Joel - Part 6

First posted: July 29, 2024

In this series of articles, we are meditating on the book of Joel and what God is shouting to today's deaf generation through Joel's prophecy. In this article, we shall focus on Joel 1:6.

Index

A peculiar group

In Joel 1:6, the Spirit of God declares the following:

"For a nation is come up upon my land, strong, and without number, whose teeth are the teeth of a lion, and he hath the cheek teeth of a great lion" (Joel 1:6)

When meditating on this verse, the Church's tendency has been to go one of two routes. Some go the Girgashite route, attempting to either identify the nation in the verse as a literal nation from the past or a literal nation that will emerge in some future "end time". This is due to the matriarchal Church's obsession with reducing the prophetic to little more than "event forecasting". However, as we have hinted before, even if we can correctly identify a historical event as the fulfilment of a given prophecy, knowing that information alone is about as useless as all the disjointed trivia facts that a "Rain man" type of individual can recite from memory on command. If we do not grasp the spiritual message behind the prophecy, the prophetic word becomes as fruitless as singing a beautiful song to a deaf man. In other words, if we know that God prophesied an earthquake in a given city, for example, but we do not understand the specific spiritual reality that that earthquake was manifesting in the natural realm, we effectively sap the life and purpose out of that earthquake prophecy.

Whereas some in the Church go the Girgashite route described above, others in the Church go the "revival" route, treating the words in the book of Joel as a figurative description of a coming revival. Unfortunately, as they do so, they focus only on "happy thoughts". This is due to the matriarchal Church's prophets' obsession with "Canaanising" the prophetic gift, turning it into a tool to "cheer up" the congregation because, to them, the prophetic in "New-Testament times" is only supposed to "positively exhort" and "inspire" at the emotional level (which they believe by twisting 1 Corinthians 14:3 and completely disregarding verses such as Titus 1:12, 1 Corinthians 14:24, and Hebrews 13:22). Because of this, those who go this second route reduce the words in Joel to a simplistic message of "repentance" and emotionally charged "revival". Because these prophets become contaminated by the Canaanite spirit, they become opposed to God's judgement nature, which effectively neutralises their ability to operate in God's wisdom, meaning that their understanding of "repentance" and "revival" will always remain soulish and superficial, which is why the "revivals" inspired by these prophets are like the morning fog that is here now and gone a few hours later.

In contrast to the Girgashite and Canaanite distortions of the prophetic gift, those who are ruled by the Spirit and not the soul will take the prophetic words in Joel 1:6 above and seek the eternal, spiritual message embedded in them. This entails meditating on every word in the original text and perceiving the spirit behind each word as it proceeds from God's mouth. Therefore, let us begin to meditate on the Hebrew words in the original text.

Nation

The word "nation" in the phrase "a nation is come up upon my land" was correctly translated from the Hebrew word goy. Interestingly, as some of you may already know, the Jewish people tend to refer to non-Jews as goyim, the plural form of goy that literally means "nations", which is the reason for the word "Gentile" (since "Gentile" is derived from the Latin word gentilis meaning "family, nation", which is why the word for "people" in Italian and Portuguese is gente). Hence, the word goy (i.e.- "nation") can have the connotation of something that appears foreign and unfamiliar.

As we have shared before, the word "nation" also tends to have a connotation in Scripture that associates it to a group of people immersed in a common set of traditions, with the traditions being fostered by the teacher endowment in a positive sense and the Girgashite spirit in a negative sense (since Girgashites are "distorted teachers"). As we have also shared before, the teacher endowment is the "weakest" of all the ministerial endowments, meaning that a "nation" can be taken to represent a group of people wrapped in earthly weakness who think in a way that is "foreign" or "unfamiliar" to other "nations".

Come up

On the other hand, the phrase "come up" in the phrase "a nation is come up upon my land" was translated from the Hebrew verb ala, which literally means "to go up, ascend, climb". To get a better sense of this word, let us consider the first 3 times that ala appears in Scripture. The first appearance is in the following verse, translated as "went up":

"But there went up a mist from the earth, and watered the whole face of the ground" (Genesis 2:6)

Notice how ala is associated with water that rises up from the earth. As we have shared before, the ministerial endowment most directly related to water, especially moving water, is the prophetic, and the endowment most directly related to the "earth" is the teacher endowment, which turns Girgashite when distorted. And, as we have also shared before, the prophetic and teacher endowments are almost each other's "opposites", though, when they are exercised in the Spirit, they work together in harmony and complement each other. Therefore, Genesis 2:6 figuratively speaks of a prophetic anointing that comes over things in the earthly realm and over people with a teacher impartation. This means that, at the start of the Earth's regeneration (described by God from Genesis 1:2 onwards), the prophetic anointing was able to flow freely across the Earth's atmosphere and refresh all things, even those things and people with a strong influence of the inherently "drier" teacher endowment, all without shock or conflict.

The second appearance of ala in Scripture is in the following verse:

"And Noah builded an altar unto the LORD; and took of every clean beast, and of every clean fowl, and offered burnt offerings on the altar." (Genesis 8:20)

Oddly enough, ala was translated as "offered". However, a better translation would have read that Noah "lifted burnt offerings on the altar". Noah did this after the flood waters finally receded and he was able to come out of the ark and into solid ground. Unlike the misty water of Genesis 2:6, the flood's waters had come to produce shock against the dwellers of the Earth, i.e.- against those who, amongst other things, had corrupted the teacher endowment and turned Girgashite. Thus, we can say that, when Noah lifted (i.e.- ala-ed) the sacrifice on the altar, he was bringing a restoration of the prophetic flow upon the Earth, a flow of prophetic sacrifice that could freely rise above the ground the way the misty waters of Genesis 2:6 had been able to.

The third appearance of ala in Scripture is in the following verse, translated as "went up":

"And Abram went up out of Egypt, he, and his wife, and all that he had, and Lot with him, into the south." (Genesis 13:1)

As we have shared before, Egypt often refers to the Girgashite spirit in Scripture. Hence, we can once again see how ala is used in the context of rising out of the influence of Girgashite earthliness to move in the prophetic with pre-corruption freedom.

Upon My land

The word "land" in the phrase "upon my land" of Joel 1:6 was translated from the Hebrew word erets, which can literally be translated as "land" or "earth". The fact that the word "my" is used means that God and/or Joel are claiming ownership of the "land" or "earth". Hence, we can conclude from all of the above that the "nation" wrapped in teacherly, earthly weakness that is rising up in prophetic anointing (ala) are doing so to come upon the Church, a Girgashite nation where God's prophetic anointing cannot flow freely without producing great shock, even though God owns them and they call themselves by His Name.

"And unto the angel of the church in Sardis write; These things saith he that hath the seven Spirits of God, and the seven stars; I know thy works, that thou hast a name that thou livest, and art dead" (Revelation 3:1)

[As we have shared before, the revelation message to the Church of Sardis is spoken by God's Teacherly Spirit of Perfection to those who have distorted His teacher endowment and turned it Girgashite]

Strong

The word "strong" that describes the rising, unfamiliar nation in Joel 1:6 was translated from the Hebrew word asum. To get a better sense of this word, we must look at the way that it is used in other places in Scripture.

The first appearance of asum in Scripture is in the following verse, translated as "mighty":

"Seeing that Abraham shall surely become a great and mighty nation, and all the nations of the earth shall be blessed in him?" (Genesis 18:18)

Notice that asum is again used in the context of a "nation" that will rise up to have influence over other nations. Notice also how asum has the subtle connotation of a "numerical vastness" that produces irresistible strength.

The second appearance of asum in Scripture is in the following verse, translated as "mightier":

"And he said unto his people, Behold, the people of the children of Israel are more and mightier than we:" (Exodus 1:9)

In the verse above, the king of Egypt is attributing the word asum to the people of Israel. This once again shows the connection between asum and fighting against the Girgashite spirit, given that Egypt often represents that spirit in Scripture. Notice also that asum has a connotation that goes beyond mere numerical superiority, as shown by the fact that the king of Egypt said "more and mightier", and not just "mightier".

The third appearance of asum in Scripture is in the following verse, again translated as "mightier":

"I will smite them with the pestilence, and disinherit them, and will make of thee a greater nation and mightier than they." (Numbers 14:12)

The Lord said the above to Moses as He endeavoured to convince Moses to allow Him to execute regenerative judgements on the people of Israel. But, as we have described before, Moses consistently refused God's offer to regenerate the people of Israel. Even though these people whom Moses so zealously shielded had come out of Egypt, their hearts remained in Egypt, as shown by what they said just before God's appeal to Moses:

"And all the children of Israel murmured against Moses and against Aaron: and the whole congregation said unto them, Would God that we had died in the land of Egypt! or would God we had died in this wilderness!" (Numbers 14:2)

Hence, we can once again see how asum is connected to the rising up of a nation that will overcome the Girgashite spirit of Egypt.

Without number

To get a fuller sense of the meaning behind the use of asum in Joel 1:6, we must also consider the phrase that follows it, "without number", which was translated from the Hebrew words in meaning "without, not" and mispar meaning "number". Interestingly, the first time that those 2 words appear together is in the following verse:

"And Joseph gathered corn as the sand of the sea, very much, until he left numbering; for it was without number" (Genesis 41:49)

Notice how in and mispar appear in the context of Joseph's presence bringing about supernatural fruit even in the midst of "often-Girgashite" Egypt. Why? Because Egypt had embraced the stranger from another nation who was in their midst, enabling him to do things that defied their traditional, often-earthly ways.

Notice also how Genesis 41:49 says that Joseph "left numbering". The word "left" was slightly mistranslated from the Hebrew verb hadal, which literally means "to stop, cease". This means that Joseph was initially counting the corn, but it got to the point that it became an exercise in futility to do so. In a sense, it can be said that to number the corn was to try to contain it within the bounds of the natural, finite realm. As we have shared before, teachers have a natural, God-given tendency to produce methods of containment. Hence, when the teachers go bad and turn Girgashite, their methods of containment turn into methods of oppression that try to contain the spiritual, which is infinite by nature, within finite boundaries. On the other hand, when the teachers recognise God's prophetic nature, they become aware of the times when they need to let go of their methods of containment as they begin to get in the way of God's prophetic, spiritual nature. This is why Joseph stopped counting the corn, for, had he insisted in counting it, he would have restricted God's spiritual nature, and the corn would have ceased. Therefore, we can say that Joseph had the choice to either "cease", i.e.- hadal, the counting on the corn or to keep monitoring the exact number. Wisely, he chose to stop the counting. Unfortunately, the Girgashites in the matriarchal Church usually prefer to not hadal (i.e.- "cease") the counting, even if they know that that will hadal the corn, for they would rather have something they can contain and control than something that can get out of their natural hands and overflow in the freedom of the prophetic.

The second time that in and mispar appear together in Scripture is in 1 Chronicles 22:4, which speaks of cedar trees that David had gathered "in abundance" (in mispar) and had been gifted by the Zidonians and Tyreans, for the Temple that Solomon eventually built. As shown by Zechariah 11:1-2 (the last verses where the Hebrew word for "cedar" appears in Scripture), "cedars" refer to the pastoral ministry, and their felling refers to the fall of the pastoral matriarchy. Hence, we can say that the "innumerable cedars" required to build the Temple refer to how God's presence on Earth cannot be established without the felling of the spiritual (i.e.- "innumerable") influence of the pastoral matriarchy in the Church and in the world.

"1 Open thy doors, O Lebanon, that the fire may devour thy cedars. 2 Howl, fir tree; for the cedar is fallen; because the mighty are spoiled: howl, O ye oaks of Bashan; for the forest of the vintage is come down. 3 There is a voice of the howling of the shepherds; for their glory is spoiled: a voice of the roaring of young lions; for the pride of Jordan is spoiled." (Zechariah 11:1-3)

[As we have shared before, the words for "shepherd" and "pastor" are identical in Hebrew and Greek. Hence, any time that Scripture speaks of "shepherds", it is spiritually referring to pastors and the pastoral ministry.]

"Coincidentally", the 3rd and last time that in and mispar appear together in Scripture is in the following verse, this time translated as "innumerable":

"They shall cut down her forest, saith the LORD, though it cannot be searched; because they are more than the grasshoppers, and are innumerable" (Jeremiah 46:23)

This verse was spoken as part of Jeremiah's prophetic word against Egypt, which once again points to an overflowing, "innumerable" attack against the Girgashite spirit of Egypt. Notice also that the number of the verse above is 23, which, as we have said before, points to the pastoral ministry. This is compounded by the fact that the chapter's number is 46, which happens to be 2 times 23. Thus, we can say from the 3 joint appearances of in and mispar that they are related to an assault against the distorted-teacher Girgashite spirit in a direct sense and against the distorted-pastor Canaanite spirit in the negative sense. Said another way, they refer to an "innumerable" assault against the 2 distorted "female" ministries of Girgashite teacher and Canaanite pastor.

When Girgashite "students" of "Biblical prophecy" read about an army that is "strong and without number" in Joel 1:6, they immediately think of a literal army of hundreds of thousands swooping down on Israel. And, if they take Joel 1:6 as a reference to a future event, they immediately begin to speculate amongst themselves over what country's army is being prophesied? "Is it Russia?", asks one eschatological pundit. "Could it be Iran?", asks another pundit. "Maybe it is China" declares a 3rd pundit. All the while, God's Spirit of Smyrna grieves and is enraged by foolish men who pretend that God's prophetic word can be grasped with the natural mind, foolish men who sap the prophetic life out of God's rhema and reduce it to a bowl of dry and hardened mush that they then dish out to the rest of believers as "God's dish of enlightened prophetic interpretation". By contrast, the remnant believers who are actually living out the prophecy and fulfilling it do not bother with the silly Girgashite speculations. Their inner man knows what God is trying to say, and that is what their inner man begins to hear, even if their natural mind does not hear it yet:

In the latter days, the Lord God will raise up an army of believers, an army that, though very small in literal numbers, will come with the asum strength of a numerically overwhelming army. This army will be in mispar, without number, meaning that the enemy will be unable to defeat them by merely outnumbering, even if by a large margin, for infinity cannot be overwhelmed with a finite number, large as it may be. They will be like an opponent that has been challenged to achieve an incredibly high score obtained by someone with much power and resources, but, even though they are less skilled and are lacking in resources, they have a supernatural tenacity that prompts them to try and try and try and try again in what seems like an endless number of attempts until they finally overcome the incredibly high score and win the game.

Though not the most "pleasant" of analogies, another analogy to describe the above would be the way that the Russians defeated the numerically and technologically superior armies of Napoleon and Hitler by outlasting them, sending out more and more soldiers against their enemies even as their soldiers were slaughtered over and over again, all until their enemies ran out of soldiers, supplies, weapons, and, more importantly, willpower. This is how the Russians would eventually overtake their enemies and defeat them as the bitter Russian winters wore them down. Phrased another way, the enemy is given a finite number of tries, and they may rack up an impressively high score because of all the power and resources that the billions of matriarchal souls have placed at their disposal. But, since their number of tries are limited, they eventually run out of them and are eventually unable to improve upon their score. The remnant army of Joel 1:6, however, have a prophetically unlimited number of tries, and they continue coming at the enemy with a supernatural tenacity, even if they do so in apparent weakness, until they are able to overtake the enemy's score, achieving what seems to be an impossible victory.

In the 2006 film "V for Vendetta", there is a God-inspired scene (yes, God-inspired) where the protagonist is facing a horde of enemies that begin to shoot at him with powerful guns. They rain a seemingly endless barrage of bullets upon him. The protagonist takes all the bullets, staggering in pain as he does. When his enemies run out of bullets, he painfully removes a thick metallic armour plate from beneath his shirt, and, as he tosses it aside, he says to them, "Now it is my turn". He then proceeds to massacre all of them with the only gun at his disposal. Even so, he is left mortally wounded, but this is immaterial to him since he was on his way to giving himself in sacrifice by driving a bomb into the enemy's inner sanctum. This is how such a weak and small remnant army will be able to take down a mammoth matriarchal system that has dominated humanity since the fall of man in the Garden of Eden.

The above does not mean that this remnant army will have "apparent" victory in every area and territory where it engages the enemy. This is because, as we have shared before, people in every area and territory get to decide whom they want to live under and whom they want to follow. Therefore, the areas and territories where people decide to live under the matriarchy despite the remnant's heroic efforts will see the remnant army withdrawing from them in apparent defeat. However, this withdrawal will come after the remnant have achieved an important result: The public certification that the people in that area or territory were offered the Glory of God with much love and sacrifice but still chose to embrace the matriarchal system in a very deliberate way. When this happens, those people will be spiritually deprived of any opportunity to say to God, "Lord, I did not know", and God will be free to put a fence around them with a sign that says, "This area is condemned and shall live no more". This will neutralise that area's ability to unrighteously influence other areas, and that area's soon demise in the natural will be a sign to all that the true winners were God and His remnant and not the enemies that apparently "succeeded" in "driving them away".

"10 But into whatsoever city ye enter, and they receive you not, go your ways out into the streets of the same, and say, 11 Even the very dust of your city, which cleaveth on us, we do wipe off against you: notwithstanding be ye sure of this, that the kingdom of God is come nigh unto you. 12 But I say unto you, that it shall be more tolerable in that day for Sodom, than for that city." (Luke 10:10-12)

"4 For it is impossible for those who were once enlightened, and have tasted of the heavenly gift, and were made partakers of the Holy Ghost, 5 And have tasted the good word of God, and the powers of the world to come, 6 If they shall fall away, to renew them again unto repentance; seeing they crucify to themselves the Son of God afresh, and put him to an open shame. 7 For the earth which drinketh in the rain that cometh oft upon it, and bringeth forth herbs meet for them by whom it is dressed, receiveth blessing from God: 8 But that which beareth thorns and briers is rejected, and is nigh unto cursing; whose end is to be burned." (Hebrews 6:4-8)

Teeth of a lion

The words "teeth" in the phrase "whose teeth are the teeth of a lion" were translated from the Hebrew noun shen, which, as we have shared before, points to the teacher endowment that breaks down larger content into smaller, more digestible chunks that can be digested by their students (and by themselves). Teachers' main way of processing the world around them is to break down the input that enters their mind in order to categorise and structure it and absorb its "mental essence". As we have also shared before, the teacher endowment is prone to repetition in order to perfect a new understanding and commit it to "muscle memory" and achieve greater efficiency. Hence, it is no coincidence that the Spirit of God repeats the word shen twice in the phrase "whose teeth are the teeth of a lion".

The word "lion", on the other hand, was translated from the Hebrew word ari, which is the word often used throughout the Hebrew text of Scripture to refer to lions. As we have shared before, lions speak of God's apostolic judgements. Hence, the "teeth of a lion" referred to in Joel 1:6 point to a teacher endowment that fully embraces apostolic wisdom and is constantly processing it, breaking it down in order to efficiently release judgements into the Earth. This contrasts with matriarchal teachers, i.e.- Girgashite teachers, who accept God's apostolic wisdom and judgements up to a certain point but then reject God's deeper wisdom and judgements due to their submission to their matriarchal pastor and his Canaanite, anti-judgement spirit. Therefore, we can say that the army the Lord is referring to in Joel 1:6 will have apostolic teachers who will differ from the matriarchal teachers, for they will operate in God's deep wisdom and gladly use that wisdom to release efficiently judgements into the Earth's atmosphere. That is what the phrase "whose teeth are teeth of a lion" is referring to.

Cheek teeth

The phrase "cheek teeth of a great lion" at the end of Joel 1:6 may seem redundant, since it comes after "teeth of a lion", but this "redundancy" disappears when one realises that the Hebrew words in the original text do not repeat themselves. For example, the phrase "cheek teeth" was translated from methalia, which is different from shen and conveys a different spiritual meaning. To glean that spiritual meaning, we must meditate on the more specific meaning of the word in Hebrew, as well as its usages in Scripture.

Unlike shen, which is a word for teeth in general, methalia specifically refers to fangs or incisors. Therefore, methalia refers to the teeth that produce the greatest psychological impact when a lion or any fierce animal flashes them whilst roaring or growling at someone. This is confirmed by the other 2 usages of methalia in Scripture, the first one being verse 17 of the following passage, where it was terribly mistranslated as "jaws":

"16 I was a father to the poor: and the cause which I knew not I searched out. 17 And I brake the jaws of the wicked, and plucked the spoil out of his teeth." (Job 29:16-17)

Here, Job is speaking about how he acted as a protector of the poor, defending them against the powerful, wicked men who came against them. Hence, when Job refers to the wicked's fangs, he is saying that he was not intimidated by the power of the wicked, even when the wicked flashed that power before him. Instead, he would break the wicked's intimidating power and pluck from their teeth whatever they had conquered from the poor and the weak.

The second time that methalia appears in Scripture is in verse 14 of the following passage, translated as "jaw teeth":

"13 There is a generation, O how lofty are their eyes! and their eyelids are lifted up. 14 There is a generation, whose teeth are as swords, and their jaw teeth as knives, to devour the poor from off the earth, and the needy from among men." (Proverbs 30:13-14)

Notice how methalia is once again used in the context of a group or type of people who use their power to come against the "poor" and the "needy". In fact, the Hebrew word ebyon translated as "needy" in verse 14 above is the same word translated as "poor" in Job 29:16 quoted above. The word ebyon is derived from the verb aba meaning "to be willing, to desire". Therefore, ebyon has the connotation of someone who is constantly "desiring" because his condition of weakness or poverty prevents him fulfilling those desires (as when a poor person, for example, sees someone eating an ice cream on a hot day and wishes he could eat one himself but cannot because he cannot afford it).

The word "teeth" in the phrase "a generation whose teeth are as swords" at the start of Proverbs 30:14 above was translated from shen. This means that, in Proverbs 30:14, shen teeth are equated with "swords", and swords speak of apostolic logos judgements. This correlates with what we shared earlier about shen teeth pointing to God's apostolic-wisdom judgements in a positive sense and, hence, to Jebusite judgements of false wisdom in a negative sense.

By contrast, methalia fangs are equated with "knives" in Proverbs 30:14. The word "knives" was translated from the Hebrew noun maakelet, which only appears 4 times in Scripture. The first two appearances are in reference to the knife that Abraham took with him to sacrifice his son Isaac to God (Genesis 22:6, 10). This points to the prophetic nature of the word maakelet, since the prophetic endowment is the one most directly related to sacrifices. This is certified by the "incisive" and puncturing nature of knives, since, as we have shared before, the prophetic endowment is spiritually associated with "stings". As opposed to the apostolic endowment, which swings a sword with wide strokes to kill off what is unrighteous and cut the unrighteous away from what is righteous, the prophetic endowment throws spears and shoots arrows to perform long-distance strikes from locations hidden to the natural mind. And, as shown by Ehud in Judges 3:14-23, the prophetic endowment's close-range attacks involve knife strikes that are fast and furious, strikes that seek to penetrate deep into the soul of the target. Whether it be through "spears", "arrows", or "knives", the prophetic endowment seeks to puncture a very specific location, concentrating its force on a very specific area in order to produce the maximum pressure and cut through the surface so as to deal with what is hidden deep inside. Since Hittites are prophets gone bad, Hittite attacks have a similar nature to them, carrying out fast and furious knife and spear/arrow strikes that produce deep and excruciating emotional pain.

The word "poor" in Proverbs 30:14 was translated from the Hebrew adjective ani, which is derived from the adjective ana meaning "afflicted" and the verb ana meaning "to answer". Hence, ani has the connotation of someone who has been browbeaten by someone in a humanly "higher" position and is forced to answer to the demands and questions of the "higher-up", thus leading to an unnecessary burden of affliction. Hence, the shen attacks described in Proverbs 30:14 refer to Jebusite attacks that humiliate the other person and "put them in their (supposed) place" under the assumption that the other person cannot fight back.

By contrast, as we saw earlier, the word "needy" was translated from the word ebyon, which has the connotation of someone who is in a constant state of emotional "longing" or "desiring", meaning that the methalia attacks described in Proverbs 30:14 refer to Hittite attacks that seek to "plunge the knife deeper" in order to augment the emotional torture on those who are already enduring emotional emptiness from all that they are forced to long for.

In short, we can conclude from the above that Proverbs 30:14 speaks of an evil generation performing attacks of Jebusite judgements with their shen teeth against the "poor", as well as Hittite stings of deep, emotional torture with their methalia fangs against the "needy". According to Proverbs 30:14, they do this to devour the righteous "poor", i.e.- the ani afflicted with unnecessary demands, burdening them with additional affliction in order to consume them by sapping the desire to live out of them and making them effectively disappear from the Earth. They also go after the righteous "needy", i.e.- the ebyon who are in a state of constant hunger, desiring basic things accessible to others; they attack the "needy" by injecting emptiness into them, increasing their hunger until they waste away and have no more influence amongst men. Therefore, we can say that Proverb 30:14 describes the tribulation God's remnant go through during the 5th-seal phase where they are exposed to Jebusite ambushes and Hittite Sabbaths of torment as they abide in weakness as pastor-teachers, i.e.- as "needy" pastors and "poor" teachers.

Now that we have considered the other 2 verses, outside of Joel 1:6, where methalia appears in Scripture, we can conclude that the methalia fangs of Joel 1:6 refer to spiritual attacks performed in the prophetic anointing in order to produce deep and stinging emotional and psychological distress on those opposed to the Kingship of God's Spirit.

Great lion

As we shared earlier, the word "lion" in the phrase "teeth of a lion" in Joel 1:6 was translated from the Hebrew word ari. By contrast, the phrase "great lion" in "cheek teeth of a great lion" was translated from a very different Hebrew word, the word labi. This illustrates why relying on the English translators (especially the KJV translators) alone will on many occasions prevent you seeing the nuances in God's original words, and you will at times think that God is repeating Himself when, in fact, He is saying two different things.

The question then becomes, what is the difference between labi and ari? To answer that, we must again consider how God uses labi in Scripture, in verses such as the following, where labi is translated as "lions":

"My soul is among lions: and I lie even among them that are set on fire, even the sons of men, whose teeth are spears and arrows, and their tongue a sharp sword." (Psalm 57:4)

Notice how labi is used in the context of "spears" and "arrows", which points to what we said above regarding methalia fangs. It must be said, however, that the word "teeth" in Psalm 57:4 above was actually translated from shen, not methalia. This writer believes that this is because the Spirit of God was not trying to highlight the labi lion's fangs from the rest of the labi lion's teeth. Said another way, it is as if the Spirit of God is saying that the labi lion's nature is such that all of his shen teeth can produce the spiritual effect of methalia fangs.

Interestingly, the word "sword" at the end of Psalm 57:4 above was translated from hereb, the same word translated as "sword" in Proverbs 30:14 when referring to shen teeth. Thus, we can say that, in the context of Psalm 57:4 above, all the shen teeth of the "sons of men" are acting like prophetic methalia fangs and their tongues are acting like an apostolic ari lion's shen teeth.

Notice also that Psalm 57:4 says, "My soul is among lions", as opposed to simply saying "I am among lions". Since Psalm 57 as a whole speaks of a man who cries out to God in the midst of the harassment and persecution of men, the explicit reference to his "soul" in verse 4 emphasises the emotional harassment that he was experiencing at the hands of the labi (given that the emotions are the central and most prominent part of the soul).

Prophetic roaring

The word labi also appears in verse 29 of the following passage, translated as "lion" (in the first appearance of "lion" in the KJV translation of that verse):

"26 And he will lift up an ensign to the nations from far, and will hiss unto them from the end of the earth: and, behold, they shall come with speed swiftly: 27 None shall be weary nor stumble among them; none shall slumber nor sleep; neither shall the girdle of their loins be loosed, nor the latchet of their shoes be broken: 28 Whose arrows are sharp, and all their bows bent, their horses' hoofs shall be counted like flint, and their wheels like a whirlwind: 29 Their roaring shall be like a lion, they shall roar like young lions: yea, they shall roar, and lay hold of the prey, and shall carry it away safe, and none shall deliver it. 30 And in that day they shall roar against them like the roaring of the sea: and if one look unto the land, behold darkness and sorrow, and the light is darkened in the heavens thereof." (Isaiah 5:26-30)

[Interestingly enough, the phrase "young lions" in verse 29 was translated from yet another word for lion in Hebrew, the word kefeer]

The word "roaring" and the first word "roar" in verse 29 were translated from the Hebrew verb shawag (curiously enough, the second word "roar" was translated from a different Hebrew verb, naham, which is better translated as "to growl, groan"). To get a better sense of shawag, consider the following verse, where it is translated as "roared":

"I am feeble and sore broken: I have roared by reason of the disquietness of my heart." (Psalm 38:8)

"Coincidentally", the word "disquietness" was translated from the Hebrew verb nehama, which is derived from the word naham, the same word mentioned above that is used in Isaiah 5:29 and is better translated as "to growl, groan". Hence, we can see how shawag roaring is associated with an emotional expression (like a growl or a groan) that wells up from deep within the soul.

The verb shawag also appears 3 times in the following verse:

"Therefore prophesy thou against them all these words, and say unto them, The LORD shall roar from on high, and utter his voice from his holy habitation; he shall mightily roar upon his habitation; he shall give a shout, as they that tread the grapes, against all the inhabitants of the earth." (Jeremiah 25:30)

The first "roar" in the verse above was translated from shawag, and the phrase "mightily roar" was translated from two shawag words that appear consecutively in the original Hebrew text. Notice how the Lord's triple shawag roaring is explicitly associated with prophesying, which correlates with what we saw earlier, since the exercise of the prophetic endowment often involves the expression of emotions that surge forth from deep within the soul. This connection to prophetic expressions is emphasised in the following verse, where shawag is translated as "roaring":

"There is a conspiracy of her prophets in the midst thereof, like a roaring lion ravening the prey; they have devoured souls; they have taken the treasure and precious things; they have made her many widows in the midst thereof." (Ezekiel 22:25)

Curiously enough, the word "lion" in the verse above was actually translated from ari, not labi (as is the case in Isaiah 5:29 above). Even so, we still see how shawag roaring points to people with a prophetic endowment executing a "conspiracy", i.e.- a left-handed "secret-ops" activity, against "souls". The explicit reference to souls in the verse above once again points to the emotional impact that the shawag roaring is intended to have.

The verb shawag also appears in verse 8 of the following passage, translated as "roared":

"7 Surely the Lord GOD will do nothing, but he revealeth his secret unto his servants the prophets. 8 The lion hath roared, who will not fear? the Lord GOD hath spoken, who can but prophesy?" (Amos 3:7-8)

Notice how shawag is once again used in the context of God's prophetic anointing. Notice also how God's shawag roaring instils "fear", which reinforces the prophetic connection, given that the prophetic endowment can produce deep and emotionally unsettling fear when applied against God's enemies, which is why, when prophets go bad, they become Hittites that "terrorise" and psychologically torture other people's souls.

The connection between the prophetic endowment, psychological fear, and chaos can be seen in 2 Chronicles 20, which describes the attack by the sons of Moab and the sons of Ammon against Jehoshaphat and the people of Judah. The multitude that came against Judah was so great that "Jehoshaphat feared" (2 Chronicles 20:3) and sought the Lord for help. The Spirit of the Lord then came upon Jahaziel (2 Chronicles 20:14), and he prophesied from God that they would have victory, telling them God's unorthodox plan to defeat the enemy. He also said, "Believe in the LORD your God, so shall ye be established; believe his prophets, so shall ye prosper" (2 Chronicles 20:20). All of this points explicitly and implicitly to the prophetic endowment, given that Scripture often describes the Spirit of the Lord coming upon people before they prophesy. Also, the prophetic endowment is inherently "left-handed", meaning that it often operates in ways that defy "logic-based", right-handed thinking, causing it to produce approaches and strategies that are often unorthodox and "non-sensical" to the naked eye.

2 Chronicles 20:21 declares that, after consulting with the people, Jehoshaphat appointed singers unto the Lord to "praise the beauty of holiness". As we have shared before, holiness is most directly related to the prophetic endowment. And, as we have also shared before, grace and beauty are strongly interrelated, and, the endowment most directly related to spiritual grace is the prophetic endowment. Hence, we can conclude that, as the sons of Israel began to sing, they began to broadcast into the atmosphere the grace of God's prophetic nature.

The word "beauty" in 2 Chronicles 20:21 was translated from the Hebrew noun hadara, which is derived from the noun hadar meaning "ornament, splendour, honour". Hence, it has the connotation of a beautiful and elegant dress on a woman, which speaks of something that calls you to honour and appreciate something that appears to be weak and vulnerable to the natural eye (1 Peter 3:7). Therefore, we can also say that the sons of Israel were emphasising the splendour of God's prophetic anointing and the honour that it is due, even when it appears "weak" (i.e.- incapable of inflicting great harm) and "lacking in beauty" (i.e.- not worthy of one's time and appreciation) to the distorted and clueless Girgashite eye.

As described in 2 Chronicles 20:22-25, the prophetic anointing that was released by God's people that day led to the enemy soldiers falling into a state of utter confusion and terror that led to them slaughtering each other, all without the people of God physically fighting a single one of them.

From all of the above, we can safely conclude that the word labi (translated as "great lion" in Joel 1:6) speaks of believers shawag-ing (i.e.- roaring) prophetic screams from their mouths that produce psychological torture, terror, and chaos in God's enemies, leading to their utter destruction. These judgements act like incisive prophetic methalia fangs to dig into the souls of God's enemies to produce emotional and psychological turmoil in them.

Summary

In short, we can say from all of the above that God is prophesying in Joel 1:6 that He will raise up a group of believers with a spirit and a way of seeing things that will be foreign to the matriarchal Church. These believers will be cloaked in teacherly weakness but will have a prophetic anointing capable of bringing back the free-flowing mist of refreshing that man lost after he fell in the Garden of Eden. This free-flowing mist will come upon the Girgashite-dry Church plagued by the spirit of Egypt, and it will have the potential to turn into a shocking Noah-style flood of destruction if the land chooses to reject the strange prophetic flow emanating from this strange group of believers.

This strange nation shall have an "overwhelming" quality about them that will make them seem to have overwhelming numbers of attackers, even though their numbers will be (very) small in the natural. This "overwhelming" quality will stem from their prophetic nature, which will make them come with the strength of "eternal infinity" against the matriarchy's large, Girgashite numbers and its high Canaanite emotional intensity. This infinity will be manifested in their ability to keep coming at the enemy over and over and over and over and over again, as if they kept resurrecting every time they were supposedly "killed off". Even if they are rejected by a recalcitrant people in a given area, they will still be victorious because they will have succeeded in cursing the area unto eternal ignominy and demise, cordoning it off so that it will no longer hinder the purposes of God in other regions that do not yet fully align with them (for the regions that do align with them in full will share in their soon demise).

This small army not limited by finite numbers will have "teeth of a lion", meaning that they will have a strong teacher anointing imbued with deep apostolic wisdom that will enable them to release powerful judgements that the matriarchal Church will be unable to match or neutralise. They will also have "cheek teeth of a great lion", i.e.- fangs of roaring lions, meaning that they will have the ability to roar forth prophetic words that will cut deep into the souls of God's enemies and produce great psychological torment and distress in them.

Dear believer, you can take the spiritual qualities conveyed by the Spirit of God in Joel 1:6 and minister them to yourself. You can also take the words of Joel 1:6 in faith and believe that they speak about you and that you will have the authority to rise above the Girgashite earthliness of natural man and be like an apostolic lion cutting God's enemies with force and precision using your teeth full of apostolic judgements. And you can also believe that you can have the authority to rise up as a fear-inducing lion that roars forth psychologically devasting torment and distress on God's enemies using your sharp and deep-cutting prophetic fangs.

God willing, in the next posting, we will continue meditating on Joel chapter 1.