Sorry, you must have Windows Media Player 9 or higher. AFTER SPIRITUAL TESTING FOR DISCERNMENT, THE BATTLE FOR VICTORY COMMENCES 07-21-13 THE RAPTURE? (Judg 7:7,8) And the LORD said unto Gideon, By the three hundred men that lapped [i.e., who were vigilant and discriminating, i.e., discerning] will I save you, and deliver the Midianites into thine hand [Eph 4:11,12]: and let all the other people [the 9,700 saved warriors] go every man unto his place. So the [300 saved] people [the combat troops] took [Heb: accepted] victuals [Heb: food] in their hand, and their trumpets [voices of encouragement (prayers)]: and he sent all the rest of Israel [the 9,700 saved warriors] every man unto his tent, and retained [Heb: to fasten upon; hence to seize] those three hundred men: and the host of Midian was beneath him in the valley. 1. Commentary: “victuals… and their trumpets” = The Midianites, identified as “Ismaelites” (Judg 8:24) (ancestors of Arabs and Muslims) had “entered into the land to destroy it.” (Judg 6:5). (Awaken from your slumber, oh Men of God). And it was a great tribulation time of great famine, but the 9,700, unlike the men of Succoth and Penuel (Judg 8), nevertheless sacrificially supported the 300 with gifts (donations) of food and encouragement. 2. Commentary: “retained” = has the Hebrew meaning of “to fasten upon; hence, to seize,” which has a fascinating similarity in text and meaning to the English “caught up” (2 Cor 12:2,4; 1 Thes 4:17; Rev 12:5) rendered in the Greek as “to take for oneself /// to take up or away; fig. to raise: lift up, take away, take up.” The question then becomes, are we seeing in Judges 7:8 a type and shadow, a prophecy (a type and shadow is really an incremental prophecy), of what is commonly called “the rapture” (1 Thes 4:17)? In addition to the provocative definition similarities, and somewhat in substantiation of the latter conclusion, the scene of the Old Testament text positions those 300 saved men to be above “the host of Midian” who were “beneath him in the valley”? What do you think? We might well note of the “retained/rapture” event: a. that it occurred before the defeat of the invading Midianite host. b. that those in the “retained/raptured” group of 300 saved warriors were deeply involved in an intimate collaboration (communion) with Gideon (a type and shadow of Jesus Christ); and, in a sense, once they were retained/raptured, they thereafter “returned” to be directly instrumental in defeating the Midianite host. c. not every saved warrior was “retained/raptured,” but all 10,000 saved warriors were either directly (combat troops, shepherds) or indirectly (support troops, sheep), and instrumental in defeating the Midianite host. d. the defeat of the Midianite host signaled the end of “the great tribulation” and the beginning of Gideon’s rule (the Millennium – and who did Gideon clearly represent?). e. not one soldier of the 10,000 suffered injury or death: “Only with thine eyes shalt thou behold and see the reward of the wicked.” (Psa 91:8). REASSURANCE (Judg 7:15) And it was so, when Gideon heard the telling of the dream, and the interpretation thereof, that he worshipped [the Lord], and returned into the host of Israel, and said, Arise; for the LORD hath delivered into your hand the host of Midian. 1. Commentary: “into your hand” = is a further allusion to the Hand Ministry; i.e., the “Hand” of the 10,000 with the fingers of the 300. Those who may be numbered in the 300 company of saved warriors among the 10,000 saved warriors are members of the Hand Ministry (sub-shepherds and shepherds: Eph 4:11,12), and to these has been given the victory. The Old Testament “Hand of the Lord” that appeared in Belshazzar’s vision was partially revealed to Daniel (Dan 5:5) as four fingers, then without the thumb of the New Testament apostle. a. (Dan 5:5) In the same hour came forth fingers of a man's hand, and wrote over against the candlestick upon the plaster of the wall of the king's palace: and the king saw the part of the hand that wrote. THE BATTLE (Judg 7:16-18) And he divided the three hundred men into three companies, and he put [empowered them each with] a trumpet [Heb: showphar, sho-far': a curved horn] [a (loud) voice] in every man's hand [ref: the “Hand Ministry” Eph 4:11,12], with empty pitchers [earthenware clay pails with a hole in the bottom center], and lamps [Heb: a lamp or flame: (burning) lamp, lightning, torch] within the pitchers. And he said unto them, Look on me, and do likewise: and, behold, when I come to the outside of the camp, it shall be that, as I do, so shall ye do. When I blow with a trumpet, I and all that are with me, then blow ye the trumpets also on every side of all the [enemy] camp, and say, The sword of the LORD, and of Gideon. 1. Commentary: “three companies” = these three companies are all found entirely standing on the “good ground” of “the parable of the sower” (Mat 13:18). The “good ground” is figuratively located only inside the tent of the holy/most holy place of the tabernacle of Moses. The three companies resident therein may be identified as the 100 fold “man child” company (Rev 12:5,11), the 60 fold “woman” company (Rev 12:1,2,6,13,14), and the 30 fold “remnant of her seed” company (Rev 12:17). In the parable of “I am the true vine” (John 15:1-5), John describes these same three companies as bearing “fruit” (30 fold), “more fruit” (60 fold), and “much fruit” (100 fold) for the Lord. According to the Bible, “The seed is the word of God” (Luke 8:11); what then is the “fruit” of the word of God? THE GLORY WHICH SHALL BE REVEALED IN US (Rom 8:18; 2 Thes 1:7,10,12) (Judg 7:19-22) So Gideon, and the hundred men that were with him, came unto the outside of the camp in the beginning of the middle watch [10pm]; and they had but newly set the watch [they were in enemy territory, and the new guards were understandedly quite nervous, edgy, and very jumpy]: and they blew the trumpets, and brake the pitchers that were in their hands [thereby loudly and suddenly revealing the “flaming fire” 2 Thes 1:8]. And the three companies blew the trumpets, and brake the pitchers, and held the lamps in their left hands, and the trumpets in their right hands to blow withal: and they cried, The sword of the LORD, and of Gideon. And they stood every man in his place round about the camp: and all the host ran, and cried, and fled. And the three hundred blew the trumpets, and the LORD set every man's sword against his fellow [i.e., in the blinding darkness of their fear and panic they killed each other - we later learn 120,000 died. This is too much like what is beginning to happen throughout the world today: riots first, then wars and rumors of wars], even throughout all the host: and the host [of the remaining 15,000 Midianite warriors] fled to Bethshittah in Zererath, and to the border of Abelmeholah, unto Tabbath. 1. Commentary: Please take a moment to visualize the physical position necessary for the 300 (plus 1) saved warriors of God to hold the trumpets in their outstretched right hands (prepatory for the breaking), while holding the clay pails/pots each with a hole in the bottom and a flaming torch hidden inside (grasping the end of the torch protruding through the bottom hole) in their outstretched left hands. The physical image thereby created and revealed to all the world sure looks like a cross to me. The Midianites were surrounded by 301 crosses, and didn’t know it. Then, against the dark cold background of an unforgiving night, quite suddenly, “there was light” (Gen 1:3) and the thunder of hundreds of trumpets heralding the entrance of the Prince of Peace into the world, a very bright Light indeed, and the enemy (the world) saw “the glory which shall be revealed in us” (Rom 8:18) and “ran, and cried, and fled,” and “the LORD set every [Midianite] man's sword against his fellow.” 2. Commentary: May we note and gently receive by hearing the repeated battle cry of “The sword of the LORD, and of Gideon,” a certain unspoken but serenely comprehended “compositeness,” the accomplishment of an essential unity into “one man” (Judg 6:16), a unity into the one Sword that is the twoedged Sword of the Lord, the God-Man, the respectively rhema-logos Word of God that we are becoming, being transformed into (Rom 12:2), daily being raptured Godwards (1 Thes 4:17). (Judg 7:23-25) And the men of Israel gathered themselves together out of Naphtali, and out of Asher, and out of all Manasseh [the three originally called tribes, excluding Zebulun], and pursued [Heb: to run after (usually with hostile intent): chased, put to flight, hunted] after the Midianites. And Gideon sent messengers throughout all mount Ephraim [a tribe in possession of the territory bordering the Jordan river on the west through which the Midianites were fleeing - eastward], saying, Come down against the Midianites, and take before them the waters unto Bethbarah and Jordan. Then all the men of Ephraim gathered themselves together, and took the waters unto Bethbarah and Jordan. And they took [Heb: captured] two princes of the Midianites, Oreb [Heb: raven] and Zeeb [Heb: wolf]; and they slew Oreb upon the rock Oreb, and Zeeb they slew at the winepress of Zeeb, and pursued Midian, and brought the heads of Oreb and Zeeb to Gideon on the other side [east of the] Jordan [river and on into the wilderness]. 1. raven = Dict: any of the large corvine [Dict: pointing to or resembling a crow] birds with lustrous black plumage and raucous voice… which from time immemorial has been considered a bird of ill omen. 2. raven = Dict: 1. to seek plunder or prey. 2. to eat or feed voraciously or greedily. 3. to have a ravenous appetite. 3. wolf = Dict: a large wild carnivore of Europe, Asia, and North America, belonging to the dog family, a swift-footed, crafty, rapacious animal, destructive to game, sheep, etc. 4. Commentary: “princes” = In the original Hebrew, the two princes, Oreb and Zeeb, are named raven and wolf respectively. Both creatures are carnivorous and their emphasis upon death and destruction symbolizes the physical activity of Oreb and Zeeb. However, Oreb and Zeeb were secondary govenors (generals) directly subservient to, and acting as the hands (counterfeit Hand Ministry) of the two spiritual kings that appear in Chapter 8. We will learn that the two kings, at whose behest and under whom Oreb and Zeeb commanded, were named Zebah and Zalmunna. Those names have the Hebrew meanings of Zeba (Heb: sacrifice) and Zalmunna (Heb: withheld), and therein is rendered the overall primary theme of Judges chapters 6-8 which is SACRIFICE WITHHELD, as we shall more clearly see next week, God willing. Thank you. God bless you. Amen A Man of God
07-21-13
(Judg 7:7,8) And the LORD said unto Gideon, By the three hundred men that lapped [i.e., who were vigilant and discriminating, i.e., discerning] will I save you, and deliver the Midianites into thine hand [Eph 4:11,12]: and let all the other people [the 9,700 saved warriors] go every man unto his place. So the [300 saved] people [the combat troops] took [Heb: accepted] victuals [Heb: food] in their hand, and their trumpets [voices of encouragement (prayers)]: and he sent all the rest of Israel [the 9,700 saved warriors] every man unto his tent, and retained [Heb: to fasten upon; hence to seize] those three hundred men: and the host of Midian was beneath him in the valley.
1. Commentary: “victuals… and their trumpets” = The Midianites, identified as “Ismaelites” (Judg 8:24) (ancestors of Arabs and Muslims) had “entered into the land to destroy it.” (Judg 6:5). (Awaken from your slumber, oh Men of God). And it was a great tribulation time of great famine, but the 9,700, unlike the men of Succoth and Penuel (Judg 8), nevertheless sacrificially supported the 300 with gifts (donations) of food and encouragement.
2. Commentary: “retained” = has the Hebrew meaning of “to fasten upon; hence, to seize,” which has a fascinating similarity in text and meaning to the English “caught up” (2 Cor 12:2,4; 1 Thes 4:17; Rev 12:5) rendered in the Greek as “to take for oneself /// to take up or away; fig. to raise: lift up, take away, take up.” The question then becomes, are we seeing in Judges 7:8 a type and shadow, a prophecy (a type and shadow is really an incremental prophecy), of what is commonly called “the rapture” (1 Thes 4:17)? In addition to the provocative definition similarities, and somewhat in substantiation of the latter conclusion, the scene of the Old Testament text positions those 300 saved men to be above “the host of Midian” who were “beneath him in the valley”? What do you think? We might well note of the “retained/rapture” event:
a. that it occurred before the defeat of the invading Midianite host.
b. that those in the “retained/raptured” group of 300 saved warriors were deeply involved in an intimate collaboration (communion) with Gideon (a type and shadow of Jesus Christ); and, in a sense, once they were retained/raptured, they thereafter “returned” to be directly instrumental in defeating the Midianite host.
c. not every saved warrior was “retained/raptured,” but all 10,000 saved warriors were either directly (combat troops, shepherds) or indirectly (support troops, sheep), and instrumental in defeating the Midianite host.
d. the defeat of the Midianite host signaled the end of “the great tribulation” and the beginning of Gideon’s rule (the Millennium – and who did Gideon clearly represent?).
e. not one soldier of the 10,000 suffered injury or death: “Only with thine eyes shalt thou behold and see the reward of the wicked.” (Psa 91:8).
(Judg 7:15) And it was so, when Gideon heard the telling of the dream, and the interpretation thereof, that he worshipped [the Lord], and returned into the host of Israel, and said, Arise; for the LORD hath delivered into your hand the host of Midian.
1. Commentary: “into your hand” = is a further allusion to the Hand Ministry; i.e., the “Hand” of the 10,000 with the fingers of the 300. Those who may be numbered in the 300 company of saved warriors among the 10,000 saved warriors are members of the Hand Ministry (sub-shepherds and shepherds: Eph 4:11,12), and to these has been given the victory. The Old Testament “Hand of the Lord” that appeared in Belshazzar’s vision was partially revealed to Daniel (Dan 5:5) as four fingers, then without the thumb of the New Testament apostle.
a. (Dan 5:5) In the same hour came forth fingers of a man's hand, and wrote over against the candlestick upon the plaster of the wall of the king's palace: and the king saw the part of the hand that wrote.
(Judg 7:16-18) And he divided the three hundred men into three companies, and he put [empowered them each with] a trumpet [Heb: showphar, sho-far': a curved horn] [a (loud) voice] in every man's hand [ref: the “Hand Ministry” Eph 4:11,12], with empty pitchers [earthenware clay pails with a hole in the bottom center], and lamps [Heb: a lamp or flame: (burning) lamp, lightning, torch] within the pitchers. And he said unto them, Look on me, and do likewise: and, behold, when I come to the outside of the camp, it shall be that, as I do, so shall ye do. When I blow with a trumpet, I and all that are with me, then blow ye the trumpets also on every side of all the [enemy] camp, and say, The sword of the LORD, and of Gideon.
1. Commentary: “three companies” = these three companies are all found entirely standing on the “good ground” of “the parable of the sower” (Mat 13:18). The “good ground” is figuratively located only inside the tent of the holy/most holy place of the tabernacle of Moses. The three companies resident therein may be identified as the 100 fold “man child” company (Rev 12:5,11), the 60 fold “woman” company (Rev 12:1,2,6,13,14), and the 30 fold “remnant of her seed” company (Rev 12:17). In the parable of “I am the true vine” (John 15:1-5), John describes these same three companies as bearing “fruit” (30 fold), “more fruit” (60 fold), and “much fruit” (100 fold) for the Lord. According to the Bible, “The seed is the word of God” (Luke 8:11); what then is the “fruit” of the word of God?
THE GLORY WHICH SHALL BE REVEALED IN US (Rom 8:18; 2 Thes 1:7,10,12)
(Judg 7:19-22) So Gideon, and the hundred men that were with him, came unto the outside of the camp in the beginning of the middle watch [10pm]; and they had but newly set the watch [they were in enemy territory, and the new guards were understandedly quite nervous, edgy, and very jumpy]: and they blew the trumpets, and brake the pitchers that were in their hands [thereby loudly and suddenly revealing the “flaming fire” 2 Thes 1:8]. And the three companies blew the trumpets, and brake the pitchers, and held the lamps in their left hands, and the trumpets in their right hands to blow withal: and they cried, The sword of the LORD, and of Gideon. And they stood every man in his place round about the camp: and all the host ran, and cried, and fled. And the three hundred blew the trumpets, and the LORD set every man's sword against his fellow [i.e., in the blinding darkness of their fear and panic they killed each other - we later learn 120,000 died. This is too much like what is beginning to happen throughout the world today: riots first, then wars and rumors of wars], even throughout all the host: and the host [of the remaining 15,000 Midianite warriors] fled to Bethshittah in Zererath, and to the border of Abelmeholah, unto Tabbath.
1. Commentary: Please take a moment to visualize the physical position necessary for the 300 (plus 1) saved warriors of God to hold the trumpets in their outstretched right hands (prepatory for the breaking), while holding the clay pails/pots each with a hole in the bottom and a flaming torch hidden inside (grasping the end of the torch protruding through the bottom hole) in their outstretched left hands. The physical image thereby created and revealed to all the world sure looks like a cross to me. The Midianites were surrounded by 301 crosses, and didn’t know it. Then, against the dark cold background of an unforgiving night, quite suddenly, “there was light” (Gen 1:3) and the thunder of hundreds of trumpets heralding the entrance of the Prince of Peace into the world, a very bright Light indeed, and the enemy (the world) saw “the glory which shall be revealed in us” (Rom 8:18) and “ran, and cried, and fled,” and “the LORD set every [Midianite] man's sword against his fellow.”
2. Commentary: May we note and gently receive by hearing the repeated battle cry of “The sword of the LORD, and of Gideon,” a certain unspoken but serenely comprehended “compositeness,” the accomplishment of an essential unity into “one man” (Judg 6:16), a unity into the one Sword that is the twoedged Sword of the Lord, the God-Man, the respectively rhema-logos Word of God that we are becoming, being transformed into (Rom 12:2), daily being raptured Godwards (1 Thes 4:17).
(Judg 7:23-25) And the men of Israel gathered themselves together out of Naphtali, and out of Asher, and out of all Manasseh [the three originally called tribes, excluding Zebulun], and pursued [Heb: to run after (usually with hostile intent): chased, put to flight, hunted] after the Midianites. And Gideon sent messengers throughout all mount Ephraim [a tribe in possession of the territory bordering the Jordan river on the west through which the Midianites were fleeing - eastward], saying, Come down against the Midianites, and take before them the waters unto Bethbarah and Jordan. Then all the men of Ephraim gathered themselves together, and took the waters unto Bethbarah and Jordan. And they took [Heb: captured] two princes of the Midianites, Oreb [Heb: raven] and Zeeb [Heb: wolf]; and they slew Oreb upon the rock Oreb, and Zeeb they slew at the winepress of Zeeb, and pursued Midian, and brought the heads of Oreb and Zeeb to Gideon on the other side [east of the] Jordan [river and on into the wilderness].
1. raven = Dict: any of the large corvine [Dict: pointing to or resembling a crow] birds with lustrous black plumage and raucous voice… which from time immemorial has been considered a bird of ill omen.
2. raven = Dict: 1. to seek plunder or prey. 2. to eat or feed voraciously or greedily. 3. to have a ravenous appetite.
3. wolf = Dict: a large wild carnivore of Europe, Asia, and North America, belonging to the dog family, a swift-footed, crafty, rapacious animal, destructive to game, sheep, etc.
4. Commentary: “princes” = In the original Hebrew, the two princes, Oreb and Zeeb, are named raven and wolf respectively. Both creatures are carnivorous and their emphasis upon death and destruction symbolizes the physical activity of Oreb and Zeeb. However, Oreb and Zeeb were secondary govenors (generals) directly subservient to, and acting as the hands (counterfeit Hand Ministry) of the two spiritual kings that appear in Chapter 8. We will learn that the two kings, at whose behest and under whom Oreb and Zeeb commanded, were named Zebah and Zalmunna. Those names have the Hebrew meanings of Zeba (Heb: sacrifice) and Zalmunna (Heb: withheld), and therein is rendered the overall primary theme of Judges chapters 6-8 which is SACRIFICE WITHHELD, as we shall more clearly see next week, God willing. Thank you. God bless you.
Amen
A Man of God