Words of Hope

A Word Study on the Biblical Word "Hope"

Study #14 - Hope Redirected 

We are continuing to look at passages dealing with the hope of Israel's restoration.  We have considered the hope offered to Israel in the new covenant (Jeremiah 31), the hope of Israel based on the compassions of God, and the contrition that is requisite to their hope being realized (Lamentations 3).  We now turn to the crisis of Israel's hope as expressed in the book of Ezekiel.  Twice in this book we read of the apparent loss of Israel's hope:  1) Ezekiel 19:5 - "Now when she (i.e. Israel) saw that she had waited, and her hope was lost ...";  2) Ezekiel 37:11 - "... behold, they say, Our bones are dried, and our hope is lost ...".  Ezekiel ministered as a prophet of the Babylonian captivity among the captives of Judah.  It was a low point in the nation's history when every outward appearance and physical indicator pointed toward the inevitable destruction of the entire nation of Israel.  Humanly speaking there was no hope for the nation's continuance or existence.  But the word of the LORD through his prophet Ezekiel reconfirmed God's promise of the future resurrection of the nation!  But first we find the nation's hope redirected.  The nation had made the fatal mistake of thinking that her hope for existence was to be found in one of her kings.  Right up to the fall of Jerusalem in 586 B.C. the people had hoped that one king after another would prove to be the leader who would deliver them from ever being conquered.  Their misplaced hope was in some political power or in their military might.  The nation made the same mistake in thinking that their promised Messiah would be such a political and military savior in the days of Christ.  How disappointed they were when the Lord Jesus Christ came to save them from their sins rather than from the oppression of Rome!  In Ezekiel chapter 19 we have the failure of Israel's kings portrayed in two parables:  1) The Lioness and Her Whelps (vs.1-9); and 2) The Vine and It's Broken Branches (vs.10-14).  It is in the first parable that we have the crisis of hope unseen.  Israel is pictured as a lioness who places the hope of her protection in her male cubs, i.e. in her princes or rulers.  The two "whelps" referred to in this parable were the two kings Jehoahaz (also called Shallum) and Jehoiakim.  Both were "lion-like" men of power, but sadly were also wicked before the Lord and followed in the sins of Manasseh rather than continuing the reforms of their godly father Josiah.  The prophet describes their ferocity and cruelty by saying that they "learned to catch the prey" and "devoured men" (vs. 3 and 6).  And so, rather than saving the nation they provoked the anger of Egypt and Bablyon and were "hunted down" and "captured" like a man-eating lion (vs.4 and 8)!  First Jehoahaz was taken captive by Pharoah Nechoh of Egypt and Israel was forced to pay tribute to Egypt (II Kings 23:31-34).  Next, seeing that the hope they had waited for had not come through Jehoahaz, Israel placed her hope in Jehoiakim:  "Now when she saw that she had waited, and her hope was lost, then she took another of her whelps, and made him a young lion" (Ezekiel 19:5).  But her hope was misplaced once again, for Jehoiakim was attacked by the Chaldeans, Syrians, Moabites and Ammonites and was first put under tribute by Nebuchadnezzar and then three years later was carried away captive to Babylon (II Kings 23:36-24:4; II Chron.36:1-8).  Two final kings would follow, but by this time the fall of the nation was inevitable.  God was redirecting the hope of Israel away from man and toward Himself.  As Zechariah would later proclaim, Israel's restoration would not come through political power or military might but by the power of God's own Spirit:  "Not by might, nor by power, but by my spirit, saith the LORD of hosts" (Zechariah 4:6).  It is in confirmation of this miraculous resurrection of the nation by the power of God's Spirit that Ezekiel is given the vision of the valley of dry bones (Ezekiel chapter 37) which we will look at in our next study.  

Words of Hope

A Word Study on the Biblical Word "Hope"

Study #13 - Hope in God's Compassions

We are continuing to look at the subject of the hope of Israel's restoration.  We have considered the fact that the promise of Israel's future restoration is two-fold:  Their return to their own land, and their return to the Lord.  This was clearly portrayed in God's promises to Israel in the 31st chapter of Jeremiah which centered around the provisions of the new covenant (see last study).  The conditions of the new covenant include contrition for sin and conversion to Christ.  Our present study will consider the matter of Israel's contrition as portrayed by Jeremiah in Lamentations chapter three.  Jeremiah, the human author of the book of Lamentations, has rightly been called "the weeping prophet".  As the prophet of the Lord, Jeremiah was inspired to write the sad account of Jerusalem's fall to the nation of Babylon and to represent the fallen nation of Israel in its mourning over Jerusalem's destruction and their own captivity.  In Lamentations 3:18-29 we find Jeremiah using the word "hope" five times.  Actually, he uses four different Hebrew words for hope in these twelve verses.  Only the last mention of "hope" found in verse 29 is the particular Hebrew word (tiqwa) that we have been studying thus far.  While we want to reserve the distinctive meanings of these various other Hebrew words for "hope" for later studies, we feel that it will be profitable to our present study to at least list these five references with some brief comments:
vs. 18 - "And I said, My strength and my hope is perished from the LORD:" - The word for "hope" here is that of expectation.  Jeremiah represents the nation in their feelings of hopelessness as they thought upon their afflictions:  "Remembering mine affliction and my misery ..." (vs.19).  Their expectations of deliverance from the Lord had not occurred - instead the Lord had allowed them to suffer affliction and captivity!  This was a part of God's chastening of the nation to bring them to contrition and humility:  "My soul hath them still in remembrance, and is humbled in me" (vs.20).
vs. 21 - "This I recall to my mind, therefore have I hope." - Now the Hebrew word used in this verse and in the next comes from the root meaning "to wait" or "to trust".  The focus of Jeremiah's thoughts has now shifted away from  "remembering mine affliction and my misery" to "recalling to mind" something far better:  "It is of the LORD'S mercies that we are not consumed, because his compassions fail not.  They are new every morning: great is thy faithfulness" (vs.22,23).  Thoughts of God's mercy, compassion and faithfulness brought Jeremiah from a crisis of hopelessness to a confession of hopefulness!  The fact that God had never completely destroyed the nation of Israel is a proof of his perpetual mercy.  And His perpetual mercy is the basis for the prophet's patient trust (and our's).
vs.24 - "The LORD is my portion, saith my soul; therefore will I hope in him." - The hope of God's mercies is founded upon more than His past dealings with the nation, it is founded upon the very nature of God's Person. God not only has compassion, He is compassionate, merciful and faithful!  "The LORD is good unto them that wait for him, to the soul that seeketh him" (vs.25).
vs.26 - "It is good that a man should both hope and quietly wait for the salvation of the LORD." - Here now is a third Hebrew word for "hope" but it also is thought to come from the same root as the word in the previous two references.  It too is rooted in the idea of "waiting" or "trusting".  It is a patient hope that is expressed by waiting quietly, that is, without complaint or anxiety.  The object of hope is not only in the Lord's past mercies and in the Lord's Person, but now also in the Lord's promise of salvation.  But how is this to be realized?  The nation must "bear their yoke" of chastisement in silent submission recognizing that it was the LORD who had placed it upon them (vs.27,28).
vs.29 - "He putteth his mouth in the dust; if so be there may be hope." - Israel's hope is conditioned upon her contrition for sin.  (In particular their sin of rejecting the Lord Jesus Christ as their Messiah).  Here is our word "tiqwa" - a strong or confident hope.  The image of contrition here is quite strong.  C.F.Keil comments as follows:  "The expression is derived from the Oriental custom of throwing oneself in the most reverential manner on the ground, and involves the idea of humble silence, because the mouth, placed in the dust, cannot speak".  This is true contrition that clings to the hope that God will be merciful to the sinner who turns to Him in faith humbly seeking His forgiveness through Christ:  "Wherefore doth a living man complain, a man for the punishment of his sins?  Let us search and try our ways, and turn again to the LORD.  Let us lift up our heart with our hands unto God in the heavens" (Lam. 3:39-41).  Any man or nation who truly does this may confidently trust that God will abundantly pardon (Is. 55:6,7).

Words of Hope

A Word Study on the Biblical Word "Hope"

Study #12 - The Hope of the New Covenant

In our last post we listed the six references that mention the hope of Israel's restoration.  We have already given some general comments and observations on these verses, but now we want to spend the next several weeks in looking at these passages in more detail.  Several recurring themes appear in connection with the promised hope of Israel's restoration:  God's Covenant, Israel's Conflicts, Israel's Contrition, and Israel's Conversion.  We may find all of these themes represented in Jeremiah chapter 31.  Clearly, Israel is portrayed as being in a time of great crisis and conflict:  "Thus saith the LORD:  A voice was heard in Ramah, lamentation, and bitter weeping; Rahel weeping for her children refused to be comforted for her children, because they were not" (Jer.31:15).  The context, of course, is that of the captivity of Israel.  Rachel, the deceased mother of Joseph and Benjamin and the tribes that descended from them, is pictured as bitterly weeping for her slain and captive people at Ramah, the place at which the exiles were assembled before their deportation to Babylon.  This mournful weeping of Rachel was also typical and prophetical of the weeping of the mothers of Bethlehem whose infant sons were slaughtered by Herod shortly after the birth of Christ (Matthew 2:18).  The very existence of Israel has been threatened numerous times and continues to be threatened by their enemies to this very day.  But in that time of seeming hopelessness and threatened extermination, the voice of the LORD promised hope to the nation:  "Refrain thy voice from weeping, and thine eyes from tears: for thy work shall be rewarded, saith the LORD; and they shall come again from the land of the enemy.  And there is hope in thine end (i.e. your future), saith the LORD, that thy children shall come again to their own border" (Jer.31:16,17).  Clearly this is a prophecy and a divine promise that the dispersed nation of Israel will return to their own land.  This promise is made repeatedly in this one chapter:  "Again I will build thee, and thou shalt be built, O virgin of Israel ..." (vs.4); "Behold, I will bring them from the north country, and gather them from the coasts of the earth..." (vs.8); "He that scattered Israel will gather him..." (vs.10); "And it shall come to pass, that like as I have watched over them, to pluck up, and to break down, and to throw down, and to destroy, and to afflict; so will I watch over them to build, and to plant, saith the LORD" (vs.28).  But there is MORE!  MUCH MORE!  The hope of Israel is more than a return to the land, it is the hope of a return to the LORD!  Such a hope is centered in the New Covenant promised in this same chapter, verses 31-34 (please read these verses for yourself).  God is not finished with Israel!  One day they will come into the blessings of the New Covenant provided for them in Christ Jesus which was ratified forever by the shedding of His own blood (see Hebrews 8:6-13 and 10:14-18).  In this covenant, which is received by faith in the Lord Jesus Christ, is found:  1) An inward change - "I will put my law in their inward parts, and write it in their hearts"; 2) An intimate relationship - "I will be their God, and they shall be my people"; 3) An indwelling knowledge - "for they shall all know me, from the least of them unto the greatest of them"; and 4) An individual cleansing - "I will forgive their iniquity, and I will remember their sin no more" (Jer.31:33,34).  Israel as a nation has not yet entered into this covenant of hope, but the promises of the New Covenant are fully provided for in Christ Jesus and may be individually received by either Jew or Gentile today.  God longs for His people to return to Him!  Hear his voice of grace to those in the wilderness of sin:  "Yea, I have loved thee with an everlasting love: therefore with lovingkindness have I drawn thee" (Jer.31:2,3).  Hear his voice of grief over His erring children: "For since I spake against him, I do earnestly remember him still: therefore my bowels are troubled for him; I will surely have mercy upon him, saith the LORD" (Jer.31:20).  And hear His voice of great pleading: "How long wilt thou go about, O thou backsliding daughter?" (Jer.31:22).  Have you responded by faith to His offer of hope and forgiveness?  Trust your heart and soul to the Lord Jesus Christ and you will be grafted into the covenant promises of Israel's Messiah - the hope of the New Covenant!

Words of Hope

A Word Study on the Biblical Word "Hope"

Study #11 - Hope for Israel's Restoration

Our last study dealt with the potential hope for human reformation.  The final group of scriptures using the Hebrew word "tiqwa" (a confident hope) center around the promised hope of Israel's restoration.  We will begin by listing these six verses in the order they are found in the books of the King James Version of the English Bible.  We will highlight the pertinent words dealing with the subject of Israel's Hope but will give only a brief comment on each passage before attempting to make some general observations.  We will attempt to look at these passages in more depth in future postings as we are able, God willing.  Please take the time to read these verses in their contexts for a better understanding of their full meaning.

1)  Jeremiah 31:17 - "And there is hope in thine end, saith the LORD, that thy children shall come again to their own border."   Here we read of the future hope (in thine end or future) of the return of the dispersed people to their own land.  In this same chapter we also find the promise of the New Covenant.

2)  Lamentations 3:29 - "He putteth his mouth in the dust; if so be there may be hope."   Here we find the condition (if so be) of contrition (putting the mouth in the dust) that is a prerequisite of this hope.  In this same chapter Jeremiah speaks of hope five times in verses 18-29 using four different Hebrew words!  This will demand a separate study later on, but for now we note the context of the Lord's compassions that lead to this contrition.

3)  Ezekiel 19:5 - "Now when she saw that she had waited, and her hope was lost, then she took another of her whelps, and made him a young lion."  Here Ezekiel is looking back at Israel's misplaced hopes before the captivity.  As a lioness, Israel was placing her confidence in her princes (her whelps), not in the power of her God.  This is the crisis of hope unseen (when she saw).  She was looking in the wrong direction!

4)  Ezekiel 37:11 - "Then he said unto me, Son of man, these bones are the whole house of Israel:  behold, they say, Our bones are dried, and our hope is lost: we are cut off for our parts."  Here too is the crisis of a hope unconfessed  or rather the complaint of a lost hope.  However, the LORD immediately corrects this complaint with a prophetical confirmation of the hope of restoration.

5)  Hosea 2:15 - "And I will give her her vineyards from thence, and the valley of Achor for a door of hope: and she shall sing there, as in the days of her youth, and as in the day when she came up out of the land of Egypt."  Here the place of Israel's trouble (the valley of Achor) and defeat (read Joshua 7) would become the place of Israel's triumph at their re-entry  into the land (a door of hope).

6)  Zechariah 9:12 - "Turn you to the strong hold, ye prisoners of hope:  even to day do I declare that I will render double unto thee."  Here we find hope declared to Israel in the midst of captivity and conflict.  They were prisoners of another nation, but as the people of God they were declared to be prisoners of hope.  A double blessing awaits them in the day when they will turn to the Lord their Strong Hold!

Obviously this subject is much larger than we can adequately deal with in our word study today.  But for now, we may note that the hope of Israel's restoration is inseparably tied with God's covenant promises to them.  He confirmed that covenant hope with them over and over again.  We must also recognize that their promised restoration is two-fold:  There is not only the promise of their physical return to the land, but of their spiritual return to the LORD!  Not only repatriation but regeneration is promised.  Not only conveyance to the land, but conversion to the Lord Jesus Christ.  Meanwhile, as in their past so in the present, Israel is subject to God's loving correction.  They have been in one crisis after another and through many conflicts - and there are more to come!  Yet in God's loving compassion Israel has been preserved as a nation.  Their very existence is something of a perpetual miracle!  The return to the land has begun - something once thought an impossibility even by "Bible scholars".  But the need for contrition and conversion remains.  But this too will certainly come to pass in the day when God shall pour upon them the spirit of grace and they shall look upon Him they have pierced (Zechariah 12:10), and the fountain of cleansing for sin shall be opened to them (Zechariah 13:1).