Archive for Exodus

The Patient God… Joshua of Ghana

Posted in #PaulthePoke, Joshua Ghana with tags , , , , , on July 21, 2021 by paulthepoke

TEXT: EXODUS 7:14-25

Key verse: Exodus 7:14 “And the LORD said unto Moses, Pharaoh’s heart is hardened, he refuseth to let the people go”

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God has limitless ways of bringing a man into subjection. He allows the wicked to ply his trade and carry on as if the whole world is under his control is to prove His attribute of being a long-suffering Father.

If He had wanted to crush all Egypt to liberate Israel, He would have done so. It was not difficult for Him to strike all the Egyptians with blindness to free the Israelites. But He knew what He was doing by bargaining with Pharaoh. Even before Moses opened his mouth to tell Him that Pharaoh had remained adamant, He knew. He was being patient and wanted Pharaoh to exhaust his period of grace. God is a righteous Judge. He would not destroy Egypt without sufficient reason. Eventually, Pharaoh refused and rejected all the entreaties to release the people.

Wikipedia

There are Pharaohs all over the places who carry out their wicked and rebellious activities on a day-to-day basis, thinking it is in their power to do so. These Pharaohs oppress, intimidate and hinder the progress of God’s people. Sometimes, believers would wish for instant judgment against them. Far from it! We must see the pattern of God’s dealings with man. He gives man a long time to repent. It is after He must have exhausted all avenues of bringing Pharaoh to his senses that He allows him to stew in his own juice. Believers must have the mind of God by suffering long and waiting on Him to dispense judgment.

Wait on God and wait for Him. Do not run ahead of Him. He will surely deliver you. Despite Pharaoh’s headiness and high-handedness against Israel, at the end, he bit the dust. By the same token, all those who have elevated themselves to the status of Pharaoh against your progress will bow and you will laugh last.

THOUGHT FOR THE DAY: In His time, God makes all things beautiful. 

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There Shall Be Seven Weeks: The Temple Tax

Posted in #PaulthePoke, Angels, Prophecy with tags , , , , , , , , , , on April 18, 2021 by paulthepoke

Daniel 9:25b …there shall be seven weeks…

The context of this series of posts is the course of the Jewish people for the initial 49 years of the 483 year period communicated from the angel Gabriel to the prophet Daniel. The city of Jerusalem has been rebuilt post exile. These events are covered in Nehemiah 8-13. Israel is returning to God’s Law. The Shemitah has been revived. Up next is the reinstatement of the Temple Tax.

Nehemiah 10:32 We also take on ourselves the obligation to give yearly a third part of a shekel for the service of the house of our God:

Under the leadership of Nehemiah, the Temple Tax was reinstated. Let’s look at what Nehemiah is proposing compared to what Moses states in the law.

Exodus 30:13-16 This is what everyone who is numbered shall give: half a shekel according to the shekel of the sanctuary (the shekel is twenty gerahs), half a shekel as a contribution to the Lord. Everyone who is numbered, from twenty years old and over, shall give the contribution to the Lord. The rich shall not pay more and the poor shall not pay less than the half shekel, when you give the contribution to the Lord to make atonement for yourselves. You shall take the atonement money from the sons of Israel and shall give it for the service of the tent of meeting, that it may be a memorial for the sons of Israel before the Lord, to make atonement for yourselves.”

Here are the specifics of the Temple Tax for service.

  1. Tax of 1/2 Shekel is cost.
  2. Men 20 years of age and older shall pay.
  3. No sliding scale of taxation. Rich and poor pay the same.
  4. Yearly contribution required.
  5. Purpose is for atonement of personal life.

Everything appears to be in alignment with one exception. Moses said 1/2 shekel and Nehemiah says 1/3 shekel. Why the difference? Is Nehemiah being disobedient or cheap?

http://www.cointalk.com

There are many theories and conjectures as to why the difference. The most reasonable explanation may come from Ridgeway’s Origin of Currency and Weight Measures.

In Moses’ day, Jews contributed a beka or a half shekel.

Exodus 38:26 a beka a head (that is, half a shekel according to the shekel of the sanctuary)…

One beka or a half shekel equals 5.67 grams or about 65 grains.

Ancient Beka Found Near Temple Mount in Jerusalem

Roughly one thousand years had passed from the Exodus and Moses (1440 BC) to Nehemiah’s return to the Promised Land (440 BC).

In Nehemiah’s day, the Babylonian Empire standard was the stater or shekel. This would have been the relevant currency for the Israelis of the time. The stater weighed about 173 grains. One third of a stater or shekel would be 58 grains.

One beka or a half shekel equals 65 grains verses one third stater or shekel equals 58 grains. These two measurements relative to their time and cultural influence are essentially equal.

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Fast forward about another 470 years to the time of Jesus. The Roman Empire is in control over the region of Israel and the city of Capernaum. The Jewish historian Flavius Josephus made the following observation.

‘The emperor commanded every Jew to pay the two drachma annually to the Capitol which they had before been accustomed to pay to the Temple at Jerusalem.’

Matthew 17:24 When they came to Capernaum, the collectors of the two-drachma tax went up to Peter and said, “Does your teacher not pay the tax?”

This had to really irritate the Jews, specifically Peter and the apostles. The trap had been set. The Roman tax collectors knew who Jesus claimed to be. Jesus was the Jewish King and Messiah. Would Jesus bow to the Romans and pay the tax?

The two-drachma tax is known as the δίδραχμον/didrachma in the original Greek text. The didrachma was a silver coin during the life and times of Jesus that was equal to one half shekel.

We know how the rest of the story goes. Jesus had Peter go fishing. No problem, Jesus and Peter’s tax was paid.

Historical research provided by Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges via Bible Hub.

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So here we are roughly 2,000 years later from the time of Christ. Israel is back in the land. Jerusalem is their capital. The modern day Sanhedrin has reconvened. The Temple Tax and the beka are back in the news.

The modern day Sanhedrin issued a Temple Tax back in February 2017. They even minted 1,000 coins with the images of Cyrus the Great and President Donald Trump. They are raising money for the promised third Temple.

Trend Update: Sanhedrin Issues Temple Tax, February 2017

So a tax written by Moses as told to him by God over 3,400 years ago, still relevant…

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There Shall Be Seven Weeks: The Sabbath

Posted in #PaulthePoke, Angels with tags , , , , , , , , on February 28, 2021 by paulthepoke

Daniel 9:25b …there shall be seven weeks…

The context of this series of posts is the course of the Jewish people for the initial 49 years of the 483 year period communicated from the angel Gabriel to the prophet Daniel. The city of Jerusalem has been rebuilt post exile. These events are covered in Nehemiah 8-13. Israel is getting back to God’s ways. The next step is honoring the Sabbath.

Nehemiah 10:31a And if the peoples of the land bring in goods or any grain on the Sabbath day to sell, we will not buy from them on the Sabbath or on a holy day.

The concept of the Sabbath was introduced to Israel when they were wandering in the desert for 40 years. This is the first mention of the term “Sabbath”. The specific details are noted in Exodus 16:22-30. God is promising Israel He will provide. Take a day off and rest. It is a gift from God.

Exodus 16:23 then he said to them, “This is what the LORD meant: Tomorrow is a Sabbath observance, a holy Sabbath to the LORD. Bake what you will bake and boil what you will boil, and all that is left over put aside to be kept until morning.”

Exodus 16:29 “See, the LORD has given you the Sabbath; therefore He gives you bread for two days on the sixth day. Remain every man in his place; let no man go out of his place on the seventh day.”

The word “Sabbath” in the Hebrew is transliterated. It is also “Sabbath” in English. The term is equated with rest. It is to be set apart, sacred, and holy.

Genesis 2:2-3 The Sabbath

God introduced the concept in the creation week. On the seventh day, He rested and reflected on His work. God did not need to rest but He did. The Sabbath is “barak” in the Hebrew or blessed. This day is set apart and clean. The ordinance is best described as given to Moses by God Himself. The context is the 10 Commandments.

Exodus 20:8-11 “Remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy. Six days you shall labor, and do all your work, but the seventh day is a Sabbath to the LORD your God. On it you shall not do any work, you, or your son, or your daughter, your male servant, or your female servant, or your livestock, or the sojourner who is within your gates. For in six days the LORD made heaven and earth, the sea, and all that is in them, and rested on the seventh day. Therefore the LORD blessed the Sabbath day and made it holy.

Isaiah 1:12-15 Rest Means Rest!

Nehemiah is teaching Israel about the Sabbath at the end of the week and the holy days. Economic activity will cease during these days. Sales will come to a halt. God set the standard.

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Decree to Rebuild Jerusalem, Nisan 1

Posted in #PaulthePoke, Angels, Prophecy with tags , , , , , , , , on December 5, 2020 by paulthepoke

Daniel 9:25 Know therefore and understand that from the going out of the word to restore and build Jerusalem to the coming of an anointed one, a prince, there shall be seven weeks. Then for sixty-two weeks it shall be built again with squares and moat, but in a troubled time.

The angel Gabriel continues with his revelation from God to the prophet Daniel.

Nehemiah 2:1a In the month of Nisan, in the twentieth year of King Artaxerxes, when wine was before him, I took up the wine and gave it to the king…

This is the date of the decree to rebuild Jerusalem. God’s clock starts on this date. Nehemiah is performing his duty as a cup bearer. Artaxerxes is drinking his wine…

In the month of Nisan… Dating the first part of the time stamp appears to be the easy part. Nisan is the first month on a Hebrew calendar. Nisan means “their flight”. Nehemiah 2:1 is the first time the month is called Nisan in the Bible. The month of Nisan is the beginning of the religious or spiritual year on a Hebrew calendar. The month of Nisan is synonymous with the constellation of the lamb in the Hebrew Mazzaroth.

Exodus 13:4 On this day in the month of Abib, you are about to go forth.

Moses referred to this month as Abib. Per Strong’s Concordance, Abib means: fresh, young barley ears; month of ear-forming, of greening of crop, of growing green; month of Exodus and Passover.

Exodus 12:1-2 Now the Lord said to Moses and Aaron in the land of Egypt, “This month shall be the beginning of months for you; it is to be the first month of the year to you…”

This is when God proclaims His New Year. It is in the spring time when life emerges from winter.

Many commentators and scholars imply the date as the first of the month. Assuming the first of the month, Jews would have identified a new moon to signify the beginning of a new month. By definition, a new moon is proclaimed when the first little sliver emerges from a darkened moon. It is a tiny crescent that is noted briefly at sunset on the western horizon. The month begins at the sighting of the new moon. Jews have utilized the procedure every month for thousands of years. It is called Rosh Chodesh which means “head of the month”.

Thanks to math of Johannes Kepler and his laws of planetary motion and physics, we are able to calculate the movement of heavenly bodies. Kepler’s math allows us to map the exact location of the sun, moon, planets, and stars in time and space. The heavens are a finely tuned clock which can be run forward and backward. As a result, the dates can be confirmed.

Calculations start from Nisan 1. The ultimate question is the year.

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Mount Sinai in Saudi Arabia???

Posted in Egypt/Nile River, Saudi Arabia/Sheba/Dedan with tags , , , , , , , , , , , on February 14, 2019 by paulthepoke

Exodus 3:1 Now Moses was keeping the flock of his father-in-law, Jethro, the priest of Midian, and he led his flock to the west side of the wilderness and came to Horeb, the mountain of God.

Midian is a son of Abraham and Keturah. This occurred after the death of Sarah.

Genesis 25:2 She bore him Zimran, Jokshan, Medan, Midian, Ishbak, and Shuah.

Midian settled in what is modern day northwest Saudi Arabia. The location is east of the Gulf of Suez. This is east of the Sinai Peninsula. And this is east of the Gulf of Aqaba.

Per Strong’s Concordance, there are 59 references to Midian in the Old Testament.

According to the Bible, this is the location where Moses led the Hebrew people after the Exodus from Egypt.

Horeb, the mountain of God… Horeb means: waste or desolate.

This is also the likely location of Elijah the prophet when he escaped Jezebel.

1 Kings 19:8-9 And he arose and ate and drank, and went in the strength of that food forty days and forty nights to Horeb, the mount of God. There he came to a cave and lodged in it. And behold, the word of the LORD came to him, and he said to him, “What are you doing here, Elijah?”

There is also the comments of the Apostle Paul regarding the location of Mount Sinai.

Galatians 4:25 Now Hagar stands for Mount Sinai in Arabia and corresponds to the present-day Jerusalem, because she is in slavery with her children.

The following is from https://www.jabalmaqla.com/

There is a long-standing academic consensus that the story of the Exodus is entirely, or almost entirely, a myth.

This conclusion is partially based on research assuming that the traditional candidate for Mount Sinai in the southern part of Egypt’s Sinai Peninsula is legitimate. Although some experts believe in the credibility of that tradition, many have come away disappointed with the evidence (or lack thereof) found since the area has been heavily excavated in recent decades. The result has been a widespread rejection of the historicity of the Exodus story and proposals for over a dozen other mountains as possible candidates for Mount Sinai.

This website is dedicated to the candidacy of Jabal Maqla, which is part of the Jabal al-Lawz mountain range in northwestern Saudi Arabia. The creators of this website currently find this candidacy to offer the most compelling evidence.

Click on the link for video.

However, research regarding this candidacy has been severely limited due to a lack of access to outsiders, with aspiring visitors being arrested, threatened, harassed and blocked by Saudi security or hostile locals who believe foreigners are to be kept out of the area. The authors of this website are among a tiny group of Westerners to successfully visit the sites in question. 

The purpose of this website is to compile all of the relevant information about the theory and its purported evidences so those interested can have a single comprehensive source. The website will be updated as ongoing research yields new information.

This website is a project of the Doubting Thomas Research Foundation, and is dedicated to documenting the true location of Biblical Mt. Sinai. Among the many sites proposed, this particular location in northwestern Saudi Arabia is the best candidate for where the Israelites traveled after fleeing slavery in Egypt. As we continue to study this subject, we remain firmly dedicated to intellectual honesty and integrity, and if new information arises that suggests another location, we will follow the evidence until it leads us to the truth, wherever that may be.

This website is LOADED with all kinds of thought provoking information and photographs. Check it out… https://www.jabalmaqla.com/

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Predestined With Free Will: Pharaoh Meets the LORD

Posted in Egypt/Nile River, Jude with tags , , , , , , , , , , , on February 3, 2019 by paulthepoke

Romans 9:16-17 So then it depends not on human will or exertion, but on God, who has mercy. For the Scripture says to Pharaoh, “For this very purpose I have raised you up, that I might show my power in you, and that my name might be proclaimed in all the earth.”

The Apostle Paul is quoting Exodus 9:16.

Here is a text book example of a man’s will on display verses the will of God. Pharaoh is representing the nation Egypt. The Apostle Paul is pointing out man’s will or a nation’s will is no match for God’s will. Pharaoh clearly exerts his choices and will towards the Jewish slaves in Egypt. Little does Pharaoh know, he is being used by God.

Critics would say Pharaoh had no choice in the matter. They argue Pharaoh was made for failure. The critic says God is not fair and unjust towards Pharaoh.

Moses has one simple request.

Exodus 5:1 Afterward Moses and Aaron went and said to Pharaoh, “Thus says the LORD, the God of Israel, ‘Let my people go, that they may hold a feast to me in the wilderness.’”

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Exodus 5:2 But Pharaoh said, “Who is the LORD, that I should obey his voice and let Israel go? I do not know the LORD, and moreover, I will not let Israel go.”

But look at Pharaoh’s attitude when he first encounters Moses the representative of God. Pharaoh clearly understands Moses and Aaron. There is no confusion. Pharaoh does not acknowledge God. He questions His authority and existence. Pharaoh is not interested in playing along with this so-called LORD’s request. Pharaoh will have his way and do what he wants regardless of any request. Israel is going nowhere. Israel will stay under the authority of Egypt. The Hebrew people have work to do for Pharaoh.

God is formal with Pharaoh. He introduces Himself by His proper name. YHWH (scholars refer to this as the Tetragrammaton, Greek for four letters) is the proper name of the Hebrew God of the Bible. The correct spelling is YHWH. Note, there are no vowels in this term. Vowels from the name Adonai were substituted and the term Yahweh emerged. Jehovah is a word that has been translated to English from the Hebrew, Yahweh. The name for LORD is Jehovah. It means the existing one. This name is so sacred, Jews refuse to pronounce it. The name is first introduced in Exodus 3:14 when Moses and God are having a discussion. His name is a statement of existence.

Exodus 3:14 God said to Moses, “I AM WHO I AM”; and He said, “Thus you shall say to the sons of Israel, ‘I AM has sent me to you.’”

If one is looking for proof that God created or God exists, you are wasting your time. It is assumed. God is eternal and self-existent. God always has been and always will be.

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Disbelief Is the Issue, Featuring Phil Kulis

Posted in Phil Kulis with tags , , , , , , , , on June 28, 2018 by paulthepoke

philkulis-picIn the Garden of Eden, Satan came in the form of a serpent and the result was sin entered the world.

In the Exodus, Moses went before Pharaoh – the ruler of the world empire. When Aaron cast Moses’s staff before Pharaoh as God told Moses to do, it turned into a serpent – the symbol for sin. In return Pharaoh’s men cast their staffs down and their staffs also turned into serpents. But the serpent of God ate the serpents of Pharaoh. God’s symbol for sin took away the sins of the world. Aaron then lifted up the serpent and it turned back into a staff. But the serpents of Pharaoh were no more.

rod-of-asclepius

Later while wandering in the desert the Jews were complaining, so God sent fiery serpents to bite them and they were dying from being bitten. They asked Moses to pray to God then God told Moses to make a serpent of bronze and put it on a stick on a hill. Whenever anyone was bitten by a fiery serpent all they had to do was look at the bronze serpent and they would not die.

The only other mention of the bronze serpent is when Jesus sets up the most famous verse in the Bible.

John 3:14-18 “And as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the Son of Man be lifted up, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have eternal life.

For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life.

For God did not send His Son into the world to condemn the world, but that the world through Him might be saved. “He who believes in Him is not condemned; but he who does not believe is condemned already, because he has not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God.”

Sin is not the issue.
Disbelief is the issue.

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Passover, Nisan 10-13, 33 AD

Posted in Gospel, Prophecy, Spring Feasts with tags , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , on March 15, 2015 by paulthepoke

Exodus 12:1-6 Now the Lord said to Moses and Aaron in the land of Egypt, “This month shall be the beginning of months for you; it is to be the first month of the year to you. Speak to all the congregation of Israel, saying, ‘On the tenth of this month they are each one to take a lamb for themselves, according to their fathers’ households, a lamb for each household. Now if the household is too small for a lamb, then he and his neighbor nearest to his house are to take one according to the number of persons in them; according to what each man should eat, you are to divide the lamb. Your lamb shall be an unblemished male a year old; you may take it from the sheep or from the goats. You shall keep it until the fourteenth day of the same month…

lamb

These directions were given to Moses by God roughly 1,500 years before the birth of Christ. The setting was Egypt prior to the Exodus. Moving forward, the Jewish people are to complete this ordinance every year on these dates.

The focus of this post is the correlation of the dates noted in Exodus 12 and the dates noted in the Passion Week of Christ.

On the tenth of this month they are each one to take a lamb for themselves… You shall keep it until the fourteenth day of the same month.

The directions to the Jewish people are straight forward. The first month of the religious year is Nisan. On Nisan 10, take a lamb and inspect it for four days. Make sure the lamb is unblemished. The time frame is Nisan 10, 11, 12, and 13.

Fast forward over 1,500 years, Jesus enters Jerusalem on Palm Sunday. The date is Sunday, Nisan 9, 33 AD. Jesus is the sacrificial lamb of the Passover.

We know Jesus entered Jerusalem on Palm Sunday from John 12:1 Jesus, therefore, six days before the Passover, came to Bethany where Lazarus was, whom Jesus had raised from the dead. A Hebrew Calendar of 33 AD tells us Passover was on Friday, Nisan 14. Six days before Passover is Saturday or the Sabbath, Nisan 8. Scripture tells us Jesus is in Bethany on Saturday, Nisan 8. Bethany is east of Jerusalem approximately 1.5 miles. The Mount of Olives sits between Bethany and Jerusalem. He is visiting Mary, Martha, and Lazarus.

John 12:12 On the next day the large crowd who had come to the feast, when they heard that Jesus was coming to Jerusalem… The next day is Sunday, Nisan 9. Jesus enters Jerusalem on Palm Sunday. Jesus only looked around the Temple on Nisan 9. He did not subject Himself to criticism or analysis from religious leaders by His actions on this day. Jesus did not enter Jerusalem for inspection on Palm Sunday. He left and went back to Bethany. Mark 11:11 Jesus entered Jerusalem and came into the temple; and after looking around at everything, He left for Bethany with the twelve, since it was already late. If Jesus had cleared the temple on Sunday, He would have been in the “pen” of Jerusalem for inspection five days instead of four days as indicated in Exodus 12. The law would not have been followed.

Mark 11:12 On the next day, when they had left Bethany, He became hungry. The next day is Monday, Nisan 10. From this point forward, Jesus was inspected for imperfections. Then He cleared the Temple. He was questioned and tested. He was examined and challenged by religious leaders, other Jews, and Greeks on Monday, Nisan 10 through Thursday, Nisan 13 for four days (March 29 – April 2, 33 AD on a Gregorian calendar). He was found to be without blemish or flaw.

http://www.torahcalendar.com/Calendar.asp?YM=Y33M1

 

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Isaiah 6:5 Facing the Lord

Posted in Isaiah with tags , , , , , , , , , on November 18, 2012 by paulthepoke

Isaiah 6:5 Then I said, “Woe is me, for I am ruined! Because I am a man of unclean lips, and I live among a people of unclean lips; for my eyes have seen the King, the LORD of hosts.” 

In the presence of God, Isaiah realizes his personal sin and the sin of his fellow countrymen. He is in the presence of perfection in the throne room of Heaven. There is no comparison.

Peter has the same experience in the New Testament with a record hall of fish. He realizes he is in the presence deity. Luke 5:8 But when Simon Peter saw that, he fell down at Jesus’ feet, saying, “Go away from me Lord, for I am a sinful man, O Lord!” 

Isaiah has Exodus 33:20 in mind when he sees the Lord in person. He feared for his life.

Exodus 33:20 But He said, “You cannot see My face, for no man can see Me and live!” This is God talking.

Prior to God’s direct revelation in Exodus, this concept is understood by Jacob. Jacob wrestles with the Lord in Genesis 32:30 and has the following response. So Jacob named the place Peniel, for he said, “I have seen God face to face, yet my life has been preserved.”

The fear of seeing the Lord and subsequent death has been engrained in Jewish culture in the Old Testament. The same concern is expressed by Manoah in Judges 13. Manoah and his wife had encountered the Angel of the Lord. Their response was to bow their faces to the ground. Judges 13:22 So Manoah said to his wife, “We will surely die, for we have seen God.”

Gideon has an encounter with the Angel of the Lord in Judges 6:22-23 When Gideon saw that he was the angel of the LORD, he said, “Alas, O Lord GOD! For now I have seen the angel of the LORD face to face.” The LORD said to him, “Peace to you, do not fear; you shall not die.”

As one can see, death does not occur to all who see and are face to face with the Lord. He is merciful and gracious. It is God’s choice. Exodus 33:19b… “and I will be gracious to whom I will be gracious, and will show compassion on whom I will show compassion.”

It is clearly a humbling experience to be face to face with the Lord.

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Isaiah 4:5-6 Smoke and Fire

Posted in Isaiah with tags , , , , , , on May 18, 2012 by paulthepoke

Isaiah 4:5 then the LORD will create over the whole area of Mount Zion and over her assemblies a cloud by day, even smoke, and the brightness of a flaming fire by night; for over all the glory will be a canopy.

Although this event is future, the imagery conjures up memories from the time of Moses. The cloud, smoke, and fire were guidance for Israel in the desert wonderings. Exodus 13:21-22 The LORD was going before them in a pillar of cloud by day to lead them on the way, and in a pillar of fire by night to give them light, that they might travel by day and by night. He did not take away the pillar of cloud by day, nor the pillar of fire by night, from before the people.

The smoke and the fire were sources of protection and leadership. Exodus14:19, 24 The angel of God, who had been going before the camp of Israel, moved and went behind them; and the pillar of cloud moved from before them and stood behind them. At the morning watch, the LORD looked down on the army of the Egyptians through the pillar of fire and cloud and brought the army of the Egyptians into confusion.

It will be different in the future. The Lord Himself will be bodily present to protect and guide Israel. We know this to be a resurrected Jesus. He will return to Earth and establish His Kingdom. The second half of this verse also draws up memories from the time of Moses and the tabernacle. Exodus 40:34-35 Then the cloud covered the tent of meeting, and the glory of the LORD filled the tabernacle. Moses was not able to enter the tent of meeting because the cloud had settled on it, and the glory of the LORD filled the tabernacle.

Isaiah 4:6 There will be a shelter to give shade from the heat by day, and refuge and protection from the storm and the rain.

Jerusalem is a shelter from the elements of weather. Finally peace and protection have come after judgment and cleansing.

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