Kollel Beresheit

Kollel Beresheit

Romans Chapter 1 & 2

Updated October 2009

We must always remember the warning of Peter when we start a new Pauline epistle – that false teachers distort Shaul’s words to make it appear he was teaching Torahlessness.

2Pe 3:15  Regard the patience of our Lord as salvation; even as our beloved brother Sha’ul also, according to the wisdom given to him, wrote to you;   2Pe 3:16  as also in all of his letters, speaking in them of these things. In those, there are some things that are hard understand, which the ignorant and unsettled twist, as they also do to the other Scriptures, to their own destruction.   2Pe 3:17  You therefore, beloved, knowing these things beforehand, beware, lest being carried away with the error of the Torahless , you fall from your own steadfastness.   2Pe 3:18  But grow in the grace and knowledge of our Adonai and Savior Yeshua the Messiah. To him be the glory both now and forever. Amein.

“Athesmos,” of course, is a greek word that means “lawless,” – to us, “Torahlessness.”

If Shaul had been teaching Torahlessness, that would make him a false prophet, according to Yeshua, as YHWH Incarnate, made quite clear – so we can be sure he did not.

Deu 13:1 If there arise in the midst of you a prophet, or a dreamer of dreams, and he give you a sign or a wonder,   Deu 13:2  and the sign or the wonder come to pass, of which he spoke to you, saying, Let us go after other gods, which you have not known, and let us serve them;   Deu 13:3  you shall not listen to the words of that prophet, or to that dreamer of dreams: for YHWH your Elohim proves you, to know whether you love YHWH your Elohim with all your heart and with all your soul.   Deu 13:4  You shall walk after YHWH your Elohim, and fear him, and keep his mitzvot, and obey his voice, and you shall serve him, and cleave to him.   Deu 13:5  That prophet, or that dreamer of dreams, shall be put to death, because he has spoken rebellion against YHWH your Elohim, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, and redeemed you out of the house of bondage, to draw you aside out of the way which YHWH your Elohim commanded you to walk in. So shall you put away the evil from the midst of you.

That means there is an  interpretation of every one of Shaul’s teachings that is consistent with Torah, if we look at the texts from a Hebraic point of view and using clues from Hebrew language.  The early church father Jerome stated that all of Shaul’s authentic epistles had originally been written in Hebrew, and that must be our guide for proper understanding of Shaul’s teachings.  He was not a false prophet, he taught the Written Torah – much to the chagrin of the Pharisees and their Oral Law, and much to the chagrin of modern pastors and preachers who teach Torahlessness.

Romans, continued:

Rom 1:1 Sha’ul, a servant of Yeshua the Messiah, called to be an emissary, set apart for the Good News of Elohim,

Rom 1:2  which he promised before through his prophets in the holy Scriptures,

Rom 1:3  concerning his Son, who was born of the seed of David according to the flesh,

Rom 1:4  who was declared to be the Son of Elohim with power, according to the Spirit of holiness, by the resurrection from the dead, Yeshua the Messiah Adonai,

Rom 1:5  through whom we received grace and the office of emissary, for obedience of faith among all the nations, for his name’s sake;

Rom 1:6  among whom you are also called to belong to Yeshua the Messiah;

Rom 1:7  to all who are in Rome, beloved of Elohim, called to be holy ones: Grace to you and shalom from Elohim our Father and the Lord Yeshua the Messiah.

A fairly standard greeting.

Romans, continued:

Rom 1:8  First, I thank my Elohim through Yeshua the Messiah for all of you, that your faith is proclaimed throughout the whole world.

Rom 1:9  For Elohim is my witness, whom I serve in my spirit in the Good News of his Son, how unceasingly I make mention of you always in my prayers,

Rom 1:10  requesting, if by any means now at last I may be prospered by the will of Elohim to come to you.

There is an interesting difference between the Greek and the Peshitta translation, in that the Greek says he served in “my spirit.”   It is probable that “I serve in my Spirit” means serving by praying, and the following context supports this idea nicely.

Romans, continued:

Rom 1:11  For I long to see you, that I may impart to you some spiritual gift, to the end that you may be established;

Rom 1:12  that is, that I with you may be encouraged in you, each of us by the other’s faith, both yours and mine.

Rom 1:13  Now I don’t desire to have you unaware, brothers, that I often planned to come to you, and was hindered so far, that I might have some fruit among you also, even as among the rest of the Gentiles.

Rom 1:14  I am debtor both to Greeks and to foreigners, both to the wise and to the foolish.

Rom 1:15  So, as much as is in me, I am eager to preach the Good News to you also who are in Rome.

Rom 1:16  For I am not ashamed of the Good News of Messiah, for it is the power of Elohim for salvation for everyone who believes; for the Jew first, and also for the Greek.

Rom 1:17  For in it is revealed Elohim’s righteousness from faith to faith. As it is written, “But the righteous shall live by faith.”

It is unclear why Paul would want to preach the evangelion to people who are presumed to already be acquainted with it, as the greeting indicates.  It does not appear from the grammar of language of the text that he is referring to other people in Rome who are not part of the congregation.  It is also interesting that the Peshitta lists Arameans rather than Greeks as the intended audience after native Jews.  The context of the quote Paul mentions is in Habakkuk.

Hab 2:1-4  I will stand upon my watch, and set me upon the tower, and will look out to see what He will speak by me, and what I shall answer when I am reproved.  And the LORD answered me, and said: ‘Write the vision, and make it plain upon tables, that a man may read it swiftly.

For the vision is yet for the appointed time, and it declareth of the end, and doth not lie; though it tarry, wait for it; because it will surely come, it will not delay.’  Behold, his soul is puffed up, it is not upright in him; but the righteous shall live by his faith.

Paul, of course, appears to have believed that Yeshua was going to return at any moment, and believed the prophecies of the end times applied to his generation.  In hindsight, though, we can see that they are far more likely to apply to our generation, and the sins Paul goes on to enumerate can be seen all around us every day.

Romans, continued:

Rom 1:18  For the wrath of Elohim is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men, who suppress the truth in unrighteousness,

Rom 1:19  because that which is known of Elohim is revealed in them, for Elohim revealed it to them.

Rom 1:20  For the invisible things of him since the creation of the world are clearly seen, being perceived through the things that are made, even his everlasting power and divinity; that they may be without excuse.

The word translated “divinity” here is actually Elohuta in the Aramaic.   The “Book of Wisdom” also appears in the apocryphal writings, and Paul may have studied that book in his youth.

Wisdom 13:1-9 Yes, naturally stupid are all who are unaware of Elohim, and so, from good things seen, have not been able to discover Him-who-is, or by studying the works, have not recognized the Artificer.  Fire, however, or wind, or the swift air, the sphere of the stars, impetuout water, heaven’s lamps, are what they have held to be gods who govern the world.  If, charmed by their beauty, they have taken these for gods, let them know how much the Master of these excells them.  And if they have been impressed by their power and energy, let them deduce from these how much mightier is He that has formed them, since through the grandeur and beauty of the creatures we may, by analogy, contemplate their Author.  Some little bit of blame, however, attaches to the, for perhaps they go astray only in their search for Elohim and their eagerness to find Him, familiar with His works, they investigate them and fall victim to appearances, seeing so much beauty.  But even so, they have no excuse!  If they are capable of acquiring enough knowledge to be able to investigate the world, how have they been so slow to find its Master?

Romans, continued:

Rom 1:21  Because, knowing Elohim, they didn’t glorify him as Elohim, neither gave thanks, but became vain in their reasoning, and their senseless heart was darkened.

Rom 1:22  Professing themselves to be wise, they became fools,

Rom 1:23  and traded the glory of the incorruptible Elohim for the likeness of an image of corruptible man, and of birds, and four-footed animals, and creeping things.

While it is easy to dismiss this passage as a simple reference to worshipping idols made into the forms of men and animals, I suggest a deeper look may reveal that the topic here is the theory of Evolution, which exchanges an eternal creator God for a non-eternal “Creator” – a lineage starting with creeping things and branching out into all other animals and finally man.  All other creations understand they are created – only man denies this.

Romans, continued:

Rom 1:24  Therefore Elohim also released them to the unclean lusts of their hearts, that their bodies should be dishonored among themselves,

Wisdom 14:12, 22-27  The idea of making idols was the origin of fornication.  Their discovery corrupted life…It is not enough, however, for them to have such misconceptions about Elohim, for living in the fierce warfare of ignorance, they call these terrible evils peace.  With their child murdering rituals [abortion], their occult mysteries, or their furious orgies with outlandish customs, they no longer retain any purity in their lives or in their marriages…Everywhere a welter of blood and murder, theft and fraud, corruption, treachery, riot, perjury, disturbance of decent people, forgetfulness of favors, pollution of souls, sins against nature [literally “inversion of generation,” that is, homosexuality], disorder in marriage, adultery and debauchery.  For the worship of idols with no name is the beginning, cause, and end of every evil.

Romans, continued:

Rom 1:25  who exchanged the truth of Elohim for a lie, and worshiped and served the creature rather than the Creator, who is blessed forever. Amein.

Widsom 14:29-30 Since they put their trust in lifeless idols, they do not reckon their false oaths can harm them.  But they will be justly punished for this double crime, for degrading the concept of Elohim by adhering to idols, and for wickedly purjuring themselves in contempt for what is holy.

Of course, the bizarre response of the reprobates is to try and claim that the behavior that Elohim calls an abomination is in fact natural!  This embracing of evil as natural leads to men giving up any idea of normality or standards or obligation to society – they give themselves up entirely to the false god of survival of the fittest and every person for themselves:

Romans, continued:

Rom 1:26  For this reason, Elohim gave them up to vile passions. For their women changed the natural function into that which is against nature.

Rom 1:27  Likewise also the men, leaving the natural function of the woman, burned in their lust toward one another, men doing what is inappropriate with men, and receiving in themselves the due penalty of their error.

Rom 1:28  Even as they refused to have Elohim in their knowledge, Elohim gave them up to a reprobate mind, to do those things which are not fitting;

Rom 1:29  being filled with all unrighteousness, sexual immorality, wickedness, covetousness, maliciousness; full of envy, murder, strife, deceit, evil habits, secret slanderers,

Rom 1:30  backbiters, hateful to Elohim, insolent, haughty, boastful, inventors of evil things, disobedient to parents,

Rom 1:31  without understanding, with no respect for a covenant, without natural affection, unforgiving, unmerciful;

Rom 1:32  who, knowing the ordinance of Elohim, that those who practice such things are worthy of death, not only do the same, but also approve of those who practice them.

In the end, they don’t just do evil in secret, they’re proud of it and flaunt it, just as society does today.  They know the punishment, but don’t care.  The Peshitta’s mention of a covenant they won’t respect is no doubt closer to the original Hebrew than the Greek is, and the covenant they refuse to obey is surely the Torah.

Romans, continued:

Rom 2:1 Therefore you are without excuse, O man, whoever you are who judge. For in that which you judge another, you condemn yourself. For you who judge practice the same things.

Rom 2:2  We know that the judgment of Elohim is according to truth against those who practice such things.

Rom 2:3  Do you think this, O man who judges those who practice such things, and do the same, that you will escape the judgment of Elohim?

Rom 2:4  Or do you despise the riches of his goodness, forbearance, and patience, not knowing that the goodness of Elohim leads you to repentance?

This cannot mean that we can never correct our fellow believers unless we are perfect, for that would mean no one ever was corrected – and we are given a specific procedure elsewhere for how and with whom we should go to correct someone.  The message here is that we recognize a sin in our fellows, we must search ourselves to make sure we are not doing the same things, and repent if we are.  It is a noticeable quirk of human nature that we tend to hate in others what we despise in ourselves.  Elohim is telling us that teaching others, even when it is a correct teaching, cannot erase the sins that we ourselves are committing.  Elohim isn’t going to cut us any slack because we helped someone else to repent if we don’t repent ourselves.  So when we notice someone else has a problem, that is a cue to root out any such problem in ourselves as well.

Romans, continued:

Rom 2:5  But according to your hardness and unrepentant heart you are treasuring up for yourself wrath in the day of wrath, revelation, and of the righteous judgment of Elohim;

Rom 2:6  who “will pay back to everyone according to their works:”

Rom 2:7  to those who by patience in well-doing seek for glory and honor and incorruptibility, eternal life;

Alternately, “the life of the world [to come]” that is, the Olam Haba.

Romans, continued:

Rom 2:8  but to those who are self-seeking, and don’t obey the truth, but obey unrighteousness, will be wrath and indignation,

Rom 2:9  oppression and anguish, on every soul of man who works evil, on the Jew first, and also on the Greek.

Rom 2:10  But glory and honor and shalom to every man who works good, to the Jew first, and also to the Greek.

Rom 2:11  For there is no partiality with Elohim.

The audience here is still the congregation at Rome – not anyone outside that congregation.  The idea of “once saved, always saved” is not in the Torah.  There are a few references here from the Tanakh or the other apostles that Paul may be quoting:

Isa 59:18 According to their deeds, accordingly he will repay, wrath to his adversaries, recompense to his enemies; to the islands he will repay recompense.

Eze 18:20-24 The soul who sins, he shall die: the son shall not bear the iniquity of the father, neither shall the father bear the iniquity of the son; the righteousness of the righteous shall be on him, and the wickedness of the wicked shall be on him.  But if the wicked turn from all his sins that he has committed, and keep all my statutes, and do that which is Torahful and right, he shall surely live, he shall not die. None of his transgressions that he has committed shall be remembered against him: in his righteousness that he has done he shall live.

Have I any pleasure in the death of the wicked? says Adonai YHWH; and not rather that he should return from his way, and live? But when the righteous turns away from his righteousness, and commits iniquity, and does according to all the abominations that the wicked man does, shall he live? None of his righteous deeds that he has done shall be remembered: in his trespass that he has trespassed, and in his sin that he has sinned, in them shall he die.

Hos 12:1-2 Ephrayim feeds on wind, and chases the east wind. He continually multiplies lies and desolation. They make a covenant with Ashur, and oil is carried into Egypt. YHWH also has a controversy with Yehudah, and will punish Ya`akov according to his ways; according to his deeds he will repay him.

Mat 16:27 For the Son of Man will come in the glory of his Father with his angels, and then he will render to everyone according to his deeds.

Rev 20:13 The sea gave up the dead who were in it. Death and She’ol gave up the dead who were in them. They were judged, each one according to his works.

Paul repeats this admonition in his own writings seven other times, so it should be clear that just having faith is not sufficient.  As James tells us, faith without works is dead.

Romans, continued:

Rom 2:12  For as many as have sinned without Torah will also perish without the Torah. As many as have sinned under the Torah will be judged by the Torah.

Rom 2:13  For it isn’t the hearers of the Torah who are righteous before Elohim, but the doers of the Torah will be justified

This is entirely self-explanatory.  If you obey Torah, you’re in good shape.  If you disobey, you’re in trouble.  Those who never knew the written Torah but sinned according to the standards of their people and time are also in trouble.

Romans, continued:

Rom 2:14  (for when Gentiles who don’t have the Torah do by nature the things of the Torah, these, not having the Torah, are a Torah to themselves,

Rom 2:15a  in that they show the work of the Torah written in their hearts…

Deu 11:18  Therefore shall you lay up these my words in your heart and in your soul; and you shall bind them for a sign on your hand, and they shall be for symbols between your eyes.

And, of course, we saw previously in Jeremiah 31 that the very definition of having the “new covenant” was having the Torah written on your heart and mind, to obey it.

Romans, continued:

Romans 2:15b …their conscience testifying with them, and their thoughts among themselves accusing or else excusing them)

Rom 2:16  in the day when Elohim will judge the secrets of men, according to my Good News, by Yeshua the Messiah.

In Hebraic thought this concept refers to “righteous gentiles” – those people who don’t know Torah but are nonetheless good people according to their society and religion.  Many people think those who never heard of Torah or Messiah are automatically damned, but this is not a Biblical teaching.  Elohim doesn’t judge people by what they don’t know, He judges them by their consciences – by what they do know, in other words.  Righteous gentiles have a place in the world to come.

Romans, continued:

Rom 2:17  Indeed you bear the name of a Jew, and rest on the Torah, and glory in Elohim,

Rom 2:18  and know his will, and approve the things that are excellent, being instructed out of the Torah,

Rom 2:19  and are confident that you yourself are a guide of the blind, a light to those who are in darkness,

Rom 2:20  a corrector of the foolish, a teacher of babies, having in the Torah the form of knowledge and of the truth.

This is hardly a condemnation of Jews or Judaism – quite the contrary.  Paul is telling people who have been educated in the Torah and Judaism that they should be an example for those who need instruction.

Romans, continued:

Rom 2:21  You therefore who teach another, don’t you teach yourself? You who preach that a man shouldn’t steal, do you steal?

Rom 2:22  You who say a man shouldn’t commit adultery, do you commit adultery? You who abhor idols, do you rob temples?

From the Greek:  He then teaching another, yourself not do you teach?  He proclaiming not to steal, do you steal?  He saying not to commit adultery, do you commit adultery? He detesting the idols, do you rob temples?

From the Aramaic:  Now, then, you teach another but fail to teach yourself.  You preach that men should not steal, yet you steal.  You say, “Men must not commit adultery,” yet you commit adultery.  You despise idols, yet you rob the sanctuary.

There is a considerable discrepancy between the Greek and the Aramaic Peshitta here – one appears to use the form of rhetorical questions, the other appears to be making statements.  There is no 100% sure way to know which is correct, but it seems strange that Paul would be saying that not a single person in the congregation at Rome wasn’t a hypocrite.  I find that unlikely.  This is simply an admonition to Jews to carefully examine their behavior when teaching gentiles how to obey Torah that they’re not giving themselves and Elohim and Judaism a bad name by not practicing what they preach.

Romans, continued:

Rom 2:23  You who glory in the Torah, through your disobedience of the Torah do you dishonor Elohim?

Rom 2:24  For “the name of Elohim is blasphemed among the Gentiles because of you,” just as it is written.

Isa 52:5  Now therefore, what do I here, says YHWH, seeing that my people is taken away for nothing? those who rule over them do howl, says YHWH, and my name continually all the day is blasphemed.   Isa 52:6  Therefore my people shall know my name: therefore [they shall know] in that day that I am he who does speak; behold, it is I.   Isa 52:7  How beautiful on the mountains are the feet of him who brings good news, who publishes shalom, who brings good news of good, who publishes salvation, who says to Tziyon, Your Elohim reigns!   Isa 52:8  The voice of your watchmen! they lift up the voice, together do they sing; for they shall see eye to eye, when YHWH returns to Tziyon.   Isa 52:9  Break forth into joy, sing together, you waste places of Yerushalayim; for YHWH has comforted his people, he has redeemed Yerushalayim.   Isa 52:10  YHWH has made bare his holy arm in the eyes of all the nations; and all the ends of the earth have seen the Yeshuah of our Elohim.  Isa 52:11  Depart you, depart you, go you out from there, touch no unclean thing; go you out of the midst of her; cleanse yourselves, you who bear the vessels of YHWH.

Eze 36:20  When they came to the nations, where they went, they profaned my holy name; in that men said of them, These are the people of YHWH, and are gone forth out of his land.   Eze 36:21  But I had regard for my holy name, which the house of Yisra’el had profaned among the nations, where they went.   Eze 36:22  Therefore tell the house of Yisra’el, Thus says Adonai YHWH: I don’t do [this] for your sake, house of Yisra’el, but for my holy name, which you have profaned among the nations, where you went.   Eze 36:23  I will sanctify my great name, which has been profaned among the nations, which you have profaned in the midst of them; and the nations shall know that I am YHWH, says Adonai YHWH, when I shall be sanctified in you before their eyes.   Eze 36:24  For I will take you from among the nations, and gather you out of all the countries, and will bring you into your own land.   Eze 36:25  I will sprinkle clean water on you, and you shall be clean: from all your filthiness, and from all your idols, will I cleanse you.   Eze 36:26  A new heart also will I give you, and a new spirit will I put within you; and I will take away the stony heart out of your flesh, and I will give you a heart of flesh.   Eze 36:27  I will put my Spirit within you, and cause you to walk in my statutes, and you shall keep my ordinances, and do them.

Romans, continued:

Rom 2:25  For circumcision indeed profits, if you are a doer of the Torah, but if you are a transgressor of the Torah, your circumcision has become uncircumcision.

Rom 2:26  If therefore the uncircumcised keep the ordinances of the Torah, won’t his uncircumcision be accounted as circumcision?

Here is a passage that is difficult for Gentiles to understand, and is twisted by those who don’t wish to be circumcised to say that they don’t have to be.  But the Torah is clear that infants need to be circumcised on the 8^th day of their lives, and any other person who wishes to come into the household of Avraham as a servant or adopted heir must also be circumcised:

Gen 17:9-14 God said to Avraham, “As for you, you will keep my covenant, you and your seed after you throughout their generations.  This is my covenant, which you shall keep, between me and you and your seed after you. Every male among you shall be circumcised. You shall be circumcised in the flesh of your foreskin. It will be a token of the covenant between me and you.  He who is eight days old will be circumcised among you, every male throughout your generations, he who is born in the house, or bought with money from any foreigner who is not of your seed. He who is born in your house, and he who is bought with your money, must be circumcised. My covenant will be in your flesh for an everlasting covenant. The uncircumcised male who is not circumcised in the flesh of his foreskin, that soul shall be cut off from his people. He has broken my covenant.”

Those gentiles who are adopted into the house of Avraham as co-heirs are bought with something far more precious than money – but they are still bought and paid for, are Elohim’s bond servants, and therefore must be circumcised.  Failing to do so means you are not part of Elohim’s covenant, and shall be cut off from His people.   Those who are uncircumcized do not enter the New Jerusalem nor the Temple of the Millennial Kingdom.  We will discuss this at greater length in subsequent Torah Portions, but there is a study listed on the sidebar regarding circumcision that you should read now if you are in doubt.

Romans, continued:

Rom 2:27  Won’t the uncircumcision which is by nature, if it fulfills the Torah, judge you, who with the letter and circumcision are a transgressor of the Torah?

Rom 2:28  For he is not a Jew who is one outwardly, neither is that circumcision which is outward in the flesh;

Rom 2:29  but he is a Jew who is one inwardly, and circumcision is that of the heart, in the spirit not in the letter; whose praise is not from men, but from Elohim.

The subject of this chapter is still the judgment of Elohim.  The message here is that the righteous gentiles (those who never heard of the Torah or Yeshua yet were obedient to their conscience and the norms of their society and culture) will gain entrance to the world to come regardless of their physical status, whereas those who have turned to paganism from Judaism /Torah-ism (or were born Jews but continue to sin) will not.  The outer act of circumcision is supposed to reflect the inner condition of your heart.  If your heart is not circumcised, getting your body circumcised won’t automatically insure you achieve life in the world to come.  If you were circumcised as an infant, you must act willfully to circumcise your heart, too.  Just relying on your physical circumcision is not enough. Alternately, refusing to be circumcised is a blatant disobedience of God’s commandments, and no one who refuses to be circumcised should expect to be in the world to come, either.  If your heart is right with Elohim, you have no legitimate reason to disobey.

Circumcision of the heart is linked directly with Torah obedience in Deuteronomy:

Deu 10:12  Now, Yisra’el, what does YHWH your Elohim require of you, but to fear YHWH your Elohim, to walk in all his ways, and to love him, and to serve YHWH your Elohim with all your heart and with all your soul,   Deu 10:13  to keep the mitzvot of YHWH, and his statutes, which I command you this day for your good?   Deu 10:14  Behold, to YHWH your Elohim belongs heaven and the heaven of heavens, the earth, with all that is therein.   Deu 10:15  Only YHWH had a delight in your fathers to love them, and he chose their seed after them, even you above all peoples, as at this day.   Deu 10:16  Circumcise therefore the foreskin of your heart, and be no more stiff-necked.

If you believe that Yeshua HaMashiach is Elohim incarnate, then you must understand that it is Yeshua who spoke these words, Yeshua who came down on Sinai and gave these laws to all Israel, and Yeshua who said that they are eternal, unchangeable, for everywhere you live and all your generations.

It should be noted, for the record, that there was a serious dispute among the early congregations as to exactly when a convert should be circumcised.  At the time there were two schools of thought.  The Pharisees believed that one had to be circumcised right away, and immersed in a mikvah, and then learn the laws of the Torah.  The Sadducees believed that one should be immersed, go through at least one complete Torah cycle to learn the mitzvot, and only then decide whether or not to commit and be circumcised.  It is clear that a lot of this debate is missing from Acts chapter 15, but obvious from the apostles ruling that they should hear “Moshe in the synagogue every week,” that in spite of the strenuous objection of Pharisee believers, the Sadducees method of conversion was chosen.  The Pharisees apparently then went around doing their best to subvert the Jerusalem Council’s ruling, causing a lot of trouble.  But the issue was NEVER whether or not converts would BE circumcised.  The issue was WHEN they would be.

It is an undeniable fact, however, that no uncircumcized person may participate in the passover seder:

Exo 12:43-50  And YHWH said unto Moses and Aaron, This is the ordinance of the passover: There shall no stranger eat thereof: But every man’s servant that is bought for money, when thou hast circumcised him, then shall he eat thereof. A foreigner and an hired servant shall not eat thereof. In one house shall it be eaten; thou shalt not carry forth ought of the flesh abroad out of the house; neither shall ye break a bone thereof. All the congregation of Israel shall keep it. And when a stranger shall sojourn with thee, and will keep the Pasover to YHWH, let all his males be circumcized, and then let him come near and keep it; and he shall be as one that is born in the land: for no uncircumcised person shall eat thereof. One law shall be to him that is homeborn, and unto the stranger that sojourneth among you. Thus did all the children of Israel; as YHWH commanded Moses and Aaron, so did they.

So when Yeshua had His passover seder with his talmidim, no uncircumcised person would have been admitted, because Yeshua would absolutely never sin.  Sin is the transgression of the law – the Torah, as we know.  It was at the passover seder that Yeshua established the kiddush/communion that we are commanded to observe at the appointed time until this day:

Luk 22:13-20  And they went, and found as he had said unto them: and they made ready the passover. And when the hour was come, he sat down, and the twelve apostles with him.   And he said unto them, With desire I have desired to eat this passover with you before I suffer:   For I say unto you, I will not any more eat thereof, until it be fulfilled in the kingdom of Elohim.   And he took the cup, and gave thanks, and said, Take this, and divide itit, and gave unto them, saying, This is my body which is given for you – this do in remembrance of me.  Likewise also the cup after supper, saying, This cup is the renewed covenant in my blood, which is shed for you among yourselves:  For I say unto you, I will not drink of the fruit of the vine, until the kingdom of Elohim shall come. And he took bread, and gave thanks, and brake .

To put it plainly, no man who is uncircumcised is qualified to take this cup and eat this bread, since they cannot even attend the passover seder. Therefore Paul absolutely could not have been teaching anyone that circumcision was unnecessary for gentiles whishing to attach themselves to the Elohim of Abraham.

Isa 56:3-8 Neither let the son of the stranger, that hath joined himself to YHWH, speak, saying, YHWH hath utterly separated me from his people: neither let the eunuch say, Behold, I am a dry tree.  For thus saith YHWH unto the eunuchs that keep my sabbaths, and choose the things that please me, and take hold of my covenant;   Even unto them will I give in mine house and within my walls a place and a name better than of sons and of daughters: I will give them an everlasting name, that shall not be cut off.   Also the sons of the stranger, that join themselves to YHWH, to serve him, and to love the name of YHWH, to be his servants, every one that keepeth the sabbath from polluting it, and taketh hold of my covenant;  Even them will I bring to my holy mountain, and make them joyful in my house of prayer: their burnt offerings and their sacrifices shall be accepted upon mine altar; for mine house shall be called an house of prayer for all people.   Adonai YHWH which gathereth the outcasts of Israel saith, Yet will I gather others to him, beside those that are gathered unto him.

Let us not then refuse to observe Shabbat and observe all parts of Elohim’s covenant.

Next week:  Parashat Noach.

Epistle Beresheit

Epistle Beresheit

James Chapter 1

Updated October 2009

James, in his epistle, borrows extensively from the themes in the writings of Ben Sirach.  That book appears in the apocrypha which many protestants do not have in their Bibles.  For serious Bible study, it is recommended that everyone have several different translations and versions of the Bible in order to compare and contrast the interpretation of various sects and groups (every translation of the Bible invariable incorporates the biases and beliefs of the group translating it, and these biases should be kept in mind).  Even if you learn aramaic and hebrew, you will be reading your own beliefs into the passages as you see them – we all do.  It’s the way our brain works – we have our pre-set definitions of words and concepts and we have to make a conscious effort to change them if we come to understand they are incorrect.

If you don’t have a Bible with the apocrypha in it, you should obtain one for reference, if nothing else.  It is not necessary to accept Ben Sirach as scripture.   James uses a lot of material from that book.  We may infer that he at least considered it to be somewhat inspired, if not actual scripture.  As we saw from the Talmidim Portion of Matthew, there are books that are missing from our present canon, since “He shall be called a Nazarite” does not appear in any known texts.  There are other examples in the NT.  Yeshua and his talmidim apparently considered these prophets and writings to be scripture and used them.  Hopefully, they will be restored to us in the Millennial Kingdom.

James, continued:

Jam 1:1 Ya`akov, a servant of Elohim and of Adonai Yeshua the Messiah, to the twelve tribes which are in the Diaspora: Greetings.

Jam 1:2  Count it all joy, my brothers, when you fall into various temptations,

Jam 1:3  knowing that the testing of your faith produces endurance.

Endurance is defined for us in Revelation:

Rev 14:12  Here is the endurance  of the holy ones, those who keep the mitzvot of Elohim, and the faith of Yeshua.

James, continued:

Jam 1:4  Let endurance have its perfect work, that you may be perfect and complete, lacking in nothing.

Ben Sirach 2:1-5 My child, if you aspire to serve Adonai, prepare yourself for an ordeal.  Be sincere of heart, be steadfast, and do not be alarmed when disaster comes.  Cling to Him and do not leave Him, so that you may be honoured at the end of your days.  Whatever happens to you, accept it, and in the uncertainties of your humble state, be patient, since gold is tested in the fire and the chosen in the furnace of humiliation. (New Jerusalem Bible throughout)

James, continued:

Jam 1:5  But if any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask of Elohim, who gives to all liberally and without reproach; and it will be given to him.

Ben Sirach 1:26 If you desire wisdom, keep the commandments, and YHWH will bestow it upon you.   (51:13) When I was still a youth, before I went travelling, in my prayers I asked outright for wisdom.

Wisdom is not secular knowledge or knowledge that man has produced.  Wisdom is knowledge and discernment that comes from Elohim – and the motivation to act upon His Words.

Pro 2:6  For YHWH gives wisdom.   Out of his mouth comes knowledge and understanding.

Pro 4:5  Get wisdom!   Get understanding! Don’t forget, neither swerve from the Words of  My mouth.

Pro 9:10  The fear of YHWH is the beginning of wisdom.  The knowledge of the Holy One is understanding.

James, continued:

Jam 1:6  But let him ask in faith, without any doubting, for he who doubts is like a wave of the sea, driven by the wind and tossed.

Jam 1:7  For let that man not think that he will receive anything from Adonai.

Jam 1:8  He is a double-minded man, unstable in all his ways.

Ben Sirach 1:28 Do not stand out against fear of YHWH – do not practice it with a double heart.

James, continued:

Jam 1:9  But let the brother in humble circumstances glory in his high position;

Jam 1:10  and the rich, in that he is made humble, because like the flower in the grass, he will pass away.

Jam 1:11  For the sun arises with the scorching wind, and withers the grass, and the flower in it falls, and the beauty of its appearance perishes. So also will the rich man fade away in his pursuits.

Jam 1:12  Blessed is the man who endures temptation, for when he has been approved, he will receive the crown of life, which Adonai promised to those who love him.

We learn about the crown of life in Revelation – it is our reward for endurance, which is still keeping the Commandments of YHWH and maintaining our faith in Yeshua HaMashiach:

Rev. 12:10 Do not be afraid of the things you are about to suffer.  Look!  Hasatan is about to cast you in prison, to try you, and you will have tribulation 10 days.  Be faithful unto death, and I will give you the crown of life.

James, continued:

Jam 1:13  Let no man say when he is tempted, “I am tempted by Elohim,” for Elohim can’t be tempted by evil, and he himself tempts no one.

Ben Sirach 15:11-12 Do not say, “Adonai was responsible for my sinning,” for He does not do what He hates.  Do not say, “It was He who led me astray,” for He has no use for a sinner.

James, continued:

Jam 1:14  But each one is tempted, when he is drawn away by his own lust, and enticed.

Jam 1:15  Then the lust, when it has conceived, bears sin; and the sin, when it is full grown, brings forth death.

The wages of sin is death – and sin is the transgression of the Torah, if you recall:

1 John 3:4-6 Everyone doing sin also does Torah-lessness, for sin is Torahlessness.  And you know that He was manifested to take away our sins, and in Him there is no sin. Everyone staying in Him does not sin!  Everyone sinning has neither seen Him nor known Him!

Rom 7:7  What shall we  say then? Is the Torah sin?  May it never be! On the contrary, I wouldn’t have known sin, except through the Torah.

Jam 4:17  To him therefore who knows to do good, and doesn’t do it, to him it is sin.

Rom 7:12  Therefore the Torah indeed is holy, and the mitzvot  holy, and righteous, and good.

James chapter one, continued:

Jam 1:16  Don’t be deceived, my beloved brothers.

Jam 1:17  Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of lights, with whom can be no variation, nor turning shadow.

Jam 1:18  Of his own will he brought us forth by the word of truth, that we should be a kind of first fruits of his creatures.

Yeshua was raised from the dead on the first day of the week following Passover – which is identified clearly as the Feast of Firstfruits in the Torah and is NOT, actually, a sabbath and has nothing to do with the regular weekly sabbath and certainly doesn’t change the sabbath, which was established at creation and applies to all mankind.  Firstfruits is one of the appointed Festivals of YHWH which we are commanded to observe every year.

Lev 23:4  “‘These are the set feasts of YHWH, even holy convocations, which you shall proclaim in their appointed season.   Lev 23:5  In the first month, on the fourteenth day of the month in the evening, is YHWH’s Pesach.   Lev 23:6  On the fifteenth day of the same month is the feast of matzah to YHWH. Seven days you shall eat matzah.   Lev 23:7  In the first day you shall have a holy convocation. You shall do no regular work.   Lev 23:8  But you shall offer an offering made by fire to YHWH seven days. In the seventh day is a holy convocation: you shall do no regular work.’”

Lev 23:9  YHWH spoke to Moshe, saying,   Lev 23:10  “Speak to the children of Yisra’el, and tell them, ‘When you have come into the land which I give to you, and shall reap its the harvest, then you shall bring the sheaf of the first fruits of your harvest to the Kohen:   Lev 23:11  and he shall wave the sheaf before YHWH, to be accepted for you. On the next day after the Shabbat the Kohen shall wave it.   Lev 23:12  On the day when you wave the sheaf, you shall offer a male lamb without blemish a year old for a burnt offering to YHWH.   Lev 23:13  The meal offering with it shall be two tenth parts of an efah of fine flour mingled with oil, an offering made by fire to YHWH for a sweet savor; and the drink offering with it shall be of wine, the fourth part of a hin.   Lev 23:14  You shall eat neither bread, nor roasted grain, nor fresh grain, until this same day, until you have brought the offering of your Elohim. This is a statute forever throughout your generations in all your dwellings.   Lev 23:15 “‘You shall count from the next day after the Shabbat, from the day that you brought the sheaf of the wave offering; seven Shabbatot shall be completed:   Lev 23:16  even to the next day after the seventh Shabbat you shall number fifty days; and you shall offer a new meal offering to YHWH.   Lev 23:17  You shall bring out of your habitations two loaves of bread for a wave offering made of two tenth parts of an efah of fine flour. They shall be baked with yeast, for first fruits to YHWH.

As you can see, there is no set date for the Feast of Firstfruits nor for Shavuot, the 50^th day following.  Each must occur on the first day of the week – Sunday, to us – and the countdown starts the first day of the week following passover.  We know from Joshua that the first convocation of Unleavened Bread can also be the Feast of Firstfruits, but it cannot be on Passover itself.  Neither Passover nor Firstfruits is a sabbath, only the first and seventh days of Unleavened Bread and Shavu’ot are sabbaths in this passage.  (There are other passages about Shavu’ot, of course, which we don’t need to go into here.)  The point of all this is that Yeshua is the Firstfruits of the Dead  – the first to be raised to immortality.  The rest of us obedient believers will follow at a later date.

1Co 15:20  But now Messiah has been raised from the dead. He became the first fruits of those who are asleep.

James, continued:

Jam 1:19  So, then, my beloved brothers, let every man be swift to hear, slow to speak, and slow to anger;

Ben Sirach 5:11 Be quick to listen, and deliberate in giving an answer.

James, continued:

Jam 1:20  for the anger of man doesn’t produce the righteousness of Elohim.

Jam 1:21  Therefore, putting away all filthiness and overflowing of wickedness, receive with humility the implanted word, which is able to save your souls.

The Torah implanted in us is the new covenant which we were promised by the prophets – instead of handing down the Torah by word of mouth, which can be distorted over time, or through paper or stone, which can be altered, added to, or subtracted from (i.e. the “oral law”), we will have the Torah written in our hearts and minds, where it cannot be changed.

Jer 31:33  But this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Yisra’el after those days, says YHWH: I will put  my Torah  in their inward  parts, and in their heart will  I write it…

James, continued:

Jam 1:22  But be doers of the word, and not only hearers, deluding your own selves.

Jam 1:23  For if anyone is a hearer of the word and not a doer, he is like a man looking at his natural face in a mirror;

Jam 1:24  for he sees himself, and goes away, and immediately forgets what kind of man he was.

Jam 1:25  But he who looks into the perfect Torah of freedom, and continues, not being a hearer who forgets, but a doer of the work, this man will be blessed in what he does.

This is a promise Elohim made to us in Deuteronomy:

Deut. 30:15-16, 19 Look, I have set before you today life and good, or death and evil, in that I am commanding you today to love God, to walk in His ways, and to guard His commands and His laws, and His right rulings.  So you shall live and increase, God shall bless you…(v19b) therefore you shall choose life, so that you live, both you and your offspring!

Let’s be clear here – this is not the false “name it and claim it” teachings – there are some serious strings attached to this promise, namely, being obedient to every single commandment of the Torah.  I don’t see very many believers doing that to the best of their ability.

James, continued:

Jam 1:26  If anyone among you thinks himself to be religious while he doesn’t bridle his tongue, but deceives his heart, this man’s religion is worthless.

Jam 1:27  Pure religion and undefiled before our Elohim and Father is this: to visit the fatherless and widows in their affliction, and to keep oneself unstained by the world.

Keeping oneself unstained by the world is extremely difficult in this day and age, but we must do our best.  It does not mean cutting ourselves completely off from society, for we must interact with the unsaved and unclean to influence them to become clean and saved – but we must use extreme discernment about many worldly activities, such as movies or video games that have themes which are ungodly, to say the least.

Next up:  Kollel Beresheit

Talmidim Beresheit

Talmidim Beresheit

Matthew chapters 1-4

Updated October 2009

Mat 1:1 The book of the geneology of Yeshua the Messiah, the son of David, the son of Avraham.

Mat 1:2  Avraham became the father of Yitzchak. Yitzchak became the father of Ya`akov. Ya`akov became the father of Yehudah and his brothers.

Mat 1:3  Yehudah became the father of Peretz and Zerach by Tamar. Peretz became the father of Chetzron. Chetzron became the father of Ram.

Mat 1:4  Ram became the father of `Amminadav. `Amminadav became the father of Nachshon. Nachshon became the father of Salmon.

Mat 1:5  Salmon became the father of Bo`az by Rachav. Bo`az became the father of `Oved by Rut. `Oved became the father of Yishai.

Mat 1:6  Yishai became the father of David the king. David became the father of Shlomo by her who had been the wife of Uriyah.

Mat 1:7  Shlomo became the father of Rechav`am. Rechav`am became the father of Aviyah. Aviyah became the father of Asa.

Mat 1:8  Asa became the father of Yehoshafat. Yehoshafat became the father of Yoram. Yoram became the father of `Uzziyah.

The Old Syriac version C inserts the names of the three missing Kings here:  Ahazia, Yoash and Amozia (but retains the count of 14 generations mentioned in verse 17).  However, the S version does not contain them.

Matthew, continued:

Mat 1:9  `Uzziyah became the father of Yotam. Yotam became the father of Achaz. Achaz became the father of Chizkiyahu.

Mat 1:10  Chizkiyahu became the father of Menasheh. Menasheh became the father of Amon. Amon became the father of Yoshiyahu.

Mat 1:11  Yoshiyahu became the father of Yekhonyah and his brothers, at the time of the exile to Bavel.

Mat 1:12  After the exile to Bavel, Yekhonyah became the father of She’alti’el. She’alti’el became the father of Zerubbavel.

Mat 1:13  Zerubbavel became the father of Avichud. Avichud became the father of [Avner, Avner became the father of] Elyakim. Elyakim became the father of Azur.

The name Avner appears only in the Hebrew of DuTillet and not the Greek, but obviously belongs in the geneology.

Matthew, continued:

Mat 1:14  Azur became the father of Tzadok. Tzadok became the father of Yakhin. Yakhin became the father of Eliud.

Mat 1:15  Eliud became the father of El`azar. El`azar became the father of Mattan. Mattan became the father of Ya`akov.

Mat 1:16  Ya`akov became the father of Yosef, the father of Miriam, from whom was born Yeshua, who is called Messiah.

The Shem Tov Hebrew Matthew and other sources (including several greek versions) corrects verse 16 to read “father of Miriam” instead of husband.  Yosef was a common name and there is no reason why both her father and husband could not have carried that name.

Matthew, continued:

Mat 1:17  So all the generations from Avraham to David are fourteen generations; from David to the exile to Bavel fourteen generations; and from the carrying away to Bavel to the Messiah, fourteen generations.

Mat 1:18  Now the birth of Yeshua the Messiah was like this; for after his mother, Miriam, was engaged to Yosef, before they came together, she was found pregnant by the Ruach HaKodesh.

Other texts have “before he knew her,” or “before ever they drew near one to the other,” and one even has “before he partook [of her].”  The implication is clearlly that he had not had marital relations with her at this time, but did later.  She was not a “perpetual virgin.”  She was Yosef’s wife and bore Yeshua’s siblings.

Matthew, continued:

Mat 1:19  Yosef, her husband, being a righteous man, and not willing to make her a public example, intended to put her away secretly.

The Hebrew reads “…not willing to deliver her up do death…”  According to the Torah, the punishment for premarital sex is stoning for ordinary girls, burning at the stake for girls of the priestly line.

Matthew, continued:

Mat 1:20  But when he thought about these things, behold, an angel of YHWH appeared to him in a dream, saying, “Yosef, son of David, don’t be afraid to take to yourself Miriam, your wife, for that which is conceived in her is of the Ruach HaKodesh.

Mat 1:21  She shall bring forth a son. You shall call his name Yeshua, for it is he who shall save his people from their sins.”

This is, of course, a common Hebrew play on words, since the name Yeshua uses the same consonents as the word verb “save” and it’s noun form, “salvation.”   These types of word plays are common through the NT texts we have available that can be shown using linguistic techniques to have originally been written in Hebrew or Aramaic.  I myself am in favor of Hebrew primacy.

Matthew, continued:

Mat 1:22  Now all this has happened, that it might be fulfilled which was spoken by the Lord through the prophet, saying,

Mat 1:23  “Behold, the virgin shall be with child, and shall bring forth a son. They shall call his name Immanu’el;” which is, being interpreted, “Elohim with us.”

In Hebrew, the word here translated as “virgin” is “almah,” and is used to describe any young (teenage) woman regardless of whether she is married, betrothed, or a virgin throughout the Torah – the essence of the word is her age, not her marital state.  In both Leviticus and Deuteronomy the word used for virgin is “bethulah.”    The Aramaic “b’tulta” meaning “vigin” is also used both here and in Isaiah 7:14.  In Hebrew, Isaiah has “almah,” meaning “young (teenage) woman, not necessarily a virgin.

The quote above  comes from Isaiah, chapter nine:

Isa 7:10  YHWH spoke again to Achaz, saying,   Isa 7:11  “Ask a sign of YHWH your Elohim; ask it either in the depth, or in the height above.”   Isa 7:12  But Achaz said, “I will not ask, neither will I tempt YHWH.”   Isa 7:13  He said, “Listen now, house of David: Is it not enough for you to try the patience of men, that you will try the patience of my Elohim also?   Isa 7:14 Therefore Adonai himself will give you a sign. Behold, the young woman [almah] will conceive, and bear a son, and shall call his name Immanu’el.   Isa 7:15  He shall eat butter and honey when he knows to refuse the evil, and choose the good.   Isa 7:16  For before the child knows to refuse the evil, and choose the good, the land whose two kings you abhor shall be forsaken.

As you can see, the context does not appear at first glance to be a Messianic prophecy, and indeed Jews today deny it is so.

Matthew, continued:

Mat 1:24  Yosef arose from his sleep, and did as the angel of Adonai commanded him, and took his wife to himself;

Mat 1:25  and didn’t know her [sexually] until she had brought forth her firstborn son. He named him Yeshua.

Mat 2:1 Now when Yeshua was born in Beit-Lechem of Yehudah in the days of Herod the king, behold, wise men from the east came to Yerushalayim, saying,

Mat 2:2  “Where is he who is born King of the Jews? For we saw his star in the east, and have come to pay homage to  him.”

Some texts add “…with important gifts.”

Often translated as “wise men,” “magicians”  or “magi” from the later greek texts, this doesn’t exactly jibe with prophecy, which predicts foreign vassals and  sovereigns would bring their wealth and offer it to the King of Kings (hence the popular misconception [see below] that “three kings” attended him in the Sukkah when he was born and brought their gifts).

Isaiah’s prophecy reads:

Isa 60:1  Arise, shine; for your light is come, and the glory of YHWH is risen on you.   Isa 60:2  For, behold, darkness shall cover the earth, and gross darkness the peoples; but YHWH will arise on you, and his glory shall be seen on you.   Isa 60:3  Nations shall come to your light, and kings to the brightness of your rising.   Isa 60:4  Lift up your eyes round about, and see: they all gather themselves together, they come to you; your sons shall come from far, and your daughters shall be carried in the arms.   Isa 60:5  Then you shall see and be radiant, and your heart shall thrill and be enlarged; because the abundance of the sea shall be turned to you, the wealth of the nations shall come to you.   Isa 60:6 The multitude of camels shall cover you, the dromedaries of Midyan and `Efah; all they from Sheva shall come; they shall bring gold and frankincense, and shall proclaim the praises of YHWH.   Isa 60:7  All the flocks of Kedar shall be gathered together to you, the rams of Nevayot shall minister to you; they shall come up with acceptance on my altar; and I will glorify the house of my glory.   Isa 60:8  Who are these who fly as a cloud, and as the doves to their windows?   Isa 60:9  Surely the islands shall wait for me, and the ships of Tarshish first, to bring your sons from far, their silver and their gold with them, for the name of YHWH your Elohim, and for the Holy One of Yisra’el, because he has glorified you.   Isa 60:10  Foreigners shall build up your walls, and their kings shall minister to you: for in my wrath I struck you, but in my favor have I had mercy on you.

However, some aramaic texts instead read “men of repentence” in Matthew 2:1 –  that is, those who have done teshuvah, i.e. “obedient believers.”  Such men would have been carefully studying the Hebraic Calendar and could have discerned through the “star” – a sign in the heaven to show us “appointed times,” as Beresheit tells us – on which Sukkot the child would have been born.  They could then travel from their distant homelands to Israel, where they expected to find him.

Matthew, continued:

Mat 2:3  When Herod the king heard it, he was filled with anger, and all Yerushalayim with him.

Some texts read “dismayed” instead of anger, but Herod, as we know from Josephus and other contemporary historical sources, Herod was a power-mad paranoid maniac who flew into a rage and killed two of his own sons when he was told they were plotting to remove him from power.

Matthew, continued:

Mat 2:4  Gathering together all the chief Kohanim and scribes of the people, he asked them where the Messiah would be born.

Mat 2:5  They said to him, “In Beit-Lechem of Yehudah, for thus it is written through the prophet,

Mat 2:6  ‘You Beit-Lechem, land of Yehudah, are in no way least among the princes of Yehudah: for out of you shall come forth a governor, who shall shepherd [my people], Yisra’el.’”

Not all texts contain the words “my people,” which reflects known versions of Micah.  This passage comes from Micah, though there is no known version of the text that matches the above exactly word-for-word:

Mic 5:1  Now you shall gather yourself in troops, daughter of troops. He has laid siege against us. They will strike the judge of Yisra’el with a rod on the cheek.   Mic 5:2 But you, Beit-Lechem Efratah, being small among the clans of Yehudah, out of you one will come forth to me that is to be ruler in Yisra’el; whose goings forth are from of old, from everlasting.   Mic 5:3  Therefore he will abandon them until the time that she who is in labor gives birth. Then the rest of his brothers will return to the children of Yisra’el.   Mic 5:4  He shall stand, and shall shepherd in the strength of YHWH, in the majesty of the name of YHWH his Elohim: and they will live, for then he will be great to the ends of the earth.

Matthew, continued:

Mat 2:7  Then Herod secretly called the wise men, and learned from them exactly what time the star appeared.

Other texts say that Harod called “the sorcerers,” or “the star-gazers,” giving rise to the popular idea that the “wise men” were astrologers or diviners as well as (or instead of) being kings.

Matthew, continued:

Mat 2:8  He sent them to Beit-Lechem, and said, “Go and search diligently for the young child. When you have found him, bring me word, so that I also may come and worship him.”

Mat 2:9  They, having heard the king, went their way; and behold, the star, which they saw in the east, went before them, until it came and stood over where the young child was.

Mat 2:10  When they saw the star, they rejoiced with exceedingly great joy.

Mat 2:11  They came into the house and saw the young child with Miriam, his mother, and they fell down and worshiped him. Opening their treasures, they offered to him gifts: gold, frankincense, and myrrh.

Yeshua was born on the first day of Sukkot – as it is described clearly in the Hebrew book of Luke.  They arrived right at the start of the festival at nightfall and laid him in a Sukkah.  A quick study of the word that comes to us in English as “manger” in the Greek LXX shows that “manger” was used to translate “Sukkah” everywhere it appeard in the Tanach, and the person translating Luke from Hebrew to Greek naturally used the LXX as their guide.

However, by the time the Magi arrive Yeshua is no longer an infant (the word for “young child” is not the same as the word for “infant” used to refer to him at his birth) and the family is now living in a house, not a temporary structure of any kind.  Just like the shephards who visited Yeshua at Sukkot are reflected in our liturgy as the “7 Shephards of Israel” who visit us in the Sukkah each night, the Kings bringing gold, frankincense and myrrh to the Light of the World is symbolically indicative of Chanukkah.  The date the “Magi” arrived at Yosef and Miryam’s house was most likely Kislev the 25^th and the symbolism would not have been lost on the neighbors nor on Miryam and Yosef.

The star or astronomical conjugation which tipped off the Magi has not been identified to anyone’s satisfaction.  Since the boy was now a toddler and no longer an infant, the family had stayed in Beit Lechem over a year – Yeshua would have been about 14 months old (14 months, 10 days to be exact).

Matthew, continued:

Mat 2:12  Being warned in a dream that they shouldn’t return to Herod, they went back to their own country another way.

Mat 2:13  Now when they had departed, behold, an angel of Adonai appeared to Yosef in a dream, saying, “Arise and take the young child and his mother, and flee into Egypt, and stay there until I tell you, for Herod will seek the young child to destroy him.”

Mat 2:14  He arose and took the young child and his mother by night, and departed into Egypt,

Mat 2:15  and was there until the death of Herod; that it might be fulfilled which was spoken by the Lord through the prophet, saying, “Out of Egypt I have called my son.”

This is found in Hosea:

Hos 11:1 “When Yisra’el was a child, then I loved him, and called my son out of Egypt.

Matthew, continued:

Mat 2:16  Then Herod, when he saw that he was mocked by the wise men, was exceedingly angry, and sent out, and killed all the male children who were in Beit-Lechem and in all the surrounding countryside, from two years old and under, according to the exact time which he had learned from the wise men.

As we saw above, Yeshua would have been over a year old and less then two when the Magi arrived.  Herod, paranoid madman, took no chances.  Likely any child who was obviously not weaned (which usually occurred by a child’s third year) were ordered killed.  It may sound harsh that Elohim allowed this to happen, but Elohim never does anything without purpose – sometimes multiple purposes.

Wisdom 11:5  For by what things their enemies were punished, by the same they in their need were benefited.  Wis 11:6  For instead of of a perpetual running river troubled with foul blood,  Wis 11:7  For a manifest reproof of that commandment, whereby the infants were slain, thou gavest unto them abundance of water by a means which they hoped not for:  Wis 11:8  Declaring by that thirst then how thou hadst punished their adversaries.  Wis 11:9  For when they were tried albeit but in mercy chastised, they knew how the ungodly were judged in wrath and tormented, thirsting in another manner than the just.  Wis 11:10  For these thou didst admonish and try, as a father: but the other, as a severe king, thou didst condemn and punish.

Matthew, continued:

Mat 2:17  Then that which was spoken by Yirmeyahu the prophet (peace be upon him) was fulfilled, saying,

Mat 2:18  “A voice was heard in Ramah, lamentation, weeping and great mourning, Rachel weeping for her children; she wouldn’t be comforted, because they are no more.”

This is found in Jeremiah:

Jer 31:15 Thus says YHWH: A voice is heard in Ramah, lamentation, and bitter weeping, Rachel weeping for her children; she refuses to be comforted for her children, because they are no more.   Jer 31:16  Thus says YHWH: Refrain your voice from weeping, and your eyes from tears; for your work shall be rewarded, says YHWH; and they shall come again from the land of the enemy.   Jer 31:17  There is hope for your latter end, says YHWH; and [your] children shall come again to their own border.

Matthew, continued:

Mat 2:19  But when Herod was dead, behold, an angel of Adonai appeared in a dream to Yosef in Egypt, saying,

Mat 2:20  “Arise and take the young child and his mother, and go into Eretz-Yisra’el, for those who sought the young child’s life are dead.”

Mat 2:21  He arose and took the young child and his mother, and came into Eretz-Yisra’el.

Mat 2:22  But when he heard that Archelaus was reigning over Yehudah in the place of his father, Herod, he was afraid to go there. Being warned in a dream, he withdrew into the region of the Galil,

Mat 2:23  and came and lived in a city called Natzeret; that it might be fulfilled which was spoken through the prophets: “He will be called a Natzri.”

This prophecy is not found in any existing text.  It is clear from the context of some Biblical passages that there are books that should have been in the Tanakh that Yeshua and his talmidim accepted and quoted as scripture that are absent from our present version of the Bible.  We can presume those texts will be restored to us in the Messianic era.

It is also possible that a more correct Hebrew text will be found showing this sentence contained a play on words, because Natzeret (Nazareth) is the adjective form of Netzer (Branch) and the Messiah is referred to as “Branch” several places in prophecy (Isaiah 4:2, 9:14, 11:1, Jeremiah 23:5, 33:15, Zechariah 3:8 and 6:12).  If that is the case, then the most likely reference would be to Isaiah chapter 11.

Matthew, continued:

Mat 3:1 In those days, Yochanan the immerser came, preaching in the wilderness of Yehudah, saying,

Mat 3:2  “Repent, for the Kingdom of Heaven is offered!”

First off, the Hebrew and Aramaic literally reads “an offered thing” or less often, “a near thing” – the key concept being “thing” not “near.”  This is an offer to join the covenant relationship of  YHWH Elohim and be part of the Messianic Kingdom.  It is not an announcement that the kingdom is about to arrive immediately or even soon.

Extant Hebrew versions read:  “make/do teshuvah in your lives!”  Teshuvah means “turning” (sometimes “return” is used as a parallelism, as in “return to me and I will return to you,” says Adonai in Zechariah 1:3) and is a Hebraic theological concept usually tranlated as “repentance,” but is much richer and deeper in meaning.  Repentence is not some vague concept in Hebrew thought.  It refers specifically to returning to Torah and only to returning to Torah.  Neither Yeshua, John, nor their audience had any other understanding of the word.  The correct idea of repentence is given to us in the Torah:

Deu 30:1 And it shall come to pass, when all these things are come upon thee, the blessing and the curse, which I have set before thee, and thou shalt call them to mind among all the nations, whither YHVH thy Elohim  hath driven thee, Deu 30:2  And shalt return unto YHVH thy Elohim, and shalt obey his voice according to all that I command thee this day, thou and thy children, with all thine heart, and with all thy soul…If thou shalt hearken unto the voice of YHVH thy Elohim , to keep his commandments and his statutes which are written in this book of the law, and if thou turn unto YHVH thy Elohim  with all thine heart, and with all thy soul. Deu 30:11  For this commandment which I command thee this day, it is not hidden from thee, neither is it far off.  Deu 30:12  It is not in heaven, that thou shouldest say, Who shall go up for us to heaven, and bring it unto us, that we may hear it, and do it? Deu 30:13  Neither is it beyond the sea, that thou shouldest say, Who shall go over the sea for us, and bring it unto us, that we may hear it, and do it? Deu 30:14  But the word is very nigh unto thee, in thy mouth, and in thy heart, that thou mayest do it. Deu 30:15  See, I have set before thee this day life and good, and death and evil; Deu 30:16  In that I command thee this day to love YHVH thy Elohim , to walk in his ways, and to keep his commandments and his statutes and his judgments, that thou mayest live and multiply: and YHVH thy Elohim  shall bless thee in the land whither thou goest to possess it. Deu 30:8  And thou shalt return and obey the voice of YHVH, and do all his commandments which I command thee this day.  Deu 30:9  And YHVH thy Elohim  will make thee plenteous in every work of thine hand, in the fruit of thy body, and in the fruit of thy cattle, and in the fruit of thy land, for good: for YHVH will again rejoice over thee for good, as he rejoiced over thy fathers:   Deu 30:10

Matthew, continued:

Mat 3:3  For this is he who was spoken of by Yeshaiyahu the prophet, saying, “The voice of one crying in the wilderness, make ready the way of Adonai. Make his paths straight.”

This passage appears in Isaiah:

Isa 40:1  “Comfort, comfort my people,” says your Elohim.   Isa 40:2  “Speak comfortably to Yerushalayim; and call out to her that her warfare is accomplished, that her iniquity is pardoned, that she has received of YHWH’s hand double for all her sins.”   Isa 40:3 The voice of one who calls out, “Prepare the way of YHWH in the wilderness! Make a level highway in the desert for our Elohim.   Isa 40:4  Every valley shall be exalted, and every mountain and hill shall be made low. The uneven shall be made level, and the rough places a plain.   Isa 40:5  The glory of YHWH shall be revealed, and all flesh shall see it together; for the mouth of YHWH has spoken it.”   Isa 40:6  The voice of one saying, “Cry!” One said, “What shall I cry?” “All flesh is like grass, and all its glory is like the flower of the field.   Isa 40:7  The grass withers, the flower fades, because YHWH’s breath blows on it. Surely the people are like grass.   Isa 40:8  The grass withers, the flower fades; but the word of our Elohim stands forever.”   Isa 40:9  You who tell good news to Tziyon, go up on a high mountain. You who tell good news to Yerushalayim, lift up your voice with strength. Lift it up. Don’t be afraid. Say to the cities of Yehudah, “Behold, your Elohim!”   Isa 40:10  Behold, Adonai YHWH will come as a mighty one, and his arm will rule for him. Behold, his reward is with him, and his recompense before him.   Isa 40:11  He will feed his flock like a shepherd. He will gather the lambs in his arm, and carry them in his bosom. He will gently lead those who have their young.

Matthew, continued:

Mat 3:4  Now Yochanan himself wore clothing made of camel’s hair, with a leather belt around his waist. His food was locusts and wild honey.

Mat 3:5  Then people from Yerushalayim, all of Yehudah, and all the region around the Yarden went out to him.

Mat 3:6  They were immersed by him in the Yarden, confessing their sins.

Mat 3:7  But when he saw many of the Perushim and Tzedukim coming for his immersion, he said to them, “You offspring of vipers, who warned you to flee from the wrath to come?

Mat 3:8  Therefore bring forth fruit worthy of repentance!

The theme of bearing fruit and a harvest based on what type of fruit you have produced is a common one in the Tanakh.

Pro 1:29  For that they hated knowledge, and did not choose the fear of YHVH:   Pro 1:30  They would none of my counsel: they despised all my reproof.  Pro 1:31  Therefore shall they eat of the fruit of their own way, and be filled with their own devices.

Pro 12:14  A man shall be satisfied with good by the fruit of his mouth: and the recompence of a man’s hands shall be rendered unto him.

Pro 18:21  Death and life are in the power of the tongue: and they that love it shall eat the fruit thereof.

Isa 3:10  Say ye to the righteous, that it shall be well with him: for they shall eat the fruit of their doings.

Jer 6:19  Hear, O earth: behold, I will bring evil upon this people, even the fruit of their thoughts, because they have not hearkened unto my words, nor to my law, but rejected it.

Jer 17:10  I YHVH search the heart, I try the reins, even to give every man according to his ways, and according to the fruit of his doings.

Jer 21:14  But I will punish you according to the fruit of your doings, saith YHVH…

Hos 10:13  Ye have plowed wickedness, ye have reaped iniquity; ye have eaten the fruit of lies: because thou didst trust in thy way, in the multitude of thy mighty men.

Mic 7:13  Notwithstanding the land shall be desolate because of them that dwell therein, for the fruit of their doings.

Also in the NT the theme reappears:

Rom 6:21  What fruit had ye then in those things whereof ye are now ashamed? for the end of those things is death. Rom 6:22  But now being made free from sin, and become servants to Elohim , ye have your fruit unto holiness, and the end everlasting life.

Gal 5:22 But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, Gal 5:23  Meekness, temperance: against such there is no law.

Eph 5:9  (For the fruit of the Spirit is in all goodness and righteousness and truth;)

Matthew, continued:

Mat 3:9  Don’t think to yourselves, ‘We have Avraham for our father,’ for I tell you that Elohim is able to raise up sons to Avraham from these stones.

In the Hebrew there is a word play here, between “sons” and “stones.”

Matthew, continued:

Mat 3:10  “Behold!  The axe lies at the root of the trees. Therefore, every tree that doesn’t bring forth good fruit is cut down, and cast into the fire.

Mat 3:11  I indeed immerse you in water for repentance, but he who comes after me is mightier than I, whose shoes I am not worthy to carry. He will immerse you in fire and the Ruach HaKodesh.

Mat 3:12  His winnowing fork is in his hand, and he will thoroughly cleanse his threshing floor. He will gather his wheat into the barn, but the chaff he will burn up with unquenchable fire.”

John may have had this passage in mind from Hoshea:

Hos 13:2  Now they sin more and more, and have made themselves molten images of their silver, even idols according to their own understanding, all of them the work of the craftsmen. They say of them, ‘They offer human sacrifice and kiss the calves.’   Hos 13:3 Therefore they will be like the morning mist, and like the dew that passes away early, like the chaff that is driven with the whirlwind out of the threshing floor, and like the smoke out of the chimney.

Matthew, continued:

Mat 3:13  Then Yeshua came from the Galil to the Yarden to Yochanan, to be immersed by him.

Mat 3:14  But Yochanan would have hindered him, saying, “I need to be immersed by you, and you come to me?”

Mat 3:15  But Yeshua, answering, said to him, “Allow it now, for this is the fitting way for us to fulfill all righteousness.” Then he allowed him.

Righteousness is also defined for us by Elohim in the Torah, and repeated in numerous places in the Tanakh:

Deu 6:25  And it shall be our righteousness, if we observe to do all these commandments before YHVH our Elohim , as he hath commanded us.

Psa 119:172  My tongue shall speak of thy word: for all thy commandments are righteousness.

Matthew, continued:

Mat 3:16  Yeshua, when he was immersed, went up directly from the water: and behold, the heavens were opened to him. He saw the Spirit of Elohim descending in the likeness of a dove, and rested upon him.

We find the correct version of this verse quoted by the early church father Epiphanius in his treatise “Panarion” section 30, verse 13:7 (which is the oldest record available of it).  It also appears as such in the Old Syriac.

Matthew, continued:

Mat 3:17  Behold, a voice out of the heavens said, “This is my beloved Son, with whom my being is pleased.”

Mat 4:1 Then Yeshua was led up by the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted by the devil.

Mat 4:2  When he had fasted forty days and forty nights, he was hungry afterward.

Mat 4:3  The tempter came and said to him, “If you are the Son of Elohim, command that these stones become bread.”

Mat 4:4  But he answered, “It is written, ‘Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceeds out of the mouth of Elohim.’”

This reply is from Deuteronomy:

Deu 8:1 All the commandments which I command thee this day shall ye observe to do, that ye may live, and multiply, and go in and possess the land which YHVH sware unto your fathers.  Deu 8:2  And thou shalt remember all the way which YHVH thy Elohim  led thee these forty years in the wilderness, to humble thee, and to prove thee, to know what was in thine heart, whether thou wouldest keep his commandments, or no.  Deu 8:3  And he humbled thee, and suffered thee to hunger, and fed thee with manna, which thou knewest not, neither did thy fathers know; that he might make thee know that man doth not live by bread only, but by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of YHVH doth man live.

Matthew, continued:

Mat 4:5  Then the devil took him into the holy city. He set him on the pinnacle of the temple,

Mat 4:6  and said to him, “If you are the Son of Elohim, throw yourself down, for it is written, ‘He will give his angels charge concerning you.’ and, ‘On their hands they will bear you up, so that you don’t dash your foot against a stone.’”

Psalm 91:9-12 reads: (9) Because you have made YHWH your dwelling place – my refuge, Elyon! – (10) No evil befalls you.  No plague is near your tent, (11) for He commands his messengers concerning you, to guard you in all your ways. (12) They bear you up in your hands, in case you dash your foot against a stone.

Matthew, continued:

Mat 4:7  Yeshua said to him, “Again, it is written, ‘You shall not test Adonai, your Elohim.’”

This reply is also from Deuteronomy:

Deu 6:16  Ye shall not tempt YHVH your Elohim , as ye tempted him in Massah.   Deu 6:17  Ye shall diligently keep the commandments of YHVH your Elohim , and his testimonies, and his statutes, which he hath commanded thee.   Deu 6:18  And thou shalt do that which is right and good in the sight of YHVH: that it may be well with thee, and that thou mayest go in and possess the good land which YHVH sware unto thy fathers…

Matthew, continued:

Mat 4:8  Again, the devil took him to an exceedingly high mountain, and showed him all the kingdoms of the world, and their glory.

Mat 4:9  He said to him, “I will give you all of these things, if you will fall down and worship me.”

Mat 4:10  Then Yeshua said to him, “Get behind me, Hasatan! For it is written, ‘You shall worship YHWH your Elohim, and him only shall you serve.’”

This exact wording does not seem to apper in the Tanakh, but we see the general principle throughout the text – for example, again, Deuteronomy:

Deut 6:13-14 reads: (13) Fear YHWH your Elohim, serve Him, and swear by His Name. (14) Do not follow other gods, the gods of the people around you.

Deu 10:12 And now, Israel, what doth YHVH thy Elohim  require of thee, but to fear YHVH thy Elohim , to walk in all his ways, and to love him, and to serve YHVH thy Elohim  with all thy heart and with all thy soul, Deu 10:13  To keep the commandments of YHVH, and his statutes, which I command thee this day for thy good?

Matthew, continued:

Mat 4:11  Then the devil left him, and behold, angels came and served him.

Mat 4:12  Now when Yeshua heard that Yochanan was imprisoned, he withdrew into the Galil.

Mat 4:13  Leaving Natzeret, he came and lived in Kefar-Nachum, which is by the sea, in the region of Zevulun and Naftali,

Mat 4:14  that it might be fulfilled which was spoken through Yeshaiyahu the prophet, saying,

Mat 4:15  “The land of Zevulun and the land of Naftali, toward the sea, beyond the Yarden, Galil of the Gentiles,

Mat 4:16  the people who sat in darkness saw a great light, to those who sat in the region and shadow of death, to them light has dawned.”

This passage comes from Isaiah:

Isa 9:1  But there shall be no more gloom for her who was in anguish. In the former time, he brought into contempt the land of Zevulun and the land of Naftali; but in the latter time he has made it glorious, by the way of the sea, beyond the Yarden, Galil of the nations.   Isa 9:2  The people who walked in darkness have seen a great light. Those who lived in the land of the shadow of death, on them the light has shined.   Isa 9:3  You have multiplied the nation. You have increased their joy. They rejoice before you according to the joy in harvest, as men rejoice when they divide the spoil.   Isa 9:4  For the yoke of his burden, and the staff of his shoulder, the rod of his oppressor, you have broken as in the day of Midyan.   Isa 9:5  For all the armor of the armed man in the noisy battle, and the garments rolled in blood, will be for burning, fuel for the fire.   Isa 9:6  For to us a child is born. To us a son is given; and the government will be on his shoulders. His name will be called Wonderful, Counselor, Mighty El, Everlasting Father, Prince of Shalom.   Isa 9:7  Of the increase of his government and of shalom there shall be no end, on the throne of David, and on his kingdom, to establish it, and to uphold it with justice and with righteousness from that time on, even forever. The zeal of YHWH Tzava’ot will perform this.

Matthew, continued:

Mat 4:17  From that time, Yeshua began to preach, and to say, “Turn!  Turn in repentence – for the Kingdom of Heaven is offered.”

To forsake sin and to return to Torah is the message that Elohim has always given to us, either as YHWH or as Yeshua or in any other form.  There is no other definition of repentance and never was.  As John explains it to us plainly:

1Jo 3:1  Behold, how great a love the Father has bestowed on us, that we should be called children of Elohim! For this cause the world doesn’t know us, because it didn’t know him.   1Jo 3:2  Beloved, now we are children of Elohim, and it is not yet revealed what we will be. But we know that, when he is revealed, we will be like him; for we will see him just as he is.   1Jo 3:3  Everyone who has this hope set on him purifies himself, even as he is pure.   1Jo 3:4  Everyone who sins also commits Torahlessness. Sin is transgression of the Torah.

This is something we need to stop and learn clearly.  The word in Greek “anomia” means without or against law.  In Hebrew, that means without or against Torah.  Anomia means Torahlessness, and those without or against the Torah are living in SIN.

1Jo 3:5 You know that he was revealed to take away our sins, and in him is no sin.   1Jo 3:6  Whoever remains in him doesn’t sin. Whoever sins hasn’t seen him, neither knows him.   1Jo 3:7  Little children, let no one lead you astray. He who does righteousness is righteous, even as he is righteous.   1Jo 3:8  He who sins is of the devil, for the devil has been sinning from the beginning. To this end the Son of Elohim was revealed, that he might destroy the works of the devil.   1Jo 3:9  Whoever is born of Elohim doesn’t commit sin, because his seed remains in him; and he can’t sin, because he is born of Elohim.   1Jo 3:10  In this the children of Elohim are revealed, and the children of the devil. Whoever doesn’t do righteousness is not of Elohim, neither is he who doesn’t love his brother.   1Jo 3:11  For this is the message which you heard from the beginning, that we should love one another.

Matthew, continued:

Mat 4:18  Walking by the sea of the Galil, he saw two brothers: Shim`on, who is called Kefa, and Andrew, his brother, casting a net into the sea; for they were fishermen.

Mat 4:19  He said to them, “Come after me, and I will make you fishers for men.”

Mat 4:20  They immediately left their nets and followed him.

Mat 4:21  Going on from there, he saw two other brothers, Ya`akov Ben-Zavdai, and Yochanan his brother, in the boat with Zavdai their father, mending their nets. He called them.

Mat 4:22  They immediately left the boat and their father, and followed him.

Mat 4:23  Yeshua went about in all Galil, teaching in their synagogues, preaching the Good News of the Kingdom, and healing every disease and every sickness among the people.

Mat 4:24a  The report about him went out unto all the people.

Hebrew sources show the original version of this verse read “ha’am” the people and not “aram” generaly considered to be “Syria.”  It makes much more sense that the am ha’aretz (“common people” that is, “people of the land,” i.e. the poor and uneducated) heard about Yeshua and brought him their sick and injured than to say foreigners did so.

Matthew, continued:

Mat 4:24b They brought to him all who were sick, afflicted with various diseases and torments, possessed with demons, epileptics, and paralytics; and he healed them.

Mat 4:25  Great multitudes from the Galil, Decapolis, Yerushalayim, Yehudah and from beyond the Yarden followed him.

Next up:  Epistle Beresheit.

Haftarah Beresheit

Haftarah Beresheit

Isaiah 42:5-21 Sephard

Isaiah 42:5-43:11 Ashkenaz

Updated October 2009

All readers begin here.

Isaiah 42:5a  Thus says the Elohim, and Elohim who created the heavens and stretched them out…

This very interesting literal rendering comes to us from 1QIsa(a) and resists the later “correcting” of the Tanakh by the Masorites who wanted to eliminate instances where the Deity seems to be talking to Himself or acting as more than one manifestation simultaneously.

Isaiah, continued:

Isa 42:5b  … He who spread out the earth and that which comes out of it, he who gives breath to its people and spirit to those who walk in it.

A jibe at those, here in the modern world, who reject creationism and don’t believe Elohim breathed life into Adam.

Isaiah, continued:

Isa 42:6  “I [YHWH] have called you in righteousness, and will hold your hand, and will keep you, and make you a covenant to the people, as a light for the nations…

The tetragrammaton is here most likely notational since according to 1QIsa(a) it does not appear in the original text.  Note also it says “to” the people, not “for” them per that text.

Isaiah, continued:

Isa 42:7  …to open the blind eyes, to lead those bound out of the dungeon, and those who sit in darkness out of the prison.

Yeshua may have been alluding to this passage or other similar ones when he said to John’s talmidim:

Mat 11:2 Now when Yochanan heard in the prison the works of Messiah, he sent two of his talmidim   Mat 11:3  and said to him, “Are you he who comes, or should we look for another?”   Mat 11:4  Yeshua answered them, “Go and tell Yochanan the things which you hear and see:   Mat 11:5  the blind receive their sight, the lame walk, the lepers are cleansed, the deaf hear, the dead are raised up, and the poor have good news preached to them.   Mat 11:6  Blessed is he who finds no occasion for stumbling in me.”

Isaiah, continued:

Isa 42:8a  “I YHWH am the one…

So says 1QIsa(a).

Isaiah, continued:

Isa 42:8b …and I will not give my glory to another, nor my praise to engraved images.

Isa 42:9  Behold, the former things have happened, and I declare the new things. Before they unfold I make you aware of them.”

Here scriptural prophecy is held up as proof of Elohim’s sovereignty and power.  Prophecy is something we should all study diligently and be able to discuss with confidence.

Isaiah, continued:

Isa 42:10  Sing to YHWH a new song, and his praise from the end of the earth, you who go down to the sea, and all that is therein, the islands and their inhabitants.

Isa 42:11  Let the wilderness cry out, its cities  and the villages that Kedar inhabits, and let the inhabitants of Sela sing for joy. Let them shout aloud from the top of the mountains!

Isa 42:12  Let them give glory to YHWH, and declare his praise in the islands.

Isa 42:13  YHWH will go out like a mighty man. He will stir up zeal like a man of war. Showing His anger, He shouts aloud!  He will triumph over his enemies.

Isa 42:14  “Certainly I have been silent a long time. I have been quiet and restrained myself. Now I will cry out like a travailing woman. I will both gasp and pant.

Isa 42:15  I will destroy mountains and hills, and dry up all their herbs. I will make the rivers islands, and will dry up the pools.

Isa 42:16  I will bring the blind by a way that they don’t know. I will lead them in paths that they don’t know. I will make the dark places light before them, and rough places level. I will do these things, and I will not forsake them.

Isa 42:17  “Those who trust in engraved images will be turned back and utterly shamed, those who say to images, ‘You are our Elohim.’

Isa 42:18  “Hear, you deaf, and look, you blind, that you may see.

Isa 42:19  Who is blind, but my servant? Or who is as deaf as my messenger whom I send? Who is as blind as he who is devout, and blind as YHWH’s servant?

The word here translated “devout” is Meshelam (m-sh-l-m), which is literally “to be whole” or “from a place of peace”.  It appears elsewhere only in the DuTillet Hebrew text of Matthew 5:9, where it is usually rendered “peacemakers” in most other texts.  The Aramaic of Matthew renders this word as (ayin-b-d-y sh-l-m-aleph) “doers of peace.”  Back in Isaiah, the Peshitta Aramaic text here has “ruler” (sh-l-y-tet-aleph) which admittedly could be a scribal error.   However, the word “servant” (ayin-b-d) is here used as a parallelism.  The LXX reads “…yes, the servants of YHWH have been made blind.”

Isaiah, continued:

Isa 42:20  You see many things, but don’t observe. His ears are open, but he doesn’t listen.

Isa 42:21  It pleased YHWH, for his righteousness’ sake, to magnify the Torah, and make it honorable.

This theme of eyes that don’t see and ears that don’t hear and hearts that don’t perceive is repeated several times both in the prophets and in the NT.  It refers to people who are willfully refusing to acknowledge Elohim as Creator and the Torah as binding.

Sephardi readers end here.  Ashkenaz readers continue.

Isaiah, continued:

Isa 42:22  But this is a robbed and plundered people. All of them are trapped in holes, and they are hidden in prisons. They have become a prey, and no one delivers; and a spoil, and no one says, ‘Restore them!’

Isa 42:23  Who is there among you who will give ear to this? Indeed, let him pay attention and listen for the time to come!

Isa 42:24  Who gave Ya`akov as plunder, and Yisra’el to the robbers? Didn’t YHWH, He against whom we have sinned? For they would not walk in his ways, and they disobeyed his Torah.

Isa 42:25  Therefore he poured the heat of his anger on him, and the fierceness of battle; and it set him on fire all around, but he didn’t know; and it burned him, but he didn’t take it to heart.”

We must not presume that we are perfect and that all mishaps that occur in our lives are “bad luck” or “demon activity,” as one willfully blind person recently asserted while at the same time declaring his intention to ignore YHWH’s appointed festival days and spend those days driving instead.  Elohim punishes people w ho know better but refuse to obey.   Elohim judges the heart – the willfully disobedient can expect to be rebuked.

Isaiah, continued:

Isa 43:1 But now thus says YHWH who created you, Ya`akov, and he who formed you, Yisra’el: “Don’t be afraid, for I have redeemed you. I have called you by your name. You are mine.

Isa 43:2  When you pass through the waters, I will be with you; and through the rivers, they will not overflow you. When you walk through the fire, you will not be burned, and flame will not scorch you.

Isa 43:3  For I am YHWH your Elohim, the Holy One of Yisra’el, your Redeemer. I have given Egypt for your ransom, Kush and the people of Seva in exchange for you.

Isa 43:4  Since you have been precious and honored in my sight, and I have loved you; therefore I will give people in your place, and nations instead of your life.

Isa 43:5  Don’t be afraid; for I am with you. I will bring your seed from the east, and gather you from the west.

Isa 43:6  I will tell the north, ‘Give them up!’ and tell the south, ‘Don’t hold them back! Bring my sons from afar, and my daughters from the ends of the earth–

Isa 43:7  everyone who is called by my name, and whom I have created for my glory, whom I have formed, yes, whom I have made.’”

The Ingathering (Sukkot on the prophetic calendar).

Isaiah, continued:

Isa 43:8  Bring out the blind people who have eyes, and the deaf who have ears.

Isa 43:9  Let all the nations be gathered together, and let the peoples be assembled. Who is among them that can declare this, or announce the former things? Let them bring their witnesses, that they may be justified; or let them hear, and say, “That is true.”

Again referring to prophecy – Elohim challenges other nation’s “gods” to produce accurate and detailed prophetic pronouncements and explain correctly why things had to happen the way they did in the past.

Isaiah, continued:

Isa 43:10  “You are my witnesses,” says YHWH, “With my servant whom I have chosen; that you may know and believe me, and understand that I am he. Before me there was no Elohim formed, neither will there be after me.

Isa 43:11  I myself am YHWH; and besides me there is no savior.

Next up:  Talmidim Beresheit

Parashat Beresheit

Torah Portion Beresheit

Genesis 1:1-6:8

Updated October 2009

This is a long Parashat and covers a lot of esoteric theological ground.

Gen 1:1 בראשׁית ברא אלהים את השׁמים ואת הארץ׃

The word “beresheit” has given people fits for a long time.  It is the preposition “B” linked with the root “R-SH” (as in “Rosh,” meaning a literal “head,” a positional “chief,” or a figurative “head of a matter/issue.”  “B” means “in” or “when.”The noun is transformed from a “concrete” to an “abstract” with the addition of the “-it” suffix.   So the noun “head” then becomes an abstract concept like “principal” from the idea of chief, or “total,” possibly “summation,” as well as “beginning,” or even “foundation” as in the head of the matter.  All of these concepts are used elsewhere in scripture to translate R-SH-T.

So, literally translated, this reads something like:

“In summation , He created Elohim, et the heavens and et the earth.”

This follows the literary practice of making broad, sweeping outlines of stories and then going back to fill in the details, which follow in the subsequent verses.

This sentence has a lot of issues with “the.”  We find no “ha” or “et” in the “phrase most often translated as “in the beginning,” and both “ha” and “et” in front of both heavens and earth.  The “et” is not something we have in English, it is a sort of directional pointer, almost like an inner-sentence exclamation point.  We could write it as “THE” instead of “the.”

The standard grammatical structure for ancient Hebrew, as is recorded in the Bible, is predominantly V-S-O (that is, verb-subject-object).  There are some new, “edgy” translations of this sentence floating around.  One is “When God began to create the heavens and the earth…” which doesn’t work for the following reasons. [hat tip:  Frank Luke]

Genesis 1:1 has been the topic of much controversy in the last few decades.  A recent retranslation has the above sentence.  The justification is that this is one possibility that an ancient Jew or Hebrew would understand.  This essay will attempt to explore that possibility from a grammatical standpoint.

There are at least four reasons that the above translation will not work under Biblical Hebrew’s rules of grammar.

1.  Changes the state of the verb. The Hebrew verb bara’ is in a finite form.  Specifically, the Hebrew verb used here is in the Qal perfect state (more specifically the Qal perfect 3^rd masculine singular).  The perfect state is always a finite verb.  The translation in question requires a Qal infinitive construct (‘to create’) and would read b^ero’ (as in Genesis 5:1).  There is no way to confuse a Qal perfect 3ms with a Qal infinitive construct.

2.  Turns a noun into a verb. “When God began to create” not only requires confusing an infinitive construct and perfect but also requires that one confuse a noun and a verb.  Though several Hebrew words are translated “begin, began” none can be confused with re’shith (used 51 times in the Old Testament).  The most common word for “began” as a verb in Genesis is chalal.  The two words look nothing alike in Hebrew.  Similarly, the Bible never uses a verb form for re’shith or its root re’sh.

3.  Puts the prepositional phrase in the wrong place. As many languages (Hebrew included) do not allow splitting an infinitive, Hebrew also forbids splitting the prepositional phrase.  In fact, the most common Hebrew prepositions are prefixed onto the noun they modify (hence the grammars refer to them as “inseparable prepositions”). Genesis 1:1 uses one of the inseparable prepositions on “beginning” but not “God.”  The text reads b^ere’shith not b^eElohim.  Therefore, God is not the object of the preposition and we cannot justify “When God” instead of “in beginning.”

4.  The new verse becomes a dependent clause. Hebrew grammar and syntax forbid a dependent clause (rare enough in Hebrew anyway) from being joined to the independent clause by a waw conjunction.  Genesis 1:2 begins with this waw conjunction meaning “and” or “but.”  The traditional (and correct) translation of these two verses renders, “In the beginning, God created the Heavens and the Earth, and the earth was”

The next two observations do not deal with the translation offered above but with similar arguments that could be made.

1.  There is no other way of saying “when” in Hebrew besides the simple preposition b^e. Actually, there is.  One way is b^eyom.  This is the normal word for “day” prefixed by the preposition for “in.”  It reads literally as “in day” (no article).  However, the Hebrews use this construction idiomatic for “when” (for example Gen 2:4, 17).

2.  What about “When beginning?” This translation fares little better.  Though the preposition b^e can mean “when” in the proper context, doing so makes this occurrence an adverb.  As mentioned above, re’shith is not a verb, cannot be confused with a verb, and is never used as a verb.

In conclusion, Genesis 1:1 should not be translated a proposed [i.e. "When God began to create the heavens and the earth..."].  The translation breaks no less than four rules of Hebrew grammar.

The fact that the prepositional phrase occurs at the beginning of the sentence is also a rather extraordinary departure from the regular V-S-O format, which leads us to the esoteric issues of this verse, namely, just what was created, and how was it done?

Prior to any of creation, there was only the Ain Sof [literally “without end”].  This being is pure spirit, pure power, and exists entirely outside of space and time.   This being was everything and everywhere, there was nothing else at all.  This Being, according to the Kabbalah, had to withdraw itself from an “area” or “void” in order to make a separate creation from itself.  That area is the place that contains the space/time continuum – the universe as we know it.    Outside of this area, all around our expanding universe, is still the Ain Sof.  The Ain Sof is not a creature of matter and time – it is THE Diety and is completely outside of space and time.

But creation hasn’t been made just yet.  At first, there is only the Ain Sof and the void which the Ain Sof vacated to make a space for creation.  The void became a sort of womb, if you will, in which creation was formed.  This is often illustrated like this:

There are, as string theory assures us, ten or eleven dimensions of creation.   The reason both ten and eleven are postulated involves the indeterminate properties of the “11^th” aspect.  In Hebrew Mysticism these are called “sefirot,” and they each have a name and a function.  There are 10 fully emanated Sefirot, and the half-sefirot “da’at” which translates as “knowledge.”  Knowledge is a special category, not a full emanation of the Diety, because not everything we “know” comes from God.  We can get knowledge from creation, from hasatan, or we can make it up and teach it to ourselves.  So Da’at is not always a fixed, fully emanated Sefirot because some of what you “know” can be dead wrong.  Elohim only emanates truth.

In the physical aspect of the universe, the first four sephirot, the lowest levels, combined are the x-y-z-c (length, width, height, and time) that comprise what we perceive of the space/time continuum, the universe that we can see and experience all around us, and in which we exist.  The next seven levels “upward” from us are the seven Heavens.  However, these emanations represent not only the spiritual and physical structure of the universe, but also comprise the “body” of Elohim – the image from which we were created.

Elohim was the first emanation of the Ain Sof within the void, and it is, as you can see from its plural form, the totality or summation of the manifested forms.   Elohim is, if you will, the “virtual self” of the Ain Sof – a projection into the void that does not overwhelm it.   There are several known separate manifestations of Elohim which we can learn about directly from scripture.  [For more information there is a sidebar article covering this topic.]

Elohim then proceeded to create everything.

Genesis, continued.

Gen 1:2  Now the earth was unformed and void, and darkness was upon the face of the deep; and the spirit of Elohim hovered over the face of the waters.

“Waters” here probably refers to the “waves” of light, the streams of matter and energy that poured forth from that first instant of creation.  It is important to understand here what Einstein taught us:

E (energy/spirit) =M (matter/body)  x C (distance at which light travels in one year, a measure of time and space) (squared)

Energy and Matter are the same thing and at the right time are 100% interchangeable.  Right now, you exist in a form of matter that is confined to the lowest four levels of the space/time continuum – ordinary existence.  At a later time, either the Parousia or a Resurrection, you will be converted to a different type of matter – IF you qualify to do so by entering the covenant relationship with Elohim.

Genesis, continued:

Gen 1:3  And Elohim said: ‘Let there be light.’ And there was light.

Gen 1:4  And Elohim saw the light, that it was good; and Elohim divided the light from the darkness.

Gen 1:5  And Elohim called the light Day, and the darkness He called Night. And there was evening and there was morning, one day.

Obviously, “day” and “night” here cannot mean a 24 hour day, because the sun has not yet been created, neither has the earth, so the rotation of the earth is not in any way relevant to the designation of a “day” here.   The word “day” has never meant just a 24-hour day.  We say, “In  my day…” to indicate our own past.  We say, “In Edison’s day…” to indicate the lifetime of some famous person who is now dead.  We say, “In the day of trebuchets…” to indicate a past time when some particular technology or machinery was widely used or was the “latest” invention.  And so on and so forth.  A “day” of creation was the time it took for various aspects of creation to occur, however long we may consider that to be – not a 24-hour day.

Genesis, continued:

Gen 1:6 And Elohim said: ‘Let there be a firmament in the midst of the waters, and let it divide the waters from the waters.’

Gen 1:7  And Elohim made the firmament, and divided the waters which were under the firmament from the waters which were above the firmament; and it was so.

Gen 1:8  And Elohim called the firmament Heaven. And there was evening and there was morning, a second day.

This is where Elohim made the 10 dimensions of space/time into the earth and into heaven – into visible physical and not visible “spiritual” reality, and divided them from each other.  It is a mistake to think of the seven heavens as being “somewhere out there.”  They in fact inhabit the same area that we inhabit – the same void made by the Ain Sof – but they are separated from us by dimensional barriers that we, in our present form, cannot physically cross and can barely reach mentally.  Angels, however, are made of a type of matter that can cross dimensional barriers.  That type of matter has actually been detected as anomalies by scientists, as we learn in this article from the April 2007 and August 2007 issues of Scientific American (with a follow-up in September 2008).  I won’t quote all three articles, just a blurb from one of them:

http://www.sciam.com/article.cfm?id=dimensional-shortcuts

…To explain why we do not perceive the extra dimensions, string theorists have posited that all the ordinary particles in our universe many be confined to the four-dimensional “brane” floating…But certain special particles can travel in and out of the brane, notably the graviton and the sterile neutrino…

Angels can pass from the heavenly dimensions to the visible ones because they are made of different types of particles, not because they are “only spirit.”  Inside the visible space/time continuum and the seven levels of Heaven, which are ALL created places, E-MC(2) is a law.  There is no such thing as just “Spirit.”  All matter IS energy.

Genesis, continued:

Gen 1:9  And Elohim said: ‘Let the waters underneath the heavens be gathered together unto one gathering, and let the dry land appear.’ And it was so.   And the waters under the heavens gathered to their gatherings, and the dry land appeared.

“Gathering” is literally “miqvah” as seen in 4QGen(h1) and the LXX.  “Place” (maqom) which is the more common translattion, represents a later corruption.   The last sentence was omitted from the Masorite text, but appears intact in 4Qgen(k) and the LXX.

Genesis, continued:

Gen 1:10  And Elohim called the dry land Earth, and the gathering together of the waters called He Seas; and Elohim saw that it was good.

Gen 1:11  And Elohim said: ‘Let the earth put forth grass, herb yielding seed, and fruit-tree bearing fruit after its kind, wherein is the seed thereof, upon the earth.’ And it was so.

Gen 1:12  And the earth brought forth grass, herb yielding seed after its kind, and tree bearing fruit, wherein is the seed thereof, after its kind; and Elohim saw that it was good.

Gen 1:13  And there was evening and there was morning, a third day.

Here our planet was created, and plants were brought forth.  This is not impossible, as some people who claim that since the sun was not yet created insist.  If the earth was at that time much closer to the center of the universe, or was part of a cluster of young suns (as recent evidence seems to indicate), then the light from these other sources could certainly be enough for photosynthesis to occur.  According to an article in the November 2009 issue of Scientific American, there was sufficient light on the surface of the earth to read by before our own sun had reached hydrogen flash.  Obviously, if there’s enough to read by, there’s enough for plants to develop photosynthesis.  This article also confirms that our present position was not our original position in this galaxy.  We have in fact moved to our present location – it’s not where the earth formed.

Genesis, continued:

Gen 1:14  And Elohim said: ‘Let there be lights in the firmament of the heaven to divide the day from the night; and let them be for signs, and for seasons, and for days and years;

The word here translated as “seasons” is the Hebrew “Moedim,” more properly understood to be “appointed times,” referring to the Feasts and Fasts of the Hebrew Calendar.  We are to use the visual sighting of the New Moon and the Aviv Search in the spring to determine the proper times for observing Elohim’s appointed times.  We are not to move them or change them to more “convenient” times, we are to observe them on the exact days they are commanded to be observed.  This is because they are not just memorials of past events, they are markers of future prophetic events, too.

Genesis, continued:

Gen 1:15  and let them be for lights in the firmament of the heaven to give light upon the earth.’ And it was so.

Gen 1:16  And Elohim made the two great lights: the greater light to rule the day, and the lesser light to rule the night; and the stars.

Gen 1:17  And Elohim set them in the firmament of the heaven to give light upon the earth,

Gen 1:18  and to rule over the day and over the night, and to divide the light from the darkness; and God saw that it was good.

Gen 1:19  And there was evening and there was morning, a fourth day.

The rest of the Universe and/or Milky way is created, the sun reaches hydrogen flash, and the planet positioned in the place we are now located.   We can presume rotation and the 24-hour day begins at this time.  Prior to this, we have no idea what a “day” might have been.  It is also entirely possible that the original non-24 hour definition of “day” prevails throughout chapter one and two of Genesis.  “Scientific Adam,” as the recent History/Discovery Channel documentary called him – the man whose DNA is the forebear of all men now living – existed 60,000 years ago.  It’s awfully interesting that if you lose a zero, you get 6000, isn’t it?

Genesis, continued:

Gen 1:20  And Elohim said: ‘Let the waters swarm with swarms of living creatures, and let fowl fly above the earth in the open firmament of heaven.’

Gen 1:21  And Elohim created the great sea-monsters, and every living creature that creepeth, wherewith the waters swarmed, after its kind, and every winged fowl after its kind; and Elohim saw that it was good.

Gen 1:22  And Elohim blessed them, saying: ‘Be fruitful, and multiply, and fill the waters in the seas, and the birds shall multiply in the earth.’

Gen 1:23  And there was evening and there was morning, a fifth day.

Even the most die-hard evolutionists don’t argue with the fact that after plant life, sea life and birds were the next to appear, in that order, followed by land animals.  So far everything described in Genesis fits very well with the most recently available scientific knowledge.

Genesis, continued:

Gen 1:24  And Elohim said: ‘Let the earth bring forth the living creature after its kind, cattle, and creeping thing, and beast of the earth after its kind.’ And it was so.

Gen 1:25  And Elohim made the beast of the earth after its kind, and the cattle after their kind, and every thing that creepeth upon the ground after its kind; and Elohim saw that it was good.

Gen 1:26  And Elohim said: ‘Let us make man in our image, after our likeness; and let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over the cattle, and over all the earth, and over every creeping thing that creepeth upon the earth.’

Gen 1:27  And Elohim created man in His own image, in the image of Elohim created He him; male and female created He them.

Targum Onkelos has “And the Word of YHWH created man…”

Genesis, continued:

Gen 1:28  And Elohim blessed them; and Elohim said unto them: ‘Be fruitful, and multiply, and replenish the earth, and subdue it; and have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over every living thing that creepeth upon the earth.’

The “image” of Elohim is the image of the Sephirot, as we saw above – the ten aspects of creation that are unique to compassionate, thinking creatures.  These are described by the Rabbis as Keter, Chochman, Binah, Chesed, (Da’at), Gevurah, Tiferet, Netzach, Hod, Yesod, Malchut/Shekinah.  Shaul describes them as Love, Joy, Peace, (Knowledge of God), Patience, Kindness, Goodness, Faithfulness, Gentleness, Temperance and Righteousness.  Animals cannot have these qualities, only homo sapiens sapiens can.   We choose either to live like animals or to elevate ourselves to a covenant relationship with Elohim and commit to being like Elohim.  Animals have no such choice.

Much is made of this phrase “replenish the earth.”  Some speculate that pre-Adamite races existed, or, more likely, homo sapiens sapiens, the first truly intelligent species of man, was simply commanded to replace the earlier strains of “homo-” who lacked the intelligence to relate to Elohim.  Adam’s descendants were commanded to become the sole branch of humanity.

Genesis, continued:

Gen 1:29  And Elohim said: ‘Behold, I have given you every herb yielding seed, which is upon the face of all the earth, and every tree, in which is the fruit of a tree yielding seed – to you it shall be for food;

Gen 1:30  and to every beast of the earth, and to every fowl of the air, and to every thing that creepeth upon the earth, wherein there is a living soul, I have given every green herb for food.’ And it was so.

Gen 1:31  And Elohim saw every thing that He had made, and, behold, it was very good. And there was evening and there was morning, the sixth day.

Man at this time did not eat bread – he simply existed on seasonal fruits and vegetables.  These are natural foods that reproduce after their kind. Modern genetically modified seeds with “suicide genes” that prevent them from reproducing after their kind are therefore not fit to be called “food.”  They are unnatural abominations that sicken people.

Genesis, continued:

Gen 2:1  And the heaven and the earth were finished, and all the host of them.

Gen 2:2a  And on the sixth day Elohim finished His work which He had made…

The Masorite text is here very likely incorrect.  We can be reasonably sure of this, since the Masorite text dates from the early middle ages, whereas the LXX, the Aramaic, and the Samaritan versions which are earlier all say “sixth day” instead of “seventh day.”  However, the “seventh day” does appear in one of the Dead Sea Scroll texts:  4QGen(k).

Gen 2:2b …and He rested on the seventh day from all His work which He had made.

Gen 2:3  And Elohim blessed the seventh day, and hallowed it; because that in it He rested from all His work which Elohim in creating had made.

The Sabbath was established at creation, and applies to all mankind, and is the 7^th day of the week and no other day.  According to tradition, Creation began on Elul the 26^th, and the sixth day, the creation of mankind, was on Tishri 1^st, followed by the very first Shabbat on Tishri 2^nd.  This is why the two days are celebrated together as “one long day” as Rosh HaShanah, though the Torah itself only commands that Tishri 1^st be observed as Yom Teruah.  The sages wanted to draw attention to the fact that the Sabbath was established at creation and is not changeable, even though Tishri 2^nd does not always fall on a sabbath each year.  It is part of creation and therefore is permanently established by Elohim and since “I change not,” neither does the Sabbath.

At this point we drop back from the Grand Narrative of the formation of the Universe as we know it, and fill in some details.  This is a standard literary practice of ancient storytelling.

Genesis, continued:

Gen 2:4 These are the generations of the heaven and of the earth when they were created, in the day that YHWH Elohim made earth and heaven.

Gen 2:5  No shrub of the field was yet in the land, and no herb of the field had yet sprung up; for YHWH Elohim had not caused it to rain upon the land, and there was not a man to till the ground;

Gen 2:6  but there went up a mist from the land, and watered the whole face of the ground.

“The land” here is the word ha’eretz, which is often a euphemism for “Eretz Israel.”  It would appear that Elohim created the rest of the earth, and left the land that would later be known as “Israel” for last.  The Rock on the Temple Mount is presumed by the sages to be the place where Adam was created.

Genesis, continued:

Gen 2:7  Then YHWH Elohim formed man of the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living being.

Gen 2:8 And YHWH Elohim planted a garden eastward, in Eden; and there He put the man whom He had formed.

Gen 2:9  And out of the ground made YHWH Elohim to grow every tree that is pleasant to the sight, and good for food; the tree of life also in the midst of the garden, and the tree of the knowledge of good and evil.

Gen 2:10  And a river went out of Eden to water the garden; and from thence it was parted, and became four heads.

Gen 2:11  The name of the first is Pishon; that is it which compasseth the whole land of Havilah, where there is gold;

Gen 2:12  and the gold of that land is good; there is bdellium and the onyx stone.

Gen 2:13  And the name of the second river is Gihon; the same is it that compasseth the whole land of Cush.

Gen 2:14  And the name of the third river is Tigris; that is it which goeth toward the east of Asshur. And the fourth river is the Euphrates.

No one is certain where the Garden of Eden was located.  “Scientific Adam” most certainly lived in Africa – but since Adam and Chawwah didn’t have children until after the expulsion from the Garden, that doesn’t help us locate it.  The locations of the Tigris and the Euphrates are known to us, of course, but the current rivers of those names may have simply been named for their pre-deluge counterparts, whose true locations are lost to us.   Based on the current rivers of those names, the Garden of Eden is presumed to have been located somewhere in what is now Turkey.   It is true that some of the earliest know cities are located in that general area, but again, cities didn’t get built until after the expulsion.  They could have traveled a long way before deciding to settle down, fearing the Cherubim and Elohim’s wrath.

Genesis, continued:

Gen 2:15  And YHWH Elohim took the man, and put him into the garden of Eden to dress it and to keep it.

Gen 2:16  And YHWH Elohim commanded the man, saying: ‘Of every tree of the garden thou mayest freely eat;

Gen 2:17  but of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, thou shalt not eat of it; for in the day that thou eatest thereof thou shalt surely die.’

Clearly the definitions of “day” and “die” are not what we think of them in our modern scientific point of view.  “Die” may mean be transformed into our typical common particles of matter that are trapped here on the lowest level of creation.  A “Day” has been speculated to be 1000 years, since Adam lived to be 930, and elsewhere in scripture a “day” is described as being like 1000 years to Elohim.   Once again, at least, we see the term “day” is used primarily metaphorically in the first two chapters of Genesis, and not literally.

2Pe 3:8 But don’t forget this one thing, beloved, that one day is with Adonai as a thousand years, and a thousand years as one day.

Genesis, continued:

Gen 2:18  YHWH Elohim said, “It is not good that the man should be alone; I will make him a helper suitable for him.”

Gen 2:19  Out of the ground YHWH Elohim formed every animal of the field, and every bird of the sky, and brought them to the man to see what he would call them. Whatever the man called every living creature, that was its name.

Gen 2:20  The man gave names to all livestock, and to the birds of the sky, and to every animal of the field; but for man there was not found a helper suitable for him.

Gen 2:21  YHWH Elohim caused a deep sleep to fall on the man, and he slept; and he took one of his ribs, and closed up the flesh in its place.

Gen 2:22  He made the rib, which YHWH Elohim had taken from the man, into a woman, and brought her to the man.

Gen 2:23  The man said, “This is now bone of my bones, and flesh of my flesh. She will be called Woman, because she was taken out of Man.”

Gen 2:24  Therefore a man will leave his father and his mother, and will join with his wife, and they will be one flesh.

Gen 2:25  They were both naked, the man and his wife, and were not ashamed.

Contrary to the popular argument, this first passage does not “prove” that man was created prior to animals in the second chapter as opposed to afterward in the first.  All it “proves” is that Elohim choose not to have every animal on the planet travel from its natural habitat so Adam could name them, rather he chose to “form” each one on the spot.  The word “form” in Hebrew means to create out of existing materials, as opposed to the word “create” which we understand to be creation “ex nihilo,” from nothing.

This demonstration of Elohim’s ability to form the creatures had the primary purpose of “proving” to Adam that the Being there with him was in fact the author and maker of all Creation.  Notice later that hasatan does not try and claim Elohim is not the Creator and Owner of all – he could not do this since Adam had seen Elohim form the creatures with his own eyes.   Hasatan could not challenge the fact of creation with Adam – he can only do that with us, because we no longer believe in it.

Before we get to chapter three, there are several people who have lamented that Elohim should have made people so that they cannot sin.  But He did not.  Free will is encoded in the very atoms of this universe, as the Heisenburg Uncertainty Principle and as quantum physics.  Elohim could have made a bunch of little robots that would never disobey and would always say and think that they love Him – but is that real love?  Is it real obedience?  Elohim wants a real relationship with us, by our own free will and choice.  He does not want a bunch a automatons who are programmed to act as if they love Him.  Who would want that?

Free will does, however, give hasatan an “in.”  And not only that, the Heisenburg Uncertainty Principle which gives us free will also gives hasatan the idea that he can win this battle and enthrone himself in the 7^th Heaven as ruler of this universe.  All of creation including the manifestations of Elohim that project into here are bound by the laws of time/space/physics as much as they are bound to the equivalent spiritual laws which govern creation – indeed, they are reflections of each other, interchangeable, one and the same.  But the Ain Sof exists outside of space and time, undetectable to us here – and undetectable to hasatan as well, as a created being trapped in the space/time continuum here with us in creation.   And since the Diety is outside of space and time, he is NOT bound by it at all, and can “correct” any mishaps that hasatan causes.  This is complicated theory and we won’t get into it deeply here, so suffice it to say that the uncertainty principle which gives us free will is an inherent part of this universe, and it means that things don’t always turn out the way we want.  Sin  is possible, evil is possible, and we can and do choose not to do the right things.

Genesis, continued:

Gen 3:1 Now the serpent was more subtle than any animal of the field which YHWH Elohim had made. He said to the woman, “Has Elohim really said, ‘You shall not eat of any tree of the garden?’”

Gen 3:2  The woman said to the serpent, “Of the fruit of the trees of the garden we may eat,

Gen 3:3  but of the fruit of the tree which is in the middle of the garden, Elohim has said, ‘You shall not eat of it, neither shall you touch it, lest you die.’”

Hasatan possessed the serpent, as he will later possess the dead body of the False Messiah after he is assassinated at the midpoint of the Tribulation.  The real problem with this passage is not a possessed snake, it’s the “fence” around Elohim’s commandment which apparently Adam had made up and taught Chawwah (Eve).   Hasatan was able to use the fact that breaking the “fence” rule about not touching had no bad effect to lure Chawah into breaking the real commandment.  This is one fallacy of the “oral law” which the Rabbis have constructed – it doesn’t keep people from sinning, it actually causes people to sin.   Here Adam had apparently done what the Rabbis do every day, adding to or subtracting from the revealed Word of Elohim and claiming those additions are actually what Elohim said to us.  He meant well, I’m sure.  But the end was a disaster.

Genesis, continued:

Gen 3:4  The serpent said to the woman, “You won’t surely die,

Gen 3:5  for Elohim knows that in the day you eat it, your eyes will be opened, and you will be like Elohim, knowing good and evil.”

Gen 3:6  When the woman saw that the tree was good for food, and that it was a delight to the eyes, and that the tree was to be desired to make one wise, she took of the fruit of it, and ate; and she gave some to her husband with her, and he ate.

Gen 3:7  The eyes of both of them were opened, and they knew that they were naked. They sewed fig leaves together, and made themselves aprons.

Since Elohim made Adam and Chawah naked, and they lived naked under Elohim’s care all the time prior to the Fall (which was probably 7 years, a subject we’ll get into during later Torah Portions when we talk about prophecy), being naked itself was not and could not be a “sin.”  You’re not sinning when you’re naked with your spouse, to be blunt.  So what did they learn that made them understand they should not be naked in public, in front of others?

Scripture!

Torah tells us everything that is good and what is evil – the laws of the Torah including the Wisdom of Proverbs and Ecclesiastes, etc, and the teachings of the Prophets is literally all the Knowledge we need for discerning good and evil.  Adam and Chawah learned the Torah when they ate from the Tree of Knowledge – after all, it was Knowledge from Elohim, from a Tree which Elohim made.  It was 100% true knowledge and still is.   In that instant, all the laws of the Torah were impressed on their minds and conscious awareness, and they knew they were required to “dress modestly.”  They did the best they could with what they had to work with right there at hand – leaves.

We, too, must obey in a like manner – with whatever we have available, whether we think it’s adequate or not.  Contrary to what the Rabbis will tell you, there is no black/white dividing line for obedience – no “right way” to obey and nothing else counts.  All obedience to the Torah, done to the BEST of our ability, counts, even if it seems to us barely adequate.  Leaves are better than nothing – this is the true meaning of “the spirit, not the letter.”  It doesn’t mean you ignore the letter, it means your mental and emotional motives to obey the Torah as BEST you can and not disobey, even if it means hardship for you.  That is the substance of our commitment to the Covenant relationship with Elohim.  We obey, whatever it takes.

Genesis, continued:

Gen 3:8 They heard the voice of YHWH Elohim walking in the garden in the cool of the day, and the man and his wife hid themselves from the presence of YHWH Elohim among the trees of the garden.

Gen 3:9  YHWH Elohim called to the man, and said to him, “Where are you?”

Gen 3:10  The man said, “I heard your voice in the garden, and I was afraid, because I was naked; and I hid myself.”

Gen 3:11  Elohim said, “Who told you that you were naked? Have you eaten from the tree that I commanded you not to eat from?”

Gen 3:12  The man said, “The woman whom you gave to be with me, she gave me of the tree, and I ate.”

Gen 3:13  YHWH Elohim said to the woman, “What is this you have done?” The woman said, “The serpent deceived me, and I ate.”

As Moshe wrote this, he used the name “YHWH” even though he had already been told that El Shaddai (feminine) was the manifestation of Elohim known to the patriarchs.  Moshe wrote this way because he never knew Elohim by any name other than YHWH, he was born too late to ever meet with Elohim when manifested as El Shaddai.  Elohim stopped manifesting as El Shaddai because worship of the womb and nurturer of creation was perverted into female idol worship from the earliest days of mankind.  It offended Elohim greatly.

Obviously, in whatever form Elohim appeared, Elohim did not need to ask them what they had done.  Elohim already knew, and could have just appeared and started accusing them.  But that is not how repentence works – we must CONFESS our sins, and acknowledge them, in order to truly repent.  Elohim wants us to repent freely, just as our love and obedience is better if it is given freely.  A real relationship has to be based on free will, or it has no meaning.  That does not mean, of course, that there will not be consequences if we choose sin.

Genesis, continued:

Gen 3:14  YHWH Elohim said to the serpent, “Because you have done this, cursed are you above all livestock, and above every animal of the field. On your belly shall you go, and you shall eat dust all the days of your life.

Gen 3:15  I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your offspring and her offspring. He will bruise your head, and you will bruise his heel.”

It has long been understood that hasatan or any demon cannot possess you unless you give them an opening or actually invite or allow them to do so.  Apparently, the serpent in some way did so.

The prophecy of 3:15, of course, has long been understood to refer to Messiah.

Genesis, continued:

Gen 3:16 To the woman he said, “I will greatly multiply your pain in childbirth. In pain you will bring forth children. Your desire will be for your husband, and he will rule over you.”

Sex and childbirth are not sins – indeed all animals and Adam and Eve themselves were given their first commandment to “go forth and multiply.”   It has often been asked what childbirth has to do with her sin – and some wild speculations have resulted.  But the most basic issue is that now her sinful nature will be passed on to her offspring – and Adam’s too.   The Pain is a reminder.

Genesis, continued:

Gen 3:17  To Adam he said, “Because you have listened to your wife’s voice, and have eaten of the tree, of which I commanded you, saying, ‘You shall not eat of it,’ cursed is the ground for your sake. In toil you will eat of it all the days of your life.

Gen 3:18  Thorns also and thistles will it bring forth to you; and you will eat the herb of the field.

Gen 3:19  By the sweat of your face will you eat bread until you return to the ground, for out of it you were taken. For you are dust, and to dust you shall return.”

Gen 3:20 The man called his wife Chawah, because she was the mother of all living.

Here, Adam and Chawah are both punished, one in giving life to future men, and the other in giving death to them.  The yin-yang of this punishment, and they whys and wherefores, have been the subject of intense speculation over the years, and we will not go into that here.   Suffice it to say the punishments are as much spiritual as they are physical, since E=MC(2).

What does food have to do with it?  The garden represents the Tabernacle and the Temple, and was set up in a similar fashion, with the Trees of Knowledge and Life at the innermost location.  In the Messianic Kingdom, we read that the Trees along the river of life will give crops every month, and the leaves will be for the healing of the nations.  In Eden, food was not a concern, either.  It just appeared, and they ate.  They ignored Elohim’s one commandment for lust of forbidden food, and therefore it is fitting that their punishment involve acquisition of food.

Genesis, continued:

Gen 3:21  YHWH Elohim made coats of skins for Adam and for his wife, and clothed them.

The coverings they had made for themselves were inadequate, so Elohim made them effective ones.  This was the first sacrifice for sin – a bull, we may presume, a sin offering.  Adam, as the first High Priest under the order of the Firstborns, would have acquired the leather as part of his allotment for carrying out his duty to offer the sacrifices.

Genesis, continued:

Gen 3:22  YHWH Ehohim said, “Behold, the man has become like one of us, knowing good and evil. Now, lest he put forth his hand, and also take of the tree of life, and eat, and live forever…”

Gen 3:23  Therefore YHWH Elohim sent him forth from the garden of `Eden, to till the ground from which he was taken.

Gen 3:24  So he drove out the man; and he placed Keruvs at the east of the garden of `Eden, and the flame of a sword which turned every way, to guard the way to the tree of life.

It should be entirely clear from this passage that man does NOT at this time have immortality.  Man was banished from the Garden of Eden specifically to PREVENT him from having immortality.  Man only obtains immortality through the Parousia or through one of the Resurrections, being transformed into a different state of matter that is eternal rather than temporal, and can only do so by entering the Covenant Relationship with Elohim.  (This will be discussed more in relation to judgement in later Torah Portions.  It does not mean that people who never heard of Torah or Messiah cannot enter into the kingdom at all, for example.  But rulership of the Kingdom is reserved for Obedient Believers alone.)

Genesis, continued:

Gen 4:1 The man knew Chawah his wife. She conceived, and gave birth to Kayin, and said, “I have gotten a man with YHWH’s help.”

Gen 4:2  And continuing to give birth, she brought forth Kayin’s brother Hevel. Hevel was a keeper of sheep, but Kayin was a tiller of the ground.

The pattern of giving birth to twins, and the younger being more favorable to Elohim than the older, is established immediately in the human family.  This meme has great prophetic and spiritual significance, and is repeated numerous times in scripture.

Genesis, continued:

Gen 4:3 As time passed, it happened that Kayin brought an offering to YHWH from the fruit of the ground.

Gen 4:4  Hevel also brought some of the firstborn of his flock and of the fat of it. YHWH respected Hevel and his offering,

Gen 4:5  but he didn’t respect Kayin and his offering. Kayin was very angry, and the expression on his face fell.

Gen 4:6  YHWH said to Kayin, “Why are you angry? Why has the expression of your face fallen?

Gen 4:7  If you do well, will it not be lifted up? If you don’t do well, sin crouches at the door. Its desire is for you, but you are to rule over it.”

Let’s be clear here – they knew about proper offerings and sin already, because Adam would have taught them the Torah he learned from the Tree.  During the time of the patriarchs, the Knowledge of Torah was passed down from father to son and from mother to daughter.  Over the succeeding generations, of course, this allowed distortions and mistakes to creep in – which is why many ancient cultures had similar laws and stories as the Hebrew Torah.  Like the game of post-office, over time such transmissions became flawed, though many laws and customes retained similarities to the original Torah.

We can only speculate what was wrong with Kayin’s offering – perhaps it wasn’t really the BEST or perhaps his attitude was the problem. As the oldest son, he should have been next in line as High Priest of the family after his father Adam, but it’s clear he wasn’t taking his responsibility seriously.

Genesis, continued:

Gen 4:8 Kayin said to Hevel, his brother, “Let’s go into the field.” It happened when they were in the field, that Kayin rose up against Hevel, his brother, and killed him.

The Masorite Text and the Dead Sea scroll text omit the phrase “Let us go to the field.”  However, the text apperas in Samaritan Pentateuch, the Aramaic Peshitta, and the LXX.  Without it, the passage is obviously missing some important information.

Genesis, continued:

Gen 4:9  YHWH said to Kayin, “Where is Hevel, your brother?” He said, “I don’t know. Am I my brother’s keeper?”

Again, Elohim didn’t’ need to ask.  Again, Kayin was given an opportunity to confess.

Genesis, continued:

Gen 4:10  YHWH said, “What have you done? The voice of your brother’s bloods cries to me from the ground.

In the Hebrew, the word is literally the plural “bloods” because not just Hevel was killed, but all of his descendants were simultaneously killed.  His family line was ended.

Genesis, continued:

Gen 4:11  Now you are cursed because of the ground, which has opened its mouth to receive your brother’s blood from your hand.

Gen 4:12  From now on, when you till the ground, it won’t yield its strength to you. You shall be a fugitive and a wanderer in the earth.”

Gen 4:13  Kayin said to YHWH, “My punishment is greater than I can bear.

Gen 4:14  Behold, you have driven me out this day from the surface of the ground. I will be hidden from your face, and I will be a fugitive and a wanderer in the earth. It will happen that whoever finds me will kill me.”

Gen 4:15  YHWH said to him, “Therefore whoever slays Kayin, vengeance will be taken on him sevenfold.” YHWH appointed a sign for Kayin, lest any finding him should strike him.

It is clear that the idea of “kinsman redeemer” was already known, since it was in the Torah as the “avenger of blood” and Adam learned the Torah when he ate from the Tree, and taught all his children.  Kayin knew his life was forfeit, but he appealed to Elohim to not allow any more of the family line of Adam to be exterminated from the face of the Earth, and Elohim agreed to let his family line live on.  We can presume some repetence must be involved for Elohim to agree to this, since Adam and Eve already had daughters and could easily have other sons.  To that end, some mark was made on his forehead to indicate to the others that he had been pardoned by Elohim.   What that mark may have been is the subject of speculation.

Genesis, continued:

Gen 4:16  Kayin went out from YHWH’s presence, and lived in the land of Nod, east of `Eden.

“Nod” may be a proper name, or it could just mean “wandering.”

Genesis, continued:

Gen 4:17  Kayin knew his wife. She conceived, and gave birth to Chanokh. He built a city, and called the name of the city, after the name of his son, Chanokh.

Gen 4:18  To Chanokh was born `Irad. `Irad became the father of Mechuya’el. Mechuya’el became the father of Metusha’el. Metusha’el became the father of Lamekh.

Gen 4:19  Lamekh took two wives: the name of the one was `Adah, and the name of the other Tzillah.

Gen 4:20  `Adah gave birth to Yaval, who was the father of those who dwell in tents and have livestock.

Gen 4:21  His brother’s name was Yuval, who was the father of all who handle the harp and pipe.

Gen 4:22  Tzillah also gave birth to Tuval-Kayin, the forger of every cutting instrument of brass and iron. Tuval-Kayin’s sister was Na`amah.

Gen 4:23  Lamekh said to his wives, “`Adah and Tzillah, hear my voice. You wives of Lamekh, listen to my speech, for I have slain a man for wounding me, a young man for bruising me.

Gen 4:24  If Kayin will be avenged seven times, truly Lamekh seventy-seven times.”

Kayin and his sister left the area where Adam and Chawah lived, but repentence didn’t completely remove the “bad blood” from his line, since it was his offspring that committed the second recorded murder as well – this time with no earthly pardon from Elohim.

Genesis, continued:

Gen 4:25  Adam knew his wife again. She gave birth to a son, and named him Seth, “for Elohim has appointed me another child instead of Hevel, for Kayin killed him.”

Gen 4:26  There was also born a son to Seth, and he named him Enosh. Then men began to call on YHWH’s name.

Sometimes tranliterated “Shet,” the third son of Adam and Chawah took Torah to heart, and like his older brother Hevel before him, worshipped Elohim properly and with a good mind.  With Kayin disqualified and Hevel dead, Seth was now next in line to be High Priest of the Family under the order of the Firstborns.  His family line is now the Priestly line.  His line leads directly to Shem, Noah’s firstborn, and also directly to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.  They are all of the original priestly line under the Order of the Firstborns.

Genesis, continued:

Gen 5:1 This is the book of the generations of Adam. In the day that Elohim created man, he made him in Elohim’s likeness.

Gen 5:2  He created them male and female, and blessed them, and called their name Adam, in the day when they were created.

Gen 5:3  Adam lived one hundred thirty years, and became the father of a son in his own likeness, after his image, and named him Seth.

Gen 5:4  The days of Adam after he became the father of Seth were eight hundred years, and he became the father of sons and daughters.

Gen 5:5  All the days that Adam lived were nine hundred thirty years, then he died.

Gen 5:6  Seth lived one hundred five years, and became the father of Enosh.

Gen 5:7  Seth lived after he became the father of Enosh eight hundred seven years, and became the father of sons and daughters.

Gen 5:8  All the days of Seth were nine hundred twelve years, then he died.

Gen 5:9  Enosh lived ninety years, and became the father of Kenan.

Gen 5:10  Enosh lived after he became the father of Kenan, eight hundred fifteen years, and became the father of sons and daughters.

Gen 5:11  All the days of Enosh were nine hundred five years, then he died.

Gen 5:12  Kenan lived seventy years, and became the father of Mahalal’el.

Gen 5:13  Kenan lived after he became the father of Mahalal’el eight hundred forty years, and became the father of sons and daughters

Gen 5:14  and all the days of Kenan were nine hundred ten years, then he died.

Gen 5:15  Mahalal’el lived sixty-five years, and became the father of Yered.

Gen 5:16  Mahalal’el lived after he became the father of Yered eight hundred thirty years, and became the father of sons and daughters.

Gen 5:17  All the days of Mahalal’el were eight hundred ninety-five years, then he died.

Gen 5:18  Yered lived one hundred sixty-two years, and became the father of Chanokh.

Gen 5:19  Yered lived after he became the father of Chanokh eight hundred years, and became the father of sons and daughters.

Gen 5:20  All the days of Yered were nine hundred sixty-two years, then he died.

Gen 5:21  Chanokh lived sixty-five years, and became the father of Metushelach.

Gen 5:22  Chanokh walked with Elohim after he became the father of Metushelach three hundred years, and became the father of sons and daughters.

Gen 5:23  All the days of Chanokh were three hundred sixty-five years.

Gen 5:24  Chanokh walked with Elohim, and he was not, for Elohim took him.

Usually translated as “Enoch” in English, this is the first of the Two Witnesses who will die their physical death at a later time, at the midpoint of the Tribulation.   Elijah is the other of the Two Witnesses.  Their job, so to speak, is to be “witnesses for the prosecution” at the time of Judgement.  Enoch represents the pre-deluge generations, Elijah the post-deluge era.

Genesis, continued:

Gen 5:25  Metushelach lived one hundred eighty-seven years, and became the father of Lamekh.

Gen 5:26  Metushelach lived after he became the father of Lamekh seven hundred eighty-two years, and became the father of sons and daughters.

Gen 5:27  All the days of Metushelach were nine hundred sixty-nine years, then he died.

Gen 5:28  Lamekh lived one hundred eighty-two years, and became the father of a son,

Gen 5:29  and he named him Noach, saying, “This same will comfort us in our work and in the toil of our hands, because of the ground which YHWH has cursed.”

Gen 5:30  Lamekh lived after he became the father of Noach five hundred ninety-five years, and became the father of sons and daughters.

Gen 5:31  All the days of Lamekh were seven hundred seventy-seven years, then he died.

Gen 5:32  Noach was five hundred years old, and Noach became the father of Shem, Cham, and Yefet.

As you can see from this chart, Adam was alive for most of the lifetimes of his descendants up until right before Noah.  They could have, if so inclined, learned Torah directly from him, and there is no reason to believe he did not teach the Torah to the Patriarchs directly himself up until he died.

Genesis, continued:

Gen 6:1 It happened, when men began to multiply on the surface of the ground, and daughters were born to them,

Gen 6:2  that Elohim’s sons saw that men’s daughters were beautiful, and they took for themselves wives of all that they chose.

Gen 6:3  YHWH said, “My Spirit will not strive with man forever, because he also is flesh; yet will his days be one hundred twenty years.”

Gen 6:4  The Nefilim were in the earth in those days, and also after that, when Elohim’s sons came in to men’s daughters. They bore children to them. Those were the mighty men who were of old, men of renown.

It is possible that the Nephilim were the offspring of a cross between Adam’s line, homo sapiens sapiens, and other pre-adamite races.  It has been shown scientifically that early modern man did in fact cross breed somewhat with neandertals and other sub-human species.  Since Elohim had commanded Adam’s line to breed “after their own kind,” this would have been a sin in and of itself.  But this is not the most accepted interpretation, obviously.  Religious traditions have other interpretations, especially from the Hellenistic era apocryphal text “The Book of Enoch,” and these are more widely discussed.

To modern thinkers, the Nephilim, apparently the offspring of fallen angels and human women, have inspired both denial and curiosity over the years.  We can infer a few things about the Nephilim and their purpose on earth from theology in general and from scripture.  First and foremost, it seems that hasatan’s plan at this point might have been to prevent the birth of Messiah by contaminating the human bloodline completely.  We see a hint of that in the story of Noach, who was “perfect in his generations,” – that is, had no Nephilim DNA.  Secondly, the Nephilim probably had greatly extended lifespans and various occult powers, and their “names” may have come down to us as the pagan “gods” of ancient times.  Zeus, etc., could all have been Nephilim.  Interestingly, what we know from pagan mythology is that not all Nephilim were “evil.”  Some did their apparent best to help people and were as benevolent as they knew how to be in the rule over their subjects.  This would have demonstrated to hasatan that this strategy was ultimately a failure – if the Nephilim would not all be willing to subjugate people, force the worship of hasatan and rule in hasatan’s name, then they were not useful to him.  When Elohim made it clear He would, in fact, destroy people rather than let the whole human race be contaminated, hasatan had to for the most part abandon this plan.

Genesis, continued:

Gen 6:5  YHWH saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that every imagination of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually.

Gen 6:6  YHWH was sorry that he had made man on the earth, and it grieved him in his heart.

Gen 6:7  YHWH said, “I will destroy man whom I have created from the surface of the ground; man, along with animals, creeping things, and birds of the sky; for I am sorry that I have made them.”

Gen 6:8  But Noach found favor in YHWH’s eyes.

There are still many people who believe that Elohim micro-manages the universe, and that everything is set in stone.  It is much more likely that this would violate free will, and therefore would not be something Elohim would be interested in doing.  It is more probable, then, that while the broad range of prophecy is true and will come to pass, that our individual parts, the decisions we make in our lives, are in fact the result of free will and are not usually manipulated by Elohim.

That doesn’t mean that Elohim won’t act if we pray about certain things – but it does mean that there is a wide variation in “paths” we can take that will all necessarily end up at the same “big picture” prophetically – the battle of Armageddon and the return of Yeshua to earth as YHWH Tzeva’ot, the King of Kings.  The “big picture” can’t be changed, but the tiny details of the picture can be – based on our individual everyday choices.  We do have free will, and that means things can and do go wrong, evil can and does exist, and Elohim does not micromanage – he manages at the macro level unless we specifically pray for him to intervene in some situation.  However, we call it a miracle when he does intervene because he does it so infrequently.  When Elohim says that punishments come down to the third and fourth generations from a sinner, what he is really saying is that he is not ordinary going to interfere in plain old cause and effect.  If we sin, we mess up our kids and our grandkids lives – just as Adam and Eve did.  We set the circumstances in motion with our words, our behavior, our attitudes, and our teachings – and our descendants have to live with the cards we dealt them.

Sobering thought, parents.

Next:  Haftara Beresheit.

Kollel Hazinu

Kollel Hazinu

Hebrews chapter 12

Heb 12:1 Therefore let us also, seeing we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, lay aside every weight and the sin which so easily entangles us, and let us run with patience the race that is set before us,

Heb 12:2  looking to Yeshua, the author and perfecter of faith, who for the joy that was set before him endured the stake, despising shame, and has sat down at the right hand of the throne of Elohim.

Heb 12:3  For consider him who has endured such contradiction of sinners against himself, that you don’t grow weary, fainting in your souls.

Heb 12:4  You have not yet resisted to blood, striving against sin;

Heb 12:5  and you have forgotten the exhortation which reasons with you as with children, “My son, don’t take lightly the chastening of Adonai, nor faint when you are reproved by him;

Heb 12:6  For whom Adonai loves, he chastens, and scourges every son whom he receives.”

This is a quote from Proverbs:

Pro 3:9  Honor YHWH with your substance, with the first fruits of all your increase:   Pro 3:10  so your barns will be filled with plenty, and your vats will overflow with new wine.   Pro 3:11  My son, don’t despise YHWH’s discipline, neither be weary of his reproof:   Pro 3:12 for whom YHWH loves, he reproves; even as a father reproves the son in whom he delights.

Hebrews, continued:

Heb 12:7  It is for discipline that you endure. Elohim deals with you as with children, for what son is there whom his father doesn’t discipline?

Heb 12:8  But if you are without discipline, of which all have been made partakers, then are you illegitimate, and not children.

Heb 12:9  Furthermore, we had the fathers of our flesh to chasten us, and we paid them respect. Shall we not much rather be in subjection to the Father of spirits, and live?

Heb 12:10  For they indeed, for a few days, punished us as seemed good to them; but he for our profit, that we may be partakers of his holiness.

Heb 12:11  All chastening seems for the present to be not joyous but grievous; yet afterward it yields the peaceful fruit of righteousness to those who have been exercised thereby.

As we are told, whether we live or die:

Rom 8:26  In the same way, the Spirit also helps our weaknesses, for we don’t know how to pray as we ought. But the Spirit himself makes intercession for us with groanings which can’t be uttered.   Rom 8:27  He who searches the hearts knows what is on the Spirit’s mind, because he makes intercession for the holy ones according to Elohim.   Rom 8:28 We know that all things work together for good for those who love Elohim, to those who are called according to his purpose.   Rom 8:29  For whom he foreknew, he also predestined to be conformed to the image of his Son, that he might be the firstborn among many brothers.

Hebrews, continued:

Heb 12:12  Therefore, lift up the hands that hang down and the feeble knees,

Heb 12:13  and make straight paths for your feet, so that which is lame may not be dislocated, but rather be healed.

Heb 12:14  Follow after shalom with all men, and the sanctification without which no man will see Adonai,

Heb 12:15  looking carefully lest there be any man who falls short of the grace of Elohim; lest any root of bitterness springing up trouble you, and many be defiled by it;

Heb 12:16  lest there be any sexually immoral person, or profane person, as Esav, who sold his birthright for one meal.

Whatever good we have done in the past can be undone by our present sinful life.  We dare not rely on past good works, we must purge sin from our lives now, while there is yet time to do so.

Eze 18:20  The soul who sins, he shall die: the son shall not bear the iniquity of the father, neither shall the father bear the iniquity of the son; the righteousness of the righteous shall be on him, and the wickedness of the wicked shall be on him.

Eze 18:21 But if the wicked turn from all his sins that he has committed, and keep all my statutes, and do that which is lawful and right, he shall surely live, he shall not die.   Eze 18:22  None of his transgressions that he has committed shall be remembered against him: in his righteousness that he has done he shall live.   Eze 18:23  Have I any pleasure in the death of the wicked? says Adonai YHWH; and not rather that he should return from his way, and live?

Eze 18:24  But when the righteous turns away from his righteousness, and commits iniquity, and does according to all the abominations that the wicked man does, shall he live? None of his righteous deeds that he has done shall be remembered: in his trespass that he has trespassed, and in his sin that he has sinned, in them shall he die.

Eze 18:25  Yet you say, The way of Adonai is not equitable. Hear now, house of Yisra’el: Is my way not equitable? Aren’t your ways unequitable?   Eze 18:26  When the righteous man turns away from his righteousness, and commits iniquity, and dies therein; in his iniquity that he has done shall he die.   Eze 18:27  Again, when the wicked man turns away from his wickedness that he has committed, and does that which is lawful and right, he shall save his soul alive.   Eze 18:28  Because he considers, and turns away from all his transgressions that he has committed, he shall surely live, he shall not die.   Eze 18:29  Yet says the house of Yisra’el, The way of the Lord is not equal. house of Yisra’el, are not my ways equal? are not your ways unequal?

Eze 18:30  Therefore I will judge you, house of Yisra’el, everyone according to his ways, says Adonai YHWH. Return you, and turn yourselves from all your transgressions; so iniquity shall not be your ruin.   Eze 18:31  Cast away from you all your transgressions, in which you have transgressed; and make you a new heart and a new spirit: for why will you die, house of Yisra’el?   Eze 18:32  For I have no pleasure in the death of him who dies, says Adonai YHWH: therefore turn yourselves, and live.

Hebrews, continued:

Heb 12:17  For you know that even when he [Esau] afterward desired to inherit the blessing, he was rejected, for he found no place for a change of mind though he sought it diligently with tears.

Heb 12:18  For you have not come to a mountain that might be touched, and that burned with fire, and to blackness, darkness, storm,

Heb 12:19  the sound of a shofar, and the voice of words; which those who heard it begged that not one more word should be spoken to them,

Heb 12:20  for they could not stand that which was commanded, “If even an animal touches the mountain, it shall be stoned;”

Exo 19:10  YHWH said to Moshe, “Go to the people, and sanctify them today and tomorrow, and let them wash their garments,   Exo 19:11  and be ready against the third day; for on the third day YHWH will come down in the sight of all the people on Mount Sinai.   Exo 19:12  You shall set bounds to the people round about, saying, ‘Be careful that you don’t go up onto the mountain, or touch its border. Whoever touches the mountain shall be surely put to death.   Exo 19:13 No hand shall touch him, but he shall surely be stoned or shot through; whether it is animal or man, he shall not live.’ When the shofar sounds long, they shall come up to the mountain.”   Exo 19:14  Moshe went down from the mountain to the people, and sanctified the people; and they washed their clothes.   Exo 19:15  He said to the people, “Be ready by the third day. Don’t have sexual relations with a woman.”   Exo 19:16  It happened on the third day, when it was morning, that there were thunders and lightnings, and a thick cloud on the mountain, and the sound of an exceedingly loud shofar; and all the people who were in the camp trembled.   Exo 19:17  Moshe led the people out of the camp to meet God; and they stood at the lower part of the mountain.

Hebrews, continued:

Heb 12:21  and so fearful was the appearance, that Moshe said, “I am terrified and trembling.”

This is apparently a reference to Rabbinic tradition.

Hebrews, continued:

Heb 12:22  But you have come to Mount Tziyon, and to the city of the living Elohim, the heavenly Yerushalayim, and to innumerable multitudes of angels,

Heb 12:23  to the general assembly and assembly of the firstborn who are enrolled in heaven, to Elohim the Judge of all, to the spirits of just men made perfect,

Heb 12:24  to Yeshua, the mediator of a new covenant, and to the blood of sprinkling that speaks better than that of Hevel.

The “new covenant,” of course, is described by the prophet Jeremiah, and consists of the Ruach HaKodesh writing the Torah in your heart and in your mind so you can obey it.

Jer 31:31  Behold, the days come, saith YHWH, that I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel, and with the house of Judah:   Jer 31:32  Not according to the covenant that I made with their fathers in the day that I took them by the hand to bring them out of the land of Egypt; which my covenant they broke, although I was a husband unto them, says YHWH:   Jer 31:33  But this shall be the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel; After those days, says YHWH, I will put my Torah in their inward parts, and write it in their hearts; and will be their Elohim, and they shall be my people…

Hebrews, continued:

Heb 12:25  See that you don’t refuse him who speaks. For if they didn’t escape when they refused him who warned on the Earth, how much more will we not escape who turn away from him who warns from heaven,

Heb 12:26  whose voice shook the earth then, but now he has promised, saying, “Yet once more I will shake not only the earth, but also the heavens.”

This is a quote from the prophet  Haggai:

Hag 2:5  This is the word that I covenanted with you when you came out of Egypt, and my Spirit lived among you. ‘Don’t be afraid.’   Hag 2:6 For this is what YHWH Tzeva’ot says: ‘Yet once, it is a little while, and I will shake the heavens, the earth, the sea, and the dry land;   Hag 2:7  and I will shake all nations. The precious things of all nations will come, and I will fill this house with glory, says YHWH Tzeva’ot.   Hag 2:8  The silver is mine, and the gold is mine,’ says YHWH Tzeva’ot.   Hag 2:9  ‘The latter glory of this house will be greater than the former,’ says YHWH Tzeva’ot; ‘and in this place will I give shalom,’ says YHWH Tzeva’ot.”

Hebrews, continued:

Heb 12:27  This phrase, “Yet once more,” signifies the removing of those things that are shaken, as of things that have been made, that those things which are not shaken may remain.

Heb 12:28  Therefore, receiving a Kingdom that can’t be shaken, let us have grace, through which we serve Elohim acceptably, with reverence and awe,

Heb 12:29  for our Elohim is a consuming fire.

Chaff (sin) is burnt up – only obedience results in an assay with no impurities.

Next week:  Parashat V’Zot HaBrachah.

Epistle Hazinu

Epistle Hazinu

John chapter 20

Joh 20:1 Now on the first day of the week, Miriam from Magdala went early, while it was still dark, to the tomb, and saw the stone taken away from the tomb.

It is Sunday, the Feast of Firstfruits, which is NOT a sabbath.  Yeshua is the “firstfruits of the dead,” and rose on this day, and the date was Nisan 17^th the year of his death.   It has nothing whatsoever to do with the weekly sabbath and certainly does not change the sabbath in any way.  Firstfruits is not even a sabbath itself.  It is simply the prophetic fulfillment of this minor festival, in which the firstfruits of the spring barley harvest are offered to Elohim.

1Co 15:20 But now Messiah has been raised from the dead. He became the first fruits of those who are asleep.   1Co 15:21  For since death came by man, the resurrection of the dead also came by man.   1Co 15:22  For as in Adam all die, so also in Messiah all will be made alive.   1Co 15:23  But each in his own order: Messiah the first fruits, then those who are Messiah’s, at his coming.

The “spring” harvest would be the martyrs of the first centuries after his death.  The “fall” martyrs will be those at the end of the age, during the birth pangs and the Tribulation.

John, continued:

Joh 20:2  Therefore she ran and came to Shim`on Kefa, and to the other talmid whom Yeshua loved, and said to them, “They have taken away Adonai out of the tomb, and we don’t know where they have laid him!”

Joh 20:3  Therefore Kefa and the other talmid went out, and they went toward the tomb.

Joh 20:4  They both ran together. The other talmid outran Kefa, and came to the tomb first.

Joh 20:5  Stooping and looking in, he saw the linen cloths lying, yet he didn’t enter in.

Joh 20:6  Then Shim`on Kefa came, following him, and entered into the tomb. He saw the linen cloths lying,

Joh 20:7  and the cloth that had been on his head, not lying with the linen cloths, but rolled up in a place by itself.

Joh 20:8  So then the other talmid who came first to the tomb also entered in, and he saw and believed.

Joh 20:9  For as yet they didn’t know the Scripture, that he must rise from the dead.

Joh 20:10  So the talmidim went away again to their own homes.

There is no specific book in the existing Tanakh which states that Messiah will be raised from the dead prior to the general end-time resurrection.  However, there are many books that are lost, or were destroyed purposefully by either the Rabbinate or the Catholic Church, which said things they considered to be “heretical,” one or the other.  These books will most likely be restored to us in the Messianic age.

John, continued:

Joh 20:11  But Miriam was standing outside at the tomb weeping. So, as she wept, she stooped and looked into the tomb,

Joh 20:12  and she saw two angels in white sitting, one at the head, and one at the feet, where the body of Yeshua had lain.

Joh 20:13  They told her, “Woman, why are you weeping?” She said to them, “Because they have taken away Adonai, and I don’t know where they have laid him.”

Elsewhere these are described as “men” (Luke 24:4) but what they are, in fact, is the Two Witnesses, Enoch and Elijah, who had been dispatched by the heavenly court to confirm before dawn that the Firstfruits offering was without blemish or defect. Like Moshe, they would have “glowed” from their time spent in the presence of Elohim, therefore it was easy for the women (who admittedly might not have been schooled entirely on them and their mission) to confuse them with angels.   The Witnesses earthly counterparts, the farmers of the fields, would have been doing the same thing at the same time as they were – their sheaves had been bundled on Thursday afternoon on Passover (which is also not itself a sabbath), as Yeshua was being bundled in his graveclothes.  That was their last opportunity to do field work, because Friday was the First day of Unleavened Bread, which is a sabbath, and Saturday was the regular weekly sabbath.  So they would have needed to inspect the sheaves before dawn to make sure nothing had happened to them that would render them unfit for the Firstfruits offering.

John, continued:

Joh 20:14  When she had said this, she turned around and saw Yeshua standing, and didn’t know that it was Yeshua.

Joh 20:15  Yeshua said to her, “Woman, why are you weeping? Who are you looking for?” She, supposing him to be the gardener, said to him, “Sir, if you have carried him away, tell me where you have laid him, and I will take him away.”

Joh 20:16  Yeshua said to her, “Miriam.” She turned and said to him, “Rhabbouni!” which is to say, “Rabbi!”

Joh 20:17  Yeshua said to her, “Don’t touch me, for I haven’t yet ascended to my Father; but go to my brothers, and tell them, ‘I am ascending to my Father and your Father, to my Elohim and your Elohim.’”

Yeshua still needed to present himself at the heavenly temple and be accepted as the Firstfruits offering.  This doesn’t take place until after sunrise, which gave him time to speak with her in the pre-dawn light.

John, continued:

Joh 20:18  Miriam from Magdala came and told the talmidim that she had seen Adonai, and that he had said these things to her.

Joh 20:19  When therefore it was evening, on that day, the first day of the week, and when the doors were locked where the talmidim were assembled, for fear of the Judeans, Yeshua came and stood in the midst, and said to them, “Shalom be to you.”

As we learn elsewhere (Luke 24), after he presented himself at the heavenly court, he appeared to two men walking on the road to Emmaus, and traveled and conversed with them regarding the prophecies and their fulfillment until evening was approaching.  He broke bread with them, and vanished – to appear here at the upper room.

John, continued:

Joh 20:20  When he had said this, he showed them his hands and his side. The talmidim therefore were glad when they saw Adonai.

Joh 20:21  Yeshua therefore said to them again, “Shalom be to you. As the Father has sent me, even so I send you.”

Joh 20:22  When he had said this, he breathed on them, and said to them, “Receive the Holy Spirit!

Joh 20:23  Whoever’s sins you forgive, they are forgiven them. Whoever’s sins you retain, they have been retained.”

The authority of the Sanhedrin, which had been usurped by political appointees, collaborators who were loyal to Rome and not to Judaism or Judea, and  “priests” whose positions were bought with money rather than following the required hereditary lines – their authority  was now transferred to the apostles.

John, continued:

Joh 20:24  But T’oma, one of the Twelve, called Didymus, wasn’t with them when Yeshua came.

Joh 20:25  The other talmidim therefore said to him, “We have seen Adonai!” But he said to them, “Unless I see in his hands the print of the nails, and put my hand into his side, I will not believe.”

Joh 20:26  After eight days again his talmidim were inside, and T’oma was with them. Yeshua came, the doors being locked, and stood in the midst, and said, “Shalom be to you.”

Joh 20:27  Then he said to T’oma, “Reach here your finger, and see my hands. Reach here your hand, and put it into my side. Don’t be unbelieving, but believing.”

Joh 20:28  T’oma answered him, “Adonai and Elohei!”

Joh 20:29  Yeshua said to him, “Because you have seen me, you have believed. Blessed are those who have not seen, and have believed.”

Joh 20:30  Therefore Yeshua did many other signs in the presence of his talmidim, which are not written in this book;

Joh 20:31  but these are written, that you may believe that Yeshua is the Messiah, the Son of Elohim, and that believing you may have life in his name.

Thoma is a typeology of the remnant of Torah True Jews who flee Jerusalem at the midpoint of the Tribulation.  They are the “twin,” the co-heir, with gentile believers.  Yeshua will meet with them after the Second Advent in Southern Jordan, probably Petra, and present his credentials to them, and the judgement of sheep and goats will commence.

Eze 20:33  As I live, says Adonai YHWH, surely with a mighty hand, and with an outstretched arm, and with wrath poured out, will I be king over you:   Eze 20:34  and I will bring you out from the peoples, and will gather you out of the countries in which you are scattered, with a mighty hand, and with an outstretched arm, and with wrath poured out;   Eze 20:35 and I will bring you into the wilderness of the peoples, and there will I enter into judgment with you face to face.   Eze 20:36  Like as I entered into judgment with your fathers in the wilderness of the land of Egypt, so will I enter into judgment with you, says Adonai YHWH.   Eze 20:37  I will cause you to pass under the rod, and I will bring you into the bond of the covenant;   Eze 20:38  and I will purge out from among you the rebels, and those who disobey against me; I will bring them forth out of the land where they sojourn, but they shall not enter into Eretz-Yisra’el: and you shall know that I am YHWH.

Amen, even so, come Adonai Yeshua!

Next:  Kollel Hazinu

Talmidim Hazinu

Talmidim Hazinu

Revelation chapters 18 & 19

Chapter 17, recall, was a vignette concerning the “whore of babylon,” the false religious system that had ensnared all the kingdoms of the earth.  The 10 kings who will have power with the False Messiah, however, collude to convince him to discard the “whore,” and instead embark on a direct military campaign to control the rebellious nations of the earth.

Revelation, continued:

Rev 18:1 After these things, I saw another angel coming down out of the sky, having great authority. The earth was illuminated with his glory.

Rev 18:2  He cried with a mighty voice, saying, “Fallen, fallen is Bavel the great, and she has become a habitation of demons, a prison of every unclean spirit, and a prison of every unclean and hateful bird!

Rev 18:3  For all the nations have drunk of the wine of the wrath of her sexual immorality, the kings of the earth committed sexual immorality with her, and the merchants of the earth grew rich from the abundance of her luxury.”

If this sounds suspicously like New York and Wall Street or America in general, you would not be the first person to notice.  However, all we can be sure of is that the “capital” city of the False Messiah is also the financial and economic center of the world government, and when it falls the economic control that was made possible by the “mark of the beast” system falls with it.

Revelation, continued:

Rev 18:4  I heard another voice from heaven, saying, “Come out of her, my people, that you have no participation in her sins, and that you don’t receive of her plagues,

Rev 18:5  for her sins have reached to the sky, and Elohim has remembered her iniquities.

Rev 18:6  Return to her just as she returned, and repay her double as she did, and according to her works. In the cup which she mixed, mix to her double.

Rev 18:7  However much she glorified herself, and grew wanton, so much give her of torment and mourning. For she says in her heart, ‘I sit a queen, and am no widow, and will in no way see mourning.’

Rev 18:8  Therefore in one day her plagues will come: death, mourning, and famine; and she will be utterly burned with fire; for Adonai Elohim who has judged her is strong.

She receives her destruction in “one day,” most likely from a nuclear attack, since we read below that the destruction took place in only “one hour”  – although conventional weapons cannot be ruled out as participating.

Revelation, continued:

Rev 18:9  The kings of the earth, who committed sexual immorality and lived wantonly with her, will weep and wail over her, when they look at the smoke of her burning,

Rev 18:10  standing far away for the fear of her torment, saying, ‘Woe, woe, the great city, Bavel, the strong city! For your judgment has come in one hour.’

Rev 18:11  The merchants of the earth weep and mourn over her, for no one buys their merchandise any more;

Rev 18:12  merchandise of gold, silver, precious stones, pearls, fine linen, purple, silk, scarlet, all expensive wood, every vessel of ivory, every vessel made of most precious wood, and of brass, and iron, and marble;

Rev 18:13  and cinnamon, incense, perfume, frankincense, wine, olive oil, fine flour, wheat, sheep, horses, chariots, and people’s bodies and souls.

Apparently slavery will make a big comeback during the Tribulation – not that it has ever disappeared, but it will no longer be underground.  Many believers will likely be sold into slavery for refusing to cooperate with the False Messiah’s government – or their children, perhaps, if they themselves are executed.

Revelation, continued:

Rev 18:14  The fruits which your soul lusted after have been lost to you, and all things that were dainty and sumptuous have perished from you, and you will find them no more at all.

Rev 18:15  The merchants of these things, who were made rich by her, will stand far away for the fear of her torment, weeping and mourning;

Rev 18:16  saying, ‘Woe, woe, the great city, she who was dressed in fine linen, purple, and scarlet, and decked with gold and precious stones and pearls!

Just as the CEOs of the credit card companies have become obscenely wealthy by skimming a percentage off of every credit card transation now, those who control the “mark of the beast” economy will have a cut of every transaction, not just credit card purchases.  They will be rolling in money while the lower classes, including obedient believers who refuse the mark, will be starving and languishing.

Revelation, continued:

Rev 18:17  For in an hour such great riches are made desolate.’ Every shipmaster, and everyone who sails anywhere, and mariners, and as many as gain their living by sea, stood far away,

Rev 18:18  and cried out as they looked at the smoke of her burning, saying, ‘What is like the great city?’

Rev 18:19  They cast dust on their heads, and cried, weeping and mourning, saying, ‘Woe, woe, the great city, in which all who had their ships in the sea were made rich by reason of her great wealth!’ For in one hour is she made desolate.

Without the electronic system to keep the commerce running smoothely, trade in the “mark of the beast” economy cannot function.  With no physical means of making payments to those who manufacture the goods, shipping grinds to a halt.

Revelation, continued:

Rev 18:20  “Rejoice over her, O heaven, you holy ones, emissaries, and prophets; for Elohim has judged your judgment on her.”

Rev 18:21  A mighty angel took up a stone like a great millstone and cast it into the sea, saying, “Thus with violence will Bavel, the great city, be thrown down, and will be found no more at all.

Rev 18:22  The voice of harpists, minstrels, flute players, and trumpeters will be heard no more at all in you. No craftsman, of whatever craft, will be found any more at all in you. The sound of a mill will be heard no more at all in you.

Rev 18:23  The light of a lamp will shine no more at all in you. The voice of the bridegroom and of the bride will be heard no more at all in you; for your merchants were the princes of the earth; for with your sorcery all the nations were deceived.

Rev 18:24  In her was found the blood of prophets and of holy ones, and of all who have been slain on the earth.”

The “mark of the beast” economic system will be responsible for the deaths of millions of believers – contrary to what many survivalists imagine, there will be no hoarding, no safety, and no supernatural protection for believers during the Tribulation.  The Beast prevails against them.

But we should not be afraid to give up our physical lives, because we will have our lives back for eternity.

Revelation, continued:

Rev 19:1 After these things I heard something like a loud voice of a great multitude in heaven, saying, “Halleluyah! Salvation, power, and glory belong to our Elohim:

Rev 19:2  for true and righteous are his judgments. For he has judged the great prostitute, who corrupted the earth with her sexual immorality, and he has avenged the blood of his servants at her hand.”

Rev 19:3  A second said, “Halleluyah! Her smoke goes up forever and ever.”

The place of the False Messiah’s capital city will never again be inhabitable.  It is possible that the “smoke” rises perpetually due to the city being located on top of petroleum reserves of some type, as is likely in physical Babylon.

Revelation, continued:

Rev 19:4  The twenty-four elders and the four living creatures fell down and worshiped Elohim who sits on the throne, saying, “Amein! Halleluyah!”

Rev 19:5  A voice came forth from the throne, saying, “Give praise to our Elohim, all you his servants, you who fear him, the small and the great!”

Rev 19:6  I heard something like the voice of a great multitude, and like the voice of many waters, and like the voice of mighty thunders, saying, “Halleluyah! For Adonai our Elohim, the Almighty, reigns!

The False Messiah’s kingdom is on it’s last legs – he has lost control completely, but will keep fighting until the last possible second.

Revelation, continued:

Rev 19:7  Let us rejoice and be exceedingly glad, and let us give the glory to him. For the marriage of the Lamb has come, and his wife has made herself ready.”

Rev 19:8  It was given to her that she would array herself in bright, pure, fine linen: for the fine linen is the righteous acts of the holy ones.

Rev 19:9  He said to me, “Write, ‘Blessed are those who are invited to the marriage supper of the Lamb.’” He said to me, “These are true words of Elohim.”

Jacob is a typeology of the Messiah here.  First, he married the bride “chosen for him,” Leah, who represents those obedient believers included in the parousia – the “saved” who were chosen from the foundation of the earth.  He then spent his “week,” in our case 7 years, with her in the bridal chambers of his father’s house, and then had his wedding with the bride he was first contracted to marry, Rachel, who represents the mortal nation of Israel – those on earth.   The seven “days” are the “Time of Jacob’s Trouble,” and they represent the 7 year tribulation between the Parousia and the inaguration of the Messianic Age after the Second Advent.

Revelation, continued:

Rev 19:10  I fell down before his feet to worship him. He said to me, “Look! Don’t do it! I am a fellow bondservant with you and with your brothers who hold the testimony of Yeshua. Worship Elohim, for the testimony of Yeshua is the Spirit of Prophecy.”

Rev 19:11  I saw the heaven opened, and behold, a white horse, and he who sat on it is called Faithful and True. In righteousness he judges and makes war.

Rev 19:12  His eyes are a flame of fire, and on his head are many crowns. He has names written and a name written which no one knows but he himself.

Rev 19:13  He is clothed in a garment sprinkled with blood. His name is called “The Word of Elohim.”

Rev 19:14  The armies which are in heaven followed him on white horses, clothed in white, pure, fine linen.

His armies are not just angels, but those of the Parousia, now immortal, who will reign as kings and priests over the nations of the earth.

Revelation, continued:

Rev 19:15  Out of his mouth proceeds a sharp, double-edged sword, that with it he should strike the nations. He will rule them with an iron rod. He treads the winepress of the fierceness of the wrath of Elohim, the Almighty.

Rev 19:16  He has on his garment and on his thigh a name written, “KING OF KINGS, AND LORD OF LORDS.”

The prophets describe this Being in several places.  For example:

Deu 10:17 For YHWH your Elohim, he is God of gods, and Lord of lords, the great Elohim, the mighty, and the awesome, who doesn’t regard persons, nor takes reward.

Psa 136:1  Give thanks to YHWH, for he is good; for his loving kindness endures forever.   Psa 136:2  Give thanks to the God of gods; for his loving kindness endures forever.   Psa 136:3  Give thanks to the Lord of lords; for his loving kindness endures forever:

1Ti 6:13  I charge you before Elohim, who gives life to all things, and before Messiah Yeshua, who before Pontius Pilate testified the good confession,   1Ti 6:14  that you keep the mitzvah without spot, blameless, until the appearing of Adonai Yeshua the Messiah;   1Ti 6:15 which in its own times he will show, who is the blessed and only Ruler, the King of kings, and Lord of lords;   1Ti 6:16  who alone has immortality, dwelling in unapproachable light; whom no man has seen, nor can see: to whom be honor and eternal power. Amein.

And recall from chapter 17:

Rev 17:14 These will war against the Lamb, and the Lamb will overcome them, for he is Lord of lords, and King of kings. They also will overcome who are with him, called and chosen and faithful.”

Revelation, continued:

Rev 19:17  I saw an angel standing in the sun. He cried with a loud voice, saying to all the birds that fly in the sky, “Come! Be gathered together to the great supper of Elohim,

Rev 19:18  that you may eat the flesh of kings, the flesh of captains, the flesh of mighty men, and the flesh of horses and of those who sit on them, and the flesh of all men, both free and slave, and small and great.”

This is an invitation for the birds to partake in the aftermath of the Battle of Armageddon, which is about to be waged.

Isaiah 18:3  All you inhabitants of the world, and you dwellers on the earth, when a banner is lifted up on the mountains, look! When the shofar is blown, listen!   Isa 18:4  For YHWH said to me, “I will be still, and I will see in my dwelling place, like clear heat in sunshine, like a cloud of dew in the heat of harvest.”   Isa 18:5  For before the harvest, when the blossom is over, and the flower becomes a ripening grape, he will cut off the sprigs with pruning hooks, and he will cut down and take away the spreading branches.  

Isa 18:6  They will be left together for the ravenous birds of the mountains, and for the animals of the earth. The ravenous birds will summer on them, and all the animals of the earth will winter on them.   Isa 18:7  In that time, a present will be brought to YHWH Tzeva’ot from a people tall and smooth, even from a people awesome from their beginning onward, a nation that measures out and treads down, whose land the rivers divide, to the place of the name of YHWH Tzeva’ot, Mount Tziyon.

Ezekiel 39:17 You, son of man, thus says Adonai YHWH: Speak to the birds of every sort, and to every animal of the field, Assemble yourselves, and come; gather yourselves on every side to my sacrifice that I do sacrifice for you, even a great sacrifice on the mountains of Yisra’el, that you may eat flesh and drink blood.   Eze 39:18  You shall eat the flesh of the mighty, and drink the blood of the princes of the earth, of rams, of lambs, and of goats, of bulls, all of them fatlings of Bashan.   Eze 39:19  You shall eat fat until you be full, and drink blood until you be drunken, of my sacrifice which I have sacrificed for you.   Eze 39:20  You shall be filled at my table with horses and chariots, with mighty men, and with all men of war, says Adonai YHWH.

Eze 39:21  I will set my glory among the nations; and all the nations shall see my judgment that I have executed, and my hand that I have laid on them.   Eze 39:22  So the house of Yisra’el shall know that I am YHWH their Elohim, from that day and forward.   Eze 39:23  The nations shall know that the house of Yisra’el went into captivity for their iniquity; because they trespassed against me, and I hid my face from them: so I gave them into the hand of their adversaries, and they fell all of them by the sword.   Eze 39:24  According to their uncleanness and according to their transgressions did I to them; and I hid my face from them.

Eze 39:25  Therefore thus says Adonai YHWH: Now will I rescind the captivity of Ya`akov, and have mercy on the whole house of Yisra’el; and I will be jealous for my holy name.   Eze 39:26  They shall bear their shame, and all their trespasses by which they have trespassed against me, when they shall dwell securely in their land, and none shall make them afraid;   Eze 39:27  when I have brought them back from the peoples, and gathered them out of their enemies’ lands, and am sanctified in them in the sight of many nations.   Eze 39:28  They shall know that I am YHWH their Elohim, in that I caused them to go into captivity among the nations, and have gathered them to their own land; and I will leave none of them any more there;   Eze 39:29  neither will I hide my face any more from them; for I have poured out my Spirit on the house of Yisra’el, says Adonai YHWH.

Revelation, continued:

Rev 19:19  I saw the beast, and the kings of the earth, and their armies, gathered together to make war against him who sat on the horse, and against his army.

Rev 19:20  The beast was taken, and with him the false prophet who worked the signs in his sight, with which he deceived those who had received the mark of the beast and those who worshiped his image. These two were thrown alive into the lake of fire that burns with sulfur.

Rev 19:21  The rest were killed with the sword of him who sat on the horse, the sword which came forth out of his mouth. All the birds were filled with their flesh.

The False Messiah and the False Prophet are the first to be thrown into the Lake of Fire, but others will follow.  It is presumed, since they are said to be tormented forever, that instead of being destroyed (as the goats will be) they will be cast into the Lake “alive” because they will have the “honor” of being transformed into immortality before being cast into the Lake.  This is NOT the fate of most sinners.  Most sinners are told:

Mat 10:28 Don’t be afraid of those who kill the body, but are not able to kill the soul. Rather, fear him who is able to destroy both soul and body in Gehinnom.

Only a special select few humans are tormented forever – and hasatan and fallen angels who follow him.  The rest of the “goats” simply are destroyed, as Yeshua warns them again:

Mat 25:32  Before him all the nations will be gathered, and he will separate them one from another, as a shepherd separates the sheep from the goats.   Mat 25:33 He will set the sheep on his right hand, but the goats on the left…  Mat 25:41  Then he will say also to those on the left hand, ‘Depart from me, you cursed, into the eternal fire which is prepared for the devil and his angels…

It was not prepared for people, but for fallen angels.  The False Messiah and the False Prophet will be tormented forever, changed into immortality before being cast into the Lake.  Other sinners will simply perish.  Measure for Measure, there are few things a human can do that would merit eternal torment.   Elohim’s punishments always fit the crimes.  Elohim is just.  For most people, “the wages of sin is death,” but the gift of Elohim is eternal life, just as scripture says.   The righteous live, the willful sinners die.  Choose Life!

Next:  Epistle Hazinu

Haftarah Hazinu

Haftarah Hazinu

II Samuel 22:1-51

II Sam 22:1 David spoke to YHWH the words of this song in the day that YHWH delivered him out of the hand of all his enemies, and out of the hand of Sha’ul:

II Sam 22:2  and he said, YHWH is my rock, my fortress, and my deliverer, even mine;

II Sam 22:3  Elohim, my rock, in him I will take refuge; my shield, and the horn of my salvation, my high tower, and my refuge. My savior, you save me from violence.

II Sam 22:4  I will call on YHWH, who is worthy to be praised: So shall I be saved from my enemies.

This does not necessarily mean that you will not be martyred – it means you will have salvation in the Messianic Age and the Olam Haba, no matter what happens here at this time.

Samuel, continued:

II Sam 22:5  For the waves of death surrounded me. The floods of ungodliness made me afraid.

II Sam 22:6  The cords of She’ol were around me. The snares of death caught me.

II Sam 22:7  In my distress I called on YHWH. Yes, I called to my Elohim. He heard my voice out of his temple. My cry [came] into his ears.

II Sam 22:8  Then the earth shook and trembled. The foundations of heaven quaked and were shaken, because he was angry.

II Sam 22:9  Smoke went up out of his nostrils. Fire out of his mouth devoured. Coals were kindled by it.

II Sam 22:10  He bowed the heavens also, and came down. Thick darkness was under his feet.

II Sam 22:11  He rode on a Keruv, and flew. Yes, he was seen on the wings of the wind.

II Sam 22:12  He made darkness pavilions around himself: gathering of waters, and thick clouds of the skies.

II Sam 22:13  At the brightness before him, coals of fire were kindled.

II Sam 22:14  YHWH thundered from heaven. The Elyon uttered his voice.

II Sam 22:15  He sent out arrows, and scattered them; lightning, and confused them.

II Sam 22:16  Then the channels of the sea appeared. The foundations of the world were laid bare by the rebuke of YHWH, At the blast of the breath of his nostrils.

Obviously, this never happened to David during his lifetime.  It is a prophetic description of the events of the Second Advent.

Samuel, continued:

II Sam 22:17  He sent from on high and he took me. He drew me out of many waters.

II Sam 22:18  He delivered me from my strong enemy, from those who hated me, for they were too mighty for me.

II Sam 22:19  They came on me in the day of my calamity, but YHWH was my support.

II Sam 22:20  He also brought me out into a large place. He delivered me, because he delighted in me.

Even though David sinned, he repented of his sins and believed in the future Messiah and in Elohim’s written Torah.  Recall that “righteousness” is defined in Deuteronomy 6:24-25 as obedience to the commandments.

Samuel, continued:

II Sam 22:21  YHWH rewarded me according to my righteousness. He rewarded me according to the cleanness of my hands.

II Sam 22:22  For I have kept the ways of YHWH, and have not wickedly departed from my Elohim.

II Sam 22:23  For all his ordinances were before me. As for his statutes, I did not depart from them.

II Sam 22:24  I was also perfect toward him. I kept myself from my iniquity.

II Sam 22:25  Therefore YHWH has rewarded me according to my righteousness, According to my cleanness in his eyesight.

David repented from his sins – and did not continue in those sins.  We cannot continue to disobey Elohim’s commandments and still claim we are “saved.”  Yeshua’s command to us is to “repent and be saved,” not “be saved and then repent if you feel like it.”  We cannot willfully continue living in sin and expect to be counted as part of the House of Israel.  It is nothing but pure arrogance to claim that Yeshua was a liar when he, as YHWH Incarnate, gave the house of Israel the Torah and told us it was eternal and binding.

Samuel, continued:

II Sam 22:26  With the merciful you will show yourself merciful. With the perfect man you will show yourself perfect.

II Sam 22:27  With the pure you will show yourself pure. With the crooked you will show yourself shrewd.

II Sam 22:28  You will save the afflicted people, But your eyes are on the haughty, that you may bring them down.

II Sam 22:29  For you are my lamp, YHWH. YHWH will light up my darkness.

Measure for measure, Elohim treats everyone according to their works.

Samuel, continued:

II Sam 22:30  For by you, I run against a troop. By my Elohim, I leap over a wall.

II Sam 22:31  As for Elohim, his way is perfect. The word of YHWH is tested. He is a shield to all those who take refuge in him.

II Sam 22:32  For who is Elohim, besides YHWH? Who is a rock, besides our Elohim?

II Sam 22:33  Elohim is my strong fortress. He makes my way perfect.

II Sam 22:34  He makes his feet like hinds’ [feet], and sets me on my high places.

II Sam 22:35  He teaches my hands to war, so that my arms bend a bow of brass.

II Sam 22:36  You have also given me the shield of your Yeshuah. Your gentleness has made me great.

II Sam 22:37  You have enlarged my steps under me. My feet have not slipped.

The Ruach HaKodesh within us enables us to remember and obey the Torah – that is its purpose (according to the New Covenant as described by Jeremiah 31:31+) and if you claim you cannot obey it, then you are as much as admitting that we do not have the Ruach HaKodesh within you and are not saved.

Samuel, continued:

II Sam 22:38  I have pursued my enemies and destroyed them. I didn’t turn again until they were consumed.

II Sam 22:39  I have consumed them, and struck them through, so that they can’t arise. Yes, they have fallen under my feet.

II Sam 22:40  For you have armed me with strength for the battle. You have subdued under me those who rose up against me.

II Sam 22:41  You have also made my enemies turn their backs to me, that I might cut off those who hate me.

II Sam 22:42  They looked, but there was none to save; even to YHWH, but he didn’t answer them.

II Sam 22:43  Then I beat them as small as the dust of the earth. I crushed them as the mire of the streets, and spread them abroad.

We have the strength to resist any temptation, resist any urge to sin and do evil – this is the victory given to us by Elohim with His Ruach HaKodesh.

Samuel, continued:

II Sam 22:44  You also have delivered me from the strivings of my people. You have kept me to be the head of the nations. A people whom I have not known will serve me.

II Sam 22:45  The foreigners will submit themselves to me. As soon as they hear of me, they will obey me.

II Sam 22:46  The foreigners will fade away, and will come trembling out of their close places.

II Sam 22:47  YHWH lives! Blessed be my rock! Exalted be Elohim, the rock of my salvation,

II Sam 22:48  even the Elohim who executes vengeance for me, who brings down peoples under me,

II Sam 22:49  who brings me away from my enemies. Yes, you lift me up above those who rise up against me. You deliver me from the violent man.

II Sam 22:50  Therefore I will give thanks to you, YHWH, among the nations. Will sing praises to your name.

II Sam 22:51  He gives great deliverance to his king, and shows loving kindness to his anointed, to David and to his seed, forevermore.

This is not just a description of David’s reign, but is a prophetic reference to the Messiah and his victory over the rebellious nations of the earth at the Second Advent.

Next:  Talmidim Hazinu.

Torah Portion Hazinu

Torah Portion Hazinu

Deuteronomy 32:1-52

This chapter is prophetic not just for ancient Israel and her deportation from the land and destruction of the Temple, but to the modern day as well.  Like all prophetic passages, it has a double application – the “foreshadow” known to us in history and the end times application that is yet to come.   “Israel,” “Ephrayim,” “Jospeh” and other designations generally refer in prophecy to the lost tribes, to 10-Israel that was assimilated into the nations (though it can, of course, refer to both Judah and Israel together).  Many of these lost Israelites live in present day America, the nations supposedly founded as a light of Godliness to the nations, a “city on a hill” that would live under Elohim’s grace and protection.  However, we have “gotten fat” and turned out backs on Elohim, and our prophetic fate will follow us, just as surely as it followed the Judeans of 70 CE.

Deu 32:1 Give ear, you heavens, and I will speak. Let the earth hear the words of my mouth.

Deu 32:2  My doctrine shall drop as the rain. My speech shall condense as the dew, as the small rain on the tender grass, as the showers on the herb.

Deu 32:3  For I will proclaim the name of YHWH. Ascribe greatness to our Elohim!

Deu 32:4  The Rock, his work is perfect, for all his ways are justice: a Elohim of faithfulness and without iniquity, just and right is he.

We, on the other hand, proclaim multiculturalism and tolerance, and teach our children that any old religion is fine and equal to all others.

Deuteronomy, continued:

Deu 32:5  They have dealt corruptly with him, [they are] not his children, [it is] their blemish. [They are] a perverse and crooked generation.

Deu 32:6  Do you thus requite YHWH, foolish people and unwise? Isn’t he your father who has bought you? He has made you, and established you.

Deu 32:7  Remember the days of old. Consider the years of many generations. Ask your father, and he will show you; your elders, and they will tell you.

The old ways of the Torah are not “done away with,” they are the correct way to go.  Even as recently as our parents and grandparents generation, blue laws honoring the sabbath (however misguided they were concerning which day of the week) were in effect and  our culture did not countenance perversions and abominatios, either – now it is said that a person is evil who does not accept these pagan practices and forsake the words of the Torah, which teach right from wrong. America’s real “god” is money.  Obedience, they claim, brings down profits.

Deuteronomy, continued:

Deu 32:8  When the Elyon gave to the nations their inheritance, when he separated the children of men, he set the bounds of the peoples according to the number of the children of Yisra’el.

This is where the Sages got the idea that there are basically only 70 different races/nations of peoples, because that is the number of delegates in the Sanhedrin.

Deuteronomy, continued:

Deu 32:9  For YHWH’s portion is his people. Ya`akov is the lot of his inheritance.

Deu 32:10  He found him in a desert land, in the waste howling wilderness. He surrounded him. He cared for him. He kept him as the apple of his eye.

Deu 32:11  As an eagle that stirs up her nest, that flutters over her young, he spread abroad his wings, he took them, he bore them on his feathers.

Deu 32:12  YHWH alone led him. There was no foreign god with him.

Deu 32:13  He made him ride on the high places of the earth. He ate the increase of the field. He caused him to suck honey out of the rock, oil out of the flinty rock;

Deu 32:14  Butter of the herd, and milk of the flock, with fat of lambs, rams of the breed of Bashan, and goats, with the finest of the wheat. Of the blood of the grape you drank wine.

Elohim doesn’t accept it when his people attempt to equate the “gods” of other nations to the real heavenly power, nor does Elohim accept it when people adopt pagan practices and pretend that it is worship in the name of YHWH.  These are abominations practiced by arrogant people who think they don’t need Torah and can find their own way.

Deuteronomy, continued:

Deu 32:15  But Yeshurun grew fat, and kicked. You have grown fat. You have grown thick. You have become sleek. Then he forsook Elohim who made him, and lightly esteemed the Rock of his salvation.

Deu 32:16  They moved him to jealousy with strange [gods]. They provoked him to anger with abominations.

Deu 32:17  They sacrificed to demons, [which were] not gods, to gods that they didn’t know, to new [gods] that came up of late, which your fathers didn’t dread.

Deu 32:18  Of the Rock who became your father, you are unmindful, and have forgotten Elohim who gave you birth.

As it is to this day – those who claim to be of the House of Israel ignore Elohim’s eternal Torah, the very words of Yeshua, YHWH Incarnate, and have instead adopted the customs of pagan peoples, their “holy” days and their traditions and practices, and replaced Elohim’s perfect Torah with lies and unholiness.

Deuteronomy, continued:

Deu 32:19  YHWH saw [it], and abhorred [them], because of the provocation of his sons and his daughters.

Deu 32:20  He said, I will hide my face from them. I will see what their end shall be; for they are a very perverse generation, children in whom is no faithfulness.

Deu 32:21  They have moved me to jealousy with that which is not Elohim. They have provoked me to anger with their vanities. I will move them to jealousy with those who are not a people. I will provoke them to anger with a foolish nation.

This is generally considered by the church to refer to the church being elevated in place of Israel, but it is rather the people so few they are “not a people” but a mere remnant who are in view here:  Obedient Believers. Everyone else is deluding themselves if they think they have a covenant relationship with Elohim.  They do not.

Deuteronomy, continued:

Deu 32:22  For a fire is kindled in my anger, Burns to the lowest She’ol, Devours the earth with its increase, and sets the foundations of the mountains on fire.

Deu 32:23  I will heap evils on them. I will spend my arrows on them.

Deu 32:24  [They shall be] wasted with hunger, and devoured with burning heat and bitter destruction. I will send the teeth of animals on them, With the poison of crawling things of the dust.

Deu 32:25  Outside the sword shall bereave, and in the chambers, terror; on both young man and virgin, The suckling with the gray-haired man.

This is what is going to happen to America, the supposedly “Christian” nation, and to all the rest of the disobedient peoples during the Tribulation.

Deuteronomy, continued:

Deu 32:26  I said, I would scatter them afar. I would make the memory of them to cease from among men;

Deu 32:27  were it not that I feared the provocation of the enemy, lest their adversaries should judge wrongly, lest they should say, Our hand is exalted, YHWH has not done all this.

Deu 32:28  For they are a nation void of counsel. There is no understanding in them.

Deu 32:29  Oh that they were wise, that they understood this, that they would consider their latter end!

America is not a player in end times events – America is destroyed for her sins.  The supposedly “Christian” nation has become a nation of disobedient people permitting and even encouraging abominations and Torahlessness.  That challenge to Elohim’s authority will not be allowed to stand.

Deuteronomy, continued:

Deu 32:30  How could one chase a thousand, and two put ten thousand to flight, unless their Rock had sold them, and YHWH had delivered them up?

Deu 32:31  For their rock is not as our Rock, even our enemies themselves being judges.

Deu 32:32  For their vine is of the vine of Sedom, of the fields of `Amorah. Their grapes are grapes of gall, Their clusters are bitter.

Deu 32:33  Their wine is the poison of serpents, The cruel venom of asps.

You would think that since Viet Nam, America might have realized something was wrong.  As it is, the so-called “greatest” nation on earth can no longer win her wars or defeat her enemies.  It is because Elohim has turned his face away from us, because we are living in muiltitudes of sin – and sin is, by definition, the transgression of the Torah (I John 3).

Deuteronomy, continued:

Deu 32:34  Isn’t this laid up in store with me, sealed up among my treasures?

Deu 32:35  Vengeance is mine, and recompense, at the time when their foot slides; for the day of their calamity is at hand. The things that are to come on them shall make haste.

Deu 32:36  For YHWH will judge his people, and have compassion on his servants, when he sees that [their] power is gone, There is none [remaining], shut up or left at large.

Deu 32:37  He will say, Where are their gods, The rock in which they took refuge;

Deu 32:38  Which ate the fat of their sacrifices, And drank the wine of their drink offering? Let them rise up and help you! Let them be your protection.

Those who remained faithful to Elohim will receive his compassion (either in this life or in the parousia or resurrection) – those who belittled and mocked obedient believers will be left to fend with Elohim’s wrath for themselves, because their false “gods” and all their money will avail them nothing.

Deuteronomy, continued:

Deu 32:39  See now that I, even I, am he, There is no god with me. I kill, and I make alive. I wound, and I heal. There is no one who can deliver out of my hand.

Deu 32:40  For I lift up my hand to heaven, And say, As I live forever,

Deu 32:41  if I whet my glittering sword, My hand take hold on judgment; I will render vengeance to my adversaries, and will recompense those who hate me.

Deu 32:42  I will make my arrows drunk with blood. My sword shall devour flesh with the blood of the slain and the captives, from the head of the leaders of the enemy.

Deu 32:43  Rejoice, you nations, [with] his people, for he will avenge the blood of his servants. He will render vengeance to his adversaries, And will make expiation for his land, for his people.

This will be true not just of the Holy Land, but all lands.  Those who harassed and persecuted obedient believers in any land will receive vengeance from Elohim.   “His people” are obedient believers, and “his adversaries” are those who defy his commandments.

Deuteronomy, continued:

Deu 32:44  Moshe came and spoke all the words of this song in the ears of the people, he and Yehoshua the son of Nun.

Deu 32:45  Moshe made an end of speaking all these words to all Yisra’el;

Deu 32:46  He said to them, Set your heart to all the words which I testify to you this day, which you shall command your children to observe to do, [even] all the words of this Torah.

Deu 32:47  For it is no vain thing for you; because it is your life, and through this thing you shall prolong your days in the land, where you go over the Yarden to possess it.

“It is your life,” and it is also our lives.  Those who REALLY have faith in Yeshua HaMashiach would never disobey any of the commandments that He, YHWH Incarnate, spoke to us.

Deuteronomy, continued:

Deu 32:48  YHWH spoke to Moshe that same day, saying,

Deu 32:49  Go up into this mountain of `Avarimen, to Mount Nevo, which is in the land of Mo’av, that is over against Yericho; and see the land of Kena`an, which I give to the children of Yisra’el for a possession;

Deu 32:50  and die on the mountain where you go up, and be gathered to your people, as Aharon your brother died on Mount Hor, and was gathered to his people:

Deu 32:51  because you trespassed against me in the midst of the children of Yisra’el at the waters of Merivah of Kadesh, in the wilderness of Tzin; because you didn’t sanctify me in the midst of the children of Yisra’el.

Deu 32:52  For you shall see the land before you; but you shall not go there into the land which I give the children of Yisra’el.

If that sounds harsh, remember that the same Being that spoke these words to Moshe will be judging YOUR actions and YOUR thoughts – and He is the SAME yesterday, today, and tomorrow.

Next:  Haftarah Hazinu.

Yom Kippur and Sukkot

As we had calculated previously, Yom Kippur begins this evening, and Sukkot begins next Sunday night.  Monday, therefore, is a sabbat.  At our home this coming Sabbath we will be reading Parashat Hazinu (we previously read Netzavim and Vayalekh as separate sabbaths).

Whatever schedule you are on, Simchat Torah will be the second full week of October, when the last Torah portion will be read, and the new Torah Cycle will begin on the Sabbath of October 17th.

Here is the notice regarding Yom Kippur:

Karaite Korner Newsletter #417

Yom Kippur and Sukkot

Based on the sighting of the new moon in Israel last week (Sun Sep 20), the fast of Yom Kippur will begin tonight (Sep 29) at sunset. A study on Yom Kippur is available at:
http://www.karaite-korner.org/yom_kippur.shtml

Yom Kippur will be followed next Sunday night (Oct 4)at sunset by Sukkot (Booths), which is discussed in a study at:
http://www.karaite-korner.org/sukkot.shtml

The dates of all the biblical holidays based on the new moon in Israel are posted at:
http://www.karaite-korner.org/holiday_dates.shtml

Nehemia Gordon
Jerusalem, Israel

May you have an easy fast and a blessed new year.  Shalom!

Rosh Chodesh Tishri: Yom Teruah

Karaite Korner Newsletter #416

New Moon Report
September 2009
Seventh Biblical Month

On Sunday September 20, 2009 the new moon was sighted by observers across Israel. The moon was sighted:
*from Kefar Tavor by Chad and Barbara Peterson and by Dan and Yvonne Olivier at 18:42.
*from Beersheva by Yaron Laluz at 18:51.
*from Ramle by Avi Yefet and Mordechai Chayina at 19:00.
*from Tekoa by Bruce Brill and Paul Thompson at 19:01.

On the previous evening (Saturday September 19, 2009) visibility was impossible from Israel.

Yom Teruah Sameach!

Nehemia Gordon
Jerusalem, Israel

This begins the “High Holy Days” which lead up to the “grand finale” of Elohim’s prophetic plan for this earth – the establishment of the Messianic Kingdom.

Yom Teruah, “the last trump,” which represents the Parousia on Elohim’s prophetic calendar, begins tonight, at sundown, Sunday September 20th, and continue through the daylight hours of Monday, September 21st.   It is called the “day of the awakening blast” and is observed by the blowing of shofarim and trumpets.  This is a Biblically required Sabbath and Festival.   This represents the time when Obedient Believers will be transformed into immortality and taken to the Bridal Chambers in Heaven for the duration of the 7 years tribulation.

The next day, Tuesday the 22nd, will be the anniversary of the First Shabbat, Tishri 2nd.  Though there is no Biblical requirement to do so, these two days have traditionally been celebrated together as Rosh HaShanah, the head of the year.  It is a time of rest before the Tribulation begins.

The following day, Tishri 3rd, which falls on Wednesday September 23rd, is traditionally a daylight fast.  This represents the beginning of the Time of Jacob’s Trouble, the 7 year Tribulation, some two “days” after the Parousia.

Tishri 9th, Erev Yom Kippur, represents the 7th and last day of the Tribulation, and the daylight hours are the preparation day for the Fast.  This will occur on Tuesday, September 29th and Yom Kippur itself, Tishri 10th, the “great trump,” will begin at sundown and continue through the daylight hours of Wednesday, September 30th.  This is a Biblically required 24-hour fast, and “the sabbath of sabbaths.”  This represents the Battle of Armageddon, Judgement Day, and the Resurrection to immortality of the Tribulation Saints.  The Tribulation Martyrs will begin their service in the Heavenly Temple immediately.

Following Yom Kippur is a few days of preparations, which on Elohim’s prophetic calendar would be Tishri 11th-14th, the time that the King of Kings meets face to face with the remnant of Torah True Judaism in southern Jordan (probably Petra), and with the remnants of the nations, and begins the judgement of sheep and goats, and leads the sheep to Jerusalem for the inaguration of the Kingdom.  The goats are cast into the Lake of Fire, the sheep, as mortals, enter the kingdom as subjects.

The Kingdom is Inagurated at Sukkot, which will begin this year at sundown on Sunday, October 4th (which is the beginning of Tishri 15th) and continues through the daylight hours of Monday, October 5th.  This is a Biblically required festival, and a sabbath.   Each family should have their sukkah prepared by this time (or if they live in a climate where a sukkah is not possible, have a floor space cleared out for sleeping bags, etc., for a simulated camp-out).

During the intermediate days of Sukkot, the land of Eretz Israel and the nations will be partitioned and handed out by lot as inheritance to their respective new owners.  The “kings and priests” of the Bride who participated in the Parousia will be assigned to govern, in Yeshua’s name, these nations.  The Levitical priesthood will be restored to service at the altar and everyone who is an Israelite will learn what tribe they belong to – and many will be surprised, no doubt.

The 7th day of Sukkot will begin at sundown, Saturday October 10th, immediately after the regular weekly Shabbat – the 7th day is not itself commanded to be a shabbat, but is often observed as a festival day anyway.  This day is traditionally known as Hoshana Rabba, and the water libation is poured on the altar of the Temple.  Prophetically, it represents the River of Life springing forth from the Temple Mount, as described by Ezekiel.

The 8th day of Sukkot is a Biblically required sabbath, and is known traditionally as Simchat Torah.  This will be the day that all the sheep, the mortal subjects of the kingdom (comprised of believers who survived the trib, the remnant of Torah True Jews who accepted the King of Kings, and righteous gentiles) begin learning Torah in a new grand Torah Cycle led by Yeshua Himself as our teacher.

After this, the Temple itself is cleansed and restored.  It will be dedicated and the Shekinah will return to the Holy of Holies on Kislev 25th, Chanukkah.

And finally, on Tu B’Shevat, the Trees on the banks of the River of Life reach maturity and begin providing fruits and leaves for the healing of the nations.

This is the outline of Elohim’s prophetic plan which we rehearse every year.  We rehearse and rehearse and rehearse because one day, perhaps on Yom Teruah itself, there will be no more rehearsal – there will come the real shofar blast by the archangel which will be heard by the whole earth, and the voice of the archangel will announce the Parousia of the Torah OBedient Believers to join the Groom for the Wedding Feast.  This is the time for which we are waiting, hoping, and praying  – the end of the age.

Don’t be like the 5 foolish virgins, who didn’t take Elohim’s sabbaths and festivals seriously and went out to buy oil instead of having oil ready for the festival.  They will get the door slammed in their face, because they profaned Elohim’s sabbaths and festivals.

Are you ready?

Kollel Vayelekh

Kollel Vayelekh

Hebrews chapter 11

Heb 11:1 Now faith is assurance of things hoped for, proof of things not seen.

Like Resurrection or the Parousia.

Hebrews, continued:

Heb 11:2  For by this, the elders obtained testimony.

Heb 11:3  By faith, we understand that the universe has been framed by the word of Elohim, so that what is seen has not been made out of things which are visible.

All of creation was made ex nihilo – out of nothing.

Hebrews, continued:

Heb 11:4  By faith, Hevel offered to Elohim a more excellent sacrifice than Kayin, through which he had testimony given to him that he was righteous, Elohim testifying with respect to his gifts; and through it he, being dead, still speaks.

Abel was the younger twin brother of Cain, who was the Firstborn and therefore rightful priest of the family after his father Adam.  However, Cain, like so many would after him, was arrogant.  Abel, on the other hand, was sincere and humble, and obtained Elohim’s favor.  Though Cain was not himself killed for his sin of murder, he was disqualified from the Priesthood and his birthright went to Adam’s next son, Seth.

Hebrew, continued:

Heb 11:5  By faith, Chanokh was taken away, so that he wouldn’t see death, and he was not found, because Elohim translated him. For he has had testimony given to him that before his translation he had been well pleasing to Elohim.

Enoch is one of the Two Witnesses, acting as the witness against the pre-deluge generations.  The other witness is Elijah.  These were taken to heaven in bodily form without dying – as witnesses for the prosecution.  They continue in that capacity until this very day, and will do so until Passover week at the midpoint of the Tribulation, when they will finally be killed by hasatan and shock the world by rising in a true resurrection to immortality 3 ½ days later (probably on Nisan 21^st).

Hebrews, continued:

Heb 11:6  Without faith it is impossible to be well pleasing to him, for he who comes to Elohim must believe that he exists, and that he is a rewarder of those who seek him.

A person cannot just go through the motions, “hedging their bets.”  We have to actually believe in Elohim and trust him to keep His promises.

Hebrews, continued:

Heb 11:7  By faith, Noach, being warned about things not yet seen, moved with godly fear, prepared a teivah [ark] for the saving of his house, through which he condemned the world, and became heir of the righteousness which is according to faith.

It is said by the Sages that Noah spent each Shabbat during the 120 years constructing the ark teaching and preaching and pleading with the people to repent and change their ways – to no avail.  Like Enoch and Elijah, he witnessed both the depravity of the people and tried to convince them of the upcoming punishments.

Hebrews, continued:

Heb 11:8  By faith, Avraham, when he was called, obeyed to go out to the place which he was to receive for an inheritance. He went out, not knowing where he went.

Heb 11:9  By faith, he lived as an alien in the land of promise, as in a land not his own, dwelling in tents, with Yitzchak and Ya`akov, the heirs with him of the same promise.

Heb 11:10  For he looked for the city which has the foundations, whose builder and maker is Elohim.

The Sages understood this to mean Abraham was himself a prophet, who saw the Messianic Kingdom and had faith in Messiah.  Yeshua confirms this by telling us Abraham will be sitting with us at Sukkot when the Kingdom is inagurated.  (Matthew 8:11)  This is the origin of the liturgy of Sukkot, which includes inviting Abraham and other patriarchs to come to our Sukkah and fellowship with us.

Hebrews, continued:

Heb 11:11  By faith, even Sarah herself received power to conceive, and she bore a child when she was past age, since she counted him faithful who had promised.

Heb 11:12  Therefore as many as the stars of the sky in multitude, and as innumerable as the sand which is by the sea shore, were fathered by one man, and him as good as dead.

Nothing is impossible for Elohim, of course.

Hebrews, continued:

Heb 11:13  These all died in faith, not having received the promises, but having seen them and embraced them from afar, and having confessed that they were strangers and pilgrims on the earth.

Heb 11:14  For those who say such things make it clear that they are seeking a country of their own.

Heb 11:15  If indeed they had been thinking of that country from which they went out, they would have had enough time to return.

Heb 11:16  But now they desire a better country, that is, a heavenly one. Therefore Elohim is not ashamed of them, to be called their Elohim, for he has prepared a city for them.

That city is the New Jerusalem.

Hebrews, continued:

Heb 11:17  By faith, Avraham, being tested, offered up Yitzchak. Yes, he who had gladly received the promises was offering up his one and only son;

Heb 11:18  even he to whom it was said, “In Yitzchak will your seed be called;”

Heb 11:19  concluding that Elohim is able to raise up even from the dead. Figuratively speaking, he also did receive him back from the dead.

The Akidah is part of the liturgy of Yom Teruah (Rosh HaShanah).  The Sages were so close, realizing that the sacrifice of Isaac had something to do with Yom Teruah but not quite seeing what, since that event was a mystery not revealed to the prophets.  Isaac did NOT die – he was taken up alive!  It is the Parousia he was enacting, without realizing it.

Hebrews, continued:

Heb 11:20  By faith, Yitzchak blessed Ya`akov and Esav, even concerning things to come.

Heb 11:21  By faith, Ya`akov, when he was dying, blessed each of the sons of Yosef, and worshiped, leaning on the top of his staff.

Heb 11:22  By faith, Yosef, when his end was near, made mention of the departure of the children of Yisra’el; and gave instructions concerning his bones.

Each of the Patriarchs were Priests under the order of the Firstborns and prophets in their own right.  They saw the Messianic era and believed in Messiah.  They will be present at the inaguration of the Kingdom, and be included in the Parousia.

Hebrews, continued:

Heb 11:23  By faith, Moshe, when he was born, was hidden for three months by his parents, because they saw that he was a beautiful child, and they were not afraid of the king’s mitzvah.

Heb 11:24  By faith, Moshe, when he had grown up, refused to be called the son of Par`oh’s daughter,

Heb 11:25  choosing rather to share ill treatment with Elohim’s people, than to enjoy the pleasures of sin for a time;

Heb 11:26  accounting the reproach of Messiah greater riches than the treasures of Egypt; for he looked to the reward.

Heb 11:27  By faith, he left Egypt, not fearing the wrath of the king; for he endured, as seeing him who is invisible.

Moshe had to choose between a life of wealth and security and faith and obedience to Elohim – a choice many will have to make during the Tribulation.

Hebrews, continued:

Heb 11:28  By faith, he kept the Pesach, and the sprinkling of the blood, that the destroyer of the firstborn should not touch them.

Heb 11:29  By faith, they passed through the Red sea as on dry land. When the Egyptians tried to do so, they were swallowed up.

No doubt many did not trust Moshe or Elohim, and failed to observe the Passover or put the blood on their doors (fearing the ridicule or punishment by the authorities) – and their firstborn died, just as Elohim had said they would.

Hebrews, continued:

Heb 11:30  By faith, the walls of Yericho fell down, after they had been encircled for seven days.

Heb 11:31  By faith, Rachav the prostitute, didn’t perish with those who were disobedient, having received the spies in shalom.

Rachav later married into the House of Israel, as did Ruth so many years later.

Hebrews, continued:

Heb 11:32  What more shall I say? For the time would fail me if I told of Gid`on, Barak, Shimshon, Yiftach, David, Shemu’el, and the prophets;

Heb 11:33  who, through faith subdued kingdoms, worked out righteousness, obtained promises, stopped the mouths of lions,

Heb 11:34  quenched the power of fire, escaped the edge of the sword, from weakness were made strong, grew mighty in war, and caused foreign armies to flee.

Heb 11:35  Women received their dead by resurrection. Others were tortured, not accepting their deliverance, that they might obtain a better resurrection.

Heb 11:36  Others were tried by mocking and scourging, yes, moreover by bonds and imprisonment.

Heb 11:37  They were stoned. They were sawn apart. They were tempted. They were slain with the sword. They went around in sheep skins and in goat skins; being destitute, afflicted, ill-treated

Heb 11:38  (of whom the world was not worthy), wandering in deserts, mountains, caves, and the holes of the earth.

Heb 11:39  These all, having had testimony given to them through their faith, didn’t receive the promise,

Heb 11:40  Elohim having provided some better thing concerning us, so that apart from us they should not be made perfect.

And during the Tribulation many people will suffer this things – but if they continue to have faith, they will triumph even if they die, for they will live again in perfection, in immortality.  We must have faith that Elohim will come through with his promises – his real promises, not the fake claims of those who are way too fond of the world and money.  The promises of the Torah and the Prophets – these are the promises we must look to, and every last one of them is predicated on faith and obedience.  If we lack either of these, we receive nothing.

Next week:  Parashat Ha’azinu.

Epistle Vayelekh

Epistle Vayelekh

John 19:23-42

Joh 19:23  Then the soldiers, when they had crucified Yeshua, took his garments and made four parts, to every soldier a part; and also the coat. Now the coat was without seam, woven from the top throughout.

Joh 19:24  Then they said to one another, “Let’s not tear it, but cast lots for it to decide whose it will be,” that the Scripture might be fulfilled, which says, “They parted my garments among them. For my cloak they cast lots.” Therefore the soldiers did these things.

This is from Psalms, and the entire context is in view here:

Psa 22:1  (22:1) For the Leader; upon Aijeleth ha-Shahar. A Psalm of David. (22:2) My El, my El, why hast Thou forsaken me, and art far from my help at the words of my cry?

Psa 22:2  (22:3) O my El, I call by day, but Thou answerest not; and at night, and there is no surcease for me.

Psa 22:3  (22:4) Yet Thou art holy, O Thou that art enthroned upon the praises of Israel.

Psa 22:4  (22:5) In Thee did our fathers trust; they trusted, and Thou didst deliver them.

Psa 22:5  (22:6) Unto Thee they cried, and escaped; in Thee did they trust, and were not ashamed.

Psa 22:6  (22:7) But I am a worm, and no man; a reproach of men, and despised of the people.

Psa 22:7  (22:8) All they that see me laugh me to scorn; they shoot out the lip, they shake the head:

Psa 22:8  (22:9) ‘Let him commit himself unto YHWH! let Him rescue him; let Him deliver him, seeing He delighteth in him.’

Psa 22:9  (22:10) For Thou art He that took me out of the womb; Thou madest me trust when I was upon my mother’s breasts.

Psa 22:10  (22:11) Upon Thee I have been cast from my birth; Thou art my El from my mother’s womb.

Psa 22:11  (22:12) Be not far from me; for trouble is near; for there is none to help.

Psa 22:12  (22:13) Many bulls have encompassed me; strong bulls of Bashan have beset me round.

Psa 22:13  (22:14) They open wide their mouth against me, as a ravening and a roaring lion.

Psa 22:14  (22:15) I am poured out like water, and all my bones are out of joint; my heart is become like wax; it is melted in mine inmost parts.

Psa 22:15  (22:16) My strength is dried up like a potsherd; and my tongue cleaveth to my throat; and Thou layest me in the dust of death.

Psa 22:16  (22:17) For dogs have encompassed me; a company of evil-doers have inclosed me; like a lion, they are at my hands and my feet.

Psa 22:17  (22:18) I may count all my bones; they look and gloat over me.

Psa 22:18 (22:19) They part my garments among them, and for my vesture do they cast lots.

Psa 22:19  (22:20) But Thou, O YHWH, be not far off; O Thou my strength, hasten to help me.

Psa 22:20  (22:21) Deliver my soul from the sword; mine only one from the power of the dog.

Psa 22:21  (22:22) Save me from the lion’s mouth; yea, from the horns of the wild-oxen do Thou answer me.

Psa 22:22  (22:23) I will declare Thy name unto my brethren; in the midst of the congregation will I praise Thee.

Psa 22:23  (22:24) ‘Ye that fear YHWH, praise Him; all ye the seed of Jacob, glorify Him; and stand in awe of Him, all ye the seed of Israel.

Psa 22:24  (22:25) For He hath not despised nor abhorred the lowliness of the poor; neither hath He hid His face from him; but when he cried unto Him, He heard.’

Psa 22:25  (22:26) From Thee cometh my praise in the great congregation; I will pay my vows before them that fear Him.

Psa 22:26  (22:27) Let the humble eat and be satisfied; let them praise YHWH that seek after Him; may your heart be quickened for ever!

Psa 22:27  (22:28) All the ends of the earth shall remember and turn unto YHWH; and all the kindreds of the nations shall worship before Thee.

Psa 22:28  (22:29) For the kingdom is YHWH’S; and He is the ruler over the nations.

Psa 22:29  (22:30) All the fat ones of the earth shall eat and worship; all they that go down to the dust shall kneel before Him, even he that cannot keep his soul alive.

Psa 22:30  (22:31) A seed shall serve him; it shall be told of Adonai unto the next generation.

Psa 22:31  (22:32) They shall come and shall declare His righteousness unto a people that shall be born, that He hath done it.

John, continued:

Joh 19:25  But there were standing by the cross of Yeshua his mother, and his mother’s sister, Miriam the wife of Klofah, and Miriam from Magdala.

Joh 19:26  Therefore when Yeshua saw his mother, and the talmid whom he loved standing there, he said to his mother, “Woman, behold your son!”

Joh 19:27  Then he said to the talmid, “Behold, your mother!” From that hour, the talmid took her to his own home.

This is generally considered to be the actual apostle John, who was quite young at the time this was occurring.  This would be the same John who wrote the 3 Letters of John and the Book of Revelation.  (This gospel was written in the 2^nd century by Gnostics, and so could not have been written by the actual apostle John).

John, continued:

Joh 19:28  After this, Yeshua, seeing that all things were now finished, that the Scripture might be fulfilled, said, “I am thirsty.”

Again, a passage from Psalms:

Psa 69:19  (69:20) Thou knowest my reproach, and my shame, and my confusion; mine adversaries are all before Thee.   Psa 69:20  (69:21) Reproach hath broken my heart; and I am sore sick; and I looked for some to show compassion, but there was none; and for comforters, but I found none.   Psa 69:21 (69:22) Yea, they put poison into my food; and in my thirst they gave me vinegar to drink.

John, continued:

Joh 19:29  Now a vessel full of vinegar was set there; so they put a sponge full of the vinegar on hyssop, and held it at his mouth.

Joh 19:30  When Yeshua therefore had received the vinegar, he said, “It is finished.” He bowed his head, and gave up his spirit.

Joh 19:31  Therefore the Jews [who were of the Pharisee sect], because it was [their] Preparation Day, so that the bodies wouldn’t remain on the cross on the Shabbat (for that Shabbat was a special one), asked of Pilate that their legs might be broken, and that they might be taken away.

Not the weekly shabbat, but Nisan the 15^th, the First Day of Unleavened Bread, which is declared in the Torah to be a Sabbath.  Yeshua’s impalement took place during the daylight hours of Thursday, Nisan 14^th.  Friday, Nisan 15^th was a sabbath and the regular weekly sabbath would have been Saturday, Nisan 16^th.  So three days later was the Feast of Firstfruits, the first day of the week, Sunday Nisan 17^th.  Firstfruits, of course, is not a sabbath, and neither is Passover itself.  So Yeshua was in the grave Thursday night, Friday night, and Saturday night – and just as the farmers were brining their Firstfruits to the Temple Sunday morning, Yeshua rose and presented himself at the Heavenly Temple, an unblemished sacrifice in spite of all his physical suffering.   Never once did he sin.

John, continued:

Joh 19:32  Therefore the soldiers came, and broke the legs of the first, and of the other who was crucified with him;

Joh 19:33  but when they came to Yeshua, and saw that he was already dead, they didn’t break his legs.

Joh 19:34  However one of the soldiers pierced his side with a spear, and immediately blood and water came out.

Joh 19:35  He who has seen has testified, and his testimony is true. He knows that he tells the truth, that you may believe.

Joh 19:36  For these things happened, that the Scripture might be fulfilled, “A bone of him will not be broken.”

Another passage from Psalms:

Psa 34:18  YHWH is near to those who have a broken heart, and saves those who have a crushed spirit.   Psa 34:19  Many are the afflictions of the righteous, but YHWH delivers him out of them all.   Psa 34:20 He protects all of his bones. Not one of them is broken.   Psa 34:21  Evil shall kill the wicked. Those who hate the righteous shall be condemned.   Psa 34:22  YHWH redeems the soul of his servants. None of those who take refuge in him shall be condemned.

John, continued:

Joh 19:37  Again another Scripture says, “They will look on him whom they pierced.”

This refers primarily to the second advent:

Zec 12:8  In That Day YHWH will defend the inhabitants of Yerushalayim. He who is feeble among them at that day will be like David, and the house of David will be like a god, like the angel of YHWH before them.   Zec 12:9  It will happen in that day, that I will seek to destroy all the nations that come against Yerushalayim.   Zec 12:10 I will pour on the house of David, and on the inhabitants of Yerushalayim, the spirit of grace and of supplication; and they will look to me whom they have pierced; and they shall mourn for him, as one mourns for his only son, and will grieve bitterly for him, as one grieves for his firstborn.

John, continued:

Joh 19:38  After these things, Yosef of Ramatayim, being a talmid of Yeshua, but secretly for fear of the Judeans, asked of Pilate that he might take away Yeshua’s body. Pilate gave him permission. He came therefore and took away his body.

Joh 19:39  Nakdimon, who at first came to Yeshua by night, also came bringing a mixture of myrrh and aloes, about a hundred pounds.

Joh 19:40  So they took Yeshua’s body, and bound it in linen cloths with the spices, as the custom of the Judeans is to bury.

Joh 19:41  Now in the place where he was crucified there was a garden. In the garden was a new tomb in which no man had ever yet been laid.

Joh 19:42  Then because of the [Pharisee] Jews Preparation Day (for the tomb was near at hand) they laid Yeshua there.

Both Joseph of Aramathea and Nicodemus, members of the Sanhedrin, would have had to “play along” with their Pharisee leaders.  They no doubt felt that they could do the believing community more good by keeping their faith secret and trying to mitigate the worst of the Pharisees decisions against Believers from the inside.  There is no condemnation here or anywhere in scripture for such a strategy, as long as one can do so without telling outright lies (though even the Sages admit it is permissible to tell a lie to save someone’s life).

In the Tribulation there may be those who think “playing along” is a good strategy, even going so far as to accept the Beast’s mark in order to be able to buy and sell for their family and friends – but this is a dangerous game and should not be played.  A person cannot know when some mishap will occur and they might die – and if they die with the Beast’s mark, they are destined for the Lake of Fire.  It is better to die and live again than to try and save earthly lives and risk losing your eternal life.  We should not be afraid to die an eartlhy death – we are promised eternal life, and we must trust in that promise.

Next:  Kollel Vayelekh.

Talmidim Vayelekh

Talmidim Vayelekh

Revelation chapters 16 and 17

At the end of the last chapter, John witnessed the closing of the Gates of Repentance and the assignment of the 7 angels with the last remaining plagues.  It is now the waning hours of Erev Yom Kippur, the last days of the 7^th year of the Tribulation.

Revelation, continued:

Rev 16:1 I heard a loud voice out of the temple, saying to the seven angels, “Go and pour out the seven bowls of the wrath of Elohim on the earth!”

Rev 16:2  The first went, and poured out his bowl into the earth, and it became a harmful and evil sore on the people who had the mark of the beast, and who worshiped his image.

Unlike most of the previous plagues, this one is difficult to explain except as a supernatural occurrence, since it only affects those with the Mark of the Beast and not any other persons.  It could also be the nature of their microchip or biometric data makes them vulnerable in a way that the the “good guys” figure out a way to exploit with some sort of chemical or biological warfare.

It could be some sort of radiation poisoning, also. The effects of the last 7 plagues have every indication of being the result of an all-out nuclear exchange.  Previously, in the judgements of the 1/3, the sky was described as rolling up like a scroll and then these same effects were noted, affecting 1/3 of the surface of the earth.  Now, all the stops are pulled and every part of the earth is affected.  It appears to be total thermonuclear war, either the False Messiah against his enemies or they against him.

Revelation, continued:

Rev 16:3  The second angel poured out his bowl into the sea, and it became blood as of a dead man. Every living thing in the sea died.

Now, the stench of the dead seas will overwhelm the entire planet, not just 1/3 of it.  All of the rotting vegetation, fish, whales and other mammals, and possibly humans who happened to be on the water will leave no part of the planet without a horrendously bad smell.  The gasses from the decomposing waters will also make the air toxic.  Anyone who hasn’t noticed that something is seriously wrong at this point is mentally ill – living in a delusional fantasy land.  This is NOT like “the days of Noach.”  It is hell on earth, and people cannot escape.

Revelation, continued:

Rev 16:4  The third poured out his bowl into the rivers and springs of water, and they became blood.

Rev 16:5  I heard the angel of the waters saying, “You are righteous, who are and who were, you Holy One, because you have judged these things.

Rev 16:6  For they poured out the blood of the holy ones and the prophets, and you have given them blood to drink. They deserve this.”

Rev 16:7  I heard the altar saying, “Yes, Adonai Elohim, the Almighty, true and righteous are your judgments.”

At this point there is no drinkable fresh water left on the entire planet.  It must now be within days of  Yom Kippur, because even presuming some people had stores of fresh water to drink, most people would begin to die of dehydration in about 3 days.

Revelation, continued:

Rev 16:8  The fourth poured out his bowl on the sun, and it was given to him to scorch men with fire.

Rev 16:9  People were scorched with great heat, and people blasphemed the name of Elohim who has the power over these plagues. They didn’t repent and give him glory.

This could be the result of the ozone layer being blown away by the nuclear blasts, or possibly other pollution or chemical warfare.

And notice here that the people are not innocent, by any means.  They blaspheme along with the False Messiah and in doing so show they know what is happening and refuse to repent anyway!

Revelation, continued:

Rev 16:10  The fifth poured out his bowl on the throne of the beast, and his kingdom was darkened. They gnawed their tongues because of the pain,

Rev 16:11  and they blasphemed the Elohim of heaven because of their pains and their sores. They didn’t repent of their works.

This is likely some sort of fallout, a corrosive or acidic airborn substance – and again, they blaspheme instead of repenting.

Revelation, continued:

Rev 16:12  The sixth poured out his bowl on the great river, the Perat [Euphrates]. Its water was dried up, that the way might be made ready for the kings that come from the sunrise [east].

Rev 16:13  I saw coming out of the mouth of the dragon, and out of the mouth of the beast, and out of the mouth of the false prophet, three unclean spirits, something like frogs;

Rev 16:14  for they are spirits of demons, performing signs; which go forth to the kings of the whole inhabited earth, to gather them together for the war of that great day of Elohim, the Almighty.

Politically, this probably represents the arrival of the armies of China.  At the midpoint of the Tribulation China (which believes strongly in athiesm, of course, as part of the official communist doctrine) would have been very unhappy to find a religious nutcase who thinks he’s a deity in charge of the world’s remaining oil fields.  Clearly, they determine not to allow him to go unchallenged.  To this point, they have been sounding him out – it may be China that launches the limited nuclear exchase of the earlier 1/3 judgements.  Now, however, they decide to put an end to his rule, with military force.

Revelation, continued:

Rev 16:15  “Behold, I come like a thief. Blessed is he who watches, and keeps his clothes, so that he doesn’t walk naked, and they see his shame.”

But not “in the night,” because the “night” is now past, That Day is arriving – Yom Kippur.  Those “who watch” are those who have been faithfully counting the days according to the word of Daniel, and they “keep their clothes,” their white linen garments, which we are told later are the “righteous works [obedience] of the saints.”

Revelation, continued:

Rev 16:16  He gathered them together into the place which is called in Hebrew, Megiddo.

Har Megiddo, to be exact, at the Valley of Jezreel.   This is the end – the battle of Armageddon.  Time’s up.  It is now Yom Kippur, Judgement Day – and the Return of the King of Kings!

Revelation, continued:

Rev 16:17  The seventh poured out his bowl into the air. A loud voice came forth out of the temple of heaven, from the throne, saying, “It is done!”

Rev 16:18  There were lightnings, sounds, and thunders; and there was a great earthquake, such as was not since there were men on the earth, so great an earthquake, so mighty.

Rev 16:19  The great city was divided into three parts, and the cities of the nations fell. Bavel the great was remembered in the sight of Elohim, to give to her the cup of the wine of the fierceness of his wrath.

Rev 16:20  Every island fled away, and the mountains were not found.

Rev 16:21  Great hailstones, about the weight of a talent, came down out of the sky on people. People blasphemed Elohim because of the plague of the hail, for this plague is exceedingly severe.

This is another clue that the events described here are the result of an all-out nuclear exchange.  Those who documented the effects of nuclear tesing reported giant hailstones, due to the incredible updrafts to the high stratosphere caused by the nuclear bombs exploding.

“Every Island” will flee away due to tsunamis and tidal waves, most likely, stirred up by the explosions.  The mountains being “not found” could be the result of severe reactions involving plate techtonics.  We really have no idea what the geologic effects of an all-out nuclear war would be.

The “great city” is most likely Jerusalem.

Rev 17:1 One of the seven angels who had the seven bowls came and spoke with me, saying, “Come here. I will show you the judgment of the great prostitute who sits on many waters,

Rev 17:2  with whom the kings of the earth committed sexual immorality, and those who dwell in the earth were made drunken with the wine of her sexual immorality.”

The “Great Prostitute” is the religion set up by the False Prophet in honor of the Beast, the False Messiah who will be killed and then appear to rise again when his body will be indwelt by hasatan at the midpoint of the Tribulation.  The False Prophet will require  an image to be made and will force everyone to worship it in the name of the Beast.  This “religion” syncretizes the pagan religions of the world into one big super-church.

In Christian commentary, the “church” is generally considered to be the Catholic Church (which did indeed syncretize a great many pagan religions into itself) and the False Prophet is generally considered to be the Pope.  This may or may not be a true interpretation.  Certainly what of the Catholic Church is allowed to survive will be required by the False Messiah to participate in his mega-church and worship him or be destroyed.  The same will be true of every other religion, however.  Both the False Messiah and the False Prophet get their powers and their authority from hasatan, however, and it is likely they worshipped him from the beginning, from their youth, long before they make themselves known on the world scene.

Revelation, continued:

Rev 17:3  He carried me away in the Spirit into a wilderness. I saw a woman sitting on a scarlet-colored animal, full of blasphemous names, having seven heads and ten horns.

Now John is going to be shown a vignette of how the False Messiah rose to power aided by a confederacy of other world leaders, and how he eventually became their leader and then at their urging decided to discard the False Prophet and his pagan church in favor of a direct military route to conquering the peoples of the earth.  Some of these events may actually take place before the Tribulation begins, as it is likely the False Messiah would have to rise quite far politically to ever be in a position in the first place to take over defacto world leadership.  The Harlot, the syncretized paganism passed off as legitimate worship, is already well underway – with “churches” adopting every pagan practice in the world (Ramadan, as was in the news lately – far eastern meditation techniques instead of meditating on passages of the Tanakh, the “prosperity gospels,” even radical Gaia-ism in the guise of “saving” the environment – but rejecting the one thing that will truly bring them closer to Elohim:  Torah observance.

Revelation, continued:

Rev 17:4  The woman was dressed in purple and scarlet, and decked with gold and precious stones and pearls, having in her hand a golden cup full of abominations and the impurities of the sexual immorality of the earth.

Rev 17:5  And on her forehead a name was written, “MYSTERY, BAVEL THE GREAT, THE MOTHER OF THE PROSTITUTES AND OF THE ABOMINATIONS OF THE EARTH.”

Rev 17:6  I saw the woman drunken with the blood of the holy ones, and with the blood of the martyrs of Yeshua. When I saw her, I wondered with great amazement.

The religion of the False Prophet will not, of course, allow any “freedom of religion” and will persecute anyone of any faith who refuses to submit to his mega-church.  But his particular wrath will be reserved for those who worship and obey the True Elohim, and those who have faith in the True Messiah, and have the True Ruach HaKodesh.  These they will hate with a furious contempt and arrogance.

Revelation, continued:

Rev 17:7  The angel said to me, “Why do you wonder? I will tell you the mystery of the woman, and of the beast that carries her, which has the seven heads and the ten horns.

Rev 17:8  The beast that you saw was, and is not; and is about to come up out of the abyss and to go into destruction. Those who dwell on the earth and whose names have not been written in the book of life from the foundation of the world will marvel when they see that the beast was, and is not, and shall be present.

The “was,” “is not,” and “shall be” refer to his former life, his assassination, and his fake “resurrection” when he is indwelt by hasatan.  This will all be enacted in accordance with the Passover schedule of events, a fake re-enactment of Yeshua’s real sacrifice and resurrection.  This is how he makes his claim to be Messiah in the first place – he arranges for the Temple to be rebuilt, satisfying the observant Jews, then enacts these prophetic events of Passover, no doubt live on CNN, to convince the rest of the world of his authority.  His fate, however, is the Lake of Fire.  Hasatan believes he can change the future, but he cannot.  Elohim’s Word stands and cannot be diverted or evaded.

Revelation, continued:

Rev 17:9  Here is the mind that has wisdom. The seven heads are seven mountains, on which the woman sits.

Rev 17:10  They are seven kings. Five have fallen, the one is, the other has not yet come. When he comes, he must continue a little while.

Rev 17:11  The beast that was, and is not, is himself also an eighth, and is of the seven; and he goes to destruction.

Rev 17:12  The ten horns that you saw are ten kings who have received no kingdom as yet, but they receive authority as kings, with the beast, for one hour.

The “one hour” may simply be symbolic of a “short time.”  He quickly tires of having to give them any equality, consideration, or power – he wants all authority for himself alone.  However, at first he is “good” to them, seems quite reasonable, and is very persuasive.

Revelation, continued:

Rev 17:13  These have one mind, and they give their power and authority to the beast.

Rev 17:14  These will war against the Lamb, and the Lamb will overcome them, for he is Lord of lords, and King of kings. They also will overcome who are with him, called and chosen and faithful.”

The kings of the earth fall in line with the Beast.  He completely controls the economy by way of his electronic microchip/biometric system, he controls the oil fields of the Middle East, and his Gestapo ruthlessly cuts down anyone who disagrees, opposes him, or refuses to worship him as the Deity of the Earth.  Believers die, and die, and die – make no mistake.  He makes war against them and prevails – but they have the last laugh, for they will be resurrected to eternal service in the Heavenly Temple, where he (hasatan) was thrown out of in defeat and humiliation!

Revelation, continued:

Rev 17:15  He said to me, “The waters which you saw, where the prostitute sits, are peoples, multitudes, nations, and languages.

Rev 17:16  The ten horns which you saw, and the beast, these will hate the prostitute, and will make her desolate, and will make her naked, and will eat her flesh, and will burn her utterly with fire.

It seems that the kings under the False Messiah decide to elimate the False Prophet and his mega-church.  Instead of a syncretized world-religion which attempts to combine all pagan faiths as a “be-all” for everyone, with the False Messiah as the deity “incarnate,”  they will convince the Beast to simply go with a direct, military style rule instead of a tedious and time-consuming religious indoctrination.  He agrees.

Revelation, continued:

Rev 17:17  For Elohim has put in their hearts to do what he has in mind, and to be of one mind, and to give their kingdom to the beast, until the words of Elohimn should be accomplished.

Rev 17:18  The woman whom you saw is the great city, which reigns over the kings of the earth.”

Elohim Himself gives them the idea to get rid of the Harlot, and to turn to a military solution to subjugate the peoples of the earth.   Whereas religious syncretization could confuse and entice many people, tyrranny and oppression will always cause people to rise up against their oppressors, in spirit if not physically.  And in this war, the spiritual battle is really the only one that counts.  Dying physically means nothing – repenting means everything.  The “Great City” may here still be Jerusalem, the location of the now defiled Temple Mount, or it may be the capital city of the Beast, which we see in a vignette (coming up in the next chapter) is slated for a toasty fate.

Next:  Epistle Vayelekh.

Haftarah Vayelekh

Haftarah Vayelekh

Yeshayahu – Isaiah 55:6-56:8

Isa 55:6  Seek you YHWH while he may be found; call you on him while he is near:

Isa 55:7  let the wicked forsake his way, and the unrighteous man his thoughts; and let him return to YHWH, and he will have mercy on him; and to our Elohim, for he will abundantly pardon.

There will come a time, however, in the waning hours of the Tribulation, when the Gates of Repentance will begin to close.  And when Yom Kippur arrives, it will be too late to repent – everyone who is left will find their fate is sealed, one way or the other.   If they repented and did teshuvah and believed, they will be sealed for blessings.  However, if they remained rebellious, only one fate awaits them – the Lake of Fire.

Isaiah, continued:

Isa 55:8  For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways, says YHWH.

Isa 55:9  For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways, and my thoughts than your thoughts.

Isa 55:10  For as the rain comes down and the snow from the sky, and doesn’t return there, but waters the earth, and makes it bring forth and bud, and gives seed to the sower and bread to the eater;

Isa 55:11  so shall my Word be that goes forth out of my mouth: it shall not return to me void, but it shall accomplish that which I please, and it shall prosper in the thing I sent it to do.

This refers to prophecy, in this day and age.  Elohim’s will cannot be diverted nor evaded.

Isaiah, continued:

Isa 55:12  For you shall go out with joy, and be led forth with shalom: the mountains and the hills shall break forth before you into singing; and all the trees of the fields shall clap their hands.

Isa 55:13  Instead of the thorn shall come up the fir tree; and instead of the brier shall come up the myrtle tree: and it shall be to YHWH for a name, for an everlasting sign that shall not be cut off.

Isa 56:1 Thus says YHWH, Keep you justice, and do righteousness; for my Yeshuah is near to come, and my righteousness to be revealed.

Isa 56:2  Blessed is the man who does this, and the son of man who holds it fast; who keeps the Shabbat from profaning it, and keeps his hand from doing any evil.

Isa 56:3  Neither let the foreigner, who has joined himself to YHWH, speak, saying, YHWH will surely separate me from his people; neither let the eunuch say, Behold, I am a dry tree.

Those who wish to be grafted in to the House of Israel do not have a different set of rules than the native born.  There is no “separation.”  There is one Torah for both the native born and the stranger who wishes to be adopted as Abraham’s  heir.

Isaiah, continued:

Isa 56:4  For thus says YHWH of the eunuchs who keep my Shabbatot, and choose the things that please me, and hold fast my covenant:

Isa 56:5  To them will I give in my house and within my walls a memorial and a name better than of sons and of daughters; I will give them an everlasting name, that shall not be cut off.

A eunuch cannot enter into Temple service, but is here assured that though disfigured, he should not consider himself cut off from the heritage of Israel.  There are still blessings for such a one.

Isaiah, continued:

Isa 56:6  Also the foreigners who join themselves to YHWH, to minister to him, and to love the name of YHWH, to be his servants, everyone who keeps the Shabbat from profaning it, and holds fast my covenant;

Isa 56:7  even them will I bring to my holy mountain, and make them joyful in my house of prayer: their burnt offerings and their sacrifices shall be accepted on my altar; for my house shall be called a house of prayer for all peoples.

Isa 56:8  Adonai YHWH, who gathers the outcasts of Yisra’el, says, Yet will I gather [others] to him, besides his own who are gathered.

Those of other nations who wish to be part of the House of Israel have the same covenant requirements as any native born Israelite.  Those who profane the Sabbath by working on it, engaging in commerce, or leisure time which is profane or debauched will certainly not be brought to Elohim’s Holy Mountain, nor be accepted in His House.  Nor will those who refuse any other aspects of Elohim’s covenant.  It’s a package deal, not a buffet.  A humble heart obeys, a proud one sins and then justifies their sin.    Which are you?

Next:  Talmidim Vayelekh.

Torah Portion Vayelekh

Torah Portion Vayelekh

Devarim – Deuteronomy 31:1-30

Deu 31:1 Moshe went and spoke these words to all Yisra’el.

Deu 31:2  He said to them, I am one hundred twenty years old this day; I can no more go out and come in: and YHWH has said to me, You shall not go over this Yarden.

To “go out and come in” before the people is an idiom meaning “lead them.”

Deuteronomy, continued:

Deu 31:3  YHWH your Elohim, he will go over before you; he will destroy these nations from before you, and you shall dispossess them: [and] Yehoshua, he shall go over before you, as YHWH has spoken.

Deu 31:4  YHWH will do to them as he did to Sichon and to `Og, the kings of the Amori, and to their land; whom he destroyed.

Deu 31:5  YHWH will deliver them up before you, and you shall do to them according to all the mitzvah which I have commanded you.

Yehoshua leads them into the promised land – Moshe led them up to it, but Yehoshua, whose name was frequently shorted to “Yeshua” in later times, brings them in.  And it is also significant that as the approach the promised land, they are considered to be “finished” learning the Torah, and one of the first things Yeshua commands them to is to be circumcised, because they had not been circumcising their children or themselves during the “learning process.”  It is only after they have learned the Torah and are ready to take possession of the covenant promises that they undergo circumcision.

Jos 5:2  At that time YHWH said to Yehoshua, Make you flint knives, and circumcise again the children of Yisra’el the second time.   Jos 5:3  Yehoshua made himself flint knives, and circumcised the children of Yisra’el at the hill of `Aralot.   Jos 5:4  This is the cause why Yehoshua did circumcise: all the people who came forth out of Egypt, who were males, even all the men of war, died in the wilderness by the way, after they came forth out of Egypt.   Jos 5:5  For all the people who came out were circumcised; but all the people who were born in the wilderness by the way as they came forth out of Egypt, they had not circumcised.   Jos 5:6  For the children of Yisra’el walked forty years in the wilderness, until all the nation, even the men of war who came forth out of Egypt, were consumed, because they didn’t listen to the voice of YHWH: to whom YHWH swore that he wouldn’t let them see the land which YHWH swore to their fathers that he would give us, a land flowing with milk and honey.   Jos 5:7  Their children, whom he raised up in their place, them did Yehoshua circumcise: for they were uncircumcised, because they had not circumcised them by the way.   Jos 5:8  It happened, when they had done circumcising all the nation, that they abode in their places in the camp, until they were whole.   Jos 5:9  YHWH said to Yehoshua, This day have I rolled away the reproach of Egypt from off you. Therefore the name of that place was called Gilgal, to this day.

This is a typeology for us – following the decision of the Jerusalem Council to adopt the Sadducees method of conversion (that a person hear Torah every week and then submit to circumcision only after completing a Torah cycle – to learn, as Yeshua said, to “count the cost.”) instead of the Pharisees, who insisted a person be circumcised at the beginning of the process.

Deuteronomy, continued:

Deu 31:6  Be strong and of good courage, don’t be afraid, nor be scared of them: for YHWH your Elohim, he it is who does go with you; he will not fail you, nor forsake you.

Deu 31:7  Moshe called to Yehoshua, and said to him in the sight of all Yisra’el, Be strong and of good courage: for you shall go with this people into the land which YHWH has sworn to their fathers to give them; and you shall cause them to inherit it.

Deu 31:8  YHWH, he it is who does go before you; he will be with you, he will not fail you, neither forsake you: don’t be afraid, neither be dismayed.

Deu 31:9  Moshe wrote this Torah, and delivered it to the Kohanim the sons of Levi, who bore the ark of the covenant of YHWH, and to all the elders of Yisra’el.

It is presumed that Moshe collected the material on the patriarchs and wrote the first four books of the Torah along the way, during the 40 years of wandering.  “This Torah” is therefore the Book of Deuteronomy, to which Yehoshua pens the last few lines upon Moshe’s death.

Deuteronomy, continued:

Deu 31:10  Moshe commanded them, saying, At the end of [every] seven years, in the set time of the year of release, in the Feast of Sukkot,

Deu 31:11  when all Yisra’el is come to appear before YHWH your Elohim in the place which he shall choose, you shall read this Torah before all Yisra’el in their hearing.

Deu 31:12  Assemble the people, the men and the women and the little ones, and your foreigner who is within your gates, that they may hear, and that they may learn, and fear YHWH your Elohim, and observe to do all the words of this Torah;

Deu 31:13  and that their children, who have not known, may hear, and learn to fear YHWH your Elohim, as long as you live in the land where you go over the Yarden to possess it.

At a minimum the Book of Deuteronomy is to be read to the assembly during Sukkot every 7^th year, presumably the Sabbath year.  It is possible that all 5 books of the Torah are meant here.  Since simply hearing the text read alound was presumed by Elohim to be sufficient for learning and understanding His commandments, there is no reason to believe any “oral law” was ever necessary to “clarify” anything.  Those Bronze Age listeners understood what they were hearing.  All we have to do is listen, and we, too, can understand Elohim’s intent and apply his Torah to our present day lives.  It’s not “too difficult” for us to understand or do.

Deuteronomy, continued:

Deu 31:14  YHWH said to Moshe, Behold, your days approach that you must die: call Yehoshua, and present yourselves in the Tent of Meeting, that I may give him a charge. Moshe and Yehoshua went, and presented themselves in the tent of meeting.

Deu 31:15  YHWH appeared in the Tent in a pillar of cloud: and the pillar of cloud stood over the door of the Tent.

The pillar of fire will most likely re-appear in the renewed Temple during the Messianic Era.

Deuteronomy, continued:

Deu 31:16  YHWH said to Moshe, Behold, you shall sleep with your fathers; and this people will rise up, and play the prostitute after the strange gods of the land, where they go to be among them, and will forsake me, and break my covenant which I have made with them.

Moshe, like everyone else, is “asleep in the dust,” where, according to various passages of the Tanakh, the dead “know nothing,” their “thoughts perish,” and they “do not praise Elohim” anymore.  The dead are just dead – and stay dead until the Parousia or the Resurrection.

Deuteronomy, continued:

Deu 31:17  Then my anger shall be kindled against them in that day, and I will forsake them, and I will hide my face from them, and they shall be devoured, and many evils and troubles shall come on them; so that they will say in that day, Haven’t these evils come on us because our Elohim is not among us?

Deu 31:18  I will surely hide my face in that day for all the evil which they shall have worked, in that they are turned to other gods.

“That Day” generally refers to the Tribulation, which is the first 7 years of the Day of YHWH, the 7^th millennium, the “Sabbath Era” of history which represents the Messianic Kingdom on Earth.

Deuteronomy, continued:

Deu 31:19  Now therefore write you this song for you, and teach you it the children of Yisra’el: put it in their mouths, that this song may be a witness for me against the children of Yisra’el.

Deu 31:20  For when I shall have brought them into the land which I swore to their fathers, flowing with milk and honey, and they shall have eaten and filled themselves, and grown fat; then will they turn to other gods, and serve them, and despise me, and break my covenant.

Deu 31:21  It shall happen, when many evils and troubles are come on them, that this song shall testify before them as a witness; for it shall not be forgotten out of the mouths of their seed: for I know their imagination which they frame this day, before I have brought them into the land which I swore.

This is true not just of ancient Israel, but of the Modern State of Israel and of America, a country supposedly founded as a “City on a Hill,” a nation which honors the Deity of Creation.  But in the last 50 years or so, we have cast off the “bonds” of Elohim and instead put ourselves in bondage to sin, not reluctantly but great gusto.

Deuteronomy, continued:

Deu 31:22  So Moshe wrote this song the same day, and taught it the children of Yisra’el.

Deu 31:23  He[YHWH]  gave Yehoshua the son of Nun a charge, and said, Be strong and of good courage; for you shall bring the children of Yisra’el into the land which I swore to them: and I will be with you.

Deu 31:24  It happened, when Moshe had made an end of writing the words of this Torah in a book, until they were finished,

Deu 31:25  that Moshe commanded the Levites, who bore the Ark of the Covenant of YHWH, saying,

Deu 31:26  Take this scroll of the Torah, and put it by the side of the ark of the covenant of YHWH your Elohim, that it may be there for a witness against you.

And as a witness against us, to this day – because Elohim and His laws are eternal and have not changed.

Deuteronomy, continued:

Deu 31:27  For I know your rebellion, and your stiff neck: behold, while I am yet alive with you this day, you have been rebellious against YHWH; and how much more after my death?

Deu 31:28  Assemble to me all the elders of your tribes, and your officers, that I may speak these words in their ears, and call heaven and earth to witness against them.

Deu 31:29  For I know that after my death you will utterly corrupt yourselves, and turn aside from the way which I have commanded you; and evil will happen to you in the latter days; because you will do that which is evil in the sight of YHWH, to provoke him to anger through the work of your hands.

Deu 31:30  Moshe spoke in the ears of all the assembly of Yisra’el the words of this song, until they were finished.

The “Latter Days” of course refers to the end times – the world is far more contemptuous of the Bible and far more rebellious against Elohim’s commandments than it has ever been.  And everything that we are doing in our society, which is unjust, greedy, wasteful, exploitative, debauched and degrading – the work of our hands – is repellent to Elohim, and He will act accordingly.

Next:  Haftarah Vayelekh.

Our Condolences.

It is with great sorrow we pass on to you a report of the death of the only son of Avi ben Mordechai, author and Karaite Believer in Yeshua HaMashiach.

Shalom from Jerusalem, This is Avi’s Brother, Uri Marcus. I am here in Jerusalem with YvonneWittstock (Pocohontas), who is visiting Avi and Dina, and working withthem to assist them with their upcoming Succot Tour. We are writing to jointly inform you of sad news we received earlier today. Yesterday morning (05 Sep 09) at approximately 10:51 am, Eastern Time, Avi’s first born and only son, Yonatan, age 24, died in his sleep from as yet undetermined causes. He had been diagnosed withpost-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) which came about as a result ofhis participation with the IDF in the 2nd Lebanon War, which took placein Israel, during the summer of 2006.Yonatan left Israel in January of 2008, where he had been living in NewYork City, until his untimely death yesterday.We are coming before you, on behalf of Avi and Dina to request greatlyneeded  help in order to financially assist them in attending and payingfor the formitable costs of the funeral of Avi’s son. The funeral will takeplace in the New York City area on Tuesday, the 8th of September.Any immediate and future financial assistance you can offer, would be greatly appreciated, and will help cover funeral, airfare, hotel accommodations, and/or other related expenses. Please make your checks payable to: Millennium 7000 P.O. Box 75517 Colorado Springs, CO  80970 Any immediate electronic assistance can be sent via PayPal and emailed to avinoam@m7000.com. Should you desire to reach Avi or Dina during the period from the 8th tothe 14th of September, while they are in the United States, you can doso at this number: 1-800-880-2656.Thank you again for your prayers, considerations and financial supportduring Avi and Dina’s hour of mourning.Respectfully, Yvonne Wittstock — Jerusalem Uri Marcus — Jerusalem Millennium Communications, Jerusalem March 29, 2009

Kollel Netzavim

Kollel Nitzavim

Hebrews chapter 10

Recall, the writer of Hebrews has been describing to his audience that the priesthood of the Firstborns preceded the Levites, and the appointment of the Levites represented as substitution of the earlier ways – which we know that Adam learned when he ate of the tree, that the Firstborns were the legitimate priests of the family.  The appointment of Yeshua HaMashiach as the Ultimate Firstborn was therefore not a violation of the Written Torah commandments but rather simply a reversion to the original order established by Elohim at creation.  Elohim had commanded Moshe to count the Firstborns and substitute the Levites in their place.

Now, the Firstborn of the Dead was going to be put back in the position of the Cohen HaGadol, like Melchitzedek (whom the Sages identified as Shem, Firstborn of Noah) who lived so much longer than the shorter-lived people born after the flood that he seemed to them to have been King and Priest forever (actually it was about 500 years, a relatively short life compared to other pre-flood lifespans, but lasting many lifetimes of the post-flood generations).   The Torah allows substitutions, as the writer’s argument goes.

For example, if a person can’t afford a bull, they can offer a sheep.  If they can’t afford a lamb, they can offer turtledoves.  Substitution is part of the Torah process, and the Written Torah itself was a substitution for the Knowledge obtained from the tree, and the New Covenant will substitute our hearts and minds for the original written stones and paper.

Lastly, the writer argues that the earthly High Priests were never all that perfect in the first place, having to offer sacrifices for their own sins and being subject to death – neither of which is true of Yeshua HaMashiach, making his Priesthood greater than theirs in every way.

Hebrews, continued:

Heb 10:1 For the Torah, having a shadow of the good to come, not the very image of the things, can never with the same sacrifices year by year, which they offer continually, make perfect those who draw near.

Heb 10:2  Or else wouldn’t they have ceased to be offered, because the worshippers, having been once cleansed, would have had no more consciousness of sins?

Heb 10:3  But in those sacrifices there is yearly reminder of sins.

Heb 10:4  For it is impossible that the blood of bulls and goats should take away sins.

Offering sacrifices is like paying a ticket – the penalty is considered paid but the record of your guilt lingers on your driving record.  Only Yeshua’s blood gives us a true clean slate, because our very guilty verdict was nailed to the stake with him, and was buried and is now as if it had never been at all – erased from the record.

Hebrews, continued:

Heb 10:5  Therefore when he comes into the world, he says, “Sacrifice and offering you didn’t desire, but you prepared a body for me;

Heb 10:6  You had no pleasure in whole burnt offerings and sacrifices for sin.

Heb 10:7  Then I said, ‘Behold, I have come (in the scroll of the book it is written of me) to do your will, O Elohim.’”

This is a quote from Psalms:

Psa 40:6 (40:7) Sacrifice and meal-offering Thou hast no delight in; mine ears hast Thou opened; burnt-offering and sin-offering hast Thou not required.   Psa 40:7  (40:8) Then said I: ‘Lo, I am come with the roll of a book which is prescribed for me;   Psa 40:8  (40:9) I delight to do Thy will, O my Elohim; yea, Thy Torah is in my inmost parts.’   Psa 40:9  (40:10) I have preached righteousness in the great congregation, lo, I did not refrain my lips; O YHWH, Thou knowest.   Psa 40:10  (40:11) I have not hid Thy righteousness within my heart; I have declared Thy faithfulness and Thy salvation; I have not concealed Thy mercy and Thy truth from the great congregation.

Hebrews, continued:

Heb 10:8  Previously saying, “Sacrifices and offerings and whole burnt offerings and sacrifices for sin you didn’t desire, neither had pleasure in them” (those which are offered according to the Torah),

Heb 10:9  then he has said, “Behold, I have come to do your will.” He takes away the first, that he may establish the second,

Heb 10:10  by which will we have been sanctified through the offering of the body of Yeshua the Messiah once for all.

The writer either had a slightly different text of the Psalm or is taking liberty with the text to make his point, but either way Yeshua did “delight to do” Elohim’s will and so should we.

Hebrews, continued:

Heb 10:11  Every Kohen indeed stands day by day serving and often offering the same sacrifices, which can never take away sins,

Heb 10:12  but he, when he had offered one sacrifice for sins forever, sat down on the right hand of Elohim;

Heb 10:13  from that time waiting until his enemies are made the footstool of his feet.

That is, until time to end the Tribulation, bind hasatan in the pit, toss the False Messiah and the False Prophet into the Lake of Fire, and inagurate His Kingdom on Earth.

Hebrews, continued:

Heb 10:14  For by one offering he has perfected forever those who are being sanctified.

Heb 10:15  The Ruach HaKodesh also testifies to us, for after saying,

Heb 10:16  “This is the covenant that I will make with them: ‘After those days,’ says Adonai, ‘I will put my laws on their heart, I will also write them on their mind;’” then he says,

Heb 10:17  “I will remember their sins and their iniquities no more.”

Here again is the passage from Jeremiah quoted, defining the New Covenant:

Jer 31:31 Behold, the days come, says YHWH, that I will make a new covenant with the house of Yisra’el, and with the house of Yehudah:   Jer 31:32  not according to the covenant that I made with their fathers in the day that I took them by the hand to bring them out of the land of Egypt; which my covenant they broke, although I was a husband to them, says YHWH.   Jer 31:33  But this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Yisra’el after those days, says YHWH: I will put my law in their inward parts, and in their heart will I write it; and I will be their Elohim, and they shall be my people:   Jer 31:34  and they shall teach no more every man his neighbor, and every man his brother, saying, Know YHWH; for they shall all know me, from the least of them to the greatest of them, says YHWH: for I will forgive their iniquity, and their sin will I remember no more.

There is no other “new covenant” – this is it.  It is the SAME old written Torah, simply placed in our minds and hearts INSTEAD of, substituting for, stone and paper, the same way the stone and paper substituted for the handing down of knowledge from father to son from the Tree, teaching each generation what was sin and how to offer sacrifices for sin.

Hebrews, continued:

Heb 10:18  Now where remission of these is, there is no more offering for sin.

Heb 10:19  Having therefore, brothers, boldness to enter into the holy place by the blood of Yeshua,

Heb 10:20  by the way which he dedicated for us, a new and living way, through the veil, that is to say, his flesh;

Heb 10:21  and having a great Kohen over the house of Elohim,

Heb 10:22  let’s draw near with a true heart in fullness of faith, having our hearts sprinkled from an evil conscience, and having our body washed with pure water,

Heb 10:23  let us hold fast the confession of our hope without wavering; for he who promised is faithful.

A “true heart” is a heard of submission and obedience, “faith” is not an intellectual idea in your head but the guiding practice of your everyday life.  The “evil conscience” is the guilt from our past sins, and the “sprinkling” refers to the ritual for healing uncleanness, where the ashes of the red heifer were mixed with pure water and sprinkled on the person.  Having “our body washed” refers, of course, to immersion in a miqvah.  “Our hope” is the promises made to Obedient Believers, such as the Parousia, because in spite of all the nonsense coming from Karaite Believers, this event is described in the Prophets (Isaiah 26) and is represented by Yom Teruah on Elohim’s calendar and precedes the Tribulation.

Hebrews, continued:

Heb 10:24  Let us consider how to provoke one another to love and good works,

Heb 10:25  not forsaking our own assembling together, as the custom of some is, but exhorting one another; and so much the more, as you see the Day approaching.

We are those who “see the Day approaching,” therefore it is important for us to get together and observe the festivals as accurately as we can, because being in the “right place at the right time,” as the 10 virgins found out, is in fact important.

Hebrews, continued:

Heb 10:26  For if we sin willfully after we have received the knowledge of the truth, there remains no more a sacrifice for sins,

Heb 10:27  but a certain fearful expectation of judgment, and a fierceness of fire which will devour the adversaries.

Those who refuse to stop living in sin, refuse to drop the pagan holidays and adopt Elohim’s appointed Festivals on His prophetic Calendar can expect to have to endure judgement, not be admitted to the Bridal Chamber with the “Philadelphians.”  Like the 5 foolish virgins, they ignore Elohim’s sabbaths and festivals, and will have the door slammed in their face – left behind.

Hebrews, continued:

Heb 10:28  A man who disregards the Torah of Moshe dies without compassion on the word of two or three witnesses.

Heb 10:29  How much worse punishment, do you think, will he be judged worthy of, who has trodden under foot the Son of Elohim, and has counted the blood of the covenant with which he was sanctified an unholy thing, and has insulted the Spirit of grace?

If someone else pays our ticket for us, does that give us a license to continue breaking the traffic laws?  Of course not.  Why would having Yeshua pay for our sins give us a license to continue living in violation of Elohim’s Torah?  That argument makes no sense at all, not here and not in the Heavenly court, either.

Hebrews, continued:

Heb 10:30  For we know him who said, “Vengeance belongs to me,” says Adonai, “I will repay.” Again, “Adonai will judge his people.”

Deu 32:35 Vengeance is mine, and recompense, at the time when their foot slides; for the day of their calamity is at hand. The things that are to come on them shall make haste.   Deu 32:36  For YHWH will judge his people, and have compassion on his servants, when he sees that [their] power is gone, There is none [remaining], shut up or left at large.

Psa 135:13  Your name, YHWH, endures forever; your renown, YHWH, throughout all generations.   Psa 135:14 For YHWH will judge his people, and have compassion on his servants.   Psa 135:15  The idols of the nations are silver and gold, the work of men’s hands.

Hebrews, continued:

Heb 10:31  It is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living Elohim.

Although David assures us that Elohim’s punishments are just, which man’s often are not.

2Sa 24:14 David said to Gad, I am in a great strait: let us fall now into the hand of YHWH; for his mercies are great; and let me not fall into the hand of man.

Hebrews, continued:

Heb 10:32  But remember the former days, in which, after you were enlightened, you endured a great struggle with sufferings;

Heb 10:33  partly, being exposed to both reproaches and oppressions; and partly, becoming partakers with those who were treated so.

A person who becomes an Obedient Believer can expect to receive hate and anger from the Torahless, and be shunned and persecuted along with other Obedient Believers.

Hebrews, continued:

Heb 10:34  For you both had compassion on me in my chains, and joyfully accepted the plundering of your possessions, knowing that you have for yourselves a better possession and an enduring one in the heavens.

This verse is the reason many attribute this letter to Paul, but the Early Church Fathers knew it was not written by him.  They attributed it to Barnabas, mostly, though some said Apollos.  Paul (Shaul) was hardly the only apostle to be arrested.

Hebrews, continued:

Heb 10:35  Therefore don’t throw away your boldness, which has a great reward.

Heb 10:36  For you need endurance so that, having done the will of Elohim, you may receive the promise.

The “promise” is the Parousia – remission from their past sins (i.e. “salvation) they already have through their profession of faith in Yeshua and immersion in the miqvah.

Hebrews, continued:

Heb 10:37  “In a very little while, he who comes will come, and will not wait.

Heb 10:38  But the righteous will live by faith. If he shrinks back, my soul has no pleasure in him.”

Heb 10:39  But we are not of those who shrink back to destruction, but of those who have faith to the saving of the soul.

Those who “shrink back” are the foolish virgins.  There is no doubt they believe themselves to be betrothed to their Lord, but by their willingness to buy and sell and violate the sabbath/festival, they showed themselves to be committed to the world rather than to Adonai.  Therefore, they will have the door slammed in their faces and Yeshua will say to them, “I don’t know you” when the Parousia comes.  Don’t be a foolish virgin – repent and be saved!

Next week:  Parashat Vayelekh.

Epistle Netzavim

Epistle Nitzivim

John 19:1-22

Yeshua has been questioned by the politically appointed lackeys of Rome that comprised the Sanhedrin, and finally turned over to Pontius Pilate, the Roman governor of Judea.   No doubt those in the Tribulation can expect similar treatment from the “officials” of the False Messiah’s government.

John, continued:

Joh 19:1 So Pilate then took Yeshua, and flogged him.

Joh 19:2  The soldiers twisted thorns into a crown, and put it on his head, and dressed him in a purple garment.

Joh 19:3  They kept saying, “Hail, King of the Jews!” and they kept slapping him.

Joh 19:4  Then Pilate went out again, and said to them, “Behold, I bring him out to you, that you may know that I find no basis for a charge against him.”

In real life, this had never stopped Pilate from executing anyone.  In fact, according to secular Roman historical sources, Pilate was himself recalled to Rome and executed for giving the Emperor a bad name because he executed so many people on the flimsiest of pretexts.  The Gnostic writers of the “Gospel of John,” however, wished to portray Jews in a bad light and Romans in a good light, so here Pilate appears to equivocate, something he never did in real life.

John, continued:

Joh 19:5  Yeshua therefore came out, wearing the crown of thorns and the purple garment. Pilate said to them, “Behold, the man!”

Joh 19:6  When therefore the chief Kohanim and the officers saw him, they shouted, saying, “Crucify! Crucify!” Pilate said to them, “Take him yourselves, and crucify him, for I find no basis for a charge against him.”

Joh 19:7  The Judeans answered him, “We have a law, and by our law he ought to die, because he made himself the Son of Elohim.”

It is not in any way a violation of Torah to claim to be the Messiah, because many did and some were even endorsed by the Sanhedrin.  Neither was it a violation of Torah to claim to be the “Son of Elohim,” because scripture itself uses this term “Sons of Elohin” to describe those who follow and love YHWH.  The “law” they refer to here is their own Oral Torah, their traditions and precedents, which they imposed on people in addition to Elohim’s real Torah commandments we received in writing.

It is one precept of their Oral Law that those of the Northern Nation of Israel, which had been opposed to the Southern Nation of Judah for so long, were not considered “real” Judeans by the Pharisees and some other sects.  Like the Samaritans, their lineage and practices were “suspect,” because they did not generally consider the Pharisees and their cronies as authoritative (thus we read in several places that the Pharisees referred to Yeshua’s followers as “unlearned” and “ignorant” am-haratz, which the Rabbinate still uses as an insult to this day).  Yet Hoshea tells us that these are true sons of Elohim.

Hos 1:10 (2:1) Yet the number of the children of Israel shall be as the sand of the sea, which cannot be measured nor numbered; and it shall come to pass that, instead of that which was said unto them [10-Israel]: ‘You are not My people’, it shall be said unto them: ‘You are the sons of the living Elohim.’   Hos 1:11  (2:2) And the children of Judah and the children of Israel shall be gathered together, and they shall appoint themselves one head, and shall go up out of the land; for great shall be the day of Jezreel.

It is significant for this Parashat that the “Vally of Jezreel” is formed by “Har Megiddo,” Mount Megiddo, mistranslated by the Greeks as “Armageddon.”  The Son of Elohim, whose heirs will be called “Sons of the Living Elohim,” will defeat his enemies there and establish the Messianic Kingdom as a result of that battle.

John, continued:

Joh 19:8  When therefore Pilate heard this saying, he was more afraid.

Joh 19:9  He entered into the Praetorium again, and said to Yeshua, “Where are you from?” But Yeshua gave him no answer.

This question is loaded with overtones, given the above prophetic passages and Rome’s then-current relationship with the Judeans.

John, continued:

Joh 19:10  Pilate therefore said to him, “Aren’t you speaking to me? Don’t you know that I have power to release you, and have power to crucify you?”

Joh 19:11  Yeshua answered, “You would have no power at all against me, unless it were given to you from above. Therefore he who delivered me to you has greater sin.”

This will be true of collaborators even during the Tribulation.  Those who “turn in” the Obedient Believers will carry far more burden of guilt than those who actually execute the Believers.  The collaborators had a chance to be righteous gentiles, like those of the Holocaust, but threw it away.  They had a chance to choose a different allegiance, whereas the minions of the False Messiah have already chosen their path.

John, continued:

Joh 19:12  At this, Pilate was seeking to release him, but the Judeans cried out, saying, “If you release this man, you aren’t Caesar’s friend! Everyone who makes himself a king speaks against Caesar!”

Joh 19:13  When Pilate therefore heard these words, he brought Yeshua out, and sat down on the judgment seat at a place called “The Pavement,” but in Hebrew, “Gabta.”

The False Messiah, like the Emperors of Rome, will brook no challenge to his authority.  His minions cannot allow even the appearance of such a challenge to go unanswered, and everybody knows this.  Thus the collaborators cannot console themselves by saying perhaps those they “turn in” will get a fair trial, because everybody knows they will not.  Turning Obedient Believers over to the authorities will bring blood-guilt on the collaborators.

John, continued:

Joh 19:14  Now it was the Preparation Day of the Pesach, at about the sixth hour. He said to the Judeans, “Behold, your King!”

This is a confusing statement for most people, who are unaware that the different sects of Judaism interpreted Elohim’s commandments concerning Passover different.  We have already read (four times) that Yeshua had his Passover Seder with his disciples the night before he was impaled.  Since his death had to take place on Nisan 14 to be a valid Passover Sacrifice, this means that his trial before Pilate is taking place the morning of the daylight hours of Nisan 14^th, and Yeshua’s Seder was the night before, at the sundown BEGINNING Nisan 14^th.  This is the time that Moshe did it as well, as a close examination of the Chronology of Exodus reveals (see the article in the sidebar of the homepage of this blog for an in-depth article on this subject).

However, the Pharisees and those who followed them (including the modern Rabbinate) ate their Passover Seder on Nisan 15^th, which is supposed to be the first convocation of Unleavened Bread.  It is true that a Passover Offering can be made at any time “between the evenings” on Nisan 14^th, (that is, from the starting sunset to the ending sunset) but it also has to be EATEN on the 14^th to be valid.  The Pharisees (and the Rabbinate) kill their Passover offering on the 14^th but eat it after sundown, on the 15^th.  Clearly, the correct time to eat the Passover is not on the 15^th.  One should do as Yeshua did and have their Seder at the sundown beginning the 14^th, or eat it earlier in the evening the next “day,” before sunset, in the closing hours of the 14^th.

John, continued:

Joh 19:15  They cried out, “Away with him! Away with him! Crucify him!” Pilate said to them, “Shall I crucify your King?” The chief Kohanim answered, “We have no king but Caesar!”

It would have been truer to say, “we have no king but money,” since it wasn’t Caesar but his gold and coins that chiefly interested them.   Those who are collaborators in the Tribulation and those who are minions of the False Messiah will also make their choices due to economic considerations.  They are not willing to trust the underground economy – they want the Mark of the Beast so they can have a job and buy and sell and stay in the “good graces” of the Beast’s government.  In other words, they will sell their friends and family for Caesar’s coin.

John, continued:

Joh 19:16  So then he delivered him to them to be crucified. So they took Yeshua and led him away.

Joh 19:17  He went out, bearing his cross, to the place called “The Place of a Skull,” which is called in Hebrew, “Gulgolta,”

Joh 19:18  where they crucified him, and with him two others, on either side one, and Yeshua in the middle.

Joh 19:19  Pilate wrote a title also, and put it on the cross. There was written, “YESHUA OF NATZERET, THE KING OF THE JUDEANS.”

Joh 19:20  Therefore many of the Judeans read this title, for the place where Yeshua was crucified was near the city; and it was written in Hebrew, in Latin, and in Greek.

Joh 19:21  The chief Kohanim of the Judeans therefore said to Pilate, “Don’t write, ‘The King of the Jews,’ but, ‘he said, I am King of the Jews.’”

Joh 19:22  Pilate answered, “What I have written, I have written.”

This type of petty annoyance to the lackeys of Rome is in character with what we know of Pilate from secular historical sources, and therefore may actually be true.  Like the Cohen HaGadol who spoke true prophecy by virtue of his “authority,” (however illegitimately obtained), so too Pilate could have been led by the Spirit to write these words, as a witness for history, thinking he was being spiteful but unknown to himself the words were true.  In the last days, the birth pangs, and the Tribulation, the Spirit will use any and every opportunity to speak to those who still have a choice and can still repent – even the pens and mouths of collaborators and minions of the False Messiah.   Those with discernment will hear truth.

Next:  Kollel Nitzevim.