Job 36: Kings in Fetters (Part 7)
Job 36:8 "And if they be bound in fetters, and be holden in cords of affliction;"
We continue from Part 6 we left off last time.
Job 36:8-12 "And if they be bound in fetters, and be holden in cords of affliction; 9 Then he sheweth them their work, and their transgressions that they have exceeded. 10 He openeth also their ear to discipline, and commandeth that they return from iniquity. 11 If they obey and serve him, they shall spend their days in prosperity, and their years in pleasures. 12 But if they obey not, they shall perish by the sword, and they shall die without knowledge."
This is where we know that born again believers will struggle with sin, and what God will do for them. In this part of the series, I would like to talk about spiritual fetters. The fetters in Job 36:8 is a spiritual fetters. Fetters, if we recall, are used to bind the feet of prisoners so that they cannot escape. For example:
Psalms 105:17-19 "He sent a man before them, even Joseph, who was sold for a servant: 18 Whose feet they hurt with fetters: he was laid in iron: 19 Until the time that his word came: the word of the LORD tried him."
Joseph was betrayed by his brothers who threw him into a pit. That was when the Midianites merchantmen came and drew him out of the pit, and they sold him to the Ishmeelites for twenty pieces of silver. They bound his feet with fetters so that he could not escape, and they brought him into Egypt. That was the time when Joseph’s faith was tried. God will use the fire of tribulation to try a believer’s faith. A truly born again believer will endure, and his faith will be purified. Until the time that the word came, Joseph’s feet was bound in fetters, and that was the word of the LORD that tried him. God will use your enemies to toughen you.
Galatians 5:22-23 "But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, 23 Meekness, temperance: against such there is no law."
In the process, a believer will manifest the fruit of the Spirit, and temperance is a fruit of the Spirit. What is temperance? Think about tempered glass as a piece of ordinary glass put in fire, and the extreme heat will cause the molecular structure of the glass to change, so that the glass is toughened in the process. A glass that is tempered by fire is no longer a piece of ordinary glass, and it will never go back and become ordinary glass again because the change took place at the molecular level. Likewise, if God was the one who saved you, your change will be at the deepest level.
Ecclesiastes 3:14 "I know that, whatsoever God doeth, it shall be for ever: nothing can be put to it, nor any thing taken from it: and God doeth it, that men should fear before him."
The change in you will come from deep within, and it will remain because God was the one who did it. The NIV and other modern bible versions changed the word “temperance” in Galatians 5:23 to “self-control”. If the fruit of the Spirit is self-control, that means that you are the one in control i.e. you are the one who worked your way to salvation, and if that is true, you are still a piece of ordinary glass!!
Judges 16:19 "And she made him sleep upon her knees; and she called for a man, and she caused him to shave off the seven locks of his head; and she began to afflict him, and his strength went from him.
Samson had seven locks on his head. That is a picture of the seven spirits of God in a born again believer. Delilah is a picture of the strange woman whose working is to cut off the seven spirits of God from a born again believer.
Job 36:8 "And if they be bound in fetters, and be holden in cords of affliction;"
The word “affliction” in this verse is a reference to Judges 16:19 “... and she began to afflict him, and his strength went from him.” So by this comparison, it is now clear that the cords of affliction in Job 36:8 is a reference to Delilah, who is a picture of the strange woman.
Ecclesiastes 4:12 "And if one prevail against him, two shall withstand him; and a threefold cord is not quickly broken."
Samson looked at Delilah and lusted after her. She was the threefold cord of affliction: 1) lust of the flesh; 2) lust of the eyes; 3) pride of life; that is not quickly broken, and the Devil will use these three things to afflict a sinner, and the sinner will be powerless against him. In fact, that was what the Philistines did, and they were the ones who hired Delilah to entice Samson so that he would reveal the secrets of his supernatural strength.
James 1:14-15 "But every man is tempted, when he is drawn away of his own lust, and enticed. 15 Then when lust hath conceived, it bringeth forth sin: and sin, when it is finished, bringeth forth death."
Samson was tempted and he eventually caved in, and it brought forth death. The name “Samson” is found exactly 36 times in the 1611 King James Bible.
Genesis 3:6 "And when the woman saw that the tree was good for food [lust of the flesh], and that it was pleasant to the eyes [lust of the eyes], and a tree to be desired to make one wise [pride of life], she took of the fruit thereof, and did eat, and gave also unto her husband with her; and he did eat."
The woman was also tempted, and when she eventually caved in, it brought forth death. In Judges 16, the threefold cord of affliction was Delilah. In Genesis 3, it was the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. The tree of the knowledge of good and evil is a strange woman, even as the tree of life is a virtuous woman, as in:
Proverbs 3:18 "She is a tree of life to them that lay hold upon her: and happy is every one that retaineth her."
The “she” in this verse is a woman figure call “wisdom” in the book of Proverbs. There are two types of wisdom according to:
James 3:14-17 "But if ye have bitter envying and strife in your hearts, glory not, and lie not against the truth. 15 This wisdom descendeth not from above, but is earthly, sensual, devilish. 16 For where envying and strife is, there is confusion and every evil work. 17 But the wisdom that is from above is first pure, then peaceable, gentle, and easy to be intreated, full of mercy and good fruits, without partiality, and without hypocrisy."
There is the wisdom that is not from above, and there is the wisdom that is from above. One is the strange woman, and the other is the virtuous woman. One descendeth from a line of corrupt manuscripts (“not from above”), and the other from a line of pure manuscripts (“from above”). There are many differences between modern bible versions and the 1611 King James Bible. We will find that in these bibles, words are either removed, modified or replaced. The words of the LORD are practically dismantled and shredded to pieces in modern bible versions. That was Delilah with her pair of scissors.
Judges 16:20-21 "And she said, The Philistines be upon thee, Samson. And he awoke out of his sleep, and said, I will go out as at other times before, and shake myself. And he wist not that the LORD was departed from him. 21 But the Philistines took him, and put out his eyes, and brought him down to Gaza, and bound him with fetters of brass; and he did grind in the prison house."
When the source of Samson’s strength was departed from him, that was when the Philistines came and bound him with fetters of brass. When the source of a believer’s strength is departed from him, that will be the time when the Devil will come and bring his fetters of brass to bind him, and put him in bondage.
Psalms 27:1 "The LORD is my light and my salvation; whom shall I fear? the LORD is the strength of my life; of whom shall I be afraid?"
The source of a believer’s strength is the 66 books of the Holy Bible.
Isaiah 11:2 "And [1] the spirit of the LORD shall rest upon him, [2] the spirit of wisdom and [3] understanding, [4] the spirit of counsel and [5] might, [6] the spirit of knowledge and of [7] the fear of the LORD;"
Jesus Christ is the Word of God, and the seven spirits of God rest upon him. The word of God, the 66 books of the Holy Bible, has the seven spirits of God. A born again believer too, has the seven spirits of God because a copy of the word of God is in him. The attack on the church is for that which is received in the heart of a believer. The Devil knows that in order to uproot that which was sown in the heart, he has to start from the source of a believer’s faith, and that is, the 66 books of the Holy Bible. When the words of the LORD are removed, modified or replaced by something else, the church will eventually succumb to the Devil’s attack. The Devil will use the strange woman to entice the church, even as the Philistines paid Delilah to get her entice Samson and afflict him with the lust of the flesh, lust of the eyes and pride of life.
We shall continue our studies on this topic in Part 8.
What is your understanding of the whole books of the Bible that were removed for example the Book of Enoch and Maccabees to name a couple? The Ethiopian Bible has many intact.