Simchat Torah v’Mashiach
Here is the patience of the holy ones – here are they that keep the mitzvot of Elohim and have faith in Yeshua HaMashiach. (Rev 14:12) Simchat posts line by line commentaries on the weekly Parashat readings, both the Tanakh and the NT (see introduction, right sidebar, for details). The Torah cycle goes round and round – hop on!

Haftarah Naso

Haftarah Naso

Shoftim – Judges 13:2-25

This passage describes some of the restrictions on a Nazir – a Nazarite – someone who has made a vow (or in this case had his parents impose the vow on him).

Judges, continued:

Jdg 13:2  There was a certain man of Tzor`ah, of the family of the Dani, whose name was Manoach; and his wife was barren, and didn’t bear.

Jdg 13:3  The angel of YHWH appeared to the woman, and said to her, See now, you are barren, and don’t bear; but you shall conceive, and bear a son.

Jdg 13:4  Now therefore please beware and drink no wine nor strong drink, and don’t eat any unclean thing:

Jdg 13:5  for, behold, you shall conceive, and bear a son; and no razor shall come on his head; for the child shall be a Nazir to Elohim from the womb: and he shall begin to save Yisra’el out of the hand of the Pelishtim.

Jdg 13:6  Then the woman came and told her husband, saying, A man of Elohim came to me, and his face was like the face of the angel of Elohim, very awesome; and I didn’t ask him whence he was, neither did he tell me his name:

Jdg 13:7  but he said to me, Behold, you shall conceive, and bear a son; and now drink no wine nor strong drink, and eat not any unclean thing; for the child shall be a Nazir to Elohim from the womb to the day of his death.

Jdg 13:8  Then Manoach entreated YHWH, and said, Oh, Adonai, please let the man of Elohim whom you did send come again to us, and teach us what we shall do to the child who shall be born.

Jdg 13:9  Elohim listened to the voice of Manoach; and the angel of Elohim came again to the woman as she sat in the field: but Manoach, her husband, wasn’t with her.

Jdg 13:10  The woman made haste, and ran, and told her husband, and said to him, Behold, the man has appeared to me, who came to me the [other] day.

Jdg 13:11  Manoach arose, and went after his wife, and came to the man, and said to him, Are you the man who spoke to the woman? He said, I am.

Jdg 13:12  Manoach said, Now let your words happen: what shall be the ordering of the child, and [how] shall we do to him?

Jdg 13:13  The angel of YHWH said to Manoach, Of all that I said to the woman let her beware.

Jdg 13:14  She may not eat of anything that comes of the vine, neither let her drink wine or strong drink, nor eat any unclean thing; all that I commanded her let her observe.

Jdg 13:15  Manoach said to the angel of YHWH, I pray you, let us detain you, that we may make ready a kid for you.

Jdg 13:16  The angel of YHWH said to Manoach, Though you detain me, I won’t eat of your bread; and if you will make ready a burnt offering, you must offer it to YHWH. For Manoach didn’t know that he was the angel of YHWH.

Jdg 13:17  Manoach said to the angel of YHWH, What is your name, that when your words happen, we may honor you?

Jdg 13:18  The angel of YHWH said to him, Why do you ask after my name, seeing it is wonderful?

Many commentators try and use this verse to “prove” that Yeshua appeared in human form prior to his conception but there is no linguistic justification for that.  The voice of YHWH is a separate manifestation.  Those who try and claim this is Yeshua are trying to cram all of Elohim’s manifestations into their pagan trinity teachings.  It is simply not correct.

Judges, continued:

Jdg 13:19  So Manoach took the kid with the meal offering, and offered it on the rock to YHWH: and [the angel] did wondrously, and Manoach and his wife looked on.

Jdg 13:20  For it happened, when the flame went up toward the sky from off the altar, that the angel of YHWH ascended in the flame of the altar: and Manoach and his wife looked on; and they fell on their faces to the ground.

Jdg 13:21  But the angel of YHWH did no more appear to Manoach or to his wife. Then Manoach knew that he was the angel of YHWH.

Jdg 13:22  Manoach said to his wife, We shall surely die, because we have seen Elohim.

It was also common in those days to confuse the various manifestations of Elohim.  The people knew from the days of Adam that it was death to look upon the Kavod of the Ain Sof, as YHWH Himself explains to Moshe on Mt. Sinai/Choreb.  The Kavod is the male counterpart to the Shekinah, deadly to touch and nearly impossible to look upon in an unresurrected state.  But the Voice (angel/messenger) of YHWH is not the Kavod, nor is Yeshua.

Judges, continued:

Jdg 13:23  But his wife said to him, If YHWH were pleased to kill us, he wouldn’t have received a burnt offering and a meal offering at our hand, neither would he have shown us all these things, nor would at this time have told such things as these.

Jdg 13:24  The woman bore a son, and named him Shimshon: and the child grew, and YHWH blessed him.

Jdg 13:25  The Spirit of YHWH began to move him in Machane-Dan, between Tzor`ah and Eshta’ol.

Elohim’s Spirit, also called the Ruach HaKodesh in both the Tanakh and the NT, is nothing “new” to the 1st century CE.  It is described numerous places in the Tankah well before Yeshua’s time.  For example:

Psa 51:10  (51:12) Create me a clean heart, O Elohim; and renew a stedfast spirit within me.

Psa 51:11  (51:13) Cast me not away from Thy presence; and take not Thy Ruach HaKodesh from me.

Unlike the Shekinah and the Kavod, the Ruach can be in the presence of sin and guilt – indeed, we can grieve it with our actions and attitudes.  But it won’t fry us on the spot, it will only prompt and prod us to remember the Torah and obey.

Next:  Talmidim Naso

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