16th of the 10th month 2017/2018
Shalom all,
Diḇre haYamim Aleph/1 Chronicles 22:19 “Now, give your heart and your being to seek יהוה your Elohim. And rise up and build the set-apart place of יהוה Elohim, to bring the ark of the covenant of יהוה and the set-apart vessels of Elohim into the house that is to be built for the Name of יהוה .”
The words that I have just quoted above truly gripped me this week, as I meditated on the clear call that Dawiḏ was giving, in his instructions to his son, Shelomoh, along with all the rulers of Yisra’ěl!
In this Chapter 22 of Diḇre haYamim Aleph/1 Chronicles, Dawiḏ gave a clear charge to all who would take part in building the Temple and encouraged them to be diligent. In his charge to his son, Shelomoh, in verses 6-16, we see Dawiḏ first explain to his son why he was not going to build the Temple, as he had shed too much blood, and therefore the task had now fallen to his son, Shelomoh, the man of peace. He then encourages Shelomoh to obey יהוה and build a magnificent temple for Him. And then from verse 17-19 Dawiḏ calls the rulers of the Yisra’ěl and commands them to give their all in seeking יהוה, so that the necessary building can get done, in order to bring the ark of the covenant of יהוה into the house that was to be built for the Name of יהוה!
There was certainly a big task at hand, as the excellence of the House for the Name of יהוה, certainly called for a complete dedication by all who were to be a part of its building. As we consider these words, we can recognise the same clear call, and encouraging admonition, to display complete dedication in seeking יהוה with our all, as we are being built up as living stones, in Messiah!
It is with that thought in mind that I would like to take a closer look at these words of Dawiḏ from Diḇre haYamim Aleph/1 Chronicles 22:19 and assess how you are responding to the call to giving your all to seek יהוה.
The Hebrew root word translated as ‘now’ is the adverb עַתָּה attah – Strong’s H6258 which means ‘now, at this time’, placing the clear emphasis of a call to attentively hear “NOW”, along with the resulting action of listening as we should!!! This call to hear and respond correctly was not a suggestion or something that could be left until another time, but rather it was intended to get the immediate action required.
So many people ‘put off’ the required obedience to the Word of Elohim, as they would rather be seeking to satisfy their own desires or fleshly needs and disregard the urgent call to seek יהוה with their all…NOW!
A repeated concept or phrase we see in Scripture, is ‘he who has an ear let him hear…’, which simply calls for ardent hearers to pay attention and obey what is being commanded. Many turn their ear away and are simply those who are those who are classed as being those who are ‘hearing but do not understand’! As trustworthy servants of Elohim, we are called to HEAR – GUARD and DO all His Word teaches and commands, and we take note that a proper understanding of His Word develops as we guard to do what we hear. Those who are hearing and not understanding are those who are not doing what is required, and therefore, they are not hearing the ‘NOW’ aspect of the urgency to hear, guard and do! We also take note that Scripture teaches us to be in guard against hardened our hearts when hearing the Truth, as we are told in:
Tehillah/Psalm 95:7-8 “For He is our Elohim, and we are the people of His pasture, and the sheep of His hand. Today, if you would hear His voice: 8 do not harden your hearts as in Meriḇah, and as in the day of Massah in the wilderness”
Dawiḏ makes it clear to us that we, as the people of Elohim, are to not close our ears to the clear voice of Elohim, and the use of the phrase, ‘Today, if you would hear His voice: do not harden your hearts…’, teaches us that we should not put off what we have clearly heard today, for what some would deem to be another ‘more convenient time’! Today… when we hear… then respond correctly!!! This same urgency of hearing the call to seek יהוה …NOW…and not later… is what Dawiḏ is saying here to all who would be involved in building the House for the Name of Elohim!
Sha’ul reminds us that, as believers, we are the House of Elohim, and Kěpha teaches us that we are being built up as living stones; and therefore, we need to recognise that this call that Dawiḏ is giving here, in Diḇre haYamim Aleph/1 Chronicles 22:19, is a call that is still very much alive today… and all who hear these words, need to have ears to hear the ‘NOW’ call being given, and not harden their hearts, but rather have hearts that are prepared to seek יהוה with their all!
How do you respond to the Word of Elohim? Do you harden your hearts or do you prepare them?
In a Psalm of Asaph, we see the call being given to give ear to the Torah and obey, we see the call to not be stubborn and rebellious, like previous generation:
Tehillah/Psalm 78:8 “And not be like their fathers, a stubborn and rebellious generation, a generation which did not prepare its heart, whose spirit was not steadfast to Ěl.”
A stubborn and rebellious generation did not prepare their hearts and were therefore not steadfast to Elohim!
The Hebrew word that is translated as ‘prepared’ comes from the root word כּוּן kun – Strong’s H3559 which means, ‘ready, steadfast, established, firm, set up, determined, prepared’, , and it is written in the ‘hiphil active’ tense which can carry the meaning of, ‘to establish, set up, accomplish, so, make firm, provide’. This root word is also used in:
Shemuʼěl Aleph/1 Samuel 7:3 “And Shemuʼěl spoke to all the house of Yisra’ĕl, saying, “If you return to יהוה with all your hearts, then put away the foreign mighty ones and Ashtaroth from among you, and prepare your hearts for יהוה, and serve Him only, so that He delivers you from the hand of the Philistines.”
These words of Shemuʼěl to Yisra’ĕl back then was very clear, and are still very much alive and clear to us today – the way to ‘prepare’ your hearts for יהוה, in order to serve Him only, is to return to Him with ALL your heart – that means that a prepared heart is a heart that has put away all false and foreign worship practices and any form of idolatry and compromise!
Preparing your ways before יהוה is vital for us to be able to stand firm upon our Master and Elohim, the Rock of our deliverance! So many lack a proper preparation and are therefore unable to boldly stand in the Truth as they do not know or understand the Truth due to a lack of preparation.
Shemuʼěl Bět/2 Samuel 5:12 “And Dawiḏ knew that יהוה had established him as sovereign over Yisra’ĕl, and that He had exalted His reign, because of His people Yisra’ĕl.”
Here the root word כּוּן kun is being translated as ‘established’, and what we see here is the bold confidence that Dawiḏ had in recognising who it is that ‘establishes’ him in the reign! It is יהוה who establishes the steadfast and firm in heart, for they are those who have firmly settled in their hearts to follow Him completely, without wavering from a steadfast position of set-apartness in Messiah!
No matter what you have or have not responded to in the past… the clear call being given here in the Word of Elohim, through the words of Dawiḏ, is to have the ‘NOW’ moment of listening and obeying! More specifically, this is a call to seek יהוה with your all! How will you respond? How have you been responding? How urgent will you be in having ears to hear and understand?
When we consider the vital need for the Body of Messiah to be about His business, we can be reminded of the clear rebuke that was given to a backsliding Yisra’ěl, in Ḥaggai/Haggai, as they were more concerned with building up their own lives and securing for themselves their own fleshly desires, that the House of Elohim was in ruins:
Ḥaggai/Haggai 1:4 “Is it time for you yourselves to dwell in your panelled houses, and this House be in ruins?”
Hear what the next verse says:
Ḥaggai/Haggai 1:5 “And now, thus said יהוה of hosts, “Consider your ways!”
Notice here in verse 5 the ‘And now’ phrase being given. The Hebrew word that is translated as ‘And now’ is וְעַתָּה – v’attah, which comes from the root word עַתָּה attah – Strong’s H6258 which means ‘now, at this time’, as already mentioned, along with the conjunction of the letter – וְ – ‘waw’ which renders it as, ‘and now, so now’ or ‘but now’…. This said יהוה of Hosts!!! The voice of יהוה was speaking…. And it was NOW that they had better listen!
Shemoth/Exodus 19:5-6 “And now, if you diligently obey My voice, and shall guard My covenant, then you shall be My treasured possession above all the peoples – for all the earth is Mine – 6 ‘and you shall be to Me a reign of priests and a set-apart nation.’ Those are the words which you are to speak to the children of Yisra’ĕl.”
These verses make it very clear – for us to truly be a treasured possession of the Most-High, we are to make sure that we obey His voice and guard His Covenant.
The compound title יהוה צְבָאוֹת – ‘יהוה tseḇaoth’ means, ‘יהוה of Hosts’ and the word ‘Hosts’ comes from the word צָבָא tsaḇa – Strong’s H6635 which means, ‘army, war, warfare, battle, conflict, host (of organised army)’, which comes from the root verb צָבָא tsaḇa – Strong’s H6633 meaning, ‘to wage war, perform, fight, serve, mustered, gone to war’.
The Commander and Chief of the heavenly Hosts has spoken… have you and are you listening?
He says: CONSIDER YOUR WAYS!!!
The phrase, ‘consider your ways’ is written in the Hebrew as follows:
שִׂ֥ימוּ לְבַבְכֶ֖ם עַל־דַּרְכֵיכֶֽם
It is transliterated as: siymu leḇaḇḵem al–darḵeyḵem
This collective call being given to a rebellious and stubborn people who had neglected to build the House of Elohim, could literally be translated as ‘SET YOUR HEARTS ON YOUR WAYS’, as we can break this phrase down from eth following root words:
1) שִׂים siym – Strong’s H7760 which has the meaning, ‘set, ordain, establish, direct, appoint, determine, bring to pass, constitute, put or lay upon’
2) לֵבָב leḇaḇ – Strong’s H3824 which means, ‘inner man, heart, mind, understanding’.
3) עַל al – Strong’s H5921 – translates as ‘in, on, upon, over, by’ and is used as a preposition (in the sing. or pl. often with prefix, or as conjunction with a particle following)
4) דֶּרֶךְ dereḵ – Strong’s H1870 which means, ‘way, road, distance, journey’ and is from the word דָּרַךְ daraḵ – Strong’s H1869 which means, ‘to tread or march’; and so speaks of our walk, and every step that we take – and our ‘ways’ we are to commit to יהוה.
Therefore, the term ‘consider your ways’ could be translated from the Hebrew, in a more literal sense as, ‘SET YOUR HEART ON YOUR WALK’.
Deḇarim/Deuteronomy 32:45-47 “And when Mosheh ended speaking all these words to all Yisra’ĕl, 46 he said to them, “Set your heart on all the words with which I warn you today, so that you command your children to guard to do all the Words of this Torah. 47 “For it is not a worthless Word for you, because it is your life, and by this Word you prolong your days on the soil which you pass over the Yardĕn to possess.”
After Mosheh spoke the words of the song till its completion to the entire assembly of Yisra’ĕl, he further encouraged all Yisra’ĕl to set their hearts on the words of warning and how critical it was for them to command their children to guard the words of the Torah – for the Torah is not a worthless word – it is our life!!!
In the command to ‘set’ their hearts on all these words of warning, we can see that Mosheh was making it very clear that they were to allow their hearts to be directed by these words and let these words be established in their heart, so that they would not falter in their walk of obedience! This word can also render the understanding of ‘setting something down in a fixed place’ – in other words they were not to let their hearts be moved by the temptation to rebel – and these words of the Torah would help them to do just that! The Torah of Elohim helps us set our heart on our walk, and carefully consider our ways, as we seek יהוה with all our heart and all our being!
Dawiḏ calls for all those who would hear him to give their heart and their being to seek יהוה.
The Hebrew word that is translated as ‘give’ in Diḇre haYamim Aleph/1 Chronicles 22:19 comes from the root verb נָתַן Nathan – Strong’s H5414 which means, ‘to give, put, set, appointed, delivered, given, placed’. It is from this word that we get the plural term נְתִינִים Nethinim which means, ‘given ones’.
What Dawiḏ is clearly commanding here is that we are to ‘set, give’ our hearts and beings to seeking יהוה.
If you have to honestly assess your own life right now, how much time have you actually set, or given, to seek יהוה your Elohim! In comparison to other things that you have perhaps set your heart on, how does it compare to the giving of your heart and being to יהוה?
The Hebrew word for ‘seek’ is דָּרַשׁ darash – Strong’s H1875 which means, ‘to resort to, seek out, ask, avenge, consult, investigate, search carefully, make inquiry, question’. Now when we see that this word carries more than simply just take a quick peek, but rather emphasises the need to be digging deep in seeking out carefully and with great diligence, through consultation, and asking.
Mattithyahu/Matthew 6:33 “But seek first the reign of Elohim, and His righteousness, and all these matters shall be added to you.”
When we are told to ‘seek’ first the Kingdom – we must recognise that this is not an instruction that gives the notion that you look at it and now that you have seen it you can go on your merry way – NO! To seek His Kingdom requires hard work and discipline every day. A word that is derived from דָּרַשׁ darash is מִדְרָשׁ miḏrash – Strong’s H4097 means, ‘a study, record, writings or story, commentary’. A ‘miḏrash’ speaks of the ability to search out something and often refers to that which is written to teach, and later became known as a Hebrew word relating to the in-depth study of the word, often done together. The point is that we are to be a people who are earnestly growing in wisdom and understanding of the Scriptures so we can remember what we look like when we look intently into the mirror of His Word!
We take note of the words that Shelomoh was clearly told when by Dawiḏ when he was to become king:
Diḇre haYamim Aleph/1 Chronicles 28:9 “As for you, my son Shelomoh, know the Elohim of your father, and serve Him with a perfect heart and with a pleasing life, for יהוה searches all hearts and understands all the intent of the thoughts. If you do seek Him, He is found by you; but if you forsake Him, He rejects you forever.”
This Hebrew word דָּרַשׁ darash – Strong’s H1875 can also carry the understanding of seeking out and learning information that what not previously known and it implies having a relationship! By that I mean that the information that is sought out is done so through proper requests and petitions and the information sought out is then carefully pondered upon and thought about, with a focus to think seriously and long about its meaning and ramifications that are expressed. In other words, this kind of seeking can only be done with the proper attention and concentration that is required to grasp and meditate on in order to apply what is sought after and learnt!
This word דָּרַשׁ darash – Strong’s H1875 is a verb that expresses an action of a careful attention and due diligence that is required in order to gain the knowledge sought after.
Tehillah/Psalm 119:2 “Blessed are those who observe His witnesses, who seek Him with all the heart!”
Tehillah/Psalm 119:10 “I have sought You with all my heart; let me not stray from Your commands!”
True seeking is done with all one’s heart! The Hebrew word that is translated as ‘all’ is כֹּל kol – Strong’s H3605 which means, ‘whole, all, everything, entire, throughout, wholehearted, perpetual, completely, continually’, and comes from the primitive root verb כָּלַל kalal – Strong’s H3634 which means, ‘to complete, perfect, perfected’.
Why I am emphasizing this word for ‘all’ is because it is just that – ALL – not just some and not even 99%, but ALL!
Seeking יהוה with all our heart implies that we are truly seeking first His kingdom and in doing so we ought to recognise that the first sets the tone for what follows. By that I mean that when we are seeking first His Kingdom and His righteousness then the foundation of what we seek is established and leaving no room for seeking an alternative way that seeks to satisfy the corrupt desires of the flesh, but rather seeks to put יהוה and His Word first in all we say and do!
What we often need to ask ourselves, when looking intently in to the mirror of the Word and desiring to keep our path clean is, “What am I seeking first?” and “Am I seeking יהוה with all my heart or has my seeking been a half-hearted effort that actually does not produce the proper fruit of righteousness?”
If you are not seeking יהוה with all your heart and all your being, then you are not about His business and are not building as the Master Builder instructs His body to build, but are simply busy building self, which has no lasting foundation!
Seeking יהוה with your all, equips you to rise up and build!!!
The root word used here for ‘rise up’ in Diḇre haYamim Aleph/1 Chronicles 22:19 comes from the root verb קוּם qum – Strong’s H6965 which means, ‘to arise, stand up, stand’ and in the tense that this is written in, we see that it is in the active voice and is a clear command, which renders the clear meaning of, ‘to rise, to become powerful, to stand firm, to maintain oneself, to be established, endure’.
Heart and minds that are properly set on seeking יהוה, are hearts and minds that are established in the Master and are equipped to stand, and after having done all, continue to stand, and when one has feet that are firmly planted in the Truth, meditating on the Torah of Elohim, night and day, then you will be able to be prosperous in being built up as a living stone in the Master and able to build the set-apart place of Elohim, which you are!
The Hebrew word that is translated as ‘build’ in Diḇre haYamim Aleph/1 Chronicles 22:19 comes from the root word בָּנָה banah – Strong’s H1129 which means, ‘rebuild, establish a family, build up’.
Tas’loniqim Aleph/1 Thessalonians 5:11 “Therefore encourage one another, and build up one another, as indeed you do.”
Tehillim/Psalm 127:1 “If יהוה does not build the house, its builders have laboured in vain. If יהוה does not guard the city, the watchman has stayed awake in vain.”
We can only build His way – and that is to walk according to His Torah – which is spiritual and we are to walk according to the Spirit and not according to the flesh!
Mishlĕ/Proverbs 24:3-4 “By wisdom a house is built, and by understanding it is established 4 and by knowledge the rooms are filled with all precious and pleasant riches.”
We know that in Scripture, wisdom is often a reference to the Torah or instructions of Elohim, and so He has given His clear building plans that we are to labour according to – any other way is simply vain labour! By the Torah (instructions) of Elohim the house is built and by the ‘doing’ of these instructions that brings understanding it is firmly established upon the Rock. Building contrary to the Torah is vain labour!
Kěpha aleph/1 Peter 2:4-5 “Drawing near to Him, a living Stone – rejected indeed by men, but chosen by Elohim and precious – 5 you also, as living stones, are being built up, a spiritual house, a set-apart priesthood, to offer up spiritual slaughter offerings acceptable to Elohim through יהושע Messiah.”
The question we must ask ourselves, in light of the huge and awesome task that is before us, is whether we are indeed building His House or are we about building our own? The prophet Ḥaggai is a very powerful book for us today as it addresses this very issue:
Ḥaggai/Haggai 1:4-5 “Is it time for you yourselves to dwell in your panelled houses, and this House be in ruins?” 5 And now, thus said יהוה of hosts, “Consider your ways!”
4 Times in Ḥaggai we are told to ‘consider’ – twice to ‘consider our ways’ and twice to ‘consider from this day forward’, and that same call to ‘consider our ways from this day forward’ is still being proclaimed loud and clear, as long as it is called today! The foundation has been laid – Messiah the chief cornerstone! Man’s rebellion destroyed the Dwelling Place of Elohim, which they had turned into a den of robbers, and Messiah said that He would raise it up in three days – speaking of the Dwelling Place of His Body! He came to establish and restore the True Tabernacle/Dwelling Place of the Most-High – His House built by His Hands!!!
The question we all must ask ourselves is “How greatly do you value His House?”
When you value His House, which you are, then you will make sure that all falsehood is destroyed! And this will take courage and strength, which comes from Elohim and His Word!
When we earnestly seek יהוה with our all, we will find Him… and this promise is clearly given to us in:
Deḇarim/Deuteronomy 4:29 “But from there you shall seek יהוה your Elohim, and shall find, when you search for Him with all your heart and with all your being.”
The root word for ‘seek’ here is the Hebrew word בָּקַשׁ baqash – Strong’s H1245 which means, ‘to seek, aim, search, look, inquire’, and it is written in the ‘piel’ form which expresses an intensive or intentional action and could therefore be expressed as, ‘seek earnestly or seek the face, seek to find, demand, desire, ask’, and this kind of ‘seeking’ is an intense seeking with a purpose!
Dawiḏ says in:
Tehillah/Psalm 63:1 “O Elohim, You are my Ěl; I earnestly seek You; My being has thirsted for You; My flesh has longed for You In a dry and thirsty land without water.”
Dawiḏ starts off by declaring who is Elohim and who was His Elohim and he then declares that He earnestly seeks יהוה! “I earnestly seek You!” – Can you declare this honestly – do you earnestly seek יהוה? Bearing in mind that Dawiḏ was in one of the toughest times of his life – and he was earnestly seeking יהוה! The Hebrew word used here for ‘earnestly seek’ is – שָׁחַר shaḥar – Strong’s H7836 which means ‘to long for, diligently seek, strongly desire something with a focus on a relationship with that which you seek’ and is an intensive verb which denotes that is requires exceeding effort and from this we get the noun of the word which means, ‘at dawn, early, daybreak’. Therefore, it is safe to say that what Dawiḏ was actually declaring here was, “I rise early to diligently seek you”. The LXX (Septuagint) translates this as ‘I rise early for you’. What we have here is the picture of ‘seeking early’ as having the connotation of great diligence – “I am seeking you really diligently” – not with half measures!!! And this he would do ‘early’, while it was still dark, at the breaking of dawn!!! How many of you can say that? Most of the time the majority of people cannot even get out of bed early on a good day! What about when you are in a tight spot, when things are all messed up and your circumstances look dismal – getting up early to seek יהוה is, for most, not even a consideration! What we recognise in this proverb is that the whore will earnestly seek her foolish prey, and will certainly seek those who are in a tight spot and smooth talk them into her home and seduce them with lies and falsehood! If you are not earnestly seeking יהוה, then be warned that the whore will be earnestly seeking you!
The Hebrew word that is translated as ‘find’ comes from the root verb מָצָא matsa – Strong’s H4672 – ‘to attain, find, locate, discover’.
With the concept of being able to find something reveals that it needs to be sought after, not that it is lost but that it needs to be discovered and learnt. While in many ways the Word was lost to us while being right in front of us, we thank יהוה for opening our eyes that we may seek and find!
Mishlĕ/Proverbs 7:15 “Therefore I came out to meet you, to earnestly seek your face, and I found you.”
How earnestly are you seeking יהוה? How many times do you find yourself in a state of running around like a chicken without a head or going in circles over an issue or situation and do not know what to do? How earnest is your seeking יהוה and His Righteousness?
Mishlĕ/Proverbs 8:17 “I love those who love me, and those who earnestly seek me do find me.”
He loves those who love Him – and a major part of loving Him is ‘seeking’ Him; because to love Him is to do what He has instructed us to, so how will we know how to love Him if we do not seek out what His instructions are???
The Hebrew word here for ‘love’ is אֵהָב ahaḇ – Strong’s H157 and an interesting side note is that the numerical value for this word for love is ‘8’ – which speaks of ‘fullness, complete and everlasting’!
We are to give our full attention to seeking our Elohim with all our heart, soul and mind – anything less would not render true love, but may rather cause one to end up forsaking Him, rather than loving Him.
As you take time to carefully consider these words and take time to look intently into the mirror of the Word and consider your ways, how set is your heart and being on seeking יהוה? Are you being firmly established in His Word and are building as you should, or have you found yourself drifting away with no sure footing on the truth, due to compromise that you have allowed to settle in because of a stubbornness of heart and mind?
Have you SET YOUR HEART ON YOUR WALK?
Our Master is coming soon, and He is coming for His Ready Bride! How ready are you? Hear these word of Dawiḏ today and make the right response in order to rise up and build, as you work out your deliverance with fear and trembling, before our Master יהוה of Hosts!
NOW, GIVE YOUR ALL TO SEEK YAHWEH!!!
He who has an ear let him hear what the Spirit says….!
יהוה bless you and guard you; יהוה make His face shine upon you and show favour to you; יהוה lift up His face to you and give you Shalom