DRAW CLOSER AND GO UP
Have you ever had God whisper to your spirit something so profound and clear that it shook you way down deep? This happened to me in the month of November in the year 2003. Yeshua whispered: “The one to be sacrificed is called laughter.” The first thought that popped into my mind was Abraham’s sacrifice of Issac, but I knew it went loads deeper.
Issac’s name means laughter. When Abraham fell on his face and laughed at having a son at one hundred years-old, God told him: “Sarah your wife shall bear you a son, and you shall call his name Issac” (Gen. 17:19 NASB), which means “he laughs.” After Abraham’s son of promise was born, “God tested Abraham” (Gen. 22:1). The Lord told Abraham to take Issac, whom he loves, go to Mount Moriah, and offer his son as a burnt offering on the mountain of God’s choice. For those who may think that this was a barbaric request, please remember that God’s ways are not our ways. The Bible doesn’t condone human sacrifice.
The Word of God tells us of at least three virtues in our lives that have eternal substance: faith, hope and love (1 Cor. 13:13). When God tested Abraham, He was accessing Abraham’s character to see if these and other eternal qualities abided in him. Just as Abraham’s walk was tested to see if it matched his talk, so will ours.
To comprehend why God asked Abraham to offer Issac as a burnt offering, we need to delve into the ancient Hebraic understanding of burnt offerings provided for us in the book of Leviticus. First, let’s note that the only name of God used in connection with offerings is Adonai.[1] This name represents His attribute of mercy. The Hebraic root of the word “offering” means coming near.[2] Any type of offering is meant to bring oneself closer to God. Additionally, the Hebrew word for “burnt” is olah,[3] which literally means going up.
Therefore, when one sincerely offers themselves or anything dear to themselves to the Lord for the purpose of drawing close, they spiritually go up to meet with the God of mercy personally. “This is what the LORD says” I will restore the fortunes of Jacob’s tents and have compassion on his dwellings …I will bring him near and he will come close to me, for who is he who will devote himself to be close to me? (Jer. 30:18; 21).
The burnt offering is also called by another name – the elevation offering. As it name suggests, it raises one’s spiritual level. The elevation offering was brought by everyone who went up to Jerusalem for the three prescribed pilgrimage feasts of the Lord. The Hebrew prophets spoke that in the end-times all the nations will be coming to Jerusalem – going up physically and/or spiritually – and they will take part in building the Temple. It’s nice to know that we don’t serve an unreasonable God: a person was only expected to serve God according to their ability that’s why an animal from the herd, flock, or birds were allowed.
The elevation (i.e. burnt) offering in Old Testament days was considered to be superior to all others, because it was a voluntary sacrifice and it was offered in its entirety.[4] The word “unblemished”[5] in Leviticus 1:3 symbolizes a person coming close to God with nothing missing. All one’s faculties are wholly engaged. When a person brought his burnt offering to the priests (i.e. Kohanim[6]), he was required to lean his hand on the head of his sacrifice. Actually, one had to literally lay both hands on the animal’s head and then confess their sin or shortcoming. Leaning both hands on one’s sacrifice alluded to leaning on the Lord with your entire strength. In the “Here Comes the Bride” Chapter of my book SANTA-TIZING, you will discover how loving God with all your strength is synonymous with loving God vehemently, wholly, exceedingly, diligently, utterly. It is the highest form of love.
The burnt offering was the first service performed by Aaron’s descendants – the Kohamin – in God’s Wilderness Tabernacle. Anyone could slaughter an animal; but it took the descendants of the High Priest, who received abundant mercy, to receive the shed blood and transport it to the Burnt Altar. It’s interesting that even though there was a heavenly fire always on the Altar, the Kohanim were commanded to add an earthly fire. Once the Kohanim arranged all the cut up parts on the fire, they tended the fire until the sacrifice was consumed. The smoke that rises up to God from the burnt offering is a symbol of the owner’s striving, and the Lord tells us that it pleases Him (Lev. 1:9).
In our day, God’s people, who become a royal priesthood through their reception of the gift of the shed blood of the Lamb, receive forgiveness for their shortcomings once they sincerely confess their sin. We bypass animal sacrifices; because Jesus Christ (Yeshua ha Mashiach) offered up the perfect sacrifice of His earthly body once for all. Yeshua became our burnt offering on the cross, and Yeshua’s Bride will be like Him. The spiritual principle behind the burnt offering that remains true today is: “Behold, I have come to do thy will” (Psa. 40:7-8; Heb. 10:7).
The fulfillment of the picture of the burnt offering in our fresh dispensation will be the baptism of fire that the Bride of Christ will come through to be the Lord’s pure and spotless Bride. Bridal lovers of God must recognize what practices and beliefs please Adonai, and which do not; then adjust accordingly come what may. The Word of God together with Holy Spirit will be our guide; this is at least a partial realization of the picture that that the fire that consumes any burnt offering is first and foremost a heavenly fire. Our offering to give up earthly desires and practices will combine with heaven’s fiery perfect will. Like the smoke that rises up from the burnt offering, our total surrender to the All-Consuming Fire will be one of our most pleasing sacrifices as well as one of our most satisfying services.
IN THE MIDST
When I heard the one-liner: “The one to be sacrificed is called laughter,” I thoroughly researched the word “laughter.”[7] I discovered the Hebrew word qereb.[8] The inward part of the body is the seat of laughter. It is the center of a person, the bowels, the heart, the midst, or the nearest part. It is likened to a person’s spirit.
In our assessment of the phrase: “The one to be sacrificed is called laughter,” we need to remember that the man named laughter (i.e. Issac) was a foreshadow of the One “for the joy that was set before Him endured the cross” (Hebrews 12:2NASB). A phrase in the King James Version of the Bible that consistently appears in association with the word “bowels,” (the seat of laughter) is “in the midst.” Many times this phrase refers to Jesus (scriptural emphasis is mine):
“Where they crucified him, and two other with him, on either side, and Jesus in the midst.” (John 19:18 KJV)
“For the Lamb who is in the midst of the throne will shepherd them and lead them to living fountains of water …”( Revelation 7:17 NKJV)
“And the sun was darkened, and the veil of the temple was rent in the midst.” (Luke 23:45 KJV)
Our previous dispensation (i.e., divine administration of the earth) initiated a shift in the concept of taking up one’s cross and following Him. In our fresh dispensation, we will continue in this vein; but somehow, it will intensify. I have a feeling that that the baptism of fire, which the Bride of Christ will go through, has some relation to Colossians 1:24: “Now I rejoice in what was suffered for you, and I fill up in my flesh what is still lacking in regard to Christ’s afflictions, for the sake of His body, which is the church.” God’s special corporate one (made up of ones) will demonstrate: “Do all things without grumbling or disputing: that you may prove yourselves to be blameless and innocent, children of God above reproach in the midst of a crooked and perverse generation, among whom you appear as lights in the world” (Phil. 2:14-15 NASB).
Qereb’s primitive root qarab[9] alludes to the concept of offerings through its reference to the entrails of sacrificial animals.[10] To qarab is to approach or bring near for whatever purpose, to cause to come near, to be at hand, or to join. When we lie down Christmas or anything in preference to the Lord our God, Adonai invites us to boldly come to His throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy and find grace in time of need (Heb. 4:16). We will need all the mercy and grace we can get for Christmas will be one difficult sacred cow to get rid of.
The Lord of Love is asking us to come closer, which amongst other things requires us to walk in a greater measure of holiness. I believe that He is asking us to willingly lay down Christmas, which is a sacrifice very similar to the sacrifice of Issac. Just as Abraham loved Issac with all his heart, so has the majority of Christians loved Christmas. Just as Abraham went up the mountain of God to worship by offering up his most treasured possession to the Lord, so will we. “And foreigners who bind themselves to the LORD to serve him, to love the name of the LORD, and to worship him, … these I will bring to my holy mountain and give them joy in my house of prayer. Their burnt offerings and sacrifices will be accepted on my altar; for my house will be called a house of prayer for all nations” (Isa. 56:6-7 NIV). The Lord our God is restoring the holy altar of worship in His Christian Church.
Please remember that the One calling us to sacrifice Christmas is the God of mercy. He knows where we have been and the condition of our hearts. He alone is worthy to judge our deeds, thoughts, and attitudes. It is because of His great mercy and His love that endures forever that the Lord is revealing how He regards Christmas in this hour. In future articles, we will go into much more detail about our bridal call in this season.
This article is meant to help Christians honestly assess our most celebrated holiday. If we move beyond all our defense mechanisms and emotional ties in our evaluation of Christmas, we come face-to-face with mixture being brought into a Christian celebration of Christmas from the beginning. Most Christmas customs and traditions were originally pagan, and remain among its most attractive features. The Lord our God is not surprised by our behavior:
“They worshiped the LORD, but they also served their own gods in accordance with the customs of the nations from which they had been brought.” (2 Kings 17:33 NIV)
“Israel; cries out to me, ‘O our God, we acknowledge you! But Israel has rejected what is good… With their silver and gold they make idols for themselves to their own destruction. Throw out your calf-idol, O Samaria! My anger burns against them. How long will they be incapable of purity? They are from Israel! This calf – a craftsman has made it; it is not God. It will be broken in pieces, that calf of Samaria.” (Hosea 8:2-6 NIV)
Biblical Samaria is notorious for being a place of mixed religion. The word of God declares over and over again that they feared Jehovah and served their own gods. Luxury, vice, and paganism were general traditions of Samaria. Aren’t luxury, vice, and secularism extensive traits in America too?
When the Lord divided Israel due to Solomon going after other gods, Jeroboam was divinely raised to the throne of the ten tribes. The prophet Ahijah of Shiloh told Jeroboam the conditions for his success – obedience to the Lord’s commands. Significantly, King Solomon, who held fast in love to his foreign wives and their gods (1 Kin. 11:2), learned too late that after all has been heard; here is the conclusion of the matter: “Fear God and keep his commandments, for this is the whole duty of man. For God will bring every deed into judgment, including every hidden thing, whether it is good or evil” (Eccl. 12:13-14 NIV).
Shortly after Jeroboam’s coronation, he departed from the Lord’s counsel. The new king was concerned about how the annual pilgrimage feasts to Jerusalem would affect his subject’s loyalty. Recall that the Lord Himself prescribed the annual practice of going up to Jerusalem to worship at His feasts.
The first part of chapter 6 in my book SANTA-TIZING: What’s wrong with Christmas and how to clean it up talks about Jeroboam’s establishment of his Kingdom of Self. Let’s go into greater detail about how it happened. Jeroboam’s fear of man resulted in his seeking man’s counsel, when he had already been given God’s perfect formula for success. Please note that the first fabricator of a golden calf, Aaron, had also succumbed to pleasing people.Before long Jeroboam established his own worship centers at the extremities of his kingdom – Dan in the north and Bethel in the south.
Jeroboam’s first variance with scripture was in defiance to the second commandment, which forbids the worship of God by means of an image. Remember that he set up two golden calves and quoted the people’s declaration after Aaron made their first golden calf “Here are your gods, O Israel, which brought you up from the land of Egypt!” (Exo. 32:4; 1 Kin. 12:28). Additionally, the Bible informs us that there be but one altar – one place to meet with God.
Building an altar for each golden calf at his own places of worship was Jeroboam’s second variance with the word of God; but his disobedience went even further. Since the God-ordained priests refused to serve at the new altars and returned to Jerusalem, Jeroboam made it possible for anyone to be a priest (2 Chr. 11:15-16; 1 Kings 12:31). This was Jeroboam’s third strike, for at that time only Levites were designated to serve as God’s priests. Last but not least, Jeroboam’s changes to God’s laws coincided with the Antichrist formula of changing His designated times. After Jeroboam made his own idolatrous houses of worship, he ordained that the Feast of Tabernacles be observed in the eighth month instead of the original seventh (1 Kin. 12:32-34).
You will notice that two of these compromises coincide with the first two steps Antiochus Epiphanes IV enacted in his quest to eradiate the worship of the God of Abraham, Issac, and Jacob. Remember that Antiochus first set up his own high priest, then tried to enforce the changing of God ordained times. Prior to Constantine and Antiochus Epiphanes VI, Jeroboam led God’s people into heathen practices in order to firmly establish his own kingdom. A mass of people conformed to the “new” man-made religious practices, which were sensual, earthly, and even demonic in nature. It fed the people’s flesh. It felt good, and “even while these people were worshiping the LORD, they were serving their idols. To this day their children and grandchildren continue to do as their fathers did” (2 Kin. 17:41). The truth is that Christians do the same today. We continue to do as our fathers did. We say that we worship the LORD, and we sincerely believe that we do; but in reality we also serve our own gods in accordance with the customs of the nations – even the United States of America.
In a sense, Christianity in America can be likened unto Samaria. Our golden calf is definitely Christmas. The house of God in America has become corrupted. To touch the tip of an iceberg, merely regard divorce statistics for Christians in America. Divorce is as high, and even higher, among Christians as those outside the Church.
“The people who live in Samaria [America] fear for their calf-idol [Christmas] of Beth Aven [derogatory name for house of God – Bethel – which means the house of wickedness]. Its people will mourn over it, and so will its idolatrous priests [merchants of the world, Santa Clauses, and everyone who chooses to worship at the Christmas altar], those who rejoiced over its splendor, because it is taken from them into exile.” (Hosea 10:5 NIV Additional comments mine)
Revelation 18 tells us that Babylon will be thrown down with violence; and as you have seen Christmas will take its part in being laid waste because it has inextricable Babylonian roots. All the nations have been deceived by the sorcery wrapped up in the festive trappings of Christmas cheer. It is a charming emotional cocktail that appears so innocent, so benign; but its roots are a beguiling, tricksterish concoction invented by man.
HIS WILL ENTIRELY
When I came across Ecclesiastes 10:19 “A feast is made for laughter” in my daily devotions, it hit me that the mysterious statement “the one to be sacrificed is called laughter” had a deeper context related to this book. I perceived that Adonai was telling me that a feast is to be sacrificed. Will you have the courage to examine this lamb of Christmas we yearly offer to God?
We have discussed how the Bible clearly outlines that a person cannot come nearer to God without maintaining a high level of holiness. For the Lord’s Presence to rest among His people, each one of us must voluntarily offer ourselves up to God in our entirety to do His will.
“Therefore, when He came into the world, He said, ‘Sacrifice and offering You did not desire, but a body You have prepared for Me. In burnt offerings and sacrifices for sin You had no pleasure. Then I said, ‘Behold, I have come – In the volume of the book it is written of Me – To do your will, O God.’ ” (Hebrews 10:5-7 NKJV)
You and I make up the Body of Christ; and according to Revelation 19:7-8 the righteous deeds of the saints makes Yeshua’s wife prepared for the Lamb (I go into greater depth about this in chapter 10 of SANTA-TIZING). The question everyone must answer is: Do Christians come to do God’s will or our own will when we celebrate Christmas?
I believe that this kingdom hour demands a greater degree of holiness, because the Lord desires to come and dwell amongst His people. Our Beloved is asking us to come closer. The One, who loves us, is summoning His people to meet Him at His stated time. The Holy One of Israel is directing us into a certain position. Adonai is engaging us for marriage. He is asking His people (all people) to sacrifice a holiday they love for the One they love. For these precious ones, a feast is to be sacrificed, and it is called laughter. Ask anyone in the AmericanChurch today when is the happiest time of year for you, and you will most likely hear Christmastime. Christmas has been a time when many of us have felt most loved.
Christmas is the time of year when there’s much laughter and frivolity. You “feast on the abundance of your house” (Ps. 36:8). It is the holiday where Americans, including those in the Church, currently spend most of our resources. Loving God with all your strength in reality means to love Him with all your resources (time, talent, wealth, etc.). Now is the time to offer our strength completely to the King of kings.
SACRIFICE OF LAUGHTER
The mysterious statement: “The one to be sacrificed is called laughter” has more than one facet to it. Remember how my first thought was of Abraham’s sacrifice of Isaac. It is also primarily refers to our heavenly Father’s sacrifice of his only begotten Son – Jesus on the same MountMoriah. Additionally, it foreshadows an event for the sons of the living God. It’s an occasion where you and I, sons of the living God, will lay down one of our most precious possessions and practices. A feast is to be sacrificed, and it is called laughter. “… Go and serve your idols, every one of you! But afterward you will surely listen to me and no longer profane my holy name with your gifts and idols. For on my holy mountain… There I will require your offerings and your choice gifts, along with all your holy sacrifices” (Ezek.20:39-40).
I did not know that there is a passage in the Bible that prophetically speaks of the world’s laying down of Christmas – America’s golden calf – until I came across it in my daily devotions at just the right time. “Behold I am about to put a plumb line in the midst of My people Israel. I will pass him by no longer. The high places of Issac [i.e. laughter] will be desolated … Then shall I rise up against the house of Jeroboam [golden calves] with the sword” (Amos 7:8-9 NASB Comments mine).
Christmas is a high place of worship in the American Church in our day; it’s undeniable that Christians, as well as the rest of the world, have built their altar to its glory. Christmas’ mixture includes idols being set up right in God’s temple. Amos 7:9 prophetically declares that the idolatrous worship of laughter will be destroyed, and my guess is that it will be annihilated by fire (Isa. 1:10-31). Christmas will be a work that will be tested. As a heavenly reward, it will burn up according to Biblical standards. Christians, who hold onto the Christmas celebration, will suffer the loss of a heavenly reward; but 1 Corinthians 3:15 NKJV says that the believer himself “will be saved, yet so as through fire.”
Moreover, Amos 7:9 tells us that the sword of the Lord will rise against the house of Jeroboam. The living and active two-edged sword of the word of God will separate our fleshly practices from truly spiritual ones. Hebrews 4:12 NASB even says that the word of God is “able to judge the thoughts and intentions of the heart.”
The house that Jeroboam built was filled with golden calves and sinful, self-appointed priests (1 Kin. 12:28-31; 2 Chronicles 11:15); furthermore, Jeroboam changed the time when the Lord’s Feast of Tabernacles was to be celebrated amongst the ten tribes (1 Kin. 12:32-34). This prophetically speaks of three things in our day:
- God’s holy priesthood choosing to serve Him the way they choose.
- God’s people fabricating a worshipful image made in the likeness of a golden calf.
- God’s people choosing their own month to celebrate a feast, which was said to be dedicated to Jehovah.
God’s holy priesthood in America has chosen our own way to serve Him. We say that we are worshipping Jehovah in and through the image of Christmas, and we have chosen our own time to celebrate – December. Of note, I particularly believe that Amos 7:9 foretells that the Holy One of Israel, the One with a two-edged sword in His mouth, is going to rise against the house with His Name on it that worships the golden calf in order to cleanse it. “Her priests do violence to my law and profane my holy things; they do not distinguish between the holy and the common; they teach that there is no difference between the unclean and clean…” (Ezek. 22:26).
When the Bible speaks of the unfaithful kings of the divided kingdoms of Israel and Judah, most of the time the refrain goes so-and-so “did evil in the eyes of the LORD. He did not turn away from the sins of Jeroboam son of Nebat, which he caused Israel to commit” (1 Kin. 16:19, 30; 2 Kin. 13: 2, 11; 14:24; 15: 9, 18, 24, 28; etc.). Even Jehu, who destroyed Baal worship and cut down Jezebel, was rebuked for not turning away from the sins of Jeroboam (2 Kin. 10:28-29). The sin of Jeroboam that the Bible specifies most is the worship of the golden calves. Like Aaron, who set up the first golden calf at Sinai, Jeroboam fashioned a golden image due to the fear of man and his own selfish ambition. He cast an image, set up an altar, and declared a festival for Jehovah. The Church in America has done the same.
The information in this article and more details can be found in Chapter 8 “Fullness of Time” and Chapter 8 “The One to be Sacrificed” in my book: SANTA-TIZING: What’s wrong with Christmas and how to clean it up (available on amazon http://www.amazon.com/SANTA-TIZING-Whats-wrong-Christmas-clean/dp/1607911159/.
~ Robin Main
www.sapphirethroneministries.com
www.santa-tizing.com
www.mysticmentoring.com
Copyright Dec. 27, 2012 – Author: Robin Main.
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• MEL GEL Study Guide book => https://www.amazon.com/dp/0578188538/
• MEL GEL Study Guide: Volume 2 book => https://www.amazon.com/dp/0998598232/
• Set of Hebrew Living Letter Flash Cards => https://www.sapphirethroneministries.com/flashcards
• Blazing New Wine of Hanukkah: Bridal Restoration of DNA book => https://www.amazon.com/Blazing-Wine-Hanukkah-Bridal-Restoration/dp/1634430026/
• SANTA-TIZING: What’s wrong with Christmas and how to clean it up book => https://www.amazon.com/SANTA-TIZING-Whats-wrong-Christmas-clean/dp/1607911159/ was written to fulfill a vow made to Yeshua’s face to tell the Christian Church that “Christmas will be the Golden Calf of America.” It took 10 years of full-time research, a golden scribe angel and the Spirit’s leading to unearthing His Truth in the sands of time. It covers every argument that you have ever heard about Christmas.
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[1] The Chumash: The Stone Edition, by Rabbi Nosson Scherman, 2. To Hashem, p. 545: “Throughout the Torah, only this Four Letter Name of God – the Name representing His Attribute of Mercy – is used in connection with offerings, never the Name Elohim, which represents His Attribute of Judgment (Sifra). Ancient idolaters believed that animal-offerings were needed to assuage the anger of a judgmental, bloodthirsty god. This is totally foreign to a Jewish belief. The Torah teaches us that offerings are a means to draw closer to HASHEM – the Merciful God (R’Hirsch).” Personal note: Adonai is what is said when the tetra gram hwhy is used. This is the four letter name of God that is not spoken and later comes to us as Hashem (The Name).
[2] Lev 1:2 “Speak to the Children of Israel and say to them: When a man among you brings an offering to HASHEM: from animals – from the cattle or from the flock shall you bring your offering.” The Chumash: The Stone Edition, General Editors Rabbi Nosson Scherman/Rabbi Meir Zlotowitz, 2. An offering, p. 545: “The root of the word!B’r>q’ offering, is brq, coming near, because an offering is the means to bring ourselves closer to God and to elevate ourselves (R’Hirsch). For this reason, the common translation, sacrifice, does not capture the essence of the word.”
[3] The term ‘burnt offering’ is really one Hebrew word which is first used in Genesis 8:20 KJV “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.” The Hebrew word here is hl'[o transliterated as olah. This noun is formed from the verb hl'[‘ ‘to go up,’ which is a good description of what happens to the offering…it goes up. God in His playfulness will use the verb and the constructed noun together to form a phrase like: he make go up (offered) that which goes up (and offering).
[4] Webster’s Collegiate Dictionary, 10th Edition, p. 387: entirety 1: the state of being entire or complete 2: SUM TOTAL, WHOLE; entire 1: having no element or part left out : WHOLE 2: complete in degree : TOTAL 3 a: consisting of one piece b: HOMOGENEOUS, UNMIXED
[5] Leviticus 1:3 KJV – “If his offering be a burnt sacrifice of the herd, let him offer a male without blemish: he shall offer it of his own voluntary will at the door of the tabernacle of the congregation before the LORD.” Leviticus 1:3 NAS – “If his offering is a burnt offering from the herd, he shall offer it, a male without defect; he shall offer it at the doorway of the tent of meeting, that he may be accepted before the LORD.” ~ymiT’ tamim 1. whole, entire: day Jos 10:13, year Lev 25:30; — 2. intact: tree Ezk 15:5; — 3 unobjectionable: way 2 Sam 22:31, free of blemish: sacrificial animals Ex 12:5— 4. blameless Gen 6:9. Theological Word book of the Old Testament by Laird R. Harris, Robert Laird Harris, Gleason Leonard Archer, Bruce K. Waltke: 2522d תָּמִים (tāmı̂m) complete. 2522e מְתֹם (mĕtōm) entirety. With the verb’s fundamental idea of completeness, Samuel inquired of Jesse, “Are here all (Heb hătammû) thy children?” (I Sam 16:11). Cf. tāmı̂m (the root tāmam’s most common derivative), describing an entire day (Josh 10:13) or a whole, and therefore healthy, vine (Ezk 15:5). mĕtōm indicates soundness of flesh (Ps 38:3). tāmı̂m delimits Israel’s sacrifices, which were to be without blemish, perfect in that respect, so as to be accepted (Lev 22:21–22) as types of Christ, the spotless Lamb of God (I Pet 1:19). Speech which is tāmı̂m (Amos 5:10) corresponds to “what is complete, entirely in accord with truth and fact” (BDB, p. 1071). … tāmam moves naturally toward that which is ethically sound, upright (Ps 19:13 [H 14]). … tāmam is used with the commandments of God meaning to fulfill them (Josh 4:10).
[6] Plural for priest ~ynIh]Ko – specifically the kohanim were and are direct descendants of Aaron.
[7] In Genesis 17:17 Abram laughed at the idea of Sarah having a son. In verse 19 God said that there would be a son and his name would be Isaac. In English there is no connection, but in Hebrew there is a story to be told. Isaac’s name is formed from the Hebrew word mentioned above qxc tsachak as ‘to laugh’. The form is a verb in what is called the Qal Imperfect which has the action of the verb to be future and continual. Thus Isaac’s name means ‘he will laugh’. Just think, every time Sarah would call her son to come in for dinner she would be calling ‘Laughing Boy’ and would thus remember the faithfulness of God and His Covenant. Isaac (Yitschak) carried this prophetic name his entire life.
[8] The New Strong’s Exhaustive Concordance of the Bible by James Strong, LL.D., S.T.D., OT:7130, Personal note: br,q, qerev/qereb/kerev/kereb — the inward part of body, considered the seat of laughter Gn 18:12 , 1K 17:21.] Genesis 18:12 KJV – “Therefore Sarah laughed within herself, saying, ‘After I am waxed old shall I have pleasure, my lord being old also?’” Genesis 18:12 NAS – “And Sarah laughed to herself, saying, ‘After I have become old, shall I have pleasure, my lord being old also?’” The word br,q, qereb is not the verb ‘laughed’ in these verses. The verb qxc tsachak is used. How qereb is used here is in the phrase translated: ‘within’ herself’ KJV and ‘to’ herself’ NAS. Please note br,q, qereb is a noun and not a verb.
[9] The New Strong’s Exhaustive Concordance of the Bible by James Strong, LL.D., S.T.D., OT:7126. kaw-rab’; a prim. root; to approach (caus. bring near) for whatever purpose :– (cause to) approach, (cause to) bring (forth, near), (cause to) come (near, nigh), (cause to) draw near (nigh), go (near), be at hand, join, be near, offer, present, produce, make ready, stand, take. OT 7130: keh’-reb from 7126; prop. the nearest part, i.e. the center, whether lit, fig or adv (espec. with prep.) :– x among, x before, bowels, x unto charge, + eat (up), x heart, x him, x in, inward (x –ly, part, -s, thought), midst, + out of, purtenance, x therein, x through, x within self.
[10] Strong’s 07130 brq qereb keh’- reb from 07126; n m; {See TWOT on 2066 @@ “2066a”} AV-among 76, midst 73, within 24, inwards 22, in 6, misc 26; 227 1) midst, among, inner part, middle 1a) inward part 1a1) physical sense 1a2) as seat of thought and emotion 1a3) as faculty of thought and emotion 1b) in the midst, among, from among (of a number of persons) 1c) entrails (of sacrificial animals)
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