And saviors shall come up on mount Zion to judge the mount of Esau; and the kingdom shall be the LORD’s.
The above is the final verse of the single chapter book of Obadiah, his name telling us he is a servant of Jehovah. In the first verse, the LORD says, concerning Edom (Esau), “We have heard a rumor from the LORD, and an ambassador is sent among the heathen, Arise you, and let us rise up against her in battle.”
The word “rumor” is the Hebrew word shmuw’ah, which we know the word used twice in Isaiah 28; first in verse 9 in asking who will understand the “doctrine” the LORD is teaching. Before this, in verse 8, we are told why there is no understanding, saying it’s because, “all tables are full of vomit and filthiness, so that there is no place clean.”
Verse 9 tells us the tables are as a breast from where we are fed, from which we must be drawn away before we can understand the knowledge the LORD is teaching. We know the teaching, as it comes here and now, is described in verse 10, saying, “precept must be upon precept, precept upon precept; line upon line, line upon line.”
The LORD then, in verse 11, tells of this teaching as coming from stammering lips his people can’t understand (because all tables are defiled), which alludes to the doctrine as a “rumor” heard but unverified. He speaks of this in the following verse, saying it (His doctrine) is the rest and refreshing of His people, which their leaders (teachers, preachers, and rulers) refused to hear.
Isaiah 28
14 Wherefore hear the word of the LORD, you scornful men, that rule this people which is in Jerusalem.
15 Because you have said, We have made a covenant with death, and with hell are we at agreement; when the overflowing scourge shall pass through, it shall not come unto us: for we have made lies our refuge, and under falsehood have we hid ourselves:
16 Therefore thus says the LORD God, Behold, I lay in Zion for a foundation a stone [‘eben], a tried stone, a precious corner stone [‘eben – see Zechariah 4:10 below – the “plummet” in the hand of Zerubbabel], a sure foundation: he that believes shall not make haste.
17 Judgment also will I lay to the line, and righteousness to the plummet: and the hail shall sweep away the refuge of lies, and the waters shall overflow the hiding place.
18 And your covenant with death shall be disannulled, and your agreement with hell shall not stand; when the overflowing scourge shall pass through, then you shall be trodden down by it.
19 From the time that it goes forth it shall take you: for morning by morning shall it pass over, by day and by night: and it shall be a vexation only to understand the report.
As we know, shmuw’ah is the word translated “report” (doctrine and rumor coming by precept and line) that comes morning and night as a sweeping hail and an overflowing scourge. The chapter concludes with the LORD telling of the disappointment and inadequacy of the bed these men made, in which they lie. He then asks about preparing the ground, the earth, to bring forth a crop, that is then harvested and threshed (separated). He states this in the context of asking those seeing it if they understand the logical sequence of events, the order and intention they are witnessing, and thereby know what’s coming.
The next time Isaiah uses the word shmuw’ah it’s in Isaiah 37:7, in a pattern of this moment.
Isaiah 37
… This day is a day of trouble, and of rebuke, and of blasphemy: for the children are come to the birth, and there is not strength to bring forth.
4 It may be the LORD your God will hear the words of Rabshakeh [the false prophets – the fake {news and social} media], whom the king of Assyria [the communists – the Democrat Party] his master has sent to reproach the living God, and will reprove the words which the LORD your God has heard: wherefore lift up your prayer for the remnant that is left.
5 So the servants of king Hezekiah came to Isaiah.
6 And Isaiah said unto them, Thus shall you say unto your master, Thus says the LORD, Be not afraid of the words that you have heard, wherewith the servants of the king of Assyria have blasphemed me.
7 Behold, I will send a blast upon him, and he shall hear a rumor [shmuw’ah – this doctrine, the report these men refuse to hear], and return to his own land; and I will cause him to fall by the sword in his own land.
The “blast” the LORD speaks of is the ruwach, the LORD’s Spirit moving and working: His ways of which man is ignorant. It is referring to its use in Isaiah 28:6, the LORD saying in verse 6 & 7, “In that day shall the LORD of hosts be for a crown of glory, and for a diadem of beauty, unto the residue of his people, And for a spirit [ruwach] of judgment to him that sits in judgment, and for strength to them that turn the battle to the gate.”
As we know, the word “diadem” is the first of three uses of the Hebrew word tsphiyrah, meaning crown (corona). The other two are in Ezekiel 7 (rendered morning) where shmuw’ah also appears twice (rendered rumor), which we saw again in the previous post.
Zechariah 4
6 Then he answered and spoke unto me, saying, This is the word of the LORD unto Zerubbabel [those who’ve come out of confusion to life, by the LORD raised in us], saying, Not by might, nor by power, but by my spirit [ruwach], says the LORD of hosts [of the armies of heaven].
7 Who are you, O great mountain [the spiritually wicked in high places of power]? before Zerubbabel you shall become a plain: and he shall bring forth the headstone [‘eben – the plummet in his hand] thereof with shouting, crying, Grace, grace unto it.
8 Moreover the word of the LORD came unto me, saying,
9 The hands of Zerubbabel have laid the foundation of this house; his hands shall also finish it; and you shalt know that the LORD of hosts has sent me unto you.
10 For who has despised the day of small things [of the still small voice]? for they shall rejoice, and shall see the plummet [‘eben – the head and corner stone] in the hand of Zerubbabel with those seven; they are the eyes of the LORD, which run to and fro through the whole earth.
Ezekiel 7
1 Moreover the word of the LORD came unto me, saying,
2 Also, you son of man, thus says the LORD God unto the land of Israel; An end, the end is come upon the four corners of the land.
3 Now is the end come upon you, and I will send mine anger upon you, and will judge you according to your ways, and will recompense upon you all your abominations.
4 And mine eye shall not spare you, neither will I have pity: but I will recompense your ways upon you, and your abominations shall be in the midst of you: and you shall know that I am the LORD.
5 Thus says the LORD God; An evil, an only evil, behold, is come.
6 An end is come, the end is come: it watches for you; behold, it is come.
7 The morning [tsphiyrah – the crown {or corona}, the crowning of the LORD’s chosen, the man of God, as was David] is come unto you, O you that dwells in the land: the time is come, the day of trouble is near, and not the sounding again of the mountains.
8 Now will I shortly pour out my fury upon you, and accomplish mine anger upon you: and I will judge you according to your ways, and will recompense you for all your abominations.
9 And mine eye shall not spare, neither will I have pity: I will recompense you according to your ways and your abominations that are in the midst of you; and you shall know that I am the LORD that smites.
10 Behold the day, behold, it is come: the morning [tsphiyrah – the crowning] is gone forth; the rod has blossomed, pride has budded.
11 Violence is risen up into a rod of wickedness: none of them shall remain, nor of their multitude, nor of any of theirs: neither shall there be wailing for them.
12 The time is come, the day draw near: let not the buyer rejoice, nor the seller mourn: for wrath is upon all the multitude thereof.
13 For the seller shall not return to that which is sold, although they were yet alive: for the vision is touching the whole multitude thereof, which shall not return; neither shall any strengthen himself in the iniquity of his life.
14 They have blown the trumpet, even to make all ready; but none goes to the battle: for my wrath is upon all the multitude thereof.
15 The sword is without, and the pestilence and the famine within: he that is in the field shall die with the sword; and he that is in the city, famine and pestilence shall devour him.
16 But they that escape of them shall escape, and shall be on the mountains like doves of the valleys, all of them mourning, every one for his iniquity.
17 All hands shall be feeble, and all knees shall be weak as water.
18 They shall also gird themselves with sackcloth, and horror shall cover them; and shame shall be upon all faces, and baldness upon all their heads.
19 They shall cast their silver in the streets, and their gold shall be removed: their silver and their gold shall not be able to deliver them in the day of the wrath of the LORD: they shall not satisfy their souls, neither fill their bowels: because it is the stumbling-block of their iniquity.
20 As for the beauty of his ornament, he set it in majesty: but they made the images of their abominations and of their detestable things therein: therefore have I set it far from them.
21 And I will give it into the hands of the strangers for a prey, and to the wicked of the earth for a spoil; and they shall pollute it.
22 My face will I turn also from them, and they shall pollute my secret place: for the robbers [priyts -the violence of tyrants] shall enter into it, and defile it.
23 Make a chain: for the land is full of bloody crimes, and the city is full of violence.
24 Wherefore I will bring the worst of the heathen, and they shall possess their houses: I will also make the pomp of the strong to cease; and their holy places shall be defiled.
25 Destruction comes; and they shall seek peace, and there shall be none.
26 Mischief shall come upon mischief, and rumor [shmuw’ah – teaching sound doctrine, and reporting truth] shall be upon rumor [shmuw’ah – teaching and reporting that isn’t believed, and the man of God reporting is still unknown – because of the lies and misleading of those who’ve blinded the world by drunkenness]; then shall they seek a vision of the prophet; but the law shall perish from the priest, and counsel from the ancients.
27 The king shall mourn, and the prince shall be clothed with desolation, and the hands of the people of the land shall be troubled: I will do unto them after their way, and according to their deserts will I judge them; and they shall know that I am the LORD.
In 2 Timothy 4 Paul warns of this time and tells of the crown (the tsphiyah) discussed above, given when the LORD appears (the epiphaneia and emphanizo). He is telling of when those who love the LORD, as He describes in John 14, realize this word is the actual word of God, and that they are in the presence of the LORD at His coming.
2 Timothy 4
1 I charge you therefore before God, and the LORD Jesus Christ, who shall judge the quick [those He has brought from death to life] and the dead at his appearing [epiphaneia – the manifestation to us and not to the world who sees nothing, because they are dead] and his kingdom;
2 Preach the word; be instant in season, out of season; reprove, rebuke, exhort with all long suffering and doctrine.
3 For the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine [the shmuw’ah, this report, the rumor proved to be truth]; but after their own lusts shall they heap to themselves teachers, having itching ears;
4 And they shall turn away their ears from the truth, and shall be turned unto fables [the lies taught and reported, in church and state].
5 But watch you in all things, endure afflictions, do the work of an evangelist, make full proof of your ministry.
6 For I am now ready to be offered, and the time of my departure is at hand.
7 I have fought a good fight, I have finished my course, I have kept the faith:
8 Henceforth there is laid up for me a crown [the tsphiyrah] of righteousness, which the LORD, the righteous judge, shall give me at that day: and not to me only, but unto all them also that love his appearing [epiphaneia – His manifestation].
Psalms 60
1 O God, you have cast us off, you have scattered us, you have been displeased; O turn yourself to us again.
2 You have made the earth to tremble; you have broken it: heal the breaches thereof; for it shakes.
3 You have shewed your people hard things: you have made us to drink the wine of astonishment.
4 You have given a banner to them that fear you, that it may be displayed because of the truth. Selah.
5 That your beloved may be delivered; save with your right hand, and hear me.
6 God has spoken in his holiness; I will rejoice, I will divide Shechem [rightly divide the burden], and mete out the valley of Succoth [and give portions to the lowly houses].
7 Gilead [this heap of testimony] is mine, and Manasseh [those who have forgotten Me] is mine; Ephraim [this second blessing, the freely given word of God’s truth] also is the strength of mine head; Judah [the elect remnant] is my lawgiver;
8 Moab is my wash-pot [at the gates of hell shall God’s people be cleansed]; over Edom will I cast out my shoe [take possession of the land now held by the enemies mixed among us]: Philistia, triumph you because of me.
9 Who will bring me into the strong city? who will lead me into Edom [the land the enemies have controlled]?
10 Will not you, O God, which has cast us off? and you, O God, which did not go out with our armies?
11 Give us help from trouble: for vain is the help of man.
12 Through God we shall do valiantly: for he it is that shall tread down our enemies.
As we know, Isaiah’s final time using the word shmuw’ah is in Isaiah 53:1 where the LORD asks, who has believed this “report.” Those who have, understand this is the arm, the work, the presence and glory of the LORD revealed.
Isaiah 52
1 Awake, awake; put on your strength, O Zion; put on your beautiful garments, O Jerusalem, the holy city: for henceforth there shall no more come into you the uncircumcised and the unclean.
2 Shake yourself from the dust; arise, and sit down, O Jerusalem: loose yourself from the bands of your neck, O captive daughter of Zion.
3 For thus says the LORD, You have sold yourselves for naught; and you shall be redeemed without money.
4 For thus says the LORD God, My people went down aforetime into Egypt to sojourn there; and the Assyrian oppressed them without cause.
5 Now therefore, what have I here, says the LORD, that my people is taken away for naught? they that rule over them make them to howl, says the LORD; and my name continually every day is blasphemed.
6 Therefore my people shall know my name: therefore they shall know in that day that I am he that doth speak: behold, it is I.
7 How beautiful upon the mountains are the feet of him that brings good tidings, that publishes peace; that brings good tidings of good, that publishes salvation; that says unto Zion, Your God reigns!
8 Your watchmen shall lift up the voice; with the voice together shall they sing: for they shall see eye to eye, when the LORD shall bring again Zion.
9 Break forth into joy, sing together, you waste places of Jerusalem: for the LORD has comforted his people, he has redeemed Jerusalem.
10 The LORD has made bare his holy arm in the eyes of all the nations; and all the ends of the earth shall see the salvation of our God.
11 Depart you, depart you, go you out from thence, touch no unclean thing; go you out of the midst of her; be you clean, that bear the vessels of the LORD.
12 For you shall not go out with haste, nor go by flight: for the LORD will go before you; and the God of Israel will be your reward.
13 Behold, my servant shall deal prudently, he shall be exalted and extolled, and be very high.
14 As many were astonished at you; his visage was so marred more than any man, and his form more than the sons of men:
15 So shall he sprinkle many nations; the kings shall shut their mouths at him: for that which had not been told them shall they see; and that which they had not heard shall they consider.
Isaiah 53
1 Who has believed our report [shmuw’ah – the rumor now proven to be sound doctrine]? and to whom is the arm of the LORD revealed?
The rumor Obadiah hears from the LORD is the report of the enemies among us, who are therein described, as are the LORD’s elect remnant He has brought with Him.
Jude
…The LORD comes with ten thousands of his saints,
15 To execute judgment upon all, and to convince all that are ungodly among them of all their ungodly deeds which they have ungodly committed, and of all their hard speeches which ungodly sinners have spoken against him.
16 These are murmurers, complainers, walking after their own lusts; and their mouth speaks great swelling words, having men’s persons in admiration because of advantage [the advantage of their positions].
17 But, beloved, remember you the words which were spoken before of the apostles of our LORD Jesus Christ;
18 How that they told you there should be mockers in the last time, who should walk after their own ungodly lusts.
The following is from the post of 10 February 2020:
How are the things of Esau searched out! how are his hidden things sought up!
The above, Obadiah 1:6, is speaking of the self-destruction of Esau, who we know is describing the enemies mixed among us. It says it is produced by their own ignorance (of which they are surprised when their lies don’t materialize). It says they’ve deceived themselves, which we now see manifested before our eyes as they follow their own deceptions. They’ve chained themselves to the absurd and delusional, knowing where it is taking them but unable to escape it.
Obadiah
1 The vision of Obadiah [the servant of Jehovah]. Thus says the LORD GOD concerning Edom; We have heard a rumor [shmuw’ah – doctrine here reported, the true author yet unknown] from the LORD, and an ambassador is sent among the heathen, Arise you, and let us rise up against her in battle.
2 Behold, I have made you small among the heathen: you are greatly despised.
3 The pride of your heart has deceived you, you that dwell in the clefts of the rock, whose habitation is high; that says in his heart, Who shall bring me down to the ground?
4 Though you exalt yourself as the eagle, and though you set your nest among the stars, thence will I bring you down, says the LORD.
5 If thieves came to you, if robbers by night, (how are you cut off!) would they not have stolen till they had enough? if the grape-gatherers came to you, would they not leave some grapes?
6 How are the things of Esau searched out! how are his hidden things sought up!
7 All the men of your confederacy have brought you even to the border: the men that were at peace with you have deceived you, and prevailed against you; they that eat your bread have laid a wound under you: there is none understanding in him.
8 Shall I not in that day, says the LORD, even destroy the wise men out of Edom, and understanding out of the mount of Esau?
9 And your mighty men, O Teman, shall be dismayed, to the end that every one of the mount of Esau may be cut off by slaughter.
10 For your violence against your brother Jacob shame shall cover you, and you shall be cut off forever.
11 In the day that you stood on the other side, in the day that the strangers carried away captive his forces, and foreigners entered into his gates, and cast lots upon Jerusalem, even you were as one of them.
12 But you should not have looked on the day of your brother in the day that he became a stranger; neither should you have rejoiced over the children of Judah in the day of their destruction; neither should you have spoken proudly in the day of distress.
13 You should not have entered into the gate of my people in the day of their calamity; yea, you should not have looked on their affliction in the day of their calamity, nor have laid hands on their substance in the day of their calamity;
14 Neither should you have stood in the crossway, to cut off those of his that did escape; neither should you have delivered up those of his that did remain in the day of distress.
15 For the day of the LORD is near upon all the heathen: as you have done, it shall be done unto you: your reward shall return upon your own head.
16 For as you have drunk upon my holy mountain, so shall all the heathen drink continually, yea, they shall drink, and they shall swallow down, and they shall be as though they had not been.
17 But upon mount Zion shall be deliverance, and there shall be holiness; and the house of Jacob shall possess their possessions.
18 And the house of Jacob shall be a fire, and the house of Joseph a flame, and the house of Esau for stubble, and they shall kindle in them, and devour them; and there shall not be any remaining of the house of Esau; for the LORD has spoken it.
19 And they of the south shall possess the mount of Esau; and they of the plain the Philistines: and they shall possess the fields of Ephraim, and the fields of Samaria: and Benjamin shall possess Gilead.
20 And the captivity of this host of the children of Israel shall possess that of the Canaanites [those who’ve been zealous against us], even unto Zarephath [unto their refining, purifying]; and the captivity of Jerusalem, which is in Sepharad [when they are separated to the LORD], shall possess the cities of the south.
21 And saviors shall come up on mount Zion to judge the mount of Esau; and the kingdom shall be the LORD’s.
As we have seen, the only power the wicked have is deception that produces ignorance. The problem they have is to keep the lie going they must also become ignorant, rejecting the contradictory reality of its effects no matter how obvious they become. Obadiah speaks of their end as when they are “cut off,” when the things that were hidden come to light, to understanding. The words “cut off” in verse 5 above are from damah, which tells of how these enemies are ended. The same words (cut off) appearing in verses 9, 10 & 14 are from the word karath, telling of when the end comes. It comes by the search spoken of above, from the Hebrew word chaphas, which in this context lead us to Proverbs where the word appears three times. It comes when understanding is found.
Proverbs 2
1 My son, if you will receive my words, and hide my commandments with you;
2 So that you incline your ear unto wisdom, and apply your heart to understanding;
3 Yea, if you cry after knowledge, and lift up your voice for understanding;
4 If you seek her as silver, and search [chaphas] for her as for hid treasures;
5 Then shall you understand the fear of the LORD, and find the knowledge of God.
6 For the LORD gives wisdom: out of his mouth comes knowledge and understanding.
7 He lays up sound wisdom for the righteous: he is a buckler to them that walk uprightly.
8 He keeps the paths of judgment, and preserves the way of his saints.
9 Then shall you understand righteousness, and judgment, and equity; yea, every good path.
10 When wisdom enters into your heart, and knowledge is pleasant unto your soul;
11 Discretion shall preserve you, understanding shall keep you:
12 To deliver you from the way of the evil man, from the man that speaks froward things [twisted and perverted truth];
13 Who leave the paths of uprightness, to walk in the ways of darkness;
14 Who rejoice to do evil, and delight in the frowardness [the twisted and perverted truth] of the wicked;
15 Whose ways are crooked, and they froward in their paths:
16 To deliver you from the strange woman, even from the stranger which flatters with her words;
17 Which forsakes the guide of her youth, and forgets the covenant of her God.
18 For her house inclines unto death, and her paths unto the dead.
19 None that go unto her return again, neither take they hold of the paths of life.
20 That you may walk in the way of good men, and keep the paths of the righteous.
21 For the upright shall dwell in the land, and the perfect shall remain in it.
22 But the wicked shall be cut off [karath] from the earth, and the transgressors shall be rooted out of it.
Proverbs 20
17 Bread of deceit is sweet to a man; but afterwards his mouth shall be filled with gravel.
18 Every purpose is established by counsel: and with good advice make war.
19 He that goes about as a talebearer reveales secrets: therefore meddle not with him that flatters with his lips.
20 Whoso curses his father or his mother [who teach knowledge, and produce understanding and wisdom], his lamp shall be put out in obscure darkness [ignorance].
21 An inheritance may be gotten hastily at the beginning; but the end thereof shall not be blessed.
22 Say not you, I will recompense evil; but wait on the LORD, and he shall save you.
23 Divers weights are an abomination unto the LORD; and a false balance is not good.
24 Man’s goings are of the LORD; how can a man then understand his own way?
25 It is a snare to the man who devours that which is holy, and after vows to make enquiry.
26 A wise king scatters the wicked, and brings the wheel over them.
27 The spirit [nshamah – the “inspiration” of the Almighty that gives understanding – see Job 32:8] of man is the candle of the LORD, searching [chaphas] all the inward parts of the belly.
28 Mercy and truth preserve the king: and his throne is upheld by mercy.
Proverbs 28
9 He that turns away his ear from hearing the law, even his prayer shall be abomination.
10 Whoso causes the righteous to go astray in an evil way, he shall fall himself into his own pit: but the upright shall have good things in possession.
11 The rich man is wise in his own conceit; but the poor that has understanding searches him out.
12 When righteous men do rejoice, there is great glory: but when the wicked rise, a man is hidden [chaphas].
The word damah used above when asking “how” these wicked men are “cut off” leads us to Hosea. The word means to be dumb or silent; hence, to fail or perish (be destroyed). The LORD says in Hosea 4:6 this destruction comes by a lack of knowledge, and in verse 5 He says He will destroy the mother, meaning those who’ve taught His people to reject truth, mercy, and the knowledge of God.
Hosea 4
1 Hear the word of the LORD, you children of Israel: for the LORD has a controversy with the inhabitants of the land, because there is no truth, nor mercy, nor knowledge of God in the land.
2 By swearing, and lying, and killing, and stealing, and committing adultery, they break out, and blood touches blood.
3 Therefore shall the land mourn, and every one that dwells therein shall languish, with the beasts of the field, and with the fowls of heaven; yea, the fishes of the sea also shall be taken away.
4 Yet let no man strive, nor reprove another: for your people are as they that strive with the priest.
5 Therefore shall you fall in the day, and the prophet also shall fall with you in the night, and I will destroy [damah] your mother.
6 My people are destroyed [damah] for lack of knowledge: because you have rejected knowledge, I will also reject you, that you shall be no priest to me: seeing you have forgotten the law of your God, I will also forget your children.
The above is speaking of cutting off the priest, the false teachers among us. Chapter 10 then tells of cutting off the king, meaning the political leaders (thorns, thistles, and brambles) who led and lead the nation into idol worship.
Hosea 10
1 Israel is an empty vine, he brings forth fruit unto himself: according to the multitude of his fruit he has increased the altars; according to the goodness of his land they have made goodly images.
2 Their heart is divided; now shall they be found faulty: he shall break down their altars, he shall spoil their images.
3 For now they shall say, We have no king, because we feared not the LORD; what then should a king do to us?
4 They have spoken words, swearing falsely in making a covenant: thus judgment springs up as hemlock in the furrows of the field.
5 The inhabitants of Samaria shall fear because of the calves of Bethaven [the worthless house]: for the people thereof shall mourn over it, and the priests [the devils, the misleaders] thereof that rejoiced on it, for the glory thereof, because it is departed from it.
6 It shall be also carried unto Assyria for a present to king Jareb: Ephraim shall receive shame, and Israel shall be ashamed of his own counsel.
7 As for Samaria, her king is cut off [damah] as the foam upon the water.
8 The high places also of Aven [worthless], the sin of Israel, shall be destroyed: the thorn and the thistle shall come up on their altars; and they shall say to the mountains, Cover us; and to the hills, Fall on us.
9 O Israel, you have sinned from the days of Gibeah [mountains – high places]: there they stood: the battle in Gibeah [mountains – high places] against the children of iniquity did not overtake them.
10 It is in my desire that I should chastise them; and the people shall be gathered against them, when they shall bind themselves in their two furrows.
11 And Ephraim is as a heifer that is taught, and loves to tread out the corn; but I passed over upon her fair neck: I will make Ephraim to ride; Judah shall plow [because of the hemlock], and Jacob shall break his clods.
12 Sow to yourselves in righteousness, reap in mercy; break up your fallow ground: for it is time to seek the LORD, till he come and rain righteousness upon you.
13 You have plowed wickedness, you have reaped iniquity; you have eaten the fruit of lies: because you did trust in your way, in the multitude of your mighty men.
14 Therefore shall a tumult arise among your people, and all your fortresses shall be spoiled, as Shalman [fire worshippers] spoiled Betharbel [the house of God’s ambush] in the day of battle: the mother was dashed in pieces upon her children.
15 So shall Bethel [the places where the calves and devils were put in God’s place] do unto you because of your great wickedness: in a morning shall the king of Israel utterly be cut off [damah].
Verse 8 above is quoted in ending Revelation 6, both telling of when the thorns and thistles are hiding from the coming destruction. This description is referring us to Isaiah 34 where we told of the thorns and brambles, who have replaced the princes in the palaces, whose destruction has come.
Isaiah 34
5 For my sword shall be bathed in heaven: behold, it shall come down upon Idumea [Esau, the enemies mixed among us], and upon the people of my curse, to judgment.
6 The sword of the LORD is filled with blood, it is made fat with fatness, and with the blood of lambs and goats, with the fat of the kidneys of rams: for the LORD has a sacrifice in Bozrah [among His flock], and a great slaughter in the land of Idumea.
7 And the unicorns [the one power] shall come down with them, and the bullocks with the bulls; and their land shall be soaked with blood, and their dust made fat with fatness.
8 For it is the day of the LORD’s vengeance, and the year of recompenses for the controversy of Zion.
9 And the streams thereof shall be turned into pitch, and the dust thereof into brimstone, and the land thereof shall become burning pitch [burning fires of darkness].
10 It shall not be quenched night nor day; the smoke thereof shall go up forever: from generation to generation it shall lie waste; none shall pass through it forever and ever.
11 But the cormorant and the bittern shall possess it; the owl [those who hunt in the darkness] also and the raven [those covered in darkness] shall dwell in it: and he shall stretch out upon it the line of confusion [tohuw – without form], and the stones of emptiness [bohuw – and void – as in Genesis 1:2].
12 They shall call the nobles thereof to the kingdom, but none shall be there, and all her princes shall be nothing.
13 And thorns shall come up in her palaces, nettles and brambles in the fortresses thereof: and it shall be a habitation of dragons [those who poison and devour with their ever-open mouths], and a court for owls [those who hunt {souls} in the darkness].
Revelation 6
12 And I beheld when he had opened the sixth seal, and, lo, there was a great earthquake; and the sun became black as sackcloth of hair, and the moon became as blood;
13 And the stars of heaven fell unto the earth, even as a fig tree casts her untimely figs, when she is shaken of a mighty wind.
14 And the heaven departed as a scroll when it is rolled together; and every mountain and island were moved out of their places.
15 And the kings of the earth, and the great men, and the rich men, and the chief captains, and the mighty men, and every bondman, and every free man, hid themselves in the dens and in the rocks of the mountains;
16 And said to the mountains and rocks, Fall on us, and hide us from the face of him that sits on the throne, and from the wrath of the Lamb:
17 For the great day of his wrath is come; and who shall be able to stand?
Psalms 121
1 I will lift up mine eyes unto the hills, from whence comes my help.
2 My help comes from the LORD, which made heaven and earth.
3 He will not suffer your foot to be moved: he that keeps you will not slumber.
4 Behold, he that keeps Israel shall neither slumber nor sleep.
5 The LORD is your keeper: the LORD is your shade upon your right hand.
6 The sun shall not smite you by day, nor the moon by night.
7 The LORD shall preserve you from all evil: he shall preserve your soul.
8 The LORD shall preserve your going out and your coming in from this time forth, and even for evermore.
