Perrydox.com is devoted to the pursuit of truth, whether plain or paradoxical, whether simple or sublime, or simply absurd yet absolute.
Needing Enemies
The word enemy(ies)/oyeb occurs in 273 verses in the Hebrew Bible, our Old Testament. Seventy-three of those verses occur in one book, that’s 27% of the times. One could think that book might be one of the many historical books describing battles, or even the exiles. One might be right about that, and wrong at the same time. It’s not the books of Samuel, the Kings, or Chronicles. It is a book that covers all those time periods. That means it is not Joshua or Judges. What books speaks more about enemies, describing them and needing divine relief from them? Psalms. The songbook of the nation of Israel and today’s Jews.
What’s the point? It is when times are hard, when feeling surrounded, or our backs are against the wall, that we most often, and freely turn to God in worship. It’s then we realize how powerful others – and other things – are; especially in comparison to our own lack of strength – physically, emotionally, and spiritually. It’s then we realize once again how all-powerful El-Shaddai is. In needing enemies before we fall down, prostrate, before our Savior, sometimes we are our own worst enemy.
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