feb 26-mar 4 scripture picture chiastic structure
1a.1) Psa 57:11 Be exalted, O God, above the heavens, let Your glory be above all the earth;
1a.2) 1 Joh 3:1 Behold what manner of love the Father has bestowed on us, that we should be called children of God;
1b.1) Gal 6:7 Do not be deceived, God is not mocked; for whatever a man sows, that he will also reap;
1b.2) Job 21:30 Gen 29:35 Mat 28:20 Mat 12:20-21 Psa 146:9 The Lord protects strangers + supports fatherless + widow;
1a) Job 21:30 The wicked are reserved for the day of doom; they shall be brought out on the day of wrath;
1b) Gen 29:35 She conceived again + bore a son: “Now I will praise the LORD.” Therefore she called his name Judah;
1c) Mat 28:20 And lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age;
central axis) Mat 12:20 A bruised reed He will not break + smoking flax He will not quench, till He sends forth justice to victory;
2c) Mat 12:21 And in His name Gentiles will trust;
2b) Psa 146:9a The Lord protects the strangers, He supports the fatherless and the widow;
2a) Psa 146:9b But He thwarts the way of the wicked;
1c) Gen 31:16b Now then, whatever God has said to you, do;
1d) 1 Joh 1:9a If we confess our sins;
central axis) 1 Joh 1:9b He is faithful and just;
2d) 1 Joh 1:9c To forgive us our sins;
2c) 1 Joh 1:9d And to cleanse us from all unrighteousness;
2b.1&2) Gen 31:49 Pro 26:2 Exo 2:5-6a An underserved curse shall not alight/ The Lord watch between you and me;
1a) Gen 31:49 May the Lord watch between you and me, when we are absent one from another;
central axis) Pro 26:2 Like a flitting sparrow, like a flying swallow, so a curse without a cause shall not alight;
2a) Exo 2:5-6a Moses a stranger, fatherless, found + cared for by Pharaoh’s daughter;
2a.1&2) Mat 11:29-30 I am gentle + lowly in heart/ Take My yoke upon you + learn from Me;
1a) Mat 11:29a Take My yoke upon you;
1b) Mat 11:29b And learn from Me;
central axis) Mat 11:29c For I am gentle and lowly in heart;
2b) Mat 11:29d And you will find rest for your souls;
2a) Mat 11:20 For My yoke is easy, and My burden is light.
In this structure the matching pairs pair most often by comparison and contrast:
A.1) God is exalted above the heavens/ Messiah is gentle and lowly in heart;
A.2) We are children of God/ Children take the yoke of their Father and learn from Him;
B.1) What a man sows he will reap (merit)/ an unmerited curse will not alight;
B.2) The Lord protects strangers + supports the fatherless and the widow. Leah while not a technical widow, was the unloved outsider in her marriage. God was good to her and gave her children and therefore status when He saw that she was unloved.
The message of the smaller 1B.2 structure is that God cares for the outcast and disadvantaged. He will not quench the broken or bruised. The not-Chosen People, the Gentiles, will trust in Him, and He will not forsake them; He supports the strangers, fatherless, and widows. But the wicked He will not protect or support.
Moses was set adrift on the Nile and thus made fatherless, and God supported him.
C) Whatever God has said to you, do: obeying God’s word is the definition of righteousness/ He will cleanse us from all unrighteousness.
Shabbat prophetic message: God is just, but if we repent of our sin, He will forgive it rather than judge it. He is leading us to repent that He may cleanse us of unrighteousness as we learn to do the word He has spoken. Repent, repent, for if we sow unrighteousness, we will reap unrighteousness; but if we repent and sin no more, the curse unrighteousness has merited for us will not alight. The outcast, broken, and bruised will come to Him, and as a Church we should welcome, protect, and support them as He does. They and we are His children whom He loves, and He will teach us all and bring us rest.
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