Warp, Woof, Mixed
I was finishing up my reading of Nehemiah when 13:1-3 caught my attention. Specifically what caught my attention was a word in verse three.
1 On that day they read in the book of Moses in the audience of the people; and therein was found written, that the Ammonite and the Moabite should not come into the congregation of God for ever;
2 Because they met not the children of Israel with bread and with water, but hired Balaam against them, that he should curse them: howbeit our God turned the curse into a blessing.
3 Now it came to pass, when they had heard the law, that they separated from Israel all the mixed multitude.
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Call me crazy but …
I think we have, as God’s people, an incredibly difficult time separating ourselves unto God.
What I mean is this —
It seems clear that we keep repeating the same errors as our biblical forefathers did. One of those errors that dogged them for years and years is summed up in one word —
MIXED.
Instead of separating themselves unto God, the people of Nehemiah’s time ended up doing the exact opposite — Separating themselves from God. The results of which were costly, to say the least.
But you say:
“That might have been true of them but that’s not true of me.” Well … on the basis of good biblical evidence —
I beg to differ.
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The Hebrew word for mixed (ereb; pronounced: a’ rev) comes up in only three books of the Bible. Those books are Exodus, Leviticus, and Nehemiah.
Exodus 12:28 says: “And a mixed multitude went up also with them; and flocks, and herds, even very much cattle.” That’s the only time it’s used in Exodus.
As I’ve already pointed out, it’s in Nehemiah 13:3.
But what I found interesting is that it appears only in Leviticus chapter 13. It uses the phrase which is common to our everyday usage as: Warp and Woof. It’s the word woof. For example, here’s verse 48: “Whether it be in the warp, or woof, of linen, or of woolen; whether in a skin ….”
Not knowing how to explain warp and woof adequately, I refer you to what the dictionary says:
“The essential foundation or base of any structure or organization; from weaving, in which the warp — the threads that run lengthwise — and the woof — the threads that run across — make up the fabric: The Constitution and the Declaration of Independence are the warp and woof of the American nation.“
I think it’s accurate to say that hundreds of years passed since the time of the Exodus and the time in which Nehemiah found himself. That’s what caught my attention. Even after the deliverance from Egypt and then later on from the Captivity, the people of God found themselves, in a matter of speaking, warp and woof amongst the heathen in which they lived.
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Now at this juncture in my blogs I might start pointing the proverbial finger at you, at the Church, at Hebraic Roots Congregations, at the state of believers overall.
But not today.
Why?
Because when it gets right down to it, the collective is made up of the individual. It’s easy to point a sweeping finger at the whole issue while not really putting the focus where it needs to start:
AT ME.
It’s dawning upon me with glaring clarity and increasing urgency that:
For the sake of the whole body of Yeshua, God brings it all down to the condition of the individual. In other words, the garment that has undergone the warp and woof of its creation process is still made up of individual threads of cloth. And the whole is no better than the individual pieces that make it up.
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It’s instructive to note what Nehemiah himself did when confronted with the situation back in his homeland. Notice how he was personally impacted as related in chapter one.
1 The words of Nehemiah the son of Hachaliah. And it came to pass in the month Chisleu, in the twentieth year, as I was in Shushan the palace,
2 That Hanani, one of my brethren, came, he and certain men of Judah; and I asked them concerning the Jews that had escaped, which were left of the captivity, and concerning Jerusalem.
3 And they said unto me, The remnant that are left of the captivity there in the province are in great affliction and reproach: the wall of Jerusalem also is broken down, and the gates thereof are burned with fire.
4 And it came to pass, when I heard these words, that I sat down and wept, and mourned certain days, and fasted, and prayed before the God of heaven,
5 And said, I beseech thee, O Lord God of heaven, the great and terrible God, that keepeth covenant and mercy for them that love him and observe his commandments:
6 Let thine ear now be attentive, and thine eyes open, that thou mayest hear the prayer of thy servant, which I pray before thee now, day and night, for the children of Israel thy servants, and confess the sins of the children of Israel, which we have sinned against thee: both I and my father's house have sinned.
7 We have dealt very corruptly against thee, and have not kept the commandments, nor the statutes, nor the judgments, which thou commandedst thy servant Moses. —
Nehemiah starts with himself and makes it very personal to him. If this one man had not seen himself individually as a part of the whole, the greater changes that brought about the separating of God’s people unto Himself never would have happened. By the end of the book of Nehemiah, great change takes place in the hearts and lives of many of God’s people.
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It has to start with me. It has to start with the individual. It has to start with … You.
What does the warp and woof of the fabric of our lives look like? Are we “mixed” with the worldly elements of this world more so than we are conformed to the image of Yeshua?
Would you be proud to the wear the warp and woof of your inner life out in the open as it stands now? Would I? These are things we need to consider if we truly are desirous of becoming what God, in Yeshua, has for us.
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Let’s throw off the “mixed up” heritage of our biblical forefathers. If there’s to be any hope of God doing His work in the world, then we have to at some point be willing to personally start the process. That’s how God effectively brings about lasting change.
Where to start?
By looking at yourself tomorrow morning in the mirror of God’s Word. It’s only there that you’ll discover the true condition of your warp and woof.