Day 23




06/23/AM




"Ephraim is a cake not turned."

— Hos 7:8




A cake not turned is uncooked on one side; and so Ephraim was, in many respects, untouched by divine grace: though there was some partial obedience, there was very much rebellion left. My soul, I charge thee, see whether this be thy case. Art thou thorough in the things of God? Has grace gone through the very centre of thy being so as to be felt in its divine operations in all thy powers, thy actions, thy words, and thy thoughts? To be sanctified, spirit, soul, and body, should be thine aim and prayer; and although sanctification may not be perfect in thee anywhere in degree, yet it must be universal in its action; there must not be the appearance of holiness in one place and reigning sin in another, else thou, too, wilt be a cake not turned.




A cake not turned is soon burnt on the side nearest the fire, and although no man can have too much religion, there are some who seem burnt black with bigoted zeal for that part of truth which they have received, or are charred to a cinder with a vainglorious Pharisaic ostentation of those religious performances which suit their humour. The assumed appearance of superior sanctity frequently accompanies a total absence of all vital godliness. The saint in public is a devil in private. He deals in flour by day and in soot by night. The cake which is burned on one side, is dough on the other.




If it be so with me, O Lord, turn me! Turn my unsanctified nature to the fire of Thy love and let it feel the sacred glow, and let my burnt side cool a little while I learn my own weakness and want of heat when I am removed from Thy heavenly flame. Let me not be found a double-minded man, but one entirely under the powerful influence of reigning grace; for well I know if I am left like a cake unturned, and am not on both sides the subject of Thy grace, I must be consumed for ever amid everlasting burnings.




From Spurgeon's Morning & Evening

by Gerlinda

How often do we hear the expression of "Half Baked", meaning whatever it is that is being discussed is not completely all with it as it could have been.

This was the case of Ephraim. Here is something that I just learned today.

Please remember that Ephraim was 1/2 Hebrew, the youngest son of Joseph and 1/2 Egyptian whose mother was Asenath, daughter of Potiphera (priest of the sun god Re of Heliopolis). There was a rebellious nature that was seen in Ephraim's character.

The tribe of Ephraim miscalculated the time of the deliverance of the children of Israel from Egypt, and left the country thirty years before the appointed time.

They were met by a hostile host of Philistines, who offered them battle, in which the Ephraimites lost 300,000 men Their bones were strewn in heaps along the roads. The battle was waged near Gath.

Because they rebelled against the word of God in leaving Egypt before the end of the captivity destined by God had arrived, all except ten were slain. The Philistines lost in the battle 20,000 men.

What a bloody battle that must have been.

The ten men who escaped from the battle returned to Egypt and related to their brethren what had happened to them. Ephraim, who was still alive, mourned over them many days.

Later, when the rest of the Israelites left Egypt, God led them a different route so they would not see the bleached bones of the slain of Ephraim.

Ephraim's banner was painted black, and bore the picture of a bullock. Moses alluded to it when he said of Joseph: "The firstling of his bullock, majesty is his" (Deut. 33:17 R.V.). In the camp Ephraim occupied the west side; from the west come the severest winds, and also heat and cold; to these Ephraim's strength is compared (Num. R. Ii.).


http://www.betemunah.org/tribes_files/image036.jpg

Just as Yahua created the four cardinal points and placed against them the standards of four of the tribes, so He surrounded His throne with four angels. The angel to the west being Raphael ("the Healer"), who was to heal the breach wrought by Ephraim's descendant.

The name of this head-strong tribe became the name with which the 10 Northern House of Israel became known...Ephraim. So, when we hear the term Ephraim, we know it is speaking of the 10 tribes that rebelled against God but it was His purpose to use that as a way of making Himself know to the Gentile World to the West.

When we look at the Bull in front of the New York Stock Exchange, it reminds us of it's ties to Ephraim. Also the Black coloring used seems to have a link to the Black Flag of Islam.

http://media2.picsearch.com/is?qPZlhGSex8cVUtStLzpLAlE_Y3t3kIgVpBe113-E2Y8&height=194

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