Shabbat Bible Study for March 25, 2017

©2017 Mark Pitrone and Fulfilling Torah Ministries

Exodus 8:20 [v.16 Tnk]-9:35 – Isaiah 34:1-17 – Psalm 46 – Revelation 8:1-9:6

Shemoth 8.20 [Heb.8.16]-32 – The time lapse between the last word we read last week and the first word we read this week isn’t but the time it took for Moshe to get out of Paroh’s Palace. As soon as he had Moshe alone, Y’hovah spoke to him [Mp], “I want you to get up early tomorrow and go down to the river to meet Paroh when he goes to bathe. Tell him that if he will not let my people go, I will send swarms to infest ‘you, your servants, your people and all your houses and lands.’ Also tell him that I will make a division between Egypt and Israel – Egypt will be judged and punished for your intransigence, and Israel will not be subject to the rest of the judgments I will send at all.” Last time we studied this passage, Evesgarden brought up the idea that the plagues on Egypt were exactly that – on Egypt alone and that noone BUT the ruling class suffered them. As I see the description on whom the plagues would fall in v.21, I must say that Eve’s idea makes perfect sense. But v.22 says that Goshen will be completely free of any plagues sent from this time forward, from which I infer that the plagues were more or less general to now. IOW, the actual answer to the Eve’s/Mark dilemma may be a very Hebraic “YES!” The Jewish sages say that Israel has not suffered ANY of the plagues at all, but Y’hovah tells us only now that he will make a distinction. The way these views can be reconciled is that perhaps the Israelites who willingly served Paroh to this point ALSO received of the first 4 plagues, even in their homes in Goshen. Because it isn’t until v.22 that Y’hovah told Moshe that he would make a clean severance between Egypt and Goshen in the judgments of the plagues. If the general Israelite population was spared the plagues to this point, but the Israelites who willingly served Paroh were subject to them, those subjects would have seen this difference and POSSIBLY repented and called upon Y’hovah for his deliverance. 

And it shall come to pass, that whosoever shall call on the name of Y’hovah shall be delivered: for in mount Zion and in Jerusalem shall be deliverance, as Y’hovah hath said, and in the remnant whom Y’hovah shall call. (Joel 2:32)

It explains a lot and reconciles our minor disagreements. 

Y’hovah told Paroh that beginning the next day the severance would be in effect. And the next day – swarms! LOTS of swarms, everywhere. ‘Swarms of insects’ is what I surmise, because we are not told specifically in Hebrew. The aforementioned Jewish sages think it was swarms of every beast of the earth. But most animals, like lions, tigers and bears, do not swarm. Best guess is mosquitoes – perhaps flies [KJV has ‘of flies’ added by the editors]. Mozzies are no fun and carry malaria, which is even less fun. I have a friend who contracted malaria in Vietnam and to this day he can’t hold a coffee cup in one hand without spilling ½ of it down his shirt – which is a constant source of fun for me, but isn’t very enjoyable for him. Fortunately he has a sense of humor. He IS a trained killer, after all. 

When the swarms hit and had bothered the Egyptians to their breaking point – I think about 4-6 hours, Paroh called Moshe and told him that if he would entreat Y’hovah in Egypt’s behalf, that he would give Israel time off to sacrifice to Y’hovah in the land. Moshe told him they needed to go far enough away – at least three days journey into the wilderness – that the Egyptians wouldn’t see what they were sacrificing, as slaughtering sheep and bulls, which were sacred to Egyptians, was abomination to Egypt and the people would kill Israel. Paroh relented to allow them to go ‘not very far’. 

Paroh is like haSatan here, in that haSatan doesn’t care if you’re a believer, as long as you aren’t TOO set apart. As long as you look like just another heathen, he’ll let you “PRAISE the LORD!” and “GLORY to GA-AWD! AY-hay-hay-MEN!” all you want and pretty much leave you alone. You’re no problem to him. It’s those godly men, the ones who obey Y’hovah and take care of each other (that is, love Elohim and their neighbor) that bug haSatan. Those are the ones he attacks.

Then Moshe told him that he’d better not use deceit again, or Y’hovah would be REALLY ticked off – his retributive judgment was just getting STARTED! When Moshe entreated Y’hovah to remove the mozzies, and Paroh saw that there was respite from the swarms – that Y’hovah had recalled ALL of them and not one mozzie remained, Paroh hardened his heart again and would not let the people go. Y’hovah is about to remove his gloves. Paroh had stepped right in it. The ‘who hardened Paroh’s heart’ score is 2:2:1, Y’hovah:Paroh:haSatan. Q&C

Shemoth 9.1-18  – Y’hovah had told Paroh 4 times now to “Let MY … People … … GO-O-O-o-o-o!” Paroh had this far said, “OK!” twice, but both times had reneged on his answer, and Moshe had warned him not to do it again. So Y’hovah sent Moshe and Aharon back to Paroh again, and time lag was the evening of the next day – they went the next morning and made Y’hovah’s proclamation. They told Paroh, “Y’hovah says to “Let my … People …… GO!” Chumash’s note on v.1 is very good [pg.50]. Y’hovah seems to be expressing his displeasure with Paroh’s intransigence and is about to set apart his people, Israel, from all subsequent plagues. The word Y’hovah uses for ‘tell’ is not ‘amar’ this time, but ‘davar’. The difference seems to be that amar is the word he used throughout Gen.1 – his creative Word, while ‘dabar’ in this instance is his active cursing by destruction. The plagues up to now have been more annoyances than anything. NOW he would begin to fully remove his blessings and turn them into curses. They therefore warned Paroh that Y’hovah had his hand on Egypt’s livestock, horses, cows, sheep, camels, donkeys – any animals in the field, and that the livestock was going to start dying tomorrow if Paroh did not let Israel go. The word translated ‘murrain’ in KJV is the Heb. 1698, dever, from the same root as ‘devar’, which means word or thing. Y’hovah was telling Paroh that he was going to speak a word over his livestock and they were going to get ill and die. Y’hovah wanted Israel to offer some of their livestock to him as a freewill offering, and he wanted Paroh to let Israel go to do that service to him. If Paroh refused, the next day he was going to bring a pestilence on Paroh’s livestock by the Word of his mouth. And to prove that it was Y’hovah and not a general disease that would strike the whole land, there would be a severance between Egypt and Israel again. Israel would be spared this plague and not only would Israel’s livestock NOT be taken ill, their livestock would thrive. Paroh must have refused to let Israel go, because the next day, the Word went forth and the pestilence struck all the cattle of Paroh and Egypt that were in the field – but not Israel – in Goshen. If, as I surmise, some Egyptians, and especially Paroh, had their cattle tended by Israel in Goshen, only Israel’s cattle survived the plague and Paroh’s cattle died, even in Goshen. You might notice that 8.22 and 9.26 sever out Goshen from those respective plagues, but NOT the plague on Egypt’s animals. Israel’s cattle were set apart, but not Goshen. Any Egyptian cattle in Goshen, I therefore surmise, died in Goshen right beside Israel’s cattle that were left standing and thriving. Y’hovah was obviously protecting the stock from which Israel would offer service to him. But Paroh was obstinate and his heart was hardened. He didn’t harden his own heart, but neither did Y’hovah harden it this time. So I expect that this was the work of haSatan, perhaps by influencing his thoughts through spirit-to-spirit communication. So my count of Paroh’s heart hardening is Y2: P2: S2.

That same day, Y’hovah told Moshe and Aharon to take ashes from the furnace and that Moshe was to ‘sprinkle’ them towards heaven in Paroh’s sight. Now one does not ‘sprinkle’ towards heaven, because when one sprinkles something he lets small amounts gently fall from his fingers. The word ‘sprinkle’ is Heb 2236 zaraq, which is more often translated ‘scatter’, as in seed – or Israel. 

And I will scatter you among the heathen, and will draw out a sword after you: and your land shall be desolate, and your cities waste. (Leviticus 26:33)

Sounds like Israel’s punishment every time they turn away from Y’hovah and try to be like other nations – like today. So Moshe took handfuls of ashes and scattered them in all directions into the air and the wind currents carried the dust away and boils began to break out on the Egyptians, I infer immediately. These boils just erupted from the skin, which means they broke open and leaked or seeped. This sounds almost like a biological or chemical attack, which it could well have been in the natural. But Moshe and Aharon who actually HANDLED the ‘agent’ didn’t break out, and neither did any Israelite in Goshen or anywhere else in Egypt. The plague was SO bad, that the magicians could not even stand up to TRY to duplicate it. The mention of the sorcerers gives me to infer that this was a known trick that they performed to prove their gods’ power. And I am beginning to see a pattern. The hardenings of Paroh’s heart seem to go in a succession; first Y’hovah, then Paroh and then haSatan harden his heart with each successive plague. We’ll see if the pattern holds. V.12 says that Y’hovah hardened Paroh’s heart this time so that Paroh wouldn’t listen to anything they had to say. Heart-hardening score is Y3:P2:S2.

Y’hovah told Moshe to get up early again the next day to appear before Paroh and tell him that Y’hovah raised him up for the very purpose of proving to the whole world who he was and to put the fear of Y’hovah (and by extension, Israel) into them. Y’hovah was not pleased with Paroh’s prideful attitude against Israel, and he was going to humble him. Y’hovah told Paroh through Moshe that he was going to give Paroh a day to think about it – no new plague today – and tomorrow, there would be a hailstorm to beat all hailstorms. This one was going to take down his ripening crops. Moshe had not been into bluster to this point – everything he’d told Paroh was coming from Y’hovah had come to pass. So you might think that he’d have figured it out and let Israel go, but he also had 3 entities hardening his heart against Israel and Y’hovah; Y’hovah, his own pride and haSatan. Consequently, Paroh really didn’t stand a chance. Q&C

Vv.19-35 – After Moshe told Paroh what was coming, he gave him a warning from Y’hovah to save his people, and what cattle was left, alive. Even in his judgment, Y’hovah is merciful. Those Egyptians who had come to fear Y’hovah got out to the fields and brought their livestock in – this is the first mention of what would become the ‘mixt multitude’ that would abandon Egypt and its gods for Y’hovah and Israel, while those who despised Y’hovah disregarded the warning. After all, they’d never seen a hail so large as to kill before, as Moshe said in v.18. 

Please notice that Moshe had found his voice. There is no mention of Aharon going with Moshe this time and it was Moshe who stretched out Y’hovah’s rod (v.23) and Y’hovah sent the hail. What wasn’t mentioned about this miracle was that the storm would produce fire that I assume was started by lightning. One would expect there to be rain accompanying a thunderstorm, but all that came was hail – LARGE hail, and lots of it. What ripe field crops were not burnt [flax and barley are mentioned], were broken and destroyed. Even the trees were destroyed, so any fruit blossoms were wrecked, as well. Boy, is Y’hovah doing a job on the Egyptian economy! He kills off a bunch of fish in the plague of blood. Kills off a bunch of cattle with the murrain. Kills off a bunch more with the hail, which also caused the ripening crops to burn and be destroyed. Not to mention the boils that made it impossible to work the fields, and the lice and mozzies that closed down production for a couple of days. So, another Egyptian god is being destroyed, as well – money or wealth. 

Is this not what we’re seeing today in the world, of which Egypt is typical? Remember 1Cor.10.11, 

Now all these things happened unto them for ensamples: and they are written for our admonition, upon whom the ends of the world are come.

This doesn’t just apply to us who are of the remnant, but the world in general. If these ‘ensamples’ are a template by which WE can prepare for calamity, are they not also a template by which the world can be warned, if they’ll but pay attention, AND Y’hovah’s way of hardening the hearts of today’s Egyptian Paroh’s? Why are the world’s ‘powers that be’ not heeding the warning? They do not heed for the same 2 reasons as Egypt didn’t heed: 1] they aren’t getting or are just ignoring the message, and 2]Yah is allowing their hearts to be hardened that DO get it. Also, we acknowledge the warning in our own lives and prepare for the calamity, but we do not warn the world, as Moshe did Egypt. How is it that many Egyptians knew to fear Y’hovah enough to bring their cattle and servants into the house before the hail fell? They knew because they had SEEN that Moshe had prophesied every one of the miracles that had been performed by Y’hovah, and feared Y’hovah as a result. The world today is showing very little fear of Y’hovah. It is showing more fear of the false god of the Mosoleums than of the Y’hovah of Avraham, Yitzhak and Ya’acov. We need to get a LOT more VOCAL about the judgment that’s coming, so some heathen can come to a fear of Y’hovah while others will just harden their hearts against Y’hovah and, by extension, us. Remember that it is not Y’hovah’s will that ANY perish, but that ALL should come to repentance. One cannot repent without knowledge of his sin and Y’hovah’s requirements for forgiveness and deliverance.

Aside: BTW, in v.31 the Hebrew is CLEAR in saying that the barley was aviv. Therefore, anyone who tells you that aviv barley is not mentioned in Torah makes himself an idiot and should not be listened to on that subject. Astronomical new moon will be March 27, 2017 at 957PM EDT. Likely sightings of the new moon, when I believe the new biblical month actually begins in J’lem, will be either morning or evening of March 28^th or 29^th. Pesach will therefore be either 11 or 12 April at even. Full moon will be at 1:08AM the 11^th of April, so I lean toward Pesach on  April 11, 2017 at even. End aside.

Paroh called Moshe and Aharon before him and asked for another reprieve from another judgment and promised once again to let Israel go to serve Y’hovah in the wilderness. He acknowledged his sins and his people’s before Y’hovah, but didn’t actually repent of them. Simply confessing that you have sinned does not bring forgiveness. Part of true confession is an accompanying repentance, which requires humility. There actually was none in Paroh, as was seen almost immediately when he hardened his own heart. In 1Jn.1.9, the word ‘confess’ is from Grk. homologeo to say the same thing, to agree, in this case with Y’hovah’s judgment. Vv.8&10 in 1Jn. speak of the sin about which we are saying the same thing as Y’hovah. V.9 cannot be lifted from its context and used as a numbered sound bite all on its own. 2Pe.3.15-16 has a bit to say about that practice.

And account the longsuffering of Y’hovah IS salvation; even as our beloved brother Paul also according to the wisdom given unto him hath written unto you; 16 As also in all epistles, speaking in them of these things; in which are some things hard to be understood, which they that are unlearned and unstable wrest, as also the other writings, unto their own destruction.

CF. AENT pg.458, 2Pe.3.16, note 9. Indeed, the believing Prushim did not understand Paul to be abolishing Torah. It had to be someone with an anti-Torah agenda; namely the Marcion/Origen/Tertullian influenced Gnostic and Mithraist heresies among the ECF – the early church fathers – that took over Netzari Judaism, banished its true practitioners to the hinterland [they fled to the mountains] and changed its name to ‘christianity’. 

When Paroh saw that the plague was lifted, he hardened his own heart and refused to let Israel go to serve Y’hovah, as Y’hovah had said he would. The scorecard is now Y3:P3:S2. Q&C

YeshaYahu 34.1- – Egypt, as I mentioned before, has always been considered typical of the world system, and the judgments brought against Egypt at the time of the Exodus are indicative of the judgments that will come on the world system in the end of days. Egypt was judged for its treatment and oppression of Y’hovah’s people. Similarly, the world will also be judged for its treatment and oppression of Y’hovah’s people. The first IS an excellent template for the last. 

As Moshe drew near to Paroh, under orders of Y’hovah, to give him warning, so Y’hovah Himself draws near to the world system to bring it warning in YeshaYahu 34. He pleads with the nations of the earth to hear, understand and obey what he says, for he is truly not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance. But the nations have been dealing treacherously with his people and his righteous indignation at their treatment of his Bride is coming to a head and is about to erupt, similarly to the boils that erupted on the Egyptians in today’s Torah portion. The physical eruptions were very unpleasant, but they are nothing in comparison to the spiritual eruption that is about to take place in the earth. We were seeing the beginnings of that eruption in the Middle East as I wrote the original of this Syudy on 3/1/2011. Y’hovah has sent his fishermen to fill their nets with fish. Now, he is sending his hunters to hunt those who would not come painlessly. 

Behold, I will send for many fishers, saith Y’hovah, and they shall fish them; and after will I send for many hunters, and they shall hunt them from every mountain, and from every hill, and out of the holes of the rocks. (Jeremiah 16:16)

As Y’hovah judged Egypt, Assyria, Babylon, Medo-Persia, Greece, Rome, Spain, Germany, et al, for their treatment of Israel, so he will do to the world system after he’s allowed them to bring chol Yisrael to the point of calling on him for deliverance – they are responsible before Y’hovah for their conduct as his tool to bring his people to repentance and realization of their need for deliverance. His curse comes down on Idumea, which is another name for Edom. All the nations who come against Israel are Edomite nations. This doesn’t mean that they are necessarily physical descendants of Esau, but they are of the same spirit as Esau – they hate B’nei Yisrael as Esau did Ya’acov. 

The ultimate fulfillment of this prophecy will be seen in the New Earth. The sacrifice in Bozrah will see partial fulfillment in Armageddon (v.6), when Messiah comes from Bozrah with his garments dyed (63.1) from the slaughter he performs there, but the part where the burning is from generation to generation speaks to me of the final dissolution in the lake of fire which isn’t quenched (vv.8-10). The language is speaking of the complete destruction of Edom, physically and spiritually, which will only happen when the present world is burnt to nothing and the new world is re-created from nothing – a world wherein dwelleth righteousness, 2Pe.3.10-14:

10 But the day of Y’hovah will come as a thief in the night; in the which the heavens shall pass away with a great noise, and the elements shall melt with fervent heat, the earth also and the works that are therein shall be burned up. 11 Then all these things shall be dissolved, what manner ought ye to be in holy conversation and godliness, 12 Looking for and hasting unto the coming of the day of God, wherein the heavens being on fire shall be dissolved, and the elements shall melt with fervent heat? 13 Nevertheless we, according to his promise, look for new heavens and a new earth, wherein dwelleth righteousness. 14 Wherefore, beloved, seeing that ye look for such things, be diligent that ye may be found of him in peace, without spot, and blameless.

Is.34.11-15 speak again of the condition of Edom during the Millennial Kingdom. The seeming confusion between Millennium and New Creation is for the same reason as there was confusion over the appearances of Moshiach ben Yoseph, the suffering servant, and Moshiach benDavid, the reigning king. From the prophet’s position in history, he could not see the dual appearances of Moshiach; they often saw both as one. The rabbis saw the differences, but hypothesized that there would be 2 Messiahs, rather than two appearances of ONE Moshiach separated by a period of time. Our passage today shows the same dual fulfillment of one prophecy. The language of vv.16-17 gives a hint to this perspective; ‘no one of these’, ‘his hand hath divided it’. V.15 refers to the vultures gathered, which Yeshua quoted in Midrash in 

For wheresoever the carcase is, there will the eagles be gathered together. (Matthew 24:28)

Q&C

Ps.46.1 – As Y’hovah holds the hunters responsible for their treatment of his people in the time of Trouble, even so is he standing beside us in every trial and hardship we go through. He is there in our victories and our defeats, in our calamities and our happy endings. If we can be still and wait on him and his desired end for us, it will always redound to our good. We have nothing to fear at any time because he is with us. No matter the circumstances or what evil seems about to devour us, Y’hovah is our refuge and our help. Paroh could not say that, and he eventually found that his gods could not deliver him from trouble. But Elohim SHALL deliver us, if we’ll wait for his timing. He may deliver us from a storm, or he may deliver us through a storm, but he SHALL deliver us.

The trouble of v.1 is Yacov’s trouble, and the ‘Great Tribulation’ Yeshua spoke of in Mat.24.21. I think it also refers to Gog uMagog in Rev.20.7-9. Vv.2-3 will see complete fulfillment in the Great White Throne judgment and the accompanying Lake of Fire, which I think is the final dissolution of this creation [2Pe.3.10-12].

The river in v.4 must be the river of life. The city is obviously the New Jerusalem, and I think the tabernacles of the Most High represent the hearts of the members of his Bride. The city is being built on the blood of the martyrs (v.5), who were unmoved by the judgment Y’hovah brought on the world system.  

V.6 tells of the ultimate ‘rapture’, when the ‘camp of the saints’ is delivered from Gog uMagog at the end of the Messianic Kingdom, when believers are removed from the place of judgment and find refuge in Y’hovah of Avraham, Yitzhak and Yacov. In v.9 we see the only hope of the Middle East – Y’hovah’s Shalom on all the people of the earth. No weapons will even exist on the New Earth, they’ll all have been destroyed in the Lake of Fire, which is the nuclear dissolution of all things (2Pe.3.10-14), and Y’hovah will be exalted. This peace will be enforced from the top down, through (I think) the 144K resurrected spiritual virgins and anyone else who could keep his garments clean in the Kingdom, but in the New Creation, wherein dwelleth righteousness, there will be no corruption or death and, therefore, no need for any enforcers. Q&C

Rev.8.1-13 – Here come the trumpet judgments. After the 7^th seal is opened, there is silence in heaven for the space of ½ an hour. The greek term HemiOrion = 1/2 of Orion, and references the constellation of the autumn sky, Orion, that rises near sunset and sets near sunrise. When it is at its apogee (highest point in the sky) it looks like an hourglass with sand trickling [Orion’s sword, hanging from his belt] through the waist – hence the idea of ½ an hour – hemiorion. Perhaps it refers to about the 5 hours it takes for Orion to travel to that position. Do the 7 angels correspond to the 7 Spirits/7 lamps in Rev.4.5? I think it likely. They are given 7 trumpets to wind, and it seems they do not wait long before they begin to wind them. They wait just long enough for an 8^th angel to come do his part in the judgment of the earth’s system. He stands before the altar, where he gets some coals to put in the golden censer and to burn some of the incense from the incense altar. 

And he (Aharon) shall take a censer full of burning coals of fire from off the altar before Y’hovah, and his hands full of sweet incense beaten small, and bring it within the vail: (Leviticus 16:12)

I think this 8^th angel is our Melchizedek High Priest, Yeshua, because this is High Priest, Yom Kippur stuff. This is an offering that the sons of Zadok will NOT be performing in the Ezekiel 40-48 temple, I believe because it has already been done once for all time and for all sinners by Yeshua during his passion. For Aharon’s children to do it is abomination before Y’hovah (Heb.10.29). The incense offering has always represented the prayers of the saints. That Yeshua is now offering the prayers of the saints is indicative of his positions as High Priest and our Advocate before the Supreme Judge and King of the Universe. This is NOT the Mishkan (tabernacle) nor the Beit haMikdash (temple) on earth, for there is no veil between the altar of incense and the Throne. Yeshua took coals from the altar of burnt offering and the incense, which is the prayers of the saints and casts that fire to the earth. When haSatan’s and the world’s wrath is being poured out on us, we need to keep praying to Y’hovah for deliverance from the persecution, so Yeshua will have our witness to enable him to send his just recompense on our tormentors. [REPEAT THAT] Pray for Israel’s national torment as it comes on them in the here and now, and also the near future at the hands of the Beast system. When it says to pray for the peace of Jerusalem, it doesn’t primarily speak of its deliverance from physical struggle, but its repentance from going its own way and thereby, deliverance to Shalom with Y’hovah. V.5 talks about some judgments of which we are not told any details. Perhaps they have to do with exactly what v.5 says – voices, thunderings, lightenings and an earthquake (perhaps earthquakes along long dormant faultlines, like New Madrid?). We do not know, nor will we until such time as they are pronounced, what will happen and how they will play out, except that they have DIRECTLY to do with what we and our brethren pray to Y’hovah Avinu between now and then. So, MAKE YOUR PRAYERS SPECIFIC!

Vv.7ff show the trumpet judgments, and they are quite troubling to the people without the mark of Y’hovah. The first shofar judgment in v.7 is like the plague we saw in Ex.8, hail and fire together with blood. This judgment has similar consequences as that in Egypt, as well. 1/3 of the trees and all the grass crops are destroyed. Vv.8-9, shofar #2 brings a heavenly body, whether a meteor or asteroid is unsure, which will crash into the sea and kill 1/3 of all the sea creatures and destroy 1/3 of the ships at sea, presumably by tsunami. If this happens between now and the complete destruction of the West’s economies, the ships will all be carrying Chinese products to and from the Americas and southern Asia and Africa from China. The Pacific Ocean is easily 1/3 of the worlds oceans, and a strategically placed asteroid strike of the proper size would do all that this trumpet is said to do. Imagine an asteroid hitting the central Pacific and sending tsunamis hundreds of feet high and at breathtaking speed in all directions. When those waves come up against the continental shelves, they would build up to tidal waves THOUSANDS of feet high, wiping out HUGE populations all along the coastal regions of the Pacific. Island systems would be completely destroyed – goodbye Hawaii, Micronesia, perhaps the Philipines, New Zealand/Australia’s coasts, Chile to Alaska, Siberia, Japan, and Indonesia/New Guinea. Literally BILLIONS of people would die in a matter of hours and most without warning. THAT was just a ‘mountain’ from heaven.

V.10, shofar #3, has a STAR falling out of the heavens to the earth. There has been speculation about a small star coming through our solar system, and some have even taken to calling it ‘Wormwood’. And it’s not JUST crazies like myself who are talking about it – there are some respected astronomers talking about the star they supposedly discovered a few years back and misnamed “Planet X”. If there is any truth to this theory, it could explain ALL of these trumpet judgments, we’ve seen so far – the weird weather, the giant asteroid/meteorite drawn out of its normal orbit and Wormwood itself. The asteroid/meteorite will kill 1/3 of sea creatures; Wormwood destroys 1/3 of all freshwater animals. Wormwood in Tanakh:

14 Neither with you only do I make this covenant and this oath; 15 But with him that standeth here with us this day before Y’hovah Elohenu, and also with him that is not here with us this day: 16 (For ye know how we have dwelt in the land of Egypt; and how we came through the nations which ye passed by; 17 And ye have seen their abominations, and their idols, wood and stone, silver and gold, which were among them:) 18 Lest there should be among you man, or woman, or family, or tribe, whose heart turneth away this day from Y’hovah Elohenu, to go and serve the gods of these nations; lest there should be among you a root that beareth gall and wormwood [root of bitterness? Heb.12.15]; 19 And it come to pass, when he heareth the words of this curse, that he bless himself in his heart, saying, I shall have peace, though I walk in the imagination of mine heart, to add drunkenness to thirst: 20 Y’hovah will not spare him, but then the anger of Y’hovah and his jealousy shall smoke against that man, and all the curses that are written in this book shall lie upon him, and Y’hovah shall blot out his name from under heaven. (De.29.14-20)

Therefore thus saith Y’hovah Tzavaoth concerning the prophets; Behold, I will feed them with wormwood, and make them drink the water of gall: for from the prophets of Jerusalem is profaneness gone forth into all the land. (Jeremiah 23:15)

That which is profane is that which is ‘common’, no big deal, normal stuff. But ‘profane’ is said in reference to people who are SUPPOSED to be set-apart unto Y’hovah. Instead, those who are SUPPOSED to be set apart are just like the world system. Wormwood also looks like the bitter water of Num.5.16ff, where the jealous husband would take his wife to the priest, who would then bring the wife before Y’hovah for judgment, to see if she is guilty of the adultery her husband suspects her of. If she drank the water and was innocent (mark of Y’hovah = innocence), no harm would come to her; but if she were guilty, she would swell up on the spot and die a gruesome death. 

V.12, shofar #4, has 1/3 of the sun being smitten, and 1/3 of the light of the moon and 1/3 of the stars being blotted out of our sight, another direct effect of the star Wormwood’s crashing to earth and the asteroid/meteorite crashing into the sea. It sounds as if the atmosphere will be darkened by the heavenly bodies’ effects on the earth’s ecosystems. I wonder how the enviroNazis will blame this stuff on the rich and their SUVs? I wonder if the angel who announces the ‘Woes’ will be seen and heard by the people of the earth. If they hear this witness to the stuff about to come on them, how can they NOT fear Y’hovah and call out to him for deliverance? Men have been worshipping the creation for a long time, and by this time it’s become official NWO government policy. Y’hovah has to judge it as he did Paroh and the false Egyptian gods. Q&C

9.1-12 – The 5^th shofar brings another star from the heavens. This angel has both the 5^th shofar and the key to the abyss, which he opens. This could be another natural wonder, drawn by the Star Wormwood (assuming that conspiracy theory is true) that attacks the ecosystem, and releases some particularly vile spiritual beings on those who have not the mark of Y’hovah. The sun and the air are darkened by the smoke rising out of the pit – darker than the 1/3 lessening of light from Wormwood and the asteroid. There’s a slight change from the Egyptian woes in that the locusts don’t come up to eat what’s left of the vegetation, but to bite those without Y’hovah’s mark that causes a torment worse than death AND an inability to die, a kind of immunity from physical death. This judgment sounds like a biological or chemical attack, as did the boils in Egypt. It could be that the ‘locusts’ this time are actually man-made weapons delivering chemical agents to put down insurrection or rebellion against the NWO government. The description of the locusts DOES sound a lot like the helicopters I used to work on in the regular Navy, so I don’t discount that it may be Y’hovah using men’s weapons (Apache gunships?) against themselves. But the spirits that drive them are named Abbadon and Apollyon, meaning Destruction or Destroyer.

Vv.13- – The 6^th shofar looses the 4 angels who have an appointment to wreck havoc on the earth, and this shofar marks the time, the very hour, day, month and year that Y’hovah has the appointment set. Don’t think that Y’hovah is not working everything together to get there, or that he is powerless to do it. EVERYTHING works in HIS timing, not ours, and most certainly not in haSatan’s. The angels are bound IN the Euphrates River and have the power to kill 1/3 of the men of the earth. The army that they loose is 200 MILLION strong. The cavalry today is either airborne, as in Apache helos, or armoured, as in M1A1 Abrams tanks. These 200M grunts are supported by a LOT of tanks and helicopter gunships. I believe these to be the ‘kings of the east’, that we saw last week in Ch.16 and the 6^th vial of Y’hovah’s wrath. I do not necessarily think the trumpet and vial judgments are coincident. It could be that this trumpet judgment gets the forces moving from China and other points east of haAretz, and the vial that dries up the Euphrates makes it possible for this army to easily come and do its dirty work.

So, all the men who experienced the 5^th trumpet – locusts – and who wished that they could die and actually sought death to replace the pain of the locust’s torment, were now given the opportunity to die, but death eventually came to only 1/3 of them. The army is NOT a part of the 1/3 of men who die by the judgment they are bringing. I think they are chemically or biologically immune to the death they bring, whether carrying an injectible counter-agent to whatever chemical they are releasing, like the curare we in the Navy had issued to us in case of a nerve gas attack [one poison to counteract another], immunized, OR genetically modified to be immune. 

V.20 shows us Y’hovah’s purpose in all these judgments – to get men to repent of their evil and to turn to him for deliverance. Those who live through all these trumpet judgments, amazingly enough, STILL refuse to repent and call on Y’hovah. Q&C            

End of Shabbat Bible Study