Shabbat Bible Study for May 28, 2016
©2016 Mark Pitrone and Fulfilling Torah Ministries
May 28, 2016 – Year 1 Sabbath 8
Genesis 9:18 – 10:32 – Isaiah 49:9-13 – Psalm 8 – Revelation 5:1-4
Links:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nimrod
B’reishit 9.18-19 – The whole earth became populated by the sons of Noach; Yapheth, Shem and Ham. Why are we told here that Ham is the father of Canaan? Perhaps because Moshe wrote this during the wilderness time and he wanted to impress on Israel that they were going in to possess the land of the wicked son of Noach. V.25 says,
“And he said, Cursed be Canaan; a servant of servants shall he be unto his brethren.”
Who would the servants be to whom Canaan would be servant? How about Israel, who had been the servant of Mitzraim for those 3 generations? I mean, I COULD be wrong ….
Vv20-23 – Noach planted a vineyard, drank some of the wine, got drunk and passed out. (I don’t have a drinking problem! I drink, I get drunk, I fall down! No problem!) Ham “uncovered his abba’s nakedness” has 2 possible interpretations in my mind: 1] he saw his abba’s privates and makes light of it to his brothers, who respectfully cover their abba or 2] he went in unto Noach’s wife [not his mother] for some whoopie. This needs some explanation, since it is a different way of looking at this passage than the traditional church’s, with which we are all aware. What does scripture mean when it says ‘uncover nakedness’? Here are passages from Lev.18;
6 None of you shall approach to any that is near of kin to him, to uncover nakedness: I Y’hovah. 7 The nakedness of thy father, or the nakedness of thy mother, shalt thou not uncover: she is thy mother; thou shalt not uncover her nakedness. 8 The nakedness of thy father’s wife shalt thou not uncover: it is thy father’s nakedness.
14 Thou shalt not uncover the nakedness of thy father’s brother, thou shalt not approach to his wife: she thine aunt.
16 Thou shalt not uncover the nakedness of thy brother’s wife: it is thy brother’s nakedness.
24 Defile not ye yourselves in any of these things: for in all these the nations are defiled which I cast out before you: 25 And the land is defiled: therefore I do visit the iniquity thereof upon it, and the land itself vomiteth out her inhabitants. [Vayikra 18. 5-7, 14, 16, 24-25]
Notice that your father’s wife and your mother can be 2 different people? Notice that the woman is her husband’s nakedness? Also notice that we are told AGAIN that Ham is Canaan’s dad. Moshe IS making a point here. I mean, I COULD be wrong, but …. Anyway, Noach got ticked and cursed Canaan, not Ham. He must have foreseen the wickedness of the entire line of Ham, but the special, heavy-duty wickedness of the Canaanites. We’ll get to see this next week, for sure, when we discuss the Tower of Babel and ol’ Dumb-ro … sorry, … NIMrod. 😉 {JK WTZ} This is another dot that I connect to make MY thought process go towards either Ham’s or Noach’s wife having the Nephilim DNA and perhaps NEXT week we’ll investigate whether the first of Canaan’s seed that actually MANIFESTED that perverted DNA after the flood was Nimrod.
How did Noach know that Ham had gone in unto Noach’s wife or been a pig about his seeing Noach’s privates? Perhaps Yah told him, or one of the other boys. Whatever, the outcome is Canaan being the slave of slaves. How much lower on the Jewish social scale can you go? Samaritan? Maybe.
Notice that Moshe tells us that Noach said that Canaan would serve Shem. From whom are Avraham and Yisrael? Moshe is telling Yisrael that Canaan is to be their servant. Perhaps this was the rationale for allowing some Canaanites to stay in the land as servants to Yisrael?
And they drave not out the Canaanites that dwelt in Gezer: but the Canaanites dwell among the Ephraimites unto this day, and serve under tribute. (Jos.16.10)
This doesn’t say that they COULDN’T drive them out, but they DIDN’T drive them out. Cheap labor and taxes (shades of Bush/Clinton/Obama/Congress and wide open borders, eh?).
Yapheth will live in Shem’s tents. Is this a prophecy of the European nations being ‘graffed in’ to the root of Mashiach and Avraham? Canaan would also be Yapheth’s servant.
B’reishit 10.1– It’s interesting that Moshe tells us the generations of the eldest and youngest of Noach’s children first, but saves Shem for last. There was a book about 25-30 years ago called “The Birth-Order Book” that postulated that 2nd sons are generally achievers, like airline pilots, race-drivers; etc., highly competent and exacting men. Shem was a 2nd son. The eldest son is almost automatically accepted by his parents. The 2nd feels a need to excel in order to gain the acceptance that is probably as freely given to him as the to the 1st. Anyway, there seems to be a direct correlation between birth order and achievement, which seems to be the case in scripture, as well, beginning with Cayin and Abel and continuing on throughout the generations. All of the patriarchs were second sons of their father. I think that Moshe tells us about the boys in this order to emphasize Shem’s role in Avraham’s and Yisrael’s history. Q&C
Vv. 2-20 – Looking at the names of Yapheth’s kids and comparing them to the names of places and mythological gods of Europe and Russia, we can deduce that Yapheth’s fam must have moved north and west from the mountains of Ararat. Yavan = Greece, and corresponds to Jove of Norse-Saxon myth; Gomer relates to Germany; Meshech, Tubal and Magog went to what is now Russia, etc. Their children can be traced to England, Scandinavia, Turkey, etc., and v.5 indicates that these all had their tongues confused at Bavel (later in the chapter).
The sons of Ham seem to have moved east and southwest. Cush is the most important of Ham’s children in ancient history, for he is the father of Nimrod, the progenitor of all the pagan religions in the earth. Nimrod is called “a mighty hunter before Yehovah.” The Hebrew word translated as ‘before’ is panayim and it means ‘in the face of Yehovah’; i.e., he was in Yehovah’s face – a bold and wicked man. Tradition has him building the Tower of Bavel, which I think is correct. If he didn’t actually build it himself, he was the driving force behind it. One tradition says that Eber, an ancestor of Avraham, refused to help with the building and Yehovah rewarded him by NOT confusing his tongue. This is the source of the idea that Hebrew is the pure language, which will be revived in the Kingdom and beyond.
Nimrod, according to many traditions (see Wiki article on Nimrod) was married to Semiramis and the two correspond to the male/female deities Isis and Osiris, Baal/Molech and Ishtar/Diana, and all the other husband/wife gods of the heathen.
From the Wiki article (it’s GOTTA be true!), quoting Josephus:
Now it was Nimrod who excited them to such an affront and contempt of God (the tower). He was the grandson of Ham, the son of Noah, a bold man, and of great strength of hand. He persuaded them not to ascribe it to God, as if it was through his means they were happy, but to believe that it was their own courage which procured that happiness. He also gradually changed the government into tyranny, seeing no other way of turning men from the fear of God, but to bring them into a constant dependence on his power…
Shades of every human government today – Nimrod, the 1st Nikolaitan and socialist.
Now the multitude were very ready to follow the determination of Nimrod, and to esteem it a piece of cowardice to submit to God; and they built a tower, neither sparing any pains, nor being in any degree negligent about the work: and, by reason of the multitude of hands employed in it, it grew very high, sooner than any one could expect; but the thickness of it was so great, and it was so strongly built, that thereby its great height seemed, upon the view, to be less than it really was. It was built of burnt brick, cemented together with mortar, made of bitumen, that it might not be liable to admit water. When God saw that they acted so madly, he did not resolve to destroy them utterly, since they were not grown wiser by the destruction of the former sinners; but he caused a tumult among them, by producing in them diverse languages, and causing that, through the multitude of those languages, they should not be able to understand one another. The place wherein they built the tower is now called Babylon, because of the confusion of that language which they readily understood before; for the Hebrews mean by the word Babel, confusion…
I’d be willing to bet that if we counted off the 2nd and 3rd generations of Noach’s sons we would count 70 fathers of 70 languages, which is a possible source of the # of elders of Israel. This is also taken from the Wiki article:
In the History of the Prophets and Kings by the 9th century Muslim historian al-Tabari, Nimrod has the tower built in Babil, Allah destroys it, and the language of mankind, formerly Syriac, is then confused into 72 languages.
(72 is a fake of 70. I think the Moslemists are fixed on the # 72. You know, mansions, bedrooms, beds, and virgins?)
It’s amazing how closely all the traditions fit together with the biblical account, isn’t it? There are, of course, variations of detail to fit the culture, but the stories are all basically the same, which attests to their historicity.
Also from Wiki:
Nimrod figures in some very early versions of the history of Freemasonry, where he was said to have been one of the fraternity’s founders.
(that ought to raise a BIG red flag, eh?).
According to the Encyclopedia of Freemasonry:
The legend of the Craft in the Old Constitutions refers to Nimrod as one of the founders of Masonry. Thus in the York MS., No. 1, we read: “At ye making of ye toure of Babell there was a Masonrie first much esteemed of, and the King of Babilon yt called Nimrod was a Mason himself and loved well Masons.” However, he does not figure in the current rituals.
I think I won’t be contradicted in any evangelical circles ,whether Xian or Messy, when I say that Nimrod was a bad dude.
I think that a connection can be made between Cush’s son Nimrod and the Nephilim of Gen.6.4 through the use of genetic modifications done pre-flood and that genetic mod being carried through the flood as recessive DNA coding in either Noach’s or Ham’s wife that did not manifest until Cush’s son Nimrod was born. Perhaps Nimrod’s wife (Semiramis?) was also a ‘mighty’ one, like he was. The giants, the sons of Anak, that the spies encountered in Num.13.33 were also Nephilim. Then the same designation, giants/sons of Anak is used of Sihon of Ammon and Og of Bashan. The word ‘mighty’ is from H1368 gibbowr and is also used of Goliath in 1Sam.17.51, where the same word is translated as ‘champion’. This is not conclusive, since the same word is used of David and translated ‘mighty’ in 1Sam.16.18, but the use of these terms in describing men of enormous stature, in the case of the giants, and of enormous character, in the case of David, is interesting. The giants all seem to be tyrants and to use their enormous stature to intimidate ‘just plain folk’, while the men of enormous character seem to use their might in service to Y’hovah, like David and his gibbowr chayil, mighty men of valour.
Ham’s other sons include Mitzraim, or Egypt, Phut (Libya and points west) and Canaan. The sons of Ya’acov were slaves to Hamites in Egypt, and entered the promised land to fulfill Noach’s prophecy about Canaan. Canaan’s sons migrated from Ararat to the Eastern Mediterranean coasts from southern Turkey to Gaza and east to the hills of the rift valley. Q&C
Vv.21-24 – Shem is called the ‘father of all the children of Eber’. I think the name Eber is prophetic of his descendants, the Hebrews. Eber is Strong’s H5677, the same word as 5676, which means ‘east’, and from the root 5674, avar which means ‘cross over’. Strong’s indicates that eber refers to crossing Jordan, but the first ‘Hebrew’ (one who has crossed over) was actually Avraham, and what he crossed was Euphrates, leaving Shinar, the land of his fathers, to follow after Yehovah, the Creator of the world. He DID eventually cross over Jordan, but that is not what defines his land grant from Yehovah, beyond dividing it. I need a better Bible Atlas than I have on my computer to figure out where these sons of Shem, the Shemites, settled. Perhaps someone has this info.? One thing is sure, they didn’t go out into all the world to populate it, but hung together and got a little rambunctious, which we’ll see next week.
V.25 tells us that in the days of Peleg the earth was divided. This could refer to the division of the land masses and creation of the Atlantic Ocean after the flood, or it could refer to the tower of Babel, when the earth was divided into 70 distinct nations. This latter is my personal belief, though the former may ALSO be true.
Yoktan had 13 sons. His name means ‘he will be made little’, from the word katan, as in tallith katan. Katan means diminish, make of no account. Yet he had 13 sons who are named here. Perhaps that is his only contribution to the human race? His only mention is as father of 13 sons in Gen. and 1 Chron.1. So he personally diminished in Yehovah’s sight and the only ones of his sons who are spoken of again are Sheba and Ophir, and that has to do with the regions they settled, the Queen of one and the gold of the other. It looks like they went into Africa south of Egypt. Perhaps that is the source of the rumours of Ethiopians being the true Jews? (which I think is ridiculous)
V.29 refers to Havilah and Ophir, both famed for their gold. Havilah and Ophir being mentioned gives me the idea that when Moshe referenced Havilah in Gen.2, he was using the names of regions his audience knew, not necessarily what Adam called them.
V.31 refers to Sephar. The Sephardim, or Jews of western Europe, were from Spain, and were the target of the Spanish Inquisition, along with true believing Christians in the 15th-16th centuries CE. Is there a correlation? I think so. Q&C
Yeshayahu 49.9-13 – Before we treat the actual text, I think it’s important to note that this third day (Thursday) is 27 Iyyar, the date that the waters were dried off the earth AND the date of Yeshua’s Aliyah haShamayimah – ascending towards the heavens. Note that the haftarah deals with a similar subject – aliyah l’hamalchut, going up to the kingdom.
In v.9 the words ‘prisoners’ and ‘in darkness’ are synonymous, referring to the 10 tribes of Ephraim in exile. We are being told to go forth and show ourselves. Do you remember when Yeshua healed the 10 lepers and told them exactly this, “Go show yourselves to the priests”? (Deliver slowly) Could – there – be – a – con – nec – tion ? Prisoners in darkness set free and told to show themselves sounds like those who believe Yeshua and are called to work out (show forth) their faith in fear and trembling.
When b’nei Yisrael were crossing the wilderness for 40 years, they had a pillar of cloud to protect them from the sun by day and a pillar of fire to light their way at night, they had food provided as manna in the morning and quail at night, they had a Rock following with them to provide all the water they needed in the midst of the desert and a pillar to prepare the mountains a passable road for them. That’s amazing provision and protection. And he brought them from ‘far, from the north and west and from Sinim’, just to illustrate what he does for his people, whether Jew or Gentile. Sinim means China – as in the Sino-Japanese wars (1894-95, 1937-45) – the east.
In v.13 the whole creation shouts and sings for joy when Yehovah redeems his people, Yisrael. In v.14 Zion thought that Yehovah had forsaken her due to the tribulation she had to endure, but in vv.15-16 Yehovah reminds us that we are constantly on his mind. He is just waiting for our tribulators to fill up the vials of his wrath, so he can judge them and condemn them for their wickedness by pouring that wrath on them without admixture. Q&C
Tehellim 8 – A messianic Psalm – V.1 equates Yehovah’s Name to his glory. He has set his Name and his glory above the heavens. V.2 applies the wrath of condemnation we saw in the haftarah today to the tribulators of Yehovah’s people. His strength goes forth against his enemies from the mouth of helpless children – that’s us. When we speak forth the Word of Elohim against the wicked and their wickedness, it causes great hurt to them. They are offended by our righteous pronouncements against them. It is Yehovah’s Spirit condemning them, and who have they to lash out in fear and anger at the painful truth but the messengers – that’s also us.
Remember that we are always on his mind, even though it may not seem so. David wrote vv.3&4, he was overwhelmed by the power and solicitude of Yehovah Yeshua, who is ever mindful of man, but especially of his Bride. We are made for a time lower than the angels, but he still crowns us with honour, and actually places them in subjection to us in the New Creation, as he had originally placed the rest of the physical universe in this creation. I have come to think that one source of rebellion from Lucifer, haSatan, was when Yhwh conferred with the ‘heavenly sanhedrin’ and told them of his plan to make man of inferior intrinsic power, but still place them in authority over the angels. Lucifer thought Yhwh had slipped a cog, or something. So he left and took his host with him; 1/3 of the angelic beings, leaving Michael and Gavriel to head their respective hosts. Just an opinion, not a set or proven doctrine.
While I was looking for stuff for the Brit portion, I came across this gem at YashaNet.
Soncino Zohar, Bereshith, Section 1, Page 36b
AND THE EYES OF BOTH OF THEM WERE OPENED. R. Hiya says, their eyes were opened to the evil of the world, which they had not known hitherto. Then they knew that they were naked, since they had lost the celestial lustre which had formerly enveloped them, and of which they were now divested. AND THEY SEWED FIG LEAVES. They strove to cover themselves with the (delusive) images from the tree of which they had eaten, the so-called “leaves of the tree”. AND THEY MADE THEMSELVES GIRDLES. R. Jose said: ‘When they obtained knowledge of this world and attached themselves to it, they observed that it was governed by those “leaves of the tree”. They therefore sought in them a stronghold in this world, and so made themselves acquainted with all kinds of magical arts, in order to gird themselves with weapons of those leaves of the tree, for the purpose of self-protection.’ R. Yehudah said: ‘In this way three came up for judgment and were found guilty, and the terrestrial world was cursed and dislodged from its estate on account of the defilement of the serpent, until Israel stood before Mount Sinai.’ Afterwards God clothed Adam and Eve in garments soothing to the skin, as it is written, HE MADE THEM COATS OF SKIN (ayin, vav, resh – ‘or). At first they had had coats of light (aleph, vav, resh – ‘or), which procured them the service of the highest of the high, for the celestial angels used to come to enjoy that light; so it is written, “For thou hast made him but little lower than the angels, and crownest him with glory and honour” (Ps. 8.6). Now after their sins they had only coats of skin (ayin, vav, resh – ‘or), good for the body but not for the soul. Q&C
Gilyahna 5.1-4 – This ‘book’ is likened to a scroll with wax seals at intervals that would have to be broken one at a time. When the first was broken it would reveal some of the content of the scroll. Then, after the contents under the first seal was read, the next would have to be broken to reveal the contents of the 2nd part of the scroll. And so on to the seventh. Do the 7 seals correspond to the 7 Spirits of Elohim, as seen in Rev.4.5 and 5.6? Remember that we are sealed with the Spirit of Yehovah in 2Cor.1.22, Eph.1.13 and 4.30, as are the 144K of Rev.7 & 14.
A search is conducted for someone worthy to open the seals and the scroll. This scroll is likened to a title deed, which is the type of document that would have been sealed with a wax seal. A document of this type would have the owner’s Name in plain sight and only the owner or his authorized representative could open the seal. The word translated ‘worthy’ is the Strong’s #G514, axios. Thayer’s Lexicon says that axios means that the opener has to be of the same or greater value or power as the sealer of the scroll. If the seal is indeed Yehovah’s Ruach, then Yehovah is the owner of the scroll (for only he could seal something with his own Spirit) and only he or his authorized agent can loose the seal and read the scroll.
This is only informational and parenthetical, interesting info for a discussion of honest money. In light of the seal only being opened by the authorized representative of the owner, I’d like you to get out a checkbook and look at the signature line. Does it have a bold, capital MP at the end? That does NOT mean Mark Pitrone. It means MicroPrint. If you get out a magnifying glass and look at that signature line, you will see that it is not a line at all. It is a PRINTED STATEMENT that says “AUTHORIZED REPRESENTATIVE” or “AUTHORIZED AGENT” over and over again. When you sign a check, you are saying that you are the authorized agent or representative of the CORPORATION named in the upper left side of the check, which is usually written in ALL CAPS. This is only informational and parenthetical, interesting info for a discussion of honest money. Q&C
V.3 says that ‘no man’ anywhere was found worthy to open the scroll or look at its contents. So I axe ya, where was Yeshua when this search was going on? He IS a man, is he not? He IS Yehovah, and therefore worthy, is he not? So why was he not found? May I speculate and say that he wasn’t there. Where could he have been? If Yeshua is Yehovah (and he is) in the flesh, then he is localized in the flesh. Avinu and Ruach haKodesh is ruach – spirit – and is everywhere and everywhen present simultaneously (for lack of a better word). As the search was going on, Yeshua was neither in heaven, nor on the earth, nor under the earth, so he must have been suspended between earth and heaven. Was he on the tree, dying our death so that he could be ‘a man found worthy’ to open the scroll?
Of course, the man found worthy to open the scroll turns out to be a Lion and a Root. Obviously, this is metaphorical language like that found in Tanakh. What or Who is the Lion of the tribe of Yehudah? For one thing, the Lion refers to the oth, or sign on the banner of Yehudah in the wilderness. Each tribe had a banner with an oth, and Yehudah’s was Ariel. It also refers to the constellation Ariel (pagans call him Leo), the Lion of the tribe of Yehudah, seen in the heavens as the first of the ’12 stars’ seen in ‘the crown’ of the woman (Bethulah) in Rev.12. The 12 stars are the constellations of the zodiac in which the gospel of peace is presented for all to see. They begin, in this metaphor, with Ariel, the lion, and end with Bethulah, the virgin bearing seed (pagans call her Virgo). All the zodiac dendera of the world begin with Bethulah and end w/Ariel.
Gen.49.9-10 – “Yehudah a lion’s whelp: from the prey, my son, thou art gone up: he stooped down, he couched as a lion, and as an old lion; who shall rouse him up? 10 The sceptre shall not depart from Yehudah, nor a lawgiver from between his feet, until Shiloh come; and unto him the gathering of the people.”
The Root of David is only mentioned in this book. Yeshayahu 11 speaks of the root of Jesse, and Rom.11 refers to that, but only Gilyahna speaks of the Root of David. What is a root, but the underground portion of a plant that derives and distributes nourishment from the ground to the plant and also anchors the plant with a sturdy footing? The Lion of Yehudah is also the Root of Jesse and David. He is the sustainer of David’s life, as well as the protector and power of Yehudah. David would whither and die without the Root and without the Lion Yehudah would be powerless and wiped out. The other mention of the Lion of Yehudah is in ch.22. David, the king of Yehudah, is rooted in Messiah, the Lion of the tribe of Yehudah.
Ramchal briefly discusses “Roots and Branches” in Derech haShem (The Way of G-d), 1.5.2, 2.5.6 & 3.2.1. Q&C End of Midrash.
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