ASSYRIAN cAPTIVITY

A FRAMEWORK FOR OUR UNDERSTANDING - 2 KINGS 17

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Allegories in the assyrian cativity - isaiah 7

Planted by the Waters

Jer 17:7 Blessed is the man that trusteth in the LORD, and whose hope the LORD is. 
Jer 17:8  For he shall be as a tree planted by the waters, and that spreadeth out her roots by the river, and shall not see when heat cometh, but her leaf shall be green; and shall not be careful in the year of drought, neither shall cease from yielding fruit. 
Jer 17:9 The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked: who can know it? 
Jer 17:10  I the LORD search the heart, I try the reins, even to give every man according to his ways, and according to the fruit of his doings.

Assyrian Captivity Prophesied

The Assyrian captivity was prophesied in Isaiah 7 - this was a message to King Ahaz however this had taken place later on during the rein of King Hoshea.
17The LORD will bring on you and on your people and on the house of your father a time unlike any since the day Ephraim separated from Judah—He will bring the king of Assyria.”18On that day the LORD will whistle to the flies at the farthest streams of the Nile and to the bees in the land of Assyria.
19And they will all come and settle in the steep ravines and clefts of the rocks, in all the thorn bushes and watering holes.
The Lord whistles and brings the flies from the streams of the Nile and the bees from the land of Assyria. 

The Allegory of the flies and the bees that settle in the land

The flies represented the ally Egypt - Israel put her trust in Egypt but did not place her trust in the Lord and did not arm her faith in Christ. The flies come and settle in the land and represent how the Holy Spirit will expose those places in our lives where we are not relying on the Lord - we may have placed our faith in something other than the Lord Himself. The bees from Assyria represent a different law - the framework of this law undermines the power of Christ - it could be a framework that undermines the path of the Lord's destination, it may bring a limitation or may not honor righteous boundaries. Bees are administrators collecting the nectar from flower to flower demonstrating a highly organised workmanship in building the hive with hexagonal shaped cells to harvest the honey. The bees represent an administration anointing,  This anointing exposes false structures, raising the bar of what is the framework of life in Christ.

The Land - The steep ravines and cleft of the rock

Ravines can be very steep - the steep ravines represent a place of debt - the debt can be relational, financial or health areas in ones life. The debt may affect ones soul to where they are in a place of unbelief, despair and anxiety - but the Lord will breathe into these places to bring intimacy back to His fold, He will ignite people back to the renewal. Debt can cause one to demand something from others, it may cause someone to rely on other means, means that are not intimate to the Lord's working - like a reliance upon Egypt but God would have the flock to rely upon His Name and trust in His power. 

At the cleft of the rock the Lord proclaimed His Name to Moses. Before this time Moses had seen the beautiful countenance of the Lord's face but now the Lord was not going to show His face to Moses.  This time Moses would see Him from behind as He passed by proclaiming His Name "The Lord, The Lord" the Lord reminded Moses of His goodness and here, when Moses broke the tablets of stone with the commandments the first time, the Lord had him to realign back for a second time to receive the commandments.

Exo 34:5  And the LORD descended in the cloud, and stood with him there, and proclaimed the name of the LORD. 
Exo 34:6  And the LORD passed by before him, and proclaimed, 

The LORD, The LORD God, merciful and gracious, longsuffering, and abundant in goodness and truth, 
Exo 34:7  Keeping mercy for thousands, forgiving iniquity and transgression and sin, and that will by no means clear the guilty; visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children, and upon the children's children, unto the third and to the fourth generation.

At the cleft of the rock Moses was re-connected back to the goodness inherent in the Lord's Name - this is what He would have at first seen in the countenance of Yahweh - This was a reconnecting back to the source of who He is.  When one is connected to God, they are also connecting into a trust and reliance upon Him in His goodness, faithfulness and power.

The Land -  The thornbushes and watering holes

At the watering holes one may delight in another's company and have sweet fellowship in fact the water holes are the place of sweet fellowship but then all of a sudden there are thornbushes, a place of disorder and offence,  a very destabilizing place in ones disposition where unheathly mindsets are exposed this is the thornbush, eventually broken fellowship follows.
Jer 17:9 The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked: who can know it?          Psalm 101: 7 No one who practices deceit will dwell in my house; no one who speaks falsely will stand in my presence.
Interpretations outside of scripture is a breeding place of immaturity and deceit. We must abide and delight in the scriptures. We have spoken about the symbolism of the bees, how they relate to the framework of Jesus. His framework will dispel the thornbushes, remembering also, that He took the thorns for us as He wore the crown of thorns on the cross.

The precepts of the Lord are holy. Sometimes we need to draw a line and stand on the Fathers precept. We have to mark our boundary for our identity and life in Jesus. We need to walk under the Lamp of Christ and walk under His revelation to see through.

The Abiding Presence of the Lord.

I saw a land like clay and the Lord's glory mist was coming to settle in that land - that land became healed. It was a picture of the Father's glory settling on the hearts of people in where His glory was released into their life. The Holy Spirit had awoken a land to be an abiding place for God's glory. God had marked His servants to be a resting place.  

Pattern for Prayer 

Note:

 You may like to use this as a pattern for intercession in praying for others.

Apply the blood of Jesus into the steep place of the ravine.

Pray for faith and unity to His Name and character.

Pray that the Lord's precept be encountered.