Anyone who has been following Messiah Yeshua/Jesus for any length of time is painfully aware of the fact we are in an ongoing war. It is not simply a physical war but one that originates in the realm of the spirit. This war will not stop until Messiah returns; which is why He told us to..
occupy til He comes!
Luke 19:13 And he called his ten servants, and delivered them ten pounds, and said unto them, Occupy till I come.
When He said that, it is a call to build and extend the Kingdom of Heaven using/applying all the resources, gifting’s and talents that our Heavenly Father has imparted to us for His purposes.
And because the war is not a physical one we are told that
are not carnal/physical in 2 Cor. 10 :4 4 For the weapons of our warfare are not carnal, but mighty through God to the pulling down of strong holds;
They are mighty through Him.
The enemy’s warfare and battle plans are rooted way back in ancient millennia, he is not new at the tactics he uses against us; which is why we need the insight provided by Ruach HaKodesh/Holy Spirit, so we can wage a victorious warfare. There is one kind of warfare which we now term as guerilla warfare which does not play by any known or mutually agreed rules or strategies. This is where the enemy knows that those they are in conflict with are so strong that they cannot win; but nevertheless they hope to gain a victory by wearing down the enemies troops with a type of guerilla warfare or terrorism. Daniel 7:25 tells us this that the wearing out of the saints is a very well used strategy.
This is the kind of persistent and unabated assault that brings us to the point of just wanting to give up; it’s summed up in the word attrition. It involves consistent harassment which causes extreme frustration causing one thing after another to hinder distract and we often say the idiom: like having a spanner in the works! Everything we try to do is plagued by annoyances, irritations and aggravations. Certainly most readers will have had these kinds of experiences at one time or another.
The scriptures are written for us for many reasons 2 Tim. 1:7 & 3:16 to encourage and educate and we are most certainly not alone in our fight.
16 All scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness: His Word is for teaching and for showing people what is wrong in their lives. It is useful for correcting faults and teaching the right way to live.
One great example of how the enemies tactics occur is in the life of Nehemiah when he returned to Israel from the Babylonian captivity and discovered that the land had been taken over by many people from other nations including the Amorites and Moabites. These new occupants resisted the Israelites when they began to return to their homeland. One reason they feared the Israelites was because of their support from Persia, the then most powerful nation in the world. The people who had taken over Israel knew that victory over the Persian Empire supported Israelites, was a war they could not win; but they could harass them to the point they might give up and go back to Persia. This war of attrition has never stopped and is still evident today both against nations and individuals.
For those readers who may not recall that the story of Nehemiah and Ezra takes place at the time of the return of Israel from captivity where they were exiled. The Northern ten tribes of Israel, Samaria were taken into captivity by the Assyrian Empire. After the collapse of the Assyrian Empire, the Babylonian Empire became the world empire and the Northern ten tribes of Israel were scattered throughout the world. The Southern Kingdom, Judah, remained unconquered until the rise of the Babylonian Empire, which finally conquered Judah and took them away from their homeland.
During their captivity Babylon fell to the Persian Empire. Daniel was a favorite of the Persian King Cyrus the Great (559-530 BC) and the Jews enjoyed favorable status with the Persian Empire. This, however, resulted in much jealousy among the people of the other conquered nations. This jealousy was evident in the story of Haman who plotted to have the Jews destroyed. The plan was thwarted because of the courage of Esther (a Jew) who was then the Queen of Persia and had much favor with her husband King Xerxes who was the grandson of Cyrus the Great (486-465 BC). Esther’s step son King Araxerxes I (465-424 B.C.) granted a decree that allowed Nehemiah and Ezra to lead their people back to Jerusalem and rebuild the temple under the protection of the Persian Empire. This is almost a repeat of Jewish History beginning in 1948 AD when the United Nations granted Israel the right to return to their homeland.
The responsibilities on King Artaxerxes and the increasing threats of war from other nations became so great that he put his son Susa in charge over the Israelites. Susa was the grandson of Esther and sadly had no respect for her or the fact that she was Jewish and so Israels support from Persia broke down.
Both Nehemiah and Ezra had faith that even when Persia’s support failed them The Lord God Almighty would not ever fail them. If God wanted Jerusalem to be rebuilt He could and would do it, without the help of the Persian Empire. This proved true however, the lack of support from Persia did give their enemies some confidence to further harass Israel.
God never fails us but sometimes people give up before they see the answer to their prayers and needs, failing to simply trust in our heavenly Father and His timing and provision.
We read in Ezra 4:4: “Then the people of the land weakened the hands of Judah and troubled them in building.”
So it would appear that the battle including these acts of attrition were effective.
The expression
their hands were weakened
is an ancient idiom meaning
to become discouraged and fearful.
The word weakened
in Hebrew is
meraphim
spelled mem resh pei yod mem
Ezra 4:4
HEB: עַם־ הָאָ֔רֶץ מְרַפִּ֖ים יְדֵ֣י עַם־
NAS: of the land discouraged the people
KJV: of the land weakened the hands
INT: the people of the land weakened the hands the people
מְרַפִּ֖ים
Meraphim comes from the root word
rapah
which means:
to sink down or to loosen one’s grip.
The word is found in a Piel (intensive) form so it really has the idea of:
just letting go.
In other words,
just giving up.
It’s not a strange thing to experience, and no doubt most readers have felt that way at times during both personal lives and in ministry. Sometimes It can seem as if individuals just focus on and take aim at you from every angle, criticize, condemn, and accuse you of things that you never said, did or intended. Nothing is going the way that was hoped or planned and if we are not vigilant with our hearts, eventually, a person can become discouraged and then they meraphim or give up. Sometimes ending up with deep resentment and bitterness. Those in ministry are getting no response, no one seems to want to support them and they face one obstacle after another; it seems the enemy is relentless. The idiom of the last straw, the final blow to all the fighting and pressing in falls on us and its all designed with the goal of getting us to give up- to merephim.
The constant harassment by their enemies caused the Israelites to become so weary, tired and discouraged from the mocking rhetoric. The attacks were not actually physical to them personally, but while they were building the walls their homes were robbed and their crops destroyed. This persisted and when Nehemiah returned after a visit back to Persia, he found the people had merephim – weakened and given up.
They had given up working on the walls to protect their own interests and they had fallen into spiritual paganism and idolatry.
Ezra encouraged the people and stirred them up to complete their mission
and so did Nehemiah.
This is where we get our well known phrase in
Nehemiah 8:10:
The Joy of the Lord is our strength.
We will not fulfill God’s work for us if we fall prey to the work of the enemy, to his war of attrition and his terrorist attacks against us like Judah did, and allow negative thinking and words to control us. Instead, we need to fill our hearts with the Word of God like Ezra did, by finding a congregation, assembly or fellowship of like-minded believers where you can encourage each other with songs of worship, praise and joy, and then enter into the joy of the Lord. When we encourage others with songs and testimonies of praise and joy and they in turn encourage us, together we will stop the enemy dead in his tracks. For where you were merephim – weak, the joy of the Lord will make us strong.
Ezra 4:4: “Then the people of the land weakened the hands of Judah and troubled them in building.”
There is a personal application for us individually in our own spiritual walk with our Heavenly Father and Paul, gives us a solution in Ephesians 15:19: “Speak to one another with Psalms, hymns and spiritual songs. Sing and make music in your heart to the Lord.”
We must not allow the work of the enemy to succeed against us like Judah did, and allow negative thinking and words to control us.
Instead we need to fill our hearts with the Word of God like Ezra did and encourage each other with words from scripture.
The Hebrew letters resh-pei in the word for weakened, reveal an interesting insight and it may be this is what has happened with those in charge of some countries and their citizens.
The Resh – people have become judgmental;
Pei – people talk to much; and the
resulting in them becoming self-deceived.
Are countries inflicting a war of attrition against themselves and thereby weakening themselves? If this way of life continues, no doubt many will give up.
Here as in Exodus 19:2.
many need to
face the mountain.
As the Body of Messiah, we are to have a combined mission and goal and the more united we become as one with Him, He is us and we in Him; that common commitment and devotion to the Fathers’ will, plan and purpose will transform any barriers that prevent victory. It will turn them into stepping stones on our way to achieving that which our Heavenly Father has called us to do. It seems that until we are faced with an insurmountable mountain, our petty differences will not diminish. And until we are delivered from pride and ego and put our focus and intent on hearing, receiving and being a doer of His Word, any forward motion and spiritual maturity is hindered and splintered.
Proverbs 22:10 Cast out the scorner, and contention shall go out; yea, strife and reproach shall cease.
Cast out the scorner/scoffer/tormentor and strife will go, for where there is strife there is every evil work. James 3:16 For where jealousy and selfish ambition exist, there will be disorder and every evil practice.
Prov 13:10. Among the proud there are always contentions: but they that do all things with counsel, are ruled by wisdom.
Arrogance leads only to strife, but wisdom is with the well-advised.
Strife can develop when a difference of opinion becomes the priority in a relationship. Strife and war or fighting are inseparable.
Strife is always accompanied by pride and an unteachable spirit.
Where there is strife, there is pride, but wisdom is found in those who take advice.
For where envying and strife is, there is confusion. Where emulation, zeal, and rivalry exist, there also are sedition, anarchy, restless disturbance, and every villainous act. The whole state is evil, and utterly contrary to the rule of the Gospel.
The enemy will always try to divide and conquer and sow questioning seeds of doubt and unbelief, causing our faith and trust in people to waver. It started in the garden…and will not stop until Messiah returns. Keep that helmet in place protecting our minds from the whispering accuser.
In the secular world it is said that to be successful one must surround oneself with positive people. If we surround ourselves with negative thinkers and talkers we will become negative too.
If anyone has ever helped out in the nursery during meetings you will quickly learn an important lesson. If one of those little ones began to cry, within moments the others begin to cry and truthfully, adults are not much different. If we are around one person crying, complaining and moaning, it’s not long before others add their own complaints.
We sometimes feel we in a prison or a hole in the ground with seemingly no way out.
Psalms 28:1 “Unto thee will I cry, O Lord my rock; be not silent to me: lest if thou be silent to me, I become like them that go down into the pit.”
silent to me
The Hebrew word for
pit is bore
953 bowr: cistern
Original Word: בּוֹר
Part of Speech: Noun Masculine
Transliteration: bowr
Phonetic Spelling: bore
Definition: a pit, cistern, well
בֽוֹר ḇō·wr.
בּר, cistern,
well (= בְּאֵר) 1 Chronicles 11:17,18
pit Exodus 21:33 (verb פתח),
prison/dungeon pit with no water in it
Jeremiah 38:6; Zechariah 9:11
Crypt, pit, of the grave Proverbs 28:17;
which could mean a well, a prison, or a crypt.
In ancient times a prison was a pit that someone was thrown into and without someone sending down a rope, a person could not get out of it. Similarly, if you fell into, or were lowered into a well, as old abandoned wells were often used as a prison, remember Joseph? Crypts were used for the same thing, they are places where once you go in, you usually don’t come out.
Regarding Psalm 28, to say that if David doesn’t hear from the Lord, he will die or enter a place he cannot get out of. Some of us have no doubt felt like we entered a dark place, like a deep well or a prison and if we did not get some direction and help from our Heavenly Father, there was a feeling that we would never escape.
It’s a curious statement that when David says that he calls on Adonai, He is silent. Does it simply meaning that when David presents his request to Adonai, his prayer is not answered?
The word silent is karash. חָרַשׁ
karash/charash: altogether
Original Word: חָרַשׁ
Part of Speech: Verb
Transliteration: charash karash
Phonetic Spelling: khaw-rash’
Definition: to cut in, engrave, plow, devise
1 cut in, engrave, of worker in metals נְחשֶׁת וּבַרְזֶל ׳ח Genesis 4:22 (J),
נחשׁת ׳ח 1 Kings 7:14; figurative
עַללֿוּחַ לִבָּם ׳ח Jeremiah 17:1
engraved on the tablet of their heart.
2 plough, literally, human subject (animal usually with בְּ), no object expressed 1 Kings 19:19; Deuteronomy 22:10; Isaiah 28:24,
so יַחֲרשׁ בבקרים Amos 6:12
(but read probably יֵחָרֵשׁ בבקר יָם, see We and others);
with accusative of congnate meaning with verb חֲרִישׁ ׳ח 1 Samuel 8:12 plough his ploughing (= do his ploughing),
Proverbs 20:4; figurative of Judah Hosea 10:11; with ethical reference רֶשַׁע ׳ח Hosea 10:13(“” קצר), אָוֶן ׳ח Job 4:8 (“” זרע, קצר); עַלגַּֿבִּי חָֽרְשׁוּ חֹרְשִׁים
Psalm 129:3 upon my back have ploughmen ploughed (figurative of oppression by wicked); חֹרֵשׁ = ploughman Isaiah 28:24; Amos 9:13 (“” קצֵר); ׳ח with oxen subject only Job 1:14.
3 devise (as one who works in, practices), usually bad sense, object רָעָה Proverbs 3:29,
רַע Proverbs 6:14;
מַחְשְׁבת אָוֶן Proverbs 6:18,
חֹרְשֵׁירַע Proverbs 12:20;
Proverbs 14:22;
but also חֹרְשֵׁי טב Proverbs 14:22.
It is closely related to the word karas which means to be rough.
Maybe some of us can relate to that feeling, wondering why our Heavenly Father seems to be being so rough with us? The word Karash isn’t only used for silence but in its primitive form, refers to a plow or till which makes an engraving into the ground. In the form of a noun, it’s describing a cutting instrument. The word karas spelled with a Sade at the end means to lacerate, or wound. Karash is also used for an enchanter, magician, or to be artificial. It could be understood that silence from our Heavenly Father is similar to the cutting of a deep wound.
The use of this word would seem to point to the situation David was not asking for deliverance from the problem he found himself in, as he had confidence that was already covered. Rather he was wanting deliverance from the deep emotional distress he was experiencing, which was the result from people who were saying things about him that were not true. Could it be that this was the deep hurt, fear and worry that followed, causing an overwhelming feeling of oppression and dread that stole his joy for life itself? David was speaking as if he just wished Adonai would take him home and away from it all; even today, that’s not a strange wish for many going through horrible persecution. In such a position we wish for and desire to know our Heavenly Fathers comforting presence and in the next verse David speaks of his supplications –
Heb. Canan/ chanan.
Tehinnah
Or (feminine) tachanuwnah {takh-an-oo-naw’};
from chanan; earnest prayer — intreaty, supplication.
HEBREW chanan 2603
chanan: beseech
Original Word: חָנַן
Part of Speech: Verb
Transliteration: chanan
Phonetic Spelling: khaw-nan’
Definition: to show favor, be gracious
chanan/canan/Supplication here means:
to show favor.
David is saying that he is showing favor to God and He is doing it with his hands lifted up.
Questions we need to ask ourselves, when we go to our Heavenly Father with a need, who is it we are wanting to favor, ourselves or our Heavenly Father?
David is asking that he not be drawn away from the Lord by the intentions of the wicked in verse 5. The verses seem to indicate that to him the pressures of job, relationships, and health, were not that important; and we know that David did suffer the loss of his job through the broken relationship with Absalom his beloved son, as well as the loss of his health.
What David was looking at in this verse was not what he had lost physically but how they affected his relationship with his Heavenly Father.
In Psalms 98:1, David is praying and knows the Lord is his rock; then he is declaring that his job, his relationships, his health are not the rocks he depends on in his life and he can live without them.
He is saying that he cannot bear to lose his relationship with his heavenly Father. He is begging the Lord not to leave him because he would not be able to handle that, it would send him into a dark pit and he would die.
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