Copyright Ó 2013 J. Neely
Psalm 22:23
23 Ye that fear [yare'] the LORD, [Yahovah] praise [halal] him; all ye
the seed [zera`] of Jacob, [Ya`aqob] glorify [kabad] him; and
fear [guwr] him, all ye the seed [zera`] of Israel. [Yisra'el] KJV-Interlinear
23 You
who fear the Lord, praise Him; All you descendants of Jacob, glorify Him, And
stand in awe of Him, all you descendants of Israel. NASB
Fear, ‘yare,’ means
revere, respect, afraid, be in awe, tremble.
Praise, ‘halal,’ to be
clear or sound, to be clear of color, to boast, to praise, rage, renown, shine,
to celebrate, to commend.
Jacob is the son of
Isaac. Isaac is the son of Abraham.
Abraham was the one who
crossed over the river, away for the land of godlessness, and as such entered
into the promise of God and was called, Hebrew, or he who crossed over.
At that point in history,
God created a new spiritual species.
Whereas before there were the descendants of Noah, now there are those
who will descend from he who crossed over.
And that crossing is from sin or spiritual non-existence, to the spiritual
creature that God intended for us all.
Jacob is yet another
junction in history, where he is the Hebrew descendant, and then his name was
changed to Israel, marking the beginning of a nation of spiritual peoples.
The new nation is started
symbolically from Jacob, but is made up of those who believe in the Savior, the
Son of God, Jesus Christ.
From Jacob descended the
Hebrew race, which turned to the Jewish race, or those who turned away. The term Jew came from the region known as
Judah or Judea, which was many, many centuries after Jacob, but still retained
the culture and ancestral lines of the Hebrew peoples.
So, this reference to is
to all Jewish peoples of genetic descendants.
However, the new species
created by God comes not from the genetic descendants, but from faith, and may
apply to anyone who believes in the Savior, Jesus Christ.
In the world there are
many families and relationships, but in Christ there is but one spiritual
relationship and family.
Israel is the symbolic
term used for all believers. Jacob is
typically used to symbolize the Jewish race.
Glorify, ‘kabad,’ means
to be heavy, burdensome, numerous, rich, honorable, to make weighty, to abound
with, to boast, to be chargeable, to glorify, to make self many, to prevail, to
honor.
Fear, ‘guwr,’ to turn
aside from the road or path, to lodge in, to sojourn, to reside, to gather for
hostility, to assemble, to dwell.
And so both genetic
descendants of Jacob as well as spiritual descendants by faith, as written in
this time of David, all are to fear, respect, tremble at the prospects of the
Lord. All are to live in the sound,
comprehensive and vastness of truth.
A special appeal is made
to the Hebrew race, to take on the burden of Gods vast riches in blessing, even
in the face of tremendous odds for this world.
The Hebrew people have a special prophecy promise from God, to be the
seed peoples that will enter into the Kingdom of God, when it is
established. That will occur at the
Second Advent, at the end of the Tribulation.
Therefore they need a special appeal and resource to survive as a race
until that future time. That resource is
of course Jesus Christ.
And to all who believe,
all believers everywhere, whether Jew or gentile, to grow in fear, in faith, to
turn aside for the prior road of spiritual indifference and ignorance, and turn
to the road of truth and growth and prosperity, and live there.
For the Jewish people,
their culture and heritage can be a trap, disengaging them from truth and
sending them into a life of hostility in a hostile world.
For all believers,
residence in truth, means incorporating doctrine into your mind. And to do that you have to learn doctrine,
study doctrine, pursue doctrine as though there was nothing else in life.
Doctrine is treasure, and
most folks who recognize treasure, pursue it.
Prospectors of old,
pursued treasure knowing it was there, but never found it.
Spiritual prospectors,
have treasure, doctrine, given to them, and so it is just a matter of taking
it. Their greatest fear is that they
should live their entire life and never attain Gods treasure which is so freely
given. And this simply because they do
not respect God, do not fear God, do not praise God, do not pursue God in the
manner that God defines and has designed for us.
