Shalom-Shalom; peace in the name of Yeshua. This is Crystal Sharpe and welcome to the Ancient Scrolls program. Today is the first day of the week, Sunday July 15.
So coming up at Pastor Skeens church called Word of Faith located 117 4H Road, Beaver, Pastor Gary Huff of Man Hu ministries will be the speaker on July 28, which is on a Saturday night at 6:30. He has an amazing ability to place ancient concepts together that reflect Yeshua. Through the Holy Spirit he is able to feed you the meat of the Word.
As a reminder Pastor Rita Sharp will be a speaker every second Saturday of the month at the Word of Faith church, and Pastor Gary Huff will teach every fourth Saturday. Services start at 6:30.
Today we are still teaching on Samson. We will review some of last week’s program and will go take a look at Judges 15, and we will go over some of the symbols found in the fields of the Philistines that the foxes torched, the wheat, vineyards and olive trees,
Let us get started with prayer and acknowledge God who is King of the Universe.
Father,
You are King over all matter in the universe, over heaven and over in the earth. The earth is the Lord’s and the fullness thereof; the world and those who dwell therein.
Sh’ma: Deuteronomy 6: Hear, O Israel: The LORD our God, the LORD is one! You shall love the LORD your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your strength.
We ask that You would help us to love You more than ourselves, help us to love You more than our sins. This nation is hard hearted, so we ask as always to take the stony hearts out of us and replace them with hearts of flesh that would be flexible in Your hands. Cleanse me of all unrighteousness that my prayers will not be hindered.
Our sins are always before You day and night, and we confess them and ask You to take the necessary measures to influence us to move in the right direction and be restored to a right relationship with You once more. We confess our sins of abortion which is murder; idolatry, adultery, child molestation, fornication, zoophilia, witchcraft, charismatic witchcraft, human trafficking, drug addictions, homosexuality, gender confusion, hatred, and greed. We ask You to remove our sins far from us as east is from the west. Place Your desires in us as Your Word says in Psalm 37:4 Delight yourself also in the LORD, and He will shall give you the desires of your heart; meaning You will place Your desires in us, Father. Help us, help this nation to hunger and thirst after righteousness. We are a wayward people.
We pray for President Trump, for his protection from the evil strategies of men. We pray that You would take every crooked way out of him, out of the members of Congress, and the Senate, out of the Supreme Court. We pray for them to have Your wisdom, Your knowledge and understanding, Your Spirit of might, counsel, discernment, and especially the fear of the LORD. We pray You would restore Your righteousness and justice in our government offices.
We pray You would pour out of Your Spirit (the zeal of Elijah) in the last days, on the Muslims, upon Israel, upon our sons and daughters, upon Your maidservants, and menservants and that our young men and old men will have dreams and visions. We pray for the peace of Jerusalem. We leave our concerns with You in the name of Your Son, Yeshua. Amen.
So, last week we had gone over Judges 13 and 14. The first verse in Judges 13 told us that Israel was in a state of idolatry and because of their evil they would not be completely delivered from the oppression of the Philistines; but God had a plan to bring forth a judge from the tribe of Dan that would avenge them.
I think last program I pointed out there were some similarities in the life of Samson and Yeshua. Samson reflects this remarkable strength of Yeshua; this virtue of the Holy Spirit that is able to destroy and thoroughly consume chaos and totally annihilate the enemy —which is of course is Satan and his armies. It is this power that he carries and it is within the walls and confines of a frail vessel of flesh, flesh is just dust. We’re just held together by the word of God and atoms and when we die our atoms go somewhere else to be recycled. Our flesh dies, and so it is frail and it certainly has its weaknesses, and if you think flesh is strong wait until you get sick and you are up all night vomiting.
It is incredible that one man, that his flesh is able to contain power that created the universe and yet is able to act like sort of normal, when he really isn’t normal. This is like Yeshua. Yeshua prefers to give life . . .
Luke 6:17
And He came down with them and stood on a level place with a crowd of His disciples and a great multitude of people from all Judea and Jerusalem, and from the seacoast of Tyre and Sidon who came to hear Him and be healed of their diseases, as well as those who were tormented with unclean spirits. And they were healed.
And the whole multitude sought to touch Him, for power went out from Him and healed them all.
Darkness does not have a chance when we are able to grasp the power of the Holy Ghost, because He brings life.
The story of Samson is a story of life. His mother was barren, there was no life in her womb. The Angel of the Lord brought a word of life to her, she would have a son and he would begin to judge Israel—or avenge Israel. From the word of life came life to the woman and life to Israel, because of Samson, because of that word of life that was given first.
It is the same with Yeshua. A word of life came to Mary and she supernaturally conceived by the Holy Spirit and not by flesh of man, and Yeshua came through the word of life, and brought life to as many as would receive Him.
The idolatrous Philistines worshiped death; they worshiped dead things. Icons are not gods, they are made by man. Man takes a live tree and cuts it down, now it is a dead tree. Then a portion of the dead tree is fashioned into an icon, then a mineral is laid over the icon and placed in a shrine. Then men make up a bunch of rituals and prostrate themselves before the icon they created and have man made religion, and their flesh loves it. And Israel would follow after the dead icons and dead rituals of man.
This is why the Hebrews would not be completely delivered from the Philistines. They were spiritually eating dead things, and death brings forth death. It cannot bring forth life. Darkness attracts darkness, and darkness only produces darkness.
So Samson’s life is similar to Yeshua’s life that both sets of parents were chosen to raise supernatural sons.
We explored the stories of three men Samson, King David and Benaiah who all fought and killed lions. In the ancient Middle East it was a major feat to slay a lion. In Assyria the lion was termed “the ferocious creature of the wilderness”, and lions symbolized chaos and the untamed world in all its forms.
Through their successes as lion hunters Neo-Assyrian kings demonstrated their authority over evil forces, both cosmic and human, and proved that they deserved the title “Masters of the Beasts.” And Samson, King David and Benaiah proved themselves Masters of the Beasts. Not only did Samson slay a lion but later captured 300 foxes to burn down the fields of the Philistines. That is an amazing feat as well. These people illustrate Yeshua overcoming the cosmic powers of darkness, the angel of death; and those things physical as well. Yeshua said: All power in heaven (cosmic) and earth (physical, material) has been given to Me. Matthew 28: 18
Out of the eater came something to eat, out of the strong came something sweet (So, this represents order out of chaos). The lion came to destroy Samson, to exert its power over him, and instead became a victim of the Holy Spirit power that came up on Samson; and with little effort he destroyed the beast which is symbolic of chaos; now Samson is the master of the beasts. Just like at the end of this age, Yeshua will utterly annihilate the dragon, the beast anti-christ, the beast false prophet, demons, fallen angels, those nations of rebellious beastly men, and they will be cast into the Lake of fire. Their authority will fail them, their strength will fail them.
Revelation 19:20
Then the beast was captured, and with him the false prophet who worked signs in his presence, by which he deceived those who received the mark of the beast and those who worshiped his image. These two were cast alive into the lake of fire burning with brimstone.
In Revelation 20, it speaks of an angel laying hold of the dragon, the devil, and bounds him for a thousand years and after that thousand year period he is loosed again. So he busies himself with deceiving the nations once more. The nations gather against the camp of the saints and the beloved city. This time fire from heaven devours them.
Verse 10. The devil, who deceived them, was cast into the lake of fire and brimstone where the beast and the false prophet are. And they will be tormented day and night forever and ever.
The message that is framed in the images of righteous men and women of the Bible is a prophetic word of destruction for the Satanic kingdom. God’s kingdom is coming to reverse, or overturn the chaos and dysfunction of this life, and His kingdom of righteousness and justice will reign on the earth through Yeshua, the Son of God.
The Word of God has already been loosed to do His will as it says in Isaiah 55:11.
So shall My word be that goes forth from My mouth; It shall not return to Me void, but it shall accomplish what I please. And it shall prosper in the thing for which I sent it.
Yeshua, like Samson, is endowed with supernatural abilities by the Holy Spirit to deliver His righteous people and to vanquish his enemies.
Before we get started on Judges 15, let’s learn some history on the Philistines. Where did they come from? According to the Chumash, Chumash means five in Hebrew and it has a commentary, but it explains the Philistines were the great-great grandsons of Noah.
You can find this in Genesis 10, as you work down the table of the nations. Noah’s son, Ham, had a son named Mizraim. Mizraim in the Strong’s Concordance means Egypt, and the Jews call Egypt misery because of their having been slaves in Egypt.
Mizraim had seven sons, and two of them: Pathrusim and Casluhim were the progenitors of the Philistines.
The Philistines preferred the coasts because of their excellent sea faring skills. Several sources say they were strong and proficient warriors. It wasn’t until King David’s reign they were subdued.
Now the principal idol of the Philistines was Dagan. Dag in Hebrew means fish, but the word dagan in Hebrew means “grain.” So it probably isn’t a coincidence that Samson captured 300 foxes and used them to torch the wheat fields of the Philistines.
Dagan is depicted as a fish from the waist down and a man from the waist up. He is associated with storms and in Greek is called Zeus, the Romans call him Jupiter.
So at the end of Samson we see this battle between the God of Israel and the god of the Philistines as the house of Dagan is moved from its foundation.
Chapter 15
After a while, in the time of the wheat harvest (this would be the late spring about the time of the Lord’s feast of Shavuot or we would say Pentecost. Somewhere in the middle of May), it happened that Samson visited his wife with a young goat. And he said, “Let me go in to my wife, into her room.” But her father would not permit him to go in. Her father said: “I really thought that you thoroughly hated her; therefore I gave her to your companion. Is not her younger sister better than she? Please, take her instead.”
So, according to the word the marriage lasted but a week, because after the 30 men gave the answer to Samson’s riddle he did not return to his wife. Verse 4, Samson then captures 300 foxes, and he took torches, turned the foxes tail to tail, and put a torch between each pair of tails. When he had set the torches on fire, he let the foxes go into the standing grain of the Philistines, and burned up both the shocks (which are heaps of wheat that had already been harvested) and the standing grain, as well as the vineyards and the olive trees.
Well, this is a bad omen for the Philistines as a nation, is it not; to have the standing wheat, the heaps that had already been harvested, the vineyards and olive trees consumed by fire. So this was a market crash of sorts, and the merchants and vendors would have to inflate the prices on what commodities were left. It is a supply and demand situation, greater demand and less supply.
Let’s break down the symbols of wheat, the vineyards and olive trees. Wheat can represent people, and I am thinking at times it represents the gentiles. We see in the Book of Ruth that she is a Moabitess, a gentile from the stock of Lot, Abraham’s nephew. She loves her mother-in-law, Naomi, and travels with her to Israel to live with her. It is at the time of the wheat harvest, which is a few days after the Lord’s feast of Pentecost. We know that at Pentecost the Holy Spirit was poured out—not just on the Jew, but the gentile, as well.
Barley represents Israel. In Judges 7 we understand that Gideon had the blessing of God to war against the Midianites and conquer them. This war between God, Gideon, his 300 men, against the hordes of Midianites and Amalekites was at the time of the Lord’s feast of Pesach, which is Passover. Now Gideon hears a man relating a dream to another man: I have had a dream: to my surprise, a loaf of barley bread tumbled into the camp of Midian; it came to a tent and struck it so that it fell and overturned, and the tent collapsed. This signified that Israel, being the Barley loaf would demolish the armies of the Amalekites and Midianites.
Matthew chapter 13, are several teachings on wheat, one of which is the wheat, which represented his people, being gathered into His barns.
So, the destruction of the wheat harvest of the Philistines was symbolic of their eventual decline in Israel. It was 85 years or so later (after Samson) that King David subdued the Philistines. I Samuel 7:13, So the Philistines were subdued, and they came no more into the coast of Israel: and the hand of the LORD was against the Philistines all the days of Samuel.
The Philistines would not be able to offer up any grain in thanksgiving to Dagan.
I am at the end of the program already.
If it is God’s will I will be here next program. Remember to walk by faith and not by sight. Do two things this week: love and forgive. Ask God to cleanse you from all unrighteousness every day. Keep your spiritual garments clean from spots, wrinkles and blemishes. Love God and love your neighbor
nor any wine libations or olive oil for their temple rituals.
Olives are a nutritional fruit, and are considered peace fruit. They represent abundance and immortality. The Philistines just lost all of it. Samson had used 300 foxes to torch the fields. The Hebrew word for fox is shoo-awl, and it means Jackal. Jackals are scavangers of darkness; they run in packs and are synonymous with the devil.
I am not very good with interpreting numbers in dreams or in the Bible. God had instructed Gideon to attack the Midianites and Amalekites with 300 men, and in this case, 300 brought victory. 300 jackals brought consuming destruction to the Philistines. Samson was able to manipulate the beasts of darkness and set them against the Philistines, Israel’s enemy of darkness.
Wine is closely associated with joy, truth, and has medicinal qualities. God’s wrath, or His fury, is also associated with wine.
Together oil and wine represent healing as in the parable of a man on his way to Jericho who fell among thieves. He was terribly abused and left for half dead. A priest and Levite avoided helping the injured man, but a Samaritan came along and he bandaged his wounds, pouring on oil and wine. Luke 10:30-37
I am close to the end of the program.
Judges 15:6
Then the Philistines said: “Who has done this?” And they answered, “Samson, the son-in-law of the Timnite, because he has taken his wife and given her to his companion.” So the Philistines came up and burned her and her father with fire. They were a cruel people. Life had little meaning to them.
So the very thing she hoped to avoid at the beginning of their wedding, when the 30 companions threatened her with fire if she would not find the answer to Samson’s riddle,
If it is God’s will I will be here next program. Remember to walk by faith and not by sight. Do two things this week: love and forgive. Ask God to cleanse you from all unrighteousness every day. Keep your spiritual garments clean from spots, wrinkles and blemishes. Love God and love your neighbor
If it is God’s will I will be here next program. Remember to walk by faith and not by sight. Do two things this week: love and forgive. Ask God to cleanse you from all unrighteousness every day. Keep your spiritual garments clean from spots, wrinkles and blemishes. Love God and love your neighbor
