Therefore is the kingdom of heaven likened unto a certain king, which would take account of his servants.
The title, Matthew 18:23, is the LORD beginning a parable that goes on to tell of a servant who owed more than he had to the LORD God Almighty, and when it came time for the repayment the man couldn’t pay. He asked for more time, for the LORD to have patience with him until he could pay all.
The story goes on to tell of the LORD forgiving him his debt, but in response, he went looking for a fellow-servant who owed him just pennies and demanding payment. This debtor, using the exact words as the first servant, asked for patience until he could pay all. Instead of forgiveness, the first servant cast his fellow servant into prison, until he paid all the debt.
Matthew 18
31 So when his fellow-servants saw what was done, they were very sorry, and came and told unto their LORD all that was done.
32 Then his LORD, after that he had called him, said unto him, O you wicked servant, I forgave you all that debt, because you desired me [asked for forgiveness]:
33 Should not you also have had compassion on your fellow-servant [who asked you for forgiveness], even as I had pity on you?
34 And his LORD was wroth [the LORD’s wrath was kindled], and delivered him to the tormentors, till he should pay all that was due unto him.
35 So likewise shall my heavenly Father do also unto you, if you from your hearts forgive not every one his brother their trespasses.
The above is connected to our previous conversations about selling all (making the 100% commitment) to follow the LORD. The LORD has forgiven us our debt, because we couldn’t pay what we owed, and gave us a new start, which exhibited great patience while He laid the new (eternal) foundation. This new start is spoken of, as the chapter begins, when He (the LORD) says all must become as little children (who come to learn the new foundation), so we can then give others these same living waters, in His name, after we have been recreated in His likeness (servant doing as their LORD has shown us by example, so He can be reproduced in others who become as little children).
Matthew 18
1 At the same time came the disciples unto Jesus, saying, Who is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven?
2 And Jesus called a little child unto him, and set him in the midst of them,
3 And said, Truly I say unto you, Except you be converted, and become as little children, you shall not enter into the kingdom of heaven.
4 Whosoever therefore shall humble himself as this little child, the same is greatest in the kingdom of heaven.
5 And whoso shall receive one such little child in my name receives me.
6 But whoso shall offend [skandalizo – entrap, trip up, cause them to stumble] one of these little ones which believe in me, it were better for him that a millstone were hanged about his neck, and that he were drowned in the depth of the sea.
7 Woe unto the world because of offences [skandalon – snares, stumblinblocks, causing them to fall]! for it must needs be that offences [skandalon- snares] come; but woe to that man by whom the offence [skandalon – snares] comes!
8 Wherefore if your hand or your foot [speaking to the church’s works and ways, His people as one body] offend you [skandelizo – entrap, cause you to fall], cut them off, and cast them from you: it is better for you to enter into life halt or maimed, rather than having two hands or two feet to be cast into everlasting fire [caused by these part of the body, whose leaven, man created doctrines, cause the whole body to become corrupted].
9 And if your eye [if these men’s blindness blinds the body from seeing clearly and judging rightly] offend you [skandalizo – cause you to fall {away from God’s truth}], pluck it out, and cast it from you: it is better for you to enter into life with one eye, rather than having two eyes to be cast into hell fire [caused by these men’s blindness {their inability to see God, realize His presence and follow His leading into life}].
10 Take heed that you despise not one of these little ones [who have sold out, given up all they thought they knew, to learn the LORD’s foundation, which are the ways and ideas of peace, security, and civilization, flowing from Him as living waters, precept upon precept, line upon line]; for I say unto you, That in heaven their angels [referred to as the other fellow servants in verse 31 above] do always behold the face of my Father which is in heaven.
11 For the Son of man is come to save that which was lost.
12 How think you? if a man have an hundred sheep, and one of them be gone astray, does he not leave the ninety and nine, and goes into the mountains, and seek that which is gone astray [one of these little ones]?
13 And if so be that he find it, truly I say unto you, he rejoices more of that sheep, than of the ninety and nine which went not astray.
14 Even so it is not the will of your Father which is in heaven, that one of these little ones should perish.
15 Moreover if your brother shall trespass against you, go and tell him his fault between you and him alone: if he shall hear you, you have gained your brother.
16 But if he will not hear you, then take with you one or two more, that in the mouth of two or three witnesses every word may be established.
17 And if he shall neglect to hear them, tell it unto the church [I tell you now, Church, ALL denomination are corrupted by the man made doctrines of those who lead them. They cannot be reformed, because they are unable to see, unable to rightly divide between the LORD’s word and the word of blind men before them, saying, “Touch not; taste not; handle not.” See Colossians 2 below]: but if he neglect to hear the church, let him be unto you as an heathen man and a publican [cast them from the pulpits, for “it is better for you to enter into life with one eye, rather than having two eyes to be cast into hell fire”].
18 Truly I say unto you, Whatsoever you shall bind on earth shall be bound in heaven: and whatsoever you shall loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven.
19 Again I say unto you, That if two of you shall agree [with the LORD, they are His church] on earth as touching any thing that they shall ask, it shall be done for them of my Father which is in heaven.
20 For where two or three are gathered together in my name, there am I in the midst of them [they are My body, the Body of Christ].
21 Then came Peter to him, and said, LORD, how oft shall my brother sin against me, and I forgive him? till seven times?
22 Jesus said unto him, I say not unto you, Until seven times: but, Until seventy times seven [exhibiting the LORD’s patience, “The LORD is not slack concerning his promise, as some men count slackness; but is longsuffering to us-ward, not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance.” 2 Peter 3:9].
23 Therefore is the kingdom of heaven likened unto a certain king, which would take account of his servants.
24 And when he had begun to reckon, one was brought unto him, which owed him ten thousand talents.
25 But forasmuch as he had not to pay, his LORD commanded him to be sold, and his wife, and children, and all that he had, and payment to be made.
26 The servant therefore fell down, and worshipped him, saying, LORD, have patience with me, and I will pay you all.
27 Then the LORD of that servant was moved with compassion, and loosed him, and forgave him the debt.
28 But the same servant went out, and found one of his fellow-servants, which owed him an hundred pence: and he laid hands on him, and took him by the throat, saying, Pay me that you owe.
29 And his fellow-servant fell down at his feet, and besought him, saying, Have patience with me, and I will pay you all.
30 And he would not: but went and cast him into prison, till he should pay the debt.
In verse 16 above the LORD is referring us to Deuteronomy 19:15, and a passage that tells of cutting off hands and feet, which is speaking of false accusers and false witnesses among us. The referenced passage begins by telling us not to remove our neighbor’s landmark, which they have of old set up in their inheritance. These are the borders (gbuwl – the cord {that connects us with}), the limits that ensure the inheritance remains intact and ours, as intended (by the LORD God Almighty).
Deuteronomy 19
14 You shall not remove your neighbor’s landmark, which they of old time have set in your inheritance, which you shall inherit in the land that the LORD your God gives you to possess it.
15 One witness shall not rise up against a man for any iniquity, or for any sin, in any sin that he sins: at the mouth of two witnesses, or at the mouth of three witnesses, shall the matter be established.
16 If a false witness rise up against any man to testify against him that which is wrong;
17 Then both the men, between whom the controversy is, shall stand before the LORD, before the priests and the judges, which shall be in those days;
18 And the judges shall make diligent inquisition: and, behold, if the witness be a false witness, and has testified falsely against his brother;
19 Then shall you do unto him, as he had thought to have done unto his brother: so shall you put the evil away from among you.
20 And those which remain shall hear, and fear, and shall henceforth commit no more any such evil among you.
21 And your eye shall not pity; but life shall go for life, eye for eye, tooth for tooth, hand for hand, foot for foot.
The word “remove” used in Deuteronomy 19:14 is the nine times used Hebrew word nacag, meaning to take away, as in cut off. This word gives us the context of the above passage, and the LORD’s words in Matthew 18, which is telling us to remove those things, the false witnesses and false accusers among us, whose ideas, works, and ways, have removed what connects us to our inheritance.
In the context on the same passages, the LORD uses the words nacag and gbuwl to lead us to their appearance in Proverbs 22:28 and 23:10.
Proverbs 22
12 The eyes of the LORD preserve knowledge, and he overthrows the words of the transgressor.
13 The slothful man says, There is a lion without, I shall be slain in the streets.
14 The mouth of strange women is a deep pit: he that is abhorred of the LORD shall fall therein.
15 Foolishness is bound in the heart of a child; but the rod of correction shall drive it far from him.
16 He that oppresses the poor to increase his riches, and he that gives to the rich, shall surely come to want.
17 Bow down your ear, and hear the words of the wise, and apply your heart unto my knowledge.
18 For it is a pleasant thing if you keep them within you; they shall withal be fitted in your lips.
19 That your trust may be in the LORD, I have made known to you this day, even to you.
20 Have not I written to you excellent things in counsels and knowledge,
21 That I might make you know the certainty of the words of truth; that you might answer the words of truth to them that send unto you?
22 Rob not the poor, because he is poor: neither oppress the afflicted in the gate:
23 For the LORD will plead their cause, and spoil the soul of those that spoiled them.
24 Make no friendship with an angry man; and with a furious man you shall not go:
25 Lest you learn his ways, and get a snare to your soul.
26 Be not you one of them that strike hands, or of them that are sureties for debts.
27 If you have nothing to pay, why should he take away your bed from under you?
28 Remove [nacag] not the ancient landmark [gbuwl], which your fathers have set.
29 See you a man diligent in his business? he shall stand before kings; he shall not stand before mean men.
Proverbs 23
1 When you sit to eat with a ruler, consider diligently what is before you:
2 And put a knife to your throat, if you be a man given to appetite.
3 Be not desirous of his dainties: for they are deceitful meat.
4 Labor not to be rich: cease from your own wisdom.
5 Will you set your eyes upon that which is not? for riches certainly make themselves wings; they fly away as an eagle toward heaven.
6 Eat you not the bread of him that has an evil eye, neither desire you his dainty meats:
7 For as he thinks in his heart, so is he: Eat and drink, says he to you; but his heart is not with you.
8 The morsel which you have eaten shall you vomit up, and lose your sweet words.
9 Speak not in the ears of a fool: for he will despise the wisdom of your words.
10 Remove [nacag] not the old landmark [gbuwl]; and enter not into the fields of the fatherless:
11 For their redeemer is mighty; he shall plead their cause with you.
12 Apply your heart unto instruction, and your ears to the words of knowledge.
13 Withhold not correction from the child: for if you beat him with the rod, he shall not die.
14 You shall beat him with the rod, and shall deliver his soul from hell.
15 My son, if your heart be wise, my heart shall rejoice, even mine.
16 Yea, my reins shall rejoice, when your lips speak right things.
17 Let not your heart envy sinners: but be you in the fear of the LORD all the day long.
18 For surely there is an end; and your expectation shall not be cut off.
19 Hear you, my son, and be wise, and guide your heart in the way.
In Isaiah 59:13 & 14 the word nacag appears, first in telling of “departing” from God, and then of judgment “turned away” backward (meaning it is reversed). This isn’t hard to understand, unless you refuse to become as a little child, and give up, cut off, ALL the false doctrine and false witnessing that says, “God says,” when He hasn’t said any such thing.
Isaiah 59
1 Behold, the LORD’s hand [see Habakkuk 3:4] is not shortened, that it cannot save; neither his ear heavy, that it cannot hear:
2 But your iniquities have separated between you and your God, and your sins have hid his face from you, that he will not hear.
3 For your hands are defiled with blood, and your fingers with iniquity; your lips have spoken lies, your tongue has muttered perverseness.
4 None calls for justice, nor any pleads for truth: they trust in vanity, and speak lies; they conceive mischief, and bring forth iniquity.
5 They hatch cockatrice’ eggs, and weave the spider’s web: he that eats of their eggs dies, and that which is crushed breaks out into a viper.
6 Their webs shall not become garments, neither shall they cover themselves with their works: their works are works of iniquity, and the act of violence is in their hands.
7 Their feet run to evil, and they make haste to shed innocent blood: their thoughts are thoughts of iniquity; wasting and destruction are in their paths.
8 The way of peace they know not; and there is no judgment in their goings: they have made them crooked paths: whosoever goes therein [all their false churches, corrupt by the leaven of false doctrines] shall not know peace.
9 Therefore is judgment far from us, neither does justice overtake us: we wait for light [understanding], but behold obscurity [understanding is obscured by their false doctrines]; for brightness [to give understanding], but we walk in darkness [ignorance].
10 We grope for the wall like the blind, and we grope as if we had no eyes: we stumble at noon day as in the night; we are in desolate places as dead men.
11 We roar all like bears, and mourn sore like doves: we look for judgment, but there is none; for salvation, but it is far off from us.
12 For our transgressions are multiplied before you, and our sins testify against us: for our transgressions are with us; and as for our iniquities, we know them;
13 In transgressing and lying against the LORD, and departing [nacag] away from our God, speaking oppression and revolt, conceiving and uttering from the heart words of falsehood.
14 And judgment is turned away [nacag] backward, and justice stands afar off: for truth is fallen in the street, and equity cannot enter.
15 Yea, truth fails; and he that departs from evil makes himself a prey [by looking for light in these places of darkness]: and the LORD saw it, and it displeased him that there was no judgment.
16 And he saw that there was no man, and wondered that there was no intercessor: therefore his arm brought salvation unto him; and his righteousness, it sustained him.
17 For he put on righteousness as a breastplate, and an helmet of salvation upon his head; and he put on the garments of vengeance for clothing, and was clad with zeal as a cloak.
18 According to their deeds, accordingly he will repay, fury to his adversaries, recompense to his enemies; to the islands he will repay recompense [give them the reward they deserve].
19 So shall they fear the name of the LORD from the west, and his glory from the rising of the sun. When the enemy shall come in like a flood, the Spirit of the LORD shall lift up a standard against him.
20 And the Redeemer shall come to Zion, and unto them that turn from transgression in Jacob, says the LORD.
21 As for me, this is my covenant with them, says the LORD; My spirit that is upon you, and my words which I have put in your mouth, shall not depart out of your mouth, nor out of the mouth of your seed, nor out of the mouth of your seed’s seed, says the LORD, from henceforth and for ever.
Nacag and gbuwl then appear in Hosea 5:10 to tell us it is the princes of Judah, the leaders of God’s people that “removed” these “bounds.”
Hosea 5
1 Hear you this, O priests; and hearken, you house of Israel; and give you ear, O house of the king; for judgment is toward you, because you have been a snare on Mizpah [the watchtowers], and a net spread upon Tabor [the brokenness of God’s people].
2 And the revolters are profound to make slaughter, though I have been a rebuker of them all.
3 I know Ephraim, and Israel is not hid from me: for now, O Ephraim, you commit whoredom [have left the LORD], and Israel [all God’s people] is defiled.
4 They will not frame their doings to turn unto their God: for the spirit of whoredom is in the midst of them, and they have not known the LORD.
5 And the pride of Israel does testify to his face: therefore shall Israel and Ephraim fall in their iniquity: Judah [their leaders] also shall fall with them.
6 They shall go with their flocks and with their herds to seek the LORD; but they shall not find him; he has withdrawn himself from them.
7 They have dealt treacherously against the LORD: for they have begotten strange [apostate] children: now shall a month devour them with their portions.
8 Blow you the cornet in Gibeah [little hill], and the trumpet in Ramah [the high mountains – these speaks of all the places, government small and large]: cry aloud at Bethaven [tell them they are all houses of vanity {worthless}], after you, O Benjamin [seen as such by the work of the LORD’s {Jehovah’s} right hand].
9 Ephraim [God’s people in this time] shall be desolate in the day of rebuke: among the tribes of Israel have I made known that which shall surely be.
10 The princes of Judah [as Judas] were like them that remove [nacag] the bound [gbuwl]: therefore I will pour out my wrath upon them like water.
11 Ephraim is oppressed and broken in judgment, because he willingly walked after the commandment.
12 Therefore will I be unto Ephraim as a moth, and to the house of Judah as rottenness.
13 When Ephraim saw his sickness, and Judah saw his wound, then went Ephraim to the Assyrian [those who’ve degenerated by steps into communism], and sent to king Jareb [who contends with God, sitting in His seat opposing Him and vilifying His work]: yet could he not heal you, nor cure you of your wound.
14 For I will be unto Ephraim as a lion, and as a young lion to the house of Judah: I, even I, will tear and go away; I will take away, and none shall rescue him.
15 I will go and return to my place, till they acknowledge their offence, and seek my face: in their affliction they will seek me early.
The word nacag then appears in Micah 2:6 and 6:14, and the word gbuwl appears in Micah 5:6.
Micah 2
6 Prophesy you not, say they to them that prophesy: they shall not prophesy to them, that they shall not take [nacag – remove {what causes}] shame.
7 O you that are named the house of Jacob, is the spirit of the LORD straitened? are these his doings? do not my words do good to him that walks uprightly?
8 Even of late my people is risen up as an enemy: you pull off the robe with the garment from them that pass by securely as men averse from war.
9 The women of my people have you cast out from their pleasant houses; from their children have you taken away my glory for ever.
10 Arise you, and depart; for this is not your rest: because it is polluted, it shall destroy you, even with a sore destruction.
11 If a man walking in the spirit and falsehood do lie, saying, I will prophesy unto you of wine and of strong drink; he shall even be the prophet of this people.
12 I will surely assemble, O Jacob, all of you; I will surely gather the remnant of Israel; I will put them together as the sheep of Bozrah, as the flock in the midst of their fold: they shall make great noise by reason of the multitude of men.
13 The breaker is come up before them: they have broken up, and have passed through the gate, and are gone out by it: and their king shall pass before them, and the LORD on the head of them.
Micha 5
3 Therefore will he give them up, until the time that she which travails has brought forth: then the [elect] remnant of his brethren shall return unto the children of Israel.
4 And he shall stand and feed in the strength of the LORD, in the majesty of the name of the LORD his God; and they shall abide: for now shall he be great unto the ends of the earth.
5 And this man shall be the peace, when the Assyrian shall come into our land: and when he shall tread in our palaces, then shall we raise against him seven shepherds, and eight principal men.
6 And they shall waste the land of Assyria with the sword, and the land of Nimrod [the rebels] in the entrances thereof: thus shall he deliver us from the Assyrian, when he comes into our land, and when he treads within our borders [gbuwl – the limits tying us to our inheritance].
7 And the [elect] remnant of Jacob shall be in the midst of many people as a dew from the LORD, as the showers upon the grass, that tarries not for man, nor waits for the sons of men.
8 And the [elect] remnant of Jacob shall be among the Gentiles in the midst of many people as a lion among the beasts of the forest, as a young lion among the flocks of sheep: who, if he go through, both treads down, and tears in pieces, and none can deliver.
9 Your hand shall be lifted up upon your adversaries, and all your enemies shall be cut off.
Micah 6
8 He has shown you, O man, what is good; and what does the LORD require of you, but to do justly, and to love mercy, and to walk humbly with your God?
9 The LORD’s voice cries unto the city, and the man of wisdom shall see your name: hear you the rod, and who has appointed it.
10 Are there yet the treasures of wickedness in the house of the wicked, and the scant measure that is abominable?
11 Shall I count them pure with the wicked balances, and with the bag of deceitful weights?
12 For the rich men thereof are full of violence, and the inhabitants thereof have spoken lies, and their tongue is deceitful in their mouth.
13 Therefore also will I make you sick in smiting you, in making you desolate because of your sins.
14 You shall eat, but not be satisfied; and your casting down shall be in the midst of you; and you shall take hold [nacag – remove the boundaries], but shall not deliver; and that which you deliver will I give up to the sword.
15 You shall sow, but you shall not reap; you shall tread the olives, but you shall not anoint you with oil; and sweet wine, but shall not drink wine.
16 For the statutes of Omri are kept [who put heathen idols in the LORD’s place], and all the works of the house of Ahab, and you walk in their counsels; that I should make you a desolation, and the inhabitants thereof a hissing: therefore you shall bear the reproach of my people.
Colossians 2
8 Beware lest any man spoil you through philosophy and vain deceit, after the tradition of men, after the rudiments [stoicheion – the elements Peter speaks of in 2 Peter 3, men’s corrupt ideas, which melt away in the fires they themselves have created] of the world, and not after Christ.
9 For in him dwells all the fullness of the Godhead bodily.
10 And you are complete in him, which is the head of all principality and power:
11 In whom also you are circumcised with the circumcision made without hands, in putting off the body of the sins of the flesh by the circumcision of Christ:
12 Buried with him in baptism, wherein also you are risen with him through the faith of the operation of God, who has raised him from the dead.
13 And you, being dead in your sins and the uncircumcision of your flesh, has he quickened together with him, having forgiven you all trespasses;
14 Blotting out the handwriting of ordinances that was against us, which was contrary to us, and took it out of the way, nailing it to his cross;
15 And having spoiled principalities and powers, he made a show of them openly, triumphing over them in it.
16 Let no man therefore judge you in meat, or in drink, or in respect of an holyday, or of the new moon, or of the Sabbath days [as the false churches do, by their false doctrines]:
17 Which are a shadow of things to come; but the body is of Christ.
18 Let no man beguile you of your reward in a voluntary humility and worshipping of angels, intruding into those things which he has not seen, vainly puffed up by his fleshly mind,
19 And not holding the Head, from which all the body by joints and bands having nourishment ministered, and knit together, increase with the increase of God.
20 Wherefore if you be dead with Christ from the rudiments [stoicheion – elements, corrupt ideas, works and ways of the false church and their doctrines] of the world, why, as though living in the world, are you subject to ordinances,
21 (Touch not; taste not; handle not;
22 Which all are to perish with the using;) after the commandments and doctrines of men?
2 Peter 3
5 For this they willingly are ignorant of, that by the word of God the heavens were of old, and the earth standing out of the water and in the water:
6 Whereby the world that then was, being overflowed with water, perished [apollumi]:
7 But the heavens and the earth, which are now, by the same word are kept in store, reserved unto fire against the day of judgment and perdition [apoliea] of ungodly men.
8 But, beloved, be not ignorant of this one thing, that one day is with the LORD as a thousand years, and a thousand years as one day.
9 The LORD is not slack concerning his promise, as some men count slackness; but is longsuffering to us-ward, not willing that any should perish [apollumi], but that all should come to repentance.
10 But the day of the LORD will come as a thief in the night; in the which the heavens shall pass away with a great noise, and the elements [stoicheion – the corrupt ideas of men] shall melt with fervent heat, the earth also and the works that are therein shall be burned up.
11 Seeing then that all these things shall be dissolved, what manner of persons ought you to be in all holy conversation and godliness,
12 Looking for and hasting unto the coming of the day of God, wherein the heavens being on fire shall be dissolved, and the elements [stoicheion – the corrupt ideas of men] shall melt with fervent heat?
13 Nevertheless we, according to his promise, look for new heavens and a new earth, wherein dwells righteousness.
14 Wherefore, beloved, seeing that you look for such things, be diligent that you may be found of him in peace, without spot, and blameless.
15 And account that the longsuffering of our LORD is salvation; even as our beloved brother Paul also according to the wisdom given unto him has written unto you;
16 As also in all his epistles, speaking in them of these things; in which are some things hard to be understood, which they that are unlearned and unstable wrestle, as they do also the other scriptures, unto their own destruction [apoleia – perdition].
17 You therefore, beloved, seeing you know these things before, beware lest you also, being led away with the error of the wicked, fall from your own steadfastness.
18 But grow in grace, and in the knowledge of our LORD and Savior Jesus Christ. To him be glory both now and for ever. Amen.
Psalms 70
1 Make haste, o God, to deliver me; make haste to help me, O LORD.
2 Let them be ashamed and confounded that seek after my soul: let them be turned backward, and put to confusion, that desire my hurt.
3 Let them be turned back for a reward of their shame that say, Aha, aha.
4 Let all those that seek you rejoice and be glad in you: and let such as love your salvation say continually, Let God be magnified.
5 But I am poor and needy: make haste unto me, O God: you are my help and my deliverer; O LORD, make no tarrying.
