Talmidim Naso

Talmidim Naso

Acts 7:20-8:40

Stephen is giving his speech to the Sanhedrin, if you recall.

Act 7:20  At that time Moshe was born, and was exceedingly handsome. He was nourished three months in his father’s house.

Act 7:21  When he was thrown out, Par`oh’s daughter took him up, and reared him as her own son.

Act 7:22  Moshe was instructed in all the wisdom of the Egyptians. He was mighty in his words and works.

Act 7:23  But when he was forty years old, it came into his heart to visit his brothers, the children of Yisra’el.

Act 7:24  Seeing one of them suffer wrong, he defended him, and avenged him who was oppressed, striking the Egyptian.

Act 7:25  He supposed that his brothers understood that Elohim, by his hand, was giving them deliverance; but they didn’t understand.

Act 7:26  “The day following, he appeared to them as they fought, and urged them to be at peace again, saying, ‘Sirs, you are brothers. Why do you wrong one another?’

Act 7:27  But he who did his neighbor wrong pushed him away, saying, ‘Who made you a ruler and a judge over us?

Act 7:28  Do you want to kill me, as you killed the Egyptian yesterday?’

Act 7:29  Moshe fled at this saying, and became a stranger in the land of Midyan, where he became the father of two sons.

Act 7:30  ”When forty years were fulfilled, an angel of the Lord appeared to him in the wilderness of Mount Sinai, in a flame of fire in a bush.

Act 7:31  When Moshe saw it, he wondered at the sight. As he came close to see, a voice of Adonai came to him,

Act 7:32  ‘I am the Elohim of your fathers, the El of Avraham, the El of Yitzchak, and the El of Ya`akov.’ Moshe trembled, and dared not look.

Act 7:33  Adonai said to him, ‘Take your sandals off of your feet, for the place where you stand is holy ground.

Act 7:34  I have surely seen the affliction of my people that is in Egypt, and have heard their groaning. I have come down to deliver them. Now come, I will send you into Egypt.’

Act 7:35  “This Moshe, whom they refused, saying, ‘Who made you a ruler and a judge?’—Elohim  has sent him as both a ruler and a deliverer by the hand of the angel who appeared to him in the bush.

Act 7:36  This man led them out, having worked wonders and signs in Egypt, in the Sea of Suf, and in the wilderness for forty years.

Act 7:37  This is that Moshe, who said to the children of Yisra’el, ‘Adonai our Elohim will raise up a prophet for you from among your brothers, like me. ‘

Act 7:38  This is he who was in the assembly in the wilderness with the angel that spoke to him on Mount Sinai, and with our fathers, who received living oracles to give to us,

Act 7:39  to whom our fathers wouldn’t be obedient, but rejected him, and turned back in their hearts to Egypt,

Act 7:40  saying to Aharon, ‘Make us gods that will go before us, for as for this Moshe, who led us out of the land of Egypt, we don’t know what has become of him.’

Act 7:41  They made a calf in those days, and brought a sacrifice to the idol, and rejoiced in the works of their hands.

Act 7:42  But Elohim turned, and gave them up to serve the army of the sky, as it is written in the book of the prophets, ‘Did you offer to me slain animals and sacrifices forty years in the wilderness, O house of Yisra’el?

Act 7:43  You took up the tent of Molekh, the star of your god Reifan, the figures which you made to worship. I will carry you away beyond Bavel.’

Act 7:44  “Our fathers had the tent of the testimony in the wilderness, even as he who spoke to Moshe commanded him to make it according to the pattern that he had seen;

Act 7:45  which also our fathers, in their turn, brought in with Yehoshua when they entered into the possession of the nations, whom Elohim drove out before the face of our fathers, to the days of David,

Act 7:46  who found favor in the sight of Elohim, and asked to find a habitation for the El of Ya`akov.

Act 7:47  But Shlomo built him a house.

Act 7:48  However, the Elyon doesn’t dwell in temples made with hands, as the prophet says,

Act 7:49  ‘heaven is my throne, and the earth a footstool for my feet. What kind of house will you build me?’ says Adonai; ‘or what is the place of my rest?

Act 7:50  Didn’t my hand make all these things?’

Act 7:51  “You stiff-necked and uncircumcised in heart and ears, you always resist the Ruach HaKodesh! As your fathers did, so you do.

Act 7:52  Which of the prophets didn’t your fathers persecute? They killed those who foretold the coming of the Righteous One, of whom you have now become betrayers and murderers.

Act 7:53  You received the Torah as it was ordained by voices, and didn’t keep it!”

Act 7:54  Now when they heard these things, they were cut to the heart, and they gnashed at him with their teeth.

Act 7:55  But he, being full of the Ruach HaKodesh, looked up steadfastly into heaven, and saw the glory of Elohim, and Yeshua standing on the right hand of Elohim,

Act 7:56  and said, “Behold, I see the heavens opened, and the Son of Man standing at the right hand of Elohim!”

Act 7:57  But they cried out with a loud voice, and stopped their ears, and rushed at him with one accord.

Act 7:58  They threw him out of the city, and stoned him. The witnesses placed their garments at the feet of a young man named Sha’ul.

Act 7:59  They stoned Stephen as he called out, saying, “Adonai Yeshua, receive my Spirit!”

Act 7:60  He kneeled down, and cried with a loud voice, “Adonai, don’t hold this sin against them!” When he had said this, he fell asleep.

The Spirit that Adonai receives back when we die is the Ruach HaKodesh that He bestows upon us when we become Obedient Believers.

Acts, continued:

Act 8:1 Sha’ul was consenting to his death. A great persecution arose against the assembly which was in Yerushalayim in that day. They were all scattered abroad throughout the regions of Yehudah and Shomron, except for the emissaries.

Act 8:2  Devout men buried Stephen, and lamented greatly over him.

Act 8:3  But Sha’ul ravaged the assembly, entering into every house, and dragged both men and women off to prison.

Act 8:4  Therefore those who were scattered abroad went around preaching the word.

Often what we perceive as a bad event is meant for the good of the Kingdom.

Acts, continued:

Act 8:5  Philip went down to the city of Shomron, and proclaimed to them the Messiah.

Act 8:6  The multitudes listened with one accord to the things that were spoken by Philip, when they heard and saw the signs which he did.

Act 8:7  For unclean spirits came out of many of those who had them. They came out, crying with a loud voice. Many who had been paralyzed and lame were healed.

Act 8:8  There was great joy in that city.

Unclean spirits have not gone away – they are still very much with us.

Acts, continued:

Act 8:9  But there was a certain man, Shim`on by name, who used to practice sorcery in the city, and amazed the people of Shomron, making himself out to be some great one,

Act 8:10  to whom they all listened, from the least to the greatest, saying, “This man is that great power of Elohim.”

Act 8:11  They listened to him, because for a long time he had amazed them with his sorceries.

Act 8:12  But when they believed Philip preaching good news concerning the Kingdom of Elohim and the name of Yeshua the Messiah, they were immersed, both men and women.

Act 8:13  Shim`on himself also believed. Being immersed, he continued with Philip. Seeing signs and great miracles occuring, he was amazed.

Notice it does not say that Shimon’s belief was not genuine.  But he did not give up his occult arts as the Torah commands – he will still living in sin and entangled in the world system.

Acts, continued:

Act 8:14  Now when the emissaries who were at Yerushalayim heard that Shomron had received the word of Elohim, they sent Kefa and Yochanan to them,

Act 8:15  who, when they had come down, prayed for them, that they might receive the Ruach HaKodesh;

Act 8:16  for as yet he had fallen on none of them. They had only been immersed in the name of Messiah Yeshua.

Act 8:17  Then they laid their hands on them, and they received the Ruach HaKodesh.

It appears in this day and age that we have lost sight of the fact that the Ruach HaKodesh doesn’t just appear when you become a believer.  It has to be transferred to a new Believer by the hands of a Torah Observant Believer.  Without Torah Observance, there is no transferrence of the Ruach HaKodesh.  The purpose of the Ruach HaKodesh is to be the seal or evidence of your inclusion in the Parousia and the Kingdom, and to remind you of Torah teachings.  Obviously, if you have no intention of obeying Torah, the Ruach is not going to dwell with you.

Acts, continued:

Act 8:18  Now when Shim`on saw that the Ruach HaKodesh was given through the laying on of the emissaries’ hands, he offered them money,

Act 8:19  saying, “Give me also this power, that whoever I lay my hands on may receive the Ruach HaKodesh.”

Act 8:20  But Kefa said to him, “May your silver perish with you, because you thought you could obtain the gift of Elohim with money!

Act 8:21  You have neither part nor lot in this matter, for your heart isn’t right before Elohim.

Act 8:22  Repent therefore of this, your wickedness, and ask Elohim if perhaps the thought of your heart may be forgiven you.

Act 8:23  For I see that you are in the gall of bitterness and in the bondage of iniquity.”

This is the status and situation of the vast majority of believers today.  They do not have Torah, and because they do not have obedience and will not give up the things the Torah commands to be given up, they are not right before Elohim.

Acts, continued:

Act 8:24  Shim`on answered, “Pray for me to Adonai, that none of the things which you have spoken happen to me.”

And like most believers today, Simon did not promise to observe Torah – he simply wished to avoid being punished.

Acts, continued:

Act 8:25  They therefore, when they had testified and spoken the Word of Adonai, returned to Yerushalayim, and preached the Good News to many villages of the Shomroni.

Act 8:26  But an angel of Adonai spoke to Philip, saying, “Arise, and go toward the south to the way that goes down from Yerushalayim to `Aza. This is a desert.”

Act 8:27  He arose and went; and behold, there was a man of Kush, a eunuch of great authority under Candace, queen of the Kushim, who was over all her treasure, who had come to Yerushalayim to worship.

Act 8:28  He was returning and sitting in his chariot, and was reading the prophet Yeshaiyahu.

Act 8:29  The Spirit said to Philip, “Go near, and join yourself to this chariot.”

Act 8:30  Philip ran to him, and heard him reading Yeshaiyahu the prophet, and said, “Do you understand what you are reading?”

Act 8:31  He said, “How can I, unless someone explains it to me?” He begged Philip to come up and sit with him.

Act 8:32  Now the passage of the Scripture which he was reading was this, “He was led as a sheep to the slaughter. As a lamb before his shearer is silent, so he doesn’t open his mouth.

Act 8:33  In his humiliation, his judgment was taken away. Who will declare His generation? For his life is taken from the earth.”

This is from the famous “suffering servant” passage, chapter 53 of the book of Isaiah.

Acts, continued:

Act 8:34  The eunuch questioned Philip, “Who is the prophet talking about? About himself, or about someone else?”

Act 8:35  Philip opened his mouth, and beginning from this Scripture, preached to him Yeshua.

Act 8:36  As they went on the way, they came to some water, and the eunuch said, “Behold, here is water. What is keeping me from being immersed?”

Act 8:37  OMITTED TEXT

This translation omits the above verse because it does not appear in the earliest manuscripts – it is clearly a later addition by later Bishops of the Roman Church.  The insertion read: And Philip said, If you believe  with all your heart, you may. And he answered and said, I believe that Yeshua HaMashiach is the Son of Elohim.  The fact that the Kushite man was reading Isaiah indicates he was a Jew – as many ethiopians are of Israelite descent (recall Moshe even married a Kushite woman himself).  He didn’t need to be told to keep the Torah because he was already keeping it.  The Roman church, however, wanted it to appear as if keeping Torah is not part of Elohim’s covenant, so the verse was added by Roman clerics.

Acts, continued:

Act 8:38  He commanded the chariot to stand still, and they both went down into the water, both Philip and the eunuch, and he immersed him.

Act 8:39  When they came up out of the water, the Spirit of Adonai caught Philip away, and the eunuch didn’t see him any more, for he went on his way rejoicing.

Act 8:40  But Philip was found at Ashdod. Passing through, he preached the Good News to all the cities, until he came to Caesarea.

Philip was not the first of Elohim’s servants to be taken instantaneously from place to place by the Ruach HaKodesh.  Elijah also had this ability, as was recorded in the book of Kings.

Next:  Epistle Naso