1.12.25 ~ War
Good morning!
All around the world, Hebrew has become the most popular language to learn. We see this as a fulfillment of Zephaniah 3:9. One person might ask why is that? Simply put, because people want to know deeper insights into God's character and the depths of Scripture.
Commercial: Shabbat morning's zoom call: Sometimes what you see and hear has a deeper meaning than what I see and hear or 'why do you want to be buried outside of Egypt and mom was buried on the side of the road?
In yesterday's Torah portion, Vayechi/and he lived, we learned of the death of two spiritual giants: Jacob and Joseph, along with specific endtime blessings on Israel's 12 sons (Gen. 47:28-50:26). As I was studying, I saw something for the first time...a truth Paul reiterated in warfare prayer (Eph. 6:18; Phil. 4:6).
"praying with all prayer and supplication in the Spirit and watching thereunto with all perseverance and supplication for all saints" (Eph. 6:18)."
In Genesis 48:22 when Israel is blessing Joseph, he says, “moreover, I’ve given to you one portion/Shechem above your brother, which I took out of the hand of the Amorite with my sword, and with my bow.”
At first blush, this looks like he’s talking about a physical battle, but on deeper introspection it’s talking about prayer. One of the most beautiful qualities of the people at Iglesia Mana Del Cielo, in Ft. Walton Beach, FL is their use of prayer to fight the good fight of the faith.
The Aramaic translation, which is a sister language to Hebrew, emphasizes that the sword and the bow is our prayer and supplication.
Did you notice the word 'portion/shechem' in verse 22? I did too :-), which led me to start digging into the warfare of Shechem (Gen. 34), when Simeon and Levi wiped out an entire city of men. Whatever your perspective, good or bad...there are two sides to that discussion...How did they do it? Through prayer and supplication. Ok, but how do we get the idea of the sword and the bow not being a literal meaning of a sword and a bow?
If you were fighting in ancient wars, the conflict was much more personal. You would go in on foot...you would stab people...you would club them....you would clabber the enemy.
I remember the days when I was fighting with my little G.I. Joe men :-). Boy, it was good to be the 'General'! I wasn't launching scud missiles or dropping huge bombs...no, no, and I used to hit them over the head and stab them with sound affects :-) That was my idea of warfare.
Nowadays war is Dictated by individuals sitting in a computer room, hitting a few buttons and making threats through twitter and instagram. But, if we take ourselves back to ancient warfare, we have to ask ourselves the question, which comes first in battle, the arrows or swords? The answer: Archers and then swords. But, in our verse, it's opposite.
If I were a soldier in ancient wars (2 Tim. 2:1-4), I definitely want to be an archer because I get to step back and just shoot. I get to stand away from the battle at a distance. The other guy who has the sword is in a much more dangerous position. Those guys are involved in hand to hand combat. The archers, on the other hand, can do anything from a distance. Even take out one of their own if they don’t like the way he looked at him at dinner time :-/
If the sword and bow aren't literal, what could they mean in prayer? Since the Word of God is the Sword of the Spirit, it's praying through Scripture. It's inherently sharp and can kill the enemy just by falling on it (1 Sam. 31:4-6). There is one prayer connected to the sword and there’s one prayer that is connected to the bow. What’s the difference?
A sword is inherently sharp. If you fall on a sword, like Saul, you can get killed. It's sooooo sharp you don’t need any force for it to be effective (like praying the Psalms or Sidur liturgy)...the sword does all the work.
A bow on the other hand, its effectiveness of your arrow is based on the force, the strength. The effect of the arrows is equivalent to the strength that you pull that string back to create the force of the arrow.
In warfare, there are two types of prayers: Praying through Scripture and interceding with lots of energy; which is based on your own personal position. If you don't put much effort into it and you're just saying words...it's not very effective.
Let's get practical! What is this battle really about? It's really against my own self (Jam. 4:1-4); my own evil inclination/yetzer hara. Unlike a human enemy where the human enemies start from a distance and they come closer to you...the evil inclination is in your face 24/7. It starts close up and then you have to keep it farther away. That’s the sword the bow and arrow.
The first thing I have to do is to use the sword to poke them away, which is the opposite of regular physical war. In a physical war, you start with a bow and arrow and then you go to the sword. When you’re fighting the evil inclination/yetzer hara, we have to recognize that he's there from the moment we are born...you noticed that he’s there when you woke up this morning...he gets up every morning with you...he’s there to tell you to stay in bed (Prov. 26:14). He’s always up and in your face. He’s always there and we have to move him away with the Sword. And once you push him to a distance, you keep him in the distance by using a good offense. If you’re following his commandments and you’re learning God's Word, that’s how you keep them distant. It doesn't happen accidentally. It’s not an accident that you live in victory. You are actively involved in something that is productive. That’s what keeps them away. The more you’re actively doing things that are right the more that enemy is gonna stay away.
Commercial: Shabbat morning's zoom call: Sometimes what you see and hear has a deeper meaning than what I see and hear or 'why do you want to be buried outside of Egypt and mom was buried on the side of the road?
In yesterday's Torah portion, Vayechi/and he lived, we learned of the death of two spiritual giants: Jacob and Joseph, along with specific endtime blessings on Israel's 12 sons (Gen. 47:28-50:26). As I was studying, I saw something for the first time...a truth Paul reiterated in warfare prayer (Eph. 6:18; Phil. 4:6).
"praying with all prayer and supplication in the Spirit and watching thereunto with all perseverance and supplication for all saints" (Eph. 6:18)."
In Genesis 48:22 when Israel is blessing Joseph, he says, “moreover, I’ve given to you one portion/Shechem above your brother, which I took out of the hand of the Amorite with my sword, and with my bow.”
At first blush, this looks like he’s talking about a physical battle, but on deeper introspection it’s talking about prayer. One of the most beautiful qualities of the people at Iglesia Mana Del Cielo, in Ft. Walton Beach, FL is their use of prayer to fight the good fight of the faith.
The Aramaic translation, which is a sister language to Hebrew, emphasizes that the sword and the bow is our prayer and supplication.
Did you notice the word 'portion/shechem' in verse 22? I did too :-), which led me to start digging into the warfare of Shechem (Gen. 34), when Simeon and Levi wiped out an entire city of men. Whatever your perspective, good or bad...there are two sides to that discussion...How did they do it? Through prayer and supplication. Ok, but how do we get the idea of the sword and the bow not being a literal meaning of a sword and a bow?
If you were fighting in ancient wars, the conflict was much more personal. You would go in on foot...you would stab people...you would club them....you would clabber the enemy.
I remember the days when I was fighting with my little G.I. Joe men :-). Boy, it was good to be the 'General'! I wasn't launching scud missiles or dropping huge bombs...no, no, and I used to hit them over the head and stab them with sound affects :-) That was my idea of warfare.
Nowadays war is Dictated by individuals sitting in a computer room, hitting a few buttons and making threats through twitter and instagram. But, if we take ourselves back to ancient warfare, we have to ask ourselves the question, which comes first in battle, the arrows or swords? The answer: Archers and then swords. But, in our verse, it's opposite.
If I were a soldier in ancient wars (2 Tim. 2:1-4), I definitely want to be an archer because I get to step back and just shoot. I get to stand away from the battle at a distance. The other guy who has the sword is in a much more dangerous position. Those guys are involved in hand to hand combat. The archers, on the other hand, can do anything from a distance. Even take out one of their own if they don’t like the way he looked at him at dinner time :-/
If the sword and bow aren't literal, what could they mean in prayer? Since the Word of God is the Sword of the Spirit, it's praying through Scripture. It's inherently sharp and can kill the enemy just by falling on it (1 Sam. 31:4-6). There is one prayer connected to the sword and there’s one prayer that is connected to the bow. What’s the difference?
A sword is inherently sharp. If you fall on a sword, like Saul, you can get killed. It's sooooo sharp you don’t need any force for it to be effective (like praying the Psalms or Sidur liturgy)...the sword does all the work.
A bow on the other hand, its effectiveness of your arrow is based on the force, the strength. The effect of the arrows is equivalent to the strength that you pull that string back to create the force of the arrow.
In warfare, there are two types of prayers: Praying through Scripture and interceding with lots of energy; which is based on your own personal position. If you don't put much effort into it and you're just saying words...it's not very effective.
Let's get practical! What is this battle really about? It's really against my own self (Jam. 4:1-4); my own evil inclination/yetzer hara. Unlike a human enemy where the human enemies start from a distance and they come closer to you...the evil inclination is in your face 24/7. It starts close up and then you have to keep it farther away. That’s the sword the bow and arrow.
The first thing I have to do is to use the sword to poke them away, which is the opposite of regular physical war. In a physical war, you start with a bow and arrow and then you go to the sword. When you’re fighting the evil inclination/yetzer hara, we have to recognize that he's there from the moment we are born...you noticed that he’s there when you woke up this morning...he gets up every morning with you...he’s there to tell you to stay in bed (Prov. 26:14). He’s always up and in your face. He’s always there and we have to move him away with the Sword. And once you push him to a distance, you keep him in the distance by using a good offense. If you’re following his commandments and you’re learning God's Word, that’s how you keep them distant. It doesn't happen accidentally. It’s not an accident that you live in victory. You are actively involved in something that is productive. That’s what keeps them away. The more you’re actively doing things that are right the more that enemy is gonna stay away.
Shalom!
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