Shabbat Bible Study for March 2, 2019

©2019 Mark Pitrone and Fulfilling Torah Ministries

Year 3 –  Shabbat 4 Adar Alef

Exodus 12:1-20 – Ezekiel 45:16 – 46:18 – Psalm 48 – Col.2:1-3:7

Shemoth 12.1-10 – This first month is determined – how? First of all, this day is probably on or shortly after the new moon day – Rosh Chodesh. If it were the end of the month, this statement wouldn’t make much sense. But how did they know when the year was to change? Some say it has to be when the equinox occurred, the day when the light and the darkness were of equal length. This would happen in the month of March, according to our reckoning, on either the 20^th, 21^st or 22^nd. But is the equinox the beginning of the biblical year/1^st month? Perhaps, but not necessarily. In fact, the word month derives from moon. And the new moon is when the month begins. The new moon COULD coincide with the equinox, but seldom does. But without direct revelation from Y’hovah how would Moshe be able to know which new moon would begin the new year?

Just using what information we have in scripture, I think we need to accept that the time was when the barley was ready to harvest and the wheat was still green grass, because the plague of hail and fire destroyed the flax and barley grain and straw and not the wheat or rye grasses

31 And the flax and the barley was smitten: for the barley in the ear, and the flax bolled. 32 But the wheat and the rie were not smitten: for they not grown up. (Ex.9.31-32).

Therefore, I think that the new moon that falls when the barley is ready for at least parching (in the ear) is what Y’hovah was talking about. This new moon could be before the equinox or after. What SEEMS to happen every year (with very few exceptions) is that the first day of unleavened bread falls out on the full moon following the vernal equinox. What MUST happen are 2 things; 1) The 1^st day of unleavened bread falls out on the full moon of the 1^st month – the 15^th day of the lunar month is ALWAYS a full moon, and 2) The barley MUST be harvestable for the day following the next weekly shabbat so that there can be a sheaf of ripe barley waved before Y’hovah as a firstfruits thanksgiving offering. So the sun must have been warm enough to ripen the barley and flax in the southeastern Mediterranean area and the moon must be full for the Feast of unleavened bread to begin. And the evening offering before that full moon is the Pesach/Passover offering. Without BOTH of those conditions the new biblical year cannot begin. So the sun and moon together witness to the beginning of the biblical year and the cycle of the Feasts of Y’hovah. The sign in the heavens is the sun and moon, the earth sign is the Aviv Barley; the first [earth sign] usually precedes the second [heaven sign], sometimes closely.

As an aside: this coming Thursday will be dark of the moon. I believe that this next new moon (dark of the moon on 6Mar2019 at 1103AM EDT about; 1803/6:03PM in Israel – sliver probable in Israel the next evening, 7 Mar) will be the beginning of the Adar Bet, but COULD be the beginning of the new biblical year. We’ll see when Nehemiah has his Aviv search, probably in about 2 weeks. If the barley is NOT aviv, Pesach will be 20April, making for a very cold Sukkoth in northern Ohio.

Israel’s zachanim [elders] went out to look over their flocks to see which yearling lamb was the best to offer to Y’hovah. They were to separate this lamb from the flock and not allow it to go into the fields with the other sheep. They were to watch it and care for it for 4 days, examining it for any character defects; they had already examined it for physical defects and found it to be the best of the yearlings. Then they were to kill it and drain its blood into a basin. This basin was often built into the threshold of the main entrance to a home. They were to use a branch of hyssop (v.22) to apply the blood of their lamb from the basin to the lintel and doorposts of their homes. Then they were to roast the lamb whole. It was not to be eaten raw, boiled or fried, but roasted. After the blood was applied to the doorposts and lintel, they were not to leave the house until Elohim was finished killing all the firstborn of the Egyptians. I assume that if they were outside the house and not under the protection of the blood on the threshold, lintel and doorposts, they were fair game for the ‘Death Angel’. After all the plagues Y’hovah had sent on Egypt, LOTS of Egyptians knew who the only true Elohim was, and MANY of them followed Moshe’s instructions as well. When they painted their doors with lamb’s blood, they marked themselves out as Israelites and renounced their membership in the Egyptian club. And Y’hovah honored their decision to identify with him. What remained of the lamb was to be eaten or burnt by the time of, or at, the morning offering.

Vv.11-20 – Next Y’hovah gave instruction on their demeanor and style of dress and HOW they were supposed to eat the lamb, herbs and bread. They were to eat the lamb ready for fight or flight; loins girt, shoes on, staff in hand. They would, therefore, necessarily have had to eat one handed. There is no provision to sit or recline to eat, so I assume they ate on their feet and probably with go-bags packed, strapped firmly on their backs and ready to move out. They were supposed to make sure they didn’t cook too much lamb and to eat it quickly, so they wouldn’t need to take the time to burn it. Is this how WE are supposed to remember the Passover? It is not required, for in Yeshua’s day, they were keeping a much more traditional Passover:

16 And his disciples went forth, and came into the city, and found as he had said unto them: and they made ready the passover. 17 And in the evening he cometh with the twelve. 18 And as they sat and did eat, Yeshua said, Verily I say unto you, One of you which eateth with me shall betray me. (Mk.14)

14 And when the hour was come, he sat down, and the twelve apostles with him. 15 And he said unto them, With desire I have desired to eat this passover with you before I suffer: 16 For I say unto you, I will not any more eat thereof, until it be fulfilled in the kingdom of God. (Lk.22)

We should probably do as Yeshua did, for even the Passover Yeshua kept with his talmidim was a commemoration of what had happened about 1500 years before. 

Who would go through the land of Egypt? Y’hovah, not a man. Who would smite the Egyptians? Y’hovah, not a messenger. Who would kill the firstborn of every critter in Egypt? Y’hovah, not an angel. Y’hovah was going to go through the land and kill the firstborn in every house on which the blood was NOT found on the lintel and doorposts. The father of the house took a sprig of hyssop in his hand (yud) and, after dipping it in the blood from the basin he would paint the lintel and doorposts (chet) with the blood. The significance is the word spelled with those 2 letters, chet yud, or chai; life. So Y’hovah would not bring death to the house marked twice by life, the Word that means life painted in the substance that is the life of the body, the dom or blood. 

We are commanded to keep this feast in remembrance throughout our generations – all our descendants are to celebrate chag haMatzah for 7 days, following the Passover. The 1^st day and the 7^th are each a Kodesh Miqra, a set-apart gathering of believers. There are 3 such gatherings every year, Passover/Unleavened Bread, Shavuoth/Pentecost and Feast of Tabernacles/Sukkoth. It is these days, along with the weekly shabbats on which we are not to forsake the assembling of ourselves together (Heb.10.25, Lev.23.3, 7, 8, 21, 24, 27, 35, 36), at least 52 weekly sabbaths + 7 special yearly mikroth which can fall on any day of the week. Beginning not later than sundown ending the 14^th day of the 1^st month we are to eat matzot until sundown ending the 21^st day of the 1^st month – 7 full days. Why? For the same reason that there is a Red Heifer for the water of purification – because Y’hovah commands it. It is not ours to question why. It is our part to obey. For those same 7 days we are to not have chametz in our homes. Why? Same reason, ultimately. Y’hovah wills it. It is this kind of obedience that leads us to garner wisdom from Torah. When we choose to obey Y’hovah, he rewards us in the best manner possible, the way that is designed to bring us closest to him in the shortest possible time.

Chametz is any gluten bearing flour mixed with H₂O that will gather the yeast out of the air and begin to freely ferment. The Yeast itself is not chametz. It is the 3 ingredients taken together that are chametz. It generally takes the flour/H₂O mixture about 18 minutes to gather enough yeast from the air to begin to ferment and rise. Q&C

Ezekiel 45:16 – 46:18 – Since 1] this Temple has never been built, 2] there is no Temple in the NEW Jerusalem (for Y’hovah and the Lamb will be the Temple of it) and 3] it is prophesied by a true prophet of Y’hovah, I assume that this will be the Millennial Kingdom Temple. The only way that cannot be true is if there is another epoch of future history of which scripture gives absolutely no clue. People are going to bring their oblation to the prince of Israel, who just happens to be Mashiyach ben David, Yeshua. And then he will bring the offerings to the Temple from those oblations. Why would that be? Why would Yeshua prepare sin, meat, burnt and peace offerings in the Temple? Is it possible that he is acting as mediator? It sure looks like he is taking people’s offerings and bringing them to the Temple, doesn’t it? And he only prepares the offerings for the priests to offer. We know that he will not be offering any sin or trespass offerings for his own reconciliation. The bullock will be offered to reconcile the Temple, to cleanse it to receive the freewill offerings of Y’hovah’s people. 

45.21-25 make it clear that there are but 2 ‘presentation’ Feasts to be observed in this Temple, Pesach and Sukkoth – the spring and fall 7 day Feasts. Shavuoth, Yom Teruah and Yom Kippur are conspicuous (to me) by their absence. Perhaps the Feasts and the fast have seen their completion by then. We may see final fulfillment of Shavuoth this or next year, and the final fulfillments of Yom Teruah (Resurrection Day, Last Trump) and Yom Kippur (and Yovel) 3 – 3½ years after that. I think the final fulfillment of Shavuoth will see the anointing of the 2 witnesses, and possibly the 144K on Shavuoth (some year very soon, if I don’t miss my guess). I believe there will be at least 1 Adar Bet during those 3 years, perhaps 2. If 2 Adar Bets occur in that time, it will set the stage for Rev.11,

3 And I will give unto my two witnesses, and they shall prophesy a thousand two hundred threescore days, clothed in sackcloth. 4 These are the two olive trees [ZecharYah 4] , and the two candlesticks standing before the Eloha of the earth. 5 And if any man will hurt them, fire proceedeth out of their mouth, and devoureth their enemies: and if any man will hurt them, he must in this manner be killed. 6 These have power to shut heaven, that it rain not in the days of their prophecy: and have power over waters to turn them to blood, and to smite the earth with all plagues, as often as they will. 7 And when they shall have finished their testimony, the beast that ascendeth out of the bottomless pit shall make war against them, and shall overcome them, and kill them. 8 And their dead bodies in the street of the great city, which spiritually is called Sedom and Egypt, where also our Master was crucified. 9 And they of the people and kindreds and tongues and nations shall see their dead bodies three days and an half, and shall not suffer their dead bodies to be put in graves. 10 And they that dwell upon the earth shall rejoice over them, and make merry, and shall send gifts one to another; because these two prophets tormented them that dwelt on the earth. 11 And after three days and an half the Spirit of life from God entered into them, and they stood upon their feet; and great fear fell upon them which saw them. 12 And they heard a great voice from heaven saying unto them, Come up hither. And they ascended up to heaven in a cloud; and their enemies beheld them. (Rev.11.3-12)

IF there are 2 Adar Bets, 1260 days from Shavuoth would put us in the ballpark of Yom Teruah 3+ years after. IF I am correct on this, the 2 witnesses would be slain by Anti-messiah perhaps on the 26^th of the 6^th month [Elul] around sunrise. 3½ days later to be resurrected (at the end of the 29^th as the 1^st of the 7^th month begins) and called up to the heavens just as the last trumpet blows in the heavens and the vials begin to be poured out. Rev.9.13-11.14 = first 2 woes, the 5^th and 6^th trumpets. 11.15 = last woe and the 7^th trumpet. Please remember all the qualifiers I just put out – if, may, I think, etc. This idea about the 2 witnesses and Shavuoth just came to me as I was studying, so I certainly COULD be wrong. But I DOUBT it! But there were a LOT of ‘ifs’ and ‘I thinks’… so …

On the 14^th of the 1^st month, in this Temple, there is a bullock offered as a sin offering, which is offered for inadvertent or ‘had to do it’ sins (‘had to’ break a lesser command, like walking over a grave, to perform a greater commandment, like preserving a life). V.23 recalls Shavuoth metaphorically with 7 bulls for each of the 7 days, and 7 rams for each of the 7 days (49 of each) and a goat for each of the 7 days. 49 +1 = 50. And Shavuoth metaphorically points at Yovel, which is proclaimed every 50^th Yom Kippur. The trespass offering is also conspicuous by its absence. The trespass offering is the one that Yeshua completely fulfilled on the tree. There is one, as we’ll see in a few minutes, but I don’t think it is associated with Yom Kippur. All the same offerings are made on all the days of Sukkoth, according to v.25. Q&C

46.1- – The Millennial Temple will be open to the people only on Shabbats. THE New Moon is a Shabbat in accordance with,

Speak unto the children of Israel, saying, “In the seventh month, in the first day of the month, shall ye have a sabbath, a memorial of blowing of trumpets, an holy convocation.” (Leviticus 23:24)

I think THIS is THE New Moon that was required to be observed by Israel as a Shabbat, not necessarily EVERY new moon. I think every new moon will be acknowledged, as they should be now. But this is the only New Moon that is designated as a Shabbat. 46.1 says, “the day of the new moon” the Temple will be opened. It is a singular day. It doesn’t say, “the new moon days”, or “the days of the new moons”. In v.3, the people will worship in the Shabbats and the new moons. There will be 1000 years in the millennium, so 1000 New Moon Shabbats, 2000 Pesach Shabbats, 2000 Sukkoth Shabbats and 51000+ weekly Shabbats for the people to worship Y’hovah in. Of course, this does NOT mean that Y’hovah will not be worshipped on other days, as well. It DOES mean that ALL days designated as Shabbats SHALL be observed by EVERYONE. And that will be one of the sources of chafing and rebellion at the end of the Millennium.

It surely looks like Mashiyach offers offerings in the Millennial Temple. Why? He certainly is not offering because he needs justification, for he is justified enough that his justification justifies US! So these offerings cannot be for his own NEED to be reconciled to Avinu. I think these offerings he offers are done for a witness to us and that the animals offered are metaphors to teach us something. The witness to us is that if the prince/king does this, then we ought to, as well. When he walked the earth in his ministry years, he told his cousin, Yochanan about this attitude:

13 Then cometh Yeshua from Galilee to Yarden unto Yochanan, to be baptized of him. 14 But Yochanan forbad him, saying, I have need to be baptized of thee, and comest thou to me? 15 And Yeshua answering said unto him, Suffer now: for thus it becometh us to fulfil all righteousness. Then he suffered him. (Matthew 3.13-15)

“It becometh us” means that they need to stand out for people to see. The word is prepo, and literally means “to tower up” or “be conspicuous”. The people needed to SEE that what they did was different from the Iuaidoi Jews, by which I THINK the gospels mean the political leaders of the Hebrew religion, and NOT the Hebrew people. I see the Mashiyach’s offerings as exactly the same thing. He is conspicuous in his righteousness and is an example for the people to follow. I think the metaphor in the animals sacrificed is that the lambs represent the 6 work days and the ram represents the Shabbat, i.e.; that we worship everyday, but the Shabbat is set apart in every way, including our offerings. This burnt offering is a freewill offering that the prince offers for the people as an example and a metaphor, not because it HAS to be offered for any atonement. The ‘meat’ offering for the ram is prescribed, but the offering for the lambs is to be given ‘as he is able’, or ‘as Y’hovah prospers’ the one who offers, in this case, as the people provide the stuff of the meat offering. “Meat” ≠ flesh food, but = grain or flour.

The prince also offers a special offering for ‘the new moon’. I’ve already told you what I think that means – the 1^st of the 7^th month. It COULD be every new moon day, but I lean toward it being specific to the 7^th month’s new moon that sets apart the beginning of Creation. At any rate, it includes all the offerings for the Shabbat and adds a bullock for this special Shabbat, designated as such in Lev.23 and alluded to in Gen.1.14, where the month is conspicuous by its absence (signs, seasons, days and years – no months). 

Vv.1&12 designate the prince’s gate as the East Gate, while v9&10 shows the people using the north and south gates. The prince approaches and departs using the same gate, while the people go straight through; enter from the north, depart to the south and vice versa. I think that if we left by the gate we entered, it would symbolize repenting of going Y’hovah’s Way. Meanwhile, there is no mention of a west gate. The prince stays throughout the Shabbats – he doesn’t leave until the last of the people has departed. Once again he is conspicuous to the people every Shabbat at the Temple; weekly, monthly (if applicable) and yearly. V.10 could be metaphorical as well as literal. I think he arrives at the festivals with the first of the people and leaves with the last of them. But he may also arrive spiritually with each worshipper and go out with him – a literal spiritual battery recharge.

Why the change of number in vv.13&14, from 3^rd person singular he, meaning the prince, to 2^nd person singular thou? Is he speaking to the reader or the priest or the prince? I lean towards it being instruction for both the prince and the priest on duty, because v.15 changes number again to 3^rd person PLURAL, they. Remember that the people bring their oblation to the prince and he then brings all these offerings from out of that oblation (45.13-16). The prince is offering our offerings FOR us, as he offered himself FOR us. 

The monkey wrench that gets thrown into the works is in 46.16-18, where the Prince can give an inheritance to his sons, or a gift to his servants. The part about the servants being given a gift is pretty straightforward, and I have no problem with it. But will Mashiyach the Prince have physical sons to whom to give an inheritance? Or are the servants from among those who are NOT members of his body, while the ‘sons’ ARE members of his body? The inheritances given are in perpetuity, l’olam va’ed. But the gifts to his servants revert back to the Prince in the Yovel year. I think that v.18 points up the wickedness of inheritance taxes. They rob the people of their property and scatter the people to the winds. Q&C

T’hellim 48 – Mount Zion is ‘beautiful for situation. ‘Situation’ is translated from H5131, נוף, noph. Its root is H5130 נוף nuph. Nuph means shake, wave or bend. Noph means ‘high’ or ‘height’, but the idea is the heights of a tree, waving in the wind, as if it is raising its hands in praise. So David is saying that Mt. Zion/Yerushalayim is praising Y’hovah. ‘On the sides of the north’ is used in another place, as well – Is.14.13:

For thou hast said in thine heart, I will ascend into heaven, I will exalt my throne above the stars of Elohim: I will sit also upon the mount of the congregation, in the sides of the north:

Sounds like the same place as Ps.48, doesn’t it? Where the spiritual worship of Y’hovah occurs. HaSatan covets Y’hovah’s worship. In this psalm, we see haSatan’s forces coming against Y’hovah in his place, the ‘sides of the north’ and trembling in fear. Elohim is the refuge of all who call on him. All the kings of the earth will come up against him in the last battle of this age (sounds almost Tolkienian, doesn’t it?). I think the reason they will marvel is that their familiar spirits will see the spiritual defenses and tremble at them, affecting their human hosts who will want to turn tail and run. Remember the orcs in The Return of the King movie? The fear was very evident when they saw Gandalf’s light driving away their covering darkness, and they’d have run had it not been for the Nazgul king flying overhead, driving them forward. I think it will be similar at Armageddon. The further I get into this psalm, the more I’m reminded of that movie – not the actual events of it, but the underlying likenesses to the prophetic scriptures. In v.7 Y’hovah breaks the ships of Tarshish, like Aragorn, his companions and the dishonored dead do the Southron ships. As it was prophesied, so it will be in the city of the Great King (v.2), the city of Y’hovah Tsavaoth, the city of Elohenu, who will establish it l’olam va’ed. The Great King = Elohenu = Y’hovah Tsavaoth. There is no separating them, and the rabbis have told us that the Great King is MashiachTzidkenu. Elohim’s grace and mercy are seen in the midst of his Temple and according to his Name his strength is righteousness. We are going to have to give account of the graciousness of Y’hovah’s righteousness to the new generation (creation) that follows this generation because there will be no sin or need for his grace in the generation to come – the olam haba, for Y’hovah will have subdued sin from human nature 

He will turn again, he will have compassion upon us; he will subdue our iniquities; and thou wilt cast all their sins into the depths of the sea. (Micah 7:19)

The Hebroot 5753 behind the KJV word ‘iniqiuties is avah עוה, ‘to transgress, to deviate from the proper way’. The ‘proper way’, the Way of Y’hovah, is to do Torah without ‘deviation’, and that deviation comes about through the working of our ‘evil inclination’; what fundy, dispy Christianity calls the ‘old sin nature’ [OSN in Mark shorthand]. Micah tells us outright what Jeremiah alludes to in 31.31-34,

31 Behold, the days come, saith Y’hovah, that I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel, and with the house of Judah: 32 Not according to the covenant that I made with their fathers in the day I took them by the hand to bring them out of the land of Egypt; which my covenant they brake, although I was an husband unto them, saith Y’hovah: 33 But this the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel; After those days, saith Y’hovah, I will put my law in their inward parts, and write it in their hearts; and will be their God, and they shall be my people. 34 And they shall teach no more every man his neighbour, and every man his brother, saying, Know Y’hovah: for they shall all know me, from the least of them unto the greatest of them, saith Y’hovah: for I will forgive their iniquity, and I will remember their sin no more.

Colossians 2.1-10 – When the scripture speaks of a mystery, it is revealing a deep thing of Elohim. This is something that is not readily apparent in the Peshat, but is hidden from plain view in the Sod. This was done so that the plans of Elohim would not be open to the understanding of everyone, including haSatan. If haSatan had known what Y’hovah’s plans were, he would have at least tried to not do some of things he did – for example, he would have worked hard to NOT crucify Mashiyach’s, as Paul revealed in

Which none of the princes of this world knew: for had they known it, they would not have crucified the Master of tifereth. (I Corinthians 2:8)

Please notice that it says the mystery is singular, but the mystery of Elohim has 2 descriptors, Avinu and Mashiyach’s. I think that this says that Avinu and Mashiyach both reveal Elohim. And the simplest and most contextually correct way of reading v.3 has all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge being hid in Mashiyach’s. The grammar and syntax of the sentence (vv.1-3) says that the mystery of Mashiyach is that all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge of Elohim and Avinu are hid in him. 

Vv.4-7 tell us to not even listen to anyone who would turn us away from the Truth of Torah. If anything would draw us away from Torah Truth we ought to ignore it, no matter how good it sounds. But we need to stay in the Truth and ensure that we are rooted in Mashiyach’s, who is the Root. The whole ‘Roots and Branches’ analogy that Paul uses in Romans and alludes to here is a very ancient biblical teaching that the rabbis use to great effect in their deeper teachings. For a taste of that, look at Derech Hashem, by Rabbi Moshe Chaim Luzatto, RaMChaL, which is the closest thing to a Jewish systematic theology I’ve ever read. That may have actually been his purpose in writing it back in the 18^th C. CE. If you DO read it, you will be amazed at the Pauline character of it, at least in part. But be wary, since Luzatto was a kabbalist, and I think Rav Sha’ul was also.

V.8 begins a treatise on the difference between life in Mashiyach and life according to oral law, life in Torah liberty and life in bondage to the traditions of men. Philosophy means traditions of men and vain deceit means rudiments of the world, all of which is contrasted to Mashiyach. Philosophical traditions and the useless meanderings in the base things of the world’s systems do nothing but spoil the believer’s savour to Y’hovah. When we get caught up in them, we stink. V.9 says that all that is Elohim dwelt in the person of Mashiyach Yeshua, not 1/3 of the Trinity. Y’hovah is ONE! And we are complete in him. The greek word there is pleroo and means crammed full, like the net in Jn.21. Yeshua is also the head of all principality and power, both designations for spiritual beings in the heavenlies (Eph.1.21). Paul is the only author who uses the terms, and the aforementioned Luzatto refers to the ideas in his Derech Hashem, where he talks about angels and shedim (demons). These principalities are very real, though to our limited physical perception are invisible (cf.1.16). Many modern day kabbalists, like Madonna, Angelina Jolie and such, are misusing the ability we have to affect things in the spiritual realms, not to draw closer to Y’hovah, which is the legitimate purpose of Kabbala. The problem with messing with kabbala is that the enticement to power in spiritual realms plays into our covetousness, and will tend to witchcraft in most of us. For that reason I will steer clear of it, and recommend that you all do the same. I don’t trust myself to not aggrandize my own lusts and thereby walk to the right hand or the left. Q&C

V.11-23 – V.11 says we are CCd in Mashiyach, which is the CC of the heart. We are not just CCd in him, we are also buried with him in our immersion and raised in him by our coming out of the mikvah, according to Yeshua’s faith and faithfulness. The ordinances in ch.2 have nothing to do with Tanakh. They have to do most with the practices of the pagan religions of the world.

As in all of Paul’s letter to the Kehalim in Asia and Europe, the pronouns he uses are important in knowing to whom or about whom he is writing. He uses a LOT of you’s and ye’s in this letter, by which he means the gentiles in the kahal. When he uses the pronoun we or us, he is generally talking to Jews/Hebrews. And when he says our, he is generally speaking of both Hebrew and gentile together in Mashiyach. 

The context at this point is CC, and there were a bunch of Pharisee CCers going out into the kehalim trying to force CC on the new gentile converts against the instructions of the Netzari Beit Din in Acts 15. Sore losers, eaters of sour grapes, don’t you know. These are the same guys who brought false accusation against Sha’ul in J’lem in Acts 21. (On pg.751 of the AENT is a good treatment of CC that I will not go into, because it is 4 pages long in REALLY minuscule type. If there’s time read the 6-7 marked paragraphs.) 

The ‘handwriting of ordinances in v.14 is talking about the traditions of men and the oral law, and it makes reference to the bitter water in Num.5.22-24. Yeshua drank of that bitter water for us and the curse didn’t fall on him, as it would have on every one of us. It was the handwriting of the priest against the woman with the jealous husband, the accusation against us that is unfounded because we are found in Yeshua, which accusation was nailed to the tree with him, not his instructions in Torah. V.15 shows us the source of the false accusations and traditions of men; the very principalities and powers that Yeshua showed up on the day of his resurrection. 

In v.16, notice the word therefore, and look at the previous verses to see what it’s there for. The Handwriting that was nailed to Yeshua’s tree; the false accusations of the enemy against us were contrary to us and died with him. HE took those false accusations on himself, drank of that bitter water and blotted them out. So don’t let any man rob you of the liberty that you have in Mashiyach and his Torah, and don’t you even THINK of going back to the rudiments of this world system. In v.16, Paul is speaking to whom? The pronoun you tells us that he is writing to the gentiles in Colosse. He is warning them against letting their gentile acquaintances bully them back into doing the ‘rudiments of the world system’, i.e.; their paganism. He says don’t let those guys who haven’t a clue judge you about your keeping the instructions of Lev.11. Let the body of Mashiyach judge you in your righteousness, not your former pagan buddies in your lack of iniquity as they try to steal away your fellowship with Y’hovah. Vv.20-23 brings us to the conclusion of the matter – the rudiments of the world are the doctrines of men, not the instructions of Elohim. Living in the world is not obedience to Y’hovah, but it is being subject to ordinances – the ‘commandments of the doctrines of men’. Therefore being subject to ordinances is living in disobedience to Torah’s instructions. Those commandments of the doctrines of men may have the appearance of wisdom, but are, in fact, unbeliever’s foolishness.

Ch 3 begins with an admonition to quit worrying about keeping men’s ordinances, and to start keeping the Word of Y’hovah. As Paul tells us in Rom.6, we are to consider ourselves dead to sin and alive to Mashiyach with whom our lives are hidden in Elohim. V.5 tells us to mortify, or consider dead, the works of the flesh. This is not to literally kill our bodies, but to submit to the Ruach haKodesh and thereby to nullify the deeds of the flesh. All those 5 deeds of the flesh in v.5 deal with a sensual desire and are a part of the pagan temple worship. Vv.6-7 shows that all of these things will be judged in the tribulation and especially in the vial judgments of Y’hovah’s wrath and that these gentile believers have been delivered from them by the work of Yeshua on the tree. These ordinances of men (as well as the 2^nd person pronouns) make it plain that his main audience in Colosse was gentile, for no religious Jew would consider doing any of these things as a part of their worship of Y’hovah. Q&C

End of Shabbat Bible Study

Shabbat Bible Study for February 23, 2019 

©2019 Mark Pitrone and Fulfilling Torah Ministries

Year 3 – Shabbat 3 Adar Alef

Num 19:1-22; Eze 36:16-38; Psalm 109; 1 John 1:1-10

B’Midbar 19 – speaks of the red heifer and the rites appertaining thereto. There doesn’t seem to be an age requirement, only that it be without blemish and never have had a yoke on her neck. Webster tells us it is a “young cow”, so it is a female. Webster also tells us it is a yearling, which means it is at least a year old, but not yet 2. I infer this to mean that the red cow would likely show white hairs after her 2nd birthday. In Judges 14 it speaks of a man plowing with another man’s heifer, or, working a man toward a desired end by using his wife to convince (or, in Samson’s case, NAG [v.17]) him to do it. The heifer was taken without the camp and slain before the priest, who would take of her blood and sprinkle it 7x before the tent of the congregation (into which the congregation was NOT allowed to go – only priests). She was then burnt entirely with the priest adding hyssop and cedar wood and scarlet to the fire. The priest would wash his clothes and himself and be unclean until evening. Then a third clean man would gather up the ashes and store them in a clean place for the people to use for waters of sanctification, for the purification of sin. All 3 men were unclean until the evening AFTER a mikvah. Schottenstein’s Chumash has excellent prefatory notes on pg.133. 

This parsha is called “Chukath” – Decrees. Y’hovah’s Chukath are things that he said that don’t make sense to us puny humans. For instance, the red heifer is burned by the 12 tribal elders of the people before the priest (I assume this is the case, since the KJV is very clear that it is the people who do this, using the 2^nd person plural pronoun, ‘ye’, when Moshe and Aharon are speaking to B’nei Yisrael), and the act makes the elders unclean until they do a mikvah and then await the evening offering. The priest officiating (NOT the Kohen Gadol, but his deputy) adds hyssop, cedar and scarlet wool and is also contaminated, needing to do a mikvah and await the evening offering. Then a 3^rd man or group of men gathers the ashes of the red heifer and takes them to a clean place without the camp, after which he also must mikvah and await the evening offering. All of this was done to create the additive to the water of purification. Everyone acting to create the additive is contaminated by that action, but the ashes added to the water would allow purification of that which would be sprinkled by the water. It doesn’t make sense to us. This is the nature of a chukah. The fact that the decree does not make sense does not mean that we can ignore it or not obey it, any more than our inability to understand the truth makes the truth less true. We obey the chukim/decrees because Y’hovah commanded us to.

The Hebrew root of heifer is parah, from the root (H6565) parar פרר, ‘to separate out parts’. It is used 22 times and usually is xlated as kine or cow, but 6 times KJV has heifer, 5 times in Num.19 and once in Hosea 4. Stone’s Tanakh xlates it ‘cow’ all 22 times it is used. The water of separation, made with the ashes of the red heifer, were used to sanctify the vessels of the tabernacle, the basins and such that were used in the Mishkan service. Application of the ‘heifer water’ was by sprinkling from a sprig of hyssop. W/o the red heifer, there could be no approach to Y’hovah’s presence. Until just a few years ago, there had not been a red heifer in Israel in almost 2000 years. There is still question about the kosher nature of the red heifer that they did breed. How many NON-red hairs will make it unfit for use? 2? 10? Even 1? With the breeding of the red heifer and assuming that it is kosher, the vessels can be purified and the actual practice of Hebrew Torah observance can once again take place – if they had a tabernacle to work in. TSK has this interesting note on the red heifer;

The following curious particulars have been remarked in this ordinance:

1. A heifer was appointed for sacrifice, in opposition to the Egyptian superstition, which held these sacred, and worshipped their goddess Isis under this form; and this appears the more likely, because males only were chosen for sacrifice. So Herodotus says, they sacrifice males, both old and young; but it is not lawful for them to offer females.

2. It was to be a red heifer, because the Egyptians sacrificed red bulls to the evil demon Typhon.

3. It was to be without spot, having no mixture of any other colour. Plutarch says, the Egyptians “sacrifice red bulls, and select them with such scrupulous attention, that if the animal has a single black or white hair, they reckon it αθυτον, unfit to be sacrificed.”

4. Without blemish. (See note on Lev 22:21.)

5. On which never came yoke. Because an animal which had been used for a common purpose was deemed improper for sacrifice. 

I believe the necessary vessels and tabernacle are already available. It’s the Mount being closed to Jews that’s keeping it from occurring, though they COULD go up to Shiloh in Ephraim, West Bank, where Y’hovah’s Name – יהוה – is actually written in the earth. I saw a satellite photo of it on line a number of years ago, and I am having trouble finding it now. It may have been taken down. The Hebrew letters יהוה were clearly seen in the satellite photo in the shadows of the hills.

Vv.11ff show one use of the water of separation. If a man touched a dead body, he was unclean for 7 days. On the 3^rd day, he would purify himself w/water of separation and on the 7^th day, after another sprinkling, he would be clean. Why the wait? Perhaps the separation on the 3^rd day has to do with resurrection and clean on the 7^th has to do with Sabbath rest?  Good possibilities. Does the 3^rd day mean the 3^rd day after the defilement or the 3^rd day of the week? I’m curious what Rashi has to say about it. It says in v.12 that if he was not separated on the 3^rd day he was not cleansed on the 7^th. THIS gives some credence to the assertion that if one does not believe in the resurrection of the dead, one is not purified for the Kingdom.

It did not have to be a priest who sprinkled the water on the people and vessels; any clean man could do it. The clean man who is doing the sprinkling becomes unclean until evening after the required mikvah, because he touched the water of separation, though he did not have to be sprinkled with the water first (more evidence of a chukah). I assume that each person who needed to be sprinkled would have to find a clean man willing to sprinkle him. Both would remain unclean until evening.  Q&C 

Yechezkel 36.16-38 – The first 15 verses of this chapter show us that in the same way that Israel had to be cleansed of defilement from the ‘golden calf’ by sprinkling with the ‘water of separation’, so will Aretz Israel have to be cleansed from its defilement by the people of Israel when they went their own way instead of Y’hovah’s Way. They had shed blood on the land in making offerings to idols and so they had to be put ‘outside the camp’ and the land now needed to be washed clean. V.17 speaks of ‘the uncleanness of a removed woman’. Dahekizzat? MAYBE 

And if a woman have an issue, and her issue in her flesh be blood, she shall be put apart seven  days: and whosoever toucheth her shall be unclean until the even. 20 And every thing that she lieth upon in her separation shall be unclean: every thing also that she sitteth upon shall be unclean. 21 And whosoever toucheth her bed shall wash his clothes, and bathe in water, and be unclean until the even. 22 And whosoever toucheth any thing that she sat upon shall wash his clothes, and bathe in water, and be unclean until the even. 23 And if it on bed, or on any thing whereon she sitteth, when he toucheth it, he shall be unclean until the even. 24 And if any man lie with her at all, and her flowers be upon him, he shall be unclean seven days; and all the bed whereon he lieth shall be unclean. 25 And if a woman have an issue of her blood many days out of the time of her separation, or if it run beyond the time of her separation; all the days of the issue of her uncleanness shall be as the days of her separation: she unclean. 26 Every bed whereon she lieth all the days of her issue shall be unto her as the bed of her separation: and whatsoever she sitteth upon shall be unclean, as the uncleanness of her separation. 27 And whosoever toucheth those things shall be unclean, and shall wash his clothes, and bathe in water, and be unclean until the even. 28 But if she be cleansed of her issue, then she shall number to herself seven days, and after that she shall be clean. 29 And on the eighth day she shall take unto her two turtles, or two young pigeons, and bring them unto the priest, to the door of the tabernacle of the congregation. 30 And the priest shall offer the one a sin offering, and the other a burnt offering; and the priest shall make an atonement for her before Y’hovah for the issue of her uncleanness. 31 Thus shall ye separate the children of Israel from their uncleanness; that they die not in their uncleanness, when they defile my tabernacle that among them. 32 This the law of him that hath an issue, and whose seed goeth from him, and is defiled therewith; 33 And of her that is sick of her flowers, and of him that hath an issue, of the man, and of the woman, and of him that lieth with her that is unclean. [Lev.15.19-33]

But we are all as an unclean and all our righteousnesses as filthy rags; and we all do fade as a leaf; and our iniquities, like the wind, have taken us away. [YeshaYahu 64.6]

Y’hovah sees the uncleanness of the woman with an unusual issue of blood as if it were like idolatry, or perhaps the unclean issue is a punishment FOR idolatry. This might shed light on the woman with the 12-year issue of blood in Lk.8. Let’s also look at the 2 verses immediately preceding the woman with the 12 year issue, as it MAY also shed light on that passage.

And, behold, there came a man named Yair, and he was a ruler of the synagogue: and he fell down at Yeshua’s feet, and besought him that he would come into his house: 42 For he had one only daughter, about twelve years of age, and she lay a dying. But as he went the people thronged him. 43 And a woman having an issue of blood twelve years, which had spent all her living upon physicians, neither could be healed of any, 44 Came behind and touched the border of his garment: and immediately her issue of blood stanched. 45 And Yeshua said, Who touched me? When all denied, Peter and they that were with him said, Master, the multitude throng thee and press and sayest thou, Who touched me? 46 And Yeshua said, Somebody hath touched me: for I perceive that virtue is gone out of me. 47 And when the woman saw that she was not hid, she came trembling, and falling down before him, she declared unto him before all the people for what cause she had touched him, and how she was healed immediately. 48 And he said unto her, Daughter, be of good comfort: thy faith hath made thee whole; go in peace. 49  While he yet spake, there cometh one from the ruler of the synagogue’s saying to him, Thy daughter is dead; trouble not the Master. 50 But when Yeshua heard he answered him, saying, Fear not: believe only, and she shall be made whole. 51 And when he came into the house, he suffered no man to go in, save Peter, and James, and John, and the father and the mother of the maiden. 52 And all wept, and bewailed her: but he said, Weep not; she is not dead, but sleepeth. 53 And they laughed him to scorn, knowing that she was dead. 54 And he put them all out, and took her by the hand, and called, saying, Maid, arise. 55 And her spirit [breath] came again, and she arose straightway: and he commanded to give her meat.

These 2 seemingly distinct occurrences are linked, IM[not so]HO, by the 12 years, which I think links us back to the Torah portion and its reason for being; namely, Israel’s idolatry of the golden calf at the foot of Sinai. If the rabbis are correct that the red heifer was for cleansing the defilement Israel received because they bowed before the golden calf and called it Y’hovah, perhaps the woman with the issue and all the people who were defiled by the woman with the issue of blood were cleansed by the water of separation; that water being made the water of separation by the ashes of the red heifer, then does it not possibly follow that the woman with the issue in Luke 8 had been guilty of idolatry? She had tried everything shy of confession and repentance, which I think is typified by her resorting to going to Yeshua for her cleansing, but on the ‘down low’. The 12 years comes into play because 12 tribes had participated in the worship of the golden calves; only Levi refraining; and that shows that chol Yisrael can make the same approach to and through Y’hovah Yeshua, who is the antitype to the red heifer. Let’s see if there are any other links we can make from this haftarah to the Torah parsha or the Brith Chadasha. Q&C

V.21 shows us that it was the pity Y’hovah took for his Name’s sake, which was dragged through the mud by Israel’s idolatry, and the subsequent judgment Y’hovah brought against them in and through their captivity. Therefore, in vv.22-23, Adonai Y’hovah told Zeke to tell Israel that he was going to show both Israel and their captors the power and Set-Apartness of his Name by bringing judgment against Israel’s captors for their profanation of his Name. 

Then he switches gears in vv.24, saying that he will bring Israel out of the nations, presumably as idolaters still [which the majority of Israelis are today], and deliver them to Israel, perhaps as ‘secular Jews’ and ‘political Zionists’. But in v.25 he begins to show what he will eventually do for these Israeli idolaters. He will do exactly what he did for Israel in the wilderness; sprinkle them with clean water of separation to cleanse them of the sin of idolatry. He will also give them a new heart [v.26] like the one Yeshua gave to the woman with the 12 year issue. He will use that water of separation to remove the stoney heart and replace it with a fleshy one. And he will put his own Ruach in them [v.27], as Yeshua did for Yair’s daughter, reviving them to lovers of Y’hovah who will prove their love by keeping his commandments.

V.28 he begins to refer to the Millennial Kingdom, but also to the present day nation of Israel, for even in its lack of fealty to Him and his commandments, he still blesses her for the fathers’ sakes. Yisrael SHALL be his people and He will be their Eloha. He promises physical multiplicity, the mark of obedience, in vv.29-30. And it seems as though the result of that physical multiplicity will be Israel’s realization that it has been wicked and she repents, for he cleanses them of ALL their uncleannesses. But why does he say that he will ‘call for the corn [grain; barley, wheat, etc; grasses] and increase it, and lay no famine upon you’? Obviously he implies [or at least I infer] that SOME one is experiencing famine. If my opinion is correct that this refers to the Millennial Kingdom, the only people who will be experiencing famine of grasses/kernels will be those who refuse to make aliyah for the Feast of Sukkoth – and probably for the 2nd time.

16 And it shall come to pass, that every one that is left of all the nations which came against Jerusalem shall even go up from year to year to worship the King, Y’hovah Tzavaoth, and to keep the feast of tabernacles. 17 And it shall be, whoso will not come up of the families of the earth unto Jerusalem to worship the King, Y’hovah Tzavaoth, even upon them shall be no rain. 18 And if the family of Egypt go not up, and come not [aliyah], that there shall be the plague, wherewith Y’hovah will smite the heathen that come not up [make aliyah] to keep the feast of tabernacles. 19 This shall be the punishment of Egypt, and the punishment of all nations that come not up to keep the feast of tabernacles. [ZecharYahu 14.16-19]

What were the plagues that struck Egypt? Hail to destroy the barley that was in the ear and then Locusts to destroy the wheat and other grain grasses.  

The blessings on Israel continue in v.30 where he grants even MORE physical multiplicity to her, even in her unbelief. Perhaps the famine that comes on Egypt and the nations that refuse to make aliyah to Chag haSukkoth awakens Israel to her need to repent, for v.31 says that she remembers her sinful ways, loathes her own walk in idolatry and disdain for Y’hovah’s Way and does repent and start to walk in it.

And WHY does Adonai Y’hovah bring this physical multiplicity to his people in their land [vv.32-34], even before she turns from her own way and unto His Way? For His Land’s sake! He didn’t just promise the Patriarchs the land, but he promised haAretz that His People would dwell in it and care for it. 

He commands the house of Israel [just Ephraim? or BOTH houses?] to be ashamed and confounded for her ways. 

42 Then will I remember my covenant with Jacob, and also my covenant with Isaac, and also my covenant with Abraham will I remember; and I will remember the land. 43 The land also shall be left of them, and shall enjoy her sabbaths, while she lieth desolate without them: and they shall accept of the punishment of their iniquity: because, even because they despised my judgments, and because their soul abhorred my statutes. 44 And yet for all that, when they be in the land of their enemies, I will not cast them away, neither will I abhor them, to destroy them utterly, and to break my covenant with them: for I Y’hovah Elohehem. 45 But I will for their sakes remember the covenant of their ancestors, whom I brought forth out of the land of Egypt in the sight of the heathen, that I might be Elohehem: I Y’hovah. [Lev.26.42-45]

Those same heathen that watched Y’hovah bring Israel out of Egypt and deliver them to the Promised Land in the ancient Exodus will notice that He is blessing his land with Israel again in vv.35-36. The transformation the heathen see baAretz, in the Land, in v.35 will witness to them of the power and majesty of Y’hovah, who does this for Israel; both the people and the land in v.36.

In vv.37-38, Y’hovah likens Israel to the flock of J’lem that was kept in BethLechem and from which the Pesach Lamb was selected each year, the flock whose shepherds came to witness the arrival of Y’hovah Yeshua haMashiach. Truly Yeshua and Yisrael are inextricably linked. Y’hovah will increase, give physical multiplicity, to Yisrael as his set-apart flock and will show it to the world in the return of the King and of the cities that had lain waste. Q&C

Tehellim 109 – This is a perfect example of an imprecatory psalm. David prays down judgment on his enemies who hate Y’hovah and his servants. The enemy in this psalm, I think, is Absalom. V.4 says that because David loves Y’hovah they are his adversaries – yis-t^enuniy – satan, even though he has prayed for them. So he asks that Satan be the right hand of their adversary. Imprecation is very often Y’hovah’s will for us. Yiremyahu, Yeshayahu, and Yechezkel all prayed against Y’hovah’s enemies who were within the camp, often the priests of Judah who were sucking up to the king to gain political power. David does the same here in vv.6-20. V.8 is my prayer for the American President, regardless who he is, until the President turns from his wickedness and to the righteousness of Y’hovah.

In vv.21ff, David asks Y’hovah’s blessing on himself. In v.21 he says Y’hovih Adonai, which is the appellation of the Divine Name that Encompasses all 3 of the major titles of the Almighty Ain Sof; YHWH is vowel pointed as is Elohim and then he is called my Master. In v.26, David addresses Abba as Y’hovah Elohaiy. I know for certain that the ending on Eloha makes that personal – MY Master, MY Mighty one. 

Vv.28ff, make it clear that David isn’t worried about their cursing if Y’hovah is blessing him. ‘Let them curse me, as long as you bless me. No matter what they do or say, I will Bless Y’hovah.’ When David says ‘the poor’, he is speaking of the poor in spirit, not necessarily the financially poor. When Yeshua said, “Blessed are the poor in spirit”, this is who he was talking about, those who are not necessarily after monetary riches, but the richness of the Ruach of Y’hovah and HIS Kingdom.

But seek ye first the kingdom of God, and his righteousness; and all these things shall be added unto you. (Matthew 6:33)

Q&C

1Yochanan 1.1-10 – Yochanan puts his own imprint on this letter immediately by saying ‘the beginning’ – B’reishith, as he did when he opened his besorah, ‘gospel’. The Aramaic primacy of Yochanan’s writings is very apparent, as Andrew Gabriel Roth makes abundantly clear in  note 2 (on pg.650) of the Aramaic-English New Testament. The Word of Life is none other than Mashiyach Yeshua, as Yochanan has pointed out both here and in his witness to the good news by which we know that we can be made partakers of the Shema and made one with Avinu through the shed blood of our Mashiyach Yeshua. Yochanan tells us in v.2 that the eternal life of Yeshua was with Avinu and manifested in Mashiyach to Yochanan and the other Shlichim (is that right?), Peter, James, Sha’ul, etc – the ‘we’ of v.1. It looks as if Yochanan was writing for a group, or perhaps that what he wrote was checked or approved by a group, even as was the letter sent from Yerushalayim to the kehalim in the nations in Acts.15.19-28. Perhaps it was the same group of zechanim and shlichim. The fellowship Yochanan refers to is the outworking of the echad nature of Y’hovah, the ultimate goal of our halacha, and the ultimate truth of the gospel – Y’hovah wants us to be echad with him, and has made the way himself in the life of Mashiyach Yeshua (Gen.22.8 KJV). And even at that, the revelation that Yochanan had was only a small part of all there is to understand about our Master Yeshua haMashiyach. He said what we understand OF him, which tells me Yochanan knew he’d merely scratched the surface of the Truth that will unfold to us when we see him as he is.

Yochanan just loved the account of Creation, it seems, because he is always alluding to it. Here he goes to the first thing Y’hovah created ex nihilo – light. In fact, it CAN be said to be the ONLY thing he formed ex nihilo, if you want to, because it can be shown via Einstein’s famous equation e = mc², that all matter is a condensation of light energy. To show this in reverse, think of nuclear fission, where a hydrogen atom is split in two by a charged neutron. The original atom has a known mass, or weight. When the atom is split in 2, the weight of the 2 resulting atoms is slightly less than the weight of the original. The difference is the radiated energy that is used to heat the water into steam to drive the turbines for electrical generation, or to sustain the reaction in an explosion. All radiation is light in motion, whether that light is visible or not. The visible spectrum is a very tiny fraction of the total light spectrum. And what does Yochanan say in v.5? Elohim is light and in him is no darkness at all. IOW, Elohim is the full spectrum of light. He makes everything manifest by his light, both in a physical and in a metaphorical sense. If we have no physical light, we are blind – in the dark. If we have no spiritual light, we cannot comprehend Y’hovah’s truth and our hearts are full of darkness. When his spirit is at work in us, we are able to ‘see’ or understand things in his Word that may not be apparent in the words written on the page, as I think I have with some of the inferences I’ve drawn in our Studies of his Toroth. That is not to say that light is Elohim, for it certainly is not. But when he formed light, he was manifesting and explaining himself in a way that we could understand, and by his light we can ‘see’ his truth. Look at Is.45.7;

I form the light, and create darkness: I make peace, and create evil: I Y’hovah do all these things. (Isaiah 45:7)

When he said he ‘formed’ light, he was saying that he gave it shape, as it were, or made it so it would be apparent to the matter he would shape from it, and as a consequence something came to be that had never existed before – darkness, or the absence of light. Before he ‘condensed’ the light into physical matter, there was no darkness because there was nothing physical to get in the way of the light to cast a shadow. As we remove our man-made traditions and dogmas from our thinking, it allows the light of his Truth to shine into us, through us and out from us. 

In v.6 remember that fellowship with him is oneness with him, we internalize his Word in us and begin to let the Light of his Word shine through us. But if we walk in darkness, don’t do what his Word says (starve our inclination to good) OR do what his Word forbids (feed our inclination to evil), we make ourselves liars and prove that the truth has no place in us. I used to think this was right – that it didn’t matter how I lived my life, as long as I’d said the ‘sinner’s prayer’, I was going to be in the Kingdom. Look at how v.8 amplifies v.6. If we say our sins are gone, but have our halacha in darkness, we lie to ourselves and really care nothing for the truth. But even worse is how v.10 amplifies 6&8. If we say that we haven’t sinned we make HIM a liar, and the truth isn’t a part of us. 

But if we walk in the spiritual light of his Word of Truth, as he IS that light, we will be echad with each other as Mashiyach and his Abba are echad, and we will also be echad with Y’hovah. And that Word of Truth will enlighten our minds to any sin in our lives so that we can repent of it and confess it to Avinu, applying Mashiyach Yeshua’s blood to it, washing it away as with the water of purification so we can get back to living in his True Light, and reenter the camp. Q&C

End of Shabbat Bible Study

Shabbat Bible Study for 16 February, 2019

©2019 Mark Pitrone and Fulfilling Torah Ministries

Year 3 – Shabbat 2 Adar Alef

Deut 25:17-19; 1 Sam 15:1-34; Psalm 140; 2 Thess 2:1-17

Devarim 25.17-19 – Amalek! Y’hovah commanded Israel to remember Amalek for the purpose of destroying him, completely wiping his memory off the earth so that noone else would EVER remember him. Unless I misunderstand scripture here, this is the root of ALL the problems of the Middle East today – Israel did not remember her charge, which was given her less than 2 weeks before she crossed Yarden to enter her promised inheritance. She was to destroy Amalek and his memory from the earth. When Mashiyach comes in his glory, HE will remember this command that he gave Israel and he SHALL carry it out, with cool deliberation and dispatch.

Amalek was one of the ‘Dukes of Esav’, Esav NOT being a county in Tennessee, nor did he drive a beautiful, built-up stock car and lead the rebellion, good-natured as it was, against Boss Hogg and Sheriff Roscoe ‘PEEE’ Coltrane. Amalek was a seriously bad duke, and, if it was possible, his progeny got worse as it progressed through time. Amalek was Esav’s grandson, the son of Eliphaz and Timna. Eliphaz’ mother was Adah, whose name (H5711) means ‘ornament, or morning’, but the root of whose name (H5710) means ‘to decorate or adorn or, in Arabic, broad stone for covering a grave’. So Eliphaz’ (H464 – my god [el-H410] is gold [pazaz – H6337]) wife, (gravestone-like scab) bore him Amalek. BDB has no meaning for Amalek’s name, as if Y’hovah has never taken enough thought of him to characterize him. Names are important in scripture, because they tell you their owners’ character. This is why it is so incredible, to me anyway, that Y’hovah actually WANTS to give us his Name – it denotes the gift of a change of character. I don’t know about y’all, but I surely need it.

In Ex.17, immediately after the gift of manna [which followed quickly after the water gushed forth from the rock at Rephidim], Amalek attacked Israel at Rephidim. Had they attacked BEFORE the manna had been given, I suppose that Israel would have despaired for lack of strength to fight. This is what Y’hovah referred to in our Torah passage. Amalek came up against the stragglers, usually the old or injured who were least likely to put up a vigorous fight. It is a particularly cowardly way to fight, something like the rotten Amalekites who struck down the Israeli family in their sleep 3 years ago – including the 4-month old infant girl. That little girl looked just like my grandson Micah did at her age. Of course, all babies look pretty much alike – Winston Churchill, sans cigar. But that fact should drive the point home to each of us who is a parent or grandparent (hard to be the latter without being the former) that the scum that perpetrated that cowardly attack truly deserve to die an ignominious death.

Here’s what Y’hovah has to say about Amalek after the battle at Rephidim:

14 And Y’hovah said unto Moshe, Write this a memorial in a book, and rehearse in the ears of Yehoshua: for I will utterly put out the remembrance of Amalek from under heaven. 15 And Moses built an altar, and called the name of it Y’hovah-Nissi: 16 For he said, Because Y’hovah hath sworn Y’hovah war with Amalek from generation to generation. [Shemoth 17.14-16]

In light of Moshe’s words in Ex.17, it looks like the promise to ‘utterly put out the remembrance of Amalek from under heaven’ is a prophecy for the end of days.

Besides king Agag, whom we’ll see in a few minutes for our haftarah reading and study today, who else of prominence in Israel’s history was an Amalekite?  The first name that comes readily to mind is Haman (p-tui), a distant son of Agag (Esther 3.1), which is kind of topical since it is Purim time [this Tuesday evening, the 19th]. 

And he thought scorn to lay hands on Mordecai alone; for they had shewed him the people of Mordecai: wherefore Haman sought to destroy all the Jews throughout the whole kingdom of Ahasuerus, the people of Mordecai. (Esther 3:6)

Is this not the Moslemist creed today? To the Moslemist, the only Satan greater than the United States is Israel. Please hear this, because it could very well tell you a person’s character. If a person sees Israel or Jews as the greatest evil on earth, an evil that needs to be wiped off the earth and their very memory removed from the earth, think ‘Amalekite spirit’. In that light, you can see that the spirit of Amalek and the spirit of Esav/Edom are one and the same – haSatan, the adversary of Y’hovah. Isn’t it interesting that the Amalekite and the Israelite are of diametrically opposed spirits, Israel of Y’hovah, the Spirit of Liberty and Amalek of Allah, Y’hovah’s adversary, the spirit of conquest and domination? I think the Enemy really thinks he stands a chance BECAUSE Y’hovah will not force compliance on his children, like haSatan does on his. Q&C

1Sam.15.1-21 – It was time for Israel to do Y’hovah’s will with Amalek, to thoroughly remove even his memory from the earth. And that is the instruction Y’hovah gave through Schmu’el – nothing that drew breath was to live in all of Amalek. Sha’ul numbered his troops – not really a census, so no need to pony up the ½ shekel for the Temple. Why the differentiation between 200K footmen and 10K men of Yehudah? Were the footmen all from Ephraim? Were the Yehudim mounted? Perhaps the Yehudim were all captains? So there are 210K soldiers of Israel to go against Amalek. Sha’ul wisely told the Kenites to get out of Dodge, so the innocent would not be condemned with the guilty. The Kenites had NOT done to Israel what Amalek was being condemned for.

“Utterly destroy” means utterly destroy. Nothing of what Y’hovah told Sha’ul to destroy was to remain. These marching orders were clear and concise. There was no room for asking questions or creating loopholes. When Sha’ul started the smiting, he kept it going until he got almost to the border with Egypt. I think this may have been in the area we now know as “the Gaza Strip”. It was here that Amalek was soundly defeated and everyone but Agag (and presumably his children) was killed. Now that ONE exception would come back to haunt the Israelites in their captivity when Ahasuerus (Artaxerxes) of Persia came to power and had as his vice-regent Haman (p’tui), the Agagite, as well as today in the Moslemist hordes. 

Sha’ul and the people spared Agag and the best of the sheep, etc., and WOULD not utterly destroy them. This was not a mere slip, or a pang of conscience at the bloodshed. This was willful disobedience, disguised as reverence to Y’hovah. Sha’ul had become too big for his britches, and the people had decided that they knew better what Y’hovah wanted than he did himself. What it REALLY was was the same kind of thorn in the flesh that Paul had – covetousness. They weren’t coveting what the Amalekites had, but what Israel already had. Paul coveted his position as a Jew, a Pharisee and likely successor to the chief rabbinate of J’lem. That was his motivation in persecuting the Way, I think. As to king Sha’ul and the people in 1Sam.15, why give offerings to Y’hovah out of their own flocks, when these were perfectly good, clean and acceptable (in the people’s eyes) animals to offer to Y’hovah? The answer lies in David’s response to Ornan’s offer of his threshingfloor free of charge in 2Sam.24

And the king said unto Aravna, Nay; but I will surely buy it of thee at a price: neither will I offer burnt offerings unto Y’hovah Elohai of that which doth cost me nothing. So David bought the threshingfloor and the oxen for fifty shekels of silver. (II Samuel 24:24)

As David would not offer that which had cost him nothing to Y’hovah, so should Israel not have been offering someone else’s flocks to Y’hovah. These flocks were NOT theirs to offer as Y’hovah had commanded them to be slaughtered along with all of Amalek. Weren’t these flocks Y’hovah’s to begin with? Had he wanted these animals offered to him, would he not have said so? What they’d done was destroyed the Amalekites’ ‘traif’ [unclean garbage] and kept the good stuff for themselves. 

Y’hovah told Schmu’el that he repented of making Sha’ul king. Had Sha’ul stayed true to the course Schmu’el had started him on, what would have been the result? I think Yehonathan would have made an excellent king of Israel. Schmu’el loved Sha’ul, there can be no doubt, and he had very high hopes for him and his line. Schmu’el interceded for Sha’ul through the night. When Schmu’el arose the next AM from his intercession, he was told that Sha’ul had gone to Gilgal, one of the places in which Schmu’el judged Israel (7.16), so it looks like Sha’ul had no idea that what he’d done was sin, because he drove all those sheep before him to offer them to Y’hovah through Schmu’el. I think haSatan’s spirit of Amalek was already upon him and deluding him. 

But the Ruach haKodesh was upon Schmu’el. When Sha’ul said, “I have performed the mitzvah of Y’hovah” with the accompanying satisfied grin, Schmu’el said, “Then what’s all this bleating and lowing that I hear?”, implying strongly, “You were told to kill everything that breathes in Amalek.” Sha’ul answered (I assume kind of ‘taken aback’ by the condemnatory tenor of Schmu’el’s words), “The people saved the best of Amalek’s animals to offer to Y’hovah?” Schmu’el interrupted the king, knowing that what he said was an excuse. He said, in effect, “Shut up, and LISTEN to what Y’hovah told me last night.” Sha’ul said, “Go ahead.” 

Schmu’el said [Mp], “You were humble once. What happened to the man who I anointed king? Y’hovah sent you out with a simple mission: utterly destroy the Amalekites and their property. Why did you take their property as spoils of war, when you were told to kill all the Amalekites and their field animals that took breath?” But Sha’ul protested [Mp], “I DID exactly what Y’hovah said, and I brought Agag, their king and killed all the Amalekites. It was the PEOPLE who took the spoil to sacrifice it to Y’hovah in Gilgal. That’s what we came here for!” This, as I read this passage, was true, but it was not righteous. Do you see that distinction? What Sha’ul said was true – their motive was to offer all these animals to Y’hovah, not to keep them for themselves. But behind their motive was their covetousness over what they had. Why offer what has cost you time and energy to acquire, when you can offer the fruits of someone ELSE’s labor, which happens to ALSO be theirs as spoils of war? Schmu’el should have changed Sha’ul’s name to ‘Buck’ at this point, because he was so good at passing it. Q&C

Vv.22-34 – To obey is better than sacrifice. Y’hovah didn’t ASK for sacrifice, He commanded the utter destruction of Amalek. If we obey, we have no need to sacrifice anything. And this particular sin was rebellion against the command of Y’hovah, which is exactly the same to Y’hovah as witchcraft. And then trying to excuse it was as bad as Torahlessness and idolatry. Sha’ul and the people had made themselves gods this day. Schmu’el told Sha’ul [Mp], “Since you’ve rejected Y’hovah’s Word, he has rejected you as king.” 

Now that he’d been called out, Sha’ul was remorseful, but the remorse was over his punishment, not that he’d sinned and truly desired repentance. He said in v.24 that he’d transgressed Schmu’el’s words, as if Schmu’el was concerned about people obeying him. I can’t help but think that Schmu’el was getting sicker and sicker of Sha’ul’s fawning and brown-nosing with each word that left his mouth. He actually asked for Schmu’el’s forgiveness and that Schmu’el turn WITH HIM! But who is Schmu’el to forgive Sha’ul’s sin? Sha’ul was completely deceived by the evil spirit; to the point of thinking Schmu’el would turn away from Y’hovah’s commands with him and follow after the spirit he was after. The sin was transgression of Y’hovah’s Word. 

Whosoever committeth sin transgresseth also Torah: for sin is the transgression of Torah (I John 3:4)

Schmu’el could and WOULD not step into Y’hovah’s place and pronounce him guiltless. Schmu’el got it, now. 

As Schmu’el turned away from Sha’ul, Sha’ul grabbed his mantle, the kanaph of his me’il from Hebroot ma’al מעל, ‘to deceive or cover up’ with a cognate of ‘garment’. This MAY have been his tallith Gadol, the skirt of which is ‘kanaph’, the same word translated as ‘wings’ in 

But unto you that fear my name shall the Sun of righteousness arise with healing in his wings; and ye shall go forth, and grow up as calves of the stall. (Malachi 4:2)

The kanaph is the hem of the tallith, as we see in Mat.9:

20 And, behold, a woman, which was diseased with an issue of blood twelve years, came behind, and touched the hem of his garment: 21 For she said within herself, If I may but touch his garment, I shall be whole. 22 But Jesus turned him about, and when he saw her, he said, Daughter, be of good comfort; thy faith hath made thee whole. And the woman was made whole from that hour [Mark edit – that instant].

When Sha’ul grabbed his mantle, it ripped. Ruach used this as an object lesson, “So has the kingdom been rent from you and given to a friend of yours.” Of course, David had yet to meet the king, as far as we know, so Sam is speaking in the ‘prophetic perfect’, as if it had already occurred (it won’t until the NEXT chapter). Schmu’el told Sha’ul that Y’hovah would not repent of this decision. He MAY forgive the sin, but the decision was made and would not be changed. Sha’ul was the last of the Benyamite dynasty in Israel. Yehonathan would not sit on the throne of Israel. The Strength of Israel [v.29] = Mashiyach Yeshua, the right arm of Y’hovah, the Word of Y’hovah, the Lamb of Y’hovah and the Lion of Yehudah. 

In both vv.15 and 30, Sha’ul calls the Almighty, “Y’hovah Elohecha” and not “Y’hovah Elohenu”. The distinction is really quite glaring. Sha’ul did not worship Y’hovah in spirit and truth, but in the flesh. Schmu’el knew that Sha’ul would not carry out the Word of Y’hovah in regard to Agag, perhaps out of fear that if he raised his sword against a king, it might portend the same for him. So Schmu’el had Agag brought before him. Agag, the ever-jovial tyrant, says “Hey! Sam! Good to see you! Put her there, old chum!” So Schmu’el did – he put his sword about 2½ feet deep into Agag’s chest and sliced him into pieces. Maybe he did the same thing tradition says Shem did to Nimrod, and sent his pieces all over the known world as a warning to fear Y’hovah and NOT men. So, Schmu’el went his way to Ramah and Sha’ul to Giveah, and never in this world would the twain meet again. Q&C

Tehellim 140 – Do not vv.1-2 speak of conditions in American government: indeed, MOST human governments of late? It seems that if America is not engaged in a war, she is looking for an excuse to go to war. The American government already has military men stationed in over 190 nations to combat ‘terrorism’. Is it any wonder that many people see the American government as the greatest terror threat in the world? Is it not possible that they see America as a fulfillment of v.3 (Selah – stop and consider that): forked tongues and poisonous words that weave a web of deceit that can easily take in the unwary or unscrupulous? Please notice that after David considered v.3, he immediately asked Y’hovah to keep him safe from those adders and spiders. All of vv.4&5 amplify v.3 and then David stops to consider it all again. A gin, in the way the word is used in KJV, is a snare for catching game. After considering the wickedness of those who arrayed themselves against him, David calls on Y’hovah to shema his voice and his requests, and asks his guidance and protection from his enemies and their gins. By the way, another definition of ‘gin’ is a device that supplements human strength to multiply the effectiveness of work done, like the ‘cotton-gin’ [probably short for ‘engine’] of Eli Whitney.

In vv.9-11, David gets down to specific imprecations against his enemies; that they be entangled in their own words, that they get burned by their own devices, and fall into the pits they’d set for him. The wicked spirits that drive these violent men will eventually turn on them, overthrow them, and tear them to pieces. Then in vv.12-13, David shows that his trust in Y’hovah will be his strength and assurance; that Y’hovah will take up the cause of his righteous men who are afflicted by the wickedness in the world. Remember that ‘afflicted’ and ‘poor’ (v.12) are references to exile and dispersion from Y’hovah and his land. V.13 shows that even though we may be in dispersion and exile, if we are after his heart, desire to be righteous, and exalt his Name, he will regather us to himself so that we may dwell with him in his Kingdom. Q&C

2Thes.2.1-5 – The chapter opens with Rav Sha’ul admonishing the Thessalonians about what people are saying he said that may be contrary to what he told them when he was with them. Someone had told them that Mashiyach had gathered the dispersed of Israel and they were ‘Left Behind’ – he’d forgotten about them. So Paul had to do some damage control. Recent news has been pretty bad, and I take all the news in the world as warnings of judgment from Y’hovah that has the purpose of causing his people, both Jew and gentile, Yehudah and Ephraim, male and female, bond and free, to repent of going our own ways and to turn back to His Way. Recent world events should NOT be causing us to fear that he is not faithful to us, but is evidence that he IS faithful to his Word and that, if we will walk in it, he will also be faithful to keep his promises to us. What we need to remember is that, even if this is marking the beginning of the Great Tribulation, these are but the beginning of birth pangs. There will be about 3½ years of sorrows to follow and they will get worse and worse until Mashiyach bursts through the clouds to cut short the days of judgment before ALL life is destroyed. The Thessalonians, being very new believers, and not well-grounded in Tanakh, were easily shaken by the twisting of the scriptures perpetrated by Paul’s antagonists – the Iuaidoi/Judaizers/circumcisers. These Pharisees were not so worried about teaching the truth of Tanakh, as in assuring that these gentiles be traditionally proselytized and CCd into Judaism BEFORE being allowed membership in the Netzari kahal. These guys were still mad at Paul for abandoning his enviable place as the chief talmid of Gamaliel and, I think, his possible position as the next chief rabbi of Jerusalem. 

The day of Mashiyach was not ‘at hand’. That phrase means ‘immanent’. He told them not to worry that that day was close or had already happened, but that there were signs that MUST be fulfilled before the Day of Mashiyach was on the horizon. The BIG one that Sha’ul had told them about was the ‘apostasy’, the ‘great falling away’, that had to take place and also the revealing of the ‘man of sin’ [MoS] or ‘son of perdition’ [SoP]. I think this is speaking of the anti-Mashiyach [A-M]. Anti can mean against, but it can also mean counterfeit – one who LOOKS like Mashiyach, but is NOT. V.3 says he must be revealed, and v.4 tells us what to look for – that which will reveal him. The anti-Mashiyach will go into the Temple of Y’hovah and sit in the Temple, showing himself that he is Elohim. Of ALL the furnishings in the Temple, is there anything on which one can sit? The Menorrah? The Incense Altar? The Table of Showbread? The Ark with the Mercy Seat? UH-OH! There it is. The Mercy Seat, on which the blood of the goat and bull of Yom Kippur is offered. 

How will sitting on the mercy seat show the son or perdition that he is Elohim? Remember when David wanted to bring the Ark up to Jerusalem?

And when they came to Nachshon’s threshingfloor, Uzzah put forth his hand to the ark of Elohim, and took hold of it; for the oxen shook it. And the anger of Y’hovah was kindled against Uzzah; and Elohim smote him there for his error; and there he died by the ark of Elohim. And David was displeased, because Y’hovah had made a breach upon Uzzah: and he called the name of the place Perez-uzzah to this day. (II Samuel 6:6-8)

Now, what should happen if the SoP, MoS, A-M actually sits on the mercy seat? Well, if history were to repeat itself, he should be struck dead on the spot. If he wasn’t killed on the spot like Uzzah was, this would be a powerful witness to the deity of Anti-Mashiyach for those who are not intimately familiar with prophetic scripture, wouldn’t it? 

Of course, the glory had long since departed the mercy seat:

Then the glory of Y’hovah departed from off the threshold of the house, and stood over the cherubims.19 And the cheruvims lifted up their wings, and mounted up from the earth in my sight: when they went out, the wheels also beside them, and stood at the door of the east gate of Y’hovah’s house; and the glory of the Elohim of Israel over them above. (Ezekiel 10:18,19)

23 And the glory of Y’hovah went up from the midst of the city, and stood upon the mountain which on the east side of the city. (Ezekiel.11.23)

Ruach haKodesh left the Temple and never returned until it came in the body of Yeshua haMoshiach ben Yoseph, but never took up its proper place between the cheruvim then. Anti-Mashiyach will take that seat, if my guess is right, based on our passages in Yechezkel, and here in 2Thes.2. Ruach will return to the Millennial Temple in the person of Yeshua ha Mashiyach ben David. Q&C

Vv.6-12 – So, “what withholdeth”? The canned Xian response is, ‘The Holy Ghost’, but I think that’s forcing a meaning on the text. What is the purpose of that which withholds, unless it is ‘that he might be revealed in his time’? I think it’s the ‘mystery of iniquity’ that is holding back the revelation of MoS, SoP, AM, because that is the most natural flow of the letter. Why would the mystery of iniquity be withholding the revelation of AM? Thinking out loud, here. Iniquity = Torahlessness. Perhaps the refusal of the apostates to consider Torah relevant to them makes it unnecessary for the AM to be revealed. Maybe haSatan hasn’t needed to reveal himself in man by lying wonders, signs and spiritual power because the church has made iniquity a watchword of what they call faith, which is really just an excuse to live in disobedience to Y’hovah. This shouldn’t be seen as an indictment of the whole church, but definitely it is for most, if not all, of the ‘pop-culture’ church that’s on TV, the web and radio that I’ve seen. Now that some of the church is coming out from among them, becoming separate and refusing to touch the unclean things, haSatan will have to show some miraculous events at the hands of his personal Beast and False Prophet (who you will remember I think are the counterfeit of Y’hovah, Moshe and Aharon) to keep the church complacent. 

Are vv.8-9 saying that Yeshua’s coming is waiting for haSatan’s revelation of power? The word ‘after’ MAY mean ‘in accord with’ or ‘seeking’, as in ‘after my own heart’, or it could be a time reference. If it is a time reference Yeshua will not come until after haSatan shows his power by the unrighteous deceit of the Beast (MoS, SoP, AM – all designations of this Amalekite spirit; haSatan) and the False Prophet, and that is exactly what we see in Rev.13-19. Them that perish are those who believe the deceitful power of haSatan is actually the working of Y’hovah. And Y’hovah will allow them to believe that lie because they have no love of Torah, which IS the Truth of Y’hovah. The fact that they do not love Y’hovah’s Torah is why Y’hovah will make the working a haSatan look truly miraculous, perhaps so that even HE thinks he can work miracles like Y’hovah can. When you know that you are a charlatan, but begin to believe that the illusions you perform are really spiritual power, you are the most deceived of all. I think it may be true that even haSatan will believe he has creative power because of the strong delusion Y’hovah sends into the earth – otherwise, why would he have any idea that he has a chance to defeat Yeshua and his Abba in the ultimate Gog uMagog rebellion at the end of the Millennium? Strong delusion indeed!

Vv.13-17 – Do you see that Y’hovah has chosen all his children from the beginning to salvation through setting us apart by his Ruach and the accompanying love of the truth – his Torah? If you have no love of the Truth, you can pretty well be assured that you have no spiritual life in you. If that is your situation, turn from your wicked ways, abandon your iniquity and turn to the Living Torah of Truth, Y’hovah Yeshua haMashiyach, to walk in the same manner that he walked while he lived on this earth – in complete submission to his Father by the leading of his Ruach haKodesh. V.14 says he called us to salvation by ‘our gospel’ or ‘preaching’, to be to the kavod, glory, of our Master Yeshua haMashiyach.  In v.15, Paul makes mention of ‘the Commandment’ that they were taught. Paul did not have time in Thessalonica to teach them Talmud/Mishnah traditions. He was only there for 3 weeks, so they got a crash course in Ex.20 and some specific commands that came under the 10 ‘outline headings’, I’m sure. This is the 2^nd letter we have in our possession, but there is evidence of a possible 3^rd letter to Thessalonica. In his closing to this chapter, Sha’ul gives them more comfort which is what he has tried to do throughout. They had heard from some CCers that Mashiyach had already returned and left them, which is what Paul started out to try to calm. In comforting them, he gave us a pretty brilliant treatise on what MUST happen before AM is revealed, which occurs, according to the rest of scripture about 3-3½ years before Mashiyach comes at the end of this age. And they can take consolation in the fact that they love Y’hovah’s truth and walk in it, and so ARE established in every Word of Torah and in their performance of it as evidence of the same. BTW, IF AM, MoS, SoP is revealed THIS year, it MAY happen on 15 April [OOO! Tax day], or 10 Aviv, the anniversary of Yeshua’s entry into J’lem on the back of a donkey [just to complete the counterfeit]. Q&C

End of Shabbat Bible Study

Shabbat Bible Study for February 9, 2019

©2019 Mark Pitrone and Fulfilling Torah Ministries

Year 3 –  Shabbat 1 Adar Alef 

Exo 30:11-16; 2 Ki 12:1-17; Psalm 62; John 2:13-25

Shemoth 30.11-16 – The procedure for a census and reason for doing one is the 1st  subject addressed this week. It was to be done so that a collection could be taken. Each male aged 20 years or more would give a ½ shekel ‘ransom’ for his soul. If there were a census without a collection or without a command from Y’hovah, there would be an accompanying plague. The census was not to be done just to do one or to satisfy the curiosity of the king, but only when Y’hovah commanded it to be done. David found out about this when he ordered a census without the command from Y’hovah in 2Sam24.1-4, 8-16:

1 And again the anger of Y’hovah was kindled against Israel, and he moved David against them to say, Go, number Israel and Judah. 2 For the king said to Yoav the captain of the host, which with him, Go now through all the tribes of Israel, from Dan even to Beersheba, and number ye the people, that I may know the number of the people. 3 And Yoav said unto the king, Now Y’hovah Elohecha add unto the people, how many soever they be, an hundredfold, and that the eyes of my Master the king may see: but why doth my Master the king delight in this thing? 4 Notwithstanding the king’ word prevailed against Yoav, and against the captains of the host. And Yoav and the captains of the host went out from the presence of the king, to number the people of Israel …   8 So when they had gone through all the land, they came to Jerusalem at the end of nine months and twenty days. 9 And Yoav gave up the sum of the number of the people unto the king: and there were in Israel eight hundred thousand valiant men that drew the sword; and the men of Judah were five hundred thousand men. 10 And David’ heart smote him after that he had numbered the people. And David said unto Y’hovah, I have sinned greatly in that I have done: and now, I beseech thee, O Y’hovah, take away the iniquity of thy servant; for I have done very foolishly. 11 For when David was up in the morning, the word of Y’hovah came unto the prophet Gad, David’s seer, saying, 12 Go and say unto David, Thus saith Y’hovah, I offer thee three; choose thee one of them, that I may do unto thee. 13 So Gad came to David, and told him, and said unto him, Shall seven years of famine come unto thee in thy land? or wilt thou flee three months before thine enemies, while they pursue thee? or that there be three days’ pestilence in thy land? now advise, and see what answer I shall return to him that sent me. 14 And David said unto Gad, I am in a great strait: let us fall now into the hand of Y’hovah; for his mercies are great: and let me not fall into the hand of man. 15 So Y’hovah sent a pestilence upon Israel from the morning even to the time appointed: and there died of the people from Dan even to Beersheba seventy thousand men. 16 And when the angel stretched out his hand upon Jerusalem to destroy it, Y’hovah repented him of the evil, and said to the angel that destroyed the people, It is enough: stay now thine hand. And the angel of Y’hovah was by the threshingplace of Aravnah the Yevusi. (2Sam.24.1-4, 8-16)

Yoav AND the captains of the hosts of Israel brought warning before the king, who is elsewhere described as ‘a man after mine heart’ by Y’hovah himself. They knew this was in direct contradiction of the Word of Y’hovah, and SO DID DAVID, but his word [and Y’hovah’s decision to bring judgment against Yisrael] prevailed over the objections of Yoav and David’s mighty men of valor. They did their job and brought warning.

17 Ben-adam, I have made you a watchman to Beit Yisrael: therefore listen [shema שמע ‘hear and do’] to the words from My mouth, and give them warning from Me. [Yechezkel 3.17 Restoration Scriptures]

I do not think that the angel that smote Israel was Y’hovah himself, but that he used the Adversary for this plague. The angel of this pestilence was about to wipe out the entire population of Jerusalem before Y’hovah restrained him, and he would have done it gladly. THE Angel of Y’hovah stood at the threshingfloor of Aravna to stop the angel of the pestilence. HaSatan destroyed until he came face to face with Mashiyach, and he dared not go further. 

This threshingfloor, that became the site of the future Temple’s Kodesh Kadashim, was the geographical center of the earth’s landmasses, indeed, in my opinion, of the physical universe and, for that reason, has become the most desired and most conquered piece of real estate on earth. HaSatan wants it for his own throne. A few weeks ago I postulated that a line drawn north and south through the cornerstone of the Temple and extended through the poles would cross more land mass than any N/S line drawn anywhere else in the world; and that the same was true of an East/West line drawn latitudinally around the earth crossing the same cornerstone. It is indeed the center of the landmass of the earth. That is because this is the place Y’hovah would place his throne, for the ark that Israel was going to build for Him was to rest there. The Holy of Holies is ‘spiritual space’ in which there is no time. Believe it or not, Sir Isaac Newton (in his treatise on Optics in 1704) derived this theory from scripture and the Zohar, which is called the Book of Lights. In his quest to discover the deep things of Elohim, Newton had developed the scientific method of investigation. 

As an interesting note, exactly 25.20 statute miles due east of the Temple’s cornerstone (which is exposed through the pavement on the NW corner of the Temple Mount under the ‘Dome of the Spirits’, NOT the Dome of the Rock) lies the north peak of Mt. Nebo, from whence Moshe looked on the Promised land before he died. If you had a strong enough telescope, you could look through the East Gate and into the Temple from that point on Mt. Nebo, 25.20 miles away. The royal cubit of the Temple and its furnishings is 25.20 inches. 2520 = 360 (as in degrees of a circle and days of a prophetic year) x 7, ½ of which is 1260 (as in 3½ prophetic years). Make what you will of that tidbit. I have, and I find it absolutely amazing how MANY important end-of-days prophecies are influenced by these numbers.

The ransom (v.12) was to be a head tax, not an income tax. Every male aged 20 years or more, regardless his wealth, gave the ½ shekel tax for the maintenance of the Mishkan. The ½ shekel was to ransom them from the ‘appearance of evil’ 

Abstain from all appearance of evil. (I Thessalonians 5:22)

as they were NOT to trust to power in numbers, but to the Spirit and Power of Yeshua haMashiyach as the right arm of Y’hovah. Q&C

2M’lechim 12.1-17 – In the Torah portion we saw why Y’hovah required the ½ shekel atonement money. Here we see an application of it. But before we go there, I just have to wonder, “Why didn’t Yehoyada have Yehoash tear down the high places?” If I were the high priest, I would lobby hard for that. ChizkiYahu did it (18.3-5) a few years later. Why did it take so long for a king of Yehudah to do this? ChizkiYahu was the 1^st king since David to have his land officially free of pagan altars. Remember that Shlomo had raised up his OWN high places! Where was the High Priest for these hundreds of years? While Yehudah was a monarchy, it was a theocratic monarchy – the religion was intimately connected to the government, or should have been. Whenever David asked the Priest to enquire of Y’hovah, he prospered. When he failed to enquire of Y’hovah, he did not. ChizkiYahu seemed to get it, at least early in his reign. 

What is spoken of in 2Ki.12 is probably the ½ shekel, but this passage is about the people bringing an offering to the temple and depositing it in a ‘chest’. I assume that Yehoash gave the order relatively early in his reign, so why did it take 23 years before the priests started to collect the shekels (v.6)? I think that it is PROBABLY the ½ shekel, but it doesn’t seem to be in conjunction with a census. It seems that everyone who came up to the Temple just dropped his ½ shekel into the treasury. Perhaps they used this as a sort of census, multiplying the total offering in shekel’s by 2, and thereby arriving at a good estimate. Yehoash gave the order to collect the ‘tax’ to YehoYada, but after 23 years, no repairs were being made to the Temple as he had ordered. Seems [to me, anyway] that the priests were using the money for their own purposes. Now he told the Priest to stop using the ½ shekel for his own use, but to apply it where it belonged. So the priests stopped using the money for their own purposes and began collecting it for the upkeep of the Temple, as it was commanded of Y’hovah in Ex.30. The word the KJV xlates as ‘chest’ is the same word it xlates as ‘ark’, as in ark of the Covenant, arown, from the Hebroot 717 arah ארה, ‘to contain, to take or hold’ . It was just a box with a hole cut in the lid. When it got full [v.10] they counted it into the treasury and hired repairmen for the work. I guess the priests were just human beings, after all, because they seem to have used the offerings for their own, and not their intended, purpose for all those years. Kinda like the prosperity preachers of today. The contractors dealt faithfully with the priests, so faithfully that the priests didn’t account for the money. Perhaps it was guilt, because the grunt laborers seemed to be more faithful to Y’hovah than the priests had been. I think the ‘trespass money and sin money’ that v.16 speaks of is actually the ½ shekel of Ex.30 that was for atonement for inadvertent sins, as provided for in 

If a soul commit a trespass, and sin through ignorance, in the holy things of Yhwh; then he shall bring for his trespass unto Yhwh a ram without blemish out of the flocks, with thy estimation by shekels of silver, after the shekel of the sanctuary, for a trespass offering: [Lev.5.15]. 

Q&C

Tehellim 62 – Our Elohim is the source of my salvation, not any mere man, including me. I shall not be greatly moved means that I may sin, but my Rock and my salvation is my advocate before Elohim, the Supreme judge of the Universe, and I SHALL not be greatly moved from him. When we begin to go to the right or the left, our Rock will lead us back to the path of the tzadik. V.3 should be a comfort to us, as it is addressed to the wicked men who work against us, who want to draw us away from the Way of Elohim. They shall be slain in the end that act duplicitously to bring us to ruin because they are jealous of the tzadik’s promotion before Elohim. Stop and consider that! This reminds me of 2 BIG hit songs by “The O’Jays” back in the 70’s; “Smiling Faces, SOMEtimes” and “The Backstabbers”.

“They smile in your face,

All the time the want to take your place.

The back-stabbers!”

 

“Smiling faces, Sometimes

Pretend to be your friend.

Smiling Faces show no traces

Of the evil that lurks within.

Smiling faces, Smiling faces Sometimes – 

Hey! They don’t tell the truth.

Smiling Faces, Smiling Faces, tell LIES – 

Well, I’ve got proof.”

It is ours to trust Elohim Yeshua to carry us through the tough times the enemy throws at us, and the men he uses to try and discourage us will see great judgment against them. 

In vv.5-8 we see that our trust is only in him – men may fail me; I may fail me; but Elohim is a bedrock foundation and sure fortress who will never fail me. I will not trust to myself or to any other man, for Elohim is my Rock and my salvation. Elohim is Yeshuati. He is not only MY refuge and strength; he is OUR refuge and strength. Stop and consider that! He has us ALL, as his bride, in his ‘covert’

2. Law (speaking of a woman) – married and under the authority and protection of her husband. [W1828]

He can protect and strengthen us ALL at once. Elohim represents the Severity of the Almighty, but he is severe only to those who will not walk in his way. 

In vv.9-12 we see the vanity and worthlessness of those who would make us fall. They will know what Belshazzar found out in Dan.5 – they have been weighed in the balances and have been found wanting. The tzadik is not to trust to his riches, nor is he to oppress the poor or the widow or the orphan. He is to provide all the compassionate help he can provide. Don’t let a rising personal economy lead you from the truth. Watch your soul, not your wallet, and always remember that Elohim is the only real source of strength you have. Power only belongs to Elohim, and he is also merciful (though that is not his primary attribute as Elohim) in that he judges those who come against his own and rewards each man according to his obedience to his Commandments. Had Adonenu Elohenu NOT tempered his righteous judgment with his mercy, we’d have all been toast before we were born, and he’d have been righteous in his judgment.

Did you notice that Y’hovah never appeared in this Psalm? But there was compassionate mercy shown to his tzadikim throughout. The idea that Elohim has no mercy is not correct, nor is it true that Y’hovah is ALL mercy and compassion. Y’hovah will show his wrath before very long, assuming that we’re not experiencing it on this earth right now. Soon we will see the Day of Y’hovah’s Wrath, and believe me when I tell you, it will not be pretty to behold. Q&C

Yochanan 2.13-25 – [Remember that ‘the Jews’, Greek Iuaidoi, in Brit Chadashah (and this commentary) = the political leaders of the religion, not the rank and file people; the ‘officials’] I find it fascinating that Yochanan calls this ‘the Jews’ passover’, as if it is different from Y’hovah’s Passover. Was it? Well, in Leviticus 23, Passover is one thing, and Unleavened Bread is another. On Passover, the 14^th day of the first month, between the evenings – that is, I think, between the evening offering (around 3 o’clock) and sunset, each family’s Passover Lamb was slain. If they were in Jerusalem, this must be done at the Temple. If they were in their homes, it could be done by the bachor, and the blood poured out on the ground. Then the lamb was taken home (or to wherever they were encamped) and roasted whole on a spit to be eaten that night after sundown that began the 15^th day of the first month, as it had been done in Egypt. While the Passover lambs were slain in Egypt on the 14^th between the evenings and his blood painted on the doorposts and lintels before sundown, the actual passing over of the houses with the ‘chet’ ח painted on the door did not occur until midnight on the 15^th. The Jews in Yeshua’s day called the whole deal – from the evening offering on the 14^th until the end of the Feast of ULB at sundown of the 21^st – Passover. Is there any real difference? I think. The Passover was an evening offering to morning offering deal, since the lamb had to be eaten or burnt by then. It was Unleavened Bread that extended for 7 days. There was a brief overlap, but they were separate moedim, according to Lev.23.5-6. Perhaps it was just convenient to call the 7 whole days Passover, but it wasn’t what scripture referred to as Passover. Scripture calls Passover the ‘14^th at even.’ This year, that will be Friday, April 19th [65th anniversary of my birth/1st day of my 66th year], between about 3PM and sundown. Seder begins @ 1830, very close to sundown in Ohio.

Yeshua never missed a presentation moad, Pesach, Unleavened Bread, Shavuoth or Sukkoth in Jerusalem. In fact, he never missed any Feast, not even the post-babylonian exile Feasts of Purim and Hanukkah. When he got to J’lem for Pesach in his first year of ministry, he found money-changers and sacrificial animal salesmen (guaranteed to NOT be the best of the lot) hawking their wares in the Temple itself.

Is this house, which is called by my name, become a den of robbers in your eyes? Behold, even I have seen it, saith Y’hovah. (YirmeYahu 7:11)

So he literally drove them out with a whip of cords. I think he was making himself known as a prophet of Y’hovah. He quoted Ps.69.9

For the zeal of thine house hath eaten me up;

Of course, he was immediately challenged about his authority to do what he’d done. AENT has this verse and note:

“What sign do you show us that you do these things?” Note = an idiomatic expression meaning, “Prove to us that you have the authority to do these things.”

He told them, 

“Destroy this house, and in 3 days I shall raise it up.”

Of course, he NEVER spoke to the Iuaidoi in anything but sod level of understanding, so they didn’t get it, that he was speaking of his own body, which he would raise from the death they would inflict on him. When he rose from the dead, his talmidim understood what he meant by this, but even they didn’t get it until they had the affective action to refer to. Until his resurrection they didn’t have the antecedent incident to give it meaning to them. His resurrection gave them understanding of TONS of scripture that was unfathomable to them before. 

It says in v.23 that in the Feast day, many in J’lem ‘believed in his Name’. I think that means that many believed that he was what his Name said he was, Y’hovah’s Salvation, because they saw the miracles that he performed before them. Please note that the last word of v.24 in the KJV is supplied by the translators. The word is ‘men’. Without that word, the whole passage changes. It says that he knew ALL. Not all men, but ALL! And because he was omniscient, he had no need of testimony about men, because he knew what was in man – an evil inclination and a wicked heart that no man can know. Q&C

What follows is from my work, The Life of Yeshua haMashiyach – an Hebraic Perspective, 

51, 52). The first Passover/Cleansing of the Temple – Jn.2.13-17. The only mention of the Passover is in the first verse, and it’s just a passing reference at that. It was important to note that Yeshua went to the Passover in Jerusalem, but what he taught was less important than what he did. The whole rest of the passage has to do with the cleansing of the Temple. He made a scourge of cords and went to town. The people watching must have thought he was nuts, swinging a handful of cords and driving out the animals and the moneychangers and engaging in table-tipping and money spilling and just generally making a rather chaotic situation that much more turbulent. 

He drove out the sheep and the oxen, but told the dove sellers to leave. Notice that they were; sheep, not lambs; and oxen, not bulls. Webster’s has, 

“OX, n. plu. oxen. pron. Ox’n. The male of the bovine genus of quadrupeds, castrated and grown to his size or nearly so.  The young male is called in America a steer.  The same animal not castrated is called a bull. These distinctions are well established with us in regard to domestic animals of this genus. When we speak of wild animals of this kind, ox is sometimes applied both to the male and female, and in zoology, the same practice exists in regard to the domestic animals. So, in common usage, a pair of bulls yoked may be sometimes called oxen. We never apply the name ox to the cow or female of the domestic kind. Oxen in the plural may comprehend both the male and female.” 

So the priests and Levites had decided that, rather than destroy such a valuable animal as a bull, they could substitute a gelding, a eunuch, a steer for a bull. This is not a perfect animal, as required in the Torah, and it paints a very bad picture of the sacrifice of Yhwh Yeshua haMashiyach, who is represented in the constellations as, among others, Taurus the bull.

Sheep are any animal of the sheep kind, but a lamb is the young animal of that kind. Webster’s has, 

“LAMB, n. Lam. 1. The young of the sheep kind. 2. The Lamb of Elohim, in Scripture, the Saviour Yeshua haMashiyach, who was typified by the paschal lamb. Behold the lamb of Elohim, who taketh away the sin of the world.  Yochanan 1.” [names ‘Hebraicized’]

The Iuaidoi, Jews, had decided that any sheep would do, not necessarily a lamb of the first year as specified by the Torah. Again the picture of the Lamb of Elohim is marred by their insertion of that which was not of Elohim. The defiling of the Temple with the moneychangers and the merchants was but an outworking of the defiling of their hearts. They’d fallen for the same line Eve fell for in the garden, “Yea, hath Elohim said?” They’d changed the word of Elohim to suit themselves. And Yeshua was ticked. He didn’t mess with the doves because they were the only animals there that the Torah specified to be used. If a person could not afford to offer a lamb or a bull, they could offer a pair of doves (Lev.5.7). Also, the dove is a picture of the Ruach haKodesh (Jn.1.32). So he tells the sellers of doves to get out of the Temple grounds to do business, for his Father’s house is not a storefront.  Q&C  

Vv.18-25 – The Iuaidoi challenged Yeshua’s authority to do what He’d done, because only a prophet, a priest or a king [each was anointed for the office] was able to do what Yeshua had done and He was unknown to any of them. Remember that the Iuaidoi, almost universally translated ‘the Jews’ in English translations of the Brit Chadasha, were not the common people of Yisrael or even all of the scribes and Pharisees, but the political leaders of the religion in Jerusalem, much like the Pope in Roman Catholicism, the Metropolitan of Eastern Orthodoxy or the chief rabbi of Jerusalem, whose office the first two are emulating. They demanded a ‘sign’ from Him that He was anointed to an office to which THEY had not anointed Him. 

Yeshua’s answer was somewhat cryptic, referring to prophecies and some rabbinic interpretations of them; “Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up.”  

End of Shabbat Bible Study