Some things in the Bible like to shame and be shameful or not to shame and be shameless are hidden just to be found later, while God will reveal His secrets in parts and types and shadows in His time, it is our job to see the truth and not rely on others for our personal insight and salvation.In this Bible study, we explore Deuteronomy, Proverbs and Revelation.
To Be Shameful or To Be Shameless?
Matthew 12:1-2,
At that time Jesus went through the grainfields on the Sabbath. And His disciples were hungry, and began to pluck heads of grain and to eat. And when the Pharisees saw it, they said to Him, “Look, Your disciples are doing what is not lawful to do on the Sabbath!” (NKJV) For this study, I will be using Scripture from my ©1994 Thomas Nelson NKJV Messianic Prophecy Study Bible I received in 1997 when I became born again, it is the main Bible I use for this ministry, otherwise, I use Bible Gateway or Bible Hub.
Plucking the heads of grain goes back to Deuteronomy 23:25, “When you come into your neighbor’s standing grain, you may pluck the heads with your hand, but you shall not use a sickle on your neighbor’s standing grain.” (NKJV) Deuteronomy is Moses talking to the second generation of Israelites 40 years after the Exodus, those who were not slaves to Pharaoh, those who were born in the wilderness and did not witness the signs and wonders the previous generation witnessed, much like today’s generation of Christians who did not witness and experience the Healing Revivals or the Jesus Movement, but had they had the technology we have today, many of the Israelites may have had a different story.
Deuteronomy is a written record of the Law for that wilderness generation and for the other generations to come. Deuteronomy takes place over the course of about two months during the time Israel was encamped on the Plains of Moab and ready to cross the Jordan River so they could enter the Promised Land and take possession of it, about the year 1406 BC. Deuteronomy is also the ceremonial record of the renewing of the Covenant with the wilderness generation because their parents, the Exodus generation who had died off, broke the Covenant, putting a strain on their covenant relationship with God, but God had promised Abraham an unconditional covenant, so, for this next generation to have God’s required blessing before entering the Promised Land, a renewing of the Covenant is necessary.
Deuteronomy 23
is laws concerning both the congregation and society. What makes Deuteronomy different from the previous books of the Bible is Moses expanding on the Law, giving the wilderness generation consequences for their actions, showing specific curses and blessings for obedience and disobedience that will ultimately lead to freedom or bondage, much like the root of free will in the Garden of Eden, which is freedom to choose God’s way or any number of other ways that multiply as time advances. The word neighbor’s in Deuteronomy 23:25 is interesting, it is the Hebrew word רֵעֶ֔ךָ (rê·‘e·ḵā) and it only occurs 16 times in this context, the first time being Exodus 2:13, the day after Moses killed the Egyptian guard, just before Moses fled to the wilderness of Midian to tend sheep for 40 years, And when he went out the second day, behold, two Hebrew men were fighting, and he said to the one who did the wrong, “Why are you striking your companion?” (NKJV) The word companion in Exodus 2:13 is the exact same word and context as neighbor in Deuteronomy 23:25 and 13 other places, so, in these places, neighbor is referring to Jews and Jews and is also translated as friend or brother.
An interesting occurrence of the word רֵעֶ֔ךָ (rê·‘e·ḵā) is Proverbs 25:8, Do not go hastily to court; For what will you do in the end, When your neighbor has put you to shame? (NKJV) Obviously, this word neighbor is talking about Jews interacting with Jews. Proverb 25 is a proverb of Solomon, which the men of Hezekiah king of Judah copied. Solomon was most likely thinking about Moses and how the Hebrew who was in the wrong judged Moses and his discernment just as many Jews in the Exodus generation judged Moses and were put to shame by the Law God gave Moses. Exodus 2:13-14, And when he went out the second day, behold, two Hebrew men were fighting, and he said to the one who did the wrong, “Why are you striking your companion?” Then he said, “Who made you a prince and a judge over us? Do you intend to kill me as you killed the Egyptian?” So Moses feared and said, “Surely this thing is known!” (NKJV) Proverbs 25:8 seems like a multilayer prophecy, with one part concerning Jesus and the Pharisees, who were all Jews, and their many interactions throughout the New Testament, and how the Pharisees were always judging Jesus based on their traditions of men, which they added to the Law, why are they striking their Brother as a viper strikes its prey?
Proverbs 25-29
is a collection of Solomon’s proverbs that were probably oral and written both, and king Hezekiah had them written down in one place and preserved during his reign as the Judean king who led his people through a great spiritual revival, even breaking to pieces the Nehushtan (2 Kings 18:4) because Hezekiah seen it as idol worship, which was the bronze serpent Moses made in the wilderness that the Israelites had been making offerings to ever since those who looked to it were healed from the bite of a serpent. Numbers 21:4-9, Then they journeyed from Mount Hor by the Way of the Red Sea, to go around the land of Edom; and the soul of the people became very discouraged on the way. And the people spoke against God and against Moses: “Why have you brought us up out of Egypt to die in the wilderness? For there is no food and no water, and our soul loathes this worthless bread.” So the Lord sent fiery serpents among the people, and they bit the people; and many of the people of Israel died. Therefore the people came to Moses, and said, “We have sinned, for we have spoken against the Lord and against you; pray to the Lord that He take away the serpents from us.” So Moses prayed for the people. Then the Lord said to Moses, “Make a fiery serpent, and set it on a pole; and it shall be that everyone who is bitten, when he looks at it, shall live.” So Moses made a bronze serpent, and put it on a pole; and so it was, if a serpent had bitten anyone, when he looked at the bronze serpent, he lived. (NKJV)
Did God answer the prayer that “He take away the serpents from us;” was it immediate, the serpent on the pole or did it occur when Jesus defeated satan at the cross? Were the Pharisees the last true stronghold against God’s people before the defeat? Is Numbers 21:4-9 a shadow of those Jews who were brought to the Promised Land after 1948, from the four corners of the kingdom of darkness, just like those Jews in Exodus from the then current capitol of the kingdom of darkness, Egypt? Those Jews who despised the manna in the wilderness, are they a type of the Jews who despise the Bread which came down from heaven, those Jews who will have to endure the tribulation, at time when God will send out the fiery serpents among them?
The word fiery serpent is the Hebrew word śā·rāp̄ (Strong’s Hebrew 8314a. saraph) and it only occurs 3 times in this context, the first time is in the context of Numbers 21:8, Then the LORD said to Moses, “Make a fiery serpent, and set it on a pole; and it shall be that everyone who is bitten, when he looks at it, shall live,” (NKJV) but it is not the same context as Numbers 21:6, So the LORD sent fiery serpents among the people, and they bit the people; and many of the people of Israel died. (NKJV) The second time fiery serpents occurs in this context is Deuteronomy 8:14-15, when your heart is lifted up, and you forget the Lord your God who brought you out of the land of Egypt, from the house of bondage; who led you through that great and terrible wilderness, in which were fiery serpents and scorpions and thirsty land where there was no water; who brought water for you out of the flinty rock; (NKJV) where the fiery serpents are recalled by Moses as is his rod which struck the rock at Mt Sinai to bring forth water through the power of God. But the third time the word fiery serpents is used in this context is prophetic. Isaiah 14:29, “Do not rejoice, all you of Philistia, Because the rod that struck you is broken; For out of the serpent’s roots will come forth a viper, And its offspring will be a fiery flying serpent.” (NKJV) This fiery flying serpent is the red dragon of Revelation 12:3-6. [See the Perry Stone Old Testament Study Bible for the prophetic explanation of Isaiah 14:28-32 as it pertains to the end times.]
Revelation 12:3-4,
And another sign appeared in heaven: behold, a great, fiery red dragon having seven heads and ten horns, and seven diadems on his heads. His tail drew a third of the stars of heaven and threw them to the earth. And the dragon stood before the woman who was ready to give birth, to devour her Child as soon as it was born. (NKJV) This fiery red dragon is Satan, who took a third of the angels with him when he left heaven as the worship leader. Currently they all live in the second heaven, which the second heaven is the stars and everything else you see when you look up, as well as beyond anything our technology can reach. God lives in the third heaven, which is beyond the second heaven, and Satan enters the edge of the third heaven to accuse God’s people of sin, like a prosecuting attorney. In fact, the American court system is setup like heaven, modeled after it. Eventually Satan and all his fallen angels will be on earth for the Tribulation. The woman is Israel who was waiting to give birth to Yeshua Messiah. Some could say it was Mary ready to give birth to Jesus, but the Messiah was in the womb throughout the entire history of the world, Mary was just another vessel God used to grow His family, just like we are all today also, lifting up the Messiah and not the person. The prophets God sent Israel were killed throughout history just like Herod killed all the babies after Jesus was born, all for the same reason, the dragon attempting to kill the Messiah to cancel God’s promise to Abraham, to make God a liar, so all His promises will become void.
Revelation 12:5-6,
She bore a male Child who was to rule all nations with a rod of iron. And her Child was caught up to God and His throne. Then the woman fled into the wilderness, where she has a place prepared by God, that they should feed her there one thousand two hundred and sixty days. (NKJV) Eventually Jesus was born to Mary, grew up and started His ministry on earth at age 30. His ministry lasted 3 ½ years, then Jesus was put to death on the cross by the Pharisees, went to Abraham’s bosom in the center of the earth and rose from the dead after 3 days, defeating the satanic kingdom of darkness for us, not for Him, He already is victorious over them, always has been, but we needed saved. Jesus will eventually rule all nations with a rod of iron for 1000 years after He comes back to earth and stops Armageddon from ending the world. After being on earth for 40 days following His resurrection, Jesus ascended to God in heaven and His throne, where He sits at the right hand of the Father until the time He returns to earth. The tribulation will last 7 years, half of 7 years is one thousand two hundred and sixty days or 3 ½ years at 360-day years, where the first half will be the Tribulation, which is deceptive world peace brought about by the Antichrist, a mere person, who will be empowered by Satan and is the reason the kingdom of darkness is not yet bound, but it will be bound when Jesus comes back to earth in Revelation 19. The reason the kingdom of darkness is not yet bound is so Satan can give all his power to the Antichrist for the Great Tribulation, which is the second 3 ½ years of the Tribulation, and the second half is the Great Tribulation mentioned by Jesus in Matthew 24.
King Hezekiah,
who was the 13th king and co-reigned with his father as a youth for 13 years, reigned over Judah from 715 to 686 BC, around 700 years after Deuteronomy happened. Hezekiah had an evil father who led Judah into idolatry, king Ahaz, but Hezekiah pledged his allegiance to Yahweh after becoming king, and many believe there was not another Judean king before or after Hezekiah who showed greater faithfulness and trust in God, but he still had his flaws. Hezekiah got rid of all the idolatrous places of worship and reinstated Temple worship to Yahweh. His mother was the daughter of the high priest Zechariah and Hezekiah also reinstated the priesthood. Fourteen years into his reign, Hezekiah became extremely sick as a result of a conflict between him and the prophet Isaiah, and Isaiah said Hezekiah would die if he did not get married soon, so Hezekiah pleaded with God and God promised him 15 more years of life. After his miraculous healing, at least for a season, some people began lifting up Hezekiah instead of lifting up God and Hezekiah became boastful. Hezekiah ended up marrying Isaiah’s daughter, eventually having a son named Manasseh who was eviler and more perverse than even the Canaanites. Hezekiah even boasted about and then showed Babylonian ambassadors the palace treasures, which led those Babylonians to eventually attack and steal those treasures, just as Isaiah had warned him would happen.
Some of king Hezekiah’s abolition of idolatry could be considered extreme, evidence of it have been discovered at Arad, Beer-Sheba, Lachish, Tell Motza, and Tell Lahif. Some of the things that have been found are the famous four-horned altar at Beer-Sheba was dismantled during Hezekiah’s reign and three of its four horns were found in secondary use in a wall. At Lachish, a gate-shrine was unearthed in 2016. Two small horned altars were discovered, whose horns had been broken off, and a toilet had been placed in the shrine as a symbolic act of desecration (2 Kings 10:27).
Back to Proverbs 25, which is the meat of this study,
Proverbs 25:2,
It is the glory of God to conceal a thing: but the glory of kings is to search out a matter. (NKJV) Throughout time, God has hidden mysteries from us, choosing to reveal layers of truth as He sees fit, not by our own merit can we find the truth in hidden meanings, but only by the grace of God when He chooses to reveal things to His servants do we see a little more of His light. Seeking the Truth, which is Jesus, is how we search out a matter, having a good relationship with our King is how we become overcomers. Jesus is the King of kings, which really means we are all kings, and He is our King. Every person who has served God throughout history for the purpose of lifting up the Messiah is a king, and we get our glory from our King, not from people.
Proverbs 25:3,
As the heavens for height and the earth for depth, So the heart of kings is unsearchable. (NKJV) All who are not born again cannot understand the heart of one who is born again, a king, because the heart of one who is born again is forever changing into the image of Christ, ever moving closer to the spirituality of God and away from the cares of this world, while those who are worldly are doing the opposite. The era of kings such a Solomon was an era when God placed kings in charge of His people, these kings had special connections to God for various purposes of God’s plan, like born again people of today are the same. If a person cannot fully grasp the way to heaven or the many ways to hell, then that person cannot search the hearts of kings because godly is a foreign concept to that person.
Proverbs 25:4,
Take away the dross from silver, And it will go to the silversmith for jewelry. (NKJV) Dross is the unwanted waste materials, the scum, that forms on the surface of molten metals. Intense heat causes it to form and rise to the top and can then be extracted leaving a pure metal base, the overcomer. Silver is the symbol of redemption, grace. Jesus is the Silversmith who makes crowns for His kings during the Bema as a reward for their service, crowns Jesus puts jewelry on, jewelry that was once the prized covering of Lucifer and adornment of the high priest.
Proverbs 25:5,
Take away the wicked from before the king, And his throne will be established in righteousness. (NKJV) When Jesus returns to earth as King of kings with His kings to establish His 1000 reign on earth in Jerusalem, He will take away all the wicked counsel from the earth, throw the Antichrist and the False Prophet and those who took the mark of the beast alive into the lake of fire, bind up Satan and his satanic kingdom of darkness for 1000 years and He will establish His throne in righteousness as all the wicked nations of the earth will submit to the will of Jesus. It makes sense to do God’s will now because eventually everyone will have to do His will anyway or will be eternally separated from Him and his kings.
Proverbs 25:6-7,
Do not exalt yourself in the presence of the king, And do not stand in the place of the great; For it is better that he say to you, “Come up here,” Than that you should be put lower in the presence of the prince, Whom your eyes have seen. (NKJV) A person should not think more of the person than the person is, which the person is flesh and blood, not equal to God, and certainly not above God. While Jesus is on earth for 1000 years reigning as King of kings, the warning is to not exalt yourself in His presence, though many will anyway. This is not a prophecy about the rapture of the Church, but could this be a prophecy about a later resurrection, one that happens after the 1000 years are finished? Revelation 20:5, But the rest of the dead did not live again until the thousand years were finished. This is the first resurrection. (NKJV) With Jesus already on earth, Him saying, “Come up here,” would be those buried under the earth coming up to the surface of the earth in a resurrection. After the 1000 year reign of Christ, Satan and his satanic kingdom of darkness will be released from prison, which is what the last part of Proverbs 25:7 seems to say, all those who will not make the resurrection in Revelation 20:5 will have to deal with Satan, the prince of the power of the air, one last time. Revelation 20:7-8, Now when the thousand years have expired, Satan will be released from his prison and will go out to deceive the nations which are in the four corners of the earth, Gog and Magog, to gather them together to battle, whose number is as the sand of the sea. (NKJV)
Proverbs 25:8,
Do not go hastily to court; For what will you do in the end, When your neighbor has put you to shame? (NKJV) Finally, my last thought before I must get ready for my work week. This verse is the culmination of the prophecy, not only was Solomon prophesying about the promised Messiah and His inevitable Kingdom on earth, but he was also warning, as a prophetic vessel of God, his fellow Jews to not judge the then future Yeshua Messiah based on what they think, based on past prideful interpretations of Scripture, each person needs to take the time to search out the Scripture for themselves and not just go by what tradition tells them because tradition is tainted with pride. To only believe what other people tell you is to believe without a personal revelation from God and is to deny yourself an eternal personal relationship with your Creator. If you are separated from God as a human living on earth, you will be separated from God as an eternal spirit, and, though Jesus does not want to put you to shame, it is His will that none should perish but all should enter eternal life, your Jewish Brother Yeshua Messiah will put you to shame in the lake of fire if that is your choice.
