Thus says the LORD God; Let it suffice you, O princes of Israel: remove violence and spoil, and execute judgment and justice, take away your exactions from my people, says the LORD God. You shall have just balances.
We begin with the word rendered “exaction” in the title passage, from Ezekiel 45:9 & 10, from the once used Hebrew word gerushah. The Brown-Driver-Briggs Hebrew Lexicon says it means, “expulsion, violence, dispossession, act of expulsion.” It appears to be compounded from the words garar and sha’ah. As we saw in the 29 December 2020 post, garar (the origin of the name Gerar) is a five times appearing word used to describe those mixed among us, initially in peace, but over time envying, then despising, our prosperity under God. Because of this, they drag down and away from God’s better ideas and ways. We saw this pattern expressed in Genesis 26, which tells of when Isaac continually fled these types (because they stopped up the wells – the word of God), eventually reaching “waters called Shebnah.”
Here again from that post:
“The name Gerar is said to be from the word garar, a five times used word meaning, “to drag off roughly; by implication, to bring up the cud (i.e. ruminate); by analogy, to saw.” It’s used speaking of those described in the title as “him that passes by,” meaning they’re those who come from outside to catch and destroy God’s people. Genesis 26 shows them as those who are initially near us in peace, who’ve historically turned against us, to their own gods, and ensnare us (God’s people) in their destructive ways. It speaks of Isaac departing these successive reoccurrences and eventually finding water he called Shebnah (one time used name meaning seven {oath, promised spiritual perfection}) and called it Beersheba (the well of {seven} oaths).
“The chapter (Genesis 26) ends telling of Esau taking a wife whose name is Judith (a one time used name, the same as Judah – remember, this is long before Isaac’s grandson Judah would be born). It’s telling of (the pattern) when God’s people reached Spiritual perfection, by the pure waters of God’s promise (oath), which come through Christ (God in man leading by His good advice). This passage speaks of when the enemies mix among us and become joined with our leadership, misleading astray those who were perfected in Christ.
“It (Genesis 26:34) says Judith is, “the daughter of Beeri the Hittite, and Bashemath the daughter of Elon the Hittite:” names saying it produced a well (Beeri) that causes (chattath {Hittite}) meaning, “to prostrate; hence, to break down, either (literally) by violence, or (figuratively) by confusion and fear.” SELAH! It says the well (Beeri) was (married Bashemath) spiced by the mighty (elon), and they together brought the effect of chathath. Verse 35 then says, “Which were a grief of mind unto Isaac and to Rebekah.” This final aspect tells us the effect was on the pure mind of God’s people, which is their “grief.” The one time used Hebrew word morah, meaning bitterness (bitter waters – as in Meribah), here rendered “grief,” is from the word marar; the word rendered “sorely grieved” in Genesis 49:23.
“Genesis 49
22 Joseph is a fruitful bough, even a fruitful bough by a well [a tree of life by these waters of God]; whose branches run over the wall [the wall of lies men have created and teach]:
23 The archers [ba’al – the gods of this world whose teaching has blinded all from seeing the Father, in the son, the seed of the women who brings forth the man child – see Revelation 12:17] have sorely grieved [marar] him, and shot at him, and hated him:
24 But his bow abode in strength, and the arms of his hands were made strong by the hands of the mighty God of Jacob; (from thence is the shepherd [ra’ah], the stone of Israel:)
25 Even by the God of your father, who shall help you; and by the Almighty, who shall bless you with blessings of heaven above, blessings of the deep that lies under [the deep meaning that lies below the surface], blessings of the breasts, and of the womb [seed, the son]:
26 The blessings of your father have prevailed above the blessings of my progenitors [all those who have come before us, and were only blessed with part of what is perfected in our return to the LORD] unto the utmost bound of the everlasting hills: they shall be on the head of Joseph, and on the crown of the head of him that was separate from his brethren.”
In the same post, we saw garar used three other times: in Habakkuk 1:15 telling of these wicked men among us catching people like fish in their nets; in Proverbs 21:7 saying the robbery of the wicked shall destroy them; and in Jeremiah 30:23 as the continuing whirlwind that falls upon the head of the wicked.
Habakkuk 1
5 Behold you among the heathen, and regard, and wonder marvelously: for I will work a work in your days which you will not believe, though it be told you.
6 For, lo, I raise up the Chaldeans, that bitter and hasty nation, which shall march through the breadth of the land, to possess the dwelling-places that are not theirs.
7 They are terrible and dreadful: their judgment and their dignity shall proceed of themselves.
8 Their horses also are swifter than the leopards, and are more fierce than the evening wolves: and their horsemen shall spread themselves, and their horsemen shall come from far; they shall fly as the eagle that hastes to eat.
9 They shall come all for violence: their faces shall sup up as the east wind, and they shall gather the captivity as the sand.
10 And they shall scoff at the kings, and the princes shall be a scorn unto them: they shall deride every strong hold; for they shall heap dust, and take it.
11 Then shall his mind change, and he shall pass over, and offend, imputing this his power unto his god.
12 Are you not from everlasting, O LORD my God, mine Holy One? we shall not die. O LORD, you have ordained them for judgment; and, O mighty God, you have established them for correction.
13 You are of purer eyes than to behold evil, and can not look on iniquity: wherefore look you upon them that deal treacherously, and hold your tongue when the wicked devours the man that is more righteous than he?
14 And make men as the fishes of the sea, as the creeping things, that have no ruler over them?
15 They take up all of them with the angle, they catch [garar] them in their net, and gather them in their drag: therefore they rejoice and are glad.
16 Therefore they sacrifice unto their net, and burn incense unto their drag; because by them their portion is fat, and their meat plenteous.
17 Shall they therefore empty their net, and not spare continually to slay the nations?
Proverbs 21
7 The robbery of the wicked shall destroy [garar] them; because they refuse to do judgment.
8 The way of man is froward [is to twist and pervert truth] and strange: but as for the pure, his work is right.
Jeremiah 30
23 Behold, the whirlwind of the LORD goes forth with fury, a continuing [garar] whirlwind: it shall fall with pain upon the head of the wicked.
24 The fierce anger of the LORD shall not return, until he has done it, and until he has performed the intents of his heart: in the latter days you shall consider it.
The other word, sha’ah, meaning, “to rush; by implication, to desolate,” is used six times, all in describing when garar has had its full effect, and God people reach a state of total desolation (into which God has now, AGAIN, sent His light {understanding}).
This idea is seen in the title, in the word rab, rendered “suffice,” meaning, “abundance,” from the word rabab, meaning “to cast together, increase, to multiply by the myriad,” from the word rabiyb, meaning, “a rain (as an accumulation of drops).” In Ezekiel 45:9 (the title) it’s used asking the leaders of God’s people if they’ve seen “enough.” Has enough rain accumulated, elements of truth reassembled in this latter rain, that you now understand?
The first time rab is used it’s in Genesis 6:5 as we told when God saw the “great” wickedness in the earth and sent the flood (He said, enough). The next use is Genesis 7:11 when the “great” deep was broken up, and the windows in heaven were opened. These passages are speaking of what Peter describes in 2 Peter 3, the pattern that is now at work in the earth, of which men are ignorant.
2 Peter 3
3 Knowing this first, that there shall come in the last days scoffers, walking after their own lusts,
4 And saying, Where is the promise of his coming? for since the fathers fell asleep, all things continue as they were from the beginning of the creation.
5 For this they willingly are ignorant of, that by the word of God [this same 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:
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 [apoleia] 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, 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 foundational ideas and ways 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] 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].
Ezekiel uses the word rab, in Ezekiel 43:2 in telling of the voice of the LORD, as the sound of “many” waters; and in Ezekiel 44:6, as the LORD tells the house of Israel, to let it “suffice” them of all their abominations (which caused their desolations).
Ezekiel 43
1 Afterward he brought me to the gate, even the gate that looks toward the east:
2 And, behold, the glory of the God of Israel came from the way of the east: and his voice was like a noise of many [rab] waters: and the earth shined with his glory.
3 And it was according to the appearance of the vision which I saw, even according to the vision that I saw when I came to destroy the city: and the visions were like the vision that I saw by the river Chebar; and I fell upon my face.
4 And the glory of the LORD came into the house by the way of the gate whose prospect is toward the east.
5 So the spirit took me up, and brought me into the inner court; and, behold, the glory of the LORD filled the house.
6 And I heard him speaking unto me out of the house; and the man stood by me.
7 And he said unto me, Son of man, the place of my throne, and the place of the soles of my feet, where I will dwell in the midst of the children of Israel forever, and my holy name, shall the house of Israel no more defile, neither they, nor their kings, by their whoredom, nor by the carcasses of their kings in their high places.
8 In their setting of their threshold [their false prophecies about the LORD’s entry] by my thresholds, and their post by my posts, and the wall between me and them, they have even defiled my holy name by their abominations that they have committed: wherefore I have consumed them in mine anger.
9 Now let them put away their whoredom, and the carcasses of their kings, far from me, and I will dwell in the midst of them forever.
10 You son of man, show the house to the house of Israel, that they may be ashamed of their iniquities: and let them measure the pattern [sent through the river Chebar, a pattern understood by the pattern sent forward in this word of God, the wheel within a wheel].
Ezekiel 44
1 Then he brought me back the way of the gate of the outward sanctuary which looks toward the east; and it was shut.
2 Then said the LORD unto me; This gate shall be shut, it shall not be opened, and no man shall enter in by it; because the LORD, the God of Israel, has entered in by it, therefore it shall be shut [by these men putting their threshold in place of the LORD’s].
3 It is for the prince; the prince, he shall sit in it to eat bread before the LORD; he shall enter by the way of the porch of that gate, and shall go out by the way of the same.
4 Then brought he me the way of the north gate before the house: and I looked, and, behold, the glory of the LORD filled the house of the LORD: and I fell upon my face.
5 And the LORD said unto me, Son of man, mark well, and behold with your eyes, and hear with your ears all that I say unto you concerning all the ordinances of the house of the LORD, and all the laws thereof; and mark well the entering in of the house, with every going forth of the sanctuary.
6 And you shall say to the rebellious, even to the house of Israel, Thus says the LORD God; O you house of Israel, let it suffice [rab] you of all your abominations,
7 In that you have brought into my sanctuary strangers, uncircumcised in heart, and uncircumcised in flesh, to be in my sanctuary, to pollute it, even my house, when you offer my bread, the fat and the blood, and they have broken my covenant because of all your abominations.
8 And you have not kept the charge of mine holy things: but you have set keepers of my charge in my sanctuary for yourselves.
The six times the word sha’ah appears, telling of the when the work of these wicked invaders among us has had its full effect, are all, the word of God, spoken through Isaiah describing the event.
2 Kings 19
20 Then Isaiah the son of Amoz sent to Hezekiah [name telling of the salvation and strength of God returned], saying, Thus says the LORD God of Israel, That which you have prayed to me against Sennacherib king of Assyria [the communists in our civil government] I have heard.
21 This is the word that the LORD has spoken concerning him; The virgin the daughter of Zion has despised you, and laughed you to scorn; the daughter of Jerusalem has shaken her head at you.
22 Whom have you reproached and blasphemed? and against whom have you exalted your voice, and lifted up your eyes on high? even against the Holy One of Israel.
23 By your messengers [their {the communist’s} fake news and anti-social media] you have reproached the LORD, and have said, “With the multitude of my chariots I am come up to the height of the mountains, to the sides of Lebanon, and will cut down the tall cedar trees [their men of renown] thereof, and the choice fir trees thereof: and I will enter into the lodgings of his borders, and into the forest of his Carmel.
24 I have digged and drunk strange waters, and with the sole of my feet have I dried up all the rivers of besieged places.”
25 Have you not heard long ago how I have done it, and of ancient times that I have formed it? now have I brought it to pass, that you should be to lay waste fenced cities into ruinous heaps.
26 Therefore their inhabitants were of small power, they were dismayed and confounded; they were as the grass of the field, and as the green herb, as the grass on the house tops, and as corn blasted before it be grown up.
27 But I [The LORD God Almighty] know your abode, and your going out, and your coming in, and your rage against me.
28 Because your rage against me and your tumult is come up into mine ears, therefore I will put my hook in your nose, and my bridle in your lips, and I will turn you back by the way by which you came.
The word “rage” above is telling of these men’s wickedness, their attack on God by attacking His people, as the trembling that removed light (understanding) from the world, and result in the shaking that shakes them from it. It’s the Hebrew word ragaz, meaning, “to quiver (with any violent emotion, especially anger or fear).”
Exodus 14
9 The enemy said, I will pursue, I will overtake, I will divide the spoil; my lust shall be satisfied upon them; I will draw my sword, my hand shall destroy them.
10 You did blow with your wind, the sea covered them: they sank as lead in the mighty waters.
11 Who is like unto you, O LORD, among the gods? who is like you, glorious in holiness, fearful in praises, doing wonders?
12 You stretched out your right hand, the earth swallowed them.
13 You in your mercy have led forth the people which you have redeemed: you have guided them in your strength unto your holy habitation.
14 The people shall hear, and be afraid [ragaz]: sorrow shall take hold on the inhabitants of Palestina [“immigrants (Philistines), and their foreign ways leading to the degeneration of truth”].
Isaiah 13
1 The burden of Babylon [the land of confusion produced by the misleading of false prophets and deceivers], which Isaiah [who Jehovah has saved] the son of Amoz [by returning His strength to them] did see [understand].
2 Lift you up a banner [nec – the pole upon which the brazen serpent is raised, so all can understand and be saved from the deadly venom of the wicked deceivers among them] upon the high mountain, EXALT the voice [qowl] unto them, shake the hand, that they may go into the gates of the nobles.
3 I have commanded my sanctified ones [the gathered elect], I have also called my mighty ones for mine anger, even them that rejoice in my highness.
4 The noise [qowl- the voice of understanding] of a multitude in the mountains, like as of a great [rab] people; a tumultuous noise [qowl – the voices of deception and confusion] 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 [none of God’s people shall have this knowledge]: the sun shall be darkened [the church shall be in a state also ignorant of this time] in his going forth, and the moon [the civil governments shall also be ignorant and without the ways and ideas of the LORD, His peace, and true civilization] shall not cause her light to shine [nagahh].
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 [yaqar – referring us to Psalms 139:17, telling us what makes a man precious, saying, “How precious also are your thoughts unto me, O God! how great is the sum of them!”] than fine gold; even a man than the golden wedge of Ophir.
13 Therefore I will shake [ragaz] the heavens, and the earth shall remove [ra’ash – be shaken] out of her place, in the wrath of the LORD of hosts, and in the day of his fierce anger.
Joel 2
1 Blow you the trumpet in Zion, and sound an alarm in my holy mountain: let all the inhabitants of the land tremble [ragaz]: for the day of the LORD cometh, for it is nigh at hand;
2 A day of darkness and of gloominess, a day of clouds and of thick darkness, as the morning spread upon the mountains: a great [rab] people and a strong; there has not been ever the like, neither shall be any more after it, even to the years of many generations.
3 A fire devours before them; and behind them a flame burns: the land is as the garden of Eden before them, and behind them a desolate wilderness; yea, and nothing shall escape them.
4 The appearance of them is as the appearance of horses; and as horsemen, so shall they run.
5 Like the noise [qowl – voice] of chariots on the tops of mountains shall they leap, like the noise [qowl – voice] of a flame of fire that devours the stubble, as a strong people set in battle array.
6 Before their face the people shall be much pained: all faces shall gather blackness.
7 They shall run like mighty men; they shall climb the wall like men of war; and they shall march every one on his ways, and they shall not break their ranks:
8 Neither shall one thrust another; they shall walk every one in his path: and when they fall upon the sword, they shall not be wounded.
9 They shall run to and fro in the city; they shall run upon the wall, they shall climb up upon the houses; they shall enter in at the windows like a thief.
10 The earth shall quake [ragaz] before them; the heavens shall tremble: the sun and the moon shall be dark, and the stars shall withdraw their shining:
11 And the LORD shall utter his voice [qowl – the LORD opposing the voices of the enemy] before his army: for his camp is very great [rab]: for he is strong that executes his word: for the day of the LORD is great and very terrible; and who can abide it?
12 Therefore also now, says the LORD, turn you even to me with all your heart, and with fasting, and with weeping, and with mourning:
13 And rend your heart, and not your garments, and turn unto the LORD your God: for he is gracious and merciful, slow to anger, and of great [rab] kindness, and repents him of the evil.
Joel 3
13 Put you in the sickle, for the harvest is ripe: come, get you down; for the press is full, the fats overflow; for their wickedness is great [rab].
14 Multitudes, multitudes in the valley of decision [this is the krisis of John 3:19 – the choice between light or darkness]: for the day of the LORD is near in the valley of decision.
15 The sun and the moon shall be darkened, and the stars shall withdraw their shining.
16 The LORD also shall roar out of Zion, and utter his voice [qowl] from Jerusalem; and the heavens and the earth shall shake: but the LORD will be the hope of his people, and the strength of the children of Israel.
17 So shall you know that I am the LORD your God dwelling in Zion, my holy mountain: then shall Jerusalem be holy, and there shall no strangers pass through her any more.
Isaiah 6
8 Also I heard the voice of the LORD, saying, Whom shall I send, and who will go for us? Then said I, Here am I; send me.
9 And he said, Go, and tell this people, Hear you indeed, but understand not; and see you indeed, but perceive not.
10 Make the heart of this people fat, and make their ears heavy, and shut their eyes; lest they see with their eyes, and hear with their ears, and understand with their heart, and convert, and be healed.
11 Then said I, LORD, how long? And he answered, Until the cities be wasted [sha’ah] without inhabitant, and the houses without man, and the land be utterly desolate [sha’ah],
12 And the LORD have removed men far away, and there be a great [rab] forsaking in the midst of the land.
13 But yet in it shall be a tenth, and it shall return, and shall be eaten: as a teil tree, and as an oak, whose substance [whose life is in them waiting to be quickened to life] is in them, when they cast their leaves: so the holy seed shall be the substance thereof [who shall now be awakened – after wickedness has had its full effect].
Isaiah 17
11 In the day shall you make your plant to grow, and in the morning shall you make your seed to flourish: but the harvest shall be a heap in the day of grief and of desperate sorrow.
12 Woe to the multitude of many [rab] people, which make a noise like the noise of the seas; and to the rushing of nations, that make a rushing [sha’ah] like the rushing of mighty waters [the word of the wicked]!
13 The nations shall rush [sha’ah] like the rushing of many [rab] waters [the words of those in power – in church and state]: but God shall rebuke them, and they shall flee far off, and shall be chased as the chaff of the mountains before the wind, and like a rolling thing before the whirlwind.
14 And behold at evening-tide trouble; and before the morning he is not. This is the portion of them that spoil us, and the lot of them that rob us.
Jeremiah 50
31 Behold, I am against you, O you most proud, says the LORD God of hosts: for your day is come, the time that I will visit you.
32 And the most proud shall stumble and fall, and none shall raise him up: and I will kindle a fire in his cities, and it shall devour all round about him.
33 Thus says the LORD of hosts; The children of Israel and the children of Judah were oppressed together: and all that took them captives held them fast; they refused to let them go.
34 Their Redeemer is strong; the LORD of hosts is his name: he shall thoroughly plead their cause, that he may give rest to the land, and disquiet [ragaz] the inhabitants of Babylon.
41 Behold, a people shall come from the north, and a great nation, and many [rab] kings shall be raised up from the coasts of the earth.
42 They shall hold the bow and the lance: they are cruel, and will not show mercy: their voice [qowl] shall roar like the sea, and they shall ride upon horses, every one put in array, like a man to the battle, against you, O daughter of Babylon.
43 The king of Babylon has heard the report of them, and his hands waxed feeble: anguish took hold of him, and pangs as of a woman in travail.
44 Behold, he shall come up like a lion from the swelling of Jordan unto the habitation of the strong: but I will make them suddenly run away from her [see Isaiah 17:13 above]: and who is a chosen man, that I may appoint over her? for who is like me? and who will appoint me the time? and who is that shepherd that will stand before me?
Psalms 77
16 The waters saw you, O God, the waters saw you; they were afraid: the depths also were troubled [ragaz].
17 The clouds poured out water: the skies sent out a sound [qowl – the LORD’s voice of understanding]: your arrows also went abroad.
18 The voice [qowl] of your thunder [the sound of the light] was in the heaven: the lightnings lightened the world: the earth trembled [ragaz] and shook.
19 Your way is in the sea, and your path in the great [rab] waters, and your footsteps are not known.
20 You led your people like a flock by the hand of [Your shepherds] Moses and Aaron.
Psalms 4
1 Hear me when I call, O God of my righteousness: you have enlarged me when I was in distress; have mercy upon me, and hear my prayer.
2 O you sons of men, how long will you turn my glory into shame? how long will you love vanity, and seek after leasing? Selah.
3 But know that the LORD has set apart him that is godly for himself: the LORD will hear when I call unto him.
4 Stand in awe [ragaz], and sin not: commune with your own heart upon your bed, and be still. Selah.
5 Offer the sacrifices of righteousness, and put your trust in the LORD.
6 There be many [rab] that say, Who will show us any good? LORD, lift you up the light [understanding] of your countenance [presence] upon us.
7 You have put gladness in my heart, more than in the time that their corn and their wine increased.
8 I will both lay me down in peace, and sleep: for you, LORD, only make me dwell in safety.
