Captive – Is, Was and Will Be – The Unknown Character of Christ and His Word https://www.iswasandwillbe.com Revelation 1:8 "I am the Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the ending, saith the Lord, which is, and which was, and which is to come, the Almighty Sat, 01 Oct 2022 17:11:00 +0000 en-US hourly 1 https://www.iswasandwillbe.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/04/cropped-headerlogo-32x32.png Captive – Is, Was and Will Be – The Unknown Character of Christ and His Word https://www.iswasandwillbe.com 32 32 Book of Jeremiah – Jer 50:33-46 Who is the Shepherd That Will Stand Before Me? https://www.iswasandwillbe.com/book-of-jeremiah-jer-5033-46-who-is-the-shepherd-that-will-stand-before-me/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=book-of-jeremiah-jer-5033-46-who-is-the-shepherd-that-will-stand-before-me Sat, 01 Oct 2022 17:05:26 +0000 https://www.iswasandwillbe.com/?p=26349 Jer 50:33-46 Who Is The Shepherd That Will Stand Before Me?
[Study Aired October 2, 2022]

Jer 50:33  Thus 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.
Jer 50:34  Their Redeemer is strong; the LORD of hosts is his name: he shall throughly plead their cause, that he may give rest to the land, and disquiet the inhabitants of Babylon.
Jer 50:35  A sword is upon the Chaldeans, saith the LORD, and upon the inhabitants of Babylon, and upon her princes, and upon her wise men.
Jer 50:36  A sword is upon the liars; and they shall dote: a sword is upon her mighty men; and they shall be dismayed.
Jer 50:37  A 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 upon her treasures; and they shall be robbed.
Jer 50:38  A drought is upon her waters; and they shall be dried up: for it is the land of graven images, and they are mad upon their idols.
Jer 50:39  Therefore 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.
Jer 50:40  As God overthrew Sodom and Gomorrah and the neighbour cities thereof, saith the LORD; so shall no man abide there, neither shall any son of man dwell therein.
Jer 50:41  Behold, a people shall come from the north, and a great nation, and many kings shall be raised up from the coasts of the earth.
Jer 50:42  They shall hold the bow and the lance: they are cruel, and will not shew 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.
Jer 50:43  The 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.
Jer 50:44  Behold, he shall come up like a lion from the swelling of 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?
Jer 50:45  Therefore 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.
Jer 50:46  At the noise of the taking of Babylon the earth is moved, and the cry is heard among the nations.

The doctrines of Mystery Babylon appeal to our flesh while at the same time giving us a self-righteous feeling of denying ourselves, loving others more than ourselves, and loving and pleasing God. The only thing missing in all of that is obedience to our Lord and His doctrines. The Pharisee who looked down on the publican embodies this self-righteous spirit which is so appealing to our flesh:

Luk 18:9  And he spake this parable unto certain which trusted in themselves that they were righteous, and despised others:
Luk 18:10  Two men went up into the temple to pray; the one a Pharisee, and the other a publican.
Luk 18:11  The Pharisee stood and prayed thus with himself, God, I thank thee, that I am not as other men are, extortioners, unjust, adulterers, or even as this publican.
Luk 18:12  I fast twice in the week, I give tithes of all that I possess.
Luk 18:13  And the publican, standing afar off, would not lift up so much as his eyes unto heaven, but smote upon his breast, saying, God be merciful to me a sinner.
Luk 18:14  I tell you, this man went down to his house justified rather than the other: for every one that exalteth himself shall be abased; and he that humbleth himself shall be exalted.

With the false doctrine of ‘free moral agency’ Mystery Babylon convinces us that our righteousness is of our own choosing, and we thank the Lord that we have chosen to be better than others. We believe we have chosen of our own will to “not [be] as other men… extortioners, unjust, adulterers. [We] fast twice in one week and [we] tithe [on our net income]”. Those are “heavy burdens” from which our false minister’s false doctrine of free will give us no relief:

Mat 23:4  For they bind heavy burdens and grievous to be borne, and lay them on men’s shoulders; but they themselves will not move them with one of their fingers.

Jer 50:33  Thus 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.

The ministers, rabbis, priests, and holy men of every religion are spiritual slave masters over those in their sphere of influence and they “take [us] captives, hold [us] fast; and refuse to let us go”. However, if we are Christ’s anointed, He will come to our rescue:

Jer 50:34  Their Redeemer is strong; the LORD of hosts is his name: he shall throughly plead their cause, that he may give rest to the land, and disquiet the inhabitants of Babylon.

The Lord knows those who are His even before they come to know that they are His. His ability to protect and direct the affairs of their lives is as subtle, as profound, and as powerful as the way He took care of Joseph after being sold as a slave by his ten brothers, who signify the ministers of Mystery Babylon, the subject of the judgment of this chapter of Jeremiah.

Jer 50:35  A sword is upon the Chaldeans, saith the LORD, and upon the inhabitants of Babylon, and upon her princes, and upon her wise men.
Jer 50:36  A sword is upon the liars; and they shall dote: a sword is upon her mighty men; and they shall be dismayed.

‘Doting liars’ are ‘foolish liars’. The Hebrew for ‘dote’ is:

Here are the four entries for this Hebrew word:

‘Yaal’ [is] a primitive root” and it is defined as “be [or] become foolish”. “They shall dote” may very well have been understood by all as ‘become foolish liars’ in 1611, but I had no idea what that meant until I looked it up in e-sword. This verse labels all the false ministers of all the religions of men, apostate Christianity included, as “foolish liars”.

The sword that is upon the Chaldeans and the Babylonians (being the same people, both of which signify the tribes of the people of Mystery Babylon) is the same sword which oppresses us all while we are in the clutches of this great harlot. Outwardly Jeremiah speaks of the armies of Nebuchadnezzar, but Nebuchadnezzar is the Lord’s servant:

Jer 27:6  And now have I given all these lands into the hand of Nebuchadnezzar the king of Babylon, my servant; and the beasts of the field have I given him also to serve him.
Jer 27:7  And all nations shall serve him, and his son, and his son’s son, until the very time of his land come: and then many nations and great kings shall serve themselves of him.
Jer 27:8  And it shall come to pass, that the nation and kingdom which will not serve the same Nebuchadnezzar the king of Babylon, and that will not put their neck under the yoke of the king of Babylon, that nation will I punish, saith the LORD, with the sword, and with the famine, and with the pestilence, until I have consumed them by his hand.

Therefore, the inward application of:

Jer 50:36  A sword is upon the liars; and they shall dote: a sword is upon her mighty men; and they shall be dismayed.

The inward application of “her mighty men” is that all the mighty false doctrines of Mystery Babylon, the doctrines of free will, the trinity, and that false doctrine’s attendant doctrines of  the immortality of the soul, an eternal hell of literal fire… all these, and many other false doctrines which are espoused by her “mighty men [who] shall be dismayed” when we are exposed as the liars we are by those who the Lord will send to expose us as such. Those who He sends to do that are called “the ten horns… upon the beast”:

Rev 13:1  And I stood upon the sand of the sea, and saw a beast rise up out of the sea, having seven heads and ten horns, and upon his horns ten crowns, and upon his heads the name of blasphemy.

Rev 17:12  And the ten horns which thou sawest are ten kings, which have received no kingdom as yet; but receive power as kings one hour with the beast.
Rev 17:13  These have one mind, and shall give their power and strength unto the beast.
Rev 17:14  These shall make war with the Lamb, and the Lamb shall overcome them: for he is Lord of lords, and King of kings: and they that are with him are called, and chosen, and faithful.
Rev 17:15  And he saith unto me, The waters which thou sawest, where the whore sitteth, are peoples, and multitudes, and nations, and tongues.
Rev 17:16  And the ten horns which thou sawest upon the beast, these shall hate the whore, and shall make her desolate and naked, and shall eat her flesh, and burn her with fire.
Rev 17:17  For God hath put in their hearts to fulfil his will, and to agree, and give their kingdom unto the beast, until the words of God shall be fulfilled.

All nations shall serve him”, meaning Nebuchadnezzar, tells us that it is the Lord Himself who sends Mystery Babylon to subdue “all nations”. Therefore, the false doctrines of Mystery Babylon are the Lord’s servants which He sends via Nebuchadnezzar to subdue and enslave our rebellious, self-righteous old man. “All nations” within and without are subdued by “the yoke” of Mystery Babylon the great, who is signified by literal Babylon who the Lord sent as ‘His servant’ to enslave His own self-righteous, stubborn, and rebellious people.

Psa 78:7  That they might set their hope in God, and not forget the works of God, but keep his commandments:
Psa 78:8  And might not be as their fathers, a stubborn and rebellious generation; a generation that set not their heart aright, and whose spirit was not stedfast with God.

We are all “as our fathers”. Notice what the holy spirit thinks of a stubborn and rebellious spirit:

1Sa 15:18  And the LORD sent thee [King Saul] on a journey, and said, Go and utterly destroy the sinners the Amalekites, and fight against them until they be consumed.
1Sa 15:19  Wherefore then didst thou not obey the voice of the LORD, but didst fly upon the spoil, and didst evil in the sight of the LORD?
1Sa 15:20  And Saul said unto Samuel, Yea, I have obeyed the voice of the LORD, and have gone the way which the LORD sent me, and have brought Agag the king of Amalek, and have utterly destroyed the Amalekites.
1Sa 15:21  But the people took of the spoil, sheep and oxen, the chief of the things which should have been utterly destroyed, to sacrifice unto the LORD thy God in Gilgal.
1Sa 15:22  And Samuel said, Hath the LORD as great delight in burnt offerings and sacrifices, as in obeying the voice of the LORD? Behold, to obey is better than sacrifice, and to hearken than the fat of rams.
1Sa 15:23  For rebellion is as the sin of witchcraft, and stubbornness is as iniquity and idolatry. Because thou hast rejected the word of the LORD, he hath also rejected thee from being king.
1Sa 15:24  And Saul said unto Samuel, I have sinned: for I have transgressed the commandment of the LORD, and thy words: because I feared the people, and obeyed their voice.
1Sa 15:25  Now therefore, I pray thee, pardon my sin, and turn again with me, that I may worship the LORD.
1Sa 15:26  And Samuel said unto Saul, I will not return with thee: for thou hast rejected the word of the LORD, and the LORD hath rejected thee from being king over Israel.
1Sa 15:27  And as Samuel turned about to go away, he laid hold upon the skirt of his mantle, and it rent.
1Sa 15:28  And Samuel said unto him, The LORD hath rent the kingdom of Israel from thee this day, and hath given it to a neighbour of thine, that is better than thou.

“Rebellion is as the sin of witchcraft, and stubbornness is as iniquity and idolatry”. All these sins are the fruits of all the “foul spirits… and… unclean and hateful birds” found in Mystery Babylon The Great:

Rev 18:1  And after these things I saw another angel come down from heaven, having great power; and the earth was lightened with his glory.
Rev 18:2  And he cried mightily with a strong voice, saying, Babylon the great is fallen, is fallen, and is become the habitation of devils, and the hold of every foul spirit, and a cage of every unclean and hateful bird.
Rev 18:3  For all nations have drunk of the wine of the wrath of her fornication, and the kings of the earth have committed fornication with her, and the merchants of the earth are waxed rich through the abundance of her delicacies.

This great harlot bears dominion over “all nations”. That is true within us, and it is also true outwardly.

Now the Lord is sending His sword upon Mystery Babylon, and her punishment will be accomplished in the same way that she became the yoke of all nations. She, too, will be punished “with the sword, and with the famine, and with the pestilence, until I [the Lord] have consumed them by his [Nebuchadnezzar’s…Babylon’s] hand.” Nebuchadnezzar signifies Mystery Babylon, the hand of the Lord and the instrument of His punishment by “the ten horns on the beast” which ‘beast is dominated by this great harlot, Mystery Babylon the Great.

‘Horns’ in scripture signify strength (1Sa 2:10, 2Sa 22:3, Lam 2:3, Psa 18:2)

1Sa 2:10  The adversaries of the LORD shall be broken to pieces; out of heaven shall he thunder upon them: the LORD shall judge the ends of the earth; and he shall give strength unto his king, and exalt the horn of his anointed.

Psa 18:2  The LORD is my rock, and my fortress, and my deliverer; my God, my strength, in whom I will trust; my buckler, and the horn of my salvation, and my high tower.

Jer 50:37  A 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.

“The sword” which causes such fear and despair is “the Word of God”, as the word of the works of the Lord affected all the Canaanite kings who knew what the Lord had done in bringing Israel out of Egypt:

Jos 2:9  And she [Rahab the harlot] said unto the men, I know that the LORD hath given you the land, and that your terror is fallen upon us, and that all the inhabitants of the land faint because of you.
Jos 2:10  For we have heard how the LORD dried up the water of the Red sea for you, when ye came out of Egypt; and what ye did unto the two kings of the Amorites, that were on the other side Jordan, Sihon and Og, whom ye utterly destroyed.
Jos 2:11  And as soon as we had heard these things, our hearts did melt, neither did there remain any more courage in any man, because of you: for the LORD your God, he is God in heaven above, and in earth beneath.
Jos 2:12  Now therefore, I pray you, swear unto me by the LORD, since I have shewed you kindness, that ye will also shew kindness unto my father’s house, and give me a true token:
Jos 2:13  And that ye will save alive my father, and my mother, and my brethren, and my sisters, and all that they have, and deliver our lives from death.
Jos 2:14  And the men answered her, Our life for yours, if ye utter not this our business. And it shall be, when the LORD hath given us the land, that we will deal kindly and truly with thee.

As the seven priests blowing seven trumpets signifies the seven angels which blow the seven trumpets and pour out the seven vials of the wrath of God, so also do these two spies signify the Lord’s two witnesses who pour out of themselves the oil of the Word of God:

Zec 4:1  And the angel that talked with me came again, and waked me, as a man that is wakened out of his sleep,
Zec 4:2  And 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:
Zec 4:3  And two olive trees by it, one upon the right side of the bowl, and the other upon the left side thereof.
Zec 4:4  So I answered and spake to the angel that talked with me, saying, What are these, my lord?
Zec 4:5  Then the angel that talked with me answered and said unto me, Knowest thou not what these be? And I said, No, my lord.
Zec 4:6  Then he answered and spake 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.

Rev 11:3  And I will give power unto my two witnesses, and they shall prophesy a thousand two hundred and threescore days, clothed in sackcloth.
Rev 11:4  These are the two olive trees, and the two candlesticks standing before the God of the earth.

The Lord’s “two witnesses” are His “very elect” who will proclaim judgment upon the ‘earth’ both within and outwardly. They are not just His elders and teachers; they are His “one body”.

Jer 50:38  A drought is upon her waters; and they shall be dried up: for it is the land of graven images, and they are mad upon their idols.

Amo 8:11  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:
Amo 8:12  And 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.

We all experience this spiritual famine when our Love forsakes us for a season:

Son 3:1  By night on my bed I sought him whom my soul loveth: I sought him, but I found him not.
Son 3:2  I will rise now, and go about the city in the streets, and in the broad ways I will seek him whom my soul loveth: I sought him, but I found him not.

If we are the “blessed and holy… few” then the Lord’s “watchmen” find us and direct us back to our Love:

Son 3:3  The watchmen that go about the city found me: to whom I said, Saw ye him whom my soul loveth?
Son 3:4  It was but a little that I passed from them, but I found him whom my soul loveth: I held him, and would not let him go, until I had brought him into my mother’s house, and into the chamber of her that conceived me.

The “many called” who are not chosen, or do not remain faithful to the end, do not come out of Babylon in this present time and…

Jer 50:39  Therefore 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.

Wild beasts and unclean fowl both typify lying false doctrines of devils which is what abides in Mystery Babylon the Great:

Rev 18:1  And after these things I saw another angel come down from heaven, having great power; and the earth was lightened with his glory.
Rev 18:2  And he cried mightily with a strong voice, saying, Babylon the great is fallen, is fallen, and is become the habitation of devils, and the hold of every foul spirit, and a cage of every unclean and hateful bird.
Rev 18:3  For all nations have drunk of the wine of the wrath of her fornication, and the kings of the earth have committed fornication with her, and the merchants of the earth are waxed rich through the abundance of her delicacies.

Jer 50:40  As God overthrew Sodom and Gomorrah and the neighbour cities thereof, saith the LORD; so shall no man abide there, neither shall any son of man dwell therein.

We can discern from “the sum” of the Lord’s words that the phrase “As God overthrew Sodom and Gomorrah” with literal fire and brimstone, is not the point being made. Rather the fact that Sodom and Gomorrah were overthrown, Mystery Babylon will also be “utterly destroyed”:

The very next verse reveals that His point is that, as Sodom and Gomorrah were destroyed, Babylon will also be destroyed.

Isa 34:2  For 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.

Here are the next verses which tells us that the allegory ends with the destruction of Babylon by “People… from the north…”, not with fire and brimstone.

Jer 50:41  Behold, a people shall come from the north, and a great nation, and many kings shall be raised up from the coasts of the earth.
Jer 50:42  They shall hold the bow and the lance: they are cruel, and will not shew 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.

We have demonstrated that the phrase “from the north” is almost always associated with impending judgment:

Eze 9:1  He cried also in mine ears with a loud voice, saying, Cause them that have charge over the city to draw near, even every man with his destroying weapon in his hand.
Eze 9:2  And, behold, six men came from the way of the higher gate, which lieth toward the north, and every man a slaughter weapon in his hand; and one man among them was clothed with linen, with a writer’s inkhorn by his side: and they went in, and stood beside the brasen altar.

All of this will be accomplished by the ten horns on the beast which will hate Mystery Babylon, and “eat her flesh and burn her with fire.”

Rev 17:16  And the ten horns strong which thou sawest upon the beast, these shall hate the whore, and shall make her desolate and naked, and shall eat her flesh, and burn her with fire.
Rev 17:17  For God hath put in their hearts to fulfil his will, and to agree, and give their kingdom unto the beast, until the words of God shall be fulfilled.

Inwardly, these ten kings are what the number ‘ten’ always signifies; the full fruit and completed flesh:

Significance of the Number Ten

It is our own flesh which seeks revenge on the harlot who has been taking everything from us and giving us nothing but “the pleasures of sin for a season” in return.

In our study of the last chapter, Jeremiah 49, we saw how the judgment of Esau, who is Edom, was a perfect reflection of the judgment of Mystery Babylon, right down to the description of the reaction of the world to her destruction. This is a cut and paste from that study:

We are now in the very next chapter and the repetition of what was in chapter 49 proves the accuracy of that statement. This 50th chapter and the next chapter, chapter 51, both deal exclusively with the judgment of the great city of Babylon, as also being an Old Testament type of “Mystery, Babylon the Great, the Mother of Harlots and Abominations of the Earth” (Rev 17:5).

“Notice closely just how much the judgment of Edom, who is Esau, parallels the judgment of Babylon here in this 50th chapter.”

We will continue here in chapter 50 first:

Jer 50:43  The 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.
Jer 50:44  Behold, he shall come up like a lion from the swelling of 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?
Jer 50:45  Therefore 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.
Jer 50:46  At the noise of the taking of Babylon the earth is moved, and the cry is heard among the nations.

This is almost word for word what was said of Edom in chapter 49:

Jer 49:19  Behold, he shall come up like a lion from the swelling of 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 the time? and who is that shepherd that will stand before me?
Jer 49:20  Therefore 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.
Jer 49:21  The earth is moved at the noise of their fall, at the cry the noise thereof was heard in the Red sea.
Jer 49:22  Behold, 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.

The judgment of Edom, who is Esau, is almost word for word the same as the judgment which is pronounced upon Babylon here in chapter 50. The only difference, which is really no difference at all, is that the anguish and pain “as of a woman in travail” which takes hold on the king of Babylon is mentioned at the beginning of the judgment of Babylon, whereas “the heart of the mighty men of Edom being as the heart of a woman in her pangs” is mentioned at the end of the judgment of Edom.

The noise of the fall of Edom being “heard in the Red Sea”, and the noise of the fall of Babylon being “heard among the nations” is also saying the same thing because these two symbols both signify all flesh, “all nations”. That is the beast over which “Mystery, Babylon the Great” is given dominion:

Rev 17:3  So he carried me away in the spirit into the wilderness: and I saw a woman sit upon a scarlet coloured beast, full of names of blasphemy, having seven heads and ten horns.
Rev 17:4  And the woman was arrayed in purple and scarlet colour, and decked with gold and precious stones and pearls, having a golden cup in her hand full of abominations and filthiness of her fornication:
Rev 17:5  And upon her forehead was a name written, MYSTERY, BABYLON THE GREAT, THE MOTHER OF HARLOTS AND ABOMINATIONS OF THE EARTH.
Rev 17:6  And I saw the woman drunken with the blood of the saints, and with the blood of the martyrs of Jesus: and when I saw her, I wondered with great admiration.

Rev 18:3  For all nations have drunk of the wine of the wrath of her fornication, and the kings of the earth have committed fornication with her, and the merchants of the earth are waxed rich through the abundance of her delicacies.

Both Jeremiah 49:19 and Jeremiah 50:44 pose the question… “Who is the shepherd that will stand before me” to accomplish this judgment?

Jer 49:19  Behold, he [Nebuchadnezzar, the destroyer of both Judah and Esau] shall come up like a lion from the swelling of Jordan against the habitation of the strong [It is Edom, typifying Mystery Babylon The Great, who thinks he is so strong]: but I will suddenly make him run away from her [Edom will flee from the Chaldeans who are also referred to with the feminine pronoun, the pronoun used also of any whore]: and who is a chosen man, that I may appoint over her [Edom]? for who is like me? and who will appoint me the time? and who is that shepherd that will stand before me?

The exact same statement and question are posed in the next chapter concerning the judgment of Babylon:

Jer 50:44  Behold, he [Cyrus the great, the king of Persia, the destroyer of Babylon] shall come up like a lion from the swelling of Jordan unto the habitation of the strong [the habitation of Babylon, typifying “Mystery, Babylon the Great”]: but I will make them suddenly run away from her [Babylon will run away from Cyrus]: 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?

I quote from our commentary on the judgment of Edom because it is the same as the judgment of Babylon:

Both chapters tell us:

Jer 49:20  Therefore 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.

The same words concerning Babylon are here in chapter 50:

Jer 50:45  Therefore 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.

“The least of the flock shall draw them out” is another way the spirit expresses the certainty of the Lord fulfilling “all things after the counsel of His own will” (Eph 1:11). It is the same message conveyed to King Zedekiah who refused to believe that the Lord would send Nebuchadnezzar to take and destroy Jerusalem. This is what the holy spirit said to King Zedekiah in response to his refusal to believe the words of the Lord by His certified prophet, Jeremiah:

Jer 37:7  Thus saith the LORD, the God of Israel; Thus shall ye say to the king of Judah, that sent you unto me to enquire of me; Behold, Pharaoh’s army, which is come forth to help you, shall return to Egypt into their own land.
Jer 37:8  And the Chaldeans shall come again, and fight against this city, and take it, and burn it with fire.
Jer 37:9  Thus saith the LORD; Deceive not yourselves, saying, The Chaldeans shall surely depart from us: for they shall not depart.
Jer 37:10  For though ye had smitten the whole army of the Chaldeans that fight against you, and there remained but wounded men among them, yet should they rise up every man in his tent, and burn this city with fire.

That is the certainty of the judgment of Edom and Babylon as the Old Testament types of Mystery Babylon the Great, and that is the certainty of the judgment of the spiritual fornication of the spiritual harlots who ride upon and dominate all the nations of this earth, both within and outwardly of each of Christ’s anointed down through the generations since Christ. That is also the certainty of the outward, dispensational judgment of all the religions of this world which ‘Mystery Babylon’ signifies. “The wounded among the men [and] the least of the flock” of those the Lord sends to destroy Mystery Babylon will do so “in one hour”, in a very short period of time. “In one hour” she and all of her harlot daughters will be “utterly destroyed … at the appearing of our Lord” (Isa 34:2, Rev 18:7, 2Th 2:8)

Rev 17:12  And the ten horns which thou sawest are ten kings, which have received no kingdom as yet; but receive power as kings one hour with the beast.

The next chapter in Revelation tells us what will be accomplished in that “one hour”:

Rev 18:10  Standing afar off for the fear of her torment, saying, Alas, alas, that great city Babylon, that mighty city! for in one hour is thy judgment come.

Rev 18:17  For in one hour so great riches is come to nought. And every shipmaster, and all the company in ships, and sailors, and as many as trade by sea, stood afar off,

Rev 18:19  And they cast dust on their heads, and cried, weeping and wailing, saying, Alas, alas, that great city, wherein were made rich all that had ships in the sea by reason of her costliness! for in one hour is she made desolate.

The Lord will work a short work when He destroys all the religions of this world:

Rom 9:28  For he will finish the work, and cut it short in righteousness: because a short work will the Lord make upon the earth.

Isa 45:23  I 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.

Rev 22:20  He which testifieth these things saith, Surely I come quickly. Amen. Even so, come, Lord Jesus.

]]> Study of the Book of Judges – Jdg 3:12-31 The Lord Raised Them up a Deliverer, Ehud https://www.iswasandwillbe.com/study-of-the-book-of-judges-jdg-312-31-the-lord-raised-them-up-a-deliverer-ehud/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=study-of-the-book-of-judges-jdg-312-31-the-lord-raised-them-up-a-deliverer-ehud Tue, 09 Mar 2021 15:55:18 +0000 https://www.iswasandwillbe.com/?p=23226

Jdg 3:12 -31  The Lord Raised Them up a Deliverer, Ehud

[Study Aired March 8, 2021]

Jdg 3:12  And the children of Israel did evil again in the sight of the LORD: and the LORD strengthened Eglon the king of Moab against Israel, because they had done evil in the sight of the LORD. 
Jdg 3:13  And he gathered unto him the children of Ammon and Amalek, and went and smote Israel, and possessed the city of palm trees. 
Jdg 3:14  So the children of Israel served Eglon the king of Moab eighteen years. 
Jdg 3:15  But when the children of Israel cried unto the LORD, the LORD raised them up a deliverer, Ehud the son of Gera, a Benjamite, a man lefthanded: and by him the children of Israel sent a present unto Eglon the king of Moab. 
Jdg 3:16  But Ehud made him a dagger which had two edges, of a cubit length; and he did gird it under his raiment upon his right thigh. 
Jdg 3:17  And he brought the present unto Eglon king of Moab: and Eglon was a very fat man. 
Jdg 3:18  And when he had made an end to offer the present, he sent away the people that bare the present. 
Jdg 3:19  But he himself turned again from the quarries that were by Gilgal, and said, I have a secret errand unto thee, O king: who said, Keep silence. And all that stood by him went out from him. 
Jdg 3:20  And Ehud came unto him; and he was sitting in a summer parlour, which he had for himself alone. And Ehud said, I have a message from God unto thee. And he arose out of his seat. 
Jdg 3:21  And Ehud put forth his left hand, and took the dagger from his right thigh, and thrust it into his belly: 
Jdg 3:22  And the haft also went in after the blade; and the fat closed upon the blade, so that he could not draw the dagger out of his belly; and the dirt came out. 
Jdg 3:23  Then Ehud went forth through the porch, and shut the doors of the parlour upon him, and locked them. 
Jdg 3:24  When he was gone out, his servants came; and when they saw that, behold, the doors of the parlour were locked, they said, Surely he covereth his feet in his summer chamber. 
Jdg 3:25  And they tarried till they were ashamed: and, behold, he opened not the doors of the parlour; therefore they took a key, and opened them: and, behold, their lord was fallen down dead on the earth. 
Jdg 3:26  And Ehud escaped while they tarried, and passed beyond the quarries, and escaped unto Seirath. 
Jdg 3:27  And it came to pass, when he was come, that he blew a trumpet in the mountain of Ephraim, and the children of Israel went down with him from the mount, and he before them. 
Jdg 3:28  And he said unto them, Follow after me: for the LORD hath delivered your enemies the Moabites into your hand. And they went down after him, and took the fords of Jordan toward Moab, and suffered not a man to pass over. 
Jdg 3:29  And they slew of Moab at that time about ten thousand men, all lusty, and all men of valour; and there escaped not a man. 
Jdg 3:30  So Moab was subdued that day under the hand of Israel. And the land had rest fourscore years. 
Jdg 3:31  And after him was Shamgar the son of Anath, which slew of the Philistines six hundred men with an ox goad: and he also delivered Israel. 

As shown in the review of verse 11, the rest that the Israelites had under various judges is a period where the enemies are restrained from attacking Israel. This rest is therefore absence of war.  It is therefore physical and is not the spiritual rest for God’s people that we are looking forward to. This spiritual rest is ceasing from our own works. That is, coming to see that it is not what we do by our own strength that matters, but what God does through us (His handiworks) is what is important. So then, our rest in Him does not depend on human will or exertion, but of God who shows mercy.

Heb 4:8  For if Jesus had given them rest, then would he not afterward have spoken of another day.
Heb 4:9  There remaineth therefore a rest to the people of God.
Heb 4:10  For he that is entered into his rest, he also hath ceased from his own works, as God did from his.
Heb 4:11  Let us labour therefore to enter into that rest, lest any man fall after the same example of unbelief.

Rom 9:16  So then it depends not on human will or exertion, but on God, who has mercy. (ESV)

Jdg 3:12  And the children of Israel did evil again in the sight of the LORD: and the LORD strengthened Eglon the king of Moab against Israel, because they had done evil in the sight of the LORD. 
Jdg 3:13  And he gathered unto him the children of Ammon and Amalek, and went and smote Israel, and possessed the city of palm trees. 

As indicated in the last review, the forty years of rest with Othniel as judge (verses 9–11) is not a period to be clothed with the Lord’s righteousness as the Israelites’ raiment never waxed old meaning they had their own standard of righteousness which is the law.  It was therefore just a matter of time for the Israelites to be under bondage to sin again. In this case, they were oppressed by the Moabites who were descendants of Lot’s son Moab. So the Moabites were fleshly related to the Israelites. This is to confirm to us that the enemy we are dealing with is our own flesh.

The enemies possessed the city of palm trees which was Jericho. Jericho was the first city that the Israelites possessed when they crossed the Jordan River. So the Israelites being dispossessed of the city of palm trees is another way of saying that we end up going back to our vomit at certain stages of our walk with Christ. Peter gave us the synopsis of how we end up going back to our vomit. It all starts when we pay more attention to the great swelling words of vanity perpetuated by our leaders in Babylon than the true word of God. As a result, we are lured through the lusts of the flesh to follow the way of Balaam who loved the wages of unrighteousness and therefore we end up becoming entangled in sins which we had escaped.

Deu 34:3  And the south, and the plain of the valley of Jericho, the city of palm trees, unto Zoar.

2Pe 2:18  For when they speak great swelling words of vanity, they allure through the lusts of the flesh, through much wantonness, those that were clean escaped from them who live in error.
2Pe 2:19  While they promise them liberty, they themselves are the servants of corruption: for of whom a man is overcome, of the same is he brought in bondage.
2Pe 2:20  For if after they have escaped the pollutions of the world through the knowledge of the Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ, they are again entangled therein, and overcome, the latter end is worse with them than the beginning.
2Pe 2:21  For it had been better for them not to have known the way of righteousness, than, after they have known it, to turn from the holy commandment delivered unto them.
2Pe 2:22  But it is happened unto them according to the true proverb, The dog is turned to his own vomit again; and the sow that was washed to her wallowing in the mire.

Jdg 3:14  So the children of Israel served Eglon the king of Moab eighteen years. 

In verse 14, the Israelites served Eglon, the king of the Moabites for eighteen years. This is insightful as the number eighteen signifies a period in our lives when we are under satanic oppression resulting in us being powerless before the enemies within and wallowing in our own vomit. Remember that there was a woman in Jesus’ time who had the spirit of infirmity for eighteen years. Surprisingly, it was Jesus who saw her and came to her aid. In like manner, Jesus sees our situations and will not leave us alone to be oppressed by our enemies if we are destined to overcome them.

Jdg 10:8  And that year they vexed and oppressed the children of Israel: eighteen years, all the children of Israel that were on the other side Jordan in the land of the Amorites, which is in Gilead.

Luk 13:10  And he was teaching in one of the synagogues on the sabbath.
Luk 13:11  And, behold, there was a woman which had a spirit of infirmity eighteen years, and was bowed together, and could in no wise lift up herself.
Luk 13:12  And when Jesus saw her, he called her to him, and said unto her, Woman, thou art loosed from thine infirmity.
Luk 13:13  And he laid his hands on her: and immediately she was made straight, and glorified God.

Luk 13:16  And ought not this woman, being a daughter of Abraham, whom Satan hath bound, lo, these eighteen years, be loosed from this bond on the sabbath day?

Jdg 3:15  But when the children of Israel cried unto the LORD, the LORD raised them up a deliverer, Ehud the son of Gera, a Benjamite, a man lefthanded: and by him the children of Israel sent a present unto Eglon the king of Moab. 

God is in the business of raising His elect to lift us out of our bondage in every generation. In this particular case, God raised Ehud to deliver His people from servitude under Eglon the King of Moab. The name Ehud means union. So Ehud represents our union with Christ. Ehud was a Benjamite, which emphasizes the fact that he is God’s elect. On a positive note, the tribe of Benjamin is another symbol of God’s elect as demonstrated by the fact that Benjamin was given food five times more than his brothers and was loved dearly by his father Jacob – more than his other brothers except Joseph.

Gen 43:34  And he took and sent messes unto them from before him: but Benjamin’s mess was five times so much as any of theirs. And they drank, and were merry with him.

Another characteristic of Ehud was that he was left-handed. Two places in the Book of Judges (Judges 3:15 and Judges 20:16) succinctly take note of the extraordinary left-handed abilities of the tribe of Benjamin. This characteristic of the tribe of Benjamin is significant and symbolic. We can understand what the left hand stands for in Genesis 48:18, where Jacob was blessing the children of Joseph, but chose to place his left hand on the eldest and the right hand on the younger grandson. What Joseph said there was very insightful.

Gen 48:17  And when Joseph saw that his father laid his right hand upon the head of Ephraim, it displeased him: and he held up his father’s hand, to remove it from Ephraim’s head unto Manasseh’s head.
Gen 48:18  And Joseph said unto his father, Not so, my father: for this is the firstborn; put thy right hand upon his head.

What these verses mean is that the right hand corresponds to being first born and therefore being privileged with the birthright or double portion. The flip side of this is that the left hand represents those without the birthright. So Ehud being left-handed means that he was not to be called and chosen to lead Israel, but God chooses the stupid things of this world to confound the wise. In our case, we were aliens from the commonwealth of Israel (because we were “left-handed” and therefore do not have any birthright) but by the grace of God, we who were far off have been brought near by the blood of Christ!!

Eph 2:12  That at that time ye were without Christ, being aliens from the commonwealth of Israel, and strangers from the covenants of promise, having no hope, and without God in the world:
Eph 2:13  But now in Christ Jesus ye who sometimes were far off are made nigh by the blood of Christ.
Eph 2:14  For he is our peace, who hath made both one, and hath broken down the middle wall of partition between us;
Eph 2:15  Having abolished in his flesh the enmity, even the law of commandments contained in ordinances; for to make in himself of twain one new man, so making peace;

1Co 1:26  For ye see your calling, brethren, how that not many wise men after the flesh, not many mighty, not many noble, are called:
1Co 1:27  But God hath chosen the foolish things of the world to confound the wise; and God hath chosen the weak things of the world to confound the things which are mighty;
1Co 1:28  And base things of the world, and things which are despised, hath God chosen, yea, and things which are not, to bring to nought things that are:
1Co 1:29  That no flesh should glory in his presence.

A key feature of those who are Benjamites and left-handed is that they can sling stones at a hair’s breadth.

Jdg 20:16  Among all this people [the Benjamites] there were seven hundred chosen men lefthanded; every one could sling stones at an hair breadth, and not miss.

The seven hundred left-handed Benjamites represent the elect in every generation. The stone we are slinging is Christ who is the word of God, and by this we are able to subdue the enemies within as stated in Zechariah 9:15. To sling stones at hair’s breadth means to be able to handle the word of God such that one can divide the soul and the spirit and of the joints and marrow, and be able to discern the thoughts and intents of one’s heart.

Zec 9:15  The LORD of hosts shall defend them; and they shall devour, and subdue with sling stones; 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.

Heb 4:12  For the word of God is quick, and powerful, and sharper than any twoedged sword, piercing even to the dividing asunder of soul and spirit, and of the joints and marrow, and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart.

Verse 15 says that the Israelites sent a present to their tormentor Eglon, king of Moab, by Ehud. The sending of the present to Eglon signifies that we have accepted our status as servants of the flesh. Since they sent it through Ehud, and Ehud means union, it means that at some point in our lives, we accept to live in union with the flesh.  In other words, we are saying like people of the world, that there is no way we can make war against the beast. Remember that when Jacob was going to see Esau, he sent a present to him first, and when he met him, he bowed seven times and referred to himself as a servant of Esau. This is to show us how we bow down completely to the flesh in our lives at a certain stage of our walk.

Jdg 3:16  But Ehud made him a dagger which had two edges, of a cubit length; and he did gird it under his raiment upon his right thigh. 

The dagger represents the word of God. Hiding the dagger under his raiment is another way of saying that the preparation of God’s elect through the revelation of Jesus is done in secret, but our righteousness (represented by our raiment) is what must be seen by all. Nobody lights a candle and puts it under a bushel. The making of our mouth into a sharpened sword is done in the shadow of God’s hand as He hides us. For when it pleased the Lord to separate Paul for the gospel, Paul went to Arabia to prepare. However, later his deeds (righteousness) became known to all the churches.

Eph 6:17  And take the helmet of salvation, and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God:

Isa 49:2 in He made my mouth like a sharpened sword, the shadow of his hand he hid me; he made me into a polished arrow and concealed me in his quiver.

Gal 1:15  But when it pleased God, who separated me from my mother’s womb, and called me by his grace,
Gal 1:16  To reveal his Son in me, that I might preach him among the heathen; immediately I conferred not with flesh and blood:
Gal 1:17  Neither went I up to Jerusalem to them which were apostles before me; but I went into Arabia, and returned again unto Damascus.

Mat 5:14  Ye are the light of the world. A city that is set on an hill cannot be hid.
Mat 5:15  Neither do men light a candle, and put it under a bushel, but on a candlestick; and it giveth light unto all that are in the house.
Mat 5:16  Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works, and glorify your Father which is in heaven.

Jdg 3:17  And he brought the present unto Eglon king of Moab: and Eglon was a very fat man. 
Jdg 3:18  And when he had made an end to offer the present, he sent away the people that bare the present. 
Jdg 3:19  But he himself turned again from the quarries that were by Gilgal, and said, I have a secret errand unto thee, O king: who said, Keep silence. And all that stood by him went out from him. 

After bringing a present to Eglon, Ehud sent his fellow Israelites away and returned to carry out his personal vendetta. This is to affirm to us that the enemy is within and not outward. If it is outward, then others can join us to get the victory, but since the enemy is within, we cannot beckon others to fight our battles for us, but must depend on God to help us win the war within.  This is what Ehud did.

Jdg 3:20  And Ehud came unto him; and he was sitting in a summer parlour, which he had for himself alone. And Ehud said, I have a message from God unto thee. And he arose out of his seat. 
Jdg 3:21  And Ehud put forth his left hand, and took the dagger from his right thigh, and thrust it into his belly: 

In the absence of everybody except Eglon, Ehud thrust his dagger into Eglon’s belly. The thrusting of the dagger into the belly is of significance. Paul makes it clear through the spirit that those whose God is their belly are mindful of things of the earth. So it is the word of God (dagger) which puts to death our “belly” which stands for our earthly mindset and desires which become our God.

Php 3:19  Whose end is destruction, whose God is their belly, and whose glory is in their shame, who mind earthly things.

Rom 16:17  Now I beseech you, brethren, mark them which cause divisions and offences contrary to the doctrine which ye have learned; and avoid them.
Rom 16:18  For they that are such serve not our Lord Jesus Christ, but their own belly; and by good words and fair speeches deceive the hearts of the simple.

Jdg 3:22  And the haft also went in after the blade; and the fat closed upon the blade, so that he could not draw the dagger out of his belly; and the dirt came out. 

Here in verse 22, we are told that all the handle of the dagger went inside Eglon’s stomach,and the fat closed over the blade so that Ehud could not pull the sword out of his belly. This means that it is the whole counsel of God’s word that puts to death the enemy within. The dagger being covered by fat so that it cannot be pulled out is another way of saying that when the word of God is sent from the mouth of an elect, it will not return back void but will accomplish that for which it is sent. In this scenario we are dealing with, Ehud was able to put Eglon, the King of the Moabites to death. So will we also put to death our fleshly desires and mindset through the word of God. But it takes the whole counsel of God’s word to accomplish that!!

Act 20:27  for I did not shrink from declaring to you the whole counsel of God.

Isa 55:10  “For as the rain and the snow come down from heaven and do not return there but water the earth, making it bring forth and sprout, giving seed to the sower and bread to the eater,
Isa 55:11  so shall my word be that goes out from my mouth; it shall not return to me empty, but it shall accomplish that which I purpose, and shall succeed in the thing for which I sent it.

Jdg 3:23  Then Ehud went forth through the porch, and shut the doors of the parlour upon him, and locked them. 

Verse 23 says that Ehud shut the doors when he put the dagger into Eglon’s stomach. The defeat of the enemy is done in “closed doors.”  It is a personal victory that must be wrought before people see it later in our lives. In other words, the war must be won within before it becomes outward. For example, before David fought Goliath, nobody knew that David had killed a lion and a bear before. He won the victory within before it became outward with the killing of Goliath.

1Sa 17:26  And David said to the men who stood by him, “What shall be done for the man who kills this Philistine and takes away the reproach from Israel? For who is this uncircumcised Philistine, that he should defy the armies of the living God?”

1Sa 17:32  And David said to Saul, “Let no man’s heart fail because of him. Your servant will go and fight with this Philistine.”
1Sa 17:33  And Saul said to David, “You are not able to go against this Philistine to fight with him, for you are but a youth, and he has been a man of war from his youth.”
1Sa 17:34  But David said to Saul, “Your servant used to keep sheep for his father. And when there came a lion, or a bear, and took a lamb from the flock,
1Sa 17:35  I went after him and struck him and delivered it out of his mouth. And if he arose against me, I caught him by his beard and struck him and killed him.
1Sa 17:36  Your servant has struck down both lions and bears, and this uncircumcised Philistine shall be like one of them, for he has defied the armies of the living God.”
1Sa 17:37  And David said, “The LORD who delivered me from the paw of the lion and from the paw of the bear will deliver me from the hand of this Philistine.” And Saul said to David, “Go, and the LORD be with you!”

Jdg 3:24  When he was gone out, his servants came; and when they saw that, behold, the doors of the parlour were locked, they said, Surely he covereth his feet in his summer chamber. 
Jdg 3:25  And they tarried till they were ashamed: and, behold, he opened not the doors of the parlour; therefore they took a key, and opened them: and, behold, their lord was fallen down dead on the earth. 

The defeat of the enemy is an internal process which takes a lifetime. We all must be first servants of Eglon for awhile before we realize that our evil lord (the old man) has fallen down dead on the earth (within our members). It takes time for this victory to become outward, that is, for people to know that we are dead to sin. At the right time, our internal victories will become outward – for a city set on a hill cannot be hidden and men do not light a candle and put it under a bushel.

Mat 5:14  Ye are the light of the world. A city that is set on an hill cannot be hid.
Mat 5:15  Neither do men light a candle, and put it under a bushel, but on a candlestick; and it giveth light unto all that are in the house.
Mat 5:16  Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works, and glorify your Father which is in heaven.

Jdg 3:26  And Ehud escaped while they tarried, and passed beyond the quarries, and escaped unto Seirath. 

Verse 26 says that Ehud was able to escape during the period that the servants waited to open the door. This is to assure us that in tarrying to overcome the flesh, God will always provide a way of escape for every temptation we encounter so that we can bear it and win the war.

1Co 10:13  There hath no temptation taken you but such as is common to man: but God is faithful, who will not suffer you to be tempted above that ye are able; but will with the temptation also make a way to escape, that ye may be able to bear it.

Jdg 3:27  And it came to pass, when he was come, that he blew a trumpet in the mountain of Ephraim, and the children of Israel went down with him from the mount, and he before them. 

In verse 27, Ehud blew a trumpet.  The question is, “What does it mean to blow the trumpet?” In the Bible, the blowing of a trumpet is a symbol to signify an alarm of war, a call to assemble or a command to march. In this particular case, the blowing of the trumpet was about gathering together and a call to war against the Moabites. As an elect, one of our functions is to blow the trumpet to remind our brothers and sisters of this war against the flesh (Moabites). This war is not fought on an individual basis in the sense that we need each other for encouragement, supply of equipment (the word of God), etc.  Our gathering together is for every joint to supply us the needed weapon (the word of God) to defeat our flesh in this war.

Num 10:1  And the LORD spake unto Moses, saying,
Num 10:2  Make thee two trumpets of silver; of a whole piece shalt thou make them: that thou mayest use them for the calling of the assembly, and for the journeying of the camps.

Num 10:9  And if ye go to war in your land against the enemy that oppresseth you, then ye shall blow an alarm with the trumpets; and ye shall be remembered before the LORD your God, and ye shall be saved from your enemies.

Eph 4:16  From whom the whole body fitly joined together and compacted by that which every joint supplieth, according to the effectual working in the measure of every part, maketh increase of the body unto the edifying of itself in love.

Jdg 3:28  And he said unto them, Follow after me: for the LORD hath delivered your enemies the Moabites into your hand. And they went down after him, and took the fords of Jordan toward Moab, and suffered not a man to pass over. 

The outcome of this war against the flesh is that we would be victorious. God has assured us of this victory against the flesh over and over in His words, just as Ehud assured the Israelites of victory against the Moabites. Jesus said that he has overcome the world (the flesh and all its desires). Jesus did not tell us this so that we will just rejoice with Him of His conquest.  He made this statement for us to know that we will also overcome the world. Knowing the outcome is for our benefit.  If we are not certain of victory we would be discouraged along the way and will come to the conclusion that perhaps we are not expected to win this war just as the whole world thinks nobody can fight this beast within us and win. Once we know what is ahead of us in terms of our victory against the flesh, then we will have hope and nobody hopes for what is seen already. For when we hope for what is not seen, we wait for it with patience. We need to be patient in order to win this war against the flesh.

Joh 16:33  These things I have spoken unto you, that in me ye might have peace. In the world ye shall have tribulation: but be of good cheer; I have overcome the world.

Rev 13:4  And they worshipped the dragon which gave power unto the beast: and they worshipped the beast, saying, Who is like unto the beast? who is able to make war with him?

Rom 8:24  For we are saved by hope: but hope that is seen is not hope: for what a man seeth, why doth he yet hope for?
Rom 8:25  But if we hope for that we see not, then do we with patience wait for it.

Another aspect of verse 28 which is important to note is that the Israelites took possession of the fords of Jordan towards Moab, and as a result the men of Moab could not cross the river into Israel. The fords is where the Moabites cross the river Jordan to Israel. Spiritually speaking the fords represent the doctrines of Christ which causes us as Moabites (carnal Christians) to cross over to become an Israel of God. The Israelites taking possession of the ford spiritually means having the mind of Christ. Having the very mind of Christ and knowing His ways are symbolized by the high walls of the New Jerusalem which prevents fleshly desires and pursuit from entering.

Isa 55:8 For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways, saith the LORD.
Isa 55:9 For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways, and my thoughts than your thoughts.

Rev 21:12  And had a wall great and high, and had twelve gates, and at the gates twelve angels, and names written thereon, which are the names of the twelve tribes of the children of Israel:

Rev 21:27  And there shall in no wise enter into it any thing that defileth, neither whatsoever worketh abomination, or maketh a lie: but they which are written in the Lamb’s book of life.

Jdg 3:29  And they slew of Moab at that time about ten thousand men, all lusty, and all men of valour; and there escaped not a man.

Moabites represent the flesh and so does the number 10,000 (10x10x10) which consists of multiples of ten. So here we are left with no doubt about the enemy we are fighting – the flesh or the beast within.

Here in verse 29, we are shown the characteristics of those who are able to defeat the flesh – they must be lusty and men of valour. According to Strong, the word lusty means to shine by becoming oily.

Valour also means strength as shown below:

So in order to be able to defeat the flesh, we must shine by being oily and being men of strength. Being men of strength is like soldiers who are well equipped for battle. To shine by being oily reminds me of when we dwell together in unity.  That is having one mind and speaking the same thing. The scriptures liken this to the anointing on Aaron’s head that drips down to the skirts of his garment. Having unity is having the same mind, and this mind or this oily nature represents the doctrines of Christ which are able to bring us the victory.

1Co 1:10  Now I beseech you, brethren, by the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, that ye all speak the same thing, and that there be no divisions among you; but that ye be perfectly joined together in the same mind and in the same judgment. 

Psa 133:1  A Song of degrees of David. Behold, how good and how pleasant it is for brethren to dwell together in unity! 
Psa 133:2  It is like the precious ointment upon the head, that ran down upon the beard, even Aaron’s beard: that went down to the skirts of his garments; 
Psa 133:3  As the dew of Hermon, and as the dew that descended upon the mountains of Zion: for there the LORD commanded the blessing, even life for evermore. 

The Bible says that God is our strength. In other words, when we are in him as He is in us, then we are dwelling in the secret place of the Most High, and therefore we are abiding under the shadow of the almighty. That is when God becomes our refuge and strength and so we will not be swept away by any evil within or without.

Joh 14:20  At that day ye shall know that I am in my Father, and ye in me, and I in you.

Psa 46:1  To the chief Musician for the sons of Korah, A Song upon Alamoth. God is our refuge and strength, a very present help in trouble.

Psa 81:1  To the chief Musician upon Gittith, A Psalm of Asaph. Sing aloud unto God our strength: make a joyful noise unto the God of Jacob.

Jer 16:19  O LORD, my strength, and my fortress, and my refuge in the day of affliction, the Gentiles shall come unto thee from the ends of the earth, and shall say, Surely our fathers have inherited lies, vanity, and things wherein there is no profit.

Psa 91:1  He that dwelleth in the secret place of the most High shall abide under the shadow of the Almighty. 
Psa 91:2  I will say of the LORD, He is my refuge and my fortress: my God; in him will I trust. 

Psa 91:9  Because thou hast made the LORD, which is my refuge, even the most High, thy habitation; 
Psa 91:10  There shall no evil befall thee, neither shall any plague come nigh thy dwelling. 
Psa 91:11  For he shall give his angels charge over thee, to keep thee in all thy ways. 
Psa 91:12  They shall bear thee up in their hands, lest thou dash thy foot against a stone. 
Psa 91:13  Thou shalt tread upon the lion and adder: the young lion and the dragon shalt thou trample under feet. 

Jdg 3:30  So Moab was subdued that day under the hand of Israel. And the land had rest fourscore years. 

The land has rest for a period of eighty (fourscore) years after the defeat of the Moabites. The eighty years tell us what that period of rest was all about. It is a period when we cannot discern between good and evil as we are not adept at handling the word of God to discern our thoughts and intents of our hearts. It is all because we have not been given eyes to see and ears to hear. This is to bring us to a point when we realize that we are a burden to our king, Jesus. Being a burden to Jesus is the same as saying that we are the worst of sinners!!

2Sa 19:35  I am this day fourscore years old: and can I discern between good and evil? can thy servant taste what I eat or what I drink? can I hear any more the voice of singing men and singing women? wherefore then should thy servant be yet a burden unto my lord the king?

Heb 4:12  For the word of God is quick, and powerful, and sharper than any twoedged sword, piercing even to the dividing asunder of soul and spirit, and of the joints and marrow, and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart. 

On a positive note, however, it is a period during which we come to realize that our natural fleshly strength is failing and is nearing its death, and therefore we need to depend wholly on Christ to deliver us from our enemies.

Psa 90:10  The days of our years are threescore years and ten; and if by reason of strength they be fourscore years, yet is their strength labour and sorrow; for it is soon cut off, and we fly away.

Jdg 3:31  And after him was Shamgar the son of Anath, which slew of the Philistines six hundred men with an ox goad: and he also delivered Israel. 

In this verse, God raised Shamgar as a judge who used an ox goad to defeat the Philistines. The name Shamgar means a sword, which in spiritual terms is the word of God. We know that Christ is the word of God and so Shamgar here represents the Lord Jesus. An ox goad is a traditional farming implement which is a spiked stick which is used to discomfort oxen so as to stimulate an action or drive the oxen to their destination. So what this verse means is that Jesus Christ our Lord uses ox goad (to discomfort us) to drag us to himself to deliver us from our enemies. The ox goad is to be likened to God’s judgment which put to death the enemies or the beast within signified by 600 philistines.  Remember that 600 = 6 X 10. The number 6 represents mankind and the number 10 is about the flesh and so all these wars being waged by the Israelites in the Book of judges or anywhere in the word of God are spiritually about the war within.

Joh 6:44  No man can come to me, except the Father which hath sent me draw (drag) him: and I will raise him up at the last day. 

As indicated, the Book of Judges is about Israel’s cycles of defeat by their enemies and their deliverance through the judges God raised. In studying this Book, we have to pay attention to the details of each cycle of defeat because they provide us with what we need to win this war against the flesh.

]]> Awesome Hands – Part 152: “Marriage with captive women” https://www.iswasandwillbe.com/awesome-hands-part-152-marriage-with-captive-women/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=awesome-hands-part-152-marriage-with-captive-women Sun, 31 Mar 2019 18:44:39 +0000 http://www.iswasandwillbe.com/?p=18570

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Awesome Hands – part 152

Marriage with captive women

March 31, 2019

 

As we saw in the previous study, laws concerning war were given to Israel to raise the bar on how Israel was to act and react as it pertains to various scenarios in war.

In this study, we are going to continue to look at another aspect of warfare which is often overlooked.

This aspect of warfare is how we, as the representative people of God, are to treat women when they are captured during the wartime periods Israel partook in.

In Awesome hands 151, we saw that were to approach some cities and nations and offer them peace. If they accepted this peace, then we were to treat them as tributaries to us. If a city or nation did not accept our offer of peace, but wanted war, then we were to go to war with them and utterly destroy all males.

For those nations whom we were going to war with, we were to slay all males, but we were to keep the women, children and cattle alive for the benefit of Israel.

Deu 20:12  And if it will make no peace with thee, but will make war against thee, then thou shalt besiege it:
Deu 20:13  And when the LORD thy God hath delivered it into thine hands, thou shalt smite every male thereof with the edge of the sword:
Deu 20:14  But the women, and the little ones, and the cattle, and all that is in the city, even all the spoil thereof, shalt thou take unto thyself; and thou shalt eat the spoil of thine enemies, which the LORD thy God hath given thee.

In this study, we are going to examine how it is we treat the women who we take captive AND also want to have certain relations with.

The Lord has given these “spoils of war” to the nation of Israel, so what do we (as men) do with those spoils of war which we also lust after?

The verse that we will cover today is found in Deuteronomy 21:10.

First, we will read some of the context:

Deu 21:10  When thou goest forth to war against thine enemies, and the LORD thy God hath delivered them into thine hands, and thou hast taken them captive,
Deu 21:11  And seest among the captives a beautiful woman, and hast a desire unto her, that thou wouldest have her to thy wife;
Deu 21:12  Then thou shalt bring her home to thine house; and she shall shave her head, and pare her nails;
Deu 21:13  And she shall put the raiment of her captivity from off her, and shall remain in thine house, and bewail her father and her mother a full month: and after that thou shalt go in unto her, and be her husband, and she shall be thy wife.
Deu 21:14  And it shall be, if thou have no delight in her, then thou shalt let her go whither she will; but thou shalt not sell her at all for money, thou shalt not make merchandise of her, because thou hast humbled her.

On the surface, this seems straight forward, but there is always much more lingering just under the surface which shows us how to apply what we read from the Word of God in a spiritual way for the new man to be nourished by.

The first thing that jumps out to me is that this is a very hard situation for the captive woman. She is now having her entire live upended, and now one of her captors wants to take her as his own wife.

Traditionally, a Hebrew man would need to go through certain motions to wed a woman, but in the case of a captive woman, these rules simply did not apply.

However, the Lord is establishing a law for Israel to follow which ups the bar on the behavior of Israelite men who wanted to wed and bed a captive woman.

The first thing to recognize in this newly established law of the Lord for the Israelites is that this would not be the most natural actions for men taking women captive in war.

In fact, the way some men have treated women during wartime is downright evil. I will not go into further detail than that in this study, but you all can imagine what men do to women who have no one to protect them. The evil in humanities deceitful heart truly knows no bounds.

With this new law, the Lord is establishing that it is not okay for the tendency of “powerful” men to make women a “tool of passion”.

This forms the groundwork for men to recognize nobility in women, especially a completely defenseless woman. These women were to be dealt with honorably.

Ultimately, this would welcome a “foreign” woman to part with the idea of being a slave due to war, partake in the covenant God had made with Israel (she is now a Jew once married), and she is now able to worship and love the God of Israel as a Jewish woman.

These women are not to be confused with the captives taken from Canaan. Indeed, there was no such thing as a “captive Canaanite woman” because you were to have no relationship at all with the enemies of the nations of whom you were promised as an inheritance.

Deu 20:15  Thus shalt thou do unto all the cities which are very far off from thee, which are not of the cities of these nations.
Deu 20:16  But of the cities of these people, which the LORD thy God doth give thee for an inheritance, thou shalt save alive nothing that breatheth:
Deu 20:17  But thou shalt utterly destroy them; namely, the Hittites, and the Amorites, the Canaanites, and the Perizzites, the Hivites, and the Jebusites; as the LORD thy God hath commanded thee:
Deu 20:18  That they teach you not to do after all their abominations, which they have done unto their gods; so should ye sin against the LORD your God.

Deu 7:1  When the LORD thy God shall bring thee into the land whither thou goest to possess it, and hath cast out many nations before thee, the Hittites, and the Girgashites, and the Amorites, and the Canaanites, and the Perizzites, and the Hivites, and the Jebusites, seven nations greater and mightier than thou;
Deu 7:2  And when the LORD thy God shall deliver them before thee; thou shalt smite them, and utterly destroy them; thou shalt make no covenant with them, nor shew mercy unto them:
Deu 7:3  Neither shalt thou make marriages with them; thy daughter thou shalt not give unto his son, nor his daughter shalt thou take unto thy son.
Deu 7:4  For they will turn away thy son from following me, that they may serve other gods: so will the anger of the LORD be kindled against you, and destroy thee suddenly.

Num 21:1  And when king Arad the Canaanite, which dwelt in the south, heard tell that Israel came by the way of the spies; then he fought against Israel, and took some of them prisoners.
Num 21:2  And Israel vowed a vow unto the LORD, and said, If thou wilt indeed deliver this people into my hand, then I will utterly destroy their cities.
Num 21:3  And the LORD hearkened to the voice of Israel, and delivered up the Canaanites; and they utterly destroyed them and their cities: and he called the name of the place Hormah.

Jos 11:18  Joshua made war a long time with all those kings.
Jos 11:19  There was not a city that made peace with the children of Israel, save the Hivites the inhabitants of Gibeon: all other they took in battle.
Jos 11:20  For it was of the LORD to harden their hearts, that they should come against Israel in battle, that he might destroy them utterly, and that they might have no favour, but that he might destroy them, as the LORD commanded Moses.

The reason why I have taken the time to include these verses is to show that the Lord makes a difference between those nations whom are “a far off from thee” and those nations whom “are near to thee and would teach you to do after all their abominations”.

You may be asking yourself about right now why any of these old testament rules and laws have any bearing on how you are to be today as a Christian?

Being that we know all scripture can be used for edification, exhortation and comfort, how exactly do we apply this understanding to our Christian walk today?

Well, up until now we have concentrated on the physical aspects of these men and women. However, we know that in Christ there is neither male or female.

Gal 3:27  For as many of you as have been baptized into Christ have put on Christ.
Gal 3:28  There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither bond nor free, there is neither male nor female: for ye are all one in Christ Jesus.

So, how do we reconcile these concepts?

We know that women “are to be in subjection to their own husbands”.

1Pe 3:1  Likewise, ye wives, be in subjection to your own husbands; that, if any obey not the word, they also may without the word be won by the conversation of the wives;
1Pe 3:5  For after this manner in the old time the holy women also, who trusted in God, adorned themselves, being in subjection unto their own husbands:

These deals with physical wives and husbands, but how are we to consider spiritual husbands and wives?

We know there is only ONE Husbandman.

Heb 2:8  Thou hast put all things in subjection under his feet. For in that he put all in subjection under him, he left nothing that is not put under him. But now we see not yet all things put under him.

“Now we see not all things put under him,” tells us that there is still a lot of work to be done. Just as I emphasized in my last study, we are at war NOW.

In that previous study, I pointed out several ways we are at war and how to deal with the war we are in. This war is happening in my heavens and it is happening in your heavens. It is also happening in the heavens of others.

In Deuteronomy 21, we are reading about the law of how to treat women taken captive in war. Well, let’s extend that concept to those “women” who are NOT physical woman but SPIRITUAL WOMEN.

We all know there is a bride of Christ, the free woman and a harlot, the bondwoman.

1Ti 3:15  But if I tarry long, that thou mayest know how thou oughtest to behave thyself in the house of God, which is the church of the living God, the pillar and ground of the truth.

Gen 21:10  Wherefore she said unto Abraham, Cast out this bondwoman and her son: for the son of this bondwoman shall not be heir with my son, even with Isaac.
Gen 21:13  And also of the son of the bondwoman WILL I MAKE A NATION, because he is thy seed.

Gal 4:23  But he who was of the bondwoman was born after the flesh; but he of the freewoman was by promise.
Gal 4:28  Now we, brethren, as Isaac was, are the children of promise.
Gal 4:29  But as then he that was born after the flesh persecuted him that was born after the Spirit, even so it is now.
Gal 4:30  Nevertheless what saith the scripture? Cast out the bondwoman and her son: for the son of the bondwoman shall not be heir with the son of the freewoman.
Gal 4:31  So then, brethren, we are not children of the bondwoman, but of the free.

Notice that we are all born after the flesh. Wow, Steven what a revelation! Ha!

Also, notice that we are the children of promise, but we are also aware that not all things are YET SUBJECTED to our HUSBAND Jesus Christ.

Heb 2:8  Thou hast put all things in subjection under his feet. For in that he put all in subjection under him, he left nothing that is not put under him. But now we see not yet all things put under him.

When we read in Deuteronomy 21:10 that we are to deal with CAPTIVE women a certain way, because they are of a certain TYPE of nation, then we need to take heed to what we are reading.

One type of nation is to be UTTERLY DESTROYED. However, the woman/women (also children and cattle) of another type of nation are to be “the spoil of war”.

How do we spiritual apply this to our heavens and the kingdom of heaven specifically?

As a mentioned in my previous study, there are always many details and variations to the encounters we have with people in our lives.

For some people, we know instantly that the Lord is not working with them yet because we do not hear the voice of the true shepherd AND they are combative i.e. we do not WANT your peace.

For others, they may simply not understand what we are talking about. They may not be able to chew the meat we are feeding them. They may only be able to handle milk. Heck, they may not even be able to handle the milk of the Word, but they are NOT combative and going to TEACH us the ERROR of our ways. When someone is combative and insists on teaching you the error of your doctrine, then you know they have another Jesus at that time.

Why and how can I know this is true?

Act 8:29  Then the Spirit said unto Philip, Go near, and join thyself to this chariot.

Act 8:30  And Philip ran thither to him, and heard him read the prophet Esaias, and said, Understandest thou what thou readest?

Act 8:31  And he said, How can I, except some man should guide me? And he desired Philip that he would come up and sit with him.

Act 8:32  The place of the scripture which he read was this, He was led as a sheep to the slaughter; and like a lamb dumb before his shearer, so opened he not his mouth:

The word used as guide in Acts 8:31 is also translated as “lead” other places.

G3594

hodēgeō

Total KJV Occurrences: 5

lead, 3

Mat_15:14, Luk_6:39, Rev_7:17

guide, 2

Joh_16:13, Act_8:31

Mat 15:14  Let them alone: they be blind leaders of the blind. And if the blind lead the blind, both shall fall into the ditch.

Luk 6:39  And he spake a parable unto them, Can the blind lead the blind? shall they not both fall into the ditch?

Rev 7:13  And one of the elders answered, saying unto me, What are these which are arrayed in white robes? and whence came they?

Rev 7:17  For the Lamb which is in the midst of the throne shall feed them, and shall lead them unto living fountains of waters: and God shall wipe away all tears from their eyes.

Indeed, there are those that lead the blind as blind leaders into the ditch which is OUTSIDE OF THE NARROW WAY, and there is the Lamb of God, our True Husband, who leads those arrayed in white robes to the fountains of living waters.

1Ti 6:3  If any man teach otherwise, and consent not to wholesome words, even the words of our Lord Jesus Christ, and to the doctrine which is according to godliness;

1Ti 6:4  He is proud, knowing nothing, but doting about questions and strifes of words, whereof cometh envy, strife, railings, evil surmisings,

1Ti 6:5  Perverse disputings of men of corrupt minds, and destitute of the truth, supposing that gain is godliness: from such withdraw thyself.

Why then is this all important to the context of Deuteronomy 21 that we have covered today?

Captive women are to be brought into your home and given a period of time to GRIEVE their losses. They CANNOT not simply just be taken and married as a wife and thrown into the full expectancies of a wife.

We are the BRIDE of Christ, the church of the living God. When we are used to CONQUER the NATIONS “afar off” IN OTHERS, via Jesus Christ in US, we are to do so in a respectable, honorable way which is befitting of the BRIDE OF CHRIST.

This applies both to how we, as members of the body already act, as well as how we WELCOME to members to the church of the living God.

Notice this is the spiritual concept we see here:

Deu 21:13  And she shall put the raiment of her captivity from off her, and shall remain in thine house, and bewail her father and her mother a full month: and after that thou shalt go in unto her, and be her husband, and she shall be thy wife.

Deu 21:14  And it shall be, if thou have no delight in her, then thou shalt let her go whither she will; but thou shalt not sell her at all for money, thou shalt not make merchandise of her, because thou hast humbled her.

When your life is altered in such a way that you are on the WAY to TRUTH and LIFE, by way of DEATH, then you are going to need time to adjust.

The month mentioned here is a symbolic time period and is NOT literal in the physical sense. IT was certainly literal in the physical for the Israelites, but in the Spirit it is a type and shadow how the time we are to allow for those new members who have just been in a war in their heavens and are now come to the kingdom of God WITHIN THEMSELVES.

Lastly, if we find now delight in our newly married “captive wife”, we were not permitted to sell her as a slave or as merchandise. She was to be made free. This tells us that when are you are part of the body of Christ you truly are “of the free woman”.

I hope this study is beneficial to help us remember that war is a horrible thing, but there are also ways to deal with the results of war. For us, spiritual war is devastating to our old man and also to the old man in others.

However, when we are welcoming new members into this glorious kingdom of God, we are welcoming another child of God into the flock fold, and we must be diligent in making sure we treat others with respect while also giving them space to adjust to their new existence of Life via death.

We die daily, Amen.

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