July 2021 -

The Womb and the Sword (Elul)

Bonnie Manning / July 22, 2021

My last blog titled Madmen showcased the prophet Elisha, Jehu, and Hazael. This blog is a bit of a contranym concerning life and death and the most sacred place of all, the womb. We will begin with darkness and then go to the light.

In II Kings 15, we have a king who rips the unborn from the womb. Ironically, this King’s name means “consoling—comforter.”

At that time, Menahem (Comforter) sacked Tiphsah and all who were in it and its territory from Tirzah on because they did not open it to him. Therefore he sacked it, and he ripped open all the women in it who were pregnant. (II Kings 15:16).

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Prophets Arise

Madmen

Bonnie Manning / July 19, 2021

A rugged prophet is standing before Hazael, weeping. It does not matter if the king has sent 40 camels laden with gifts. Hazael thinks he is only standing in front of this man to get one answer for King Ben-hadad. Hazael, like all of us, if we were in his position, becomes quite uncomfortable to see such a man stand and weep–a man with a hairy mantle and a voice that pierces the soul. The passage states, “Elisha stared at him with a fixed gaze until Hazael felt ashamed. Then the man of God began to weep.” When Hazael asked, “Why is my lord weeping?” he answered him in this manner:

Because I know the evil that you will inflict on the men of Israel: their strongholds you will set on fire, their young men you will slay with the sword, their little ones you will dash into pieces, and their pregnant ones you will rip open.

–II Kings 8:12, TLV

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July 2021

The Womb and the Sword (Elul)

Madmen

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