January 2, 2010

• Thought For The Week 29 pt1

  Mat 3:1 In those days came John the Baptist, preaching in the wilderness of Judaea,

  John the baptizer, who’s name means  “Jehovah is a gracious giver,” was preaching in the wilderness of Judea. I wondered why he started preaching in a wilderness, and specifically, the wilderness of Judea. Knowing that God is specific for a reason, I looked this up.

  Wilderness:
  

  1) solitary, lonely, desolate, uninhabited

  a) used of places

  1) a desert, wilderness
  2) deserted places, lonely regions
  3) an uncultivated region fit for pasturage

  b) used of persons

  1) deserted by others
  2) deprived of the aid and protection of others, especially of friends, acquaintances, kindred
  3) bereft

  a) of a flock deserted by the shepherd
  b) of a woman neglected by her husband, from whom the husband withholds himself

  
  Judaea means “he shall be praised.”

  So Jehovah is a gracious giver, came making a public proclamation to the solitary, lonely and desolate; to the bereft: that he shall be praised.

  Mat 3:2 And saying, Repent ye: for the kingdom of heaven is at hand.

  Repent/Repentance in the Greek is metanoeo; which means lit., “to perceive afterwards” (meta, “after,” implying “change,” noeo, “to perceive;” nous, “the mind, the seat of moral reflection”), in contrast to pronoeo, “to perceive beforehand,” hence signifies “to change one’s mind or purpose,” always, in the NT, involving a change for the better, an amendment, and always, except in Luk 17:3, 4, of “repentance” from sin.

  Mat 3:3 For this is he that was spoken of by the prophet Esaias, saying, The voice of one crying in the wilderness, Prepare ye the way of the Lord, make his paths straight.

  The King James version lists the name as Esaias, but when I looked it up, I found that Isaiah means “Jehovah’s help.”

  Mat 3:4 And the same John had his raiment of camel’s hair, and a leathern girdle about his loins; and his meat was locusts and wild honey.

  Again, knowing that God gives specifics for a reason, I wondered about this verse, and the reason God wanted us to know this information. This is what I found:

  Camel:
  from a Hebrew word signifying “a bearer, carrier,” is used in proverbs to indicate

  (a) “something almost or altogether impossible,” Mat 19:24, and parallel passages,

  (b) “the acts of a person who is careful not to sin in trivial details, but pays no heed to more important matters,” Mat 23:24.

  Hair:
  denotes the “hair,” whether of beast, as of the camel’s “hair” which formed the raiment of John the Baptist, Mat 3:4; Mar 1:6; or of man. Regarding the latter

  (a) it is used to signify the minutest detail, as that which illustrates the exceeding care and protection bestowed by God upon His children, Mat 10:30; Luk 12:7; 21:18; Act 27:34;
  There was a lot of information about locusts; what they do, their devastating effect; how they move without direction. However, out of all the meanings for the word locust, the one that applies here is ‘arbeh from the root rabhah, “to increase.”

  “Wild honey” (Mat 3:4) may have been the vegetable honey distilled from trees, but rather was honey stored by bees in rocks or in trees (Deu 32:13; Psa 81:16; 1Sa 14:25-29).
  Canaan was a “land flowing with milk and honey” (Exd 3:8). Milk and honey were among the chief dainties in the earlier ages, as they are now among the Bedawin; and butter and honey are also mentioned among articles of food (Isa 7:15). The ancients used honey instead of sugar (Psa 119:103; Pro 24:13); but when taken in great quantities it caused nausea, a fact referred to in Pro 25:16, 17 to inculcate moderation in pleasures. Honey and milk also are put for sweet discourse (Sgs 4:11).

  Mat 3:5 Then went out to him Jerusalem, and all Judaea, and all the region round about Jordan,
  Mat 3:6 And were baptized of him in Jordan, confessing their sins.

  Then went out to him “set ye double peace,” and all “he shall be praised,” and all the region round about “the descender,” and were baptized of him in “the descender,” confessing their sins.

  Funny thing about the Jordan; it was despised by Naaman, who thought the rivers Amana (“support”) and Pharpar (“swift”) would be the key to his healing. However, there seems to be a pattern to this idea of descending or the descender, in that even Christ descended and then rose again; and once one does this and rises again, they come up clean.
  

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