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SOME STUDY GEMS:
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Past and Future, Beginning and End
Lamentations 1:7,9 “In the days of her affliction and roaming, Jerusalem remembers all her pleasant things That she had in the days of old… Her uncleanness is in her skirts; She did not consider her destiny“
The Hebrew word both for remember and to consider, is Zakar H2142 – zāḵar – it is the same word. See our previous posts on “Zakar”, for Memory or Remember. The word relates to your thoughts, to recall something, to bring to mind, to consider. In our previous posts, which makes this word quite significant, we mention how YHWH says His Name is to be Zakar, brought to memory. Also, that He would wipe out certain memories.
YHWH is omnipresent, meaning He is the beginning and the end, He was there creating the beginning, and He knows the end, and He reveals the end through the prophecies. In Isaiah 46:10 we read, “I declare the end from the beginning and from ancient times what is not yet done, saying, ‘My plan will take place, and I will do all my will'”. For humans, this is a great test. To trust and believe the Creator of Heaven and Earth, and to trust Him in our present, and to trust Him for the end. However, people rather prefer lingering on good times and bad times, that is how we seem to split our lives. Good and bad are consequences, it is the symptom of what is really going on. And we should choose what we Zakar, bring to mind, whether in good times or bad.
Despair and Hope
Lamentations 3:20-21 “My soul still remembers and sinks within me. This I recall to my mind, Therefore I have hope.”
The Hebrew word for sink, and some translations say discouraged, but is actually Suah H7743 – šûaḥ – meaning to be humbled, to bow down.
The translation “recall to mind”, have two words recall – which is not the same word as Zakar we just mentioned in the notes above, but Teshuvah Suv H7725 – šûḇ, which is not memory, but an act to return, recover or restore. And the word mind is not really mind, but the Hebrew word is Lev H3820 – lēḇ, which is your Heart.
The Hebrew word for hope is Yahal H3176 – yāḥal, also meaning to wait, expect and trust. So this verse really says, “My soul still remembers and bow down humbly, My heart turns to YHWH and will trust in Him“. Even though just like Job, these prophets and even Lot witnessed great loss and having to start over, our soul must never lose hope. Like David said in Psalm 23 “He restores my soul.. Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil; For You are with me“
