In the Tents of Kedar

This one stopped me cold!

Woe is me, for I soujourn in Mesheck,

For I dwell among the tents of Kedar!

Too long has my soul had its dwelling

With those who hate peace.

I am for peace, but when I speak, 

They are for war.

(Ps. 120:5-7)

Upon reading through the Psalms last week I almost burst out laughing when I read the above. I envisioned the Psalmist thinking "Woe is me, I am surrounding by clowns.  Never am I not surrounded by clowns!" The trouble is that the writer is not surrounded just by fools, but by those whose mindset is continually occupied by belligerency and conflict.  Reason and logic is not a part of this scenario. 

Consider Mesheck and Kedar to be a metaphor for the entire world; the World that we now occupy. As Soloman rightly discerned:  "That which has been is that which will be, and that which has been done is that which will be done.  So there is nothing new under the sun"   (Ecc. 1:9 - emphasis added)

The psalmist could not have sojourned in Mesheck to the far north of the Black and Caspian sea and resided in the far south of Kedar at the same time. The one is occupied by the barbaric tribal sons of Japheth who will eventually invade Israel to help close the age (Eek. 36-39); the other by the rebellious tribal sons of Ishmael. Enough said; there will be no peace in these lands - a metaphor is strongly implied here - from the far North to the far South this is the World in which we currently reside and dwell.

Consider our day:   As I have alluded to more than once, we in America have been subjected to two plus years of hateful speech against our current president.  When I was younger I recall the claim that those out of power in this county were "the loyal opposition".  I doubt that it was ever sincere, but at least we all claimed that it was a noble and attainable reality.  I have not heard that term in over thirty years. We have a party that is willing to commit subversion against its own people until that office is returned to its own control. I am not advocating for our current President; he is not even subject-matter here.  What is pertinent here is the reality of a never ending intractable lust for power that is being manifest in the form of a warfare that will allow for no opposition. One is invited to consider the possibility that we are currently living among conditions described in Is. 5:20-23 and I Tim. 3:1-5.

We live in a belligerent society both world-wide and in our own country. When one brings to mind such entities as Iran, China, Russia, militant Islam, the EU, mass immigration into Western societies, Hamas, the PA, Antisemitism etc, one's attention is not inclined to peaceful thoughts. There are two Peoples that occupy the planet:  Those who belong to the Kingdom of God and those who belong to the kingdom of the World. The latter cannot allow the former to have room to breath.  We are the enemy and we will have to be dealt with.  Those of intellectual and spiritual integrity in their heart will speak  peace. Those who lust for power will return war. 

The righteous of the World are shedding light and the accountability that accompanies such a phenomenon.  We are exposing a sacred cow that is multi-layered. Licentiousness and a lust for total control in the matrix of globalism is their demand. That cow is sacrosanct.  One dares not share light and moral accountability in the land where that cow grazes. That land is the entire planet.  A strong nation with a strong military as the only cop on the block cannot be tolerated. The only cop allowed will be a centralized and godless oligarchy that is only accountable to itself.

We speak peace: Redemption, love, forgiveness, Light, biblical accountability, faithfulness, etc.

They return war 

Beloved - we dwell in Kedar

Perhaps it's time to consider the gravity of it all and to understand that peace does not await us until He returns. We are a called-out and a separated-out people. We don't think like they do and we don't speak as they do.