Bruised reed

Charitoō,

The bruised are bound and the smoking fanned to flame!

A bruised reed shall he not break, and smoking flax shall he not quench, till he send forth judgment unto victory. Mat 12:20

And in his name shall the Gentiles trust. 

Then was brought unto him one possessed with a devil, blind, and dumb: and he healed him, insomuch that the blind and dumb both spake and saw. Mat 12:21-22

What was quoted here in Matthew, is Isaiah 42:3:

A bruised reed shall he not break, and the smoking flax shall he not quench: he shall bring forth judgment unto truth. 

To understand this a little better, let's consider the pictograph for the words in the Hebrew version of Isaiah 42 against the context of Matthew 12.

A Bruised reed is a רָצַץ קָנֶה or:

1. the least life or activity revealed (for קָנֶה reed),
2.  and of man caught-up perceived (for רָצַץ bruised). 

See how it makes sense? 

Here, in Matthew 12:21-22, was a man so utterly bruised by the devil, ready to be extinguished of all life. He was so afflicted that he could not see, nor could he talk. He was caught-up, or trapped (so he perceived) by the devil to think (perceive) that he had the least life (uselessness), depressed, possessed, oppressed and all the other -essed that the modern church so frequently lay on people deceived and afflicted by the devil. Yet, he was fully healed by Yah'shua, Jesus!

Reeds are plants that grow in marshes or wet places. They are fragile and feeble and weak and easily broken. They bend and wave and have no strength to withstand the wind. They have no capacity to stand firm against the elements as does a tree. The analogy refers to people focusing on their hopeless situations and feebleness and sin, who are moved and broken by calamity, who feel powerless, without strength to stand firm in their God-given authority against the ills of life and the deceptions and attacks of the devil. 

The word used for ‘bruised’ (רצץ râtsûts) implies that which is crushed or broken, but not entirely severed. It is a picture of those who are in themselves feeble, and who have been crushed or broken down by a sense of sin, guilt, calamity or by affliction. Bruised here is used in the intensive form.

... Shall he not break - emphasizes that Jesus would not bog down those already broken even further with a sense of sin and with calamity more sin-conscious and guilt-ridden and wretched (He paid the full price for this) to loose hope the way the modern church does. Remember He says His burden is light and His yoke easy! He will not deepen their afflictions or multiply their sorrows. In fact, the very opposite is true when we look at scripture and what Jesus did to bind up the broken-hearted Isa 61:1 and to bring life and that they may have it more abundantly Joh 10:10.

The Hebrew words for smoking flax are:

1. smoking (כהה kēhâh) [pictograph: open hand revealed, revealed] and literally means that which is feeble, breakable, weak, thin, small - ready to be extinguished or to go out,
2.  and the word flax (פִּשְׁתָּה pishtâh) that paints the picture of the spoken destroyed covenant revealed. The meaning denotes very much the same picture as theone for the bruised reed.

The Word of God then provides the amazing prophetic outcome in Yah'shua ha Mashiach, Jesus, in that He would lead forth judgment unto truth ... and He did.

Judgement?

Remember our post on the concept of judgement in Daniel ... so, what's in a name? ... Judgement is not our narrow-minded western idea of judgement. It is in fact, the way of the old covenant judges, those who lead the people into the truth, into deliverance, into victory, into prosperity, into relationship with God!

So, pointing exactly to what Jesus said and did before he ascended to comfort us by giving onto us the Comforter, which is the Holy Ghost, whom the Father will send in my name, he shall teach you all things, and bring all things to your remembrance, whatsoever I have said unto you. Joh 14:26  

The dying, smoking flax is fanned to life and the broken reed mended to receive out of His precious giving hands, freely ... the abundance of blessings and power and authority to take dominion and to truely see, to truely hear of His goodness, kindness, mercy, grace, patience ... Truth (Jesus)!