Upon delving further into studying the
blackHorse and the famine associated with it, I
took to doing a study on the connections that I
had made. I wanted to share for your benefit,
what I came up with, as I reached some of the
same conclusions and connections as you did with
Zerubbabel. This is an attempt to do a Derash
study as defined in the following. The
conclusion is at the bottom in red.
There are four levels to interpreting
Scriptures from a Hebraic perspective. They are:
Peshat = Literal meaning; the plain, simple
meaning of the text;
Remez = An implied deeper meaning below a
surfave reading of the text; this includes an
allegorical meaning; or, a cross-reference to
other texts; or at a philosophical level
Derash = Moral or homiletic meaning; for
example, a Biblical writer can take two or more
seemingly unrelated verses and combine them to
create a verse(s) with a third meaning;
Scripture is to interpret Scripture; one
caution, this level cannot be used to strip the
verse of its peshat meaning; and
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“Behold, the days are coming,”
declares the Lord God,
“when I will
send a famine on the land—
not a famine
of bread, nor a thirst for water,
but of hearing the
words of the Lord.
12 They
shall wander from sea to sea,
and from
north to east;
they shall
run to and fro, to seek the word of
the Lord,
but they
shall not find it.
13 “In
that day the lovely virgins and
the young men
shall
faint for thirst.
14 Those
who swear by the Guilt of Samaria,
and say,
‘As your god lives, O Dan,’
and,
‘As the Way of Beersheba lives,’
they
shall fall, and never rise
again.” (Amos
8:11-14)
The word shama
above which is translated as
hearing is associated with listening to,
obeying and understanding the "Word of
God". This prophecy had a literal
fulfillment in the events surrounding
the exile of the Jews in Babylon. They
had a deeper fulfillment in the deafness
associated with Israel rejecting their
Messiah, And they will have an endtime
fulfillment as the church falls into
apostacy.
In verse 13 of
that chapter, it says the "lovely
virgins and young men shall faint for
thirst". Well if this is Spiritual
thirst, then this also refers to
spiritual fainting. Yes? Context would
indicate this would it not?
Thus from these
verses, Spiritual famine is defined as a
lack of hearing, obeying, listening to,
and understanding the Word of God. The
"hunger" associated with this famine is
a spiritual hunger. And
the wandering search for this food
and water will lead to weakness and
apostacy (falling away/
fainting). So when does this occur
in these endtimes? I Have included its
parallel as found in Luke 21, as
both passages must be read in
tandem.
9 “Then
they will deliver you up to tribulation
and put you to death, and you will be
hated by all nations for my name's sake.
10 And
then many will FALL AWAY
and betray one another and hate one
another. 11 And
many false prophets will arise and lead
many astray. 12 And
because lawlessness will be increased,
the love of many will grow cold.
13 But the
one who endures to the end will be
saved. (Matthew 24:9-13)
But
before all this they will lay their
hands on you and persecute you,
delivering you up to the synagogues and
prisons, and you will be brought before
kings and governors for my name's sake.
13 This
will be your opportunity to bear
witness. 14 Settle
it therefore in your minds not to
meditate beforehand how to answer,
15 for
I will give you a mouth and wisdom,
which none of your adversaries will
be able to withstand or contradict.
16 You
will be delivered up even by parents
and brothers
and relatives and friends, and some
of you they will put to death.
17 You
will be hated by all for my name's
sake. 18 But
not a hair of your head will perish.
19 By
your endurance you will gain your
lives. (Luke 21:12-19)
Do you see
the nature of the spiritual
famine in these verses? Both of
these passages occur before the
Abomination of desolation, which is
perfectly in line with 2 Thess. 2:3,
regarding the rebellion comes first,
and then the man of Lawlessness is
revealed.
3 Let
no one deceive you in any way. For
that day will not come, unless the
rebellion comes first, and the man
of lawlessness
is revealed, the son of
destruction,
4 who
opposes and exalts himself against
every so-called god or object of
worship, so that he takes his seat
in the temple of God, proclaiming
himself to be God.
Now from
these verses we can attain that
the Famine involves betrayal,
hatred, the Love of many growing
cold. We also know that this
falling away occurs in the
churches. To illustrate this,
Peter writes in his first epistle
the following:
12 Beloved,
do not be surprised at the fiery
trial when it comes upon you to
test you, as though something
strange were happening to you.
13 But
rejoice insofar as you share
Christ's sufferings, that you
may also rejoice and be glad
when his glory is revealed.
14 If
you are insulted for the name of
Christ, you are blessed, because
the Spirit of glory
and of God rests upon you.
15 But
let none of you suffer as a
murderer or a thief or an
evildoer or as a meddler.
16 Yet
if anyone suffers as a
Christian, let him not be
ashamed, but let him glorify God
in that name. 17 For
it is time for judgment to begin
at the household of God; and if
it begins with us, what will be
the outcome for those who do not
obey the gospel of God? 18
Thus
this falling away, is a judgment
of the Household of God, which
starts the judgment of God for
all mankind. The question then
arises, where does this occur in
the revelation account given to
John. Arguably many of the
passages I have shared above
could be said to describe the
fifth seal persecution. So I
thought up until recently. Till
the Spirit urged me to look more
closely at the third seal and
the rider on the black horse.
With the word translated as
scales, "Zygos" being a word
that is more often used as to
describe a yoke that binds
together a burden and one who
carries or pulls that burden. It
is a term used for slavery, and
for oppressive legal rules as in
the Law of Moses, and the burden
the Pharisees put upon the
people.
In the
second verse of that
description, (6:6), we are then
shown the binding of measures of
food with a denarius, a days
wage. Now this speaks of famine
and food shortages, and
hyperinflation literally, But in
the context of binding together
of a yoke of slavery, we can see
that as saying forced labor for
a days ration. In other
words, This is an agreement to
labor for a day to receive a
days ration for a man. Now this
struck a chord with the parable
of the laborers in the vineyard.
We now not only have the
connection of the denarius to
this Parable, but we also have
the agreement to labor for that
denarius...a binding contract.
Now
within this Parable we have
workers who worked all day,
others who began at the third,
the sixth, the ninth and the
eleventh hour. They all received
the same payment for working
that day which caused dissension
among the ones who worked
all day. Their master then
replied back to them "13 But
he replied to one of them,
‘Friend, I am doing you no
wrong. Did you not agree
with me for a denarius?
14 Take
what belongs to you and go.
I choose to give to this
last worker as I give to
you." (Matthew 20:13-14).
What we see here is a
fundamental disconnect
between rejoicing in the
mercy and grace of
the Master, and what
the workers thought
they deserved. Where
there should have been
mutual rejoicing, there was
dissention and envy.
Where there should have been
Love, there was hate.
Now note in the
above response by the
Master, the Word translated
as "do no wrong" ,
"Adikeo" in the Greek.
This is the same word
as used in revelation
6:6, "Do not HURT the oil
and wine." Thus a full
circle is made within these
two passages. This made me
think, What if the oil
and wine is synonymous with
the eleventh hour workers. I
then searched for "new wine
and oil" and found the
following.
“Thus
says the Lord of
hosts: Consider your ways. 8 Go
up to the hills and bring wood
and build the house, that I
may take pleasure in it and
that I may be glorified, says
the Lord.
9 You
looked for much, and behold,
it came to little. And when
you brought it home, I blew it
away. Why? declares the Lord of
hosts. Because of my house
that lies in ruins, while each
of you busies himself with his
own house. 10 Therefore
the heavens above you have
withheld the dew, and the
earth has withheld its
produce. 11 And
I have called for a drought on
the land and the hills, on the
grain, the new wine, the oil,
on what the ground brings
forth, on man and beast, and
on all their labors.”
Here we
have a judgment of drought for
neglecting the House Of the
Lord, while each man busies
himself with his own house.
So what
does this all mean?
Behold, the rider on
the black horse. He has come
to pronounce judgment on the
church (the house of God). You
have neglected the House of
the Lord, therefore I will put
you into bondage, a time of
darkness and blackness, where
you cannot see. A time of
Spiritual famine, Where none
will hear the Word of God, nor
understand it. Because you
have neglected the House of
the Lord, I will neglect your
house. Brother will turn
against brother Mother against
child. and son against father.
If you do not turn to the
Lord, he will shatter his
temple and build it anew with
the eleventh hour workers who
do not begrudge the Masters
mercy. It is the Love of God
that restrains the Lawless
one. When he removes his
blessing, Satan will
reveal himself. He will be
found in the hearts of those
who say they are his but
are not. Lawlessness will
increase. Yet those who have
his light in them will shine
as beacons.
Now
please take this for what it
is, a study making connections
of unrelated scriptures. I
left parts of it out for
brevity. The message is clear.
Do a search on strongs for
"new wine and oil", and you
will see a direct link to
Zerubbabel.
May it
bless you as it blessed me.
Luke
11:33-36
David H.