Category Archives: Out of Egypt

Bible 911 – Joshua

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Joshua 9:11 Wherefore our elders and all the inhabitants of our country spake to us, saying, Take victuals with you for the journey, and go to meet them, and say unto them, We are your servants: therefore now make ye a league with us. (KJV)

The 9th chapter of Joshua is about the Gibeonites. If I may, I would like to view the Book of Joshua with the idea of NEW. New leader, new land, new year, new problems, and new chances to see God move for them and through them. The “new” associated with the Gibeonites is the con/trick they pulled on Joshua and Israel. Up to this point in their history, people have held them in slavery and lied to them, attacked or threatened them, and caused them to sin. This con was because the Gibeonites feared them and did not want to fight this horde of people. This new problem came from an old curse.

The Hivites of Gibeon, Descendants of Ham

Genesis 10:6-20, 1 Chronicles 1, Joshua 3:10, and 1 Kings 9:20 all list the family groups that descended from Ham and Cannan. They settled in this land and they are the ones under the curse of Noah. That curse was they would serve the descendants of the Shem, who is the progenitor of Abram. The list will look like this – Canaanites, Hittites, Hivites, Perizzites, Girgashites, Amorites, and the Jebusites. Joshua 9:7 calls the Gibeonites Hivites.

Hivite | The amazing name Hivite: meaning and etymology (abarim-publications.com)   

Biblical Canaanite descendants are still living in Lebanon, say geneticists (christiantoday.com)

 A fun side note here is Job is in the land of Uz. Uz is in Genesis 10:23 and is a descendant of Shem. 

Because of the Treaty

The first notable thing in 9:18 is that Israel grumbled. In the exodus under Moses, they grumbled when they had no bread, then they grumbled when they got tired of the bread (manna), and here Israel is grumbling because of dry, moldy bread. There is a pattern in all of that, I just do not know what it is. Another side note, Jesus our Bread of Life was born in the House of Bread. We need to remember that at this time the manna had stopped, and they were getting their own food.

Did they grumble because of Exodus 34:12 where God said to not make a treaty with anyone in the land? It could be that grumblers just like to grumble.

Joshua and the leaders did not do well in this treaty/league. Treaty and league are nice sounding terms, but they made a H1285 or covenant with these people. For them to break it would have been bad news, King Saul did, and a drought plagued the land under David’s rule.

So, they made them wood choppers and water carriers. Deuteronomy 29:11 states that there were foreigners in the exodus that had the job during the forty years of wandering. Joshua assigned the Gibeonites these chores for the Tabernacle and Gibeon was given to the Levites as one of their cities.  

A clause in the covenant must have been about mutual defense if attacked. Because when Adoni-Zedek, the king of Jerusalem attacked, the Gibeonites called for help. (Joshua 10:2) In 10:12 Joshua asks for a miracle and gets it, the sun “stands still” until he has beaten the Amorites. This miracle is mentioned in Isaiah 28:21.

To show how far the area had slipped into sin let’s look at the name Adoni-Zedek. Melchizedek was also the king of Jerusalem (Salem) and he was the priest of the Most High God in Genesis 14. Adoni-Zedek means lord of righteousness, he did not come out with bread and wine. Like Balaam, he did not keep the memo about listening to and believing the Most High God.

King Saul and the Gibeonites

2 Samuel 21 is a story that involves the Gibeonites, King Saul, Rizpah, and King David. Gibeon was in the area that was given to the tribe of Benjamin (Joshua 21:17). 1 Chronicles 9:35, Saul’s genealogy, says he had family from that city. Saul had relatives who lived by the Gibeonites, so his zeal may have had a monetary base. Anyway, he had tried to destroy them, which broke the covenant that Joshua had made with them. They must have cried out to God and He answered by stopping the rain for three years. Rizpah was Saul’s concubine who had two sons given to the Gibeonites, she kept scavengers from disturbing the bodies. No, I do not comprehend all of the “legal” aspects of this tale but it is plain that God was serious about that covenant.

Gibeon the City

This city and region are mentioned many times in the history of Israel and Judah.

  • There was a pool there. 2 Samuel 2:13 and Jeremiah 41:12 are fights that happened near this pool.
  • David moved Moses’ Tabernacle and the altar of offerings to a hill there when he took the Ark to Jerusalem, see 1 Chronicles 16:39, 21:29, 1 Kings 3:4, 2 Chronicles 1:3.

People of Gibeon

These may be Benjaminites or native Hivites.

  • 1 Chronicles 12:4 mentions a member of David’s elite bodyguard, Ishmaiah, who led the Thirty.
  • Hananiah, a false prophet, who opposed Jeremiah was from Gibeon. He was probably a priest or Levite.
  • Nehemiah mentions it twice – 3:7 and 7:25.

Joshua

Joshua was a great leader. How would you like to follow in the steps of Moses? He and Caleb were the oldest people in the camp and had watched their families all pass. He did the job he had been raised up for and with just one recorded mistake, not bad.

Numbers 27:18 and Deuteronomy 34:9 both speak of Joshua having the Spirit. The OJB uses the term Ruach HaKodesh which means spirit of wisdom or Holy Spirit.

Hebrew Names for God – Ruach HaKodesh (hebrew4christians.com)

Other posts I have done on Joshua – Joshua by the Books, and Joshua and Encouragement

Winds in the Bible – The Bible and Science

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Winds and directions are frequently written together in the Bible. Wind(s) are a tool that the Lord uses for His purposes. There is a metaphorical side of winds, but the physical aspect of air movement should not be downplayed, this includes the geographical location of the speaker.

The Science

Air moving can be pretty or a problem, but why can it move? Hot and cold, convections, high and low pressures, and the Coriolis Effect are drivers that put air into motion. Forgive me for breezing through this but all of those boil down to Sonshine and spin. The sun heats land and water and the air rises, if something goes up something comes down. The spinning of the earth causes rotary motion in the slower-moving air. (If a term is highlighted, please click on that, it is another post that may add to the topic.)

Location, location, location is important. Many of the references to wind are in Israel, so the Mediterranean Sea, deserts, mountain ranges, and the Sea of Galilee all influence the weather. Now to be a little geo-specific, Daniel, Ezekiel, and Job are not in Israel, Moses is in Egypt, and Noah and Jonah are near Turkey, Paul and much of Acts deal with the Mediterranean. Yes, all of those are in the same region, which is the area of the prevailing westerlies or 30 to 60 degrees north latitude. Into all of that throw in seasonal weather and winds becomes more of a complex issue. Remember if you are south of the Equator storms and wind directions may not be the same as in Israel. PS winds are usually named for where they are coming from not where they are going to.

Father God vs Mother Nature and the other guy  

How many times have you acknowledged someone for the weather? Mother Nature frequently gets the credit for nice weather and some rainy weather. Let it be a destructive storm and God usually gets the blame, even from nonbelievers. Ephesians 2:2 has an interesting phrase that Paul says about the air. There is a spirit that is the prince and power of the air, or Satan. Please notice how Satan never is credited with bad weather; think steal, kill, and destroy. Much of our weather is because of physical factors but there are times.

I try to think of Father God and not Mother Nature, just to give the credit where it is due.

There are six more topics to cover and I will try not to be blustery about them. So, study and use a concordance and Bible search tool, as I will not try to mention all of the references. I encourage you to use a parallel function in your tools as there can be small differences.

Four Winds or the Four Corners of Heaven

So, is this a metaphor, actual winds, or both? I will give examples of each and let you decide. Oh, get out your Bibles as I am giving only the reference.

Both 

  • Jeremiah 49:36 has Elam being pushed by the four winds and its people being sent everywhere.
  • Revelations 7:1 is a terrifying picture where angels are stopping the winds blowing all around the world. The hot air would rise and create a heat dome, which should play into 8:5 and provide the violent weather.

Real Winds

  • Ezekiel 37:9 is the verse where Ezekiel is told to prophesy to the four winds to give breath to the slain bodies.
  • Daniel 7:2 is a “night vision” where he sees the great sea being churned by winds from four directions.

Four Directions or All the Earth

  • Daniel 8:8 and 11:4
  • Zechariah 2:6 and 6:5
  • Matthew 24:31 and Mark 13:27 tell of when Jesus’ Church will be called by a loud trumpet call from all the earth.

West Wind

A very strong west wind in Exodus 10:19 pushes the locust from Egypt into the Red Sea. The NASB has the words west and wind in the same verse, but most translations say flood or a rushing stream, and the wind could be from the east. These are the only two verses I found.

North Wind

  • Ezekiel 1:4 is God’s introduction to the prophet. A strong wind from the north is pushing a huge lightning storm with something glowing on the inside; the Father knows how to make an entrance. Remember a sky full of angels singing to some shepherds.
  • The “hurricane” that pushed Paul to start a church in Malta, Acts 27:14, is called a Northeaster in some translations.
  • A north wind is frequently paired with a south wind as in Job 37:9. Solomon does this in several places in the Bible – Song of Songs 4:16 and Ecclesiastes 1:6.

South Wind

  • A south wind in Israel is coming from the desert, so it will be warm or hot.
  • Job uses many weather references, see 37:9 and 17 for south winds.
  • Luke, who adds great details, does it again in both his Gospel and Acts. Luke 12:55 has Jesus linking a south wind with it being hot. Acts 27:13 and 28:13 are on board the ships that take them to Rome. In Luke 11:31 he joins Matthew in talking about the Queen of the South. The word is notos or south wind.  

The next wind is the most named and is associated with judgment and correction. Use a Bible search tool as I will give a few examples. I have used Bible Gateway.

East Wind

  • Hosea 13:15 Though he may flourish among his brothers, the east wind, the wind of the Lord, shall come, rising from the wilderness, and his fountain shall dry up; his spring shall be parched; it shall strip his treasury of every precious thing. (ESV) I feel this verse says a lot.
  • Genesis 41:6 Pharaoh’s dream about the coming drought.
  • Exodus 10:13 the wind that brought the locusts on Egypt.
  • Jonah 4:8 is the wind that dried Jonah’s vine.
  • Ezekiel, Jeremiah, Job, and Psalms are other books that have the east wind doing the Lord’s work.

Yes, in word searches there will be overlap.

Wind or Winds

  • 1 Kings 19:11 a strong wind is tearing apart a mountain where Elijah is.
  • Psalm 104:4 and Hebrews 1:7 link angels and winds as ministers of God.
  • Ezekiel 5 repeats the idea of being cast to the winds.

The New Testament has more generic winds than named ones.

  • Matthew 7:25 the parable of the house that will stand.
  • Matthew 8, Mark 4, and Luke 8 have Jesus calming the winds while He was in a boat.
  • Jude 1 and James 3 use winds as metaphors.

May the wind always be at your back as you sail on in your studies of wind, breath, storms, and weather in the Bible.

Bible 911 Esther

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Esther 9:11 On that day the number of those that were slain in Shushan the palace was brought before the king. (KJV)

In studying and pondering this Bible 911, I see this verse as “an end” and “a start”. An internet search will reveal movies, controversies, agendas, and extra verses for Esther, not bad for only ten chapters. I choose to leave those alone.

A Start

No matter what anyone says, the celebration that started in the ninth chapter, Purim, is still observed. That speaks volumes if you will let it. A pur is like some dice. It is the same idea as the Disciples “casting a lot” to pick the replacement for Judas. It is possible that is also the idea behind the Urim and Thummim.

An End

Mordecai and Esther ended the family line of Agag the Amalekite, which is something their ancestors King Saul and his son Jonathan did not do. Agag is the king of the Amalekites whom Saul was to kill in 1 Samuel 15. Please read Amalek Part 1 and Part 2.

The great victory in Esther 9:11 did not end the family of Esau/Edom and it probably did not end the Amalekites (I think). They are descendants of Abraham with a lot of history. God was not pleased with them, as shown in Exodus 17:16 and Hebrews 12:16. Even Malachi 1 has much to say about them, if Ezra did write Malachi that would fit in with the ideas in Esther 9. Most of the prophets were given words that were against Esau, Edom, and Mount Seir.

Samples of Amalekites being around after 1 Samuel 15:

  • They raided Ziklag and David fought against them in 1 Samuel 29.
  • One killed King Saul-2 Samuel 1.
  • 1 Chronicles 4:43 has a story from the time of Hezekiah about them.

Agag’s Family Connections

  • Genesis 36: 12 and 16
  • 1 Samuel 15 – Agag and the homeland of Havilah to Shur (verse 7). Ishmael and the Philistines also have connections to this area.
  • Esther 3:1
  • Exodus 17 and Deuteronomy 25 tell the story of the Amalek attack on Israel as it left Egypt.
  • Ephraim and Manasseh, while in Egypt, had raiding bands that may have terrorized the area from Shur and Havilah – 1 Chronicles 7:21 – 22. 
  • Ezekiel 35:5-6 speaks of an “ancient hostility” that bloomed as Jerusalem fell to Babylon. The hostility may have been Saul’s attack, or the raid in Exodus 17 that could have come from those raids in 1 Chronicles 7:21 – 22, but I have a feeling it was Esau selling and being tricked out of the right of the firstborn – Genesis 27. Amalek may have caught the offense of his grandfather and never let it alone.

If you want a study, the story and history of Esau would keep you busy for a while. Esau’s family line is recorded in Genesis 36. Reseach the Prophets also.

Esther’s Family

Esther is a Benjamite. Her uncle Mordecai’s genealogy is in Esther 2:6 and it is indicated that he was carried off with Jehoiachin. They are related to Jonathan and Saul. The Benjamite genealogy is found in 1 Chronicles 8; the very next section is the captives who returned from Babylon (that is probably from Ezra). Saul and Jonathan’s family tree is 1 Chronicles 9: 35-44. Between these passages and tradition, we believe that Esther was a granddaughter of Jonathan through Mephibosheth and his son Micah. (Please view Why Hide a Grandson There and Lo Debar a Second Look. Lo Debar was not a dump and I believe Mephibosheth was with family that was protecting him and providing for him. The last story in the Book of Judges changed a lot for the tribe of Benjamin.)

Some about Benjamin:

  1. He is the only progenitor of the Tribes that was born in the Promised Land. The rest were born in Paddan Aram/Haran or Egypt.
  2. Jerusalem and the Mount of Olives are in the territory allotted to Benjamin.
  3. He was the thirteenth child of Jacob. (12 sons, 1 daughter)

127 Providences

The Persian kingdom was huge. It wrapped the eastern end of the Mediterranean Sea and went to India. Jerusalem and Shushan were just two of the 127 providences, so how many actually had Jews in them? The couriers and the horses had a serious trip to take.

Times

The years in Esther are referenced by Xerxes’ rule of Persia. I wonder if the “months” are from the Jewish calendar. Movies crunch the years to fit it into a two-hour time slot.

  • 1:3 is the third year of his rule, so he throws a party.
  • 2:12 has twelve months of beauty treatments for the maidens.
  • 2:16 is the seventh year of his reign. There was no big rush to pick a new queen.
  • 3:7 is the twelfth year of Xerxes’ reign.
  • 3:12 and 13 are the days of the months for the writing of the letters and the day picked to kill the Jews.

The first celebration would have been in the thirteenth year. The day of writing the letters in 3:12 would have been just before Passover.

Hebrew Jewish Months in the Old Testament – Bible History (bible-history.com)

Things that caught my attention

  1. Where the action and setting of the Books took place. (This is not a complete list.) No part of Esther takes place in the Promised Land. For the most part, Exodus through Deuteronomy is not in Israel. Daniel and Ezekiel are set outside of Israel with references to the Land. Jonah starts in the Land and goes to Nineveh.
  2. Acrostics found in Esther. The name of God is not found in Esther, but there are acrostics for it in the text. This site actually listed them, if you go searching the internet, please know there are many agendas out there.  Q&A: Is God in Esther? (thirdmill.org)  
  3. Haman, Agag, and Amalek are people who did not do right by Israel. We need to remember the real enemy from Isaiah 14:12, it is Lucifer who stirs people to attack the Jews because they are God’s chosen people through Abraham.

What is your Amalek?

This is a metaphorical question. Amalek was the first thing to attack Israel after they passed through the Red Sea leaving Egypt. They plagued Israel and the Father promised them He would fight against them. I believe they are one thing that will be put under the feet of Jesus. So, what attacked you after you repented and were baptized and is still warring against you?

Purpose or Prothesis

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My Purpose or agenda is to encourage people to study their Bible readings and the sermons they listen to during the week. I will get to the term “purpose” in the New Testament because that is where my study, this morning, landed. My study did not start out there and to be honest, it went all over the place, but it was good, and I had great takeaways.

Because I have used the word purpose in this post, I feel it is important for you to believe Exodus 34:5-7. Knowing and believing He is a good God has to be your foundation. Having questions and problems is part of our journey in the Way. God said all of these things to Moses after he messed up big time. In a moment of anger, he literally broke all of the commandments at one time. (That is a little Mark humor.) it is about two years since the burning bush and Moses is still learning God and His ways. God invited Moses back up the mountain, anger and all, to teach him about Himself and reissue the Law to the Community.

My study, this morning, started with the word pagan. A person said it came from the phrase “the people of the country” or those who lived outside the cities. I found that pagan, heathen, and Gentile in the New Testament are the same word and that translators change the word ethnikos and ethnos to fit their writing. God bless translators who are trying to do right. Not every Christian likes to think they were a pagan or a heathen at one time in their life. (Take away #1.)

That led to the thought there may be agendas attached to writing, translations, and sermons. So, I looked up the word agenda in Bible Gateway. I did not find it except in the Amplified version, and they seemed to be in the commentaries they like to add. But that brought me to purpose.

Purpose (one of several words for that idea) in the First Testament is H 6098, in Strong’s, and is translated as counsel, plan, or purpose. Take some time to study that word, you won’t be sorry.

In the Gospels and the Epistles, the Greek word prothesis and its various forms are translated as purpose and shewbread. That is the twelve loaves that are associated with the Tabernacle. The number is G 4286 and use this as a reference: πρόθεσις | billmounce.com. That word looks like prosthesis or artificial joints and limbs, I am not sure of the etymology and if they are related.

Shewbread and God’s purpose for my life being related is my second and big takeaway. Those loaves in the Tabernacle, that were eaten by the priest, were there to keep the Tribes before God. My Strong’s/Vine’s concordance draws a conclusion about it representing God’s plan for our daily bread. I appreciate that thought, but mine goes in a different direction. My purpose, like those loaves, is always before the Father. He has a plan for me and will see it to completion, Amen and Amen.

The Gospels and Hebrews are the books with the shewbread, and Paul’s Epistles and Acts use the word purpose.

My morning study did not end there. Bread is H 3899 and is lechem. From another study I read Deuteronomy 29:6 which says the Children had eaten no bread in their wanderings around the desert. That word has many working meanings; I will go with the grain the bread is made from. Friendly dealings with neighbors were not happening, so how could they get grain? Manna could be the answer, it was boiled or baked. It is possible they may have grown it but that is iffy. I know the Law was for then and the future, so consider Exodus 25:30 and Leviticus 24:5. The bread of the Presence was to always be before God and the twelve loaves had to come from the finest flour.

My purpose for the prothesis is to ask your opinion. During the time of wandering did they use manna for those thirty-eight years, or trade, or grow grain to make those large, round loaves of bread?  

Finger of God

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What is the most powerful part of God? His fingers do miracles and cast out demons, His breath gave us life, His right hand and extended arm do battle for us, and His face will kill you. Okay, I am not going there just because. So, back to the title of this post – The Finger of God. (Yes, I left out a few like His heart and voice.)

This study is from my Deuteronomy 911 background research. With His finger, God wrote the commands, laws, and instructions on a pair of stone tablets for His people to live in a community as free people. There are two references to this story: Deuteronomy 9:10 and Exodus 31:18. The phrase “finger of God” is used in two other places; this is consistent through all of the translations I looked at. Altogether, I think, they tell an interesting story.

Exodus 8:19 – Pharaoh’s magicians told him that the plague of gnats was from the finger of God. I looked at several commentaries and stopped! The main thought was that the magicians of Egypt would not have said that or believed in Moses’ God. Why not? They had to go get new walking sticks because the rod of God had swallowed theirs. They maybe did turn water to blood, but a bowl full is not the Nile and they could not undo Moses’ act. (Personally, I am thinking red coloring, but we will stay with blood.) The Egyptians had a frog goddess, so, who knows what experiments they had done to get frogs out of the water? Once again, they could offer no relief to the people. As one commentary noted, the gnats required them to create life. Jannes and Jambes (2 Timothy 3:8) were not up to that task and they knew they had been beaten. (See Frogs, Yeast, Plagues, The Wonders that Plagued Egypt, and Reflections)

A very common thought about fingers in our reference materials and commentaries is they point or scratch, and they do. Another use for the finger, in ancient times, was a unit of measurement or etsba. This is the width of the finger and not the length. Etsba or Strong’s H676 is the Hebrew for finger, you will have to look to find the measurement part. My Strong’s reference table lists a finger as a unit of length but gives no Hebrew name, and the given length has to be a finger width.

So, what if they were acknowledging the power of God and also saying this may just be a small measurement of that power? I doubt they converted, but other Egyptians did believe and got their people and animals out of the fields before the hailstorm (9:20). The magicians lasted until Exodus 9:11 and are not heard from again.

After they made that statement, God started treating Israel and Egypt differently. This leads to my BIG TAKEAWAY from this post. The three times the finger of God is used He is working to start His kingdom of priests and the holy nation. This one is measuring the Egyptians as guilty of enslaving His people and He will free them.                                                                                                                                                                                                   

Exodus 31:18 and Deuteronomy 9:10

God used His extended finger to write on two stone tablets the rules His holy nation needed to live as free men and women. STOP! Think about that for a minute or two. The Father wrote for His people (twice) the commandments He had spoken to them. How do we know that God is everything He said He was in Exodus 34: 6+7? Moses broke all of the commandments at the same and God still loved and used him. If you want a good study, find the traditions and legends that surround those tablets.

Moses wrote a book; God wrote stone tablets. Why stone and not rock? Rock is unaltered and in its natural state. Stone has been shaped for man to use.

Luke 11:20

This verse says it all, the extended finger of God casting out demons by the power of God measures the Kingdom is nearby. Daktylos is the word for finger, Strong’s G1147, and it has Hebrew roots. Luke does not name the crowd in the passage, but they sound like the Pharisees. Because of that, I am sure that this is one of Jesus’ multilevel revelations for them. “Frogs” getting pushed out by the finger of God. The same powerful finger that wrote the Law is bringing in the kingdom of God. He is also claiming to have the power of the finger of God, even as He ignores their demand for a sign from Heaven. Yes, the Pharisees were not happy with that righteous reminder of the finger of God.