Isaiah 45:3 I will give you the treasures of darkness and the riches hidden in secret places, so that you may know that I am the LORD, the God of Israel, who calls you by name. I will give you hidden treasures, riches stored in secret places, so that you may know that I am the LORD, the God of Israel, who summons you by name.
The treasures of darkness?…
This is a curious phrase in verse 3.
The previous verse says
2 I will go before thee, and make the crooked places straight: I will break in pieces the gates of brass, and cut in sunder the bars of iron: KJV
NASB: ‘I will go before you and make the rough places smooth; I will shatter the doors of bronze and cut through their iron bars.
These verses are a promise from our Heavenly Father that He will
make the WAY before us straight and smooth
by removing any obstacles that would hinder our progress
or, stop us moving forward by barring our path.
This implies, level the hilly places; as pioneers do.
I will go before thee — To remove all obstructions, and prepare the way for thee.
Some other translations:
Aramaic Bible in Plain English And I shall give you treasures that are in darkness and hidden, buried things, that you may know that I AM LORD JEHOVAH, for I, The God of Israel, have called you by your name
Young’s Literal Translation And have given to thee treasures of darkness, Even treasures of secret places, So that thou knowest that I, Jehovah, Who am calling on thy name — am the God of Israel.
JPS Tanakh 1917 And I will give thee the treasures of darkness, And hidden riches of secret places, That thou mayest know that I am the LORD, Who call thee by thy name, even the God of Israel.
Douay-Rheims Bible And I will give thee hidden treasures, and the concealed riches of secret places: that thou mayest know that I am the Lord who call thee by thy name, the God of Israel.
The verse always makes the reader wonder…
Why would our Heavenly Father even want to give us something from darkness?
Doesn’t the scripture tell us He is Light?
King James Bible
This then is the message which we have heard of him, and declare unto you, that God is light, and in him is no darkness at all.
Aramaic Bible in Plain English
And this is The Good News that we have heard from him and we evangelize to you: God is Light, and there is no darkness at all in him.
Berean Literal Bible
And this is the message that we have heard from Him and we preach to you, that God is light, and in Him is no darkness at all.
Young’s Literal Translation
And this is the message that we have heard from Him, and announce to you, that God is light, and darkness in Him is not at all;
KJV: thee the treasures of darkness, and hidden riches
חֹ֖שֶׁךְ hosek chosek
Isaiah 45:3 HEB: אוֹצְר֣וֹת חֹ֔שֶׁךְ וּמַטְמֻנֵ֖ימִסְתָּרִ֑ים לְמַ֣עַן NAS: of darkness And hidden wealth of secret places, KJV: of darkness, and hidden riches of secret places,
וּמַטְמֻנֵ֖י – treasures – umatmune
Isaiah 45:3: “And I will give you the treasures of darkness and the hidden riches of secret places that you will know that I, the Lord, who called you by your name am the God of Israel.”
Isaiah 45: 2 tells us that God is going to open and make the trail for us as we journey in our calling and His plan for our lives.
In verse 3 He then tells us how He is going to equip us.
He is going to give us the treasures of darkness and the hidden riches of secret places.
Do we ever stop to think about it, what are the treasures of darkness and the hidden riches of secret places.
If we want to understand what our Father is saying to us, there are four Hebrew words we should look at; and by examining the Hebrew terms from which they originate, and the form in which they are rendered, we may get a picture or concept that is easier for us to understand.
The first two are orsaroth – choshek
(treasures of darkness).
אוֹצְר֣וֹת 214 orsaroth
ר֣ צְ א
חֹ֔שֶׁךְ
choshek Strongs# 2822.
The word
treasure (orsaroth)
comes from the root word:
’asar
ר֣ צְ א
This word has the idea of:
a storehouse, or treasures that are laid up but not lost.
As the first thing that comes to our mind in western culture is something of monetary value, such as diamonds, jewelry, gold coins etc., in this context, treasure would be a misleading word to use here.
This treasure referred to in this verse is:
a treasure of knowledge.
Which we are encouraged in Proverbs to
get knowledge get understanding
which means:
learn how to wisely apply the knowledge you have been given!
King James Bible Proverbs 4:5
Get wisdom, get understanding: forget it not; neither decline from the words of my mouth.
King James Bible Proverbs 23:23
Buy the truth, and sell it not; also wisdom, and instruction, and understanding.
The Hebrew word‘asar is spelled:
Aleph, Sade and Resh
ר֣ צְ א
and the combination of these letters tells us that this is:
knowledge pertaining to/of God’s love and power.
The word for
darkness in Hebrew
is (choshek) chosheke
also expresses the idea of:
being obscure or hidden.
Seems like a contradiction?
saying orsaroth is:
a treasure that is not lost.
However is Isaiah drawing a picture for us here?
We must consider when this word was given which was during the reign of Josiah.
And because of the sinfulness of the people, at this time
the Torah, was hidden, BUT it was not lost!
During Josiahs’ reign the Torah was discovered buried deep in the royal archives.
Is it possible that the treasures of darkness here refers to:
the deep mysteries of God stored away in His Word?
It is not hidden anymore than a library book is hidden on a bookshelf or library, or an item in our basements, attics or storage units; they’re there for us to access anytime we want. We may have to spend some time searching for it, trying to remember which box it’s in. It is the same with scripture, the more we study it the easier it is to find the treasures of knowledge within.
The next two words are:
matemenu misetarim
hidden riches of secret places.
Misetarim ם מִסְתָּרִ֑י
(secret places) comes from the root word
sathar
which is the word for
hidden, concealed or secret.
Matemenu מַטְמֻנֵ֖י
comes from the root word
tamak /taman
נֵ֖ מַ טְ
which has the preposition
from in front of it
and is used to express
hidden, concealed or protected treasures of knowledge.
We could express this as:
hidden riches of knowledge from concealed or protected places.
In other words,
taman /tamak knowledge
is not as easy to get to as
asar or treasure.
To get
treasure – asar
all we have to do is simply
search for it.
To get
tamak – knowledge
we will need something more.
Further trust…
A picture to help us to understand this may be for example: there are some legal documents that are referred to as being public record and are available for anyone to read. There are other records and documents deemed as classified and an individual needs a certain amount of security or level of clearance to access them.
In order to obtain that security clearance a person will have to prove both a genuine need for these documents and the integrity required to be entrusted with the knowledge they contain. This trust must be earned through faithfulness and correct handling.
Knowledge of our Heavenly Father is open to everyone, such as knowledge of His love, His plan of salvation, etc.
And then there is knowledge which according to scripture is hidden (hidden riches of secret places).
For access to this knowledge we will need…
the cleansing work of the blood of Jesus Christ/Yeshua HaMashiach, the power of His Holy Spirit and a personal relationship with the author; the One who has placed knowledge where it can only be found by those truly seeking the heart of the Father.
It appears that there are two levels of knowledge and many people are content with that which is easily accessible. Few seem willing to earn the trust of our Heavenly Father, to seek His heart and receive the security clearance into the hidden riches of secret places.
Surely our desire to know His heart will open the way to His deep hidden secrets?
Treasure – Atsar or asar
Alef א ox strength first
ר֣ צְ
צְ tsadik fishhook hook
Tzsar – trouble
Tsar is the hooked man
ר֣ resh reysh head person
To store gather accumulate
Tzsr – to press into someone or something
So we may conclude that in preparing the path ahead of where we are to walk, and as long as we are walking with Him in obedient relationship, He has removed every hindering thing that we may encounter.
Furthermore, as our trust and faith in His complete provision for our lives causes our relationship with our Heavenly Father to become deeper and more intimate; we earn His trust in us and as we continue to seek His heart the hidden riches of secret placesare revealed.
We are led to the deep mysteries of God stored away in His Word.
They are hidden concealed BUT not lost.
Jesus/Yeshua said He had come to reveal things hidden from the foundation of the world in.
Matthew 13:35
That it might be fulfilled which was spoken by the prophet, saying, I will open my mouth in parables; I will utter things which have been kept secret from the foundation of the world.
Amplified Bible This was to fulfill what was spoken by the prophet: “I WILL OPEN MY MOUTH IN PARABLES; I WILL UTTER THINGS [unknown and unattainable] THAT HAVE BEEN HIDDEN [from mankind] SINCE THE FOUNDATION OF THE WORLD.”
Aramaic Bible in Plain English So that the thing that was spoken by the Prophet would be fulfilled which says, “I shall open my mouth in parables and I shall declare things hidden from before the foundation of the world.”
Berean Literal Bible so that it might be fulfilled that having been spoken by the prophet, saying: “I will open My mouth in parables; I will utter things hidden from the foundation of the world.”
King James Bible That it might be fulfilled which was spoken by the prophet, saying, I will open my mouth in parables; I will utter things which have been kept secret from the foundation of the world.
Matthew 13:35 So was fulfilled what was spoken through the prophet: “I will open My mouth in parables; I will utter things hidden since the foundation of the world.”
Berean Standard Bible I will open my mouth in parables; I will utter things hidden from the beginning,
King James Bible I will open my mouth in a parable: I will utter dark sayings of old:
Amplified Bible I will open my mouth in a parable [to instruct using examples]; I will utter dark and puzzling sayings of old [that contain important truth]
Peshitta Holy Bible Translated For behold, I shall open my mouth in proverbs and I shall speak in parables of a former time.
Lamsa Bible I will open my mouth in parables; I will utter proverbs of old.
Jesus/Yeshua said quoting from Psalm 78:2
So was fulfilled what was spoken through the prophet: “I will open My mouth in parables; I will utter things hidden since the foundation of the world.”
Jesus/Yeshua says in Luke 8:10
“And he said unto them, Unto you it is given to know the mystery of the kingdom of God: but unto them that are without, all these things are done in parables.”
Matt 13:11 & Mark 4:11
Many times as Yeshua/Jesus spoke, His disciples didn’t understand what He meant.
Why was this so? Wasn’t Yeshua/Jesus “God manifest in the flesh?”
Surely the words that Messiah spoke are the very scriptures we have today, so why didn’t they understand them? One would think that if God personally spoke it would be easy to understand what He meant?
Some of the people listening to Jesus/Yeshua misunderstood what He said because it was not given to them to understand. Even though they had natural ears which could hear, the spiritual ears of their hardened hearts could not receive what Messiah said. Our Father says,
“But the natural man receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God: for they are foolishness unto him: neither can he know them, because they arespiritually discerned.“
1 Corinthians 2:14
Messiah states that it was given to His disciples/talmidim to understand while it was not given to others. It seems that, in order for even those disciples /talmidim who were closest to Him to comprehend His words, it had to be revealed to them. In their case, Jesus/Yeshua revealed the truth to them personally.
And he said, Unto you it is given to know the mysteries of the kingdom of God: but to others in parables; that seeing they might not see, and hearing they might not understand.
…10He replied, “The knowledge of the mysteries of the kingdom of God has been given to you, but to others I speak in parables, so that, ‘though seeing, they may not see; though hearing, they may not understand.’
11 “Now [the meaning of] the parable is this: The seed is the word of God [concerning eternal salvation].
Mark 4:9Then Jesus said, “He who has ears to hear, let him hear.” 10 And when he was alone, they that were about him with the twelve asked of him the parable.
11He replied, “The mystery of the kingdom of God has been given to you, but to those on the outside everything is expressed in parables,
Like the disciples, It is also possible for us to hear the words of Jesus/Yeshua but not understand them. Unless it is “given unto us to know the mystery of the kingdom of God”we cannot understand what He says.
We rely upon His Holy Spirit to lead and guide us into all truth and the only way we can truly hear that truth, is through revelation given to our spirits, because everything that originates in the mind of our Heavenly Father is a mystery to our flesh.
Truthfully, we are supposed to live by His spirit, not by our flesh, and the study of the scriptures should be to search to see if these things are true.
Why?
that thou mayest know that I am the Lord who call thee by thy name, the God of Israel.
The conclusion is that Our Father Himself says
this is the reason for the previous verses…
that we may know He is the lord who calls us by our name He is the God of Israel
Calling us by name is the intimacy of a relationship on first name basis. Where two people are on first name terms and trust one another to confide things not shared with casual acquaintances.
The God of all creation through Yeshua/Jesus by the power of His Spirit of Holiness is now dwelling within us as His children and trusted disciples/talmidim. We have available to us the secrets of His kingdom, hidden from the foundation of the world.
Are we truly taking advantage of what He has opened to us?
It’s there for the asking… These are the real
treasures of darkness,
hidden only to be revealed to those it has been given to understand…
What treasures are we seeking?
Is it worldly success, wealth, comfort, natural resources, leisure, pleasure, or are we, the deep calling unto deep, desiring the true wealth of the treasure of the kingdom of the heavens.
Are we seeking spiritual gifts of supernatural and eternal value and endurance? The treasures that moth and rust can never destroy and nothing can take from us?
by hungry hearts seeking to know our Father more intimately.
The more we come to know Him, the stronger and deeper the relationship becomes, the more He will give us by…
opening the treasures of darkness to us and
revealing the riches stored, hidden in secret places,
so that you may know that I am the LORD, the God of Israel,
who calls you by name.
Will we answer His call today?
Do we want to dig deeper
and
grow stronger
with our foundation on the ROCK
so when the storms of this life blow hard
we will not be moved or shaken?
Please don’t leave here without assurance of your salvation
and a deep inner knowing
that your life is firmly founded on none other than
the Rock of Ages..
Ps 62:2
He only is my rock and my salvation;
he is my defense; I shall not be greatly moved.
Not sure ..you can be…
Make certain Messiah Jesus/Yeshua is your Redeemer,
Savior, Lord, and soon returning King
and that you have a personal relationship with Him.
It’s all about Life and Relationship, NOT Religion.
You are very precious in His sight.
SIMPLY SAY THE FOLLOWING MEANING IT FROM YOUR HEART..don’t delay one more minute, SAY IT RIGHT NOW…
Heavenly Father I come to you in the Name of Jesus/Yeshua asking for forgiveness of my sins for which I am truly sorry. I repent of them all and turn away from my past.
I believe with my heart and confess with my mouth that Jesus/Yeshua is your Son and that He died on the cross at calvary to pay the price for my sin, so that I might be forgiven and have eternal life in the kingdom of Heaven. Father I believe that Jesus/Yeshua rose from the dead and I ask you to come into my life right now and be my personal Savior and Lord and I will worship you all the days of my life. Because your word is truth I say that I am now forgiven and born again and by faith I am washed clean with the blood of Jesus/Yeshua. Thank you that you have accepted me into your family in Jesus’/Yeshua’s name.
