Key Passages we were studying were Jeremiah 32 and Joel 2 (we are following the weekly Parashot/passages read by all Jews around the world). They/we have a hope and expectation to see God move in accordance with the appointed times, the ‘Moedim’.
Key Themes:
(i) The Rock
(ii) Honey
(iii) The Eagle hovers
(iii) Living Sacrifice
(iv) Atonement and a year of Jubilee
(i) The Rock
Deuteronomy 32:4
He is the Rock, His work is perfect; and all His ways are just. A God of faithfulness, without injustice, good and upright is He. (This is the Song of Moses on the day of his death when he knew that he wouldn’t enter the Promised Land yet the song of his heart was that God was the Rock, His work was perfect and all His ways were just).
God is in the detail – the place on Mount Moriah where Isaac was bound and the ram was sacrificed is the same place where Araunah had his threshing floor that David bought to build the Temple where the Holy of Holies would have been above the Western Wall in Jerusalem where the Dome of the Rock now stands. The Rock being that place where Yahweh provided the sacrifice.
The Rock was a place of sacrifice, the rock provided water for the millions of Israelites as they wandered around in the wilderness. There was honey in The Rock (that was where the bees gathered). The Rock produced oil as the olives were crushed and wine as the grapes were harvested.
(ii) Honey
Deuteronomy 32:13b “He nourished him with honey from the rock …”
The Hebrew name for honey is Dabash which is derived from the root word Debar meaning a word from the heart. A wife might say to her husband “You need to have a ‘word’ with your son!”, or a couple might feel the need to have a ‘deep and meaningful’ conversation. When we take time to hear what the LORD is saying to us it is like honey. It revives us.
Dabar = word from the heart to the heart is spelt
Daleth (a doorway, an opportunity, a choice)
Beit (house, tent, the place where we are currently dwelling)
Resh (our mindset, our thoughts, our thinking process)
So a Debar conversation is when we allow God to enter into our situation where we are currently dwelling to impact our thoughts.
Dabash = honey
Daleth (a doorway, an opportunity, a choice)
Beit (house, tent, the place where we are currently dwelling)
Shin (when Shin appears at the end of a word it refers to change and transformation)
So when David said that the Word (referring to the Torah which is the first 5 Books of the OT which is all that he would have known) “is like honey on my lips” he meant that it was sweet, and palatable but it also brought transformation and change.
(iii) The Eagle hovers
Deuteronomy 32:10-12 “He (Yahweh) found him in a desert land and in the wasteland, a howling wilderness – He encircled him, He instructed him, He kept him as the apple of His eye. As an eagle stirs up its nest and hovers over its young, spreading out its wings, carrying them taking them up on its wings. So Yahweh alone led them and there was no foreign god with them.”
V10 – the word for a desert or wilderness in Hebrew is Mid-Debar. Debar is Hebrew for ‘Word’ or ‘a Word to the heart, a word in due season’ so Mid-Debar (desert place or wilderness) literally means ‘in the wilderness’. Jesus went into the wilderness to spend time with his Father. The Desert Fathers and the Essenes all went into the word, or into the wilderness place to be alone with the Father.
V11 – The word “hovers” is Rakaph and it only appears 3 times in the whole of the Old Testament ie Genesis 1:2 when the Spirit was hovering over the waters, Deuteronomy 32:11 when God, like an eagle is hovering over the young who are about to learn how to soar, and in Jeremiah 23:9 when Jeremiah could sense his very bones trembling and vibrating at the words of false prophets. Rakaph is derived from the same root as Kippur (Yom Kippur) which means ‘to cover’ as in the Hebrew letter ‘Kaph’ which is the Hebrew word for the palm of the hand. The Holy Spirit covered the waters as an eagle covers and protects its nest. Yom Kippur is a time of ‘covering’. God covers our dept, He protects us, God has this covered!
(iv) Living Sacrifices
Deuteronomy 32:15 “But Yeshurun (a pet name for Israel meaning ‘upright one’) grew fat and kicked – you grew fat, you grew thick, you grew obese and forsook the God who made you and you were scornful of the Rock of your salvation.” (literally “the tsur/rock of your Yeshua/Jesus/salvation”)
Isaiah 26:4 “Trust in the LORD forever for the LORD is the eternal rock”
If we lean on our own resources then we are being scornful of the rock of our salvation (Yeshua). We must lean on the LORD our rock in order for Him to refine us. This is a time to lean into Him and to become lean, alert and ready to move as the LORD leads. This is a time for fasting. Fasting clears the mind and creates sensitivity to what the Spirit is saying. I must decrease that He may increase…
Romans 12:1 “Therefore I urge you, brothers, on account of God’s mercy, to offer your bodies as living sacrifices…”
We may think that it doesn’t matter whether we offer our bodies as living sacrifices day in daily or just when the Spirit moves us …. But it does matter!
Genesis 8:21 “When the LORD smelled the pleasing aroma, He said in His heart, “Never again will I curse the ground because of man, even though every inclination of his heart is evil from his youth. And never again will I destroy all living creatures as I have done.” When Noah sacrificed clean animals and birds on the altar it was a pleasing aroma to the LORD. How much more when we choose to be living sacrifices. This is a training ground for what is to come in the future!
(v) Yom Kippur and a year of Jubilee
Joel 2 is all about the arrival of the King “Blow the trumpet in Zion… the LORD utters His voice before His army….. Yom Teruah (the Feast of Trumpets) which we celebrated at the Hub on Saturday. We are currently in the 10 Days of Awe which culminate on Sunday with Yom Kippur (The Day of Atonement). There is confusion in the churches and among the prophets over whether we are about to enter a year of Jubilee. Some said it was a Jubilee year 2 years ago while some believe a Jubilee will begin on Sunday 24th September 2023 with Yom Kippur and we do not know with any certainty how it will be calculated but God says “Be ready, be ready in and out of season. Be ready whether you expect a Jubilee year or not, for what use is your release if you continue in bondage!”
