Wednesday, February 19, 2014

Isaiah 17:5

Copyright Ó 2014 J. Neely
Isaiah 17:5ues

5 And it shall be as when the harvestman [qatsiyr] gathereth ['acaph] the corn [qamah], and reapeth [qatsar] the ears [shibbol] with his arm [zarowa`]; and it shall be as he that gathereth [laqat] ears [shibbol] in the valley [`emeq] of Rephaim [rapha'].  KJV-Interlinear

5 It will be even like the reaper gathering the standing grain, As his arm harvests the ears, Or it will be like one gleaning ears of grain In the valley of Rephaim.  NASB

This verse describes a great harvest of people, not grain.  Using the symbolism of harvesting crops, combined with the word for giants, ‘Rephaim,’ Isaiah describes the worst of the worst periods of time in all of Jewish history.

The next verse describes those who will remain and why they will remain.

At harvest time, the people walk through the fields and gather in the bulk of the grain from that field and take it away from the field.

The reference to the valley of the Rephaim, or valley of giants, has references in 2 Sam 5:18,22; 23:13; 1 Chron 11:15; 14:9.

These describe great victories for David when he fought the Philistines and won a great battle. Two battles in fact.  Both identifying valleys to the north, west and south of Jerusalem.

And so will be the battle against the Jewish peoples, but this will not be a collection of captives, but a great slaughter.  One greater than ever before recorded in history.

We have already studied in Revelation, the warning given by John, when the temple is dedicated in the middle of the Tribulation, and the abomination of abominations occurs, which is to say that the anti-christ will declare himself as God, and John warns that, that is the last sign to get out and get out right now.

Any who do not leave the city or the country, or any who hesitate in leaving, will lose their lives.  And so it will be in those final days of history, that there will be a great slaughter of the Jews.

With his arm, is a phrase that describes a typical harvester who carries the corn in one arm as he swings the harvesting scythe with the other, thus continuing the harvest.

The harvest of the Jews will be easy and leisurely and systematic.  Shooting fish in a barrel as the saying goes.  Which in fact, will be the most horrendous and brutal applications of genocide ever in history.