The Hebrew word yad is translated several ways: hand, power, strength...when you research how it is used in the Old Testament, it is obvious that it is the powerful, strong hand which accomplishes things in the earth.
The power [yad=hand] of life and death is in the tongue [Proverbs 18:21], which could alternately be translated ‘Death and life is in the hand of the tongue…’
‘The king's heart is like channels of water in the hand [yad=power] of the LORD; He turns it wherever He wishes.’ [Proverbs 21:1]
'Let the high praises of God be in their mouth, And a two-edged sword in their hand [yad=power], to execute vengeance on the nations and punishment on the peoples, to bind their kings with chains and their nobles with fetters of iron, to execute on them the judgment written; this is an honor for all His godly ones." [Psalm 149:6-9]
It is an honor to use our swords to execute judgements already written!
The power of the tongue is the same word used to describe God’s hand, which turns king’s hearts! It’s also used in many places to describe the ‘hand’ of the enemy—his power to take or keep captive.
In Isaiah 50:2, God asks “Is My hand [yad] so short that it cannot ransom, or have I no power to deliver?” He ransoms, delivers, with His yad …
How did God create the world? With physical hands? No, with His mouth—He used the ‘hand of his mouth!’ Now we know that all things were made through and by Jesus, Who is the Word of God, coming out of His mouth. So Jesus is the yad of God’s tongue! And we are the Word multiplied, His Body, or hand, in the earth!
Yad is a working hand—an active, powerful, warrior hand…the deed [or work] done. God’s hand is synonymous with His power…so, evidently, is our tongue!
Death and life are in the HAND of the mouth! And not just physical death and life—Deuteronomy clarifies:
“I call heaven and earth to witness against you today, that I have set before you LIFE and DEATH, the BLESSING or the CURSE. SO CHOOSE LIFE, in order that you may live, you and your descendants…”
And I love the way God gave us a hint. Pssstt, dummy…pick life!
[Sorry for the dummy…but really, how thick do you have to be to need a hint?]
Jesus said He came to give us abundant life—the zoe of God! Vitality…the absolute fullness of life, active and vigorous! [Greek lexicon]
So use the hand in your mouth to choose life.
Hallelujah!
