tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-71258086891152535972024-03-12T20:45:51.404-05:00Ger V'Toshav A Stranger and SojournerInsight and perspectives into religion, politics, and philosophy from a stranger and sojourner on this Earth.Ger V'Toshavhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10077759937900756390noreply@blogger.comBlogger28125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7125808689115253597.post-87924958937210298702022-03-21T20:23:00.017-05:002022-09-02T14:02:21.351-05:00The Khazar Hypothesis<p>I wanted to talk about a subject that has come up again and again, lately. It has come up among friends in friendly discussions, among "foes" of sorts in internet debates, but in both cases, it is a recent nuisance that needs to be addressed in forthright language. That subject is the Khazar hypothesis.</p><p>Before we begin, I guess I need to explain in very short detail what the Khazar hypothesis is. First, we need to ask who were the Khazars?</p><p>The Khazars were a people who were related linguistically, culturally, and perhaps also genetically to the larger group of Turkic peoples of Asia. This larger group spoke Turkic languages, practiced a religion which today we call Tengrism (an animistic faith centering on a supreme sky god), and seem to have had a semi-nomadic lifestyle. The Khazars are presumed to have carried that same basic legacy, and there is some scant evidence of this. Other groups today that perhaps descended from Turkic peoples are, as you probably guessed, the peoples of modern Turkey, but perhaps also Bulgarians, the Azerbaijanis, Uzbeks, Uyghurs, etc., and are spread today among many countries in Asia and Eastern Europe. There have been past claims that the Finish, Estonians, and Hungarians descend from Turkic peoples, but these claims are largely discarded given that the languages and culture are categorized as from the Uralic family. Still, there is a remnant of a historical relationship which has bled over culturally between Turkic and Uralic peoples, particularly among the Hungarians.</p><p>During a crucial point in history, when the Eastern Roman Empire, also known as the Byzantium Empire, was locked in a power play with the two dominant Islamic Caliphates of the day, the Khazars operated a considerable trading empire that benefited from both of these groups. That empire lasted from about 650 AD to 950 AD and covered a large area of land in what we know today as the Ukraine, Georgia, and parts of Russia. Their presence in this precise spot made them something of a political buffer between the aggression of Byzantium and the Islamic Caliphates. At first this was accepted by both parties, but eventually, the appreciation of their role soured on both sides of this medieval cold war, and the Islamic powers began to aggressively challenge the Khazars, followed by Byzantium. At some point, the highest cast of leaders of the Khazars converted to Judaism, perhaps as something of a compromise between the Christian aggression from Byzantium and the Islamic aggression from the Caliphate. In any case, we don't know the full reasons for the conversion of their leaders, nor do we know with any certainty the extent of that conversion within the leadership as a whole or within the larger population. Given that the larger common populations are reported to have been very anti-Semitic, the likelihood of a mass conversion of the population seems less likely than a limited conversion among the upper leadership.</p><p>What should be clear is that the Khazars are not mythological. What I've stated here are things that are more or less known. The Khazars are a real historical ethnicity with real historical borders and a real historical culture. Their history is relatively well understood and well mapped out, at least for a group that didn't seem to leave behind much in the way of any documentation. What isn't really known is what happened to them after they became the target of aggression on both sides of their borders, and so that leaves them open as a solution to various population growth problems, either real ones that are documented for the time period, or those which are presumed for other reasons. In the late 1800s, the Khazar hypothesis was proposed, making the claim that upon the scattering of the Khazars through the Russian and European territories after they were driven beyond their own borders, they became the "Jews of Europe", at least to a large extent, basically constituting what we know today as the population of Ashkenazi Jews.</p><p>I know that many people who bring up the Khazar hypothesis to me do so innocently. They hear this hypothesis and it seems to explain a lot to them. It confirms for them suspicions they may have already had. Not all of these suspicions are nefarious, sometimes it's just nagging thoughts they may have had. Some Youtuber mentions it and explains it as if it were a proven fact of history, and the door is opened for their listeners to walk through. Or someone looking for answers discovers one of the older books on the subject, such as the infamous book <i><b><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Thirteenth_Tribe" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">The Thirteenth Tribe</a></b></i> by Arthur Koestler, which effectively made the first proposal of the hypothesis that resonated with pop culture in the 1970s. They read it and don’t recognize the clever ways that it information bombs to a conclusion without actually providing solid evidence to that conclusion. That book was a lot of fun to read, but its limitations were rather obvious. It employs a method is much akin to that of tomes like “Chariot of the Gods”. The reader is bombed with information that is revealed to lead them to a conclusion, and this information bombing distracts that reader from the lack of evidence simply due to the sheer amount of leading information it drops.</p><p>The point I am making is that those who have recent accepted this hypothesis don't always do so with bad intentions. In any case, regardless of their intentions, they usually don’t realize until much later, if at all, that this Khazar hypothesis has been greatly discredited and is now largely abandoned. And again, the reason they don’t realize this is because so many armchair historians talk about it as if it were a current and accepted theory, especially lately. Simply put, it isn't.</p><p>These days, genetic research has shown that the Khazar hypothesis is, to be generous, unlikely. DNA studies have shown that while a small percentage of European gene flow is present in Ashkenazi DNA, Modern Ashkenazi Jews have more genetically in common with other Middle Eastern and Jewish groups than they do with modern Europeans. Besides this, the cultural and linguistic ties that Koestler claimed have also been largely discredited by scientists in those fields and they are no longer considered credible claims. Besides the genetic and linguistic evidence, there is also the following to consider:</p><p></p><ul style="text-align: left;"><li>There is no historical evidence that the conversion of the supreme leaders of the Khazars to Judaism resulted in a mass conversion of Judaism among the greater group of Khazars (or even among lesser rulers).</li><li>There is a lack of evidence of a dispersion of the Khazars into territories that increased Jewish populations.</li><li>There is a lack of significant cultural connections between the Khazars and Askenazi Jews, at the time and down to the modern era,</li><li>There is no evidence of a sudden increase in the long existing Jewish populations in Europe at the time of the dispersion of the Khazars. These populations seem to have always been there, and did not experience an explosion of growth.</li></ul><p></p><p>Basically, most of what the Khazar hypothesis has going for it isn't evidentiary, but convenience -- it constitutes a convenient explanation of the origin of lighter/whiter skin tones among Jews in Europe, one that serves those who might seriously wonder how this happened, but which is even more suited for anti-Semitic or political considerations. The problem is that it's a complicated explanation of such a phenomenon, one that is looking for a non-existent problem when you consider that the more likely explanation for this clearly has as Occam's Razor's edge. The skin tone is much easier explained to be related to gene flow from infrequent intermarriage through the long periods of Jewish dispersion among white Europeans. There is no need to explain this skin tone by a sudden injection of Jewish convert populations from a prominently white group of people. Even the general skin tone of the Khazars is not fully known, which makes it even more of an iffy affair. Additionally, it cannot be ignored that modern genetics has shown similar genetic ties between very dark African Jewish populations and lighter skinned modern Jews, showing that gene flow can indeed be a more than sufficient explanation for this kind of change in skin tone among dispersed Jewish populations.</p><p>These days, most of those who still present the Khazar hypothesis as something other than a discredited theory do so for what is undeniably anti-Semitic or other political reasons. Granted, not all proponents do this, but a not insignificant number do, a number that I believe approaches a majority. The Khazar hypothesis fits their already accepted conclusions, their agendas, and so they promote it openly.</p><p>And that’s partly why I wrote this today. I’ve run into the Khazar hypothesis a lot lately. Fact is, until the past few years, I had forgotten it even existed because it had long ago become very discredited. A few friends brought it up to me recently and it was clear that they had no idea that this hypothesis was not at all well accepted. I was going to seek out the book I mentioned before to refresh my memory on the argument, until I realized I always had a copy I bought in my early 20s. The book interested me at the time, until I read it and flatly rejected it, but my rejection at the time wasn’t for the right reasons — I was steeped in my own false narrative of Israel’s history, and the book didn’t serve that narrative. So it was forgettable for me in most ways until lately, but its recent resurgence definitely brought it to mind. That resurgence seems to have a lot to do with modern politics around two mostly unrelated motivating factors: the rejection of Zionism, and the spread of anti-Semitism. As a result, we’re all hearing about it a lot more than we had since before the internet age. That gives it something in common with a lot of other modern conspiracy theories. Flat Earth, for instance, has always been around, but its latest growth of large numbers of proponents, a number that hasn't been seen since the dark ages, has been mainly due to the ability to spread disinformation in the information age.</p><p>Frankly, there are even vocal Jews and Moslems who treat the Khazar hypothesis as if it were current and credible. One of the YouTube links sent to me by an online agitator presented a Jewish conspiracy theorist who pushed the Khazar hypothesis rather strongly as a means of promoting his anti-Zionist views. Now, he wasn't an anti-Semite obviously, though he was anti-Zionist. This helped me to realize that many of those who take up this flag are not seeking to promote anti-Semitism but rather do so as means of supporting Palestinian causes. My purpose here isn’t to attack those motives, but it is definitely not constructive to those causes to accept a discredited theory, especially one that is so well accepted among anti-Semitic groups. It especially distresses me when I see Messianics and Christians promoting this theory. Shaul (Paul) said:</p><blockquote style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0px 40px; padding: 0px;"><p style="text-align: left;"><b><i>“Prove all things. Hold fast to that which is true. Reject every kind of evil.” </i>(I Thessalonians 5:21-22).</b></p></blockquote><p>I think most of those who give so much credence to Shaul (Paul) just conveniently pay little attention to him in these cases. For those who are interested in the evience, I would recommend this excellent article on the work from Professor Shaul Stampfer of Hebrew University on the insufficient historical references on the hypothesis, titled <a href="https://en.huji.ac.il/en/article/22007" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Did the Khazars Convert to Judaism? New Research Says ‘No’</a>. And for more information on the genetic research, please take a look at the following:</p><p></p><ul style="text-align: left;"><li><a href="https://digitalcommons.wayne.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1040&context=humbiol_preprints" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">No Evidence from Genome-Wide Data of a Khazar Origin for the Ashkenazi Jew</a><br /><br /></li><li><a href="https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5380316/" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">The time and place of European admixture in Ashkenazi Jewish history</a><br /><br /></li><li><a href="https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3032072/" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Abraham's Children in the Genome Era: Major Jewish Diaspora Populations Comprise Distinct Genetic Clusters with Shared Middle Eastern Ancestry</a><br /></li></ul><div><p>Motivations are also important to examine. If you hold to the Khazar hypothesis for what you strongly believe to be humanitarian reasons, then I think it's important to recognize that you can support and defend both Jewish and Palestinian causes, and your own political beliefs around what takes place in the Levant or elsewhere, without placing your faith in discredited historical postulates. In fact, putting faith and vocal support behind such theories as a means of backing up your political positions will only serve to hurt your arguments in the long run, especially after they’ve become part of the functional lore of anti-Semitic groups and alt-right political movements, groups which have motivations that can only be described as racist and xenophobic. When bringing guns to a battle of wits, you should choose your guns carefully. Some of them are practically designed to backfire.</p></div><p></p>Ger V'Toshavhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10077759937900756390noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7125808689115253597.post-48456386170992606882022-03-01T22:10:00.005-06:002022-04-25T15:26:08.553-05:00The Cult of Putin<p>I never intended this blog to be a political blog, but I feel like I don’t have much of a choice but to get political. Politics are a natural part of human life, and their nature in guiding the forceful actions of governments require that they be addressed from time to time. If there was ever a time for an exception to aversion around politics, it has come. We’ve seen the Cult of Trump and the Cult of QAnon poison American politics, but it started much longer ago with the Cult of Putin. In fact, I’ve come to believe strongly that the Cult of Trump and the Cult of QAnon owe their existence to the Cult of Putin.</p><p>What do I mean by that? For the last 20 years, I’ve been watching a lot of grown American men obnoxiously admiring Putin. Unfortunately, not just men. A decade ago, Putin invaded Georgia and murdered countless Georgians on a set of pretexts that spookily mirror the pretexts he used to justify the invasion of Ukraine. And I personally witnessed privileged Americans respond with memes of Putin riding dinosaurs and wrestling bears.</p><p>Memes aren’t the worst that can happen, but they do reflect where people are in their thinking. And in any case, it hasn’t been only in memes, which are just the tip of the iceberg, but in actual conversations from people who have real opinions of Putin as hero, including many who really should know better. It’s undeniable when you’ve seen and heard it with your own ears for two decades. They have admired him for his toxic masculinity. They have admired him for being a bully. They have thought his seizures of power were brave.</p><p>When I was younger and would read about how a significant number of Americans admired Hitler and admired Stalin prior to World War II, even celebrities, politicians, and industrialists, I would wonder how in the world that was possible! Couldn’t they see who these people were? For a good many of these people, the answer is that they weren't really looking at who these people were. They were looking at the dire situation of post-World War I Germany, or they were looking at the heroic efforts of Russians and other Soviet Union provinces in fighting back against an invading Germany. So there was some misdirection, just as there is now. We tend to get a bottlenecked view in times of crisis. Edward G. Robinson comes to mind — he was a fierce supporter of Stalin during the efforts of the Soviets to repel invasion of Germany in World War II, and later was upset to find he had overlooked a world leader who was arguably worse than Hitler and an empire that also had its sights on domination, both of its own part of the world and the rest of the world eventually. Not only did he realize he had overlooked these things in his efforts to support them against Nazis, but he had realized that he had been used by them in ways he had never imagined.</p><p>However, I remain unconvinced that the vast majority of the people who idolized these dictators had failed to recognize evil because of crisis, but instead openly embraced pompous figures out of their own sense of privilege. At one time I would have given more charity to this, because I assumed they didn’t see who these dictators masquerading as leaders were. I assumed that they had simply misjudged their character. But now that I’ve experienced this in my own time, I can firmly say that yes — they could see who these people were. That was, in fact, why they admired them. They saw them for who they were, and they liked it — they shared a sense of megalomania and enjoyed living vicariously in the shirt pockets of dictators. And they would have continued in this indefinitely. They only broke from this cycle when they had to bear some of the consequences themselves, particularly the public shame of their support. Then they cried foul and recognized the monster. That's the nature of privilege.</p><p>A great many of these delusional people who admired Putin are vocal Trump supporters and QAnon cultists. I don't say that to stir the pot. I don't say it to insult anyone reading this. I say it with quite a bit of sadness, frankly. It should surprise no one at this point why Putin wanted Trump to win so badly that he orchestrated interference in our elections. Like Hitler, and like Lenin and Stalin, Putin clearly has ambitions of establishing an empire. But countries that he sees as naturally under subservience to Russia are out of his grasp because of their membership in NATO. Trump had promised to remove the United States from NATO membership, which would have been the defacto end of NATO. That would have opened the door for Putin to march on Poland, the Czech Republic, Slovakia, Romania, Hungary, Lithuania, Slovenia, and Estonia. Now that Trump lost his re-election bid, and NATO is here to stay for the time being, Putin now just has to gamble. Nations that want to join NATO, like Georgia in the last decade, and Ukraine in the present, have to be seized on before they can seal the deal. </p><p>Putin, like Hitler, wants his little wars of conquest with zero Western resistance. And again, like Hitler, he doesn't want a large war beyond that. If this ends in World War III, I'm sure that is a situation in which he'd prefer not to be. Yet, his goals are not really negotiable given his almost religious devotion to the concept of a new Russian Empire. This has to be the case at this point, otherwise, given the response of the Western world, there would be a moment of clarity on his part, and that moment of clarity just isn't there.</p><p>This follows Hitler's own patterns so well. Hitler, for his part, could not believe that countries like England and France were going to see their promises of defending their allies through. He had fully expected them to stay out of it, or even give him the green light, as they had with his conquest of Czechoslovakia. He attributed the sudden renewed Western vigor of resistance to "warmongers" like Winston Churchill. But while it was not in his plan nor was it ever a desire of his to fight a World War, his goals were uncompromising. Hitler was willing to gamble with stakes as high as World War. I think Putin was and is willing to gamble World War, just as Hitler was.</p><p>So Putin's absence of an epiphany is at least understood by his desire for a Russian Empire. But for many of Putin's supporters and apologists in America and Europe, speaking as they are from a bubble of privilege and an atmosphere of only knowing peace at home, there is not yet a massive moment of clarity. I say this knowing that a few have experienced it, and for many more there will be such a realization, just as there was for those folks in the past when they finally saw what a threat Hitler and Stalin were as they arrived at their own intellectual or even literal doorsteps. But the reality is that a lot of these people won’t have that epiphany, even in this worst case scenario.</p><p>That's the danger of cultic thinking, of joining a cult around a personality. Those of us who know YHWH should know how to avoid joining a cult of personality, and should keep our prayers ascending for the violated people of Ukraine, who are now pitted in a life or death struggle to avoid being forced to join the Cult of Putin. Likewise, we should be praying for Russians and subjects of governments run by Putin's puppets. They need freedom from this Cult. They don't have the privilege of rescinding their membership.</p>Ger V'Toshavhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10077759937900756390noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7125808689115253597.post-14112273977368815402021-12-09T11:57:00.007-06:002021-12-09T12:34:45.432-06:00Qohelet -- Pessimism or Optimism?<p>I love some parts of the Tanach (Old Testament) more than others. I particularly love Sefer Qohelet. This book is called “Ecclesiastes” in English, which is itself taken from the Greek translated name of the book from the Septuagint, but “Qohelet” is a much more significant name, meaning something like “preacher”, or “agitator”, and that definitely sums up the mood of the author's narrative.</p><p>That the author's content is counter-intuitive at times is an understatement. He goes from recognition of injustice, to despairing at this injustice, to resignation in exhaustion on thinking of it, and then back around again. In his resignation, he often takes comfort in the realization that someday Elohim will judge the world and that these injustices will thus someday be met with a full redress, yet he then concludes that this too is a useless way of thinking. Why is that? I think it's because he recognizes that just shrugging off care about present injustices in the world by relying exclusively on Elohim's future judgement is not only a cop-out, but also in a sense makes one a passive party to the injustices. It opens that individual up to judgement. At the same time, the author knows that life was meant to be enjoyed, not constantly lamented... that there has to be time set aside for earnest protest, and yet time set aside to enjoy one's own life and the fruits of his labor, all of which have been literally created for enjoyment.</p><p>And that's what I love about this book, that its message is in the form of both an internal and external struggle to balance the need to address the injustice of the world with a desire to live life to the fullest. In its many sub-conclusions in its seemingly circular reasoning, it both requires us to speak up and out, to ”preach” or “agitate” against injustices in the world, to represent the victims of injustice and misfortune. And yet, it also allows us not to despair, permitting us to still enjoy life, even while living in an unjust world. The writer of the scroll lays on us the work of righting wrongs, yet ultimately concludes that we cannot become slaves to that work. He tasks us with the healing the world, yet he refuses to treat life as one big hospital.</p><p>In his ultimate conclusion, the author expresses that obedience to and loving respect of YHWH is the whole “duty of man”, and that in particular is off-putting to many, especially overly critical readers who greatly prefer to see the book as one big existential crisis that eschews hope and embraces existential isolation as an inescapable reality, and/or wish it to be an example of a pre-modern portrayal of atheistic or agnostic thinking. But the author clearly never intended to leave the book as a meaningless rant about meaninglessness, nor was he teetering towards atheism in any sense. Rather, he is ultimately attempting to work out the details of how to be free in an unfree world by expressing his anguish in arriving at a balance. Having said that, he also didn't intend this final exhortation to obey and love YHWH to be one big statement of obligation. The author isn't looking for another form of slavery to ideas. In the context of the words of the entire scroll that precedes it, his conclusion is expressed not primarily as a strict obligation, but as the ultimate means of both arresting injustice and attaining satisfaction and happiness at the very core of life. Connection to Elohim is a source of justice, life, and happiness, not a path to emptiness. Justice, life and happiness are in fact Elohim's primary values.</p><p>I know all too well this inner struggle between the “glass half full” and “glass half empty” sides of a personality. It is my personal form of mania. Qohelet is basically a permission slip to care about injustice AND enjoy life at the same time. It expresses that this doesn’t have to be a struggle as the two concerns are not mutually exclusive. At the same time, the core of its position is one of an optimism that is uncrushable, even by crushing pessimism.</p>Ger V'Toshavhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10077759937900756390noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7125808689115253597.post-74839178413413297372021-05-22T19:53:00.018-05:002022-09-06T13:30:02.988-05:00Shavuot and the Ten Words of Liberty<div class="separator visible_on_post" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-7MnsnF5hlG4/VpKmqDm-riI/AAAAAAAAA0A/vnh-jc6XwUkOLWlANEd72mr8RrgFnnnjQCPcBGAYYCw/s6000/TenCommandments.png" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="5010" data-original-width="6000" height="534" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-7MnsnF5hlG4/VpKmqDm-riI/AAAAAAAAA0A/vnh-jc6XwUkOLWlANEd72mr8RrgFnnnjQCPcBGAYYCw/w640-h534/TenCommandments.png" title="©stock.adobe.com/pixelrobot; modified by Ger V'Toshav and www.gervatoshav.com, a.k.a. gervtoshav.blogspot.com" width="640" /></a></div>
<div class="separator hidden_on_post" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-7MnsnF5hlG4/VpKmqDm-riI/AAAAAAAAA0A/vnh-jc6XwUkOLWlANEd72mr8RrgFnnnjQCPcBGAYYCw/s6000/TenCommandments.png" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="5010" data-original-width="6000" height="427" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-7MnsnF5hlG4/VpKmqDm-riI/AAAAAAAAA0A/vnh-jc6XwUkOLWlANEd72mr8RrgFnnnjQCPcBGAYYCw/w640-h534/TenCommandments.png" title="©stock.adobe.com/pixelrobot; modified by Ger V'Toshav and www.gervatoshav.com, a.k.a. gervtoshav.blogspot.com" width="512" /></a></div><br /><p style="text-align: left;">Earlier this week, those of us who are Torah observant observed one of YHWH's three pilgrimage festivals, namely Chag HaShavuot or simply Shavuot, but it goes by many names. HaTorah calls this day “Chag HaShavuot”, meaning “Festival of Weeks” presumably to emphasize the seven weeks counted between the Omer offering during Pesach and the day itself. When Greek speaking converts and disaspora began to use Greek terminology, other terms were brought out. The Greek version of Sefer HaMaasim (Book of Acts) calls this day “Pentecost” which in Greek means “Count Fifty” for its occurrence on the fiftieth day after counting the forty-nine days during that same seven weeks.</p><p style="text-align: left;">These are all fitting names, because both bring out something in the mitzvah from HaTorah which directs us to count from the Omer offering both the days and the weeks during this period until this special day is reached, but they aren't the only names. Even HaTorah calls this festival by a different name from time to time, namely "Chag HaBikkurim", meaning the "Festival of Firstfruits", because part of the point of this pilgrimage festival was to bring the firstfruits of the harvest for an offering.</p><p>So all of these names are good and valid. Personally though, I have my own pet name for this day. I like to call it "Aseret" — because this is the day when YHWH came down on Mt. Sinai and spoke "Aseret HaDevarim", the “Ten Words”, before all of the camp of Yisrael. This is the day he delivered the foundation of HaTorah from His Own Mouth in an amazing pyrotechnic display and a Voice so powerful that it could be seen. Later, YHWH Himself cut tablets out of stone and by His Own Finger, wrote these same Ten Words on those tablets, and gave them to Mosheh on Mt. Sinai to take down to the people.</p><p>These Ten Words are considered foundational to Judaism and Christianity, yet I think they are misunderstood. And a big indication of this is around the name they are often given in their legend. While they are often called "The Ten Commandments" in theological circles, this is not what they were originally called.</p><h4 style="text-align: center;">The First Word -- Clearly Not a Commandment</h4><p>Something that is very important to note here but is often glossed over is that our translation of these as “Ten Commandments” into English is not only woefully inadequate, but also ensures that we lose a lot of the context of their content and thus the purpose of their delivery. The Torah originally called these the Ten Words, or more meaningfully to us as English speakers, the Ten “Sayings”. It did this because these statements were not about bringing the people into a form of fettered obligation, but about keeping this newly unfettered people from falling again into another form of slavery. The content of these "Words" that we refer to as "commandments" are actually intended to help their practitioners avoid falling into inescapable servitude. They are about remaining free, not about a new form of obligation.</p><p>These are not laws to earn someone favor with Elohim... they are a gift of wisdom from the Elohim that released them from obligations to oppressive powers. These are not “laws” to be freed from, as so many Christians erroneously believe, but words of wisdom that will keep one free when practiced. These are not a crushing moral code to be redeemed from, but an ethical philosophy specifically gifted to the redeemed!</p><p>The First Word in the Ten Words isn't even a "do or don't" — instead YHWH sets the tone for the rest of the statements that will follow:</p><blockquote style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0px 40px; padding: 0px;"><p style="text-align: left;"><b><i>"I am YHWH your Elohim, who brought you out of the Land of Mitsrayim ('Egypt' in English), the House of Slavery ('avadim' in Hebrew)".</i> (Shemot / Exodus 20:2)</b></p></blockquote><p>The way Christians organize and number the Ten Words, they often do not consider this to be included among the Ten Words at all. Many plaques of the Ten Words don't keep this text, and even those that do treat it as either only part of the First Word, or as a preamble before the actual "commandments" are given. None of these practices are, in my opinion, the correct way to view this First Word. This isn't a part of another subsequent "commandment", even though it doesn't "command" anything in and of itself.. And though it does specifically state the motivation behind the delivery of the remaining nine Words to follow, it isn't merely a preamble. It is the first of the Ten Words in its entirety, standing alone to foster recognition of human liberty as an important theological concept.</p><p>An important thing to note in this verse is the word it uses for "bondage". That word in Hebrew is "avadim", which is the plural form of the masculine word "avad". In modern Hebrew, the same root word means "work" in general, both in noun and verb forms. In ancient Hebrew, it could also mean this, but can and often does signify a more specific form of work. Strong's Concordance defines the term as follows:</p><blockquote style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0px 40px; padding: 0px;"><p style="text-align: left;"><i>"עבד </i><i>→ </i><i>âbad </i><i>→ </i><i>aw-bad' </i><i>→ </i><i>A primitive root; to work (in any sense); by implication to serve, till, (causatively) enslave, etc. KJV Usage: X be, keep in bondage, be bondmen, bond-service, compel, do, dress, ear, execute, + husbandman, keep, labour (-ing man), bring to pass, (cause to, make to) serve (-ing, self), (be, become) servant (-s), do (use) service, till (-er), transgress [from margin], (set a) work, be wrought, worshipper." </i>(Strong's Hebrew Lexicon Number H5647).</p></blockquote><p>So "avad" is a term that implies more than consensual labor that the modern English term "work" implies; it's a term that referred more or less to work either arising from or leading to a state of indentured servitude or slavery. It is a term that can mean numerous things in that regard, and it appears THROUGHOUT these "Ten Words". As Robert D. Miller II of Catholic University of America points out in Lecture 7 of his Great Courses offering "Understanding the Old Testament", when you see the words "slavery" or "servant" or "slave" or "serve" or even "worship" in the Ten Words, that is translated from a Hebrew word built on the same root as "avad" in every single case. (NOTE: This series of lectures from Dr. Miller has confirmed for me many important nuances over the years which I have run across in my studies and introduced to me many nuances I had not yet considered. I highly recommend it to everyone.)</p><p>I'm going to attempt to take a two-tiered approach to describing what I believe is the intent and purpose behind these Ten Words. For the first part of my analysis, I want to dwell on how these Ten Words are intended to keep us out of "avadim", i.e. bondage rather than the often posited notion that these "Ten Commandments" were themselves a form of bondage from which "Christ" has freed us, and so I'm going to concentrate on just those portions first, to illustrate just how prevalent this point is in these Ten Words. After that analysis, I want to diverge into why Elohim delivered these Ten Words to Yisrael to begin with. He clearly had a purpose that transcends the similar notion that the Torah itself, for which these Ten Words provided a clear foundation, was delivered for the sake of a new form of contractual bondage from which Christians are supposedly freed at the cross.</p><h4 style="text-align: center;">The Second Word (Part One) -- No Slavery to Other Elohim</h4><p>Let's take a look at the first part of the rather lengthy Second Word for instance, and note the use of the same root for "avad":</p><blockquote style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0px 40px; padding: 0px;"><p style="text-align: left;"><b><i>"You will have no other elohim ('gods') before my face. You will not make for yourself a chiseled or carved image, nor any kind of likeness of anything that is in the sky above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth; you will not bow down nor serve them ("ta'ovdem" -- same root as "avad")..."</i> (Shemot / Exodus 20:3-5)</b></p></blockquote><p>Here the phrase "serve them" is often translated as "worship them", but both meanings are actually similar in this context, and both are built on the same root as the term "avad". You have to understand why YHWH Elohim is specifically calling this out in this case. In the ancient religions of the Middle East, both in Mitstrayim (Egypt), in Sumeria, and among the Phoenicians and Canaanites, the primary reason the "gods" created human beings was for those human beings to serve them and their interests. To "feed" these "gods", human lives were from birth believed to be intended as lives of bondage to the "gods". Kings and other aristocracy often escaped this fate by claiming some dual lineage between humans and "god", putting them into the position to also be served.</p><p>Notice that YHWH chose in this Second Word not to concentrate on service to Him, but instead to concentrate on the maxim of never serving other "gods". Notice, He doesn't say here in this Word "You will serve me", but rather "Do not serve them", and understanding that choice of perspective is critical to understanding the point of these Ten Words. As we'll see later on, YHWH isn't seeking this kind of service to him, but something more personal and more intimate. We'll go into the remaining and more controversial part of this Second Word more deeply later along with an analysis of the Third Word to help establish this point of intimacy, but for now, I want this point made very clearly: YHWH is explicitly framing relationships of people to other elohim ("gods") as relationships of slaves to their masters, and by exclusion of calling for a similar arrangement by avoiding commanding a relationship with Him as one of this kind of perpetual indentured servitude, He is implicitly framing a relationship with Him as one different in kind.</p><h4 style="text-align: center;">The Fourth Word -- A Day of No Service</h4><p>Skipping ahead to the Fourth Word, we read the following:</p><blockquote style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0px 40px; padding: 0px;"><p style="text-align: left;"><b><i>"Remember Yom HaShabbat, to 'qadosh' it (Hebrew 'l·qdsh·u', often translated as ' to keep it holy'). For six days, you will labor ("ta'avod" in Hebrew -- another form of "avad") and do all of your work, but the seventh day is a Shabbat to YHWH Your Elohim. In it, you will do no manner of work: neither you, nor your son, nor your daughter, nor your male servant, nor your female servant, nor your cattle, nor the foreigner living inside of your gates (or borders). For in six days, YHWH made the skies, the earth, the sea, and all that is in them, and He rested on the seventh day; therefore, YHWH has blessed Yom HaShabbat and He has 'qadoshed' it (Hebrew '</i></b><i><b>u·iqdsh·eu</b></i><b><i>', often translated as 'and He sanctified it'."</i> (Shemot / Exodus 20:8-11)</b></p></blockquote><p>Notice that this Fourth Word about keeping HaShabbat by doing no work on it uses the same root as was used in the First Word to mean slavery or bondage. That might seem out of place to us, because except in some form of hyperbole, most of us do not consider the work we do on a day to day basis a form of slavery. But in order to understand why this was so revolutionary at the time, you have to understand that the lives of many traditional working class people at the time was largely filled with never-ending work. It was unconscionable for most regular working class people to even consider having a day off from work every seven days. These days, many of us have a weekend off, or at least one or two days off during the week, but in the ancient world, this was not at all the case. And for working class people to take a day off every seven days from labor would have been seen not only as silly but downright irresponsible by many if not most of the cultures of the time. Even when other cultures had days off on cycles, they were often built around economic activities (such as Rome's famous "market days"), resulting in a large number of the working class people remaining at work in support of the activities.</p><p>Shabbat is here made into an entire day of ceasing from any form of servitude, a day that comes every seventh day, and a day that was for everyone regardless of their social or economic rank -- even non-Israelites in the land, even the animals. Even male and female servants are to rest. That English translation to "servant" in this case is somewhat dishonest, because it refers not so much to household servants that have been hired for duties, but mainly to slaves and indentured servants. An interesting thing to note is that the root term for the Hebrew term that is translated into English as "male servant" is "avdo", which is basically the same root as "avad", and its use here is an insistence that even slaves must be free men on Shabbat. Everyone was to rest from and enjoy the fruits of their labors.</p><p>Yom HaShabbat was even for YHWH Himself, and by tying it to His act of making the Earth into a home for life and creating that life upon it, even the Elohim who does not tire nor become weary in our material sense, took time out to enjoy the fruits of His labors. This is the biggest indication that, unlike the typical Christian narrative in its portrayal of Yom HaShabbat as a burden, that day is never a burden but is intended as a day of freedom. Remember that for the theogonies and cosmogonies of Yisrael's neighbors on all sides in the Middle East, the purpose of existence was to labor for the elohim ("gods"). YHWH instead frames His labors, in the form of His act of creation, as something to be enjoyed by others, a service He did for all living things. In a sense, YHWH places boundaries on ALL forms of work and service when he establishes a day of rest every seven days, allowing a free people to exit the rat race completely and fully and simply enjoy life for its own sake. In a sense, Yom HaShabbat is the most striking example of the real intent of remaining free behind the Ten Words. It signifies that life is about more than its labors, that living is about more than working.</p><h4 style="text-align: center;">The Fifth Word -- "Honor" Rather than "Serve"</h4><p>Let's take a close look now at the Fifth Word, and given what we know about the use of the term "avad" and its forms here, we can also note the choice of alternate terminology Elohim chose to speak here:</p><blockquote style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0px 40px; padding: 0px;"><p style="text-align: left;"><b><i>"Honor your father and your mother, so that your days will be long upon the land which YHWH Your Elohim is giving you."</i> (Shemot / Exodus 20:12)</b></p></blockquote><p>The first thing I want to note here is that YHWH goes out of His way to not use a form of the word "avad" that I mentioned before. No root of "avad" is used here. We are not told to do "avad" our fathers and mothers, but instead to give them a place of honor and to actually honor them. I don't think this was an accident. Choice of terminology in the Torah is often an implicit theological statement in and of itself, and I believe that to be the case here.</p><p>The Hebrew verb translated as "honor" is "kevad" Though "kevad" can have many meanings, including "liver" as a noun and "heavy" as an adjective, when used as a verb here, it refers to imparting an intense sense of value to the object of the verb, in this case, parents. Rather than referring to an obligation to care for them, it instead refers to an intent to treat them as very valuable, as precious, and to keep heavy emotions for their lives and well being. The intent of this verse, specifically around YHWH's choice of terminology here, is that parents are to be values not burdens, to be treasures not obligations. And when we treat parents like this, our care for them is not in the role of a "servant", but in a similar role to our caretaking of our own children.</p><p>Everyone gets old and no longer able to sustain themselves. Since we're all eventually to be in the position of being helpless in this sense, it is important that we have a culture of care around our parents in a similar way we do with our children. It's important to understand a distinction here, because as I point out later, children you invest in while in a proper relationship are a blessing to your life and your house. Though children created in some circumstances can end up being an obligation without rewards, and thus a form of servitude, outside of situations where you are able to invest more than simply financial means into their rearing, children take on a role in the seat of our emotions. This doesn't speak to children being a burden, and that is not at all my intent, but rather to the necessity of fostering an environment in which children are not treated as burdens. And that is what I believe the intent is here -- to foster an environment and attitude in which our parents are never in a position of being a burden but a great care in our lives.</p><p>In the West, we often have this attitude with respect to children (even if we are often woefully inadequate at creating that kind of environment or seeing these investments through to completion), but often miss the many ways that aging parents become a blessing to our homes. So this sense of value we imbue to our parents would render our care for them, especially in their elder years, to be no more of a burden than the care we give to our children. I think the reason YHWH says that honoring parents keeps the doer living long in the land is because of the culture that such an activity creates — a culture of loving parents as we love our own children creates an environment that simply fosters long life because it helps ensure that elderly people will not be at risk of being subject to the hardships of destitution and servitude in their old age.</p><h4 style="text-align: center;">The Sixth, Seventh, Eighth, and Ninth Words -- Freedom from Each Other</h4><p>When we look at some of the remaining Words that I haven't looked at thus far, it's easy to see why so many confuse these Ten Words or Sayings as something more akin to commandments. Let's take look at these:</p><blockquote style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0px 40px; padding: 0px;"><p style="text-align: left;"><b><i>"You will not kill. You will not commit adultery. You will not steal. You will not bear false witness against your neighbor."</i> (Shemot / Exodus 20:13-16)</b></p></blockquote><p>Negative assertions like these make it seem like these are commands to behave yourself, that they are specifically commandments to guard your behavior for the sake of guarding it or else. However, that view, despite being easy to understand, is very short sighted and once again misses the overall context of these Ten Words. The real intent behind these is that these maxims of refraining from these actions is that these activities both create servitude in victims and obligations of recompense in the perpetrators of their violation. They are intended to help us understand that we cannot remain truly free of servitude if we are easily made victims of each other, and they are designed to allow those who live by these words to avoid being on either end of such servitude. The Ten Words are not only ethical maxims promoting individual freedom from bondage, but also promoting a culture of freedom from bondage.</p><p>Going over each of these, this should be rather obvious. Taking someone's life is a theft of the most precious thing another individual has -- and it thus creates obligations that are not even remotely repayable by the one responsible for taking that life. More fundamentally, a man whose very life blood is not under his own control cannot be said to have ownership of his own life: his situation can be understood to be not only similar to but much worse than that of a literal slave whose life blood is spent as property in servitude of others.</p><p>Committing theft is a lesser form of this, but it also treats the life and work of another human being as something you can simply claim as your own. Property, goods, food, and even money result from the work of yourself and others. Theft of these things resulting from the work of others is effectively equivalent to making these people your servants. To help rectify this, reparations are often called for to restore property to the affected and prevent them from being relegated to servants in this case. Basically, theft naturally results in the creation of obligations for recompense, because by taking someone else's property, the fruit of someone else's labors, you are creating an obligation to repay. You become a debtor, and these are debts you may never be able to repay depending on the target objects of the theft. Either side of how a theft is treated result in some form of slavery to some other party.</p><p>And now we get to the statement directing refrain from providing false testimony or acting as a false witness. It should be obvious that acting as a lying witness can only lead to a potential robbing of someone of their property, freedom, or even their life -- an injustice in the name of justice. For the perpetrator, the act creates obvious obligations. The burdens fall on the one lying in this manner to rectify this -- it becomes his obligation, and again, this is possibly an obligation he can never truly repay. A man who cannot repay his debts is a slave to them.</p><p>But obviously it isn’t just about the obligations it creates for the perpetrator, it’s about the liberty it robs from their victims. Remember what I pointed out earlier: the Ten Words are not only ethical maxims promoting individual freedom from bondage, but also promoting a culture of freedom from bondage, about ensuring that the society that is created isn’t one in which we are victims of our fellows. A society in which murder and theft become permissible, and in which one cannot achieve accurate justice due to false testimony, is one in which a man’s life and labors can never really be his own, and that is by definition a society of slavery, a society that becomes enslaved to the most dishonest and violent among them.</p><p>These activities bring this situation about because the perpetrator is violating the very sense of freedom that his victims have through his malignant actions, and so bringing others into servitude in this manner brings their perpetrators into servitude as well, even if they refuse to acknowledge it. All of us believe in some system of justice that is intended to identify and press for recompense and other suitable "payments" for these obligations to act as both a deterrent for such violations and as a means for recovery of the losses that result, when possible. Even anarchists of most sorts believe in some sense of natural grass roots justice that provides recompense and prevents predation. Hence, it shouldn't be surprising that YHWH, the Judge of all of the Earth, also refuses to let these activities go. Even if you refuse to acknowledge the obligations that you take on when you do such things, or the damage you have done in acting malignity against the liberties of others, YHWH Elohim will remember them, and He will hold you to them.</p><p>So those are clear, but what about the Word against adultery? On the surface, it seems like marriage is the actual servitude, while escaping marriage is the act of freedom. Let me be frank here: it only seems that way to us because our culture cynically frames marriage in this way. What we should acknowledge here is that a marriage relationship is something that should be entered into with the intent of mutual edification and mutual benefit, in good will. Both sides, when acting in this good will, treat their marriage as an on-going investment that brings constant dividends. That is how the Torah portrays the marriage covenant. So, to deceptively break that marriage through an act of adultery destroys an otherwise consensual constructive relationship that is based on mutual benefit rather than obligation. And like it or not, this creates strange obligations to all parties. Sex creates bonds, and bonds create hard feelings, even when we do not realize it. Marriage is a way of making such inevitable bonds a positive thing, but breaking those bonds only fosters a broken relationship in the marriage itself. At best, adultery fosters ultra weakened relationships with these other partners even when reconciliation and forgiveness have helped repair damage. At its worst, such divisive relationships external to the marriage bond produce children, which creates obligations regardless of which partners the perpetrator ends up remaining with, or they disrupt relationships with existing children. Children are supposed to be a blessing, and they are when someone is able to invest time and love and work into them and enjoy them as children should be enjoyed, but a man or woman who creates children with multiple partners outside of that bond creates for himself or herself on-going obligations, most of which are simply financial, and they do not always keep the ability to enjoy the relationship with those children to compensate that expense. In short, adultery fundamentally changes the relationship between spouses, causing their relationships to go from being mutually beneficial arrangements of affection to become legal arrangements for compensation, and innocent children on either side of the aisle become not only victims of this, parents and children can end up having their strong symbiotic relationships reduced to mere financial ones.</p><h4 style="text-align: center;"><b>The Tenth Word -- Freedom from Yourself</b></h4><p>The last of the Ten Words is one of the more perplexing for most people, but it's also the one that carries my point about the intent of the Ten Words as maxims for individual and cultural liberty most concretely. It says the following:</p><blockquote style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0px 40px; padding: 0px;"><p style="text-align: left;"><b><i>"You will not covet your neighbor's house. You will not covet your neighbor's wife, nor his male servant, nor his female servant, nor his ox, nor his ass, nor anything that is your neighbor's."</i> (Shemot / Exodus 20:17)</b></p></blockquote><p>If the Ten Words were intended to be a legal code, this would be the closest one to the kind of law that George Orwell's novel “Nineteen Eighty-Four” would rightfully rain against. When taken as "commandments" or "laws", the other statements at least can make sense in context as enforceable activities, but this one when taken as a "commandment" or a "law" instead creates a situation akin to the criminalization of thoughts, or what Orwell called "thought crime".</p><p>But if you've followed along so far, you can probably know that this is likely not the case. The word for "covet" in Hebrew is "tachmod", which could also be translated into English as "envy", but envy doesn't completely cover it completely. The reality is that there is no good English word I can think of to convey its meaning as it can range from "envy" to "obsession" to "obsession with intent to act". The term seems to refer to something stronger -- it isn't mere desire but a desire with intent or more likely, a desire that is fed and fed to be strong enough to fuel a bad action. For sexual activity, we would call such a thing something between "lust" and "limerance". For any physical object, we would just think of it as a anything from a desire to a mania. Simple desires for an item that your neighbor has isn't the same as a fueled desire that is preoccupying you, and avoiding that transition is the point of this Tenth Word.</p><p>That kind of desire promotes one of the more oppressive forms of servitude. It prevents us from having a sense of well-being unless we gain some thing or things that are either unattainable or belong to someone else. Remember, these are Ten Words or "Sayings". They are not here called "commandments". They are intended to prevent you from falling into a form of servitude. "Keeping up with the Joneses" is a term we use in America to refer to the constant analysis of our own achievements and possessions with those of others, and how this can end up being a form of slavery. I think it's clear here that YHWH would agree, but it's more than just the desire itself -- acting on the desires can end up creating obligations in the material word, not just in the mind. Following this Word prevents one from allowing his own desires to become his taskmaster, but not just him — it also prevents him from robbing his fellows of their own liberty by allowing his desires to transition into obsessions or manias and provoke some kind of action against said neighbor for their property. This Word takes the proactive approach by helping prevent its follower from fueling his own desires as well as preventing him from following up on those desires and violating the liberty of his fellows.</p><p>Something to take away from this -- we often hear that freedom is in the mind first, and that a man who is free in his mind is free. I don't think we need to take an either-or situation here, and I don't think YHWH did this in this case either. YHWH's speaking of these Ten Words show that slavery can be external and internal.</p><h4 style="text-align: center;">The Third Word (Part One) -- Using the Name to Seal Oaths</h4><p>You may have noticed that I skipped one of the Ten Words so far, namely the Third Word. I did this because I believe this one is by far the most difficult to really understand without some historical context, and as a result this one of the Ten Words that is very often very very misunderstood, or rather at least, only understood partially, by those who promote it the most. This is traditionally translated into English as follows:</p><blockquote style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0px 40px; padding: 0px;"><p style="text-align: left;"><b><i>"You will not take the name of YHWH Your Elohim in vain, for I will not hold him guiltless who takes My Name in vain."</i> (Shemot / Exodus 20:7)</b></p></blockquote><p>The term for "vain" here is in Hebrew "shav". It doesn't mean "vanity" as one might read this in modern English in the more archaic term "vain", but rather something more like "void" or "nothingness", or even "meaninglessness". So taking at face value, this states that those who follow the Ten Words will not by any means make Elohim's name (which is actually the name "YHWH") void, that they will not bring it to "nothingness" or "meaninglessness", presumably by its misuse in some sense. Further, He states that there are inescapable consequences to this attempted nullification of His Name.</p><p>The first sense of this actually goes back to the point I've been making all along so far, a point about not creating obligations of servitude. Among Yisrael's neighbors, the name of an el ("god") was considered to be a powerful implement. For some of these, it was powerful in the sense that it could be used in magic. In these theological credos, it was impossible to use the names of these deities, without power, and in the case of misuse, without consequence. Hence, these names also came to be used as a seal for various covenants and oaths. Deity names would be used as the basis for vows and oaths to guarantee an obligation. When someone made an oath or swore on the actual name of a deity, it was considered to be an obligation not only to the person for whose benefit you made the oath, but also to the deity himself. When one violated an oath made against the name of a deity without consequence, he was voiding the name of that deity.</p><p>I won't compare these wayward elohim to YHWH, but this notion would definitely have been understood almost implicitly by any ancient Yisraeli simply via cultural osmosis. Yisrael was familiar with the deities and myths of their neighbors, and so this concept would have made sense to them. YHWH is the only Eternal Elohim, the only Creator, and this is in fact two of the meanings behind the name "YHWH" itself. To Yisrael, His Existence had no beginning and no end, and if other elohim (or "gods") existed, then YHWH must have created them. So YHWH's Name would especially have to be taken seriously in any usage. To make an oath on His Name is to create an almost inescapable obligation to yourself -- to avoid "nulling and voiding" that Great Name, the oath would have to be followed through. And if one is not released by YHWH Himself or the other party and still chooses not see it through, the implication is that YHWH will make sure your oath is kept, and His Name will not be voided by your actions. So the warning is very clear -- don't make burdensome obligations for yourself by making oaths to His Name. And this extends not only to oaths but in all uses of the name -- His Name must be carefully handled and treated respectfully at all times.</p><h4 style="text-align: center;">The Third Word (Part Two) -- An Intimate Relationship is by Name</h4><p>But I think that notion that the Name of YHWH and its careless usage being able to lead to obligations is only half of the story, at best, and that's because there is a more involved point. That point is built on not just the philosophical intent behind the substance of the Ten Words themselves, but also the very personal intent that YHWH had in delivering them to Yisrael in the first place. YHWH is giving these Ten Words to the people that He has now freed because He wants them to be His very own people. He was proposing to Yisrael to become His people, and asking them to follow these Words to help turn them into individuals and a society as a whole that were suitable to have a special relationship with Him. And His intent in making such a relationship is that this people would be the cornerstone for His reclamation of the nations which He had previously disinherited.</p><p>In proposing these Ten Words, YHWH is trying to enter into a mutually beneficial and consensual relationship with Yisrael as His people. While He is not trying to impose servitude, He is looking for a covenant. And His desire is to covenant with a people who are both free and respect freedom in others. He didn't want it made through a hostile takeover or any other forced business contract. Instead, He wanted a freely entered into covenant that was more of a relationship. In the ancient world, a covenant was like a business contract only MUCH more serious. But YHWH isn't looking for just a business arrangement -- He is instead using the language of a covenant to establish a unique relationship with a people that He can build into His own nation. That is why we must get more deeply into the WHY of these Ten Words. We know what they represent now, that they are not called "Commandments" but "Words" or "Wise Sayings". They are maxims by which a free environment can be made for a free people. YHWH is not imposing servitude on the people He wants to take as His very own, because He is here seeking something more like a marriage arrangement than a business contract. He's seeking a partner, not a partnership. In Hebrew, this type of marriage convenant is called a "ketuvah"; YHWH was proposing a ketuvah with His people.</p><p>With that in mind, let's take a look at the Third Word and possibly gain a more in depth meaning than the one that surfaced in the first half of my analysis. The fact is that by missing this deeper significance of the Ten Words and especially of the intent behind them, both Christianity and Judaism have essentially, in their own way, attempted to "void" the great Name of YHWH and have thus attempted to do exactly what this important Third Word warns against. Christians almost never use the name, preferring instead to translate it as "the LORD", or some other variant such as "the Eternal". These are not really proper translations of the Name and cannot help but lose meaning in the process of translation. The sad result is that many Christians don't even know the Name exists. Judaism on the other hand has decided that the Name is so Qodesh ("holy") that it cannot ever be uttered, except by a Cohen HaGadol ("High Priest") in the context of the Temple once a year. Hence, while they leave the name in place in the texts of the Torah and Tanach (Old Testament), they never utter it, and always replace it when reading with terms like "Adonai" (which essentially means "Master") or "HaShem" (which simply means "The Name"). Any cursory reading of the text of the Torah or the Tanach in Hebrew shows that such avoidance of the name as the ultimate honorific is completely unnecessary. Righteous Malachim ("Kings") and Nabiim ("Prophets") and Cohenim ("Priests") and even regular layman citizens of Yisrael regularly and openly called YHWH by His Name, with no attempts at concealment. Both of these approaches, the one taken by Christianity and the one taken by Judaism, have been themselves vain attempts to take the Name in vain, pun intended. Both have tried to cover the Name up in a shroud, which in any other circumstance would be recognized clearly as an attempt to void His Great Name. But Elohim's Name, YHWH, refuses to be covered up, and there are consequences to this -- consequences to your relationship with YHWH Himself.</p><p>Remember what I said before, YHWH seeks a relationship with His people. He seeks something more akin to a marriage, not some business agreement. YHWH is not merely "the Party of the First Part"... the relationship is intimate. A man and wife know each other by their names, not by titles. Even friends know each other by their names. When you become intimately familiar with someone, you don't just discard their name as an unspeakable honorific, nor do you replace their name with a title and pretend their real name doesn't exist. You might pick a nickname, but even with that, your goal is never to hide or obscure the actual name of your spouse or your friend. However, on the other side of that coin, you use the name with some level of respect at all times, never intentionally misusing the name of your spouse or friend. The name is a sign of familiarity and respect, not a tool for obstruction and misuse. A husband who loves his wife does not go around to his friends and coworkers and malign her name — and likewise, faithful wives do not do such things to their husbands. YHWH, I believe, wants something similar to this — He wants a people who will call Him by His Name and yet will never misuse it. He wants an intimate relationship, not a distant partnership. When Mosheh asked YHWH for His Name, YHWH told him that this name "YHWH" was His Name for all time, for all eternity. Using and not misusing His Name is critical in my view to having a relationship with Him, while calling Him by His Name in respect and love only fosters that respect and love more over time, and that is, I believe, the true basis of the Third Word. It should never be hid nor obscured, yet it should also never be misused nor maligned. YHWH calls all of His people by name, and He expects for us to know Him by His Name.</p><h4 style="text-align: center;">The Second Word (Part Two) -- An Impassioned Relationship Requires Passion</h4><p>To further this point of the intent behind the delivery of the Ten Words, that they are intended to be the foundation of a much more potent relationship than a mere ancient covenant would normally convey, I also need to elaborate on the Second Word more fully. Earlier, I glossed over the latter more controversial half of the Second Word and its seemingly apparent negativity. I chose to do that because I wanted first to concentrate on the overall point I was making about the purpose of these "Ten Words" as something other than simply "commandments.” Now that I’ve done this, and now that I've introduced the intent of the Ten Words as a basis for a relationship He was proposing with a free people, I think I am ready to expound further.</p><p>YHWH goes on in this part of the Second Word to say:</p><blockquote style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0px 40px; padding: 0px;"><p style="text-align: left;"><b><i>"... for I, YHWH, am an impassioned Elohim, visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon their children to the third and fourth generations, yet showing mercy to the thousandth generation of those that love Me and keep My mitzvot (i.e. 'commandments')." </i>(Shemot / Exodus 20:5-6)</b></p></blockquote><p>Now to any English reader, and a great many Hebrew readers as well, this would certainly seem more negative than positive, and maybe even a statement of obligation rather than simply an expounding of ethical wisdom to avoid unnecessary obligations. In fact, to our modern eyes, it might even seem that there is an implicit threat here. There are two obvious wording issues, so let's go over each of them.</p><p>The first is YHWH's use of the word "mitzvot", which is the plural of the word "mitzvah", a word almost always translated in English Bibles as "commandment". I feel this word has a much more important sense than simply a "commandment", though that meaning is there as well. More importantly, I believe the term also takes on the meaning of "good deeds", "good works", or even "blessings", as in something you do that blesses yourself and others. So once again I argue that YHWH doesn't frame these Ten Words as the basis of a new penal code -- but instead as maxims about doing good deeds that bring about good things, for you and for others, and about creating a society in which a free people can prosper and remain free. I hope this is clear, and especially hope you can see why I strongly feel this does not detract from my point about the nature of these Ten Words as a code to avoid falling into another form of slavery after having been freed from a rather egregious form of slavery already.</p><p>The second more obvious objection is to the word that I chose to translate as "impassioned", and the subsequent text about punishing those who arouse that passion through disobedience. The word in Hebrew is "kana", and is often translated as "jealous". While I prefer "impassioned" as a translation, "jealous" is also correct, but because of the negativity usually associated with this term in English, this needs to be explained. The reason I prefer to translate this as "impassioned" is that "jealous" in English has become something of a negative term that refers to its role as a motivation behind almost exclusively negative acts and deeds, and it has as a result become a very one-sided term representing an irrational emotion motivating the doing of harm to others.</p><p>"Jealous" hasn't always been a negatively-weighted term in English, but it has become too negatively weighted over the years to our modern ears and eyes to really convey the intent of the Hebrew term "kana". "Jealousy" in its more complete and historic sense in English is not just a negative emotion or motivation -- it is an emotion born of love in consensual relationships that are seen as not only financial investments but life investments, and that "jealousy" is the motivation for good works as much as it is an emotion born of irrational feelings which motivates malignant acts. Perfectly happily married couples are jealous of each other's affections and yet do not create situations in which these natural emotions become destructive. Of course a healthy relationship is one in which the partners’ mutual trust keeps the negative aspects of their jealousy at bay. This does not, however, mean that there isn't "jealousy", it just means that the negative aspects of this jealousy are held in check by the partners' trust of each other not to inappropriately share their special, more exclusively shared affection with others.</p><p>In that sense, Elohim is seeking a relationship with his people here that is much more like a marriage -- He wants His people to be His partner, a trusted partner, and not to share their affections with other elohim ("gods"). The communication here is that this new covenant, for which the Ten Words forms a "proposal", is not a contract of bondage but one of affection, of love, most similar to a marriage covenant. He is seeking a life investment here, not a business arrangement.</p><p>We don't describe a happily married couple as "slaves" to each other in any literal sense. Even when spouses go above and beyond for each other, that is an expression of their healthy relationship and acts performed out of mutual affection and mutual benefit. And that kind of love requires more than selflessness -- it requires a binding up together emotionally, or even a strong passion. YHWH seeks something more like a “marriage" than like a strictly contractual obligation and that is the reason that YHWH chose to tell Yisrael that He was a "jealous" or "impassioned" Elohim. He is telling Yisrael that when He loves, He loves passionately. This is also why YHWH later expresses His feelings to disobedient Yisrael in terms of marriage and accusations of adultery via the nabiim (prophets). YHWH calls His agreement that is with Yisrael ultimately a "brit" in Hebrew, or "covenant" in English, but the implication is again more than simply a business arrangement -- this is not about "work" or "business", it's about a relationship. That is the intent of YHWH's statements here. "Brit" is a term used also for marriage covenants, and He is promising here to to invest all of His love and emotion into the union He is proposing. He expresses here that His love and His fury are both passionate -- He is an impassioned Elohim and His love for His people is passionate.</p><p>I've said many times now that the Ten Words form the basis of a "proposal" for the covenant, a marriage in a sense, between YHWH and His people. That is essentially what YHWH was doing when He came down upon the mountain and spoke the Ten Words to Yisrael, and then wrote those same Words down in writing. He had freed Yisrael for free, with no obligations. But He proposed the covenant at Mt. Sinai to begin a real relationship with them, a relationship He wanted to be freely entered and freely enjoyed both both parties. The people were so terrified by the awesome display of YHWH coming down upon the mountain, in a storm of fire and smoke, and speaking with an earth-shaking voice like the sound of a shofar, that they begged Mosheh (Moses) to be the mediator between them and YHWH for the covenant, and both YHWH and Mosheh agreed. Mosheh had essentially taken the role that is often performed by clergy in a wedding ceremony, with YHWH as the Groom and Yisrael as the bride. Once Mosheh delivered the rest of the Words to the people, they entered into covenant freely with YHWH:</p><blockquote style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0px 40px; padding: 0px;"><p style="text-align: left;"><b><i>"And Mosheh came down and told the people all of the Words of YHWH and all of his observances, and all the people answered with one voice and said 'All the Words which YHWH has spoken we will do!'"</i> (Shemot / Exodus 24:3)</b></p></blockquote><p>This was possibly the largest "I Do" in the history of marriage ceremonies.</p><h4 style="text-align: center;">Babel to Shavuot to Pentecost -- Coming Full Circle</h4><p>Now that I've covered the Ten Words and their real meaning, as well as the intent of YHWH's dramatic delivery of those Words on Mt. Sinai, I'd like to talk about the event that occurred around 1500 years later, on the Shavuot that took place shortly after HaMashiach Yeshua's death in Yerushalayim. We read this about this event here:</p><blockquote style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0px 40px; padding: 0px; text-align: left;"><p><b><i>"And when the Day of Pentecost (i.e. Chag HaShavuot, the Festival of Weeks) had come, they were all with one mind in one place. And suddenly there came a sound from the shamayim, as of a rushing mighty wind, and it filled all the House (that house being the Heykal) where they were sitting. And there appeared to them divided tongues, as of fire, and settled on each one of them. And they were all filled with the Ruach HaQodesh and began to speak with other tongues, as the Ruach gave them to speak.</i></b> </p></blockquote><blockquote style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0px 40px; padding: 0px; text-align: left;"><p><b><i>"Now in Yerushalayim there were dwelling Yahudim (Jews), dedicated men from every nation under the shamayim. And when this sound came to be, the crowd came together, and were confused, because everyone heard them speak in his own language. And they were all amazed and marveled, saying to each other, 'Look, are not all these who speak from Galil (Galileans)? 'And how do we hear, each one in our own language in which we were born? 'Parthians and Medes and Eylamites, and those dwelling in Aram Naharayim, both Yahudah and Kappadokia, Pontos and Asia, both Phrygia and Pamphulia, Mitsrayim and the parts of Libya around Cyrene, visitors from Rome, both Yahudim and converts, Cretans and Arabs, we hear them speaking in our own tongues the great deeds of Elohim.'</i></b> </p></blockquote><blockquote style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0px 40px; padding: 0px; text-align: left;"><p><b><i>"And they were all amazed, and were puzzled, saying to each other, 'What does this mean?' And others mocking said, 'They have been filled with sweet wine.'"</i></b> <b>(Ma'aseh / Acts 2:1-13)</b></p></blockquote><p>At first it might not seem like there is any connection between the event of the Ten Words at Mt. Sinai on Shavuot and the event that took place on Shavuot (or "Pentecost" in Greek) circa 1500 years later. But there are a few obvious connections here -- the Ruach HaQodesh ("Holy Spirit") is YHWH acting in power on human beings, in a form that is different than His actual form, which we as human beings cannot see or experience (yet). Just as YHWH descended on Mt. Sinai in fire and smoke and wind, here a wind comes upon their location and tongues of fire descend upon the heads of Yeshua's talmidim ("disciples"), who were gathered together to observe Shavuot in Yerushalayim. And just as Yisrael was gathered together before Mt. Sinai to meet with YHWH Elohim with YHWH Elohim speaking the Ten Words to them to propose His covenant, the nations of the world were gathered together to observe the remembrance of this event by observing Shavuot and YHWH spoke to them through the mouths of these talmidim in their own languages. Many were amazed, and some were scoffing and calling them drunks, but Shimon Kepha ("Simon Peter") stood up and declared to them the real purpose of this event:</p><blockquote style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0px 40px; padding: 0px;"><b><i>"Afterwards, Shimon Keefa (Simon Peter) stood up among the eleven Shlichim and lifted up his voice and said to them, 'Men, Yahudim (Jews), and all who dwell in Yerushalayim, let this be known to you, and pay attention to my words. For it is not as you think, that these men are drunk, for look, it is now only the third hour of the day (about 9 a.m.). But this is that which was spoken by the navi Yoel.'"</i> (Ma'aseh / Acts 2:14-16)</b></blockquote><div><br /></div>Shimon then quotes the navi Yoel (Joel), a prophecy about just this kind of revelation. Let's take a look at the actual prophecy directly from Sefer Yoel:<div><br /><blockquote style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0px 40px; padding: 0px;"><b><i>"And after this it will be that I pour out my Ruach on all flesh. And your sons and daughters shall nava (prophesy), your old men dream dreams, your young men see visions. And also on the male servants and on the female servants I will pour out my Ruach in those days. And I will give signs in HaShamayim, and upon the earth: blood and fire and columns of smoke, the sun turned into darkness, and the moon into blood, before the coming of the great and awesome day of YHWH. And it will be that everyone who calls on the Name of YHWH will be saved."</i> (Yoel 3:1-5 / Joel 2:28-32)</b></blockquote><p>So this event connects quite well to Shavuot based on prophecies going way back. In fact, one of the reasons why Shavuot is also called "Chag HaBikkurim" or "Festival of Firstfruits", is not only because the firstfruits were offered on it by Yisrael on pilgrimage in ancient times. Rather, it is because Yisrael themselves were seen as firstfruits among the nations -- the beginning of Elohim's Kingdom. And this event on Shavuot likewise is about firstfruits -- in this case, a new stage in the building of that Kingdom by gathering firstfruits not only from Yisrael but from the nations.</p><p>One must understand the context to know the fullness of this connection. I won't have time to do the subject justice, and maybe another article is called for at some point, but let me attempt to show in context the fullness of the rehearsal that is our yearly observance of Shavuot. At the Tower of Babel, mankind had essentially decided to cut YHWH Elohim out of the process of forming a civilization. The event of taking the destiny of mankind into their own hands was an act of excluding YHWH Elohim from their organization. It was essentially a "Declaration of Independence" against YHWH Elohim. YHWH's response was to disinherit those nations.</p><p>In a very real sense, He chose to honor their request -- they weren't interested in being His people and He wasn't going to force their hand on the matter. So He did indeed disinherit the nations, scattered them among the Earth, and scattered their language as well. But He did not intend this disinheritance to be permanent. As Dr. Michael Heiser notes in his book <u>The Unseen Realm</u>, it is no accident that shortly after this incident, YHWH chooses to ask a man living in the heart of Babel, a man named Abram, to become the basis of a new people, a people that YHWH would raise up for Himself. That people ultimately was and is Yisrael. And this event at Mt. Sinai sealed that purpose.</p><p>YHWH renamed Abram to Abraham when he willingly took YHWH up on his offer, signifying that he was now the father of YHWH's many nations, and his children of that covenant ultimately all followed suit hundreds of years later. It was an arrangement entered into freely by a free people. And YHWH's purpose in this partnership was not just for Yisrael alone, but to use Yisrael as a vehicle to bring the rest of the nations into His Covenant. So when Sefer Maasim (Book of Acts) in the New Testament shows a similar event that hearkens back to both of these occurances, and that event occurs again on Shavuot ("Pentecost") on the year of Mashiach Yeshua's death and resurrection, and only ten days after his ascension to HaShamayim ("heaven"), the connections are obvious. YHWH came down on Mt. Sinai circa 1500 years earlier, in fire and smoke and wind, and spoke the Ten Words by His Own Mouth, and now YHWH comes once again down onto the talmidim (Disciples) of Mashiach Yeshua, with wind through the Temple and in fiery "tongues" landing on the heads of each talmid, all speaking His Words as directed by His Ruach HaQodesh ("Holy Spirit"). The parallels are obvious. And YHWH's performance of this by having the Talmidim speak in the language of everyone present is clearly a sign of the reversal of the "confusion" and the disinheritance of the nations introduced at Babel. It all came full circle. That is what THIS day represents.</p><p>In my view, whatever you call it -- whether "Shavuot", "Pentecost", "Bikkurim", "Firstfruits", or even "Atzeret", the Festival that the Torah calls Chag HaShavuot is an important and wonderful observance that calls back to the time when, having freed Yisrael from bondage, YHWH taught Yisrael how to continue to be free. Further, it marks when He began an ongoing relationship with not only Yisrael then but with all people who chose to enter into that same relationship in the future. As Mosheh stated when He renewed the covenant between YHWH and Yisrael forty years later, before He brought them into the Land of Promise:</p><blockquote style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0px 40px; padding: 0px;"><p style="text-align: left;"><b><i>"... so that He may establish you as His People, and He may be your Elohim as He swore on oath to Abraham, Yitshaq (Isaac) and Yaakov (Jacob), I am making this covenant and oath with not only you, but with you who stand before YHWH today, and with those who are not here today..."</i> (Debarim / Deuteronomy 29:13-14)</b></p></blockquote><p>And as Kepha quoted from Yoel more than a thousand years later:</p><blockquote style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0px 40px; padding: 0px;"><p style="text-align: left;"><b><i>"Your sons and daughters will prophesy, your young men will see visions, your old men will dream dreams. On my servants, both men and women, I will pour out my Ruach in those days, and they will prophesy. ... And everyone who calls on the name of the YHWH will be saved."</i> (Maasim / Acts 2:17-18, 21)</b></p></blockquote><p>That covenant is and always has been for all of those willing to enter it. Yeshua HaMashiach came to renew this covenant, and the first fruition of this renewal occurred on this same Shavuot circa 1500 years after the original delivery on Mt. Sinai. Yeshua’s Talmidim gathered at the Temple on Shavuot, and there YHWH poured His Ruach HaQodesh (“Holy Spirit”) upon them, as reported in Sefer HaMaasim ("Acts"). The disinheritance of the nations had begun, and is still on-going now. Someday it will come to full fruition, when Yeshua returns under the proclamation that Yeshua's talmid Yochanan ("John") saw:</p><blockquote style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0px 40px; padding: 0px;"><p style="text-align: left;"><b><i>"The Kingdoms of this world have become the Kingdoms of YHWH and of His Mashiach, and He will reign forever and ever."</i> (HitGalut / Revalation 11:15)</b></p></blockquote><p>The Ten Words were then and are now intended to keep us out of "avadim", i.e. bondage rather than the often posited notion that these "Ten Commandments" were themselves a form of bondage from which "Christ" has freed us. Elohim delivered these Ten Words to Yisrael because He clearly had a purpose that transcends and even contradicts the familiar Christian notion that the Torah itself, for which these Ten Words provided a clear foundation, was delivered for the sake of a new form of contractual bondage from which Christians are supposedly freed at the cross. YHWH and His Mashiach leads us to these Words of liberty, not away from them. The door has been opened to this full relationship with YHWH Elohim and to liberty itself, and that is what this day celebrates.</p><br /></div>Ger V'Toshavhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10077759937900756390noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7125808689115253597.post-9124306475610703632021-01-02T18:15:00.006-06:002021-05-24T13:38:50.187-05:00"I Hate Your Festivals..."<p>Someone shared this today and though I agreed with the basic premise in the very back of the statement, something bothered me about it. The main sentiment is absolutely true, that the “festivals” that Christians observe in this season are not YHWH’s festivals. And YHWH certainly isn’t served by them. Yet this isn’t the primary intent of that scripture that was referenced.</p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-en_FUp6Nmrw/X_DlsaYQnaI/AAAAAAAABh8/Nvg3kFOkrNInB9Gili0r6LYDjnjjHPmDgCLcBGAsYHQ/s720/C4CD5DE1-BCD3-45F3-8989-3917E1D02EA7.jpeg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="498" data-original-width="720" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-en_FUp6Nmrw/X_DlsaYQnaI/AAAAAAAABh8/Nvg3kFOkrNInB9Gili0r6LYDjnjjHPmDgCLcBGAsYHQ/s320/C4CD5DE1-BCD3-45F3-8989-3917E1D02EA7.jpeg" width="320" /></a></div><br /><p>The statement that YHWH made, and which is referenced here, via the prophet Amos, referenced from chapter 5 of the scroll in which his message was written, has a more contextual meaning related to the text as a whole, not an isolated one about pagan festivals. That more contextual meaning is that a wayward observance of His Shabbatoth and Chagim (Festival) days is worthless and even abominable to Him... maybe as worthless and abominable to Him as an observance of festivals invented for other deities, such as Christmas or Easter.</p><p>This will make a lot of people chagrin, but those are the people that likely most need to hear this. The overall theme in Amos’ message was not about idolatry — that theme is there for sure, but it isn’t the primary theme. The most prominent theme in Amos’ ministry was one the sheer importance of social justice — and the great sin that is its converse: the mistreatment of the poor and debt enslavement of your fellows. This was an important theme in both the Northern Kingdom of Yisrael and the Southern Kingdom of Yahuda (Judah), because in both of these territories, mistreatment of the poor, debt slavery, indentured servitude, and real full-on slavery (as in ownership of human beings) was a plague with the face of the mundane for the well-to-do in these two countries. But it was particularly a problem in the far wealthier Northern Kingdom of Yisrael, which is why Amos, a man from the Southern Kingdom of Yahuda, was sent there with this message.</p><p>Amos starts off by preaching to the citizens of Yisrael as any street corner preacher would do — he comes up with a rhythm and a catch-phrase, and uses it to first draw in crowds by calling out the enemies of Yisrael for judgement. That catch phrase runs along the lines of “For three transgressions, and for four...”, and is followed by the name of the nation which shall be judged along with the reason, i.e. their sins. As Amos calls out first Damascus, then Gaza, Tyre (three nations of the Phonecians), Edom, and Ammon and Moab (countries we know as Jordan today), one can picture his crowds of Yisraelis growing large and cheering at his pronouncements for judgement so far has been on their enemies. Then Amos takes a pivot point and calls out their relative and neighbor, the Southern Kingdom of Yahudah (Judah), for its violation of His Torah. At this point in history, Yisrael and Yahudah were already well separated, and there was little love lost between them, so this would have resonated true to many of them, yet it was also preparing them for a judgement to be given to them for more specific variants of that very reason -- the violation of His Torah. Since Amos himself would have had the accent of that country, this would have impressed these citizens of the Northern Kingdom of Yisrael all the more for willingly criticizing his own country. The cheers were likely deafening.</p><p>And then Amos drops the bombshell, the real message he was intending to deliver all along. The previous pronouncements were certainly true, as no legitimate prophet is going to speak in YHWH’s name a false prophecy, but clearly these pronouncements were intended to build the crowd so that Amos could deliver the message that he was actually sent to deliver. We read that message here:</p><blockquote style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0px 40px; padding: 0px;"><p style="text-align: left;"><b><i>"This is what YHWH says: 'For three transgressions of Yisrael, even four, I will not revoke My judgment, because they sell the righteous for silver and the needy for a pair of sandals. They trample the heads of the poor as dust on the ground and deny justice to the oppressed. Father and son sexually use the same girl and so profane my qodesh name. They lie down beside every altar wearing garments that they took in pledge. In the House of their Elohim, they drink wine taken as fines.'" </i>(Amos 2:6-8)</b></p></blockquote><p>There is what we are expected to glean as Amos’ primary message. The complaint and judgement he brings from YHWH is about how the Kingdom of Yisrael oppresses the poor and needy among them. Many of these statements are made in a targeted fashion to demonstrate that Yisrael was in fact doing the opposite of what the Torah commands when they violated the needy among them and took advantage of them.</p><p>For instance, when Amos quotes YHWH as saying that "they trample the heads of the poor as dust on the ground and deny justice to the oppressed", this is being pointed out as a direct violation of the Torah’s own precepts to treat the poor fairly and justly, and never to deny them their rights:</p><blockquote style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0px 40px; padding: 0px;"><p style="text-align: left;"><b><i>"You shall not subvert the rights of the poor among you in their disputes or in their legal cases!" </i>(Shemot / Exodus 23:6)</b></p></blockquote><p>When YHWH states that father and son sin by sexually taking the same woman, this is not merely a statement against the Torah’s command for father and son not to sleep with the same woman. Though that concept is there, this is far more specifically calling out that a woman from a needy family, who was "sold" in a sense for marriage cannot be instead mistreated as a household prostitute, yet that seems to be precisely what was occurring. The Torah commands that when a woman is taken in as a potential wife, she must become a member of the household and be treated as one:</p><blockquote style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0px 40px; padding: 0px;"><p style="text-align: left;"><b><i>"If a man sells his daughter as a slave, if she does not please her master who has chosen her for himself, if he designates her for his son, he shall treat her as a daughter." </i>(Shemot / Exodus 21:7-9)</b></p></blockquote><p>Then we get to the issue of the garments at the altars. This too is a pronouncement against the continued holding of the clothing of the poor as surety for a loan or a debt, something YHWH made very prohibitive in His Torah:</p><blockquote style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0px 40px; padding: 0px;"><p style="text-align: left;"><b><i>"If you lend money to anyone among My people with you who is poor, if you ever taken their cloak in pledge, you will return it to him before the sun goes down. Because that is his only covering, and it is his cloak for his body. In what else would he sleep? And if he cries to Me, I will hear, for I am compassionate."</i> (Shemot / Exodus 22:25-27)</b></p></blockquote><p>YHWH makes his case against Yisrael, accusing them of selling<i style="font-weight: bold;"> "the needy for a pair of sandals”</i>, and this is particularly telling. The scenario Amos is referring to is something this: Some less fortunate Israelite needs to provide sandals for his family and wants to buy them on credit. He uses his harvest as the guarantee, but the seller knows the harvest might fail and wants more solid collateral. Children were often the collateral because the poor had little else to offer of value, and so their need would press them to put those children up for that collateral, while the parents hoped the harvest wouldn’t fail. But sometimes it did, and when it did, those children would become slaves and leave their families. They were literally "sold for a pair of sandals."</p><p>So the primary issue in Amos’ message is clearly the mistreatment of the poor. YHWH makes this Amos’s primary complaint and the core of his message to Yisrael. And that is the context we must place YHWH’s latter words into as Amos delivers them, the words that were shared to me in the meme-ish image someone shared with me:</p><blockquote style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0px 40px; padding: 0px;"><p style="text-align: left;"><b><i>“I hate, I despise your Chagim (religious Festivals)! Your assembling together stinks to Me! Even when you bring Me your burnt offerings and grain offerings, I will not accept them! Though you bring Me choice fellowship offerings, I will have no regard for them! Away with the noise of your songs! I will not listen to the music of your harps! Instead, let justice roll like a river, and righteousness like an endless stream!” </i>(Amos 5:21-24)</b></p></blockquote><p>Notice that these are YHWH’s Festivals being talked about here — not the pagan festivals of other deities like Christmas or Easter. These are offerings being made to Him, celebrations done on His behalf and at His command, and yet He’s having none of it. As He ends His statement here, He notes explicitly that righteousness is lacking — justice is lacking. And that theme continues throughout Amos, exploring how the aspect of mistreatment of the poor provokes a promise of unrevokable judgement, and how this behavior has interfered with the relationship between YHWH and His people. YHWH is saying here that observing His Chagim (Festivals) is meaningless to Him when your behavior outside of those Festivals is one of mistreatment of the needy and the most displaced among you. He goes on to say that He rejects all forms of worship given in their current spiritual state of being, including their observance of His Chagim (Festivals), and nothing can remedy it except for a rejection of their ill behavior to the poor and needy among them: <b><i>“Instead, let justice flow like a river, and righteousness like a constant steam!”</i></b></p><p>Whether we care to understand it or not, the term "righteousness" here definitely refers to the treatment of the poor among Yisrael and Yahuda. That’s because the Hebrew root term, "tsadik", and it’s expression as "tsedekah" means more than merely obeying commandments for performing rituals. It refers to an open generosity, especially with your own money, especially towards the needy. The primary reason that YHWH hates their observance of His Chagim (Festivals) was in their habitual behavior outside of the Chagim (Festivals) — and that behavior is what defines the nature of their observance of the actual Chagim (Festivals).</p><blockquote style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0px 40px; padding: 0px;"><p style="text-align: left;"><i><b>"Listen to this, you who rob the poor and trample upon the needy! You cannot wait for the Shabbat day to end and the Chagim (Festivals) to end so you can get back to cheating the helpless! You measure out grain with dishonest measures and cheat the buyer with dishonest scales! You mix your wheat with chaff swept up from the floor! Then you enslave people for one piece of sliver or for a pair of sandals! ... I will turn your Chagim (Festivals) into mourning days, and all your singing into weeping. I will make all of you wear sackcloth and shave your heads. I will make that time like mourning for an only son and the end of it like a bitter day...'" (Amos 8:4-6, 10)</b></i></p></blockquote><p>What YHWH is clearly saying here is that His Chagim (Festivals) cannot be observed to Him when you are mistreating your brothers or taking financial advantage of them. You can’t celebrate the end of slavery by observing Pesach when you are debt enslaving or literally enslaving the needy among you over their basic necessities. You cannot observe Sukkoth, a time that looks back to Elohim providing for His people in the Desert while living in Sukkoth (a form of tents made of tree branches and leaves), when you hold back food from your fellow man and reduce him to homelessness. You cannot properly observe Shabbat if you are denying rest to the less fortunate among you. When you behave this way, you cannot truly observe His Observances! They are no longer His Shabbatoth and Chagim when you do this... they become your versions, they become Sabbaths to slavery, Festivals to Mammon, and He utterly rejects them.</p><p>Some will point out that YHWH goes on to state that their idolatry is a key factor at the end of the chapter, but the majority of the text of Amos leading up to the referenced statement makes the context clear that a big part of this idolatry is their service to wealth, as if it were a deity. The pursuit of money at the expense of their less fortunate brothers is their idol. Besides this, even when worship of foreign deities is called out in Amos, it is in the context of how dedication to them has corrupted the disposition of the people to the poor among them.</p><p>As Yeshua said, we cannot serve Elohim and monetary or physical wealth. YHWH will not share your devotions with a love of money and wealth anymore than He would share your devotions with other deities. That is the real message of Amos, and that is the real target of YHWH’s words spoken via his mouth about "hating your Chagim (religious Festivals)". Observing Christmas and Easter are clearly great sins because their origins are in idolatry, and YHWH clearly states within His Torah that He rejects and forbids using idolatrous customs in worship of Him. But keeping His Chagim (Festivals) when we are out of step with His sense of Torah by mistreatment of the poor is equally a sin — in fact, no matter how we get the time or rituals right, we are not observing His Chagim (Festivals) any longer when we serve Mammon on the side. So many are worried about calendars these days -- and they should be to some extent of course worried about getting the appointed times right -- but I see far less worry among those who call themselves Torah observant believers in the testimony of Yeshua HaMashiach for how the poor among us are treated.</p><p>I think Yeshua's parable of Eliezer (Lazarus) and the Rich Man really repeats this lesson. The Rich Man almost certainly observed Elohim’s Festivals and Shabbatoth, made generous offerings, and had a public visage of righteousness. But when he found himself separated from the bosom of Abraham on judgement day, it was made clear to him that his behavior towards Eliezer and others like him made those acts meaningless:</p><blockquote style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0px 40px; padding: 0px;"><p style="text-align: left;"><b><i>"There was a rich man who was dressed in purple and fine linen and lived in luxury every day. At his gate was laid a beggar named Eliezer, covered with sores and longing to eat what fell from the rich man's table. Even the dogs came and licked his sores.</i></b></p></blockquote><blockquote style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0px 40px; padding: 0px;"><p style="text-align: left;"><b><i>"The time came when the beggar died and the angels carried him to Abraham's side. The rich man also died and was buried. Experiencing torment in death, he looked up and saw Abraham far away, with Eliezer by his side. So he called to him, 'Father Abraham, have pity on me and send Eliezer to dip the tip of his finger in water and cool my tongue, because I am in agony in this fire.'</i></b></p></blockquote><blockquote style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0px 40px; padding: 0px;"><p style="text-align: left;"><b><i>"But Abraham replied, 'Son, remember that in your lifetime you received your good things, while Eliezer received bad things, but now he is comforted here and you are in agony. And besides all this, between us and you a great chasm has been set in place, so that those who want to go from here to you cannot, nor can anyone cross over from there to us.'</i></b></p></blockquote><blockquote style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0px 40px; padding: 0px;"><p style="text-align: left;"><b><i>"He answered, 'Then I beg you, father, send Eliezer to my family, for I have five brothers. Let him warn them, so that they will not also come to this place of torment.'</i></b></p></blockquote><blockquote style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0px 40px; padding: 0px;"><p style="text-align: left;"><b><i>"Abraham replied, 'They have Mosheh and the Nabiim (Prophets); let them listen to them.'</i></b></p></blockquote><blockquote style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0px 40px; padding: 0px;"><p style="text-align: left;"><b><i>"'No, father Abraham,' he said, 'but if someone from the dead goes to them, they will repent.'</i></b></p></blockquote><blockquote style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0px 40px; padding: 0px;"><p style="text-align: left;"><b><i>"He said to him, 'If they do not listen to Mosheh and the Nabiim, they will not be convinced even if someone rises from the dead.'" </i>(Luqas / Luke 16:19-31)</b></p></blockquote><p>The Rich Man thought he was already in the bosom of Abraham. He was a Jew, and he had a public persona of keeping the Torah, but he was willfully impotent on important aspects, aspects of Torah he chose to ignore. Among these are the command to lend without interest to the poor, not to oppress the window or fatherless, and not to oppress the foreigners in his land. When he realizes his fate is sealed, he pleads for his family ... but YHWH is unimpressed. "They have Mosheh and the Nabiim (Prophets)", the rich man is told. But the Rich Man knows that his family won’t get that message from the Torah or the Prophets — they are also willfully ignorant. Like him, his family knows about the Torah, and as Jews, they keep the Shabbatoth and Chagim (Festivals). But their willful ignorance of the need to treat their poor brothers and sisters with righteous generosity, something the Torah makes utterly clear, will be their undoing.</p><p>Yirmeyahu (Jeremiah) concurs with Amos and Yeshua on this teaching, that keeping the rituals and Shabbatoth (Sabbaths) and Chagim (Festivals) and making the sacrifices and offerings at the Temple, and even exclusively worshiping only YHWH alone, won’t save you if you are ill-behaving towards the less fortumate among you. Worshipping YHWH alone and properly according to His Word is extremely important, but that worship is null and void to YHWH when the righteous treatment of your fellow man is lacking</p><blockquote style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0px 40px; padding: 0px;"><p style="text-align: left;"><b><i>"Do not trust in deceptive words: 'The Temple of YHWH! The Temple of YHWH! The Temple of YHWH!’ If you truly change your ways and your actions and deal with each other justly, if you do not oppress the foreigner, the fatherless, or the widow, and do not shed innocent blood in this place, and do not follow other gods to your own harm, only then will I allow you to live in this place, in this land that I gave your ancestors, forever and ever. But look, instead you trust in deceptive and worthless repetitions. Will you steal and murder, commit adultery and perjury, burn incense to Baal, and go after other deities you have not known, and then come and stand before me in this house, which bears My Name, and say 'We are safe, safe to do these detestable things!'?"</i> (Yirmeyahu 7:4-10)</b></p></blockquote><p>The point here is that YHWH's favor isn't invoked by observing His rituals yet ignoring His moral precepts. There is no special chant nor are there any special words you can repeat, as if casting a spell, that will gain His favor. We need to really be careful in this regard. Yeshua’s statement that many will come to him in that day calling him "Master" and yet he doesn’t know them is a very telling statement. These are people who did great works in his name — even miracles. Yet he never knew them. Yes many of those will be typical Christians who believed the Torah was dead and they didn’t have to observe it. But as time goes on I’m more and more convinced that many will be Messianics who thought they were fully observing Torah by keeping Moedim, Shabbatoth, and Chagim but forgot to be kind to the poor and needy, forgot to love even the foreigners as themselves, or as is more pertinent in the here and now, actually supported and encouraged their leaders in their activities antithetical to these maxima. Both groups are "workers of Torahlessness". Both groups don’t know they are Torahless. Sadly, both groups will face the fate of the Torahless.</p><p>It hurts my heart, but I think when Yeshua says "many" in this case, it’s the great many — the great many who scream out their cliches — "The Temple of YHWH!" in Yirmeyahu’s day, or "The Cross of Jesus!" among the Christians, or "The Festivals of Elohim!" among Messianics and Jews— as if these were afterlife insurance policies, or magic words that will save them when they don’t live by the core essence of the Word of YHWH. What we are being told here in the most dramatic of ways is that they will not!</p>Ger V'Toshavhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10077759937900756390noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7125808689115253597.post-38164182864792367012020-09-27T21:57:00.018-05:002023-02-20T02:41:13.101-06:00Yom Kippur -- A Day of Repairing<div class="separator visible_on_post" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-Oq6OqHqxfL8/YKq97o7tOPI/AAAAAAAABkQ/9ekUI7mRu2YbktfTN1fbg51QX42k_SH-ACPcBGAYYCw/s960/Choshen.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="920" data-original-width="960" height="614" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-Oq6OqHqxfL8/YKq97o7tOPI/AAAAAAAABkQ/9ekUI7mRu2YbktfTN1fbg51QX42k_SH-ACPcBGAYYCw/w640-h614/Choshen.jpg" width="640" /></a></div>
<div class="separator hidden_on_post" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-Oq6OqHqxfL8/YKq97o7tOPI/AAAAAAAABkQ/9ekUI7mRu2YbktfTN1fbg51QX42k_SH-ACPcBGAYYCw/s960/Choshen.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="920" data-original-width="491" height="490" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-Oq6OqHqxfL8/YKq97o7tOPI/AAAAAAAABkQ/9ekUI7mRu2YbktfTN1fbg51QX42k_SH-ACPcBGAYYCw/w640-h614/Choshen.jpg" width="512" /></a></div>
<br />I normally don’t spend much time writing on Yom Kippur, but I felt somewhat compelled to do this at this point and time, because in a way, I’m fasting not only for my atonement but also the atonement of this country and the atonement of the world. “Kippur” and “kippurim” means “atonement” and “atonements”, respectively. Atonement isn’t just a payment for a wrong, and a forgiveness for it, it’s a repairing of a relationship — a relationship with Elohim and a relationship with fellow human beings... and this country and the world at large has a LOT of repairing to do.<p></p><p>People who know me know what’s been on my mind lately about the state of the Union. We’re currently in the midst of an epidemic, and the US has obviously failed on this front. Additionally, we’ve clearly failed on numerous other fronts — we’ve become a “police state” in at least one sense, and that sense is in the ability of the average police officer to get away with murder in many cases based on what are nothing more than technicalities and to engage in ridiculous overreactions without consequence due to “policy” and qualified immunity, and it hasn’t helped matters that a once police-skeptical conservative community refuses to recognize the problem suddenly, for reasons that seem more than nefarious and have more to do with a rise in a very nasty form of nationalism than any sense of actual justice.</p><p>There is no greater expression of this than the fact that a few years ago, conservatives were screaming over the widespread police policies to kill all loose pets when doing things as simple as delivering warrants, all justified by the supposed policy existing for the sake of their safety, and yet now those same conservatives show deference to the murder of actual human beings on the same hair trigger for the same spurious justifications.</p><p>And because racism in this country always translates into the best parts of this country being experienced in diminished capacity for those marginalized minorities, and always translates into those same marginalized minorities getting the largest portion of the negative aspects (such as police brutality, the drug war, or an over punitive penal system), the evils are experienced the most by those who are not in the majority — African Americans in particular experience some of the worst parts of these American negatives, while, in general the majority white populations don’t understand their plight because their experience of the negatives is, though present and acknowledged, clearly diminished by comparison.</p><p>This is not to single out the United States. The world as a whole has went into a bit of a jingoistic reversal of the open market pursuit of the last few decades. When the Iron Curtain fell, the world was suddenly free to explore a more open highway for exchange of ideas, exchange of goods, and a more free movement of peoples than in the previous Cold War era. The same world that once cheered the fall of the Berlin Wall is now trying to build walls, figuratively and as we know in the US, also quite literally. We’ve somehow gone back to an attitude that burned as the primary fuel firing up the conditions that led to both of our World Wars. We’re back in that weird Fog of War that we had before, or should I say “Fog of Cold War”, because we’re definitely heading into a new “Cold War” of sorts if we don’t do something to stop that trend now. In fact, expecting only a new Cold War is me trying to be as positive as possible — a new World War is certainly also a possibility.</p><p>To add to this, Americans have went back to playing their politics as if it were some kind of weird sports team scenario. The biggest evidence of this is the fact that this treatment of foreigners in our midst did not start with Trump. Before Trump, Obama was the biggest and cruelest deporter of “foreigners” in American History — deporting even children who had been adopted but never nationalized by their adoptive parents back to countries many of them never knew. Even people brought here as infants were treated like this — many of these people committed suicide when they could not adapt to these counties that were essentially foreign to them. But it didn’t start with Obama either. What we’ve seen is a progression of damning behavior — Trump is the latest and greatest perpetrator of it (by far the worst by a real longshot), but our weird politics playing has led to each side being outraged when the opposing team does it and defensive when it’s their star quarterback. We’ve become a stupid football game, played with skins made of avarice, greed, hubris, and hate. And that too has become the way of the world at large.</p><p>And this horrible state of things is what is on my mind on this day of Kippurim or “atonements” — the literal absence of atonement — the literal presence of the opposite of “atonement”. We’re no longer repairing relationships, we’re purposefully hacking wounds into them. The hard-heartedness of the population at large to recognize this is striking, but even more striking is that many who claim to believe in the Bible or similar are some of the worst perpetrators and/or supporters of this direction. And I believe it grieves Elohim that they misuse scripture to support that behavior and direction. Unfortunately, this is true even of many who call themselves Messianics.</p><p>When you fast on this Yom Kippur, I ask that you pray for Kippurim for the US and the World at large, and the people we’ve already scarred. They may be scarred beyond human repair, but no scar is beyond Elohim’s ability to heal. No relationship is beyond His ability to bring Kippurim. But we have to want that — He won’t force it on us. I ask that you review your own hearts and the scriptures and think about this.</p><p>Someday He will intervene, not to bring Kippurim to everyone, but filter out those who have never sought it. And those who have something against their brother, even their foreign brothers whom so many insist are not their brothers at all — their prayers and “sacrifices” won’t be worth His review. When He does intervene, you don’t want to find yourselves on the wrong side of the Torah’s instructions to “love your neighbor as yourself” and to “love the foreigner as yourself”. If we want to repair our relationship with Him, we have to repair it with each other.</p><p>Don’t think that calling yourself a “Jew” or a “Christian” or a “Messianic” or a “Nezari” or a “Moslem” or what-have-you is going to save you. Don’t think that because you call upon His name or wait upon him, but don’t love your fellow man as yourself, or support mistreating him, that you have some kind of security blanket. As Elohim Himself said:</p><blockquote style="border: none; margin: 0 0 0 40px; padding: 0px;"><p style="text-align: left;"><b><i>“Do not mistreat or oppress the foreigner, for you were foreigners in Mitsrayim (Egypt). (And) do not take advantage of the widow or the orphan. If you do and they cry out to me, I will certainly hear their cry. My anger will be aroused, and I will kill you with the sword — and your wives will become widows, and your children (will become) orphans.”</i> (Shemot/Exodus 22:21-24).</b></p></blockquote><p>We’ve not only made prisoners of foreigners coming into our land — we’ve intentionally made them into widows and orphans, too. We’ve aroused the anger of Elohim in ways that cannot be ignored. We’re so sure that what we’re doing is right, because we ignore and twist scripture, and we arrogantly think they have no champion. It may not seem like these people who are at our mercy have a champion, but the biggest Champion of all has vouched for them, and He won’t fail to hear their cries... and He won’t fail to act on their behalf. That should make all of us tremble!</p><p>And let me be clear here too — Calling upon the name of Yeshua or “Jesus” won’t save you from this fate either if your heart is so hard as to fail in this very basic but definitely certain set of Torah precepts. Calling upon the name of Elohim’s Mashiach won’t save you when He hears the cries of the destitute at your expense. As Yeshua himself said:</p><blockquote style="border: none; margin: 0 0 0 40px; padding: 0px;"><p style="text-align: left;"><b><i>“Many will say to me on that day, ‘Master, Master, did we not speak prophecy in your name? And did we not drive out shadim (demons) in your name? And did we not perform many miracles in your name?’ And I will answer them plainly, ‘I never knew you. Get away from me, you lawless ones!’”</i> (Mattityahu/Matthew 7:22).</b></p></blockquote><p>These are people who show all of the credentials for thinking that Elohim and Yeshua must be with them — even performing miracles in his name, preaching in his name, telling people to come to him for salvation — and yet, he doesn’t know these people because they were “lawless”. I think it’s pretty clear what “law” he’s referring to here.</p><p>We’ve destroyed the lives and livelihoods of many Americans, but we’ve been even worse to foreigners in our midst — putting them into impossible situations, jailing them in concentration camps, sterilizing them, permanently separating them from their children, and even murdering them. We have no excuse — the only thing we can do is make “teshuva” — repent and turn from our egregious behavior and correct it. The only thing we can do is attempt to repair the relationship by repairing the damage we’ve done —- the only thing we can do is make Kippurim. If we cannot do that, then there will be no escape for us.</p><p>I believe that this is what all of us should be considering on this Yom Kippur.</p>Ger V'Toshavhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10077759937900756390noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7125808689115253597.post-22333660860033272482020-02-05T09:45:00.001-06:002020-02-05T10:09:36.205-06:00Running To and FroOne thing I've learned about reading Scripture is that you really need to spend a significant, and I mean SIGNIFICANT, amount of time reading it as literature and not as a set of disconnected proof texts. I think there's this idea that has dominated Christian circles, and often in Jewish ones as well, that when you read a book of the Torah, (like Beresheet or "Genesis") or a book of the Prophets (like Shoftetim or "Judges"), or even a book of the Besorah ("Gospel", like Yochanan or "John"), that you need to treat it like some kind of Scriptural scavenger hunt, figuring out how to put the small "verses" together from disparate sources.<br />
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While there is certainly truth to that, that is mainly true because of literary borrowings between different authors of those scrolls/books. And frankly, you really can't even get to the point that you can effectively put such references together into a meaningful whole until you are fully familiar with the Scriptures as a set of literary units, read in context of the time, place and culture of its writers, with a mind to mine out the literary styles and tropes from within the more self-contained content of each scroll/book you are reading. That this has been done so often without this breadth of knowledge and study has been a sincere problem with every religious group I've been a part of in the past, and most I've observed from the outside, even the Sabbatarian ones.<br />
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The writers/editors of these individual scrolls/books had a picture in mind, and they used their understanding of their own time, place and culture, along with the literary styles of their language, to express an overall meaning. They weren't just reporting history or law or promises -- they were putting that history, that law, those promises, into an intentional context. How that intentional context-fitting itself fits into Elohim's more masterful plan is important and requires careful analysis across scrolls/books, but you cannot even get to the point where you are capable of doing this if you aren't able to read the book as the individual author(s) intended and to apply discipline in your analysis. In fact, you are in danger in the absence of such a disciplined approach of taking some verse way out of context and attempting to mismatch it with another statement from another book/scroll which may only seem to be similar but lack a real connection, simply because you didn't understand the intent of one or the other (or frankly, either) verse to begin with.<br />
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Taking Scripture out of context in an attempt to do all of your Scriptural study either as some kind of self-centric application to your own life, or as some kind of attempt to proof-text all day long, is possibly the biggest thing that has led Christianity, and to another parallel extent, Judaism, astray. Imagine finding two pieces of a puzzle in a puzzle box. They seem to look alike on the surface picture, and though their pieces don't really fit, they can be made to fit with only a little bit of work. You may get much of the rest of the puzzle put together properly, but there is always something "off" about the "finished" product. In such a case, you might be tempted to just leave it that way as good enough, with only a few of the more astute among the puzzle builders trying to find out where they went wrong, because for so many, it really is good enough in their own eyes. Now imagine if this is something you did for MOST of the puzzle. Imagine if your completed picture of the puzzle was basically way off, but you just told yourself that this is the case because the puzzle maker's intent wasn't to necessarily make sense, or used some trope of your own to justify it, like "the puzzle maker's ways are not my ways, and I'm not meant to understand".<br />
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That's how most of Christianity, and to a parallel extent, Judaism, treats Scripture. They pretend not to understand until they decide it is useful to claim understanding as evidence for a point-of-view they already had before they ever started studying Scripture in the first place. This is the leaven of proof-texting puffing up any other attempt at proper analysis. Daniel was told "But you, Daniel, seal up the book until the time of the end. Many will run to and fro, and knowledge will be increased." But that translation is itself rather unfortunate. A better translation of this would be something like "But you, Daniel, roll up the scroll and seal up its words until the time of the end. Many will run around, going here and there, to increase their knowledge." And he is later told "none of the evildoers will understand, but those who are wise will understand."<br />
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Typically, "run to and fro" is taken as a trope about doing research, and so seems to be telling us that by this research, knowledge will be increased. But there's also a stronger ironic sense in the other translation I listed that the research that is going on is ungoverned, and though it is done in an attempt to increase knowledge, the implication is that this attempt could be in vain because it is too disparate and undisciplined to bring fruitful results. I think what we're being told here is that many will try to understand the words of the scroll/book, but only the astute, clear-thinking individuals, the "wise", will understand. And they won't do that by running around from verse to verse without context in an attempt to win arguments with each other. They can't piece the pieces of the puzzle together without first understanding the context of those pieces, and so the puzzle competition between them leads to a set of resulting pictures they pretend to understand. They become puffed up in their own handiwork, so that when they see a more properly completed puzzle later with a much clearer picture of the puzzle-maker's intent, they can't see it clearly.Ger V'Toshavhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10077759937900756390noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7125808689115253597.post-35296691375911653742018-07-19T01:50:00.004-05:002021-03-29T23:28:03.670-05:00Did Rome Adopt the Greek Pantheon?I was always taught, in school and elsewhere, that the reason Romans and Greeks had such similar gods with seemingly different names was that the Romans had borrowed their gods from the Greeks, or rather, refashioned their existing gods to take on aspects of similar Greek deities, as part of their overall adoption of Greek culture, their gradual Hellenization. For many reasons that I won't go into, this explanation never satisfied me.<br />
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That isn't to say that I thought it was a false statement on its face, because in many ways the statement is true. Romans did borrow some Greek deities, as well as deities they found in other areas they intended to conquer. That is a partially valid way of seeing the crossover of Roman and Greek pantheons. What bothers me about it was that it seems like such an incomplete answer, wrapped up in a nice package so that it easily fits into one of those data centers in the mind, without too much reorganization. When this kind of explanation is extant, and the subject is of more than passing interest to me, the inadequacies tend to gnaw at me. Over time, I began to believe that while this explanation had some truth to it, it was in the category of being less than 50% of the real story. I began to believe that the "adoption" method of religious assimilation might be more accurate around syncretism of peripheral deities that were developed later in Greek culture, and which may have had no counterparts in Roman culture (and vice-versa), but that foundational deities in the Roman and Greek pantheons seem to have come ready-made for intellectual integration, so much so in fact that I suspect that it didn't require a lot of effort or even conscious intent. I've come to believe that, more often than not, the Romans always had strikingly similar foundational gods to the Greeks, with parallels which were so unmistakable that the borrowings would have happened almost on auto-pilot, rather than by an intentional editing of mythological underpinnings.<br />
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In fact, this scenario could not have been the case with only the Greeks. The story of the Roman conquest of Europe is a story of a people who once saw their deities as unique to Rome being forced to come to terms with the fact that their deities were more of a shared mythology. The primary members of the pantheons of the European, and in some cases, Asian cultures they conquered, seemed to be images of their own, reflected through a very slightly warped mirror. By no means was the similarity limited to the gods of the Greeks.<br />
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For instance, when Caesar campaigned against and ultimately conquered Gaul, a group of loosely unified Continental Celtic tribes which inhabited what is today the territory of France, he saw that their gods were so similar to Roman and Greek foundational deities, that he resorted to calling them by Roman names in his written descriptions. Later on, when Rome under Emprorer Claudius conquered some Insular Celtic tribes, the Welsh and others, living on the main island of Britain, they found that not only were their deities strikingly similar, but even the festivals of those deities were similar to their corresponding deities' festivals, in such details as the time and season of observance, the practices and customs of celebration, and the symbolism and iconography at their center. As a result, the Romans had no issue at all in reconciling their observances to those of the conquered Celts. Conquered Celtic tribes similarly seemed entirely comfortable with these merged observances. Ultimately, very little changed, and even the differences seemed complementary.<br />
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For instance, Romans immediately recognized in their dealings with the Greeks that their Spring goddess "Libera" was strikingly similar to the Greek Spring goddess "Persephone", both which had a Spring festival of grain that hovered around the Spring Solstice, both of which were daughters of a very similar goddess of agriculture in both cultures (Greek: Demeter, Roman: Ceres), and both of which were married to the deity of the underworld respective to both cultures (Greek: Hades/Pluto, Roman: Dispater/Pluto). Eventually Romans gave "Libera" a Latin rendering of the Greek name "Persephone", calling her "Prosperina". Later, when the Romans conquered the Welsh, they found that a similar goddess existed there with a similar festival centering around the Spring Solstice, and similar parentage and origins with some variations. Before long, Romans in Welsh areas were observing the Welsh festival to their own goddess "Libera", and didn't see enough difference to feel that any amount of sacrilege had been involved.<br />
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I am not implying that there were not some important differences in the respective pantheons or between respective deities within the pantheons or even in the practices, but I am implying that the similarities were so striking that the differences were not disruptive to the obvious unity in the minds of both the Romans and their conquered peoples. We can find so many other such situations throughout the Greek and Roman pantheons that it must have been a great mystery to the Romans at the time they sensed it. Not to leave the other vassals out, we can find other obvious connections between the Roman pantheon and the Germanic and Norse pantheons. And the ancient Slavic and Baltic pantheons. And the known Celtic pantheons. And even the pantheons of the ancient Persians and the ancient and modern Hindus.<br />
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For instance, as an extension of the previous example of the relationship between the Greek Persephone, the Roman Libera/Prosperina and the Insular Celtic goddess, it is clear that the Romans were not the only expanding powers that saw this relationship. When Anglo-Saxon invaders came, and later Norse invaders, often called "Vikings", they came with their own goddess with her dedicated Spring festival, around the same time as that of the Celts, named "Eostre" or "Ostara" respectively. These Germanic/Norse names for the goddess seem to go back to a more ancient cognant in Greek and Roman mythologies, namely Eros/Aurora respectively. However, despite name changes and evolutions, the festival and goddess contained the same conceptual identity, timing, and practices. Going back much further into previous Indo-European power blocks, the Medo-Persian Empire had a similar goddess, which despite unifications and simplifications of their deities via Zorostrianism, remained around at least as a Persian name for girls. We even find the name for this goddess in the Tanakh (Old Testament), in the Megillah (Book of Esther). The name of the Jewish maiden who married the great King of Persia and intervened to prevent an impending holocaust of Jews in the Persian Empire was, of course, a Hebrew name. Her name was "Hadassah", meaning "myrtle leaf". Yet she was clearly using a Persian name as a legal name within the Persian Empire as well, and that name was "Esther", a name is clearly similar to that of name that came out of many other Indo-European pantheons. The relationship between this name and both the Indo-European counterpart names of goddesses and other Middle Eastern goddesses is now well accepted. These similarities are too incredible to be coincidence, yet they go on and on. The situation forces us to ask how these stark similarities came to be.<br />
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Linguistics, which is the scientific study of human language, has actually given us a hint as to how this may have happened. A few years ago, I began to understand that Linguists have for many years understood that European and some Asian and Middle Eastern cultures were speaking languages that seemed to have evolved from a common root. The first real connection was made between Greek and of all languages, Sanskrit, the ancient language of the early Vedic peoples who migrated into India and eventually overtook its culture. These are the people we would today call Indian or Hindu.<br />
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Then, other connections were made. Many European and Asian language families were too similar not to have come from a very ancient root language. Languages in the Germanic (including English), Celtic, Italic (including Latin, and thus Romantic), Greek, Indian (including Sanskrit and Hindi), Persian (and thus Farsi), Baltic, and Slavic (including Russian) language families had clearly evolved form a similar root. Even many ancient migratory peoples, such as the Hittites, the Philistines, and the Tocharians, also seemed to have languages which had clearly evolved from this same ancient root language. Linguists call this ancient language "Proto Indo-European". So sure are they in their analysis of the similarities between the languages they believe came from this ancient language, that they have been able to reconstruct an impressive amount of that ancient source language's grammar and vocabulary simply by comparing all of the Indo-European languages together, and interpolating the original words and grammar of that language from their similarities.<br />
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I honestly believe we can do much the same thing when we analyze the pantheons of cultures that evolved from that original Proto Indo-European culture. That ancient Proto Indo-European people, which spoke a language from which all Indo-European languages evolved, clearly also had a Proto Indo-European pantheon from which all Indo-European pantheons evolved. What this means in a nut-shell is that most European cultures, as well as India, Persia (Iran), and many others outside of the geographical confines of Europe, descend possibly genetically but certainly culturally from a single ancient people, a people which at some point was motivated to migrate and settle in various areas. Once these migrations occurred, separation led to cultural and linguistic evolution, which is effectively why the incredible similarities are also saturated with seemingly inexplicable differences. I believe that is why there are so many similarities between Roman, Greek, Celtic, and Germanic deities. And it is why we can see very clear similarities between Roman gods and the gods of both ancient and modern Hindus, and before the advent of Zoroastrianism unified their pantheons into only two deities, the gods of the ancient Persians as well. It is why what little we know of ancient Baltic and Slavic deities fits right in with the same patterns of similarity.<br />
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Let me center on the most prominent example of the ancient heritage I am referring to. The ancient Hindu Vedas mention a deity that is called "Dyaus Pitr". Though it's clear that modern Hinduism has demoted him to an ancestral deity (allowing other gods to take his place and his attributes), it's equally clear that this god was once a chief Vedic god, likely even the chief Vedic god. Compare his name to that of the Greek chief deity Zeus, sometimes referred to as "Zeus Pater", and it should be rather obvious that the Greek name has a similar etymology to the ancient Vedic name. Compare further the name of the Roman chief deity, "Jupiter": "Ju-PIter" sounds very much like a similar name which over time evolved into a different pronunciation. The original meaning may have even been lost on the Romans, but it seems to demonstrate that the origins of that deity go back a long time, long before Romans would have felt pressure to conquer or integrate with Greece. Taking a look at the chief Germanic deity, their chief deity was "Odin", a former Germanic chieftain who became deified. Before "Odin" achieved this place within the Germanic and Norse pantheons, a deity named "Tyr" was the chief deity with the properties that are usually attributed to Zeus, Jupiter, and Dyaus Pitr. Linguists have long understood that "Tyr" is a linguistic evolution from the same original root that "Dyaus", "Zeus" and the "Ju" in "Jupiter" came from. Linguists and scholars have essentially reconstructed the name for the ancestor of these common deities, and that name is "Dyḗus Pḥatḗr", which in the Proto Indo-European language means "sky father". The connections are rather clear.<br />
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When the Indo-European peoples migrated away from their original territories more than 5000 years ago, they began to spread over the world as we know it. They migrated to and occupied most of Europe, large parts of Asia, and even the Middle East. And as the progeny of the Proto Indo-European peoples migrated, the evolving progeny of the Proto Indo-European language and religion began to proliferate the world. As a result, the various evolutions of the Indo-European Pantheon once represented a significant part of the religious workings of the world. Basically, Indo-European gods were once served by a significant portion of the human population. Because the Roman Empire had conquered so many territories, particularly territories populated by adherents to Indo-European religions, and because that Roman Empire had made a seemingly sudden switch to Christianity as the State religion in the Fourth Century A.C.E., Christianity began to replace those religions at a rapid pace. Later, the rise of Islam in the Eastern provinces also served to displace the Indo-European religions in territories that were originally outside of Western reach. The result is that today, very few of the practices that evolved from devotion and service to that ancient pantheon are still overtly kept today. Zoroastrianism has some continual adherence among small populations, and there are those trying to revive Greek, Roman, Celtic, Germanic, and Norse practices, but the numbers are few by comparison to the larger populations. The result is that Hinduism in India is the only spiritual practice of devotion to a child religion of the Indo-European pantheon employed on a large national scale.<br />
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Having said all of that, the children of the Indo-European pantheon are still a deeply embedded aspect of European and American cultures, and in fact are still a major part of their religious observances. In English-speaking countries for instance, we name our planets and months after Roman gods, our weekdays after Germanic and Norse gods, our scientific concepts like atomic elements after Greek deities, and many of our stories and fairy tales are from our Celtic, Germanic, Norse, and Greek past. And even though Christianity now rules the roost of European religious thought, it is clear that it has been heavily syncretized with these past Pagan beliefs and rituals and stories and concepts to the point that it is doubtful that the earliest adherents to what we now refer to as the Christian religion would recognize it. Most Christian holidays are borrowed from older Indo-European Festivals, such as Christmas and Easter. For instance, the Spring festival of the Celtic goddess "Eostre" and the Norse goddess "Ostara" which I mentioned earlier, is what we today celebrate as "Easter"; in fact, the name "Easter" is a modern Anglo-derivation from the goddesses' names, and even the time of year of its observance closely mirrors that of the modern observances. For many Nordic cultures, the Christmas festival is still called "Yule", its original name from Norse Mythology. Whatever this festival is called, it clearly had no original counterpart among what we often refer to today as the original Christians. Even many well known Christian Saints are essentially derived from Indo-European gods and in some case, demons, such as Saint Nicolas and Saint Demetrios, Saint Martin, Saint Lawrence, Saint Ormazd, Saint Venera, Saint Cyrinus, Saint Aphrodite, and many others are generally thought to have been converted from Indo-European deities. Worship and veneration of Mary and prayer to various Saints dedicated to specific purposes, practices which don't seem to have existed among the earliest Christians, follow clear models of worship from the Indo-European pantheons from which Christian adopters sprang after the Roman Empire adopted the religion. The point I am making is that the ancient Proto Indo-European culture and religion is still all around us, and it still permeates a great deal of our lives.<br />
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I didn't intend to write this post as a thorough analysis of the subject. I've barely scratched the surface. I just wanted to introduce the topic, because it's something that has sparked my interest for the last few years. Just as many linguists have reconstructed some small part of the original Proto Indo-European language from its linguistic antecedents, many scholars of the ancient world have reconstructed some part of the original Proto Indo-European pantheon from its cultural antecedents. While the usual evolution has caused some of the ancient deities in the Proto Indo-European pantheons to be displaced or modified, by and large the connections are unmistakable. If you are more interested in this subject, there are some very thorough books on the linguistic and archaeological evidence around the subject. One of the most impressive is <a href="https://www.amazon.com/Horse-Wheel-Language-Bronze-Age-2007-12-09/dp/B01FKSTYT4" style="font-style: italic; font-weight: bold;" target="_blank">The Horse, The Wheel, and Language</a> by David W. Anthony, which I highly recommend for those who have more than a passive interest in the subject.<br />
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To answer the question I asked in the title, "Did Rome adopt the Greek pantheon?", isn't impossible, but it certainly isn't as cut and dry as simply ascribing the process to adoption. Adoption was so fluid an occurrence because of existing similarities which arose from very ancient shared roots. It was no accident that as Rome conquered Europe and Asia and even parts of Africa and the Middle East, its peoples found so many similarities in the religious pantheons and the religious practices they encountered. They recognized a kinship of sorts, even as they couldn't quite tell how such a kinship had come about. But we can at least trace some part of it and understand how that kinship had come about. Adoption certainly occurred, but the foundation of that adoption was in a shared legacy in a forgotten past, and thus any narrative focusing on adoption as the primary means of the orchestration of religious syncretism between Rome and Greece, and between Rome and its many other vassals, is at best incomplete, and at worst misleading.Ger V'Toshavhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10077759937900756390noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7125808689115253597.post-77116739760342816082017-12-10T14:48:00.001-06:002017-12-10T15:17:17.398-06:00Yerushalayim (Jerusalem) and Politics<div class="separator hidden_on_post" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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In regard to U.S. President Donald Trump's executive order to move the Embassy to Yerushalayim (Jerusalem) and recognizing the city as the capital of Yisrael, I don't have a lot to say. I think it's mostly hubris for various reasons. Yerushalayim has been the operating capital of the modern State of Israel for many decades now, and it has done that without recognition from any Government, including its long-term ally, the United States. But this isn't the only reason this move doesn't excite me, or even fire my engines. I'll try to explain why.<br />
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Yerushalayim is the City of the Great King, the City of Elohim, and the City of His People, Yisrael. It is that, even when Elohim allows others to occupy it or take it or even to erect their idols upon it. I have faith enough to know that, not merely believe it. And that is why...<br />
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<li>I don't need the current world to recognize it. Elohim recognizes it. He will one day loudly yell it's truth to the world, with a voice so powerful that the soundwaves will be visible. And that is enough for me.</li>
<li>I don't need to politically rally for this either. We are told that HaMashiach will one day rally for it and fight for it and he will win it for his people in the name of Elohim, and that is enough for me.</li>
<li>I don't need even the most powerful county of this age to place their embassy upon it. This age will come to an end, and Elohim will place HIS Embassy upon it. The embassies from the sinful counties of this age will not be welcome in His Qodesh City. And that is more than enough for me.</li>
<li>I don't need a revolutionary or an army to reclaim the Temple Mount for me. It won't be me or any political figure who reclaims Mount Moriyah for the third Heykal (Temple). Unless Elohim builds that Beit Mikdash ("Holy House"), it will be built in vain. If we build it, it won't be for His purposes, it will be a political machination of this present evil age. We must trust that He will grab that place again for Himself, remove any abominations on it, and He will rebuild the third Beit Mikdash one day through His Mashiach at the time He has appointed for this, because that is what He promises us that He will do. The and only then will it be a House of Prayer for all people, as He has promised. And that is all there can be for me.</li>
<li>We must not be of this world. That means we must resist nationalism and tribalism and love the minorities and the foreigners as we love ourselves. Political machinations, land grabs, and pompous public declarations are not the Arm of Elohim in operation, and we must strongly resist the temptation to believe that it is. His Arm, HaMashiach, will operate when He is ready for it. We should be patient for that and avoid soiling ourselves with the filth of this age, while still doing what we can to help our fellow men and sharing this information with them. And that should be enough for all of us!</li>
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Believers in those promises given to us should be very careful about soiling themselves with the politics of this present evil age. Sometimes we have to speak up when there is injustice that harms individuals because we are after all commanded to love our fellow man as we love ourselves, and we cannot walk idly while it is going on right in front of us. When we see a minority being disproportionately mistreated, we must speak up because we must love justice and hate injustice. That doesn't mean we should become completely involved in the political system; we should limit our involvement to things that require our outspoken voice to remain righteous, and avoid involvement that would lead to our corruption.<br />
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Elohim is not impressed with our political manifestos. He's only impressed with the way we live, and our dedication to His Torah, particularly the weightier matters, such as how we love and treat our fellow human beings -- all of them, even foreigners. If that isn't enough for any of us, then we're in the wrong movement and expressing disbelief in the promises.<br />
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We must realize that we are not going to achieve the Kingdom of Elohim by votes, violence, or rallies. We won't achieve it by siding with one evil politician over another evil politician, with our carefully and purposefully imbalanced scales. We don't choose among the lesser of two shadim (demons) in the Kingdom of Elohim, a place where shadim have no part. The Kingdom of Elohim is something we must wait for. In the meantime, we can be self-contained embassies for that Olam HaBa, by reflecting it in our daily lives and sharing the hope of it with others.Ger V'Toshavhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10077759937900756390noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7125808689115253597.post-12512709227218140362017-08-21T10:10:00.002-05:002017-10-07T15:42:37.293-05:00Do Not Be Terrified...<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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Some prophecies tell us about some very interesting celestial events which will happen in the future. Back when the so-called "blood moon" lunar eclipses occurred, <a href="http://www.gervatoshav.com/2015/09/witnessing-blood-moon-from-yerushalayim.html" target="_blank">I pointed out in this blog post</a> that the events described by Yeshua (Jesus) and the Nabi'im (Prophets) are not the usual eclipses and meteor showers that we are used to, but incredible events that otherwise would be physically impossible given the known workings of our solar system. This solar eclipse, like the lunar eclipses I talked about then, seems to be among the common celestial signs that have occurred since the formation of our solar system, not the spectacular ones we are told to expect by the written servants of YHWH.<br />
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I haven't heard a lot of the usual "omen" talk around today's North American eclipse, but it seems inevitable given the activity around just about every celestial event in the recent past that today's event already has been interpreted as something more significant by some very vocal people. This would inevitably lead to disappointment when emotional investments are made on a very imminent outcome that doesn't come to pass in the time that those playing that stock market were hoping for. The fear of these events is often what allows false prophets to flourish. Some of these will be well meaning but clearly mistaken people, while others will have a more dubious agenda. The point here is that the litmus test cannot be sincerity, because both of these groups are misleading their flocks. The latter dubious group often stays in the limelight just long enough to make a decent buck from the venture, after which they can disappear and leave behind a mess of smashed hopes, but ultimately both of these types are leaving behind smashed hopes. In other words, the litmus test is not the sincerity of the claimant, but the correct application of Scripture. If you are armed with what the Scriptures actually say and hold all such claims strictly to its testimony, you will be immune to such attempts.<br />
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Of course, there's nothing wrong with enjoying these events for what they actually are: marvelous reminders of Elohim's creative hand in this very clockwork environment that He has fashioned for us. Enjoy the eclipse by all means, but be very careful not to read too much into it. Not every event is related to prophecy or sin or punishment. As Yeshua said:<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<b><i>"... [Elohim] makes His sun rise on the wicked and on the good..."</i> (Mattityahu / Matthew 5:45:)</b></blockquote>
I think it's safe to say that Elohim also makes his sun go dark on the wicked and the good. If we're going to interpret beyond this, we must remember what he also promised about prophecies of this sort:<br />
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<b><i>"For the Master YHWH does no matter unless He reveals His secret to His servants the nabi'im (prophets)."</i> (Amos / Amos 3:7)</b></blockquote>
We all know that Elohim has promised to do some mighty things, but let's let Him be the one doing the promising. It's wise to be on our guard and watch for signs of events He has stated which will occur or which He will bring about, yes, but it is unwise to interpret every celestial event as a portent to disaster, judgement, or even reward.<br />
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For those of you not in a location to see the total eclipse, or even a partial eclipse, <a href="https://eclipse2017.nasa.gov/eclipse-live-stream" target="_blank">NASA has some options for experiencing it online</a>. Check them out!Ger V'Toshavhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10077759937900756390noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7125808689115253597.post-76403892252641429132017-02-17T17:59:00.001-06:002017-02-18T20:45:26.324-06:00A Walking Tour of Jerusalem Featuring... MeIt's been a while since I posted, but I am working on several posts. I think the problem with the blog format for me is that several of my posts can often tend to be like small books, so they take a while to complete and they don't really fit the usual pattern for a blog. For instance, one of my posts has been in the making for almost three years now. It's not ideal, but I'm going to stick with the blog format for now, and just hope I find time to complete some of my more involved posts so I can finally share them on here.<br />
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The reason I decided to post today is that a Welsh believer I met in Israel last year who attended the <a href="http://www.shemayisraeltours.com/past-tours.html" target="_blank">Shema Yisrael Shavuot</a> tour with me, messaged me and told me about this interesting video someone had filmed in Yerushalayim's Old City. It is a three hour walking tour, and is probably one of the nicest and definitely one of the most comprehensive video tours I've seen of that wonderful Old City. First, let me share the tour with you here from its beginning. Again, it's just over three hours long, but every minute is worth the watch.<br />
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And how for the part that really caught my eye. It turns out, I'm actually in this video. I've mentioned on here before that I go for the three Chagim (Festivals) in Yerushalayim. It seems this video was filmed either during one of those Chagim or a short time before or after one of them. It seems to have been filmed in the evening around sunset, as someone caught me leaving at the Western Wall as I was saying my evening prayer, right at the 2 hour, 25 minute, and 2 second mark.<br />
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<a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SRPJPU3K0kQ&t=8702s" target="_blank">Here's a link</a> to the portion with me in it. I'm right at the right edge walking up, so I am just seen for a second or two, but it's definitely me. <span style="text-align: center;">And here's a screen capture, just in case it wasn't clear which of the worshipers there that day was me.</span><br />
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I have to say, this video made me really miss the Old City, and I can't wait to see it again during Pesach (Passover)! I am attending the <a href="http://www.shemayisraeltours.com/future-tours.html" target="_blank">Shema Yisrael Pesach 2017</a> tour this time around, and we're going to be visiting so many interesting sites: the ruins of Sodom and Yeracho (Jericho), the Tomb of Abraham, Sarah, Yitshaq (Isaac), Rivkah (Rebecca), Yaakov (Jacob), and Leah in Hebron, and I get to witness the Samaritan Passover close up on Mt. Gerizim. It is sure to be an exciting trip. I plan to share lots of pictures of that trip, as well as some great pictures from the last one. For those who would like to join, it's not too late. <a href="http://www.shemayisraeltours.com/future-tours.html" target="_blank">Check the link</a> and see if it's something you'd be interested in doing.<br />
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Sundown is approaching, and it's time to shut things down so I can rest on Elohim's great day! Shabbat Shalom to all!Ger V'Toshavhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10077759937900756390noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7125808689115253597.post-67628416897904716772016-09-17T17:13:00.008-05:002021-05-23T15:16:56.671-05:00A Pearl of Great Price<div class="separator hidden_on_post" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-yd80g2pJGYE/YKq0XxVG42I/AAAAAAAABkE/t2dfMwAP3p8ENEm4F5IiN23RLsdevC3GgCLcBGAsYHQ/s2048/Perle_de_culture_au_large_de_Shark_Bay.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1365" data-original-width="2048" height="426" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-yd80g2pJGYE/YKq0XxVG42I/AAAAAAAABkE/t2dfMwAP3p8ENEm4F5IiN23RLsdevC3GgCLcBGAsYHQ/w640-h426/Perle_de_culture_au_large_de_Shark_Bay.jpg" title="By Dinkum - Own work, CC0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=15642290" width="512" /></a></div>
<div class="separator visible_on_post" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-yd80g2pJGYE/YKq0XxVG42I/AAAAAAAABkE/t2dfMwAP3p8ENEm4F5IiN23RLsdevC3GgCLcBGAsYHQ/s2048/Perle_de_culture_au_large_de_Shark_Bay.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1365" data-original-width="2048" height="426" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-yd80g2pJGYE/YKq0XxVG42I/AAAAAAAABkE/t2dfMwAP3p8ENEm4F5IiN23RLsdevC3GgCLcBGAsYHQ/w640-h426/Perle_de_culture_au_large_de_Shark_Bay.jpg" title="By Dinkum - Own work, CC0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=15642290" width="640" /></a></div><div><br />To get ready for Sukkoth a few months ago, I decided to read through all four of the Besorot (Gospels) from the Aramaic Peshitta, which I believe is the original of these documents. At the time I started reading, I was struggling with a personal sin, something that I have a very difficult time with, and something that frankly I've struggled with for decades. I was very down about this, and was allowing myself to consider that I might never overcome this sin to the degree necessary. Coming to a conclusion like that can either call you to arms and strengthen your resolve, or it can actually make you consider that maybe the journey just isn't worth the struggle. Unfortunately, my exhausted and depressed state of mind had me considering the latter more than the former.<br />
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So it was fortunate for me that I was in the process of reading the account of the Besorah (Gospel) of Matityahu (Matthew) just at the time these thoughts were becoming more prominent, and came across these verses in particular at just the right moment:</div>
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<b><i>"Again, the Kingdom of HaShamayim (Heaven) is likened to a treasure that is hidden in a field, which when a man finds he hides, and from his joy, he goes and sells everything that he owns and buys that field. Again, the Kingdom of HaShamayim is likened to a man who is a merchant who was seeking good pearls. And when he found a certain precious looking pearl, he went and sold everything that he owned and bought it."</i> (Mattityahu / Matthew 13:44-46)</b></blockquote>
Those verses really sparked a refocusing in me. What Yeshua is saying here by analogy in these parables is twofold. First, he is saying that nothing is off the table in terms of the price we have to pay for the Kingdom of Elohim. And second, he is saying that whatever the price ends up being, it is well worth it. What could be worth everything we have, you might wonder? YHWH intends to restore the Kingdom to Yisrael and the Seed of David through His Mashiach, and he intends us to be the inheritors with Yeshua. This restoration is primarily about the restoration of the scattered and lost people of Yisrael to the Land, but it's so much more. Rav Shaul (Paul) shows just how much more that is when he wrote the following to his fellow future inheritors in Rome:<br />
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<b><i>"And if we are banim (sons), then we are heirs: heirs of Elohim and joint-heirs of the inheritance of Yeshua HaMashiach; so that if we suffer with him, we will also be esteemed with him. For I consider well that the sufferings of the present age are not comparable with the esteem which is to be perfected in us. For the entirety of creation is hoping and waiting for the development of Bnei Elohim (the sons of Elohim). The creation was subjected to vanity (or futility), not by its own choice, but because of him who subjected it, in the hope that also the creation itself would be emancipated from the bondage of decay into the liberty of the esteem of Bnei Elohim."</i> (Romiyim / Romans 8:17-21)</b></blockquote>
So we are to be inheritors with Yeshua of all authority and all things, and we are to be instrumental in the restoration and deliverance of not just Yisrael, not just this earth, but of all of creation -- everything that exists. Yeshua was given that authority, and we will receive that authority with him for the same basic purpose, as he said to his talmidim (disciples) after he was raised from the dead:<br />
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<b><i>"And Yeshua drew near and spoke with them and said to them, 'All authority is given to me in HaShamayim and on Earth. And as my Father has sent me, I send you.'"</i> (Matityahu / Matthew 28:18)</b></blockquote>
Our inheritance is not just within Yisrael. It is not even merely upon this earth. It is a dominion and ownership over the whole of creation -- the entire Universe and beyond. As Rav Shaul previously emphasized, given exactly what we have in store for us when YHWH finally restores the Kingdom to Yisrael, restores His scattered people back to His Land, establishes that restored Kingdom over all the earth and ultimately the entire Universe, and gives his faithful a permanent inheritance within it, what in the world would be too high of a price to pay? What is so difficult or so terrible that it wouldn't be a travail worth experiencing among many others just to have a position at the Right Hand of the Sovereign of that Kingdom? What property or pleasure wouldn't be worth giving up for a future ownership in everything that exists?<br />
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"Selling all you have" seems straightforwardly to indicate that our possessions are on the table if necessary to meet this goal, and it largely does mean this, but it is certainly a call to give up a lot more than mere possessions. It often means giving up the self, particularly those parts of the self which are in the way of this ultimate goal. Nonetheless, selling all you have is a lot easier when you realize that "all things", that is, everything that exists, is ultimately the reward and inheritance for this persistence and dedication to YHWH Elohim:<br />
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<b><i>"He who overcomes will inherit all things, and I will be his Elohim, and he will be My ben (son)."</i> (Hit Galut / Revelation 21:7)</b></blockquote>
Whatever it is that any of us have a hard time giving up to make ourselves Kodesh to Elohim, and to make our hearts and minds suitable for His future Kingdom, will be worth giving up in the end. This is something we should repeatedly remind ourselves of as we run into the kind of roadblocks in our journey and the downbeat attitudes we are often faced with during those travels. The "Pearl of Great Price" really is worth the great price.</div>Ger V'Toshavhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10077759937900756390noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7125808689115253597.post-46647285531022381042016-04-01T06:08:00.004-05:002021-05-23T17:50:52.639-05:00Exodus -- A Book of Names<div class="separator hidden_on_post" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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For reasons that are a bit out of scope for the post I am writing today, those of us who observe the calendar as we believe the Torah actually proscribes are having our celebrations one month earlier than the Yahudim (Jews) will. As a result, I am right now in Yerushalayim (Jerusalem), having just finished observing Chag HaMatzah (The Festival of Unleavened Bread). We began our celebration of this Chag (Festival) celebration with the Pesach (Passover) meal, which is traditionally called a Seder. I and a few like-minded believers came together in Yerushalayim at a rooftop balcony apartment that I usually rent for my pilgrimages here, and we observed the Seder by having a meal of lamb, matzah (unleavened bread), maror (bitter herbs), and wine, while going through a Haggadah, which is something of a mutual participatory rehearsal in which we relive and remind each other of the events that this day commemorates.<br />
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As per usual, a big part of our Haggadah goes through the scroll of the Torah that most Christians call "Exodus". That title actually comes from the ancient translation of the Hebrew scriptures into Greek, a work known as the Septuagint. The names of that translation do not directly correlate with the original Hebrew titles of those scrolls. The Greek names were likely picked to give some context to Greek speakers who at the time were reading the Torah and the rest of the Tanakh (Old Testament) in a more academic sense, given that the relevance of the original Hebrew names are not so obvious to non-Hebrew speakers. The traditional naming convention applied to the original Hebrew scrolls of the Torah derived the title of each scroll from either the literal first word or one of the first prominent words of the text. The first and third scrolls are named for the first word, while the second, fourth, and fifth scrolls are named for one of the first prominent words. Even the traditional Jewish sections of each scroll of the Torah, read by Yahudim (Jews) on each Shabbat (Sabbath) in sequence throughout the year, are generally named in this same way with some variance. On the surface, this probably seems like a meaningless convention; taking this view would be understandable, but I believe this naming process produces titles which match the content of the text in a more significant way than the Greek titles do. In fact, it is my opinion that a major and pervasive theme for each of the Torah scrolls seems is well represented by the titles which result from this naming convention.<br />
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The first word in "Genesis" is "Beresheet", and that is the actual Hebrew name of the scroll. This word means "In the beginning" and indicates a storyline consisting of a set of beginnings which we encounter throughout the scroll -- of the shamayim (heavens) and the earth, of mankind, of sin, of murder, of language diversity and human migration, of the covenant between Elohim and His people, and of their sojourn. Likewise, the next scroll which is commonly called "Leviticus" is actually called "Wayyikra" or "Vayyikra" in Hebrew, and means "And He called", referring to the respective callings that Elohim gave to Mosheh, His people, the Levites, and His Cohenim. It lists out the details of how to remain within the stipulations of the covenant that all of Yisrael was called to, and in a greater sense, how to fulfill the special calling that each individual group was given. The scroll we call "Numbers", which is called this due to the census that is taken early on of the Yisraelites by Mosheh, is actually in Hebrew called "Bemidbar", which means "In the Desert" or rather, "In the Wilderness". And like it's name, it details the sin which caused Elohim to relegate Yisrael to a 40 year period of wandering in the namesake wilderness, and lays out their wanderings which followed, along with other events which occurred in the process, including their eventual allowance by Elohim to take the land He was giving them at the end of the 40 year period, and the attempts of surrounding nations to thwart this. Finally, the book we call "Deuteronomy", which comes from Greek meaning "Double Law" or "Repeated Law", is in Hebrew called "Debarim", or "Words". It is the first prominent word in the scroll, which begins in Hebrew with "Elleh Debarim", which in English can mean "These Are the Words". This title indicates the final words that Mosheh relayed to his people, and to their new leader Yahushua (Joshua), before he ascended the mountain as instructed by Elohim to view the land and pass away.<br />
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Like its companion scrolls in the Torah, the scroll we usually call "Exodus" actually has a more fitting name, the name we took from its first prominent word, "Shemot" or "Names". That's right, the scroll that most of the English-speaking world calls "Exodus" in some form would actually be better called "Names". Of course, on the surface, "Exodus" seems to be more fitting, because one of the things this scroll is about is the dramatic departure, or "exodus", of B'nei Yisrael (the Children of Israel) from Mitstrayim (Egypt) through the activity of the powerful Hand of the Elohim of their fathers. But it's also about the covenant that this Elohim made with them while in the wilderness, yet we don't call it "Covenant". And it's about their sin with the golden calf, yet we don't call it "Idolatry". And it's about their renewal of the covenant and the subsequent relating of instructions on how to live and govern within the new society that the people are forming, yet we call it neither "Renewal" nor "Laws". In a sense, to call it "Exodus" is only part of the story because on the surface it is about about all those things I mentioned. For me personally though, I am attracted to the more subtle focus, and as we will come to see in the next few paragraphs, that focus is actually on names. My goal is not to uncover every significant aspect of the names, but rather to examine just how names play a prominent role in the text, and to expound upon some interesting things that you might not have noticed before.<br />
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"And These Are the Names..."</h4>
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The very first verses of this scroll set its tone:<br />
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<b><i>"And these are the names of B'nei Yisrael, who came to Mitsrayim with Ya'akov, each one with his household."</i> (Shemot / Exodus 1:1)</b></blockquote>
The account then goes on to list the tribes of Yisrael, and mentions the total number of people that came with Ya'akov (Jacob). His sons are all mentioned by name, but their wives and children are not mentioned in this account as they were in chapter 46 of Beresheet (Genesis). The first name we hear beyond those of Ya'akov and his sons are those of the Hebrew midwives who spare the male children of Yisrael from a death order. The name we hear directly after them is that of the human hero of the story, a man by the name of Mosheh. We're given the details of his humble and quite perilous beginnings, and his subsequent adoption by the royal household through the daughter of Pharaoh, his eventual disaffection with his adopted home and its treatment of the people of his birth, and his escape from Mitsrayim through the wilderness, leading to his eventual long-term settlement in exile in the land of Midyan. So the interesting thing about these early parts of the story is that outside of Ya'akov, his sons, the two Hebrew midwives, and Mosheh, very few of the Yisraelite names are actually mentioned this early in the scroll.<br />
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It is only after Elohim appears to Mosheh in the burning bush that we hear of Mosheh's brother Aharon. We heard of Mosheh's mother, father, and sister before, but we didn't actually hear their names, Amram, Yochebed and Miryam, until later in the narrative. In fact, the names and genealogies of the Yisraelites extending beyond the twelve sons of Ya'akov do not get related to us until Mosheh has first visited Pharaoh and been dejected by both him and his own people. After this, the information begins to flow more freely. As time goes on in the scroll, names and genealogies of the people of Yisrael become even more important and more prominent. As the various people and clans are picked for specific jobs, their names and parentage are prominently mentioned.<br />
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In short, Elohim is placing importance on their names as He brings the covenant He made with their fathers to remembrance, fathers He also mentions by name: Abraham, Yitshaq (Isaac), and Ya'akov. In a sense, as He brings the names of B'nei Yisrael to mind in a very intimate way. The gradual revelation of names demonstrates that Elohim is breathing life and significance into the culture of this new nation, hence a culture long acquainted with death and a harsh collective slavery becomes a culture acquainted with life and freedom. It appears that part of the process of giving the Yisraelites their freedom is advancing their names, elevating those names beyond the realm of slave lists and into their own prominence as members of a free people.<br />
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And These Are the Unnamed...</h4>
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As we saw, the names of the Yisraelites become more prominent throughout the scroll. However, another group remains completely obscure throughout the entirety of the scroll. That group is the Mitstrites (Egyptians). The people of Mitsrayim (Egypt) are named for their ancestor, i.e. Mitsrayim himself, whose geneology is listed in Beresheet:<br />
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<b><i>"The sons of Ham were Kush, Mitsrayim, Put and Kena‘an... Mitsrayim fathered the Ludim, the ‘Anamim, the L’havim, the Naftuchim, the Patrusim, the Kasluchim (from whom came the P’lishtim) and the Kaftorim."</i> (Beresheet / Genesis 10:6, 13-14)</b></blockquote>
So we can see that their ancestor's name appears to identify the country, but outside of that name, no other names are actually mentioned for the entire nation of what we call Egypt today. Many titles of various people are mentioned from that nation: Pharoah, the magicians, the taskmasters, "the servant girl who sits behind the handmill", etc., but none of these individuals are actually named. Even Yoseph's wife and father-in-law, respectively Asenath and Potiphera, who were mentioned more prominently in Beresheet (Genesis), are not actually mentioned in Shemot.<br />
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This absence might be glossed over by the casual reader, but given how the names of the individual Yisraelites and their geneologies becomes so important as Sefer Shemot progresses, the absence of the names of individual Mitstrites (Egyptians) is too ironic to go unnoticed to someone seeking the deeper significance of the text, especially for a text that bears the title this one does.<br />
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And note that this does not occur in the case of Mitsrayim only, but also other enemies of Yisrael. For instance, after B'nei Yisrael have left Mitsrayim and have crossed the parted Yum Suf (Red Sea) into the wilderness of Sinai, they are eventually attacked by the armies of Amalek. This is a group name, perhaps from an ancestor or perhaps from an area they inhabited as a people; however, none of these individual Amalekites who joined in or directed the attack against the people of Yisrael as they traveled through the wilderness are named in the account. In fact, Elohim's judgement against Amalek was so fierce, that He stated that He would obliterate Amalek's name from under the earth:<br />
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<b><i>"And YHWH said to Mosheh, 'Write this for a remembrance in the scroll and recite it in the hearing of Yahushua (Joshua), that I shall completely blot out the name of Amalek from under the shamayim.'"</i> (Shemot / Exodus 17:14)</b></blockquote>
When it comes to Yisrael's interactions with individuals from foreign nations in the account in Sefer Shemot, the only ones named are those friendly folks from Midyan, the ones that originally took Mosheh into their household, and into whose family Mosheh married: his father-in-law Yithro (Jethro), his other name "Reu'el" (meaning "friend of El"), and his wife Tsipporah. It really does seem as if Elohim is de-emphasizing the enemies of Yisrael by disregarding their names as He simultaneously gives prominence to Yisrael and its allies by regarding their names, and this de-emphasis of Yisrael's enemies is most obvious in the case of Mistrayim.<br />
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Even the elohim (gods) of Mitsrayim are not excluded from this namewise anonymity in the account. Elohim specifically states that the signs, plagues, and wonders he performs in Mitsrayim, which serve to free his people from slavery, are specifically acts that judge the elohim (gods) of Mitsrayim, especially the plague which kills the firstborn.<br />
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<b><i>"And I shall pass through the land of Mitsrayim on that night, and shall smite all the first-born in the land of Mitsraym, both man and beast. And I shall execute judgement on all the elohim of Mitsrayim. I am YHWH."</i> (Shemot / Exodus 12:12)</b></blockquote>
Yet despite this singling out of the false elohim of Mitsrayim through the power of the miracles the One True Elohim performs, none of those false elohim are mentioned by name. We can interpolate which plagues targeted which of Mitsrayim's elohim based on the nature of the plague, but we don't hear any of them mentioned by name to provide that extra degree of certainty. Mitsrayim seems to have been purposefully shrouded in anonymity, and again, that's extremely ironic in a sefer (scroll or book) that has "Shemot" (or "Names") as its title. That irony, I believe, is intended to emphasize how much Elohim regards Yisrael in this account over Mitsrayim in the text.<br />
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<h4>
"This Is My Name Forever..."</h4>
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Most English-speaking Christians have a tradition to call Elohim by the title "Lord". Their non-Anglophile counterparts have terms with similar meanings substituted. The Spanish-speakers use "Señor", the French use "L'Eternel", and the Germans use "Herr", for instance. Their translations have also used these terms, and have tried to emphasize the importance of them by capitalizing them in some cases. This is why many English Bibles have "LORD" in all capitals when referring to Elohim, and German Bibles have "HERR".<br />
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It surprises some to realize that none of these words are actually present in the original Hebrew, at least in this context. What these words are doing is substituting a name, specifically the most common and most important name of Elohim in all the Scriptures, a name that appears in the text of the Tanakh (Old Testament) nearly 7000 times to identify the Elohim of Yisarel. That name is in Hebrew characters as follows:<br />
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These Hebrew characters would correspond in terms of sound to the English (or rather, Latin) letters "YHWH". Because the Yahudim also lost the pronounciation of this name, due to their later belief that any uttering of the name can be blasphemous and their resulting substitution of the name with terms like "HaShem" (meaning "The Name" in Hebrew), or Adonai (meaning "Master" in Hebrew), the real historic pronunciation of this name has been lost. Various sources and versions of the pronunciation of the name are "Yahweh", "Yehowah", "Yahuwah", and the list goes on.<br />
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However, more important than how this name is pronounced is what it means. We get a hint of its meaning when YHWH first reveals His name to Mosheh at the burning bush:<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<b><i>"And Elohim said to Mosheh, 'Ehyeh Asher Ehyeh.' And He said, 'Thus you shall say to the children of Yisrael, "I AM has sent me to you."' And Elohim said further to Mosheh, 'Thus you are to say to the children of Yisrael, "YHWH Elohim of your fathers, the Elohim of Abraham, the Elohim of Yitshaq, and the Elohim of Ya'aqob, has sent me to you. This is My name forever, and this is My remembrance to all generations."'"</i> (Shemot / Exodus 3:14-15)</b></blockquote>
So Elohim describes Himself in three ways. The first, he states "Ehyeh Asher Ehyeh", which translates into three possible phrases, and possibly means all three at once: "<b><i>I Was Who I Was</i></b>", "<b><i>I Am Who I Am</i></b>", and "<b><i>I Will Be Who I Will Be</i></b>". These are all first-person statements, but then He identifies Himself by the name we listed above, which is essentially a third person variant of a similar phrase. The name YHWH can mean "<b><i>He Is</i></b>", or "<b><i>He Causes To Be</i></b>". I usually write this name with the Latin letters in all capitals, without vowels, to indicate the name without imposing on it my own preferred pronounciation. So in other words, I usually write this as "YHWH", and I will continue to do this for the rest of the post. After this, He identifies Himself in the context of history by showing Himself to be the Elohim of Mosheh's ancestors: Abraham, Yitshaq (Isaac), and Yaakov (Jacob). It's clear that He wants both Mosheh and B'nei Yisrael to know Him by His name. He emphasizes it, and commands Mosheh to reveal it to the people of Yisrael.<br />
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But it isn't just Yisrael that He is revealing Himself to by name in this situation. Nor is it just to Mitsrayim (Egypt) that He is revealing Himself by name. He intends to broadcast and advertise His name throughout the entire Earth, and He is using both Yisrael (by establishing them) and Mitsrayim (by going to war with them) to accomplish this very purpose, as He goes on to tell Pharaoh emphatically through the mouths of Moshe and Aharon:<br />
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<b><i>"For at this time I am sending all My plagues unto your heart, and on your servants and on your people, so that you know that there is no one like Me in all the earth. Now if I had stretched out My hand and struck you and your people with pestilence, then you would have been cut off from the earth. And for this reason I have raised you up, in order to show you My power, and in order to declare My name in all the earth."</i> (Shemot / Exodus 9:14-16)</b></blockquote>
Given this, you would expect that the name of Elohim would be emphasized by those who claim to serve Him, yet as I mentioned before, the trend among both Christians and Jews is to ignore the importance of the name, both in its use, and in the reverence we pay to It. Christians do this by refusing to use it at all, and in practice pretending it doesn't exist. Jews do it by treating the name as so untouchable, that they cannot use it under any circumstances in a modern context. In both cases, they essentially nullify the Name. Yet this is precisely the opposite of what Elohim intended.<br />
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After the Exodus was completed, YHWH went on to reaffirm the importance of His name and Its use when He appeared to B'nei Yisrael on Mount Sinai and uttered what we now know as the Ten Commandments from His own Mouth. In the third of these Mitzvot (Commandments), He thunders in a loud voice exactly how He wants His name to be regarded and treated in what we now call the Third Mitzvah (or the Third Commandment). Unfortunately, both Christians and Jews have attempted to alter the meaning of this very simple Commandment. Jews do this by interpreting it to refer only to a prohibition against swearing false oaths in His name. That is an incomplete view of the requirement, because though avoiding swearing falsely by His name is part of it, it only scratches the surface of what YHWH wants us to do in regards to that name. Christians do this by making it sound as if using the substitutes themselves, such as "Lord" in a "vain" way is the issue, which they indicate by translating the verse as "<i><b>You will not use the name of the LORD Your God in vain...</b></i>". The problem with both of these is that they miss the deeper point of its use. YHWH wants His name to be used reverentially, not ignored and not dropped from use out of fear. The term that Christians usually translate as "vain" is a Hebrew term that is pronounced like "shav". This means more properly "naught" or even "nothingness". So a better translation of this Mitzvah (Commandment) would be as follows:<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<b><i>"You do not bring the name of YHWH your Elohim to nothingness, for YHWH does not leave the one unpunished who brings His name to nothingness."</i> (Exodus / Shemot 20:7)</b></blockquote>
Surely it should be obvious to most here that removing the name from our vocabulary using either the Christian or Jewish justifications is unacceptable to Elohim. The proper use of His name is so important to Him, that He commanded it by His Own Voice directly to the people of Yisrael. So Sefer Shemot, the "Scroll of Names", is an important vehicle through which Elohim allows us to know Him by name. And we would be foolish indeed to ignore that opportunity and that obligation.<br />
<br />
<h4>
A Scroll of Names Within the Scroll of Names</h4>
<br />
There is one more point to make about Sefer Shemot that really does establish it as a "Book of Names", and that is the mention of a dynamic book of names that YHWH Elohim keeps for Himself. We hear about this book as Mosheh attempts to mediate atonement for a great sin which Yisrael committed at the very start of their existence as the covenant people.<br />
<br />
As Mosheh was finalizing the covenant between Elohim and Yisrael, and receiving the stone tablets that contained the Ten Commandments written into the stone by the finger of Elohim Himself, B'nei Yisrael sinned against YHWH by creating and worshiping a golden calf. This was a grievous sin, an act of defiant idolatry. In terms of the covenant an act on par with a new wife committing adultery on her wedding night. So egregious was this sin, that Elohim considered destroying all of Yisrael and starting new with Mosheh and his descendents. Mosheh however, pleaded for mercy and offered to have his name wiped out from this book instead of the names of B'nei Yisrael.<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<b><i>"And Mosheh returned to YHWH and said, 'Oh, these people have sinned a great sin, and have made for themselves a mighty one of gold! And now, if You would, lift their sin, but if not, please blot me out of Your scroll which You have written.'"</i> (Shemot / Exodus 32:32)</b></blockquote>
<div>
What we are reading here is that YHWH keeps a scroll, a scroll of remembrance, in which He accounts for the names of those He regards, and again, it seems no coincidence to me that we first hear of this "scroll of names" in Sefer Shemot, the "Scroll of Names". We go on to read YHWH's response to Mosheh's offer:</div>
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<b><i>"And YHWH said to Mosheh, 'Whoever has sinned against Me, I blot him out of My scroll.'"</i> (Shemot / Exodus 32:33)</b></blockquote>
<div>
YHWH rejects Mosheh's offer, and states that He will remove the names of those who sinned against Him from the scroll. So we see that this scroll is a scroll which contains the names of those that YHWH regards, the righteous. It is a scroll of those who choose life by choosing to obey YHWH, and the consequence of rebellion against YHWH through sin is to have your name removed from that scroll.</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
For readers of the Ketuvim Netzarim (New Testament), there is another scroll of scripture that is described as just such a ledger of names, though in this case, it is called the "Scroll of Life":</div>
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<b><i>"And I saw the dead, small and great, standing before the throne, and scrolls were opened. And another Scroll was opened, which is Life. And the dead were judged from what was written in the scrolls, according to their works... And if anyone was not found written in the Scroll of Life, he was thrown into the lake of fire."</i> (Hit Galut / Revelation 20:12, 15)</b></blockquote>
<div>
From the description of this second scroll, it seems rather obvious that it is not distinct from the first scroll, but rather that the two scrolls are one and the same. So another function of Sefer Shemot, i.e. the Book of Exodus, is to allow us to see an early view of YHWH's judgement process, and to understand how we can ensure that our names are kept in His qodesh scroll of life. Or, conversely, to see the consequence of rebelling against him by willingly participating in sinful acts, a consequence that fell upon those Yisraelites that worshipped the calf, and a consequence that will fall upon all those who one day find themselves unlisted at the time of the judgement.</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
In this way, the second Torah scroll shows us a path to life and redemption, one in which our names can be written in YHWH's scroll of life. It demonstrates through its recount of the history of the Yisraelites in the wilderness that by entering into this covenant with YHWH and being obedient to His Mitzvot (Commandments), our names can be recorded before Him forever, and by rebelling against Him, they can be removed from that same scroll.</div>
<div>
<br />
<h4>
Not Only About the Exodus </h4>
<br />
Sefer Shemot is the Torah Scroll we have historically called "Exodus" in English, but which we now know would better be translated "Names". What that scroll tells is not strictly the story of an Exodus, but the story of an Elohim: an Elohim who wants to be known by His Own name, an Elohim who broadcasts that name throughout the Earth through incredible signs and wonders, and an Elohim who knows all of His own people individually by their own names. Sefer Shemot shows us how we can also be part of that multitude; it assists us in making our own "exodus" from the nameless world of sin and death into the registry of life by giving us the details of the Covenant, a Covenant that YHWH makes with each of us by name. It shows us how we can know and regard the name of our Elohim, and how we can ensure that He knows and regards ours.</div>
Ger V'Toshavhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10077759937900756390noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7125808689115253597.post-36358869586303223212016-01-01T00:00:00.001-06:002021-01-01T14:02:23.949-06:00Resolution or Repentence?<div class="separator hidden_on_post" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<br />
A few years ago, after spending some significant time studying about the origins of the New Year's holiday, I decided to skip it and never celebrate it again. The key deciding factor for me was the discovery of the connection between the Roman deity "Janus" to both the Roman month "January", being obviously named for him, and the first day of that month, which became the first day of the Roman year, being dedicated to him. We can read a general confirmation of this information from <a href="http://www.novaroma.org/nr/Main_Page" target="_blank">Nova Roma</a>, a website that advances the restoration of "classical Roman religion, culture, and virtues":<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<i>"Father Janus is often shown with two faces, one looking forward – the other backward. Ovid explains Janus' biform is because he is Guardian of every household's front doorway, with one face directed outward that 'views the people', and one face that looks inward towards the Lar Familiaris of the family's shrine. Ovid also draws the connection of doorkeeper with the dawning sun, calling Him 'the ianitor of the celestial court. (Who) observes the east and the west together' (Fasti I. 135-40). When the calendar was changed making January the beginning of the New Year, the month was named for Janus and January 1st was dedicated to him."</i> (<a href="http://www.novaroma.org/nr/Main_Page" target="_blank">Nova Roma</a> article on <a href="http://www.novaroma.org/nr/Ianus" target="_blank">Ianus</a>)</blockquote>
That was all it took for me to know what I had to do. I had to make teshuva (repentance) by ceasing to observe this occasion, and while I thought it would be easy to give it up as it seems like such a trivial holiday, I was very wrong. Much to my surprise, New Year's is the hardest holiday so far from which to withdraw myself completely. I severed emotional ties with Christmas, Easter, and other such things almost 25 years ago, so I don't feel any real connection with them anymore. Though I certainly did have those feelings at the time, my conviction was seasoned by my youth, and I emotionally cut ties rather quickly and resolutely. I am much older now and much more set in my ways, and dropping this observance took more effort than I imagined.<br />
<br />
What I liked about this holiday is that it centered on new beginnings, throwing away the past and starting anew, resolving to change your life in positive ways. In other words, it was a holiday that was about teshuva in some sense, i.e. changing direction, improving your life, reflecting on past mistakes or problems and thinking about how to actively correct them. I enjoyed the whole idea of waiting for midnight on New Year's Eve, and ringing in the new arrival of the New Year, that exact point when I could essentially throw away the past and begin acting on my resolutions, and of course, I liked doing so within the framework of merriment and mirth among friends and family. Resolutions are in a sense a form of teshuva, a form of repenting of your past deeds and resolutely changing your ways. So it was a bit ironic that I had to make teshuva by resolving to cease from observing this holiday in particular.<br />
<br />
The New Year's celebration was something I kept in my back pocket. I've enjoyed observing it for many years under the excuse that this was in fact a secular holiday, one with no religious basis and thus one I did not have to avoid to keep my relationship with YHWH Elohim pure. Sometimes I'd have this nagging question in my mind as to where this celebration and its customs came from, particularly with my knowledge that this structure for a year came from a Roman solar calendar, and thus, was possibly embedded in Roman mythology and the worship of Roman deities. But I would skip that concern because I enjoyed it so much and I truly felt my heart wasn't in the wrong place. I evaded any hint of its true origins because I think in the back of my mind I knew this might spell the end of another link I had with the world at large. In taking this tact, I was letting that desire for enjoyment override those reservations when they would arise. This is, of course, precisely what a great many Christians do around Christmas and Easter, and against which I've lectured many among them over the years. In other words, I was being a hypocrite.<br />
<br />
The first time I purposefully avoided New Year's, the decision had only come a day or so before, and thus I wasn't emotionally prepared for what cutting lose from that tradition would mean for me personally, I was heavily tempted all day to go to a party I had an open invitation to attend. It helped that I had so much work to do that day that I couldn't really justify it, but in the past I would have thrown the work to the wind and went out for some champagne with friends. It was immediately apparent to me how much I would miss the camaraderie of doing that. Far more than just celebrating resolutions, I wanted to be among friends at this time that the world considers to be an important annual event. The desire, basically a worldly desire to join the party specifically at this significant time of the year, gnawed at me the whole evening.<br />
<br />
I am extremely grateful to my Elohim that I live in a country, culture, and age in which religious liberty is so thoroughly ingrained that I don't have an expectation of having to resist at the cost of my own liberty or even my own blood, as so many have had to do in the past. Nor have I had the worst treatment possible from family and friends who didn't understand my decisions all those years ago. Many believers are not so fortunate in their family situations. There are Jews who were raised in strict Orthodox families who, having come to the knowledge of Yeshua HaMashiyach, had parents, brothers, sisters, and other family "sit shiva" for them, essentially treating these family members as if they were dead to them. And of course, it happens on the Christian side of things as well. I knew of one former Christian who was disowned by family after coming to the knowledge of his obligation to observe the Mitzvot (Commandments) of the Torah and making teshuva to that effect. My family, which has mostly Christian roots, might have given me a hard time many years ago over my religious decisions, but they were motivated by pain more than anger. Certainly, they never gave me a degree of penalty that would include permanent estrangement, and now they're so used to the idea, it only really gives them pain during holidays when they are reminded of me by my absence at their gatherings.<br />
<br />
I am grateful that this level of ostracism never happened to me. But that doesn't mean that I haven't had issues with loneliness and acceptance at times. I've had to give up a lot of things to keep myself qodesh ("set apart") to a Qodesh Elohim, and sometimes it's not just the celebrations and customs themselves, but the effect it has on my relationships with family and friends. You can feel very much like a constant outsider at these times of the year. Because those who are the most like-minded to my way of believing, my spiritual brothers, live such long distances away, I only really see them in Yerushalayim (Jerusalem) for the Chagim (Biblical Festivals). I think that's why it was hard to let go of this additional holiday celebration of the Roman New Year. It's a time of year I could share with people who don't share my belief system.<br />
<br />
At times like these, I try to remember what Rav Shaul (Paul) said about these things of which we must let go to continue in a covenant relationship with YHWH Elohim and His Mashiach:<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<i><b>"But these things which had been my mastery, I have counted as damaged goods, because of HaMashiach. And now also I count them all as damaged goods, because of the superiority of the knowledge of Yeshua HaMashiach, my Master; for the sake of whom I have parted with all things, and have counted them as sewage, that I might gain HaMashiach."</b></i><b> (Philippians 3:7-8)</b></blockquote>
Giving up worldly things like this one will certainly be worth it in the end. Whatever Elohim has planned in HaOlam Haba (the world to come) for those of us who have willingly entered into a covenant with Him and remained faithful is far greater than anything we can experience in the here and now, no matter how wonderful or personally meaningful we might consider these worldly ornaments to be.<br />
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I firmly believe everyone who wants a relationship with the only true Elohim must eschew holidays such as this one, holidays that originate not in the rich soil of YHWH, but in the astroturf of man-made deities. If we need any resolution at this time of the year, it's to avoid the New Year's holiday, and all other holidays and worldly ornaments which serve to prevent the fullness of our relationship with Him. We all need to make teshuva and commit ourselves to keeping the Torah of Mosheh and the Testimony of Yeshua HaMashiach, particularly to emphasize in our lives that which is the subject of their mutual emphasis, the greatest Mitzvah (commandment) of the Torah, the Shema:<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<b><i>"Hear, O Yisra’el: YHWH our Elohim, YHWH is One! And you shall love YHWH your Elohim with all your heart, and with all your being, and with all your might. And these Words which I am commanding you today shall be in your heart, and you shall impress them upon your children, and shall speak of them when you sit in your house, and when you walk by the way, and when you lie down, and when you rise up, and shall bind them as a sign on your hand, and they shall be as frontlets between your eyes. And you shall write them on the doorposts of your house and on your gates... Do not go after other elohim ('gods'), the elohim of the peoples, who are all around you."</i> (Debarim / Deuteronomy 6:4-9, 14)</b></blockquote>
Notice how thorough these words are. We're being told that we must resolve ourselves to these words every day in every way, reminding ourselves throughout the day of their importance, and letting them guide our thoughts and our deeds unreservedly. We're being told that we must make continual teshuva to the One True Elohim, YHWH. We're being told to evict foreign deities like Janus from our front doorway, and instead inscribe these words on every doorway and gate, especially the doorway to our hearts and minds. We don't need a man-made holiday to remind us of our resolve to YHWH Elohim, particularly one that resulted from the worship of a man-made deity. Using that kind of holiday to celebrate new beginnings and to make teshuva in our lives could only serve to weaken the sincerity and sheer heart behind our resolve, and certainly would serve to disconnect the one true Elohim from those efforts. Our commitment to Him has to be an all-day and every-day resolution for us, an all-day and every-day making of teshuva to put Him first in everything, and so that we don't fall into the trap of doing these things reluctantly, it must be an all-day, every-day celebration.Ger V'Toshavhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10077759937900756390noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7125808689115253597.post-5340074510685793562015-12-14T01:45:00.001-06:002016-04-06T08:15:13.987-05:00Deconstructing Babel<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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The story of the Tower of Babel is one of those enigmatic reports contained within the first volume of the Torah, a sefer (i.e. scroll) known as "Beresheet" in Hebrew and "Genesis" in English. The term generally means "beginnings", and so each portion of the scroll describes beginnings of some sort: the beginnings of the shamayim (heavens) and the earth, the beginnings of man, the beginnings of sin, the beginnings of murder, the beginnings of the Covenant and the righteous men with whom it was made and renewed, the beginnings of Yisrael (Israel) in the land of Aram, in the land of Kena'an (Canaan), and in the land of Mitstrayim (Egypt).<br />
<br />
The reason I say that this story of the Tower of Babel is enigmatic is that although I hold that it is entirely factual, I glean most of that fact in the form of a reading of it as very likely heavily built upon allegorical material. I've come to see that much of Sefer Beresheet is purposefully low on detail and high on allegory, especially up to the point in which Abraham and his story are introduced. Only very basic details are listed, and when they are told, they are wrapped up in Hebrew word plays and grammatical musings which belie the hand of a skilled poet rather than just a skilled reporter, one who attempts to report meaning and significance first and detail second. Up to that point in which Abram is introduced, the Torah is much less specific, much more generalized, and is heavily symbolic. That is not to say that it isn't a factual account up to that point, though. Whether the Torah up to that point is historic fact or not is another debate entirely, and despite what many would say in a rush to defend a factual reading of these early chapters of Beresheet on any mention of allegory in the text, it is actually possible for the reading of a majority of these verses to be expressed figuratively most of the time, and for the detail drawn out of their reading to be simultaneously factual, without any need to identify contradictions or other logical fallacies. An account can be a combination of literal and allegorical, of fact and the figurative, because the mode of expression is not mutually exclusive to the veracity of the details being expressed.<br />
<br />
This is a very difficult thing for some to put their heads around, especially if, like me, their faith is invested in these books being the literal Word of Elohim (God), but even those who would object to it when stated explicitly like this rely on the process implicitly. Even when they don't always openly agree, and perhaps even when they openly disagree with this position of mine, they often actually do agree with this point in practice, often without fully realizing it. A few years ago, during Sukkoth (The Festival of Tabernacles), I made the point to someone observing that Hag (Festival) with me in Yerushalayim (Jerusalem), that if we don't accept that much of the Torah, especially these early portions, are heavily wrapped up in symbolic language, and that this information can be factual without being written in literal terminology, we risk missing important lessons hidden within the original Hebrew of the text. Saying this caused some minor agitation for him and he took it upon himself to defend the literal reading of Genesis to me in a friendly debate. As we were discussing further, out of the blue he mentioned that the "Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil", the tree which was a sin to consume in the first few chapters of Beresheet, might actually just be referring to a type of sexual activity, and he posited that the Serpent in the Garden might have simply seduced the first two people to participate in that activity with him, thus he was saying that the eating of the fruit of the tree represented Adam and Hawah (the actual Hebrew name for "Eve") taking part in a sexual act with that Serpent. This line of reasoning of course took me by surprise. The problem was not an objection on my part to that interpretation, which I think is at least a fair reading of the text regardless of whether it is the correct reading, My surprise was that my friend and opponent in this discussion had just turned the tables on me and was arguing my original point for me, and he didn't even realize he was doing it. The very thing he was arguing against, that early chapters and verses of Beresheet were not allegorical and were thus only reporting literally, he had reversed himself on, and he didn't even realize he had done it. So our own personal recognition of the enigmatic structure of the early verses of the Torah can itself be a bit of a personal enigma. Most of us aren't comfortable enough to admit it, even when we tacitly accept it enough to put the tools of such analysis to use on those very verses.<br />
<br />
With that bit out of the way, the point I would like to make is that regardless of the exact circumstances of the Torah's account of the construction of the so-called "Tower of Babel", and Elohim's subsequent intervention to prevent its construction from going further, there are very interesting tidbits to glean from the story that we won't get if we spend a lot of our time trying to push either an entirely literal account or an entirely figurative one.<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<b><i>"And all the earth had one language and one speech. And it came to be, as they set out from the east, that they found a plain in the land of Shin'ar, and they dwelt there. And they said to each other, 'Come, let us make bricks and bake them thoroughly.' And they had brick for stone, and they had asphalt for mortar. And they said, 'Come, let us build ourselves a city, and a tower whose top is in the shamayim (heavens), and make a name for ourselves, lest we be scattered over all the face of the earth.' Then YHWH came down to see the city and the tower which the sons of men had built. And YHWH said, 'Look, they are one people and they all have one language, and this is what they begin to do! And now, they are not going to be withheld from doing whatever they plan to do. 'Come, let Us go there and confuse their language, so that they do not understand one another’s speech.' And YHWH scattered them from there, over the face of all the earth, and they left off building the city. That is why its name was called Babel, because there YHWH confused the language of all the earth, and from there YHWH scattered them over the face of all the earth."</i> (Beresheet / Genesis 11:1-9)</b></blockquote>
So there are a few things we can easily glean from this account:<br />
<ul>
<li>Every human being on earth spoke one language and lived in close proximity.</li>
<li>After travelling together from the East, they settled in a land called "Shin'ar".</li>
<li>Upon arrival, the most politically savvy of this early race of men saw the potential of creating a city to keep themselves unified.</li>
<li>Part of this act was to create a monument, reaching to the shamayim ("heavens" or rather, "skies").</li>
<li>YHWH Elohim considered both the tower AND the city to be a problem, so He took action.</li>
<li>His action was twofold: scattering peoples over the face of the earth, and confusing their languages. We are not told the order of the actions, nor the time frame in which they occurred.</li>
<li>This effectively brought an end to the construction of the city and the tower.</li>
</ul>
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A couple of things to note right off -- the name <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shinar" target="_blank"><i>Shin'ar</i></a> seems to come from an amalgamation of a Hebrew phrase which means "between two rivers", which seems to refer to the area between the Tigris and Euphrates Rivers, basically early Mesopotamia. It could also be a Hebrew form of the Akkadian word "Shumeru", which also refers to "Sumer" or Sumeria, a prominent region within Mesopotamia. This would make sense given that the larger area of Mesopotamia was one of the first areas considered to be the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cradle_of_civilization" target="_blank">cradle of human civilization</a>, the area in which human beings were thought to have first organized into a structured society. While this theory of one beginning civilization is no longer the norm among experts, who have now adopted a theory of several such "cradles", namely <i>"Mesopotamia, the Nile River, the Indus River, the Yellow River, the Central Andes, and Mesoamerica"</i> (<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cradle_of_civilization" target="_blank">ibid</a>), the easiest way to understand this in respect to the Torah's account is that these were simply a fragmented continuation of these efforts after YHWH's action to scatter the population over the face of the earth.<br />
<br />
And that leads us to the second note before moving on: that this story is describing something more than the mere construction of a tower. I feel that it's describing an attempt to organize, unify, and combine efforts. Though it's commonly believed that the "Tower of Babel" was intended to reach literally into the throne room of Elohim, this is one of those cases where I think an allegorical reading is more apt. Otherwise we are faced with an interpretation that rings overly simplistic and unrealistic, especially given what we now know about the nature of what lies beyond the Planet Earth's upper atmosphere. Such a move would be fatal to these individuals, and not really a threat to Elohim or His plans at all. Of course, it's possible that they believed this in their naivety, but it seems much more likely that the tower was a much more symbolic assault on Elohim -- an attempt to control their surroundings and make themselves immune from the Elohim who had only recently punished man so severely. Keeping in mind that these people are very close descendants of those who survived the Flood, it seems that they may simply have been trying to find a way to gain stronger control over their environment, and to attempt to preserve themselves from future calamities. This is actually indicated by the term that English translators render as "tower" in "Tower of Babel"; the Hebrew word is <a href="http://biblehub.com/hebrew/4026.htm" target="_blank"><i>migdal</i></a>, which has the sense of a highly positioned military structure, or basically a "watchtower". Its functional purpose is very likely political or even militaristic, something that helps to consolidate power. But there's more to the purpose really than that, which we can see when we examine the root term <i><a href="http://biblehub.com/hebrew/1431.htm" target="_blank">gadal</a>,</i> which has the meaning "to become great", and "to grow up"... or more precisely in this case, "to advance". From this, it seems that these individuals felt that by remaining unified, under one language, one culture, and one politico-religious creed, they would be able to achieve far more in every available direction than they would if they were to spread out and diversify.</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
Certainly, YHWH Elohim seems to have agreed with them on this point, that this move would in fact allow them to advance much faster. And it seems this speedy advance would occur much too quickly for His purposes. Note that when He comes down to observe their activities before He intervenes as He did, He actually observes not only the tower but also the city they are building<b> (Beresheet / Genesis 11:5).</b> He then expresses the core of His concern when He states: <b><i>"Look, they are one people and they all have one language, and this is what they begin to do! And now, they are not going to be withheld from doing whatever they plan to do."</i></b><b> (Beresheet / Genesis 11:6).</b> YHWH introduces "confusion" to the story, which is the meaning of the name "Babel". This indicates that, at least at the time, the people involved may not have named this area or the city in question by that name, but that this name emerged over time due to the actions that Elohim introduced to the project.</div>
<br />
Earlier I said that Sefer Beresheet, i.e. the Book of Genesis, is about beginnings, sometimes enigmatic beginnings, and this story gives us a few of these enigmatic beginnings:<br />
<ul>
<li>The post-flood ascent of Mankind, that is, his attempt to organize himself into a single people under a single political/religious system.</li>
<li>The beginning of language variation among peoples.</li>
<li>The beginning of the dispersion of those peoples over the face of the earth.</li>
<li>In general, the beginning of the diversity, or "confusion", of the operation of our present world</li>
</ul>
<br />
Our ancestors were not really building a "Tower of Babel", but rather a tower of unity, in their attempts to create and organize a society that would be more united than scattered, make their world less confusing and less unpredictable, and give them the tools to reshape it to fit their needs, that is, to make it subject to them rather than being subject to it themselves, Man was building a Tower, but it was Elohim who built "Babel" by introducing suppressive trends into their plans. As mentioned, the term "Babel" itself implies confusion -- a confusion of tongues, a confusion of nationalities, a confusion of religions, and a confusion of general dogma. In a sense, the story is about Elohim putting a mixer into a hot pot situation before it actually boiled over.<br />
<br />
We often hear that hindsight is 20/20, and that is certainly true for all of us very mortal human beings. Unlike YHWH, we cannot tell the end from the beginning. Up until the last 150 to 200 years, it might have seemed very unclear what exactly YHWH was trying to prevent here. However, those of us who are alive in this day and age of technological marvel should be a little less mystified at what YHWH's concern might have been. As a species, we have been advancing in precisely this way, conquering so many aspects of our environment in almost every conceivable way through technological breakthroughs. We have dug down to the tiniest organisms. We've harnessed incredible amounts of energy from the tiniest building blocks of matter. We've reached out into the realm beyond our sky, and we've done so well beyond what our ancestors could have imagined to be possible. We have reached a point where we could, in an instant, destroy all life on the Planet Earth.<br />
<br />
We have been able to explore and conquer almost anything we have put our minds to, and the progress is only accelerating exponentially. To do this, we've had to find ways to bridge several debilitating barriers, barriers that have kept progress from expanding as quickly in previous centuries and millennia. Each time we bridge yet another barrier, we seem to advance that much further. And just what have been the strongest of these barriers? They have been culture, religion, distance, and language.
<br />
<br />
We have been slowly unraveling the confusion that Elohim introduced into our mixing bowl, and the result has been an astounding level of progress that no one could have anticipated. The more quickly and resolutely we bridge the confusing barriers in our path, the more quickly and resolutely we cross the divides between what we are able to theorize and imagine and what we are able to implement and accomplish. And this has a domino effect -- distance is really no longer a difficult issue to overcome -- going to distant areas that in times past took months and even years of travel now takes mere hours or at most a day. As a result, an understanding of cultural differences has accelerated, to the point that cultural concerns are now often only taken seriously if they are held by primitive peoples -- nationality and culture among the more enlightened set is treated as something base, something that should be suppressed. Religious beliefs of all varieties are slowly crumbling under the weight of each new technological discovery. More and more man is becoming his own deity, his own object of worship, and the heavens are just one more area to explore, settle, and ultimately reshape into his own image. And yes, even language barriers are disappearing at an accelerated rate. These factors have allowed us to slowly but surely mitigate the barriers imposed by language.<br />
<br />
I have a good friend who has been working the last several years on a doctorate in Linguistics. Linguistics is the scientific study of languages, how they are structured and how they develop. As a result of his interest, I took it upon myself to more casually pursue knowledge of the field. My motive for doing this was primarily to be able to speak to him intelligently on the subject during his bi-annual visits; however, there is also a bit of interest on my part that goes beyond my association with my friend. Being a software engineer, I was interested in language structure and syntax at an early age, my interest first appearing with computer programming languages, but eventually moving on to human languages. I spent many of my teenage years learning Spanish, and lately my interest expanded to learning both ancient and modern Hebrew, as well as to study Aramaic to a far lesser extent.<br />
<br />
In pursuing those languages, a lot of questions had come up on how there can be so many different forms of language among all the peoples in the world, and how these originated. The differences between English, Spanish, Hebrew, and Aramaic are so profound, despite the first two and the latter two being classified in the same overall language families, that it gave me a taste of just how incredibly diverse even related languages can be from each other.<br />
<br />
Languages come in so many forms with so many features and varieties of grammar. These are so thoroughly different from each other that even without the religious significance they can be thought of as the very definition of "confusion". Languages can differ incredibly on the sounds that make up their vocabulary, varying from Western and European languages that I am more familiar with, to tonal languages in which the syllable is pronounced with a notation that can be described as semi-musical and which is used to distinguish words which consist of the same syllable from each other, or languages can consist of a series of very complex guttural sounds and clicks. Languages can have grammatical genders, such as male, female, or neuter, and have these applied to every noun, verb conjugation, or additional vocabulary, and this usually happens whether those terms express a real human gender or not; in fact, there are languages that have more than ten grammatical genders. Languages can have several registers, which from the outside eye would almost seem like different languages within the same language, modes of speaking which alter practically every word in a sentence or even compose the same sentence with entirely different words or grammar based on the target audience. Sentence structure among languages can be so varied, from the order in which subject, verb, and object are expressed, to the ways in which they are denoted, to structures that express entire sentences of meaning into a single word. Frankly, the number of variances defy any attempt I could make to summarize them here. This listing doesn't even scratch the surface.<br />
<br />
When you begin to grasp the sheer breadth of variety in the subject matter, you really want answers as to how these things come about. How does a language become tonal? How do languages develop what seem like needless grammatical indicators? How does a language come up with the concept of grammatical gender, and then, how does it apply those genders to words for everyday things that clearly have no real gender? The answers aren't easy, because they are long-term developments which take place over hundreds or even thousands of years, and they are natural, gradual developments, not targeted changes mapped out and implemented by a planning committee. Studying linguistics, even on the armchair as I have, has helped me to understand the process of how languages develop and diversify, and how this process is happening all around us every day. It has also, as it happens, helped me to put this story from the Torah about the beginning of language diversity into perspective and to glean much more from it. Language is most assuredly a pronounced barrier to progress.<br />
<br />
One course I listened to recently and highly recommend to anyone interested in the subject is part of the <a href="http://www.thegreatcourses.com/" target="_blank">Great Courses</a> series. It was entitled <i><u>The Story of Human Language</u></i>, and was presented by <a href="http://www.thegreatcourses.com/professors/john-mcwhorter/" target="_blank">Professor John McWhorter, Ph. D.</a> You can find this course on the <a href="http://www.thegreatcourses.com/courses/story-of-human-language.html" target="_blank">Great Courses website</a>, but it is also available on the <a href="http://www.audible.com/pd/History/The-Story-of-Human-Language-Audiobook/B00DGBECNG" target="_blank">audio book site, Audible</a>, which I prefer for more casual listening. Here are a few things I've learned from this course and some other studies:<br />
<ul>
<li>Language is a natural occurrence among human beings. It's believed by many linguists to be built into our DNA and thus our brains that we can readily absorb a standard of communication at a young age and then communicate ideas fluently within that language.</li>
<li>"Language" refers to active verbal forms of communication, or substitutes for verbal when these are not possible (such as sign language).</li>
<li>When we speak of "language" we are not speaking of writing systems. Language development is a natural process which takes place over time without intentional planning. Writing systems on the other hand are considered a form of technology, i.e. a planned and artificial system developed from a naturally developed language, rather than a natural occurrence itself.</li>
<li>Most languages are never written, and even when they are, the writing systems usually do not evolve at the same pace as the natural spoken language. This is why, for instance, English has a silent "e" at this point, and why most French endings are not pronounced yet are still written. These now-silent extensions were once pronounced, but are not any longer. They remain in the written language, but can't be said to actually exist in the real language, that is the spoken vernacular. The written language does not evolve in the same direction as the spoken. The former usually lags far behind the latter.</li>
<li>There very likely was in fact one original human language. All other languages very likely developed from that language in varying branches, which themselves fathered more families of languages, in a very large family tree.</li>
<li>Evolution of an existing language occurs naturally all the time, but proximity of the speakers tends to ensure that these changes are shared among those speakers. Separation, distance, and isolation of those speakers are keys to the development of dialects. Even short distances between peoples who speak the same language over a period of time will lead to variances.</li>
<li>The longer the time of separation and the more complete the isolation, the more these variances will develop into distinct languages which are no longer mutually intelligible.</li>
<li>When you have a large family of languages which clearly descended from one common ancestor, it is possible to reconstruct a good deal of that common ancestral language by analyzing and comparing the variances in its children, using several natural "rules" surrounding which sounds change most frequently over time, and how those sounds most commonly change, to determine where the variations occurred.</li>
<li>For instance, the ancient ancestor of most European languages, such as English, German, French, Italian, Spanish, Latin, Russian,,as well as other non-European languages such as Hindi and Persian, and even long-dead languages such as Sanskrit (one common in India and still used in Hindu liturgy), Tocharian (once common in China and used in Buddhist liturgy), and even ancient Hittite (a language readers of Scripture will remember), can all be traced back to a common ancestral language which is named in modern terms "Proto-Indo-European". A good deal of this language has been reconstructed by examining and comparing the grammar, etymology, and morphology of all of the known languages that emerged from it.</li>
<li>Contrary to what one might surmise, the languages of primitive peoples are generally far more complex than the languages of more advanced cultures, especially around the sounds present in the language (and thus pronouciation), and the sheer complexity of the grammar. The trend of primitive cultures without much inter-cultural contact is towards language complexity, while the trend of more advanced cultures with more inter-cultural contact is towards language simplicity. This is primarily because more advanced cultures tend to be more open to communication across language barriers, and over time, these attempts to find common ways to communicate results in a gradual simplification of the grammar of the target language(s). In the absence of those exposures, complexity results rather than simplicity.</li>
<li>Languages are always diversifying throughout history, and the process still continues to happen; however, the greater trend in the last few centuries has been one of language death occurring much faster than language diversification, leading to a much smaller set of living languages as time goes on.</li>
</ul>
<br />
I really want us to consider that last point. In lesson 33 of this course, entitled <i><u>Language Death -- The Problem</u></i>, Professor McWhorter discussed a recent trend that caught my ears. Language death has been occurring at an accelerated rate in the last few centuries, one that almost defies logic. We have very likely lost thousands of languages which can never be recovered in the last few hundred years, and we will lose many many more in a very short time. As he points out, 96% of the current population of the world currently speaks one of the 20 most spoken languages. He lists these 20 languages in order of highest number of speakers to lowest number of speakers, as follows:
<br />
<br />
<div class="DeconstructingBabel_div">
<table class="DeconstructingBabel_table">
<tbody>
<tr class="DeconstructingBabel_tr"><th class="DeconstructingBabel_th">Rank</th><th class="DeconstructingBabel_th">Language</th><th class="DeconstructingBabel_th" colspan="2">Language Family<br />
and Sub-Family</th></tr>
<tr class="DeconstructingBabel_tr"><td class="DeconstructingBabel_td">1</td><td class="DeconstructingBabel_td">Mandarin</td><td class="DeconstructingBabel_td">Sino-Tibetan</td><td class="DeconstructingBabel_td">Chinese</td></tr>
<tr class="DeconstructingBabel_tr"><td class="DeconstructingBabel_td">2</td><td class="DeconstructingBabel_td">English</td><td class="DeconstructingBabel_td">Indo-European</td><td class="DeconstructingBabel_td">Germanic</td></tr>
<tr class="DeconstructingBabel_tr"><td class="DeconstructingBabel_td">3</td><td class="DeconstructingBabel_td">Spanish</td><td class="DeconstructingBabel_td">Indo-European</td><td class="DeconstructingBabel_td">Romance</td></tr>
<tr class="DeconstructingBabel_tr"><td class="DeconstructingBabel_td">4</td><td class="DeconstructingBabel_td">Hindi</td><td class="DeconstructingBabel_td">Indo-European</td><td class="DeconstructingBabel_td">Indo-Aryan</td></tr>
<tr class="DeconstructingBabel_tr"><td class="DeconstructingBabel_td">5</td><td class="DeconstructingBabel_td">Arabic</td><td class="DeconstructingBabel_td">Afro-Asiatic</td><td class="DeconstructingBabel_td">Semitic</td></tr>
<tr class="DeconstructingBabel_tr"><td class="DeconstructingBabel_td">6</td><td class="DeconstructingBabel_td">Bengali</td><td class="DeconstructingBabel_td">Indo-European</td><td class="DeconstructingBabel_td">Indo-Aryan</td></tr>
<tr class="DeconstructingBabel_tr"><td class="DeconstructingBabel_td">7</td><td class="DeconstructingBabel_td">Russian</td><td class="DeconstructingBabel_td">Indo-European</td><td class="DeconstructingBabel_td">Slavic</td></tr>
<tr class="DeconstructingBabel_tr"><td class="DeconstructingBabel_td">8</td><td class="DeconstructingBabel_td">Portuguese</td><td class="DeconstructingBabel_td">Indo-European</td><td class="DeconstructingBabel_td">Romance</td></tr>
<tr class="DeconstructingBabel_tr"><td class="DeconstructingBabel_td">9</td><td class="DeconstructingBabel_td">Japanese</td><td class="DeconstructingBabel_td" colspan="2">Japonic</td></tr>
<tr class="DeconstructingBabel_tr"><td class="DeconstructingBabel_td">10</td><td class="DeconstructingBabel_td">German</td><td class="DeconstructingBabel_td">Indo-European</td><td class="DeconstructingBabel_td">Germanic</td></tr>
<tr class="DeconstructingBabel_tr"><td class="DeconstructingBabel_td">11</td><td class="DeconstructingBabel_td">French</td><td class="DeconstructingBabel_td">Indo-European</td><td class="DeconstructingBabel_td">Romance</td></tr>
<tr class="DeconstructingBabel_tr"><td class="DeconstructingBabel_td">12</td><td class="DeconstructingBabel_td">Punjabi</td><td class="DeconstructingBabel_td">Indo-European</td><td class="DeconstructingBabel_td">Indo-Aryan</td></tr>
<tr class="DeconstructingBabel_tr"><td class="DeconstructingBabel_td">13</td><td class="DeconstructingBabel_td">Javanese</td><td class="DeconstructingBabel_td">Austronesian</td><td class="DeconstructingBabel_td">Malayo-Polynesian</td></tr>
<tr class="DeconstructingBabel_tr"><td class="DeconstructingBabel_td">14</td><td class="DeconstructingBabel_td">Bihari</td><td class="DeconstructingBabel_td">Indo-European</td><td class="DeconstructingBabel_td">Indo-Aryan</td></tr>
<tr class="DeconstructingBabel_tr"><td class="DeconstructingBabel_td">15</td><td class="DeconstructingBabel_td">Italian</td><td class="DeconstructingBabel_td">Indo-European</td><td class="DeconstructingBabel_td">Romance</td></tr>
<tr class="DeconstructingBabel_tr"><td class="DeconstructingBabel_td">16</td><td class="DeconstructingBabel_td">Korean</td><td class="DeconstructingBabel_td" colspan="2">Koreanic</td></tr>
<tr class="DeconstructingBabel_tr"><td class="DeconstructingBabel_td">17</td><td class="DeconstructingBabel_td">Telagu</td><td class="DeconstructingBabel_td" colspan="2">Dravidian</td></tr>
<tr class="DeconstructingBabel_tr"><td class="DeconstructingBabel_td">18</td><td class="DeconstructingBabel_td">Tamil</td><td class="DeconstructingBabel_td" colspan="2">Dravidian</td></tr>
<tr class="DeconstructingBabel_tr"><td class="DeconstructingBabel_td">19</td><td class="DeconstructingBabel_td">Marathi</td><td class="DeconstructingBabel_td">Indo-European</td><td class="DeconstructingBabel_td">Indo-Aryan</td></tr>
<tr class="DeconstructingBabel_tr"><td class="DeconstructingBabel_td">20</td><td class="DeconstructingBabel_td">Vietnamese</td><td class="DeconstructingBabel_td">Austroasiatic</td><td class="DeconstructingBabel_td">Vietic</td></tr>
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<br />
I've encountered some lists with a slightly different order, and some different languages, but the differences are minimal. While there are currently more than 6000 languages spoken on the earth, most of those who speak one of them also speak one of these top 20 listed, and increasingly, they are speaking the latter language more often in their day to day lives than the former. The 5980+ remaining languages are rapidly falling out of general use, and thus fewer of their speakers are propagating these languages to their children. Given that the vast majority of these languages are not written in any form, once one of those languages dies, it is impossible to revive. If this trend continues, the prognosis is that by the year 2100, we will likely lose about 5500 or more of those languages. In other words, the number of active languages in the world is on course to drop by an additional 80-90% in just 80-90 years. As Professor McWhorter points out, this means that a language is dying out completely on earth around every two weeks. By 2100, we can expect to go from 6000+ languages to a mere 500-600.<br />
<br />
To me, it seems much more than a coincidence that as we overcome these barriers of "Babel" that were imposed upon the world in the days of our ancestors, we have exponentially progressed in doing exactly what they were trying to do in the first place. An increase in progress has went hand in hand with a decrease in the functional size of the world and the barriers of communication. We have been deconstructing the "Babel" that Elohim suffused into our society. At the same time, we are in the process of constructing our own new "Tower", in the same spirit as our ancestors once attempted. Realistically, I don't think we ever stopped trying. We were merely faced with a number of new logistic challenges that caused a delay in our progress. This new "Tower" is a monument of Man as well as to Man, and Man intends to stand boldly upon it.<br />
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<br />
After millennia of effort chipping at the walls of separation, the lines are basically disappearing: political lines, social lines, cultural lines. Barriers are being mitigated: time, distance, language. The world is becoming a smaller place. People are becoming more unified. Nations are losing a great deal of their autonomy. Cultures are losing a lot of the substance of their culture. Groups of nations are now more likely to form into unions, unions which tend to join themselves with other larger international bodies such as resource conglomerates (i.e. OPEC), defense alliances (i.e. NATO), or global political bodies (i.e. the United Nations). Collaboration is at an all-time high, and despite an atmosphere that prides itself on being pro-diversity, such diversity is in many many ways in decline. There are a great many good, even wonderful things, that have resulted from these technological leaps mankind has made, in addition to many that we would consider to be negatives. Sometimes the distinctions are rather elusive. As a result, I didn't want to concentrate on the potentially expansive subject of which aspects of this progression are good or bad. Rather, I think it its much more important to concentrate on what this might mean for the overall narrative that the Scripture gives us of the past and what it indicates that we can expect in the future, perhaps even the very near future.<br />
<br />
YHWH is the Elohim of purpose. When He plans something, it happens just as He plans it, and nothing is able to act against His Will without His allowance of the acts in question. If He had intended for the confusion He introduced into human affairs to be a permanent barrier, nothing we could have done would have ever mitigated that pronouncement. We would be living in a permanent state of ever-varying confusion to this day if that had been His purpose. In my opinion, that we see this level of confusion being neutralized is the greatest indication that Elohim intended this to be a temporary delay to that progress, not a permanent one. Elohim acts in his own time, and His plan will fall into place according to His own purposes.<br />
<br />
In the story of the Tower of Babel, He shares with us a few basic and somewhat vague details describing a set of actions He took to delay the progress of our ancestors in the past. As I've stated, I believe that He did this because that progress was happening outside of the time frame that suited His purposes. Now that the snow He laid for us is being tread and scraped and plowed, will it be time for Him to intervene again? I won't presume to know the answer to such questions. What I will say is that we know He promises to intervene in the future and end all confusion forever with the establishment of His Kingdom. Though He has delayed this most final of interventions for His own reasons, there should be no doubt that YHWH Elohim intends to rule, and when He does, this will inevitably mean wresting power away from the hands of the rulers of men, every single one of them. It will be a rude awaking for a culture that sees itself as entirely self-reliant and even more importantly, self-ruling, one that has found every excuse to exclude Elohim from its consideration and which wouldn't be all that welcoming of His hand suddenly entering unmistakably into in its affairs. And, as we who accept the Ketuvim Netzarim (i.e. the "New Testament") know, language will not be a barrier to Elohim. He is able to bridge the gaps of language, distance, and culture, and make both His Besorah (Good News) known, as well as his warning of judgement to come. And as we also know, Babel features prominently in the judgement He will render when He chooses once again to intervene in the affairs of the world:<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<b><i>"And I saw another messenger flying in the midst of the shamayim (heavens), holding the everlasting Besorah (Good News) to announce to those dwelling on the earth, even to every nation and tribe and tongue and people, saying with a loud voice, 'Fear Elohim and give esteem to Him, because the hour of His judgment has come. And worship Him who made the shamayim and the earth, and sea, and fountains of water.' And another messenger followed, saying, 'Babel is fallen, is fallen, that great city, because she has made all nations drink of the wine of the wrath of her whoring.'" </i>(Hit Galut / Revelation 14:6-8).</b></blockquote>
Here, Elohim's first messenger (usually translated "angel" in most Bible translations) unmistakably declares that His message of His coming Kingdom will reach the entire world; the scattering of His audience all over the world and the confusing plethora of languages and cultures will not be a blocking factor. And by referring to that world at the time of His future intervention as "Babel", His second messenger makes it clear that Elohim counts it as the modern progeny of Man's attempt to unite in the Land of Shin'ar all those millenia ago, a prostitutional union that has brought all of the nations of that world together into one brothel. Perhaps this latest techno-political explosion was being delayed in the land of Shin'ar and reserved precisely for our time today as a precursor to that intervention, as a reservation of sorts for His future intervention at a point when such intervention becomes critical. I can't say with certainty, but examining the story of the Tower of Babel against the backdrop of the current state of the world, human language, and human progress has definitely renewed my interest in watching the subject much more closely.Ger V'Toshavhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10077759937900756390noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7125808689115253597.post-18854308514668576242015-10-05T03:16:00.003-05:002015-12-23T15:03:06.609-06:00Drilling Holes in WaterI usually go around 4 a.m. to pray at the Kotel (the Western or "Wailing" Wall) during each day of the Chagim, because that's a time when it's nice and quiet and not overly crowded, but this trip I've been doing it at disparate times for various reasons. On this past Shabbat, I decided to go pray at sunset, as the Shabbat was ending. While I was at the Kotel praying, an act of violence was perpetrated against a Jewish family who were just on their way to do what I was doing. One of them, the father, died from stab wounds, while the mother was also seriously injured, and one of the children also received minor injuries. A Rabbi and resident of the Old City was also killed as he tried to defend the young couple. <a href="http://www.bbc.com/news/world-middle-east-34435197" target="_blank">You can read about this incident here.</a><br />
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I missed all of this because I don't usually go through the route this Jewish family was going. I usually go through the Yaffa gate and down past Chabad to the Chain Gate, or I go through the Dung Gate. As I was leaving I saw the ruckus going on with police going through the streets of the Old City a little more quickly than usual. I only found out what exactly happened later as I was having dinner with some brothers in the Mamila Mall and we observed some Israelis marching through the streets waving the flag, headed in mass towards the Old City.<br />
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Violence breeds violence, folks! Be clear here, Jews are never going to willingly leave Eretz HaQodesh (the Qodesh Land). Nor will they leave Yerushalayim (Jerusalem), a city that is tied forever to their hearts. You'd have to drag them out kicking and screaming, and believe me, it would take a significant force, more than a few stabbings or stone throwings. Likewise, Palestinians and Armenians and everyone else who considers Yerushalayim home, a place deep in their hearts, they are not willingly leaving either. Before taking part in yet another attack, consider that the only thing an attack of this sort will mean is that life with be a lot harder on a lot more innocent Palestinians, Armenians, other Christians, and Jews. It won't mean that you will somehow win a victory and remove Jews (or anyone else) from the land or this city.<br />
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Everyone here is stuck with everyone else here. One who chooses a path of violence and terrorism to settle his grievances will leave his grievances even more unsettled, become a martyr to the cause of drilling holes in water, and leave his life and his name to be swallowed up into the abyss. Choose instead to concentrate on learning to get along, on appreciating each other's differences, and on granting some goodwill all the way around. That latter path will neutralize grievances before they can germinate, will add peace to your life, and will ensure your name is in the record of the One who holds the ultimate reward.Ger V'Toshavhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10077759937900756390noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7125808689115253597.post-37347732126592707002015-09-28T23:59:00.003-05:002016-05-04T13:41:09.224-05:00Witnessing a Blood Moon from YerushalayimAs I mentioned before on this blog, I've made a commitment to my Elohim to observe the Chagim, the three Festivals commanded anciently by Elohim to be observed by all males in the place where He chose for His Name to abide. And I choose to do this in the actual place where He chose for His Name to abide, that place being Yerushalayim (Jerusalem). My commitment is to do this for as long as I am able, and this means physically, financially, among other things. Since Chag HaSukkoth (The Festival of Tabernacles) is upon us, I am now seeing part of that commitment through by coming to Yerushalayim to observe that Festival before Him.<br />
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I arrived in Tel Aviv yesterday around 3:15 p.m. and was eager to get to Yerushalayim (Jerusalem) before sundown. Because I follow the actual New Moon visible from Yerushalayim to determine my months (as the Torah more than adequately indicates) and not the traditional calendar of the Jews introduced in the 4th century, my first day of Sukkoth was not yesterday as it was for most Jews, but will begin on Tuesday evening after sundown and end on Wednesday evening after sundown (September 29-30); however, I knew I would need to carry a lot of luggage to my apartment, which is a significant trek from my parking site to the apartment I rent every year to observe these Chagim. I also knew I'd have to do some quick shopping, and carry the cargo resulting from that as well. And since I rent an apartment in a very Jewish neighborhood, I just didn't want do these treks in front of them after sundown, when their first day of Sukkoth, an annual Shabbat day, began. I'm keenly aware of how such things can cause offense, and since they don't understand and couldn't easily be made to understand the nature of our disagreement on the timing of the Appointed Times, I felt (and feel) that it's a good idea to avoid such things as much as possible. I had also planned to get my sukkah (temporary dwelling) out of storage at my friends' place in the City Center and put it up before sundown.<br />
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I barely accomplished the first part of this, and really had no hope of doing the latter. After going through immigration, getting my luggage, renting a car, driving to Yerushalayim, and shopping, I had only enough time before sundown to carry all of the luggage (two suit cases and two carry-ons) and all three bags of groceries in a single trek. It was a rough trip, but I was able to do it. There was however no hope of putting up the sukkah, and I gave up on that idea as I really only need to put it up before Sundown on Tuesday, more than a day away. The truth is, by this point with all of the sleepless travelling, flight connections in Newark, New Jersey and Frankfort, Germany, and almost no rest time in between, I was just flat out exhausted and went to bed for the evening around 9 p.m. after observing that the Moon was indeed full.<br />
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I woke up inexplicably around 4:35 a.m. and went up to the lovely rooftop balcony of the apartment I had rented, the very place I will be putting up my sukkah in the days to come, and sat down with a drink to take in the night air. Then I saw it... the same Moon I had seen earlier, only it was no longer full. It was about 1/3 of the way darkened. I have to say that I was pretty alarmed at first. I mean, you don't see this kind of thing every day, and immediately the prophecies of Yoel (Joel) and Yeshua (Jesus) came to mind about the moon not giving its light. The blood was pumping, let me tell you.<br />
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I had to watch it all the way through because I still wasn't sure it would be a full lunar eclipse. It might be only partial, I was thinking. So I watched as the moon slowly but surely became completely darkened. Right at the point when no crescent was visible, someone in the distance blew a shofar three times, each one a rather long blast in succession. Though he was not really close to where I was, the sound pierced through Yerushalayim like one would expect it to on a quiet night like this one.<br />
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It didn't take long for me though to realize what had happened. I had realized it long before the Moon was fully darkened. I had known about this lunar eclipse more than a year ago, but I had been ignoring it for that year because of the peripheral attachments that were being made to it, attachments of significance that I didn't share. As a result of this, I had forgotten about it completely. I was immensely fortunate that the ills of jet-lag had woken me up in time to see this phenomenon in action.<br />
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But I was also fortunate for the lesson it taught me about reading into celestial events something that may not actually be there. As I mentioned, the reason I had blocked this out of my mind was because of all of the prophetic associations being made with this "blood moon" phenomenon. It isn't that I begrudge folks for having these opinions and looking with some interest, especially since this was the fourth lunar eclipse in the last two years, with each eclipse happening in exact six months increments, making for a phenomenon known as a Lunar Tetrarch event. It is certainly an interesting celestial event, so of course, note should be paid. My real problem with it was more or less the resolute surety that many have connected to the event, as if there can be no doubt at all that this is THE event that Yoel and Yeshua spoke about in their prophecies.<br />
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But before we look at this, let's take a look at what the two main prophecies from Yoel and Yeshua actually say:<br />
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<b><i>"And I shall give signs in the shamayim (heavens or skies) and upon the earth: blood and fire and columns of smoke, the sun is turned into darkness, and the moon into blood, before the coming of the great and awesome day of YHWH!"</i> (Yoel / Joel 3:30-31).</b></blockquote>
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<b><i>"And immediately after the distress of those days the sun shall be darkened, and the moon shall not give its light, and the stars shall fall from the shamayim, and the powers of the shamayim shall be shaken."</i> (Mattityahu / Matthew 24:29-30).</b></blockquote>
Granted, I am sure some will be able to interpret these verses differently, but if we take what this says literally, it is telling us that both the Sun AND the Moon will be darkened (with the Moon's darkness turning the color of blood) at basically the same time, or at least in very close proximity to each other. Celestially this kind of double eclipse is an impossibility. Why? Because the circumstances that cause each type of full eclipse are mutually exclusive.<br />
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A total eclipse of the moon is basically when the Earth is between the Sun and the Moon, and the Earth is uniquely positioned to block the light of the Sun from reaching the Moon, in turn preventing the Moon from reflecting that light back to Earth. This is usually visible from any point at which the Moon is visible in the night sky, and completely hidden from those places in which the Moon is not visible, for what I believe are obvious reasons.<br />
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A total eclipse of the Sun is basically when the Moon is between the Earth and the Sun, and the Moon is uniquely positioned to block the Sun completely from a particular viewpoint on Earth, making the Sun look like a large black dot with a slight ring of fire around the outer edges of its circle (which is the sun's still visible corona). Though the Sun and the Moon are much differently sized objects with the former drastically outsizing the latter, they both appear the same size from the perspective of Earth due to their different distances. Hence, the Moon can actually block the Sun completely from at least one viewpoint of the Earth. Notice, I said from a particular viewpoint, because unlike Lunar Eclipses, which will be visible from any area in which the Moon is visible, total Solar Eclipses are not visible from just any area in which the Sun is visible. The percentage of the Sun which is blocked is entirely dependent upon the area from which it is viewed. This perspective visible positioning of the Moon and the Sun must be just right for the Sun to be completely visibly darkened. While the Sun may appear fully eclipsed in one location, in another location at the same time, only a partial eclipse may be visible, and in still another, no eclipse will be visible at all.<br />
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So basically, one requires the Earth to be between the Sun and Moon, and one requires the Moon to be between the Sun and the Earth. What this means is that for what Yoel and Yeshua describe here to actually occur is at least impossible from a normal analysis of the physics of these events. What this will likely mean for those who don't take the prophecies of the Scriptures seriously is that those verses are describing an impossible event and are thus nonsensical. But what that should mean for anyone who takes these verses seriously (i.e. myself and those who are reading this for an understanding of these prophecies) is that this cannot be describing a normal eclipse of either the Moon or the Sun. It has to be describing something unheard of, something never yet witnessed, something which cannot be explained by the fixed cycles of the Moon and the Sun, and further, something that likely couldn't be so precisely calculated for time and place as can be done for cyclical eclipses.<br />
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Notice that Yeshua implies exactly such an unheard of event when he adds that the "powers of the shamayim (heavens or skies) will be shaken." Essentially this means that what we will see is something much more dramatic than even the double eclipse. We'll see something that will definitely cause the world to take notice. Yoel adds that we will see "blood and fire and columns of smoke" among the signs in the skies that Elohim will demonstrate. There's a lot more to what they describe than eclipses, even the normally impossible double eclipse described here.<br />
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This future event is, I believe, something far greater and FAR more unique than the Lunar Tetrarch that certain Christian ministers have termed a "Blood Moon". Lunar Tetrarchs are an event combo that has occurred seven other times since Yeshua came to the Earth The reason this one is considered special by those ministers is because each of the events occurs on the traditional Jewish calendar's days for Pesach and the first day of Sukkoth. Remember though, as I pointed out before, that if one goes by the method that the Torah clearly implies by observing actual new moons by looking for the opening crescent sliver, those days are a bit off anyway. The traditional Jewish calendar was introduced in the fourth century A.D. in an attempt to approximate the appearance of new moons in Yerushalayim after they could no longer be observed effectively by dispersed Jews exiled from the land of Yisrael (Israel). Therefore that calendar does not actually follow those lunar starting points in the first place, even now when Jews are more able to view the events directly in the night sky, having largely returned to the land of Yisrael.<br />
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Since the current Jewish calendar only attempts to approximate those dates, the resulting dates on that calendar are only sometimes correct, while at most other times they can be off by several days, usually from one to three. This year they are off by two days. So no, this lunar eclipse did not actually happen on the first day of Sukkoth, not by any calendar computational methods that either Yoel or Yeshua would have been familiar with. Even if all four HAD happened on the right day, there's still the issue that only the last one was even visible from Yerushalayim (or any part of Yisrael) in the first place, simply due to the location of the moon in the night sky and the time of day in that land.<br />
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The hard cold fact is that full solar eclipses, full lunar eclipses, and even lunar tetrarch events, are not so rare in even very recent times. They are much too common to identify them as definite signs of the end without some more information and research to tie them all together. So what am I really trying to say here? I'm trying to say that when someone is telling you that some celestial event is significant, you don't need to completely discount it, but you should also avoid a complete buy in until you've been able to do a little research of your own. Dig a little deeper. Try to see if all of the claims being made are valid, or if they are found wanting. Check each assumption used as a building block toward the thesis they present and validate that these are solid axioms and not just faulty assumptions. We are told to test every ruach (spirit), and that has to include the ruachot (spirits) behind claims such as these. Even now, I would not tell you to discount these things completely, but definitely be careful about how much you invest into something like this and always do your own research on those claims before selling the barn.<br />
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Always remember that the Ruach HaKodesh is a ruach of power, love, and a sound mind. It is not the ruach of hype and exaggeration. Just recently on Facebook someone posted images they claimed were "pictures of the Blood Moon over Jerusalem". These images were certainly incredible, but also very obviously fake. The moon in those pictures was a deep rich red, with full light reflecting (in other words, not eclipsed by any stretch of the imagination), and each displayed a Moon about 20 times the size than the Moon which actually appeared in the sky that night during the eclipse. What's more, some of them showed the deep red Blood Moon halfway over the horizon in the dark of night, one of the most startling ones showing it halfway over the horizon behind the Kotel (Wailing Wall or Western Wall) with thousands of Jewish men and women praying at its banks. I can assure you that the scenario these photos displayed of the moon over the horizon in Yerushalayim was impossible, as the sun rose while the eclipsed Moon was still in the upper quadrant of the sky, basically causing it to become difficult to see due to the overwhelming sunlight, as its eclipsed state slowly receded hours later. Here's a picture I took from my rooftop balcony in Yerushalayim of the Eclipse shortly after it became full. It shows what the Eclipsed Moon really looked like in respect to the night sky not too long before sunrise:<br />
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<a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-hyhCGaY68Ls/VgoYlt1rmZI/AAAAAAAAArs/MrkynOJtTcU/s1600/JerusalemEclipse.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="" height="300" src="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-hyhCGaY68Ls/VgoYlt1rmZI/AAAAAAAAArs/MrkynOJtTcU/s400/JerusalemEclipse.JPG" style="border: 10px solid rgb(2, 26, 64);" title="© Ger V'Toshav and www.gervatoshav.com, a.k.a. gervtoshav.blogspot.com" width="400" /></a></div>
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So that giant red Moon you've been seeing is that tiny star-like spec in the night sky of Yerushalayim. And here it is, zoomed as best as I could:<br />
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<a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-MeoWG7rdHBY/VgoYk4aKMvI/AAAAAAAAAro/sid2vX2C3wU/s1600/JerusalemEclipseZoomed.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="" border="1" height="320" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-MeoWG7rdHBY/VgoYk4aKMvI/AAAAAAAAAro/sid2vX2C3wU/s320/JerusalemEclipseZoomed.JPG" style="border: 10px solid rgb(2, 26, 64);" title="© Ger V'Toshav and www.gervatoshav.com, a.k.a. gervtoshav.blogspot.com." width="320" /></a></div>
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So why so many exaggerated claims about giant blood moons over Yerushalayim and the Kotel? Because even basically good people can, in their desire to believe something so strongly, make some details up as they go along. Knowing then that the propensity to deceive is so great, and that the viral media world is full of much more false information and hype than it is truth, you should always strive to tread very carefully upon it.<br />
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Chag Sameach (Happy Festival) to all of you observing Chag HaSukkoth (The Festival of Tabernacles) this year. I hope you have a truly joyous Chag before YHWH Our Elohim!<br />
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P.S. I'd like to send out a special thank you to whichever resident of Yerushalayim blew that shofar at the very moment the Moon became fully eclipsed and went completely dark (or red, as it were), That was a very nice touch, and I can only imagine that it startled the life out of more than a few of the city's observers!Ger V'Toshavhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10077759937900756390noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7125808689115253597.post-249732283253138442015-07-09T02:34:00.000-05:002016-01-12T11:10:58.401-06:00The End of the World is Big Business<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-UWZysZH9cHU/VpNHlxvbwiI/AAAAAAAAA1A/UCrmNCsVy38/s1600/May21EndOfWorld.jpg" imageanchor="1"><img alt="" border="0" height="257" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-UWZysZH9cHU/VpNHlxvbwiI/AAAAAAAAA1A/UCrmNCsVy38/s400/May21EndOfWorld.jpg" title="Attribution: O'Dea at WikiCommons" width="400" /></a></div>
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About four years ago, I was driving from Virginia to Texas and saw a billboard ad proclaiming May 21, 2011 to be the date of the "rapture". I remember being startled by it and missing some of the details, then thinking I would never see or hear of this again. But I did see it again. I can't remember how many I saw billboards like it on the way, but it was often enough that something I would normally have dismissed and paid no attention to became intriguing, and I was interested in knowing the story behind these billboards.<br />
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For the record, I wasn't in the least convinced that any date proclaimed on a billboard would be authentic, but it was the first time in my life that I had seen someone take the "Burma Shave" approach to advertising an apocalypse. It struck me that there must be a lot of money behind this operation, and where there's a lot of money, there's likely a lot of people making big sacrifices for something they think is very important. With that, of course, comes the strong likelihood of many disappointments, both quantitative and qualitative.<br />
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After some research, I found out that this national billboard campaign announcing the end of times was being headed up by Harold Camping, a man who had taken a survey of the Scriptures, particularly prophecy and even more particularly the prophecies of Daniyel (Daniel), and had come up with the numbers he felt certain indicated the date of the so-called "rapture". What's more, he had made several of these prophecies before, and of course as we know, none of them had come to pass. Here he was at it again.<br />
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It seems a bit odd to me that someone can search almost the entirety of the Tanakh ("Old Testament") and the Ketuvim Netzarim ("New Testament") for any available numbers that he can plug into his own self-styled equations to figure out the end of the world, and yet somehow miss one of the most telling parts of the Torah itself, namely Devarim (Deuteronomy), in which YHWH tells Mosheh the following:<br />
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<b><i>"And when you say in your heart, ‘How do we know the word which YHWH has not spoken?’, when the prophet speaks in the Name of YHWH and the word is not, or comes not, that is the word which Yahweh has not spoken. The prophet has spoken it presumptuously. Do not be afraid of him."</i> (Devarim / Deuteronomy 18:21-22).</b></blockquote>
Or, in more contemporary English:<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<b><i>"You may be asking yourselves, 'How can we tell if a prophet's message really comes from YHWH?' You will know, because if YHWH says something will happen, it will happen. And if it doesn't, you will know that the prophet was falsely claiming to speak for YHWH. Don't be afraid of any prophet whose message doesn't come from YHWH."</i> (Devarim / Deuteronomy 18:21-22).</b></blockquote>
I believe this should give individuals who carelessly make pronouncements in the name of YHWH great pause. This startling statement of the obvious was clearly missed in this prophetic numbers game that Camping and his followers were playing. It doesn't matter if you believe in the Torah or specifically the Sefer Devarim, it suffices to acknowledge that Harold Camping does, or at least claims to do so, and so any point that these verses made would be extremely apt to him and his followers. He's now relegated (again) to the status of someone who speaks presumptuously for the Elohim that he claims to serve, and by that Elohim's own words, he cannot be relied on to speak for Him. That's not a condemnation from me at all, rather, it's something that comes out of the testimony that both he and I subscribe to, available to anyone with an internet connection and access to Google, or a dresser drawer with a Gideon's Bible. Mr. Camping may have been sincere in his belief that his calculations from Sefer Daniyel among other portions of the Scriptures were authentic, but he missed the mark again, and once again took some people on the ill-fated journey with him.<br />
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This is the age of reality television, an age when the misfortunes of others are the fodder of entertainment, and it's tempting to laugh at the spectacle. I was doing that all those years ago, before the set time approached, something of which I am somewhat ashamed in retrospect, but now that all of that excitement over the events is long gone with the passing of years, I'm not finding the situation of those people who staked so very much on what turned out to be so very little to be all that funny. There are pieces to pick up for these people who staked their lives, reputations, jobs, and property on what they mistakenly thought was a revelation. There were plenty of sincere followers who were left without quite a bit of their money, time, and self-esteem, and I don't think it's a stretch to believe that many of them lost their faith. Mr. Camping was the instigator of this great loss. The honorable thing to do would have been to return what is left of the money and just admit that he has received no revelations about the precise time of the end, that he was speaking presumptuously, and that it is an error he will not repeat. I believe he did most of the latter, but I never heard about the issue of the money. I would, of course, be very (pleasantly) surprised to hear that such a return ever occurred.<br />
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I hope that any of us who have made a commitment to wait for YHWH understand just what it means to wait for Him. It means that we won't know exact dates. It means that we won't know exact times. It means we won't know the exact sequence of events. We are tasked to watch for current events with respect to revelation, and yet remain balanced enough to avoid jumping onto every bandwagon that comes our way declaring the end of the world. We have to work hard not to be taken in, to be responsible for how we allow our resources to be used, to ensure that we are not party to any deception. We have to take both the encouragements and the warnings of Yeshua seriously, as he related in his so-called "Olivet Prophecy" <b>(Mattityahu / Matthew 24, Marqos / Mark 13, Luqas / Luke 21)</b>. Most of that sequence is about patience, caution, and being on our guard against deception and corruption, as we wait confidently for the end we are certain will come despite not knowing how or when. And we must do all of this while we strive to keep our garments white and clean, keeping ourselves free from the corruption of the world around us.<br />
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And that includes the corruption of money, because the end of the world has always been big business for those caught up in that love affair. Mr. Camping passed away mid-December, 2013, so he's no longer here to make any amends that he hadn't already made, but I do hope that those like Mr. Camping can see that their talents to persuade need to be reigned in by some common sense and decency before the Living Elohim. And I certainly hope that it doesn't escape the realization of any false prophecy profiteer that purposefully profiting from false alarms will be an act of particular interest when YHWH does come someday as a righteous judge. One certainly doesn't have to be a prophet to see that.Ger V'Toshavhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10077759937900756390noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7125808689115253597.post-67970033882238829542015-06-05T16:20:00.015-05:002021-06-01T12:13:43.431-05:00Hearing Voices on Shavuot<div class="separator hidden_on_post" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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I just finished observing Chag HaShavuot (The Festival of Shavuot, or Festival of Weeks) in Yerushalayim (Jerusalem) about two weeks ago, and I returned from Yerushalayim on Wednesday of last week. The Hebrew term "chag" essentially means "Festival" and is translated in older translations as "Feast", but that doesn't give the full sense of it. A better translation is "Pilgrimage Festival," one in which a command is issued to go to a specific place at a specific time, and observe the Festival at that place according to the instructions given. In other words, it's a qodesh appointment, a time and place which Elohim sets apart, a conference in a sense. The practices we are asked to perform on these days operate on at least two levels: as reminders of events that have already happened in the past, and as rehearsals for events that haven't happened yet but are promised to occur. The command to observe these Chagim can be found here:<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<b><i>"Three times a year all your males appear before YHWH your Elohim in the place which He chooses: at Chag HaMatzah (Festival of Unleavened Bread), Chag HaShavuot (Festival of Weeks), and Chag HaSukkoth (Festival of Tabernacles or Booths)."</i> (Devarim / Deuteronomy 16:16).</b></blockquote>
Shavuot is, as you can see in that segment of the Torah, the second of the three Pilgrimage Festivals which YHWH required the men among His people to observe. The Festivals of Matzah and Sukkoth, the first and last in that list, are observed on specific days of specific months, but not so with Shavuot, which is not earmarked on a specific day of a specific month. It is calculated by counting weeks, specifically seven weeks, starting from the day after the First Day of Matzah (for First Day of Unleavenened Bread, which is when the first omer of barley, also called the "wavesheaf", is offered), and taking the next day after the last day of the seventh week to be the Festival day. You can read these instructions here:<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<b><i>"And from the day after the Shabbat, from the day that you brought the sheaf of the wave offering, you shall count for yourselves: seven completed Shabbatoth. Until the day after the seventh Shabbat, you count fifty days, then you shall bring a new grain offering to YHWH."</i> (Wayyiqra / Leviticus 23:15-16).</b></blockquote>
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<b><i>"Count seven weeks for yourself. Begin to count seven weeks from the time you begin to put the sickle to the grain. And you shall perform the Festival of Shavuot to YHWH your Elohim, according to the voluntary offering from your hand, which you give as YHWH your Elohim barak (blesses) you."</i> (Devarim / Deuteronomy 16:8-10).</b></blockquote>
The Torah says to observe these "in the place which He chooses", and thus intentionally mentions no specific place, because that place was destined to change over the centuries. It is essentially the place where the Mishkan (Tabernacle) would rest and contain the Ark of the Covenant, as that is the place where YHWH places His Presence and His Name. After the children of Yisrael entered the land many years later under Yahushua ben Nun (Joshua son of Nun), it moved from place to place. Eventually it settled in the time of the Shofetim (Judges) in a place called Shiloh, which is in the territory of Ephraim, the land allotment for the youngest of the two sons of Yosef (Joseph). There it remained for 400+ years, until David became King of Yahudah. He moved it initially to Hebron, the city which contains the burial cave for Abraham, Sarah, Yitshaq (Isaac), Rivkah (Rebeccah), Yaakov (Jacob), and Leah. Finally he moved the place to Yerushalayim, and became King over the united tribes of Yisrael and Yahudah. This was to be its permanent home, as David's son Shlomo (Solomon) built a permanent House, the Heykal (Temple), to replace the Mishkan, and provided what he intended to be a permanent home for the Ark of the Covenant. As a result, Yerushalayim became the permanent location for these Pilgrimage Festivals.<br />
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As I mentioned in my last blog post, I made a commitment to observe the Chagim in Yerushalayim for as long as I am able to do so, as that is the last place they were observed, and as the nevi'im (prophets) clearly state, this is where they will be observed again in the Olam HaBa (world to come). And so, I went to Yerushalayim (Jerusalem) on that pilgrimage to observe this Festival. I was able to relax more this trip than on similar trips of the past, praying regularly, and pondering the purpose of Shavuot. I had it in mind to write something on Shavuot, and so I started writing this blog post just before I left for Yerushalayim. I had no idea it would be so difficult to write, and I really didn't expect it to go in the direction it has. I wanted the blog post to examine how the Festival seems to be celebrating and rehearsing not only historic moments of revelation of new information from Elohim to those who have ears to hear, but also the method of these revelations, and how these methods are themselves a revelation of sorts. Elohim reveals very different yet unopposing aspects of Himself through His contrasting voices over the ages.<br />
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In many ways that's what the blog post is indeed about, but I came to understand a less obvious lesson in that examination which was also borne out in those examples of revelation, and this lesson was timely for me and many others I know, many of whom also observe the Chagim in Yerushalayim with me, especially after disappointments many of us experience from expectations that did not come to pass. Though Shavuot does celebrate revelation of Elohim's will by the words themselves and also of His character through the manner and tone of their delivery, we will see that Shavuot in particular highlights that revelation isn't always about apocalyptic events, and in fact usually is not. Revelation is about how to behave in the here and now, and how to bear fruit from patience, as much as it is about the ultimate outcome at the end of days. Shavuot serves as a stark yet joyous reminder of keeping perspective on our roles in the plan of Elohim, of waiting on him as we number our days. YHWH's time tables are beyond our ability to fully grasp. Without faith in Him to accomplish His purpose in His own time, even when we don't fully understand what is going on, we can easily find ourselves going from being useful instruments in His service to being replaced by others who will serve in such a manner.<br />
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<h4>
A Voice from Fire</h4>
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For Jews and many others who have made a commitment to learn and live by the Torah, this day has some incredible traditional importance. This is because, for many, not only is it commanded to be observed in the Torah, but it is by tradition believed to be the celebration of the giving of the Torah. As Shraga Bar-on states in his article <a href="http://blogs.timesofisrael.com/how-shavuot-became-the-festival-of-the-giving-of-the-torah/" target="_blank">How Shavuot became the festival of the giving of the Torah</a>, that tradition isn't quite accurate. The Torah was gradually revealed over the 40 years that the children of Yisrael spent in the wilderness, not all at once. Much more credible is the notion that Shavuot is the day when YHWH Elohim descended onto Mount Horeb, also known as Mount Sinai, and spoke some of the most important and foundational words of the Covenant and the Torah, known to many as the "Ten Commandments" to most but which the Torah actually calls the "Ten Words", to the Children of Yisrael in an incredible spectacle. I believe that a close examination of the Scriptures shows this to be highly likely.<br />
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First some background is in order. After decades living as a fugitive from Mitsrayim (Egypt) in the Land of Midyan, Mosheh (Moses) moved the flocks of sheep he was shepherding to the vicinity of Mount Sinai. There on that mountain he saw something he could not explain, a bush that was clearly on fire yet didn't appear to be consumed. As he attempted to look closer and examine the phenomenon, he heard a voice speaking out of this burning bush. The voice was from YHWH, the Elohim of the people Mosheh had left behind in Mitsrayim when he fled years before.<br />
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YHWH then proceeded to give Mosheh no small errand. He sent Mosheh back to Mitsrayim to free the people of Yisrael from the harsh slavery that Pharoah, the ruler of Mitsrayim, had imposed upon them, He told Mosheh that He would deliver His people with great power, and that after doing this, Mosheh must return with those people to this very mountain to worship Him. This was the first time Mosheh heard the voice of YHWH speaking to him from a fire, but it certainly wouldn't be the last. Mosheh reluctantly returned to Mistrayim to do what he was commanded to do.<br />
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When Mosheh arrived there, by his hand Elohim issued a series of plagues and miraculous wonders that devastated the land, government, and people of Mitstrayim. The nation was left in shambles for the refusal of Pharoah to release the children of Yisrael from their forced servitude. After finally departing the land of Mitsrayim for good, he led the people back to Mount Sinai where he first encountered YHWH. The journey witnesses another miraculous path through a divided sea and a witness to the destruction of the Army of the Mitstrayim, after which they traveled through that wilderness for several weeks. In that time, YHWH tested them with a lack of food and water, to determine how they would behave when faced with trials and to demonstrate to them that He is the source of their sustenance. They ran out of food and grumbled to Mosheh and Aharon in the manner of high drama, to which YHWH responded by raining down "manna" to them, and giving them some early instructions on the observance of the Shabbat. <b>(Shemot / Exodus 16)</b>. YHWH tried them with a lack of water at several points, at each point of which they also grumbled in a highly dramatic way. In one instance, YHWH made undrinkable waters drinkable through an act of putting a tree into them (<b>Shemot / Exodus 15</b>). In another instance, the complaining was so bad that they began accusing Mosheh and Aharon of bringing them into the wilderness to die, among other things. It's important to realize that these grumblings were not just complaints, they were in the spirit and force of threats; the congregation was behaving in a way that gave Mosheh some concern for his life. YHWH responded by telling Mosheh to strike a particular rock with his staff, and when he did so, water sprang forth plentifully from that rock. In fact, let's take a look in particular at the bitter spring, to get a sense of what YHWH is showing Yisrael here:<div><br /></div><blockquote style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0px 40px; padding: 0px; text-align: left;"><div><div><b><i>"Then Mosheh led Yisrael from the Red Sea and they went into the Desert of Shur. For three days they traveled in the desert without finding water. When they came to Marah, they could not drink its water because it was bitter. (That is why the place is called Marah). So the people grumbled against Mosheh, saying, 'What are we to drink?' Then Mosheh cried out to YHWH, and YHWH showed him a piece of wood. He threw it into the water, and the water became fit to drink.</i></b></div></div><div><div><b><i><br /></i></b></div></div><div><div><b><i>"There YHWH issued a ruling, giving instruction for them, putting them to the test. He said, 'If you listen carefully to the YHWH Your Elohim and do what is right in His eyes, if you pay attention to his mitzvot ("good deeds" or "commands") and guard all of his torot ("instructions"), I will not bring on you any of the diseases I brought on the Mitsrites (Egyptians), for I am YHWH who heals you.'</i></b></div></div><div><div><b><i><br /></i></b></div></div><div><div><b><i>"Then they came to Elim, where there were twelve springs and seventy palm trees, and they camped there near the water."</i> (Shemot / Exodus 15:22-27)</b></div></div></blockquote><div><div><br /></div><div>The way YHWH presents this story via the hand of Mosheh, there is clearly an emphasis on the children of Yisrael -- specifically around their lack of faith. The children of Yisrael were not willing to trust on or wait for the Elohim who had just destroyed the most powerful nation on earth to free them from slavery. Every new issue became an emergency for them. Eventually, YHWH instructs Mosheh to explain to Yisrael that He will test them for their patience from time to time, and that He expects the fruits of faithfulness to Him in combination with patience in waiting on Him to be the result of such testing. Notice too that the test He gave them wasn't unending -- though they were tested at the waters of a bitter spring, which YHWH healed and made drinkable, eventually He led them to a place with a multitude of palm trees and springs, both of numbers which were significant to the destiny of Yisrael, a place where they were able to camp and rest. YHWH is teaching Yisrael not only that patience is a virtue, but rather, YHWH is framing obedience and patience together, tying them together into a single core virtue, a core virtue that, when practiced, is attached to ultimate rewards. He is teaching the children of Yisrael, and those of us willing to read his Torah as the instruction it is intended to be, to treat patience and obedience together as two sides of the same gold coin. And we will see that this theme is repeated again and again, as we continue this story and as we explore more examples within the Scriptures themselves.</div><div><br /></div><div><h4>The Voice of the Shofar</h4></div><div><br />
Several days after these events, YHWH proposed a covenant between Himself and the children of Yisrael, one in which He would take them as His nation, His special people on the Earth, who would serve as a Kingdom for Him, a qadosh (set-apart) nation of Kohenim (priests), and they in turn would take Him as their Elohim. This covenant is often likened to a marriage in Scripture, and YHWH often likens the people of Yisrael collectively as His bride and Himself as her Husband, so in a sense this was a marriage proposal. Mosheh (Moses) is acting as the mediator of this proposal, the mediator of the Covenant which was to be made between YHWH and Yisrael. And the people, all of them, accept this proposal wholeheartedly. We read all of this here:<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<b><i>"In the third month after the children of Yisrael had come out of the land of Mitsrayim (Egypt), on this day they came to the Wilderness of Sinai... So Yisrael camped there before the mountain. And Mosheh went up to Elohim, and YHWH called to him from the mountain, saying, 'This is what you are to say to the house of Ya'aqov, and declare to the children of Yisrael: "You have seen what I did to the Mitsrites (Egyptians), and how I bore you on eagles' wings and brought you to Myself. And now, if you diligently obey My voice, and shall guard My Covenant, then you shall be My treasured possession above all the peoples - for all the earth is Mine - and you shall be to Me a kingdom of kohenim and a qodesh nation." Those are the words which you are to speak to the children of Yisrael.' And Mosheh came and called for the elders of the people, and put before them all these words which YHWH commanded him. And all the people answered together and said, 'All that YHWH has spoken we shall do.' So Mosheh brought back the words of the people to YHWH." </i>(Shemot / Exodus 19:1-8).</b></blockquote>
One of the first things we notice, indicated in the first verse, <b>Shemot / Exodus 19:1</b>, is that this proposal occurred during the third month on the Hebrew calendar, which is the month in which Shavuot occurs. Since the first day of Unleavened Bread is on the 15th day of the first Hebrew month, called "the month of Aviv" in Torah, counting seven weeks or 50 days from that point should bring us to either the fifth, sixth or seventh day of the third month on that same calendar. The variance is due to the fact that lunar months as used in the Torah vary between 28 and 30 days (there can even be 31 day months in some extremely rare instances), and so two intervening month endings, that of the first and second month, can vary up to three days each. So when counting 50 days from the day after the First Day of Unleavened Bread, the fiftieth day should be on the fifth, sixth, or seventh day of the third month. The fact that this proposal was made, and the acceptance made, at some unnamed point during that month means that the tradition that Shavuot is the day of the actual appearance of YHWH to Yisrael on Mount Sinai could very well be true. But does the Torah mention a specific day of His appearance? Sort of... we read further:<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<b><i>"And YHWH said to Mosheh, 'Go to the people and qadosh them today and tomorrow. And they shall wash their garments, and shall be prepared by the third day. For on the third day YHWH shall come down upon Mount Sinai before the eyes of all the people.'"</i> (Shemot / Exodus 19:10-11).</b></blockquote>
So YHWH told Mosheh to get the people ready, for them to wash themselves and their clothes, and avoid activities which will make them unclean, so that they will be prepared to meet with Elohim on the "third day". We are tempted to think this is the third day of the month, which would mean it was not in fact Shavuot, but it is more likely to be referring to the third day of the week, which would make it again ambiguous at least at face value, but would also not disqualify it from being in the range of Shavuot. It seems more than a coincidence to me that the day which YHWH here states that he will appear to the children of Yisrael occurs more than likely in the month in which Shavuot occurs. While none of this proves that this was Shavuot, it seems a pretty good indication that Shavuot is very likely the day when YHWH met with the people, and as we shall see, delivered to them by his own voice the foundation of the Torah to which they would forever be enjoined.<br />
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Now we can move from background to foreground and enjoy the meat of this story. The people prepared themselves as commanded, and Mosheh brought them to the foot of the mountain to meet YHWH on the "third day". As promised, YHWH appears, in a great and apparently terrifying spectacle:<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<b><i>"And it came to be, on the third day in the morning, that there were thunders and lightnings, and a thick cloud on the mountain. And the voice of the shofar (ram's horn) was very loud, and all the people who were in the camp trembled. And Mosheh brought the people out of the camp to meet with Elohim, and they stood at the foot of the mountain. And Mount Sinai was in smoke, all of it, because YHWH had descended upon it in fire. And the smoke went up like the smoke of a furnace, and all the mountain trembled exceedingly. And when the blast of the shofar sounded long and became very strong, Mosheh spoke, and Elohim answered him by voice. And YHWH came down upon Mount Sinai, on the top of the mountain. And YHWH called Mosheh to the top of the mountain, and Mosheh went up."</i> (Shemot / Exodus 19:16-20).</b></blockquote>
So we see here that there were several components of this spectacle:<br />
<ul>
<li>The mountain was covered by a storm cloud which emitted thunder and lightning.</li>
<li>A very loud, strong, and long-winded shofar sound blasted not once but several times.</li>
<li>Mount Sinai itself was in smoke, as if it was on fire, and the smoke poured into the skies.</li>
<li>There was an extended earthquake, as the mountain "trembled exceedingly".</li>
<li>The voice of YHWH spoke and commanded Mosheh to ascend to the mountain.</li>
</ul>
<div>
It was in this midst of this spectacle that Elohim spoke to the people the foundational terms of the Covenant He was entering into with his new bride, the nation He took for Himself, Yisrael. Many know these words as the "Ten Commandments" or the "Ten Words". It was part of the Ketuvah, or "marriage contract", a statement of some basic things He expected from this marriage. This Ketuvah was initially spoken by Elohim Himself, and likewise, He would eventually write down these words with His own finger onto tablets which He had hewn Himself, Within this Ketuvah He stated that He expected Yisrael to do all of the following:</div>
<div>
<ol>
<li>To recognize that YHWH is the Elohim that freed them from slavery.</li>
<li>To avoid spiritual adultery by serving other elohim (gods) or by making and/or worshipping idols.</li>
<li>To avoid forgetting, swearing falsely by, failing to properly use, or marginalizing His Name (that name being YHWH), Essentially, He is asking that we know Him by His Name and respect it.</li>
<li>To set His Shabbat day, the memorial of His creation, apart as a day of complete rest.</li>
<li>To respect and honor one's parents.</li>
<li>Never to commit murder.</li>
<li>Never to violate the marriage bonds made with a spouse.</li>
<li>Never to take what isn't yours.</li>
<li>Never to make statements of false witness or provide false evidence against another person.</li>
<li>Never to yearn to have or possess anything that belongs exclusively to your neighbor.</li>
</ol>
<div>
This revelation was not apocalyptic, even though it was delivered in the manner that one might imagine an apocalyptic event occurring. Rather, it was a statement of an expectation of ethics -- a set of statements on how He expected the children of Yisrael to live. The reaction to these words and the incredible way they were delivered was one of intense fear. We read this here:</div>
</div>
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<b><i>"And all the people saw the thunders, the lightning flashes, the sound of the shofar, and the mountain smoking. And the people saw it, and they trembled and stood at a distance, and said to Mosheh, 'You speak with us and we hear, but let not Elohim speak with us, lest we die.'... So the people stood at a distance, but Mosheh drew near the dense cloud where Elohim was. And YHWH said to Mosheh, 'Say this to the children of Yisrael: "You have yourselves seen that I have spoken to you from the shamayim (skies or heavens). You do not make besides Me elohim of silver, and you do not make elohim of gold for yourselves."'"</i> (Shemot / Exodus 20:18-19, 21-23).</b> </blockquote>
So Elohim gave even more words of the Covenant to Yisrael, but this time, he delivered them through Mosheh, as they requested. Mosheh became even more firmly the mediator of this Covenant. Now while this foundational part of the Torah and foundational part of the Ketuvah was delivered very likely on Shavuot, it was not the day the Covenant was finalized. That was the next day. After telling Mosheh all the new words of the Covenant, the Torah continues the account of the Covenant process as follows:<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<b><i>"And Mosheh wrote down all the Words of YHWH, and rose up early in the morning, and built an altar at the foot of the mountain, and twelve standing columns for the twelve tribes of Yisrael. And he sent young men of the children of Yisrael, and they offered burnt offerings and slaughtered peace slaughterings of bulls to YHWH. And Mosheh took half the blood and put it in basins, and half the blood he sprinkled on the altar. And he took the Sefer (scroll) of the Covenant and read in the hearing of the people. And they said, 'All that YHWH has spoken we shall do, and obey.' And Mosheh took the blood and sprinkled it on the people, and said, 'See, the Covenant which YHWH has made with you concerning all these</i></b><b><i> words.'"</i> (Shemot / Exodus 24:4-8).</b></blockquote>
And so the Covenant was made with the people of Yisrael, who willingly entered into it, the day after Elohim showed such an amazing and terrifying display before the people. We know from the rest of the story that it did not take long for Yisrael to break this Covenant. The rest of the story can be summarized as follows:<br />
<ul>
<li>Mosheh ascended the Mountain to meet with Elohim. Mosheh fasted for 40 days and 40 nights on that mountain, and Elohim delivered to him the tablets containing the words He had spoken directly to Yisrael, the mitzvot (commandments).<b> (Shemot / Exodus 24:12-18).</b></li>
<li>While Mosheh was gone, the people lost patience and perspective, and demanded of Aharon to build an el ("god") for them from gold, the exact thing Elohim had commanded them never to do in the first and second of his mitzvot (commandments) to them, both the ones he delivered directly and the ones he delivered through Mosheh and which Mosheh had written on a sefer (scroll).<b> (Shemot / Exodus 32:1)</b></li>
<li>Aharon gave in, perhaps out of fear of the people, who had gotten out of control in their demanding of an idol. They made a golden calf, and worshipped it, even going so far as to call it "YHWH, who brought us out of the land of Mitsrayim (Egypt)".<b> (Shemot / Exodus 32:2-6)</b></li>
<li>YHWH informed Mosheh about the issue. Mosheh goes down to see, and upon witnessing the sins that were being committed, he broke the tablets. He ground up the golden idol and made the people drink the dust of it in from a stream. As the people were apparently enraged at the acts of Mosheh, a fight ensued, leading to the slaughter of a large number, likely those most responsible.<b> (Shemot / Exodus 32:7-8, 15-35)</b></li>
<li>Mosheh makes a plea to YHWH twice on behalf of the people, first after hearing of the sin of the Golden Calf<b> (Shemoth / Exodus 32:9-14)</b>, and then after witnessing the sin himself and acting upon it. In the second plea he even offers himself in place of Yisrael, an attempt to mediate their sin, and in both cases YHWH relents in acting fatally upon their sin.<b> (Shemot / Exodus 33:12-17).</b></li>
<li>Mosheh ascends the mountain a second time, and fasts another 40 days and 40 nights. This time he hews two new tablets, as YHWH commanded him to do, and he brings them with him on his ascent. YHWH again writes the words of the covenant on these two tablets. In a very real sense here, Mosheh is a mediator of a new, or rather renewed, covenant. <b>(Shemot / Exodus 34:1-4, 9-28)</b></li>
<li>Mosheh requests to see YHWH. He is told that he cannot see His face, but he is allowed to go into a cave on the side of the mountain, and see YHWH from behind as he passes by.<b> (Shemot / Exodus 33:18-23)</b>. As YHWH passes by, He utters a statement of His own character to Mosheh. <b>(Shemot / Exodus 34:5-8)</b>. Mosheh's face glowed, apparently for the rest of his life, after this encounter. <b>(Shemot / Exodus 34:29-35)</b>.</li>
</ul>
<div>
YHWH made a Covenant like a marriage with Yisrael, and they broke that Covenant on what could be termed effectively their honeymoon. There are a lot of reasons why Yisrael might have done what they did, such as believing that Mosheh had abandoned them or perhaps that he had died on the mountain, but the bottom line is that they lacked the important faith and perspective on the revelation that had been delivered to them from that mountain by Elohim Himself. They were stubborn, whiny, and impatient, and as a result, Elohim almost refused to travel with them.<br />
<br />
And Elohim could have reacted by destroying Yisrael and starting all over again with Mosheh, as He seems to have been intent to do. In other words, they could have been replaced, entirely, with a people who would serve Him in the way He desired. But Mosheh interceded successfully on their behalf and mediated a renewal of the covenant with Yisrael. This became a pattern that would be repeated in Scripture time and time again. This is essentially the story of the first directly recorded Shavuot and its aftermath.<br />
<br />
But it isn't just the pattern of renewal that is exposed here, even though it's a primary one. It's also a pattern of YHWH's children, even some of his most trusted servants, losing perspective on their roles in His work, and thus being less useful to Him in that purpose. The people had agreed that Mosheh would be the mediator for this ketuvah, this marriage covenant, between YHWH and Yisrael, but they became impatient and refused to wait for Mosheh and YHWH. By suggesting that they don't even know what happened to Mosheh, they possibly imagined that Mosheh might never return. Granted, Mosheh was on the mountain for a long while, at least forty days, but after everything they had experienced and seen from the hand of YHWH through Mosheh, it can be hard to grasp that such a short waiting period with no contact could have been enough to put the immanent return of Mosheh into question. YHWH had quite literally destroyed the most powerful nation in the world to free them from slavery, and now He had descended onto this mountain in fire and fury to speak His Will to them, yet that they lost hope after only waiting at most a few months, I can't help but believe that this is one of the chief lessons of Shavuot -- that waiting for YHWH is not in vain, and failure to wait has negative results! We will look at two other instances where similar events occurred and where the lesson of waiting on YHWH while remaining true to Him are essential to the message of Shavuot.<br />
<br /></div>
<h4>
A Still Small Voice</h4>
<br />
One of the more fascinating stories in all the Scriptures takes place in the the Nevi'im Reshonim (Former Prophets), specifically <b>Sefer Melachim I</b> <b>(I Kings)</b>, in <b>chapters 17-19</b>, the story of Eliyahu (Elijah), the King of the Northern Kingdom of Yisrael, Ahav (Ahab), his wife Izevel (Jezebel), and the sin of the Children of Yisrael in worshipping Baal.<br />
<br />
The background of the time in which this occurs is one in which the united Kingdom of Yisrael under David and then Shlomo (Solomon) has now been long divided into two Kingdoms. Yarov'am (Jeroboam) is made King over the ten Northern Tribes of Yisrael, called collectively the "House of Yisrael", and he is made promises of an everlasting Kingdom by YHWH just as YHWH made to David. These promises were predicated on his diligence in remaining dedicated to, and leading the people to, YHWH and His Torah. Despite being made these incredible promises, Yarov'am lacks faith and perspective and as a result becomes concerned that Yisrael will reunite and depose him if the tribes now under his authority go up for the three Chagim in Yerushalayim to worship YHWH, which the Torah commands. His fear is that when his subjects go into the territory of the southern Kingdom, known as the "House of Yahudah (Judah)", to worship in Yerushalayim, their hearts will be turned back to David's dynasty and the reigning king Rehav'am (Rehoboam). His fears are unfounded of course, as YHWH had made specific promises to him, but his lack of faith in the promises of YHWH blinds him, and he chose to follow his fears and not believe in those promises. He leads Yisrael into sin by erecting two Golden Calves, one in Beit El (Bethel) and one far north in the territory of Dan. He directs the tribes under his authority to worship these two calves in those locations instead of going to Yerushalayim to worship there. He also changes the times of some of the Chagim, moving Sukkoth from the seventh month to the eight month. He even goes as far as to call the calves made at his command by the name "YHWH", strengthening his sin and the sin of the people who follow his directive. It's almost exactly the same sin committed by the sons of Yisrael near Mt. Sinai after the first Shavuot.<br />
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Because of his sin, the conditional promises he was issued were forfeit, and his dynasty does not in fact last forever. His line eventually ends, and new dynasties take its place.<b> (Melachim I / I Kings 14:1-18, 15:25-30)</b>. Most of the kings of these succeeding dynasties do not attempt to reverse the sin of Yarov'am. They continue in it, and a few of them even expand upon it. One of the worst offenders among these is a king known as Ahav (Ahab). Ahav not only allows the sin of Yarov'am to continue in the land, but he also takes as a wife the daughter of the King of Tsidon (Sidon), who convinces him to abandon YHWH and instead to worship Baal and Asherah. That wife's name is Izevel (Jezebel). We read about this here:<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<b><i>"In the thirty-eighth year of Asa sovereign of Yahudah, Ahav ben (son of) Omri reigned over Yisrael in Shomeron (Samaria) twenty-two years. And Ahav ben Omri did evil in the eyes of YHWH, more than all those before him. And it came to be, as though it had been a light matter for him to walk in the sins of Yarov'am ben Nevat, that he took as wife Izevel bat (daughter of) Ethbaal, sovereign of the Tsidonians. And he went and served Baal, and bowed himself to it, and raised up an altar for Baal in the house of Baal, which he had built in Shomeron. And Ahav made an Asherah. And Ahav did more to provoke YHWH Elohim of Yisrael than all the sovereigns of Yisrael before him."</i> (Melachim I / I Kings 16:29-33)</b></blockquote>
Izevel didn't stop at replacing YHWH in the heart of the King, but also in the hearts of the people, and she began a campaign to murder every navi (prophet) of YHWH, one that was almost completely successful. <b>(Melachim I / I Kings 18:13).</b> These sins were deemed much greater than that of even the two Golden Calves of Yerov'am. Eventually YHWH sent Eliyahu (Elijah) to announce a famine as punishment for these sins:<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<b><i>"And Eliyahu the Tishbite, of the inahbitants of Gil'ad, said to Ahav, 'As YHWH Elohim of Yisrael lives, before whom I stand, there shall be no dew or rain these years, except at my word.'" </i>(Melachim I / I Kings 17:1)</b></blockquote>
Then YHWH sent Eliyahu into hiding, first among Arabs near the Yarden (Jordan) River (this is often read as 'ravens' feeding him, but the word can also read as 'Arabs' without the niqqud or vowel markings, which were added later, and thus I feel 'Arabs' is the more accurate reading), and then with a widow and her son who are sustained with him through miracles. <b>(Melachim I / I Kings 17:2-24)</b>.<br />
<br />
The important thing to note here is that this famine is both a lack of food and a lack of water. The rain and dew stops, which then leads to the failure of the crops, indeed even a failure of the grass. Another important aspect is that, just as the plagues in Mitstrayim (Egypt) in the time of the Exodus were "judgements" on the elohim ("gods") of Mitstrayim, this famine was a judgement on Baal and Asherah. These were a typical male sky "god" (Baal) paired with a typical female land "goddess" (Asherah), and it was in their "sexual" union of rain and sun from the male that the female would bear the fruit of the land. When Eliyahu shut up the skies as he did at the Word of YHWH, he was demonstrating that YHWH was in fact the Elohim in control of these elements, not these false elohim.<br />
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After the famine has ravaged Yisrael for two years, at the point when even the King must trudge out over the land in search of enough surviving grass to feed his cattle, YHWH sent Eliyahu back to Ahav to announce the end of the famine. <b>(Melachim I / I Kings 18:1-2)</b>. This is essentially where our story exits the background that led to it, and into its core telling. Just as the children of Yisrael before him blamed Mosheh for their lack of food and water at the wilderness of Sinai, Ahav blames Eliyahu for the lack of rain rather than admit the sin into which he has led the people of Yisrael:<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<b><i>"And it came to be, when Ahav saw Eliyahu, that Ahav said to him, 'Is that you, O disturber of Yisrael.' And he answered, 'I have not disturbed Yisrael, but you and your father's house, in that you have forsaken the mitzvot (commandments) of YHWH, and you have followed the Baals.'"</i></b><b> (Melachim I / I Kings 18:17-18)</b></blockquote>
Eliyahu then demands a showdown with the nevi'im (prophets) of Baal and Asherah and gives instructions and criteria for a contest between YHWH and Baal, to which the people all agree:<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<b><i>"'And now, send and gather all Yisrael to me on Mount Karmel, the four hundred and fifty nevi'im (prophets) of Baal, and the four hundred nevi'im of Asherah, who eat at Izevel's table.' Ahav then sent for all the children of Yisrael, and gathered the nevi'im on Mount Karmel. And Eliyahu came to all the people, and said, 'How long would you keep hopping between two opinions? If YHWH is Elohim, follow Him: and if Baal, follow him.' But the people answered him not a word. And Eliyahu said to the people, 'I alone am left a navi of YHWH, but the nevi'im of Baal are four hundred and fifty men. Now let them give us two bulls. And let them choose one bull for themselves, and cut it in pieces, and lay it on the wood, but light no fire. And I, I prepare the other bull, and shall lay it on the wood, but light no fire. And you shall call on the name of your el ("god"), and I, I call on the name of YHWH. And the elohim who answers by fire, He is Elohim.' So all the people answered and said, 'The word is good.'"</i> (Melachim I / I Kings 18:19-24)</b></blockquote>
Eliyahu was preparing to demonstrate the impotence of the false elohim of Izevel which Ahav and Yisrael had adopted. We read further in this account:<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<b><i>"So they took the bull which was given to them, and prepared it, and called on the name of Baal from morning even until noon, saying, 'O, Baal, answer us!' But there was no voice and no one answered. And they leaped about the altar which they had made. And it came to be at noon, that Eliyahu taunted them and said, 'Cry aloud, for he is an el ("god"); he is meditating, or he is busy, or he is on a journey, or it could be that he is asleep and has to be awakened!' And they cried aloud, and cut themselves, according to their ruling, with knives and spears, until the blood gushed out on them. And it came to be when midday was past, that they prophesied until the time of bringing the offering. But there was no voice and no one answered, and no one was paying attention."</i> (Melachim I / I Kings 18:25-29)</b></blockquote>
Then Eliyahu took his turn, and the people recognized the impotency of Baal and Asherah, and that YHWH is the only true Elohim:<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<b><i>"Then Eliyahu said to all the people, 'Come closer to me.' And all the people came closer to him. And he repaired the altar of YHWH that was broken down. And Eliyahu took twelve stones, according to the number of the tribes of the sons of Yaakov, to whom the word of YHWH had come, saying, 'Yisrael is your name.' And with the stones he built an altar in the Name of YHWH. And he made a trench around the altar large enough to hold two se'im of seed. And he arranged the wood, and cut the bull in pieces, and laid it on the wood, and said, "Fill four jars wth water, and pour it on the burnt offering and on the wood.' Then he said, 'Do it a second time,' and they did it a second time. And he said, 'Do it a third time,' and they did it a third time. And the water flowed around the altar, and he filled the trench with water too. And it came to be, at the time of bringing the offering, that Eliyahu the navi came near and said, 'YHWH Elohim of Abraham, Yitshaq (Isaac), and Yisrael, let it be known today: You are Elohim in Yisrael, and I Your servant, have done these matters by Your word. Answer me, O YHWH, answer me, and let this people know that you are YHWH Elohim, and You shall turn their hearts back to You again.' Then the fire of YHWH fell and consumed the burnt offering, and the wood and the stones and the dust, and it licked up the water that was in the trench. And all the people saw, and fell on their faces, and said, 'YHWH, He is the Elohim! YHWH, he is the Elohim!' And Eliyahu said to them, 'Seize the nevi'im of Baal! Do not let one of them escape!' So they seized them, and Eliyahu brought them down to the wadi Qishon and slew them there. And Eliyahu said to Ahav, 'Go up, eat and drink, because of the sound of the noise of rain.'"</i> (Melachim I / I Kings 18:30-40)</b></blockquote>
The rain did come in a very heavy storm. Ahav rushed to Yizreel, and Eliyahu, overtaken with the Ruach (Spirit) of YHWH ran ahead of him. Izevel, upon hearing the news of what Eliyahu had done, was not happy to say the least. She immediately planned to kill Eliyahu as she had so many other nevi'im of YHWH:<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<b><i>"And when Ahav reported to Izevel all that Eliyahu had done, also how he slew all the nevi'im with the sword, Izevel sent a messenger to Eliyahu, saying, 'So let the elohim ("gods") do to me, and more also, if I do not make your life as the life of one of them by tomorrow about this time.' And he feared, and rose up and ran for his life, and went to Beersheva, which belongs to Yahudah, and left his servant there. But he himself went a day's journey into the wilderness and came and sat down under a broom tree, and prayed that he might die, and said 'It is enough! Now YHWH, take my life, for I am no better than my fathers!'"</i> (Melachim I / I Kings 19:1-4).</b></blockquote>
We can now summarize some important parts of the story:<br />
<ul>
<li>Ahav tells Izevel what Eliyahu had done, including the killing of the nevi'im of Baal. Izevel takes an oath to do the same to Eliyahu within a day's time, and sends him notice of this. <b>(Melachim I / I Kings 19:1-2)</b></li>
<li>Eliyahu fears for his life, and takes flight. He goes to the territory of Yahudah, leaves his servant in Beersheva, and then runs into the wilderness, likely the Negev, where he sits down under a broom tree, prays to die, and then goes to sleep. <b>(Melachim I / I Kings 19:3-5)</b></li>
<li>A malak (messenger or "angel") appears to him, and feeds him with a cake and a jar of water. He goes back to sleep after eating and drinking. The malak wakes him up again and feeds him a second cake and jar of water. <b>(Melachim I / I Kings 19:5-7)</b></li>
<li>After Eliyahu eats the second meal, he goes on a journey to none other than the wilderness of Sinai, specifically to Mount Sinai, the Mountain of Elohim. The journey takes him 40 days and 40 nights, and he fasts the entire length of the journey. <b>(Melachim I / I Kings 19:8)</b></li>
</ul>
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<a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-8iLNNrJP8wI/VpLEwWN14gI/AAAAAAAAA0k/cgliqOnqqso/s1600/ElijahsDesertPath.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="" border="0" height="640" src="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-8iLNNrJP8wI/VpLEwWN14gI/AAAAAAAAA0k/cgliqOnqqso/s640/ElijahsDesertPath.jpg" title="©stock.adobe.com/georgemuresan" width="426" /></a></div>
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It's at this point that we see more than passive connections between this story and the story of the Shavuot of the Exodus in the wilderness which we previously explored on this blog post, one that directly deals with the revelation of the Covenant, which occurred at that very Mountain, by the voice of Elohim. We read about what happens here:</div>
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<b><i>"And he rose up... and went... as far as Mount Horev, the mountain of Elohim. And there he went into a cave and spent the night there. And see, the Word of YHWH came to him, and said to him, 'What are you doing here, Eliyahu?' And he said, 'I have been very ardent for YHWH Elohim of hosts, for the children of Yisrael have forsaken Your Covenant. They have thrown down Your altars, and they have slain Your nevi'im with the sword, and I am left, I alone, and they seek my life, to take it.' And He (YHWH) said, 'Go out, and stand on the mountain before YHWH.' And see, YHWH passed by, and a great and strong wind appeared, tearing the mountains and breaking the rocks in pieces before YHWH, yet YHWH was not in the wind. And after the wind, an earthquake occurred, yet YHWH was not in the earthquake. And after the earthquake, a fire appeared, yet YHWH was not in the fire. And after the fire came a still small voice. And it came to be, when Eliyahu heard it, he wrapped his face in his robe and went out and stood at the cave opening." </i></b><b>(Melachim I / I Kings 19:8-13)</b></blockquote>
This table marks some really interesting contrasts between the events we recounted when YHWH made his Covenant with Yisrael, and this story with Eliyahu at the center:<br />
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<tr class="HearingVoicesOnShavuot_tr"><th class="HearingVoicesOnShavuot_th">Mosheh</th><th class="HearingVoicesOnShavuot_th">Eliyahu</th></tr>
<tr class="HearingVoicesOnShavuot_tr">
<td class="HearingVoicesOnShavuot_td">YHWH frees the Children of Yisrael by a series of remarkable plagues, all of which are clearly affronts on the supposed powers of the elohim ("gods") of Mitsrayim ("Egypt").</td>
<td class="HearingVoicesOnShavuot_td">Due to the worship of Baal, Eliyahu stops the rain, which creates a drought and a famine. Baal, also known as the "rider of the clouds", was the chief deity and storm deity of the people of Izevel and of the Kenaanim ("Canaanites"), and so Eliyahu's shutting down storms and rain in the Name of YHWH was a direct affront to the supposed power of this deity. Eliyahu then restores the rain in the Name of YHWH, demonstrating once again that YHWH is in control of these elements, not Baal or Asherah.</td>
</tr>
<tr class="HearingVoicesOnShavuot_tr">
<td class="HearingVoicesOnShavuot_td">On the journey to Mt. Horeb (or Sinai), YHWH tests the children of Yisrael with a lack of food and water, and then provides food from the Shamayim and water from a rock through the hand of Mosheh when they essentially fail those tests. He feeds the Children of Yisrael with "manna", form of grain for bread from HaShamayim.</td>
<td class="HearingVoicesOnShavuot_td">Eliyahu intends to journey to Mt. Horeb, and He is provided food and water from HaShamayim by the hand of a malak (messenger or "angel") of Elohim.</td>
</tr>
<tr class="HearingVoicesOnShavuot_tr">
<td class="HearingVoicesOnShavuot_td">Mosheh ascends Mount Sinai and fasts 40 days and 40 nights.</td>
<td class="HearingVoicesOnShavuot_td">After eating, Eliyahu travels on a journey to Mount Sinai, a journey which takes 40 days and 40 nights, the entire time of which he fasts.</td>
</tr>
<tr class="HearingVoicesOnShavuot_tr">
<td class="HearingVoicesOnShavuot_td">Mosheh confronts the children of Yisrael for their sin, destroys the golden calf, and requires the lives of several thousand, very likely those who were most responsible for the calf.</td>
<td class="HearingVoicesOnShavuot_td">Eliyahu demonstrates by a miraculous sign the primacy of YHWH over Baal and Asherah, and requires the lives of all of the priests of Baal. The people who witnessed this are convinced, at least for now, that YHWH is Elohim.</td>
</tr>
<tr class="HearingVoicesOnShavuot_tr">
<td class="HearingVoicesOnShavuot_td">YHWH's display to the children of Yisrael on this mountain hundreds of years earlier was in a great storm, and earthquake, fire, and a booming loud voice of a shofar, and YHWH was clearly in all of them.</td>
<td class="HearingVoicesOnShavuot_td">YHWH's display to Eliyahu included almost all of the same components, except instead of the voice of a shofar there is a still small voice. This time, YHWH is not in the fierce components, but is in the still small voice.</td>
</tr>
<tr class="HearingVoicesOnShavuot_tr">
<td class="HearingVoicesOnShavuot_td">Mosheh makes intercession for the children of Yisrael in their sin, by twice pleading for forgiveness, asking that YHWH will continue to dwell in their midst as they travel to the land of promise. He even offers his own future in its entirety in exchange for this.</td>
<td class="HearingVoicesOnShavuot_td">Rather than make intercession for Yisrael, Eliyahu himself seems to have reached the end of his patience and also seems to want out of this service as a navi. He almost seems to ask for YHWH's judgement against Yisrael, or at the very least, he seems to be asking why that judgement isn't forthcoming. He also does this twice. While Mosheh offered his life for Yisrael, Eliyahu simply prays to die.</td>
</tr>
<tr class="HearingVoicesOnShavuot_tr">
<td class="HearingVoicesOnShavuot_td">YHWH agrees to Mosheh's plea for mercy and instructs him to move forward with the children of Yisrael, promising that He will be in their midst.</td>
<td class="HearingVoicesOnShavuot_td">YHWH gives Eliyahu instructions on whom to seek out and anoint as agents of YHWH's judgement, while also reserving a number of children of Yisrael to Himself, 7000 total, who have not defiled themselves in idolatry. One of those he is told to seek out is a replacement, Elisha, allowing Eliyahu to move on from his service.</td>
</tr>
<tr class="HearingVoicesOnShavuot_tr">
<td class="HearingVoicesOnShavuot_td">Mosheh asks to see Elohim, and is granted that privilege, but is only allowed to see Him from behind as He passes by. He does this from a cave in the mountain.</td>
<td class="HearingVoicesOnShavuot_td">After hearing the still small voice within the cave he is inhabiting, which could very well be the same cave that Mosheh inhabited, Eliyahu covers his face and walks out to continue the dialog, perhaps as a sign of humility, and perhaps also to avoid seeing Elohim's face outside the cave.</td>
</tr>
</tbody></table>
</div>
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Despite occurring in a different sequence, these events seem to be counterparts to each other, sometimes mirroring with slight change of detail, and sometimes almost seeming to be opposites. The incident with the still small voice is particularly interesting to me. The visitation Mosheh witnessed was one of incredible power, with YHWH's presence demonstrated by the elements of that display. His call for mercy was met with mercy despite that terrifying display.<br />
<br />
Eliyahu on the other hand seems to call for judgement. Eliyahu went to Mount Sinai, it seems, as a symbolic act of complaint against Yisrael and its violation of the Covenant made on that very mountain, and also to request that YHWH's judgement against Yisrael be a more zealous judgement. Eliyahu's concern really seems to be that His judgement is not coming quickly enough. Only a few days before YHWH sent fire at Eliyahu's request to demonstrate that He is Elohim Alone, and that ultimately only put Eliyahu in more danger. It's not hard to understand why Eliyahu might be wondering "Where is your fire?" But as we come to see here, Eliyahu's vision is much too short.<br />
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Elohim attempts to give Eliyahu some perspective on His character in His desire to show mercy before judgement. The display is also a pyrotechnic marvel, just as the Shavuot with Mosheh was, but this time YHWH is not represented by the elements of that spectacle. This is of course intentional by YHWH, and its meaning is not lost on Eliyahu. The still small voice, which can also be translated "a soft murmuring sound", which comes at the end of this display is both an indication of YHWH's disposition to Eliyahu, and an indication of His disposition to Yisrael. YHWH is clearly showing that He is capable of such a fiery and cataclysmic judgement, but that He has chosen not to take that approach at this time, as He once threatened to do. He accepted Mosheh's terms long ago, and now He is no longer in the wrathful display, but is working toward an ultimate solution, one that Eliyahu doesn't seem to have the foresight to understand.<br />
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When Eliyahu doesn't accept this statement by YHWH, or at the very least, rejects that explanation and repeats his complaint after hearing this still small voice, YHWH gives him leave by naming his replacement, along with several other more political replacements, all to execute His purposes, including an ultimate judgement, and He sends him on a mission to find and empower his replacement, a man named Elisha, along with the others. He shows Eliyahu several things in this, the first being that He still has work to do within his plan, and He will do it with or without Eliyahu. Second, He shows Eliyahu that not everyone in Yisrael is worthy of such a judgement, that Eliyahu is not the only one left who isn't worthy of a judgement, there being 7000 in Yisrael who have not defiled themselves by bowing to Baal.<br />
<br />
Later, after Eliyahu has found and passed his mantle on to his replacement Elisha, Eliyahu is whisked away to another place by a fiery chariot in the sight of Elisha himself. <b>(Melachim II / II Kings 2:11-12)</b>. I think there's some irony in that incident: Eliyahu seems to call for a judgement of fire, and fire turns out to be the implement of his departure. In a sense, fire goes from being the implement of YHWH's wrath to being the implement of His mercy.<br />
<br />
It's not uncommon for me to hear some who have been walking with YHWH for a long period of time, and who have had a very rough time of it, expressing similar things to what Eliyahu expresses to YHWH here. They hope for judgement to come and wonder at Elohim's delay. They often don't consider that Elohim could be delaying for the purpose of extending His mercy. Should we be like Mosheh and hope and pray for that extension, or should we take the tact of hoping and praying for a swift and fiery judgement? I know which one I hope for.<br />
<br />
We all must realize that to be useful to Elohim, we must work within His time, and not within ours. We should recognize that judgement is not the only part of His character that has been revealed to us, but also a strong desire to show mercy, one that is frankly responsible for even our existence, let alone our ability to walk with Him today. If He had rendered judgement at the numerous points in the past when so many have called for it in desperation, those of us alive today would never have experienced the mercy He has extended to us, as many of us would never have existed.<br />
<br />
Eliyahu is not excluded from this either: after all, he was a descendent of Yisrael, but he was not a descendent of Mosheh. If YHWH had not heard Mosheh's prayer for mercy, if He had wiped out all Yisrael except Mosheh and started over with him as He seems to have intended to do, Eliyahu's ancestors would have been wiped out in fury, and he would never have been born to know YHWH at all, let alone serve Him in the way he was privileged to do. It is because YHWH extended mercy that Eliyahu is a name we know today. Eliyahu was a man of Elohim, one that Elohim entrusted with much duty and much power, but like us, he was not a perfect man, and like us he was not always a patient man. We need the same kind of perspective YHWH revealed to him on that mountain if we hope to continue to be useful to Him and His work. If not, Elohim will move on to others who will be useful in that purpose.<br />
<br />
While I have no hard evidence for this, I strongly believe that the visitation which Eliyahu received from Elohim on Mount Sinai occurred on the day of Shavuot. The visitations are just too similar to dismiss that likelihood, mirroring each other and revealing different aspects of YHWH's character by juxtaposing His judgement with His desire to show mercy. Certainly, they both emphasize the importance of persevering with the Elohim who is so dedicated to persevering with us.<div><br /></div><div><div>I know this view of Eliyahu's ministry will be uncomfortable for many to understand or accept. It might sound as if I am maligning him, but I promise that this is not the case. We often want to think of the nabiim ("prophets") of YHWH as nearly perfect figures who make no mistakes. But YHWH never whitewashes His own partners, even His most trusted nabiim. Though YHWH supports them, still regards them and their activities at the time of their work, and even sees their own words to fruition for the sake of their reputation among the people, the record He inspired allows us to learn from their mistakes as well as their accomplishments. Sometimes these examples are given not to malign YHWH's people from the past, but rather are given in order to help us learn from and recognize flaws so that we do not repeat them ourselves. If we take an approach in which we are unable to read these texts from that point of view, we can easily get the wrong impression and begin to justify the very bad behavior, using those stories as positive examples rather than recognizing that YHWH is recording them as counter-examples.</div><div><br /></div><div>And we have at least one example of this kind of misapplication occurring, an example of a misapplication of a story from this same section of Scripture, and remarkably also involving the same Eliyahu, one in which Eliyahu's example is used in a way that assumes positives and misses the negative implications. Let's examine this account that references Eliyahu on this same theme of calling for a fiery judgement. Yeshua uses that theme as a counterexample to his talmidim (disciples) on what the wrong kind of ruach (spirit) is in their less charitable encounters while on their mission. Let's take a look at that example:</div><div><br /></div></div><blockquote style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0px 40px; padding: 0px;"><div><div style="text-align: left;"><b><i>"And it came to be, when the days of his taking up were being completed, even he set his face to go to Yerushalayim (Jerusalem), and he sent messengers ahead of him. And they went and entered into a village of the Shomeronim (Samaritans), to prepare for him. And they (the Samaritans) did not receive him, because his face was set for the journey to Yerushalayim. And His talmidim (disciples), Yaakov (James, but more properly named Jacob) and Yohanan (John), seeing it said, 'Master, do you wish us to command fire to come down from HaShamayim and destroy them, as Eliyahu also did?' But having turned, he rebuked them and said, 'You do not know of what ruach (spirit) you are, for the Ben of Adam (the Son of Man) did not come to destroy men’s lives but to save them.'"</i> (Luqas / Luke 9:51-56)</b></div></div></blockquote><div><div><br /></div><div>So Yeshua knew his time had come, and he was going to Yerushalayim to meet the fate that we've been discussing here, a fate which would take place during Pesach (Passover) -- a time period which has its own particular implications to the activities of Mosheh. Because, whereas Mosheh commanded and oversaw the sacrifice of lambs and the application of blood upon Yisraelite doors in the time of their delivery from slavery in Mistrayim (Egypt) on that Pesach night so long ago, Yeshua would now be a more direct offering in his fulfilment of this Pesach symbolism, and would be referred to from then on as the Pesach Lamb who was sacrificed for his people.</div><div><br /></div><div>On the journey to Yerushalayim to fulfil this purpose, he sought shelter from the Shomeronim (Samaritans). Because a major dispute between the Shomeronim and the Yahudim (Jews) in general was (and still is today) the proper place for the observance of Chagim such as Pesach, with the Shomeronim believing it should be Mount Gerizim and not Yerushalayim, those Shomeronim seem to have refused to accommodate Yeshua on his journey in protest of his destination for the Pesach observance being in Yerushalayim. Two of Yeshua's talmidim, Yaakov (called "James" in most English translations, but which is more properly “Jacob”) and Yochanan (John) asked if they should call down fire from HaShamayim and consume these inhospitable Shomeronim, and they specifically referenced Eliyahu doing the same thing as a justification for their act.</div><div><br /></div><div>Yeshua's rebuke was unmistakable -- they were in the wrong spiritual state by asking for such a punishment. Yeshua had come to provide mercy and kippurim rather than judgement in this visitation. Yeshua is in a sense showing us that as Elohim had already accepted Mosheh's call for renewal and kippurim (atonement), He rejected Eliyahu's call for a fiery judgement. And Yeshua was implying heavily that he himself, as the "Nabi like Mosheh", was here as the mechanism for that renewal and kippurim. Mosheh had offered himself, but Yeshua, as the promised "visitation", was the one who would be seeing that offer through, in the name of YHWH Himself.</div><div><br /></div><div>And with that, let's continue this particular timeline of Yeshua's and see how the lesson around this Pesach we mentioned leads on into another significant event on Shavuot.</div><div><br /></div>
<h4>
Many Voices in Many Tongues</h4>
<br />
Shavuot is known to readers of the Ketuvim Netzarim (The New Testament) as "Pentecost", a term used for it in the opening chapters of Sefer Ma'aseh (the Book of Acts). That name actually comes from an attempt by Hellenized Jews at the time to translate the concept described in the Hebrew of the Torah, which requires the counting of seven weeks of seven days each, into terms that would be more understandable to those from the language and culture of the Greeks. The Greek term, "Pentecost" literally means "count 50", which indicates that this count of seven weeks plus one day consists of counting 50 days in total to the Festival. In reality, the Torah requires that we simultaneously count both the number of weeks (again seven in total, taking the day after these weeks) and the number of days (50 in total, counting the day after seven weeks), not just one or the other <b>(Wayyiqra / Leviticus 23:15-16; </b><b>Devarim / Deuteronomy 16:8-10)</b>, so both names actually have very strong significance for the computation of the day. So the "Pentecost" mentioned in Sefer Ma'aseh is the Pilgrimage Festival of Shavuot, the same Festival I've been pondering in this post. Before we get into what occurred with the talmidim (disciples) of Yeshua on that day, let's cover some background by looking into the events that led up to this particular Shavuot.<br />
<br />
What many don't realize that is that Yeshua's ministry revolved around the three Chagim. He came to Yerushalayim with a message many times, but he always seems to have come on Pesach/Matzah, Shavuot, and Sukkoth, something that would have been expected of any Jewish male as it is commanded in the Torah, and his actions and messages were often tailored to the context of these special Pilgrimage Festivals. The last Chag he observed in Yerushalayim before leaving this earth was the combination Pesach (Passover) and Chag HaMatzah (Festival of Unleavened Bread). In fact, one can say that this was among the most important of the times he observed it because during this time he fulfilled the navuot (prophecies) that were written about him by the nevi'im (prophets), and brought to reality the works that are foreshadowed by practices the Torah commands to be performed on the days of this Chag.<br />
<br />
I won't cover all of the details of this last Pesach and its progression to Shavuot here, but I want to cover some of the important points that relate to the previous instances I've mentioned. When Yeshua approached Yerushalayim that last time, he did so with purpose. We read about his approach here:<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<b><i>"And when he approached Yerushalayim and came to Beit Pagesh on the side of the Mount of Olives, Yeshua sent two of his talmidim (disciples), and said to them, 'Go to this village that is in front of you and immediately you wil find a donkey that is bound and a colt with her. Loose them and bring them to me.' ... The talmidim departed and did as Yeshua had commanded them, and they brought the donkey and the colt and placed their garments upon the colt, and Yeshua mounted upon it. And a multitude of crowds were spreading out their clothes in the road, and others were cutting branches from the trees and cast them on the road. The crowds and those who were going before him and coming after him were crying out and saying 'Hoshana to the son of David. Baruk (blessed) is he who comes in the name of YHWH! Hoshana in the highest!'"</i> (Mattityahu / Matthew 21:1-2, 6-9)</b></blockquote>
As <b>verses 3-5</b> directly state, this was the fulfillment of a navuah from the Nevi'im Aharonim (Latter Prophets) in the Tanakh (Old Testament) about the Mashiach:<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<b><i>"Rejoice greatly, O daughter of Tsiyon! Shout, O daughter of Yerushalayim! See, your King is coming to you. He is righteous and endowed with deliverance, humble, and riding on a donkey, a colt, the foal of a donkey."</i> (Zekaryah / Zechariah 9:9)</b></blockquote>
So Yeshua is coming into Yerushalayim for the Chag in a way that clearly indicates to all the people who witness that he following the patterns expected of the Mashiach (Messiah), and the people recognize this and rejoice at it. And his very next stop was the Heykal (Temple), which was also expected as the fulfillment of a navuah from the Nevi'im Aharonim:<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<b><i>"'See, I am sending My messenger, and he shall prepare the way before Me. Then suddenly the Adon (Master or 'Lord') you are seeking comes to His Heykal, even the Messenger of the Covenant, in whom you delight. See, He is coming,' said YHWH of hosts."</i> (Mal'achi / Malachi 3:1).</b></blockquote>
Imagine the excitement of Yeshua's talmidim as they saw him go up to the Heykal (Temple). Their anticipation was very likely that all of the navuot in the Tanakh would finally be fulfilled, and that this man, the Mashiach, would finally restore the Kingdom to Yisrael, and unify Yahudah and Ephraim once again. Imagine also their disappointment when he doesn't do that. Let's look at the sequence of events after this triumphal entry into Yerushalayim:<br />
<ol>
<li>Yeshua enters and cleanses the Heykal of those polluting it: those buying and selling within it. <b>(Mattityahu / Matthew 21:12-13)</b></li>
<li>Yeshua heals the blind and the lame, which besides showing great compassion is also an important symbolic act, as the Torah forbade those with defects from serving in the Heykal, and these very likely could not enter the main area that others Jews were free to enter either. <b>(Mattityahu / Matthew 21:14)</b></li>
<li>The people loudly proclaim him Ben David (son of David) and cry Hoshana (save now). This displeases the Chief Kohenim (Priests) and the Pharisees, and they complain about what they are saying. He reproves them for this by quoting an important prophecy. <b>(Mattityahu / Matthew 21:15-16)</b></li>
<li>He then leaves not only the Heykal but also Yerushalayim, going to lodge at a neighboring city. <b>(Mattityahu / Matthew 21:17)</b></li>
</ol>
Imagine the shock of Yeshua's talmidim when he doesn't go any further than that. They must have been wondering at this point if they had gotten it wrong. Then the next day Yeshua begins another round of events:<br />
<div>
<ol>
<li>Yeshua returns to Yerushalayim. On the way he approaches a fig tree to eat from it, and seeing no figs, pronounces a judgement upon it that it should never again produce figs. The tree withers away completely. This seems to be symbolic of what He is about to do in Yerushalayim at the Heykal. <b>(Mattityahu / Matthew 21:18-20)</b></li>
<li>When Yeshua arrives at the Heykal, the Chief Kohenim and Pharisees demand he tell them by what authority he did the things he had done from the previous day. He gives them a question that is impossible for them to safely answer, and they cannot answer it. He then refuses to answer their question in return. <b>(Mattityahu / Matthew 21:23-27)</b></li>
<li>Yeshua gives several severe judgements on the religious elite of His day in the form of parables, each one naming a judgement against them, declaring that they would lose their places of privilege in the court of Elohim. <b style="font-weight: bold;">(Mattityahu / Matthew 21:28-22:14)</b></li>
<li>The Pharisees, Sadducees, and others attempt to trap Yeshua in several varied ways involving attempts to have him endorse sedition or treason, and in trying to test his knowledge of Torah. Yeshua is able to answer all of these sufficiently without incriminating himself, to the amazement of all present, particularly his accusers. <b>(Mattityahu / Matthew 22:15-40)</b></li>
<li>Yeshua then turns the tables on those testing him and tests them in return. He asks a question about the nature of Mashiach and his relationship to David, his father. Those he challenges are unable to answer his test. <b>(Mattityahu / Matthew 22:41-46)</b></li>
<li>He warns his talmidim against following the example of the scribes and Pharisees. (<b>Mattityahu / Matthew 23:1-12)</b></li>
<li>Looking back to Yeshua's judgement on the fig tree, which seems to have symbolically represented the Jewish establishment of his day, he pronounces a judgement on those in power, the scribes, Pharisees, Sadducees, and all the religious elite of his day. <b>(Mattityahu / Matthew 23:13-36)</b></li>
<li>He pronounces a judgement of desolation on Yerushalayim and the Heykal, yet promises to return to it when it cries out <i style="font-weight: bold;">"Baruk (blessed) is he who comes in the name of YHWH." </i>These are the essentially wedding words, the words of the bride to her bridegroom. <b>(Mattityahu / Matthew 23:37-39)</b></li>
<li>Once again, Yeshua leaves the Heykal, with the intent of leaving the city.</li>
</ol>
</div>
<div>
Imagine once again just how perplexed his talimdim must have felt. Two days now at the Heykal, and their expectations still are not being met. In fact, the opposite seems to be the case. They are expecting Yeshua to restore the Kingdom at this point by liberating the Yahudim and returning the lost ones of Ephraim. They desperately want Yerushalayim restored, yet they are now hearing a judgement pronounced against it that calls for its desolation as well as the desolation of the Heykal itself. We read as follows:</div>
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<b><i>"And Yeshua went out of the Heykal to depart, and his talmidim drew near and were showing him the construction of the Heykal."</i> (Mattityahu / Matthew 24:1)</b></blockquote>
What is interesting about this verse is what it says indirectly about the state of mind of the talmidim. Yeshua was well versed and completely familiar with the Heykal, the House of Elohim. He knew its construction and its buildings. He had been coming to Yerushalayim three times a year throughout his life as commanded by the Torah, just as his talmidim very likely had. So why were they taking him to show him the construction and buildings of the Heykal as if he needed a guided tour?<br />
<br />
I think the answer once again lies in their expectations. They expect the Adon to suddenly come to his Heykal to take possession, liberate Yerushalayim, and restore Yisrael. They don't expect his visitation to be one strictly of judgement spoken in simple words. They cannot mesh their expectations with the judgements he has just rendered, and seeing him once again leave the Heykal with the intent of leaving the city WITHOUT having met their expectations is just a bit much for them. They are trying, perhaps desperately, to turn his attention back to the Heykal. Yeshua lets them know without uncertainty that their expectations are off:<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<b><i>"But he said to them, "Look, don't you see all these things (i.e. the construction and buildings of the Heykal)? Truly I say to you, nothing will be spared. Not one stone here will be left upon another, which will not be torn down." </i>(Mattityahu / Matthew 24:2)</b></blockquote>
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<br />
Yeshua's talmidim must have been gutted. After Yeshua has left Yerushalayim, they come to him on the Mount of Olives and ask him to help them understand what to expect. Like Eliyahu before them, they need him to give them some perspective:<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<b><i>"And while Yeshua was sitting on the Mount of Olives, his talmidim drew near and were saying among themselves and to him, 'Tell us when these things will be and what is the sign of your coming and the end of the world.'"</i> (Mattityahu / Matthew 24:3)</b></blockquote>
Yeshua then attempts to do just that. He attempts to help them stave off their eagerness for immediate relief and prepare them for the long-haul. He warns them against those who will come falsely in his name, prepares them to deliver this Besorah (good news) of the Kingdom of Elohim to the world and warns them of the persecution they will encounter in so-doing. He helps them to understand that wars, calamnities, natural disasters and the like are the way of the present world, and are not indications that his coming is just around the corner, for they are only the "beginning of sorrows". <b>(Mattityahu / Matthew 24:4-14)</b>. He also discusses the fate of Yerushalayim and the Heykal by showing them that Daniyel (Daniel) had prophecied of this "abomination of desolation":<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<b><i>"'And when you see the sign of uncleanness (abomination) and desolation, that was spoken of by Daniyel the navi, which will stand in the Qodesh Place (he that reads, let him understand), then let those who are in the land of Yahudah (Judea) flee to the mountains... For then will be great suffering such as has not been from the beginning of the world until the present, nor will ever be again. And if those days were not shortened, no flesh would survive, but for the sake of the chosen ones, those days will be shortened.'"</i> (Mattityahu / Matthew 24:15-16, 21-22)</b>.</blockquote>
Bringing up Daniyel was important in this context, because Daniyel himself had expectations. He knew that Yirmeyahu (Jeremiah) had written that the period of exile under the Chaldean Empire, before a return to Yerushalayim, would be 70 years <b>(Yirmeyahu / Jeremiah 29:10-14)</b>, and as that 70 years arrived, he prayed fervently for an understanding of when to expect the return, and also frankly, what to expect of that return. <b>(Daniyel / Daniel 9: 1-19)</b>. When he was given the answer, which was far deeper in time than he could have expected, with the detail that this return from exile would itself be followed by another even deeper exile, and that Yerushalayim and the second Heykal would once again be laid waste, he was perplexed to the point of depression. He was only given information to a certain point, and he wanted to know the end of all of the things he had heard, but was told that this information would only be unsealed much later after he had passed on. <b>(Daniyel / Daniel 12:8-9)</b>.<br />
<br />
So just as Eliyahu needed perspective, and just as Daniyel needed perspective, Yeshua's talmidim needed perspective. Yeshua ends his discourse with a description of what the actual time of the end will be like in the world, and warns them of false doctrine, those who claim falsely to know him and know his location, and he instructs them that despite knowing the time left to this evil age was deeper than they had conceived, they should live and work every day as if it were the day of his coming. Yeshua goes as far as to tell them that they cannot know the time of his coming to restore the Kingdom, that even he does not know that time. <b>(Mattityahu / Matthew 24:36)</b>. Yeshua goes to great pains in this discourse to explain to them that there was then (and is now) still much work to do, and when Yeshua returns, he expects to find all of them (and us) doing that work, to be actively counting our days, not biding our time in a comfy bed. <b>(Mattityahu / Matthew 24:23-25:46)</b>.<br />
<br />
Yeshua then drops a bombshell on them, something that they were not prepared to hear, that he would soon be killed. Yeshua was to be the true lamb for the Pesach (Passover). If we read this carefully, we will see that in addition to the two days we just went through upon Yeshua's arrival at Yerushalayim, there were two days to come for this event: <b><i>"You know that after two days will be the Pesach, and the Son of man will be betrayed to be put to the execution stake." </i>(Mattityahu / Matthew 26:2).</b> Since Pesach is on the 14th day of the first month, this means Yeshua said this on the 12th day of the first month, and as this was his second day in the city, it means he arrived at the Heykal, the House of Elohim, on the 10th of the first month. This day is the day when the lamb was chosen by each family in Yisrael to be offered as the Pesach offering at the time of the Exodus, the blood of which would save the firstborn of Yisrael from death. <b>(Shemot / Exodus 12:1-3)</b>. Yeshua was presenting himself as the chosen lamb in the Household of Elohim -- it is no small coincidence that it was from this day that the Chief Kohenim (Chief Priests) attempted to find a cause against him to arrest and condemn him. <b>(Mattityahu / Matthew 21:45-46)</b>. We read that their words even betrayed this hidden purpose of their actions:<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<b><i>"So the chief priests and the Pharisees gathered a council and said, 'What shall we do? Because this Man does many signs. If we let him alone like this, they all shall believe in him, and the Romans shall come and take away from us both our place and nation.' And one of them, Qayapha, being Kohen HaGadol that year, said to them, 'You know nothing, nor do you consider that it is better for us that one man die for the people than that the entire nation should perish.' But he did not say this from himself, but being Kohen HaGadol that year he prophesied that Yeshua was about to die for the nation, and not for the nation only, but to gather together into one the children of Elohim who were scattered abroad. So from that day on they plotted to kill him."</i> (Yochanan / John 11:47-53).</b></blockquote>
Certainly, Yeshua's death was not expected by the talmidim, despite the fact that Yeshua mentioned its imminence to them repeatedly, particularly as the day approached. We read the events leading up to Shavuot, as follows:<br />
<ul>
<li>Yeshua observed the Pesach with his disciples by having the commanded meal with them. <b>(Mattityahu / Matthew 26:17-30, Marqos / Mark 14:12-26, Luke 22:7-23)</b></li>
<li>Yeshua is arrested later that evening and ultimately put to death on the execution stake. The talmidim put up a futile defense, one which Yeshua essentially rebukes.</li>
<li>The death of Yeshua is the last straw that breaks the will of the talmidim, throwing them into disarray, the events of that day having left them scattered and disillusioned. Several of them even left Yerushalayim during the Festival in a march of defeat.</li>
<li>Yeshua was resurrected three days and three nights later, as the weekly Shabbat came to an end, as he stated he would.</li>
<li>He first appeared to his talmidim the next morning. He even appeaed on the road to those talmidim who have left Yerushalayim, causing them to return to Yerushalayim and regroup with the talmidim.</li>
<li>He continues to appear to them over the next 40 days. <b>(Ma'aseh / Acts 1:1-3)</b></li>
</ul>
At the end of this period, we read the following account of their last direct communication with Yeshua:<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<b><i>"And meeting with them, he commanded them not to leave Yerushalayim, but to wait for the promise of the Father, 'which you have heard from me, because Yohanan (John) truly immersed in water, but you shall be immersed in the Ruach HaQodesh (Set Apart Spirit) not many days from now.' So when they had come together, they asked him, saying, 'Master, would you at this time restore the Kingdom to Yisrael?' And he said to them, 'It is not for you to know times or seasons which the Father has put in His own authority. But you shall receive power when the Ruach HaQodesh has come upon you, and you shall be my witnesses in Yerushalayim, and in all Yahudah and Shomeron, and to the end of the earth.' And having said this, while they were looking on, he was taken up, and a cloud hid him from their sight."</i> (Ma'aseh / Acts 1:4-9)</b></blockquote>
Having seen Yeshua unquestionably raised from the dead, and his presence demonstrated to them for 40 days, their hopes for an imminent restoration of Yisrael were renewed. They asked the $100 trillion question, and once again, the answer they were given was threefold: that it isn't the time now, that they cannot know the precise time, and that there is much work to be done before that time arrives. And then he leaves them, by ascending into the shamayim. Though they are told he will return in the future just as he ascended as they witnessed <b>(Ma'aseh / Acts 1:10-11)</b>, it seems clear that they just aren't prepared for the long haul that their wait and the work they must do was certain to be. They had to temper their expectations and concentrate on the work that is to be done. They are also told to stay in Yerushalayim to receive power from the Ruach HaQodesh, and that this will assist them in their work as witnesses of all that they have seen. This makes sense for sure, because in ten days time at this point was the Festival of Shavuot, when they along with all other Jewish males were expected to be there. So we read what happens when they show up in the morning to the Heykal of Elohim to observe Shavuot, as commanded:<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<b><i>"And when the Day of Pentecost (i.e. Chag HaShavuot, the Festival of Weeks) had come, they were all with one mind in one place. And suddenly there came a sound from the shamayim, as of a rushing mighty wind, and it filled all the House (that house being the Heykal) where they were sitting. And there appeared to them divided tongues, as of fire, and settled on each one of them. And they were all filled with the Ruach HaQodesh and began to speak with other tongues, as the Ruach gave them to speak. Now in Yerushalayim there were dwelling Yahudim (Jews), dedicated men from every nation under the shamayim. And when this sound came to be, the crowd came together, and were confused, because everyone heard them speak in his own language. And they were all amazed and marveled, saying to each other, 'Look, are not all these who speak from Galil (Galileans)? 'And how do we hear, each one in our own language in which we were born? 'Parthians and Medes and Eylamites, and those dwelling in Aram Naharayim, both Yahudah and Kappadokia, Pontos and Asia, both Phrygia and Pamphulia, Mitsrayim and the parts of Libya around Cyrene, visitors from Rome, both Yahudim and converts, Cretans and Arabs, we hear them speaking in our own tongues the great deeds of Elohim.' And they were all amazed, and were puzzled, saying to each other, 'What does this mean?' And others mocking said, 'They have been filled with sweet wine.'"</i></b> <b>(Ma'aseh / Acts 2:1-13)</b></blockquote>
The talmidim, including the eleven Shlichim ("apostles" or emissaries), were present, and all the Yahudim present in the Heykal were experiencing a moment of great revelation, only this time, Elohim was not speaking with a voice of His own: neither that of a Shofar, nor of a quiet whisper. He was speaking through the mouths of these talmidim and Shlichim, in every language spoken by those who were present, and delivering a navuah (prophetic message). And instead of a pyrotechnic display of fire coming onto the mountain, and smoke ascending up into the shamayim, tongues of fire ascended onto the heads of all the talmidim. So odd was the spectacle, that some felt the talmidim had to be drunk. We read:<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<b><i>"Afterwards, Shimon Keefa (Simon Peter) stood up among the eleven Shlichim and lifted up his voice and said to them, 'Men, Yahudim (Jews), and all who dwell in Yerushalayim, let this be known to you, and pay attention to my words. For it is not as you think, that these men are drunk, for look, it is now only the third hour of the day (about 9 a.m.). But this is that which was spoken by the navi Yoel.'"</i> (Ma'aseh / Acts 2:14-16)</b></blockquote>
Shimon then quotes the navi Yoel (Joel), a prophecy about just this kind of revelation:<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<b><i>"And after this it will be that I pour out my Ruach on all flesh. And your sons and daughters shall nava (prophesy), your old men dream dreams, your young men see visions. And also on the male servants and on the female servants I will pour out my Ruach in those days. And I will give signs in the shamayim, and upon the earth: blood and fire and columns of smoke, the sun turned into darkness, and the moon into blood, before the coming of the great and awesome day of YHWH. And it will be that everyone who calls on the Name of YHWH will be delivered."</i> (Yoel 3:1-5 / Joel 2:28-32)</b></blockquote>
This navuah (prophecy) was about revelation, and this was at least part of the fulfillment of that navuah. It has several items in common with the revelation from Shavuot before to Mosheh and the children of Yisrael, as we see here:<br />
<br />
<div class="HearingVoicesOnShavuot_div">
<table class="HearingVoicesOnShavuot_table"><tbody>
<tr class="HearingVoicesOnShavuot_tr"><th class="HearingVoicesOnShavuot_th">Shemot / Exodus</th><th class="HearingVoicesOnShavuot_th">Ma'aseh / Acts</th></tr>
<tr class="HearingVoicesOnShavuot_tr">
<td class="HearingVoicesOnShavuot_td">YHWH told Mosheh to prepare the children of Yisrael for His visitation, stating that He would meet them on the "third day".</td>
<td class="HearingVoicesOnShavuot_td">Yeshua told his talmidim (disciples) to remain in Yerushalayim until the visitation from the Ruach HaQodesh (Set Apart Spirit).</td>
</tr>
<tr class="HearingVoicesOnShavuot_tr">
<td class="HearingVoicesOnShavuot_td">YHWH's visitation on Mount Sinai occurred in the morning.</td>
<td class="HearingVoicesOnShavuot_td">YHWH's visitation to Yeshua's talmidim occurred in the morning, specifically the "third hour" (around 9 a.m.)</td>
</tr>
<tr class="HearingVoicesOnShavuot_tr">
<td class="HearingVoicesOnShavuot_td">YHWH's visitation was on Mount Horeb, also called Mount Sinai, the Mountain of Elohim.</td>
<td class="HearingVoicesOnShavuot_td">YHWH's visitation was on Mount Moriah, also called the "Temple Mount", the site of the binding of Yitshaaq (Isaac), and at that time the site of the Heykal (Temple), the House of Elohim.</td>
</tr>
<tr class="HearingVoicesOnShavuot_tr">
<td class="HearingVoicesOnShavuot_td">A storm cloud covered Mount Sinai at the presence of YHWH.</td>
<td class="HearingVoicesOnShavuot_td">The sound of a rushing wind filled the Heykal (Temple) of YHWH on Mount Moriah.</td>
</tr>
<tr class="HearingVoicesOnShavuot_tr">
<td class="HearingVoicesOnShavuot_td">YHWH descended on Mount Sinai in fire, and smoke ascended up to the shamayim like a furnace.</td>
<td class="HearingVoicesOnShavuot_td">Tongues of fire descended onto the heads of those talimdim of Yeshua who were present at the Heykal on Shavuot (Pentecost) at 9 a.m. (the third watch).</td>
</tr>
<tr class="HearingVoicesOnShavuot_tr">
<td class="HearingVoicesOnShavuot_td">The voice of a shofar sounded, and YHWH spoke to the children of Yisrael the Ten Commandments or Ten Words in the quodesh language, Hebrew.</td>
<td class="HearingVoicesOnShavuot_td">Each of those upon whom the tongues of fire descended were filled with the Ruach HaQodesh (Set Apart Spirit), and spoke in the languages of all the scattered children of Yisrael, all who were there, delivering the Besorah (Good News) of Yeshua.</td>
</tr>
<tr class="HearingVoicesOnShavuot_tr">
<td class="HearingVoicesOnShavuot_td">YHWH's visitation on Mount Sinai was a marvel, and His presence and voice so fierce, that they begged Mosheh to speak for Him instead, out of fear.</td>
<td class="HearingVoicesOnShavuot_td">YHWH's visitation at the Heykal (Temple) on Mount Moriah was a marvel, and all present were amazed that they were hearing this message spoken in their own languages by Galileans. YHWH spoke through these men instead of speaking directly, as the children of Yisrael requested to Mosheh.</td>
</tr>
</tbody></table>
</div>
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This revelation which so closely mirrors and even expands on the experiences of the children of Yisrael in the wilderness when they cemented their relationship with Elohim is exactly what they needed to empower them for the long-term efforts they were meant to undertake. It constitutes a guarantee that Elohim will guide them as He did their ancestors in the pillar of fire and the pillar of cloud in the wilderness, and that He will not only dwell in their midst but within them. As he fed the children of Yisrael with manna from the shamayim and with water from the rock, he will feed them with the Living Word from the Shamayim and the Living Water from the Rock. And though they have a big work to do, a work much bigger than themselves, He will give them the tools to do it.<br />
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And they certainly needed that kind of reassurance. A careful reading of their writings after these events makes it clear that they were still expecting the return of Yeshua in only a few years, at most a few decades, and that they were expecting the Kingdom to be restored to Yisrael and to have Yisrael and Yahudah reunitted within their lifetimes. We know that this wasn't the case, that whenever they expected this to happen, it didn't. In fact, what Yeshua said about the desolation of the Heykal and Yerushalayim, and the deeper exile of Yisrael from the Land, this is what happened instead. Most of them would die unnatural deaths by execution for doing that very work they were tasked to do.<br />
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It must have been difficult for them to keep perspective in the situations they were faced with. We get some hint that many were losing faith when Shimon Kepha wrote a second letter to the sheep that Yeshua tasked him to feed, encouraging them to keep faith on the coming of the promises:<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<b><i>"This is now, beloved ones, the second letter I write to you, in which I stir up your sincere mind, to remember the words previously spoken by the set-apart prophets, and of the command of our Master and Savior, spoken by your emissaries, knowing this first: that mockers shall come in the last days with mocking, walking according to their own lusts, and saying, 'Where is the promise of His coming? For since the fathers fell asleep, all continues as from the beginning of creation.'"</i> (2 Kepha / 2 Peter 3:1-4)</b></blockquote>
It's clear that many were losing faith, losing hope for the future, and were perhaps reconsidering YHWH's promises, and Kepha was intent on reminding them of the depth of Elohim's plan, and that our wait on Elohim has to follow His timetables, His appointed times, which are much deeper than we can conceive:<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<b><i>"For they choose to have this hidden from them: that the heavens were of old, and the earth standing out of water and in the water, by the Word of Elohim, through which the world at that time was destroyed, being flooded with water. And the present heavens and the earth are treasured up by the same Word, being kept for fire, to a day of judgment and destruction of wicked men. But, beloved ones, let not this one matter be hidden from you: that with YHWH one day is as a thousand years, and a thousand years as one day. YHWH is not slow in regard to the promise, as some count slowness, but is patient toward us, not wishing that any should perish but that all should come to repentance."</i> (2 Kepha / 2 Peter 3:5-9)</b></blockquote>
Elohim's perspective on time is much different than ours. The surety of His promises are predicated on the fact that they will happen in His time. We shouldn't lose hope, because His delay in judgement is an expression of His desire to bring more to teshuva (repentance) and to the deliverance He has promised since the foundations of this world were laid. Judgement will come, but in the meantime, there is work to be done, and we should be praying and working to expand His arm of mercy and deliverance, for which we are emissaries:<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<b><i>"But the day of YHWH shall come as a thief in the night, in which the heavens shall pass away with a great noise, and the elements shall melt with intense heat, and the earth and the works that are in it shall be burned up. Seeing all these are to be destroyed in this way, what kind of people ought you to be in set-apart behavior and reverence, looking for and hastening the coming of the day of Elohim, through which the heavens shall be destroyed, being set on fire, and the elements melt with intense heat! But according to His promise we wait for a renewed heavens and a renewed earth in which righteousness dwells."</i> (2 Kepha / 2 Peter 3:9-13)</b></blockquote>
And if we want to do that work, if we want to be useful to the One who sent us to do it, then we must maintain perspective. It must be expressed in our thoughts and our actions. We must renew our commitment to the Covenant we entered into with Him, the Covenant He renewed through Yeshua HaMashiach, the mediator of this renewal. And we must remember the revelations we have received on these observances of Shavuot and live by them. We must do all of this while not forgetting that there is an end and is a judgement coming, which will take most of the world unaware (as a thief would in the night, while everyone sleeps). We must be prepared and aware, and we must live by His instruction:<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<b><i>So then, beloved ones, looking forward to this, do your utmost to be found by Him in peace, spotless and blameless, and reckon the patience of our Master as deliverance, ... You, then, beloved ones, being forewarned, watch, lest you also fall from your own steadfastness, being led away with the delusion of the Torah-less ones, but grow in the favor and knowledge of our Master and Savior Yeshua HaMashiach. To Him be the esteem both now and to the day of eternity. Amein."</i> (2 Kepha / 2 Peter 3:14-18)</b></blockquote>
Amein indeed! These words of Shimon's are not just for the men of his day. They are for all of those who commit themselves to Elohim and enter into Covenant with Him. Both recently, and over the last few decades, I've seen many discouraged by failures around expectations they've had about YHWH's timetables, and when those expectations proved presumptuous, many were unable to recover. This kind of disappointment can crush our spirits if we let it, and that can inevitably affect our dedication to the Torah of YHWH and the testimony of His Mashiach, Yeshua. We must always remember that we are agents of YHWH's work, and that if we are dedicated to this, He will be dedicated to us. It isn't as important to know the when as it is to watch, observe, and continue the work He has given us to do, both the work we must do on ourselves to make our robes clean for the day of His coming, and the work we must do to broadcast His message of deliverance to others. Don't get me wrong, we certainly must watch for the end, including the signs we are given that indicate its approach, but we cannot bank on our interpretations of those signs or our identification of their fulfillment, which is based on such interpretations. We cannot let that task of watching for the coming of that day become more important than being prepared for that day by setting a firm foundation, a foundation which can only be established by both believing His Word and doing it.<br />
<br />
Shavuot is about hearing the words of revelation and spreading that revelation ourselves, but unlike the other two Chagim or Pilgrimage Festivals, it isn't as tied up in the apocalyptic future. It centers in living by the revelation of instruction here and now, about being not only a hearer of the word but a doer of it. It isn't tied up in the origins of a people, or in their ultimate destiny, but in their lives here and now. It is about living the life of freedom in an unfree world, and waiting patiently for the coming of Elohim's free world, the Olam Haba. The very act of counting the days and weeks between the Omer offering during Chag HaMatzah (The Festival of Unleabened Bread) and Shavuot is an exercise in this kind of patience -- living in the current time but always anticipating what comes next. Next year after the Omer offering during Matzah (Unleavened Bread), when those of us who observe Elohim's Chagim (Festivals) begin to count the days to Shavuot, I believe we should think about the lesson of time and faith each time we count the weeks and days up to the day, remembering the need to count and treasure each day we have to do the work Elohim has given us to perfect ourselves and to bring others to that deliverance, just as we realize that each day is one day closer to judgement and reward. Shavuot/Pentecost should be a revelation to us about obedience, patience and perseverance. That's the lesson I've come to take from this Shavuot.</div></div></div>Ger V'Toshavhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10077759937900756390noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7125808689115253597.post-77825530675115946432015-04-10T10:21:00.003-05:002016-01-18T23:01:45.922-06:00A Pilgrim's Joy, a Pilgrim's Sorrow, and a Pilgrim's Prayer for the FutureI am currently in Yerushalayim (Jerusalem) in Yisrael (Israel) observing Pesach (Passover) and Chag HaMatzah (The Festival of Unleavened Bread). This is a practice I took up a few years ago when I made teshuva (repentance) to Elohim and returned to the faith I had been delivered when I was 18 years young. I had observed the Festivals in the past, but not in HaEretz Qodesh ("The Holy Land"), and though I had had it in mind to observe Sukkoth in Yerushalayim sometime in the future, I didn't see it as something I should do as often as possible. That all changed when I made teshuva and began to realize that Yerushalayim was in fact the "place where YHWH had placed his name", as the Torah had stated, all those years ago. And while Yerushalayim is not quite restored the way it needs to be, with the Heykal (Temple), and the Cohenim (Priesthood), it is in fact still the best place to observe the Chagim (Festivals) -- and as prophecies I've mentioned in a <a href="http://www.gervatoshav.com/2015/01/getting-christ-out-of-christmas_13.html" target="_blank">previous blog post</a> state, it will be the site of future observances when Mashiach (Messiah) comes and establishes the Reign of Elohim over the whole Earth.<br />
<br />
And I love coming here to observe the Chagim. I really do. I love being in the city, and I love seeing those like-minded brothers and sisters I've met here in the process, who either live here permanently or also come as often as possible to observe the Chagim. I feel very blessed that I've been able to do this for every Chag in 2012, 2013, and 2014. For two of those years, 2012 and 2014, I was able to observe all of the Moedim (Appointed Times) here, which includes Yom Teruah (The Day of Shofar Blasts) and Yom Kippur (The Day of Atonement). I hope to do this over this lifetime without fail. I will certainly strive to do that if possible financially and circumstantially.<br />
<br />
However, joy isn't the only emotion I experience while here. I see a city litered with anger, with religious ideas that don't mesh with the Torah by those who really should know better. Let me be clear here: I've met a great many very kind people who have went out of their way to treat me very well and even as something special to them. Those who have treated me so well are like shining lights to me, and I love and appreciate them more than I can even humbly express; they are beacons of spiritual light and truth who represent their community better than I could ever represent my own. But having said that, I cannot escape the fact that I feel a lot more ostracized here than I do almost anywhere else. The Torah commands citizens of Yisrael to treat the stranger kindly, and it repeats it over and over again, but the time YHWH delivers this mitzvah (commandment) the most emphatically is here:<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<b><i>"And when a stranger (foreigner) sojourns with you in your land, do not oppress him. Let the stranger who dwells among you be as the native born among you, and you shall love him as yourself. For you were strangers in the land of Mitsrayim (Egypt). I am YHWH."</i> (Wayyiqra / Leviticus 19:33-34).</b></blockquote>
Unfortunately, tradition has relegated these verses by official interpretation to refer to smaller groups of individuals than the intended group of all foreigners dwelling in the land, such as the Orthodox Jewish tradition which excludes it to apply only to foreigners who convert to Orthodox Judaism, and thus the traditions of men have obfuscated what is rather obvious and straightforward in its intended meaning to something less complete and praiseworthy. This avoidance of the clear meaning of the text applies to all groups, not merely to Jews but also to Christians, who share the Scriptures which contain that mitzvah, but don't seem to be any more concerned in its practice. And while Moslems don't follow the same sacred texts, they do believe that this Torah was given to Yisrael through Mosheh (Moses, whom they call Musa), and they have similar edicts of their own which they reinterpret or outright ignore whenever it suits them. This failure crosses ethnic and religious boundaries.<br />
<br />
Sometimes, in fact, it is when a visitor is at his most vulnerable or victimized that he can find himself a target, as the perfect opportunity for someone to break the mitzvah and profit from his misfortune. I have personally been the victim of some of several swindles since I've started coming here to worship when I was actually either wounded or in great distress. Back in 2012 during Chag HaSukkoth (the Feast of Tabernacles), I decided to do the wall walk, which is a walk you take along the elevated walkways on top of the Old City walls, and while entering a doorway while doing this activity, I accidentally walked head-first into some very old yet very hard stones that were shadowed just enough to camouflage with the dark entrance. I was knocked silly, saw stars, and thought I had possibly killed myself because of the incredible impact. Once I gained my senses back, I realized I was bleeding, and I had to take my tallit katan (a religious four-cornered undershirt to which my tzitziyot are attached) off and use it to stop the blood while I frantically trying to find a way off of the wall. Once I did, I found myself firmly in the Arab quarter. Yes, an Arab man did attempt to help me, but it didn't take long to realize that he was more interested in giving me a ride in his cab to the Emergency Room, even though I knew by that point that this is not what I needed. There are clinics in the Old City, and I felt I could find one there. His insistence clued me in to the fact that he saw this as a real money making opportunity. On the way through the Arab quarter, a few Arab salesmen insisted that I come inside their store when they saw I was hurt, with one of them claiming to be a doctor and saying he could help. I resisted, but I was practically pushed in. Once inside, the "doctor" pulled out a charm and said that this "talisman" was blessed and would prevent me from being hurt like this in the future. Though it had a high price tag associated with it, he assured me it was necessary for my survival. I left emphatically, only to be blocked on my way out by another Arab telling me I must listen to the man selling me the talisman. With some difficulty I left the store. As I left the Arab Quarter, I went through the Armenian Christian Quarter on my way to the Jewish Quarter. The Christians in that quarter largely ignored me. Most of them looked the other way the moment they saw that I was hurt, pretending not to see or not to notice what they had just seen. A few of them were people who had tried to sell me something (with a very hard sell) on several other visits and had tried to do so again on this one, only now they were all too interested in pretending they had never seen me before, and weren't in fact, seeing me now. Once I arrived at the Jewish Quarter, I saw some of the kind people I mentioned previously, who showed great concern, helped me, and then showed me where the clinic was. I arrived at the clinic in the Jewish Quarter to see a doctor who wouldn't do anything to help me unless I could pay cash right up front. He wouldn't even come to see how badly I was hurt, speaking only through his receptionist. Thankfully I could pay right away: I handed his receptionist some bloody shekels.<br />
<br />
I hate to say that this isn't my only experience. There have been others, and even one from just yesterday. I was trying to find a place to park my car near enough to the Dung Gate of the Old City, so I could enter in and pray at the Western Wall, something I've tried to do every day I am here during a Chag or Moed, though I haven't been completely successful in that. I finally found a place which was a good distance away but close enough to walk and make my prayer to Elohim. The place was a particular road leading to East Yerushalayim, a low road on the Mount of Olives. This is a bit of a dangerous place to leave anything, as crime is more rampant in this part of Yerushalayim than it is in the rest of the city, but I was working on an abbreviated time table as I had plans to go somewhere outside of the city to see a religious site with some friends after I had finished praying, and the roads to the actual Dung Gate were blocked by police to control traffic. I made it to the Wall and prayed, only to find that I could not locate my car afterwards at the spot I thought I had parked it. I was sure I was on the same road, and came to the conclusion that the car had been towed. I called the car rental agency, and they told me that it was more likely stolen, as cars are not usually towed in Yerushalayim, only tickets with very large fines are issued instead. I was flabbergasted when I heard that my car might have been stolen. My phone was dying so I could not communicate with the car rental company, so I had to get to my friends' apartment in the hopes that I could charge my phone there and complete this discussion with the rental agency. I tried for a while to catch a cab, and after not having much luck with that, I finally found one willing to take me. He was not happy that I was asking for a ride only to Central Yerushalayim, as cabbies in this city often aren't, but he took me when I explained the circumstance. On the way, it finally dawned on me that I should ask him the price of this very short trip. His reply? 150 shekels, or about $40 to $50. This was, to put it plainly, a ridiculous price for a trip that might be two or three kilometers at most. I was being heavily overcharged by a factor of 4 or 5, but I had little choice given the situation. I paid, begrudgingly, but there is no way to escape the fact that this cab driver saw a perfect chance to take advantage of me, and he did so without the slightest weight on his sense of ethics. It certainly put the front of all of his kind words into context: it was little more than something offered to help alleviate his conscience rather than help calm me down in what I perceived to be a major emergency in my life. Thankfully, I finally found the car with the help of the police and the rental car agency. I had parked on a different but very similar looking street, and I was so relieved when I realized that my car and the personal items within were not in fact stolen, but that incident certainly limited my sense of relief. I forgave him once I prayed, and let the burden of it go, but it continues to bother me that this kind of activity is so common that it can be regularly anticipated.<br />
<br />
All of this is disappointing, but it should not be very surprising that strangers and foreigners are often mistreated when the precedent is already set with how one treats his own countrymen, his neighbors. YHWH also issues the following mitzvah in the Torah, only a short few verses before what I just quoted:<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<b><i>"Do not seek vengeance nor bear a grudge against the children of your people. And you shall love your neighbor as yourself. I am YHWH."</i> (Wayyiqra / Leviticus 19:18).</b></blockquote>
I'm not just talking about the big things, the incidents that hit the news channels and stay there for long periods of time, like the kidnapping and murder of children claimed to be on behalf of Elohim but which rather has its firm origins in the filth of the human mind, I'm talking about the constant oppression of smaller offenses as well, which even more resolutely pervert a culture. I've witnessed and heard of several attempts of financial cheating and overcharging while I've been here not only against foreigners, but by Israeli citizens against other Israeli citizens. Again, not everyone does this and I hope I do not paint the picture to make it seem that there aren't kind people here, but certainly this kind of thing seems far more common here than in other non-third-world countries. Stories about people cheating other people abound. Sometimes, those relating the stories are not merely recounting as a third party observer of the events, but bragging about what they themselves did. And once again, this behavior crosses ethic boundaries: Jews cheat Arabs, Arabs cheat Jews, Christians cheat and are cheated by both, etc.<br />
<br />
Besides these spiritual woes, I see a lot of spiritual warfare and spiritual pollution all through the land that cannot help but fill the heart of one in covenant with YHWH with sadness. This is a land covered with shrines to foreign gods and counterfeits of the One Elohim of Yisrael. The other day as I left my car parked in East Yerushalayim at the Mount of Olives, before the incident when I thought it had been stolen, I saw some examples which brought this to mind and snapped some quick pictures of just the kind of thing that I am talking about:<br />
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<a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-b24nITPkMUo/VSfpR9N0UmI/AAAAAAAAAis/0luT9phMDLk/s1600/ModernYerushalayim1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="" border="0" height="178" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-b24nITPkMUo/VSfpR9N0UmI/AAAAAAAAAis/0luT9phMDLk/s400/ModernYerushalayim1.jpg" title="© Ger V'Toshav and www.gervatoshav.com, a.k.a. gervtoshav.blogspot.com." width="400" /></a></div>
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The image of a polluted Yerushalayim and a polluted HaEretz Yisrael (The Land of Israel) is hard to overlook, even when you know there is nothing you can do about it. It's a heart-rending shame to me! When a pilgrim comes to see the land of YHWH, the land He chose for his people Yisrael, he doesn't envision it cluttered, even littered, with domes to Shamash, minarrets to Yerach, temples to Asherah and Tammuz, and similar icons and structures dedicated to all of their variants over the centuries that were adopted by new nations and given different names, or even falsely associated and/or identified with the One Elohim. The first time he sees it though, he will always remember it.<br />
<br />
I know we live in an era of religious tolerance, and in most ways I thank Elohim for that. I don't want a repeat of the Middle Ages in Yerushalayim, for certainly any of us could be the new targets in such an environment, but as someone who knows the One Elohim, the Elohim of Yisrael, my heart cannot help but be saddened. Yeshua identified the two greatest mitzvot (commandments) of the Torah as follows:<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<b><i>"But when the Pharisees had heard that he had silenced the Sadducees, they assembled together. Then one of them who knew Torah asked testing him, 'Teacher, which Commandment in Torah is the greatest?' And Yeshua said to him, 'That "You should love Master YHWH Your Elohim with all of your heart and with all of your soul and with all of your might and with all of your mind." This is the first and the greatest Commandment. And the second is like it. That "You should love your neighbor as yourself." On these two commandments hang Torah and the prophets.'"</i> (Mattityahu / Matthew 22:34-40)</b></blockquote>
Basically, neither of the two greatest mitzvot of the Torah are foundational to life in HaEretz Yisrael today. And I know that there is no permanent solution that any of us can provide for the problem. We won't have such a solution until the Mashiach (Messiah) brings one when he brings about the Olam Haba (the World to Come). However, that's no excuse for any of us not to observe them ourselves. Whether we make it into this new age will depend a lot on how each of us, individually, behaves in the here and now. If we want to be in that great Sefer Zikaron (Scroll/Book of Remembrance) before Elohim, the Sefer HaChaim (Scroll/Book of Life), then we must make teshuva (repentance) before YHWH, the Elohim who keeps that record, and to do that we must observe these mitzvot (commandments) right now. We must avoid becoming part of the pack of sheep led astray, no matter how large it becomes.<br />
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Until the Olam Haba is established by HaMashiach, when all things are restored, the children of Elohim are revealed, and Elohim rules the entire Earth, we must endure the joy somewhat eclipsed with sorrow over the state of this City, the City of the Great King, and this land, the Land of the people of Elohim, and this Earth, for the whole Earth is His, and even the Shamayim (Heavens), for <b><i>"the entire creation is hoping and waiting for the development of the Sons of Elohim."</i> (Romiyim / Romans 8:19).</b> As Yeshua once told us to do when he gave us the Avinu Prayer (meaning, the "Our Father" prayer, but often called "The Lord's Prayer) as an example of how to pray and what to pray about, one specific portion stands out in relation to this subject: <b><i>"May your Kingdom come, may your Will be done, on Earth as it is in the Shamayim (Heaven)."</i> (Mattityahu / Matthew 6:10)</b>. As I go to the Western Wall to pray tonight in the heart of the Old City of Yerushalayim, I will certainly not forget to make that request. A renewed Yerushalayim, a renewed Yisrael, a renewed Shamayim and a renewed Earth: those constitute this pilgrim's prayer for the future.Ger V'Toshavhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10077759937900756390noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7125808689115253597.post-28742890982325474202015-03-20T19:23:00.001-05:002016-01-11T00:43:42.642-06:00Shabbat Shalom v'Rosh Chodesh Sameach<div>
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<a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-Quz_2KcyAYU/VQ49glhvnNI/AAAAAAAAAV0/bGL7Ya9tNNo/s1600/ShabbatVRoshChodesh.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="" border="0" height="386" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-Quz_2KcyAYU/VQ49glhvnNI/AAAAAAAAAV0/bGL7Ya9tNNo/s1600/ShabbatVRoshChodesh.jpg" title="©iStock.com/suerob; modified by Ger V'Toshav and www.gervatoshav.com, a.k.a. gervtoshav.blogspot.com" width="400" /></a></div>
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After Shabbat ends tomorrow evening, the New Moon day will begin, due to the New Moon being visible from Israel at some point during Shabbat. Keep in mind that the Biblical New Moon (Rosh Chodesh) mentioned in the Torah is actually the first sliver that appears after it has previously went dark, not the dark moon itself, which is a more modern reckoning. It also marks the first month of the year on the Torah calendar, the month of Aviv, also called Nisan on the Babylonian calendar (Jews have been using <a href="http://www.chabad.org/theJewishWoman/article_cdo/aid/987524/jewish/Why-Babylonian-Names-for-Jewish-Months.htm" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Babylonian month names since the Babylonian exile</a>). It's traditionally known as the Spiritual New Year, the month which YHWH commanded to be regarded as the first month, breaking with the rest of the Middle East at the time, which began their year in the seventh month. To this day, Jews regard both as a New Year: this Spiritual New Year, and a Civil New Year in the seventh month they call Rosh Hashanah, a day the Torah calls Yom Teruah ("The Day of Shofar Blasts", as a "teruah" indicates seven short blasts of a shofar, which is a trumpet-like instrument made from an animal horn, usually a ram's horn).</div>
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Since the fourth century, most Jews don't regard the actual New Moon as the Torah indirectly instructs, but follow traditional fixed calendar instead which approximates them called the <a href="http://www.chabad.org/library/article_cdo/aid/526874/jewish/The-Jewish-Month.htm" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Hillel II Calendar</a>, named as such due to the traditional association of that fixed calendar with <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hillel_II" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Hillel the Nasi</a> (also called Hillel II or simply Hillel), a member of the Jewish Sanhedrin who held the principal "Nasi" position sometime between 320 and 385 C.E.. Karaite Jews and many Messianics such as myself still do it by observing the New Moon, so for me at least, tomorrow night will begin this notable day.</div>
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As the Scripture states (and the Scripture cannot be broken), the day will come when everyone alive will celebrate the Shabbatoth and New Moons designated by YHWH, and this pesky Roman calendar with its Roman counterfeit sabbath for the "sol invictus", and it's pagan "new year" in honor of the Roman god "janus" will be a gladly forgotten memory!</div>
Ger V'Toshavhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10077759937900756390noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7125808689115253597.post-61066595135107511792015-02-28T23:56:00.004-06:002021-05-23T17:52:18.528-05:00Surviving by Miracles -- A Discussion of Jewish SurvivalAbout a month ago, January 27, 2015, was the 70th anniversary of the liberation of Auschwitz. While the actual liberation of Auschwitz is a positive event in history, the observance of this event is much more of a mourning event than a celebration, more of a fast than a feast. It marks the time when an effective end was made to this horrible chapter in Jewish and human history, but it also acts as a memorial for the great many people who lost their lives in the preceding years during the operation of this camp and many camps like it.<br />
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I wanted to write a blog post about this 70th anniversary event at the time, but circumstances in life prevented me from giving it the time I thought the subject really was due. However, Purim is only a few days away, and since it is itself a Jewish celebration that looks back on an attempted holocaust which was thwarted by the invisible hand of Elohim, I think it's as good a time to take a look at this history sweeping subject now as it was then.<br />
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<h4>
<span style="font-weight: normal;">Without a Miracle, Nobody Survived</span></h4>
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I read an article a day or so after the memorial about a Hungarian-American Rabbi at a congregation who had survived Auschwitz literally by the skin of his teeth. The article is called <a href="http://www.aish.com/ho/p/48948571.html" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Sacrifice and Redemption in Auschwitz</a> and it concentrates on how in the face of human cruelty, miracles were a necessity to survival. This young man and future Rabbi, about to be executed with so many others in the gas chamber, decided not to scream, but instead to pray... and not just any prayer, but the words of the portion of the Torah known as the "Akeidah", the binding of Yitshaq (Isaac). Quoting from the article:<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<i>"'Sensing the end might be very near, I opened it quickly to the Akeidah,... And with more feeling than ever, I began to recite the last prayer of my short life... "</i><b style="font-style: italic;">And they came to the place of which God had spoken to him, and Abraham built the altar there and arranged the wood, and he bound Isaac his son and placed him on the altar upon the wood. And Abraham stretched forth his hand and took the knife, to slaughter his son. And an angel of God called to him from heaven and said, 'Abraham! Abraham!' And he said, 'Here I am.' And he said, 'Do not stretch forth your hand to the lad, nor do the slightest thing to him, for now I know that you are a God fearing man, and you did not withhold your son, your only one, from Me.'</b><i>"... As soon as I said these words, a commotion broke out with SS officers rushing into the room yelling, 'Get dressed quickly' and we were ushered out of the room with great haste. They told us the Americans were coming and the Nazi cowards had enough trouble disposing of all the bodies that were already dead. They couldn't afford to create any more bodies and as such we were better off alive to them.' </i><i><u>He sighed deeply, 'No, my friend. Without a miracle, nobody survived.'</u>"</i></blockquote>
I find this account to be extremely moving. I believe absolutely that this intervention in his life and the lives of those who were saved with him was indeed a miracle from the strong arm of Elohim. I also know that this wasn't the first time, and I doubt it will be the last, when Jews have had to survive by what can only be described as miracles. By any right, it is itself an absolute miracle that the Jewish people are still around, still a community, and still cohesive in their determination to remember their history and their mutual bond.<br />
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<h4>
<span style="font-weight: normal;">Assyrian Siege and Attempted Transplantation</span></h4>
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Around 690 B.C.E., the Assyrians invaded and attempted to destroy and deploy the entirety of then existing Jewish civilization, the Southern House of Yahuda (Judah) in much the same way that it had done earlier to the Northern House of Yisrael. The method of the Assyrians was intended to bust up family ties, religions, traditions and even associations to land, by deporting every individual of a conquered nation to another conquered nation. This kind of uprooting and transplanting eventually resulted in a destruction of the culture, including a loss of a people's history. This is precisely what happened to the Northern House of Yisrael, which even today is referred to as the "Lost 10 Tribes of Israel". They are called this not only because their identity is lost to the world, but because their identity is so thoroughly lost even to them. The descendants of these Northern 10 tribes forgot their own origins and identities due to the fact that their transplantation and destruction was so devastatingly complete in the Assyrian method.<br />
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Had the Assyrians been able to do the same to the Southern House of Yahuda, then the cultural annihilation of the Jews would have very likely been so complete that today the term Jew would not be in our vocabulary. Notice that this is precisely the threat he levied against the citizens of Yahuda:<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<b><i>"And the Rabshaqeh stood and called out with a loud voice in the language of Yahudah, and spoke and said, 'Hear the word of the great sovereign, the sovereign of Ashshur (Assyria)! Thus said the sovereign, "Do not let Hizqiyahu (Hezekiah) deceive you, for he is unable to deliver you out of his hand, and do not let Hizqiyahu make you trust in YHWH, saying, 'YHWH shall certainly deliver us, and this city is not given into the hand of the sovereign of Ashshur.'" Do not listen to Hizqiyahu, for thus said the sovereign of Ashshur, "Make peace with me by a present and come out to me, and let each of you eat from his own vine and each from his own fig tree, and each of you drink the waters of his own cistern, until I come. Then I shall take you away to a land like your own land, a land of grain and new wine, a land of bread and vineyards, a land of olive-trees and honey, and live, and not die. But do not listen to Hizqiyahu, when he misleads you, saying, 'YHWH shall deliver us.' Has any of the mighty ones of the nations at all delivered its land from the hand of the sovereign of Ashshur? Where are the mighty ones of Hamath and Arpad? Where are the mighty ones of Sepharwayim and Hena and Iwwah? Did they deliver Shomeron (Samaria, i.e. the Northern House of Yisrael) from my hand? Who among all the mighty ones of the lands have delivered their land out of my hand, that YHWH should deliver Yerushalayim from my hand?"’”</i> (2 Melakim / 2 Kings 18:28-35).</b></blockquote>
However, the arm of Elohim did intervene when a plague was inflicted on the invading armies, a miracle by any account. We read about this miracle here:<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<b><i>“'Therefore thus said YHWH concerning the sovereign of Ashshur (Assyria), "He does not come into this city, nor does he shoot an arrow there, nor does he come before it with shield, nor does he build a siege mound against it. By the way that he came, by the same he turns back. And he does not come into this city," declares YHWH. "And I shall defend this city, to save it for My own sake and for the sake of David My servant."' And it came to be in that night that the messenger of YHWH went out, and smote in the camp of Ashshur one hundred and eighty-five thousand. And they rose up early in the morning and saw all of the dead bodies. And Sanherib (Sennacherib) sovereign of Ashshur broke camp and went away, and turned back, and remained in Nineveh. And it came to be, as he was bowing himself in the house of Nisrok his mighty one (i.e. "god"), that his sons Adrammelek and Shar’etser smote him with the sword, and they escaped into the land of Ararat. And his son Esarhaddon reigned in his place." </i>(2 Melakim / 2 Kings 19:32-37).</b></blockquote>
The Jews were saved from the ruthless deconstruction planned by the Assyrians, but as we will see, the repose was temporary.<br />
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<h4>
<span style="font-weight: normal;">Babylonian Exile and Medo-Persian Return</span></h4>
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When the House of Yahuda was taken captive around 100 years later by the Chaldean Empire, their identity was spared due to the fact that the Chaldeans did not retain the same extremes in their resettlement policies Though transplantation was still carried out, it wasn't as complete as the Assyrian counterpart, nor did it include such a complete attempt at destroying cultural ties. Now don't mistake me here -- the Babylonians not only intended to rule, but to proliferate their culture at the expense of the cultures of others. My intent is not to whitewash Babylonian rule, it is merely to note that their methods were not as extreme, and with some care and careful hiding, a subculture could continue to exist under Babylonian rule. Certainly survival of the Siege itself required the intervention of Elohim, which is obvious to anyone who reads the account of the Nabi Yirmeyahu (the Prophet Jeremiah) called in English Bibles by the name "Lamentations", which shows the fury and aftermath of that event in grisly poetic detail, and certainly surviving within Babylon depended on miracles, as one can easily see from a reading of Sefer Daniyel (The Book of Daniel) which in several instances chronicles exactly that. There is no way I will allow myself to be guilty of downplaying these events, but the slight difference between the Assyrian and Chaldean Empires allowed Jews to retain their primary identities and their association to their culture within the latter, while the Northern tribes of Yisrael did not fare as well under the rule of the former. And because they kept their identities within Babylon, Jews were able to remember their heritage well into the next great Empire to succeed Chaldea.<br />
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That Empire, namely the Medo-Persian Empire, took a decidedly liberal tact among its conquered subjects. Make no mistake here, this liberality was not exercised in its vicious implementation of its supreme authority. The Medo-Persion Empire's treatment of those who would not fall in line under its rule is legendarily vicious and relentless. The Empire was known for punishing even the appearance of rebellion, and the bloody handprints of its rulers are left behind in their attempts to root out, subjugate, and even destroy the royal lines of the peoples of their conquered territories, as well as their supporters. But while the Empire expected absolute obedience to their rulers and typically wiped out power centers that represented even potential competition to their authority, they were by degree at least more culturally sensitive to various peoples that had been deposed by their antecedents, showing in general little interest in forcing cultural subjugation or integration as those preceding empires were. A good example of how different the Medo-Persian Empire was can be seen in their treatment of something as simple yet as culturally adhesive as language. Aramaic had become the lingua franca of the world in part due to the fact that the Assyrian Empire had forcibly relocated so many Aramaic speakers across the known world, and also because the Babylonian dialect of Aramaic was the language of the succeeding Empire, Babylon, which expected their language to be used throughout their territories. The Medo-Persians on the other hand had little interest in forcing their conquered peoples into using their language. They allowed Aramaic, the existing linga franca, to be the medium through which all of their empire was governed, but even Aramaic was not enforced as a standard, but was merely used as a common medium for native communication. Though the Medo-Persian kings didn't as a rule speak Aramaic, a corps of official translators was established which would translate rulings and other communications meticulously into Aramaic. These would then either be delivered in that language in the many territories in which the language was already well understood, or translated into the languages of the peoples who had not assimilated to the Aramaic standard.<br />
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While it doesn't seem like much, it shows that the rulers of the Medo-Persian Empire were generally more interested in the raw securing of their power than in the infiltration of the various cultures over which they ruled, and that they reserved the vicious implementation of their regime to the former rather than the latter. This also perhaps explains why this Empire was a bit weaker than its corollaries. Beyond just language, it's clear that they eventually moved to accommodate some of the previously deposed cultures by showing some official respect to their attempts to retain their identities. One king of Persia, Cyrus the Great (called in Hebrew "Koresh"), issued a document that some see as the first document guaranteeing human rights in the world. Known in modern times as <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cyrus_Cylinder" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">The Cyrus Cylinder</a>, it is considered questionable by some to call it a human rights document, but it certainly does show that the Persian Empire under the rule of Cyrus freed a great many of the captive Babylonian slaves obtained from previously conquered nations, allowed a great many of them to return to their native lands and rebuild, and instituted one of the earliest known threads of religious and cultural tolerance. This demonstrates that from the very beginning, this Empire took on a much more conciliatory role to the peoples that it conquered and over which it ruled. One of the greatest examples of this approach, and another great example of the hand of Elohim performing miracles in the presence of his people, is in an act of reconciliation that demonstrated this interest in establishing the right of return within Medo-Persian ruling sensibilities, which occurred when the Empire made the decision to allow those Jews under its authority to return to Yahuda (Judea), and to rebuild Yerushalayim (Jerusalem) and the Heykal (Temple). This act and its follow-through essentially reconstituted that part of the culture of the Jews which had withered during their captivity, and which ultimately continued to ensure their survival in the world not only as a distinct people, but as the People of the One Elohim.<br />
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<h4>
<span style="font-weight: normal;">The Story of Purim: Medo-Persian Holocaust Averted</span></h4>
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But the return and rebuilding would take many many years, and things were not rosy for Jews throughout the Empire while this rebuilding was taking place. The same disconnect from active cultural infiltration within the operation of the Empire that ensured their right of return seems to have also left the Government susceptible to machinations of those insiders who had learned how to game such a system. One such individual is known as Haman the Agagite, an official who had gained very special favor within the court of the reigning Persian King Ahasuerus. Haman was an anti-semite of the strongest flavor who had allowed himself to become incited against all Jews from a simple incident that he interpreted to be a slight against him by a Jew in the area known as Mordecai. Haman had been given a special privilege by order of the King that everyone who saw him riding in the streets of the city on his horse should bow to him as he rode by. Mordecai, however, would not comply, and though it was not explicitly stated why he refused, it's obvious the reason was that as a Jew, he would bow only before his Elohim and not before any man. This failure to bow enraged Haman, and from that time on he had in his heart a plan to destroy Jews from the face of the Earth. Since Jews had been given a special dispensation to return to their homeland and rebuild their religious city, religious place of worship, and very religious culture, Haman could not simply introduce his plan through direct identification of these peoples. Instead, he had to work in his desires by subterfuge, something he was apparently very good at. He laid charges of sedition for the Jews without naming them explicitly and the King readily agreed to allow the extermination of this people. Haman then worked on the details to allow this to occur at special dates throughout the Empire selected by lots.<br />
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What Haman did not know is what Elohim was doing behind the scenes, almost invisibly, for the protection of his own people. He had no idea for instance that through special circumstances that Haman himself had had some part in, King Ahasuerus had married a Jewish woman and even taken her as his favorite wife. Neither of them knew that she was Jewish as she had not divulged her lineage. What Haman also didn't know is that she was in fact the niece and previously the ward of Mordecai, the very man he intended to execute and from whose activities he had justified his machinations against the Jews in the first place. He also did not apparently know that Mordecai had been instrumental only a short time before in saving the King's life by hearing of a planned assassination and then informing his niece, which in turn informed the King, which recognized Mordecai for giving him the information.<br />
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Mordecai saw Haman's plans and once again informed Esther, the niece who had become Queen, and she took it upon herself to risk death by going into the King uninvited to create a party for the King to which she insisted that Haman be invited. Haman gleefully went to this party, believing he was receiving the Queen's favor at the hands of the King, and was in turn invited by the Queen to attend a second banquet along with the King. Haman, believing that he is receiving special honors, runs off to make special plans for the Jew who had failed to bow before him, Mordecai, having built gallows specifically for his execution. At this second banquet, Queen Esther exposed the plot at the dinner, insuring his demise. King Ahasuerus being unable to rescind the previous order for the execution of the Jews (believed to be due to a quirk in Medo-Persian law in which such laws are permanent and unalterable), he issued orders allowing Jews in each area in which they were targeted to overtly defend themselves. The result is that Jews were prepared to do so, and successfully carried out their defense each on the day of the designated extermination in the areas in which they resided.<br />
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Now the story is a bit more involved than this, and I've had to condense it in a way that simply cannot do justice to the whole. You can read all of this in the Megillot, also known as the "Book of Esther" in Christian Bibles. Given that Purim is in a few days, I encourage everyone to read this chapter in the Scriptures and become more familiar with these events in Jewish history. Despite its serious subject matter, the story also takes on a bit of an undeniably comic tone. It's hard not to smile at the hidden and mistaken identities, the twists and turns in the plot, and the seeming coincidences that thwart the villain Haman at every turn, presented in a comic style that could have been lifted from one of Mozart's opera buffa. It would be hard, for instance, for anyone not to smile at least a little when Haman, realizing that he has been thwarted and effectively doomed, runs to the Queen and begs for his life, and in the intensity of his begging ends up on top of her in what would look to anyone like a compromising situation, only to have the King enter right at that moment, witness what he mistakes to be a sexual assault against his wife, and move to cement Haman's ultimate fate. We read that portion here:<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<i style="font-weight: bold;">"The Sovereign (king), arising in his wrath from the feast of wine, went into the palace garden. And Haman remained before Sovereigness (Queen) Ester, pleading for his life, for he saw that evil had been decided against him by the Sovereign. And when the Sovereign returned from the palace garden to the place of the feast of wine, Haman was falling on the couch where Ester was. Then the Sovereign said, 'Will he also molest the Sovereigness while I am in the house?' As the word left the Sovereign’s mouth, they covered Haman’s face. And Harbonah, one of the eunuchs, said to the Sovereign, 'Also, see the stake, fifty cubits high, which Haman made for Mordecai, who spoke good on behalf of the Sovereign, is standing at the house of Haman.' And the Sovereign said, 'Impale him on it!' And they impaled Haman on the stake that he had prepared for Mordecai, and the Sovereign’s wrath abated."</i><b> (Megillot / Esther 7:7-10).</b></blockquote>
Ultimately, Haman was executed at the very gallows he had made for Mordecai.<br />
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So the Megillot is not only a very enlightening read with a very serious subject, but also a very entertaining read. Most of all though, I love this scroll for one very important reason: Elohim is never once mentioned explicitly within it, neither by name nor by title nor by entity. That would at first seem like a reason for a serious worshipper of Elohim to set the volume aside were it not for the obvious fact that Elohim is decidedly active throughout the book, though in a very hidden and non-explicit way. The events in the story take place over many years, even possibly several decades, and throughout that time it is obvious that the powerful yet, in this case also very subtle Arm of Elohim is acting behind the scenes to ensure the survival of His People while in their exile, and to ensure that he keeps the "light" alive that he promised for the sake of his servant David. When we read these events in condensed format, it's obvious to us that Elohim is involved, but imagine if we only saw these events in very tiny doses over many years. Would any of us so clearly see His Hand working within the world around us to ensure our safety if we had to experience it not in a short ten chapters but in perhaps as many as ten or twenty years? This story is a powerful reminder of how Elohim works in our lives and in the events of the world, even when His movements are so subtle and so invisible that we cannot fathom it until presented a summarized retrospective. I believe Elohim inspired the text to be written like this on purpose to note to us the presence of his invisible arm in our lives. The associated Jewish celebration that memorializes these events, known as Purim, is a wonderful time to remind ourselves of this basic fact, and renew our faith that Elohim saves us sometimes by invisible miracles.<br />
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<h4>
<span style="font-weight: normal;">Alexander the Great and the Greek Invasion</span></h4>
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After these events, and well after the Medo-Persian Empire's allowance for Jews to return had resulted in a rebuilt Yerushalayim and Heykal and a general though somewhat incomplete return to that land from exile, Kingdoms once again changed hands, this time with the Greek Kingdom overcoming and supplanting the Medo-Persian Empire, primarily at the hands of Alexander the Great.<br />
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Alexander and the Greeks took a different tact than any of the previous empires in that its approach to subjugating conquered peoples. Their approach generally included conciliatory assimilation of the culture of the conquerors with the culture of the conquered. Rather than attempting to undermine and destroy religious and ethnic ties by direct force, the Greeks sought to do so by accepting and absorbing them, and ultimately mixing their own religious concepts into those of their new subjects. Certainly such assimilation had occurred before, but this planned approach to domination by dilution was never carried out so successfully in history as it was by the Greeks. This worked for the Greek Empire so well with so many cultures mainly because these cultures were polytheistic themselves and had a long history of aforementioned voluntary forms of such assimilation.<br />
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The Egyptians for instance found it very easy to share their own gods and religious practices while adopting Greek gods and religious practices because the practice was not entirely new to them in the first place. In fact, there was a common belief among Greeks that they took most of their culture, including their religion, from Egypt well before their Empire gained such dominance. When Alexander the Great conquered Egypt during his Empire building campaign, the Egyptians almost certainly viewed him not as an invader but as a liberator. Egypt's conservative nature had ironically caused it to be rebellious at the foreign invasion of the Medo-Persian Empire, which seemed to have no interest in really understanding or participating in Egyptian culture. That Empire ran Egypt like a business, to get as much wealth and grain out of it as they could, which had caused both its rulers and its people to suffer horribly at Persian hands, When Alexander the Great took Egypt from the Persians, he was freeing them in a sense from that rather harsh occupation. Additionally, Alexander took the tact of appearing to be of the same blood and the same culture as the Egyptians. He immediately sought to gain a mandate for his authority to rule Egypt by seeking out the Oracle of the Libyan form of the Egyptian god Ammon, named Amun by the Libyans. The Oracle declared Alexander the "son of the Sun", and Alexander used this legally binding pronouncement to establish a divine kinship with the Egyptians, as well as to justify his position as the new "Pharoah".<br />
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However, Alexander came did not come into Yahuda (Judea) with the intent of being a liberator. Rather, Josephus tells us that he had intentions to conquer and subdue, to pillage and destroy, due to what he considered to be overt disobedience of the Jews and other inhabitants of this area. However, Elohim had other plans, as Jospehus tells us here:<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<i>"Now Alexander, when he had taken Gaza, hurried to go up to Jerusalem; and Jaddua the high priest, when he heard that, was in an agony, and under terror, as not knowing how he should meet the Macedonians, since the king was displeased at his foregoing disobedience. He therefore ordained that the people should make supplications, and should join with him in offering sacrifice to God, whom he begged to protect the nation, and to deliver them from perils that were coming upon them; whereas God warned him in a dream, which came upon him after he had offered sacrifice, that he should take courage, and adorn the city, and open the gates; that the rest should appear in white garments, but that he and the priests should meet the king in the habits proper to their order, without the dread of any ill consequences, which the providence of God would prevent... And when he understood that he (Alexander) was not far from the city, he went out in procession with the priests and the multitude of the citizens. The procession was venerable, and the manner of it different than that of other nations."</i> (Josephus, Jewish Antiquities, Book 11, Chapter 8, Sections 4-5)</blockquote>
Alexander seems to have taken the conciliatory gestures of the Cohen HaGadol (High Priest) as a sign that his presence was the will of the Elohim of Yisrael, as he had seem this very situation in a dream held before moving into the territory:<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<i>"And when the Phoenicians and the Chaldeans that followed him (Alexander) thought they should have liberty to plunder the city, and torment the high priest to death, which the king's displeasure fairly promised him, the very reverse of it happened; for Alexander, when he saw the multitude at a distance, in white garments, while the priests stood clothed with fine linen, and the high priest in purple and scarlet clothing, with his mitre on his head, having the golden plate whereupon the name of God was engraved, he approached by himself, and adored that name, and first saluted the high priest. The Jews also did all together, with one voice, salute Alexander, and encompass him about; whereupon the kings of Syrian and the rest were surprised at what Alexander had done, and supposed him to be disordered in his mind."</i> (Josephus, Jewish Antiquities, Book 11, Chapter 8, Sections 5)</blockquote>
Those with Alexander clearly had an intent to destroy what Elohim had allowed to be rebuilt, and Alexander himself also seems to have been intent on this. Yet, when he saw the conciliatory gestures of the Cohen HaGadol (High Priest) and the other Cohenim (Priests), he relented, and accepted the gesture. Clearly distraught, the Phoenicians and Chaldeans and perhaps many others within his Army wondered why he had shown such honor to the Cohen HaGadol, which to them appeared to be adoration. Alexander replied to them:<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<i>"'I did not adore him, but that God who has honored him with his high priesthood; for I saw this very person in a dream, in this very habit, when I was at Dios in Macedonia, who, when I was considering with myself how i might obtain the dominion of Asia, exhorted me to make no delay, but boldly to pass over the sea there, for that he would conduct my army and would give me the dominion over the Persians; thus it is that, having seen no other in that habit, and now seeing this person in it, and remembering that vision, and the exhortation which I had in my dream, I believe that I bring this army under the divine conduct, and shall with it conquer Darius, and destroy the power of the Persians, and that all things will succeed according to what is in my own mind.'"</i> (ibid)</blockquote>
So while Alexander sought to establish his legitimacy with the Egyptians by seeking out the approval of their deities, his experience with the Jews worked in very much the other direction. He associated his divine mandate with a dream he had previously had in which he saw a deity promising him victory and dominion over Persians and the territories and peoples of their Empire. Seeing the Cohen HaGadol appear to him in the very garb that he had seen in that dream seems to have caused him to believe that this dream had come from the Elohim of the Jews. Alexander therefore had some conciliatory gestures of his own, as we continue to read:<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<i>"And when he went up into the temple, he offered sacrifice to God, according to the high priest's direction, and magnificently treated both the high priest and the priests. And when the book of Daniel was showed to him wherein Daniel declared that one of the Greeks should destroy the empire of the Persians, he supposed that he himself was the person intended. And as he was then glad, he dismissed the multitude for the present; but the next day he called them to him, and directed them to ask what favors they pleased of him; whereupon the high priest desired that they might enjoy the laws of their forefathers, and might pay no tribute on the seventh year. He granted all they desired. And when they entreated him that he would permit the Jews in Babylon and Media to enjoy their own laws also, he willingly promised to do hereafter what they desired."</i> (ibid)</blockquote>
Alexander literally read prophecies referring to him and his deposition of the Medo-Persian Empire, further cementing his own belief that the Elohim of the Jews had in fact been directly involved in his victories. So enamored was he with this realization, he granted the Jews the right to live under their own religion and laws within their territory and within other territories to which they had been deported, an arrangement that would seem to have precluded any planned cultural integration. It seems obvious to me that Elohim had diffused a planned invasion, the viciousness of which would have been an incredible tragedy among His people, and He simultaneously diluted the Greek plans of diluting the operation of His Heykal and the execution of His Torah upon achieving victory. It was a win-win situation for the Jews, but as well will continue to see, there would be future threats, and not all of them would be handled so gracefully.<br />
<br />
<h4>
<span style="font-weight: normal;">The Story of Channukah: Surviving Greek Assimilation</span></h4>
<div>
<br /></div>
Alexander the Great died rather unexpectedly, and as he left no successor, the Greek Empire he had made great was divided up into four Kingdoms, given to four of his generals. These eventually split beyond merely four, and territory was often traded between them in the battles they fought with each other. The Kingdom which ruled over Yahuda (Judea) and the territory of Yisrael was at this point in the story the Seleucid Kingdom. Without Alexander there to honor his decree, its enforcement waned over time. Greek resolve to integrate and absorb began to reassert itself, and while the Greek Empire's attempts to do this with the Jews never really panned out the way it did in other conquered territories. It saw some success, and indeed did successfully corrupt the resolve of many of the Jews, but the approach never completely absorbed them into the Empire, nor the Empire into their hearts and minds. Eventually, when the attempts to completely assimilate them into the Empire were seen as a failure, the Greek Empire would graduate from negotiated Hellenization to its more forceful sibling.<br />
<br />
Well into this period of rule, the ruler of that Greek off-shoot Kingdom, one Antiochus IV Ephiphanes appointed an individual named Menelaus as the Cohen Hagadol (High Priest) to the Heykal, replacing existing Cohen Hagodol Jason. Now dethroned, Jason took exception to this and with a military band of rebels, incited a riot within the city. Menelaus had to flee the city and its riot to save his own life. Once Antiochus heard what had occurred, he attempted to bring a "final solution" to what he obviously perceived to be an on-going "Jewish problem". Antiochus decreed a law against the practice of the Jewish faith, entered into Yerushalayim, massacred large parts of the population indiscriminately, and corrupted the Heykal by placing a statue of the Greek god "Zeus" within it. Reportedly, offerings of pigs were made to "Zeus" within the Heykal, and these events essentially defiled it. He also decreed that Jews should be thus treated in neighboring cities where Jews were under their jurisdiction. We read about most of this in these passages in the apocryphal books of the Maqqaboth (or Maccabees):<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<i>"When these happenings were reported to the king, he thought that Judea was in revolt. Raging like a wild animal, he set out from Egypt and took Jerusalem by storm. He ordered his soldiers to cut down without mercy those whom they met and to slay those who took refuge in their houses. There was a massacre of young and old, a killing of women and children, a slaughter of virgins and infants. In the space of three days, eighty thousand were lost, forty thousand meeting a violent death, and the same number being sold into slavery.</i></blockquote>
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<i>"Antiochus ... appointed governors to cause trouble for the people. In Jerusalem he placed Philip, a man from Phrygia who was more evil than Antiochus himself. At Mount Gerizim he placed Andronicus. In addition to these, there was Menelaus, who mistreated his fellow Jews far worse than the governors did. Antiochus hated the Jews so much that he sent an army of 22,000 mercenary troops from Mysia to Jerusalem under the command of a man named Apollonius, with orders to kill every man in the city and to sell the women and boys as slaves. Apollonius arrived in Jerusalem, pretending to be on a peace mission. Then on a Sabbath, when all the Jews were observing the day of rest, he led his troops, who were fully armed, in a parade outside the city. Suddenly he commanded his men to kill everyone who had come out to see them. They rushed into the city and murdered a great many people.</i></blockquote>
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<i>"Not long after this the sovereign sent an Athenian senator to force the Jews to abandon the customs of their ancestors and live no longer by the laws of [Elohim]; also to profane the Temple in Jerusalem and dedicate it to Olympian Zeus, and that on Mount Gerizim to Zeus the Hospitable, as the inhabitants of the place requested... They also brought into the Temple things that were forbidden, so that the altar was covered with abominable offerings prohibited by the Torah. A man could not observe the Sabbath or celebrate the traditional festivals, nor even admit that he was a Jew. At the suggestion of the citizens of Ptolemais, a decree was issued ordering the neighboring Greek cities to act in the same way against the Jews: oblige them to partake of the sacrifices, and put to death those who would not consent to adopt the customs of the Greeks. It was obvious, therefore, that disaster impended. Thus, two women who were arrested for having circumcised their children were publicly paraded about the city with their babies hanging at their breasts and then thrown down from the top of the city wall. Others, who had assembled in nearby caves to observe the Sabbath in secret, were betrayed to Philip and all burned to death."</i> (2 Maqqaboth / 2 Maccabees 5:11–14, 5:21-26, 6:1-11).</blockquote>
This was an abomination "that makes desolate" for two reasons: the physical desolation of the inhabitants of the city with murder and slavery, and the spiritual desolation of the Heykal as it rendered it unsuitable for the duties of the Cohenim (Priests), and made the observance of the Torah nearly a capital offense. Antiochus almost succeeded in stamping out the Jewish faith in the confines of its own traditional homeland and throughout his branch of the Greek Empire by these measures, more extreme than the normal Greek practices, and he would have been successful were it not for a group of rebels which came together in defensive protest to these decrees and activities. We read a short bit about the origins of this group from the accounts of the Maqqaboth (Maccabees): <i>"But Yahuda Maqqabi and about nine others escaped into the barren mountains, where they lived like wild animals. In order not to defile themselves, they ate only plants which they found growing there."</i> (2 Maqqaboth / 2 Maccabees 5:27).<br />
<br />
This group of rebels was formed and initially led by a rural Jewish Priest named Mattathias the Hasmonean. Mattathias would die almost a year later, passing the baton of leadership to his son, Yahuda Maccabee. He then led a successful revolt one year to the day when these events began. The Heykal was cleansed and restored to its qodesh functions, the Jewish religious practices were restored, and for many years thereafter, the Jews had some independence from Greece. This independence would end with the Roman conquests of the Qodesh Land about 100 years later. These events, by the way, are the foundation of the celebration of the Jewish winter festival known as Channukah. This particular attempt to wipe out Jewish culture by forced assimilation is literally full of miracles -- the defeat of a large and powerful branch of the Greek Empire by a ragtag group of Jewish rebels itself is almost too hard to believe were it not for the historical veracity of the story from more than strictly Jewish sources.<br />
<br />
<h4>
<span style="font-weight: normal;">The Crusades: Building Blocks to the Holocaust</span></h4>
<br />
Yet another period in which Jews faced incredible odds against their survival was during the long period in which the Crusades were carried out by Western Christianity. The Crusades are often viewed by many Christians, particularly Catholics, as a period of spiritual renewal, an attempt to reclaim the "Holy Land", and a period of overt Christian pilgrimage. For Jews however the view of these times is very different, as it would be frankly for any group that suffered so horribly as a result of their operation. The fervent preaching that led to the Crusades inevitably resulted in many pogroms against Jews, pogroms responsible for the murder of thousands. The first of these became known as the "Rhineland massacres", carried out from the religious fervor generated as a prelude to the First Crusade of 1096 to 1099, but they certainly were not the last of such heavy persecutions, which sprung up in every major event in each successive Crusade. As a result of these events, the Crusades are seen as a very long and bitter period in Jewish history in the Middle East, where both Karaite and Rabbinical Jews joined with Muslim forces to protect Yerushalayim from the invading Western forces, with many eventually committing suicide when faced with defeat, but they are especially dimly viewed in Europe, where Jews were systematically targeted and murdered by both Government and vigilante forces.<br />
<br />
In a sense, the Crusades were a turning-point in the status of Jews throughout that continent, the beginning of a long decay of both the human rights of European Jews and relations between Jews and Christians throughout the world. Many consider these events to have been preludes and building blocks towards the eventual Holocaust, and for good reason. <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_the_Jews_and_the_Crusades" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Wikipedia says this</a> about the fate of European Jews, and general Christian-Jewish relations in the Crusades:<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<i>"The attacks were opposed by the local bishops and widely condemned at the time as a violation of the crusades aim, which was not directed against the Jews. However, the perpetrators mostly escaped legal punishment. Also, the social position of the Jews in western Europe distinctly worsened, and legal restrictions increased during and after the crusades. They prepared the way for anti-Jewish legislation of Pope Innocent III. The crusades resulted in centuries of strong feelings of ill will on both sides and hence constitute a turning point in the relationship between Jews and Christians."</i></blockquote>
While as that quote states, many Church authorities very likely opposed violence against the Jews as a part of these events, it is well attested that the fervent anti-semitism among not only commoners but many of high ranking authority prescribed a clear intention to proscribe Jewish lives to the altar of atonement for the death of "Jesus", to include Jewish persecution if not outright genocide, as a necessary aspect of the Crusades. One of the most famous and infamous of the leaders of the First Crusade was the Frankish Knight Godfrey of Bouillon. It is recorded that he insisted on <i>"vowing to go on this journey only after avenging the blood of the crucified one by shedding Jewish blood and completely eradicating any trace of those bearing the name 'Jew', thus assuaging his own burning wrath."</i> (<i>Racism: A Global Reader</i>, Part 9: <i>Racism Against the Internal Other</i>, page 254, ed. Kevin Reilly, Stephen Kaufman, Angela Bodino).<br />
<br />
It is indeed a great miracle that Jewish communities survived these events, especially given their depth to time and their span. It is also a bit ironic that many Christian evangelists still to this day insist on using the term "Crusade" for their evangelistic meetings, even those which attempt to bring Jews to their way of thinking. To the average Jew, it isn't a far cry from calling such an event a "Holocaust", especially given the popular view that the Crusades were long-term precursors to that devastating conclusion. Christians often do this out of ignorance, not really understanding the horrible place in history the Crusades represent for so many Jews, but the information is so readily available that it's difficult to excuse the continued defiant and basically heartless use of the term to represent a meeting in which they claim to preach about the very Jewish Arm of Salvation they believe that they represent.<br />
<br />
<h4>
<span style="font-weight: normal;">The Abomination that Makes Desolate</span></h4>
<br />
Though many attempted genocides of the Jews have been covered so far, one of the worst occurred very shortly after the time that Yeshua (Jesus) walked the Earth, yet is largely unknown or deemphasized among many Christians. I am of course talking about the Roman Siege of Yerushalayim, and ultimately all of the land of Yisrael, which took place in the 70s C.E. This is a photo of the "Burnt House", a remnant from the Old City of Yerushalayim of a Jewish home that was burned during that siege. It is a stark reminder of a particular past holocaust-like event which almost led to the complete destruction of the Jews.<br />
<br />
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<a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-CRYJ_K6ZIVQ/VL2a7I5ITdI/AAAAAAAAAJE/0Y9rdIYgD5w/s1600/BurntHouse.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="" border="0" height="300" src="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-CRYJ_K6ZIVQ/VL2a7I5ITdI/AAAAAAAAAJE/0Y9rdIYgD5w/s1600/BurntHouse.jpg" title="© Ger V'Toshav and www.gervatoshav.com, a.k.a. gervtoshav.blogspot.com." width="400" /></a></div>
<br />
On several trips to Yerushalayim, I had wanted to visit this site, but circumstances prevented it. I was finally able to visit it during Pesach (Passover) and Chag HaMatzah (Festival of Unleavened Bread) in 2014. Though this site is very small, it is a priceless reminder of just how devastating the Roman siege of Yerushalayim was in the 70s C.E. It belonged to the Katros family, a family of Kohenim (Priests), responsible for carrying out the duties in the Heykal (Temple), which was also destroyed during this siege. In fact, they were probably destroyed in the same fire, or within days of each other. As human bones were found here, it is believed that the members of the Katros family were likely killed before the burning; a set of arm and hand bones in particular were found right on one of the stone edifices visible below.<br />
<br />
This is an image of plaques on the wall at the Burnt House which quote Josephus on this tragedy.<br />
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<a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-iEM8VA70wYQ/VPdxiB7xnOI/AAAAAAAAAP0/uzsW2tV5hHQ/s1600/JosephusQuote.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="" border="0" height="325" src="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-iEM8VA70wYQ/VPdxiB7xnOI/AAAAAAAAAP0/uzsW2tV5hHQ/s1600/JosephusQuote.jpg" title="© Ger V'Toshav and www.gervatoshav.com, a.k.a. gervtoshav.blogspot.com." width="400" /></a></div>
<br />
<ol>
<li><i>"And so it was decreed that the righteous would be swept away with the wicked, and the city would be destroyed with the rebels."</i></li>
<li><i>"And no one shed a tear at the tragedy, and no one eulogized the dead, because hunger had subdued all of their human emotions."</i></li>
<li><i>"They piled mounds of corpses in the street and drenched the city with so much blood that in many places blood extinguished the flames."</i></li>
</ol>
The Heykal (Temple) was completely destroyed in this siege, reduced to nothing but rubble, it's qodesh treasures taken out as plunder, and any remainder set on fire. This is, I believe, the tragedy that Yeshua (Jesus) told his talmidim (disciples) about when he sat on the Mount of Olives, shortly before the Pesach in which he gave his life:<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
"<b><i>And Yeshua went away from the Qodesh place (Temple) and his Talmidim came to show him the buildings of the Qodesh place. And Yeshua said to them 'Do you see all of this? I tell you the truth, not one stone will be left on another which will not be thrown down... So when you see the abomination that lays waste, spoken of by the Nabi Daniyel (Prophet Daniel), set up in the Qodesh place, then let those in the land of Yahuda (Judea) flee to the mountains... For then there will be great distress, the like of which has not been seen since the beginning of the world, no nor ever shall be. And if those days were not shortened no one would survive, but for the sake of the chosen ones, those days shall be shortened.'</i></b>" (<b>Mattityahu / Matthew 24:1-2, 15, 21-22</b>).</blockquote>
This sequence of prophetic warnings is known within Christian circles as the "Olivet Prophecy", due to the fact that Yeshua gave the prophecy to his talmidim (disciples) while sitting on the Mount of Olives. It has been the subject of speculation for the entire 2000 years since it was given. Most have tried to fit those words into modern times, and certainly some part of it is intended to be a "time of the end" prophecy, but I am firmly convinced that at least the portion I quoted took place in the 70s C.E. In that segment of Scripture, Yeshua points out that the prophecy given to Nabi Daniyel about the "abomination that lays waste", often called the "abomination of desolation", is something that many of these individuals he is speaking to directly, his talmidim, will actually witness, and his warnings are to them and to all those who believe in Yeshua because of their future work. He makes this clear when he says<b> <i>"Truly I tell you, this generation will not pass away until all these things take place."</i> (Mattityahu / Matthew 24:34).</b><br />
<br />
Yeshua quotes the Nabi (Prophet) Daniyel here, and so the proper interpretation of his words depend on the proper interpretation of Daniyel's words. Because Daniyel speaks of two abominations of desolation, one in one sequence of prophecy clearly referring to an event which took place during the reign of one of the branches of the Greek empire and which was previously described in this article, and another twice in two sequences of prophecy which reference a time later than the reign of the Greeks, the two are often compared and similar expectations are had about the latter based on the former. In the former "abomination of desolation" that Daniyel refers to, Antiochus IV Epiphanes of the Seleucid Empire outlawed the worship of YHWH and polluted the Heykal (Temple), and slaughtered many Jews in the process. Certainly this first event is properly called an abomination that makes desolate, but Yeshua is referring in his case to the second event, not the first, which at the time he said these things was yet to come, and which would be carried out ruthlessly by a much more determined foe: Rome.<br />
<br />
The Roman Siege of Yerushalayim was hands-down one of the most bloody and destructive periods of war in history. Calling it even war is too generous to the Roman forces, as it operated more as an outright slaughter, a wanton act of blood lust. A good article on this event can be found at <a href="http://history.net/" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">History.Net</a> and is entitled <a href="http://www.historynet.com/first-jewish-roman-war-siege-of-jerusalem.htm" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">First Jewish-Roman War: Siege of Jerusalem</a>, which had this to say about the level of carnage:<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<i>"When the last resistance in the city failed, the Romans slaughtered until their arms grew weary: Now devouring fire and quenching blood fought their own battle for control of the streets. The total Josephus gives for the dead in the siege — 1.1 million, or nearly half the Jews in Judea — may be somewhat less unlikely than most such stratospheric figures that survive from antiquity. The siege of Jerusalem was probably the greatest single slaughter in ancient history. Not only was the city sacked and burned, but Titus gave directions that what remained should be wholly demolished, except for a stretch of wall and some high towers that were left as a symbol to the world of Roman strength — and as a warning to anyone who might again defy the fury of the Romans."</i></blockquote>
Certainly an event of this magnitude of outright desolation is worthy of being called an "abomination that makes desolate". But like the precedent set by the Greeks in their own siege of Yerushalayim centuries earlier, this one wouldn't stop at desolation of carnage and mere physical destruction. The spiritual element of desolation also corresponds to the previous historic event from this article on <a href="http://www.chabad.org/" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">www.chabad.org</a> titled<b style="font-style: italic;"> </b><a href="http://www.chabad.org/library/article_cdo/aid/953569/jewish/The-Destruction-of-the-Temple.htm" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">The Destruction of the Temple</a>:<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<i>"...the Temple was engulfed in flames. The Jews frantically tried to stop the fire, but were unsuccessful. In despair, many Jews threw themselves into the flames. The Roman soldiers rushed into the melee. Romans and Jews were crowded together, and their dead bodies fell on top of each other. The sound of screaming filled the air and the floor of the Temple was covered with bodies, with blood streaming down the steps.</i> </blockquote>
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<i>"The Romans brought idols into the Temple and offered sacrifices to it. They took the golden vessels of the Temple and killed everyone they found. Before the fire consumed the Temple completely, Titus entered the Holy of Holies and performed the most despicable acts. The still-surviving Jews in the Upper City could only watch as the Temple burned down to the foundations. It burnt well into the next day.</i> </blockquote>
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<i>"When the flames finally died down, left standing was the retaining wall on the western side of the Temple Mount. This is the Western Wall that still stands in Jerusalem today, where Jews over the centuries have gathered to pray."</i></blockquote>
Yeshua stated that the "time of trouble" would end for the sake of preserving the "elect". The "elect" is a reference to the Jewish people as a whole in some sense, but especially would have included his followers at that time. So based on Yeshua's words, if Rome had not ended the siege at some point, and the campaign had continued as it was in the same bloody and merciless fashion, it is possible that Jews as a race wouldn't be around today, including those original followers of Yeshua which included his talmidim. So Yeshua's words that the shortening of the days was necessary to prevent this genocide are quite poignant. One particular part of what Yeshua says in that prophecy also directly relates to these incidents: <b><i>"And woe to pregnant women and nursing mothers in those days."</i></b> (<b>Mattityahu / Matthew 24:19</b>). Those words are a lot more relevant than they might seem on the surface. In fact, they are much more specific and far less general than they seem at first. Josephus describes why I believe Yeshua stated such concern for expecting and nursing mothers in that time in one of his most haunting accounts from the tragedy:<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
"<i>Among the residents of the region beyond Jordan was a woman called Mary, daughter of Eleazar, of the village of Bethezuba (the name means 'House of Hyssop'). She was well off, and of good family, and had fled to Jerusalem with her relatives, where she became involved with the siege. Most of the property she had packed up and brought with her from Peraea had been plundered by the tyrants [Simon and John, leaders of the Jewish war-effort], and the rest of her treasure, together with such foods as she had been able to procure, was being carried by their henchmen in their daily raids. In her bitter resentment the poor woman cursed and abused these extortioners, and this incensed them against her. However, no one put her to death either from exasperation or pity. She grew weary of trying to find food for her kinsfolk. In any case, it was by now impossible to get any, wherever you tried. Famine gnawed at her vitals, and the fire of rage was ever fiercer than famine. So, driven by fury and want, she committed a crime against nature. Seizing her child, an infant at the breast, she cried, 'My poor baby, why should I keep you alive in this world of war and famine? Even if we live till the Romans come, they will make slaves of us; and anyway, hunger will get us before slavery does; and the rebels are crueler than both. Come, be food for me, and an avenging fury to the rebels, and a tale of cold horror to the world to complete the monstrous agony of the Jews.' With these words she killed her son, roasted the body, swallowed half of it, and stored the rest in a safe place. But the rebels were on her at once, smelling roasted meat, and threatening to kill her instantly if she did not produce it. She assured them she had saved them a share, and revealed the remains of her child. Seized with horror and stupefaction, they stood paralyzed at the sight. But she said, 'This is my own child, and my own handiwork. Eat, for I have eaten already. Do not show yourselves weaker than a woman, or more pitiful than a mother. But if you have pious scruples, and shrink away from human sacrifice, then what I have eaten can count as your share, and I will eat what is left as well.' At that they slunk away, trembling, not daring to eat, although they were reluctant to yield even this food to the mother. The whole city soon rang with the abomination. When people heard of it, they shuddered, as though they had done it themselves.</i>" (Josephus, <i>The Jewish War, </i>Book VI, 193-213).</blockquote>
How thankful we all should be that Elohim did indeed cut those days short, preventing the extinction of the elect under the most woeful of circumstances.<br />
<br />
<h4>
<span style="font-weight: normal;">A Lamp Forever</span></h4>
<br />
Many years ago, when YHWH decided that the Northern Kingdom of Yisrael would become what we now know as the "Ten Lost Tribes" by going into a captivity with the Assyrians and a long-term amnesia as to their historic identity that hasn't yet ended these more than two millenia since, He showed mercy to the Southern Kingdom of Yahudah and spared them and the city of Yerushalayim. Even when they were eventually conquered and taken into captivity, He allowed them to retain their identity among the nations, unlike their Northern brothers. His reasons for this were made clear time and again within the Tanakh, but particularly in this passage:<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<div>
<b><i>"And in the fifth year of Yehoram son of Ahab sovereign of Yisra’el – Yehoshaphat was sovereign of Yahudah – Yehoram son of Yehoshaphat began to reign as sovereign of Yahudah. He was thirty-two years old when he began to reign, and he reigned eight years in Yerushalayim. And he walked in the way of the sovereigns of Yisra’el, as the house of Ahab had done, for the daughter of Ahab was his wife. And he did evil in the eyes of YHWH. <u>However, YHWH would not destroy Yahudah, for the sake of David His servant, as He promised him to give a lamp to him and his sons forever</u></i></b><u>.</u><b><i>"</i></b></div>
<b> (2 Melakim / 2 Kings 8:16-19).</b></blockquote>
YHWH made a binding covenant with David forever, one that He promised would remain forever, which stated that he would have a dynasty among his people forever, a son who would always be fit to rule, and a people to be led. Even when Yahudah finally went into captivity by the hand of the Chaldeans for the sins of its people, YHWH remained with them, and allowed them to return a shorter time later under Medo-Persian rule. When they went into their deeper exile after Rome's later assaults against them, YHWH allowed them to be subjected to further persecutions and attempts to destroy them, but all of them failed; this particular remnant of Yisrael never lost their identity.<br />
<br />
And this difference between the two was performed by YHWH with a specific purpose in mind. No exile will last forever. As YHWH declares, there will be a time when all of Yisrael, from all the nations where they were scattered, both the descendants of Northern Yisrael and Southern Yahudah, will be gathered from all around the Earth in a second Exodus. This will permanently heal the breach between the outcasts of Yisrael and the disbursed of Yahudah, and the entire world will come under the Reign of the living Elohim! This worldwide Exodus will will make the first Exodus from Mitsrayim (Egypt) look like a minor historical hiccup by comparison. And that charge will be led by none other than the seed of David, the "root of Yishai (Jesse)", the Mashiach (Messiah):<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<b><i>"'Therefore I shall gather the remnant of My flock out of all the lands where I have driven them, and shall bring them back to their fold. And they shall bear and increase. And I shall raise up shepherds over them, and they shall feed them. And they shall fear no more, nor be discouraged, nor shall they be lacking,' declares YHWH. 'See, the days are coming,' declares YHWH, 'when I shall raise for David a Branch of righteousness, and a Sovereign shall reign and act wisely, and shall do right-ruling and righteousness in the earth. In His days Yahudah shall be saved, and Yisrael dwell safely. And this is His Name whereby He shall be called: "YHWH our Righteousness." Therefore, see, the days are coming,' declares YHWH, 'when they shall say no more, "As YHWH lives who brought up the children of Yisrael out of the land of Mitsrayim (Egypt)," but, "As YHWH lives who brought up and led the seed of the house of Yisrael out of the land of the north and from all the lands where I had driven them." And they shall dwell on their own soil.'"</i> (Yirmeyahu / Jeremiah 23:3-8) </b></blockquote>
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<b><i>"And in that day there shall be a Root of Yishai, standing as a banner to the people. Unto Him the gentiles shall seek, and His rest shall be esteem. And it shall be in that day that YHWH sets His hand again a second time to recover the remnant of His people who are left, from Ashshur and from Mitsrayim, from Pathros and from Kush, from Eylam and from Shin'ar, from Hamath and from the islands of the sea. And He shall raise a banner for the nations, and gather the outcasts of Yisrael, and assemble the dispersed of Yahudah from the four corners of the earth. And the envy of Ephrayim shall turn aside, and the adversaries of Yahudah be cut off. Ephrayim shall not envy Yahudah, and Yahudah not trouble Ephrayim... And YHWH shall put under the ban the tongue of the Sea of Mitsrayim (Egypt), and He shall wave His hand over the River with the might of His Spirit, and shall smite it in the seven streams, and shall cause men to tread it in sandals. And there shall be a highway for the remnant of His people, those left from Ashshur, as it was for Yisrael in the day when he came up from the land of Mitsrayim (Egypt)."</i> (Yeshayahu / Isaiah 11:10-14, 16)</b></blockquote>
Elohim has kept a lamp alive for David, and for Abraham, Yitshaq, and Ya'akov, and someday all men of goodwill and with the fear of Elohim will benefit from it when the promise of the Seed of David will come to complete fruition.<br />
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<h4>
<span style="font-weight: normal;">Final Note</span></h4>
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For a good explanation of Daniyel's prophecies about the "Abomination of Desolation", and Yeshua's "Olivet Prophecy", I recommend Todd Bennett's book <a href="http://shemayisrael.net/shop/the-final-shofar" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">The Final Shofar</a>, which is available in <a href="http://shemayisrael.net/shop/the-final-shofar" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">print</a> and as an <a href="http://shemayisrael.net/shop/the-final-shofar-ebook" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">eBook</a>. This is the final book in his <a href="http://shemayisrael.net/shop/books/walk-in-the-light-12" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">12 volume "Walk in the Light"</a> series, a series that I have benefited from immensely over the past five years.<br />
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Ger V'Toshavhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10077759937900756390noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7125808689115253597.post-70067930971458004492015-01-19T17:50:00.002-06:002016-01-11T00:55:26.718-06:00Against the "Gates of Hell"For the last three years, I've been observing the three Chagim (Festivals) in Yerushalayim (Jerusalem), and I've been making it a point to visit different sites throughout Israel in the process. Some of these sites are archaeological and some are more religious in nature. For Pesach and Chag HaMatzah this past year (2014), one of the places I visited is called Banias. There I saw this cavern at the bottom of Mt. Hermon, which was once known as the "gates of hell". It was listed in the non-canonical Sefer Hanok (book of Enoch) as the place where the "sons of Elohim" descended and copulated with the "daughters of men", which is an interpretation of the event described in Beresheet (Genesis) chapter 6. When the Greeks took control of the land of Israel, they ran with this traditional Jewish belief about the area and built several temples at the site: to Pan, Zeus, and Nemesis in particular, specifically adopting the area and its traditions as a comparison to their own beliefs regarding their half-man, half-god beings known as demigods. Here is a picture I took of that cavern:<br />
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<a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-J6T6AlJSYIg/VL2QV4Lnv9I/AAAAAAAAAIA/KhmJdNKDLP4/s1600/GatesOfHell.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="" border="0" height="172" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-J6T6AlJSYIg/VL2QV4Lnv9I/AAAAAAAAAIA/KhmJdNKDLP4/s1600/GatesOfHell.jpg" title="© Ger V'Toshav and www.gervatoshav.com, a.k.a. gervtoshav.blogspot.com." width="400" /></a></div>
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In the "New Testament" (or rather the Ketuvim Netzarim) this place is called by the name Caesarea Philippi. It is this place, a site of pagan worship, a so-called "gate of hell" in Jewish tradition of the time, carved out of a massive rock at the foot of the gigantic Mt. Hermon, that Yeshua gave this well-known teaching:<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
"<b><i>And when Yeshua came to the region of Caesarea Philippi, he was asking his talmidim (disciples or students) saying 'Concerning me, who do men say that I am, merely a son of man?' And they said 'Some say Yochanan the Immerser (John the Baptist), but others Eliyahu (Elijah). And others say Yirmeyahu (Isaiah) or one of the prophets.' He said to them, 'But who do you say that I am?' Shimon Kepha said, 'You are the Mashiach, the Son of the Living Elohim.' Yeshua answered him and said, 'Baruk are you Shimon, the son of Yonah, because flesh and blood have not revealed this to you, but my Father who is in the Shamayim (Heavens). I also say to you that you are Kepha (Peter), and upon this kepha (rock) I will build my qahal (assembly), and the gates of Sheol (Hebrew cognate of Hades or Hell) will not prevail against it.'</i></b>" (<b>Mattityahu / Matthew 16:13-18)</b>.</blockquote>
The point I am making here is not that this is a literal gate of Hell. The origins and validity of the tradition and its adoption by pagan Greece and then later pagan Rome are another discussion really. The first point I am making is that Yeshua was often able to turn traditions on their heads and make a teaching from them, even traditions that might seem spurious on the surface, while still keeping those teachings set apart from the paganism that then blighted the land (and still does even now). The second and more important point is that in all the years I've heard interpretations of this portion of scripture, I had never heard of the historic and geographical context into which the words clearly fit. Knowing the full context of what we read is important not only for a more complete understanding of the words of Yeshua, but a more complete understanding of scripture as a whole.Ger V'Toshavhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10077759937900756390noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7125808689115253597.post-64387588550261569182015-01-18T23:43:00.003-06:002021-05-24T11:11:53.170-05:00Never Say the Shema to the PopeFor those of you who are not familiar with terms common in Judaism, the "Shema" is both a mitzvah (commandment) and prayer. It is considered to be the most important mitzvah and prayer in Judaism. The name "Shema" is taken from the first Hebrew word of the mitzvah, so it simply means "Hear!" Or "Listen!". The first part of the mitzvah is found in <b>Devarim (Deuteronomy) 6:4</b>, which is translated: "<b><i>Hear O Yisrael: YHWH Our Elohim, YHWH is One!</i></b>" This can also be translated as "<b><i>Hear O Yisrael: YHWH is Our Elohim, YHWH Alone!</i></b>" The Hebrew retains both meanings, not just one meaning, hence this first portion declares both the Oneness of Elohim and the requirement of those in covenant with Him (i.e. Yisrael) to worship Him and Him Alone!<br />
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The second portion of the mitzvah and prayer is often called the "V'ahavta" (meaning "And you will love"), and is taken from the next verse, <b>Devarim (Deuteronomy) 6:5</b>, which is translated: "<b><i>And you will love YHWH Your Elohim with all of your heart (or mind), with all of your being (or soul), and with all of your might (or strength)!</i></b>"<br />
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While Christians are not by and large familiar with the name "Shema", they do know these words very well. In two of the three canonical accounts of the Besorah (Gospels), Yeshua (Jesus) also quoted these words from the Torah and said that they were the greatest mitzvah of the Torah (<b>Mattityahu / Matthew 28:35-38; and Marqos / Mark 12:28-30</b>). In the third canonical account of the Besorah, Yeshua stated that obeying this mitzvah was the key to inheriting eternal life (<b>Luqas / Luke 10:25-28</b>).<br />
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The first reason I am expounding these words is so that I can clearly establish that they are the most important words from both the Torah and the Besorah to learn, meditate on, and obey. They are the foundation of both the Torah and the Besorah. The second reason I am bringing them up is that, as they call for strict allegiance to YHWH and Him Alone, these words shouldn't be applied to anyone or anything else, either verbally or in deeds -- to do so would be, for lack of a better term, idolatry. The Torah and the Besorah both command us to love our neighbor as we love ourselves, but the degree of love commanded to be given to YHWH is above all others, including ourselves. That goes for everyone outside of YHWH Himself, regardless of who they are or how important they are to any of us individually.<br />
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I don't think anything I've said here so far should be too controversial to either Christians or Jews. I can imagine that some might have an objection if their religious views are bit more loose on the subject of devotion, but I don't think anything less than what I've said is consistent with the Scriptures. What I want to expound here is a recent incident that illustrates just how far away from this ideal many have let themselves drift. Before I get into the specifics of that incident, let me give you some background on those involved and the circumstances that led up to the incident.<br />
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Pope Francis has the monumental task of trying to clean up an extremely corrupt organization, particularly some of the smaller sub-organizations that have brought shame and division to the Church, some of which were well-known to his predecessors Pope John Paul and Pope Benedict, but which were either ignored by them or not properly handled.<br />
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One of the worst of the scandals surrounds an organization called the <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Legion_of_Christ" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Legion of Christ</a>, a right-wing Catholic organization which specifically concentrated on recruitment of young men and boys. Its founder, <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marcial_Maciel" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Marcial Maciel</a>, who was one of the most well-loved Catholic clergy in the world, and known to be one of the greatest fundraisers the Church had ever seen, eventually faced allegations of plagiarism, drug abuse, and many instances of ongoing child sexual abuse over the many decades of his career in the order he founded. The allegations were communicated to the Vatican by now-adult Priests who were once his victims as long ago as the mid-70s. Pope John Paul is a well-loved Pope for many reasons, and I don't intend to detract from those reasons, but in the case of this communication sent to him officially by those Priests, he completely dropped the ball. Not only did he do nothing with the information given to him at that time, he went on to hold a celebration for Marcial Maciel, praising him to the public. This angered some of those Priests who had communicated their concerns so much that quite a few of them resigned, leaving the Priesthood and in some cases even the Church altogether.<br />
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When Pope Benedict ascended to his "throne" in the early part of this new millennium, he insisted on an investigation into those allegations and made promises to hold those who were responsible for this accountable. After the investigation was done, very little actually happened. While Pope Benedict apparently saw that the allegations were true, his response was to invite Marcial Maciel to leave public life and live out his days in private prayer and penance. This means, he was not held accountable for his actions to any real degree. He was not even required to apologize or seek the forgiveness of those whom he had abused. When Marcial Maciel died a few years later, it was discovered that he had mistresses and children on the side in several locations of the world, including Europe and Mexico, all in violation of his vows, It was also discovered that he had molested many of his own children, including two of his sons in Mexico, while taking them on family holidays. Many victims had put much hope and trust in Pope Benedict's promises to do a public cleanup of the organization, and specifically to deal with the offenses around the Legion of Christ, so his move left many of them deflated and hopeless, and the news that he had done this to his own children only made the situation worse for all of those involved.<br />
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Now fast forward to 2013, the year when Pope Benedict resigned (very likely due to the stress of dealing with these situations within the Church) and Pope Francis took his place. Pope Francis has been been the most emphatic by far among the recent Popes in insisting that this filth in the Catholic Church must be cleaned up. Now, I must admit to everyone who reads this that I don't care much for Pope Francis, but I do have to give him credit for at least his claims that he will do what he needs to do to clean up the organization. His task is daunting and will require him to swim quickly through a bog of politics that is likely thicker than tar, and just as inescapable. It's little wonder that when the announcement was made of his ascension to the position of Pope in Vatican City, his first act was not to bless those outside waiting to hear the announcement, which was and is a tradition held by Popes back nearly 1000 years, but instead to ask the crowd for their prayer and blessing, clearly wanted to assist him in taking on the tougher tasks ahead. He hasn't stopped there -- more than any Pope in the history of the position and the Catholic Church, he has asked for blessings from his parishioners and non-parishioners as often as he's given them out.<br />
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Now I have to introduce a new character to this story, this time of the Protestant persuasion: one Kenneth Copeland. <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kenneth_Copeland" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Wikipedia</a> describes Kenneth Copeland as "... <i>one of the leaders of the Charismatic Movement and is an American author, musician, public speaker, and televangelist.</i>" He is also a known as a proponent of the so-called "Prosperity Gospel". Whatever else he personally is, his ministry is firmly in the arena of the Protestant faith, which is where the Charismatic and "Prosperity Gospel" movements firmly sit. In early 2014, Kenneth Copeland held a leadership conference which was televised. An Anglican/Episcopalian friend of Pope Francis' attended this conference and delivered a video message from Pope Francis to Kenneth Copeland, which he then televised for his audience. In this video message, the Pope addressed him by offering his blessings to Copeland and company, and as has become his signature task, asking for Copeland and company's blessing in return. Again, this is how Pope Francis has operated of late, and outside of being careful who you ask for prayers, which I think is a serious request and a frankly serious matter, I don't really have criticism. The Pope's words seemed very sincere, and he seemed to genuinely want to bridge the long-term gap between Catholicism and Protestantism by making this very humble request.<br />
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What happened next is what bothered me. Kenneth Copeland first responded by offering a prayer for Pope Francis, a prayer he spoke in "tongues", then he had the Anglican/Episcopalian friend of the Pope who delivered the message to the conference take a video with his smartphone to take back with him of him and his congregation offering their blessings. You can watch the entire video here:<div><br />
<div style="text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><iframe allowfullscreen="" class="BLOG_video_class" height="266" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/hhuDB3IluGc" width="320" youtube-src-id="hhuDB3IluGc"></iframe></div><br />
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If you don't want to watch the whole nearly two hour presentation, you don't need to. What I wanted to concentrate on is what happens well into this presentation, which is the part when Kenneth Copeland actually gives his blessing. This point can be reached in that video at <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hhuDB3IluGc&t=43m4s" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">the 43 minute and 4 second mark</a>. Click that link and listen closely. Let me quote what he just at that point in the video said for those that couldn't access the link, or didn't get the significance of his words:<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
"<i>And we bless you [the Pope] with all of our hearts, we bless you with all of our souls, and we bless you with all of our might.</i>"</blockquote>
Did anyone get that? Kenneth Copeland basically said the "Shema" to the Pope. He used the term "bless" instead of "love", but in all seriousness that's not much of a difference when it comes to this all important mitzvah, whose purpose is to direct our devotional attentions to YHWH Our Elohim, and not to anyone else. The issue isn't as much about which offering he makes to the Pope in this case, whether love or blessings, but the level of devotion he has applied. If you have blessed someone else with everything you have, with a complete, total, and all consuming blessing, then what have you left for your blessings to Elohim? The level of devotion isn't something that can simply be transferred.<br />
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I first saw this video while observing Shavuot (Pentecost) in Yerushalayim (Jerusalem) in 2014. I watched it with a few friends I was staying with. One of them mentioned that while he and his wife were viewing this video back in the States earlier in the year, his wife caught the incident here to which I am referring. I am not sure I would have caught it had he not mentioned this to me while we watched the video, but that's often how subtle this kind of thing can be. But while we may miss details like these from time to time, I have absolutely no doubt that Elohim is paying very close attention and that He misses nothing.<br />
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I am sure many will see this and think I am taking it too far, that I am making a mountain out of a molehill, but I don't think so. We must be very careful with our words, particularly when they express devotion. What we say does mean something, something that literally makes the difference between righteousness and unrighteousness, and Elohim is paying full attention. As Yeshua very astutely declares:<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
"<b><i>For the mouth speaks from the fullness of the heart. A good man brings forth good from his good treasures, and an evil man brings forth evil from his evil treasure. I say to you that for every vain word that the sons of men speak, they will give an account of it in the day of judgement. For by your words you will be made righteous, and by your words you will be condemned.</i></b>" (<b>Mattityahu / Matthew 12:34-37</b>).</blockquote>
These two groups represent mountains of idolatry already. The Catholic Church's historical obsessions with relics, images, Mary, saints, and even the Pope himself, have often reached the level of worship and are certainly noteworthy, but in more direct relation to the problems Pope Francis is facing in the organization, there is a very real idolatry centered on the clergy as a whole, one of protectionism at all costs, even at the expense of the innocence of its most innocent members, the children who have been victims of sexual abuse from their ranks. Copeland's ministry likewise has historically been stuck firmly in the idolatry of financial prosperity, the so-called "Prosperity Gospel". Yeshua made it clear that this kind of devotion to wealth is a form of idolatry when he said:<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
"<b><i>No man is able to serve two masters, for either he will set one aside and he will love the other, or he will honor one and treat the other with contempt. You are not able to serve Elohim and money.</i></b>" (<b>Mattityahu / Matthew 6:24</b>).</blockquote>
These organizations have a long way to go to bring themselves out of the ditch of idolatry they have dug for themselves, and directing that kind of adoration to one another is not a step in the proper path to successfully pulling themselves out of it.<br />
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Yeshua didn't just identify the "Shema" as the first great mitzvah or commandment of the Torah. He also identified the second: to love your neighbor as you love yourself. He stated that these two were the foundation of the entirety of the Torah and of the Nevi'im (prophets). These two actually define our relationship to Elohim and to other human beings, requiring absolute devotion to Elohim and a directive to love all others with the same concern we show to our own respective persons. That is a wide circle of folks to love, and it includes both Kenneth Copeland and the Pope -- that's what we are commanded to do, and that's what we all should do, but there's an obvious difference in the type of devotion that is reserved to Elohim vs. that which is reserved for each other. Hence, it's extremely important to save your absolute devotion for Elohim alone, and by all means, never say the "Shema" to anyone other than Him.</div>Ger V'Toshavhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10077759937900756390noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7125808689115253597.post-43322830286748927122015-01-15T09:45:00.000-06:002015-06-15T13:30:38.763-05:00This Pope Isn't Turning the Other CheekQuoting Pope Francis from an article on yahoo.com today, titled <a href="http://news.yahoo.com/pope-charlie-hebdo-limits-free-expression-121639260.html" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Pope on Charlie Hebdo: There are limits to free expression</a>:<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
"<i><b>'If my good friend Dr. Gasparri says a curse word against my mother, he can expect a punch,' Francis said, throwing a pretend punch his way. 'It's normal. You cannot provoke. You cannot insult the faith of others. You cannot make fun of the faith of others.' … 'There are so many people who speak badly about religions or other religions, who make fun of them, who make a game out of the religions of others,' he said. 'They are provocateurs. And what happens to them is what would happen to Dr. Gasparri if he says a curse word against my mother. There is a limit.'</b></i>"</blockquote>
This Pope has had a public image campaign of unifying people who are divided by political, economic, and religious schisms since he took the "throne", but if this is any sign of the unity he's offering, I'd just assume stay divided. Not being a Catholic, I pesosnally don't really elevate the words of the Pope to any significant extent. In fact, being what is historically referred to as a "Quartodecimani", a "Sabbatarian", and a "Judaizer", and knowing the violent history of the Bishops of Rome, who are the various Popes' pre-Nicene forebearers, and eventually the Popes themselves towards those who were pegged with such titles, I'm apt to put him into the category of ignorable, at least in these modern times of relative religious liberty when one can ignore religious figures with visions of statesmanship without being subsequently taxed the coin of his life. And I would do just that were it not for his huge sphere of influence. One can personally ignore his edicts, but among a large segment of the public, they carry some real weight, and many of those are voters and statesmen themselves. Let me be clear here: this Pope certainly should be warning against using angry and provocative words, and should be teaching that everyone should choose their words carefully and respectfully, but he should NOT be justifying violent responses when these words don't fit that criteria.<br />
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Aside from the obvious problem of a sitting Pope in a modern society handing out justifications of bloody violence through theoretical anecdotes about insults directed to his mother, he hasn't properly analyzed what the implementation of his limitations would mean to the concept of Freedom of Speech. I posit that if his limitations ever become commonly accepted in the West, Freedom of Speech will be a right and a value which will no longer exist. <a href="http://www.salman-rushdie.com/" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Salman Rushdie</a>, an author who knows a thing or two about both the importance of preserving this value and the dangers that can be faced if it is not stringently protected, had this to say about the subject: "<b><i>What is freedom of expression? Without the freedom to offend, it ceases to exist.</i></b>"</div>
Ger V'Toshavhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10077759937900756390noreply@blogger.com0