Gideon |
Chapter 50 |
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TELLS A RATHER COMPLETE STORY OF THE SECOND COMING OF JESUS CHRIST 02-24-13 (1 Pet 5:8) Be sober [Gk: abstain from wine] [i.e., be not intoxicated], be vigilant [Gk: keep awake: be watchful]; because your adversary [Gk: opponent (in a lawsuit); spec. Satan (as the arch-enemy)] the devil, as a roaring lion, walketh about, seeking whom he may devour [Gk: to gulp down wholly, swallow up]:
THE FIRST BIBLICAL OCCURANCE OF “THE RAPTURE” (Judg 7:1) Then Jerubbaal [Heb: Baal will contend (grapple) with], who is Gideon [Heb: feller (warrior) /// to fell a tree], and all the [32,000] people that were with him, rose up early, and pitched beside the well of Harod [Heb: fountain of trembling]: so that the host of the [135,000] Midianites [Heb: brawling, contentious, discord, strife] [“Ishmaelites” Judg 8:24, typifying all unsaved peoples] were on the north side of them, by the hill of Moreh [Heb: a noose (for catching animals); by impl. a hook (for the nose): be ensnared, (is) snared, trapped] [Heb: teacher; diviner], in the valley.
(Judg 7:2,3) And the LORD [Heb: Jehovah] said unto Gideon, The people that are with thee [the 32,000] are too many for me to give the Midianites into their hands, lest Israel vaunt [Heb: boast] themselves against me, saying, Mine own hand hath saved me. Now therefore go to, proclaim in the ears of the people, saying, Whosoever is fearful and afraid [Heb: trembling], let him return [to his home] and depart early from mount Gilead [Heb: mass of testimony, heap of witness, mound of stones] [i.e., the cross]. And there returned [Heb: went back home, slide back, turned back, withdrew] [“They believe for a while, but in the time of testing they fall away” Luke 8:13: NIV] of the people twenty and two thousand [22,000 who did not believe God for the victory, i.e., who were professing Christains and not saved, i.e., “stony ground” Mark 4:16]; and there remained ten thousand [10,000 who believed God, i.e., who were confessing Christians and saved].
(Judg 7:4-6) And the LORD said unto Gideon, The people are yet too many; bring them down unto the water [symbol of the Holy Spirit], and I will try them [Heb: to fuse (metal), i.e. refine:--refine, founder, goldsmith, melt, purify, purge away] [i.e., separate the gold from the silver, the two redeemed metals] for thee there: and it shall be, that of whom I say unto thee, This shall go with thee, the same shall go with thee; and of whomsoever I say unto thee, This shall not go with thee, the same shall not go. So he brought down [strong implication of humbling] the [10,000 saved] people unto the water [of the Holy Spirit]: and the LORD said unto Gideon, Every one that lappeth of the water with his tongue, as a dog lappeth [i.e., every one who warily (on guard) takes in the spiritual world little by little while closely watching (being vigilant of) the natural world], him shalt thou set by himself; likewise [separate into another group] every one that boweth down upon his knees to drink [indiscriminately sucks at the spiritual world while disregarding the natural world]. And the number of them that lapped, putting their hand to their mouth, were three hundred men [300 saved men]: but all the rest of the people [the remaining 9,700 saved men] bowed down upon their knees to drink water [i.e., indiscriminately sucking the water in without discernment of “both good and evil” Heb: 5:14]. 1. (Heb 5:12-14) For when for the time ye ought to be teachers, ye have need that one teach you again which be the first principles [Gk: fundamentals] of the oracles [Gk: utterances] of God; and are become such as have need of milk, and not of strong [Gk: solid, stable] meat. For every one that useth milk [i.e., sucks milk and swallows immediately] is unskilful [Gk: inexperienced, i.e. ignorant] in the word of righteousness: for he is a babe [Gk: an infant; fig. an immature Christian]. But strong meat [that cannot be swallowed immediatgely but first must be thoughtfully masticated, chewed upon, meditated] belongeth to them that are of full age, even those who by reason of use have their senses [Gk: organs of perception; fig. judgment] exercised [Gk: practiced, i.e. trained] to discern both good and evil. 2. (Isa 28:9,10) Whom shall he teach knowledge? and whom shall he make to understand doctrine? them that are weaned from the milk [i.e., from the non-meditating suck and swallow], and drawn [Heb: removed] from the breasts. For precept [Heb: injunction, commandment] must be upon precept, precept upon precept [vertical revelations from God]; line [Heb: especially for measuring; fig. a ruler] upon line, line upon line [horizontal revelations through men]; here a little, and there a little [like lapping up the water of the word (Eph 5:26) of life from the living stream of the Bible with your tongue out of the palm of your hand that contains the chosen passage “here a little, and there a little,” thereby meditating and discriminating (discerning): a. injunction = Dict: 1. Law. a judicial process or order requiring the person or persons to whom it is directed to do or (more commonly) not to do a particular thing. 2. a command, order or admonition. 3. (Prov 22:6) Train up a child in the way he should go: and when he is old, he will not depart from it. 4. discern = Gk: judicial estimation:--discern (-ing) /// to separate thoroughly [your food]; fig. to discriminate (by impl. decide): contend, make (to) differ (-ence), discern, judge.
“BOTH” IS THE KEY WORD (Judg 7:7,8) And the LORD said unto Gideon, By the three hundred men that lapped [thereby exercising discernment of “both good and evil”] will I save you, and deliver the Midianites into thine hand: and let all the other people [the remaining 9,700 saved men] go every man unto his place [unto his assigned position in God’s army]. So the [300] people took victuals [Heb: food] in their hand [there was a great famine in the land, so the 9,700 support troops supported the 300 combat troops with their food, unlike the men of Succoth and Penuel], and their trumpets [i.e., the 9,700 support troops also supplied and reinforced the 300 combat troops with their prayers]: and he sent all the rest of Israel [the 9,700 saved support troops] every man unto his tent [not to his home but to his tent, thus the 9,700 support troops remained in the battle arena], and retained [up (ward), atop the mountains surrounding the valley] those three hundred men [the 100 fold man child company]: and the host of Midian was beneath him [rather than “beneath them”- the 300 men because “the LORD [had] said unto him, Surely I will be with thee, and thou shalt smite the Midianites as one man” Judg 6:16] in the valley [“of decision” Joel 3:14]. 1. retained = Heb: fastened upon; hence to seize:--caught [up]. 2. retain = Dict: 1. to keep possession of. 2. to continue to use. 3. to continue to hold or have. 4. to engage, esp. by the payment of a preliminary fee, as a lawyer. a. Commentary: for example, we have been retained by being given “the earnest” of the Spirit in our hearts (2 Cor 1:22; 5:5; Eph 1:14). b. earnest = Heb: a pledge, i.e. part of the purchase-money or property given in advance as security for the rest:--earnest. 3. caught up = Gk: harpazo; to take for oneself, i.e. preferred:--chosen. [i.e., raptured] 4. rapture = Dict: 1. ecstatic joy or delight; joyful ecstasy. 2. the carrying of a person to another place or sphere of existence.
(Joel 3:13,14) Put ye in the sickle, for the harvest is ripe: come, get you down; for the press is full, the vats overflow; for their wickedness is great. Multitudes, multitudes in the valley of decision [Heb: a threshing-sledge (having sharp teeth)]: for the day of the LORD is near in the valley of decision.
Amen
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