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| 1 Woe to the crown of pride of the drunkards of Ephraim, and to the fading flower of his glorious beauty, which is on the head of the fat valley of them that are overcome with wine! |
Ephriam – Christendom. R1357 |
| 2 Behold, Jehovah hath a mighty and strong one; as a tempest of hail, a destroying storm, as a tempest of mighty waters overflowing, will he cast down to the earth with the hand. |
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| 3 The crown of pride of the drunkards of Ephraim shall be trodden under foot: |
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| 4 and the fading flower of his glorious beauty, which is on the head of the fat valley, shall be as the first-ripe fig before the summer; which when he that looketh upon it seeth, while it is yet in his hand he eateth it up. |
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| 5 In that day will Jehovah of hosts become a crown of glory, and a diadem of beauty, unto the residue of his people; |
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| 6 and a spirit of justice to him that sitteth in judgment, and strength to them that turn back the battle at the gate. |
A spirit of judgment – The spirit of a sound mind. 2 Tim. 1:7
To him that sitteth in judgment – To those of the Lord's people "in that day," the Day of the Lord's Presence, who have the courage to judge between Truth and error and are prepared to do battle for the Lord. They do not sit in judgment of individuals but they do judge doctrines and (based on the Lord's word) systems.
For strength to them – The Holy Spirit gives the Lord's people a strength to which all others are strangers. Psa. 29:11
Turn the battle to the gate – The following definition is from King James Dictionary:"To turn the battle to the gate, is to fight valiantly, and drive the enemy, who hath entered the city, back to the gate."
In this picture Ephraim is Christendom (falsely so-called.) What the Lord is doing here (as in other places) is making reference to the Kingdom class being developed during the entire Gospel age. The Kingdom class is pictured as wheat but tares have entered in and far out-number the wheat. While we normally think of the saints coming out of Christendom, this passage presents the same situation from the standpoint of the Kingdom class as being the True Kingdom (the one described in Daniel 2 as being the stone that smites the image.) The Kingdom is here still represented as a city. With this in mind we see that it is the true saints that drive out of the Kingdom class the false, the tares, thus they "turn the battle to the gate." |
| 7 And even these reel with wine, and stagger with strong drink; priest and prophet reel with strong drink, they are swallowed up of wine, they stagger with strong drink; they err in vision, they stumble in judgment. |
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| 8 For all tables are full of vomit and filthiness, so that there is no place clean. |
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| 9 Whom will he teach knowledge? and whom will he make to understand the message? them that are weaned from the milk, and drawn from the breasts? |
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| 10 For it is precept upon precept, precept upon precept; line upon line, line upon line; here a little, there a little. |
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| 11 No, but by men of strange lips and with another tongue will he speak to this people; |
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| 12 to whom he said, This is the rest, give ye rest to him that is weary; and this is the refreshing: yet they would not hear. |
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| 13 Therefore shall the word of Jehovah be unto them precept upon precept, precept upon precept; line upon line, line upon line; here a little, there a little; that they may go, and fall backward, and be broken, and snared, and taken. |
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| 14 Wherefore hear the word of Jehovah, ye scoffers, that rule this people that is in Jerusalem: |
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| 15 Because ye have said, We have made a covenant with death, and with Sheol are we at agreement; when the overflowing scourge shall pass through, it shall not come unto us; for we have made a lie our refuge, and under falsehood have we hid ourselves: |
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| 16 therefore thus saith the Lord Jehovah, Behold, I lay in Zion for a foundation a stone, a tried stone, a precious corner-stone of sure foundation: he that believeth shall not be in haste. |
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| 17 And I will make justice the line, and righteousness the plummet; and the hail shall sweep away the refuge of lies, and the waters shall overflow the hiding-place. |
Hail – Hard truth. When hail is cut open it is in layers. Hard Truth is also layered, built up line upon line (vs. 10).
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| 18 And your covenant with death shall be annulled, and your agreement with Sheol shall not stand; when the overflowing scourge shall pass through, then ye shall be trodden down by it. |
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| 19 As often as it passeth through, it shall take you; for morning by morning shall it pass through, by day and by night: and it shall be but terror to understand the message. |
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| 20 For the bed is shorter than that a man can stretch himself on it; and the covering narrower than that he can wrap himself in it. |
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| 21 For Jehovah will rise up as in mount Perazim, he will be wroth as in the valley of Gibeon; that he may do his work, his strange work, and bring to pass his act, his strange act. |
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| 22 Now therefore be ye not scoffers, lest your bonds be made strong; for a decree of destruction have I heard from the Lord, Jehovah of hosts, upon the whole earth. |
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| 23 Give ye ear, and hear my voice; hearken, and hear my speech. |
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| 24 Doth he that ploweth to sow plow continually? doth he continually open and harrow his ground? |
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| 25 When he hath levelled the face thereof, doth he not cast abroad the fitches, and scatter the cummin, and put in the wheat in rows, and the barley in the appointed place, and the spelt in the borders thereof? |
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| 26 For his God doth instruct him aright, and doth teach him. |
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| 27 For the fitches are not threshed with a sharp threshing instrument, neither is a cart wheel turned about upon the cummin; but the fitches are beaten out with a staff, and the cummin with a rod. |
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| 28 Bread grain is ground; for he will not be always threshing it: and though the wheel of his cart and his horses scatter it, he doth not grind it. |
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| 29 This also cometh forth from Jehovah of hosts, who is wonderful in counsel, and excellent in wisdom. |
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