Jonathan_Gale
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2 Peter 3:10 – “But the Day of the Lord will come as a thief in the night . . .”
1 Thessalonians 5:1 – “For you know very well that the Day of the Lord will come like a thief in the night.”
Revelation 3:3 - I will come upon you as a thief, and you will not know what hour I will come upon you.”
Revelation 16:15 – “Behold, I am coming as a thief. Blessed are all who are watching for me and who keep their robes, not having to go about naked and exposed to shame.
Matthew 24:43 - But know this, that if the master of the house had known what hour the thief would come, he would have watched and not allowed his house to be broken into.
"A thief in the night" is an ancient Hebrew idiom, a nickname for the head priest. In Jewish tradition, a priest was posted on night shift in the temple to keep the fire burning in the menorah, aka the seven branched Jewish lampstand. During this time, there was the head priest who may randomly drop by for an unannounced inspection, and he entered quietly in the darkness. If the priest was caught sleeping on the job, the head priest will not kick him or shake him. Instead, he will light his robe on fire, then the priest will surely wake up and strip off the robe, hence he's exposed in shame as described in Rev. 16:15.
Therefore, please be aware of the misinterpretations, which either take this literally as a neighborhood burgler or twist it into the "bridegroom snatching his bride" in the "alien abduction" rapture narrative. There's no such thing. Like many other seemingly weird phrases in the bible that don't make any sense on face value, it often comes as a cultural or biblical reference, and "thief in the night" is one example among many other. In these verses, Jesus compared himself as this thief in the night, when the time comes, he will personally check in on us, and we better stay on guard, especially at a time such as this.
www.faithwriters.com
1 Thessalonians 5:1 – “For you know very well that the Day of the Lord will come like a thief in the night.”
Revelation 3:3 - I will come upon you as a thief, and you will not know what hour I will come upon you.”
Revelation 16:15 – “Behold, I am coming as a thief. Blessed are all who are watching for me and who keep their robes, not having to go about naked and exposed to shame.
Matthew 24:43 - But know this, that if the master of the house had known what hour the thief would come, he would have watched and not allowed his house to be broken into.
"A thief in the night" is an ancient Hebrew idiom, a nickname for the head priest. In Jewish tradition, a priest was posted on night shift in the temple to keep the fire burning in the menorah, aka the seven branched Jewish lampstand. During this time, there was the head priest who may randomly drop by for an unannounced inspection, and he entered quietly in the darkness. If the priest was caught sleeping on the job, the head priest will not kick him or shake him. Instead, he will light his robe on fire, then the priest will surely wake up and strip off the robe, hence he's exposed in shame as described in Rev. 16:15.
Therefore, please be aware of the misinterpretations, which either take this literally as a neighborhood burgler or twist it into the "bridegroom snatching his bride" in the "alien abduction" rapture narrative. There's no such thing. Like many other seemingly weird phrases in the bible that don't make any sense on face value, it often comes as a cultural or biblical reference, and "thief in the night" is one example among many other. In these verses, Jesus compared himself as this thief in the night, when the time comes, he will personally check in on us, and we better stay on guard, especially at a time such as this.
THE THIEF IN THE NIGHT, A HEBREW IDIOM | FaithWriters
<span style='font-family: 'times new roman', times; font-size: small;'>The phrase “Thief In The Night” was a known Hebrew idiom during the first coming of Yeshua – it was a title applied to the High Priest
