Shabbat Bible Study for March 11, 2017
©2016 Mark Pitrone and Fulfilling Torah Ministries
Ex. 6:2 – 7:7 – Eze. 28:25 – 29:21, Is. 42:8 – Ps. 44 – 3Jn.1-8, Rev.3:7-13, 14:1
Links:
philologos.org/_eb-nis/seven.htm
Shemoth 6.2-8 -Remember that last week, Paroh had pretty much signed the death warrant for his dynasty by refusing to even acknowledge Y’hovah and his demand that his people be allowed to go 3 days journey into the desert to serve and celebrate a feast unto him. Then he put more work on them because he assumed they had too much idle time on their hands, or they wouldn’t ask for a week off to go worship a God Paroh had never heard of. The people had complained to Moshe about all the extra work that was put on them and Moshe complained to Y’hovah that he had made their lives worse by his command to go and worship him.
Now, Y’hovah spoke to Moshe. His opening words are the ones that say, “Shut up and listen.” He said, “I am Y’hovah. I am the one who appeared to Avraham, Yitzhak and Ya’acov. But I spoke to them as El Shaddai. I speak to you and Yisrael as Y’hovah, a Name they did not know me by.” That is the enabling clause, a thing that every good law has. It is the statement that tells the hearer or reader that the speaker has the authority to say what he says and expect obedience. In the United States’ Constitution it is the opening clause, “We, the People of the united States, in order to form a more perfect Union …” Y’hovah was saying, “I will brook no quarter (tolerate no mercy or pity against an enemy); don’t question my orders, just do them!”
Speculation Warning! Take the next few sentences as Mark’s opinion ONLY!
Now, when we go back to Genesis, we can see that Avi and Yitzi and Jake certainly DID know that Y’hovah was the Name of a powerful deity, perhaps as the chief deity, but they may have thought that El Shaddai and Y’hovah were different Gods. There are 6519 references that include the word Y’hovah at least once, and Y’hovah is recorded as having spoken to Avi numerous times, but it looks as though Avi thought he was speaking to El Shaddai most, if not all, of the time. Even at Mamre, Avi addresses him as Adoni, not Y’hovah. Y’hovah works miracle after miracle in their lives, but Avi and Sarah keep speaking of Adoni and El Shaddai, not Y’hovah, and they don’t seem to make the connection between these 2 manifestations or sephiroth of Y’hovah Elohenu. Even in Gen.22.14, where Avraham acknowledges Y’hovah-Yireh, he seems not to have made the connection between Y’hovah and Elohim. Y’hovah is the aspect of mercy, while Elohim is the aspect of judgment, and the general opinion of the Patriarchs SEEMS to me to be that they were not related. I truly COULD be wrong on this! But that is how it seems to me after what has admittedly been a very light perusal of 1Moshe. Even Yoseph, who knew his Elohim on a more intimate level than all his fathers or his brothers, only knew him as Elohim. Cf. Gen.39.1-9. Notice that Y’hovah watches over Yoseph, but he will not sin against Elohim. End of warning.
Y’hovah told Moshe that he remembered his covenant with the patriarchs and has heard the groaning of Israel and that he will now work greater miracles than even the patriarchs had seen to convince Paroh that it would be best to let Israel do what Y’hovah has commanded. So Y’hovah gives b’nei Israel a promise, through Moshe, that he will deliver them out of their bondage to Paroh and Egypt and will bring them to the land that he promised Avi, Yitzy and Jake and give it to them for an inheritance – theirs forever. What part of forever do you think they’ve forgotten? The present government of Israel is so much like the people of Israel c. 1050BCE, when they demanded a king, “like all the other nations around them.” Y’hovah had a king in mind for them, but they wanted a king NOW! (reminds me of Beluka, the little girl who turned into a blueberry in Gene Wilder’s Willie Wonka – “I want an Umpa-Lumpa, NOW!). So Y’hovah, being who he is, gave them their desire – Sha’ul – for king. They wanted to be like other nations then, and they want to be like other nations now. But Y’hovah wants Yisrael to be set apart unto HIM, not like the other nations. If only the nation Israel; if only the Jews and the Xian church would understand this, the world would be a WUNNNderful place. And there would be a MUCH larger percentage of believers in it. Alas, we must wait until both Israel, and all Jewish and Xian believers come to the end of themselves, as Israel did in Egypt, and call out for Y’hovah’s salvation and deliverance, as Israel did in Egypt, before he will answer with Mashiach ben David. I truly fear that it will take the Moslem Beast System to bring us to that point. But when we finally reach it, Y’hovah will answer exactly as he did in Egypt – with his ‘stretched out arm’, Yeshua haMashiach ben David. He has already delivered us from the bondage of sin. Then he will deliver us from the bondage of physical oppression. In vv.6-8 there are 7 “I will”s of Y’hovah [I SHALLs in Torah] – promises to Israel. These 7 “I shalls” are the kinds of promises that can be put in the bank on which we can draw interest. 7 is the number of divine fullness or perfection. Q&C
Vv.9-end of portion – When Moshe told Israel what Y’hovah was going to do, they didn’t even hear him because they were so tired and distraught. So Y’hovah told Moshe to go to Paroh and tell him to send Israel out of his land. Moshe made another excuse, “I can’t even get Israel to listen to me, how will I ever prevail on Paroh? And besides, I can’t speak well in public.” Y’hovah didn’t want to hear it. He said, in a Mark paraphrase, “Just you and Aharon go to Paroh and quit giving me excuses. Take my people out of Egypt.”
Then Moshe gives us the genealogy of Leah’s 3 eldest children. Why only Reuven, Shimon and Levi? I think it could be just to get to the rather extensive family of Levi, which is described in pretty explicit detail down to the High Priest that led them into Canaan, Pinchas. Pinchas, you’ll recall, is the youngest son of Elezar, son of Aharon, who killed the Israelite and the Midianite woman he was fornicating with in the Tent of Meeting and thereby gained the rank of Priest.
6 And, behold, one of the children of Israel came and brought unto his brethren a Midianitish woman in the sight of Moses, and in the sight of all the congregation of the children of Israel, who weeping before the door of the tabernacle of the congregation. 7 And when Pinchas, the son of Elezar, the son of Aharon the priest, saw, he rose up from among the congregation, and took a javelin in his hand; 8 And he went after the man of Israel into the tent, and thrust both of them through, the man of Israel, and the woman through her belly. So the plague was stayed from the children of Israel. (Num.25.6-8)
When it says Pinchas ‘rose up’ from among the congregation, it implies that he was just another Israelite until the Ruach moved him with a godly zeal to kill those who would defile the Kadosh and through the shedding of the wicked’s blood to stay the plague that had been unleashed against Israel. What would have happened if those 2 had gotten all the way into the Kadosh Kedoshim with their idolatrous actions? In my opinion, Pinchas saved chol Israel that day. We’ll actually get to see that in the Midrash a year or so from now.
Y’hovah told Moshe and Aharon to take Israel out of Egypt according to their legions. I suppose it was kind of like the colonial militia’s, except in this case it would be the tribal militias. I assume the organization was similar, with the fathers leading their families in defensive strategies and tactics and then meeting with the other fathers to organize the various families into cohesive units for mutual defense. I would also assume that when they got into the Wilderness Adventure, the 4 major camps worked on similar things to keep their common defense viable. Y’hovah again told Moshe to go to Paroh to say exactly the words that He would put in his mouth, and, once again, Moshe begs off, “I can’t speak in public.”
7.1-7 – In answer to Moshe’s ‘demurral’, Y’hovah told him that as far as Paroh was concerned, Moshe would be as a god to him. Now, in Egypt, Paroh was a god. But I think that anyone who is not insane knows very well that he is NOT a god. He can’t have stuff instantly on a whim as out of nothing. Only a god could do that. I think the signs that Y’hovah gave Moshe to perform put that idea into Paroh’s head. His magicians were able to counterfeit all the signs Moshe performed, but Moshe demonstrated right off the bat that what he did was the outworking of a higher power source. Moshe was immediately something special in Paroh’s eyes, for what he did was able to make the royal magicians look silly. And I think that the wicked spirit that resided in Paroh was flustered by this very different power source, one of a higher nature than his master, haSatan. Not only would Moshe represent Y’hovah El Shaddai to Paroh, but Aharon would be his prophet. Paroh would be afraid to raise his hand against them, and I mean literally afraid that if he touched them he would be immediately reduced to a burnt out cinder – assuming they could find THAT much of him. Y’hovah would speak directly to Moshe, who would convey the Word to Aharon, who would then faithfully speak them to Paroh. Imagine for a minute what this would look like to Paroh: Moshe would receive a Word from Y’hovah and then, stuttering badly, would repeat it to Aharon who would then speak it out to Paroh eloquently. Paroh would think, “This guy seems to be an idiot who can’t even put 2 words together without saying 25 – he’s a completely unintelligible person who would have been killed without thought in my kingdom, and the other guy, who seems to be in complete control of himself and as competent as anyone I’ve ever met, defers to the idiot’s authority. And these 2 are motivated by a Spirit like I’ve never encountered before. I’d better watch to see how things play out before I act against them. There’s more to this ‘idiot’ and his ‘mouthpiece’ than meets the eye.” Q&C
Ez.28.25-29.21 – The way these first 2 passages are used makes me think that the 2 verses of ch.28 are meant to be an introduction to the judgment of Y’hovah to come down on the Satanic world system that Egypt represents in ch.29. I truly do not think there is any great parallel to recent events in Egypt. In fact, I truly believe that THOSE events were the prelude to the events that are going to set up the satanic world system for destruction, and that Egypt as a nation will not see the wrath of Elohim any worse than any other part of the BEAST Religious System, as she will be every bit as much its victim as will be Saudi, Jordan and Lebanon. Iran/Persia on the other hand …
The house of Israel in 28.25 is chol Israel, not just 10-Israel, as it speaks of Yacov, as well. The last words of v.29 can be applied to the nations that will all be in the hands of the Moslem Bro’hood and in Iran/Persia’s pocket soon. Israel is on the verge of being completely surrounded by the BEAST religious system. The judgments spoken of in v.26 are enumerated over the next chapters of Ezekiel.
29.1- – Who will this Paroh be? I seriously doubt it will be the military chief of staff. The elections will happen sooner than later in Egypt, I think. In v.4 Y’hovah says he will put hooks in Paroh’s jaws and draw him against Israel. Is this happening before our eyes on the TV news? Are the fish that stick to his scales the smaller nations that hang on the world system’s every word and deed, that draw their sense of strength from his paying any attention to them, at all. Or does the dragon represent haSatan himself,
And the great dragon was cast out, that old serpent, called the Devil, and Satan, which deceiveth the whole world: he was cast out into the earth, and his angels were cast out with him. (Revelation of John 12:9)
and the fish represent all his devilish minions, like the one that inhabits Paroh in Ex.7? I think, YES! The Spirit of Paroh is the actual person being judged and condemned here. The human he inhabits will receive of the judgments and plagues, as well, but the human actor will only suffer temporarily until his death and the final judgment of the Great White Throne (Rev.20.11). The demonic being that indwelt and empowered the Paroh will go into everlasting punishment because he is immortal and was more responsible than the man he infested. The Nile is antitypical of the River of Life that flows from the Throne of Y’hovah Yeshua.
In the heavens of the northern hemisphere, at the time of Yom Kippur and Sukkoth we can see the constellation Draco, the Dragon, falling from the sky in a nose-dive. At the end of the night during the early autumn, Draco sets FACE DOWN at about sunrise (Rev.12.9). It is a ‘star sign’ that has been there since the beginning. See Rolleston’s Mazzeroth, EW Bullinger’s Gospel in the Stars, or Joseph Seiss’ Witness of the Stars. Rolleston was the main source for both Bullinger and Seiss. See also the website, Biblical Astronomy:
Bob Wadsworth is the guy who filled me in on Draco setting face down at Sukkoth time. His e-newsletter is no lnger available – his latest is from the year 2013. That’s too bad. It was a worthwhile site to reference.
Vv.6-7 tell us that the people of Egypt [the world system] will know that Y’hovah is when they realize that they have been the reed that Israel has been trusting instead of their Elohim, and that they have failed Israel every time Israel has needed them. Whenever Israel trusted to haSatan’s world system, he betrayed them and allowed their destruction. Y’hovah is not mocked.
V.9-12 – V.9 says they shall know that I am Y’hovah, BECAUSE Paroh said Nile is mine, I made it. Have you ever noticed that Y’hovah is not pleased when someone usurps his place as Creator? Syene is modern Aswan. There is a towering structure there, 111 meters tall and 3800 meters long called the Aswan Dam. It created Lake Nasser, which is 550 kilometers long and 35 km wide, extending toward the south and Ethiopia. It was completed in 1970 – 44 years ago. When it was filled it displaced 100-120K Nubians to other parts of Egypt, Sudan and other countries. Did Y’hovah use the Aswan Dam to partially fulfill these prophetic verses? Possibly. There is yet an ultimate fulfillment. QC
Vv.13-16 – Y’hovah promises to regather the Egyptians from their captivity, as he did and will do Israel, though he will not make them a Great kingdom as they once were. Y’hovah will see to it that they remain a ‘base nation’, not a leader among the nations of the world. The reason for this is seen in v.15. When Egypt was a great nation, Israel would trust her instead of Y’hovah, and that was always a problem for Israel. Y’hovah will remove the temptation from Israel, and not allow Egypt its former greatness. Avraham and Yitzhak had resorted to Egypt. Yacov held out as long as he could, but eventually reality sunk in and he knew that they would HAVE to buy grain in Egypt.
Vv.17-21 – War was the business of the great heathen kings, and the siege of Tyre, including building the causeway to the island had sapped all the profit out of the venture. But since Nebuchadnezzar had performed his duty so admirably, Y’hovah gave him Egypt as a consolation prize. A worker is worthy of his wages, after all,
And in the same house remain, eating and drinking such things as they give: for the labourer is worthy of his hire. Go not from house to house (Luke 10:7)
and Neb had done good work on Tyre.
‘In that day’ is an idiom meaning the day of Y’hovah. V.21 speaks of Mashiach’s Kingdom, which is a part of the Day of Y’hovah, the 7th millennium of his creation. The ‘opening of the mouth’ is something Y’hovah eventually gave Moshe, as well. It wasn’t very long into the Wilderness Adventure that Moshe found his voice, overcame his fear of looking silly and said what Y’hovah wanted him to say. Moshe spoke the Word of Y’hovah, and Israel listened.
Is.42.8 – Look at Gen.4.26.
And to Seth, to him also there was born a son; and he called his name Enos: then began men to call upon the name of Y’hovah. (Genesis 4:26)
When these men called on the name of Y’hovah, they were worshipping pagan gods and calling them Y’hovah. The covenant Name of Y’hovah was being used by heathen and that passage in Is.42 says
“8 I Y’hovah: that my name: and my glory will I not give to another, neither my praise to graven images.”
Q&C
Psalm 44 – The fathers in v.1 are the Patriarchs and leaders like Moshe and Y’hoshua. The works of Yhwh are well known to chol Yisrael. His WAYS? We’ll see as the psalm progresses. The heathen were driven out, but not by the strength of the people; Yhwh drove them out by his right hand and his outstretched arm – Mashiach. And not by their merit; Yhwh had favor for them – grace. And who is Israel’s King and deliverer, but Yhwh, Mighty to Save?
Vv.4-8 beg the question, is this how we REALLY think about Yhwh, or is this all just for show? Vv. 9-22 put the lie to our attitude in vv.4-8. Most believers put on a good ‘game face’, but is it really what we live every day? We need to humbly repent of our hypocrisy. We need to come before our Elohim and ask his forgiveness for taking him for granted (v.9). We, like the state of Israel assume that because we are ‘believers’ that he’ll be our Rock and keep us in plenty, even though we have, in our own way and possibly unbeknownst to us, despised him and made him profane. We think we’re doing OK, but all the curses are coming on us. Meanwhile he brings affliction to us so that we will come to the end of ourselves and cry out for his deliverance, as Israel did in Egypt. Look at all the exile language in vv.9-12 ; cast off, put to shame, go not with our armies, make us turn back from the enemy, scatter us and give us for food, sell us for nothing, make us a reproach, scorn and derision, shame, confusion. Our sin may not be known to us, we think we are keeping His charge, obeying His Toroth, but His promises are not forthcoming. We need to ask him to make our sin plain to us, for vv.22ff show us that if we will acknowledge our sin and ask his deliverance, he will fulfill his promises to us. Q&C
Rev.3.7-8 – The letter to the kahal of Philadelphia is the ONE with no rebuke. Yochanan shows an aspect of Yeshua that hearkens back to YeshaYahu 22:
20 And it shall come to pass in that day, that I will call my servant Eliakim the son of Hilkiah: 21 And I will clothe him with thy robe, and strengthen him with thy girdle, and I will commit thy government into his hand: and he shall be a father to the inhabitants of Jerusalem, and to the house of Judah. 22 And the key of the house of David will I lay upon his shoulder; so he shall open, and none shall shut; and he shall shut, and none shall open.
EliYahquhm = Yhwh my El rises or sets up. HilkiYahu = Yhwh is my portion. I infer that Abba Yhwh’s portion was to raise Yeshua, our Master Yhwh from the dead and to give him his raiment, gird him for battle, put the government on his shoulders along with the key of David, with which he will be able to open doors or close doors as Yhwh instructs. He has opened a door that no man can shut for those who keep his Word and do not deny his Name. That last deals with staying faithful to the end, even if it means loss of everything we have on earth, including property, position or people. The time may come that we will have the choice of denying Yeshua with our words only and saving our children or grandchildren from death, or standing firm in Mashiach and allowing them to be killed before our eyes. We must stand firm to receive the crown of life:
Blessed is the man that endureth temptation: for when he is tried, he shall receive the crown of life, which the Lord hath promised to them that love him. (James 1:12)
Fear none of those things which thou shalt suffer: behold, the devil shall cast some of you into prison, that ye may be tried; and ye shall have tribulation ten days: be thou faithful unto death, and I will give thee a crown of life. (Revelation of John 2:10)
That may be your death, someone else’s death, or both. Be Faithful. Yeshua says:
28 And fear not them which kill the body, but are not able to kill the soul: but rather fear him which is able to destroy both soul and body in hell. 29 Are not two sparrows sold for a farthing? and one of them shall not fall on the ground without your Father. 30 But the very hairs of your head are all numbered. 31 Fear ye not therefore, ye are of more value than many sparrows. 32 Whosoever therefore shall confess me before men, him will I confess also before my Father which is in heaven. 33 But whosoever shall deny me before men, him will I also deny before my Father which is in heaven. (Matt.10.28-33)
Those are sobering words. Stay Faithful. May no one who hears or reads these words falter. May Yhwh strengthen them and us in all adversity.
Vv.9-13 – Yeshua said that he would make those of the synagogue of Satan, the assembly of the Accusers or Adversary, come and worship at the feet of those who would not deny him. A synagogue can be any assembly of people, like a kahal or ekklesia. This one has people who SAY they are Yehudim, but really are not. Remember Rom.9.6a:
“They are not all Yisrael who are of Israel”
They are not Gentiles, for no gentile will ever be a Jew, even those who proselytize and are CCd into the Jewish religion are never Jews, because the word means Yehudeans – men of Yehudah. Yehudeans were supposed to have kept Torah and the commandments of Yhwh. These did not, they denied written Torah in favor of traditions of men. This is the same fight Yeshua had with the Prushim. These do not live their profession of faith and hold Ephraim and even proselytes as 2nd class members. When Yeshua says he comes quickly, it does not necessarily mean that he will come soon, but that it will happen suddenly, “in a moment, the twinkling of an eye” (1Cor.15). For that reason, we need to hold fast to our profession and stay faithful to it and him.
There is disagreement over who is the Bride; is it ALL believers or a small remnant of them? That will not be resolved fully until Mashiach comes to tell us we ALL had it wrong. But I am certain that at least those Yeshua refers to as ‘overcomers’ are of the Bride. There are overcomers in EVERY kahal mentioned in Rev.2&3 and they are promised cool stuff. In Philadelphia, the overcomers are to be made pillars in the Temple of the New J’lem, never to leave the presence of Yhwh again. Now, people are not going to be made literal pillars of a large building. Paul uses the word to describe apostles;
And when Yacov, Kefa, and Yochanan, who seemed to be pillars, perceived the grace that was given unto me, they gave to me and BarNaba the right hands of fellowship; that we should go unto the heathen, and they unto the circumcision. (Galatians 2:9)
so this is the same thing – a metaphor for one who is instrumental to the life and ministry there. They do the work of the preparation for the rest to be had there. The overcomer not only gets his own new name written on a white stone, but 3 names of Yeshua’s, as well; 1) the Name of Yeshua’s Elohim – that’s right, Elohim has an Elohim, 2) the Name of Abba’s city, New J’lem, and 3) Yeshua’s own new Name, as a wife assumes her husband’s Name. To be a part of his Bride will be pretty cool! So stand fast in him, hold fast to that which you have and be faithful to the end. Do you hear?
14.1 Tells us where the first place is that those new Names will be seen – on THE Mt. Sion, which points us to ObadYah 21;
21 And saviours shall come up on mount Zion to judge the mount of Esau; and the kingdom shall be Yhwh’s. (Obadiah)
The 144,000 are seen as saviours (miniscule ‘s’), for they will help lead the saved through the time of Yacov’s trouble.
5 For in the time of trouble he shall hide me in his pavilion: in the secret of his tabernacle shall he hide me; he shall set me up upon a rock. (Ps.27.5)
14 The sons also of them that afflicted thee shall come bending unto thee; and all they that despised thee shall bow themselves down at the soles of thy feet; and they shall call thee, the city of Yhwh, The Zion of the Holy One of Israel. (Is.60.14)
Q&C
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