Continuing the examination of the “firebrand” as it tells us of the fires caused by the hand of our captors by means of their manipulation of the deadened mind of the majority. We have studied their methods in detail even seeing it as what God’s word defines perfectly using word translated as “wizards.” In the original Hebrew text we saw these thought to be fictional characters as men who use engineered discourse to first deadened the hearer’s ability to know reality, and once lulled into a state of stupor manipulated to unwittingly perform the will of their controllors.
While we’ve been having this discussion the providential hand of the LORD appears in the experiment/experience validating this truth unquestionably being performed in its extreme before our eyes. The truth is I don’t think those employing these influences understand the full extent of what is happening, or Who in reality is in control and to what end.
The context we saw yesterday in looking at Proverbs 26 was of the “firebrand” spoken of as what starts the fire that melts away the principles upon which the world operates. The wider perspective was this as part an inescapable rut that eventually returns as destruction upon those instigating it. The Hebrew word ziyqah is translated “firebrand,” and we fully understand it in the afore mentioned context through its meaning, translations, and seven times used.
Here is the Strong’s Hebrew Dictionary definition: Strong’s #2131: ziyqah (pronounced zee-kaw’) (Isa. 50: (feminine); and ziq {zeek}; or zeq {zake}; from 2187; properly, what leaps forth, i.e. flash of fire, or a burning arrow; also (from the original sense of the root) a bond:–chain, fetter, firebrand, spark.
The first use of the word is in Job 36:8 in telling of these as “fetters,” and cords of afflictions. Into this condition the LORD’s instruction is sent, to make man aware and then to deliver those heeding the warning. “3 I will fetch my knowledge from afar, and will ascribe righteousness to my Maker. 4 For truly my words shall not be false: he that is perfect in knowledge is with you. 5 Behold, God is mighty, and despises not any: he is mighty in strength and wisdom. 6 He preserves not the life of the wicked: but gives right to the poor. 7 He withdraws not his eyes from the righteous: but with kings are they on the throne; yea, he doth establish them for ever, and they are exalted. 8 And if they be bound in fetters, and be held in cords of affliction; 9 Then he shows them their work, and their transgressions that they have exceeded. 10 He opens also their ear to discipline, and commands that they return from iniquity. 11 If they obey and serve him, they shall spend their days in prosperity, and their years in pleasures. 12 But if they obey not, they shall perish by the sword, and they shall die without knowledge.”
In Psalms 149:8 the word is the “chains” that bind those using these techniques of mind manipulation. We are told therein of this chaining occurring as part of the judgment written, and in the day of the LORD’s vengeance upon those using these foreign ways (foreign from God’s way). We see it as if a new song, the victory song as the LORD our deliverer (savior) is seen in His glory. The Psalm begins and ends with the Hebrew words for Hallelujah. It is translated “Praise the LORD,” and the actual words are halal and Yahh.
Here are the definitions from Strong’s Hebrew Dictionary:
Strong’s #1984: halal (pronounced haw-lal’) a primitive root; to be clear (orig. of sound, but usually of color); to shine; hence, to make a show, to boast; and thus to be (clamorously) foolish; to rave; causatively, to celebrate; also to stultify:–(make) boast (self), celebrate, commend, (deal, make), fool(- ish, -ly), glory, give (light), be (make, feign self) mad (against), give in marriage, (sing, be worthy of) praise, rage, renowned, shine.
Strong’s #3050: Yahh (pronounced yaw) contraction for 3068, and meaning the same; Jah, the sacred name:–Jah, the LORD, most vehement. Compare names in “-iah,” “- jah.”
Psalms 149
1 Praise the LORD. Sing unto the LORD a new song, and his praise in the congregation of saints.
2 Let Israel rejoice in him that made him: let the children of Zion be joyful in their King.
3 Let them praise his name in the dance: let them sing praises unto him with the timbrel and harp.
4 For the LORD takes pleasure in his people: he will beautify the meek with salvation.
5 Let the saints be joyful in glory: let them sing aloud upon their beds.
6 Let the high praises of God be in their mouth, and a two-edged sword in their hand;
7 To execute vengeance upon the heathen, and punishments upon the people;
8 To bind their kings with chains, and their nobles with fetters of iron;
9 To execute upon them the judgment written: this honor have all his saints. Praise the LORD.
The word ziyqah is then used in Isaiah 45:14 to tell of those in chains (self-created) that acknowledge the Creator saying, “Surely God is in you, and there is none else, there is no other God.” The chapter is telling of Cyrus and one the LORD sends to weaken those controlling the earth into darkness by intention. It tells of our seeing and understanding the ways of darkness, as they have been hidden for us to understand at this time – so that we will know the LORD. The name Cyrus is from kuwr, and the name can therefor be seen as meaning, the creator of the furnace.
Isaiah 45
1 Thus says the LORD to his anointed, to Cyrus, whose right hand I have held, to subdue nations before him; and I will loose the loins of kings, to open before him the two leaved gates; and the gates shall not be shut;
2 I will go before you, and make the crooked places straight: I will break in pieces the gates of brass, and cut in sunder the bars of iron:
3 And I will give you the treasures of darkness, and hidden riches of secret places, that you may know that I, the LORD, which call you by your name, am the God of Israel.
4 For Jacob my servant’s sake, and Israel mine elect, I have even called you by your name: I have surnamed you, though you have not known me.
5 I am the LORD, and there is none else, there is no God beside me: I girded you, though you have not known me:
6 That they may know from the rising of the sun, and from the west, that there is none beside me. I am the LORD, and there is none else.
7 I form the light, and create darkness: I make peace, and create evil: I the LORD do all these things.
8 Drop down, you heavens, from above, and let the skies pour down righteousness: let the earth open, and let them bring forth salvation, and let righteousness spring up together; I the LORD have created it.
9 Woe unto him that strives with his Maker! Let the potshard strive with the potshards of the earth. Shall the clay say to him that fashions it, What have you made? or to your work, He has no hands?
10 Woe unto him that says unto his father, What have you begotten? or to the woman, What have you brought forth?
11 Thus says the LORD, the Holy One of Israel, and his Maker, Ask me of things to come concerning my sons, and concerning the work of my hands command you me.
12 I have made the earth, and created man upon it: I, even my hands, have stretched out the heavens, and all their host have I commanded.
13 I have raised him up in righteousness, and I will direct all his ways: he shall build my city, and he shall let go my captives, not for price nor reward, says the LORD of hosts.
14 Thus says the LORD, The labor of Egypt, and merchandise of Ethiopia and of the Sabeans, men of stature, shall come over unto you, and they shall be yours: they shall come after you; in chains they shall come over, and they shall fall down unto you, they shall make supplication unto you, saying, Surely God is in you; and there is none else, there is no God.
15 Verily you are a God that hides yourself, O God of Israel, the Savior.
16 They shall be ashamed, and also confounded, all of them: they shall go to confusion together that are makers of idols.
17 But Israel shall be saved in the LORD with an everlasting salvation: you shall not be ashamed nor confounded world without end.
18 For thus says the LORD that created the heavens; God himself that formed the earth and made it; he has established it, he created it not in vain, he formed it to be inhabited: I am the LORD; and there is none else.
19 I have not spoken in secret, in a dark place of the earth: I said not unto the seed of Jacob, Seek you me in vain: I the LORD speak righteousness, I declare things that are right.
20 Assemble yourselves and come; draw near together, you that are escaped of the nations: they have no knowledge that set up the wood of their graven image, and pray unto a god that cannot save.
21 Tell you, and bring them near; yea, let them take counsel together: who has declared this from ancient time? who has told it from that time? have not I the LORD? and there is no God else beside me; a just God and a Savior; there is none beside me.
22 Look unto me, and be you saved, all the ends of the earth: for I am God, and there is none else.
23 I have sworn by myself, the word is gone out of my mouth in righteousness, and shall not return, That unto me every knee shall bow, every tongue shall swear.
24 Surely, shall one say, in the LORD have I righteousness and strength: even to him shall men come; and all that are incensed against him shall be ashamed.
25 In the LORD shall all the seed of Israel be justified, and shall glory.
The word ziq (ziyqah) is then used twice as “sparks” in Isaiah 50:11 were it very plainly states the premise as the LORD speaks to those who have created the fires. He implores them to see the light of the fire and to hear His correction: to come out of the darkness they walk in (their way) where there is no light. The passage uses the word “sparks” to tell what compasses them. The word compass is actually the word gird, meaning it as what prepares you for travel, the walk in your way. These are what kindle the greater fire, eventually exposing the flawed principles upon which the chaotic world now rests. Use your minds and repent (choose a different way, and in doing save yourselves).
Isaiah 50
1 Thus says the LORD, Where is the bill of your mother’s divorcement, whom I have put away? or which of my creditors is it to whom I have sold you? Behold, for your iniquities have you sold yourselves, and for your transgressions is your mother put away.
2 Wherefore, when I came, was there no man? when I called, was there none to answer? Is my hand shortened at all, that it cannot redeem? or have I no power to deliver? behold, at my rebuke I dry up the sea, I make the rivers a wilderness: their fish stinks, because there is no water, and dies for thirst.
3 I clothe the heavens with blackness, and I make sackcloth their covering.
4 The LORD God has given me the tongue of the learned, that I should know how to speak a word in season to him that is weary: he wakes morning by morning, he wakes my ear to hear as the learned.
5 The LORD God has opened mine ear, and I was not rebellious, neither turned away back.
6 I gave my back to the smiters, and my cheeks to them that plucked off the hair: I hid not my face from shame and spitting.
7 For the LORD God will help me; therefore shall I not be confounded: therefore have I set my face like a flint, and I know that I shall not be ashamed.
8 He is near that justifies me; who will contend with me? let us stand together: who is mine adversary? let him come near to me.
9 Behold, the LORD God will help me; who is he that shall condemn me? lo, they all shall wax old as a garment; the moth shall eat them up.
10 Who is among you that fears the LORD, that obeys the voice of his servant, that walks in darkness, and has no light? let him trust in the name of the LORD, and stay upon his God.
11 Behold, all you that kindle a fire, that compass yourselves about with sparks: walk in the light of your fire, and in the sparks that you have kindled. This shall you have of mine hand; you shall lie down in sorrow.
When Isaiah 50:1 asks the question about the “bill of divorce” it is speaking in the same context as we read in Nahum 3, where in verse 10 the final use of ziyqah appears and is again translated “chains.” The chapter begins with describing the world as it now stands, and then the cause told as God’s people going after idols, the god’s of foreign nations who have already destroyed themselves by following these ways. It describes their ways as by witch-craft, in the context as we understand it as inducing darkened and deadened minds by the words they broadcast.
Nahum 3
1 Woe to the bloody city! it is all full of lies and robbery; the prey departs not;
2 The noise of a whip, and the noise of the rattling of the wheels, and of the prancing horses, and of the jumping chariots.
3 The horseman lifts up both the bright sword and the glittering spear: and there is a multitude of slain, and a great number of carcasses; and there is none end of their corpses; they stumble upon their corpses:
4 Because of the multitude of the idolatry of the well-favored harlot, the mistress of witchcrafts, that sells nations through her idolatry, and families through her witchcrafts.
5 Behold, I am against you, says the LORD of hosts; and I will discover your skirts upon your face, and I will show the nations your nakedness, and the kingdoms your shame.
6 And I will cast abominable filth upon you, and make you vile, and will set you as an example to be seen.
7 And it shall come to pass, that all they that look upon you [see your example] shall flee from you, and say, Nineveh is laid waste: who will bemoan her? whence shall I seek comforters for you?
8 Are you better than populous No, that was situate among the rivers, that had the waters round about it, whose rampart was the sea, and her wall was from the sea?
9 Ethiopia and Egypt were her strength, and it was infinite; Put and Lubim were your helpers.
10 Yet was she carried away, she went into captivity: her young children also were dashed in pieces at the top of all the streets: and they cast lots for her honorable men, and all her great men were bound in chains.
11 You also shall be drunken: you shall be hid, you also shall seek strength because of the enemy.
12 All your strong holds shall be like fig trees with the first-ripe figs: if they be shaken, they shall even fall into the mouth of the eater.
13 Behold, your people in the midst of you are women: the gates of your land shall be set wide open unto your enemies: the fire shall devour your bars.
14 Draw you waters for the siege, fortify your strong holds: go into clay, and tread the mortar, make strong the brick-kiln [furnace].
15 There shall the fire devour you; the sword shall cut you off, it shall eat you up like the cankerworm: make thyself many as the cankerworm, make yourself many as the locusts.
16 You have multiplied your merchants above the stars of heaven: the cankerworm spoils, and flees away.
17 Your crowned are as the locusts, and your captains as the great grasshoppers, which camp in the hedges in the cold day, but when the sun arises they flee away, and their place is not known where they are.
18 Your shepherds slumber, O king of Assyria: your nobles shall dwell in the dust: your people are scattered upon the mountains, and no man gathers them.
19 There is no healing of your bruise; your wound is grievous: all that hear the bruit of you shall clap the hands over you: for upon whom has not your wickedness passed continually?
The conclusion and point is things aren’t as what these peeping wizards are attempting lead people into believing. The condition is being created by them. The ultimate outcome is in the Hand of the LORD of Hosts.
Thus says the LORD, “You shall not need to fight in this battle: set yourselves, stand still, and see the salvation of the LORD with you.”
Proverbs 29
1 He, that being often reproved hardens his neck, shall suddenly be destroyed, and that without remedy.
2 When the righteous are in authority, the people rejoice: but when the wicked bears rule, the people mourn.
3 Whoso loves wisdom rejoices his father: but he that keeps company with harlots spends his substance.
4 The king by judgment establishes the land: but he that receives gifts overthrows it.
5 A man that flatters his neighbor spreads a net for his feet.
6 In the transgression of an evil man there is a snare: but the righteous doth sing and rejoice.
7 The righteous considers the cause of the poor: but the wicked regards not to know it.
8 Scornful men bring a city into a snare: but wise men turn away wrath.
9 If a wise man contends with a foolish man, whether he rage or laugh, there is no rest.
10 The bloodthirsty hate the upright: but the just seek his soul.
11 A fool utters all his mind: but a wise man keep it in till afterwards.
12 If a ruler hearken to lies, all his servants are wicked.
13 The poor and the deceitful man meet together: the LORD enlightens both their eyes.
14 The king that faithfully judges the poor, his throne shall be established for ever.
15 The rod and reproof give wisdom: but a child left to himself brings his mother to shame.
16 When the wicked are multiplied, transgression increases: but the righteous shall see their fall.
17 Correct your son, and he shall give you rest; yea, he shall give delight unto your soul.
18 Where there is no vision, the people perish: but he that keeps the law, happy is he.
19 A servant will not be corrected by words: for though he understand he will not answer.
20 See a man that is hasty in his words? there is more hope of a fool than of him.
21 He that delicately brings up his servant from a child shall have him become his son at the length.
22 An angry man stirs up strife, and a furious man abounds in transgression.
23 A man’s pride shall bring him low: but honor shall uphold the humble in spirit.
24 Whoso is partner with a thief hates his own soul: he hears cursing, and berates it not.
25 The fear of man brings a snare: but whoso puts his trust in the LORD shall be safe.
26 Many seek the ruler’s favor; but every man’s judgment cometh from the LORD.
27 An unjust man is an abomination to the just: and he that is upright in the way is abomination to the wicked.
