Number 10: “To be at your wits end”

“They reel to and fro, and stagger like a drunken man, and are at their wits' end.” (Psalm 107:27)

There are several words based around the three letter word ‘wit’ … witless, witness, to wit, nitwit, wot ye not, “what a wit he is!” … and all to do with knowing, knowledge, reason  and clarity of mind.

To have ‘wit’ is to have something more then mere knowledge.

To call someone a nitwit is to say they don’t have the wits of a nit! 

Legal documents regularly use “to wit” to draw attention to details that follow.

If someone is witless, they don’t have clue!

We say “Keep your wits about you!”

To say “wot ye not” is to say “Don’t you have any knowledge or memory or reason?”

The word “witness” is made up of the suffix of ‘-ness’ meaning ‘having the quality of’ and the root … ‘wit’

As s Christians we are called to be witnesses … of what? John the Baptist came to bear witness of Christ (John 1:15) … that is, attesting to and having the quality of clarity and knowledge about Christ.

In the Old Testament, God Almighty, the LORD God, had various things done to bear witness of him … such as pillars and ewes and so on (Genesis 21:30; Genesis 31:52).

Back to a ‘drunken man being at his wits end’ … that staggers and reels … he is ‘unconscious’ as it were as to where he is, has no knowledge of anything, reason and certainly no clarity, and as they say ... he is out on his feet … almost brain dead.

Number 11: “Baptism of fire”

“I indeed baptize you with water unto repentance: but he that cometh after me is mightier than I, whose shoes I am not worthy to bear: he shall baptize you with the Holy Ghost, and with fire:” (Matthew 3:11)

The world uses ‘baptism of fire’ for someone undergoing or undertaking something for the first time and all the unknowns, problems and difficulties that go with it.  

Christians ignorantly use this phrase, not knowing it is about someone going to hell … with real flames of fire (Luke 16:19-22,23-24) … and then the unbeliever going into the lake of fire (Revelation 19:20).

Baptism with the Holy Ghost is to place an unbeliever into Christ (Romans 6:3;
1 Corinthians 12:13). Holy Ghost baptism and fire baptism are two events separated by about 3,000 years.


   
Number 12:To be about your business

Number 13: “To be of good cheer” “Cheer up”

Number 14: “Beating the air”



Harley Hitchcock
January 2023

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