Madmen

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This message concerns the Holy One’s prophets, who were deemed madmen and at times labeled babbling fools. These were peculiar men. These were men whose voices boomed at times. Men who called down fire and shut up the heavens. Men on missions
This devotion concerns the Holy One’s prophets, who were deemed madmen and, at times, labeled babbling fools. These were peculiar men. These were men whose voices boomed. Men who called down fire and shut up the heavens. Men on missions.

Again and again, the LORD, the God of their fathers, sent word to His people through His messengers because He had compassion on them and on His dwelling place. But they mocked the messengers of God, despising His words and scoffing at His prophets, until the wrath of the LORD against His people was stirred up beyond remedy.–II Chronicles 36:16, BSB

Prophets are men other men mock, despise, and scoff at. They are also men and women with keen eyes and ears fine-tuned to another frequency.

At times, Prophets see things they wish they had never seen. They hear words that terrorize them. What the prophets of old saw and knew was more than they could bear. They called it the burden of the word of the Lord. In II Kings, there is a shocking story that is downright heart-wrenching to read. Elisha has come to visit a king from Damascus who is very sick, and he will give this King a strange message. There surely is no message like it in the Bible:

Elisha came to Damascus. Now Ben-hadad, the king of Aram, was sick, and it was told to him, saying, “The man of God has come here.” And the king said to Hazael, “Take a gift in your hand and go to meet the man of God, and inquire of the LORD by him, saying, ‘Will I recover from this sickness?'” So Hazael went to meet him and took a gift in his hand, even every kind of good thing of Damascus, forty camels’ loads; and he came and stood before him and said, “Your son Ben-hadad king of Aram has sent me to you, saying, ‘Will I recover from this sickness?'” Then Elisha said to him, “Go, say to him, ‘You will certainly recover, but the LORD has shown me that he will certainly die.

–II Kings 8:7-10, BSB

Elisha tells Hazael to speak to Ben-Hadad and tell him he will recover from his sickness, but he will also die. Elisha is a Seer and what he sees causes him to weep in front of a man standing in silence.

Hazael thinks to himself, “Who is this madman standing before me, burning holes through me with his eyes as if he can read my thoughts?”

Then Elisha, a man given a double portion of Elijah’s anointing, groans intensely. Indeed, Elisha stares so long that the high-ranking official grows very uncomfortable. And then the Prophet begins to weep. “And he (Elisha) stared steadily at him until Hazael was embarrassed, and then the man of God wept.”

In II Kings 8, Elisha is weeping over what He sees, for he is a Seer. Jeremiah wept over what he saw. “Oh, that my head were a spring of water, and my eyes a fountain of tears! I would weep day and night over the slain daughter of my people.” (Jeremiah 9:1, BSB). Jeremiah saw so much that he was deemed the weeping prophet. What would it feel like to warn people year after year that destruction was coming, but their hearts were numb. Their temperatures cold but they deem it hot. The prophet warns louder and is mocked and laughed at—even called false.

In the Gospels, we read that Yeshua wept. The passage begins with Yeshua riding on a donkey. The people are shouting, “Blessed is the King who comes in the name of Adonai! Shalom in heaven and glory in the highest!” (Luke 19:38, TLV). The Pharisees tell Yeshua to rebuke His taught ones. Yeshua responds in verse 40, “I tell you that if these keep silent, the stones will shout out!” The stones indeed cry out, and every stone falls at the future destruction of the second temple in 70 AD. The passage says that after this, Yeshua wept:

As He drew near and saw Jerusalem, He wept over her, saying, “If only you had recognized this day the things that lead to shalom! But now they are hidden from your eyes.  For the days will come upon you when your enemies will surround you with barricades and hem you in on all sides. And they will smash you to the ground—you and your children within you. And they won’t leave within you one stone upon another, because you did not recognize the time of your visitation.”

–Luke 19:41-44, TLV

Yeshua, like Jeremiah, sees the destruction of Jerusalem. When his disciples expound on the majestic temple Herod had built, Yeshua tells them it will all fall. No stone will be left upon another.

Yeshua warns the people that they do not know the time of their visitation. Can each generation miss their visitation? I think so. We need men and women who will weep. Men who will weep in front of men with titles and accolades. Men who will weep in front of men who are scribes, leaders, and high-ranking officials. OH, WE NEED MADMEN TODAY! Men who are so grieved over what they see and hear that they weep. They warn. They cry out like rocks. They walk the streets and inner cities. They run for offices in government—men who have action.

Continuing with Elisha:

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

No person wants to know or see this. No one wants to see the destruction coming on a nation and a people, their own people:

Then Hazael said, “But what is your servant, who is but a dog, that he should do anything of such magnitude?” Elisha answered, “Adonai has shown me that you will be king over Aram.” Then he departed from Elisha and went to his master, who asked him, “What did Elisha say to you?” He answered, “He told me that you would surely recover.” But the next day he took a thick cloth, soaked it in water and spread it on his face, so that he died. Then Hazael became king in his place.

–II Kings 8:13-15, TLV

The God of Israel has His prophet anoint a man who will do horrific things to His own people. Judgment has begun. Haza’el of Syria and Yehu of Israel will run swiftly, shedding blood. And the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob has allowed it. He is the same yesterday, today, and forever. However, Adonai is long-suffering, wanting none to perish. Oh, the weeping that must have continued for Elisha over what he had seen.

Are there any prophets today weeping? Any lamenting Jeremiah’s? Are any Deborah’s preparing for battle? Are there any men who look upon America and weep? Any men who weep for God’s chosen people, Israel? Are there still men and women who will weep over their own condition and use action to change it? I pray we begin to see the Father’s true prophets arise and weep with anguish to warn and awaken a people, for I fear if we don’t, we may see worse than Covid. May we grieve over what grieves the Holy One.

Shortly after this story concerning Haza’el, we read of another man who is anointed. His name is Jehu. A prophet from the company of the prophets is sent with an assignment. He is a prophet labeled a madman (shagah). “a wild fellow” running in haste with a vial of oil.

Oh, if we had such men today. Men who had no business cards, no business suits, no ministries with itching ear words, but men on a mission. Men who were deemed strange. Men with the voice of Adonai coming out of their nostrils. Nostrils or nose – ‘aph (עף) – is the same word for anger and wrath and a sign of disgust and indignation. The Father was anointing men out of His anger.

Elisha anointed Hazael because the Father told him he would be king. The Father also showed him that this man would bring harm to the Israelites, set fire to their fortified places, kill their young men with the sword, dash their little children, and rip open their pregnant women. Horrific! The Father is bringing judgment. This is not satan. The God who sent a flood, the God who sent plagues, the God who sent famine, and the God who sent his servant Nebuchadnezzar is the same God on the throne today.

Concerning the anointing of Jehu: Elisha does not anoint him but gives another prophet the strange assignment:

Then Elisha the prophet summoned one of the sons of the prophets and told him, “Strap up your cloak, take this flask of oil in your hand, and go to Ramoth-gilead.  When you arrive there, look out there for Jehu son of Jehoshaphat son of Nimshi. Then go in, get him to rise up from among his fellows, and bring him to an inner room. Then take the flask of oil and pour it on his head and say, thus says Adonai: ‘I have anointed you king over Israel.’ Then open the door and flee—don’t wait around.”

–II Kings 9:1-3, TLV

The prophet is told to flee after anointing such a man as Jehu. Jehu will waste no time destroying the house of Ahab and Jezebel. He will drive his chariot like a madman after the anointing oil is poured forth, and he will get swiftly to work at destroying the house of Ahab. He is anointed to destroy! And the prophet anointing him has an important message to give him for he is an assassin:

Then he rose and went inside the house, and the prophet poured the oil on his head and said to him, “Thus says Adonai, God of Israel: I have anointed you king over the people of Adonai, over Israel.  So you will strike down the house of Ahab your master, that I may avenge the blood of My servants the prophets, and the blood of all the servants of Adonai shed by Jezebel.  For the whole house of Ahab will perish, and I will cut off from Ahab every male, slave or free, in Israel.  I will make the house of Ahab like the house of Jeroboam son of Nebat, and like the house of Baasa son of Ahijah.  The dogs will eat Jezebel in the field of Jezreel, and there will be none to bury her.” Then he opened the door and fled.

–II Kings 9:6-10, TLV

Then Jehu came out to the officers of his master, and one asked him, “Is everything all right? Why did this crazy fellow come to you?” He said to them, “You know the man and his babbling.” They knew the prophets. The prophets looked different. They spoke differently. They had a school/guild. They spent time listening to the thin silence Elijah heard when he had fled to a cave. They prayed together. They were distinct.

A madman, a babbling man, a man in such haste comes with only one message. “Thus says the Lord of Hosts/ Adonai Tzva’ot.” When will His prophets gather again with men and women who have no leprosy of Naaman clinging to them? No prophets with the desire of Gehazi, who ran after Naaman’s chariot and lied to obtain wealth. Yes, in Biblical times, the prophets were honored and given gifts.

Ben-Hadad sent forty camels carrying gifts of fruit, nuts, berries, clothing, and his servant holding more than likely silver, gold, or money. A person would not inquire of a prophet without a gift. Saul was pressed to see the prophet about his father’s donkeys, who had fled, but told his servant he had no gift for the prophet. His servant offered to give, so they went to the Seer, Samuel. Today, this has been abused so severely by the prosperity gospel not many bring a blessing or even honor to leadership. Curiously, King Ben-Hadad does.

Today, we must pray for the Voice of Elijah and Elisha to come forth. We must pray for the 5-fold (Ephesians 4) to be implemented. Jeremiah exclaims, “An appalling and horrible thing has happened in the land; the prophets prophesy falsely, and my people love to have it so.” (Jeremiah 5:30-31, ESV). We need to expose this as Jeremiah did. We have the power of the Messiah in us. Messiah in us is the hope of glory. We are living stones. Our bodies joined together as one temple–His Body.

Let us stretch our tent pegs out as we build and labor to bring in the harvest and build His House. The 9th of Av is to one day be a joyful day. The Kingdom of Heaven is at hand. We must walk and act in this manner. We need the manifestations of the Spirit of a Holy Father in the hearts and minds of men. Some people listened to the voice of Jeremiah, and their lives were spared from death. Their children survived and escaped. Their name was carried forth. What are we doing right now that is influencing future generations? How can we weep not only for our Nation but our households? And the person staring back at us in the mirror?

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