The Two-Hundred-Forty-Third (A Common Tactic)

I’ve been reading through scripture from the beginning, starting recently, and have found some interesting things I hadn’t connected before.  Even though I had read through this portion of scripture a few times previously, the threads between these things and events later in scripture were not obvious to me.  We’re going to go through those threads this week, since the whole purpose that this blog was founded on was to share things I’m discovering through studying!

Isn’t it interesting that no matter how many times you read through certain verses you can find something new to learn, or some new connection to make?  This is the glorious thing about letting the Holy Spirit lead you.  He will show you which parts you need to read when, such that as you continue through your studies you will piece together everything He wants you to learn, and therefore make all the connections YHWH did as He created and shaped history!  

The way I am reading through all of scripture this time is chronologically, which is the way I believe the Holy Spirit led me to read through it.  As a bit of background, as you know through previous studies, ever since I was a child I have always been interested in the book of Revelation and seeking to understand it.  I will say that over the past few years, my view of it has changed significantly, as you probably have been able to pick up on.  

While I have not really made it to the point in the chronological reading where there are a lot of portions of scripture mixed in between different books, I believe the Holy Spirit wanted me to be able to identify which parts of the Old Testament were connected with certain historical events and which parts were connected with other events recorded in the New Testament.  This came out of the realization and subsequent confirmation that nearly every prophetic image and event in Revelation has a connection to previously prophesied events and the prophetic imagery used.  In fact, the only way for us to truly understand Revelation is to use those connections to interpret it.

Too often, theologians and others interested in eschatology rely on recent events and Christian-related understanding without realizing that YHWH is constant and unchanging, and that continuity is not only what helps us understand what he’s trying to tell us, it also makes His Word as reliable as it is.  If He put the bow in the clouds following the flood that covered the earth as a symbol of never again destroying the earth in that way (Genesis 9:9-17) and then later changed that bow to represent an impending judgment, us mortal men would learn to not trust YHWH’s Word.  What means one thing on one day would not mean the same thing on another day.

I recently conversed with someone that identified the white horse of the seven seals of Revelation with deception (Revelation 6:1-2).  His basis was that the rider of the horse had a bow vice a sword, which is what is typically associated with symbols of Yeshua and YHWH’s Word.  The bow, to this person, was seen as something evil as a result of this basis of understanding, however there are plenty of places in scripture where you can find the bow as something from YHWH, and the bow of the covenant with Noah is one of them.  Another is the spiritual symbolism given to the King of Israel by Elisha, where he used the bow to symbolize YHWH’s assistance in Israel coming against the kingdom of Aram, which is modern day Syria (2 Kings 13:14-20).  As you read through that passage, just imagine what history, and even events today, would have looked like had the king shot the ground five or six times!  Syria wouldn’t even exist as it looks today!

In fact, as you go through the imagery of the white horse and its rider in Revelation, and connect it to other parts of scripture, what you’ll find is something completely opposite from this person’s view.  For instance, the crown the rider was wearing, more often than not, is associated with crowns given to believers vice to something nefarious.  The word for overcome, which is what the rider was depicted as doing, is nearly always depicted as overcoming evil or overcoming the world, vice something evil overcoming something good.  Finally, and most obviously, the color white, and more specifically a horse that’s white, is associated with truth and purity vice deception and something unclean.  Yeshua Himself rides a white horse later on in Revelation (Revelation 19:11-21).  

If a white horse means something bad at the beginning of Revelation and something good at the end, how can we ever understand any of this prophecy?  We can’t make any connections between any verses either in this book or in any other part of scripture.  Furthermore, if these connections can’t be made, why would YHWH even give us these prophecies?  If we have no hope of understanding them, there would be no purpose in giving them!  

The same goes for the entirety of scripture.  There are aspects and seemingly miniscule details given throughout all of scripture.  Of what purpose would it be for these things to be preserved over thousands upon thousands of years but that they should be used to gain a greater understanding of YHWH and His plan?  

Now, just to be clear, am I saying that one event or miniscule detail in a history recorded in scripture means the same thing as another?  Of course not.  As always, the context must be included in order to gain the understanding and make the connections.  In the example of the bow, clearly, bows were used by evil individuals in historical events as well.  The context that gives understanding in that case is that all of the connections I mentioned had their source as YHWH: the symbol of a covenant given by YHWH and explained by Him, a spiritual representation given by YHWH through Elisha, and another spiritual representation given by Yeshua through John, which he recorded in the book of Revelation.      

So, what are these connections I’ve seen at the beginning of scripture?  Well, I’ve made it through the account of Joseph being given the position of being second in command to Pharaoh and Egypt beginning the period of seven years of famine so far in my reading.  The things I’ve found have to do with an example of the lessons we alluded to in last week’s study as well as some symbolism that is connected with Yeshua’s defeat of Satan and even imagery provided in Revelation.  The latter of which I was shown previous to my current efforts to read through all of scripture, but I am including for completeness.

As I read through, the most obvious thing I saw was a lesson in discernment, or perhaps a better way to put it would be recognizing where and how Satan typically seeks to bring about his will.  We’ve identified before the fact that Satan targeted Eve, Adam’s wife, in the Garden which caused mankind to become slaves to sin (Genesis 3:1-6).  However, what was not made clear to me until recently was how often in scripture this method of Satan is used.

Just in the chapters of Genesis I have read through so far, there were numerous examples of this method being used.  In the case of Abraham, his wife Sara gave her maid to him in order for Sara to be given a child and thereby a family (Genesis 16:1-4).  This was clearly not YHWH’s plan, since this child was not given the inheritance YHWH promised to the son of Sara (Genesis 17:19-21) which eventually led to our Savior, Yeshua.  In fact, the descendants of Ishmael have caused problems for not only Israel specifically but also believers all throughout history.

Another example is Lot’s daughters.  Coming out of the cesspool of sexual immorality that was Sodom, they had been deceived so much that they both thought it right to have children by their own father (Genesis 19:30-38).  Clearly, as evidenced through YHWH’s commandments and later on writings of Paul, this was something sinful.    

Again, Sara becomes influenced by Satan, and this time in anger orders that Ishmael and Hagar are expelled from the family (Genesis 21:9-10), a fate clearly intended to be deadly (Genesis 21:14-16).  This was not YHWH’s intention however, as He had made covenants regarding Ishmael, and His intervention was to save the boy and his mother in order to fulfill those promises (Genesis 21:17-20).

In the interest of time, I’ll just summarize the next few examples.  Rebekah influenced Jacob (Israel) to deceive his father and take Esau’s birthright (Genesis 27:5-29).  Rachel sold Jacob’s…seed…to her sister in exchange for plants (Genesis 30:14-16), and in general those two sisters were seemingly in a competition to get as many children from Jacob as possible, to the point of giving their servants to him for that purpose.  Rachel stole idols from her father as her and her family left and hid them, making Jacob a liar as he stated they had not taken them (Genesis 31:19-37).  

The final example I have read so far is with Joseph and the wife of Potiphar, his master.  You may well know these events, as they are commonly taught amongst believers, but as a short reminder, she wanted Joseph to sleep with her but he refused and she ended up convincing Potiphar that Joseph was the instigator and he ended up being put in jail (Genesis 39:1-20).  Obviously, Joseph was falsely imprisoned, and that imprisonment was a result of Potiphar’s wife’s scheming.

Now, in almost all of these cases, YHWH ended up using the influence of Satan and resulting sinful acts for something good.  That doesn’t mean that He condoned them or that they weren’t sinful, which is the conclusion that some believers come to.  As stated earlier, YHWH is always the same, and so are His expectations of His people.  Violating the commandments given by Him to Moses later were always sinful acts, since the beginning of creation.  This is clearly evidenced by Joseph as he explained to Potiphar’s wife that what she wanted was sin against YHWH, despite the fact that the Law wasn’t given to Moses until centuries later (Genesis 39:9).      

Furthermore, by no means are all these connections to women committing and influencing sin an indication that we should consider all actions or influences of women to be from Satan!  That’s not the lesson here!  There are plenty of examples in scripture of men committing and influencing sinful acts as well.  The lesson is that men and women should recognize that a common tactic of Satan is to bring about his will of destroying YHWH’s creation and setting himself up as god by using women to do it.  As a result, we all need to intently exercise spiritual discernment in cases where women are influencing or leading something.

To be clear, this absolutely does not mean women cannot lead anything!  That is not what this is saying at all.  YHWH created a certain order of things, and women certainly have a leadership role in that order.  This is also not saying that YHWH doesn’t use women to bring about His will or give messages to His people.  I firmly believe that He does.    

The fact of the matter is though, that in general women are a weakness to men, and Satan uses this weakness to attack mankind.  Had Adam, or any other man in the examples listed, stayed obedient to YHWH and not given in to Satan’s influences we would have a completely different history.  The evidence of this vulnerability of man is clear in scripture, and we as believers would be fools not to recognize it and defend against it.

To close, as promised, we’ll briefly look at the symbolism provided early in history, related to Yeshua and Revelation.  The first example is when Joseph was in prison and he interpreted the dreams of the cupbearer and the baker (Genesis 40:1-23).  When you read through, you might notice that these are two interesting characters to be imprisoned with Joseph.  I mean, out of all the possibilities of servants to Pharaoh, why a cupbearer and a baker?  

I believe these were specifically chosen by YHWH to show a prophecy of Yeshua’s crucifixion and resurrection.  First, the dreams both included three days, the same amount of time Yeshua was in the tomb.  Second, the imagery is the same as given by Yeshua during the last supper, where He stated that the wine, which is made from grapes, is His blood, and the bread is his body.  Third, the baker is executed by hanging from a tree, symbolizing the body of Yeshua being crucified on the cross (a tree) and broken for our sins.  Fourth, and finally, the cupbearer was restored to his place as shown by the juice of grapes given to and accepted by Pharaoh, symbolizing how the blood of Yeshua cleanses our sins and restores us to righteousness, enabling us to take our rightful place with YHWH.

The last example of symbolism, which is related to Revelation and is included here for completeness, has to do with Joseph’s dreams, which he had prior to being sold into slavery (Genesis 37:1-11).  In these dreams, Joseph was given the imagery of the sun, moon, and stars as a representation of his father, mother, and brothers, the roots of the tribes of Israel.  We see this same imagery in Revelation with the woman that flees to the wilderness (Revelation 12:1,6), and given that both of these images are provided by YHWH as prophecy, I believe we have no choice but to interpret the woman in Revelation as the spiritual representation of an Israel faithful to YHWH.  I’ll let you decide what that means in the greater context of the events depicted in Revelation as we do not have time to get into that this week!

As you go through this week, ask YHWH to show you what connections He wants you to make in scripture; what threads He wants you to see.  Also, if you’re interested in how I’m reading through scripture chronologically, and also want to do that, pick yourself up a chronological Bible.  The one I’m using has a reading for every day, and enables you to get all the way through scripture in under a year (no, I don’t get any commission if you buy the one in the link!).  

Shabbat shalom and YHWH bless you!

-Rob and Sara Gene