the unjust knoweth no shame. — the just Lord is in the midst thereof, He, the righteous One, having left nothing untried; He will not do iniquity, He commits no wrong; every morning doth He bring His judgement to light, giving evidence of the justice of all His dealings;

— He faileth not, no blame, therefore, rests on Him. But the unjust knoweth no shame, the wicked people of Jerusalem are not influenced either by the example of God or by His threat of punishment.

⁶“I have cut off the nations; their towers are desolate; I made their streets waste, that none passeth by; their cities are destroyed, so that there is no man, that there is no inhabitant. — the Lord of host have cut off the nations, also as an act of warning for Israel; their towers are desolate, their walls and fortresses leveled to the ground; the Lord made their streets waste, the roads obliterated, that none passeth by their cities are destroyed, so that there is no man, that there is none inhabitant, all this being done, in part at least, to serve as an example of warning to the people of Jerusalem and Judah.

⁷I said, ‘Surely thou wilt fear Me, thou wilt receive instruction’—so their dwelling should not be cut off, howsoever I punished them; but they rose early and corrupted all their doings. — the Lord of host said, Surely thou wilt fear Me, the kindness and tenderness of the warning being emphasized; thou wilt receive instruction, if only thou wouldst suffer thyself to be taught!

— so their dwelling should not be cut off, howsoever the Lord of host punished them, or, “in accordance with all that the Lord had appointed them” that is, Yehovah hoped still to have mercy on them, so that He would not have to send the threatened punishment; but they rose early, zealous for their wicked works, and corrupted all their doings, they were eager to speed their perverted actions, their infamous deeds. Thus many a godless person refuses to heed the Lord’s call to repentance and deliberately plunges all the more deeply into transgressions of every kind.

⁸“Therefore wait ye upon Me,” saith the Lord, “until the day that I rise up to the prey; for My determination is to gather the nations, that I may assemble the kingdoms, to pour upon them Mine indignation, even all My fierce anger; for all the earth shall be devoured with the fire of My jealousy. — therefore wait ye upon the Lord, this merciful invitation being extended to all who will still listen to His words, until the day that the Lord rise up to the prey, when He pours out His wrath upon the nations;

— for His determination is to gather the nations, to carry out His punishment upon them, that the Lord may assemble the kingdoms, to pour upon them His indignation, even all His fierce anger, all the burning wrath which He has stored tip against them;

— for all the earth shall be devoured with the fire of His jealousy, by the zeal which He would show on His Day of Judgement. That is the promise of the Millenium, the elimination of the enemies as a factor in interfering with the progress of the Lord’s Kingdom;

— as in Joel 3:16, “the earth will shake” or here “all the earth shall be devoured with the fire” that is, the whole world will be given a Mount Sinai experience as the children had when they came out of Egypt; so that the fear of the Lord will always be embedded in them, all the nations of the world to fear Him; Exodus 19:16-18, 20:18-21.

⁹For then will I return to the people a pure language, that they may all call upon the name of the Lord, to serve Him with one accord. — for then will the Lord of host turn to the people a pure language, by purifying their sinful lips and thereby enabling them to call upon Him with pure lips, that they may all call upon the name of the Lord, Yehovah, in the true unity of a common faith to serve Him with one consent, literally, “with one shoulder,” all bearing together the pleasant yoke of our great God.

¹⁰From beyond the rivers of Ethiopia My suppliants—even the daughter of My dispersed—shall bring Mine offering. — from beyond the rivers of Ethiopia, from the remotest corners of the earth, the Lord’s suppliants, those who would worship Jehovah in spirit and in truth, even the daughter of His dispersed, gained for the Lord from the midst of a strange nation, shall bring His offering, turning to Him with true worship.

¹¹“In that day shalt thou not be ashamed for all thy doings wherein thou hast transgressed against Me; for then I will take away out of the midst of thee them that rejoice in thy pride, and thou shalt no more be haughty because of My holy mountain. — in that day shalt thou, the restored Israel, the Kingdom of God, not be ashamed for all thy doings wherein thou hast transgressed against Him, there being no more occasion for such a feeling;

— for then the Lord of host will take away out of the midst of thee them that rejoice in thy pride, the wicked and blasphemous whom the prophet had described at the beginning of the Chapter, and thou shalt no more be haughty because of His holy mountain, all boastfulness and pride being eliminated in favor of a meek and humble submission to Yehovah’s reign of mercy.

¹²I will also leave in the midst of thee an afflicted and poor people, and they shall trust in the name of the Lord. — the Lord of host will also leave in the midst of thee an afflicted and poor people, one fully conscious of its absolute dependence upon the grace and mercy of the covenant God, and they shall trust in the name of the Lord, Yehovah, placing all their confidence in Him alone.

¹³The remnant of Israel shall not do iniquity nor speak lies, neither shall a deceitful tongue be found in their mouth; for they shall feed and lie down, and none shall make them afraid.” — the remnant of Israel, the nucleus of the Church, which would become the stock of the Kingdom of God, shall not do iniquity, not willfully serve wickedness, nor speak lies, becoming guilty of deliberate falsehood,

— neither shall a deceitful tongue be found in their mouth, particularly so far as false doctrine is concerned; for they shall feed, of the rich pasture offered by the Good Shepherd, and lie down, in calm satisfaction, and none shall make them afraid. Cf Micah 7:14; Psalms 23.

¹⁴Sing, O daughter of Zion! Shout, O Israel! Be glad and rejoice with all the heart, O daughter of Jerusalem! — Sing, O daughter of Zion, the Kingdom of God; shout, O Israel, namely, the spiritual Israel; be glad and rejoice with all the heart, O daughter of Jerusalem, for the communion of the saints is established in the Jerusalem which is above. Cf Galatians 4:26.

¹⁵The Lord hath taken away thy judgments; He hath cast out thine enemy. The King of Israel, even the Lord, is in the midst of thee; thou shalt not see evil any more. — the Lord of host hath taken away thy judgements, the sentences of condemnation which had rightly been spoken upon her on account of her sins;

— He hath cast out thine enemy, sweeping away the world-power which personified all the hostile forces of the world. The King of Israel, even the Lord, is in the midst of thee, namely, in the person of the Messiah; thou shalt not see evil any more, His blessings removing everything that might bring evil.

¹⁶In that day it shall be said to Jerusalem, “Fear thou not”; and to Zion, “Let not thine hands be slack. — in that day, in the great Messianic period, it shall be said to Jerusalem, Fear thou not, this being the fundamental note of the Gospel of the Kingdom of God, no more weird stories from either the paganised Christmas or Easter shows; and to Zion, Let not thine hands be slack, namely, in terror at the prospect of danger and affliction from without.

¹⁷The Lord thy God in the midst of thee is mighty; He will save, He will rejoice over thee with joy; He will rest in His love, He will joy over thee with singing.” — the Lord, thy God, the Lord of host in the midst of thee is mighty, not at a dim distance, but in the closest proximity, and powerful to help; He will save, that’s His name Yeshua, He is the Savior;

— He will rejoice over thee with joy, in His delight over the renewal of the marriage covenant between Himself and His Church; He will rest in His love, in quiet satisfaction; He will joy over thee, after His meditation has proved so satisfactory, with singing. Moreover, the Lord will let all humble and afflicted partake of His joy.

¹⁸“I will gather them that are sorrowful for the solemn assembly, who are of thee, to whom the reproach of it was a burden. — the Lord of host will gather them that are sorrowful for the solemn assembly, mourning far from the festive gathering when the Lord would make His salvation known, who are of thee, they were of the same family and descent, but were now far removed from the visible congregation of the Lord, to whom the reproach of it was a burden, who felt the weight of their captivity among the heathen nations.

¹⁹Behold, at that time I will undo all that afflict thee; and I will save her that is halt, and gather her that was driven out; and I will get them praise and fame in every land where they have been put to shame. — behold, at that time, in the Millenium, the Lord of host will undo all that afflict thee, dealing with the oppressors according to His justice; and He will save her that halteth, heal the limping, and gather her that was driven out, those who were dispersed;

— and He will get them praise and fame in every land where they have been put to shame, so that the name of the Lord’s people would be celebrated everywhere.

²⁰At that time will I bring you back, even in the time that I gather you; for I will make you a name and a praise among all people of the earth, when I bring back your captives before your eyes,” saith the Lord. — at that time will the Lord of host bring you again, the calling of the Lord to join His Kingdom being an act of His mercy, even in the time that I gather you, in His Kingdom;

— for He will make you a name and a praise among all people of the earth, when He turn back your captivity before your eyes, saith the Lord. The fulfillment of this prophecy is clearly found in the gathering of the Kingdom, its members being called from the various nations of the earth, and the consummation and climax will be reached in the eventual complete deliverance from this present evil world as the Kingdom of God opens its portals.

~~~

Facing the East, worship the host of heaven (Zephaniah 15); worshipping the Sun:

— the worship of heavenly bodies was against God’s will which Moses had warned the people (Deuteronomy 4:19, 17:3, whose penalty is to be stoned to death, Deuteronomy 17:5 ’till they die). Those 25 men in Ezekiel 8:16 corrupted themselves by worshipping the sun; and so the Targum renders it, “and, lo, they corrupted themselves, worshipping facing the east the sun; their backs toward the temple of the Lord” — they turned their backs against the most holy place; which is an aggravation of their impiety; casting the utmost contempt for God:

Moses’ warnings in Deuteronomy 17

³And [if you] hath gone and served other gods and worshipped them, either the sun or moon or any of the host of heaven, which I have not commanded, ⁴and it be told thee, and thou hast heard of it and inquired diligently, and behold, it be true and the thing certain that such abomination is wrought in Israel, ⁵ then shalt thou bring forth that man or that woman who has committed that wicked thing unto thy gates, even that man or that woman, and shalt stone them with stones till they die. Deuteronomy 17:3-5

The following quotation show that the first Christians understood the Sabbath but were made forbidden and gathered for worship on Sunday: “Christians should not Judaize and should not be idle on the Sabbath, but should work on that day; they should, however, particularly reverence the Lord’s day and, if possible, not work on it, because they were Christians” (Canon 29 AD 360);

— also, Days of the Week Names: “Sunday” is the Sun’s day and “Monday” is the Moon’s day. “Tuesday” is Tiw’s day; Tiw is an Anglo-Saxon god of war. “Wednesday” comes from Woden, the Anglo-Saxon king of the gods; in Saxon the name is Wodnesdaeg. “Thursday” is Thursdaeg, Thor’s day; Thor is a Norse god of thunder, lightning and storms. “Friday” is Frigedaeg, Frigga’s day; Frigg is a Norse goddess of home, marriage and fertility. “Saturday” is Saeterndaeg, Saturn’s day; Saturn is an ancient Roman god of fun and feasting;

— Months of the Year Names: January (derived from the Latin Januarius) is to honor their Roman gods Janus; and March, named for Mars, is the Roman mighty god of war; February is derived from the Februa festival or its eponymous februa (“purifications, expiatory offerings”); April relates to what the Romans called the month Aprilis; from a word meaning “to open” and further back from Aphrodite, the Greek name for the goddess of love. May – named for Maia, is the Roman goddess of spring and growth;

— June is a name attributed to Juno, the female mighty wife of Jupiter in Roman mythology. She is also called the “Queen of Heaven” and “Queen of Mighty Ones.” July is to honor Julius Caesar; the Roman Senate named it “Julius” in honor of Roman emperor Julius Caesar. August honor Julius Caesar’s successor, the emperor Augustus; and the months September, October, November, and December are archaic adjectives derived from the ordinal numbers 7 to 10;

— do you think we can get away from His wrath and judgement by repudiating His Word and His Calendar; adopping paganisation and get away with impunity?

— today, more than 98.5 percent of Christians are honouring the Sun by observing Sunday worship. They have “their backs toward the temple of the Lord and their faces toward the east; and they worshipped the SUN toward the east; whose Godly penalty is to be stoned to death – ’till they die.

Posted in Minor Prophets

Malachi (Ch 3-4)

•January 22, 2022 • Leave a Comment

The last of the prophets, Malachi begins with a prophecy of a forerunner of the coming of the Messiah; and the effects and consequences of his coming, and the prophecy of uniting the messages of the Father of the Old Testament and the Son of the New.

Malachi 3

¹“Behold, I will send My messenger, and he shall prepare the way before Me. And the Lord, whom you seek, shall suddenly come to His temple, even the Messenger of the covenant, whom ye delight in. Behold, He shall come,” saith the Lord of hosts. — behold, the Lord of hosts will send My messenger, the special prophet spoken of Isaiah 40:3, who was John the Baptist, the passage upon which the present statement is evidently founded, and he shall prepare the way before Me, Mark 1:3; and the Lord whom ye seek, the Son of God, and promised Messiah, for whose who were so anxiously waiting;

— shall suddenly come to His Temple, and here Simeon, Anna and others, were waiting for Him, Luke 2:22; appeared suddenly to dwell in the midst of His people, of His Church, even the Messenger of the Covenant, the Son of God Himself, whom ye delight in, namely, all those who still desire the covenant of the Lord with His people to he fulfilled;

— behold, so the announcement is once more made with impressive solemnity, He shall come, saith the Lord of hosts. This is the preaching of the Kingdom of God in order to prepare the hearts for the great coming of Yehovah.

²“But who may abide the day of His coming? And who shall stand when He appeareth? For He is like a refiner’s fire and like fullers’ soap. — but who may abide the day of His coming? be able to endure that Day of Judgement upon the disobedient and secure? Cf Matthew 3:8-12; Luke 3:9. And who shall stand when He appeareth? Cf Joel 2:11.

— for He is like a refiner’s fire, separating pure doctrines from ones of dross compared to fire, Jeremiah 23:29; false ones shall be burned like chaff, or which separates the dross from the pure metal, and like fullers’ soap, thoroughly to cleanse the garment of His Church from all impurities;

— the Syriac version says, “as sulphur that makes white;”

³And He shall sit as a refiner and purifier of silver; and He shall purify the sons of Levi, and purge them as gold and silver, that they may offer unto the Lord an offering in righteousness. — and He shall sit as a refiner and purifier of silver, the entire Messianic era being a time of testing and of judgement, John 9:39, culminating in the final day of Judgement;

— and He shall purify the sons of Levi, for the judgement begins at the house of God, and purge them as gold and silver that they may offer unto the Lord an offering in righteousness, so that all the members of the Millenium priesthood, in fact, might serve Him in holiness and righteousness;

— the “refiner’s fire” shall purify the sons of Levi; both the Boethusians, who hailed from the Egyptian paganism and the Hellenised Sadducees, who played harlotry with Greek gods, couldn’t escape the consuming inferno in AD 70. The Boethusians and the Sadducees were members of two Jewish sects that kept a heretic passover, and that flourished for a century or so before their destruction in the prophesied refiner’s purification of the Levites.

⁴Then shall the offering of Judah and of Jerusalem be pleasant unto the Lord, as in the days of old and as in former years. — after the “refiner’s fire” then shall the offering of Judah and Jerusalem be pleasant unto the Lord, the entire Church worshiping Him in spirit and in truth, as in the days of Moses, when the children of Israel were still in truth as His chosen.

⁵“And I will come near to you in judgement; and I will be a swift witness against the sorcerers and against the adulterers, and against those who swear falsely, and against those who oppress the hireling in his wages, the widow and the fatherless, and those who turn aside the stranger from his right, and fear not Me,” saith the Lord of hosts. — and I will come near to you to judgement, namely, the judgement of wrath upon the wicked; and I will be a swift witness against the sorcerers, the transgressors of the First and Second Commandments; the Targum says, “my Word shall be among you for a swift witness,”

— and against the adulterers, those disregarding the Sixth Commandment, and against false swearers, with reference both to the Second and the Eighth Commandments, and against those that oppress the hireling in his wages, by withholding them altogether or by underpaying him;

— the widow, and the fatherless, as being without a natural protector, and that turn aside the stranger from his right, Cf Deuteronomy 27:19, and fear not Me, saith the Lord of hosts, this last point indicating the source of all iniquity lack of the fear of the Lord.

⁶“For I am the Lord, I change not. Therefore ye sons of Jacob are not consumed. — for I am Yehovah, I change not, I’m also the Everlasting, the Eternal indicating that He is the same from everlasting to everlasting; the Targum says, “for I the Lord have not changed my covenant.”

— therefore ye sons of Jacob are not consumed, literally, “and ye, the Sons of Jacob, ye are not yet consumed,” that is, the Lord will keep the true spiritual Israel safe while He sends His judgement upon the wicked in their midst. Even so the Church of God in the New Testament is preserved in the midst of hypocrisy and deceit, while the wicked will finally be destroyed;

— but some sects escaped death during the inferno of AD 70; were not consumed:

(1) the Christians, known as Nazarenes in Acts 24:5. They escaped to a northern town called Pella, west of the Jordan River;
(2) the Hillel branch of Pharisees, those of the House of Hillel. They were headed by a Pharisaic rabbi, Johanan ben Zakkai, the head of the Sanhedrin, he was smuggled out of besieged Jerusalem in a coffin. They escaped to Yavne, and later to Tiberias; his followers re-emerged as Rabbinic Jews, who established the Hillel Calendar, which was revealed by Hillel II in about AD 359 concerning the rules of the calendar.

— the Shammites branch of Pharisees, together with the wicked Boethusians and Sadducees, all were deemed as chaff and were consumed during the inferno of AD 70.

⁷“Even from the days of your fathers, ye have gone away from Mine ordinances and have not kept them. Return unto Me, and I will return unto you,” saith the Lord of hosts. “But ye said, ‘In what manner shall we return?’ — even from the days of your fathers ye are gone away from Mine ordinances and have not kept them, this being the reason why He has withheld the fullness of His blessing and salvation from them. Return unto Me, and I will return unto you, saith the Lord of hosts, His appeal being made in all Sincerity, since He wants all men to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth;

— but ye said, still blind toward their transgressions, Where shall we return? They did not realize that the real service of Yehovah must be a growth from within, from a heart which lives in His fear. Therefore the prophet asks, in turn, in order to arouse them to a consciousness of the true meaning of worship,

⁸Will a man rob God? Yet ye have robbed Me! But ye say, ‘Wherein have we robbed Thee?’ In tithes and offerings. — will a man rob God, defraud Him? Is not the very idea preposterous and revolting? Yet ye have robbed Me, actually trying to defraud Yehovah of the service which He rightly expected;

— but ye say, Wherein have we robbed Thee? And the answer is, in tithes and offerings, keeping back from the priests and Levites their dues, for these the people had deliberately withheld, thus making a mockery of their worship of Yehovah.

⁹Ye are cursed with a curse; for ye have robbed Me, even this whole nation. — ye are cursed with a curse, as a consequence of such behavior; for ye have robbed Me, even this whole nation, for the practice rebuked was general among the people; the first-fruits of their ground and cattle and other offerings which were allotted to the priests, Deuteronomy 18:4, out of which revenue they were to provide the daily sacrifices and also to maintain the Levites, who attended upon the service in the temple; therefore He admonishes them with great solemnity:

¹⁰Bring ye all the tithes into the storehouse, that there may be meat in Mine house, and put Me to the proof now herewith,” saith the Lord of hosts, “if I will not open to you the windows of heaven and pour you out a blessing, that there shall not be room enough to receive it. — bring ye all the tithes, the entire tithes, not only a part, into the storehouse, not keeping back a part, as heretofore, that there may be meat in Mine house, provision for the daily sacrifices, and for the maintenance of the priests and Levites, as food for His servants, Numbers 18:24;

— and prove Me now herewith, to find out whether He is not still the same righteous and holy God as of old, saith the Lord of hosts, if I will not open you the windows of heaven and pour you out a blessing, in plentiful harvests, that there shall not be room enough to receive it, your prosperity being practically limitless.

¹¹And I will rebuke the devourer for your sakes, and he shall not destroy the fruits of your ground, neither shall your vine cast her fruit before the time in the field,” saith the Lord of hosts. — and God will rebuke the devourer for your sakes, not permitting the locusts or caterpillar or any such devouring creature that eats up the herbage, corn and fruits of trees; to devour the crops, to ravage the land; and these creatures shall not destroy the fruits of your ground, all the ordinary field-crops;

— neither shall your vine cast her fruit before the time in the field, saith the Lord of hosts, that is, that these devourers or locusts, that they should not cause the vine to be abortive; the grapes would not fall before they had matured.

¹²“And all nations shall call you blessed, for ye shall be a delightsome land,” saith the Lord of hosts. — and when they shall see the land freed from the devouring locusts, all nations shall call you blessed, praising them for the obvious blessings which they enjoyed as a gift of Yehovah; for ye shall be a delightsome land, as seen by your neighbouring nations, an object of pleasure, saith the Lord of hosts.

¹³“Your words have been defiant against Me,” saith the Lord. “Yet ye say, ‘What have we spoken so much against Thee?’ — you have spoken arrogantly against Me, saith the Lord, namely, in the murmuring which He has rebuked above. Yet ye say, What have we spoken against Thee? The Lord’s answer through His prophet is;

¹⁴Ye have said: ‘It is vain to serve God; and what profit is it that we have kept His ordinance, and that we have walked mournfully before the Lord of hosts? — when you said, ‘it doesn’t pay to serve God; what do we ever get out of it? It is vain to serve God, it does not pay; and what profit is it that we have kept His ordinance, and that we have walked mournfully before the Lord of hosts? with all indications of deep sorrow and mourning over their sins. Their complaint was that it was poor business, that it did not pay.

¹⁵So now we call the proud happy; yea, they that work wickedness are set up; yea, they that tempt God are even delivered.’” — and now we call the proud and arrogant, they had actually reached the stage when they praised the wicked, with their apparent happiness in matters of this world; yea, they that work wickedness are set up, they abound in riches and honours; they are set in high places; they are the lucky ones, in their presumptuous opinion;

— yea, they that tempt God are even delivered, as if they tried to provoke him, even these men escape those dangers and calamities; they have no misfortune, they have everything that their heart desires; they seem to escape judgement and go on with impunity.

¹⁶Then those who feared the Lord spoke often one to another, and the Lord hearkened and heard it. And a book of remembrance was written before Him for those who feared the Lord and who thought upon His name. — then, namely, when the scoffers were making these blasphemous remarks, they that feared the Lord spoke often one to another, they made it a practise to encourage one another over against such blasphemous talk;

— and the Lord hearkened and heard it, by the omniscience of God, who hearkens and hears everything; He paid attention to their remarks, and a book of remembrance, records, annals and chronicles was written before Him for them that feared the Lord and that thought upon His name, the subject of their conversations being things which pertained to His glory.

¹⁷“And they shall be Mine,” saith the Lord of hosts, “in that day when I make up My jewels; and I will spare them as a man spareth his own son who serveth him. — and they shall be Mine, saith the Lord of hosts, the precious people of His inheritance, 1 Peter 2:9, in that day when God make up His jewels, when He would impart to them the fullness of His glory;

— and God will spare them, in manifesting His tender mercies upon them and as a man spareth his own son that serveth him, ready to show his love and goodness in such an instance.

¹⁸Then shall ye return and discern between the righteous and the wicked, between him that serveth God and him that serveth Him not. — then shall ye, those who were now grumbling, return and discern between the righteous and the wicked, noting the difference between the two classes, the difference between such who are really and truly righteous, who are here meant, even such who believe in Christ;

— those that are justified by his righteousness; and those that are wicked, also in the manner in which God dealt with them, between him that serveth God and him that serveth Him not. The time of judgement is still at hand, but infidels and scoffers and by their characters and judgement that will be issued to them by the Judge; and the different sentences passed and executed on them.

Malachi 4

¹ “For behold, the day cometh that shall burn as an oven; and all the proud, yea, and all that do wickedly shall be stubble. And the day that cometh shall burn them up,” saith the Lord of hosts, “that it shall leave them neither root nor branch. — for, behold, the day cometh, the day before Christ’s return, reaching to a global destruction, is compared to a burning oven; the wicked to stubble, whose ruin would be utter and complete being considered a day of sifting;

— because it culminates in the Day of Judgement, that shall burn as an oven, one which holds the refiner’s fire; and all the proud, yea, and all that do wickedly, shall be stubble, under the fire of His wrath, Cf Matthew 3:10-12;

— and the day that cometh shall burn them up, saith the Lord of hosts, Cf Isaiah 5:24; Zephaniah 1:18, that it shall leave them neither root nor branch, which signifies an entire and complete destruction; the final, eternal destruction of the wicked being coincidental with the last Judgement. Such is the terrible fate of those who do not avail themselves of the Lord’s mercy.

²But unto you that fear My name shall the Sun of Righteousness arise with healing in His wings; and ye shall go forth and grow up as calves from the stall. — but unto you that fear God’s name, Malachi 3:16, whose names were written in the book of remembrance; who loved the law of their God, and kept them, shall the Sun of Righteousness, the Messiah, with the fullness of His power;

— arise with healing in His wings, by which are meant its rays and beams of His righteousness sent out through His Word; and ye shall go forth, with joyfully uplifted heads, and grow up as calves of the stall, in strength, vigour and spiritual stature, nourished by the Word of God. Cf John 1:14.

³And ye shall tread down the wicked, for they shall be ashes under the soles of your feet in the day that I shall do this,” saith the Lord of hosts. — and ye shall tread down the wicked, whose final overthrow is consistently prophesied in Scripture; for they shall be ashes under the soles of your feet, the ashes of the wicked, powerless and worthless; like the ashes of the Boethusians and the Sadducees, were destroyed in the inferno of Jerusalem, and many of them burned to ashes in the flames in the latter day by which it will similarly be consumed.

— in the day that God shall do this, saith the Lord of hosts. All believers are happy in their faith, in the enjoyment of God’s mercy; they enjoy true liberty and will finally celebrate an eternal victory over all their enemies. The prophet therefore, in concluding his message, adds an admonition:

⁴“Remember ye the Law of Moses, My servant, which I commanded unto him in Horeb for all Israel, with the statutes and judgements. — remember ye the Law of Moses, God’s servant; they were apt to forget: hence this exhortation is given now, because no other prophet after Malachi would be sent unto them, which God had commanded unto him in Horeb for all Israel, with the statutes and judgements, the Word which contained His solemn covenant; to be observed by the children of Israel, and which were shadows of things to come;

⁵“Behold, I will send you Elijah the prophet before the coming of the great and dreadful day of the Lord. — behold, God will send you Elijah, the prophet, a prophet like him, namely, John the Baptist, the forerunner of the Messiah, Matthew 11:10-14; Matthew 17:10-13; Luke 1:17, before the coming of the great and dreadful Day of the Lord, Joel 2:31, namely, before the Lord Himself would begin His administration, which ushered in the Millenium, just after the Last Judgement;

⁶And he shall turn the heart of the fathers to the children, and the heart of the children to their fathers, lest I come and smite the earth with a curse.” — and “Elijah the prophet” shall turn the heart of the fathers to the children and the heart of the children to their fathers, this shows in what John’s office would consist: in the turning of men to God, and uniting the father and children in one act of reconciliation:

— so that the father will turn to the religion of his son who is converted to Christ, and the son will embrace the faith of their true fathers: Abraham, Isaac and Jacob; in having them both realize the love of the Father in sending his Son, the Messiah and in the subsequent salvation wrought for all men, Luke 1:17, or uniting the Chosens of the Old Testament who are their fathers in the faith to true Elects of the New testament who are their children; or a link between the testaments;

— lest the Lord of hosts will come and smite the earth with a curse, namely, in the event that men will not heed the preaching of repentance and the forgiveness of sins. The Jews as a nation rejected the Messiah and have come under the curse as in AD 70 and AD 132. But this did not result in the overthrow of the Kingdom of God and the Church. The spiritual Israel, rather, has heeded and is heeding the Word of God and is enjoying the fullness of the blessings promised throughout the Old Testament and so gloriously fulfilled in the New Testament; thus uniting the messages of both the Father and Son. Selah!

Posted in Minor Prophets

Malachi (Ch 1-2)

•January 20, 2022 • Leave a Comment

Malachi spoke to the exiles some 100 years after their initial return, after the days of Zechariah and Haggai; he served God either at the time of Nehemiah or immediately after his time. So although Zechariah was the last of the prophets, the more commonly accepted opinion is that Malachi was the last; hence he was regarded “the end of the prophets.”

Malachi 1

¹ The burden of the word of the Lord to Israel by the hand of Malachi. — the burden of the word of the Lord to Israel; by which is meant the prophecy of this book, so called because it is heavy, burdensome and distressing, either for the prophet to carry or the people to bear;

²“I have loved you,” saith the Lord. “Yet ye say, ‘Wherein hast Thou loved us?’ Was not Esau Jacob’s brother?” saith the Lord. “Yet I loved Jacob, — the message was to the house of Jacob but more importantly it is more to the house of Israel, verse one above;

— who is Esau today? The answer lies in the book of Obadiah; and Jonathan Targum identifies Esau (Sepharad of the Southland identified) as Spain! Obadiah 1:20; the Targums identified Sepharad with Spain, hence, Spanish Jews are called Sephardim;

— Wikipedia: Sepharad (/sɛfəræd/or səˈfɛərəd/ Hebrew: סְפָרַד Sp̄āraḏ; also Sefarad, Sephared, Sfard) is the Hebrew name for Spain. A place called Sepharad, probably referring to Sardis in Lydia (‘Sfard’ in Lydian), in the Book of Obadiah (Obadiah 1:20, 6th century BC) of the Hebrew Bible. The name was later applied to Spain.

³and I hated Esau, and laid his mountains and his heritage waste for the dragons of the wilderness.” —and God hated Esau, or “rejected” him as the Targum says; God did not love him as Jacob: even though were equally descended from Abraham, had an equal claim to his blessing; they lay in the same womb together; they were twins; and if any could be thought to have the advantage by birth, Esau had it, being born first; Genesis 25:23; Esau is Edom Genesis 36:8);

— for the dragons of the wilderness; so called to distinguish them from sea dragons and these land dragons are no other than serpents of an enormous size; were found in the mountains; such as were bred in caves or in the flat country; and such as were found in fens and marshes; Genesis 27:39; so the Targum renders it, “into the wasteness of the desert” or into a waste desert where none but such sort of animals inhabit;

— one Report by McKinsey says of the 60 millions Latinos in US, they often live in ‘deserts’ where adequate housing, groceries are hard to find. “Nearly 9 in 10 of the Latino residents in such communities lived in five states: California, Florida, New Jersey, New York and Texas.”

McKinsey: Latinos are projected to make up 22.4 percent of the US labor force by 2030 and more than 30 percent by 2060 (Latinos population to 111.2 million by ’60).

⁴Whereas Edom saith, “We are impoverished, but we will return and rebuild the desolate places;” but thus saith the Lord of Hosts: “They shall build, but I will throw down; and they shall call them the Border of Wickedness and the people against whom the Lord hath indignation forever. — whereas Edom saith, We, or the Idumeans, are impoverished; the posterity of Esau, who live South of the children of Jacob, acknowledging themselves being greatly reduced by the desolations made in their country, cities, towns and houses, being plundered of all their valuable things; as if the Edomites should know they are poor and low, and their land is laid waste:

— they shall build, but the Lord will throw down; they attempted to build again their cities and towns, but could not succeed, God was against them; the Spanish Empire at its height in the mid-18th century governed 13% of the world’s land – 7.5 million square miles; but since then they could never reclaim that status.

The Spanish Empire at the height of its power in the mid-18th century

— and the people against whom the Lord hath indignation forever; not for seventy years only, as against the Jews, Zechariah 1:12, but those from the posterity of Edom are to be poor, low and despised forever;

— a parallel description of the Edomites in an earlier study of the Prophecy of Obadiah

“Behold, I have made thee small among the nations; thou art greatly despised. Obadiah 1:2 — thou art greatly despised; another parallel in Jeremiah 49:15 “For lo, I will make thee small among the nations and despised among men,” as the term beaners (Latinx or Latinos?) could allude to. The southern wall in the United States is “the Border of Wickedness.”
Rashi: Behold I have made you small: In contrast with what his father called him, his big son, and his mother called him her big son, the Holy One, blessed be He, says: In My eyes, he is small. And our Sages expounded: small for they have neither script nor language.

⁵And your eyes shall see, and ye shall say, ‘The Lord will be magnified from the border of Israel.’ — and your eyes from the house of Jacob shall see… the destruction of the Edomites, and their fruitless attempts to rebuild their desolate places; and the difference between them and the Israelites, who were returned to their own land, and inherited it, when they could not; and the love of God to the one, and his hatred of the other:

— and ye shall say, the Lord will be magnified from the border of Israel; following the Mexican-American War that ended in 1848, the United States magnified their border by more than 500,000 square miles (1,300,000 square km) of land from Mexico, expanding US territory by about one-third. Mexico ceded nearly all the territory now included in the US states of New Mexico, Utah, Nevada, Arizona, California, Texas, and western Colorado for $15 million and US assumption of its citizens’ claims against Mexico; (Cf Habakkuk 2:8)

— and so the Targum says, “let the glory of the Lord be multiplied, because he hath enlarged the border of Israel’ – all to show that God had loved them more than others and therefore they ought to have honoured, obeyed and loved him, in which they were deficient and ungrateful.

⁶“A son honoreth his father, and a servant his master. If then I be a father, where is Mine honor? And if I be a master, where is the fear of Me? saith the Lord of hosts unto you, O priests, who despise My name. And ye say, ‘Wherein have we despised Thy name?’ — a son honoreth his father and a servant his master, in agreement with the commandment of God; If, then, I be a Father, where is Mine honor? Why were they persisting in their unnatural behavior and denying Him the obedience which He had a right to expect? and so the Targum says, “lo concerning a son it is said (or commanded) that be should honour his father; and of a servant, that he should fear (or show reverence) before his master;”

— and if I be a Master, where is My fear? fear and reverence are due to the Lord from his people, considered in such a relation to them; both a fear of wrath and punishment; and also a Godly filial fear, Why did they not give Him the reverence and respect which were His due? asked the Lord of hosts unto you, O priests, that despise My name, who ought to have honoured and feared the Lord; and yet they despised his name, or made it contemptible; by not paying that regard to his authority, as a Father and master:

— and ye say, as if honestly resenting the charge against them, or pretending to be innocent and guiltless, Wherein have we despised Thy name? the priest were very ones who should have been leaders in such worship in keeping and the teaching of the Law and ordinances.

⁷Ye offer polluted bread upon Mine altar; and ye say, ‘Wherein have we polluted Thee?’ In that ye say: ‘The table of the Lord is contemptible.’ — ye offer polluted bread upon Mine altar, in connection with some of the offerings brought to the Lord; not made of fine wheat flour, nor of pure frankincense put upon or by each row, as the law required, Leviticus 24:5;

— and ye say, Wherein have we polluted Thee? In that ye say, The table of the Lord is contemptible, their practise of offering sacrifices which were expressly forbidden by God and their manner in the entire administration of their work being an insult to the holiness of the God Almighty. Cf Leviticus 22:21-22.

⁸And if ye offer blind animals for sacrifice, is that not evil? And if ye offer the lame and sick, is that not evil? Offer it now unto thy governor! Will he be pleased with thee or accept thy person?” saith the Lord of hosts. — and if ye offer the blind for sacrifice, is it not evil? or “there is no evil” that is, in their opinion. And if ye offer the lame and the sick, is it not evil? this of the daily meat offering, which went along with the daily sacrifice of the lambs, and part of which was burnt on the altar, Exodus 29:40 or rather this designs sacrifice in general, sometimes called “bread” Leviticus 3:11;

— and so the Targum says, “ye offer upon my altar an abominable offering” such as having blemishes in them, were blind or lame; and thus not the requisites of a sacrifice in them; or were offered not in a right manner, or by bad men or those with a wicked mind;

— offer it now unto thy governor, so the Lord ironically bids them do; will he be pleased with thee or accept thy person? asked the Lord of hosts; will he thank thee for it? or on the contrary, will he not resent it as an affront to him? and if so it would be with an earthly prince, how can it be thought that to offer the blind, lame and sick should be acceptable to the King of kings and Lord of lords?

⁹“And now, I pray you, beseech God that He will be gracious unto us. This has been by your hand: Will He regard your persons?” saith the Lord of hosts. — and now, Malachi prays unto them, beseech God that He will be gracious unto you: these are the words of the prophet to the priests; and are spoken either seriously, exhorting them to that part of their office which lay in interceding for the people that God would be gracious to them, and forgive their sins;

— this hath been by your means, that is, this their hand had done; that such sacrifices were offered up; they indulged the people in such practices and encouraged them; the fault was theirs; or this curse, as from Malachi 1:14:

— now try asking God to be kind to you; will he welcome you? Can you ever imagine that God will have any respect to your prayers, when you have acted so vile a part, and been the cause of so much sin and evil? no, he will not, as is asserted in the next verse:

¹⁰“Who is there even among you who would shut the doors for nought? Neither do ye kindle fire on Mine altar for nought. I have no pleasure in you,” saith the Lord of hosts, “neither will I accept an offering from your hand. — there were four and twenty porters to open and shut the doors, four on each side; yet the Lord asked, is there any among you who would shut the doors to the Temple at even for me?

— so that you could not light fires on my altar for no reason. If one would but lock the doors leading to the altar of burnt offering, in order to keep anyone from bringing any vain oblations! I have no pleasure in you, saith the Lord of hosts, being thoroughly disgusted at the lack of care with their custodianship, neither will God accept an offering at your hand, no matter of what kind it was.

¹¹For from the rising of the sun even unto the going down of the same, My name shall be great among the Gentiles. And in every place incense shall be offered unto My name, and a pure offering; for My name shall be great among the heathen,” saith the Lord of hosts. — for from the rising of the sun even unto the going down of the same, as far as the world extends, God’s name shall be great among the Gentiles, including those recruits gained for the Church of the New Testament from the heathen world;

— and in every place incense, namely, that of the prayers of the faithful, shall be offered unto God’s name and a pure offering, on the part of those who had accepted the God of the covenant as their God; for My name Yehovah shall be great among the nations, saith the Lord of hosts, for the kingdom of God was started by the Jews (through the Messiah Yeshua and his twelve apostles), then to be expanded to the other tribes and then to all the nations;

— Rashi: My Name is great among the nations: Our Sages stated (Men. 110a): For they call Him the God of the gods. Even one who has an idol knows that He is the God Who is over all of them. Our Sages, explained: these are the scholars who are engaged in the laws of the Temple service everywhere, and likewise, every prayer of Israel that they pray anywhere is to Me as a pure oblation and My great Name is sanctified through you, and your prayer is like a pure offering before Me. This is the explanation of the verse: Now why do you profane My Name? Is it [that I am] not great among the nations?

— God’s name is the four-letter Hebrew word יהוה‎ YHVH Yehovah (not Jehovah since the letter J wasn’t around but only after the sixteenth century; (more on this at the end)

¹²“But ye have profaned it in that ye say, ‘The table of the Lord is polluted; and the fruit thereof, even His meat, is contemptible.’ — but ye have profaned it, that is, the name of the Lord, which they are said to despise, Malachi 1:6 and pollute, Malachi 1:7 and is a reason why they and their offerings were rejected: in that ye say, The table of the Lord Is polluted, Cf v. 7, and the fruit thereof, even his meat is contemptible; the word for fruit o sometimes is used for speech, the fruit of the lips, Isaiah 57:19.

¹³Ye said also, ‘Behold, what a weariness is it!’ And ye have sniffed it,” saith the Lord of hosts. “And ye brought that which was torn and the lame and the sick; thus ye brought an offering! Should I accept this from your hand?” saith the Lord. — ye said also, Behold, what a weariness is it! these are either the words of the priests, saying what a wearisome and fatiguing duty the temple service was to them, for which they thought they were poorly appreciated; such as slaying the sacrifices; removing the ashes from the altar; putting the wood in order; kindling the fire, and laying the sacrifice on it: or of the people that brought the sacrifice, who, when they brought a lamb upon their shoulders, and laid it down, said, how weary are they in bringing it, suggesting it was so heavy, fat and fleshy;

— and ye have snuffed at it, saith the Lord of hosts; ye have puffed and panted and blown as persons weary with bringing such a heavy lamb, when it was so light that, if it was blown at, it would fall to the ground; or publicly showing other contempt for the work of their Temple;

— and the whole should render, “and ye have grieved me” that is, the Lord, by bringing such sacrifices, and complaining of weariness and by your hypocrisy and deceitfulness;

— and ye brought that which was torn and the lame and the sick, in a contemptuous disregard for the Lord; thus ye brought an offering: should I accept this at your hand? asked the Lord.

¹⁴“But cursed be the deceiver who hath in his flock a male, and vow and sacrifice unto the Lord a corrupt thing. For I am a great King,” saith the Lord of hosts, “and My name is dreadful among the heathen. — but cursed be the deceiver… a cunning, crafty, subtle man who thinks and contrives, speaks and acts, in a very artful and deceiving manner; which hath in his flock a male, without spot and blemish as the law requires for sacrifice;

— and vow and sacrifice to the Lord a corrupt thing; that was a female or had blemishes in it; for the law required what was perfect and without a blemish for a vow; what was superfluous or deficient in its parts might do for a freewill offering, but not for a vow,

— for I am a great King, saith the Lord of hosts; the King of the whole world, the King of kings and Lord of lords; and therefore to be honoured and reverenced suitable to his dignity and greatness;

— and my name is to be feared among the nations; because of God’s judgements executed to the house of Israel for 190 years and the house of Judah for 40 years; for details, see Ezekiel 4 – 390/40 Years;

— God’s name is the four-letter Hebrew word יהוה‎ YHVH Yehovah (not Jehovah since the letter J wasn’t around but only after the sixteenth century; (more on this at the end)

Malachi 2

¹ “And now, O ye priests, this commandment is for you. — and now, O ye priests, those that even dare to despise and profane the name of the Lord; that suffered such corrupt and illegal sacrifices to be brought and offered up: these commandment and judgement are for them, they must be aware of the seriousness of the situation and accept the Lord’s rebuke and threat accordingly.

²If ye will not hear, and if ye will not lay it to heart to give glory unto My name,” saith the Lord of hosts, “I will even send a curse upon you, and I will curse your blessings. Yea, I have cursed them already, because ye do not lay it to heart. — if ye will not hear, and if ye will not lay it to heart, if they persisted in your callousness over against God’s commands, to give glory unto My name, saith the Lord of hosts, by a worship in agreement with His commands;

— I will even send a curse upon you, and I will curse your blessings, both upon priests and people; those that bring the bad offerings, such as their corn, and wine and oil; yea, God have cursed you already because you do not lay it to heart, presenting an indifferent front to the Lord’s admonitions.

³Behold, I will corrupt your seed and spread dung upon your faces, even the dung of your solemn feasts; and one shall take you away with it. — behold, God will corrupt your seed, rebuking that which had been sowed in the fields, thus reducing also the amounts which the priests received as tithes and spread dung upon your faces as an expression of His extreme contempt;

— even the dung of your solemn feasts, that of the excesses of such pagan feasts (1) Astarte, the queen of heaven; from whom Easter is derived; Jeremiah 7 and Jeremiah 44; (2) the palm tree, Mithra, the sun-god, now proliferates during Christmas; with decorated with lights, tinsel, red and green ribbon, poinsettias and other crowning glory; Jeremiah 10:3-5;

— the Targum says, “I will make manifest the shame of your sins upon your faces; and will cause to cease the magnificence of your feasts.”

⁴And ye shall know that I have sent this commandment unto you, that My covenant might be with Levi,” saith the Lord of hosts. — and ye shall know, by the token of this punishment, that I have sent this commandment unto you, this decree of covenant and punishment which they thought they might so calmly disregard, that My covenant might be with Levi, who were the Levites, including the priests;

— especially in Leviticus 23 regarding all of God’s feast days, involving all the priests and Levites, saith the Lord of hosts. The Lord’s sentence of punishment upon all those who despised His worship was included in the original covenant through the tribe of Levi to be teachers and light to others: first to the house of Jacob then to rest of the world.

⁵“My covenant was with him of life and peace, and I gave them to him for the fear with which he feared Me and was afraid before My name. — my covenant was with the priests and Levites of life and peace, with the promise of life and peace attached; and God gave them, namely, life, deliverance and salvation;

— to the priests and levites for the fear wherewith they feared Me, as an example to the rest of the world as a reward for leadership with this attitude, and was afraid before My name, Cf Numbers 25:12;

— the Targum says, “I gave him the perfect doctrine of the law, or the doctrine of the perfect law that he might fear before me.”

— God’s name is the four-letter Hebrew word יהוה‎ YHVH Yehovah (not Jehovah since the letter J wasn’t around but only after the sixteenth century; (more on this at the end)

⁶The law of truth was in his mouth, and iniquity was not found on his lips. He walked with Me in peace and equity, and turned many away from iniquity. — the Truth of the Law was with the tribe of Levi, so that everything which they did and taught was in agreement with divine truth, and iniquity should not be found in their lips;

— they walked with Me in peace and equity, in an ideal situation of peace, integrity and righteousness and did turn many away from iniquity, this being the praise which the Lord bestowed upon true members of the tribe of Levi in setting an example.

⁷For the priest’s lips should keep knowledge, and they should seek the law at his mouth; for he is the messenger of the Lord of hosts. — as teachers of the covenant the priest’s lips should keep and teach knowledge, preserving the right understanding of Yehovah worship among the people as a precious treasure, and they, the people, should seek the Law at the mouth of the priests, to be instructed by them; for they are messengers of the Lord of hosts. That is what the Lord found praiseworthy in members of the tribe of Levi in the early days of Moses; that it should continue as it should he.

⁸But ye have departed from the way; ye have caused many to stumble at the law; ye have corrupted the covenant of Levi,” saith the Lord of hosts. — but ye, the present members of the tribe are departed out of the way, leaving the path shown them by the Law of the Lord; ye have caused many to stumble at the Law, you have either perverted the sense of the law, or encouraged others to break it by your bad example; so that they became guilty of transgressing the Law;

— ye have corrupted the covenant of Levi by your evil practices you have broken or rendered void that covenant: by your not performing that part of the covenant which the tribe of Levi was bound to perform; or you have disengaged God from performing his part, or fulfilling those promises which God had engaged to make good to them on the performance of certain conditions on their side, saith the Lord of hosts.

⁹“Therefore have I also made you contemptible and base before all the people, according as ye have not kept My ways but have been partial in the law.” — therefore have God also made you contemptible and base, an object of contempt and loathing when your city and temple were destroyed by the Romans in 70 AD, and they were carried away again as captives and slaves and became a taunt and a proverb in all places where they went to:

— before all the nations of the world among whom you were scattered: according as ye have not kept My ways, in the same degree as they had transgressed, but have been partial in the Law, in applying the Law to the conduct of the people; in the observance of it, attending to the lesser and taking no notice of the weightier matters when required.

¹⁰Have we not all one Father? Hath not one God created us? Why do we deal treacherously every man against his brother by profaning the covenant of our fathers? — have we not all one Father? Hath not one God created us? These questions, the sense of these words, that there ought to be no partiality used in the law, or any respect had to persons, in that the rich and the poor have all one Father and one Creator;

— why do we deal treacherously, faithlessly, by perverting justice, having respect to persons, favouring one to the prejudice of another, every man against his brother, by profaning the covenant of our fathers? the covenant made with them at Sinai, the law that was then enjoined them, particularly such as forbid respect of persons, Leviticus 19:15; which should govern all their lives.

¹¹Judah hath dealt treacherously, and an abomination is committed in Israel and in Jerusalem; for Judah hath profaned the holiness of the Lord which he loved, and hath married the daughter of a strange god. — Judah hath dealt treacherously, with a disregard of the covenant of impartiality, not only every man against his brother, by being partial in the law; and an abomination is committed in Israel, throughout the nation, in Judah and in Jerusalem, the capital, which should have led in the observance of the Law;

— for Judah hath profaned the holiness of the Lord which He loved, namely, the people as a body, whom the Lord had chosen as His holy people, as the Targum says of Judah, who was holiness to the Lord; and others of the holy place, the sanctuary, and all holy things belonging thereto;

— and hath married the daughter of a strange god, by the fact that numerous members of the nation had entered into the marriage relationship with women addicted to idolatry, an act which was distinctly prohibited in the Law of God, Exodus 34:11; Deuteronomy 7:1-4. as the Targum paraphrases thus, “and they were pleased to take to them wives, the daughters of the people” the Gentiles;

— King Herod took the daughter, Mariamne, of Boethus (of Egypt of the high-priestly family of Boethus: Simon, son of Boethus from Alexandria) to wife and made her father the high priest of Jerusalem; they lived in luxurious splendor, using silver and golden vessels all their lives; hence the birth of profanity serving in the Temple of Jerusalem.

¹²The Lord will cut off the man who doeth this — the master and the scholar — out of the tabernacles of Jacob, and him that offereth an offering unto the Lord of hosts. — the Lord will cut off the man that doeth this, that is guilty of such treachery and idolatry: or “to the man that doeth this” all that belong to him, his children and substance: it denotes the utter destruction, not of a single man and his family only, but of the whole Jewish nation and its polity, civil and ecclesiastical;

— since it was a profanation of the sacred position of the people, the master and the scholar, or “the watcher and the answerer,” out of the tabernacles of Jacob, and him that offereth an offering unto the Lord of hosts, so that there would be a complete exile, expulsion and captivity of all those who had transgressed;

— they shall “be cut off” – the Boethusians and the Sadducees, members of two Jewish sects that kept a heretic passover, and that flourished for a century or so before their destruction with Jerusalem in AD 70 inferno. (The Hellenised Sadducees who played harlotry with the Greeks couldn’t escape the same fate)

¹³And this have ye done again, covering the altar of the Lord with tears, with weeping, and with crying out insomuch that He regardeth not the offering anymore, nor receiveth it with good will from thy hand. — and this have ye done again, as another transgression which the Lord found it necessary to rebuke their prayers, covering the altar of the Lord with hypocritical tears with weeping and crying aloud, to come to the Sanctuary and there register their lament over the injustice received; pretending great humiliation for their sins:

— insomuch that He, the God of the covenant, regardeth not the offering any more or receiveth it with goodwill at their hand, He wanted nothing of their worship and expresses an utter rejection and abrogation of their sacrifices.

¹⁴Yet ye say, “Why?” Because the Lord hath been witness between thee and the wife of thy youth, against whom thou hast dealt treacherously; yet she is thy companion and the wife of thy covenant. — yet ye asked, apparently surprised that the Lord should repudiate their prayers, Wherefore? Because the Lord hath been witness between thee and the wife of thy youth, every true marriage being entered into with His sanction and the Lord therefore being the witness for the rights of the wife;

— against whom thou hast dealt treacherously, in breaking the promised faith, the troth which had been plighted; yet is she thy companion, the partner of her husband’s joys and sorrows, and the wife of thy covenant, she with whom the husband had entered into the relation controlled by a mutual promise.

¹⁵And did not He make one? Yet had He the residue of the spirit. And why one? That He might seek a godly seed! Therefore take heed to your spirit, and let none deal treacherously against the wife of his youth. — and did not he make one? Yet had he the residue of the spirit, literally, “And not one acted so who still had a particle of reason,” that is, this manner of acting was unknown among men of reason. Of course, the people might raise the objection, And wherefore one? What did Abraham do when he repudiated Hagar?

— that he might seek a godly seed. The object of Abraham in going in to Hagar was not to gratify the lust of the flesh, but he honestly thought that he might thus get the son whom God had promised him. Therefore, Malachi concludes, take heed to your spirit, watching over themselves with the greatest care, and let none deal treacherously against the wife of his youth, namely, by lightly dismissing her.

¹⁶“For the Lord, the God of Israel, saith that He hateth putting away; for one covereth violence with his garment,” saith the Lord of hosts. “Therefore take heed to your spirit, that ye deal not treacherously.” — for the Lord, the God of Israel, saith that He hateth putting away, Cf Deuteronomy 24:1; for one covereth violence with his garment, or “iniquity covers his garment,” saith the Lord of hosts so that it would cling to him forever;

— therefore take heed to your spirit that ye deal not treacherously. The same thought is found in the New Testament, not only in various sayings of Jesus concerning the sanctity of the marriage covenant, but also in the words of Peter regarding the living together of a man with his wife according to reason. Cf 1 Peter 3:7.

¹⁷Ye have wearied the Lord with your words. Yet ye say, “Wherein have we wearied Him?” When ye say: “Every one who doeth evil is good in the sight of the Lord, and He delighteth in them,” or, “Where is the God of judgement?” — ye have wearied the Lord with your words, with their dissatisfied grumbling over recent events. Yet ye say, Wherein have we wearied Him? the same disobedient people again standing out in opposition to God, in resenting the rebuke of Malachi, His prophet;

— when ye say, Every one that doeth evil is good in the sight of the Lord, and He delighteth in them, this being the statement of godless insolence in direct opposition to the rebuke of the prophet Malachi, or Where is the God of judgement? Since you see that the way of the wicked prospers, and the righteous are afflicted and stumble; hence the great mass of the people boldly declared that there was no foundation for the prophet’s threat, that the talk of the coming Judgement was unfounded. Cf II Peter 3:4. Over against this question of doubt and unbelief the Lord places a very definite statement.

~~~

More on God’s name, Yehovah.

The following verses with the LORD erred in translation. His name Yehovah should be used:

I am the LORD; that is My name. And My glory will I not give to another, neither My praise to graven images. Isaiah 42:8
And it shall come to pass, that whosoever shall call on the name of the LORD shall be delivered; for in Mount Zion and in Jerusalem shall be deliverance, as the LORD hath said, and in the remnant whom the LORD shall call. Joel 2:32
“I am sought of them that asked not for Me; I am found of them that sought Me not. I said, ‘Behold Me, behold Me,’ unto a nation that was not called by My name. Isaiah 65:1

When we call our God, the LORD, we err, because his name is not the LORD, which is a title. His name is YEHOVAH! May We all ask for his forgiveness, and may Our merciful God forgive us all.

Posted in Minor Prophets

Zechariah (Ch 13-14)

•January 16, 2022 • Leave a Comment

During the Millenium the Feast of Tabernacle is prophesied to be reinstated, but sacrifices, the foremost of which is the Passover, is hinted at. The differentiations of nationalities are reduced in importance and so are the sexes—there wouldn’t be Gentiles nor Jews; or a Court for the Women and another for the Gentiles in the Ezekiel Temple in Jerusalem, but only designated as Inner Court or Outer Court.

Zechariah 13

¹ “In that day there shall be a fountain opened to the house of David and to the inhabitants of Jerusalem, for sin and for uncleanness. — the Lord declares, “On that day a fountain will be opened for David’s family and for those who live in Jerusalem to wash away their sin and stain.

²And it shall come to pass in that day,” saith the Lord of hosts, “that I will cut off the names of the idols out of the land, and they shall no more be remembered; and also I will cause the prophets and the unclean spirit to pass out of the land. — and it shall come to pass that God will cut off the names of the idols out of the land, so that the very names which had formerly been in the mouths of men everywhere were no longer mentioned, and they shall no more be remembered;

— and God will cause the prophets and the unclean spirit who speaks through the false prophets, to pass out of the land. This is one of the results of the preaching of the Truth, as we see also in the case of the people of Ephesus when Paul proclaimed the true God to them. Cf Acts 19:19.

³And it shall come to pass that when any shall yet prophesy, then his father and his mother who begot him shall say unto him, ‘Thou shalt not live, for thou speakest lies in the name of the Lord’; and his father and his mother who begot him shall thrust him through when he prophesieth. — if a man still prophesies presumptuously, his father and his mother, who gave birth to him, will say, ‘You don’t deserve to live because you speak lies in the name of the Lord.’ Then his father and his mother, who gave birth to him, will stab him when he still prophesies; this is in line with the command of the Lord in the Old Testament. Cf Deuteronomy 18:20.

⁴And it shall come to pass in that day, that the prophets shall be ashamed every one of his vision when he hath prophesied; neither shall they wear a garment of hair to deceive. — and if those prophets still assert presumptuously that they possess the power to prophesy, they shall be ashamed every one of his vision when he hath prophesied; neither shall they wear a rough garment, after the manner of Elijah to deceive, to impress men with their status as prophets, just as men nowadays affect the dress, speech and manners of certain professions in order to make an impression;

⁵But he shall say, ‘I am no prophet; I am a husbandman, for man taught me to keep cattle from my youth.’ — but he shall say, ‘I am no prophet, I am an husbandman,’ vehemently disclaiming any connection with the prophetic profession; for man taught me to keep cattle from my youth, rather, “a man has purchased me from my youth.”

⁶And one shall say unto him, ‘What are these wounds in thine hands?’ Then he shall answer, ‘Those with which I was wounded in the house of my friends.’ — and one shall say unto him, What are these wounds in thine hands? the scars which he bore as a result of his wounding himself in the service of idols, 1 Kings 18:28. Then he shall answer, in trying to evade the issue and to place the blame elsewhere;

— those with which he was wounded in the house of his friends, possibly when lie was chastised in his capacity as slaves; and may be taken as a warning in our days when men are turning to deceivers for counsel and guidance.

⁷“Awake, O sword, against My Shepherd, and against the Man that is My fellow,” saith the Lord of hosts. “Smite the Shepherd, and the sheep shall be scattered; and I will turn Mine hand upon the little ones. — awake, O Sword, against My Shepherd, concerning his Son, whom he calls “my Shepherd” the same one who addressed the people in Zechariah 11:12 (thirty pieces of silver),;

— and against the Man that is My Fellow, Him who is also God, together with the Father, for the Messiah is the Son of God, who was in the bosom of the Father and by Him begotten in the great scheme of things, who here summons the Sword for the Messiah’s Sacrifice, to carry out the infliction of suffering by which the redemption of mankind is to be carried out;

— smite the Shepherd and the sheep shall be scattered, to smite the Messiah even unto death; a word which Jesus applied to Himself on the evening before His death, Matthew 26:31; and I will turn Mine hand upon the little ones, literally, “I will bring back My hand upon the little ones” for He intended to redeem the wretched, the poor and lowly, for of these were to make up His Elect.

⁸And it shall come to pass that in all the land,” saith the Lord, “two parts therein shall be cut off and die, but the third shall be left therein. — and it shall come to pass that in all the land, saith the Lord, two thirds therein, the great majority of the people, shall be cut off and die, being offended in Him and therefore rejected from His herd; but the third, only a small part, shall be left therein;

— “in all the land” Q, is this all Israel or all the earth? the context seems to indicate the later as this chapter and the next is concerning God dealing with all the nations. Just a thought, this would be something like 4 to 5 billion people dead! Could a soon new and vibrant Covid-2X (or a hybrid variant) do this job of killing thousands falling by the wayside? — as in Psalms 91 which prophesied what a Godsend pandemic could do

Nor of the pestilence that walk in darkness, nor of the destruction that lay waste at noonday. A thousand shall fall at thy side, and ten thousand at thy right hand, but it shall not come nigh thee. Psalms 91:6-7

⁹And I will bring the third part through the fire, and will refine them as silver is refined, and will try them as gold is tried. They shall call on My name, and I will hear them. I will say, ‘It is My people’; and they shall say, ‘The Lord is my God.’” — and God will bring the third part through the fire, the test of affliction and persecution as it soon came to the first congregation, and will refine them as silver is refined and will try them as gold is tried, Cf 1 Peter 1:6-7;

— they shall call on My name, and I will hear them, graciously giving them the attention which assured them of His certain assistance; God will say, ‘It is My people, and they shall say, Yehovah is my God.’ This has ever been the relationship obtaining between the God of the covenant and His Elect on earth, and this intimate communion is one of the miracles of the Chosen till the end of time. Cf John 14:23;

— they shall call on My name; my name is Yehovah (YHVH); God’s name is the four-letter Hebrew word יהוה‎ YHVH Yehovah (not Jehovah since the letter J wasn’t around but only after the sixteenth century; (more on this at the end)

Zechariah 14

¹ Behold, the day of the Lord cometh, and thy spoil shall be divided in the midst of thee. — behold, the day of the Lord cometh, the Day of Judgement or the Lord’s Day, and thy spoil that gained by the enemies in overcoming Jerusalem, that shall be divided in the midst of thee, the enemies then being at leisure and secure in the conquered city;

— there is a parallel in Revelation “the Lord’s Day” of Revelation 1:10

— on “the Lord’s Day” is actually the Day of God’s judgement; “the day of Judgement” (Encyclopedia Biblica, article “Lord’s Day”); in later years, when the Roman Catholic Church were getting so powerful this was reinterpreted to mean the day of Christ’s resurrection, Sunday; hence today, “the Lord’s Day” has presumptuously being transformed into a day of worship on Sundays.

²For I will gather all nations against Jerusalem to battle; and the city shall be taken, and the houses rifled, and the women ravished. And half of the city shall go forth into captivity, and the residue of the people shall not be cut off from the city. — on the Day of Judgement, God will gather all nations against Jerusalem to battle, the enemies being recruited from all countries of the world; and the city shall be taken and the houses rifled and the women ravished, a picture of an apparent complete overthrow of the Judah such as she experienced before the Chaldean captivity;

— and half of the city shall go forth into captivity, yielding to the power inspired by a Destroyer, and the residue of the people shall not be cut off from the city, some at least would remain faithful to the true God despite the ravaging of the enemies.

³Then shall the Lord go forth and fight against those nations, as when He fought in the day of battle. — then the Lord shall go forth and battle against those nations as He fought like “at the Red Sea” which the Targum adds and on the many occasions when He went forth to fight with them and for them as King David and many others did.

⁴And His feet shall stand in that day upon the Mount of Olives, which is before Jerusalem on the east; and the Mount of Olives shall cleave in the midst thereof toward the east and toward the west, and there shall be a very great valley, and half of the mountain shall remove toward the north and half of it toward the south. — and on that day, God’s feet shall stand upon the Mount of Olives, this location being considered the center of the earth and the throne of the Lord as He makes ready for judgement, which is before Jerusalem on the east;

— and the Mount of Olives shall cleave in the midst thereof toward the east and toward the west, an earthquake having this effect as the earth trembled under the footsteps of the Almighty;

— and there shall be a very great valley; and half of the mountain shall remove toward the north and half of it toward the south, thus opening a road from Jerusalem straight toward the east.

⁵And ye shall flee to the valley of the mountains, for the valley of the mountains shall reach unto Azal. Yea, ye shall flee as ye fled from before the earthquake in the days of Uzziah king of Judah; and the Lord my God shall come, and all the saints with Thee. — and ye shall flee to the valley of the mountains for safe hiding-places; see, Isaiah 2:19; for the valley of the mountains shall reach unto Azal, a small town east of Mount Olivet;

— yea, ye ‘shall flee, like as ye fled from before the earthquake in the days of Uzziah, king of Judah; and the Lord, my God, shall come; His advent being looked for by His children ‘with joyful expectation, and all the saints, the holy angels, with thee. The picture sketched by the prophet shows our God, Yehovah preparing to judge the nations, while the believers flee to Him for refuge, knowing that their judgement is near.

⁶And it shall come to pass in that day that the light shall not be clear nor dark. — on that day there shall be no light nor dark, cold nor frost, literally, “the glorious things will withdraw themselves,” evidently said of the lights of heaven, the sun, moon and stars;

⁷But it shall be one day which shall be known to the Lord — neither day nor night; but it shall come to pass that at evening time it shall be light. — and it will be a day unlike any other, for it will be one continuous day, known only to the Lord, and there will be no more day nor night for there will be light even during the evening.

⁸And it shall be in that day, that living waters shall go out from Jerusalem, half of them toward the eastern sea and half of them toward the hinder sea; in summer and in winter shall it be. — in both summer and winter, life-giving streams will flow from Jerusalem, half of them to the Dead Sea (but the Targum differs, saying it is the Persian Sea) in the east and half to the Mediterranean Sea in the west.

⁹And the Lord shall be king over all the earth; in that day shall there be one Lord, and His name one. — and the Lord will be the King of kings over all the earth. On that day there will be one Lord—his name alone will be worshiped; the Lord to be glorified wherever His Word is proclaimed.

¹⁰All the land shall be turned as a plain from Geba to Rimmon south of Jerusalem; and it shall be lifted up and inhabited in her place, from Benjamin’s Gate unto the place of the First Gate unto the Corner Gate, and from the Tower of Hananeel unto the king’s wine presses. — the land will stretch out spaciously around Jerusalem—from Geba in the north to Rimmon in the south, with Jerusalem towering at the center and the commanding city gates—Gate of Benjamin to First Gate to Corner Gate to Hananel Tower to the Royal Winery—ringing the city full of people;

¹¹And men shall dwell in it, and there shall be no more utter destruction; but Jerusalem shall be safely inhabited. — and men shall dwell in Jerusalem and there shall be no more danger nor any destruction, but Jerusalem shall be safely inhabited; never again will Jerusalem be destroyed; but will be a safe city.

¹²And this shall be the plague wherewith the Lord will smite all the people who have fought against Jerusalem: their flesh shall consume away while they stand upon their feet, and their eyes shall consume away in their holes, and their tongue shall consume away in their mouth. — and when the vials are poured out there shall be more plagues, whereby the Lord will smite all the people that have fought against Jerusalem, those who oppose the Kingdom and its work;

— their flesh shall rot away while they stand upon their feet, so that they would rot away in a living death, and their eyes shall consume away in their holes, and their tongue shall consume away in their mouth, all these punishments making them unfit for further attacks upon the city of God.

¹³And it shall come to pass in that day that a great tumult from the Lord shall be among them; and they shall lay hold every one on the hand of his neighbor, and his hand shall rise up against the hand of his neighbor. — and on that day there will be a great tumult, a confusion and panic; there will be a revolution from the Lord; and everyone shall lay hold of his neighbor, and every hand fighting against another. Mass hysteria when that happens. Panic! fellow citizens became soldiers fighting and killing each other—total terror!

¹⁴And Judah also shall fight at Jerusalem, and the wealth of all the heathen round about shall be gathered together: gold and silver and apparel in great abundance. — and Judah also shall fight at Jerusalem, its citizens taking part in the warfare against the enemies threatening their lives; and the wealth of all the nations round about shall be gathered together, the treasures of the enemy, their most precious possessions, gold and silver and apparel, in great abundance.

— other translations say, even Judah shall fight against Jerusalem; this could only be possible if (a) there is a civil war; or (b) Jerusalem is composed of descending heavenly saints, of whom the Jews of Judea couldn’t even recognize the returning Messiah with his multitudes of Revelation 19; so they fight each other.

¹⁵And so shall be the plague on the horse, on the mule, on the camel and on the ass, and on all the beasts that shall be in these tents, as this plague. — and so shall be the plagues of the horse, of the mule, of the camel, and of the ass and all the livestock and beasts that shall be in their camps, as this plague so that the defeat of the enemy would be complete in every way; that is, all the enemies of the Kingdom of God who persist in their enmity will inevitably be destroyed.

¹⁶And it shall come to pass that every one who is left of all the nations which came against Jerusalem, shall even go up from year to year to worship the King, the Lord of hosts, and to keep the Feast of Tabernacles. — and everyone that survives of all the nations which came against Jerusalem, after the destruction of the enemies that would not repent, shall even go up from year to year to worship the King of kings, the Lord of hosts, and to keep the Feast of Tabernacles, to join with the Kingdom in its worship of the one true God.

¹⁷And it shall be, that whoso will not come up of all the families of the earth unto Jerusalem to worship the King, the Lord of hosts, even upon them shall be no rain. — and it shall be that whoever refuses to go up to Jerusalem to worship the King, the Lord of hosts, even upon them shall be no rain and all the other physical and spiritual blessings of the Lord being withheld from them.

¹⁸And if the family of Egypt go not up and come not, upon whom there is no rain, there shall be the plague wherewith the Lord will smite the heathen who come not up to keep the Feast of Tabernacles. — and if the family of Egypt, representative of anyone who still refuses to go up to Jerusalem to keep the Feast of Tabernacles, there should have no rain, or the lack of rain would be its plague or infliction; there shall be the plague whereby the Lord will smite the nations that refuse to be received into the Kingdom and take part in its worship.

¹⁹This shall be the punishment of Egypt and the punishment of all nations that come not up to keep the Feast of Tabernacles. — this shall be the punishment of Egypt and the punishment of all nations that come not up to keep the Feast of Tabernacles. It is a fact borne out by history and experience that the enemies of the Lord, in opposing His Kingdom and refusing to accept His Word, entrench themselves behind a wall of their own foolishness and shut themselves out from the highest physical and spiritual blessings, but to keep the Feast of Tabernacles;

²⁰In that day shall there be upon the bells of the horses: “Holiness Unto The Lord.” And the pots in the Lord’S house shall be like the bowls before the altar; — on that day shall there be upon the bells of the horses, or “upon the trappings of the horses” as the Targum renders it; and this intends either the horses slain in war, whose bells or trappings should be devoted and applied to holy uses; or the horses that carried the people up to Jerusalem to worship there, or horses in common;

— holiness unto the Lord; and the “pots” in which they cooked the sacrifices shall be like “the bowls before the altar” which held the blood of the sacrifices to be sprinkled at the altar; yea, all festivals in Leviticus 23 will be reinstated as prophesied in Ezekiel 46; every pot that were used to remove the ashes, they too will be like gold and of silver, like the sprinkling basins that are before the altar; either like them for number; they shall be many because of the numerous nations coming to offer sacrifices like the Jews did, like them as the Targum paraphrases it, shall be many;

— Rashi: there will be upon the bells of the horses: On the bells that are hung on the horse for beauty between its eyes (Pesachim 50a). Those, too, will be consecrated to make service vessels: sprinkling basins for the blood and pots to cook the flesh of the many sacrifices.

²¹yea, every pot in Jerusalem and in Judah shall be holiness unto the Lord of hosts, and all those who sacrifice shall come and take of them and boil therein. And in that day there shall be no more the Canaanite in the house of the Lord of hosts. — yea, every pot in Jerusalem and in Judah shall be holiness unto the Lord of hosts, all the ceremonies of the sacrificial Law for which the foremost is the Passover, which would still be kept as a memorial, not just by Jews but by all nations;

— and all they that sacrifice shall come and participate in the Jerusalem Temple, preparing for the sacrificial feasts demands extra utensils, hence pots would be used as bowl to collect blood for the altar and both would be deemed holy;

— and on that day there shall be no more differentiation of being Canaanite nor Jews in the house of the Lord of hosts, no godless people being permitted as members of the Kingdom of God, but are all Godly. The nearer the Kingdom approaches its perfection, the clearer is shown there is no cleavage between those who are in truth the servants of the Lord and those not, because all will bear the name of His people after the day of redemption; and those who were against the Lord Almighty would have collapsed long before the Last Day but during the Day of Judgement. Selah!

~~~

More on God’s name, Yehovah.

The following verses with the LORD erred in translation. His name Yehovah should be used:

I am the LORD; that is My name. And My glory will I not give to another, neither My praise to graven images. Isaiah 42:8

“I am sought of them that asked not for Me; I am found of them that sought Me not. I said, ‘Behold Me, behold Me,’ unto a nation that was not called by My name. Isaiah 65:1

When we call our God, the LORD, we err, because his name is not the LORD, which is a title. His name is YEHOVAH! May We all ask for his forgiveness, and may Our merciful God forgive us all.

Posted in Minor Prophets

Zechariah (Ch 11-12)

•January 14, 2022 • Leave a Comment

Chapter 11 contains a prophecy of the siege and destruction of Jerusalem and which took place just before our Lord’s return to glory and its redemption. Under the symbol a shepherd with two staves (a) Pleasantness, like “Josiah, the anointed” and (b) Destroyers, like “Nebuchadnezzar, my servant” both are the Lord’s staves to deal with his People.

Zechariah 11

¹ Open thy doors, O Lebanon, that the fire may devour thy cedars. — Open thy doors, O Lebanon, the region on the northernmost border of the Holy Land that the fire may devour thy cedars. Instead of describing the destruction of the land outright, the prophet calls upon Lebanon for judgement, its border to open its doors; its people are found wanting, for which is the consuming fire;

— Jonathan renders: O peoples, open your gates; the Targum paraphrases it, “and the fire shall consume your fortresses.”

²Howl, fir tree, for the cedar is fallen, because the mighty are despoiled; howl, O ye oaks of Bashan, for the forest of the vintage is come down. — howl, fir-tree, for the cedar is fallen, because the mighty are spoiled; by which are designed the princes, nobles and magistrates of the land: so the Targum interprets them of kings and princes;

— howl, O ye oaks of Bashan; governors of provinces and men of power and authority, for the forest of the vintage is come down; or rather “the fortified forest” could also mean the city of Jerusalem which was a fortified place and like a forest full of trees but now cut down and destroyed; see Isaiah 10:16.

³There is a voice of the howling of the shepherds, for their glory is despoiled; a voice of the roaring of young lions, for the pride of Jordan is despoiled. — there is a voice of the howling of the shepherds, those occupying the rich meadow-lands of Bashan, for their glory, the fine pasture on which they depended is spoiled; a voice of the roaring of young lions for the pride of Jordan, the thickets along the river which offered excellent opportunities for dens is spoiled;

— the description is short and bold but comprehensive enough to indicate that the Lord is speaking of another desolation of the Holy Land by which everything that was great and mighty in the country would be overthrown and the Holy Land once more become a wilderness.

⁴Thus saith the Lord my God: “Feed the flock for the slaughter, — thus saith the Lord of Zechariah with regard to the congregation of Israel, ‘Feed the flock for the slaughter,’ that is, give the flock the reasons why they would soon be suffering with captivity, oppression or death at a latter time, so that mentally they are well prepared for a coming slaughter;

⁵whose possessors slay them and hold themselves not guilty; and those who sell them say, ‘Blessed be the Lord, for I am rich’; and their own shepherds pity them not. — whose possessors slay them and hold themselves not guilty, the buyers and masters of the covenant people dealing with them as they pleased, without incurring blame;

— and they that sell them say, ‘Blessed be the Lord, for I am rich,’ the expression fitly describing the self-satisfaction felt by the hard-hearted masters in enriching themselves at the expense of the flock; and their own shepherds pity them not. One is compelled to think of the attitude of the rulers of the people at the time of Yeshua and before the destruction of Jerusalem by the Romans; and is also timely for a endtime scenario.

⁶For I will no more pity the inhabitants of the land,” saith the Lord. “But lo, I will deliver the men every one into his neighbor’s hand, and into the hand of his king; and they shall smite the land, and out of their hand I will not deliver them.” — for God will no more pity the inhabitants of the land, no longer spare them after a last effort to save them; but, lo, God will deliver the men everyone into his neighbor’s hand, so that internal strife and dissension would ruin the country;

— and into the hand of his king, the foreign emperor or governor; and they shall smite the land, the house of Judah for 40 years and the house of Israel for 190 years (Ezekiel 4) oppressing it in various ways; and out of their hand, out of the power of such oppressors, God will not deliver them.

⁷And I will feed the flock for slaughter, even you, O poor of the flock. And I took unto me two staves: the one I called Beauty, and the other I called Bands; and I fed the flock. — and God will feed the flock of the slaughter, rather, “I fed the flock,” for the prophet here describes how he undertook the commission which the Lord gave him, even you, O poor of the flock, those in his charge being in a very sad condition, lacking in spiritual knowledge;

— and God took unto for Himself two staves, or rods (Psalms 23:4), such as shepherds used in their work; the one I called Pleasantness (H5278 – nōʿam נֹעַם kindness, pleasantness, delightfulness, beauty, favour), or “loveliness, favor” or delight, like “Josiah, the anointed” such as the Lord intended to show His people through the work of His servants, the prophets: Isaiah, Hosea, Jeremiah, Micah, Ezekiel, Habakkuk, Amos, etc;

— and the other God called Destroyers, (H2254 – ḥāḇal חָבַל; to destroy, spoil, deal corruptly, offend, to pervert) like the second Personage in the Garden of Eden; or like “Nebuchadnezzar, my servant” or like wolves and foxes, allowing them to roam around as often the Lord’s people are stiffed-necked and needed a longer way (like taking an extra 40 years to reach the Promised Land);

— and harder (like spending 70 years in captivity in Babylon) to learn before they genuinely wanted to be His people and to feel the blessings over the oppression by all their enemies; and God fed the flock, performing his work as a true shepherd according to the intend of the first staff.

— Rashi: and one I called Destroyers: Rehoboam told his kingdom that he would flog them with scorpions (I Kings 12:11). [Zechariah] calls their rulers staffs because it is customary to lead flocks with staffs.

⁸Three shepherds also I cut off in one month; and my soul loathed them and their soul also abhorred me. — three shepherds also God cut off in one month, the wicked shepherds and the scribes of the nation being probably meant, who were removed from power in a very short time; and God loathed them, since he, the type of the one Good Shepherd and Ruler of His Kingdom, became impatient with their perverse impenitence, and their soul also abhorred God, the sheep foolishly refusing to follow the kind leadership of their shepherd.

— Zechariah 11:8 is one of the most intriguing verse in the Scriptures. “Three shepherds also I cut off in one month; and my soul loathed them and their soul also abhorred me.” Who are these three shepherds? Could one series of these three be Fred Coulter, Frank Nelte and John Ritenbaugh? All three have accused Ezra of forging the Scriptures, especially Deuteronomy 16. Forging God’s Word are serious charges, whose penalty is death (Revelation 22:18-19).

“For I testify unto every man that heareth the words of the prophecy of this book: If any man shall add unto these things, God shall add unto him the plagues that are written in this book.
“And if any man shall take away from the words of the book of this prophecy, God shall take away his part out of the Book of Life and out of the Holy City, and from the things which are written in this book,” Revelation 22:18-19.

But on the other hand, if Ezra isn’t guilty of forging, then these three accusers are wolves in shepherd clothings that are also destroyers at the beginning of verse eight above.

⁹Then said I, “I will not feed you: that which dieth, let it die, and that which is to be cut off, let it be cut off; and let the rest eat every one the flesh of another.” — because of the continual sins of Israel and Judah, said the Lord, ‘I will not feed you,’ declaring that he would no longer be their shepherd; that that if the sheep die, let it die, he would let them rush to their own ruin since they refused to be guided by the good staff;

— and that that is to be cut off, let it be cut off, to be destroyed, let it be destroyed by the power of their oppressors; and let the rest eat everyone the flesh of another, that is, in a typical civil war, such as preceded the final destruction of Jerusalem; and as now, more and more intense talks of a second civil war as election looms over the United States.

¹⁰And I took my staff, even Beauty, and cut it asunder, that I might break my covenant which I had made with all the people. — and God took his staff, even Beauty, one of a gentle approach, one favoured, one of Pleasantness, and cut it asunder, to indicate the withdrawal of God’s favor from His people, ‘that I might break my covenant which I had made with all the people.’

¹¹And it was broken on that day, and so the poor of the flock who waited upon me knew that it was the word of the Lord. — and it was broken in that day, the covenant being annulled by Israel’s disobedience; and so the poor of the flock, sheep that were not fed, that waited upon the Lord, the lowly among the people, those who were Israelites in truth, knew that it was the word of the Lord. It was from among the poor and lowly that the Lord, the righteous among them who kept His statute understood; even in those latter days, they’ll understand.

¹²And I said unto them, “If ye think it be good, give me my price; and if not, forbear.” So they weighed for my price thirty pieces of silver. — and God said unto them, to the those destroyers of Israel, those not recognizing the things of peace, ‘If ye think it be good, if ye think good, give me my price;’ but if not, forbear: so these destroyers weighed for his price thirty pieces of silver.

— give me my price; and if not, forbear, see Ezekiel 2:5, so they weighed for my price thirty pieces of silver, the value of a slave that had been killed, Exodus 21:32, the ordinary price of a female slave, Hosea 3:2. Cf Matthew 26:15.

¹³And the Lord said unto me, “Cast it unto the potter” — a goodly price that I was prized at by them. And I took the thirty pieces of silver, and cast them to the potter in the house of the Lord. — and the Lord said unto Zechariah, Cast it unto the potter, thereby rejecting the insult which they offered. A goodly price that Zechariah was prized at of them! this being said in impressive irony;

— and Zechariah took the thirty pieces of silver and cast them to the potter in the house of the Lord. This statement has no meaning in this connection, but it receives a meaning through its fulfillment, for the thirty pieces of silver which the rulers of the Jews weighed to Judas for his betrayal of the Lord were by him cast into the Temple, the money later being used for the purchase of a potter’s field. Cf Matthew 27:1-10 and Jeremiah 32:6-15.

¹⁴Then I cut asunder mine other staff, even Bands, that I might break the brotherhood between Judah and Israel. — then God cut asunder his other staff, even Bands, the Destroyer, that God might break the gentle approach He used to shepherd the children of Israel,

— so that, by the punishment of God, there might be lasting dissension between the house of Israel and the house of Judah, a peculiarity which, in the later history of the people, contributed much toward the numerous tribulations of each nation. Sin is a reproach to any people, but the height of folly is the denial and rejection of God, the staff called Beauty, then later the Messiah, the one Good Shepherd rather than the Destroyer that come with the Romans for destruction.

¹⁵And the Lord said unto me, “Take unto thee yet the instruments of a foolish shepherd. — and the Lord said unto Zechariah, Take unto thee yet the instruments of a foolish shepherd, of a wicked Destroyer, who bears the insignia of a true shepherd, wolves in sheep skin, but cares nothing for the sheep.

¹⁶For lo, I will raise up a shepherd in the land who shall not visit those that are cut off, neither shall seek the young one, nor heal that which is broken, nor feed that which standeth still; but he shall eat the flesh of the fat and tear their claws in pieces. — for, lo, God will raise up a shepherd in the land, one assuming the functions of a true shepherd, which shall not visit those that be cut off, paying no attention to those who perish;

— neither shall seek the young one, those that have gone astray, nor heal that that is broken, suffering with broken limbs, nor feed those that could stand still, those who are still strong, but in need of food; but he shall eat the flesh of the fat and tear their claws in pieces, in order to get even the last vestige of meat from the bones.

¹⁷“Woe to the sham shepherd that leaveth the flock! The sword shall be upon his arm and upon his right eye; his arm shall be clean dried up, and his right eye shall be utterly darkened.” — woe to the idol shepherd, the Destroyer, those worthless shepherding that leaveth the flock, neglecting his chief duty toward its members;

— the Sword shall be upon the arm of the wicked shepherd, causing him to lose an important function of his body, and upon his right eye, so that he’s blind; his arm shall be clean dried up; his secular power shall be taken away from him; and his right eye shall be utterly darkened, so he couldn’t see; his knowledge of the Scriptures, judgement in errors, and even the infallibility pretended by these shepherds will cease;

— it will hardly do to limit this prophecy to an earthly, temporal power. It seems rather that the Spirit of the Lord, looking forward in the history of Israel, outlined in a few strokes by the Destroyer, which originated in the Garden of Eden, in the midst of those who are willing to reject the Truth of God, indicating at the same time that this same power would still be promoted by the power of the same Destroyer, as it is evidenced in the “Churches” today.

Zechariah 12

¹ The burden of the word of the Lord for Israel, saith the Lord who stretcheth forth the heavens, and layeth the foundation of the earth, and formeth the spirit of man within him: — this is the Lord’s word about Israel; it is a prophetic revelation from the Lord—who spread out from the heavens;

— and layeth the foundation of the earth, which if it were not upheld by His power would wander from its orbit and fall into ruins; and formeth the spirit of man within him, controlling the thoughts and purposes of men so as to accomplish His own plans through them.

²“Behold, I will make Jerusalem a cup of trembling unto all the people round about, when they shall be in the siege both against Judah and against Jerusalem. — behold, God will make Jerusalem a cup of trembling, a vessel filled with the intoxicating beverage of His wrath, unto all the people round about, the neighboring nations, reeling and falling in hopeless weakness and misery;

— when the nations around shall be in the siege both against Judah and against Jerusalem, literally, “and also upon Judah shall it be in the siege of Jerusalem,” the entire country and its capital being involved in the severe trial which would come from among its neighbors.

³And in that day will I make Jerusalem a burdensome stone for all people. All who burden themselves with it shall be cut in pieces, though all the people of the earth be gathered together against it. — on that day God will make Jerusalem a stone too heavy for all the nations to lift; all who try to lift it will be severely injured. All the nations in the world will gather to fight against Jerusalem; all the powers of evil being united in an effort to overthrow the city of the Lord.

⁴In that day,” saith the Lord, “I will smite every horse with astonishment and his rider with madness. And I will open Mine eyes upon the house of Judah, and will smite every horse of the people with blindness; — on that day, God will smite every horse with panic and every rider with madness, all the warlike forces finding themselves at a loss to effect their evil purposes;

— and God will keep His watch upon the house of Judah with His protecting care and will smite every horse of the nations with blindness so that the hostile forces would not be able to find their way;

— the Targum paraphrases it, “and upon those of the house of Judah, I will reveal my power to do them good.”

⁵and the governors of Judah shall say in their heart, ‘The inhabitants of Jerusalem shall be my strength in the Lord of hosts, their God.’ — and the leaders and princes of Judah shall say in their heart, in the firm conviction which upholds them, the inhabitants of Jerusalem shall have God’s strength, a reliable source of confidence, in the Lord of hosts, our God, because the Lord has chosen this city, His Kingdom, and by virtue of this choice is bound to redeem His people.

⁶“In that day will I make the governors of Judah like a hearth of fire among the wood, and like a torch of fire in a sheaf, and they shall devour all the people round about on the right hand and on the left; and Jerusalem shall be inhabited again in her own place, even in Jerusalem. — on that day will God make the leaders and princes of Judah like an hearth of fire among the wood, so that they would consume their enemies like a basin of fire devouring wood; the Targum renders it, “as a garment of fire among wood;”

— and like a torch of fire in a sheaf, burning up the dry straw; and they shall devour all the people round about, on the right hand and on the left, so that none of the adversaries can hold out against them; and Judah shall be inhabited again in her own place, even in Jerusalem, so that the renewed people could fitly become the nucleus of the New Kingdom in Jerusalem, the Kingdom of God.

⁷The Lord also shall save the tents of Judah first, that the glory of the house of David and the glory of the inhabitants of Jerusalem do not magnify themselves against Judah. — the Lord also shall save the dwellings of the country outside of the capital of Judah first, with its stone palaces, that the glory of the house of David and the glory of the inhabitants of Jerusalem do not magnify themselves against Judah, the house of David being the royal family as continued in the descendants of Zerubbabel.

⁸“In that day shall the Lord defend the inhabitants of Jerusalem; and he that is feeble among them at that day shall be as David, and the house of David shall be as God, as the angel of the Lord before them. — as with a shield against their enemies on that day shall the Lord defend the inhabitants of Jerusalem, by a special strengthening against the foe;

— and he that is feeble among them, literally, “the stumbler,” one who can hardly hold himself up, being very weak; on that day shall be as David, to the Jew the highest type of strength and courage; and the house of David shall be as God, like a supernatural being, as the Angel of the Lord before them, like the Son of God in His Old Testament form, whose power lived in all His believers.

⁹And it shall come to pass in that day that I will seek to destroy all the nations that come against Jerusalem. — on that day and using the second staff, God will seek to destroy all the nations who attack Jerusalem; and even while Jerusalem was exalted to a degree of strength and glory far transcending anything in its past experience, God will destroy all the nations that come against Jerusalem.

¹⁰And I will pour upon the house of David and upon the inhabitants of Jerusalem the spirit of grace and of supplication; and they shall look upon Me whom they have pierced, and they shall mourn for Him as one mourneth for his only son, and shall be in bitterness for Him as one who is in bitterness for his firstborn. — and God will pour upon the house of David, the entire royal family, the royal priesthood of the Kingdom of God, and upon the inhabitants of Jerusalem, the members of His congregation in general, the spirit of grace and of supplications, Him who works in the heart of man the certainty of the divine grace and urges him to seek forgiveness of sins by fervent prayers and fastings;

— and the Jews shall look upon Me whom they have pierced (H1856 – dāqar דָּקַר to pierce, piercing through), as they nailed their Messiah to the cross, John 19:34; Revelation 1:7, or by piercing His side with a spear; and they shall mourn for Him as one mourn for his only son, acknowledging their transgression in killing the Prince of Life, Acts 3:15, and shall be in bitterness for Him as one that is in bitterness for his firstborn, almost the greatest grief and sorrow known to the Jews;

— Rashi: as one mourns over an only son: As a man mourns over his only son. And our Sages expounded this in tractate Sukkah (52a) as referring to the Messiah, son of Joseph, who was slain;

— Rashi rightly quoted the Targum Sukkah (52a) about the Messiah to come from one Yeshua, a son of Joseph, of the house of David, yet they are blindsided to Him as the Son of God and as the fulfilment of the Messiah’s first coming; (reference to this “piercing” disappeared in the Masoretic Text, an example of the lying pen of the scribes: Jeremiah 8:8; or perhaps the lying tongues of their Sages).

¹¹“In that day shall there be a great mourning in Jerusalem, as the mourning of Hadadrimmon in the Valley of Megiddo. — on that day, when the greatness of their crime in putting their own Messiah to death, would be brought home to some of the people, shall there be a great mourning in Jerusalem as is ever the case when men realize that their sins were the cause of Christ’s death;

— as the mourning of Hadadrimmon, when the men of Judah mourned so bitterly over the death of their King Josiah, who was mortally wounded near that place in the Plain of Esdraelon, II Chronicles 35:22 ff. in the Valley of Megiddon.

¹²And the land shall mourn, every family apart: the family of the house of David apart, and their wives apart; the family of the house of Nathan apart, and their wives apart; — and the land shall mourn, each family by itself: the family of David by itself, and the wives by themselves; the family of Nathan by itself, and the wives by themselves;

¹³the family of the house of Levi apart, and their wives apart; the family of Shimei apart, and their wives apart; — the family of Levi by itself, and the wives by themselves; the family of Shimei by itself, and the wives by themselves;

¹⁴all the families that remain, every family apart, and their wives apart. — all the families that remain, that is, the whole nation shall be born; every family apart and their wives separately. Nor would this sorrow of true repentance be in vain. Zechariah 13:1

— on that day there shall be a fountain opened to the house of David and to the inhabitants of Jerusalem, to the entire nation, as representative of the Kingdom of God in the Millenium, in whose members the blood of the Messiah, shed for the sins of the whole world, has prepared a water which thoroughly cleanses sinners from their uncleanness. Cf 1 John 1:7. It is the washing of regeneration and renewing of the spirits of God which is shed on us abundantly through Jesus Christ, or Yeshua the Messiah, Titus 3:5-6.

Posted in Minor Prophets

Zechariah (Ch 9-10)

•January 12, 2022 • Leave a Comment

And the Lord God shall blow the trumpet, summoning His people to the attack, and shall go with whirlwinds of the South, which were always the most violent of all; — Q, Could this “whirlwinds of the South” be referring to a parable in Ezekiel 20:45-40 and 21:1-5?

Zechariah 9

¹ The burden of the word of the Lord in the land of Hadrach and Damascus, shall be the rest thereof, when the eyes of man, as of all the tribes of Israel, shall be toward the Lord. — the burden of the word, the sentence of judgement of the Lord in the land of Hadrach, a term which seems to apply to the entire Medo-Persian empire as the world-power opposed to the people of God;

— and Damascus shall be the rest thereof, the Syrian capital being the place on which the burden of the Lord’s wrath rests, the Targum paraphrases it, “and Damascus shall be converted;” and closeby is Antioch where the Gospel was preached, and many converted, and a church, consisting of Jews and Gentiles, was formed; and here the disciples were first called Christians, Acts 11:26;

— when the eyes of man as of all the tribes of Israel, shall be drawn toward the Lord, both the house of Israel and the house of Judah being directed to the Lord at this evidence of His anger when He goes about to establish a more equitable proportion between peoples of the nations.

²And Hamath also shall border thereby; Tyre and Sidon, though it be very wise. — and Hamath also shall border thereby, or “Hamath” the district bounding Palestine on the north, “which borders thereon,” this, together with Damascus, representing Syria; Tyre and Sidon, the cities of Phenicia, though it be very wise, or “because their inhabitants were wise in their own conceit,” multiplying wealth and power and trusting in them.

³And Tyre did build herself a stronghold, and heaped up silver as the dust, and fine gold as the mire of the streets. — and Tyre did build herself a stronghold, the city proper being on an island surrounded by a double sea-wall, which made it practically impregnable in those days, and heaped up silver as the dust and fine gold as the mire of the streets for the commerce of Tyre had made her immensely wealthy.

⁴Behold, the Lord will cast her out, and He will smite her power in the sea; and she shall be devoured with fire. — behold, the Lord will cast her out, seizing her through the agency of some earthly conqueror in this case Alexander and He will smite her power in the sea as represented by her army and her navy; and she shall be devoured with fire so that everything on which her inhabitants depended was consumed and exterminated.

⁵Ashkelon shall see it and fear; Gaza also shall see it and be very sorrowful, and Ekron for her expectation shall be ashamed; and the king shall perish from Gaza, and Ashkelon shall not be inhabited. — Ashkelon shall see God’s judgement, they shall be “ashamed because of their iniquities” namely, the punishment descending upon them; and fear, Gaza also shall see God’s judgement and be very sorrowful, and be exceedingly troubled;

— and the king shall perish from Gaza, the ruler being removed entirely, and Ashkelon shall not be inhabited, its citizens being killed or dragged into captivity.

⁶And a bastard shall dwell in Ashdod, and I will cut off the pride of the Philistines. — and a bastard or mongrel, one of blemished birth shall dwell in Ashdod and I will cut off the pride of the Philistines, four of whose city-states are mentioned here as representative of the entire country.

⁷And I will take away his blood out of his mouth, and his abominations from between his teeth; but he that remaineth, even he shall be for our God, and he shall be as a governor in Judah, and Ekron as a Jebusite. — and the Lord will take away his blood out of his mouth; the Targum says, “I will destroy them that eat blood” or against those who breathe out threats of slaughtering His saints or persecute the people of God. Rashi: Others interpret this to mean the bloodshed, that the [Edomites] would shed the blood of Israel.

— and his abominations from between his teeth, striking him down while he is engaged in such criminal behavior; but he that remaineth, even he, shall be for our God, a few of the heathen being gained for the true religion; the Targum paraphrases it, “and the proselytes that remain among them, they also shall be added to the people of our God;”

— and he shall be as a governor in Judah, like the prince of one of the tribes, the Targum says, “they shall be as the princes of the house of Judah” and Ekron as a Jebusite, for as the Jebusites were amalgamated with the children of Judah so these heathen and others, would be joined to the true people of God; the Targum says, “and Ekron shall be filled with the house of Israel, as Jerusalem;”

— remember that the Targum is another source of the Bible. Started by Ezra for those returning exiles from Babylon and for these returnees they could only understand in Aramaic; hence the Targum is as if Ezra is speaking to us from the verses quoted.

⁸And I will encamp about Mine house because of the army, because of him that passeth by, and because of him that returneth; and no oppressor shall pass through them any more, for now have I seen with Mine eyes. — and the Lord will encamp about Mine house, not merely the Temple but the renewed people, as representative of the Kingdom which was to be established; the Targum says, “and I will cause my glorious Shekinah to dwell in the house of my sanctuary, and the strength of the arm of my power shall be as a wall of fire round about it,”

— because of the army, because of him that passed by, and because of him that returned, enemies marching to and fro, looking for an opportunity to attack; in the times of the Ptolemies and Seleucidae, the kings of Egypt and Syria during whose commotions, their passing to and fro against each other and against them, were still continuing through numerous years;

— and no oppressor shall pass through them any more, no enemy daring to disturb the Lord’s people, His holy Kingdom; for now have I seen with Mine eyes, He was exercising His providential control and the power of His mercy. Thus the Lord reigns in the midst of His enemies, over-throwing those who refuse to submit, but always gaining some also for His adherents.

⁹Rejoice greatly, O daughter of Zion! Shout, O daughter of Jerusalem! Behold, thy King cometh unto thee! He is just and having salvation, lowly, and riding upon an ass and upon a colt, the foal of an ass. — rejoice greatly, 0 daughter of Zion! the members of the Lord’s people; shout, O daughter of Jerusalem! with a shout of gladness. Behold, thy King cometh unto thee, the Messiah Himself appearing in her midst;

— He is just, possessing righteousness as the first requisite of a true ruler, and having salvation, bearing the salvation which the Lord had planned, lowly, and riding upon an ass and upon a colt, the foal of an ass; this passage is quoted by Matthew 21:4, and John 12:15, as having been fulfilled when the Lord entered Jerusalem on the tenth of Nisan before Passover; also the Jews have a fable, that the ass Abraham saddled, when he went to sacrifice his son Isaac, was the foal (young) of the ass;

¹⁰And I will cut off the chariot from Ephraim, and the horse from Jerusalem, and the battle bow shall be cut off; and He shall speak peace unto the heathen, and His dominion shall be from sea even to sea, and from the river even to the ends of the earth. — and the Lord will cut off the chariot from Ephraim and the horse from Jerusalem, as the means by which the kingdoms of this world establish and extend their power; and the battle-bow shall be cut off; the Targum paraphrases it, “I will break the strength of those that make war, the armies of the people,” for the Lord does not build His kingdom with might of arms, since His kingdom is not of this world;

— and He shall speak peace unto the nations, this being the gist of His Gospel-message; and His dominion shall be from sea even to sea and from the river, the Euphrates, as the extreme eastern boundary of the then known world even to the ends of the earth, that is, the Kingdom of God would be established throughout the earth; it would be a universal kingdom.

¹¹As for thee also, by the blood of thy covenant, I have sent forth thy prisoners out of the pit wherein is no water. — as for thee also so the Lord addresses the entire nation of His people which afterward in the ideal sense merged into His Kingdom by the blood of thy covenant on account of the blood of the covenant, Exodus 24:8, by which Israel was separated from the rest of the nations and accepted into the most intimate fellowship with the Lord, I have sent forth thy prisoners out of the pit wherein is no water, delivering them from the oppression of the world-power from all the hostile forces of the earth.

¹²Turn you to the stronghold, ye prisoners of hope; even today do I declare that I will render double unto thee, — turn you, or “return,” to the stronghold, the fortified city in opposition to the pit which had just been mentioned;

— ye prisoners of hope, who in spite of the present afflictions maintained their hope in the covenant-keeping God; “that hope for redemption” as the Targum paraphrases it; Even today do I declare that I will render double unto thee, namely, a double measure of glory instead of the tribulations endured,

¹³when I have bent Judah for Me, filled the bow with Ephraim, and raised up thy sons, O Zion, against thy sons, O Greece, and made thee as the sword of a mighty man. — when the Lord has bent Judah as a bow in His hand, filled the bow with Ephraim, as the arrows in His hand, and raised up thy sons, O Zion, stirring them up for war,

— against thy sons, O Greece, for here was another world-power with its hostility against the people of the Lord, and made thee as the sword of a mighty man, so that the Lord’s people are able to wage the Lord’s wars.

¹⁴And the Lord shall be seen over them, and His arrow shall go forth as the lightning; and the Lord God shall blow the trumpet, and shall go with whirlwinds of the south. — and the Lord shall be seen over them, appearing above them or at their head, as He who fights from heaven in their behalf, and His arrow shall go forth as the lightning, bringing instantaneous destruction to His foes;

— and the Lord God shall blow the trumpet, summoning His people to the attack, and shall go with whirlwinds of the South, which were always the most violent of all;

— Q, Could this “whirlwinds of the South” be referring to a parable in Ezekiel 20:45-40 and 21:1-5?

Ezekiel 20:45 Moreover the word of the Lord came unto me, saying,
⁴⁶ “Son of man, set thy face toward the South, and drop thy word toward the South, and prophesy against the forest of the Southland.
⁴⁷And say to the forest of the South: ‘Hear the word of the Lord. Thus saith the Lord God: Behold, I will kindle a fire in thee, and it shall devour every green tree in thee and every dry tree. The flaming flame shall not be quenched, and all faces from the South to the North shall be burned therein.
⁴⁸ And all flesh shall see that I, the Lord, have kindled it; it shall not be quenched.’”
⁴⁹Then said I, “Ah, Lord God! They say of me, ‘Doth he not speak parables?’”
Ezekiel 21:1 And the word of the Lord came unto me, saying,
² “Son of man, set thy face toward Jerusalem, and drop thy word toward the holy places, and prophesy against the land of Israel;
³and say to the land of Israel, ‘Thus saith the Lord: Behold, I am against thee, and will draw forth My Sword out of his sheath and will cut off from thee the righteous and the wicked.
⁴ Seeing then that I will cut off from thee the righteous and the wicked, therefore shall My Sword go forth out of his sheath against all flesh from the South to the North,
⁵ that all flesh may know that I, the Lord, have drawn forth My Sword out of his sheath. It shall not return any more.’

The Scriptures above are shrouded in coded language or hidden in a parable, and so the Q is: how would such scenarios be played out?

¹⁵The Lord of hosts shall defend them, and they shall devour and subdue with slingstones; and they shall drink and make a noise as through wine, and they shall be filled like bowls, and as the corners of the altar. — the Lord of hosts shall defend them, acting as their Shield against the weapons of the enemy; and they shall devour and subdue with sling-stones, treading down the enemy like pebbles of the brook, Cf Numbers 23:24;

— and they shall drink, consuming the blood of the enemies, and make a noise as through wine, noisy as though under the influence of wine; and they shall be filled like bowls, the vessels in which the priests caught the blood of the sacrifices, and as the corners of the altar. The entire passage speaks of a holy war and victory, although in pictures taken from a battle of warriors on earth.

¹⁶And the Lord their God shall save them in that day, as the flock of His people; for they shall be as the stones of a crown, lifted up as an ensign upon His land. — and the Lord, their God, shall save them in that day as the flock of His people, with the deliverance of the Messiah’s redemption; for they shall be as the stones of a crown, lifted up as an ensign upon His land, Zion’s sons and daughters being like jewels of a crown which sparkles over Yehovah’s land as He proudly marches through the territory belonging to Him.

¹⁷For how great is their goodness, and how great is their beauty! Corn shall make the young men cheerful, and new wine the maids. — for how great is His goodness, so the prophet exultantly exclaims, and how great is His beauty! Cf Psalms 45:3. Corn shall make the young men cheerful and new wine the maids, the reference being to the blessings of the grace of God as bestowed upon His people through the Word of His mercy. We have here another summary concerning the gifts of God given to His people in the Millenium.

Zechariah 10

¹Ask ye of the Lord rain in the time of the latter rain; so the Lord shall make bright clouds, and give them showers of rain, to every one grass in the field. — ask ye of the Lord rain in the time of the latter rain, there was the former spring and the latter autumn rain, of which see Hosea 6:3. making their appeal to Him in all confidence as they were in need of His blessings;

— so the Lord shall make bright clouds, create lightnings and give them showers of rain, in a refreshing thunder-shower to every one grass in the field, all the crops of the field.

²For the idols have spoken vanity, and the diviners have seen a lie and have told false dreams. They comfort in vain; therefore they went their way as a flock; they were troubled, because there was no shepherd. — for the idols, to whom the children of Israel had formerly applied for help, have spoken vanity, their household oracles not being dependable, and the diviners have seen a lie, they have announced deceitful oracles;

— and have told false dreams, proclaiming their own inventions as revelations from above; they comfort in vain because their words are a hollow mockery; therefore they, the people who relied upon their words went their way as a flock, wandering astray, they were troubled because there was no shepherd, no reliable leader and guide; the Targum says, “they are scattered as sheep are scattered.”

³“Mine anger was kindled against the shepherds, and I punished the goats; for the Lord of hosts hath visited His flock, the house of Judah, and hath made them as His goodly horse in the battle. — Mine anger was kindled against the shepherds, the rulers of Israel to whom He had entrusted the leadership;

— and the Lord punished the goats, visiting them with a severe punishment; they were not the Seleucidae, nor the successors of Alexander, signified by the he goat in Daniel 8:5 but rather the monks and friars, comparable to these for their filthiness and uncleanness; and because they pretend to be guides of the people, and to go before them, and yet use them ill and push them with their horns of power; wherefore God will punish them, and kill those children of Jezebel with death, Revelation 2:22;

— for the Lord of hosts hath visited His flock, the house of Judah, this denotes that the Jews, when converted, looking after them with tender care, and hath made them as His goodly horse in the battle, like the glorious charger on which the general leads his troops to battle.

⁴Out of him came forth the corner, out of him the nail, out of him the battle bow, out of him every oppressor together. — out of Him, namely, Yehovah, came forth the corner, that is, “cornerstone” by which is meant a king or ruler, the corner-stone on which the entire building of the new Kingdom rests; out of Him the nail; the Targum says, “out of him his Messiah” the pegs of the wall, from which the household utensils were suspended, types of the dependable men in a state;

— out of Him the battle-bow, the means for carrying on the Lord’s wars; Christ makes war in righteousness; the armies of heaven follow him; out of Him every oppressor together, every mighty ruler whom Judah would need in its wars against the enemies.

⁵And they shall be as mighty men, who tread down their enemies in the mire of the streets in the battle; and they shall fight because the Lord is with them, and the riders on horses shall be confounded. — and they, the Lord’s people, shall be as mighty men, which tread down their enemies in the mire of the streets, Cf Zechariah 9:15, in the battle; and they shall fight because the Lord is with them, always in the majority because of His help, and the riders on horses shall be confounded, cavalry being mentioned as the chief part of the enemy’s army.

⁶“And I will strengthen the house of Judah, and I will save the house of Joseph, and I will bring them back to place them, for I have mercy upon them. And they shall be as though I had not cast them off, for I am the Lord their God and will hear them. — and the Lord will strengthen the house of Judah, and He will save the house of Joseph, the southern and the northern kingdom together being typical of the Kingdom of God;

— and the Lord will bring them again to place them; there is but one word in the original text; it is composed of two words, of שוב, “to return”, and ישב, “to sit” or “dwell” quietly, constantly and at ease; and the meaning is that these people , the full house of Jacob, should be returned from the state and condition and from each of the places they are in and be settled either in their own land, letting them dwell in safety;

— for the Lord has mercy upon them, His mercy is the one reason for His kindness toward them; and they shall be as though He had not cast them off, as in the time before the captivity; for He is the Lord, their God, and will hear them, they could be sure of His gracious attention to all their needs; the Targum says, “and I will receive their prayer.”

⁷And they of Ephraim shall be like a mighty man, and their heart shall rejoice as through wine; yea, their children shall see it and be glad; their heart shall rejoice in the Lord. — and they of Ephraim, the true descendants of Joseph, the spiritual children of him who was given the right of the first-born in the house of Jacob, shall be like a mighty man, like a hero;

— and their heart shall rejoice as through wine, with a fierce exultation; yea, their children shall see it and be glad, a fact which indicates that the joy would be lasting; their heart shall rejoice in the Lord, giving all honor to Him who granted them such a glorious victory; the Targum says, “their heart shall rejoice in the word of the Lord.”

⁸“I will whistle for them and gather them, for I have redeemed them; and they shall increase as they have increased. — the Lord will hiss for them, or “whistle for them” as a signal for them to assemble and gather them, for the Lord has redeemed them, both by entering into a covenant with them and by promising them the Redeemer; and they shall increase as they have increased, that is, the growth of the people of God in the Millenium would be like that of Israel when it first came to the Promised Land.

⁹And I will sow them among the people, and they shall remember Me in far countries; and they shall live with their children and turn again. — and the Lord will sow them among the people, as a token of their quick increase; and they shall remember Me in in their scattered countries around the globe, wherever the children of Israel could be found;

— and they shall live with their children, enjoying the blessing of the Lord in a permanent flow of mercy, and turn again, returning to the fellowship of the Lord in His Kingdom.

¹⁰I will bring them back also out of the land of Egypt, and gather them out of Assyria; and I will bring them into the land of Gilead and Lebanon, and a place shall not be found for them. — the Lord will bring them again also out of the land of Egypt and gather them out of Assyria, the two world-powers being named as representative of two empires that have held the house of Israel in captivity as their enemies and oppressors;

— and the Lord will bring them into the land of Gilead, a land of green pastures, beside the still waters and Lebanon, a land of goodly mountain and hill of frankincense, and where cedars grew, to occupy the land on both sides of Jordan once more; and place shall not be found for them, there will not be sufficient room for them to expand, the number of the spiritual children of Israel being so great.

¹¹And He shall pass through the sea with affliction, and shall smite the waves in the sea, and all the deeps of the river shall dry up; and the pride of Assyria shall be brought down, and the scepter of Egypt shall depart away. — and he shall pass through the sea with affliction, rather, “of distress,” in allusion to the affliction felt by the children of Israel when they passed through the Red Sea, and shall smite the waves in the sea, keeping them under control by His powerful word;

— and all the deeps of the river shall dry up, both the Nile (see also Isaiah 19:5 and Ezekiel 30:12), and the river Euphrates: Revelation 16:12 the drying up of which signifies the destruction of both the Egyptian and the Persian empires; and the Targum paraphrases it, “all the kings of the people shall be confounded.”

— and the pride of Assyria shall be brought down; the pride of the Ottoman empire, of which the old Assyria is a part, and which has been large and powerful, that shall be destroyed; and the scepter of Egypt shall depart away so that none of the former oppressors would remain.

¹²And I will strengthen them in the Lord; and they shall walk up and down in His name,” saith the Lord. — and the Lord will strengthen them in their faith in the Lord, their covenant and commitment with Him, and they shall walk up and down in His name, so that they would live under His protection and in accordance with His will: those that are written, those that are spoken and even those that are unspoken. The entire connection brings out the characteristics of the Kingdom of God in the Millenium, whose members form a royal priesthood and find delight in walking in the ways of the Lord.

Posted in Minor Prophets

Zechariah (Ch 7-8)

•January 10, 2022 • Leave a Comment

Surprisingly, there are unspoken Will of God existing today! Like parents, God have their secret wishes for their children. So God sometimes has human characteristics. But how do we know God’s unspoken Will if they were unspoken? To be unspoken would also mean unwritten, so what are they? Do they really exist?

Zechariah 7

¹ And it came to pass in the fourth year of King Darius that the word of the Lord came unto Zechariah, in the fourth day of the ninth month, even in Chisleu, — and it came to pass in the fourth year of King Darius, in the year 518 BC that the word of the Lord, by special inspiration, came unto Zechariah in the fourth day of the ninth month, in Chisleu, the ninth month of the Jewish ecclesiastical year;

— the year 518 BC is two years after the foundation of the temple was laid, Haggai 2:10 and nearly two years before it was finished, Ezra 6:15 when the work was going forward, and there was a great deal of reason to believe it would be completed;

²when they had sent Sherezer and Regemmelech and their men unto the house of God to pray before the Lord, — when they send righteous Jews with Chaldean names Sherezer and Regem-melech and other men to pray before the Lord, they prayed in their half completed Temple, that is, by the returning exiles of Judea, these are first ones evidently having been born in exile and still bearing their strange names, to entreat Yehovah, literally, “to conciliate by caresses,”

³and to speak unto the priests who were in the house of the Lord of hosts, and to the prophets, saying, “Should I weep in the fifth month, separating myself as I have done these so many years?” — and to speak unto the priests who ministered the sanctuary as the Targum explains it, who offered sacrifices and who were still to be consulted in matters of religion, Malachi 2:7;

— and to the prophets, also servants of the true God in the more specific sense, saying, Should I mourn and fast in the fifth month, the month Ab: II Kings 25:8, the temple was burnt by the Chaldeans; and according to Jeremiah 3:12, it was on the tenth of this month which day was kept by the Jews as a day of fasting and humiliation in commemoration of it;

— as I have done these so many years? for this fast had become a custom since the Babylonian captivity; and now that the Jews were once more living in Palestine, this question was asked because of its importance for all the Jews, both at home and abroad.

⁴Then came the word of the Lord of hosts unto me, saying,

⁵“Speak unto all the people of the land, and to the priests, saying, ‘When ye fasted and mourned in the fifth and seventh month even those seventy years, did ye fast at all unto Me, even to Me? — speak unto all the people of the land and to the priests; His message concerning them all, saying, When ye fasted and mourned in the fifth and seventh month, the latter observation being in memory of the murder of Gedaliah, Cf Jeremiah 41;

— even those seventy years, during the entire captivity, did ye at all fast unto Me, even to Me? Had it really been done in God’s honor, for the purpose of serving Him; or was it a fast performed for yourself in a sense of selfishness, to foster the spirit of resentment and revenge? (for more on this, see the Unspoken Will of God)

⁶And when ye ate and when ye drank, did not ye eat for yourselves and drink for yourselves? — did not ye eat for yourselves and drink for yourselves? asked the Lord; is it merely and for your own refreshment and pleasure, and not for the glory of God; though that ought to be the principal end in eating and drinking, 1 Corinthians 10:31.

⁷Should ye not hear the words which the Lord hath cried by the former prophets, when Jerusalem was inhabited and in prosperity, and the cities thereof round about her, when men inhabited the south and the plain?’” — should ye not hear the words which the Lord hath cried by the former prophets; as Hosea, Isaiah, Jeremiah, and others; suggesting that it would have been much better for them to have regarded the exhortations and instructions which the Lord sent them by his earlier prophets, which would have prevented their captivity; and so would have had no occasion of fasting and mourning;

— when men inhabited the south when Jerusalem and the cities about it were full of people and enjoyed all the blessings of life in great plenty; and which would have continued had they attended to the exhortations, cautions and warnings given them; and the plain, the land of Judea was divided into three parts; the mountainous part, the plain and the valley. Jerusalem was in the mountainous part, and these are the other two;

⁸And the word of the Lord came unto Zechariah, saying, — and the word of the Lord saying; giving him orders to repeat what the former prophets had said, and to urge the same things on the people which they had before rejected, the rejection of which had issued in their ruin.

⁹“Thus speaketh the Lord of hosts, saying, ‘Execute true judgment, and show mercy and compassions every man to his brother. — thus speaketh the Lord of hosts, rather, “Thus spoke Yehovah,” in addressing the children of Judah in former days, before the exile, saying, Execute true judgement, literally, “judge the judgement of truth,”

— execute true judgement and check that the rich and mighty won’t escape judgement: see the on-going of today’s stories of Jeffrey Epstein, Virginia Giuffre, Ghislaine Maxwell, UK royal Prince Andrew with protection from the Queen; and those hovering around in Epstein’s private airplane: ex presidents Clinton and Trump; how are they going to face judgement from God?

— and show mercy and compassions every man his brother, those in poverty, the homeless, those in want of food, raiment or in whatsoever distress, whether of body or mind; so that kindness and compassion should be practiced at all times, Isaiah 58:6-7; Jeremiah 7:28;

¹⁰And oppress not the widow nor the fatherless, the stranger, nor the poor; and let none of you imagine evil against his brother in your heart.’ — and oppress not the widow nor the fatherless, the orphans, the stranger nor the poor, these four classes ever being in the care of the Lord, Isaiah 1:17; Jeremiah 5:28;

— and let none of you imagine evil against his brother in your heart; thoughts of evil are sinful, and forbidden by the law of God, as well as actions, which agrees with our Lord’s sense of the law,

¹¹But they refused to hearken, and pulled away the shoulder, and stopped their ears, that they should not hear. — but they refused to hearken, they were consistently rebellious, and pulled away the shoulder, like an ox who refuses to accept the yoke on his neck, and stopped their ears, Cf Isaiah 6:10, that they should not hear, like a backsliding heifer or a deaf adder.

¹²Yea, they made their hearts as an adamant stone, lest they should hear the law and the words which the Lord of hosts hath sent in His Spirit by the former prophets. Therefore came a great wrath from the Lord of hosts. — yea, they made their hearts as an adamant stone, like the hardest stone, impervious to every impression from without;

— lest they should hear the Law, the books of Moses, and the words which the Lord of hosts hath sent in His Spirit, inspired by His Spirit, by the former prophets, who were the instruments of God in making known His will; therefore came a great wrath from the Lord of hosts as shown in the captivity of Judah.

¹³“Therefore it has come to pass that as He cried and they would not hear, so they cried and I would not hear,” saith the Lord of hosts. — therefore it is come to pass, the Lord by the former prophets called them to repentance and obedience: that as He cried, in the exhortations of His prophets, and they would not hear, so they cried, they called when in trouble, so now it is My turn not to hear, saith the Lord of hosts;

¹⁴“But I scattered them with a whirlwind among all the nations whom they knew not. Thus the land was desolate after them, that no man passed through nor returned; for they laid the pleasant land desolate.” — but I scattered them with a whirlwind, denoting the fierceness of his wrath, and the strength of his fury, seen in their dispersion; among all the nations whom they knew not, strange to them in language, customs and religion;

— thus the land was desolate after them that no man passed through nor returned, all of Judea practically being a wilderness; especially after the Jews were carried captive into Babylon; for the rest, after the death of Gedaliah, fled into Egypt: for they laid the pleasant land desolate, the children of Judah themselves being to blame for the desolation which came upon the land, a land flowing with milk and honey; but later they received the just punishment of their sins, their land became desolate: they have but themselves to blame for their afflictions, though their pride would attempt to deny it.

Zechariah 8

¹ Again the word of the Lord of hosts came to me, saying, — the phrase, “to me” is not in the Hebrew text; but is implied there as the Masora observes; and undoubtedly it is to be understood; as it is by the Targum, “with me.”

²“Thus saith the Lord of hosts: ‘I was jealous for Zion with great jealousy, and I was jealous for her with great fury.’ — thus saith the Lord of hosts, I was jealous for Zion with great jealousy “for Jerusalem and for Zion” as in Zechariah 1:14; I am jealous in a most vehement affection toward Jerusalem as in Zion.

³“Thus saith the Lord: ‘I am returned unto Zion, and will dwell in the midst of Jerusalem; and Jerusalem shall be called a city of truth, and the mountain of the Lord of hosts, the Holy Mountain.’ — thus saith the Lord, I am returned unto Zion or as the Targum renders it, “I will return to Zion” once more occupying the dwelling-place of His honor in the midst of His people, which He had forsaken because of the wickedness of the idolatrous nation;

— and Jerusalem shall be called a city of truth, where the Lord’s truth is, the truth of His eternal Word, would once more be found; where His Temple stood, the holy mountain because it is the center of the true worship of God;

— the mountain of the Lord of hosts; which will be established upon the top of the mountains, Isaiah 2:2; and where the Lord will be seen and exalted in his glory, even the Lamb, with the hundred and forty four thousand with him.

⁴“Thus saith the Lord of hosts: ‘There shall yet old men and old women dwell in the streets of Jerusalem, and every man with his staff in his hand because of great age. — thus saith the Lord of hosts, the name used throughout these prophecies to denote His majesty and power;

— there shall yet old men and old women dwell in the streets of Jerusalem, since they would not be torn away in the fullness of their strength by war and pestilence, and every man with his staff in his hand for very age, literally, “because of the multitude of his days.”

⁵And the streets of the city shall be full of boys and girls playing in the streets thereof.’ — and the streets of the city shall be full of boys and girls playing in the streets thereof, without any fear of an enemy. It is a beautiful picture representing the extremes of life dwelling in all security and happiness in the midst of the Holy City, the blessings of the Messianic Age.

⁶“Thus saith the Lord of hosts: ‘If it be marvelous in the eyes of the remnant of this people in these days, should it also be marvelous in Mine eyes?’ saith the Lord of hosts. — thus saith the Lord of hosts, If it be marvelous in the eyes of the remnant of this people in these days, in the opinion of those who had returned from the Babylonian captivity, should it also be marvelous in the eyes of the Lord. In spite of the miraculous character of the restoration, if looked at from the standpoint of men, it would yet certainly take place, for it was not too hard for Yehovah, His promise affecting both the greatness and the certainty of the coming Kingdom.

⁷“Thus saith the Lord of hosts: ‘Behold, I will save My people from the east country and from the west country; — thus saith the Lord of hosts, Behold, I will save My people from the East country, from the rising of the sun, and from the West country, from the setting of the sun, so that Yehovah would rescue His people from all lands, as far as the sun shines;

⁸and I will bring them, and they shall dwell in the midst of Jerusalem. And they shall be My people and I will be their God, in truth and in righteousness.’ — and I will bring them and they shall dwell in the midst of Jerusalem, be members of the congregation of the Lord; and they shall be My people and I will be their God, in truth and in righteousness. This is truly the glory of the Millenium when as John writes, we saw His glory, the glory as of the begotten Son of the Father, full of grace and truth. Cf John 1:14.

⁹“Thus saith the Lord of hosts: ‘Let your hands be strong, ye that hear in these days these words by the mouth of the prophets, who were in the day that the foundation of the house of the Lord of hosts was laid, that the temple might be built. — thus saith the Lord of hosts, Let your hands be strong, full of good courage for doing the work of the Lord ye that hear in these days these words by the mouth of the prophets, namely, Haggai and Zechanab;

— which were in the day that the foundation of the house of the Lord of hosts was laid, that the Temple might be built. These prophets had begun their activity at the time when the foundation of the second Temple had already been built, and the good effects of their preaching were now apparent among the returning exiles.

¹⁰For before these days there was no hire for man nor any hire for beast, neither was there any peace for him that went out or came in because of the affliction; for I set all men, every one, against his neighbor. — for before these days there was no hire for man nor any hire for beast, for the yield of the land at that time was so small as hardly to be called fair wages, Haggai 1:6-11;

— neither was there any peace to him that went out or came in because of the affliction, there was so much envy and hostility among the people themselves, and on account of jealousy stirred up by the Samaritans, that the ordinary life were continually being interfered with; for I set all men every one against his neighbor, as the account of Nehemiah shows.

¹¹But now I will not be unto the residue of this people as in the former days,’ saith the Lord of hosts. — but now, since their relationship was restored, the Lord will not be unto the residue of this people, to the small congregation which had returned from Babylon as in the former days, saith the Lord of hosts, being ready once more to gladden them with the rich blessings of His goodness and mercy.

¹²‘For the seed shall be prosperous; the vine shall give her fruit, and the ground shall give her increase, and the heavens shall give their dew; and I will cause the remnant of this people to possess all these things. — for the seed shall be prosperous, or, “there shall be a seed of peace” the vine shall give her fruit, and the ground shall give her increase, all crops showing great productivity;

— and the heavens shall give their dew, affording the necessary moisture to secure growth; and I will cause the remnant of this people to possess all these things, these being evidences of His goodness.

¹³And it shall come to pass that as ye were a curse among the heathen, O house of Judah and house of Israel, so will I save you, and ye shall be a blessing. Fear not, but let your hands be strong.’ — and it shall come to pass that as ye were a curse among the heathen, 0 house of Judah and house of Israel, Jeremiah 42:18, so will I save you and ye shall be a blessing, an example of God’s blessings of mercy. Fear not, but let your hands be strong.

¹⁴“For thus saith the Lord of hosts: ‘As I thought to punish you when your fathers provoked Me to wrath,’ saith the Lord of hosts, ‘and I repented not, — for thus saith the Lord of hosts, As I thought to punish you when your fathers provoked Me to wrath, Jeremiah 31:28, and I repented not, He could not, in point of fact, without denying His own holiness, fail to execute His threat of punishment,

¹⁵ so again have I thought in these days to do well unto Jerusalem and to the house of Judah. Fear ye not. — so again have I thought in these days, now that the covenant relation was once more established to do well unto Jerusalem and to the house of Judah. Fear ye not, this being the content of every true Gospel-message. Since God is gracious for the sake of the Messiah, therefore men have no reason to fear as long as they put their trust in Him alone.

¹⁶These are the things that ye shall do: Speak ye every man the truth to his neighbor; execute the judgement of truth and peace in your gates; — these are the things that ye shall do, as an evidence of the new relation which obtained between them and Yehovah, the God of the covenant, Speak ye every man the truth to his neighbor, this being the basis of a proper brotherly relationship among men, execute the judgement of truth and peace In your gates so that all their dealings, particularly those pertaining to their courts of law, would be in agreement with these principles,

¹⁷and let none of you imagine evil in your hearts against his neighbor; and love no false oath. For all these are things that I hate,’ saith the Lord.” — and let none of you imagine evil In your hearts against his neighbor, deliberately planning harm and love no false oath, for perjury makes the administration of justice impossible;

— for all these are things that the Lord hates. It is a most emphatic declaration, spoken with great solemnity and it holds true for all time. God hates and despises wickedness in every form and He wants those who are His children to wage continual warfare against every transgression of His holy Law.

¹⁸And the word of the Lord of hosts came unto me, saying,

¹⁹“Thus saith the Lord of hosts: ‘The fast of the fourth month, and the fast of the fifth, and the fast of the seventh, and the fast of the tenth, shall be to the house of Judah joy and gladness and cheerful feasts. Therefore love the truth and peace.’ — thus saith the Lord of hosts, The fast of the fourth month and the fast of the fifth and the fast of the seventh and the fast of the tenth, special days of fasting and affliction which the Jews had observed during their captivity in memory of certain dark days in the history of their nation, Cf Zechariah 7:3;

— shall be to the house of Judah joy and gladness and cheerful feasts, festivals of highest happiness, since the Lord intended to pour out upon them such a multitude of blessings as to make them forget all the disagreeable facts in their past history and to rejoice in the goodness and mercy of their God; therefore love the truth and peace, this reaction on the part of the Jews being a necessary consequence of their appreciation of the Lord’s goodness and mercy;

(1) the fast of the fourth month: 17th of Tammuz (postponed to 18th); Jeremiah 52:6-30 the breaching of the walls of Jerusalem before its fall in 587 BC and in 70 AD (July 17, 2022)
(2) the fast of the fifth month: 9th of Av (postponed to 10th); II Kings 25:2-10 the destruction of the First Temple in 586 BC; the Second Temple in 70 AD on the same dates (August 6, 2022)
(3) the fast of the seventh month: 3rd of Tishri; Jeremiah 41 when Gedaliah was assassinated in 582/1 BC (September 28, 2022)
(4) the fast of the tenth month: 10th of Teveth; II Kings 25:1 the siege of Jerusalem by Nebuchadnezzar II of Babylon in 586 BC (January 3, 2023)

— those who keep those fasts above will, one day, burst into “joy and gladness and cheerful feasts!” (for more on understand such joy and blessings, see the Unspoken Will of God)

²⁰Thus saith the Lord of hosts: ‘It shall yet come to pass that there shall come people and the inhabitants of many cities. — thus saith the Lord of hosts, It shall yet come to pass that there shall come people, representatives of many nations and the inhabitants of many cities, of the foremost centers of the world;

²¹And the inhabitants of one city shall go to another, saying, “Let us go speedily to pray before the Lord, and to seek the Lord of hosts. I will go also.” — and the inhabitants of one city shall go to another in mutually encouraging and admonishing one another, saying, Let us go speedily, literally, “Going let us go, with speed and earnestness,”

— to pray before the Lord and to seek the Lord of hosts in an invitation and exhortation to worship the one true God; I will go also, the vivid form of speech showing the alacrity with which men would respond.

²²Yea, many people and strong nations shall come to seek the Lord of hosts in Jerusalem, and to pray before the Lord.’ — yea, many people and strong nations, the foremost countries of the world shall come to seek the Lord of hosts in Jerusalem to become members of His holy congregation and to pray before the Lord, to worship Yehovah.

²³“Thus saith the Lord of hosts: ‘In those days it shall come to pass that ten men out of all the languages of the nations shall take hold, even shall take hold of the skirt of him that is a Jew, saying, “We will go with you, for we have heard that God is with you.”’” — thus saith the Lord of hosts, In those days it shall come to pass that ten men shall take hold out of all languages of the nations, that is, men of so many different nations, speaking so many different tongues, even shall take hold of the skirt of him that is a Jew, in great eagerness;

— saying, We will go with you, casting their lot with the people of the Lord in every way, for we have heard that God is with you. This has been fulfilled time and again during the New Testament era, when people from various nations have actually come and begged Christian missionaries to come to them and preach the Gospel. The glorious conversion of Gentile nations in the age of the Millenium is here clearly foretold, and in a most graphic manner.

Posted in Minor Prophets

Zechariah (Ch 5-6)

•January 8, 2022 • Leave a Comment

Zechariah Chapter 5 concerns two visions regarding the cleaning of God’s people. The first is of a flying roll, which signifies the curse of God; the other is the vision of an ephah, and a woman sitting in it, and a talent of lead cast upon the mouth of it, which signified wickedness.

Zechariah 5

¹ Then I turned, and lifted up mine eyes and looked, and behold, a flying scroll. — after an interval of some time, then Zechariah turned and lifted up his eyes and looked: behold a flying roll, a book-scroll or parchment of great size or consisting of many large leaves fastened together;

— a parallel scene of what Ezekiel saw, in Ezekiel 2, “and in it was written lamentations and mourning and woe.”

And I saw, and behold, a hand stretched out to me, and behold, in it was a scroll of a book.
And he spread it out before me, and it was inscribed before and behind, and there was written upon it lamentations and murmuring and woe. Ezekiel 2:9-10

²And he said unto me, “What seest thou?” And I answered, “I see a flying scroll. The length thereof is twenty cubits and the breadth thereof ten cubits.” — and the angel said unto Zechariah, What seest thou? And Zechariah answered, I see a flying roll, a parchment loose or unrolled moving through the air; the length thereof is twenty cubits and the breadth thereof ten cubits, the dimensions approximately ten yards by five yards.

³Then said he unto me, “This is the curse that goeth forth over the face of the whole earth; for every one who stealeth shall be cut off as on this side according to it, and every one who sweareth shall be cut off as on that side according to it. — without waiting for a question on the part of the prophet, then said the angel unto Zechariah, This is the curse that goeth forth over the face of the whole earth, as written on the roll;

— for whosoever that steal shall be cut off as on this side according to it, and anyone that has taken a false oath shall be cut off as on that side according to it, that is, the sinners who refuse to repent, who persist in their wickedness, must be cut off and removed;

— pretty much similar to what Ezekiel saw: of written lamentations and mourning and woe.

⁴‘I will bring it forth,’ saith the Lord of hosts,‘ and it shall enter into the house of the thief and into the house of him that sweareth falsely by My name. And it shall remain in the midst of his house and shall consume it, with the timber thereof and the stones thereof.’” — the Lord will bring it forth, namely, the curse and the judgement with it, saith the Lord of hosts, and it shall enter into the house of the thief and into the house of him that sweareth falsely by My name, these two classes of sinners being named as representatives of all unrepentant transgressors;

— and it shall remain in the midst of his house, lodging there, dwelling there permanently, and shall consume it with the timber thereof and the stones thereof, not leaving a vestige of it. These words are properly expressive of the curse and of the punishment of God upon these form of deliberate transgression; which would be like a consuming fire upon anyone and everyone who steal and swear falsely;

— Rashi: I have brought it forth: to walk to and fro in the land and to wreak vengeance upon the thieves and the swearers of falsehoods from now on; and it shall come into the house of the thief; and a saying goes: “a man that swears much shall be full of iniquity, and the plague shall not depart from his house,” and “if a man swears in vain, he shall not be innocent or justified, for his house shall be full of calamities.”

⁵Then the angel who talked with me went forth and said unto me, “Lift up now thine eyes and see what is this that goeth forth.” — then the angel that talked with Zechariah, who acted as the interpreter of all these visions went forth so that there was a pause in the revelations of the Lord and said unto Zechariah, ‘Lift up now thine eyes and see what is this that goeth forth,’ appearing before his eyes, something that Zechariah should observe very closely.

⁶And I said, “What is it?” And he said, “This is an ephah that goeth forth.” He said moreover, “This is their resemblance through all the earth.” — and Zechariah asked, What is it? for Zechariah evidently did not recognize the object at once. And the angel said, ‘This is an ephah that goeth forth,’ the ephah being a dry measure corresponding roughly to our peck. The object in the vision was evidently a receptacle having the shape of an ephah, and the ephah was chosen because it was often called the measure of unrighteousness and of deceits;

— the angel said further, ‘This is their resemblance through all the earth,’ literally, ‘this their eye in all the land,” that is, this is the object of their gaze, all eyes are centered upon it.

⁷And behold, there was lifted up a weighty piece of lead, and this is a woman who sitteth in the midst of the ephah. — and behold there was lifted up a talent of lead, a great round piece, weighing about a hundred pounds; and this is a woman that sitteth in the midst of the ephah, the female personification of wickedness held within the ephah by the great weight.

⁸And he said, “This is wickedness.” And he cast it into the midst of the ephah, and he cast the weight of lead upon the mouth thereof. — and the angel said, ‘This is wickedness,’ false doctrine, godlessness personified. And the angel cast it into the midst of the ephah, thus preventing her escape; and he cast the weight of lead upon the mouth thereof, this acting as a cover keeping her shut up within the measure.

⁹Then I lifted up mine eyes and looked, and behold, there came out two women, and the wind was in their wings (for they had wings like the wings of a stork), and they lifted up the ephah between the earth and the heaven. — fascinated by a further wonderful thing that happened, then lifted Zechariah up his eyes and behold, there came out two women, and the wind was in their wings, aiding them in their movement forward as they carried the ephah;

— for they had wings like the wings of a stork; and they lifted up the ephah between the earth and the heaven, carrying it along very quickly, away from the Holy Land.

¹⁰Then said I to the angel who talked with me, “Whither do these bear the ephah?” — then said Zechariah to the angel who talked with him, “Where do these bear the ephah?”

¹¹And he said unto me, “To build it a house in the land of Shinar; and it shall be established, and set there upon her own base.” — and the angel said unto Zechariah, ‘To build it an house in the land of Shinar,’ typical from olden times as the land of rebellion against the Lord;

— that is, in the province of Babylon, as the Targum paraphrases it; for Babel, or Babylon, was in the land of Shinar; Genesis 11:1-9; and it shall be established and set there upon her own base; representative of the ungodly world, a mystery of iniquity, Revelation 17:5; wickedness was to have its place, to be forever excluded from the kingdom of the Lord.

Zechariah 6

¹ And I turned, and lifted up mine eyes and looked, and behold, there came four chariots out from between two mountains, and the mountains were mountains of brass. — and Zechariah turned and lifted up his eyes and looked, there came four chariots out from between two mountains, the location of the vision being somewhere in the mountainous country near Jerusalem, very likely between Mount Zion and the Mount of Olives; and the mountains were mountains of brass, firm and immovable.

²In the first chariot were red horses, and in the second chariot black horses, — in the first chariot, harnessed to it were red horses; and we would assigned them as signifying war and bloodshed; but the angel never elaborate further what the red horses are;

— Gill says: by these “red horses” must be designed the Babylonians and Chaldeans, so called because their soldiers were clothed in red, and their chariots were like flaming torches;

— red horses may signify bloody times, a fiery execution of wrath, Revelation 6:4; and in Isaiah 63:1-4

¹ Who is this that cometh from Edom, with dyed garments (with his garments stained crimson in other translations) from Bozrah, this that is glorious in His apparel, traveling in the greatness of his strength? “I that speak in righteousness, mighty to save.”
²Why art thou red in Thine apparel, and Thy garments like him that treadeth in the wine vat?
³“I have trodden the wine press alone; and of the people there was none with Me. For I will tread them in Mine anger and trample them in My fury; and their blood shall be sprinkled upon My garments, and I will stain all My raiment.
⁴For the day of vengeance is in Mine heart, and the year of My redeemed is come. Isaiah 63:1-4

— and in the second chariot black horses, the color of misfortune, of mourning, and of death;

³and in the third chariot white horses, and in the fourth chariot grizzled and bay horses. — and in the third chariot white horses, implying joy and victory; and in the fourth chariot grizzled and bay horses Cf Revelation 6:8.

⁴Then I answered and said unto the angel who talked with me, “What are these, my lord?” — then Zechariah answered and said unto the angel, What are these?

— my lord (‘āḏôn not Yehovah יְהֹוָה) so the angel appeared as an ordinary angel to Zechariah.

⁵And the angel answered and said unto me, “These are the four spirits of the heavens, which go forth from standing before the Lord of all the earth. — and the angel answered Zechariah, ‘These are the four spirits of the heavens,’ the four winds as the instruments of the Lord’s will, which go forth from standing before the Lord of all the earth. Cf Psalms 104:4; Psalms 148:8. The agency of the winds in the work of destructive judgement is mentioned also elsewhere in the Bible Cf Revelation 7:1.

⁶The black horses which are therein go forth into the north country, and the white go forth after them, and the grizzled go forth toward the south country. — the black horses which are therein, that is, the chariot drawn by these horses, go into the North country, where the great world-powers, Assyria and Babylon, were situated;

— and the white go forth after the North, too, victory following death and destruction; but the grizzled go toward the South country, where Idumea, Edom and Egypt were situated.

⁷And the bay went forth and sought to go, that they might walk to and fro through the earth.” And he said, “Get you hence, walk to and fro through the earth.” So they walked to and fro through the earth. — and from the South the bay spread forth and sought to go that they might walk to and fro throughout the earth, visiting all the countries of the world with terrible wars and bloodshed, with death and destruction; and he said, Get you hence, walk to and fro through the earth. So they walked to and fro through the earth, carrying out the Lord’s command upon the various nations.

⁸Then cried he unto me, and spoke unto me, saying, “Behold, these who go toward the north country have quieted my spirit in the north country.” — then cried the angel in great excitement to Zechariah and spoke unto him, saying in the name of the Lord, Behold, these that go toward the North country, and after executing God’s judgement on them, have quieted My Spirit in the North country, and was satisfied with the extent of the punishment inflicted upon them. It is clear that the angel is speaking of all the enemies of the Lord would be overthrown, in order that His kingdom may be safely established.

⁹And the word of the Lord came unto me, saying,

¹⁰“Take from them of the captivity — even from Heldai, from Tobijah, and from Jedaiah, who have come from Babylon — and come thou the same day and go into the house of Josiah the son of Zephaniah. — take the exiles living in Babylon, who had come up to Jerusalem at that time, from Heldai, Tobijah, and of Jedaiah, who have come from Babylon, as a committee of the Jews residing at Babylon.

¹¹Then take silver and gold and make crowns, and set them upon the head of Joshua the son of Jehozadak, the high priest, — then take silver and gold, evidently of the precious metals sent by the Jews of Babylon, and make crowns, a double crown or one of several bands, and set them upon the head of Joshua, the son of Josedech, the high priest, as a type of the combined priesthood and kingdom which shall be conferred upon the Messiah;

¹²and speak unto him, saying, ‘Thus speaketh the Lord of hosts, saying, “Behold the Man whose name is The Branch! And He shall grow up out of His place, and He shall build the temple of the Lord. — and speak unto Zechariah, saying, Thus speaketh the Lord of hosts, saying, Behold, the man whose name Is The BRANCH, and He shall grow up out of His place, Jeremiah 33:15, as a root out of a dry ground, Isaiah 53:2, and He shall build the Temple of the Lord, the real Sanctuary of Yehovah, the Kingdom of the New World;

— the Targum paraphrases the words, “behold the man Messiah is his name;” the Jews interprets this passage of a divine Person; who is the Son of God by whom no other than King Messiah could have meant;

¹³Even He shall build the temple of the Lord; and He shall bear the glory, and shall sit and rule upon His throne. And He shall be a priest upon His throne; and the counsel of peace shall be between them both.”’ — even the Branch shall build the Temple of the Lord, accomplishing His great work in spite of the lowliness of His origin; and He shall bear the glory, being adorned with kingly glory and honor, and shall sit and rule upon His throne as the true King of His Kingdom;

— and He shall be a Priest upon His throne, uniting in His person the offices of king and of priest; and the counsel of peace shall be between them both, the two offices being united in one person. Psalms 110.

¹⁴“And the crowns shall be for Helem and for Tobijah and for Jedaiah, and for Hen the son of Zephaniah, for a memorial in the temple of the Lord. — and the crowns shall be for a memorial in the Temple of the Lord so that future generations would be reminded of the example of others before them.

¹⁵And those who are far off shall come and build the temple of the Lord, and ye shall know that the Lord of hosts hath sent Me unto you. And this shall come to pass if ye will diligently obey the voice of the Lord your God.” — and they that are far off, like the men who had in this case brought their offerings, shall come and build the Temple of the Lord, representatives of various nations joining in the upbuilding of the Lord’s great spiritual Temple, His holy Kingdom,

— and ye shall know that the Lord of hosts hath sent Me unto Zechariah, as the Messiah Himself says, John 3:16. And this shall come to pass, if ye will diligently obey the voice of the Lord, your God, this being added by way of admonition lest anyone deliberately lose the blessings which are offered in and by the coming of the Messiah. Thus the establishment and growth of the Kingdom of God.

Posted in Minor Prophets

Zechariah (Ch 3-4)

•January 6, 2022 • Leave a Comment

The vision of Zechariah is in the form of a judicial process: Joshua is the person accused, and is described standing before the Angel of the Lord; and by the filthy garments he had on, which were the ground of the charge against him. The accuser is Satan who stood at his right hand; and his Judge is the Angel of the Lord, before whom he was the Branch.

Also, the hand of Zerubbabel with those seven eyes of the Lord sent forth “to and fro” into all the earth; only a Divine Being could have seven eyes of the Lord “which run to and fro through the whole earth,” thus testifying that Zerubbabel is prophetically the Son of God, the Messiah.

Zechariah 3

¹ And he showed me Joshua the high priest standing before the angel of the Lord, and Satan standing at his right hand to resist him. — Joshua is to be considered typically representing the state and condition of the priesthood in which office he was; and which was very low and mean, under the second temple; which the priests, especially the high priest, were representatives of;

— and now, standing before the Angel of the Lord pictured as the Judge in a court of law, and Satan standing at his right hand to accuse him;

— to accuse him: to accuse him because Joshua’s sons were married to heathen women, as it is written in Ezra 10:18, “And it was found of the sons of the priests who had taken foreign wives, of the sons of Joshua the son of Jozadak …”

²And the Lord said unto Satan, “The Lord rebuke thee, O Satan; even the Lord who hath chosen Jerusalem rebuke thee! Is not this a brand plucked out of the fire?” — and the Lord, (יְהֹוָה Yehovah), for He is also the Angel of the Lord, the Son, said unto Satan, The Lord (יְהֹוָה) rebuke thee, O Satan, the adversary and accuser being condemned instead of him whom he wanted to condemn,

— even the Lord (יְהֹוָה the Father) that hath chosen Jerusalem, rebuke thee; He has accepted the believers as His people and will not permit Satan with His choice.

— is not this a brand plucked out of the fire? A brand is a burnt, burning, or smoldering piece of wood. His people had been at the very brink of destruction, but the Lord had interfered before it was too late; therefore Joshua also, standing before the Lord as the representative of the sinful people, is shielded from condemnation.

³Now Joshua was clothed with filthy garments, and stood before the Angel. — was wearing filthy garments: this is also explained according to the Targum: He had sons who had married women who were unfit to marry into the priesthood, and Joshua was accused because he did not interfere with his sons’ marriages.

⁴And He answered and spoke unto those who stood before Him, saying, “Take away the filthy garments from him.” And unto him He said, “Behold, I have caused thine iniquity to pass from thee, and I will clothe thee with change of raiment.” — and He, the presiding Angel of Yehovah, the Son of God, answered and spoke unto those that stood before Him, some of His ministering angels; or as the Targum paraphrases it, “and he said to them who ministered before him;”

— the Targum is another source of the Bible. Started by Ezra for those returning from Babylon and for these returnees they could only understand in Aramaic; hence the Targum is as if Ezra is speaking to us from the verses quoted;

— saying, Take away the filthy garments from him, this signifying the removal of the people’s guilt; and unto him He said, Behold, I have caused thine iniquity to pass from thee, that is, by an act of complete forgiveness, and I will clothe thee with change of raiment, with the festival garments of a perfect righteousness.

⁵And I said, “Let them set a clean miter upon his head.” So they set a clean miter upon his head, and clothed him with garments. And the angel of the Lord stood by. — and Zechariah said, the prophet here suddenly interposing in his eagerness to have, the work of cleansing completed, Let them set a fair miter upon his head, to give him the crowning assurance that the priesthood was restored, that the name of Yehovah was once more borne on the turban of the high priest;

— so they set a fair miter upon his head and clothed Joshua with garments; and the Angel of the Lord stood by, having arisen from His judge’s chair to see that the prayer of Zechariah was executed in every detail. Thus Joshua, the representative of the people, particularly of its priestly character, was restored to the full dignity of the olden days, and thereby the people were likewise restored to their position as the Lord’s people.

⁶And the angel of the Lord protested unto Joshua, saying,

⁷“Thus saith the Lord of hosts: ‘If thou wilt walk in My ways, and if thou wilt keep My ordinance, then thou shalt also judge My house, and shalt also keep My courts, and I will give thee places to walk among these who stand by. — thus saith the Lord of hosts, If thou wilt walk in My ways, as a true witness of God, and if thou wilt keep My charge, performing every part of the law with due faithfulness,

— then thou shalt also judge My house (the Father’s house), have charge of the Lord’s Temple, and shalt also keep My courts, in observing every provision of all the Law concerning Yehovah’s worship, and I will give thee places to walk among these that stand by, that is, he would have open and unhindered access between the holy angels to the very throne of Yehovah; for all faulty human mediators have been discarded, so that every believer may draw nigh to the Throne of God without hesitation;

— the Targum very agreeably paraphrases the words thus, “and in the resurrection or quickening of the dead, I will raise or quicken thee; and I will give thee feet walking among these seraphim.”

⁸Hear now, O Joshua the high priest, thou and thy fellows who sit before thee; for they are men wondered at. For behold, I will bring forth My Servant the Branch. — hear now, O Joshua the high priest, thou and thy fellows that sit before thee, his fellow-priests; for they are men wondered at, literally, “men of wonder are they,” that is, men about whom one might marvel;

— for, behold, I the Father, will bring forth My Servant, the branch, the Son, Cf Jeremiah 23:5-6; Isaiah 11:1. This Branch, of whom the priests of the Old Testament were but types, is the Servant of God in a most singular sense, who was to carry out the will of Yehovah concerning the redemption of the world. Cf Isaiah 53.

⁹For behold the stone that I have laid before Joshua: upon one stone shall be seven eyes. Behold, I will engrave the engraving thereof,’ saith the Lord of hosts, ‘and I will remove the iniquity of that land in one day. — for behold the stone that the Father have laid before Joshua; upon one stone shall be seven eyes, that is, omnipresent seven eyes, the number of perfection, would be directed upon him, the loving care of Yehovah being indicated, as He observes His people, the believers in Him;

— behold, the Father will engrave the graving thereof, with beautiful ornamental sculpture, saith the Lord of hosts, and He will remove the iniquity of that land in one day, both the transgressions and their punishment. This great day is the day of Calvary, for it was then that God, in one day, took away the sins of the whole world; also the Church, now still clothed with a filthy garment.

¹⁰In that day,’ saith the Lord of hosts, ‘shall ye call every man his neighbor under the vine and under the fig tree.’” — in that day, saith the Lord of hosts, shall ye call every man his neighbor under the vine and under the fig-tree, inviting him in Godly fellowship, doing Godly-work in calling others to enjoy the blessings of the kingdom of God. We thus have the entire plan of God in His seven thousand years plan outline in this one vision, a Godly message which might well be heeded by all men in our days.

Zechariah 4

¹ And the angel who talked with me came again and waked me, as a man who is wakened out of his sleep, — and the Angel that talked with me, (identified earlier as the Son in chapter 1) He who intercedes between the Father and man in making known the message concerning the future, came again and waked me, as a man that is wakened out of his sleep, out of his state of exhaustion. The Angel had evidently left the prophet Zechariah for a short while and now returned for the purpose of interceding further visions.

²and said unto me, “What seest thou?” And I said, “I have looked and behold, a candlestick all of gold with a bowl upon the top of it, and his seven lamps thereon, and seven pipes to the seven lamps which are upon the top thereof; — and said unto Zechariah, What seest thou? thus calling the prophet’s attention to a new vision, whereas in the other instances Zechariah had asked for information. And Zechariah said, he have looked, he was even then observing very closely;

— and behold a candlestick all of gold, with a bowl upon the top of it, a round vessel, or reservoir, for oil, and his seven lamps thereon and seven pipes to the seven lamps, or seven feed-pipes to each of the seven lamps, to insure a plentiful supply of fuel, which are upon the top thereof, the candlestick in general being formed after that in the Tabernacle, Exodus 25:31-37;

³and two olive trees by it, one upon the right side of the bowl, and the other upon the left side thereof.” — and two olive-trees by it, one upon the right side of the bowl and the other upon the left side thereof, this being a new feature, indicating the source of the oil for the lamps.

⁴So I answered and spoke to the angel who talked with me, saying, “What are these, my lord?” — so Zechariah answered, the prophet having meanwhile recovered to some extent from his dazed condition, and spoke to the angel that talked with Zechariah, saying, What are these, my lord (‘āḏôn)? He, Zechariah, could not quite grasp the significance of it all, as if he thought as one who has just wakened out of his sleep, not realizing he was speaking to the Son, but just an angel;

— second, a further possibility is that the emphasis of the Son is to be shifted away from that of an interceder to that of Zerubbabel, the governor, the builder and the finisher for the building of the Temple of God; of the physical to that of the spiritual.

⁵Then the angel who talked with me answered and said unto me, “Knowest thou not what these be?” And I said, “No, my lord.” — then the angel that talked with Zechariah answered and said unto him, Knowest thou not what these be? He was surprised that a man of Judah, a Zechariah of priestly descent, should not find some meaning in the vision of such a candlestick. But Zechariah said, No, my lord (‘āḏôn not Yehovah יְהֹוָה so he appeared as an ordinary angel to Zechariah).

⁶Then he answered and spoke unto me, saying, “This is the word of the Lord unto Zerubbabel, saying, ‘Not by might nor by power, but by My Spirit,’ saith the Lord of hosts. — then the angel answered and spake unto Zechariah, saying, This is the word of the Lord (יְהֹוָה) unto Zerubbabel, saying, Not by might, that is, the force of armies, nor by power, namely, that of any earthly agency, but by My Spirit, saith the Lord of hosts;

— the candlestick of the Tabernacle was a type of the congregation of Israel, which was supposed to be a light shining in the darkness of the world. Its oil was a type of the holy spirits, and the high priests of the Covenant received the strength for the performance of the duties of their office from the Spirit symbolized in the light of the great candlestick. Moreover, Zerubbabel, the governor of the people, was to be informed that the great work which he was to perform could be carried on only through the spirit of the Lord.

⁷Who art thou, O great mountain? Before Zerubbabel thou shalt become a plain; and he shall bring forth the headstone thereof with shoutings, crying, ‘Grace, grace unto it!’” — who art thou, 0 great mountain? the building of the Temple being thus represented. Before Zerubbabel thou shalt become a plain, he would easily overcome all the difficulties connected with the completion of this momentous work;

— and the angel shall bring forth the headstone thereof, the uppermost stone of its walls, with shoutings, crying, Grace, grace unto it! that is, May God grant grace to this stone and to the building which it represents, so that it may stand forever!

— the Targum indeed paraphrases the words thus, “and he shall reveal his Messiah, whose name is said from eternity, and he shall rule over all kingdoms;” thus the Targum testifies that Zerubbabel is prophetically the Messiah (Ezra also knows about this!).

⁸Moreover the word of the Lord came unto me, saying,

⁹“The hands of Zerubbabel have laid the foundation of this house; his hands shall also finish it. And thou shalt know that the Lord of hosts hath sent me unto you. — the hands of Zerubbabel have laid the foundation of this house, this having been done some sixteen years before; his hands shall also finish it, as they did some four years later; and thou shalt know that the Lord of hosts hath sent me unto you, whence it follows that the entire situation has a deeper significance than that of a mere earthly temple, namely, that the Lord Yehovah, in the Word that was made flesh, was coming to complete the temple of the kingdom of God;

— the Targum paraphrases them to this sense, “and ye shall know that the Lord of hosts hath sent me to prophesy unto you;” thus the Targum testifies that Zerubbabel is one sent from God, the Father; hence Zerubbabel is the Son of God, the Messiah;

¹⁰For who hath despised the day of small things? For they shall rejoice and shall see the plummet in the hand of Zerubbabel with those seven. They are the eyes of the Lord, which run to and fro through the whole earth.” — for who hath despised the day of small things? It seemed indeed that the days in which Judah was then living were days of insignificant things, when the entire nation was living in deepest poverty and contempt; yet these days were the forerunners of the most momentous period in the history of the world;

— for they, the people concerned, shall rejoice and shall see the plummet in the hand of Zerubbabel, as the chief builder of the spiritual Temple, with those seven, they are the eyes of the Lord, which run to and fro through the whole earth, Cf Zechariah 3:9. But if the eyes of God’s majesty rest upon this building with such evident joy and satisfaction, it surely must be a Temple of the greatest importance;

— “the hand of Zerubbabel with those seven” and these seven are “the seven eyes of the Lord” which are also the seven spirits of God, sent forth “to and fro” into all the earth; Revelations 5:6;

— only a Divine Being could have seven eyes or seven spirits of the Lord “which run to and fro through the whole earth,” thus the Targum testifies that Zerubbabel is the Son of God, the Messiah.

¹¹Then answered I and said unto him, “What are these two olive trees upon the right side of the candlestick and upon the left side thereof?” — then answered Zechariah and said unto the angel, anxious to get some further information on this most interesting point, What are these two olive-trees upon the right side of the candlestick and upon the left side thereof? The candlestick was in the center with its arms extended on either side, and next to these arms stood the two olive-trees which were puzzling the prophet Zechariah.

¹²And I answered again and said unto him, “What be these two olive branches, which through the two golden pipes empty the golden oil out of themselves?” — and Zechariah answered again and said unto the angel, What be these two olive-branches, literally, “ears,” because they were bunched to resemble ears of grain, which through the two golden pipes, special spouts, or funnels, placed under them, empty the golden oil out of themselves? so that the oil was fed directly from the trees into the pipes connecting with the reservoir of the candlestick.

¹³And he answered me and said, “Knowest thou not what these be?” And I said, “No, my lord.”

¹⁴Then said he, “These are the two anointed ones, who stand by the Lord of the whole earth.” — then said the angel, These are the two anointed ones, literally, “the two sons of oil” that stand by the Lord of the whole earth as His servants; they were symbols of Zerubbabel and Joshua, the strong arm of a Governor, and a weak and filthy Church, collectly the temporal and the spiritual leader of the congregation of Israel, anointed by God for the performance of the work of perfecting the Kingdom of God. The meaning for our day and age is clear; the saints with the spirits of God are the Lord’s candlesticks, Matthew 5:14, and therefore has a great and important duty to fulfil in this world. This duty may not be performed by the power and might of mere men, but solely through the spirits of the Lord to His saints through “Zerubbabel” and “Joshua.”

Posted in Minor Prophets

Zechariah (Ch 1-2)

•January 4, 2022 • Leave a Comment

Attributed to the Hebrew prophet Zechariah, the Book of Zechariah is included in the Twelve Minor Prophets in the Hebrew Bible. Zechariah is specific about dating his writing (520–518 BC); after Ezekiel and Jeremiah who wrote before the fall of Jerusalem while continuing to prophesy in the early exile period.

Freedom eventually did come to many Jews when Cyrus the Great conquered the Babylonians in 539 BC; and a year later, the famous Edict of Cyrus was released, and the first return took place under Sheshbazzar. After the death of Cyrus in 530 BC, Darius consolidated power and took office in 522 BC; and Zechariah’s prophetic career began during Darius’ reign where he wrote the book that bears his name.

Zechariah 1

¹ In the eighth month in the second year of Darius, came the word of the Lord unto Zechariah the son of Berechiah, the son of Iddo the prophet, saying, — in the eighth month, in the second year of Darius, that is, in the year 520 BC;

— in the second year of Darius: king of Persia; not Darius, son of Ahasuerus, the Mede, who conquered the Babylonian empire in 539 BC at 62 of age; but this is Darius the son of Hystaspes:

— came the word of the Lord unto Zechariah; that is, “the word of prophecy from before the Lord” as the Targum paraphrases it; which came to him, either in a dream or in a vision;

²“The Lord hath been sorely displeased with your fathers. — displeased with your fathers, who lived before and during the destruction of the city of Jerusalem and which was manifest by their captivity; all of which were occasioned by their sins, which they provoked the Lord to anger; and this is mentioned as a caution to their children that they may not follow their example and incur similar displeasure.

³Therefore say thou unto them: Thus saith the Lord of hosts: ‘Turn ye unto Me,’ saith the Lord of hosts, ‘and I will turn unto you,’ saith the Lord of hosts. — therefore say thou unto them, Thus saith the Lord of hosts, the almighty Sovereign of the universe, Turn ye unto Me, saith the Lord, a most impressive call to the children of the former trespassers to repent. and I will turn unto you.

⁴Be ye not as your fathers, unto whom the former prophets have cried, saying: Thus saith the Lord of hosts: ‘Turn ye now from your evil ways and from your evil doings.’ But they did not hear, nor hearken unto Me, saith the Lord. — be ye not as your fathers, those before the exile, unto whom the former prophets have cried, saying, Thus saith the Lord, Turn ye now from your evil ways and from your evil doings, this being the gist of many admonitions in the earlier prophets, Cf Isaiah 31:6; Jeremiah 3:12; Jeremiah 18:11; Ezekiel 18:30; Hosea 14:1; but they did not hear nor hearken unto Me, saith the Lord. Cf II Kings 17.

⁵Your fathers, where are they? And the prophets, do they live for ever? — your fathers, where are they? and the prophets, do they live forever? The former members of Israel and Judah had perished, as God had said;

— and if the people should say that the prophets also were dead, the Lord would remind them of the fact that His words, as spoken through these prophets are not dead, but had been abundantly fulfilled.

⁶But My words and My statutes, which I commanded My servants the prophets, did they not overtake your fathers? And they returned and said, ‘As the Lord of hosts thought to do unto us, according to our ways and according to our doings, so hath He dealt with us.’” — but My words and My statutes which I commanded My servants, the prophets, namely, that they should proclaim them, threatening of punishment in case of disobedience, did they not take hold of your fathers?

— the prophesied punishments having overtaken them like swift messengers. And they, the fathers before the exile, returned and said, in acknowledging their afflictions as the result of their wickedness, ‘Like as the Lord of hosts thought to do unto us, according to our ways and according to our doings, just as they had deserved it, so hath He dealt with us;’

— this was the state of mind which the Lord wanted to find in the midst of His people in making known to them the wonderful facts contained in the visions of Zechariah; the proper attitude for hearing and learning the Word of God is that of a humble acknowledgment of one’s sinfulness.

⁷Upon the four and twentieth day of the eleventh month, which is the month of Shebat, in the second year of Darius, came the word of the Lord unto Zechariah the son of Berechiah, the son of Iddo the prophet, saying: — upon the four and twentieth day of the eleventh month, which is the month Sebat, five months after the building of the Temple had been resumed, in the second year of Darius, came the word of the Lord unto Zechariah, the son of Berechiah, the son of Iddo, the prophet, saying,

⁸I saw by night, and behold, a man riding upon a red horse, and he stood among the myrtle trees that were in the bottom; and behind him were there red horses, speckled, and white. — Zechariah saw by night in a night vision some time between six o’clock in the evening and six o’clock in the morning, and behold a man riding upon a red horse, the color of war and bloodshed;

— and he stood among the myrtle trees that were in the bottom, most likely by the “myrtle trees” may be meant the Israelites; or by a valley in the neighborhood of Jerusalem; and behind him were there red horses, speckled, or bay, the color of fire and flames and burning, and white, in this connection the color of victory;— after released from captivity, the Jews were now in a very low estate, like a grove of myrtle trees in a bottom, so a man riding upon a red horse is still on top of the Jews; but who is he?

⁹Then said I, “O my lord, what are these?” And the angel that talked with me said unto me, “I will show thee what these be.” — then Zechariah asked, O my lord (H113 ‘āḏôn), what are these? And the angel that talked with him said unto him, ‘I will show thee what these be,’ for the Lord wanted Zechariah to know the meaning of the vision in order that he might reveal it to others;

— my lord (H113 ‘āḏôn); this angel “that talked with me” a messenger for God; could he be revealed as the Son of God if verses 19 and 20 below be linked together? It should be linked together because v19 is a question and v20 is a continuation of the the angel’s answer by showing him four carpenters, who is revealed as the Lord (H3068 יְהוָה)!

¹⁰And the man that stood among the myrtle trees answered and said, “These are they whom the Lord hath sent to walk to and fro throughout the earth.” — and the man that stood among the myrtle trees, the first angel answered and said, ‘These are they whom the Lord (H3068 יְהוָה) hath sent to walk to and fro through the earth,’ to find out how matters stood everywhere.

¹¹And they answered the angel of the Lord who stood among the myrtle trees, and said, “We have walked to and fro throughout the earth, and behold, all the earth sitteth still and is at rest.” — and they, the host of angels answered the the angel that stood among the myrtle trees (probably Michael, since he is the archangel; the chief of the angels), and said, ‘We have walked to and fro through the earth, and, behold, all the earth sitteth still and is at rest,’ the great commotion among the nations, of which the prophet Haggai had spoken, 2:7. 8, had not yet begun, that is, the time for the Messiah to appear in the flesh had not yet come, a statement which naturally had a most depressing effect upon the Jews. But the Lord has a word of comfort ready for them.

Haggai 2:7, 8

⁷And I will shake all nations, and the desire of all nations shall come; and I will fill this house with glory,’ saith the Lord of hosts.
⁸‘The silver is Mine, and the gold is Mine,’ saith the Lord of hosts.

¹²Then the angel of the Lord answered and said, “O Lord of hosts, how long wilt Thou not have mercy on Jerusalem and on the cities of Judah, against which Thou hast had indignation these threescore and ten years?” — as the seventy years of the exile seemed extended, as though the affliction of the captivity would never end; then the angel (mal’āḵ; probably Michael) of the Lord asked the second person of the Godhead, the Son, who is One who talked with the prophet Zechariah;

— “O Lord of hosts, how long wilt Thou not have mercy on Jerusalem and on the cities of Judah?” the archangel Michael asked the Son (also call the Lord) who normally intercedes between Jerusalem/Judah and the Father; He, the Son, identified later as the Messiah, was already doing the job of a High Priest, interceding between the Father and man.

¹³And the Lord answered the angel who talked with me, with good words and comforting words. — and the Lord the Father answered the Son that talked with Zechariah with good and comfortable words, words of prophecy and foresight, which was to pass immediately on to the congregation of Israel.

¹⁴So the angel who communed with me said unto me, “Cry thou, saying, Thus saith the Lord of hosts: ‘I am jealous for Jerusalem and for Zion with a great jealousy. — so the Angel (the Son) that communed with Zechariah, He who had first been given an understanding of the Father’s intentions as expressed in the vision, said unto Zechariah, “Cry thou, saying, Thus saith the Lord of hosts, ‘I am jealous for Jerusalem and for Zion with a great jealousy.’

¹⁵And I am very sorely displeased with the heathen who are at ease; for I was but a little displeased, and they helped forward the affliction.’ — and the Lord the Father was very sore displeased with the nations that are at ease, believing that they had been permanently victorious over the Jews; for the Father was but a little displeased, as His punishment went out upon His people for seventy years, and they helped forward the affliction, they rioted in the sufferings of helpless Israel and were anxious to prolong them.

¹⁶Therefore thus saith the Lord: ‘I have returned to Jerusalem with mercies. My house shall be built in it,’ saith the Lord of hosts, ‘and a line shall be stretched forth upon Jerusalem.’ — therefore, thus saith the Father, ‘I am returned to Jerusalem with mercies,’ for He had withheld them from His people for a time in order to punish them, but now He was once more ready to accept His repentant children;

— ‘My house shall be built in it,’ namely, the Temple, the Father’s house as the seat of the Lord’s merciful presence in the midst of His congregation, saith the Lord of hosts, and a line shall be stretched forth upon Jerusalem, in this case the builder’s line signifying the rebuilding of the city.

— throughout the Scriptures the Son has never lay claim that the Temple is His house; it is “My Father’s house.” John 2:16

¹⁷Cry yet, saying, Thus saith the Lord of hosts: ‘My cities through prosperity shall yet be spread abroad; and the Lord shall yet comfort Zion, and shall yet choose Jerusalem.’” — cry yet, saying, ‘Thus saith the Lord of hosts, My cities through prosperity shall yet be spread abroad, overflowing with the outward pressure of abundant growth as a stream overflows its banks; and the Lord shall yet comfort Zion,’ the people of His love, and shall yet choose Jerusalem, the communion of His saints. Thus the Father, who occasionally has punished His people with heavy stripes, ever again lies turned to His children with the wealth of His blessings in His judgement.

¹⁸Then I lifted up mine eyes and saw, and behold, four horns. — then, after the first vision had fully come to an end, Zechariah lifted his eyes and saw, in a second distinct vision, four horns, the common Scriptural symbol of strength.

¹⁹And I said unto the angel who talked with me, “What are these?” And he answered me, “These are the horns which have scattered Judah, Israel, and Jerusalem.” — and Zechariah said unto the Son that talked with him, What be these? the prophet again desirous of knowing their significance. And the Son answered Zechariah, These are the horns which have scattered Judah, Israel and Jerusalem, the heathen nations that had scattered the twelve tribes as a people.

²⁰And the Lord (יְהוָה) showed me four carpenters. — and the Lord (H3068 יְהוָה; finally ‘the Angel’ is no ordinary angel but revealed Himself as Yehovah, also the Son; He is the second Yehovah; He must be the Son of God, who also carries the name Yehovah) showed Zechariah four carpenters, rather, four craftsmen in iron, four smiths;

— the Son of God also moves around the heavens carrying messages for God the Father;

Exodus 23:20 “Behold, I (the Father) send an Angel (the Son) before you to keep you in the way and to bring you into the place which I have prepared. ²¹ Beware of Him (the Son) and obey His voice; do not provoke Him (the Son, Yeshua), for He will not pardon your transgressions; for My name is in Him (hence Yehovah’s name is also in the Son; Peshitta 23:21 “Be on your guard before him and obey his voice; do not be rebellious toward him, for he will not pardon your transgression, since My name is in him). ²² But if you indeed obey His voice and do all that I speak, then I will be an enemy to your enemies and an adversary to your adversaries. ²³For My Angel (the Son) will go before you and bring you in to the Amorites and the Hittites and the Perizzites and the Canaanites and the Hivites and the Jebusites; and I will cut them off. ²⁴ You shall not bow down to their gods, nor serve them, nor do according to their works; but you shall utterly overthrow them and completely break down their sacred pillars.

— the Son of God, who later came to earth as Yeshua (or more commonly known as Jesus, is also Yehovah “for My name is in Him.”

²¹Then said I, “What come these to do?” And he spoke, saying, “These are the horns which have scattered Judah, so that no man lifted up his head; but these have come to frighten them, to cast out the horns of the Gentiles who lifted up their horn over the land of Judah to scatter it.” — then said Zechariah, ‘What come these to do? What was the object in introducing them into the picture?’ And He (the Son, יְהוָה) spoke, saying, ‘These are the horns which have scattered Judah, so that no man did lift up his head,’ being altogether discouraged; but these are come to fray them, to terrify the great powers of evil;

— the “four horns” = these are first the Babylonians; second, the Greeks; third, the Romans and the fourth? Perhaps the Turks and Muslims?

— to cast out the horns of the nations, to break them off, which lifted up their horn over the land of Judah to scatter it. It has ever been a characteristic of the enemies of the Lord that they rejoice over the misfortune of His people; but in the end Israel will triumph.

Zechariah 2

¹I lifted up mine eyes again and looked, and behold, a man with a measuring line in his hand. — being in a state of ecstasy, Zechariah lifted up his eyes again and looked, and behold, a man with a measuring-line in his hand, evidently a messenger or angel sent for a special purpose.

²Then said I, “Whither goest thou?” And he said unto me, “To measure Jerusalem to see what is the breadth thereof and what is the length thereof.” — then said Zechariah, addressing the angel, Whither goest thou? And he replied, To measure Jerusalem, the city of Yehovah, to see what is the breadth thereof, and what is the length thereof, to get the dimensions of the city even then in existence;

³And behold, the angel who talked with me went forth; and another angel went out to meet him — and, behold, the angel that talked with Zechariah went forth, he was removed from the scene. And another angel went out to meet Zechariah, the second angel in this chapter; thus meeting him who acted as interpreter,

— this Angel that talked with Zechariah was identified in this Study as the Son in the previous chapter, but the question is, is He the same as the man with a measuring line in his hand? (verse 1 above)

⁴and said unto him, “Run, speak to this young man, saying, ‘Jerusalem shall be inhabited as towns without walls, because of the multitude of men and cattle therein. — and said unto him, Run, speak to this young man, namely, Zechariah the prophet, saying, Jerusalem shall be inhabited as towns without walls for the multitude of men and cattle therein. It is clearly not the old city to which the angel refers, but a wonderful revived city with an enlarged dimensions, the new Jerusalem with the Ezekiel’s Temple built within.

⁵For I,’ saith the Lord, ‘will be unto her a wall of fire round about, and will be the glory in the midst of her.’” — thus saith the Lord (יְהוָה), for I will be unto Jerusalem a wall of fire round about, so that the city of God would be secure under the sheltering wings of His power;

— and יְהוָה will be the glory in the midst of Jerusalem, so that His blessings would rest upon the Holy City and His name be praised within her. So much being established, Zechariah the prophet is given a summary of what he should proclaim to his people of the Lord.

⁶“Ho! Ho! Come forth, and flee from the land of the north,” saith the Lord; “for I have spread you abroad as the four winds of the heaven,” saith the Lord. — ho, ho, come forth; the Targum paraphrases it, “proclaim to the dispersed:” so the Lord יְהוָה addresses His people through the His servant the prophet Zechariah to flee from the land of the North, out of “Babylon” as typical of all powers of evil banded together against His people Israel;— for I the Lord; have spread you abroad as the four winds of the heaven, namely, in his people Israel which extends to the most remote ends of the world;

— these are spread by the “four horns” in the previous chapter = first the Babylonians; second the Greeks; third the Romans and the fourth? Perhaps the Turks and Muslims?

“For I have spread you abroad as the four winds of the heaven,” saith the Lord: two Parallel passages extracted from Ezekiel 6 and 36 worth a closer examination here:

— “the mountain of Israel” this prophecy is concerning the desolations of the United States, United Kingdom and France;
— “and to the hills, to the rivers and to the valleys” these are the hills: Ireland, Switzerland and the Scandinavian countries: Denmark, Norway, and Sweden, Finland, and Iceland; and the valleys, the low countries: Belgium, the Netherlands, and Luxembourg;
— and to the rivers; where during the nineteenth century, the British Royal Navy were known to “Rule the Waves;” and the United States having been plowing up and down the five oceans with her Seven Fleets since the British left the scene;
— ye shall shoot forth your branches; that is, the trees that grew upon them should; the vines, and the olive trees, planted on hills and mountains; these could be their colonies: Canada, Australia, New Zealand, South Africa; American Samoa, Guam, the Northern Mariana Islands, Puerto Rico, and the Virgin Islands (US); Anguilla, Bermuda, Cayman Islands, Falkland Islands, Gibraltar, Virgin Islands (UK); Guadeloupe, Martinique, French Guiana, Mayotte, Réunion (France).

⁷“Deliver thyself, O Zion, ye that dwellest with the daughter of Babylon.” — deliver thyself, O Zion, that dwellest with the daughter of Babylon, or “Ho, Zion, save thyself!” the separation between the children of God and the children of the world being absolute, even if not local. Cf II Corinthians 6:17.

⁸For thus saith the Lord of hosts: “After the glory hath He sent me unto the nations which despoiled you, for he that toucheth you toucheth the apple of His eye. — for thus saith the Lord of hosts, ‘After the glory hath He sent Me unto the nations which spoiled you,’ the angel of the Lord being sent to the heathen to get back the glory which they, by their hostile treatment of His people, had taken from Him;

— for he that toucheth you toucheth the apple of His eye, so dear are the believers, the members of His saints, in the eyes of the Lord. Every adversary who dares to touch the kingdom of God and its members thereby becomes guilty of a wicked act, which grieves the Lord most deeply. This insult Yehovah will not accept without the most emphatic resentment; He will punish the people, He will visit their sins upon them.

⁹For behold, I will shake Mine hand upon them, and they shall be a spoil to their servants. And ye shall know that the Lord of hosts hath sent me. — for thus saith the Lord of hosts: behold, I will shake Mine hand upon them, swinging it back and forth over them in order to deliver a heavy blow, and they shall be a spoil to their servants, so that the latter become the lords of their former masters;

— and ye shall know that the Lord of hosts hath sent Me, yes the Son again, the Anointed, given great power and authority that through Him the great Sovereign of the heavens could be carrying out His punishment upon the enemies of His saints. For this reason the people of the Lord are exhorted to sing praises to the Son; the returning Messiah.

¹⁰“Sing and rejoice, O daughter of Zion; for lo, I come, and I will dwell in the midst of thee,” saith the Lord. — sing and rejoice, O daughter of Zion, or the “congregation of Zion” as the Targum paraphrases it; the people of Yehovah; for, lo, I come, the Messiah Himself addressing those who were longing for His coming, and I will dwell in the midst of thee, saith the Lord. This was so wonderfully fulfilled when the Word was made flesh and dwelt among us. Cf John 1:14; Galatians 4:4.

¹¹“And many nations shall be joined to the Lord in that day, and shall be My people; and I will dwell in the midst of thee. And thou shalt know that the Lord of hosts hath sent me unto thee. — and many nations, representatives of the various races and countries of the world, shall be joined to the Lord in that day, to be added to His saints;

— and shall be My people, Ephesians 2:19; and the Messiah will dwell in the midst of thee, in the city of God of both Testaments, and thou shalt know that the Lord of hosts hath sent the Messiah unto thee; the great God of the heavens sending His only-begotten Son for the salvation of His people.

¹²And the Lord shall inherit Judah as His portion in the holy land, and shall choose Jerusalem again.” — and the Lord shall inherit Judah his portion in the Holy Land, so that He would possess His people, and shall choose Jerusalem again, as the place of His dwelling and of His blessing.

¹³Be silent, O all flesh, before the Lord, for He is raised up out of His holy habitation. — be silent, O all flesh, in a spirit of awe and reverence, before the Lord; for He is raised up out of His holy habitation, He is preparing to rise from His throne in heaven to visit the enemies with His righteous punishment and to lead His children to glory. Cf Psalms 76:8-9; Zephaniah 1:7.

Posted in Minor Prophets

Habakkuk (Ch 1-3)

•January 2, 2022 • Leave a Comment

The book of Habakkuk is a dialogue between what the Prophet saw and Questions he had for God and how God responded to him. That is, it is a dialogue between Habakkuk and God about the difficult scene he saw and why was it the way it was.

Habakkuk, from a Hebrew root meaning to “embrace,” denoting a “favorite” (namely, of God) and a “struggler” (for his country’s good). Some authors represent him as belonging to the tribe of Levi.

The time seems to have been about 610 BC; for the Chaldeans attacked Jerusalem in the ninth month of the fifth year of Jehoiakim, 605 BC. And Habakkuk, probably a contemporary of the Prophet Jeremiah, spoke of the Chaldeans as about to invade Judah (Habakkuk 1:6), and he seemed to have seen the people’s desperations of their attack that followed; hence he asked many questions.

“The vision is yet for an appointed time.” Habakkuk 2:3 makes clear that this vision was not just for Habakkuk’s time, but also for the end-time, and although it had a narrow vision for the house of Judah, its wider implication for the latter days is for the house of Israel; the time shortly before the second coming of the Messiah.

Habakkuk 1

Habakkuk made his observation and started with a series of three Questions:

¹ The burden which Habakkuk the prophet saw. — the burden which the prophet Habakkuk saw: Habakkuk had a burden – not only in the sense of a message from God, but also in the sense of a heavy weight. It was heavy in its content, because Habakkuk announced coming judgement on the house of Judah. It was also heavy in its source, because Habakkuk deals with tough questions he brings to God and God’s answer to those questions.

— “for I will work a work in your days” (verse 5 below) means that the message of Habakkuk is really for us in the latter days, today. And this is reinforced in Habakkuk 2:3 “For the vision is yet for an appointed time, but at the end it shall speak and not lie.”

²O Lord, how long shall I cry, and Thou wilt not hear? Even cry out unto Thee of violence, and Thou wilt not save? — Q (1): O Lord, how long shall I cry, and You will not hear? Q (2): Or cry to You, “Violence!” and You will not save?

— Rashi: O Lord! How long: Habakkuk foresaw that Nebuchadnezzar was destined to be the ruler of the world and to cause trouble for Israel, as the matter is stated in his prophecy (1:6): “For behold, I raise up the Chaldeans, etc.”

— Habakkuk was asking a series of questions we all have today, when we ask and it seems God didn’t hear; and when there is violence and it seems God is not saving!

³Why dost Thou show me iniquity, and cause me to behold grievance? For despoiling and violence are before me, and there are those that raise up strife and contention. — Q (3): Why do You make me see wickedness, and cause me to see trouble? Plundering and violence are before me; strife and contention arise.

— Rashi: iniquity: plunder and violence; and cause me to behold grievance; and look upon mischief: you look upon this mischief, but You do not help.

— and the one who bears quarrel and strife endures: And this wicked man who bears quarrel and strife, will live, remain in existence, and prosper; endures: he who bears quarrel and strife will endure; so Jonathan renders.

⁴Therefore the law is slacked, and judgement doth never go forth. For the wicked doth compass about the righteous; therefore wrong judgement proceedeth. — the law is “slacked” here means the law is powerless. So the first point is that the law is lacking in physical and moral strength! The law is applied weakly to evildoers. Those who are guilty are not charged with their crimes. Judgement seldom has its enforcement; that there is little justice in the land;

— “the wicked compass about the righteous” means that the wicked surround the righteous, frequently in the form of rioting, to pressure the law-abiding population into accepting their criminal activities. “Therefore wrong judgement proceeds” means that justice is perverted.

The Lord’s Answer to Habakkuk’s first series of Questions:

⁵“Behold ye among the nations and regard, and wonder marvelously; for I will work a work in your days which ye will not believe, though it be told you. — look among the nations, and watch—wonder and be amazed! For I am doing a work in your days that you would not believe, though it were told you.

— you “among the nations” is a reference to the Israelites being scattered amongst all the nations of the world;

— the expression “in your days” tells us that this is a reference to the end-times, the period preceding the return of the Messiah;

— this Scripture is speaking about very different type of work where people will not accept what is done as being “the work of God” something very extraordinary which the people will not believe, but only “wonder marvelously”;

— a parallel in Isaiah 29:14 “therefore, behold, I will proceed to do a marvelous work among this people, even a marvelous work and a wonder; for the wisdom of their wise men shall perish, and the understanding of their prudent men shall be hid” which means in the context of those in leadership positions lacking wisdom and understanding, i.e. in the context of leaders whose ways of leading the people are no better than the ways of someone who is lacking wisdom and understanding, perhaps drunk and incoherent.

⁶For lo, I raise up the Chaldeans, that bitter and hasty nation, which shall march through the breadth of the land to possess the dwelling places that are not theirs. — God is going to send the Babylonians, that fierce and reckless nation; they will march throughout the earth to take possession of lands that don’t belong to them. Q. Since this is speaking of the endtime, who would these new Chaldeans be?

⁷They are terrible and dreadful; their judgement and their dignity shall proceed from themselves. — they will be terrifying and fearsome. They will carry out their own kind of justice and honor.

⁸Their horses also are swifter than the leopards, and are more fierce than the evening wolves. And their horsemen shall spread themselves, and their horsemen shall come from afar; they shall fly as the vulture that hasten to eat. — their horses will be faster than leopards and quicker than wolves in the evening. Their riders will gallop along proudly; their riders will come from far away; they will fly like an eagle that swoops down for its prey.

— taken historically, these verses can be seen as applying only to the Babylonians who took Judah into captivity; but prophecy are meant to be dual, so when we consider the context that follows, it should be clear that God is using the Babylonian captivity as a type of the yet future great tribulation on all Israel; and particularly on Ephraim, the head of Israel — a parallel in Ezekiel 20-21 (more details at the end)

⁹They shall come all for violence; their faces shall consume as the east wind, and they shall gather the captives as the sand. — they, the Chaldeans, will all come for violence; every face will be directed forward; they will gather prisoners like sand.

¹⁰And they shall scoff at the kings, and the princes shall be a scorn unto them. They shall deride every stronghold, for they shall heap up dirt and take it. — the Babylonian soldiers laugh at kings; they make fun of their rulers; they laugh at all the strong walled cities. They build dirt roads up to the top of their walls, then they capture the cities.

¹¹Then shall his mind change; and he shall pass over, and offend, imputing this his power unto his god.” — they will move quickly and pass through like the wind. So they will be guilty, because their own strength is their god; made only of stones and wood.

Habakkuk’s Second Series of Questions

¹²Art Thou not from everlasting, O Lord my God, mine Holy One? We shall not die. O Lord, Thou hast ordained them for judgement; and, O mighty God, Thou hast established them for correction. — O Lord God, you’re from eternity, aren’t you? Q (1) If so, we aren’t going to die, are we? O Lord, You have appointed them for judgement; and You, O Rock, have established them for correction.

¹³Thou art of purer eyes than to behold evil, and canst not look on iniquity. Why lookest Thou upon them that deal treacherously, and holdest Thy tongue when the wicked devoureth the man that is more righteous than he? — Your eyes are too pure to look on evil, and You cannot look on wickedness. Q (2) Why do You look on those who deal treacherously, and hold Your tongue when the wicked devours the one who is more righteous than he?

¹⁴And makest men as the fishes of the sea, as the creeping things that have no ruler over them? — You make men like fish of the sea, like crawling things that have no ruler.

¹⁵They take up all of them with the hook; they catch them in their net, and gather them in their drag; therefore they rejoice and are glad. — the Chaldeans bring all of them up with a hook, they catch them in their net; they gather them in their dragnet. Therefore they rejoice and are glad.

¹⁶Therefore they sacrifice unto their net, and burn incense unto their drag, because by them their portion is fat and their meat plenteous. — therefore they sacrifice to their net and burn incense to their dragnet; for by them their portion is extravagant, and their food plentiful.

¹⁷Shall they therefore empty their net, and not spare continually to slay the nations? — Q (3) shall they continue to empty their net, and continually kill the nations while not sparing anyone?

~~~

A Description of the Chaldeans, one from the East an anti-type of one similar coming from the South in the latter days:

“Their horses are swifter than leopards, more fierce than evening wolves. Their horsemen charge on; their horsemen come from afar; they fly like the eagle that hastens to eat,” Habakkuk 1:8

Ezekiel 20:45 Moreover the word of the Lord came unto me, saying,
⁴⁶ “Son of man, set thy face toward the South, and drop thy word toward the South, and prophesy against the forest of the Southland.
⁴⁷ And say to the forest of the South: ‘Hear the word of the Lord. Thus saith the Lord God: Behold, I will kindle a fire in thee, and it shall devour every green tree in thee and every dry tree. The flaming flame shall not be quenched, and all faces from the South to the North shall be burned therein.
⁴⁸And all flesh shall see that I, the Lord, have kindled it; it shall not be quenched.’”
⁴⁹ Then said I, “Ah, Lord God! They say of me, ‘Doth he not speak parables?’”
Ezekiel 21:1 And the word of the Lord came unto me, saying,
² “Son of man, set thy face toward Jerusalem, and drop thy word toward the holy places, and prophesy against the land of Israel;
³ and say to the land of Israel, ‘Thus saith the Lord: Behold, I am against thee, and will draw forth My Sword out of his sheath and will cut off from thee the righteous and the wicked.
⁴ Seeing then that I will cut off from thee the righteous and the wicked, therefore shall My Sword go forth out of his sheath against all flesh from the South to the North,
⁵that all flesh may know that I, the Lord, have drawn forth My Sword out of his sheath. It shall not return any more.’

The Scriptures above are shrouded in cryptic language, and so the Q is: how would such scenarios be played out?

Habakkuk 2

¹ I will stand upon my watch and set me upon the tower, and will watch to see what He will say unto me, and what I shall answer when I am reproved. — Habakkuk will stand at his watch and station himself on the watchtower; and he will wait and keep watch to see what God will say to him, and what he will answer when he was reproved.

The Lord’s Answer to Habakkuk’s second series of Questions:

²And the Lord answered me and said: “Write the vision and make it plain upon tablets, that he may run that readeth it. — here Habakkuk is expecting some message or some instructions from God; and sure enough, God gave him specific instructions, which is: write this message down in big block letters for people to read it;

— it doesn’t say, “that he who runs may read it,” but “that he may run who reads it.” The running – the activity and progress – comes forth from God’s warning; this is to give those people to escape from those terrible times to come who who read it and take warning.

³For the vision is yet for an appointed time, but at the end it shall speak and not lie. Though it tarry, wait for it, because it will surely come; it will not tarry. — for the vision is yet for an appointed time; but it speaks of the end and does not lie. If it seems slow in coming; wait, it’s on its way; it will come right on time. If it delays, wait for it; it will not be delayed.

⁴Behold, his soul which is lifted up is not upright in him; but the just shall live by his faith. — look, his soul is lifted up; it is not upright in him; but the just shall live by his faith.

⁵“Yea also, because he transgresseth by wine, he is a proud man, neither keepeth at home, who enlargeth his desire as hell, and is as death and cannot be satisfied, but gathereth unto him all nations, and heapeth unto him all people. — note well: wine and money deceives; the arrogant rich don’t last. Indeed, wine betrays the proud man, who does not stay at home. He enlarges his appetite and like death he is never satisfied;

— God sees the proud man and how the proud man cannot be satisfied;

— they are like cemeteries filled with dead bones; like graveyards filled with corpses. Don’t give people like this a second thought. Woe to the Wicked, soon the whole world will be taunting them.

⁶Shall not all these take up a parable against him, and a taunting proverb against him, and say, ‘Woe to him that increaseth that which is not his (how long?) and to him that ladeth himself with thick clay’? — shall not all these take up a taunt against him, with satire and riddles, and say, “Woe to him who increases what is not his—how long? And to him who loads himself with heavy debts!”

⁷Shall they not rise up suddenly that shall bite thee, and awake, that shall vex thee? And shalt thou be for booty unto them? — shall not your debtors rise up suddenly, and those awake who oppress you? Then you will be their plunder.

⁸Because thou hast despoiled many nations, all the remnant of the people shall despoil thee, because of men’s blood, and for the violence of the land, of the city, and of all that dwell therein. — because you Israel have plundered many nations, all the remnant of these nations will plunder you, because you did it through warfares, bloodsheds, deceits and violence; of the cities and all of the land where you live in them;

— when you visit any museum of the house of modern Israel (London, Paris, New York), you’ll witness lots of plunderings of other nations over the last few centuries; thus one day “all the remnant of these people will plunder you.”

— from the Message Bible: Habakkuk 2:6-8

“‘Who do you think you are—
    getting rich by stealing and extortion?
How long do you think
    you can get away with this?’
Indeed, how long before your victims wake up,
    stand up and make you the victim?
You’ve plundered nation after nation.
    Now you’ll get a taste of your own medicine.
All the survivors are out to plunder you,
    a payback for all your murders and massacres.

Here is one example of an article by Jason Hickel’s How Britain stole $45 trillion from India (from economist Utsa Patnaik – published by Columbia University Press) and thus funded the industrialisation of Britain. And during the entire 200-year history of British rule, income in India collapsed and millions died needlessly of policy-induced famine. India’s share of world’s GDP went from over 20 percent to less than 2 percent when India won her independence in 1947.

But the plundering of India wasn’t alone; after the British had conquered India, they then went to war with China (the First and Second Opium Wars: 1839–42; 1856–60), “trading opiums” for tea, porcelain and silk, promoting opium smoking as fashionable and resulting a quarter of China’s population hooked on opium. Not satisfied, they, together with the French, went to war again, burnt down Beijing’s Summer Palace after looting its arts and treasures. These plundered treasure are still hidden today by the rich and famous in their lofty homes, a few in their national museums.

Following Christopher Columbus’ voyage in 1492, the Spanish conquistadors arrived in the 15th and 16th century with steel weapons and armor, they plundered the Aztecs and Incas of their gold and silver, as native weapons could not pierce Spanish armor nor could native armor defend against steel swords.

Later they came with rifles, firearms and cannons. In Mexico, conquistadors found great golden treasures, including great discs of gold, masks, jewelry, and even gold dust and bars. In Peru, Spanish conquistador Francisco Pizarro demanded that the Incan Emperor Atahualpa fill up a large room once with gold and twice with silver in exchange for his freedom. The emperor complied, but the Spanish killed him anyway. All in all, Atahualpa’s ransom came to 13,000 pounds of gold and twice that much silver. This did not even count the vast treasures taken later when the Inca capital city of Cuzco was looted.

And following the Mexican-American War that ended in 1848, the United States plundered more than 500,000 square miles (1,300,000 square km) of land from Mexico, expanding US territory by about one-third. Mexico ceded nearly all the territory now included in the US states of New Mexico, Utah, Nevada, Arizona, California, Texas, and western Colorado for $15 million and US assumption of its citizens’ claims against Mexico.

More recently, the Americans “assisted” American museums in acquiring vast quantities of Persian antiquities and archaeological finds; this was the looting of Persia’s mosques and shrines, the transfer of these religious artifacts first, to London, and the subsequent acquisition of some of the objects by such museums as the Metropolitan of New York.

God says He saw all these; and how these Godly Judgements will play out, we’ll have to wait and see; but there is a parallel from the Prophet Ezekiel; and this mystery is an “enemy” coming from the SOUTH:

Ezekiel 20:45 Moreover the word of the Lord came unto me, saying,
⁴⁶ “Son of man, set thy face toward the South, and drop thy word toward the South, and prophesy against the forest of the Southland.
⁴⁷ And say to the forest of the South: ‘Hear the word of the Lord. Thus saith the Lord God: Behold, I will kindle a fire in thee, and it shall devour every green tree in thee and every dry tree. The flaming flame shall not be quenched, and all faces from the South to the North shall be burned therein.
⁴⁸And all flesh shall see that I, the Lord, have kindled it; it shall not be quenched.’”
⁴⁹ Then said I, “Ah, Lord God! They say of me, ‘Doth he not speak parables?’”
Ezekiel 21: And the word of the Lord came unto me, saying,
² “Son of man, set thy face toward Jerusalem, and drop thy word toward the holy places, and prophesy against the land of Israel;
³and say to the land of Israel, ‘Thus saith the Lord: Behold, I am against thee, and will draw forth My Sword out of his sheath and will cut off from thee the righteous and the wicked.
⁴Seeing then that I will cut off from thee the righteous and the wicked, therefore shall My Sword go forth out of his sheath against all flesh from the South to the North,
⁵that all flesh may know that I, the Lord, have drawn forth My Sword out of his sheath. It shall not return any more.’

Q: Who is this enemy from the SOUTH, and how would such scenarios be played out? But God says He will kindle a fire and “all the remnant of the people shall despoil thee.”

⁹“Woe to him that coveteth an evil covetousness for his house, that he may set his nest on high, that he may be delivered from the power of evil! — “Woe to him who gets evil gain for his house, to set his nest on high, to be delivered from the power of calamity!”

¹⁰Thou hast devised shame to thy house by cutting off many people, and hast sinned against thy soul. — You have given shameful counsel to your house by cutting off many peoples and forfeiting your life.

¹¹For the stone shall cry out of the wall, and the beam out of the timber shall answer it. — for the stone will cry out from the wall, and the beam of the woodwork will answer it.

— from the Message Bible: Habakkuk 2:9-11

“Who do you think you are—
    recklessly grabbing and looting,
Living it up, acting like king of the mountain,
    acting above it all, above trials and troubles?
You’ve engineered the ruin of your own house.
    In ruining others you’ve ruined yourself.
You’ve undermined your foundations,
    rotted out your own soul.
The bricks of your house will speak up and accuse you.
    The woodwork will step forward with evidence.

¹²“Woe to him that buildeth a town with blood, and establisheth a city by iniquity! — “Woe to him who builds a town with bloodshed and establishes a city on iniquity!”

¹³Behold, is it not of the Lord of hosts that the people shall labor in the very fire, and the people shall weary themselves for very vanity? — is it not from the Lord of Hosts that the people labor to feed fire, and the nations weary themselves for nothing?

¹⁴For the earth shall be filled with the knowledge of the glory of the Lord, as the waters cover the sea. — for the earth will be filled with the knowledge of the glory of the Lord, as the waters cover the seas.

¹⁵“Woe unto him that giveth his neighbor drink, that puttest thy bottle to him, and makest him drunken also, that thou mayest look on his nakedness! — “Woe to him who makes his neighbor drink, pouring out your poison until they are drunk, that you may look on their nakedness!”

¹⁶Thou art filled with the shame for glory; drink thou also, and let thy foreskin be uncovered. The cup of the Lord’S right hand shall be turned unto thee, and shameful spewing shall be on thy glory. — you will be filled with shame instead of glory. You yourself—drink and show your own uncircumcision!

— the cup of the Lord’s right hand will be turned against you; the drunk and those who promote drunkenness loved their own cup full of drink; now God promises a cup for them, a cup of judgement and just recompense for their wickedness.

¹⁷For the violence of Lebanon shall cover thee, and the spoil of beasts which made them afraid, because of men’s blood and for the violence of the land, of the city, and of all that dwell therein. — the violence done to Lebanon will cover you, as will the plunder of beasts that terrified them, because of the bloodshed of men and violence of the land, of the cities and all who live in them.

— from the Message Bible: Habakkuk 2:15-17

“Who do you think you are—
    inviting your neighbors to your drunken parties,
Giving them too much to drink,
    roping them into your sexual orgies?
You thought you were having the time of your life.
    Wrong! It’s a time of disgrace.
All the time you were drinking,
    you were drinking from the cup of God’s wrath.
You’ll wake up holding your throbbing head, hung over—
    hung over from Lebanon violence,
Hung over from animal massacres,
    hung over from murder and mayhem,
From multiple violations
    of place and people.

¹⁸“What profiteth the graven image that the maker thereof hath graven it, the molten image and a teacher of lies, that the maker of his work trusteth therein to make dumb idols? — what profit is a carved image when its maker has carved it, a cast image, and a teacher of lies, that its maker trusts in what he has shaped when he makes mute idols?

¹⁹Woe unto him that saith to the wood, ‘Awake!’ To the dumb stone, ‘Arise, it shall teach!’ Behold, it is laid over with gold and silver, and there is no breath at all in the midst of it. — woe to him who says to the wood, “Awake!” To the silent stone, “Arise!” Can it teach? It is overlaid with gold and silver, but there is no breath at all in it;

— from the Message Bible: Habakkuk 2:18-19

“What’s the use of a carved god
    so skillfully carved by its sculptor?
What good is a fancy cast god
    when all it tells is lies?
What sense does it make to be a pious god-maker
    who makes gods that can’t even talk?
Who do you think you are—
    saying to a stick of wood, ‘Wake up,’
Or to a dumb stone, ‘Get up’?
    Can they teach you anything about anything?

²⁰“But the Lord is in His holy temple; let all the earth keep silence before Him.” — but the Lord is in His holy Temple; He is on His Throne. Let all the earth keep silence before Him; the point of this verse is that even though terrible times lie around, God is always in full control; the ultimate outcome will be exactly what God predicted; that, for the time being, the just shall live by faith; that all question has a full and adequate answer before a God of Omniscience and Omnipotence.

Habakkuk 3

A prayer of Habakkuk the prophet: The first two chapters of Habakkuk presented the prophet’s question and answer time with God. Now that the Lord had answered Habakkuk, the prophet offered a prayer to God “in wrath remember mercy” before keeping silence before Him and close the book.

¹ A prayer of Habakkuk the prophet upon “Shigionoth.” — a prayer of Habakkuk because of his ignorance. Rashi: concerning the errors: This may be interpreted (by Ezra) according to the Targum. However, according to the apparent meaning, Habakkuk is begging for mercy for himself because he spoke rebelliously: (1: 4) “Therefore Torah is slackened,” and (verse 14) “You have made man like the fish of the sea.” He criticized the Divine standard of justice.

— Job, too, repented of his sin of questioning God; earlier, he had stated that he had lived righteously before God and was undeserving of God’s punishment, as if God was unjust in His treatment of him:

“Who is he that hideth counsel without knowledge? therefore have I uttered that I understood not; things too wonderful for me, which I knew not.

Hear, I beseech thee, and I will speak: I will demand of thee, and declare thou unto me. I have heard of thee by the hearing of the ear: but now mine eye seeth thee.

Wherefore I abhor myself, and repent in dust and ashes.” Job 42:3-6.

²O Lord, I have heard Thy speech and was afraid; O Lord, revive Thy work in the midst of the years. In the midst of the years make it known; in wrath remember mercy. — O Lord, revive Your work in the midst of the years: Habakkuk simply prayed for revival. He knew how God once worked and how His people once responded, and Habakkuk wanted to see that again;

— this prayer of Habakkuk shows us that revival is a work of God, not the achievement of man; there is something man can and must do for revival – simply cry out to God and plead for His reviving work;

— notice the prayer: “revive THY work” – often, our prayers are really “revive my or our work,” but we must have a heart and mind for God’s work, far bigger than our portion of it;

— in wrath remember mercy: Habakkuk prayed, knowing well that they didn’t deserve revival, so he prayed for mercy. The idea is, “Lord, I know that we deserve your wrath, but in the midst of your wrath remember mercy and send revival among us.”

³God came from Teman, and the Holy One from Mount Paran [with everlasting might, Chabad Bible]. Selah. His glory covered the heavens, and the earth was full of His praise. — Teman: Esau; Paran: Ishmael, as Scripture states (Genesis 21:21): “And he (Ishmael) dwelt in the desert of Paran.”

— having rejected Ismael and Esau, He came to the house of Jacob; or God’s might and wrath could possibly come from Teman (Esau) and Mount Paran (Ismael)?

— Selah; “stop and think.” Oh ye house of Jacob; stop and ponder: His glory covered the heavens, and the earth was full of His praise: All creatures bow down to Him!

⁴And His brightness was as the light; He had horns coming out of His hand, and there was the hiding of His power. — Oh house of Jacob; stop and ponder:

⁵ Before Him went the pestilence, and burning coals went forth at His feet. — Covid-19 has been spreading around the globe; first the Delta variant, then the Omicron; and who knows what’s next? Could Covid-19 destroys a third of mankind eventually?

— and sparks went out at His feet: fiery angels came with Him to witness the affairs of the heavens and earth. Could “burning coals” went forth at His feet be civil wars within nations? Witness the numerous civil strives within many western nations because of the various issues of how to manage Covid.

⁶He stood and measured the earth; He beheld and drove asunder the nations; and the everlasting mountains were scattered, the perpetual hills did bow. His ways are everlasting. — He stood and judged the earth; he looked and shook the nations; as He did at Mount Sinai, now the whole world is experiencing it;

— the everlasting mountains: Ephraim and the other twelve, the heavenly princes of the nations; all are either scattered or bow low.

⁷I saw the tents of Cushan in affliction; and the curtains of the land of Midian did tremble.

⁸Was the Lord displeased against the rivers? Was Thine anger against the rivers? Was Thy wrath against the sea, that Thou didst ride upon Thine horses and Thy chariots of salvation? — Habakkuk was asking another series of Questions:

~ a Parallel in Ezekiel 6:3 on mountains, hills and rivers ~

— this message to the “mountains of Israel;” these mountains refer to the United States, UK and France. . . . “and to the hills, to the rivers and to the valleys;” the hills: Ireland, Switzerland and the Scandinavian countries: Denmark, Norway, and Sweden, Finland, and Iceland; and the valleys, the low countries: Belgium, the Netherlands, and Luxembourg;

— and to the rivers; where during the nineteenth century, the British Royal Navy were known to “Rule the Waves;” and the United States having been plowing up and down the five oceans with her Seven Fleets since the British left the scene.

⁹Thy bow was made quite naked according to the oaths of the tribes, even Thy word. Selah. Thou didst cleave the earth with rivers. — Rashi: You split the earth into rivers: according to the Targum.

¹⁰The mountains saw Thee and they trembled; the overflowing of the water passed by; the deep uttered his voice and lifted up his hands on high.

¹¹The sun and moon stood still in their habitation; at the light of thine arrows they went, and at the shining of Thy glittering spear.

¹²Thou didst march through the land in indignation; Thou didst thresh the heathen in anger.

¹³Thou wentest forth for the salvation of Thy people, even for salvation with Thine anointed. Thou wounded the head out of the house of the wicked, by uncovering the foundation unto the neck. Selah. — You went forth for the salvation of Your people, for salvation with Your Anointed:

— Selah; “stop and think.” Oh house of Judah; stop and ponder; don’t be stiff-necked:

— as Habakkuk remembered how God had saved in the past; this made him full of faith for what God could do in the present and in the future. He also declared that salvation is brought with Your Anointed – and the Lord’s Anointed is none other than the Messiah, Jesus Christ; others call him Yeshua (for Christmas is rightly called “the Mother of all paganism”).

¹⁴Thou didst strike through with his staves the head of his villages; they came out as a whirlwind to scatter me; their rejoicing was as to devour the poor secretly.

¹⁵Thou didst walk through the sea with Thine horses, through the heap of great waters.

¹⁶When I heard, my belly trembled; my lips quivered at the voice. Rottenness entered into my bones, and I trembled in myself, that I might rest in the day of trouble. When he cometh up unto the people, he will invade them with his troops. — when I heard, my body trembled: Habakkuk showed the righteous response of man under the sovereign power of God, recognizing his own weakness and low standing before this God of all majesty and power;

— He will invade him with his troops: the prophet remembered that the Babylonians were coming, and that this God of sovereign power and majesty would direct their work against Judah.

¹⁷Although the fig tree shall not blossom, neither shall fruit be in the vines, the labor of the olive shall fail, and the fields shall yield no meat, the flock shall be cut off from the fold, and there shall be no herd in the stalls— — though the fig tree may not blossom, not fruit be on the vines; nor fruit be on the vines; though the labor of the olive may fail, and the fields yield no food; though the flock may be cut off from the fold, and there be no herd in the stalls … yet Habakkuk will still rejoice in the Lord, whom he knows, has full control from His throne;

¹⁸yet I will rejoice in the Lord, I will be joyful in the God of my salvation. — Habakkuk will rejoice in the God of his salvation: In almost a vision, Habakkuk saw the Judean countryside desolate, perhaps from the invading Babylonian army or perhaps from natural calamity;

— sometimes we think, “If God is so great and powerful, how come I am going through a hard time?” Habakkuk knew this was the wrong question and the wrong attitude; instead, he said: “I know you are strong and mighty, and if we are in desolate circumstances it is because we deserve it. I will praise You still, and even rejoice in You.”

— but in the midst of this almost complete loss, the cities and countryside desolate, Habakkuk could still rejoice in the Lord.

¹⁹The Lord God is my strength; and He will make my feet like hinds’ feet, and He will make me to walk upon mine high places. To the chief singer on my stringed instruments. — the Lord God is my strength: Habakkuk could only properly declare this after he prayed the prayer of faith in the previous verses. He rightly declared that his strength was not in fig trees or vines or fields or flocks, but only in the Lord God;

— Habakkuk’s prayer could also be adapted as a song of prayer and/or a prayer of reflection. Selah!

Posted in Minor Prophets

A Study Index of Daniel

•December 28, 2021 • Leave a Comment

A Study Index of Daniel

Although Jewish authorities acknowledge this book of Daniel is a Sacred Text, they regarded it only among the Writings but not among the Prophets. They just dislike what Daniel had written, throwing out their contempt by kicking his writing and its prophecy downstair.

The greatest of the Prophets, Daniel’s writing is a prophecy of the coming Messiah, yet Jews pray everyday at the Wailing Wall for the coming of the Messiah. “Oh blind Guides!” Would God have any obligation to hear such prayers? Or, would he prefer to kindle a fire in the midst of them?

Chapter 1

— Daniel among children of Israel in captives
— the king’s seed and of the princes
— youths: no blemish, favored, skillful in wisdom
— cunning in knowledge, understanding science
— Daniel, Hananiah, Mishael and Azariah
— Belteshazzar; Shadrach, Meshach, Abednego

~ Chapter 2

— Nebuchadnezzar dreamed; his spirit troubled
— magicians, astrologers, sorcerers summoned
— a great image, a statute in human form
— this image’s head was of fine gold
— his breast and his arms of silver
— his belly and his thighs of brass
— his legs of iron, feet part iron and part clay
— image broken, became a great mountain

A Study of Chapters 1 and 2 HERE ~ —— ~

Chapter 3

— Nebuchadnezzar made an huge golden image
— upon the sound of music
— ye fall down and worship the golden image
— but there are certain Jews who bow not
— Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego
— bound into the midst of a burning fiery furnace
— in their midst, a fourth, like the Son of God

~ Chapter 4

— Nebuchadnezzar giving his testimonies
— a dream which made him afraid and troubled
— a tree in the midst of the earth
— and the height thereof was great
— “Hew down the tree and cut off its branches
— Let his heart be changed from man’s to beast’s
— and let seven times pass over him”

A Study of Chapters 3 and 4 HERE ~ —— ~

Chapter 5

— Belshazzar made a great feast before thousands
— gold and silver vessels that were from the temple
— the same hour came forth fingers of a man’s hand
— and wrote on the wall of the king’s palace
— that was written: Mene, Mene, Tekel, Upharsin
— Mene: God hath numbered thy kingdom and finished it
— Tekel: thou art weighed in and art found wanting
— Peres: thy kingdom is given to the Medes and Persians

~ Chapter 6

— Daniel was preferred above the other princes
— then governors, princes and counselors
— conspired against Daniel
— and they brought and cast him into the den of lions
— “my God sent His angel and shut the lions’ mouths”
— so Daniel prospered in the reign of Darius

A Study of Chapters 5 and 6 HERE ~ —— ~

Chapter 7

— Daniel had dream and visions in his head
— four great beasts came up from the sea
— the first like a lion and had eagle’s wings
— a second beast, like unto a bear
— a third, a leopard, four wings and heads
— a fourth beast, dreadful and terrible
— up came among them a little horn
— out of the fourth beast, ten horns

~ Chapter 8

— vision of a ram with two horns
— but one was higher than the other
— behold, a hegoat came from the west
— the ram was the Medo-Persian Empire
— horn on goat’s head – Alexander the Great
— “little horn” will persecute the holy people
— daily sacrifice transgressed and cast down
— for two thousand and three hundred days

A Study of Chapters 7 and 8 HERE ~ —— ~

Chapter 9

— seventy years destined for desolations of Judah
— “we have sinned and have committed iniquity
— Yea, all Israel have transgressed Thy law”
— Gabriel “O Daniel, for thou art greatly loved”
— “seventy weeks concerning thy people
— after sixty-two weeks shall Messiah be cut off”

~ Chapter 10

— Daniel mourning for three full weeks
— was left alone and remained no strength
— “O Daniel, a man greatly loved
— I have come to make thee understand
— what shall befall thy people in the latter days
— for yet the vision is for many days”

A Study of Chapters 9 and 10 HERE ~ —— ~

Chapter 11

— Gabriel stood to strengthen Daniel
— wars Syria and Egypt: Seleucids vs Ptolemies
— the era of Antiochus (III) the Great
— of Antiochus Epiphanes: a type of anti-Christ
— king of the North vs king of the South
— prophecy of Rome and the Papacy
— of Islam — the Turks, Arabs and Muslims

~ Chapter 12

— at that time shall Michael stand up
— there shall be a time of trouble
— “a time of Jacob’s trouble” Jeremiah 30:7
— “O Lord, what shall be the end of these things?”
— these words are sealed till the time of the end
— from the time the daily sacrifice taken away
— there shall be a prophecy of 1290/1335 days

A Study of Chapters 11 and 12 HERE ~ —— ~

Posted in Daniel

Daniel (Ch 11-12)

•December 24, 2021 • Leave a Comment

Although Jewish authorities acknowledge that this book of Daniel is a Sacred Text, they regarded it only as Writings but not among the Prophets. Some went even further by claiming that Daniel is a historical fiction. They just have a distaste for what Daniel had written, one who have fasted for them and whom Gabriel regarded as “greatly loved.”

Yet the Jewish authorities just throw out their contempt by kicking Daniel’s prophecy downstair. The greatest of the Prophets, Daniel’s writing is a prophecy of the coming Messiah, yet the Jews pray everyday at the Wailing Wall around the Temple Mount for the coming of the Messiah. “Oh blind Guides!” Would God have any obligation to hear such prayers? Or, would he prefer to kindle a fire in the midst of them?

Daniel 11

Chapter 11 is one of the most amazing prophecies in the Bible. It is most specific, with great details describing historical events up to the present in more features than any other prophecy; in fact, it is the longest prophecy in the Bible. It describes numerous wars in the past and an impending one in the future!

The chapter opens with an angelic being speaking to Daniel, foretelling what is to come in the days ahead. This angel could be Gabriel or one other than him, but without further evidence to the contrary, this work will dubbed him Gabriel, especially in Daniel 9:21-22 where he identified himself and said: “O Daniel, I have now come forth to give thee wisdom and understanding,” that is, to understand what shall befall God’s people in the “latter days” (Daniel 10:14).

Much of the historical details used below for the fulfilment of this Chapter have been drawn from “A Manual of Ancient History” (1871) by George Rawlinson.

And lastly, Chapters 11 could be broken into six sections as follows:

(1) verses 1-5: events in Ancient Persia and Greece;
(2) verses 6-9: wars between Syria and Egypt (Seleucids vs Ptolemies);
(3) verses 10-20: the era of emperor Antiochus (III) the Great;
(4) verses 21-29: of Antiochus Epiphanes (a type of anti-Christ);
(5) verses 30-39: prophecy of Rome and the Papacy;
(6) verses 40-45: of Islam — the Turks, Arabs and Muslims.

¹ “Also I, in the first year of Darius the Mede, even I, stood to confirm and to strengthen him. — also I, in the first year of Darius the Mede; these words are more properly belong to the preceding chapter; and the “eleventh” chapter should have begun in the next verse; and this verse are not the words of Daniel, but Gabriel’s;

— thus: in the first year of Darius, Gabriel stood to confirm and to strengthen Daniel, the inference being that the various angelic spirits come to the support of one another when special efforts in behalf of the people or nations in their care are required.

² “And now will I show thee the truth: Behold, there shall stand up yet three kings in Persia, and the fourth shall be far richer than them all; and by his strength through his riches he shall stir up all against the realm of Greece. — and now Gabriel will show Daniel the truth. Behold, there shall stand up yet, namely, after Cyrus, who was then king, three kings in Persia, whose names are commonly given as Cambyses, Pseudo-Smerdis and Darius Hystaspes;

— and the fourth king was Xerxes, who exceeded his predecessors in wealth and riches; literally, “shall acquire far greater riches than they all” and by his strength through his riches as he applied his immense wealth in order to fit out a mighty army, he shall stir up all against the realm of Greece, Xerxes staking his all on the invasion of the rival kingdom beyond the Dardanelies;

— but in the west, the King Philip of Macedonia planned a great war to conquer the Persian Empire, with an army made up mostly of Grecians. He died before the plans were completed; but his son, Alexander the Great, took over his plans and invaded Persia. He met the Persian army at the Battle of Issus, 333 BC (Daniel 8:2, 5-6). Then he swept down into Egypt, and then to a final crushing defeat of the Persian Empire at the Battle of Arbella, 331 BC, after which Alexander marched on a conquest clear to India, sweeping all before him.

³And a mighty king shall stand up, who shall rule with great dominion and do according to his will. — and a mighty king shall stand up, a heroic warlike king, namely, Alexander the Great of Macedonia and Greece, who rose up a hundred years after the expedition of Xerxes, shall rule with great dominion and do according to his will, not only in Greece but in the whole known world with tyrannical authority.

⁴ And when he shall stand up, his kingdom shall be broken and shall be divided toward the four winds of heaven, and not to his posterity nor according to his dominion which he ruled; for his kingdom shall be plucked up, even for others besides those. — and when Alexander was risen up to his highest pitch of grandeur, was sole monarch of the world, in the prime of his days, he was cut off by death; he left no inheritor, either of his power or of his projects; his kingdom was broken, no more united but seized by different generals, just as soon as his power is fairly established, the brief duration of Alexander’s rule shall be divided toward the four winds of heaven, in a fourfold division of his kingdom after the battle of Ipsus, 301 BC;

— and not to his posterity, nor according to his dominion which he ruled; for his kingdom shall be plucked up; both of Alexander’s sons were put to death, so that the natural heirs and rightful successors of Alexander were eliminated; and after Alexander’s generals had broken up his empire into small divisions, out of this emerged four monarchs, but still Greek in character:

They were:

(1) Cassander, ruling Greece and Macedonia
(2) Lysimachus, ruling Asia Minor
(3) Seleucus (Nicator); Syria, Babylonia and east to India —”king of the North”
(4) Ptolemy (Soter); Egypt, part of Syria and Judea — “king of the South”

⁵“And the king of the South shall be strong, and one of his princes; and he shall be strong above him and have dominion. His dominion shall be a great dominion. — and the king of the South, Egypt (Ptolemy I, called Soter), shall be strong, and one of his princes, Seleucus Nicator; and he shall be strong above him; in 312 BC, taking advantage of Ptolemy’s being tied up in a war, Nicator established himself in Syria, and assumed the diadem as king. and have a great dominion, which, as a matter of fact extended from Phrygia on the west to the Indus on the east.

⁶And in the end of years they shall join themselves together, for the king’s daughter of the South shall come to the king of the North to make an agreement. But she shall not retain the power of the arm; neither shall he stand, nor his arm; but she shall be given up with they that brought her, and him that begot her, and him that strengthened her in these times. — and after several years have elapsed, they shall join themselves together, or “marriage union” the king of the South and the king of the North forming a confederacy, when Antiochus II Theos, the second successor of Seleucus Nicator, married Berenice, the daughter of Ptolemeus Philadelphus;

At the end of 50 years, the Syria’s ruler, the king of the North, at this time was Antiochus II, called Theos. His wife was named Laodice. And, says Rawlinson’s Ancient History, page 251, “Her influence … engaged him in a war with Ptolemy Philadelphus [king of the South], BC 260, which is terminated, BC 252, by a marriage between Antiochus and Bernice, Ptolemy’s daughter.”

— for the king’s daughter of the South shall come to the king of the North to make an agreement, to establish just and peaceful relations by virtue of this marriage; but she will not retain the power of her position, nor will he retain his power; that is, neither of them retaining the power acquired through their marriage and the joining of their forces;

— but she shall be given up, and they that brought her, and he that begat her, and he that strengthened her in these times, when the critical position in which he found himself suggested the marriage to him. As soon as Ptolemy Philadelphus died in BC 247, Antiochus Theos expelled Berenice and recalled the formerly rejected Laodice. The latter, however, aimed for revenge and to achieve it, poisoned the king, and had her son by him, Seleucus II Callinicus, declared as his successor and sent assassins against Berenice who fled to the sanctuary of Daphne. The latter queen was slain, together with her little son, and the hope of the Ptolemies to behold one of their lineage on the throne of the Seleucidae was thus destroyed.

⁷“But out of a branch of her roots shall one stand up in his place, who shall come with an army and shall enter into the fortress of the king of the north, and shall deal against them and shall prevail. — her root would be her parent and so out of her roots would be someone from her parents; that is, a sibling; and history showed that her place in this controversy was her own brother, Ptolemy III Euergetes;

— who shall come with an army and shall enter into the fortress of the king of the North, against all the strongholds of the Northern power, and shall deal against them and shall prevail, this being done to the extent that the entire Syrian country from Cilicia to beyond the Tigris was conquered, numerous fortresses taken; then Ptolemy III carried back to Egypt immense booty and 2,500 molten images and idolatrous vessels which in 526 BC Cambyses had carried away from Egypt; and Laodice, the rival and murderess of Berenice, slain; he continued to rule until 222 BC while the king of the North, Seleucus II died in 226 BC.

⁸And he shall also carry captive into Egypt their gods, with their princes and with their precious vessels of silver and of gold; and he shall continue more years than the king of the North. — and Ptolemy III shall also carry captives into Egypt their gods with their princes, their molten or cast images and with their precious vessels of silver and of gold, all this being welcome booty;

— and he shall continue more years than the king of the North, holding out against him with his superior strength.

⁹So the king of the South shall come into his kingdom, and shall return into his own land. — so Ptolemy III, the king of the South, shall come into his kingdom, rather, “and he” the last-named king of the North, “shall come into the kingdom of the king of the South,” and shall return into his own land to Syria. This was fulfilled in the expedition of Seleucus Callinicus in which he sent a fleet against Egypt which, however, was destroyed in a storm while his army was defeated and overthrown.

¹⁰“But his sons shall be stirred up, and shall assemble a multitude of great forces; and one shall certainly come, and overflow, and pass through. Then shall he return and be stirred up, even to his fortress. — but when Seleucus II died, his two sons took over the kingdom of the North; first Seleucus III, 226-223 BC, who ruled only three years, and then his brother Antiochus III, who became “the Great,” 223-187 BC. Both of these two sons of Seleucus II assembled immense forces to war against Egypt, avenge their father, and recover their port and fortress, Seleucia;

— and one shall certainly come and overflow and pass through; the activities of Antiochus the Great in his victorious advance upon Egypt; then shall he return and be stirred up, renewing his campaign against the Egyptians in the following spring, even to his fortress, very likely the fortified city of Gaza.

¹¹And the king of the South shall be moved with anger, and shall come forth and fight with him, even with the king of the North; and he shall set forth a great multitude, but the multitude shall be given into his hand. — and the king of the South, Ptolemy Philopator, shall be moved with a fierce and sudden anger, and shall come forth and fight with the king of the North, Antiochus the Great, and he shall set forth a great multitude; but the multitude shall be given into the hand of Ptolemy by which he broke the power of Antiochus.

¹²And when he hath taken away the multitude, his heart shall be lifted up; and he shall cast down many ten thousands, but he shall not be strengthened by it. — the young Egyptian king, now Ptolemy IV (Philopater), was roused, and with an army of 20,000 inflicted severe defeat on Antiochus the Great, the king of the North; and Ptolemy IV shall cast down many ten thousands, killing myriads in the battle of Raphia, near Gaza;

— but he shall not be strengthened by it; he killed tens of thousands and again annexed Judea to Egypt; but he was not strengthened, for he made a rash and speedy peace with Antiochus, and returned to dissipation, throwing away the fruits of victory because he did not follow up his victory with any degree of urgency.

¹³For the king of the North shall return, and shall set forth a multitude greater than the former, and shall certainly come after certain years with a great army and with much riches. — for the king of the North shall return and set forth a greater multitude with a great army; thus 12 years later, in 205 BC, Ptolemy IV Philopator, king of the South, died, leaving his throne to an infant son, Ptolemy Epiphanes (or Ptolemy V). Then the king of the North, Antiochus III the Great, assembled a greater army, and won great victories,

— this was approximately thirteen years later when Antiochus III had strengthened himself by (1) successful campaigns against the kingdoms toward the east so that his army was composed of veterans and his equipment were of the very best; and he had (2) made a treaty allying Philip of Macedonia with him, and others, against Egypt, and they wrested Phoenicia and southern Syria from the king of the South; and also (3) they were assisted by some of the Jews. Josephus’ Jewish history says many Jews entered into a league with Antiochus the Great against Egypt.

¹⁴“And in those times shall many stand up against the king of the South; also the robbers of thy people shall exalt themselves to establish the vision, but they shall fall. — and in those times many shall stand up against Egypt, particularly in insurrections and rebellions;

— also the robbers of thy people shall exalt themselves to establish the vision, literally, “violent persons of thy [Daniel’s] people will revolt against him,” namely, when a number of Jews entered into a alliance with Antiochus against Egypt; but they shall fall, the Lord sending tribulations and afflictions upon them for their rebellion against the government, the reference probably being to the oppression of Antiochus the Great.

¹⁵So the king of the North shall come and cast up a mound, and take the most fortified cities; and the armies of the South shall not withstand, neither his chosen people, neither shall there be any strength to withstand. — so Antiochus the Great shall come, advancing to the attack once more, and cast a mount and take the most fenced cities, literally, “city of fortifications,” a term used of the fortresses of the South in general; Antiochus also besieged and took Sidon from Egypt;

¹⁶But he that cometh against him shall do according to his own will, and none shall stand before him; and he shall stand in the glorious land, which by his hand shall be consumed. — but Antiochus the Great, the victor of Paneas, he shall do according to his own will, and none shall stand before him; and he shall stand in the glorious land, that is, the Holy Land, and then Antiochus ruined the interests of Egypt in Judea at the Battle of Mount Panium, 198 BC, took possession of Judea and his chosen people; which by his hand shall be consumed, literally “and annihilation is in his hand.”

¹⁷He shall also set his face to enter with the strength of his whole kingdom, and upright ones with him; thus shall he do. And he shall give him the daughter of women, corrupting her; but she shall not stand on his side, neither be for him. — “upright ones” in Hebrew means “equal conditions, or marriage,” but the one he marries will not stand on his side. In 198 BC, Antiochus the Great arranged a marriage between his daughter, Cleopatra (not the Cleopatra of 31 BC in Egypt) and young Ptolemy Epiphanes, king of the South, by which he hoped subtly to gain complete possession of Egypt;

— thus shall he do, and he shall give him the daughter of women, namely, Cleopatra, who was then but a girl and in the care of her mother and others, who educated her, corrupting her, rather, “bringing destruction upon her” for the marriage, which took place five years later, resulted in the ruin of the land which she represented; but she shall not stand on his side, neither be for him, that is, she was unable to carry out the plans of her father.

¹⁸After this shall he turn his face unto the isles, and shall take many. But a prince for his own behalf shall cause the reproach offered by him to cease; without his own reproach, he shall cause it to turn upon him. — after this shall Antiochus the Great, the king of the North, turn his face unto the isles to conquer, 197 to 196 BC, the islands and coasts of Asia Minor; but the Roman general, Lucius Cornelius Scipio Asiaticus, utterly defeated him at the Battle of Magnesia, 190 BC; that is, the men in command of the islands and coastlands promptly repulsed his attacks.

¹⁹Then he shall turn his face toward the fortress of his own land; but he shall stumble and fall, and not be found. — as Antiochus the Great turned toward his own land, he was obliged to retire in peace to a fortress of his own land but he stumbled, for history records that he was slain in 187 BC in an insurrection of the inhabitants of Elymais.

²⁰“Then shall stand up in his place a raiser of taxes in the glory of the kingdom; but within few days he shall be destroyed, neither in anger nor in battle. — but his heir, Philopator (187-176), second son of Antiochus the Great, in an effort to raise money, sent a tax collector, Heliodorus, through Judea. But Philopator reigned only 11 years, when Heliodorus, his former favorite, who sought the crown for himself, poisoned him: “destroyed neither in anger nor in battle.”

²¹And in his place shall stand up a vile person to whom they shall not give the honor of the kingdom; but he shall come in peaceably, and obtain the kingdom by flatteries. — Philopator left no heir, and Seleucus IV his brother-in-law, who succeeded him, also left no heir. Then Philopator’s brother, a younger son of Antiochus the Great, named Epiphanes (Antiochus IV), a vile, despicable and contemptible reprobate, came by surprise and through flattery (or through trickery as some versions say) seized the royal power and authority against the will of the nation and before the people really realized it. To his aid came his assistant, Eumenes;

— Antiochus IV borrowed the surname Epiphanes from Ptolemy V of Egypt, king of the South; the surname Epiphanes means “manifest” to indicate that he was a manifestation of a deity. Reinforcing a strong tradition of the Seleucids, Antiochus required his subjects to worship him as the Olympian god, Zeus (II Macc 6:2, also the temple on Mount Gerizim was to be officially named Temple of Zeus).

²² And with the arms of a flood shall they be overflown from before him and shall be broken, yea, also the prince of the covenant. — here “the prince of the covenant” does not refer to Christ, but was an attempt of Antiochus Epiphanes to replace Onias from the high-priesthood, and preferred an usurper, Jason, Onias’s brother, to that dignity, not for any crime committed against him by the former, but for great sums of money which were offered to him by the latter and that the Jewish high priest would be subservient to him; as a matter of fact he began a process where the king (years later, Herod the Great appointed Simon Boethus from Alexandria as high priest, hence starting the Boethusians sect in the Sanctuary in Jerusalem) could made one high priest after another according to his whim;

— further, in his enthusiasm for Hellenism and in his efforts to unify his empire, Antiochus made use of cultural and religious coercion such as had long ago been employed by the Babylonians and Assyrians (I Macc 1:41).

²³And after the league is made with him he shall work deceitfully, for he shall come up and shall become strong with a small people. — and from the time that an alliance is made with him, Antiochus IV or Epiphanes, in this expedition down against the South, he shall work deceitfully, and he shall turned up unexpectedly; for Antiochus shall come up and shall become strong, this smaller force being sufficient for his purposes, because he used it so cleverly.

²⁴He shall enter peaceably even upon the fattest places of the province; and he shall do that which his fathers have not done, nor his fathers’ fathers: he shall scatter among them the plunder and spoil and riches; yea, and he shall plot his devices against the strongholds, even for a time. — without warning and stealthily Antiochus Epiphanes shall come into the most productive places of a province or among the richest men of a province [of Egypt], and he shall do that which his fathers have not done nor his fathers’ fathers; he shall squander and distribute the plunder and spoil among themselves; causing the provinces to become impoverished—but only for a time [the period decreed by God].

²⁵And he shall stir up his power and his courage against the king of the South with a great army; and the king of the South shall be stirred up to battle with a very great and mighty army, but he shall not stand, for they shall plot devices against him. — threatened with war by the ministers of Ptolemy Philometor [now king of the South], who claim Coele-Syria and Palestine as the dowry of Cleopatra, the late queen-mother, Antiochus Epiphanes marches against Egypt in BC 171. But he was met by his nephew, Ptolemy Philometor, king of the South, with another immense army. But the Egyptian king was defeated through the treachery of his own officers and was outwitted by Antiochus.

²⁶Yea, those who feed from the portion of his meat shall destroy him, and his army shall overflow; and many shall fall down slain.

²⁷And both these kings’ hearts shall be to do mischief, and they shall speak lies at one table; but it shall not prosper, for yet the end shall be at the time appointed. — after Antiochus Epiphanes victory at Pelusium, he advanced to Memphis, plundered its wealth, and having obtained possession of the young king, Ptolemy Philometor, king of the South, endeavored to use him as a tool for “effecting the entire reduction of the country.” In 174 BC, the uncle of the king of the South sat at a banquet. Antiochus pretended to ally himself with the young Ptolemy, against his brother, Euergetes II, but each was trying to deceive the other;

— both these kings’ hearts shall be to do mischief, in feigning friendship and thus trying to harm one another, and they shall speak lies at one table, all their protestations of high regard to each other being invented for the sake of playing politics;

— but it shall not prosper, neither one succeeding in carrying out the particular designs which he had in mind at this meeting, of which no accounts are found in secular history; for yet the end shall be at the time appointed.

²⁸Then shall he return into his land with great riches; and his heart shall be against the holy covenant; and he shall do exploits, and return to his own land. — then shall Antiochus Epiphanes return into his land with great riches, in 168 BC, with much booty, firstly, those secured in Egypt;

— also, returning from Egypt with great plunder, Antiochus set himself against the Jews, massacred many, and then returned to Antioch with golden vessels from the Temple at Jerusalem.

²⁹“At the time appointed he shall return and come toward the South, but it shall not be as the former or as the latter; — at the time appointed Antiochus returned and came toward the South, in another campaign against Egypt and the countries tributary to it; but with none of his former success, that is, the triumphs of the other expeditions were not repeated; because Philometor, king of the South, got help from Rome;

³⁰for the ships of Chittim shall come against him. Therefore he shall be grieved and return, and have indignation against the holy covenant. So shall he do; he shall even return, and have accord with those who forsake the holy covenant. — for then the Roman fleet of Chittim had came against Antiochus Epiphanes, a fleet from Cyprus, that is, in this case a Roman embassy with a number of ships, the Roman emissaries landing in Alexandria in order to prevent the Syrian king from conquering Egypt; therefore Antiochus shall grieve and return, retracing his steps in discouragement and anger on account of being foiled in his design;

— and have indignation against the holy covenant. So shall Antiochus do, returning through Judea, smarting under the defeat, he vented his exasperation against the Jews in Jerusalem; he returned after having intelligence of them that they had forsaken the holy covenant, that is, he noted that the Temple was deserted and whole service omitted; the city was largely forsaken by its natives.

³¹And armies shall stand on his part, and they shall pollute the sanctuary of strength, and shall take away the daily sacrifice, and they shall place there the abomination that maketh desolate. — Antiochus sent his “detestable ringleader” Apollonius with 20,000 men to destroy Jerusalem, two years after its capture by himself. Apollonius slew multitudes, dismantled and pillaged the city. The soldiers then, from a fortress which they built commanding the Temple, slayed “all those that were in their best age, and to sell the women and the younger sort;”

— and arms shall stand on his part, armed forces sent by him, and they shall pollute the Sanctuary of strength, the image of Jupiter Olympius, was placed upon the altar in the Temple of God by Antiochus; and the Temple itself was ordered to be called the Temple of Jupiter Olympius;

— and shall take away the daily sacrifice, and they shall place the abomination that maketh desolate; abolished the daily sacrifice (see also Daniel 8:11, 24) and their daily prayers be removed (one account says on the 15th of Kislev, Hebrew calendar); and the “abomination” set up is their idolatrous worship on the altar, for they sacrificed swine upon them;

— also, Antiochus Epiphanes decreed that all persons, upon pain of death, to conform to the religion of the Greeks; and so the Jewish law was abrogated and the Temple was consecrated to Jupiter Olympus.

³²And such as do wickedly against the covenant shall he corrupt by flatteries; but the people who do know their God shall be strong, and do exploits. — Antiochus perverted the Jews by flatteries, those who were willing to forsake their religion and such as do wickedly against the covenant, that is, by allowing themselves to be yielded to the tyrant’s demands, inducing them to return to apostasy by flattering promises of earthly gain, of worldly advantages;

— but the people that do know their God, that is, not surrendering their consciences to Antiochus’ impositions, who would bravely keep their ground at the time of awakening, beginning in 166 BC, when an old scribe Eleazar and the mother and her seven sons, known as the Maccabees brothers became strong and would resist all his blandishments and adhere to the covenant.

³³And those who understand among the people shall instruct many; yet they shall fall by the sword and by flame, by captivity, and by spoil many days. — and they that understand among the people, faithful Jews did understand. But most of the Maccabees brothers were put to death, and later, history indicates that later, Jesus or Yeshua and all the early apostles were martyred, except John; they all know the Lord and walk in His fear, and they dispersed and instruct many, making every effort to keep others in the right path;

— “many days” and martyrdom continued for many days or years; decades, even into the Middle Ages, when millions more were martyred for their faith.

³⁴Now when they shall fall, they shall be helped with a little help; but many shall cleave to them with flatteries. — now, when they shall fall, in sacrificing themselves for the sake of their religious principles, they shall be helped with a little help, for the theocratic kingdom was retained as a result of their efforts;

— but many shall cleave to them with flatteries, hypocritically casting their lot with the victorious party of the Jews in order to save themselves.

³⁵And some of those of understanding shall fall, to try them, and to purge, and to make them white, even to the time of the end, because it is yet for a time appointed. — and some of them of understanding shall fall, to try them, and to purge, and to make them white, EVEN TO THE TIME OF THE END: because it is yet for a time appointed, for all these afflictions would serve as trials in separating the dress or cosmetics from the genuine and pure.

— More about the purification process as we learn from the “wave sheaf” offering —

The “wave sheaf” as firstfruits, must be reaped on the morrow after the Sabbath by three persons, each with his own sickle and basket, until each had his basket full. They then brought them to the courtyard of the Temple to be thrashed and parched and then to go through ALL of the thirteen sieves until it became very clean, and only one tenth the measure of the ‘omer’ were selected.
The resultant flour were then sieved through thirteenth sieves until it was pure and of very fine texture. Only ten percent of an ephah were chosen while the other ninety percent were rejected. From this, now known as the omer, oil and frankincense were added, which is a weight of about 1.6 kg (the same weight the children of Israel were allowed to collect for their morning manna Exodus 16:16), was taken and then offered the next morning at about 9 AM, the time of the morning sacrifice in the Temple as a special annual offering waved before God.
The “wave sheaf” as firstfruits, represent humans having to go through purification through trials and often even martyrdom to be made pure and white to be regarded as Saints, ready and qualified to rule with the Messiah in the Millennium.

³⁶“And the king shall do according to his will; and he shall exalt himself and magnify himself above every god, and shall speak marvelous things against the God of gods, and shall prosper till the indignation be accomplished; for that which is determined shall be done. — in 65 BC, Syria was swallowed up by the Roman Empire, and became a Roman province; now the king of the North; the Roman emperor now controlled Judea, and therefore the king of the North, who will do according to his will, and he did,

— and he shall exalt himself, in the pride of his heart, exalting himself, and magnify himself above every god, and he did; for the Roman emperors required all to worship them and sacrifice to them, as a god. He was as a god. He was to speak arrogantly and blasphemously against the true God, and he did and persecuted true Christians;

— and shall prosper till the indignation be accomplished, until the wrath of God upon His people would be fully carried out, until His punishment would accomplish its purpose; for that which is determined shall be done, it cannot be recalled, it must be executed.

³⁷Neither shall he regard the God of his fathers, nor the desire of women, nor regard any god; for he shall magnify himself above all. — neither shall he regard the God of his fathers, thereby breaking with the true worship of his nation, the proper service of God as it had existed since Abraham and even back to Adam, nor the laws promulgated by Moses and Ezra; nor the desire of women, that is, forbidding their priests, call Fathers, to marry were denying and rejecting the natural inclination of man toward woman, as implanted in the sexes by the Creator,

— nor regard any god, it being characteristic of him that he will set aside all reverence and all natural feeling, including that of the natural knowledge of God; for he shall magnify himself above all, both divine and human, in a challenging supercilious arrogance.

³⁸But in his place shall he honor the god of forces; and a god whom his fathers knew not shall he honor with gold and silver, and with precious stones and pleasant things. — the Roman emperors honored the god of forces, or munitions and developed the greatest war-making power the world have ever known but in his estate shall he honor the god of forces, literally, “and the god of fortresses in his place shall he honor,” that is, he would make wars, the application of force, his god, would extend his power by means of arms and munitions, spreading his power to all nations;

— and a god whom his fathers knew not shall he honor with gold, and silver, and with precious stones, and pleasant things, these are the gods that their fathers, Adam to Abraham, knew not:

(a) Ishta and Easters, a celebration of the Queen of heaven: Ishtar, the Assyrian and Babylonian goddess of fertility and sex. Her symbols (like the egg and bunny) were and still are fertility and sex symbols; and to those who actually think eggs and bunnies have something to do with the resurrection; Jeremiah 7:18 the women knead their dough to make cakes to the Queen of heaven; in Egypt, Jeremiah 44:17-19, 25, this is Ishtar: pronounced ‘Easter.’
(b) Mithra and Christmas; Ezekiel 8:16 five and twenty men with their backs toward the temple; their faces toward the east; and they worshiped the sun toward the east; Christmas, which honor the Mithraism, birthday on December 25th – a form of nature worship based on the Sun-Goddess Mithra who on the darkest night of the year (December 20/21), gives birth to “Light” causing each day thereafter to grow longer until the Summer solstice.

— neither Moses nor Ezra would have taught them these strange practices.

³⁹Thus shall he do in the greatest strongholds with a strange god, whom he shall acknowledge and increase with glory. And he shall cause them to rule over many, and shall divide the land for a price. — thus shall the papacy in Rome do in the most strongholds with strange gods, that is, strange gods in their temples, churches and chapels, dedicated to angels and departed saints; deck and adorn their images with gold, silver, precious stones and with desirable things; as well as commit the grossest idolatries with this strange breaden gods; which they hold up in such places, cringe and bow to, and pay all religious worship and adoration to them:

— and he shall cause them to rule over many and shall divide the land for gain; such as the new discovered land in the Americas, most were under the Romish jurisdiction, all their newly formed countries and states, which are divided among those tutelar saints; each of them have their proper country assigned them they are to defend; but this is not done without gain arising to the pope of Rome from those countries as a reward to those who accept his claims.

And now we come to our very twenty-first century; and thus a bit speculative, because we couldn’t be definitely sure how things are going to be played out:

⁴⁰“And at the time of the end shall the king of the South push at him. And the king of the North shall come against him like a whirlwind, with chariots and with horsemen and with many ships; and he shall enter into the countries, and shall overflow and pass over. — and at the time of the end, namely, that of the present age of the world, during our very twenty-first century era, the king of the South, who would now be the Muslims countries, for Egypt was swallowed by the Mohammedians during the tenth century; who in turn, were conquered by the Ottoman Turks, who were also Muslims;

— shall push at the North, and the king of the North shall come against him like a whirlwind with chariots and with horsemen and with many ships, with the aid of powerful forces;

— now Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, the current President of Turkey, seems to be actively re-exerting himself in nearby countries; another country is Iran, who also has high ambition and having proxies all around the Middle-East; we’ll have to wait and see;

— and whoever he is, he shall enter into the countries, the king of the South carrying forward his campaign with all energy, and shall overflow and pass over, disturbing the peace of the king of the North. who would then rush Southward.

⁴¹He shall enter also into the glorious land, and many countries shall be overthrown; but these shall escape out of his hand: even Edom, and Moab, and the chief of the children of Ammon. — he, namely, the king of the North, together with the papacy, shall enter also into the glorious land, the land of Palestine, and many countries shall be overthrown; but these shall escape out of his hand, even Edom and Moab and the chief of the children of Ammon, these ancient enemies of the people of God being representative of all the forces opposing the Lord, and therefore, from the beginning, allies of the king of the North, whom he would not need to overthrow.

⁴²He shall stretch forth his hand also upon the countries, and the land of Egypt shall not escape. — the king of the North shall stretch forth his hand also upon the countries, namely, in order to take possession of them; and the land of Egypt shall not escape.

⁴³But he shall have power over the treasures of gold and of silver, and over all the precious things of Egypt; and the Libyans and the Ethiopians shall be at his steps. — but the king of the North shall have power over the treasures of gold and of silver, the possession of which was ever one of the chief objects of it Roman pope, and over all the precious things of Egypt; and the Libyans and the Ethiopians, representative of the southernmost people of the world, shall be at his steps;

— we have here, in a few bold strokes, and in terms taken from the campaigns of the forces of the king of the North since the third and second centuries. Although the Roman papacy suffered temporary reverses on account of the secession of the Greek and Russian Orthodox Church and the rise of Mohammedanism, he still managed to subjugate one country after the other, so that his strongholds were found throughout the world.

⁴⁴But tidings out of the east and out of the north shall trouble him. Therefore he shall go forth with great fury to destroy and utterly to sweep away many. — but tidings out of the East and out of the North; perhaps the Orient and Russia — shall trouble the revived Roman Empire;

— therefore the king of the North shall go forth with great fury to destroy and utterly to make away many when he heard of Gog and Magog coming like a storm, with the utmost rage and fury, and like a cloud for number, and threaten utter ruin and destruction to the nation of Israel in their homeland; this will be his end in view in coming out, but he will not be able to accomplish it; of all which see Ezekiel 38:2;

— another possibility of the army from the East and the North could also be an Islamic Army of 200 million of Revelation 9:16-18.

⁴⁵And he shall plant the tabernacles of his palace between the seas in the glorious holy mountain. Yet he shall come to his end, and none shall help him. — and the king of the North and the papacy shall plant the tabernacle of his palace between the seas, in the glorious holy mountain; some say the coming Roman Empire shall establish its palace as capital of the revived Roman Empire, and eventually its religious headquarters in Jerusalem! over against the mountain of the glory [or ornament] of holiness,” so that his palace was intended to be a rival of the ancient seat of God’s power in the midst of His holy people;

— yet the king of the North and the papacy shall come to their end (no more Easters, no more Christmas), their true nature being exposed and realized by at least some of those who could read the signs of the times, and none shall help them; although they will continue their campaign of deceit until the end of time.

Daniel 12

¹ “And at that time shall Michael stand up, the great prince who standeth for the children of thy people; and there shall be a time of trouble, such as never was since there was a nation, even to that same time. And at that time thy people shall be delivered, every one who shall be found written in the book. — and at that time the Archangel Michael shall stand up, who has all the angels of heaven under him, and he shall “stand up” in the latter day and Michael, standing and on guard;

— stand for the children of thy people, as the protector of Israel, Daniel 10:13-21; and there shall be a time regarded as “a time of Jacob’s trouble” (Jeremiah 30:7); a time of tribulation and affliction for the house of Jacob, such as never was since there was a nation, even to that same time, the climax of the oppression brought upon the house of Israel by all opponent forces;

— a parallel scenario is available from Prophet Ezekiel

Ezekiel 20:45 Moreover the word of the Lord came unto me, saying,
⁴⁶ “Son of man, set thy face toward the South, and drop thy word toward the South, and prophesy against the forest of the Southland.
⁴⁷And say to the forest of the South: ‘Hear the word of the Lord. Thus saith the Lord God: Behold, I will kindle a fire in thee, and it shall devour every green tree in thee and every dry tree. The flaming flame shall not be quenched, and all faces from the South to the North shall be burned therein.
⁴⁸ And all flesh shall see that I, the Lord, have kindled it; it shall not be quenched.’”
⁴⁹ Then said I, “Ah, Lord God! They say of me, ‘Doth he not speak parables?’”
Ezekiel 21:1 And the word of the Lord came unto me, saying,
²“Son of man, set thy face toward Jerusalem, and drop thy word toward the holy places, and prophesy against the land of Israel;
³ and say to the land of Israel, ‘Thus saith the Lord: Behold, I am against thee, and will draw forth My Sword out of his sheath and will cut off from thee the righteous and the wicked.
⁴ Seeing then that I will cut off from thee the righteous and the wicked, therefore shall My Sword go forth out of his sheath against all flesh from the South to the North,
⁵that all flesh may know that I, the Lord, have drawn forth My Sword out of his sheath. It shall not return any more.’

Q: how would such scenarios be played out?

— and at that time thy people, the true believers, shall be delivered, everyone that shall be found written in the book, whose name had been entered in the book of life.

This prophecy begins with the kingdoms of Syria and Egypt, soon after the death of Alexander the Great — 2300 years ago. But it ends at the time of the resurrection and the Second Coming of the Messiah to bring peace to the region — and to the entire world! This prophecy is so long, but plain and this “2300 days” or years could also mean the period where his Saints are cleansed, made white and purified!

²And many of those who sleep in the dust of the earth shall awake, some to everlasting life, and some to shame and everlasting contempt. — and many of them that sleep in the dust of the earth shall awake, literally, “many, a great multitude of those who sleep in the dust-land, shall awake,” shall return to life in the resurrection, some to everlasting life and some to shame and everlasting contempt, this being the division at the day of Judgement: believers destined for eternal glory, the wicked with their gnashing of teeth and torments.

³And they that are wise shall shine as the brightness of the firmament, and they that turn many to righteousness as the stars for ever and ever. — and they that are wise, the true and righteous shall shine as the brightness of the firmament, in a wonderful glorification and they that turn many to righteousness, by instructing them in loyalty and faithfulness in the midst of the tribulations in the latter days and shine as the stars forever and ever;

⁴But thou, O Daniel, shut up the words and seal the book, even to the time of the end. Many shall run to and fro, and knowledge shall be increased.” — but thou, O Daniel, the greatest among the Prophets, shut up the words and seal the book, so that its contents during his time, would not be revealed to men, even perhaps to the time of the end, before the Millenium or the Messianic era; many shall run to and fro, and knowledge shall be increased, literally, “many shall search it through, and thus understanding will become great.” It is true in general that the knowledge and interpretation of the prophecies of old comes to those who search the Scriptures most carefully, diligently comparing prophecy and fulfillment as indicated in the directions of the Lord.

⁵Then I, Daniel, looked; and behold, there stood two others, the one on this side of the bank of the river and the other on that side of the bank of the river. — then Daniel looked after the angel had finished his message, and behold, there stood two more angels besides the one who had spoken to him, on either side of the River Tigris.

⁶And one said to the man clothed in linen, who was upon the waters of the river, “How long shall it be to the end of these wonders?” — and one, only one of these angels being introduced as speaking, said to the man clothed in linen (who could most probably be the Son of God, who later came and served humanity as the son of man, hence “a man clothed in linen” otherwise why the distinction?), which was upon the waters of the river, occupying a position above the water, How long shall it be to the end of these wonders? literally, “Till when the end of these marvelous things?” the end being the period or era of the Messiah with all that happened in it.

⁷And I heard the man clothed in linen, who was upon the waters of the river, when he held up his right hand and his left hand unto heaven, and swore by Him that liveth for ever that it shall be for a time, times, and a half; and when he shall have accomplished scattering the power of the holy people, all these things shall be finished. — and I heard the man clothed in linen (who could be the Son of God), which was upon the waters of the river, as though enthroned there or floating on the waters, when he held up his right hand and his left hand unto heaven, in the gesture of a most solemn oath;

— and swore by Him that liveth forever, by the one everlasting true God, that it, the period of these wonderful things, shall be for a time, times, and a half, the duration of the period being the same as that of Antichrist’s reign, a type of Antiochus Epiphanes; Cf. Daniel 7:25;

— and when he shall have accomplished to scatter the power of the holy people, when the Christian Church would have reached a point apparently near annihilation on account of the oppression of Antichrist, all these things shall be finished, including also the deliverance of the people of the Lord by the archangel Michael and everything else that had been included in the great prophecy of the angel.

⁸And I heard, but I understood not. Then said I, “O my lord, what shall be the end of these things?” — and I heard, but I understood not; Daniel did not grasp the meaning of the angel’s announcement; then said Daniel, O my Lord, what shall be the end of these things? He wanted a more exact explanation and interpretation of the period to which reference was made and to the sequence of events in that era, for Daniel was still in the dark concerning them.

⁹And he said, “Go thy way, Daniel, for the words are closed up and sealed till the time of the end. — and be content with what has been made known to thee, Daniel, although the words bare encouraging they are closed up, all sealed till the time of the end, so that it would not be lost or mutilated throughout the times then coming and until the latter days.

¹⁰Many shall be purified and made white and tried, but the wicked shall do wickedly; and none of the wicked shall understand, but the wise shall understand. — many shall be purified, tried and made pure and white, the time of tribulation bringing out and testing their faithfulness to their Lord, for they would read and interpret the signs of the times aright; but the wicked shall do wickedly, deliberately closing their eyes and minds to the lessons intended for them, and none of the wicked shall understand.

¹¹And from the time that the daily sacrifice shall be taken away and the abomination that maketh desolate set up, there shall be a thousand two hundred and ninety days. — and from the time that the daily sacrifice shall be taken away, Cf. Daniel 11:31, and the abomination that maketh desolate set up, in the idolatry introduced by Antiochus Epiphanes, the antitype of Antichrist, there shall be a thousand two hundred and ninety days (yā·mîm, not “bō·qer e·reḇ” as in Daniel 8:14) a period of time whose duration in days are determined exactly, but when it would start or how it would end would require some speculations.

¹²Blessed is he that waiteth, and cometh to the thousand three hundred and five and thirty days. — blessed is he that waiteth and cometh to the thousand three hundred and five and thirty days (yā·mîm), evidently the end of the great trial intended to test the loyalty of the Lord’s children by a tyrant, a type of Antiochus Epiphanes we have seen in the last chapter.

¹³But go thou thy way till the end be; for thou shalt rest, and stand in thy lot at the end of the days.” — but go your way, Daniel (now ninety years of age at least) till the end comes; for thou shalt rest in the peace of the grave, and stand in thy lot at the end of days (yā·mîm), calmly awaiting in death for deliverance. Blessed are all who await their death in this spirit of calm hopefulness and certain trust in the promise of God!

~~~

— More on an endtime fulfillment to a character similar to Antiochus Epiphanes —

In Daniel 11:21, referring in original, typical fulfillment to Antiochus Epiphanes, there ‘shall stand up a vile person…’ that was in 168 BC. Now, notice verse 31 — still speaking of Antiochus Epiphanes, ‘And arms shall stand on his part, and they shall pollute the sanctuary of strength’ — speaking of the Temple at Jerusalem, ‘… and shall take away the daily sacrifice, and they shall place the abomination that maketh desolate.’

What Antiochus placed there to defile the ‘Holy of Holies’ in God’s Temple, was the statue of Jupiter Olympus. The Mercy Seat of the Holy of Holies was the earthly representation of the very Throne of GOD in heaven. There will be another man similar to Antiochus Epiphanes, who will be a supreme religious leader, called ‘the False Prophet,’ [Rev. 16:13; 19:20; 20:10] and the ‘man of sin,’ who will make this final fulfillment.

So once again before the second coming of Jesus (a Greek name which is Iesus which means ‘son of Zeus’, others say it is short for ‘Hail Zeus’ – there were no letter J until very recently, about 400 years ago only) or better in Hebrew, Yeshua (which means ‘he will save’), or the Messiah, one theory is that another vile leader will stop the daily sacrifices being offered in the Temple (yet to be built) in Jerusalem, and will profane the Holy Place with an idol. But that is not all. This same prophecy spoken by Yeshua is also reported by Luke in his Gospel. Notice Luke 21:20-24: ‘And when ye shall see Jerusalem compassed with armies, then know that the desolation thereof is nigh. Then let them which are in Judea flee to the mountains…’

The typical fulfillment of this occurred in 66-70 AD. The Roman army under General Cestius was marching, late October, 66 AD, toward Jerusalem. They became established in sight of the gates of the city. But for some reason unknown Cestius’ army was pulled back.

The Nazarenes who heeded a divine warning fled to the hills of Judea and then northward east of the Jordan, a place call Pella — almost a century of 19-year time cycles ago. It was the Roman army under Titus, in 70 AD, which actually invaded and destroyed Jerusalem. Another group, the Hillel branch of Pharisees also took warning, and fled west of Jerusalem to Yavne near the Mediterranean Sea and later to Tiberias where they flourished as Rabbinic Judaism. The Sadducees, the Boethusians (who were closely allied to the Herodians), the Zealots and the Shammai branch of Pharisees, all deemed as tares, all perished in the AD 70 inferno; a magnificent manifestation of God’s judgement on man whose cause is still unknown to man.

So now, putting the two accounts of Yeshua’s Olivet prophecy together, Matthew 24 and Luke 21, two Events are to occur, just before the Great Tribulation. 1) There will very soon be a Temple in Jerusalem, with daily sacrifices once again being offered. But the ruler of the soon-coming resurrected ‘Holy Roman Empire,’ a political-military union of ten European nations, will stop the daily sacrifices and profane the Holy Place in the Temple; and 2) Jerusalem will be surrounded and captured (Zechariah 14:1-2) by the Fascist-Nazi army of the European Empire, already starting to rise now out of the European Union. They will invade Jerusalem, and take charge of the Temple.

For the moment this is the only viable possibility being offered. Prophecies are fluid, especially those pertaining to the future which are always subjected to human bias, errors or perhaps unknowingly leaving out some relevant factors that should be incorporated in our analysis. So, if readers have sported any discrepancies or leftouts, please feel free to share with us. Thanks abundantly. As events unfold our visions would be clearer and we may see further possibilities. We’ll have to wait and see. Thanks for reading.

Posted in Daniel

Daniel (Ch 9-10)

•December 21, 2021 • Leave a Comment

Although Jewish authorities acknowledge that this book of Daniel is a Sacred Text, they don’t regarded it a prophecy; that this book is only among the Writings but not among the Prophets. They just dislike what Daniel had written, one who with sackcloth and ashes, have fasted for the Jews and whose prayers were answered, for Gabriel said to Daniel, “thou art greatly beloved.”

Yet the Jewish authorities just show their disdain for what Daniel had written, throwing out their contempt by kicking his writing and its prophecy downstair. Daniel’s writing is a prophecy of the coming Messiah, yet the Jews pray everyday at the Wailing Wall around the Temple Mount for the coming of the Messiah. “Oh blind Guides!” Would God have any obligation to hear their prayers?

Daniel 9

In Daniel 12:4 “but thou, O Daniel, shut up the words, and seal the book that I may tell you that which shall befall you in the last days,” and so we are trying to understand this prophecy in the last days.

¹ In the first year of Darius the son of Ahasuerus, of the seed of the Medes, who was made king over the realm of the Chaldeans” — in the first year of Darius, the son of Ahasuerus, known in secular histor of the empire after the fall of Babylon, of the seed of the Medes, who were with the Persians in the conquest of Babylon, who was made king over the realm of the Chaldeans, not by accession, but through the agency of the victorious army and by the hand of Cyrus,

— there were three Darius in biblical times and the most sensible one while Daniel was still alive must be Darius I, whose reign was from 522 to 486 BC; whereas Cyrus “the Great” reign was from 550 to 529 BC; hence the Rabbinic deflection that Gabriel’s prophecy was “to anoint the Most Holy” applies to King Cyrus just doesn’t make sense: (1) Cyrus had already came and gone, dead; and (2) Cyrus maybe “his annointed” prophecised in Isaiah 45:1, but he certainly just couldn’t be qualified to be considered “the Most Holy” Daniel 9:24. By denying the Real Annointed as the Most Holy that would be close to blasphemy!

² in the first year of his reign I, Daniel, came to understand by books the number of the years, according to the word of the Lord as it came to Jeremiah the prophet, that He would spend seventy years in the desolations of Jerusalem. — in the first year of his reign, Daniel understood by books, he observed and understand his information and then drew his conclusions, the number of the years whereof the word of the Lord came to Jeremiah, the prophet, Cf Jeremiah 25:11;

— that he would accomplish seventy years in the desolations of Jerusalem, or “that seventy years would be completed by the desolate condition of Jerusalem.” Note that Daniel was in possession of a book of Jeremiah’s prophecies, which must have been in existence in a number of copies even then, that he considered the words of this book as the Word of Yehovah, and that he definitely believed the words of the prophecy as the words of the Most High would be fulfilled.

3 And I set my face unto the Lord God, seeking by prayer and supplications, with fasting, and sackcloth, and ashes. — and Daniel set his face unto the Lord God, the one sovereign God of the universe to seek by prayer and supplications, to plead for the restoration of the city of his fathers, with fasting and sackcloth and ashes. It was thus an importunate, moving prayer which Daniel sought by the operation of the holy spirit, by which he made known his requests before God.

⁴ And I prayed unto the Lord my God, and made my confession and said, “O Lord, the great and fearsome God, keeping the covenant and mercy to them that love Him and to them that keep His commandments, — and Daniel prayed unto the Lord and made confession, a frank acknowledgment of one’s sinfulness preparing the way for the proper worship of the Lord and said, O Lord, the great and dreadful God, He whose fear and terror is upon all those who are His enemies, keeping the covenant and mercy to them that love Him and to them that keep His commandments, Cf Deuteronomy 7:9:

⁵ we have sinned and have committed iniquity, and have done wickedly and have rebelled, even by departing from Thy precepts and from Thy judgements. — we have sinned and have committed iniquity by leaving the path of God’s commandments and have done wickedly and have rebelled even by departing from Thy precepts and from Thy judgements, the introduction of the confession being modeled after the words of Solomon’s prayer, 1 Kings 8:47;

⁶ Neither have we hearkened unto Thy servants the prophets, who spoke in Thy name to our kings, our princes, and our fathers, and to all the people of the land. — neither have we hearkened unto Thy servants, the prophets, a confession now being made in the name of his entire people with their open disregard of the admonition of the prophets, which spoke in Thy name to our kings, our princes, and our fathers, and to all the people of the land;

— such a prayer today should rededicated the book of Daniel prime among into the Prophets and study its content seriously.

⁷ O Lord, righteousness belongeth unto Thee, but unto us confusion of faces, as at this day: to the men of Judah and to the inhabitants of Jerusalem, and unto all Israel who are near and who are far off, through all the countries whither Thou hast driven them, because of their trespass that they have trespassed against Thee. — O Lord, all righteousness belong to Thee, You are the possessor of absolute righteousness, who alone can dispense righteousness, but unto us confusion reign, namely, the confusion which shows ourselves in the guilty blush on account of the wrong choices we made and the consequent judgement and tribulation;

— as at this day, to the men of Judah and to the inhabitants of Jerusalem, these being concerned first of all, as the leaders of the Lord’s people; and unto all Israel “who are far off” that is, over the seas and oceans among the nations afar off, and all those who professed their belief in the true God thus casting their lot together;

— that are near and that are far off, through all the countries whither Thou hast driven them, that is, all humanity since Noah and the towel of Babel, as all were deported into shameful exile, because of all the trespasses that all have trespassed against Thee, the guilt of the people thus being brought out time and again.

⁸ O Lord, to us belongeth confusion of face, to our kings, to our princes, and to our fathers, because we have sinned against Thee. — O Lord, to us belongeth confusion of all faces: to our kings, to our princes, and to our fathers, because we have sinned against Thee, this statement being repeated for the sake of emphasis, just as the synonymous expressions were heaped at the beginning of Daniel’s confession in order that the full scope of the people’s guilt might be brought out. Over against this confusion and guilt stands the one hope of sinful mortals, the mercy of God showing itself in the forgiveness of sins.

⁹ To the Lord our God belong mercies and forgivenesses, though we have rebelled against Him; — to the Lord, our God, belong mercies and forgivenesses, of which all repentant sinners feel the great need, though we have rebelled against Him; or “for we have rebelled” and the need for His forgiveness as our one hope has become apparent;

¹⁰ neither have we obeyed the voice of the Lord our God to walk in His laws, which He set before us by His servants the prophets. — neither have we obeyed the voice of the Lord, our God, to walk in His laws, following them exactly which He set before us by His servants, the prophets and His administrators in making known His will, spoken and unspoken, to men.

¹¹ “Yea, all Israel have transgressed Thy law, even by departing, that they might not obey Thy voice; therefore the curse is poured upon us, and the oath that is written in the Law of Moses the servant of God, because we have sinned against Him. — yea, all Israel have transgressed Thy Law, even by departing, that they might not obey Thy voice, their turning away from Him being done with deliberate purpose; therefore the curse is poured upon us, like a rainstorm with hail and the oath that is written in the Law of Moses, the servant of God, Cf Leviticus 26; Deuteronomy 28, because we all have sinned against Him.

¹² And He hath confirmed His words which He spoke against us and against our judges who judged us, by bringing upon us a great evil; for under the whole heaven hath not been done as hath been done upon Jerusalem. — and He hath confirmed His words which He spoke against us, maintaining them, confirming them in words and deed as they now had the proof before them and against our judges that judged us, the term including all those in authority in the entire nation, by bringing upon us a great evil; for under the whole heaven hath not been done as hath been done upon Jerusalem, the severity of the Lord’s punishment was without equal, as the fall of Jerusalem and the Temple in 586 BC (Jewish authority 423 BCE) and in 70 AD.

¹³ “As it is written in the Law of Moses, all this evil is come upon us. Yet made we not our prayer before the Lord our God, that we might turn from our iniquities and understand Thy truth. — as written in two chapters in the Law of Moses (Leviticus 26; Deuteronomy 28) which contain the dreadful judgement of the Lord concerning His punishment upon the transgressors of His Law, all this evil to come upon Israel;

— yet we made no prayer before the Lord, our God, by entreating or conciliating His face, by attempting to propitiate His anger, as suggested in King Solomon’s great prayer, that we might turn from our iniquities and understand Thy truth; the truth of God is His plan of salvation as revealed in His Word, according to which He wants the sinner to turn from his evil ways, and lead a life in accordance with the will of the Lord.

¹⁴ Therefore hath the Lord watched upon the evil, and brought it upon us; for the Lord our God is righteous in all His works which He doeth, for we obeyed not His voice. — therefore hath the Lord watched upon the evil; He is concerned about its coming upon the transgressors and brought it upon us; for the Lord our God is righteous in all; His works which He doeth, all His actions being essentially just; for we obeyed not His voice, wherefore the punishment meted out to us had to be admitted to be just and justified.

¹⁵ “And now, O Lord our God, who hast brought Thy people forth out of the land of Egypt with a mighty hand, and hast made Thee a name, as at this day — we have sinned, we have done wickedly. — and now, O Lord, our God, that hast brought Thy people forth out of the land of Egypt with a mighty hand, Exodus 32:11, and hast gotten Thee renown as at this day, His acts of mercy being acknowledged wherever they became known among the nations: we have sinned, we have done wickedly, this confession now also introducing the final petition of Daniel’s prayer.

¹⁶O Lord, according to all Thy righteousness, I beseech Thee, let Thine anger and Thy fury be turned away from Thy city Jerusalem, Thy holy mountain; because for our sins and for the iniquities of our fathers, Jerusalem and Thy people have become a reproach to all who are about us. — O Lord, according to all Thy righteousness, Daniel beseech Him in accordance with the righteousness which demanded the fulfillment of His promises, let Thine anger and Thy fury be turned away from Jerusalem, designated thus because His Sanctuary had been situated there for many centuries;

— because for our sins and for the iniquities of our fathers Jerusalem and its people are become a reproach to all that are about us, so that the heathen looked upon us with scorn and mockery.

¹⁷ “Now therefore, O our God, hear the prayer of Thy servant and his supplications, and cause Thy face to shine upon Thy sanctuary that is desolate, for the Lord’s sake. — now, therefore, O our God, hear the prayer of Thy servant and his supplications and cause Thy face to shine in merciful love upon Thy Sanctuary that is desolate, for the fact that the Temple was lying in ruins was the chief ground for Daniel’s prayer, for the Lord’s sake, for the glory of the restoration would then be the Lord’s.

¹⁸O my God, incline Thine ear and hear. Open Thine eyes and behold our desolations and the city which is called by Thy name; for we do not present our supplications before Thee because of our righteousnesses, but because of Thy great mercies. — O God, incline Thine ear and listen; open Thine eyes and behold our desolations, both the cities and their ruins being included, and the city which is called by Thy name, literally, “upon which Thy name is called” where God had so gloriously revealed Himself which He had by choosing it for His Sanctuary, elevated so highly among the cities of the world;

¹⁹O Lord, hear! O Lord, forgive! O Lord, hearken and do! Defer not, for Thine own sake, O my God; for Thy city and Thy people are called by Thy name.” — O Lord, hear; O Lord, forgive and hearken! Daniel here is rising to the very climax of an importunate and fervent prayer. Defer not for Thine own sake, O God; for Thy city and Thy people are called by Thy name and therefore His zeal for His own glory should be the motive urging Him to heed Daniel’s prayer.

²⁰And while I was speaking and praying, and confessing my sin and the sin of my people Israel, and presenting my supplication before the Lord my God for the holy mountain of my God— — and while Daniel was praying and confessing his sin and the sin of his people Israel and presenting his supplication before the Lord, piling up petitions in seeking the mercy of God in the interest of the Lord’s Sanctuary and true worship;

²¹yea, while I was speaking in prayer, even the man Gabriel, whom I had seen in the vision at the beginning, being caused to fly swiftly, touched me about the time of the evening oblation. — while I was praying, making the concluding remarks, even Gabriel, one of the chief angel-princes, whom Daniel had seen earlier in the vision at the beginning (Daniel 8:15-16), being caused to fly swiftly, touched him about the time of the evening sacrifice, about three o’clock in the afternoon.

²² And he informed me, and talked with me and said, “O Daniel, I have now come forth to give thee skill and understanding. — and he informed Daniel and talked with him and said, O Daniel, I am now come to give thee skill and understanding, a correct insight into the problem perplexing him and an assurance for the future.

²³ At the beginning of thy supplications the commandment came forth; and I have come to show thee, for thou art greatly beloved. Therefore understand the matter, and heed the vision: — at the beginning of Daniel’s supplications the commandment came forth, namely, the decree or oracle, which is presently stated, and Gabriel was to show him to make it known;

— for thou art greatly loved, this being the reason why the Lord was so ready to make known to Daniel the solution of the problem of the seventy weeks; therefore understand the matter and consider the vision, observing the oracle as to be set forth and explained.

²⁴ “Seventy weeks are determined concerning thy people and concerning thy holy city to finish the transgression and to make an end of sins, and to make reconciliation for iniquity, and to bring in everlasting righteousness, and to seal up the vision and prophecy, and to anoint the Most Holy. — seventy weeks are determined upon thy people and upon thy Holy City, the capital which was so dear to the heart of Daniel, the determination of the time being purposely indefinite, to finish the transgression and to make an end of sins, to restrain the rebellion and to seal up the sins so that they would no longer find expression;

— and to make reconciliation for iniquity, to effect an expiation for guilt and to bring in everlasting righteousness, the result of the expiation of sin and to seal up the vision and prophecy, rather “and the prophet,” for these would be the chief and greatest prophecies ever written and be fulfilled;

— and to anoint the Most Holy: if this is meant the Holy of Holies in the Temple, as Jewish authority and a few others believe, then what is this anointing for? What’s the big deal; what is its significance? No possible explanation were ever given. It only has meaning if it is something special: to anoint the Special One; to anoint the Messiah; this has far more merit than for any other purpose;

— using the day-for-a-year principle of Bible prophecy is understood in Numbers 14:34 and Ezekiel 4:3-6, the seventy weeks in Daniel 9 represent 70 times 7 or 490 days — that is, since days stand for prophetic years, this comes to a total of 490 years. What was to happen at the end of these years?

²⁵Know therefore and understand that from the going forth of the commandment to restore and to build Jerusalem until the Messiah the Prince, shall be seven weeks and threescore and two weeks; the street shall be built again, and the wall, even in troublesome times. — know therefore and understand that from the going forth of the commandment to restore and to build Jerusalem, from the time that the decree of Cyrus concerning the rebuilding of Jerusalem went forth, Ezra 1:1; Isaiah 44:28, unto the Messiah, the Anointed One, the Prince;

— shall be seven weeks, that is, until the coming of the Messiah, the Savior, and threescore and two weeks, during which the great spiritual Temple of the Lord would be constructed; the street shall be built again and the wall, even in troublous times; young and adolescents, the spiritual Church established, under the turbulent Roman rule, would be like kids playing in the streets of Jerusalem in troublous times;

— this means the Messiah would appear after “seven weeks, and threescore and two weeks” or 69 weeks, after the decree was given; it is known that the seventh year of Artaxerxes when he issued the decree was from September 458 to September 457 BC (Jewish reckoning fall to fall; Artaxerxes came to the throne in December 465 BC and reigned until 424 BC; Encyclopedia of World History; Wikipedia);

— it took seven prophetic weeks, or 49 years (a year for a day) to complete this rebuilding of the Temple. The troublous times are described in Nehemiah 4. This carries us from 457 to 408 BC;

— after 62 more weeks, or 434 years (from 408 BC), the Messiah would be on the scene (verse 26).

— in other words, from 457 BC in the fall, till Christ appeared on the scene, there would be sixty-nine weeks (7 + 62) — a total of 69 times 7 or 483 years! Just 483 years after 457 BC brings us to exactly AD 27!

483 years were to pass, beginning from
457 BC when the decree went forth, bringing us to
26 AD — however, one year must be added
1 in crossing from BC to AD, bringing us to
27 AD — since there is no year zero

The Messiah would appear on the scene in 27 AD!

²⁶ And after threescore and two weeks shall Messiah be cut off, but not for Himself; and the people of the prince who shall come shall destroy the city and the sanctuary. And the end thereof shall be with a flood, and until the end of the war desolations are determined. — and after threescore and two weeks shall Messiah be cut off, namely, at the time of Christ’s death, a death not for Himself, but for the whole humanity;

— and the people of the prince that shall come, a mighty opponent, an anti-Messianic movement, Rome, shall destroy the city Jerusalem and the Temple, so that everything, apparently, would be lost after the attack;

— and the end thereof shall be with a flood, so that the attacking prince himself would perish in the end, by a divine judgement, and unto the end of the war desolations are determined, or “until the end there will be warfare,” until the end of this world; these sound like a preamble, introduction or summary to the book of Revelation.

²⁷And he shall confirm the covenant with many for one week; and in the midst of the week he shall cause the sacrifice and the oblation to cease. And for the overspreading of abominations he shall make it desolate, even until the consummation, and that determined shall be poured upon the desolate.” — and he, the prince shall confirm the covenant with many for one week;

— and in the midst of the week he shall cause the sacrifice and oblation to cease, so that there would be a transfer of the true worship of God, from the physical to the spiritual, and for the over-spreading of abominations he shall make it desolate; the daily sacrifice of the Temple and all their other sacrifices; when the city of Jerusalem, being besieged by Titus, and their fall in AD 70; the daily sacrifice ceased to the great grief of the people;

When? When did the Messiah accomplish this? “In the MIDST of the week”! That is dual — 1) after fulfilling one half of the seventieth week — after preaching the Kingdom of God for three and a half year, Christ died for the sins of the world, after doing the Work of God for three and a half years, from autumn 27 AD until spring 31 AD.

And 2) it also indicates that Christ died for our sins in the middle of a literal week — on a Wednesday! And He was resurrected three days and three nights later — near sunset on the weekly Sabbath (Matthew 12:40), so that He had risen already by sunrise Sunday morning (Matthew 28:6; Mark 16:6; Luke 24:6).

Since Yeshua died for the sins of man kind in the midst of the week, the prophecy, “And he shall confirm the covenant with many for one week,” has not yet been been completely fulfilled. For three and a half years, during His ministry, He confirmed the covenant with His disciples. By His death, He put the final stamp on the covenant; through Him all people can now enter into the covenant which God made with Abraham (Galations 3:29), and become heirs “according to the promise.”

But as Daniel 9:26-27 reveals, there yet remains three and a half years of Christ’s ministry to be fulfilled! When will Christ fulfill it? When will He once again confirm the covenant?

Daniel 10

¹ In the third year of Cyrus king of Persia a thing was revealed unto Daniel, whose name was called Belteshazzar. And the thing was true, but the time appointed was long; and he understood the thing, and had understanding of the vision. — Cyrus, king of Persia, two years after his decree for the restoration of Jerusalem and the Temple had gone forth, a thing was revealed unto Daniel, whose name was Belteshazzar;

— both names being given here, one as a member of the people of God, the other as an official of the Persian court, who could render his nation a better service by remaining at court than by joining them in the restoration of Jerusalem, especially he was now of advanced age;

— and the thing, the word of God revealed to Daniel in this vision but the time appointed would be long into the future, of a time regarded as “the great tribulation” that is, the revelation concerned was God’s judgement on earth, with misery, wretchedness and troubles, a time called Jacob’s trouble; which the Lord made known to him and gave close attention to the vision.

² In those days I, Daniel, was mourning three full weeks. — Daniel was mourning, either on account of what had been revealed to him in the last vision or prophecy of the seventy weeks; by which it appeared the Jews would be guilty of in cutting off the Messiah;

— or what desolations would come upon their land, city and temple, as also because of the present case of his people; many of them continuing in the country of Babylon when they had liberty to return to their land: or because of the hinderance the Jews met with in rebuilding Jerusalem and the temple who had returned; of which Daniel had an account of the Samaritans infiltrating the returning exiles, disrupting them and which caused him to mourn secretly.

³ I ate no pleasant bread, neither came flesh nor wine in my mouth, neither did I anoint myself at all, till three whole weeks were fulfilled. — Daniel ate no bread, neither flesh nor wine thus discarding all food even if those were on festival days, neither did he anoint himself at all, he abstained from all expressions of joy and happiness till three whole weeks were fulfilled. Daniel thus observed a fast with all the expressions of sorrow and mourning at such a time.

⁴ And in the four and twentieth day of the first month, as I was by the side of the great river, which is Hiddekel, — Daniel abstained food and wine even through a Passover festival, for the Passover festival was on the first month, Nisan, thus the seriousness of his quest.

⁵ then I lifted up mine eyes and looked, and behold, a certain man clothed in linen, whose loins were girded with fine gold of Uphaz.

⁶His body also was like beryl, and his face as the appearance of lightning, and his eyes as lamps of fire, and his arms and his feet like the color of polished brass, and the voice of his words like the voice of a multitude. —a man clothed in linen, His body also was like the beryl; that is, that part which was not covered with the linen garment and was seen, was like such a precious stone, said to be of an azure and sky colour, signifying he was the Lord from heaven; though, according to its name, it should be of a sea colour, greenish;

— and his face the appearance of lightning; exceeding bright, very dazzling to the eye, and striking terror to the mind; expressive of something very awful and majestic; and could be Christ, the Son of God or the sun of righteousness whose face or countenance at his transfiguration on the mount, and when John saw him in a visionary way, was as the sun shineth in his strength;

— and the eyes of the Son of God as lamps of fire; denoting his omniscience of all persons and things; and how piercing and penetrating his eyes are into the affairs of men and states, by whom they are clearly seen and to whom they are exactly known; and how fierce and terrible his wrath is towards his enemies, and whose looks must inject dread and terror into them; see Revelation 19:12;

— and his arms and his feet like in colour to polished brass; denoting his great strength for action, the stability, firmness and the glory of the Son of God; his power, in trampling upon his enemies and subduing them;

— and the voice of the Son of God; His words like the voice of a multitude, the voice of roaring like that of the ocean or of a great concourse of people; or of many waters; see Revelation 1:15 and may intend the power and efficacy of his words whether in proclamation or in judgements in a way of comfort or of wrath and vengeance.

⁷And I, Daniel, alone saw the vision, for the men who were with me saw not the vision; but a great quaking fell upon them, so that they fled to hide themselves. — and Daniel alone saw the vision so that all its details were clear to him; for the men that were with him saw not the vision as was the case also with the companions of Saul on the way to Damascus, Acts 9:7; Acts 22:11;

— but a great quaking fell upon them so that they fled to hide themselves, literally, “they fled by hiding themselves” an expression showing the greatness of their fear.

⁸Therefore I was left alone and saw this great vision, and there remained no strength in me; for my comeliness was turned in me into corruption, and I retained no strength. — therefore Daniel was left alone and saw this great vision and there remained no strength in him on account of the overwhelming terror of the vision;

— for his comeliness was turned in him into corruption, for his countenance grew deathly pale and Daniel retained no strength; it is evident from the entire description that Daniel had a vision and countenance of the Messiah, as He revealed Himself to Prophets of the Old Testament. Cf Revelation 1:13-15.

⁹ Yet heard I the voice of his words; and when I heard the voice of his words, then was I in a deep sleep on my face, and my face was toward the ground. — and when Daniel heard the voice of his words, he fell facedown on the ground either in a way of worship and adoration, in prayer and supplication, or because of awe and reverence of the speaker.

¹⁰And behold, a hand touched me, which set me upon my knees and upon the palms of my hands. — and an hand touched Daniel, the stunned prophet not being able to say whose hand it was, but could be another being; the text indicates that it could be the previous angel in white, Gabriel perhaps, which set him upon his knees and upon the palms of his hands, gently shaking him into a waking state, so that he assumed at least a crouching position, although his stupor was not yet entirely gone.

— this angel could be Gabriel or one other than him, but without further evidence to the contrary, I’ll dubbed him Gabriel, especially in Daniel 9:21-22 where he identified himself and said: “O Daniel, I have now come forth to give thee wisdom and understanding.”

¹¹ And he said unto me, “O Daniel, a man greatly beloved, understand the words that I speak unto thee, and stand upright; for unto thee am I now sent.” And when he had spoken this word unto me, I stood trembling. — and he said unto him, O Daniel, a man greatly beloved, Cf. Daniel 9:23, understand the words that I speak unto thee, marking them very closely, and stand upright, shaking off the last effects of the numbness besetting him;

— for unto thee Gabriel now sent, as the bearer of a message of comfort and blessing. And when Gabriel had spoken this word unto him, Daniel stood trembling, still in fearful expectation of the matters which would be revealed to him.

¹² Then said he unto me, “Fear not, Daniel, for from the first day that thou didst set thine heart to understand and to chasten thyself before thy God, thy words were heard; and I have come for thy words. — then said Gabriel unto him, Fear not, Daniel; for from the first day that thou didst set thine heart to understand, applying himself most earnestly to the solution of the problems, and to chasten himself before God, in the proper humiliation of mind;

— thy words had come to the attention of God and his prayers heard and Gabriel come but he was delayed.

¹³ But the prince of the kingdom of Persia withstood me one and twenty days; but lo, Michael, one of the chief princes, came to help me, and I remained there with the kings of Persia. — because the prince of the kingdom of Persia, the angel of darkness overseeing the Persian world power and therefore identical with some evil spirits, withstood Gabriel twenty one days; this being couldn’t be the Son of God for no other being could withstood the Second in Command, the Son, not even Lucifer;

— but, Michael, one of the chief princes, the first in rank in the strength of the angelic beings, known also as the Archangel, came to help him; and he remained there with the kings of Persia, using His influence in the interest of the Lord’s people. There is a world of angels and spirit beings and these spirits often have a very decided influence upon the happenings of our world history.

¹⁴ Now I have come to make thee understand what shall befall thy people in the latter days, for yet the vision is for many days.” — now Gabriel come to make Daniel understand what shall befall thy people in the latter days, during our era and even during the Messianic era; for yet the vision is for many days, it extends far into the future, our future.

¹⁵ And when he had spoken such words unto me, I set my face toward the ground, and I became dumb. — and when Gabriel had spoken such words unto Daniel, he set his face toward the ground, in awe and consternation over the revelations to be expected, and he became dumb, remaining speechless for the time being.

¹⁶ And behold, one with the similitude of the sons of men touched my lips. Then I opened my mouth and spoke, and said unto him that stood before me, “O my lord, by the vision my sorrows are turned upon me, and I have retained no strength. — and, behold, one of the likeness of the sons of men, Gabriel, or perhaps another administrating angel having the appearance of a human being, touched his lips, to heal his dumbness;

— then Daniel opened his mouth and said unto him, O my Lord, by the vision, as a result of his seeing the vision, his sorrows have returned unto him with acute and overwhelming power, and Daniel lost his strength.

¹⁷ For how can this servant of my Lord talk with thee, my lord? For as for me, straightway there remained no strength in me, neither is there breath left in me.” — how can the servant of this my Lord talk with this, my Lord? whose majesty was of a nature to terrify a poor sinful mortal; as for Daniel, straightway there remained no strength in him who grew pale neither is there breath left in him; he could neither stand nor breathe properly for agitation and consternation.

¹⁸ Then there came again and touched me one with the appearance of a man; and he strengthened me — then there came again one like the appearance of a man and touched Daniel; or one like a man again touched him; the same that touched him before, Daniel 10:16, perhaps Gabriel or another administrating angel, using the same language in the following verse as he does Daniel 10:11;

¹⁹ and said, “O man greatly beloved, fear not. Peace be unto thee; be strong, yea, be strong.” And when he had spoken unto me, I was strengthened and said, “Let my lord speak, for thou hast strengthened me.” — and said, O man greatly loved, fear not, for his terror was the real cause of his weakness. Peace be unto thee; be strong, yea, be strong! the repetition of the comforting words serving to give emphasis to them;

— and when he had spoken unto Daniel, he was strengthened and said, ‘my lord speak,’ he now felt able to hear and receive the message; ‘for thou hast strengthened me.’

²⁰Then said he, “Knowest thou why I come unto thee? And now will I return to fight with the prince of Persia; and when I have gone forth, lo, the prince of Greece shall come. — then said he, Knowest thou wherefore I come unto thee? The serious and highly important character of the message must be borne in mind by the prophet. And now will he return to fight with the prince of Persia, in order to hinder him from performing his evil designs against the children of Israel;

— and when I am gone forth to prepare to wage war, lo, the prince of Grecia shall come, another hostile spirit, representing Greece, destined to be the next world-power.

²¹ But I will show thee that which is noted in the Scripture of truth; and there is none that holdeth with me in these things, but Michael your prince. — but I will show thee that which is noted in the Scripture, in the sacred document of God’s divine decrees; yet there is no one who could stand firmly with Gabriel (perhaps) against these forces, except Michael, the prince and Archangel.

Posted in Daniel

Daniel (Ch 7-8)

•December 20, 2021 • Leave a Comment

It must be noted that this book is among the Writings but not among the Prophets. The foundation for their reasoning is based on sands; what seems to have induced them to degrade Daniel is the manifest prophecy of the time of the Messiah’s coming, which they don’t like, hence they dropped it from Prophets to Writings. . .

Daniel 7

¹ In the first year of Belshazzar king of Babylon, Daniel had a dream and visions in his head upon his bed. Then he wrote the dream, and told the sum of the matters. — in the first year of Belshazzar, king of Babylon, who was coregent with his father Nabonidus and the grandson and adopted son of Nebuchadnezzar, according to the secular accounts;

— Daniel had a dream and visions of his head, distinct images of his mind, quite distinct from confused pictures, upon his bed, that is, during the night then immediately or soon after it transpired he wrote the dream and told the sum of the matters, setting forth the main facts in due order and omitting matters of secondary importance such as details pertaining to the appearance of the beasts.

² Daniel spoke and said, “I saw in my vision by night, and behold, the four winds of the heaven strove upon the great sea. — Daniel spoke and said in introducing his narration of the strange experience which befell him, and he saw in his vision by night and, behold, the four winds of the heaven from the four main points of the compass, strove upon the great sea, storming along against one another upon the face of the ocean.

³And four great beasts came up from the sea, diverse one from another. — and four great beasts, monstrous in size and awful in look, came up from the sea, world-powers rising out of the turbulent political sea of the heathen world, one diverses from another, one after the other issuing from the great deep.

⁴The first was like a lion, and had eagle’s wings. I beheld till the wings thereof were plucked, and it was lifted up from the earth, and made to stand upon the feet as a man, and a man’s heart was given to it. — the first was like a lion and had eagle’s wings, emblem of kingly power and authority; Daniel beheld till the wings were plucked off, taking from the beast the ability to fly;

— and it was lifted up from the earth to which it was confined after having been deprived of its unrestrained motion and made stand upon the feet as a man, standing upon its hind feet in an upright position and a man’s heart was given to it so that it partook of the mind and the feelings of a human being.

The interpretation of this vision may briefly be given as follows. The lion with the eagle’s wings was the Babylonian Empire, whose victorious progress was halted about the time that Nebuchadnezzar was stricken with the peculiar madness, which caused him to seek the fellowship of beasts, which, however, later received at least some understanding of the true God.

⁵ And behold, another beast, a second, like unto a bear. And it raised up itself on one side, and it had three ribs in the mouth of it between the teeth of it; and they said thus unto it, ‘Arise, devour much flesh.’ — and behold another beast, a second, like to a bear, appearing later in point of time and it raised up itself on one side so that it leaned over sideways as it lifted the shoulder on that side to move forward;

— the bear symbolises the Medes, an ancient people, and the Persians, a more modern tribe, formed one united sovereignty in contrast to other kingdoms; the three ribs in its mouth are Media, Lydia, and Babylon, brought under the Persian sway; or Darius the Mede; Cyrus, Ahasuerus, and Darius, forming three ribs;

— but another even more modern possible explanation, the bear which raised himself up on one side could be a new and revised Russian empire, whose warlike nature is testified to our modern era; and it had three ribs in the mouth of it between the teeth of it, a part of a prey which had been seized by it, of animals which it had overcome; and they said thus unto it. Arise, devour much flesh, swallowing up Belarus, Ukraine and Chechnya? being given to conquest and plunder.

⁶ After this I beheld, and lo another, like a leopard, which had upon the back of it four wings of a fowl. The beast had also four heads; and dominion was given to it. — after this Daniel beheld and lo, a third animal coming on the scene somewhat later in history, like a leopard which had upon the back of it four wings of a fowl, enabling it to move with great speed;

— the beast had also four heads, indicating that its authority would be divided among four sovereigns; and dominion was given to it, great authority and power in the world.

The leopard upon whose back wings appeared is the Grecian Empire, which, under Alexander the Great, spread over the world with great rapidity.

⁷After this I saw in the night visions, and behold, a fourth beast, dreadful and terrible, and strong exceedingly; and it had great iron teeth. It devoured, and broke in pieces, and stamped the residue with the feet of it; and it was diverse from all the beasts that were before it, and it had ten horns. — after this Daniel saw in the night visions and behold a fourth beast, coming on the scene as the last world-power;

— dreadful and terrible, of awe-inspiring fierceness, and strong exceedingly and it had great iron teeth, symbolizing the lust of conquest and destruction; it devoured and brake in pieces, greedily feeding on whatever it could get into its power and stamped any residue, whatever it could not devour with the feet of it, bent upon annihilating all that stood in its way;

— and it was diverse from all the beasts that were before it so that the entire animal kingdom could furnish no beast to which it was similar; and it had ten horns, giving further impression of power and ferocity.

The fourth beast is the Roman Empire with its insatiable fierceness and love of conquest, whose spiritual descendant and successor is the kingdom of Antichrist, of the Pope at Rome, just as delineated in the Book of Revelation. The ancient empire indeed came to an end, but it was revived in the empire of Charles the Great, and the political power of the Pope is felt in practically every nation of the earth today.

⁸ I considered the horns, and behold, there came up among them another little horn, before whom there were three of the first horns plucked up by the roots. And behold, in this horn were eyes like the eyes of man, and a mouth speaking great things. — Daniel considered the horns, observing them very closely and behold, there came up among them another little horn, springing up as the eleventh and at first insignificant in size, before whom there were three of the first horns plucked up by the roots, to make room for the newcomer;

— and behold, in this horn were eyes like the eyes of man, symbols of understanding, although not possessing the characteristics of divinity, and a mouth speaking great things, full of proud and blasphemous boasting.

The fourth beast, the Roman Empire, also brought forth the Roman Catholic Church. Practically every feature of the description fits the rule of this Roman Church from the very start. The kingdom of the Pope grew up like a horn, exerting its political power very gradually, but none the less surely. From small beginnings it developed until it reached a station in which it practically controlled the fate of nations.

The Popes have, in many cases, made use of the highest wisdom, together with an almost diabolical cunning, to further their cause. By dint of their cunning they made their authority felt in the counsels of nations; they have impressed people with their power far above the real status of affairs.

The kingdom of the Pope is unlike every other kingdom, since he exerts political power under the guise of spreading the kingdom of God. Time and again the Pope of Rome has spoken blasphemous words against the one true God. History records numerous instances of persecutions carried on by Popes and their millions, as during the terrible inquisitions.

Popes have altered the Word of God to suit their own convenience and to serve their selfish interests. In spite of the reverses which the kingdom of Antichrist has suffered in the past, as when Emperor Otto I deposed Pope John XII, when the councils of the fifteenth century tried to effect at least an outward reformation, and, above all, when Martin Luther carried the fight into the enemy’s ranks, the kingdom of Antichrist will remain till the end of time. Cf II Thessalonians 2; Revelation 17.

The prophecy of Daniel was fulfilled and is being fulfilled in a most remarkable manner, a fact which tends to strengthen our faith in every word of the Bible.

⁹ “I beheld till the thrones were cast down, and the Ancient of Days sat down, whose garment was white as snow and the hair of His head like the pure wool. His throne was like the fiery flame, and His wheels as burning fire. — Daniel beheld, still engaged in close observation, till the thrones were cast down by a great act of judgement by the Ancient of Days, symbol of the eternal and majestic God, who sit, whose garment was white as snow and the hair of His head like the pure wool, both symbols of unsullied purity and holiness;

— His throne was like the fiery flame, flashing as though composed of a fiery mass and His wheels as burning fire, symbolical of the fiery zeal with which the Lord punishes the transgressors but also purifies His people and prepares them for the future glorification.

¹⁰A fiery stream issued and came forth from before Him. Thousand thousands ministered unto Him, and ten thousand times ten thousand stood before Him: the judgement was set, and the books were opened. — a fiery stream issued and came forth from before Him, to devour the sinful and hostile forces of the world and to purify the children of the Kingdom. Thousand thousands ministered unto Him and ten thousand times ten thousand stood before Him, an uncounted number of holy angels ready to do His bidding;

— the Judgement was set, everything was made ready for the trial and the books were opened, namely, the books of record in which the deeds of men were entered to serve as the basis of the sentence to be pronounced upon men by the heavenly Judge.

¹¹ “I beheld then because of the voice of the great words which the horn spoke; I beheld even till the beast was slain, and his body destroyed and given to the burning flame. — Daniel beheld them because of the voice of the great words which the horn spoke for it was due to the boasting of the ruler represented by the last horn that judgement and destruction came upon the world;

— Daniel beheld even till the beast was slain, namely, the fourth, the fierce and destructive beast and his body destroyed and given to the burning flame, whose devouring fiery streams issued from the throne of the eternal Judge.

¹² As concerning the rest of the beasts, they had their dominion taken away, yet their lives were prolonged for a season and time. — as concerning the rest of the beasts, the three which were first described, they had their dominion taken away, their power was also taken away in the general judgement;

— yet their lives were prolonged for a season and time, or rather “for the duration of their life was fixed” as to the season and time; God had determined beforehand how long their dynasty should last.

¹³ “I saw in the night visions, and behold, one like the Son of Man came with the clouds of heaven, and came to the Ancient of Days, and they brought Him near before Him. — Daniel saw in the night visions and behold, one like the Son of Man came with the clouds of heaven, riding upon them as on a celestial chariot, and came to the Ancient of Days, and they brought Him near before Him. It is on the basis of this passage, which describes the formal inauguration of the Messiah as King of His eternal kingdom, that Yeshua applied the name “Son of Man” to Himself so frequently in the gospels;

— although Jewish authority acknowledges that this book Daniel is a Sacred Text, they relegated it to “Writings” that this book is among the holy writings but not among the Prophets; it isn’t a prophecy, they didn’t quite like it; the reasons they give are based on sands as the Prophet Isaiah speaks of his own people, Israel, which include their own blind shepherd, “Hear, ye deaf; and look, ye blind, that ye may see,” Isaiah 42:18.

— their stout-hearted shepherd seem to have induced their deafness and blindness to degrade Daniel is another prophecy of the time of the Messiah’s coming in this book, that he is the Son of God, which show up in numerous text in the Tanakh; and when their eyes are open, they will see the one they have pierced, and they will mourn for him as one mourns for an only child, and grieve bitterly for him as one grieves for a firstborn son, but that will be sometimes in the later days they’ll have to a change of perception, Zechariah 12:10

¹⁴And there was given Him dominion and glory and a Kingdom, that all people, nations, and languages should serve Him. His dominion is an everlasting dominion, which shall not pass away, and His Kingdom that which shall not be destroyed. — and there was given Him dominion and glory and a kingdom, divine authority over the domain of the earth, that all people, nations and languages should serve Him;

— His dominion is an everlasting dominion which shall not pass away and His kingdom that which shall not be destroyed. The description clearly shows that the Son of Man is a person distinct from the Father, and that the fact of His eternal dominion and power is a direct argument for His deity. Cf Revelation 11:15; Revelation 19:16.

¹⁵ “I, Daniel, was grieved in my spirit in the midst of my body, and the visions of my head troubled me. — Daniel was grieved in his spirit in the midst of his vision for the body contains the spirit as the scabbard contains the sword, and the visions in his head troubled him; he felt most apprehensive concerning them.

¹⁶ I came near unto one of those who stood by, and asked him the truth of all this. So he told me and made me know the interpretation of the things: — Daniel came near unto one of them that stood by, one of those engaged in the service of God, and asked him the truth of all this, the true explanation of the judgement scene which was here enacted. So he told Daniel and made him know the interpretation of the things, so that Daniel understood the vision in all its parts.

¹⁷ ‘These great beasts, which are four, are four kings who shall arise out of the earth. — these great beasts, which are four, are four kings; the heads of mighty empires, each one the founder of a dynasty, which shall arise out of the earth, from the surface of the earth, of the earth, earthy.

¹⁸But the saints of the Most High shall take the Kingdom and possess the Kingdom for ever, even for ever and ever.’ — but the saints of the Most High shall take the kingdom, receiving it as a gift from above and possess the kingdom forever, even forever and ever. The converted members of the covenant nation, the congregation of the Lord, gathered from the elect of all nations are by virtue of their faith in the Messiah, possessors of the kingdom of God, they enjoy all the blessings of the Lord in this relationship to the Son of God and to their heavenly Father here in time and hereafter in eternity.

¹⁹ “Then I would know the truth of the fourth beast, which was diverse from all the others, exceeding dreadful, whose teeth were of iron and his nails of brass, which devoured, broke in pieces, and stamped the residue with his feet; — then Daniel would know the truth of the fourth beast, that is, Daniel was anxious to know about this beast also, which was diverse from all the others, so utterly different from them;

— exceeding dreadful, whose teeth were of iron and his nails of brass, the feature of the brazen claws being added in this description; which devoured, brake in pieces and stamped the residue with his feet.

²⁰and of the ten horns that were in his head, and of the other which came up and before whom three fell, even of the horn that had eyes and a mouth that spoke very great things, whose look was more stout than his fellows. — and of the ten horns that were in his head and of the other which came up and before whom three fell, even of that horn that had eyes and a mouth that spake very great things, in boastful blasphemy, whose look was more stout than his fellows, that is, his appearance was such as to inspire terror.

²¹ I beheld, and the same horn made war with the saints and prevailed against them — Daniel beheld and the same horn made war with the saints and prevailed against them, this being apart of its campaign of destruction, it involved a temporary defeat of the forces of the Lord,

²²until the Ancient of Days came, and judgement was given to the saints of the Most High; and the time came that the saints possessed the Kingdom. — until the Ancient of Days came, the true and only God coming to judgement upon His enemies, and judgement was given to the saints of the Most High for the Lord took their part and effected their deliverance from the oppression of the beast;

— and the time came that the saints possessed the kingdom, the Kingdom of God holding the blessings of the Lord even here in time, in spite of all hostility of Satan and his evil forces and entering into undisturbed possession of them in the Kingdom of God.

²³“Thus he said: ‘The fourth beast shall be the fourth kingdom upon earth, which shall be diverse from all kingdoms, and shall devour the whole earth, and shall tread it down and break it in pieces. — thus he said, the fourth beast shall be the fourth kingdom upon earth, following the Babylonian, the Medo-Persian and the Greek empire, respectively, which shall be diverse from all kingdoms and shall devour the whole earth and shall tread it down and break it in pieces, the general effect of its rule being decidedly destructive.

²⁴ And the ten horns out of this kingdom are ten kings that shall arise; and another shall rise after them, and he shall be diverse from the first, and he shall subdue three kings. — and the ten horns out of this kingdom are ten kings that shall arise, that is, the Roman Empire, upon its disintegration, would be resolved into a number of smaller states, all of which would, however, carry on the traditions of the mother state and still be one in spirit with her;

— and another shall rise after them, a ruler wielding a great deal of power and he shall be diverse from the first, differing from his predecessors and he shall subdue three kings, causing them completely to lose their identity.

²⁵ And he shall speak great words against the Most High, and shall wear out the saints of the Most High, and think to change times and laws; and they shall be given into his hand until a time, and times, and the dividing of time. — and he shall speak great words against the Most High in blasphemies of an unusually vicious character and shall wear out the saints of the Most High and think to change times and laws, setting aside human and divine laws at will;

— and they shall be given into his hand for him practically to work his will as he chose until a time and times and the dividing of time, the entire length of time, divided into three distinct periods being figured in terms of God’s time.

²⁶“‘But the judgement shall sit, and they shall take away his dominion, to consume and to destroy it unto the end. — but the judgement shall sit, the sentence will be carried out and they shall take away his dominion to consume and to destroy it unto the end so that its final destruction is not to be expected before the end of the world.

²⁷ And the kingdom and dominion, and the greatness of the kingdom under the whole heaven, shall be given to the people of the saints of the Most High, whose Kingdom is an everlasting Kingdom, and all dominions shall serve and obey Him.’ — and the kingdom and dominion and the greatness of the kingdom under the whole heaven, throughout the world, shall be given to the people of the saints of the Most High so that the Kingdom of the Lord would finally be victorious whose kingdom is an everlasting kingdom and all dominions shall serve and obey Him.

²⁸ “Here is the end of the matter. As for me, Daniel, my cogitations much troubled me, and my countenance changed in me; but I kept the matter in my heart.” — here is the end of the matter, this is the gist of the vision. As for Daniel, his cogitations troubled him much, namely, after he awoke from his dream and his countenance changed, his face showed the effect of his worry over the matter; but Daniel kept the matter in his heart; he did not make it known, did not discuss it with others.

Daniel 8

¹ In the third year of the reign of King Belshazzar a vision appeared unto me, even unto me, Daniel, after that which appeared unto me at the first. — in the third year of the reign of Belshazzar, two years after Daniel had had the vision of the four monarchies, a vision appeared unto him, after which appeared unto him at the first, that is, in addition to that other important prophetic vision which he had recorded in the previous chapter. It is evident that this vision did not come to Daniel in a dream, but that he was awake and conscious while this information came to him.

² And I saw in a vision; and it came to pass when I saw, that I was at Shushan in the palace, which is in the province of Elam; and I saw in a vision, and I was by the river of Ulai. — and Daniel saw in a vision in a state of ecstasy; and it came to pass when Daniel saw that he was at Shushan or Susa in the palace, which is in the province of Elam, for Susa was the capital of this province during the Babylonian supremacy while under Persian reign it was located in the satrapy of Susiana;

— and Daniel saw in a vision and he was by the river of Ulai, or Eulaeus, on which Susa was situated. Daniel evidently in his capacity as one of the foremost officials of the empire, visited various provinces from time to time or he may even have had a winter home in this city.

³ Then I lifted up mine eyes and saw, and behold, there stood before the river a ram which had two horns; and the two horns were high, but one was higher than the other, and the higher came up last. — then Daniel lifted up mine eyes and saw and, behold, there stood before the river, probably to the east of it, a ram not in a flock but alone which had two horns; and the two horns were high, both of them expressive of royalty and power but one was higher than the other, and the higher the one possessing the greater power, came up last, it was later in point of time;

The ram which thou sawest having two horns are the kings of Media and Persia, or the Medo-Persian Empire, v 20 below; which destroyed the Babylon empire in 539 BC and ruled to 331 BC.

⁴ I saw the ram pushing westward and northward and southward, so that no beasts might stand before him, neither was there any that could deliver out of his hand; but he did according to his will and became great. — Daniel saw the ram pushing westward and northward and southward to subdue all the countries located in these directions so that no beasts might stand before him, neither was there any that could deliver out of his hand, his power, for the time being was absolute;

— but he did according to his will and became great so that the empire which he represented became a world power.

⁵ And as I was considering, behold, a hegoat came from the west on the face of the whole earth, and touched not the ground; and the goat had a notable horn between his eyes. — and as Daniel was considering, observing very closely everything that transpired, behold, an he-goat came from the west, from Europe, across Asia Minor;

⁶And he came to the ram that had two horns, which I had seen standing before the river, and ran unto him in the fury of his power. — and he came to the ram that had two horns, not stopping for any consideration, which Daniel had seen standing before the river, and ran unto him in the fury of his power, in irresistible mighty rage.

Then the Greco-Macedonian Empire came on the scene with its first great king, Alexander the Great (verses 6 and 7); the conquest of the Medo-Persian Empire by Alexander the Great occurred in 331 BC.

⁷ And I saw him come close unto the ram, and he was moved with fury against him, and smote the ram and broke his two horns; and there was no power in the ram to stand before him, but he cast him down to the ground and stamped upon him. And there was none that could deliver the ram out of his hand. — and Daniel saw him come close unto the ram, and he was moved with choler against him with sudden, explosive anger and smote the ram in a fierce overthrow and brake his two horns; and there was no power in the ram to stand before him;

⁸ Therefore the he-goat waxed very great; and when he was strong, the great horn was broken, and in its place came up four notable ones toward the four winds of heaven. — therefore the he-goat waxed very great, his power developed mightily; and when he was strong, just as he reached the highest point of his might;

— the great horn was broken, the unity of the attacking power was disrupted with the death of its leader: and for it came up four notable ones, four leaders, who divided the power among themselves toward the four winds of heaven.

— the horn in the goat’s head symbolized the “first king” of the Greco-Macedonian Empire; that was Alexander the Great; but this horn was suddenly “broken”! — Alexander the Great died suddenly of a fever in Babylon little more than thirty years of age!

⁹ And out of one of them came forth a little horn, which waxed exceeding great, toward the south and toward the east and toward the pleasant land. — and out of one of them came forth a little horn, sprouting in a diminutive manner like the branches in the prongs of an antelope which waxed exceeding great toward the south and toward the east and toward the pleasant land, Judea, the glorious land, the land of God’s chosen people;

— this “little horn” appears coming out of one of the four divisions of Alexander’s empire.

¹⁰And it waxed great, even to the host of heaven; and it cast down some of the host and some of the stars to the ground, and stamped upon them. — and it waxed great, even to the host of heaven, to the congregation of the Lord’s people, for the Jews were at that time representatives of the Lord’s Kingdom on earth; and it cast down some of the host and of the stars to the ground and stamped upon them, presuming, in its pride to wage warfare even against the stars (saints) of the Lord;

— the “little horn” will persecute the true Church — the “holy people” who shall shine in the resurrection like the stars of heaven (compare Daniel 8:10, 24 with Daniel 12:3). He seems like Antiochus Epiphanes!

¹¹ Yea, he magnified himself even to the prince of the host; and by him the daily sacrifice was taken away, and the place of his sanctuary was cast down. — yea, he, Antiochus Epiphanes, magnified himself even to the prince of the host, placing himself on a level with the most high God with the King of kings and the Lord of lords and by him the daily sacrifice was taken away, that is, he interfered with the worship of the true God as then carried on in the Temple, and the place of His Sanctuary was cast down, profaned with blasphemous behavior;

— some misguided say the heavenly Sanctuary was “cast down” – it’s just baloney: all the heavenly angels and even God allows this to happen around His Throne? (more at the end)

¹² And a host was given him against the daily sacrifice by reason of transgression, and it cast down the truth to the ground; and it practiced, and prospered. — and an host was given him against the daily sacrifice by reason of transgression, that is, “warfare was inaugurated against the daily sacrifice with outrage,” with idolatrous worship by the heathen ruler, Antiochus Epiphanes, represented by the last horn, and it cast down the truth to the ground; and it practiced and prospered; it accomplished this much, it was successful by divine permission: God permitted the profaning to go on for some time.

¹³Then I heard one saint speaking, and another saint said unto that certain saint who spoke, “How long shall be the vision concerning the daily sacrifice and the transgression of desolation, to give both the sanctuary and the host to be trodden under foot?” — then Daniel heard one saint, one of the Lord’s saints speaking and another saint said unto that certain saint which spoke as they were conversing, the interruption being made in the interest of Daniel;

— how long shall be the vision concerning the daily sacrifice, that is, how long would the subject of this vision, the destruction of the Lord’s worship, continue and the transgression of desolation, the horrible transgression which had just been described to give both the Sanctuary and the host to be trodden under foot? so that the Kingdom of God, then represented by the nation of the Jews returned from Babylon would be made desolate and be hindered from spreading.

¹⁴ And he said unto me, “Until two thousand and three hundred days; then shall the sanctuary be cleansed.” — and he said unto Daniel, Unto two thousand and three hundred days, literally, “evening-mornings” then shall the Sanctuary be cleansed or “justified” which may mean deconsecrated, (the original “days” in Hebrew is “bō·qer e·reḇ” which is morning/evening). The figures and further analysis are given at the end of this chapter

— the doctrine of the Investigative Judgement, which began on October 22, 1844, is an integral part of the Seventh-day Adventist doctrine of the sanctuary, teching that a judgement had begun on that year’s Day of Atonement, when Christ entered the Most Holy Place in heaven to start an “investigative judgement.” One of the mysteries is that according to Jewish reckoning, there is no way Yum Kippur could be so late as October 22 of any year; and in the year 1844 (Hebrew year 5605) it was on September 23, (more on this at the end).

¹⁵And it came to pass, when I, even I Daniel, had seen the vision and sought for the meaning, then behold, there stood before me one with the appearance of a man. — and it came to pass when Daniel, even he had seen the vision and sought for the meaning, pondering over it, viewing it from every angle, then, behold there stood before me as the appearance of a man the apparition coming with startling suddenness.

¹⁶ And I heard a man’s voice between the banks of Ulai, who called and said, “Gabriel, make this man to understand the vision.” — and Daniel heard a man’s voice, the speaker being invisible to Daniel, between the banks of Ulai, coming from between the two branches of the Eulaeus River, which called and said, Gabriel, make this man to understand the vision. So the being who appeared to Daniel in the aspect of a man was one of the Lord’s angel princes. Cf Luke 1:19.

¹⁷So he came near where I stood. And when he came I was afraid and fell upon my face, but he said unto me, “Understand, O son of man,for at the time of the end shall be the vision.” — so he came near where Daniel stood; and when he came, Daniel as afraid, the close proximity of a holy being filled him with fear and fell upon Daniel’s face; but he said unto him;

— Understand, O son of man, the address reminding Daniel of his human weakness, without, however, humiliating him; for at the time of the end shall be the vision, that is, it gives information concerning occurrences at the end of time, the final period of the earth’s history.

¹⁸Now as he was speaking with me, I was in a deep sleep with my face toward the ground; but he touched me and set me upright. — now, as he was speaking with Daniel, who was in a deep sleep on his face toward the ground in a state of numbness or ecstasy, which shut off his senses from earthly things; but he touched Daniel and set him upright, strengthening him for the time being that he might witness the rest of the vision.

¹⁹ And he said, “Behold, I will make thee know what shall be in the last end of the indignation, for at the time appointed the end shall be. — CSB and said, “I am here to tell you what will happen at the conclusion of the time of wrath, because it refers to the appointed time of the end; when the wrath of God would be poured out upon the godless world; for at the time appointed the end shall be.

²⁰The ram which thou sawest having two horns, these are the kings of Media and Persia. — the ram which thou sawest having two horns are the kings of Media and Persia, the Medo-Persian monarchy in its entire historical development. This empire subdued, under Persian leadership: toward the west, Babylon, Mesopotamia, Syria, and the countries of Asia Minor; toward the north, Colchis, Armenia, Iberia, and the states along the Caspian Sea; toward the south, Judea, Egypt, Ethiopia and India.

²¹And the rough goat is the king of Greece; and the great horn that is between his eyes is the first king. — and the rough goat, moving eastward across Asia Minor in victorious advance, is the king of Grecia, literally “of Javan” Macedonia, Greece and the Ionian colonies being included in the term; and the great horn that is between his eyes is the first king, Alexander the Great, the founder of this world-power.

²² Now that one being broken, in whose place four stood up for it, four kingdoms shall stand up out of the nation, but not in his power. — now, that being broken, whereas four stood up for it, or “concerning the horn, that it was broken and that four then took its place,” this is the meaning: four kingdoms shall stand up out of the nation, out of the world of nations united under the rule of the first king, but not in his power, not equal to the founder, neither singly nor all taken together.

²³ And in the latter time of their kingdom, when the transgressors are come to the full, a king of fierce countenance and understanding dark sentences shall stand up. — and in the latter time of their kingdom, that is, after these dynasties had been in existence for some time, when the transgressors are come to the full, when the apostate Jews would once more have fulfilled the measure of their wickedness;

— a king of fierce countenance, shameless, one like Antiochus Epiphanes, without the slightest regard for God and men, and understanding dark sentences, hiding his true purposes behind ambiguous statements, shall stand up, coming into power as the ruler of that section of the Greek Empire.

²⁴ And his power shall be mighty, but not by his own power; and he shall destroy wondrously, and shall prosper and perform, and shall destroy the mighty and the holy people. — and one like Antiochus Epiphanes, his power shall be mighty, but not by his own power, rather on account of his cunning dissimulation, with the permission of God; and he shall destroy wonderfully, so that men would be astonished at his activities in this respect, and shall prosper and practice and shall destroy the mighty and the holy people, venting his spite both upon the warlike enemies opposing him and upon the congregation of the saints;

— the “little horn” which was transformed into the pagan papal Roman Church, has all along persecutes the true Church — the “holy people” who shall shine in the resurrection like the stars of heaven (compare Daniel 8:10, 24 with Daniel 12:3).

²⁵And through his policy also he shall cause deceit to prosper in his hand; and he shall magnify himself in his heart, and by using peace shall destroy many. He shall also stand up against the Prince of princes, but he shall be broken without raising a hand. — and through his, the “little horn” policy also he shall cause craft to prosper in his hand, that is, in accordance with his cunning he would succeed in his deception in various hypocritical plans which he had decided upon; and he shall magnify himself in his heart, becoming proud by reason of these successful maneuvers;

— and by peace shall destroy many, while they were living in care-free security, the suddenness of the attack causing them to yield without a struggle; he shall also stand up against the Prince of princes, presuming to set himself even against God. But he shall be broken without hand; God Himself taking his punishment in hand.

²⁶ “And the vision of the evening and the morning which was told is true. Therefore shut thou up the vision, for it shall be for many days.” — and the vision of the evening and the morning which was told, concerning the length of the time of the affliction, is true; wherefore shut thou up the vision, to preserve it for such later day, for it shall be for many days, the vision, being concerned with things of the distant future, would retain its prophetic value and should therefore not be revealed generally at this time.

²⁷And I, Daniel, fainted and was sick several days. Afterward I rose up and did the king’s business; and I was astonished at the vision, but none understood it. — and Daniel, overcome by the startling and overwhelming character of the revelation, fainted and was sick certain days. Afterward Daniel rose up and did the king’s business, attending to the duties of his office as before;

— and Daniel was astonished at the vision, he kept his counsel concerning it, but none understood it, for the full significance of the revelation he received would be possible only with its fulfillment. Antiochus Epiphanes is rightly regarded in history as a type of Antichrist, the papacy of Rome, for he made every effort to drive out the worship of the true God in the Holy Land and to substitute instead a veneration of himself.

~~~

More on the 2300 days when the daily sacrifices are taken away (Daniel 8:13-14)

First read Daniel 8:13-14

Then I heard one saint speaking, and another saint said unto that certain saint who spoke, “How long shall be the vision concerning the daily sacrifice and the transgression of desolation, to give both the sanctuary and the host to be trodden under foot?”

And he said unto me, “Until two thousand and three hundred days; then shall the sanctuary be cleansed.”

A key to this mysterious time period was hidden from Daniel’s understanding — was not to be revealed until the latter days! It is a prophecy for our time — this climactic 21st Century!

Some try to explain this prophecy by assuming the “sanctuary” is in heaven and claim that this vision of “2300 days” commenced in 457 BC and ended in 1844, (using a day for a year principle, hence the “2300 days” represent 2300 years). During this time of 2300 years the “sanctuary” that was cast down — the Holy of Holies in heaven itself — God’s very throne — was to be “cleansed” beginning on October 22, 1844.

Oh Goodness! Such thinking are just Nonsense! How could “the little horn” cast down the Holy of Holies in heaven? Insanity asides, how could well over 20 millions believe such balderdash today? Unless, of course, they were deceived by a Prophetess Jezebel. “O Blind Guides! Who warned you to flee from the wrath to come?” The first thing that these believers need to clean is to clean their own brains. God the Almighty is well capable of looking after his Holy of Holies in heaven! Or, is he not so Almighty?

Whatever the answer is, it has to do with an earthly event concerning the Sanctuary or the Temple in Jerusalem. But notice the little horn takes away the daily sacrifice for “2300 days.” Were there any daily sacrifices taken away since the writing of Daniel?

One possible answer is that this prophecy of the taking away of the evening and morning sacrifice has already been fulfilled by Antiochus Epiphanes. This is rather possible! Notice why: what happened to the daily sacrifice in the days of Antiochus Epiphanes (168-165 BC). The wicked deeds of Antiochus Epiphanes are recorded in Daniel 11:31. He polluted the ancient sanctuary. He took away the daily sacrifice, and the 1150 days is one possibility; or perhaps it could be a preamble.

Now consider who the “little horn” in this prophecy is. It spring out from the King of the North; which originally was Syria, the Seleucid Empire — north of Palestine. But Syria was soon swallowed by ROME. The Roman system of government became the “King of the North.” Later the “little horn” became the papal Roman Church, which persecutes the true Church — the “holy people” shall shine in the resurrection like the stars of heaven (compare Daniel 8:10, 24 with Daniel 12:3).

The papal Roman Church had existed to our time in Europe, Asia and now all over the world. In the Middle Ages it was called the Holy Roman Empire, and the church ever since was and is the Roman Catholic Church.

Notice Daniel 8:26: “And the vision of the evening and the morning which was told is true….” The vision of “2300 days” is actually called in the Scripture “the vision of the evening and the morning” The word “days” this note reveals that the original Hebrew of the word “days” is “evening morning” (the original “days” in Hebrew is “bō·qer e·reḇ” which is morning and evening). This prophecy is NOT referring to 24-hour days but to evenings/mornings; that is, the evening and the morning sacrifice!

According to verse 11 the little horn takes away the DAILY SACRIFICE. The daily sacrifice was offered in the evening and in the morning. In Exodus 29:39, “The one lamb thou shalt offer in the morning, and the other lamb thou shalt offer at evening.”

Verse 14 in other versions “two thousand three hundred evenings and mornings.” In other words, here is a prophecy that two thousand three hundred evening and morning sacrifices would cease to be offered. Since the daily sacrifice was offered TWICE A DAY, this prophecy is actually speaking of one thousand one hundred fifty (1150) days. In 1150 days there would be exactly two thousand three hundred sacrifices offered at evening and morning.

Some excerpts from Wikipedia (Hanukkah)

When the Second Temple in Jerusalem was looted and services stopped, Judaism was outlawed. In 167 BCE, Antiochus ordered an altar to Zeus erected in the Temple. He banned brit milah (circumcision) and ordered pigs to be sacrificed at the altar of the temple.

By 164 BCE, the Jewish revolt against the Seleucid monarchy was successful. The Temple was liberated and rededicated. The festival of Hanukkah was instituted to celebrate this event. Judah ordered the Temple to be cleansed, a new altar to be built in place of the polluted one and new holy vessels to be made.

We may not be sure of the exact dates, but one account says the abomination took place on the 15th of Kislev (1 Maccabees 1:54) in 167 BC, and at the end of this 1150-day period the sanctuary is to be “cleansed” or “justified” and on another account this cleansing was established on the 25th of Kislev in 164 BC to celebrate this liberation: Hanukkah; which would be roughly 1105 days, short of 1150 days by 45 days, or 90 “evening morning, bō·qer e·reḇ.” Thus this prophecy of “2300 days” could have been or partially fulfilled by the abomination set up by Antiochus Epiphanes until its liberation.

And finally, such a prophecy could be dual, that is, another possibility could reoccur if the third Temple is to be built in Jerusalem in the future and another transgression of desolation causing the daily sacrifices to cease. This final time, it could be fulfilled exactly “2300 days.”

And skipping forward to Daniel 12:11 “And from the time that the daily sacrifice shall be taken away and the abomination that maketh desolate set up, there shall be a thousand two hundred and ninety days.” And in Matthew 24:15 “When ye therefore shall see the abomination of desolation, spoken of by Daniel the prophet, standing in the holy place (whoso readeth, let him understand).” There we are, another transgression of desolation yet in the future. How will all these play out, well, we’ll have to wait and see.

Posted in Daniel

Daniel (Ch 5-6)

•December 17, 2021 • Leave a Comment

Daniel 5

¹ Belshazzar the king made a great feast for a thousand of his lords, and drank wine before the thousand. — Belshazzar, the king, the son of Nabonidus, apparently the grandson of Nebuchadnezzar, made a great feast to a thousand of his lords and drank wine before the thousand, the banquet becoming a drunken orgy. He was in command of the capital at that time and excelled in most of the vices for which ancient rulers were known.

²Belshazzar, while he tasted the wine, commanded to bring the golden and silver vessels which his father Nebuchadnezzar had taken out of the temple which was in Jerusalem, that the king and his princes, his wives and his concubines might drink therein. — Belshazzar, while he tasted his wine, sitting on a platform or dais, when he had just gotten under the influence of the wine’s intoxicating power, commanded to bring the golden and silver vessels which his father, or grandfather, Nebuchadnezzar had taken out of the Temple which was in Jerusalem, Cf Jeremiah 52:19; II Kings 25:14-17;

— that the king, his princes and governors, the foremost nobles of the realm, their wives and concubines, whose presence at the royal banquets is mentioned also by secular historians, might drink therein, using them to parade their drunken mockery.

³Then they brought the golden vessels that were taken out of the temple of the house of God which was at Jerusalem; and the king and his princes, his wives, and his concubines drank from them. — then they brought the golden vessels that were taken out of the Temple of the house of God, out of the Sanctuary which was at Jerusalem; and the king and his princes, his wives and his concubines, drank in them. This act can in no wise be excused or condoned, not even as an act of religion, as a libation to the God of the Jews: it was a deed of reckless profanity.

⁴They drank wine, and praised the gods of gold and of silver, of brass, of iron, of wood, and of stone. — they drank wine and, in their intoxication, praised the gods of gold, silver, brass, iron, wood and stone. It was thus essentially an exaltation of their idols above Yehovah of whom they thought that they had conquered Him in battle.

⁵In the same hour came forth fingers of a man’s hand, and wrote opposite the candlestick upon the plaster of the wall of the king’s palace; and the king saw the part of the hand that wrote. — in the same hour, suddenly, while they were still in the midst of their drunken revelry came forth fingers of a man’s hand and wrote, or were writing, over against the candlestick upon the plaster of the wall of the king’s palace, which had no paneling or tapestry;

— and the king saw the part of the hand, the extremity of the moving fingers, that wrote upon a spot of the wall which was particularly exposed to the light from the lamp above the king, he suddenly beheld the mysterious and terrifying phenomenon of the hand engaged in writing.

⁶Then the king’s countenance was changed and his thoughts troubled him, so that the joints of his loins were loosed and his knees smote one against another. — then the king’s countenance was changed, literally, then the king, his color was changed unto him and his thoughts troubled him as his guilty conscience filled him with terror so that the joints of his loins were loosed, they no longer possessed the strength to hold the body together firmly and his knees smote one against another, his terror causing him to lose control of them entirely.

⁷The king cried aloud to bring in the astrologers, the Chaldeans, and the soothsayers. And the king spoke and said to the wise men of Babylon, “Whosoever shall read this writing and show me the interpretation thereof, shall be clothed with scarlet and have a chain of gold about his neck, and shall be the third ruler in the kingdom.” — the king cried aloud, his terror causing him to raise his voice with might, to bring in the astrologers, the Chaldeans, and the soothsayers, that is, all the wisest men of the realm;

— and the king spoke and said to the wise men of Babylon, as many as followed his summons at once, Whosoever shall read this writing and show me the interpretation thereof, explaining its meaning and applying its significance;

— shall be clothed with scarlet with the costly purple garments worn by Oriental rulers and have a chain of gold about his neck, this golden necklace serving as the mark of special favor from the king, and shall be the third ruler in the kingdom, occupying the highest position in the realm, next to its emperor and coregent.

⁸Then came in all the king’s wise men; but they could not read the writing, nor make known to the king the interpretation thereof. — then came in all the king’s wise men, one after the other appearing in agreement with his summons; but they could not read the writing nor make known to the king the interpretation thereof. In other words, they had to confess their complete failure.

⁹Then was King Belshazzar greatly troubled, and his countenance was changed in him, and his lords were dismayed. — then, on account of the utter inability of the wise men to give him the desired information, was King Belshazzar greatly troubled, he was filled with deepest apprehension and trepidation and his countenance was changed in him and his lords were astonied, not only being filled with alarm but also with confusion which showed itself in excited movements.

¹⁰Now the queen, by reason of the words of the king and his lords, came into the banquet house. And the queen spoke and said, “O king, live for ever! Let not thy thoughts trouble thee, nor let thy countenance be changed. — now the queen, the queen mother, or dowager, very likely the wife of Nebuchadnezzar, by reason of the words of the king and his lords, the sound of which as they raised their voices in their excitement;

— came into the banquet house; and the queen spake and said, O king, live forever! the customary address in her mouth detracting in no way from the quiet dignity of her coming. Let not thy thoughts trouble thee, nor let thy countenance be changed by the terror inspired by the mysterious writing on the wall.

¹¹There is a man in thy kingdom in whom is the spirit of the holy gods. And in the days of thy father, light and understanding and wisdom, like the wisdom of the gods, was found in him whom King Nebuchadnezzar thy father — the king, I say, thy father — made master of the magicians, astrologers, Chaldeans, and soothsayers. — there is a man in thy kingdom in whom is the spirit of the holy gods, the queen-mother thus repeating the very language of Nebuchadnezzar, Daniel 4:8; 9:18;

— and in the days of thy father, or grandfather, light and understanding and wisdom, like the wisdom of the gods was found in him; whom the King Nebuchadnezzar, thy father, the king, I say, thy father, the repetition serving to give her words greater emphasis, made master of the magicians, astrologers, Chaldeans and soothsayers, Daniel 4:9.

¹²Inasmuch as an excellent spirit, and knowledge, and understanding, interpreting of dreams, and interpreting of hard sentences and dissolving of doubts were found in the same Daniel whom the king named Belteshazzar, now let Daniel be called and he will show the interpretation.” — forasmuch as an excellent spirit, a most extraordinary talent, and knowledge and understanding, interpreting of dreams and showing of hard sentences, giving the explanation of riddles and conundrums, and dissolving of doubts, literally “untying knots” that is, finding the solutions of the most intricate problems;

— were found in the same Daniel, whom the king named Belteshazzar. Now, let Daniel be called, and he will show the interpretation; for Daniel was probably deprived of the office to which Nebuchadnezzar had promoted him, as master of the magicians after the king’s death although he may still have remained in the service of the state; Belshazzar might easily have been ignorant of his services.

¹³Then was Daniel brought in before the king. And the king spoke and said unto Daniel, “Art thou that Daniel who art of the children of the captivity of Judah, whom the king my father brought out of Jewry? — then was Daniel brought in before the king; summoned to appear without delay. And the king spoke unto Daniel, Art thou that Daniel which art of the children of the captivity of Judah, whom the king, my father, or grandfather, brought out of Jewry? The question was intended merely to fix the identity of Daniel beyond the slightest doubt and as such required no answer.

¹⁴I have even heard of thee that the spirit of the gods is in thee, and that light and understanding and excellent wisdom are found in thee. — I have even heard of thee that the spirit of the gods is in thee, the king omitting the adjective “holy” which the queen-mother had used, and that light and understanding and excellent wisdom is found in thee.

¹⁵And now the wise men, the astrologers, have been brought in before me, that they should read this writing and make known unto me the interpretation thereof; but they could not show the interpretation of the thing. — and now the wise men, the astrologers, the soothsayers only being mentioned as representing the entire class of wise men of the kingdom, have been brought in before me that they should read this writing and make known unto me the interpretation thereof; but they could not show the interpretation of the thing, they could not give the explanation of the words on the wall.

¹⁶And I have heard of thee that thou canst make interpretations and dissolve doubts. Now if thou canst read the writing and make known to me the interpretation thereof, thou shalt be clothed with scarlet, and have a chain of gold about thy neck, and shalt be the third ruler in the kingdom.” — and I have heard of thee that thou can make interpretations and dissolve doubts, untie the hardest knots;

— now, if thou can read the writing and make known to me the interpretation thereof, thou shalt be clothed with scarlet and have a chain of gold about thy neck and shalt be the third ruler in the kingdom, the promise made earlier in the evening in a more general way thus being applied to Daniel alone. Like Belshazzar, the unbelievers are often troubled by the terrors of an evil conscience and readily have recourse to almost any solution which offers in order to know their fate or to gain peace of mind.

¹⁷Then Daniel answered and said before the king, “Let thy gifts be to thyself, and give thy rewards to another; yet I will read the writing unto the king, and make known to him the interpretation. — then Daniel answered and said before the king, Let thy gifts be to thyself, and give thy rewards, the presents which he intended as a fee to Daniel, to another, the prophet of Yehovah rejecting everything which might afterwards be construed as having influenced him in his message;

— yet I will read the writing unto the king and make known to him the interpretation, as an act of loyalty to both the earthly ruler and the heavenly Sovereign; for he intended to speak without reservation, no matter whether the result would please or displease the king.

¹⁸O thou king, the Most High God gave Nebuchadnezzar thy father a kingdom, and majesty and glory and honor. — O thou king, the formal and solemn address bringing out the importance of the message from the outset and placing its entire import into direct relation to the king, the most high God gave Nebuchadnezzar, thy father, a kingdom, majesty, glory and honor, far above that enjoyed by Belshazzar.

¹⁹And for the majesty that He gave him, all people, nations, and languages trembled and feared before him. Whomever he would he slew; and whomever he would he kept alive; and whomever he would he set up; and whomever he would he put down. — and for the majesty that He gave him, the imperial authority and supremacy which he enjoyed, all people, nations and languages trembled and feared before him, were in a constant state of fear and trepidation lest they incur his displeasure;

— whom he would he slew and whom he would he kept alive, being the absolute master of life and death; and whom he would he set up and whom he would he put down for both the advancement and the demotion of the subjects of his realm were matters of his whim.

²⁰But when his heart was lifted up and his mind hardened in pride, he was deposed from his kingly throne, and they took his glory from him. — but that is in spite of this unexampled position of power, when his heart was lifted up and his mind hardened in pride, so that he thought he could deal proudly with an utter disregard of the will of the Lord, he was deposed from his kingly throne and they took his glory from him as related in chapter 4.

²¹And he was driven from the sons of men; and his heart was made like the beasts, and his dwelling was with the wild asses. They fed him with grass like oxen, and his body was wet with the dew of heaven, till he knew that the Most High God ruled in the kingdom of men, and that He appointeth over it whomsoever He will. — and he was driven from the sons of men, excluded from their society, and his heart was made like the beasts, and his dwelling was with the wild asses, this picturesque item being added for the sake of further embellishment of the narrative;

— they fed him with grass like oxen and his body was wet with the dew of heaven till he knew that the most high God ruled in the kingdom of men and that He appoints over it whomsoever He will, that is, until he gave all honor and glory to the true God alone; this lesson is now driven home.

²²And thou his son, O Belshazzar, hast not humbled thine heart though thou knewest all this,

²³but hast lifted up thyself against the Lord of heaven. And they have brought the vessels of His house before thee, and thou and thy lords, thy wives, and thy concubines have drunk wine from them; and thou hast praised the gods of silver and gold, of brass, iron, wood, and stone, which see not nor hear nor know. And the God in whose hand thy breath is, and whose are all thy ways, hast thou not glorified. — but hast lifted up thyself against the Lord of heaven in blasphemous pride; and they have brought the vessels of His house of the Temple of Yehovah, the one true God before thee and thou and thy lords, thy wives and thy concubines have drunk wine in them; and thou hast praised the gods of silver and gold,

— of brass, iron, wood, and stone, which see not, nor hear nor know, Cf Deuteronomy 4:28; Psalms 115:5, Psalms 135:15 and the God in whose hand thy breath is, and whose are all thy ways, the one Creator and Ruler of the universe hast thou not glorified as was the solemn duty resting upon him.

²⁴“Then was the part of the hand sent from Him, and this writing was written. — then was the part of the hand, the outstretched fingers of the writing hand sent from Him and this writing was written to announce the doom which was now inevitable.

²⁵And this is the writing that was written: Mene, Mene, Tekel, Upharsin. — and this is the writing that was written, Mene, Mene, Tekel, Upharsin, literally, “numbered, numbered, weighed and divided.”

²⁶This is the interpretation of the thing. Mene: God hath numbered thy kingdom, and finished it. — Mene, Mene: God hath numbered thy kingdom, and finished it; God had fixed the number of years, how long that monarchy should last and also the number of years that he should reign over; and both these numbers were now completed; for that very night Belshazzar was slain and the kingdom translated to another nation: and a dreadful thing it is to be numbered to the sword, famine and pestilence or any sore judgement of God for sin so more especially to be appointed to everlasting wrath and to be numbered.

²⁷Tekel: Thou art weighed in the balances, and art found wanting. — Tekel: thou art weighed in the balances, namely, in those of God’s justice and judgement, his character analyzed according to the demands of God’s holiness, and art found wanting, below weight in moral worth and capacity.

²⁸Peres: Thy kingdom is divided, and given to the Medes and Persians.” — Peres: thy kingdom is divided, severed, cut into two pieces, should be broken up and separated from him: and given to the Medes and Persians, the Lord Himself making the division, to Cyrus the Persian who was a partner for a while with his uncle Darius in the reign of the empire: there is also an elegant play of words in “Peres” and “Persians.”

²⁹ Then commanded Belshazzar, and they clothed Daniel with scarlet and put a chain of gold about his neck, and made a proclamation concerning him, that he should be the third ruler in the kingdom. — then commanded Belshazzar, in accordance with his promise and they clothed Daniel with scarlet with royal purple and put a chain of gold about his neck and made a proclamation concerning him that he should be the third ruler in the kingdom, next in power to Nabonidus and Belshazzar. Even if this proclamation was made in the banquet hall it reached the representatives of the entire kingdom who were there assembled.

³⁰In that night was Belshazzar the king of the Chaldeans slain. — that night was Belshazzar, king of the Chaldeans, slain; that when his city was taken by the victorious armies of the enemy, who took the city, who led Darius’ army up the river Euphrates into the city of Babylon, its course being turned; the inhabitants of which being revelling while the gates open, these men went up to the king’s palace, the doors of which being opened by the king’s orders to know what was the matter, they rushed in and finding him standing up with his sword drawn in his own defence, they fell upon him and slew him.

³¹And Darius the Mede took the kingdom, being about threescore and two years old. — and Darius, the Median, took the kingdom, being about threescore and two years old. There is evidence from secular sources that Darius the Mede whose other name was Gobryas was an uncle of Cyrus. It was known that Darius reigned not long, two years and not alone, but Cyrus with him and that Cyrus would reign thirty years, for he lived until he was seventy years of age, that is, he began to reign when he was forty;

— most authorities recognized that years as 539 BC.

Daniel 6

¹ It pleased Darius to set over the kingdom a hundred and twenty princes, who should be over the whole kingdom; — it pleased Darius, when he had fully taken over the government of the kingdom, to set over the kingdom an hundred and twenty princes, called satraps in secular history but divided the kingdom of Persia into twenty provinces and set governors over each, which should be over the whole kingdom as governors of the smaller sections or provinces into which the empire was divided.

²and over these, three presidents, of whom Daniel was first, that the princes might give account unto them and the king should have no damage. — and over these three presidents, chief prefects, or ministers of whom Daniel, now an old man was first, not higher in rank but first in dignity, that the princes might give accounts unto them, the satraps thus being responsible to their superiors chiefly in financial matters and the king should have no damage, his interests being taken care of by virtue of this statesmanlike arrangement.

³Then this Daniel was preferred above the presidents and princes, because an excellent spirit was in him; and the king thought to set him over the whole realm. — then this Daniel was preferred above the presidents and princes, that is, he showed himself superior to them because an excellent spirit was in him (Daniel 5:12); and the king thought to set him over the whole realm. This intention the king very likely made known with the result that it stirred up the jealousy of the other presidents.

⁴Then the presidents and princes sought to find occasion against Daniel concerning the kingdom, but they could find no occasion nor fault, inasmuch as he was faithful; neither was there any error or fault found in him. — then the presidents and princes, actuated by an envy which caused them to disregard the best interests of the kingdom sought to find occasion against Daniel concerning the kingdom, that is, they tried to find some delinquency in the work of his official position;

— but they could find none occasion nor fault, no reason for impeachment, no ground for an accusation, forasmuch as he was faithful, neither was there any error or fault found in him, he was beyond reproach in his entire administration.

⁵Then said these men, “We shall not find any occasion against this Daniel unless we find it against him concerning the law of his God.” — then said these men, in conferring with one another concerning ways and means of removing the hated rival, We shall not find any occasion against this Daniel except we find it against him concerning the Law of his God, regarding the practice of his religion. This is the course which is often followed by the enemies of the believers: if they cannot discredit in any matter pertaining to his duty, they try to show that the observance of his religious worship is dangerous to the state.

⁶Then these presidents and princes assembled together before the king, and said thus unto him, “King Darius, live for ever!

⁷All the presidents of the kingdom, the governors and the princes, the counselors and the captains, have consulted together to establish a royal statute and to make a firm decree, that whosoever shall ask a petition of any god or man for thirty days, except of thee, O king, he shall be cast into the den of lions. — all the presidents of the kingdom, a statement which stretched the truth rather dangerously, the governors and the princes or satraps, the counselors and the captains, the lower officials;

— have consulted together to establish a royal statute and to make a firm decree, rather, “that the king ought to establish a statute and issue an interdict,” that whosoever shall ask a petition of any God or man for thirty days, within the next thirty days, save of thee, O king, he shall be cast into the den of lions. The request was cleverly worded to flatter the king, particularly since it seemed to be the desire of all the officials of the realm.

⁸Now, O king, establish the decree and sign the writing, that it be not changed, according to the law of the Medes and Persians, which altereth not.” — now O king, establish the decree and sign the writing, recording the proclamation by stamping it with his official seal, that it be not changed, according to the law of the Medes and Persians, which alter not, it could not be repealed in the Medo-Persian Empire.

⁹Therefore King Darius signed the writing and the decree. — signed the writing and the decree, placing his royal seal upon the interdict and thus establishing it for his entire realm.

¹⁰Now when Daniel knew that the writing was signed, he went into his house; and his windows being open in his chamber toward Jerusalem, he kneeled upon his knees three times a day, and prayed and gave thanks before his God, as he did formerly. — now when Daniel knew that the writing was signed, when he found out that the edict was established by the affixing of the king’s seal, he went into his house, and his windows being open in his chamber in the upper story of his house, toward Jerusalem where he could be undisturbed in his devotions;

— he kneeled upon his knees three times a day, according to ancient Jewish custom, Psalms 55:17, and prayed and gave thanks before his God as he did aforetime, the royal decree changing his custom of daily worship not one bit.

¹¹Then these men assembled, and found Daniel praying and making supplication before his God.

¹²Then they came near, and spoke before the king concerning the king’s decree: “Hast thou not signed a decree, that every man that shall ask a petition of any god or man within thirty days, except of thee, O king, shall be cast into the den of lions?” The king answered and said, “The thing is true, according to the law of the Medes and Persians, which altereth not.” — then they came, they arranged for an audience immediately and spoke before the king concerning the king’s decree, reminding him of it, insisting on calling it to his remembrance;

— hast thou not signed a decree that every man that shall ask a petition of any God or man within thirty days, save of thee, O king, shall be cast into the den of lions? The king answered without hesitancy and guile, for he was not aware of their hidden intention, and said, the thing is true, according to the law of the Medes and Persians, which alter not, thereby indicating the certain punishment of anyone who might transgress the royal edict.

¹³Then answered they and said before the king, “That Daniel, who is of the children of the captivity of Judah, regardeth not thee, O king, nor the decree that thou hast signed, but maketh his petition three times a day.” — then answered they and said before the king, full of joyful satisfaction over the fact that the king’s answer suited their design so well, That Daniel, to whom they refer with sneering contempt, which is of the children of the captivity of Judah, whom one might always reasonably suspect of an act of rebellion against the king’s authority;

— regard not thee, O king, nor the decree that thou hast signed, the intimation being that Daniel maliciously spurned the edict and thereby openly challenged the king’s authority, but make his petition three times a day.

¹⁴Then the king, when he heard these words, was sorely displeased with himself, and set his heart on Daniel to deliver him; and he labored till the going down of the sun to deliver him. — then the king, when he heard these words, was sore displeased with himself, literally “sorrow came on him” he was deeply grieved and troubled by this turn of events and set his heart on Daniel to deliver him for he prized Daniel’s ability and faithfulness very highly;

— and he labored till the going down of the sun to deliver him, he pondered over the matter and held the conspirators off in the hope that some way of escape might be found before morning.

¹⁵Then these men assembled unto the king, and said unto the king, “Know, O king, that the law of the Medes and Persians is: that no decree nor statute which the king establisheth may be changed.” — then these men assembled unto the king, they pressed upon him in a most importunate and tumultuous manner and said unto the king, Know, O king, that the law of the Medes and Persians is, That no decree nor statute which the king establishes may be changed. The success of their entire infamous plan, in fact, was based upon this tradition.

¹⁶Then the king commanded, and they brought Daniel and cast him into the den of lions. Now the king spoke and said unto Daniel, “Thy God whom thou servest continually, He will deliver thee.” — then the king, unable to find an excuse or to hold out against the conspirators, commanded and they brought Daniel and cast him into the den of lions, the execution following the sentence at once as custom required;

— now the king spake and said unto Daniel, since he was powerless to help him in this extremity, Thy God, whom thou servest continually, He will deliver thee. This did not amount to a confession of the true God, but was merely a pious wish that the God of the Jews might prove equal to this emergency.

¹⁷And a stone was brought and laid upon the mouth of the den, and the king sealed it with his own signet and with the signet of his lords, that the purpose might not be changed concerning Daniel. — and a stone was brought, probably one used for similar executions and laid upon the mouth of the den over the opening through which the condemned were cast down; and the king sealed it with his own signet and with the signet of his lords of the highest officers in his realm;

— that the purpose might not be changed concerning Daniel, that is, that no one might interfere, either by attempting to liberate him or by working his evil will upon him. It is significant that Daniel made no effort to have his execution delayed or suspended but calmly placed the outcome in God’s hands.

¹⁸Then the king went to his palace and passed the night fasting; neither were instruments of music brought before him, and his sleep went from him. — then the king went to his palace and passed the night fasting, unable to sleep or eat for worry about the fate of Daniel; neither were instruments of music brought before him, rather “neither were concubines brought to him” and his sleep went from him, he was in genuine distress, decidedly ill at ease on account of the course into which he had been drawn.

¹⁹Then the king arose very early in the morning and went in haste unto the den of lions.

²⁰And when he came to the den, he cried with a lamentable voice unto Daniel; and the king spoke and said to Daniel, “O Daniel, servant of the living God, is thy God, whom thou servest continually, able to deliver thee from the lions?” — and when he came to the den, he cried with a lamentable voice which testified to the sorrow possessing his heart, unto Daniel; and the king spake and said to Daniel, O Daniel, servant of the living God, whom he was ready to acknowledge as such in accordance with Daniel’s confession is thy God whom thou servest continually, with constant unflagging devotion able to deliver thee from the lions?

²¹Then said Daniel unto the king, “O king, live for ever!

²²My God hath sent His angel, and hath shut the lions’ mouths, that they have not hurt me, inasmuch as before Him innocency was found in me; and also before thee, O king, have I done no hurt.” — my God hath sent His angel who may even have been visible to the eye of Daniel and hath shut the lions’ mouths that they have not hurt me, forasmuch as before Him innocency was found in me, God had declared him not guilty by preserving him so wonderfully;

— and also before thee, O king, have I done no hurt, that is, by transgressing the edict of the king he had not become guilty of rebellion against the person of the king as the king’s personal interest in his case also demonstrated.

²³Then was the king exceeding glad for him, and commanded that they should take Daniel up out of the den. So Daniel was taken up out of the den, and no manner of hurt was found upon him, because he believed in his God. — then was the king exceeding glad for him on account of the miraculous deliverance which Daniel had experienced and commanded that they should take Daniel up out of the den through an opening which made it convenient for him to be removed;

— so Daniel was taken up out of the den and no manner of hurt was found upon him, not so much as a scratch from the paw of one of the ravening beasts because he believed in his God and this firm confidence was rewarded by the Lord in this manner.

²⁴And the king commanded, and they brought those men who had accused Daniel, and they cast them into the den of lions — them, their children, and their wives; and the lions had the mastery of them, and broke all their bones in pieces before they came to the bottom of the den. — and the king who now realized that the enemies of Daniel had used him as their instrument in trying to vent their jealous spite, commanded and they brought those men which had accused Daniel and they cast them into the den of lions, them, their children and their wives according to the custom of the country and since they were guilty of the same wickedness as the men;

— and the lions had the mastery of them, fell upon them and overwhelmed them and brake all their bones in pieces or ever they came at the bottom of the den; they were reduced to a pulp before their bodies reached the bottom of the pit.

²⁵Then King Darius wrote unto all people, nations, and languages that dwell in all the earth: “Peace be multiplied unto you. — then King Darius, still under the influence of the miraculous deliverance which he had witnessed, wrote unto all people, nations and languages that dwell in all the earth, in issuing a solemn proclamation, Peace be multiplied unto you.

²⁶I make a decree that in every dominion of my kingdom men tremble and fear before the God of Daniel. For He is the living God and steadfast for ever, and His Kingdom, that which shall not be destroyed, and His dominion shall be even unto the end. — I make a decree that in every dominion of my kingdom, as far as his kingly power extended, men tremble and fear, in reverent awe before the God of Daniel; for He is the living God and steadfast forever, eternal and unchanging, and His kingdom that which shall not be destroyed and His dominion shall be even unto the end, outlasting all earthly kingdoms.

²⁷He delivereth and rescueth, and He worketh signs and wonders in heaven and in earth, who hath delivered Daniel from the power of the lions.” — he delivers and rescues, literally “He is a Deliverer and Rescuer” and He worketh signs and wonders in heaven and in earth such as are outside the laws of nature who hath delivered Daniel from the power of the lions who would ordinarily have torn him to pieces in the twinkling of an eye.

²⁸So this Daniel prospered in the reign of Darius and in the reign of Cyrus the Persian. — so this Daniel, the same one of whom the princes had spoken so contemptuously, prospered in the reign of Darius and in the reign of Cyrus, the Persian for the Persian monarchy followed shortly after the Median. The miracles which the Lord performs in the interest of His children are intended to serve, among other things, for the unbelievers so that they also may realize that the God of Israel is the true living God, the only Savior and Redeemer.

Posted in Daniel

Daniel (Ch 3-4)

•December 15, 2021 • Leave a Comment

Daniel 3

¹ Nebuchadnezzar the king made an image of gold, whose height was threescore cubits and the breadth thereof six cubits. He set it up in the plain of Dura, in the province of Babylon. — Nebuchadnezzar the king made an image of gold…probably the image is in the form of a human being; it may not be solid gold, could be a plate of gold and hollow within; or of wood overlaid with gold; for otherwise it must have took up a prodigious quantity of gold to make an image of such impressive dimensions; this image could be for himself, or his father Nabopolassar, but most probably for his chief god Bel; which was the name given to Daniel, Belteshazzar, being derived from Bel;

— whose height was threescore cubits, and the breadth thereof six cubits; a common cubit being half a yard, it was thirty yards high and three yards broad;

— he set it up in the Plain of Dura, very likely in the level country east of the Tigris, or in a plain near the capital in the province of Babylon, that there might be room enough for a vast number of worshippers together.

²Then Nebuchadnezzar the king sent to gather together the princes, the governors, and the captains, the judges, the treasurers, the counselors, the sheriffs, and all the rulers of the provinces to come to the dedication of the image which Nebuchadnezzar the king had set up. — then Nebuchadnezzar, the king, sent to gather together the princes, the governors and the captains, executive officers of superior rank with both civil and military duties;

— the judges, or chief officers of administration, the treasurers, the financial directors or managers of the public treasury, the counselors, those learned in the law, the sheriffs, the enforcement officials;

— and all the rulers of the provinces to come to the dedication of the image which Nebuchadnezzar, the king had set up, to have a great celebration in honor of the occasion, all the officials of the empire being the king’s guests during the festival.

³Then the princes, the governors, and captains, the judges, the treasurers, the counselors, the sheriffs and all the rulers of the provinces were gathered together unto the dedication of the image that Nebuchadnezzar the king had set up; — then the princes, the governors and captains, the judges . . . were gathered together, proudly obedient to the king’s summons; and they stood before and attended to all the rites and ceremonies of the dedication of the image and were ready to fall down and worship the image when the word of command was given; they were attentive to the king’s will and ready to take part in all the ceremonies of the dedication since the picture was a symbol of Babylon’s world power and of the king’s command.

⁴Then a herald cried aloud: “To you it is commanded, O people, nations, and languages, — O people, nations, and languages; the several kingdoms, states and provinces that belonged to the Babylonian monarchy who spoke different languages, now represented by their governors and officers; as the Armenians, Parthians, Medes, Persians; Moab (Jeremiah 48); Ammonites, Edomites, Edom, Mount Seir (Jeremiah 49, Ezekiel 35); Tyre, Sidon and Egypt (Ezekiel 26-32).

⁵that at the time ye hear the sound of the cornet, flute, harp, sackbut, psaltery, dulcimer, and all kinds of music, ye fall down and worship the golden image that Nebuchadnezzar the king hath set up. — that at what time ye hear the sound of the cornet, the horn or tuba of the ancients; flute, the reed-flute, or shepherd’s pipe; harp, a small four-stringed harp like a zither; sackbut, a triangular stringed instrument; psaltery, another kind of harp; dulcimer, a bappipe consisting of two pipes thrust through a leather bag, and all kinds of music, the enumeration being characteristic of the pompous language used by a world ruler, ye fall down and worship the golden image that Nebuchadnezzar the king hath set up;

⁶And whoso falleth not down and worshipeth shall the same hour be cast into the midst of a burning fiery furnace.” — shall in the same hour be cast into the midst of a burning fiery furnace; such as were used to burn stones in for lime; the music was to draw; the furnace was to drive; men to this idolatrous worship; the one was to please and sooth the minds of men and so allure them the other to frighten them into obedience.

⁷Therefore at that time when all the people heard the sound of the cornet, flute, harp, sackbut, psaltery, and all kinds of music, all the people, the nations, and the languages fell down and worshiped the golden image that Nebuchadnezzar the king had set up. — therefore at that time, in accordance with the announcement of the herald, when all the people heard the sound of the cornet, flute, harp, sackbut, psaltery, and all kinds of music, all the people, represented here by their respective rulers, the nations, and the languages, as many as had appeared for the great celebration;

— fell down and worshiped the golden image that Nebuchadnezzar the king had set up. It is to be noted here that, whereas most of the heathens tolerated the gods of the countries conquered by them, they at the same time required of the subdued people a greater veneration for their own gods, whose superiority they considered fully established by the fact of their being victors.

⁸Therefore at that time certain Chaldeans came near and accused the Jews. — wherefore at that time certain Chaldeans came near… that is, to King Nebuchadnezzar, either in his palace at Babylon or more likely in the plain of Dura:

— and accused the Jews; particularly Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego of not obeying the king’s command to worship the golden image: these Chaldeans immediately hasten to the king to give this information against them. Should it be asked, how came these three men to be present? it may be answered, they came here in obedience to the king’s orders as his officers who had summoned them to this place; though they determined not to worship his image should he require it;

— no mention is made of Daniel; very probably he was not there for what reasons cannot be said; however no accusation is laid against him; perhaps he was too great to be meddled with, being high in the king’s favour.

⁹They spoke and said to King Nebuchadnezzar, “O king, live for ever!

¹⁰Thou, O king, hast made a decree that every man who shall hear the sound of the cornet, flute, harp, sackbut, psaltery, and dulcimer, and all kinds of music, shall fall down and worship the golden image;

¹¹ and whoso falleth not down and worshipeth, that he should be cast into the midst of a burning fiery furnace. — and whoso fall not down and worship… the image; the above is the decree.

¹²There are certain Jews whom thou hast set over the affairs of the province of Babylon: Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego. These men, O king, have not regarded thee. They serve not thy gods, nor worship the golden image which thou hast set up.” — Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego; by name; they say nothing of the common people of the Jews who either were not present, being employed in a servile manner or were below their notice; nor of Daniel who was above them and out of their reach;

— they serve not thy gods; whom the king and the nation worshipped, as Bel, Nebo, Merodach and others: nor worship the golden image, which thou hast set up; they did not bow down to the image in reverence as had been ordered; this they knew would he most provoking to the king.

¹³Then Nebuchadnezzar in his rage and fury commanded to bring Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego. Then they brought these men before the king. — commanded to bring Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego; that is, immediately before him; who very probably were not afar off: he did not order them in his wrath and fury to be slain directly as he did the wise men and soothsayers in another case; but to be brought before him and examined first, that he might know the truth of these allegations against them; which shows, amidst all his rage, he still retained some respect and esteem for them.

¹⁴Nebuchadnezzar spoke and said unto them, “Is it true, O Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, that ye do not serve my gods, nor worship the golden image which I have set up?

¹⁵Now if ye be ready so that at the time ye hear the sound of the cornet, flute, harp, sackbut, psaltery, and dulcimer, and all kinds of music, ye fall down and worship the image which I have made, it is well; but if ye worship not, ye shall be cast the same hour into the midst of a burning fiery furnace. And who is that God that shall deliver you out of my hands?” — and who is that God that shall deliver you out of my hands? he knew their confidence in the God of Israel which he attempts to break and remove; he foresaw the objection they would make, which he endeavours to anticipate by this proud and vain boast, forgetting what he himself had said, Daniel 2:47.

¹⁶Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego answered and said to the king, “O Nebuchadnezzar, we do not fear to answer thee in this matter. — Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego answered and said to the king, O Nebuchadnezzar, the directness of their address giving added emphasis to their statement;

— we are not careful to answer thee in this matter, that is, they did not consider it necessary to search for a reasonable excuse or explanation.

¹⁷If it be so, our God whom we serve is able to deliver us from the burning fiery furnace, and He will deliver us out of thine hand, O king. — If it be so, our God, whom we serve is able to deliver us from the burning fiery furnace, rather, “If our God is able to deliver us,”

— and He will deliver us out of thine hand, O king; this was not casting doubt upon the strength and ability of the Lord to help them; it only left the matter under the disposition of the gracious and goodwill of Him whose actions are always right and good.

¹⁸But if not, be it known unto thee, O king, that we will not serve thy gods, nor worship the golden image which thou hast set up.” — be it known unto thee, O king, that we will not serve thy gods, be it as it will, whether we are delivered or not; we are not sure of the one but we are at a point as to the other;

— nor worship the golden image which thou hast set up; come life, come death, we are ready; we had rather die than sin: they were all of one mind and agreed in this matter; a noble instance of spiritual fortitude and courage!

¹⁹Then was Nebuchadnezzar full of fury, and the form of his visage was changed against Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego. Therefore he spoke, and commanded that they should heat the furnace seven times more than it was wont to be heated. — then was Nebuchadnezzar full of fury, of extreme and unreasonable anger, and the form of his visage was changed against Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego, his expression showing the extremity of the fury which possessed him;

— therefore he spake and commanded that they should heat the furnace seven times more than it was usually heated. He did not realize in the heat of his passion that he was really defeating his own ends; for the hotter the fire, the sooner his victims were liable to be put out of misery;

— as noted in the next chapter, Nebuchadnezzar was to suffer humility seven times, seven years, eating grass like oxen like a wild beast!

²⁰And he commanded the most mighty men who were in his army to bind Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, and to cast them into the burning fiery furnace.

²¹Then these men were bound in their coats, their breeches, and their hats, and their other garments, and were cast into the midst of the burning fiery furnace.

²²Therefore because the king’s commandment was urgent and the furnace exceedingly hot, the flame of the fire slew those men who took up Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego. — and because the king’s commandment was urgent… Or was ordered to be obeyed in haste and with expedition and dispatch, hence the men were cast into the furnace with clothes on; or those that cast them were not so careful of themselves:

— and the furnace exceeding hot; being heated seven times more than usual; Nebuchadnezzar himself was to suffer humility seven times, seven years, eating grass like oxen;

— the flame of the fire slew those men that took up Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego; which came out of the furnace, being so excessive hot and the smoke along with it; so that when those men took up the three youths and brought them so near to it as was necessary to cast them in, the flame and smoke catched their breath and suffocated them; who might be men that advised the king to such cruel measures, or however were very ready out of ill will to these men to execute them and therefore righteously perished in their sins.

²³And these three men, Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, fell down bound into the midst of the burning fiery furnace. — and these three men fell down bound into the midst of the burning fiery furnace. The fire not so much as destroying what they were bound with and much less them; but being bound they fell; when those that cast them in were destroyed.

²⁴Then Nebuchadnezzar the king was astonished, and rose up in haste and spoke, and said unto his counselors, “Did not we cast three men bound into the midst of the fire?” They answered and said unto the king, “True, O king.” — then Nebuchadnezzar, the king, was greatly astounded, and rose up in haste, due to his great agitation, and spoke and said unto his counselors, the ministers or governors, who formed his council;

— did not we cast three men bound into the midst of the fire? The king’s chair seems to have been placed opposite the side door of the furnace which was open to permit a strong draught to fan the fire and it was from here that he witnessed the execution; they answered and said unto the king, True, O king.

²⁵He answered and said, “Lo, I see four men loose, walking in the midst of the fire, and they have no hurt; and the form of the fourth is like the Son of God (like the Bar Elohim (Ben Elohim, Hebrew)). — he answered and said, Lo, I see four men loose, no longer bound as they had been cast into, walking in the midst of the fire, not leaving it, but waiting for God’s time to leave them out, and they have no hurt as one might have expected by reason of the rough treatment accorded them;

— and on account of the compelling dignity of his appearance, the form of the fourth is like the son of God, rather “like a son of the gods” one pertaining to a divine family and generation. The fourth man was a form of a God, sent for the protection of His pious servants, so that the flame could not harm them.

²⁶Then Nebuchadnezzar came near to the mouth of the burning fiery furnace, and spoke and said, “Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, ye servants of the Most High God, come forth and come hither.” Then Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego came forth from the midst of the fire.

²⁷And the princes, governors, and captains, and the king’s counselors, being gathered together, saw these men upon whose bodies the fire had no power, nor was a hair of their head singed, neither were their coats changed nor had the smell of fire passed onto them. — and the princes, governors and captains, the representative rulers of his entire empire, and the king’s counselors, the members of his own privy council;

— being gathered together, saw these men, upon whose bodies the fire had no power, having had not the slightest effect upon them, nor was an hair of their head singed, this being ordinarily the first result of fire;

— neither were their coats changed, their undergarments touched by fire, nor the smell of fire had passed on them, in other words, one could not even notice that they had been anywhere near fire.

²⁸Then Nebuchadnezzar spoke and said, “Blessed be the God of Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, who hath sent His angel and delivered His servants who trusted in Him, and have changed the king’s word, and yielded their bodies, that they might not serve nor worship any god except their own God. — then Nebuchadnezzar spoke and said, Blessed be the God of Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego, whose superiority to his own gods the king thus recognized, who hath sent His angel and delivered His servants, that trusted in Him and have changed the king’s word, boldly transgressing his commands;

— and yielded their bodies, offering them without flinching in the interest of their loyalty to their God, that they might not serve nor worship any god except their own God.

²⁹Therefore I make a decree that every people, nation, and language which speak any thing amiss against the God of Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego shall be cut in pieces and their houses shall be made a dunghill, because there is no other God who can deliver in this way.” — therefore I make a decree, literally, “And from me is set forth a decree,” that every people, nation and language which speak anything amiss against the God of Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego shall be cut in pieces and their houses shall be made a dunghill, Cf. Daniel 2:5;

— because there is no other god that can deliver after this sort. While this confession does not imply faith in the one true God, it decreed toleration to the worshipers of Yehovah throughout the Babylonian empire.

³⁰Then the king promoted Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego in the province of Babylon. — then the king promoted Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego in the province of Babylon… he restored them to their places of trust and responsibility and increased their honours: or “made them to prosper” they flourished in court and became great and famous. The Septuagint version adds, “and he counted them worthy to preside as governors over all the Jews that were in his kingdom.”

Daniel 4

This chapter was written by Nebuchadnezzar himself, who under divine inspiration inserted it into this work of Daniel’s; and a very useful instruction it contains, showing the sovereignty of God over the greatest kings of the earth and this acknowledged by one of the proudest monarchs that ever lived. It begins with a preface, saluting all nations, and declaring the greatness and power of God.

¹ “Nebuchadnezzar the king, unto all people, nations, and languages that dwell in all the earth: Peace be multiplied unto you. — God has described Nebuchadnezzar as “My servant” three times in the book of Jeremiah (25:9, 27:6, 43:10), so here he was given a privilege to address all nations and tongues; for he was now humbled under the mighty hand of God; whether his conversion was real is not evident; but he at least outwardly proposed a public proclamation to celebrate the praise of the Lord, on account of the wonderful deliverance of the three Jews from the fiery furnace;

— peace be multiplied unto you: a wish for all kind of outward happiness and prosperity; thus it becomes a prince to wish peace for all his subjects, and even for all the world; for there cannot be a greater blessing than peace nor a greater judgement than war.

²I thought it good to show the signs and wonders that the High God hath wrought toward me. — Nebuchadnezzar thought it good, it pleased the king, he regarded it as the right and seemly thing, to show the signs and wonders that the high God hath brought toward me, the reference here being to the true God of whose omnipotent power Nebuchadnezzar had received unmistakable evidence as he relates in this edict.

³How great are His signs! And how mighty are His wonders! His Kingdom is an everlasting kingdom, and His dominion is from generation to generation. — how great are His signs and how mighty are His wonders! exceeding those of any so-called gods of the nations. His kingdom is an everlasting kingdom, and His dominion is from generation to generation. It is a doxology which gives due honor to the true God even though it does not confess faith in Yehovah.

Now follows the account of the happenings which caused this outburst of praise:

⁴“I, Nebuchadnezzar, was at rest in mine house and flourishing in my palace. — Nebuchadnezzar was at rest in mine house, his wars victoriously concluded, his kingdom at peace, and flourishing in his palace, enjoying wonderful prosperity.

⁵I saw a dream which made me afraid, and the thoughts upon my bed and the visions of my head troubled me. — Nebuchadnezzar saw a dream which made him afraid, the suddenness of whose coming filled him with alarm and the thoughts upon his bed which exercised him in connection with his dream, and the visions of his head, those which were presented to the eyes of his mind, troubled him, their fancies and images filling him with apprehensive omen of approaching evil.

⁶Therefore made I a decree to bring in all the wise men of Babylon before me, that they might make known unto me the interpretation of the dream. — therefore made Nebuchadnezzar a decree; he issued the command to bring in all the wise men of Babylon before him that they might make known unto him the interpretation of the dream, the dream itself with all its details in this instance being very clear in the recollection of the king so that he desired an explanation only.

⁷Then came in the magicians, the astrologers, the Chaldeans, and the soothsayers; and I told the dream before them, but they did not make known unto me the interpretation thereof. — then came in the magicians, the astrologers and the soothsayers, Cf. Daniel 2:2, and Nebuchadnezzar told the dream before them; but they did not make known to him the interpretation, their merely human wisdom was unable to penetrate into the depths of the mysteries which God wanted to make known in this instance.

⁸But at the last Daniel came in before me, whose name was Belteshazzar, according to the name of my god, and in whom is the spirit of the holy gods; and before him I told the dream, saying, — but at the last Daniel came in before him, whose name, given that when he entered the king’s service was Belteshazzar, according to the name of his god, “the foremost of Bel,” the chief god of Babylon and in whom is the spirit of the holy gods, of whose eminent prophetic gifts the king had been given evidence on previous occasions, although he was in this case, for some unexplained reason, reserved to the last; and before him I told the dream, saying,

⁹‘O Belteshazzar, master of the magicians, because I know that the spirit of the holy gods is in thee and no secret troubleth thee, tell me the visions of my dream that I have seen and the interpretation thereof. — O Belteshazzar, master of the magicians, whose comparatively independent position as the chief of all the wise men at Babylon made it possible for him to be absent from a large assembly of the officials of the royal court on this occasion because I know that the spirit of the holy gods is in thee and no secret troubleth thee, no secret being too difficult for him to explain, tell me the visions of my dream that I have seen and the interpretation thereof.

¹⁰Thus were the visions of mine head in my bed: I saw, and behold, a tree in the midst of the earth, and the height thereof was great. — thus were the visions of mine head in my bed, literally, “And regarding the visions of my head upon my bed,” Nebuchadnezzar saw and behold a tree in the midst of the earth, therefore evidently possessing great importance for the whole earth and the height thereof was great, it was of conspicuous size to begin with.

¹¹The tree grew and was strong, and the height thereof reached unto heaven, and the sight thereof to the end of all the earth. — the tree grew strongly, became great and mighty, and the height thereof reached unto heaven and the sight thereof to the end of the earth, so that it extended far enough to be seen from the very ends of the world;

¹²The leaves thereof were fair, and the fruit thereof much, and in it was meat for all. The beasts of the field had shadow under it, and the fowls of the heaven dwelt in the boughs thereof, and all flesh was fed from it. — the leaves thereof were fair, its branching, forming the crown was very beautiful, and the fruit thereof much, growing in large quantities and in it was meat for all, food for all who lived under its shelter being found on it;

— the beasts of the field had shadow under it, and the fowls of the heaven dwelt in the boughs thereof and all flesh was fed of it, the image being that of the entire human race united under the reign of Nebuchadnezzar and enjoying prosperity under his beneficent government.

¹³“‘I saw in the visions of my head upon my bed, and behold, a watcher and a holy one came down from heaven. — Nebuchadnezzar saw in the visions of his head upon his bed, and, behold, a watcher and an holy one, that is, a holy watchman, an angel delegated by God to watch over the affairs of men came down from heaven.

¹⁴He cried aloud and said thus: “Hew down the tree and cut off his branches, shake off his leaves and scatter his fruit; let the beasts get away from under it, and the fowls from his branches. — he cried aloud and said thus, making announcement with a mighty voice, as the herald of almighty God, hew down the tree and cut off his branches, shake off his leaves, causing them to fall quickly;

— and scatter his fruit, in a contemptuous manner, as though possessing no value; let the beasts get away from under it, as no longer safe within his shelter, and the fowls from his branches, which no longer offered them a safe refuge;

¹⁵Nevertheless leave the stump of his roots in the earth, even with a band of iron and brass, in the tender grass of the field; and let it be wet with the dew of heaven, and let his portion be with the beasts in the grass of the earth. — nevertheless, leave the stump of his roots in the earth even with a band of iron and brass in the tender grass of the field, this description already indicating that the application must be made to an animate being, whose fetters were those of the mental and spiritual darkness brought on as the result of the loss of reason;

— and let it be wet with the dew of heaven, there being no shelter to keep the weather away from him, and let his portion be with the beasts in the grass of the earth so that he would partake of their food;

¹⁶Let his heart be changed from man’s, and let a beast’s heart be given unto him; and let seven times pass over him. — let his heart be changed from man’s so that this center of intellectual life would lose its human aspect and let a beast’s heart be given unto him so that he would fully descend to the level of a beast; and let seven times pass over him; seven times, a time is a year, hence seven times is seven years, the exact length of these periods is henceforth being given.

¹⁷This matter is by the decree of the watchers, and the demand by the word of the holy ones, with the intent that the living may know that the Most High ruleth in the kingdom of men, and giveth it to whomsoever He will, and setteth up over it the basest of men.” — this matter is by the decree of the watchers, according to their judgement and the demand by the word of the holy ones, the angels of God having reminded Him, as it were, of the requirements of His holiness and justice upon so flagrant a transgressor;

— to the intent that the living, all human beings on earth, may know that the Most High rule in the kingdom of men, dispensing authority and power according to His will, and give it to whomsoever He will and set up over it the basest of men, a man from the humblest rank of life, if God so chose, assuming the reins of government according to His disposition.

¹⁸This dream I, King Nebuchadnezzar, have seen. Now thou, O Belteshazzar, declare the interpretation thereof, inasmuch as all the wise men of my kingdom are not able to make known unto me the interpretation; but thou art able, for the spirit of the holy gods is in thee.’” — this dream that Nebuchadnezzar have seen, all its details being clear before his eyes and set forth in the same manner. Now, thou, O Belteshazzar, declare the interpretation thereof, setting forth its meaning;

— forasmuch as all the wise men of my kingdom are not able to make known the interpretation; but thou art able for the spirit of the holy gods is in thee. The affairs of the whole world and of every nation on earth are in the hands of God, who directs them according to His good pleasure in the interest of His Kingdom.

¹⁹Then Daniel, whose name was Belteshazzar, was stunned for one hour, and his thoughts troubled him. The king spoke and said, “Belteshazzar, let not the dream or the interpretation thereof trouble thee.” Belteshazzar answered and said, “My lord, the dream is for those who hate thee, and the interpretation thereof for thine enemies. — then Daniel whose name was Belteshazzar was astonied, he stood aghast at the dream and its meaning for one hour, for a long period of time, and his thoughts troubled him, for he was overwhelmed with awe.

— the king, concluding from the appearance of his face that he had found the interpretation, spoke and said, Belteshazzar, let not the dream or the interpretation thereof trouble thee, fill him with apprehension for his safety if he revealed its meaning;

— Belteshazzar answered and said, speaking as a loyal subject of the king in whose empire he now lived, My lord, the dream be to them that hate thee and the interpretation thereof to thine enemies! that is, Would that the dream concerned the enemies of the king and that its meaning related to his foes rather than to him! After this introductory remark Daniel immediately plunged into his explanation:

²⁰The tree that thou sawest, which grew and was strong, whose height reached unto the heaven and the sight thereof to all the earth, — the tree that thou saw, or “of which thou saw,” which grew and was strong, or “that it was great and strong” whose height reached unto the heaven and the sight thereof to all the earth, the power of the empire reaching to the uttermost boundaries of the known world,

²¹whose leaves were fair and the fruit thereof much, and in it was meat for all, under which the beasts of the field dwelt and upon whose branches the fowls of the heaven had their habitation— —whose leaves were fair and much fruit and in it was meat for all, under which the beasts of the field dwelt and upon whose branches the fowls of the heaven had their habitation, just as the king had described it in his account of his dream:

²²it is thou, O king, who art grown and become strong; for thy greatness is grown and reacheth unto heaven, and thy dominion to the end of the earth. — it is thou, O king, that art grown and become strong; for thy greatness is grown and reacheth unto heaven, since his power exceeded that of any living monarch and thy dominion to the end of the earth, a real world-power. Note that Daniel, while filled with sympathy for the king, speaks with uncompromising straightforwardness. The same calm and dispassionate condemnation of sin should be found for any of the Lord’s shepherds today.

²³And whereas the king saw a watcher and a holy one coming down from heaven and saying, ‘Hew the tree down and destroy it, yet leave the stump of the roots thereof in the earth, even with a band of iron and brass, in the tender grass of the field; and let it be wet with the dew of heaven, and let his portion be with the beasts of the field, till seven times pass over him’ — King Nebuchadnezzar was to have a beast’s heart for a period of seven times be passed over him, that is, seven years, a time is a year, hence seven times is seven years, the exact length of these periods King Nebuchadnezzar is to learn his lesson of humility and be humbled; to learn to give glory to God than to man;

— humility isn’t something that could be learned in a classroom or in a lecture, or in a place of safety which has been aptly called the “place of final training,” for humility couldn’t be taught there. The children of Israel took around 210 years as slaves in Egypt to learn humility; and in Ezekiel 4, the house of Israel will be given 190 years and the house of Judah 40 years; also to learn humility instead of uttering jingoism but be humbled;

²⁴this is the interpretation, O king, and this is the decree of the Most High, which has come upon my lord the king: — this is the interpretation, O king, and this is the decree of the Most High which is come upon my lord, the king, being fully decided in God’s counsel,

²⁵that they shall drive thee from men, and thy dwelling shall be with the beasts of the field, and they shall make thee to eat grass as oxen; and they shall wet thee with the dew of heaven, and seven times shall pass over thee till thou know that the Most High ruleth in the kingdom of men, and giveth it to whomsoever He will. — that they, the subject being purposely indefinite, shall drive thee from men, casting him out from the society of human beings, and thy dwelling shall be with the beasts of the field, entirely on a level with unreasonable brutes;

— and they shall make thee to eat grass as oxen, and they shall wet thee with the dew of heaven; and seven times, a period of seven years, shall pass over thee, till thou know, recognizing and acknowledging openly and freely; the house of Judah also faced a period of seven years, but times ten; that is, 70 years, to be humbled in Babylon;

— that the Most High rules in the kingdom of men as the real Sovereign of the several nations of the earth and gives it to whomsoever He will. Nebuchadnezzar would in other words be seized with madness, which would exclude him from human society for seven years, the purpose of the Lord in thus punishing him being to bring him to a realization of his utter helplessness before the true Ruler of the universe.

²⁶And whereas they commanded to leave the stump of the tree roots, thy kingdom shall be sure unto thee after thou shalt have known that the heavens do rule. — and whereas they commanded, namely, the council of watchers speaking in the name of God to leave the stump of the tree-roots: thy kingdom shall be sure unto thee; it would be preserved for him so that he could reassume his rule after the interval after that he shall have known that the heavens do rule, and after he would gladly make this confession, thereby yielding all honor and glory to God alone.

²⁷Therefore, O king, let my counsel be acceptable unto thee; and break off thy sins by righteousness and thine iniquities by showing mercy to the poor, that it may be a lengthening of thy tranquility.” — wherefore, O king, let my counsel be acceptable unto thee, for Daniel honestly had the welfare of his sovereign in mind and break off thy sins by righteousness, repudiating all the transgressions for which monarchs were noted in favor of the exercise of true righteousness and justice;

— and thine iniquities by showing mercy to the poor, to those in any kind of tribulation, if it may be a lengthening of thy tranquillity, or “if thy present good fortune is to endure. ” A complete change of heart was necessary on the part of the king together with a consistent practice of the highest virtues as a proof of his regeneration in order to avert the threatened punishment on the part of the Lord.

²⁸All this came upon King Nebuchadnezzar.

²⁹At the end of twelve months he walked in the palace of the kingdom of Babylon. — at the end of twelve months, so soon after he had received his warning, he walked in the palace of the kingdom of Babylon, perhaps upon its flat roof garden from which he could look over the entire city and get a fitting impression of its splendor.

³⁰The king spoke and said, “Is not this great Babylon that I have built for the house of the kingdom, by the might of my power and for the honor of my majesty?” — the king said to himself, Is not this great Babylon that I have built for the house of the kingdom, to be the seat or capital of his entire empire, by the might of his power and for the honor of his majesty? It was a statement of inordinate pride, by which Nebuchadnezzar made himself the creator of the size and glory of his kingdom, thereby robbing God of the honor which fitly should be given to Him alone.

³¹While the word was in the king’s mouth, there fell a voice from heaven, saying, “O king Nebuchadnezzar, to thee it is spoken: The kingdom has departed from thee. — while the word was in the king’s mouth, before he had finished his blasphemous utterance, there fell a voice from heaven, with great suddenness, which made the consequences stand out all the more by way of contrast;

— saying, O King Nebuchadnezzar, to thee it is spoken, the emphasis being upon the pronoun: Thy kingdom is departed from thee, that is, he was to be deprived of his position and office as ruler.

³²And they shall drive thee from men, and thy dwelling shall be with the beasts of the field; they shall make thee to eat grass as oxen. And seven times shall pass over thee, until thou know that the Most High ruleth in the kingdom of men, and giveth it to whomsoever He will.” — and they shall drive thee from man, away from the society of human beings and thy dwelling shall be with the beasts of the field, with the irrational brutes; they, the subject again impersonal;

— shall make thee to eat grass as oxen and seven times shall pass over thee until he knows, being fully aware of, and accepting the fact that the Most High rules in the kingdom of men and gives it to whomsoever He will.

³³The same hour was the thing fulfilled upon Nebuchadnezzar; and he was driven from men, and ate grass as oxen, and his body was wet with the dew of heaven, till his hairs had grown like eagles’ feathers, and his nails like birds’ claws. — the same hour was the thing fulfilled upon Nebuchadnezzar, so that there could be no doubt as to cause and effect; and he was driven from men and did eat grass and his body was wet with the dew of heaven, till his hairs were grown like eagles’ feathers and his nails like birds’ claws. This form of insanity is well known to medical science, a few cases having been found from time to time which exactly agree with the description of the symptoms here given, even to the eating of grass and the living outdoors without clothing; since people in this condition often believe themselves to be wolves, it is known as lycanthropy.

³⁴“And at the end of the days I, Nebuchadnezzar, lifted up mine eyes unto heaven, and mine understanding returned unto me. And I blessed the Most High, and I praised and honored Him that liveth for ever, whose dominion is an everlasting dominion, and His Kingdom is from generation to generation. — and at the end of the days, after seven years appointed for this punishment, Nebuchadnezzar, lifted up his eyes unto heaven in the gesture of one seeking help from there alone and his understanding returned unto him so that he once again had the full use of his reason;

— and I blessed the Most High, thereby acknowledging Him as the one true God; and Nebuchadnezzar praised and honored Him that liveth forever, whose dominion is an everlasting dominion and His kingdom is from generation to generation as the king had said in the introduction of this edict;

³⁵And all the inhabitants of the earth are reputed as nothing; and He doeth according to His will in the army of heaven, and among the inhabitants of the earth. And none can stay His hand or say unto Him, ‘What doest Thou?’ — and all the inhabitants of the earth are reputed as nothing, they are helpless in comparison with His almighty majesty, and He doeth according to His will in the army of heaven, so that the companies of even the highest angels bow to His will;

— and among the inhabitants of the earth; and none can stay His hand or say unto Him, What doest Thou? God is the supreme, the absolute Sovereign of all created things.

³⁶At the same time my reason returned unto me; and for the glory of my kingdom, mine honor and brightness returned unto me. And my counselors and my lords sought unto me; and I was established in my kingdom, and excellent majesty was added unto me. — at the same time, namely, when Nebuchadnezzar thus gave all honor and glory to God alone, his reason returned unto him; and for the glory of his kingdom, his honor and brightness returned unto him so that his former dignity and power were restored to him;

— and my counselors and my lords, who had repudiated and deserted him when madness seized upon him, sought unto him, so that he was officially requested to resume his position at the head of the empire; and he was established in his empire, and excellent majesty was added unto him, so that the authority of his position was even greater than before the strange madness seized upon him.

³⁷Now I, Nebuchadnezzar, praise and extol and honor the King of heaven, all of whose works are truth, and His ways judgement. And those that walk in pride He is able to abase.” — now Nebuchadnezzar, in issuing this decree with its frank confession, praise and extol and honor the King of heaven, the heaping of synonyms showing the intensity of Nebuchadnezzar’s convictions;

— all whose works are truth, and His ways judgement, so that Nebuchadnezzar freely acknowledged his punishment to have been well deserved; and those that walk in pride, uttering jingoistic exultations in any form, exalting themselves at the expense of God’s honor, He is able to abase. While Nebuchadnezzar recognized the humiliation which he had suffered as a just punishment of his pride, yet he did not realize the greatness of God’s grace and mercy which was striving to gain him for true repentance. It is safe to assume, however, that this experience was a step in the right direction and that this great heathen king finally died with some knowledge of the God of heaven.

Posted in Daniel

Daniel (Ch 1-2)

•December 13, 2021 • 1 Comment

The Prophecy of Daniel the Prophet; this Daniel was of the children of Judah that were carried captive into Babylon with Jehoiakim; and was of princely blood if not of the royal seed as appears from Daniel 1:3. Josephus says that he was of the kindred and family of Zedekiah and so fulfilled the prophecy in II Kings 20:18. And it was established from Daniel 7:1 that Daniel is the writer of this book.

And although Jewish authority acknowledges that this book was a Sacred Text, it isn’t a prophecy; that this book is among the holy writings but not among the Prophets. The reasons they give are without much foundation; what seems to have induced them to degrade Daniel is the manifest prophecy of the time of the Messiah’s coming in this book, which sometimes they are obliged to justify their own perception.

And according to Daniel 12:4 “but thou, O Daniel, shut up the words, and seal the book “that I may tell you that which shall befall you in the last days,” and so, we are trying to understand this prophecy in the last days.

The Book of Daniel is divided between the Hebrew of chapters 1 and 8–12 and the Aramaic of chapters 2–7 (Book of Daniel Wikipedia)

Daniel 1

¹ In the third year of the reign of Jehoiakim king of Judah, came Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon unto Jerusalem and besieged it. — in the third year of the reign of Jehoiakim king of Judah… at the close of it, and at the beginning of the fourth, which was the first of Nebuchadnezzar, Jeremiah 25:1. Jerusalem seems to have been taken twice in his time, and two captivities in it: the first was in the third or fourth year of his reign; when humbling himself, Jehoiakim was restored to his kingdom, though he became a tributary to the king of Babylon;

— Daniel and his companions, who were carried captive with him were retained as hostages; but after three years Jehoiakim rebelled and it was not until his eleventh year that Nebuchadnezzar came against him again, took him and bound him in order to carry him to Babylon where he died there;

²And the Lord gave Jehoiakim king of Judah into his hand, with part of the vessels of the house of God, which he carried into the land of Shinar to the house of his god; and he brought the vessels into the treasure house of his god. — and the Lord delivered the vessels into his hands, and Jehoiakim this was from the Lord because of his sins and the sins of his ancestors and of his people or otherwise the king of Babylon could not have taken the city nor him;

— with part of the vessels of the house of God; not all of them; for some were hidden by Josiah and Jeremiah (like the Ark); however, now the vessels of gold, and probably silver, but certainly not all were carried away because we read of some of the vessels of the temple being carried away at latter dates in Jeconiah’s time, II Kings 24:13, and still there were some left, as the pillars, sea, bases and other vessels which were carried away to Babylon in Zedekiah’s time, Jeremiah 27:19;

— these vessels that were taken out of the temple were carried to where Babylon stood, the land of Shinar and where the tower of Babel was built;

— to the house of his god, the temple of Bel or Jupiter Belus, one of the chief deities of Babylon, see Isaiah 46:1; besides these there were Merodach, Nebo; and with whom were the goddesses Juno and Rhea;

— in the times of Herodotus, who gives an account as this: “the temple of Jupiter Belus had gates of brass; it was four hundred and forty yards on every side, and was foursquare. In the midst of the temple was a solid tower, two hundred and twenty yards in length and breadth; upon which another temple was placed, and so on to eight. The going up them was without, in a winding about each tower; as you went up, in the middle, there was a room, and seats to rest on. In the last tower was a large temple, in which was a large bed splendidly furnished, and a table of gold set by it.”

³And the king spoke unto Ashpenaz, the master of his eunuchs, that he should bring certain of the children of Israel and of the king’s seed and of the princes, — that he should bring certain of the children of Israel; whom he had taken and brought captive to Babylon and were disposed of in other part of the city or country; and out of these it was his will that some should be selected and brought to his court;

— and of the king’s seed, and of the princes: or “even of the king’s seed, and of the princes” not any of the children of Israel but such as were of royal blood or of the king of Judah’s family; or however that of princely birth, the children of persons of first rank; or of nobles.

⁴youths in whom was no blemish, but well favored, and skillful in all wisdom, and cunning in knowledge, and understanding science, and such as had ability in them to stand in the king’s palace, and whom they might teach the learning and the tongue of the Chaldeans. — young men of the middle adolescent period, between the ages of sixteen and twenty, in whom was no blemish, that is, no physical defect so that they would be faultlessly handsome;

— but well favored, this being considered essential among Oriental nations in the case of those destined for court service, and skilful in all wisdom, with the evident talent to acquire knowledge and ability rapidly and cunning in knowledge and understanding science, that is, with good sound judgement and common sense in applying the knowledge which they possessed and gained;

— and such as had ability in them to stand in the king’s palace to become accustomed to the ways and manners of a king’s court and whom they might teach the learning and the tongue of the Chaldeans, that of the learned classes of the Babylonian people; hence it was necessary they should learn the Chaldean language; their course of study would thus comprise all that was taught in the elite schools and their training would be that of the noblest youths of the empire.

⁵And the king appointed them a daily provision of the king’s meat and of the wine which he drank, so nourishing them three years, that at the end thereof they might stand before the king. — and the king appointed them, namely, for those who were to be selected, a daily provision of the king’s meat from the king’s table, of the richest delicacies he himself ate; of the food which was served on his own tables;

— and of the wine which he drank, literally, “of the wine of his drinking” or “banqueting” so nourishing them three years, this was the time fixed for their acquiring the learning and language of the Chaldeans; their education and their physical development going hand in hand and in which time it might be thought they would forget their own country, customs, religion and language;

— that at the end thereof they might stand before the king, that is, at the end of three years they might be presented to the king for his examination and approbation and be appointed to what service he should think fit; and particularly that they might be in his court and minister to him in what post it should be his pleasure to place them; now fully equipped for his service as courtiers and advisers or in whatever capacity the king might choose to use them.

⁶Now among these of the children of Judah were: Daniel, Hananiah, Mishael, and Azariah, — among the youths selected in accordance with this royal order, were of the children of Judah, of the most prominent tribe of the Jewish people, Daniel, Hananiah, Mishael and Azariah;

⁷unto whom the prince of the eunuchs gave names: for he gave unto Daniel the name of Belteshazzar; and to Hananiah, Shadrach; and to Mishael, Meshach; and to Azariah, Abednego. — in changing their names, it was a mark of dominion and authority over them, gave them such as had an affinity with the names of the gods of the Chaldees; Belteshazzar, the name given to Daniel, being derived from Bel, or Baal, the chief idol of Babylon, and signifying the treasurer of Baal, or, the depositary of the secrets, or treasure of Baal;

— Shadrach, according to some, means the inspiration of the sun; being derived from shada, to pour out, and rach, a king, a name given to the sun by the Babylonians;

— Meshach, derived from a Babylonian deity called Shach, or from a goddess called Sheshach, is thought to signify “he who belongs to Shach,”

— or Sheshach, Abednego, that is the servant of the shining light; or of the sun; or the morning star, unless the word should be written Abednebo, referring to the idol so called, which gave name to several distinguished personages among the Babylonians: see Isaiah 46:2. It is certain from Herodotus that the Chaldeans worshipped Jupiter Belus, Venus and other idols or the same under other names; and from these it is probable that the names were given according to Chaldee usage to these young men.

⁸But Daniel purposed in his heart that he would not defile himself with the portion of the king’s meat, nor with the wine which he drank. Therefore he requested of the prince of the eunuchs that he might not defile himself. — but Daniel purposed in his heart, definitely made up his mind, that he would not defile himself with the portion of the king’s meat nor with the wine which he drank, chiefly because the heathen had the custom of consecrating their food and, in fact, their entire meals by offering a portion to their gods, Cf 1 Corinthians 10:18-20;

— therefore he requested of the prince of the eunuchs that he might not defile himself; Daniel’s resolution to refrain from the king’s food thus was due to the fact that he had the proper spiritual understanding of the food Law, that he desired to be obedient to its spirit as well as to its letter.

— so instead of the king’s meat, composing meats, vegetables, pork, lobsters, crabs, rice, millet and all luxuries, their food are all kinds of roots, fruits and vegetables; and instead of wine, water; it may be thought that persons of such birth and education had not been used to; and yet they preferred these to the king’s delicacies, by eating and drinking and to make an oblation of some part of what they ate and drank to their gods.

⁹Now God had brought Daniel into favor and tender love with the prince of the eunuchs. — even before this request was made, as God had given to Joseph favour in the sight of Potiphar; for though Daniel’s ingenuity the goodness of his temper and his modest behaviour his excellence and other accomplishments might be a means of ingratiating him into the favour of this officer.

¹⁰And the prince of the eunuchs said unto Daniel, “I fear my lord the king, who hath appointed your meat and your drink. For why should he see your faces sadder than the youths who are of your sort? Then shall ye make me endanger my head before the king.” — and the prince of the eunuchs, to whom Daniel promptly presented his petition, said unto Daniel as he gave evidence of the favorable mental attitude which he had toward the Jewish youth;

— I fear my lord, the king, who hath appointed your meat and your drink by a definite command; for why should he see your faces worse liking of a meager and emaciated appearance in a worse condition than the children which are of your sort? The question has the meaning of a most emphatic denial: He must not see you in that condition;

— then shall ye make me endanger my head to the king, I shall commit a trespass of which I shall be found guilty and be condemned to die and lose my head for it; that is, the king held his life as a pledge for the faithful fulfillment of his commandment concerning the training of the Jewish youths.

¹¹Then said Daniel to Melzar, whom the prince of the eunuchs had set over Daniel, Hananiah, Mishael, and Azariah, — to Melzar, the prince of the eunuchs, having put off Daniel with the above answer seems to have left him; or however Daniel finding he could not obtain from him what he sought for applies to Melzar, a subordinate officer.

¹²“Test thy servants, I beseech thee, ten days, and let them give us pulse to eat and water to drink. — and let them give us beans (Chabad Bible) to eat, and water to drink;

¹³Then let our countenances be looked upon before thee, and the countenance of the youths who eat of the portion of the king’s meat. And as thou seest, deal with thy servants.” — then let our countenances be looked upon before thee, in a careful examination of their physical condition, and the countenance of the children that eat of the portion of the king’s meat, making a comparison between these four and the youths who complied with the king’s order concerning their diet;

— and as thou seest, according to the result of the observations made after the period, deal with thy servants, the test determining the matter once for all.

¹⁴So he consented to them in this matter, and tested them ten days.

¹⁵ And at the end of ten days their countenances appeared fairer and fatter in flesh than all the youths who ate the portion of the king’s meat; — and at the end of ten days their countenances appeared fairer and fatter in flesh, they were of a better complexion and a more healthful look: clearer-eyed and in better condition in every way, than all the other youths which did eat the portion of the king’s meat.

¹⁶Thus Melzar took away the portion of their meat and the wine that they should drink, and gave them pulse. — Daniel and his friends ate only beans and vegetables; and drink water instead of wine.

¹⁷As for these four youths, God gave them knowledge and skill in all learning and wisdom; and Daniel had understanding in all visions and dreams. — as for these four youths of God, who thus rewarded their faithfulness, gave them knowledge and skill in all learning and wisdom, so that they mastered the Chaldean literature and scientific knowledge;

— and Daniel, in addition to these accomplishments, had understanding in all visions and dreams, this being clearly a miraculous gift granted by God for a special purpose and not identical with the gift of prophecy.

¹⁸Now at the end of the days that the king had said he should bring them in, then the prince of the eunuchs brought them in before Nebuchadnezzar. — now, at the end of the days that the king had said he should bring them in, that is, at the end of the three-year period originally fixed, then the prince of the eunuchs brought them in before Nebuchadnezzar, so that all the Jewish youths were presented for inspection and examination.

¹⁹And the king communed with them, and among them all was found none like Daniel, Hananiah, Mishael, and Azariah. Therefore stood they before the king.

²⁰And in all matters of wisdom and understanding that the king inquired of them, he found them ten times better than all the magicians and astrologers who were in all his realm. — and in all matters of wisdom and understanding that the king enquired of them, namely, at the general examination, he found them ten times better than all the magicians and astrologers, the most learned men and those who practiced occult arts, that were in all his realm.

²¹And Daniel continued even unto the first year of King Cyrus. — and Daniel continued in Babylon and at court there and in the favour of Nebuchadnezzar and his successors:

— even unto the first year of King Cyrus: by whom Babylon was taken, and when the seventy years’ captivity of the Jews were at an end; which time Daniel was there, for the sake of observing which this is mentioned: not that Daniel died in the first year of Cyrus but at least he lived through Cyrus’s first year.

Daniel 2

¹And in the second year of the reign of Nebuchadnezzar, Nebuchadnezzar dreamed dreams, wherewith his spirit was troubled and his sleep departed from him. — and in the second year of the reign of Nebuchadnezzar when he had advanced from the position of coregent to that of sole regent of the Babylonian Empire which must have been shortly after he had examined the Jewish youths brought before him;

— Nebuchadnezzar dreamed dreams; he was by the interposition of God vouchsafed a vision of the future in the form of symbols, wherewith his spirit was troubled, very strongly agitated and his sleep brake from him so that he was unable to regain the tranquility of mind necessary for quiet sleep.

²Then the king commanded to call the magicians, and the astrologers, and the sorcerers, and the Chaldeans to show the king his dreams. So they came and stood before the king. — then the king commanded to call the magicians, the men who were learned in the Chaldean language and literature; and the astrologers, those who were masters of incantation; and the sorcerers, the men who employed witchcraft;

— and the Chaldeans, the noblest and most exalted among the highest class of influential men in the kingdom, for to show the king his dreams to tell him the contents of his dream which he could not remember. So they came, in obedience to his summons and stood before the king.

³And the king said unto them, “I have dreamed a dream, and my spirit was troubled to know the dream.” — and the king said unto them, I have dreamed a dream and my spirit was troubled to know the dream; for he had only a vague impression of the importance of his dream, whence he was all the more anxious to have it presented to him in all its details, together with its explanation.

⁴Then spoke the Chaldeans to the king in Syriac, “O king, live for ever! Tell thy servants the dream, and we will show the interpretation.” — then spake the Chaldeans, as the foremost representatives of the wise men of the realm, to the king in Syriac, in the East Aramaic dialect in which this section of the book is also written;

— O king, live forever! This was the usual form of salutation at the courts of the Chaldean and the Persian monarchs. Tell thy servants the dream and we will show the interpretation; it was necessary for them to know the contents of the dream before they would even venture an interpretation.

⁵The king answered and said to the Chaldeans, “The thing is gone from me. If ye will not make known unto me the dream with the interpretation thereof, ye shall be cut in pieces, and your houses shall be made a dunghill. — the king answered and said to the Chaldeans: the thing is gone from me, that is, the statement of what he required from them had gone forth from him, he had stated his purpose of having called them; if ye will not make known unto me the dream, giving its contents, with the interpretation thereof, both of which he now clearly demanded;

— ye shall be cut in pieces, such hewing to pieces being a punishment in vogue among the Chaldeans, and your houses shall be made a dunghill, that is, razed to the ground and covered with refuse and dung.

⁶But if ye show the dream and the interpretation thereof, ye shall receive from me gifts and rewards and great honor. Therefore show me the dream and the interpretation thereof.” — but if ye show the dream and the interpretation thereof, what it consisted in and what it meant, ye shall receive of me gifts and rewards and great honor, both in money and in advancement;

— therefore show me the dream and the interpretation thereof. The insistence of the king was that of a true Oriental despot, who demanded without a reason, simply because it suited his fancy.

⁷They answered again and said, “Let the king tell his servants the dream, and we will show the interpretation of it.” — they answered again and said, in an effort to bring home to the king the unreasonableness of his request, Let the king tell his servants the dream and we will show the interpretation of it.

⁸The king answered and said, “I know with certainty that ye would gain the time, because ye see the thing is gone from me. — the king answered and said, I know of certainty, most assuredly, that ye would gain the time, because ye see that the thing is gone from me, as he insisted upon a speedy answer to his demand. He declared that they were merely trying to put off the matter to postpone it indefinitely in the hope that he would sufficiently relent to tell them the contents of his dream.

⁹But if ye will not make known unto me the dream, there is but one decree for you; for ye have prepared lying and corrupt words to speak before me, till the time is changed. Therefore tell me the dream, and I shall know that ye can show me the interpretation thereof.” — but if ye will not make known unto me the dream, there is but one decree for you; one and the same sentence of condemnation would strike them all: for ye have prepared lying and corrupt words to speak before me, base misrepresentations, by which they kept him for a fool;

— till the time be changed; until by some lucky chance they might get into possession of the secret, or until the king would withdraw his demand. Therefore tell me the dream, which he would immediately recognize;

— and I shall know that ye can show me the interpretation thereof; it was clear to Nebuchadnezzar that the wise men were unable to reveal hidden things and therefore he concluded that the interpretation which they would offer in case they would find out the contents of the dream would, at best, be mere guesswork.

¹⁰The Chaldeans answered before the king and said, “There is not a man upon the earth who can show the king’s matter. Therefore there is no king, lord, or ruler who asked such things of any magician, or astrologer, or Chaldean. — the Chaldeans answered before the king, in an attempt to establish the impossibility for mere human beings to satisfy the king’s demand, and said, there is not a man upon the earth that can show the king’s matter, revealing this secret thing;

— therefore there is no king, lord nor ruler that asked such things at any magician or astrologer or Chaldean. The fact that no ruler on earth no matter how great and mighty he was had ever made such a demand, was to them a proof that the fulfillment of his command transcended the highest human wisdom.

¹¹And it is a rare thing that the king requireth, and there is no other who can show it before the king except the gods, whose dwelling is not with flesh.” — and it is a rare thing that the king requireth most singular and unusual the like of which was not known in history, and there is none other that can show it before the king except the gods whose dwelling is not with flesh. “God makes the heathen out of their own mouth, condemn their impotent pretensions to supernatural knowledge in order to bring out in brighter contrast His power to reveal secrets to His servants.”

¹²For this cause the king was angry and very furious, and commanded to destroy all the wise men of Babylon. — for this cause the king was angry and very furious and commanded to destroy all the wise men of Babylon, both of this city and the province.

¹³And the decree went forth that the wise men should be slain, and they sought Daniel and his fellows to be slain. — and the decree went forth that the wise men should be slain, the slaughter being apparently begun; and they sought Daniel and his fellows who had not been summoned with the older members of the Chaldeans but belonged to their class to be slain. The enemies of the believers often seem to be on the verge of triumphing over them and of taking their life, but God holds His sheltering hand over His children so that without His consent no harm may come near them.

¹⁴Then Daniel answered with counsel and wisdom to Arioch, the captain of the king’s guard, who had gone forth to slay the wise men of Babylon. — then Daniel answered with counsel and wisdom with sound and prudent advice to Arioch, the captain of the king’s guard, who was also in charge of the sentence of execution, which was gone forth to slay the wise men of Babylon.

¹⁵He answered and said to Arioch the king’s captain, “Why is the decree from the king so hasty?” Then Arioch made the thing known to Daniel. — he answered and said to Arioch, the king’s captain, thereby displaying the wisdom for which he afterward became so famous, Why is the decree so hasty from the king? Why the furious and sharp command, which came upon the people concerned like a bolt out of the blue sky? Then Arioch made the thing known to Daniel, giving him the information which he sought.

¹⁶Then Daniel went in and desired of the king that he would give him time, and that he would show the king the interpretation. — then Daniel went in, naturally after being properly announced, and desired of the king that he would give him time, postponing the execution of the cruel decree for some days and that he would show the king the interpretation, thereby giving the king a definite promise.

¹⁷Then Daniel went to his house, and made the thing known to Hananiah, Mishael, and Azariah, his companions, — his companions; who either dwelt in the same house with him or not far off; whom he sent for and acquainted with all that had passed both between the king and the wise men and the consequence of that; and between him and the king and what promise he had made, relying on his God and theirs.

¹⁸that they would desire mercies from the God of heaven concerning this secret, that Daniel and his fellows should not perish with the rest of the wise men of Babylon. — that they would desire mercies of the God of heaven, the fulfillment of their united prayers being represented as a taking of gifts from before the throne of God, concerning this secret, that Daniel and his fellows, his Jewish companions, should not perish with the rest of the wise men of Babylon, whose death, according to the king’s decree, seemed inevitable.

¹⁹Then was the secret revealed unto Daniel in a night vision. Then Daniel blessed the God of heaven.

²⁰Daniel answered and said, “Blessed be the name of God for ever and ever, for wisdom and might are His. — Daniel answered and said, responding as it were, to the goodness of God with his hymn of praise, Blessed be the name of God forever and ever, this name including His entire essence and attributes; for wisdom and might are His, the two qualities coming into consideration here.

²¹And He changeth the times and the seasons; He removeth kings and setteth up kings. He giveth wisdom unto the wise, and knowledge to them that know understanding. — and He changes the times and the seasons as would appear in the carrying out of the king’s prophetic vision; He removes kings and set up kings, all the events in the history of nations being determined by Him; He gives wisdom unto the wise and knowledge to them that know understanding, Daniel thus tracing his own accomplishments entirely to the gift of God.

²²He revealeth the deep and secret things; He knoweth what is in the darkness, and the light dwelleth with Him. — He reveals the deep and secret things, which are hidden before the eyes of such as are mere human beings; He knows what is in the darkness, what is covered before human eyes, and the light dwelleth with Him, abiding with Him as His possession, so that He is the Source of all light, physical and spiritual.

²³I thank Thee and praise Thee, O Thou God of my fathers, who hast given me wisdom and might, and hast made known unto me now what we desired of Thee; for Thou hast now made known unto us the king’s matter.” — I thank Thee and praise Thee, O Thou God of my fathers, of the patriarchs of the Jewish nation who hast given me wisdom and might and hast made known unto me now what we desired of Thee, that for which they had so eagerly implored Him; for Thou hast now made known unto us the king’s matter, the very thing which the Chaldeans had declared to be an impossibility.

²⁴Therefore Daniel went in unto Arioch, whom the king had appointed to destroy the wise men of Babylon. He went and said thus unto him: “Destroy not the wise men of Babylon. Bring me in before the king, and I will show unto the king the interpretation.” — therefore Daniel went in unto Arioch; Daniel, having been thus divinely instructed, was desirous to save the lives of the wise men of Babylon, who were unjustly condemned, as well as his own; and being now prepared, he goes immediately to Arioch and bespeaks the reversing of the sentence against them; though there might be some among them, perhaps, who deserved to die as magicians by the law of God; yet that they were condemned was not a crime worthy of death.

²⁵Then Arioch brought in Daniel before the king in haste and said thus unto him, “I have found a man of the captives of Judah, who will make known unto the king the interpretation.”

²⁶The king answered and said to Daniel, whose name was Belteshazzar, “Art thou able to make known unto me the dream which I have seen, and the interpretation thereof?”

²⁷Daniel answered in the presence of the king and said, “The secret which the king hath demanded, the wise men, the astrologers, the magicians, and the soothsayers cannot show unto the king.

²⁸But there is a God in heaven who revealeth secrets, and maketh known to King Nebuchadnezzar what shall be in the latter days. Thy dream and the visions of thy head upon thy bed are these: — but there is a God in heaven that reveals secrets, possessing the attribute of omniscience of which the heathen gods and their servants knew nothing and makes known to the King Nebuchadnezzar what shall be in the latter days, at the period to which the believers of the Old Testament were looking forward with such intense eagerness. Thy dream and the visions of thy head, those which he saw in his mind, upon thy bed are these:

²⁹As for thee, O king, thy thoughts came into thy mind upon thy bed, what should come to pass hereafter; and He that revealeth secrets maketh known to thee what shall come to pass. — as for thee, O king, thy thoughts came into thy mind upon thy bed, he was engaged with these problems, what should come to pass hereafter; and He that reveals secrets, the one true God, whom the Jews worshiped, makes known to thee what shall come to pass.

³⁰But as for me, this secret is not revealed to me for any wisdom that I have more than anyone living, but for their sakes who shall make known the interpretation to the king, and that thou mightest know the thoughts of thy heart. — but as for me, this secret is not revealed to me for any wisdom that I have more than any living, because he possessed such an extraordinary measure of wisdom by virtue of his own efforts or natural abilities, but for their sakes that shall make known the interpretation to the king and that thou might know the thoughts of thy heart.

³¹“Thou, O king, sawest; and behold, a great image! This great image, whose brightness was excellent, stood before thee; and the form thereof was terrible. — Thou, O king, sawest, that is, he beheld before his eyes, he had his gave fixed upon the vision and behold a great image, a statute in human form. This great image, whose brightness was excellent stood before thee, over against him in full view; and the form thereof was terrible on account of its colossal proportions and its terrifying aspect.

³²This image’s head was of fine gold, his breast and his arms of silver, his belly and his thighs of brass, — this image’s head was of fine gold, or ”as far as the image was concerned, its head was of pure gold,” his breast and his arms of silver, his belly and his thighs, or “his hips with the upper thighs,” of brass;

³³his legs of iron, his feet part of iron and part of clay. — his legs of iron, his feet part of iron and part of clay. “Only the first part, the head, constitutes a unity; the second, in the arms, shows evidence of division; the third has the same feature in the thighs: the fourth while proceeding from a common source, is entirely divided, although it also possesses ability of motion; the fifth is divided from the start and is finally subdivided still further in the ten toes. The material becomes less precious as we proceed, until it reaches common clay.”

³⁴Thou sawest until a stone was cut out without hands, which smote the image upon his feet that were of iron and clay, and broke them to pieces. — thou sawest, that is, the king’s gaze was still directed toward this image, till that a stone was cut out, being torn loose from a mountain above, without hands, without human agency by a special act of God, which, in rolling down from the mountainside, smote the image upon his feet that were of iron and clay and brake them to pieces.

³⁵Then were the iron, the clay, the brass, the silver, and the gold broken to pieces together, and became like the chaff of the summer threshing floors; and the wind carried them away, that no place was found for them. And the stone that smote the image became a great mountain and filled the whole earth. — then, as a result of this smashing blow, was the iron, the clay, the brass, the silver and the gold all the perishable materials of the image named in reverse order, broken to pieces together and became like the chaff of the summer threshing-floors, reduced to the finest dust to be carried away by the wind, totally demolished;

— and the wind carried them away that no place was found for them, that not a vestige remained; and the stone that smote the image became a great mountain and filled the whole earth, the image and all it represented sinking into insignificance beside it.

³⁶“This is the dream, and we will tell the interpretation thereof before the king.

³⁷Thou, O king, art a king of kings; for the God of heaven hath given thee a kingdom, power, and strength, and glory. — thou, O king, art a king of kings, a great sovereign, ruler of a world-power; for the God of heaven hath given thee a kingdom, or dominion, power and strength and glory, the attention of the king being here directed to the one Lord, the Dispenser of all good gifts.

³⁸And wheresoever the children of men dwell, the beasts of the field and the fowls of the heaven hath He given into thine hand, and hath made thee ruler over them all. Thou art this head of gold. — and wheresoever the children of men dwell, even in the most remote parts of the habitable world, the beasts of the field and the fowls of the heaven hath He given into thine hand, in an absolute dominion such as man possessed at the beginning;

— and hath made thee ruler over them all, his power extended over practically the entire world then known, at least to all parts which might be termed civilized. Thou art this head of gold, this being all the more appropriate since Babylon possessed an immense wealth, also precious metals.

³⁹And after thee shall arise another kingdom inferior to thee, and another third kingdom of brass, which shall bear rule over all the earth. — and after thee shall arise another kingdom inferior to thee, with a lower standard of political morals, lacking in internal strength, although still possessing a world sovereignty, and another third kingdom of brass, which shall bear rule over all the earth, by virtue of its unyielding hardness, though also inferior in quality.

⁴⁰And the fourth kingdom shall be strong as iron, inasmuch as iron breaketh in pieces and subdueth all things; and as iron that breaketh all these, shall it break in pieces and bruise. — and the fourth kingdom shall be strong as iron, forasmuch as, or “just as” iron breaketh in pieces and subdue all things, crushing them and utterly destroying them; and as iron that breaketh all these shall it break in pieces and bruise, its destructive power being the point of comparison.

⁴¹And whereas thou sawest the feet and toes, part of potter’s clay and part of iron, the kingdom shall be divided; but there shall be in it the strength of the iron, inasmuch as thou sawest the iron mixed with miry clay. — and whereas thou sawest the feet and toes, part of potters’ clay and part of iron, total weakness and lack of power being implied in the terms, the kingdom shall be divided; but there shall be in it of the strength of the iron, this being retained in spite of the internal division, forasmuch as thou sawest the iron mixed with miry clay, in its sticky form, just as it came from the pits.

⁴²And as the toes of the feet were part of iron and part of clay, so the kingdom shall be partly strong and partly broken. — and as the toes of the feet were part of iron and part of clay, indicating the weakness of the feet supporting the great colossus, so the kingdom shall be partly strong and partly broken, that is, chiefly brittle and therefore always on the verge of disintegration.

⁴³And whereas thou sawest iron mixed with miry clay, they shall mingle themselves with the seed of men; but they shall not cleave one to another, even as iron is not mixed with clay. — and whereas thou sawest iron mixed with miry clay, they, the rulers and the various ruling elements making up the fourth kingdom, shall mingle themselves with the seed of men, making an effort to establish harmony;

— but they shall not cleave one to another, in a firmly coherent mass, even as iron is not mixed with clay, namely, in a solid and permanent union. The meaning is clear; the world-power in its totality appears as a colossal human form: Babylon, the head of gold; Medo-Persia, the breast and the two arms of silver; the Greco-Macedonian Empire, as the belly and the two thighs of brass; and Rome with its various branches and dependent kingdoms, as the legs of iron and the feet of iron and clay. “Those kingdoms only are mentioned which stand in some relation to the Lord’s people.”

⁴⁴And in the days of these kings shall the God of heaven set up a Kingdom which shall never be destroyed; and the Kingdom shall not be left to other people, but it shall break in pieces and consume all these kingdoms, and it shall stand for ever. — and in the days of these kings, while the various minor rulers were in power under the general sovereignty of Rome shall the God of heaven set up a kingdom which shall never be destroyed, its divine and eternal character being evident throughout; and the kingdom shall not be left to other people, its dominion taken over by a new power which might arise;

— but it shall break in pieces and consume all these kingdoms, bringing all world powers to an end, and it shall stand forever. The kingdom of Christ is not of this world, and yet its power is such as to overcome all human might and authority and to establish instead the glorious reign of the Kingdom of God; for Christ is the King of kings and the Lord of lords.

⁴⁵Inasmuch as thou sawest that the stone was cut out of the mountain without hands, and that it broke in pieces the iron, the brass, the clay, the silver, and the gold, the great God hath made known to the king what shall come to pass hereafter. And the dream is certain and the interpretation thereof sure.” — forasmuch as thou sawest that the stone was cut out of the mountain without hands, without human agency and influence and that it brake in pieces the iron, the brass, the clay, the silver, and the gold, all these materials being equally powerless to stand before its impetuous rush;

— the great God hath made known to the king what shall come to pass hereafter, the one and only true God having might not only to make such wonderful revelations, but also to bring His promises to pass. And the dream is certain and the interpretation thereof sure, a fact which Daniel’s emphatic statement properly brought to the foreground in conclusion.

⁴⁶Then King Nebuchadnezzar fell upon his face and worshiped Daniel, and commanded that they should offer an oblation and sweet incense unto him. — then the King Nebuchadnezzar fell upon his face, overcome by the wisdom contained in this straightforward declaration and worshiped Daniel, giving him adoration as a prophet of the true God, worshiping the Lord in the person of Daniel, and commanded that they should offer an oblation and sweet odors unto him.

⁴⁷The king answered unto Daniel and said, “In truth it is, that your God is a God of gods and a Lord of kings, and a revealer of secrets, seeing thou could reveal this secret.” — the king answered unto Daniel and said, Of a truth it is that your God is a God of gods, in the eyes of Nebuchadnezzar the mightiest of all gods, and a King of kings, and a Revealer of secrets, seeing thou could reveal this secret, which was so obviously beyond mere human ability.

⁴⁸Then the king made Daniel a great man and gave him many great gifts, and made him ruler over the whole province of Babylon and chief of the governors over all the wise men of Babylon. — then the king made Daniel a great man, exalting him to a position of great dignity and power, and gave him many great gifts, rewarding him after the manner of Oriental rulers; Observation: Daniel didn’t refused the king’s offer of gifts; nor stopped him from worshipping him;

— and made him ruler over the whole province of Babylon, a civil appointment which gave him the administration in the most important province of the empire, and chief of the governors over all the wise men of Babylon, a position of influence as well as of honor.

⁴⁹Then Daniel requested of the king, and he set Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego over the affairs of the province of Babylon; but Daniel sat in the gate of the king. — then Daniel requested of the King, and he set Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego over the affairs of the province of Babylon, as those immediately in charge of the business of administration; but Daniel sat in the gate of the king, as his chief counselor over the various orders into which the wise men of Babylon were divided. The Saints may well occupy even the highest positions in the state for then they may perform the work of their office to the honor of God and for the true welfare of the state.

Posted in Daniel

Micah (Ch 5-7)

•December 11, 2021 • Leave a Comment

The Prophecy of Micah, the word of the Lord that came to Micah of Moresheth during the reigns of kings, as Jehoram, Ahaziah, Joash, Amaziah and Uzziah. He is thought to have prophesied thirty or forty years, which places him in the years 713 to 750 BC; thus contemporary with Isaiah, Hosea and Amos but had started earlier.

Micah 5

¹ Now gather thyself in troops, O daughter of troops; he hath laid siege against us; they shall smite the judge of Israel with a rod upon the cheek. — it seems this verse ought to be joined to the foregoing chapter, as it evidently belongs to it, and not to this, which is upon a quite different subject.

²“But thou, Bethlehem Ephrathah, though thou be little among the thousands of Judah, yet out of thee shall come forth unto Me He that is to be ruler in Israel, whose goings forth have been from of old, from everlasting.” — but thou, Bethlehem Ephratah… but though Jerusalem should be besieged and taken and the land of Judea laid waste, yet before all this should be the Messiah should be born in Bethlehem of which this is a prophecy as is evident from Matthew 2:4;

— though thou be little among the thousands of Judah, among the districts of the country containing a thousand families, the town being of little importance over against the mighty Jerusalem nearby, yet out of thee shall He come forth unto Me that is to be Ruler in Israel, out of thee shall come forth unto me a Judge, that is to be ruler in Israel, and this is the King; for because he is to be of the seed of David, from Bethlehem he will be, that is, the selection of the Messiah as the true King of Israel serving as Ruler of Israel;

— whose goings forth have been from of old, from everlasting; thus the Father’s will and purpose from eternity was made manifest in the coming of the Prince of Peace. And even as His outgoings were from eternity, since He is the everlasting Son of the Father, so His generation as man is from Bethlehem.

³Therefore will He give them up, until the time that she who travaileth hath brought forth; then the remnant of His brethren shall return unto the children of Israel. — but you, Bethlehem, David’s county where the Lamb would be born wouldn’t be given up; from you will come the leader who will be the Messiah-rule Israel. He’ll be no upstart, no pretender, his family tree is ancient and distinguished. Meanwhile, Bethlehem will be in foster homes until the birth pangs are over and the child is born then the scattered brothers come back home to the family of Jacob. He will stand tall in his Messiah-rule with God’s strength, centered in the Kingdom of God. And the people will have a good and safe home, his Greatness shall reach the ends of the earth; the Peacemaker of the world!

⁴And He shall stand and feed them in the strength of the Lord, in the majesty of the name of the Lord His God. And they shall abide; for now shall He be great unto the ends of the earth. — and He shall stand and feed, both ruling and nourishing as the King and Shepherd of His people, in the strength of the Lord, He Himself being the mighty God, Isaiah 9:6;

— in the majesty of the name of the Lord, His God, which was communicated to Him even in His state of humiliation; and they shall abide, namely, the true spiritual children of Israel; for now shall He be great unto the ends of the earth, His kingdom, the Kingdom of God, extending over the entire earth.

⁵And this Man shall be the peace when the Assyrian shall come into our land; and when he shall tread in our palaces, then shall we raise against him seven shepherds and eight princes of men. — when the Assyrian shall come into our land; not Sennacherib king of Assyria; though by the invasion of Judea, and siege of Jerusalem, he might have lately been concerned in and by reason of the terror which that had raised in the people; the Assyrian may be here put for any powerful enemy of the people of God in later times;

— then shall we raise against him seven shepherds and eight princes of men; we, the Israel of God shall be enabled to repel the enemy. “Shepherds,” that is, princes, “seven” is the perfect number, representing completeness and rest; and eight principal men; or princes among men, appointed by the Ruler as his subordinates and representatives. These are said to be “eight” to imply a great number: there should be an abundance of able leaders.

⁶And they shall waste the land of Assyria with the sword, and the land of Nimrod at the entrances thereof; thus shall He deliver us from the Assyrian when he cometh into our land, and when he treadeth within our borders.

⁷And the remnant of Jacob shall be in the midst of many nations, as a dew from the Lord, as the showers upon the grass that tarrieth not for man, nor waiteth for the sons of men. — and the remnant of Jacob, those that survived the fire, famine, pestilences and the sword, shall be in the midst of many people as captives, “in the midst of the abundance of the nations,”

— as a dew from the Lord, their testimonies would nourish the nations, as the showers upon the grass, the truth about their abominations would give the nations much need truth with their life-giving strength, that tarrieth not for man nor waiteth for the sons of men, for the Word of God exerts its strength without the assistance of man, (more on the remnants from Ezekiel 12 at the end)

⁸And the remnant of Jacob shall be among the Gentiles, in the midst of many people, as a lion among the beasts of the forest, as a young lion among the flocks of sheep, who, if he go through, both treadeth down and teareth in pieces, and none can deliver. — and the remnant of Jacob shall be among the nations in the midst of many people… the same persons are meant here as before; who are compared to dew and showers of rain; because numerous and full of blessings in themselves and useful and beneficial to others;

— as a lion among the beasts of the forest; strong, mighty, powerful, courageous and superior to their enemies as the lion is strongest among beasts and keeps all others in awe of him;

— as a young lion among the flocks of sheep; in the great Millennium or the Messianic Age, their enemies shall be no more able to oppose them than a flock of sheep are to a young lion to resist him; the design of the metaphor is not to signify the harmlessness and innocence of their enemies but their weakness and the strength and courage of them.

⁹Thine hand shall be lifted up upon thine adversaries, and all thine enemies shall be cut off. — in the great Millennium or the Messianic Age thine hand shall be lifted up upon thine adversaries… O remnant of Jacob or Israel, as the Targum says; the remnant of Jacob, and destroy their enemies with the sword that proceeds out of his mouth.

¹⁰“And it shall come to pass in that day,” saith the Lord, “that I will cut off thy horses out of the midst of thee, and I will destroy thy chariots. — and it shall come to pass in that day, saith the Lord, at the time of Messiah’s reign that I will cut off thy horses out of the midst of thee, ordinarily, the confidence of men, and I will destroy thy chariots.

¹¹And I will cut off the cities of thy land, and throw down all thy strongholds. — the Targum says, “I will cut off the cities of the people out of thy land and destroy all their strong fortresses” these shall dwell no more there and be no more offensive and troublesome.

¹²And I will cut off witchcrafts out of thine hand, and thou shalt have no more soothsayers. — and I will cut off witchcrafts out of thine hand… in the latter day; all unlawful arts, cheating and juggling in religious matters will cease and be no more; every religious building of any kind (churches, cathedrals, temples, shrines, monuments, mosques) will all be totally demolished, so that no vestige of any false religion remains.

¹³Thy graven images also will I cut off, and thy standing images out of the midst of thee; and thou shalt no more worship the work of thine hands.

¹⁴And I will pluck up thine Asherah poles out of the midst of thee: so will I destroy thy cities.

¹⁵And I will execute vengeance in anger and fury upon the heathen, such as they have not heard.” — such as they have not heard; such terrible judgements, and dreadful expressions of divine wrath and fury, by earthquakes, hailstones, as were never known or heard before of in the world before see Revelation 16:18; or “which have not heard” the people that have not heard and hearkened to the word of God to the voice of Christ in the Gospel, but have turned a deaf ear to it, and despised it. So the Targum says, “who have not received the doctrine of the law.”

~~~

Micah 6

¹ Hear ye now what the Lord saith: “Arise, contend thou before the mountains, and let the hills hear thy voice. — arise; O Prophet Micah, and do thine office; sit not still, nor indulge to sloth and ease; show readiness, diligence, activity, zeal, and courage in my service and in carrying a message from me to my people:

— hear ye now what the Lord saith… here begins a new discourse and with an address of the prophet to contend before the mountains; a parallel Scripture in Ezekiel 6 against the mountains and hills of Israel follows:

²Hear ye, O mountains, the Lord’S controversy, and ye strong foundations of the earth; for the Lord hath a controversy with His people, and He will plead with Israel. — a detailed parallel Scripture in Ezekiel 6 on the mountains and hills of Israel;

— the “mountains of Israel” refer to the United States, UK and France – “and to the hills, to the rivers and to the valleys;” the hills: Ireland, Switzerland and the Scandinavian countries: Denmark, Norway, and Sweden, Finland, and Iceland; and the valleys, the low countries: Belgium, the Netherlands, and Luxembourg;

— and to the rivers; where during the nineteenth century, the British Royal Navy were known to “Rule the Waves;” and the United States having been plowing up and down the five oceans with her Seven Fleets since the British left the scene.

³O My people, what have I done unto thee? And wherein have I wearied thee? Testify against Me! — O My people, what have I done unto thee? namely, in inflicting any kind of wrong unto them. And wherein have I wearied thee? is my requirements too rigorous or too hard to follow? Testify against me! God was ready to entertain any reply which they might want to make concerning any charges.

⁴For I brought thee up out of the land of Egypt, and redeemed thee out of the house of servitude; and I sent before thee Moses, Aaron, and Miriam. — for I brought thee up out of the land of Egypt… instead of doing them any wrong, he had done them much good; of which this is one instance and he was able to produce more: this a notorious, plain and full proof of his goodness to them which could not be denied. It may be rendered, as it is by some, “surely I brought thee up” this is a certain thing, well known and cannot be disproved it must be allowed to be a great favour and kindness to be brought up out of a superstitious, idolatrous people, enemies to God and true religion and who had used them in a barbarous and cruel manner:

— and redeemed thee out of the house of servants; or “out of the house of bondage” as the same words are rendered, Exodus 20:2; that is, out of hard service in which their lives were made bitter; out of cruel bondage and slavery which made them cry to the Lord for help and deliverance; and he heard them and sent them a deliverer;

— and I sent before thee Moses, Aaron and Miriam; not to bring them the news of their deliverance out of Egypt, to be their guides to conduct and direct them in all matters, civil and religious. Moses was their lawgiver, leader and commander; Aaron was their priest to offer sacrifice for them and to intercede on their behalf; and Miriam was a prophetess; the Targum says, “I sent before thee three prophets, Moses to teach the tradition of judgements; Aaron to make atonement for the people; and Miriam to instruct the women.”

⁵O My people, remember now what Balak king of Moab counseled, and what Balaam the son of Beor answered him, from Shittim unto Gilgal, that ye may know the righteousness of the Lord.” — O My people, remember now what Balak, king of Moab, consulted, the counsel he took in trying to bring about their downfall;

— and what Balaam, the son of Beor, answered him from Shittim unto Gilgal, between the first station after Balaam’s blessing and the first station on the soil of the Holy Land, Cf Numbers 25:1; Joshua 4:19, that ye may know the righteousness of the Lord, how truly and righteously He performed the deeds of His almighty power in carrying out His counsel of love toward His people. Israel being unable to answer this challenge of the Lord and admitting the guilt charged in His statement, is ready to make amends.

⁶With what shall I come before the Lord, and bow myself before the high God? Shall I come before Him with burnt offerings, with calves of a year old? — wherewith shall I come before the Lord and bow myself before the high God? the prophet asks in the name of the people in order to restore the relationship which had been so rudely disturbed by their transgressions. Shall I come before Him with burnt offerings, with calves of a year old? these being considered the choicest sacrifices.

⁷Will the Lord be pleased with thousands of rams, or with ten thousands of rivers of oil? Shall I give my firstborn for my transgression, the fruit of my body for the sin of my soul? — will the Lord be pleased with thousands of rams… if single burnt offerings of bullocks and heifers will not do, will rams and thousands of them be acceptable to him?

— or with ten thousands of rivers of oil? for meat offerings, in which oil was used: if he could but gain his point and get the God of Israel on his side;

— shall I give my firstborn for my transgression, the fruit of my body for the sin of my soul? It is well known that the Phenicians and others in the land of Canaan sacrificed their children to Saturn or Molech, and some of the idolatrous Israelites imitated this horrid practice: see note on Leviticus 18:21, where God in a solemn manner prohibits it;

— these two verses give us an exact description of the character of hypocrites and habitual sinners who hope to obtain God’s favour by performing certain external ceremonies and are willing to purchase their own pardon upon any terms, except that of reforming their lives.

⁸He hath shown thee, O man, what is good: and what doth the Lord require of thee but to do justly and to love mercy, and to walk humbly with thy God? — and what doth the Lord require of thee but to do justly; or to exercise public judgement and justice as a king among his subjects; to do private and personal justice between man and man; to hurt no man’s property and character; to give to everyone their due and do as he would desire to be done by; which as it is agreeable to the law of God so to the light of nature and what is shown, required and taught by it;

— and to love mercy; not only to show mercy to miserable objects, to persons in distress; to relieve the poor and indigent, to clothe the naked and feed the hungry, but to delight in such exercises and which a king especially should do;

— and to walk humbly with thy God? his Creator and Benefactor from whom he had his being and all the blessings of life and was dependent upon him; and therefore as a creature should behave with humility towards his Creator, acknowledging his distance from him and the obligations he lay under to him; and even though a king yet his God and Creator was above him, King of kings, and Lord of lords, to whom he owed his crown, sceptre and kingdom and was accountable to him for all his administrations: and this “walking humbly” as opposed to “walking in pride” which kings are apt to do; but God can humble them and bring them low as kings have been obliged to learn; see Daniel 2:21.

⁹The Lord’S voice crieth unto the city (and the man of wisdom shall see Thy name): “Hear ye the rod and who hath appointed it! — the Targum of the whole says, “with the voice the prophets of the Lord Cry to the city; and teachers fear the name (of the Lord); hear, O king and rulers, and the rest of the people of the land.”

¹⁰Are there yet the treasures of wickedness in the house of the wicked, and the scant measure that is abominable? — are there yet the treasures of wickedness in the house of the wicked? namely, such as had been gained by wickedness, by oppression and cheating;

— and the scant measure that is abominable? or for such practices as they were abominable and detestable to God; they stirred up his wrath, and brought destruction on those that used them. The Targum says, “false measures that bring a curse.”

¹¹Shall I count them pure with the wicked balances, and with the bag of deceitful weights? — and with the bag of deceitful weights? or “stones” which were used in weighing goods and which were deceitful when a heavier was used in buying and a lighter in selling. So the Targum says, “and with the bag, in which are weights greater and lesser” condemned in Deuteronomy 25:13.

¹² For the rich men thereof are full of violence, and the inhabitants thereof have spoken lies, and their tongue is deceitful in their mouth. — for the rich men thereof are full of violence… that is, the rich men of the city, to whom the voice of the Lord cried, Jerusalem or Samaria, or any or all the cities of Israel and Judah; the rich men of these cities, who had enough of the world and were under no temptation to do an ill thing, to get money; and yet their hands and their houses and their treasuries, as the Targum says, were full of goods gotten by violent measures, by the oppression of the poor and needy.

¹³Therefore also will I make thee sick by smiting thee, in making thee desolate because of thy sins. — therefore also will I make thee sick in smiting thee… with the rod to be heard by some of his sore judgments: as famine, pestilence, the sword of the enemy, civil disorders and the like which should cause their kingdom and state and families to decline and waste away as a sickly and diseased body. So the Targum says “and I brought upon thee illness and a stroke.”

¹⁴Thou shalt eat, but not be satisfied, and thy casting down shall be in the midst of thee. And thou shalt take hold, but shalt not deliver; and that which thou deliverest will I give up to the sword. — thou shalt eat, but not be satisfied… either not having enough to eat, for the refreshing and satisfying of nature; or else a blessing being withheld from food, though eaten, and so not nourishing; or a voracious and insatiable appetite being given as a curse; the first sense seems best;

— and you shall overtake: your enemies who lead your sons and daughters away into captivity; but you shall not rescue them and if you rescue them their end will be to the sword.

¹⁵Thou shalt sow, but thou shalt not reap; thou shalt tread the olives, but thou shalt not anoint thyself with oil; and sweet wine, but shalt not drink wine. — thou shalt sow, but thou shalt not reap, the enemy either destroying or robbing the crop; thou shalt tread the olives but thou shalt not anoint thee with oil since the enemy would plunder the stores; and sweet wine, these must as pressed from the grapes, but shalt not drink wine, the finished product.

¹⁶For the statutes of Omri are kept, and all the works of the house of Ahab; and ye walk in their counsels, that I should make thee a desolation and the inhabitants thereof a hissing: Therefore ye shall bear the reproach of My people.” — I should make thee a desolation, an object of astonishment and horror, and the inhabitants thereof an hissing, to be jeered at on every side. Therefore ye shall bear the reproach of My people, the disgrace which is ordinarily heaped upon the people of God if it is delivered into the hands of its enemies. The greater the grace and mercy of the Lord which was upon them, the greater would be their punishment for having rejected His mercy. If people have a form of godliness but deny its power, then this outward semblance is all the more liable to bring the Lord’s reproach upon such hypocrites.

Micah 7

¹ Woe is me! For I am as when they have gathered the summer fruits, as the grape gleanings of the vintage: There is no cluster to eat; my soul desired the first ripe fruit. — Woe is me!.. alas for me unhappy man that I am to live in such an age and among such a people as I do! this the prophet says;

— for I am as when they have gathered the summer fruits as the grape gleanings of the vintage; when there are only an apple or a pear or two leftover, or such sort of fruit, and such a quantity of it left on the top of the tree, or on the outermost branches of it after the rest are gathered in; or a few single grapes here and there after the vintage is over; signifying either that he was like Elijah left alone or however that the number of good men were very few;

— there is no cluster to eat; my soul desired the first ripe fruit; there are few or none that are so truly and consistently pious as to delight in doing good to others or making them as happy as lies in their power.

²The good man is perished out of the earth, and there is none upright among men. They all lie in wait for blood; they hunt every man his brother with a net. — the good man is perished out of the earth… here the prophet expresses in plain words what he had before delivered in figurative terms: the “good” or “godly” man. The complaint is that there were few or scarce any of this character in the earth in the land of Israel, where there used to be great numbers of them, but now they were all dead and gone;

— and there is none upright among men; that are upright in heart and life; that have right spirits renewed in them are Israelites indeed, in whom there is no guile; and walk uprightly according to the rule of the divine word, truly honest, faithful men; very few such were to be found, scarce;

— they hunt every man his brother with a net as men lay nets for fish, fowl, beasts and hunt them till they have got them into them; so these men laid snares not for strangers only but for their own brethren to entangle them in and cheat and defraud them of their substance; and this they would do even to their destruction, so the Targum says, “betray or deliver his brother to destruction.”

— there are very few left because the majority in our society have succumbed to four great deceptions in our modern era (Easter, Christmas, Sundays, holy ghost) more at the end

³That they may do evil with both hands earnestly, the prince asketh, and the judge asketh for a reward; and the great man uttereth his wicked desire; so they wrap it up. — that they may do evil with both hands earnestly… Or “well” strenuously, diligently to the utmost of their power, labouring at it with all their might and main; as wicked men generally are more industrious and exert themselves more to do evil than good men do to do good; and even weary themselves to commit iniquity:

— the prince asketh and the judge asketh for a reward; and if they do it must be bribed and have a reward for it even persons of such high character;

— and the great man he uttereth his mischievous desire; the depravity, corruption and perverseness of his soul; who is either some great man at court, that being encouraged by the example of the prince and judge, openly and publicly requires a bribe also to do an ill thing; and without any shame or blushing promises to do it on that consideration; or a counsellor at the bar who openly declares that he will speak in such a cause.

⁴The best of them is as a brier; the most upright is sharper than a thorn hedge. The day of thy watchman and thy visitation cometh; now shall be their perplexity. — the day of thy watchmen; either which the true prophets of the Lord, sometimes called watchmen, foretold should come but were discredited and despised will now most assuredly come; and now it should be seen whether it would be the day of their punishment for their false prophecies promised only good times ahead;

— and thy visitation cometh; the time that God would punish the people in general for their iniquities, as! well as their false prophets, princes, judges and great men; who also may be designed by watchmen.

⁵Trust ye not in a friend, put ye not confidence in a guide; keep the doors of thy mouth from her that lieth in thy bosom. — put ye not confidence in a guide; in political matters, in civil affairs as civil magistrates, judges, counsellors or in domestic matters.

⁶For the son dishonoreth the father, the daughter riseth up against her mother, the daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law: a man’s enemies are the men of his own house. — for the son dishonoreth the father, openly despising him, the daughter riseth up against her mother, refusing her the love and honor which she owes;

— the daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law, all the most sacred relationships being utterly broken down; a man’s enemies are the men of his own house. Similar conditions preceded the fall of Jerusalem and will precede the end of the world.

⁷Therefore I will look unto the Lord; I will wait for the God of my salvation; my God will hear me.

⁸Rejoice not over me, O mine enemy; when I fall, I shall arise; when I sit in darkness, the Lord shall be a light unto me. — rejoice not against me, O mine enemy… these are the words of the prophet in the house of Israel continued in an address to his and their enemy; literally the Chaldeans or Edomites or both who rejoiced at the destruction of Jerusalem and the calamities the people of the Jews were brought into at it.

⁹I will bear the indignation of the Lord because I have sinned against Him, until He plead my cause and execute judgement for me. He will bring me forth to the light, and I shall behold His righteousness. — I will bear the indignation of the Lord; the Targum prefaces these words with “Jerusalem saith” and they are the words of the prophet in the name of Jerusalem; with the humble submission which characterizes the repentant heart, because I have sinned against Him, such a free and unequivocal confession being essential if the sorrow is genuine;

— until He plead my cause, taking the part of His people against the enemies and execute judgement for me, maintaining and establishing His Kingdom in spite of all hostility;

— He will bring me forth to the light, namely, out of the darkness of captivity and oppression and I shall behold His righteousness for the deliverance of His people was in agreement with the Lord’s ancient promises.

¹⁰Then she that is mine enemy shall see it, and shame shall cover her that said unto me, “Where is the Lord thy God?” Mine eyes shall behold her; now shall she be trodden down as the mire of the streets. — then she that is mine enemy shall see it, this being the confident expectation of the Lord’s people and shame shall cover her which said unto me, Where is the Lord, thy God? in the scornful question usually asked by the enemies of the Kingdom;

— Mine eyes shall behold her, with quiet satisfaction; now shall she be trodden down as the mire of the streets.

¹¹In that day thy walls are to be built; in that day shall the decree be far removed. — when Jerusalem is to be rebuilt, then it will be larger than it was previously; “far removed” refers to being extended outwards and implied these extended walls are the city limits of Jerusalem.

¹²In that day also he shall come even to thee from Assyria, and from the fortified cities, and from the fortress even to the river, and from sea to sea and from mountain to mountain. — in that day also He shall come even to thee, the restored Zion, from Assyria and from the fortified cities where many of the ten tribes were, whither they were carried captives and from the fortress, namely, Assyria, even to the river, the Euphrates, to indicate all the countries lying between;

— and from sea to sea and from mountain to mountain, from all the regions and countries of the earth, all those whom the Lord had chosen from the various countries of the world;

— here is a parallel from Ezekiel 6:3

and say: ‘Ye mountains of Israel, hear the word of the Lord God. Thus saith the Lord God to the mountains and to the hills, to the rivers and to the valleys: Behold I, even I, will bring a sword upon you, and I will destroy your high places. — this message to the “mountains of Israel;” these mountains refer to the United States, UK and France. . . . “and to the hills, to the rivers and to the valleys;” the hills: Ireland, Switzerland and the Scandinavian countries: Denmark, Norway, and Sweden, Finland, and Iceland; and the valleys, the low countries: Belgium, the Netherlands, and Luxembourg;

— and to the rivers; where during the nineteenth century, the British Royal Navy were known to “Rule the Waves;” and the United States having been plowing up and down the five oceans with her Seven Fleets since the British left the scene.

¹³Notwithstanding, the land shall be desolate because of them that dwell therein, because of the fruit of their doings. — notwithstanding the land shall be desolate, the reference to the land of Israel; possessed by the ten tribes and at the latter days shall be desolate; because of them that dwell therein, for the fruit of their doings; the fruit of their doings are the fruits of their wickedness, which is desolation: by fire, pestilence and famine, and if they still survive, to be smitten by a Sword.

¹⁴Rule Thy people with Thy rod, the flock of Thine heritage, who dwell solitarily in the wood, in the midst of Carmel; let them feed in Bashan and Gilead, as in the days of old. — led Thy people with Thy rod, with a true shepherd’s care, the staff being the mark of the shepherd; the Targum says, “feed thy people with thy word, the people of thine inheritance, in the age which is to be renewed.”

¹⁵“As in the days of thy coming out of the land of Egypt, will I show unto them marvelous things.” — according to the days of thy coming out of the land of Egypt when He overthrew the enemies with a mighty hand and revealed His goodness to Israel, will I show unto him marvelous things, His Kingdom being given the wonders of His rule.

¹⁶The nations shall see and be confounded at all their might; they shall lay their hand upon their mouth; their ears shall be deaf. — they will be stunned with it and scarce know what they hear; become deaf with the continual noise of it, which will be disagreeable to them; and will choose to hear no more and therefore through envy and grief will stop their ears at what is told them.

¹⁷They shall lick the dust like a serpent; they shall move out of their holes like worms of the earth. They shall be afraid of the Lord our God, and shall fear because of Thee. — they shall lick the dust like a serpent, in deepest humiliation; they shall move out of their holes like worms of the earth, literally, “as those things that creep on the earth” they shall tremble forth out of their hiding-places;

— they shall be afraid of the Lord, our God, approaching to Him with terror, and shall fear because of thee. With these words the prophet once more turns directly to Yehovah, addressing Him in words of praise.

¹⁸Who is a God like unto Thee, who pardoneth iniquity, and passeth by the transgression of the remnant of His heritage? He retaineth not His anger for ever, because He delighteth in mercy.

¹⁹He will turn again; He will have compassion upon us; He will subdue our iniquities. And Thou wilt cast all their sins into the depths of the sea. — He will turn again, so the prophet assures the believers; He will have compassion upon us, He will subdue our iniquities, treading them down like enemies that rise up against the believers; and Thou wilt cast all their sins into the depths of the sea, so that they are covered over and can no more rise to condemn the Lord’s people.

²⁰Thou wilt perform the truth to Jacob and the mercy to Abraham, which Thou hast sworn unto our fathers from the days of old. — thou wilt perform the truth to Jacob… that is, the promise made to Jacob, the Lord would faithfully perform and make good to his posterity, natural and spiritual, especially to those who are Israelites indeed;

— and the mercy to Abraham; the gracious promises made to him, which sprung from mere grace and mercy; all respecting his natural and spiritual seed; and especially the promise of the coming of the Millenium and the Messianic Age, that seed of his in which all nations of the earth were to be blessed; and which is the eminent instance of the mercy and grace of God to all nations of the world that walk in the steps of Abraham.

~~~

Four Great Deceptions:

(a) Easters, a celebration of the Queen of heaven: Ishtar, the Assyrian and Babylonian goddess of fertility and sex. Her symbols (like the egg and bunny) were and still are fertility and sex symbols; and to those who actually think eggs and bunnies have something to do with the resurrection; Jeremiah 7:18 the women knead their dough to make cakes to the Queen of heaven; in Egypt, Jeremiah 44:17-19, 25, this is Ishtar: pronounced ‘Easter.’

(b) Christmas; Ezekiel 8:16 five and twenty men with their backs toward the temple; their faces toward the east; and they worshiped the sun toward the east; Christmas, which honor the Mithraism, birthday on December 25th – a form of nature worship based on the Sun-Goddess Mithra who on the darkest night of the year (December 20/21), gives birth to “Light” causing each day thereafter to grow longer until the Summer solstice;

(c) Sundays; her sabbaths which is Sundays, where the original keepers were the Samaritans, brought from Assyria: And the king of Assyria brought men from Babylon, and from Cuthah, and from Ava, and from Hamath, and from Sepharvaim, and placed them in the cities of Samaria instead of the children of Israel; and they possessed Samaria and dwelt in the cities thereof, II Kings 17:24.

— today, more than 98.5 percent of Christians are honoring the SUN by observing SUNday worship. Ezekiel 8:16 They have “their backs toward the temple of the Lord and their faces toward the east; and they worshiped the SUN toward the east; whose penalty is to be stoned to death, Deuteronomy 17:3-5 – ’till they die.

— also, following the SUN-worshipping Samaritans, most Church of God Communities are showing their contempt for God by having their “wavesheaf offering” and Pentecost on a SUNday; always on a SUNday. And these are supposedly in God’s Sanctuary, but God says He is a jealous God, so these pretentious Christians could be spewed out of His mouth! A death penalty – ’till they die!

(4) Holy Ghosts – Revelation 4:5 And out of the throne proceeded lightnings and thunderings and voices. And there were seven lamps of fire burning before the throne, which are the seven Spirits of God; if the Spirit is a Being or an independent Personage; there would be seven Holy Spirits;

— and with these we would add Jesus Christ the Son, and God the Father, then there would be nine Personage; we should have a Polygon or a Nonagon; so surely the Godhead would be a Polyty or a Nonaty; nine heads, that would be more like an Indian goddess more than a Trinity?

— more about the missing Holy Ghost; indeed he’s real and around; he was created full of wisdom and beauty, his head swelled up so much that he wanted to be like the Most High: these clues are giving in the book of Ezekiel 28 and Isaiah 14.

Posted in Minor Prophets

Micah (Ch 3-4)

•December 9, 2021 • Leave a Comment

The Prophecy of Micah, whose word of the Lord was meant for the heads of Jacob, the princes of the house of Israel; but then who is of the house of Israel today? Are they not of the United States today?

Micah 3

¹And I said: “Hear, I pray you, O heads of Jacob, and ye princes of the house of Israel: Is it not for you to know judgement” — and I said, Hear, I pray you, O heads of Jacob; the whole head of Jacob, the leading men and particularly those princes of the house of Israel, the ten tribes, being ringleaders in sin, who ought to have set good examples to others; and these are not to be spared because of their grandeur and dignity;

— is it not for you to know judgement? not the house of Israel to pass judgement, especially of (1) when and where to hold the feasts and (2) how to determine the Sacred calendar, which were administered by the house of Judah (who has the Scepter) and the Sanhedrin; and set rules and pass judgement; to give heed to that which is just and unjust.

²you who hate the good and love the evil, who pluck off their skin from off them and their flesh from off their bones, — who hate good and love evil, doing just the opposite of that which their leaders required of them; who pluck off their skin from off them, like wild beasts that tear off skin and flesh from the bones, and then devour them; or like cruel shepherds that not content to fleece their flocks, skin them;

— and their flesh from off their bones and take their flesh also and feed themselves and not the flock; or like butchers that first take off the skin off a beast and then cut up its flesh. The design of the expressions is to show what rigour, cruelty and oppressions these rulers exercised on the people and by their heavy taxes and levies, pillaged and plundered them of all they had in the world and left them quite bare as bones stripped of their skin and flesh.robbing them of their most precious possessions;

— so the Targum says, “seizing on their substance by violence, and their precious mammon they take away.”

³who also eat the flesh of My people and flay their skin from off them; and they break their bones and chop them in pieces, as for the pot and as flesh within the cauldron?” — who also eat the flesh of my people and flay their skins from off them… like cannibals, flay them alive and then eat their flesh, devouring their substance, only expressed in terms which still more set forth their savageness, barbarity, and cruelty; sound like those who operates Unit 731 during World War II; would God also intended this to mean those Vietnamese who had their skin sprayed with Agent Orange?

— and they break their bones and chop them in pieces as for the pot and as flesh within the cauldron; with emphasis of detail: did with them as cooks do who not only cut flesh off the bones and into slices but break the bones themselves; pictures the excess of cruelty which the rulers of the people were practicing.

⁴Then shall they cry unto the Lord, but He will not hear them; He will even hide His face from them at that time, as they have behaved themselves ill in their doings. — then shall they, the guilty ones, cry unto the Lord but He will not hear them namely at the time of the revelation of His wrath;

— the Targum says in the time of their distress but he will not hear their prayer so as to answer it according to their desire; that is, he will not save them from danger but deliver them up and all that belong unto them into the hands of such that shall use them as they have done others;

— he will even hide His face from them at that time, refusing to pay the slightest attention to their distress as they have behaved themselves ill in their doings and were thus fully ripe for judgement.

⁵Thus saith the Lord concerning the prophets that make my people err, that bite with their teeth and cry “Peace”; and he that putteth not into their mouths, they even prepare war against him: — thus saith the Lord concerning the prophets, namely the false shepherds and false prophets, who presumed to speak in the name of the Lord without being sent that make My people err, leading them astray, they led them into mistakes about matters of religion and civil government;

— that bite with their teeth and cry, Peace! that is, who prophesy smooth things, promise all kind of prosperity and plenty when they receive a sufficient amount of tithe money, proclaim peace, prophesying as it pleases the heart of men; may even get a “Nobel Peace Prize” for so doing; and he that putteth not into their mouths who refuses to pay them bribe money who do not give them what they ask or do not feed them according to their desire, do not keep a good table for them and cram and pamper them, but neglect them and do not provide well for them;

— they even declare war against him; these they threaten with one calamity or another that shall befall them; and endeavour to set their neighbours against them and even the government itself and do them all the mischief they can by defamation and slander, solemnly declaring warfare as for the honor of God.

⁶“Therefore night shall be unto you, that ye shall not have a vision; and it shall be dark unto you, that ye shall not divine. And the sun shall go down over the prophets, and the day shall be dark over them. — therefore night shall be unto you that ye shall not have a vision, being excluded from the light granted by the Spirit of God; and it shall be dark unto you that ye shall not divine; they have no understanding and granted no revelation of the future;

— and the sun shall go down and the day shall be dark over the prophets; their time of prosperity will be over and they shall no more be in favour with the people, or courted and feasted by them; but shall be held in the utmost contempt and abhorrence with darkness as in the Day of Judgement;

— the Targum of the whole says, “therefore ye shall blush at prophesying, and be ashamed of teaching; and tribulation as darkness shall cover the false prophets, and the time shall be darkened upon them.”

⁷Then shall the seers be ashamed, and the diviners confounded; yea, they shall all cover their lips; for there is no answer from God.” — then shall the seers be ashamed, be disgraced on account of the fact that their predictions are not fulfilled and the diviners confounded, blushing with shame on account of their miserable failures in trying to uncover the future;

— yea, they shall all cover their lips, literally “their beard” their face up to the nostrils as a sign of shame; for there is no answer of God, not that they shall be ashamed and silenced because they shall now have no answer of God for they never had any; now be most plain and clear to all that the Lord never spoke to them nor opened their minds. The Targum says, “for there is not in them a spirit of prophecy from the Lord.”

⁸But truly I am full of power by the Spirit of the Lord, and of judgement and of might, to declare unto Jacob his transgression and to Israel his sin. — declare unto Jacob; the whole head of Jacob, the leading men of the nation and particularly those princes of the house of Israel, the ten tribes, those northern kingdom that followed Jeroboam;

— to declare unto Jacob his transgression and to Israel his sin; especially of (1) when and where to hold the feasts and (2) how to determine the calendar which were administered by the house of Judah (who has the Scepter) and the Sanhedrin; and set rules and pass judgement; to give heed to that which is just and unjust.

⁹Hear this, I pray you, ye heads of the house of Jacob and princes of the house of Israel, that abhor judgement and pervert all equity: — hear this, I pray you, ye heads of the house of Jacob and princes of the house of Israel, the very leaders whose wickedness had been described in the first part of the Chapter;

— that abhor judgement, the law and ordinances; everything that was right or just, making crooked paths that which should have been kept straight; hate to do that which was right and just; and pervert all the rules and laws of justice and equity, clearing the guilty and condemning the innocent.

<< where is Micah 3:10? From Chabad Online: 10 Each one builds Zion with blood and Jerusalem with injustice >>

¹¹The heads thereof judge for reward, and the priests thereof teach for hire, and the prophets thereof divine for money. Yet will they lean upon the Lord and say, “Is not the Lord among us? No evil can come upon us.” — the heads thereof judge for reward being influenced in their decisions by bribe money and the priests, who were first hired by king Jeroboam after payment of bribes and fees from the lowest of people, people who were not qualified but for money;

— and the prophets thereof hired for money, their oracles being fashioned according to the presents which men gave them; yet will they lean upon the Lord, insisting that they were performing the work of their office by authority the God living in the midst of His people;

— and say, Is not the Lord among us? namely, with His power and protection. No evil can come upon us: namely pestilence, famine, sword and captivity that the prophets of the Lord had threatened them with.

¹²Therefore shall Zion for your sake be plowed as a field, and Jerusalem shall become heaps, and the mountain of the house as the high places of the forest. — therefore shall Zion for your sake on account of their wickedness in making the Lord’s Temple a den of murderers, be plowed as a field, the king’s quarter turned into tillable soil;

— Jerusalem and the rest of the city shall become heaps, piles of broken stones and the mountain of the house, that is, of the Temple, as the high places of the forest, being overgrown with brush and trees. It is a vivid description of the ruin which comes upon the enemies of the Lord.

Micah 4

¹ But in the last days it shall come to pass, that the mountain of the house of the Lord shall be established in the top of the mountains; and it shall be exalted above the hills, and people shall flow unto it. — but in the last days, in the great Millennium or the Messianic Age, it shall come to pass that the mountain of the house of the Lord, of the Kingdom of God, shall be established in the top of the mountains which also mean a new Ezekiel Temple built on Mount Moriah where the divine Majesty would reside; the ideal Zion being elevated above all else in the world;

— and it shall be exalted above the hills, visible before all nations and before the eyes of all men; and people shall flow unto it, members of all the nations of the world come come to keep the feasts; should they refuse, there would be no rain, but plagues: “And if the family of Egypt go not up, and come not, that have no rain; there shall be the plague, wherewith the LORD will smite the nations that come not up to keep the feast of tabernacles” Zechariah 14:18 (more at end of this chapter)

²And many nations shall come and say, “Come, and let us go up to the mountain of the Lord, and to the house of the God of Jacob. And He will teach us of His ways, and we will walk in His paths.” For the law shall go forth from Zion, and the word of the Lord from Jerusalem. — and many nations shall come, namely, the Saints whom the Lord would choose and say, Come and let us go up to the mountain of the Lord, the place where salvation is proclaimed, and to the house of the God of Jacob, the Kingdom of the Messiah;

— and He will teach us of His ways, the one way of deliverance and purification, and we will walk in His paths, in agreement with the revealed truth of the Scriptures; no longer paying homage to the Queen of heaven of Egypt: Astarte, but dub it Easter, the day of Christ resurrection; neither would they pay homage to Mithras of Babylon, whose birthday is on December 25th, by dubbing it Christmas; nor they be Sunworshippers, whose services are always on Sundays; and Pentecost on Whitsundays;

— for the Law, as the revelation of the holy and righteous will of God, shall go forth of Zion and the Word of the Lord, particularly in the revelation of the way of salvation, from Jerusalem, where the house of Judah has dominion: for the proclamation of the Word, in speaking of the law, statutes and ordinances, of sin, justice and judgement, of redemption and grace, all in the hands of the Saints.

— and they shall beat their swords into plowshares and their spears into pruning-hooks, both in an earthly, temporal Millennial peace of which men are dreaming from time to time, but also in the spiritual peace in Him where heretic doctrines are beaten into plowshares and their hatred among men into pruning-hooks, in whom there is truly peace on earth;

— nation shall not lift up a sword against nation neither shall they learn war any more, this being said of the inner peace and harmony of the Kingdom of God.

⁴But they shall sit every man under his vine and under his fig tree, and none shall make them afraid; for the mouth of the Lord of hosts hath spoken it. — but they shall sit every man under his vine and under his fig tree… a proverbial phrase, expressive of the greatest tranquillity, security and enjoyment of prosperity; 1 Kings 4:25; when persons need not keep within their walled towns and cities and lack themselves up in their houses but may sit down in their gardens, fields and vineyards and enjoy the fruit thereof;

— as the Targum interprets it, “under the fruit of his vine and under the fruit of his fig tree.”

⁵For all people will walk every one in the name of his god, and we will walk in the name of the Lord our God for ever and ever. — for all people, all those concerned in this prophecy, will walk every one in the name of his God in the power of the one true God in whom he believes whose essence is thus made known and we will walk in the name of the Lord our God forever and ever with a full trust in His supporting strength and powerful protection, which turns aside all the efforts of the enemies to disturb the inner peace of the Kingdom.

⁶“In that day,” saith the Lord, “will I assemble her that is halt, and I will gather her that is driven out and her that I have afflicted. — in that day, in the great Millennium or the Messianic Age, saith the Lord, will I assemble the lame and gather those who were dispersed, along with those I afflicted, all worshipping the God of Abraham.

³And He shall judge among many people, and rebuke strong nations afar off. And they shall beat their swords into plowshares, and their spears into pruning hooks; nation shall not lift up a sword against nation, neither shall they learn war any more. — and He, the God of the covenant, shall judge among many people, between Ishmaelites and the sons of Isaac; between Esau and Jacob; between the house of Israel and the house of Judah; teaching them true justice in accordance with His spoken and unspoken will, and rebuke strong nations afar off, to make them cease their enmity against Him;

— and I will gather her that is driven out; out of the land of Israel, and scattered among the nations of the world; even driven out by the Lord himself, because of their transgressions against him; Jeremiah 16:15;

— and her that I have afflicted; with various calamities, pestilence, famine and sword and in captivity and deaths; the Targum adds, “for the sins of my people” the Israelites for their Sun worshipping (Mithras) and idolatry to the Queen of heaven, Astarte; and the Jews for the rejection of the Messiah and other sins.

⁷And I will make her that is halt (or lame) a remnant, and her that was cast far off a strong nation; and the Lord shall reign over them in Mount Zion from hence forth, even for ever. — “The people of that ‘crippled’ city will be the only ones left alive (ERV);

— and I will make them into a strong nation; the Lord will be their king who will rule from Mount Zion forever.

⁸And thou, O tower of the flock, the stronghold of the daughter of Zion, unto thee shall it come, even the first dominion; the kingdom shall come to the daughter of Jerusalem.” — and thou, O tower of the flock, the term being applied to a tower of refuge for flocks in time of danger, here as a fort from which the great King and Shepherd, the Messiah Himself, observes and guards His flock, the stronghold of the daughter of Zion, the impregnable palace of the Kingdom of God;

— unto thee shall it come, even the first dominion, the glory of the earliest OT Saints: Enoch, Noah, Abraham and to the Patriarchs, Job? compared with that of the kingdom of Israel, when established, which are the latter OT Saints, under its mightiest king; King David; andt before that Moses, Joshua, Samuel;

— the kingdom shall come to the daughter of Jerusalem: King Hezekiah, King Josiah; Daniel and his three friends, Ezra and Nehemiah; since the earthly Jerusalem is always at the foundation of the kingdom, the afflictions of the Jewish capital are made typical of the experiences of the Lord’s people.

⁹Now why dost thou cry out aloud? Is there no king in thee? Is thy counselor perished? For pangs have taken thee as a woman in travail. — now, why dost thou cry out aloud? at the approach of the Chaldean invasion; Nebuchadnezzar was described as “My servant” or at other times, the Sword;

— is there no king in thee? is there no visible representative of the capable king to keep and protect them? Is thy counselor perished? to counsel, instruct and comfort them and at last to deliver and save them this name also being applied to the reigning member of the house of David?

— for pangs have taken thee as a woman in travail, the true believers in Israel feeling the deepest grief and sorrow over the desolation of the kingdom; and in modern times a time of Jacob’s trouble.

¹⁰Be in pain and labor to bring forth, O daughter of Zion, like a woman in travail; for now shalt thou go forth out of the city, and thou shalt dwell in the field. And thou shalt go even to Babylon; there shalt thou be delivered; there the Lord shall redeem thee from the hand of thine enemies. — be in pain and labor to bring forth, O daughter of Zion like a woman in travail, the catastrophe of the destruction of Jerusalem and of the exile of the people being imminent; that was for ancient Judah which were for a period of 70 years; but for Ezekiel’s Israel and Judah would be 190/40 years;

— for now shalt thou go forth out of the city, after it had been taken by the enemies, their houses taken away from them; and thou shalt dwell in the field if they could survive and thou shalt go even to Babylon, being dragged into captivity again;

— there shalt thou be delivered, namely, when a modern Cyrus issued the decree setting the captives free and thus laid the foundation upon which later arose the Messianic Age or the great Millennium there the Lord shall redeem thee from the hand of thine enemies so that the people of the covenant would be restored to the Promise Land, the land where the Messiah was to reign.

¹¹Now also many nations are gathered against thee, that say, “Let her be defiled, and let our eye look upon Zion!” — now also, namely, at the time of Jacob’s deepest humiliation, a time known as Jacob’s trouble;

— that say, Let her be defiled, and let our eye look upon Zion, namely, in malicious joy over her downfall;

— many nations are gathered against thee, in bold hostility, starting with those of the South and spread to the North.

¹²But they know not the thoughts of the Lord, neither understand they His counsel; for He shall gather them as the sheaves onto the threshing floor. — but they know not the thoughts of the Lord, the object which He has in mind in thus dealing with His people; one example is the slaughtering of his people spreading from the South to the North (for more see notes from Ezekiel 20:45-21:5)

— neither do they understand God’s unspoken will:

“Thus saith the LORD of hosts: ‘The fast of the fourth month, and the fast of the fifth, and the fast of the seventh, and the fast of the tenth, shall be to the house of Judah joy and gladness and cheerful feasts. Therefore love the truth and peace.’ Zechariah 8:19

But surprisingly, there were the unspoken Word of God! Like parents, they have their secret wishes for their children. So is God. But how do we know God’s unspoken will if they were unspoken? To be unspoken would also mean unwritten. More on the unspoken will of God here.

¹³Arise and thresh, O daughter of Zion; for I will make thine horn iron, and I will make thy hoofs brass. And thou shalt beat in pieces many people, and I will consecrate their gain unto the Lord, and their substance unto the Lord of the whole earth. — arise and thresh, O daughter of Zion, all the Saints that will gathered in Jerusalem, who live according to His commands; for I will make thine horn iron and I will make thy hoofs brass, giving to His Saints a new and unconquerable strength;

— and thou shall beat in pieces many people, not by victories of the flesh, but by those of the spirit; and I will consecrate their gain, what the enemies had gotten by robbery and plunder;

— unto the Lord, as devoted to Him, and their substance, all their possessions, unto the Lord of the whole earth, the Saints who will now have a dominion, kingdom and cities given him by the Ancient of Days that so all people, nations and languages shall serve Him, Daniel 7:14.

~~~

More from Zachariah 14: the great Millennium or the Messianic Age

¹⁶And it shall come to pass that every one who is left of all the nations which came against Jerusalem, shall even go up from year to year to worship the King, the Lord of hosts, and to keep the Feast of Tabernacles.
¹⁷And it shall be, that whoso will not come up of all the families of the earth unto Jerusalem to worship the King, the Lord of hosts, even upon them shall be no rain.
¹⁸And if the family of Egypt go not up and come not, upon whom there is no rain, there shall be the plague wherewith the Lord will smite the heathen who come not up to keep the Feast of Tabernacles.
¹⁹This shall be the punishment of Egypt and the punishment of all nations that come not up to keep the Feast of Tabernacles.
²⁰In that day shall there be upon the bells of the horses: “Holiness Unto The Lord.” And the pots in the Lord’S house shall be like the bowls before the altar;
²¹yea, every pot in Jerusalem and in Judah shall be holiness unto the Lord of hosts, and all those who sacrifice shall come and take of them and boil therein. And in that day there shall be no more the Canaanite in the house of the Lord of hosts.

Posted in Minor Prophets

Micah (Ch 1-2)

•December 8, 2021 • Leave a Comment

Micah 1

¹ The word of the Lord that came to Micah of Moresheth in the days of Jotham, Ahaz, and Hezekiah, kings of Judah, which he saw concerning Samaria and Jerusalem. — in the days of Jotham, Ahaz and Hezekiah, kings of Judah; Micah is thought to have prophesied about sixteen years in Jotham’s time, as many under Ahaz and fourteen under Hezekiah;

— by which it appears that he was contemporary with Isaiah, Hosea and Amos though they began to prophesy somewhat sooner than he even in the days of Uzziah; very probably he conversed with these prophets especially Isaiah with whom he agrees in many things; his style is like his and sometimes uses the same phrases: he, being of the tribe of Judah only mentions the kings of that nation most known to him; though he prophesied against Israel and in the days of Zachariah, Shallum, Menahem, Pekahiah, Pekah and Hoshea;

— which he saw concerning Samaria and Jerusalem; in the vision of prophecy, Samaria was the metropolis of the ten tribes of Israel and is put for them all, as Jerusalem was of the tribes of Judah and Benjamin and is put for them Samaria is mentioned first because it was the head of the greatest body of tribes; and as it was the first in transgression it was the first to face judgement.

²Hear, all ye people! Hearken, O earth, and all that is therein! And let the Lord God be a witness against you, the Lord from His holy temple. — hear, all ye people… Or “the people, all of them” all the nations of the world, not just the nations of Israel or only from several tribes of Judah;

— hearken, O earth, and all that therein is; or “its fullness” the land of Israel and Judah and the whole earth and all the inhabitants of it; reinforcing what was said above;

— and let the Lord God be witness against you; or “in you” the Word of the Lord as the Targum says; let him who is the omniscient God, who knows all hearts, thoughts, words and actions, let him bear witness in your consciences that what I am about to say is truth, and comes from him; and if you disregard it and repent not let him be a witness against you and for me that I have prophesied in his name; and warned you of your danger,

— the Lord from his holy temple, from heaven, the habitation of his holiness, whose voice speaking from thence should be hearkened to; who from thence beholds all the actions of men and from whence his wrath is revealed against their sins and he gives visible tokens of his displeasure; and especially when he seems to come forth from thence in some remarkable instances of his power and providence.

³For behold, the Lord cometh forth out of His place, and will come down and tread upon the high places of the earth. — for, behold, the Lord cometh out of his place… out of heaven, the place of the house of his Shekinah or Majesty as the Targum says; where his throne is prepared, where he keeps his court and displays his glory; from whence he removes not by local motion since he is everywhere but by some manifest exertion of his power, either on the behalf of his people or in taking vengeance on his and their enemies;

— and will come down and tread upon the high places of the earth; which are his footstool; Samaria and Jerusalem, built on mountains and all other high towers and fortified places together with men of high looks and haughty countenances who exalt themselves like mountains and swell with pride: these the Lord can easily subdue and humble, bring low and tread down like the mire of the street; perhaps there may be an allusion to the high places where idols were worshipped; and which were the cause of the Lord’s wrath and vengeance and of his coming forth in this unusual way in his providences.

⁴And the mountains shall be molten under Him, and the valleys shall be cleft, as wax before the fire, and as waters that are poured down a steep place. — and the mountains shall be molten under Him, dissolving before His almighty power, and the valleys shall be cleft, cleaving asunder before His majesty as wax before the fire and as the waters that are poured down a steep place, tearing down the abysses and causing a general dissolution of the entire surface of the earth.

⁵For the transgression of Jacob is all this, and for the sins of the house of Israel. What is the transgression of Jacob? Is it not Samaria? And what are the high places of Judah? Are they not Jerusalem? — for the transgression of Jacob is all this, and for the sins of the house of Israel… all this evil, all these calamities and judgements, signified by the above metaphorical phrases; these did not come by chance nor without reason; but were or would be inflicted according to the judgement of God, upon the people of Israel and Judah for their manifold sins and transgressions especially their lies and idolatries;

— is it not Samaria? the wickedness of Samaria, the calf of Samaria? as in Hosea 7:1; that is, the worship of the calf of Samaria; is not that idolatry the transgression of Jacob or which the ten tribes have given into? Or the altering of the Sacred Calendar? where they shifted the feast days a month later? that is; are these not enough reasons for all this wrath to come upon them: or “who is the transgression of Jacob?” who is the spring and source of it; the cause, author and encourager of it? are they not the kings that have reigned in Samaria from the times of Omri with their nobles, princes and great men, who, by their edicts influence and example have encouraged the worship of the golden calves? they are the original root and motive of it and to them it must be ascribed; they caused the people to sin: or as the Targum says “where have they of the house of Jacob sinned? is it not in Samaria?” verily it is and from thence, the metropolis of the nation, the sin has spread itself all over it:

— and what are the high places of Judah? or “who are they?” who have been the makers; who have set them up and encouraged these idolatrous worship? are they not Jerusalem? are they not the king, the princes and priests that dwell at Jerusalem? certainly they are; such as Ahaz and others in whose times this prophet lived; see II Kings 16:4; or as the Targum says, “where did they of the house of Judah commit sin? was it not in Jerusalem?” truly it was and even in the temple; here Ahaz built an altar like that at Damascus and sacrificed on it and spoiled the templev and several of the vessels in it, II Kings 16:10.

⁶“Therefore I will make Samaria as a heap of the field, and as plantings of a vineyard; and I will pour down the stones thereof into the valley, and I will uncover the foundations thereof. — therefore I will make Samaria as an heap of the field, as ruins that fall into dust and finally become a part of the soil and as plantings of a vineyard, that is, places where vineyards may be planted;

— and I will pour down the stones thereof, those which King Omri had used in building the city, into the valley, and I will discover, lay bare, the foundations thereof, destroying it to the very ground.

⁷And all the graven images thereof shall be beaten to pieces, and all the hires thereof shall be burned with fire, and all the idols thereof will I lay desolate; for she gathered it from the hire of a harlot, and they shall return to the hire of a harlot.” — and all the graven images thereof shall be beaten to pieces and all the hires thereof, namely, those of spiritual harlotry, the consecrated offerings placed on the idol altars, shall be burned with the fire, and all the idols thereof will I lay desolate, making them a wilderness;

— for she gathered it of the hire of an harlot, by her spiritual adultery, and they shall return to the hire of an harlot, for the rich treasures were taken away by the enemies and devoted to their own idols. The vanity of false worship also in this respect seems rarely to strike the consciousness of idolaters.

⁸Therefore I will wail and howl; I will go stripped and naked; I will make a wailing like the dragons and mourning as the owls. — therefore, on account of the calamity which would strike Samaria and Judah, I, Micah, will wail and howl, in a most bitter and mournful cry, I will rent my garments, will go stripped and naked as Isaiah did, Isaiah 20:3; he went about like a madman, one disturbed in his mind, bereft of his senses because of the desolation coming upon Israel; so the Targum says, “for this they shall wail and howl, and go naked among the spoilers;”

— I will make a wailing like the dragons like the jackals of the desert, and mourning as the owls like ostriches crying in pain.

⁹For her wound is incurable; for it has come unto Judah; he has come unto the gate of My people, even to Jerusalem. — for her wound is incurable… Or her “stroke is desperate” the ruin of Samaria and the ten tribes are inevitable; the decree being gone forth and they hardened in their sins and continuing in their impenitence; and their destructions are irrevocable; till the time comes that all Israel shall be saved; “she is grievously sick of her wounds” just ready to die upon the brink of ruin and no hope of saving her; this is the cause and reason of the above lamentation of the prophet, and increased his grief and sorrow;

— for it is come unto Judah; the calamity has reached the land of Judah; it stopped not with Israel or the ten tribes but spread itself into the two tribes of Judah and Benjamin; for the Assyrian army, having taken Samaria and carried Israel captive in a short time, about seven or eight years, invaded Judea and took the fenced cities of Judah in Hezekiah’s time in which Micah prophesied;

— he is come unto the gate of my people, even to Jerusalem; Sennacherib, king of Assyria, having taken the fenced cities came up to the very gates of Jerusalem and besieged it where the courts of judicature were kept and the people resorted to, to have justice done them; and Micah, being of the tribe of Judah calls them his people and was the more affected with their distress.

¹⁰Declare ye it not at Gath, weep ye not at all; in the house of Aphrah roll thyself in the dust. — declare ye it not in Gath, one of the chief cities of the Philistines, weep ye not at all lest the message cause these enemies to rejoice; in the house of Aphrah roll thyself in the dust, literally “in Beth-leaphra I wallow in the dust,” for such scattering of dust was a sign of deep grief. Throughout this paragraph the prophet in the Hebrew uses puns, for Gath means “announcement” and Ophra “dust-house.”

¹¹Pass ye away, thou inhabitant of Shaphir, having thy shame naked. The inhabitant of Zaanan came not forth in the mourning of Bethezel; he shall receive from you his standing.

¹²For the inhabitant of Maroth waited anxiously for good, but evil came down from the Lord unto the gate of Jerusalem. — for the inhabitants of Maroth (bitterness). waited carefully for good, being anxiously and bitterly concerned about it, writhing in grief and pain on account of her lost prosperity; but evil came down from the Lord unto the gate of Jerusalem. But while all these towns were in the neighborhood of Jerusalem the prophet next shows that the punishment would not be confined to the immediate neighborhood of the capital.

¹³O thou inhabitant of Lachish, bind the chariot to the swift beast (she is the beginning of the sin to the daughter of Zion), for the transgressions of Israel were found in thee. — O thou inhabitant of Lachish, a fortified city in the plain toward the southwest, bind the chariot to the swift beast, to the fastest horses, namely, to escape the impending punishment; she is the beginning of the sin to the daughter of Zion, for the transgressions of Israel were found in thee, she was the first city of Judah to introduce the idol-worship of the northern kingdom.

¹⁴Therefore shalt thou give presents to Moreshethgath; the houses of Achzib shall be a lie to the kings of Israel. — therefore shalt thou give presents to Moresheth-gath (the betrothed of Gath), the daughter of Zion being obliged to dismiss or release this city to the enemy, like the gift of a marriage portion;

— the houses of Achzib (deception). shall be a lie to the kings of Israel, a deceitful brook which offers no refreshment to the thirsty wanderer; just so the city would slip from the grasp of the kings of Judah (the southern kingdom being meant in this instance) so that it would no longer be in their possession.

¹⁵Yet I will bring an heir unto thee, O inhabitant of Mareshah: he shall come unto Adullam, the glory of Israel. — yet will I bring an heir unto thee, O inhabitant of Mareshah (town of inheritance), for Israel had been the heir obtaining it from the Canaanites and the enemy would now be the heir receiving it from the people of Judah;

— he shall come unto Adullam, the glory of Israel, rather “even unto Adullam will the nobility of Israel come,” to hide themselves in the cave in which David once sought refuge from Saul 1 Samuel 22:1.

¹⁶Make thyself bald, and shear thy beard because of thy pleasant children; enlarge thy baldness as the eagle, for they are gone into captivity from thee. — make thee bald, Zion as the mother of the nation being addressed, and poll thee, shearing her head, for thy delicate children in deep grief and sorrowful lamentation;

— enlarge thy baldness as the eagle, the griffin vulture of the Orient, the entire forepart of whose head is without feathers; for they are gone into captivity from thee. The entire chapter is a powerful and vivid description of the overthrow of the land by the armies of the invaders, which would be sent to punish the transgression of Judah.

Micah 2

¹ Woe to them that devise iniquity, and work evil upon their beds! When the morning is light they practice it, because it is in the power of their hand. — woe to them that devise iniquity… which were premeditated and done deliberately; any kind of iniquity, idolatry or worshipping of idols for the word is used sometimes for an idol, or the sin of uncleanness on which the thoughts too often dwell in the night; or coveting of neighbours’ goods and oppressing the poor, sins which are instanced in Micah 2:2; and every thing that is vain, foolish, wicked and in the issue brings trouble and distress: now a woe is denounced against such that think on such things and please themselves with them in their imaginations and contrive ways and means to commit them;

— and work evil upon their beds; when the senses being less engaged the thoughts are more free; but should not be employed about evil, but either in meditating on the divine goodness and praising the Lord for his mercies; or in examining a man’s heart, state, case and mourning over his sins and applying to God for the remission of them; but, instead of this the persons here threatened are said to “work evil on their beds” when they should be asleep and at rest or engaged in the above things; that is, they plot and contrive how to accomplish the evil they meditate; they determine upon doing it and are as sure of effecting it as if it was actually done; and do act it over in their own minds as if it was real; Psalms 36:4;

— when the morning is light, they practise it; they wish and wait for the morning light and as soon as it appears they rise and instead of blessing God for the mercies of the night and going about their lawful business they endeavour to put in practice with all rigour and diligence and as expeditiously as they can, what they have projected and schemed in the night season;

²They covet fields and take them by violence, and houses, and take them away. So they oppress a man and his house, even a man and his heritage. — and they covet fields and take them by violence… the fields of their poor neighbours which lie near them and convenient for them; they wish they were theirs and they contrive ways and means to get them into their possession; and if they cannot get them by fair means, if they cannot persuade them to sell them or at their price they will either use some crafty method to get them from them or they will take them away by force and violence; as Ahab got Naboth’s vineyard from him;

— and houses and take them away; they covet the houses of their neighbours also and take the same course to get them out of their hands and add them to their own estates;

— so they oppress a man and his house, even a man and his heritage; not only dispossess him of his house to dwell in but of his paternal inheritance, what he received from his ancestors and should have transmitted to his posterity being unalienable; and so distressed a man and his family for the present and his posterity after him; which seems to be designed to make it agree with the story of Ahab, 1 Kings 21:13.

³Therefore thus saith the Lord: “Behold, against this family do I devise an evil, from which ye shall not remove your necks, neither shall ye go haughtily; for this time is evil. — therefore thus saith the Lord, behold, against this family do I devise an evil… because of those evils of covetousness, oppression and injustice, secretly devised and deliberately committed; the Lord who neither slumbers nor sleeps, declares and would have it observed that he had devised an evil of punishment against the whole nation of Israel, the ten tribes particularly, among whom these sins greatly prevailed; even an invasion of their land by the Assyrians and the carrying of them captive from it into foreign regions;

— from which ye shall not remove your necks; that is, they should not be able to deliver themselves from it; they would not be able to stop the enemy in his progress, having entered their land; nor oblige him to break up the siege of their city before which he would sit and there continue till he had taken it; and being carried captive by him they would never be able to free themselves from the yoke of bondage put upon them and under which they remain unto this day. The allusion is to beasts slipping their necks out of the collar or yoke put upon them: these sons of Belial had broke off the yoke of God’s commandments and now he will put another yoke upon them; they shall never be able to cast off until the time of the restitution of all things when all Israel shall be saved;

— neither shall ye go haughtily; as they now did in an erect posture with necks stretched out and heads lifted up high and looking upon others with scorn and contempt; but hereafter it should be otherwise, their heads would hang down, their countenances be dejected and their backs bowed with the burdens upon them: for this time is evil; very calamitous, afflictive and distressing; and so not a time for pride and haughtiness but for dejection and humiliation.

⁴In that day shall one take up a parable against you, and lament with a doleful lamentation and say, ‘We are utterly despoiled; He hath changed the portion of my people. How hath He removed it from me! Turning away, He hath divided our fields.’” — in that day shall one take up a parable against you… making use of your name as a byword, a proverb, a taunt and a jeer; mocking at your calamities and miseries: or “concerning you” take up and deliver out a narrative of your troubles in figurative and parabolical expressions;

— and lament with a doleful lamentation for the mocking song of the enemies would be a mournful dirge in the mouths of the children of Israel and say, “We will be utterly spoiled” losing everything we have; or We be utterly spoiled, completely destroyed! He hath changed the portion of my people, Yehovah Himself permitting one of the nations, an enemy from the South, to take possession of it; (for a more comprehensive and a parallel Ezekiel 20-21 scene is added at the end)

— how hath He removed it from me! so that it was no longer in Israel’s possession. Turning away, He hath divided our fields, dealing out the portions to the invaders.

⁵Therefore thou shalt have none that shall cast a cord by lot in the congregation of the Lord. — therefore thou shalt have none that shall cast a cord by lot in the congregation of the Lord, to cast a measuring-line on a lot of ground in the assembly of Yehovah, for the possessions of the children of Israel belonged to them only as long as they remained faithful to the God of the covenant and would be taken away when they became unfaithful.

⁶“Prophesy ye not,” say they to them that prophesy: “They shall not prophesy to them, that they shall not suffer shame.” — prophesy not, say they to them that prophesy, literally, “Drop not,” or “drivel (senseless talk or writing; nonsense) not, they drivel,” almost like the American slang (balderdash), “Dry up! they drivel,” in speaking to the true prophets in a silly fashion. They shall not prophesy to them that they shall not take shame, that is: If the prophecy which the apostate Jews regarded as drivel would not continue then there would be no chance for them to escape the shame which would come upon the entire nation by the conquest of the enemies. The unbelievers to this day refuse to realize that the very preaching which they consider drivel and rot is the one means of saving them from the impending Judgement.

⁷Oh thou that art named the house of Jacob: Is the Spirit of the Lord straitened? Are these His doings? Do not My words do good to him that walketh uprightly? — O thou that art named the house of Jacob; but dost not act suitably to the piety of thy father Jacob and therefore though thou art in name, yet not in truth the genuine seed of Jacob;

— is the Spirit of the Lord straitened. Is God’s hand shortened? are his power, wisdom and kindness less now than formerly? are these his doings; are these severe proceedings the doings your God delights in? are the judgements he brings upon you the genuine effects of his power and goodness? and not rather such acts as your sins do in a manner constrain him to exercise? Thus punishments are called his strange work, Isaiah 28:21;

— do not my words do good to him, that walketh uprightly? Certainly, both God’s laws and the words delivered by his prophets would do you great and lasting good if you would obey them.

⁸“Even of late My people have risen up as an enemy; ye pull off the robe with the garment from them that pass by trustingly as men returning from war. — even of late, in fact, yesterday, My people is risen up as an enemy, taking an open stand against Yehovah; and this hostility is openly shown;

— ye pull off the robe with the garment, stripping off the mantle or upper garment from them that pass by securely, considering themselves safe from robbery and violence, as men averse from war, that is, from peaceable people, such as seek no quarrel with any one.

⁹The women of My people have ye cast out from their pleasant houses; from their children have ye taken away My glory for ever. — the women of My people, the unprotected widows have ye cast out from their pleasant houses, the houses of their delight to which they were attached by the memory of their wedded love;

— from their children have ye taken away My glory, the ornament or gift which He has given them forever, namely, by depriving them of their dress and of their rightful property. Cf Exodus 22:25.

¹⁰Arise ye and depart, for this is not your rest; because it is polluted it shall destroy you, even with a sore destruction. — arise ye and depart! into the exile which the enemies would force upon them; for this is not your rest, they would not be permitted to remain in Canaan; because it is polluted, it shall destroy you, even with a sore destruction, or “on account of the corruption which brings a most powerful destruction.” Such prophecies, setting forth the depth of the nation’s corruption are of course very unwelcome to the wicked leaders.

¹¹If a man walking in the spirit of falsehood lieth, saying, ‘I will prophesy unto thee of wine and of strong drink,’ he shall even be the prophet of this people! — if a man walking in the spirit and falsehood, in vanity and falsehood, namely, in preaching his own ideas, do lie, saying, I will prophesy unto thee of wine and of strong drink, that is, of the enjoyment of this present life,

— he shall even be the prophet of this people, possessing “itching ears” referring to: tell me what we want to hear, even if there are little lies, sweet little lies, that they will all go to a place of safety, they would meet with the approval of their leaders for a time of final training, and those who desired a cover for their lives of luxury and dissipation (kill the righteous and the wicked – more at the end).

¹²“I will surely assemble, O Jacob, all of thee; I will surely gather the remnant of Israel. I will put them together as the sheep of Bozrah, as the flock in the midst of their fold; and they shall make great noise by reason of the multitude of men. — I will surely assemble, O Jacob, all of thee all those whom He intended as members of His congregation; I will surely gather the remnant of Israel, collecting the believers from all the nations of the earth;

— I will put them together in one fold, John 10:16, as the sheep of Bozrah, the rich meadowland east of Jordan as the flock in the midst of the fold, secure from the attack of the enemies. They shall make great noise by reason of the multitude of men, surging with their great numbers.

¹³The Breaker has come up before them; they have broken forth and have passed through the gate, and are gone out by it; and their king shall pass before them, and the Lord at the head of them.” — the breaker is come up before them, rather “There will go up before them He that breaketh through,” their powerful Champion; they have broken up, rather “they break up,”

— and have passed through the gate, passing into the gate of the Lord’s kingdom, and are gone out by it, having free access to the throne of mercy; and their King, the Messiah Himself, shall pass before them and the Lord on the head of them, leading them through all the vicissitudes of this life to the promised life of eternity. While men are clamoring for a kingdom which will suit their fleshly lusts and desires, all true shepherds will continue to proclaim sin and repentance.

~~~

More about an enemy – to kill the righteous and the wicked – from South to North

Ezekiel 20:45 Moreover the word of the Lord came unto me, saying,
46 “Son of man, set thy face toward the south, and drop thy word toward the south, and prophesy against the forest of the southland.
47 And say to the forest of the south: ‘Hear the word of the Lord. Thus saith the Lord God: Behold, I will kindle a fire in thee, and it shall devour every green tree in thee and every dry tree. The flaming flame shall not be quenched, and all faces from the south to the north shall be burned therein.
48 And all flesh shall see that I, the Lord, have kindled it; it shall not be quenched.’”
49 Then said I, “Ah, Lord God! They say of me, ‘Doth he not speak parables?’”
Ezekiel 21:1 And the word of the Lord came unto me, saying,
2 “Son of man, set thy face toward Jerusalem, and drop thy word toward the holy places, and prophesy against the land of Israel;
3 and say to the land of Israel, ‘Thus saith the Lord: Behold, I am against thee, and will draw forth My sword out of his sheath and will cut off from thee the righteous and the wicked.
4 Seeing then that I will cut off from thee the righteous and the wicked, therefore shall My sword go forth out of his sheath against all flesh from the south to the north,
5 that all flesh may know that I, the Lord, have drawn forth My sword out of his sheath. It shall not return any more.

Q: how would such scenarios be played out?

Posted in Minor Prophets

Amos (Ch 7-9)

•December 6, 2021 • Leave a Comment

The prophecy of Amos is to the United States today in which the prophet thunders the warning of the impending judgement of God, beginning with the ancient house of Israel, the northern kingdom; then Israel’s surrounding pagan neighbors, then briefly resting for a moment upon the house of Judah, and by way of climax describing the prophetic utter ruin and devastation of the endtime house of Five Eyes.

Amos 7

¹ Thus hath the Lord God shown unto me: And behold, He formed grasshoppers in the beginning of the shooting up of the latter growth; and lo, it was the latter growth after the king’s mowings. — thus hath the Lord God showed unto me in visions and pictures shown by the Spirit of God, and, behold, He formed grasshoppers in the beginning of the shooting up of the latter growth of the second crop of the season; and, lo, it was the latter growth after the king’s mowings; the first crop, apparently, belonging to the king as a part of the nation’s revenue. The time of the grasshoppers’ coming, therefore, was very unfortunate since the first crop had been delivered as the law required and the second crop was bound to be ruined;

— or, when the first grass was mowed down and the first crop gathered in for the use of the king’s cattle; as the later grass was just springing up and promised a second crop these grasshoppers or locusts were forming which threatened the harvesting of it.

²And it came to pass, when they had made an end of eating the grass of the land, then I said, “O Lord God, forgive, I beseech Thee! By whom shall Jacob arise? For he is small.” — and it came to pass that, “when they had made an end of eating the grass of the land, all the plants which came up at that time in the rest of the season, then I said, O Lord God, forgive, I beseech Thee; by whom shall Jacob, the northern kingdom, arise? maintain his ground, not be annihilated altogether. For he is small, even now reduced in numbers and strength.

³The Lord repented concerning this. “It shall not be,” saith the Lord. — the Lord repented for this. It shall not be, saith the Lord, He was willing to spare the people and the land upon the intercession of the prophet.

⁴Thus hath the Lord God shown unto me: And behold, the Lord God called to contend by fire; and it devoured the great deep and ate up a part. — thus hath the Lord God showed unto me in a second vision; and, behold, the Lord God called to contend by fire, that is, He directed that the punishment was to be made by fire and it devoured the great deep, the great ocean itself and did eat up a part, the heritage of Yehovah, which is Israel. It was a picture of the Lord’s devouring anger directed against His own people.

⁵Then said I, “O Lord God, cease, I beseech thee! By whom shall Jacob arise? For he is small.” — then said I, O Lord God, cease, I beseech Thee; by whom shall Jacob arise? For he is small, the prophet Amos thus once more interceding in behalf of his sinful nation.

⁶The Lord repented concerning this. “This also shall not be,” saith the Lord God. — the Lord repented for this… he heard the prophet’s prayer and desisted from going on with the threatened destruction; this also shall not be, saith the Lord God; the whole land shall not be destroyed, only a part of it carried captive.

⁷Thus He showed me: And behold, the Lord stood upon a wall made with a plumb line, with a plumb line in His hand. — thus He showed me in a third vision; and, behold, the Lord stood upon a wall made by a plumb-line, one which was built upright and according to all the rules of the craft with a plumb-line in His hand.

⁸And the Lord said unto me, “Amos, what seest thou?” And I said, “A plumb line.” Then said the Lord, “Behold, I will set a plumb line in the midst of My people Israel; I will not again pass by them any more. — and the Lord said unto me, Amos, what seest thou? the purpose of the question being to impress the importance of the vision upon the prophet’s mind. And I said, A plumb-line. Then said the Lord, Behold, I will set a plumb-line in the midst of My people Israel, the object, in this case, like in II Kings 21:13; Isaiah 34:11, being to tear down a building. I will not again pass by them any more; He was determined not to show lenience any longer.

⁹And the high places of Isaac shall be desolate, and the sanctuaries of Israel shall be laid waste; and I will rise against the house of Jeroboam with the sword.” — and the high places of Isaac in this case used of the northern kingdom shall be desolate and the sanctuaries of Israel the various places devoted to idolatrous purposes;

— shall be laid waste; and I will rise against the house of Jeroboam II in this instance representing the entire kingdom and royal family with the sword. Thus the destruction of the kingdom, the dissolution of the nation, was definitely foretold and the prophet did not dare to intercede any more in behalf of his people.

¹⁰Then Amaziah the priest of Bethel sent to Jeroboam king of Israel, saying, “Amos hath conspired against thee in the midst of the house of Israel; the land is not able to bear all his words. — then Amaziah, the priest of Bethel, the high priest in charge of the sanctuary of idolatry at Bethel, sent to Jeroboam, king of Israel, saying, Amos hath conspired against thee in the midst of the house of Israel in its religious center, namely, by announcing the coming punishment of the Lord without fear or favor; the land is not able to bear all his words. This is a common charge against the teachers of truth to this day that their preaching creates a disturbance in the land.

¹¹For thus Amos saith, ‘Jeroboam shall die by the sword, and Israel shall surely be led away captive out of their own land.’” — for thus Amos saith, Jeroboam II shall die by the sword, for this was actually included in the statement of verse 9, and Israel shall surely be led away captive out of their own land. Amaziah purposely stated the threat of the Lord in its severer form in order to provoke the king’s wrath.

¹²Also Amaziah said unto Amos, “O thou seer, go, flee thee away into the land of Judah, and there eat bread and prophesy there. — go, flee thee away into the land of Judah; to which he belonged and where the temple stood and where the king, princes and people, were on his side of the question; and where his prophecies would be received, being against the ten tribes; for he suggests, if he stayed here long, King Jeroboam II would certainly take away his life; and therefore he advised him to flee with all haste to his own country:

— and there eat bread, and prophesy there: he took him for a mercenary man like himself and that he prophesied for bread; which he intimates he would never be able to get in the land of Israel, but in all probability might in the land of Judea.

¹³But prophesy not again any more at Bethel; for it is the king’s sanctuary, and it is the king’s court.” — for it is the king’s chapel; or “sanctuary” where a temple was built for the idol calf and where the king worshipped it and attended all other religious service:

— and it is the king’s court; or “the house of the kingdom” the seat of it where the king had a royal palace and sometimes resided here and kept his court as well as at Samaria; often coming hither to worship it being nearer to him than Dan, where the other calf was placed; intimating hereby that the king would never suffer such a troublesome man as he to be so near him; and by prophesying to interrupt him either in his religious or civil affairs; and therefore advises him by all means to depart if he had any regard to his life or peace.

¹⁴ Then answered Amos, and said to Amaziah, “I was no prophet, neither was I a prophet’s son; but I was a herdsman and a gatherer of sycamore fruit. — then answered Amos and said to Amaziah in defending himself against the high priest’s insinuations, I was no prophet, neither was I a prophet’s son, that is, he was not born to that honor nor did he attend any school of the prophets, but I was an herdman, a shepherd of humble position and a gatherer of sycamore fruit, that is, of the sycamore-fig-tree.

¹⁵And the Lord took me as I followed the flock, and the Lord said unto me, ‘Go, prophesy unto My people Israel.’ — and the Lord took me as I followed the flock… Or “from behind” it a description of a shepherd such an one Amos was and in this employ when the Lord called him and took him to be a prophet; he did not seek after it nor did he take this honour to himself; by which it appears that his mission was divine and that he did not enter on this work with lucrative views: thus God took David in a like state of life and made him king of Israel; and Elisha from the plough and made him a prophet;

— and the Lord said unto me; in a vision or dream by night; or by an articulate voice he heard; or by an impulse upon his spirit which comes from the Spirit of God;

— go, prophesy unto my people Israel; for so they were by profession and notwithstanding their apostasy; as yet they were not tallied “Loammi” Hosea 1:9; to these the prophet was bid to go out of the land of Judea where he was a herdsman and prophesy in the name of the Lord; wherefore what he did was in obedience to the command of God and he did but his duty; and what he in this verse and Amos 7:14 declares, is a sufficient vindication of himself, his character and conduct; and having done this he has something to say to the priest.

¹⁶Now therefore, hear thou the word of the Lord. Thou sayest, ‘Prophesy not against Israel, and drop not thy word against the house of Isaac.’ — and drop not thy word against the house of Isaac; say nothing against it, though in ever so soft and gentle a manner: it designs the same thing as before, only in different words; and is a prohibition of the prophet to prophesy against the ten tribes that descended from Isaac in the line of Jacob;

— so the Targum paraphrases it, “thou shalt not teach against the house of Isaac” or deliver out any prophecy or doctrine that is against them or threatens them with any calamity. Rashi says the phrase is expressive of prophecy; see Deuteronomy 32:2.

¹⁷Therefore thus saith the Lord: ‘Thy wife shall be a harlot in the city, and thy sons and thy daughters shall fall by the sword; and thy land shall be divided by line, and thou shalt die in a polluted land. And Israel shall surely go into captivity forth from his land.’” — thy wife shall be an harlot in the city: either of Bethel or Samaria; either through force, being ravished by the soldiers upon taking and plundering the city;

— and thy sons and thy daughters shall fall by the sword; either of Shallum, who smote Zachariah the son of Jeroboam with the sword before the people and very probably many of his friends with him, among whom this family was; or of Menahem, who slew Shallum and destroyed many places that opened not to him, with their inhabitants and ripped up the women with child; or in the after invasions by Pul, Tiglathpileser, and Shalmaneser, 2 Kings 15:10;

— and Israel shall surely go into captivity forth of his land; as he had before prophesied and here confirms it; and which was fulfilled in the times of Hoshea king of Israel by Shalmaneser king of Assyria, II Kings 17:6.

Amos 8

¹Thus hath the Lord God shown unto me: And behold, a basket of summer fruit. — thus hath the Lord God showed unto me… another vision, which is the fourth and after the following manner:

— and, behold, a basket of summer fruit; not of the first ripe fruit but of such as were gathered at the close of the summer when autumn began. So the Targum says “the last of the summer fruit;”

— such as were fully ripe and would not keep till winter; or if kept would rot, but must be eaten directly as some sort of apples, grapes, denoting the people of Israel being ripe for destruction and would be quickly devoured by their enemies and that as they had had a summer of prosperity they would now have a sharp winter of adversity.

²And He said, “Amos, what seest thou?” And I said, “A basket of summer fruit.” Then said the Lord unto me: “The end is come upon My people of Israel; I will not again pass by them any more. — and I said, a basket of summer fruit; some render it “a hook” such as they pull down branches with to gather the fruit;

— then said the Lord unto me; by way of explanation of the vision: the end is come upon my people Israel: the end of the kingdom of Israel; of their state; of all their outward happiness and glory; their “summer has ended” and Jeremiah 8:20; all their prosperity was over; and as the Targum says, their “final punishment was come,” the last destruction on its way.

³And the songs of the temple shall be howlings in that day,” saith the Lord God. “There shall be many dead bodies in every place; they shall cast them forth with silence.” — and the song’s of the temple, (some say “the palace” instead of “the temple”) originally intended to convey the spirit of the highest rejoicing, shall be howlings in that day, cries of the deepest grief and mourning over the large number of the slain, saith the Lord God.

— there shall be many dead bodies in every place; they shall cast them forth with silence with an admonition to hush, to bow in silence under the terrible severity of the divine judgment. If a sinner acknowledges his sin, he will also be ready to bow in silence and humility under the hand of God when some punishment comes upon him.

⁴Hear this, O ye that swallow up the needy, even to make the poor of the land to fail, — hear this, O ye that swallow up the needy, panting after the poor in their anxiety to destroy them and to grasp their property, even to make the poor of the land to fail in order to take their property by a show of right,

⁵saying, “When will the new moon be gone, that we may sell corn? And the Sabbath, that we may set forth wheat, making the ephah small and the shekel great, and falsifying the balances by deceit, —saying, when will the new moon, the day which they considered a time forbidden to sell any thing, or do any worldly business, being appointed and used for religious service; be gone that we may sell corn? speculating at the expense of the poor in the land and the Sabbath, that we may set forth wheat, opening their storehouses in order to make unjust gains;

— making the ephah small, giving the people short measure and the shekel great by raising the price which they charged those in need, and falsifying the balances by deceit? so that they sold below weight, their scales having been arranged to cheat.

⁶that we may buy the poor for silver and the needy for a pair of shoes, yea, and sell the refuse of the wheat?” — that we may buy the poor for silver… thus making them pay dear for their provisions and using them in this fraudulent manner, by which they would not be able to support themselves and their families; they might purchase them and theirs for slaves at so small a price as a piece of silver, or a single shekel, worth about half a crown; and this was their end and design in using them after this manner; see Leviticus 25:39.

⁷The Lord hath sworn for the pretensions of Jacob: “Surely I will never forget any of their works.

⁸Shall not the land tremble for this, and every one mourn that dwelleth therein? And it shall rise up wholly as a flood; and it shall be cast out and drowned, as by the flood of Egypt. — shall not the land tremble for this… for this wickedness committed, in using the poor with so much inhumanity? may not an earthquake be expected? and which happened two years after Amos began to prophesy, Amos 1:1; or that the earth should gape and swallow up these men alive, guilty of such enormities? or shall not the inhabitants of the land tremble at such judgements which the Lord hath sworn he will bring upon it?

⁹And it shall come to pass in that day,” saith the Lord God, “that I will cause the sun to go down at noon, and I will darken the earth in the clear day. — and it shall come to pass in that day, the day of the Lord’s punishment upon Israel, saith the Lord God, that I will cause the sun to go down at noon and I will darken the earth in the clear day by a terrible catastrophe, the picture being well applicable to the fate of a nation or of the earth when it is destroyed while in the very midst of its earthly fortune and power.

¹⁰And I will turn your feasts into mourning and all your songs into lamentation; and I will bring up sackcloth upon all loins and baldness upon every head; and I will make it as the mourning for an only son, and the end thereof as a bitter day. — and I will turn your feasts into mourning, why? because Jeroboam had changed the feast of Tabernacles from the seventh to the eighth month and from Jerusalem to bethel and Dan (1 Kings 12:26-33), hence he is not just taking away all joy, but all their songs into lamentation and I will bring up sackcloth upon all loins, the usual garment of deepest grief;

— and baldness upon every head, for shaving the head was a sign of the deepest mourning; and I will make it as the mourning of an only son, a most intense sorrow which cannot be appeased and the end thereof as a bitter day, one whose objectionable taste would not soon be forgotten.

¹¹“Behold, the days come,” saith the Lord God, “that I will send a famine in the land, not a famine of bread, nor a thirst for water, but of hearing the words of the Lord. — many great and wonderful prophets were yet to speak the message of threatened doom and the call to repentance upon Israel; but Amos here definitely prophesied an end to the prophetic missions. This was most remarkably fulfilled during the inter-testamental period between the OT and the NT when no prophet spoke anything at all to the wayward and rebellious people of Israel. This literally came to pass;

— but of hearing the words of the Lord; the word of prophecy and the preaching of the word or explaining the Scriptures. Of this blessing the ten tribes were deprived at their captivity and have been ever since; and the Jews, upon their rejection of Christ, have had the kingdom of God, the word and ordinances of God, taken from them and remain so to this day; the seven churches of Asia have had their candlestick removed out of its place and this famine continues in those parts to this time; and by the symptoms upon us, we may justly fear it, will be our case before long.

¹²And they shall wander from sea to sea, and from the north even to the east; they shall run to and fro to seek the word of the Lord, and shall not find it. — and they shall wander from sea to sea, from the Dead Sea to the Mediterranean, and from the North even to the East, to the limitless extent of the Arabian Desert, they shall run to and fro to seek the Word of the Lord, the pressure of punishment causing them to make this outward show of zeal and shall not find it.

¹³“In that day shall the fair virgins and young men faint for thirst. — in that day shall the fair virgins and young men faint for thirst. After the word for want of that grain and wine, which make young men and maids cheerful, Zechariah 9:17; but being destitute of them should be covered with sorrow, overwhelmed with grief and ready to sink and die away. These, according to some, the congregation of Israel are like to beautiful virgins, as the Targum paraphrases it.

¹⁴They that swear by the sin of Samaria and say, ‘Thy god, O Dan, liveth,’ and, ‘The manner of Beersheba liveth’ — even they shall fall and never rise up again.” — they that swear by the sin of Samaria… the calf at Bethel which was near Samaria and which the Samaritans worshipped; and was set up by their kings and the worship of it encouraged by their example and which is called the calf of Samaria, Hosea 8:5; the making of it was the effect of sin and the occasion of leading into it and ought to have been had in detestation and abhorrence as sin should; and yet by this the Israelites swore as they had used to do by the living God; so setting up this idol on an equality with him:

— and say, thy God, O Dan, liveth; the other calf which was set up in Dan; and to this they gave the epithet of the bring God which only belonged to the God of Israel:

— and the manner of Beersheba liveth, literally, “By the life of the way to Beersheba,” this being a third city of an idolatrous cult even they shall fall and never rise up again. In those days they made pilgrimages to the cities where the altars of idolatry were erected and refused to heed the words of the true God.

Amos 9

¹ I saw the Lord standing upon the altar, and He said: “Smite the lintel of the door, that the posts may shake, and wound them on the head, all of them; and I will slay the last of them with the sword. He that fleeth from them shall not flee away, and he that escapeth from them shall not be delivered. — and I saw the Lord standing upon the altar… either upon the altar of burnt offerings in the temple of Jerusalem where he had removed from the cherubim; signifying his being about to depart and that he was displeased: so the Targum says “said Amos the prophet, I saw the glory of the Lord removing from the cherub, and it dwelt upon the altar;”

— and the vision may refer to the destruction of the Jews, their city and temple, either by the Chaldeans or by the Romans: or rather, since the prophecy in general and this vision in particular seems to respect the ten tribes only, it was upon the altar at Bethel the Lord was seen standing as offended at the sacrifices there offered and to hinder them from sacrificing them as well as to take vengeance on those that offered them, 1 Kings 13:1;

— and he said; the Lord said, either to the prophet in vision or to one of the angels or to the executioners of his vengeance, the enemies of the people of Israel:

— smite the lintel of the door, that the posts may shake; the upper lintel on which pomegranates and flowers were carved and therefore called “caphtor” this was the lintel of the door, either of the temple at Jerusalem; signifying the destruction of the whole building in a short time and that none should be able to go in and out:

— and cut them in the head, all of them; and I will slay the last of them with the sword; which shows that the lintel and doorposts are not to be taken literally but figuratively; and that the smiting and cutting of them intend the destruction of men; by the “head” the king, the princes and nobles, or the priests; and by “the last of them” the common people, the meanest sort, or those that were left of them;

— he that fleeth of them shall not flee away; he that attempts to make his escape and shall flee for his life, shall not get clear, but either be stopped or pursued and taken:

— and he that escapeth of them shall not be delivered; he that does get out of the hands of those that destroy with the sword shall not be delivered from death but shall die by famine or pestilence. The Targum says, “and he said, unless the people of the house of Israel return to the law, the candlestick shall be extinguished, King Josiah shall be killed, and the house destroyed, and the courts dissipated and the vessels of the house of the sanctuary shall go into captivity; and the rest of them I will slay with the sword,” referring the whole to the Jews and to the destruction of the temple at Jerusalem.

²Though they dig into hell, thence shall Mine hand take them; though they climb up to heaven, thence will I bring them down. — though they dig into hell, thence shall mine hand take them… that is, they that endeavour to make their escape from their enemies, though they seek for places of the greatest secrecy and privacy; not hell, the place of the damned nor the grave, the repository of the dead; neither of which they chose to he in but rather sought to escape them; but the deepest and darkest caverns, the utmost recesses of the earth, the very centre of it; which could they get into would not secure them from the power and providence of God and from their enemies in pursuit of them;

— though they climb up to heaven, thence will I bring them down; the summit of the highest mountains and get as near to heaven and at as great a distance from men as can be and yet all in vain. The Targum says, “if they think to be hid as it were in hell, from thence their enemies shall take them by my word; and if they ascend the high mountains, to the top of heaven, thence will I bring them.”

³And though they hide themselves in the top of Carmel, I will search and take them out thence; and though they be hid from My sight in the bottom of the sea, thence will I command the serpent, and he shall bite them. — I will search and take them out from thence by directing their enemies where to find them: so the Targum says, “if they think to be hid in the tops of the towers of castles, thither will I command the searchers, and they shall search them;”

— and though they be hid from my sight in the bottom of the sea, get into ships, going by sea to distant parts; or make their escape to isles upon the sea afar off where they may think themselves safe:

— thence will I command the serpent and he shall bite them; the dragon that is in the sea, Isaiah 27:1; the great whale in the sea or the leviathan, describes as very monstrous, horrible and terrible, having five rows of teeth and very numerous; and which not only devours other large fishes but men swimming it meets with; and having such teeth with great propriety may be said to bite. The Targum paraphrases it, though hid “in the isles of the sea, thither will I command the people strong like serpents, and they shall kill them.”

⁴And though they go into captivity before their enemies, thence will I command the sword, and it shall slay them. And I will set Mine eyes upon them for evil, and not for good.” — thence will I command the sword and it shall slay them; or them that kill with the sword as the Targum says; so that though they thought by going into another country or into an enemy’s country of their own accord to escape the sword of the enemy or to curry favour with them yet should not escape;

— and I will set mine eyes upon them for evil and not for good: this is the true reason why let them be where they will, they cannot be safe, because the eyes of the omniscient God, which are everywhere, in heaven, earth and the sea are set upon them for their ruin and destruction; and there is no fleeing from his presence or getting out of his sight or escaping his hand. The Targum says, “my Word shall be against them.”

⁵And the Lord God of hosts is He that toucheth the land, and it shall melt, and all that dwell therein shall mourn; and it shall rise up wholly like a flood, and shall be drowned as by the flood of Egypt. — the DOXOLOGY This is the third of Amos’ doxologies, the other two being in Amos 4:13 and Amos 5:8,9, the purpose of all three being quite clearly that of a reminder that the Lord, whose word to Israel Amos was faithfully delivering, was indeed all-sufficient and powerful to bring to pass exactly that which he promised. The intent of these verses is to strengthen his threat and Amos proceeds (in Amos 9:5,6) to describe Yehovah as the Lord of heaven and earth who sends judgements upon the earth with omnipotent power.

⁶It is He that buildeth His spheres in the heaven, and hath founded His troop on the earth. He that calleth for the waters of the sea and poureth them out upon the face of the earth—the Lord is His name. — it is he that buildeth his stories in the heaven… the three elements: fire, air, and water; the orbs, one above another; a word near akin to this is rendered “his chambers” which are the clouds, Psalms 104:3; perhaps the heaven and the heaven of heavens which are three stories high may be meant; we read of the third heaven, II Corinthians 12:2; and particularly the throne of God is in the highest heaven; and the “ascents” to it as it may be rendered. The Targum says, “who causeth to dwell in a high fortress the Shekinah of his glory;”

— he that calleth for the waters of the sea and poureth them out upon the face of the earth either to drown it as at the general deluge; or to water and refresh it, as he does by exhaling water from the sea and then letting it down in plentiful showers upon the earth; now all these things are observed to show the power of God and that therefore there can be no hope of escaping out of his hands.

— the Lord is his name; the Lord isn’t his name; Yehovah is his name (More on God’s name at the end)

⁷“Are ye not as children of the Ethiopians unto Me, O children of Israel?” saith the Lord. “Have not I brought up Israel out of the land of Egypt? And the Philistines from Caphtor, and the Syrians from Kir? —are ye not as children of the Ethiopians unto me, O children of Israel? saith the Lord… and therefore had no reason to think they should be delivered because they were the children of Israel: of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob; since they were no more to God than the children of the Ethiopians, that they could no more change their course and custom of sinning than the Ethiopian could change his skin, Jeremiah 13:23;

— have not I brought up Israel out of the land of Egypt? and therefore it was ungrateful for them to behave as they have; nor can they have any dependence on this or argue from hence that they shall be indulged with other favours or be continued in their land since the like has been done for other nations.

⁸Behold, the eyes of the Lord God are upon the sinful kingdom, and I will destroy it from off the face of the earth, except that I will not utterly destroy the house of Jacob,” saith the Lord. — behold, the eyes of the Lord God are upon the sinful kingdom… God is omniscient and his eyes are everywhere and upon all persons, good and bad, and upon all kingdoms especially upon a sinful nation: “the sinning kingdom” or “the kingdom of sin” as it may be rendered; that is addicted to sin where it prevails and reigns; every such kingdom, particularly the kingdom of Israel, Ephraim or the ten tribes, given to idolatry and other sins complained of in this prophecy; and that not for good, but for evil, as in Amos 9:4; in order to cut them off from being a people;

— and I will destroy it from off the face of the earth: so that it shall be no more, at least as a kingdom; as the ten tribes have never been since their captivity by Shalmaneser; this of all the kingdoms of the earth, being sinful, the eyes of God are upon them to destroy them excepting the kingdom of Israel;

— saving that I will not utterly destroy the house of Jacob, saith the Lord; and so it is that though they have been destroyed as a kingdom, yet not utterly as a people; there were a few of the ten tribes that mixed with the Jews, and others that were scattered about in the world; and in the latter day all Israel shall be saved; see Jeremiah 30:10; here is a parallel from Ezekiel 6:3

and say: ‘Ye mountains of Israel, hear the word of the Lord God. Thus saith the Lord God to the mountains and to the hills, to the rivers and to the valleys: Behold I, even I, will bring a sword upon you, and I will destroy your high places. — this message to the “mountains of Israel;” these mountains refer to the United States, UK and France. . . . “and to the hills, to the rivers and to the valleys;” the hills: Ireland, Switzerland and the Scandinavian countries: Denmark, Norway, and Sweden, Finland, and Iceland; and the valleys, the low countries: Belgium, the Netherlands, and Luxembourg;
— and to the rivers; where during the nineteenth century, the British Royal Navy were known to “Rule the Waves;” and the United States having been plowing up and down the five oceans with her Seven Fleets since the British left the scene.

⁹“For lo, I will command, and I will sift the house of Israel among all nations, as corn is sifted in a sieve; yet shall not the least grain fall upon the earth. — for, lo, I will command and I will sift the house of Israel, shaking them as in a colander, or sieve, among all nations like as corn is sifted in a sieve, yet shall not the least grain fall upon the earth; the nations of the world are the sieve by which Israel is cleaned of the chaff found in its midst of the godless people that claimed back heritage of the Promised Land.

¹⁰All the sinners of My people shall die by the sword, who say, ‘The evil shall not overtake nor come before us.’ — all the sinners of my people shall die by the sword… by the sword of the Assyrians and of others into whose countries they shall flee for shelter, Amos 9:1; even all such who are notorious sinners, abandoned to their lusts, obstinate and incorrigible; live in lies, and continue lying convulsively; repent not of them, disbelieve the prophets of the Lord and defy his threatenings and put away the evil day far from them:

— which say, the evil shall not overtake nor prevent us; the evil threatened by the prophet, the sword of the enemy, the desolation of their land and captivity in a foreign land; these evils, if they came at all, which they gave little credit to, yet would not in their days; they would never come so near them or so close to their heels as to overtake them and seize them or to get before them and stop them fleeing from them; they promised themselves impunity, being Abraham children and were in no pain about the judgements threatened them; so daring and impudent, so irreligious and atheistical, were they in their thoughts, words and actions; and therefore should all and everyone of them be destroyed.

¹¹In that day will I raise up the tabernacle of David that is fallen, and close up the breaches thereof; and I will raise up his ruins, and I will build it as in the days of old, — in that day, in the great Messianic period to which the entire Old Testament looks forward, will I raise up the tabernacle of David that is fallen, which parallels Ezekiel 37; the monarchy and family of David and close up the breaches thereof; and I will raise up his ruins, and I will build it as in the days of old so that the kingdom of the son of David would once more be secure, established forever,

¹²that they may possess the remnant of Edom, and of all the nations that are called by My name,” saith the Lord that doeth this. — that they may possess the remnant of Edom and of all the nations which are called by My name, rather, “upon whom My name is called,” that is, all those whom He had chosen from all the people of the earth, saith the Lord that doeth this.

— called by My name; the Lord isn’t his name; Yehovah is his name (More on God’s name at the end)

¹³“Behold, the days come,” saith the Lord, “that the plowman shall overtake the reaper, and the treader of grapes him that soweth seed; and the mountains shall drop sweet wine, and all the hills shall melt. — behold, the days are coming, saith the Lord, that the plowman shall overtake the reaper and the treader of grapes him that soweth seed, by spreading it by print, web and broadcast so fruitful would the land be that the ripe grain would be cut while the plowman was still preparing the soil for the seed and the harvest of grapes would be so plentiful that it would take till seeding-time to tread out the grapes;

— and the mountains shall drop sweet wine so that new wine would be continually dripping from them and all the hills shall melt, dissolving themselves in blessings.

¹⁴And I will bring back the captives of My people of Israel, and they shall build the wasted cities, and inhabit them; and they shall plant vineyards, and drink the wine thereof; they shall also make gardens, and eat the fruit of them. — and I will bring again the captivity of My people of Israel, all those who accept the deliverance from the powers of evil being assembled in the congregation of the Lord’s people;

— and they shall build the waste cities, being secure in their citizenship and inhabit them; and they shall plant vineyards and drink the wine thereof; they shall also make gardens and eat the fruit of them.

¹⁵And I will plant them upon their land, and they shall no more be pulled up out of their land which I have given them,” saith the Lord thy God. — and I will plant them upon their land and they shall no more be pulled up out of their land which I have given them, saith the Lord, thy God. Thus the prophet Amos, in the conclusion of his book, under the type of Israel restored to its land, pictures the peace and prosperity of the true spiritual Israel in which every nation is a garden of His mercy and the streams of His love come down in the preaching of the Gospel in order to bring peace to the hearts of poor sinners throughout the world.

~~~

More on God’s name, Yehovah.

The following verses with the LORD erred in translation. His name Yehovah should be used:

I am the LORD; that is My name. And My glory will I not give to another, neither My praise to graven images. Isaiah 42:8

“I am sought of them that asked not for Me; I am found of them that sought Me not. I said, ‘Behold Me, behold Me,’ unto a nation that was not called by My name. Isaiah 65:1

When we call our God, the LORD, we err, because his name is not the LORD, which is a title. His name is YEHOVAH! May We all ask for his forgiveness, and may Our merciful God forgive us all.

Posted in Minor Prophets

Amos (Ch 5-6)

•December 4, 2021 • Leave a Comment

Amos 5

¹ Hear ye this word which I take up against you, even a lamentation, O house of Israel: — hear ye the word which I take up against you… and which was not Amos’ word but the word of the Lord; and which he took up by his direction as a heavy burden as some prophecies are called, and though against them, a reproof for their sins and was to be heard; for every word of God is pure and to be hearkened to, whether for us or against us; since the whole is profitable. It may be rendered, “which I take up concerning you” or “over you”

— even a lamentation, O house of Israel; a mournful ditty, an elegiac song over the house of Israel, now expiring and as it were dead. This word was like Ezekiel’s roll, in which were written lamentation and mourning and woe Ezekiel 2:10; full of mournful matter, misery and distress.

²The virgin of Israel is fallen; she shall no more rise. She is forsaken upon her land; there is none to raise her up. — the virgin of Israel is fallen… the kingdom of Israel, so called, because it had never been subdued or become subject to a foreign power since it was a kingdom; or because considered in its ecclesiastic state it had been espoused to the Lord as a chaste virgin; and perhaps this may be ironically spoken and refers to its present adulterate and degenerated state worshipping the calves at Dan and Bethel;

— she shall no more rise; and become a kingdom again as it never has as yet since the ten tribes were carried away captive by Shalmaneser king of Assyria to which calamity this prophecy refers; the Targum says, “shall not rise again this year.”

— she is forsaken upon her land; by her people, her princes and her God; or prostrate on the ground as the Targum says; she was cast upon the ground and dashed to pieces by the enemy as an earthen vessel and there left her ruin being irrecoverable; so whatever is cast and scattered or dashed to pieces on the ground and left, is expressed by the word here used as Rashi observes:

— there is none to raise her up: her princes and people are either slain by the sword, famine and pestilence or carried captive and so can yield her no assistance; her idols whom she worshipped cannot, and her God she forsook will not;

— for a country like the United States now, with so much filths, to be a virgin, it has to undergo much purifications, which in God’s eye has to undergo a prolonged captivity; Judah’s experience under Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon was just a preamble; just 70 years; currently a great captivity for Ephraim is in the making! Perhaps a super hyperinflation would be a start?

³For thus saith the Lord God: “The city that went out by a thousand shall be left a hundred, and that which went forth by a hundred shall be left ten to the house of Israel.” — the city that went out by a thousand shall leave an hundred; that is, the city in which there were a thousand constantly going in and out; or which sent, caused to go out, or furnished, a thousand men upon occasion for war had only a hundred persons left in it; or there remained but a hundred of the thousand they sent out, the rest being destroyed by one means or another:

— and that which went forth by an hundred shall leave ten, to the house of Israel; where there were a hundred persons going out and coming in continually; or which sent out a hundred men to the army to fight their battles had now only ten remaining; to such a small number were they reduced all over the land so that there were none or not a number sufficient to raise up Israel to its former state and glory.

⁴For thus saith the Lord unto the house of Israel: “Seek ye Me, and ye shall live; — for thus saith the Lord unto the house of Israel in a last attempt to save its people from themselves, Seek ye Me, in sincere worship of the one true God and ye shall live;

⁵but seek not Bethel, nor enter into Gilgal, and pass not to Beersheba; for Gilgal shall surely go into captivity, and Bethel shall come to nought. — but seek not Bethel… do not go to Bethel, the place where one of Jeroboam’s calves was set up and worshipped, to consult the oracle, idols and priests there; or to perform religious worship, which will be your ruin, if not prevented by another course of living:

— nor enter into Gilgal; another place of idolatry where idols were set up and worshipped.

⁶Seek the Lord, and ye shall live; lest He break out like fire in the house of Joseph, and devour it, and there be none to quench it in Bethel — lest he break out like fire in the house of Joseph, and devour it; that is, lest his wrath and fury break out against the house of five eyes like fire; as the Targum says, by sending an enemy to invade the land, destroy it and carry the inhabitants of it captive; even all the ten tribes who frequently go by the name of Ephraim the son of Joseph, that being the principal tribe;

— and there be none to quench it in Bethel; the calf worshipped there, and the priests that officiated, would not be able to avert the stroke of divine vengeance or turn back the enemy and save the land from ruin. The Targum says, “and there be none to quench it because of your sins who have been serving idols in Bethel.”

⁷ ye who turn judgement to wormwood, and leave off righteousness in the earth. — and there be none to quench it in Bethel; the calf worshipped there and the priests that officiated would not be able to avert the stroke of divine vengeance or turn back the enemy and save the land from ruin. The Targum says, “and there be none to quench it, because of your sins, who have been serving idols in Bethel.”

⁸Seek Him that maketh the seven stars and Orion, and turneth the shadow of death into the morning, and maketh the day dark with night, who calleth for the waters of the sea and poureth them out upon the face of the earth: The Lord is His name, — Pleaides and Orion… these great constellations, the first dominating the spring and summer months and the second the months of fall and winter were known to the ancients; and, “They are referred to in the Old Testament (Job 9:9; 38:31) as demonstrations of God’s creative power;

— the Lord is His name; the Lord isn’t his name, the Lord is a title; Yehovah is his name (more at the end)

⁹who strengtheneth the despoiled against the strong, so that the despoiled shall come against the fortress. — that strengtheneth the spoiled against the strong… such as have been taken by an enemy who have been stripped of their armour and spoiled of all their goods and substance and have no friends nor allies nor anything to help themselves with; the Lord can supply them with strength, furnish them with weapons and send them helpers so that they shall rise up against their conquerors and spoilers and in their turn subdue them;

— the Targum says, “that strengthens the weak against the strong” or causes the weak to prevail over the strong;

— so that the spoiled shall come against the fortress: lay siege to it and take it in which the spoiler thought himself secure with the spoil and substance he had taken from the spoiled; such sudden changes and vicissitudes can God bring upon men when he pleases. Some apply this to the Romans strengthened against the Jews and besieging their fortified city Jerusalem; but not very aptly.

¹⁰They hate him that rebuketh in the gate, and they abhor him that speaketh uprightly. — they hate him that rebuketh in the gate… openly and publicly in the courts of judicature: wicked judges hated the prophets of the Lord such as Amos who faithfully reproved them for the perversion of justice even when they were upon the bench: or the people were so corrupt and degenerate that they hated those faithful judges who reproved them for their vices in the open courts of justice when they came before them;

— and they abhor him that speaketh uprightly; not only hate him but abhor him, cannot bear the sight of him, or to hear his name mentioned that speaks out his mind freely and honestly and tells them of their sins and advises them to repent of them and leave them.

¹¹Forasmuch therefore as your treading is upon the poor, and ye take from him burdens of wheat, ye have built houses of hewn stone, but ye shall not dwell in them; ye have planted pleasant vineyards, but ye shall not drink wine from them. — forasmuch, therefore, as your treading is upon the poor in the oppression which was then so generally practiced and ye take from him; burdens of wheat, exacting such gifts by methods of violence:

— ye have built houses of hewn stone, costly dwellings, but ye shall not dwell in them; ye have planted pleasant vineyards with their unlawful gains but ye shall not drink wine of them.

¹²For I know your manifold transgressions and your mighty sins: they afflict the just, they take a bribe, and they turn aside the poor at the gate from their right. — for I know your manifold transgressions and your mighty sins, outstanding even in the midst of a nation steeped in wickedness; they afflict the just, making life a burden for him, they take a bribe causing such bribe money to be paid in order that men might buy their freedom from the oppression of these same rulers;

— and they turn aside the poor in the gate where the courts of justice were held from their right. Thus the poor were without champions of their right and were obliged to bow to the mighty, a condition which still prevails almost universally.

¹³Therefore the prudent shall keep silence in that time; for it is an evil time. — therefore the prudent shall keep silence at that time… not the prophets of the Lord whose business it was at all times to reprove and not hold their peace, let the consequence be what it would; though the Targum calls them teachers; but private persons whose wisdom it would be to say nothing; since reproof would do no good to these persons and they would bring a great deal of hatred ill will and trouble upon themselves as well as would hear the name of God blasphemed which would be very afflictive to them:

— or the sense is, they would not speak to God on the behalf of these wicked men, knowing the decree was gone forth; nor say one murmuring word at it, believing it was in righteousness; and being struck also with the awfulness of God’s righteous judgements.

¹⁴Seek good and not evil, that ye may live; and so the Lord, the God of hosts, shall be with you, as ye have spoken. — seek good, and not evil that ye may live for there lies the way to true life; and so the Lord, the God of hosts shall be with you as ye have spoken that is by following His will.

¹⁵Hate the evil, and love the good, and establish judgement in the gate. It may be that the Lord God of hosts will be gracious unto the remnant of Joseph. — hate the evil and love the good and establish judgement in the gate so that justice would truly be administered in all cases brought to trial; it may be that the Lord God of hosts in that event will be gracious unto the remnant of Joseph, to the few of the house of Five Eyes who would be left after the punishment now impending (more from Ezekiel 12 at the end)

¹⁶Therefore the Lord, the God of hosts, the Lord saith thus: “Wailing shall be in all streets, and they shall say in all the highways, ‘Alas! Alas!’ And they shall call the husbandman to mourning, and such as are skillful in lamentation to wailing. — therefore the Lord, the God of hosts, the Lord, the one and only true God, saith thus, Wailing shall be in all streets, mourning on account of the chastisement which has come upon them for ignoring the appeal of the prophet; and they shall say in all the highways, expressing their grief in open lamentations;

— Alas! Alas! And they shall call the husbandman to mourning to join in the death-wail over some relative and such as are skilful of lamentation the professional wailing women, to wailing, so that the entire country would resound with cries of grief.

¹⁷And in all vineyards shall be wailing, for I will pass through thee,” saith the Lord. — and in all vineyards shall be wailing, instead of the shouts of joy formerly heard there; for I will pass through thee, saith the Lord, with His visitation of wrath.

¹⁸Woe unto you that desire the day of the Lord! To what end is it for you? The day of the Lord is darkness, and not light: — woe unto you that desire the day of the Lord! or the Lord’s day (which isn’t Sunday, Revelation 1:10); believing that their external redemption with the Lord’s people would save them from God’s judgement which was to strike the nations;

— to what end is it for you? What result would it have for them? What good would it bring them? The day of the Lord is darkness and not light; it would bring to willful sinners destruction and not deliverance.

¹⁹as if a man fled from a lion, and a bear met him; or went into the house and leaned his hand on the wall, and a serpent bit him. — as if a man did flee from a lion, and a bear met him, so it would be with those who desired the day of the Lord’s judgement, or went into the house and leaned his hand on the wall, and a serpent bit him, hoping to escape the one calamity, the wicked Israelites would be overtaken by another.

²⁰Shall not the day of the Lord be darkness, and not light? Even very dark, and no brightness in it? — shall not the day of the Lord be darkness and not light? full of tribulation and misery; the day of the Lord, or the Lord’s day (which isn’t Sunday, Revelation 1:10); is darkness and not light; it would bring no deliverance to those who trample justice and right beneath their feet; even very dark, and no brightness in it? not a ray for the willful transgressors. Therefore even the feasts of the people would avail them nothing under the circumstances as here presented.

²¹“I hate, I despise your feast days, and I will not smell the scent in your solemn assemblies. — I hate, I despise, your feast-days, as the Lord calls out to them: Easters (Jeremiah 44:17-25), Christmas (Ezekiel 8:15-16); and I will not smell in your solemn assemblies, by taking pleasure in the odor of the offerings brought by them.

²²Though ye offer Me burnt offerings and your meat offerings, I will not accept them; neither will I regard the peace offerings of your fat beasts. — though ye offer Me burnt offerings and your meat-offerings, as they still continued to do in their effort to have the Lord accept their outward worship, I will not accept them; neither will I accept the peace-offerings, or thank-offerings, of your fat beasts, some says it means one of the kinds of the larger cattle; for not a lamb, a ram or a goat is meant as the word is sometimes rendered by the Septuagint, but a creature like an ox; and much larger or the wild ox; they are rejected since their entire service was hypocrisy.

²³Take thou away from Me the noise of thy songs, for I will not hear the melody of thy viols. — take thou away from Me the noise of thy songs as He contemptuously calls their congregational singing; for I will not hear the melody of thy viols, of the harps and other instrumental music used in public services.

²⁴But let judgement run down like waters, and righteousness as a mighty stream. — but let judgement, the just punishment of the Lord run down like waters, signifying the plenty of justice done in the land, the full and free exercise of it, without any stoppage or intermission: in a great and consuming flood and righteousness, namely, that of the divine justice, as a mighty stream, like a mighty torrent of water should come down, overwhelm and destroy all before it, even any transgressors in Israel.

²⁵“Have ye offered unto Me sacrifices and offerings in the wilderness forty years, O house of Israel? — have ye offered unto me sacrifices and offerings… no; they were not offered to God, but to the devils, to the golden calf and to the host of heaven: so their fathers did;

— in the wilderness forty years; where sacrifices were omitted during that time, a round number for a broken one, it being about thirty eight years; and these their children were imitators of them and offered sacrifice to idols too, and therefore deserved punishment as they: even ye,

— O house of Israel? the ten tribes who are here particularly charged and threatened.

²⁶But ye have borne the tabernacle of your Moloch and Chiun your images, the star of your god which ye made for yourselves. — but ye have borne the tabernacle of your Moloch, the war-god of the Moabites and Ammonites; and Chiun, which in the Arabic and Persian languages is the name of Saturn, a star-divinity;

— your images, the star of your god, which ye made to yourselves. Even in the wilderness the children of Israel did not quite discard their idolatry but carried their idol-pictures along with them and thus provoked the Lord.

²⁷Therefore will I cause you to go into captivity beyond Damascus,” saith the Lord, whose name is The God of Hosts. — therefore will I cause you to go into captivity beyond Damascus… the chief city of Syria; and which lay to the east of the land of Israel, and was a very strong and fortified place: and Syria being in alliance with Israel, the Israelites might think of fleeing thither for refuge in the time of their distress; but they are here told that they should be taken captive and be carried to places far more remote than that.

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Ezekiel 12:16 But I will leave a few men of them from the sword, from the famine and from the pestilence, that they may declare all their abominations among the nations whither they come; and they shall know that I am the Lord.” — “that they may declare all their abominations among the nations;” this explains why a few are left to survive;

— those remnants who survive would explain to the nations that they have been guilty of great enormities, so that their punishment was a visible and standing declaration and warning to the nations of the abominable sins they, of the house of Israel, had been guilty of; and not to repeat them in their own nations.

Amos 6

¹ Woe to them that are at ease in Zion, and trust in the mountain of Samaria, who are named chief of the nations, to whom the house of Israel came! — woe to them that are at ease in Zion, given to a false security and trust in the mountain of Samaria; these mountains refer to the United States, UK and France; those who are apparently without a care as they occupy their mountain dwellings where they consider themselves safe, which are named chief of the nations, the most excellent heads of the chosen people in both Judah and Israel, to whom the house of Israel came, namely, for counsel and direction for the decision of their controversies;

— more on the Mountains of Samaria or the Mountains of Israel in Ezekiel 6:3and say: ‘Ye mountains of Israel, hear the word of the Lord God. Thus saith the Lord God to the mountains and to the hills, to the rivers and to the valleys: Behold I, even I, will bring a sword upon you, and I will destroy your high places; this message to the “mountains of Israel” these refer to the United States, UK and France; “and to the hills, to the rivers and to the valleys;” the hills: Ireland, Switzerland and the Scandinavian countries: Denmark, Norway, and Sweden, Finland, and Iceland; and the valleys, the low countries: Belgium, the Netherlands, and Luxembourg.

— the Targum says, “that trust in the fortress of Samaria” the United States, UK and France, all have nuclear weapons.

²Pass ye unto Calneh, and see; and from thence go ye to Hamath the great; then go down to Gath of the Philistines. Are they better than these kingdoms? Or their border greater than your border? — pass ye unto Calneh, a city in Babylonia, on the river Tigris, and see, and from thence go ye to Hamath, the great, a district and city of Syria beyond the extreme northern boundary of Canaan; then go down to Gath of the Philistines so that they would visit some of the most powerful of the neighboring nations;

— be they better than these kingdoms? that is, these two or three kingdoms mentioned above were in no better condition in dignity or grandeur, in wealth or strength than Judah and Israel, or their border greater than your border? Israel thus ranking at that time with the first of the nations, unexcelled by any of their heathen neighbors. But for this very fact, on account of their reliance upon their prosperity and power, the Lord pronounces a woe upon them as they were more ungrateful were Israel and Judah to sin against the Lord as they had done.

³Ye that put far away the evil day, and cause the seat of violence to come near, — ye that put far away the evil day, refusing to believe that a day of reckoning is near and cause the seat of violence to come near, so that violence and oppression come ever nearer to them that they become guilty of these transgressions with ever-increasing frequency. This ignoring of the Lord and His holy will was apparent particularly in their luxurious feasting.

⁴that lie upon beds of ivory and stretch themselves upon their couches, and eat the lambs out of the flock and the calves out of the midst of the stall; — that lie upon beds of ivory, on costly couches, inlaid with ivory, and stretch themselves upon their couches, reclining in luxurious self-indulgence on the sofas of their dining-rooms,

— and eat the lambs out of the flock and the calves out of the midst of the stall, in either case the choicest animals;

⁵that chant to the sound of the viol, and invent for themselves instruments of music, like David; — that chant to the sound of the viol in quavering and silly songs and invent to themselves instruments of music, like David, but only for the gratification of their own vanity and sensuality, instead of for the glory of God as did David;

⁶that drink wine in bowls, and anoint themselves with the chief ointments— but they are not grieved for the affliction of Joseph. — that drink wine in bowls… members of the Five Eyes drink wine not in small cups or glasses but in large bowls and that they might drink freely, even to drunkenness; hence we read of the drunkards of Ephraim or the drunkards of the Five Eyes, Isaiah 28:1; and they “drink in bowls of wine”; which is much to the same sense. The Targum says, “that drink wine in silver phials;” – a phials is a small cylindrical glass bottle;

— and anoint themselves with the chief ointments, using only the finest grades for their purpose; but they are not grieved for the affliction of Joseph, literally, “the breach of Joseph,” that is, the impending calamity, the looming destruction of the house of the Five Eyes; they indulge in wanton luxury even while their country is hastening to its national debts, inflations, civil unrests and declines.

⁷Therefore now shall they go captive with the first that go captive, and the banquet of them that stretched themselves shall be removed. — therefore now shall they, those who indulged themselves in drinking while their country was getting ready for dissolution, go captive with the first that go captive, this being said in bitter irony concerning the position of the rulers in the procession of captives,

— and the banquet of them that stretched themselves, reclining in careless ease shall be removed so that they could no more indulge in feasts and drinking-bouts.

⁸The Lord God hath sworn by Himself; saith the Lord the God of hosts: “I abhor the pretensions of Jacob, and hate his palaces; therefore will I deliver up the city with all that is therein.” — the Lord God hath sworn by Himself, saith the Lord God of hosts, a most solemn oath, I abhor the excellency of Jacob, or “the pride of Jacob” of the ten tribes, remarkable for their pride; the prosperous West, hence called the crown of pride, the pride which they exhibited regarding their prosperity and power: the G7 and the core members of the OECD;

⁹And it shall come to pass, if there remain ten men in one house, that they shall die. — and it shall come to pass, if there remain ten men in one house, that they shall die, that is, no matter how large the number who are not already carried captive or destroyed by the sword; not one would escape but would die.

¹⁰And a man’s kinsman shall take him up, and he that burneth him, to bring the bones out of the house, and shall say unto him that is by the side of the house, “Is there yet any with thee?” And he shall say, “No.” Then shall he say, “Hold thy tongue, for we may not make mention of the name of the Lord.” — and a man’s uncle shall take him up and he that burneth him, literally, “his cousin and his burier,” that is, a near relative who had the duty of providing for his burial to bring out the bones out of the house and shall say unto him that is by the sides of the house, a last survivor hiding in the innermost recesses of the house;

— is there yet any with thee? And he shall say, No. Then shall he say, Hold thy tongue, quickly cautioning him not to say any more; for we may not make mention of the name of the Lord, he should not utter Yehovah’s name, lest by doing so he call the Lord’s attention and bring down judgement upon himself.

¹¹For behold, the Lord commandeth, and He will smite the great house with breaches, and the little house with clefts. — for, behold, the Lord commandeth, and He will smite the great house with breaches so that it would become a total ruin; also strongly supports the probability that the “ten men left in one house” in those verses (Amos 5:3, 6:9) has reference to one of those great palatial establishments for which “Samaria” was famous, each having an occupancy of a hundred or so, including domestics, servants and retainers.

— and the little house with clefts; so that it shall fall to ruin; that is, he shall smite the houses both of great and small of the princes and of the common people either with an earthquake so that they shall part asunder and fall or being left without inhabitants shall of course become desolate, there being none to repair their breaches;

— some understand by the “great house” the ten tribes of Israel; and by the “little house” the two tribes of Judah and Benjamin; to which sense the Targum seems to incline, “he will smite the great kingdom with a mighty stroke and the little kingdom with a weak stroke.”

¹²Shall horses run upon the rock? Will one plow there with oxen? For ye have turned judgement into gall, and the fruit of righteousness into hemlock, — shall horses run upon the rock? Will one plow there with oxen? as little as either feat is possible, so little is it possible that one by perverting right and justice into the opposite can bring deliverance to himself and his country;

— there is a spiritual and moral order in the universe that is just as impossible to ignore as the natural order; it is as senseless to pervert justice as it is to expect horses to run on the rocks or for oxen to plow on rock;

— for ye have turned judgement into gall, justice into poison; into a hemlock, which is a dangerous plant containing toxic alkaloids that can be fatal even in small amounts; injustice and oppression.

¹³ye that rejoice in a thing of nought, who say, “Have we not taken to us horns by our own strength?” — ye which rejoice in a thing of naught, trusting in their wealth and riches which are things that are not, except in their own imagination because of the uncertainty of them;

— which say, Have we not taken to us horns by our own strength? trusting in the strength of their armies and weapons by which they hoped to overcome all enemies.

¹⁴“But, behold, I will raise up against you a nation, O house of Israel,” saith the Lord the God of hosts; “and they shall afflict you from the entrance of Hemath unto the river of the wilderness.” — “I will raise up against you a nation, O house of Israel…” it should always be remembered in studying this prophecy that it was exactly and terribly fulfilled just as God had promised. Both the Sacred Scriptures and the testimony of the archeologist testify to the overwhelming destruction of Israel within some thirty years after Amos wrote this prophecy.

“The kingdom of Israel was destroyed in the year 722 by Sargon in the first month of his reign when Samaria was taken after a siege which was begun by his predecessor, Shalmanezer IV, and had lasted three years.”

— the Assyrian nation under its king Shalmaneser, who invaded Israel came up to Samaria and after a three years’ siege, took it and carried Israel captive into foreign lands, II Kings 17:5; and they shall afflict you; by battles, sieges, forages, plunders and burning of cities and towns and putting the inhabitants to the sword.

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More on God’s name, Yehovah.

God’s name is the four-letter Hebrew word יהוה‎ YHVH Yehovah, which are embedded in the Masoretic text over 6000 times, yet when translated into our English language most had been translated as Lord, or LORD, which are titles, but not his name. His name is יהוה‎ Yehovah or YEHOVAH (but there are no capital letters in Hebrew).

It wasn’t until 1524 that Gian Giorgio Trissino, an Italian Renaissance grammarian, invented the letter J that this new letter started to take a hold in the writings of western Europe. Even in 1611 when the English Bible the King James has our subject of study by the prophet Jeremiah he was known as Ieremiah. So Jehovah is a very late comer.

The following verses with the LORD erred in translation. His name Yehovah should be used:

I am the LORD; that is My name. And My glory will I not give to another, neither My praise to graven images. Isaiah 42:8
And it shall come to pass, that whosoever shall call on the name of the LORD shall be delivered; for in Mount Zion and in Jerusalem shall be deliverance, as the LORD hath said, and in the remnant whom the LORD shall call. Joel 2:32
“I am sought of them that asked not for Me; I am found of them that sought Me not. I said, ‘Behold Me, behold Me,’ unto a nation that was not called by My name. Isaiah 65:1

When we call our God, the LORD, we err because his name is not the LORD, which is a title. His name is YEHOVAH! May We all ask for his forgiveness and may Our merciful God forgive us all.

Posted in Minor Prophets

Amos (Ch 3-4)

•December 3, 2021 • Leave a Comment

The prophecy of Amos is to the United States today, in which the prophet thunders the warning of the impending judgement of God, beginning with the ancient house of Israel, the northern kingdom; then Israel’s surrounding pagan neighbors, then briefly resting for a moment upon the house of Judah, and by way of climax describing the prophetic utter ruin and devastation of the house of Israel.

In Chapter 3 the prophet goes on with his prophecy against Israel, whom God had highly favoured, and yet sinned against him, and therefore must expect to be punished; and in this chapter, it is more about Israel.

Amos 3

¹ Hear this word that the Lord hath spoken against you, O children of Israel, against the whole family which I brought up from the land of Egypt, saying, — hear this word that the Lord hath spoken against you, O children of Israel… the prophecy against Israel begins in the preceding chapter where notice is taken of their sins and sure destruction; and here they are called upon to listen to what the Lord by his prophet had spoken; and to “receive” this word as the Targum says; to receive it as the word of God and not men and with all humility and reverence.

²“You only have I known of all the families of the earth; therefore I will punish you for all your iniquities.” — you only have I known of all the families of the earth… all the families or nations of the earth and all the inhabitants of it are known by the Lord as he is the omniscient God; but none had been known by him as a family or a nation with that love and affection as this family had been, or distinguished by his favours and blessings as they not only temporal but spiritual; besides the land of Canaan and all the good things in it, they had the law of the Lord, his word, worship and ordinances among them; he chose them for himself above all people and gave peculiar marks of his affection to them and special instances of his goodness and of his care over them, and concern for them; see Deuteronomy 4:6;

— therefore I will punish you for all your iniquities; or “visit upon you” or “against you” in a way of chastisement and correction; they were a family he had highly favoured and yet departed from him; children he had brought up in a tender manner and brought out of a most miserable condition and yet rebelled against him; he had followed and loaded them with his benefits and they had proved ungrateful to him; he had given them a revelation of his mind and will, and they had rejected it and therefore knowing, and not doing it, were worthy of more stripes; their sins were more aggravated than others, being against goodness and mercy, light and knowledge; and therefore the Lord was determined to make an example of them.

³Can two walk together, unless they be agreed? — shall two walk together… Israel’s having forsaken God’s way means that they are no longer “agreed” with God. “Can they continue together? The law of cause and effect operates to separate them.

⁴Will a lion roar in the forest when he hath no prey? Will a young lion cry out of his den, if he have taken nothing? — will a lion roar in the forest when he hath no prey?… no, He will not, unless he has it in his sight or in his paws; he roars when he first sees it whereby he terrifies the creature that it cannot move till he comes up to it; and when he has got it in his paws, he roars over it to invite others to partake with him. Now prophecy from the Lord is compared to the roaring of a lion, Amos 1:2; and this is never in a way of judgement without a cause; the sin of men or of a nation which makes them a prey to the wrath and fury of God.

⁵Can a bird fall in a snare upon the earth where no trap is for him? Shall one take up a snare from the earth, and have taken nothing at all? — can a bird fall in a snare upon the earth, where no trap is for him?.. no, there must be a snare set or a bird can never be taken in it; but when that is done, not by chance but with the design of the fowler; yea, with the knowledge and will of God himself;

— and have taken nothing at all? when men set a snare to catch anything, do they take it up before anything is caught? they do not; they let it stand till something is ensnared in it and so their end answered and then they take it up and not before. And thus when God denounces or brings a judgement or an affliction upon a people, does he remove it before the end is answered by it? he does not; if the end is to bring men to a sense of sin and humiliation for it; or to bring near to God who have been wandering from him; or to try their graces or take away their sin; when such an end is answered, then and not till then is the snare taken up or the affliction removed; tilt such an end is brought about, the distress is continued or the threatening of it; and of this Israel is hereby assured.

⁶Shall a trumpet be blown in the city, and the people not be afraid? Shall there be evil in a city, and the Lord hath not done it? — shall a trumpet be blown in the city and the people not be afraid? As the signal of the trumpet was intended to arouse the people out of their security, so the message of the prophet was intended to awaken the people of Israel to the peril of their position.

— shall there be evil in a city and the Lord hath not done it? The destruction which would strike Israel on account of the iniquities of the people was indeed planned by Yehovah, who in this sense is the Author of the calamities which come upon men on account of their sins.

⁷Surely the Lord God will do nothing, unless He revealeth His secret unto His servants the prophets. — surely the Lord God will do nothing but He revealeth His secret unto His servants, the prophets, that is, Yehovah does not send His judgements without warning but gives the people knowledge of His counsel and opportunity to turn from their evil ways.

⁸The lion hath roared! Who will not fear? The Lord God hath spoken! Who can but prophesy? — the lion hath roared in sounding the warning of his approach, who will not fear? The Lord God hath spoken, who can but prophesy? Amos was simply carrying out the work of his calling in announcing to his people the impending judgement of Yehovah. Even so the servants of God are bound to make known His holy will, regardless of the manner in which their hearers react to the truth.

⁹Proclaim in the palaces at Ashdod and in the palaces in the land of Egypt, and say, “Assemble yourselves upon the mountains of Samaria, and behold the great tumults in the midst thereof and the oppressed in the midst thereof. — and say, assemble yourselves on the mountains of Samaria; the metropolis of the ten tribes, Isaiah 7:9; and which was built upon a mountain and several others were about it and joined to it;

— in prophecy, the mountains of Samaria are the United States, the UK and France (more at the end)

¹⁰For they know not to do right,” saith the Lord, “who store up violence and robbery in their palaces.” — and behold the great tumults in the midst thereof; the riots of its inhabitants, the noise of the mob committing all manner of outrages and wickedness: and the oppressed in the midst thereof; the poor, the fatherless and the widow, injured in their persons and properties, plundered of their substance, or defrauded of it.

¹¹Therefore thus saith the Lord God: “An adversary there shall be even round about the land; and he shall bring down thy strength from thee, and thy palaces shall be despoiled.” — therefore, thus saith the Lord God, an adversary there shall be even round about the land, literally, “and that, too, from every side of the land,” attacking Israel and particularly Samaria from all sides; and he shall bring down thy strength from thee, dashing it down to the ground and thy palaces heaped with the treasures of unrighteousness shall be spoiled.

¹²Thus saith the Lord: “As the shepherd taketh out of the mouth of the lion two legs or a piece of an ear, so shall the children of Israel be taken out, that dwell in Samaria in the corner of a bed and in Damascus on a couch. — thus saith the Lord, as the shepherd taketh out of the mouth of the lion two legs or a piece of an ear, insignificant, useless remnants; the body of the creature being devoured by the lion, only some offal left;

— so shall the children of Israel be taken out that dwell in Samaria in the corner of a bed, occupying the most comfortable part of California, Beverly Hills, living in carefree gossips, and in Damascus in a couch, rather, “on the damask of the bed.” The powerful men of Samaria, living a life of luxury and ease, could only save their lives only with the greatest difficulties.

¹³“Hear ye, and testify in the house of Jacob,” saith the Lord God, the God of hosts, — this is a reference to the ten northern tribes as indicated in the next verses by the mention of the altars of Bethel.

¹⁴“that in the day that I shall visit the transgressions of Israel upon him, I will also visit the altars of Bethel; and the horns of the altar shall be cut off and fall to the ground. — that in the day that I shall visit the transgressions of Israel upon him with an adequate punishment; I will also visit the altars of Bethel, singling out of the polluted shrine at Bethel as this was the seat of the religion of Israel, their center of idolatrous worship, in defiance of Jerusalem being the holy city;

— and the horns of the altar shall be cut off and fall to the ground, thus demolishing the altars themselves and to which persons in distress fled and laid hold of for refuge; but now these should be of no use unto them, since they would be entirely demolished by the enemy and laid level with the ground.

¹⁵And I will smite the winter house and the summer house; and the houses of ivory shall perish, and the great houses shall have an end,” saith the Lord. — and I will smite their winter-house with the summer-house, for not only the kings but the noble and the rich as well had at least two establishments; and the houses of ivory, whose walls were decorated with inlaid ivory, Cf 1 Kings 22:39, shall perish and the great houses shall have an end, saith the Lord. All extravagance of luxury is displeasing to the Lord, especially if it is connected in any manner with denial of the Lord’s truth.

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More on the Mountains of Samaria or the Mountains of Israel in Ezekiel 6

³and say: ‘Ye mountains of Israel, hear the word of the Lord God. Thus saith the Lord God to the mountains and to the hills, to the rivers and to the valleys: Behold I, even I, will bring a sword upon you, and I will destroy your high places. — this message to the “mountains of Israel;” these mountains refer to the United States, UK and France. . . . “and to the hills, to the rivers and to the valleys;” the hills: Ireland, Switzerland and the Scandinavian countries: Denmark, Norway, and Sweden, Finland, and Iceland; and the valleys, the low countries: Belgium, the Netherlands, and Luxembourg;

— and to the rivers; where during the nineteenth century, the British Royal Navy were known to “Rule the Waves;” and the United States having been plowing up and down the five oceans with her Seven Fleets since the British left the scene.

Amos 4

¹Hear this word, ye cows of Bashan, that are in the mountain of Samaria, who oppress the poor, who crush the needy, who say to their masters, “Bring, and let us drink.” — Samaria was the principal city of Ephraim, the metropolis of the ten tribes; cows and oxen are often associate with Samaria, in fact associated with Ephraim, the head of the house of Israel; a ox or its horn is a symbol of strength; “His glory is like the firstling of his bullock, and his horns are like the horns of unicorns. With them he shall push the people together to the ends of the earth; and they are the ten thousands of Ephraim, and they are the thousands of Manasseh” Deuteronomy 33:17 (more at the end).

²The Lord God hath sworn by His holiness that: “Lo, the days shall come upon you, that He will take you away with hooks and your posterity with fishhooks. — that, lo, the days shall come upon you; speedily, swiftly and unaware: that he will take you away with hooks and your posterity with fish hooks; the enemy, the king of Assyria, or God by him would take them out of their own land as fish out of water and carry them captive into a strange land, both them and their posterity; and which should be as easily done as fish are taken with the hook. The word for fish hooks signifies “thorns” and is by some so rendered; these perhaps being used in angling before iron hooks were invented.

— the Targum says, “that people shall take you away on their shields, and your daughters in fishermen’s boats;” Jeremiah 16:16.

³And ye shall go out at the breaches, every cow at that which is before her (each woman straight ahead), and ye shall cast them into the palace,” saith the Lord. — and ye shall go out at the breaches; not at the gates of the city as they had used to do at pleasure; but at the breaches which had been torn in the walls by the attacking enemies, every woman at that which is before her, literally “every one before her,” anxious to get away, looking neither to the right nor to the left;

— and ye shall cast them into the palace, saith the Lord, or “be cast forth to Harmon” apparently the place where they were led away captive. So much having been said of the rulers of Samaria and of Israel, the Lord now, in bitter irony, turns to the entire nation, bidding the people just continue in their idolatry and transgression; the divine punishment would not be kept away by their tactics;

— the Targum of the whole is, “and they shall break down the wall upon you, and bring you out, gathered everyone before him, and carry you beyond the mountains of Armenia.”

⁴“Come to Bethel and transgress; at Gilgal multiply transgression; and bring your sacrifices every morning and your tithes after three years. — come to Bethel and transgress; like a man who says to a scoundrel, “Do as you please until your measure of sin is full” for Bethel was one of the places where the calves were placed and worshipped; in defiance of Jerusalem being the holy city:

— at Gilgal multiply transgression; that is, multiply acts of idolatry: Gilgal was a place where high places and altars were erected, and idols worshipped; as it had formerly been a place of religious worship of the true God, the ten tribes made use of it in the times of their apostasy for idolatrous worship; see Hosea 4:15;

— and bring your sacrifices every morning; and offer them to your idols, as you were wont formerly to offer them unto the true God, according to the law of Moses, Exodus 29:38;

⁵And offer a sacrifice of thanksgiving with leaven, and proclaim and publish the free offerings; for so ye love, O ye children of Israel,” saith the Lord God.

⁶“And I also have given you cleanness of teeth in all your cities, and want of bread in all your places; yet have ye not returned unto Me,” saith the Lord.

⁷“And also I have withheld the rain from you, when there were yet three months to the harvest; and I caused it to rain upon one city, and caused it not to rain upon another city. One piece was rained upon, and the piece upon which it rained not withered. — and I caused it to rain upon one city, and caused it not to rain upon another city; so that it might appear to be not by the course of nature, or through the influence of the planets, or by chance; but was according to the direction of divine Providence, the hand of God was manifestly in it:

— yea, one piece was rained upon and the piece whereupon it rained not; one piece of ground or field had a plentiful shower on it whereby it became fruitful; and another field or close on the other side of the hedge or partition had none, whereby what did spring up withered away and came to nothing: or “one inheritance” or farm as some render it; one man’s estate was well watered with rain from heaven and brought forth much fruit; and another man’s estate for want of it, was barren, and brought forth nothing: thus God was pleased to do in his providence, to show his sovereignty and to chastise men for their sins; and in such a manner as that they might, if not blind easily perceive his hand in it.

⁸So two or three cities wandered unto one city to drink water, but they were not satisfied; yet have ye not returned unto Me,” saith the Lord. — so two or three cities wandered unto one city, to drink water… two or three cities, that is, the inhabitants of them, being without water, went up and down in quest of any city or place where they could find water for themselves and cattle to drink:

— but they were not satisfied; could not get enough for their present use and much less to carry back with them to supply them for any length of time; such a scarcity there was of it in other parts; see 1 Kings 18:5;

— yet have ye not returned unto me, saith the Lord; this had no more effect upon them than the other to relinquish their former courses, and return unto the Lord by humiliation and repentance.

⁹“I have smitten you with blight (plant disease) and mildew (mold or fungus); when your gardens and your vineyards and your fig trees and your olive trees increased, the palmer worm devoured them; yet have ye not returned unto Me,” saith the Lord. — the two disasters recorded here are (1) the blasting and mildew, and (2) the invasion of the palmer-worm, or locust (as in some versions). Some doubt persists as to which insect, exactly, is mentioned; but whatever it is, the effect of it is totally ruinous;

— “blasting and mildew…” Barnes noted that: “Both words are doubly intensive. They stand together in the prophecy of Moses (Deuteronomy 28:22), among the other scourges of disobedience; and the mention of these would awaken in those who would hear, the memory of a long train of other warnings and other judgements.”

¹⁰“I have sent among you the pestilence after the manner of Egypt; your young men have I slain with the sword, and have taken away your horses; and I have made the stink of your camps to come up unto your nostrils; yet have ye not returned unto Me,” saith the Lord. — two more disasters are recounted here, (1) pestilence, and (2) military disaster. I have sent among you the pestilence after the manner of Egypt, or “plagues of Egypt” so called because it was prevalent in that country;

— your young men have I slain with the sword, especially when the Israelites suffered defeats at the hand of the Syrians, Egypt or Assyria; and have taken away your horses, these also being slaughtered in battle;

— and I have made the stink of your camps to come up unto your nostrils, namely, that of the dead bodies of men and beasts.

¹¹“I have overthrown some of you, as God overthrew Sodom and Gomorrah, and ye were as a firebrand plucked out of the burning; yet have ye not returned unto Me,” saith the Lord. — I have overthrown some of you, as God overthrew Sodom and Gomorrah… either their houses were burnt or their bodies consumed by fire from heaven with lightning; not whole cities but the habitations of some particular persons or they themselves:

— yet have ye not returned unto Me, saith the Lord, even this chastisement having no effect upon them; even though it is repeated five times (Amos 4:6, 8, 9, 10, 11), somewhat like a refrain or a chorus; it has the utility of constant emphasis upon the truth that the disasters were not mere punishments, but solicitations for the chosen people to repent and return to the Lord but of no effect.

¹²“Therefore thus will I do unto thee, O Israel; and because I will do this unto thee, prepare to meet thy God, O Israel!” — therefore thus will I do unto thee, O Israel… what he would do is not expressly and particularly said; it is commonly understood to be something in a way of judgement and worse than what he had done, since they had no effect upon them; or these things should be done over again until an utter end was made of them; Amos 3:11.

¹³For lo, He that formeth the mountains and createth the wind, and declareth unto man what is His thought, that maketh the morning darkness, and treadeth upon the high places of the earth—the Lord, the God of Hosts, is His name. — for lo, He that formeth the mountains, calling them into existence by His almighty power and createth the wind and declareth unto man what is his thought; His omniscience readily penetrating into the mind of man;

— that maketh the morning darkness, turning back the dawn into night and treadeth upon the high places of the earth, ruling the whole earth with unlimited power. The Lord, the God of hosts, is His name, the Ruler of all the heavenly armies. The entire creation proclaims the one true God and it is a matter of wisdom for man to stand before Him in a relation which will cause Him to show mercy rather than stern justice.

— God is sovereign over things visible (the mountains), things invisible (the wind), and things rational (man and his thought). He is in direct executive control of the world as is evident when he makes the morning darkness, brings about the sequence of day and night. No place is beyond his reach, even the heights of the earth being beneath his feet.

~~~

More about the Ox and Unicorn; about Ephraim and Manasseh

The Five Eyes Operate as One Eye

“His (singular) glory is like the firstling of his bullock, and his horns are like the horns of unicorns. With them he shall push the people together to the ends of the earth; and they are the ten thousands of Ephraim, and they are the thousands of Manasseh” Deuteronomy 33:17

The first part of the above: The armies of Ephraim and Manasseh are majestic and fierce like a bull or a wild ox; its horns like that of a unicorn.

— Rashi: and his horns are the horns of a re’em (unicorn): The ox is powerful, but its horns are not beautiful; on the other hand, a re’em has beautiful horns, but it is not powerful. Moses thus blessed Joshua with the power of an ox and the beauty of a re’em ‘s horns. — [Sifrei 33:17]

Or, Joseph is like a powerful firstling bull. His two sons are like bull’s horns; and its horns are like that of unicorns;

“I know it, my son, I know it,” Jacob said to Joseph, “he [Manasseh] also shall become a people, and he also shall be great; but truly his younger brother [Ephraim] shall be greater than he, and his seed shall become a multitude of nations (H1471 goyim)” Genesis 48:19; “And he set Ephraim before Manasseh.”

Or, Joseph has the strength of a firstling bull; one horn like that of a wild ox, the other like that of a unicorn. These are the ten thousands of Ephraim. And these are the thousands of Manasseh.

Today, the “Five Eyes” is an intelligence alliance comprising Australia, Canada, New Zealand, the United Kingdom and led by the United States. After breaking out of the yoke of Europe, the UK thought they could operate independently. Not so, and soon Boris Johnson succumbed to the whelm of Donald Trump and Joe Biden in the many filthy policies he adopted. Hence now the Five Eyes operate as One Eye with its nerve center in Washington, DC; impulsively telling lies and constantly impregnating themselves with many other abominations as they dance like a gang of drunkards along a cliff.

And when they fall, they’ll fall together: And the unicorns shall come down with them, and the bullocks with the bulls; and their land shall be soaked with blood, and their dust made fat with fatness. Isaiah 34:7; thus saith the Lord: which is to show the certainty of all these warnings; since the Lord God of truth had spoken it; and it is timeless, fulfilled today as it was by ancient Israel shortly after this prophecy was written.

Posted in Minor Prophets

Amos (Ch 1-2)

•December 1, 2021 • Leave a Comment

The prophecy of Amos, in which the prophet thunders the warning of the impending judgement of God upon no less than eight nations, beginning with the ancient house of Israel, the northern kingdom; then Israel’s surrounding pagan neighbors, then resting for a moment upon the house of Judah, and by way of climax describing the prophetic utter ruin and devastation of the endtime house of Israel itself.

The prophecies in the Scriptures are written in codes; it was written to be made plain, yet it isn’t plain unless we could uncover certain codes. If it were written for ancient Israel it would have little or no relevance, but in brief, this book of Amos is a prophecy about the United States today, the most mighty nation of the earth with seven fleets plowing up and down the five oceans looking for an enemy for a fight, but when the opportunity comes, it flees like one Joseph of old in Egypt, and for a righteous reason, but in the endtimes, Joseph favourite son, Ephraim, flees like who is naked! The awful judgements, “rolling like a storm, in strophe after strophe, all over the surrounding kingdoms.” And then we are obliged to ask why?

Amos 1

¹ The words of Amos, who was among the herdsmen of Tekoa, which he saw concerning Israel in the days of Uzziah king of Judah, and in the days of Jeroboam the son of Joash, king of Israel, two years before the earthquake. — the words of Amos, who was among the herdsmen, a man who owned and tended sheep, of Tekoa, which he saw concerning Israel, chiefly with regard to the northern kingdom, in the days of Uzziah, king of Judah, and in the days of Jeroboam, the second of that name, the son of Joash, king of Israel, two years before the earthquake, an event of some importance in the history of that century;

— Uzziah, king of Judah: 767–751 BC; the tenth king of the ancient Kingdom of Judah; Uzziah was 16 when he became king of Judah and reigned for 52 years. The first 24 years of his reign were as co-regent with his father, Amaziah;

— Jeroboam II (786–746 BC) was the son and successor of Jehoash (alternatively spelled Joash) and the thirteenth king of the ancient Kingdom of Israel, over which he ruled for forty-one years in the eighth century BC. His reign was contemporary with those of Amaziah and Uzziah, kings of Judah.

²And he said: “The Lord will roar from Zion, and utter His voice from Jerusalem; and the habitations of the shepherds shall mourn, and the top of Carmel shall wither.” — the Lord will roar from Zion, and utter his voice from Jerusalem; not from Samaria, nor from Dan and Bethel, but from Zion and Jerusalem, where the temple of the Lord stood; and out of the holy of holies in it, where was the seat of the divine Majesty;

— and his voice being compared to the roaring of a lion, denotes his wrath and vengeance; and is expressive of some terrible threatening prophecy he would send from hence, by one or other of his prophets; perhaps Amos may mean himself; and who, having been a shepherd or herdsman in the wilderness, had often heard the terrible roaring of the lion, to which he compares his prophecy concerning the judgments of God on nations. Some think reference is had to the earthquake, as Aben Ezra; and which might be attended with thunder and lightning, the voice of God.

³Thus saith the Lord: “For three transgressions of Damascus, and for four, I will not turn away the punishment thereof, because they have threshed Gilead with threshing instruments of iron. — for three transgressions of Damascus, and for four, I will not turn away the punishment thereof; Damascus was an ancient city; it was in the times of Abraham, Genesis 15:2. It was the “metropolis” of Syria, Isaiah 7:8;

— because they have threshed Gilead with threshing instruments of iron; that is, “the inhabitants of the land of Gilead,” as the Targum says; this country lay beyond Jordan, and was inhabited by the Reubenites and Gadites and the half tribe of Manasseh; who were used in a very cruel manner, by Hazael king of Syria.

⁴But I will send a fire into the house of Hazael, which shall devour the palaces of Benhadad. — but I will send a fire into the house of Hazael, the cruel king of Syria, which shall devour the palaces of Benhadad, the son of Hazael, so that both would suffer the Lord’s punishment.

⁵I will break also the bar of Damascus, and cut off the inhabitant from the plain of Aven, and him that holdeth the scepter from the house of Eden; and the people of Syria shall go into captivity unto Kir,” saith the Lord. — I will break also the bar of Damascus, shattering the bolt of its gate at the conquest of the city, and cut off the inhabitant from the Plain of Avon, possibly a place near Damascus, or the valley between Lebanon and Anti-Lebanon;

— and him that holdeth the scepter from the house of Eden, in the district of Laodicea; and the people of Syria shall go into captivity unto Kir, very likely a district of Assyria, saith the Lord. This prophecy was fulfilled when the Assyrian king Tiglath-pileser took the city of Damascus and dissolved the Syrian kingdom.

⁶Thus saith the Lord: “For three transgressions of Gaza, and for four, I will not turn away the punishment thereof, because they carried away captive the whole captivity to deliver them up to Edom. — thus saith the Lord, For three transgressions of Gaza, the leading city-state of Philistia, and for four, I will not turn away the punishment thereof, rather. He would not reverse His intention of punishing this city, because they carried away captive the whole captivity, all the prisoners who had been in a certain campaign, very likely that mentioned II Chronicles 21:16, to deliver them. up to Edom, the archenemy of Israel, who would be sure to treat the captive Israelites with the highest degree of cruelty.

⁷But I will send a fire on the wall of Gaza, which shall devour the palaces thereof.

⁸And I will cut off the inhabitant from Ashdod, and him that holdeth the scepter from Ashkelon; and I will turn Mine hand against Ekron, and the remnant of the Philistines shall perish,” saith the Lord God. — and I will cut off the inhabitant from Ashdod, to make the city desolate, and him that holdeth the scepter from Ashkelon, the ruler of this city-state with his people,

— and I will turn Mine hand against Ekron, so that four of the five city-states are expressly mentioned, the fifth, which bore the name Gath, being omitted because it was not essential to name them all; and the remnant of the Philistines shall perish, saith the Lord God, the prophecy finding its fulfillment in the repeated conquest of Philistia by the great world-powers, so that it did not retain its existence for any length of time.

⁹Thus saith the Lord: “For three transgressions of Tyre, and for four, I will not turn away the punishment thereof, because they delivered up the whole captivity to Edom, and remembered not the brotherly covenant. — thus saith the Lord, the individual announcements coming with a special reference to the inspired nature of their contents; for three transgressions of Tyre, the great metropolis and seaport of Phoenicia, Cf Isaiah 23, and for four, I will not turn away the punishment thereof, refusing to change the punishment which He had decided upon;

— because they delivered up the whole captivity, all the captives obtained from the Philistines or the Syrians as the result of one of their campaigns, to Edom and remembered not the brotherly covenant, both David and Solomon having been allied with Phoenicia by a special treaty.

¹⁰But I will send a fire on the wall of Tyre, which shall devour the palaces thereof.”

¹¹Thus saith the Lord: “For three transgressions of Edom, and for four, I will not turn away the punishment thereof, because he pursued his brother with the sword, and cast off all pity; and his anger tore perpetually, and he kept his wrath for ever. — thus saith the Lord for three transgressions of Edom… Or the Edomites, the posterity of Esau, whose name was Edom, so called from the red pottage he sold his birthright for to his brother Jacob: and for four, I will not turn away [the punishment thereof;

— among these three or four transgressions, not only what follows is included, but their idolatry; for that the Edomites had their idols is certain, though what they were cannot be said; see II Chronicles 25:14; because he did pursue his brother with the sword: not Esau his brother Jacob; for though he purposed in his heart to slay him, which obliged him to flee; and frightened him, upon his return, by meeting him with four hundred men; yet he never pursued him with the sword; but his posterity, the Edomites, not only would not suffer the Israelites their brethren to pass by their borders, but came out against them with a large army, Numbers 20:18; and in the times of Ahaz they came against Judah with the sword and smote them and carried away captives, II Chronicles 28:17; and were at the taking and destruction of Jerusalem and assisted and encouraged in it, Psalms 137:7; though to these latter instances the prophet could have no respect, because they were after his time:

— and did cast off all pity; bowels of compassion, natural affection, such as ought to be between brethren, even all humanity: or “corrupted” or “destroyed all pity” showed none, but extinguished all sparks of it as their behaviour to the Israelites showed when upon their borders in the wilderness:

— and his anger did tear perpetually; it was deeply rooted in them; it began in their first father Esau on account of the blessing and birthright Jacob got from him and it descended from father to son in all generations and was vented in a most cruel manner like the ravening of a lion or any other beast of prey:

— and kept his wrath for ever; reserved it in their breasts till they had an opportunity of showing it as Esau their father proposed to do, Genesis 27:41 “And Esau hated Jacob because of the blessing wherewith his father blessed him. And Esau said in his heart, “The days of mourning for my father are at hand. Then will I slay my brother Jacob.””

¹²But I will send a fire upon Teman, which shall devour the palaces of Bozrah.” — but I will send a fire upon Teman… a principal city of Edom or Idumea, so called from Teman a grandson of Esau, Genesis 36:11; there was in his time a village called Theman, five miles distant from the city Petra, and had a Roman garrison; in Arabia Petraea; it is put for the whole country; it signifies the south. So the Targum renders it, “a fire in the south.”

¹³Thus saith the Lord: “For three transgressions of the children of Ammon, and for four, I will not turn away the punishment thereof, because they have ripped up the women with child of Gilead, that they might enlarge their border. — thus saith the Lord, For three transgressions of the children of Ammon, the ancient enemies of Israel, who lived northeast of the Dead Sea, on the edge of the Arabian Desert, and for four, I will not turn away the punishment thereof, not reverse His intention of punishing them severely,

— because they have ripped up the women with child of Gilead, in the unspeakably cruel manner employed in many instances in those days, that they might enlarge their border, taking possession once more of the territory gained by the tribes of Israel east of Jordan, Reuben, Gad and half of Manasseh.

¹⁴But I will kindle a fire in the wall of Rabbah, and it shall devour the palaces thereof, with shouting in the day of battle, with a tempest in the day of the whirlwind. — but I will kindle a fire in the wall of Rabbah, the capital of their country, and it shall devour the palaces thereof, with shouting in the day of battle as soon as the enemies would enter the city with a tempest in the day of the whirlwind for the enemies would come in a tumultuous assault and carry all before them.

¹⁵And their king shall go into captivity, he and his princes together,” saith the Lord. — and their king shall go into captivity… not only the common people that are left of the sword shall be carried captive, but their king also. This was, Baalis their last king, who was accessory to the murder of Gedaliah, Jeremiah 40:14; whom the king of Babylon had set over the remnant of the Jews left in Judea; which might provoke him to send Nebuzaradan his general against him, who put his country to fire and sword, destroyed his chief city Rabbah, and carried him and his nobles into captivity.

Amos 2

¹ Thus saith the Lord: “For three transgressions of Moab, and for four, I will not turn away the punishment thereof, because he burned the bones of the king of Edom into lime. — thus saith the Lord, for three transgressions of Moab… Or the Moabites, who descended from the eldest son of Lot, by one of his daughters; and, though related, were great enemies to the Israelites; they sent for Balaam to curse them when on their borders, and greatly oppressed them in the times of the judges:

— and for four, I will not turn away the punishment thereof; idolatry, as well as other sins charged, must be one of these four transgressions: the idols of Moab were Chemosh and Baalpeor;

— because he burned the bones of the king of Edom, Esau’s descendant, into lime and by way of contempt, used it to plaster a Moabite palace; the point of violating the corpse; a mark of peculiar hatred and particularly offensive to the common conscience of mankind; this unrestrained hatred didn’t stop with death.

²But I will send a fire upon Moab, and it shall devour the palaces of Kerioth; and Moab shall die with tumult, with shouting and with the sound of the trumpet. — but I will send a fire upon Moab… either on the whole country, or on some particular city so called, as in all the other prophecies; and there was a city called Moab, now Areopolis; though it may be put for the whole country, into which an enemy should be sent to destroy it, even Nebuchadnezzar:

— and it shall devour the palaces of Kerioth; and according to the Targum, “and shall consume the palaces of the fortified place” and so may signify all the cities of Moab, and their palaces: or however may be put for them.

³And I will cut off the judge from the midst thereof, and will slay all the princes thereof with him,” saith the Lord. — and I will cut off the judges, all the magistrates, from the midst thereof and will slay all the princes thereof with him, saith the Lord, so that Moab would cease to exist as a nation. This came to pass at the time of the Babylonian and Chaldean conquests.

⁴Thus saith the Lord: “For three transgressions of Judah, and for four, I will not turn away the punishment thereof, because they have despised the law of the Lord, and have not kept His commandments; and their lies caused them to err, after which their fathers have walked. — because they have despised the law of the Lord; a law so holy, just and good, and so righteous, as no other nation had; and yet was not only not observed, but contemned: other nations sinned against the light of nature, and are not charged with breaches of the law of God, which was not given them; but these people had it, yet lightly esteemed it; counted it as a strange thing; walked not according to it, but cast it away from them; which was a great affront to the sovereignty of God, and a trampling upon his legislative power and authority:

— and have not kept his commandments; or “statutes” the ordinances and the law, which he appointed them to observe for the honour of his name, as parts of their worship;

— and their lies caused them to err, their idols leading them into every kind of foolishness and sin, after their fathers have walked, for idolatry had been practiced in the country almost continually, secretly hiding around their walls and doors, and not openly.

⁵But I will send a fire upon Judah, and it shall devour the palaces of Jerusalem.” — but I will send a fire upon Judah, and it shall devour the palaces of Jerusalem… the military judgements here prophesied with reference to Judah and Jerusalem were fulfilled by Nebuchadnezzar: the royal city, where stood the temple, the palace of the most High, and the palaces of the king and his nobles; these were burnt with fire when it was taken by the Chaldean army, about two hundred years after this prophecy; and finally a second time in the destruction by Vespasian and Titus in AD 70.

⁶Thus saith the Lord: “For three transgressions of Israel, and for four, I will not turn away the punishment thereof, because they sold the righteous for silver and the poor for a pair of shoes. — thus saith the Lord, for three transgressions of Israel… the ten tribes rent from the house of David in the times of Rehoboam and who departed from the true worship of God to set up calves at Dan and Bethel; but now under under the reign of Jeroboam the Second, against which the prophet Amos was chiefly sent:

— and for four, I will not turn away the punishment thereof; the following part of this prophecy is taken up in pointing at the sins and punishment of Israel, who is headed by their topdog, Ephraim; now the prophet has come to the main commission he was sent to, committed in writing and because this book of Amos is prophetic, its reference of Israel is actually referring to Ephraim and who is, in essence, the United States today;

— because they sold the righteous for silver; the sense is, that the judges of Israel were so corrupt, that for a piece of money they would give a cause against a righteous man, and in favour of an unjust man that bribed them:

— and the poor for a pair of shoes; that is, for a mere trifle they would pervert justice; if two men came before them with a cause, and both poor; yet if one could but give a pair of shoes, or anything he could part with, though he could not give money; so mean and sordid were they, they would take it, and give the cause for him, however unjust it was.

⁷They pant after the dust of the earth on the head of the poor, and turn aside the way of the meek; and a man and his father will go in unto the same maid to profane My holy name. — that pant after the dust of the earth on the head of the poor, by oppressing the poor so severely that the latter, in their misery, show their grief by placing dust on their heads. Job 2:12, and turn aside the way of the meek, by placing obstacles in their way, thereby causing them to stumble and fall; and a man and his father will go in unto the same maid, in an excess of shameless lechery, which was regarded as being on a level with incest, to profane My holy name, for such sins brought disgrace upon the name of the God who had chosen Israel as His people.

⁸And they lay themselves down upon clothes laid in pledge by every altar, and they drink the wine of the condemned in the house of their god. — and they lay themselves down upon clothes, the upper garment of the poor, laid to pledge by every altar, although the Law required that such pledges be returned in the evening, because the garments also served as covers by night, and they drink the wine of the condemned, such as was purchased with money gotten from the poor by oppression in the house of their god being brazen enough to do this in the very Sanctuary, in places which, after all, were originally intended as altars consecrated to Yehovah.

⁹“Yet I destroyed the Amorite before them, whose height was like the height of the cedars, and he was strong as the oaks; yet I destroyed his fruit from above and his roots from beneath. — yet destroyed I the Amorite before them, when Joshua overthrew them in battle. Numbers 21:24; Deuteronomy 2:31, whose height was like the height of the cedars, and he was strong as the oaks, a powerful people; yet I destroyed his fruit from above and his roots from beneath, the picture of a mighty tree being retained to make the fact of his annihilation more vivid.

¹⁰Also I brought you up from the land of Egypt, and led you forty years through the wilderness to possess the land of the Amorite. — also I brought you up from the land of Egypt, by the deliverance to which the prophets point time and again, Exodus 12:51, and led you forty years through the wilderness to possess the land of the Amorite, for so the entire land of Canaan might fitly be called, as having been in the possession of this nation before the Hittite invasion.

¹¹And I raised up of your sons for prophets, and of your young men for Nazirites. Is it not even thus, O ye children of Israel?” saith the Lord. — and I raised up of your sons for prophets… such as Moses, Joshua, and the seventy elders and others; not only to foretell things to come but to teach and instruct the people in the doctrines and duties of religion and to warn them of their sins;

— and of your young men for Nazarites: as Samson, Samuel, and others; whose vow not only obliged them from shaving their hair, but to abstain from drinking wine, and eating grapes, which the youthful age is inclined unto; but such grace was given them, as enabled them to deny themselves sensual gratifications, and to be examples of piety and constant attendance on the service of God, and instructing the people. The Targum is, “of your young men for teachers” – these were the spiritual mercies, as the former were the temporal ones, the Lord bestowed on these people, for the truth of which he appeals to them:

— is it not even thus, O ye children of Israel, saith the Lord? can ye deny it? – the thing was too notorious to be contradicted.

¹²“But ye gave the Nazarites wine to drink, and commanded the prophets, saying, ‘Prophesy not.’ — but ye gave the Nazarites wine to drink… contrary to their vow and calling, and in contempt of it, and to make them like themselves; they either persuaded them, or forced them to it:

— and commanded the prophets, saying, prophesy not; hard and heavy things, judgments and denunciations of vengeance, only smooth things; by this authoritative language it appears that this is said of the rulers and governors of the people, as king, princes, and priests; see Amos 7:12.

¹³“Behold, I am pressed under you, as a cart is pressed that is full of sheaves. — behold, I am pressed under you, rather, “Behold, I will press you down,”

— as a cart is pressed that is full of sheaves, as a cart loaded with sheaves presses down the ground beneath; the Lord signifies he would afflict and distress this people, bring them into strait circumstances, by a close siege, and other judgements, not to ruin nor destroy them, but to straiten them;

— so the Targum says, “behold, I bring distress upon you, and it shall straiten you in your place, as a cart is straitened which is loaded with sheaves.”

¹⁴Therefore the flight shall perish from the swift, and the strong shall not strengthen his force, neither shall the mighty deliver himself. — therefore the flight shall perish from the swift… they should be so straitened and cooped up and be so loaded with pressures that those as swift of foot as Asahel should not be able to make their escape by fleeing;

— and the strong shall not strengthen his force; should not increase it or muster it up and exert it to such a degree as to be able to defend and secure himself from the enemy:

— neither shall the mighty deliver himself; “his soul” or “life” a soldier, a man of war, an expert and courageous officer at the head of his troop or even the general of the army.

¹⁵Neither shall he stand that handleth the bow, and he that is swift of foot shall not deliver himself; neither shall he that rideth the horse deliver himself. — neither shall he stand that handleth the bow… that is, at some distance, and can make use of his instruments of war afar off; yet will not think it safe to stand his ground, but will betake himself to his heels as fast as he can to save himself:

— and he that is swift of foot shall not deliver himself; this is repeated, lest any should place confidence in their agility, and to show how complete and inevitable the affliction will be:

— neither shall he that rideth the horse deliver himself; by fleeing on horseback, no more than he that is on foot; no ways that can be devised or thought on would preserve from this general calamity.

¹⁶And he that is courageous among the mighty shall flee away naked in that day,” saith the Lord. — and he that is courageous among the mighty… Or “strong in his heart” one that is of a great heart, famous for courage and bravery, that excels in it among the mighty; the most valiant soldiers and officers:

— shall flee away naked in that day: shall throw away his armour, nay, put off his clothes, as being both a hindrance to him in his flight; and that he may make the better speed; this is talking about the United States, the most mighty nation of the earth today, it flees Afghanistan like one who is naked!

— saith the Lord: which is added to show the certainty of all this; it might be depended upon that so it would be, since the Lord God of truth had spoken it; and it is timeless, fulfilled today as it was about eighty years after this prophecy was written.

Posted in Minor Prophets

A Study Index of Jeremiah

•November 29, 2021 • Leave a Comment

In the Study, we’ll find Jeremiah’s prophecies were not solely meant for the house of Judah; although some of them were, but the prime focus of God’s warnings were for the house of Israel and is relevant for a latter time, our time.

A Study Index of Jeremiah

Table of Contents

Chapter 1

— calling of Jeremiah before he was born
— “I have put my words in thy mouth”
— to root out and to plant the royal family
— out of the North an evil shall break forth
— prophecy of a Sword coming from the North

~ Chapter 2

— the Lord brought them out through a land of deserts
— from shadow of death, scorpions and fiery serpents
— a land of wheat, barley, vines, fig trees, pomegranates
— and olives, a land flowing with milk and honey
— the way of going to Assyria or going to Egypt

A Study of Chapters 1 and 2 HERE ~ —— ~

Chapter 3

— Judah played the harlot with many lovers
— “Hast thou seen what backsliding Israel hath done?”
— “Her treacherous sister Judah hath not turned to Me”
— “We lie down in our shame”

~ Chapter 4

— “If thou wilt return, O Israel”
— “Declare ye in Judah and publish in Jerusalem”
— “The whole land shall be desolate”
— “Woe is me now, for my soul is wearied”

A Study of Chapters 3 and 4 HERE ~ —— ~

Chapter 5

— “Run to and fro through the streets of Jerusalem”
— “How shall I pardon thee for this?”
— they lie in wait as he that setteth snares
— as a cage full of birds so are houses full of deceits
— “justice” on Epstein: Ghislaine, HRH Andrew

~ Chapter 6

— “Prepare ye war against her! Arise”
— “Hew trees, cast a mound against Jerusalem”
— ‘Peace, peace,’ when there is no peace
— “Your burnt offerings are not acceptable”
— “Behold, a people cometh from the North”

A Study of Chapters 5 and 6 HERE ~ —— ~

Chapter 7

— “Stand in the gate of the Lord’s house”
— women knead cakes for the Queen of heaven
— “Cut off thine hair, O Jerusalem and cast it away”
— from Queen of heaven, Astarte; to Easter today

~ Chapter 8

— worshipping of heavenly bodies are forbidden
— but My people know not God’s judgement
— wise men ashamed; they are dismayed and taken
— over 98.5% of Christians honouring the Sun

A Study of Chapters 7 and 8 HERE ~ —— ~

Chapter 9

— they bend their tongues like their bow for lies
— “Behold, I will melt them and try them”
— Who is the wise man that may understand this?
— “Let not the wise man glory in his wisdom”

~ Chapter 10

— “Learn not the way of the heathens”—
— the palm tree proliferates during Christmas
— “At His wrath the earth shall tremble”
— Ephraim is a chronic liar, full of deceits

A Study of Chapters 9 and 10 HERE ~ —— ~

Chapter 11

— “Proclaim these words in the cities of Judah”
— “Let us destroy the tree with the fruit thereof”
— behold, thy young men shall die by the Sword
— their sons and daughters shall die by famine
— and there shall be no remnant of them

~ Chapter 12

— why doth the way of the wicked prosper?
— “If thou run with footmen and have wearied thee
— then how canst thou contend with horses?”
— “but if all mine evil neighbours will not obey
— I will utterly pluck up and destroy that nation”

A Study of Chapters 11 and 12 HERE ~ —— ~

Chapter 13

— “Go and get thee a linen girdle”
— every bottle shall be filled with wine
— and I will dash them one against another
— Can the Ethiopian change his skin
— or the leopard his spots?

~ Chapter 14

— “Judah mourneth and its gates languish”
— “Pray not for this people for their good”
— “The prophets prophesy lies in My name”
— “Sword and famine shall not be in this land
— by Sword and famine shall they be consumed”

A Study of Chapters 13 and 14 HERE ~ —— ~

Chapter 15

— “Though Moses and Samuel stood before Me”
— “And I will appoint over them four kinds”
— “Verily it shall be well with thy remnant”
— I sat not in the assembly of mockers

~ Chapter 16

— “Thou shalt not take thee a wife”
— “Enter not into the house of mourning”
— there shall ye serve other gods day and night
— “Surely our fathers have inherited lies”

A Study of Chapters 15 and 16 HERE ~ —— ~

Chapter 17

— “The sins of Judah is written with an iron pen”
— “Cursed be the man that trusteth in man”
— let them be confounded that persecute me
— “Hallow the Sabbath day and do no work”

~ Chapter 18

— “O house of Israel, what do I do with this potter?”
— a kingdom, to build and to plant it
— I will scatter them as with an east wind
— let wives bereaved their children and be widows
— more about keeping the Sabbaths

A Study of Chapters 17 and 18 HERE ~ —— ~

Chapter 19

— “Go and get a potter’s earthen bottle”
— “Hear the word of the Lord at the East Gate”
— this place shall no more be called Tophet
— but the Valley of Slaughter
— your carcasses shall be meat for the fowls
— and for the beasts of the earth

~ Chapter 20

— Pashhur the son of Immer the priest
— he smote Jeremiah and put him in stocks
— “Behold, I will make thee a terror to thyself”
— O Lord, Thou deceived me and I was deceived
— cursed be the day wherein I was born

A Study of Chapters 19 and 20 HERE ~ —— ~

Chapter 21

— King Zedekiah sent Pashhur unto Jeremiah
— Thus saith the Lord God of Israel: Behold
— I will turn back the weapons of war in your hands
— weapons that recoil like a boomerang
— “And I myself will fight against you
— with an outstretched hand and in great wrath”

~ Chapter 22

— “Hear the word of the Lord, O kings of Judah”
— spare them not, neither have pity nor mercy
— King Jehoahaz, taken into Egypt and died there
— King Jehoiakim carried to Babylon and died there
— Coniah son of Jehoiakim with signet but childless

A Study of Chapters 21 and 22 HERE ~ —— ~

Chapter 23

— “Woe be unto the shepherds of Israel
— that destroy and scatter the sheep of My pasture!”
— I will bring evil upon them, even a year of visitation
— in the latter days ye shall understand it perfectly
— prophets who prophesy lies in My name
— saying, “I have dreamed, I have dreamed”

~ Chapter 24

— and behold, two baskets of figs
— one basket the figs that are good and ripe
— the other basket that are bad and evil
— more on God’s name, Yehovah יהוה‎ YHVH

A Study of Chapters 23 and 24 HERE ~ —— ~

Chapter 25

— Jeremiah spoke unto all the people of Judah
— and this land be a desolation and an astonishment
— and shall serve Babylon for seventy years
— “Take the wine cup of this fury at My hand
— all the nations to whom I send thee to drink it
— evil shall go forth from nation to nation
— howl, ye shepherds, and cry; and wallow in ashes”

~ Chapter 26

— “Speak unto all the cities of Judah
— I will make this house like Shiloh”
— the priests, prophets and people took Jeremiah
— saying, “Thou shalt surely die!”
— “This man is not worthy to die”

A Study of Chapters 25 and 26 HERE ~ —— ~

Chapter 27

— to kings of Edom, Moab, Ammon, Tyre and Sidon
— all these shall serve Nebuchadnezzar, My servant
— hearken not to your prophets, nor your dreamers
— the vessels that remain in the house of the Lord
— they shall also be carried to Babylon

~ Chapter 28

— false prophet Hananiah the Gibeonite
— within two years the vessels of the Lord’s house
— will be restored back to Jerusalem
— within a year Hananiah died (two months)
— according to the word of Jeremiah

A Study of Chapters 27 and 28 HERE ~ —— ~

Chapter 29

— to the captives Nebuchadnezzar carried away
— build ye houses and dwell in them
— and plant gardens and eat the fruit of them
— take ye wives and beget sons and daughters
— take wives for sons; daughters to husbands
— false prophet Shemaiah shall not have seed

~ Chapter 30

— write these words that I have into a book
— it is even the time of Jacob’s trouble
— “in destroying I will not destroy thee”
— all thy lovers have forgotten thee
— all thy lovers will turned against thee

A Study of Chapters 29 and 30 HERE ~ —— ~

Chapter 31

— O virgin of Israel
— thou shalt plant on the mountains of Samaria
— but planters shall plant and shall not eat them
— “Arise, let us go to Zion unto the Lord our God”
— Ephraim a bullock unaccustomed to the yoke

~ Chapter 32

— Jeremiah the prophet thrown into the prison
— Zedekiah king of Judah caught trying to flee
— Zedekiah led to Babylon in chain
— Israel turns his back and not his face unto Me

A Study of Chapters 31 and 32 HERE ~ —— ~

Chapter 33

— Yehovah, not the Lord, is his name
— “They come to fight with the Chaldeans
— but it is to fill them with dead bodies
— whom I slain in Mine anger and fury
— and for all whose wickedness
— I have hid My face from this city”

~ Chapter 34

— “Thus saith the Lord: I will give this city
— into the hand of the king of Babylon
— and he shall burn it with fire”
— every seven years man let go his brother
— all the cities of Judah a desolation

A Study of Chapters 33 and 34 HERE ~ —— ~

Chapter 35

— “Go to the Rechabites and speak unto them
— and give them wine to drink”
— “But we will drink no wine, nor our sons forever
— nor build a house, sow seed nor plant a vineyard”
— “Jonadab the son of Rechab shall not lack a man
— to stand before Me forever”

~ Chapter 36

— “Take thee a scroll of a book
— write the words that I’ve spoken unto thee
— against Israel and against Judah
— against all the nations I’ve spoken unto thee
— from the days of Josiah, even unto this day”

A Study of Chapters 35 and 36 HERE ~ —— ~

Chapter 37

— Zedekiah petitions false prophets to pray for him
— “The Chaldeans shall surely depart from us”
— the princes smote Jeremiah and put him in prison
— Zedekiah commanded that Jeremiah be at court
— that they should give him daily a piece of bread

~ Chapter 38

— “He that remaineth in this city shall die by the Sword
— by the famine and by the pestilence
— but he that goeth forth to the Chaldeans shall live”
— “I’m afraid of the Jews who are fallen to the Chaldeans
— lest they deliver me into their hand and mock me”

A Study of Chapters 37 and 38 HERE ~ —— ~

Chapter 39

— Nebuchadnezzar and his army against Jerusalem
— came and besieged it
— Zedekiah tried to escape
— the Chaldeans army pursued and overtook Zedekiah
— the sons of Zedekiah were slewed before his eyes
— and bound him with chains to Babylon

~ Chapter 40

— Jeremiah given protection by Nebuzaradan
— and was freed from his chains
— Gedaliah, made governor of Judea
— but Ishmael the son of Nethaniah plan to kill him
— won’t listen to Johanan the son of Kareah

A Study of Chapters 39 and 40 HERE ~ —— ~

Chapter 41

— Ishmael the son of Nethaniah came
— and smote Gedaliah, the governor of Judea
— carried away captives, even the king’s daughters
— and plan to go over to the Ammonites
— but Johanan the son of Kareah rescued them

~ Chapter 42

— but Johanan were bent on going to Egypt
— they obey not the voice of the Lord their God
— then shall the Sword which ye feared
— shall overtake you there in the land of Egypt
— shall die by the Swords, famines and pestilences

A Study of Chapters 41 and 42 HERE ~ —— ~

Chapter 43

— Jeremiah speaks to all the people of Judea
— “Thou speakest falsely,” says Johanan, son of Kareah
— so they came into the land of Egypt
— images of Bethshemesh, the House of the Sun
— “And I will kindle a fire to the gods of Egypt”

~ Chapter 44

— they hearkened me not, nor inclined their ears to me
— but burn incense unto other gods
— and burning incense to the Queen of heaven
— “I will punish by the Sword, famine and pestilence”
— but they vow to burn incense to the Queen of heaven
— more on the Queen of heaven: Astarte, Easter

A Study of Chapters 43 and 44 HERE ~ —— ~

Chapter 45

— Jeremiah spoke unto Baruch the scribe
— “Woe is me now!
— for the Lord hath added grief to my sorrow
— that I have built will I break down
— that which I have planted I will pluck up
— even this whole land”

~ Chapter 46

— the word came to Jeremiah against the nations
— against Egypt, the Ethiopians and the Libyans
— against the Pharaoh king of Egypt
— against the daughters dwelling in Egypt
— against their gods

A Study of Chapters 45 and 46 HERE ~ —— ~

Chapter 47

— the word of the Lord against the Philistines
— the noise of stamping hoofs by horses
— and at the rushing of his chariots
— against Gaza; against Ashkelon
— O thou Sword of the Lord

~ Chapter 48

— against Moab, saith the Lord of hosts
— every head shall be bald and beard clipped
— “Behold, Nebuchadnezzar shall fly as an eagle
— and he shall spread his wings over Moab”
— Moab shall be destroyed from being a people

A Study of Chapters 49 and 50 HERE ~ —— ~

Chapter 49

— judgements on Ammonites; Edomites, Edom
— the Targun; Edom, Esau “land of the South”
— of Teman, Dedan, Bozrah of Idumea
— of Damascus, Kedarenes or Arabians
— of Elamites or Persians “land of the East”

~ Chapter 50

— the Lord spoke against Babylon
— “Babylon is taken, Bel is confounded”
— and Chaldea shall be a spoil
— “A Sword is upon the Chaldeans”
— a Sword is upon liars, upon their chariots

A Study of Chapters 49 and 50 HERE ~ —— ~

Chapter 51

— “Behold, I will raise up against Babylon”
— Babylon is a golden cup in the Lord’s hand
— “I am against thee, O destroying mountain
— thus shall Babylon sink and shall not rise”

~ Chapter 52

— Zedekiah rebelled against Nebuchadnezzar
— who slewed the sons of Zedekiah before his eye
— and slewed also all the princes of Judah
— then he put out the eyes of Zedekiah
— and he burned the house of the Lord

A Study of Chapters 51 and 52 HERE ~ —— ~

Posted in Jeremiah

Jeremiah (Ch 51-52)

•November 26, 2021 • Leave a Comment

The Chaldeans, especially under Nebuchadnezzar their king, has been described by God as “the king of Babylon, My servant” in multiple places (Jeremiah 25:9, Jeremiah 27:6, Jeremiah 43:10). So this and the previous chapter contain a long prophecy concerning the destruction of Babylon following their judgement as well.

Jeremiah 51

¹ Thus saith the Lord: “Behold, I will raise up against Babylon, and against them that dwell in the midst of them that rise up against Me, a destroying wind. — thus saith the Lord, behold, I will raise up against Babylon… this is not a new prophecy, but a continuation and an enlargement of the former. The Babylonians being the last and most notorious enemies of the Jews, their destruction is further detailed here; and as they were against the Lord’s people the Lord was against them:

— and against them that dwell in the midst of them that rise up against me; that dwell in Babylon, the metropolis of the Chaldeans, the seat and centre of the enemies of God and his people. It is a periphrases of the Chaldeans; and so the Targum renders it, “against the inhabitants of the land of the Chaldeans;”

— a destroying wind; a northern one, the army of the Medes and Persians, which should sweep away all before it. The Targum says, “people that are slayers; whose hearts are lifted up, and are beautiful in stature, and their spirit destroying.”

²And will send unto Babylon winnowers that shall fan her, and shall empty her land; for in the day of trouble they shall be against her round about. — and I will send unto Babylon farmers that shall fan her, and shall empty her land… Or “strangers that shall fan her” meaning the Medes and Persians, who should be like a strong wind upon the mountains, where corn, having been threshed was fanned and the chaff carried away by the wind; and such would the Chaldeans be in the hand of the Persians, scattered and dispersed among the nations as chaff with the wind and their cities be emptied of inhabitants and of their wealth and riches;

— the Targum says, “I will send against Babylon spoilers, that shall spoil and exhaust the land:”

— for in the day of trouble they shall be against her round about; in the time of the siege they shall surround her on all sides so that none might escape; as Babylon had been a fanner of the Lord’s people, now she should be fanned herself and stripped of all she had.

³Against him that bendeth let the archer bend his bow, and against him that lifteth himself up in his brigandine; and spare ye not her young men; destroy ye utterly all her host. — against him that bendeth let the archer bend his bow… these are either the words of the Lord to the Medes and Persians, to the archers among them, to bend their bows and level their arrows against the Chaldeans who had bent their bows and shot their arrows against others; or of the Medes and Persians stirring up one another to draw their bows and fight manfully against the enemy:

— and against him that lifteth up himself in his brigandine; or coat of mail; that swaggers about it, proud of it and putting his confidence in it as if out of all danger. The sense is, that they should direct their arrows both against those that were more lightly or more heavily armed; since by them they might do execution among the one and the other:

— and spare ye not her young men; because of their youth, beauty and strength: destroy ye utterly all her host; her whole army, whether officers or common soldiers; or let them be accoutred in what manner they will. The Targum says “consume all her substance.”

⁴Thus the slain shall fall in the land of the Chaldeans, and they that are thrust through in her streets. — thus the slain shall fall in the land of the Chaldeans… by the sword or by the arrows and darts of the Medes and Persians:and they that are thrust through in her streets; either by the one or by the other, especially the latter since they only are mentioned.

⁵For Israel hath not been forsaken, nor Judah by his God, by the Lord of hosts, though their land was filled with sin against the Holy One of Israel.” — though their land was filled with sin against the Holy One of Israel, rather, “but the land of the Chaldeans is filled with guilt,” because they refused to accept the true God in spite of the many manifestations of His power and glory in their midst as brought to their attention, for instance, through Daniel and his friends. Therefore the Lord addresses Himself to the members of His chosen people living in Babylon, urging the proper behavior at the time of Babylon’s downfall.

⁶Flee out of the midst of Babylon, and deliver every man his soul; be not cut off in her iniquity, for this is the time of the Lord’S vengeance; He will render unto her a recompense. — flee out of the midst of Babylon and deliver every man his soul, not only his physical life, but his spiritual life as well; be not cut off in her iniquity, by taking part in the idolatry which brought destruction upon her; for this is the time of the Lord’s vengeance; He will render unto her a recompense. Note the contrast between human transgression on the one hand and the righteous punishment of the Lord on the other. This is brought out most strongly by the picture of the golden cup.

⁷Babylon hath been a golden cup in the Lord’S hand, that made all the earth drunken; the nations have drunk of her wine; therefore the nations are mad. — Babylon hath been a golden cup in the Lord’s hand, a nation noted for power and glory; gold, denoting the grandeur, splendour and riches of the empire, all this due to the Lord’s blessing that made all the earth drunken, drawn the nations of the earth into idolatry, and other sins which were as poison in a golden cup, in pouring out the wine of His wrath upon all whom He desired to punish; the nations have drunken of her wine; therefore the nations are mad, intoxicated, bereft of reason, bound for destruction.

⁸Babylon is suddenly fallen and destroyed: Howl for her! Take balm for her pain; if so be she may be healed. — Babylon is suddenly fallen and destroyed… Or “broken” even into shivers, as a cup is; for when it had been used to answer the purposes designed by the Lord, he let it fall cut of his hands at once and it was broken; or rather he dashed it in pieces as a potter’s vessel. The destruction of Babylon was brought about in a very short time, considering the strength of it; and was unexpected by its inhabitants and by the nations round about; but when it was come it was irreparable: so the destruction of mystical Babylon will be in one hour, and it will be an utter and entire destruction, Revelation 18:8.

⁹We woud have healed Babylon, but she is not healed. Forsake her, and let us go every one into his own country, for her judgement reacheth unto heaven and is lifted up even to the skies.

¹⁰The Lord hath brought forth our righteousness; come, and let us declare in Zion the work of the Lord our God.

¹¹Make bright the arrows! Gather the shields! The Lord hath raised up the spirit of the kings of the Medes; for His device is against Babylon to destroy it, because it is the vengeance of the Lord, the vengeance of His temple.

¹²Set up the standard upon the walls of Babylon! Make the watch strong! Set up the watchmen! Prepare the ambushes! For the Lord hath both devised and done that which He spoke against the inhabitants of Babylon. — prepare the ambushes; or “lies in wait” to second or relieve those on the walls upon occasion; or seize unawares the besiegers, should they attempt to scale the walls and enter the city.

¹³O thou that dwellest upon many waters, abundant in treasures, thine end is come, and the measure of thy covetousness. — O thou that dwellest upon many waters… here Babylon is addressed either by the Lord or by the prophet; who is described by her, situation, which was by the great river Euphrates; which being branched out into several canals or rivers, both ran through it and encompassed it; hence mention is made of the rivers of Babylon, Psalms 137:1; and a fit emblem this city was of mystical Babylon, which is also said to sit on many waters, interpreted as of many people and nations, Revelation 17:1;

— thine end is come, and the measure of thy covetousness; this flourishing city was now near its end and with it the whole Babylonish monarchy;

— the Targum says, “the day of thy destruction is come, and the time of the visitation of thy wickedness.”

¹⁴The Lord of hosts hath sworn by Himself, saying, “Surely I will fill thee with men, as with caterpillars, and they shall lift up a shout against thee.”

¹⁵He hath made the earth by His power; He hath established the world by His wisdom, and hath stretched out the heaven by His understanding.

¹⁶When He uttereth His voice there is a multitude of waters in the heavens, and He causeth the vapors to ascend from the ends of the earth. He maketh lightnings with rain, and bringeth forth the wind out of His treasures.

¹⁷Every man is brutish by his knowledge; every founder is confounded by the graven image; for his molten image is falsehood, and there is no breath in them.

¹⁸They are vanity, the work of errors; in the time of their visitation they shall perish.

¹⁹The portion of Jacob is not like them, for He is the former of all things; and Israel is the rod of His inheritance; the Lord of Hosts is His name.

²⁰“Thou art My battleax and weapons of war; for with thee will I break in pieces the nations, and with thee will I destroy kingdoms. — for with thee will I break in pieces the nations and with thee will I destroy kingdoms; or “with thee I have broke in pieces and have destroyed” as the nations and kingdoms of Judea, Egypt, Edom, Moab, Ammon and others.

²¹And with thee will I break in pieces the horse and his rider; and with thee will I break in pieces the chariot and his rider.

²²With thee also will I break in pieces man and woman; and with thee will I break in pieces old and young; and with thee will I break in pieces the young man and the maid.

²³I will also break in pieces with thee the shepherd and his flock; and with thee will I break in pieces the husbandman and his yoke of oxen; and with thee will I break in pieces captains and rulers.

²⁴And I will render unto Babylon and to all the inhabitants of Chaldea all their evil that they have done in Zion in your sight,” saith the Lord. — all their evil that they have done in Zion, in your sight, saith the Lord; the sense is, that for all the evil the Chaldeans had done in Judea; the ravages they had made there, the blood they had shed and the desolation they had made; and particularly for what they had done in Jerusalem and especially in the temple, burning, spoiling and profaning; God would now righteously punish them and retaliate all this evil on them; and which should be done publicly before all the nations of the world and particularly in the sight of God’s own people: for this phrase, “in your sight” does not refer to the evils done in Zion but to the recompense that should be made for them.

²⁵“Behold, I am against thee, O destroying mountain,” saith the Lord, who destroyest all the earth; “and I will stretch out Mine hand upon thee, and roll thee down from the rocks, and will make thee a burnt mountain. — behold, I am against thee, O destroying mountain, saith the Lord; Babylon was situated in a plain, but is called a mountain here; because a mountain being a strong nation, even an empire; a hill being a smaller nation;

— and I will stretch out mine hand upon thee: in a way of vindictive wrath, pouring it out upon her and inflicting his judgements on her; laying hold on and seizing her in a furious manner as a man does his enemy when he has found him.

²⁶And they shall not take from thee a stone for a corner, nor a stone for foundations; but thou shalt be desolate for ever,” saith the Lord.

²⁷Set ye up a standard in the land! Blow the trumpet among the nations! Prepare the nations against her; call together against her the kingdoms of Ararat, Minni, and Ashkenaz. Appoint a captain against her; cause the horses to come up as the rough caterpillars.

²⁸Prepare against her the nations with the kings of the Medes, the captains thereof, and all the rulers thereof, and all the land of his dominion.

²⁹And the land shall tremble and sorrow; for every purpose of the Lord shall be performed against Babylon, to make the land of Babylon a desolation, without an inhabitant.

³⁰The mighty men of Babylon have forborne to fight, they have remained in their strongholds; their might hath failed, they have become as women; they have burned her dwelling places, her bars are broken. — her bars are broken; the bars of the gates of the city, or of the palaces of the king and nobles and of the houses of the people, by the soldiers to get the plunder; see Isaiah 45:1.

³¹One courier shall run to meet another, and one messenger to meet another to show the king of Babylon that his city is taken at one end,

³²and that the passages are stopped, and the reeds they have burned with fire, and the men of war are affrighted.

³³For thus saith the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel: “The daughter of Babylon is like a threshing floor; it is time to thresh her; yet a little while and the time of her harvest shall come.”

³⁴“Nebuchadnezzar the king of Babylon hath devoured me; he hath crushed me, he hath made me an empty vessel. He hath swallowed me up like a dragon; he hath filled his belly with my delicacies, he hath cast me out. — he hath swallowed me up like a dragon; or “whale” or any large fish which swallow the lesser ones whole. The allusion is to the large swallow of dragons which is sometimes represented as almost beyond all belief.

³⁵The violence done to me and to my flesh be upon Babylon,” shall the inhabitant of Zion say; “and my blood upon the inhabitants of Chaldea!” shall Jerusalem say.

³⁶Therefore thus saith the Lord: “Behold, I will plead thy cause, and take vengeance for thee; and I will dry up her sea, and make her springs dry.

³⁷And Babylon shall become heaps, a dwelling place for dragons, an astonishment and a hissing, without an inhabitant.

³⁸They shall roar together like lions; they shall yell as lions’ whelps.

³⁹In their heat I will make their feasts, and I will make them drunken, that they may rejoice, and sleep a perpetual sleep and not wake,” saith the Lord.

⁴⁰“I will bring them down like lambs to the slaughter, like rams with hegoats. — I will bring them down like lambs to the slaughter… to the place of slaughter; who shall be able to make no more resistance than lambs. This explains what is meant by being made drunk, and sleeping a perpetual sleep, even destruction and death:

— like rams with he goats; denoting the promiscuous destruction of their princes and common people together.

⁴¹“How Sheshach is taken! And how the praise of the whole earth is surprised! How Babylon has become an astonishment among the nations! — how is Sheshach taken!.. not the city Shushan but Babylon as is plain from a following clause; and so the Targum says, “how is Babylon subdued!”

— how is Babylon become an astonishment among the nations! or “a desolation” and indeed it had being a desolation was the reason of its being an astonishment among the nations; who were amazed to see so strong, rich and splendid a city brought to ruin in a very short time.

⁴²The sea has come up upon Babylon; she is covered with the multitude of the waves thereof.

⁴³Her cities are a desolation, a dry land and a wilderness, a land wherein no man dwelleth, neither doth any son of man pass thereby.

⁴⁴And I will punish Bel in Babylon, and I will bring forth out of his mouth that which he hath swallowed up; and the nations shall not flow together any more unto him. Yea, the wall of Babylon shall fall. — and I will punish Bel in Babylon, the chief deity of the Babylonians, and I will bring forth out of his mouth that which he hath swallowed up, taking away from him what he had robbed and devoured through the hands of those who worshiped him; and the nations shall not flow together any more unto him, flocking to Babylon in streams to consecrate their treasures to him; yea, the wall of Babylon shall fall so that the city would be open to all enemies. The destruction of Babylon thus being decided, the people of God are admonished to leave its confines.

⁴⁵“My people, go ye out of the midst of her, and deliver ye every man his soul from the fierce anger of the Lord. — my people, go ye out of the midst of her… this is a call of the Jews to go out of Babylon, not before the taking of the city by Cyrus; but when he should issue out a proclamation, giving them liberty to return to their own land; which many of them, being well settled in Babylon, would not be ready to accept the offer, but choose to continue to live there; wherefore they are urged to depart from thence, because of the danger they would be exposed unto their idols; for though the city was not destroyed by Cyrus upon his taking it, yet it was by Darius Hystaspes some time after. The same call is given to the people of God to come out of mystical Babylon, Revelation 18:4.

⁴⁶And lest your heart faint and ye fear for the rumor that shall be heard in the land—a rumor shall both come one year, and after that in another year shall come a rumor and violence in the land, ruler against ruler”

⁴⁷therefore, behold, the days come, that I will do judgement upon the graven images of Babylon; and her whole land shall be confounded, and all her slain shall fall in the midst of her.

⁴⁸Then the heaven and the earth, and all that is therein, shall sing for Babylon, for the despoilers shall come unto her from the north,” saith the Lord. — then the heaven and the earth and all that is therein shall sing for Babylon, rejoicing over her fall; for the spoilers shall come unto her from the North, saith the Lord, and the sentence executed by him is the cause of their jubilation.

⁴⁹As Babylon hath caused the slain of Israel to fall, so at Babylon shall fall the slain of all the earth. — as Babylon hath caused the slain of Israel… in Jerusalem, when that city was taken the Chaldeans, and destroyed:

— so at Babylon shall all the slain of all the earth; or “land” that is, the land of Chaldea; the inhabitants of which fled to Babylon upon the invasion of the Medes and Persians, both for their own safety, and the defence of that city; and where being slain they fell; and this was a just judgement of them for what they had done to Israel.

⁵⁰Ye that have escaped the sword, go away; stand not still. Remember the Lord afar off, and let Jerusalem come into your mind.

⁵¹We are confounded because we have heard reproach; shame hath covered our faces, for strangers are come into the sanctuaries of the Lord’S house.

⁵²“Therefore behold, the days come,” saith the Lord, “that I will do judgement upon her graven images; and through all her land the wounded shall groan.

⁵³Though Babylon should mount up to heaven, and though she should fortify the height of her strength, yet from Me shall despoilers come unto her,” saith the Lord.

⁵⁴A sound of a cry cometh from Babylon, and great destruction from the land of the Chaldeans,

⁵⁵because the Lord hath despoiled Babylon, and destroyed out of her the great voice. When her waves do roar like great waters, a noise of their voice is uttered,

⁵⁶because the despoiler is come upon her, even upon Babylon, and her mighty men are taken; every one of their bows is broken. For the Lord God of recompenses shall surely requite.

⁵⁷“And I will make drunk her princes and her wise men, her captains and her rulers and her mighty men; and they shall sleep a perpetual sleep and not wake,” saith the King, whose name is the Lord of Hosts. — and I will make drunk her princes and her wise men, the counselors of the kingdom, her captains and her rulers and her mighty men, all those who were at the head of the nation, both in peace and in war; and they shall sleep a perpetual sleep, and not wake, namely, the sleep of death, saith the King, whose name is the Lord of hosts.

⁵⁸Thus saith the Lord of hosts: “The broad walls of Babylon shall be utterly broken, and her high gates shall be burned with fire; and the people shall labor in vain, and the folk in the fire; and they shall be weary.”

⁵⁹The word which Jeremiah the prophet commanded Seraiah the son of Neriah, the son of Mahseiah, when he went with Zedekiah the king of Judah into Babylon in the fourth year of his reign. And this Seraiah was a quiet prince. — the word which Jeremiah the prophet commanded Seraiah… the order the prophet gave this prince to take a copy of it with him to Babylon and there read it and cast it into the river Euphrates, with a stone bound it. Of this Seraiah we read nowhere else: he is further described as;

— the son of Neriah, when he went with Zedekiah the king of Judah into Babylon, in the fourth year of his reign; the Jews say that Zedekiah, in the fourth year of his reign, went to Babylon, to reconcile himself to Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon, and took Seraiah with him and returned and came to his kingdom in Jerusalem; but we have no account in Scripture of any such journey he took.

⁶⁰So Jeremiah wrote in a book all the evil that should come upon Babylon, even all these words that are written against Babylon. — so Jeremiah wrote in a book all the evil that should come upon Babylon… the evil of punishment predicted and threatened: this he delivered, not by word of mouth to Seraiah to relate when he came to Babylon; but he wrote it in a book for him to read and reread; and he wrote it himself; Baruch, his scribe, not one who transcripted for him here:

— even all these words that are written against Babylon; in this and the preceding chapter: this book written by Jeremiah was a copy of them.

⁶¹And Jeremiah said to Seraiah, “When thou comest to Babylon and shalt see, and shalt read all these words,

⁶²then shalt thou say, ‘O Lord, Thou hast spoken against this place to cut it off, that none shall remain in it, neither man nor beast, but that it shall be desolate for ever.’

⁶³And it shall be, when thou hast made an end of reading this book, that thou shalt bind a stone to it and cast it into the midst of the Euphrates. — that thou shalt bind a stone to it, and cast it into the midst of Euphrates; a river by which Babylon was situated. The book being read was to be rolled up again and then a stone tied to it and cast into the middle of the river, where the waters were deepest and from whence it could not be taken up; and this was a sign confirming the above prophecy; compare with this what was done by a mighty angel concerning mystical Babylon, in which there is an allusion to this, Revelation 18:21.

⁶⁴And thou shalt say, ‘Thus shall Babylon sink, and shall not rise from the evil that I will bring upon her; and they shall be weary.’” Thus far are the words of Jeremiah. — thus shall Babylon sink and shall not rise from the evil that I will bring upon her; as this book, with the stone bound to it does, and shall no more rise than that can; the evil of punishment brought on Babylon will sink her to such a degree that she will never be able to bear up under it; but be so depressed by it as never to rise to her former state and grandeur any more.

Jeremiah 52

The list of kings of Judah towards the end; in successive reigns, as Josiah (reign 640–609), Jehoahaz (reign 609), Jehoiakim (reign 609–598), Jehoiachin or Jechonias (reign 598–597), and Zedekiah (reign 597–586)

¹ Zedekiah was one and twenty years old when he began to reign, and he reigned eleven years in Jerusalem. And his mother’s name was Hamutal the daughter of Jeremiah of Libnah. — and he reigned eleven years in Jerusalem; so that he was thirty two years of age when he was taken and carried captive into Babylon.

²And he did that which was evil in the eyes of the Lord, according to all that Jehoiakim had done. — and he did that which was evil in the eyes of the Lord… though we do not read of any idolatry he was guilty of; yet he was disobedient to the word of the Lord, and did not humble himself before Jeremiah the prophet of the Lord, that spoke in his name; and particularly he rebelled against the king of Babylon and violated the oath he made to him, II Chronicles 36:12.

³For because of the anger of the Lord it came to pass in Jerusalem and Judah, till He had cast them out from His presence, that Zedekiah rebelled against the king of Babylon. — for through the anger of the Lord it came to pass in Jerusalem and Judah, His wrath over their idolatry causing Him to cast them from His presence and to permit the rebellion of Zedekiah, which resulted in the final overthrow of the southern kingdom, till He had cast them out from His presence, (the Shekinah left the temple, out of Jerusalem and finally out of the land of Judea) that Zedekiah rebelled against the king of Babylon.

⁴And it came to pass in the ninth year of his reign, in the tenth month, on the tenth day of the month, that Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon came — he and all his army — against Jerusalem, and encamped against it and built forts against it round about. — this would be around 588 BC.

⁵So the city was besieged unto the eleventh year of King Zedekiah. — the siege continued about eighteen months; from the tenth day of the tenth month, in the ninth of Zedekiah’s reign to the ninth day of the fourth month, in the eleventh year of his reign; from 588 to 586 BC.

⁶And in the fourth month, on the ninth day of the month, the famine was sore in the city, so that there was no bread for the people of the land. — the month Tammuz, which is part of June and part of July; hence the fast of the fourth month, for the taking of the city, Zechariah 8:19; in the year 586 BC.

⁷Then the city was broken into, and all the men of war fled and went forth out of the city by night by the way of the gate between the two walls, which was by the king’s garden (now the Chaldeans were by the city round about), and they went by the way of the plain.

⁸But the army of the Chaldeans pursued after the king, and overtook Zedekiah in the plains of Jericho; and all his army was scattered from him.

⁹Then they took the king and carried him up unto the king of Babylon to Riblah in the land of Hamath, where he gave judgement upon him.

¹⁰And the king of Babylon slew the sons of Zedekiah before his eyes; he slew also all the princes of Judah in Riblah. — and the king of Babylon slew the sons of Zedekiah before his eyes… Or, however, ordered them to be slain;

— he slew also all the princes of Judah in Riblah; who together with the king’s sons were taken with him; or, however, were taken in Jerusalem and brought to Riblah; which of them is not certain, very probably the former.

¹¹Then he put out the eyes of Zedekiah. And the king of Babylon bound him in chains and carried him to Babylon, and put him in prison till the day of his death.

¹²Now in the fifth month, on the tenth day of the month, which was the nineteenth year of Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon, came Nebuzaradan, captain of the guard, who served the king of Babylon, into Jerusalem.

¹³And he burned the house of the Lord, and the king’s house; and all the houses of Jerusalem and all the houses of the great men burned he with fire. — and burnt the house of the Lord… the temple built by Solomon, after it had stood four hundred and seventy years, six months and ten days, according to Josephus: but the Jews say it stood but four hundred ten years;

— and all the houses of the great men burnt he with fire; of the princes and nobles in Jerusalem; it is in the singular number, “and every house of the great one” or “every great house.” Rashi interprets it of the synagogue, where prayer was magnified; but others, understood it of the schools, where the law was magnified.

¹⁴And all the army of the Chaldeans who were with the captain of the guard broke down all the walls of Jerusalem round about.

¹⁵Then Nebuzaradan, the captain of the guard, carried away captive certain of the poor of the people and the residue of the people who remained in the city, and those who fell away, who fell to the king of Babylon, and the rest of the multitude.

¹⁶But Nebuzaradan, the captain of the guard, left certain of the poor of the land for vinedressers and for husbandmen. — but Nebuzaradan the captain of the guard left certain of the poor of the land… of the land of Judea who lived in the country and had not been concerned in defending the city against the Chaldeans:

— for vinedressers and for husbandmen; to look after the vineyards and fields and dress and manure them, that the king of Babylon might receive some tributes in return by the conquest he had made.

¹⁷Also the pillars of brass that were in the house of the Lord, and the bases, and the brazen sea that was in the house of the Lord, the Chaldeans broke, and carried all their brass to Babylon. — also the pillars of brass that were in the house of the Lord, on either aide of the main entrance of the Sanctuary, 1 Kings 7:15, and the bases and the brazen sea that was in the house of the Lord, the Chaldeans brake, in order to make all these pieces fit for transportation and carried all the brass of them to Babylon.

¹⁸The cauldrons also, and the shovels, and the snuffers, and the bowls, and the spoons, and all the vessels of brass wherewith they ministered, took they away. — the cauldrons also, large pots used for sacrificial worship and the shovels and the snuffers and the bowls and the spoons, vessels for incense and all the vessels of brass wherewith they ministered, took they away, all those used for the altar of burnt offerings in the Court of the Priests.

¹⁹And the basins, and the firepans, and the bowls, and the cauldrons, and the candlesticks, and the spoons, and the cups — that which was of gold in gold and that which was of silver in silver — took the captain of the guard away. — and the basins and the firepans and the bowls and the cauldrons and the candlesticks and the spoons and the cups, all these used chiefly in the ministrations of the Holy Place; that which was of gold in gold and that which was of silver in silver, in either case of solid metal, not of some cheap alloy or merely plated, took the captain of the guard away.

²⁰The two pillars, one sea, and twelve brazen bulls that were under the bases, which King Solomon had made in the house of the Lord — the brass of all these vessels was beyond weighing. — the two pillars, one sea and twelve brazen bulls that were under the bases, 1 Kings 7:23:, which King Solomon had made in the house of the Lord. The brass of all these vessels was without weight, its mass beyond calculation.

²¹And concerning the pillars, the height of one pillar was eighteen cubits, and a fillet of twelve cubits did compass it, and the thickness thereof was four fingers; it was hollow. — and concerning the pillars, the height of one pillar was eighteen cubits, and a fillet of twelve cubits did compass it, that in round numbers, being the circumference of either of the pillars and the thickness thereof was four fingers; it was hollow. The thirty-five cubits of II Chronicles 3:15 either refer to a different cubit, or they give the sum total of both pillars less the bases.

²²And a capital of brass was upon it; and the height of one capital was five cubits, with network and pomegranates upon the capitals round about, all of brass. The second pillar also and the pomegranates were like unto these. — and a capital of brass was upon it and the height of its upper part, where it curved away from the shaft, was five cubits, with network and pomegranates upon the ters round about, all of brass, in the nature of ornaments in chains or festoons. The second pillar also and the pomegranates were like unto these.

²³And there were ninety and six pomegranates on a side; and all the pomegranates upon the network were a hundred round about.

²⁴And the captain of the guard took Seraiah the chief priest, and Zephaniah the second priest, and the three keepers of the door.

²⁵He took also out of the city a eunuch who had the charge of the men of war, and seven men from those who were near the king’s person who were found in the city, and the principal scribe of the host who mustered the people of the land, and threescore men of the people of the land who were found in the midst of the city.

²⁶So Nebuzaradan, the captain of the guard, took them and brought them to the king of Babylon at Riblah.

²⁷And the king of Babylon smote them and put them to death at Riblah in the land of Hamath. Thus Judah was carried away captive out of his own land.

²⁸These are the people whom Nebuchadnezzar carried away captive: in the seventh year, three thousand Jews and three and twenty; — these are the people whom Nebuchadnezzar carried away captive: in the seventh year, at the first captivity under Jehoiachin, three thousand Jews and three and twenty, these being of the tribe of Judah only, those from other tribes being more than twice as many;

²⁹in the eighteenth year of Nebuchadnezzar he carried away captive from Jerusalem eight hundred thirty and two persons; — in the eighteenth year of Nebuchadnezzar, after his actual accession to the throne, but nineteen years after he had gotten into power, II Kings 25:8, he carried away captive from Jerusalem eight hundred thirty and two persons;

³⁰in the three and twentieth year of Nebuchadnezzar, Nebuzaradan, the captain of the guard, carried away captive of the Jews seven hundred forty and five persons: all the persons were four thousand and six hundred. — in the three and twentieth year of Nebuchadnezzar, Nebuzaradan, the captain of the guard, carried away captive of the Jews seven hundred forty and five persons; all the persons evidently of the tribe of Judah alone, not including any of the other tribes who had sought and found refuge in Jerusalem since the fall of the northern kingdom, were four thousand and six hundred, not including the general multitude and the women and children.

³¹And it came to pass in the seven and thirtieth year of the captivity of Jehoiachin king of Judah, in the twelfth month, on the five and twentieth day of the month, that Evilmerodach king of Babylon, in the first year of his reign, lifted up the head of Jehoiachin king of Judah and brought him forth out of prison; — and it came to pass in the seven-and-thirtieth year of the captivity of Jehoiachin, king of Judah, in the twelfth month, in the five and twentieth day of the month, the decree being issued on that day, although it was not carried out till two days later, II Kings 25:27, that Evilmerodach, king of Babylon, son and successor of Nebuchadnezzar, in the first year of his reign, lifted up the head of Jehoiachin, king of Judah, and brought him forth out of prison, delivering him from the special bondage in which he had been held all these years,

³²and he spoke kindly unto him, and set his throne above the throne of the kings who were with him in Babylon, — and spoke kindly unto him and set his throne above the throne of the king’s that were with him in Babylon, captive monarchs of other conquered nations,

³³and changed his prison garments. And Jehoiachin continually ate bread before him all the days of his life.

³⁴And for his diet, there was a continual diet given him by the king of Babylon, every day a portion until the day of his death, all the days of his life. — every day a portion, until the day of his death, all the days of his life; that is, of Jeconiah’s; how long he lived after this is not known; he was now fifty five years of age and cannot be thought to have lived a great while after, having been imprisoned so many years; and it is certain he did not live to the return from the captivity. Of the death of Zedekiah we have no account, only that he died in prison. The Jews say he died at this very time, when Jeconiah was advanced. The account here given of Jeconiah has led some to conclude that this chapter was not written by Jeremiah; since it cannot be well thought he should live so long as to the death of this prince; and besides had given an account of the destruction of Jerusalem in the thirty ninth chapter, which he would hardly repeat: though that he might do, partly for the sake of new circumstances here added; and partly as an introduction to the book of the Lamentations, which follows the book of Jeremiah. Amen!

Posted in Jeremiah

Jeremiah (Ch 49-50)

•November 24, 2021 • Leave a Comment

Chapter 49 contains prophecies concerning the judgments of God on several nations and kingdoms, chiefly bordering on the land of Israel; on the Ammonites; Edomites, Edom, which lay south to the land of Israel; the kingdom of Damascus, or the Syrians, the Kedarenes or Arabians, and on the Elamites or Persians.

Jeremiah 49

¹Concerning the Ammonites, thus saith the Lord: “Hath Israel no sons? Hath he no heir? Why then doth their king inherit Gad, and his people dwell in his cities? — hath Israel no sons? hath he no heir? certainly he has, and who ought to possess the land; this is not speaking of the ten tribes, sometimes called Israel, for these had been long ago carried captive, and left no heirs of their tribes; but of all Israel, including the tribes of Judah and Benjamin; who though their brethren and being next in blood were the lawful heirs of their lands and possessions;

— why then doth their king inherit Gad? that part of the land of Israel which belonged to the tribe of Gad; this, when the ten tribes were carried captive by the king of Assyria and the Gadites among the rest was seized on by the Ammonites with their king at the head of them;

— 1 Kings 11:5; the Ammonites having got possession of the land set up their idol in it where their temples were built for him and altars erected and sacrifices offered to him, so that he might be said to inherit it; and which must be very offensive to, and highly resented by, the God of Israel.

²Therefore behold, the days come,” saith the Lord, “that I will cause an alarm of war to be heard in Rabbah of the Ammonites; and it shall be a desolate heap, and her daughters shall be burned with fire; then shall Israel be heir unto them that were his heirs,” saith the Lord. — therefore behold the days come, saith the Lord… Or, “are coming” as they did in a very little time after this prophecy;

— that I will cause an alarm of war to be heard in Rabbah of the Ammonites; the metropolis of the Ammonites; it was their royal city in the times of David; this the Lord threatens with the sound of the trumpet, the alarm of war or the noise of warriors as the Targum says; the Chaldean army under Nebuchadnezzar, who, about five years after the destruction of Jerusalem subdued the Ammonites;

— and it shall be a desolate heap; be utterly destroyed; its walls broken down, and houses demolished, and made a heap of rubbish:

— her daughters shall be burnt with fire: Rabbah was the mother city, and the other cities of the Ammonites were her daughters, which are threatened to be destroyed with fire by the enemy; or it may mean the villages round Rabbah, it being usual in Scripture for villages to be called the daughters of cities; so the Targum paraphrases it, “the inhabitants of her villages shall be burnt with fire,”

— then shall Israel be heirs unto them that were his heirs, saith the Lord: that is, shall inherit their land again which the Ammonites pretended to be the lawful heirs of; yea, not only possess their own land but the land of Ammon too: this was fulfilled not immediately upon the destruction of Ammon, but in part upon the return of the Jews from the Babylonish captivity when they repossessed their own country; and partly in the times of the Maccabees, when they subdued the Ammonites.

³“Howl, O Heshbon, for Ai is despoiled! Cry, ye daughters of Rabbah; gird you with sackcloth! Lament, and run to and fro by the hedges; for their king shall go into captivity, and his priests and his princes together. — howl, O Heshbon, at that time occupied by the Ammonites; for Ai is spoiled, had already been subdued by the invaders; cry, ye daughters of Rabbah, the towns and villages near the capital, gird you with sackcloth, in token of deep mourning;

— lament and run to and fro by the hedges in the fenced encampment, such as were quickly erected out in the open fields, since the cities no longer offered any protection; for their king shall go into captivity, in this case their idol Melchom with whom the heathen king was pleased to identify himself and his priests and princes together.

⁴Why gloriest thou in the valleys, thy flowing valley, O backsliding daughter, that trusted in her treasures, saying, ‘Who shall come unto me?’ — wherefore gloriest thou in the valleys, thy flowing valley, flowing with abundance, with milk and honey, O backsliding daughter? so called because the children of Ammon had denied their descent from Lot and had turned to idolatry;

— that trusted in her treasures, in her wealth of resources and goods, saying, Who shall come unto me? namely, in a hostile attack. The Ammonites boasted that no enemy could successfully launch a campaign against their land.

⁵Behold, I will bring a fear upon thee,” saith the Lord God of hosts, “from all those that be about thee; and ye shall be driven out, every man straight forth, and none shall gather up him that wandereth. — behold, I will bring a fear upon thee, saith the Lord God of hosts, from all those that be about thee, whose misfortune and overthrow would bring terror upon them; and ye shall be driven out, every man, right forth, straight ahead, without turning;

— and none shall gather up him that wandereth, make any attempt to bring about so much as a semblance of order among the scattered fugitives. According to secular accounts the overthrow of Ammon took place in the fifth year after the destruction of Jerusalem, after King Baalis had executed the murder of Gedaliah, Jeremiah 40:14.

⁶And afterward I will bring back the captives of the children of Ammon,” saith the Lord. — and afterwards I will bring again the captivity of the children of Ammon, saith the Lord. Perhaps by Cyrus; for, in the times of Judas Maccabeus, the children of Ammon were again a large and mighty people, “Afterward he passed over to the children of Ammon, where he found a mighty power and much people, with Timotheus their captain” (1 Maccabees 5:6).

⁷Concerning Edom, thus saith the Lord of hosts: “Is wisdom no more in Teman? Is counsel perished from the prudent? Is their wisdom vanished? — concerning Edom, thus saith the Lord of hosts… Or, “unto Edom” thus saith the Lord; or “against Edom” all which is true, as observed on Jeremiah 49:1; meaning the Idumeans, the posterity of Esau, who was called Edom; Herod the Great, an Idumean, king over Judea; was a great example of the Idumean cruelty over the Jews; which could be as yet future, points at the destruction of Rome and the Romans, who with the Jews frequently go by the name of Edom;

— is wisdom no more in Teman? a city in Edom which had its name from Teman, a grandson of Esau, Genesis 36:11; whose descendants were called Temanites; one of which was Eliphaz, a friend of Job’s, Job 2:11; it was a principal city, famous for men of wisdom; such an one was the person just mentioned: perhaps the grand senate of the country, or the chief counsellors, dwelt here; where schemes were formed for the good of the country in times of war or peace; or schools for the instruction of various arts and sciences; and which had continued to this time but now would be no more;

— the Targum says, “is there no more wisdom in the south?” but Rashi interprets it as Edom, which lay south to the land of Israel; “And your south side shall be from the desert of Zin close by the side of Edom” (Numbers 34:3).

— One other theory is that the Ottoman Turks (or today’s Turkey) are the sons of Teman. Perhaps they could be another branch.

⁸Flee ye, turn back, dwell deep, O inhabitants of Dedan; for I will bring the calamity of Esau upon him, at the time that I will visit him. — flee ye, turn back, dwell deep, O inhabitants of Dedan… another city in Idumea; though some take it to be a country in Arabia, bordering on Edom, and subdued by the Edomites: the inhabitants of this place are advised to “flee” for their lives;

— since the enemy was just upon them; and “turn back” lest they should fall into his hands; and hide themselves in some deep caverns of the earth, in holes, and dens of rocks and such like places. It is a prophecy that they should flee from and turn their backs on their enemies and betake themselves to some very secret places for safety;

— for I will bring the calamity of Esau upon him; which was determined concerning him, threatened to him and was his just desert; even the utter destruction of the whole land:

— the time of his visitation; the time fixed to visit him in a way of wrath and punishment to come.

⁹ If grape-gatherers come to thee, would they not leave some gleaning grapes? If thieves by night, they will destroy till they have enough. — the Targum renders it, “if thy spoilers, as grape gatherers, should come to thee,” would not they leave some for the poor to glean? certainly they would and not take every cluster;

— if thieves by night, they will destroy till they have enough who break into houses by night, these will eat and drink as much as is sufficient, and carry off what serves their turn; but they seldom take away everything they find in a house; they leave some things behind them; but it is suggested that the Chaldeans should take away all from the Edomites and leave them nothing; see Obadiah 1:5.

¹⁰But I have made Esau bare; I have uncovered his secret places, and he shall not be able to hide himself; his seed is despoiled, and his brethren and his neighbors, and he is no more. — but I have made Esau bare… by the hand of the Chaldeans; stripped him of everything that is valuable; of his cities, castles, villages, people, wealth and treasure:

— I have uncovered his secret places; where either his substance was hid, or his people; these were made known to their enemies, who seized on both:

— and he shall not be able to hide himself; even in his deep places in the caves and dens of the earth, but his enemy shall find him out:

— his seed is spoiled and his brethren and his neighbours, his children, as the Targum says; and his brethren, the Ammonites and Moabites; and his neighbours, the Philistines; or as many as were with him and belonged unto him:

— and he is not: his kingdom is not; he is no more a people and nation, but all destroyed by the sword or carried captive; or there should be none left of his brethren, and neighbours, and friends to say to him what follows: “leave thy fatherless children.”

¹¹Leave thy fatherless children; I will preserve them alive; and let thy widows trust in Me.” — the Targum takes them to be an address to the people of Israel, paraphrasing them thus: “you, O house of Israel, your orphans shall not be left, I will sustain them and your widows shall trust in my word.”

¹²For thus saith the Lord: “Behold, they whose judgement was not to drink of the cup have assuredly drunk. And art thou he that shall altogether go unpunished? Thou shalt not go unpunished, but thou shalt surely drink of it. — behold, they whose judgement was not to drink of the cup have assuredly drunken; meaning some of the other nations, who had not dealt so ill with the Jews as the Edomites had, at least their sins were not so aggravated as theirs were in a comparative sense; for otherwise it was but just that they should be treated in the manner they were; since they were not so guilty as these were;

— and art thou he that shalt altogether go unpunished? if lesser sinners are not let go free, how should it be thought that greater ones should? and especially if judgement had begun at God’s own people, the wicked Edomite could not expect to escape;

— thou shalt not go unpunished, but thou shalt surely drink of it; the cup of wrath and vengeance; or have the just punishment inflicted on them threatened them.

¹³For I have sworn by Myself,” saith the Lord, “that Bozrah shall become a desolation, a reproach, a waste, and a curse; and all the cities thereof shall be perpetual wastes.” — but Bozrah of Idumea is the royal city of Edom, Isaiah 63:1; shall become a desolation, a reproach, a waste and a curse.

¹⁴I have heard a word from the Lord, and an ambassador is sent unto the heathen, saying, “Gather ye together, and come against her, and rise up to the battle!”

¹⁵“For lo, I will make thee small among the heathen and despised among men. — for, lo, I will make thee small among the nations… Or “I have given thee” or “made thee” as if Edom was a people few in number, and their country not large, and which was the reason of gathering the Chaldeans against them, to reduce their number, weaken their strength, and destroy their substance and so make them a small, feeble and contemptible people;

— and despised among men: for the fewness of their men, the desolation of their country, the consumption of their wealth and riches, their poverty and meanness; see Obadiah 1:2 “Behold, I have made thee small among the nations; thou art greatly despised (2 “Behold, I have made thee small among the nations; thou art greatly despised. — thou art greatly despised; a parallel here in Jeremiah 49:15 “For lo, I will make thee small among the heathen and despised among men,” as the term beaners (Latinx or Latinos?) could allude to).

¹⁶ Thy terribleness hath deceived thee, and the pride of thine heart, O thou that dwellest in the clefts of the rock, that holdest the height of the hill; though thou shouldest make thy nest as high as the eagle, I will bring thee down from thence,” saith the Lord. — thy terribleness hath deceived thee, the fact that other nations seemed to stand in awe of Edom had caused him to think that he was really formidable, and the pride of thine heart, insolence usually having this influence upon the heart of the proud to deceive them, wherefore the Lord now calls out;

— O thou that dwellest in the clefts of the rock, that boldest the height of the hill, some of the forts of Idumea being situated on almost inaccessible cliffs, though thou shouldest make thy nest as high as the eagle, I will bring thee down from thence, saith the Lord, showing that before Him no stronghold is impregnable;

McKinsey: Latinos are projected to make up 22.4 percent of the US labor force by 2030 and more than 30 percent by 2060 (Latinos population to 111.2 million by ’60).

¹⁷“Also Edom shall be a desolation; every one that goeth by it shall be astonished and shall hiss at all the plagues thereof. — also Edom shall be a desolation; not only Bozrah, its principal city, before spoken of, but the whole country of Idumea should be laid waste; its fortified cities destroyed; its riches plundered; and its inhabitants slain with the sword; every one that goeth by it shall be astonished, filled with horrified surprise at the total overthrow of the country and shall hiss at all the plagues thereof with a sound expressing derision and mockery.

¹⁸As in the overthrow of Sodom and Gomorrah and the neighbor cities thereof,” saith the Lord, “no man shall abide there, neither shall a son of man dwell in it. — as in the overthrow of Sodom and Gomorrah… which was so sudden and general, that nothing was left, or any spared; so should it be with Edom;

— no man shall abide there, neither shall a son of man dwell in it; it would be an uninhabited desert;

— the Lord was asked to remember in Psalms 137 against the Edomites who had asked that Jerusalem be razed to its foundations:

Remember, O Lord, the children of Edom in the day of Jerusalem’s fall, who said, “Raze it, raze it, even to the foundation thereof!” Psalms 137:7

— to call for the razing of the Temple of God “Raze it, raze it, even to the foundation thereof!” is a heavy crime against the God of the Most High. The Most High dwelled there and these Edomites cheered the Babylonians to burn it down? Madness! Just Madness!!!

¹⁹Behold, he shall come up like a lion from the swelling of the Jordan against the habitation of the strong; but I will suddenly make him run away from her. And who is a chosen man, that I may appoint over her? For who is like Me? And who will appoint Me a time? And who is that shepherd that will stand before Me?” — behold, he shall come up like a lion from the swelling of Jordan… the Targum interprets it of a king and his army, paraphrasing the words thus, “behold, a king with his army shall come up against them, as a lion comes up from the height of Jordan” as Nebuchadnezzar and his army that should come up against the Edomites from the land of Judea, where Jordan was;

— against the habitation of the strong the land of Edom, a country well fortified in which mighty men dwelt; particularly Mount Seir, where their king was and which was “the fold of the mighty” either of the mighty shepherd as it may be rendered or of the strong place; but what is this to a lion?

— and who is that shepherd that will stand before me? or king, as the Targum says, any king, prince or potentate, who both in Scripture and in other writings, are often called shepherds; the king of Edom is particularly pointed at whose habitation or fold is before observed: alas! what could such a shepherd do? or how could he stand before the almighty God or any lion he should send?

²⁰Therefore hear the counsel of the Lord that He hath taken against Edom, and His purposes that He hath purposed against the inhabitants of Teman. Surely the least of the flock shall draw them out; surely He shall make their habitations desolate with them. — surely he shall make their habitations desolate with them; or “their folds” the sheep shall be destroyed and their folds shall be demolished; that is, the inhabitants of Edom shall be slain with the sword, and their cities, towns and villages, shall be laid waste;

— who is Edom/Esau today? The answer lies in the book of Obadiah; and Jonathan Targum identifies Esau (Sepharad of the Southland identified) as Spain! Obadiah 1:20; the Targums identified Sepharad with Spain, hence, Spanish Jews are called Sephardim;

²¹The earth is moved at the noise of their fall; at the cry the noise thereof was heard in the Red Sea. — the earth is moved at the noise of their fall, quaking with its intensity, at the cry the noise thereof was heard in the Red Sea, or “a crying the noise of it is heard at the Red Sea.”

²²Behold, He shall come up and fly as the eagle, and spread His wings over Bozrah; and at that day shall the heart of the mighty men of Edom be as the heart of a woman in her pangs. — behold, he, the conqueror, like Herod the Great, an Idumean, was a great eagle with his famed cruelty over the Jews as king over Judea; shall come up and fly and spread his wings as the eagle over Bozrah, to pounce down upon the whole country; and at that day shall the heart of the mighty men of Edom be as the heart of a woman in her pangs. No matter how impregnable the position of God’s enemies may seem in the eyes of human beings, they will quickly fall before the attack of the Lord.

²³Concerning Damascus: “Hamath is confounded, and Arpad, for they have heard evil tidings; they are fainthearted; there is sorrow on the sea; it cannot be quiet. — concerning Damascus. Hamath, a powerful city on the Orontes and formerly the capital of a country of the same name, is confounded, and Arpad, another mighty city, both of them now within the confines of Syria;

— for they have heard evil tidings; they are faint-hearted, full of concern on account of the reports which they have heard; there is sorrow on the sea, terror among the inhabitants along its shores; it cannot be quiet, there is no rest for worry over the outlook.

²⁴Damascus is waxed feeble and turneth herself to flee, and fear hath seized on her; anguish and sorrows have taken her, as a woman in travail. — Damascus is waxed feeble, utterly discouraged and enfeebled; and turneth herself to flee, and fear hath seized on her, anguish and sorrows have taken her as a woman in travail, the terror of utter despair.

²⁵How is the city of praise not left, the city of My joy! — how is the city of praise not left, the city of my joy? How was it that the place of delight as Damascus was called of old, was not abandoned by its inhabitants, so that they might have saved their lives by a speedy flight?

²⁶Therefore her young men shall fall in her streets, and all the men of war shall be cut off in that day,” saith the Lord of hosts. — therefore her young men shall fall in her streets, and all the men of war shall be cut off in that day, saith the Lord of hosts; so great had been their terror at the approach of the enemy that they had not even had recourse to flight and so were cut down in the very streets of their city.

²⁷“And I will kindle a fire in the wall of Damascus, and it shall consume the palaces of Benhadad.” — and I will kindle a fire in the wall of Damascus, and it shall consume the palaces of Benhadad, the royal dwellings and therewith at least a part, if not all, of the city.

²⁸Concerning Kedar and concerning the kingdoms of Hazor, which Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon shall smite, thus saith the Lord: “Arise ye, go up to Kedar, and despoil the men of the East. — concerning Kedar, and concerning the kingdoms of Hazor… a new prophecy concerning the Arabians; for Kedar was a son of Ishmael;

— which Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon shall smite, thus saith the Lord: that is, “thus saith the Lord concerning”, or “unto” or “against Kedar” as in Jeremiah 49:1 which the king of Babylon “hath smitten” the past for the future, common in prophetic language: or “is about to smite” would do it in a very little time; for the phrase, “thus saith the Lord” is not to be connected with what follows after, but with what goes before; though indeed the next words are the words of the Lord to the Chaldeans:

— and spoil the men of the east; the Arabians, which lay east of Judea and Babylon: or “the children of Kedem” the same with Kedemah, another son of Ishmael, Genesis 25:15; whose posterity dwelt still more to the east; the Targum renders it “the children of the east.”

²⁹Their tents and their flocks shall they take away; they shall take for themselves their curtains and all their vessels and their camels; and they shall cry unto them, ‘Fear is on every side!’ — their tents and their flocks, the chief possessions of nomads, shall they take away; they shall take to themselves their curtains, the costly woven goods and the hangings of their tents;

— and all their vessels, household utensils as well as such pieces of furniture and adornment as comprised their wealth and their camels; and they, the invading forces, shall cry unto them, in a shout of war, Fear is on every side.

³⁰Flee, get you far off! Dwell deep, O ye inhabitants of Hazor,” saith the Lord. “For Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon hath taken counsel against you, and hath conceived a purpose against you. — flee, get you far off, run apace, dwell deep, hide themselves in remote places;

— O ye inhabitants of Hazor! saith the Lord; for Nebuchadnezzar, king of Babylon hath taken counsel against you, devised a plan to subdue them and hath conceived a design against you. This warning is addressed to the wilderness dwellers, since no conqueror would venture to follow them into the trackless wastes of the desert. In the next words the Lord once more turns to the enemies, bidding them continue their work of destruction.

³¹“Arise, get you up unto the wealthy nation, that dwelleth without cares,” saith the Lord, “which have neither gates nor bars, which dwell alone. — arise, get you up unto the wealthy nation, a tranquil tribe, having no presentiment of evil that dwelleth without care in calm security, saith the Lord, which have neither gates nor bars, not dwelling in fenced and fortified cities;

— which dwell alone with little or no intercourse with other nations or tribes from which they might expect assistance in case of an attack.

³²And their camels shall be a booty, and the multitude of their cattle a spoil; and I will scatter into all winds them that are in the utmost corners; and I will bring their calamity from all sides thereof,” saith the Lord. — and their camels shall be a booty and the multitude of their cattle a spoil, a welcome bit of plunder for the enemies;

— and I will scatter into all winds them that are in the utmost corners, those who have the edges of their hair trimmed; for these tribes had the custom of clipping the hair of head and beard in a peculiar angle; and I will bring their calamity from all sides thereof, saith the Lord.

³³“And Hazor shall be a dwelling for dragons, and a desolation for ever; there shall no man abide there, nor any son of man dwell in it.” — and Hazor shall be a dwelling for dragons, the habitation of jackals and a desolation forever; there shall no man abide there nor any son of man dwell in it. This prophecy was fulfilled when the Chaldeans on their way to the West and South, sent detachments of troops to bring these nomadic tribes into subjection.

³⁴The word of the Lord that came to Jeremiah the prophet against Elam, in the beginning of the reign of Zedekiah king of Judah, saying, — the word of the Lord that came unto Jeremiah the prophet against Elam… the Persians, as it is commonly understood, who descended from Elam the son of Shem, Genesis 10:22; according to Josephus; but rather the country of Elymais is here designed; which though in the times of Cyrus was added to and made a part of the Persian empire, yet was a country distinct both from Persia and Media; and as though as near unto Persia and bordering on Media, a country that belonged to the Assyrians; and so it seems that Elam served under Sennacherib, king of Assyria, when he besieged Jerusalem.

³⁵“Thus saith the Lord of hosts: “‘Behold, I will break the bow of Elam, the chief of their might. — thus saith the Lord of hosts, I will break the bow of Elam… the inhabitants of this country were famous for their skill in archery; this the Lord threatens to break so that it should be useless and of no more service to them to defend themselves or annoy others. Their strength, as the Targum says; that in which their great strength and security lay; in which they put their trust and confidence;

— the chief of their might; which may be interpreted by way of apposition of their bow, the chief instrument of their might and power; or may design their mighty men, the archers themselves, who should be destroyed, even Elam itself, and all the inhabitants of it especially their warriors, who should be slain or carried captive.

³⁶And upon Elam will I bring the four winds from the four quarters of heaven, and will scatter them toward all those winds; and there shall be no nation whither the outcasts of Elam shall not come. — and upon Elam will I bring the four winds from the four quarters of heaven… the Targum interprets it the four kingdoms; see Daniel 7:2. Some think this had its accomplishment in the times of Alexander; or else after his death in the times of his four successors; but rather in the times of Nebuchadnezzar, who should bring with him, in his army, people that dwelt in the several parts of the world, comparable to the winds for their swiftness and strength; whose blast would be so great as to drive the Elamites to every part of the world, as every light thing is by the wind:

— and will scatter them towards all those winds; those four winds, east, west, north and south:

— and there shall be no nation whither the outcasts of Elam shall not come; those that are driven out of it, forced to flee from it or are taken captive, should come into the several nations of the world; so that there would not be any in which an Elamite was not.

³⁷For I will cause Elam to be dismayed before their enemies and before them that seek their life; and I will bring evil upon them, even My fierce anger,’ saith the Lord; ‘and I will send the sword after them till I have consumed them. — for I will cause Elam to be dismayed before their enemies… frightened; thrown into the utmost consternation so that they shall have no heart nor spirit to go out against them and meet them and defend themselves; but make all haste imaginable to flee from them, such a panic would seize them;

— and before them that seek their life; a further description of their enemies; they being such, who, not content with their substance sought to take away their lives; nothing less would satisfy them; being cruel and blood thirsty:

— and I will bring evil upon them even my fierce anger, saith the Lord; and a greater evil than that cannot be; signifying that the destruction that should be made among them would be the effect of the wrath of God upon them for their sins:

— and I will send the sword after them till I have consumed them; that is, those that slay with the sword, as the Targum says; these should go after those that fled and destroy them till the greater part of them were consumed; for all of them that were taken were not destroyed; or otherwise there would have been none to return from captivity as is promised at the close of this prophecy.

³⁸And I will set My throne in Elam, and will destroy from thence the king and the princes,’ saith the Lord. — and I will set my throne in Elam… either when Alexander subdued it, or Cyrus, or rather Nebuchadnezzar, whose palace probably was, or his successors was, in Shushan in Elam, as before observed from Daniel 8:2. This is called the Lord’s throne, because he gave it to him; his conquest of Elam, and his dominion over it, were from him;

— and will destroy from thence the king and the princes, saith the Lord; so that there should be no more kings of Elam, and princes and nobles of their own after this time; and because mention is made of the kings of Elam in the times of Nebuchadnezzar, Jeremiah 25:25; though that is observed in the first year of his reign, some have thought that it is best to understand it or Cyrus, the Lord’s servant and anointed; and whose throne might well be called the throne of God, which he gave him and set him on in an eminent manner, not only there, but elsewhere; see Ezra 1:2; and when this country of Elam, or Elymais, became at part of the Persian empire, and never had any more kings to reign over it separately.

³⁹“‘But it shall come to pass in the latter days, that I will bring back the captives of Elam,’ saith the Lord.” — and will destroy from thence the king and the princes, saith the Lord; so that there should be no more kings of Elam, and princes and nobles of their own, after this time; and because mention is made of the kings of Elam in the times of Nebuchadnezzar, Jeremiah 25:25; though that is observed in the first year of his reign, some have thought that it is best to understand it or Cyrus, the Lord’s servant and anointed; and whose throne might well be called the throne of God, which he gave him, and set him on in an eminent manner, not only there, but elsewhere; see Ezra 1:2; and when this country of Elam, or Elymais, became at part of the Persian empire, and never had any more kings to reign over it separately. Some of the Jewish Rabbins interpret the king and princes of Vashti of Haman and his sons; but very wrongly.

— that I will bring again the captivity of Elam, saith the Lord.

Jeremiah 50

The Chaldeans, especially under Nebuchadnezzar their king, has been described by God as “the king of Babylon, My servant” in multiple places (Jeremiah 25:9, 27:6, 43:10). So this and the following chapter contain a long prophecy concerning the destruction of Babylon following their judgement as well.

¹The word that the Lord spoke against Babylon and against the land of the Chaldeans by Jeremiah the prophet: — the word that the Lord spoke against Babylon… Or the city of Babylon, the metropolis of the Chaldean empire; sometimes it signifies the whole country, here the city only as appears by what follows:

— and against the land of the Chaldeans; where the Jews were carried captive, for whose comfort this prophecy is delivered out; and which had subdued other nations, and was become an universal monarchy; these people are mentioned last, because the rest of the nations were to drink the cup of God’s wrath at their hands, and then they were to drink it after them; see Jeremiah 25:9; this is to be understood not only of Babylon and its empire, literally taken, but of mystical Babylon and its dependencies; of Rome and its jurisdiction; of antichrist, and the antichristian states, the last enemies of the church and people of God, who will be destroyed by the pouring out of the seven vials; see Revelation 15:1. This prophecy, which is called “the word that the Lord spoke” for it was from him the warning was decreed and declared.

²“Declare ye among the nations, and proclaim and set up a standard; proclaim and conceal not. Say, ‘Babylon is taken, Bel is confounded, Merodach is broken in pieces! Her idols are confounded, her images are broken in pieces!’ — declare ye among the nations and publish and to call the attention of all men to the importance and the significance of this announcement; publish and conceal not; say, Babylon is taken; Bel, the chief deity of the Chaldeans, thought by some to be the same with Baal by contraction;

— is confounded; Merodach, another name for the same idol is broken in pieces. Her idols are confounded, covered with shame and confusion, her images are broken in pieces, powerless before the almighty power of Yehovah.

³For out of the north there cometh up a nation against her, which shall make her land desolate, and none shall dwell therein; they shall be removed, they shall depart, both man and beast. — for out of the north there cometh up a nation against her… the Medes and Persians, under Cyrus were one nation; and not only lay north of Judea where this prophecy came, but of Babylon, against which they were to come; and might lay more north to it before the enlargement of their dominions; and besides, Cyrus came through Assyria to Babylon which lay north of it; see Isaiah 41:25.

⁴“In those days and in that time,” saith the Lord, “the children of Israel shall come, they and the children of Judah together, going and weeping; they shall go, and seek the Lord their God. — in those days, and at that time, saith the Lord… when Babylon shall be taken and destroyed, then what follows shall be accomplished; which, as it respects the conversion of the Jews, shows that this prophecy is not to be restrained to literal Babylon:

— the children of Israel shall come, they and the children of Judah together: this is prophetic, parallel to Ezekiel 37 where the whole house of Jacob will be joined together.

⁵They shall ask the way to Zion with their faces turned thitherward, saying, ‘Come, and let us join ourselves to the Lord in a perpetual covenant that shall not be forgotten.’ — they shall ask the way to Zion, the habitation of Yehovah, their faces toward Jerusalem with steadfast purpose not to be daunted or to be turned aside by difficulties along the way;

— saying, Come and let us join ourselves to the Lord in a perpetual covenant that shall not be forgotten as the first covenant had been act aside by an apostate nation.

⁶My people hath been lost sheep; their shepherds have caused them to go astray. They have turned them away on the mountains; they have gone from mountain to hill; they have forgotten their resting place. — My people hath been lost sheep; their shepherds have caused them to go astray, the very men who were entrusted with their care being guilty of this gross neglect; they have turned them away on the mountains, the places of idolatry;

— they have gone from mountain to hill, from one altar of idolatrous worship to the next; they have forgotten their resting-place, in the care of Yehovah where they could lie down in safety.

⁷All who found them have devoured them; and their adversaries said, ‘We offend not, because they have sinned against the Lord, the habitation of justice, even the Lord, the hope of their fathers.’ — all that found them have devoured them… as lost and wandering sheep are liable to be found, and to be devoured, by every beast of prey, lions, wolves and bears; so the house of Jacobs were found by their neighbours, their enemies and especially by their endtime “Chaldeans” or “Assyrians” having forsaken God, and being forsaken by him; and which is their case now and are often found and seized upon by their enemies and made a prey of under one pretence or another.

⁸“Depart out of the midst of Babylon, and go forth out of the land of the Chaldeans, and be as the hegoats before the flocks. — remove out of the midst of Babylon, so all Israelites in truth are now warned to go forth out of the land of the Chaldeans where they were as yet held in captivity and be as the he-goats before the flocks, the leaders of all oppressed nations as they now turned to flee.

⁹For lo, I will raise and cause to come up against Babylon an assembly of great nations from the north country, and they shall set themselves in array against her. From thence she shall be taken. Their arrows shall be as of a mighty destroyer; none shall return in vain. — for, lo, I will raise and cause to come up, against Babylon an assembly of great nations from the North country, an army composed of many nations; and they shall set themselves in array against her with full equipment for warfare;

— from thence, or “there,” she shall be taken, namely, where the hostile nations have assembled themselves; their arrows shall be as of a mighty expert man, one well versed in the art of warfare; none shall return in vain, none of them would fail to perform its deadly work.

¹⁰And Chaldea shall be a spoil; all that despoil her shall be satisfied,” saith the Lord. — and Chaldea shall be a spoil, a prey ready for the invaders; all that spoil her shall be satisfied, saith the Lord, since they were getting all that their heart desired in the way of rich booty. In this sense the Lord now turns directly to Babylon in pronouncing sentence upon the Chaldean Empire.

¹¹“Because ye were glad, because ye rejoiced, O ye destroyers of Mine heritage, because ye are grown fat as the heifer at grass, and bellow as bulls, — because ye were glad, because ye rejoiced, O ye destroyers of Mine heritage, the Chaldeans called so on account of the pillage committed by them in destroying Judah, because ye are grown fat as the heifer at grass, skipping like a threshing calf or heifer, with proud insolence and bellow as bulls, or “neigh as steeds,” in overweening, challenging pride.

¹²your mother shall be sore confounded; she that bore you shall be ashamed. Behold, the hindermost of the nations shall be a wilderness, a dry land and a desert. — your mother shall be sore confounded… the monarchy of the Chaldeans; so the Targum says, your congregation; or rather their metropolis, their mother city, the city of Babylon; which would be confounded when taken, none of her sons being able to defend her: the same will be true of mystical Babylon, the mother of harlots, Revelation 17:5.

¹³Because of the wrath of the Lord it shall not be inhabited, but it shall be wholly desolate; every one that goeth by Babylon shall be astonished and hiss at all her plagues. — because of the wrath of the Lord, it shall not be inhabited… that is, Babylon; which the Targum expresses, “because thou, Babylon, hast provoked the Lord” by their idolatry, luxury, ill usage of his people and profanation of the vessels of the sanctuary; therefore it should be destroyed and left without an inhabitant in it.

¹⁴Put yourselves in array against Babylon round about; all ye that bend the bow, shoot at her, spare no arrows, for she hath sinned against the Lord. — put yourselves in array against Babylon round about to surround the city and to attack her from all sides simultaneously; all ye that bend the bow, the archers representing the entire army of the enemy;

— shoot at her, spare no arrows; for she hath sinned against the Lord, she has fully deserved the punishment being meted out to her.

¹⁵Shout against her round about; she hath given her hand. Her foundations are fallen, her walls are thrown down; for it is the vengeance of the Lord. Take vengeance upon her; as she hath done, do unto her. — shout against her round about, encouraging one another with loud and fierce battle-cries; she hath given her hand, thereby submitting to the conquerors; her foundations are fallen, the fortifications in which she trusted for safety;

— her walls are thrown down, so that she is now helpless before the invaders; for it is the vengeance of the Lord, the destruction of Babylon was a punishment determined by Him; take vengeance upon her, retaliation being permitted in this instance; as she hath done to others.

¹⁶Cut off the sower from Babylon, and him that handleth the sickle in the time of harvest; for fear of the oppressing sword they shall turn every one to his people, and they shall flee every one to his own land. — cut off the sower from Babylon and him that handleth the sickle, or scythe in the time of harvest so that both sowers and reapers would be destroyed and there could be no harvesting in the entire country;

— for fear of the oppressing sword they shall turn every one to his people and they shall flee every one to his own land, the strangers in the country getting ready to preserve their lives before the threatening catastrophe comes. Over against this fate of Babylon is placed the deliverance of Judah from oppression and exile.

¹⁷“Israel is a scattered sheep; the lions have driven him away. First the king of Assyria hath devoured him, and last this Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon hath broken his bones.” — Israel is a scattered sheep… Or like a sheep that is frightened and drove from the fold and is dispersed and wanders about here and there; Israel includes all the twelve tribes:

— the lions have driven him away; from his own land and carried him captive and scattered him among the nations; these lions are afterwards interpreted of the kings of Assyria and Babylon: so the Targum says. “kings have removed them” comparable to lions for their strength, fierceness and voraciousness;

— first the king of Assyria hath devoured him; eaten up his flesh; meaning Shalmaneser king of Assyria, who carried captive the ten tribes that never returned and therefore said to be devoured:

— and last this Nebuchadrezzar king of Babylon hath broken his bones; or “boned him” took out his bones, all his strength and substance; or took the flesh off of them, stripped him of all his wealth and riches, reduced him to his bones, made a mere skeleton of him:

¹⁸Therefore thus saith the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel: “Behold, I will punish the king of Babylon and his land, as I have punished the king of Assyria. — as I have punished the king of Assyria; not Shalmaneser, that carried the tribes captive; but a successor of his, Chynilidanus, the last king of Assyria; who was killed when Nineveh was taken, the metropolis of Assyria and which was done before this prophecy was delivered; and the return to their own land; which is prophesied in Jeremiah 50:19.

¹⁹And I will bring Israel again to his habitation; and he shall feed on Carmel and Bashan, and his soul shall be satisfied upon Mount Ephraim and Gilead. — and he shall feed on Carmel and Bashan, and his soul shall be satisfied upon Mount Ephraim and Gilead; and as they were all fruitful places and had good pasturage, so they belonged to the ten tribes; which shows that it respects the return of them and the fulness of blessings, both temporal and spiritual, they shall then enjoy.

²⁰In those days and in that time,” saith the Lord, “the iniquity of Israel shall be sought for, and there shall be none; and the sins of Judah and they shall not be found: for I will pardon them whom I reserve. — in those days and in that time, saith the Lord, the prophecy now again turning to the endtime, the iniquity of Israel shall be sought for, and there shall be none, no longer any guilt would be charged against it;

— and the sins of Judah and they shall not be found; for I will pardon them whom I reserve, granting them forgiveness and pardon by virtue of the Messiah’s merits. If enemies of the Lord, whom He, for any reason whatever, has used as His instruments to carry out His plans, become overbearing and insolent as a consequence, He readily plunges them from the height of their pride to the depths of humiliation and confusion.

²¹“Go up against the land of Merathaim, even against it and against the inhabitants of Pekod. Waste and utterly destroy after them,” saith the Lord, “and do according to all that I have commanded thee. — go up against the land of Merathaim… thought to be the country of the Mardi, which lay part of it in Assyria, and part of it in Armenia; Cyrus, with his army of Medes and Persians, who according to Herodotus, passed through Assyria to Babylon: and so it may be agreeably rendered, “go by the land of Merathaim” or the country of the Mardi; the Targum says, “the land of the rebellious people.”

²²A sound of battle is in the land, and of great destruction.

²³How the hammer of the whole earth is cut asunder and broken! How Babylon hath become a desolation among the nations! — how is the hammer of the whole earth cut asunder and broken!.. the Targum says, “how is the king cut down and broken that moved the whole earth!”

— the king of Babylon or the kingdom of Babylon, which was like a hammer for its hardness and strength; and being an instrument in the hand of God of beating to pieces and destroying kingdoms and nations; but is itself now destroyed. These are the words either of the prophet or rather of the people of other nations, wondering how this destruction came about and rejoicing at it;

— how is Babylon become a desolation among the nations! this explains who and what is meant by the hammer of the earth and by its being cut asunder and broken; even the utter destruction of the city and kingdom of Babylon.

²⁴I have laid a snare for thee, and thou art also taken, O Babylon, and thou wast not aware; thou art found and also caught, because thou hast striven against the Lord. — I have laid a snare for thee, and thou art also taken, O Babylon… retorting to the strategy that Cyrus used, in draining the river Euphrates, and marching his army up through it into the midst of the city of Babylon and took it by surprise while the inhabitants were feasting and revelling all night: this is said to be a snare laid by the Lord because it was according to the counsel of his will and through his directing and overruling providence:

— and thou wast not aware; of what the enemy had done of his march into the city and taking of it; for one part of the city was seized and taken before the other knew anything of it:

— thou art found, and also caught; as wild beasts in a net or birds in a snare. The Targum says, “thy sins are sought and are found and also thou art taken:”

— because thou hast striven against the Lord; as persons litigate a point with each other in courts of judicature or as warriors strive against each other in battle; she sinned against the Lord and offended him, not only by her idolatry and luxury, but by her oppression of his people and profaning the vessels of his house; as Belshazzar did, the night Babylon was taken. The Targum says, “for with the people of the Lord thou hast strove.”

²⁵The Lord hath opened His armory and hath brought forth the weapons of His indignation; for this is the work of the Lord God of hosts in the land of the Chaldeans. — and hath brought forth the weapons of his indignation; as a king, when he goes to war, opens his armoury and takes out armour of every kind, both offensive and defensive: swords, spears, shields, so the Lord would now bring the Medes and Persians, well armed, to be the instruments of his wrath and vengeance on Babylon: or, “the vessels of his indignation” having some view to the vessels of the sanctuary, the king of Babylon had taken away and profaned them; these may well be applied to the vials of wrath poured out on them by the angels, called forth out of the temple.

²⁶Come against her from the utmost border; open her storehouses. Cast her up as heaps and destroy her utterly; let nothing of her be left. — come against her from the utmost border, from the most remote corner of the earth, or “all men, down to the very last,” open her storehouses; cast her up as heaps, that is, all the plunder of the city and destroy her utterly; let nothing of her be left, the city with all its possessions and treasures was to be burned with fire.

²⁷Slay all her bullocks; let them go down to the slaughter. Woe unto them! For their day has come, the time of their visitation. — slay all her bullocks, her entire population; let them go down to the slaughter. Woe unto them! for their day is come, the time of their visitation, their punishment at the hands of Yehovah.

²⁸The voice of them that flee and escape out of the land of Babylon, to declare in Zion the vengeance of the Lord our God, the vengeance of His temple. — the voice of them that flee and escape out of the land of Babylon, the fugitives saving their lives in the midst of the general destruction to declare in Zion the vengeance of the Lord our God, the vengeance of His Temple, for by the destruction of Babylon the Lord punished the Chaldeans for their profanation of His Sanctuary on Zion.

²⁹“Call together the archers against Babylon. All ye that bend the bow, camp against it round about; let none thereof escape. Recompense her according to her work; according to all that she hath done, do unto her. For she hath been proud against the Lord, against the Holy One of Israel. — call together the archers against Babylon for the siege of the city; all ye that bend the bow, camp against it round about, leaving no loophole for escape; let none thereof escape. Recompense her according to her work;

— according to all that she hath done, do unto her, paying her back in her own coin; for she hath been proud against the Lord, against the Holy One of Israel, this pride being the fundamental transgression and fault of Babylon, a form of blasphemy challenging the Lord’s honor.

³⁰Therefore shall her young men fall in the streets, and all her men of war shall be cut off in that day,” saith the Lord. — therefore shall her young men fall in the streets… Or “surely” it is the form of an oath, according to Rashi, Cyrus, when he took Babylon, ordered proclamation to be made that the inhabitants should keep indoors; and that whoever were found in the streets should be put to death as doubtless many were: and all her men of war shall be cut off in that day, saith the Lord; as Belshazzar and his guards were; see Daniel 5:30.

³¹“Behold, I am against thee, O thou most proud,” saith the Lord God of hosts; “for thy day is come, the time that I will visit thee. — behold, I am against thee, O thou most proud, saith the Lord God of hosts, coming to teach her humility; for thy day is come, the time that I will visit thee to bring His punishment upon her in full measure.

³²And the most proud shall stumble and fall, and none shall raise him up; and I will kindle a fire in his cities, and it shall devour all round about him.” — and the most proud shall stumble and fall, literally, “Then pride totters and falls,” the abstract being used to emphasize Babylon’s guilt, and none shall raise him up; and I will kindle a fire in his cities and it shall devour all round about him, the smaller cities sharing the fate of the metropolis.

³³Thus saith the Lord of hosts: “The children of Israel and the children of Judah were oppressed together, and all that took them captives held them fast; they refused to let them go. — thus saith the Lord of hosts, The children of Israel and the children of Judah were oppressed together in the captivity of the exile, and all that took them captives held them fast, were still holding them at the time when this prophecy was given; they refused to let them go so that it might seem as though deliverance were a matter far beyond any possibility. Over against this, however, stands the strong assurance of Yehovah.

³⁴Their Redeemer is strong; the Lord of hosts is His name. He shall thoroughly plead their cause, that He may give rest to the land, and disquiet the inhabitants of Babylon. — their Redeemer is strong, the Lord of hosts is His name, the Commander of all the heavenly armies; He shall thoroughly plead their cause, taking their part with all needed energy;

— that He may give rest to the land so that Judah would once more enjoy peace and security and, on the contrary, disquiet the inhabitants of Babylon who thought that they were altogether secure against all enemies. In order to take the part of His people with the proper zeal, the Lord now calls upon the sword to perform its work against the Chaldeans.

³⁵“A sword is upon the Chaldeans,” saith the Lord, “and upon the inhabitants of Babylon, and upon her princes, and upon her wise men! — a sword is upon the Chaldeans, saith the Lord… Or, “shall be” or “O sword, be thou on the Chaldeans” that is, the sword of the Medes and Persians; those that kill with the sword, as the Targum says;

— and upon the inhabitants of Babylon; the metropolis of Chaldea; the common people in it as distinguished from those of high rank and degree following: and upon her princes; Belshazzar and his nobles who were slain the night Babylon was taken;

— and upon her wise men; prime ministers, politicians, and counsellors of state; neither high birth nor great wisdom can secure from the sword of the enemy when it has a commission from God as it had here.

³⁶A sword is upon the liars, and they shall dote! A sword is upon her mighty men, and they shall be dismayed! — a sword is upon the liars… the Targum renders it “diviners” and so Rashi agrees of which there were many among the Chaldeans who were a lying set of men who imposed upon and deceived the people; these with their divinations and soothsayings could not save the land, nor themselves from the devouring sword; nay, their sorceries and divinations were the cause of their ruin.

³⁷A sword is upon their horses and upon their chariots, and upon all the mingled people that are in the midst of her, and they shall become as women! A sword is upon her treasures, and they shall be robbed! — a sword is upon their horses and upon their chariots which were her boast in warfare and upon all the mingled people that are in the midst of her, her mercenaries and allies;

— and they shall become as women, weak and utterly unable for effective resistance; a sword is upon her treasures, the wealth which she had accumulated in the course of her campaigns and they shall be robbed.

³⁸A drought is upon her waters, and they shall be dried up! For it is the land of graven images, and they are mad over their idols. — a drought is upon her waters, and they shall be dried up, the dams and irrigation canals being destroyed by the invading army; for it is the land of graven images and they are mad upon their idols, literally, “their objects of horror or terror,” for the images which are usually found in heathen sanctuaries are really more likely to frighten than to attract. They have indulged in gross and revolting idolatry and must therefore bear their iniquity.

³⁹Therefore the wild beasts of the desert with the wild beasts of the islands shall dwell there, and the owls shall dwell therein; and it shall be no more inhabited for ever, neither shall it be dwelt in from generation to generation. — therefore the wild beasts of the desert with the wild beasts of the islands, the jackals shall dwell there and the owls, literally, “daughters of crying,” that is, the female ostriches shall dwell therein and it shall be no more inhabited forever, neither shall it be dwelt in from generation to generation.

⁴⁰As God overthrew Sodom and Gomorrah and the neighbor cities thereof,” saith the Lord, “so shall no man abide there, neither shall any son of man dwell therein. — so shall no man abide there, neither shall any son of man dwell therein; the same is said concerning Edom.

⁴¹“Behold, a people shall come from the north, and a great nation, and many kings shall be raised up from the borders of the earth. — behold, a people shall come from the north and a great nation… the Modes and Persians, whose country lay north of Babylon.

⁴²They shall hold the bow and the lance; they are cruel and will not show mercy; their voice shall roar like the sea, and they shall ride upon horses, every one put in array like a man to the battle, against thee, O daughter of Babylon. — they shall hold the bow and the lance… Or “spear” the Targum interprets it, “shields” as many in Cyrus’s army had them; the one an offensive, the other a defensive weapon; or if bow and lance, the one is used at a distance, the other when near. The Medes and Persians were well skilled in handling the bow, the armour with large bows and short spears; besides bows and arrows, they had two javelins or lances, one of which they cast, and the other they held and used in their hands as they found necessary; and so Cyrus in a speech of his, says that they had breast plates to cover their bodies and lances or javelins which they could use by throwing or holding, as they pleased:

— they are cruel, and will not show mercy: not even to infants but dash them against the stones.

⁴³The king of Babylon hath heard the report of them, and his hands waxed feeble; anguish took hold of him, and pangs as of a woman in travail. — the king of Babylon hath heard the report of them… Belshazzar had the report brought to him of an invasion of his land; of their approach to Babylon and design upon it and of their number, character and force:

— and his hands waxed feeble as they did when he saw the handwriting upon the wall, Daniel 5:6;

— anguish took hold of him, and pangs as of a woman in travail; a sudden panic seized him and he was quite dispirited at once as a woman in childbirth, when her pains come upon her and there is no avoiding them.

⁴⁴Behold, he shall come up like a lion from the swelling of the Jordan unto the habitation of the strong; but I will make them suddenly run away from her. And who is a chosen man that I may appoint over her? For who is like Me? And who will appoint Me the time? And who is that shepherd that will stand before Me?” — behold, he shall come up like a lion from the swelling of Jordan… what is said of Nebuchadnezzar coming up against Edom is here said of Cyrus coming up against Babylon; for of a king it is to be understood; as the Targum says, “behold, a king with his army shall come up against them, as a lion from the height of Jordan;”

— and who is that shepherd that will stand before me? or king? not Belshazzar, he could not stand before the Lord: so the Targum says “there is no king that hath strength before me” that is, to withstand him or hinder what he has appointed and ordered to be done.

⁴⁵Therefore hear ye the counsel of the Lord that He hath taken against Babylon, and His purposes that He hath purposed against the land of the Chaldeans. Surely the least of the flock shall draw them out; surely He shall make their habitation desolate with them. — surely the least of the flock shall draw them out; the weakest and most feeble in the army of Cyrus should be more than a match for any in Babylon and should draw them out and devour them as dogs and wolves the sheep out of the flock.

⁴⁶At the noise of the taking of Babylon the earth is moved, and the cry is heard among the nations. — at the noise of the taking of Babylon the earth is moved… it being so sudden and unexpected and so very astonishing:

— and the cry is heard among the nations that Babylon is fallen; which, as applied to mystical Babylon, will be matter of joy to some and of lamentation to others; see Revelation 14:8.

Posted in Jeremiah

Jeremiah (Ch 47-48)

•November 23, 2021 • Leave a Comment

Chapter 47 contains a prophecy of the destruction of the Philistines chiefly; and also of the Tyrians and Zidonians; Chapter 48 is a prophecy about Moab.

Jeremiah 47

¹ The word of the Lord that came to Jeremiah the prophet against the Philistines, before Pharaoh smote Gaza. — before Pharaoh smote Gaza; one of the five cities of ancient Philistines, a very strong and fortified place, but now it is considered a region of the Philistines;

— before Pharaoh struck Gaza: Rashi: when Nebuchadnezzar besieged Jerusalem in the tenth year of Zedekiah, Pharaoh’s army came forth from Egypt, and the Chaldeans withdrew from Jerusalem. Pharaoh heard about the Chaldeans withdrawal and invaded Gaza, then returned to Egypt.

²Thus saith the Lord: “Behold, waters rise up out of the north, and shall be an overflowing flood, and shall overflow the land, and all that is therein, the city, and them that dwell therein; then the men shall cry, and all the inhabitants of the land shall howl. — thus saith the Lord, behold, waters rise up out of the north… meaning an army of men which should come in great numbers and with great force and rapidity like an overflowing flood. So the Targum says, “behold, people shall come from the north” that is, from Chaldea, which lay north of Palestine.

³At the noise of the stamping of the hoofs of his strong horses, at the rushing of his chariots and at the rumbling of his wheels, the fathers shall not look back to their children for feebleness of hands, — at the noise of the stamping of the hoofs of his strong horses… the noise of the cavalry of Nebuchadnezzar’s army as they came marching on towards the country of the Philistines; who, being mounted on strong prancing horses made a great noise as they came along and were heard at a distance:

— the fathers shall not look back to their children for feebleness of hands; they would be so frightened at the approach of the enemy and flee with much precipitancy to provide for their own safety that they should not think of their children or stay to deliver and save them; being so terrified as not to be able to lift up their hands to defend themselves and protect their children.

⁴because of the day that cometh to despoil all the Philistines, and to cut off from Tyre and Sidon every helper that remaineth; for the Lord will despoil the Philistines, the remnant of the country of Caphtor. — to cut off from Tyrus and Zidon every helper that remaineth; these were cities in Phoenicia which bordered on the country of the Philistines who were their auxiliaries in time of distress; but now, being wasted themselves could give them no help when Nebuchadnezzar attacked them; as did Tyre in particular, which he besieged thirteen years, and at last destroyed it and Zidon with it.

⁵Baldness is come upon Gaza; Ashkelon is cut off with the remnant of their valley. How long wilt thou cut thyself?” — baldness is come upon Gaza… the Targum says, “vengeance is come to the inhabitants of Gaza” it’s like a man whose hair is fallen from his head, or is clean shaved off; its houses were demolished; its inhabitants slain, and their wealth plundered; a pillaged and depopulated place. Some understand this of shaving or tearing off the hair for grief and mourning because of their calamities.

⁶O thou sword of the Lord, how long will it be ere thou be quiet? Put up thyself into thy scabbard; rest and be still. — O thou sword of the Lord… for though it was the sword of the Chaldeans, yet being appointed and sent by the Lord, and having a commission from him and being ordered and directed in his providence to do his will, it is called his sword;

— and because, in multiple places (Jeremiah 25:9, Jeremiah 27:6, Jeremiah 43:10), God describes the one with his sword, Nebuchadnezzar, as “the king of Babylon, My servant.”

⁷How can it be quiet, seeing the Lord hath given it a charge against Ashkelon and against the seashore? There hath He appointed it. — seeing the Lord hath given it a charge against Ashkelon and against the seashore? for it had a commission from the Lord to destroy the inhabitants of Ashkelon and other places, which lay still more towards the sea as Joppa and Jamne; and indeed all Palestine lay on the coast of the Mediterranean sea.

Jeremiah 48

Heshbon was the capital city of the Moabites: when the Chaldeans made themselves masters of Heshbon, a place of great importance, they consulted how to carry on their conquests over the rest of the country.

Ancient Heshbon was beyond, i.e. east of the Jordan. The city was where the Israelites passed by on their entry to the Promised Land and was assigned to the tribe of Reuben; afterwards it was given to the Tribe of Gad and became a Levitical city for the Merarites.

Heshbon is mentioned in the Tanakh in the Books of Numbers and Deuteronomy as the capital of Amorite king, Sihon (or Sehon). The biblical narrative records the story of the Israelite victory over Sihon during the time of Moses. Heshbon is highlighted due to its importance as the capital of Sihon, King of the Amorites: “For Heshbon was the city of Sihon, king of the Amorites, who had fought against the former king of Moab and had taken all his land out of his hand, as far as Arnon.”

Similar passages appear in Deuteronomy and Joshua, with the primary emphasis being the victory of the Israelites over King Sihon at the site of Heshbon. Moses died soon after the victory, after viewing the “promised land” from the top of Mount Nebo.

Following the death of Moses, Heshbon became a town at the border between the lands allocated to the Tribe of Reuben and the Tribe of Gad. Further biblical evidence suggests that the town later came under Moabite control, as mentioned by Isaiah and Jeremiah in their denunciations of Moab, and later under Ammonite occupation as Jeremiah 49:3 strongly suggests.

¹ Against Moab, thus saith the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel: “Woe unto Nebo! For it is despoiled; Kiriathaim is confounded and taken; Misgab is confounded and dismayed. — against Moab; thus saith the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel, Woe unto Nebo! an important city in Southwestern Moabitis. For it is spoiled, laid waste by the enemies; Kiriathaim, another ancient city of the country, is confounded and taken; Misgab, literally, “the citadel,” probably Kir-Moab, the strongest fort of the Moabites, or a general expression denoting the overthrow of Moab’s power, is confounded and dismayed.

²There shall be no more praise of Moab; in Heshbon they have devised evil against it; ‘Come, and let us cut it off from being a nation.’ Also thou shalt be cut down, O Madmen; the sword shall pursue thee. — come, and let us cut it off from being a nation: this is what the Babylonians consulted together against Heshbon; and not only against that, a principal city; but against the whole country of Moab, to make such an entire desolation of it, that it should be no more a nation: that which the Moabites with others devised against the people of Israel is now devised against them; a just retaliation perhaps; see Psalms 83:4.

³“A voice of crying shall be from Horonaim: ‘Despoiling and great destruction!’ — a voice of crying shall be from Horonaim… another city of Moab. The word Horonaim is a dual number; as there were two Horons, the upper and the lower; of this place should also be destroyed; and so a cry of its inhabitants should be heard out of it.

⁴Moab is destroyed; her little ones have caused a cry to be heard. — either the whole nation in general; so the Targum, “the kingdom of Moab is broken.”

⁵For in the going up of Luhith continual weeping shall go up; for in the going down of Horonaim the enemies have heard a cry of destruction. — for in the going up of Luhith continual weeping shall go up… this is another city, which was built on a high hill which had a considerable ascent to it, where those that escaped from Horonaim might flee for safety; but as they went up the hill would weep bitterly and all the way they went, because of the loss of friends and sustenance, and the danger they themselves were still in. Of this place came the Chaldeans and they heard the cries of those that fled from Horonaim and went up from thence to Luhith, and the cries continues.

⁶Flee, save your lives, and be like a naked tree in the wilderness. — flee, save your lives… these are either the words of the Moabites, their cry of destruction mentioned above, who seeing nothing but ruin before their eyes, advise one another to flee in all haste and save their lives if possible since nothing else could be saved.

⁷For because thou hast trusted in thy works and in thy treasures, thou shalt also be taken; and Chemosh shall go forth into captivity with his priests and his princes together. — and Chemosh shall go forth in captivity with his priests and his princes together; this was the god of the Ammonites, Judges 11:24; and of the Moabites, 1 Kings 11:7; hence the Moabites are called the people of Chemosh, Numbers 21:29.

⁸And the spoiler shall come upon every city, and no city shall escape; the valley also shall perish, and the plain shall be destroyed, as the Lord hath spoken. — and the spoiler shall come upon every city… that is, Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon and his army. The Targum says, the spoilers, who came against and took every city of Moab and wasted them. Josephus makes particular mention of Nebuchadnezzar subduing the Ammonites and Moabites: and no city shall escape; the spoiler and destruction by him;

— the valley also shall perish and the plain destroyed, as the Lord hath spoken; not only the cities and their inhabitants; but the inhabitants of the valleys and plains as the Targum paraphrases it should be destroyed; and also the corn that grew upon them and the flocks and herds that grazed there, exactly as the Lord had foretold.

⁹“Give wings unto Moab, that it may flee and get away; for the cities thereof shall be desolate, without any to dwell therein. — give wings unto Moab that it may flee and get away… that is, give wings to the inhabitants of Moab; signifying that they were in great danger and no probability of escape unless they had the wings of a swift bird; and passing away with wings may signify not their fleeing from danger and their attempt to escape; but their swift and sudden destruction;

— the Targum says, “take away the crown from Moab, for going it shall go away into captivity.”

¹⁰“Cursed be he that doeth the work of the Lord deceitfully, and cursed be he that keepeth back his sword from blood. — cursed be he that doeth the work of the Lord deceitfully… which is said with respect to the Chaldeans, who were enjoined to destroy the Moabites; which is called the work of the Lord because he had given them a commission to do; and which was to be done by them, not by halves, or in a remiss and negligent manner, but fully and faithfully; they were not to spare them, as Saul did the Amalekites; all should be done in uprightness and sincerity with all faithfulness and integrity: it is done deceitfully when men play the hypocrite; and negligently when they are backward to it, lukewarm in it, and infrequent in its performance which brings upon them the curse of God;

— and cursed be he that keepeth back his sword from blood; from shedding the blood of the Moabites, when God had given command to do it. The curse is repeated to confirm the matter that it might be most assuredly expected; since it would certainly come if the Lord’s work was not done aright.

¹¹“Moab hath been at ease from his youth, and he hath settled on his lees, and hath not been emptied from vessel to vessel, neither hath he gone into captivity; therefore his taste remained in him, and his scent is not changed.

¹²“Therefore, behold, the days come,” saith the Lord, “that I will send unto him wanderers, who shall cause him to wander, and shall empty his vessels and break their bottles. — a change would be made, and that in a very short time, as according to Josephus, it was about five years after the destruction of Jerusalem that the Moabites were subdued by the king of Babylon;

— but there is also a subtle change of theme, from immediate historic to prophetic; behold, the days are coming, indicating during the latter days; this being their case, this prophecy might be for the endtime;

— the Targum says, “I will send spoilers upon them, and they shall spoil them, and empty their substance, and consume the good of their land” whereas the Septuagint version is, “they shall cut in pieces his horns.”

¹³And Moab shall be ashamed of Chemosh, as the house of Israel was ashamed of Bethel, their confidence. — and Moab shall be ashamed of Chemosh… Moab’s idol; Jeremiah 48:7; of his worship of him, prayers to him, and confidence in him; he not being able to save him from the destruction of the Chaldeans and being carried captive by them; he himself also going into captivity;

— as the house of Israel were ashamed of Bethel their confidence; that is, of the golden calf that was set up in Bethel by Jeroboam and which the ten tribes of Israel worshipped; but that could not save them from being carried captive by the Assyrians; and so were ashamed of their idolatrous worship.

¹⁴“How say ye, ‘We are mighty and strong men for the war’? — how say ye, we are mighty and strong men for the war? the Moabites were proud, haughty and arrogant; boasted much of their strength and valour; of the strength of their bodies and fitness for war, and their fortified cities; and secure from all danger: so for their pride, vanity and self-confidence, they are reproved here since their destruction was at hand.

¹⁵Moab is despoiled and gone up out of her cities, and his chosen young men are gone down to the slaughter,” saith the King, whose name is the Lord of hosts. — Moab is spoiled, the whole country is ruined; which is spoken of as present though a future scenario, too, after the manner of prophecy;

— and gone up out of her cities; the inhabitants of Moab were gone up out of their cities, either through fear and flight; or through force, being made to go out of them and were carried captive. The Targum says, “the Moabites are spoiled, and their cities are desolate.”

¹⁶“The calamity of Moab is near to come, and his affliction hasteneth fast. — the calamity of Moab is near to come… as it did come within live years after the destruction of Jerusalem, as observed on Jeremiah 48:12; and from Josephus: and his affliction hasteth fast; or “his evil” the evil of punishment for his sin is utter destruction.

¹⁷All ye that are about him, bemoan him; and all ye that know his name, say, ‘How is the strong staff broken, and the beautiful rod!’ — all ye that are about him, bemoan him… the neighbouring nations such as the Ammonites and others are called upon to condole the sad case of Moab; all upon the borders of the country of Moab, either within them or without them.

¹⁸Thou daughter that dost inhabit Dibon, come down from thy glory, and sit in thirst; for the despoiler of Moab shall come upon thee, and he shall destroy thy strongholds. — thou daughter that inhabit Dibon… a city in Moab; the Targum says, “O kingdom of the congregation of Dibon” but this was not a kingdom of itself, though a principal city in the kingdom of Moab.

¹⁹O inhabitant of Aroer, stand by the way and espy; ask him that fleeth and her that escapeth, and say, ‘What is done?’ — O inhabitant of Aroer, another city that belonged to Moab situated on the border towards Ammon, near the river Arnon.

²⁰Moab is confounded, for it is broken down. Howl and cry! Tell ye it in Arnon that Moab is despoiled! — tell ye it in Arnon, that Moab is spoiled; the country of Arnon, so called from a river of that name, on the banks of which Aroer was situated; the inhabitants of which are desired to spread it all over that part of the country that Moab was utterly ruined by the Chaldean army.

²¹“And judgement has come upon the plain country: upon Holon, and upon Jahazah, and upon Mephaath, — and judgement has come upon the plain country, upon the plateau; north of the Arnon, cities which had been in the possession of the tribe of Reuben for some centuries after the conquest, upon Holon, and upon Jahazah, and upon Mephaath,

²²and upon Dibon, and upon Nebo, and upon Bethdiblathaim,

²³and upon Kiriathaim, and upon Bethgamul, and upon Bethmeon,

²⁴and upon Kerioth, and upon Bozrah, and upon all the cities of the land of Moab, far or near.

²⁵The horn of Moab is cut off, and his arm is broken,” saith the Lord. — the horn of Moab, emblem of strength and sovereignty, is cut off, and his arm is broken, saith the Lord, he has lost all his former great power, his mighty position is shattered. All this, as the prophet now points out, is the result of Moab’s pride.

²⁶“Make ye him drunken, for he magnified himself against the Lord. Moab also shall wallow in his vomit, and he also shall be in derision. — make ye him drunken… not with wine, but with the cup of divine wrath; with the vengeance of God; with sore judgements, afflictions and calamities; give him his fill of them till he is quite intoxicated and has lost his senses and is brought to madness and distraction and reels, staggers and falls to the ground like a drunken man; and his state and kingdom ruined: this is said to the enemies of Moab, the king of Babylon and his army;

— the Targum interprets it of the people of God, paraphrasing; “bring distress upon them, that they may be like to drunken men; for against the people of the Lord have they magnified themselves.”

²⁷For was not Israel a derision unto thee? Was he found among thieves? For since thou spokest of him, thou skipped for joy. — for was not Israel a derision unto thee? in the time of his calamity when the ten tribes were carried captive by the Assyrians some years ago; and of late the two tribes of Judah and Benjamin by the Chaldeans; the Moabites rejoiced at this, which they ought not to have done;

— for since thou spoke of him, thou skipped for joy; or, “shookedst thyself” whenever the Moabites spoke of the distresses and calamities of Israel and of their captivity they laughed till they shook themselves; not only shook their heads but their whole bodies. The Targum says, “and because ye have multiplied words against them, therefore ye shall go into captivity.”

²⁸“O ye that dwell in Moab, leave the cities and dwell in the rock, and be like the dove that maketh her nest in the sides of the hole’s mouth.

²⁹We have heard the pride of Moab (he is exceeding proud)— his loftiness, and his arrogancy, and his pride, and the haughtiness of his heart.

³⁰I know his wrath,” saith the Lord, “but it shall not be so; his lies shall not so effect it. — I know his wrath, saith the Lord… against the Jews and other nations; what he has threatened to do unto them and would do if not restrained.

³¹Therefore will I howl for Moab, and I will cry out for all Moab; Mine heart shall mourn for the men of Kirheres.

³²O vine of Sibmah, I will weep for thee with the weeping of Jazer; thy plants are gone over the sea, they reach even to the sea of Jazer. The spoiler is fallen upon thy summer fruits and upon thy vintage, — O vine of Sibmah, I will weep for thee with the weeping of Jazer… Sibmah was a city in the land of Moab abounding with vines, but now should be destroyed; and Jazer another city in the same country, which was destroyed before the other; and therefore its destruction should be lamented and wept over, as that had been: or “from” or “after the weeping of Jazer,”

— the spoiler is fallen upon thy summer fruits and upon thy vintage: the king of Babylon, who came upon them with his army in the summer season and at the time of their vintage and devoured the fruits of their vines and fig trees with which this country abounded; and so impoverished and ruined them;

— the Targum of the whole says, “therefore as I have brought an army against Jazer, so I will bring slayers against Sibmah; they that carry them captive have waded; they have passed through the sea; they are come to the sea of Jazer; upon thy harvest, and upon thy vintage, the spoilers are fallen.”

³³and joy and gladness is taken from the plentiful field and from the land of Moab. And I have caused wine to fail from the wine presses; none shall tread with shouting; their shouting shall be no shouting. — the land of Moab, where there were good pasture, corn and fruit bearing trees, which produced great plenty of good things and caused joy to the owners of them: but now all being destroyed by the enemy, joy and gladness would cease.

³⁴“From the cry of Heshbon even unto Elealeh, and even unto Jahaz have they uttered their voice, from Zoar even unto Horonaim, as a heifer of three years old; for the waters also of Nimrim shall be desolate. — from the cry of Heshbon even unto Elealeh… two cities in the land of Moab; also see Isaiah 15:4. Heshbon being destroyed, a cry was made by its inhabitants which either reached Elealeh; or the destruction being carried on to that city, the cry continued there.

³⁵Moreover I will cause to cease in Moab,” saith the Lord, “him that offereth in the high places and him that burneth incense to his gods. — moreover I will cause to cease in Moab, saith the Lord, him that offereth in the high places… a burnt offering there; that is, the priest, who shall be taken and carried captive, Jeremiah 48:7; even everyone of them so that there will not be one left to offer sacrifice:

— and him that burneth incense to his gods: Chemosh, and others, the Moabites worshipped: this suggests that idolatry was one of the sins for which they were punished; and as all places and all sorts of persons should suffer in this calamity, so likewise idolatrous places, priests and worshippers.

³⁶Therefore Mine heart shall sound for Moab like pipes, and Mine heart shall sound like pipes for the men of Kirheres, because the riches that he hath gotten have perished. — therefore my heart shall sound for Moab like pipes… that are sounded on mournful occasions, as at funerals; this the prophet said, the inhabitants of Moab, whose hearts would yearn and sound for the calamities of their country like the doleful sound of minstrels. So the Targum says, “therefore the Moabites shall sound in their hearts like a harp;”

— because the riches that he hath gotten is perished; either Moab or Kirheres; the abundance of goods they had got together were now lost, falling into the hands of the enemy; and which was matter of lamentation. The Targum says, “for the rest of their substance they had got were spoiled.”

³⁷“For every head shall be bald and every beard clipped; upon all the hands shall be cuts and upon the loins sackcloth. — for every head shall be bald and every beard clipped… men, in times of mourning, used to pluck off the hairs of their head till they made them bald and shaved their beards which were the glory of their faces; see Isaiah 15:2;

— upon all the hands shall be cuttings: it was usual with the heathens to make incisions in several parts of their bodies, particularly in their hands and arms with their nails or with knives, in token of mourning; which are forbidden by the Israelites, Deuteronomy 14:1;

— and upon the loins sackcloth; this is a well known custom for mourners to put off their clothes and put on sackcloth; all these things are mentioned to show how great was the mourning of Moab for its calamities.

³⁸There shall be lamentation generally upon all the housetops of Moab and in the streets thereof; for I have broken Moab like a vessel wherein is no pleasure,” saith the Lord. — for I have broken Moab like a vessel wherein is no pleasure, saith the Lord; as an earthen vessel which the potter does not like and which is useless and unprofitable to any, and which he takes and dashes into pieces; into a thousand shivers and can never be put together again; or as a filthy unclean vessel a man cannot bear in his sight: Moab is by the Lord called his wash pot, Psalms 60:8. The Moabites were vessels of wrath, fitted for destruction by their own this; and now its time has come.

³⁹“They shall howl, saying, ‘How it is broken down! How hath Moab turned the back with shame!’ So shall Moab be a derision and a dismaying to all those about him.” — they shall howl, saying, how is it broken down?… Or, “how is it broken” or “thrown into consternation? they howl” that is, they howl out these words, or while they are howling, say, how is Kirheres or Moab broken all to pieces; their strength, power and glory; their cities and their mighty men; and are in the utmost fright and confusion? Rashi takes it to be an imperative and paraphrases it, “howl ye over her, and say, how is it broken!”

⁴⁰For thus saith the Lord: “Behold, he shall fly as an eagle, and shall spread his wings over Moab. — for thus saith the Lord, behold, he shall fly as an eagle… the enemy, Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon, with his army; who is compared to an eagle for his strength, swiftness and greediness after the prey:

— and shall spread his wings over Moab as an eagle spreads its wings, which are very large over the little birds it seizes upon as its prey; so the king of Babylon would bring a numerous army against Moab and spread it over his country.

— the Targum says ,”behold, as all eagle which flies, so a king shall come up with his army, and encamp against Moab.”

⁴¹Kerioth is taken, and the strongholds are surprised; and the mighty men’s hearts in Moab at that day shall be as the heart of a woman in her pangs. — and the mighty men’s hearts in Moab at that day shall be as the heart of a woman in her pangs; even the hearts of the soldiers and the most courageous generals shall sink within them; and they be not only as timorous as women in common but as low spirited as a woman when she finds her pains are coming upon her and the time of her delivery is at hand.

⁴²And Moab shall be destroyed from being a people, because he hath magnified himself against the Lord. — and Moab shall be destroyed from being a people… for some time, not always; since the captivity of Moab is promised to be returned, Jeremiah 48:47; or from being such a people as they had been, enjoying so much ease, wealth, power and prosperity. Some Rabbi take it to be a comparative and renders it, “more than a people”; that is, shall be destroyed more than any other people;

— because he hath magnified himself against the Lord; the Targum says, against the people of the Lord; this is the cause of his destruction.

⁴³Fear and the pit and the snare shall be upon thee, O inhabitant of Moab,” saith the Lord. — fear and the pit, and the snare, shall be upon thee… a proverbial expression, showing, that if they escaped one danger or sore judgement, they should fall into another and greater: the words seem to be taken from Isaiah 24:17.

⁴⁴“He that fleeth from the fear shall fall into the pit, and he that getteth up out of the pit shall be taken in the snare: for I will bring upon it, even upon Moab, the year of their visitation,” saith the Lord. — he that fleeth from fear, trying to escape the general horror, shall fall into the pit, and he that getteth up out of the pit shall be taken in the snare, one or the other of the calamities will be sure to catch him; for I will bring upon it, even upon Moab, the year of his visitation, saith the Lord.

⁴⁵“They that fled stood under the shadow of Heshbon because of the force; but a fire shall come forth out of Heshbon and a flame from the midst of Sihon, and shall devour the corner of Moab and the crown of the head of the tumultuous ones. — they that fled, the fugitives who escaped the slaughter, stood under the shadow of Heshbon because of the force, powerless in the face of the danger confronting them; but a fire shall come forth out of Heshbon, the city in which they hoped to find refuge and a flame from the midst of Sihon, the ancient king of the Amorites, and shall devour the corner of Moab so that it would be totally destroyed and the crown of the head of the tumultuous ones, of the sons of warlike confusion.

⁴⁶Woe be unto thee, O Moab! The people of Chemosh perisheth! For thy sons are taken captive and thy daughters captive. — woe be unto thee, O Moab! the people of Chemosh perisheth… the inhabitants of Moab, who worshipped the idol Chemosh; Jeremiah 48:7; and so called his people, as Israel were called the people of the Lord; now these, notwithstanding their idol, whom they worshipped and in whom they trusted, should perish; and sad and deplorable would be their condition and circumstances;

— for thy sons and daughters are taken captives; this explains the woe that should come upon them and in what sense they should perish; since their sons and daughters who they hoped would have continued their name and nation, were taken and would be carried captives into Babylon; Numbers 21:29.

⁴⁷“Yet will I bring back the captives of Moab in the latter days,” saith the Lord. Thus far is the judgement of Moab. — yet will I bring again the captivity of Moab in the latter day, saith the Lord… some think this is added, not so much for the sake of Moab as of the Jews to assure them of their return from captivity as had been promised them, since this would be the case even of Moab. It had a literal accomplishment under Cyrus, as is thought, when they were restored to their land; and certain it is they were a people in the times of Alexander who subdued them, as Josephus relates.

Posted in Jeremiah

Jeremiah (Ch 45-46)

•November 22, 2021 • Leave a Comment

Jeremiah 45

¹ The word that Jeremiah the prophet spoke unto Baruch the son of Neriah, when he had written these words in a book out of the mouth of Jeremiah, in the fourth year of Jehoiakim the son of Josiah, king of Judah, saying, — the fourth year of Jehoiakim would be perhaps 606 BC or whereabout (that was the first year of Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon); having the same beginning as chapter 25;

— in the fourth year of Jehoiakim; which was eighteen years before the destruction of Jerusalem; which would more properly have followed the 36th chapter; where we have an account of what Baruch wrote from the mouth of Jeremiah in a roll, and read to the people, and after that to the princes; which exposed him to danger, and caused the grief expressed by him in this chapter is postponed to this place.

²“Thus saith the Lord, the God of Israel, unto thee, O Baruch:

³Thou didst say, ‘Woe is me now! For the Lord hath added grief to my sorrow; I fainted in my sighing, and I find no rest.’ — thou didst say, woe is me now!… what will become of me? I am ruined; this he said in his heart, if not with his lips, perhaps both ways; and when the king gave orders to apprehend him and the prophet, being provoked at the roll which he had wrote and read, Jeremiah 36:26;

— for the Lord hath added grief to my sorrow; caused him grief upon grief, sorrow upon sorrow; for there was a variety of things which occasioned grief and sorrow; the trouble of his office as a scribe to the prophet; the grievous things contained in the prophecies he transcribed, concerning the ruin of his people and nation; the king’s displeasure at the roll and his burning it;

— I fainted in my sighing; he sighed and groaned at what he saw coming upon his country, which overcame his spirits; he sunk and swooned away: or “I laboured in my sighing” amidst his sighs and groans, he prayed to the Lord, and laboured in prayer, that he might be delivered from the evils he feared were coming upon him.

⁴Thus shalt thou say unto him, ‘The Lord saith thus: Behold, that which I have built will I break down, and that which I have planted I will pluck up, even this whole land. — the Lord saith thus, behold, that which I have built will I break down, and that which I have planted I will pluck up; even the Jewish nation which the Lord had built up as a spacious and beautiful house to dwell in, and had planted as a vineyard and set it with pleasant plants; but now would demolish this building and destroy his estate:

— even this whole land; not a few cities only, or only Jerusalem the metropolis but the whole land of Judea; no part of it but what should be left desolate. The Targum says, “even the whole land of Israel, is mine.”

⁵And seekest thou great things for thyself? Seek them not; for behold, I will bring evil upon all flesh, saith the Lord, but thy life will I give unto thee for a prey in all places whither thou goest.’” — seekest thou great things for thyself? seek them not… riches and wealth honour and esteem, peace and prosperity; these were not to be sought after and expected, when the whole nation would be involved in such a general calamity. Baruch perhaps expected that his reading the roll to princes would have been a means of honouring him at court, of advancing him to some office, in which he might have acquired wealth and got applause and lived in peace and plenty all his days; but this was not to be expected; when the very roll he wrote and read contained in it prophecies of the general ruin of the nation;

— for, behold, I will bring evil upon all flesh; not upon every individual person in the world; but upon all the inhabitants of Judea, who should either die by the sword or by famine, by pestilence or be carried as captives;

— but thy life will I give unto thee for a prey in all places wherever thou goest; suggesting that he should be obliged to quit his native place and country, and go from place to place; as he did, after the destruction of Jerusalem, along with the prophet; and even into Egypt with the Jews that went there; where his life would be in danger, and yet the Scriptures are silent here, that he and Jeremiah and the king’s daughters should be taken by another great eagle to Ireland, see Ezekiel 17.

Jeremiah 46

¹ The word of the Lord which came to Jeremiah the prophet against the nations. — the word of the Lord which came to Jeremiah the prophet against the nations; distinguished from the Jews; not all the nations of the world, but some hereafter mentioned: the Egyptians, Philistines, Moabites, Ammonites, Edomites, Syrians, Arabians, Persians, and Chaldeans: or “concerning the nations” mentioned above; though the prophecies delivered are all against them, none favourable.

²Against Egypt, against the army of Pharaohnecho king of Egypt, which was by the River Euphrates in Carchemish, which Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon smote in the fourth year of Jehoiakim the son of Josiah, king of Judah: — against Egypt… this is the title of the first prophecy against Egypt; which is first mentioned because the Jews were most familiar with and have placed great confidence in and much relied on the Egyptians for help:

— Wiki: Carchemish was the location of an important battle, about 605 BC, between the Babylonians and Egyptians, mentioned in the Bible (Jeremiah 46:2).

³“Order ye the buckler and shield, and draw near to battle!

⁴Harness the horses; and get up, ye horsemen, and stand forth with your helmets; furbish the spears, and put on the brigandines!

⁵Why have I seen them dismayed and turned away back? And their mighty ones are beaten down, and are fled apace and look not back, for fear was round about,” saith the Lord. — wherefore have I seen them dismayed and turned away back?… the Egyptians, after all this preparation for war and seeming ardent to engage in battle; yet when they came to it, were seized with a panic, and thrown into the utmost consternation and turned their backs upon their enemy: these are either the words of the prophet, who are led by a spirit of prophecy, foreseeing the consternation, confusion and flight of the Egyptian army; or of the Lord, who foresaw all this:

— and their mighty ones are beaten down and fled apace, and look not back; or, “their mighty ones are broken” their valiant soldiers and officers, their best troops were broken to pieces, their ranks and files, and thrown into the utmost disorder; and therefore made all the haste they could to escape the fury of the enemy, and fled with the utmost horror and never stopped to look back upon their pursuers;

— for fear was round about, saith the Lord; their enemies surrounded them, and that was the reason fright was all around them, and both were from the Lord; or as he had determined and foretold it.

⁶“Let not the swift flee away, nor the mighty man escape; they shall stumble and fall toward the north by the River Euphrates. — let not the swift flee away, nor the mighty men escape… those that were swift of foot, or carried but light armour, let not such trust to their swiftness; nor let the mighty man think to escape by reason of his great strength, to make his way through the enemy, and get out of his hands. Or this may be rendered as future, “the swift shall not flee away” so the Targum says neither one nor the other shall escape by the nimbleness of their heels, or the stoutness of their hearts:

— they shall stumble and fall toward the north, by the river Euphrates; which lay north of Judea, and also was to the north of Egypt, whose destruction is threatened: the place where this route and slaughter would be made was Carchemish, which was situated by that great river Euphrates.

⁷“Who is this that cometh up as a flood, whose waters are moved as the rivers? — who is this that cometh up as a flood… these are either the words of the prophet, who having a vision in prophecy of the march of the Egyptian army from the south to the north, which he compares to a flood; in allusion to the river Nile, which used to overflow its banks; or they are the words of God, who puts this question in order to give an answer to it and thereby upbraid the Egyptians with their arrogance, pride and vanity; which would all come to nothing:

— whose waters are moved as the rivers? whose numerous armies came with a great noise and force, like the openings of the Nile, the seven gates of it; which were very boisterous, especially in hard gales of wind: it is no unusual thing for large armies to be compared to floods and rivers, which move forcibly and swiftly, and make a large spread; Isaiah 8:7. The Targum says, “who is this that comes up with his army as a cloud, and covers the earth, and as a fountain of water, whose waters are moved?”

⁸Egypt riseth up like a flood, and his waters are moved like the rivers; and he saith, ‘I will go up, and will cover the earth; I will destroy the city and the inhabitants thereof.’ — and he saith, I will go up; Pharaohnecho king of Egypt said, I will go up from my own land to the north to meet the king of Babylon:

— and will cover the earth with his Egyptian army: even all toward the north country, including the Babylonish empire;

— I will destroy the city, and the inhabitants thereof; which restrains to the city Carchemish, where his army was smitten: but it is better to interpret, the singular by the plural, as the Targum does, “I will destroy cities” since it was not a single city he came up to take, nor would this satisfy his ambition and temper.

⁹Come up, ye horses, and rage, ye chariots! And let the mighty men come forth: the Ethiopians and the Libyans that handle the shield, and the Lydians that handle and bend the bow. — come up, ye horses; and rage, ye chariots… these are either the words of Pharaoh, giving orders to his cavalry and charioteers to make haste and come up to battle, not doubting of victory: or rather of the Lord by the prophet, ironically calling upon the horsemen in the Egyptian army to come on and engage with the enemy, and behave gallantly; and those in the chariots to drive;

— the Ethiopians and the Libyans, that handle the shield; or Cush and Phut, both sons of Ham, and brethren of Mizraim, from whence Egypt had its name, Genesis 10:6; the posterity of these are meant. The Cushites or Ethiopians were near neighbours of the Egyptians, and their allies and confederates.

¹⁰For this is the day of the Lord God of hosts, a day of vengeance, that He may avenge Him of His adversaries. And the sword shall devour, and it shall be sated and made drunk with their blood; for the Lord God of hosts hath a sacrifice in the north country by the River Euphrates. — and the sword shall devour, and it shall be satiate and made drunk with their blood; that is, the sword of the Chaldeans shall destroy the Egyptians in such vast numbers, that there shall be no more to be slain; or there shall be no desire in the enemy to slay any more; they shall be glutted with their blood;

— for the Lord God of hosts hath a sacrifice in the north country by the river Euphrates near Carchemish, which lay north of Egypt; an allusion to the sacrifices of great warriors, which are many; the Lord of hosts had a sacrifice, or a great slaughter of men, his enemies; inflicted punishment on them, wherein his power and justice were displayed.

¹¹Go up into Gilead and take balm, O virgin, the daughter of Egypt; in vain shalt thou use many medicines; for thou shalt not be cured. — and take balm, O virgin, daughter of Egypt; the kingdom of Egypt, as the Targum says; so called because of its glory and excellency; and because as yet it had not been conquered and brought under the power of another.

¹²The nations have heard of thy shame, and thy cry hath filled the land; for the mighty man hath stumbled against the mighty, and they are fallen both together.” — the nations have heard of thy shame… their shameful defeat and overthrow by the Chaldean army; so, after the manner of prophecy uttered, the warning fulfilled; the battle fought, and the victory obtained; and the rumour and fame spread among the nations, to the great mortification of this proud people:

— and thy cry hath filled the land; the shrieks of the wounded; the cry of the pursued and taken; the lamentation of friends and relations for their dead; with one thing or another of this kind the whole land of Egypt was filled; yea, all the countries round about them, in confederacy with them, were filled with distress for the loss of their own; the calamity was large and spreading:

— for the mighty man hath stumbled against the mighty, and they are fallen both together; either the mighty Egyptians against the mighty Chaldeans; and though the latter were the conquerors, yet lost abundance of men; so that there were mighty ones fell on both sides. The Targum says both were slain.

¹³The word that the Lord spoke to Jeremiah the prophet, how Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon should come and smite the land of Egypt: — the word that the Lord spoke to Jeremiah the prophet… this is a new and distinct prophecy from the former, though concerning Egypt as that; but in this they differ; the former prophecy respects only the overthrow of the Egyptian army at a certain place; this latter the general destruction of the land; and was fulfilled some years after the other;

— to smite the land of Egypt; who was to come, and did come, out of his country, into the land of Egypt, to smite the inhabitants of it with the sword, take their cities, plunder them of their substance, and make them tributary to him; Rashi says, according to their chronicles, this was a second blow, in the twenty seventh year of Nebuchadnezzar’s reign; around 579 BC.

¹⁴“Declare ye in Egypt and publish in Migdol, and publish in Noph and in Tahpanhes; say ye, ‘Stand fast and prepare thee, for the sword shall devour round about thee.’ — declare ye in Egypt… the coming of the king of Babylon, and his intention to invade the land and subdue it:

— say ye, stand fast and prepare thee; O Egypt, and the several cities mentioned and all others; prepare for war and to meet the enemy, resist and repel him; present yourselves on the frontiers of your country; put yourselves in proper places and keep your ground:

— for the sword shall devour round about thee; the sword of the Chaldeans, into whose hands fell Jerusalem, Judea, Syria and other neighbouring countries; and therefore it was high time for them to bestir themselves and provide for their defence and safety.

¹⁵Why are thy valiant [showing courage] men swept away? They stood not, because the Lord did drive them. — why are thy valiant men swept away?… as with a mighty torrent, or a sweeping rain; to which the Chaldean army may be compared; which came with such irresistible force as to drive the Egyptians from their posts, so that they could not stand their ground;

— the Septuagint renders it, “why does Apis flee from thee? thy choice ox does not continue,” which was the god of the Egyptians, they worshipped in the form of an ox; this could not protect them, thought by them to be very mighty and powerful; their choice ox, Apis, of the Egyptians is believed to be a most powerful deity; yet could not save them;

— because the Lord did drive them; by means of the Chaldeans; he dispirited them; he put them into a panic and they fled from their posts; there is no standing against the Lord.

¹⁶He made many to fall, yea, one fell upon another; and they said, ‘Arise, and let us go again to our own people and to the land of our nativity, from the oppressing sword.’ — and they said, arise: not those that fell, which may seem at first sight; but either the strangers in the land of Egypt, such as the Jews were; who, perceiving the destruction that was coming on Egypt, exhort one another to arise, and get out of it; or rather the auxiliaries of the Egyptians, as the Ethiopians, Libyans and Lydians,

— and let us go again to our own people, and to the land of our own country, where we were born, and where our friends and relations lived; so that we might be safe;

— from the oppressing sword; the sword of the Chaldeans.

¹⁷They did cry there, ‘Pharaoh king of Egypt is but a noise! He hath passed the time appointed.’ — Pharaoh king of Egypt is but a noise; he boasted and bragged of great things he would do, but does nothing; he promised to bring a large army into the field, and talked big of attacking the enemy with great ardour and fury, and hectored and blustered as if he feared nothing, and was sure of victory; but when it came to the push, his courage failed him; and it may be said of him what the man said of his nightingale, “vox et praeterea nihil” a voice and nothing else. This was not Pharaohnecho, as the Septuagint have wrongly inserted, but Pharaohhophra, Jeremiah 44:30; or it may be supplied thus, “Pharaoh king of Egypt is a king of noise” a noisy, big and blusterous king in words, but in deeds nothing.

¹⁸“As I live,” saith the King, whose name is the Lord of hosts, “surely as Tabor is among the mountains and as Carmel by the sea, so shall he come. — Tabor, a mountain in Galilee; and Carmel is by the sea of Galilee.

¹⁹O thou daughter dwelling in Egypt, furnish thyself to go into captivity; for Noph shall be waste and desolate, without an inhabitant. — furnish thyself to go into captivity; or “make”, or “prepare for thyself vessels of captivity” or such things as are proper for captives, as suitable clothes to travel in, shoes to walk in, scrip and staff and the like; expect captivity and be prepared for it;

— for Noph shall be waste and desolate without an inhabitant; the city Memphis as the Targum says: this is particularly mentioned, because it was a royal city, and though a very populous one, its destruction should be so general, that not an inhabitant should be left in it: the devastation of this city is put for that of all the rest, and as a sure token of it and the whole nation going into captivity.

²⁰“Egypt is like a very fair heifer, but destruction cometh; it cometh out of the north. — the Targum says, “Egypt was a beautiful kingdom.”

— but destruction cometh, it cometh from the north; that is, the destruction of Egypt, which should come from Chaldea, which lay north of Egypt; and this threat is repeated.

²¹Also her hired men are in the midst of her like fatted bullocks; for they also are turned back, and have fled away together. They did not stand, because the day of their calamity had come upon them, and the time of their visitation. — all her hired men are in the midst of her like fatted bullocks… or “bullocks of the stall” soldiers of other countries that were hired into the service of Egypt and lived so deliciously there, that they were unfit for war and were like fatted beasts prepared for the slaughter.

— the Targum interprets it, her princes; who had the care of this heifer and of the feeding of this princeling; these themselves were like that, nourished for the day of slaughter.

²²The voice thereof shall go like a serpent; for they shall march with an army and come against her with axes, as hewers of wood. — the voice thereof shall go like a serpent… that is, the voice of Egypt before compared to a heifer when in its glory; but now it shall not bellow like a heifer in fat pasture, bat hiss like a serpent when drove and pursued out of its hole; signifying, that their voice should be low and submissive and should not speak one big or murmuring word to their conquerors;

— for they shall march with an army; the Targum adds, against you; the meaning is, that the Chaldeans should come with a great army, and march against the Egyptians with great strength, force and fury:

— and come against her with axes, as hewers of wood; with battle axes as if they came to cut down trees; nor would they spare the Egyptians any more than such hewers do the trees; nor would they be able any more to resist them than trees can resist hewers of wood.

²³They shall cut down her forest,” saith the Lord, “though it cannot be searched, because they are more than the grasshoppers, and are innumerable. — they shall cut down her forest, saith the Lord… the land of Egypt compared to a forest for the multitude of its cities, towns and their inhabitants; which should be destroyed by the Chaldeans as a forest is cut down by hewers of wood;

— the metaphor is continued with the Targum interpreting this as the princes of Egypt and their destruction;

— because they are more than grasshoppers, are innumerable; which creatures come in large numbers, and eat up every green tree and herb; and so the Chaldean army, being alike numerous, would easily cut down the trees of this forest, because they were so many.

²⁴The daughter of Egypt shall be confounded; she shall be delivered into the hand of the people of the north.” — the daughter of Egypt shall be confounded… brought to shame before all the nations of the earth, being conquered by the Chaldeans; that is, the kingdom of Egypt, as the Targum says; or the inhabitants of it, being subdued and carried captive:

— she shall be delivered into the hand of the people of the north; the Chaldeans, who dwelt northward of Egypt, as is manifest from what follows.

²⁵The Lord of hosts, the God of Israel, saith: “Behold, I will punish the multitude of No, and Pharaoh, and Egypt, with their gods and their kings, even Pharaoh and all them that trust in him. — behold, I will punish the multitude of No; the inhabitants of it, which were many, called “populous No” in Nahum 3:8; a famous city in Egypt. Some take it to be Diospolis or Thebes; and others the same that is now called Alexandria; and so the Targum renders it;

— and Pharaoh and Egypt, with their gods and their kings; Pharaoh, their present king of Egypt, who was Pharaohhophra, and all the land of Egypt; and all their numerous idols, which were many indeed; and the several governors of the nomes or provinces into which the land was distributed; these should be punished and suffer in the general calamity.

²⁶And I will deliver them into the hand of those that seek their lives, and into the hand of Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon and into the hand of his servants; and afterward it shall be inhabited as in the days of old,” saith the Lord. — and afterwards it shall be inhabited as in the days of old, saith the Lord; after forty years, as Ezekiel prophesied, Ezekiel 29:11-13; not that it should rise to the same glory and dignity as before, for it would be but a base kingdom; but whereas it was desolate and uninhabited after this destruction, it should now be inhabited again.

²⁷“But fear not thou, O My servant Jacob, and be not dismayed, O Israel; for, behold, I will save thee from afar off, and thy seed from the land of their captivity; and Jacob shall return, and be in rest and at ease, and none shall make him afraid. — I will save thee from afar off; these maybe the righteous in Egypt, who were carried there by Johanan against their will; and these small remnant should escape, Jeremiah 44:28; and these words are intended to comfort those in captivity, with a promise of their return, lest they should be discouraged, in hearing that the Egyptians should inhabit their own land again, and they not theirs;

— and Jacob shall return, and be in rest, and at ease, and none shall make him afraid: this will have its full accomplishment hereafter in the latter day; as Jacob includes the other ten tribes when all Israelites return to their own land, and never be disturbed any more.

²⁸Fear thou not, O Jacob My servant,” saith the Lord, “for I am with thee. For I will make a full end of all the nations whither I have driven thee, but I will not make a full end of thee, but correct thee in measure. Yet will I not leave thee wholly unpunished.” — fear thou not, O Jacob, my servant, saith the Lord, for I am with thee… though afar off in foreign lands and in captivity: this exhortation is repeated to strengthen their consolation and against their fears of being cast off by the Lord;

— but correct thee in measure; with judgement and in mercy for the full house of Jacob: yet will I not leave thee wholly unpunished.

Posted in Jeremiah

Jeremiah (Ch 43-44)

•November 21, 2021 • Leave a Comment

Chapter 43 sets the background that lead to Chapter 44, where the impudent and impious contempt which the remnants of the Jews put upon this admonition, and their declared resolution to persist in their allegiance to the Queen of heaven and other idolatries, in despite both warnings from God and his prophet Jeremiah.

God’s judgement upon them for their obstinacy are shift; that they should all be cut off and perish in Egypt, except a still smaller number of which will escape; because the Pharaoh of Egypt should shortly fall into the hands of Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon, and be unable to protect them any longer.

Jeremiah 43

¹ And it came to pass that when Jeremiah had made an end of speaking unto all the people all the words of the Lord their God, for which the Lord their God had sent him to them, even all these words,

²then spoke Azariah the son of Hoshaiah, and Johanan the son of Kareah, and all the proud men, saying unto Jeremiah, “Thou speakest falsely. The Lord our God hath not sent thee to say, ‘Go not into Egypt to sojourn there.’ — and Johanan and all the proud men; the great men among them, who are commonly proud of their greatness; of their descent, their family and blood; of their wealth and riches, and posts of honour; perhaps the captains of the forces are meant, who elsewhere are mentioned along with Johanan, Jeremiah 40:13;

— these were men full of themselves, had a high opinion of their own wisdom, and were prudent in their own eyes; and could not bear to be contradicted or advised by the prophet, nor even by the Lord himself; and are justly, by the Targum, called wicked men; their pride was the cause of their rebellion against God and disobedience to him and of their ungenteel and insolent behaviour to the prophet;

— saying unto Jeremiah, thou speakest falsely: or, “a lie” it being contrary to their minds: so the prophets of the Lord and even the word of God itself are charged with falsehoods;

— the Lord our God hath not sent thee to say, go not into Egypt to sojourn there; they did not care to own it was the word of the Lord; whatever convictions of it they had in their minds; because they would not openly appear to be opponents against God; but deny that the prophet was sent by him.

³But Baruch the son of Neriah setteth thee against us, to deliver us into the hand of the Chaldeans, that they might put us to death and carry us away captives into Babylon.” — but Baruch the son of Neriah sets you against us to deliver us into the hand of the Chaldeans, that they might put us to death and carry us away captives into Babylon; upon this suspicion and accusation, these men based their opposition to Jeremiah’s counsel which conveyed to them the warnings of the Lord.

⁴So Johanan the son of Kareah, and all the captains of the forces, and all the people obeyed not the voice of the Lord to dwell in the land of Judah. — so Johanan, the son of Kareah, and all the captains of the forces and all the people, in accordance with the idea which they had had in mind, obeyed not the voice of the Lord to dwell in the land of Judah.

⁵But Johanan the son of Kareah and all the captains of the forces took all the remnant of Judah, who had returned from all nations whither they had been driven, to dwell in the land of Judah— these are those who upon the invasion of the land and siege of Jerusalem had fled to other countries, but now were returned from thence, in order to settle in the land of Judah; having heard that a governor from among the Jews was appointed over it; as from Moab, Ammon, Edom, and other countries; see Jeremiah 40:11;

⁶even men, and women, and children, and the king’s daughters, and every person whom Nebuzaradan the captain of the guard had left with Gedaliah the son of Ahikam, the son of Shaphan, and Jeremiah the prophet, and Baruch the son of Neriah. — even men, and women, and children, and the king’s daughters, the princesses of the royal household, Jeremiah 41:10, and every person that Nebuzaradan, the captain of the guard had left with Gedaliah, the son of Ahikam, the son of Shaphan, and Jeremiah the prophet, and Baruch the son of Neriah. All of these people were obliged to join the caravan of refugees, but the Q is, why didn’t Jeremiah and Baruch resist? And go their own way?

⁷So they came into the land of Egypt, for they obeyed not the voice of the Lord; thus came they even to Tahpanhes. — so them Jews and the king’s daughters came into the land of Egypt, for they obeyed not the voice of the Lord, as made known by the mouth of Jeremiah; thus came they even to Tahpanhes, the city of Daphne on one of the eastern delta-arms of the Nile.

⁸Then came the word of the Lord unto Jeremiah in Tahpanhes, saying,

⁹“Take great stones in thine hand, and hide them in the clay in the brickkiln, which is at the entry of Pharaoh’s house in Tahpanhes, in the sight of the men of Judah; — take great stones in thine hand and hide them in the clay in the brick-kiln which is at the entry of Pharaoh’s house in Tahpanhes, in the sight of the men of Judah, so that he would have trustworthy witnesses of his act. The palace of Pharaoh included not only the buildings proper, but their entire enclosure as well, which usually was surrounded by a high wall. Opposite the entrance of this enclosure the bricks for the building or for the repairing of the royal palace were made, and it was in the clay of this kiln that the stones carried by Jeremiah were to be hidden;

— Tahpanhes is the same with “Hanes” in Jeremiah 2:16 and Tahpanhes, Jeremiah 43:7 as the Targum calls it; it is thought to be the same with Daphnae Pelusiae; here Pharaoh had a house or palace; see Jeremiah 43:9 and this is the reason that the entourage from Judah and the king’s daughters had good refuge to go there for protection.

¹⁰and say unto them, ‘Thus saith the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel: Behold, I will send and take Nebuchadnezzar the king of Babylon, My servant, and will set his throne upon these stones that I have hid; and he shall spread his royal pavilion over them. — and say unto them, the witnesses of his symbolical act, Thus saith the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel, Behold, I will send and take Nebuchadnezzar, the king of Babylon, for as such he acted as My servant in this instance, in carrying out the Lord’s purpose upon Egypt, and will set his throne upon these stones that I have hidden; and he shall spread his royal pavilion over them, namely, the rich tapestry which formed the curtains of the throne.

¹¹And when he cometh, he shall smite the land of Egypt, and deliver such as are for death to death, and such as are for captivity to captivity, and such as are for the sword to the sword. — and when he cometh, in extending his campaign of conquest to Africa, he shall smite the land of Egypt and deliver such as are for death, principally by famine and pestilence, to death, and such as are for captivity to captivity, and such as are for the sword, that is, death in battle, to the sword. In this way, as the scourge of the Lord, he would also act as the servant of Yehovah. Both the act of laying the stones and the material spoken of are significant; for the stones of the throne’s foundation are symbolical of the power and firmness of Nebuchadnezzar’s rule, while the clay of Pharaoh’s palace signifies the weakness of his power.

¹²And I will kindle a fire in the houses of the gods of Egypt, and he shall burn them and carry them away captives; and he shall array himself with the land of Egypt, as a shepherd putteth on his garment; and he shall go forth from thence in peace. — and I will kindle a fire in the houses of the gods of Egypt, to show the helplessness of their idols in the country whose security the Jews seeked; including the Queen of heaven, Astarte; and he, Nebuchadnezzar, shall burn them and carry them away captives, the very gods of Egypt who they serve; and he shall array himself in the land of Egypt as a shepherd putteth on his garment, and he shall go forth from thence in peace. The point of comparison is the freedom and the ease of the act; for just as easily and quickly as a shepherd takes up his mantle, practically his garment and wraps it about him, so easily will Nebuchadnezzar take hold upon Egypt and the whole country in his hand, leave without hindrance and none opposing him.

¹³He shall break also the images of Bethshemesh [the House of the Sun] that are in the land of Egypt; and the houses of the gods of the Egyptians shall he burn with fire.’” — he shall break also the images of Bethshemesh that is in the land of Egypt, the renowned Temple of the Sun at Heliopolis, one of the greatest sanctuaries of the country; and the houses of the gods of the Egyptians shall he burn with fire. “The images of Bethshemesh are, above all, the obelisks, of which there was an unlimited number in the city. Of the oldest, however, were not the largest, one still remains in its place.” In this manner would all the representatives of Egyptian idol-worship fall before the power of Nebuchadnezzar, and the hope and trust of the Jews who fled to Egypt would find themselves worshipping these gods of woods and stones in vain.

— the images of the Bethshemesh; that is, the “city of the sun” as the Septuagint says; and so “Bethshemesh” signifies the “house of the sun” either it designs the temple of the sun, or the city where it was worshipped; as Heliopolis was famous for the worship of the sun, and for a magnificent temple in it, built for that purpose, and where abundance of persons resorted on that account, as Herodotus l observes; here were many images of the sun; and these now should be broke to pieces, when this city should become the city of destruction, as is foretold it should by Isaiah, Isaiah 19:18; where the Targum expressly calls it the city Bethshemesh, that is to be destroyed.

~~~

Another parallel on Sun worship in Ezekiel 8 by the house of Judah with comments embedded below

¹⁵ Then said He unto me, “Hast thou seen this, O son of man? Turn thee yet again, and thou shalt see greater abominations than these.”

¹⁶ And He brought me into the inner court of the Lord’S house, and behold, at the door of the temple of the Lord, between the porch and the altar, were about five and twenty men with their backs toward the temple of the Lord and their faces toward the east; and they worshiped the sun toward the east. — the heads of the twenty-four courses of the priesthood, led by the high priest, making up the “twenty five men” were not only worshipping the sun: they were doing so in the very temple of God, with their backs turned upon the presence of God!

— the worship of heavenly bodies was against God’s will which Moses had warned the people (Deuteronomy 4:19, 17:3, whose penalty is to be stoned to death, Deuteronomy 17:5 ’till they die). These 25 men corrupted themselves by worshipping the sun; and so the Targum renders it, “and, lo, they corrupted themselves, worshipping facing the east the sun; their backs toward the temple of the Lord” — turned their backs to the most holy place; which is an aggravation of their impiety; casting the utmost contempt for God:

Moses’ warnings in Deuteronomy 17

³ And [if you] hath gone and served other gods and worshiped them, either the sun or moon or any of the host of heaven, which I have not commanded, ⁴and it be told thee, and thou hast heard of it and inquired diligently, and behold, it be true and the thing certain that such abomination is wrought in Israel, ⁵ then shalt thou bring forth that man or that woman who has committed that wicked thing unto thy gates, even that man or that woman, and shalt stone them with stones till they die. Deuteronomy 17:3-5

— today, more than 98.5 percent of Christians are honoring the SUN by observing SUNday worship. They have “their backs toward the temple of the Lord and their faces toward the east; and they worshiped the SUN toward the east; whose penalty is to be stoned to death – ’till they die.

Jeremiah 44

¹ The word that came to Jeremiah concerning all the Jews who dwell in the land of Egypt, who dwell at Migdol, and at Tahpanhes, and at Noph, and in the country of Pathros, saying, — the word that came to Jeremiah concerning all the Jews which dwell in the land of Egypt, where they had settled in spite of the earnest remonstrances of Jeremiah, which dwell at Migdol, on the northeastern boundary of Egypt, and at Tahpanhes, in the delta of the Nile, and at Noph, or Memphis, the capital of Lower Egypt, and in the country of Pathros, that is, Upper Egypt, for in the intervening years the Jews had selected different parts of Egypt for temporary omes, but if Jeremiah and Baruch were faithful servants of God WHY did they allowed themselves to come to Egypt with Johanan the son of Kareah? Jeremiah and Baruch were not in chains so why didn’t they remain in Judah?

— the Jews who dwell in the land of Egypt; This Note Is From The Companion Bible.

Recent discoveries of Papyri in the ruins of Elephantine (an
island in the Nile, opposite Assouan), dating from the fifth century B.
C., bear witness to two great facts:-
(1) That Jews were then dwelling there (in 424-405 B.C.).
(2) That they were observing the Feast of the Passover, “as it
is written in the law of Moses”.

²“Thus saith the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel: Ye have seen all the evil that I have brought upon Jerusalem and upon all the cities of Judah; and behold, this day they are a desolation, and no man dwelleth therein, — thus saith the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel, Ye have seen all the evil that I have brought upon Jerusalem and upon all the cities of Judah, most of the Jews addressed having been witnesses of the terrible catastrophe which brought destruction to the southern kingdom; and behold this day they are a desolation and no man dwelleth therein, the entire land, formerly so rich, fruitful and populous had become an uninhabited desert,

³because of their wickedness which they have committed to provoke Me to anger, in that they went to burn incense and to serve other gods whom they knew not, neither they, ye, nor your fathers. — because of their wickedness which they have committed to provoke Me to anger in that they went leaving the path of right and duty set before them by the Word of God, to burn incense and to serve other gods, by such act of worship, whom they knew not, neither they, ye, nor your fathers. That was the first cause of the calamity which came upon Jerusalem.

⁴Nevertheless, I sent unto you all My servants the prophets, rising early and sending them, saying, ‘Oh, do not this abominable thing that I hate.’ — however, I sent unto you all My servants the prophets, rising early and sending them, full of merciful eagerness to prevent the threatened catastrophe, saying, Oh, do not this abominable thing that I hate, which filled Him with loathing.

⁵But they hearkened not, nor inclined their ear to turn from their wickedness, to burn no incense unto other gods. — but they hearkened not nor inclined their ear to turn from their wickedness, they paid not the slightest attention to Yehovah’s admonitions and warnings, and not to burn incense to other gods.

⁶Therefore My fury and Mine anger was poured forth and was kindled in the cities of Judah and in the streets of Jerusalem; and they are wasted and desolate, as at this day. — wherefore My fury and Mine anger was poured forth, like an overturned vessel spilling all its contents at once, and was kindled in the cities of Judah and in the streets of Jerusalem, for the fire of destruction was a manifestation of the divine anger; and they are wasted and desolate, as at this day, their ruin being entirely the fault of the stubbornness of the rebellious Jews and the consequences were still evident.

⁷“Therefore, now thus saith the Lord, the God of hosts, the God of Israel: Why commit ye this great evil against your souls to cut off from you man and woman, child and suckling, out of Judah to leave you none to remain, — therefore, now thus saith the Lord, the God of hosts, the God of Israel, Wherefore commit ye this great evil against your souls, to the destruction of their own lives, for they were not injuring the Lord, but merely themselves, to cut off from you man and woman, child and suckling, out of Judah, in a judgement of complete extermination, to leave you none to remain,

⁸in that ye provoke Me unto wrath with the works of your hands, burning incense unto other gods in the land of Egypt whither ye have gone to dwell, that ye might cut yourselves off and that ye might be a curse and a reproach among all the nations of the earth? — provoking Me to wrath with the works of your hands, burning incense unto other gods in the land of Egypt, where you have gone to dwell, having profited nothing by the example of Jerusalem’s destruction, that you might cut yourselves off, and that you might be a curse and a reproach among all the nations of the earth?

— that they were looked upon as an accursed people of God, and their names were taken up for a proverb and a reproach everywhere; because of their dwelling there, Egypt was invaded; for if they hadn’t gone there, Egypt would have been left alone.

⁹Have ye forgotten the wickedness of your fathers, and the wickedness of the kings of Judah, and the wickedness of their wives, and your own wickedness, and the wickedness of your wives which they have committed in the land of Judah and in the streets of Jerusalem? — have ye forgotten the wickedness of your fathers, their manifold evil doings, and the wickedness of the kings of Judah, and the wickedness of their wives, and their own wickedness, and the wickedness of their wives, which they have committed in the land of Judah and in the streets of Jerusalem? The queens of Judah, together with the women throughout the country, had been the chief promoters of idolatry; for just as women may be the chief upholders of virtue, they may also be the chief agents for the spreading of wickedness.

¹⁰They are not humbled even unto this day, neither have they feared, nor walked in My law, nor in My statutes that I set before you and before your fathers. — they are not humbled even unto this day, they had not yet learned to turn to the Lord with contrite hearts, neither have they feared nor walked in My Law nor in My statutes that I set before them and before their fathers. They had deliberately ignored the norm and rule which the Lord had given them to follow, and the Lord speaks of them partly in the third person to give expression to the supreme disgust which filled His heart at their behavior.

— the Targum says, “they cease not unto this day;” that is, from committing the same things; which shows they had no true humiliation and contrition for them. This is to be understood not of the Jews in Babylon only, but chiefly of those in Egypt.

¹¹“Therefore thus saith the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel: Behold, I will set My face against you for evil, and to cut off all Judah. — and to cut off all Judah; not the whole tribe of Judah; not those that were in Babylon, which were by far the greatest number of that tribe; but those that were in Egypt.

¹²And I will take the remnant of Judah who have set their faces to go into the land of Egypt to sojourn there, and they shall all be consumed and fall in the land of Egypt; they shall even be consumed by the sword and by the famine. They shall die, from the least even unto the greatest, by the sword and by the famine; and they shall be an execration and an astonishment, and a curse and a reproach. — that have set their faces to go into the land of Egypt, despites all the remonstrances made to them to the contrary; and were now actually sojourners there: this describes such persons who wilfully go against God’s will and of their own accord;

— and they shall all be consumed and fall in the land of Egypt; not by natural death, one after another; but by the judgements of God, as follows:

— they shall even be consumed by the sword and by famine; by a foreign army and sieges; by the sword of the king of Babylon;

— they shall die; from the least even unto the greatest, by the sword and by the famine; which is repeated for the confirmation of it, to persons of every age, state and condition, rank and degree, young and old, high and low, rich and poor: and they shall be an execration, an astonishment and a curse.

¹³For I will punish them that dwell in the land of Egypt, as I have punished Jerusalem by the sword, by the famine, and by the pestilence,

¹⁴so that none of the remnant of Judah who have gone into the land of Egypt to sojourn there shall escape or remain, that they should return into the land of Judah to which they have a desire to return to dwell there; for none shall return but such as shall escape.” — so that none of the remnant of Judah which are gone into the land of Egypt to sojourn there shall escape or remain that they should return into the land of Judah, to the which they have a desire to return to dwell there, they were literally, “lifting up their souls with eagerness” and hoped to make Judea their home once more; for none shall return but such as shall escape. Since the Lord was speaking in general terms. He pictured the destruction as so universal that practically no one would escape, and the heaping of similar expressions heightens the impression of grim determination on His part. He is a jealous God, who visits the iniquity of sinners upon them with all the sternness which His justice demands;

— for none shall return but such as shall escape; out of the hands of Johanan and the rest of the captains; and should get out of the land of Egypt before the Chaldeans came into it. — perhaps Jeremiah and Baruch did escaped, together with the king’s daughters, whose mission to to build up and to plant; another commission of Jeremiah taken up by Ezekiel 17; of bringing down the high tree and exalting the low tree.

¹⁵Then all the men who knew that their wives had burned incense unto other gods, and all the women who stood by, a great multitude, even all the people who dwelt in the land of Egypt, in Pathros, answered Jeremiah, saying, — then all the men which knew that their wives had burned incense unto other gods and all the women that stood by, a great multitude, the female contingent apparently being in the majority, from which many have concluded that the festival was one in honor of the Queen of Heaven herself, in whose service the women were very zealous, even all the people that dwelt in the land of Egypt, in Pathros, where this meeting was held, answered Jeremiah, saying,

¹⁶“As for the word that thou hast spoken unto us in the name of the Lord, we will not hearken unto thee.

¹⁷But we will certainly do whatsoever thing goeth forth out of our own mouth, to burn incense unto the queen of heaven and to pour out drink offerings unto her, as we have done, we, and our fathers, our kings, and our princes in the cities of Judah and in the streets of Jerusalem; for then had we plenty of bread, and were well and saw no evil. — but we will certainly do whatsoever thing goeth forth out of our own mouth, the vows which they had made when they embraced idolatry, to burn incense unto the Queen of heaven, that is, Ashtaroth, or Astarte, and to pour out drink-offerings unto her, as we have done, we and our fathers, our kings and our princes, in the cities of Judah and in the streets of Jerusalem, this statement amounts to revolting boastfulness; for then had we plenty of victuals, literally, “we were satisfied with bread,” having food of every kind in sufficient amounts, and were well and saw no evil, they enjoyed good fortune and happiness, as they believed. Fools attribute what they consider prosperity to the fact that God connives at their sin, so that they finally deny His very existence.

¹⁸But since we left off burning incense to the queen of heaven and pouring out drink offerings unto her, we have been wanting in all things, and have been consumed by the sword and by the famine.”

¹⁹“And when we burned incense to the queen of heaven and poured out drink offerings unto her, did we make her cakes to worship her, and pour out drink offerings unto her without our men?”

— the Queen of heaven: Geneva Study Bible: Read Jeremiah 7:18 it seems that the papists gathered of this place Salbe Regina and Regina caeli latare calling the virgin Mary Queen of heaven and so out of the blessed virgin and mother of Jesus Christ, made an idol; for here the prophet condemns their idolatry. (the Queen of heaven, that is, Ashtaroth or Astarte: more at the end)

²⁰Then Jeremiah said unto all the people — to the men, and to the women, and to all the people who had given him that answer, saying,

²¹“The incense that ye burned in the cities of Judah and in the streets of Jerusalem, ye and your fathers, your kings and your princes, and the people of the land, did not the Lord remember them, and came it not into His mind? — the incense that ye burned in the cities of Judah and in the streets of Jerusalem, ye and your fathers, your kings and your princes, and the people of the land, of which they in their wickedness, now presumed to boast, did not the Lord remember them and came it not into His mind? Did not the present desolation of their homeland testify to the fact that the Lord was very well aware of their wickedness and that He had repaid their evil-doing?

²²So the Lord could no longer bear it, because of the evil of your doings and because of the abominations which ye have committed. Therefore your land is a desolation, and an astonishment and a curse, without an inhabitant, as at this day. — so that the Lord could no longer bear because of the evil of your doing’s and because of the abominations which ye have committed, with all His long-suffering He could no longer endure it; therefore is your land a desolation and an astonishment and a curse, without an inhabitant, as at this day. The evidences of His wrath upon the Land of Promise were still evident and all on account of their idolatry, as the prophet now repeats once more, for the sake of emphasis.

²³Because ye have burned incense, and because ye have sinned against the Lord and have not obeyed the voice of the Lord, nor walked in His law nor in His statutes nor in His testimonies, therefore this evil has happened unto you, as at this day.”

²⁴Moreover Jeremiah said unto all the people and to all the women, “Hear the word of the Lord, all Judah who are in the land of Egypt.

²⁵Thus saith the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel, saying: Ye and your wives have both spoken with your mouths and fulfilled with your hands, saying, ‘We will surely perform our vows that we have vowed to burn incense to the queen of heaven and to pour out drink offerings unto her.’ Ye will surely accomplish your vows and surely perform your vows! — thus saith the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel, saying, Ye and your wives have both spoken with your mouths and fulfilled with your hand, saying, We will surely perform our vows that we have vowed to burn incense to the Queen of heaven, and to pour out drink-offerings unto her; ye will surely accomplish your vows and perform your vows. Here is a bit of holy irony; for, as Jeremiah states, no one could accuse them of unsteadiness in keeping their idolatrous promises. If they had only been as steadfast toward Yehovah, the God of the covenant!

²⁶Therefore hear ye the word of the Lord, all Judah who dwell in the land of Egypt: ‘Behold, I have sworn by My great name,’ saith the Lord, ‘that My name shall no more be named in the mouth of any man of Judah in all the land of Egypt, saying, “The Lord God liveth.” — that my name shall no more be named in the mouth of any man of Judah in all the land of Egypt, saying, the Lord God liveth: this cannot be understood of the name of the Lord being called upon them, or of their being called by his name, and reckoned his people, since this respects not a name by which they should be named, but which they should name; and intends their use of the divine name in an oath, of which this is a form, “the Lord God liveth”:

— or as sure as the Lord lives, or by the living God, it is so and so; and especially as used in their vows to burn incense to the Queen of heaven, they vowing by the living God that they would do so, which must be very abominable to him; and therefore he solemnly swears there should not be a Jew in all Egypt that should use it; the reason is, because everyone of them that did should be cut off.

²⁷Behold, I will watch over them for evil and not for good; and all the men of Judah who are in the land of Egypt shall be consumed by the sword and by the famine, until there be an end of them. — and all the men of Judah that are in the land of Egypt shall be consumed by the sword, and by the famine, until there be an end of them; that is, the greatest part of them, excepting a few that shall escape, hereafter mentioned, particularly Jeremiah, Baruch and the king’s daughters; but as for the main body of such, who went of their own accord to Egypt, and settled, and fell: into the idolatry of the country; these should all perish one after another, till there were none of them left; either by the sword of the king of Babylon; or by famine, which his army and sieges would produce; or by pestilence, though not here mentioned, yet is in Jeremiah 44:13.

²⁸Yet a small number that escape the sword shall return out of the land of Egypt into the land of Judah, and all the remnant of Judah that are gone into the land of Egypt to sojourn there shall know whose words shall stand, Mine, or theirs. — yet a small number that escaped the sword shall return out of the land of Egypt into the land of Judah; they shall make their escape out of the land of Egypt, where they did not go willingly; and, by one providence or another, shall come back to their native country, the land of Judea, When the rest will not; which must be a distinguishing factor among the groups:

— and all the remnant of Judah, that are gone into the land of Egypt to sojourn there, shall know what words shall stand, mine or theirs; those that are left of the sword, famine and pestilence, shall know by facts before them, whose words have their effect and accomplishment; whether theirs, that promised impunity and safety, peace and prosperity, in their idolatrous practices; or the Lord’s, which threatened with ruin and destruction. The Lord is true, and every man a liar; whatever devices are in a man’s heart, the counsel of the Lord, that shall stand.

²⁹And this shall be a sign unto you,’ saith the Lord, ‘that I will punish you in this place, that ye may know that My words shall surely stand against you for evil.’ — and this shall be a sign unto you, saith the Lord, that I will punish you in this place… in Egypt, as before threatened; and what follows is a confirming sign that so it would be; and which, when observed by some, gave the hint to them to make their escape; though others, being hardened in their idolatry, impenitence and unbelief, continued and perished.

³⁰Thus saith the Lord: ‘Behold, I will give Pharaoh Hophra king of Egypt into the hand of his enemies and into the hand of them that seek his life, as I gave Zedekiah king of Judah into the hand of Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon, his enemy who sought his life.’” — as I gave Zedekiah king of Judah into the hand of Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon that sought his life; in like manner, and as sure as God had done to one, he would do the other; and God puts the Jews in mind of what they had done to him; and might from hence conclude that this as a sign of their own ruin; and which they might know that it was indeed, the king of Egypt, in whom they trusted, being taken by his enemies, and his country wasted, they must in course fall prey to the conqueror.

~~~

More on the Queen of heaven: Astarte, Easter

Easter (which is how you pronounce Ishtar) is originally the celebration of Ishtar, the Assyrian and Babylonian goddess of fertility and sex. Vine’s Complete Expository Dictionary of Old and New Testament Words, in its entry “Easter,” states:

“The term ‘Easter’ is not of Christian origin. It is another form of Astarte, one of the titles of the Chaldean goddess, the queen of heaven. The festival of Pasch [Passover] held by Christians in post-apostolic times was a continuation of the Jewish feast . . . From this Pasch the pagan festival of ‘Easter’ was quite distinct and was introduced into the apostate Western religion, as part of the attempt to adapt pagan festivals to Christianity” (W.E. Vine, 1985).

Ishtar was an ancient Mesopotamian goddess of war, fertility, and sex. She is featured in the Epic of Gilgamesh, and the “Ishtar Gate” was part of Nebuchadnezzar’s Babylon. Her worship involved animal sacrifices; objects made of her sacred stone, lapis lazuli; and temple prostitution.

Superimposed over an image of Ishtar are these words: “This is Ishtar: pronounced ‘Easter.’ From Ishtar the name Easter was derived. It’s well known that Easter was originally the celebration of Ishtar, the Assyrian and Babylonian goddess of fertility and sex. Her symbols (like the egg and the bunny) were and still are fertility and sex symbols.

Back at the Council of Nicaea in 325 AD, Constantine read out the letter that he would subsequently send to churches everywhere: “When the question arose concerning the most holy day of Easter it was decreed by common consent to be expedient, that this festival should be celebrated on the same day by all, in every place… Let us then have nothing in common with … the Jews” sums up one of the key movement for the establishment of Easter to be cerebrated in the Church today.

After Constantine decided to Christianize the Empire, Easter was changed to represent Jesus. And everything Jewish were understood to be totally incompatible with Christianity. But at its roots, Easter is outwardly all about celebrating fertility and sex but inwardly it’s paying homage to a Mesopotamian goddess, the Queen of heaven, Ishtar.

Posted in Jeremiah