The week before Christmas I had a dream that I shared here. I posted about it. “Breakthrough is Coming!” But what does that really mean? @donnalhsmith @a3writers #Breakthrough #MeaningofBreakthrough TWEETABLE
Usually, the teacher in me would go to the dictionary and tell you what Webster’s says about the word “breakthrough” — and what it means. Like “the act, result, or place of breaking through against resistance, as in warfare, or a strikingly important advance or discovery.
Or, I could use Microsoft Word to do a synonym listing, such as advance, innovation, invention, discovery, revolution.
I think instead, I’ll describe what it means to me.
Remember the game “Come Over” or something like that? Where you had a line of people with arms linked, and someone from the other team tried to “break through” the line. If they were successful, what happened? Someone had to go back to the other side with the person who had the breakthrough. If the line held, the person trying for a breakthrough had to stay. Or something like that. It’s been so long since I played that game, I can hardly recall the particulars.
You get the picture.
II Samuel 5:20 and I Chronicles 14:11 speak of breakthrough. The Hebrew word is parats and perets. They both mean the same thing. To break through or down or over, burst, breach. To break forth, to breach a gap, or outburst.
I love this. Here’s the story. A bit of history. When the nation of Israel left Egypt in the exodus, they conquered a lot of the peoples who lived in the Promised Land. But there were some types of people they either couldn’t conquer, or they made some sort of treaty with.
The Jebusites seemed unconquerable. Well over a hundred fifty years after they’d conquered the land, the Jebusites were a stubborn warrior people who lived in Jerusalem. David had just become king of Judah. He wasn’t quite king of all Israel yet—after Saul was killed in battle.
The Jebusites taunted David, saying, “You’ll never get in here. Even the blind and the lame could keep you out.”
If you’ve never been to Jerusalem, you may not realize it is not a flat place. It is hills, hills, and more hills. Some are higher than others. It’s like the hills were a natural fortress of sorts. At least in those times.
There was a literal fortress called Zion. David captured it and made it his home, kicking out the Jebusites.
What Jebusites in your life do you need to breakthrough and conquer? Leave a comment and let me know. @donnalhsmith @a3writers #Breakthrough #MeaningofBreakthrough TWEETABLE
