Ezekiel 25:1-17 The Judgment of Ammon, Moab, Edom and Philistia

[Study Aired July 29, 2024]

Introduction

Our study for today is based on the nations which surround the people of Israel in Canaan. These nations were sworn enemies of Israel, and the fact that four were mentioned signifies that these countries represent the whole of the enemies of Israel. In this study, we shall come to know what these nations represent spiritually and their judgment by the Lord.

The study also focuses on the Lord accusing each of these four nations of their hatred for the people of Israel and the end result of the Lord’s judgment of these nations. 

The Judgment of the Ammonites

Eze 25:1  The word of the LORD came again unto me, saying, 
Eze 25:2  Son of man, set thy face against the Ammonites, and prophesy against them; 
Eze 25:3  And say unto the Ammonites, Hear the word of the Lord GOD; Thus saith the Lord GOD; Because thou saidst, Aha, against my sanctuary, when it was profaned; and against the land of Israel, when it was desolate; and against the house of Judah, when they went into captivity; 
Eze 25:4  Behold, therefore I will deliver thee to the men of the east for a possession, and they shall set their palaces in thee, and make their dwellings in thee: they shall eat thy fruit, and they shall drink thy milk.

The Ammonites were descendants of Lot through the incestuous relation of Lot and his daughter. Lot was the nephew of Abraham, and therefore the Ammonites are fleshly related to the people of Israel.

Gen 19:36  Thus were both the daughters of Lot with child by their father. 
Gen 19:37  And the firstborn bare a son, and called his name Moab: the same is the father of the Moabites unto this day. 
Gen 19:38 And the younger, she also bare a son, and called his name Benammi: the same is the father of the children of Ammon unto this day.

The Ammonites therefore represent our flesh or the old man of the Lord’s elect. The reason the Lord was judging the Ammonites is stated in verse 3. They were glad when the sanctuary of the Lord was dishonored, the land of Israel was ruined and when the nation of Judah went into exile. As we are aware, it is our enemy who rejoices in our misfortune. The Bible speaks of our enemy being the devil who gives his power to our flesh or old man or the beast within us. That is to say that it acts through our flesh or old man. 

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? 
Rev 13:5  And there was given unto him a mouth speaking great things and blasphemies; and power was given unto him to continue forty and two months. 
Rev 13:6  And he opened his mouth in blasphemy against God, to blaspheme his name, and his tabernacle, and them that dwell in heaven. 
Rev 13:7  And it was given unto him to make war with the saints, and to overcome them: and power was given him over all kindreds, and tongues, and nations. 
Rev 13:8 And all that dwell upon the earth shall worship him, whose names are not written in the book of life of the Lamb slain from the foundation of the world.

As described above, the beast within us or our old man or flesh is always blaspheming against our Lord. It is therefore at variance with our Lord Jesus Christ and His elect. That is why the mind governed by the flesh is hostile to God and things of the spirit.

Rom 8:5  For those who live according to the flesh set their minds on the things of the flesh, but those who live according to the Spirit set their minds on the things of the Spirit. 
Rom 8:6  For to set the mind on the flesh is death, but to set the mind on the Spirit is life and peace.
Rom 8:7  For the mind that is set on the flesh is hostile to God, for it does not submit to God’s law; indeed, it cannot.
Rom 8:8  Those who are in the flesh cannot please God. 
Rom 8:9 You, however, are not in the flesh but in the Spirit, if in fact the Spirit of God dwells in you. Anyone who does not have the Spirit of Christ does not belong to him. (ESV) 

Gal 5:16  This I say then, Walk in the Spirit, and ye shall not fulfil the lust of the flesh. 
Gal 5:17  For the flesh lusteth against the Spirit, and the Spirit against the flesh: and these are contrary the one to the other: so that ye cannot do the things that ye would.
Gal 5:18 But if ye be led of the Spirit, ye are not under the law.

Our victory over the flesh is through walking in the spirit. In order to transition from being a carnally-minded person to a spiritually-minded being, which is pleasing to the Lord, there is the need for us to be judged by the Lord. In verse 4, the Lord told Ezekiel that He will deliver the Ammonites to the men of the east for a possession. In the Book of Job, he is described as the greatest of the men of the east because of his riches. These physical riches signify spiritual riches of the men of the east. On a positive note therefore, the men of the east symbolize the Lord’s elect with our Lord Jesus Christ symbolized by Job as the greatest man of the east. This is also confirmed by the fact that the east is where the sun, which represents our Lord Jesus Christ, rises. We, the Lord’s elect, are the first to taste of the rising of the sun or our Lord Jesus Christ in our lives in this age. 

Job 1:1  There was a man in the land of Uz, whose name was Job; and that man was perfect and upright, and one that feared God, and eschewed evil. 
Job 1:2  And there were born unto him seven sons and three daughters. 
Job 1:3 His substance also was seven thousand sheep, and three thousand camels, and five hundred yoke of oxen, and five hundred she asses, and a very great household; so that this man was the greatest of all the men of the east.

Mat 2:1  Now when Jesus was born in Bethlehem of Judaea in the days of Herod the king, behold, there came wise men from the east to Jerusalem,

It is the Lord’s elect to whom the Lord has given possession of the old man or the flesh. This possession is described in verse 4 as setting their palaces in her and making their dwelling place in her. However, this possession is a process that takes a lifetime. It is through possessing our bodies or overcoming our flesh that we can offer a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God. 

Rom 12:1  I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that ye present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God, which is your reasonable service. 
Rom 12:2 And be not conformed to this world: but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind, that ye may prove what is that good, and acceptable, and perfect, will of God.

This possession or overcoming is actually accomplished by the birth and growth of the new man as the old man or the flesh dies daily through the Lord’s judgment. 

Eph 4:24  And that ye put on the new man, which after God is created in righteousness and true holiness.

Col 3:10 And have put on the new man, which is renewed in knowledge after the image of him that created him:

In verse 4, we are also told that the men of the east shall eat the fruit of the Ammonites and shall drink her milk. The fruit and the milk of the Ammonites refer to the labors of our flesh. This implies that our labors shall not be in vain but shall assist us in achieving the purpose of Christ in our lives. This is the same as Terah, Abraham’s father, assisting Abraham in fulfilling the Lord’s purpose by taking him from Ur of the Chaldees to Haran, close to the promised land. 

Isa 60:1  Arise, shine; for thy light is come, and the glory of the LORD is risen upon thee. 

Isa 60:5 Then 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 forces of the Gentiles shall come unto thee.

Gen 11:31  And Terah took Abram his son, and Lot the son of Haran his son’s son, and Sarai his daughter in law, his son Abram’s wife; and they went forth with them from Ur of the Chaldees, to go into the land of Canaan; and they came unto Haran, and dwelt there. 
Gen 11:32 And the days of Terah were two hundred and five years: and Terah died in Haran. 

Eze 25:5  And I will make Rabbah a stable for camels, and the Ammonites a couching place for flocks: and ye shall know that I am the LORD. 

In verse 5, the Lord said that He shall make Rabbah, which was the capital city of the Ammonites, located east of the Jordan, a stable for camels. This is the same as making the Ammonites a couching place or a resting place for flocks. On a positive note, a city in the Bible can mean a church as shown in the following:

Rev 21:10  And he carried me away in the spirit to a great and high mountain, and shewed me that great city, the holy Jerusalem, descending out of heaven from God, 

Rev 14:8  And there followed another angel, saying, Babylon is fallen, is fallen, that great city, because she made all nations drink of the wine of the wrath of her fornication.

According to Strong’s Dictionary, Rabbah means ‘great.’ A camel is a beast that is used to carry heavy burdens in the desert, and a stable is a habitation of flocks or pasture. This statement of Rabbah being a stable for camels is the same as the Ammonites being a couching place or rest for flocks. What the Lord is telling us in verse 5 is that He is gathering us together to give us rest from the burdens of this world and also to feed us His words (pastures). It is as we get to know His words that we come to know Him. 

Mat 11:28  Come unto me, all ye that labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. 
Mat 11:29  Take my yoke upon you, and learn of me; for I am meek and lowly in heart: and ye shall find rest unto your souls. 
Mat 11:30 For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light. 

Eze 25:6  For thus saith the Lord GOD; Because thou hast clapped thine hands, and stamped with the feet, and rejoiced in heart with all thy despite against the land of Israel; 
Eze 25:7  Behold, therefore I will stretch out mine hand upon thee, and will deliver thee for a spoil to the heathen; and I will cut thee off from the people, and I will cause thee to perish out of the countries: I will destroy thee; and thou shalt know that I am the LORD. 

The Ammonites clapped their hands and stamped their feet as they rejoiced for the misfortune that had happened to the people of Israel. This shows us that they really hated the Israelites. As indicated, the Ammonites represent our flesh or the old man who is at enmity with the new man in the lives of the Lord’s elect. Verse 7 shows us the end result of the Lord’s judgment of our old man or flesh. The judgment of the Lord is symbolized in verse 7 as the stretching out of the hand of the Lord upon us.

1Pe 4:17  For the time is come that judgment must begin at the house of God: and if it first begin at us, what shall the end be of them that obey not the gospel of God? 
1Pe 4:18  And if the righteous scarcely be saved, where shall the ungodly and the sinner appear? 
1Pe 4:19 Wherefore let them that suffer according to the will of God commit the keeping of their souls to him in well doing, as unto a faithful Creator.  

As a result of the Lord’s judgment, our old man is delivered for a spoil to the heathen as shown in verse 7. A spoil refers to the booty or plunder or the precious possession of those who are defeated in battle. During the Biblical times, the spoil served as the reward for victory won during a battle. This implies that the old man being delivered as a spoil for the heathen means that as the Lord’s elect, we shall surely win the victory over our old man or flesh through the Lord’s judgment. 

Gen 49:27  Benjamin (representing the Lord’s elect) shall ravin as a wolf: in the morning he shall devour the prey, and at night he shall divide the spoil.

Num 31:53  (For the men of war had taken spoil, every man for himself.)

Jer 30:16  Therefore all they that devour thee shall be devoured; and all thine adversaries, every one of them, shall go into captivity; and they that spoil thee shall be a spoil, and all that prey upon thee will I give for a prey.

The Lord causing the Ammonites to perish and be destroyed out of the countries in verse 7 is to show us the defeat of the old man through the agency of the Lord’s judgment. It is through this victory over the flesh, which is a process, that we come to know the Lord.

Rev 12:11  And they overcame him by the blood of the Lamb, and by the word of their testimony; and they loved not their lives unto the death. 

Loving not our lives unto death means that as the Lord’s elect, He has caused us to be prepared to go through the fiery trials, or the evil experience given to us by Him, in order to inherit the promise. It is another way of saying that because of the joy that is set before us, we despise the sufferings that are marked for us.

Heb 12:2 Looking unto Jesus the author and finisher of our faith; who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is set down at the right hand of the throne of God. 

The Judgment of Moab and Seir

Eze 25:8  Thus saith the Lord GOD; Because that Moab and Seir do say, Behold, the house of Judah is like unto all the heathen; 
Eze 25:9  Therefore, behold, I will open the side of Moab from the cities, from his cities which are on his frontiers, the glory of the country, Bethjeshimoth, Baalmeon, and Kiriathaim, 

The Moabites were descendants of Lot, Abraham’s nephew, through an incestuous union with his elder daughter. They were therefore fleshly related to the people of Israel and therefore represent our flesh or our old man, just as the Ammonites also signify our flesh. Seir or Mount Seir are the alternative names of the mountainous tract in Palestine occupied by the descendants of Esau, who was the elder brother of Jacob. We can therefore also say that Seir is our flesh or our old man.

In verse 8, we are told that the Lord coming to judge the Moabites and the people from Seir was because they said that there is no difference between the house of Judah and the heathen. This accusation by the Moabites and people from Seir is justified as the house of Judah who represents us, the Lord’s elect, since we had not lived up to the standard of the Lord at a certain point of our walk with Christ when we were in Babylon. Thus, we were just like the heathen.

2Ki 17:13  Yet the LORD testified against Israel, and against Judah, by all the prophets, and by all the seers, saying, Turn ye from your evil ways, and keep my commandments and my statutes, according to all the law which I commanded your fathers, and which I sent to you by my servants the prophets. 
2Ki 17:14  Notwithstanding they would not hear, but hardened their necks, like to the neck of their fathers, that did not believe in the LORD their God. 
2Ki 17:15 And they rejected his statutes, and his covenant that he made with their fathers, and his testimonies which he testified against them; and they followed vanity, and became vain, and went after the heathen that were round about them, concerning whom the LORD had charged them, that they should not do like them.

Spiritually, the assertion by the Moabites and the people from Seir that we are just like the heathen implies that when we are under the control of the old man or the flesh, who is set in his ways, we cannot bring about the change that comes with knowing Christ. We are just like the heathen or our brothers and sisters in Babylon who think that no one can overcome the beast or the flesh within us.

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? 

In order to live a life worthy of the Lord, our old man, represented here by the Moabites and the people from Seir, must be destroyed through judgment to pave the way for our lives to be controlled by the new man after the image of Christ.

In verse 9, the Lord is saying that as a result of the Lord’s elect being no different from the people of the world, He is going to open up the cities that protect the borders of Moab. These cities were three, and they are Bethjeshimoth, Baalmeon and Kiriathaim. As we have said earlier in this study, cities represent churches. The names of these cities therefore give us insight into the fact that the role of the churches of this world or Babylon is to protect the old man or the flesh within us represented here by Moab. Bethjeshimoth means ‘house of desolation’ or ‘desert.’ This house of desolation is Babylon or the physical churches of this world whose false teachings preserve our old man instead of destroying it.  Baalmeon signifies the ‘lord of the habitation’ which means that Babylon is actually worshiping our old man, who is the lord of the habitation. Kiriathaim means ‘two cities’, and it signifies that the churches are witnesses against one another that they are not serving the interest of Christ, our Lord, but that of the flesh.

Rev 2:9  I know thy works, and tribulation, and poverty, (but thou art rich) and I know the blasphemy of them which say they are Jews, and are not, but are the synagogue of Satan. 

The Lord opening up these cities implies that the Lord will show us, His elect, what Babylon is all about. This revelation is given to the Lord’s elect who walk in the spirit and not according to the flesh. The fact that these cities are three implies that it is through the process of spiritual maturity through judgment that we come to see who Babylon really is.

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.

Eze 25:10  Unto the men of the east with the Ammonites, and will give them in possession, that the Ammonites may not be remembered among the nations. 
Eze 25:11 And I will execute judgments upon Moab; and they shall know that I am the LORD. 

Again, in verse 10 the Lord is saying that He will hand over the Moabites together with the Ammonites to the men from the east. As we have indicated earlier, the men from the east represent the Lord’s elect who are given to possess our old man or flesh. The Ammonites not being remembered among the nations implies that our old man shall be completely destroyed in our lives. In verse 11, we are made aware that it is through the judgment of the Lord upon our old man (Moab) that we come to know who the Lord is. 

Jer 24:7  And I will give them an heart to know me, that I am the LORD: and they shall be my people, and I will be their God: for they shall return unto me with their whole heart.

Eze 6:10 And they shall know that I am the LORD, and that I have not said in vain that I would do this evil unto them.

The Judgment of Edom

Eze 25:12  Thus saith the Lord GOD; Because that Edom hath dealt against the house of Judah by taking vengeance, and hath greatly offended, and revenged himself upon them; 
Eze 25:13  Therefore thus saith the Lord GOD; I will also stretch out mine hand upon Edom, and will cut off man and beast from it; and I will make it desolate from Teman; and they of Dedan shall fall by the sword. 
Eze 25:14 And I will lay my vengeance upon Edom by the hand of my people Israel: and they shall do in Edom according to mine anger and according to my fury; and they shall know my vengeance, saith the Lord GOD.

The people from Edom were descendants of Esau, Jacob’s twin brother. The Edomites therefore represent our flesh or our old man. We know from the word of the Lord that vengeance belongs to the Lord. That is to say, as the Lord’s elect, we should not take vengeance on our enemies. 

Psa 94:1  O LORD God, to whom vengeance belongeth; O God, to whom vengeance belongeth, shew thyself. 
Psa 94:2 Lift up thyself, thou judge of the earth: render a reward to the proud. 

Heb 10:30  For we know him that hath said, Vengeance belongeth unto me, I will recompense, saith the Lord. And again, The Lord shall judge his people.

As shown in verse 12, the sins of the Edomites were that they took vengeance on the Lord’s people, which was the prerogative of the Lord alone. In this sense, the Edomites were taking the place of the Lord to avenge His people. Any time we are meting out vengeance to someone, we are taking the place of our Lord. This is what the man of sin within us or our flesh does when we are under its control as he thinks of himself as God sitting in our temple or the throne of our hearts and mind. 

2Th 2:3  Let no man deceive you by any means: for that day shall not come, except there comes a falling away first, and that man of sin be revealed, the son of perdition;
2Th 2:4  Who opposeth and exalteth himself above all that is called God, or that is worshipped; so that he as God sitteth in the temple of God, shewing himself that he is God. 
2Th 2:5 Remember ye not, that, when I was yet with you, I told you these things? 

The Lord stretching out His hands on Edom in verse 13 means the Lord coming to judge the man of sin or our old man with the spirit of His mouth and His brightness. Cutting off the man and the beast from Edom signifies the destruction of the old man through the Lord’s judgment. In verse 13, we are also told that the Lord shall make desolate Edom, from Teman to Dedan. The Edomites settled in the mountainous region of Seir. The word Teman means ‘from’ and Dedan signifies ‘low country.’ Thus, making desolate Edom from Teman to Dedan means the Lord will destroy the Edomites from their mountainous region to the low country in South Arabia. In other words, the Lord will do a thorough work of destruction of our old man through His judgment.

Rom 9:28  The Lord will carry out his sentence on the land, completely and decisively.” (GW)

The instrument of the Lord’s judgment in this case is the sword. The negative application of the use of the sword refers to false doctrines or bitter words spoken against us. 

2Ti 2:17  And their word will eat as doth a canker: of whom is Hymenaeus and Philetus; 
2Ti 2:18  Who concerning the truth have erred, saying that the resurrection is past already; and overthrow the faith of some.   

Psa 64:2  Hide me from the secret counsel of the wicked; from the insurrection of the workers of iniquity: 
Psa 64:3  Who whet their tongue like a sword, and bend their bows to shoot their arrows, even bitter words:

In verse 14, the Lord is saying that He will take vengeance upon Edom using the people of Israel as His instrument of judgment. In other words, the Lord will judge the old man of every elect in this age. This judgment is the evil experience we are going through in this life with the Lord coming with His brightness and spirit of His mouth.

2Th 2:6  And now ye know what withholdeth that he might be revealed in his time. 
2Th 2:7  For the mystery of iniquity doth already work: only he who now letteth will let, until he be taken out of the way. 
2Th 2:8 And then shall that Wicked be revealed, whom the Lord shall consume with the spirit of his mouth, and shall destroy with the brightness of his coming:

The Judgment of Philistia

Eze 25:15  Thus saith the Lord GOD; Because the Philistines have dealt by revenge, and have taken vengeance with a despiteful heart, to destroy it for the old hatred; 
Eze 25:16  Therefore thus saith the Lord GOD; Behold, I will stretch out mine hand upon the Philistines, and I will cut off the Cherethims, and destroy the remnant of the sea coast. 
Eze 25:17 And I will execute great vengeance upon them with furious rebukes; and they shall know that I am the LORD, when I shall lay my vengeance upon them. 

The Philistines dwelt on the southern coast of Canaan and consisted of a confederation of city-states generally referred to as Philistia. They were sworn enemies of the people of Israel and had engaged Israel in battles, notably, Samson’s slaying of a thousand Philistines and David’s fight with the Philistine’s giant, Goliath. Initially, the Philistines had the upper hand over Israel, but over time, the Israelites became stronger and a dominant force in Canaan. Just like us, our flesh dominated us for a certain period of our lives until Christ came to us. Being the enemies of Israel, it is no wonder that in verse 15, the Philistines had taken revenge with a despiteful heart derived from hatred of the Lord’s people. The Philistines therefore represent our old man or our flesh that sits in our temple claiming himself to be God. 

2Th 2:4  Who opposeth and exalteth himself above all that is called God, or that is worshipped; so that he as God sitteth in the temple of God, shewing himself that he is God. 

As indicated earlier, the Lord stretching forth His hands upon the Philistines (verse 15) means the Lord coming to judge our old man. As shown in verse 16, the Lord’s judgment shall result in the cutting off of the Cherethims and the destruction of the remnant of the sea coast. The word “Cherethims” means ‘executioners’ or ‘killers’. It therefore refers to our flesh or old man that gradually puts us to death. The remnant of the sea coast also refers to our flesh. This implies that the cutting off of the Cherethims and the destruction of the remnant of the sea coast signifies the destroying of our flesh or our old man. In verse 17, the Lord is assuring us that He shall execute vengeance upon the Philistines with furious rebukes. That means that the Lord shall judge our old man with the spirit of His mouth or His fiery words. It is through judgment that we come to know the Lord.

2Th 2:8 And then shall that Wicked (our old man) be revealed, whom the Lord shall consume with the spirit of his mouth, and shall destroy with the brightness of his coming:

May the Lord continue the work He has started in us to bring it to completion in the fullness of time. Amen!!

Lamentations – Lam 1:1-22 Part 1, The Lord was as an enemy

The Lord was as an enemy: he hath swallowed up Israel, he hath swallowed up all her palaces: he hath destroyed his strong holds, and hath increased in the daughter of Judah mourning and lamentation – (Lam 2:5)

[Study Aired August 12, 2023]

The Lord’s direct juxtaposition of marital intimacies with positive and negative spiritual associations is undeniable. It is a major, if not the underpinning theme of the Bible, that sub-themes radiate. Marriage’s beautifully complementing sexuality is a temporary God-given aberration of the spirit of God, designed in mankind to reflect righteous and unrighteous spiritual connections. It all points to our deepest honor and respect for the order and belief in God’s headship.

At the end of the One Thousand-Year reign with the rod of iron, our sexuality is redundant ~ finished  with its assignment (Gal 3:15-28)

Every study’s purposeful and hopeful outcome is the ‘terrible blue crystal’ clarity. It started in Eden with nakedness and concludes with us clothed in lightning-white clothing.

Mat 28:3 His countenance was like lightning, and his raiment white as snow: 

Rom 1:16 For I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ: for it is the power of God unto salvation to every one that believeth; to the Jew first, and also to the Greek.

The book of Lamentations results from fickle Israel being against her Husband ever since leaving Egypt. When life is joyful and rich, we are powerfully inclined to celebrate with friends, and opposite-sex friends are always a part of the mix, or a spouse particularly offers greater righteous sensual celebrations. Unrighteous celebrations resulted in the “daughter of Judah” mournfully sitting alone, a widow. Yet, she always pleases herself to ‘snuff up the wind in her season’ (Jer 2:24) to reclaim the Lord’s name to console her lamentations. So, the dissolute and bitter cycle goes around and around until the Lord kisses us with the ‘wind’ (spirit) of His truth in the season when He pleases.

Celebration is fine if it glorifies our Husband. It results in us immersed in His breath of apples (Son 7:8).

Rom 14:6 He who regards the day regards it to the Lord; and he not regarding the day, does not regard it to the Lord. He who eats, eats to the Lord, for he gives God thanks; and he who does not eat, does not eat to the Lord, and gives God thanks.

The Book of Lamentations summarises our journey of disobedience and directs us to call on the Lord’s name for deliverance. Yet this book graphically highlights our utter inability to follow our Lord without God’s spirit. The last three verses of Lamentations reflect that bewildering dilemma.

Lam 5:20 Why do You forget us forever and forsake us the length of days? 
Lam 5:21 Return us to You, O Jehovah, and we will turn; renew our days as of old,
Lam 5:22 unless You have utterly rejected us; You are very angry against us. At our Lord’s table, let us give thanks and glorify him.

Perplexed, we throw up our hands and ask why He has forsaken us, then, we want to return to the riches that the flesh offered in Egypt and Babylon. Our demeanour is like King Agag coming ‘lightly’ before Samuel (1Sa 15), expecting Saul to overrule Samuel’s assurance of Agag’s death with a nod and wink for life ~ that our sins are nothing. We want to cajole the Lord’s anger into peace without our repentance.

Of course, with our Lord’s spirit within, we can conversely see those verses reflecting positively on a genuinely changed heart.

How Lonely Sits the City

Lam 1:1 How doth the city sit solitary, that was full of people! how is she become as a widow! she that was great among the nations, and princess among the provinces, how is she become tributary! 
Lam 1:2 She weepeth sore 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 are become her enemies. 
Lam 1:3 Judah is 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 between the straits. 
Lam 1:4 The ways 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. 
Lam 1:5 Her adversaries are the chief, her enemies prosper; for the LORD hath afflicted her for the multitude of her transgressions: her children are gone into captivity before the enemy.
Lam 1:6 And from the daughter of Zion all her beauty is departed: her princes are become like harts that find no pasture, and they are gone without strength before the pursuer. 
Lam 1:7 Jerusalem 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 did mock at her sabbaths. 
Lam 1:8 Jerusalem hath grievously sinned; therefore she is removed: all that honoured her despise her, because they have seen her nakedness: yea, she sigheth, and turneth backward.
Lam 1:9 Her filthiness is in her skirts; she remembereth not her last end; therefore she came down wonderfully: she had no comforter. O LORD, behold my affliction: for the enemy hath magnified himself.
Lam 1:10 The 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. 
Lam 1:11 All 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 am become vile. 
Lam 1:12 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. 
Lam 1:13 From 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. 
Lam 1:14 The yoke of my transgressions is bound 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. 
Lam 1:15 The 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 winepress. 
Lam 1:16 For 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. 
Lam 1:17 Zion 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. 
Lam 1:18 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.
Lam 1:19 I 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. 
Lam 1:20 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. 
Lam 1:21 They 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 called, and they shall be like unto me. 
Lam 1:22 Let 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. 

Interpretations:

The term “daughter of Judah” and “daughter of Zion” are one and the same; she is us who are becoming a faithful city after being harlots. Unfaithfulness is our failure to righteously walk our sexual correlations spiritually.

Isa 1:21 How has the faithful city become a harlot? It was full of judgment; righteousness lodged in it, but now murderers.

Lam 1:1 How doth the city sit solitary, that was full of people! how is she become as a widow! she that was great among the nations, and princess among the provinces, how is she become tributary! [Tributary H4522 –  1. gang or body of forced labourers, task-workers, labour band or gang, forced service, task-work, serfdom, tributary, tribute, levy, taskmasters, discomfited From H4549 – 1. to dissolve, melt a. to waste way 2. to faint, grow fearful 3. wasted, worthless]

The spiritually discriminating saint will know that “city” was Old Jerusalem with the odd mournful owl now roosting in her once beautiful, now decimated, stained glass arches. The echoes of lying foxes yammer in the night, the sermons long gone.

No woman is more lonely than our former Babylonian selves moaning and groaning that we are not loved as we once sat lonely, waiting for our Lord to work physical wonders for sensual joy.

Isa 13:19 And Babylon, the glory of kingdoms, the beauty of the Chaldees’ excellency, shall be as when God overthrew Sodom and Gomorrah.
Isa 13:20 It 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.
Isa 13:21 But wild beasts of the desert shall lie there; and their houses shall be full of doleful creatures; and owls shall dwell there, and satyrs [hairy goat. To storm; shiver; dread] shall dance there.
Isa 13:22 And the wild beasts of the islands shall cry in their desolate houses, and dragons [lizards; serpents] in their pleasant palaces: and her time is near to come, and her days shall not be prolonged.

Rev 11:8 And their dead bodies shall lie in the street of the great city [you and me; Old Jerusalem], which spiritually is called Sodom and Egypt [Babylon], where also our Lord was crucified [within].

In verse one, she becomes “as a widow”, but she doesn’t believe she is one! She doesn’t realise that His death cancelled the marriage covenant, yet she still worships the dead Christ through her dead works of the flesh and doesn’t know it.

Rev 18:7 How much she hath glorified herself, and lived deliciously, so much torment and sorrow give her: for she saith in her heart, I sit a queen, and am no widow, and shall see no sorrow.

Luk 9:58 And Jesus said unto him, Foxes have holes, and birds of the air have nests [in Old Jerusalem within]; but the Son of man hath not where to lay his head.
Luk 9:59 And he said unto another, Follow me. But he said, Lord, suffer me first to go and bury my father. 
Luk 9:60 Jesus said unto him, Let the dead bury their dead: but go thou and preach the kingdom of God. 
Luk 9:61 And another also said, Lord, I will follow thee; but let me first go bid them farewell, which are at home at my house. 
Luk 9:62 And Jesus said unto him, No man, having put his hand to the plough, and looking back, is fit for the kingdom of God.

Lam 1:2 She weepeth sore 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 are become her enemies.

In August 2015, I wept sore in the night (as no doubt we all did) with tears upon my cheeks without a lover among any of my imagined friends whom I thought wanted to see the Lord’s truth; they all dealt treacherously with me and abandoned me ~ well, I abandoned them by not realising that it was the beginning of me coming out of Babylon and them rejecting my strange breath.

Job 19:15 They that dwell in mine house, and my maids, count me for a stranger: I am an alien in their sight. 
Job 19:16 I called my servant, and he gave me no answer; I intreated him with my mouth. 
Job 19:17 My breath [the newness of the Lord’s word] is strange to my wife, though I intreated for the children’s sake of mine own body. 
Job 19:18 Yea, young children [my own children unconsciously and my disappearing sins in my land] despised me; I arose, and they spake against me. 
Job 19:19  All my inward friends abhorred me: and they whom I loved are turned against me. 

Joh 15:18 If the world hates you, you know that it hated Me before it hated you. 
Joh 15:19 If you were of the world, the world would love its own. But because you are not of the world, but I have chosen you out of the world, therefore the world hates you.

We can glory in those hatreds, not because we are masochistic, but because it identifies us with Christ and the world’s hatred for His commands which we follow.

Mat 19:29 And every one that hath forsaken houses, or brethren, or sisters, or father, or mother, or wife, or children, or lands, for my name’s sake, shall receive an hundredfold, and shall inherit everlasting life.

When we are dragged out of Babylon and look back, not lustfully but astonished for having been strongly deluded (2Th 2:1-12), our weeping turns into Shulamite joy. We escape the slavery of Sodom, Egypt and Babylon that is the old Daughter of Zion in the flesh, and in the new light of the word, take pleasure in afflictions and fiery trials that we know will build gold in the Lord’s temple.

Lam 1:3 Judah is 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 between the straits. 
Lam 1:4 The ways 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.

The priests of God, the Lord’s budding Elect, Judah, have gone into captivity in Christ. None of our former friends in Babylon come to ‘the Jesus’ table, His feast, to eat the true bread of life. We eat up the “little book” of which John in Revelations speaks and are given to understand its bitterness that dramatically turns into joy. All that the daughter of Judah experienced (us before being dragged to Christ) was a bitter experience of evil flesh that the new daughter, the Bride of Christ, is filled with the joy of understanding that is better than wine.

Rev 10:9 And I went to the angel and said to him, Give me the little book. And he said to me, Take it and eat it up, and it will make your belly bitter, but it will be sweet as honey in your mouth.
Rev 10:10 And I took the little book out of the angel’s hand and ate it up. And it was sweet as honey in my mouth, and as soon as I had eaten it, my belly was made bitter.
Rev 10:11 And he said to me, You must prophesy again before many peoples and nations and tongues and kings.

The old Zion within is done mourning and lying back on her couch, waiting for her lovers to awaken her torrid desires yet remaining bewilderedly torpid. Our virgins within are tearfully afflicted, wondering why our husband in the flesh is bitter. In time, we are given to experience our spiritual Husband’s arousing kisses (Son 1:2-7). The culmination of those kisses His wife gives to her children in the chastising resurrection to judgment.

Lam 1:5 Her enemies have become as chief; her haters are at ease; for Jehovah has afflicted her for the multitude of her sins. Her children have gone, captive before the enemy.

The stolen waters of fornication are sweet until the next day when we as a woman realise our folly. In contemporary terms, we cry ‘rape’, and the next morning feel stabbed through our liver with a dart, and we now sue our cohort for his violation of our imagined purity.

Deu 22:23 If a girl who is a virgin is engaged to a husband, and a man finds her in the city and lies with her, 
Deu 22:24 then you shall bring them both out to the gate of that city, and you shall stone them with stones that they die; the girl because she did not cry out in the city, and the man because he has humbled his neighbor’s wife. So you shall put away evil from among you. 

Isa 30:1 Woe to the rebellious sons, says Jehovah, who make advice, but not of Me; and who cover with a covering, but not of My Spirit, that they add sin to sin; 
Isa 30:2 those who set out to go down to Egypt and have not asked at My mouth; to take refuge in the strength of Pharaoh and to trust in the shadow of Egypt! 
Isa 30:3 Therefore the strength of Pharaoh shall be your shame, and the trust in the shadow of Egypt shall be your curse.

Lam 1:6 And from the daughter of Zion all her beauty has departed. Her rulers have become like bucks: they find no pasture, and they have gone without strength before the pursuer.

Rachel is, in type, the “daughter of Zion” who felt her beauty had departed. Her sister, Leah, ruled humiliation over her for being barren. Leah’s ten “bucks” in Babylon waxed fat in their green pasture, not realising their food was to become moldy. Rachel, as we sometimes do, felt defeated and unloved before Leah (Babylonian family and friends), her pursuer.

Like Rachel, we impulsively strike out at our Lord for Him not validating our beauty by our measures; and imagine ourselves barren for not changing more rapidly than we expect. We easily forget that Christ is building His temple within us and awakening our love in His timing.

Gen 30:1 And when Rachel saw that she bore Jacob no children, Rachel envied her sister. And she said to Jacob, Give me sons, or else I will die.
Gen 30:2 And Jacob’s anger was kindled against Rachel. And he said, Am I in God’s stead, who has withheld from you the fruit of the womb? 
Gen 30:3 And she said, Behold my slave woman Bilhah; go in to her, and she shall bear upon my knees, and yea, let me be built up from her, me also.

Lam 1:7 In the days of her affliction and her wandering Jerusalem remembered all her desirable things from previous days; when her people fell into the hand of the foe; and there is no ally for her. The foes saw her; they laughed at her annihilation.

As carnally expressed in the prelude, we remember our Vashti-like beauty and, too late, don’t see the coming rejection.

There will be nothing more humiliating for us to experience than to revel in our God-given beauty without bringing forth righteous children and thus miss out on the First Resurrection. Our unconverted family and friends (foes) will laugh at our disgrace. We will thus be naked, and the world will see death beneath our skirts and the desecration of our orchard, our vineyard that brought forth rotten fruit. We will not be comforted!

Mat 2:18 “A voice was heard in Ramah, wailing and weeping and great mourning, Rachel weeping for her children, and would not be comforted, because they are not.”

The following verses all speak about our fornication we didn’t reject. Like Solomon showing the Queen of Sheba all the temple treasury, it is not wise to flaunt our inheritance before family, friends and dogs.

Lam 1:8  Jerusalem has grievously sinned, therefore she has been removed. All knowing her despise her because they saw her nakedness; yea, she sighs and turns backward.
Lam 1:9 Her uncleanness is in her skirts; she did not remember her end, and has gone down astoundingly. There is no comforter for her. O Jehovah, behold my affliction, for the enemy has magnified himself. 
Lam 1:10 The enemy has spread out his hand upon all her desirable things; for she has seen the nations enter her holy place, whom You commanded that they should not enter into Your congregation.
Lam 1:11 All her people sigh; they seek bread. They have given their desirable things for food to relieve the soul. See, O Jehovah, and look on me, for I have become vile.
Lam 1:12 Is it nothing to you, all you who pass by? Behold and see if there is any sorrow like my sorrow which is done to me, with which Jehovah has afflicted me in the day of His fierce anger.
Lam 1:13 From above He has sent fire into my bones and it has laid them low. He has spread a net for my feet; He has turned me back; He has made me amazed and faint all the day.

Thankfully, our Lord does comfort us by sending fire into our bones. Our heart was a snare and net and hands like bands (Ecc 7:26) for our Lord that He has reversed, and we look back in amazement and temporarily faint at our humiliation. However, our Lord will patiently raise us up into heavenly places.

Jas 4:9 Be afflicted, and mourn and weep. Let your laughter be turned to mourning and your joy to heaviness. 
Jas 4:10 Be humbled before the Lord, and He will lift you up.

Joh 16:21 The woman has grief when she bears, because her hour has come. But when she brings forth the child, she no longer remembers the anguish, because of the joy that a man is born into the world. 
Joh 16:22 And therefore you now have sorrow. But I will see you again, and your heart will rejoice, and no one will take your joy from you.

Lam 1:14 The yoke of my transgressions is bound by His hand; they intertwine; they rise on my neck. He has made my strength to falter; Jehovah has delivered me into their hands. I am not able to rise up.
Lam 1:15 Jehovah has trampled all my mighty ones in my midst; He has called a gathering against me to crush my young men. Jehovah has trod the virgin daughter of Judah, as in a winepress.
Lam 1:16 For these I weep; my eye, my eye runs down with water, because the comforter who could refresh my soul is far from me. My sons are desolated because the enemy prevails.

Our bones being burned with fire and bodies trodden in the winepress until our blood runs deep unto the horse’s bridle sounds terrifying; it is terrifying to the babes in Christ. It all is part of our dragging from exile in Babylon.

Even though we are a bunch of harlots in Babylon, our coming out of her at our Lord’s hand causes Him to attribute virginity to us. Just as the faithful city becomes a harlot, she becomes a virgin.

Lam 1:17 Zion [daughter old Jerusalem] spreads forth her hands; none is comforting to me; Jehovah has commanded concerning Jacob that his enemies should be all around him; Jerusalem has become as an impure thing among them.
Lam 1:18 Jehovah is righteous, for I have rebelled against His command. I beseech you, all peoples, hear and behold my sorrow. My virgins and my young men went into exile.

The Lord’s people do get immeasurable comfort from reflecting upon our former lamentations when we return to Him with our entire heart.

Isa 1:18 Come now, and let us reason together, says Jehovah; though your sins are as scarlet, they shall be as white as snow; though they are red like crimson, they shall be like wool. 
Isa 1:19 If you are willing and obedient, you shall eat the good of the land; 
Isa 1:20 but if you refuse and rebel, you shall be devoured with the sword; for the mouth of Jehovah has spoken. 

Jer 29:11 For I know the purposes which I am purposing for you, says Jehovah; purposes of peace and not of evil, to give you a future and a hope.
Jer 29:12 Then you shall call on Me, and you shall go and pray to Me, and I will listen to you. 
Jer 29:13 And you shall seek Me and find Me, when you search for Me with all your heart. 
Jer 29:14 And I will be found by you, says Jehovah; and I will turn away your captivity, and I will gather you from all the nations, and from all the places where I have driven you, says Jehovah. And I will bring you again into the place from where I caused you to be exiled.

Lam 1:19 I called for my lovers, but they deceived me; my priests and my elders expired in the city while they sought food for them to bring back their life.

How spiritually poetically true is verse 19?! All sensual joys of the flesh deceive us to lust for more. We don’t want to consider that they are all vanity of vanities (Ecc 1:2-11) as Solomon ultimately ‘lamented’. Yet, that is the only dirty trough water (Jas 3:11-13) we had in Babylon as we dipped our sop in the blood of Christ’s death, ignorantly thinking we were saved by the letter of the law. 

Lord willing, let’s not be like Judas and Queen Vashti learning their fate too late as their inward parts dissolved. It is incredibly wise to authentically acknowledge our sins before our accusor before we mourn our house of death. Nonetheless, mourning that produces righteousness is infinitely superior to mirth in a house of revelling.

Ecc 7:3 Sorrow is better than laughter; for by the sadness of the face the heart is made better. 
Ecc 7:4 The heart of the wise is in the house of mourning; but the heart of fools is in the house of laughter. 
Ecc 7:5 It is better to hear the rebuke of the wise than for a man to hear the song of fools. 

Lam 1:20 Behold, O Jehovah, for I am in trouble; my inward parts ferment; my heart is turned within me, for I have grievously rebelled. On the outside the sword bereaves; in the house it is as death.
Lam 1:21 They hear that I sigh; there is none to comfort me. All my enemies have heard my evil; they are glad that You have done it. You will bring the day that You have called, and they shall be like me.
Lam 1:22 Let all their wickedness come before You; and do to them as You have done to me for all my transgressions. For my sighs are many, and my heart is faint. 

The initial dreadful lamenting of our humiliations matures into gladness since we are given to see the future and the Lord’s reasoning behind His tailored trials. By waiting and enduring the pain and suffering, we will look upon our inherited family, the world, in the Resurrection to Judgment with Joseph’s mixture of emotions. We will be ecstatic that the world’s children are nearing their spiritual birth, yet, no doubt, a little angry against their sin, as the Lord was against ours.

Indeed, “the Lord was as an enemy,” and he still is anytime we fall short of His commands, teaching [i.e. chastening – paideuō] us that, denying ungodliness and worldly lusts, we should live soberly, righteously, and godly, in this present world – Tit 2:11.

Rom 5:20 Moreover the law entered, that the offence might abound. But where sin abounded, [scourging, chastening, rebuking] grace did much more abound:

Heb 12:5  And ye have forgotten the exhortation which speaketh unto you as unto children, My son, despise not thou the chastening of the Lord, nor faint when thou art rebuked of him:
Heb 12:6 For whom the Lord loveth he chasteneth, and scourgeth every son whom he receiveth.
Heb 12:7 If ye endure chastening, God dealeth with you as with sons; for what son is he whom the father chasteneth not?
Heb 12:8  But if ye be without chastisement, whereof all are partakers, then are ye bastards, and not sons.

Amo 6:1 Woe to them that are at ease in Zion, and trust in the mountain of Samaria, which are named chief of the nations, to whom the house of Israel came!

Joh 15:15 No longer do I call you servants, for the servant does not know what his master does. But I have called you friends, for all things that I have heard from My Father I have made known to you.

The Book of Joshua – Part 16, Chapters 16–17 – Inherently: The dream of Pharaoh is one (Gen 41:25)

[Study Aired June 17, 2023]

Again, this study of Joshua chapters 16-17 identifies the geographical boundaries of the various tribes’ inheritances. In a recent study of Joshua, I mentioned that the pictorial of the tribe’s boundaries looked like the internal organs of a human body. It could be spiritually interesting for the individual to study in detail the meaning of the names of each tribe’s inheritance.

Map of Israel’s inheritance (for later reference, see Gezer): https://christiananswers.net/dictionary/images/Map_of_12_tribes_of_Israel-large.png

As an instigation for possible inspiration, and with Asher in the far north beside Naphtali, Asher means happy and to go straight and level, while Naphtali means wrestling and to twist. It could be pictorially said that those two nations represent the head of the allegorical ‘body’ of the Lord’s first wife; for us, whose spiritual desire is to go straight and level, yet our flesh is weak and wrestles both negatively and positively in labour with his word.

The Sea of Galilee could represent her mouth, where she ingested the waters of the word of God. Galilee means circuit, folding doors, cylinder & rod. Israel chewed the word of God in a circulatory motion (like chewing the cud)  through Galilee’s representation. The Lord’s word was painstakingly hand-scribed on papaya parchments, and the rod of its testaments held safe in cylinders.

The Jordan, meaning descender, to go down and sink down, flowed in from the snowy Mt. Hermon (meaning mountain) to the north of Israel, depicting the mighty mountain, our Lord above Israel, feeding her mind with His pure word.  

Without compromising too much about the individual’s spiritual discoveries for himself, I’ll jump to the two tribes of Manasseh who decidedly look like her two lungs with the esophagus running between them past the spiritual heart of Jerusalem, Ephraim and Benjamin, with Judah digesting the Lord’s word next to the bowels of waste in the Dead Sea.

Mat 15:17 Do you not yet understand that whatever enters in at the mouth goes into the belly, and is cast out into the waste-bowl? [MKJV]

Somewhat tragically, where the Salt Sea dissipates into desert marshland at Zoar into Edom, is the end of her bodily elimination with Esau’s profanity in rejecting his birthright. This bodily function of Israel has her go outside the camp of the Lord to relieve herself in the easily dug wasteland of Edom.

Deu 23:12 You shall also have a place outside the camp where you shall go forth. 
Deu 23:13 And you shall have a paddle on your weapon. And it shall be, when you sit down outside, you shall dig with it, and shall turn back and cover that which comes from you. 
Deu 23:14 For Jehovah your God walks in the middle of your camp, to deliver you and to give up your enemies before you. Therefore your camp shall be holy, so that He may see no unclean thing in you and turn away from you.

Zoar means insignificance, and to be or grow insignificant, grow small as Israel’s dung disappears into the soil that will fertilise Esau in the Lake of Fire.

Heb 12:11 Now chastening for the present does not seem to be joyous, but grievous. Nevertheless afterward it yields the peaceable fruit of righteousness to those who are exercised by it. 
Heb 12:12 Because of this, straighten up the hands which hang down and the enfeebled knees. 
Heb 12:13 And make straight paths for your feet, lest that which is lame be turned out of the way, but let it rather be healed. 
Heb 12:14 Follow peace with all, and holiness, without which no one shall see the Lord;
Heb 12:15 looking diligently lest any fail of the grace of God, or lest any root of bitterness springing up disturb you, and by it many are defiled,
Heb 12:16 (lest there be any fornicator, or profane person like Esau, who for one morsel of food sold his birthright.
Heb 12:17 For you know that afterward, when he desired to inherit the blessing, he was rejected; for he did not find any place of repentance, though he sought it carefully with tears).

Even though the pictorial of Ephraim and Benjamin surrounding Jerusalem is the heart of the Lord’s wife, their location isn’t biologically perfectly positioned in her body, nor is the angle of Judah, a caricature of her liver. A liver’s function is to cleanse the blood of the word and inject digestive enzymes into the stomach that nourish her body.

Liver shape and position: https://fattyliverdisease.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/03/FeaturedImage_Normal-Size-Liver-1.jpg

As with the previous studies regarding the boundaries of each tribe’s land, I’ll not read the outwardly bland details. Likewise, I’ll not duplicate the chapters previously studied; rather, I’ll interpret them as I go.

Chapter 16 details the allotment of lands for Ephraim and Manasseh with a distinction of single cities noted in verses 9 and 10.

The Allotment for Ephraim and Manasseh

Jos 16:1 And the lot of the sons of Joseph fell from Jordan by Jericho, to the water of Jericho on the east, to the wilderness that goes up from Jericho through Mount Bethel, 
Jos 16:2 and goes out from Bethel to Luz, and passes along to the borders of the Archites, to Ataroth; 
Jos 16:3 and it goes down westward to the border of the Japhletites, to the border of Beth-horon the lower, and to Gezer. And its boundary was at the sea. 
Jos 16:4 And the sons of Joseph, Manasseh and Ephraim, took their inheritance. 
Jos 16:5 And the border of the sons of Ephraim was by their families: the border of their inheritance on the east side was Ataroth-addar, to Beth-horon the upper. 
Jos 16:6 And the border went out toward the sea to Michmethah on the north side. And the border went about eastward to Taanath-shiloh, and passed by it on the east to Janohah. 
Jos 16:7 And it went down from Janohah to Ataroth, and to Naarath, and came again to Jericho, and went out at Jordan. 
Jos 16:8 The border went out from Tappuah westward to the river Kanah. And the boundary was at the sea. This is the inheritance of the tribe of the sons of Ephraim by their families.
Jos 16:9 And the separate cities for the sons of Ephraim were among the inheritance of the sons of Manasseh, all the cities with their villages. 
Jos 16:10 And they did not drive out the Canaanites who lived in Gezer [gheh’-zer = portion]. But the Canaanites live among the Ephraimites until this day, and serve under tribute [H4522].

The Canaanites stubbornly resided amid Ephraim and Manasseh as they spiritually do in us today. In this account, they represent our Christian Babylonian brothers and sisters who labor in the heat of the day, bringing us many bible versions, commentaries and electronic studies for ease of study. “Tribute” H4522 means 1. gang or body of forced labourers, task-workers, labour band or gang, forced service, task-work, serfdom, tributary, tribute, levy, taskmasters, discomfited a. labour-band, labour-gang, slave gang b. gang-overseers c. forced service, serfdom, tribute, enforced payment. Derived from H4549, meaning 1. to dissolve, melt a. (Qal) to waste away b. (Niphal) 1. to melt, vanish, drop off, melt away 2. to faint, grow fearful (fig.) 3. wasted, worthless (participle).

Indeed, even though our Canaanite brothers and sisters have done us a mighty unpaid service, their hard work, and at the Lord’s hand, has spiritually gone over their heads. They will certainly feel worthless and jilted, as did the labourers first hired to work in the vineyard (Mat 20:1-16), and we diligently study the word of God in spiritually weak light before being dragged to his service. We were forced to pay our tithes, our “tributes” in Gentile Christianity, and upon hearing the truth, we melted away in the heat of our Lord’s word.

Luk 8:10 And He said, To you it is given to know the mysteries of the kingdom of God. But to others [our Babylonian Christian brothers and sisters with whom we reside] I speak in parables, so that seeing they might not see and hearing they might not understand.

Jer 29:4 Thus saith the LORD of hosts, the God of Israel, unto all that are carried away captives, whom I have caused to be carried away from Jerusalem unto Babylon; 
Jer 29:5 Build ye houses, and dwell in them; and plant gardens, and eat the fruit of them; 
Jer 29:6 Take ye wives, and beget sons and daughters; and take wives for your sons, and give your daughters to husbands, that they may bear sons and daughters; that ye may be increased there, and not diminished. 
Jer 29:7 And seek the peace of the city whither I have caused you to be carried away captives, and pray unto the LORD for it: for in the peace thereof shall ye have peace. 
Jer 29:8 For thus saith the LORD of hosts, the God of Israel; Let not your prophets and your diviners, that be in the midst of you, deceive you, neither hearken to your dreams which ye cause to be dreamed.
Jer 29:9 For they prophesy falsely unto you in my name: I have not sent them, saith the LORD. 
Jer 29:10 For thus saith the LORD, That after seventy years be accomplished at Babylon I will visit you, and perform my good word toward you, in causing you to return to this place. 
Jer 29:11 For I know the thoughts that I think toward you, saith the LORD, thoughts of peace, and not of evil, to give you an expected end.

We saw in Joshua 10:33 that Joshua killed the king of Gezer; however, since the Lord decreed that not all the Canaanites would be routed from the land, much later, a Pharaoh from Egypt devastated the Gezer city and offered it to Solomon as a dowry when Solomon married his daughter.

Excavations of the 3,000-year-old Gezer ‘tel’ reveal their ritualistic child sacrifice and phallus-like stone edifices, and they remain to be seen today and are particularly relevant to Jeremiah 3:9. https://www.timesofisrael.com/discover-gezer-israels-lost-city/

Jer 3:6 Jehovah also said to me in the days of Josiah the king, Have you seen that which backsliding Israel has done? She has gone up on every high mountain and under every green tree, and has fornicated there.
Jer 3:7 And I said after she had done all these things, Turn to Me! But she did not return. And her treacherous sister Judah saw it. 
Jer 3:8 And I saw, when for all the causes for which backsliding Israel committed adultery, I sent her away and gave a bill of divorce to her, yet her treacherous sister Judah did not fear, but she went and whored, she also. 
Jer 3:9 And it happened, from the folly of her whoredom, she defiled the land and fornicated with stones [see link above] and stocks.
Jer 3:10 And yet for all this her treacherous sister Judah has not turned to Me with her whole heart, but with falsehood, says Jehovah. 
Jer 3:11 And Jehovah said to me, The backsliding Israel has justified herself more than treacherous Judah.

Our Lord specifically caused the Canaanites to remain in our land to try us and be a continual source of spiritual food and for us to remember to not repeat what Solomon and Israel physically acted.

1Ki 3:1 And Solomon made affinity with Pharaoh king of Egypt, and took Pharaoh’s daughter, and brought her into the city of David, until he had made an end of building his own house, and the house of the LORD, and the wall of Jerusalem round about. 
1Ki 3:2 Only the people sacrificed in high places, because there was no house built unto the name of the LORD, until those days.

What a classic act of Satan to first not allow the Israelites to be able to cleanse the land of Gezerites residing in the literal heart of Israel, and then much later have Pharaoh look like an ally by doing Israel’s job of killing the Gezerites. Pharaoh sealed the deal by giving Solomon his daughter in marriage and Gezer as a dowry.

Subsequently, Israel sacrificed in high places since there wasn’t anywhere physically to demonstrate their devotion, and defaulted to father Satan’s influence. They built or used the land’s enemy’s methods of sacrifice and mixed the Lord’s commands with their enemy’s doctrines. It is today’s classic act of Babylonian Christianity to acquiesce to the pressures of evil to love and not judge anyone’s Canaanite-like worship; it happens in Gentile Christianity and government. It is typical of us in the Body of Christ anytime we do not use the multitude of counsel, allowing false doctrine and leaven to creep in.

Lev 18:3 After the doings of the land of Egypt, wherein ye dwelt, shall ye not do: and after the doings of the land of Canaan, whither I bring you, shall ye not do: neither shall ye walk in their ordinances. 
Lev 18:4 Ye shall do my judgments, and keep mine ordinances, to walk therein: I am the LORD your God. 
Lev 18:5 Ye shall therefore keep my statutes, and my judgments: which if a man do, he shall live in them: I am the LORD.

Continuing with the King’s thread:

1Ki 3:3 And Solomon loved the LORD, walking in the statutes of David his father: only he sacrificed and burnt incense in high places.
1Ki 3:4 And the king went to Gibeon to sacrifice there; for that was the great high place: a thousand burnt offerings did Solomon offer upon that altar.

1Ki 9:15 And this is the reason of the levy [1. gang or body of forced labourers, task-workers, labour band or gang, forced service, task-work, serfdom, tributary] which king Solomon raised; for to build the house of the LORD, and his own house, and Millo, and the wall of Jerusalem, and Hazor, [khaw-tsore’; = castle] and Megiddo [meg-id-done’ = place of crowds], and Gezer [gheh’-zer = portion]. 
1Ki 9:16 For Pharaoh king of Egypt had gone up, and taken Gezer, and burnt it with fire, and slain the Canaanites that dwelt in the city, and given it for a present unto his daughter, Solomon’s wife.

Pharaoh’s actions are like Delilah’s (= feeble) with Sampson by conniving to be a fifth-columnist alliance for our ultimate destruction, yet those deceitful contrivances were our food. Pharaoh had no compassion for Canaanites, who were on par with iniquity with Egypt, only to use them to ‘melt away’ and make the source of Israel’s power, the Lord’s word, ‘worthless’ and ‘feeble’. It happens to us anytime we water down the Lord’s word with false doctrine, welcoming our “mistress”, the Great Whore to unwittingly rule over us.

1Ki 9:17 And Solomon built Gezer, and Bethhoron the nether [= lower; below Gezer],
1Ki 9:18 And Baalath [bah-al-awth’. Ironically meaning 1. mistress, female owner 2. sorceress], and Tadmor [= palm tree; erect] in the wilderness, in the land,
1Ki 9:19 And all the cities of store that Solomon had, and cities for his chariots, and cities for his horsemen, and that which Solomon desired to build in Jerusalem, and in Lebanon, and in all the land of his dominion. 
1Ki 9:20 And all the people that were left of the Amorites, Hittites, Perizzites, Hivites, and Jebusites, which were not of the children of Israel
1Ki 9:21 Their children that were left after them in the land, whom the children of Israel also were not able utterly to destroy, upon those did Solomon levy a tribute of bondservice unto this day.

Note those “five kings” correlate to the other “five kings” in Joshua 10 killed very early in Joshua’s exploits, substantiating that we cannot totally destroy our enemies while we remain in sinful flesh, which remains for us as a chastisement by grace through faith for our spiritual food.

Gen 47:26 And Joseph made it a law over the land of Egypt unto this day, that Pharaoh should have the fifth part; except the land of the priests only, which became not Pharaoh’s.

Phallus and Ashteroth’s worship on ‘every high hill’ was common in the land and resulted from Israel being unable to utterly cleanse her land of the enemies, as the previous Gezer link showed.

Typically today, the world of modern Gezerites worship their pudenda in every depraved manner imaginable. Spiritually, they are our Gentile Christian kin working in tribute to the Lord’s Body for the honor of kings to search out the truth from their fornicating doctrines (Pro 25:2). Off-site, as with Solomon’s Temple, they are unwittingly and effectively building our temple in grace through faith in fives (Exo 26, Eze 42).

1Ki 9:21 Their children that were left after them in the land, whom the children of Israel also were not able utterly to destroy, upon those did Solomon levy a tribute of bondservice unto this day.
1Ki 9:22  But of the children of Israel did Solomon make no bondmen: but they were men of war, and his servants, and his princes, and his captains, and rulers of his chariots, and his horsemen. 
1Ki 9:23 These were the chief of the officers that were over Solomon’s work, five hundred and fifty, which bare rule over the people that wrought in the work.
1Ki 9:24 But Pharaoh’s daughter came up out of the city of David unto her house which Solomon had built for her: then did he build Millo.
1Ki 9:25 And three times in a year did Solomon offer burnt offerings and peace offerings upon the altar which he built unto the LORD, and he burnt incense upon the altar that was before the LORD. So he finished the house.

So, the symbolic Canaanites and Gezerites live among us until this day both outwardly and diminishing inwardly. However, because Gezer wasn’t utterly destroyed and, in part, Solomon later took Pharaoh’s daughter to be a wife, it was an incredibly significant symbolism of the beginning of Jeremiah’s prophecies and all things being ours in our spiritual trials.

The following scriptures are longish and evoke an intense spiritual joy, and as such, are well worth reading and reflecting upon each verse of why God caused the Canaanites and Gezerites to remain among us to this day.

Jer 25:15  For so says Jehovah, the God of Israel, to me, Take the wine cup of this wrath at My hand, and cause all the nations to whom I shall send you to drink it. 
Jer 25:16 And they shall drink, and reel to and fro, and be maddened, because of the sword that I will send among them. 
Jer 25:17 Then I took the cup at Jehovah’s hand, and made all the nations drink, to whom Jehovah had sent me. 
Jer 25:18 Jerusalem, and the cities of Judah, and the kings of them, and their rulers, to make them a ruin, a horror, a hissing, and a curse, as it is today, 
Jer 25:19 Pharaoh, king of Egypt, and his servants, and his rulers, and all his people, 
Jer 25:20 and all the mixed people, [outside the camp of Israel] and all the kings of the land of Uz [= counsel; plan {paradoxically}], and all the kings of the land of the Philistines [= land of sojourners], and Ashkelon [= fire of infamy; to weigh; pay out], and Azzah [= strong; mighty; fierce], and Ekron [= emigration or torn up by the roots], and the rest of Ashdod [= to deal violently with, despoil, devastate, ruin, destroy, spoil]; 
Jer 25:21 Edom [ = red, ruddy (of man, horse, heifer, garment, water, lentils], and Moab [ = father of an individual], and the sons of Ammon [= nation, people], 
Jer 25:22 and all the kings of Tyre [= flint, hard pebble], and all the kings of Sidon [= hunting], and the kings of the coastlands beyond the sea, 
Jer 25:23 Dedan [Eze 27:20 Dedan was your merchant in loose cloths for riding], and Tema [= desert], and Buz [= contempt; a. springing from evil b. springing from prosperity c. springing from judgment], and those who trim the edges of their beards [made to look righteous; rich men; tithing on mint, dill and cummin Mat 23:23]. 
Jer 25:24 and all the kings of Arabia, and all the kings of the mixed people who dwell in the desert, 
Jer 25:25 and all the kings of Zimri [= my music; 1. to sing, sing praise, make music], and all the kings of Elam [= eternity; 1. a Korhite Levite in the time of David 2. a chief man of the tribe of Benjamin], and all the kings of the Medes [synomous of Gog and Magog], 
Jer 25:26 and all the kings of the north, far and near, one with another, and all the kingdoms of the world, which are on the face of the earth; and the king of Sheshach [ = thy fine linen 1. another name for Babylon apparently taken from the Goddess ‘Shach’] shall drink after them. 
Jer 25:27 So you shall say to them, So says Jehovah of Hosts, the God of Israel: Drink and be drunk, and vomit, and fall, and rise no more, because of the sword which I will send among you. 
Jer 25:28 And it shall be if they refuse to take the cup at your hand to drink, then you shall say to them, So says Jehovah of Hosts, You shall certainly drink.
Jer 25:29 For, lo, I begin to bring evil on the city which is called by My name [Jerusalem and particularly as we become Jerusalem above]; and should you be found entirely without guilt? You shall not be without guilt. For I will call for a sword on all the inhabitants of the earth, says Jehovah of Hosts. 
Jer 25:30 And prophesy against them all these Words, and say to them, Jehovah shall roar from on high, and utter His voice from His holy habitation. He shall mightily roar over His dwelling place. He shall give a shout, like those who tread out grapes, against all the people of the earth. 
Jer 25:31 A noise shall come to the ends of the earth; for Jehovah has a controversy with the nations; He will enter into judgment with all flesh. He will give those who are wicked to the sword, says Jehovah.
Jer 25:32 So says Jehovah of Hosts, Behold, evil shall go forth from nation to nation, and a great tempest shall be stirred up from the corners of the earth.
Jer 25:33 And the slain of Jehovah shall be at that day from one end of the earth even to the other end of the earth; they shall not be mourned, nor gathered, nor buried. They shall be as dung on the ground. [how prophetically beautiful for our growth!]
Jer 25:34 Howl, shepherds, and cry; and roll, leaders of the flock! For the days of your slaughter and of your scatterings are fulfilled; and you shall fall like a desirable vessel. 
Jer 25:35 And the shepherds shall have no way to flee, nor the choice ones of the flock, to escape. 
Jer 25:36 A voice of the cry of the shepherds, and a howling of the choice ones of the flock shall be heard; for Jehovah has spoiled their pasture.
Jer 25:37 And the peaceful pastures are cut down because of the fierce anger of Jehovah. 
Jer 25:38 Like the lion, He has left His den; for their land is wasted because of the oppressor’s pressing fury, and because of His fierce anger.

What powerful prophecy and the delight within and without those verses arouse!

Jos 17:1 There was also a lot for the tribe of Manasseh (for he was the first-born of Joseph); for Machir [maw-keer’], the first-born of Manasseh, the father of Gilead [ghil-awd’], because he was a man of war, therefore he had Gilead [ghil-awd’] and Bashan.

Manasseh, the elder brother of Ephraim, means causing to forget.

Gen 41:50 And unto Joseph were born two sons before the years of famine came, which Asenath [aw-se-nath’- Definition: Asenath = belonging to the Goddess Neith 1. the wife of Joseph] the daughter of Potipherah priest of On [one – Definition: On = strength or vigour 1. city in lower Egypt, bordering land of Goshen, centre of sun-worship, residence of Potipherah (priest of On and father-in-law of Joseph] bare unto him. 
Gen 41:51 And Joseph called the name of the firstborn Manasseh: For God, said he, hath made me forget all my toil, and all my father’s house.

We, too, are the firstborn, men of war against all the evil within opposing the temple of God. Initially, we forget or disregard the whole of God’s word until the day He drags us to Himself, and then and in time, we, like Joseph and a woman in travail, forget the pain, humiliation and hatred directed against us, and glorify our Lord for the new creation we are becoming.

Rom 8:28 And we know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to his purpose. 
Rom 8:29 For whom he did foreknow, he also did predestinate to be conformed to the image of his Son, that he might be the firstborn among many brethren. 
Rom 8:30 Moreover whom he did predestinate, them he also called: and whom he called, them he also justified: and whom he justified, them he also glorified.

Inclusive of Joshua 17:1 above and below, verses 2 to 18 regarding Manasseh’s inheritance, requires a little concentration on the sum total meaning of names for the summary and understanding. The collective meanings of the names are mostly positive, with the negative connotations typically balancing our journey to becoming Christs.

Jos 17:2 There was also a lot [land; a heritage] for the rest of the sons of Manasseh by their families: for the sons of Abiezer [ab-ee-ay’-zer = my father is help], and for the sons of Helek [khay’-lek = portion], and for the sons of Asriel [as-ree-ale’ = I shall be prince of God. to go straight, walk, go on, advance, make progress. god, God-like one, mighty one], and for the sons of Shechem [sheh’-kem = back or shoulder], and for the sons of Hepher [khay’-fer = a well. To be ashamed, be confounded, be abashed, feel abashed], and for the sons of Shemida [shem-ee-daw’ = wise]; these were the sons of Manasseh the son of Joseph, by their families. 
Jos 17:3 But Zelophehad [tsel-of-chawd = first-born] the son of Hepher [khay’-fer], the son of Gilead [ghil-awd’], the son of Machir [maw-keer’= sold], the son of Manasseh, had no sons, but daughters. And these were the names of his daughters: Mahlah [makh-law’ = disease], and Noah [no-aw’ = motion; to quiver, totter, shake, reel, stagger, wander, move, sift, make move, wave, waver, tremble], Hoglah [khog-law’ = partridge; house of the partridge], Milcah [mil-kaw’ = queen], and Tirzah [teer-tsaw’ = favourable; to be pleased with, be favourable to, accept favourably].
Jos 17:4 And they came near before Eleazar [el-aw-zawr’ = God has helped] the priest and before Joshua the son of Nun, and before the rulers, saying, Jehovah commanded Moses to give us an inheritance among our brothers. And according to the command of Jehovah he gave them an inheritance among the brothers of their father. 
Jos 17:5 And there fell ten portions to Manasseh, besides the land of Gilead  [ghil-awd’] and Bashan, which were on the other side Jordan; 
Jos 17:6 because the daughters of Manasseh had an inheritance among his sons. And the rest of Manasseh’s sons had the land of Gilead[ghil-awd’].
Jos 17:7 And the border of Manasseh was from Asher to Michmethah [mik-meth-awth’ = hiding place] before Shechem [sheh’-kem = back or shoulder]. And the border went up to the right to the inhabitants of En-tappuah [ane tap-poo’-akh = fountain of the apple-city].
Jos 17:8 Manasseh had the land of Tappuah [tap-poo’-akh], but Tappuah on the border of Manasseh belonged to the sons of Ephraim. 
Jos 17:9 And the border went down to the river Kanah [kaw-naw’ = reed, stalk, bone, balances], southward of the river. These cities of Ephraim are among the cities of Manasseh. And the border of Manasseh was on the north of the river, and the boundary was at the sea. 
Jos 17:10 Southward it was Ephraim’s, and northward it was Manasseh’s. And the sea is its border. And they met together in Asher [aw-share’  = happy] on the north, and in Issachar [yis-saw-kawr’ = there is recompense] on the east.
Jos 17:11 And Manasseh had in Issachar and in Asher Beth-shean [aw-share’ bayth she-awn’ = happy house of ease] and its towns, and Ibleam [yib-leh-awm’ = devouring the people;  to swallow down, swallow up, engulf, eat up] and its towns, and those who lived in Dor [dore = period, generation, habitation, dwelling] and its towns, and those who lived in Endor [ ane-dore’ = fountain of Dor; eye ] and its towns, and those who lived in Taanach [tah-an-awk’ = sandy] and its towns, and those who lived in Megiddo [meg-id-done’ = place of crowds] and its towns, even three regions.

Mannasseh’s perspective is characteristic of us while we are still Babylonian Christians. We are crybabies thinking that our Father should be more kind to us since we have been working hard to please Him by killing all these giants with our strength; our inheritance should be easier to attain. We have thought that the Lord should just love us as we are in our delusion that Christ did ‘it all’ on the cross in our stead.

The meanings of the various families’ names are indicative of our victories and trials:

My father is help
Portion
I shall be a prince of God. to go straight, walk, go on, advance, make progress. god, God-like one, mighty one.
A well. To be ashamed, be confounded, be abashed, feel abashed.
First-born
Wise
Disease
Motion; to quiver, totter, shake, reel, stagger, wander, move, sift, make move, wave, waver, tremble
Partridge; house of the partridge (a largish, plump quail-like ground and brush dwelling game bird)
Queen
Favourable; to be pleased with, be favourable to, accept favourably
God has helped
Hiding place
Back or shoulder
Fountain of the apple-city
Reed, stalk, bone, balances
Happy
There is recompense
Happy house of ease
Devouring the people; to swallow down, swallow up, engulf, eat up
Period, generation, habitation, dwelling
Fountain
Sandy
Place of crowds

Our Lord loves us immensely by creating us in His fiery trials and working diligently to clean our land of giants. The ten-portion inheritance falling to Manasseh substantiates it since that number signifies the turbulent and joyful completeness in destroying the power of corruptible dying flesh.

Zelophehad’s (tsel-of-chawd’s = first-born. Jos 17:3) four daughters confirm in type that number the Bride of Christ’s whole journey and tribulation in becoming Christ’s wife.

Jos 17:12 Yet the sons of Manasseh were not able to occupy these cities, but the Canaanites wanted to live in that land.

Initially, we are, in kind, the sons of Manasseh, the church of the First Born, who are up against evil spirits, petulantly challenging us that they ‘don’t want to leave our land’. This type clearly can only be routed by prayer and fasting that represents diligently searching our ‘tent’ for an Achan-like buried cloak and treasure. All the time, we are actually the second born, the younger Ephraim, whom the elder Manasseh serves.

Mar 9:28 And He entering into a house, His disciples asked Him privately, Why could we not cast him out? 
Mar 9:29 And He said to them, This kind can come out by nothing except by prayer and fasting.

When we become strong in the Lord’s spirit, we get paid in greater spiritual understanding with Christ as our inheritance. His spirit is a continual payment until the evil spirits literally ‘melt away’ at the First Resurrection with His full payment in Him. Of course, for the world, Satan, the chief of evil spirits, is released for a little season at the end of the One Thousand-Year reign to give the Lord His opportunity to do away with death in the death of all living.

Jos 17:13 And it happened when the sons of Israel had become strong, they put the Canaanites to tribute [1. to dissolve, melt a. (Qal) to waste away b. (Niphal) 1. to melt, vanish, drop off, melt away 2. to faint, grow fearful (fig.) 3. wasted, worthless] But they did not completely drive them out.
Jos 17:14 The sons of Joseph spoke to Joshua saying, Why have you given me one lot and one portion to inherit, since I am a great people, because Jehovah has blessed me until now? 
Jos 17:15 And Joshua answered them, If you are a great people, and if mount Ephraim is too narrow for you, get up to the forest and cut down more for yourself there in the land of the Perizzites [per-iz-zeeites’ = belonging to a village] and of the giants.

Excitedly, that is exactly what the Body of Christ does, not out of petty whimpering that we should be given more, yet knowing that what the Lord is giving us in Christ is beyond the price of any perceived gift! We eagerly rush into battle to cut down every giant green tree of evil in our land, knowing that it will be accomplished by our Lord’s unfailing strength.

Our enemy’s false religious conveyances of iron are no match for our inner battle in the valley of Jezreel, where their blood will rise to our Lord’s horse’s bridle.

Jos 17:16 And the sons of Joseph said, The hill is not enough for us. And all the Canaanites who live in the land of the valley have chariots of iron, those who are of Beth-shean [bayth she-awn’ Beth-shean or Beth-Shan = house of ease] and its towns, and those who are of the valley of Jezreel.

Rev 14:19 And the angel thrust in his sickle into the earth and gathered the vine of the earth, and cast it into the great winepress of the anger of God. 
Rev 14:20 And the winepress was trodden outside the city, and blood came out of the winepress, even to the bridles of the horses, for the space of a thousand, six hundred stadia. 

Israel’s physical journey is our spiritual journey to becoming Christ. Hosea was given the gloomy task of marrying Gomer, a known harlot, who typifies Israel’s and our whoredoms against our Husband. In these apparent end-times, we need to be alert that Gomer can unwittingly morph into us being tardy for our Lord’s spiritual intimacies. She and her chariots of iron and her giants will be killed by our Lord’s spirit in Meggedo, the spiritual valley of Jezreel within. That pictorial will become vastly more expansive for humanity in the Lake of Fire.

Rev 16:16 And he gathered them together into a place called in the Hebrew tongue Armageddon. 

Hos 1:10 Yet the number of the children of Israel shall be as the sand of the sea, which cannot be measured nor numbered; and it shall come to pass, that in the place where it was said unto them, Ye are not my people, there it shall be said unto them, Ye are the sons of the living God. 
Hos 1:11 Then shall the children of Judah and the children of Israel be gathered together, and appoint themselves one head, and they shall come up out of the land: for great shall be the day of Jezreel.

Jos 17:17 And Joshua spoke to the house of Joseph, even to Ephraim and to Manasseh, saying, You are a great people and have great power. You shall not have one lot.

Christ is our head, our “one lot” who rules with great power, the Elect “great people” who are very few.

Luk 12:32 Do not fear, little flock, for it is your Father’s good pleasure to give you the kingdom.

Jos 17:18 But the mountain shall be yours, for it is a forest, and you shall cut it down. And the outer limits of it shall be yours. For you shall drive out the Canaanites, even though they have iron chariots and though they are strong. 

Dan 2:35 Then the iron, the clay, the bronze, the silver, and the gold were broken to pieces together. And they became like the chaff of the summer threshing floors. And the wind carried them away, so that no place was found for them. And the stone that struck the image became a great mountain and filled the whole earth.

Rev 21:10 And he carried me away in the spirit to a great and high mountain and showed me that great city, the holy Jerusalem, descending out of Heaven from God, 

Rev 21:27 And there shall in no way enter into it anything that defiles, or any making an abomination or a lie; but only those who are written in the Lamb’s Book of Life. 

Jdg 8:1-21 – Gideon and the Three Hundred Men with Him Were Fainting but yet Pursuing

[Study Aired April 19, 2021]

Jdg 8:1  And the men of Ephraim said unto him, Why hast thou served us thus, that thou calledst us not, when thou wentest to fight with the Midianites? And they did chide with him sharply. 
Jdg 8:2  And he said unto them, What have I done now in comparison of you? Is not the gleaning of the grapes of Ephraim better than the vintage of Abiezer? 
Jdg 8:3  God hath delivered into your hands the princes of Midian, Oreb and Zeeb: and what was I able to do in comparison of you? Then their anger was abated toward him, when he had said that. 
Jdg 8:4  And Gideon came to Jordan, and passed over, he, and the three hundred men that were with him, faint, yet pursuing them. 
Jdg 8:5  And he said unto the men of Succoth, Give, I pray you, loaves of bread unto the people that follow me; for they be faint, and I am pursuing after Zebah and Zalmunna, kings of Midian. 
Jdg 8:6  And the princes of Succoth said, Are the hands of Zebah and Zalmunna now in thine hand, that we should give bread unto thine army? 
Jdg 8:7  And Gideon said, Therefore when the LORD hath delivered Zebah and Zalmunna into mine hand, then I will tear your flesh with the thorns of the wilderness and with briers. 
Jdg 8:8  And he went up thence to Penuel, and spake unto them likewise: and the men of Penuel answered him as the men of Succoth had answered him. 
Jdg 8:9  And he spake also unto the men of Penuel, saying, When I come again in peace, I will break down this tower. 
Jdg 8:10  Now Zebah and Zalmunna were in Karkor, and their hosts with them, about fifteen thousand men, all that were left of all the hosts of the children of the east: for there fell an hundred and twenty thousand men that drew sword. 
Jdg 8:11  And Gideon went up by the way of them that dwelt in tents on the east of Nobah and Jogbehah, and smote the host: for the host was secure. 
Jdg 8:12  And when Zebah and Zalmunna fled, he pursued after them, and took the two kings of Midian, Zebah and Zalmunna, and discomfited all the host. 
Jdg 8:13  And Gideon the son of Joash returned from battle before the sun was up, 
Jdg 8:14  And caught a young man of the men of Succoth, and enquired of him: and he described unto him the princes of Succoth, and the elders thereof, even threescore and seventeen men. 
Jdg 8:15  And he came unto the men of Succoth, and said, Behold Zebah and Zalmunna, with whom ye did upbraid me, saying, Are the hands of Zebah and Zalmunna now in thine hand, that we should give bread unto thy men that are weary? 
Jdg 8:16  And he took the elders of the city, and thorns of the wilderness and briers, and with them he taught the men of Succoth. 
Jdg 8:17  And he beat down the tower of Penuel, and slew the men of the city. 
Jdg 8:18  Then said he unto Zebah and Zalmunna, What manner of men were they whom ye slew at Tabor? And they answered, As thou art, so were they; each one resembled the children of a king. 
Jdg 8:19  And he said, They were my brethren, even the sons of my mother: as the LORD liveth, if ye had saved them alive, I would not slay you. 
Jdg 8:20  And he said unto Jether his firstborn, Up, and slay them. But the youth drew not his sword: for he feared, because he was yet a youth. 
Jdg 8:21  Then Zebah and Zalmunna said, Rise thou, and fall upon us: for as the man is, so is his strength. And Gideon arose, and slew Zebah and Zalmunna, and took away the ornaments that were on their camels’ necks. 

In chapter 7 of Judges, we saw the victory of Gideon and his men over the Midianites. In this victory, Gideon and his men did not do any fighting. They just stood still at the outskirts of the camp of the Midianites and blew trumpets and broke the earthen jars with lamps in them. This is to let us know that our victory is dependent on what God does and not what we do. In spite of this victory, some of the enemies slipped away, and so there was the need to pursue them so that nothing that breathes survives. In our struggle to have our heavens cleansed, we have to depend on God to thoroughly dismantle everything that breathes.  Any inclination to resist the cleansing of all that offends in our heavens will come to haunt us later in our walk with Christ and may derail our goal of receiving the reward.

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:

The first part of chapter 8 under review is about how the slippery enemies were captured and put to death by Gideon and his three hundred men.

Jdg 8:1  And the men of Ephraim said unto him, Why hast thou served us thus, that thou calledst us not, when thou wentest to fight with the Midianites? And they did chide with him sharply. 

The men of Ephraim accused Gideon fiercely for not involving them at the very onset of the war with the Midianites. In other words, the men of Ephraim were accusing Gideon of thinking he could take on the Midianites alone. That is another way of saying that Gideon was lifting himself above the congregation of God just like the accusation levelled against Moses by Korah and the two hundred and fifty princes of the people of Israel.

Looking at this accusation from the surface, it makes sense that Gideon should have involved them earlier, but God sees the intent of the heart and therefore did not allow Gideon to bring them on board. In another similar situation, Aaron and Miriam also accused Moses of thinking that the Lord only speaks through him. Within us, the old man, powered by the devil without, sometimes accuses us as follows: “Do you think you are an overcomer? Do you think you are better than the other people of God and that God speaks through you? You fall far short of the apostle Paul and the others who served God, so stop wasting your time in thinking you can take on the beast.” Such accusations from within can be very depressing, and if not countered with the word of God, we find ourselves disillusioned, thinking we cannot achieve such high standards required by God. However, my brothers and sisters, all the overcomers ahead of us had weaknesses just like us.  They trod where we are treading.  Therefore let us not lose our confidence which has a great reward. Such accusations at least suggest that we are doing something right!!

Outwardly, such rebellion or accusations are common in our gatherings, but this is all of the Lord so that those who are approved may be manifested among us.

Num 16:1  Now Korah, the son of Izhar, the son of Kohath, the son of Levi, and Dathan and Abiram, the sons of Eliab, and On, the son of Peleth, sons of Reuben, took men:
Num 16:2  And they rose up before Moses, with certain of the children of Israel, two hundred and fifty princes of the assembly, famous in the congregation, men of renown:
Num 16:3  And they gathered themselves together against Moses and against Aaron, and said unto them, Ye take too much upon you, seeing all the congregation are holy, every one of them, and the LORD is among them: wherefore then lift ye up yourselves above the congregation of the LORD?
Num 16:4  And when Moses heard it, he fell upon his face:

Num 12:2  And they said, Hath the LORD indeed spoken only by Moses? hath he not spoken also by us? And the LORD heard it.

Heb 10:35  Therefore do not throw away your confidence, which has a great reward. 

1Co 11:19  For there must be also heresies among you, that they which are approved may be made manifest among you.

Jdg 8:2  And he said unto them, What have I done now in comparison of you? Is not the gleaning of the grapes of Ephraim better than the vintage of Abiezer?
Jdg 8:3  God hath delivered into your hands the princes of Midian, Oreb and Zeeb: and what was I able to do in comparison of you? Then their anger was abated toward him, when he had said that. 

As God’s elect, we must always pursue the way of peace by considering others better than ourselves. In saying that what they (Gideon and his men) achieved was small in comparison with what the men of Ephraim did is another way of saying that we should not think of ourselves more highly than we ought to and that God has given us different gifts according to His own purpose.

Rom 12:3  For by the grace given to me I say to everyone among you not to think of himself more highly than he ought to think, but to think with sober judgment, each according to the measure of faith that God has assigned.
Rom 12:4  For as in one body we have many members, and the members do not all have the same function,
Rom 12:5  so we, though many, are one body in Christ, and individually members one of another.
Rom 12:6  Having gifts that differ according to the grace given to us, let us use them: if prophecy, in proportion to our faith;
Rom 12:7  if service, in our serving; the one who teaches, in his teaching;
Rom 12:8  the one who exhorts, in his exhortation; the one who contributes, in generosity; the one who leads, with zeal; the one who does acts of mercy, with cheerfulness.

Jdg 8:4  And Gideon came to Jordan, and passed over, he, and the three hundred men that were with him, faint, yet pursuing them. 

This verse is to make us aware that we should be relentless in our pursuit to get rid of the enemies within. We should not allow anything that has breath to remain in our heavens.

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:

What we need to notice here in this verse is that Gideon and his men were pursuing the enemies even though they were weary. One of the effects of the challenges we face in this live is that we get weary, and therefore we need the nourishment of the Lord to sustain us. Apart from battles we engage in which sap our energy, we also suffer wear and tear from the tribulations we go through in this life as Jesus plainly told us that in this world we will have tribulations. What nourishes us is the word of God.  That is why we are admonished to come together regularly to charge our batteries with the word of God.

Mal 3:16  Then they that feared the LORD spake often one to another: and the LORD hearkened, and heard it, and a book of remembrance was written before him for them that feared the LORD, and that thought upon his name.

Heb 10:25  Not forsaking the assembling of ourselves together, as the manner of some is; but exhorting one another: and so much the more, as ye see the day approaching.

This search for nourishment is what led Gideon and his men to encounter the men of Succoth as follows:

Jdg 8:5  And he said unto the men of Succoth, Give, I pray you, loaves of bread unto the people that follow me; for they be faint, and I am pursuing after Zebah and Zalmunna, kings of Midian. 
Jdg 8:6  And the princes of Succoth said, Are the hands of Zebah and Zalmunna now in thine hand, that we should give bread unto thine army? 

As we can see, what we need to nourish us in this life is the word of God as represented by loaves of bread requested by Gideon. According to Strong, Succoth means booths. The word booth means a small temporary tent. Our bodies of flesh represent this temporary tent or booth. So the men of Succoth stands for people of this world who are not called or chosen. The people of this world do not see us as saviors of the world now as we have not been perfected yet.  As this story suggests, there are still pockets of resistance by the enemies within us (signified by Zebah and Zalmunna) that we need to overcome before we are perfected.

According to verse 6, the people of Succoth refused to assist Gideon and his men simply because they do not see them as overcomers as long as Zebah and Zalmunna have not been captured.

As you are aware, creation (the whole world) is waiting for the manifestation of the sons of God who will be the instruments God will use to deliver them from the bondage of corruption into the glorious liberty of the children of God.  However, the people of the world do not even know that what they are looking for are the sons of God, the elect. The fact that creation is still longing for the sons of God to be revealed means that our brothers and sisters in Babylon (the church system of this world), who parade themselves now as sons of God, are NOT!!  Since the world, represented by men of Succoth, does not see us as overcomers, it is beyond their imagination to even consider us as those they are waiting for to be manifested as sons of God.

Rom 8:19  For the earnest expectation of the creature waiteth for the manifestation of the sons of God.
Rom 8:20  For the creature was made subject to vanity, not willingly, but by reason of him who hath subjected the same in hope,
Rom 8:21  Because the creature itself also shall be delivered from the bondage of corruption into the glorious liberty of the children of God.

Jdg 8:7  And Gideon said, Therefore when the LORD hath delivered Zebah and Zalmunna into mine hand, then I will tear your flesh with the thorns of the wilderness and with briers. 

Gideon’s response to the men of Succoth is very insightful. In other words, what Gideon is basically saying is that the dying of the old man, represented by Zebah and Zalmunna, is a prerequisite to being manifested as sons of God in the first resurrection. That is when we will sit in judgment to judge the people of the world (tear their flesh) to correct them using their sins and their false doctrines (thorns and briars).  We know from scriptures that what will be is what has been. When the Lord glorified Joseph, a type of the elect, Joseph used his brothers’ false doctrine of “hell” to torment and correct them until the death of their father, Jacob. What happened to Joseph’s brothers is what will happen to the people of the world.

Jer 2:19  Thine own wickedness shall correct thee, and thy backslidings shall reprove thee: know therefore and see that it is an evil thing and bitter, that thou hast forsaken the LORD thy God, and that my fear is not in thee, saith the Lord GOD of hosts.

Ecc 1:9  The thing that hath been, it is that which shall be; and that which is done is that which shall be done: and there is no new thing under the sun. 

Gen 42:21  And they said one to another, We are verily guilty concerning our brother, in that we saw the anguish of his soul, when he besought us, and we would not hear; therefore is this distress come upon us.
Gen 42:22  And Reuben answered them, saying, Spake I not unto you, saying, Do not sin against the child; and ye would not hear? therefore, behold, also his blood is required.

Jdg 8:8  And he went up thence to Penuel, and spake unto them likewise: and the men of Penuel answered him as the men of Succoth had answered him. 
Jdg 8:9  And he spake also unto the men of Penuel, saying, When I come again in peace, I will break down this tower. 

After Gideon and his men were refused any assistance from the men of Succoth, they went to Penuel. According to Strong, Penuel means ‘face of God’. So what this means is that Gideon and his men, after being rejected by the world, went to those who seek the face of God, that is Babylon (the church system of this world), to request assistance, and they were also refused. This is also to make us aware that the church system of this world does not also recognize us as overcomers. However, in the fullness of time, when our obedience becomes complete, that is when they will see the true sons of God manifested for their salvation.

In verse 9, Gideon said that when he comes in peace, he will break down their tower. Coming in peace here means being manifested as sons of God. Breaking down their tower is destroying their false doctrines or the idols of their hearts which block out the light of the glorious gospel of Christ. So verse 9 means that we will be used by the Lord to destroy the idols of the heart of Babylon.

2Co 10:6  And having in a readiness to revenge all disobedience, when your obedience is fulfilled.

Eze 14:4  Therefore speak unto them, and say unto them, Thus saith the Lord GOD; Every man of the house of Israel that setteth up his idols in his heart, and putteth the stumblingblock of his iniquity before his face, and cometh to the prophet; I the LORD will answer him that cometh according to the multitude of his idols;

Jdg 8:10  Now Zebah and Zalmunna were in Karkor, and their hosts with them, about fifteen thousand men, all that were left of all the hosts of the children of the east: for there fell an hundred and twenty thousand men that drew sword. 

According to Strong, Zebah means ‘sacrifice’ and Zalmunna means ‘shade has been denied’. The place these enemies were stationed was called Karkor which means ‘foundation’. Now, there were fifteen thousand men who were with Zebah and Zalmunna. The number fifteen thousand is 15x10x10x10. The first time the number fifteen was used in the word of God was during the flood that swept away the people living on the earth with the exception of Noah and his family. The depth of the water was 15 cubits upwards. This water is the water of death, and therefore the number fifteen represents the false doctrines in the heavens of our flesh. So putting verse 10 together with verse 9, what is being said here is that the foundation or the basis (Karkor) of being an overcomer is to sacrifice or burn out (Zebah) these false doctrines (fifteen thousand men) or the shade that has been denied (Zalmunna) from our heavens.

Gen 7:20 Fifteen cubits upward did the waters prevail; and the mountains were covered.

The latter part of verse 10 says that a hundred and twenty thousand men of the Midianites that drew sword were already dead. In this case, the drawing of sword by these men represents a negative application of the use of the word ‘sword’. In other words, the swords of these men symbolize false doctrines which mitigates against the true word of God. This confirms the fact that the fifteen thousand men left also represent false doctrines. This verse is to affirm that our victory over the old man is achieved little by little and not all at once less we become prone to deception again.

Exo 23:29  I will not drive them out from before thee in one year; lest the land become desolate, and the beast of the field multiply against thee.
Exo 23:30  By little and little I will drive them out from before thee, until thou be increased, and inherit the land.

Jdg 8:11  And Gideon went up by the way of them that dwelt in tents on the east of Nobah and Jogbehah, and smote the host: for the host was secure. 

Here Gideon went by the way of them that dwell in tents as he and his men were preparing to wage war against the Midanities. So what does it mean to go by the way of them that dwell in tents? The answer is in Hebrews 11:8-10 as follows:

Heb 11:8  By faith Abraham obeyed when he was called to go out to a place that he was to receive as an inheritance. And he went out, not knowing where he was going.
Heb 11:9  By faith he went to live in the land of promise, as in a foreign land, living in tents with Isaac and Jacob, heirs with him of the same promise.
Heb 11:10  For he was looking forward to the city that has foundations, whose designer and builder is God. (ESV)

So from these verses we see that going by way of them that dwell in tents means walking by faith. The only way we can win this battle against the old man is if we walk by faith. When God called Abraham, he did not know how things will turn out, and it was faith which carried him through. ‘For without faith, it is impossible to please God for whoever comes to God must believe that He exists and that He is a rewarder of them that seek him diligently.’ Against all hope, Abraham in hope believed and became the father of many nations. In a similar pattern, against all the hopeless situations we are encountering, let us believe that our God will see us through to inherit the promise of the purchased possession.

Rom 4:18  Who against hope believed in hope, that he might become the father of many nations, according to that which was spoken, So shall thy seed be.
Rom 4:19  And being not weak in faith, he considered not his own body now dead, when he was about an hundred years old, neither yet the deadness of Sara’s womb:
Rom 4:20  He staggered not at the promise of God through unbelief; but was strong in faith, giving glory to God;
Rom 4:21  And being fully persuaded that, what he had promised, he was able also to perform.
Rom 4:22  And therefore it was imputed to him for righteousness.

We need to know that it is not how we can conjure ourselves to believe. We used to do that in times past, but through the scriptures, we have come to know that even this faith is of the Lord and not us. We do not need to believe big things to demonstrate our faith. Jesus said that if our faith is like a mustard seed (one of the tiniest of seed) we can move mountains. That means we can achieve the impossible with the little faith God has given to us!! If we cannot believe God that He will take care of us on a daily basis (that means the things that we see), then we cannot have faith to believe in inheriting the promise (that means things not seen) of overcoming the old man or the flesh!! So let’s not look at ourselves and ask, “Where can we get the faith to believe like Abraham?” That is equivalent to asking, “Who shall ascend into heaven to bring down Christ?” That faith we need is right within each of us!!

Rom 10:6  But the righteousness which is of faith speaketh on this wise, Say not in thine heart, Who shall ascend into heaven? (that is, to bring Christ down from above
Rom 10:7  Or, Who shall descend into the deep? (that is, to bring up Christ again from the dead.)
Rom 10:8  But what saith it? The word is nigh thee, even in thy mouth, and in thy heart: that is, the word of faith, which we preach;

Jdg 8:12  And when Zebah and Zalmunna fled, he pursued after them, and took the two kings of Midian, Zebah and Zalmunna, and discomfited all the host. 

As indicated earlier, we need to continually ask God to destroy everything within us that offends or breathes. That is what it means for Gideon and his men to continue the pursuit of the Midianites, represented here by their two kings, Zebah and Zalmunna. The reason we are not to allow any pocket of sin in our lives is that it will be like leaven that will leaven us to go after another Jesus and so sin against our God.

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.

Jdg 8:13  And Gideon the son of Joash returned from battle before the sun was up,

Gideon returning from the battle victorious before the sun was up means that we must put to death the old man before the new man after the image of Christ (He is the sun) is birthed in our lives. Outwardly, this verse is assuring us that our victory over the flesh will be completed before our Lord Jesus (representing the sun) comes in His glory to make the kingdoms of this world to be the kingdoms of our Lord and of His Christ, the elect. We will not be left as half-baked believers.

Mal 4:2  But 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 of the stall.

Rev 12:10  And I heard a loud voice saying in heaven, Now is come salvation, and strength, and the kingdom of our God, and the power of his Christ: for the accuser of our brethren is cast down, which accused them before our God day and night.

Jdg 8:14  And caught a young man of the men of Succoth, and enquired of him: and he described unto him the princes of Succoth, and the elders thereof, even threescore and seventeen men. 

To understand who this young man represents, let’s look at two instances in the word of God where God used young men to send messages to His elect. Let’s start with David as follows:

2Sa 1:1  Now it came to pass after the death of Saul, when David was returned from the slaughter of the Amalekites, and David had abode two days in Ziklag;
2Sa 1:2  It came even to pass on the third day, that, behold, a man came out of the camp from Saul with his clothes rent, and earth upon his head: and so it was, when he came to David, that he fell to the earth, and did obeisance.

2Sa 1:4  And David said unto him, How went the matter? I pray thee, tell me. And he answered, That the people are fled from the battle, and many of the people also are fallen and dead; and Saul and Jonathan his son are dead also.

2Sa 1:13  And David said unto the young man that told him, Whence art thou? And he answered, I am the son of a stranger, an Amalekite.

In this case, God used an enemy (an Amalekite) of David to let him know of the death of Saul. There is another witness where God used another young man to let Moses know that he is not alone but that He has other messengers in the camp.

Num 11:27  And there ran a young man, and told Moses, and said, Eldad and Medad do prophesy in the camp. 
Num 11:28  And Joshua the son of Nun, the servant of Moses, one of his young men, answered and said, My lord Moses, forbid them. 
Num 11:29  And Moses said unto him, Enviest thou for my sake? would God that all the LORD’S people were prophets, and that the LORD would put his spirit upon them! 

So a young man represents those who might not necessarily be believers who convey God’s message to His elect. In our lives, we have encountered many people who did not know the Lord but spoke to us in a way that echoes the direction God wanted us to take at that time. From hindsight, we can clearly see the hand of God in what they said to us. In the case of Gideon, what is significant about what the young man told him? The young man gave Gideon the description, the list and the number of the princes in Succoth, which was 77. To understand what this number represents, let’s observe what Jesus told Peter about forgiveness.

Mat 18:21  Then Peter came up and said to him, “Lord, how often will my brother sin against me, and I forgive him? As many as seven times?”
Mat 18:22  Jesus said to him, “I do not say to you seven times, but seventy-seven times. (ESV)

From this dialogue we can see that the number 77 and multiples of it represent forgiveness. So what the young man was telling Gideon was that even though the princes of Succoth were mean to Gideon and his men, Gideon, representing the elect, must forgive them. In other words, the elect should be merciful to all men as a result of the mercy we have received from God. For our God desires mercy, not sacrifice, and mercy triumphs over judgment.

Hos 6:6  For I desired mercy, and not sacrifice; and the knowledge of God more than burnt offerings.

Jas 2:12  So speak and so act as those who are to be judged under the law of liberty.
Jas 2:13  For judgment is without mercy to one who has shown no mercy. Mercy triumphs over judgment.

Jdg 8:15  And he came unto the men of Succoth, and said, Behold Zebah and Zalmunna, with whom ye did upbraid me, saying, Are the hands of Zebah and Zalmunna now in thine hand, that we should give bread unto thy men that are weary? 
Jdg 8:16  And he took the elders of the city, and thorns of the wilderness and briers, and with them he taught the men of Succoth. 
Jdg 8:17  And he beat down the tower of Penuel, and slew the men of the city. 

Verse 16 indicates that when we are manifested as overcomers, we will judge the world as Gideon judged the princes of the city of Succoth. The thorns and briars symbolize the false doctrines in the mind of people of the world which prevents them from the glorious light of the gospel of Christ and as a result, they sin against God. So their own sins (their false doctrines) will be used to correct them. As indicated earlier, Joseph used the false doctrine in the mind of his brothers to judge them.

Jer 2:19  Thine own wickedness shall correct thee, and thy backslidings shall reprove thee: know therefore and see that it is an evil thing and bitter, that thou hast forsaken the LORD thy God, and that my fear is not in thee, saith the Lord GOD of hosts.

As shown earlier, the people of Penuel represent the Babylonian system. The tower of the Babylonian system is their false doctrines which will be destroyed from their heavens in the lake of fire age.

Jdg 8:18  Then said he unto Zebah and Zalmunna, What manner of men were they whom ye slew at Tabor? And they answered, As thou art, so were they; each one resembled the children of a king.

Verse 18 is to show us that we, the elect, are no different from anybody else. It is just by the mercies of God that we were penciled to become overcomers before the foundation of the world. So we can say that Zebah and Zalmunna represent the beast within every human being born of a woman whose agenda is to render us spiritually dead, that is slay us. In the case of the elect, God ensures that in their lives here on earth, they come to see that they themselves are beasts, but for the others, they will see this beast later.

Ecc 3:18  I said in mine heart concerning the estate of the sons of men, that God might manifest them, and that they might see that they themselves are beasts.

The fact that Zebah and Zalmunna’s victims resemble children of a king means that unless we test the spirit to see if they are of God, we will end up being victims of Zebah and Zalmunna as many parade as children of a king when indeed they are false prophets.

1Jn 4:1  Beloved, believe not every spirit, but try the spirits whether they are of God: because many false prophets are gone out into the world.

Jdg 8:19  And he said, They were my brethren, even the sons of my mother: as the LORD liveth, if ye had saved them alive, I would not slay you. 

In verse 19, we are given the reason why we should be relentless in defeating the Midianites of our lives, as their victims are all spiritually dead. Gideon told Zebah and Zalmunna that if their victims are alive, then there is no need for any war, but because all their victims are spiritually dead, we need to destroy them from our lives, otherwise we will end up becoming their victims.

Jdg 8:20  And he said unto Jether his firstborn, Up, and slay them. But the youth drew not his sword: for he feared, because he was yet a youth. 

As explained in this verse, Jether’s inability to slay Zebah and Zalmunna, who represent higher principalities in our heavens, was because he was still young. Being young spiritually is not about age but depends on the level of maturity we exhibit in handling the word of God. As we start this journey out of Babylon, we are classified as youth in the handling of the word of God as shown by Jether’s inability to draw his sword. Being unable to draw a sword is the same as being incapable of testing the spirit to see if it is of the Lord.

Verse 20 also tells us about another characteristic of being youthful in the things of God – the fear factor. Jether was afraid of Zebah and Zalmunna. Nevertheless, the word of God says that God has not given us the spirit of fear but of power, love and a sound mind. As we look at the world today, everything looks gloomy. Economies are crumbling, social structure is disintegrating in the name of greed, racism, hate crimes, etc. Many of us are therefore fearful of what is going to happen to us, our children and grandchildren. But wait a minute!! Do we have to fear what is going to happen to planet earth? No!! As God’s elect, we need not fear because God is our refuge and strength, a very present help in times of trouble.

2Ti 1:7  For God hath not given us the spirit of fear; but of power, and of love, and of a sound mind.

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 46:2  Therefore will not we fear, though the earth be removed, and though the mountains be carried into the midst of the sea;
Psa 46:3  Though the waters thereof roar and be troubled, though the mountains shake with the swelling thereof. Selah. 
Psa 46:4  There is a river, the streams whereof shall make glad the city of God, the holy place of the tabernacles of the most High.

In Psalm 46, one of the reasons we are not to fear is that there is a river where the streams thereof make glad the city of God. This river is of course the word of God which makes people who belong to the city of God or the New Jerusalem (the elect) glad!! As long as our eyes are seeing and our ears are hearing, we are swimming in this river which will lead us to the New Jerusalem!!

Psa 27:1  A Psalm of David. The LORD is my light and my salvation; whom shall I fear? the LORD is the strength of my life; of whom shall I be afraid? 
Psa 27:2  When the wicked, even mine enemies and my foes, came upon me to eat up my flesh, they stumbled and fell. 
Psa 27:3  Though an host should encamp against me, my heart shall not fear: though war should rise against me, in this will I be confident. 
Psa 27:4  One thing have I desired of the LORD, that will I seek after; that I may dwell in the house of the LORD all the days of my life, to behold the beauty of the LORD, and to enquire in his temple.
Psa 27:5  For in the time of trouble he shall hide me in his pavilion: in the secret of his tabernacle shall he hide me; he shall set me up upon a rock.

The Psalmist says that one thing he desired of the Lord is to dwell in the house of the Lord. To dwell in the house of the Lord is being in Him, and when we are in Him, He is also in us. So what we must desire above all else in these fearful times is for our Lord to make His habitation in us.  That is the antidote to our fears as the Psalmist suggests.

Jdg 8:21  Then Zebah and Zalmunna said, Rise thou, and fall upon us: for as the man is, so is his strength. And Gideon arose, and slew Zebah and Zalmunna, and took away the ornaments that were on their camels’ necks. 

Finally, Zebah and Zalmunna were put to death by the sword of Gideon. This is to assure us that what our Lord starts, He is able to finish!!  Again, our Lord will not leave us as half-baked elect. He will bring us to maturity in the fullness of time!

We need to take note of what Gideon did after slaying the kings.  He removed the ornaments on their camels’ necks. These ornaments are gold, as shown in verse 26.

Jdg 8:26  And the weight of the golden earrings that he requested was a thousand and seven hundred shekels of gold; beside ornaments, and collars, and purple raiment that was on the kings of Midian, and beside the chains that were about their camels’ necks.

On a positive note, the removing of the ornaments of gold from their camels’ necks is another way of saying that the little knowledge of the truth (gold ornaments) with which God has endowed the church shall be taken away from them and given to the elect.

Mat 13:12  For whosoever hath, to him shall be given, and he shall have more abundance: but whosoever hath not, from him shall be taken away even that he hath.

On a negative note, the removing of ornaments of gold from their camels’ necks signifies our covetousness of worldly mammon which makes us think that gain is godliness. We will delve into this aspect next week as we look at the second half of Judges 8.

1Ti 6:6  But godliness with contentment is great gain.
1Ti 6:7  For we brought nothing into this world, and it is certain we can carry nothing out. 
1Ti 6:8  And having food and raiment let us be therewith content.
1Ti 6:9  But they that will be rich fall into temptation and a snare, and into many foolish and hurtful lusts, which drown men in destruction and perdition. 
1Ti 6:10  For the love of money is the root of all evil: which while some coveted after, they have erred from the faith, and pierced themselves through with many sorrows.

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.

Lusty
shâman
shaw-man’

A primitive root; to shine, that is, (by analogy) be (causatively make) oily or gross: – become (make, wax) fat.

Valour also means strength as shown below:

Valour
chayil
khah’-yil

From H2342; probably a force, whether of men, means or other resources; an army, wealth, virtue, valor, strength: – able, activity, (+) army, band of men (soldiers), company, (great) forces, goods, host, might, power, riches, strength, strong, substance, train, (+) valiant (-ly), valour, virtuous (-ly), war, worthy (-ily).

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.

Isa 23:7-12 The Lord Has Purposed To Bring Into Contempt All The Honorable of The Earth

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Isa 23:7-12 The Lord Has Purposed To Bring Into Contempt All The Honorable of The Earth

Isa 23:7  Is this your joyous city, whose antiquity is of ancient days? her own feet shall carry her afar off to sojourn.
Isa 23:8  Who hath taken this counsel against Tyre, the crowning city, whose merchants are princes, whose traffickers are the honourable of the earth?
Isa 23:9  The LORD of hosts hath purposed it, to stain the pride of all glory, and to bring into contempt all the honourable of the earth.
Isa 23:10  Pass through thy land as a river, O daughter of Tarshish: there is no more strength.
Isa 23:11  He stretched out his hand over the sea, he shook the kingdoms: the LORD hath given a commandment against the merchant city, to destroy the strong holds thereof.
Isa 23:12  And he said, Thou shalt no more rejoice, O thou oppressed virgin, daughter of Zidon: arise, pass over to Chittim; there also shalt thou have no rest.

These verses are wonderful news for all of us! The Lord has purposed to stain the pride of all the glory of the rebellious, sinful flesh of our old man and to bring into contempt all the honorable men of this earth.  There can be no better news than that.

Who do we all consider to be the most honorable man in the world? This is what we are told:

Eph 5:29  For no man ever yet hated his own flesh; but nourisheth and cherisheth it, even as the Lord the church:

When Christ tells us how we should treat our wives, He uses this natural fact to make that point. Self-preservation is as natural as breathing. According to the scriptures, our old man literally worships himself as a god:

2Th 2:3  Let no man deceive you by any means: for that day shall not come, except there come a falling away first, and that man of sin be revealed, the son of perdition;
2Th 2:4  Who opposeth and exalteth himself above all that is called God, or that is worshipped; so that he as God sitteth in the temple of God, shewing himself that he is God.

Christ said this about all mankind:

Mat 4:4  But he answered and said, It is written, Man [Greek: 'anthropos', mankind] shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of God.

Tyre is just another symbol for the great harlot, called 'Babylon' in Revelation 17-18. The fact that we all "exalt [our]selves above all that is called God or that is worshiped" demonstrates that all men are given over to this "great whore", symbolizing the religions of this world, including the religion of self-worship.

I want to read the last two verses of last week's study to give us context to the six verses of our study today:

Isa 23:5  As at the report concerning Egypt, so shall they be sorely pained at the report of Tyre.
Isa 23:6  Pass ye over to Tarshish; howl, ye inhabitants of the isle.

Isa 23:7  Is this your joyous city, whose antiquity is of ancient days? her own feet shall carry her afar off to sojourn.
Isa 23:8  Who hath taken this counsel against Tyre, the crowning city, whose merchants are princes, whose traffickers are the honourable of the earth?

The use of 'Tarshish' as the destination of the "inhabitants of the isle" is for the purpose of letting us know just how universal the knowledge of the destruction of Tyre and Babylon will be.

Tarshish was a city in Spain, and Spain symbolizes the uttermost parts of the known world. The message we are being given is that the whole world, every part of the kingdom of our old man, will be made painfully aware of his destruction and the destruction of his kingdom within us. Just as the Egyptian army marched on their own feet right into their own destruction in the Red Sea, so also does our own old man march right into his own destruction at the hand of his own iniquities:

Jer 2:19  Thine own wickedness shall correct thee, and thy backslidings shall reprove thee: know therefore and see that it is an evil thing and bitter, that thou hast forsaken the LORD thy God, and that my fear is not in thee, saith the Lord GOD of hosts.

"[Our] own feet" is "[our] own wickedness". It is our own ways which will judge us and cause us to be carried off and carried away from our Creator and Savior and into our own destruction.

Pro 14:14  The backslider in heart shall be filled with his own ways: and a good man shall be satisfied from himself.

Verse 8 poses the question: "Who hath taken this counsel against Tyre, the crowning city, whose merchants are princes, whose traffickers are the honourable of the earth?"

Verse 9 answers that question leaving no doubt who "[took] counsel against Tyre... whose traffickers are the honorable [men] of the earth".

Isa 23:9  The LORD of hosts hath purposed it, to stain the pride of all glory, and to bring into contempt all the honourable of the earth.

"All the honorable of the earth" is the "man of sin" who "sits in the temple of God showing himself that he is God". "The honorable of the earth" is our own old man whom the Lord is slowly showing as contemptible and not worthy of inheriting the kingdom of God, if for nothing else, his contemptible composition of dying flesh and blood and the deadly fruit of that dying composition:

Gen 3:19  In the sweat of thy face shalt thou eat bread, till thou return unto the ground; for out of it wast thou taken: for dust thou art, and unto dust shalt thou return.

1Co 15:50  Now this I say, brethren, that flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God; neither doth corruption inherit incorruption.

Our flesh does not like those words and refuses to believe them. Many of the daughters of Babylon actually teach a doctrine of "eternal spiritual flesh", and teach that just as Christ's physical body was raised from the dead, so will we experience a 'corporal resurrection' with a physical body of 'eternal, spiritual flesh and blood'.

Such lies fly in the face of 1Co 15:50 as well as these words of our Lord:

Joh 3:6  That which is born of the flesh is flesh; and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit.

These false doctrines notwithstanding, the Lord is bringing down all the flesh of 'all the honorable of the earth' [into] contempt, including far away Tarshish, one of the daughters of Tyre:

Isa 23:10  Pass through thy land as a river, O daughter of Tarshish: there is no more strength.
Isa 23:11  He stretched out his hand over the sea, he shook the kingdoms: the LORD hath given a commandment against the merchant city, to destroy the strong holds thereof.

True to life, we all attempt to evade, avoid and nullify the Lord's judgment to make our flesh contemptible to us and to this world, so we seek to get away from His judgments upon us.  However, we cannot get away from a God who is omnipresent and all powerful. When our "day of visitation" arrives (Isa 10:3), we will be judged, and then we will "learn righteousness" (Isa 26:8-9).

Isa 10:3 And 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?

Isa 26:8 Yea, in the way of thy judgments, O LORD, have we waited for thee; the desire of our soul is to thy name, and to the remembrance of thee.
Isa 26:9 With my soul have I desired thee in the night; yea, with my spirit within me will I seek thee early: for when thy judgments are in the earth, the inhabitants of the world will learn righteousness.

The Tyrians who were able to escape fled Tyre and went to Cyprus, but even there they found no rest from the Lord's hand:

Isa 23:12  And he said, Thou shalt no more rejoice, O thou oppressed virgin, daughter of Zidon: arise, pass over to Chittim; there also shalt thou have no rest.

All the commentaries agree that 'Chittim' is the island of Cyprus, in the eastern Mediterranean. The wealthy Tyrians were the ancient Phoenicians who had established ports of trade throughout the Mediterranean, including the island of Cyprus, which at that time was known in scripture both as 'Caphtor' and as 'Chittim'. That is why Tarshish, a Phoenician city in Spain way over in the western Mediterranean, is instructed to mourn the loss of Tyre.  In the first verse of this chapter we are told the destruction of Tyre is revealed to Tarshish by Cyprians, who are here called 'Chittim':

Isa 23:1  The 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 Chittim it is revealed to them.

In Numbers 24 we have the story of Israel toward the end of their wanderings in the wilderness. The Lord is at last bringing them through the land of Moab, one of the three nations the Lord instructed Israel not to attack because they were Israel's brother via Lot, the nephew of Abraham. The other two nations were the Ammonites, Moab's brother, and the Edomites, the descendant's of Esau, Jacob's twin brother.

The point being made is that these nations are our own self-righteous flesh, and we cannot at first even fight against our own self-righteous flesh. Here is the part of that story where the "ships... of Chittim", along with "all the "honorable of the earth", will be proven by the Lord to be "contemptible" (Isa 23:9).

Num 24:10  And Balak's anger was kindled against Balaam, and he smote his hands together: and Balak said unto Balaam, I called thee to curse mine enemies, and, behold, thou hast altogether blessed them these three times.
Num 24:11  Therefore now flee thou to thy place: I thought to promote thee unto great honour; but, lo, the LORD hath kept thee back from honour.
Num 24:12  And Balaam said unto Balak, Spake I not also to thy messengers which thou sentest unto me, saying,
Num 24:13  If Balak would give me his house full of silver and gold, I cannot go beyond the commandment of the LORD, to do either good or bad of mine own mind; but what the LORD saith, that will I speak?
Num 24:14  And now, behold, I go unto my people: come therefore, and I will advertise thee what this people shall do to thy people in the latter days.
Num 24:15  And he took up his parable, and said, Balaam the son of Beor hath said, and the man whose eyes are open hath said:
Num 24:16  He hath said, which heard the words of God, and knew the knowledge of the most High, which saw the vision of the Almighty, falling into a trance, but having his eyes open:
Num 24:17  I shall see him, but not now: I shall behold him, but not nigh: there shall come a Star out of Jacob, and a Sceptre shall rise out of Israel, and shall smite the corners of Moab, and destroy all the children of Sheth.
Num 24:18  And Edom shall be a possession, Seir also shall be a possession for his enemies; and Israel shall do valiantly.
Num 24:19  Out of Jacob shall come he that shall have dominion, and shall destroy him that remaineth of the city.
Num 24:20  And when he looked on Amalek, he took up his parable, and said, Amalek was the first of the nations; but his latter end shall be that he perish for ever.
Num 24:21  And he looked on the Kenites, and took up his parable, and said, Strong is thy dwellingplace, and thou puttest thy nest in a rock.
Num 24:22  Nevertheless the Kenite shall be wasted, until Asshur shall carry thee away captive.
Num 24:23  And he took up his parable, and said, Alas, who shall live when God doeth this!
Num 24:24  And ships shall come from the coast of Chittim, and shall afflict Asshur, and shall afflict Eber, and he also shall perish for ever.
Num 24:25  And Balaam rose up, and went and returned to his place: and Balak also went his way.

The fact that Seth ("Sheth" verse 17, and "Eber" verse 24) are mentioned among all these nations, is the same as telling us that even the flesh of Christ cannot inherit the kingdom of God (1Co 15:50).

"The ships of Chittim" are also mentioned in the prophecies of Daniel:

Dan 11:30  For 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 intelligence with them that forsake the holy covenant.

Tyre, Babylon and the ships of Chittim are all types of the great whore and her daughters who are: "they that go down to the sea in ships, that do business in [the] great waters [of] multitudes and nations [upon which the great whore sits]":

Psa 107:23  They that go down to the sea in ships, that do business in great waters;
Psa 107:24  These see the works of the LORD, and his wonders in the deep.

Rev 17:1  And there came one of the seven angels which had the seven vials, and talked with me, saying unto me, Come hither; I will shew unto thee the judgment of the great whore that sitteth upon many waters:
Rev 17:2  With whom the kings of the earth have committed fornication, and the inhabitants of the earth have been made drunk with the wine of her fornication.

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.
Rev 17:18  And the woman which thou sawest is that great city, which reigneth over the kings of the earth.

What we have just been told here in Isaiah 23, in Daniel 11 and in Revelation 17, is that we are all brought to "hate the whore, and... eat her flesh, and burn her with fire", while we are in the process of coming out of her. As carnal babes in Christ (1Co 3:1-4), we blame the harlot for being a harlot and for deceiving us for so long. Joseph, a type of the Lord's elect, was upset with his brothers when they cast him into a pit and sold him into Egypt. It was over 13 years before he was given to see what the Lord was working in his life. As long as he was in the pit, in the possession of the Ishmaelites, in Potifar's house or in prison, he could not possibly see how any good could come of his situation. Only after he was seated with Christ in the heavens was he able to see that "it was not [his brothers]" who had sold him into Egypt. It was God who sent him there to save Egypt and his own apostate family.

Outwardly the beast that is mankind is becoming, and will become, disillusioned with the religions of this world, and will blame them for all the evil in this world, when, of course, the Truth is that the Lord Himself has put it in her heart to be the whore she is within us, just as He puts it into our hearts to hate her and to burn her with fire.

In time we come to know that it was all a work of God. When the Lord opens our eyes, we finally see that all of Israel's enemies, all the enemies of the kingdom of God within us, whether they are symbolized by the literal kinsmen of Israel as the descendants of Abraham, "a Syrian" or the nations of giants within the land or the Assyrians, they are one and all "the first man Adam" who is within us all. All our enemies, inward and outward, represent and symbolize our own flesh and our own carnal, rebellious old man and his kingdom:

Gen 25:20  And Isaac was forty years old when he took Rebekah to wife, the daughter of Bethuel the Syrian of Padanaram, the sister to Laban the Syrian.

Gen 28:5  And Isaac sent away Jacob: and he went to Padanaram unto Laban, son of Bethuel the Syrian, the brother of Rebekah, Jacob's and Esau's mother.

Deu 26:5  And thou shalt speak and say before the LORD thy God, A Syrian ready to perish was my father, and he went down into Egypt, and sojourned there with a few, and became there a nation, great, mighty, and populous:

1Co 15:44  It is sown a natural body; it is raised a spiritual body. There is a natural body, and there is a spiritual body.
1Co 15:45  And so it is written, The first man Adam was made a living soul; the last Adam was made a quickening spirit.

Next week, Lord willing, we will see that our experience in Tyre and in Babylon is absolutely essential "to save many people alive", just as Joseph's betrayal by His ten brothers accomplished that same end (Gen 45:4-8).

Gen 45:4  And Joseph said unto his brethren, Come near to me, I pray you. And they came near. And he said, I am Joseph your brother, whom ye sold into Egypt.
Gen 45:5  Now therefore be not grieved, nor angry with yourselves, that ye sold me hither: for God did send me before you to preserve life.
Gen 45:6  For these two years hath the famine been in the land: and yet there are five years, in the which there shall neither be earing nor harvest.
Gen 45:7  And God sent me before you to preserve you a posterity in the earth, and to save your lives by a great deliverance.
Gen 45:8  So now it was not you that sent me hither, but God: and he hath made me a father to Pharaoh, and lord of all his house, and a ruler throughout all the land of Egypt.

Here are the last six verses of Isaiah 23. These will be our study for next week.

Isa 23:13  Behold the land of the Chaldeans; this people was not, till the Assyrian founded it for them that dwell in the wilderness: they set up the towers thereof, they raised up the palaces thereof; and he brought it to ruin.
Isa 23:14  Howl, ye ships of Tarshish: for your strength is laid waste.
Isa 23:15  And 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 an harlot.
Isa 23:16  Take an harp, go about the city, thou harlot that hast been forgotten; make sweet melody, sing many songs, that thou mayest be remembered.
Isa 23:17  And 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.
Isa 23:18  And 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.