Anyone who has been following Messiah Yeshua/Jesus for any length of time is painfully aware of the fact we are in an ongoing war. It is not simply a physical war but one that originates in the realm of the spirit. This war will not stop until Messiah returns; which is why He told us to..
occupy til He comes!
Luke 19:13 And he called his ten servants, and delivered them ten pounds, and said unto them, Occupy till I come.
When He said that, it is a call to build and extend the Kingdom of Heaven using/applying all the resources, gifting’s and talents that our Heavenly Father has imparted to us for His purposes.
And because the war is not a physical one we are told that
are not carnal/physical in 2 Cor. 10 :4 4 For the weapons of our warfare are not carnal, but mighty through God to the pulling down of strong holds;
They are mighty through Him.
The enemy’s warfare and battle plans are rooted way back in ancient millennia, he is not new at the tactics he uses against us; which is why we need the insight provided by Ruach HaKodesh/Holy Spirit, so we can wage a victorious warfare. There is one kind of warfare which we now term as guerilla warfare which does not play by any known or mutually agreed rules or strategies. This is where the enemy knows that those they are in conflict with are so strong that they cannot win; but nevertheless they hope to gain a victory by wearing down the enemies troops with a type of guerilla warfare or terrorism. Daniel 7:25 tells us this that the wearing out of the saints is a very well used strategy.
This is the kind of persistent and unabated assault that brings us to the point of just wanting to give up; it’s summed up in the word attrition. It involves consistent harassment which causes extreme frustration causing one thing after another to hinder distract and we often say the idiom: like having a spanner in the works! Everything we try to do is plagued by annoyances, irritations and aggravations. Certainly most readers will have had these kinds of experiences at one time or another.
The scriptures are written for us for many reasons 2 Tim. 1:7 & 3:16 to encourage and educate and we are most certainly not alone in our fight.
16 All scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness: His Word is for teaching and for showing people what is wrong in their lives. It is useful for correcting faults and teaching the right way to live.
One great example of how the enemies tactics occur is in the life of Nehemiah when he returned to Israel from the Babylonian captivity and discovered that the land had been taken over by many people from other nations including the Amorites and Moabites. These new occupants resisted the Israelites when they began to return to their homeland. One reason they feared the Israelites was because of their support from Persia, the then most powerful nation in the world. The people who had taken over Israel knew that victory over the Persian Empire supported Israelites, was a war they could not win; but they could harass them to the point they might give up and go back to Persia. This war of attrition has never stopped and is still evident today both against nations and individuals.
For those readers who may not recall that the story of Nehemiah and Ezra takes place at the time of the return of Israel from captivity where they were exiled. The Northern ten tribes of Israel, Samaria were taken into captivity by the Assyrian Empire. After the collapse of the Assyrian Empire, the Babylonian Empire became the world empire and the Northern ten tribes of Israel were scattered throughout the world. The Southern Kingdom, Judah, remained unconquered until the rise of the Babylonian Empire, which finally conquered Judah and took them away from their homeland.
During their captivity Babylon fell to the Persian Empire. Daniel was a favorite of the Persian King Cyrus the Great (559-530 BC) and the Jews enjoyed favorable status with the Persian Empire. This, however, resulted in much jealousy among the people of the other conquered nations. This jealousy was evident in the story of Haman who plotted to have the Jews destroyed. The plan was thwarted because of the courage of Esther (a Jew) who was then the Queen of Persia and had much favor with her husband King Xerxes who was the grandson of Cyrus the Great (486-465 BC). Esther’s step son King Araxerxes I (465-424 B.C.) granted a decree that allowed Nehemiah and Ezra to lead their people back to Jerusalem and rebuild the temple under the protection of the Persian Empire. This is almost a repeat of Jewish History beginning in 1948 AD when the United Nations granted Israel the right to return to their homeland.
The responsibilities on King Artaxerxes and the increasing threats of war from other nations became so great that he put his son Susa in charge over the Israelites. Susa was the grandson of Esther and sadly had no respect for her or the fact that she was Jewish and so Israels support from Persia broke down.
Both Nehemiah and Ezra had faith that even when Persia’s support failed them The Lord God Almighty would not ever fail them. If God wanted Jerusalem to be rebuilt He could and would do it, without the help of the Persian Empire. This proved true however, the lack of support from Persia did give their enemies some confidence to further harass Israel.
God never fails us but sometimes people give up before they see the answer to their prayers and needs, failing to simply trust in our heavenly Father and His timing and provision.
We read in Ezra 4:4: “Then the people of the land weakened the hands of Judah and troubled them in building.”
So it would appear that the battle including these acts of attrition were effective.
The expression
their hands were weakened
is an ancient idiom meaning
to become discouraged and fearful.
The word weakened
in Hebrew is
meraphim
spelled mem resh pei yod mem
Ezra 4:4 HEB: עַם־ הָאָ֔רֶץ מְרַפִּ֖ים יְדֵ֣י עַם־ NAS: of the land discouraged the people KJV: of the land weakened the hands INT: the people of the land weakened the hands the people
מְרַפִּ֖ים
Meraphim comes from the root word
rapah
which means:
to sink down or to loosen one’s grip.
The word is found in a Piel (intensive) form so it really has the idea of:
just letting go.
In other words,
just giving up.
It’s not a strange thing to experience, and no doubt most readers have felt that way at times during both personal lives and in ministry. Sometimes It can seem as if individuals just focus on and take aim at you from every angle, criticize, condemn, and accuse you of things that you never said, did or intended. Nothing is going the way that was hoped or planned and if we are not vigilant with our hearts, eventually, a person can become discouraged and then they meraphim or give up. Sometimes ending up with deep resentment and bitterness. Those in ministry are getting no response, no one seems to want to support them and they face one obstacle after another; it seems the enemy is relentless. The idiom of the last straw, the final blow to all the fighting and pressing in falls on us and its all designed with the goal of getting us to give up- tomerephim.
The constant harassment by their enemies caused the Israelites to become so weary, tired and discouraged from the mocking rhetoric. The attacks were not actually physical to them personally, but while they were building the walls their homes were robbed and their crops destroyed. This persisted and when Nehemiah returned after a visit back to Persia, he found the people had merephim – weakened and given up.
They had given up working on the walls to protect their own interests and they had fallen into spiritual paganism and idolatry.
Ezra encouraged the people and stirred them up to complete their mission
and so did Nehemiah.
This is where we get our well known phrase in
Nehemiah 8:10:
The Joy of the Lord is our strength.
We will not fulfill God’s work for us if we fall prey to the work of the enemy, to his war of attrition and his terrorist attacksagainst us like Judah did, and allow negative thinking and words to control us. Instead, we need to fill our hearts with the Word of God like Ezra did, by finding a congregation, assembly or fellowship of like-minded believers where you can encourage each other with songs of worship, praise and joy, and then enter into the joy of the Lord. When we encourage others with songs and testimonies of praise and joy and they in turn encourage us, together we will stop the enemy dead in his tracks. For where you were merephim – weak, the joy of the Lord will make us strong.
Ezra 4:4: “Then the people of the land weakened the hands of Judah and troubled them in building.”
There is a personal application for us individually in our own spiritual walk with our Heavenly Father and Paul, gives us a solution in Ephesians 15:19: “Speak to one another with Psalms, hymns and spiritual songs. Sing and make music in your heart to the Lord.”
We must not allow the work of the enemy to succeed against us like Judah did, and allow negative thinking and words to control us.
Instead we need to fill our hearts with the Word of God like Ezra did and encourage each other with words from scripture.
The Hebrew letters resh-pei in the word for weakened, reveal an interesting insight and it may be this is what has happened with those in charge of some countries and their citizens.
The Resh – people have become judgmental;
Pei – people talk to much; and the
resulting in them becoming self-deceived.
Are countries inflicting a war of attrition against themselvesand thereby weakening themselves? If this way of life continues, no doubt many will give up.
Here as in Exodus 19:2.
many need to
face the mountain.
As the Body of Messiah, we are to have a combined mission and goal and the more united we become as one with Him, He is us and we in Him; that common commitment and devotion to the Fathers’ will, plan and purpose will transform any barriers that prevent victory. It will turn them into stepping stones on our way to achieving that which our Heavenly Father has called us to do. It seems that until we are faced with an insurmountable mountain, our petty differences will not diminish. And until we are delivered from pride and ego and put our focus and intent on hearing, receiving and being a doer of His Word, any forward motion and spiritual maturity is hindered and splintered.
Proverbs 22:10 Cast out the scorner, and contention shall go out; yea, strife and reproach shall cease.
Cast out the scorner/scoffer/tormentor and strife will go, for where there is strife there is every evil work. James 3:16 For where jealousy and selfish ambition exist, there will be disorder and every evil practice.
Prov 13:10. Among the proud there are always contentions: but they that do all things with counsel, are ruled by wisdom.
Arrogance leads only to strife, but wisdom is with the well-advised.
Strife can develop when a difference of opinion becomes the priority in a relationship. Strife and war or fighting are inseparable.
Strife is always accompanied by pride and an unteachable spirit.
Where there is strife, there is pride, but wisdom is found in those who take advice.
For where envying and strife is, there is confusion. Where emulation, zeal, and rivalry exist, there also are sedition, anarchy, restless disturbance, and every villainous act. The whole state is evil, and utterly contrary to the rule of the Gospel.
The enemy will always try to divide and conquer and sow questioning seeds of doubt and unbelief, causing our faith and trust in people to waver. It started in the garden…and will not stop until Messiah returns. Keep that helmet in place protecting our minds from the whispering accuser.
In the secular world it is said that to be successful one must surround oneself with positive people. If we surround ourselves with negative thinkers and talkers we will become negative too.
If anyone has ever helped out in the nursery during meetings you will quickly learn an important lesson. If one of those little ones began to cry, within moments the others begin to cry and truthfully, adults are not much different. If we are around one person crying, complaining and moaning, it’s not long before others add their own complaints.
We sometimes feel we in a prison or a hole in the ground with seemingly no way out.
Psalms 28:1 “Unto thee will I cry, O Lord my rock; be not silent to me: lest if thou be silent to me, I become like them that go down into the pit.”
silent to me
The Hebrew word for
pit is bore
953 bowr: cistern
Original Word:בּוֹר Part of Speech: Noun Masculine Transliteration:bowr Phonetic Spelling:bore Definition:a pit, cistern, well
In ancient times a prison was a pit that someone was thrown into and without someone sending down a rope, a person could not get out of it. Similarly, if you fell into, or were lowered into a well, as old abandoned wells were often used as a prison, remember Joseph? Crypts were used for the same thing, they are places where once you go in, you usually don’t come out.
RegardingPsalm 28, to say that if David doesn’t hear from the Lord, he will die or enter a place he cannot get out of. Some of us have no doubt felt like we entered a dark place, like a deep well or a prison and if we did not get some direction and help from our Heavenly Father, there was a feeling that we would never escape.
It’s a curious statement that when David says that he calls on Adonai, He is silent. Does it simply meaning that when David presents his request to Adonai, his prayer is not answered?
The word silent is karash. חָרַשׁ
karash/charash: altogether
Original Word: חָרַשׁ Part of Speech: Verb Transliteration: charash karash Phonetic Spelling: khaw-rash’ Definition: to cut in, engrave, plow, devise
1 cut in, engrave, of worker in metals נְחשֶׁת וּבַרְזֶל ׳ח Genesis 4:22 (J),
Psalm 129:3 upon my back have ploughmen ploughed (figurative of oppression by wicked); חֹרֵשׁ = ploughman Isaiah 28:24; Amos 9:13 (“” קצֵר); ׳ח with oxen subject only Job 1:14.
3 devise (as one who works in, practices), usually bad sense, object רָעָה Proverbs 3:29,
It is closely related to the word karas which means to be rough.
Maybe some of us can relate to that feeling, wondering why our Heavenly Father seems to be being so rough with us? The word Karash isn’t only used for silence but in its primitive form, refers to a plow or till which makes an engraving into the ground. In the form of a noun, it’s describing a cutting instrument. The word karas spelled with a Sade at the end means to lacerate, or wound.Karash is also used for an enchanter, magician, or to be artificial. It could be understood that silence from our Heavenly Father is similar to the cutting of a deep wound.
The use of this word would seem to point to the situation David was not asking for deliverance from the problem he found himself in, as he had confidence that was already covered. Rather he was wanting deliverance from the deep emotional distress he was experiencing, which was the result from people who were saying things about him that were not true. Could it be that this was the deep hurt, fear and worry that followed, causing an overwhelming feeling of oppression and dread that stole his joy for life itself? David was speaking as if he just wished Adonai would take him home and away from it all; even today, that’s not a strange wish for many going through horrible persecution. In such a position we wish for and desire to know our Heavenly Fathers comforting presence and in the next verse David speaks of his supplications –
Heb. Canan/ chanan.
Tehinnah
Or (feminine) tachanuwnah {takh-an-oo-naw’};
from chanan; earnest prayer — intreaty, supplication.
Original Word: חָנַן Part of Speech: Verb Transliteration: chanan Phonetic Spelling: khaw-nan’ Definition: to show favor, be gracious
chanan/canan/Supplication here means:
to show favor.
David is saying that he is showing favor to God and He is doing it with his hands lifted up.
Questions we need to ask ourselves, when we go to our Heavenly Father with a need, who is it we are wanting to favor, ourselves or our Heavenly Father?
David is asking that he not be drawn away from the Lord by the intentions of the wicked in verse 5. The verses seem to indicate that to him the pressures of job, relationships, and health, were not that important; and we know that David did suffer the loss of his job through the broken relationship with Absalom his beloved son, as well as the loss of his health.
What David was looking at in this verse was not what he had lost physically but how they affected his relationship with his Heavenly Father.
In Psalms 98:1, David is praying and knows the Lord is his rock; then he is declaring that his job, his relationships, his health are not the rocks he depends on in his life and he can live without them.
He is saying that he cannot bear to lose his relationship with his heavenly Father. He is begging the Lord not to leave him because he would not be able to handle that, it would send him into a dark pit and he would die.
Messiah said we would have trials troubles and tribulation in this life and they are for the continuing working out of our salvation in the process to spiritual maturity.Phil.2:12
These mould us and shape us into the people our Heavenly Father wants us to be by sifting and refining us and the process purifies our hearts. At anytime we feel He is far away …He is not, He is simply allowing the testing of our faith and trust in Him, desiring us to seek Him more whatever our circumstances look like. We are to occupy til He comes again
and spiritually don’t give up an inch of ground already won; and encourage ourselves and others with Nehemiah, that our joy, and in turn our strength is in, and comes from, only Him. So
don’t give up
because we are assured in
Joshua 1:5 & Hebrews 13:5
that He will NEVER leave us nor FORSAKE us…
EVER!
שָׁלוֹם עֲלֵיכֶם,
Shalom aleikhem
chaverim and mishpachah!
Peace to friends and family.
Shavua Tov, Have a blessed week.
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.
Not sure ..you can be…
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.
These words of Jesus/Yeshua are unusual as more often than not, He was the one doing the giving; however, after walking on a very long journey during the heat of the day, He was thirsty.
Around noon, He came to a well in a town named Sychar and it was in that ancient place that Jacob’s well had been dug some 2000 years prior.
The town of Sychar, was probably on the site of the present-day town of Aschar, which is near the ancient ruins of Shechem.
Tired and hot, Jesus/Yeshua sat down by that well.
Soon, a woman came to that same well.
Jesus therefore, being wearied with his journey, sat thus on the well: and it was about the sixth hour. There cometh a woman of Samaria to draw water: Jesus saith unto her,
Give me to drink.
Interesting correlation?
Jesus/Yeshua says to her, give Me a drink, because He was thirsty. This is the same and only request that He had when He was on the cross, I thirst. 19:28.
Asking for a drink, is a natural enough request from a tired and thirsty traveler, who was resting by a well in the deserts of Palestine during the hottest part of the day. This request was for a simple act of kindness, or at least that is what we see on the surface of this meeting. However as we are finding out, the stories recorded in the gospels are far deeper than the well at Sychar.
John 4:10-15; 10. Jesus answered and said to her, If you knew the gift of God and who it is who is saying to you, ‘Give Me a drink,’ you would have asked Him, and He would have given you living water. 11. The woman said to Him, Sir, You have nothing to draw with and the well is deep.
Again it seems a natural and very practical observation on the part of the woman! Then He replies with an astounding statement!
Jesus answered, “Everyone who drinks this water will get thirsty again. But no one who drinks the water I give will ever be thirsty again. The water I give is like a flowing fountain that gives eternal life.” The woman replied, “Sir, please give me a drink of that water! Then I won’t get thirsty and have to come to this well again.”
In John 4:14 Jesus/Yeshua said, The water that I shall give [you] will become in [you] a fountain of water springing up into everlasting life.
Another translation says:
But everyone who shall drink of the waters that I will give him shall not thirst for eternity, but those waters that I give him shall be springs of waters in him that shall spring up into eternal life.
While preparing previous posts there seems to be a sort of connection to the Hebrew words for WELL and the Hebrew word for EYES; which led to further thoughts shared here purely for pondering purposes.
When we read the scriptures, we read the work of translators and scholars. They have transformed an ancient document, by substituting English words for the original Hebrew words. The problem is, many times the words are translated correctly, but the original Hebrew thought is lost. The words are there, but the meaning is missing. With that in mind we will explore a little further.
According to Strongs and the Hebrew lexicon, the word for eye, ayin, can also mean spring, as in a source of ground water.
Hebrew Lexicon Strongs #:05869
Well . בְּאֵר
A well, pit; feminine noun.
Strongs # 875
בְּאֵר
beer
(be-ayr’)
from baar.
Also from the root word, baar, comes
בֹּאר
bor: a cistern, pit, well.
Phonetic Spelling: (bore)
Strongs # 877
עַיִן
AYIN meansEYE in Hebrew, and we still retain an almost identical word for eye in the English.
As it also means fountain or spring, it is possibly because eyes well up with water/tears when irritated or the person is crying from sadness. The ancient letter AYIN was a picture of an EYE.
This letter represents the ideas of seeing and watching as well as knowledge, as the eye is the window of knowledge.
The letter Ayin is the 16th letter of the Aleph-Bet, having the numeric value of 70.
Pronounced ah yeen and like the alef it has no sound of its own but rather has a vowel connected with it. (An a,e,i,o, or u)
The two words don’t have similar letters yet have a similar definition and meaning, which gives them a connection. The word eye in Hebrew also means: sight, look, appearance, aperture and hole.
In the case of eyes, these holes, apertures or wells, give a glimpse into the real person inside the physical body. It is the only eternal part of us that is visible; whether we call it soul, spirit or combination of both. Eye contact is one of the ways we communicate one to another without needing to speak words.
עיניים
Mem, Yod, Noon, Yod, Ayin (read R to L)
Eye is made plural in Hebrew by adding IM; as in, the eyes of the Lord.
Springs are usually associated with wells or places where water naturally springs up from the ground. In Biblical times, many springs were protected and enclosed, because they were very important for the survival of both the shepherds and their flocks. Jesus/Yeshuas’ reference to these things in His teaching, was due to the prevailing culture and lifestyle and the everyday things which people could understand by association.
We do not see the same significance in quite the same way today, because of the modern society in which we live and the conveniences which we have the privilege of using.
Jesus/Yeshua’s reference to Himself being the living water and also referring to being a well springing up to eternal life; take on another deeper meaning in considering the ancient lifestyles.
It is not without significance that women were the water bearers. Women are the bringers forth of life. They are the ones whose waters break and gush forth, introducing the next generation from the place of our hiding.
The fact that it is women who seek out and provide that life giving and life sustaining water, for both human and animal consumption; is an important token of their role and priority in God’s creation and order. Water is the one thing we cannot live without for more than 3 days and is 75%+ of our physical makeup.
Wells, pools and springs are mentioned many times in numerous scriptures and connected to many significant events in history; mainly because a well was the place of, and source of, life giving water, in a land that had so much dry desert and barren earth.
There were often disputes and sabotage was inflicted on wells that had been dug. Ownership of them was key to the livelihood and prosperity of those who lived locally, or those who needed to access to water when driving herds across parched desert terrain.
Most travel routes followed a path that had wells along the WAY for obvious practical reasons.
A few of the references to wells:
Jacobs well below as it looks today.
Hebrew: באר יעקב , Be’er Yaaqov;
Also known as Jacob’s fountain and Well of Sychar, it is a deep well hewn out of solid rock that has been associated in religious tradition with Jacob for roughly two millennia, either because it was handed down by tradition that he dug it, or because it was near to the land which he gave to Joseph. Genesis 33:19; 47:22; Joshua 24:32.
Abrahams well at Beersheba is connected to Hagar and Ishmael.
Abraham rose up early in the morning, and took bread and a bottle of water, and gave it to Hagar, putting it on her shoulder; and gave her the child, and sent her away. She departed, and wandered in the wilderness of Beersheba.
Gen. 21:17-19, 30-31.
Hebrew: בְּאֵר שֶׁבַע Be’er Sheva biblical town of southern Israel, now a city and the main centre of the Negev (ha-Negev) region.
It was because of a well that Beersheba first appeared on the pages of biblical history.
Abraham paid the price of seven ewe lambs to secure ownership of a well at Beersheba.
The site takes its name from the phrase:
the well of the seven
the place of swearing by 7 lambs
or well of oath.
Beersheba is first mentioned as the site where Abraham, founder of the Jewish people, made a covenant with the Philistine king Abimelech of Gerar. (Genesis 21:25-34).
Beersheba is at the southern tip of Israel. It is the last piece of fertile land before the forbidding Negev Desert. Here, travelers in ancient times would water their animals before they entered the blistering heat of the desert. Beersheba in the south and Dan in the north: these two cities stood at either end of the land of the Bible.
Rachel was at the well because every afternoon, she watered her flock of sheep at this well near Haran, an outpost of the ancient city of Ur.
Stone wells with wooden buckets were covered with a broad flat stone, too large for one man to move. (Was there supernatural help for this action?)
The symbolic significance of this fact is that the connection to Rachel, who was about to appear at the well, would not be a natural and simple one, but rather would require enormous effort in order to uncover the well and to draw its waters, that is, in a symbolic meaning, to make Rachel become Jacob’s wife and the mother of his children.
Jacob saw Rachel with his uncle Laban’s flock, he went to the well, rolled the stone back, and watered the sheep. Genesis 29:1-7
Jacob was sent by his father Isaac to find a wife from a relative‘s family. He met Rachel at the well and for him, it was love at first sight. He went to the well and single-handily moved the great stone cover off of the well.
There is a likeness here to the stone being rolled away supernaturally from the tomb of Messiah; and the living water of eternal life that flowed from His resurrected life.
Then Jacob went on his journey, and came into the land of the people of the east. 2 And he looked, and behold a well in the field, and, see, there were three flocks of sheep lying by it; for out of that well they watered the flocks: and a great stone was on the well’s mouth.
7 “Look,” said Jacob, “it is still broad daylight; it is not yet time to gather the livestock. Water the sheep and take them back to pasture.” 8 But they replied, “We cannot, until all the flocks have been gathered and the stone has been rolled away from the mouth of the well.
So here are some thoughts:
Eyes/ayin we see with our eyes.
We have both natural and spiritual sight.
Spiritual sight is given by Ruach Hakodesh.
Ruach HaKodesh is often associated with water and a wellspring of life from within. This inner flow enhances our spiritual eyesight.
And as we noted earlier according to Strongs and the Hebrew lexicon, the word for eye, ayin, can also mean spring, as in a source of ground water.
So there does seem to be a connection.
We say that scripture is the WORD of God and also Jesus/Yeshua is Himself the WORD. The Word or scripture itself, is associated with water, washing of the water of the Word, which renews our mind. (Eph. 5:26; Rom.12:2)
He said, eat and drink of Me. It has the meaning of spiritual drinking, from the waters springing up into eternal life. John 4:14
Miriam was seen as the water source the spiritual rock they drank from that was Christ.
and all drank the same spiritual drink; for they long drank the water that flowed from the spiritual rock that went with them–and that rock was the Christ. 1Cor. 10:4
There are also many springs that became pools where ritual cleansing took place. Settlements usually formed around water sources, later developing into large cities over time especially those on trade routes.
So water, wells, pools, springs, and eyes and spiritual elements are connected.
There’s a reference to the Pools of Heshbon in Song of Songs/Song of Solomon,
where he likens his love’s eyes to the pools of Heshbon, which refers to the magnificent fish-pools of Heshbon.
Song 7:4. The eyes of the Shulammite.
‘Your eyes are like the sparkling pools in Heshbon by the gate of Bath-rabbim.’
Here we find pool, water, eyes, and fish are connected in this Song.
There is a metaphysical meaning to the phrase: eyes like sparking pools of Heshbon.
This speaks of great intelligence, light, and understanding, of which the eyes are the outer organs. The eyes shine in beauty and brilliance according to the depths of true spiritual sight, the very light of life, which is realized in consciousness.
The beauty of the pool is in its power of reflection, which the turbulent roaring of the seas and oceans constantly moving with their great heaving tides, are not calm enough to reflect anything but the color of the skies above. Neither are sweeping rivers, muddy and always swirling downward, they too are never still enough.
There is also a connection to eyes in the story of Leah in Genesis 29:17 as follows: Leah was tender eyed;
the Torah describes her eyes as soft from weeping.
Or one translation says she had watery eyes. Some translations say weak, or showing a sorrowing soul, watery or tearful eyes. Some scholars say her eyes were blue or blue/green, which were unusual to the brown eyed people of the middle eastern countries. (Leah tender-eyed—that is, soft blue eyes—thought a blemish.)
Leah’s bleared eyes would be regarded in the East as a great defect, just as bright eyes were much admired. (See 1Samuel 16:12, where David is described as fair of eyes.)
Leah’s face was not ugly, however its possible that her eyes were not clear and lustrous, dark and sparkling, rather they were weak or soft, wanting in clearness and brilliancy; as in all probability Rachel’s were.
Blue is obviously the color as that we see reflected in water. Blue eyes are known to be less strong than brown, especially in bright sunlight, and they would have looked watery in color, compared to dark brown eyes. It may also have been the reason for the term, tender, where we use the word sensitive or delicate.
There is strong connection with women and wells and water and these were some of the women who went above and beyond;
among them:
Hagar
Samaritan Woman
Rachel
Rebekah
Miriam ’s Well (Be’erah shel Miriam), is the name of the spring that miraculously provided water and accompanied the Israelites throughout the 40 years they traveled in the wilderness.
The Hebrew letter ע Ayin has a value of 70, which stands for appointed times, as defined by Leviticus 23:2. Also Seventy, (70) elders were appointed by Moses. (Numbers 11:16)
There are 70 specially appointed times for holy days, called HaMoyadim, (ha mow ya dimm), in a year.
The 70 specific appointed times in the Jewish calendar are:
52 weekly Sabbaths each year.
Passover Week includes seven feast days.
Then there’s Shavuot (Pentecost),
Yom Teruah (Feast of Trumpets),
Yom Kippur (Day of Atonement),
and the seven days of
Sukkot (Feast of Tabernacles).
The end of Sukkot is celebrated by Shemini Atzeret, the eighth-day assembly.
When all these are added together, there’s a total of 70 appointed times/HaMoyadim.
So it could be said that each spring/eye/ayin was an appointed time at the well!
Alef: ox strength
Yod/Yud/Yood: arm
Nun/Noon: seed/fish/ life as in food sustaining and seed bringing forth life in all living things.
Yod/Yud/Yood: arm
= A strong arm giving life.
The connection for the samaritan woman was that she knew and believed in a coming Messiah; and also understood the need for water to sustain life and Jesus/Yeshua joined the 2 together for her.
This was a story beyond that of a thirsty man, it was God reaching out across a great divide, over the thick high walls of resentment and mistrust that separated Jesus/Yeshua the Messiah from one Samaritan Woman.
It’s a story of walls of separation and they were about to not only be breached but come tumbling down!
In those days, many of the Jews despised Gentiles/Goyim/Heathen; however, in their thinking, if there was anything worse than a Gentile, it was a Samaritan and there wasn’t much worse than a Samaritan, unless it was a Samaritan woman. Jews of this time, for reasons related to Jewish purity laws, considered Samaritan women to be in a constant state of ceremonial uncleanness. Jewish men would literally have crossed the street to avoid physical contact with a Samaritan woman.
Jews and Samaritans hated each other, the way only people who are close to each other can hate each other, especially if religious differences are involved. The Samaritans and Jews shared a common ancestry, each side claiming to be the true descendants of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob who were worshipping God in the proper way, in the proper place, with the proper rituals. At one time or another each party became offensive and sometimes violent while expressing their differences. The rivalry was bitter, and sometimes deadly. Around 400 B.C. during the time of Pesach/Passover, the Samaritans polluted the temple in Jerusalem by scattering parts of dead bodies all over the temple grounds.
Some time later the Jews attacked and destroyed the Samaritan temple on Mt. Gerazim.
At the time when Jacob first met Rachel the Jews and Samaritans were one people. They shared a common faith, a common heritage and a common devotion to Yahweh.
These background facts help explain the woman’s obvious surprise when Jesus/Yeshua asked her for a drink. Her knowledge of the history between their people must have made her wonder if this was a cruel joke? It explains the level of suspicion and skepticism that the woman had toward Jesus/Yeshuua, challenging Him as the conversation unfolds. “How can you (a Jewish man) ask me (a Samaritan woman) for a drink?” And then Jesus replies in this way: “If you knew the gift of God, and who is asking you for a drink, you would have asked him, and he would have given you living water.”
He replied in such a way as to arouse her natural human curiosity, He was reaching out, by saying that it was not so much that He needed a drink, but that He’d like to give her a drink. He was building a bridge. Inviting her to partake of the water of chaim that only He could offer and provide. To the woman, it probably seems like just one more example of the Jews claiming religious superiority, which was evident in the national and religious pride in her response.
It is important to note that all of this took place at about the sixth hour. That’s midday. 12 o’clock, Noon. This is the time when the intensity of the sun would be the greatest and would not be the normal time to draw water. Water would be drawn preferably in the morning or the evening, when the sun would not be so hot. We are informed in Genesis 24:11: “It was toward evening, the time when the women go out to draw water.” So why was this woman at the well drawing water at noon?
The simple answer is, she came at a time when no one else would normally be there.
To her, bearing the sun’s heat would not be as bad as bearing the disapproval of the community. Having to hear the things they would say, and getting the looks she would undoubtedly get, was preferable to the hot sun. Her background and lifestyle separated her from her others and worse than that, it separated her from God.
The Bible reveals that sin separates us from God, that it cuts us off from the source of light/awr and life/chaim. It’s a foundational truth, but unpleasant as it may be, maybe it’s a foundational truth, that needs to be continually repeated. Sometimes we may all need to be reminded that the gospel which Jesus/Yeshua preached was a declaration, an invitation and a choice:
“The time has come! The kingdom of God is near. Repent and believe the good news.” Messiah didn’t offer peace and pardon without repentance. The road to eternal life/chaim can only begin with repentance.
King Davids WELL in Bethlehem… Is there a lock and chain on our inner well?
When Jesus/Yeshua invited people to be His disciples, He didn’t tell them that they had to be perfect before they could even think about following Him.
However, the very heart of discipleship is our willingness to be transformed by God’s grace. The way we move forward in discipleship and maturity is:
by letting go of the things we love more than we love God.
Notice at the end of her encounter with Messiah, she has completely forgotten the purpose for which she came to the well, because she has found a new and greater purpose in her life.
Because of the Samaritan woman who was at the well, the WAY was opened for non Jews to be saved.
This was a place of life giving water, a place of drinking, of meeting. A very important place because it was a source of life and it became a place to receive the living water of chaim-lifes, phyisical and spiritual. A place of joy, which followed, springing up with the living waters.
Indeed, the water that I shall give him will become in him a well of water springing up into eternal life. John 4:14
Wells are often beside pools – בריכות, which were places of cleansing and healing/
A pool is defined as a small and rather deep collection of (usually) fresh water, as one supplied by a spring, or occurring in the course of a stream; a reservoir for water.
The name of one famous pool in scripture is Bethesda and it occurs only once in the Bible.
It was the Hebrew name of a pool, reservoir or tank, with five porches, referenced in John 5:2; located near the Sheep Gate, or market, in Jerusalem.
Periodically, an angel of the Lord descended and stirred the water. When that happened, the first person to plunge into the pool would be healed of whatever affliction this person had.
The name of the pool is said to be derived from the Hebrew and/or Aramaic language. Beth hesda (בית חסד/חסדא), means either house of mercy, or the flowing water, or, house of grace.
Wells are often deep and brown eyes are sometimes referred to as deep pools and windows of the soul like looking into a well or deep pool of water. Especially in romantic descriptive narratives. This gives rise to thoughts of deep pools and wells of living water of the soul, visible through our physical eyes and the indwelling waters of chaim of Yeshua and His Ruach HaKodesh.
Are these living waters visible to those who look into our eyes?
What did the Samaritan woman see when she looked into Jesus/Yeshuas’ eyes?
She said He had nothing to draw the water with and then she drew from His well of chaim, His inner well of everlasting living waters.
His eyes were sinless and reflected eternal life, did she see the 3 chaim?
The physical necessity of natural water for the 1st chaim. The 2nd chaim of new birth, the spiritual chaim to be lived while still here on the earth yet with the waters of the Ruach springing up within? (and she knew of the coming Messiah and the promise of eternal chaim). The 3rd life/chaim, that resurrection life, and all things new in the olam/world to come.
The closest we will come to looking into sinless eyes is probably a new born baby’s innocent gaze.
And even that does not come close to what she must have seen in Messiah eyes we can only imagine ……..
They must have been the deepest pools of eternal weight of glory, mixed with compassion and unconditional love, wisdom, grace and mercy and even these words are inadequate by far.
Messiahs eyes = wells of chaim/lifes.
Wells also give a picture of depth and provision. Empty wells are used in 2 pet 2:17, to describe that which is ungodly and unprofitable, empty.
Joseph was put into a dry well by his brothers. Genesis 37:12-36
Joseph was thrown into one by his brothers and all he would have seen was that the WAY out, was up. Joseph was thrown into a well that had run dry, lifeless and unable to sustain life or give life, just dirty dust.
It has been said that from the bottom of a well you can see the stars in the daytime??
However, in non-open daylight (that is, from a location that severely restricted the observer’s field of vision, such as the bottom of a deep well, a long chimney, or a mine shaft), Sirius itself is potentially visible during daytime; however, even for the very, very sharp-eyed, Sirius wouldn’t stand out the way typical stars do against the dark backdrop of the night sky.
We see the stars at night not because we are in darkness, but because there is no sunlight scattered in the atmosphere to drown out the starlight. Stars are much fainter than the sun. So even if we were in a deep well and couldn’t see a thing down there, the sky itself would still be in full sunlight and so we couldn’t see the stars.
The view of the wells rim, looks like the pupil of the eye!
However both during the day and at night, his view would have been very focused and directed at the heavens. Looking up was the only direction he could go. Upward to God, to the heavens from where His help would eventually come.
He had seen the stairway to heaven like a well looking up
Only Heaven was visible from that depth and his only exit was heaven wards almost a image of Jacobs ladder to heaven as the spirals upward beckoned to Joseph When He was released his journey took on an upward destiny.
Sometimes we may feel we are in a well and if we are, look up, for your redemption draws near – the only WAY is up.
We also call 12 midday, noon, which is also the letter N in Hebrew that means: life, seed, fish. He met the woman to build a bridge and to tear down a wall of separation between them we could say that this noon was not just the time, it was more than simply a reference to the clock but was the hour of her visitation – the time that the seed of chaim/lifes, (specifically highlighting her eternal chaim), was offered and planted into her.
What will be our response when we meet Messiah by the well at noon? What will He see in our Ayin/ayim? In the pools of our souls/spirits?
What will we see in the Ayin/ayim of Messiah, in those deep eternal wells of chaim?
As deep calls to deep let’s leave the bottom of that dry well and soar ever higher upward; to the place in the shamayim/heavenlies; up the ladder, (sullam), the highway to heaven that Jacob saw, where He has made a place for us to be seated together IN Him.
And our view from that spiritually elevated position is as far removed from the pinpoint exit of the well as we can get while still in the second stage of chaim!
May we also realize what is offered to us and may we, too, drink deeply of that living water, this day and every day. May our lives be so transformed that we can’t possibly contain the outflow of living watergushing forth from our hearts, minds and mouths.
Like the Samaritan woman, may we also have the sense not to walk away, until Jesus/Yeshua has done what He came to do. That is, until He has satisfied us with living water welling up to eternal life.
What do eye see at the bottom of our wells?
Is it the water of life springing up?
Don’t leave here until you are sure you are filled with the everlasting fountain of life/chaim in Jesus, Messiah Yeshua.
Shalom and thank you to all who have prayed for mmm while issues both technical and otherwise were being resolved.
Please Do Not leave this page without the surety in your heart that you have Him in your life and heart as the days draw ever closer to the end of this age..
NOT CERTAIN?
YOU CAN BE..
Make sure 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 greatly loved and very precious in His sight.
He longs to give you the Shalom He paid the ultimate price for..
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. Amen.
Anyone who has been following Messiah Yeshua/Jesus for any length of time is painfully aware of the fact we are in an ongoing war. It is not simply a physical war but one that originates in the realm of the spirit. This war will not stop until Messiah returns; which is why He told us to..
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