Shabbat Bible Study for May 12, 2017
©2017 Mark Pitrone and Fulfilling Torah Ministries
Exodus 16:25-17:15 – Isaiah 58:13-14 – Psalm 53 – John 6:1-71
Links:
http://splitrockresearch.org/content/Welcome/
http://www.sichosinenglish.org/books/mashiach/11.htm#t14
Shemoth 16.25-36 – Last week we saw that Y’hovah had set apart the Shabbat in 5 ways in giving the manna, and in v.24 we read the last way,
And they laid it up till the morning, as Moses bade: and it did not stink, neither was there any worm therein.
So now Moshe said (in a Mark paraphrase of) vv.25-26, “Eat what didn’t spoil overnight today, because there won’t be any out there today. Y’hovah is setting us a pattern for the Shevua/week in that 6 days you will go out and gather manna, but the 7th day Shabbat is your rest day. Don’t go out looking for manna. It will be a manna-less effort.” But, of course, in v.27 we just HAD to be Missourians and say ‘Show me! I won’t believe Y’hovah until I see it with my eyes.’ We see this same attitude in Num.15 when the guy went out to gather sticks for a fire on Shabbat. In vv.28-29 (in another Mark paraphrase), Y’hovah addresses the nation through Moshe, “How long will you continue to despise what I say? I’ve given you the Shabbat for a day of rest. Did you like being slaves so much that you can’t take off the day I set aside for you? I gave you a double portion on the 6th day so you could rest on the Shabbat. WORK WITH me here!” So, in v.30, they did, finally.
The point made in vv.27-30 is illustrated by Rav Sha’ul in 1Cor.5:
1 It is reported commonly fornication among you, and such fornication as is not so much as named among the Goyim, that one should have his father’s wife. 2 And ye are puffed up, and have not rather mourned, that he that hath done this deed might be taken away from among you. 3 For I verily, as absent in body, but present in spirit, have judged already, as though I were present, him that hath so done this deed, 4 In the name of our Master Yeshua haMashiach, when ye are gathered together, and my spirit, with the power of our Master Yeshua haMashiach, 5 To deliver such an one unto Satan for the destruction of the flesh, that the spirit may be saved in the day of Y’hovah Yeshua. 6 Your glorying is not good. Know ye not that a little leaven leaveneth the whole lump? 7 Purge out therefore the old leaven, that ye may be a new lump, as ye are unleavened. For even Mashiach our passover is sacrificed for us: 8 Therefore let us keep the feast, not with old leaven, neither with the leaven of malice and wickedness; but with the unleavened of sincerity and truth. 9 I wrote unto you in an epistle not to company with fornicators: 10 Yet not altogether with the fornicators of this world, or with the covetous, or extortioners, or with idolaters; for then must ye needs go out of the world. 11 But now I have written unto you not to keep company, if any man that is called a brother be a fornicator, or covetous, or an idolater, or a railer, or a drunkard, or an extortioner; with such an one no not to eat. 12 For what have I to do to judge them also that are without? do not ye judge them that are within? 13 But them that are without Elohim judgeth. Therefore put away from among yourselves that wicked person.
Later and in numerous places, it is commanded that those who will not keep the Shabbat shall be cut off from the people, as we see in
Ye shall keep the sabbath therefore; for it is holy unto you: every one that defileth it shall surely be put to death: for whosoever doeth any work therein, that soul shall be cut off from among his people. (Exodus 31:14)
Is this not what Rav Sha’ul had decreed for the guy who defiled his father’s bed, a la Reuven and Bilhah? I think the principle applies; sin willfully/be excommunicated. HalleluYah! for Yeshua’s atonement on his tree and its propitiation before Avinu for us.
Vv.31-35 are explanatory and not a part of the historical, chronological narrative. The manna was the size of a coriander seed, maybe 1/8 to 3/16 of an inch in diameter, slightly off white in color and tasting slightly sweet, like honey. As I said last week, it probably was a perfect nutritional food, carrying enough calories to sustain them as they walked through the wilderness, as well as being what we’d call well balanced, the right mixture of fat, carbs and protein to keep their bodies in excellent physical condition, strong and resilient. Manna, in conjunction to the right amount of animal protein from the quail would provide a well balanced diet. Y’hovah commanded to fill a pot with Manna and to set it before him in his presence. I assume that this command was given some time later, after there was a sanctuary and a tabernacle to place it in and not necessarily the 22nd day of the 2nd month, as the narrative implies. It says in v.34 that it was laid before the Testimony, which hadn’t been described to Moshe by the 22nd of the 2nd month. The chapter ends telling us that Israel ate Manna for 40 years until they came into the land Y’hovah had promised to Avraham’s descendants, and we learn in Yehoshua until they ate the produce of the land they were about to conquer.
And the manna ceased on the morrow after they had eaten of the old corn of the land; neither had the children of Israel manna any more; but they did eat of the fruit of the land of Canaan that year. (Joshua 5:12)
As they conquered Canaan, I assume they divided the food as they had the manna, each person getting what he needed and/or desired to eat from the spoils.
As I see the narrative unfold, I see the movement of Israel from Egypt to Rephidim, which is nearby to Horeb taking 40 or so days, then they were encamped at Rephidim about a year, and then they moved to Kadesh Barnea to spy out the land. That would mean that the rest of Exodus, all of Leviticus and until Num.10.11 they were encamped here. That’s when the Shekinah started moving again, chol Yisrael following. I wonder if they practiced tearing down and setting up camp during that year or so at Rephidim? I’d have done it a few times, just to keep the process fresh. Q&C
17.1-7 – Going back to the chronological narrative, Y’hovah decided to test them once again. This is the 2nd time in 3-4 days that he tested them to trust his provision of water. Remember last week they were tested at Marah, and if they’d waited just a few hours, they’d have come to Elim and the 12 wells and 70 palms. This time there was good reason to worry, because there was no vegetation to speak of, and there were no wells. When they came as far as Rephidim they were out in the middle of the desert with no water anywhere, and no indications of any. Remember the happy sailor – ‘A kvetching sailor is a happy sailor’? Well, Israel did its best ‘happy sailor’ impression and started kvetching. The rabbis think, and I tend to agree, that the first kvetch was before they actually ran out of water, but knew there wasn’t any around, so they started in on Moshe that they were running short and would be needing some soon. That’s why Moshe said what he did, “What are you buggin’ ME for? I’m not choosing the route! You’re kvetching at Y’hovah, not me.” But when their supplies actually went dry and they were ACTUALLY thirsty, then MOSHE started to kvetch at Y’hovah about the kvetching he had to endure – so much so that he may have exaggerated. There isn’t any indication that the people were ready to stone Moshe, except his kvetch. Y’hovah knew that of course, and had Moshe walk before the people just to prove it to him. He was told to take some elders and his rod with him to a rock that Y’hovah had designated and to smite it once with the rod. I think the elders were there as witnesses that there had not been water anywhere around until Moshe smote the rock, which veritably GUSHED with water. You can see a picture of what MAY be (I think it is at least likely that it IS) the actual Rock at Horeb at http://splitrockresearch.org/ . I think it’s likely the actual rock that gushed out water for 2.5 million people and all their livestock because of the nature of the split and the way the rock is eroded. If you go to splitrockresearch.org and roll over the “Field Reports” tab and then click on ‘split rock’ from the drop down menu and THEN scroll down to the 2nd and 3rd pictures you’ll see what I mean.
The rabbis speak of the rock following them throughout the Wilderness adventure, for they didn’t kvetch about water again until MirYam’s death (Num.20.1). When Y’hovah instructed Moshe to speak to the rock, he instead struck the rock with his rod. The note to Num.20.8, on pg.843 of Stone’s Chumash is VERY interesting (read it). Now, you don’t suppose that Rav Sha’ul knew about what the rabbinic sages had said concerning this Rock that followed them, do you? Do you see that the sages said it was the same Rock as at Horeb/Rephidim? Reminds ME of 1Cor.10.1-4. Rephidim means refreshings, from the root raphad which means to spread (as in a bedspread) or refresh (as in making – refreshing – a bed).
Massah, in v.7, means ‘testing’ and Meribah means ‘with provocation or strife’. I find it interesting that when Yisrael tested Y’hovah with their provocation by striving with Moshe, that was when Y’hovah brought Amalek to test them by provocation and strife at Rephidim. Rephidim means refreshings, from the root raphad which means to spread (as in a bedspread) or refresh (as in making – refreshing – a bed). Don’t look now, but it also refers to ‘comfort’ as in a thick bedspread or comforter. Yeshua is the Y’hovah who provided the refreshing water of Rephidim, and who promises another Comforter to refresh our minds about all the truth that he came to reveal so that we could spread the intimate knowledge of it to the world. Q&C
Vv.8-15 – Amalek is the son of Eliphaz and Timna, the daughter of Seir, the Horite. Eliphaz is Esau’s firstborn, of Esau’s wife Adah, daughter of Elon the Hittite. Eliphaz had sons by at least one wife; including Kenaz, the ancestor of Caleb, the elder of Yehudah. But Eliphaz, son of Edom, also had at least one son – Amalek – by his concubine, Timna, daughter of Seir the Horite. So Eliphaz was only half Hebrew and half Hittite. And his concubine’s son Amalek was at best ¼ Hebrew and ¾ Canaanite. I think that Amalek became the king of kings of the Horites at Seir, which is how Mount Seir can be called Edomite territory in Is.63.1-6
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 in mine heart, and the year of my redeemed is come. 5 And I looked, and none to help; and I wondered that none to uphold [Mark asks – will he find faith in the earth? Lk.18.8]: therefore mine own arm brought salvation unto me; and my fury, it upheld me. 6 And I will tread down the people in mine anger, and make them drunk in my fury, and I will bring down their strength to the earth.
Amalek = Edomite (Gen.36.16):
Duke Korah, duke Gatam, and duke Amalek: these are the dukes that came of Eliphaz in the land of Edom; these were the sons of Adah. (Genesis 36:16)
Amalek came to attack Israel, as I said, I think as much as an object lesson to “stop with the murmuring and provoking, already” as anything else. This is a pretty long distance from the mountains of Seir, after all. How would the Edomites have found out that Israel had even left Egypt? Unless an Edomite had been there when Israel left Egypt and hightailed it back to Edom to spread the news AND knew their route, how could they have known where to find Israel? It’s only about 1½-2 weeks since Paroh drowned. Egypt may not even know of Paroh’s demise yet – the entire army drowned in the Red Sea. Speculation Warning! What follows is conjecture, not what is revealed in Torah’s text. Perhaps Bila’am was in contact with Paroh’s demonic spirit. Or perhaps with Y’hovah himself? Torah doesn’t say or imply that Bila’am was the source of Amalek’s information, but in Num.22, when we are openly introduced to Bila’am, he is a prophet of Y’hovah. We will see Yithro next week. I think Bila’am is the ‘anti-Yithro’ – a ‘prophet-at-large’ in Moav and Edom, like Yithro had been the ‘priest-at-large’ in Midian when Moshe met him 40+ years before. As ‘at-large’ representatives they would make inquiries or offerings to any Elohim for the going rate. I also suspect that the 40-year long relationship between Moshe and Yithro had become not just an ‘in-law’ relationship, but a trusting friendship, as well. And I think that by this time Yithro had become a priest of Y’hovah, exclusively. End of Speculation Warning. The point is that somehow, Amalek knew of Yisrael being in southwestern Midian and attacked them. I don’t have a problem with seeing Y’hovah telling Bila’am (a couple of weeks in advance of the Meribah rebellion) so that they could show up immediately after the water suddenly appeared in the middle of the desert, and in enough quantity to satisfy the needs of 2.5 million people and their livestock, so that he could deliver the object lesson to those who had eyes to see and ears to hear. That this Rock and its gushing spring of water followed them for 40 years in the Wilderness would be one more reason for the pagans to fear Yisrael and her Y’hovah.
Moshe did not ask Y’hovah’s advice, but had to have had an action plan if ever there arose a need to physically defend the people. He went right to Yehoshua and set the battle plan in order. Y’shua would lead Israel in battle while Moshe oversaw the battle from a nearby hilltop. Yehoshua was Moshe’s right hand, able to deliver, as Yeshua is Avinu’s right hand, able to save. In v.5 Y’hovah called the rod “thy rod”, but in v.9, Moshe told Y’shua that he would stand on the hilltop with the “rod of Elohim” in his hand, and Yehoshua went against Amalek in full confidence that the battle was Y’hovah’s and that Moshe was safe from attack. Hur and Aharon noticed that the aspect of Moshe’s arms and the rod of Elohim made a difference in how the battle went, so they set up a Rock (the same one, maybe) for Moshe to sit on and they held up his hands so that Yehoshua could ‘discomfit Amalek’ until the sun set and, presumably, Amalek retreated to lick his wounds. As in every battle that Y’hovah undertakes, there were no Israelite casualties, not so much as a papyrus cut.
Y’hovah then instructed Moshe to write an account of the battle as a witness and a reminder to Yehoshua of how Y’hovah fought for Israel against her worst enemy – Edom/Amalek. I think Y’hovah had already chosen Y’shua as Moshe’s successor, and that another reason for this battle was to ‘blood’ Y’shua, to give him field experience in leadership. Y’hovah then promised Moshe that Amalek would eventually be wiped off the face of the earth. It hasn’t happened yet, but watch for it to occur just after Amalek/Edom rise up against Y’hovah in the soon to come Gog uMagog war. Moshe built an altar and called it Y’hovah-Nissi – Y’hovah, my banner. A banner is a sign to set one apart. Y’hovah is definitely one who sets his own apart. Q&C
Is.58.13-14 – Chapter 58 speaks of the shabbat, but specifically it talks about the Yom haKirrurim Shabbat. Look at the language used throughout the chapter. Vv.1-5 deal with OUR yoke, what OUR fasts are about. In v.1 Y’hovah is telling YeshaYahu what he wants him to tell Yacov about their fasts, including the fast of Yom haKippurim as they are keeping it. In v.3 the people are complaining that they are fasting for nothing; afflicting their souls for what? Y’hovah doesn’t even seem to notice all they are doing for him. In v.4 Y’hovah is saying all their own fasts are done for the wrong reasons. In v.5 he tells them that their fasting is not after his heart and way, but after the desires of their own hearts and ways.
In vv.6-7 we see what Y’hovah’s yoke is in the one fast HE calls his children to keep, the one day HE requires us to afflict our souls and he describes the affliction. The fasting and affliction he wants us to follow is to loose the bands of wickedness – the yoke of bondage whereby we oppress our brethren; to care for our brethren in their need, to feed the hungry, clothe the naked and house the poor brethren in our own houses. Yom haKippurim is not just about our confession of our transgressions to Y’hovah and receiving Yeshua’s propitiatory grace. It is also about setting the captive free, restoring the children of Israel to their inheritances and declaring the acceptable year of Y’hovah. How many times did Israel actually declare a yovel and return the exile to his inheritance? I don’t remember it EVER happening. I don’t remember them even observing a true sabbatical year.
Vv.8-12 tell us about the blessings that will derive to us when we keep a true Yom haKippurim/Shevuah/Yovel. Here it is with the supplied, italicized words removed;
8 Then shall thy light break forth as the morning, and thine health shall spring forth speedily: and thy righteousness shall go before thee; the glory of Y’hovah shall be thy rereward. 9 Then shalt thou call, and Y’hovah shall answer; thou shalt cry, and he shall say, Hinayni. If thou take away from the midst of thee the yoke, the putting forth of the finger, and speaking vanity; 10 And thou draw out thy soul to the hungry, and satisfy the afflicted soul; then shall thy light rise in obscurity, and thy darkness as the noonday: 11 And Y’hovah shall guide thee continually, and satisfy thy soul in drought, and make fat thy bones: and thou shalt be like a watered garden, and like a spring of water, whose waters fail not. 12 And of thee shall build the old waste places: thou shalt raise up the foundations of many generations; and thou shalt be called, The repairer of the breach, The restorer of paths to dwell in.
When Y’hovah says he will be our rereward, he is saying he will gather us, lead us, guard our flanks AND fight for us, as he did with Yisrael as they crossed the Red Sea in the day of battle and as he did when Amalek attacked Yisrael in our Torah portion today.
Our haftarah portion is better translated in the Stone’s Tanakh:
If you restrain your foot because it is the Shabbat; refrain from accomplishing your own needs on my holy day; if you proclaim the Shabbat a delight, and the holy of Y’hovah, honored; and you honor it by not engaging in your own affairs, from seeking your own needs or discussing the forbidden – 14 then you will delight In Y’hovah and I will mount you astride the heights of the world; I will provide you the heritage of your father Yacov, for the mouth of Y’hovah has spoken.
The correct attitude for Yom Kippur is more the idea of being like Y’hovah than is worrying about our own skin. If we actually DID what we are supposed to do, there would be no need for any believer to go to the government for his needs, which it provides sparsely and with a major yoke of bondage. Q&C
Ps.53. – This psalm fits the haftarah very well. It speaks of the fool and the wicked, who are actually one and the same. Among so-called believers, these are tares. They are the ones spoken of in Is.58.1-5, who look wonderful to the average congregant, but are oppressors in reality; who put their yoke on the poor, the widow and the fatherless; who delight in LOOKING like they are fasting and gaining men’s approbation, but garnering no praise from Y’hovah. Among these are the ones Rav Sha’ul spoke of in Rom.3
They are all gone out of the way, they are together become unprofitable; there is none that doeth good, no, not one (Romans 3:12)
The reason they are this way is that they live entirely in the natural man – they have none of the Ruach of Elohim in them. But v.5 shows us that even those of us who fear him don’t truly know the fear of Y’hovah. I think the ultimate fulfillment of v.5 will be seen at the final Gog uMagog rebellion at the end of the Millennium, where the camp of the remnant saints, who had no fear whatsoever, will look up to see the armies of the earth surrounding the whole city of Yerushalayim and actually fear, even knowing the outcome. That will be because the natural man is still there. But even THAT fear will be nothing to the fear that will come over them when they see the instantaneous judgment and condemnation of Y’hovah on the wicked rebels. At THAT time they will know real fear of Y’hovah. Why? Because they will know that in their natural man they were every bit as deserving of exactly the same end, but that the grace of Y’hovah’s Ruach in them made all the difference. They will truly realize that, except for the indwelling Ruach haKodesh, that was their own fate. And after that 1st death of the body, there was a judgment coming and a 2nd death, the death of their soul in the Lake of Fire. Q&C
Yochanan 6.1-14 – I don’t have anything like the time to do an exhaustive look at this chapter of Yochanan. So, I will touch some highlights and open the room to Q&C.
In the beginning of the chapter, we are told that Passover was drawing nigh, and then that a great multitude is following Yeshua so they can see some of the miraculous healings that he’d done. Yeshua doesn’t much care the reason they are following, he knew there was no way that so many could get into town and buy all they’d need to eat – the businesses would run out of provisions too quickly. So he asked Philip where they could get enough bread to feed the crowd. I’m guessing Philip was the ‘bag man’, and an honest one, because he knew exactly how much cash was on hand and let everyone know. Andrew, ever the practical one (and the one with the sense of humor) said, “There’s a kid here (I think it was Andrew’s kid) with some sandwich fixings”. (‘Ha ha’, he kept to himself.) The 5 barley loaves represent Torah; the books of Moshe and the 2 fish represent Ephraim and Yehudah, like the constellation Pisces, which in Hebrew is called the Greater (Ephraim) and Lesser (Yehudah) Sheepfolds. Yeshua told his talmidim to have the men sit down (I think by 12 companies around him, like it had been in the wilderness – pure speculation). Then he took the loaves and I assume dried fish, gave thanks (probably the hamotzi lechem) and broke them into small portions for the talmidim to pass out to the crowd. When all 5000 men and I assume at least some of their families had eaten to the full, the talmidim gathered up 12 baskets full of leftover barley bread. Were the leftovers all each talmid could pick up – 1 basket apiece – or all that was left over? I think it was representative of the whole house of Yacov as well as the 12 major constellations in the stars. The point Yeshua made was not lost on the men in the crowd – “This is THAT PROPHET like unto Moshe that Y’hovah promised would come!”
15 Y’hovah Elohecha will raise up unto thee a Prophet from the midst of thee, of thy brethren, like unto me; unto him ye shall hearken; 16 According to all that thou desiredst of Y’hovah Elohecha in Horeb in the day of the assembly, saying, Let me not hear again the voice of Y’hovah Elohai, neither let me see this great fire any more, that I die not. 17 And Y’hovah said unto me, They have well which they have spoken. 18 I will raise them up a Prophet from among their brethren, like unto thee, and will put my words in his mouth; and he shall speak unto them all that I shall command him. 19 And it shall come to pass, whosoever will not hearken unto my words which he shall speak in my name, I will require of him. (Deut.18.15-19)
Yeshua had just duplicated the miracle of the manna that I described last week. When Israel went out in the morning to gather the manna, it probably never diminished. It appeared on the surface of the ground with the dew. It wasn’t 3 or 4 feet deep. It just lay on the ground like the dew. When they went out to gather an omer per man, they filled their omer containers and there was still manna on the ground. When they got all they needed and the sun waxed hot, the leftover melted away. They’d just watched Yeshua take 5 barley loaves and 2 fish and feed 5000+ people, leaving leftovers. I think that when the men in the crowd looked into the baskets to grab some bread and fish, they each saw exactly the same thing – a basket empty except for 5 loaves and 2 fish. And it’s obvious that they took more than each really needed, or there would have been no leftovers. Q&C
Vv.15-21 – Yeshua perceived that they would try to MAKE him be king. Now he would be King, and he knew that right well, but he was not going to allow anyone to try to force him to be king outside of Abba’s timing. So he went up into the mountain where they couldn’t find him. I wonder if Ruach transported him out of their reach – like he walked behind a boulder out of everyone’s sight and 2 seconds later they came around the boulder to get him and he was just gone? I know – I’ve seen too many episodes of Star Trek. Before he could be king, he would have to prove to the priests and rabbis that he was Mashiach (which he did, though they refused to acknowledge it) and then offer himself as their King. Of course if they accepted him as King Mashiach, they would have to cede their power and control, which is why they didn’t acknowledge him as Mashiach.
When he had well and truly lost them, and after the talmidim had set sail for Capernaum, he approached them on the surface of the Sea of Galilee in the midst of a raging storm. I suppose haSatan was whipping it up to scare the talmidim into despair. Just as it appeared that all was lost, here came Yeshua walking on the water, much as he’d allowed Israel to walk across the Red Sea without getting their sandals wet or muddy. Again he’s working the same miracles that he’d worked in the Wilderness Adventure. When they saw him walking on the sea, they thought they were seeing a spirit
And when the disciples saw him walking on the sea, they were troubled, saying, It is a spirit; and they cried out for fear. (Matthew 14:26)
But, when they let him into the boat, they were IMMEDIATELY at Capernaum – Yeshua, crew and ship transported about 6 miles and safely in port in the blink of an eye.
Vv.22-71 is all one paragraph and it all deals with Bread. Yeshua is about to tell the people about their attitudes, and their constantly seeking a sign, but when they actually SEE one, they jump to the wrong conclusion about it. When they found him in Capernaum, they asked him how he got there but he told them the only reason they wanted him to be king was that he was a miracle-worker, and they thought he’d just destroy Rome and they wouldn’t need to repent and go Y’hovah’s way. Q&C
He was about to unload on them, and if they listened to and applied his conversation, they would understand what he was telling them – that he was both the Son of Y’hovah and Y’hovah himself. First he told them that they were just after a free lunch, but he is going to apply the lesson of feeding the 5000 from a little kid’s lunch. He told them that the food which perishes – the earthly kingdom and its power – was not worth striving for, but the bread that brings everlasting life was. I don’t think they were listening, though. All they could think of was how THEY could do the same miracles he did; “work the works of Elohim”. They were after power – spiritual power. He said that the work of Elohim is to believe him who Elohim had sent. They understood that he meant himself and asked for a sign to prove to them that he was the prophet Elohim had sent. DUH! These had eaten a sign just the afternoon before and just proved that they didn’t believe that he was who he claimed to be. They wouldn’t see that Yeshua had given them that manna, just like he had the bread the day before. Yeshua likened himself to the bread from heaven that his Abba had sent, Yeshua haMashiach. Vv.33, 35 and 38 progressively make the point; 33, ‘the bread of Elohim is he who is sent from heaven’; 35, Yeshua claimed to be the bread of life; and 38, Yeshua claimed to have been sent from heaven and therefore to be THAT PROPHET like unto Moshe. Then he said that he was sent by THE Father to do his will, which was 1) to not lose anything he was given and to raise it up at the last day and 2) that everyone that ‘seeth’ the Son and believes on him would have everlasting life and that Yeshua would raise him up at the last day.
‘At the last day’ is used 5 times, all in the gospel of Yochanan (4 times in ch.6 by Yeshua and once in ch.11 by Martha about Eliezar to Yeshua). The phrase refers to the last Day of Trumpets/Resurrection Day before the beginning of the Millennial Kingdom, I think. It is not in man’s power to resurrect the dead. Only Y’hovah can do that. And Yeshua says 4 times in this chapter that HE will raise up those who believe in him ‘at the last day.’ It is an obvious reference and claim to the prerogatives and power of Y’hovah.
Just to prove that he was THAT PROPHET like unto Moshe, the Jews murmured at Yeshua because he said he was the bread from heaven – NOT that he had just claimed the power of Y’hovah as his own. The same Jews said, “Isn’t this Yeshua the son of Yoseph? We know who his parents are, don’t we? How can he say that he came from heaven?” I am not a Talmud scholar, but I seem to remember something about not knowing the lineage of Mashiach ben Yoseph – I very definitely could be wrong about that. I found this online at http://www.sichosinenglish.org/books/mashiach/11.htm#t14
Targum Yehonathan on Exodus 40:11 traces his descent to Joshua (cf. below, note 7). Other sources state that he [that is Mashiach ben Yoseph – Mark] is a descendant of Yeravam ben Nevat [1st king of Israel in Samaria], with practical implications in the Providential scheme for this genealogy; see Zohar Chadash, Balak:56b; commentary of R. Abraham Galante on Zohar II:120a (cited in Or Hachamah there); and Emek Hamelech, Sha’ar Olam Hatohu: ch. 46. Cf Devash Lefi, s.v. mem:par. 18. (Note also the sources cited in Sha’arei Zohar on Sukah 52a with regards to other views about his lineage.)
So, is Mashiach ben Yoseph descended from Yehoshua or Yerovoam, or perhaps Yehoshua through Yerovoam? Sounds as if the lineage of Mashiach ben Yoseph/Ephraim may be in doubt.
Perhaps ‘ben Yoseph’ speaks more to his role as tzadik than his physical lineage? And as the elder of a tribe does not HAVE to be a physical descendant of that tribe, like that dog of a gentile Kalev, the Kenizite, was the elder of Yehudah in the Wilderness, could not either Mashiach or both be just ‘in the Spirit and power’ of his namesake father? That could explain the doubts of his lineage. If he is as righteous as Yoseph, or even more so, would he not be seen as the son who is greater than his namesake father, as Mashiach ben David is in scripture?
41 While the Pharisees were gathered together, Yeshua asked them, 42 Saying, What think ye of Mashiach? whose son is he? They say unto him, of David. 43 He saith unto them, How then doth David in spirit call him Master, saying, 44 Y’hovah said unto my Master, Sit thou on my right hand, till I make thine enemies thy footstool? 45 If David then call him Master, how is he his son? (Matt.22.41-45)
Y’hovah said unto my Master, Sit thou at my right hand, until I make thine enemies thy footstool. (Psalms 110:1)
This has always been seen as a prophecy of Mashiach, even as Yeshua knew the Prushim would make the application. If the Son of David is greater than his father, why can’t the Son of Yoseph be greater than his? It is also interesting that the Mashiach in Ps.110.1 is made a priest forever after the order of Melchizedek in 110.4 – Melech, ben David and Tzadik, ben Yoseph all wrapped up in one package, Y’hovah Yeshua haMashiach. Q&C
It’s not as if Yeshua hasn’t been speaking sod level of understanding to these guys, but now he starts laying it on them really thick. And I think they are recognizing every allusion he is making to the mysteries of Elohim that they have been taught and his applications of them to himself. In v.45 he applies Is.54.13 to himself
And all thy children shall be taught of Y’hovah; and great shall be the peace of thy children. (Isaiah 54:13)
No man had ever seen the Father – even Moshe had not seen the Father with his physical eyes. But those who had believed HAD ‘seen’ the Father by the power of his Ruach on and in them. Yeshua then really starts on the ‘bread’ allegories and allusions. Bread/food is that which sustains the physical body, and in the same way our spirits are sustained by the spiritual food/bread/meat we are fed by Ruach. As our spirits are not fed by physical food, so our bodies are not fed by spiritual food. But as without physical food the body that houses the spirit will atrophy and eventually die, so without spiritual food, the Ruach that empowers the physical to be able to observe Torah and that gives us life eternal will atrophy. If you don’t use it, you lose it;
19 Thou wilt say then, The branches were broken off, that I might be graffed in. 20 Well; because of unbelief they were broken off, and thou standest by faith. Be not highminded, but fear: 21 For if Elohim spared not the natural branches, lest he also spare not thee. 22 Behold therefore the goodness and severity of Elohim: on them which fell, severity; but toward thee, goodness, if thou continue in goodness: otherwise thou also shalt be cut off. 23 And they also, if they abide not still in unbelief, shall be graffed in: for Elohim is able to graff them in again. 24 For if thou wert cut out of the olive tree which is wild by nature, and wert graffed contrary to nature into a good olive tree: how much more shall these, which be the natural, be graffed into their own olive tree? (Rom.11.19-24)
Keep ‘eating’ the spiritual ‘bread’ from heaven to maintain your spiritual vigor, while eating biblically clean food to maintain your body’s physical vigor. Yeshua IS the Bread of Life and draws all the truths of vv. 33, 35, 38 and 44 together in v.51. He’s boggling their minds with the sod this day. The bread HE gives is his flesh that he gives ‘for the life of the world’, not just Yehudah, which gives the context of the rest of the chapter – Judaism was and is an exclusivist religion, which is where the RCC and her daughters learned it. Yeshua was NOT exclusivist, but died to propitiate the sins of the whole world.
The next day Yochanan (the immerser) seeth Yeshua coming unto him, and saith, Behold the Lamb of Elohim, which taketh away the sin of the world. (John 1:29)
And he is the propitiation for our sins: and not for ours only, but also for the sins of the whole world. (I John 2:2)
I think that was one of the reasons they really started getting down on him. In v.52, they start taking what he clearly means as a deep sod level teaching and trying to interpret it with a peshat application. He’s already given enough information for them to know this. And by the end of the chapter you can even see some frustration in Yeshua’s responses to them. If only Yehudah, the RCC and her daughters would understand this whole exchange from the standpoint of v.63, they would get it. Heck, even the fundamental Baptists get this one, and there aren’t many more literalist/peshat thinkers on earth! Yeshua is the Word of Elohim, figuratively AND literally, so chol Toroth, Tanakh and B’rit Chadasha, is the body he says we must eat. And since the life is in the blood and Y’hovah Elohim breathed into man the breath of life, I think the indwelling and empowering Ruach of Y’hovah is the life blood of Yeshua that we need to drink in, the ‘blood’ that carries all that the soul of man needs to grow into the likeness of Yeshua. V.58 is very plain – Yeshua is NOT talking about eating physical food; “NOT AS your fathers ate manna and died.” He was talking about eternal life, to which mere flesh and blood cannot attain. Even some who had been following him couldn’t wrap their minds around what he was saying because they were thinking surface action, like the stormy sea’s surface, not the calm that resides in the depths. He never once meant his physical body and blood – it was all a parable, a deep truth. While he’s telling his talmidim that he’s relaying deep spiritual and mystical stuff to them, he knew that only those who were drawn of the father could begin to grasp what he was saying. That didn’t speak well of the Prushim, because very few of them ‘got it.’ Even some of Yeshua’s followers gave up and went home. But when he asked the 12 if they were going to leave, too, Kefa said, “And where are we going to go? YOU have the Words of Life!” Amein! He does! Q&C
End of Shabbat Bible Study
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