Her princes inside her are roaring lions; her judges are evening wolves . . . Zephaniah 3:3 Roaring Lions/Evening Wolves – “The hunger of the powerful knows no satiety; the appetite grows on what it feeds. Power exalts itself and is incapable of yielding to any transcendent judgment; . . . It is the bitter…
She did not listen to the voice; she did not take correction; she did not trust in YHWH; she did not draw near to her God. Zephaniah 3:2 Did Not – Zephaniah speaks out against the oppressing city. His words are harsh, convicting, condemning. They are less a call to repentance than they are a…
YHWH, I have heard the report about You and I fear. O YHWH, revive Your work in the midst of the years, in the midst of the years make it known; in wrath remember mercy. Habakkuk 3:2 Wrath – “There is an evil which most of us condone and are even guilty of: indifference to…
“Also the foreigners who join themselves to YHWH, to minister to Him, and to love the name of YHWH, to be His servants, every one who keeps from profaning the sabbath and holds fast My covenant;” Isaiah 56:6 Profaning – Does this verse apply to you? Well, are you a foreigner (literally, “sons of the…
Then Yeshua said to His disciples, “If any one wishes to come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow me.” Matthew 16:24 Deny – What does Yeshua’s statement mean to you? Do you think of denial in terms of turning away from pointless affluence, seductive pleasures or immoral behavior? …
Then the disciples of John came to Him, saying, “Why do we and the Pharisees fast, but Your disciples do not fast?” Matthew 9:14 Disciples Of John – Most of us have a positive evaluation of John. After all, he introduced “the Lamb who takes away the sin of the world.” He proclaimed self-denial (“I…
And he shall bear their iniquities Isaiah 53:11 Bear – Messianic believers read this entire passage as a prophecy about Yeshua. But it is more than that. It is also a description of the role of God’s elect. “The servant is at once Israel and an individual, who both represents the whole community and carries…
You only have I known of all the families of the earth; therefore I will punish you for all your iniquities. Amos 3:2 Therefore – When will we finally forsake the populist idea that God saves us in order to make our lives prosperous? How foolish can we be? In a world that hates God,…
But the righteous shall live by his faith. Habakkuk 2:4 But – Once more the vocabulary is simply an appended vav. The word for the righteous (tsadik) becomes ve-tsadik (the vav is appended). Context determines the translation and “but” seems appropriate because the text is about a contrast. However, that isn’t quite enough for us…
“I, YHWH, search the heart, I try the kidneys, and give every man according to his ways, according to the fruit of his deeds.” Yirmeyahu 17:10 (ISR) According To – The Hebrew here is not difficult, at least not on the surface. It is simply the letter bet attached to the nouns for “ways” and…
