Some Passover Basics-Keeping Passover and Unleavened Bread in 2022-Part 1

by | Apr 14, 2022 | Blog, Podcasts

by Rod Thomas | The Messianic Torah Observer

This is “Some Passover Basics.” It is the first installment of a three (3) part series I chose to entitle: “Keeping Passover and Unleavened Bread in 2022.”

 

We have a lot to cover. So let’s get right into it.

 

For those of us who keep the Observational Calendar, Pesach/Passover will take place this year on S-nday evening, 4/17/2022, with the first day of Chag HaMatzot/Unleavened Bread commencing at sundown on that same S-nday, extending out through sundown on S-nday, 4/24/2022. Yom HaNafat HaOmer or the Day of the Waveheaf Offering will also fall on S-nday, 4/24/2022. Now, we really cannot keep Yom HaNafat HaOmer in the fashion that Yah passed down to us in Leviticus/Vayiqra 23. For us, the day serves as more of a marker. For it is the day that we begin our 7-Sabbath/Week count towards Shavu’ot, which we will discuss in a future installment of this program. For some of us, it also serves as a day in which we give of the first of our increase (a special offering that is not the tithe) to whatever ministry, organization, thing we are led to give in honor and thanksgiving to Yah for blessing and increasing and sustaining us throughout the year.

 

Now, for those of you who keep the Jewish Calendar, Pesach/Passover will take place this year on Fr-day evening, 4/15/2022, which is generally noted as the first Seder night or Erev Pesach. And then of course, that same night at sundown, commences the 7-day feast week of Passover, also referred to in rabbinic circles as the 2nd Seder night. This day also commences the 50-day counting of the Omer (which is not biblical, but it does serve the purpose of pointing us towards Shavu’ot). Why do we differ in our determination of Yom HaNafat HaOmer or the start of the Counting of the Omer? Well, that’s a rather complicated issue that I will reserve for a future post, so as to not bog down any further this discussion. But, the last day of Passover on the Jewish calendar is set for sundown on Shabbat 4/23/2022. 

 

 

 

How Many Feasts Do We Keep

 

There are various opinions as to how many feasts or festivals we are supposed to honor each year. Those of our faith community who tend to be more on the Messianic Jewish side of the aisle will contend that there are five (5) with the Jewish holidays of Purim and Hanukkah added well after Torah was given:

 

  • Passover (Unleavened Bread is inclusive).
  • Shavuot (aka Pentecost).
  • Yom Teruah (aka the Day of the Blowing of Trumpets which these insist is Rosh Hashanah).
  • Yom Kippur (aka the Day of Atonement).
  • Sukkot (aka the Feast of Tabernacles including Shemini Azterets).

 

I’ve always contended that there are at least seven (7) mandated feasts of Yah:

 

  1. Passover Day
  2. Chag HaMatzot (aka Unleavened Bread and Yom HaNafat HaOmer—7-days)
  3. Shavu’ot (aka Pentecost)
  4. Yom Teruah (aka the Day of the Blowing of Trumpets—Not Rosh Hashanah)
  5. Yom Kippur (aka Day of Atonement)
  6. Sukkot (aka Feast of Tabernacles—7-days)
  7. Shemini-Atzeret (aka Last Great Day)

 

I do not include Purim nor Hanukkah as they are Jewish-instituted holidays. Nothing wrong with Yah’s people celebrating them or honoring them. But they are not mandated by Torah. These are purely nationalistic holidays.

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Over the years, Torah-keepers have viewed and treated these Feasts or Moedim of Yah from many different perspectives.

 

Some view these set-apart days collectively as simply holy days that God’s people are obligated to keep. And those who hold such a perspective will keep each of these days by way of enacting or keeping the associated Jewish traditions.

 

Others view these set-apart days from more of a rabbinic standpoint: That collectively, these days portray or are emblematic of Yah (the Bridegroom) marrying Yisra’el (by extension us). That is, the successive steps of an ancient Hebrew wedding and marriage:

 

  • Pesach representing the Bridegroom (aka Yah) choosing and then redeeming His bride to be Yisra’el. Yah pays the bride’s father a “dowry” so to speak. And we know that one of the central themes of Pesach apart from that of freedom is “redemption.” The price to redeem the bride was the blood of the Pesach: The unblemished Lamb Yisra’el would choose every 10th day of the first-month of the Aviv.
  • Shavuot, more popularly known to the world as Pentecost, represents the “Ketubbah.” A “ketubbah” is essentially a Hebrew marriage contract. It would stipulate the terms of the pending marriage agreement between the bridegroom and his bride. In other words, it spelled out the rules of the marriage. Well, tradition has it that Yah spoke to the Hebrew nation His Torah from Mount Sinai on Shavu’ot. And recall, that Shavu’ot is seven (7) weeks after Passover. Therefore, Torah can be likened unto that of the marriage “ketubbah” between Yah and Yisra’el. The “ketubbah” should not be viewed as just a set of rules that govern the marriage, but rather, a love letter from the bridegroom, Yah, to His bride, Yisra’el. And so, as long as the bride would remain faithful to her Husband, Yah pledges His undying protection and love for her.
  • Yom Teruah, more popularly referred to as the Feast of Trumpets, in Messianic Jewish circles, represents Yehovah’s impassioned call to His unfaithful wife, Yisra’el. The day represents Yah’s willing to forgive His cheating spouse Yisra’el. And all He requires of her is that she Teshuvah: Return to her first love, repent, and abide with the original terms of the “ketubbah” that was given when she married Yah.
  • Yom Kippur, otherwise known as The Day of Atonement, represents the return and cleansing of the once unfaithful bride, Yisra’el, to her awaiting Husband, Yehovah.
  • Sukkot, popularly referred to as the Feast of Tabernacles, is emblematic of the marriage being consummated, and the happy couple dwelling together. Of course, the “sukkahs” or “booths” as some call them, in this paradigm, represents the cohabiting of Yah with Yisra’el. Why seven days according to this paradigm? Well, the week represents Yah, the husband, dwelling with His bride, Yisra’el, here on earth for a defined period of time that is generally referred to as the Millennial reign or the Kingdom of Yah here on earth. The eighth (8th) day, otherwise known as “Shimini Atzeret,” represents Yah dwelling with His people for eternity. These eight (8) days emphasize Yah’s desire to dwell with His people.

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The Factor of Physical Circumcision Related to Pesach

 

Yah required that any male who would partake of the Pesach-the Passover Lamb-be physically circumcised. Now, this was generally meant for the foreigners and sojourners who would come to be part of Yisra’el and serve Yehovah (Exodus/Shemot 12:48-49). For at the time this mitzvah was given to Yisra’el, the large group that would be departing out of Egypt would be composed of what our English translations describe as “a mixed multitude” (Exodus/Shemot 12:38; Numbers/Bemidbar 11:4). These individuals and their families (if they did in fact have families) would have likely been non-Hebrews who were of course, uncircumcised. Conversely, the departing Hebrews, because they were biological descendants of the Patriarchs, would most likely have been circumcised. And because Yah’s focus at that time was to enter a marriage agreement-a covenant agreement-with Yisra’el His Bride, it would fall upon any male who would partake of the Pesach to have the sign of the Avrahamic-Covenant applied to their flesh. And this has always been Yah’s desire that any who were outside of the commonwealth of Yisra’el be engrafted in. That is, become an Yisra’elite. I’m not talking about a so-called spiritual Israel, which tends to conjure up a false concept of replacement theology. I’m not talking about proselytizing the Gentile, such that the Gentile or non-Jew seeking to enter into all of her covenant promises and way of life, must first become a Jew and pledge themselves to be practitioners of Judaism. And this is where Judaism lost her way as it relates to the relevancy and intent of circumcision.

 

Yes, under the auspices of the original covenant, physical circumcision was a requirement for any male to partake of the Pesach. But things got a bit dicey in the first-century, under the auspices of the Renewed Covenant. The elephant in the room at the time was “what should the Jewish Messianics do with the influx of Gentiles (all of whom were no doubt uncircumcised) coming in to the Faith?” This question was made all the more troublesome when you factored in their keeping and partaking of Pesach/Passover. Although Pesach/Passover was not directly addressed, this issue of what to do with the incoming Gentiles was the central point of discussion at the Jerusalem Council under James, the biological half-brother of our Master Yahoshua (Acts 15). Contrary to the erroneous conventional wisdom of denominationalism, the Jerusalem Council in her final ruling DID NOT abolish physical circumcision for the Body of Mashiyach. But rather, the Counsel, through her ruling, put physical circumcision into its proper perspective, which was to first and foremost acclimate the incoming non-Jews into the Hebrew Faith by having them rid themselves of all vestiges of their former pagan lives: That they abstain from idolatry; abstain from fornication; follow the proper dietary laws; and not consume blood (Acts 15:19-20). These elementary mitzvot were minimal requirements for a Ger (that is, a non-Jew) to come near and receive vital Torah instructions:

 

“For from ancient generations in all cities Moshe had preachers in the synagogues that on every Shabbat they read him” (Acts 15:21; AENT).

 

How this affected the converted, uncircumcised Gentile (the non-Jew) in his being permitted to partake of Pesach in the first century? Well, let’s talk about that for a second.

 

And oh by the way, Torah did not have such prohibitions on women as it related to their partaking of the Pesach. Since physical circumcision did not apply to girls and women, there were no mitzvot that prohibited them from partaking of the Pesach apart from any ritual purity issues that might prevent them from doing so at the time. However, there is evidence that in the latter half of the first-century, converted, non-Jewish women had to go through prosylization and commit to practicing Judaism in order for them to partake of the Pesach.

 

But back to our discussion on converted, uncircumcised non-Jewish men, the writings of first through third century A.D. sages such as Rabbi Shimon bar Yohai and Rabbi Ishmael suggested that these individuals were permitted to participate in the so-called Jewish Seder by eating the elements of the Pesach meal, but they could NOT partake of the Pesach Lamb. Period (Mekhilta de-Rabbi Shimon bar Yohai; Mekhilta de-Rabbi Ishmael).

 

Needless to say, this situation placed tremendous pressures upon many of the converted, uncircumcised male Believers of the Way Movement back in the day. Many succumbed to these pressures and went ahead and got circumcised. At least that’s what the context of some of these Jewish writings suggests.

 

But there were other concerns that crept into the discussion about converted Gentile males being circumcised. Essentially, who could perform the circumcision on these individuals so that it would qualify them to partake of Pesach. And it seems from such previously stated Jewish writings that at the start, even as far back as Old Testament days, that it didn’t matter who circumcised an individual, or how one came to be circumcised. As long as one was circumcised, they passed the mitzvah muster. However, as the first-century progressed, the rabbis began to pass takannah (Jewish rabbinic halachah that carried the authority of Torah), that one who was circumcised had to prove they were circumcised with the expressed intent of practicing Judaism. There had to be a specific intent to become a proselyte in order for the circumcision to be valid. Still later on, beyond 70-C.E. (ie., the destruction of the Jerusalem Temple), that the intent of one to practice Judaism wasn’t the only requirement for circumcision, but it was added that a uncircumcised Gentile had to be circumcised by a qualified Jewish practitioner or physician in order for their circumcision to be valid.

 

And this mindset followed throughout the ensuing centuries that in order for one to partake of Pesach, if they were male, had to not only be circumcised, but also a practicing Jewish convert. This also was applied to Gentile women. Women ultimately had to be converted to Judaism in order to partake of the Pesach. And this fence that the rabbis placed around the keeping of Pesach by the Gentile had to do with an intentional misunderstanding and misinterpretation of Torah:

 

“No foreigner shall eat of it (the it being Pesach)” (Exodus 12:43).

 

The rabbis taught that all non-Jews must be excluded from partaking of the Pesach. To the rabbis, all non-Jews, otherwise referred to as foreigners, were essentially idolaters. Jews were never idolaters, unless they were convicted or caught practicing idolatry. (In that case, the idolatrous Jew would be prohibited from ever partaking in the Pesach, or for that matter, being a member of the community.) And this understanding again, applied to both men and women. And the only way of being absolved of the title of “idolater,” one had to legally convert to Judaism by way of the established Jewish Halachah.

 

We know today that Yah is primarily concerned with the state of one’s heart. Yah requires His beloved to be circumcised of heart first and foremost:

 

“And you shall circumcise the foreskin of your heart (both men and women), nor shall you show a stiff neck anymore” (Deuteronomy/Devarim 10:16; Alter).

 

“And the LORD your God shall circumcise your heart and the heart of your seed to love the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your being for your life’s sake” (Deuteronomy/Devarim 30:6; Alter).

 

On this issue of circumcision, Shaul wrote:

 

(28) For he is not a Jew who is so in what is external (alone): Nor is that (only physical) circumcision, which is visible in the flesh. (29) But he is a Jew who is so in what is hidden: And circumcision is that of the heart, in the spirit, and not in the letter, whose praise is not from men, but from Elohim (Romans 2:28-29; AENT).

 

 

And so, in bringing this issue home, as it relates to one being circumcised in order for them to partake of Pesach, it should be understood that first and foremost, one must be circumcised of heart. And this of course applies to both men and women. (As I stated in our discussion on Yah’s people being circumcised, I do not believe circumcision of the heart replaced the Torah mitzvah of physical circumcision. This is not the place to rehash that discussion, but if you are interested in where I stand on this very issue, I humbly invite you to read or listen to that discussion which is entitled: “Paul on Physical Circumcision for God’s People-A Question of One’s Jewishness Part 3.”

 

But in terms of one keeping Pesach and partaking of Pesach and such (and this is just Rod speaking here), I truly believe any who is in covenant with Yah, and who is circumcised of heart, they certainly qualify to partake of Pesach. Again, we can’t and we don’t keep Passover as it is ordered in Torah because we no longer have a functioning Tabernacle/Temple, nor do we have a functioning, valid Levitical Priesthood to officiate the proceedings. Instead, we keep Pesach in Spirit and in Truth. So then, however the Body of Mashiyach is led to keep Pesach is how we keep Pesach. And we keep Pesach with Yahoshua in mind. He is our Pesach today (1 Corinthians 5:7). A Passover Seder should NOT be our focus this Passover. Although I have stated previously that I do not judge any member of the Body of Mashiyach who is led to participate in the so-called traditional Seder, it serves only to place one under the instructions and rules of the rabbis. We answer only to Yahoshua, our Master.

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Defining the term Pesach

 

Our English term “Passover” in the Hebrew is “Pesach.” Now, there is a noun and a verb version of Pesach that we should be aware of in terms of what the overall term actually means.

 

First and foremost, our noun “Pesach” is drawn from the Hebrew verb “pasach.” “Pasach” carries a meaning of “to limp;” “to jump;” or “to move with an uneven/unsteady gate such as one who hobbles along” (Tim Hegg; “What Does the Word Passover “pesach” Mean?”).

 

Always looking for more than one witness on a thing in my studies, I consulted my trusty copy of Jeff A. Benner’s “Ancient Hebrew Lexicon of the Bible” and learned that the noun “pesach” means one who is “lame,” as in “one who hops on one leg,” while the verb “pesach” means “to hop from one place or another.” The KJV, however, defines “pesach” as “to pass over.”

 

Turns out that the KJV has been the source by which we get this sense of the destroyer “passing over” the homes of the Hebrews that had the “pesach lamb’s” blood applied to them. But see in our Hebrew definitions here that we somehow have to deal with this issue of one who is “hobbled” or “lame.”

 

We learn that Yah went through Mitsrayim/Egypt on that solemn Passover night and struck down the firstborn of the homes where the blood of the “pesach” had NOT been applied. And thus, Yah passes over the doors of those protected homes, and does not permit the destroyer to come into the home (Exodus/Shemot 12:12, 24).

 

Tim Hegg, Messianic Torah teacher and author highlights a very interesting context to be understood regarding the use of the root term “pasach” throughout the Tanach (ie., the Old Testament). We find in the story of Elijah’s confrontation with the priests of Ba’al the following:

 

“Then Elijah approached all the people and said, ‘How long will you hesitate (”pasach”) between two opinions? If Yehovah is God, follow Him. But if Ba’al, follow Him.’ But the people didn’t answer him a word” (1 Kings 18:21; CSB).

 

Contextually speaking, when we factor in to our understanding the phrase “between two opinions,” we arrive at a very poignant image. That of a bird jumping or hopping between various limbs and branches of a tree. This is derived from the root word “sa’aph” which means branches or a branch. English translators chose the English term opinion to get their point across.

 

However, if we look at another Tanach passage where “pasach” is used, we get a brilliant portrait of what is being conveyed:

 

“Like hovering birds, so the LORD of Hosts will protect Jerusalem—by protecting it, He will rescue it, by sparing it, He will deliver it” (Isaiah 31:5; HCSB).

 

Hegg states that the Hebrew terms for “defend,” “deliver,” and “preserve” are joined with the verb “pasach.” And thus, Yehovah is likened unto a “momma” bird that hovers over her nest of baby birds, offering them sustenance and protection and if necessary, rescuing them from predators. So, “pasach” conveys a sense of Yah protecting his beloved Yisra’el from death.

 

And so, backing up to the Elijah story and the prophet criticizing the people that they were of two opinions as to which God they would serve: Yehovah or Ba’al, our English term “opinion(s)” could line up to mean “branches.” Therefore, we can imagine Elijah berating the people and telling them to stop acting as birds, fluttering about between two (2) limbs or branches; being unable to decide which God to serve.

 

But then, from a contextual standpoint, apart from the Elijah story, we have this sense of a protective bird hovering over her children. In this case, Yah hovering in a protective manner, over Yisra’el. Yah provides protection for Yisra’el. Yah rescues Yisra’el. Yah shields Yisra’el. From what is He protecting, shield, or rescuing? From the Destroyer. Thus, it is Yah who protects Yisra’el from the plague of death that went throughout Egypt and took the lives of the firstborn.

 

I have thoughts as it relates to there being a “death angel” or Yah Himself delivering the judgment. But for the sake of time, we’ll simply leave it with how the passage describes the situation:

 

(12) And I will cross through the Land of Egypt on this night, and I will strike down every firstborn in the Land of Egypt from man to beast, and from all the gods of Egypt I will exact retributions: I am the LORD. (13) And the blood will be a sign for you upon the houses in which you are, and I will see the blood and I will pass over you, and no scourge shall become a Destroyer amongst you when I strike in the Land of Egypt (Exodus/Shemot 12:12-13; Alter). 

 

The rabbis believe that it was Yah and Yah alone who took the lives of the firstborn of Egypt who were not covered by the blood of the Pesach. I further submit that Yah in addition, personally protected each marked home from the destroyer. Who is this destroyer. Alter suggests some type of evil spirit. I tend to slightly agree with Him. Thus, I believe that Yah, as he hopped or hobbled over the marked homes and through the Land of Egypt, that He also protected; hovered; rescued the Hebrews from the enemy who may have sought to go tit for tat and strike at the Hebrews for what was happening to the Egyptians. (Just a thought.)

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We find in Genesis/Beresheit 47 that Yosef, who was made viceroy over Egypt by Pharaoh (whose name is believed to have been Djoser of the 18th Dynasty) because of his ability to interpret Djoser’s dream and his ability to manage the affairs of Egypt, invited his entire family to reside in Egypt as a result of a famine that was devastating the entire middle east region at that time. Yosef (who through recent archaeological excavations in Egypt has been shown to have been given the name Imhotep). Given Yosef’s revered, even supreme status in Egypt, his family (consisting of 70-souls at the start of their sojourn) enjoyed during the time of Yosef’s and his brothers’ lives, privilege and honor in Egypt (Exodus/Shemot 1:6-10).

 

However, after the deaths of the 12-patriarchs, a pharaoh who did not appreciate the historical legacy of the Hebrews in the Land (whose identity is not readily known) enslaved the patriarchs’ descendants as foretold by Yah to Avraham back in Genesis 15:13-14:

 

(13) And He (He being Yehovah) said to Abram, “Know well that your seed shall be strangers in a land not theirs and they shall be enslaved and afflicted four hundred years. (14) But upon the nation for whom they slave I will bring judgment, and afterward they shall come forth with great substance…(16) And in the fourth generation they shall return here, for the iniquity of the Amorites is not yet full” (Alter).

 

The Pharaoh of the Exodus was Thutmose IV of the 18th Dynasty (aka Amenhotep III), not Rameses as historical tradition has erroneously put forth to an unsuspecting world for centuries.

 

So then, how long were the ancients under bitter Egyptian bondage? Well, we find in Exodus/Shemot the following regarding the length of time the ancient were enslaved in Egypt (although the text does not specify enslavement, just the time they dwelt in Egypt):

 

(37) And the Israelites journeyed from Rameses to Succoth, some six hundred thousand men on foot, besides the little ones…(40) And the settlement of the Israelites which they had settled in Egypt was four hundred and thirty years. (41) And it happened at the end of four hundred and thirty years and it happened on that very day, in the battalions of the LORD went out from the land of Egypt (Exodus/Shemot 12; Alter).

 

Some rabbinic sources place the time in actual bondage between 86-116-years (ref. Talmud Megillah 9a and Rashi on Exodus/Shemot 12:40; and Seder Olam Rabbah), but this seems grossly unlikely given Moshe records that the mixed multitude that departed Goshen of Egypt totaled some 600,000 men, in addition to their families, which some have estimated the total number of people being two to three million souls.

 

I’m inclined to always trust and go with what scripture says. And Yah told Avraham back in Genesis that his descendants would be enslaved and afflicted for some four-hundred years (Genesis/Beresheit 15:13-14), and then Moshe reports that when Yisra’el completed her business with Egypt, they’d lived there for some 430-years. This would make the best sense in terms of some 600,000 men along with their families departing out of Egypt at the start of the Exodus (Exodus/Shemot 12:37-41).

 

 

Well, I’ve thrown a lot of background content at you regarding the basics of Passover and Unleavened Bread. I pray that this information will provide you with some fundamental knowledge of Pesach/Passover and Unleavened Bread that will serve you as you prepare to receive the coming set-apart days of Yah.

 

In part 2 of this discussion series, we will discuss Keeping Passover by Way of the Original Covenant. I’ll see you on the other side.

Shabbat HaGadol–The Pathway Towards our Redemption and Atonement-STAR-28

by | Apr 8, 2022 | Blog, Podcasts

by Rod Thomas | The Messianic Torah Observer

This is Shabbat HaGadol: The Pathway Towards our Redemption and Atonement.

 

In observing Jewish circles, this Sabbath is referred to and celebrated as “Shabbat HaGadol.”

 

Otherwise referred to as the great Sabbath, Shabbat HaGadol is traditionally held on the Sabbath that precedes or occurs before the Passover/Pesach. And so, given that Passover will occur this year, next Fr-day, the 15th of Ap-il according to the Calculated Jewish/Rabbinic Calendar, Shabbat HaGadol appropriately takes place on the date of this posting. Given that the observational calendar has Passover/Pesach occurring S-nday, Ap-il 17, next Shabbat, 4/16/2022 would be the more appropriate date for it. (If you desire to learn more about the Biblical Calendar and Father Yah’s reckoning of time, I would encourage you to read or listen to our post entitled: “Guarding the Month of Aviv’s Critical Importance to God’s Covenant Elect” and or read my blog post entitled “Why I Keep the Torah (Observational) Calendar and not the Other Popular Messianic Calendars“)

 

Shabbat Hagadol (A Most Timely and Appropriate Tradition)

Pesach is indeed viewed from a handful of perspectives, all of which lend to the abundantly rich spiritual applications of the season and its love story prophetic shadow pictures.  And at the risk of diminishing the significance of any of these spiritual applications and prophetic shadows of Pesach, I want in this discussion to spotlight the redemption and atonement aspects of Shabbat HaGadol and Pesach. (Devarim 32:8-14; 4:19-20)

 

Rabbinic Traditions: Some Okay, Others Not So Okay

First and foremost, it should be recognized that Shabbat HaGadol is a Rabbinic Tradition. It is not one of the mandated Feasts/Moedim of Yah.

 

Generally, I do not give much attention to traditional Rabbinic holidays for the simple reason that they are made-up, rabbinic-contrived traditions that hold little to no true spiritual value to us. Consequently, because a great many folks in our Faith Communities tend to embrace many Jewish traditions, it would not be uncommon to find brethren anticipating and keeping this holiday.

 

Biblically speaking, traditions, whether they be Jewish or secularly derived, are generally fine for us to keep, if we for whatever reason are led to do so, in particular Jewish traditions. However, Yah prohibits us, His Elect, from keeping traditions that are of pagan origin:

 

(1) And YHVH spoke to Moshe, saying, (2) “Speak to the Yisra’elites, and you shall say to them: ‘I am YHVH your Elohim. (3) Not like the deeds of the land of Mitsrayim/Egypt in which you dwelt shall you do, and not like the deeds of the land of Canaan into which I am about to bring you shall you do, and according to their statutes you shall not walk. (4) My laws you shall do and My statutes you shall keep to walk by them’” (Leviticus/Vayiqra 18:1-3; Alter modified).

 

(22) And you (Yisra’el) shall keep all My statutes and all My laws and do them, lest the land to which I bring you to dwell there spew you out. (23) And you shall not go by the statutes of the nation which I am about to send away before you, for all these things they have done, and I loathed them (Leviticus/Vayiqra 20:22-23).

 

(1) Hear ye the Word which Yehovah speak unto you, O house of Yisra’el: (2) Thus says Yehovah, learn not the way of the heathen, and be not dismayed at the signs of heaven; for the heathen are dismayed at them. (3) For the customs of the people are vain…(Jeremiah/Yirmeyahu 10:1-3a; Cepher modified).

 

Indeed, this is a no brainer for those of us who have been in Faith for any appreciable length of time. Secular horror-days such as Easter, Halloween, and Christmas certainly fall within these prohibitions. I will tell you, regarding such prohibitions, I take issue with the traditional, so-called Jewish Seder that so many brethren in our Faith will be engaging in during this coming Pesach season. For elements of the traditional Seder meal seem to be of questionable origin and meaning.

 

But that’s just me. Every Nazarene Yisra’elite must be convinced in their own mind about such things as taught by the Emissary Shaul:

 

(4) Who are you that judge another man’s servant? To his own master he stands or falls. Yea, he shall be holden up: For Yehovah is able to make him stand. (5) One man esteems one day above another: another esteems every day alike. Let every man be fully persuaded in his own mind. (6) He that regards the day, regards it unto Yehovah; and he that regards not the day, to Yehovah he does not regard it. He that eats, eats to Yehovah for he gives Yehovah thanks; and he that eats not, to Yehovah he eats not, and gives Yehovah thanks. (7) For none of us lives to himself, and no man dies to himself (Romans 14:4-7; Cepher modified).

 

The Danger of the Takonot 

The other thing about engaging and keeping traditions, certain Jewish traditions and practices, are those that carry with it the force of Jewish halachah that equal or surpass the primacy and authority of Torah. Such traditions and practices are referred to as “takonot/takkanah.” And believe me, there are many such traditions and practices that many in our Faith Community have fallen for. Traditions such as when the 7-week count towards Shavuot is to take place and when Shavuot occurs on the calendar are cases in point. For the Rabbis has declared that they were given the authority to enact takanot by none other than Moshe himself. But you and I know that that is clearly not the case. For Yah Himself declared through Moshe:

 

(1) And now, Yisra’el, hear the statutes and the laws that I am about to teach you to do, so you may live, and you shall come and take hold of the land that Yehovah Elohim of your fathers is about to give to you. (2) You shall not add to the word that I charge you and you shall not subtract from it, to keep the commands of Yehovah your Elohim, which I charge you (Deuteronomy/Devarim 4:1-2; Cepher modified).

 

(1) Everything which I charge you, that shall you keep to do. You shall not add to it, and you shall not subtract from it (Deuteronomy/Devarim 13:1; Cepher).

 

Nevertheless, there are some Jewish traditions and practices that appear to be spiritually harmless. In other words, they are not of pagan-origin, nor do they carry with them any hint of being takanot. And Shabbat HaGadol appears to be one of those traditional holidays that the Jews keep to mark the start of the Pesach season.

 

 The Rabbinic Folklore of Shabbat HaGadol

Granted, the basis for Shabbat HaGadol seems to be that of rabbinic folklore. For according to tradition, the 10th of the Month of Aviv/Abib in the year of the Exodus was a weekly Sabbath. And there is a miraculous element that the rabbis attached to that day. But to understand what that day is all about from these standpoints; you must first understand the sequence of events surrounding this day. And this will serve as sort of a primer for us as we continue to Guard the Month of Aviv and head into the so-called Spring Feasts/Moedim of Yah.

 

We find in Exodus/Shemot 12 the following instructions Yah gave to Moshe and Aharon for the very first Passover/Pesach:

 

(1) And Yehovah said to Moshe and Aharon in the land of Mitsrayim/Egypt, saying, (2) “This month is for you head of months (ie., the Month of the Aviv), it is the first for you of the months of the year (ie., the biblical Rosh Hashanah). (3) Speak to all the community of Yisra’el saying: ‘On the tenth of this month (ie., the Month of the Aviv), let every man take a lamb for a father’s house, a lamb for a household. (4) And should a household be too small to have a lamb, it must take together with its neighbor who is close to its house, in proportion to the persons, each man according to what he eats shall take his portion of the lamb. (5) An unblemished lamb, a yearling male you shall have, from the sheep or from the goats you may take it. (6) And it shall be a thing to be kept by you until the fourteenth day of this month, and the whole congregation of the community of Yisra’el shall slaughter it at twilight. (7) And they shall take form the blood and put it on the two doorposts and on the lintel, on the houses in which they will eat it. (8) And they shall eat the m eat on this night fire-roasted, with flat bread on bitter herbs shall they eat it. (9) Do not eat from it raw, nor in any way cooked in water, but fire-roasted, its head with its shanks and with its entrails. And you shall leave nothing from it by morning, and what is left of it by morning in fire you shall burn. (11) And thus, shall you eat it: Your loins girded, your sandals on your feet, your staff in your hand, and you shall eat it in haste. It is a Passover offering to Yehovah. (12) And I will cross through the land of Egypt/Mitsrayim on this night, and I will strike down every firstborn in the land of Egypt/Mitsrayim from man to beast, and from all the gods of Egypt/Mitsrayim I will exact retributions. I am Yehovah. (13) And the blood will be a sign for you upon the houses in which you are, and I will see the blood and I will Passover you, and no scourge shall become a Destroyer amongst you when I strike in the land of Egypt/Mitsrayim. (14) And this day shall be a remembrance for you, and you shall celebrate it as a festival to Yehovah through your generations, an everlasting statute you shall celebrate it (Exodus/Shemot 12:1-14; Alter modified).

 

As it specifically relates to our discussion here today, I want us to pay particular attention to verses 3 and 12, for they are directly tied to the essential concepts of “atonement” and “redemption” respectively.

 

We see here in this lengthy, detailed passage of Torah, that Yah instructed Moshe and Aharon to direct the people to select an unblemished, perfect, yearling lamb or kid on the 10th day of the Month of the Aviv. That lamb or kid was to be kept by each household from the 10th to the 14th day. And then at twilight on the 14th day, the community would slaughter the lambs and kids they kept in their homes for the better part of 5-days. The lamb or kid would be roasted and consumed in haste by the members of each family on the night after it was slaughtered. However, the blood that would be collected when the animal was slaughtered would be applied to each household’s doorposts and lintel. And thus, the first Passover went down in history as one of the most pivotal events in all human history. The prophetic shadows depicted by the selection and keeping of the lamb and kid, the slaughtering of the animal, the blood applied to one’s entrance into their home and so forth cannot be overstated. But we’ll touch a little upon those salient prophetic shadows before we depart from her today

 

 Shabbat HaGadol Highlights the 10th Day Lamb Selection

So, what then does all this have to do with Shabbat HaGadol. Well, Shabbat HaGadol memorializes that 10th-day selection of the lamb or kid for each home. This tradition holds that the selected lamb or kid that would ultimately be sacrificed 5-days later would be tethered to the foot of a family member’s bed. And so, what’s the big whoop about that you may ask? Well, turns out that lambs were viewed and treated as deity by the Egyptians. And for anyone, much less a Hebrew slave, to tether a lamb to their beds in their homes would have been viewed as sacrilege. It would go without saying that the Hebrews, on top of the everyday stresses that went along with being in abject slavery and bitter bondage, to be found by their Egyptian overlords to be keeping a lamb or kid in such a manner would likely result in some pretty bad consequences.

 

 Rabbinic Jibberish: The Miracle of the Lamb Selection on the 10th Day

But here’s where the miraculous comes into this day. That is, according to Rabbinic tradition. Turns out that when the Egyptians saw the tethered animals in the Hebrew homes, they either fainted, were paralyzed, or when the Egyptians learned what the intended outcome of this rather odd situation would be, that they simply encouraged the Hebrews to make haste and leave their land. No actions were taken against the Hebrews by their Egyptian overlords for tethering one of their deities to the foot of Hebrew beds.

 

And if this wasn’t wondrous enough for you, turns out that the tradition asserts this day fell upon the weekly Sabbath before Passover. And although the Rabbis chose not to memorialize the 10th day of their month on their calendar, they do memorialize it in great part on this day that they call Shabbat HaGadol.

 

 Modern Jewish Observance of Shabbat HaGadol

Today, modern Jews observe Shabbat HaGadol by attending a somewhat prolonged Sabbath service. Not only does this service include the weekly Sabbath rituals, messages, and teachings on how members of the congregation should prepare for the coming Pesach/Passover and week of Unleavened Bread are added.

 

The haftarah for Shabbat HaGadol is always Malachi 3:4-24. It is indeed a prophetic passage pointing to the Messianic Age to come. I’m certain you all are familiar with it. But I would humbly encourage you during this weekend to read these 20-verses again and appreciate the solemnity of the passage. Speaking to that Great and Dreadful Day of Yehovah when He will judge the wicked and save Yaachov; when the Sun of righteousness shall arise with healing in His wings; when the earth will be finally purified; and Yisra’el is called to Teshuvah and operate in Torah.

 

There is a lot of controversy that swirls around the choice of this prophecy as the haftarah for the day, and the name of the day being Shabbat HaGadol or the Great Sabbath. The term “great” seems to be the thing in question. What makes this Sabbath better than any others? And quite frankly, the many reasons offered range from the absurd to moderately plausible.

 Personal Thoughts on Shabbat HaGadol

But I personally don’t believe the descriptor of “great” has anything to do with this Shabbat being superior to any other Shabbat. I think, rather, that the rabbis may have unwittingly picked up on a great prophetic shadow that is attached to the story behind this Sabbath. For indeed, the perfect Lamb selected to cover us and hide us from the death that would strike every firstborn of Egypt that did not have the atoning blood applied to their homes, foreshadowed our Master Yahoshua HaMashiyach. The prophetic and spiritual implications for this obscure day and its solemn events on Yah’s calendar can only be described as “great.” How would our ancient Hebrew cousins going through this first Passover ritual, beginning with on the 14th day of Aviv ever know that they were foreshadowing the Person and Ministry of Master Yahoshua? If they had only known, would having that knowledge made a difference in their future walk in covenant with Yah? Maybe? Maybe not?

 

Z’man Cheiruteinu

 

One of the most wrote about concepts as it relates to Shabbat HaGadol is that of “z’man cheiruteinu”: That the day points to the day of Yisra’el’s freedom and redemption from Mitsrayim by the Mighty outstretched arm of Yehovah Tzav’ot. The focus is on freedom from the chains of slavery to being a free people. And that feeling or spirit of “z’man cheiruteinu” carries forth through the millennia, even to us today, who recognize the freedom from the chains of slavery: that of sin and of the gods of this world. This is the freedom that the perfect Lamb of Yah brought us through His Person and Ministries.

 

Moshe anticipated that following generations would desire to understand why we go through the rituals and remembrances of Shabbat HaGadol and Pesach and Unleavened Bread each calendar year. And so, Moshe provided us the answer to their proposed question:

 

“It is the sacrifice of Yehovah’s Pesach/Passover, because Yehovah passed over the houses of the people of Isra’el in Egypt, when He killed the Egyptians but spared our houses” (Exodus/Shemot 12:27; CJB modified).

 

And because of our set-apart, engrafted status as Yisra’elites, we have every right, and even responsibility, to revere the season and identify with our ancient Hebrew cousins, if not more so, to see that the season foreshadowed the death sentence that each of us had facing us being covered, bought and paid for by our Master Yahoshua Messiah; our redemption from the clutches of the enemy taken care of by the ministry of our Master Yahoshua.

 The Prophetic Significance of the Season

Interestingly, our ancient Hebrew cousins weren’t necessarily as narrow-minded about this season as we may have envisioned them to be. They also recognized a time in the future when Yisra’el’s Messiah would rid the world of idolatry and the nation peoples of this world would turn to Yisra’el’s One True Elohim.

 

This abolition of idolatry from the world that is mentioned in the Haftarah reading plays greatly into the little discussed aspect of Passover/Pesach, whereby by Yah redeems His chosen ones—His firstborn Yisra’el from the clutches of the gods of Egypt. The rabbis and most of us for that matter, tend to focus on Yah rescuing the ancients from Egyptian bondage. Bringing freedom to Yisra’el. But the greater bondage that Yisra’el endured that the rabbis in one way or another sought to simply gloss over in their writings was that of Yisra’el being in bondage to the demigods of this world. Those demigods of Egypt no doubt took advantage of Yisra’el’s enslaved state to lay claim to them, despite Yehovah having previously taken them to be His chosen ones out of all the nation peoples of the world.

 

The Rabbis Alteration of a Key Passage of Torah

Do me a favor and take a look at Deuteronomy/Devarim 32:7-12. Here we find an amazing truth that when not included in our expositions—our studies—our discussions of Pesach—diminishes the true scope and existential importance of the season and that of the Person and Ministries of Yahoshua Messiah. Most English translations of this passage, which tend to be based on the Rabbinic—Masoretic-line of scribes, read something akin to this:

 

(7) Remember the days of old, consider the years of many generations: Ask thy father, and he will shew thee; thy elders, and they will tell thee. (8) When the Most High divided to the nations their inheritance, when He separated the sons of Adam, He set the bounds of the people according to the number of the children of Isra’el (KJV).

 

Stop.

 

In the second half of verse 8 we have a terrible error that has taken generations to clear up. The Mesorites transcribed the text as “He (Yah) set the bounds of the people according to the number of the children of Yisra’el.

 

The phrase “children of Yisra’el” in Hebrew is of course “b’nei Yisra’el,” meaning sons of Yisra’el. The problem with this phrase is that it is terribly out of context with that which Moshe is addressing. For at the time that Yah divided the nations their inheritance and separated them, Yisra’el was not in existence.

 

It wasn’t until the discovery of the Dead Sea Scrolls in the 1940’s that the true rendering of this passage became known to Torah-keepers and lovers throughout the world. For the phrase in the Dead Sea Scrolls was NOT “b’nei Yisra’el,” but rather “b’nei elohim”: “sons of Elohim.”

 

Sons of Elohim in the Hebrew scriptures always refer to the angelic realm of beings. However, the sons of Elohim did not fit the rabbinic narrative and understanding of the spiritual realm, so they took it upon themselves to alter the phrase accordingly, to sons of Yisra’el.

 

This altering of Yah’s Word by the Mesorites has resulted in centuries of ignorance as it relates to the true make-up of the world order. And certainly, the Mesorites did not stop there in their manipulation of Yah’s Word to fit their ecclesiastical narrative.

 

But my point here is not to spend our time debating how much of Yah’s Word has been corrupted by the rabbis, but rather to set the record straight as to what the Pesach season truly means to Yah’s elect.

 

Now, we must recognize that the phrase “b’nei Elohim” may refer to the uncorrupted, holy angelic beings that serve Yehovah, or the corrupted, profane angelic beings that make-up the Kingdom of Darkness. So, to discern which group of beings this passage is referring to, we simply must defer to the text to its proper context and to other biblical and extra-biblical texts.

 

This passage is referring in great part back to Genesis 10, which is famously referred to by scholars and lovers of Scripture as the “Table of Nations.” The resulting nations that descended from Noach/Noah, through his 3-sons Shem, Ham, and Japheth, totaled seventy.

 

Extra-biblical texts such as those found in the Book of Enoch and Ugaritic (Syrian) clay tablets mention 70-sons of Elohim that came down to earth with the intent of mating with the daughters of humans and ruling over Yah’s human creation and the whole world for that matter. These ancient biblical texts go so far as to even mention a few of these fallen ones’ names. But we won’t get into that here.

The Spiritual Ramifications of the Fall of Man

But one of the great consequences of the Fall of Man is that Yah remanded His creation—committed it to custody to the oversight of the fallen b’nei Elohim. In effect, when man fell, the title deed of the earth—remember Yah had given dominion of the earth to Adam and Eve and their descendants—well, that title deed and human freedom was forfeit and given over to the fallen b’nei Elohim. Sadly, all would be lost for the whole of creation, especially Yah’s human creation if it were not for Yehovah and His love for His human creation.

 

Fortunately, Yah had a Plan to redeem His human creation and ultimately redeem the whole of creation. But His plan would take little baby-steps. And His redemption of humanity would begin with Yah’s redeeming of Yisra’el—who He described as His firstborn and taking them unto Himself; freeing them from the demigods’ enslavement, which is a foreshadowing of the bigger redemption that would come to humanity through the Person and Ministry of Yahoshua Messiah/HaMashiyach.

 

Of this, which serves as a mystery to those without eyes to see and ears to hear, Shaul wrote to the Messianic Assembly at Corinth:

 

(7) But we speak the wisdom of Yah in a mystery, even the hidden wisdom, which Yah ordained before the world unto our glory: (8) Which none of the princes of this world knew: for had they known it, they would not have crucified the Master of glory. (9) But as it is written, Eye hath not seen, nor ear heard, neither have entered into the heart of man, the things which Yah hath prepared for them that love Him. (10) But Yah hath revealed them unto us by His Ruach/His Spirit: For the Ruach/the Spirit searcheth all things, yea, the deep things of Yah (1 Corinthians 2:7-10; KJV modified).

 

 

From the beginning Yah had set aside a people that He would claim as His own: Yisra’el. So, He started with Avraham: He called Avraham out of Ur of the Chaldees—away from the demigods of the Chaldees. And He entered covenant with Avraham whereby Yah would raise up a nation of people that would be called by His Name. (We discussed the spiritual ramifications of the person and life of Abraham in our post entitled “Abraham and the God (Yah) Culture.“)

 

But in time, as the nation grew, she was enslaved: both physically and spiritually in Egypt. And so, in Yah’s perfect timing, Torah tells us that He remembered the covenant He had with Avraham, and He, with a mighty hand and strong arm and as on eagle’s wings, He rescued His beloved—freed them—redeemed them from both the spiritual and physical bondage that they’d endured for many years. 

 

 

So, what does any of this have to do with Shabbat HaGadol and Pesach/Passover? Well, let’s continue with the Deuteronomic passage we were just reading, but this time from a corrected translation: Robert Alter’s “The Five Books of Moses” which reads:

 

(7) Remember the days of old, give thought to the years of times past. Ask your father, that he may tell you, your elders that they may say to you. (8) When Elyon gave estates to nations when He split up the sons of man, He set out the boundaries of peoples, by the number of the sundry gods (I.e., b’nei Elohim).

 

Continuing:

 

(9) Yes, the LORD’S portion is His people Jacob the parcel of His estate. (10) He (Yah) found him (Ya’achov) in the wilderness land, in the waste of the howling desert. He encircles him, gave mind to him, watched him like the apple of His eye. (11) Like an eagle who rouses his nest, over his fledglings he hovers, He spread His wings, He took him, He bore him on His pinion. (12) The LORD alone did lead him, no alien god by His side.

 

This passage in a great sense encapsulates Shabbat HaGadol and the whole Pesach season. For it talks about Yehovah keeping for Himself a nation of people that He snatched from the b’nei elohim—the fallen ones, to make them into a people which are called by His holy and righteous Name (2 Chronicles 7:14).

 

Yah’s Judgment Against the gods of Egypt

But the b’nei Elohim that ruled over Mitsrayim/Egypt, had taken Yisra’el and enslaved them. Yes, the Egyptians did in fact enslave Yisra’el. But behind those Egyptian enslavers were the demigods of that nation. And it was these beings: both the Egyptian demigods and the human Egyptians that Yah set His judgment and ire against:

 

“And I will cross through the land of Egypt on this night (Passover), and I will strike down every firstborn in the land of Egypt from man to beast, and from all the gods of Egypt I will exact retributions. I am the LORD” (Exodus/Shemot 12:12; Cepher).

 

“And the Egyptians were burying all the firstborn that the LORD had struck down among them, and the LORD had dealt punishment to their gods” (Numbers/Bemidbar 33:4; Cepher).

 

This understanding of freedom that this season of Pesach/Passover symbolizes transcends the rabbis’ simplistic idea of being freed from the bonds of Egyptian servitude. For freedom comes to humanity, whether via physical or spiritual means, with a cost. There are no free lunches in this world, nor in the spiritual world.

 

In a great sense, it is our English term “redeem” or “redemption” is what we’re talking about here.

 

The gods of this World Caught off Guard 

Let us make no mistake about this thing beloved. When the first Pesach in history took place, the gods of this world trembled. They trembled because they no doubt had not anticipated Yah’s redemption of His chosen nation from their clutches. As far as the demigods were concerned, Yisra’el had been abandoned by Yah to their eternal keeping. Consequently, Mitsrayim was one of their central hubs, providing an apt place in which to subdue and hold Yah’s so-called covenant people. Well, when Yah decided to move on the promise to redeem His people, He did so in a way that is simply unheard of. The blood of a perfect Lamb, the Pesach, would serve as the marker and pointer to Yah casting judgment against these demigods, foreshadowing not only Y’shua’s redemptive sacrifice, but also their ultimate demise as rulers of this world. At the fall, Adam forfeited the title deed of this world and all therein to the demigods. But Y’shua purchased back those who would be Yah’s chosen ones.  (Note the stripping of the seals as symbolic of the stripping away of the title deed to this world–Rev. 5-6). 

 

Atonement and Redemption, although used somewhat interchangeably by members of our Faith Community to describe what Master Yahoshua did for us, they have 2 very distinct meanings.

 

Defining Redeem and Redeption 

The Hebrew term for “redeem” is “ga’al.” The Hebraic meaning of redeem or ga’al is “the buying back, a bringing back around, of someone or something. To restore one to his original position or avenge his death.  In the participle form this verb means avenger as it is the role of the nearest relative to redeem one in slavery or avenge his murder. Now, when we’re talking about parent and child roots, to redeem one is iconized through the pictograph of an open mouth and a door. These carry a combined meaning of “open the door.” So then, when one is redeemed, they gird on their clothes for leaving. (Where do we see this depicted in the Exodus story?)  The goal is to bring the one back to an original state.

 

Yah reveals unto Moshe on the Mount of the Burning Bush:

 

(5) And also, I Myself (Father Yah) heard the groaning of the Isra’elites whom the Egyptians enslave, and I do remember My covenant (ie., the covenant He made and kept with Avraham, Yitschaq, and Ya’achov). (6) Therefore, say to the Isra’elites: ‘I am the LORD. I will take you out from under the burdens of Egypt (both spiritual and physical burdens) and I will rescue you from their bondage and I will redeem you with an outstretched arm and with great retributions. (7) And I will take you to Me as a people and I will be your God and you will know that I am your God, and you will know that I am the LORD your God Who takes you out from under the burdens of Egypt. (8) And I will bring you to the land that I raised My hand in pledge to give to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob, and I will give it to you as an inheritance. (Exodus/Shemot 6:5-8; Alter).

 

Yah’s redemption came through the blood of the Lamb, as it is even today. In Exodus/Shemot 13:13-15, Yah speaks extensively about redeeming the firstborn of all, both of children and of their flocks and herds, with a lamb—the blood of the Lamb. Blood was the price to be paid for His people Yisra’el, just as blood is the price that is paid for our redemption: For our redemption from the demigods of this world.

 

 Defining Atone and Atonement

The Hebrew term for our English word “atonement” is “kaphar.” The Hebraic meaning for “atonement” or “kaphar” is that of a protective covering to go over something or the covering of a debt or wrong. In our case, we’re talking about a covering over of transgressions. I know that there’s this popular play on the word making its way around our Faith community these days–at-one-ment–is quite and catchy. But it lacks any true fullness of meaning. The fuller meaning of the term and concept of atonement should never be diminished in our hearts and minds here as it relates to Shabbat HaGadol and Pesach/Passover. For the blood of the Pesach that was applied to the doorposts and lintels of the ancients’ dwellings on that first Pesach/Passover, was emblematic of the atonement that would be brought to humanity through the Person and Ministries of Yahoshua HaMashiyach. Just as the blood of the first Pesach covered over and hid our ancient Hebrew cousins from death that night, so does the blood of THE LAMB—Yeshua our Master—covers over and purges out our sin debt before a Holy and Righteous El (Romans 5:11). And because of Yeshua’s atoning sacrifice, we are declared not guilty by the court of heaven. Our debt is paid. We receive our master’s righteousness, and we are justified before Yah (Romans 3:22).

 

If anything, Shabbat HaGadol, which was enacted by the rabbis to prepare the Jew for Pesach/Passover, is really emblematic of Yah’s redemption and atonement of His firstborn Yisra’el (both native born and grafted in Yisra’el). Indeed, although Shabbat HaGadol is not a Feast or Moedim of Yah, the symbolism remains sound and it can teach us a great deal about what Yah has done; is doing; and will do for His people Yisra’el.

 

 The Reality of the Spirit Realm-Especially in Connection to Shabbat HaGadol and Passover 

Beloved, let us not be fooled, not be ignorant of the fact that the spirit realm, both the good and bad sides do exist and operate in and around this world and in the heavenlies. Their influence in and over our lives cannot be denied, especially the fallen spiritual realm.

 

Because of our elect and covenant state, we are no longer slaves to sin, nor are we slaves to the gods of this world. Yah, through the Person and Ministries of His Son Yahoshua, redeemed us and justifies and sanctifies us, so that we are no longer sons of hasatan, but rather, His (Father Yah’s) sons and daughters. And this is the message that should, if any, be taken from Shabbat HaGadol and the coming Passover. That very Lamb that redeems and atones for us is memorialized by this day. He was perfect; sinless in every way. He came to dwell with us for a season. He passed every inspection that could possibly be rendered unto Him and He was found lacking nothing. And then we slaughtered Him. His blood covered over us and saved us from death, as well as it redeemed us from the gods of this world.

 

So, let us stand straight, look up; lift up our heads, as our redemption draws even closer by each passing Passover.

 

Guarding the Month of Aviv-Aviv’s Critical Importance to God’s Covenant Elect

by | Apr 1, 2022 | Blog, Podcasts

by Rod Thomas | The Messianic Torah Observer

Opening Remarks

 

“Observe the month of Abib, and keep the Passover unto Yehovah thy Elohim; for in the month of Abib Yehovah thy Elohim brought thee forth out of Egypt by night” (Deu./Devarim 16:1; ASV modified).

 

Which brings me to the title of this discussion post: Guarding the Month of Aviv: Aviv’s Critical Importance to God’s Covenant Elect.

 

We have a lot of ground to cover. So what do you say we get into this thing without further ado?

 

Saints Who Keep the Commandments and the Faith of Yahoshua

 

Yah’s elect, also identified as saints are known as those that “keep the commandments of Yah, and the faith of Yahoshua” (Rev. 14:12). Thus, Yah’s saints keep both Torah in Spirit and in Truth, while maintaining a trusting faith in Yahoshua Messiah. All of which is emblematic of Yah’s reckoning of time through His established calendar.

 

 

We are on the Eve of the Biblical New Year 2022

 

Sometime around sundown Sabbath evening, 4/2/2022, dedicated searchers throughout the Land of Yisra’el will look up into the skies above. And if environmental conditions permit (such as a lack of cloud cover; lack of haze; absence of smoke if any; etc.), they will endeavor to sight the first sliver-crescent of renewed moon. Assuming their are successful in doing so, and upon them reporting their observations, we will begin a new biblical month. And in addition to beginning a new biblical month, we will begin a new biblical year that some in our Faith Communities refer to as Rosh Hashanah, or the head of the biblical new year. Biblically speaking, this new month, being the beginning of a new biblical year is called the Month of Aviv/Abib. The Rabbis, unfortunately, replaced the biblical name Aviv/Abib—the only month of the biblical year, by the way, to have a sanctioned name attached to it—with the Babylonian-derived name of Nissan. The Rabbis also took it upon themselves to change when the start of Judaism’s new year would be. Instead of Aviv 1 as Father Yah commanded in Exodus/Shemot 12:1; 13:4; Deuteronomy/Devarim 16:1, the rabbis changed the head of their year to what they refer to as Tishri 1 or what Scripture refers to as the 7th Month of Yah’s Calendar Year. Which in and of itself is a blatant violation of Torah. But the rabbis explain their changing Rosh Hashanah or the Biblical New Year from Aviv 1/Nissan 1 to that of day one of the seventh month/Tishri 1 because God instructed that there would be two beginnings to the Jewish year: a 7th month civil year; and a 1st month ecclesiastic year. (Of course, this instruction to add a 7th month Rosh Hashanah to the Jewish Calendar also violates Yah’s instruction not to add to or take away from His instructions—Deuteronomy/Devarim 4:2; 12:32.) But what else is new?

 

Anyway, the Jews (as well as most Messianics), which keep a Calculated Calendar that was developed by so-called Rabbinic Sage and last Head of the Sanhedrin, Hillel II, in the middle of the 4th century C.E., will commence Nissan 1 at sundown on Fr-day, 4/1/2022.

 

Dispensing of a Few Calendar Issues

 

Both the Observational Calendar—which is based upon the monthly sighting of the renewed moon and an annual determination of the maturity of the barley crop in the Land of Yisra’el—and Hillel’s Calendar, which I prefer to call the Calculated Jewish Calendar, will begin the new year (in our case the biblical new year, in the case of the rabbis, the ecclesiastic new year) after coming off an intercalated month of the calendar year. You see, unlike the world’s Roman-based calendar—otherwise known as the Gregorian Calendar, which by the way is another calculated calendar that was, in this case, created under the direction and oversight of Pope Gregory XIII in the 16th century C.E., which adds a single day to the calendar every few years to maintain a 365 day calendar that would accurately sync with the 365 day solar year. Well, since both the Jewish Calculated and Observational Calendars are based primarily on a lunar year, which consists of 354 days, as opposed to the 365 days of the solar year, an entire month is added to the biblical calendar year every few years. As far as the Jewish Calculated Calendar is concerned, the added month is calculated into their calendar. As far as the Observational Calendar is concerned, the decision to add an additional month to the calendar is dependent upon the maturity of the barley crop in the Land of Yisra’el at the end of each Biblical Calendar Year. The added month to the Calculated Jewish Calendar is referred to as Adar II/Adar Bet: Adar being the Babylonian name given to the 12th month of the Jewish Calendar. The added month to the observational calendar is simply referred to as a 13th month.

 

And by the way, if you’re not aware, Hilary and I have been keeping the Observational Calendar for at least the last 8 or 9 years. I recently wrote a blog post that I published to this ministry’s website that I titled “Why I Keep the Torah (Observational) Calendar and not the Other Popular Messianic Calendars.” (If you have any interest in understanding why I keep the observational calendar and not the Jewish Calculated Calendar, I will place the link to that post in this post’s transcript for your convenience.) I also post an update on the same website each month on the Observational Calendar for anyone to consult or reference. It can be found midway down the landing page at the left-most panel. It is entitled “Netzari-Messianic Calendar.”

 

Not Judging Anyone

 

But permit me at this juncture to assure each of you that it was not my intention in writing that blog post, and in discussing this topic of “Guarding the Month of Aviv” in today’s discussion, to cast judgment upon or badmouth brethren who keep a different calendar than the one I do; or to promote the Observational Calendar over that of the Calculated Calendar. There are more than enough ministries strewn throughout the internet that have taken on that crusade, which I believe serves only to foment division in the Body.

 

You see, as far as I’m concerned, each of us is on both a collective and individual journey. And there are not two souls in the True Body of Messiah that are at the exact same place in their walk in Messiah.

 

There are indeed many areas of understanding in our Faith communities that have become universally understood and accepted by the general Body. However, there are also many areas of understanding in our Faith communities that are NOT universally understood and accepted by the members of the Body. And I believe the issue and topic of which calendar Yah intends for His people to exclusively use is one of those unresolved issues and topics that Yah will make crystal clear to His Children in His time. As much as I wholly endorse and believe the Observational Calendar is the calendar that was kept and used by our ancient Hebrew cousins, and most importantly our Master Yahoshua during the time He walked this earth, I do not believe it has been fully revealed and restored to the Body of Mashiyach today. If anything, only partially restored. I do believe, however, that its full revelation and restoration is forthcoming.

 

The Importance of Yah’s Reckoning of Time to the Netzari

 

Nevertheless, whichever of the two calendars we use—either the Jewish Calculated or the Observational—the bottom line point underscoring their importance to Yah’s set-apart people is that they are supposed to help us in determining when Yah’s mandated, annual Feasts are to take place during each calendar year. If one does not keep Yah’s Feasts as instructed in Torah, neither calendar is of any practical use to him or her. But for the one who loves his or her heavenly Father and is compelled to keep His instructions in righteousness—His Torah—the calendar which is supposed to reflect Yah’s reckoning of time for His elect becomes an invaluable commodity to them. The calendar, in fact, becomes an inextricable and integral part of their lives. He or she goes to great lengths to fashion every aspect of their life through and around that calendar. Well, at least they’re supposed to.

 

The Netzari’s trusting Faith in Yah and in the Person and Ministries of His Son Yahoshua compels them to keep the Creator’s commandments and instructions in righteousness in Spirit and in Truth (Joh. 4:23-24). And a great portion of those commandments and instructions are to keep Yah’s weekly Sabbath and His seven-annual Feasts, all of which are contained in the calendar. These set-apart days and seasons, otherwise referred to in the Hebrew text as “moedim,” are dates that Abba Father from the time of creation has gifted His people (Gen. 1:14). These set apart days or festivals or feasts or seasons, were established by Abba so that He might meet with His children; bless them; celebrate with them; teach them His Words and Ways; to afford his people special days in which they may worship Him; for Him to strengthen them and make them into a holy and righteous nation (Exo. 19:6); and for Him to love on His chosen ones. These set-apart days also serve as specific rehearsal times. What are Yah’s people rehearsing? Well, the annual Feasts foreshadow Yah’s Holy and Great Plan of Salvation, Redemption, and Restoration. And Yah, knowing how prone humanity is to forget things, wanted to ensure that His people would be reminded and revisit each year the crucial elements of His Plan of Salvation-Restoration-Redemption, which also houses Yah’s Renewed Covenant which was facilitated and enacted through the Person and Ministries of Yahoshua Messiah. The set-apart days and seasons of Yah are rehearsals that remind and teach us of Yah’s Love for His human creation that is embedded in the Person and Ministries of Yahoshua our Master and Messiah.

 

Yah Himself promises to meet with us on these days. But the timing of these set-apart days must match that of the Father’s. A misunderstanding of when Yah’s set-apart days are to take place in any calendar year will obviously result in a missed date or appointment or missed opportunity, which stands a real chance of upsetting or angering Yah, especially if we know better. And we don’t want to do that.

 

Why the Calendar Matters

 

Now, some will invariably contend that it doesn’t matter if we meet with Yah on the days that He has established each year in His calendar. These might reason that Yah visits with them everyday, 365-days out of the year, 24/7. And that may be true. I’m not here to dispute the level of relationship and interaction anyone claims they have with the Almighty. But beloved, that’s not the point of the calendar and our keeping Yah’s moedim. For Yah makes it implicitly clear:

 

“Ye shall therefore keep My statutes, and mine ordinances; which if a man do, He shall live in them: I am Yehovah” (Leviticus/Vayiqra 18:5, 26; ASV).

 

“Ye shall keep My Sabbaths…” (Leviticus/Vayiqra 19:30; 26:2; ASV).

 

And there are numerous other examples of where Yah requires His children to keep His statutes and ordinances and Sabbaths. So, Yah says keep His moedim. And being faithful, obedient children, we don’t ask any questions. Like the obedient children we are called to be, we simply honor and keep His set-apart days because He said so; because we want to please our heavenly Father; and because we are expecting to receive a blessing as a result of meeting with Him on His set-apart days. Yes, there are untold blessings to be had by Yah’s elect if they obediently keep His set-apart days at their appointed times during the calendar year.

 

Case in point are those Hebrews who obediently showed up in Yerushalayim on the appointed day, at the appointed time on Shavuot, otherwise known as Pentecost 40-days after our Master ascended to His Father in Heaven (Act. 2). It was the obedient, circumcised of heart disciple of Yahoshua Messiah who received the gift of the outpouring of Yah’s Ruach HaKodesh (aka Yah’s Holy Spirit). For it was on that set-apart day, followed by the miraculous events that took place on that day, that the first-century Way Movement or the True Faith Once Delivered was launched. The lives of those who obediently attended and participated in the events of that day were forever changed for the better, eternally speaking. Those who for whatever reason missed Shavuot that year, missed out on one of the most poignant and pivotal events in human history.

 

So then, one has to rationalize that it is quite conceivable that another great move of Yah just might occur at or during one of His feasts. I mean, given the perilous times we’re living these days, I think we’re due for another Great move of Yah. Don’t you? And if such another great event were to occur at or during one of His feasts, why would we NOT want to be a part of it?

 

The Accuracy of Yah’s Calendar is Critical to the Netzari

 

The accuracy of the calendar, then, is critical to an elect’s walk with Messiah and to his or hers’ covenant relationship with the Creator of the Universe. For our showing up to Yah’s set-apart days at their appointed times is wholly dependent upon the integrity of the calendar we’ll led to follow. And by integrity, I’m primarily focusing on when each calendar declares the beginning of the biblical calendar year to begin. Does that starting point for each calendar year match Abba’s reckoning of time?

 

The criteria for reckoning the start for each calendar year is determined by the state of the agriculture of (primarily talking about the barley crop) and the orientation of the celestial bodies (the sun, moon, and stars) over the Land of Yisra’el. Unfortunately, the Jewish Calculated Calendar does not effectively convey this fundamental understanding. It’s based, rather, on mathematical calculations. You see, when Hillel and his assistants set out to construct this calendar, they calculated the days and months of their calendar with the agriculture (the sowing and harvesting of the barley and wheat crop in the Land of Yisra’el) and the orientation of the celestial bodies in mind. In truth, the Jewish Calculated Calendar is an astounding piece of work. It is quite accurate and has served the Jewish people and even the Body of Messiah well for centuries.

 

Yah’s Reckoning of Time Basics

 

Now, both calendars presume that we, the user, understand the basics of Yah’s reckoning of time. Each day of a calendar week begins and ends at sundown. Each week ends and begins at sunset on the weekly Sabbath. Each month begins with the sighting of the renewed moon over the Land of Yisra’el.

 

But each biblical year begins with certain key elements that must be carefully taken into consideration and factored into the Body’s decision to declare the Biblical New Year or Biblical Rosh Hashanah/Head of the Year:

 

  1. The maturity of the barley crop in the Land of Yisra’el at the end of the 12th biblical month. And

 

  1. The sighting of the renewed moon in conjunction with the acceptable maturity of the barley crop, which biblically is referred to as “abib” or “aviv.”

 

We’ll talk more about this “abib”/”aviv” ripeness or maturity aspect of the calendar later on in our discussion.

 

Our Discussion Purpose

 

But the goal or purpose of our discussion here today is to explore what this “Guarding the Month of Aviv” truly means; what it looks like; what its significance is for 21st century Nazarene Yisra’elites (aka Messianics).

 

Now, I must say in all transparency, that I base much of this discussion on various aspects of the Observational Calendar. And I am aware that many who may come across this discussion may have no interest in this subject because he or she does not follow or keep the observational calendar. And I get that. But rest assured beloved, as I previously mentioned, I have no intention whatsoever of promoting the Observational Calendar over any other calendar that is used by Messianics today. If there is any hint of promoting the Observational Calendar to be made on my part, it was done in the blog post “Why I Keep the Torah (Observational) Calendar and not the Other Popular Messianic Calendars.” Otherwise, for purposes of this discussion, any and all mentions of the Observational Calendar are for purposes of defining our central topic of Guarding the Month of Aviv/Abib.

 

So, let’s move into the nuts and bolts of determining when the beginning of Yah’s Calendar Year is to begin.

 

 

Yah commanded us to “keep” or “guard” or “shamar” the Head of the Year, or rather, keep/guard/shamar the first month of the biblical calendar year.

Yah named the first month of the biblical calendar year Aviv or Abib (depending on which English translation you reference).

Now, if we intend to understand how to guard/keep/shamar the Month known as Aviv, well, we have to understand how we get to or arrive at this month on the calendar in the first place. Yes, there is  criteria for declaring the New Year or Rosh Hashanah and the first month of the biblical calendar year.

So, let’s now discuss the criteria for establishing the first month of the biblical calendar year, before exploring how to guard and keep the Month of Aviv as commanded by Yah.

 

(A) The Biblical Calendar and the Feasts of Yah

 

Yah’s Feasts Serve as Dates for Yah’s Bride to Meet with Him Throughout the Year

 

Yah’s annual feasts are purposely situated in his calendar by Him. They serve as “dates” if you will, for Yah’s elect to meet with Him. Dates from the allegorical standpoint of Yah as an impassioned husband having a romantic social arrangement to meet with His beloved Yisra’el throughout the year.

 

We are Yah’s bride, Yisra’el. Yah, as our husband, longs to meet with us, as His bride on these very special dates. (Some will say that we are Yahoshua’s Bride.) Indeed, these established times of intimacy, celebration, courting, rehearsals, getting to know our husband, and such, requires our presence on these set-apart days. Yah looks forward to being with His bride Yisra’el on these special days, which He effectively establishes at the beginning of each calendar year. And as His beloved, we are compelled to know the dates and times of those special meeting dates. In addition to showing up for those appointed times, we are compelled to earnestly prepare for each date by knowing when each date—each feast—is set to occur. We have to know when to show up. We don’t want to stand-up our husband if we can at all help it.

 

 

One of the many reasons we are commanded of Yah to guard/keep/observe/give heed to/”shamar” the Month of Aviv, is the rationale of, if we get the Head of the Biblical Calendar Year correct (I.e., we accurately establish Rosh Hashanah and the first month of the biblical calendar year) in accordance with the criteria that is contained in scripture, the rest of the calendar year will fall accurately and en-sync with Abba’s reckoning of time.

 

Yah’s Calendar, when properly and steadfastly guarded/kept/honored by Yah’s elect, will lay out before him or her Yah’s Holy Plan of Salvation-Restoration-Redemption. Specific mile-markers of Yah’s Plan are embedded in the calendar through the seven-mandated Feasts/Moedim of Yah.

 

We are commanded by Yah to observe, keep, honor, even rehearse each of those mile-markers or feasts. The observational calendar opens up to us those mysteries of Yah’s Perfect Plan for Humanity, in ways not entirely possible when we don’t properly keep Yah’s Calendar.

 

Because it has everything already figured out for Yah’s people, the Calculated Jewish Calendar has a tendency of fostering rote, mechanical observance of Yah’s set-apart days. Occasionally, those set-apart days don’t always coincide with Abba’s Will and set times for reasons stated. Another area of concern regarding the calculated calendar involves the Rabbis tending to leave off the calendar Yom HaNafat HaOmer; the wrong day for starting the count towards Shavuout; often the incorrect days/dates for Shavuot; the incorrect month noted for Rosh Hashanah; etc. Aspects of Isaiah/Yesha’Yahu 1:13-14 can certainly, in some cases, ring true in regards to the keeping of the Calculated Calendar.

 

And certainly, those brethren who are led to keep the Calculated Calendar (as well as those who keep the Observational Calendar for that matter) must be on guard against complacency, ignorance, error, and dependency on others to keep us up to speed when Yah’s set-apart days are set to occur. We are not supposed to be led and controlled by whatever calendar we’re following, only led by Yah’s Ruach HaKodesh. Rather, we must become heavily invested in the calendar’s workings and understanding what Yah’s set-apart days are all about and when Yah’s set-apart days are set to occur. In other words, we need to have skin in the game beloved. Skin in understanding and keeping Yah’s reckoning of time.

 

 

We should also understand that the set-apart days that are contained in our calendars are Yah’s Feasts and not the Feasts of the Jews. Too many of us get caught up in rabbinic wranglings and misinformation about the elements of Yah’s calendar year. We allow the rabbis to control our understanding of how to keep Yah’s established days and seasons; what these set-apart days and seasons mean; and when these set-apart days are set to occur. The Feasts of the Jews are just what the phrase suggests: Feast days that the Jews have stolen from Yah and made into what they want the people to know and understand. But such a thing as regarding the how, when, where and what of Yah’s set-apart days are reserved exclusively for Yehovah. Who are we to add to or take away from Yah’s Torah.

 

 

We, the Body of Mashiyach, are sons and daughters of Yehovah. Our husband, Yahoshua, is working with us, His bride, through Yah’s Ruach HaKodesh and the various giftings of Yah that prepare us to be apt/able/capable/holy/righteous/faithful help meets to our Husband (Romans 12). And to function as a dutiful wife unto her Husband Yahoshua.

 

Yah’s Calendar—His reckoning of time—serves as a preparatory outline for our becoming and serving as the Bride to Messiah.

 

Master Yahoshua is the very start of our preparation leading to the sanctification process—foreshadowed in the Month of Aviv, Pesach/Passover, and the Wavesheaf Offering. His atoning sacrifice and fulfillment of Torah, qualifies us to be in a covenant relationship with Father Yah and eventually become one of His children.

 

Elements of Yah’s calendar epitomize the various aspects and elements of Yah’s Great and Holy Plan of Salvation, Restoration, and Redemption; the ultimate goal of which is for us, Yah’s elect, to transform into the image of His beloved Son Yahoshua Messiah. This often lengthy and involved process, when completed, will result in us becoming children of Yah; chosen of Yah; elect of Yah:

 

 

(1) Behold, what manner of love the Father hath bestowed upon us, that we should be called the sons of Yah: therefore the world knoweth us not, because it knew Him not. (2) Beloved, now are we the sons of Yah, and it doth not yet appear what we shall be: But we know that, when He shall appear, we shall be like Him; for we shall see Him as He is (1 Joh. 3:1-3; KJV modified).

 

Shaul wrote to the Assembly of Messianics in Philippi:

 

(3) I thank my Elohim upon every remembrance of you, (4) always in every prayer of mine for you all making requests with joy, (5) for your fellowship in the gospel from the first day until now; (6) being confident of this very thing, that He which hath begun a good work in you will perform it until the day of Yahoshua HaMashiyach (1:3-6; KJV modified).

 

The sanctification process of Yah’s chosen ones is helped along by the gift of and indwelling of Yah’s Holy Spirit-Yah’s Ruach HaKodesh:

 

(16) And I will pray the Father, and he shall give you another Comforter, that He may abide with you forever; even the Spirit of truth; whom the world cannot receive, because it seeth Him not, neither knoweth Him: But Ye know Him; for He dwelleth with you, and shall be in you…(26) But the Comforter, which is the Ruach Kodesh, whom the Father will send in My Name, He shall teach you all things, and bring all things to your remembrance, whatsoever I have unto you (Joh. 14:16, 17, 26; KJV modified).

 

Of course, this is all part and parcel of Yah’s renewed covenant (Jer. 31:31-34).

 

The writer of the Cepher of Hebrews described Yahoshua our Messiah as the same yesterday (the original or first covenant given by way of His Father’s Torah to His people); the same today (the renewed covenant, the Torah of the original covenant being inscribed on our circumcised hearts and minds); and the same tomorrow (the coming Kingdom of Yah where He will reign as King of kings and Lord of lords).

 

This journey that we are on requires that we never tire in our study of Yah’s Word. And that study is not simply reading Yah’s Word whenever we find a free moment to do so, or we find ourselves in a fellowship or church service where we engage in community scripture reading. No. We are tasked with engaging in intense study of Yah’s Word. The prophet described such level and intensity of study:

 

(9) Whom shall he teach knowledge? And whom shall he make to understand doctrine? Them that are weaned from the milk, and drawn from the breasts. (10) For precept must be upon precept, precept upon precept; line upon line, line upon line; here a little, and there a little: (11) For the stammering lips and another tongue will he speak to this people. (12) To whom he said, This is the rest wherewith ye may cause the weary to rest; and this is the refreshing: yet they would not hear. (13) But the word of Yehovah was unto them precept upon precept, precept upon precept; line upon line, line upon line; here a little…(Isa. 28:9-13; KJV modified).

 

The apostle Shaul (aka Paul), counseled his young apprentice Timothy to:

 

“Hold fast the form (ie., the established pattern) of sound words (ie., of righteous teachings), which thou hast heard of me, in faith and love which is in Messiah Yeshua” (2 Tim. 1:13; KJV modified).

 

In saying all that I’ve said here, why is it important to understand and keep Yah’s Calendar? His reckoning of time for His chosen people? Because the calendar is another instrument whereby Yah addresses and teaches His people that which He has for them to receive (cf. Isa. 28::9-13).

 

Abba commanded: “These are the feasts of Yehovah to be proclaimed holy convocations along with their prescribed offerings, each upon their appointed day (Lev./Vayiqra 23:37).

 

We cannot keep Yah’s festivals—His Feasts—His set-apart days as they were originally revealed to us. But we certainly can do our best to honor and observe them in Spirit and in Truth, and to do so at their appointed times.

 

 

Biblical and even extra-biblical texts suggests the patriarchs kept Yah’s Calendar, as did our Master Yahoshua Messiah, the apostles and the first century kehilah.

 

Shaul wrote to the Messianics of Corinth:

 

“Let us therefore celebrate the festival, not with the old leaven, the leaven of malice and evil, but with the unleavened bread of sincerity and truth” (1 Cor. 5:8; ESV).

 

If we are true disciples of Yahoshua Messiah, and saints in training, we are compelled to keep Yah’s calendar—guard the Month of Aviv—to the best of our abilities and understanding. Whichever calendar we are led to keep, we must guard it and keep/shamar it and not allow anyone/any organizations/any doctrines or ideologies to rob us of our connection to Yah’s reckoning of time.

 

Yah is a rewarder of the one who diligently seeks after Him (Heb. 11:6). And one of the ways we seek after our Father, His righteousness, and His Kingdom is through our guarding the Month of Aviv.

 

The Prophet Jeremiah/Yirmeyahu made this comparison:

 

“Storks in the sky know their seasons; doves, swallows and cranes their migration times; but My people do not know the rulings of Yehovah” (Jer. 8:7; CJB).

 

Yah’s animal creation possesses instinctual drives that causes them to migrate and hibernate or whatever. Unlike humans, they do not possess moral and reasoning agency that compels them to obey the laws of nature, or rather, Yah’s reckoning of time—Yah’s sovereign providence if you prefer. They simply do what nature dictates to them to do.

 

We humans, on the other hand, possess moral and reasoning agency and free will. Why do we resist doing those things that Yah has instructed us to do, especially being His people? It thus behooves us to get in sync with Yah, keep and guard His Holy Days, knowing that in our doing so, we fulfill His Will and Plan and glorify Him in the earth. It only makes sense that we not be shown up by the animal kingdom. They do what they’re supposed to do. It then falls to us to do what we’re supposed to do when we’re told to do it.

 

 

(B) The Criteria for Establishing the Month of Aviv or Rosh Hashanah

 

The key to establishing the beginning of the biblical calendar year is determining the maturity of the barley crop in the Land of Yisra’el.

 

Why should we care about the barley crop in Yisra’el?

 

Well, we care about the maturity of the barley crop because it is the established and sanctioned indicator of when the beginning of Yah’s biblical calendar year will or will not begin. (This, along with the sighting of the renewed moon.) The way this all worked back in the day was that the Levitical High Priest would determine whether the barley crop would be in a state of maturity referred to as “aviv” by the time of the pilgrimage feast of Pesach/Unleavened Bread—Chag HaMatzah was set to occur. We were commanded by Yah to gather an omer/sheaf of the first of the firstfruits of our aviv barley harvest—the best of the best—bring that omer/sheaf of the firstfruits of our barley crop with us to the feast, which is to take place beginning on the 15th day of the first month, and present that sheaf to the attending Levitical Priests at the Temple or Tabernacle to be waved and accepted by Yah on our behalf.

 

The Levitical Priesthood was initially responsible for declaring Rosh Hashanah for the people of Yah, and they’d base their declaration on the sighting of the renewed moon over the Land of Yisra’el and determining the maturity of the barley crop in the Land.

 

Prior to this upcoming Biblical New Year, I’d always thought of Rosh Hashanah requiring the harvestable barley crop in the Land simply be in an aviv stage of maturity at the beginning of what would be declared  the first month or the Month of Aviv. I’ve since come to understand, through deeper biblical study and from a few extra-biblical resources, that the certifying priests would project whether the barley crop would or would not reach an aviv stage of maturity by the time we would journey to Yerushalayim to celebrate the pilgrimage feast of Unleavened Bread or Pesach on the 14th day of the Month of Aviv. And so, the Rosh Hashanah declaration made by the Sanhedrin was a subjective one to say the least. And I believe, in great part, it’s this subjectivity—that being determining the ripeness of the barley crop in anticipation of Pesach–that gives many folks in our Faith communities cause for pause when it comes to the Observational Calendar. Many have become conditioned and made comfortable by the objectivity that the Calculated Jewish Calendar has to offer. In other words, no one has to guestimate when or if the barley crop will be in an aviv stage of maturity in time for Pesach. The calculated calendar essentially has this all figured out well in advance. But truth be told, it’s not possible for the calculated calendar to truly project the maturity of the barley crop in the Land of Yisra’el, nor atmospheric conditions that would either facilitate or hinder the sighting of the renewed moon. Such things fall solely within the purview and omnipotence of our illustrious Holy Father, Yehovah Elohim. Indeed, the calculated calendar is pretty good about projecting, within a day or two, when we can expect to see a renewed moon. But it cannot possibly project weather and atmospheric conditions at the time searchers/observers go out to assess the maturity of the barley crop and sight the renewed moon. But it does provide a reasonable estimate of when both criteria for determining Rosh Hashanah and the Month of Aviv are likely to occur.

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Today, since we no longer have an operating Temple in Yerushalayim to which we’d take our pristine sheaves of firstfruit barley. Nor do we have a functioning and sanctioned Levitical Priesthood in which to have our offering waved before Yehovah at the place Yah designates. For those of us who keep the observational calendar, we rely upon trained searchers or observers to canvass the Land of Yisra’el for fields of barley that they project will be in an aviv stage of maturity by the time the Feast of Unleavened Bread is set to occur. If they find fields of barley they believe will be aviv by the 15th of the 1st month, they relay that information to the observationalists, who must then prayerfully and meditatively decide for themselves whether they will accept the searchers’/observers’ report and recommendations and declare Rosh Hashanah or the Month of Aviv when the renewed moon is sighted over Yisra’el either on the 29th or 30th day of the 12th Month.

 

If on the other hand the searchers/observers determine and report to us observationalists that the barley they’d inspected will not be aviv in time for Unleavened Bread-Yom HaNafat HaOmer/The Day of Firstfruits Offering, they may recommend that another month—a 13th month—a leap month if you will—be added to give the barley another 30-days to mature towards aviv maturity. It then, again, falls to the observationalists or the leaders of fellowships and assemblies to make the call whether to declare a 13th month.

 

This last scenario happened back in late F-bruary of this year (2022), which translates to the end of the 12th month, when searchers/observers determined that the fields of wild barley they inspected would not be aviv in time for a firstfruits offering if Rosh Hashanah were to be called when the very next renewed moon was sighted. Turns out that this particular winter in the Land of Yisra’el was quite erratic and at the time the searchers/observers went out to survey the barley fields, it was pretty cold and rainy: Weather which they suggested would stall the maturation process of the barley they inspected. This was the report that the observers/searchers passed on to the Body of observationalists. Some observationalists decided to hedge their bets and call Rosh Hashanah on Shabbat on 3/5/2022. Seems the majority of us observationalists, however, decided to accept the searchers’/observers’ report and recommendation and at the sighting of the renewed moon on 3/5/2022, a 13th month was declared.

 

Given that the barley would most certainly be in an aviv state of maturity for a 4/16/2022 Pesach observance (and later canvassings by the searchers/observers confirmed this), when the renewed moon is sighted over the Land of Yisra’el either on Shabbat 4/2/2022 or S-nday, 4/3/2022, we will by default declare the New Biblical Year for 2022. Which is one of the reasons I chose to discuss Guarding the Month of Aviv at this time.

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More detailed instructions as it relates to determining Rosh Hashanah in its proper time and season are found in various Jewish texts:

 

  • As it relates to the occasional “Leap Year” that is added to the 12th Month to allow for the barley to ripen, the Mishneh Torah: Sanctification of the New Month 4 (also known as Sefer Yad ha-Hazaka, serving as the primary resource regarding Rabbinic Jewish law-aka halachah—was authored by Rabbi Moshe ben Maimon/Rambam or Maimonides) asserts that the “Leap Year” (ie., the intercalation) is added only to Adar—Adar being the Rabbinic name given to the 12th month. The text further states that Pesach is to be observed during the barley season, in commenting on Deuteronomy/Devarim 16:1. The so-called sages state that the reason for the occasional intercalation or Leap Month is to avoid Passover being observed in the summer or winter months.

 

  • More instructions are given in the Mekhilta d’Rabbi Yisma’el 12:2 (a midrash or rabbinic teaching on the Cepher of Shemot or Exodus), the text instructs that the Jews are to observe the Month of Aviv, which it describes as taking place in the spring. And that Pesach takes place only during the Month of Aviv. The text continues, stating that the Month of Aviv must always fall out in its proper time in the year. Any intercalation that is required must be added to the 12 month at the sighting of the renewed moon. In commenting on Exodus/Shemot 13:10, the text states that the Jew is required to keep Pesach in its proper time, which is during the Month of Aviv. In terms of Exodus 23:15, the text instructs that the Jew is expected to keep the Festival of Matzah/Unleavened Bread and that occasional intercalations are necessary to ensure that Pesach falls only in the Month of Aviv, when the grain begins to ripen.

 

  • Another rabbinic midrash on the Book/Cepher of Exodus/Shemot, the Mekhilta DeRabbi Shimon Bar Yochai 12 (from the rabbinic school of Rabbi Yishma’el) states that the Month of the Aviv always constitutes the first month of the biblical calendar year. The text goes on to say that the Month of the Aviv is the first month of the year because Yah commanded that His people “guard it.” And according to the text, part of guarding the Month of Aviv involves occasionally adding another month to the calendar year—ie., the intercalation or “leap year.” This adding of a “leap month” to the calendar serves the purpose of keeping/guarding the Month of Aviv as commanded by Yah.

 

  • In his commentary on Exodus/Shemot 23:15:1, the most recognized and most referenced Rabbi, Rashi, formally Shlomo Yitzchaki, a medieval French rabbi and author of a comprehensive commentary on the Talmud, instructs that the Month of Aviv is when the grain ripens in its stalks and matures. The month is the first month to ripen its fruit.

 

  • Another well recognized and often cited rabbi, Moses ben Maimon, commonly known as Maimonides and also referred to as Rambam, a medieval Sephardic Jewish philosopher and Torah scholar, in his commentary on Exodus/Shemot 13:2:1, writes on the importance of occasional intercalations to the biblical calendar. In regards to Exodus/Shemot 12:42, he writes that Passover/Pesach is a night of watching for all the children of Yisra’el throughout their generations. And that its observance is accomplished through the eating of the Passover-offering, remembering the miracles, reciting praises and giving thanksgiving to the Name of Elohim. He emphasizes the critical importance of observing the Month of Aviv and keeping the Passover.

 

 

(C) How the Day of the Wavesheaf Offering Factors into Determining the Month of Aviv

 

Most brethren of our faith community are unaware of the significance that the Day of the Wavesheaf Offering (aka Yom HaNafat HaOmer) to us, much less its significance to the biblical calendar. And that’s primarily because the Calculated Calendar that most of us follow does not lend itself to highlighting the significance and application of the Day of the Wavesheaf Offering. In most cases, you will not see this special day even mentioned in the calculated calendar.

 

 

Our Master Yahoshua represents and is the first of the first of the firstfruits. This reality and truth is foreshadowed in Yom HaNafat HaOmer/the Day of the Wavesheaf Offering, one of the determining factors for guarding the Month of Aviv.

 

After His Passion, Yahoshua was raised from the dead and His sacrifice was accepted by Abba; more so, accepted by Yah on our behalf. Yeshua Himself didn’t need to be accepted of Yah at the time of His crucifixion. He’d already been accepted by Yah previously, at His baptism (Mat. 3:17; Mar. 1:11) and at the Transfiguration that took place at Mount Hermon (Mat. 17:5). He was accepted of Yah because He was without sin. And because He was without sin, He was chosen of Yah to atone for our sins and be the first of a new race of transformed, holy beings—children of Yah. Yah accepted His sacrifice as being sufficient to cover our sin debt and to confer upon those who will Trust Him, the righteousness of His Son, Yahoshua Messiah (Rom. 3:22; 1 Cor. 1:30; Phi. 1:11; 3:9; 2 Pet. 1:1).

 

 

(D) Defining Aviv and its Importance to Establishing Rosh Hashanah

 

Now, I will be transparent with you and inform you that the vast majority of what we’re discussing in terms of established protocols for declaring and determining when Yah’s Rosh Hashanah or His Biblical New Year will occur is not clearly nor fully spelled out in scripture. At best, our understanding of the process by which we arrive at a Rosh HaShanah/Biblical Head of the Year, is strewn throughout the Torah with only obscure reference to the process that we follow and understand today. Where scripture is not clear, we rely on extra-biblical resources and texts to fill in the holes and provide better understanding of those areas that are not clear.

 

The Observational Calendar as we know it today is based upon Yah’s reckoning of time that He passed down to Moshe while he worked to free Yisra’el from their bitter bondage and enslavement.

 

Clearly, before Yisra’el enslavement, the patriarchs kept the observational calendar (or at least some form of it), and they passed down the understanding and keeping of the calendar to their descendants. Whether our enslaved Hebrew cousins kept some semblance of the observational calendar that their parents kept is unknown. But what we do know is that when Yah is just about to wrap-up His series of plagues and judgments against the Egyptians and their gods, that He informs Moshe and Aharon:

 

“This month shall be unto you the beginning of months: It shall be the first month of the year to you” (Exo./Shemot 12:2; KJV).

 

And thus, Yah goes on to explain to Moshe and Aharon, in stark detail how Yisra’el was to prepare and keep the very first Pesach/Passover, during which Yah slew the firstborn of Egypt whose homes had not received an application of the Pesach’s blood upon it (Chapter 12).

 

But the critical keys and indicators to be understood as it relates to our discussion here today is contained in this 2nd verse of the 12th chapter of Shemot/Exodus.

 

Yah says that this month shall be the beginning of months (I.e., the Head of Months), even the first month of the year for our ancient Hebrew cousins, and by extension us who are engrafted into the commonwealth of Yisra’el.

 

This “beginning” or “head of months” in Hebrew is “Rosh Chodesh.” “Rosh” means head, or the beginning; chief or front. Rosh is derived from an unused root that some scholars say means “to shake,” indicative of a “head that is most easily shaken” (Strong’s Definition Legend of the Blue Letter Bible).

 

Now, without any knowledge or understanding of the role that the barley crop plays into Yah’s reckoning of time, His calendar, and the Month of Aviv, the Hebrew term “rosh” that has this illusive root that carries with it a meaning of “to shake” would make absolutely no sense to anyone. But when you understand that the head of the barley stalk that reaches an advanced state of aviv maturity, when the stalk is shaken, the head shatters and the grain falls to the ground and if conditions are right, the barley plant reproduces itself the following season.

 

So, the physical application of this term as it relates to Rosh Hasahanah and Yah’s calendar/Yah’s reckoning of time, is fascinating to say the least. But then, when you factor into the equation the spiritual applications: Whereby the perfect, pristine aviv barley stalks that are collected and bound into sheaves to be waved before Yah on Yom HaNafat HaOmer is emblematic of none other than our Master and Savior Yahoshua Messiah. His Person and Ministry led to Him being in a sense shaken—His agony—His passion—all leading to His crucifixion, His resurrection, and ultimately His sacrifice being accepted on our behalf by Yah, all leads to our coming on line as Children of Yah. The fruits of Yahoshua’s Person and Ministry is reproduced in us. We are being made in His image through the work of Yah’s Holy Spirit (aka Ruach HaKodesh), all made possible through Yeshua’s atoning sacrifice and His intercessory ministry in the heavenly mishkan. We are instructed by Yahoshua to continue His work—His ministry (Mat. 28:19-20). Our honoring and obedience to our Master’s Great Commission leads to growing the family—reproducing and bringing to a spiritual harvest, sons and daughters for the Kingdom.

 

Beloved, such vital spiritual applications cannot possibly be understood by those who reject or who have no appreciation for Yahoshua as Yah’s Right Arm—Our Pesach—Our Savior—The World’s Messiah. And that’s why our Jewish cousins go about their calendar year oblivious as to what they are doing. They believe their doing what God commanded them to do as it relates to Torah. But they are blindly following a calendar that should cause them to praise Yah for sending His Son to atone for their sins and bring them into a true and substantive relationship with Him. But they can’t understand the true significance of Yah’s calendar as we do. But Yah’s got plans for them. And some day, our Jewish cousins will realize that the calendar they’ve been following for thousands of years holds the keys to life eternal and the Kingdom.

 

Back to our discussion regarding Shemot/Exodus 12:2—This month shall be unto you the beginning of months: it shall be the first month of the year to you.

 

There are a lot of ministries and websites on the internet dedicated to defining exactly what aviv barley is. Unfortunately, there is wide variation among these self-professing experts as to what exactly constitutes aviv barley. I make no such claims, apart from that which scripture and the resources we’ve come to trust over the years. I’ll leave the specifics and the debate to those experts. I also trust a handful of expert observers/searchers in the Land who have consistently over the years provided loving and reliable assessments of their canvassing operations at the end of every biblical calendar year.

 

But the Brown-Driver-Briggs Hebrew and English Lexicon defines aviv as “fresh young ears of barley.” Strong’s Exhaustive Concordance defines abib/aviv to be “tender; green; a young ear of grain.” We also know that during the month declared as Aviv, the heads of grain can have their seeds shaken out and onto the ground as well. So, again, there is a wide variance of maturity that the barley crop goes through during the month that Yah has named as “Aviv.”

 

Often, the mature, aviv patches of barley are surrounded by immature, green barley in varying states of maturity. Again, from a spiritual standpoint, the barley being aviv represents or is emblematic of Yahoshua our Messiah. The whole scene of the barley crop being in various stages of maturity during the Month of Aviv is emblematic of a few things:

 

(1) The first of the mature barley that will be taken and offered and waved unto Yah on Yom HaNafat HaOmer (aka the Day of the Wavesheaf Offering represents Yahoshua being the perfect, mature Son of Yah whose sacrifice is accepted by Yah on our behalf. He is the first to be resurrected from the dead and the first of a new creation of souls that will be called Children of Yah (Act. 26:23; 1 Cor. 15:20; 1 The. 4:16; Rev. 1:5).

 

(2) Yahoshua’s Person and Ministry is designed to be reproducible as symbolized by the grains in the head being capable of becoming new barley plants when sown into the soil.

 

(3) The offered barley grain must be at a stage of maturity where it can be parched, crushed, beaten, and planted for new growth (Lev/Vayiqra 23:10-14). All shadow-pictures of our Master Yahoshua Messiah’s Passion and sacrifice (Isa. 53:5).

 

(4) The offered barley sheaves must be the first of the firstfruits—the choicest stalks of grain, to be offered unto Yah at HaNafat HaOmer (Lev. 23:10; Exo. 23:19; 34:26).

 

And (5), the barley fields will invariably have barley at various stages of maturing surrounding the mature aviv barley, which is harvested and threshed and processed upon our return from the pilgrimage feast of Unleavened Bread. This is emblematic of the Body of Messiah that goes through a sanctification process with the aim of ultimately being harvested and presented as a type of firstfruits when Yahoshua our Master returns (1 Cor. 15:20-23; Act. 26:23; Jas. 1:18; Rev. 14:4).

 

All of this and so much more is factored into the whole concept and understanding of what Yah meant when He instructed us to “shamar,” keep, observe the Month of Aviv/Abib and in our understanding of what the aviv barley crop is supposed to represent (Deu. 16:1).

 

How do we know that the instructions given to Moshe and Aharon in Exodus/Shemot 12:2 that “this will be the beginning of months” for them is what we know as the Month of Aviv and the barley crop being in an aviv stage of maturity?

 

We find in Exodus/Shemot 13:3-4, Moshe says to the people:

 

(3) Remember this day, in which ye came out from Egypt, out of the house of bondage, for by strength of hand Yehovah brought you out from this place: there shall no leavened bread be eaten. (4) This day came ye out in the month Abib (KJV).

 

We know that the term aviv is only applied to the maturity of the barley crop in the Land. Again, “aviv” is defined by Strong’s as “fresh, young barley ears; barley; the month of ear-forming; of greening of crop; of growing green abib.”

 

Stepping back four-chapters, we find in Exodus/Shemot 9:31 that it was during the 7th plague that we learn about the maturity of the barley crop in the Land of Egypt during that time:

 

(29) And Moshe said unto him (him being Pharaoh), As soon as I am gone out of the city, I will spread abroad my hands unto Yehovah; and the thunder shall cease, neither shall there be any more hail; that thou mayest know how that the earth is Yehovah’s. (30) But as for thee and thy servants, I know that ye will not yet fear Yehovah Elohim. (31) And the flax and the barley was smitten: for the barley was in the ear, and the flax was bolled (or budded). (32) But the wheat and the rye were not smitten: for they were not grown up (9:29-32; KJV modified).

 

Aviv barley, for the most part, would not be able to survive a catastrophic hailstorm because the stalks are not pliable enough; they don’t bend as did the wheat and rye stalks that were in an immature stage of maturity. The barley and the flax could not take the pelting because of their aviv state, while the rye and wheat survived the pelting because of their immature state.

 

So, clearly the maturity of the barley crop in the Land of Yisra’el is vital to determining Rosh Hashanah and the start to our biblical calendar year.

 

As the Day of Wavesheaf Offering approaches, we will discuss more about the significance of the day and how it applies to us today.

 

 

(E) The Prophetic Shadow Pictures Embedded in the Month of Aviv

 

The aviv barley, as previously mentioned, is emblematic of the Person and Ministry of Yahoshua Messiah. We also previously mentioned that the firstfruits offering must be of a stage of ripeness—aviv—such that it is parchable, crushable, and capable of reproducing itself if it is planted into the ground, that is if it is to be acceptable to Yah on Yom HaNafat HaOmer.

 

How did the Prophet Isaiah/Yesha’yahu identify and describe the Person who would become our Messiah?

 

  1. He would be revealed as the Arm of Yah: “Behold, the Master Yehovah will come with strong hand, and His “arm” shall rule for Him: behold, His reward is with Him, and His work before Him” (Isa. 40:10; KJV modified)!

 

  1. He would grow up in righteous humility in the midst of a depraved and deprived people.

 

  1. We would strike Him.

 

  1. Yah would smite Him and afflict Him on our behalf.

 

  1. He would be wounded for our transgressions; bruised for our iniquities; chastised in order that peace would emerge between us and our Creator; and through His many beatings we would be healed of our sins and our infirmities (Isa. 53:1-5).

 

 

Practical Messianic Halachah

 

Beloved, I believe, along with a remnant of other brethren, that we have been called for such a time as this, to walk in the ancient paths and ways of our ancient forefathers, even at the expense of rejection, ridicule, and isolation by those who comprise/make-up establishment religion and secular society. In order for end time miracles and Yah’s power to be manifested in and through us as foretold by the Prophet Joel/Yo’el, we must be in complete sync with Father Yah in every aspect of our lives. And this would include our getting neck-deep, if you will, into Yah’s calendar, which is part and parcel of operating in Torah. Loving Him and also loving one another (Yo’el 2). Otherwise, we’ll keep status quo and never reach the aviv stage of maturity that our Master reached during His ministry here on earth.

 

We are as the general barley crop to be harvested after our ancient cousins would return from their pilgrimage to Yerushalayim in their keeping of the Feast of Unleavened Bread. It is then that they would begin the harvesting and threshing process of the general aviv barley crop.

 

Throughout the first month leading up to Unleavened Bread, the barley matures, emblematic of the sanctification process we all must go through in our walk in Messiah. We are, in effect, as humble grain on the stalk, bowing before our Father as His Ruach works tirelessly within to mature us, as in the corn maturing in the head of the barley crop during the month of aviv.

 

Mashiyach was the first of the firstfruits to have been harvested and waved before Yah. As aviv barley firstfruits, our Master was crushed, beaten, winnowed, threshed, all on our behalf. And because of this, His obedience and sacrifice was wholly accepted by Yah on our behalf (cf. Exo. 23:19; 34:26). This also plays into the perfect Pesach that is to be offered as a commanded sacrifice during the month of Aviv. The physical perfections of the selected pesach/Passover Lamb symbolizes Yahoshua’s sinless, perfect Being.

 

Again, the timing of declaring the Head of the Year or Rosh Hashanah is crucial to us who keep/guard/shamar the observational calendar because it establishes the entire calendar year. The timing of the seven-mandated Feasts for every biblical calendar year depends on getting the date for Rosh Hashanah right. Failure to properly time Rosh Hashanah will invariably result in our not meeting Yah at the time He has ordained through criteria—the signs that He has provided us.

 

Why is the Month of Aviv so important? Why are we commanded to guard it?

 

  1. It is the starting point of the Biblical Calendar year and the nexus by which all of the 7-mandated feasts (ie., moedim) converge. If we get aviv wrong, we get the whole calendar year wrong. We miss our appointed times with our Heavenly Father—our Husband. We run the risk of upsetting Abba, and worse, meeting with the wrong elohim. Just saying.

 

  1. Aviv is all about Yahoshua. He is the first of all creation. He is the focus of the entire calendar year and its various elements.

 

  1. Aviv is about the firstfruits of our harvest, with prophetic shadows of Yahoshua as the firstfruits of those to be raised from the dead. It’s also about the Body of Mashiyach/the Kehilah being the firstfruits of humanity to be saved and made Kingdom ready. A harvest of souls that will become firstborn sons of Yah.

 

  1. It’s about a general harvest of our crops, emblematic of a general harvest of redeemed/saved/converted souls for the Kingdom.

 

  1. The Month of Aviv is about sacrifice and the blood of our savior that covers over the sins of Yah’s chosen ones, justifies them, reunites them with Him through a renewed marriage covenant, and ultimately leads them to eternal life.

 

  1. It’s about the miraculous.

 

  1. It’s about redemption.

 

  1. It’s about Yah’s people turning their backs and abandoning their former lives and gods—turning their backs to them and their faces towards Yah (Exodus/Shemot 14:1-2).

 

 

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As modern-day Nazarene Yisra’elites, how do we Guard the Month of Aviv? Indeed, Abba explicitly commands us to do so. So, how do we do this in a day where we no longer have a functioning Temple in Yerushalayim (destroyed 68-70 C.E. by the Romans) and no Levitical Priesthood which had been effectively defrocked, or rather, they were fired by Yah for their failure to do what they were assigned to do and because of their corruptness. Furthermore, most of us probably don’t have barley farms and we wouldn’t know the difference between barley, wheat, flax, or rye if we were made to differentiate between them.

 

So, how do we “guard/keep” the Month of Aviv?

 

  1. First and foremost, we ensure that the month begins at the right time and in the right season. That is, ensure that we utilize the criteria Yah has given us in which to determine when the head of the year, Aviv 1, Rosh Hashanah will take place/will occur.

 

  1. Keep/observe/honor/rehearse the set-apart days (ie., the moedim) that are embedded within the Month of Aviv:

 

  • Pesach on the 14th day of the Month Aviv (/Vayiqra 23:5).
  • The 7-day Feast of Unleavened Bread, which begins on the 15th day and concludes on the 21st day of the Month of Aviv (/Vayiqra 23:6-8).
  • Yom HaNafat HaOmer or the Day of the Wavesheaf Offering, to occur on the day after the weekly Sabbath that occurs during the Week of Unleavened Bread (/Vayiqra 23:10-22).

 

  1. As we enter the month Aviv, we must prepare to receive the set-apart days that are embedded within this month. In addition to the weekly Sabbaths contained therein, we’re going to have two holy, set-apart, convocational days where we cannot perform any servile work. So, for those of us who work or who have activities that would normally take place on those set days, we’re going to have to not engage in those things. We need to plan for those special days to give Yah our whole attention. Take these days off. Convocate with like-minded brethren if it is possible. Treat the day as special and a day that we are set to meet our husband.

 

  1. Leading up to and throughout the Month of Aviv, it behooves us to engage and commit to deep and Spirit-led study of Yah’s Word. Learn and know what the Month of Aviv is all about. Learn and know what the Pesach, Unleavened Bread, and the Day of the Wavesheaf Offering are all about. In so doing, we not only please Yah, but we guard against error and misleading teachings and doctrines that ensnare so many of Yah’s people.

 

  1. Open/avail ourselves to a move of Yah/of Yah’s Ruach. Expect the miraculous. Make our homes suitable for Yah’s presence. Do some house cleaning such that we identify and remove those things that would hinder or deter Yah’s presence. And this applies also to our bodies, which are the Temples of Yah (1 Cor. 3:16). Make sure our bodies are suitable to house Yah’s presence/His Ruach. Be available to Yah and to whatever He wants to do in our lives during that month.

 

  1. Share the gospel and the meaning of this season with those who are searching and desirous to receive Truth. Shaul counseled Timothy to “preach the word, be urgent in season, out of season; reprove, rebuke, exhort, with all longsuffering and teaching” (1 Cor. 15:20). Beloved, you don’t have to be a teacher, preacher or podcaster to teach others the gospel and to provide every man an answer that asks you a reason concerning the hope that is in you (1 Cor. 15:20). It’s part of our charter: To spread and teach the gospel. And the gospel is indeed embedded and is part and parcel of Yah calendar and the Month of Aviv. And let’s not forget to prepare and teach our children, grandchildren and such, the importance and truths of this season and how it relates to their young lives.

 

 

There are other ways and parts to Guarding the Month of Aviv. And I pray that you will receive this month with zeal, love, hope, and a thirst and hunger for the truths that are contained in this set-apart month. May the Month of Aviv be a meaningful and blessed month for you. As each element of the Month of Aviv approaches, we’ll enter into discussion on it as we Guard the Month of Aviv.

 

 

Birthrights-Blessings-Covenant Promises: Lessons Learned from the Story of Esau and Jacob-Part 2-STAR-26

by | Mar 26, 2022 | Blog, Podcasts

by Rod Thomas | The Messianic Torah Observer

This is Birthrights, Blessings, Covenant Promises-Lessons Learned from the Story of Esau and Jacob, Part 2.

 

This will be the 26th Torah Reading or Parshah of the 3-year Torah Reading Cycle. Our reading is found in Genesis or Beresheit 27:30-38:9.

 

Having added necessary background information to our present reading, let’s finally delve into this week’s discussion. We’ll begin with 27:30. And it reads:

 

27:30. And it happened as soon as Isaac finished blessing Jacob, and Jacob barely had left the presence of Isaac his father, that Esau his brother came back from the hunt.

 

 

27:31. And he, too, made a dish and brought it to his father and he said to his father, “Let my father rise and eat of the game of his son so that you may solemnly bless me.”

 

 

 

27:32. And his father Isaac said, “Who are you?” And he said, “I am your son, your firstborn, Esau.”

 

 

 

27:33. And Isaac was seized with a very great trembling and he said, “Who is it, then, who caught game and brought it to me and I ate everything before you came and blessed him?

 

Here’s fun fact my friends: Here the text mentions that upon learning of Ya’achov’s trickery through Esav’s protestation-assuming Yitschaq was truly not aware of the impostor being Ya’achov—that he “was seized with a very great trembling.”

 

Ultra-Orthodox Rabbinic tradition traces their theme—their name if you will—that name being the “Haredi” to this incident. According to this sect, the Hebrew people are called Haredi, meaning, “those who shake before YHVH” (Isa. 66:5; Haredim; Ezr. 10:3). HaHaredim, then, are those that tremble before Yah at the commandments of our Elohim.

 

This, of course, has nothing whatsoever to do with our reading here today. But it was something I came across in my research for this discussion that I thought I would share.

 

Continuing: Here Yitschaq pretends that he was unaware who the culprit was that stole Esau’s blessing. We know from previous readings that Yitschaq was an intelligent man, as well as a peacemaker and peacekeeper. So then, this strategy to deny knowledge of the culprit, but rather, allow for Esau to name him by a process of elimination seems somewhat surprising, at least to me. Surely Yitschaq knew who the culprit was, and I would go so far as to even surmise that Yitschaq also knew that Rivkah would have also been behind the scheme. The text clearly denotes that Yitschaq had doubts as to the true identity of Ya’achov as evidenced by his voice. But again, Yitschaq let the charade go forth. I wonder if by chance, and this is just Rod speaking here: I wonder if by chance Yitschaq knew all along at the time of the blessing, that Ya’achov was perpetrating a fraud. And no doubt realizing that Ya’achov was the chosen one to perpetuate the covenant and to receive the coveted blessing, especially having already procured the birthright from Esav, he used that fraudulent situation to render the blessing to Ya’achov instead of to Esav. This would have given Yitschaq sort of an excuse for his oversight in this situation in the eyes of his beloved son, Esav.

 

We find in 27:33 that Yitschaq refuses to rescind the blessing conveyed to Ya’achov despite Esav’s seeming over-the-top protestation and outrage and despite the blessing being absconded by his younger brother through trickery and it being contrary to ANE conventional wisdom. But instead, the patriarch “affirms” that he did indeed pass on the covenantal, patriarchal blessing to the younger, Ya’achov. This is certainly an attestation to the seriousness that the patriarchs placed on issues of birthrights and blessings. These, once firmly established, were irrevocable and their establishment was not to be contested.

 

One has to wonder what, if any, importance and influence the revelation Yah conveyed to Rivkah during her pregnancy had over Yitschaq (reference 25:23). For Yitschaq seemed hard-bent on conveying the patriarchal blessing to Esav. It seems reasonable to conclude that in addition to Rivkah’s preference to the younger Ya’achov over the elder Esav, that the revelation still resonated within her to some greater or lesser extent. It’s unclear, as the text does not elaborate on this at all.

 

Torah scholar, teacher and author Tim Hegg of Torah Resources takes what I see as a bold step by suggesting that Yitschaq may have known the interlocutor—the imposter if you will—to be his younger son Ya’achov, but to avoid the full brunt of his son’s ire, he chose to play the victim in this situation, as opposed to that of “unjust father in Esau’s eyes” (Hegg’s Commentary).

 

To me, this fortuitous debacle (in that it ends up going the way Yah intended it to go) is left open for much debate by the wisdom of Yah and the pen of Moshe. I find it very interesting that in some things regarding the patriarch, Yah chooses to reveal what the patriarchs were thinking. But here, we’re left wondering what Yitschaq really was thinking here. For even in his blind state, Yitschaq should be more than capable of discerning the difference between his two sons. The text tells us that Yitschaq used the senses of smell and feel to override the contradictory sounds of his younger son’s voice, which he indicated as such to Ya’achov during their encounter.

 

But if I were forced to guess as to what was actually going on with Yitschaq, I would surmise that maybe he was operating within the spiritual. In other words, Yah was directing his actions during the encounter. That Yah may have dulled his sense of reason and led him to take the path of least resistance to open the gate to the blessing being conveyed to Ya’achov, despite the dubious manner in which this encounter was carried out. In this sense, I would somewhat agree with Hegg in his supposition that “God appears to get His own hands dirty in the whole scenario, for He allows lies and deceit to be the channel through which the blessing comes” (Hegg’s Commentary).

 

Now, I realize that some might take umbrage over the suggestions that Yah would somehow participate in human evil for purposes of bringing about His perfect will in the earth.

 

Well, I would say in slight defense of this theory that it’s not so much Yah directly intervening in the situation here, as much as we’re talking about Yah’s so-called permissive will playing out in this situation. Ya’achov was who he was—a trickster and a manipulator—that’s the way he was drawn. Rivkah was who she was—she loved Ya’achov much more than she loved Esav. So it is only natural that she would do all that she could to see to it that her favorite got what she obviously knew was due him, according to Yah’s revelation to her some 60 or so years previously.

 

It is only natural for all concerned to favor Ya’achov in this whole situation because we, along with Rivkah, no doubt Ya’achov, and no doubt Yitschaq, know that Ya’achov the younger was chosen of Yah to perpetuate the covenant, despite him being the younger. And yes, it stings a little knowing that Yah’s revelation would come to fruition via ill-gotten means. But in the end, whether hook or crook on the part of Yah’s human creation, Yah’s eternal will come to fruition. As Hegg so aptly states: “God’s purposes are not thwarted by the sinful acts of mankind” (Hegg Commentary).

 

We saw evidence of this reality in the story of Avraham, Sarah, and Hagar, whereby in order for the promise of an heir to Avraham’s wealth and the covenant promises, Sarah contrives the scheme to override her barren state and give the family the son to make all the promises of the covenant come to fruition through her handmaiden Hagar.

 

 

27:34. Now blessed he stays.” When Esau heard his father’s words, he cried out with a great and very bitter outcry and he said to his father, “Bless me too, Father!”

 

Well, it turns out that Esav realized that, at least by ANE standards, he stood to lose a significant amount of material and spiritual wealth to his slightly younger brother Ya’achov, as depicted here in 27:34 in such raw, human tones. He’d foolishly sold his birthright to Ya’achov some time before (25:34), which disqualified him from receiving the coveted double portion that was commonly rendered to the older son by the parents. And it now turns out, through trickery, that Ya’achov received that coveted double portion, leaving Esav with nary a blessing to be considered a blessing. It was more of a prophesy than anything. Ya’achov would receive the fertile ground of his Canaan homestead, while Esav and his descendants would dwell in the mountain country. In toll, Esav’s blessing was a devastating blow, which would likely have not been such if Ya’achov and Rivkah had not gotten their paws into Yah’s business in the first place.

 

Nevertheless, Yah has this uncanny way of makinig lemon-aid out of lemons, as they say. And certainly, in this situation, despite the unforgiveable trickery that went down here, Yah’s Will and Plan ultimately came to fruition. But that plan and will coming to fruition would not be manifested in Ya’achov and his seed’s lives without much hardship and challenges.

 

27:35. And he said, “Your brother has come in deceit and has taken your blessing.”

 

 

27:36. And he said, “Was his name called Jacob that he should trip me now twice by the heels? My birthright he took, and look, now he’s taking my blessing.” And he said, “Have you not kept back a blessing for me?

 

In utter disgust and anger, Esav links his brother’s devious actions in tricking his father to convey the blessing that he should have received, to Ya’achov. Ya’achov’s name hearkens back to the time of the twin’s birth, whereby Ya’achov emerged from Rivkah’s womb grasping on to his brother Esav’s heel (Gen. 25:26). Thus Ya’achov, the name, is etymologized as “Heel-grabber.” But heel grabber is insufficient in Esav’s mind to describe Ya’achov dubious ways. So, he adds another layer to his brother’s name. This time, Ya’achov carries an added meaning of “crooked,” which aptly describes that which he’d just done to him, Esav.

 

 

27:37. And Isaac answered and said to Esau, “Look, I made him overlord to you, and all his brothers I gave him as slaves, and with grain and wine I endowed him. For you, then, what can I do, my son?”

 

 

 

27:38. And Esau said to his father, “Do you have but one blessing, my father? Bless me, too, Father.” And Esau raised his voice and he wept.

 

 

 

27:39. And Isaac his father answered and said to him, “Look, from the fat of the earth be your dwelling and from the dew of the heavens above.

 

 

 

27:40. By your sword shall you live and your brother shall you serve. And when you rebel you shall break off his yoke from your neck.”

 

Almost similar in construct, Yitschaq’s blessing foreshadows Esav, like his uncle before him, making his way through the rest of his life, through violent means. And certainly, history bears this out for both sets of tribes.

 

 

27:41. And Esau seethed with resentment against Jacob over the blessing his father had blessed him, and Esau said in his heart, “As soon as the time for mourning my father comes around, I will kill Jacob my brother.”

 

 

 

27:42. And Rebekah was told the words of Esau her elder son, and she sent and summoned Jacob her younger son and said to him, “Look, Esau your brother is consoling himself with the idea he will kill you.

 

Although our text states that Esav determined in his mind (and no doubt heart) that he would seek to take the life of his brother after the passing of his father, it appears evident here that he also articulated his intent in the hearing of Rivkah.

 

27:43. So now, my son, listen to my voice, and rise, go  to my brother Laban in Haran,

 

 

 

27:44. And you may stay with him a while until your brother’s wrath subsides,

 

 

 

27:45. Until your brother’s rage against you subsides and he forgets what you did to him, and I shall send and fetch you from there. Why should I be bereft of you both on one day?”

 

 

 

27:46. And Rebekah said to Isaac, “I loathe my life because of the Hittite women! If Jacob takes a wife from Hittite women like these, from the native girls, what good to me is life?”

 

Apart from the existential threat Esav posed to his brother Ya’achov, what else is driving the specifics of Rivkah’s insistence that Ya’achov not marry a Canaanite woman, but rather, choose a wife from her kinsmen?

 

Esav, back in Beresheit 26:34-35 is recorded to have taken unto himself two Canaanite women as wives: Judith and Bashemath. The text details how this upset both Yitschaq and Rivkah. And one has to wonder, as we’ve discussed in previous readings, that the tenets of the Avrahamic Covenant excluded the patriarchs from perpetuating the covenant through Canaanite women as wives. And here, which just adds more murkiness to this story, Esav, who Yitschaq probably would have preferred to be the perpetuator of the covenant, goes out and probably knowingly marries, not just one Canaanite woman, but two.

 

Add this to his already foolish act of despising his birthright, as they say, and one can only imagine that (1) Esav is an impulsive, rebellious man’s man who is spiritually obtuse, and (2) Yitschaq and Rivkah recognize that Esav is not suited to perpetuate the covenant. Yet they don’t know how to get around the ANE practice of the eldest son receiving the double portion and the blessing, without some help from them, maybe.

 

Esav’s and Ya’achov’s birthright and blessing story is found in the Extra-biblical text of Jubilees/Yoveliym 26:1-27:11; 24:3-7. The writer emphasized that it was Ya’achov that became the elder and Esav the less.

 

Furthermore, the text makes clear that Rivkah vociferously declares her love for Ya’achov and forcefully instructs him NOT to marry a Canaanite woman, of which she described and labeled as “unclean and unrighteous, for their deeds were evil” (25:1). But rather, he was to marry only of the house of her father and her kin. And if he were to do that, she declared that he and his children would be blessed of El Elyon; they being a righteous generation and a holy seed (25:3). This sort of served as a premature blessing over her son, which was not generally done by one’s mother. But then, we’re talking about Jubilees here.

 

The last interesting thing about Jubilees’ treatment of our reading is that it states Yitschaq’s ability to accurately tell the difference between his two sons, despite Ya’achov being made-up by his mother to feel and smell the part of his older brother, was removed from him by Yah (26:17).

 

Now, I found this point to be an interesting one in that the biblical storyline that Yitschaq recognized  Ya’achov’s voice, yet deferred to his senses of smell and feel to give in to the ruse to steal the blessing, seemed to be missing something. And certainly, there’s something to this idea that Yitschaq’s reasoning ability was somehow impaired in addition to his vision/sight. There is at least one commentator that I came across in my study of this reading that also suggested that Yah was somehow orchestrating or behind this deception. This of course seems counterintuitive and uncharacteristic of our Father. (Insert passage addressing Yah’s participation in the ruse.)

 

28:1. And Isaac summonded Jacob and blessed him and commanded him and said to him, “You shall not take a wife from the daughters of Canaan.

 

Here, Yitschaq renders a parting blessing to his son along with covenant-linked instructions to not take a Canaanite woman as a wife. Now, this is not the coveted blessing that Ya’achov supposedly tricked his father into passing down to him. That blessing is found in Genesis/Beresheit 27:26-29, which reads (we did not cover this reading):

 

(26) And Isaac his father said to him (him being Jacob), “Come close, pray, and kiss me, my son.” And he came close and kissed him, (27) and he smelled his garments and he blessed him and he said, “See, the smell of my son is like the smell of the field that YHVH has blessed. (28) May Elohim grant you from the dew of the heavens and the fat of the earth, and abundance of grain and drink. (29) May peoples serve you, and nations bow before you. Be overlord to your brothers, may your mother’s sons bow before you. Those who curse you be cursed, and those who bless you, blessed.”

 

Indeed, Yitschaq included elements of the Avrahamic covenant in his blessing, which ended up going to Ya’achov. And this is what makes this whole thing all the more mysterious. Surely Yitschaq would know that Ya’achov was the chosen one to perpetuate the covenant, not Esav. So, there must be some unidentified forces at work here to make this blessing do what it was supposed to do. 

 

28:2. Rise, go to Paddan-Aram to the house of Bethuel your mother’s father, and take you from there a wife from the daughters of Laban, your mother’s brother.

 

 

 

28:3. And may El Shaddai bless you and make you fruitful and multiply, so you become an assembly of peoples.

 

 

 

28:4. And may He grant you the blessing of Abraham, to you and your seed as well, that you may take hold of the land of your sojournings, which God granted to Abraham.”

 

 

 

28:5. And Isaac sent Jacob off and he went to Paddan-Aram to Laban son of Bethuel the Aramean, brother of Rebekah, mother of Jacob and Esau.

 

 

 

28:6. And Esau saw that Isaac had blessed Jacob and had sent him off to Paddan-Aram to take him a wife from there when he blessed him and charged him, saying, “You shall not take a wife from the daughters of Canaan.”

 

 

 

28:7. And Jacob listened to his father and to his mother and he went to Paddan-Aram.

 

 

 

28:8. And Esau saw that the daughters of Canaan were evil in the eyes of Isaac his father.

 

 

 

28:9. And Esau went to Ishmael and he took Mahalath daughter of Ishmael son of Abraham, in addition to his wives, as a wife.

 

 

First the Natural then the Spiritual–Practical Halachah-Sabbath Thoughts and Reflections

 

What does all this talk about birthrights and blessings have to do with us as modern day engrafted Yisra’elites? What are we to take away from this unusual story?

 

 

Our Torah reading serves as a strong lesson to us to today that we must learn to trust Yah at His word and let Him do His thing at His own time, in His own way. Furthermore, it provides us insight into the ancient pathways that our Heavenly Father sanctioned and codified in our Torah.

 

As Messianic Torah Observers, we yearn to follow the ancient ways that lead to life. Abba instructed through His anointed prophet Jeremiah:

 

“Stand ye in the ways, and see, and ask for the old paths, where is the good way, and walk therein, and ye shall find rest for your souls…” (6:16; KJV).

 

From a halachic standpoint, our Torah reading today provides us an ancient portrait of how things regarding the handling of birthrights and patriarchal blessings were handled, absent human challenges to those conventions. And certainly, we saw here an example of how Yah’s Will and Plan supersedes the will and plans of men as well as it illustrated that Yah doesn’t need our help to make his will and plans come to fruition. It all comes down to what Yah wants and choses to do, and how He chooses to accomplish that which He sets out to do.

 

Later on, Yah codified how the handling of birthrights and blessings were to be handled by His chosen people. This is found in Deuteronomy or Devarim 21:15-17 and Num. 26:33; 27:1-11.

 

As modern-day, grafted-in Yisra’elites, we are compelled to follow the instructions regarding our firstborn, if our personal and family situations apply. Most of us men do not have two wives, so that portion of the instructions obviously would not directly apply. Also, many of us may not have anything to pass down to our sons and daughters near the time of our passing. In those cases, obviously, we do what we can to honor these mitzvot as we are led by Yah’s Ruach.

 

But those of us who will have something to pass on to our sons and daughters at the end of our lives, we should do our best to honor Yah’s mitzvot regarding the firstborn and our other children. Yah’s ways are always the proper, just, sanctioned ways.

 

Clearly, Yah is not bound by time and space. We on the other hand frame virtually everything that happens to us through the elements of time and space. So then, when Yah’s promises are extended to us and they don’t happen within the time-frame and manner that we believe or imagine they should or would occur, it behooves us to step-back, let go and let Yah. In other words, we must resist the temptation to take matters in our own hands and force the occurrence of Yah’s plans and promises to fit within our perceived time-frames and manner. It is foolish to tinker with Yah’s plans and promises; to think we are best served to help the Father achieve his plans and manifest His promises. To tinker with Yah’s plans and promises will inevitably lead to varying degrees of hardships and difficulties for us, our families, and fellowships, and associates even.

 

Speaking of the quality of his life after he and his mother tinkered with Yah’s Plan and promises, Ya’achov stated to Pharaoh:

 

“…My pilgrimage has lasted 130-years. My years have been few and hard, and they have not surpassed the years of my fathers during their pilgrimages” (Gen. 47:9; HCSB).

 

Simply look at from a historical perspective the immense national problems the nation of Yisra’el has in the past and continues to face today because the patriarchs decided to “help” the Almighty fulfill His promises and plans. The nation of Yisra’el has had to endure a great deal of conflict with the descendants of Ishma’el and Esav/Esau over the course of several centuries. And their stiff-neck, rebellious nature doesn’t help their situation in the least.

 

Here in this country, Evangelical Christians for instance, feel it is their God-given responsibility to facilitate the return of Christ and the establishment of God’s Kingdom here on earth. So what they’ve been doing of late is to funnel what should be Yah’s money to Jewish organizations over in Yisra’el to fund the building of a third Temple. These believe that if they can accelerate the building of the third Temple on the Temple Mount, then their Christ will be forced to return sooner than later.

 

Still other groups or sects of Evangelical Christianity have sought to establish a strong political presence in Washington by installing evangelically chosen leaders into office and pushing through the national legislature systems Christian-based legislation that will bring about a rapid return of Christ and the establishment of Yah’s Kingdom here in this country.

 

Look, Yah’s eternal Will and Plans will come to fruition in the end, for Yah’s character demands that they must. As it relates to Yah’s faithfulness, the Apostle Shaul wrote to the Roman Messianic Assembly:

 

“…let Yah be true, but every man a liar, that thou mightest be justified in thy saying, and mightest overcome when thou art judged” (3:4; KJV modified).

 

Yes, Yah has everything under control and He doesn’t need our help in the least. Our duty as Yah’s elect is to fear Him:

 

“…fear YHVH our Elohim; to walk in all His ways; and to love Him, and to serve YHVH our Elohim with all our heart and with all our soul” (Deu. 10:12; KJV modified; and Ecc. 12:13).

 

Even our Master gave us instructions as it relates to our duty as His disciples:

 

“…seek first the Kingdom of Elohim and His righteousness, and all the concerns of life will be added unto us” (Mat. 6:33; ESV modified).

 

And this understanding extends beyond our seeking to help Yah out. It extends over into the concerns and issues of this present life. Many of us faced tremendous pressures during the recent “plandemic,” whereby our national and local leaders pressured us to receive an “untested,” hasatan-inspired concoction

 

We don’t need to worry about when Yeshua is returning, but rather do that which He commanded us to do while it is still day (Joh. 9:4). We don’t need to do anything to help Yah bring about the advent of His kingdom here on earth. He’s got not only this, but us as well under control. If we can get past the natural urge to help things along in this life to somehow make those things happen the way we believe Yah would have them be, but instead, live by our faith (Hab. 2:4), Yah will do what He intended to do all along, and we will thrive and flourish within His perfect Will.

 

I recall in my own life, just five-years ago in the Spring of 2017, after retiring from my two careers, I believed Yah had in mind for us to relocate and begin a life of service to the Kingdom in an entirely different place from which we’d raised our family over the last three-decades. But I initially believed Yah wanted us to relocate the moment I retired, which turned out, much to four-years of frustration and confusion, that Yah did have in mind for us to relocate and serve Him in another location of the country. However, that relocation was to happen within the time frame He had in mind for us; to a place we had never considered before; and through means that we never thought we would pursue.

 

Thinking I had to make this Yah-ordained relocation happen, I did everything I knew to do to make our move happen immediately after my retirement. But every single attempt to find us a place, sell our home at a fair, but reasonable price, and have in hand the finances to make the relocation happen, was meant with failure after failure. It finally occurred to us three-years later (yes, it took that long for us to come to our senses) that it wasn’t in Yah’s timing up to that point for us to relocate. And if I had forced the move as I had come close to doing on a number of occasions, we would have probably made the worse life-decision we could ever have possibly made. We would likely have been financially, logistically, physically, and emotionally devastated for years to come.

 

So, after coming to our senses, we left things in Yah’s hands—well, sort of. I kind of thought that maybe I had misunderstood Yah’s plan for us to relocate and that we were destined to live out our retirement years in our SoCal home.

 

But out of nowhere in late 2020, everything suddenly started clicking into place in favor of a relocation to the home that only Yah could provide us. And I look back and I wonder what life would have looked like if I had forced the move. Praise Yah we finally learned to trust Him and leave everything in His very capable hands.

 

We now have a blessed life of service in a home that is in a location that we never would have dreamed of initially, but that works quite well for us. Praise Yah from Whom all blessings flow.

 

Well, that’s my personal testimony. It was actually a positive outcome to Yah’s Will and Plan whereby we did not take matters into our own hands to make that will and plan come to fruition, as so many brethren throughout the ages have foolishly done.

 

Indeed, true trusting faith in Yah requires patience, and unwavering hope, and a willingness to let go and let Yah. It demands humility on our part. An acknowledgment in mind, heart and deed that Yah’s Ways and Plan of action is the best way for us at every level.

 

As it relates to the concept of the firstborn inheriting the throne of his father in 2 Chronicles 21:3, we know that the firstborn—first begotten of Abba Father was none other than Yahoshua our older brother and Messiah, as described by Rav Shaul:

 

(28) Furthermore, we know that Yah causes everything to work together for the good of those who love Elohim and are called in accordance with His purpose; (29) because those whom He knew in advance, He also determined in advance would be conformed to the pattern of His Son, so that He (He being Yeshua) might be the firstborn among many brothers…(Rom. 8).

 

(3) Who being the brightness of His glory, and the express image of His person, and upholding all things by the word of His power, when He had by Himself purged our sins, sat down on the right hand of the Majesty on high; (4) being made so much better than the angels, as He hath by INHERITANCE obtained a more excellent Name than they. (5) For unto which of the angels said He at any time, Thou art My Son, this day Have I begotten thee? And again, I will be to Him a Father, and he shall be to Me a Son? (6) And again, when He bringeth in the firstbegotten into the world, He saith, And let all the angels of Yah worship Him…(Heb. 1).

 

Yah chose Yahoshua as His firstborn and He effectively conveyed unto Him all of the privileges that would here in the natural, be conveyed unto the son possessing the birthright. So then, as the firstborn of all human creation, Yahoshua has inherited all that belongs to His Father. Furthermore, He has been named the High Priest of the Body:

 

“And He is the head of the body, the ekklesia—the kehilah—the church: who is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead; that in all things He might have the preeminence” (Col. 1:18; KJV modified).

 

“Wherefore, holy brethren, partakers of the heavenly calling, consider the Apostle and High Priest of our profession, Yahoshua HaMashiyach…” (Heb. 3:1; KJV modified).

 

(14) Seeing then that we have a great high priest, that is passed into the heavens, Yahoshua the Son of Yehovah, let us hold fast our profession. (15) For we have not an high priest which cannot be touched with the feeling of our infirmities; but was in all points tempted like as we are, yet without sin. (16) let us therefore come boldly unto the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy, and find grace to help in time of need (Heb. 4).

 

We have come to understand the role of the firstborn, especially the one who possesses the birthright, as being very special in the heart and mind of a Hebrew Nazarene. Not so much from a biological, natural standpoint, at least not so much today as back in the day. But today, the concept of firstborn is special in what it represents from a spiritual perspective.

 

As alluded to earlier, the Body of Yah—more specifically true Yisra’el and her engrafted ones—are in the greatest sense, Yah’s firstborn. We are favored of Yah. We are in line to receive all of the blessings and spiritual wealth that our older brother Yahoshua Messiah has and will receive. We are partakers of the birthright and Yah’s blessing:

 

(22) On the contrary, you have come to Mount Tziyon, that is, the city of the living Elohim, heavenly Yerushalayim; to myriads of angels in festive assembly; (23) to a community of the firstborn whose names have been recorded in heaven; to a Judge who is Elohim of everyone; to spirits of righteous people who have been brought to the goal…(Heb. 12; CJB modified).

 

Did you get that beloved? Even though our older brother and soon coming King Yahoshua was officially deemed by Yah to be the firstborn from the dead, having preeminence in all things, we also are a type of firstborn having birthright privileges, especially in the coming Kingdom of Yah. Oh, we may not hail from family wealth in this life, but we are certainly in line to inherit a great many things:

 

  • The earth (Mat. 5:5)
  • Eternal life (Mat. 19:29)
  • The Kingdom of Yah (Mat. 25:34)
  • All things that Yah has to give (Rev. 21:7).

 

So, let us rejoice for that which Yah has promised us through the Person and Ministry of our Master Yahoshua Messiah.

 

Being described as firstborn unto Yah, there is implication that there are others who will follow us in the Kingdom Age. This is not the time or discussion to get into the specifics of this, but one has to consider that we who are Yah’s firstborn are not necessarily the end of the story.

 

In terms of patriarchal blessings beloved, Shaul affirmed that we are in possession of the Avrahamic Covenant Blessings that extend well beyond the material, and on to the eternal:

 

(13) The Messiah redeemed us from the curse pronounced in the Torah by becoming cursed on our behalf; for the Tanakh says, “Everyone who hangs from a stake comes under a curse.” (14) Yeshua the Messiah did this so that in union with Him the Gentiles might receive the BLESSING announced to Avraham, so that through trusting and being faithful, we might receive what was promised, namely, the Spirit (Gal. 3; CJB).

 

Our blessings come directly from Yah, who Shaul identified as the Father of our Master Yahoshua Messiah. According to the apostle, Abba has blessed us with “all spiritual blessings in heavenly places in Messiah:

 

(4)…according as He hath chosen us in Him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and without blame before Him in love; (5) having predestinated us unto the adoption of children by Yeshua Messiah to Himself, according to the good pleasure of His will, (6) to the praise of the glory of His grace, wherein He hath made us accepted in the beloved (Eph. 1; KJV).

 

Those spiritual blessings in heavenly places in Messiah include:

 

  • Grace and Mercy through Yahoshua, the beloved of Yah (Eph. 1:6).
  • Forgiveness of sins (Eph. 1:7).
  • Yah’s kindness, wisdom, and understanding of the mystery of His will (Eph. 1:8-9).
  • Yah’s Ruach HaKodesh (Eph. 1:13).
  • An unimaginable inheritance to be conveyed to us in the Kingdom (Eph. 1:14).

 

Yah loves us with a love that a human father would have for his firstborn. And because He treasures us so, the blessings we stand to receive are unimaginable. As the apostle described:

 

“…Eye hath not seen, nor ear heard, neither have entered into the heart of man, the things which Yah hath prepared for them that love him” (1 Cor. 2:9; KJV modified). 

 

 

Beloved, let us not be dismayed at what appears to be the unfair blessings and acquired birthright inheritance that some unredeemed souls have received. Many have received their inheritance—their birthright blessings from their father hasatan. They’ve received their rewards here on earth. Their rewards—their inheritance is fleeting and will only last a little while.

 

But our Master admonished us to lay up for ourselves treasures in heaven (I.e., those birthright, material and spiritual blessings), where neither moth nor rust destroys and where thieves do not break in and steal. And He cautioned that where our treasure is, there we will find our heart also—that is, if our treasures are that which we collect here on this earth, then our hearts and souls are focused on this earthly plain. But if we are heaven and kingdom minded, our birthright-blessings will completely put to shame the wealth and prosperity of world’s elite.

 

Birthrights-Blessings-Covenant Promises-Lessons Learned from the Story of Esau and Jacob-Part 1-STAR-26

by | Mar 25, 2022 | Blog, Podcasts

by Rod Thomas | The Messianic Torah Observer

This is Birthrights, Blessings, Covenant Promises-Lessons Learned from the Story of Esau and Jacob, Part 1.

 

This will be the 26th Torah Reading or Parshah of the 3-year Torah Reading Cycle. Our reading is found in Genesis or Beresheit 27:30-38:9.

 

As in times past, I will be reading from Robert Alter’s Translation of Torah entitled “The Five Books of Moses.” But I will use various translations as additional references.

 

We’ll read through each consecutive verse, stopping for comments as needed.

 

But before we begin, let’s quickly review the events leading up to our reading. Then in Part 2, we’ll tackle this week’s reading.

 

Among other things—concepts—thinkings—perspectives—this reading serves as a lesson about “how worry and doubt control the decisions of human beings even in those areas where Yah has already reassured and pronounced a final decision” (Richoka; The Messianic Revolution).

 

What does this mean? Well, we’ll have to go back to the beginning of this story, which is I believe a reading ago. A reading we did not cover. But we’ll briefly cover the highlights here. But it was during Rebekah’s (aka Rivkah’s) pregnancy that Yah essentially declared unto her that Isaac (aka Ya’achov), the younger son, would receive the birthright and his father Isaac’s (aka Yitschaq’s) blessing. Which essentially means that Ya’achov was the chosen one of the twins—the older twin Esau (aka Esav) and Ya’achov the younger. This is recorded in Genesis (aka Bereshyth) 25:

 

(21) And Isaac (aka Yitschaq) entreated (in other words, Yitschaq prayed to) Yehovah for his wife, because she was barren. And Yehovah was entreated of him, and Rebekah (aka Rivkah) his wife conceived. (22) And the children struggled together within her (some English translations say these twins fought with each other within her). And she said, If it be so, wherefore do I live? (In other words, “Why is this happening within me? Or what is going on within me?) And she went to inquire of Yehovah (Gen. 25:21-22; ASV modified).

 

Two Warring Nations Within Rivkah

 

Again, Rivkah is told by Yah that she had two-nations in her womb at the time she was found to be pregnant with the twins Esav and Ya’achov (25:24). So then, who or what were would these two nations become? Well, Ya’achov represents the nation of Yisra’el of course, while Esav represents the nation of Edom.

 

Rabbinic tradition ties Edom to Christianity, the Roman Empire, and the Roman Catholic Church, this according to certain Dead Sea Scroll writings.

 

Now, apparently in Hebrew, Rome sounds a bit like Edom. Of course I couldn’t resist, and I looked this up myself on wordhippo.com. And yes, Rome in Hebrew is Edom. Imagine that.

 

Turns out that the Jews historically referred to Christians as Edomites. They did, by the way, refer to all Muslims as Isha’elites.

 

There are 2,000-year old Jewish writings that link Edom to the Roman Empire as well. And by the 3rd and 4th centuries A.D., the Rome-Edom-connection was made complete by the Jew of that time calling the Roman Catholic Church as Edom.

 

This should not be of any surprise. Certainly, history bears out how brutally Rome and the Roman Catholic Church treated Jews throughout the last two-millennia. Because Edom runs contrary to that of Ya’achov, it carries a negative connotation with the Jew, even to this day. This despite Edom meaning simply “red,” traditionally defined as red in linkage to the red lentil stew that Esav gave or despised his birthright for.

 

Well, that’s all nice to know rabbinic traditional information that doesn’t necessarily translate into reality all the time. So then, what do we know of Edom today?

 

Historically, Edom actually did become a kingdom, known as the Kingdom of Edom. Archaeologists and historians place its establishment and early existence in the Transjordan region, which was located between Moab, the Arabah, and the Arabian Desert. Today that territory is divided between Yisra’el proper and Jordan.

 

Edom, as a nation, is said to have flourished between the 13th and 8th centuries BC but was ultimately destroyed by the Babylonians sometime around 586/7 BC. (I take these dates with a grain of salt, since historians and archeologists have recently been found in error as it relates to a number of established dates for events in scripture. But for the sake of discussion, we’ll go with what has been established by the establishment for now.)

 

After the destruction of Edom, surviving Edomites migrated and settled in what we know today as Southern Judah and in parts of the Negev.

 

After the Greek conquest of the entire region, the Edomites were renamed as Idumeans/Idumaeans, with their territory given the name of Idumea/Idumaea. This should start to sound somewhat familiar to you as we find in the days of our Mashiyach and His earthly ministry, the Idumeans factored significantly into the multicultural landscape of that region and time.

 

Turns out that sometime during the 2nd century BC, the Edomites were forced to convert to Judaism by the Hasmoneans. Thus, the Edomites turned Idumeans were ingrafted, if you will, into the Jewish nation of Yisra’el during the Great Maccabean Revolt against the Seleucid kingdom. The Idumeans themselves were overcome by the Hasmonean leader John Hyrcanus sometime around 125 BC.

 

Here’s where this issue of the Edomites and the Idumeans might be more familiar to you. The Herods—the Kingly dynasty that was politically put into power over Judah by the Romans during the time our Mashiyach walked this earth—were Edomites—Idumeans. The insult to the Jew of Mashiyach’s day was that a non-Jew—the King of Yisra’el was supposed to be of the Tribe of Judah, but the Herods were of the tribal line of Esav.

 

So, if bitter Roman tyranny and rule weren’t enough, to add insult to injury, throw into the mix the Jewish nation being ruled by a puppet Edomite, life for the first-century Jew was simply miserable.

 

Where Did Rivkah Go to Understand What Was Going on Within Her?

 

The question of where Rivkah went to inquire of Yah as to what was going on within her is obviously not mentioned here in our text. But an ancient rabbinic source, The Jerusalem Targum, offers an interesting answer to this question. It reads: “And she went to supplicate mercy before the Lord in the beth midrash of Shem Rabba” (JTE, 1862-1865).

 

Okay, this gets somewhat weird, if you ask me. According to rabbinic sources, this Midrash of Shem Rabba was a Yeshivh. A Yeshivah is a rabbinically run educational institution that focuses on the study of the Talmud and the Torah. Well, this supposed Yeshivah was hosted or run by Shem and Eber. Shem, according to yet other ancient rabbinic sources was not only one of Noah’s (aka Noach’s) sons, but, as some have contended, also Melchizedek (aka Melek-Tzedek) of Avraham fame (Gen. 14:18). (And yes, I know. It is shocking to think that Noah’s son, Shem, would still be alive, and not only kicking in Yitschaq’s day, but also—what? Running a Yeshivah. Okay. Let’s just, for the sake of this conversation see where this takes us.)

 

Eber, by the way, was the great-grandson of Shem. But, if you dabble in some of the ancient extra-biblical texts like Jubilees and Jasher, these two—Shem and Eber—are interwoven into the stories and lives of the early Hebrew patriarchs. Rabbinic sources describe them as spiritual guides to the patriarchs, in a sense. These two supposedly had a relationship with YHVH that placed them into positions of high respect and adoration in the eyes of the patriarchs. These were sort of priests, if you will, to the ancients of the ancients. These were holders and teachers of Torah and the Oral Law (aka Talmud) according to some.

 

Apart from Eber and Shem running a Yeshivah, which I admit seems a bit out there, the thing that gets me is this “priestly” role that these two played in the lives of the ancients. It seems to me that, at least according to our so-called authorized canon of scripture, that our patriarchs had a direct-line to the Almighty. They had a relationship with Yah. So, why then would they need a priestly line to intercede on their behalf? I don’t know. Maybe they did, and I’m just not seeing it. But in all transparency, I’m sort of going along with this with a bit of caution.

 

Now, just to be clear: You won’t find any of this in our 66-book-bibles. This is all extra-biblical stuff that, if anything, lends to filling in some of the holes—missing bits of information–that our canon of scripture from time-to-time does not offer.

 

Now, according to the so-called Ancient Book of Jasher (aka Yashar):

 

(10) …she (Rivkah) went to the land of Moriyah to seek Yahuah on account of this; and she went to Shem and Eber his son to make inquiries of them in this matter, and that they should seek Yahuah in this thing respecting her. (11) And she also asked Avraham to seek and inquire of Yahuah about all that had befallen her. (12) And they all inquired of Yahuah concerning this matter, and they brought her word from Yahuah and told her…(chapter 26; Cepher).

 

And so, this is sort of an answer to some of the questions that the earlier aspects of our reading might not present.

 

The Twins Esav and Ya’achov—Two Very Different Personalities and Characters

 

Continuing on: The twins are born. Esau (aka Esav) comes out first. He’s described as “red” or “ruddy” (according to some translations) and hairy all over (Gen. 25:25). His brother, Jacob (aka Ya’achov) emerged after him, one of his hands holding on to his brother’s heel (25:26). In time, Esav became what is described as a “cunning hunter” and a “man of the field.”

 

And this brings to mind the other great hunter referenced in Torah: Nimrod. Is it conceivable that Yasher’s account of the Esav-Nimrod encounter is something linked to both being great hunters? Did perhaps the writer of our version of Yasher play upon the pass-time of these two hunters in order to explain (1) how Nimrod ultimately died; and (2) what led to Esav’s encounter with his brother Ya’achov that in turn led to Esav selling his birthright to him.

 

According to ancient Jewish tradition, this would be the second fatal bow and arrow hunting accident that the extra-biblical text of Jasher records. The first being that of Cain which the text claims was accidentally shot by Lamech’s arrow. Lamech at the time was supposedly blind. But he remained an excellent hunter. Cain apparently was mistaken for some type of game in the forest by Lamech and his son.

 

This go around, Esav is recorded to have been out hunting in the forest when Nimrod, who was also out hunting, came across his path. Startled, Esav shot and killed Nimrod. Fearing that Nimrod’s people would come after him to avenge their leader’s death, Esav fled to and took refuge in their home. This fatal hunting incident was the precipitating incident that led to him selling his birthright to his younger brother Ya’achov.

 

Ya’achov on the other hand is described as “plain man;” a dweller in tents (25:28). This plain man and dweller in tents, some Torah commentators explain is that Ya’achov was a shepherd. So, he tended to live a rather pastoral life, dwelling in tents as his flocks would graze from place-to-place throughout the seasons. The Targum Onkelos further describes Ya’achov as “a man of peace, a minister of the  house of instruction.” This plays off our previous mention of Shem’s and Eber’s Yeshiva and they being sort of priests of Yah to the patriarchs. In fact, ancient sources such as the extra-book of Yashar place Ya’achov learning Torah and whatever else, at, let’s say, the feet of Shem and Eber during his early years for some 33-years that text states (Yashar 28:18).

 

And here’s where things start to gel in respect to our reading today. The text describes Esav as being favored of his father Yitschaq because Yitschaq loved the taste of the wild game that his oldest son, Esav, frequently brought to him from his many hunts. But Rivkah “loved” (as the text describes) Ya’achov (25:28). And it is that love she had for her youngest son that compels her to insert herself into the equation of the patriarchal blessing that should have gone to Esav as the oldest son, but through her conniving and Ya’achov’s deception, it ends up going to Ya’achov instead. And we will address this concept of the patriarchal blessing in our discussion here in short order.

 

However, we must bear in mind as we proceed in this discussion that Yah had, before the twins were born, revealed to Rivkah that it was Ya’achov who would ultimately be given the privileges of being the elder—that being him receiving the coveted birthright and blessing. Esav, being the biologically older one of the twins, by biological convention, stood to receive the benefits of the birthright and the patriarchal blessing. All of which in a broader sense meant that Ya’achov was the chosen one of Yah to perpetuate the covenant that originated with Avraham.

 

 

But before the patriarchal blessing event, Ya’achov, being younger than Esav, extorts his brother’s birthright from him. After coming in from what could only have been an arduous day or days of hunting, Esav is depleted of energy and in desperate need of nourishment and sustenance. The text describes Esav’s condition as that of him being “faint” (25:28). Turns out that Ya’achov had prepared some “red stew,” which Esav demanded (25:30; ESV). Seeing an opportunity to get something that he no doubt coveted, that being Esav’s birthright, Ya’achov agrees to feed Esav in exchange for his birthright (25:31). Esav, reasoning within himself that he was in a dire physical state, and if he were to die from exhaustion and hunger, his birthright would have absolutely no value to him (25:32). So, Esav agrees to the deal and swears over to his brother Ya’achov his birthright in exchange for the “red stew” (which some commentator believe to be lentil soup or stew), the color “red” of the stew playing in with the ruddy color and texture of Esav at his birth (25:33-34).

 

Esav’s selling of his birthright to Ya’achov was backed by Esav “swearing an oath” to this foolish transaction. Such an oath was essentially unbreakable and was taken quite seriously by the ancients. It was in effect, legally binding.

 

In ancient Hebraic tradition and practice, one engaged in an oath by swearing “Chai Yehovah” or “as Yehovah lives.” Thus, it stood to reason that Esav swore that oath, invoking Yah’s holy Name in the process. This would serve as a legally binding act to the transaction.

 

Torah instructs us, when transacting certain deals, to “swear the oath” in Yah’s Name, which would have a legally and spiritually binding effect on the transaction. Our Master expanded on this mitzvah by instructing us, His disciples, to always keep our word: Such that our yeses be yes, and our no’s be no (Mat. 5:37). In other words, to avoid violating the oath in the first place, we are to make it a practice to not make promises that we don’t intend to keep. And if we make a promise, we are expected to keep that promise. One’s word was literally their bond.

 

Unfortunately, our words and promises mean very little, if anything these days. Oaths and promises have become so abused over the centuries, that very few transactions are rendered via this Torah-sanctioned method of securing a transaction.

 

The exchange or transference of the coveted birthright between Esav and Ya’achov is timely. Timely in that Esav was focused on the “here and now” of his personal situation. At the time he sold Ya’achov his birthright, Esav had no concern for his future wellbeing.

 

And so, what does this say to us today? It says that we must always be at a place in our walk with Mashiyach where we factor in the bigger picture as it relates to anything we’re thinking to do. That we not base our decisions on a perceived, immediate need or desire at the time.

 

A recent example of this here and now mindset that so many of us get caught up in, is the COVID-19 vaccine mandates that overtook the world this past year. Many brethren caved to their perceived need to keep their job or make their personal, family, and social lives more convenient and easier. For many, there was no reasoning this thing out, or talking to Yah about it. And we’re finding out nowadays that these vaccines really did not prevent one from contracting virus. Furthermore, the vaccines carried with them potential life-threatening risks.

 

How many brethren or people of faith caught-up in the fervor of these mandates and threats conceivably forfeited their birthright—in a sense—for convenience sake?

 

Now, there are two-parts to the perpetuation of the covenant here that must be kept in mind. The first being the birthright, which we just learned was extorted from Esav by Ya’achov for a meal. We’ll exposit this concept of the birthright as well in short order.

 

But now we come to the second-part of the covenant perpetuation: That being the patriarchal blessing. And here is where Rivkah, the twin’s mother, plays into the situation.

 

Clearly, Ya’achov, in possession of the birthright, knew that he next needed his father, Yitschaq’s (aka Isaac’s) patriarchal blessing to seal the whole deal for him. In other words, with the birthright, granting him a double portion of his father’s estate at Yitschaq’s death, the blessing rendered unto him (which normally went to the firstborn) would spiritually ensure his wellbeing and prosperity in the years ahead of him.

 

Interestingly, Rivkah, his sort of champion if you will, overhears a conversation between her husband Yitschaq and her oldest son Esav, that Yitschaq was prepared to render unto him, Esav, his blessing, Yitschaq believing he was close to death (27:1-5). In fact, Yitschaq was for the most part blind and bedridden.

 

So, Yitschaq asks Esav to go out and snag him some venison so that he could enjoy what would be to him, a final, hearty meal; a suitable situation and environment to render unto his eldest son Esav, the blessing that was due him.

 

And so, Esav excitedly goes forth to hunt and make this thing of the blessing finally happen. But, Rivkah had other thoughts and plans as it related to this pending blessing that Yitschaq was bent on passing on to Esav.

 

Thus, without going into the details, Rivkah devises a ruse, if you will, that involved Ya’achov dressing up and pretending he was Esav having come back from the hunt with the venison meal for his father Yitschaq. Ya’achov would, instead of the venison, bring his father Yitschaq goat stew. Knowing that Yitschaq was blind and infirmed, Rivkah’s ruse would take advantage of her husband’s deficiencies through the senses of feel (Ya’achov donning hairy goat skins) and of smell (Ya’achov wearing his brother’s smelly garments). And although Yitschaq discerned his younger son’s Ya’achov’s voice during the exchange, it was the rough, hairiness of the goat skins and the smell of his brother’s clothes that falsely convinced Yitschaq that he was his older son Esav.

 

So, Yitschaq enjoys the goat-stew meal, and then proceeds to bless Ya’achov, who once again, he believed to be his oldest son, Esav:

 

(28) May Yah grant you from the dew of the heavens and the fat of the earth, and abundance of grain and drink. (29) May peoples serve you, and nations bow before you. Be overlord to your brothers, may your mother’s sons bow before you. Those who curse you be cursed, and those who bless you, blessed (27:28-29).

 

Indeed, embedded in this blessing, we see elements of the covenant that was perpetuated by Avraham and on to Yitschaq. And now, unwittingly, at least that’s what the text leads us into believing, Yitschaq is essentially passing on the covenant and promises that he’d received from his father Avraham. All of which is outrageous when you, once again, factor into what we already know, that Esav was not chosen of Yah to perpetuate the covenant. And if Yitschaq would have proceeded as planned and blessed Esav, the covenant would have effectively been passed on to Esav.

 

So, lots of questions arise here. Did Yah really intend Ya’achov and Rivkah to meddle into his affairs in order to make happen that which Yah had already established would happen? Did Yah need their help? Or was Yah more than capable of making his Will and Plans manifest on his own? Were Ya’achov’s and Rivkah’s actions sanctioned of Yah? Did these sin by doing what they felt was the right thing to do in order to move Yah’s plans ahead?

 

Indeed beloved, these are all questions that our text does not provide answers to. But we do know that Yah is sovereign and omniscient and omnipotent, and he does not need his human creation to intercede or intervene or involve themselves into his affairs in order for his Plans and Will to be brought to fruition.

 

However, Yah has this crazy way of making lemonade out of lemons. In other words, Yah can work around and even through the tinkerings and interferences of His human creation to bring about his Will and Plans in the earth. And that is what I believe we see happening in this and in previous Torah Readings. Yah’s permissive Will, if such a thing actually exists, makes allowances for human fumblings and mischief that were originally intended to move forward what is believed by them to be Yah’s divine Will and Plans. However, those fumblings and mischiefs Yah allows to take place. He works through and around those fumblings and mischiefs to bring about His eternal plans and Will. But, those fumblings and mischiefs tend to come at a great price. They tend to result in some pretty nasty consequences that are often generational in nature: Such as Yisra’el’s enemies, the descendants of Yishma’el and Esav, being dangerous thorns in their sides generations.

 

Exposition on the Hebrew Concepts of Birthrights and Patriarchal Blessings

 

 

What we’ve just covered as well as our Torah Reading this week introduces us to two very important and cultural concepts and practices that not only factor heavily into the lives of our ancient Hebrew cousins, but that also bear significant prophetic applications for the Body of Mashiyach. And those concepts and practices are: the birthright, and the [patriarchal] blessing. Both concepts and practices are, for the most part, rather foreign to us in the 21st-century West. But to our ancient cousins, these two concepts and practices were of tremendous importance to a Semitic family.

 

Let’s first see if we can gain an understanding of what a birthright was and what it meant to an ANE family.

 

The Hebrew term for “birthright” is “bekhorah,” which is derived from “bekhor.” Bekhorah or bekhor essentially means “firstborn.” The Greek is “prototokia.”

 

The firstborn of an ancient Hebrew family, unless circumstances dictated otherwise such as in the case of Reuben’s horrendous indiscretion (Gen. 49:4; Num. 3:12-13; 8:18; and 1 Chr. 5:1) and here in a previous Torah reading with Esav trading his birthright for a meal, stood to receive what is widely known and referred to as a “double-portion” of that which his father had to convey to him. Generally speaking, he would be eligible to receive a double-share of the material wealth of the parents that would ultimately be divided amongst the other sons.

 

Abba codified how the birthright was to work in a Hebrew family in Deuteronomy 21:15-17.

 

In addition to being in line to receive a double portion of the material wealth of his father, the first-born at the death of his father, became the defacto head of the family or the priest of the family. And if we’re talking about a father who was the head of the Hebrew state, the firstborn stood to inherit his father’s judicial authority, unless as in the case of David passing on his throne to Shlomo (aka Solomon) as opposed to Adoniyah, circumstances dictated otherwise (2 Chr. 21:3).

 

Beyond the firstborn receiving a double portion of his father’s wealth, any remaining sons would receive a divided portion of their father’s possessions. We saw this illustrated in the case of Avraham passing on the bulk of his wealth to Yitschaq, but then gifts to the sons of his concubines Hagar and Keturah. No doubt, although the text does not stipulate as such, Esav would be eligible to receive a portion of his father’s wealth. Conceivably, let’s just say.

 

This was all customary in the ANE.

 

In the case where the head of household had more than one wife and concubines, the firstborn who enjoyed the privilege of the birthright generally was the son who was born ahead of all his other siblings, unless mitigating circumstances dictated otherwise, as in the case of Yitschaq receiving essentially all of Avraham’s wealth over Ishma’el, Hagar’s son, and Keturah’s sons, as was stipulated in the covenant he had with Yah.

 

In the case where there was no son but instead just daughters, the family’s wealth and influence would be passed on to the daughters (Num. 26:33; 27:1-8). So those of our Faith who believe or feel that women were not respected and valued by Yah, think again. Yah was and remains a staunch defender and champion for women.

 

And the other thing that the firstborn with the birthright had coming to him, as highlighted in our Torah Reading here today, is that he would receive the [paternal] blessing, which we will address in just a moment.

 

But we must bear in mind that contrary to what may seem as conventional wisdom, the birthright was not an absolute. As we just touched upon, the birthright, as well as the patriarchal blessing, could be diverted from the firstborn, depending on the mitigating circumstances steering the father’s and the son’s lives at any given time. Just a couple chapters back, we saw that Esav sold his birthright to his younger brother Ya’achov for some pottage (Gen. 25:29-34). Ya’achov diverted the spiritual birthright and blessing from Reuben to Yosef’s boys, Ephraim and Manasseh (Gen. 48:8-22). Although they were wealthy at the time of Ya’achov’s blessing by virtue of Yosef’s lofty state in Egypt, the family no doubt lost that wealth over the course of their time in bitter slavery. Nevertheless, Ephraim and Manasseh retained the benefit of being named the heads of their respective tribes.

 

Interestingly, scripture seems silent in terms of any material wealth that Ya’achov would have received from his father Yitschaq, despite Ya’achov receiving both the birthright and the patriarchal blessing. It makes me wonder where did all of Avraham’s wealth disappear to if Ya’achov and Esav/Esau did not inherit it.

 

The thing about the birthright that must be kept in mind (as seen in a aforementioned examples) is that the way it played out in Torah was not as a result of one’s natural descent, nor as a result of the flesh or the will of men and women, but by the Will and Plan of Yah (Joh. 1:13).

 

From a spiritual standpoint, Yah placed a great deal of emphasis and attention on the firstborn sons of Yisra’el. In fact, Torah tells us that Yah claimed the firstborn of Yisra’el as His own. For He commanded us:

 

“Thou shalt not delay offering the first of thy ripe fruits, and of thy liquors: the firstborn of thy sons shalt thou give unto Me” (Exo. 22:29).

 

These could be redeemed, leading to the Tribe of Levi serving Him in their stead:

 

(12) See, I have taken the Levites form the Yisra’elites in place of every firstborn Yisra’elite from the womb. The Levites belong to Me, (13) because every firstborn belongs to Me. At the time I struck down every firstborn in the land of Egypt, I consecrated every firstborn in Yisra’el to Myself, both man and animal. They are Mine; I am Yehovah (Num. 3:12-13; HCSB modified).

 

And if the firstborn of the people of Yisra’el and the Levites weren’t enough, Yah viewed the Hebrew nation as His firstborn among all the nation peoples of the earth:

 

“Then you [Moshe] are to tell Pharaoh: “Yehovah says, Yisra’el IS MY FIRSTBORN SON” (Exo. 4:22; CJB modified).

 

And true Yisra’el continues to be Yah’s firstborn son, including us who are grafted into the commonwealth of Yisra’el (Eph. 2:12; Rom. 11:16-36).

 

 

Now, as it relates to, what I describe as the mysterious [patriarchal] blessing(s), it stood as generally the spiritual inheritance that the father would pass on to his sons.

 

The Hebrew for blessing is “berakhah.” In the Greek blessing is “eulogia.”

 

In general, when the patriarch passed on his blessing to his sons, the blessing consisted of an invocation of good things; the wellbeing and prosperity; expressions of good wishes and blessings from Abba Father (Gen. 27:36; Deu. 33:1; Jos. 8:34; Jas. 3:10).

 

In the case of the patriarchs, it seems clear that they conveyed their blessings upon their sons under the influence or inspiration of Yah’s Spirit. Indeed, a great deal of the prophetic would customarily be included in those blessings (Gen. 9:26-27; 27:28-29, 40; 48:15-20; 49:1-28; Deu. 33:1).

 

The patriarchal blessing held even greater significance for the firstborn or the one possessing the birthright, as in addition to receiving the material wealth of his father, the certitude or confirmation of the covenant flowing from father to firstborn son would put him into a favored relationship with Yehovah. In some cases, the patriarchal blessing was just as meaningful and valuable as the birthright privileges consisting of material wealth and leadership of the family. For it would be understood by the one standing to receive the blessing, that being in Yah’s good standing guaranteed him a good and prosperous life after the passing of his father. I mean, look at Esav’s reaction upon learning that his father had given the coveted blessing to Ya’achov. He was devastated. Grief-stricken. Not only did he lose out on the material, but he also lost out on the spiritual.

 

The blessing Yitschaq bestows upon Ya’achov is one that grants him (1) fertility of the ground; (2) dominion over the nations; and (3) a return effect for curses and blessings. Certainly, invaluable to the one who can see life beyond material possessions and wealth. And as seemingly foolish and ignorant as Esav appeared in Genesis/Beresheit 25 when he sold his birthright to his brother for the price of a lentil soup meal, Esav proves that he was not entirely stupid. For he understood the value of the blessing that he should have received from his father.

 

Yitschaq’s blessing over Ya’achov underscored what would be a rich-relationship he would have with Yah. Esav’s blessing, on the other hand, did not mention any relationship with Yah. In fact, the blessing Esav received did not come from Yah. But rather, his blessing came from Yitschaq’s heart and best wishes for his favored son. The blessings that fell upon Ya’achov flowed from Yah’s Spirit and it would be irrevocable and firmly established in Yah’s covenant.

 

Ya’achov is then blessed with (A) the material, and then (B) the spiritual. Some commentators believe that in the end, it was Ya’achov who received the coveted double portion.

 

Let’s bear in mind here that this blessing makes mention of Yitschaq conveying or passing his material wealth or the covenant promises down to Ya’achov, although features of the blessing that he gives to Ya’achov are indeed present in the covenant promises. And this sort of makes sense given that Yitschaq, supposedly thinking that he was blessing Esav, would have likely known that the birthright, along with its material wealth possessions and family headship benefits, belonged to Ya’achov, not Esav. But rather, Yitschaq’s intended blessing would be the basis upon which Esav would enjoy peaceful survival and prosperity in his life ahead (27:27-29). But the fix was in, and Ya’achov ended up receiving not just the material and family leadership inheritance (although the text does not address this per se), but also the Yah inspired invocation of peaceful survival and prosperity in his life.

 

Turns out that these patriarchal blessings or pronouncements were taken quite seriously. They were also viewed and treated as binding declarations and invocations, all of which is evidenced by Esav’s outrage and grief.

 

 

We’ll pick this up in Part 2 of Birthrights-Blessings-Covenant Promises-Lessons Learned from the Esau-Jacob-Story. See you on the other side beloved.

 

 

Reference:

 

Robert Bills-https://www.highpursuitministries.com/way-of-spirit-and-truth

 

Way of Spirit and Truth | High Pursuit Ministries

 

“Should We Vaccinate? COVID-19, the COVID vaccine, and vaccines from a Biblical Perspective.