The Book of Amos – Chapter 7:1-17 – Still at Ease in Zion, unwittingly being measured

[Aired January 18, 2025]

In Chapter 7 of Amos, as is most of scripture, God is signifying the measuring of his Elect for the building of his house and the turbulent path they will tread in glory; he temporarily lays aside the rest of Israel their salvation to their predetermined fate until the Lake of Fire—for non-spiritual eyes at ease in Zion, a one thousand mile stare of resigned disinterest, unless, of course, the prophets prophesy good things (1Ki 22).

Israel’s constant sea-sawing between somewhat obeying her Lord and resulting peace and wealth and disobedience provoking war, famine, and death typifies the Lord’s Elect since the cross. In Amos Chapter 6, we saw that the chief of sinners is the budding Elect, to their consternation at ease in Zion, portraying a more delicious ‘ease’ later in Babylon.

Pro 25:2  It is the glory of God to conceal a thing: but the honour of kings is to search out a matter.

It is for kings to know the mystery of the Lord’s word; not just any old king, but rather the kings and priests of God, the Elect, the Bride, who, like their Lord, have many names, all identifying with her Husband.

We know for certain that our Lord will strive with his ‘very elect’; paradoxically, it seems to belie that he will not always strive with men.

Isa 46:3  Hearken unto me, O house of Jacob, and all the remnant of the house of Israel, which are borne by me from the belly, which are carried from the womb:
Isa 46:4  And even to your old age I am he; and even to hoar hairs will I carry you: I have made, and I will bear; even I will carry, and will deliver you.

Rom 9:27  Esaias also crieth concerning Israel, Though the number of the children of Israel be as the sand of the sea, a remnant shall be saved:

It wasn’t the Lord’s plan to save old Israel from her inevitable fate of exile, and when she got to Babylon, she grew to like its riches far from the face of her Lord’s overbearing commands where she could deliciously indulge without judgement. She typifies Zion today, and the collective of Gentile Christianity, still at ease, nauseously bleating how good her fabled democracy is while creating 200,000,000 lies to substantiate her unwitting whoredom. It is the Lord’s very Elect he has given the “honour to search out the matter”, and, with a shudder to the soles of her feet, delightedly see that she is ‘small Jacob’, the “remnant”, the little flock he will save out of the commonwealth of Israel.

Accordingly, in Amos 7, the Bride of Christ, in training to be one in her Lord’s Kingship, is, and like him, a King who alone as ‘the’ remnant is given to search out the mysteries of her Husband’s word; he certainly does strive with her all the way to the First Resurrection. Paradoxically, though, at times, he doesn’t strive with us when our consciences accuse us of repetitious sins that sit at ease in our hearts, a most insidiously damning Zionist-like ease that must be eradicated. If we continue to hear the still small voice behind us saying, ‘This is the way’, and ignore it, we, like Esau, are in danger of the Devil secretly stealing our inheritance away, and no flood of tears will restore us.

Gen 6:3  And the LORD said, My spirit shall not always strive with man, for that he also is flesh: yet his days shall be an hundred and twenty years.

Isa 44:21  Remember these things, O Jacob, for you are My servant, O Israel. I have made you, and you are My servant; O Israel, I will never forget you.
Isa 44:22  I have blotted out your transgressions like a cloud, and your sins like a mist. Return to Me, for I have redeemed you. 
Isa 44:23  Sing for joy, O heavens, for the LORD has done this; shout aloud, O depths of the earth. Break forth in song, O mountains, you forests and all your trees. For the LORD has redeemed Jacob, and revealed His glory in Israel. 
Isa 44:24  Thus says the LORD, your Redeemer who formed you from the womb: “I am the LORD, who has made all things, who alone stretched out the heavens, who by Myself spread out the earth,
Isa 44:25  who foils the signs of false prophets and makes fools of diviners, who confounds the wise and turns their knowledge into nonsense, 
Isa 44:26  who confirms the message of His servant and fulfills the counsel of His messengers, who says of Jerusalem, ‘She will be inhabited,’ and of the cities of Judah, ‘They will be rebuilt, and I will restore their ruins,’ 
Isa 44:27  who says to the depths of the sea, ‘Be dry, and I will dry up your currents,’
Isa 44:28  who says of Cyrus, ‘My shepherd will fulfill all that I desire,’ who says of Jerusalem, ‘She will be rebuilt,’ and of the temple, ‘Let its foundation be laid.’” (BSB)

Judah and Gentile Christianity remain to this day as the Lord’s servants, whereas the Lord’s Elect, typified by ‘small’ Jacob, the eminent servants of his focus, are given to understand that they, representing the Bride, are given to know the secret things of God and build her Temple spiritually within upon the foundation of her Husband, Christ. In the meantime, this very day, the Lord’s servants, Zionist Christianity, seem to be in a headlong rush to reestablish a temple on the original temple mount in Jerusalem—wait and see; our Lord will not suffer the filth of the Old Covenant’s former glory of works to last; possibly only just long enough before its guaranteed destruction to cataclysmically amplify his authority.

Christ daily strives with his Bride for her to understand the secret things of God by his spirit in visions of God-inspired thought, and she sees the locusts (grasshoppers), the false prophets with stings in their tails, coming a mile off, intent on eating her tender shoots of truth. Without fear and fanfare, she resists these Devil’s agents by simply requesting her Lord’s intervention, knowing that calling on the Lord’s name to be saved from the wiles of the Devil follows a rich unity with Christ’s mind and not from her former dusty and repetitious mumbling of contextual scripture that she is saved without chastisement. She is an incipient King, rightly dividing the word of God and understanding spiritual meanings.

Rom 10:13  For whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved.

Mat 5:45  … for he maketh his sun to rise on the evil and on the good, and sendeth rain on the just and on the unjust.

Significations:

Warning Visions

Amo 7:1  Thus hath the Lord GOD shewed unto me; and, behold, he formed grasshoppers in the beginning of the shooting up of the latter growth; and, lo, it was the latter growth after the King’s mowings. 
Amo 7:2  And it came to pass, that when they had made an end of eating the grass of the land, then I said, O Lord GOD, forgive, I beseech thee: by whom shall Jacob arise? for he is small. 
Amo 7:3  The LORD repented for this: It shall not be, saith the LORD. 

Num 13:33  And there we saw the giants, the sons of Anak, which come of the giants: and we were in our own sight as grasshoppers, and so we were in their sight. 

Jdg 6:5  For they came up with their cattle and their tents, and they came as grasshoppers for multitude; for both they and their camels were without number: and they entered into the land [The Temple of God we are] to destroy it.

Rev 9:7 And the shapes of the locusts were like unto horses prepared unto battle; and on their heads were as it were crowns like gold, and their faces were as the faces of men.
Rev 9:8 And they had hair as the hair of women [denoting churches], and their teeth were as the teeth of lions.
Rev 9:9 And they had breastplates, as it were breastplates of iron; and the sound of their wings was as the sound of chariots of many horses running to battle [the sound drowning out the still small voice of truth].
Rev 9:10 And they had tails like unto scorpions, and there were stings in their tails: and their power was to hurt men five months [for the length of time it takes for grace though Christ’s faith to do its work within].

Nah 3:17  Thy crowned [Nineveh and Israel in bed as one; doctrines of Gentile Christianity and we in our time unrighteously sitting on Christ’s throne as the mother of harlots] are as the locusts, and thy captains as the great grasshoppers, which camp in the hedges [protected by the multitude of voices drowning out the truth, speaking the same lying doctrines] in the cold day, but when the sun ariseth [Christ’s words] they flee away, and their place is not known where they are.
Nah 3:18  Thy shepherds slumber, O king of Assyria: thy nobles shall dwell in the dust: thy people is scattered upon the mountains, and no man gathereth them.

In Amos 7:1-3, the Lord’s Elect experiences bountiful spiritual growth of nutritious hay to feed her spiritual mind. Meadow grass and wheat, upon being mown or chewed down by stock, will stool out, meaning that the plant suffers stress, and to compensate, it puts forth more stalks for fodder or, in the case of wheat, more heads of grain. In either case, both examples amplify the subsequent harvest and can point to the Biblical account of the early rain and latter rain as vital for a bountiful harvest.

Deu 11:12  A land [The Bride, our bodies, the Temple of God] which the LORD thy God careth for: the eyes of the LORD thy God are always upon it, from the beginning of the year even unto the end of the year. 
Deu 11:13  And it shall come to pass, if ye shall hearken diligently unto my commandments which I command you this day, to love the LORD your God, and to serve him with all your heart and with all your soul,
Deu 11:14  That I will give you the rain of your land in his due season, the first rain and the latter rain, that thou mayest gather in thy corn, and thy wine, and thine oil.
Deu 11:15  And I will send grass in thy fields for thy cattle, that thou mayest eat and be full. 

Jas 5:7  Be patient therefore, brethren, unto the coming of the Lord. Behold, the husbandman waiteth for the precious fruit of the earth, and hath long patience for it, until he receive the early and latter rain. 

Our Lord, in repenting of ‘mowing’ Jacob being us, is him saying that he will not allow the giants of our land to chew us into the ground as do locusts (and should drought follow) for us not to spring back. Nonetheless, the stress from the evil spirits devouring our initial spiritual growth and the new shoots do not kill our roots in Christ, and we endure to spring forth again much stronger for the trial. The process is a type of our Lord forgiving Jacob that he is assured to be fruitful.

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.

Amo 7:4  Thus hath the Lord GOD shewed unto me: and, behold, the Lord GOD called to contend by fire, and it devoured the great deep, and did eat up a part.
Amo 7:5  Then said I, O Lord GOD, cease, I beseech thee: by whom shall Jacob arise? for he is small. 
Amo 7:6  The LORD repented for this: This also shall not be, saith the Lord GOD. 

Our Lord contending with us by fire clearly correlates to us being devoured and thus saved by fire in this age, juxtaposed by Noah and his family of eight being saved from being devoured by the great deep beneath the ark. While both the fire and the flood devour all as ‘one event to all’ (Ecc 9:2), our Lord’s mercy allows it to devour his Elect with a controlled burn, little by little of our contentions against his word, until we are entirely consumed. We thus are able to ‘rise’ from being severely humbled, as did Jacob upon enduring wrestling with Christ.

The Lord doesn’t need to repent as if his mind is subject to double-mindedness. It was the Lord’s plan that Jacob would be initially small in number since his wife, Rachel, only had two sons, Joseph and Benjamin, to uphold their tribe’s inheritance. It was a fiery trial for Jacob to contend with Rachel’s constant dripping, her malcontent unable to bear children made unbearable by her sister’s fecundity. Jacob’s foreshadowing of the Bride is a work in progress whereby the plumbline upon her, the New Jerusalem’s wall our Lord hadn’t finished measuring, and the Old Jerusalem destined for demolition.

Ecc 3:1  To every thing there is a season, and a time to every purpose under the heaven:
Ecc 3:2  A time to be born, and a time to die; a time to plant, and a time to pluck up that which is planted; 
Ecc 3:3  A time to kill, and a time to heal; a time to break down, and a time to build up;
Ecc 3:4  [Rachel and we, the ‘barren woman’] A time to weep, and a time to laugh; a time to mourn, and a time to dance;
Ecc 3:5  A time to cast away stones, and a time to gather stones together; a time to embrace, and a time to refrain from embracing;
Ecc 3:6  A time to get, and a time to lose; a time to keep, and a time to cast away;
Ecc 3:7  A time to rend, and a time to sew; a time to keep silence, and a time to speak;
Ecc 3:8  A time to love, and a time to hate; a time of war, and a time of peace.

Amo 7:7  Thus he shewed me: and, behold, the Lord stood upon a wall made by a plumbline, with a plumbline in his hand. 
Amo 7:8  And the LORD said unto me, Amos, what seest thou? And I said, A plumbline. Then said the Lord, Behold, I will set a plumbline in the midst of my people Israel: I will not again pass by them any more: 
Amo 7:9  And the high places of Isaac shall be desolate, and the sanctuaries of Israel shall be laid waste; and I will rise against the house of Jeroboam with the sword. 

The Lord, in stating to Amos that he would not pass by Old Israel any more, would have been a ‘bitter in his belly’ experience not unlike what John in Revelations saw since the concept enigmatically announced God abandoning Israel. In verse 10 below, Amaziah [‘am-ats-yaw’], the priest of Bethel, bore that vapid consternation somewhat sarcastically, saying, “The land is not able to bear all his words”. Being the priest, his contempt perfectly characterised Israel’s demeanour toward her Lord, as were Cain’s accusations for the burden of judgment.

What Israel didn’t see was the Lord’s plan spelt out in the wilderness since Egypt to this day in the spiritual meanings and pattern of the Holy Days and Feasts—indeed, they couldn’t bear Amos’s or any of the prophet’s words, but a remnant coming out of futuristic Israel, would, now bearing a light burden made easy by her Lord’s power and might.

Amos Accused

Amo 7:10  Then Amaziah [‘am-ats-yaw’ = Jehovah is mighty] the priest of Bethel sent to Jeroboam king of Israel, saying, Amos hath conspired against thee in the midst of the house of Israel: the land is not able to bear all his words. 

And yes, the Lord had pre-plotted Israel’s demise precisely as he has ours, so we could spiritually most graphically see that all of scripture is our experience, though now, able to bear his fiery words.

1Co 3:21  Therefore, stop boasting in men. All things are yours, 
1Co 3:22  whether Paul or Apollos or Cephas [Amos] or the world or life or death or the present or the future. All of them belong to you,
1Co 3:23  and you belong to Christ, and Christ belongs to God.

Because Solomon pursued other gods, including his relentless search for the implausibly ‘perfect wife’ from every ethnicity available, regardless of their god’s ideologies, the Lord was about to divide Israel—Ephriam, comprising ten tribes in the north, and Judah, constituting Judah and Benjamin, in the south.

1Ki 11:9  And the LORD was angry with Solomon, because his heart was turned from the LORD God of Israel, which had appeared unto him twice,
1Ki 11:10  And had commanded him concerning this thing, that he should not go after other gods: but he kept not that which the LORD commanded.
1Ki 11:11  Wherefore the LORD said unto Solomon, Forasmuch as this is done of thee, and thou hast not kept my covenant and my statutes, which I have commanded thee, I will surely rend the kingdom from thee, and will give it to thy servant. 
1Ki 11:12  Notwithstanding in thy days I will not do it for David thy father’s sake: but I will rend it out of the hand of thy son.
1Ki 11:13  Howbeit I will not rend away all the kingdom; but will give one tribe to thy son for David my servant’s sake, and for Jerusalem’s sake which I have chosen. 

(That one tribe is Judah, incorporating Benjamin that certain people today, who say that they are Jews and are not, have seized the name as God’s elect, to which Gentile Christianity in lockstep of strong delusion swoon, and soon to burn with fire. 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).

Meantime, out of Amos’ generation, the Lord raised up adversaries against Solomon for his lethargy for his Lord’s word that riches indulge, one named Jeroboam, to wrest the Kingdom from Solomon.

1Ki 11:26  And Jeroboam the son of Nebat, an Ephrathite of Zereda, Solomon’s servant, whose mother’s name was Zeruah, a widow woman [meaning = ‘full-breasted; diseased; leperous’ to feed her many harlot church’s; symbolic of the Great Whore who says that she is not a widow
Rev 18:7 and characterised mother of the Ten Tribes of Israel], even he lifted up his hand against the king.
1Ki 11:27  And this was the cause that he lifted up his hand against the king: Solomon built Millo, and repaired the breaches of the city of David his father.
1Ki 11:28  And the man Jeroboam was a mighty man of valour: and Solomon seeing the young man that he was industrious, he made him ruler over all the charge of the house of Joseph.
1Ki 11:29  And it came to pass at that time when Jeroboam went out of Jerusalem, that the prophet Ahijah [ akh-ee-yaw = brother of Jehovah] the Shilonite found him in the way; and he had clad himself with a new garment; and they two were alone in the field [symbolic of Cain and Able and the principle of the elder serving the younger—Old Israel in transition to serving the new version]:
1Ki 11:30  And Ahijah caught the new garment that was on him, and rent it in twelve pieces:
1Ki 11:31  And he said to Jeroboam, Take thee ten pieces: for thus saith the LORD, the God of Israel, Behold, I will rend the kingdom out of the hand of Solomon, and will give ten tribes to thee:
1Ki 11:32  (But he shall have one tribe for my servant David’s sake, and for Jerusalem’s sake, the city [the incipient New Heavenly Jerusalem, the Elect of God] which I have chosen out of all the tribes of Israel:):) 
1Ki 11:33  Because that they have forsaken me, and have worshipped Ashtoreth the goddess of the Zidonians, Chemosh the god of the Moabites, and Milcom the god of the children of Ammon, and have not walked in my ways, to do that which is right in mine eyes, and to keep my statutes and my judgments, as did David his father.
1Ki 11:34  Howbeit I will not take the whole kingdom out of his hand: but I will make him prince all the days of his life for David my servant’s sake, whom I chose, because he kept my commandments and my statutes:
1Ki 11:35  But I will take the kingdom out of his son’s hand, and will give it unto thee, even ten tribes.
1Ki 11:36  And unto his son will I give one tribe, that David my servant may have a light alway before me in Jerusalem, the city which I have chosen me to put my name there. 
1Ki 11:37  And I will take thee, and thou shalt reign according to all that thy soul desireth, and shalt be king over Israel.
1Ki 11:38  And it shall be, if thou wilt hearken unto all that I command thee, and wilt walk in my ways, and do that is right in my sight, to keep my statutes and my commandments, as David my servant did; that I will be with thee, and build thee a sure house, as I built for David, and will give Israel unto thee.
1Ki 11:39  And I will for this afflict the seed of David, but not for ever.

That saga is a major event for Israel and for the Bride’s potent understanding since it all directly points to her being the spiritual Judah, replacing the dismally failed physical Judah and Benjamin in Amos’ time. Consequently…

Amo 7:11  For thus Amos saith, Jeroboam shall die by the sword, and Israel shall surely be led away captive out of their own land. 

Likewise, anytime we fail to bear the Lord’s chastisement and refuse to die by the sword of his word, if we are indeed his ‘very Elect’, we will humbly be made to spiritually die and submit to his commands, gladly captive to the Kingdom. There we will always be with our Husband harmoniously eating and being in the same spirit as prophesied.

Amo 7:12  Also Amaziah said unto Amos, O thou seer, go, flee thee away into the land of Judah, and there eat bread, and prophesy there: 
Amo 7:13  But prophesy not again any more at Bethel: for it is the King’s chapel, and it is the king’s court. 

The Lord’s Elect, having come from lowly estate, now in eternal unity with him, don’t need to be prophesied to since they are the fully consummated prophets at one with their Husband and the Father. As seen in these following verses, they, in rulership with her Lord, will assuredly prophesy and judge in the Lake of Fire the entirety of Gog and Magog, the world, “my people, Israel”.

Amo 7:14  Then answered Amos, and said to Amaziah, I was no prophet, neither was I a prophet’s son; but I was an herdman [a lowborn and despised calling], and a gatherer of sycamore fruit [figs]: 
Amo 7:15  And the LORD took me as I followed the flock, and the LORD said unto me, Go, prophesy unto my people Israel. 
Amo 7:16  Now therefore hear thou the word of the LORD: Thou sayest, Prophesy not against Israel, and drop not thy word against the house of Isaac. 

This powerful directive states that the ten tribes of Israel, meaning Gentile Christianity today, are not judged during that era or in the present. Instead, they are simply unwitting bystanders, delusionally as the Lord’s wife, deciphering scripture in their favour (epic ad nauseum, “I am no widow; I have a husband…” Rev 18:7). God’s primary focus is on his little flock, the budding Bride, and all the periphery chronicles in scripture, serve to build faith and belief in their Lord and his workmanship in her, recreating Christs (plural).

Hence, the Lord directs Amos to prophesy to Israel for their guarantee of exile and not against them for what the Lord has decreed will happen since it is He who sends the house of Isaac into Babylon.

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. 

Gen 17:19  And God said, Sarah thy wife shall bear thee a son indeed; and thou shalt call his name Isaac: and I will establish my covenant with him for an everlasting covenant, and with his seed after him.

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

Amaziah, who didn’t want to hear what he considered an evil prophecy against his kingship, sarcastically told Amos to go preach in Judah—where someone might want to hear his message. Amaziah knew that the people in Judah, like those in Israel, also despised the Lord’s authority, disregarding God and attempting to take His place on the throne. Covertly, the whole stay of water and bread was taken away from Israel and Judah.

Isa 3:1  For, behold, the Lord, the LORD of hosts, doth take away from Jerusalem and from Judah the stay and the staff, the whole stay of bread, and the whole stay of water,
Isa 3:2  The mighty man, and the man of war, the judge, and the prophet, and the prudent, and the ancient,
Isa 3:3  The captain of fifty, and the honourable man, and the counsellor, and the cunning artificer, and the eloquent orator.
Isa 3:4  And I will give children to be their princes, and babes shall rule over them.
Isa 3:5  And the people shall be oppressed, every one by another, and every one by his neighbour: the child shall behave himself proudly against the ancient, and the base against the honourable.
Isa 3:6  When a man shall take hold of his brother of the house of his father, saying, Thou hast clothing, be thou our ruler, and let this ruin be under thy hand:
Isa 3:7  In that day shall he swear, saying, I will not be an healer; for in my house is neither bread nor clothing: make me not a ruler of the people.
Isa 3:8  For Jerusalem is ruined, and Judah is fallen: because their tongue and their doings are against the LORD, to provoke the eyes of his glory.

Amo 7:17  Therefore thus saith the LORD; Thy wife shall be an harlot in the city, and thy sons and thy daughters shall fall by the sword, and thy land shall be divided by line; and thou shalt die in a polluted land: and Israel shall surely go into captivity forth of his land.

The consequences of Amaziah [‘am-ats-yaw’] effectively ‘killing the prophets’ (Mat 23:37. Acts 7:51-52) as we once did results in wives, women, and children ruling the already emasculated men, and the priests of the land abdicated headship. Even though Amaziah’s wife apparently did become a harlot, so, too, and because of Eve’s curse, do all physical wives, not directly, but rather by their focus being on authentic Martha-like busyness instead of a Mary-like balanced approach with the spiritual taking precedence. A harlot has no interest whatsoever in what drives the mind of her debtor to seek delusional unity of spirit with her. Neither do most wives for their husbands once they have their future secured by the best provider their ‘gin’ (Isa 8:14. Amo 3:5) can capture, and their biological needs of children are satiated, typified by Israel to her Lord and husband’s righteous lust to be of one mind, thus equating all wives equated with gentile churches intrinsically with harlotry-such as we individually have been.

Accordingly, the Bride is being measured by the plumbline of Christ’s righteousness today, eagerly expressing her delight by actively arousing her Husband’s kisses. She knows by her bright unity in not denying his spirit, is life eternal from the captivity of being a harlot. However, in the next study of this series, she will typically suffer for a little while longer.

Lam 3:1-66  Part 3, My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me? (Psa 22:1)

[Study Aired August 26, 2023]

It is normal for the unspiritual mind to view the Book of Lamentations as only relevant to unbelievers and believers who have turned away, most eminently old Israel. However, for the Lord’s dragging us to see that we are the Beast, the man of perdition, we would remain dead in those strong delusions. In deep gratitude for His spirit of truth, the only form of righteously “looking back” is not in regret for the destruction of Sodom within, but fearing its embrace.

We can genuinely thank David, among many others, for going before us to have the Lord’s spiritual sword never leaving our house within. David’s adulterous adventure with Bathsheba, and her apparent weakness to resist his lust, typifies the camp of Israel which abides with us. There is no account given of Bathsheba crying out in resistance to David’s attention, and I’d find it hard to believe that his relative integrity would result in rape. Regardless, according to Deuteronomy 22, particularly verse 25, King David set the path of the Lord’s spiritual sword never to depart our house.

Deu 22:25 But if a man find a betrothed damsel [Bathsheba] in the field [a place away from observance or hidden among the populace], and the man force her, and lie with her: then the man only that lay with her shall die:
Deu 22:26 But unto the damsel thou shalt do nothing; there is in the damsel no sin worthy of death: for as when a man riseth against his neighbour, and slayeth him, even so is this matter:

From that account, David’s ‘forcing’ Bathsheba appears psychologically passive since death was proclaimed upon his house and not her.

David represents the Lord’s Elect, who are grateful for the sword never leaving their house within until all spiritually evil children are slain. Bathsheba represents adultery with our near kin, our Gentile Christian brothers and sisters who, like Bathsheba with apparent passivity, equivocate spousal allegiance. Our Lord will not suffer our intrigue for another Jesus, furthermore from another woman and her husband’s sacrifice resulting in a relatively innocent child sharing pitiless judgment in death for our sin (David’s bastard child).

In 2 Samuel 11:5, Uriah, Bathsheba’s husband, positively represents Christ, wittingly sent by decree of the Father to die at the forefront of our spiritual battles for our adulterous sins in bed with Babylon.

2Sa 11:14 And it came to pass in the morning, that David wrote a letter to Joab, and sent it by the hand of Uriah. 
2Sa 11:15 And he wrote in the letter, saying, Set ye Uriah in the forefront of the hottest battle, and retire ye from him, that he may be smitten, and die.

Psa 22:1 To the chief Musician upon Aijeleth [ah-yeh’-leth] Shahar, A Psalm of David. My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me? why art thou so far from helping me, and from the words of my roaring? 
Psa 22:2 O my God, I cry in the daytime, but thou hearest not; and in the night season, and am not silent. 
Psa 22:3 But thou art holy, O thou that inhabitest the praises of Israel.
Psa 22:4 Our fathers trusted in thee: they trusted, and thou didst deliver them.
Psa 22:5 They cried unto thee, and were delivered: they trusted in thee, and were not confounded.

Chapter three of Lamentations is a variation of the same lamentable pattern depicting our journey in sin to becoming Christ. The overview presents the first twenty verses as definitive ‘lamentations’ of our wretched flesh born in sin, and the remainder of the Book is our wry hope (1Pe 4:18) in Christ and His account of why He temporarily chastises us. With that summary, we will launch directly into the hopefully relatively easy decrypting of our Lord’s word without first unnecessarily reading the entire sixty-six verses.

Great Is Your Faithfulness [is the KJV outcome of the chapter]

The following twenty verses identify a particular “he” who is our enemy, as portrayed in Part 1 of this study. That personage is Christ, yet, as we know, that “he” is negatively likewise us, ‘who is the man’ as Nathan told King David upon the earthquake of David seeing himself as the chief of sinners. Most remarkably, we all equate individually as ‘that man of sin’. The first verse speaks personally to us as Christ within judging ourselves and subsequently reflects upon who initiates the chastisement. As we look behind ourselves, these verses starkly relate to our brother Job’s experiences, who typifies us. Every ‘enemy’ mentioned in this Book is within and not some other evil person imagined more evil than ourselves. 

Lam 3:1 I am the man that hath seen affliction by the rod of his wrath. 

Thankfully, the Elect of God are given to receive the rod of judgment today in preparation for the First Resurrection, and not the Resurrection to Judgment.

Rev 20:6 Blessed and holy is he that hath part in the first resurrection: on such the second death hath no power, but they shall be priests of God and of Christ, and shall reign with him a thousand years.

Lam 3:2 He hath led me, and brought me into darkness, but not into light.
Lam 3:3 Surely against me is he turned; he turneth his hand against me all the day.
Lam 3:4 My flesh and my skin hath he made old; he hath broken my bones.
Lam 3:5 He hath builded against me, and compassed me with gall and travail.
Lam 3:6 He hath set me in dark places, as they that be dead of old.

We know that everywhere in scripture, darkness comes before light, directly corresponding to the same experience every human will endure. The “he” is Christ who gives us to come out of the ‘abussos‘, the deep, the bottomless pit represented by the ocean of directionless humanity.

Gen 1:1 In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth.
Gen 1:2 And the earth [directly corresponding to man] was without form, and void; and darkness was upon the face of the deep [H8415 – 1. deep, depths, deep places, abyss, the deep, sea]. And the Spirit of God moved upon the face of the waters.

Rev 13:1 And I [John; and we upon looking back on our life] stood upon the sand of the sea, and saw a beast rise up out of the sea, having seven heads and ten horns, and upon his horns ten crowns, and upon his heads the name of blasphemy.

Our Lord gradually builds us up for destruction by the coming blinding light of His word. We see the seemingly endless destruction of our flesh everywhere in scripture to this day and to the First Resurrection when the downpayment of that ‘blinding light’ will manifest fully in our bodies as we instantly become as our Husband is.

The “gall” that is bile, stomach acid, responds to our adrenalin that results from fear. Our judgment manifests in spiritually broken bones, and skin and flesh all seem consumed by fire, adding to our initial bewilderment while coming out of the darkness of the abussos.

Rom 10:7 Or, Who shall descend into the deep? [Greek: abussos] (that is, to bring up Christ again from the dead.) 

The ‘abussos‘ is the realm of the dead. Descending into the abussos is the same as bringing Christ again from the dead. The people in the millennium are spiritually dead while they are physically alive. Christ entered the realm of the dead the moment He emptied Himself of His divinity and came into His physical mother, Mary’s womb, to be offered as the sacrifice for the sins of the whole world. Christ refers to all men living without knowing Himself or His Father as the walking dead: 

Mat 8:21 And another of his disciples said unto him, Lord, suffer me first to go and bury my father. 
Mat 8:22 But Jesus said unto him, Follow me; and let the dead bury their dead.

From the outset, we are hedged in by the depths of the abussos of Babylon until we cry out, acknowledging our hopeless and lamentable condition. In His good timing, often decades later, He answers our prayers. Even after coming into and living His truth, we are assaulted by our lusts of the eyes and flesh, and worse, hold fast to our self-righteousness.

Lam 3:7 He hath hedged me about, that I cannot get out: he hath made my chain heavy. 
Lam 3:8 Also when I cry and shout, he shutteth out my prayer. 
Lam 3:9 He hath inclosed my ways with hewn stone, he hath made my paths crooked. 
Lam 3:10 He was unto me as a bear lying in wait, and as a lion in secret places. 
Lam 3:11 He hath turned aside my ways, and pulled me in pieces: he hath made me desolate.
Lam 3:12 He hath bent his bow, and set me as a mark for the arrow. 
Lam 3:13 He hath caused the arrows of his quiver to enter into my reins [H3629 – 1. kidneys a. of physical organ (lit.) b. of seat of emotion and affection]. 

The severing of our reins is the destruction of the ureteral tubes from our kidneys to the bladder. Mild pain, fever and infection to severe loss of kidney function causes death. Spiritually, our blood that gives life becomes overloaded with doctrinal toxins, and we figuratively die and are delivered from the Syrians within, as seen in 2 Kings 13 and highlighted in verse 17.

2Ki 13:17 And he said [Elisha to Joah, King of Israel], Open the window eastward. And he opened it. Then Elisha said, Shoot. And he shot. And he said, The arrow [H2686 – divide] of the LORD’S deliverance, and the arrow of deliverance from Syria: for thou shalt smite the Syrians in Aphek, till thou have consumed them.

Lam 3:14 I was a derision to all my people; and their song all the day 
Lam 3:15 He hath filled me with bitterness, he hath made me drunken with wormwood. 
Lam 3:16 He hath also broken my teeth with gravel stones, he hath covered me with ashes.
Lam 3:17 And thou hast removed my soul far off from peace: I forgat prosperity.
Lam 3:18 And I said, My strength and my hope is perished from the LORD: 
Lam 3:19 Remembering mine affliction and my misery, the wormwood and the gall. 
Lam 3:20 My soul hath them still in remembrance, and is humbled in me.

Such is our devastation when comparing our alleged righteousness to our Lord’s; we are made as chaff and dust and blown away in the summer breeze.

Ecc 9:2 All things come alike to all: there is one event to the righteous, and to the wicked; to the good and to the clean, and to the unclean; to him that sacrificeth, and to him that sacrificeth not: as is the good, so is the sinner; and he that sweareth, as he that feareth an oath. 
Ecc 9:3 This is an evil among all things that are done under the sun, that there is one event unto all: yea, also the heart of the sons of men is full of evil, and madness is in their heart while they live, and after that they go to the dead. 

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? 

Even the babe in Christ profoundly equates with the deepest sighs of mourning in the first twenty verses. Upon looking behind, he and the maturing Christs see the milk of the all-too-common repeated pattern of our journey depicted in Lamentations. Our short-term pain is quickly overtaken by unspeakable joy when we acknowledge our sins and look to our inheritance in Christ. 

Lam 3:21 This I recall to my mind, therefore have I hope.
Lam 3:22 It is of the LORD’S mercies that we are not consumed, because his compassions fail not.
Lam 3:23 They are new every morning: great is thy faithfulness. 
Lam 3:24 The LORD is my portion, saith my soul; therefore will I hope in him. 
Lam 3:25 The LORD is good unto them that wait for him, to the soul that seeketh him. 
Lam 3:26 It is good that a man should both hope and quietly wait for the salvation of the LORD.

We must wait in the fullness of time the Lord ordains for each of us for His specific purpose for the trials tailored for our endurance in chastisements and symbolised by seven x ten.

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.
Jer 29:12 Then shall ye call upon me, and ye shall go and pray unto me, and I will hearken unto you.
Jer 29:13 And ye shall seek me, and find me, when ye shall search for me with all your heart.

Lam 3:27 It is good for a man that he bear the yoke in his youth. 

Most parents find that timeless dictum dismissed by their children as their kids set about reproving, regrettably, what their parents had learned from their parents. Each child in his time can’t wait to buck the yoke of righteous guidance and, to varying degrees, experience wastage of his guidance upon riotous living and repeat the Book of Lamentations. Each Elect of God, in his own time and order, quietly reflects his past and gives God glory for the good and evil. He fills up behind the same afflictions as Christ, only in reproach.

Lam 3:28 He sitteth alone and keepeth silence, because he hath borne it upon him. 
Lam 3:29 He putteth his mouth in the dust; if so be there may be hope. 
Lam 3:30 He giveth his cheek to him that smiteth him: he is filled full with reproach. 
Lam 3:31 For the Lord will not cast off for ever: 
Lam 3:32 But though he cause grief, yet will he have compassion according to the multitude of his mercies. 
Lam 3:33 For he doth not afflict willingly nor grieve the children of men.
Lam 3:34 To crush under his feet all the prisoners of the earth, 
Lam 3:35 To turn aside the right of a man before the face of the most High, 
Lam 3:36 To subvert a man in his cause, the Lord approveth not. 
Lam 3:37 Who is he that saith, and it cometh to pass, when the Lord commandeth it not? [We did in Babylon]
Lam 3:38 Out of the mouth of the most High proceedeth not evil and good? [Isa 45:7]
Lam 3:39 Wherefore doth a living man complain, a man for the punishment of his sins? [Isa 40:27-31]
Lam 3:40 Let us search and try our ways, and turn again to the LORD. [Psa 139:23]
Lam 3:41 Let us lift up our heart with our hands unto God in the heavens. [Deu 4:29, Jer 29:13]
Lam 3:42 We have transgressed and have rebelled: thou hast not pardoned. [Isa 1:18]
Lam 3:43 Thou hast covered with anger, and persecuted us: thou hast slain, thou hast not pitied.
Lam 3:44 Thou hast covered thyself with a cloud, that our prayer should not pass through. [Isa 54:6-8]
Lam 3:45 Thou hast made us as the offscouring and refuse in the midst of the people.

It is appropriate to correlate these surrounding verses with 1 Corinthian 4:7-16. At its conclusion, can we, with good conscience, boldly say, as Paul, “be imitators of me?”

1Co 4:7 For who makes you to differ from another? And what do you have that you did not receive? And if you did receive it, why do you boast as if you had not received it?
1Co 4:8 Already you are full! Already you are rich! You have reigned as kings without us! And oh that indeed you did reign, that we also might reign with you. 
1Co 4:9 For I think that God has set forth us last, the apostles, as it were appointed to death; for we have become a spectacle to the world and to angels and to men.
1Co 4:10 We are fools for Christ’s sake, but you are wise in Christ. We are weak, but you are strong. You are honorable, but we are despised. 
1Co 4:11 Even until this present hour we both hunger and thirst and are naked and are buffeted and have no certain dwelling place. 
1Co 4:12 And we labor, working with our own hands. Being reviled, we bless; being persecuted, we suffer it; 
1Co 4:13 being defamed, we entreat. We are made as the filth of the world, the offscouring of all things until now. 
1Co 4:14 I do not write these things to shame you, but as my beloved children I warn you.
1Co 4:15 For though you have ten thousand instructors in Christ, yet you do not have many fathers; for I have begotten you in Christ Jesus through the gospel.
1Co 4:16 Therefore I beseech you, be imitators of me.

Lam 3:46 All our enemies have opened their mouths against us. 
Lam 3:47 Fear and a snare is come upon us, desolation and destruction. 
Lam 3:48 Mine eye runneth down with rivers of water for the destruction of the daughter of my people. 
Lam 3:49 Mine eye trickleth down, and ceaseth not, without any intermission, 
Lam 3:50 Till the LORD look down, and behold from heaven. 
Lam 3:51 Mine eye affecteth mine heart because of all the daughters of my city. 
Lam 3:52 Mine enemies chased me sore, like a bird, without cause. 
Lam 3:53 They have cut off my life in the dungeon, and cast a stone upon me. 
Lam 3:54 Waters flowed over mine head; then I said, I am cut off. 
Lam 3:55 I called upon thy name, O LORD, out of the low dungeon. 
Lam 3:56 Thou hast heard my voice: hide not thine ear at my breathing, at my cry. 
Lam 3:57 Thou drewest near in the day that I called upon thee: thou saidst, Fear not. 
Lam 3:58 O Lord, thou hast pleaded the causes of my soul; thou hast redeemed my life. 
Lam 3:59 O LORD, thou hast seen my wrong: judge thou my cause. 
Lam 3:60 Thou hast seen all their vengeance and all their imaginations against me. 
Lam 3:61 Thou hast heard their reproach, O LORD, and all their imaginations against me;
Lam 3:62 The lips of those that rose up against me, and their device against me all the day.
Lam 3:63 Behold their sitting down, and their rising up; I am their musick [song].
Lam 3:64 Render unto them a recompence, O LORD, according to the work of their hands. 
Lam 3:65 Give them sorrow of heart, thy curse unto them.
Lam 3:66 Persecute and destroy them in anger from under the heavens of the LORD.

Those verses can leave us quivering for His dreadfulness. His curse is our flesh existing, sullying the purity of the Godhead’s spiritual realm whereby it needed laws of control (Gal 3:10-14). In effect and like manner, our Lord is righteously kicking against the annoying pricks our flesh inflicts on him (Acts 9:4-6 – Saul confronted by the Lord).

Jer 15:5 For who shall have pity on you, O Jerusalem? Or who shall weep over you? Or who shall turn aside to ask your welfare? 
Jer 15:6 You have forsaken Me, says Jehovah; you have gone backward; therefore I will stretch out My hand against you, and destroy you; I am weary with repenting.

The Lord’s expression that He is weary with repenting is that He has created Beasts that are diametrically opposed to Him, highlighting His earnest desire to finish His work, to “come quickly” and relieve us (and Himself) of our suffering flesh.

Psa 6:2 Have mercy upon me, O LORD; for I am weak: O LORD, heal me; for my bones are vexed. 
Psa 6:3 My soul is also sore vexed: but thou, O LORD, how long? 
Psa 6:4 Return, O LORD, deliver my soul: oh save me for thy mercies’ sake. 

For those who sigh and groan for ‘how long, oh lord…’ – likewise is our Lord mourning that He has to keep forgiving our endemically sinful hearts, and our continually going to Him for forgiveness.  It is the nature of being born sin from our mother’s womb. Our inherent nature is to indulge the temptation to indulge in innocuous things that can become sin and, most damningly, be tempted to partake of nocuous (unlawful) acts.

Our Lord’s repenting is a lamentation for having evil flesh existing in His eternal spiritual realm, an annoying kicking against us, yet a necessary and temporary wart on His very Body! (1Co 12:27, Eph 5:30)

Gen 6:5 And GOD saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth [in us] and that every imagination of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually. 
Gen 6:6 And it repented the LORD that he had made man on the earth, and it grieved him at his heart.
Gen 6:7 And the LORD said, I will destroy man whom I have created from the face of the earth; both man, and beast, and the creeping thing, and the fowls of the air; for it repenteth me that I have made them. 
Gen 6:8 But Noah [the saving Christs’, His Body] found grace in the eyes of the LORD. 

2Co 5:10 For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ; that every one may receive the things done in his body, according to that he hath done, whether it be good or bad. 
2Co 5:16 Wherefore henceforth know we no man after the flesh: yea, though we have known Christ after the flesh, yet now henceforth know we him no more.

Rom 8:1 There is therefore now no condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus, who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit.

Lam 3:66 Persecute and destroy them in anger from under the heavens of the LORD.

With those understandings, we are grateful for our Lord’s persecution and destruction of our flesh, the earth under His heavens, to become one spirit in Him.

Isa 41:10 Do not fear; for I am with you; be not dismayed; for I am your God. I will make you strong; yes, I will help you; yes, I will uphold you with the right hand of My righteousness. 

Heb 13:5 Let your conversation be without covetousness; and be content with such things as ye have: for he hath said, I will never leave thee, nor forsake thee.

Jer 26:13-24  Of a Truth the LORD Hath Sent Me Unto You to Speak all These Words

[Study Aired December 26, 2021]

Jer 26:13  Therefore now amend your ways and your doings, and obey the voice of the LORD your God; and the LORD will repent him of the evil that he hath pronounced against you.
Jer 26:14  As for me, behold, I am in your hand: do with me as seemeth good and meet unto you.
Jer 26:15  But know ye for certain, that if ye put me to death, ye shall surely bring innocent blood upon yourselves, and upon this city, and upon the inhabitants thereof: for of a truth the LORD hath sent me unto you to speak all these words in your ears.
Jer 26:16  Then said the princes and all the people unto the priests and to the prophets; This man is not worthy to die: for he hath spoken to us in the name of the LORD our God.
Jer 26:17  Then rose up certain of the elders of the land, and spake to all the assembly of the people, saying,
Jer 26:18  Micah the Morasthite prophesied in the days of Hezekiah king of Judah, and spake to all the people of Judah, saying, Thus saith the LORD of hosts; Zion shall be plowed like a field, and Jerusalem shall become heaps, and the mountain of the house as the high places of a forest.
Jer 26:19  Did Hezekiah king of Judah and all Judah put him at all to death? did he not fear the LORD, and besought the LORD, and the LORD repented him of the evil which he had pronounced against them? Thus might we procure great evil against our souls.
Jer 26:20  And there was also a man that prophesied in the name of the LORD, Urijah the son of Shemaiah of Kirjathjearim, who prophesied against this city and against this land according to all the words of Jeremiah:
Jer 26:21  And when Jehoiakim the king, with all his mighty men, and all the princes, heard his words, the king sought to put him to death: but when Urijah heard it, he was afraid, and fled, and went into Egypt;
Jer 26:22  And Jehoiakim the king sent men into Egypt, namely, Elnathan the son of Achbor, and certain men with him into Egypt.
Jer 26:23  And they fetched forth Urijah out of Egypt, and brought him unto Jehoiakim the king; who slew him with the sword, and cast his dead body into the graves of the common people.
Jer 26:24  Nevertheless the hand of Ahikam the son of Shaphan was with Jeremiah, that they should not give him into the hand of the people to put him to death.

In our last study the Lord sent Jeremiah to stand in the court of the Lord’s house and tell Jerusalem, and all the cities of Judah, that God was about to make His own house “as Shiloh”. We saw that the significance of being made like Shiloh was to have the glory of the Lord removed from the midst of His own people because of their self-righteous rebellions against His commandments. The response from the Lord’s people being informed of the fact that He would not tolerate their self-righteous rebellion is the same in all of us:

Jer 26:8  Now it came to pass, when Jeremiah had made an end of speaking all that the LORD had commanded him to speak unto all the people, that the priests and the prophets and all the people took him, saying, Thou shalt surely die.
Jer 26:9  Why hast thou prophesied in the name of the LORD, saying, This house shall be like Shiloh, and this city shall be desolate without an inhabitant? And all the people were gathered against Jeremiah in the house of the LORD.
Jer 26:10  When the princes of Judah heard these things, then they came up from the king’s house unto the house of the LORD, and sat down in the entry of the new gate of the LORD’S house.
Jer 26:11  Then spake the priests and the prophets unto the princes and to all the people, saying, This man is worthy to die; for he hath prophesied against this city, as ye have heard with your ears.

“All the people” includes you and me. We all just naturally rebel against the Lord’s judgments and demand to know: “Why hast thou prophesied in the name of the LORD, saying, This house shall be like Shiloh, and this city shall be desolate without an inhabitant?”

We see ourselves in an entirely different light. We see ourselves as very righteous and giving and caring people, and indeed that may be the case. However, when we see those good works as coming from ourselves, it is at that very point those very “good works” become sinful works of rebellion against the Lord and His Truth, which is:

Isa 64:6 But we are all as an unclean thing, and all our righteousnesses are as filthy rags; and we all do fade as a leaf; and our iniquities, like the wind, have taken us away.

Eze 33:13 When I shall say to the righteous, that he shall surely live; if he trust to his own righteousness, and commit iniquity, all his righteousnesses shall not be remembered; but for his iniquity that he hath committed, he shall die for it.

Joh 15:5 I am the vine, ye are the branches: He that abideth in me, and I in him, the same bringeth forth much fruit: for without me ye can do nothing.

“If he trust in his own righteousness, and commit iniquity” tells us that self-righteousness is ‘iniquity’, and nothing is more repugnant to the Lord. Yet that is the very message of the parable about the Pharisee and the publican going up to the temple:

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

The Lord will have us to know that He is our righteousness. Jeremiah makes this statement three times:

Jer 23:6 In his days Judah shall be saved, and Israel shall dwell safely: and this is his name whereby he shall be called, THE LORD OUR RIGHTEOUSNESS.

Jer 33:16 In those days shall Judah be saved, and Jerusalem shall dwell safely: and this is the name wherewith she shall be called, The LORD our righteousness.

Jer 51:10 The LORD hath brought forth our righteousness: come, and let us declare in Zion the work of the LORD our God.

We must indeed live righteously because grace works only “through righteousness”:

Rom 5:21 That as sin hath reigned unto death, even so might grace reign through righteousness unto eternal life by Jesus Christ our Lord.

Tit 2:11 For the grace of God that bringeth salvation hath appeared to all men,
Tit 2:12 Teaching [G3811: ‘paideuo’, chastening] us that, denying ungodliness and worldly lusts, we should live soberly, righteously, and godly, in this present world; [G165: ‘aion’ age]

It is true that we “know a tree by its fruit”, nevertheless we must acknowledge that “the Lord hath brought forth our righteousness”. If we think we have anything to do with making ourselves righteous or producing good fruit, then we are full of iniquity and judgment awaits us.

Jer 26:13 Therefore now amend your ways and your doings, and obey the voice of the LORD your God; and the LORD will repent him of the evil that he hath pronounced against you.

The Lord works our righteousness, including our repentance, which He brings to us only through fiery trials of His grace such as Jeremiah is about to experience:

1Co 3:13 Every man’s work shall be made manifest: for the day shall declare it, because it shall be revealed by fire; and the fire shall try every man’s work of what sort it is.

Job 23:13 But he is in one mind, and who can turn him? and what his soul desireth, even that he doeth.
Job 23:14 For he performeth the thing that is appointed for me: and many such things are with him.

This world esteems us to be “the savor of death”:

2Co 2:14 Now thanks be unto God, which always causeth us to triumph in Christ, and maketh manifest the savour of his knowledge by us in every place.
2Co 2:15 For we are unto God a sweet savour of Christ, in them that are saved, and in them that perish:
2Co 2:16 To the one we are the savour of death unto death; and to the other the savour of life unto life. And who is sufficient for these things?

As a type of who we are, Jeremiah was “the savor of death” to the religious leaders and the people of God in his day:

Jer 26:14 As for me, behold, I am in your hand: do with me as seemeth good and meet unto you.
Jer 26:15 But know ye for certain, that if ye put me to death, ye shall surely bring innocent blood upon yourselves, and upon this city, and upon the inhabitants thereof: for of a truth the LORD hath sent me unto you to speak all these words in your ears.

This is just as it happened to Christ. It was the very “Jews which believed on Him” who shouted for His crucifixion:

Joh 8:31 Then said Jesus to those Jews which believed on him, If ye continue in my word, then are ye my disciples indeed;
Joh 8:32 And ye shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free.
Joh 8:33 They answered him, We be Abraham’s seed, and were never in bondage to any man: how sayest thou, Ye shall be made free?
Joh 8:34 Jesus answered them, Verily, verily, I say unto you, Whosoever committeth sin is the servant of sin.
Joh 8:35 And the servant abideth not in the house for ever: but the Son abideth ever.
Joh 8:36 If the Son therefore shall make you free, ye shall be free indeed.
Joh 8:37 I know that ye are Abraham’s seed; but ye seek to kill me, because my word hath no place in you.
Joh 8:38 I speak that which I have seen with my Father: and ye do that which ye have seen with your father [“the devil” – vs 44].

Jeremiah’s situation is an Old Testament type of what Christ endured. It was Jeremiah’s own nation who was calling for his death. Nevertheless, as the Lord used Pharaoh’s own baker to help Joseph (Gen 41:9), as He used Saul’s own son, Jonathan, to help David (1Sa 20:9), the Lord here uses the king’s own sons and his own scribe, Ahikam, to rescue Jeremiah from “the priests and the prophets and all the people”:

Jer 26:16 Then said the princes and all the people unto the priests and to the prophets; This man is not worthy to die: for he hath spoken to us in the name of the LORD our God.
Jer 26:17 Then rose up certain of the elders of the land, and spake to all the assembly of the people, saying,
Jer 26:18 Micah the Morasthite prophesied in the days of Hezekiah king of Judah, and spake to all the people of Judah, saying, Thus saith the LORD of hosts; Zion shall be plowed like a field, and Jerusalem shall become heaps, and the mountain of the house as the high places of a forest.

Notice how fickle “all the people” are. When “the priests and the prophets” tell them Jeremiah is worthy of death, that is what they call for:

Jer 26:8 Now it came to pass, when Jeremiah had made an end of speaking all that the LORD had commanded him to speak unto all the people, that the priests and the prophets and all the people took him, saying, Thou shalt surely die.

Let’s compare this verse 8 from last week’s study to verse 16 of today’s study:

Jer 26:16 Then said the princes and all the people unto the priests and to the prophets; This man is not worthy to die: for he hath spoken to us in the name of the LORD our God.

It was “the Jews which believed on [Christ] who also “want[ed] to kill [Him]”:

Joh 8:30 As he spake these words, many believed on him.
Joh 8:31 Then said Jesus to those Jews which believed on him, If ye continue in my word, then are ye my disciples indeed;
Joh 8:32 And ye shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free.
Joh 8:33 They answered him, We be Abraham’s seed, and were never in bondage to any man: how sayest thou, Ye shall be made free?
Joh 8:34 Jesus answered them, Verily, verily, I say unto you, Whosoever committeth sin is the servant of sin.
Joh 8:35 And the servant abideth not in the house for ever: but the Son abideth ever.
Joh 8:36 If the Son therefore shall make you free, ye shall be free indeed.
Joh 8:37 I know that ye are Abraham’s seed; but ye seek to kill me, because my word hath no place in you.

You and I are “all the people” while we abide in the churches of Babylon, and our old man will always be working to retain his kingdom within each of us. Knowing this tendency of our flesh is why the holy spirit prompted Peter to tell us all:

1Pe 5:8 Be sober, be vigilant; because your adversary the devil, as a roaring lion, walketh about, seeking whom he may devour:
1Pe 5:9 Whom resist stedfast in the faith, knowing that the same afflictions are accomplished in your brethren that are in the world.

“The whole world… [our] brethren that are in the world [are] groaning and travailing together in pain until now” even though they are not being judged in “this present time”:

Rom 8:16 The Spirit itself beareth witness with our spirit, that we are [Greek: present tense] the children of God:
Rom 8:17 And if children, then heirs; heirs of God, and joint-heirs with Christ; if so be that we suffer with him, that we may be also glorified together.
Rom 8:18 For I reckon that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory which shall be revealed in us.
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.
Rom 8:22 For we know that the whole creation groaneth and travaileth in pain together until now.
Rom 8:23 And not only they [“your brethren that are in the world” (1Pe 1:9)], but ourselves also, which have the firstfruits of the Spirit, even we ourselves groan within ourselves, waiting for the adoption, to wit, the redemption of our body.

This ‘Micah the Morasthite’ of verse 18 is the author of the book of Micah. His prophecy was many years earlier, and it was addressed to both Jerusalem, the capital of the southern nation of Judah, and to Samaria, the capital of the northern kingdom of Israel:

Mic 1:1 The word of the LORD that came to Micah the Morasthite in the days of Jotham, Ahaz, and Hezekiah, kings of Judah, which he saw concerning Samaria and Jerusalem.

By the time of Jeremiah’s prophecy, the northern kingdom of Israel had already been carried out of Israel into the cities of the Assyrians. Those cities included the city of Babylon, whose king would in time take over the hegemony of the Assyrian empire, and it would come to be called the Babylonian empire. The Assyrians and the Babylonians are both Chaldeans. Nebuchadnezzar, also known as Nebuchadrezzar, was the king whom the Lord chose to begin the later judgment of His people by having them spend seventy years in subjection to that pagan kingdom. Micah prophesied while the Chaldeans were still under the hegemony of Nineveh and the kings of Assyria. His prophecy came to both Israel and Judah in the days of King Hezekiah. King Hezekiah listened to the words of Micah and repented, and the Lord spared Judah at that time:

Mic 1:2 Hear, all ye people; hearken, O earth, and all that therein is: and let the Lord GOD be witness against you, the Lord from his holy temple.
Mic 1:3 For, behold, the LORD cometh forth out of his place, and will come down, and tread upon the high places of the earth.
Mic 1:4 And the mountains shall be molten under him, and the valleys shall be cleft, as wax before the fire, and as the waters that are poured down a steep place.
Mic 1:5 For the transgression of Jacob is all this, and for the sins of the house of Israel. What is the transgression of Jacob? is it not Samaria? and what are the high places of Judah? are they not Jerusalem?

The princes, the king’s own sons, remind the people of that bit of their history and convince them to spare Jeremiah’s life:

Jer 26:19 Did Hezekiah king of Judah and all Judah put him at all to death? did he not fear the LORD, and besought the LORD, and the LORD repented him of the evil which he had pronounced against them? Thus [if we kill Jeremiah] might we procure great evil against our souls.
Jer 26:20 And there was also a man that prophesied in the name of the LORD, Urijah the son of Shemaiah of Kirjathjearim, who prophesied against this city and against this land according to all the words of Jeremiah:
Jer 26:21 And when Jehoiakim the king, with all his mighty men, and all the princes, heard his words, the king sought to put him to death: but when Urijah heard it, he was afraid, and fled, and went into Egypt;
Jer 26:22 And Jehoiakim the king sent men into Egypt, namely, Elnathan the son of Achbor, and certain men with him into Egypt.
Jer 26:23 And they fetched forth Urijah out of Egypt, and brought him unto Jehoiakim the king; who slew him with the sword, and cast his dead body into the graves of the common people.

Urijah “fled… into Egypt”, and as always when we flee into Egypt for security, we lose our security. It is this very King Jehoiakim, who slew the prophet Urijah, with whom Jeremiah is contending. These ‘princes’ who are defending Jeremiah are the sons of King Jehoiakim.

Ahikam was just as respected in Jehoiakim’s court as he was in the court of Josiah, Jehoiakim’s father. So, Jeremiah has some powerful allies in the king’s court even as he is sent to prophesy against the kingdom of a king who has already slain one of the Lord’s prophets, and Jeremiah knows that his life is indeed in imminent danger.

Jer 26:24 Nevertheless the hand of Ahikam the son of Shaphan was with Jeremiah, that they should not give him into the hand of the people to put him to death.

Ahikam is one of the men sent by King Josiah, Jehoiakim’s father, to Hulldah the prophetess to know what would come of Judah for being found so far away from the words of the book of the law which Hilkiah the high priest had discovered in the temple while it was being restored.

2Ki 22:12 And the king commanded Hilkiah the priest [“the high priest” (vs 4)], and Ahikam the son of Shaphan, and Achbor the son of Michaiah, and Shaphan the scribe, and Asahiah a servant of the king’s, saying,
2Ki 22:13 Go ye, enquire of the LORD for me, and for the people, and for all Judah, concerning the words of this book that is found: for great is the wrath of the LORD that is kindled against us, because our fathers have not hearkened unto the words of this book, to do according unto all that which is written concerning us.
2Ki 22:14 So Hilkiah the priest, and Ahikam, and Achbor, and Shaphan, and Asahiah, went unto Huldah the prophetess, the wife of Shallum the son of Tikvah, the son of Harhas, keeper of the wardrobe; (now she dwelt in Jerusalem in the college;) and they communed with her.

Ahikam was placed in Josiah’s court and made to partake in many celebrated events just for the purpose of giving him standing with the king and with the people so he could be used by the Lord to intervene on Jeremiah’s behalf.

The Lord’s eyes are upon His elect in the same way:

Pro 16:7 When a man’s ways please the LORD, he maketh even his enemies to be at peace with him.

Zec 2:7 Deliver thyself, O Zion, that dwellest with the daughter of Babylon.
Zec 2:8 For thus saith the LORD of hosts; After the glory hath he sent me unto the nations which spoiled you: for he that toucheth you toucheth the apple of his eye.
Zec 2:9 For, behold, I will shake mine hand upon them, and they shall be a spoil to their servants: and ye shall know that the LORD of hosts hath sent me.

That is our study for today. Here are the verses for our next study:

Jer 27:1 In the beginning of the reign of Jehoiakim the son of Josiah king of Judah came this word unto Jeremiah from the LORD, saying,
Jer 27:2 Thus saith the LORD to me; Make thee bonds and yokes, and put them upon thy neck,
Jer 27:3 And send them to the king of Edom, and to the king of Moab, and to the king of the Ammonites, and to the king of Tyrus, and to the king of Zidon, by the hand of the messengers which come to Jerusalem unto Zedekiah king of Judah;
Jer 27:4 And command them to say unto their masters, Thus saith the LORD of hosts, the God of Israel; Thus shall ye say unto your masters;
Jer 27:5 I have made the earth, the man and the beast that are upon the ground, by my great power and by my outstretched arm, and have given it unto whom it seemed meet unto me.
Jer 27:6 And now have I given all these lands into the hand of Nebuchadnezzar the king of Babylon, my servant; and the beasts of the field have I given him also to serve him.
Jer 27:7 And all nations shall serve him, and his son, and his son’s son, until the very time of his land come: and then many nations and great kings shall serve themselves of him.
Jer 27:8 And it shall come to pass, that the nation and kingdom which will not serve the same Nebuchadnezzar the king of Babylon, and that will not put their neck under the yoke of the king of Babylon, that nation will I punish, saith the LORD, with the sword, and with the famine, and with the pestilence, until I have consumed them by his hand.
Jer 27:9 Therefore hearken not ye to your prophets, nor to your diviners, nor to your dreamers, nor to your enchanters, nor to your sorcerers, which speak unto you, saying, Ye shall not serve the king of Babylon:
Jer 27:10 For they prophesy a lie unto you, to remove you far from your land; and that I should drive you out, and ye should perish.
Jer 27:11 But the nations that bring their neck under the yoke of the king of Babylon, and serve him, those will I let remain still in their own land, saith the LORD; and they shall till it, and dwell therein.
Jer 27:12 I spake also to Zedekiah king of Judah according to all these words, saying, Bring your necks under the yoke of the king of Babylon, and serve him and his people, and live.
Jer 27:13 Why will ye die, thou and thy people, by the sword, by the famine, and by the pestilence, as the LORD hath spoken against the nation that will not serve the king of Babylon?
Jer 27:14 Therefore hearken not unto the words of the prophets that speak unto you, saying, Ye shall not serve the king of Babylon: for they prophesy a lie unto you.
Jer 27:15 For I have not sent them, saith the LORD, yet they prophesy a lie in my name; that I might drive you out, and that ye might perish, ye, and the prophets that prophesy unto you.
Jer 27:16 Also I spake to the priests and to all this people, saying, Thus saith the LORD; Hearken not to the words of your prophets that prophesy unto you, saying, Behold, the vessels of the LORD’S house shall now shortly be brought again from Babylon: for they prophesy a lie unto you.
Jer 27:17 Hearken not unto them; serve the king of Babylon, and live: wherefore should this city be laid waste?
Jer 27:18 But if they be prophets, and if the word of the LORD be with them, let them now make intercession to the LORD of hosts, that the vessels which are left in the house of the LORD, and in the house of the king of Judah, and at Jerusalem, go not to Babylon.
Jer 27:19 For thus saith the LORD of hosts concerning the pillars, and concerning the sea, and concerning the bases, and concerning the residue of the vessels that remain in this city,
Jer 27:20 Which Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon took not, when he carried away captive Jeconiah the son of Jehoiakim king of Judah from Jerusalem to Babylon, and all the nobles of Judah and Jerusalem;
Jer 27:21 Yea, thus saith the LORD of hosts, the God of Israel, concerning the vessels that remain in the house of the LORD, and in the house of the king of Judah and of Jerusalem;
Jer 27:22 They shall be carried to Babylon, and there shall they be until the day that I visit them, saith the LORD; then will I bring them up, and restore them to this place.

Audio Links

Awesome Hands – Part 112

“The Golden Calf – Part 2”

March 10, 2017

It is always amazing to me what we do for ourselves and claim it is for the Lord, as if He needs us to do something for Him for His benefit or to show our loyalty.

Well, the children of Israel are no different and find themselves doing just that as we saw in our previous study about the golden calf. For this study, we are going to see the results of their actions as the Lord passes judgment on the Israelites for this “great sin”.

In particular, our verse for consideration today containing the next iteration of the Hebrew word “yad” or “hand” in English, is found in Exodus 32:29.

Exo 32:29  For Moses had said, Consecrate yourselves to day to the LORD, even every man upon his son, and upon his brother; that he may bestow upon you a blessing this day.

This verse alone is very instructive, but there is also much for us to learn when we read the context of this verse.

I have subtitled this study “The Golden Calf – Part 2” because we had looked at verses 1-6 in the last study of this same chapter. So, I am going to read from verses 7 to build up to this verses where the Lord instructs – us – to consecrate ourselves, upon our sons and upon our brothers.

Before this happens however, the Lord is going to pass judgment on this act of the Israelites, and Aaron their currently-in-charge leader.

Exo 32:7  And the LORD said unto Moses, Go, get thee down; for thy people, which thou broughtest out of the land of Egypt, have corrupted themselves:
Exo 32:8  They have turned aside quickly out of the way which I commanded them: they have made them a molten calf, and have worshipped it, and have sacrificed thereunto, and said, These be thy gods, O Israel, which have brought thee up out of the land of Egypt.
Exo 32:9  And the LORD said unto Moses, I have seen this people, and, behold, it is a stiffnecked people:
Exo 32:10  Now therefore let me alone, that my wrath may wax hot against them, and that I may consume them: and I will make of thee a great nation.

In these verses, we can see the mind of the Lord and how He views sin perpetrated against Him. The way it is phrased here in the KJV leads us to think that Moses himself is being stiffnecked, because the Lord clearly says in verse 10 to “let me alone” or “leave me alone and don’t try to stop me.”

What does Moses do, however? He does exactly what the Lord says not to do, but this is all for OUR BENEFIT so that we can know what the Lord is “thinking” about what has transpired.

This is very similar to when Jesus would speak aloud so that it was heard by those around Him, but otherwise there was no reason for it to be spoken aloud.

Joh 11:40  Jesus saith unto her, Said I not unto thee, that, if thou wouldest believe, thou shouldest see the glory of God?
Joh 11:41  Then they took away the stone from the place where the dead was laid. And Jesus lifted up his eyes, and said, Father, I thank thee that thou hast heard me.
Joh 11:42  And I knew that thou hearest me always: but because of the people which stand by I said it, that they may believe that thou hast sent me.
Joh 11:43  And when he thus had spoken, he cried with a loud voice, Lazarus, come forth.

Jesus already knew the will of God, and it was that Lazarus would be raised from the dead. Notice, Jesus and no others had SEEN Lazarus; yet, Jesus KNEW ahead of seeing that Lazarus had indeed risen and that the Father had heard Him.

In this same vein of thought, but not exactly the same parallel, the Lord is speaking to Moses telling Moses not to try and stop the Lord in His wrath so that the Lord could raise up from Moses a great nation, all the while knowing that Moses would do the opposite.

In other words, the Lord speaks things for us to grasp what is happening but knows “behind the scenes” what will actually happen. These examples are simply recorded so that we know this is the case.

Continuing with the Lord telling Moses to “let me alone”, we see Moses petition to the Lord as we read:

Exo 32:11  And Moses besought the LORD his God, and said, LORD, why doth thy wrath wax hot against thy people, which thou hast brought forth out of the land of Egypt with great power, and with a mighty hand?
Exo 32:12  Wherefore should the Egyptians speak, and say, For mischief did he bring them out, to slay them in the mountains, and to consume them from the face of the earth? Turn from thy fierce wrath, and repent of this evil against thy people.
Exo 32:13  Remember Abraham, Isaac, and Israel, thy servants, to whom thou swarest by thine own self, and saidst unto them, I will multiply your seed as the stars of heaven, and all this land that I have spoken of will I give unto your seed, and they shall inherit it for ever.
Exo 32:14  And the LORD repented of the evil which he thought to do unto his people.

Where would we all be without Moses interceding on our behalf!?

Moses is doing what any of us would have done as the one who had been used to bring the people out of Egypt. Yet, even in Moses’ concern for the people he did what the Lord said not to do. Still, we are told “the Lord repented of the evil which He thought to do to His people.”

There are two verses that come to mind concerning the “repenting” that the Lord supposedly does. Certainly the translators use the English word repent, but this does not always convey the meaning of the verse without knowing that the Hebrew being translated can at times mean something quite different.

Num 23:19  God is not a man, that he should lie; neither the son of man, that he should repent: hath he said, and shall he not do it? or hath he spoken, and shall he not make it good?

1Sa 15:29  And also the Strength of Israel will not lie nor repent: for he is not a man, that he should repent.

In all instances that “repent” is used in English, we see that they are from the same Hebrew word, “nacham”.

H5162
nâcham
Total KJV Occurrences: 109
comfort, 34
Gen_5:29, Gen_27:42, Gen_37:35, 2Sa_10:2, 1Ch_7:22, 1Ch_19:2 (2), Job_2:11, Job_7:13, Job_21:34, Psa_23:4, Psa_71:21, Psa_119:50, Psa_119:76, Psa_119:82, Isa_22:4, Isa_40:1 (2), Isa_51:3 (2), Isa_51:19, Isa_57:6, Isa_61:2, Isa_66:13, Jer_16:7, Jer_31:13, Lam_1:2, Lam_1:17, Lam_1:21, Lam_2:13, Eze_14:23, Eze_16:54, Zec_1:17, Zec_10:2
comforted, 20
Gen_24:67, Gen_37:35, Gen_38:12, Gen_50:21, Rth_2:13, 2Sa_12:24, 2Sa_13:39, Job_42:11, Psa_77:2, Psa_86:17, Psa_119:52, Isa_49:13, Isa_52:9, Isa_54:11, Isa_66:13, Jer_31:15, Eze_5:13, Eze_14:22, Eze_31:16, Eze_32:31
repent, 19
Exo_13:17, Exo_32:12, Num_23:19, Deu_32:36, 1Sa_15:29 (2), Job_42:6, Psa_90:13, Psa_110:4, Psa_135:14, Jer_4:28, Jer_18:8, Jer_18:10, Jer_26:3, Jer_26:13, Jer_42:10, Joe_2:14 (2), Jon_3:9
repented, 17
Gen_6:6, Exo_32:14, Jdg_2:18, Jdg_21:6, Jdg_21:15, 1Sa_15:35, 2Sa_24:16, 1Ch_21:15, Psa_106:45, Jer_8:6, Jer_20:16, Jer_31:19 (2), Amo_7:3, Amo_7:6, Jon_3:10, Zec_8:14
comforters, 5
2Sa_10:3, 1Ch_19:3, Job_16:2, Psa_69:20, Nah_3:7
comforter, 3
Ecc_4:1, Lam_1:9, Lam_1:16
comforteth, 3
Job_29:25, Isa_66:12-13 (2)
repenteth, 3
Gen_6:7, 1Sa_15:11, Joe_2:13
comfortedst, 1
Isa_12:1
ease, 1
Isa_1:24
receive, 1
Isa_57:6
repentest, 1
Jon_4:2
repenting, 1
Jer_15:6

As can be seen above, 41 times the Hebrew word “nacham” is translated as some form of “repent”, but 66 of the 109 times it is used it is translated as some form of the English word “comfort”. We can read a few of these examples to gain a little more understanding about this “apparent” discrepancy.

Gen 5:29  And he called his name Noah, saying, This same shall comfort us concerning our work and toil of our hands, because of the ground which the LORD hath cursed.

Zec 10:2  For the idols have spoken vanity, and the diviners have seen a lie, and have told false dreams; they comfort in vain: therefore they went their way as a flock, they were troubled, because there was no shepherd.

Eze 5:13  Thus shall mine anger be accomplished, and I will cause my fury to rest upon them, and I will be comforted: and they shall know that I the LORD have spoken it in my zeal, when I have accomplished my fury in them.

Job 16:1  Then Job answered and said,
Job 16:2  I have heard many such things: miserable comforters are ye all.

Psa 69:20  Reproach hath broken my heart; and I am full of heaviness: and I looked for some to take pity, but there was none; and for comforters, but I found none.

Isa 12:1  And in that day thou shalt say, O LORD, I will praise thee: though thou wast angry with me, thine anger is turned away, and thou comfortedst me.

Here are a few more examples of the same Hebrew word being used as some form of “repent”.

Exo 13:17  And it came to pass, when Pharaoh had let the people go, that God led them not through the way of the land of the Philistines, although that was near; for God said, Lest peradventure the people repent when they see war, and they return to Egypt:

Jon 3:9  Who can tell if God will turn and repent, and turn away from his fierce anger, that we perish not?

Jer 18:8  If that nation, against whom I have pronounced, turn from their evil, I will repent of the evil that I thought to do unto them.
Jer 18:9  And at what instant I shall speak concerning a nation, and concerning a kingdom, to build and to plant it;
Jer 18:10  If it do evil in my sight, that it obey not my voice, then I will repent of the good, wherewith I said I would benefit them.

1Ch 21:14  So the LORD sent pestilence upon Israel: and there fell of Israel seventy thousand men.
1Ch 21:15  And God sent an angel unto Jerusalem to destroy it: and as he was destroying, the LORD beheld, and he repented him of the evil, and said to the angel that destroyed, It is enough, stay now thine hand. And the angel of the LORD stood by the threshingfloor of Ornan the Jebusite.
1Ch 21:16  And David lifted up his eyes, and saw the angel of the LORD stand between the earth and the heaven, having a drawn sword in his hand stretched out over Jerusalem. Then David and the elders of Israel, who were clothed in sackcloth, fell upon their faces.
1Ch 21:17  And David said unto God, Is it not I that commanded the people to be numbered? even I it is that have sinned and done evil indeed; but as for these sheep, what have they done? let thine hand, I pray thee, O LORD my God, be on me, and on my father’s house; but not on thy people, that they should be plagued.

What, then, is going on? It seems that sometimes “repent” is appropriate, but most times some form of the word “comfort” is appropriate. So how do we know what is appropriate, and is this an accurate way to look at this Hebrew word?

Answering this question will help us understand why the Lord spoke to Moses the way He did, and it also will help us understand why it is that you and I, and the Israelites, seemingly do the exact opposite that the Lord instructs us to do things.

Strong’s defines H5162 as:

H5162
nâcham
naw-kham’
A primitive root; properly to sigh, that is, breathe strongly; by implication to be sorry, that is, (in a favorable sense) to pity, console or (reflexively) rue; or (unfavorably) to avenge (oneself): – comfort (self), ease [one’s self], repent (-er, -ing, self).

And Brown-Driver-Briggs (BDB) defines H5162 as:

H5162
nâcham
BDB Definition:
1) to be sorry, console oneself, repent, regret, comfort, be comforted
1a) (Niphal)
1a1) to be sorry, be moved to pity, have compassion
1a2) to be sorry, rue, suffer grief, repent
1a3) to comfort oneself, be comforted
1a4) to comfort oneself, ease oneself
1b) (Piel) to comfort, console
1c) (Pual) to be comforted, be consoled
1d) (Hithpael)
1d1) to be sorry, have compassion
1d2) to rue, repent of
1d3) to comfort oneself, be comforted
1d4) to ease oneself
Part of Speech: verb
A Related Word by BDB/Strong’s Number: a primitive root

In the most basic sense of applying repentance to oneself, it simply means to comfort oneself. To be comforted. Repentance is the act of doing the opposite thing that brought repentance and this brings an easement to the situation at hand.

For example, if I commit a sin that I know is sin and I am convicted of it in my heart, then true Godly repentance will take this burden from me by allowing me to understand and know that the Lord forgives me sin.

Or another way to understand it is to allow yourself to feel sorry for the sin and regret doing it, which is the very act of repenting.

When applying this concept to our study today, we can see that the Lord was comforted by His will knowing that what He has already preordained to happen was happening, and the next steps could be taken to implement His Lordship over His people.

This is similar to when I tell my children not to do something that is harmful to them KNOWING that if they break this rule they could, and most likely will, be hurt by the thing I told them not to do. When it DOES HAPPEN, I am relieved and comforted that they have LEARNED their lesson that 1) they should listen to the sound protective advice of their father and 2) they will have consequences that need to be dealt with as a result of their actions, among others lessons learned.

There are many ways to illustrate this, but I think that is sufficient.

Getting back to the story we find ourselves examining today, we see the Lord has “repented”, and Moses must see this all for himself. So, what is Moses to do?

Exo 32:15  And Moses turned, and went down from the mount, and the two tables of the testimony were in his hand: the tables were written on both their sides; on the one side and on the other were they written.
Exo 32:16  And the tables were the work of God, and the writing was the writing of God, graven upon the tables.
Exo 32:17  And when Joshua heard the noise of the people as they shouted, he said unto Moses, There is a noise of war in the camp.
Exo 32:18  And he said, It is not the voice of them that shout for mastery, neither is it the voice of them that cry for being overcome: but the noise of them that sing do I hear.
Exo 32:19  And it came to pass, as soon as he came nigh unto the camp, that he saw the calf, and the dancing: and Moses’ anger waxed hot, and he cast the tables out of his hands, and brake them beneath the mount.

Let me get this right, Moses. You spent all this time up on the mount with the Lord preparing these tablets, among other things, and after the Lord warned you of what the Israelites had done and for which you are seeing for yourself, you decide to slam them down on the ground? Yep, that’s exactly what he did.

The Israelites were right in the middle of BLATANT IDOL WORSHIP! I wonder if there is a message here for us of how we, as the children of God who commune with the Lord daily, should act when we see blatant idol worship. What should our heart and mind feel and act upon?

Eph 4:25  Wherefore putting away lying, speak every man truth with his neighbour: for we are members one of another.
Eph 4:26  Be ye angry, and sin not: let not the sun go down upon your wrath:
Eph 4:27  Neither give place to the devil.

Now that Moses is on the scene he is going to take immediate action to correct this “great sin” that the people and Aaron have committed.

Exo 32:20  And he took the calf which they had made, and burnt it in the fire, and ground it to powder, and strawed it upon the water, and made the children of Israel drink of it.

Yes, the Israelites are being made to drink of the wrath of the anger of the Lord! I don’t believe, at this moment, that Moses was thinking “why doth thy wrath wax hot against thy people”. It’s more likely that he was forcing them to take into themselves, as an acknowledgment of their sins, the very sin they had willingly committed.

Then, just as the Lord questioned the serpent, Eve and Adam about what caused them to sin against the Lord in their acts of participating in taking of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, Moses turns to Aaron and says, “Bro, what were you thinking!?”.

Exo 32:21  And Moses said unto Aaron, What did this people unto thee, that thou hast brought so great a sin upon them?
Exo 32:22  And Aaron said, Let not the anger of my lord wax hot: thou knowest the people, that they are set on mischief.

Wait a second! Did Aaron really just use the same words Moses used against the Lord? Why, yes he did!

Exo 32:23  For they said unto me, Make us gods, which shall go before us: for as for this Moses, the man that brought us up out of the land of Egypt, we wot not what is become of him.
Exo 32:24  And I said unto them, Whosoever hath any gold, let them break it off. So they gave it me: then I cast it into the fire, and there came out this calf.

Truly, the heart is desperately wicked, and who can know it? All Aaron did apparently was take some gold from the people, throw it in the fire, and this calf made of gold just jumped out and erected itself on an altar to be worshipped!

Does anyone else see themselves in this story like I do and just how silly we look to the Lord when we try to justify and excuse our behaviors? I remember something like this actually happening Aaron:

Exo 32:3  And all the people brake off the golden earrings which were in their ears, and brought them unto Aaron.
Exo 32:4  And he received them at their hand, and fashioned it with a graving tool, after he had made it a molten calf: and they said, These be thy gods, O Israel, which brought thee up out of the land of Egypt.
Exo 32:5  And when Aaron saw it, he built an altar before it; and Aaron made proclamation, and said, To morrow is a feast to the LORD.

Hmm, something isn’t adding up here, Aaron.

Well, though I employ a little humor at a not-so-humorous act of sin on the part of the Israelites, we see that Moses himself causes a lot of wrath to happen to the Israelites after he himself petitioned the Lord to hold back His wrath.

It turns out that the Lord decided to use Moses to implement the start of His wrath! Indeed, the Lord was comforted to have this sin be dealt with!

Exo 32:25  And when Moses saw that the people were naked; (for Aaron had made them naked unto their shame among their enemies:)
Exo 32:26  Then Moses stood in the gate of the camp, and said, Who is on the LORD’S side? let him come unto me. And all the sons of Levi gathered themselves together unto him.
Exo 32:27  And he said unto them, Thus saith the LORD God of Israel, Put every man his sword by his side, and go in and out from gate to gate throughout the camp, and slay every man his brother, and every man his companion, and every man his neighbour.
Exo 32:28  And the children of Levi did according to the word of Moses: and there fell of the people that day about three thousand men.

This is a process we all must go through and learn from, but we should and must be comforted that the Lord will place it in our hands to be consecrated to Himself.

The Lord will cause us not only to consecrate ourselves, but He wills that we consecrate our brothers and sisters in Christ, collectively known as ‘the brethren’ and ‘sons of God’, so that we can all be led by the Lord to the next step in our walks with Him.

Exo 32:29  For Moses had said, Consecrate yourselves to day to the LORD, even every man upon his son, and upon his brother; that he may bestow upon you a blessing this day.
Exo 32:30  And it came to pass on the morrow, that Moses said unto the people, Ye have sinned a great sin: and now I will go up unto the LORD; peradventure I shall make an atonement for your sin.
Exo 32:31  And Moses returned unto the LORD, and said, Oh, this people have sinned a great sin, and have made them gods of gold.
Exo 32:32  Yet now, if thou wilt forgive their sin; and if not, blot me, I pray thee, out of thy book which thou hast written.
Exo 32:33  And the LORD said unto Moses, Whosoever hath sinned against me, him will I blot out of my book.
Exodus 32:34  Therefore now go, lead the people unto the place of which I have spoken unto thee: behold, mine Angel shall go before thee: nevertheless in the day when I visit I will visit their sin upon them.
Exo 32:35  And the LORD plagued the people, because they made the calf, which Aaron made.

We can be comforted when we repent of sin against the Lord, knowing though He will put to death the old man who has this sin dwelling in him, this entire process brings life to the new man to go on to the “spiritual promised land” of New Jerusalem.