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Thoughts of...A Nice Ring
On our last Tour to Israel, my wife and I both bought gold rings with inscribed in Hebrew on them. Truly, our marriage is a strong three-stranded cord and Jesus Christ is the Center. I think they are very nice rings.
I found two other rings yesterday morning. In Genesis 22, Abraham is commanded by God to offer his son Isaac as a burnt offering (). Abraham has by this time received the promise of God that his descendents through Isaac would be too numerous to count (, , , ). But how is God going to keep His promise if Isaac becomes a burnt offering? Abraham did not know how, but he did know that God was more than able to do it. So he obeyed by faith (). He did not stagger in unbelief but followed the leading of his God. And God counted him as righteous ().
In Genesis 24, after Divine intervention on Mount Moriah (), Abraham sends his servant Eliezer (), whose name means “God of help”, to the land of his ancestors to collect a bride for his son Isaac ().
What a pair of very interesting and very profound pictures!
A Father offering His only begotten Son as a sacrifice for sin on a mountain at Jerusalem.
A Father sending His Helper to testify of His Son (, ; ; ) in the land of His people to gather a Bride for the Son (, ).
But, that is a whole different study…
Eliezer was led by the Lord to Rebekah (). She responds as he had prayed the Bride would () and he, in turn, gives to her a down payment of the wondrous things to come (, , ; , ; ). Let’s look at that down payment in Gen 24:22.
The King James Version (a word-for-word translation) reads, “And it came to pass, as the camels had done drinking, that the man took a golden earring of half a shekel weight…” A nice ring, wouldn’t you say?
The New American Standard Bible (another word-for-world translation) reads, “Then it came about, when the camels had finished drinking, that the man took a gold ring weighing a half-shekel…” Again, a nice ring!
The Spanish Dios Habla Hoy (God Speaks Today, also a word-for-word translation) reads, “Cuando los camellos terminaron de beber, el hombre tomo un anillo de oro que pesaba como seis gramos, y se lo puso a ella en la nariz.” In English, that means, “When the camels had ended to drink, the man took a gold ring that weighed about six grams and he put it in her nose.” What? A nose ring?!
Going to the Strong’s Exhaustive Concordance to read the Hebrew behind the KJV English, we can see that Hebrew word that was translated “earring” means “nose ring.” Eliezer gave Rebekah, the Bride-to-be of Isaac, Abraham’s promised son, a nose ring. Not a gold colored earring, but a nose ring made of gold!
Two thoughts came immediately to mind. The first was a mental picture of a Gothic teenager with body piercing in his ears, nose, eyebrows, and tongue. Yikes! The other thought was of Gog and Magog in Ezekiel 38.
Speaking of the end times invasion of Israel by a Russian-led confederation of nations, Ezekiel 38:1-4 reads in the KJV,
“And the word of the LORD came unto me, saying, Son of man, set thy face against Gog, the land of Magog, the chief prince of Meshech and Tubal, and prophesy against him. And say, Thus saith the Lord GOD; Behold, I am against thee, O Gog, the chief prince of Meshech and Tubal. And I will turn thee back, and put hooks into thy jaws, and I will bring thee forth, and all thine army, horses and horsemen, all of them clothed with all sorts of armor, even a great company with bucklers and shields, all of them handling swords.”
The Hebrew word translated “hooks” in Ezk 38:4 means “nose ring.” Once this nose ring is set in place, Magog will be “pulled” into Israel and overwhelmingly defeated by God Almighty Himself (Ezk 38:14 – 39:4). Not a nice ring.
Going back to Genesis, on the other hand (or in the other nose, as the case may be), Rebekah received a nose ring of gold as down payment from a wealthy father to marry his son, whom she has never met. All she needed to do was to go with the father’s servant (). Then, for her obedience, she received the same blessing Abraham did for his obedience (, , , ). Nice ring!
Two nose rings. One of gold, righteousness, and blessing when a choice is made to follow the Lord. The other of shame and unrighteousness, used to be pulled into destruction when a choice is made to fight the Lord. Follow or be pulled. Both rings lead to one place – Jesus Christ ()
If you want a nice ring, all you have to do is ask for it and it will be given to you ().
Pastor Doug
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