Parsha Behar – On
the Mount - Vayiqra 25:1-26:2
Yrmeyahu 32:6-27, Luke 4:16:21
B’chukotai – In my
Instruction - Vayiqra 26:3 – 27:34
Yrmeyahu 16:19-17:14,
2nd Corint. 6:14-18, 1 Kefa 1:13-16
Daniel ban Ya’acov Israel
Today’s “parasha” bring us to a new point which
has been neglected by men until יהוה in His mercy put back in the heart of His
people to search the truth. This is the Shabbat of the land and the “Yovel”, called Year of Jubilee in English.
In יהושע’s
time, only the Shabbat of the land was kept in Eretz Israel (land of Israel
Today we
see more and more believers dedicate themselves to study and learning of the
Torah. We know that when Messiah יהושע, will come back to
establish the Kingdom
of Elohim
----- Isa 2:2 and
it shall come to pass in the last days, that the mountain of YHWH's house shall
be established in the top of the mountains, and shall be exalted above the
hills; and all nations shall flow
unto it. Isa 2:3 and many people shall go and say, Come ye, and let us go up to the
mountain of YHWH, to the house of the Elohim of Jacob; and he will teach us of
his ways, and we will walk in his paths: for out of Zion shall go forth the law, and the word (Torah) of YHWH from
Jerusalem.
----- יהוה spoke to Moshe in the Mount Sinai! This took place when Moshe went up for forty days and forty nights. When Moshe
writes these laws of rest of the land and Yovel,
the children of Israel
Remember, יהוה,
sanctify (Set apart) His people through keeping the Shabbat:
Exo 31:13 “And you, speak to the children of Yisra’ĕl,
saying, ‘My Sabbaths you are to
guard, by all means, for it is a sign1
between Me and you throughout your generations, to know that I, יהוה,
am setting you apart. Footnote: 1The only sign of יהוה setting us
apart, the only sign of the everlasting covenant, is His Sabbaths, one of them
being the seventh day Sabbath. This is repeated in Ezek. 20:12 & 20………………
Exo 31:14 ye shall keep the Sabbath therefore; for it is holy unto you: every one
that defileth it shall surely be put to death: for whosoever doeth any work
therein, that soul shall be cut off from among his people.
Exo 31:15 six days may work be done; but in the seventh is the Sabbath of rest,
holy to YHWH: whosoever doeth any work in the Sabbath day, he shall surely be
put to death.
Exo 31:16 wherefore the children of Israel shall keep the Sabbath, to observe the
Sabbath throughout their generations, for a perpetual covenant.
Exo 31:17 it is a sign between me and the children of Israel for ever: for
in six days YHWH made heaven and earth, and on the seventh day he rested, and
was refreshed.
Eze 20:12 “And I also gave them My Sabbaths
(Heb.Shabbot), to be a sign1 between
them and Me, to know that I am יהוה who sets them apart.
Eze 20:20 ‘And set apart My Sabbaths (Heb. Shabbot),
and they shall be a sign between Me and you, to know that I am יהוה
your Elohim.’
Speaking of the Shabbat, it doesn’t relate to the “Saturday”
of the pagan Gregorian calendar, but to Yehowah’s true Shabbat. (see my post concerning
the Shabbat)
http://danielbenyaacovysrael.blogspot.fr/2013/03/shabbat-or-saturday.html
http://danielbenyaacovysrael.blogspot.fr/2013/03/shabbat-or-saturday.html
When
studying the Torah (יהוה’s instructions) we should have always in mind that
the natural points toward the spiritual. Nowadays, you can hear people
everywhere, in the TV, the radio, or read in news papers about “spiritual”. In
reality their so called “spirituality” is far from the real spiritual way
ordained by יהוה’s Ruach
(Spirit). It is only a Greek “understanding” of “satisfying the desire of the
flesh”.
According
to the Torah, the pattern is simple: To follow the flesh is “carnal” to follow the Ruach is “spiritual”:
Gal 5:16 and
I say: Walk in the Spirit and you
shall not accomplish the lust of the flesh.
Gal 5:17 for the flesh lusts against the Spirit, and the Spirit against
the flesh. And these are opposed to each
other, so that you do not do what you desire to do.
Gal 5:18 but if you are led by the
Spirit, you are not under Torah.
From
another translation:
Gal 5:17 for the old nature (carnal man) wants what is
contrary to the Spirit, and the Spirit wants what is contrary to the old
nature. These oppose each other, so that you
find yourselves unable to carry out your good intentions.
Gal 5:18 but if you are led by the Spirit, then you are not in subjection to the system that results from perverting the Torah into legalism.
In other words we must choose to be led by the Ruach, in order to follow Abba יהוה’s will. “You are not under the Torah”, means that walking in the Ruach in Messiah יהושע make us free from the bondage of the “Ink of the letter” in other words, trying to be justified by keeping the Torah!
Gal 5:18 but if you are led by the Spirit, then you are not in subjection to the system that results from perverting the Torah into legalism.
In other words we must choose to be led by the Ruach, in order to follow Abba יהוה’s will. “You are not under the Torah”, means that walking in the Ruach in Messiah יהושע make us free from the bondage of the “Ink of the letter” in other words, trying to be justified by keeping the Torah!
Gal 2:16 Knowing
that a man is not justified by the works of the law (Oral Torah of the
Pharisee), but by the faith of Yehoshua the Messiah, even we have believed in יהושע the Messiah, that we
might be justified by the faith of the Messiah, and not by the works of the law
(Ma’asee HaTorah: Work of the Oal Torah): for by the works of the law shall no
flesh be justified.
Gal 2:17 But if, while we seek to be justified by the
Messiah, we ourselves also are found sinners, is therefore the Messiah the
minister of sin? By no means.
Torah
keeping is to walk in a righteous way and not to be justified by the
regulations of men.
Rom 8:1 There is, then, now no condemnation to those
who are in Messiah יהושע, who do not walk according to the flesh, but according to the
Spirit.
Rom 8:3 For the Torah being powerless, in that it
was weak through the flesh…………
Rom 8:5 for those
who live according to the flesh set
their minds on the matters of
the flesh, but those who live
according to the Spirit, the matters
of the Spirit.
Rom 8:7 because the
mind of the flesh (carnal man) is enmity towards Elohim, for it does not subject itself1 to the Torah of Elohim, neither indeed is it able
Rom 8:8 and those
who are in the flesh (carnal) are unable to please Elohim.
With this,
we should be able to see those who are able to “please Elohim” in the world today!
Now this is
the aspect of the redemption. When Adam transgressed following Chawah’s (Eve) sin, the all world was put under the power of sin and was
held under the need of redemption.
יהוה established the rest of the land (Shabbat) in the same pattern it was
for the day of rest for mankind (Weekly Shabbat). In the book of B’reshit (Genesis) the Rest of the
seventh day is given for all mankind, it is only after the flood, when יהוה
called Abram that the Shabbat was determined to
be for יהוה’s
chosen people, because of the rebellion of mankind.
Now this
pattern was extended to the land of Israel (Eretz
Isarel), when the Children of Israel (carnal man) will enter it led by Yohushua son of Nun, a picture foreshadowing our (you and me) future entering in Eretz Isarel under Messiah יהושע’leadership.
This
Shabbat of rest every seven years will become a challenge which the children of
Israel
Later on we
will see that Sha’ul speaks
concerning the earth waiting also for redemption.
“The land
shall observe a Shabbat to יהוה “
The
challenge: During this year, the Children of Israel (carnal man) were not
allowed to reap what grows of its own and also not to gather the grapes of “un-pruned”
wine. The reason been “it is a year of rest for the land”: “Do not sow and do
not prune your vineyard” (verse 5).
There are
many things to see in this verse.
-
●The Children of Israel (carnal man) were not
allowed to reap what grows of its own of “un-pruned wine”
-
●The Children of Israel (carnal man) were not
allowed to sow and to gather the grapes during the seventh year.
Remember
all this point to a spiritual aspect of our life!
Who is the
sustainers of life, is it not יהוה?
Neh 9:21 “And for forty years You sustained them
in the wilderness – they lacked not.
Their garments did not wear out and their feet did not swell.
Nehemiah wrote a remembrance concerning יהוה
sustaining His people
during their time in the wilderness: He gave them “manna”. What is harder, to give “manna” forty years or to feed the Children of Israel during the
“seventh year”, the Shabbat year?
“The Sabbath of
the land shall be to you for food”.
I wrote a midrash to explain the
forty years in the wilderness which are a pattern of the two thousands years
from the first advent of Messiah יהושע to his second
advent.
Forty years endurance in the wilderness equal: 40 x 50 (Yovel) = 2000 Years!
So the pattern came from יהוה
speaking to Noach:
Gen 6:3 and YHWH said, My spirit shall not always
strive with man, for that he also is flesh: yet his days shall be an hundred and twenty years.
The
explanation is this: 120 years represent not the length of man’s life (read Psalm 90:10) but the length of
mankind living in this form on earth:
120 x 50 (Yovel)= 6000 years.
One Yovel = 50 Years (7 x7=49 + the Yovel year).
Now the
second explanation is this:
The six
year of labour are the six thousand years of man on earth, the Shabbat is the
Millennium when יהוה’s people will be feed by יהוה’s himself, for
during this time יהוה’s people will not work, those having fed on the
Torah before the “Millennium “will eat the fruit of it during the Millennium
and will have enough for the Eighth day which is “Olam Aba”, Eternal life as we are going to see.
יהושע came in the year four
thousand; thus remain 2000 years (40
Yovels) or “40 years wilderness” foreshadowed
in the time of Moshe when they walk
in the “natural” forty years.
The
question was given by Moshe verse 20:
“What do we eat in the
seventh year, since we do not sow nor gather in our crops………”
יהוה say that He will command blessing on the sixth year and that it will be
enough for the next three years:
-
●The seventh year which is the Shabbat of the
land,
-
●The eight year which will be the year of
sowing again
-
●The ninth year which will be the coming
harvest.
Now I want
you to see something according to the numbers and the Hebrew “gemetria”
●Six is the number of man. During Six years men
will sow and reap (work of the hand).
●Seven is the number for divine completion on
earth, when יהוה’s people will not sow nor reap it is the Millennium Reign of Messiah.
●Eight is the number for behind the natural,
also a number for Eternity, found in the last feast during the feast of the
booth, the Eight days is the last great day or “staying a while” also called Shemini Atzeret also shimcha Torah.
●Nine is the number for judgment!
●Un-pruned wine! Let us read:
Un-pruned: Strong’s #H5139 naw-zeer', naw-zeer'
נזר .written
nun (50), tsade (90), resh(200) (340). nâzir
From H5144;
separate, that is, consecrated (as prince, a Nazirite); hence (figuratively
from the latter) an un-pruned vine (like an unshorn Nazirite). (The translation, Nazarite, is by a false
alliteration with Nazareth.):
separate (-d), vine undressed.
H5144 nâzar naw-zar'
A primitive root; to hold aloof,
that is, (intransitively) abstain
(from food and drink, from impurity, and even from divine worship (that is, apostatize));
specifically to set apart (to sacred purposes), that is, devote:
- consecrate, separate (-ing, self).
You
remember the “Nazarites” where to be
set apart like Samson not drinking (abstaining) alcohol neither cutting the
hair.
So we can
see that this Shabbat of rest was to
consecrate יהוה’s creation to His maker.
All what
grows from the corn to the wine, all point to יהושע Messiah:
Joh 15:1 “I (יהושע)
am the true vine, and My Father is the gardener.
Joh 15:2 “Every branch in Me that bears
no fruit He takes away. And every
branch that bears fruit He prunes, so that it bears more fruit.
Prune:
Strong’s #G2508 kathairō kath-ah'ee-ro
From G2513;
to cleanse, that is,
(specifically) to prune; figuratively to expiate: - purge.
Thayers goes further saying: to cleanse, free from corrupt desire, free from every admixture of what is false, sincere genuine
Prune is
the opposite of un-pruned, bringing back to its intended form!
During the
seventh year, the land was to be like under a “Nazarene vow” so to say, subjected to יהוה’s law in order
to rest.
I remember
that in France
Do you
think the earth was not able to bear fruits in the seventh year? Not so but it
is written, the Just (righteous) will live by faith (Abakkuk 2:4). Faith is to trust Elohim
and not our own ability.
Verse 8-11. you shall count seven Sabbaths of years for
yourself, seven times seven years……….. shall be to you forty-nine years……………………..sound a ram’s horn to pass through on the tenth day of the seventh month, on
the Day of Atonement……….. The
fiftieth year is a Jubilee to you………………
The year of
the “yovel”, seven time seven and the
next year is the fiftieth, the year of the “yovel”,
starting on Yom kippur, the tenth of the seventh month of the Hebrew calendar.
Yovel year the year of freedom:
The seventh
year is a year of rest for the land; Yovel
is the year of release for people, a year when people got a new chance for a
new start.
Luk 4:17 and the scroll of the prophet Yeshayahu was
handed to Him (יהושע). And having
unrolled the scroll, He found the place where it was written:
Luk 4:18 “The Spirit of יהוה is upon Me,1
because He has anointed Me to bring the Good News to the poor. He has sent Me to heal the broken-hearted, to proclaim release to the captives and
recovery of sight to the blind, to send away crushed ones with a
release, Footnote: 1Isa. 61:1-3.
Luk 4:19 to proclaim the acceptable year of יהוה.”1 Footnote: 1Isa. 61:1-2.
Luk
4:20 and having rolled up the
scroll, He gave it back to the attendant and sat down. And the eyes of all in
the congregation were fixed upon Him.
Luk
4:21 and He began to say to
them, “Today this Scripture has been
filled in your hearing.”
יהושע came to fulfill the Yovel year,
he didn’t came to set material things straight, we have learned that the Last
Adam came to make the “new man”. People in יהושע’s time were
poor, because having no Torah’s life (they followed the traditions of men
Matt.15:3-9, i.e. the Pharisee) blind to the truth, captive in the prison of
their own sins. They were in need to recover in order to see again, to be
released:
Good news
to the poor: What was the “Good news to the poor, what does יהושע
says”?
Isa 42:1 “See, My Servant (יהושע) whom I uphold, My Chosen
One My (יהוה) being has
delighted in! I (יהוה) have put My
Spirit upon Him; He brings forth right-ruling to the nations.
●The poor:
Mat 5:3 “Blessed are the poor in spirit, because
theirs is the reign of the heavens.
Jas 2:5 Listen, my beloved brothers: Has Elohim not
chosen the poor of this world, rich in
belief and heirs of the reign which He promised to those who love Him?
●To heal the broken
hearted!
Psa 34:18 יהוה is near to the
broken-hearted, and saves those whose spirit is crushed.
2Ch 34:27 “Because your heart was tender, and you
humbled yourself before Elohim when you heard His words against this place and
against its inhabitants, and you humbled yourself before Me, and you tore your
garments and wept before Me, I also have heard,” declares יהוה.
Psa 147:3 He heals the broken-hearted and binds up their
wounds.
●Release to the captive
Psa 102:19 for He looked down from the height of His
set-apart place; from heaven יהוה viewed the
earth,
Psa
102:20 to hear the groaning of
the prisoner, to release those appointed to death,
Psa 146:7 Doing right-ruling for the oppressed, Giving
bread to the hungry. יהוה releases those
who are bound,
●Recovery of sight to
the blind
Isa 42:7 to
open blind eyes, to bring out
prisoners from the prison, those who sit
in darkness from the prison house.
Isa 42:16 “And I
shall lead the blind by a way they have not known – in paths they have not
known I lead them. I make darkness light
before them, and crooked places straight. These matters I shall do for
them, and I shall not forsake them.
Isa 60:1 “Arise, shine, for your light has come! And the esteem of יהוה has risen upon
you. (who is the light, is not יהושע?
Isa 60:2 “For look, darkness covers the earth; and
thick darkness the peoples. But יהוה
arises over you, and His esteem is seen upon you.
●Send
away crushed ones with a release
Gen 3:15 “And I put enmity between you and the woman,
and between your seed and her Seed1.
He shall crush your head, and you shall crush His heel.” Footnote: 1First promise of the Messiah.
Isa 42:3 “A crushed reed He does not break, and
smoking flax He does not quench. He brings forth right-ruling in accordance
with truth (Torah).
Isa 35:3 Strengthen
the weak hands, and make firm the weak knees.
Isa 35:4 Say to those with anxious heart, “Be strong, do not fear! See, your
Elohim comes with vengeance, with the recompense of Elohim. He is coming to
save you.”
●Release
Deu 15:1 “At
the end of every seven years you make a
release of debts.
Deu 15:9
“Be on guard lest there be a thought of
Beliyaʽal in your heart, saying, ‘The seventh year, the year of release, is near,’ and your eye is evil against your
poor brother and you give him naught. And he shall cry out to יהוה against you, and it shall be a sin in you.
What then
was the “Gospel of the Kingdom
of Elohim
Deu 15:2 “And this
is the word of the release: Every creditor is to release what he has loaned
to his neighbour, he does not require it of his neighbour or his brother,
because it is called the release of יהוה.
The last
citation יהושע
did from the book of Yeshayahu must be look at, very
carefully:
Luk 4:19 to proclaim the acceptable year of יהוה.”
This is what Yeshayahu wrote?
Isa 61:2 to proclaim the acceptable year of יהוה, “and the day of vengeance of our Elohim”,
to comfort all who mourn,
יהושע omitted the second part of the sentence: “and the day of vengeance of our Elohim”!
This was
not a coincidence, because the “day of
vengeance” was not at יהושע first advent.
Mic 5:8 And the remnant of Yaʽaqoḇ shall be among
the gentiles (nations), in the midst of many peoples, like a lion among the
beasts of a forest, like a young lion among flocks of sheep, who, if he passes
through, shall both tread down and shall tear, and there is no one to
deliver………
Mic 5:15 “And I
shall take vengeance in wrath and rage on the gentiles who did not obey.”
Luk 21:5 and
as some were speaking about the Set-apart
Place
Luk 21:6 “These that you see – the days are coming in
which not one stone shall be left upon another that shall not be thrown down.”
Luk 21:7 and they
asked Him, saying, “Teacher, but when
shall this be? And what is the sign when this is about to take
place?”………………………
Luk 21:22 “Because
these are days of vengeance, to fill
all that have been written.
Luk 21:23 “And woe to those who are pregnant and to those who are nursing
children in those days! For there shall be great distress in the earth and
wrath upon this people.
2Th 1:7 and to give you who are afflicted rest with
us when the Master יהושע is revealed from heaven with His mighty messengers,
2Th
1:8 in flaming fire taking vengeance on those who do not know Elohim, and on
those who do not obey the Good News of our Master יהושע Messiah,
As we have
seen the spiritual follow the natural and not the other way round
1Co 15:46 the spiritual, however, was not first, but
the natural, and afterward the spiritual.
1Co 15:47 the first man was of the earth, earthy; the
second Man is the Master from heaven.
1Co 15:48 as is the earthy, so also are those who are earthy; and as is the
heavenly, so also are those who are heavenly.
1Co 15:49 and as we have borne the likeness of the earthy, we shall also bear the
likeness of the heavenly.
In the Tanak the release was in the Yovel year every fifty years. Could it
bee that when יהושע came that it was also a Yovel
year in spite that it was not celebrated? (Read my midrash on the “One hundred twenty years).
Lev
25:13 ‘In the Year of this
Jubilee let each one of you returns to
his possession.
Verse 23.the land is not to be sold beyond reclaim, for the land is Mine (says יהוה)
It is
amazing to see that today the all world is pushing to make Israel
Verse 24
And provide for redemption for the land……
Redemption
for the land, what does Shaul say concerning the creation waiting for redemption?
Rom 8:19 for the intense
longing1 of the creation eagerly waits for the revealing of
the sons of Elohim. Footnote: 1Lit. anxiously looking with outstretched head.
Rom 8:20 for the creation was subjected to futility, not from choice, but
because of Him who subjected it, in anticipation,
Rom 8:21 that the creation itself also shall be delivered from the bondage
to corruption into the esteemed freedom of the children of Elohim.
Rom 8:22 for we know that all the creation groans together, and suffers the
pains of childbirth together until now.
Rom 8:23 and not only so, but even we ourselves who have the first-fruits of the
Spirit, we ourselves also groan within ourselves, eagerly waiting for the
adoption, the redemption of our body.
Act 3:20 and
that He sends יהושע Messiah, pre-appointed for
you,
Act 3:21 whom heaven needs to receive until the times of restoration of all matters, of which Elohim spoke
through the mouth of all His set-apart prophets since of old.
Verse 25. ‘When your brother becomes poor, and has sold some
of his possession, and his redeemer, a close relative comes to redeem it, and
then he shall redeem what his brother sold.
We can read
in the book of Ruth:
Rth 4:1 and
Boʽaz went up to the gate and sat down there. And see, the redeemer of whom
Boʽaz had spoken came by. And Boʽaz said, “Turn aside, So-and-so, sit down
here.” And he turned aside and sat down.
Rth 4:2 and
he took ten men of the elders of the city, and said, “Sit down here.” So they
sat down.
Rth 4:3 He
then said to the redeemer, “Naʽomi, who has come back from the fields of
Mo’aḇ, sold the piece of land which belonged to our brother Elimeleḵ.
Rth 4:4 “And I thought that I should disclose it to you, saying, ‘Buy it back in
the presence of the inhabitants and the elders of my people. If you do redeem
it, redeem it. But if you do not redeem it, inform me, so that I know. For
there is no one but you to redeem it, and I am next after you.’ ” And he said,
“I redeem it.”
Rth 4:5 And Boʽaz said, “On the day you buy the
field from the hand of Naʽomi, you shall also acquire Ruth the Mo’aḇitess, the
wife of the dead, to raise up the name of the dead on his inheritance.”
Rth 4:6 and
the redeemer said, “I am not able to
redeem it for myself, lest I ruin my own inheritance. Redeem my right of
redemption for yourself, for I am not able to redeem it.”
Rth 4:7 And
this was formerly done in Yisra’ĕl concerning redeeming and exchanging, to confirm every word: one man took off his
sandal and gave it to the other, and this was a witness in Yisra’ĕl.
Rth 4:8 So
the redeemer said to Boʽaz, “Buy it for yourself.” Then he took off his sandal.
Rth 4:9 And
Boʽaz said to the elders and to all
the people, “You are witnesses this day
that I have bought all that was Elimeleḵ’s, and all that was Kilyon’s and
Maḥlon’s, from the hand of Naʽomi.
Rth 4:10 “And
also, Ruth the Mo’aḇitess, the wife
of Maḥlon, I have acquired as my wife, to raise up the name of the dead on
his inheritance, so that the name of the dead should not be cut off from
among his brothers and from the gate of his place. You are witnesses today.”
Rth 4:11 and
all the people who were at the gate, and the elders, said, “Witnesses! יהוה
make the woman who is coming to your house as Raḥĕl and as Lĕ’ah, the two who
built the house of Yisra’ĕl. And prove your worth in Ephrathah and proclaim the
Name in Bĕyth Leḥem.
We know
that Ruth a Moabite woman became the vessel through whom King David will come
and later our Master יהושע according to the seed.
Ruth a
pagan woman was married to Mahlom the
son of Elimelek a Yehudin from Beth Lechem. When her
husband died, instead to do like the other Moabite woman who departed to go
back to her kinsmen, she staid with her mother in law and followed her back to
her country (Israel
Rth 1:16 But Ruth
said, “Do not urge me to leave you, or to go back from following after you. For
wherever you go, I go; and wherever you stop over, I stop over. Your people is my people, and your Elohim is my Elohim
What does Kefa says:
Act 10:34 ThenG1161
PeterG4074 openedG455 his mouth,G4750 and
said,G2036 OfG1909 a truthG225
I perceiveG2638 thatG3754 ElohimG2316 isG2076
noG3756 respecter of persons:G4381
Act 10:35 ButG235
inG1722 everyG3956 nationG1484
he that fearethG5399 him,G846 andG2532
workethG2038 righteousness,G1343 isG2076
acceptedG1184 with him.G846
Verse 39…………..do
not make him serve as a slave
Read the
book of Philemon in the Brit Chadasha
for Onesimus who passed from slave to
man as slave in Messiah יהושע and who came back to his owner:
We read in
Vincent word’s study:
The name is withheld until Paul has
favorably disposed Philemon to his request. The word means helpful, and it was a common name for
slaves. The same idea was expressed by other names, as Chresimus, Chrestus
(useful); Onesiphorus (profit-bringer, 2Ti_1:16);
Symphorus (suitable). Onesimus was a runaway
Phrygian slave, who had committed some crime and therefore had fled from his
master and hidden himself in Rome
Phm 1:15 for he parted from you for a while, possibly because of this, so that you
might have him back forever,
Phm 1:16 no longer as a slave but more than a slave, as a beloved brother, especially to me, and how much more to you,
both in the flesh and in the Master.
Phm 1:17 so, if you regard me as your partner, receive him as you would me.
Phm 1:18 But if he has wronged you or owes you whatever, put that on my account.
Phm 1:19 I, Sha’ul, wrote with my own hand. I shall repay – not to mention to
you that you indeed owe yourself to me also.
1Co 12:13 for indeed by one Spirit we were all
immersed into one body, whether Yehuḏim or Greeks, whether slaves or free, and we were all made to drink into one
Spirit
Gal 3:27 for as many of you as were immersed into
Messiah have put on Messiah.
Gal 3:28 There
is no Yehuḏite nor Greek, there is not
slave nor free, there is not male and female, for you are all one in
Messiah יהושע.
Slave or servant used in these few example is
Strong’s#G1401 doulos doo'-los
From G1210; a slave
(literally or figuratively, involuntarily or voluntarily; frequently therefore in
a qualified sense of subjection or subserviency): - bond (-man), servant.
Verse 42. For they are My servants, whom I brought out of the land of Mitsrayim
The
Children of Israel (carnal man) were already bought from slavery to freedom by יהוה.
Slave were of lower value and therefore יהוה didn’t wanted His people been
considered as slave.
Lev 25:1 And יהוה
spoke to Mosheh on Mount Sinai , saying,
Lev
25:2 “Speak to the children of
Yisra’ĕl, and say to them, ‘When you come into the land which I give you, then the land shall observe a Sabbath to יהוה.
Lev
25:3 ‘Six years you sow your
field, and six years you prune your vineyard, and gather in its fruit,
Lev
25:4 but in the seventh year the land is to have a
Sabbath of rest, a Sabbath to יהוה. Do not sow your field and
do not prune your vineyard.
Lev
25:5 ‘Do not reap what grows of its own of your harvest, and do not gather
the grapes of your unpruned vine, for it is a year of rest for the land.
Lev
25:6 ‘And the Sabbath of the land shall be to you for food, for you and your
servant, and for your female servant and your hired servant, and for the
stranger who sojourns with you,
Lev
25:7 and for your livestock
and the beasts that are in your land. All
its crops are for food.
Lev
25:8 ‘And you shall count seven Sabbaths of years for yourself, seven times seven
years. And the time of the seven Sabbaths of years shall be to you forty-nine years.
Lev
25:9 ‘You shall then sound a ram’s horn to pass through on the tenth day of the
seventh month, on the Day of Atonement (Yom Kippur) cause a ram’s horn
(Shofar) to pass through all your land.
Lev
25:10 ‘And you shall set the fiftieth year apart, and proclaim release throughout
all the land to all its inhabitants, it
is a Jubilee for you. And each of you shall return to his possession, and
each of you return to his clan.
Lev
25:11 ‘The fiftieth year is a Jubilee to you. Do not sow, nor reap what
grows of its own, nor gather from its unpruned vine.
Lev
25:12 ‘It is a Jubilee, it is set-apart to you. Eat from the field its crops.
Lev
25:13 ‘In the Year of this
Jubilee let each one of you return to
his possession.
Lev
25:14 ‘And when you sell
whatever to your neighbour or buy from the hand of your neighbour, do not exploit one another.
Lev
25:15 ‘According to the number
of years after the Jubilee you buy from your neighbour, and according to the
number of years of crops he sells to you.
Lev
25:16 ‘According to the greater
number of years you increase its price, and according to the fewer number of
years you diminish its price, because he sells to you according to the number
of the years of the crops.
Lev
25:17 ‘And do not oppress one another, but you shall fear your Elohim. For I am יהוה
your Elohim.
Lev
25:18 ‘And you shall do My laws and guard My right-rulings, and shall do them.
And you shall dwell in the land in safety,
Lev
25:19 ‘and the land shall yield
its fruit, and you shall eat to satisfaction, and shall dwell there in safety.
Lev
25:20 ‘And since you might say,
“What do we eat in the seventh year,
since we do not sow nor gather in our crops?”
Lev
25:21 ‘Therefore I have
commanded My blessing on you in the sixth year, and it shall bring forth the crop for three years.
Lev
25:22 ‘And you shall sow in the eighth year, and eat of the old crop until the
ninth year. Eat of the old until its crop comes in.
Lev
25:23 ‘And the land is not to be sold beyond reclaim, for the land is Mine,
for you are sojourners and settlers with Me.
Lev
25:24 ‘And provide for a redemption for the land, in all the land of your
possession.
Lev
25:25 ‘When your brother
becomes poor, and has sold some of his possession, and his redeemer, a close relative comes to redeem it, then
he shall redeem what his brother sold.
Lev
25:26 ‘And when the man has no
one to redeem it, but he himself becomes able to redeem it,
Lev
25:27 then let him count the
years since its sale, and return the remainder to the man to whom he sold it,
that he shall return to his possession.
Lev
25:28 ‘And if his hand has not
found enough to give back to him, then what was sold shall remain in the hand
of him who bought it until the Year of
Jubilee. And it shall be released in
the Jubilee, and he shall return to his possession.
Lev
25:29 ‘And when a man sells a
house in a walled city, then his right of redemption shall be at the end of the
year after it is sold. His right of
redemption lasts a year.
Lev
25:30 ‘But if it is not redeemed within a complete year, then the house in the
walled city shall be established beyond reclaim to the buyer of it, throughout
his generations. It is not released in the Jubilee.
Lev
25:31 ‘The houses of villages,
however, which have no wall around them are reckoned as the field of the
country. A right of redemption belongs
to it, and they are released in the Jubilee.
Lev
25:32 ‘As for the cities of the
Lĕwites, and the houses in the cities of their possession, the Lĕwites have a right of redemption forever.
Lev
25:33 ‘And that which is
redeemed from the Lĕwites, both the sale of a house and the city of his
possession shall be released in the Year of Jubilee, because the houses in the
cities of the Lĕwites are their possession in the midst of the children of
Yisra’ĕl.
Lev
25:34 ‘But the field of the
open land of their cities is not sold, for it
is their everlasting possession.
Lev
25:35 ‘And when your brother becomes poor, and his hand has failed with you,
then you shall sustain him, and he shall live with you, like a stranger or a
sojourner.
Lev
25:36 ‘Take no interest from him, or profit, but you shall fear your
Elohim, and your brother shall live with you.
Lev
25:37 ‘Do not lend him your silver on interest, and do not lend him your food
for profit.
Lev
25:38 ‘I am יהוה your Elohim, who brought you out of the land of
Mitsrayim, to give you the land of Kenaʽan, to be your Elohim.
Lev
25:39 ‘And when your brother
who dwells by you becomes poor, and sells himself to you, do not make him serve as a slave.
Lev
25:40 ‘But as a hired servant,
as a settler he is with you, and serves
you until the Year of Jubilee.
Lev
25:41 ‘And then he shall leave
you, he and his children with him, and shall return to his own clan, even return to the possession of his
fathers.
Lev
25:42 ‘For they are My servants, whom I brought out of the land of Mitsrayim
Lev
25:43 ‘Do not rule over him
with harshness, but you shall fear your Elohim.
Lev
25:44 ‘And your male and female
slaves whom you have from the nations
that are around you, from them you buy male and female slaves,
Lev
25:45 and also from the sons of
the strangers sojourning among you, from them you buy, and from their clans who
are with you, which they shall bring forth in your land, and they shall be your
property.
Lev
25:46 ‘And you shall take them
as an inheritance for your children after you, to inherit them as a possession,
they are your slaves for all time.
But over your brothers, the children of Yisra’ĕl, you do not rule with
harshness, one over another.
Lev
25:47 ‘Now when a sojourner or
a settler with you becomes rich, and your brother with him becomes poor, and sells himself to the settler or sojourner
with you, or to a member of the sojourner’s clan,
Lev
25:48 after he has been sold, there is a right of redemption to him –
one of his brothers does redeem him,
Lev
25:49 or his uncle or his
uncle’s son does redeem him, or anyone
who is a close relative to him in his clan does redeem him, or if he is
able, then he shall redeem himself.
Lev
25:50 ‘And he shall reckon with
him who bought him: The price of his release shall be according to the number
of years, from the year that he was sold to him until the Year of Jubilee; as
the days of a hired servant it is with him.
Lev
25:51 ‘If there are yet many
years, according to them he repays the price of his redemption, from the silver
of his purchase.
Lev
25:52 ‘And if few years are
left until the Year of Jubilee, then he shall reckon with him, and according to
his years he repays him the price of his redemption.
Lev
25:53 ‘He is with him as a
yearly hired servant, and he does not rule with harshness over him before your
eyes.
Lev
25:54 ‘And if he is not
redeemed in these years, then he shall
be released in the Year of Jubilee, he and his children with him.
Lev
25:55 ‘Because the children of
Yisra’ĕl are servants to Me, they are My servants whom I brought out of the land of Mitsrayim
Chapter 26.
After
having given the rules of the Shabbat of the land and of the Yovel of release, יהוה remind His people that they don’t
have to make idols, carved image and pillars and statues of stone.
Centuries
later, the children of Israel, both the House of Israel (Ephraim) and
the House of Yehuda will both falls
into idolatry following the way of the heathen nations
The first
step to guard יהוה’s commands is to keep the Shabbat, written here in
the plural form.
Lev 26:1 ‘Do not make idols for yourselves, and do not set up a carved image or a pillar for yourselves, and do not place a stone image in your land,
to bow down to it. For I am יהוה your Elohim.
Lev
26:2 ‘Guard My Sabbaths and reverence My set-apart place. I am יהוה.
The Hebrew word for “guard” or “keep” is
the word:
H8104
שׁמר shâmar shaw-mar'
A primitive root; properly to hedge
about (as with thorns), that is, guard; generally to protect,
attend to, etc.: - beware, be circumspect, take heed (to self),
keep (-er, self), mark, look narrowly, observe, preserve, regard, reserve, save
(self), sure, (that lay) wait (for), watch (-man).
Haftorah
The prophet
Yrmeyahu give the example, buying the
field of his uncle, using his right of redemption.
Yrmeyahu was sent to be a vessel for יהוה
against the crookedness
of the children of Israel which pushed יהוה to turn over the land of Israel to
the Chaldean in order to chastise His children.
My question
is: How it is today when we see the Palestinians, taking more and more place in
Eretz Israel? Many ask to pray to Elohim to deliver our brethren from the
Palestinian oppression, but few ask to pray for repentance from sin!
What is the
reason why יהוה gave the land over to the Chaldeans,
may be this will help to understand today’s situation?
Read verses
23-24
Jer 32:6 And Yirmeyahu said, “The word of יהוה came
to me, saying,
Jer
32:7 ‘See, Ḥaname’ĕl son of
Shallum your uncle is coming to you,
saying, “Buy my field which is in Anathoth, for the right of redemption is yours to buy it.” ’
Jer 32:8 “So Ḥaname’ĕl my uncle’s son came to me in the
court of the guard according to the word of יהוה, and
said to me, ‘Please buy my field that is in Anathoth, which is in the land of
Binyamin, for the right of inheritance is yours, and the redemption. Buy it for
yourself.’ And I knew that this was the
word of יהוה.
Jer
32:9 “And I bought the field
which was at Anathoth from Ḥaname’ĕl, my uncle’s son, and weighed out to him
the silver, seventeen sheqels of silver.
Jer
32:10 “And I signed the deed and sealed it, took witnesses, and weighed the
silver in the scales.
Jer
32:11 “Then I took the deed of purchase – that
which was sealed according to the command and law, and that which was open –
Jer
32:12 and I gave the deed of
purchase to Baruḵ son of Nĕriyah, son of Maḥsĕyah, in the presence of
Ḥaname’ĕl my uncle’s son, and in the
presence of the witnesses who signed the deed of purchase, before all the
Yehuḏim who sat in the court of the guard.
Jer
32:13 “And I commanded Baruḵ
before their eyes, saying,
Jer
32:14 ‘Thus said יהוה of hosts, the Elohim of Yisra’ĕl, “Take these
deeds, both this deed of purchase which is sealed and this deed which is open,
and put them in an earthen vessel,
so that they remain many days.”
Jer
32:15 ‘For thus said יהוה of hosts, the
Elohim of Yisra’ĕl, “Houses and
fields and vineyards shall again be bought in this land.” ’
Jer
32:16 “And after I had given
the deed of purchase to Baruḵ son of Nĕriyah, I prayed to יהוה,
saying,
Jer
32:17 ‘Ah, Master יהוה!
See, You have made the heavens and the earth by Your great power and
outstretched arm. There is no matter too hard for You,
Jer
32:18 who show kindness to
thousands, and repay the crookedness of the fathers into the bosom of their
children after them – the Great, the Mighty Ěl, יהוה of
hosts is His Name,
Jer
32:19 great in counsel and
mighty in work, for Your eyes are open
to all the ways of the sons of men, to give everyone according to his ways and
according to the fruit of his deeds.
Jer
32:20 ‘For You have set signs and
wonders in the land
of Mitsrayim
Jer
32:21 ‘And You have brought
Your people Yisra’ĕl out of the land
of Mitsrayim
Jer
32:22 ‘And You gave them this land, of which You swore to their fathers to give
them, a land flowing with milk and honey.
Jer
32:23 ‘And they came in and
possessed it, but they did not obey
Your voice nor did they walk in Your Torah. They did not do all that
You commanded them to do, so You brought
all this evil upon them.
Jer
32:24 ‘See the siege mounds!
They have come to the city to take it. And the
city has been given into the hand of the Chaldeans who fight against it,
because of the sword and the scarcity of food and the pestilence. And what You
have spoken has come about, and look, You see it!
Jer
32:25 ‘Yet You, O Master יהוה,
have said to me, “Buy the field for silver, and take witnesses”! although the
city has been given into the hand of the Chaldeans.’ ”
Jer
32:26 Then the word of יהוה came to Yirmeyahu, saying,
Jer 32:27 “See, I am יהוה, the Elohim of all flesh. Is
there any matter too hard for Me?”
Luk 4:16 And He came to Natsareth, where He had been brought up. And according
to His practice, He went into the congregation on the Sabbath day, and stood up
to read.
Luk 4:17 and the scroll of the prophet
Yeshayahu was handed to Him. And having unrolled the scroll, He found the place
where it was written:
Luk 4:18 “The Spirit of יהוה
is upon Me,1 because He has anointed Me to bring the Good News
to the poor. He has sent Me to heal the broken-hearted, to proclaim release to
the captives and recovery of sight to the blind, to send away crushed ones with
a release, Footnote: 1Isa. 61:1-3.
Luk
4:19 to
proclaim the acceptable year of יהוה.”1 Footnote: 1Isa.
61:1-2.
Luk
4:20 and having rolled up the
scroll, He gave it back to the attendant and sat down. And the eyes of all in
the congregation were fixed upon Him.
Luk
4:21 And He began to say to
them, “Today this Scripture has been
filled in your hearing.”
Parsha B’chukotai – In
my Instruction
The second
part of this two-fold “Parasha” give
us a deep understanding concerning the consequences of rebellion against יהוה
right ruling and commandments.
The first
two verses show the condition: If
and then, to keep the statutes and
guard the commands is the way to get יהוה’s protection
from the enemy and provision for our daily life.
What can we
say for us today in our daily life, for those who are in Messiah יהושע?
The battle
is spiritual:
Eph 6:11 Put on the complete armour of Elohim, for
you to have power to stand against the schemes of the devil.
Eph 6:12 because
we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against authorities,
against the world-rulers of the darkness of this age, against spiritual matters of wickedness in the
heavenlies.
Jas 4:7 so then subject yourselves to Elohim. Resist
the devil1 and he shall flee from
you. Footnote: 1Or adversary.
Jas 4:8 draw near to Elohim and He shall draw near
to you. Cleanse hands, sinners. And cleanse the hearts, you double-minded!
1Pe 1:22 Now that you have cleansed your lives
in obeying the truth through the
Spirit
The truth
(read Yochanan 17:17, Psalm 119: 142,
151, 160)
There are
great promises, but if the Children of Israel, our forefathers reject the truth
and turn to wickedness, יהוה make promise to punish them for breaking the
covenant. What does this mean and what are the consequences?
●wasting
disease
●inflammation, destroying the eyes
●you shall sow your seed in vain
●you
shall be smitten before your enemies
●those
who hate you shall rule over you
●you
shall flee when no one pursues you.
And if they
still remain stubborn:
●
then I shall punish you seven times more for your sins.
And if they
still keep going their own way in spite of punishment?
●
I shall bring on you seven times more plagues, according to your sins
●send
wild beasts among you (euphemism for
cruel adversary)
●I
shall send pestilence among you,
●you
shall be given into the hand of the enemy.
●I have cut off your
supply of bread, ten women shall bake your bread in one oven, and they shall
bring back to you your bread by weight, and you shall eat and not be satisfied.
●you shall eat the flesh of your
sons, and eat the flesh of your daughters.(see the excerpt from Josephus “War of the Jews”, below)
●And I shall destroy
your high places, and cut down your sun-pillars, and put your carcasses on the
carcasses of your idols. And My being shall loathe you.
●I shall turn your cities into ruins (Jerusalem was completely
destroyed by Caesar Titus in the year 69-70 C .E, only few tower and the west wall was
left as reminder of what Titus and his army did to the “Jews”, doing יהוה’s will against His
people.
●I shall
lay the land waste, and your enemies who dwell in it shall be astonished at it.
I
shall scatter you among the gentiles
The land
enjoys its Sabbaths as long as it lays waste and you are in your enemies’ land.
Then the land would rest and enjoy its Sabbaths.
The House of Yehuda was punished a first time when יהוה according to the word of the prophet
Yrmeyahu, send them to Babylon
Dan 9:2 in the
first year of his reign I, Dani’ĕl, observed from the Scriptures the number of
the years, according to the word of יהוה
given
to Yirmeyah the prophet,
for the completion of the wastes of Yerushalayim would be seventy years.
Chapter
four, the prophet Yechezk’el was commanded of יהוה
to set himself before
the Children of Israel to announce their rebellion:
Eze 4:4 “And lie on your left side,
and you shall put the crookedness of the
house of Yisra’ĕl on it. As many days as you lie on it, you shall bear
their crookedness.
Eze 4:5 “For I Myself have laid on you the
years of their crookedness, according to the number of the days,
three hundred and ninety days. And
you shall bear the crookedness of the house of Yisra’ĕl. (One year = one day)
This was to
come to the House of Israel years according to the number of days, so it became
390 days it should become 390 years. The left side is the side of judgment in
the “Tree of life”.
Remember
that יהוה
promised that if in
spite of it, if they don’t listen and change their ways, he will punish them
seven times more (Vayiqra/Lev.
26:18,21,24,28)
The house
of Israel
Let us make
a short calculation: 390 years were the initial punishment, and seven times
more for not turning back, thus we count three hundred ninety years time seven
and we get Two thousand seven hundred and thirty years punishment (2730).
The
punishment started in the year 721B.C.E. when יהוה sent His people to the Assyrian from
where they will be later scattered in the four winds, to the end of the world.
2730 year
add to the -721 before common area we have the year 2009, meaning hat the
punishment for the House of Israel, Ephraim will come an end in the year 2009
our time. I know some scholars have counted it another way and there are some
small differences. We are now in the time of refreshing, in our relationship to
our heavenly Father.
Yrmeyahu spoke of another punishment for the House of Yehuda which has been overlooked by many scholars:
Eze 4:6 “And
when you have completed them, you shall
lie again on your right side and shall bear the crookedness of the house of Yehuḏah forty days, a day for a year. I have laid on you a day for a year.
Eze 4:7 “Then
you shall set your face toward the siege of Yerushalayim, with your
arm bared, and you shall prophesy
against it.
When was
this period to come?
I will show
you something and prove it by the word of the historian “Josephus”.
When
Messiah יהושע
came, the Yehudin rejected him, even if many among
them received him as the promised messiah.
Act 3:17 “And now, brothers, I know that you did it in ignorance, as your rulers
did too.
Act 3:18 “But this is how Elohim has filled what He had announced beforehand
through the mouth of all the prophets, that His Messiah was to suffer.
Act 3:19 “Repent
therefore and turn back, for the blotting out of your sins, in order that times of refreshing might
come from the presence of the Master,
Act 3:20 and that He sends יהושע Messiah,
pre-appointed for you,
Kefa/Peter is saying that if they (the Yehudin) repent and turn back to the
Torah, accepting יהושע, יהוה will send back יהושע messiah. Do you remember what we
read in the Parasha?
Lev
26:29 ‘And you shall eat the flesh of your sons, and eat the flesh of your daughters.
Lev 26:31 ‘and I
shall turn your cities into ruins and lay your set-apart places waste
The set
apart place is the Temple
Messiah says
to the Yehudin:
Joh 8:21 Therefore יהושע said
to them again, “I am going away, and you shall seek Me, and you shall die in your sin.
Where I go you are unable to come.”
Sin is here
singular, the sin for having rejected the one sent of Elohim!
יהושע died on the stake at the age of 33, during
Pesach. In order to have fulfilled the
first part of his coming for three and half years, יהושע must have started his ministry
during the seventh month at Yom Kippur and died on the stake three and
half years later during the month of Pesach on the 14th of Aviv.
Now remember
that יהוה
commanded Yechezk’el to lie on the side for 40
days as a sign that:
Eze 4:6 “And
when you have completed them, you shall lie again on your right side and shall
bear the crookedness of the house of Yehuḏah forty days, a day for a year. I have laid on you a day for a year.
Eze 4:7 “Then
you shall set your face toward the siege of Yerushalayim, with your arm bared,
and you shall prophesy against it.
We have
seen that the punishment for rebellion given in the book of Vayiqra/Lev. should be: To eat the flesh of sons and daughters,
and the city shall become a ruin.
With this in mind we can read what the historian Yosephus wrote: From the books Wars of the Jews Book 5-6 Thought it
is a bit long I encourage you to read these excerpts in order to see that יהוה
fulfilled His word
perfectly at the right time and that if there are some mistake it is on our
part and not יהוה.
Hab 2:2 and יהוה answered me and said, “Write
the vision and inscribe it on tablets, so that he who reads it runs.
Hab
2:3 “For the vision is yet for an appointed time, and it speaks of the end, and does not lie.
If it lingers, wait for it, for it shall
certainly come, it shall not delay.
The prophet
Habakkuk spoke from the chastisement of Yehuda through the Chaldeans. What I want
us to see is that when יהוה speak a vision for an appointed time it will
come to pass in the time it has been appointed for and will come to pass.
Vision in
Hebrew is the word: Strong’s #H2377 חזון châzôn khaw-zone'
From H2372; a sight (mentally), that is, a dream, revelation, or oracle:
- vision
What
happened after Messiah יהושע departure is the fulfilment of prophecy spoken
of יהוה
many centuries before
starting with Moshe according to Vayiqra/Lev.
chapter 26:14-39.
Josephus: “War of the Jews” Book 5-6, excerpt (this
happened in the year 69-70C .E,
40 years after יהושע went back to the Father:
1. WHEN
therefore Titus had marched over that desert which lies between Egypt and Syria Alexandria , in settling that government which had been newly conferred upon them by God, it
so happened that the sedition at Jerusalem
Now Titus, according to the
Roman usage, went in the front of the army after a decent manner, and marched
through Samaria to Gophna, a city that had been formerly taken by his father
(Vespasian), and was then garrisoned by Roman soldiers; and when he had lodged
there one night, he marched on in the morning; and when he had gone as far as a
day's march, he pitched his camp at that valley which the Jews, in their own
tongue, call "the Valley of Thorns," near a certain village called
Gabaothsath, which signifies "the Hill of Saul," being distant from
Jerusalem about thirty furlongs. (6)
There it was that he chose out six hundred select horsemen, and went to take a
view of the city, to observe what strength it was of, and how courageous the
Jews were; whether, when they saw him, and before they came to a direct battle,
they would be affrighted and submit; for he had been informed what was really
true, that the people who were fallen under the power of the seditious and the
robbers were greatly desirous of peace; but being too weak to rise up against
the rest, they lay still.
The Jews became still more and more in number,
as encouraged by the good success of those that first made the attack; and
while they had such good fortune, they seemed both to themselves and to the
enemy to be many more than they really were. The disorderly way of their
fighting at first put the Romans also to a stand, who had been constantly used
to fight skilfully in good order, and with keeping their ranks, and obeying the
orders that were given them; for which reason the Romans were caught
unexpectedly, and were obliged to give way to the assaults that were made upon
them. Now when these Romans were overtaken, and turned back upon the Jews, they
put a stop to their career; yet when they did not take care enough of
themselves through the vehemence of their pursuit, they were wounded by them;
but as still more and more Jews sallied (sudden attack) out of the city, the
Romans were at length brought into confusion, and put to fight, and ran away
from their camp.
1. AS now the war abroad ceased for a while,
the sedition within was revived; and on
the feast of unleavened bread, which was now come, it being the fourteenth
day of the month Xanthicus, [Nisan,] when it is believed the Jews were first
freed from the Egyptians, Eleazar and his party opened the gates of this
[inmost court of the] temple, and admitted such of the people as were desirous
to worship God into it. (9) But John (a
zealot) made use of this festival as a cloak for his treacherous designs, and
armed the most inconsiderable of his own party, the greater part of whom were
not purified, with weapons concealed under their garments, and sent them with
great zeal into the temple, in order to seize upon it; which armed men, when
they were gotten in, threw their garments away, and presently appeared in their
armor.
NOTES:
9) Here we see the true occasion of
those vast numbers of Jews that were in Jerusalem during this siege by Titus,
and perished therein; that the siege began at the feast of the Passover, when such
prodigious multitudes of Jews and proselytes of the gate were come from all
parts of Judea, and from other countries, in order to celebrate that great
festival. See the note B. VI. ch. 9. sect. 3. Tacitus himself informs us, that
the number of men, women, and children in Jerusalem, when it was besieged by
the Romans, as he had been informed. This information must have been taken from
the Romans: for Josephus never recounts the numbers of those that were
besieged, only he lets us know, that of
the vulgar, carried dead out of the gates, and buried at the public charges,
was the like number of 600,000, ch. viii. sect.7. However, when Cestius
Gallus came first to the siege, that sum in Tacitus is no way disagreeable to
Josephus's history, though they were become much more numerous when Titus encompassed the city at the
passover. As to the number that
perished during this siege, Josephus assures us, as we shall see hereafter,
they were 1,100,000,(1million and One hundred thousand) besides 97,000
captives. But Tacitus's history of the last part of this siege is not now
extant; so we cannot compare his parallel numbers with those of Josephus.
3. And now Titus pitched his camp within the
city, at that place which was called "the Camp of the Assyrians,"
having seized upon all that lay as far as Cedron, but took care to be out of
the reach of the Jews' darts. He then presently began his attacks, upon which
the Jews divided themselves into several bodies, and courageously defended that
wall; while John and his faction did it from the tower of Antonia, and from the
northern cloister of the temple, and fought the Romans before the monuments of
king Alexander; and Sireoh's army also took for their share the spot of ground
that was near John's monument, and fortified it as far as to that gate where
water was brought in to the tower Hippicus. However, the Jews made……….
1. AS Josephus was speaking thus with a loud voice, the seditious would
neither yield to what he said, nor did they deem it safe for them to alter
their conduct; but as for the people,
they had a great inclination to desert to the Romans; accordingly, some of
them sold what they had, and even the most precious things that had been laid
up as treasures by them, for every small matter, and swallowed down pieces of gold, that they might not be found out by the
robbers; and when they had escaped to the Romans, went to stool, and had
wherewithal to provide plentifully for themselves; for Titus let a great number
of them go away into the country, whither they pleased. And the main reasons why they were so ready to
desert were these: That now they should
be freed from those miseries which they had endured in that city, and yet
should not be in slavery to the Romans: however, John and Simon, with their
factions, did more carefully watch these men's going out than they did the
coming in of the Romans; and if any one did but afford the least shadow of
suspicion of such an intention, his throat was cut immediately.
The
madness of the seditious did also increase
together with their famine, and both those miseries were every day inflamed
more and more; for there was no corn which any where appeared publicly, but the
robbers came running into, and searched men's private houses; and then, if they
found any, they tormented them, because they had denied they had any; and if they found none, they tormented them
worse, because they supposed they had more carefully concealed it. The
indication they made use of whether they had any or not was taken from the
bodies of these miserable wretches; which, if they were in good case, they
supposed they were in no want at all of food; but if they were wasted away,
they walked off without searching any further; nor did they think it proper to
kill such as these, because they saw they would very soon die of themselves for
want of food. Many there were indeed who sold what they had for one measure; it
was of wheat, if they were of the richer sort; but of barley, if they were
poorer. When these had so done, they shut themselves up in the inmost rooms of
their houses, and ate the corn they had gotten; some did it without grinding
it, by reason of the extremity of the want they were in, and others baked bread
of it, according as necessity and fear dictated to them: a table was no where
laid for a distinct meal, but they snatched the bread out of the fire,
half-baked, and ate it very hastily………..
3. It
was now a miserable case, and a sight that would justly bring tears into our
eyes, how men stood as to their food, while the more powerful had more than
enough, and the weaker were lamenting [for want of it.] But the famine was too hard for all other
passions, and it is destructive to nothing so much as to modesty; for what was
otherwise worthy of reverence was in this case despised; insomuch that children pulled the very morsels that their
fathers were eating out of their very mouths, and what was still more to be
pitied, so did the mothers do as to
their infants; and when those that
were most dear were perishing under their hands, they were not ashamed to take
from them the very last drops that might preserve their lives: and while
they ate after this manner, yet were they not concealed in so doing; but the
seditious every where came upon them immediately, and snatched away from them
what they had gotten from others; for when they saw any house shut up, this was
to them a signal that the people within had gotten some food; whereupon they broke open the doors, and ran in, and
took pieces of what they were eating almost up out of their very throats,
and this by force: the old men, who
held their food fast, were beaten; and if the women hid what they had within their hands, their hair was torn for
so doing; nor was there any commiseration shown either to the aged or to
the infants, but they lifted up children
from the ground as they hung upon the morsels they had gotten, and shook
them down upon the floor……
They were more
barbarously cruel to those that had prevented their
coming in, and had actually swallowed down what they were going to seize upon,
as if they had been unjustly defrauded of their right. They also invented terrible methods of torments to discover where
any food was, and they were these to
stop up the passages of the privy parts of the miserable wretches, and to drive
sharp stakes up their fundaments; and a man was forced to bear what it is
terrible even to hear, in order to make
him confess that he had but one loaf of bread, or that he might discover a
handful of barley-meal that was concealed; and this was done when these
tormentors were not themselves hungry………………
They confessed what was true, that
they were the slaves, the scum, and the spurious and abortive offspring of our
nation, while they overthrew the city
themselves, and forced the Romans, whether they would or no, to gain a
melancholy reputation, by acting gloriously against them, and did almost draw
that fire upon the temple, which they seemed to think came too slowly; and
indeed when they saw that temple
burning from the upper city, they were neither troubled at it, nor did they
shed any tears on that account, while yet these passions were discovered
among the Romans themselves; which circumstances we shall speak of hereafter in
their proper place, when we come to treat of such matters……….
when they were going to be taken, they were forced
to defend themselves for fear of being punished; as after they had fought, they
thought it too late to make any supplications for mercy; so they were first whipped, and then tormented
with all sorts of tortures, before they died, and were then crucified before the wall of the city. This
miserable procedure made Titus greatly to pity them, while they caught every day five hundred Jews; nay, some days they
caught more: yet it did not appear to be safe for him to let those that were
taken by force go their way, and to set a guard over so many he saw would be to
make such as great deal them useless to him. The main reason why he did not
forbid that cruelty was this, that he hoped the Jews might perhaps yield at
that sight, out of fear lest they might themselves afterwards be liable to the
same cruel treatment. So the
soldiers, out of the wrath and hatred they bore the Jews, nailed those they
caught, one after one way, and another after another, to the crosses, by
way of jest, when their multitude was so great, that room was wanting for the
crosses, and crosses wanting for the bodies……………..
3. So all hope of escaping was now cut off from
the Jews, together with their liberty of going out of the city. Then did the famine widen its progress, and
devoured the people by whole houses and families; the upper rooms were full
of women and children that were dying by
famine, and the lanes of the city
were full of the dead bodies of the aged; the children also and the young men wandered
about the market-places like shadows, all swelled with the famine, and fell
down dead, wheresoever their misery seized them. As for burying them, those
that were sick themselves were not able to do it; and those that were hearty
and well were deterred from doing it by the great multitude of those dead
bodies, and by the uncertainty there was how soon they should die themselves; for many died as they were burying others,
and many went to their coffins before that fatal hour was come. Nor was there
any lamentations made under these calamities, nor were heard any mournful
complaints; but the famine confounded
all natural passions; for those who were just going to die looked upon
those that were gone to rest before them with dry eyes and open mouths. A deep
silence also, and a kind of deadly night, had seized upon the city; while yet
the robbers were still more terrible than these miseries were themselves; for
they brake open those houses which were no other than graves of dead bodies,
and plundered them of what they had;
and carrying off the coverings of their bodies, went out laughing, and tried
the points of their swords in their dead bodies; and, in order to prove what metal they were made of they
thrust some of those through that still lay alive upon the ground; but for
those that entreated them to lend them their right hand and their sword to
despatch them, they were too proud to grant their requests, and left them to be
consumed by the famine……………………
. However, when Titus, in going his rounds along those valleys, saw them full of
dead bodies, and the thick putrefaction
running about them, he gave a groan; and, spreading out his hands to heaven, called God to witness that this was
not his doing; and such was the sad case of the city itself……………
These Romans besides had great plenty of corn
and other necessaries out of Syria, and out of the neighbouring provinces; many
of whom would stand near to the wall of the city, and show the people what great quantities of provisions they had, and
so make the enemy more sensible of their famine, by the great plenty, even
to satiety, which they had themselves…….
After this man there ran away to Titus many of the eminent citizens, and
told him the entire number of the poor
that were dead, and that no fewer than six hundred thousand were thrown
out at the gates, though still the number of the rest could not be
discovered; and they told him further, that when they were no longer able to
carry out the dead bodies of the poor, they
laid their corpses on heaps in very large houses, and shut them up therein;
as also that a medimnus of wheat was
sold for a talent; and that when, a while afterward, it was not possible to
gather herbs, by reason the city was all walled about, some persons were driven to that terrible distress as to search the
common sewers and old dunghills of cattle, and to eat the dung which
they got there; and what they of old could not endure so much as to see
they now used for food. When the Romans barely heard all this, they
commiserated their case; while the seditious, who saw it also, did not repent,
but suffered the same distress to come upon themselves; for they were blinded
by that fate which was already coming upon the city, and upon themselves
also………
1. THUS did the miseries of Jerusalem
And let my first argument to move
you to it be taken from what probably some would think reasonable to dissuade
you, I mean the constancy and patience of these Jews, even under their ill
successes; for it is unbecoming you, who are Romans and my soldiers, who have
in peace been taught how to make wars, and who have also been used to conquer
in those wars, to be inferior to Jews, either in action of the hand, or in
courage of the soul, and this especially when you are at the conclusion of your
victory, and are assisted by God
himself; for as to our misfortunes, they have been owing to the madness
of the Jews, while their sufferings have been owing to your valor, and to the
assistance God hath afforded you; for
as to the seditions they have been in, and the famine they are under, and the
siege they now endure, and the fall of their walls without our engines, what
can they all be but demonstrations of God's anger against them (read again
Vayyiqra 26:14-32), and of his assistance afforded us?........
For they foretold that this city should be then taken when somebody
shall begin the slaughter of his own countrymen. And are not both the city and the entire temple now full of the dead bodies
of your countrymen? It is God, therefore, it is God himself who is bringing
on this fire, to purge that city and temple by means of the Romans, (8) and is going to pluck up this city, which is
full of your pollutions."……
1. AND now Titus gave orders to his soldiers
that were with him to dig up the foundations of the tower of Antonia, and make
him a ready passage for his army to come up; while he himself had Josephus
brought to him, (for he had been informed that on that very day, which was the seventeenth day (5) of Panemus, [Tamuz,] the sacrifice called
"the Daily Sacrifice" had failed, and had not been offered to God, for want of men to offer it, and that
the people were grievously troubled at it,) and commanded him to say the same
things to…….
Note:
5) This was a remarkable day indeed, the seventeenth of Paneruns. [Tamuz,]
A.D. 70, when, according to Daniel's prediction, six hundred and six
years before, the Romans "in half a week caused the sacrifice and oblation to cease," Dan_9:27. For from the month of February, A.D. 66, about which time Vespasian
entered on this war, to this very time, was
just three years and a half. See Bishop Lloyd's Tables of Chronology,
published by Mr. Marshall, on this year. Nor is it to be omitted, what year
nearly confirms this duration of the war, that four years before the war begun
was somewhat above seven years five months before the destruction of Jerusalem,
ch. 5. sect. 3.
Upon this Josephus stood in such a place where
he might be heard, not by John only, but by many more, and then declared to
them what Caesar had given him in charge, and this in the Hebrew language. (6)
So he earnestly prayed them to spare their own city, and to prevent that fire
which was just ready to seize upon the temple, and to offer their usual
sacrifices to God therein……
Note:
(6) The same that in the New Testament is always so called, and was then
the common language of the Jews in Judea, which was the Syriac dialect.
Thou hast indignation at me again, and makest a clamor at me, and
reproachest me; indeed I cannot deny but I am worthy of worse treatment than
all this amounts to, because, in opposition to fate, I make this kind
invitation to thee, and endeavor to force deliverance upon those whom God hath condemned. And who is there that does not know what the writings of the ancient
prophets contain in them, - and particularly
that oracle which is just now going to be fulfilled upon this miserable city?
For they foretold that this city should be then taken when somebody shall begin
the slaughter of his own countrymen. And are
not both the city and the entire temple now full of the dead bodies of your
countrymen? It is God, therefore, it is God himself who is bringing on this
fire, to purge that city and temple by means of the Romans, (8) and is going to pluck up this city, which is
full of your pollutions."
Note:
(8) Of this oracle, see the note on B.
IV. ch. 6. sect. 3. Josephus, both
here and in many places elsewhere, speaks so, that it is most evident he was
fully satisfied that God was on the
Romans' side, and made use of them now for the destruction of that wicked
nation of the Jews; which was for certain the true state of this matter, as
the prophet Daniel first, and our
Saviour himself afterwards, had clearly foretold. See Lit. Accompl. of Proph.
p. 64, etc.
Moreover, their hunger was so
intolerable, that it obliged them to chew every thing, while they gathered
such things as the most sordid animals would not touch, and endured to eat
them; nor did they at length abstain
from girdles and shoes; and the very leather which belonged to their
shields they pulled off and gnawed: the very wisps of old hay became food to
some; and some gathered up fibres,
and sold a very small weight of them for four Attic [drachmae]. But why do I
describe the shameless impudence that the famine brought on men in their eating
inanimate things, while I am going to
relate a matter of fact, the like to which no history relates, (15) either among the Greeks or Barbarians? It is horrible to speak of it,
and incredible when heard. I had indeed
willingly omitted this calamity of ours, that I might not seem to deliver what
is so portentous to posterity, but that I have innumerable witnesses to it in
my own age; and besides, my country would have had little reason to thank
me for suppressing the miseries that she underwent at this time………
4. There was a certain woman that dwelt beyond
Jordan, her name was Mary; her father was Eleazar, of the village Bethezob, which
signifies the house of Hyssop. She was eminent for her family and her wealth,
and had fled away to Jerusalem
She then attempted a
most unnatural thing; and snatching up her son, who was a child sucking at her breast, she said,
"O thou miserable infant! for whom shall I preserve thee in this war, this
famine, and this sedition? As to the war with the Romans, if they preserve our
lives, we must be slaves. This famine also will destroy us, even before that
slavery comes upon us. Yet are these seditious rogues more terrible than both
the other. Come on; be thou my food,
and be thou a fury to these seditious varlets, and a by-word to the world,
which is all that is now wanting to
complete the calamities of us Jews." As soon as she had said this, she slew her son, and then roasted him, and
eat the one half of him, and kept
the other half by her concealed………
upon this the seditious came in presently, and smelling the horrid scent
of this food, they threatened her that they would cut her throat immediately if
she did not show them what food she had gotten ready. She replied that she had
saved a very fine portion of it for them, and withal uncovered what was left of
her son. Hereupon they were seized with
a horror and amazement of mind,
and stood astonished at the sight, when she
said to them, "This is mine own son, and what hath been done was mine
own doing! Come, eat of this food; for I have eaten of it myself! Do not you
pretend to be either more tender than a woman, or more compassionate than a
mother; but if you be so scrupulous, and do abominate this my sacrifice, as I
have eaten the one half, let the rest be reserved for me also." After
which those men went out trembling, being never so much aftrighted at any thing
as they were at this, and with some difficulty they left the rest of that meat to the mother. Upon which the whole
city was full of this horrid action immediately; and while every body laid this
miserable case before their own eyes, they trembled, as if this unheard of
action had been done by themselves. So those that were thus distressed by the
famine were very desirous to die, and those already dead were esteemed happy,
because they had not lived long enough either to hear or to see such miseries.
5. This sad instance was quickly told to the
Romans, some of whom could not believe it, and others pitied the distress which
the Jews were under; but there were many of them who were hereby induced to a
more bitter hatred than ordinary against our nation. But for Caesar, he excused himself before God as
to this matter, and said that he had proposed peace and liberty to the
Jews, as well as an oblivion of all their former insolent practices; but that
they, instead of concord, had chosen sedition; instead of peace, war; and
before satiety and abundance, a famine. That they had begun with their own
hands to burn down that temple which we have preserved hitherto; and that
therefore they deserved to eat such food as this was. That, however, this
horrid action of eating an own child ought to be covered with the overthrow of
their very country itself, and men ought not to leave such a city upon the
habitable earth to be seen by the sun, wherein mothers are thus fed,
But when Titus perceived that his endeavours to spare a foreign temple
turned to the damage of his soldiers, and then be killed, he gave order to set the gates on fire……..
But as for that house, God had, for
certain, long ago doomed it to the fire; and now that fatal
day was come, according to the revolution of ages; it was the tenth day of the month Lous, [Ab,] upon which it was
formerly burnt by the king of Babylon; although these flames took their rise
from the Jews themselves, and were occasioned by them; for upon Titus's
retiring, the seditious lay still for a little while, and then attacked the
Romans again, when those that guarded the holy house fought with those that
quenched the fire that was burning the inner [court of the] temple; but these
Romans put the Jews to flight, and
proceeded as far as the holy house itself. At which time one of the
soldiers, without staying for any orders, and without any concern or dread upon
him at so great an undertaking, and being hurried on by a certain divine fury,
snatched somewhat out of the materials that were on fire, and being lifted up
by another soldier, he set fire to a golden window, through which there was a
passage to the rooms that were round about the holy house, on the north side of
it. As the flames went upward, the Jews made a great clamor, such as so mighty
an affliction required, and ran together to prevent it; and now they spared not
their lives any longer, nor suffered any thing to restrain their force, since
that holy house was perishing, for whose sake it was that they kept such a
guard about it.
Moreover, the hope of plunder induced many to go on, as having this
opinion, that all the places within were full of money, and as seeing that all
round about it was made of gold. And besides, one of those that went into the
place prevented Caesar, when he ran so hastily out to restrain the soldiers,
and threw the fire upon the hinges of the gate, in the dark; whereby the flame
burst out from within the holy house itself immediately, when the commanders retired,
and Caesar with them, and when nobody any longer forbade those that were
without to set fire to it. And thus was
the holy house burnt down, without Caesar's approbation……..
Now the number of years that passed from
its first foundation, which was laid by king Solomon, till this its destruction, which happened in the second year of the
reign of Vespasian, are collected to be one thousand one hundred and thirty (1130), besides seven months and
fifteen days; and from the second building of it, which was done by Haggai,
in the second year of Cyrus the king, till
its destruction under Vespasian, there were six hundred and thirty-nine years and forty-five days.
2. And now the Romans, judging that it was in
vain to spare what was round about the holy house, burnt all those places, as
also the remains of the cloisters and the gates, two excepted; the one on the
east side, and the other on the south; both which, however, they burnt
afterward. They also burnt down the
treasury chambers, in which was an immense quantity of money, and an immense
number of garments, and other precious goods there reposited; and, to speak
all in a few words, there it was that the entire riches of the Jews were heaped
up together, while the rich people had there built themselves chambers [to
contain such furniture]………
Thus also before the Jews' rebellion, and
before those commotions which preceded
the war, when the people were come in great crowds to the feast of unleavened bread, on the eighth day of the month
Xanthicus, (21) [Nisan,] and at the
ninth hour of the night, so great a light shone round the altar and the holy
house, that it appeared to be bright day time; which lasted for half an hour. This light seemed to be a good sign to
the unskillful, but was so interpreted by the sacred scribes, as to portend
those events that followed immediately upon it. At the same festival
also, a heifer, as she was led by the high priest to be sacrificed, brought
forth a lamb in the midst of the temple. Moreover, the eastern gate of the
inner (22) [court of the] temple, which
was of brass, and vastly heavy, and had been with difficulty shut by twenty
men, and rested upon a basis armed with iron, and had bolts fastened very deep
into the firm floor, which was there made of one entire stone, was seen to be
opened of its own accord about the sixth hour of the night……….
They were all received by the Romans, because Titus himself grew
negligent as to his former orders for killing them, and because the very
soldiers grew weary of killing them, and because they hoped to get some money
by sparing them; for they left only the populace, and sold the rest of the
multitude, (28) with their wives and
children, and every one of them at a very low price, and that because such as
were sold were very many, and the buyers were few: and although Titus had made
proclamation beforehand, that no deserter should come alone by himself, that so
they might bring out their families with them, yet did he receive such as these
also. However, he set over them such as were to distinguish some from others,
in order to see if any of them deserved to be punished. And indeed the number
of those that were sold was immense; but of the populace above forty thousand
were saved, whom Caesar let go whither every one of them pleased.
Note:
28) This innumerable multitude of Jews
that were "sold" by the Romans was an eminent completion of God's
ancient threatening by Moses, that if they apostatized from the obedience to
his laws, they should be "sold unto their enemies for bond- men and bond-women,"
Deu_28:68. See more especially the note
on ch. 9. sect. 2. But one thing is here peculiarly remarkable, that Moses
adds, Though they should be "sold" for slaves, yet "no man
should buy them;" i.e. either they should have none to redeem them from this
sale into slavery; or rather, that the slaves to be sold should be more than
were the purchasers for them, and so they should be sold for little or nothing;
which is what Josephus here affirms
to have been the case at this time.
THAT WHEREAS THE CITY OF JERUSALEM
1. AND thus was Jerusalem taken,
in the second year of the reign of Vespasian, on the eighth day of the
month Gorpeius [Elul the sixth month
before Etanim]. It had been taken five (34)
times before, though this was the second time of its desolation; for Shishak,
the king of Egypt, and after him Antiochus, and after him Pompey, and after
them Sosius and Herod, took the city, but still preserved it; but before all
these, the king of Babylon conquered it, and made it desolate, one thousand
four hundred and sixty-eight years and six months after it was built. But he
who first built it. Was a potent man among the Canaanites (himself was not a
Canaanite) , and is in our own tongue called [Melchisedek], the Righteous King, for such he really was; on which
account he was [there] the first priest of God, and first built a temple
[there], and called the city Jerusalem, which was formerly called Salem. However, David, the king of the Jews,
ejected the Canaanites, and set-tied his own people therein. It was demolished
entirely by the Babylonians, four hundred and seventy-seven years and six
months after him. And from king David, who was the first of the Jews who
reigned therein, to this destruction under Titus, were one thousand one hundred
and seventy-nine years (1179); but from its first building, till this last
destruction, were two thousand one hundred and seventy-seven years (2177); yet
hath not its great antiquity, nor its vast riches, nor the diffusion of its
nation over all the habitable earth, nor the greatness of the veneration paid
to it on a religious account, been sufficient to preserve it from being
destroyed. And thus ended the siege of Jerusalem
Do you remember what יהושע told his disciples?
Mat 24:1 and going out, יהושע went
away from the Set-apart Place Temple ), and His taught ones came near to point out to Him the buildings of the
Set-apart Place.(Temple
Mat 24:2 and יהושע said to them, “Do you not see all these? Truly, I
say to you, not one stone shall be left
here upon another, at all, which shall not be thrown down.”
This
prophecy was fulfilled 40 Years after יהושע departure according to Yechezk’el 4:6-7
Eze 4:6 and when thou hast accomplished them lie
again on thy right side, and thou shalt bear the iniquity of the house of Judah
Eze 4:7 Therefore thou shalt set thy face toward the siege of Jerusalem
What can we
say then? I have heard many people judging the accuracy of יהוה’s
word, but here we have the proof that what Moshe,
the prophets or Messiah יהושע spoke, was perfectly fulfilled:
Mat 5:18 “For
truly, I say to you, till the heaven and the earth
pass away, one jot or one tittle shall by no means pass from the Torah till
all be done.
Luk 16:17 “And it is easier for the heaven and the earth to pass away than for one
tittle of the Torah to fall.
The
prophecy and understanding must be revised because according to Josephus’s proof concerning the
destruction of the Temple and Yerushalayim
the vision concerning the last week was completely fulfil in the year 70C .E.
The first
part was fulfilled when יהוה entered his ministry for three an half year.
The last part of the week (seven years) was accomplished by Titus from the
midst of Year 66 to the year 70CE.
For those
waiting now for the last seven years, when the “Anti-Christ” shall appear; they should read the work from Josephus before making a conclusion. I
know that it is also written: “what has been, it is what will be… Eccl.)
יהושע do not speak of one remaining week in his prophecy:
Mat 24:2 and
יהושע said to them, “Do you not see all these? Truly, I
say to you, not one stone shall be left here upon another, at all, which shall
not be thrown down.”
Mat 24:3 and
as He sat on the Mount of Olives, the taught ones came to Him separately,
saying, “Say to us, when shall this be,
and what is the sign of Your coming, and of the end of the age?”
In this
chapter, יהושע
told his disciples
first of the destruction of the Temple 70C .E
as we read from Josephus, after that,
the disciples asked him concerning the sign of His coming and of the end of the
age. So the all chapter is divided in two different period of time. Let the
reader be careful when reading and not putting all in the same period of time.
יהושע give the premises of what will be before his second coming and the time
of the end of the age.
The first
part: The destruction of the Temple 70C .E,
the last part the end of the age will be when Messiah will come back. I will
give more details in the study of Daniel’s
vision.
It is not
said that history does not repeat itself, concerning the seventy’ weeks vision
in Daniel’s book?
Dan 12:1 “Now at that time Miḵa’ĕl shall stand up,
the great head who is standing over the sons of your people. And there shall be a time of distress such as never was since there was a nation, until
that time. And at that time your people shall be delivered, every one who
is found written in the book,
Mat 24:21 “For
then there shall be great distress, such
as has not been since the beginning of the world until this time, no, nor ever
shall be.
In the
first verse from Daniel chapter 12, the Hebrew word for “stand up” is the word “âmad”
which can also means: “stand still”. If we consider the
meaning to be “stand still” we will
see what Shaul say:
2Th 2:7 for the secret of lawlessness is already at
work – only until he who now
restrains comes out of the midst.
The
question is: Who is this “he”?
I have read
many interpretation, Christians like
to say that it is the “church” that
will be “raptured” and then the
lawless One will come. This of course is not true. Michael is the Archangel
in charge of the protection of Israel
You should
read Psalm 91 which is a psalm for the coming end days, and also what יהושע
say to the Philadelphia
Assembly:
Rev 3:10 “Because you have guarded My Word of
endurance, I also shall guard you from
the hour of trial which shall come upon the all world, to try those who
dwell on the earth.
The word “Philadelphia
Do you
remember what יהושע told his disciples in the book of Yochanan?
Joh 13:35 “By this shall all know that you are My
taught ones (disciples/talmidin), if you
have love for one another.”
Could this
be valid for the Philadelphia
Lev 26:3 ‘If you walk in My laws (chuqqah/Statutes) and guard My commands
(mitzvoth), and shall do them,
Lev 26:4 then I shall give you rain
in its season, and the land shall yield its crops, and the trees of the field
yield their fruit.
Lev 26:5 ‘And your threshing shall last
till the time of the grape harvest, and the grape harvest shall last till the
time of sowing. And you shall eat your bread until you have enough, and shall dwell in your land safely.
Lev 26:6 ‘And I shall give peace in the land, and you shall lie down and no one
make you afraid. And I shall clear the land of evil beasts, and not let the sword go through your land.
Lev 26:7 ‘And you shall pursue your enemies, and they shall fall by the sword
before you.
Lev 26:8 ‘And five of you shall pursue a
hundred, and a hundred of you pursue ten thousand. And your enemies shall
fall by the sword before you.
Lev 26:9 ‘And I shall turn to you and
make you bear fruit, and shall increase you, and shall establish My
covenant with you.
Lev 26:10 ‘And you shall eat the old
supply, and clear out the old
because of the new.
Lev 26:11 ‘And I shall set My Dwelling
Place
Lev 26:12 ‘And I shall walk in your midst,
and shall be your Elohim, and you shall be My people.
Lev 26:13 ‘I am יהוה your Elohim, who brought you
out of the land
of Mitsrayim
Lev
26:14 ‘But if you do not obey Me, and do not do all these commands,
Lev
26:15 and if you reject My laws, or if your being loathes My right-rulings,
so that you do not do all My commands, but break
My covenant,
Lev
26:16 I also do this to you: And I shall appoint sudden alarm over you, wasting disease and inflammation, destroying the eyes, and consuming
the life. And you shall sow your
seed in vain, for your enemies shall
eat it.
Lev
26:17 ‘And I shall set My face
against you, and you shall be smitten
before your enemies. And those who
hate you shall rule over you, and you shall flee when no one pursues you.
Lev
26:18 ‘And after all this, if you do not obey Me, then I shall punish
you seven times more for your sins.
Lev
26:19 ‘And I shall break the
pride of your power, and shall make your heavens like iron and your earth like
bronze.
Lev
26:20 ‘And your strength shall be spent in vain and your land not yield its
crops, nor the trees of the land yield their fruit.
Lev
26:21 ‘And if you walk contrary
to Me, and refuse to obey Me, I shall
bring on you seven times more plagues, according to your sins,
Lev
26:22 and send wild beasts among you, which shall bereave you of your
children. And I shall cut off your livestock, and make you few in number, and
your highways shall be deserted.
Lev
26:23 ‘And if you are not
instructed by Me by these, but walk contrary to Me,
Lev
26:24 then I also shall walk
contrary to you, and I Myself shall
smite you seven times for your sins.
Lev
26:25 ‘And I shall bring
against you a sword executing the vengeance of My covenant, and you shall
gather together in your cities, and I
shall send pestilence among you, and you
shall be given into the hand of the enemy.
Lev
26:26 ‘When I have cut off your
supply of bread, ten women shall bake your bread in one oven, and they shall
bring back to you your bread by weight, and you shall eat and not be satisfied.
Lev
26:27 ‘And if in spite of this, you do not obey Me, but walk contrary to Me,
Lev
26:28 then I shall walk
contrary to you in wrath. And I Myself
shall punish you seven times for your sins.
Lev
26:29 ‘And you shall eat the flesh of your sons, and eat the flesh of your daughters.
Lev
26:30 ‘And I shall destroy your high places, and cut down your sun-pillars, and put your carcasses on the carcasses
of your idols. And My being shall loathe you.
Lev
26:31 ‘And I shall turn your cities into ruins and lay your set-apart
places waste, and not smell your
sweet fragrances.
Lev
26:32 ‘And I shall lay the land
waste, and your enemies who dwell in it shall be astonished at it.
Lev
26:33 ‘And I shall scatter you among the gentiles (goy) and draw out a sword
after you. And your land shall be desert
and your cities ruins,
Lev
26:34 and the land enjoy its Sabbaths as long as it lies waste and you are in
your enemies’ land. Then the land would rest and enjoy its Sabbaths.
Lev
26:35 ‘As long as it lies waste
it rests, for the time it did not rest on your Sabbaths when you dwelt in it.
Lev
26:36 ‘And as for those of you who are left, I shall send faintness into their hearts
in the lands of their enemies, and the sound of a shaken leaf shall cause them
to flee. And they shall flee as though retreating from a sword, and they shall fall when no one pursues.
Lev
26:37 ‘And they shall stumble over one another, as from before a sword, when
no one pursues. And you shall be unable to stand before your enemies.
Lev
26:38 ‘And you shall perish among the gentiles, and the land of your enemies
shall eat you up,
Lev
26:39 and those of you who are left rot away in their crookedness in your
enemies’ lands, and also in their fathers’ crookednesses rot away with
them.
Lev
26:40 ‘But if they confess their crookedness and the crookedness of their
fathers, with their trespass in which they trespassed against Me, and that they
also have walked contrary to Me,
Lev
26:41 and that I also have
walked contrary to them and have brought them into the land of their enemies – if their uncircumcised heart is then
humbled, and they accept the punishment of their crookedness,
Lev
26:42 then I shall remember My covenant with Yaʽaqoḇ, and also My
covenant with Yitsḥaq, and also remember My covenant with Aḇraham, and remember the land.
Lev
26:43 ‘For the land was
abandoned by them, and enjoying its Sabbaths while lying waste without them,
and they were paying for their crookedness, because they rejected My
right-rulings and because their being loathed My laws.
Lev
26:44 ‘And yet for all this, when they are in the land of their enemies,
I shall not reject them, nor shall I loathe them so as to destroy them and
break My covenant with them. For I am יהוה
their Elohim.
Lev
26:45 ‘Then I shall remember for their sake the covenant
of the ancestors whom I brought out of the land of Mitsrayim before the
eyes of the nations to be their Elohim. I am יהוה.’
”
Lev
26:46 These are the laws and
the right-rulings and the Torot1
which יהוה made
between Himself and the children of Yisra’ĕl on Mount
Sinai by the hand of Mosheh. Footnote: 1Torot
- plural of Torah, teaching.
Lev 27:1 And יהוה
spoke to Mosheh, saying,
Lev
27:2 “Speak to the children of
Yisra’ĕl, and say to them, ‘When a man separates a vow, by your evaluation of
lives unto יהוה,
Lev
27:3 when your evaluation is
of a male from twenty years old up to
sixty years old, then your
evaluation shall be fifty sheqels of silver, according to the sheqel of the
set-apart place.
Lev
27:4 ‘And if it is a female, then your evaluation
shall be thirty sheqels;
Lev
27:5 and if from five years old up to twenty years old,
then your evaluation for a male shall be twenty
sheqels, and for a female ten
sheqels;
Lev
27:6 and if from a month old up to five years old,
then your evaluation for a male shall be five
sheqels of silver, and for a female
your evaluation shall be three sheqels
of silver;
Lev
27:7 and if from sixty years old and above, if it
is a male, then your evaluation
shall be fifteen sheqels, and for a female ten sheqels.
Lev
27:8 ‘But if he is too poor to
pay your evaluation, then he shall present himself before the priest, and the priest shall set a value for him.
According to the ability of him who vowed, the priest shall value him.
Lev
27:9 ‘And if it is a beast of
which they bring an offering to יהוה, all
such given to יהוה is
set-apart.
Lev
27:10 ‘He is not to replace it
or exchange it, good for spoilt or spoilt for good. And if he at all exchanges
beast for beast, then both it and the one exchanged for it is set-apart.
Lev
27:11 ‘And if it is any unclean beast of which they do not bring an offering to יהוה, then he shall present the
beast before the priest;
Lev
27:12 and the priest shall
value it, whether it is good or spoilt. According to your evaluation, O priest,
so it shall be.
Lev
27:13 ‘But if he indeed redeems it, then he shall add one-fifth to your
evaluation.
Lev
27:14 ‘And when a man sets his house apart, to be set-apart to יהוה,
then the priest shall value it, whether it is good or spoilt. As the priest
values it, so it stands.
Lev
27:15 ‘And if he who sets it
apart does redeem his house, then he shall add one-fifth of the silver of your
evaluation to it, and it shall be his.
Lev
27:16 ‘And if a man sets apart to יהוה a field he owns, then your evaluation shall be according to the
seed for it – a omer of barley seed
at fifty sheqels of silver.
Lev
27:17 ‘If he sets his field
apart from the Year of Jubilee, according to your evaluation it stands.
Lev
27:18 ‘But if he sets his field
apart after the Jubilee, then the priest shall reckon to him the silver due according to the years that remain till the
Year of Jubilee, and it shall be deducted from your evaluation.
Lev
27:19 ‘And if he who sets the
field apart ever wishes to redeem it, then he shall add one-fifth of the silver
of your evaluation to it, and it shall be his.
Lev
27:20 ‘And if he does not redeem the field, or if he has sold the field to
another man, it is no longer redeemed,
Lev
27:21 but the field, when it is released in the Jubilee, is set-apart to יהוה
as
a dedicated field, to be the possession of the priest.
Lev
27:22 ‘And if a man sets apart
to יהוה a
field which he has bought, which is not the field of his possession,
Lev
27:23 then the priest shall
reckon to him the amount of your evaluation, up to the Year of Jubilee, and he
shall give your evaluation on that day, set-apart to יהוה.
Lev
27:24 ‘In the Year of Jubilee the field returns to him from whom he bought it,
to him whose is the possession of the land.
Lev
27:25 ‘And all your evaluations
is to be according to the sheqel of the set-apart place: twenty gĕrahs to the
sheqel.
Lev
27:26 ‘However, a first-born of the beasts, which is
first-born to יהוה,
no man sets it apart – whether bull
or sheep, it belongs to יהוה.
Lev
27:27 ‘And if among the unclean
beasts, then he shall ransom it according to your evaluation, and shall add
one-fifth to it. And if it is not redeemed, then it shall be sold according to
your evaluation.
Lev
27:28 ‘However, whatever a man
lays under ban for יהוה of
all that he has, man and beast, or the field of his possession, is not sold or
redeemed. Whatever is laid under ban is most set-apart to יהוה.
Lev
27:29 ‘No one under the ban, under the ban among men, is ransomed, but shall
certainly be put to death.
Lev
27:30 ‘And all the tithe of the
land – of the seed of the land or of the fruit of the tree – belongs to יהוה.
It is set-apart to יהוה.
Lev
27:31 ‘If a man indeed redeems any of his tithes, he adds one-fifth to it.
Lev
27:32 ‘And the entire tithe of the herd and of the flock, all that
passes under the rod, the tenth one is set-apart to יהוה.
Lev
27:33 ‘He does not inquire
whether it is good or spoilt, nor does he exchange it. And if he exchanges it
at all, then both it and the one exchanged for it are set-apart, it is not
redeemed.’ ”
Lev
27:34 These are the commands
which יהוה commanded
Mosheh for the children of Yisra’ĕl on Mount Sinai .
Haftorah
The hope
for those who have been scattered to the end of the earth the day will come and
has indeed come when men shall see and understand and therefore turn away from
their false gods, to the living and only true Elohim יהוה Zebaoth the Qadosh One of Israel.
Yrmeyahu 17:13 ………Those who depart from
Me shall be written in the earth,
because they have forsaken יהוה, the fountain
of living waters
We see
something done by יהושע which is directly related to what the prophet is saying:
Joh 8:2 and at dawn He came again into the Set-apart Place
Joh 8:3 and the scribes and Pharisees
brought to Him a woman caught in adultery. And having set her in the midst,
Joh 8:4 they said to Him, “Teacher, this woman was caught in the act of
adultery.
Joh 8:5 “And in the Torah Mosheh commanded us that such should be stoned. What
then do You say?”
Joh 8:6 and this they said, trying Him,
so that they might accuse Him. But יהושע, bending down, wrote on the ground with the finger, as though He did not hear.
Joh 8:7 But as they
kept on questioning Him, He straightened up and said to them, “He who is without sin among you, let him be the
first to throw a stone at her.”
I know that
some scholars say that this part of chapter 8 was not in earlier documents, nevertheless
the writing on the ground from יהושע was directly related to the words from Yrmeyahu, pointing to the scribes and
Pharisee who were seeking to proclaim their own righteousness, following their Oral
Torah with their “takanots, gezerot and ma’asee” but indeed had only
evil in their heart “He who is
without sin among you, let him be the first to throw a stone at her.”!
Joh 8:8 and again he stooped down, and wrote on the
ground.
Joh 8:9 and they which heard it, being convicted by
their own conscience, went out one by one, beginning at the eldest, even unto
the last: and Yehoshua was left alone, and the woman standing in the midst.
Joh 8:10 when יהושע had lifted up himself, and saw none but the woman, he said unto her,
Woman, where are those thine accusers? hath no man condemned thee?
Joh 8:11 She said, No man, Sir. And יהושע said unto her,
Neither do I condemn thee: go, and sin no more.
We should
understand in this story, that יהושע
was not first concern with the adulterer woman but much more with the hypocrisy
of the scribes and Pharisee and thus writing on the ground did what the prophet
Yrmeyahu spoke.
יהושע came first to restore and not to judge,
nevertheless he told the woman to stop
sinning. The Scribes and Pharisee had not righteousness in mind but to
accuse יהושע
Jer 16:19 O יהוה, my strength and my
stronghold and my refuge, in the day of distress the gentiles (goy) shall come
to You from the ends of the earth and say, “Our
fathers have inherited only falsehood, futility, and there is no value in
them.”1 Footnote: 1See
Ps. 147:19, Isa. 2:3, Isa. 60:2-3, John 4:22, Rom. 2:20, Rom. 3:2, Rom. 9:4.
Jer
16:20 Would a man make mighty
ones for himself, which are not mighty ones?
Jer
16:21 “Therefore see, I am
causing them to know, this time I cause them to know My hand and My might. And they shall know that My Name is יהוה!”
Jer 17:1 “The sin of Yehuḏah is written
with a pen of iron, engraved with the point of a diamond on the tablet of their heart, and on the horns of your altars,
Jer 17:2 while their children remember their altars and their Ashĕrim by the
spreading trees on the high hills.
Jer 17:3 “My mountain in the field, I give as plunder your wealth, all your
treasures, your high places of sin, throughout all your borders.
Jer 17:4 “And you, even of yourself,
shall let go of your inheritance which I gave you. And I shall make you serve your enemies in a land which you have not known,
for you have kindled a fire in My displeasure which burns forever.”
Jer 17:5 Thus said יהוה, “Cursed is the man who trusts in man and makes flesh his arm, and whose
heart turns away from יהוה.
Jer
17:6 “For he shall be like a
shrub in the desert, and not see when good comes, and shall inhabit the parched
places in the wilderness, a salt land that is not inhabited.
Jer
17:7 “Blessed is the man who trusts in יהוה, and whose trust is יהוה.
Jer
17:8 “For he shall be like a
tree planted by the waters, which spreads out its roots by the river, and does
not see when heat comes. And his leaf shall be green, and in the year of drought he is not anxious, nor does he cease from
yielding fruit.
Jer
17:9 “The
heart is crooked1 above all, and desperately sick – who shall
know it? Footnote: 1See 7:24, 16:12, 18:12,
23:17.
Jer
17:10 “I, יהוה,
search the heart, I try the kidneys, and give every man according to his ways,
according to the fruit of his deeds.
Jer
17:11 “As a partridge that
broods but does not hatch, so is he who gets riches, but not by right. It
leaves him in the midst of his days, and at his end he is a fool.”
Jer
17:12 An esteemed throne,
exalted from the beginning, is the place of our set-apart place.
Jer
17:13 O יהוה,
the expectation of Yisra’ĕl, all who
forsake You are put to shame. “Those
who depart from Me shall be written in the earth, because they have
forsaken יהוה, the fountain
of living waters.”1 Footnote: 1See
2:13.
Jer
17:14 Heal me, O יהוה,
so that I am healed. Save me, so that I am saved, for You are my praise.
May יהוה
our Elohim bless you as you follow
our Master יהושע in the Torah, the path or
Life!
