Woe unto them that call evil good, and good evil; that put darkness for light, and light for darkness; that put bitter for sweet, and sweet for bitter!
Friends, we know good and evil are the ideas intended to advise and lead either to spiritual life and peace or mislead into spiritual death and chaos. These are either the product of light: understand that is given by God and those He speaks through; or darkness: ignorance spewed from the devil and those speaking his misleading ideas. The sweetness and bitterness are in received words, either ideas and works that strengthen into life, or those that weaken into death.
The above reference to “sweet and bitter” contains a riddle, a saying kept in darkness until now when the LORD reveals it, a small thing showing His immense strength (the Almighty).
The word “riddle” is from the Hebrew word chiydah, meaning a “difficult question, parable, enigmatic saying or question, perplexing saying or question.” Of the seventeen times the word is used, it appears eight times in Judges 14, all in describing the riddle Samson presented when he spoke about the sweetness that came out of strength. The word “sweet” above, and the word used in Judges 14:14 & 18, are from the twelve times used Hebrew word mathowq, which appears to be connected to the words mathay and math, respectively meaning an extent of time and in that context, an adult (human).
In the riddle we see the “sweetness” is referring to “honey,” from the word debash, something sticking (ultimately seen referring to ideas that stick with us – become the foundations of our reasoning). Honey is the bees’ product, which we’ve seen is from the word deborah (Deborah – bee), meaning systematic motion (order), from the word dabar, meaning “to arrange; but used figuratively (of words), to speak; rarely (in a destructive sense) to subdue.”
Debash and mathowq are the words we recently saw in Ezekiel 3:3 where we are told of Ezekiel eating the roll (the word of God sent forward in time to Him, the wheel within the wheel coming by the river Chebar). It says this word in his mouth became as “sweet as honey,” meaning they became his strength: what eventually, after an extent of time, is understood by the rightly orders ideas therein found.
Ezekiel 3
1 Moreover he said unto me, Son of man, eat that you find; eat this roll [the word of God sent forward to him], and go speak unto the house of Israel.
2 So I opened my mouth, and he caused me to eat that roll.
3 And he said unto me, Son of man, cause your belly to eat, and fill your bowels with this roll that I give you. Then did I eat it; and it was in my mouth as honey for sweetness [debash mathowq – the rightly ordered word that are seen as the strength of God in us].
4 And he said unto me, Son of man, go, get you unto the house of Israel, and speak with my words unto them. [This is what is referred to and more descriptively defined by John when he received the same word, recorded in Revelation 10.]
5 For you are not sent to a people of a strange speech and of a hard language, but to the house of Israel;
6 Not to many people of a strange speech and of a hard language, whose words you cannot understand. Surely, had I sent you to them, they would have hearkened unto you.
7 But the house of Israel will not hearken unto you; for they will not hearken unto me: for all the house of Israel are impudent and hardhearted.
8 Behold, I have made your face strong against their faces [the face to face cherubims], and your forehead strong against their foreheads [the LORD’s ideas and words against theirs].
9 As an adamant harder than flint have I made your forehead: fear them not, neither be dismayed at their looks, though they be a rebellious house [as you are].
10 Moreover he said unto me, Son of man, all my words that I shall speak unto you receive in your heart [make them the foundation of all your thoughts], and hear with your ears.
11 And go, get you to them of the captivity, unto the children of your people, and speak unto them, and tell them, Thus says the LORD God; whether they will hear, or whether they will forbear.
12 Then the spirit took me up, and I heard behind me a voice [qowl – the LORD’s voice realized to be His] of a great rushing, saying, “Blessed be the glory [presence] of the LORD from his place.”
13 I heard also the noise [the qowl – the opposing voices] of the wings of the living [the voice of those that have the LORD’s word and those who come to life by receiving it and being corrected] creatures that touched one another, and the noise [qowl – the voices, words] of the wheels over against them, and a noise [qowl – the voices] of a great rushing.
14 So the spirit lifted me up, and took me away, and I went in bitterness [see Revelation 10:9 & 10 – Ezekiel {God’s strength born from His contempt} as with Samson, became weak and died], in the heat of my spirit; but the hand of the LORD was strong upon me.
15 Then I came to them of the captivity at Telabib [where new life is springing from the earth], that dwelt by the river of Chebar [by the word of God sent for this moment – which is spoken by the cherubim], and I sat where they sat, and remained there astonished [as an astonishment they don’t understand] among them seven days.
16 And it came to pass at the end of seven days, that the word of the LORD came unto me, saying,
17 Son of man, I have made you a watchman unto the house of Israel: therefore hear the word at my mouth, and give them warning from me [I urge all to receive the warning, and all who receive it must pass it on as delivered].
18 When I say unto the wicked, You shall surely die; and you give him not warning, nor speak to warn the wicked from his wicked way, to save his life; the same wicked man shall die in his iniquity; but his blood will I require at your hand.
19 Yet if you warn the wicked, and he turn not from his wickedness, nor from his wicked way, he shall die in his iniquity; but you have delivered your soul.
20 Again, When a righteous man does turn from his righteousness [the fallen churched should hear this warning], and commit iniquity, and I lay a stumbling-block before him, he shall die: because you have not given him warning, he shall die in his sin, and his righteousness which he has done shall not be remembered; but his blood will I require at your hand.
21 Nevertheless if you warn the righteous man, that the righteous sin not, and he does not sin, he shall surely live, because he is warned; also you have delivered your soul.
22 And the hand of the LORD was there upon me; and he said unto me, Arise, go forth into the plain [in plain sight – so they will see I am in you speaking], and I will there talk with you.
23 Then I arose, and went forth into the plain: and, behold, the glory [presence] of the LORD stood there, as the glory which I saw by the river of Chebar [as the presence I realized when I ate, found, the word to which He led me]: and I fell on my face.
24 Then the spirit entered into me, and set me upon my feet, and spoke with me, and said unto me, Go, shut yourself within your house.
25 But you, O son of man, behold, they shall put bands upon you, and shall bind you with them, and you shall not go out among them:
26 And I will make your tongue cleave to the roof of your mouth, that you shall be dumb, and shall not be to them a reprover: for they are a rebellious house.
27 But when I speak with you, I will open your mouth, and you shall say unto them, Thus says the LORD God; He that hears, let him hear; and he that forbears, let him forbear: for they are a rebellious house.
The word rendered “bitterness” in verse 14 above and “bitter” in the title, Isaiah 5:20, are from the Hebrew word mar, from the word marar, meaning to trickle, to make bitter. The deeper meaning is found in the one time used identical word mar, meaning to distil, as in what separates liquid (water) into its elements. As we know, this is the underlying analogy of the “cloud,” when the elements of understanding God’s word are separated one from the other, become as vapors (gases), and return to heaven (into the cloud) where they are held until the LORD sends them again to earth as the latter rain. With this is removed the sweetness from the waters (the word of God) and all the remains among the people is bitterness in all discourse (and the language became as babel, confusion and delusion that rules the world).
The one time this other word (mar) appears it is in Isaiah 40:15, a chapter we know ends with telling us of those who wait on the LORD renewing their strength (when sweetness returns to the waters) and we again rise on wings of eagles. This verse (15) comes just after we are told of the one who brings these good tidings, understanding only the LORD with Him and in Him could have given. It says to Him the nations (the understanding of the world in comparison) are as a “drop in a bucket.” The Hebrew words used are, mar deliy, the latter from the word dalah, as is the name Delilah (the unfaithful women through which Samson’s strength was removed). The meaning of dalah is, “to dangle, i.e. to let down a bucket (for drawing out water); figuratively, to deliver.”
Judges 14 begins by telling of Samson (meaning as the sun or sunlight) going to Timnath (meaning an assigned portion) where he encounters and kills (as a sacrifice) a lion. It is in this lion’s carcass he later finds a swarm of bees and honey (deborah debash – where he found the foundation in properly ordered words, which was His source of understanding – strength).
The carcass here is the body of Christ, as the body of Joshua the son of Nun, and as Ariel. Joshua (born into a perpetual life – the son of Nun) is buried in Timnathserah (His {My} assigned portion is the sun or sunlight – as a giver of understanding), which we are told in Joshua 24:30. As we know, Joshua is the English transliteration of the Hebrew name Yehowshu’a, then into Iesous in Greek and from there into Jesus in English. Jesus is the name of the body of Christ, meaning we are Jehovah’s Salvation personified, which comes as His light (understanding) brings us to life and we shine the same light on others.
The word rendered “lion” in Judges 14 is the word ‘ariy, which, when the name God is added, is the name Ariel, meaning lion of God, or from where God’s strength comes. We know from Isaiah 29, this place (Ariel) has been taken and to retake it the LORD against it has laid siege. The chapter ends speaking of what He has recaptured, saying, “They also that erred in spirit shall come to understanding, and they that murmured shall learn doctrine.”
Isaiah 29
1 Woe to Ariel, to Ariel, the city where David dwelt! add you year to year; let them kill sacrifices.
2 Yet I will distress Ariel, and there shall be heaviness and sorrow: and it shall be unto me as Ariel.
3 And I will camp against you round about, and will lay siege against you with a mount, and I will raise forts against you.
4 And you shall be brought down, and shall speak out of the ground, and your speech shall be low out of the dust, and your voice shall be, as of one that has a familiar spirit, out of the ground, and your speech shall whisper out of the dust.
5 Moreover the multitude of your strangers shall be like small dust, and the multitude of the terrible ones shall be as chaff that passes away: yea, it shall be at an instant suddenly.
6 You shall be visited of the LORD of hosts with thunder, and with earthquake, and great noise, with storm and tempest, and the flame of devouring fire.
7 And the multitude of all the nations that fight against Ariel, even all that fight against her and her munition, and that distress her, shall be as a dream of a night vision.
8 It shall even be as when a hungry man dreams, and, behold, he eats; but he awakes, and his soul is empty: or as when a thirsty man dreams, and, behold, he drinks; but he awakes, and, behold, he is faint, and his soul has appetite: so shall the multitude of all the nations be, that fight against mount Zion.
9 Stay yourselves, and wonder; cry you out, and cry: they are drunken, but not with wine; they stagger, but not with strong drink.
10 For the LORD has poured out upon you the spirit of deep sleep, and has closed your eyes: the prophets and your rulers, the seers has he covered.
11 And the vision of all is become unto you as the words of a book that is sealed, which men deliver to one that is learned, saying, Read this, I pray you: and he says, I cannot; for it is sealed:
12 And the book is delivered to him that is not learned, saying, Read this, I pray you: and he says, I am not learned.
13 Wherefore the LORD said, Forasmuch as this people draw near me with their mouth, and with their lips do honor me, but have removed their heart far from me, and their fear toward me is taught by the precept of men:
14 Therefore, behold, I will proceed to do a marvelous work among this people, even a marvelous work and a wonder: for the wisdom of their wise men shall perish, and the understanding of their prudent men shall be hid.
15 Woe unto them that seek deep to hide their counsel from the LORD, and their works are in the dark, and they say, Who sees us? and who knows us?
16 Surely your turning of things upside down shall be esteemed as the potter’s clay: for shall the work say of him that made it, He made me not? or shall the thing framed say of him that framed it, He had no understanding?
17 Is it not yet a very little while, and Lebanon shall be turned into a fruitful field, and the fruitful field shall be esteemed as a forest?
18 And in that day shall the deaf hear the words of the book, and the eyes of the blind shall see out of obscurity, and out of darkness.
19 The meek also shall increase their joy in the LORD, and the poor among men shall rejoice in the Holy One of Israel.
20 For the terrible one is brought to naught, and the scorner is consumed, and all that watch for iniquity are cut off:
21 That make a man an offender for a word, and lay a snare for him that reproves in the gate, and turn aside the just for a thing of naught.
22 Therefore thus says the LORD, who redeemed Abraham, concerning the house of Jacob, Jacob shall not now be ashamed, neither shall his face now wax pale.
23 But when he sees his children, the work of mine hands, in the midst of him, they shall sanctify my name, and sanctify the Holy One of Jacob, and shall fear the God of Israel.
24 They also that erred in spirit shall come to understanding, and they that murmured shall learn doctrine.
The word rendered “murmured” above is the three times used word ragan, meaning “to grumble, i.e. rebel,” which is leading into the first part of the following chapter.
Isaiah 30
1 Woe to the rebellious children, says the LORD, that take counsel, but not of me; and that cover [your faces] with a covering, but not of my spirit, that they may add sin to sin:
2 That walk to go down into Egypt [they are going willingly into captivity], and have not asked at my mouth; to strengthen themselves in the strength of Pharaoh [in vain they trust in those in the seats of power], and to trust in the shadow of Egypt [which blocks the sun of God, the light of His understanding]!
3 Therefore shall the strength of Pharaoh be your shame, and the trust in the shadow of Egypt your confusion.
4 For his princes were at Zoan [the place of departure – away from the LORD’s strength], and his ambassadors came to Hanes [and fled from God’s grace – the free gift of understanding].
5 They were all ashamed of [disappointed when they couldn’t deliver what they promised to] a people that could not profit them, nor be a help nor profit, but a shame, and also a reproach.
6 The burden of the beasts of the south: into the land of trouble and anguish, from whence come the young and old lion, the viper and fiery flying serpent, they will carry their riches upon the shoulders of young asses, and their treasures upon the bunches of camels, to a people that shall not profit them.
7 For the Egyptians shall help in vain, and to no purpose: therefore have I cried concerning this, Their strength is to sit still.
8 Now go, write it before them in a table, and note it in a book, that it may be for the time to come forever and ever:
9 That this is a rebellious people, lying children, children that will not hear the law of the LORD:
10 Which say to the seers, See not; and to the prophets, Prophesy not unto us right things, speak unto us smooth things, prophesy deceits:
11 Get you out of the way, turn aside out of the path, cause the Holy One of Israel to cease from before us.
12 Wherefore thus says the Holy One of Israel, Because you despise this word, and trust in oppression and perverseness, and stay thereon:
13 Therefore this iniquity shall be to you as a breach ready to fall, swelling out in a high wall, whose breaking comes suddenly at an instant.
14 And he shall break it as the breaking of the potters’ vessel that is broken in pieces; he shall not spare: so that there shall not be found in the bursting of it a sherd to take fire from the hearth, or to take water withal out of the pit.
15 For thus says the LORD God, the Holy One of Israel; In returning and rest shall you be saved; in quietness and in confidence shall be your strength: and you would not.
The bitterness that remains, which all except the elect have chosen, is described in Psalms 64:3.
Psalms 64
1 Hear my voice, O God, in my prayer: preserve my life from fear of the enemy.
2 Hide me from the secret counsel of the wicked; from the insurrection of the workers of iniquity:
3 Who whet their tongue like a sword, and bend their bows to shoot their arrows, even bitter [mar] words:
4 That they may shoot in secret at the perfect: suddenly do they shoot at him, and fear not.
5 They encourage themselves in an evil matter: they commune of laying snares privily; they say, Who shall see them?
6 They search out iniquities; they accomplish a diligent search: both the inward thought of every one of them, and the heart, is deep.
7 But God shall shoot at them with an arrow; suddenly shall they be wounded.
8 So they shall make their own tongue to fall upon themselves: all that see them shall flee away.
9 And all men shall fear, and shall declare the work of God; for they shall wisely consider of his doing.
10 The righteous shall be glad in the LORD, and shall trust in him; and all the upright in heart shall glory.
The breach spoken of above in Isiah 30:13, the “swelling” out in a high, whose breaking comes suddenly at an instant, described in Psalms 64, is occurring now. The word “swelling” here is the five times used word ba’ah, meaning “to gush over, i.e. to swell; (figuratively) to desire earnestly; by implication to ask.” It is referring us to its appearing twice in Isaiah 21:12, where the watchman sees the lion (the ‘ariy), when he is in the place held by the devil (sa’iyr – Seir), when the morning comes.
Isaiah 21
1 The burden of the desert [midbar] of the sea. As whirlwinds in the south pass [sweeping away the old ideas and ways]; so it comes from the desert, from a terrible land [yare’ – the land causing fear, see verse 4 and Isaiah 8:12 & 13, “Say you not, A confederacy, to all them to whom this people shall say, A confederacy; neither fear you their fear, nor be afraid. Sanctify the LORD of hosts himself; and let him be your fear, and let him be your dread.”]
2 A grievous vision is declared unto me; the treacherous dealer deals treacherously, and the spoiler spoils. Go up, O Elam [this is speaking of eternity, as in the ancient things {God’s word} stored of old, to be released now in this war – also see Jeremiah 49 telling of the LORD’s throne being established here]: besiege, O Media [people in the middle – as in lukewarm, Revelation 3:14 thru 22]; all the sighing [‘anachah – referring us to Isaiah 35:10 & 51:11 when the LORD silences the enemies and puts His words in our mouths] thereof have I made to cease.
3 Therefore are my loins filled with pain: pangs have taken hold upon me, as the pangs of a woman that travails [she is bringing forth a man child]: I was bowed down at the hearing of it; I was dismayed at the seeing of it.
4 My heart panted, fearfulness affrighted me: the night of my pleasure has he turned into fear unto me.
5 Prepare the table, watch in the watchtower, eat, drink: arise, you princes, and anoint the shield.
6 For thus has the LORD said unto me, Go, set a watchman, let him declare what he sees.
7 And he saw a chariot with a couple of horsemen, a chariot of asses, and a chariot of camels; and he hearkened diligently with much heed:
8 And he cried, A lion [‘ariy – the body of Christ rising by/with His strength]: My LORD, I stand continually upon the watchtower in the daytime, and I am set in my ward whole nights:
9 And, behold, here comes a chariot of men, with a couple of horsemen. And he answered and said, Babylon [confusion’s rule] is fallen, is fallen; and all the graven images of her gods he has broken unto the ground.
10 O my threshing [opening the word, referring us to Isaiah 28, and destroying the gates of hell], and the corn [ben – sons] of my [threshing] floor: that which I have heard of the LORD of hosts, the God of Israel, have I declared unto you.
11 The burden of Dumah [short for Edom {Esau} and meaning the silencing of the enemies in our midst – as in verse 2 above]. He called to me out of Seir [the high places of Esau], Watchman, what of the night? Watchman, what of the night [the time of ignorance, which is caused by their {Edom’s} words]?
12 The watchman said, The morning [understand coming as the light of the sunrise] comes, and also the night [and these men will reject this word and choose to remain in ignorance]: if you will enquire [ba’ah], enquire – [ba’ah – only used three other times – here referring us to Obadiah, verse 6, where it is rendered “sought up,” which tells us this is how the secret things of Esau are revealed {by enquiring}]: return [shuwb – turn us], come.
13 The burden upon Arabia [the desert spoken of in verse 1, without water, without God’s word]. In the forest in Arabia shall you lodge, O you travelling companies of Dedanim [these people are defined in Jeremiah 49:8 – they are those spoken of in the prior verse, who return, and in doing escape the calamity that comes upon Esau].
14 The inhabitants of the land of Tema [same as Teman – the place of the Theophany – where the LORD appears with His ten-thousands, as Enoch said, “Behold, the LORD comes with ten thousands of his saints, 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.”] brought water to him that was thirsty, they prevented [went before] with their bread him that fled.
15 For they fled from the swords, from the drawn sword, and from the bent bow, and from the grievousness of war.
16 For thus has the LORD said unto me, Within a year, according to the years of a hireling, and all the glory of Kedar [darkness] shall fail:
17 And the residue of the number of archers, the mighty men of the children of Kedar [darkness], shall be diminished: for the LORD God of Israel has spoken it.
Isaiah 40
1 Comfort you, comfort you my people, says your God.
2 Speak you comfortably to Jerusalem, and cry unto her, that her warfare is accomplished, that her iniquity is pardoned: for she has received of the LORD’s hand double for all her sins.
3 The voice of him that cries in the wilderness, Prepare you the way of the LORD, make straight in the desert a highway for our God.
4 Every valley shall be exalted, and every mountain and hill shall be made low: and the crooked shall be made straight, and the rough places plain:
5 And the glory of the LORD shall be revealed, and all flesh shall see it together: for the mouth of the LORD has spoken it.
6 The voice said, Cry. And he said, What shall I cry? All flesh is grass, and all the goodliness thereof is as the flower of the field:
7 The grass withers, the flower fades: because the spirit of the LORD blows upon it: surely the people is grass.
8 The grass withers, the flower fades: but the word of our God shall stand forever.
9 O Zion, that brings good tidings, get you up into the high mountain; O Jerusalem, that brings good tidings, lift up your voice with strength; lift it up, be not afraid; say unto the cities of Judah, Behold your God!
10 Behold, the LORD God will come with strong hand, and his arm shall rule for him: behold, his reward is with him, and his work before him.
11 He shall feed his flock like a shepherd: he shall gather the lambs with his arm, and carry them in his bosom, and shall gently lead those that are with young.
12 Who has measured the waters in the hollow of his hand, and meted out heaven with the span, and comprehended the dust of the earth in a measure, and weighed the mountains in scales, and the hills in a balance?
13 Who has directed the Spirit of the LORD, or being his counselor has taught him?
14 With whom took he counsel, and who instructed him, and taught him in the path of judgment, and taught him knowledge, and shewed to him the way of understanding?
15 Behold, the nations are as a drop [mar] of a bucket [deliy – as the bitterness of Delilah – removing the strength of the sunlight, the sweetness of understanding], and are counted as the small dust of the balance: behold, he taketh up the isles as a very little thing.
16 And Lebanon is not sufficient to burn, nor the beasts thereof sufficient for a burnt offering.
17 All nations before him are as nothing; and they are counted to him less than nothing, and vanity.
18 To whom then will you liken God? or what likeness will you compare unto him?
19 The workman melts a graven image, and the goldsmith spreads it over with gold, and casts silver chains.
20 He that is so impoverished that he has no oblation chooses a tree that will not rot; he seeks unto him a cunning workman to prepare a graven image, that shall not be moved.
21 Have you not known? have you not heard? has it not been told you from the beginning? have you not understood from the foundations of the earth?
22 It is he that sits upon the circle of the earth, and the inhabitants thereof are as grasshoppers; that stretches out the heavens as a curtain, and spreads them out as a tent to dwell in:
23 That brings the princes to nothing; he makes the judges of the earth as vanity.
24 Yea, they shall not be planted; yea, they shall not be sown: yea, their stock shall not take root in the earth: and he shall also blow upon them, and they shall wither, and the whirlwind shall take them away as stubble.
25 To whom then will you liken me, or shall I be equal? says the Holy One.
26 Lift up your eyes on high, and behold who has created these things, that brings out their host by number: he calls them all by names by the greatness of his might, for that he is strong in power; not one fails.
27 Why say you, O Jacob, and speak, O Israel, My way is hid from the LORD, and my judgment is passed over from my God?
28 Have you not known? have you not heard, that the everlasting God, the LORD, the Creator of the ends of the earth, faints not, neither is weary? there is no searching of his understanding.
29 He gives power to the faint; and to them that have no might he increases strength.
30 Even the youths shall faint and be weary, and the young men shall utterly fall:
31 But they that wait upon the LORD shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings as eagles; they shall run, and not be weary; and they shall walk, and not faint.
Psalms 90
1 LORD, you have been our dwelling place in all generations.
2 Before the mountains were brought forth, or ever you had formed the earth and the world, even from everlasting to everlasting, you are God.
3 You turn man to destruction; and says, Return, you children of men.
4 For a thousand years in your sight are but as yesterday when it is past, and as a watch in the night.
5 You carry them away as with a flood; they are as a sleep: in the morning they are like grass which grows up.
6 In the morning it flourishes, and grows up; in the evening it is cut down, and withers.
7 For we are consumed by your anger, and by your wrath are we troubled.
8 You have set our iniquities before you, our secret sins in the light of your countenance.
9 For all our days are passed away in your wrath: we spend our years as a tale that is told.
10 The days of our years are threescore years and ten; and if by reason of strength they be fourscore years, yet is their strength labor and sorrow; for it is soon cut off, and we fly away.
11 Who knows the power of your anger? even according to your fear, so is your wrath.
12 So teach us to number our days, that we may apply our hearts unto wisdom.
13 Return, O LORD, how long? and let it repent you concerning your servants.
14 O satisfy us early with your mercy; that we may rejoice and be glad all our days.
15 Make us glad according to the days wherein you have afflicted us, and the years wherein we have seen evil.
16 Let your work appear unto your servants, and your glory unto their children.
17 And let the beauty of the LORD our God be upon us: and establish you the work of our hands upon us; yea, the work of our hands establish you it.
