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6 Therefore
thou hast forsaken [natash] thy people [`am] the house [bayith] of Jacob, [Ya`aqob] because
they be replenished [male'] from the east, [qedem] and are soothsayers [`anan]
like the Philistines, [Palishtiy] and they
please [caphaq] themselves in the children [yeled] of strangers. [nokriy] KJV-Interlinear
6 For Thou
hast abandoned Thy people, the house of Jacob, Because they are filled with
influences from the east, And they are soothsayers like the Philistines, And
they strike bargains with the children of foreigners. NASB
Thou, refers to God.
Abandoned or forsaken, means to leave to other devices.
The house of Jacob is a reference to the nation of Israel, the genetic Israel which comes out of the twelve sons of Jacob. But from other studies we know this is a reference to believers in general when the spiritual side (not the genetic side) is in view.
Replenished, 'male,' means to be refilled, to be nourished, fenced, accomplished, furnished, gathered.
From the east is a reference to the beliefs and philosophies and religions which are undefined and ambiguous and that have originated in regions to the distant or far east.
Soothsayers certainly means fortune tellers and devil worshippers, but it also applies to those who pursue false philosophies, false beliefs, false ideas in social circles, in government, in any or all aspects of life.
Philistines, is a reference to uncircumcised peoples, an unsaved and unbelieving people.
Strike bargains, means to engage in business interactions, marriage, and such activities in business, social, or government with foreign cultures, which in turn means the adoption of those beliefs and views.
And so, the people of Israel, in general have not pursued their own heritage, which is God, the Messiah, doctrine, and so forth, but have instead struck up interactive activities with things that represent the lies of the world.
They have embraced false ideas, false beliefs. They chase after these things or dabble in them. They contract with foreign ideas, and therefore enter into agreements, in their own souls, with those arrangements.
They marry foreign wives, but in fact they marry the beliefs that are foreign to doctrine. These are things that are in opposition to and not a part of, truth.
The fundamental concept presented in the Old Testament is God, the family of God, the nation of God, the savior, the admission into Gods family through faith, life and sacred things, and so forth.
Anything that was not a part of Gods nation was foreign.
Anyone who was not a part of Gods family was a stranger.
Anything that was not sacred was not to be touched, was unsacred, was associated with death or a dead thing (unbelief, sin).
And through these and many more symbolisms, people learned doctrine.
The Bible is one long series of parables, teaching truth by means of real world relationships and activities.
Business in the sense of business is a legitimate function, but when the business meant adopting the foreign beliefs, then that crossed the line of spiritual sanctity and was taboo.
Marrying is a divine institution, but when the spouse was a foreigner who brought their foreign beliefs into the home and were adopted, then that crossed the line of spiritual sanctity.
It is not the television or movies or books or politics that are bad, but their content when it is false, and when it is incorporated into your thinking and you begin to allow false ideas into your thinking and lower your spiritual standards because of them. Avoiding them is better.
It is not the person or business, but the beliefs that taint, and therefore should be avoided.
And this principle the nation of Israel did not obey. They instead pursued those false things and kept on pursuing them and allowing them into their lives, and left truth behind.
God having given all, more than numerous opportunities to return to the true faith, eventually left everyone to their own pursuits. And in that, the pursuit of false things, is trouble.
When God abandons you, you are in big trouble. Why? Because when you pursue the false for such a long time, it becomes ingrained within you, and getting out is difficult if not impossible.
Truth is always there, and a way out is always there, but a determined mind is hard to convert. And conversion has to be accomplished from within ones own soul.
When you allow false things into your soul, you and only you are placing yourself in great danger.
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