Every morning I am heartened to see the winning. God’s hand is always there, we just have to remember and trust that He’s got this (and this, and this…)
"Thus the Drug Trust, while maintaining the Stalinist Communist Government in Russia, simultaneously maintained a Communist back up regime in the United States, the Trotskyite Movement, in case the Stalinist regime should fall."
You do know the Scripture was written in Hebrew, right? And when it was translated into Greek, then into English, His NAME was translated into Jehovah, Lord, God.
The Tetragrammaton YHVH occurs more than 6,800 times in the Tanakh or the
(Old Testament). His people, out of fear of offending Him, gradually ceased to say ‘The Name’, using other Words so as to NOT ‘use His Name in vain’.
And, imho, He allowed that out of His great Mercy.
When you see how the words ‘Lord’, ‘God’, ‘Jesus’ (that’s not Messiah’s name….His Name is ‘Yeshua’, which means ‘Salvation’ )….any way, when you see how those substitutions are used as curse words today, it seems an act of mercy for them to have ceased using His Holy Name.
Can you imagine the judgement that would have fallen if His Name had been used as a cuss word???
If judgement were to fall on these people who now use god, Jesus as a cuss word??
At the time that Moses asked His Name, he simply said “Ehyeh Who Ehyeh”, “I am Who I Am”.
He would later say “I, YHWH…….”
Some say it is more like exhaling and inhaling. Which makes a whole lot of sense to me. After all, He Is the Breathe of Life.
I find it very interesting that the Tetragrammaton doesn’t appear in the Bible until the 5th verse of Genesis chapter 2. Just an interesting factoid, although it makes you wonder who “elohim” is in Genesis 1 and those first four verses of chapter 2. Perhaps Yeshua, the firstborn of Creation?
I disagree. The grammatical usage in Genesis 1 through Genesis 2:4 indicates a single entity doing the creating, as verbs or adjectives attached to the noun “elohim” are consistently in the singular. Elohim can mean single or plural, like our words “sheep” or “elk.” In fact, it is used in the singular when describing Samuel in 1 Samuel 28:13 — “The king said to her, “Do not be afraid. What do you see?” And the woman said to Saul, “I see a god (original Hebrew says “elohim”) coming up out of the earth.” Elohim can refer to YHWH, small-g gods, angels, demons, or the spirits of dead humans. It’s more a designation of where they reside (the supernatural realm), than who they are.
Actually……the Word was there in the beginning. Genesis 1:3 “He said, let there be light and there was light’ and the light divided the Light from the confusion ……but He had not yet created the sun, moon and stars.
And when HE did create them, He created them on the fourth day. To ‘divide the day from the night, for signs (witnesses) and for seasons (moedim….The appointed times of YHVH……Passover (Easter is NEITHER Passover nor Resurrection, but it is a pagan substitution to a pagan fertility/transgender ‘god/goddess’), Unleavened Bread, First Fruits, Shavuot,
Yom Teruah, Yom Kipperim and Tabernacles.
Yeshua is seen in ALL of these ‘Feasts/seasons of the Lord’)
I just call Him my dearest God and hope that covers all the bases unless I am talking specifically to God the Father, or Jesus or The Holy Ghost. Then I call them each by that name! I am a simpleton at heart!
I heard two rabbis discussing this very 'name of God' issue in a podcast several years ago. It was VERY enlightening!! Thanks for YOUR SHARING too, "C"!
Kevin Steffy asked the Father (Yahveh) how to pronounce His name and the reply was "Yahveh". I never heard of anyone else even asking. "Yahova" came from hundreds of years of oral traditions of the High Priest telling the next High Priest until, finally, vowel pointings were added to the text and even those meanings were changed until the name is called "Yahova" by some groups. There is even an African group calling Him "Yahaya" which means "I am that I am". That's not even a name. Funny that no one besides Kevin would ask.
I am called ‘babe, by my husband, was called ‘honey’ by my Mom, ‘shugah’ by my very southern brother, Mom by my children, Nana by my grands. But I have only one given Name.
He told us what His Name is. It is YHVH.
We do not truly know how to pronounce His ineffable Name. But we know what it looks like in Hebrew. (There are no vowels in ancient Hebrew, in modern Hebrew they have added ‘marks’ to insinuate the vowels……I am definitely NOT an expert in Hebrew. Just studying it. Experts say that it is actually a living language, the language of chemistry….)
I know of 52 ways He is referenced, but only One Name.
Correction - The ancient Hebrews, from Abraham onward, worshipped the El YHWH. Those letters are found written in stone from ancient times. The Temple hierarchy during the Messiah's time had stopped using the sacred name, substituting Adonai. That is one reason they hated and rejected the Messiah, because He used His Father's Name.
It is pronounced Yahweh, and this has been the consensus among scholars for decades.
In the King James translation, they substituted the word "lord" for the four letters of the original Name. The word "lord" has pagan derivations. In reading the scriptures, all one needs to do is say Yahweh instead of the word lord, and El or Elohim instead of the word "god", which also derives from pagan worship.
Not ALL Jews hated or rejected Yeshua. He had a huge following and the first eclesia (changed to ‘church’) was made up of Jews.
There were Jews living in Rome, and talk about HATRED? Martin Luther HATED the Jews. The Messianic Jews still kept the Sabbath and the Feasts of the Lord, and the ‘church’ in Rome hated them. (It is an Edomite church, and they inherited their ancient hatred from their father , Esau.)
Both the pope and Martin Luther would burn Jews homes to the ground if they did not see smoke in their chimneys on the sabbath (which had by then been changed to saturnday). They even burned these Jews homes to the ground (apparently they were also democRATS….lol) .
I will never understand, not in a million years. Waste of time, emotions and energy. Well, Christians are and will be persecuted even more as we approach end days so we will have to endure great pains if we live long enough. Thanks a lot Adam and Eve for eating the damn apple. Grrrr.
It’s my understanding that “Lord” was the ubiquitous title given to Baal in the ancient world, while the Bible translators used all caps “LORD” in place of YHWH.
“Elohim” is not just a word used for God/gods/angels, is it also used to describe demons in the book of Hebrews, and to describe the already deceased Samuel in 1 Samuel. So, as the late Dr. Michael Heiser said, it is a description of any entity that exists in the supernatural world.
‘Lord ‘was used in many different ways, just as ‘god’ is. We indicate the One, True and Living God by capitalizing the ‘G’, but use the lower case to indicate the gods of this world, I.e.pagan gods.
The ‘church’ could only teach what it knew. My Dad was a minister, but he didn’t teach it because he did not know. The roots of Christianity was hidden by the Edomites who took over the movement not long after Yeshua’s death, burial and resurrection.
YHVH is like an acronym, representing the unpronounceable (unutterable) name of The Lord our God. Each letter is pronounced: Yod-Hey-Vav-Hey. Since God is all, God cannot be limited by any single name, which is a form of creating separation, a popular pastime of humans :). In case you're wondering why there are so many different spellings and pronunciations of Hebrew words translated into English, it's because the Hebrew language, unlike English, doesn't use vowels. Jews will mentally substitute the acronym "YHVH" with the word "Adonai" when reading The Torah or other Hebrew texts. "Adonai" is the transcendent/masculine energy of God. They also might, infrequently, say "Shekinah", the imminent or feminine energy of God. Or you can just say "The Eternal One" or "Eternal One of Being" and not be wrong, lol. Many translations from Hebrew often can't reflect the full meaning since the Hebrew language and writing itself is said to be sacred and each letter also represents a number, which has it own meaning. Think of it like computer code. It's not easy to capture the historical subtleties of any sacred book in a translation, because all translations contain the translator's own cultural, political, spiritual, and human perspective, as well as the receiver's/reader's own perspective. What is most interesting is that the words of the Torah (which comprise the Five books of Moses, and which Christians colloquially call the Old Testament) have not changed in over 2,000 years. This has been verified by ancient scrolls found in Ethiopia. If a scribe of a new scroll makes even a minor mistake when writing it (i.e. the word of The Eternal One), then the entire scroll must be scrapped. A tantalizing tidbit is that the common translation of the well-known line in Genesis, "In the beginning ..." is mistranslated in English. It actually reads: "In a beginning ...." The Kabbalists (mystics) emphasize this important distinction, and there is a lot of lively and interesting commentary on this. The word Kabbalah means "that which is received (from within/inspired)." This means the truth (and every desire/blessing) is already within you / has been given and we cannot use our logical mind (1% of consciousness ) to reveal that which is spiritual (the 100% of consciousness which contains that 1%). So, our purpose is to expand our own limited consciousness so that we may receive more Divine Light in order to give to others. It also means everything, the good and the not so good, is all God, regardless if we see/hear/feel/understand it to be that way. This is why Jacob was renamed Israel, the "one who struggles with God". Every day we each individually and collectively get to travel up and down the ladder of consciousness, and have the free will to choose to struggle (reject) or expand (accept) our own God-given divinity, as well as the God-given divinity of anyone with whom we are interacting. For We are One. There is only One. You are a blessing!
I think you might reword this as in this is His Name in Hebrew as also is His name Lord in English and God and Almighty and no I don't need to revert to Judeism to rightly honor His Name.
It does feel like a rewriting and a 'one up' to those who JUST call Him Lord and God.
It seems to have become the word for OT obedience?
BTW, HE IS the God of the Hebrews, the BOOK is written in HEBREW, YESHUA (Salvation) lived, and died and rose again as a Hebrew from the Tribe of Judah.
Thankfully, He reads and speaks ALL languages.
But I don’t get why you’re so offended by the fact that MESSIAH was a Hebrew, a Jew. The offense about Him doesn’t compute.
Would you rather He be from America? England? Rome?
It appears to some scholars that forces of evil over history have tried to inject pagan terminolgy into Judeo-Christian terminology to pollute the doctrine and practice. (also Easter, Christmas, Sunday Sabbath)
I would think so, but it can be challenging to know where people are coming from these days, which is why I asked him. As for King Saul, the answer is very clear, ‘willful disobedience’ to G-d’s commands…
You can read it in 1 Samuel 15… The consequences of his disobedience extended far beyond his own life, into his family, and the nation as a whole. That is actually a principle of inescapable spiritual truth; our actions, or failures to act, have far-reaching consequences.
All of King Saul’s faults and sins followed on his initial willful disobedience to the command of G-d, as given through the prophet Samuel. There are many practical and highly-relevant applications that can be drawn from this portion of Scripture.
Actually God DID give Him direction and commands but Saul continually ignored them so God left him to his own self seeking and it led him to the medium.
After his disobedience with the Amalekites? How so? God’s direct communication with Saul effectively ceased and Samuel no longer visited him (1 Samuel 15:35). Later when Saul sought guidance from God such as 1 Samuel 28, God did not answer him “either by dreams, or by sacred lots, or by the prophets”(1 Samuel 28:6 NLT)
Isaac, it seems to me that you answered your own question.
There can come a point in any given human beings life, when God simply no longer communicates with the person. With King Saul, it was at that point. But God knows the thoughts and intents of the heart, and we don’t know what else may have factored into God’s decision.
With Pharaoh, it was after multiple recorded incidents in which he ‘hardened his heart’ - after which ‘God hardened Pharaoh’s heart’.
And, so it is with each one of us - at least, in regard to those who have not been ‘born again’. Though I doubt it, perhaps even with those who have been, if they cross a certain point known only to God.
Regardless, this is something which very few people ever stop to consider, as they blindly move through life, thinking they see and understand what truly matters. When God stops all attempts to communicate with a person, their situation is exceedingly perilous, and potentially catastrophic.
My questions were directed at RJ Rambler’s statement that “God DID give [Saul] directions and commands…” prior to him seeking out the witch.
Thank you for the extra context though Mike. I wouldn’t want to portray that God just cuts off communication all willy nilly. That was also before Jesus left us with the gift of the Holy Spirit, so I wonder if Saul would have gotten better reception in modern times.
I will rejoice greatly in Yahweh;
My soul will rejoice in my God,
For He has clothed me with garments of salvation,
He has wrapped me with a robe of righteousness,
As a bridegroom decks himself with a headdress,
And as a bride adorns herself with her jewels.
For as the earth brings forth its branches,
And as a garden causes the things sown in it to branch out,
So Lord Yahweh will cause righteousness and praise
To branch out before all the nations.
— Isaiah 61:10-11 LSB
Every morning I am heartened to see the winning. God’s hand is always there, we just have to remember and trust that He’s got this (and this, and this…)
And respond with thankful hearts of praise!!!!
So tired of seeing evil win so I keep asking God to help us in our quest!
His mercies are new every morning + Spring ~ loving it!😇🌷
Thank you for the re-focus, after reading about cockroaches, one of the insects that was surely created after the fall.
The PP subhumans (Paul and Peter) are lower than cockroaches. I would not insult a cockroach using them as a comparison, LOL!
Bankers have us in a polycrisis.
"Thus the Drug Trust, while maintaining the Stalinist Communist Government in Russia, simultaneously maintained a Communist back up regime in the United States, the Trotskyite Movement, in case the Stalinist regime should fall."
Eustace Mullins
Murder By Injection.
Well, apparently I chose the right passage today. To God be the glory.
From the Hebrew Lexicon: https://biblehub.com/hebrew/3068.htm
Also, Yahweh referred to Himself with this title in Isaiah 61:8, Ezekiel 24:14, et al.
Thank you Janice! Says it all.
Yahweh is a recent invention, and is completely separate from The Lord our God.
No, it isn’t. YHVH is Yehovah.
You do know the Scripture was written in Hebrew, right? And when it was translated into Greek, then into English, His NAME was translated into Jehovah, Lord, God.
Right?
You knew that, correct?
You do realize the the Lord our God, the Father, has no name?
He identifies Himself to Moses only as "I Am".
The Tetragrammaton YHVH occurs more than 6,800 times in the Tanakh or the
(Old Testament). His people, out of fear of offending Him, gradually ceased to say ‘The Name’, using other Words so as to NOT ‘use His Name in vain’.
And, imho, He allowed that out of His great Mercy.
When you see how the words ‘Lord’, ‘God’, ‘Jesus’ (that’s not Messiah’s name….His Name is ‘Yeshua’, which means ‘Salvation’ )….any way, when you see how those substitutions are used as curse words today, it seems an act of mercy for them to have ceased using His Holy Name.
Can you imagine the judgement that would have fallen if His Name had been used as a cuss word???
If judgement were to fall on these people who now use god, Jesus as a cuss word??
At the time that Moses asked His Name, he simply said “Ehyeh Who Ehyeh”, “I am Who I Am”.
He would later say “I, YHWH…….”
Some say it is more like exhaling and inhaling. Which makes a whole lot of sense to me. After all, He Is the Breathe of Life.
I find it very interesting that the Tetragrammaton doesn’t appear in the Bible until the 5th verse of Genesis chapter 2. Just an interesting factoid, although it makes you wonder who “elohim” is in Genesis 1 and those first four verses of chapter 2. Perhaps Yeshua, the firstborn of Creation?
He said, "Let US create..." The Trinity eternally exists.
I disagree. The grammatical usage in Genesis 1 through Genesis 2:4 indicates a single entity doing the creating, as verbs or adjectives attached to the noun “elohim” are consistently in the singular. Elohim can mean single or plural, like our words “sheep” or “elk.” In fact, it is used in the singular when describing Samuel in 1 Samuel 28:13 — “The king said to her, “Do not be afraid. What do you see?” And the woman said to Saul, “I see a god (original Hebrew says “elohim”) coming up out of the earth.” Elohim can refer to YHWH, small-g gods, angels, demons, or the spirits of dead humans. It’s more a designation of where they reside (the supernatural realm), than who they are.
Actually……the Word was there in the beginning. Genesis 1:3 “He said, let there be light and there was light’ and the light divided the Light from the confusion ……but He had not yet created the sun, moon and stars.
And when HE did create them, He created them on the fourth day. To ‘divide the day from the night, for signs (witnesses) and for seasons (moedim….The appointed times of YHVH……Passover (Easter is NEITHER Passover nor Resurrection, but it is a pagan substitution to a pagan fertility/transgender ‘god/goddess’), Unleavened Bread, First Fruits, Shavuot,
Yom Teruah, Yom Kipperim and Tabernacles.
Yeshua is seen in ALL of these ‘Feasts/seasons of the Lord’)
I just call Him my dearest God and hope that covers all the bases unless I am talking specifically to God the Father, or Jesus or The Holy Ghost. Then I call them each by that name! I am a simpleton at heart!
I heard two rabbis discussing this very 'name of God' issue in a podcast several years ago. It was VERY enlightening!! Thanks for YOUR SHARING too, "C"!
Kevin Steffy asked the Father (Yahveh) how to pronounce His name and the reply was "Yahveh". I never heard of anyone else even asking. "Yahova" came from hundreds of years of oral traditions of the High Priest telling the next High Priest until, finally, vowel pointings were added to the text and even those meanings were changed until the name is called "Yahova" by some groups. There is even an African group calling Him "Yahaya" which means "I am that I am". That's not even a name. Funny that no one besides Kevin would ask.
https://www.facebook.com/reel/1131768841416091?mibextid=rS40aB7S9Ucbxw6v
THAT is amazing!
NOW, I must re-read Leviticus.
Then you will be right on time. The schedule of reading the Torah finished Exodus Saturday and starts with Leviticus this week.
So interesting! Thanks
You do realize that Scripture is written in HEBREW, do you not?
And YES, He has a NAME.
He has many names.
There are many words that refer to Him.
I am called ‘babe, by my husband, was called ‘honey’ by my Mom, ‘shugah’ by my very southern brother, Mom by my children, Nana by my grands. But I have only one given Name.
He told us what His Name is. It is YHVH.
We do not truly know how to pronounce His ineffable Name. But we know what it looks like in Hebrew. (There are no vowels in ancient Hebrew, in modern Hebrew they have added ‘marks’ to insinuate the vowels……I am definitely NOT an expert in Hebrew. Just studying it. Experts say that it is actually a living language, the language of chemistry….)
I know of 52 ways He is referenced, but only One Name.
Correction - The ancient Hebrews, from Abraham onward, worshipped the El YHWH. Those letters are found written in stone from ancient times. The Temple hierarchy during the Messiah's time had stopped using the sacred name, substituting Adonai. That is one reason they hated and rejected the Messiah, because He used His Father's Name.
It is pronounced Yahweh, and this has been the consensus among scholars for decades.
In the King James translation, they substituted the word "lord" for the four letters of the original Name. The word "lord" has pagan derivations. In reading the scriptures, all one needs to do is say Yahweh instead of the word lord, and El or Elohim instead of the word "god", which also derives from pagan worship.
Not ALL Jews hated or rejected Yeshua. He had a huge following and the first eclesia (changed to ‘church’) was made up of Jews.
There were Jews living in Rome, and talk about HATRED? Martin Luther HATED the Jews. The Messianic Jews still kept the Sabbath and the Feasts of the Lord, and the ‘church’ in Rome hated them. (It is an Edomite church, and they inherited their ancient hatred from their father , Esau.)
Both the pope and Martin Luther would burn Jews homes to the ground if they did not see smoke in their chimneys on the sabbath (which had by then been changed to saturnday). They even burned these Jews homes to the ground (apparently they were also democRATS….lol) .
I could never understandwhy so many hate the Jewish people. Jesus was on earth and is in Heaven Jewish. Heavy sigh.
I know. The hatred of Jews is an ancient hatred. The Edomite ‘church’ has taught ‘Replacement Theology’ since its inception
I will never understand, not in a million years. Waste of time, emotions and energy. Well, Christians are and will be persecuted even more as we approach end days so we will have to endure great pains if we live long enough. Thanks a lot Adam and Eve for eating the damn apple. Grrrr.
It’s my understanding that “Lord” was the ubiquitous title given to Baal in the ancient world, while the Bible translators used all caps “LORD” in place of YHWH.
“Elohim” is not just a word used for God/gods/angels, is it also used to describe demons in the book of Hebrews, and to describe the already deceased Samuel in 1 Samuel. So, as the late Dr. Michael Heiser said, it is a description of any entity that exists in the supernatural world.
‘Lord ‘was used in many different ways, just as ‘god’ is. We indicate the One, True and Living God by capitalizing the ‘G’, but use the lower case to indicate the gods of this world, I.e.pagan gods.
Yes, I agree. I was referring to how the words “Lord” and “God” are used in the Bible. But I think we’re on the same page. God bless! 😊✝️
I admit this Methodist chick had never heard of it until here.
The ‘church’ could only teach what it knew. My Dad was a minister, but he didn’t teach it because he did not know. The roots of Christianity was hidden by the Edomites who took over the movement not long after Yeshua’s death, burial and resurrection.
YHVH is like an acronym, representing the unpronounceable (unutterable) name of The Lord our God. Each letter is pronounced: Yod-Hey-Vav-Hey. Since God is all, God cannot be limited by any single name, which is a form of creating separation, a popular pastime of humans :). In case you're wondering why there are so many different spellings and pronunciations of Hebrew words translated into English, it's because the Hebrew language, unlike English, doesn't use vowels. Jews will mentally substitute the acronym "YHVH" with the word "Adonai" when reading The Torah or other Hebrew texts. "Adonai" is the transcendent/masculine energy of God. They also might, infrequently, say "Shekinah", the imminent or feminine energy of God. Or you can just say "The Eternal One" or "Eternal One of Being" and not be wrong, lol. Many translations from Hebrew often can't reflect the full meaning since the Hebrew language and writing itself is said to be sacred and each letter also represents a number, which has it own meaning. Think of it like computer code. It's not easy to capture the historical subtleties of any sacred book in a translation, because all translations contain the translator's own cultural, political, spiritual, and human perspective, as well as the receiver's/reader's own perspective. What is most interesting is that the words of the Torah (which comprise the Five books of Moses, and which Christians colloquially call the Old Testament) have not changed in over 2,000 years. This has been verified by ancient scrolls found in Ethiopia. If a scribe of a new scroll makes even a minor mistake when writing it (i.e. the word of The Eternal One), then the entire scroll must be scrapped. A tantalizing tidbit is that the common translation of the well-known line in Genesis, "In the beginning ..." is mistranslated in English. It actually reads: "In a beginning ...." The Kabbalists (mystics) emphasize this important distinction, and there is a lot of lively and interesting commentary on this. The word Kabbalah means "that which is received (from within/inspired)." This means the truth (and every desire/blessing) is already within you / has been given and we cannot use our logical mind (1% of consciousness ) to reveal that which is spiritual (the 100% of consciousness which contains that 1%). So, our purpose is to expand our own limited consciousness so that we may receive more Divine Light in order to give to others. It also means everything, the good and the not so good, is all God, regardless if we see/hear/feel/understand it to be that way. This is why Jacob was renamed Israel, the "one who struggles with God". Every day we each individually and collectively get to travel up and down the ladder of consciousness, and have the free will to choose to struggle (reject) or expand (accept) our own God-given divinity, as well as the God-given divinity of anyone with whom we are interacting. For We are One. There is only One. You are a blessing!
Hannah, Definitive exposition. Thank you.
I think you might reword this as in this is His Name in Hebrew as also is His name Lord in English and God and Almighty and no I don't need to revert to Judeism to rightly honor His Name.
It does feel like a rewriting and a 'one up' to those who JUST call Him Lord and God.
It seems to have become the word for OT obedience?
BTW, HE IS the God of the Hebrews, the BOOK is written in HEBREW, YESHUA (Salvation) lived, and died and rose again as a Hebrew from the Tribe of Judah.
Thankfully, He reads and speaks ALL languages.
But I don’t get why you’re so offended by the fact that MESSIAH was a Hebrew, a Jew. The offense about Him doesn’t compute.
Would you rather He be from America? England? Rome?
No one said you had to revert to ‘Judaism’. You can be offended, if you want. Feel free to be offended. It’s a free country, lol.
So what are you saying of the OT?
I have recently read that Yehuva is the most accurate name for God, and Yaveshua the most accurate for His Son our Redeemer.
It appears to some scholars that forces of evil over history have tried to inject pagan terminolgy into Judeo-Christian terminology to pollute the doctrine and practice. (also Easter, Christmas, Sunday Sabbath)
Huh?
Why did Yahweh punish Saul?
Because of his disobedience.
I thought that was a set up for a joke…
Me too. Because he fell off his horse?…
It did sound like a set up for a joke:)
@Jacqui- same
B/c he sought wisdom in a sorcerer
Are you are referring to King Saul, or Saul of Tarsus (Paul)?
That would be King Saul.
I would think so, but it can be challenging to know where people are coming from these days, which is why I asked him. As for King Saul, the answer is very clear, ‘willful disobedience’ to G-d’s commands…
What specifically did he do that was disobeying?
You can read it in 1 Samuel 15… The consequences of his disobedience extended far beyond his own life, into his family, and the nation as a whole. That is actually a principle of inescapable spiritual truth; our actions, or failures to act, have far-reaching consequences.
Like ripples in a pond.
Well said…
There is no such being as Yahweh (a name invented relatively recently), unless you count the Great Deceiver.
The Lord our God chastised and tested Saul who would become Paul on the road to Damascus.
For consulting a medium/witch, I believe.
All of King Saul’s faults and sins followed on his initial willful disobedience to the command of G-d, as given through the prophet Samuel. There are many practical and highly-relevant applications that can be drawn from this portion of Scripture.
Yep, the medium/witch came after God had left him due to his disobedience. He was looking for direction since God wasn’t giving it.
Actually God DID give Him direction and commands but Saul continually ignored them so God left him to his own self seeking and it led him to the medium.
After his disobedience with the Amalekites? How so? God’s direct communication with Saul effectively ceased and Samuel no longer visited him (1 Samuel 15:35). Later when Saul sought guidance from God such as 1 Samuel 28, God did not answer him “either by dreams, or by sacred lots, or by the prophets”(1 Samuel 28:6 NLT)
Isaac, it seems to me that you answered your own question.
There can come a point in any given human beings life, when God simply no longer communicates with the person. With King Saul, it was at that point. But God knows the thoughts and intents of the heart, and we don’t know what else may have factored into God’s decision.
With Pharaoh, it was after multiple recorded incidents in which he ‘hardened his heart’ - after which ‘God hardened Pharaoh’s heart’.
And, so it is with each one of us - at least, in regard to those who have not been ‘born again’. Though I doubt it, perhaps even with those who have been, if they cross a certain point known only to God.
Regardless, this is something which very few people ever stop to consider, as they blindly move through life, thinking they see and understand what truly matters. When God stops all attempts to communicate with a person, their situation is exceedingly perilous, and potentially catastrophic.
My questions were directed at RJ Rambler’s statement that “God DID give [Saul] directions and commands…” prior to him seeking out the witch.
Thank you for the extra context though Mike. I wouldn’t want to portray that God just cuts off communication all willy nilly. That was also before Jesus left us with the gift of the Holy Spirit, so I wonder if Saul would have gotten better reception in modern times.
Yes, the Spirit of the LORD left Saul after his disobedience. This drove Saul crazy.
The tormenting spirit sent from God also probably didn’t help with Saul’s sanity ;)
The double whammy.
Saul was like the wave of the sea he didn't trust God, he waffled his own way.