Begged in Mark 5

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Mark 5 has five uses of the Greek word parakaleo or beg. This chapter has the story of the Man of Gerasenes, the Woman with the issue of blood, and Jairus and his daughter. The Gospel of John does not use parakaleo but John does use parakletos (See Our Wonderful Counselor). Luke makes use of this word, parakaleo, many times in telling the story to Theophilus.

παρακαλέω | Free Online Greek Dictionary | billmounce.com

Strong’s Greek: 3870. παρακαλέω (parakaleó) — to call to or for, to exhort, to encourage (biblehub.com)

I learned recently that Strong’s Concordance and other reference works will first focus on the root word. That is why it is good to use several references if you are “digging deep” into a word or passage.

These words are used in a variety of ways, but both parakaleo and parakletos carry a “legal” air about them. The legal aspect can be read in the first three entries of Mark.

  • 5:10 – Here and in verse 12 the “he” and “unclean spirits” are understood from verse 2. I have heard that demons are territorial.
  • 5:12 – If they go into the pigs they could stay in the area. That must have been an interesting conversation.
  • 5:17 – The people of the region were upset and confused and wanted Jesus to leave. I have to wonder if the “freed” demons were agitating the crowd.
  • 5:18 – The Man begged to go with Jesus. Jesus sent him out as the first missionary to the Gentiles.
  • 5:23 – Jarius, an official of the synagogue begged for Jesus to follow him to his house.

The other times Mark uses the word are in 1:40, 6:56, 7:32, and 8:22. These are all healings. Every time in Mark when someone parakaleo Jesus, even the demons, He complied with the request. Except for the Gentile to follow Him, it was just too early for that to happen.

Proverbs 911

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Proverbs 9:11 is a promise and a transition in a chapter that compares and contrasts Wisdom and Folly. Please allow me to explain. Verses 10-12 are the shift from Wisdom to Folly; #10 informs you of Wisdom’s benefits and #12 introduces the results when you choose to not fear the Lord and that leads to Folly.

10 The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom: and the knowledge of the holy is understanding.

11 For by me thy days shall be multiplied, and the years of thy life shall be increased.

12 If thou be wise, thou shalt be wise for thyself: but if thou scornest, thou alone shalt bear it. (KJV)

Proverbs 9:10 Hebrew Text Analysis (biblehub.com)  Use the blue arrows to go through all of the verses. A few minutes researching wisdom, knowledge, understanding, and wise will be worth your time. The Strong’s numbers are hotlinks to a short definition. Wise and wisdom are related terms.

With individual text analysis, section headings, and chapter and verse numbers it is hard to remember that is not how Solomon’s treatise on wisdom and folly was written; there were none of those things in his original work. Proverbs 1:7 introduces the letter with almost the same statement as 9:10. Take a moment and reflect on those verses, and note where they are in Solomon’s “nine chapters” master class on Wisdom and Folly. It is easy to believe that you are to go from knowledge to wisdom as you read the lessons and move into the fear of the Lord. I personally believe that this section, like the rest of Proverbs, was the result of collecting, studying, and carefully reflecting before he wrote anything. He did the time and work, but the Spirit directed the outcome. The Book took a long time to reach its final form, see 25:1.

In the big picture, I see the two Trees in the Garden of Eden. Solomon is presenting knowledge to us about good and evil, but Life is where we should be going. There are many things in these verses and some live and work very close to each other as they call out to us; choose the righteous one.

The Woman Wisdom

Is there a spiritual person in Heaven named Wisdom? My guess, Sophias are there; Chochmahs I am not so sure about (not a top-ten name for girls or boys). On that topic, my body is weary because of binah.

I decided to discuss Her personification with the same respect I have given Daughter Zion and the Bride of Christ. God’s Girls are important to Him. Proverbs begins with women and ends by talking about a woman. Why would the Spirit use women as the metaphor for wisdom? Women carry babies to birth and nurture children. Men, we are to follow Father God’s example in caring for our wife and children. (I would bet Adam thought about that missing rib when he took a breath. He gave up something from his side to have Eve by his side.) Malachi 2:15 is clear on the fact that the Father wants Godly offspring; read verses 13 – 16. Ponder that thought as you see the devil and “the woke” attack the family and women.

This calling, desire, and responsibility from God is seen in the vignette of 9:1-6 and Her advice in verses 7 – 9. Proverbs 9:11 is her promise to us of life if you listen to her, she wants to look out for you.

Wisdom’s house in 9:1 caught my attention. I pondered those seven pillars and the seven spirits of God, I hoped to draw a brilliant statement comparing the two, but it did not happen. There are many ideas about what those pillars are, but as I looked at my clock, I realized they could hold up a round building. Six pillars will evenly space to support the walls and you put the seventh one in the middle to hold the roof. I wrote about the seven spirits of God and identified them with Isaiah 11:1-4. The first word in that list is chokmah (wisdom) and the second one is binah. Number six is the fear of the Lord. James 3:17 is a great list of what wisdom is, but there are eight things.

  • pure
  • peace-loving
  • gentle
  • reasonable
  • full of mercy and good fruits. Most translators list these separately, making it a total of eight.
  • impartial
  • free of hypocrisy

1 Corinthians 1:24 and 30 identifies Jesus as the wisdom that comes from God. Verse 30 lists righteousness, holiness, and redemption as the wisdom from God that is in the God-Man, Jesus. (I am sure that there is more to come on this topic, but I need to get back on track.)

Folly’s vignette is verses 13 – 18. Like any good lie, Folly mimics Wisdom and does some of the things she does. Compare their advertising techniques and how they want to feed the people who come to them. Please notice both are in the “highest” part of the city. Now, contrast everything else, especially their messages.

It is not unusual for Solomon and Lady Wisdom to be compared to non-Hebrew deities and other countries’ wisemen. True wisdom belongs to God, so if Solomon repeated true wisdom that is fine with me.

Woman Wisdom: Bible | Jewish Women’s Archive (jwa.org) You need to read the whole article and not cherry-pick lines from it. It is one of the better articles I have read that compares Wisdom to pagan goddesses, I believe they are for Woman Wisdom, but many are not.

Mother Nature or Father God is something a Christian should think about. I will stick with Father God, but remember that Satan fell to earth and does have some power down here. Come, Lord Jesus.

Long Life

David’s greeting for Nabal was “have a long life” in 1 Samuel 25:6. Nabal’s greed and foolishness brought about his early death.

Solmon did not pray for a long life in 2 Chronicles 1:11 and 1 Kings 3:11 but for wisdom to rule God’s people.

Psalm 91, by Moses, starts with “he who dwells with the Most High” and ends with God giving him long life and salvation.

Hezekiah prayer for God to remember the things he had done and was given fifteen more years.

Wisdom, fear of the Lord, and long life appear in Proverbs 3:2 and 16, 4:10, and 10:27.

Paul in Titus 1: 1-3 talks of eternal life that had been promised: “a long time ago”. Faith, truth, hope, and knowledge came from Paul’s preaching because of his revelation and commission from God the Father and Jesus. I still wonder what it would have been like if Adam and Eve had eaten from the Tree of Life.

Ephesians 1:23

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Ephesians 1:23

Which is his body, the fulness of him that filleth all in all. (KJV)

  • Which, hostis G 3748.
  • Is, eimi G 1510.
  • Body, soma G 4983. This word is used a lot in the books to the Corinthians. In Ephesians see 4:4, 12, and 16, 5:23,28, and 30.
  • Fullness, pleroma G 4138. See 1:10, 3:19, and 4:13.
  • Fills, pleroo G 4137. See 3:19, 4:10, and 5:18.
  • All, every, pas G 3956.

Use the links below to explore all of the words in the passage in Ephesians.

Ephesians 1 MOUNCE – Paul, an apostle of Christ  Jesus by the – Bible Gateway

Ephesians 1 Interlinear Bible (biblehub.com)

Ephesians 1:22

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Ephesians 1:22

These are things that were sealed by Jesus’ sacrifice and resurrection.

See Under Foot from Hebrews.

And hath put all things under his feet, and gave him to be the head over all things to the church (KJV)

  • Placed, Hypotasso G5293. Also in 5:21 + 24. See Hebrews 2:8.
  • All, pas G3956
  • Under, hypo G5259. See 2:11, 5:12 + 13.
  • Feet, pous G4228
  • Gave, didomi G1325. This is a pluperfect, which means it has already taken place.
  • Head, kephale G2776
  • Over, hyper G5228. It is used in 1:6, 3:1, 13, and 20, 5:2,20, and 25, 6:19, 20.
  • Church, ekklesia G1577. In 3:10, 21, 5:23, 24, 25, 27, 29, 32.  

Use the links below to explore all of the words in the passage in Ephesians.

Ephesians 1 MOUNCE – Paul, an apostle of Christ  Jesus by the – Bible Gateway

Ephesians 1 Interlinear Bible (biblehub.com)

Our Wonderful Counselor

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The Son will be called Wonderful Counselor (Isaiah 9:6).

I am writing this between Easter and Pentecost, this period of time for Jews is known as Counting the Omer, and the Catholic Church is in an “Easter season” on their calendar. Either thought still is the fifty days from Passover to Pentecost. Historically, it is the time from leaving Egypt until the Children reached Mt. Sinai. Some things are recorded that Jesus did in this season, but I believe we were not told half of them. I think this time was the Master’s mini-lesson for His leaders. Yes, He left (ascended) after forty days.

Hebrew Mentions of the Counselor

The Complete Jewish Bible, the Orthodox Jewish Bible, and the concordances I use all seem to have a slightly different take on how to spell things. (God bless translators!) That can take a little getting used to but the message is the same and very clear. The idea of counselor really hit this home.  

H3289 is yaats or yoetz and ish etzah H 6098 are terms I ran across in this study. Besides Isaiah 9:6, I spent some time with 40:13. 40:13 is quoted by Paul in Romans 11:34. All of this highlights the importance of wisdom and advice in the Jewish culture.

The Tree of Life Biblical | Tree of Life in Bible – Hebrewversity  One takeaway from this article was tree or etz is very much like the word etzah or advice, H6098.

The Hebrews who wrote the New Testament had the same values; they were just writing them in Greek. In Romans 11:34 Paul used the word symboulos G4825 for counselor or advisor. Yes, it looks like our word symbiote, so it implies a long-term relationship.

Parakletos or Paraclete

Pentecost is the fulfillment of Jesus’ promise to send the Holy Spirit. It is also the birthday of the Church or the beginning of gathering the Bride of Christ. The Apostle John uses Paraclete five times in his writing: John 14:16, 26, 15:26, 16:7, and 1 John 2:1. Strong’s Greek: 3875. παράκλητος (paraklétos) — called to one’s aid (biblehub.com) This article mentions three Gospel references of when Jesus states that the Spirit will do what John declared on Thursday of Holy Week: Matthew 10:19 + 20, Mark 13:11, Luke 12:11 + 12. These tell when Jesus said that arrests were coming, but the Holy Spirit would speak through them. In other words, He would be their lawyer, counselor, or helper. Back to John. 

John 13 is the beginning of Jesus’ last meal on Thursday. Chapters 14, 15, and 16 are in the Upper Room or in the Garden outside of Jerusalem. They contain important teachings about the Holy Spirit. It is better to read the verses in context so as to get the full effect.

  • c+17 Jesus will ask for the Spirit of Truth to be sent to believers.
  • John 14:26 + 27 This Counselor will instruct us and give us peace. The Father will send Him in the name or power of Jesus.
  • John 15:26 He will testify the truth about Jesus.
  • John 16:7 If Jesus does not leave (dies on the cross, resurrects, and ascends) the Paraclete will not come. Verses 7 -16 explain what the Spirit will do. Verse 15 has a word in it that John uses thirty-two times in his Gospel, emos. It is translated “mine” and is associated with Jesus giving things to us.
  • 1 John 2:1 This verse is about Jesus advocating for us before the Father.

The Holy Spirit is here on earth helping us to do the work here. Jesus is in Heaven helping us there.

Our Wonderful Counselor is for us, is here to help us, and has a good plan for us. The thing I have found about counselors, they can only help if you let them and follow their advice. This implies that you have to let Our Wonderful Counselor in so He can get close, and you get to know Him.