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Revelation 21:17--12c |
Revelation 21, Page 22e-12c | ||
Significant Words and Comments: Commentary on Revelation 21:17 expansion (18 August 2008): Commandment or Structure #12: “Thou shalt not covet . . . anything that is thy neighbor’s.” Detail #12:3: Covetousness motivates disregard of Yehuveh’s words. The reverse reality of Detail #12:2 is also true: if we value our desires to do things our own way more than we value Yehuveh’s instruction, these desires will rule our lives. Saul was a classic example. Yehuveh sent him to “utterly destroy the sinners the Amalekites, and fight against them until they be consumed.” However, when Yehuveh had given him the victory over these enemies, he retained their herds of livestock to increase his and Israel’s wealth. Samuel saw the choice for what it was, the desire to do things his own way rather than honestly and strictly following Yehuveh’s instructions: “Wherefore then didst thou not obey the voice of Yehuveh, but didst fly upon the spoil, and didst evil in the sight of Yehuveh?” Every choice we make contrary to what we know Yehuveh has asked of us is a covetous decision. Israel had gone so far down this path at the time of their captivity to Babylon that Yehuveh told Ezekiel: “They come unto thee as the people cometh, and they sit before thee as My people, and they hear thy words, but they will not do them: for with their mouth they shew much love, but their heart goeth after their covetousness. And, lo, thou art unto them as a very lovely song of one that hath a pleasant voice, and can play well on an instrument: for they hear thy words, but they do them not.” This is a caution we best take to heart. Either unquestioning surrender to Yehuveh’s instructions or doing things our own way will become the driving motive of our lives. We must choose! When Yehuveh’s instructions no long hold supremacy in our lives, we will have set our feet in the path of rebellious Israel who “ceased not from their own doings, nor from their stubborn way.” 1 Samuel 15:18, 19; Ezekiel 33:31-32. Also: Psalms 10:3; Proverbs 12:12; 15:27; Isaiah 1:29; 44:9; Jeremiah 7:11; Habakkuk 2:9-12. Detail #12:4: The driving desire for more and more cannot be satisfied. “He that loveth silver shall not be satisfied with silver; nor he that loveth abundance with increase: this is also vanity. When goods increase, they are increased that eat them: and what good is there to the owners thereof, saving the beholding of them with their eyes?” The more a man owns the more bankers, advisers, assistants, servants, cooks, groundskeepers, and various other personnel he must support to protect, guard, and maintain his acquisitions. And with all the increase [unless Yehuveh has so prospered him and “addeth no sorrow with it”] he has no rest and no true final satisfaction. In the end every wealthy person will understand Yehuveh’s cautionary statements: “They shall make a spoil of thy riches, and make a prey of thy merchandise: and they shall break down thy walls, and destroy thy pleasant houses: and they shall lay thy stones and thy timber and thy dust in the midst of the water.” “They shall cast their silver in the streets, and their gold shall be removed: their silver and their gold shall not be able to deliver them in the day of the wrath of Yehuveh: they shall not satisfy their souls, neither fill their bowels: because it is the stumblingblock of their iniquity.” Ecclesiastes 5:10-11; Proverbs 10:22; Ezekiel 26:12; 7:19. Also: Psalms 52:1, 7; 62:10; Proverbs 23:5; 27:20; 30:15, 16; Ecclesiastes 1:8; 2:10-11; 4:8; 6:7; Jeremiah 22:17; Habakkuk 2:5-9. By contrast, Yehuveh has a very simple means of giving us true and lasting satisfaction: “Because he hath set his love upon Me, therefore will I deliver him: I will set him on high, because he hath known My name. He shall call upon Me, and I will answer him: I will be with him in trouble; I will deliver him, and honour him. With long life will I satisfy him, and shew him My salvation.” This to-the-very-core-of-our-being satisfaction come from learning and living Yehuveh’s instructions: “Whom shall He teach knowledge? and whom shall He make to understand doctrine? them that are weaned from the milk, and drawn from the breasts. For precept must be upon precept, precept upon precept; line upon line, line upon line; here a little, and there a little: For with stammering lips and another tongue will he speak to this people. To whom he said, This is the rest wherewith ye may cause the weary to rest; and this is the refreshing.” “Thus saith Yehuveh, Stand ye in the ways, and see, and ask for the old paths, where is the good way, and walk therein, and ye shall find rest for your souls.” Psalms 91:14-16; Isaiah 28:9-12; Jeremiah 6:16. Gael Bataman Originally Written: 18 August 2008 Latest Update: 18 August 2008 Return to Zadok Home Page Continue . . . Return One Page Go to Revelation Intro |