Names Have Meaning

The vision of Isaiah the son of Amoz, which he saw concerning Judah and Jerusalem in the days of Uzziah, Jotham, Ahaz, and Hezekiah, kings of Judah.

Isaiah = Jehovah has saved

Amoz = strong

Judah = praised

Jerusalem = a dual or teaching of peace

Nourished

Hear, O heavens, and give ear, O earth: for the Lord hath spoken, I have nourished and brought up children, and they have rebelled against me. 

When I think of the word NOURISHED I think of our mothers being the ones who are primarily responsible for nurturing their children in the home. It is designed so that they are provided what they need by the father so that they are enabled to nurture.

The allegory of the olive tree in Jacob 5 also comes to mind.

Jacob 5:4 And it came to pass that the master of the vineyard went forth, and he saw that his olive tree began to decay; and he said: I will prune it, and dig about it, and nourish it, that perhaps it may shoot forth young and tender branches, and it perish not.

The Ox and Manger

The ox knoweth his owner, and the ass his master’s crib: but Israel doth not know, my people doth not consider.

An ox is a very important symbol in Hebrew. The use of ox in this verse is more about the labor that the ox performs and the relationship he has with his master who feeds and drives him. He is a steady animal that is used to plow the fields.

The ass in comparison is more of a symbol of an animal that is not steady. This use of ass is a male ass and is in a family of words that have to deal with separations or conflicts, but that pleads for compassion. 

The ancient word for crib is manger. A manger is a feeding trough. I have never considered before, until this study, that the Savior was not only placed in a manger, but that the idea of being born in a stable with pens for animals, was very symbolic of his role in both feeding the animals to fatten them up for slaughter, but that he, too, was being pointed towards his mission that would end in the sacrifice of self. 

A Seed of Evildoers

Ah sinful nation, a people laden with iniquity, a seed of evildoers, children that are corrupters: they have forsaken the Lord, they have provoked the Holy One of Israel unto anger, they are gone away backward.

Seed in Hebrew is a symbol of a son, he being the seed that continues the family line.

I don’t believe evil is the same as bad. Good in Hebrew means functional. Bad is the understanding of dysfunctional. Evil has a very intentional, purposeful element to do harm knowingly. 

A Sick Head and Faint Heart

¶ Why should ye be stricken any more? ye will revolt more and more: the whole head is sick, and the whole heart faint.

Stricken = hit, killed, or harmed

Head comes the ancient understanding of the head of the tribe which would be the one to grant permission for the betrothal of a daughter, and would also be the one to determine who would lead the tribe after them. 

Heart is more than the organ, but the inner man, the authority inside.

The idea of the Holy One of Israel being provoked to anger and people going away backwards feels like Isaiah is drawing a parallel to Noah and his sons. Gen 9:18-26

The Feet of Fear

From the sole of the foot even unto the head there is no soundness in it; but wounds, and bruises, and putrifying sores: they have not been closed, neither bound up, neither mollified with ointment.

Foot is the 3rd letter in the Hebrew alphabet. And is a symbol of walking, gathering.

This particular use of foot comes from the ancient pictographs or parent root of Rosh (head) and Gimel (foot).

I always study a word in the context of the parent root family for added understanding. This family of words center on the themes of weaving thoughts, slaughter, throwing stones and fear.

The Gender and Action of Words

Your country is desolate, your cities are burned with fire: your land, strangers devour it in your presence, and it is desolate, as overthrown by strangers.

Country – feminine noun

Desolate -f/n

Cities – m/n

Burned – verb – to burn

Fire – f/n

Land – f/n

Strangers – verb – to be a stranger

Devour – verb – to eat, consume, burn

Overthrow – f/n

I believe there is a marriage of male and female in every word, object, symbol and action of life, and knowing the power by which each word is engendered helps a lot in learning the balance, order and relationship of all things. It helps to know symbolically when a teaching is directed at women or men, a marriage, family unit or people as a whole.

It is interesting to me that stranger is a verb not a noun.

The idea that a stranger is devouring in the presence of others, feels very violating. Especially because a father’s role was to sit at the door of the tent and watch for danger. If a stranger or traveler approached and they sensed danger, they would grab for the tent peg and strike them. 

But strangers were often nomad that simply needed rest. And they would be invited in by the father to drink, eat and rest. The father pledged to protect anyone who was in the home with his life, including a stranger. 

So how did the stranger get past the father or watchmen in this symbolic verse?

The Daughter of Zion

And the daughter of Zion is left as a cottage in a vineyard, as a lodge in a garden of cucumbers, as a besieged city.

After the stranger had passed the father at the door, they would then wash their feet in a bowl of water, or bath. Bath is the understanding of daughter in Hebrew.

It is a beautiful symbolic relationship to know that all must first pass the father, then be washed by the daughter before one can enter the home. 

Except in this scripture, the daughter of Zion is left in a cottage or booth, a temporary covering made of thorns, bushes and small trees. A protection from the heat of the sun, but there would be no father at the door and no door at all.

A cucumber garden is an unfamiliar symbol in my studies, considering the idea that it is surrounded by words and ideas that mean hard, stubborn,  snare, weighing of truth, and a binding of wheat with a cord like a sash tied around the waist. The last idea I mentioned is particularly interesting to me as it pertains to temple worship symbolism. 

Besieged city – the ancient understanding is preserved or protected. And in the family of words there are many themes meaning surrounding labor, being pressed, and keeping watch.

We are the Survivors

Except the Lord of hosts had left unto us a very small remnant, we should have been as Sodom, and we should have been like unto Gomorrah.

Remnant = survive

The Lord has a strategic plan for his daughters, although many have had to wait a very long time under very harsh conditions to see the actualization of that plan. I can’t help but sit in the words that balance themselves somewhere between noblewoman and prisoner being bound in marriage and tied up like a wild horse, when marriage could be so much more. 

I know there are beautiful marriages, and I love so much about marriage and family itself, but there are hard truths about the suffering that is endured within the walls of every home, no matter how hard each person strives.

I also believe the fight to right our divine understanding of marriage is something that we must work on together, beyond our personal spaces and walls of protection. Marriage is a communal event to be endured by all together, if not, Christ would not have likened the gathering of his people into a church and religion as a marriage. 

Do Not Do Like Sodom and Gomorrah

¶ Hear the word of the Lord, ye rulers of Sodom; give ear unto the law of our God, ye people of Gomorrah.

Sodom = burning: from an unused root meaning to scorch.

Gomorrah = submersion: culturally this word was rooted in the understanding of a gathering of people, as in a mass, bundled together without distinction, like slaves. It was also a sunken city. 

James 1: 22 But be ye doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving your own selves.

Bitter Sacrifices

To what purpose is the multitude of your sacrifices unto me? saith the Lord: I am full of the burnt offerings of rams, and the fat of fed beasts; and I delight not in the blood of bullocks, or of lambs, or of he goats.

When someone is full from eating in Hebrew understanding, everything else to them taste bitter.

3 Nephi 11:11 And behold, I am the light and the life of the world; and I have drunk out of that bitter cup which the Father hath given me, and have glorified the Father in taking upon me the sins of the world, in the which I have suffered the will of the Father in all things from the beginning.

Deut 12:6

And thither ye shall bring your burnt offerings, and your sacrifices, and your tithes, and heave offerings of your hand, and your vows, and your freewill offerings, and the firstlings of your herds and of your flocks:

I didn’t know there was more than a few ways to offer ourselves to the Lord. How distinct are offerings, sacrifices, tithings, and vows?

Treading the Courts

When ye come to appear before me, who hath required this at your hand, to tread my courts?

Appear = to face each other, perceive and compare, have a vision, spy, foresee, heed, see reflection in mirror.

Tread = trample like oppressor, demolish, break down by pulling down; fall like rain—broken water in pieces. 

Courts = the grounds outside a building or a village outside larger cities. When an alarm or trumpet is sounded, people gather into the walled city. 

These themes remind me of when Jesus rode into Jerusalem to present himself, in that they left the city to go to the outer village near by, then the specific requirements of the Lord and the promises fulfilled to the daughter of Sion, the covering of the ass for Jesus to sit on, and the laying down of clothes to be tread upon when he rode in.

Matt 2:2-9

2 Saying unto them, Go into the village over against you, and straightway ye shall find an ass tied, and a colt with her: loose them, and bring them unto me.
3 And if any man say ought unto you, ye shall say, The Lord hath need of them; and straightway he will send them.
4 All this was done, that it might be fulfilled which was spoken by the prophet, saying,
5 Tell ye the daughter of Sion, Behold, thy King cometh unto thee, meek, and sitting upon an ass, and a colt the foal of an ass.
6 And the disciples went, and did as Jesus commanded them,
7 And brought the ass, and the colt, and put on them their clothes, and they set him thereon.
8 And a very great multitude spread their garments in the way; others cut down branches from the trees, and strawed them in the way.
9 And the multitudes that went before, and that followed, cried, saying, Hosanna to the Son of David: Blessed is he that cometh in the name of the Lord; Hosanna in the highest.

Vain Offerings

Bring no more vain oblations; incense is an abomination unto me; the new moons and sabbaths, the calling of assemblies, I cannot away with; it is iniquity, even the solemn meeting.

Oblations =  H4503 DEPOSIT or gift, free contributions, sacrifice, meat offering; compare with DEPOSIT H3240 = safekeeping pledge, to suffer, to sit, to rest, remain in place, bestow.

Both of these definitions are very closely related, but seem to represent two complimentary offerings, or touches on the conflict of the acceptance of offerings with Cain and Abel.

Incense = H7004 usually made from spices and fruit to emit a fragrance. But also used in reference to a the fat of rams in a sacrifice. 

The ram is an important symbol, because of the story of Abraham and Isaac.

Gen 22:13 And Abraham lifted up his eyes, and looked, and behold behind him a ram caught in a thicket by his horns: and Abraham went and took the ram, and offered him up for a burnt offering in the stead of his son.

New Moons = H2320 meaning to repair oneself, be renewed, a polished sword, monthly cleansing, two edges of a sword meeting at a point. 

This word combined with its parent word family has a lot that points towards an understanding of misunderstanding of intimacy.

Sabbaths = H7676 a day of ceasing activities or work, as a day of rest and celebration. 

The parent root for this word is Shin (two front teeth) and Best (tent). Together they mean “press to the tent”.

Other words in this word family are: seat, broken, flame, backsliding, draw.water, capture, captivity, turn back, think, decorative band, interweave, net, anguish, boughs, seven, lay down. 

I love studying about the Sabbath. And have found it very interesting that SabBATH includes the word symbolism for daughter, which is essentially BATH in Hebrew. Which is also represented in pregnancy, birth and baptism. All have an element of immersion, cleansing and being born. What can this study help us understand more about the Sabbath? Why might the Lord be displeased with our understanding of it and observance of it?

Assemblies = H4744 this is the ancient understanding of a reading, calling out and presenting of a new child or name. 

I cannot away with = H3201 to be able, prevail, endure, overcome. 

Solemn Meeting = H6116 is a conference.

At the heart of this parent root family is the idea of counseling and receiving that counsel from the elders of the tribe which maintain an upright and firm stature spiritually, like that of a tree trunk. But it is most interesting to me that counseling is almost always a feminine noun or action. I know we can do better as a human race to include women in all discussions, boards, churches, councils, as speakers and leaders at conferences and other meetings. 

God Hateth

Your new moons and your appointed feasts my soul hateth: they are a trouble unto me; I am weary to bear them.

I have come to understate that one way to describe hate is: to not being willing to suffer and die for someone according to their needs and wants. Love would be the opposite, willing to suffer and die on behalf of another. Death isn’t always physical, nor is it always violent. Even the giving away of one’s name for another, as in marriage, or the willingness to carry a baby to term, or suffer long in forgiveness. 

I have always wondered about the use of hate in the 10 commandments. If we use the above understanding of hate, God is speaking to those who are not willing to keep his commandments. Thus, they are not willing to suffer for him.

Ex 20:5 Thou shalt not bow down thyself to them, nor serve them: for I the Lord thy God am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children unto the third and fourth generation of them that hate me;

Considering that the moon cycle and the cycle of women have intertwined properties, and the idea of appointed feast can be pointing towards the idea of sex or intercourse, I have to wonder if maybe there is something more to be understood about the nature of intimacy that God would have us understand in marriage, that we are simply not grasping, and therefore causing God heartache.

Spread and Stretched Out

And when ye spread forth your hands, I will hide mine eyes from you: yea, when ye make many prayers, I will not hear: your hands are full of blood.

I can’t help but see this ironic parallel to the verse above. Jesus with his arms and hands spread out. And his prayerful plea to the Father with no response, and his hands all bloodied from being nailed to the cross. 

Matt 26:46 And about the ninth hour Jesus cried with a loud voice, saying, Eli, Eli, lama sabachthani? that is to say, My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me?

Contrast the ideas above with this scripture in Isaiah.

Isa 9:17 Therefore the Lord shall have no joy in their young men, neither shall have mercy on their fatherless and widows: for every one is an hypocrite and an evildoer, and every mouth speaketh folly. For all this his anger is not turned away, but his hand is stretched out still.

Cease Being Evil

¶ Wash you, make you clean; put away the evil of your doings from before mine eyes; cease to do evil;

If we pull this verse back into the symbolic relationship of the family and the nomadic tent of verse 7:

Wash you and make yourself clean by the water bath/bowl, which is represented by the power of the daughter, once you pass the father who sits at the door…

Put away the evil of your doings and do not devour and consume the home in the presence and before the eyes of a mother in the home as a stranger might do, who entered the home as a wolf in sheep’s clothing…

Cease to do evil on the Sabbath and every day. To do evil is to do anything without Christ and for your own gain and benefit, even at the expense of others, or the causing of captivity of others for your profit…

Do Well

17 Learn to do well; seek judgment, relieve the oppressed, judge the fatherless, plead for the widow.

Whenever I read this scripture I wonder when it took place. To me it feels like it had to have happened in the preexistence before this life. 

Isaiah 59:15 Yea, truth faileth; and he that departeth from evil maketh himself a prey: and the Lord saw it, and it displeased him that there was no judgment.
16 ¶ And he saw that there was no man, and wondered that there was no intercessor: therefore his arm brought salvation unto him; and his righteousness, it sustained him.
17 For he put on righteousness as a breastplate, and an helmet of salvation upon his head; and he put on the garments of vengeance for clothing, and was clad with zeal as a cloak.

It is always so curious to me that the Lord was displeased that no other man had stepped forward to be the intercessor. The story we get is that he just said, Here am I. But what about this account? Could any man have stepped up? Why didn’t they?

I am certain there is more to the story, but for now, the scripture above is what Christ requires of the men to

• Learn from their mothers
• Seek judgment, which is also translated as ordinances, privilege, and right
• Relieve the oppressed, which can be any form of oppression from slavery, a misunderstood definition of marriage and intimacy, and ignoring the voice of children
• Judge the fatherless which can also be a balancing act of good (functional) and bad (dysfunctional). Consider the allegory of the olive trees and how they didn’t cut off all the bad all at once. This word is also translated as: decide, plead, avenge, condemn, defend and deliver.
• Plead for the widow, with plead also meaning to strive for.

Reasoning with the Lord

Come now, and let us reason together, saith the Lord: though your sins be as scarlet, they shall be as white as snow; though they be red like crimson, they shall be as wool.

Even with this invitation to reason with the Lord, it took me until my late 30’s to really learn how to talk with the Lord to reason with him. We call him a counselor and yet I never thought to actually counsel with him.

Now I am talking with him daily. I still pray to my Father, but even he points me toward Christ as the one who will help me with questions and learning. I still go to Father for my asks and thanks.

Willing

If ye be willing and obedient, ye shall eat the good of the land:

Have you ever considered the word WILL. It hit me the other day that we only write out a will to protect our stuff when we are pass, and God wants us to voluntarily give him our wills.

When did we write these wills? Is with considered a death and rebirth? What did I write in mine?And was Christ part of this process? Did he perfect each of our wills?

Sword of the Mouth

But if ye refuse and rebel, ye shall be devoured with the sword: for the mouth of the Lord hath spoken it.

In Hebrew a sword and lips share a symbolic relationship. Swords are for the touching in battle. Lips are for the ending of war, as in kissing. Make love, not war.

A Harlot and Eve

¶ How is the faithful city become an harlot! it was full of judgment; righteousness lodged in it; but now murderers.

Harlot = a prostitute that is paid money or with food. She is well-fed. 

This definition opens up an anger in me, especially when combined with a scripture about Eve in the garden. Anyone ever notice that the serpent gets Eve to see the tree differently than she had before? She was satisfied with all the other fruits that she was able to eat, but somehow he got her to cover this tree for food, how it looked and what it could do for her. 

Gen 3:1-6

Now the serpent was more subtil than any beast of the field which the Lord God had made. And he said unto the woman, Yea, hath God said, Ye shall not eat of every tree of the garden?
2 And the woman said unto the serpent, We may eat of the fruit of the trees of the garden:
3 But of the fruit of the tree which is in the midst of the garden, God hath said, Ye shall not eat of it, neither shall ye touch it, lest ye die.
4 And the serpent said unto the woman, Ye shall not surely die:
5 For God doth know that in the day ye eat thereof, then your eyes shall be opened, and ye shall be as gods, knowing good and evil.
6 And when the woman saw that the tree was good for food, and that it was pleasant to the eyes, and a tree to be desired to make one wise, she took of the fruit thereof, and did eat, and gave also unto her husband with her; and he did eat.

I still find it odd that we never actually hear God give her this commandment like it is given to Adam. Adam is told to eat of the trees of the garden, except the tree of knowledge of good and evil. Eve says she was told to eat of the FRUIT of the trees of the garden, except one, and to not touch it. Adam wasn’t told that. But when they leave the garden God makes sure they don’t TOUCH the tree of life. Was she looking at the same tree. And what tree would Adam have eaten, and not the fruit of it?

Silver and Wine

Thy silver is become dross, thy wine mixed with water:

Silver is a symbol of personal brilliance and can be a symbol of vanity for one’s looks, but it can also be a symbol of being shiny from being anointed by oil, and therefore glistening in the sun. 

Silver and gold goblets were used in the temple anciently. To me the symbolism was to let go of personal identity rooted in vanity before the priest would offer a prayer of incense.

Dross is the impurities that rise to the top when melting metal. It is scraped off and thrown away before the metal has a chance to melt. 

Wine is a symbol of passion between husband and wife during their childbearing years. It is also a symbol of the conversion of water to wine to blood and represents the conversion of women through Jesus Christ. 

Wine is pressed and then bottled to reach a strong alcohol level. Sometimes I feel like the idea of a good wine, a vintage wine has bottle the women for far too long, keeping them down, but allowing them to build in strength this whole time. But when the day does come that they are released and their voices ring like trumpets, I can imagine the panic of a few who would want to dilute them with water.

Gifts and Women

Thy princes are rebellious, and companions of thieves: every one loveth gifts, and followeth after rewards: they judge not the fatherless, neither doth the cause of the widow come unto them.

See verse 13 and 17.

Ease into Avenging

Therefore saith the Lord, the Lord of hosts, the mighty One of Israel, Ah, I will ease me of mine adversaries, and avenge me of mine enemies:

Try looking up some of the words from this verse in Blue Letter Bible. Below is the link to the verse.

https://www.blueletterbible.org/kjv/isa/1/1/t_conc_680024

Purge the Dross

¶ And I will turn my hand upon thee, and purely purge away thy dross, and take away all thy tin:

See verse 22.

Restoring from the Beginning

And I will restore thy judges as at the first, and thy counsellors as at the beginning: afterward thou shalt be called, The city of righteousness, the faithful city.

James 5:7 Be patient therefore, brethren, unto the coming of the Lord. Behold, the husbandman waiteth for the precious fruit of the earth, and hath long patience for it, until he receive the early and latter rain.

I can’t say for sure why this scripture above came to mind as an example of restoration, but my soul knows there is a need for the reconstitution of the daughters, and Zion means parched place. So a little rain in the latter days like there was in the early days, and no I am not praying for a flood of waters, but a flood of teachings, combined with the restitution of understanding that will heal our heart and homes, that I am praying for and working towards every moments I possibly can. 

Zion and Her Converts

Zion shall be redeemed with judgment, and her converts with righteousness.

What is a convert?

https://www.blueletterbible.org/lang/lexicon/lexicon.cfm?Strongs=H7725&t=KJV

Transgressors vs. Sinners

¶ And the destruction of the transgressors and of the sinners shall be together, and they that forsake the Lord shall be consumed.

What is the difference between transgressors and sinners? 

Sometimes I like to look up the etymology of a word on this site:

https://www.etymonline.com

Oaks and Gardens

For they shall be ashamed of the oaks which ye have desired, and ye shall be confounded for the gardens that ye have chosen.

Trees have a big role in the creation. Just read Genesis 1-3. 

There are trees throughout the scriptures as well. Almond, Olive, Tree of life in other parts of the scriptures other than Genesis. 

Trees are often a walking metaphor for man and for a Divine Mother.

What gardens did we choose? I’d love to hear your thoughts on this one. 

We Need Water to Heal

For ye shall be as an oak whose leaf fadeth, and as a garden that hath no water.

Rev 22:1-2

And he shewed me a pure river of water of life, clear as crystal, proceeding out of the throne of God and of the Lamb.
In the midst of the street of it, and on either side of the river, was there the tree of life, which bare twelve manner of fruits, and yielded her fruit every month: and the leaves of the tree were for the healing of the nations.

There are so many riddles in the scriptures, but this is one that I can’t wait to understand in its completeness. To heal the nations is the whole desire of my heart and why I chose to follow Christ down to earth. And I would give my whole life in study and practice, in building and breaking in order to rebuild and heal any oppressive system in the world that causes undue suffering. 

Consumed by Fire

And the strong shall be as tow, and the maker of it as a spark, and they shall both burn together, and none shall quench them.