The response of Yahweh

December 11, 2017

The response of Yahweh (Hab 2:2-2:3)

“Yahweh answered me.

He said.

‘Write the vision!

Make it plain

On tablets!

Thus,

A runner

May read it.

There is still a vision

For the appointed time.

It speaks of the end.

It does not lie.

If it seems slow,

Wait for it!

It will surely come.

It will not delay.’”

Yahweh did answer Habakkuk.  He told him to write down the vision on a plain tablet, so that a runner or messenger could read it.  This vision had a specific time for the end times that would not lie.  It might seem slow, but Habakkuk was to wait for it, because it would surely come without any great delay.

October 9, 2017

The response of Yahweh (Hos 12:9-12:10)

“I am Yahweh!

Your God!

I brought you

From the land of Egypt.

I will make you

Live in tents again,

As in the days

Of the appointed festivals.

I spoke to the prophets.

It was I

Who multiplied visions.

I will bring destruction

Through the prophets.”

Yahweh, via Hosea, responded that he was their God. He had brought them out of the land of Egypt. However, he was going to make them live in tents again, like they did on the festival of Tents. He had spoken to the prophets. He had provided their visions. He now could bring destruction to them via the same prophets.

June 7, 2017

The response of Yahweh (Ezek 33:25-33:26)

“Therefore,

Say to them!

Thus says Yahweh God!

‘You eat flesh

With the blood!

You lift up

Your eyes

To your idols!

You shed blood!

Shall you then

Possess the land?

You depend

On your swords.

You commit

Abominations.

Each of you

Defiles

His neighbor’s wife.

Shall you then

Possess the land?’”

Yahweh, their God, as usual, did not take kindly to anyone questioning him. He told Ezekiel to tell the Israelites that they had not behaved well. They had been eating flesh or meat with the blood still in it. They had lifted up their eyes to their own idols. They had shed blood by killing others. How would they then deserve to possess the promised land of Abraham? They had depended on their swords and committed many abominations. Many of them had defiled their neighbor’s wife. How then could they expect to possess the land of Abraham?

November 14, 2016

The response of Yahweh (Jer 15:11-15:12)

“Yahweh said.

‘Surely I have intervened

In your life for good.

Surely I imposed enemies on you!

I intervened with you

In a time of trouble.

I intervened with you

In a time of distress.

Can iron with bronze

Break iron from the north?’”

Yahweh reminds Jeremiah that he has had a good life. However, Yahweh has given him enemies, yet he was there in his times of trouble and distress. Then Yahweh returned to the theme of how to defeat the invaders from the north. Would a combination of iron and bronze be enough to break the coming iron from the north? Only time will tell.

August 25, 2016

The response of Yahweh (Isa 37:26-37:27)

“Have you not heard

That I determined it long ago?

I planned from days of old,

What now I bring to pass.

You should make fortified cities.

You should crash into heaps of ruins,

While their inhabitants,

Shorn of strength,

Are dismayed as well as confounded.

They have become

Like plants of the field,

Like tender grass,

Like grass on the housetops,

Blighted before it is grown.”

Once again, this is almost word for word from 2 Kings, chapter 19. Yahweh reminded King Sennacherib that he had allowed him to capture fortified cities, create ruins, and confuse and confound people. These people have become like plants in the field, tender grass or grass thatched houses.

July 19, 2016

The response of Yahweh (Isa 10:33-10:34)

“Look!                                                                                         

The Sovereign!

Yahweh of hosts W

ill lop the boughs

With terrifying power.

The tallest trees

Will be cut down.

The lofty will be brought low.

He will hack down

The thickets of the forest

With an axe.

Lebanon

With its majestic trees

Will fall.”

Isaiah says that Yahweh with his armies will cut the tree branches with his terrible power. He will chop down the tallest trees, meaning the Assyrians. These proud invaders will be brought low. Yahweh will use an axe on the tall Lebanon cedar trees, as he cuts them down in this forest. They, the Assyrians, will all fall.

July 12, 2016

The response of Yahweh (Isa 6:11-6:13)

“Then I said.

‘How long?

O Lord!’

Yahweh said.

‘Until cities lie waste

Without inhabitants.

Until houses are

Without people.

Until the land is

Utterly desolate.

Until Yahweh sends

Everyone far away.

Until vast is

The emptiness

In the midst of the land.

Even if a tenth part remains in it,

It will be burned again.

It will be like a terebinth.

It will be like an oak

Whose stump remains standing

When it is felled.’

The holy seed is its stump.”

Isaiah wanted to know how long his prophetic work would have to be. Yahweh responded with an indication that the holy land would be destroyed. He would continue until the cities had nobody living in them, until there were houses abandoned, left empty. The land would be desolate. Everybody would be sent away, so that the land itself would be left bare. Probably a tenth of those would remain. Just like when an oak tree or a terebinth bush is burned, the stump still remained until someone came along to dig it up and chop it into pieces. Likewise, the holy seed of Israel is like a stump.

October 8, 2014

The response of Yahweh (2 Kings 19:25-19:28)

“Have you not heard,

That I determined it long ago?

I planned from days of old,

What now I bring to pass,

That you should make fortified cities

Crash into heaps of ruins,

While their inhabitants,

Shorn of strength,

Are dismayed and confounded,

They have become like plants of the field.

They have become like tender grass,

Like grass on the housetops,

Blighted before it is grown,

But I know your rising and sitting,

Your going out and coming in,

I know your raging against me.

Because you have raged against me

Your arrogance has come into my ears,

I will put my hook in your nose.

I will put my bit in your mouth.

I will turn you back on the way,

By which you came.”

Yahweh reminds King Sennacherib that it is he who allowed him to capture fortified cities, create ruins, to confuse people like plants in the field or blighted grass. Yahweh knew about his coming and going, his rising and falling. He also heard about his rage against him. He was going to put a hook on his nose and a bit in his mouth like a horse. He was going to go back the way that he came.

August 30, 2014

The response of Yahweh (1 Kings 19:11-19:14)

“Yahweh said. ‘Go out and stand on the mountain before Yahweh. Yahweh is about to pass by.’ There was a great wind, so strong that it was splitting mountains and breaking rocks into pieces before Yahweh. Yahweh was not in the wind. After the wind there was an earthquake, but Yahweh was not in the earthquake. After the earthquake there was a fire, but Yahweh was not in the fire. After the fire there was a sound of sheer silence. When Elijah heard it, he wrapped his face in his mantle. He went out and stood at the entrance of the cave. Then there came a voice to him that said. ‘What are you doing here, Elijah?’ He answered. ‘I have been very zealous for Yahweh, the God of hosts. The Israelites have forsaken your covenant, thrown down your altars, and killed your prophets with the sword. I alone am left. They are seeking my life, to take it away.’”

Much like Exodus, chapter 33, the appearance of God to Moses in all his glory was very dramatic, so too is experience of Elijah. Here Yahweh will pass by as in Exodus. Moses could not see the face of Yahweh. Here Yahweh is like a wind, an earthquake, a fire, and silence. However, Yahweh is not in the wind, earthquake, or fire. Like Moses, he had to cover his face. Then Yahweh and Elijah somehow repeat exactly the same phrases that began this conversation. There is that wonderful phrase, “the sounds of silence” that was a popular song in the 1960s.

May 2, 2014

The response of Yahweh (Josh 7:10-7:15)

“Yahweh said to Joshua. ‘Stand up! Why have you fallen upon your face? Israel has sinned. They have transgressed my covenant that I imposed on them. They have taken some of the devoted things. They have stolen them. They have acted deceitfully. They have put them among their own belongings. Therefore the Israelites are unable to stand before their enemies. They turn their backs to their enemies, because they have become a thing devoted to destruction themselves. I will be with you no more, unless you destroy the devoted things from among you.”

You disobey, you lose. Yahweh says that Israel has sinned. They stole some of the devoted things of the enemies. They put those things with their own belongings. They are doomed to destruction themselves. The devoted things must be destroyed. So far, there is no mention of what these things are.

“Proceed to sanctify the people. ‘Sanctify yourselves for tomorrow!’ Thus says Yahweh, God of Israel. ‘There are devoted things among you, O Israel. You will be unable to stand before your enemies, until you take away the devoted things from among you.’ In the morning therefore you shall come forward tribe by tribe. The tribe that Yahweh takes shall come by clans. The clans that Yahweh takes shall come by households. The household that Yahweh takes shall come one by one. The one who is taken as having the devoted things shall be burned with fire, together with all that he has, for having transgressed the covenant of Yahweh, and for having done an outrageous shameful thing in Israel.’”

You have to get rid of the evil in your midst. All the tribes will come forward. Yahweh will know the guilty ones. After the tribes come, he will pick one tribe, then one clan, then one household, and finally one individual. Whoever took the devoted items from Jericho will die by fire for the outrageous shameful thing that they have done.