Shabbat Bible Study for September 30, 2017

©2017 Fulfilling Torah Ministries and Mark Pitrone

Year 2 Shabbat 28 

Leviticus 5:1-6:7 – Zechariah 5:1-6:15 – (No Psalm) – Revelation 5:1-6:17

Links:

www.oxfordbiblicalstudies.com/resource/WeightsAndMeasures.xhtml

tzion.org/Tree_Sefiroth.htm 

Vayikra 5 – VV.1-13 [read from Chumash, KJV is hard to ‘get’] deal with sin offerings that are made according to the station of the person offering the offerings; Chumash has a LOT of clarification that the sages have reasoned through and arrived at. 

When KJV says, ‘a thing be hidden’, it means that he didn’t know or has forgotten either that the thing would contaminate him or that he had been contaminated. When it says, ‘when he knoweth it’ it means that he became aware of the uncleanness that he’d done or contacted. This is an inadvertent sin and would be dealt with when he became aware of it; i.e., before he realized that he’d been defiled, he went about life as if he’d NOT been contaminated, but when he became aware, he needed to make it right via the sin offering as soon as practicable. Treasury of Scripture Knowledge has a good entry relating to v.6. I think that the trespass offering is for the individual as the sin offering is for the congregation, and the way this verse is worded shows their equivalency. 

Generally, the sin offering was a female of the flock, but if the person offering did not have a sheep or goat to offer, he could bring 2 turtledoves/pigeons. If he could not even afford to bring birds, he could bring a meat/meal [as in ground grain/flour] offering in their place; 1/10 ephah = about 2 quarts of fine flour in today’s measure. 

Vv.14-19 – This is the law of the trespass offering, both definition of trespass and the offerings to be made. It looks as if v.15 is speaking about bringing BOTH the ram of the flock AND the equivalent value of silver shekels of the sanctuary + 1/5 for a trespass offering. IOW, if the ram were worth 5 shekels, the silver portion of the offering would be 6 shekels. In the offering of the pigeons above, one pigeon was for a sin/trespass offering; the other for a burnt offering. I think, and this really COULD be wrong, that the silver was equivalent to the burnt offering here. According to Oxford Biblical Studies, a shekel was about 11.5 grams or about .41 ounces avoirdupois or ½ dollar of silver. As an aside, this tells me that the ½ shekel head tax was the equivalent of an American silver quarter, minted before 1965. So, the ‘estimation’ above for the ram would be American $3 silver according to the Coinage Act of 1791, or about 36 FaRTs [Federal Reserve Tokens] at this editing on 23Aug.2017 [approx. $17/oz. avoirdupois]. 

Again, this is dealing with inadvertent sins or sins of ignorance that the person becomes aware of after the fact. He IS guilty of a trespass from the moment of the transgression but was unaware of his sin. Once he becomes aware he must deal with it as immediately as he can to avoid judgments that are designed to bring him to teshuvah. The longer he waits to make it right, the more difficult to bare will be the judgments. 

We need to confess the trespasses that we become aware of when we become aware of them. When we do, Mashiach Yeshua’s payment of the ransom covers us. Until we do, we get to ‘bear our iniquity’, deal with the judgments that he sends to draw us to himself. 

6 If we say that we have fellowship with [Elohim], and walk in darkness, we lie, and do not the truth: 7 But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship one with another, and the blood of Yeshua haMashiach his Son cleanseth us from all sin. 8 If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us. 9 If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive [our] sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. 10 If we say that we have not sinned, we make him a liar, and his word is not in us.  2.1 MY little children, these things write I unto you, that ye sin not. And if any man sin, we have an advocate with the Father, Yeshua haMashiach haTzadik: 2 And he is the propitiation for our sins: and not for ours only, but also for the whole world. [1Jn.1.6-2.2]

Vayikra 6. 1-7 – This passage deals with a sin against a man that was done knowingly. If one lies concerning a thing that he’d borrowed or that had been delivered to him for safekeeping, or a freely agreed to bargain between men [a handshake agreement], or something he’d stolen or seized by force, or that he found and KNEW to whom it belonged but didn’t return it timely; these are sins against the other man AND Y’hovah. As with the estimation of the trespass offering in ch.5, the estimation of the loss incurred is paid back in principle with an added 20% for the man’s loss of use of whatever the object was through which he’d trespassed. This could get expensive to the trespasser, depending on how long the trespass goes on and how much loss is incurred. Once the offering is brought and the offering made by the priest, the man is forgiven. I can only assume that the priest would pass the estimation on to the man who was injured by the trespass. Q&C

All interpretation of prophecy is subjective. It COULD therefore, be wrong; indeed, is PROBABLY wrong. Only the Eternal actually KNOWS the end from the beginning, so please understand that what follows is merely my opinion/educated guess. I am just me, not Mashiach, who is the ‘express image’ of the Eternal Eyn Sof.

ZecharYahu 5.1-6.15 – ZecharYahu 5-6 are one prophecy of the end of days. As with all prophetic visions, they may or may not be given in chronological sequence. ZecharYahu is having a vision or a dream and is not relating things from our perspective, but Y’hovah’s. Exactly what the flying roll might be is anyone’s guess; Y’hovah knows. Michael Rood thinks these rolls are nuclear-armed missiles, and he may be right. The description of the woman in a basket with a lead covering is kinda convincing, except that he has to make it work by changing ishah to eish, from ‘woman’ to ‘fire’. The words DO share the same root letters, aleph and shin, but why would it not have been ish instead of ishah, then? Michael’s surmise is possible, but it has some holes in it. I think that a more ‘spiritual’ application is more likely, and those are ALSO matters of conjecture. Here is MY conjecture as to the possible meaning[s] of this vision.

The flying roll is 20 cubits by 10 cubits [30’ x 15’] from ZecharYahu’s perspective. That would make the diameter of the roll approximately 15 feet and the radius 7½ feet. 2πr is the circumference of a circle, so the roll would be about 47 feet around. It would look more like a holding tank than a missile. 

It looks to me as if 5.3&4 are parallels; v.4 giving a bit further description of the same subjects as v.3. If I am correct, this curse is going out over the whole earth against thieves who are further described as those who swear falsely [v.3] in Y’hovah’s Name [v.4], and that this curse is going to remain in the midst of the house of that one who swore falsely in Y’hovah’s Name and the curse consumes not only the structure of that house, but its very foundations, as well. It ALSO looks to me as if the woman sitting in the ephah is the curse [the ‘wickedness’ of v.8, perhaps?] and that she is bound up to be isolated/quarantined in the ephah and carried off to Shinar, which is a plain in Babylon/modern day Iraq, for ‘disposal’ or at least sequester from the rest of the world. This could be a LOT of things, but my mind, as I write this, is thinking of haSatan’s exile during the Kingdom Millennium.

Whatever the flying roll is it is carried by 2 women [their description, ‘wings of a stork’, sounds like helicopters to me, perhaps “Skylifters”] and set up in Shinar. Rood may be right that the wickedness in the roll is nuclear fire, but since the roll more resembles a holding tank than a missile, what it holds [the woman/curse] is more likely some OTHER WMD, perhaps a chemical or biological weapon[s], or the most destructive thing in creation, haSatan himself. Perhaps we see this woman here;

3 So he carried me away in the spirit into the wilderness: and I saw a woman sit upon a scarlet coloured beast, full of names of blasphemy, having seven heads and ten horns. 4 And the woman was arrayed in purple and scarlet colour, and decked with gold and precious stones and pearls, having a golden cup in her hand full of abominations and filthiness of her fornication: 5 And upon her forehead a name written, MYSTERY, BABYLON THE GREAT, THE MOTHER OF HARLOTS AND ABOMINATIONS OF THE EARTH. 6 And I saw the woman drunken with the blood of the saints, and with the blood of the martyrs of Yeshua: and when I saw her, I wondered with great admiration. [Rev.17.3-6]

The 4 chariots of ch.6 come out from between 2 mountains of brass, brass usually representing judgment. Stone’s TNK comments that these 4 chariots represent the 4 dominant powers that subjugated Israel after the Davidic Kingdom was brought to an end [temporarily, HalleluYah!]; Babylon, Media/Persia, Greece and Rome. Since this deals with the end of days, it more immediately must represent powers in the earth in that time, like maybe ‘the Quartet’ who at times seem to think that THEY rule over Israel, if the time to which ZecharYahu refers here is near? The duplicitous nature of those nations; the US, UN, EU and Russia; is such that each could be working toward its own ends and looking for a good opportunity to double-cross the others and dominate the entire Middle East, including Israel. [Why does OH! BUMMER! call ‘ISIS’ ‘ISIL’? The ‘L’ stands for ‘Levant’ – the entire Middle East from Turkey to Egypt and east to Shinar, which just HAPPENS to fully encompass the Avrahamic land grant.] These nations, if that is what the chariots represent, are bringing judgment on the whole earth. They go from standing before the adon chol haAretz, lord of the whole earth. This MAY speak of Y’hovah, or it may speak of haSatan, who is elsewhere described as 

‘the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that now worketh in the children of the disobedient’ [Eph.2.2b]. 

These chariots with horses in them COULD also be the 4 beasts or living creatures of Rev. 5-6 [or the chariots of Ezek.1.6ff], which stand before the throne and the Lamb. The horses in the chariots are the same colors as the ones with riders in Rev.6; red, black, white and spotted/grisled dun. They may or may NOT be the same horses and have the same mission. These chariots are, I think, bringing judgment to the 4 corners of the earth and it truly matters not whether they are directly commanded by Y’hovah or the Adversary because everything is under Y’hovah’s authority, whether the parties involved wish to admit it or not. 

The Chumash’s rabbis say the ‘north country’ of 6.6 is Babylon, but if the time is now and the Quartet are represented in the chariots, it is more likely speaking of Russia, and the judgment might be an intermediate fulfillment of Gog uMagog [Ezek.38-39, Rev.20.7-9], like the church has taught for 40+ years – could be the whole ‘blind squirrel’ thing going on. One reason I think this could be the Adversary is that these horses go forth through the whole earth [v.7], as haSatan testifies of himself in Job.1.7 & 2.2. The rabbis may have a point in v.8, where the horses going to the north quiet the wrath of Elohim against the nation/s to the north.

In vv.11-13, silver and gold are made into crowns and Yehoshua, the high priest of ZecharYahu 3, puts BOTH crowns on and Y’hovah Tzavaoth calls him, THE BRANCH [cf.3.8] and says that he will build the Temple. Y’hovah Delivers/Saves [as Y’hoshua] wears 2 crowns [perhaps the gold crown of Yehudah and the silver crown of Yisrael, the crown of the lawful Davidic King and the crown of Yoseph, the Tzadik – the Melech-tzadik high priest?]. I consider this, by interpretation, to be Mashiach Yeshua, and that Yehoshua, son of ZephaniYahu is a picture of him in this vision. He will be a PRIEST on David’s THRONE and will bring Shalom between the Torah and the civil law; they will be echad in him, as we believers ought all to be. 

In v.14 4 priests are named, Chelem, ToviYahu, YedaYahu and Hen ben ZephaniYahu, whose names mean, respectively; a dream, My good is Y’hovah, Y’hovah is my knowledge or I know Y’hovah, and Grace/Gift, son of Y’hovah my protector. Again, I interpret this to mean that these represent 3 emanations of the Almighty that meet in Y’hovah Yeshua, our MelechTzadik High Priest, were revealed to ZecharYahu in a dream/vision. BTW, I infer that Y’hoshua is figuratively named Chen [grace/gift] in v.14, giving further support to his being a type of Y’hovah Yeshua. V.15 delivers the promise that all these things will be provided to those of us who are ‘far off’ (10-Yisrael and 2-Yisrael in diaspora) by Y’hovah, IF we will diligently guard his commandments.  Q&C

All interpretation of prophecy is subjective. It COULD therefore, be wrong; indeed, is PROBABLY wrong. Only the Eternal actually KNOWS the end from the beginning, so please understand that what follows is merely my opinion/educated guess. I am just me, not Mashiach, who is the ‘express image’ of the Eternal Eyn Sof.

Gilyahna 5.1-6.17 – The book in v.1 is actually a scroll, sealed with 7 seals. It just occurred to me [Sep.24, 2014] that if the scroll was written upon as the prophecies were given and if they were given in chronological order then the vials get poured out first. Therefore the scroll was written in reverse order, the end first and the innermost seal set, then the next to last prophecy and the seal set, and so on to the revelation of the 1^st seal and the sealing of the entire scroll. This tells us whom the author of Gilyahna is – Y’hovah himself, who alone knows the end from before the beginning. But noone was found worthy to open the seals of the scroll, which Yehochanan thought was a bad thing, he obviously placed a LOT of importance to opening those seals, so much so that he wept over the inability to find anyone ‘worthy’ to loose the seals. That word translated ‘worthy’ is G514, axios, and literally means ‘deserving’. But in v.5-6 Yochanan sees the Lion of the Tribe of Yehudah, the Lamb as it had been slain, had PREVAILED to open the seals. That word translated ‘prevailed’ is G3528, nikao, literally conquered or overcame. This, again, refers to none other than Yeshua, our MelchiZedek High Priest (Heb.4.14-16, where the midrash on the priesthoods of Aharon and MelchiZedek begin). Notice that he is called the Root of David. If David is the fruit that comes out of the Root, then this must be the one he spoke of in Ps.110.1

Y’hovah said unto Adonai, Sit thou at my right hand, until I make thine enemies thy footstool.

And if David calls his son Adonai, then who must his ‘son’, Mashiach benDavid, be but Y’hovah himself? This is another reference in TNK to Mashiach that the Sages had been pointing to for HUNDREDS of years before Y’hovah’s walk in the flesh of Yeshua. Either that, or Yeshua made a reference that none of his Yehudi audience could connect. Of course, they MADE the connexion because they shut their traps after this incident:

41 ¶ While the Prushim were gathered together, Yeshua asked them, 42 Saying, What think ye of Mashiach? whose son is he? They say unto him, of David. 43 He saith unto them, How then doth David in spirit call him Adon, saying, 44 Y’hovah said unto Adonai, Sit thou on my right hand, till I make thine enemies thy footstool. 45 If David then call[ed] him Adon, how is he his son? 46 And no man was able to answer him a word, neither durst any from that day forth ask him any more. [Matt.22.41-46 KJV]

Those former Christians, who moved to and then through the HebRoots of Christianity, don’t apply this particular incident logically, or they would never have been able to go there. The rabbis who delude the HR Xians to full conversion conveniently leave out the rather simple logic that Yeshua uses here. The Sages taught that Mashiach was benDavid for centuries. Now, the anti-missionary rabbis seem to have forgotten all that, and they have led those former HR Xians to deny that Yeshua is Mashiach benDavid. Gotta be careful of the ‘pendulum effect’ where you swing toward the truth of Torah and end up going passed the narrow road of truth and to the other extreme of the swing as a Yeshua denying Yehudi. 

The Lamb has 7 eyes and 7 horns, which represent the Spirit of Y’hovah.

The Spirit of the Eternal shall rest upon him; the Spirit of Wisdom and Understanding, the Spirit of Counsel and Might, the Spirit of knowledge and of the fear of Y’hovah. [YeshaYahu 11.2]

That described the menorah in the Holy place of the Tabernacle/Temple, which is a physical reminder of the spirit of the Eternal, Eyn Sof, that lights the whole of Creation. The menorah’s branches were fed oil from the center lampstand, the Root of Righteousness/Light, which is Mashiach. 

3 A man shall not be established by wickedness: but the root of the Tzadik shall not be moved.

12 The wicked desireth the net of evil:  but the root of the Tzadik yieldeth. [Pro.12.3, 12]

10 ¶ And in that day there shall be a root of Jesse, which shall stand for an ensign of the people; to it shall the Gentiles seek: and his rest shall be glorious. 11 And it shall come to pass in that day, Adonai shall set his hand again the second time to recover the remnant of his people, which shall be left, from Assyria, and from Egypt, and from Pathros, and from Cush, and from Elam, and from Shinar, and from Hamath, and from the islands of the sea. [YeshaYahu 11.10-11]

So the Lamb walked over and took the scroll out of the right hand of the Eternal [he IS the right hand; the power of the Eternal] and the 4 beasts and the 24 elders fell down to worship him with the songs and prayers of the saints, the Tzedakim. The Lamb will make us kings and priests in his Kingdom and he shall be the King of kings. THEN, myriads of angels as well as the elders and beasts will sing together,

Worthy is the Lamb that was slain,

Worthy is the Lamb that was slain,

Worthy is the Lamb, Worthy is the Lamb,

Worthy is the Lamb that was slain to receive,

Power and Riches, and Wisdom and Strength,

Glory and Honor and Blessing.

Worthy is the Lamb, Worthy is the Lamb,

Worthy is the Lamb that was slain.

Worthy is the Lamb!

When they were finished singing the praise of the Lamb [notice the seven things he was worthy to receive?], they all bowed and worshipped him who lives forever. This ‘One Who lives forever’ is none other than Eyn Sof, the Eternal and self-existent who is unfathomable to the fallen human mind, but who will be fathomable to the resurrected saints [we shall know him, for we shall see him as he is] AND to both those who will [I think] be translated into and those who will be born into the New Creation. Q&C

6.1- – The Lamb opened the 1^st seal and Yochanan heard what sounded like thunder, which was actually the voice of one of the four living creatures [KJV has beasts – I change that to avoid confusion with THE Beast, Anti-Mashiach], saying “Bo! Ra’ah! Come? SEE!” And he saw the white horse we saw earlier in ZecharYahu’s vision; the one that accompanied the black horse to bring Y’hovah’s wrath down on the north country[s] and actually quieted his Spirit toward them. Perhaps those people will heed the warning and repent of the evil they purposed against the land of Israel. But that doesn’t mean that the white horse’s rider will stop his conquest of the REST of those arrayed against Israel. 

When the Lamb opened the 2^nd seal, the 2^nd living creature repeated the command to Yochanan, “Bo! Ra’ah!” And he saw the red horse, which was given power to remove Shalom in the entire earth – WW III? What the ‘great sword’ may be is anyone’s guess. Mine would be a WMD of some kind, perhaps just WMDs in general. If this is the opening salvo of WW III, perhaps the nations will have their fill of the WMDs early on and stop before the destruction is total. But, I think that enough damage will have been done that it will add to or perhaps be the proximate cause of much of the trumpet and vial judgments that are to follow. 

When the 3^rd seal is opened, the 3^rd living Creature said, “Bo! Ra’ah!”, and Yochanan saw the black horse, whose rider is given a pair of balances. Balances suggest that something is being weighed against something else. You can be assured that the weights and measures that Eyn Sof uses will be honest and righteous. The white horse accompanies the black horse to the north countries in ZecharYahu’s vision. Here in v.2-3, the white horse’s rider is given a bow and is presumably able to conquer by means of the THREAT of war [pretty obvious that it isn’t OH! Bummer!, since there is no fear of her anywhere in the earth. Perhaps Trump? I could see that.]. The black horse has the means to judge [balances] and applies them against the north countries with the THREAT of war [white horse’s rider] as his companion, and the north countries will repent of their part in the plan to destroy Israel. 

[Remember, All interpretation of prophecy is subjective. It COULD therefore, be wrong; indeed, is PROBABLY wrong. Only the Eternal actually KNOWS the end from the beginning, so please understand that what I am saying is merely my opinion/educated guess. I am just me, not Mashiach, who is the ‘express image’ of the Eternal Eyn Sof.]

When the 4^th seal was loosed, the 4^th living creature said, “Bo! Ra’ah!”, and Yochanan saw the dun/appaloosa come forth, ridden by Death with the grave in his wake. The implication is a world-wide pestilence following the war that was brought, or more properly the Shalom that was taken away, by the red horse’s rider. What I termed WMDs earlier have taken their toll and the result is death and the grave for ¼ of the earth’s population. By the end of the ‘tribulation period’, approximately a tithe of the people who began the thing will still be alive. Only those who receive and accept Yeshua’s offer of Shalom upon his return at the end of this ‘age’ of earth history will go on to populate the Millennium. That will truly be a remnant – maybe 2%; or 1%.

When the 5^th seal was loosed, Yochanan saw the souls of the tzadikim who had been slain by the wicked rulers of the earth because they held fast their witness and testimony to the Truth of the Eternal. The vials of the wrath of Y’hovah must not be full yet, because the saints ask when their blood will be avenged. As a reply, they are given perfectly clean white linen [robes of Tzedakah] and told to rest in their testimony until the vials of his wrath are filled. 

Vv.12-17 describe what the 6^th seal has been concealing. The events of vv.12-13 could all be a result of a large asteroid falling through the atmosphere and striking the earth, on the order of the one proposed by evolutionary ‘scientists’ [falsely so-called] to explain the extinction [falsely so-called] of the dinosaurs. Alternatively, v.12 could be describing a large seismic event and v.13 a virtually simultaneous cosmic event. The events of v.14 reads a lot like a nuclear explosion, or it could also be what the large asteroid strike might look like. V.15 is describing a not unlikely human response to all these events occurring at virtually the same time. You know that the American government has just such a contingency plan and base built under a large mountain in West Virginia just a 30 minute helicopter flight from D.C. – I think it’s called Iron Mountain, though I am going by decades old memory, which COULD be a mixture of 2 different reports I read. The place exists, but that may not be its name. The same kind of place also exists in Russia, though I think it is a greater distance from Moscow. If v.14 describes a nuclear exchange of ICBMs, they will not have the time to get there before the EMP makes all but the most hardened sites and vehicles totally inoperative. 

It will be very frightening and only a token contingent will likely make it to relative, and temporary, safety under the mountain. This could be where all or, at least, much the FEMA purchased MREs and ammo are going. Whatever the case, v.17 proves that those ‘great’, ‘rich’, ‘mighty men’, ‘chief captains’ and the rest know nothing of scripture. There are still about 3½ years of catastrophe to follow BEFORE the Wrath of Y’hovah, if the Tribulation is revealed as a chronology, which most of evangelical Xianity believes to be true. Current events in late Aug.2017 seem to indicate that we are much closer to the fulfillment of these events that we were just a few short years ago. And the pace of the possible forerunners to these events seems to be on the increase in severity and rapidity of occurrence. Even as these things occur, we must keep in mind that they are designed to awaken us to our need to repent and start going Y’hovah’s way instead of our own. Even when these described events begin to happen, Y’hovah can put a bookmark in them, as he did numerous times with the nation of Yehudah on their inexorable march to exile. 

Keep your accounts short with Y’hovah. Remember that, if the events are chronologically revealed, THESE are just the beginning of the birth-pangs. Q&C

End of Shabbat Bible Study