Joel - Part 7
First posted: December 4, 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 1:7.
Index
Who is He?
In Joel 1:7, the Spirit of God declares the following:
"He hath laid my vine waste, and barked my fig tree: he hath made it clean bare, and cast it away; the branches thereof are made white." (Joel 1:7)
The first thing to consider here is who is being referred to by the word "He" at the beginning of the verse. As we saw in the previous posting, the preceding verse (Joel 1:6) speaks of a nation coming upon "my land" with a prophetic anointing to overwhelm the matriarchal Church's Girgashite nature, a nation with teeth like apostolic lions and prophetic fangs capable of producing great psychological torture on matriarchal souls. When the Spirit of God declares that this nation is coming against "My land", He is emphasising that this spiritual "nation" has the God-given authority to do this against the Church's "land" (i.e.- its earthly manifestation) because that land is God's, even when the Church's matriarchal pastors act as if it is theirs. It could also be argued that the one speaking in the phrase "my land" of Joel 1:6 is Joel himself, which does not contradict the idea that it was God speaking in the phrase "my land". Why? Because, in the New Covenant, we become more than mere "employees" of our Master. Instead, we become full-blown "sons" and "daughters" of the Most High God, thus becoming representatives of God on Earth. Our actions then become as the actions of God Himself, for, when God sets things in motion on Earth, He does it through us. Hence, the distinction between God's actions and ours becomes blurred.
From the above, we can infer that the word "He" at the beginning of Joel 1:7 refers both to God Himself and to the collective nation of believers referred to in the preceding verse. This is why the Spirit of God did not use the more "logical" word "they" when referring to the nation of Joel 1:6, since this nation, though manifested in unique and distinct individuals, is acting like an expression of the One True God, executing His multifaceted but singular will on Earth.
Spiritual Berlins
The verb "laid" in the phrase "He hath laid my vine waste" of Joel 1:7 was translated from the Hebrew verb sum, which has the connotation of establishing something new, as shown by its first appearance in Scripture, Genesis 2:8, where it is translated as "put":
"And the LORD God planted a garden eastward in Eden; and there he put the man whom he had formed." (Genesis 2:8)
Therefore, we can say that sum has an apostolic connotation, since the apostolic endowment is the one most directly related with "establishing" or the "laying of foundations", as well as being most directly related to wisdom and the laying down of "new" revelations. This is why apostles can, in a literal sense, be directly involved in the planting of new churches in territories formerly unfamiliar with God's Truth.
The word "vine" in the phrase "He hath laid my vine waste" of Joel 1:7 points to the evangelistic endowment of kingdom conquest, given that it is the endowment most directly to "wine" and the "joy of victory". The word "waste", on the other hand, was translated from the word shamah, which can also be translated as "horror, appalment" and has a connotation of "devastation" and "emptiness", as when a city is razed by a hurricane or a military attack and its residents are left experiencing a great sense of emptiness and despair. Therefore, we can say that shamah has a strong prophetic connotation, given that the prophetic anointing has a strong influence on people's emotions, either filling them with a sense of purpose when they are right with God or "filling" them with emptiness and hopelessness when they are walking contrary to God. This is why, when prophets become distorted and turn Hittite, they have the ability to terrorise and produce horror and devastation, as well as suicidal despair.
Putting it all together, we can conclude that the phrase "He hath laid my vine waste" of Joel 1:7 means that God's remnant shall come with an apostolic anointing of wisdom to reveal to all how prophetically purposeless and utterly void all the "evangelistic conquests" and achievements of the matriarchal Church are. Because of the apostolic connotation of sum and the prophetic connotation of shamah, we can say that the phrase "He hath laid [sum-ed] my vine waste [shamah]" points to believers operating in the black-horse anointing, given that black-horse riders are "apostle-prophets" who launch judgement arrows from a distance at the Church run by the spirit of Balaam, the spirit that focuses believers on pursuing material and emotional grace for Girgashite, earthly purposes, something very common in the "prosperity"-oriented megachurches in the matriarchal system. Said another way, the phrase "He hath laid my vine waste" prophesies that remnant believers will come with an apostolic-prophetic anointing to expose the utter emptiness and desolation in the churches and ministries that, on the surface, appear to be living in the epitome of success and victory. Fellow believer, as a remnant believer, you can take the phrase in Joel 1:7 and project it spiritually over the matriarchal churches around the world, especially the "prosperous" ones, by making apostolic declarations of wisdom that reveal how spiritually empty those churches are. In God's eyes, those "wealthy" and "victorious" churches are like spiritual "Berlin"s at the end of World War 2, utterly devastated and spiritually defeated:
just off the Unter den Linden, 3 July 1945
(taken from Wikipedia)
the collections of the Imperial War Museums
(collection no. 4700-30), Public Domain,
Wikimedia Commons
Displeasing wisdom
The word "barked" in the phrase "barked my fig tree" of Joel 1:7 was translated from the Hebrew verb ketsawfaw, which literally means "to splinter, fragment" and is not used in any other passage of Scripture. Interestingly, ketsawfaw is derived from the verb kawtsaf meaning "to be displeased, be angry, furious". Therefore, it has a strong apostolic connotation, given that the apostolic endowment is the one most directly related to judgements, with anger being the emotion associated with judgements against what is unrighteous in God's eyes. As we have shared before, the apostolic endowment is the antithesis of the Canaanite spirit that is obsessed with pleasing others and being pleased, meaning that apostles have no qualms about showing the opposite of pleasure, i.e.- displeasure, when unrighteousness is manifested before them, showing little concern over whether their judging displeasure will make them "lose favour" with those supporting the unrighteousness in question.
As we have shared before, the fig tree refers to the apostolic endowment of wisdom. Therefore, we can say that the phrase "barked my fig tree" speaks of remnant believers pronouncing apostolic judgements filled with great anger to expose how worthless the "wisdom" of the matriarchal Church is. For example, "prosperity" megachurches often take great pride in their "wisdom revelations" on how to claim the things that they desire in order to possess them. Even when these "revelations" seem to "work" on a superficial level, they are revelations empowered by prayers towards the "wide gate" where, if you ask God for "quails" because you are tired of "manna", He will grant you the "quails" so that you may spiritually die from them:
"4 And the mixt multitude that was among them fell a lusting: and the children of Israel also wept again, and said, Who shall give us flesh to eat? 5 We remember the fish, which we did eat in Egypt freely; the cucumbers, and the melons, and the leeks, and the onions, and the garlick: 6 But now our soul is dried away: there is nothing at all, beside this manna, before our eyes." (Numbers 11:4-6)
"31 And there went forth a wind from the LORD, and brought quails from the sea, and let them fall by the camp, as it were a day's journey on this side, and as it were a day's journey on the other side, round about the camp, and as it were two cubits high upon the face of the earth. 32 And the people stood up all that day, and all that night, and all the next day, and they gathered the quails: he that gathered least gathered ten homers: and they spread them all abroad for themselves round about the camp. 33 And while the flesh was yet between their teeth, ere it was chewed, the wrath of the LORD was kindled against the people, and the LORD smote the people with a very great plague. 34 And he called the name of that place Kibrothhattaavah: because there they buried the people that lusted." (Numbers 11:31-34)
In a negative sense, the fig tree also speaks of the fig leaves that the matriarchal Church hides behind in order to cover up the fact that she is incapable of producing supernatural fruit that is pleasing to the God of Israel (Genesis 3:7, Mark 11:12-14).
Double exposure
The phrase "he hath made it clean bare" in Joel 1:7 was translated from the Hebrew verb khawsaf, which is said twice in the original text. This verb literally means "to strip off, to lay bare" and has the connotation of peeling off or removing something that is on the surface in order to expose what is underneath. Interestingly, the first appearance of khawsaf in Scripture is in verse 9 of the following passage, translated as "discovereth":
"8 The voice of the LORD shaketh the wilderness; the LORD shaketh the wilderness of Kadesh. 9 The voice of the LORD maketh the hinds to calve, and discovereth the forests: and in his temple doth every one speak of his glory" (Psalm 29:8-9)
Therefore, we can say that khawsaf emphasises how God's remnant have come to expose the lack of "supernaturality" hiding behind the superficial, natural prosperity of the matriarchal Church. Through the black-horse voice that speaks from anonymity and through the earthquake-inducing green-horse anointing that declares shocking and fractal "green" truths, the remnant strip off all the superficial "greenery" of the matriarchal Church, showing that, even at their very best, they have not advanced beyond the black-horse stage, despite their claims that they have completed their spiritual growth through spiritually meaningless signs of success. The remnant are spiritually enabled to expose the black-horse stagnation of the avant-garde matriarchals because they have been willing to proceed to the green-horse stage, the stage where you go through Death and through excruciating Sheol experiences.
The above explains why the Spirit of God says khawsaf twice in Joel 1:7. The first khawsaf happens during the black-horse stage and the second khawsaf happens during the green-horse stage. It can also be said that the two khawsafs refer to the 2 "female" ministries that dominate in the matriarchal Church. In that sense, the first khawsaf goes against the teacher ministry, exposing the matriarchal Church in the black-horse stage by showing the worthless nature of the Girgashite teachings of Balaam that teach God's people to use His grace for vain purposes. The second khawsaf, on the other hand, goes against the pastoral ministry by exposing the emptiness of all the grass that the Church's Korah pastors feed the clueless matriarchal sheep with.
Casting out future danger
The word "cast" in the phrase "he hath made it clean bare, and cast it away" of Joel 1:7 was translated from the Hebrew verb shawlak. Interestingly enough, the first appearance of shawlak in Scripture is in verse 15 of the following passage, translated as "cast":
"14 And Abraham rose up early in the morning, and took bread, and a bottle of water, and gave it unto Hagar, putting it on her shoulder, and the child, and sent her away: and she departed, and wandered in the wilderness of Beersheba. 15 And the water was spent in the bottle, and she cast the child under one of the shrubs. 16 And she went, and sat her down over against him a good way off, as it were a bowshot: for she said, Let me not see the death of the child. And she sat over against him, and lift up her voice, and wept. 17 And God heard the voice of the lad; and the angel of God called to Hagar out of heaven, and said unto her, What aileth thee, Hagar? fear not; for God hath heard the voice of the lad where he is. 18 Arise, lift up the lad, and hold him in thine hand; for I will make him a great nation." (Genesis 21:14-18)
Notice that Hagar shawlak-ed her son Ishmael under one of the shrubs when she thought that all hope was lost. However, God had not given up on the child, hearing his voice (not Hagar's) and supernaturally providing the water that had run out. In other words, even when Ishmael's own mother had given up on him, and even when Ishmael's presence in the Abraham household can be traced back to Sarah and Abraham's unbelief (Genesis 16), God did not shawlak him, which goes to show how serious it is that God shawlaks His unfaithful "fig tree" in Joel 1:7.
The second, third, and fourth appearances of shawlak in Scripture are in verses 20, 22, and 24 of the following passage, translated as "cast" each time:
"20 Come now therefore, and let us slay him, and cast him into some pit, and we will say, Some evil beast hath devoured him: and we shall see what will become of his dreams. 21 And Reuben heard it, and he delivered him out of their hands; and said, Let us not kill him. 22 And Reuben said unto them, Shed no blood, but cast him into this pit that is in the wilderness, and lay no hand upon him; that he might rid him out of their hands, to deliver him to his father again. 23 And it came to pass, when Joseph was come unto his brethren, that they stript Joseph out of his coat, his coat of many colours that was on him; 24 And they took him, and cast him into a pit: and the pit was empty, there was no water in it. 25 And they sat down to eat bread: and they lifted up their eyes and looked, and, behold, a company of Ishmeelites came from Gilead with their camels bearing spicery and balm and myrrh, going to carry it down to Egypt. 26 And Judah said unto his brethren, What profit is it if we slay our brother, and conceal his blood? 27 Come, and let us sell him to the Ishmeelites, and let not our hand be upon him; for he is our brother and our flesh. And his brethren were content. 28 Then there passed by Midianites merchantmen; and they drew and lifted up Joseph out of the pit, and sold Joseph to the Ishmeelites for twenty pieces of silver: and they brought Joseph into Egypt." (Genesis 37:20-28)
Notice that Ishmael's name and the lack of water are once again present in the context of shawlak. This time, it was Joseph, one of Isaac's grandchildren, not Ishmael, who was shawlaked. Reuben convinced his brothers not to murder Joseph but to only cast him in the waterless pit, for his plan was to return for Joseph later when his brothers were not present. Reuben's plan to put Joseph "on layaway" backfired, however, for the Midianites and Ishmaelites showed up first to draw Joseph out of the pit and sell him into slavery in Egypt, which, "coincidentally", was where Ishmael's mother Hagar was from (Genesis 21:9).
The fifth appearance of shawlak in Scripture is in the following verse, once again translated as "cast":
"And Pharaoh charged all his people, saying, Every son that is born ye shall cast into the river, and every daughter ye shall save alive" (Exodus 1:22)
Notice how Egypt is once again prominent in the context of the word shawlak. In this case, shawlak is used to describe how Pharaoh intended to cast away the "male" spirit nature of the Israelites and reduce them to weak "female" souls that were not a threat to him, which is what the enemy constantly does with the pathetic matriarchal Church.
Notice that, in all the appearances of shawlak listed above, shawlak is used to describe the casting away of someone who posed a threat to someone. Ishmael was cast away from Abraham's home because Sarah (correctly) perceived him as a threat to Isaac's inheritance. Joseph was cast away from Jacob's home because his brothers perceived him as a threat to their future relevance in their father's eyes (they also perceived him as proof in the eyes of a Righteous God that they did not measure up to the faith and obedience in Joseph's heart). The male children of Israel were cast away into the river because Pharaoh perceived them as a threat to his dominion over Egypt. In all 3 cases, the shawlaking was done with the intention of preventing the threat from the person in question becoming a reality. Therefore, we can infer that God's shawlaking of His "fig tree" in Joel 1:7 is done before that corrupted fig tree can do more harm to His eternal purposes on Earth. Those who are stuck in the black-horse stage and become followers of Balaam are spiritually dangerous, for they start to use the spiritual gifts that God so lovingly granted to them in order to pursue earthly purposes that end up aggrandising satan's influence and causing great harm to God's remnant.
Those who choose to listen to God's heart understand the need to shawlak corrupt elements of the Church that have shawlaked God's prophetic vision for them and who treacherously start to attack God by using His very gifts against Him. This is why God's remnant have no qualms about double-exposing these worthless fig trees in order to then cast them in the fires of Gehenna.
The pit of oblivion
The word "branches" in the phrase "the branches thereof are made white" was translated from the Hebrew noun sawreeg. Given that it means "branch", one would assume that sawreeg is not that uncommon in Scripture. However, as it turns out, this word only appears 3 times in all of Scripture, with the other two appearances both being in Genesis 40, when referring to the 3 branches in the chief butler's dream, which Joseph interpreted:
"9 And the chief butler told his dream to Joseph, and said to him, In my dream, behold, a vine was before me; 10 And in the vine were three branches: and it was as though it budded, and her blossoms shot forth; and the clusters thereof brought forth ripe grapes: 11 And Pharaoh's cup was in my hand: and I took the grapes, and pressed them into Pharaoh's cup, and I gave the cup into Pharaoh's hand. 12 And Joseph said unto him, This is the interpretation of it: The three branches are three days: 13 Yet within three days shall Pharaoh lift up thine head, and restore thee unto thy place: and thou shalt deliver Pharaoh's cup into his hand, after the former manner when thou wast his butler. 14 But think on me when it shall be well with thee, and shew kindness, I pray thee, unto me, and make mention of me unto Pharaoh, and bring me out of this house: 15 For indeed I was stolen away out of the land of the Hebrews: and here also have I done nothing that they should put me into the dungeon." (Genesis 40:9-15)
Notice how sawreeg points once again to Joseph, who, like Ishmael, was cast off (shawlak-ed) but was then drawn out of the pit by the Ishmaelites and sold as a slave in Egypt. As we have shared before, Egypt, in a negative sense, points to the Girgashite spirit of dryness, which, as we have also said before, is the antithesis of God's prophetic anointing. Therefore, we can see how shawlak and sawreeg subtly refer to someone who is declared by someone else as having no prophetic purpose, no raison d'être, and must therefore be thrown out and forgotten.
In the chief butler's dream, the 3 sawreegs refer to "3 days", as interpreted by Joseph (Genesis 40:12). Thus, they speak of 3 periods of time during which the chief butler would remain cast off in the dungeon and forgotten. After those 3 "periods of time", the chief butler was prophetically destined to be remembered by Pharaoh in order to be restored to his previous position. As mentioned in Genesis 40:14-15, Joseph was hoping that this would be an opportunity for him to be remembered as well and redeemed from the spiritual pit of oblivion that he was in.
The entanglements of oblivion
The word sawreeg for "branch" mentioned above is derived from the Hebrew verb sawrag, which means "to be intertwined, to intertwine oneself". Interestingly, sawrag only appears twice in Scripture, the first time being in verse 17 of the following passage, translated as "wrapped together":
"15 Behold now behemoth, which I made with thee; he eateth grass as an ox. 16 Lo now, his strength is in his loins, and his force is in the navel of his belly. 17 He moveth his tail like a cedar: the sinews of his stones are wrapped together." (Job 40:15-17)
Notice how verse 17 above speaks of behemoth's tail being like a cedar. As we have shared before, cedars point to the pastoral endowment and to the pastoral matriarchy that God shall strike down through the roaring of His voice (Psalm 29, Zechariah 11:1-3). Therefore, we can say that the sawrag intertwining of sinews that is mentioned later in the verse is related to the pastoral endowment.
The only other appearance of sawrag in Scripture is in verse 14 of the following passage, translated as "wreathed":
"13 From above hath he sent fire into my bones, and it prevaileth against them: he hath spread a net for my feet, he hath turned me back: he hath made me desolate and faint all the day. 14 The yoke of my transgressions is bound by his hand: they are wreathed, and come up upon my neck: he hath made my strength to fall, the Lord hath delivered me into their hands, from whom I am not able to rise up." (Lamentations 1:13-14)
Notice how the passage above speaks of one's transgressions being "wreathed" or intertwined by God, coming up upon one's neck. The word "transgression" in verse 14 above was translated from the Hebrew word peshah, which, interestingly enough, appears for the first time in Scripture in the following verse, translated as "trespass":
"And Jacob was wroth, and chode with Laban: and Jacob answered and said to Laban, What is my trespass? what is my sin, that thou hast so hotly pursued after me?" (Genesis 31:36)
In the verse above, Jacob is confronting Laban for pursuing him after he had secretly left Laban's household to finally be free from Laban's smothering influence. As we have shared before, Jacob became entangled in Laban's matriarchal web when his soul fell for the shepherdess Rachel and he surrendered to her pastoral endowment with a kiss. That entanglement led to 14 years of slavery for Jacob, which were followed by 6 years during which Laban obsessed with keeping Jacob and his family under his covering and control.
All of the above is emphasised by the fact that the phrase "made white" in the phrase "the branches thereof are made white" was translated from the Hebrew verb laban, from which the name Laban is derived. To the undiscerning soul, the pastoral matriarchy is "white" with purity as it preaches a message of "compassion", "mutual understanding", and "forgiveness", but those who open their eyes to the "male" nature of the spirit realise that this "whiteness" is achieved by stripping the Gospel of all "unkind" apostolic judgements, all prophetic defiance of natural hierarchies and paradigms, and all evangelistic desire to conquer and brutally destroy the enemy and its strongholds. Thus, it is a whiteness produced by removing the "clutter" of God's "maleness" and replacing it with a simplistic and soothing "female" soulishness that is devoid of any "troublesome" complexity.
From all of the above, we can say that the word "branch" in Joel 1:7, which in the Hebrew text is related to the verb sawrag, points to the soul entanglements that the pastoral matriarchy uses to keep believers under its control, just as Laban did with Jacob. These entanglements trap us in a pit of spiritual oblivion where we are condemned to slavery to the matriarchal system, separated from God's spiritual purposes and never fulfilling all that God had intended for us. Jacob did not have his Penuel encounter with the Lord and become "Israel" until he was able to escape from the ivy-like entanglement of Laban's influence. Hence, Joel 1:7 is prophetically declaring that this hideous pastoral entanglement will be exposed by Joel's army, making it shamefully evident to all who are willing to open their eyes and acknowledge the Truth.
Conclusion
Now that we have meditated on Joel 1:7, the question becomes: How can we apply the understanding that the Spirit of God has opened up about this verse?
"He hath laid my vine waste, and barked my fig tree: he hath made it clean bare, and cast it away; the branches thereof are made white." (Joel 1:7)
We can take the phrase "He hath laid my vine waste" and declare it in prophetic intercession to broadcast the judgements of God that establish (i.e.- lay down) that the "successful" kingdom (i.e.- the vine) that the matriarchal Church has built on Earth is a wasteland, a place of utter spiritual devastation and emptiness. As we broadcast this truth, we enable the tangible manifestation of that spiritual reality in the natural realm, meaning that people will be able to perceive more and more plainly how the "glorious kingdoms" (i.e.- "ministries") that the matriarchal Church builds for herself are nothing more than places of emptiness, devastation, and failure, like spiritual Berlins immediately after World War 2. We are already seeing this with the multitude of scandals and embarrassments that have plagued big-name ministries in recent months and years, and the devastation lurking behind these ministries will become easier and easier to discern with the mind and the emotions as the remnant continue to declare and fulfil that "He hath laid my vine waste".
We can also take the phrase "[He] barked my fig tree" and declare it in prophetic intercession to broadcast God's deep fury and displeasure (i.e.- barked) at the matriarchal Church's pseudo-wisdom (i.e.- the fig tree), a wisdom that she uses to cover up her spiritual nakedness and her inability to operate at the supernatural level that God intended for her. When God's apostolic anger hits the Church's "fig tree" through us, it damages it, leaving it fragmented and splintered, exposing its shame so that it will become more and more evident to all how worthless the matriarchal Church's "wisdom revelations" are.
We can also take the phrase "He hath made it clean and bare" and release it through our very lives to double-expose (khawsaf khawsaf) the Church through the black-horse and green-horse anointings in you. Through your black-horse experience, you will expose the teachings of Balaam and through your green-horse experience, you will expose the emptiness of the grass offered by Korah's pastors.
We can also take the phrase "[He hath] cast it away" to prophetically declare that the matriarchal Church and her wisdom has been rejected by God as devoid of any hope, rejected with a rejection that not even Ishmael received from the Lord. As you prophetically declare the phrase, you are throwing the matriarchal Church to Egypt, where it belongs for being as Girgashite as the rest of the world that it claims to have escaped from. This is necessary because the matriarchal Church, especially the avant-garde ones who are stuck in the black-horse stage and operate under the spirit of Balaam, are a major threat to God's Kingdom and His remnant if they are not neutralised by being cast into Egypt.
When you prophetically declare the word "branches" (sawreeg) in the phrase "the branches thereof", you are implicitly declaring that matriarchal believers are being cast into a pit of oblivion and that it must go through a period of judgement before they can have a chance to be restored. Some will be like the chief butler and be rescued and some will be like chief baker and perish spiritually. By declaring the word "branches" (sawreeg), you are also implicitly declaring the word sawrag, thereby exposing how the matriarchal Church is like entangling ivy that uses soul attachments and spiritual transgressions (peshah) to trap her victims and prevent them fulfilling their spiritual destiny.
When you prophetically declare the word "white" (laban) in the phrase "are made white", you are exposing the spirit of Laban that lurks behind the matriarchal Church, a spirit that entangles believers' souls in a pit of oblivion with no hope and no eternal life in it.
God willing, in the next posting, we will continue meditating on Joel chapter 1.