Category Archives: Righteous

Counting Pronouns

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The sermon this Sunday morning was from Genesis 28:10-22. This is the first interaction between God and Jacob; 13-15 is God making promises and in 20-22 is Jacob making a deal. At first, I was only counting pronouns in God’s side of the narrative, but a small Voice urged me to contrast with Jacob.

Translators had to take ancient Hebrew and convert it into something we can read with ease. I started in the NIV, used Bible Hub’s text analysis, the KJV, NASB, and EVS versions to get a good count ratio. At first, I counted I (God speaking), you, and your. (KJV was thy, thee, and thou.) Jacob used pronouns but did use names and titles of God; his favorite was “me”. Translations vary, a little, but the ratio was what caught my attention in both sections. Some translations capitalize God’s pronouns.

Verses 13-15

God was focused on Jacob. He referred to Himself six times and to Jacob fourteen times. More than twice as many. The Father loves His children. He loves us so much He sent Jesus to die for our sins. He includes “all people” in these three verses.

Verses 20-22

Jacob referred to himself ten times and to God six times.

What I see is our righteous God taking the lead and showing us His heart. Jacob is acting as he did when he was dealing with his brother.

An Op-ed

The worldly obsession with pronouns is an extension of woke post-modernism bullying us into changing our thinking by changing and redefining our language. I fear for the cosmic balance, because of the number of people on earth claiming to be the center of the universe. If matter starts revolving around these random points the vortexes will destroy the solar system and bring about the end of all things.

Bear Fruit – Lift Up or Cut Off

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As I pondered about working on this post- Bear Fruit – Lift Up or Cut Off, I read Proverbs 30. It is addressed to King Lemuel and called an oracle (NIV); it had a footnote. The note said it could be “Lemuel king of Massa”. Massa and Nasa were words from the post Bear Fruit. So, I started on this post today. It may help to read Massa | The amazing name Massa: meaning and etymology. In Bear Fruit I studied John 15:2 about the idea of lifting branches up or cutting them off in the context of bearing fruit. In Hebrew nasa means to lift up.

Topics, words, and ideas that branched out from this study:

  • Hebrews 5:13,14 to 6:1,2.
  • Good Fruit verses Bad Fruit
  • Are you producing enough fruit?
  • Who do you let tell you about your fruit production?
  • Cut off verses pruning, especially in Greek.
  • Verses with cut down or lift up in them. Use your favorite Bible app and its wordsearch function. It could give you a great Bible study.

John 15:2, John 15:2 Greek Text Analysis , uses the word prune. Any gardener will tell you that means cutting something off, usually to improve it. So, it is important and possibly gave context to the idea of “cutting off” in the first part of the verse, but the word kathairō is used once in the New Testament. Strong’s Greek: 2508. καθαίρω (kathairó) — To cleanse, to purify, to prune. There is a related Greek word that is used many times for “clean”. Strong’s Greek: 2513. καθαρός (katharos) — Clean, pure, clear. The word that started this study is Strong’s Greek: 142. αἴρω (airó) — To lift, to take up, to raise, to remove, to carry away. I hope you see the connection in the root word.

God removing someone (or many people) or things is seen with Noah. The words or phrases may change but the fact does not. A few teachings from John the Baptist and Jesus may help.

John – Matthew 3:10 is John talking to Pharisees and Sadducees about the axe at the root of the tree. “Every tree that does not produce good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire.”

Jesus – Matthew 7:19 repeats that thought for false prophets. If good fruit is not being produced, trees are cut down and burned.

Luke 13:6 – A fig tree has been planted. The owner has been looking for fruit for three years and has found none, he orders it cut down. Why use up the soil? A worker asked for one more year, he will give it special attention. (Ask the Father to send laborers into the field.) This parable is connected to Leviticus 19:23 and the planting and eating of fruit from trees you plant. For the first three years the fruit is holy.

Why Hebrews? 6:1,2 is the framework for many beginning classes in Christianity. These are the six foundational stones that you may be presented. Foundations are important, they need to be strong because your very spiritual life is setting on them. I have watched many things get built and I know that before you put down the foundation the soil underneath it has to be prepared correctly or the foundation may have problems. 5:13,14 is the preparation for laying a foundation. Righteousness and knowing good from evil are the soil your foundation is sitting on. If these are off, there will be problems. Then comes the question of what has been built on top of the foundation?

Please, consider Job and his three friends. It seems that they had shared experiences and had seen similar things in their lifetime. The dialogue is strong and the comments serious, but in the end the Lord prunes Job so he can produce more fruit and lifts the friends up to know Him better.

There are other questions about fruit that must be address. Who are you listening to about the fruit you are producing? Is it good or bad, how much is needed, is it coming fast enough, you should be doing more are things you may hear about your fruit. Who are those people helping; the Father, you, or themselves?

Lift up, prune, or cut off; yes, the Father does all three because He wants good fruit. So, how is your relationship with the Father?

Righteousness # 3

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In this edition of Righteousness, I want to point out three separate text that deal with the condition of Jerusalem, its people, and the interesting thought in Isaiah 4:4. These same thoughts are started in Psalm 103 by David more than 250+ years before Isaiah.

In Repeats and Upgrades, I laid a foundation about the period that Isaiah prophesied in; I will add to these thoughts. His time of ministry is more than 250 years after the Temple was finished. The Northern Tribes were being attacked by Assyria, so Amos, Micah, Hosea, and others were helping the children of Jacob. Jerusalem has had good and bad periods, but he worked with Hezekiah and was probably killed, as an old man, by Manasseh. Manasseh was just bad news and did not follow the Lord at all.

The Land the Lord promised to Abraham is important to Him. Melchizedek is associated with Jerusalem and the sacrifice of Issac was on Mount Zion or Moriah. It is referenced/understood in the three passages below that there was a problem and that it would be corrected and “the city of Jerusalem” would be changed. Righteousness, justice, and salvation are in these references; it has the “legal” side of righteousness covered, but there is also the personal relationship part that needs to be recognized. Are all of these texts referring to the New Jerusalem in Revelations? There are many verses with a wide range of emotions talking about the earthly city of Jerusalem. (That is a great study for you to do.) So, are they talking about the people in Jerusalem at those times or the houses inside the four walls?  

These references are from the New American Standard Bible from Bible Gateway.

1:26 Then I will restore your judges as at first,
And your counselors as at the beginning;
After that you will be called the city of righteousness,
A faithful city.”

4:2 – On that day the Branch of the Lord will be beautiful and glorious, and the fruit of the earth will be the pride and the beauty of the survivors of Israel. 3 And it will come about that the one who is left in Zion and remains behind in Jerusalem will be called holy—everyone who is recorded for life in Jerusalem. 4 When the Lord has washed away the filth of the daughters of Zion and purged the bloodshed of Jerusalem from her midst, by the spirit of judgment and the spirit of burning, 5 then the Lord will create over the entire area of Mount Zion and over her assemblies a cloud by day, and smoke, and the brightness of a flaming fire by night; for over all the glory will be a canopy. 6 And there will be a shelter to give shade from the heat by day, and refuge and protection from the storm and the rain.

62: 11 Behold, the Lord has proclaimed to the end of the earth:
Say to the daughter of Zion, “Behold, your salvation is coming;
Behold His reward is with Him, and His compensation before Him.”
12 And they will call them, “The holy people,
The redeemed of the Lord”;
And you will be called, “Sought Out, A City Not Abandoned.”

The spirit of burning

Isaiah 4:4 Hebrew Text Analysis (biblehub.com)

Strong’s Hebrew: 1197. בָּעַר (ba’ar) — brutish (biblehub.com)

This phrase caught my attention. “The spirit of burning” that cleans Jerusalem. In the NASB (Bible Gateway) this is used only once, the second reference is Revelations 4:5 with the focus of that verse talking about the Seven Spirits of God. The word for burning (H1197) will show you the verses of Moses talking to God in the burning bush. Great connection for Isaiah 4:4. (I will say again, God bless translators.) Put this phrase in with the prophecy that there will be no more global floods, just a consuming fire.

Righteousness the Second Look

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In this post, I want to focus on a repeating theme and technique. The theme is dark to light, and I will call the technique “what is and what will be”. In Isaiah I have noticed several of these sections, especially in Chapters 1 – 4. I am sure there are others as usual have your Bible open.

“What is” gone is the righteous relationship the people had with their God, this cascades very quickly to a loss of right legal standing before God and the mistreating of people. 1:13 of Isaiah speaks of offerings and incense that mean nothing because they choose to do evil things (vs.16) and neglect the important things found in verse 17. Verse 21, again, states that justice and righteousness have been replaced with murderers. This first “what is” section goes from 1:1 to 1:23. I see the “what will be” starting in vs. 24 and going through 31 or possibly 2:5. For me, verses 1:26 and 27 are the core of this second part, when Jerusalem will be renamed the “City of Righteousness and the Faithful City”.

This thought is fenced in with vs.24 and what is labeled 2:1. At times it is easy to overlook the “declares, and the Lord says” parts of the text because they may not fall at the beginning of a chapter. These declarations and introductions were added by the Holy Spirit to indicate units of thought from the Father and how they were given to the prophets. They should not be overlooked.

Ah, Chapter 2! To finish this post and show another example of dark to light, I need to work from Chapter 2 to 4. I see 2:1 to 3:15 as being a unit because of “declares the Lord”, then 3:16 to 4:1 as a “dark” unit and “4:2 to 6 as a light unit. Did Isaiah do some editing and strategic planning? 2:1-5 is very much a “will be” section. Starting in verse 6 it sounds like Isaiah is talking to God about Israel. Notice the thought is “their” land. Verse 12 starts a repeated idea that is found in the rest of Isaiah and many other prophetic books – “The Day”. This “dark” section of 2:6 to 4:1 ends with the coming of the “Branch of the Lord”. 4:5 and 6 is the recreation of the Pillar of Cloud and Fire that covered Israel for forty years.

In the dark, right relations with God and man break down and it becomes a judicial matter for God.

When light comes so does proper judicial conduct and proper relationships with God and our fellow man. This is the righteousness that God wants.

Here is a study help. The “H” numbers are from the Strong’s Concordance.

Isaiah 1:26 Hebrew Text Analysis (biblehub.com)

Repeats and Upgrades

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Repeats and Upgrades is my second post from my study of righteousness, it comes from Isaiah. I choose to focus on Isaiah first because it has about eighty “right” references (NASB), Psalms and Proverbs have more and Romans has many also.

I feel it is important to know about Isaiah and the times he lived in. Isaiah’s visions came during the reigns of four kings (1:1) and was probably killed by the fifth one, Manasseh, by being sawed in two (Hebrews 13:37). Ahaz did not do right in the eyes of the Lord. From Uzziah to Isaiah 40 is about 43 years and it is approximately 59 years to the time of Manasseh. Hosea, Micah, and Amos also prophesied during his lifetime. His story is found in 2 Chronicles 26-32, and 2 Kings 15–20. I get the feeling at times that Isaiah edited his visions so they may not be chronological, but that is just me.

“Jesus verses” abound in Isaiah, but that will be a different post.

Something I noticed was the repeated translation of the English word “will”. Chapters 53-56 and 59-62 have “will” used many times. They will make an interesting study.

Repeats

The repeats I want to focus on are words and phrases. It may be an attention device, or it may be to bring a legal witness to the text. The idea of two witnesses is found in Deuteronomy 17:6 and 19:15. It is repeated in Matthew 18:16, 2 Corinthians 13:1, 1 Timothy 5:19, and Hebrews 10:28. Yes, in their courts two or more people were required to determine a fact, but in Genesis 15 God was His own witness in the covenant with Abram. It seems the repeats by the Lord bring righteous relationships into focus; both of the legal and personal nature.

The list will all be from Isaiah, so I will write just chapter and verse with the word or phrase. (I hope I get them all. I used the NASB so there may be different words in your translation.)

  • 24:16 I am finished! I am finished! Woe to me! I think this is Isaiah stating a complaint like Jeremiah and Habakkuk.  
  • 51 and 52, Awake, Awake – 51:9 A call for the arm of the Lord to be strong; 51:17 For Jerusalem, because they were drunk; 52:1 For Zion/Jerusalem to clothe themselves with strength.
  • 51:1,4,7 – Listen to me. 1. Those who pursue righteousness and seek the Lord. 4. His people and nation because His justice will be a light to the nations. 7. Those who know what is right and have His law in their hearts.
  • 51:5,6,8 –5. His righteousness is near and His salvation has gone out. 6. His salvation is eternal and His righteousness does not fail. 8. His righteousness is forever and His salvation is for all the ages.
  • 52:8 Shouts of joy or joyful shouts are commanded 14 times. (NASB translation)
  • 52:11 – depart, depart. To leave the “nations” and not touch unclean things. Levities are highlighted as those who carry the vessels of the Lord.
  • 55:1 Has four invitations to come and get things from the Lord without cost.
  • 55:2 listen, listen. It is a continuation of the offers from verse 1.
  • 57:14 Build up, build up. This is to prepare the road. It sounds like the work of John for Jesus and then Jesus for us to come to the Father. See 62:10.
  • 57:19 peace, peace. It is for those who are far and near, so the Lord can heal them. The work of Jesus.
  • 62:1 The Lord will not keep silent until righteousness and salvation shine out like dawn; for the sake of Zion and Jerusalem.
  • 62:10 Pass through, pass through; build up build up; like 57:14 it is a road.

Upgrades

  • 9:10 The people of the Northern Kingdom are proclaiming upgrades in defiance to God. Their bricks will be replaced with dressed stone and figs with cedars.
  • 41:18-20 Rivers, springs, and pools of water will be in places where they were not or in places to bring life there. Deserts and wastelands will be populated with desirable trees as a sign that the Lord has done this.
  • 60:17 Lesser metals will be replaced with more valuable ones. Peace will be their governor and righteousness their ruler.
  • 61:3 Instead of ashes on their heads there will be beautiful crowns. Oil will anoint the head and bring gladness instead of mourning. Torn garments of despair will be replaced with garments of praise. Verses 4 through 7 also have upgrades for the people.