Watchman's Teaching Letter #176 December 2012
This is my one hundred and seventy-sixth monthly teaching letter and continues my fifteenth year of publication. Since WTL #137, I have been tutoring a series entitled The Greatest Love Story Ever Told, and have been expanding on its seven stages ever since: (1) the courtship, (2) the marriage, (3) the honeymoon, (4) the estrangement, (5) the divorce, (6) the reconciliation, and (7) the remarriage.
THE GREATEST LOVE STORY EVER TOLD, Part 35:
THE ESTRANGEMENT continued:
In lesson #175, we Israelites were severely rebuked at Jeremiah 2:13 thusly: “13 For my people have committed two evils; they have forsaken me the fountain of living waters, and hewed them out cisterns, broken cisterns, that can hold no water.”
We learned that a “broken cistern” was a product of race-mixing, and the action which causes such a mixture is described at Hosea 2:2 thusly: “2 By swearing, and lying, and killing, and stealing, and committing adultery, they break out, and blood toucheth blood.”
What is immensely clear from these passages is that our Almighty Yahweh is very demanding that we White Israelites keep our genetic seed racially pure! I would point out that William Finck wrote two papers entitled Broken Cisterns, #’s 1 & 2 several years back, and I would recommend that everyone get copies of his insightful study on the subject.
From the 3-volume The Popular And Critical Bible Encyclopedia and Scriptural Dictionary, edited by Rev. Samuel Fallows, vol. 1, pp. 428-429, we read the following concerning “cisterns” in Scripture:
“CISTERN (sis'tern), (Heb. ... bore', well, pit). In a country which has scarcely more than one perennial stream, where fountains are not abundant, and where the months of summer pass without rain, the preservation of the rain water in cisterns must always have been a matter of vast importance, not only in the pasture grounds, but in gardens, and, above all, in towns. Hence the frequent mention of cisterns in Scripture, and more especially of those which are found in the open country. These were, it seems, the property of those by whom they were formed (Num. xxi. 22). They are usually little more than large pits, but sometimes take the character of extensive subterranean vaults, open only by a small mouth, like that of a well. They are filled with rain water; and (where the climate allows) with snow during winter, and are then closed at the mouth with large flat stones, over which sand is spread in such a way as to prevent their being easily discovered. If by any chance the waters which the shepherd has thus treasured up are lost by means of an earthquake or some other casualty, or are stolen, both he and his flocks are exposed to great and imminent danger; as are also travelers who hasten to a cistern and find its waters gone. For this reason a failure of water is used as the image of any great calamity (Isa. xli. 17, 18; xliv. 3). There is usually a large deposit of mud at the bottom of these cisterns, so that he who falls into them, even when they are without water, is liable to perish miserably (Gen. xxxvii. 22, sq.; Jer. xxxviii. 6; Lam. iii. 53; Psa. xl. 2; lxix. 15). Cisterns were sometimes used, when empty, as prisons, and indeed prisons which were constructed underground received the same name ... (Gen, xxxix. 20; xl. 15).
“In cities the cisterns were works of much labor, for they were either hewn in the rocks or surrounded with subterranean walls, and lined with a fine incrustation. The system which in this respect formerly prevailed in Palestine is, doubtless, the same that exists at present; and indeed there is every probability that most of the cisterns now in use were constructed in very ancient times. The main dependence of Jerusalem at the present day [i.e., 1920 A.D.] is on its cisterns, and this has probably always been the case. There are immense cisterns now and anciently existing within the area of the temple, supplied partly by rain water and partly by an aqueduct from Solomon’s Pools, and which, of themselves, would furnish a tolerable supply in case of a siege. But, in addition to these, almost every private house in Jerusalem of any size is understood to have at least one or more cisterns, excavated in the soft limestone rock on which the city is built. The cisterns have usually merely a round opening at the top, sometimes built up with stonework above, and furnished with a curb and a wheel for the bucket, so that they have externally much the appearance of an ordinary well. The water is conducted into them from the roofs of the houses during the rainy season, and, with proper care, remains pure and sweet during the whole summer and autumn. In this manner most of the larger houses and the public buildings are supplied. The Latin convent, in particular, is said to be amply furnished, and in seasons of drought is able to deal out a sufficiency for all the Christian inhabitants of the city.
“Most of these cisterns have undoubtedly come down from ancient times, and. their immense extent furnishes a full solution of the question as to the supply of water for the city. Under the disadvantages of its position in this respect, Jerusalem must necessarily have always been dependent on its cisterns; and a city which thus annually laid in its supply for seven or eight months could never be overtaken by a want of water during a siege: Nor is this a trait peculiar to the Holy City; for the case is the same throughout all the hill country of Judah and Benjamin. Fountains and streams are few, as compared with Europe and America, and the inhabitants, therefore, collect water during the rainy season in tanks and cisterns in the cities, in the fields and along the high roads, for the sustenance of themselves and of their flocks and herds and for the comfort of the passing traveler. Many, if not the most, of these are obviously antique, and they exist not unfrequently along the ancient roads which are now deserted. Thus, on the long-forgotten way from Jericho to Bethel, ‘broken cisterns’ of high antiquity are found at regular intervals. That Jerusalem was thus actually supplied of old with water is apparent also from the numerous remains of ancient cisterns still existing in the tract north of the city, which was once enclosed within the walls, and which modern excavations have investigated carefully.
“Figurative. The left ventricle of the heart, which retains the blood till it be redispersed through the body, is called a cistern (Ecc. xii. 6). Wives are called cisterns, as they, when dutiful, are a great pleasure, assistance and comfort to their husbands (Prov. v. 15). The comparison of a wife to a cistern, in the passage just quoted, means, ‘Keep at home, wander not to others,’ follow not her who says, ‘Stolen waters are sweet.’ Idols, armies and outward enjoyments, when trusted to, are ‘broken cisterns that can hold no water;’ they can afford no solid or lasting happiness and comfort (Jer. ii. 13). They are soon emptied of all the aid and comfort which they possess and cannot fill themselves again.”
While Fallows does better at explaining a comprehensive description of the ancient Biblical cisterns than all of the other books and data that I have at hand, he falls somewhat short of connecting the term “broken cisterns” with a person born of mixed-race, or a nation or empire that succumbs by-and-large to miscegenation. At the time of Jeremiah, the two greatest empires were Assyria and Egypt. In the 1970 Collier’s Encyclopedia, under the topic “Mesopotamia: Ancient Civilization” and sub-topic “The Historic Age” and 2nd sub-topic “Alien Inroads”, vol. 15, p.738, we read:
“Alien Inroads. The Dynasty of Amurru was forced to relinquish its long hold on Babylonia when its capital was sacked by the Hittite king Mursilis I, toward the middle of the second millennium B.C. This was the signal for other non-Semite invaders, the Kassites, to move in and take over. Meanwhile, Assyria came under the domination of Mitanni, a state founded by Aryans but peopled mainly by Hurrians. These foreign inroads were part of a larger pattern of ethnic intrusions, the brunt of which was borne by Anatolia, Syria, and Palestine ....” [Note: While the tribal history is correct, the labels of Aryans and Semites are confused due to the misleading factors of the jewish issue. The Assyrians, Kassites, and apparently the founders of Mittani, were all Aryans and Semites. The Amurru and Hurrians were Canaanite peoples (Amorites and Horites), as were the original Hittites, to all of whom today’s jews are more closely related.]
Speaking in this same context, the book History of Assyria, by Olmstead, page 37, states in part:
“The accession of Amenhotep II found all central Syria in full revolt, which can only mean that the cities had gone over to the Hittites. Again the defeat of Naharina is proclaimed, and for the first time we have direct mention of Mitanni ....”
Jacquetta Hawkes, in her The First Great Civilizations, stated that this kind of political relationship continued, pages 81-82: “In the fifteenth and fourteenth centuries B.C., Mitanni extended from the Zagros to the Mediterranean and the kings of Assyria were no more than her vassals. It was the hostile policy of Mitannian kings against Egypt that provoked Thutmose III to march to the Euphrates. Later they made friends with the Egyptians and three generations of princesses, with hundreds of followers, made the hazardous journey to Thebes, where they were given in marriage to Pharaoh and lived out their days in the royal harem ...
“Thutmosis I had four children with his chief queen, only one of which lived beyond childhood, a girl named Hatshepsut. Among other children with lesser queens was a son named Thutmosis II who married his half-sister, Hatshepsut. The two could produce no immediate heirs but Thutmosis II fathered a son, Thutmosis III, with a concubine from his harem. The father, now king, named his son as co-regent. Thutmosis II died soon after and Thutmosis III, still a child, ascended to the throne. Hatshepsut, however, had great ambitions. At first she ruled in the name of the young king; but with guile and skill she gained support from the chief viziers, nobles, commanders, and priests, and thrust Thutmosis III into the background, and claimed co-regency by right of her birth.”
From The Bible As History by Werner Keller ©1956, Keller gives additional information, that not only did the Egyptians mix with the Hurrians, as stated by Hawkes, but they also mixed with the Hittites. I will be using excerpts from pages 96-98:
“The multicolored army of mercenaries which the Egyptians controlled, consisting of Negroes, Asiatics, and Nubians, marched on northward through Canaan. The new Pharaohs had learned a lesson from the bitter experience of the past. Never again would their country be taken by a surprise attack [as from the Hyksos]. Egypt lost no time in creating a buffer state far in advance of its frontier posts. The remainder of the Hyksos empire was crushed, and Palestine became an Egyptian province. What had once been consular stations, trading posts, and messengers’ quarters in Canaan and on the Phoenician coast became permanent garrisons, fortified strong points, and Egyptian fortresses in a subjugated land ...
“Shortly before 1400 B.C. the warlike Mitanni (Hurrian) proposed a peaceful settlement with the Egyptians. The enemy became a friend. The kings of Mitanni turned their attention purposefully to dynastic politics. With great pomp and lavish gifts they sent their daughters down to the Nile and married their princesses to the Pharaohs. In three successive generations of rulers Indo-Aryan[?] [meaning Hurrian] and Egyptian blood was mixed for the first time.
“What was the reason for the unexpected desire for peace on the part of the warlike Mitanni? The impulse came from the outside. Their kingdom was suddenly threatened with war on two fronts. A second powerful opponent began to storm the frontiers with his armies from Asia Minor in the northwest. This was a nation about which scholars until this century knew hardly anything, but which plays a considerable part in the Old Testament – the Hittites ... Their long hair hung over their shoulders like a full-bottomed wig; on top sat a high-dented cap; their short aprons were fastened with a wide belt and their shoes had pointed toes ....”
Thus, we can see that both the empires of Assyria and Egypt became “broken cistern” nations. By the time of Jeremiah, the greater part of Egypt had absorbed negroid blood! In my research on “broken cisterns”, I found some rather interesting remarks in the 38-volume Ante- & Post- Nicene Fathers on the subject of “broken cisterns”, and thought you might be amused at some of the rather unusual positions they held on various related topics!
From the Ante-Nicene Fathers, vol. 1, ch. 19 we read:
“This circumcision is not, however, necessary for all men, but for you alone, in order that, as I have already said, you may suffer these things which you now justly suffer. Nor do we receive that useless baptism of cisterns, for it has nothing to do with this baptism of life. Wherefore also God has announced that you have forsaken Him, the living fountain, and digged for your selves broken cisterns which can hold no water. Even you, who are the circumcised according to the flesh, have need of our circumcision; but we, having the latter, do not require the former. For if it were necessary, as you suppose, God would not have made Adam uncircumcised; would not have had respect to the gifts of Abel when, being uncircumcised, he offered sacrifice and would not have been pleased with the uncircumcision of Enoch, who was not found, because God had translated him. Lot, being uncircumcised, was saved from Sodom, the angels themselves and the Lord sending him out. Noah was the beginning [sic, tenth] of our race; yet, uncircumcised, along with his children he went into the ark. Melchizedek, the priest of the Most High, was uncircumcised; to whom also Abraham the first who received circumcision after the flesh, gave tithes, and he blessed him: after whose order God declared, by the mouth of David, that He would establish the everlasting priest. Therefore to you alone this circumcision was necessary, in order that the people may be no people, and the nation no nation; as also Hosea, one of the twelve prophets, declares. Moreover, all those righteous men already mentioned, though they kept no Sabbaths, were pleasing to God; and after them Abraham with all his descendants until Moses, under whom your nation appeared unrighteous and ungrateful to God, making a calf in the wilderness: wherefore God, accommodating Himself to that nation, enjoined them also to offer sacrifices, as if to His name, in order that you might not serve idols. Which precept, however, you have not observed; nay, you sacrificed your children to demons. And you were commanded to keep Sabbaths, that you might retain the memorial of God. For His word makes this announcement, saying, ‘That ye may know that I am God who redeemed you’.”
At the Ante-Nicene Fathers, vol. 1, ch. 114, it is written:
“For the Holy Spirit sometimes brought about that something, which was the type of the future, should be done clearly; sometimes He uttered words about what was to take place, as if it was then taking place, or had taken place. And unless those who read perceive this art, they will not be able to follow the words of the prophets as they ought. For example’s sake, I shall repeat some prophetic passages, that you may understand what I say. When He speaks by Isaiah, ‘He was led as a sheep to the slaughter, and like a lamb before the shearer,’ He speaks as if the suffering had already taken place. And when He says again, ‘I have stretched out my hands to a disobedient and gainsaying people;’ and when He says, ‘Lord, who hath believed our report?’– the words are spoken as if announcing events which had already come to pass. For I have shown that Christ is oftentimes called a Stone in parable, and in figurative speech Jacob and Israel. And again, when He says, ‘I shall behold the heavens, the works of Thy fingers,’ unless I understand His method of using words, I shall not understand intelligently, but just as your teachers suppose, fancying that the Father of all, the unbegotten God, has hands and feet, and fingers, and a soul, like a composite being; and they for this reason teach that it was the Father Himself who appeared to Abraham and to Jacob. Blessed therefore are we who have been circumcised the second time with knives of stone. For your first circumcision was and is performed by iron instruments, for you remain hard-hearted; but our circumcision, which is the second, having been instituted after yours, circumcises us from idolatry and from absolutely every kind of wickedness by sharp stones ... And our hearts are thus circumcised from evil, so that we are happy to die for the name of the good Rock, which causes living water to burst forth for the hearts of those who by Him have loved the Father of all, and which gives those who are willing to drink of the water of life. But you do not comprehend me when I speak these things; for you have not understood what it has been prophesied that Christ would do, and you do not believe us who draw your attention to what has been written. For Jeremiah thus cries: ‘Woe unto you! because you have forsaken the living fountain, and have digged for yourselves broken cisterns that can hold no water.’ Shall there be a wilderness where Mount Zion is, because I gave Jerusalem a bill of divorce in your sight?”
At the Ante-Nicene Fathers, vol. 7, ch. 30, it is written:
“But since many heresies have existed, and the people of God have been rent into divisions at the instigation of demons, the truth must be briefly marked out by us, and placed in its own peculiar dwelling-place, that if any one shall desire to draw the water of life, he may not be borne [carried] by broken cisterns which hold no water, but may know the abundant fountain of God, watered by which he may enjoy perpetual light. Before all things, it is befitting that we should know both that He Himself and His ambassadors foretold that there must be numerous sects and heresies, which would break the unity of the sacred body; and that they admonished us to be on our guard with the greatest prudence, lest we should at any time fall into the snares and deceits of that adversary of ours, with whom God has willed that we should contend. Then that He gave us sure commands, which we ought always to treasure in our minds; for many, forgetting them, and abandoning the heavenly road, have made for themselves devious paths amidst windings and precipices, by which they might lead away the incautious and simple part of the people to the darkness of death: I will explain: how this happened. There were some of our religion whose faith was less established, or who were less learned or less cautious, who rent the unity and divided the Church ....”
I will now use a passage from the book Be Decisive, by Warren W. Wiersbe. While Wiersbe does quite well on the 2nd chapter of the book of Jeremiah, I find that I will have to edit portions of his remarks inasmuch as he designates all Israelites as jews. Wiersbe also uses the NIV, which I am not particularly fond of, but his references of supporting scriptures are excellent. Also, he is somewhat blind (but not always) to the powerful affiliation that idol worship has with sexual prostitution and fornication. Should one want to read the original unedited text of his book, I would suggest that one get a copy:
“Rebellion: God sees His people’s sins (Jer. 2:1–37)
“Jeremiah had a gift for expressing theological truth in pictorial language. In fact, much of his preaching can be read as poetry. In this chapter, he paints ten pictures that expose the sins of the people.
“An unfaithful wife (vv. 1-8). When Yahweh gave the Israelites His covenant at Mt. Sinai (Ex. 19–20), He entered into a loving relationship with them that He compared to marriage. ‘... they broke my covenant, though I was a husband to them... ’ (Jer. 31:32, NIV; see 3:14). In the Old Testament, Israel’s idolatry is compared to adultery and even prostitution (see Isa. 54:5; Hosea 2:16). At the beginning of this covenant relationship, the Israelites were devoted to Yahweh and loved Him, but once they conquered the Promised Land, their hearts lusted after the gods of the nations around them and they sank into idolatry (Judg. 1–3). Although God had taken them safely through their wilderness journey and given them a wonderful inheritance in Canaan, they abandoned Him for man-made gods. What kind of loyal love is that?
“Broken cisterns (vv. 9-13). ‘Go from west to east,’ said the prophet, ‘and you will not find a nation that changed its gods.’ But Israel forsook the true God for false gods, which was like abandoning a spring of fresh flowing water for a cracked muddy cistern that couldn’t hold water. In the Holy Land, water is a valuable possession, and nobody would do a foolish thing like that. No wonder Yahweh said, ‘Be appalled at this, O heavens, and shudder with great horror’ (Jer. 2:12, NIV). The second phrase literally means ‘Let your hair stand on end!’
“A plundered slave (vv. 14-19). God redeemed the Israelites from Egypt and gave them freedom in Canaan, but now their nation had gone back into bondage because of its idolatry. By allying with its pagan neighbors – Egypt and Assyria – instead of trusting Yahweh, Judah had become a vassal state and was being plundered and enslaved. Instead of drinking at the pure river that Yahweh gave them, the Judahites drank the polluted [racially-mixed] waters of the Nile and the Euphrates. Memphis and Tahpanhes were Egyptian cities, and Shihor was a branch of the Nile River.
“A basic principle is enunciated in verse 19: God punishes us by allowing our own sins to bring pain and discipline to our lives. ‘Your own conduct and actions have brought this upon you. This is your punishment. How bitter it is!’ (4:18, NIV) ‘Your wrongdoings have kept these [rains] away; your sins have deprived you of good. (5:25, NIV). The greatest judgment God can send to disobedient people is to let them have their own way and reap the sad, painful consequences of their sins.
“The word ‘backsliding’ literally means ‘to turn away’ and describes the nation’s repeated apostasy. The Book of Judges records at least seven occasions when Israel turned from Yahweh and had to be chastened, and there were numerous other times during the period of the monarchy when the Israelites deliberately turned from Yahweh. The word ‘backslide’ is not used in the New Testament, but the experience is described in other ways: falling from grace (Gal. 5:4), leaving your first love (Rev. 2:4), loving the world (1 John 2:15-17; 2 Tim. 4:10), and walking in darkness (1 John 1:5-10).
“A stubborn animal (v. 20). Jeremiah often used animals to picture the behavior of people, and here he compared the Israelites to an unruly animal that won’t wear the yoke. One of his recurring phrases is ‘the stubbornness of their evil hearts’ (3:17; 7:24; 9:14; 11:8; 13:10; 16:12; 18:12; 23:17, NIV). When people, made in the image of God, refuse to obey God, they become like animals (see Psa. 32:9; Prov. 7:21-23; Hosea 4:16).
“A degenerate vine (v. 21). Judah [or Israel] as a vine is a familiar image in the Old Testament (Isa. 5:1-7; Psa. 80:8-16; Ezek. 17: 1-10; Hosea 10:1-2). God planted His people in the good land He gave them, but they didn’t produce the harvest of righteousness He desired. ‘So He expected it to bring forth good grapes, but it brought forth wild grapes [i.e., mixed-race children]’ (Isa. 5:2, NKJV). Because they worshiped false gods, they became like their degenerate neighbors. How could dead [mixed-race children] ever produce living fruit in their nation? [See 2nd from last paragraph at end of lesson.]
“A defiled body (v. 22). No amount of good works or religious ceremonies could wash away their sins [of race-mixing], because the heart of the nation’s problem was the problem in their hearts. They had sinful hearts because they had stubborn hearts – hearts that refused to listen to God’s servant and obey God’s Word. Josiah’s reformation was only a cosmetic change in the kingdom of Judah; it never reached the hearts of the people so that they repented and sought forgiveness from Yahweh.
“Jeremiah is preeminently the prophet of the heart, for he used the word over sixty times. ‘O Jerusalem, wash the evil from your heart and be saved’ (Jer. 4:14, NIV). ‘The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked: who can know it?’ (17:9) Judah needed to return to Yahweh with their whole heart, for only then could He bless them.
“An animal in the desert (vv. 23-25). Even if the people denied that they were defiled, their actions proved otherwise, for they were like animals: a lost camel, looking for an oasis; or a donkey in heat, running here and there, looking for a mate. As the Israelites pursued the false gods of the pagan nations, their shoes wore out and their throats became dry. How much better had they drunk the refreshing water from the [racial] river of God!
“But they had given themselves so much to sin that they despaired of being saved. ‘It’s no use!’ (2:25, NIV) was their excuse. ‘It’s hopeless!’ They sounded like confirmed alcoholics or compulsive gamblers who can’t break the habit, or like the invalid at the Pool of Bethesda who had been sick for so long that he’d given up hope (John 5: 1-9). Jesus Christ, however, specializes in hopeless cases. ‘He breaks the power of canceled sin/He sets the prisoner free.’
“A disgraced thief (vv. 26-28). A thief caught in the act may protest his or her innocence, but the evidence is there for all to see. Any visitor to the kingdom of Judah could see what God saw: people turning their backs on God and talking to deaf idols, but then turning desperately to Jehovah [sic Yahweh] for help when they found themselves in trouble. They were caught red-handed!
“Incorrigible children (vv. 29-35). God chastened them many times for their sins, but they refused to change their ways, and then they even blamed God! He brought charges against them (Jer. 2:9), but instead of confessing and repenting, they complained and brought charges against Him! None of His discipline seemed to do any good. ‘You struck them, but they felt no pain; you crushed them, but they refused correction’ (5:3, NIV; see 7:28; 17:23; 32:33; 35:13).
“God reminded the people how richly He had blessed them. Yet they had rebelled against Him (2:29), forgot Him (v. 32), and lied to Him (vv. 33-35), claiming to be innocent. One of the major themes of the Book of Deuteronomy is that the nation remember Yahweh and what He had done for them. Yet the people took their blessings for granted and gave their allegiance to dumb idols. They were so skilled at their harlotry (i.e., prostitution), along with worshiping false gods, that even the most wicked prostitute could learn new things from them! They exploited the poor and were stained by their blood, and yet they pleaded innocent (see Amos 2:6-8; 5:10-12).
“Because the nation at that time was enjoying a measure of political and economic prosperity, they concluded that God’s blessing was proof of their innocence! They didn’t realize that God can bless the wicked (Psa. 37 and 73; Matt. 5:45) and that the goodness of God should instead lead them to repentance (Rom. 2:4-5; Luke 15:17-18).
“Prisoners of war (vv. 36-37). In its attempt to keep peace with its neighbors, Judah had flitted between Egypt and Assyria (Jer. 2:14-19), both of whom would ultimately disappoint Judah. The description in verse 37 is that of prisoners of war, their hands tied above their heads, being led away captive. Any decisions we make that are contrary to God’s plan will lead to bondage, because only the truth can set us free (John 8:32). The Babylonian army would eventually overrun the land, take Jerusalem and destroy it, and lead the people away into captivity ....”
Here are a few of the Biblical reference passages that Warren W. Wiersbe cited, and one that he didn’t:
Jer. 2:9: “Wherefore I will yet plead with you [Judah], saith Yahweh, and with your children’s children will I plead.” KJV
Jer. 5:3: “O Yahweh, are not thine eyes upon the truth? thou hast stricken them [Judah], but they have not grieved; thou hast consumed them [Judah], but they have refused to receive correction: they [Judah] have made their faces harder than a rock; they [Judah] have refused to return.” KJV
Jer. 7:28: “But thou shalt say unto them, This [Judah] is a nation that obeyeth not the voice of Yahweh their Elohim, nor receiveth correction: truth is perished, and is cut off from their mouth.” KJV
Jer. 17:23: “But they [Judah] obeyed not, neither inclined their ear, but made their neck stiff, that they might not hear, nor receive instruction.” KJV
Jer. 32:33: “And they [Judah] have turned unto me the back, and not the face: though I taught them, rising up early and teaching them, yet they have not hearkened to receive instruction.” KJV
Jer. 35:13: “Thus saith Yahweh of hosts, the Elohim of Israel; Go and tell the men of Judah and the inhabitants of Jerusalem, Will ye not receive instruction to hearken to my words? saith Yahweh.” KJV
Amos 2:6-8: “6 Thus saith Yahweh; For three transgressions of Israel, and for four, I will not turn away the punishment thereof; because they sold the righteous for silver, and the poor for a pair of shoes; 7 That pant after the dust of the earth on the head of the poor, and turn aside the way of the meek: and a man and his father will go in unto the same maid, to profane my holy name: 8 And they lay themselves down upon clothes laid to pledge by every altar, and they drink the wine of the condemned in the house of their god.” KJV
Jer. 5:7-8: “7 How shall I pardon thee for this? thy children have forsaken me, and sworn by them that are no gods: when I had fed them to the full, they then committed adultery, and assembled themselves by troops in the harlots’ houses. 8 They were as fed horses in the morning: every one neighed after his neighbour’s wife.” KJV ... NIV reads: “... They are well-fed lusty stallions, each neighing for another man’s wife,”
Amos 5:10-12: “10 They hate him that rebuketh in the gate, and they abhor him that speaketh uprightly. 11 Forasmuch therefore as your treading is upon the poor, and ye take from him burdens of wheat: ye have built houses of hewn stone, but ye shall not dwell in them; ye have planted pleasant vineyards, but ye shall not drink wine of them. 12 For I know your manifold transgressions and your mighty sins: they afflict the just, they take a bribe, and they turn aside the poor in the gate from their right.” KJV
While Warren W. Wiersbe cited Jeremiah 2:21 (see above), his comment was wholly inadequate where he stated: “So He expected it to bring forth good grapes, but it brought forth wild grapes [i.e., mixed-race children] (Isa. 5:2, NKJV).” I edited this sentence by inserting “[i.e., mixed-race children]” two times. To comprehend the significance of Jer. 2:21-22, I will amplify it to make the matter more evident:
“21 Yet I had planted thee a noble [racially-pure] vine, wholly a right [racial] seed: how then art thou turned into the degenerate [race-mixed] plant of a strange [5237 nokrîy] vine unto me? 22 For though thou wash thee with nitre [c.f. strong lye], and take thee much soap, yet thine iniquity [mischievous miscegenation] is marked [indelibly inscribed] before me, saith Yahweh Elohim.”
Note: The Hebrew word “nokrîy”, Strong’s #5237, is strange/stranger in the very worst sense (i.e., foreigner, non-relative, adulterous, different, etc.), used with regard to illicit sexual intercourse.
