I'm Free, I'm Alive!

Hoshea warned of a time when corruption would arise from within the very house claiming to represent YHWH. A false prophet would rise up: “The prophet has become foolish, the man of the ruach has gone mad, because your guilt is great and your hostility deep. ‘Watch, Ephraim, together with my Mighty Ones (‘Elohim, plural), this prophet! A fowler's snare lies across all his paths, and persecution dwells in the house of his god (‘elohy, singular).’ They have sunk deep into ruin, as in the days of Gib'ah. He will remember their guilt and call their sins to account.” Hoshea 9:7-9 A fowler does not attack openly. He studies birds, lays bait, conceals traps, and captures the unsuspecting through enticement, fear, dependency, and misplaced trust. Throughout the Tanakh, YHWH alone is called the Rock - the enduring refuge, stronghold, high place, fortress, support, and shelter of His people. As Yesha‘yahu declared: "Do not tremble, do not be afraid. Have I not declared it to you long ago and told you? You are my witnesses. Is there even a god (‘eloah – singular) besides Me? There is no other Rock. I Myself have known of not one." Yesha‘yahu 44:8 There is no savior besides YHWH. Not even David, the messiah, is a savior. He himself ever claimed such a role. Instead, David continually pointed upward to YHWH as his Rock, Deliverer, and Savior: "YHWH is my crag, my mountain stronghold, and my deliverer (one who provides my escape route); my El, my immovable Rock in whom I take shelter; my surrounding shield and the horn of my triumphant salvation, my inaccessible high place." Mizmor 18:2 To turn David into the source of salvation is to dishonor the very message he carried as the anointed herald (Mizmor 40:10) and shepherd of Yisra’el. His role was never to replace YHWH, but to guide people back toward YHWH. And this is why the words of David matter so deeply. He understood the snares. He fled the traps of violent and corrupt men. He warned of hidden nets, concealed pits, flattering lips, betrayal from within the city, and fowlers waiting in darkness for the upright in heart. “Our soul has escaped like a bird from the snare of the fowlers; the snare is broken, and we have escaped.” Mizmor 124:7 “Keep me from the jaws of the trap they have laid for me, and from the snares of workers of wickedness. Let the wicked fall into their own nets, while I pass by safely.” Mizmor 141:9-10 So absorb his words. Learn discernment from the shepherd king and YHWH’s anointed / messiah - who learned refuge in YHWH alone. Forsake the crowded systems of human dependency and flee the fowler. Anyone seeking to reroute your trust, authority, hope, identity, or salvation into themselves, their institution, their movement, or another human system apart from YHWH is laying a snare. Flee, and live. “Leave! Depart from the cities as fortified gatherings (‘azabu ‘arym; imperative ‘azab, a demand to leave behind, forsake, loosen one’s hold upon; ‘iyr, city, enclosure, fortified settlement, a gathered habitation of people joined together within an ordered collective structure) and dwell within the stone heights of the Rock (wa-shakanu ba-sela‘; sequential imperative shakanu, from shakan – a demand showing the requirement is to settle down, remain, dwell continually; sela‘, craggy rock face, elevated stone refuge, massive enduring rock formation)! Oh inhabitants of Mo’ab (yashaby Mow’ab; yashab, those who dwell, remain, settle themselves; Mow’ab, “from father,” carrying the sense of continuance born through compromised human preservation and fearful fleshly reasoning apart from trust). Become like the dove (wa-hayu ka-yownah; hayah, to become, come to exist as; yownah / dove: gentle, vulnerable, mournful, discerning, watchful, clean, surviving through wisdom and refuge rather than force (a poetic comparison to righteous people who flee their enemies by trusting in YHWH)). Nest within the sides of the open mouth of the cavern (taqanenah b‘ebry py-pachath; from qanan, to nest, settle securely, establish habitation; ‘eber - side, edge, region; peh, mouth, opening, threshold; pachath, pit, hollow, cavernous opening).” Yirmayahu / Jeremiah 48:28 #god #music #torah #newsong #kingdavid #yhwh