PSALM 6 (with cross references & topics)
Psa 6:1-10 A psalm for the director of music (chief musician); neginoth sheminith (on stringed instruments, an octave lower). Said to: address being tired/weak/depleted; deal with punishment, slaughter, illness & death; provide healing. See PART II H.3.3rd pt. & PerspectivesB B.1.b.Psa 6; note how David 1st prays, then speaks to his problems:
O LORD (YAHWEH), do not rebuke Me in YOUR Anger or discipline Me in YOUR Wrath. Be merciful to Me, LORD (YAHWEH), for I am faint; O LORD (YAHWEH), heal Me, for My bones are in agony. My soul is in anguish. How long, O LORD (YAHWEH), how long? Turn, O LORD (YAHWEH), & deliver Me; save Me because of YOUR Unfailing Love. No one remembers YOU when he is dead. Who praises YOU from the grave?
I am worn out from groaning; all (every) night I flood My bed with tears. My eyes grow weak from sorrow; They fail because of all My foes. Away from Me, all you who do evil, for the LORD (YAHWEH) has heard My weeping. The LORD (YAHWEH) has heard My cry for mercy; the LORD (YAHWEH) accepts My prayer. All My enemies will be astonished & dismayed; they will turn back in sudden disgrace.
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Hos <1> 4:1-9,14 <2> 5:5 <3> 6:1-6,10-11 <4> 7:8,11 <5> 9:3,11 <6> 13:14-15 <7> 14:8-9 <1> Though Hosea is placed after the major prophets in the Bible, it should be placed before them; Hosea was a prophet (see PART II J.4.b.) to the 10-tribe Israeli portion of the kingdom some 3 centuries after it divided, beginning before it was captured by Assyria-- beginning a decade before it was invaded by Assyria until several years after it was captured. All the major prophets prophesied much later to Judah (Jerusalem wasn't even attacked until over a decade after Hosea stopped prophesying-- over a century later Judah fell). More of a history lesson: Hear the Word of the LORD (YAHWEH), You Israelites among the Israeli citizens-- like the Christians among all Americans, because the LORD (YAHWEH) has a charge to bring against You Israelites-- particularly the Israeli Levitical priests (see PSALM 64 Jer ref. the Levitical priest of Judah in Babylon; see, on this page, Mal<2>, ref. The Levitical priests of the later united Israel & Judah) who live in the land-- Christians are a kingdom & nation of priests (Reve 1:6): There is no faithfulness, no love, no Acknowledgment of GOD (the Majestic ONE) in the land. There is only cursing (pronouncing of curses), lying & murder, stealing & adultery; They [all Israeli citizens] break all bounds, & bloodshed follows bloodshed. Because of this the land mourns (dries up), & all Israeli citizens who live in it waste away; the beasts of the field & the birds of the air & the fish of the sea are dying. But let no man bring a charge, let no man accuse another, for Your people [Israelite citizens-- the responsibilities of the Israelite priests] are like those who bring charges against a priest. You stumble day & night, & all the prophets also stumble with You. So I will destroy Your mother [the Israelites]-- MY People are destroyed [cut off] for lack of knowledge. Because You Israelites have rejected knowledge, I also reject You as MY Priests-- the Israelites shall not be a kingdom of priests; because You have ignored the Law of Your GOD (Majestic ONE), I also will reject Your children. The more the priests increased the more They [the Israeli citizens] sinned against ME; They exchanged Their glory (I will exchange MY Glory) for something disgraceful. They feed on the sins of MY People & relish Their wickedness. And therefore it will be: like people, like priests. I will punish both of Them for Their deeds. I will (Shall I?) not punish Your daughters when They turn to prostitution, nor Your daughters-in-law when They commit adultery, because the men themselves consort with harlots & sacrifice with shrine prostitutes-- a people without understanding will come to ruin! Now, about Judah: Though You commit adultery, O Israel, let not Judah become guilty [reap what they're sowing]. <2> Israel's arrogance testifies against Them; the Israelites, even Ephraim, stumble in Their sin; and Judah also stumbles with Them. <3> Yes, now is the time of the Gentiles, but that doesn't mean that Israelites have to wait-their-turn to be grafted back, until the time is fulfilled, but can be grafted in from whence they are (see Luke 21:24; Roma 11:17-24): Come, let Us [Israelites] return to the LORD (YAHWEH). HE has torn Us to pieces, but HE will heal Us; HE has injured Us but HE will bind up Our wounds. Distant prophecy After 2 days HE will revive Us; on the 3rd day HE will restore Us, that We may live in HIS Presence (Facing). EOP Let Us acknowledge the LORD (YAHWEH); let Us press on to acknowledge HIM. Far Distant prophecy As surely as the sun rises, HE will appear; HE will come to Us like the winter rains, like the spring rains that water the earth. EOP What can I do with You, Ephraim? What can I do with You, Judah? Your love [mercy; kindness] is like the morning mist, like the early dew that disappears. Therefore I cut You in pieces with MY Prophets, I killed You with the words of MY Mouth; MY Judgments flashed like lightening upon You. For I desire mercy to each other, not sacrifice to me, & Acknowledgment of GOD (the Majestic ONE-- to each other) rather than burnt offerings to me. I have seen a horrible thing in the house of Israel. There Ephraim is given to prostitution & Israel is defiled. Also for You, Judah, a harvest is appointed. The following is a satire about Israel & Judah-- but it is entirely opposite the wood being consumed that we saw above in Jer-- here the campfire is a good thing. "It's like this, O Israel: once upon a time, you were like a nice, warm, flaming campfire-- a dozen undivided logs. Did I even need to so much as breathe in your direction in order to fan the flames? Well, occasionally, but ah, it was so cozy! Then you became as 10 on 1 side of my mouth, & 2 on the other side. You who are 10 think in your numbers you are great-- I won't employ my prophets just to scatter you to the nations. You will be captured by a foreign nation. I won't simply scatter you among them, that you shall be smoldering logs that glow & flame if I so choose to breathe there-- I, even I, utter that you shall become as splinters. As for the 2 logs you so despised, thinking I was looking upon your Bethel with love, as I contemplated Jerusalem-- well, at least there shall be a harvest there! Afterwards, true, I also will spew them, for they will also become as smoldering logs requiring my gentle breath (my repeated coaxing attention)-- but they will not be as splinters. I will still care about you Israel, as when you finally repent, I will bring the splinters together as kindling, & together with the logs of Judah, you shall be the infrastructure of my eternal campfire-- & you will completely forget that once upon-a-time the nations disrespected you, thinking of you as so many burned-out splinters & logs." <4> Near prophecy Ephraim mixes with the nations-- now calling to Egypt, now turning to Assyria. <5> Near & Distant prophecies Threshing floors & winepresses will not feed the people [Israelites]; the new wine will fail Them-- they won't receive it. They [The Israelites] will not remain in the LORD'S (YAHWEH'S) Land; Ephraim in particular will return to Egypt & eat ceremonially unclean food in Assyria. Ephraim's glory will fly away like a bird-- no birth, no pregnancy, no conception. <6> Far Distant prophecy However, I will again offer to ransom Them [the Israelites] from the power of the grave (sheol); I will offer to redeem Him [Ephraim] from death. Where, O death, are your plagues? Where, O grave, is your destruction? I will have no compassion, even though He thrives among His brothers. <7> Still Far Distant prophecy-- but following repentance: O Ephraim, what more have I (you) to do with idols? Now you are a Christian nation. I will answer him & care for him. I am like a green pine tree; Your fruitfulness comes from ME. EOP Who is wise? He will realize these things. Who is discerning? He will understand them. The Ways of the LORD (YAHWEH) are right; the righteous walk in them, but the rebellious stumble in them. Note that Ephraim will be part of the above-mentioned infrastructure-- it will be named Joseph. Whereas, Dan won't have any part (see PSALM 42 Amo&Eze & PSALM 21 Reve<3>.
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Jer 5:11-15,18 The house of Israel & the house of Judah have been utterly unfaithful to ME, declares the LORD (YAHWEH). They have lied about the LORD (YAHWEH); They said, 'HE will do nothing! No harm will come to Us; We will never see sword or famine. The prophets are but wind & the word is not in Them; so let what They say be done to themselves.’ Therefore this is what the LORD GOD Almighty (YAHWEH, the Majestic ONE) says: Because the people have spoken these words, I will make MY Words in Your [Jeremiah's] mouth a fire & these people the wood it consumes. There were several hundred yrs. between Israel's fate & Judah's. Yet even in those days I will not destroy You completely.
Receive-n-Listen, Believe, Mature Dealing with the soil I.e., dealing with the heart. In PSALM 5 Romans3:9,19-21 we saw that there is no difference between Jews & Gentiles when it comes to the ability to attain onto righteousness. We saw, Jews & Gentiles alike are under sin; Roma 3:23 goes on to say, all have sinned & fall short of the Glory of GOD. You say, how so I have sinned? Simple-- you were born as human, short of the Glory of GOD, with not-a snowball's-chance of arriving to God's level of righteousness. It's like you cannot climb 1 inch up Mt. Everest. So, again, Jews & Gentiles alike are under sin. However, there is a fundamental difference among humans; there are 4 types of hearts. Whichever type of heart you have-- to some degree you were born with it; to some extent you acquired it due to your family/peer/personal situations/experiences; but soon it is the result of your own choices. In Matthew 13:1-9; Mark 4:1-9; & Luke 8:4-8 we find Jesus telling the parable to a crowd. In Matt 13:10-13; Mark 4:10-25; & Luke 8:9-18 we have Jesus explaining the parable to his disciples. This explaining was unusual, as often he simply told the parables-- we shall see that the basic reason was to emphasize that this was hardly just about the pre- condition of the heart, but was also about listening & responding, both initially & in the long-term; about the-connecting-of-the-dots followed by perseverence (see the 3 underlined portions below). The Luke accounts: While a large crowd was gathering & people were coming to Jesus from town after town. He told this parable: A farmer went out to sow his seed. As he scattered his seed, some fell along the path; it was trampled on, & the birds of the air ate it up-- some were crushed, some vanished (though all were received, none were contemplated, let alone believed). Some fell on rock, & when it came up [germinated], the plants withered because they had no moisture-- the would-be roots could not penetrate the hard hearts for nourishment. Other seed fell among competitive seedling thorns, which grew up with it & choked the plants. Still others fell on good soil. It came up & yielded a crop, a hundred times more than was sown. His disciples asked Him what this parable meant. He said as to why he spoke in parables, so that, quoting Isa 6:9, though seeing, they may not see; though hearing, they may not understand. This is the meaning of the parable: The seed is the spoken Word of GOD. Those along the path are the ones who hear, & then the devil comes & takes away the word from their hearts, so that they may not even believe & be saved. Those on the rock [with hard hearts] are the ones who receive the word with joy when they hear it, but they have no root. They believe for awhile, & thus are saved, but in the time of testing they fall away-- they may receive & believe, but they don't subsequently even root. The seed that fell among thorns stands for those who hear & do root, but as they go on their way they are choked by life's worries, riches & pleasures, & they do not mature. But the seed on good soil stands for those with a noble & good heart, who hear the word, retain [understand] it, & by persevering produce a crop. Now he establishes that no matter the precondition of the heart, 1 is not doomed-- they are not pre-detrmined to not have a snowball's chance. That is where love, intercession, etc. on our part come in-- we must not give up on them!: No 1 lights a lamp & hides it in a jar or puts it under a bed. Instead he puts it on a stand, so that those who come in can see the light. For there is nothing hidden that will not be disclosed, & nothing concealed that will not be known or brought out into the open. Therefore consider carefully how You listen. Whoever has will be given more; whoever does not have, even what He thinks He has will be taken away from Him.