“He will
turn again, he will have compassion upon us; he will subdue our iniquities” Micah 7:19
The Hebrew
word translated with subdue in this text is kabash (strong 3533). In other
places in the Bible, this word is used in the context of subjection of earth or
land (see Genesis 1:28, Numbers 32:29, 32, Joshua 18:1 and 1 Chronicles 22:18)
or slaves (see 2 Chronicles 28:10, Nehemiah 5:5 and Jeremiah 34:11, 16).
In
Colossians 3:1-2 the earth is used opposite of above: “If ye then be risen
with Christ, seek those things which are above, where Christ sitteth on the
right hand of God. Set your affection [NKJV: mind] on things above, not on
things on the earth.” See also 1 Corinthians 15:47-53, John 8:23, James
1:17 and John 3:12, 31. Genesis 6:5 shows us that sin is our mind and heart
(the thoughts of the heart, that caused the flood). Thus, when earth (or land)
is subdued, it refers to subduing the ‘thoughts of the heart’ of Genesis 6:5: the
lies and delusions in our mind. Or as Paul calls it in 1 Corinthians 3:19, the ‘wisdom’
of this world. And this is what we read in Micah 7:19.
Slaves
refer to sin (lies in our mind and heart) as well. In John 8:34 Yeshua says: “Verily,
verily, I say unto you, Whosoever committeth sin is the servant of sin.”
And Paul
also writes about this in Romans 6. A number of verses :
“knowing this, that our old man was crucified with Him, that the body of sin
might be done away with, that we should no longer be slaves of sin. (…)
Therefore do not let sin reign in your mortal body, that you should obey it in
its lusts. And do not present your members as instruments of unrighteousness to
sin, but present yourselves to God as being alive from the dead, and your
members as instruments of righteousness to God. (…)
Do you not know that to whom you present yourselves slaves to obey, you are
that one’s slaves whom you obey, whether of sin leading to death, or of
obedience leading to righteousness?”
Romans 6:6, 12, 13, 16 [NKJV]
Paul writes
that our old man was crucified with Him and we should no longer be slaves of
sin (verse 6). But we cannot sit back. Paul calls on believers (the saints in
Rome, Romans 1: 7) not to let sin reign (verse 12) and to become slaves to obey
YHWH, as instruments of righteousness (verses 13 and 16). Righteousness is
opposed to iniquity that will be subdued by Him, in Micah 7:19. So Paul makes
it clear that although our old man was crucified with Him, it is still possible
to remain slaves of sin, slaves of lies and delusions in our mind. We cannot sit
back, we have to do something.
Of the old
man that Paul writes about in Romans 6, we read in his letter to Ephesians also:
“That ye put off concerning the former conversation the old man, which is
corrupt according to the deceitful lusts; And be renewed in the spirit of your
mind; And that ye put on the new man, which after God is created in
righteousness and true holiness. Wherefore putting away lying, speak every man
truth” Ephesians 4:22-25
The putting
off of the old man (verses 22 and 25) and putting on the new man (verse 24) is
here again described as an action. And here also it becomes clear that it is
about our mind (verse 23) and truth versus lies (verse 25).
Why, then,
does Micah 7:19 say Hé will subdue our iniquities? And also in Ephesians 4:23
it says that we wíll be renewed in our mind. That is not formulated as an
action. These verses tell us what will happen if we put off the old man, put on
the new man, and obey YHWH: He will subdue our iniquities (lies and delusions),
and our mind will be renewed. It is about our mind again. YHWH cleanses and
frees our mind with the truth of His Word (Ephesians 5:26, John 8:31-32,
Ephesians 4:21). Our part is to fill our mind with His truth, and then He will
subdue our iniquities (lies and delusions) and renew our mind.
– – –
I have
posted numerous blogs on this website, explaining the deeper meaning of
Biblical words and parables. To prevent blogs from becoming too long, I do not
always repeat the explanation of words and parables that I use, but refer to
other blogs where the reader can find the explanation. As the number of blogs
on the website grows, the references become more and more. That is why from now
on, I would like to refer the reader to the search function on this website, where
all the blogs can be found where I use the relevant words or parables. More explanation
can be found there. The reader will find more explanation in my book, which is available for free download.