The sons of Gomer - Togarmah
First posted: December 9, 2018
This article is the fourth in a series meditating on the spiritual significance of the sons of Japheth, son of Noah. It is also the third in a sub-series of articles on the sons of Gomer, the first son of Japheth.
Index
Pointing north
As we saw in the previous word, the sons of Gomer are listed in Scripture as being the following:
"And the sons of Gomer; Ashkenaz, and Riphath, and Togarmah" (Genesis 10:3)
Interestingly enough, just like "Riphath", the name "Togarmah" does not have many appearances in Scripture, only being used 4 times by the Spirit of God. It appears in Genesis 10:3 above and in 1 Chronicles 1:6 (which is a reiteration of Genesis 10:3), and in 2 verses in the book of Ezekiel:
"They of the house of Togarmah traded in thy fairs with horses and horsemen and mules" (Ezekiel 27:14)
"Gomer, and all his bands; the house of Togarmah of the north quarters, and all his bands: and many people with thee" (Ezekiel 38:6)
Notice that these verses do not provide much (explicit) information on the spiritual meaning of Togarmah, meaning that the Spirit of God wants believers to rely on the same mechanism that allowed us to gain understanding on Riphath in such a precise manner, i.e. by meditating on the Hebrew words surrounding "Togarmah" in Strong's Concordance. As we have shared before, the order of words in Strong's Concordance is spiritually relevant because it not only reflects the distinct Hebrew words used by the Spirit of God in Scripture but it also reflects their order according to the Hebrew alphabet (an order that is certified by God as "spiritually relevant" by acrostic psalms such as Psalm 119).
However, before we proceed to meditate on the Scriptural Hebrew words surrounding the word Togarmah, let us briefly consider the 2 Ezekiel verses above to get a sense of what peoples Togarmah may refer to in the natural.
Notice that Ezekiel 38:6 portrays Togarmah, son of Gomer, as a people from the north. This means that we must consider European peoples who have exhibited a "preference" for living in the northern parts of Europe. Notice also that Ezekiel 27:14 establishes a strong linkage between Togarmah and "horses and mules". Thus, we must consider European peoples whose culture has shown a strong linkage to horses. When we consider these two factors, excluding peoples that are already taken into account in Togarmah's brothers (the Ashkenazi Germanics and the Riphathite Celts) and his father (the Nordic Gomerites), it slowly becomes clear that Togarmah refers to the Baltic peoples.
As you may know, the modern Baltic nations of Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania are all northern nations that press against the northern waters of the Baltic Sea. Also, as indicated on the "Baltic Crusades" episode of the BBC Radio 4 show "In Our Time" (starting around the 8-minute mark), the earlier Balts were known for their horse-burial rituals. As explained on www.researchgate.net, the Balts would bury 1 horse (and sometimes 2 or 3) near the burial ground of a human, with the burial sites indicating that they would bury the horse(s) alive in tight pits from which they would be unable to escape. Since there are no Baltic writings from the time to explain their motivation, it seems as if their intent was to bury the horse with its owner after his death so as to provide him a "means of transport" in the afterlife. Regardless of their motivation, this curious trait reveals that Balts felt intimately linked to their horses, to the point of burying their in-life horses with them. The Balts' strong connection to horses can also be seen in the Khazars, who, as indicated on wikipedia.org, are believed by various medieval sources to have descended from Togarmah. As mentioned on wikipedia.org, it is believed that the Khazars practiced horse sacrifices to the "sky god", and there is evidence that they would also be buried with their horses. The Alans (sons of Aliqanosz), a people who lived in the region north of the Black Sea are also believed to have descended from Togarmah (and from Madai, in this writer's opinion), and they were excellent horsemen (as indicated on wikipedia.org). The Bulgars, a people who settled for a time in the Pontiac-Caspian steppe, are also believed by medieval sources to be descendants of Togarmah, and they were excellent horsemen capable of covering large distances in a short time, and they were also known to consider horses to be the most "sacred animals" (according to wikipedia.org). Notice that all these peoples (the Khazars, the Alans, and the Bulgars) lived in East European territory near the modern Baltic states, and in territory that is believed to have been occupied by Baltic peoples before they migrated to their current location.
Now that we have found that Togarmah's few explicit characteristics point towards the Baltic people, let us begin to consider the 14 Hebrew words around the word "Togarmah" in Strong's Concordance. However, instead of going sequentially backward or forward in Strong's Concordance as we did with Riphath, we shall group them into the 4 different categories that they reveal about Togarmah. We will then meditate on them one category at a time, even if that means going in an order different than the alphabetical order.
Pregnant Togarmah
The word immediately preceding "Togarmah" in Strong's Concordance is the Hebrew word tuwgah (H8424) meaning "grief, heaviness, sorrow". This word only appears 4 times in Scripture, and 3 of those appearances are in Proverbs, with the first one being in the following verse, where it is translated as "heaviness":
"The proverbs of Solomon. A wise son maketh a glad father: but a foolish son is the heaviness of his mother." (Proverbs 10:1)
Notice how tuwgah heaviness is spiritually associated with a mother who has to put up with a son who is unwilling to mature into the wisdom appropriate for his age. This principle is emphasised 5 words earlier in Strong's Concordance, i.e. in the word tahpukah (H8419) meaning "perversity". Interestingly enough, this word also appears mostly in Proverbs (9 out of 10 appearances). Its only appearance outside of Proverbs is in its first appearance where it is translated as "froward":
"And he said, I will hide my face from them, I will see what their end shall be: for they are a very froward generation, children in whom is no faith" (Deuteronomy 32:20)
Notice how the Lord uses tahpukah to refer to the generation of Israelites that He had rescued from Egypt and who refused to grow into faith despite all that they had seen God do to deliver them. Even though the above verse can be applied directly to that specific generation, its context within Deuteronomy 32 reveals that it has a wider application to Jewish people in general (and to the Gentiles' matriarchal Church). Thus, tahpukah and the verse above clearly points to the following passage:
"Then Jesus answered and said, O faithless and perverse generation, how long shall I be with you? How long shall I suffer you? Bring him hither to me." (Matthew 17:17)
Two words before tahpukah in Strong's Concordance, the Spirit of God placed the word toholah (H8417) meaning "error". This word only appears once in Scripture, in the book of Job, translated as "folly":
"Behold, he put no trust in his servants; and his angels he charged with folly" (Job 4:18)
The words above were spoken by Eliphaz, one of Job's friends, meaning that they are not to be taken necessarily as being uttered by the Spirit of God (as evidenced by God's reprimand of Job's friends in Job 42:7-10). It must be remembered that the book of Job is a narration by the Spirit of God of a conversation between various people. The narration per se is to be taken as valid and inerrant (in its original text) without assuming that the Spirit of God advocates everything that was spoken. Having said that, the fact that the Lord recorded these words in Scripture means that there are spiritual principles that can be discerned from them as long as we remember the spirit with which they were spoken. Meditating on the spiritual meaning of each of Job's friends goes beyond the context of this posting. Suffice it to say that Eliphaz points to the green horse of the Apocalypse and to the golden resurrection Glory of God, but from a wrong, misapplied perspective. Therefore, if we take Eliphaz's words out of the incorrect context he was attempting to apply them to, reinterpreting them as words coming from a genuine green-horse rider, Job 4:18 refers to God's rejection of the matriarchal ministers that permeate the Church, leaving them to carry out meaning religious rituals Sunday after Sunday because they refuse to enter into God's deeper truth. This correlates with the Old-Covenant Aaronic priests in Israel who were left to carry out physical rituals without truly understanding the spiritual underpinnings of what they were doing. God could not put His trust (i.e. faith) in that Aaronic, Old-Covenant generation because they had not put their trust (i.e. faith) in Him. Hence, we can see how toholah is being used in the context of people that must be "put up with" and who cause extra, unnecessary suffering due to their unwillingness to grow.
The above is further reinforced by the Hebrew word tavah (H8428) meaning "to cause pain, wound", which appears 3 words after "Togarmah" in Strong's Concordance. Interestingly, tavah only appears once in Scripture, in verse 41 of the following passage, translated as "limited":
"35 And they remembered that God was their rock, and the high God their redeemer. 36 Nevertheless they did flatter him with their mouth, and they lied unto him with their tongues. 37 For their heart was not right with him, neither were they stedfast in his covenant. 38 But he, being full of compassion, forgave their iniquity, and destroyed them not: yea, many a time turned he his anger away, and did not stir up all his wrath. 39 For he remembered that they were but flesh; a wind that passeth away, and cometh not again. 40 How oft did they provoke him in the wilderness, and grieve him in the desert! 41 Yea, they turned back and tempted God, and limited the Holy One of Israel. 42 They remembered not his hand, nor the day when he delivered them from the enemy." (Psalm 78:35-42)
Notice how the context is once again God putting up with people who refuse to grow. The above passage, however, reveals what makes this situation particularly difficult. As indicated in verse 35, the Israelites mentioned in the passage did remember that God was their rock and that He was their redeemer, meaning that they had enough faith to be redeemed by God from the bondage of Egypt and to be called by His Name. Therefore, they could not simply be obliterated like Sodom and Gomorrah when they committed their grave rebellions against God. There was enough righteousness in them to evoke God's compassion and protection, but they had more than enough unrighteousness to cause God pain and troubles. This is what makes an unwise son painful to a mother, particularly a good mother (as mentioned in Proverbs 10:1). The mother cannot simply forget about the son and treat him like any other unwelcome stranger, unless the son becomes so unrighteous that the mother can discard him as a son and cast him in the spiritual fires of Gehenna. But, as long as the son does not fall below a certain level of unrighteousness, the mother will be prompted to give protection and compassion to the son and to put up with the excess burden brought on by the son's high unrighteousness. Having said this, it must be emphasised that this does not mean that the mother is expected to protect and condone unrighteousness just because it is coming from her son. The protection and compassion will always be within the confines of her duty as a mother and within the confines of the righteousness and repentance exhibited by the son.
From the above, we can see that Togarmah points to the following passage:
"12 Brethren, I beseech you, be as I am; for I am as ye are: ye have not injured me at all. 13 Ye know how through infirmity of the flesh I preached the gospel unto you at the first. 14 And my temptation which was in my flesh ye despised not, nor rejected; but received me as an angel of God, even as Christ Jesus. 15 Where is then the blessedness ye spake of? for I bear you record, that, if it had been possible, ye would have plucked out your own eyes, and have given them to me. 16 Am I therefore become your enemy, because I tell you the truth? 17 They zealously affect you, but not well; yea, they would exclude you, that ye might affect them. 18 But it is good to be zealously affected always in a good thing, and not only when I am present with you. 19 My little children, of whom I travail in birth again until Christ be formed in you, 20 I desire to be present with you now, and to change my voice; for I stand in doubt of you." (Galatians 4:12-20)
As we have studied before, the above passage is intrinsically linked to the following words spoken by the Lord in Matthew 24:
"19 And woe unto them that are with child, and to them that give suck in those days! 20 But pray ye that your flight be not in the winter, neither on the sabbath day" (Matthew 24:19-20)
As we studied then, the above passage is related to the "flight of sadness" that believers must go through during the 5th-seal stage, a stage fraught with inclement Jebusite judgements and empty Sabbaths of Hittite torment. Under such inclement and tormenting conditions, it is especially difficult to have to bear a child who cannot walk for himself, a child that has enough good (i.e. righteousness and faith) not to be left behind but who is not "good" enough to protect himself from the enemy because he refused to grow when he needed to.
Since the 5th seal follows directly after the 4th-seal green-horse stage, those fleeing during the 5th seal are believers who have gone through green-horse death, which explains why the one speaking in Job 4:18 above was Eliphaz, since Eliphaz represents the green-horse perspective (but in a distorted, misapplied way).
This connection between Togarmah and having a "pregnancy burden" on account of others explains why the Spirit of God mentions both horses and mules when speaking of Togarmah in Ezekiel 27:14 above, since mules are ideal for carrying heavy burdens across long stretches. Their stubbornness also points to the stubborn determination that is required to support immature souls whilst dealing with heavy burdens of your own as you traverse the difficult 5th-seal stage.
As a side note, it is interesting to consider how the 4 Hebrew words near "Togarmah" in Strong's Concordance that we have studied so far point to the very unique verse 19 in chapter 4 of Galatians (quoted above). As indicated on wikipedia.org, the Galindians were 2 distinct Baltic tribes, one eastern and one western. Usually, the term "Galindians" is used to refer to the western tribe who lived in the southeast of Prussia (in modern-day eastern Poland), but it can also refer to the eastern tribe that lived in the area of modern-day Moscow. The name "Galinda" is believed to derive from the Baltic word galas meaning "the end", which correlates with the fact that, for a time, the 2 Galindian tribes settled further west and further east than any other Baltic tribes. Even though it cannot be stated that the region of "Galatia" derived its name from the same Baltic word, it is worth considering the "coincidence" in the similarity of the names "Galatians" and "Galindians", which reinforces the fact that Togarmah and the Balts are spiritually related to the concept of bearing others' immaturity, which, to this writer's knowledge, is never stated as explicitly as it is in Galatians 4:19 (at least in all of the "New Testament").
Now that we have meditated on the similar Hebrew words immediately before the name "Riphath" in Strong's Concordance, let us consider the similar Hebrew words that appear immediately after "Riphath" in the Concordance (before proceeding, we must emphasise that the Hebrew and Aramaic words in Strong's Concordance are numbered according to the Hebrew alphabet, meaning that their order is not subject the contamination of earthly opinion but is, instead, ordained by God).
Philadelphian Togarmah
Grateful Philadelphians
At the beginning of this posting, we meditated on the Hebrew word immediately preceding "Togarmah" in Strong's Concordance, which led us to see the connection between Togarmah and bearing pregnancy pains due to others' immaturity. Let us now consider the Hebrew word immediately following "Togarmah" in Strong's Concordance, the word towdah (H8426) meaning "confession, praise, thanksgiving". As we have shared before, thanksgiving is strongly related to green-horse riders, which once again points to the connection between Togarmah and 5th-seal travail (since only 4th-seal, green-horse riders go through 5th-seal travail as they await 6th-seal vindication). This is emphasised by the fact that the last appearance of towdah is in verse 9 of the following passage, which green-horse Jonah spoke right before he emerged from the Sheol of the fish's belly:
"9 But I will sacrifice unto thee with the voice of thanksgiving; I will pay that that I have vowed. Salvation is of the LORD. 10 And the LORD spake unto the fish, and it vomited out Jonah upon the dry land." (Jonah 2:9-10)
[The word "thanksgiving" was translated from towdah]
It is worth noting that the passage above illustrates that towdah is more directly related to the 5th seal per se than to the 4th seal, given that Jonah spoke the word towdah whilst he was still in the fish's belly. whereas the green-horse 4th seal speaks of the process that leads to our sacrificial death (in Jonah's case being the moment when he was swallowed by the fish). The 5th seal speaks of the hibernation period during our stay in Sheol, spiritually "laid away" in a Paradise refuge, even as we suffer through inclement Jebusite weather and Hittite Sabbath torment. The 6th seal, on the other hand, speaks of our emergence from Sheol as we are resurrected by the Spirit of God and vindicated before our enemies.
Based on the above, we can say that the word towdah points directly to the following passage:
"7 And to the angel of the church in Philadelphia write; These things saith he that is holy, he that is true, he that hath the key of David, he that openeth, and no man shutteth; and shutteth, and no man openeth; 8 I know thy works: behold, I have set before thee an open door, and no man can shut it: for thou hast a little strength, and hast kept my word, and hast not denied my name. 9 Behold, I will make them of the synagogue of satan, which say they are Jews, and are not, but do lie; behold, I will make them to come and worship before thy feet, and to know that I have loved thee. 10 Because thou hast kept the word of my patience, I also will keep thee from the hour of temptation, which shall come upon all the world, to try them that dwell upon the earth. 11 Behold, I come quickly: hold that fast which thou hast, that no man take thy crown. 12 Him that overcometh will I make a pillar in the temple of my God, and he shall go no more out: and I will write upon him the name of my God, and the name of the city of my God, which is new Jerusalem, which cometh down out of heaven from my God: and I will write upon him my new name." (Revelation 3:7-12)
Even though there is no explicit mention of the Philadelphians' "death" above, it is implicitly expressed in the phrase "hast not denied my name" at the end of verse 8. The word "denied" was translated from the Greek verb arneomai, which is used in 4 of its first 5 appearances in Scripture to refer to Simon's denial of Yeshua shortly before He was crucified. Clearly, Simon's denial of Yeshua stemmed from his fear of dying with Him. As green-horse death hovered like a dense fog in the atmosphere, Simon knew that not denying Him would have meant death. Even if Peter had not been killed along with Yeshua for not denying Him, he would have, for a brief moment, shared spiritually in Yeshua's death, bearing the sorrow and despair of death deep within his soul, as if he was dying with the Lord.
Notice also how, after speaking of the Philadelphians not denying His Name, the Spirit of God immediately begins to speak of their redemption before their enemies, which points to the 6th-seal vindication awaiting those who have died in 4th-seal death for not denying His Name and who have endured through the isolation and travails of the 5th seal. In a sense, it is as if God's vindication of the Philadelphians is His way of "thanking" (towdah) them for their faithfulness, which, upon further meditation, requires a heart that is willing to thank God and praise Him in the midst of all the turmoil that comes with the 4th and 5th seals. As you have a moment's peace inside the 5th-seal bubble, you become aware of all the "little" things that God has done for you. It is as if you are allowed moments during which Heaven is happening all around you, and you become aware of God's amazing provision in the midst of everything, and you realise how God has allowed you to live when all circumstances pointed to your inevitable demise. That is when praise and thanksgiving begin to pour out from within you to your Lord and your God, which in turn opens a portal in the sky through which God's strengthening and restoration flow into your life, enabling you to continue on your 5th-seal journey until God's vindicating vengeance is fully manifested.
"19 Speaking to yourselves in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing and making melody in your heart to the Lord; 20 Giving thanks always for all things unto God and the Father in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ" (Ephesians 5:19-20)
In the context of the passage above, "psalms" refer to words that have already been written down by others and are therefore repeatable with the mind and in our natural body. Hence, psalms refer to being thankful for the fundamental things that do not require much "profound meditation" to become aware of them, things such as the food and shelter that God so lovingly provides for us. "Hymns", on the other hand, refer to words that involved inspiration from someone's soul as they reacted to particular events, thanking God for what He did in the midst of them. Thus, hymns point to thanksgiving from the soul for less "obvious" things as one's soul becomes aware of new qualities about God's nature and the way that He operates. Thus, we can now safely say that "spiritual songs" refers to thanksgiving that flows directly from one's spirit as one thanks Him for who He is, regardless of any action on our behalf. This is the most "impersonal" of all forms of thanksgiving in that it has the least "personal" connection with the thanksgiver, but it is also the most "personal" in that it reveals the most about God as a Person.
It is worth noting that the word "songs" in the phrase "spiritual songs" of Ephesians 5:19 was translated from the Greek word ode, from which the English word "ode" is derived. This word only appears 7 times in 5 verses, once in Ephesians, once in Colossians, and all the other times in the book of Revelation. This has spiritual significance, since it shows how "spiritual songs" flow out of having a revelation of God's very nature.
Even though "spiritual songs" can be considered the "deepest level" of thanksgiving, it would be wrong to emphasise them and disdain "hymns" and "psalms". As the Spirit of God clearly revealed in 1 Thessalonians 5:23, we are 3-dimensional beings made of body, soul, and spirit. Therefore, to emphasise one component and completely undermine the others is wrong in God's eyes and leads to a distorted personhood. All 3 forms of thanksgiving have their place and actually "play off" of each other, just as the body, soul, and the spirit have their place within our personhood, playing off of and building on top of each other. This is why the Spirit of God tells us to speak to ourselves in all 3 forms, "psalms", "hymns", and "spiritual songs" in Ephesians 5:19. This is also why He tells us to always give thanks for "all things" in Ephesians 5:20. Since "all things" include all 3 dimensions of our existence, there will be things in the context of our mind and body that will prompt us to thank God with "psalms"; at other times, in the context of things involving our emotions and soul, we will be prompted to thank God with "hymns"; and, at other times, in the context of things involving our heart and spirit, we will thank God with "spiritual songs".
Based on all of the above, we can begin to discern the strong spiritual connection between "thanksgiving" and the spirit of Philadelphia. Just like their distorted evil counterparts (the Perizzites), Philadelphians are spiritual "poor villagers", trapped in situations of relative powerlessness (which is why they are strongly connected with the 5th seal). Because of this, it would be natural for their hearts to have little gratitude about their condition. However, when their heart is right, they become aware of God in all things, the "big" things and the "little" things, and they are not too careless to dismiss the value of things that others would disdain and refuse to appreciate.
5th-seal responses
The next word near "Togarmah" in Strong's Concordance that we shall consider is the Aramaic word tuwb (H8421), which literally means "to return, to restore". Since it is an Aramaic word, it only appears in Daniel and Ezra, the only 2 books in Scripture that have entire verses written in Aramaic. Despite the many Aramaic verses in Scripture, tuwb only appears 8 times in 7 verses. Its first 3 appearances are in the following verses in Ezra, all in the context of the Israelites' efforts to restore Jerusalem and the Temple. The first 2 appearances are in verses 5 and 11 of the following passage, where it is translated as "returned answer" and "returned" respectively:
"3 At the same time came to them Tatnai, governor on this side the river, and Shetharboznai, and their companions, and said thus unto them, Who hath commanded you to build this house, and to make up this wall? 4 Then said we unto them after this manner, What are the names of the men that make this building? 5 But the eye of their God was upon the elders of the Jews, that they could not cause them to cease, till the matter came to Darius: and then they returned answer by letter concerning this matter. 6 The copy of the letter that Tatnai, governor on this side the river, and Shetharboznai, and his companions the Apharsachites, which were on this side the river, sent unto Darius the king: 7 They sent a letter unto him, wherein was written thus; Unto Darius the king, all peace. 8 Be it known unto the king, that we went into the province of Judea, to the house of the great God, which is builded with great stones, and timber is laid in the walls, and this work goeth fast on, and prospereth in their hands. 9 Then asked we those elders, and said unto them thus, Who commanded you to build this house, and to make up these walls? 10 We asked their names also, to certify thee, that we might write the names of the men that were the chief of them. 11 And thus they returned us answer, saying, We are the servants of the God of heaven and earth, and build the house that was builded these many years ago, which a great king of Israel builded and set up. 12 But after that our fathers had provoked the God of heaven unto wrath, he gave them into the hand of Nebuchadnezzar the king of Babylon, the Chaldean, who destroyed this house, and carried the people away into Babylon. 13 But in the first year of Cyrus the king of Babylon the same king Cyrus made a decree to build this house of God. 14 And the vessels also of gold and silver of the house of God, which Nebuchadnezzar took out of the temple that was in Jerusalem, and brought them into the temple of Babylon, those did Cyrus the king take out of the temple of Babylon, and they were delivered unto one, whose name was Sheshbazzar, whom he had made governor; 15 And said unto him, Take these vessels, go, carry them into the temple that is in Jerusalem, and let the house of God be builded in his place." (Ezra 5:3-15)
The Israelites' exile in Babylon is spiritually related to the green-horse, 4th seal of "Death and Sheol", given that it speaks of the time during which Israel "died" as a nation and became captive in the "Sheol" of Babylon. Thus, their long period in exile is spiritually related to the 5th seal of "hibernation" and "relative safety and prosperity" in the midst of difficult circumstances, given that, as shown by what is narrated in the book of Esther and by the book of Daniel, the Jewish people were able to establish themselves amongst the Babylonians, Medes, and Persians, with relative protection under the law, even if they faced occasional attacks and the discomforts of not having a true "home". Also, the righteous who go through the 5th seal always hold out hope that their captivity will end some day and that they will eventually be restored, manifested, and vindicated.
The Israelites in exile held on to this hope, and when the time came, the Spirit of God stirred them to begin their restoration of Jerusalem, the Temple, and their nationhood, and God began to open doors that no one could close, despite the opposition, as shown by Cyrus' decision to enable the Jews' restoration of Yerushalayim. All of this once again reveals the spiritual connection between the Spirit of Philadelphia and the 5th seal, since the Church in Philadelphia is the one to whom God says, "I have set before you an open door, and no man can shut it" (Revelation 3:8). Despite their poverty (i.e. "little dynamis" power), Philadelphians are willing to hope and dream of a mighty restoration and victory, all in the face of mighty opposition (as described in Revelation 3:8-10).
6th-seal responses
The 3rd appearance of tuwb in Ezra is in verse 5 of the following passage, translated as "be restored":
"1 Then Darius the king made a decree, and search was made in the house of the rolls, where the treasures were laid up in Babylon. 2 And there was found at Achmetha, in the palace that is in the province of the Medes, a roll, and therein was a record thus written: 3 In the first year of Cyrus the king the same Cyrus the king made a decree concerning the house of God at Jerusalem, Let the house be builded, the place where they offered sacrifices, and let the foundations thereof be strongly laid; the height thereof threescore cubits, and the breadth thereof threescore cubits; 4 With three rows of great stones, and a row of new timber: and let the expenses be given out of the king's house: 5 And also let the golden and silver vessels of the house of God, which Nebuchadnezzar took forth out of the temple which is at Jerusalem, and brought unto Babylon, be restored, and brought again unto the temple which is at Jerusalem, every one to his place, and place them in the house of God." (Ezra 6:1-5)
Notice that tuwb is used in Ezra 5 to refer to people "returning" an answer, i.e. to people reacting to what others have said or done. This points to the "retaliatory" nature of the 5th and 6th seals. As we have briefly shared before, the enemies of God's remnant become Jebusite-Hittites turned Canaanite, meaning that they take the opportunity to inflict vitriolic Canaanite revenge on the remnant for having fought the matriarchy unto 4th-seal death. This revenge takes the form of merciless Jebusite attacks and attacks of Hittite emptiness that hit the remnant every time that the enemies can catch the remnant anywhere near the edges of their 5th-seal bubble of protection. God and His remnant can launch immediate and often-devastating retaliatory attacks against the enemy for brazenly daring to defy God's 5th-seal bubble around His people. However, the "game-ending" response comes during the 6th-seal when God's vindicating vengeance is unleashed on the matriarchal enemies and their entire system, nullifying them forever. This is when the word tuwb goes from meaning "retaliatory response" (Ezra 5) to meaning "restorative response" (Ezra 6). Instead of receiving responses from the enemy, the remnant receives a "grateful response" from God for all that they were willing to go through to defeat the enemy's queedom and establish His Kingdom.
This dual meaning of tuwb is also reflected in its remaining usages in Scripture, all in the book of Daniel. In Daniel 2:14 (where it is translated as "answered"), it is used to describe Daniel's answer or response when the enemy attempted to slaughter him and the other wise men shortly after he had begun his 5th-seal stint in Babylonian captivity. In this case, it was a response of wise judgement that not only thwarted the enemy's plan to kill Daniel but allowed God access into the heart of Nebuchadnezzar (when Daniel supernaturally revealed the meaning of his dream to him). In Daniel 3:16 (where it is translated as "answer"), it is used to describe the defiant, disobedient reaction by Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego to the king's orders to worship him above God. As you may know, this led to Nebuchadnezzar giving a retaliatory response of his own by ordering them thrown in to the fiery furnace, which, in turn, led to a retaliatory response by God when He sent the "4th man" into the fire to protect them. This led to Nebuchadnezzar realising his wrongdoing and throwing into the fire those who had convinced him to order others to worship him (thus concluding God's retaliation in the matter). In Daniel 4:34 and 4:36, tuwb is used to describe God's restoration of Nebuchadnezzar after he repented from the evil of his arrogance (all of which happened after God had retaliated against him -- through Daniel's judgement -- when he allowed satanic hubris to totally dominate his heart).
Hence, we can safely conclude from all of the above that the Aramaic word tuwb points to the Spirit of Philadelphia and to the hope of things being restored (i.e. "returned") to God's desired state. The fact that the word is Aramaic and not Hebrew illustrates its 5th-seal nature, since it speaks of Hebrews being in the midst of a foreign land where things are "Hebrew enough" to be Aramaic even if they are still far from "perfectly Hebrew" (Hebrew and Aramaic are very similar, and, as you may know, it was a language that Yeshua spoke often during His time on Earth, on His sacrificial way to Golgotha and Sheol).
The Philadelphian procession
The word that appears 7 words before "Togarmah" in Strong's Concordance is the Hebrew noun tahalukah (H8418) meaning "procession". This word only appears once in Scripture, in verse 31 of the following passage, translated as "whereof one went":
"28 And the sons of the singers gathered themselves together, both out of the plain country round about Jerusalem, and from the villages of Netophathi; 29 Also from the house of Gilgal, and out of the fields of Geba and Azmaveth: for the singers had builded them villages round about Jerusalem. 30 And the priests and the Levites purified themselves, and purified the people, and the gates, and the wall. 31 Then I brought up the princes of Judah upon the wall, and appointed two great companies of them that gave thanks, whereof one went on the right hand upon the wall toward the dung gate" (Nehemiah 12:28-31)
Notice how tahalukah appears in the context of "singers" rebuilding Jerusalem and giving thanks (the long phrase "companies of them that give thanks" in verse 31 was, for some reason, translated from the single Hebrew word towdah that we had studied earlier). This reveals that, just like towdah, tahalukah is also related to the spirit of Philadelphia.
The words in Nehemiah 12 above describe actions done by God's people after the wall had been rebuilt after much opposition from the enemy. This correlates with the "tit-for-tat" responses and the "restoration" inherent in the word tuwb studied above. However, to better understand the spiritual meaning of tahalukah, we must consider the word from which it is derived: the verb halak meaning "to go, walk, come". This word appears throughout Scripture in some 468 different verses. Below are its first 5 appearances before Noah's flood:
"And the name of the third river is Hiddekel: that is it which goeth toward the east of Assyria. And the fourth river is Euphrates." (Genesis 2:14)
[The phrase "goeth toward" was translated from halak]
"And they heard the voice of the LORD God walking in the garden in the cool of the day: and Adam and his wife hid themselves from the presence of the LORD God amongst the trees of the garden" (Genesis 3:8)
[The word "walking" was translated from halak]
"And Enoch walked with God after he begat Methuselah three hundred years, and begat sons and daughters" (Genesis 5:22)
[The word "walked" was translated from halak]
"And Enoch walked with God: and he was not; for God took him" (Genesis 5:24)
[The word "walked" was translated from halak]
"These are the generations of Noah: Noah was a just man and perfect in his generations, and Noah walked with God" (Genesis 6:9)
[The word "walked" was translated from halak]
Notice how 3 of the 5 verses above use halak to refer to Enoch and Noah walking in righteousness with God. Notice also that the 2nd appearance of halak refers to God Himself walking in the Garden of Eden shortly after Adam and Eve had fallen. All of this means that halak is related to the lonely walk of remnant believers (like Enoch and Noah) to restore what Adam lost when he matriarchally surrendered to his wife (Genesis 3:17). Once this restoration is complete, God's Shekinah Presence will once again be directly accessible on Earth, with God walking amongst men with freedom and men (and women) walking with God as they manifest the God-nature within them.
As you may have noticed, the first appearance of halak in Genesis 2:14 is the only verse above where halak is not used to refer to a literal person walking. Instead, the Spirit of God uses it to refer to the eastbound flow of the river Hiddekel. The word "Hiddekel" literally means "rapid", which reveals God's original intention for man: He wanted His walks and the walks of those manifesting His Nature to flow freely and unfettered, capable of escalating into "powerful" walks that would release His power into the Earth in extraordinary ways.
The fact that the River Hiddekel, also known as the Tigris, flows eastward towards Assyria also has prophetic significance. The "east" usually refers to the rising of the sun, and, hence, to the manifestation of God's Glory. To walk east is to walk towards death (since the Glory of God kills all that is mortal) so that what is eternal may be manifested. The name "Assyria" in Genesis 2:14 was translated from the Hebrew word ashshuwr, which literally means "a step", and is derived from the verb asher meaning "to go straight, walk, advance, make progress"> Hence, in a positive sense, Assyria speaks of progress and prosperity, especially in the natural. This means that Hiddekel's eastward flow towards Assyria means that, as God's remnant fearlessly walk with God towards 4th-seal death and through 5th-seal isolation, they trigger future prosperity and progress for others in the environments that they walk through (at least the environments that make it the judgements that their walk release). In other words, their walk in poverty and powerlessness becomes wealth and power for others.
The Celtic connection
As a parenthesis, it is worth noting that, in Nehemiah 12:31 above, the Spirit of God speaks of 2 groups of thanksgivers, with one going on a tahalukah procession towards the "dung gate". As we shared in the previous posting, the "dung gate" is strongly related to Riphath and the Celts. This speaks of a linkage between Togarmah Balts and Riphath Celts, a linkage that is manifested in Baltic history. As indicated on ancient-origins.net, the Celts had a strong presence in modern-day Poland, which started somewhere around 400 B.C. and lasted for several centuries. This influence stretched up into the Baltic Sea, meaning that there presence included areas strongly populated by Baltic peoples. Interestingly enough, there is no indication that there was any sort of conflict between the Balts and the Celts, meaning that the Celtic domination of Baltic regions involved a mutual acceptance and a voluntary union of their powers. Given the Balts' connection to the Spirit of Philadelphia, their kinship with the Celts makes much spiritual sense, given that, as we have shared before, the Celts are the "embodiment" of the prophetic endowment amongst the sons of Japheth, and the prophetic endowment arises from God's Spirit of Smyrna. And, as you may know, Smyrna and Philadelphia are the only 2 churches in Revelation 2 and 3 about which nothing negative is said. Whereas Smyrna and the Celts (in a positive sense) point directly to 4th-seal death, Philadelphia and the Balts (in a positive sense) point directly to the lonely walk across 5th-seal isolation, making them ideal "spiritual companions".
The Philadelphian lowly
The word that appears 5 entries after "Togarmah" in Strong's Concordance is the Hebrew name "Toah" (H8430), which literally means "lowly" and only appears once in all of Scripture, in verse 34 of the following passage:
"33 And these are they that waited with their children. Of the sons of the Kohathites: Heman a singer, the son of Joel, the son of Shemuel, 34 The son of Elkanah, the son of Jeroham, the son of Eliel, the son of Toah" (1 Chronicles 6:33-34)
Notice how Toah is mentioned in the context of Heman, who was a Levitical singer who wrote Psalm 88. This connection between Toah and "spiritual singing" points to Toah's connection to the word towdah studied earlier and, hence, to the Spirit of Philadelphia. The fact that Toah means "lowly" also points directly to Philadelphia, given that Philadelphia, along with its distortion, the Perizzite spirit, is related to "poor villagers".
The name "Shemuel" at the end of verse 33 is a confusing mistranslation of the same Hebrew name that is translated as "Samuel" throughout Scripture. Since the "Samuel" mentioned above was the son of "Elkanah", son of "Jeroham", we can infer, based on 1 Samuel 1-2, that Heman was a grandson of Samuel the prophet, the one who anointed the lowly shepherd David to be king of Israel. The fact that Heman's father was Joel points to the prophetic word of God in the book of Joel, which speaks of a great restoration and the manifestation of a time where people will have great dreams and visions:
27 And ye shall know that I am in the midst of Israel, and that I am the LORD your God, and none else: and my people shall never be ashamed. 28 And it shall come to pass afterward, that I will pour out my spirit upon all flesh; and your sons and your daughters shall prophesy, your old men shall dream dreams, your young men shall see visions: 29 And also upon the servants and upon the handmaids in those days will I pour out my spirit. 30 And I will shew wonders in the heavens and in the earth, blood, and fire, and pillars of smoke. 31 The sun shall be turned into darkness, and the moon into blood, before the great and the terrible day of the LORD come." (Joel 2:27-31)
Notice how the Spirit of God speaks in verse 27 about the removal of shame from His people, which points to the Perizzite shame that God's enemies constantly try to inflict upon His "little ones". Notice also how verse 29 speaks of God's raising up "servants" and "handmaids", which speaks of the rising of people of a lowly condition. Hence, it is safe to say that Joel is a book written with a strong Spirit-of-Philadelphia impartation. All of this reinforces the spiritual connection between Toah, Togarmah and the Spirit of Philadelphia.
The amazing Philadelphian
The word that appears 4 entries after "Togarmah" in Strong's Concordance is the Aramaic verb tevvah (H8429), which means "to be startled, alarmed" and only appears once in all of Scripture, in verse 24 of the following passage, translated as "astonied":
"19 Then was Nebuchadnezzar full of fury, and the form of his visage was changed against Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego: therefore he spake, and commanded that they should heat the furnace one seven times more than it was wont to be heated. 20 And he commanded the most mighty men that were in his army to bind Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, and to cast them into the burning fiery furnace. 21 Then these men were bound in their coats, their hosen, and their hats, and their other garments, and were cast into the midst of the burning fiery furnace. 22 Therefore because the king's commandment was urgent, and the furnace exceeding hot, the flame of the fire slew those men that took up Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego. 23 And these three men, Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, fell down bound into the midst of the burning fiery furnace. 24 Then Nebuchadnezzar the king was astonied, and rose up in haste, and spake, and said unto his counsellors, Did not we cast three men bound into the midst of the fire? They answered and said unto the king, True, O king. 25 He answered and said, Lo, I see four men loose, walking in the midst of the fire, and they have no hurt; and the form of the fourth is like the Son of God." (Daniel 3:19-25)
Notice that we had already mentioned Daniel 3 and Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego in the context of the word tuwb and God's 6th-seal answers to the enemies' attacks against His little ones. This emphasises the spiritual linkage between all these "disparate" Hebrew and Aramaic words around the name "Togarmah" in Strong's Concordance.
Notice also how the notion of "astonishment" conveyed by the word tevvah correlates with what the Spirit of God declares in verse 30 of the Philadelphian passage Joel 2:27-31 quoted above: i.e. that He will show wonders in the heavens and in the Earth. This means that tevvah astonishment is strongly related to the Spirit of Philadelphia. The main reason behind these astonishing wonders is given by God in the last verse of Daniel 3:19-25 quoted above: as God's "little Philadelphians" continue to walk in the 3 "male" endowments of Eagle-Face prophet (Shadrach/Hananiah), Ox-Face evangelist (Meshach/Mishael), and Lion-Face apostle (Abednego/Azariah), to the point of 4th-seal death and 5th-seal isolation, a 4th type of "person" will appear: Man-Face men and women who will exude the nature of God Himself even as they abide in the "weakness" of natural man, thereby proving that the phrases "Son of God" and "Son of man" are equivalent when man walks in the fullness of what God has for him. This is when astonishing wonders will be unleashed into the natural realm by God's people, for the God of Heaven will be openly manifested in the natural Earth.
The hope-filled Philadelphian
The word that appears 6 entries after "Togarmah" in Strong's Concordance is the Hebrew noun towcheleth (H8431) meaning "hope". Interestingly enough, despite meaning "hope", towcheleth only appears 6 times in Scripture. As we have shared before, the number "6" refers to natural man. Therefore, towcheleth refers to an extraordinary hope that can be held by man, even in the midst of his natural weakness. Interestingly, the word towcheleth is derived from the Hebrew verb yadal meaning "to wait, expect", which appears in 41 verses of Scripture, the first one being verse 12 of the following passage, translated as "stayed":
"6 And it came to pass at the end of forty days, that Noah opened the window of the ark which he had made: 7 And he sent forth a raven, which went forth to and fro, until the waters were dried up from off the earth. 8 Also he sent forth a dove from him, to see if the waters were abated from off the face of the ground; 9 But the dove found no rest for the sole of her foot, and she returned unto him into the ark, for the waters were on the face of the whole earth: then he put forth his hand, and took her, and pulled her in unto him into the ark. 10 And he stayed yet other seven days; and again he sent forth the dove out of the ark; 11 And the dove came in to him in the evening; and, lo, in her mouth was an olive leaf pluckt off: so Noah knew that the waters were abated from off the earth. 12 And he stayed yet other seven days; and sent forth the dove; which returned not again unto him any more." (Genesis 8:6-12)
Notice how yadal appears in the context of a remnant believer who is taking refuge in a "5th-seal bubble" of isolation (the ark) and who is anxiously waiting for the moment when that isolation will finally end, knowing that the end of that isolation will signify the start of a brand new world operating in a qualitatively higher level of righteousness than the previous one. This is what Philadelphians hope for as they endure the quasi-comfortable yet difficult 5th-seal period.
Notice how the Spirit of God speaks of the dove looking for "rest for the sole of her foot" (v9). This speaks of the restlessness experienced by the Philadelphian remnant's ("female") soul during the 5th-seal period. Notice also that the dove was released 3 times. The first time, it came back empty-handed, and Noah had to make a deliberate effort to stick his hand out to take her and pull her back into the ark. This speaks of the first stage of hoping and waiting, where no signs of change can be seen. This stage requires a deliberate effort from one's heart to console the soul and give it some measure of rest in order to let it know that there is still a place of rest that God has made available for her, "uncomfortable" as it may feel at times.
The second time that the dove was sent out, it returned with an olive leaf in its mouth. This points to the second stage of hoping and waiting, when tangible signs of hope are made evident. Notice that the Spirit of God does not simply say that the olive leaf was in the dove's mouth; instead, He declares that "in her mouth was an olive leaf plucked off" (v11). Thus, the Spirit of God is emphasising the fact that the olive leaf was not simply floating in the water when the dove found it. Instead, it was attached to a branch, and the dove had to make a deliberate effort to separate it from the branch in order to take it back to Noah. This means that these visible signs of hope are not stumbled upon and identified by "passive happenstance". Instead, they require a heart that is looking for them and who is willing to interpret them and recognise them as prophetic signs from God that the fulfilment of things is at hand, small and "tenuous" as they may seem. It is also worth considering that Noah waited 7 days after the first attempt before sending the dove a second time. This means that Noah's wait was not filled with soulish anxiety. After seeing no visible signs of hope, Noah knew that the awaited change was not going to magically happen, as when one asks for a wish from a magical genie. Instead, the remnant know that the desired change requires a spiritual process that cannot be avoided. This is why Noah waited 7 days, awaiting for a cycle of spiritual processing to be completed before expecting anything different.
It is also worth considering that the word "olive" in Genesis 8:11 above was translated from the Hebrew word zayith, which appears in 36 different verses of Scripture. Its first appearance is in Genesis 8:11, and it does not appear until 65 chapters later, in verse 11 (again) of the following passage, translated as "oliveyard":
"10 And six years thou shalt sow thy land, and shalt gather in the fruits thereof: 11 But the seventh year thou shalt let it rest and lie still; that the poor of thy people may eat: and what they leave the beasts of the field shall eat. In like manner thou shalt deal with thy vineyard, and with thy oliveyard." (Exodus 23:10-11)
Notice how the passage above also mentions the number "7", in the context of a process that reaches its end when "7" is reached. Notice also that "7" is referred to as the time when the "poor" (i.e. the "poor Philadelphian villagers") are to be given provision and rest. Thus, it is no coincidence that the passage above appears in chapter 23 of Exodus, since the number "23" refers to the pastoral endowment that provides for the tired righteous and gives them rest. The fact that both the "vineyard" and the "oliveyard" are mentioned above has spiritual significance. As we have shared before, "wine" points to the evangelistic endowment and "olives" (source for oil) to the prophetic endowment, meaning that the 2 endowments most related to "grace" are referenced (the prophetic endowment of "spiritual grace" and the evangelistic endowment of "natural grace"). This means that the Spirit of God is speaking of providing high levels of grace to the "poor Philadelphians" as recompense for their patient 5th-seal waiting.
The third time that the dove was sent out, it never returned. This points to the third stage of hoping and waiting, when that which one hopes for is finally realised. Notice that Noah waited for 7 days yet again, which emphasises his awareness that the visible signs of hope did not mean that his 5th-seal ordeal was already over. He knew that more processing was required and that he would have to wait for that processing to be completed before the Philadelphian hope he had clung to for so long would finally be fulfilled.
As a final note, it is worth considering the raven that Noah released before the 3 dove releases (Genesis 8:7). Notice that, unlike with the dove, no effort is made to explain what happened to the raven after he was released, especially since he never appears to have returned to the ark despite the earth remaining flooded. This, therefore, prompts us to ask, "What ever happened to the winged fellow?". As explained on gotquestions.org, it can be argued that the raven was to able to survive outside of the ark because ravens can eat carrion, meaning that it could live off of the carcasses floating on the water. As you may be aware, ravens are known for being rather clever and resourceful creatures, meaning that the raven would have been able to find a way to survive and even find an occasional resting place as "it went to and fro until the waters dried up from off the earth". In a sense, the raven represents what Noah's spirit was doing, persisting supernaturally and relentlessly until the job on Earth was completed. Noah's spirit was feeding off of the flesh of God's enemies.
The distinguished Togarmah
The word that appears 5 entries before "Togarmah" in Strong's Concordance is the Hebrew noun tav (H8420) meaning "desire, mark". This word only appears in 3 verses, once in Job 31:35 and twice in Ezekiel 9, in verses 4 and 6, where it is translated as "mark":
"3 And the glory of the God of Israel was gone up from the cherub, whereupon he was, to the threshold of the house. And he called to the man clothed with linen, which had the writer's inkhorn by his side; 4 And the LORD said unto him, Go through the midst of the city, through the midst of Jerusalem, and set a mark upon the foreheads of the men that sigh and that cry for all the abominations that be done in the midst thereof. 5 And to the others he said in mine hearing, Go ye after him through the city, and smite: let not your eye spare, neither have ye pity: 6 Slay utterly old and young, both maids, and little children, and women: but come not near any man upon whom is the mark; and begin at my sanctuary. Then they began at the ancient men which were before the house. 7 And he said unto them, Defile the house, and fill the courts with the slain: go ye forth. And they went forth, and slew in the city." (Ezekiel 9:3-7)
Notice how the mark is used to distinguish those within the people of God who are not satisfied with the current state of things from those who are. Thus, it is used to represent those who are of the remnant from those who are nothing more than "satisfied" matriarchal believers. The fact that the word tav can also be taken to mean "desire" is no coincidence. The remnant believers who "cry for all the abominations" being done inside the house (i.e. the Temple or Body of Christ) do so because they are not easily satisfied by a soulish system that claims to be part of the Kingdom of God but is, at the end of the day, a stronghold of soulish iniquity that prevents God's Kingdom flourishing on Earth. These crying remnant believers desire God's Spirit Kingship to be manifested in a real and tangible way, which is what prompts them to become so despondent over the current state of things. This is why God desires them in return and distinguishes them in His heart from the rest of believers who would rather live in the soul than in His Spirit (well-meaning as they often are).
This act of "distinguishing" between believers, especially in the midst of dramatic judgements, as described in Ezekiel 9, once again has a strong linkage to the Spirit of Philadelphia, as shown by what the Spirit of Philadelphia tells Philadelphians in the following passage:
"9 Behold, I will make them of the synagogue of satan, which say they are Jews, and are not, but do lie; behold, I will make them to come and worship before thy feet, and to know that I have loved thee. 10 Because thou hast kept the word of my patience, I also will keep thee from the hour of temptation, which shall come upon all the world, to try them that dwell upon the earth. 11 Behold, I come quickly: hold that fast which thou hast, that no man take thy crown." (Revelation 3:9-11)
As we shared above, the only time that tav appears outside of Ezekiel 9 is in the book of Job, in verse 35 of the passage below, translated as "desire":
"33 If I covered my transgressions as Adam, by hiding mine iniquity in my bosom: 34 Did I fear a great multitude, or did the contempt of families terrify me, that I kept silence, and went not out of the door? 35 Oh that one would hear me! behold, my desire is, that the Almighty would answer me, and that mine adversary had written a book. 36 Surely I would take it upon my shoulder, and bind it as a crown to me. 37 I would declare unto him the number of my steps; as a prince would I go near unto him." (Job 31:33-37)
Notice how Job speaks of not fearing "the contempt of families". This points to the fearlessness that "distinguished Philadelphians" require to prevent being sucked into the vacuum of the matriarchal system. These believers must be willing to face the contempt-filled attacks of entire "families", i.e. soul mobs, some of which can organise rather sophisticated attacks, especially because they control pools of resources that are not available to the "poor Philadelphians" who dare to challenge them and be defiantly different from them. Said another way, God's poor, distinguished Philadelphians are willing to stand alone against entire groups and systems of people, even when doing so implies facing "unbeatable" odds.
The word that appears 2 entries after "Togarmah" in Strong's Concordance is the Hebrew verb tavah (H8427), which is actually the verb form of tav and means "to scrabble, mark". Interestingly, this word only appears twice in Scripture, once in Ezekiel 9:4 (quoted above), where it is translated as "set" (as in "set a mark"), and in verse 13 of the following passage, where it is translated as "scrabbled":
"10 And David arose, and fled that day for fear of Saul, and went to Achish the king of Gath. 11 And the servants of Achish said unto him, Is not this David the king of the land? did they not sing one to another of him in dances, saying, Saul hath slain his thousands, and David his ten thousands? 12 And David laid up these words in his heart, and was sore afraid of Achish the king of Gath. 13 And he changed his behaviour before them, and feigned himself mad in their hands, and scrabbled on the doors of the gate, and let his spittle fall down upon his beard. 14 Then said Achish unto his servants, Lo, ye see the man is mad: wherefore then have ye brought him to me? 15 Have I need of mad men, that ye have brought this fellow to play the mad man in my presence? shall this fellow come into my house?" (1 Samuel 21:10-15)
This writer must admit that the full spiritual meaning of the passage above remains hidden to him, but there is one thing that can be safely said about this passage, at least in the context of the word tavah: David was without a doubt spiritually different from the people in Gath, to the point that those around him immediately detected him as a threat to the comfortable kingdom they lived under. As a result, the lonely Philadelphian David faced the immediate contempt of the Gathite family. Thus, the madness that David covered himself points to the "freakish" nature of Philadelphians when beheld by others, especially during the 5th-seal stage when they can do little but wait until their hope is fulfilled. These non-conformists appear to have a screw loose because they are willing to stand by Spirit-centric principles that are completely contrary to the ones held by others. It is important to emphasise that these lonely Philadelphians do not go around "forming coalitions", deliberately seeking the support of others in order to counter the volume of the majority around them. Unlike American conservatives, remnant Philadelphians do not seek refuge in a group, and they never pretend that they are the "real" majority that only appears to be a minority because they tend to be silent. Remnant Philadelphians do not seek refuge in traditions of the past that were once held as the majority opinion. A remnant Philadelphian is willing to stand alone and face the daunting soul families confronting him (or her) because he (or she) holds the truth, and that is enough justification for him (or her). That truth is the crown that gives Philadelphians the conviction that they have kingly authority to plant a stake in the ground and claim the dominion of that truth, even when they appear to be mad when they do so (this is why Job speaks of a crown in Job 31:37 above). This crown of truth is what marks them before God and distinguishes them from the rest. This crown is a badge of honour unto God and a badge of madness to soulish man.
"Behold, I come quickly: hold that fast which thou hast, that no man take thy crown" (Revelation 3:11)
The Germanic connection
The word that appears 3 entries before "Togarmah" in Strong's Concordance is the name "Tubal" (H8422), and, as we have shared before, Tubal is the son of Japheth from whom the Germanics emerged. This points to a strong spiritual connection between the sons of Togarmah and the sons of Tubal, a connection that is certified by the linkage between the Baltic peoples and the Germanics. This connection to the Germanics is further emphasised by the fact that the word that appears 2 entries before "Togarmah" in Strong's Concordance is the name "Tubal-Cain" (H8423).
The Baltics' connection to the Germanics is shown in history by the Baltic Crusades. As mentioned on wikipedia.org, the Baltic or "Northern" Crusades were wars waged in the 12th and 13th centuries by Christian church religious orders to end paganism in the Baltic, Finnic, and West Slavic peoples around the Baltic Sea. It was during the Livonian Crusade, headed by the German Albert of Buxhoeveden, that present-day Estonia and northern Latvia were rid of paganism and "Christianised". During these Northern Crusades, the Teutonic Order, an order of German knights that had started in Palestine during the Crusades there, rose in strength, eventually gaining control over most of the Baltics, with only Lithuania proving resistant to conquest for many, many decades. This means that, for all intents and purposes, the Baltic people came under Germanic rule, a rule that lasted for centuries.
The strength of the Baltics' amalgamation with the Germanic sons of Tubal can be seen in the term "Prussian", for example, a term that originally referred to Baltic peoples in parts of modern-day northern Poland, Russia, and Lithuania (as mentioned on wikipedia.org). As you may know, the term "Prussian" eventually became a reference to the Kingdom of Prussia, a Germanic kingdom that rose to great power during the 18th and 19th centuries and which became the foundation for the birth of a unified Germany in 1871 (as described on wikipedia.org). Thus, a term that was predominantly Baltic eventually became predominantly Germanic.
The fact that the unified superpower of Germany was born out of Prussia is no spiritual coincidence. As we have seen above, Togarmah (and hence the Baltic peoples) are spiritually related to God's Spirit of Philadelphia, the Spirit of Dreams and Visions that enable individuals to dream of future greatness even in the midst of present-day smallness. Thus, it was necessary for the Germanic sons of Tubal to come into contact with intermingle with the Baltic sons of Togarmah to finally rise from their era of small, divided principalities to become a powerful, united nation with immense influence on the world stage. Even the rise of Prussia per se is imbued with "Philadelphian" elements, given that Prussia evolved from the Teutonic Order, a small group of German crusaders who dreamed of "Christianising" the nations, a group that grew steadily and eventually became the Kingdom of Prussia. Thus, just as Togarmah needed Tubal to rise out of paganism, Tubal needed Togarmah to rise from smallness into greatness.
Baltic Philadelphia
Now that we have established the very clear linkage between Togarmah and Philadelphia, we can meditate on the Baltic people to see some of the "Philadelphian" qualities inherent in them, thereby certifying that they are indeed the "sons of Togarmah" in the natural realm.
The small northerner
As indicated on wikipedia.org, Estonia, the northernmost and smallest of the 3 Baltic countries, is, in general, resource-poor. This points to the "poor villager" nature of the Spirit of Philadelphia. The fact that Estonia is the northernmost country of the 3 Baltic nations means that it is the most directly representative of Togarmah, since, as we saw above, Ezekiel 38:6 refers to Togarmah as the "house of Togarmah of the north quarters". Thus, the fact that Estonia is also the smallest of the 3 only emphasises Togarmah's connection to the Spirit of Philadelphia, who prompts people to dream about rising from smallness.
The Baltic frontier between poverty and wealth
The Baltic nations' connection to both poverty and rising out of it is also silently manifested in their relative wealth versus the rest of Europe. As shown on statisticstimes.com, Estonia's nominal GDP per capita in 2017 ranks 23rd out of the 45 European nations. This means that Estonia is exactly in the middle of the list, halfway between poverty and wealth. The other 2 Baltic nations, Lithuania and Latvia, ranked 26th and 27th respectively, meaning that they were on the lower half of the list, slightly below Estonia but still around the middle of the table. In other words, it is as if the 3 Baltic nations stand right at the door of wealth, still "poor" but on the verge of entering into wealth, all of which points to the Spirit of Philadelphia. Hence, it is no coincidence that Estonia is called the "Baltic Tiger", along with Lithuania and Latvia, due to their rapid economic growth (as indicated on wikipedia.org). Now that Eastern Europe is finally free from the oppression of leftist Russian Marxism, the "Philadelphian" Baltic nations are emerging from poverty, and they are growing and dreaming into prosperity. The fact that they stand in the middle of the European table in 2017 is prophetically significant, since, as we have indicated before, 2017 was the last year before the start of the new 14-year spiritual cycle that will (God willing) end the matriarchal delays and culminate in a full-blown latter rain on Earth by 2032 (20 years after the previously appointed year of 2012).
If you revisit the 2017 list of richest European countries at statisticstimes.com, you will see that the 4 countries most commonly considered "Nordic", i.e. Sweden, Norway, Denmark, and Iceland, are all in the list's top 7. Even though Finland is also considered "Nordic", it is not as genetically Nordic as the other 4 nations, having a strong Finnic mixture that is more Slavic (and Baltic) than Nordic; this difference is evident in the Finnish language, which, as explained at quora.com, is very different from Swedish and Danish (which, by contrast, are very similar to each other). Even if Finland were to be taken as the 5th "Nordic" country in Europe, it does not break the linkage between the Nordic nations and wealth, given that it ranks 11th on the list, just 4 positions below Sweden. Interestingly enough, Estonia, the most prosperous of the 3 Baltic nations, can make a strong case for being "Nordic". As explained on wikipedia.org, Estonia views itself as a Nordic country. This view is often criticised and mocked by Nordics outside of Estonia, especially because Estonia is not yet as economically prosperous as the official Nordic nations. All of this correlates with how Philadelphian dreamers are often mocked by others for daring to dream of something that they do not appear to be on the outside. Philadelphian dreamers dare to recognise things within them that others fail to see, even if that draws the attack of others (just as Joseph did with his brothers). Estonians are willing to recognise the "Nordic" nature within them, and they are not afraid to declare it. It must be said that Nordics who visit Estonia without a bias in their heart tend to admit that they do not feel "out of place" in Estonia, thus proving that Estonians' perception of themselves as Nordic is not a product of their imagination. The reason why Estonians have sought identification with Nordics stems from their efforts to pull away from the historic Russian and Slavic tendencies around them that have sought to keep them down. It is no coincidence that all the countries below Latvia, the poorest of the 3 Baltic countries, are Eastern European countries, with 15 of the 18 being former Russian republics or Slavic satellites of the former Soviet Union (Armenia, Albania, and Hungary cannot be considered purely "Slavic")
Unexpectedly tall edifices
The Baltic nations' connection to Philadelphia can also be seen in St. Olaf's Church in Tallinn, Estonia. As indicated on wikipedia.org, this church, which dates back to the 12th or 13th century was, between 1549 and 1625, the tallest building the world. Apparently, the church had reached a height near its current height of 124 m (407 ft) around that time. That means that, at the start of the 17th century, it had (and still has) the height of a modern 25- to 30-storey skyscraper. It would not be (too) surprising to find such a tall 17th-century building in a major centre such as Paris, London, or Vienna, but to have this (the tallest building in the world at that time) in the Estonian city of Tallinn is quite astounding, especially if one considers that is a little over 60 square miles in size and has a present day population of less than half a million people (according to wikipedia.org). Thus, the presence of the tallest building in the world in such a small city once again points to the Philadelphian "rise to greatness from smallness" anointing on the Baltic people.
The unseeded champion
It is also interesting to consider that, in the 2017 French Open, Latvian tennis player Jeļena Ostapenko became the first unseeded player to win the tournament since 1933. As indicated on theguardian.com, the 20-year old Latvian was a set down and down 0-3 in the second set (and facing 3 break-points in the 4th game) before mounting a spectacular comeback against the No. 3 seed, the Romanian Simona Halep. Interestingly enough, Halep went on to become the No. 1 player in the world later that year, in October 2017, and is still the No. 1 player at the time of this writing (according to wikipedia.org). This means that Ostapenko rose from utter smallness (i.e. being unseeded) to greatness, defeating the world's best player (Halep would have officially become No. 1 in the world had she won the 2017 French Open, meaning that her loss only delayed the truth that she was indeed the best player in the world at the time). It is even more astonishing to consider that, after tying the match at 1 set each, Ostapenko fell behind 3-1 in the 3rd and deciding set, yet she was able to fight back and win the next 5 games to win the 3rd set at 6-3.
Just as with St. Olaf's Church, Ostapenko's stunning victory would not be as surprising if it had been achieved by a player from a country with a strong tennis tradition such as the U.S., Germany, the Czech Republic, or even Russia. However, the fact that it was achieved by a person from Latvia, a country without an established tennis tradition, only certifies the Baltics' connection to the Spirit of Philadelphia. The fact that it was done in 2017 is no coincidence either since, as we said above, 2017 was the year right before the start of the new 14-year cycle that will (God willing) culminate in a full-blown manifestation of the latter rain on Earth.
The unexpected late bloomer
The Baltics' connection to the Spirit of Philadelphia can also be seen in the Latvian Mairis Briedis, who became the first Latvian boxer to hold a world title, having held the WBC cruiserweight title from April 2017 to January 2018, as indicated on wikipedia.org. What is curious about him is that he first worked as a police officer before turning professional in 2009, at the age of 24. As you may know, this is a rather late age to take up any sport professionally, including boxing, since most boxers are bred from a young age and stay in boxing through their young adulthood until they either succeed or switch to a life outside of sport. Despite his late start, Briedis persisted for 6 years, winning consistently until he had his first "big fight" in 2015, at the age of 30, when he moved to a higher weight category and travelled to Russia to fight Manuel Charr, a former heavyweight title challenger, knocking him out in the 5th round with a single punch despite Charr's much larger size. As you can see, this sounds very much like David's defeat of the larger Goliath with one stone out of the 5 he held in his pocket. Briedis eventually became world champion two years later, in 2017, at the relatively old age of 32.
As you may see, the fact that Briedis became champion of the world 8 years after starting at age 24 points to a Philadelphian rise from smallness to unexpected greatness. When Briedis gave up his police career and began boxing professionally, the dream of becoming world champion must have seemed ridiculous to anyone who may have heard it, but Briedis knew what was inside of him, and he dared to dream. The fact that this Baltic athlete achieved his unlikely feat of becoming world champion in 2017 points once again to what we have said above about the relevance of the Philadelphia Spirit one year before the start of the current (and hopefully last) revival cycle.
The young super-achiever
Some of you may have noticed that we have only spoken of Estonian and Latvian athletes, with no mention of Lithuanians. This is because, to this writer's understanding, Lithuania's Spirit-of-Philadelphia endowment is not as strong as the one embedded in Estonia or Latvia, mostly because Lithuania (the largest of the 3) is the one most strongly influenced by Russia and the Slavic culture. Even so, Lithuania is "Baltic enough" to have Philadelphian manifestations of its own. Consider, for example, the Lithuanian swimmer Rūta Meilutytė who, at the young age of 15, had already broken 11 Lithuanian women's swimming records (according to wikipedia.org). At that age, she won the gold medal in the 100m breaststroke in the 2012 London Olympics, becoming the youngest Lithuanian to ever win an Olympic gold medal. The following year, at the 2013 World Aquatics Championships in Barcelona, she broke world records in the 50m and 100m breaststroke. The next year, at the age of 17, she became the first and only swimmer in history to win all available junior and senior international swimming championships at least once. The fact that she achieved this amazing feat at the age of 17 is no spiritual coincidence since, as we have shared before, the number "17" points to a manifested remnant (i.e. a remnant whose internal potential is manifested to the world). The fact that she achieved her gold medal in the 2012 Olympics also points to the spiritual relevance of those Olympics which, had things progressed without so much matriarchal hindrance, would have been an event during which a mighty outpouring of the Spirit would have spread out throughout the Earth. Now, that event has been delayed 20 years to the year 2032.
It is interesting to consider that, even though she is not particularly tall, Meilutytė has had to wear size-42 shoes (11 in US measurement) since the age of 13. As we have shared before, the evil spirit that results from the degeneration of the Philadelphia endowment is the Perizzite spirit, which works to keep believers in a crippled state, unable to walk in judgements and conquest on their own. Thus, Meilutytė's larger feet despite her smaller stature points to the Philadelphians' tendency to dream about big feats and conquests despite being small relative to others, thus defying the Perizzite spirit's efforts to keep them "walk-less".
1997 and 2017 - Philadelphia and the revival
It is also interesting to consider that both Estonian Ostapenko and Lithuanian Meilutytė were born in 1997, which is the year prior to 1998, the year when the recently failed 14-year revival cycle started. After this cycle was irreparably delayed by the matriarchal Church, God's plans were delayed for 20 years, with the new cycle starting this year, 2018. In other words, 1997 is the previous cycle's equivalent of this cycle's 2017, so it is no spiritual coincidence that both years are particularly relevant when one considers the Baltic people's recent Philadelphian manifestations. The name "Togarmah" literally means "thou will break her", which points to the central role that the Philadelphian endowment (embedded in Baltic Togarmah) will have in breaking the control of the pastoral matriarchy on Earth from 2018 onwards.
A word recap
As we have shared at the beginning of this posting, the words around "Togarmah" in Strong's Concordance reveal 4 distinct qualities about Togarmah. Here is a summary of the words we studied in the order that they appear in Strong's Concordance:
| Strong number |
Word | Category/Quality | Meaning |
|---|---|---|---|
| H8417 | toholah | Pregnant | Error |
| H8418 | tahalukah | Philadelphian | Procession |
| H8419 | tahpukah | Pregnant | Perversity |
| H8420 | tav | Distinguishable | Desire, mark |
| H8421 | tuwb | Philadelphian | To return, to restore |
| H8422 | Tubal | Germanic | Thou will be brought |
| H8423 | Tubal-Cain | Germanic | Thou will be brought of Cain |
| H8424 | tuwgah | Pregnant | Grief, heaviness, sorrow |
| H8425 | Togarmah | ||
| H8426 | towdah | Philadelphian | Praise, thanksgiving |
| H8427 | tavah | Distinguishable | To scrabble, mark |
| H8428 | tavah | Pregnant | To cause pain, wound |
| H8429 | tevvah | Philadelphian | To be startled, alarmed |
| H8430 | Toah | Philadelphian | Lowly |
| H8431 | towcheleth | Philadelphian | Hope |
Notice that the list above spans from 8 words before Togarmah to 6 words after Togarmah, for a total of 14 words. These numbers (8, 6, and 14) were not (humanly) deliberate but rather the result of looking at the words before and after Togarmah until no direct linkage to Togarmah was found. Thus, these numbers were woven by the Spirit of God into Scripture, and they are no spiritual coincidence. As we have shared before, the number "8" speaks of the Noah-style spiritual regeneration of the Earth, the number "6" speaks of human weakness, and the number "14" speaks of an unmanifested remnant. Hence, the numbers 8, 6, and 14 here point to how those with the Spirit of Philadelphia are the core from whom the Earth will be spiritually regenerated unto God, even as if they are enveloped in human weakness. They embody the unmanifested remnant, and the Earth will be restored when they are finally allowed to be fully manifested.
"18 For I reckon that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory which shall be revealed in us. 19 For the earnest expectation of the creature waiteth for the manifestation of the sons of God." (Romans 8:18-19)
Nordics and the Balts
So far, we have seen the spiritual connection between Togarmah, the Spirit of Philadelphia, and the Baltic peoples. However, before proceeding, we must emphasise that, out of the 5 "racial groups" that Europe is divided into (Nordics, Celts, Slavs, Latins, and Germanics), the Balts do belong to the wider group of "Slavs". This does not deny the Balts' desire to break away from the negative influences of the Slavic culture and identity. Instead, it explains their role within the Slavic portion of Europe.
As we studied earlier, the Slavs are the descendants of Magog, son of Japheth, and the Nordics are descendants of Gomer, Magog's brother. Thus, the fact that Togarmah, a son of Nordic Gomer, points towards the Slavic sons of Magog means that Togarmah represents the influence that the Nordic peoples were to have within the Slavs. In other words, God appointed Togarmah and the Balts to be the entry point into Magog's Slavic bloodline. Through marriage between the sons of Togarmah and the sons of Magog, the endowments that the Slavs desperately needed from Gomer were imparted to them. This is why history shows that, even though the Balts started as a separate people in Europe (separate from their Nordic relatives and their Slavic neighbours), they eventually blended into the Slavs. As explained on wikipedia.org, it is believed that the Balts came to control significant portions of modern-day western Russia (including Moscow), and they warred/interacted with the Slavs for a time before eventually being defeated and assimilated at some point between the 11th and 13th centuries. That is when the Lord allowed Germanic Tubal (and even Gomeric Denmark) to interfere and have enough influence on the Balts to prevent their Nordic qualities being stripped off. This is why Estonia now endeavours to embrace its Nordic qualities, which is a testimony to the spiritual corruption that the Slavic sons of Magog have allowed to fester within their cultures (in case of any doubt, consider the corruption that Russians are infamous for, consider the Communist evil that the Russians fostered and exported around the world, and consider the atrocities that Slavs such as the Serbians have inflicted on each other in modern times). However, this writer dares to say that the Slavic sons of Magog shall experience a latter-day repentance and redemption, and this will be possible, in no small part, through the spiritual work and influence of the Baltic sons of Togarmah, son of Nordic Gomer.
Gomer's influence on Europe
In the last 3 postings, we have meditated on the 3 sons of Gomer, Ashkenaz, Riphath, and Togarmah, and we have seen how they represent Gomer's direct influence on (and impartation to) 3 other European "racial groups". We can briefly summarise this influence in the following table:
| "Racial group" | Son of Japheth | Influencing son of Gomer |
Influence |
|---|---|---|---|
| Nordics | Gomer | ||
| Germanics | Tubal | Ashkenaz | Angelic vengeance fire |
| Celts | Madai | Riphath | Spiritual double-agents |
| Slavs | Magog | Togarmah | Philadelphian inclinations |
| Latins | Javan | ||
Notice that the only European group outside of themselves that Gomer's Nordics do not directly influence are the Latins. This explains why Latins such as the Spaniards, Portuguese, and Italians developed a culture that is noticeably different from the one developed by their "whiter, blonder" European relatives. It also explains why Latins have tended to live in the southern parts of Europe whilst the Nordic-influenced Germanics, Celts, and Slavs have tended to live in the north. This non-inclusion of the sons of Javan (the Latins) in the sons of Nordic Gomer also explains why the Spirit of God proceeds to list the sons of Javan in Genesis 10:4 immediately after having listed the sons of Gomer in Genesis 10:3.
{God willing, we shall share more on the sons of Japheth in a future posting.}