Welcome to Aviv 2024-A Brief Overview of the Month and a Discussion of What God Expects From Us This Month

And Yahweh said to Moses and to Aaron in the land of Egypt, saying, “This month will be the beginning of months; it will be for you the first of the months of the year… “Observe the month of Abib, and you shall keep the Passover to Yahweh your God, for in the month of Abib Yahweh your God brought you out from Egypt by night.

Semeach Rosh Chodesh and Rosh HaShanah! Welcome to Aviv 2024!

This is a special posting of TMTO. I’ve been led of Yah’s Set-Apart Spirit in this post to proclaim and expound upon this new Biblical Year and the advent of the Month of the Aviv 2024.

 

I won’t infringe too much on your valuable time this evening, which by the way, is T-esday, April 9, 2024 and by the time this is posted Aviv 1, other than to pass on to you some of the more important days, concepts, terms, and spiritual applications that are embedded in this set-apart month of Yah’s Biblical Calendar.

 

Calendar Update (Jot these down):

 

  • Wed 4/10-Biblical Rosh HaShannah – Aviv 1 (Depending on the sighting of the renewed moon). Yah, through Moshe, commanded us to Guard this Month (Deu 16.1-2).
  • Tue 4/23-Pesach/Passover – Aviv 14.
  • Wed 4/24-Tue 4/30-FOUB – Aviv 15-21.
  • Sun 4/28-Wavesheaf/Firstfruits – “the morrow after the Sabbath that falls within the week of the FOUB.

 

Please consult the Netsari–Messianic Calendar section of themessianictorahobserver.org website’s landing page for these dates if you can’t jot them down. As well as I invite you to go to The Essential Elements of the Messianic-Hebraic Faith (themessianictorahobserver.org) and scroll down to the calendar and orient yourself to this month’s essential moedim.

 

Key Terms and Concepts Embedded in the Month of the Aviv (aka Nisan)

  • Biblical Rosh HaShannah — Define

When we hear the phrase Rosh HaShanah, both within and without our faith community, depending upon our level of Torah understanding AND our religious affiliation (i.e. Christian, Rabbinic/Orthodox Judaism, Messianic, etc.), we most likely know it as a Jewish holiday. The more knowledgeable of us may even narrow that understanding to that of Rosh HaShanah being the phrase used to declare the Jewish or Hebrew New Year. But what most of the world, yea even many of our of Jewish brethren, don’t know about the phrase is its fuller meaning and implications to our redemption and salvation. For, as Jewish as the world has attempted to make the term Rosh HaShanah throughout the centuries, it in all actuality belongs to Yehovah. Rosh HaShanah, biblically, does not belong to the Jews. How and why, you may ask. Well, simply this: Yehovah establishes the times and seasons for humanity to follow and keep, based on His reckoning of time. When it comes to the things of Yehovah, it’s about His reckoning, not man’s. He determines when the start and end of a time will be. And with Rosh HaShanah, which by the way is not a phrase you’ll find in most English translations of your bible, unless we are in tune with what the Almighty has and is doing with His human creation, it certainly will mean nothing more than some type of Jewish holiday which has nothing to do with most of us.

 

But the truth of the matter is that Rosh HaShanah has everything to do with those of us who are called and who bear His holy and eternal Name upon our souls and spirits.

 

Along with the fact that Rosh HaShanah is NOT in and of itself a phrase found in most of our English bibles, SCRIPTURE DOES NOT give us a date or time for Rosh HaShanah. It’s the strangest thing you could ever imagine.

 

We find first-mention of a new year – aka Rosh HaShanah – in Exodus 12. Background-wise, we, the children of Jacob, had been enslaved in Egypt/Mitsrayim for four-centuries. Exodus 12 records that the time for our exile in Egypt had drawn to an end. Yah dispatched Moshe to lead us out of Egypt and deliver us to the Land of Promise. And after a series of devastating plagues Yah sent to judge the elohim/the gods of Egypt, the time came for our deliverance and redemption. It was time for us to emerge as a people wholly dedicated to Yehovah and His service: a kingdom of priest and a holy nation, set apart unto Yehovah to serve Him and His purposes. And what better way to kick-off this new beginning for the sons and daughters of Jacob/Ya’achov, and for that matter all humanity, than to declare our redemption be inextricably tied to the start of a new year? Consider the following:

 

Now Yehovah spoke to Moses and Aaron in the land of Egypt saying, 2“This month will mark the beginning of months (i.e. Rosh HaShanah) for you; it is to be the first month of the year for you (i.e. Rosh Chodesh HaShanah) (Messianic Jewish Family Bible Society, Holy Scriptures-modified: Tree of Life Version (Grand Rapids, MI: Baker Books, 2015), Ex 12:1–2).

 

Why, thank you very much, LORD. This is wonderful. But for us who are 3,500+ years removed from this historic declaration, Moshe did not note the month we were in at the time Yah made this pronouncement. Well, if we are careful in our studies, Yah through Moshe provides us all we need to pinpoint the season and timing of this declaration. We find in Deuteronomy the following:

 

Keep the month of Abib (et chodesh ha abib) and celebrate the Passover to Yahweh your God, for in the month of Abib Yahweh your God brought you out of Egypt by night (Legacy Standard Bible (Three Sixteen Publishing, 2022), Dt 16:1).

 

Okay then, we now know the name of the month, Aviv or Abib, that we are supposed to keep as Rosh HaShanah. However, this still doesn’t show to us when we are to start every new year. Well, the clue to this is found in the name or descriptor Yah gave to the month. The month of THE ABIB/AVIV.

 

This, in all reality, is not the name of a month, but it is a descriptor. It is the month of the Aviv. Which begs the question: What is the Aviv/the Abib? HaAviv/HaAbib is defined as “ripe ears of grain” and is a direct reference to barley and the barley crop in the Land. We do have some biblical proof to this definition. Consider that after the plague of hail had ceased at the very tail-end of our Egyptian enslavement, Moshe made the following comment as recorded in Exodus 9:

 

31 And the flax and the barley was smitten: for the barley was in the ear (i.e.”se’orah ‘aviv” or the barley was aviv), and the flax was bolled. 32 But the wheat and the rie were not smitten: for they were not grown up (The Holy Bible: King James Version, Electronic Edition of the 1900 Authorized Version. (Bellingham, WA: Logos Research Systems, Inc., 2009), Ex 9:31–32).

 

So, at this period of time, the ripened (i.e. HaAviv/HaAbib) barley crop in the Land of Egypt had been destroyed by the plague of hail. The particulars of Aviv barley make it such that it could not survive a significant hailstorm as the Egyptians experienced in this judgment.

 

That still leaves the question of when during the Aviv barley season or month is Rosh HaShanah to occur. We already knew when a month begins and ends. It was common knowledge in our day throughout that region of the world. Therefore, Moshe did not need to stipulate when the precise day a month begins. But for us who are some 3,500+ years removed from this story, it should be understood that each month begins and ends with the sighting of the first sliver of the renewed moon each month. Otherwise referred to as Rosh Chodesh, aka renewed moon.

 

The Tanach attests to the importance of the renewed moon as it applies to Yah’s reckoning of time each month (1 Sam 20.5-24; 2 Kin 4.23; 1 Chr 23.31; 2 Chr 2.4; 8.13; 31.3; Ezr 3.5; Neh 10.33; Psa 81.3; Isa 1.13-14; 66.23; Eze 45.17; 46.1-6; Hos 2.11; Amos 8.5; and in the Brit Hadashah in Col 2.16).

 

It is indeed interesting that the renewed moon event is mentioned throughout scripture in context with the weekly Sabbaths and Feast Days. So, one is hard-pressed not to wonder why so many within and without our faith community reject calls for Yah’s people to return to keeping/guarding Yah’s sacred observational calendar. Yehovah created the sun, moon, and stars to serve as “signs, and … seasons, and … days and years” (The Holy Bible: King James Version, Electronic Edition of the 1900 Authorized Version. (Bellingham, WA: Logos Research Systems, Inc., 2009), Ge 1:14). I certainly get the necessity for Yah’s people to go to a calculated calendar during the extended time of their exile. But now that the exile has been partially lifted and we have full access to the Land, there is no reason NOT to return to Yah’s reckoning of time. And Yah’s reckoning of time is based on a luni-solar system — the luni or lunar, whereby we sight the renewed moon each month; the solar, whereby the barley crop germinates and ripens in the Land at the terminus of each biblical calendar.

 

So, there we have it in a nutshell. Rosh HaShanah, according to Yehovah, is on Aviv 1, or rather, it is on the first Rosh Chodesh (the first new moon sighting) of the month that the barley crop in the Land of Yisra’el is in an aviv-state of maturity. IT IS NOT, as our orthodox Rabbinic brethren have made it out to be. Biblical Rosh HaShanah IS NOT on Tishri 1 (aka on the first day of the 7th month).

 

 

 

  • Guarding the Month of the Aviv

The Command to Guard the Month of the Aviv is given in Deuteronomy/Devarim 16.1:

 

Observe (i.e. “shamar” which means to guard; to ensure that all aspects of the month are kept without fail) the month of the Abib, and keep the passover unto Yehovah thy Elohim: for in the month of the Abib Yehovah thy Elohim brought thee forth out of Egypt by night. (Deu 16:1 KJV)

 

Now, I don’t want to use our precious time together this evening to go over something as foundational as what Yah meant by His Torah to “Guard the Month of the Aviv.” I’ve posted a number of teachings over the years that address what it meant and what it means to us today to guard the month of the Aviv and I’m not led to reinvent that wheel this year. So, that being said, here are links to some of those teachings for your information and reference:

 

Guarding the Month of Aviv-Aviv’s Critical Importance to God’s Covenant Elect (themessianictorahobserver.org)

 

Rosh Hashanah Happy Biblical New Year and Guarding the Month Aviv (themessianictorahobserver.org)

 

How to Observe and Guard the Month of Aviv (themessianictorahobserver.org)

 

How to Keep (Guard) the Month of the Aviv–Replay (themessianictorahobserver.org)

 

Explaining the Current Calendar Confusion Among Observational Calendar Keepers (themessianictorahobserver.org)

 

 

  • What are the relevant elements of the Month of the Aviv that we are commanded to guard?

 

  1. Rosh HaShanah — The Biblical New Year. According to the JPS Torah Commentary on the Cepher of Exodus, Rosh HaShanah — the day we left and were redeemed from the gods and the pharoah of Egypt, according to Nahum M. Sarna, “visualized the start of a wholly new order of life that is to be dominated by the consciousness of God’s active presence in history. The entire religious calendar of Israel is henceforth to reflect this reality by numbering the months of the year from the month of the Exodus” (Nahum M. Sarna, Exodus, The JPS Torah Commentary (Philadelphia: Jewish Publication Society, 1991), 54).

 

  1. The weekly Sabbaths. Yah commanded us to “zakar HaShabbat yom” or remember the Sabbath Day (Exo 20:8). We zakar/remember the Sabbath Day each week by keeping it holy/set apart. And the reality of this command is this: If we fail in our keeping the weekly Shabbat holy, it’s pretty much a given that we won’t keep the Month of the Aviv nor the Spring Feasts that are embedded in the Month of the Aviv. So, we start by keeping the weekly Sabbath holy.

 

  1. Cleansing our homes of all leaven in anticipation of our keeping the Feast of Unleavened Bread. Yehovah, through Moshe, commanded us: “You shall not eat ⌊with it⌋ (i.e. the Pesach on Passover Day) anything leavened; seven days you shall eat ⌊with it⌋ unleavened bread of affliction, because in haste you went out from the land of Egypt, so that you will remember the day of your going out from the land of Egypt all the days of your life. 4 And leaven shall not be seen with you in any of your territory for seven days, and none of the meat that you will slaughter on the evening on the first day shall remain overnight until morning” (W. Hall Harris III et al., eds., The Lexham English Bible (Bellingham, WA: Lexham Press, 2012), Dt 16:3–4). The prophetic shadow picture that is embedded in this instruction is powerfully undeniable. Yet, few of us keep this command to eliminate all leaven from our homes and our diet for the duration of the Feast of Unleavened Bread. This is something that we must do out of obedience.

 

  1. Passover Day (aka Pesach) to be kept at twilight on the 14th day of the month of the Aviv. Yah, through Moshe commanded us: “5 In the first month, on the fourteenth of the month at the evening is Yahweh’s Passover” (W. Hall Harris III et al., eds., The Lexham English Bible (Bellingham, WA: Lexham Press, 2012), Le 23:5). I’ve posted a number of teachings on Pesach/Passover that I invite you to listen to or read as you are so led. We’ll also discuss the significance of Passover from Yeshua’s perspective in the coming days.

 

  1. The Feast of Unleavened Bread to be kept from the 15th to the 21st of the month of the Aviv. Of this seven-day feast, Yah commanded us: “6 And on the fifteenth day of this month is Yahweh’s Feast of Unleavened Bread; for seven days you shall eat unleavened bread” (Hall Harris III et al., eds., The Lexham English Bible (Bellingham, WA: Lexham Press, 2012), Le 23:6). Thus, we are commanded to eat unleavened bread during this seven-day feast as well as not eat any foods containing leaven in it. Like Passover/Pesach that immediately precedes this feast, the shadow picture embedded in this Moedim of Yehovah is undeniable and we’ll discuss it in coming days.

 

  1. The Day of Firstfruits (aka the Day of the Wavesheaf Offering) is to be observed during the week of Unleavened Bread. Yah commanded us: “10 “…when you come to the land that I am about to give to you and you reap its harvest, then you shall bring a sheaf of the firstfruit of your harvest to the priest. 11 And he shall wave the sheaf ⌊before⌋ Yahweh for your acceptance; the priest shall wave it ⌊on the day after⌋ the Sabbath” (W. Hall Harris III et al., eds., The Lexham English Bible (Bellingham, WA: Lexham Press, 2012), Le 23:10–11). This set apart day is rarely kept nor understood by folks in our faith community for various and sundry reasons. But the long and short of the issue is that it serves as a memorial – a reminder of our Master Yahoshua HaMashiyach, the Firstfruits of a new creation unto Yehovah. We keep this day by rendering unto those ministries that feed us, offerings that are representative of the first and best of our physical and spiritual increase for the year.

 

  1. The Prophetic Shadows of the Spring Feasts: The Spring Feasts of the LORD all foreshadow the Passion of our older Brother, Savior, Master, and King, Yeshua Messiah.

 

What’s Ahead for us here at TMTO in The Month of the Aviv 2024 — Setting the Tone?, which, Abba willing, shall guide our thoughts, hearts, and minds in coming posts.

 

I’m led this year to do something I’ve not done in previous posts for the Month of the Aviv. I would like to walk us through the Prophetic Shadows of Yeshua’s Passion, which is what the Holy Week of Passover/Pesach points us to. For us, who are redeemed of Yehovah, our focus is more on Yeshua and what He did and is currently doing for us, than what transpired in the Exodus. This, I pray, will be a memorable journey that I pray you will joyously join with me on.

 

I would humbly ask, if you’ve not already done so, consider reading or listening to my previous teachings on Guarding the Month of the Aviv and on Keeping/Observing Passover. This will provide those of you who are new to this walk with a detailed primer on what Pesach/Passover was about and how it was practiced back in the day. With that background in place, you will be raring to go with Yeshua’s Pesach presence.

 

  • Why do we Guard the Month of the Aviv? We guard it:

 

  1. Because Yah commanded us to do it.
  2. When we guard the of the Month of the Aviv, we will be blessed. Yah promises to meet us on His set apart days. And in our meeting Him on those set-apart days, which comes about only when we Guard the Month of the Aviv, we stand to be abundantly blessed. Those that know better are expected to do better.
  3. Like you, I want to make it into the Kingdom. Those who obey Yah stand a better than average chance of making it into the Kingdom. What is our whole duty unto Yehovah but to fear Him and keep His commandments (Ecc 12:13).
  4. In our Guarding the Month of the Aviv, we share in the knowledge of our Master’s ministry and sacrifice. This prepares us for eventually sharing in his sacrifice and in His glory: A Kingdom necessity for all those of us who love Him and earnestly seek His appearing (Tit 2:13; 2 Tim 4:8; 1 Pet 1:7).

 

And with that, beloved, let us reverence this precious month that the Creator of the Universe refers to as the Month of the Aviv, for it contains and embodies the fulness of our redemption and forms the foundation of our Faith. As Moshe instructed, let us then guard this month with everything that is in us. Blessed be the Matchless Name of our Heavenly Father Yehovah and our Older Brother/Master/Savior/King, Yahoshua Messiah.

 

Until next time. Take care.

 

Rod (TMTO)

 

Why do we Dislike the God of the Old Testament? Thoughts & Reflections on Torah Reading 127

Introduction to Reading 127

 

This week’s Torah Reading is contained in Deuteronomy 2.1-3.22. For all intents and purposes, it is a continuation of last week’s reading. It is the 127th Parashah of our 3-year Torah Reading cycle.

 

I’ve been led to title this week’s Sabbath Reading Discussion in the form of a question: “Why do we Dislike the God of the Old Testament?” No doubt a curious title to some, I feel this is a viable question, especially as it relates to the warrior side of Yehovah that is captured in our Torah, Haftorah, and Apostolic Readings for this Sabbath.

 

What do I Mean by God of the Old Testament?

 

Some may be confused by the title “God of the Old Testament.” Let me assure you, it is not a biblical title by any stretch of the imagination. But it is a title that many within and without our faith community have assigned to Yehovah our Elohim for various and sundry reasons. The primary reason people have assigned Yehovah this title is to make a distinction between Abba Yah and the Son Yeshua Messiah. Many distinguish the so-called God of the Old Testament from the so-called God of the New Testament because Yehovah is erroneously portrayed by spiritually myopic and misinformed teachers of scripture as a tyrannical, violent, angry, unforgiving, callous, harsh, uncompromising, war mongering, and murderous God, while His counterpart, Yeshua, is portrayed by equally uninformed teachers of scripture as a loving, forgiving, lifegiving, healing, longsuffering, giving, caring, and liberal God. Consequently, many so-called people of faith, and most if not all non-believing folks, dislike, if not hate the God of the Old Testament but like, if not love, the God of the New Testament for their respectively assigned character traits.

 

Embarrassingly, the distinction between the two is severely muddied when some of these same folks conflate the two Entities. Many God of the Old Testament haters, some of whom are self-professing Christians believe it or not, firmly believe that their much preferred God of the New Testament is also the God of the Old Testament. Indeed, there are several problems with this thinking which we won’t get into in this installment of TMTO. If you’ve followed me and this program for any length of time, you would know that I do not believe that scripture supports Yeshua and Yehovah being one and the same Person. The scripture clearly distinguishes them as two, distinct Persons.

 

Again, I don’t want to go down the rabbi-hole of defining who Abba Yah and Yeshua Messiah are as it will take us off-topic for today. But suffice to say that both the Son and the Father possess and exercise Warrior traits. Consequently, we will discuss the problems and misunderstandings that are associated with judging Yehovah’s warrior persona and intentions.

 

What do you say we get into Yah’s Word?

 

 

Go in and Possess the Land: Take Two

 

  • The punishment ends — the sins of our first-generation Exodus parents died with them over our 38-year wandering period. Therefore, Yah says to Moshe: Rav-lachem — (too much for you…head north) ‘Long enough you have been skirting this mountain; turn yourselves north, (W. Hall Harris III et al., eds., The Lexham English Bible (Bellingham, WA: Lexham Press, 2012), Dt 2:2–3).

 

  • We would return to Kadesh-Barnea, bypassing our cousins, the Edomites (sons of Esau), Ammonites, and Moabites (descendants of Lot). Their lands and possessions were not under the ban that the Canaanites were under. These lands were allotted to the descendants of Esau (son of Yitschaq/Isaac) and Lot. We were not to interfere with their Yah-given heritage (2.5, 9, 19).

 

  • However, Yah gave into our hands the lands held by Sihon and the Amorites (2.31 and 3.6) and Og of Bashan (3.1-3). These battles were the first tests of our strength, fighting skills, and obedience to Yehovah’s commands. These battles gave us street creds, so to speak, among the neighboring peoples’ nations. And these neighboring people nations grew to fear us greatly, as the fear of Yah and His people permeated the entire region.

 

  • Yehovah is our Mighty Warrior. His Will shall be done. Thus, we pray: Thy Kingdom come; Thy Will be done. Here on earth, as it is in heaven (Mat 6.10).

 

We of this second generation have experienced a miraculous turnaround in terms of our faith and obedience. One would think that we would have continued in the way of our parents: Being that of a rebellious, faithless, and disobedient people. But we didn’t. How this happened or came about, the record is silent. But Yah works in mysterious ways. His mercies are endless and renewed every day. Now, we as a nation, had a shining future ahead of us and we were poised to meet our destiny in the taking of the Land of Promise. No longer would the stain and stench of our parents’ stubbornness, faithlessness, and disobedience cause our nation to remain as wanderers under a perpetual death sentence. (This is indeed a prophetic shadow picture of unredeemed humanity. Wandering about the stark wilderness of this world and this life. Under a death sentence. No hope for a reprieve, save for Yah’s grace and mercies.) Hasatan’s plot to steal, kill, and destroy had been foiled. “Thus, acts of the fathers must be redeemed by the sons. Otherwise, the consequences for future generations grow, even as the sons harden by mindlessly embracing the sins of their fathers. History hardens when sin festers.” (Jeffrey Enoch Feinberg Ph.D. and Kim Alan Moudy, Walk Deuteronomy!: Words (Clarksville, MD: Messianic Jewish Publishers, 2003), 21.) Praise be to Yah! He prepared us for this a redo of the first botched fulfillment of our redemption:

 

“For Yahweh your God has blessed you in all the work of your hand; He has known your wanderings through this great wilderness. These forty years Yahweh your God has been with you; you have not lacked a thing.” ’ (Legacy Standard Bible (Three Sixteen Publishing, 2022), Dt 2:7.)

 

  1. Yah blessed us.
  2. Yah was well aware of your situation.
  3. Despite our past failures, Yah remained with us. He did not abandon us.
  4. Yah provided for all our needs.

 

 

We Were Set for a Redo of the First Botched Redemption

 

Yah would perform a redo of our redemption from Mitsrayim/Egypt. This redo would be replete with our journey from the Mountain of Elohim to Kadesh Barnea, the gateway to the Promised Land, even down to a vicious, hateful King whose heart Yah would harden (cf. Deu 2.30; Exo 9.12; 10.20, 27; 11.10; 14.4). We would overcome, through Yah’s miraculous power and leading, what one might naturally presume to be nations that were superior to us in strength and fighting ability. Yah’s Name would once again become known by the inhabitants of Canaan as the God of Yisrael and as the One True God. This was our redemption redo:

 

16 And in very deed for this cause have I raised thee up, for to shew in thee my power; and that my name may be declared throughout all the earth. (The Holy Bible: King James Version, Electronic Edition of the 1900 Authorized Version. (Bellingham, WA: Logos Research Systems, Inc., 2009), Ex 9:16–18:4.)

 

 

Our reputation as a powerful and great people began to take shape when we, through Yah’s divine help, took possession of the lands once belonging to Sihon (2.24). Originally Yehovah instructed us to petition Sihon for permission to pass through his land peacefully. But the heart of Sihon was such that he denied our petition and went out to confront us. In response to Sihon’s aggression and hardened heart, Yehovah gave us the victory over Sihon as we devoted the people to destruction (these were put under the ban) (2.30-35).

 

In every advance we made towards achieving our destiny, we were careful to go and take possession of Land that Yehovah instructed us to. This shows that we were under Yah’s leadership. We were not under the leadership of some ambitious, greedy oligarch who destroyed, killed, and maimed haphazardly. Thus, when we are operating under Yehovah’s strict leading, authority, and direction, we acted under His perfect will and purpose and plan (and wherever Yahweh our God had commanded us–Legacy Standard Bible (Three Sixteen Publishing, 2022), Dt 2:37).

 

We repeated our conquest of the lands east of the Jordan when Og of Bashan came out to challenge us in battle (3.1-7). Like Sihon’s of Heshbon, we devoted Og and his people to destruction (3.6). (I’ve spoken a great deal about Yah marking certain Canaanite peoples for destruction. This was, to borrow a term used frequently in Islam, Yehovah directed Jihad, or Holy War in its truest and purest sense.)

 

After their defeat, Sihon’s and Og’s kingdoms were distributed among the tribes of Reuben, Gad, and Manasseh (3.12-13; Num 32.32-38; Jos 3.8-13). (We discussed this in detail in our study of Reading 122 entitled “The High Expectations for God’s People to Fulfill His Will and Purpose—Thoughts and Reflections on Torah Reading 122.)

 

From there, Moshe takes us to where we were that day: Preparing to go in and take possession of the Land. Reuben, Gad, and Manasseh would fight alongside the rest of our nation until the land was ours and then they would return to their homes in the Transjordan: 21“And I commanded Joshua at that time, saying, ‘Your eyes have seen all that Yahweh your God has done to these two kings; so Yahweh shall do to all the kingdoms into which you are about to cross. 22 ‘Do not fear them, for Yahweh your God is the one fighting for you.’ (Legacy Standard Bible (Three Sixteen Publishing, 2022), Dt 3:21–22.)

 

_______________________________________________________________

Our Haftorah Reading is contained in Habakkuk 3:8-19: The key phrase being “Yet I Will Exalt in Yehovah,” despite the horrifying turmoil going on around me. The prophet clearly and fully trusted in His God to fight on his and remnant Yisra’el’s behalf.

 

Yehovah stands as the Mighty Warrior, if not Yisra’el’s Mighty Warrior.

 

 

Many sages believed Habakkuk 3 was a poetic, mystical retelling of Shavu’ot at Sinai. A poetically grand illustration of the revelation at Sinai. It extolls the unimaginable power of Yehovah concerning His people and all creation. It includes Yah’s recompence of those that tribulate His chosen ones. Indeed, Yah is Yisra’el’s Mighty Warrior! Thus the prophet ends his words with a commitment that transcends anything that may befall him:

 

Though the fig tree does not blossom, nor there be fruit on the vines; the yield of the olive tree fails, and the cultivated fields do not yield food; the flock is cut off from the animal pen, and there is no cattle in the stalls, 18 Yet I will rejoice in Yahweh; I will exult in the God of my salvation. 19 Yahweh, my Lord, is my strength; he makes my feet like the deer; he causes me to walk on my high places. (W. Hall Harris III et al., eds., The Lexham English Bible (Bellingham, WA: Lexham Press, 2012), Hab 3:17–19.)

 

________________________________________________________________

 

Our Apostolic Reading is contained in the Cepher of Revelation 19:11-21: The featured figure of this passage is a Rider on a White Horse. There is no mystery as to who this Rider is. It is Yeshua Messiah, returning to earth as the conquering King and Lord of Lords. His appearance pairs well with the imagery put forth by the prophet in our Haftorah reading. The One who rides the White Horse destroys the enemies of Yehovah and of Yehovah’s people.

 

Again, Yehovah is depicted here as the Mighty One/The Mighty Warrior of Yisra’el. But this time, Yah’s Warrior actions are enacted by His Right Hand – His Mashiyach – Yisra’el’s King.

 

The Warrior Side to Yehovah

 

The warrior side of Yehovah has and remains a point of contention among many within and without our faith community. Many individuals choose to use this attribute to advance their anti-God, anti-Bible, anti-Israel agenda. These contend that Yehovah is a hateful, vengeful, callous, murderous entity who cares little to nothing about his human creation. Such individuals delude themselves into thinking and promoting the foolish and patently false claim that the Almighty would just as soon destroy all who cross him and oppose his plans and purposes, then to show compassion, love, mercy, and grace to a race of beings that desperately need such things. I’ve heard some, yea, even some so-called Christians, go so far as to reject Yehovah on the basis of His Warrior Personna. They often label Him as the God of the Old Testament, no doubt meant to be a cheap jab at Him. These individuals are not ashamed to proclaim that they prefer the God of the New Testament to the God of the Old Testament. And of course, the God of the New Testament these are referring to is Jesus Christ.

 

I’ve recently heard of an elder of one of the Worldwide Church of God splinters, castigate the person of Yehovah. This self-styled social justice warrior, questioned Yehovah’s motives in leading us in war against the occupiers of Canaan and the Transjordan, marking them for destruction. This same soul even questions and challenges Yehovah’s motives in permitting various injustices go unaddressed in the world today.

 

It’s troubling to hear of such sadly misinformed and misguided individuals, many of whom claim to be born again Christians, believers, and followers of Christ. Clearly these individuals who claim to identify with the love and Person of the Son of God missed what the Son of God said about his relationship to the Creator of the Universe: “If you see me, you’ve seen the Father.” And “I and My Father are One (aka echad)” (Joh 10: 30; 14: 7- 9).

 

But here’s the irony to their thinking. Although Yeshua’s persona was one of love, kindness, sacrifice, and so forth during His earthly ministry, appealing to most as, let’s just say, their preferred God. Indeed, at that time, He was the suffering Servant; the Lamb that taketh away the sins of the world. However, our Apostolic Reading this week clearly points to Master Yeshua as a conquering, warrior King who will right all wrongs and establish His Kingdom headquartered in Yerushalayim. John the Revelator depicts Yeshua as the King who will rule with a rod of iron (Rev 2.27; 12.5; 19.15). The days of the suffering Messiah will have been long passed. This Messiah will tolerate no foolishness. He will be the righteous judge and the conquering warrior. He will be just like His Daddy! Halleluyah!

 

Indeed, Yeshua, along with the other Apostolic writers, contend that Master Yeshua possessed the exact character traits and personal attributes of his Father Yehovah.

 

To condemn Yehovah for his righteous actions, which often involved cutting short the lives of certain nations and people, is to operate in ignorance of the true nature of the Great I Am. It is to operate from a sinful place of self-righteousness and ignorance to the existence of evil and good in this world, and the simple fact that in Yah’s perspective, good and evil are incompatible bedfellows. At the end of the day, Yehovah requires the eradication of evil and all impediments and challenges to his irresistible sovereignty and plans.

 

Yah operates at a level that is far above our own. He is the Creator of all. So, who are we to challenge Him, His sovereignty, and the righteous actions he wrought to advance His plan to redeem and save humanity from the scourge of sin and death? Of himself, Yah declared through the mouth and pen of his holy prophet: “For my thoughts are not your thoughts, nor are your ways, declares Yehovah. For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are My ways higher than your ways and My thoughts than your thoughts” (Isa 55:8; LSB).

 

Who are we, indeed, to challenge Yehovah and question his righteous motives. The same prophet proffered: “But we are all as an unclean thing, and all our righteousness are as filthy rags; and we all do fade as a leaf; and our iniquities, like the wind, have taken us away” (Isa 64: 6; KJV).

 

When Job experienced his crisis of faith, which prompted his challenging of Yehovah, the Father asked him: “Where were you [Job] when I laid the foundation of the earth” (38:4)?

 

When we get to the place where we reduce and judge Yehovah according to human standards of righteousness which Yah declared was nothing more than filthy rags, it means that we either don’t know Yehovah, or we, like Job, are amid a “crisis of faith.” If we don’t emerge from that crisis of faith, we run the risk of estrangement from our Heavenly Father. Indeed, to possess such hostile thoughts and feelings toward our loving, gracious, holy, and righteous Creator is to instead be rebellious toward Him.

 

As it relates to our rebelliousness, Yehovah declared: “Rebellion is as the sin of divination” (Deu 18:10), and insubordination is as wickedness and idolatry. Because you, [King Saul], have rejected the Word of Yehovah, He has also rejected you from being king” (1 Sam 15:19; LSB).

 

I mentioned previously that to challenge Yehovah’s holy and righteous motives is often founded on anti-God and anti-Israel sentiments. Well, let’s consider, for a moment, what we’re seeing played out, in this nation related to the ongoing conflict between Israel and the evil terrorist organization Hamas. Despite the horrific event Hamas wrought upon the innocent citizens of Israel on October 7, 2023, which prompted Israel to act in her defense, many people in this nation, again acting from a place of self-righteousness, are aggressively promoting a violent agenda that calls for the destruction of Israel and the turning over of Haaretz – the Land — to the so-called Palestinians. Some of these are demanding that Israel cease defending herself and permanently turn over portions of the Land to their aggressors, in what they call a “two-state solution” to the conflict.

 

Those who engage in such foolish rhetoric are writing checks that they’re behinds can’t cash. For the land belongs to Yehovah. He has owned that Land from the beginning: “The earth belongs to Yehovah, and all that fills it” (Psa 24.1; The Scriptures ISR). Of Haaretz – the Land  of Yisra’el, Moshe revealed: 10“For the land which you are going in to possess is not like the land of Mitsrayim from which you have come, where you sowed your seed and watered it by foot, as a vegetable garden, 11but the land which you are passing over to possess is a land of hills and valleys, which drinks water from the rain of the heavens, 12a land which יהוה your Elohim looks after. The eyes of יהוה your Elohim are always on it, from the beginning of the year to the latter end of the year. (The Scriptures, 3rd edition. (Northriding: Institute for Scripture Research, 2009), Dt 11:10–12.) Thus, Yah has every right to grant access and possession of the Land to whomever He chooses. And, by the way, Yehovah chose to gift the Land to the descendants of Jacob/Ya’achov. Neither the Godless world-leaders, nor the nation state of Israel, possesses the authority to change the arrangement that Yehovah set in place for the Land four or so millennia ago.

 

This whole question of Israel having rights to the Land is secondary to Yehovah’s will and plan of salvation, redemption, and restoration. Yehovah’s plan and purpose for all humanity is being worked through the Torah concept of a land – a people – and a covenant. And any who would desire to partake of Yehovah’s grand plan of salvation, redemption, and restoration must get on the same page that Yehovah is on. And to do that, is to believe and trust Yehovah and enter into and remain in a covenant relationship with Him through the Person and ministries of Yeshua Messiah. This has nothing to do with our personal feelings and perceptions of the modern nation of Israel, nor the humanitarian crisis that is happening in Gaza now. It’s about trust and faith in Yehovah and the resulting relationship we must have with Him in order that we enter His glorious Kingdom that operates within His beloved ones today, and that will come into the world tomorrow.

 

Yehovah is in control, and He is still on the throne. He owns us and we all are subject to His will and plans: “Behold, all souls are mine; as the soul of the father, so also the soul of the son is mine: the soul that sinneth, it shall die” (The Holy Bible: King James Version, Electronic Edition of the 1900 Authorized Version. (Bellingham, WA: Logos Research Systems, Inc., 2009), Eze 18:4.)

 

 

We, on the other hand, are required to trust and obey him:

 

13 Let us hear the conclusion of the whole matter: Fear God, and keep his commandments: for this is the whole duty of man. (The Holy Bible: King James Version, Electronic Edition of the 1900 Authorized Version. (Bellingham, WA: Logos Research Systems, Inc., 2009), Ec 12:13.)

 

 

Our God is truly a God of the living, despite the enemy’s claims to the contrary:

 

38“Now He is not the Elohim of the dead, but of the living, for all live to Him.” (The Scriptures, 3rd edition. (Northriding: Institute for Scripture Research, 2009), Lk 20:38.)

 

He has nothing but good intentions towards us, if we but only trust and obey Him:

 

9יהוה 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. (The Scriptures, 3rd edition. (Northriding: Institute for Scripture Research, 2009), 2 Pe 3:9.)

 

11‘For I know the plans I am planning for you,’ declares יהוה, ‘plans of peace and not of evil, to give you a future and an expectancy. (The Scriptures, 3rd edition. (Northriding: Institute for Scripture Research, 2009), Je 29:11.)

 

Behind the scenes of life, as portrayed in our readings over the last few weeks, and going forward to the end of our three-year reading cycle when the Fall Feasts of 2024 comes around, Yehovah is busy at work deconstructing the Kingdom of Darkness and bringing in its stead about the glorious Malchut Elohim/The Kingdom of God. This means that Yehovah’s will must be carried out, even though His will may at times infringe upon our misplaced sense of righteousness. Yehovah has a reason for doing everything He does. What we think or how we feel about that which he does means absolutely nothing when weighed against his unimaginable plans and will for those who are His.

 

During our second-generation exodus cousins conquering and taking possession of the land, it turns out that because it was Yehovah’s will that his bride takes possession of the Land, He was the one who defeated the Canaanites. Israel was simply the righteous tool He used to eradicate evil from the Land (cp. Gen 15:16).

 

So, what does any of this say to us today? It simply says that Yehovah has a plan that He is working out on a global and individual basis. Globally, Yehovah will personally right all wrongs and establish His Kingdom on this earth. His beloved Son will reign as king over His Kingdom. In so doing, righteousness and holiness will be restored to the Land and Yehovah’s people be made eternally whole. Yehovah will restore that which the devourer has taken (Joe 2:25). Paradise Lost will become paradise restored. Fallen humanity must be restored to its original, created state that Yah deemed as being very good (Gen 1.31). We must be redeemed and made whole as a people, as His new creation. Death must be erased. And Yehovah is going to do what He must do to make all this and so much more happen. From an individual standpoint, Yehovah simply invites us to get on the winning side. And that, again, requires our complete and unadulterated trust and obedience. We are His workmanship (Eph 2.10), destined unto good works. All that we have then belongs to him. Everything we have we receive through His grace, His mercy, His provision, and His strength, all of which He lavishes upon those of us, belongs to Him, not us. Yah just allows us access to and use of these blessed resources until He replaces those things with things that will be far better and greater (1Chr 29:12).

Links to Mentioned Teachings:

Shabbat HaChodesh Teaching

Explanation of Current Calendar Confusion Among Observational Calendar Keepers

 

 

 

The Key to Knowing God: Remembering and Obeying

In the past two readings, which we did not cover because we were on hiatus for the Fall Feasts, Yisrael experienced or witnessed the inauguration of Pesach in the midst of the final tenth plague that resulted in the death of every Egyptian/Mitsri firstborn and the...

read more

Getting to the Heart of Yom Kippur–Day of Atonement 2022

Yom Kippur Just a Day of Fasting? What did Yah truly mean by His people afflicting their souls on Yom Kippur? Was He commanded us to engage in just a fast?  Turns out that Abba requires more from us on Yom HaKippurim than just a full day of not eating and drinking....

read more

The Realities of Yom Teruah 2022

  Introduction to our Discussion   Welcome to the Day of the Blowing of Trumpets, or better, the Blowing of Shofars 2022. And with that, we pray that you are earnestly preparing and eagerly awaiting the arrival of Yom Teruah 2022.   The title of our...

read more

Death-the Grave-the Resurrection-Part 2

  Introduction   This is part 2 of our discussion on death, the grave, and the resurrection. And we will be picking up where we left off in part 1, which if you haven’t had the opportunity to either read or listen to that post on any of the platforms in which...

read more

Deuteronomy-A Rehashing and Retelling of Torah to a New Generation-Thoughts and Reflections on Torah Reading 126

This week’s Torah Reading, contained in Deuteronomy 1.1-46, is the 126th portion of our 3-year Torah Portion reading cycle. I’ve entitled this teaching: “Deuteronomy – A Rehashing and Retelling of Torah to a New Generation.”

 

Deuteronomy is where we will be hanging our spiritual hats, so to speak, for the remainder of this biblical calendar year. So, buckle up and prepare for some intense forays into Yah’s eternal words of life.

 

Welcome to Deuteronomy

 

The title given to the 5th book/cepher of the Torah is the Greek term Deuteronomy. It’s one of those Greek, composite words that is meant to convey a spiritual meaning. In this case, the title consists of “deuteros” which means second, and “nomos” which can mean either “word(s)” or “law”.

 

When we consider the meaning of Deuteronomy being that of the second law, we’re not talking about Moshe/Moses adding a second set of instructions to that which is contained in Exodus, Leviticus, and Numbers. Instead, the Cepher of Deuteronomy is a rehashing of the Torah contained in these preceding books/cepherim. This becomes clearly evidenced by even a casual read of our parshah today. We see herein that Moshe is led by the Holy Spirit/the Ruach Kodesh (such that all Scripture – all Torah – is given by the inspiration of Yehovah – 2 Tim 3.16) to instruct our 2nd generation Exodus cousins in Yah’s Torah and in the covenant precepts we’d previously received at Horeb (aka Mount Sinai). This action of instructing our 2nd generation was critical preparation for our imminent conquest of, and taking possession of, Canaan.

 

Why was Moshe led to provide us with a rehash of Torah? Isn’t it likely that we, the 2nd-generation-Exodus children, would have received the teachings contained in Exodus, Leviticus, and Numbers as we were growing up? Well, let’s not overlook that significant portions of Torah had not been kept by either of our two Exodus generations since most of Yah’s instructions were applicable only when we finally settled in the Land.

 

Simply recall or reference the numerous passages where Yah prefaces certain commands with: “When ye come into the land,” or “when you appear before Yehovah,” or “when ye reap the harvest of your land,” and so forth. So, contrary to what may appear to us from casual read-throughs of Torah, while we sojourned in the wilderness, we primarily kept, with just a few exceptions, just the moral and purity laws, and of course, the ten-commandments. And what Deuteronomy/Devarim (in the Hebrew) captures for us is, essentially, Moshe rendering unto our second Exodus-generation cousins a “Torah Refresher Course” in preparation for our taking possession of the Land (Hegg, T., “Commentary on Deuteronomy,’ p. 15).

 

Tim Hegg (Torah teacher, scholar, and prolific writer, and president of torahresources.com) brilliantly points out in his commentary on our parshah that our steadfast studies of Torah, despite portions of it not being applicable to us today for various historic, logistical, and renewed covenant reasons, holds similarities to the situation facing our ancient Hebrew cousins. As these were being prepped to receive the Land of Promise, we are being prepared to receive the coming Malchut Elohim (aka the Kingdom of God) and the millennial reign of our Master Yahoshua Messiah (ibid., p. 15).

 

The point of our steadfast Torah studies each week is not to entertain some affinity for Jewish traditions and practices or to accumulate knowledge that may or may not be of spiritual use to our walk with Messiah. Instead, our studies should be for the purpose of expanding our knowledge of Yehovah and deepening our covenant relationship with Him.

 

We find in our reading that, Moshe, through his “Torah Refresher,” reaffirmed the covenant Yah cut with our first generation Exodus parents at the base of Mount Sinai.

 

“These are the words (“Eleh ha-d’varim) which Moses spoke to all Israel on this side of the Jordan in the wilderness, in the plain opposite Suph (i.e. the Transjordan)… a journey of eleven days from Horeb… in the 40th year (i.e., year 39 of our 40-year wilderness sojourn) in the 11th month, on the 1st day of the month.” (Russell Resnik, Gateways to Torah: Joining the Ancient Conversation on the Weekly Portion (Baltimore, MD: Messianic Jewish Publishers, 2000), 189.)

 

The events as recorded in this 5th cepher of Torah is an official legal enactment of divine instructions, as it contains the location (i.e. the Transjordan region to the east of the Jordan River), date (i.e. the 11th month of our 40th year in the wilderness), and individuals involved (i.e. Moshe and all of Yisra’el). This historic event prophetically points us to the ministries of our Master Yahoshua Messiah and John (aka Yochanan) the Immerser. How so? Think of our Master’s temptation by hasatan and John’s epic water immersions of the sons and daughters of Yehudah/Judah. Both historic events take place in the general location that the Cepher/Book of Deuteronomy was written and delivered to us (Mat 4.24; 19.1; Mar 3.8; 10.1; Luk 4.1). Both New Testament events parallel this D’varim/Deuteronomic event in that both are about preparing Yehovah’s people to receive – to enter – the Malchut Elohim. Rood’s Chronology places Yeshua’s temptation and John’s mass water immersions in the Transjordan in and around the 11th month of Yah’s biblical calendar in the year 27 CE (Rood, Michael; The Chronological Gospels; p. 66-71).

 

From a timing perspective – getting back to our reading – Moshe’s “refresher of Torah” to our 2nd generation-Exodus cousins occurred over the course of one to two months since Joshua, chapter 5 records that we officially entered the Land in the month of the Aviv:

 

 8 And it happened, when all the nation had finished circumcising, they remained where they were in the camp until they recovered. 9 And Yahweh said to Joshua, “Today I have rolled away the disgrace of Egypt from you.” Therefore, the name of that place is called Gilgal to this day. 10 And the ⌊Israelites⌋ camped at Gilgal, and they kept the Passover on the fourteenth day of the month, in the evening, on the plains of Jericho. 11 On the next day after the Passover, on that very day, they ate from the produce of the land, unleavened cakes and roasted corn. 12 And the manna ceased the day after, when they started eating the produce of the land, and there was no longer manna for the ⌊Israelites⌋. They ate from the crop of the land of Canaan in that year. (W. Hall Harris III et al., eds., The Lexham English Bible (Bellingham, WA: Lexham Press, 2012), Jos 5:8–12.)

 

Of course, our buddies, the ever opinionated Jewish sages, contend that Moshe’s delivery of D’varim concluded on the 6th day of the 12th month, which translates to 36-days from its start (reference Seder Olam Rabba).

 

Moshe narrates the cepher of D’varim himself, unlike the previous four cepherim of Torah which I believe Yehovah and angels narrated to and Moshe wrote down what they narrated to him.

 

I detect a prophetic shadow picture in D’varim. Moshe foreshadowing Y’shua Messiah, rehashing/clarifying/retelling Torah to a new generation of souls poised to take possession of the Kingdom of Heaven—the Land of Promise.

 

Just as Moshe’s words were delivered to aid our second generation of Exodus Yisra’elites in getting to know the Person of Yehovah and understanding how to serve and worship Him, Y’shua also provided us, a new creation, the keys to the kingdom; understanding what it takes to become a citizen of Yah’s eternal Kingdom and to fulfill the promise He made to us at Horeb that we would become unto Him a holy nation, a kingdom of priests, and a royal priesthood (Exo 19.6; 1 Pet 2.9). Additionally, D’varim is an exhortation to us to enter and receive the covenant promise of the Land. Moshe here reiterates that the blessings of the Promised Land were ripe for the taking, as the Land is “given before” us and “laid at” at our feet (1.21). This was our destiny. For this was all about a Land, a people [of Yah], and a covenant.

 

The clarion call is declared: “R’eh! … Aleh! Resh! — See! … Go up! Take possession!” What is this saying to us today, beloved?

 

D’varim is about the realities of the covenant and the covenant’s promises that Yah made initially to Avraham and on down to his descendants. It expresses Yehovah’s love for His covenant people and the love Yah’s covenant people must have for Him: Hearken O Israel: HaShem our God, HaShem is One! Now you are to love HaShem your God with all your heart, with all your being, with all your substance!     (6:4–5; The Schocken Bible) (Russell Resnik, Gateways to Torah: Joining the Ancient Conversation on the Weekly Portion (Baltimore, MD: Messianic Jewish Publishers, 2000), 190.) I.e. the Shema!

 

Moshe’s Historical Review of our Journey from Sinai to Where we Find Ourselves in Transjordan

 

One of the greatest reveals of our reading is found in 1.1-2:

 

These are the words that Moses spoke to all of Israel ⌊on the other side of⌋ the Jordan in the desert, in the desert plateau opposite Suph, between Paran and between Tophel and Laban and Hazeroth and Dizahab. 2 It is a journey of ⌊eleven days⌋ from Horeb ⌊by the way of Mount Seir⌋ up to Kadesh Barnea. (W. Hall Harris III et al., eds., The Lexham English Bible (Bellingham, WA: Lexham Press, 2012), Dt 1:1–2.)

 

Did you catch the reveal? Our trek through the wilderness should have taken just 11-days, leading up to our taking possession of the Land. But because we did not believe/trust Yah, we were sentenced by Yah to wander the wilderness as nomads/Bedouins for 40-years:

 

“Then Yahweh heard the sound of your words, and he was angry, and he swore, ⌊saying⌋, 35 ‘No one of these men of this evil generation will see the good land that I swore to give to your ancestors, 36 except Caleb, the son of Jephunneh; he himself shall see it, and to him I will give the land upon which he has trodden and to his sons because ⌊he followed Yahweh unreservedly⌋.’ 37 Even with me Yahweh was angry because of you, saying, ‘Not even you shall enter there. 38 Joshua, the son of Nun, ⌊your assistant⌋, will go there; encourage him because he will cause Israel to inherit it. 39 And your little children, who you thought shall become plunder, and your sons, who do not today know good or bad, shall themselves go there, and I will give it to them, and they shall take possession of it. 40 But you turn and set out in the direction of the wilderness by way of the ⌊Red Sea⌋.’ (W. Hall Harris III et al., eds., The Lexham English Bible (Bellingham, WA: Lexham Press, 2012), Dt 1:34–40.)

 

Mr. Hegg describes our 1st-generation-Exodus cousins, prior to our refusal to take possession of the Land:

 

“Everything was in place for the implementation of the Torah covenant that God had graciously given. Had the people submitted to the words of Torah, and acted upon them in faith, then they would have experienced the victory of possessing the Land without having to wander for 40-years in the wilderness” (ibid., p. 16-17).

 

The culprits of our 40-year death sentence of wilderness wandering: unbelief [leading to] rebelliousness:

 

26 But you were not willing to go up, and you rebelled against the ⌊command⌋ of Yahweh your God. 27 And you grumbled in your tents, and you said, ‘Because of the hatred of Yahweh toward us he has brought us out from the land of Egypt to give us into the hand of the Amorites to destroy us. (W. Hall Harris III et al., eds., The Lexham English Bible (Bellingham, WA: Lexham Press, 2012), Dt 1:26–27.)

 

Our fear of being destroyed by the giants of Canaan was fully founded upon our unbelief – our absence of faith – despite Moshe’s, Caleb’s, and Joshua’s assurances that Yah had our backs, and that Canaan was ours for the taking:

 

But through all of this you did not trust in Yahweh your God, 33 ⌊who goes⌋ ⌊before you⌋ on your way, seeking a place for your encampment, in fire at night and in a cloud by day, to show you the way that ⌊you should go⌋. (W. Hall Harris III et al., eds., The Lexham English Bible (Bellingham, WA: Lexham Press, 2012), Dt 1:32–33.)

 

And the excuse we gave for our faithlessness and rebelliousness was the hasatan inspired lie that Yehovah “hated us” such that He’d brought us from Egypt where we were content with our enslavement, to the gateway of the Promised Land, only to destroy us at the hands of the Amorites:

 

And you grumbled in your tents, and you said, ‘Because of the hatred of Yahweh toward us he has brought us out from the land of Egypt to give us into the hand of the Amorites to destroy us. (W. Hall Harris III et al., eds., The Lexham English Bible (Bellingham, WA: Lexham Press, 2012), Dt 1:27.)

 

Where have we heard that lie before? Well, throughout various times of our wilderness sojourning. It was part and parcel of our rebelliousness, which was often the main ingredient to our incessant complaining (1.27).

 

The sinful habit of complaining is inextricably linked to a rebellious heart, and a lack, if not complete absence of, trusting faith in Yehovah Elohim.

 

Nevertheless, so, as it was with our wilderness wandering cousins, Yehovah has only the best of intentions and plans for we who are His beloved:

 

11 For I know the plans I have for you, declares the LORD, plans for welfare and not for evil, to give you a future and a hope. 12 Then you will call upon me and come and pray to me, and I will hear you. 13 You will seek me and find me, when you seek me with all your heart. 14 I will be found by you, declares the LORD, and I will restore your fortunes and gather you from all the nations and all the places where I have driven you, declares the LORD, and I will bring you back to the place from which I sent you into exile.(The Holy Bible: English Standard Version (Wheaton, IL: Crossway Bibles, 2016), Je 29:10–14.)

 

The sinful act of complaining or grumbling, according to Mr. Hegg, “is the leaven that makes rebellion grow. Rather, in everything give thanks; for this is God’s will for you in Messiah Yeshua” (a reference to 1 The 5.18). (If you’ve not already done so and you are so led, I invite you to listen to or read my teaching entitled: Overcoming Obstacles to Belief Part 2: Murmuring and Complaining.)

 

 

Moshe Gives our Second Generation a History Lesson on Our Wilderness Trek Towards the Promised Land (A Retrospective on the 40-Year Sojourn in the Wilderness and the Lessons of that Period — 1.6-3.29)

 

Moshe rehashes some of the events after we departed Horeb. It was at the appointed time that Abba Yah said to us: “Rav Lachem” — Enough for you …of [you] staying at this mountain [i.e. Mount Sinai at Horeb]. (1.6; reference Num 10.11) And we were made to turn ourselves around and journey/trek to the hill country of the Amorites. The year we sojourned at Horeb, at the base of Mount Sinai, Yah set out to mentally, physically, and spiritually prepare us to receive the Land. Of this move from the Holy Mountain of Yah, Rashi wrote:

 

There is much eminence for you, and reward for your having dwelt at this mountain. You made the tabernacle, menorah, and holy implements, you received the Torah, and you appointed Sanhedrin courts for yourselves, of leaders of thousands and leaders of hundreds. (Russell Resnik, Gateways to Torah: Joining the Ancient Conversation on the Weekly Portion (Baltimore, MD: Messianic Jewish Publishers, 2000), 191.)

 

Some have questioned Yah’s command “Rav Lechem” to us at Sinai, seeing it as a rebuke: A rebuke in the sense that maybe we had become too lax and too comfortable there. Some of this thinking seems to have emerged from the Korach incident where Korach challenged Moshe and Aharon, Rav Lechem — Too much is yours. In other words, you’ve taken more authority unto yourselves than you. Who do you think you are. What makes you two so special? Yehovah has declared that the entirety of Yisra’el is holy. And Moshe returns Korach’s rebuke with a Rav Lechem, noting that he and his ilk had bitten off more than they could chew and that Yehovah would make the ultimate determination as to who was Yisra’el’s true leaders.

 

In that sense, yes, Rav Lechem was a rebuke. But when Yehovah mentioned that to us as the prompt to leave Mount Sinai, it was not a rebuke at all. Rav Lechem in that sense was the commencement command to take all that we’d learned at our time of encampment about His Holy Mountain, and go forth and fulfill our destiny. Indeed, our time for glory had arrived. We would take Mount Sinai with us in spirit and infuse it into our existence once we realized our destiny in the Land that flowed with milk and honey.

 

Just as we experienced a similar period of learning and exponential growth when we came into a true and substantive covenant relationship with the Great I Am, through the Person and Ministry of Yeshua Messiah, there comes a time when we must move onward and upward to fulfill our mandates and duties as Yeshua’s trustworthy disciples. We are called to be a light and a salt to a corrupt and dying world, and to do our part in His Great Commission. Sadly, many of us find it difficult, if not impossible, to depart from the base of Mount Sinai. Consequently, many of us remain for the duration of our walk in Messiah as pew warmers, never producing any fruit; never growing and multiplying our talents; never realizing our destiny in Yeshua Messiah. Just sucking the nutrients out of the roots and trunk of our beloved spiritual commonwealth and faith community. Here’s a news flash: Our destiny is not just our making it into the Kingdom; our destiny also includes doing the will of the One Who sent us.

 

The lesson of Sinai is that divine revelation is not the end of the journey, but the beginning of a new journey. (Russell Resnik, Gateways to Torah: Joining the Ancient Conversation on the Weekly Portion (Baltimore, MD: Messianic Jewish Publishers, 2000), 193.) As Hilary is ofttimes heard saying to her discipleship students: “It’s time to get going and do something!” Do something indeed. Too many of us aren’t doing anything. It’s time to work the fields “while it is still day, for the night cometh when no man can work” (Joh 9.4).

 

After Rav Shaul recovered from the “shock and awe” of his transformative experience meeting the glorified Yeshua on that dusty road to Damascus and he’d received the unparalleled revelations of the Person and Ministries of Yeshua Messiah, Luke records that the Master instructed Shaul: “Arise and go into the city, and you will be told what you must do” (Acts 9:5–6). “Rav lachem—Enough for you this supernatural encounter; now you must move on to the assignment for which I have called you.” (Russell Resnik, Gateways to Torah: Joining the Ancient Conversation on the Weekly Portion (Baltimore, MD: Messianic Jewish Publishers, 2000), 193.)

 

After we left Horeb and arrived at Kadesh Barnea, we were supposed to proceed forward with Yah’s original plan and promise, which was to go in and take possession of the Land (1.19-21). We were meant to fulfill our destiny at that point. Yehovah asserted to us:

 

Look, I have set the land ⌊before you⌋; go and take possession of the land that Yahweh swore to your ancestors, to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob, to give it to them and to their offspring after them.’ (W. Hall Harris III et al., eds., The Lexham English Bible (Bellingham, WA: Lexham Press, 2012), Dt 1:8.)

 

I can’t help but be reminded of the turmoil and tribulations that our Jewish cousins are experiencing today over in the Land. The horrific evil that the terrorist organization Hamas thrust upon the nation, forcing them to take up arms and defend themselves against their hateful, deadly assaults, has once again led the nation peoples of the world to reject Yehovah, His Torah, and His people. This world’s blinded people reject the notion that Yehovah gave the Land to the descendants of Avraham, Yitschaq, and Ya’achov and that the Arab peoples who call themselves Palestinians actually have no rights to the Land. But when the nations of the world, many of whom were founded to some degree on Judeo-Christian principles, throw out the rule of Yehovah and of His Word over their lives, then the next logical step is to chant and level blasphemous words towards and take hateful actions against a people who are doing what their God requires of them. Yisra’el, contrary to the self-righteous convictions of most fools in this world, have no authority to hand over the Land that Yah gave to His people as a precept of the covenant agreement He’d cut with their forefathers. For the world’s self-righteous ones to insert themselves in the middle of something like this that they do not know of nor do they have any business opining about is to play with fire that will in the end turn around and burn them.

 

 

Getting back to our parshah, Moshe reminded us that we refused to obey Abba Yah out of fear of the inhabitants of the Land, despite Moshe’s promises that Yehovah would go before the nation and fight for them just as He’d done against the Mitsrim/Egyptians  (1.26-31). We’d lost all trust in Yehovah; the El who went before us along our way, manifesting Himself as fire at night and a cloud in the day (1. 33; Exo 13.21). Indeed, Yehovah became outraged at our failure to trust Him, which translated into our disobedience to not take possession of the Land as He’d commanded us to do (1.34). And it was our failure to trust/believe Yah, and our disobedience to Yah’s command that ultimately sealed the fate of our first Exodus generation, save Caleb and Joshua (1.35-36, 38).

 

Yah called us an evil generation (1.35). Our first generation cousins, because we did not trust/believe Yehovah and were rebellious to the point where we would not obey His commands, would not see for themselves the fulfillment of the covenant promise He cut with Avraham (1.35; Gen 15.5, 18). Not even Moshe, our illustrious leader, because he failed to give Yah the glory and honor due the Creator of the Universe, would enter and receive the promised Land (1.37; Num 20.12).

 

The irony in all this that Yah pointed out to us was that our second-generation children, who we saw as vulnerable to the “plunder” of the pagan nations, and who were innocent; ignorant of their situation would become the inheritors of the covenant promise (1.39). These beloved little ones of Yah would be protected and realize the destiny that their parents failed to achieve because of unbelief and rebelliousness.

 

Consider the prophetic shadow picture depicted here! Matthew records a confrontation between Yeshua and the chief priests and elders amid our Master teaching and preaching somewhere within the temple complex (21:23-43). It appears these Jewish leaders were still hot under the collar over Yeshua’s overturning of the moneychangers’ tables on the previous day, on or around Aviv 11, in the year 28 CE. These demanded Yeshua tell them under whose authority he brought about such wanton chaos and violence on the Temple Mount. Because these religious leaders were incapable of answering Yeshua’s rebuttal to their question, our Master refused to reveal the authority under which He operated.

 

Toward the end of their rather contentious exchange, seeing that He was getting nowhere in HIs discussion with these religious leaders, Yeshua declared unto them:

 

For this reason, I tell you that the kingdom of God will be taken away from you and will be given to a people who produce its fruits. 44 And the one who falls on this stone will be broken to pieces, and the one on whom it falls—it will crush him!” (W. Hall Harris III et al., eds., The Lexham English Bible (Bellingham, WA: Lexham Press, 2012), Mt 21:43–44.)

 

The arrogance, rebelliousness, and faithlessness of our religious leaders and any who find themselves in positions over us, will find themselves in forfeiture of Yah’s covenant promises and other followers and believers of the God of Avraham, Yitschaq, and Ya’achov instead receiving the blessings of those promises. This is the economy of the Malchut Elohim. Just because one may be in a prominent position of leadership over others in a faith community, doesn’t mean that they are a shoo-in for the Kingdom and to receive Yah’s covenant promises over the poor in spirit and the humble of the faith community.

 

 

Taking Matters into our Own Hands Offends God and Transgresses His Torah

 

Moshe reminded us that upon receiving our death sentence of 40-years of wilderness wandering, we elected to take matters into our own hands by attempting to render a partial take-over of the Land which resulted in our behinds being handed to us by the Amorites (1.43). This tragic, humiliating defeat came about because Yah was not with us when we sought to defy Him and take the Land on our own terms (1.42-46). We erroneously rationalized that we could fix the situation that we put ourselves in when we rebelled against Yah’s command to take possession of the Land.

 

To take matters in our own hands, as was the case in our going up against and being whipped by the Amorites, was a transgression against Yah and His Torah.

 

It is mandatory that we do things Yah’s Way: do them when, where, and how He directs. To do otherwise, as we did against the Amorites when Yah was not with us, is to face certain defeat and failure.

 

______________________________________________________

 

The accompanying Haftorah for this week’ parshah is contained in Jeremiah 30.4-11.

 

Here the prophet, through the inspiration of Yehovah, addresses YIsra’el’s Assyrian and Babylonian captivity and exile being brought about because of her unbelief and rebelliousness. Ya’achov by necessity had to be punished. However, Ya’achov would not be destroyed. Yehovah reveals to us that there will be an end to our captivity and exile:

 

But you must not fear, my servant Jacob,’ ⌊declares⌋ Yahweh, and you must not be dismayed, Israel, for look, I am going to save you from far, and your offspring from the land of their captivity. And Jacob will return, and he will be at rest, and he will be at ease, and there will be no one who makes him afraid. 11 For I am with you,’ ⌊declares⌋ Yahweh, ‘to save you. For I will make a complete destruction of all the nations to which I scattered you, but you I will not make a complete destruction. And I will chastise you to the measure, and I will not leave you entirely unpunished.’ (W. Hall Harris III et al., eds., The Lexham English Bible (Bellingham, WA: Lexham Press, 2012), Je 30:10–11. )

 

The accompanying Apostolic reading for this week’s parshah is contained in the Cepher of Hebrews 3.7-19.

 

Here the Hebraist reminds his readers to not have an evil, unbelieving heart which will inevitably lead to a fall similar to that of our first-generation Hebrew cousins (3.12). He warns us to not stray away from the living God (3.12). The writer encourages the readers to encourage each other to not become ensnared in the deception of sin through rebelliousness or the hardening of their hearts (3.13). The bottom line, according to the Hebraist is, that one cannot enter into Yah’s rest if they do not believe/trust Yah (3.19). (I would encourage you to listen to or read my teaching The Difference between Faith and Belief if you want a deeper understanding of these essential concepts.)

 

 

Beloved, let us not be fooled when it comes to our fear-induced rebelliousness – our faithlessness. When it comes to unresolved faithlessness and rebellion, scripture reveals that our prayers are severely hampered:

 

18 If I had considered evil in my heart, the Lord would not have listened. (W. Hall Harris III et al., eds., The Lexham English Bible (Bellingham, WA: Lexham Press, 2012), Ps 66:18.; cf. Pro 28.9; 1.28; Isa 1.15; 59.2; Jas 4.3)

 

Only the prayers of those of us who possess contrite hearts and humble spirits will Abba Yah receive and respond to (Isa 57.15; 66.2; Psa 34.18; 51.17).

 

TMTO Ministry Update

Greetings I'm back! Well, not quite. But almost.   History of Ministry QFC (2012) Blog (2012) Podcast (2014-11/2022) YouTube (2018-11/2022) QFC Affiliates with Feastkeepers (New York) and First Century COG (Baltimore) (2019-2021)   Why we ended the podcast...

read more

Explaining the Current Calendar Confusion Among Observational Calendar Keepers

Explaining the Current Calendar Confusion Among Observational Calendar Keepers

 

Greetings Saints of the Most High. Trusting that this special post finds you, your families, and fellowships are well and blessed at the start of this new week.

 

As I am posting this installment of the Messianic Torah Observer, the date is 3/24/2024, which translates to the 13th day of the 13th biblical month of the Torah-based observational calendar. Consequently, there are many within our Faith Community who are at this time keeping the observational calendar, but who believe that we should all be in the 1st Month of the Biblical Calendar year – the month of the Aviv. And these brethren, who I love dearly and who I don’t have any gripes with whatsoever, are on the eve of Passover/Pesach 2024. And I’m certain that many of you are asking how could this possibly be happening? And that’s why I’m coming to you with this special post to explain the current calendar confusion that is currently ongoing amongst our faith’s observational calendar keepers. My purpose in bringing this information to you is not to sell you on the virtues associated with keeping the observational calendar over that of the calculated Jewish Calendar. Clearly, for me to do so would be foolish since what most members of our Faith Community want is unity and simplicity of life. And what we’re seeing take place in the observational segment of the Messianic/Netsari faith community is anything but unity and simplicity. But What I want to provide to you here today is in this post is an explanation as to why observationalists in our faith community are observing the biblical New Year at different times this year. This is an explanation of the current calendar confusion that exists among observational calendar keepers this year.

So, as it stands today, the observationalists of our Faith Community are once again divided. In fact, what we’re seeing take place this Roman Calendar month is a repeat of last year’s split among the observationalists as to when biblical Rosh HaShannah began. But this year, the split is more intense this year than it was last year as more observationalists have found themselves caught up in the chaos.

 

Why?

 

The core problem as I see it is that there exist a tremendous disconnect among members of competing barley inspectors in Yisra’el as to what constitutes the true biblical Month of the Aviv in terms of the state of the barley crop. You see, Yah requires that the Levitical Priest must receive an omer (aka sheaf) of aviv barley from Yisra’el and wave it before Yehovah at the place where He places His Name, at the Tabernacle or Temple, during the pilgrimage Feast of Unleavened Bread. This ceremony is referred to as the Wavesheaf Offering. It represented the firstfruits of our spring harvest. Prophetically, it foreshadows Yeshua, our Master, as the firstfruits of the new race of souls destined for the Kingdom through Yeshua Messiah (1 Cor 15.20-23; cf. Rom 11.5-16; Jas 1.18).

 

The Torah of the Firstfruits/Wavesheaf Offering is found in Leviticus/Vayiqra 23.9-15 and reads as follows:

 

9The LORD spoke to Moses, saying: 10Speak to the Israelite people and say to them:

When you enter the land that I am giving to you and you reap its harvest, you shall bring the first sheaf of your harvest (customarily the barley harvest) to the priest. 11He shall elevate the sheaf before the LORD for acceptance in your behalf; the priest shall elevate it on the day after the sabbath. 12On the day that you elevate the sheaf, you shall offer as a burnt offering to the LORD a lamb of the first year without blemish. 13The meal offering with it shall be two-tenths of a measure of choice flour with oil mixed in, an offering by fire of pleasing odor to the LORD; and the libation with it shall be of wine, a quarter of a hin. 14Until that very day, until you have brought the offering of your God, you shall eat no bread or parched grain or fresh ears; it is a law for all time throughout the ages in all your settlements. (Jewish Publication Society, Tanakh: The Holy Scriptures (Philadelphia: Jewish Publication Society, 1985), Le 23:9–14.)

 

How do we know precisely when to separate out the firstfruit barley for the wavesheaf offering from our overall barley crop? Yah instructed the following:

 

You shall count off seven weeks (at the time of the Feast of Unleavened Bread and the Wavesheaf Offering); start to count the seven weeks (i.e. the 49-day count to Pentecost/Shavuot) when the sickle is first put to the standing grain. (Jewish Publication Society, Tanakh: The Holy Scriptures (Philadelphia: Jewish Publication Society, 1985), Dt 16:9.)

 

In order for the sheaf of barley to be acceptable for the priests to wave before Yehovah on the Day of the Wavesheaf Offering at the Tabernacle or Temple, the barley that comprises the sheaf must be in an aviv state of maturation.

 

It’s not that the barley inspectors in the land are incompetent when it comes to accessing and distinguishing between aviv and non-aviv barley. The various teams that are scattered throughout Israel of which I am aware are pretty consistent in regard to recognizing when a barley crop is aviv. The problem has to do with how much of the barley at the end of the 12th month needs to be aviv in order to declare the Biblical Rosh HaShannah. The inspectors seem to fall within the following categories:

 

Category 1: Does Abba Yah require there be just enough aviv barley to make up one omer of aviv barley in all the Land of Yisra’el to be presented to the Levitical Priests and waved on the Day of Firstfruits on behalf of the whole nation of Yisrael? I do not believe this is biblical.

 

We find in Leviticus that the Wavesheaf ceremony did not consist only of a single sheaf of barley to be waved before Yehovah by a Levitical Priest at the tabernacle or temple. Yah required us to bring to Him the firstfruits of our labor, regardless what crop or agriculture we were involved in for our livelihood. Consider the following passage in Leviticus that I believe clarifies my point:

 

In the first month, on the fourteenth of the month at the evening is Yahweh’s Passover. 6 And on the fifteenth day of this month is Yahweh’s Feast of Unleavened Bread; for seven days you shall eat unleavened bread. 7 On the first day there shall be a holy assembly for you; you shall not do ⌊any regular work⌋. 8 And you shall present an offering for Yahweh made by fire for seven days; on the seventh day there shall be a holy assembly; you shall not do ⌊any regular work⌋.’ ” 9 Then Yahweh spoke to Moses, saying, 10 “Speak to the ⌊Israelites⌋, and say to them, ‘When you come to the land that I am about to give to you and you reap its harvest, then you shall bring a sheaf of the firstfruit of your harvest to the priest. 11 And he shall wave the sheaf ⌊before⌋ Yahweh for your acceptance; the priest shall wave it ⌊on the day after⌋ the Sabbath. 12 And on the day of your waving the sheaf you shall ⌊offer⌋ a ⌊yearling⌋ male lamb without defect as a burnt offering to Yahweh. 13 And its grain offering shall be two-tenths of an ephah of finely milled flour mixed with oil, an offering made by fire for Yahweh, an appeasing fragrance; and its libation shall be a fourth of a hin of wine. 14 And you shall not eat bread or roasted grain or ripe grain until ⌊this very same day⌋, until you present your God’s offering. This must be ⌊a lasting statute⌋ for your generations in all your dwellings. (W. Hall Harris III et al., eds., The Lexham English Bible (Bellingham, WA: Lexham Press, 2012), Le 23:5–14.)

 

Now this shall be the share of the priest from the people, from ⌊those who sacrifice the sacrifice⌋, whether it is an ox, sheep, or goat, and they shall give the priest the shoulder and the jawbones and the stomach. 4 The firstfruits of your grain, your wine, and your olive oil and the firstfruits of the fleece of your sheep you shall give to him. (W. Hall Harris III et al., eds., The Lexham English Bible (Bellingham, WA: Lexham Press, 2012), Dt 18:3–4.)

 

“ ‘And if you bring to Yahweh a grain offering of firstfruits, you must bring an ear of new grain roasted by fire, coarsely crushed ripe grain, as the grain offering of your firstfruits. (W. Hall Harris III et al., eds., The Lexham English Bible (Bellingham, WA: Lexham Press, 2012), Le 2:14.)

 

Seems pretty clear to me from these critical Torah passages that Yah required the whole nation to bring the firstfruits of their harvest to be waved before Him during the Feast of Unleavened Bread, on the Day of the Wavesheaf Offering.

 

 

Category 2: Does Abba Yah require the whole of the barley crop in the Land of Yisra’el be in an Aviv state at the end of the 12th month so that each soul may present it to the Priests as a Wavesheaf Offering. Yes and no.

 

Some barley inspectors believe that as long as some of the barley crop is nearing an aviv state of maturity at the end of the 12th month, it stands to reason that within 10-days time, when we would pilgrimage to Yerushalayim to celebrate and keep the Feast of Unleavened Bread, then the Month of the Aviv can be called. (Somewhat of a risk.) It seems to me that at the very least, before we were to take our annual pilgrimage to Jerusalem to celebrate and keep the Feast of Unleavened Bread, we had to harvest our “aviv” crop (Deu 16.9), of which we were prohibited from consuming, until after our firstfruit sheaf of barley was waved before Yehovah at the tabernacle/temple on the Day of the Wavesheaf Offering. Which is to say, if the barley crop is at the cusp of being truly and fully aviv at the end of the 12th month, and there is a certainty that the crop will be aviv by the time we harvest and separate out firstfruits Wavesheaf offering, then yes, we can call Biblical Rosh HaShannah at that time. But if the barley crop is not for a certainty going to be aviv by the time we take our pilgrimage to the tablernacle/temple for the Feast of Unleavened Bread, then we are expected by Yehovah to allow the crop another month to ripen to an acceptable aviv state, a 13th month, which I believe we are currently in.

 

 

Unfortunately, the segment of our Faith Community that keep the observational calendar are divided along these stated lines. It is understandable why so many in our overall Messianic Faith Community steer clear of the observational calendar. Clearly, when the state of the aviv is in such flux as we have learned over the course of the past month or so, opinions and egos and personal interpretations take center stage and observationalists are forced to take sides. And when this happens, we have members keeping the set-apart days of Yehovah at different times of the Roman calendar year.

 

As I put together this brief discussion, some observationalists are preparing for Pesach/Passover which they believe falls on M-nday, 3/25/2024, having called Biblical Rosh HaShannah on T-esday, 3/12/2024. The other half of the observationalists won’t observe biblical Rosh HaShannah, depending on the sighting of the renewed moon, until W-dnesday, 4/10/2024 and Passover/Pesach until T-esday, 4/23/2024.

 

This disparity saddens and frustrates me. But not enough for me to go back to keeping the Jewish Calculated Calendar. I see this all as part of the sifting process and an important element of my faith and obedience development. If you are interested in learning more about the observational calendar and why Hilary and I have loyally kept the observational calendar for the last 10 or so years, I invite you to read my post entitled: “Why I Keep the Torah (Observational) Calendar and not the Other Popular Messianic Calendars.

 

So, where do I fall out in terms of where we are in Yah’s sacred calendar year this Roman Calendar year? After much prayer and meditation, Hilary and I have elected to side with those who believe that there is insufficient aviv barley crop in the Land of Yisra’el to support us being in the Month of the Aviv at this time. Thus, we believe that we are in the 13th Month, which gives the barley crop in Yisra’el the month to mature sufficiently to the required aviv state. Thus, we anticipate, Abba willing and depending on the sighting of the 1st renewed moon of Yah’s biblical calendar year 2024 (aka the Biblical Rosh HaShannah), to hit on W-dnesday, 4/10/2024. If you follow me on our website, themessianictorahobserver.org, I maintain an up-to-date tracking of Yah’s reckoning of time. You may also find my teachings on the Spring Feasts of Yehovah and the Biblical Rosh HaShannah on themessianictorahobserver.org.

 

One of the benefits that I see in the current 13th month calendar situation is that Hilary and I will be keeping both the Spring and Fall Feasts with most of our friends and acquaintances in the Faith who keep the calculated Jewish Calendar at the same time. And that’s always a tremendous blessing.

 

I’m going to leave it at that, beloved. Thank you for bearing with me on this issue. I felt it important to give an explanation as to why some members of our community are keeping Passover this month, and other members of our community aren’t keeping Passover till next month. I hope my explanation was useful to you.

 

And with that, I pray you have an overcoming, and powerfully blessed week in Yeshua Messiah.

Shavua’tov beloved of Yeshua Messiah.

 

The Torah of the Cities of Refuge–Thoughts and Reflections on Torah Reading 125

 

Shabbat Shalom.

 

This week’s Torah Reading, contained in Numbers 35:9-36:13, is the 125th portion of our 3-year Torah Portion reading cycle. And for our discussion today, we will focus only on verses 9 through 34 of chapter 35. This is, by the way, the final reading in our 3-year Torah Reading cycle in the Book of Numbers (aka Bemidbar).

 

I’ve entitled this teaching: The Torah of the Cities of Refuge. It will be my thoughts and reflections on Torah Reading 125.

 

Key Terms and Concepts

 

  • Refuge (aka asylum): miq-lat
  • Die or dying: mwt (mem-vav-tav)
  • Kill or killer or murder or murderer; manslaying or manslayer: rot-zah. In our reading, Yehovah distinguishing for us the difference between murder/intentional homicide and what we call here in the West, manslaughter, accidental, or unintentional homicide. Yah’s Torah of the Cities of Refuge clarifies the distinction between these two forms of killings/homicides. Besides distinguishing between intentional and unintentional homicide, Yehovah, through His instructions on the Cities of Refuge, further emphasized the extreme value that He places on life. Yah’s extreme value for life must serve as a mandate for us to value life as He does. We value life in a Godly manner when we keep Yah’s commandment to love our neighbor as ourselves (Lev 19.18) and to steadfastly enact righteous justice in our communities.
  • Redeem; redeemer; avenger such as a blood avenger; to reclaim as one’s own; to right a wrong or restore equilibrium: ga’al
  • Blood; the shedding of blood; bloodguilt: dam
  • Bribe; ransom (given to one who holds sway in a case to avoid impending judgment or punishment against a guilty party): ko’fair (ko’per)
  • Strike; smite; to strike someone dead; to hit or injure another: neekah
  • To flee (such as flee to a refuge city): nun-vav-semach
  • Enmity or hostility: ehvah
  • Witness: ‘ed (ai-ed)

 

The Torah of the Cities of Refuge (arey hammiqlat)

 

Our reading today starts off with the command to choose for ourselves six cities to serve as Cities of Refuge for the commonwealth of Yisra’el:

 

9And יהוה spoke to Mosheh, saying, 10“Speak to the children of Yisra’ěl, and say to them, ‘When you pass over the Yarděn into the land of Kena‛an, 11then you shall choose cities to be cities of refuge for you, that the man-slayer who struck someone mistakenly shall flee there.

12‘And they shall be cities of refuge for you from the revenger, and the man-slayer is not to die until he stands before the congregation for right-ruling. 13‘And of the cities which you give, six are to be cities of refuge. (The Scriptures, 3rd edition. (Northriding: Institute for Scripture Research, 2009), Nu 35:9–13.)

 

Our Haftarah Reading, contained within Joshua 20:1-6, names these six designated Cities of Refuge. Those cities were Bezer, Ramoth-Gilead, Golan, Hebron, Shechem, and Kedesh.

 

Besides these named cities, Yehovah gave instructions on the proper use of these refuge cities by those innocents seeking asylum or protection from a blood avenger. A blood avenger, by the way, was the direct male next-of-kin who, responding to the news of the murder or killing of their loved one, pursues their killer or murderer and avenges their death.

 

We established the six Cities of Refuge at the command of Yehovah. Their purpose was to prevent the shedding of innocent blood in the Commonwealth of Yisra’el (Deu 19.1-13). The shedding of innocent blood incurs bloodguilt upon a people and upon their Land. If a sanctioned court proceeding determines that the individual who killed the person in question did so with murderous intent, they would hand over the murderer to the blood avenger for execution. This would purge/expiate the bloodguilt that hung over the community and the Land, restoring God’s grace (Deu 4:41-43).

 

We find from last week’s reading that Yah tied these six cities or attached these six cities to the 48 cities that were given to the Levites (Num  35.1-8 of Torah Reading 124). These cities comprised pasturelands for the Levites’ domestic animals and their personal possessions (35.1-3). The confines of these cities are recorded in 35.4-5.

 

It makes sense that Yah required these six refuge cities be numbered among the cities belonging to the Levites. At this time in our history, the Levites served as our intermediaries or intercessors to Yehovah.

 

So, why did Yah command us to set aside these six Levite cities to serve as places of refuge for innocent killers to flee to?

 

  1. Yah’s steadfast grace and perfect justice and righteousness reveal that He cares about the life of the innocent soul. Yah is not willing that any should perish, be it in this life or the life to come (cf. 2 Pet 3.9).
  2. So as “to not defile the land on which we are living as He, Yehovah, is living in the midst of the land and in our midst” (35.34). This reality goes back to Yah’s demand that we ensure and maintain the absolute physical and spiritual cleanness/purity of our persons and our surroundings while He dwells in our midst (5.1-6.27).

 

The shedding of innocent blood in the Land, by virtue of Yah’s holiness and righteousness, and His demand that we, His people, also be holy, causes the Land to fall into an unclean state. Our God will not dwell amid either physical or spiritual filth. And the only way to return the Land to its formerly clean state — a state that is acceptable to Yah — is for the shed innocent blood to be atoned for by the shedding of the murderer’s blood. This principle not only applies to the blood that is shed by a murder victim, but it also applies to the blood that is shed when an innocent killer’s blood is shed by a blood avenger. Thus, Yah gave us the Torah of the Cities of Refuge to prevent the execution of an innocent soul.

 

Either way, we were commanded to ensure that the commission of such crimes did not sully (i.e. bring about uncleanness to) the Land in which we and Yehovah dwell. To forsake such righteous justice and atonement is to risk Yah abandoning us and the Land, and we, as His people, being exiled from the Land by Yah (Lev 18.28; Eze 36.17-18; Hos 4.2-3).

 

There is little wonder why this and other western nations, where the people once honored the God of Avraham, Yitschaq, and Ya’achov, find themselves cursed as they are today. Innocent blood floods the streets of these nations and cities: From the millions of aborted babies, to the countless homicides and crimes that these nations’ judicial systems allow to go unpunished every single day, this and all other supposed Judeo-Christian nations of the world are cursed with a curse. But Yah will recompense the evil that has brought about the unacceptable filth that covers over the nation cities of this world, including the modern nation state of Yisra’el.

 

Many of the provisions of this parashah that we are reading today have been adopted and practiced by most Western nations of the world (at least at some point in their history). Yet the leaders and people of this and the other nations of the world have forsaken these God-given provisions in the name of and the religion we know today as “wokeness” and “progressiveness.” A new humanistic righteousness has replaced Godly-righteousness, and Yah has had about a belly full of this foolishness. Judgment is coming to this nation and to this world. And only those of us who possess the testimony of Yahoshua HaMashiyach and keep Yah’s instructions in righteousness will be spared and delivered from the wrath to come (Rev 12.17; 14.12).

 

The Torah of the Cities of Refuge applied to both the native born Yisra’elite and the foreigner/stranger/sojourner who worshipped the God of Avraham, Yitschaq, and Ya’achov and who lived within the commonwealth of Yisra’el (35.15). And so it stands as it was when we first received Yah’s covenant proposal: Abba Yah asserted that His Torah — His instructions in righteousness — applied to all Yisra’el and every Yisra’elite whether they be native born or the sojourning stranger in our midst (Exo 12.49).

 

There is a prophetic shadow picture embedded in the Torah of the Cities of Refuge, in particular, the aspect of the law that involved the death of the High Priest effecting the release of the manslayer from the City of Refuge that once provided him protection from a blood avenger’s wrathful execution. Freedom — release from the mandated confines of the refuge city he temporarily lived in — came to the manslayer only upon the death of the Cohen Gadol.

 

We find in 35.27 that the killer or innocent manslayer was not under “house arrest” while residing in one city of refuge. He was, however, confined to the defined limits or borders of that city (Barry, John D. et al., ESV Study Bible; Logos 10 edition). While residing within the borders of the City of Refuge, where the city’s elders had acquitted him of murder, he was protected from the murderous wrath of the blood avenger. If the manslayer wanted to live, he had to remain within the confines of that refuge city until the sitting High Priest (aka the Cohen HaGadol at the time of his trial) died. Upon the death of the Cohen Gadol, the manslayer was free to leave that City of Refuge and return to his home. To defy this provision that offered the manslayer protection meant that he would be subject to the wrath-driven vengeance of the blood avenger, regardless of his innocence.

 

The [atoning] death of our Cohen HaGadol has made us, as believers and followers of Yahoshua HaMashiyach, free. Unlike the innocent manslayer who is granted refuge from the wrath of the blood avenger and ultimately achieves complete freedom and release upon the death of the presiding High Priest, we, as believers and followers of Yahoshua HaMashiyach, are feloniously guilty and deserving of the penalty of death and separation from the Creator of all things. Yet, the wholeness and perfection of our High Priest’s sacrifice frees and releases us from our death sentence, despite our overwhelming guilt.

 

The politically motivated so-called sanctuary cities of this nation are receiving attention, making this topic and reading timely, if you ask me. These cities are finding themselves regretting their claims to be sanctuary cities because of the devastating financial and criminal effects brought to their cities by a large influx of undocumented migrants. The obvious difference between this nation’s sanctuary cities and Yehovah’s mandated Cities of Refuge is that the leaders of this nation’s sanctuary cities are not of Yehovah. They are a rebellious lot. And now, they and their constituents are having to eat crow, so to speak, and face the consequences of their self-serving actions.

 

Yah Requires at Least Three Witnesses to Convict and Ensure Righteous Justice is Rendered

 

One of the greatest principles related to righteous judgment to be gleaned from our reading is that of Yah, requiring the testimony of at least two or more witnesses to convict someone of murder. In fact, Yah stipulated:

 

30‘Whoever strikes a being, the murderer shall be executed by the mouth of witnesses, but one witness does not bear witness against someone to die. (The Scriptures, 3rd edition. (Northriding: Institute for Scripture Research, 2009), Nu 35:30.)

 

6 ⌊On the evidence of⌋ two or three witnesses ⌊the person shall be put to death⌋. The person shall not be put to death by the mouth of one witness. (W. Hall Harris III et al., eds., The Lexham English Bible (Bellingham, WA: Lexham Press, 2012), Dt 17:6.)

 

The testimony of a single witness may not be used to convict⌋ with respect to any crime and for any wrongdoing in any offense that a person committed; on the ⌊evidence⌋ of two witnesses or on the ⌊evidence⌋ of three witnesses ⌊a charge shall be sustained⌋. (W. Hall Harris III et al., eds., The Lexham English Bible (Bellingham, WA: Lexham Press, 2012), Dt 19:15.)

 

The righteous principle of establishing that a crime has indeed been committed through the testimony of two or more witnesses extends over to non-criminal matters, such as in resolving strife or disputes in the Body of Messiah:

 

15 “Now if your brother sins against you, go correct him between you and him alone. If he listens to you, you have gained your brother. 16 But if he does not listen, take with you in addition one or two others, so that by ⌊the testimony⌋ of two or three witnesses every matter may be established. 17 And if he refuses to listen to them, tell it* to the church. But if he refuses to listen to the church also, let him be to you as a Gentile and a tax collector. (W. Hall Harris III et al., eds., The Lexham English Bible (Bellingham, WA: Lexham Press, 2012), Mt 18:15–17.)

 

Thus, our Master extended the Torah precept of establishing guilt by the testimony of two witnesses to all matters of contention between brethren. (cf. 2 Cor 13.1; Heb 10.28)

 

The Torah of the Cities of Refuge serves as a prophetic shadow picture of the Person and ministries of Yahoshua our Messiah. He is our refuge. Death and Yehovah’s righteous wrath awaits and pursues after those who do not flee to the refuge that Yehovah offers to the world through His Son, Yahoshua HaMashiyach.

 

 Innocent or Guilt Determined by Righteous Judges

The intent of the killer must be determined by the refuge city’s elder-judges (35:16-21). Within these verses, Yehovah provided us examples of actions that constitute intentional homicide or murder.

 

Our judges (i.e. “edah,” which, according to Deu 19.11-12; cf. 16.18; 17.8, must consist of the elders of the city of refuge) determined the innocence or guilt of a killer based on their intent to cause deadly harm. The elders would rely on the testimony of two or more witnesses to arrive at their judgment. If the judges determined the killer did not murder the deceased (i.e. did not intentionally kill the deceased), they would remand the killer to the guardianship of the sanctuary city he first took refuge in. He was to remain there until the death of the presiding Cohen Gadol (aka the High Priest), at which time the manslaying was free to return to their home. If the court deemed the killer guilty of intentional homicide, the murderer was to be handed over to the deceased next of kin (aka the go’el or kinsman redeemer). The go’el was the deceased kinsman responsible (i.e. obligated) to represent the deceased family in avenging the murder of the loved one.

 

There is certainly some Messianic application to be seen here. Our Go’el, Yahoshua Messiah, stands as our redeemer, our deliverer, and the sole being to ransom us from the evil one and the Kingdom of Darkness.

 

Just to make sure we’re all on the same page, convicted murderers were not given sanctuary in any of the six cities of refuge. There was no provision in Torah for a murderer to be spared execution through him paying a ransom to either the blood avenger or the judges (35.31).

 

The Necessity Mission of the Blood Avenger

 

The “blood avenger,” or the “redeemer of blood,” despite the bad press he receives from a casual read of this parashah, serves an important purpose as it relates to restoring the righteous equilibrium, — wellbeing — functioning, of our commonwealth. When the redeemer of blood avenges the murder of their loved one, he “restores the status quo” of his family, community, and the Land” (Hegg, Tim, Commentary on Numbers; pg. 225). He brings about necessary justice to the evil that has been perpetrated upon his family, the community, and the Land through his actions. This same principle of restoring the equilibrium or returning a people and the Land back to its righteous status-quo is founded in the concept of the kinsman-redeemer in the Book of Ruth; is like the soul who redeems their brethren out of debtor’s slavery or debtor’s prison (Lev 25.48); and similar to the buying back of one’s inherited land that was, out of some necessity, sold to another (Lev 25.25). (Hegg, ibid., p. 225).

 

The shedding of innocent blood knocks the deceased’s family, the community, and the Land off kilter. And in order to right the situation and restore the righteous equilibrium that befell the people and the Land, the blood avenger must mete out righteous justice.  

 

Now, that being all said, it should be obvious to us all that we do not live under a theocracy (i.e. a government that is ruled by God and His Torah). We instead live in a hollowed form of a republic and we are subject to the laws of this land whether we like it or not.

 

The Shedding of Innocent Blood Defiles the Land and Separates our Community from Yehovah

 

Lastly, we find in verses 33 and 34 that the shedding of innocent blood defiles the Land and separates our community from Yehovah.

 

33‘And do not profane the land where you are, for blood profanes the land, and the land is not pardoned for the blood that is shed on it, except by the blood of him who shed it. 34‘And do not defile the land which you inhabit, in the midst of which I dwell, for I, יהוה, am dwelling in the midst of the children of Yisra’ěl.’ ” (The Scriptures, 3rd edition. (Northriding: Institute for Scripture Research, 2009), Nu 35:33–34.)

 

37 They even sacrificed their sons and daughters to the demons, 38 and they poured out innocent blood, the blood of their sons and daughters, whom they sacrificed to the idols of Canaan, and so the land was defiled with the blood. 39 And they became unclean by their works, and were unfaithful in their deeds. 40 So Yahweh’s anger burned against his people,     and he abhorred his inheritance. 41 Then he gave them into the hand of the nations, and those who hated them ruled over them. (W. Hall Harris III et al., eds., The Lexham English Bible (Bellingham, WA: Lexham Press, 2012), Ps 106:37–41.)

 

Atonement must be made for all transgressions — one way or the other — so that the bloodguilt may be lifted from the people and the Land and the community’s relationship with Yehovah be restored. The shedding of innocent blood defiles the Land and, as we previously discussed, Yehovah will not dwell among us when we and our Land are unclean. And if there is just one thing we take away from this Torah Reading today, it should be that if we desire to have Yehovah perpetually dwell in our midst, we must be clean. Our actions, our bodies, our spirits, and our surroundings must always be in a pure state. We ourselves cannot purify our personal world. We must rely on the efficacious, atoning sacrifice of our Master Yahoshua Messiah to purify our individual world. It is imperative that we repent of any and all sins that we commit and stop sinning. Clean up our individual environment, both physical and spiritual. Utilize the power and strength of Yah’s Set-Apart Spirit to help us overcome those strongholds that so easily beset us and cause defilement in our lives.

 

Yah desperately wants to commune with us. But Yah will not compromise His holiness to commune with us. That’s why He has provided us with the means to make that communion between Him and us even more possible. We just have to take Abba Yah up on His offer to help us clean ourselves. Hold Yah to His offer to help bring equilibrium and righteousness to our lives. The Psalmist wrote: O taste and see that the LORD is good: Blessed is the man that trusteth in him. (The Holy Bible: King James Version, Electronic Edition of the 1900 Authorized Version. (Bellingham, WA: Logos Research Systems, Inc., 2009), Ps 34:8.)

 

Today, we are beyond measure blessed to have full access to the atonement that Yehovah has put in place for those who are called by His Name. That atonement provision is now made possible through the Person and atoning ministry of our Master Yahoshua Messiah (Mat 20.28; Rom 3.23-26; 5.9; Eph 1.7; Col 1.14; 1 Joh 2.2; 4.10).

TMTO Ministry Update

Greetings I'm back! Well, not quite. But almost.   History of Ministry QFC (2012) Blog (2012) Podcast (2014-11/2022) YouTube (2018-11/2022) QFC Affiliates with Feastkeepers (New York) and First Century COG (Baltimore) (2019-2021)   Why we ended the podcast...

read more