But there is a spirit in man: and the inspiration of the Almighty gives them understanding.
The above, Job 32:8, is Elihu (He is God – the LORD in him speaking) describing ideas, thoughts, in the mind of man, as his “spirit,” from the Hebrew word ruwach, meaning wind. It is telling of the wind, the spirit, as the physical manifestation of the ideas, the air, as thoughts are realized, heard as words, or seen in works (actions). Elihu is speaking of these as what opposes the inspiration of the Almighty that gives understanding. He later, in verse 18, speaks of the spirit (ruwach) within him constraining him, keeping him from pouring out the new wine in him, meaning the waters that have changed his mind and given him understanding.
Job 32
7 I said, Days should speak, and multitude of years should teach wisdom.
8 But there is a spirit [ruwach] in man: and the inspiration of the Almighty gives them understanding.
9 Great men are not always wise: neither do the aged understand judgment.
10 Therefore I said, Hearken to me; I also will show mine opinion.
11 Behold, I waited for your words; I gave ear to your reasons, whilst you searched out what to say.
12 Yea, I attended unto you, and, behold, there was none of you that convinced Job, or that answered his words:
13 Lest you should say, We have found out wisdom: God thrusts him down, not man.
14 Now he has not directed his words against me: neither will I answer him with your speeches.
15 They were amazed, they answered no more: they left off speaking.
16 When I had waited, (for they spoke not, but stood still, and answered no more;)
17 I said, I will answer also my part, I also will show mine opinion.
18 For I am full of matter, the spirit [ruwach] within me constrains me.
19 Behold, my belly is as wine which has no vent; it is ready to burst like new bottles.
20 I will speak, that I may be refreshed: I will open my lips and answer.
21 Let me not, I pray you, accept any man’s person, neither let me give flattering titles unto man.
22 For I know not to give flattering titles; in so doing my maker would soon take me away.
I am not going to let my thoughts constrain me any longer. The Almighty, the One and Only GOD, Jehovah, is God in me speaking and working. I know exactly who I am, a man He has chosen to reveal Himself in and through. It is His undeniable glory and power at work, and my only glory is in knowing Him. I am Jehovah’s Salvation, says the LORD “whose fire is in Zion, and his furnace in Jerusalem. Behold, a king shall reign in righteousness, and princes shall rule in judgment. And a man shall be as a hiding place from the wind, and a covert from the tempest; as rivers of water in a dry place, as the shadow of a great rock in a weary land. And the eyes of them that see shall not be dim, and the ears of them that hear shall hearken. The heart also of the rash shall understand knowledge, and the tongue of the stammerers shall be ready to speak plainly.”
Church, those who’ve led you have scattered you. They’ve removed understanding by liberally and recklessly misusing God’s name and His word. The LORD’s purpose and intention is to gather us in this one mission under Him, to through us pour out His spirit on the nation and the world, as the title says, to give them understanding. Follow His lead.
Isaiah 4
5 The vile person shall be no more called liberal, nor the churl [covetous] said to be bountiful.
6 For the vile person will speak villainy, and his heart will work iniquity, to practice hypocrisy, and to utter error against the LORD, to make empty the soul of the hungry, and he will cause the drink of the thirsty to fail.
7 The instruments also of the churl [covetous] are evil: he devises wicked devices to destroy the poor with lying words, even when the needy speak right.
8 But the liberal devises liberal things [generously, freely, give these riches]; and by liberal things [generously giving this word] shall he stand.
9 Rise up, you women that are at ease; hear my voice, you careless daughters; give ear unto my speech.
10 Many days and years shall you be troubled, you careless women: for the vintage shall fail, the gathering shall not come.
11 Tremble, you women that are at ease; be troubled, you careless ones: strip you, and make you bare, and gird sackcloth upon your loins.
12 They shall lament for the teats, for the pleasant fields, for the fruitful vine.
13 Upon the land of my people shall come up thorns and briers; yea, upon all the houses of joy in the joyous city:
14 Because the palaces shall be forsaken; the multitude of the city shall be left; the forts and towers shall be for dens forever, a joy of wild asses, a pasture of flocks;
15 Until the spirit be poured upon us from on high, and the wilderness be a fruitful field, and the fruitful field be counted for a forest.
16 Then judgment shall dwell in the wilderness, and righteousness remain in the fruitful field.
17 And the work of righteousness shall be peace; and the effect of righteousness quietness and assurance forever.
18 And my people shall dwell in a peaceable habitation, and in sure dwellings, and in quiet resting places;
19 When it shall hail, coming down on the forest; and the city shall be low in a low place.
20 Blessed are you that sow beside all waters, that send forth thither the feet of the ox and the ass.
Friends, I am telling you plainly, if a preacher is asking for money he isn’t sent by God neither is he preaching God’s word. They are Babylon, and their words and ways are the burdens holding God’s people down: scattered, aimless, and powerless.
The word above rendered “liberal” is nadiyb, meaning voluntary or generous (as in freely giving). It only appears one other time in Isaiah, in Isaiah 13:2 where it is rendered “nobles.”
Isaiah 13
1 The burden of Babylon [confusion], which Isaiah the son of Amoz did see.
2 Lift you up a banner upon the high mountain, exalt the voice unto them, shake the hand, that they may go into the gates of the nobles.
3 I have commanded my sanctified ones [those the LORD has separated to Himself for this purpose], I have also called my mighty ones for mine anger, even them that rejoice in my highness.
4 The noise of a multitude in the mountains, like as of a great people; a tumultuous noise of the kingdoms of nations gathered together: the LORD of hosts musters the host of the battle.
5 They come from a far country, from the end of heaven, even the LORD, and the weapons of his indignation, to destroy the whole land.
6 Howl you; for the day of the LORD is at hand; it shall come as a destruction from the Almighty.
7 Therefore shall all hands be faint, and every man’s heart shall melt:
8 And they shall be afraid: pangs and sorrows shall take hold of them; they shall be in pain as a woman that travails: they shall be amazed one at another; their faces shall be as flames.
9 Behold, the day of the LORD comes, cruel both with wrath and fierce anger, to lay the land desolate: and he shall destroy the sinners thereof out of it.
10 For the stars of heaven and the constellations thereof shall not give their light: the sun shall be darkened in his going forth, and the moon shall not cause her light to shine. [Church and civil institutions, and the people at large, are realized to be without understanding (light), and are instead the propagators of worldwide confusion.]
11 And I will punish the world for their evil, and the wicked for their iniquity; and I will cause the arrogance of the proud to cease, and will lay low the haughtiness of the terrible.
12 I will make a man more precious than fine gold; even a man than the golden wedge of Ophir.
13 Therefore I will shake the heavens, and the earth shall remove out of her place, in the wrath of the LORD of hosts, and in the day of his fierce anger.
14 And it shall be as the chased roe, and as a sheep that no man taketh up: they shall every man turn to his own people, and flee every one into his own land.
15 Every one that is found shall be thrust through; and every one that is joined unto them shall fall by the sword.
16 Their children also shall be dashed to pieces before their eyes; their houses shall be spoiled, and their wives ravished.
17 Behold, I will stir up the Medes [led by king Cyrus – who in a pattern took Babylon] against them, which shall not regard silver; and as for gold, they shall not delight in it.
18 Their bows also shall dash the young men to pieces; and they shall have no pity on the fruit of the womb; their eyes shall not spare children.
19 And Babylon [the confusion that rules the world], the glory [ignorance] of kingdoms, the beauty of the Chaldees’ excellency [those who use their conjured words to manipulate and control the masses], shall be as when God overthrew Sodom and Gomorrah.
20 It shall never be inhabited, neither shall it be dwelt in from generation to generation: neither shall the Arabian [those who plainly see] pitch tent there; neither shall the shepherds make their fold there.
21 But wild beasts of the desert shall lie there; and their houses shall be full of doleful creatures; and owls [those who hunt souls in the darkness – who hunt the ignorant] shall dwell there, and satyrs [sa’iys – devils, he-goats as misleaders] shall dance [arrogantly prance] there.
22 And the wild beasts of the islands shall cry in their desolate houses, and dragons [those who poison and devour with their ever-open mouths] in their pleasant palaces: and her time is near to come, and her days shall not be prolonged.
The reality is the new heaven and earth will follow the LORD, when they hear of Him. These sa’iys, the misleaders in God’s place, devils transforming themselves into angels of light, will just consume away as they stand on their feet. “And he ordained him priests for the high places, and for the devils [sa’iys – misleaders, who kept God’s people from going where He said He would manifest His presence], and for the calves which he {Jeroboam} had made.”
2 Corinthians 11
1 Would to God you could bear with me a little in my folly: and indeed bear with me.
2 For I am jealous over you with godly jealousy: for I have espoused you to one husband, that I may present you as a chaste virgin to Christ.
3 But I fear, lest by any means, as the serpent beguiled Eve through his subtlety, so your minds should be corrupted from the simplicity that is in Christ.
4 For if he that comes preaches another Jesus, whom we have not preached, or if you receive another spirit, which you have not received, or another gospel, which you have not accepted, you might well bear with him.
5 For I suppose I was not a whit behind the very chiefest apostles.
6 But though I be rude in speech, yet not in knowledge; but we have been thoroughly made manifest among you in all things.
7 Have I committed an offence in abasing myself that you might be exalted, because I have preached to you the gospel of God freely?
8 I robbed other churches [I have taken from sources other than God’s people], taking wages of them, to do you service.
9 And when I was present with you, and wanted, I was chargeable to no man: for that which was lacking to me the brethren which came from Macedonia [the house of the carcasses – dead meat] supplied: and in all things I have kept myself from being burdensome unto you, and so will I keep myself.
10 As the truth of Christ is in me, no man shall stop me of this boasting in the regions of Achaia [troubles – in tribulation].
11 Wherefore? because I love you not? God knows.
12 But what I do, that I will do, that I may cut off occasion from them which desire occasion; that wherein they glory, they may be found even as we [as men doing the work of the spirit in them – we as Christ them as devils].
13 For such are false apostles, deceitful workers, transforming themselves into the apostles of Christ.
14 And no marvel; for Satan himself is transformed into an angel of light.
15 Therefore it is no great thing if his ministers also be transformed as the ministers of righteousness; whose end shall be according to their works.
Zechariah 14
1 Behold, the day of the LORD comes, and your spoil shall be divided in the midst of you.
2 For I will gather all nations against Jerusalem to battle; and the city shall be taken, and the houses rifled, and the women ravished; and half of the city shall go forth into captivity, and the residue of the people shall not be cut off from the city.
3 Then shall the LORD go forth, and fight against those nations, as when he fought in the day of battle.
4 And his feet shall stand in that day upon the mount of Olives, which is before Jerusalem on the east, and the mount of Olives shall cleave in the midst thereof toward the east and toward the west, and there shall be a very great valley; and half of the mountain shall remove toward the north, and half of it toward the south.
5 And you shall flee to the valley of the mountains; for the valley of the mountains shall reach unto Azal [unto sanctification]: yea, you shall flee, like as you fled from before the earthquake in the days of Uzziah [the strength of Jehovah] king of Judah: and the LORD my God shall come, and all the saints with you [see the prior post].
6 And it shall come to pass in that day, that the light shall not be clear, nor dark [these messages are heard but not yet fully understood]:
7 But it shall be one day which shall be known to the LORD, not day, nor night: but it shall come to pass, that at evening time it shall be light [into the darkness of ignorance and confusion the LORD comes with understanding].
8 And it shall be in that day, that living waters shall go out from Jerusalem; half of them toward the former sea, and half of them toward the hinder sea: in summer and in winter shall it be.
9 And the LORD shall be king over all the earth: in that day shall there be one LORD, and his name one.
10 All the land shall be turned as a plain from Geba to Rimmon south of Jerusalem [all the high places, and their fruit, shall be brought down by the peace that flows from His right hand]: and it shall be lifted up, and inhabited in her place, from Benjamin’s gate [the entryway taught by the right hand of the LORD] unto the place of the first gate [the place where the light is first seen], unto the corner gate [and turning to Him {the LORD} they shall enter], and from the tower of Hananeel [those who God has favored] unto the king’s winepresses.
11 And men shall dwell in it, and there shall be no more utter destruction; but Jerusalem shall be safely inhabited.
12 And this shall be the plague wherewith the LORD will smite all the people that have fought against Jerusalem [the peace He is teaching]; Their flesh [works] shall consume [maqaq] away while they stand upon their feet, and their eyes [their corrupt understanding] shall consume [maqaq] away in their holes, and their tongue [their misleading words] shall consume [maqaq] away in their mouth.
13 And it shall come to pass in that day, that a great tumult from the LORD shall be among them; and they shall lay hold every one on the hand of his neighbor, and his hand shall rise up against the hand of his neighbor.
14 And Judah [the elect remnant – the saints who have come with the LORD] also shall fight at Jerusalem; and the wealth of all the heathen [Gentiles] round about shall be gathered together, gold, and silver, and apparel, in great abundance [the things they thought were valuable but are actually the burdens and plagues]
15 And so shall be the plague of the horse, of the mule, of the camel, and of the ass, and of all the beasts that shall be in these tents, as this plague [the defeat of all those who carry {teach and preach} these burdens].
16 And it shall come to pass, that every one that is left of all the nations which came against Jerusalem shall even go up from year to year to worship the King, the LORD of hosts, and to keep the feast of tabernacles.
17 And it shall be, that whoso will not come up of all the families of the earth unto Jerusalem to worship the King, the LORD of hosts, even upon them shall be no rain.
18 And if the family of Egypt [the houses of oppression] go not up, and come not, that have no rain; there shall be the plague, wherewith the LORD will smite the heathen [Gentiles] that come not up to keep the feast of tabernacles [who come not out of these houses of oppression – to the harvest].
19 This shall be the punishment of Egypt [the oppressors who put heavy burdens on God’s people], and the punishment of all nations that come not up to keep the feast of tabernacles.
20 In that day shall there be upon the bells of the horses [this shall be the shade in the day, that replaces the plague of the burdens upon the horses], Holiness Unto The LORD; and the pots [filled with these living waters that have flowed from Him] in the LORD’s house shall be like the bowls before the altar.
21 Yea, every pot in Jerusalem and in Judah shall be holiness unto [pure, to be delivered in the form it was received from] the LORD of hosts: and all they that sacrifice shall come and take of them, and seethe therein: and in that day there shall be no more the Canaanite [those who hate their brother, because upon him is the righteousness that pleases the LORD] in the house of the LORD of hosts.
When Elihu, above in Job 32:10 & 17, says He is giving his “opinion” it is the five times used Hebrew word dea’, meaning knowledge. It is rendered three times in Job 32 as “opinion,” and then as “knowledge” in Job 36:3 and 37:16. As does Paul in 2 Corinthians 11, Elihu begins this passage by asking the reader to bear with (suffer) him as God speaks through him. In both cases these men know, as I know, the only weak point in the message is them. Elihu continues by saying he is fetching his “knowledge” from beyond himself, and ascribes righteousness (his correct understanding) to his Maker (who created him by His light in him). He has no opinion of His own; his is the knowledge of God.
Job 36
1 Elihu also proceeded, and said,
2 Suffer me a little, and I will show you that I have yet to speak on God’s behalf [‘elowahh – the word “behalf” isn’t in the original text].
3 I will fetch my knowledge [dea’] 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 does establish them forever, 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.
13 But the hypocrites in heart heap up wrath: they cry not when he binds them.
14 They die in youth, and their life is among the unclean.
15 He delivers the poor in his affliction, and opens their ears in oppression.
16 Even so would he have removed you out of the strait into a broad place, where there is no straitness; and that which should be set on your table should be full of fatness.
17 But you have fulfilled the judgment of the wicked: judgment and justice take hold on you.
18 Because there is wrath, beware lest he take you away with his stroke: then a great ransom cannot deliver you.
19 Will he esteem your riches? no, not gold, nor all the forces of strength.
20 Desire not the night, when people are cut off in their place.
21 Take heed, regard not iniquity: for this have you chosen rather than affliction.
22 Behold, God exalts by his power: who teaches like him?
23 Who has enjoined him his way? or who can say, You have wrought iniquity?
24 Remember that you magnify his work, which men behold.
25 Every man may see it; man may behold it afar off.
26 Behold, God is great, and we know him not, neither can the number of his years be searched out.
27 For he makes small the drops of water: they pour down rain according to the vapor thereof:
28 Which the clouds do drop and distill upon man abundantly.
29 Also can any understand the spreading of the clouds, or the noise of his tabernacle?
30 Behold, he spread his light upon it, and covers the bottom of the sea.
31 For by them judges he the people; he gives meat in abundance.
32 With clouds he covers the light [understanding]; and commands it not to shine by the cloud that comes betwixt.
33 The noise thereof shows concerning it, the cattle also concerning the vapor.
Job 37
1 At this also my heart trembles, and is moved out of his place.
2 Hear attentively the noise of his voice, and the sound that goes out of his mouth.
3 He directs it under the whole heaven, and his lightning unto the ends of the earth.
4 After it a voice roars: he thunders [the sound of lightning – from the cloud] with the voice of his excellency; and he will not stay them when his voice is heard.
5 God thunder [the sound of understanding] marvelously with his voice; great things does he, which we cannot comprehend.
6 For he said to the snow, Be you on the earth; likewise to the small rain, and to the great rain of his strength.
7 He seals up the hand of every man; that all men may know his work.
8 Then the beasts go into dens, and remain in their places.
9 Out of the south comes the whirlwind: and cold out of the north.
10 By the breath of God frost is given: and the breadth of the waters is straitened.
11 Also by watering he wearies the thick cloud: he scatters his bright cloud:
12 And it is turned round about by his counsels: that they may do whatsoever he commands them upon the face of the world in the earth.
13 He causes it to come, whether for correction, or for his land, or for mercy.
14 Hearken unto this, O Job: stand still, and consider the wondrous works of God.
15 Do you know when God disposed them, and caused the light of his cloud to shine?
16 Do you know the balancings [miphlas – what is poised, suspended, therein – airo] of the clouds [where understanding is held], the wondrous works of him which is perfect in knowledge [dea’]?
17 How your garments are warm, when he quiets the earth by the south wind?
18 Have you with him spread out the sky, which is strong, and as a molten looking glass?
19 Teach us what we shall say unto him; for we cannot order our speech by reason of darkness.
20 Shall it be told him that I speak? if a man speak, surely he shall be swallowed up.
21 And now men see not the bright light [understanding] which is in the clouds: but the wind passes, and cleans them.
22 Fair weather comes out of the north: with God is terrible majesty.
23 Touching the Almighty, we cannot find him out: he is excellent in power, and in judgment, and in plenty of justice: he will not afflict.
24 Men do therefore fear him: he respects not any that are wise of heart.
1 Corinthians 1
19 For it is written, I will destroy the wisdom of the wise, and will bring to nothing the understanding of the prudent.
20 Where is the wise? where is the scribe? where is the disputer of this world? has not God made foolish the wisdom of this world?
21 For after that in the wisdom of God the world by wisdom knew not God, it pleased God by the foolishness of preaching to save them that believe.
22 For the Jews require a sign, and the Greeks seek after wisdom:
23 But we preach Christ crucified, unto the Jews a stumbling-block, and unto the Greeks foolishness;
24 But unto them which are called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ the power of God, and the wisdom of God.
25 Because the foolishness of God is wiser than men; and the weakness of God is stronger than men.
26 For you see your calling, brethren, how that not many wise men after the flesh, not many mighty, not many noble, are called:
27 But God has chosen the foolish things of the world to confound the wise; and God has chosen the weak things of the world to confound the things which are mighty;
28 And base things of the world, and things which are despised, has God chosen, yea, and things which are not, to bring to naught things that are:
29 That no flesh should glory in his presence.
30 But of him are you in Christ Jesus, who of God is made unto us wisdom, and righteousness, and sanctification, and redemption:
31 That, according as it is written, He that glories, let him glory in the LORD.
1 Corinthians 2
1 And I, brethren, when I came to you, came not with excellency of speech or of wisdom, declaring unto you the testimony of God.
2 For I determined not to know any thing among you, save Jesus Christ, and him crucified.
3 And I was with you in weakness, and in fear, and in much trembling.
4 And my speech and my preaching was not with enticing words of man’s wisdom, but in demonstration of the Spirit and of power:
5 That your faith should not stand in the wisdom of men, but in the power of God.
6 Howbeit we speak wisdom among them that are perfect: yet not the wisdom of this world, nor of the princes of this world, that come to naught:
7 But we speak the wisdom of God in a mystery, even the hidden wisdom, which God ordained before the world unto our glory:
8 Which none of the princes of this world knew: for had they known it, they would not have crucified the LORD of glory.
9 But as it is written, Eye has not seen, nor ear heard, neither have entered into the heart of man, the things which God has prepared for them that love him.
10 But God has revealed them unto us by his Spirit: for the Spirit searches all things, yea, the deep things of God.
11 For what man knows the things of a man, save the spirit of man which is in him? even so the things of God knows no man, but the Spirit of God.
12 Now we have received, not the spirit of the world, but the spirit which is of God; that we might know the things that are freely given to us of God.
13 Which things also we speak, not in the words which man’s wisdom teaches, but which the Holy Ghost teaches; comparing spiritual things with spiritual.
14 But the natural man receives not the things of the Spirit of God: for they are foolishness unto him: neither can he know them, because they are spiritually discerned.
15 But he that is spiritual judges all things, yet he himself is judged of no man.
16 For who has known the mind of the LORD, that he may instruct him? but we have the mind of Christ.
Psalms 40
1 I waited patiently for the LORD; and he inclined unto me, and heard my cry.
2 He brought me up also out of a horrible pit, out of the miry clay, and set my feet upon a rock, and established my goings.
3 And he has put a new song in my mouth, even praise unto our God: many shall see it, and fear, and shall trust in the LORD.
4 Blessed is that man that makes the LORD his trust, and respects not the proud, nor such as turn aside to lies.
5 Many, O LORD my God, are your wonderful works which you have done, and your thoughts which are to us-ward: they cannot be reckoned up in order unto you: if I would declare and speak of them, they are more than can be numbered.
6 Sacrifice and offering you did not desire; mine ears have you opened: burnt offering and sin offering have you not required.
7 Then said I, Lo, I come: in the volume of the book it is written of me,
8 I delight to do your will, O my God: yea, your law is within my heart.
9 I have preached righteousness in the great congregation: lo, I have not refrained my lips, O LORD, you know.
10 I have not hid your righteousness within my heart; I have declared your faithfulness and your salvation: I have not concealed your lovingkindness and your truth from the great congregation.
11 Withhold not you your tender mercies from me, O LORD: let your lovingkindness and your truth continually preserve me.
12 For innumerable evils have compassed me about: mine iniquities have taken hold upon me, so that I am not able to look up; they are more than the hairs of mine head: therefore my heart fails me.
13 Be pleased, O LORD, to deliver me: O LORD, make haste to help me.
14 Let them be ashamed and confounded together that seek after my soul to destroy it; let them be driven backward and put to shame that wish me evil.
15 Let them be desolate for a reward of their shame that say unto me, Aha, aha.
16 Let all those that seek you rejoice and be glad in you: let such as love your salvation say continually, The LORD be magnified.
17 But I am poor and needy; yet the LORD thinks upon me: you art my help and my deliverer; make no tarrying, O my God.
