The sons of Gomer

This article is the third in a series meditating on the spiritual significance of the sons of Japheth, son of Noah. It is also the second in a sub-series of articles on the sons of Gomer, the first son of Japheth.

The unwritten Riphath

As we saw in the previous word, the sons of Gomer are listed in Scripture as being the following:

Interestingly enough, the name "Riphath" only appears twice in Scripture, in Genesis 10:3 above and in 1 Chronicles 1:6, which is a reiteration of Genesis 10:3. Therefore, to discern the meaning of Riphath, there is nothing in Scripture to go on except for the name itself, which means "spoken". As you may imagine, this immediately points to the Celts, who are renowned amongst the son of Japheth for their unusually strong reliance on oral (i.e. "spoken") traditions, having (one could say, deliberately) avoided the use of written traditions, as most peoples are prone to doing. This correlates with the literal absence of the word "Riphath" in the written Scriptures.

Since the Spirit of God says nothing about Riphath in Scripture, at least in a literal sense, we shall consider the Hebrew words around "Riphath" in Scripture, i.e. the Hebrew words used in Scripture that are most similar to the Hebrew word "Riphath". This can be done by alphabetically ordering the Hebrew words used in Scripture and seeing which words appear to the "left" and to the "right" of "Riphath" in such a list. Thankfully, we can use Strong's Concordance for this, since it numbers the Hebrew words used in Scripture based on their alphabetical order in Hebrew.

Prophetic Riphath

In Strong's Concordance, the word that appears immediately before Riphath is the Hebrew word riyphah, whose meaning is somewhat unclear but is believed to mean "grain or fruit" and only appears twice in Scripture (in 2 Samuel 17:19 and Proverbs 27:22), just like Riphath. Thus, riyphah points to the prophetic endowment, since that is the endowment most directly related to sowing, and, thus, to grain; and, as we have shared before, the prophetic endowment is also the one most directly related to "fruit". The connection between riyphah and the prophetic is also emphasised by the ambiguous meaning of the word, given that the prophetic endowment is the one that works the most with "randomness" and with "fuzzy" spiritual concepts that are difficult to phrase in simple, literal terms. All of this strengthens Riphath's connection to the Celts since, as we have shared before, the Celts are the European "racial group" most directly related to the prophetic endowment.

The word that appears right before riyphah in Strong's Concordance is the Aramaic word reyach, which literally means "smell, odour", and is used only once in Scripture, in Daniel 3:27, in the context of Daniel's friends not smelling like fire after they were taken out of the oven where they had been thrown.

"16 Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, answered and said to the king, O Nebuchadnezzar, we are not careful to answer thee in this matter. 17 If it be so, our God whom we serve is able to deliver us from the burning fiery furnace, and he will deliver us out of thine hand, O king. 18 But if not, be it known unto thee, O king, that we will not serve thy gods, nor worship the golden image which thou hast set up." (Daniel 3:16-18)

It can be said Daniel's friends gave their very bodies as a holocaust sacrifice for God, for they were willing to die rather than dishonour God. When they were thrown in the fire, they had no guarantee that God would supernaturally rescue them, but that was immaterial to them, for they were willing to be thrown in the fire even if God was not going to save them.

The above points to the connection between the word reyach and the prophetic endowment, since that is the endowment most directly related to sacrifice and with boldness to speak against powerful authorities.

Teacherly Riphath

It is interesting to consider, however, that the word reyach mentioned above also points to another endowment, the teacher endowment. This is because, as we have shared before, out of the 5 senses, the sense of smell is the one most directly linked to memory and, hence, to the teacher endowment. This correlates with the Celts since, as history has shown, the Celts have been very willing to embrace the Girgashite methodologies of the catholic sect (and, as we have shared before, distorted teachers turn into Girgashites). In other words, despite their prophetic, mystical inclinations, the Celts have shown themselves very prone to following the rigid methodologies and paradigms of distorted Girgashite teachers. This is evident not only in their acceptance of Girgashite catholicism but in the practices of their most famous ancient religious group, the Druids. As shared on a broadcast of BBC Radio 4's In Our Time, it is believed that the ancient Druids left no written records and relied purely on oral tradition for several reasons, one of them being that they wanted to ensure that the more important rites and ideas would be known only to a select few, which correlates with the Girgashite obsession with hierarchies and dividing people by "speciality" for the sake of efficiency (the "priests", who specialise in "spiritual stuff", and the "laymen", who specialise in things of the natural realm). It is also believed that another reason for the Druids' reliance on oral tradition was because it helped to exercise one's memory, which again correlates with the teacher endowment. Thus, we can see how reyach points to the Celts' connection to 2 endowments that are often antagonistic towards each other: prophet and teacher, and it explains how the enemy has used this "dichotomy" in the Celts to suppress the prophetic manifestation of the Celtic people.

{As a parenthesis, we recommend that you read an article on www.drugsandalcohol.ie that describes some of the paradoxical traits in Irish people, which correspond with the internal conflict between "prophet" and "teacher" that often rages inside Celtic people.}

The word immediately before the Aramaic word reyach in Strong's Concordance is the Hebrew equivalent of the same word, also spelled reyach. Just like its Aramaic equivalent, the Hebrew word reyach means "smell, odour", and is used repeatedly throughout Scripture to refer to sacrifices that are a sweet savour unto God, as in Genesis 8:21, where it appears for the first time in Scripture:

"20 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. 21 And the LORD smelled a sweet savour; and the LORD said in his heart, I will not again curse the ground any more for man's sake; for the imagination of man's heart is evil from his youth; neither will I again smite any more every thing living, as I have done" (Genesis 8:20-21)

Unlike all the other words related to Riphath that we have seen so far, the Hebrew word reyach does appear numerous times in Scripture, 58 times in 55 verses. This points not only to the prophet's willingness to sacrifice himself once and again unto God, but it also points to the repetitive nature of the teacher endowment, meaning that, when the prophetic and the teacher endowments are combined, they produce a methodical and repetitive sequence of sacrifices.

The word immediately preceding reyach in Strong's Concordance is the name "Ribai", which literally means "one who contends with Jehovah". This points to the conflictive nature of the teacher endowment (and to the Girgashite spirit, when the teacher endowment is distorted). The fact that Ribai speaks of contention with God and not with other men points to the prophetic endowment, since prophets are the ones most directly interested in "purely spiritual" matters that are not appealing to the earthly mind. Hence, Ribai provides an interesting insight into people such as the Celts who have an eminently prophetic nature but are also "teacherly": They are prone to entering into much contention with God Himself, which makes them ideal for priestly tasks since, as we have studied before, such tasks require a soul willing to enter into constant contention with God in order to forge specific goals. This explains the strong connection between Celts and priesthood, as evidenced by the Druid priesthood and their strong involvement in the catholic sect's priesthood.

The 2 Hebrew words that appear immediately before the name "Ribai" in Strong's Concordance are the practically identical words riyb and riyb, which mean "strife" and "to strive" respectively. This again emphasises the spiritual connection between Riphath, the Celts, and the "conflictive" teacher endowment in a positive sense (and to the conflictive Girgashite spirit, in a negative sense).

Back to prophetic Riphath

The Hebrew word that appears immediately before the words riyb (and the last word similar to Riphath in Strong's Concordance when going in reverse direction) is the word riy, which like many of the other words related to Riphath, does not appear much in Scripture. In fact, it only appears in verse 11 of the following passage, translated as "watering":

"10 By the breath of God frost is given: and the breadth of the waters is straitened. 11 Also by watering he wearieth the thick cloud: he scattereth his bright cloud" (Job 37:10-11)

The connection between the word riy and "watering" once again points to the prophetic endowment since, as we have shared before, that is the endowment most directly related to "flowing waters". The Spirit of God's connection of riy to high clouds also points to the prophetic endowment, since that is the endowment that propels believers to fly like eagles, high above the limitations that the natural earth may impose.

The latter part of Job 37:11 is slightly mistranslated above, given that the Hebrew text actually says, "He scatters His cloud light", which could be taken to mean, "He scatters His lightning". Hence, the passage above provides yet another glimpse into a spiritual process that prophets with a contentious teacher inclination go through. As they spiritually interact and contend with Him, the breath of God blowing through them gives structure to the dynamic prophetic water that has accumulated in their teacherly containers (i.e. "freezing" it as verse 10 intends to say). Also, as the "prophetic water" accumulates within them, they become burdened like water in a rain cloud, and, as this happens, the contentious teacherly nature in them causes lightning to form within them, which scatters out from inside of them in sudden outbursts of light. May he who has ears understand what the Lord is saying here, not only about the prophetic and the teacher endowment but about the spiritual nature of Celts when they operate in the Spirit.

Riphathic hemochromatosis

Having said all of the above, it is worth noting that a certain genetic trait prevalent in Celts is spiritually related to what we have shared on Riphath so far. As indicated on www.americanhs.org, people of Celtic descent are genetically predisposed to develop a condition called hemochromatosis, which causes excess deposits of iron to accumulate in the heart, joints, liver, pancreas, and pituitary gland, eventually causing the body to "rust" on the inside. As we have shared before, iron is spiritually related to corrective judgements, which are supposed to be applied by people with a pastoral endowment on a daily basis towards believers around them. However, when the magnitude of those corrective judgements needs to be intensified in a supernatural way (beyond the more natural application performed by pastors), they must be released prophetically. Hence, the accumulation of iron that is genetically experienced by Celtic peoples speaks of their tendency, as teachers, to accumulate those judgements internally (since teachers are "warehouses" by nature) instead of releasing those iron judgements into the spiritual atmosphere against those whom God wants to judge. Even though prophetic and teacherly people such as the Celts are intended by God to do a temporary accumulation of these "iron" judgements before releasing them, they may feel inclined to over-accumulate them out of Girgashite fear of agitating the established procedures and out of Girgashite fear of prophetic death. Interestingly, the atomic number for iron is 26, which, as we have shared before, is spiritually related to the "2-witnesses" anointing of Revelation 11. Hence, an unwillingness to release "iron-26" judgements points to a reluctance to witness before men because of the sacrificial death that such witnessing will cause. Thus, the Celts' genetic predisposition toward hemochromatosis confirms their prophetic and teacherly endowments, and it illustrates the spiritual error that they normally fall into, an error that often leads to the death of their spiritual calling.

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).

Riphathic emptiness

The word that immediately follows "Riphath" in Strong's Concordance is the Hebrew word riyq, which literally means "emptiness, vanity". As we have shared before, the spirits most directly related with "emptiness" or "vanity" are the Hittite spirits, which surface when the prophetic endowment is distorted. As we have also shared before, the ministerial endowment most directly enabled to impart a sense of "purpose" and the fullness of God's Presence is the prophetic endowment. Because of this, the prophetic endowment is also capable of exposing the emptiness or vanity of people, actions, or places that are not following God's purpose, meaning that prophets can "impart" depression on those rejecting God's purposes. By the same token, Hittites can also "impart" a similar depression, only that their depression is primarily intended to destroy humanity and thwart God's purposes for them.

Interestingly, the word that immediately follows riyq in Strong's Concordance is its adjective form, reyq, meaning "empty, vain". The word that follows reyq in Strong's Concordance is reyqam, which is the adverb form of riyq and means "vainly, emptily", thereby emphasising Riphath's spiritual connection to both prophetic and Hittite emptiness and depression.

Riphathic madness

The word that follows after reyqam in Strong's Concordance is riyr, which literally means "slime juice, liquid spittle", and is only used twice in Scripture, the first time being in verse 13 of the following passage, translated as "spittle":

"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)

Notice how the passage above links riyr to madness. This points to the prophetic endowment in a positive sense, since that is the endowment most directly related to actions that seem random or defy natural understanding, making them appear like "madness" to those operating in the natural. In a negative sense, "madness" points to the Hittite spirit, since that is the spirit most related to actions that are inherently chaotic but contain no redemptive purpose in them. The Hittite spirit is also a spirit of deceit, meaning that it causes people to believe falsehoods, thereby prompting to act like "madmen" when judged from the perspective of God's Truth. It is also worth noting that riyr is derived from the Hebrew verb ruwr meaning "to flow", which once again points to the prophetic endowment in a positive sense and to the (distorted-prophet) Hittite spirit in a negative sense, since that is the endowment most directly related with "flowing".

Riphath's spiritual connection with both madness and depression is confirmed by the Irish's connection with "mental health" issues. As indicated on uc.edu, there is a disproportionately high prevalence of "mental health" issues amongst Irish people that include depression, alcoholism, and schizophrenia. The uc.edu article offers 3 possible theories for this, the last one being that the Irish have a tendency to suppress issues within themselves and their families so as to appear more "normal". This correlates with what we shared above on the connection between Riphath and a tendency to suppress the prophetic release of corrective judgements in an effort to appease their "teacherly" side, which prompts them to not imperil well-established Girgashite methodologies and norms.

Riphathic poverty

The word that immediately follows after riyr in Strong's Concordance is the noun reysh meaning "poverty". This correlates with the Irish's historical connection to poverty, as when they were hit by the Great Hunger of the 1840s (also known as the "Irish Potato Famine" outside of Ireland). As indicated on Wikipedia, a significant percentage of Irish people were already living in poverty prior to the Great Famine, and they were living within a "social pyramid" that had an "ascendancy class" at the top, which once again points to the Celts' susceptibility to the Girgashite spirit that likes to divide people into castes and unrighteous organisational structures. This propensity to yield to Girgashite structures has exacerbated the curse of poverty on the Irish and Celts throughout their history. As you may know, this "poverty curse" followed the Irish to America, causing many of them to live in squalor for some time until they began to embrace a new set of paradigms in America that allowed them to begin to prosper in their new home.

Interestingly enough, at the time of this writing, the Wikipedia article on Irish immigration to America has a sentence that reads as follows:

They also had more people confined to insane asylums and poorhouses than any other group

As is to be expected, the liberal who added the above sentence to that Wikipedia article attributed this to "racial discrimination" and to the evil "stereotypes" that Americans held at the time. This is because liberals have a dysfunctional tendency to attribute an excess of negative consequences on a certain group of people to the "negative attitudes" of those outside the group, without ever sitting down to consider the following reality: since groups of people tend to harbour and cultivate certain specific values, with many of those values producing negative consequences, each group will naturally be affected by those negative consequences in a "disproportionate" way when compared to other groups that do not harbour the same values. These values or attitudes can at times stem from specific endowments that have been given by God to that group of people, endowments that will make them "disproportionately" susceptible to certain behaviours and values when compared to other groups. Having said this, it must be said that, in other cases, the negative values and attitudes held by certain groups are the result of deliberate decisions to do evil, as is the case with hispanics, who destroy themselves and every environment they invade, not because they have an endowment from God that makes them susceptible to doing so, but because they have chosen as a group to behave in an unethical and self-centred way, using each other to reinforce those values and pretend as if they are somehow acceptable.

Riphath's internal conflict

As mentioned in the uc.edu article mentioned above, Americans of Celtic descent are disproportionately susceptible to schizophrenia. As mentioned on Wikipedia, the word "schizophrenia" is derived from the Greek words schizo meaning "split" and phren meaning "mind". Hence, schizophrenia literally means "split mind" and refers to a person struggling with conflicting "personalities" within him. This once again correlates with the "conflicting" prophetic and teacher endowments in Celtic people. The fact that this internal conflict is exacerbated in America is because those who have chosen to leave the comfort of Ireland are forced to engage with their prophetic endowment more intensely than when they remain within the restrictive Girgashite structures in place in Ireland. Even so, the Girgashite structures in Ireland are not enough to completely suppress the Celts' prophetic endowment, leading to more subtle manifestations of depression, alcoholism, and schizophrenia in Ireland.

Pastoral Riphath

Pastoral tenderness

The word that immediately follows after reysh in Strong's Concordance is the adjective rak meaning "tender, soft, delicate, weak". The first time that rak appears in Scripture is in the following verse, translated as "tender":

"And Abraham ran unto the herd, and fetcht a calf tender and good, and gave it unto a young man; and he hasted to dress it" (Genesis 18:7)

The verse above speaks of when Abraham received the 3 men who were sent to destroy Sodom and Gomorrah. Notice how Abraham fetched the "tender calf" from the herd. This points directly to the pastoral endowment, since that is the endowment most directly related to "shepherding", i.e. to guiding a flock or herd. As you know, shepherds can become emotionally attached to their herd, and they can develop a special affinity towards certain members of the herd or flock that they are guiding. Therefore, the fact that Abraham took a "tender" calf means that, even as a shepherd, Abraham did not allow his emotions to get in the way of the sacrifice that needed to be made. Instead of allowing his pastoral instincts to become protective of the "tender" and vulnerable calf, he took it and gave it over to be eaten by the 3 men who had come to judge Canaanite Sodom. The fact that he gave the tender calf to a "young man" to be dressed up is a prophetic figure of how the destruction of the pastoral matriarchy (represented by pastoral Sodom and teacherly Gomorrah) requires a generation of young men and women who will share in the older remnant's zeal for justice, not allowing their emotions to interfere with the work that they need to do to see the destruction of the pastoral matriarchy and its unrighteous structures. Notice also that the young man "hastened" to prepare the calf, which speaks of a young army that will have the necessary sense of urgency required to tear down the pastoral matriarchy, for the matriarchal system cannot be brought down by people who are comfortable enough with it to "take their time".

Tender Leah v. beautiful Rachel

The next time that rak appears in Scripture is in the following verse, again translated as "tender":

"Leah was tender eyed; but Rachel was beautiful and well favoured" (Genesis 29:17)

As we have shared before, Rachel was a female shepherd or pastor, and Jacob's immediate attachment to her speaks of how the Church happily surrendered its calling in order to live in happy submission to the pastoral endowment. Hence, the reference to Rachel in the verse above once again points to the connection between the word rak and the pastoral endowment. However, since rak is applied to Leah and not to Rachel, it could be argued that rak is to be seen here as representing the "opposite" of the pastoral endowment. Valid as this argument may sound, it does not take into account several subtle details in the original Hebrew text.

For some reason that defies this writer's understanding, the KJV translators twisted out the phrase "beautiful and well favoured" from a Hebrew text that actually says "of beautiful shape and a beautiful sight" (using the word "beautiful" twice). "Shapes" point to "containers" and to "visible structures", both of which are most directly related to the teacher endowment; hence, the "beautiful shape" speaks of an application of the teacher endowment that is appealing to the natural soul. On the other hand, "sight" points to the "eye", which in turn points to judgements; hence, the "beautiful sight" refers to pleasant judgements that are appealing to the natural soul, which points, therefore, to a distorted pastoral endowment that shuns harsh judgements, preferring soothing, comfortable verdicts that are appealing to the fallen, natural soul. Even though judgements do not have to be "harsh" and "unappealing to the natural soul" in order to be from God, Jacob's interest in Rachel's "beautiful sightliness" must be taken in a negative sense, especially because of how Scripture describes God's displeasure towards Jacob's preference of Rachel over Leah.

From the above, we can conclude that Jacob's attraction to Rachel's "beautiful shape" and "beautiful sightliness" refers to what appeals to the pastoral endowment when it strays from God's will. Pastors who have chosen to follow the soul rather than the Spirit are attracted to teaching structures that are appealing to the natural soul and will therefore draw more "willing souls" towards their flocks (as opposed to God's flock). Twisted pastors are also drawn to pastoral paradigms that soften God's judgements and make them more appealing to the eyes of the soul, since this will also make their flocks more appealing and draw in larger numbers of sheep. Thus, we can see how Genesis 29:17 shows "Jacobs" that are drawn to "Rachel"'s beauty because of what they can get from her, as opposed to what they can do for her. This contrasts with Leah's "tender eyes", which speak of a vulnerable soul in need of help and support. Pastors are (by the very nature of the pastoral endowment) drawn to attend to and serve the vulnerable. Thus, if Jacob had been operating in a righteous pastoral mode, he would have been drawn to the vulnerability in Leah's eyes, prompting him to embrace her and soothe her. Jacob, however, was operating in an unrighteous pastoral mode, meaning that he became more interested in the one who could do something for him as opposed to the one whom he was supposed to serve in a disinterested way. In short, we can conclude that Leah's "tender" eyes do not point towards something that contradicts the pastoral endowment but, instead, serves as a contrast between the righteous and the unrighteous application of the pastoral endowment.

Pastoral tenderness restored

The next time that rak appears in Scripture is in the following verse, again translated as "tender":

"And he said unto him, My lord knoweth that the children are tender, and the flocks and herds with young are with me: and if men should overdrive them one day, all the flock will die" (Genesis 33:13)

The above words were spoken by Jacob to Esau after having fought with the angel of the Lord and been transformed into an "Israel". Notice how the same man who had once disregarded the woman with "tender" eyes was now sincerely concerned about the "tender" children and the animals with young that were under his care. This means that Jacob, who was now an "Israel", had learnt to exercise the pastoral ministry in a righteous way, being proactively worried about protecting and providing for the weak and vulnerable in a disinterested way.

Tender aversion to war

The next time that rak appears in Scripture is in the following verse, this time translated as "fainthearted":

"And the officers shall speak further unto the people, and they shall say, What man is there that is fearful and fainthearted? let him go and return unto his house, lest his brethren's heart faint as well as his heart" (Deuteronomy 20:8)

Notice how the Spirit of God uses rak in the verse above to refer to a soul that is not geared towards battle and who is better suited to stay at home. Given that warfare is a "male" activity (as shown by the Hebrew phrase "male of war" used by the Spirit of God in Exodus 15:3), and given that "females" are better geared for "staying at home" and pastoring the little, vulnerable ones at home, we can conclude that the word rak is once again pointing to a "female" endowment, in particular to the most "dominant" of the 2 "female" endowments, the pastoral one.

Tender pastoral betrayal

The next 2 times that rak appears in Scripture is in verses 54 and 56 of the following passage, translated both times as "tender":

"52 And he shall besiege thee in all thy gates, until thy high and fenced walls come down, wherein thou trustedst, throughout all thy land: and he shall besiege thee in all thy gates throughout all thy land, which the LORD thy God hath given thee. 53 And thou shalt eat the fruit of thine own body, the flesh of thy sons and of thy daughters, which the LORD thy God hath given thee, in the siege, and in the straitness, wherewith thine enemies shall distress thee: 54 So that the man that is tender among you, and very delicate, his eye shall be evil toward his brother, and toward the wife of his bosom, and toward the remnant of his children which he shall leave: 55 So that he will not give to any of them of the flesh of his children whom he shall eat: because he hath nothing left him in the siege, and in the straitness, wherewith thine enemies shall distress thee in all thy gates. 56 The tender and delicate woman among you, which would not adventure to set the sole of her foot upon the ground for delicateness and tenderness, her eye shall be evil toward the husband of her bosom, and toward her son, and toward her daughter, 57 And toward her young one that cometh out from between her feet, and toward her children which she shall bear: for she shall eat them for want of all things secretly in the siege and straitness, wherewith thine enemy shall distress thee in thy gates." (Deuteronomy 28:52-57)

Notice how the Spirit of God uses rak in the context of the curse that God established against Israel if they chose to stray from His will. This points to the matriarchal, Canaanite curse that has befallen the Church for allowing the "female" endowment of pastor to dominate over God's people, thereby straying from God's original Spirit-centric plan. Notice also that rak is used to refer to those who betray the very people for whom they are responsible, including the truly tender ones. This is no spiritual coincidence. As we have briefly shared before, a close study of certain passages in Scripture prophesy a spiritual act that can be described as "Gad's betrayal", an act where the spiritual tribe of Gad would betray God's remnant, shirking its responsibility and forcing those from the spiritual tribe of Zebulun to take up Gad's burden. As we have also shared before, the spiritual tribe of Gad correlates with the Celts in a literal sense, meaning that the Celts, as a people, would be naturally inclined towards this betrayal when placed in a position to do so. Thus, the appearance of rak in the passage above not only reaffirms the unfortunate connection between the Celts and some type of spiritual betrayal, but it also provides a glimpse into the nature of that betrayal: it is a betrayal that involves devouring one's very own, especially the vulnerable ones under one's care, in order to save oneself from more unpleasant consequences when immersed in a difficult situation.

It is worth noting here that the word that immediately follows after rak in Strong's Concordance is the word rok, which literally means "tenderness" and is translated as such in its only appearance in Scripture, in Deuteronomy 28:56. There, it appears together with rak, meaning that it is also used in the context of matriarchal tenderness that abhors the "male" Spirit and willingly betrays it at the "best" opportunity.

Alcoholic Riphath

Now that we have seen how Scripture reveals the connection between "Celtic" Riphath and the pastoral endowment, we can see why people of Celtic descent are disproportionately susceptible to alcoholism, as indicated in the uc.edu article mentioned above. As we have shared before, the spirit most directly related to addictions such as alcoholism is the Canaanite spirit, which is what the pastoral endowment distorts into when it strays from God's will. Given that the pastoral endowment is not Riphath's primary endowment, the Canaanite alcoholism experienced by Celts tends to surface more frequently under difficult circumstances (such as the ones described in Deuteronomy 28:52-57 above) and as a result of the internal tension of "contradictory" endowments of prophet and teacher within Riphath. In other words, the alcoholism in Celtic peoples cannot be simplistically explained as a Celtic affinity for the Canaanite spirit. Instead, it is more an instinctive effort by the "prophet within" to break away from the Girgashite containers that he has consciously embraced, all in an effort to fill the emptiness that their prophetic nature perceives in those containers. That conflict becomes even more unbearable under particularly stressful circumstances where "Riphath" is asked to act prophetically and take a sacrificial risk to protect a vulnerable remnant. That is when their tertiary pastoral endowment goes people-pleasing Canaanite and their secondary teacher endowment goes death-fearing Girgashite, and that is when they become most susceptible to the "Gad betrayal" and to immersing themselves in Canaanite alcoholism to drown out the subtle reality of who they have become (or failed to become).

Green Riphath

To summarise, we have seen that, even though Scripture says virtually nothing about Riphath in an explicit way, it reveals 3 endowments in Riphath through the similar Hebrew words to the "left" and to the "right" of Riphath that are used in Scripture:

As we have shared before, green-horse riders are prophet-pastors, which points to 2 of 3 endowments listed above. Thus, Riphath's subtle tertiary endowment of pastor is intended by God to interact with his more obvious prophetic endowment so as to forge a people of green-horse riders. It is no coincidence, therefore, that the Celtic peoples are so strongly linked to the colour green. Celts are amongst the people most innately endowed with the ability to operate in the green-horse stage. That is why their "Gad betrayal" is so spiritually costly and destructive, since it forces other less innately endowed people to carry the green-horse burden that the Celts treacherously refuse to take up.

Interestingly enough, the word that immediately follows after rak and rok in Strong's Concordance is the verb rakab meaning "to mount and ride". As I meditated on whether this word also applied to Riphath in a direct way, I heard the Lord say,

This prompted me to scroll through all 75 verses where the Spirit of God uses rakab, all the way to the very last appearance of rakab, which "happened to be" in Zechariah:

"In that day, saith the LORD, I will smite every horse with astonishment, and his rider with madness: and I will open mine eyes upon the house of Judah, and will smite every horse of the people with blindness" (Zechariah 12:4)

Notice how rakab is used in the context of madness, which correlates with the spiritual connection between Riphath and "mental unwellness". Notice also how the Spirit of God applies rakab to those who are His enemies and who are defeated in the day when God's remnant rise up in victory. This use of rakab to refer to mad riders who are defeated by God contrasts with the original intention in God's heart to have Riphath rise up as a people of mighty green-horse riders who would unleash victory for God through their sacrifice rather than be defeated by Him. This negative use of rakab is also visible in the preceding appearance of rakab in Zechariah:

"And they shall be as mighty men, which tread down their enemies in the mire of the streets in the battle: and they shall fight, because the LORD is with them, and the riders on horses shall be confounded." (Zechariah 10:5)

These 2 negative uses of rakab contrast with the immediately preceding use of rakab in Zechariah:

"Rejoice greatly, O daughter of Zion; shout, O daughter of Jerusalem: behold, thy King cometh unto thee: he is just, and having salvation; lowly, and riding upon an ass, and upon a colt the foal of an ass." (Zechariah 9:9)

Notice how rakab is used above to refer to the Messiah's humble ride into Jerusalem upon an ass in order to fulfil the last part of His journey and die in green-horse sacrifice on Golgotha. This is what Celtic Riphath was equipped to do, but because he chose "Gadite betrayal" over sacrificial death, the Spirit of God ends His usage of rakab in Scripture by using it to refer to God's enemies twice, in Zechariah 10:5 and 12:4 above, thereby certifying the sad end of a Riphath who, as a people, could have ushered in incredible victories for the Lord and His lowly remnant on Earth.

Interestingly, the word that immediately follows after rakab in Strong's Concordance is the noun rekeb meaning "chariot" or "a team of riders". Just like rakab, rekeb is used many times throughout Scripture, in 104 different verses, and, just like rakab, its last appearance is in Zechariah, where (unlike rakab) it only appears once, in the following verse, translated as "chariot":

"And I will cut off the chariot from Ephraim, and the horse from Jerusalem, and the battle bow shall be cut off: and he shall speak peace unto the heathen: and his dominion shall be from sea even to sea, and from the river even to the ends of the earth" (Zechariah 9:10)

To better understand who the "he" in "he shall speak peace" is, we must consider the verse above in the context of the preceding verse, Zechariah 9:9, which we quoted above, as it contained the word rakab. Thus, we can see how, just as with rakab, the last appearance of rekeb is in a negative sense, referring to the enemies of God who are defeated when the Righteous One is manifested. This once again emphasises the negative end of Riphath's green-horse calling, and it also creates an important spiritual contrast that Riphath often fails to perceive: Whereas Zechariah 9:9 speaks of a single rider riding on a lowly prophetic ass, Zechariah 9:10 speaks of a "chariot" or a "team of riders" being cut off. This is because, as we have shared before, the green-horse journey is a lonely "my fight" journey that cannot be taken as a "group tour". As a green-horse rider, you must be willing to face Death and Sheol on your own, betrayed and abandoned by all around you. There can be no "comfort in numbers"; you must be willing to stand on your own, uncompromising and "irrationally determined" to the end, with no one to encourage or even understand what you are going through. Teachers can have a very rough time doing something like this, given that they rely heavily on past traditions to validate their beliefs. It is difficult for a teacher to believe that he or she could be "the only person on Earth" to "know something" that all his or her previous ancestors have missed out on and that even his or her compliant contemporaries are blind to (this is why God speaks of smiting "every horse of the people" with blindness in Zechariah 12:4 above, since that is the condition of those who simply follow the traditions of the crowd). This explains why the teacher in Riphath has such a hard time riding the green-horse ass of Zechariah 9:9, preferring the safer "chariot" or "team of riders" in Zechariah 9:10. When Riphath's teacherly fear is compounded by the Canaanite need for emotional validation and "tribal identity" that results from his pastoral endowment, the choice between Zechariah 9:9 and Zechariah 9:10 becomes "obvious", resulting in Riphath's betrayal and his conversion from God's hero to God's enemy.

The delay-ending Riphath

The word that immediately follows after rekeb in Strong's Concordance is the name Rechab meaning "rider". This name is ascribed to 3 different persons in Scripture, including a man who, as a captain in the army of Israel, conspired with another captain, Baanah, to assassinate Ishbosheth, the son of Saul who acted as "king of Israel" for 2 years after the death of Saul (2 Samuel 4:5). In an indirect way, this reaffirms the spiritual connection between Celtic Riphath and betrayal that we shared on above. However, it also portrays a positive role that Riphath can play in the restoration of all things, especially in these latter days.

David's foolish reign delay

As we have shared before, Saul stopped being the legitimate king of Israel the moment that Samuel anointed David as king of Israel. However, everyone at the time seemed to think that Saul was still the real king because he was still alive and continued to hold the "office" and "powers" of king. Unfortunately, David, who had a destructive and unrighteous Jebusite streak in him, fell into the same trap of honouring Saul as the "real king", since it fit perfectly with his Jebusite admiration of "great" Amorite figures. Despite being viciously persecuted by Saul and his captain Abner, David continued to admire both of them because of their Amorite "stature", and he refused to take them down when he had the chance. As described in Scripture, David actually had 2 opportunities to kill Saul and end Saul's unrighteous domination so that he, the king appointed by God, could rise and rule with righteousness, but he chose to honour Saul's life more than the lives of those oppressed under Saul.

Because of David's reluctance to take advantage of the opportunities that God granted him, the civil war between those who defended the persecuted David and those who upheld Saul's illegitimate rule continued for years, leading to unnecessary bloodshed and a delay in God's purposes for Israel. Even after God had found a way to kill Saul without David's participation, David continued with his stubborn Jebusite paradigms, which allowed the rise of Ishbosheth as king for an additional 2 years of bloodshed and delay. Even matriarchal, Saul-defending pastors would have to agree that Ishbosheth had no spiritual claim to kingship because, unlike his father Saul (or David), he was never anointed by Samuel as king of Israel. Therefore, any effort to defend or be loyal to Ishbosheth's reign could not be defended by anyone, even David. Despite this, David's Jebusite brain remained numb to God's voice, unwittingly feeding Ishbosheth's reign in the spirit realm through his continued recognition of Saul's and Ishbosheth's legitimacy, which only prolonged the ungodly state of things further. As a result, God had to find persons within Ishbosheth's inner circle who were willing to understand that the charade had gone on far enough and that the unnecessary bloodshed had to stop. He found two such people in Rechab and Baanah, two men uncontaminated by any Jebusite admiration of Saul, Abner, or any of their children, and they took the opportunity given to them to take down the "official king", an opportunity that David had refused twice. And, when they did, they killed Ishbosheth, thereby ending the conflict in Israel and allowing David to finally become the "official" king of Israel after having been the actual king of Israel in God's eyes for so many years already.

Sadly, David continued in his Jebusite stupidity, even after the kingdom had been handed to him (in the natural) by Rechab's and Baanah's actions. As a result, he ironically used the very power that these 2 men had enabled for him in order to sentence them to death (as described in 2 Samuel 4). It is because of Jebusite actions such as these that God forbade David building the temple in Jerusalem, for his Jebusite hands had too much blood on them to be washed clean (1 Chronicles 22:8).

The cripple who had to die

It is difficult for this writer to discern whether Rechab and Baanah should have been serving in Ishbosheth's army to begin with, but, given the circumstances that David's Jebusite mind had created, it seems as if they were the men appointed by God to finally complete His original plan. This writer is convinced that, had David killed off Saul when he had the chance, Ishbosheth may have never had to die because he would not have been placed in the situation to have to take over the empty throne. As described in 2 Samuel 2:8-10, it was the worthless little bastard boy Abner who took the gullible Ishbosheth and "made him king", all in an effort to maintain his position of importance and pull the strings of "kingly" power behind the scenes. This means that Ishbosheth was not lusting for the throne or for power. Ironically, the very man who pushed Ishbosheth to take the throne was the one who betrayed him at the end. When Abner was confronted by Ishbosheth over his filthy fornication with one of Saul's concubines, little bastard boy Abner became offended and suddenly turned on Ishbosheth, joining David's camp (2 Samuel 3:1-11). Sadly, David the Jebusite moron was more than happy to embrace the "great" Abner, yes, the very man who had pushed Ishbosheth to fight against him for 2 years. Little bastard boy Abner was not only offended by Ishbosheth's judgement against him, but he realised that Ishbosheth was a weak man (weakened by years and years of Perizzite oppression) and would be too weak to hold off the "stronger" David for much longer. Playing filthy politics at the expense of God's people, little bastard boy Abner decided to side with the eventual winner so as to guarantee his continued "success". Cursed by God was Abner, and cursed by God are the Amorite little bastards like him who constantly get in the way of God's purposes for His people. This writer would not be surprised to find out that Abner is burning in hell even as we speak, and, believe you me, my heart would rejoice greatly if he is, for he was an amoral little daemon dressed in saintly clothing. The blood of Ishbosheth is on Abner's hands, and it was also in David's hands, for he embraced men such as Abner, and he loved Amorites such as Saul and Abner more than he did God's people, even those amongst God's people who stuck their neck out for him time and again.

Some may argue that the way that Rechab and Baanah killed Ishbosheth was unrighteous because of how it was carried out. As described in 2 Samuel 4:5-8, Rechab and Baanah went in "the heat of the day" to Ishbosheth's house, where Ishbosheth was lying in his bed at noon. Pretending to be fetching wheat, they smote Ishbosheth under the 5th rib, killing him, and then beheading him. Gruesome and "despicably sneaky" as this may appear on the surface, there are certain elements that must be considered. For one, they did not go up to Ishbosheth in the dark of night like burglars. Instead, they went up to Ishbosheth's house in the heat of the (Middle Eastern) day, meaning that it was a labourious, uncomfortable trip (mind you, the horses and chariots of those days did not come equipped with air conditioning). In other words, they were paying an uncomfortable price to carry out the task that had been born in their hearts. Second, noon is not the time for a king to be sleeping, which reveals the fact that Ishbosheth was lazily living out his spiritual journey without making any type of effort to discern the signs that God was placing before him. Yes, Ishbosheth was the victim of the Jebusite and Amorite abuse that dominated Saul's household, and he was the puppet of Abner's political games, but that never prevented him being accountable before God for not taking control of his life. As explained at the beginning of 2 Samuel 4, Ishbosheth's heart was troubled when he learnt that God had killed Abner the bastard boy through Joab and Abishai, meaning that he knew deep within him that God was planning to end his inappropriate reign over Israel. Interestingly, the Spirit of God chose to narrate the incident where Mephibosheth was left a crippleat the age of 5, in 2 Samuel 4:4, immediately after speaking of the fear that came upon Ishbosheth and the people of Israel after Abner's death. Why? Because the Spirit of God was trying to speak to Ishbosheth's heart about the spiritual lameness that had been inflicted upon him by Saul. Had Ishbosheth been willing to invest time and effort to listen to God, his spiritual situation would have become clear to him, and he would have realised that he was to come out from under the control of people such as Saul and Abner in order to be his own man for once and obey God's voice by relinquishing the throne to David. Had he done so, David would certainly have forgiven him, and he more than likely would have given him a place of honour in his palace, just as he did with Mephibosheth (2 Samuel 9:6-11). Instead of this, however, Ishbosheth chose to take a nap in the middle of the day, finding it safer to play out the path that Abner the bastard boy had laid out for him. This is why it became necessary for him to die, and this is why he had to be smitten under the 5th rib, which points to the crippling of Mephibosheth at the age of 5, the crippling that Ishbosheth had become too complacent to address.

Aiming for the (Amorite) head

The fact that Rechab and Baanah beheaded Ishbosheth after killing him also points to a principle that God repeats over and over again throughout Scripture, especially throughout the narration of David's life. Unlike matriarchal man, God is a "beheader", meaning that He prefers to kill off a single "leader" rather than kill off a multitude of his followers. It is not only more humane, more merciful, and more righteous, it is also the most efficient way to proceed. There are times when killing off a single leader is not viable, but that only happens when that single leader is actually being proactively empowered by followers who absolutely want the leader to continue in control because he embodies everything that they love. This contrasts with situations where the leader is the major instigator of unrighteousness and the people under him are essentially trapped and would not proactively continue the leader's agenda were he to disappear. Deep within them, Rechab and Baanah knew that the people of Israel would embrace David as the legitimate king if Saul and his family were to lose power, so they went for the "head" so as to bring the Saul nightmare to a quick end. Because of Ishbosheth's unwillingness to wake up and see the light of day, the preservation of his life was no longer an option, for which reason Rechab and Baanah were forced to slay him.

Riphath and the auto-rising

Interestingly, Rechab and Baanah, the righteous killers of Ishbosheth, were brothers, sons of Rimmon the Beerothite (2 Samuel 4:2). The name "Rimmon" literally means "pomegranate", which points to the following passage:

"29 And Aaron shall bear the names of the children of Israel in the breastplate of judgment upon his heart, when he goeth in unto the holy place, for a memorial before the LORD continually. 30 And thou shalt put in the breastplate of judgment the Urim and the Thummim; and they shall be upon Aaron's heart, when he goeth in before the LORD: and Aaron shall bear the judgment of the children of Israel upon his heart before the LORD continually. 31 And thou shalt make the robe of the ephod all of blue. 32 And there shall be an hole in the top of it, in the midst thereof: it shall have a binding of woven work round about the hole of it, as it were the hole of an habergeon, that it be not rent. 33 And beneath upon the hem of it thou shalt make pomegranates of blue, and of purple, and of scarlet, round about the hem thereof; and bells of gold between them round about: 34 A golden bell and a pomegranate, a golden bell and a pomegranate, upon the hem of the robe round about. 35 And it shall be upon Aaron to minister: and his sound shall be heard when he goeth in unto the holy place before the LORD, and when he cometh out, that he die not." (Exodus 28:29-35)

[This passage contains the first (3) appearances of the word rimmon meaning "pomegranate", once in verse 33 and twice in verse 34]

Therefore, we can see that pomegranates point to the priesthood calling in God's people, a calling that Amorites and Jebusites such as Saul and Abner are always endeavouring to repress. The name "Rimmon" (and the identical word for "pomegranate" in Hebrew) is derived from the Hebrew verb ramam meaning "to be exalted, lifted up" or "to lift oneself up", which appears for the first time in the following verse, translated as "get you up":

"Get you up from among this congregation, that I may consume them as in a moment. And they fell upon their faces" (Numbers 16:45)

The above are the words of warning from God to those who were murmuring against Him and against Moses and Aaron for having "killed the people of the Lord" (Numbers 16:41) after God had consumed Korah and his immediate followers through Moses and Aaron. This reveals the spiritual connection that ramam, Rimmon, Rechab -- and, hence, Riphath -- have with the green-horse stage, given that Korah is the enemy of God's green-horse riders. This once again emphasises the "greenness" of Celtic Riphath and his importance during the manifestation of the last horse of the Apocalypse. It also emphasises the connection between Riphath and internal betrayal, given that the people being judged in the verse above were those who turned on God's vulnerable green-horse rider (in this case Moses) and who accused him of attacking God's very people (when, in truth, he was actually destroying God's enemies). In other words, the people being judged in the verse above were accusing Moses of the very thing that they were doing: attacking their internal friend and ally rather than their real enemies.

The second appearance of the verb ramam in Scripture is in verse 24 of the following passage, translated as "exalted":

"22 He draweth also the mighty with his power: he riseth up, and no man is sure of life. 23 Though it be given him to be in safety, whereon he resteth; yet his eyes are upon their ways. 24 They are exalted for a little while, but are gone and brought low; they are taken out of the way as all other, and cut off as the tops of the ears of corn. 25 And if it be not so now, who will make me a liar, and make my speech nothing worth?" (Job 24:22-25)

Notice how Job uses ramam in the context of the extermination (as opposed to the mere "containment") of God's enemies. This correlates with how Korah and his followers were wiped off the face of the Earth as they rose up against God's green-horse Moses. Hence, the spiritual connection between Riphath and the uncompromising green-horse stage is once again emphasised in Scripture.

The 3rd time that the verb ramam is used in Scripture is in verse 16 of the following passage, translated as "exalted":

"10 All nations compassed me about: but in the name of the LORD will I destroy them. 11 They compassed me about; yea, they compassed me about: but in the name of the LORD I will destroy them. 12 They compassed me about like bees; they are quenched as the fire of thorns: for in the name of the LORD I will destroy them. 13 Thou hast thrust sore at me that I might fall: but the LORD helped me. 14 The LORD is my strength and song, and is become my salvation. 15 The voice of rejoicing and salvation is in the tabernacles of the righteous: the right hand of the LORD doeth valiantly. 16 The right hand of the LORD is exalted: the right hand of the LORD doeth valiantly. 17 I shall not die, but live, and declare the works of the LORD." (Psalm 118:10-17)

Notice how ramam is used in the context of someone who is engaged in a battle to the death against an onslaught of enemies determined to annihilate him. This once again correlates with the uncompromising duel to the death between God's green-horse riders and Korah. Notice also that the green-horse believer in the passage above declares that he "shall not die, but live", which points to the green-horse rider's conviction that he shall prevail despite the might of the enemy. It must be emphasised that, when God's faithful one declares that he "shall not die but live", he is neither denying nor fearing being killed by the enemy. Why? Because, as indicated on simplybible.com, Psalm 118 is quoted in various places in direct reference to Yeshua (Matthew 21:42, Mark 12:10-11, Luke 20:17, Acts 4:11, Ephesians 2:20, and 1 Peter 2:7), meaning that it is safe to say that Psalm 118:17 was fulfilled in Him. Given that Yeshua was killed by His enemies, we can conclude that Psalm 118:17 is speaking about the faithful believer's final state. Even though the enemy was able to kill Yeshua for a brief period, He rose from the dead 3 days later, meaning that He was able to say "I shall not die, but live, and declare the works of the Lord".

The next time that ramam appears in Scripture is in verse 10 of the following verse, translated as "exalted":

"1 Woe to thee that spoilest, and thou wast not spoiled; and dealest treacherously, and they dealt not treacherously with thee! when thou shalt cease to spoil, thou shalt be spoiled; and when thou shalt make an end to deal treacherously, they shall deal treacherously with thee. 2 O LORD, be gracious unto us; we have waited for thee: be thou their arm every morning, our salvation also in the time of trouble. 3 At the noise of the tumult the people fled; at the lifting up of thyself the nations were scattered. 4 And your spoil shall be gathered like the gathering of the caterpiller: as the running to and fro of locusts shall he run upon them. 5 The LORD is exalted; for he dwelleth on high: he hath filled Zion with judgment and righteousness. 6 And wisdom and knowledge shall be the stability of thy times, and strength of salvation: the fear of the LORD is his treasure. 7 Behold, their valiant ones shall cry without: the ambassadors of peace shall weep bitterly. 8 The highways lie waste, the wayfaring man ceaseth: he hath broken the covenant, he hath despised the cities, he regardeth no man. 9 The earth mourneth and languisheth: Lebanon is ashamed and hewn down: Sharon is like a wilderness; and Bashan and Carmel shake off their fruits. 10 Now will I rise, saith the LORD; now will I be exalted; now will I lift up myself." (Isaiah 33:1-10)

[Notice how the Spirit of God declares in verse 5 that Zion shall be filled with "judgement and righteousness", not with "pretty balloons and Valentine decorations from God to His people". This is why matriarchals will be very surprised when they stand before the Lord God of Israel and realise that they did not understand Him at all.

Notice also that the Spirit of God declares in verse 7 that the "ambassadors of peace shall weep bitterly". As we have shared before, "bitterness" is, in essence, resentment against judgements that are deemed unfair. Thus, bitterness is good when the judgements resented are the persistent, unrighteous judgements of the soul, and it is bad when the judgements resented are those from God. This explains why the liberal preachers of "lovey-doveyness" and "mutual tolerance" become so bitter, intolerant, and vitriolic at the first inkling of a judgement from God. These ambassadors of "peace" and "mutual understanding" shall weep bitterly as Zion becomes filled with judgements. Let him who has ears understand what the Lord is saying.]

Notice how ramam is used in the context of God's uncompromising annihilation of His enemies, which once again points to the fruit released by the work of God's green-horse riders. Notice also that verse 10 says, "now will I lift up myself". This points to the need for believers to rise up "on their own", without having to depend on a "greater man" (i.e. an Amorite) to lift them up. This correlates with God's command to His people in Numbers 16:45 above, calling them to deliberately separate themselves from the "congregation" of Korah's followers, meaning that they were supposed to stand on their own, without the safety of matriarchal numbers. It also correlates with the implicit command to Ishbosheth after Abner was killed, which left Ishbosheth with no one to carry him out of the unrighteous situation he was trapped in. Instead of "getting up himself", Ishbosheth continued with business as usual, even when it was not really in his heart to have or cling to kingly power. This is why he eventually had to be killed off by Rechab and Baanah in order to end the unrighteous stalemate that Ishbosheth was prolonging (by omission of actions). Those who are unwilling to take the risk of lifting themselves up and walking alone, by themselves, will never enter into the fullness of their calling and will, with time, become insufferable hindrances to God's plans in the lives of others.

It is interesting to consider that the last 3 appearances of ramam in Scripture are in the passage that describes the living beings with 4 faces that Ezekiel beheld by the River Chebar:

"14 And every one had four faces: the first face was the face of a cherub, and the second face was the face of a man, and the third the face of a lion, and the fourth the face of an eagle. 15 And the cherubims were lifted up. This is the living creature that I saw by the river of Chebar. 16 And when the cherubims went, the wheels went by them: and when the cherubims lifted up their wings to mount up from the earth, the same wheels also turned not from beside them. 17 When they stood, these stood; and when they were lifted up, these lifted up themselves also: for the spirit of the living creature was in them. 18 Then the glory of the LORD departed from off the threshold of the house, and stood over the cherubims. 19 And the cherubims lifted up their wings, and mounted up from the earth in my sight: when they went out, the wheels also were beside them, and every one stood at the door of the east gate of the LORD'S house; and the glory of the God of Israel was over them above." (Ezekiel 10:14-19)

[The phrases "lifted up" in verses 15, 17, and 19 were translated from the verb ramam]

The above emphasises the fact that only those who "lift themselves up" and are willing to "walk alone" will be able to operate in all 4 spiritual faces and abide in the Glory of God. This mighty call to ramam is inherent in the name of Celtic "Riphath", and it is a call that most sons of Riphath have been unwilling to embrace, turning themselves into the treacherous cowards mentioned in Isaiah 33:1 above, cowards that leave the burden of the ramam "rising" to others, especially the sons of Zebulun.

Riphath the special-ops prophet

The word that immediately follows after the name Rechab in Strong's Concordance is the noun rakkab meaning "driver, charioteer, horseman", which only appears 3 times in Scripture, the first time being the following verse, where it is translated as "driver":

"And a certain man drew a bow at a venture, and smote the king of Israel between the joints of the harness: wherefore he said unto the driver of his chariot, Turn thine hand, and carry me out of the host; for I am wounded" (1 Kings 22:34)

The above verse speaks of how king Ahab of Israel, husband to Jezebel, died after following the deceitful advice of Hittite prophets instead of the warning of Micaiah, going out to war against Syria under the belief that he would have victory over them. Micaiah's word was fulfilled, however, when the "random" arrow hit Ahab whilst he was on a chariot in the battlefield. The arrow was so precise in its mission that it hit exactly between the joints of Ahab's harness in order to penetrate him and kill him. The fact that rakkab is used in reference to the driver of Ahab's chariot emphasises the connection between Celtic Riphath and those who choose to side with the enemy at the expense of the righteous remnant (represented here by Micaiah). However, the use of rakkab in the verse above also points to Riphath's intended role in God's latter-rain purposes. Just as it can be said that the arrow was looking for Ahab as it flew through the air, it can also be said that the driver of Ahab's chariot was inadvertently "looking for the arrow", steering the chariot towards the arrow's landing spot. This reveals that, had Riphath not betrayed the remnant, it would have been integral in God's special-ops team, performing special tasks behind the scenes in order to further the toppling of Jezebel's pastoral matriarchy in the Church. Unfortunately, Riphath's abdication led to the brunt of these special ops falling on the sons of Zebulun. Even so, it seems as if part of Riphath will be able to fulfil some of its calling, acting for God's sake whilst embedded within the enemy's camp (where they stayed because they were unwilling to fully break with Jezebel). This duality in Riphath's nature is subtly emphasised in the 3rd and last appearance of rakkab in Scripture, where it is translated as "chariot":

"And a certain man drew a bow at a venture, and smote the king of Israel between the joints of the harness: therefore he said to his chariot man, Turn thine hand, that thou mayest carry me out of the host; for I am wounded"(2 Chronicles 18:33)

As you may have noticed, the verse above narrates the same incident as 1 Kings 22:34, and is almost identical in its wording. The Hebrew text, however, reveals that there is a very subtle difference. Both verses use the exact same Hebrew words, and they are all in the same position in both verses except for one word, the word iysh meaning "male". In 1 Kings 22:34, the word iysh appears at the beginning, referring to the man who shot God's arrow. In 2 Chronicles 18:33, iysh appears around the middle, in reference to the man driving chariot. Therefore, the fact that the Spirit of God chose to apply the word iysh in 2 different ways to describe the same incident means 2 things:

It is worth noting that, in Hebrew, the word iysh does not refer to "man" in a generic sense but, instead, refers to a "male". This means that Riphath's work on both sides of the line (i.e. the side of God and the side of the matriarchy) is actually enabled by his strong "male" spirit qualities (as opposed to soulish grace or charm), even when he is working on the side of the "female" Jezebelian soul. Why? Because Celtic Riphath was designed, from the beginning, to be able to infiltrate enemy lines, like a spy, so as to undermine the Jezebelian soul system from within, all without becoming soulishly "female" himself. Unfortunately, Riphath was unable to handle this cloak of duality in a righteous way, opening himself up to betraying God, choosing to commit to the soul system and to improving it as much as possible without having it destroyed by exposure to God's curse against it.

Sandwiched in between the almost identical verses 1 Kings 22:34 and 2 Chronicles 18:33, verse 17 of the following passage contains the only other appearance of rakkab in Scripture, where it is translated as "horseman":

"16 So Jehu rode in a chariot, and went to Jezreel; for Joram lay there. And Ahaziah king of Judah was come down to see Joram. 17 And there stood a watchman on the tower in Jezreel, and he spied the company of Jehu as he came, and said, I see a company. And Joram said, Take an horseman, and send to meet them, and let him say, Is it peace? 18 So there went one on horseback to meet him, and said, Thus saith the king, Is it peace? And Jehu said, What hast thou to do with peace? turn thee behind me. And the watchman told, saying, The messenger came to them, but he cometh not again. 19 Then he sent out a second on horseback, which came to them, and said, Thus saith the king, Is it peace? And Jehu answered, What hast thou to do with peace? turn thee behind me. 20 And the watchman told, saying, He came even unto them, and cometh not again: and the driving is like the driving of Jehu the son of Nimshi; for he driveth furiously. 21 And Joram said, Make ready. And his chariot was made ready. And Joram king of Israel and Ahaziah king of Judah went out, each in his chariot, and they went out against Jehu, and met him in the portion of Naboth the Jezreelite. 22 And it came to pass, when Joram saw Jehu, that he said, Is it peace, Jehu? And he answered, What peace, so long as the whoredoms of thy mother Jezebel and her witchcrafts are so many? 23 And Joram turned his hands, and fled, and said to Ahaziah, There is treachery, O Ahaziah. 24 And Jehu drew a bow with his full strength, and smote Jehoram between his arms, and the arrow went out at his heart, and he sunk down in his chariot. 25 Then said Jehu to Bidkar his captain, Take up, and cast him in the portion of the field of Naboth the Jezreelite: for remember how that, when I and thou rode together after Ahab his father, the LORD laid this burden upon him; 26 Surely I have seen yesterday the blood of Naboth, and the blood of his sons, saith the LORD; and I will requite thee in this plat, saith the LORD. Now therefore take and cast him into the plat of ground, according to the word of the LORD." (2 Kings 9:16-26)

Notice how rakkab is once again used in the context of the fulfilment of God's revenge on Jezebel for what she and Ahab did to Naboth. Notice also how the two horsemen (i.e. rakkab) from Joram, grandson of Ahab and Jezebel, ended up blending in with Jehu's troops, never to return to Joram. This once again points to Riphath's inherent calling to "blend into the other side", and it also points to Riphath's "treacherous" nature, which was intended to be used in a righteous way as Riphath infiltrated enemy lines and broke Jezebel's stranglehold from within, which could seem like "sinful treachery" to the soul but not to God. This inherent connection between Riphath and treachery is emphasised in how Joram quickly accuses Jehu of "treachery" (v23).

The presence of Ahaziah, king of Judah, in the passage above also points to Riphath's duality. Ahaziah was the grandson of Jehoshaphat, a (mostly) righteous king of Judah, meaning that he was exposed to enough spiritual influences to have been a good king if he had chosen to be one. Instead, he turned towards evil in Judah and sought to have a strong alliance with Joram, the evil grandson of Jezebel in Israel. Having infiltrated Joram's inner circle, he never acted as an element of righteous judgement and redemption. Instead, he encouraged Joram's evil and helped to aggrandise it. It is also interesting to consider that Ahaziah was biologically related to Joram, being the son of Athaliah, daughter of Ahab and Jezebel (2 Kings 8:16-18, 25-26, 1 Kings 16:28). This means that, in a sense, Ahaziah was the result of the infiltration of Jezebel into the kingdom of Judah through her daughter Athaliah. All of this points yet again to Riphath's duality and his connection with infiltrating the opponent's ranks in order to undermine it from within.

As some of you may know, Athaliah, Ahaziah's mother, usurped control of the kingdom of Judah, assassinating all possible claimants to the throne and reigning for 7 years, thus evidencing Jezebel's influence in her DNA and showing once again that Riphath's spiritual history and destiny are linked with the battle to kill the Jezebel spirit in the Church and end the matriarchy of the "female" soul. Unfortunately, as shown by all that we have seen so far, Celtic Riphath has not done too well in fulfilling his special-ops destiny.

Avenging Naboth

As we shared above, the name Rechab, which is spiritually connected to Riphath, is ascribed to 3 different persons in Scripture. Besides the captain who executed God's judgement on Ishbosheth and allowed David to finally rule, the Spirit of God mentions another man named "Rechab" in Nehemiah when speaking of the people who worked in the reparation of Jerusalem's walls:

"But the dung gate repaired Malchiah the son of Rechab, the ruler of part of Bethhaccerem; he built it, and set up the doors thereof, the locks thereof, and the bars thereof" (Nehemiah 3:14)

The word "dung" in the verse above was translated from the Hebrew word ashpoth, which can also be translated as "ash heap" or "refuse heap", and appears for the first time in Scripture in the following verse, translated as "dunghill":

"He raiseth up the poor out of the dust, and lifteth up the beggar from the dunghill, to set them among princes, and to make them inherit the throne of glory: for the pillars of the earth are the LORD'S, and he hath set the world upon them" (1 Samuel 2:8)

Notice how ashpoth is related to the rising of those who have been oppressed by the current (matriarchal) system and who are made to rule by the Lord. Therefore, the fact that Malchiah, son of Rechab, was repairing the ashpoth gate once again points to Celtic Riphath's connection to the latter-day rise of God's remnant and the fall of the current Jezebelian system.

Interestingly, the word ashpoth is derived from the word ashpah meaning "quiver", which points to the "special-ops" prophetic arrow that killed Ahab and began the fulfilment of God's revenge on the Jezebelian system. The word ashpoth is also derived from the word shaphah, which means "to sweep bare, scrape", and has the connotation of an utter devastation, as when a bomb flattens a place and leaves it bare. This points to the green-horse Death and Sheol that God's remnant are put through, and it points to the resulting devastation that this green-horse remnant then inflicts on the Jezebelian system.

The name "Bethhaccerem" means "house of the vineyard", which points directly to Naboth and his vineyard, the vineyard that Ahab and Jezebel stole from him and which precipitated God's curse against them (1 Kings 21:1-16). This once again reveals the role that Celtic Riphath was to play in God's revenge on matriarchal Jezebel for its actions against His remnant, a remnant who refuse to bow to Jezebel and recognise her as a legitimate authority just to avoid the "ensuing inconveniences". This is why the name of Rechab's son in Nehemiah 3:14 is Malchiah, since Malchiah means "my king is Jehovah", which speaks of a remnant who recognise the authority of the Spirit over the power of the soul, no matter how much power the soul may wield.

As explained in Nehemiah 3:14, Malchiah built the dung gate, setting up its doors, its locks, and its bars. This is what each of these 3 elements represents:

From all of the above, we can conclude that the Spirit of God is prophetically declaring in Nehemiah 3:14 that Celtic Riphath was endowed with the 3 "male" evangelistic, prophetic, and apostolic tools to protect and avenge God's Naboth remnant and enable the remnant's rise from the "dunghill" to positions of visible power on Earth. It is unfortunate, therefore, that Celtic Riphath have, as a people, chosen to squander these tools, opting for the most part to "work with" the matriarchy instead of destroying it, thereby betraying God's remnant.

The Dedan clothes sellout

The word that immediately follows after rakkab in Strong's Concordance is the noun rikbah meaning "riding, the act of riding", which only appears once in Scripture, translated as "chariots":

The name "Dedan" literally means "low country", which points directly to the Canaanite spirit, given that "Canaanite" means "lowlands people" and is related to low earthly passions. The word "precious" above is a mistranslation of the Hebrew noun chophesh, which may be better translated as "free, widespread", since it is derived from the verb chaphash meaning "to be free". This implies that chophesh speaks of something that is not bound to one area and is free to move about. In a literal sense, these chophesh clothes refer to large cloths that can be loosely placed over a horse in order to put a saddle over them (i.e. "saddlecloths"). In a spiritual sense, they point directly to the freedom of the prophetic endowment and the ability to ride the fast flow of the prophetic (like a rider who is able to stay on a fast-moving horse without sliding off). Therefore, the verse above speaks of how Celtic Riphath has tended to offer their prophetic endowment to the matriarchal, Canaanite system in return for acceptance and non-persecution.

The word "clothes" in the verse above was translated from the Hebrew word beged. Interestingly enough, beged ("clothes") does not appear in the first 23 chapters of Genesis, appearing only for the 3rd time in the following verse of Genesis 27, translated as "raiment":

"And he came near, and kissed him: and he smelled the smell of his raiment, and blessed him, and said, See, the smell of my son is as the smell of a field which the LORD hath blessed:" (Genesis 27:27)

As you may have noticed, the verse above is in the context of Jacob pretending to be Esau in order to get his father Isaac to bless him. This once again points to the spiritual connection between Celtic Riphath and special "undercover" spiritual operations where those in the flesh and the soul are deceived so as to achieve a goal intended by God. Interestingly, the first appearance of beged in Scripture is in Genesis 24:53, in the context of the clothes that Abraham's servant gave to Rebekah as a gift after she had agreed to return with him and become Isaac's wife. This yet again points to spiritual "special-ops", given that Abraham's servant was sent by Abraham on a mission to find a wife for Isaac, with his servant choosing not to reveal his identity to Rebekah until she provided the "secret password" that he had requested unto God (Genesis 24:43-44).

The second appearance of beged is in Genesis 27:15, in the context of the clothes that Rebekah took from Esau in order to give them to Jacob so that he could carry out operation "Disguised (e)sau you will bless me". It is interesting to consider that Abraham's servant gave Rebekah beged as a gift at the end of his special mission and that Rebekah then turned around years later and gave beged to Jacob so that he could carry out his special mission to extract a blessing from Isaac. As described in Genesis 24:53, after giving clothes and jewels (of silver and gold) to Rebekah, Abraham's servant gave to her brother and mother "precious things". The phrase "precious things" was mistranslated from the Hebrew word migdanah, which literally means "desirable". There is a spiritual reason for this: It was Rebekah's brother Laban and her mother who attempted to keep Abraham's servant in their home for at least 10 days (Genesis 24:55) in order to butter him up and use him as a tool to get more things from Abraham. This shows that Rebekah's brother and mother had a distorted pastoral spirit of Canaanite soul possession, a spirit that manifested itself in Laban many years later when he was able to deceive Jacob into 14 years of bondage in his home. Hence, it is interesting that Rebekah gave to Isaac clothes that smelled like Esau, knowing that Esau's smell was desirable (migdanah) to Esau, who was acting under a matriarchal (Girgashite-teacher) "smelling" mindset and was unable (or unwilling) to (prophetically) hear that God had chosen Jacob, not Esau. Just as Abraham's servant had given migdanah things to the matriarchals in Rebekah's household, Rebekah gave clothes with a migdanah smell to Isaac in order to appeal to his matriarchal side and use it against him, which is what special agents who infiltrate enemy ranks are often called to do.

Riphath and the fall of Baal

As we saw earlier, the name "Rechab" is ascribed to three different persons in Scripture. One was the captain who, along with Baanah, killed Ishbosheth and allowed David's kingship to finally begin. Another was the father of Malchiah, a prince of the district of Beth Haccerem who helped repair the dung gate in Jerusalem. The other was the father of Jehonadab, who is mentioned in the following passage:

"15 And when he was departed thence, he lighted on Jehonadab the son of Rechab coming to meet him: and he saluted him, and said to him, Is thine heart right, as my heart is with thy heart? And Jehonadab answered, It is. If it be, give me thine hand. And he gave him his hand; and he took him up to him into the chariot. 16 And he said, Come with me, and see my zeal for the LORD. So they made him ride in his chariot. 17 And when he came to Samaria, he slew all that remained unto Ahab in Samaria, till he had destroyed him, according to the saying of the LORD, which he spake to Elijah. 18 And Jehu gathered all the people together, and said unto them, Ahab served Baal a little; but Jehu shall serve him much. 19 Now therefore call unto me all the prophets of Baal, all his servants, and all his priests; let none be wanting: for I have a great sacrifice to do to Baal; whosoever shall be wanting, he shall not live. But Jehu did it in subtilty, to the intent that he might destroy the worshippers of Baal. 20 And Jehu said, Proclaim a solemn assembly for Baal. And they proclaimed it. 21 And Jehu sent through all Israel: and all the worshippers of Baal came, so that there was not a man left that came not. And they came into the house of Baal; and the house of Baal was full from one end to another. 22 And he said unto him that was over the vestry, Bring forth vestments for all the worshippers of Baal. And he brought them forth vestments. 23 And Jehu went, and Jehonadab the son of Rechab, into the house of Baal, and said unto the worshippers of Baal, Search, and look that there be here with you none of the servants of the LORD, but the worshippers of Baal only. 24 And when they went in to offer sacrifices and burnt offerings, Jehu appointed fourscore men without, and said, If any of the men whom I have brought into your hands escape, he that letteth him go, his life shall be for the life of him. 25 And it came to pass, as soon as he had made an end of offering the burnt offering, that Jehu said to the guard and to the captains, Go in, and slay them; let none come forth. And they smote them with the edge of the sword; and the guard and the captains cast them out, and went to the city of the house of Baal. 26 And they brought forth the images out of the house of Baal, and burned them. 27 And they brake down the image of Baal, and brake down the house of Baal, and made it a draught house unto this day. 28 Thus Jehu destroyed Baal out of Israel." (2 Kings 10:15-28)

Notice how it seemed spiritually necessary for Jehonadab, son of Rechab, to join Jehu in his chariot before he could carry out the mission described in the passage above. Notice also how Jehu's mission required that he infiltrate the ranks of the Baal worshippers and pretend as if he was one of them. It could be argued that Jehu "lied" in verse 18 by saying, "Ahab served Baal a little, but Jehu shall serve him much". This writer would argue, however, that Jehu was actually telling the truth, but in a way that is not obvious to the natural mind. The reason for this is fourfold:

The word "baal" literally means "lord", meaning that, in a neutral way detached from its normal usage, it could be applied to the Lord God of Israel.
Whereas Jehu said, "Ahab served Baal a little", he did not say "Jehu shall serve Baal much"; instead, he said "Jehu shall serve him much", meaning that the one whom Jehu would serve is left somewhat ambiguous, even when he explicitly says his own name in that phrase.
The fact that he referred to himself in the third person means that he was speaking from the perspective of the audience, all of which would be more likely to associate the word "baal" with the general concept of "lordship" and not just with a specific deity (as when Christians use the word "Lord" to refer to Yeshua because they recognise Him as the "Lord of all" - even if this recognition is only nominal on many occasions).
Jehu declares that Ahab served Baal "a little", as opposed to saying "a great deal", which many could argue would be a more correct way of describing Ahab's life, given that he was a constant enabler of his whorish wife Jezebel as she actively promoted the worship of Baal in Israel. Therefore, it could be said that the expression "Ahab served Baal a little" is more accurate if we take the word "Baal" to refer to the true Lord, the Lord God of Israel. Even though Ahab was clearly evil, it can be seen in a few portions of his life that he did have a tiny level of respect for God and was more "evil by negligence" than "proactively evil" like his wife.

In short, when Jehu said, "Ahab served Baal a little, but Jehu shall serve him much", he was speaking in code. As evidenced by his ensuing actions, he was really saying, "Ahab served the false deity Baal, but I shall serve Him", pointing in his heart to the true God above as he said "him". He was also saying, "Ahab did serve the Lord God a little, in a very passive and limited way, but I shall serve Him a great deal, in a very active and decisive way". It was in this proactive spirit that Jehu decided to "destroy Baal out of Israel" (as the Spirit of God describes it in 2 Kings 10:28), even when the explicit command from the Lord to Jehu was to wipe out the house of Ahab. In other words, instead of just endeavouring to do "the minimum" that was asked of him, Jehu was seizing the door of opportunity that had opened before him to execute massive judgement on Israel's spiritual allegiance to Jezebel's deity.

Notice that Jehu and Jehonadab, son of Rechab, "went into the house of Baal" and investigated to ensure that absolutely everyone in that place was a worshipper of Baal and that there were no servants of Yahweh (v23). This yet again emphasises Rechab's (and Riphath's) spiritual connection to infiltrating the enemy, but it also reveals the righteous nature of Jehu's judgement. Jehu was not a sadistic, blood-thirsty, power-hungry thug out to "make a killing" (literally). Instead, he was a man who was concerned with not shedding innocent blood; he was determined to make righteous judgements in the Spirit, not Jebusite judgements that do not care about crushing the grain whilst threshing off the husk (Isaiah 28:27-28), and Jehu needed the help of Jehonadab, son of Rechab, when doing this. Why? Because, as we have shared earlier, Celtic Riphath (represented in Rechab) is strongly prophetic, and the prophetic is essential to uncover the hidden things of the heart (1 Corinthians 14:24-25), and intense righteous judgements require this quality in order to avoid over-judging or under-judging people.

The house of Jehu and the blood of Jezreel

As a parenthesis, it has been argued by a few that Jehu's massacre of the worshippers of Baal was wrong because it was not literally commanded by God, especially because of the word of judgement in Hosea 1:4 that indicts "the house of Jehu" for the "blood of Jezreel". To resolve this apparent contradiction in Scripture, many have argued that the unrighteous bloodshed that is being called out in Hosea 1:4 is this massacre of Baal worshippers. However, it is interesting to note that Jezreel is mentioned 4 times in 2 Kings 10, but is never mentioned after verse 11, which is the last verse describing Jehu's slaughter of the house of Ahab (as commanded by the Lord). In other words, the Spirit of God makes no effort whatsoever to associate the word "Jezreel" with the massacre of the Baal worshippers described in the rest of 2 Kings 10, which would indicate that this is not the "blood of Jezreel" that God is referring to in Hosea 1:4. Besides this, there is nothing but praise from God to Jehu immediately after he had killed the house of Ahab and massacred the worshippers of Baal (2 Kings 10:30), and he is only indicted by God when he did not depart from the sins of Jeroboam as he began to rule (2 Kings 10:31), which has nothing to do with what happened in Jezreel.

Others have also argued that the unrighteous bloodshed in Jezreel of Hosea 1:4 refers to Jehu's killing of Ahaziah, king of Judah, who was judged unto death by Jehu when he killed off the house of Ahab in Jezreel. However, this argument fails to consider the fact that Ahaziah, king of Judah, was actually a biological descendant of Ahab, given that his mother Athaliah was a daughter of Ahab and Jezebel, which means that he biologically belonged to the house of Ahab. It must also be considered that, as the judgement from Jehu drew near, Ahaziah felt drawn to visit the northern kingdom of Israel and was happily interacting with his uncle Jehoram, king of Israel and son of Ahab and Jezebel. This means that, even when he had the opportunity to distance himself from Ahab and Jezebel, and everything they stood for, he still went up to Israel and cooperated with Jehoram as the judgement on them loomed, as if to say to God,

"Count me as one of them. I have no fear of You and do not see anything reprehensible in anything that my relatives have done, and I have absolutely no expectation of any judgement coming on them."

Thus, he sealed his fate when he decided to go up to Israel at that precise time, and this author would even dare to say that it was God who drew him up to Israel so that he would be judged with the rest of his relatives because, at the end of the day, he was spiritually one with them. Also, the Spirit of God records Ahaziah's official place of death as "Megiddo" (a fortification built by Ahab overlooking the valley of Jezreel), even when he was mortally wounded in Jezreel proper. This physical separation between the place of his wounding and his place of death symbolises the fact that he had every opportunity to distance himself from Ahab, Jezebel and what they had done in Jezreel, but he chose to remain supportive of them until his death.

"26 Two and twenty years old was Ahaziah when he began to reign; and he reigned one year in Jerusalem. And his mother's name was Athaliah, the daughter of Omri king of Israel. 27 And he walked in the way of the house of Ahab, and did evil in the sight of the LORD, as did the house of Ahab: for he was the son in law of the house of Ahab." (2 Kings 8:26-27)

Therefore, if the unrighteous bloodshed in Jezreel that is condemned by God in Hosea 1:4 is neither the killing of Baal's worshippers nor the killing of Ahaziah, king of Judah, the question remains: What unrighteous bloodshed is Hosea 1:4 referring to? The answer is simpler than most "bible scholars" would think it to be. The unrighteous bloodshed in Jezreel referred to in Hosea 1:4 is the original unrighteous bloodshed, i.e. the murdering of Naboth by Jezebel and Ahab. But, if Jehu had no participation in that evil deed and was even the person who avenged it, why would that blood be on the house of Jehu? For one, it must be noted that the Spirit of God did not say in Hosea 1:4 that He would avenge the blood of Jezreel upon "Jehu". Instead, He said that He would avenge it upon the "house of Jehu", which points to Jehu's descendants, not to Jehu himself. But, still, if the descendants of Jehu did not participate in the murdering of Naboth and were not even biologically related to Ahab and Jezebel, why would God punish them for that murder? The answer is spiritually straightforward: The only reason why Jehu's descendants were able to reign in Israel was because God had decreed it in 2 Kings 10:30 as a result of Jehu's righteous actions. Had Jehu not killed off the house of Ahab, they would have never been in the throne, meaning that the legitimacy of their reign depended on the righteousness of Jehu's slaughter. However, the moment that they began to rebel against God and were actively behaving like the very people that their father Jehu had judged unto death, their legitimacy to continue reigning vanished, and they came under the indictment of God's judgement against the house of Ahab, for, just as they were enjoying the benefits of that judgement, they were obligated to suffer its "drawbacks". Thus, when they followed in the evil ways of Ahab and Jezebel, Jehu's descendants became twice as accountable for the murder of Naboth as anyone else, and it became as if they had participated in that murder themselves. Unfortunately, Girgashite Bible "scholars" will have a hard time understanding this truth, for they are always looking for literal, natural interpretations to God's spiritual language. As we shared above, this explanation is very "simple" and "straightforward" when it is perceived in the Spirit, but it is very "complicated" and difficult to accept when it is heard in the soul.

The Nordic connection

Having said all of the above, the following question remains: If, as we studied earlier, Madai, son of Japheth and brother of Gomer, is the father of the Celts, why is Riphath, who is so strongly linked to the Celts, a son of Gomer and not Madai? The answer to this question is somewhat similar to the answer we shared regarding Riphath's brother Ashkenaz. Riphath represents the influence that Gomer had on his brother Madai's children. In other words, God appointed Riphath to be the entry point into Madai's bloodline. Through marriage between the sons of Riphath and the sons of Madai, the endowments that the Celts needed from Gomer were imparted. This also explains the Nordic physical characteristics that are present in many Celtic persons. This physical similarity is not as strong as the one visible in the sons of Tubal because Madai was not as physically similar to Gomer as Tubal was. In fact, it can be said that, out of all the sons of Gomer, Madai may have been the one most likely to "blend in" in a Middle Eastern country such as Iran due to their darker hair colour (even if they remained white). The previous assertion stems from the fact that the name "Madai" is associated with the kingdom of the Medes and the Persians (based in modern-day Iran and parts of Iraq). Whereas the "European" version of Madai had strong mixture with Riphath (son of "Nordic" Gomer), the "Asian" version of Madai had a strong biological mixture with the sons of Shem, thereby leading to the modern-day differences between the two. All of this emphasises the spiritual relevance that God gave to Gomer amongst the sons of Japheth.

The Persian connection

As mentioned above, Riphath establishes a strong linkage between the Celts and the Persians. As we have shared before, out of the 12 "racial groups", the one most directly related to priesthood are the Persians, which explains why Celtic Riphath is so strongly linked to the priestly pomegranates described in Exodus 28:29-35 above. Given that priests play an "intermediary" role between "God above" and "man below", Riphath's connection to Celtic Madai is also emphasised by this, since "Madai" means "middle".

As we have shared before, the 12 "original apostles" correlate with the 12 "racial groups" that humanity can be categorised into, and the apostles who correlate with the Celts and Persians are Bartholomew and John respectively. Hence, it is interesting to consider that the only Gospel that speaks in any extensive way about Bartholomew is the Gospel of John, where Bartholomew is called by his other name, Nathanael. It is also whilst speaking to Nathanael that Yeshua prophesies in the Gospel of John about the latter-day Jacob's ladder in which angels will be ascending and descending upon the Son of Man:

"48 Nathanael saith unto him, Whence knowest thou me? Jesus answered and said unto him, Before that Philip called thee, when thou wast under the fig tree, I saw thee. 49 Nathanael answered and saith unto him, Rabbi, thou art the Son of God; thou art the King of Israel. 50 Jesus answered and said unto him, Because I said unto thee, I saw thee under the fig tree, believest thou? thou shalt see greater things than these. 51 And he saith unto him, Verily, verily, I say unto you, Hereafter ye shall see heaven open, and the angels of God ascending and descending upon the Son of man." (John 1:48-51)

The above also explains the colours of the pomegranates described in Exodus 28:29-35 above: blue, purple, and scarlet. The colour scarlet, or red, refers to the earth and to natural man, since Adam's body was made out of the red earth (or clay). The colour blue, on the other hand, refers to Heaven and to spiritual man, since the sky above is blue. The colour purple, on the other hand, refers to an intermediary colour between both, since purple can be made by mixing red and blue together, as indicated on wikipedia.org. Hence, the repetition of blue, purple, and red around the hem of the priest's garment points to the constant back and forth between "blue" Heaven above and "red" earth below. A deeper explanation of the colour purple falls outside the scope of this posting, but suffice it to say that it points to the "mid-air" meeting described in the famous "rapture" passage of 1 Thessalonians 4:15-17. Thus, in the latter days, the spiritual process detailed in 1 Thessalonians 4:15-17 will be a frequent, repetitive event, with the intermediary "purple" Madai playing an important role. This is why this writer is convinced that, once Persia (i.e. Iran, and even Iraq) is free to worship the Lord (escaping its enslavement from 1979), it shall be a sign that the days of a permanent Jacob's ladder are at hand. The golden bells in Exodus 28:29-35 refer to the Glory of God resounding in waves across the Earth's spiritual atmosphere, since gold is spiritually related to God's Glory. Therefore, the role of Riphath, Madai, and the Persians will be important in the opening of the portals through which God's Glory will flow into the Earth.

As a final note, the apostle Bartholomew is the only apostle out of the "original 12" who is known by 2 separate names that are never used together (as opposed to Peter, for example, who is sometimes called "Simon Peter"). This fact about Bartholomew points not only to the duality of Celtic Riphath (discussed above) but to the dual "racial" nature of Madai and the Celts, i.e. to the "European" version of Madai who received a strong impartation from Riphath, and the "Middle Eastern" version of Madai, who received a strong impartation from the sons of Shem. The name "Bartholomew" points to the "European", "Gomerite" version, and the name "Nathanael" points to the "Middle Eastern", "Shemite" version. Having said this, it is important to emphasise that both versions are not separate and distinct from each other but are actually deeply intertwined in the spirit realm, "different" and "unrelated" as they may appear on the surface.

{God willing, we shall share more on the sons of Gomer (and Japheth) in a future posting.}

The sons of Gomer - Riphath