Thoughts from Isaiah 10:27

 Thoughts from Isaiah 10:27

 

From Isaiah 10:27 we get the popular, but erroneous, sayings in the church, “the anointing breaks the yoke.” This started from the KJV translation of this verse.  Most of the other English translations have translated it as the anointing oil or fat that breaks the yoke.  The Hebrew word used in this verse is semen, pronounced sheh’-men, which means grease, especially liquid (as from the olive, often perfumed; figuratively, richness:-anointing,xfat (things), x fruitful, oil (-ed) ointment, olive, pine. (Strong’s definition). In looking at every verse where semen is used in the Old Testament it is speaking of the oil or the fat itself and not the specific act of anointing.  

Now with a proper understanding of what the verse we can see the real meaning and depth of what it is saying to us even now.  To help with this I have included the verse here from 3 different English translations. 

 

Isaiah 10:27NKJ Version It shall come to pass in that day
That his burden will be taken away from your shoulder, And his yoke from your neck, And the yoke will be destroyed because of the anointing oil.

Isaiah 10:27 NIV In that day their burden will be lifted from your shoulders, their yoke from your neck; the yoke will be broken because you have grown so fat.

Isaiah 10:27 ASV And it shall come to pass in that day, that his burden shall depart from off thy shoulder, and his yoke from off thy neck, and the yoke shall be destroyed by reason of fatness.

 

In the NIV and ASV we see that God is really using the example of animals who are yoked and who grow so big, fat, that the yoke used is broken by their fatness.  This is not a fatness of laziness. In this context it is from being well fed and taken care of having an abundance of food and care. 

 In looking at the context of verse 27 it is speaking of the remnant of Israel that God will bring back from captivity. Those who have returned to God, God will bring back to the land of Israel and prosper them.  With that in mind if we take the anointing oil /fat itself to be representative of the Holy Spirit Himself then it is not correct to see verse 27 in the light of the yoke being destroyed by the Holy Spirit?  What if we read this verse as follows:

 

“That his burden will be taken away from your shoulder, And his yoke from your neck, And the yoke will be destroyed because of the Holy Spirit” or “In that day their burden will be lifted from your shoulders, their yoke from your neck; the yoke will be broken because you have grown so in the Holy Spirit” or “And it shall come to pass in that day, that his burden shall depart from off thy shoulder, and his yoke from off thy neck, and the yoke shall be destroyed by reason of Holy Spirit.”  

 

I believe that a better understanding of this verse is found in the importance of the Holy Spirit Himself, who He is and not in what He does.  I think that it is easy to get caught up in what God does more so than who He is.  When we get caught up in simply what God has done, is doing or will do instead of who He is these lead us to seeking and loving Him for what He can DO for us instead of seeking and loving Him because of WHO He is.  

If we only love Him and seek Him for what He can do for us isn’t that a little messed up?  Think about it, while it is nice to be appreciated and loved for what you do or have done isn’t it much more satisfying to be appreciated just for being you? How would it, or does it, feel to have your spouse, children or friends only love and appreciate you because you do something for them or buy them something?  If that is the basis for their love and appreciation what happens if the day comes and you are no longer able to do or to buy them something? 

 How about us? Is our love and appreciation for The Lord and others just simply transactional?  Is it that we love and appreciate someone as long as they can do something for us and keep doing stuff for us?  Is this how we view God, our spouse, our children and our friends, as transactional partners? We will love and appreciate you as long as you do something in return for us?

Don’t misunderstand I believe that we need to be appreciative and thankful for what God and others have done and do for us.  I just believe that we need to look beyond the doing to the person, to who they are and to love and appreciate them just because they are them. 

It is because God is love and loving that come the His acts of love regardless of if we love Him back or not.  It is not a transaction it is His character.  Stop and think, if God only showed love to get something back, instead of it just being an outpouring of His character, would He truly be loving?  Would He real be love?  Flip that around, if we only show love to God and others simply to get something in return is that really love?  Could it be that most issues in our relationship with God, our marriages, families, friendships, relationships in general are because love has been distorted into a transaction?