Shabbat Bible Study for April 29, 2017
©2017 Mark Pitrone and Fulfilling Torah Ministries
Ex.13:21-15:21 – Is.45:18-24; Jud.4:4-5:31; Josh.24:1-7 – Ps. 51 – Rev.15:1-8
Links:
www.british-israel.ca/redsea.htm –
map at www.geographicguide.com/africa-maps/sinai.htm –
http://www.truth2u.org/2011/04/rico-cortes-passover-the-threshold.html –
http://www.yashanet.com/studies/judaism101/sidebars/ohr.htm –
http://www.blueletterbible.org/lang/lexicon/Lexicon.cfm?Strongs=G4592&t=KJV&cscs=Rev –
It would be well to have a pen and paper handy to write down questions that might come up from the scripture or the commentary, so you won’t forget to ask them.
Ex.13.21-22 – Y’hovah led Israel with a ‘pillar of cloud’ by day and a ‘pillar of fire’ by night and there is no indication that they stopped anywhere between Succoth and Etham, so I conclude that they traveled non-stop. For a distance of about 200 clicks, or about 125 miles, Y’hovah led them. Then they camped at the beginning of the Wadi Watir, which follows (probably cut when the waters of Noach’s flood drained through the still soft hills) a relatively narrow, sheer walled canyon (like the little one on Arizona’s northern border) through some pretty high mountains (as much as 6-700 meters high with a 25-30% slope – 25-30 feet in elevation for each 100 feet traveled – a hard climb, especially on dry, loose, rocky slopes).
Ex.14.1-12 – Their journey so far has been relatively due east by southeast from Succoth to Etham, where (I think) they camped for 2 nights and a day. Now Y’hovah tells Moshe that they should ‘turn’ (shuv) and head toward Pi-haHiroth between Migdol and the Sea – which Moshe probably knew was at the end of Wadi Watir. Migdol may have been [and probably WAS, since migdol means] a watchtower on the hillside (there are ruins of such a migdol there) overlooking the narrow area between Midian and the wadi Watir’s ‘delta’ at Nuweiba, as this was a good place for ‘amphibious’ invasion into Egypt by enemy armies. Pi-haHiroth literally means ‘Mouth of the Gorges’. Baal-Zephon is on the opposing shore in Midian, what is now Saudi Arabia.
They may have known Egypt was in pursuit when they left Etham. Here’s what Josephus said about their journey and the Egyptian pursuit, as quoted at www.british-israel.ca/redsea.htm :
“Now when the Egyptians had overtaken the Hebrews, they prepared to fight them, and by their multitude they drove them into a narrow place; for the number that pursued after them was six hundred chariots, with fifty thousand horsemen, and two hundred thousand footmen, all armed. They also seized on the passages by which they imagined the Hebrews might fly, shutting them up between inaccessible precipices and the sea; for there was on each side mountains that terminated at the sea, which were impassable by reason of their roughness, and obstructed their flight; wherefore they there pressed upon the Hebrews with their army, where the ridges of the mountains were closed with the sea; which army they placed at the gaps of the mountains, that so they might deprive them of any passage into the plain”.
Josephus is saying that Egypt’s army funneled Israel through the wadi to the seacoast at its end. There is only one place that fits this description anywhere in Egypt, the Wadi Watir and Nuweiba. You might now better understand Yul Brynner’s Paroh in The Ten Commandments saying, “The God of Israel is a very bad general.” Of course, one could say “Y’hovah drew YOU into HIS trap! Didn’t He?!”
But imagine being an Israelite with Egypt’s main body getting closer to your flanks by the hour, and Egypt’s scouts and smaller squads closing off your escape through the smaller wadis feeding the main wadi you are traversing, seeming to FORCE you through to an end that you know nothing of. Your anxiety would grow with each step – unless you trust the Y’hovah who is guiding you. But we had not learned this trust in him, as yet. That’s why he brought us this way. Y’hovah wanted us to know that even if his leading isn’t ‘intuitive’ to our mind and seems to be leading to our doom, his protection will be in proportion to and in response to our obedience. Do you see where Paroh actually caught up with Israel? V.9 says it was “by the sea, beside Pi-haHiroth, before Baalzephon.” As it is labeled in the somewhat recent Sinai map at www.geographicguide.com/africa-maps/sinai.htm, Etham is now called ‘Ath Thamad’. As I said last week, Lennart Moeller makes an excellent case, by the use of biblical references and actual physical evidence that he shares in his book, The Exodus Case, that Israel crossed the Red Sea limn called the Gulf of Aqaba from Pi-haHiroth, Egypt to Baal-Zephon, Midian. Go figure that so-called ‘biblical scholars’ would NOT follow the evidence in scripture over the ‘conventional wisdom’ of possibly unbelieving and ungodly secular archeologists. These ‘biblical scholars’ would rather believe that Paroh and the entire Egyptian army drowned in a swamp, than that Y’hovah would work a miracle by parting a sea to deliver his people and ‘give birth’ to the nation Israel through the waters of the Red Sea. This nation, born of water in the Red Sea, was, only 6-7 weeks later, ‘born of the Spirit’ at “Mt. Sinai in Arabia” (Gal.4.25), as Yeshua alluded to in Jn.3.3-12;
3 Yeshua answered and said unto him, Verily, verily, I say unto thee, Except a man be born again, he cannot see the kingdom of Elohim. 4 Nicodemus saith unto him, How can a man be born when he is old? can he enter the second time into his mother’s womb, and be born? 5 Yeshua answered, Verily, verily, I say unto thee, Except a man be born of water and Ruach, he cannot enter into the kingdom of Elohim. 6 That which is born of the flesh is flesh; and that which is born of Ruach is spirit. 7 Marvel not that I said unto thee, Ye must be born again. 8 The wind bloweth where it listeth, and thou hearest the sound thereof, but canst not tell whence it cometh, and whither it goeth: so is every one that is born of Ruach. 9 Nicodemus answered and said unto him, How can these things be? 10 Yeshua answered and said unto him, Art thou a [literally – THE] master of Israel, and knowest not these things? 11 Verily, verily, I say unto thee, We speak that we do know, and testify that we have seen; and ye receive not our witness. 12 If I have told you earthly things, and ye believe not, how shall ye believe, if I tell you heavenly things?
When Yeshua said, “that which is born of Ruach is spirit”, he was saying that he spoke in a similitude/metaphor/sod, which Nic should have been able to grasp. When he said ‘earthly things’ while talking about a ‘deep thing of Elohim’ (something not directly seen in the peshat, but that does not violate the peshat), he was giving Nicodemus, THE teacher of Israel, a hint that he should have made this d’rash himself (the TR has the definite article ho didaskolos – ‘THE teacher’, not ‘A teacher’). Basically, Yeshua was asking Nic how he could be so obtuse as to NOT see the Exodus as a metaphor for spiritual truth. For another (more reliable) look at this check out Rico’s 55-minute interview http://www.truth2u.org/2011/04/rico-cortes-passover-the-threshold.html. It’s time well invested. Jono had not yet denied Messiah at that time. BTW, Rip and admins, it’s in the Dropbox.
Israel’s reaction to the proximity (vv.11-12) of Paroh behind and the Red Sea before gave them to despair because they were not walking in the Spirit (the nation was not yet born of the Ruach, so they really couldn’t walk after him yet), but by sight; trusting only what they could see. In a situation like that and without the spiritual birth that was yet to come, it is understandable that they might not do the math of: the pillar of cloud/fire + the extraordinary supernatural strength they had exhibited in their 2 marathon marches to get here + all the plagues they had seen Egypt endure while they went scott-free + not to mention the favor they had with the Egyptians in the matter of the gold and silver the Egyptians had literally forced on Israel to get the nation to leave before Y’hovah wiped Egypt off the map completely = the Hand of Elohim. Egypt’s people had gotten it. Q&C
Vv.13-31 – Moshe may still have had some sway with them, since his words seem to have subdued the murmuring. He told them to stand fast (יצב yatzav) and witness Y’hovah’s deliverance (ישועה Yeshua). Moshe is telling Israel pretty much what the voice from heaven told Peter on the mount of transfiguration – “Shut up, listen, do as you’re told and watch this!” Then Y’hovah said, “Start the people walking toward the Sea, raise your rod toward the sea and divide the waters of it.” I think they had to actually start walking toward the Sea before Y’hovah would part the water for them. He duplicated this miracle in a somewhat smaller way when he stopped the Yarden from flowing in Jos.3&4, so the next generation of Israel could walk across Jordan on dry ‘ground’ – not mud. But the priests had to walk into the river before Y’hovah dried it up. I think the translators of our Shemoth passage had that in mind when they supplied the word ‘ground’ to the text in v.16. I don’t think Israel touched the bottom of the Red Sea. I think he walked them across dry. I do NOT think he dried up the seabed. He either carried them across, like he did the priests who carried the ark through the wilderness, or he had them walk on an unseen barrier of some kind. They carried no silt or mud with them. As soon as Israel took the first step, Y’hovah interposed his pillar of cloud/fire between Israel and Egypt, allowing Israel to get mostly across before removing to the head of the formation again. For Israel the pillar was cloud/fire, giving them light to travel by. But when it got between Israel and Egypt, it became darkness to Egypt. Now here’s another reminder to the Egyptians of what they’d experienced not more than a week or so ago at home. I think they could feel this darkness, too. The same Hebrew word is used, כשק choshek, in both places. If it were me, I would be thinking about this darkness in the middle of the day and remembering what I’d just lived through a week or so before. I would be at least CONSIDERING disobeying lawful orders about now.
Notice, please that nowhere in this chapter does the word adamah, ‘land’ or ‘ground’, actually occur. They are added by the translators in every instance. Whatever mechanism Y’hovah used to keep Israel’s feet clean and dry, when Paroh and his army were in the middle of the Sea, he removed it and the horses, chariots and men sunk into the seabed and broke the wheels right off the chariots. Then Y’hovah had Moshe stretch his hand over the waters from the Midianite side and the waters came back to their place, drowning the entire Egyptian army. V.28 ends with, “there remained not so much as one of them.”
The whole episode had the desired effect on Israel – they saw how Y’hovah would protect them, destroy their enemies, lead them and provide for their need. And Israel responded, at least right then, with absolute confidence in Y’hovah and his provision. They saw his WORKS and believed they would continue. He would take the next 40 years to try to teach them his WAYS. We are to remember his works in our behalf, but we are to then follow his WAYS – Torah, as exemplified in the life of Yeshua. Q&C
15.1-21 – The song of Moses – After the deliverance from the land of Egypt and the judgment, condemnation and execution on the armies of Egypt, Israel’s only rational response was to give hallel to Y’hovah. And they praised him like nobody’s business – except ours, of course. The introduction to the chapter in the Chumash (pg.98) is very enlightening. The outline of the Song of Moshe at the end of the intro is pretty good, too.
A) (v.2) is general praise for Y’hovah; B) (vv.3-8) a review of the miracles Y’hovah accompanying the splitting of the Sea; C) (vv.9-13) Paroh’s plan in his pursuit and his utter failure therein; D) (vv.14-16) the reaction of the Canaanites, et al to Egypt’s utter destruction; and E) (vv.17-18) Israel’s future in Eretz Israel.
Miriam then led the women in praising Y’hovah in the dance.
Aside: The word that is translated ‘Palestina’ in KJV v.14 is the Hebrew word ‘Pleshet’, which is EVERWHERE else in TNK except in KJV YeshaYahu 14.29&31 translated ‘Philistia’. Palestinians are, therefore, Philistines, according to TNK. Palestine does not exist except in our Western gentile minds. It is Philistia and Philistine, not Palestine and Palestinian. Q&C
Today’s haftarah is quite lengthy, I will touch on some of each passage, but not even attempt to exhaust it.
Is.45.18-24 – The salient part of Is.45 begins in v.20 – gather yourselves together, refers to the later exodus, perhaps the Greater Exodus that is soon to occur. It speaks of both houses of Yisrael being drawn out of the nations into which we’ve been exiled. I think v.21 is speaking to the watchmen who are giving warning to the kahal and to Yehuda to return to the ancient paths – Torah observance and not man’s anti-Torah or extra-Torah observance of tradition. Y’hovah is telling us to tell them to return to him, for there can be no salvation in any other gods because they don’t exist except in the minds of wicked men. V.23 is quoted by Paul and related to Yeshua in Phil.2.10-11;
That at the name of Yeshua ‘every knee should bow’, of things in heaven, and things in earth, and things under the earth; ‘and that every tongue should confess’ that Yeshua haMoshiach is Y’hovah, to the glory of Elohim the Father. (Philippians 2:10-11)
and Rom.14.11;
For it is written, As I live, saith Y’hovah, every knee shall bow to me, and every tongue shall confess to Elohim. (Romans 14:11)
V.25’s reference to ‘ALL the seed of Israel’ is not speaking primarily of physical seed, but of those who are after Y’hovah’s heart – Yisrael. They are not all Yisrael who are of Israel (Rom.9.6). Q&C
Jud.4.4-5.31 – The story of Deborah, the naviyah. She sent to tell Barak that Y’hovah wanted him to take a bunch of guys from Naphtali and Zevulun to beat up on Sisera, to which Barak said he wouldn’t go without Devorah at his side. Devorah’s reply is that she would accompany him, but that he would not garner any glory for it, that a woman would kill Sisera. I think that was because he wouldn’t go up on Y’hovah’s Word without a woman at his side, that had he just obeyed, we’d have an even better report of Barak. Barak and the 10K men from Zev/Naph tore up Sisera’s host and all his mirkavoth of iron. Sissy ran off and when Heber’s wife met him and hid him, he got complacent, thinking he was in trusty hands (to his mind, as his master, Jabin was at peace with Jael’s husband, Heber), which trusty hands (to Y’hovah) she used to kill him. Sucked to be Sisera THAT day, huh? That day was a day of great deliverance for Zev/Naph by the hand of Barak/Devorah and the 10k men. I assume there were no losses on the Israelite side in this fight, because Devorah and Barak break out into a rap about the trustworthiness of Y’hovah and his great deliverance. Ch.5 is one of the 10 shiriym the Chumash alluded to in the intro to our Torah passage today. 5.1 alludes to Mashiach, as we see him on Is.63.1-4, Rev.19.11-13;
1 Who is this that cometh from Edom, with dyed garments from Bozrah? this glorious in his apparel, travelling in the greatness of his strength?
I that speak in righteousness, mighty to save. 2 Wherefore red in thine apparel, and thy garments like him that treadeth in the winefat? 3 I have trodden the winepress alone; and of the people none with me: for I will tread them in mine anger, and trample them in my fury; and their blood shall be sprinkled upon my garments, and I will stain all my raiment. 4 For the day of vengeance is in mine heart, and the year of my redeemed is come. [Is.63.1-4]
11 And I saw heaven opened, and behold a white horse; and he that sat upon him called Faithful and True, and in righteousness he doth judge and make war. 12 His eyes as a flame of fire, and on his head many crowns; and he had a name written, that no man knew, but he himself. 13 And he clothed with a vesture dipped in blood: and his name is called The Word of God. [Rev.19.11-13]
5.26 is a partial fulfillment of Gen.3.15;
15 And I will put enmity between thee and the woman, and between thy seed and her seed; it shall bruise thy head, and thou shalt bruise his heel.
Q&C
Josh.24.1-7 – Yehoshua remembered the deliverance through the Sea and recounted it, as we are commanded to remember it daily. He didn’t sing a song, but the recounting is KIND OF like a song. He recounted though how Avraham lived on the other side of the flood (Euphrates) and crossed it, as his descendants Israel did both the Red Sea and the Yarden in succeeding generations, both of which were in Yehoshua’s lifetime. He then ties our passages together with a reference to Esau and Mt. Seir while the Seed of Avraham got to relive being born of water and the Spirit. Avraham was born of water when he crossed Euphrates, and then of the Spirit when he returned from the slaughter of the kings and was anointed Melchizedek Priest by Shem. Metaphorically (and it is a stretch, even for me), Ya’acov/Israel was born of water and spirit in his descendants as they left Egypt and as they entered Eretz Israel, as we discussed earlier. And Yehoshua also makes mention of the darkness Y’hovah put on Egypt as Israel escaped across the Sea. Remember Egypt has experienced the darkness (which I think they could feel, and that foreshadowed their drowning in the Sea) thrice before by prophetic type: once in the final plague before their firstborn were taken; again in their spirits WHEN they lost their firstborn; a third time the day before as the pillar of cloud stood between them and Israel and Y’hovah sucked the light away to give it to Israel as she got across before them; and the final time as the water extinguished the light of their lives. Q&C
Psalm 51 – We can wash ourselves thoroughly and make ourselves look clean (v.2), like the Pharisees’ clean cups and plates and their whited sepulchres (Mat.23.27), but we can’t wash ourselves ‘throughly’ – or, through and through. Only Y’hovah Yeshua can do that for us. He’ll do it when we humbly confess our sin, turning from it and to Y’hovah’s way, which David did in vv.3&4.
In v.5, David acknowledged his inability to obey fully without the Spirit of Y’hovah leading him. When Adam and Chava sinned they lost their ‘shekinah’ and their physical skin was revealed and they knew they were naked. Now, without the ‘shekinah’ they were created with, they had to deal with the flesh – and, by extension, so do all their descendants. For a good article about the rabbinic idea of ‘skins of light and flesh’, check out this webpage – http://www.yashanet.com/studies/judaism101/sidebars/ohr.htm. I think it provides an interesting alternative idea to the ‘old sin nature’ we were taught in the church. With this idea, Adam lost his spiritual, shekinah-like glory and passed his fleshly physical life on to his descendants. Now, when we put our trust in Y’hovah Yeshua we are given a promise of a return to the glory with which Adam was created, and a present day ‘earnest’ of that inheritance with the indwelling Ruach haKodesh – we get a taste of the shekinah. The Ruach who quickens our human spirits makes it possible for us to obey Torah and to override the flesh that dominates us in our natural man. The more we submit to Y’hovah, the easier it is to obey, the more our joy is restored, allowing the shekinah of the Ruach haKodesh to shine in the world. When Adam lost the glory, he made himself subject to physical death and passed that on to his children.
Y’hovah’s plan ‘A’ did not involve death. But it did involve Adam and Chava’s free choice to obey. He did not desire death for any of his creatures, but when Adam sinned [by NOT disavowing his wife’s agreement with the serpent when he heard about it – Num.30], he made himself subject to physical death. That new-to-humanity nature that was subject to death had to be addressed before Man could be restored to his glory and be Y’hovah’s bride. Had Adam had a contrite spirit, things may have been different. But Adam shifted the blame, passed the buck. He never wanted burnt offerings. He wanted obedience to one simple command – eat from any tree in the garden except this specific one. Neither Adam nor Chava are recorded to have eaten anything until the fruit of the tree of knowledge. I truly think that if they had eaten a strawberry or an ear of corn – anything else – first, the restriction would have been lifted. Instead, we get to experience, or know intimately, physical death. When Y’hovah Yeshua creates the New Heaven and New Earth, there will be no more sin, no more death, no blood offerings and no Temple, for Y’hovah will dwell with us openly. Why?
18 Who is a God like unto thee, that pardoneth iniquity, and passeth by the transgression of the remnant of his heritage? he retaineth not his anger for ever, because he delighteth in mercy. 19 He will turn again, he will have compassion upon us; he will subdue [kabash – tread down, subjugate, conquer] our iniquities; and thou wilt cast all their sins into the depths of the sea. 20 Thou wilt perform the truth to Jacob, the mercy to Abraham, which thou hast sworn unto our fathers from the days of old. [Micah 7.18-20]
I think vv.18-19 speak of the Millennial Kingdom’s Beit haMikdash, when we will be in our resurrected bodies, complete with our restored shekinah and teaching Torah to those who live through the Time of Ya’acov’s trouble and their descendants. They will still sin and need to bring sin offerings. They will be allowed to bring their freewill offerings to the temple. I also think it ultimately frefers to the olam haba the world to come, where there will be only righteousness and Shalom.
Heb.10.29 says there is no sacrifice for deliberate, willful sin’ like those of which David was guilty. When we sin and know we are doing it, we need to come to Yhwh in the spirit that David did in Ps.51, with a broken and contrite heart. That is the ONLY thing that He is looking for, and if we come to Him in that attitude, with a broken heart and a contrite spirit, He will not despise it, but remember us as only He can, and act on our behalf. He does that in both the Millennial kingdom for his vice-regents and in the olam haba, as He says in
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. [YirmeYahu 31.33-34]
It’s all Him, not us. Q&C
Rev.15.1-8 – Have you ever heard the expression, “Things always happen in threes?” In ch.12, there are 2 ‘great wonders’ in the heavens and in ch.15 we see ‘another sign’ in heaven. The Greek word xlated sign in 15.1 is the same as that xlated ‘wonder’ in12.1&3, semeion. Using Blue Letter Bible’s Strong’s Greek lexicon at http://www.blueletterbible.org/lang/lexicon/Lexicon.cfm?Strongs=G4592&t=KJV&cscs=Rev, I found that this is the only usage in ‘Revelation’ of signs and wonders ‘in heaven’. Semeion is used 7 times in Revelation, but the other 4 times it refers to miraculous things being performed by actors on the earth before men, not things happening in the heavens. The word in this usage means unusual occurrences in the heavens that will be noticed by a lot of folks. I think they might mark off time, perhaps the 1260 days, or 42 months, like parentheses in a math problem (always work the math inside the parentheses first, or your answer may not be correct).
The sun shall be turned into darkness, and the moon into blood, before the great and the terrible day of Y’hovah come. (Joel 2:31)
And I beheld when he had opened the sixth seal, and, lo, there was a great earthquake; and the sun became black as sackcloth of hair, and the moon became as blood; (Rev.6:12)
Vv.1-4 – The last sign in the heavens is of 7 angels having the 7 plagues in which is the full Wrath of Y’hovah, which they will release in Ch.16. Yochanan is in the throneroom of Y’hovah as he reports to us. V.2 speaks of a ‘sea of glass’
And they saw the Elohim of Israel: and there was under his feet as it were a paved work of a sapphire stone, and as it were the body of heaven in his clearness. (Exodus 24:10)
And before the throne there was a sea of glass like unto crystal: and in the midst of the throne, and round about the throne, were four beasts full of eyes before and behind. (Revelation 4:6)
And the building of the wall of it was of jasper: and the city was pure gold, like unto clear glass. (Revelation 21:18)
Those who have overcome the beast, his number and his mark are there, singing the song of Moshe (Shemoth 15) and of the Lamb. If these are us, we have been killed for not denying Y’hovah Yeshua before men. THESE overcomers are martyrs of Yeshua, and they are definitely a part of his bride. Speculation warning! I do NOT think they are of the 144K or the 2 witnesses. I think the 2 witnesses may be Ephraim and Yehudah, 10-Yisrael and 2-Yisrael, who are represented by the 144K. I don’t think they can be harmed until the very end of their ministries on earth, which I assume will be near the end of the 6th biblical month and I KNOW, based on the pattern of fulfillments of the prophetic nature of the Feasts so far, that their resurrection before the eyes of the world on CNN, FauxNEWS, Al Jazeera, et al, will happen as the last trump (Yom Teruah, at sundown beginning the 1st day of the 7th month) is blown signaling the pouring out of Y’hovah’s Wrath in the last ‘Days of Awe’. End of speculation warning.
Vv.5-8 – The 7 angels are in the ‘temple of the tabernacle of the testimony’ – this is, in context, the heavens above the earth. When the door of that temple gets opened, the angels with the plagues filled with Y’hovah’s wrath come out, clothed in pure white linen, girt with gold, and 1 of the 4 beasts [Eze.1?}gives each angel a vial full of the wrath of Elohim. That the angels are clothed in white linen suggest that these are saints of Y’hovah. We think of angels as purely spiritual beings, but we find in at least 2 places in Rev.19 and again in ch.22, that at least 1 angel is actually ‘just a guy’;
10 And I fell at his feet to worship him. And he said unto me, See not: I am thy fellowservant, and of thy brethren that have the testimony of Jesus: worship God: for the testimony of Jesus is the spirit of prophecy. (Rev. 19.10)
Then saith he unto me, See thou do it not: for I am thy fellowservant, and of thy brethren the prophets, and of them which keep the sayings of this book: worship God. (Rev. 22:9)
An angel is simply a messenger of Y’hovah and right now I am acting in that capacity. Let me assure you that I am just a guy – I am NOBODY special, similar to the angel that John was about to worship in 19.10 & 22.8. We need to understand that ‘saints’ in scripture are NOT SUPERMEN in any way, they are also ‘just guys’, like anyone else,
… the remnant of her seed, which keep the commandments of God, and have the testimony of Yeshua HaMoshiach. (Rev. 12:17)
… the saints: here are they that keep the commandments of God, and the faith of Yeshua. (Rev. 14:12)
We tend to venerate ‘saints’, a leftover doctrine of both Judaism (which idolizes the patriarchs and prophets) and its counterfeit, Catholicism. That’s one of the things we need to ‘come out’ of. No true ‘saint’ would EVER want special treatment or veneration by other saints, and to do so either smacks of, or IS, idolatry. As the saint in both Rev.19.10 & 22.9 says, “Worship Y’hovah.” Please also notice that ALL those Rev. passages I quoted in the last couple of minutes deal with the testimony of Yeshua, the spirit of prophecy, and Torah observance. I think these are all echad, as Y’hovah is one.
After the angels left the temple, Y’hovah filled it with his Shekinah, so noone could enter it until the vials of his wrath were emptied out on the earth. The description of the smoke that was a result of his Shekinah and power reminds me of YeshaYahu 6.1-10;
1 In the year that king Uzziah died I saw also Y’hovah sitting upon a throne, high and lifted up, and his train filled the temple. 2 Above it stood the seraphim: each one had six wings; with twain he covered his face, and with twain he covered his feet, and with twain he did fly. 3 And one cried unto another, and said, Holy, holy, holy, is Y’hovah Tzavaoth: the whole earth is full of his glory. 4 And the posts of the door moved at the voice of him that cried, and the house was filled with smoke. 5 Then said I, Woe is me! for I am undone; because I am a man of unclean lips, and I dwell in the midst of a people of unclean lips: for mine eyes have seen the King, Y’hovah Tzavaoth. 6 Then flew one of the seraphim unto me, having a live coal in his hand, which he had taken with the tongs from off the altar: 7 And he laid it upon my mouth, and said, Lo, this hath touched thy lips; and thine iniquity is taken away, and thy sin purged. 8 Also I heard the voice of Y’hovah, saying, Whom shall I send, and who will go for us? Then said I, Here am I; send me. 9 And he said, Go, and tell this people, Hear ye indeed, but understand not; and see ye indeed, but perceive not. 10 Make the heart of this people fat, and make their ears heavy, and shut their eyes; lest they see with their eyes, and hear with their ears, and understand with their heart, and convert, and be healed.
The good news in Is.6.13 is that Y’hovah promised to leave a tithe to repopulate the earth.
13 ¶ But yet in it a tenth, and shall return, and shall be eaten: as a teil tree, and as an oak, whose substance in them, when they cast the holy seed; the substance thereof.
Q&C
End of Shabbat Bible Study
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