31Parsha Behar – On the Mount - B’chukotai – In my Instruction

31Parsha 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, 2^nd Corint. 6:14-18, 1 Kefa 1:13-16

Daniel ban Ya’acov Israel

Heb 10:1 For the Torah, having a shadow of the good matters to come, and not the image itself of the matters, was never able to make perfect those who draw near with the same slaughter offerings which they offer continually year by year.

When used: • "Scripture taken from “The Scriptures”, Copyright by Institute for Scripture Research. “Used by permission”!When other: King James Version; I have restored the Name of our Heavenly Father and our Master Yehoshua Messiah when needed otherwise the RNKJV(Revisited New King James Version) is used!

The RNKJV (Renewed King James Version) use YHWH while I use יהוה for the Name of our heavenly father. The RNKJV write according to the English letters, I preserve the Hebrew letters of the tetragramaton in order to avoid vain discussion and strife concerning the spelling and pronunciation of the Name of our heavenly Father. During the reading you will also found the Tetragramaton written as: Yehovah, and the name of our Master as Yehoshua this is my conclusion after many searching and prayer!

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), there was no “Yovel” kept! We are going to see that יהושע was concerned with the restoration of all things (Acts 3:21).

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, the Torah will be the standard of life throughout the earth.

----- 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 are still in the wilderness, this is the preparation for entering the land.” When you come into the land………”As I wrote in a former “parasha”, we are not in Eretz Israel now and therefore should understand that the study of Torah is a preparation for time to come at the second advent of Messiah. 

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.’

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 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 (carnal man) our forefathers were not able to keep.

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 until the 60^th, we had the year of “Jasher” the field was left unsown in order to rest. Now it is finished, people use “fertilizer”. Nevertheless, this time of “Jasher” came from the Yehudin living in France; and also from those of Ephraim who were still keeping the tradition of their ancestors; of course it was no more perfectly according to the Torah, because they did it in a manner that they could reap from another field who was in it sixth years so doing in a circle in order that every filed had one year rest (Shabbat).

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, that it was adorned with goodly stones and gifts, He said,

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 give land to the Palestinians: “Land for peace”. How can people deal with the land belonging to the King of the universe?

Verse 24 And provide for redemption for the land……

Redemption for the land, what does Shaul say concerning the creation waiting for redemption? Read (Rom.8:19-23)

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: Read (Ruth 4:1 - 16) Boaz redeem the Land of a relative.

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). What is amazing is that יהוה in His own purpose and wisdom “overlooked” the fact that Ruth was a Moabite and looked at her heart:

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 Then^G1161 Peter^G4074 opened^G455 his mouth,^G4750 and said,^G2036 Of^G1909 a truth^G225 I perceive^G2638 that^G3754 Elohim^G2316 is^G2076 no^G3756 respecter of persons:^G4381

Act 10:35 But^G235 in^G1722 every^G3956 nation^G1484 he that feareth^G5399 him,^G846 and^G2532 worketh^G2038 righteousness,^G1343 is^G2076 accepted^G1184 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. Under Roman law the slave was a chattel. Varro classified slaves among implements, which he classifies as vocalia, articulate speaking implements, as slaves; semivocalia, having a voice but not articulating, as oxen; muta, dumb, as wagons. The attitude of the law toward the slave was expressed in the formula servile caput nullum jus habet; the slave has no right. The master's power was unlimited. He might mutilate, torture, or kill the slave at his pleasure. Pollio, in the time of Augustus, ordered a slave to be thrown into a pond of voracious lampreys (fishes). Augustus interfered, but afterward ordered a slave of his own to be crucified on the mast of a ship for eating a favorite quail. Juvenal describes a profligate woman ordering a slave to be crucified. Some one remonstrates. She replies: “So then a slave is a man, is he! 'He has done nothing,' you say. Granted. I command it. Let my pleasure stand for a reason” (vi., 219). Martial records an instance of a master cutting out a slave's tongue. The old Roman legislation imposed death for killing a plough-ox; but the murderer of a slave was not called to account. Tracking fugitive slaves was a trade. Recovered slaves were branded on the forehead, condemned to double labor, and sometimes thrown to the beasts in the amphitheater. The slave population was enormous. Some proprietors had as many as twenty thousand.

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.

Col 3:10 and have put on the new one who is renewed in knowledge according to the likeness of Him who created him,

Col 3:11 where there is not Greek and Yehuḏite, circumcised and uncircumcised, foreigner, Scythian, slave, free, but Messiah is all, and in all.

Verse 42. For they are My servants, whom I brought out of the land of Mitsrayim, they are not sold as slaves

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....hall 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. I am יהוה your Elohim.

1. Chapter 26.

After having given the rules of the Shabbat of the land and of the Yovel of release, יהוה (Yehovah) 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 32:26 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 for seventy years for not keeping the Shabbat of the Land during 490 years. (70 X 7=490)

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, Ephraim was banished or scattered among the nations (gentiles) in 721 B.C.E.

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 (1981 in the Lunar calendar), meaning that the punishment for the House of Israel, Ephraim will come an end in the year 2009 (1981) 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 in Yerushalayim.

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 14^th 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, in the manner forementioned, he came to Cesarea, having resolved to set his forces in order at that place, before he began the war. Nay, indeed, while he was assisting his father at Alexandria, in settling that government which had been newly conferred upon them by God, it so happened that the sedition at Jerusalem was revived,

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 grow worse and worse every day, and the seditious were still more irritated by the calamities they were under, even while the famine preyed upon themselves, after it had preyed upon the people. And indeed the multitudes of carcasses that lay in heaps one upon another was a horrible sight, and produced a pestilential stench, which was a hindrance to those that would make sallies out of the city, and fight the enemy:

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 with the rest of the multitude, and was with them besieged therein at this time. The other effects of this woman had been already seized upon, such I mean as she had brought with her out of Perea, and removed to the city. What she had treasured up besides, as also what food she had contrived to save, had been also carried off by the rapacious guards,………….

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 HAD BEEN FIVE TIMES TAKEN FORMERLY, THIS WAS THE SECOND TIME OF ITS DESOLATION. A BRIEF ACCOUNT OF ITS HISTORY.

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 forty days: I have appointed thee each day for a year.

Eze 4:7 Therefore thou shalt set thy face toward the siege of Jerusalem, and thine arm shall be uncovered, and thou shalt prophesy against it.

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, this was fulfilled in 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 and so the completion of one part of Daniel’s vision was completed in 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, by “standing still” this will open a free way for the man of perdition to enter into the scene and do what he is appointed to do and Elohim judgment comes upon the earth. You may say, what happen with Yah’s people?

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” is a Greek word meaning: “Love as brethren” from two words: “Philos” and “adelphos”.

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 Assembly during the last days?

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 in your midst, and My being shall not reject you.

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, from being their slaves. And I have broken the bars of your yoke and made you walk upright.

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, and all the people were coming to Him. And having sat down, He was teaching them.

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!

Comments can be sent to: danielchaud@yahoo.com

Daniel ben Ya’acov Israel

THE PATH OF THE JUST Chapeter 6

CHAPTER VI
CONCERNING THE TRAIT OF ZEAL 
AFTER WATCHFULNESS comes Zeal, Watchfulness pertaining to the negative commandments and Zeal to the positive, in accordance with the idea of "Depart from evil and do good (Psa 34:15)." "Zeal," as the name implies, signifies alacrity in the pursuit and fulfillment of mitzvoth. As expressed by our Sages of blessed memory (Pesachim 4a), "The zealous advance themselves towards mitzvoth." That is, just as it requires great intelligence and much foresight to save oneself from the snares of the evil inclination and to escape from evil so that it does not come to rule us and intrude itself into our deeds, so does it require great intelligence and foresight to take hold of mitzvoth, to acquire them for ourselves, and not to lose them. For just as the evil inclination attempts, with the devices at its command, to cast a man into the nets of sin, so does it seek to prevent him from performing mitzvoth, and to leave Him devoid of them. If a man weakens and is lazy and does not strengthen himself to pursue mitzvoth and to hold onto them, he will certainly lack them.
A person's nature exercises a strong downward pull upon him. This is so because the grossness which characterizes the substance of earthiness keeps a man from desiring exertion and labor. One who wishes, therefore, to attain to the service of the Creator, may His Name be blessed, must strengthen himself against his nature and be zealous. If he leaves himself in the hands of his downward-pulling nature, there is no question that he will not succeed. As the Tanna says "Be fierce as a leopard, light as an eagle, swift as a deer and strong as a lion to do the will of your Father in heaven." Our Sages of blessed memory have numbered Torah and good deeds among those things which require self-fortification (Berachoth 32b). And Scripture plainly states (Jos 1:7), "Strengthen yourself and be very courageous to observe to do according to all the Torah which Moses My servant commanded you." One who seeks to transform his nature completely requires great strengthening. Solomon repeatedly exhorts us concerning this, recognizing the evil of laziness and the greatness of the loss that results from it. He says (Pro 6:10), "A little sleep, a little slumber, a little folding of the hands to sleep and your poverty is suddenly upon you and your want as an armed man." The lazy man, though not actively evil, produces evil through his very inactivity. We read further (Pro 18:9), "Also he who slackens in his work is a brother to the Destroyer." Though he is not the Destroyer who commits the evil with his own hands, let him not think that he is far-removed from him - he is his blood-brother.
A portrayal of a daily occurrence furnishes us with a clear idea of the lazy man's wickedness (Pro 24:30.). "I passed by the field of a lazy man and by the vineyard of a man without sense and it was overgrown with thistles; its face was covered with nettles... And I beheld; I put my heart to it; I saw; I took instruction, a little sleep, a little slumber ... and suddenly your poverty is upon you ..." Aside from the surface description, whereby we are provided with an unquestionably true account of what happens to the lazy man's field, a very beautiful interpretation has been put forth by our Sages of blessed memory (Yalkut Shimoni Mishlei 961): " `and it was overgrown with thistles' - he seeks the interpretation of a passage and does not find it; ,its face was covered' - because of his not having labored in the Law, he sits in judgment and declares the pure, unclean and the impure, clean, and he breaches the fences of the Scholars. What is this man's punishment? Solomon tells us (Ecc 10:8) : `One who breaches a fence will be bitten by a snake.' " That is, the evil of the lazy man does not come all at once, but little by little, without his recognizing and sensing it. He is pulled from evil to evil until he finds himself sunk in evil's very depths. He begins by not expending the amount of effort which could be expected of him. This causes him not to study Torah as he should; and because of this, when he later does come to study it, he lacks the requisite understanding. It would be bad enough if his evil were to end here, but it does not. It grows even worse; for in his desire, notwithstanding, to interpret the section or chapter under consideration, he adduces interpretations which are not in accordance with the law, destroys the truth and perverts it, trespasses upon ordinances, and breaches the fences. His end, like that of all who breach fences, is destruction. Solomon continues (Ibid.), "And I beheld; I put my heart to it" - I thought upon this thing and I saw the terrible nature of the evil in it; it is like a poison which continues to spread, little by little, its workings unnoticed, until death results. This is the meaning of "A little sleep ... and suddenly your poverty is upon you as an armed man ..."
We see with our own eyes how often a person neglects his duty in spite of his awareness of it and in spite of his having come to recognize as a truth what is required for the salvation of his soul and what is incumbent upon him in respect to his Creator. This neglect is due not to an inadequate recognition of his duty nor to any other cause but the increasing weight of his laziness upon him; so that he says, "I will eat a little," or "I will sleep a little," or "It is hard for me to leave the house," or "I have taken off my shirt, how can I put it on again?" (Son 5:3). "It is very hot outside," "It is very cold," or "It is raining too hard" and all the other excuses and pretenses that the mouth of fools is full of. Either way, the Torah is neglected, Divine service dispensed with, and the Creator abandoned. As Solomon said (Ecc 10:18), "Through laziness the roof sinks in, and through the hands' remaining low, the house leaks." If his laziness is held up to him, the lazy man will doubtless come back with many quotations culled from the Sages and from Scripture, and with intellectual arguments, all supporting, according to his misguided mind, his leniency with himself (and all allowing him to remain in the repose of his laziness). He fails to see that these arguments and explanations stem not from rational evaluation, but from his laziness, which, when it grows strong within him, inclines his reason and intelligence to them, so that he does not pay heed to what is said by the wise and by those who possess sound judgment. It is in this connection that Solomon cried (Pro 26:16), "A lazy man is wiser in his own eyes than seven sages!" Laziness does not even permit one to attend to the words of those who reprove him; he puts them all down for blunderers and fools, reckoning only himself wise.
A principle that experience has shown to be of central importance to the work of Separation is that whatever tends to lighten one's burden must be examined carefully. For although such alleviation is sometimes justified and reasonable, it is most often a deceitful prescription of the evil inclination, and must, therefore, be subjected to much analysis and investigation. If, after such an examination, it still seems justified, then it is certainly acceptable.
In fine, a man must greatly strengthen himself, and power himself with Zeal to perform the mitzvoth, casting from himself the hindering weight of laziness. The angels were extolled for their Zeal, as is said of them (Psa 103:20), "Mighty in power, they do His word, to listen to the voice of His word," and (Eze 1:14), "And the living creatures ran and returned, as streaks of lightning." A man is a man and not an angel, and it is therefore impossible for him to attain to the strength of an angel, but he should surely strive to come as close to that level as his nature allows. King David, grateful for his portion of Zeal, said (Psa 119:60), "I was quick; I did not delay in keeping Your mitzvoth."

THE PATH OF THE JUST Chapter 5

CHAPTER V
CONCERNING THE FACTORS WHICH DETRACT FROM WATCHFULNESS AND THE WITHDRAWING OF ONESELF FROM THEM
THE FACTORS which detract from this trait and withdraw one from it are three: The first is worldly occupation and involvement, the second, laughter and levity, and the third, evil companionship. We will discuss each one individually.
We have already discussed worldly occupation and involvement. When a man is involved in worldly affairs, his thoughts are bound by the chains of the burden that weighs upon them and it is impossible for them to become concerned with his deeds. The Sages, may Peace be upon them, said, in their awareness of this fact (Avoth 4.10), "Minimize your occupations and occupy yourself with Torah." A person must occupy himself to a certain extent for the sake of a livelihood, but not to the extent where his Divine service is interfered with. It is in respect to this that we were commanded to set aside times for Torah study. We have already mentioned that it is such study which is the prime requirement for Watchfulness; as stated by R. Pinhas, "Torah brings one to Watchfulness." Without it, Watchfulness will not be attained. As our Sages of blessed memory have stated (Avoth 2.6), "An ignoramus cannot be a saint." This is true because the very Creator, Blessed be His name, who invested man with an evil inclination, created the Torah as an antidote to it (Kiddushin 30b). It is self-evident that if the Creator has fashioned for this affliction only this remedy, it is impossible under any circumstances that a person be cured of it through any other means. One who thinks to save himself without it is mistaken, and will recognize his mistake only in the end, when he dies in sin. For the evil inclination exerts great force against a person, and, without his being aware of it, grows and waxes stronger, and comes to dominate him. A man may resort to all the devices imaginable - if he does not adopt the remedy which was created for him, namely, the Torah, as I have written, he will neither recognize nor feel the intensification of his illness until he dies in sin and his soul is lost.
To what is this analogous? To the case of a sick man, who, consulting doctors and having his sickness correctly diagnosed and prescribed for, nevertheless, possessing no previous knowledge of medicine, abandons their prescription and takes instead whatever medicine he happens to think of. Is there any doubt that he will die?
The same is true in our case. No one understands the disease of the evil inclination and the potentialities inherent within it but the Creator who fashioned it. And He Himself cautioned us that the only antidote to it is Torah. Who, then, can abandon it and take anything else and expect to live? The darkness of earthiness will advance upon him degree by degree without his sensing it, until he finds himself sunk in evil and so far removed from truth that it will not even occur to him to seek it. If, however, he occupies himself with Torah, then, when he sees its ways, its commandments and its warnings, there will awaken within him responses which will lead him to the ways of good. As our Sages of blessed memory have said (Yerushalmi Chagigah 1:7), "Would that they left me and kept my Torah, for the radiance within it would return them to good."
Also included in this category is the setting aside of times for consideration of one's deeds, with an eye towards their correction, as I wrote above. In addition to this, he who is wise will not permit any time that may remain from his affairs to go lost, but he will immediately seize it, and not let it go, in order to employ it towards self-improvement and the betterment of his Divine service.
The deterrent that we have been discussing, though more common than the others, is the easiest to escape, for those who wish to escape it. The second deterrent, however, laughter and levity, is very severe. He who is immersed in it is as one who is immersed in a great ocean, from which it is extremely difficult to escape. For laughter affects a person's heart in such a manner that sense and reason no longer prevail in him, so that he becomes like a drunkard or a simpleton, whom, because they cannot accept direction, it is impossible to advise or direct. As was said by King Solomon, may Peace be upon him (Ecc 2:2), "About laughter I have said, `It is silly,' and about happiness, `What does it do?"' And our Sages of blessed memory have said (Avoth 3.13), "Laughter and lightheadedness motivate a man towards illicit relations." For even though every reasoning individual recognizes the gravity of this kind of sin and his heart is afraid to approach it because of the vividness of the impression that has stamped itself into his mind, of the truly terrible nature of the offense and the severity of its punishment, still laughter and lightheadedness draw him on little by little and lead him closer and closer to the stage where fear leaves him little by little, degree by degree, until finally he reaches the sin itself and commits it. Why is this so? Just as the essence of Watchfulness involves applying one's heart to things, so the essence of laughter is the turning away of one's heart from just, attentive thinking, so that thoughts of fearing God do not enter one's heart at all.
Consider the great severity and destructive power of levity. Like a shield smeared with oil, which wards off arrows and causes them to fall to the ground, not permitting them to reach the bearer's body, is levity in the face of reproof and rebuke. For with one bit of levity and with a little laughter a person can cast from himself the great majority of the awakenings and impressions that a man's heart stimulates and effects within itself upon his seeing or hearing things which arouse him to an acconting and an examination of his deeds. The force of levity flings everything to the ground so that no impression whatsoever is made upon Him. This is due not to the weakness of the forces playing upon him, nor to any lack of understanding on his part, but to the power of levity, which obliterates all facets of moral evaluation and fear of God. Touching this the Prophet Isaiah "screamed like a crane," for he saw that it was this which left no place for his exhortations to make an impression and which destroyed all hope for the sinners. As it is stated (Isa 28:22), "And now do not engage in levity lest your bonds be strengthened." And our Sages have pronounced (Avodah Zarah 18b) that one who is given to levity brings suffering upon himself. Scripture itself explicity states (Pro 19:29), "Judgments are appropriate for the light-headed." Indeed, this is dictated by reason; for one who is influenced by thought and studies does not require bodily punishment, for he will leave off sinning without it by virtue of the thoughts of repentance which will arise in his heart through what he will read or hear of moral judgments and exhortations. But the light-headed, who because of the force of their levity are not influenced by exhortations cannot be corrected except through punitive judgments. For their levity will not be as effective in warding off these as it is in warding off ethical appeals. In accordance with the severity of the sin and its consequences is the True Judge severe in His punishment. As our Sages of blessed memory have taught us (Avodah Zarah 18b), "The punishment for levity is extremely severe; it begins with suffering and ends with destruction, as it is said (Isa 28:22), `Lest your bonds be strengthened, for I have heard destruction and cutting off..."
The third deterrent to Watchfulness is evil companionship, that is, the companionship of fools and sinners, as Scripture states (Pro 13:20), "And the friend of fools will be broken." Very often we see that even after the truth of a man's responsibility for Divine service and Watchfulness has impressed itself upon a person, he weakens or commits certain trespasses in order not to be mocked by his friends or to be able to mix freely with them. This is the intent of Solomon's warning (Pro 24:21), "Do not mix with those who make changes." If someone says to you (Kethuvoth 17a), "A man's mind should always be associated with his fellow men," tell him, "This refers to people who conduct themselves as human beings and not to people who conduct themselves as animals." Solomon again warns (Pro 14:7), "Withdraw yourself from a fool." And King David said in this connection (Psa 1:1), "Happy is the man who did not walk...... upon which our Sages of blessed memory have commented (Avodah Zarah 18b), "If he walked he will eventually stand, and if he stood, he will eventually sit." And again (Psa 26:4), "I have not sat with false men ...I despised the society of the wicked ..." What a person must do, then, is to purify and cleanse himself, and keep his feet from the paths of the crowd who are immersed in the foolishness of the time, and turn them to the precincts of God and His dwelling places. As David himself concludes (Ibid. 6), "I will wash my hands in cleanliness, and I will go round Your altar, O God." If there are among his companions those who subject him to ridicule, he should not take it to heart, but, to the contrary, should ridicule them and shame them. Let him consider whether, if he had the opportunity of acquiring a great deal of money, he would keep from undertaking what such acquisition entailed so as to avoid the ridicule of his companions. How much more averse should he be to losing his soul for the sake of sparing himself ridicule. In this connection our Sages of blessed memory exhorted us (Aroth 5.23), "Be fierce as a leopard to do the will of your Father in heaven." And David said (Psa 119:46), "And I will speak of your testimonies before kings and I will not be ashamed." Even though most of the kings of his time occupied themselves with, and were wont to converse upon grandiose schemes and pleasures, and we would, therefore, tend to expect that David, himself a king, would be ashamed, while in their presence, to speak of ethical questions and Torah instead of discussing great feats and the pleasures of men such as they - in spite of all this, David was not in the least perturbed, and his heart was not seduced by these vanities, because he had already attained to the truth. He states explicitly (Psa 119:46), "And I will speak of your testimonies before kings and I will not be ashamed." Isaiah, likewise, said (Isa 50:7), "1 therefore made my face like flint and I knew that I would not be ashamed."

THE PATH OF THE JUST Chapter 4

                                        CHAPTER IV

CONCERNING THE MANNER OF ACQUIRING           WATCHFULNESS 

PATH OF THE JUST

RABBI MOSHE HAIM LUZZATTO

THAT WHICH, in general, brings a person to Watchfulness is Torah study. As R. Pinchas stated in the beginning of the Baraitha, "Torah brings one to Watchfulness." That which leads to it in particular, however, is reflection upon the demanding nature of the Divine service that a man is responsible for and the severity of the judgment which it involves. This understanding may be gained by analyzing the incidents that are related in the sacred writings and by studying the statements of the Sages of blessed memory which awaken one to it.
In this process of understanding, there are various levels of ideas, applying respectively to those with wholeness of understanding, those of lesser understanding and the general populace.
Those with wholeness of understanding will be primarily motivated towards Watchfulness by their coming to see clearly that only perfection and nothing else is worthy of their desire and that there is no worse evil than the lack of and removal from perfection. For after this has become clear to them, as well as the fact that the means to this end are virtuous deeds and traits, they will certainly never permit themselves to diminish these means; nor will they ever fail to make use of their [the means'] full potential. For it would already have become clear to them that if these means were reduced in number or not employed with complete effectiveness, with all of the energy that they called for, true perfection would not be attained through them, but would be lacked to the extent that sufficient exertion was lacking in relation to them. There is no misfortune nor any evil that those with wholeness of understanding deem greater than this lack of perfection. They will, therefore, choose to increase the number of these means and to be rigid in relation to all of their aspects. They will find no rest or peace from the worry that they possibly lack something which might lead them to the perfection that they desire. As was said by King Solomon, may Peace be upon him (Pro 28:14), "Happy is the man who always fears." Our Sages (Berachoth 60a) interpreted this statement as applying to the realm of Torah. The trait to which this degree of attainment leads is the one which is termed "Fear of Sin," a trait which constitutes one of the highest levels of achievement. Its intent is that a man constantly fear and worry lest he be harboring a trace of sin which might keep him from the perfection that he is dutybound to strive for. Concerning this our Sages of blessed memory said by way of analogy (Bava Bathra 75a), "This teaches us that everyone is burned by his neighbor's canopy." It is not jealousy which is the operative factor here (for jealousy as I will explain further with the help of Heaven, is encountered only among those who lack understanding), but rather the fact that he sees himself as lacking a level of achievement towards perfection, a level that he could have attained just as his neighbor had. If he who possesses wholeness of understanding engages in this thought process, he certainly will not fall short of being watchful in his deeds.
Those of lesser understanding, however, will be motivated towards Watchfulness according to their particular level of discrimination, so that their quest will be for the honor that they desire. It is evident to every man of faith that the different stations in the World of Truth, the World to Come, vary only in relation to one's deeds; that only he who is greater in deeds than his neighbor will be elevated above him, whereas he who is lesser in deeds will occupy a lower level. How, then, can a man blind his eyes to his actions or slacken his efforts, if afterwards, when he can no longer straighten out what he has made crooked, he will unquestionably suffer?
There are some fools who seek only to lighten their burden. They say, "Why weary ourselves with so much Saintliness and Separation? Is it not enough for us that we will not be numbered among the wicked who are judged in Gehinnom? We will not force ourselves to enter all the way into Paradise. If we do not have a large portion, we will have a small one. It will be enough for us. We will not add to our burdens for the sake of greater acquisitions." There is one question that we will ask these people -could they so easily, in this transitory world, tolerate the sight of one of their friends being honored, and elevated above them, and coming to rule over them-or, more so, one of their servants or one of the paupers who are shameful and lowly in their eyes? Could they tolerate this without suffering and without their blood boiling in them? Is there any question that they could not? We witness with our own eyes all of the labors of a man to elevate himself above everyone he can and to establish his place among the exalted. This is a man's jealousy of his neighbor. If he sees his neighbor elevated while he remains low, what he tolerates will be what he is forced to tolerate because of his inability to alter the situation: but his heart will brood within him. If it is so difficult, then, for them to abide being on a lower level than others in respect to qualities whose desirability is illusive and deceitful, qualities in relation to which a man's being designated as lowly is but a surface judgment, and his being elevated, vanity and falsity, then how could they tolerate seeing themselves lower than those same persons who are now lower than they? And this in the place of true quality and everlasting worth, which, though they might not give heart to it now because of their failure to recognize it and its value, they will certainly recognize in its time for what it is, to their grief and shame. There is no question that their suffering will be terrible and interminable. This tolerance, then, that they adopt in order to lighten their burden is nothing but a deceitful persuasion of their evil inclination, with no basis whatsoever in truth. If they saw the truth, there would be no room for such deception, but because they do not seek it, but walk and stray according to their desires, these persuasions will not leave them until such a time when it will no longer avail them, when it will no longer be in their hands to rebuild what they have destroyed. As was said by King Solomon, may Peace be upon him (Ecc 9:10), "Whatever your hand finds to do with your strength, do it, for there is no deed, nor account, nor knowledge..." That is, what a man does not do while he still has the power that His Creator has given him (the power of choice that is given to him to employ during his lifetime, when he can exercise free will and is commanded to do so) he will not again have the opportunity of doing in the grave and in the pit, for at that time he will no longer possess this power. For one who has not multiplied good deeds in his lifetime will not have the opportunity of performing them afterwards. And one who has not taken an accounting of his deeds will not have time to do so later. And one who has not become wise in this world will not become wise in the grave. This is the intent of (Ibid.) ". .. for there is no deed nor account nor knowledge nor wisdom in the pit to which you are going."
But the general populace will be motivated towards Watchfulness through a recognition of the depth of judgment in relation to reward and punishment. In truth, one should continuously tremble and shiver, for who will abide the Day of Judgment, and who will be deemed righteous before his Creator, whose scrutiny dissects all things, small and great. As our Sages of blessed memory have said (Chagigah 5b), " `And He relates to a man his conversation' (Amo 4:13). Even a casual conversation between a man and his wife is related to him at the time of judgment." And, similarly, (Yevamoth 121b), " `And around Him it storms violently' (Psa 50:3). This teaches us that the Holy One Blessed be He judges His saints to the degree of a hair's-breadth" [an inference derived from the structural relationship between "storms" and "hair" in the Hebrew].
Abraham - the same Abraham who was so beloved by his Possessor that Scripture (Isa 41:8) refers to him as "Abraham, my beloved" - Abraham did not escape judgment for a slight indiscretion in his use of words. Because he said, (Gen 15:8), "With what shall I know," the Holy One Blessed be He said to him, "Upon your life, you shall surely know, for your children will be strangers..." (Vayikra Rabbah 11:5). And because he entered into a covenant with Avimelech without having been commanded by God to do so, the Holy One Blessed be He, said to him, "Upon your life, I shall delay the rejoicing of your sons for seven generations" (Bereshith Rabbah 54:5).
Jacob, because he became angry with Rachel upon her saying to him (Gen 30:1), "Give me sons," was told by God (as related in the Midrash), "Is this the way to answer those who are oppressed? Upon your life, your sons will stand before her son" (Bereshith Rabbah 71: 10). And because he placed Dinah in a chest so that Esau would not seize her, even though his intentions in doing so were unquestionably worthy ones, we are told in the Midrash (Ibid. 80:3) that the Holy One Blessed be He said to him, because he withheld kindliness from his brother, " `Who keeps kindliness from his neighbor' (Job 6:14) - Because you did not wish to wed her lawfully, she will be wed unlawfully."
Joseph, because he said to the one appointed over the drink (Gen 40:14 hew:14 ew:14), "But remember me in relation to yourself," had two years added to his imprisonment, as we are told by our Sages of blessed memory (Bereshith Rabbah 89:2). Also, because he embalmed his father without God's permission, or, according to a second opinion, because he heard, "Your servant, our father" and kept still, he died before his brothers (Bereshith Rabbah 100:3).
David, because he referred to words of Torah as "songs," was punished by having his joy dampened through Uzzah's indiscretion (Sotah 35a).
Michal, because she admonished David for dancing in public before the ark, was punished by dying in childbirth, having had no other children in her lifetime (2Sa 6:20 f ).
Hezekiah - because he revealed the treasure house to the officers of the Babylonian king, it was decreed that his sons serve as eunuchs in the palace of the King of Babylonia. (2Ki 20:12 ff ).
There are many more instances of this nature.
In the chapter "All are Liable" (Chagiga 5a), our Sages of blessed memory told us, "Rabbi Yochanan cried when he came to the following verse (Mal 3:5): `And I will draw near to you in judgment, and I will be a quick witness...' Is there any remedy for a servant against whom lesser offenses are weighed, as grave ones are?" It is certainly not the point of this statement that the punishment is identical for both, for the Holy One Blessed be He pays measure for measure. It is rather to be understood that in relation to the weighing of deeds, those which are less weighty are placed upon the balance just as the weightier ones are; for the latter will not cause the former to be forgotten, nor will the Judge overlook them, just as He will not overlook the weighty ones. But He will consider and attend to all of these equally, judging each one of them and meting out punishment for each one according to its nature. As was said by King Solomon, may Peace be upon him (Ecc 12:14), "For God will bring every deed into judgment." Just as the Holy One Blessed be He does not allow any good deed, small as it may be, to go unrewarded, so does He not permit any bad deed, however small, to go unjudged and unpassed upon, contrary to the thinking of those who wish to talk it into themselves that the Lord Blessed be He, will not review the lighter things in His judgment and will not call them into account. It is an acknowledged principle (Bava Kamma 50a): "Whoever says that the Holy One Blessed be He overlooks things will have his life `overlooked.' " And our Sages of blessed memory have also said (Chagiga lba), "If the evil inclination says to you, `Sin and the Holy One Blessed be He will forgive you,' do not heed it." All this is obvious and clear, for God is a God of truth. It is this idea which is embodied in the statement of Moses our Teacher, may Peace be upon him (Deu 32:4), "The Rock-His work is whole; for all of His ways are just. He is a God of faithfulness, without wrong. . ." Since the Holy One Blessed be He desires justice, ignoring the bad would be as much of an injustice as ignoring the good. If He desires justice, then, He must deal with each man according to his ways and according to the fruits of his acts, with the most minute discrimination, for good or for bad. This is what underlies the statement of our Sages of blessed memory (Yalkut Ibid.) that the verse "He is a God of faithfulness, without wrong; He is righteous and just" has application to the righteous and to the wicked. For this is His attribute. He judges everything. He punishes every sin. There is no escaping.
To those who might ask at this point, "Seeing that whatever the case may be, everything must be subjected to judgment, what function does the attribute of mercy perform?" the answer is that the attribute of mercy is certainly the mainstay of the world; for the world could not exist at all without it. Nevertheless the attribute of justice is not affected. For on the basis of justice alone it would be dictated that the sinner be punished immediately upon sinning, without the least delay; that the punishment itself be a wrathful one, as befits one who rebels against the word of the Creator, blessed be His Name; and that there be no correction whatsoever for the sin. For in truth, how can a man straighten what has been made crooked after the commission of the sin? If a man killed his neighbor; if he committed adultery-how can he correct this? Can he remove the accomplished fact from actuality?
It is the attribute of mercy which causes the reverse of the three things we have mentioned. That is, it provides that the sinner be given time, and not be wiped out as soon as he sins; that the punishment itself not involve utter destruction; and that the gift of repentance be given to sinners with absolute lovingkindness, so that the rooting out of the will which prompted the deed be considered a rooting out of the deed itself. That is, when he who is repenting recognizes his sin, and admits it, and reflects upon his evil, and repents, and wishes that the sin had never been committed, as he would wish that a certain vow had never been made, in which case there is complete regret, and he desires and yearns that the deed had never been done, and suffers great anguish in his heart because of its already having been done, and departs from it for the future, and flees from itthen the uprooting of the act from his will is accredited to him as the uprooting of a vow, and he gains atonement. As Scripture states (Isa 6:7), "Your wrong will depart, and your sin will be forgiven." The wrong actually departs from existence and is uprooted because of his suffering for and regretting now what had taken place in the past. This is certainly a function of lovingkindness and not of justice. In any event, however, it is a type of lovingkindness which does not entirely negate the attribute of justice. It can be seen as according with justice in that in place of the act of will from which the sin arose and the pleasure that it afforded, there is now regret and suffering. So, too, the time extension constitutes not a pardoning of the sin, but rather God's bearing with the sinner for a while to open the door of repentance to him. Similarly, all of the other operations of lovingkindness, such as "The son benefits his father," (Sunhedrin 104x) and "Part of a life is like the whole life" (Kcheleth Rabbah 7:48), mentioned by our Sages, are aspects of lovingkindness wherein small amounts are accounted large. But these considerations do not militate against nor actually negate the attribute of justice, for there is good reason to attach importance to them.
But for sins to be pardoned or ignored would be entirely contrary to the concept of justice, for then there would be no judgment and no true law in relation to things. It is, therefore, impossible for such a situation to obtain. And if the sinner does not find open to him one of the avenues of escape that we have mentioned, it is certain that the attribute of justice will not emerge empty-handed. As our Sages of blessed memory have said (Yerushalmi Ta'anith 2:1), "He withholds His wrath, but He collects what is His."
We see, then, that the man who wants to open his eyes to the truth can offer himself no possible argument for not exercising the maximum of Watchfulness in his deeds and subjecting them to the most thorough analysis.
All of these are observations which, if one approaches them with sensitivity, will certainly lead him to the acquisition of Watchfulness.

THE PATH OF THE JUST Chapter 3

CHAPTER Ill
CONCERNING THE DIVISIONS OF WATCHFULNESS
ONE WHO WISHES to watch over himself must take two things into consideration. First he must consider what constitutes the true good that a person should choose and the true evil that he should flee from; and second, he must consider his actions, to discover whether they appertain to the category of good or to that of evil. This applies both to times when there is a question of performing a specific action and to times when there is no such question. When there is a question of performing a specific action, he should do nothing before he weighs the action in the scale of the aforementioned understanding. And when there is no such question, the idea should take the form of his bringing before himself the remembrance of his deeds in general and weighing them, likewise, in the scales of this criterion to determine what they contain of evil, so that he may cast it aside, and what of good, so that he may be constant in it and strengthen himself in it. If he finds in them aught that is evil, he should consider and attempt to reason out what device he might use to turn aside from that evil and to cleanse himself of it. Our Sages of blessed memory taught us this in their statement (Eruvin 136), "It would have been better for a man not to have been created... but now that he has been created, let him examine his deeds. Others say, `Let him "feel" his deeds.' " It is to be seen that these two versions constitute two sound beneficial exhortations. For "examination" of one's deeds refers to an investigation of one's deeds in general and a consideration of them to determine whether they might not include certain actions which should not be performed, which are not in accordance with God's mitzvoth and His statutes, any such actions to be completely eradicated. "Feeling," however, implies the investigation even of the good actions themselves to determine whether they involve any leaning which is not good or any bad aspect which it is necessary to remove and to eradicate. This is analogous to a person's feeling a garment to determine whether its material is good and sturdy or weak and rotted. In the same respect he must "feel" his actions by subjecting them to a most exhaustive examination to determine their nature, so that he might remain free of any impurities.
To summarize, a man should observe all of his actions and watch over all of his ways so as not to leave himself with a bad habit or a bad trait, let alone a sin or a crime. I see a need for a person to carefully examine his ways and to weigh them daily in the manner of the great merchants who constantly evaluate all of their undertakings so that they do not miscarry. He should set aside definite times and hours for this weighing so that it is not a fortuitous matter, but one which is conducted with the greatest regularity; for it yields rich returns.
Our Sages of blessed memory have explicitly taught us the need for such an evaluation. As they said (Bava Bathra 78b), "Therefore the rulers say, `Let us enter into an accounting' (Num 21:27). Therefore the rulers over their evil inclinations say, 'Let us come and compute the world's account, the loss entailed by the performance of a mitzvah, against the gain that one secures through it, and the gain that one acquires through a transgression against the loss that it entails... ' "
This true counsel could not have been given, nor its truth recognized by any except those who had already departed from beneath the hand of their evil inclination and come to dominate it. For if one is still imprisoned by his evil inclination, his eyes cannot see this truth and he cannot recognize it. For the evil inclination literally blinds his eyes and he becomes as one who walks in the darkness, where there are stumbling blocks before him which his eyes do not see. As our Sages of blessed memory said (Bava Metzia 83b), " ` You laid down darkness and it was night' (Psa 104:20). This refers to this world which is similar to night." How wondrous is this truthful commentary to him who concentrates upon understanding it. For the darkness of night can cause two types of errors in relation to a man's eye: it may either cover his eye so that he does not see what is before him at all, or it may deceive him so that a pillar appears to him as a man, or a man as a pillar. In like manner, the earthiness and materialism of this world is the darkness of night to the mind's eye and causes a man to err in two ways. First it does not permit him to see the stumbling blocks in the ways of the world, so that the fools walk securely, fall, and are lost without having experienced any prior fear. As Scripture states (Pro 4:19), "The path of the wicked is like pitch darkness; they do not know upon what they stumble," and (Pro 22:3), "The wise man sees the evil and hides, and the fools pass on and are punished," and (Pro 14:16), "And the fool becomes infuriated and is secure." For their hearts are steadfast and they fall before having any knowledge whatsoever of the existence of the stumbling block. The second error, which is even worse than the first, stems from the distortion of their sight, so that they see evil as though it were goodness itself, and good as if it were evil, and, because of this, strengthen themselves in clinging to their evil ways. For it is not enough that they lack the ability to see the truth, the evil staring them in the face, but they also see fit to find powerful substantiations and empirical evidence supporting their evil theories and false ideas. This is the great evil which embraces them and brings them to the pit of destruction. As Scripture states (Isa 6:10), "The heart of this nation has become fatted, and its ears have become heavy, and its eyes have turned aside, lest..." All this because of their being under the influence of the darkness and subject to the rule of their evil inclination. But those who have already freed themselves from this bondage see the truth clearly and can advise others in relation to it.
To what is this analogous? To a garden-maze, a type of garden common among the ruling class, which is planted for the sake of amusement. The plants there are arranged in walls between which are found many confusing and interlacing paths, all similar to one another, the purpose of the whole being to challenge one to reach a portico in their midst. Some of the paths are straight ones which lead directly to the portico, but some cause one to stray, and to wander from it. The walker between the paths has no way of seeing or knowing whether he is on the true or the false path; for they are all similar, presenting no difference whatsoever to the observing eye. He will not reach his goal unless he has perfect familiarity and visual acquaintance with the paths through his having traversed them and reached the portico. He who occupies a commanding position in the portico, however, sees all of the paths before him and can discriminate between the true and the false ones. He is in a position to warn those who walk upon them and to tell them, "This is the path; take it!" He who is willing to believe him will reach the designated spot; but he who is not willing to believe him, but would rather trust to his eyes, will certainly remain lost and fail to reach it.
So too in relation to the idea under discussion. He who has not yet achieved dominion over his evil inclination is in the midst of the paths and cannot distinguish between them. But those who rule their evil inclination, those who have reached the portico, who have already left the paths and who clearly see all of the ways before their eyes - they can advise him who is willing to listen, and it is to them that we must trust.
And what is the advice that they give us'? - 'Let us enter into an accounting.' Let us come and compute the world's account." For they have already experienced, and seen, and learned that this alone is the true path by which a man may reach the good that he seeks, and that there is none beside this.
What emerges from all this is that a man must constantly - at all times, and particularly during a regularly appointed time of solitude - reflect upon the true path (according to the ordinance of the Torah) that a man must walk upon. After engaging in such reflection he will come to consider whether or not his deeds travel along this path. For in doing so it will certainly be easy for him to cleanse himself of all evil and to correct all of his ways. As Scripture states (Pro 4:26), "Consider the path of your feet and all of your paths will be established," and (Lam 3:40), "Let us seek out our ways and examine them, and we will return to God."

THE PATH OF THE JUST Chapter 2

CHAPTER II
CONCERNING THE TRAIT OF WATCHFULNESS
THE IDEA OF WATCHFULNESS is for a man to exercise caution in his actions and his undertakings; that is, to deliberate and watch over his actions and his accustomed ways to determine whether or not they are good, so as not to abandon his soul to the danger of destruction, God forbid, and not to walk according to the promptings of habit as a blind man in pitch darkness. This is demanded by one's intelligence. For considering the fact that a man possesses the knowledge and the reasoning ability to save himself and to flee from the destruction of his soul, is it conceivable that he would willingly blind himself to his own salvation? There is certainly no degradation and foolishness worse than this. One who does this is lower than beasts and wild animals, whose nature it is to protect themselves, to flee and to run away from anything that seems to endanger them. One who walks this world without considering whether his way of life is good or bad is like a blind man walking along the seashore, who is in very great danger, and whose chances of being lost are far greater than those of his being saved. For there is no difference between natural blindness and self-inflicted blindness, the shutting of one's eyes as an act of will and desire.
Jeremiah complains about the evil of the men of his generation, about their being affected with this affliction, the blinding of their eyes to their actions, their failure to analyze them in order to determine whether they should be engaged in or abandoned. He says about these men (Jer 8:6), "No one regrets his wrongdoing, saying... They all turn away in their course as a horse rushing headlong into battle." He alludes here to their running on the impetus of their habits and their ways without leaving themselves time to evaluate their actions and ways,, and, as a result, falling into evil without noticing it. In reality, this is one of the clever devices of the evil inclination - to mount pressure unrelentingly against the hearts of men so as to leave them no leisure to consider and observe the type of life they are leading. For it realizes that if they were to devote even a slight degree of attention to their ways, there is no question but that they would immediately begin to repent of their deeds and that regret would wax in them until they would leave oft sinning altogether. It is this consideration which underlay the counsel of the wicked Pharaoh in his statement (Exo 5:9), "Intensify the men's labors..." His intention was not merely to deprive them of all leisure so that they would not come to oppose him or plot against him, but he strove to strip their hearts of all thought by means of the enduring, interminable nature of their labor.
This is precisely the device that the evil inclination employs against man; for it is a warrior and well versed in deception. One cannot escape it without great wisdom and a broad outlook. As we are exhorted by the Prophet (Hag 1:7), "Give heed to your ways." And as Solomon in his wisdom said (Pro 6:4), "Give neither sleep to your eyes nor slumber to your eyelids. Rescue yourself as a deer from the hand..." And as our Sages of blessed memory said (Sotah 5b), "All who deliberate upon their paths in this world will be worthy to witness the salvation wrought by the Holy One Blessed be He." Clearly even if one superintends himself, it is not within his power to save himself without the help of the Holy One Blessed be He. For the evil inclination is extremely tenacious, as Scripture states (Psa 37:32), "The wicked one looks to the righteous and seeks to kill him; God will not leave him..." If a man looks to himself, the Holy One Blessed be He helps him, and he is saved from the evil inclination. But if he gives no heed to himself, the Holy One Blessed be He will certainly not superintend him; for if he does not pity himself, who should pity him? This is as our Sages of blessed memory have said (Berachoth 33a), "It is forbidden to pity anyone who has no understanding," and (Avoth 1:14), "If I am not for myself, who will be for me?"

THE PATH OF THE JUST Chapter One

CHAPTER I
CONCERNING MAN'S DUTY IN THE WORLD
THE FOUNDATION OF SAINTLINESS and the root of perfection in the service of God lies in a man's coming to see clearly and to recognize as a truth the nature of his duty in the world and the end towards which he should direct his vision and his aspiration in all of his labors all the days of his life.
Our Sages of blessed memory have taught us that man was created for the sole purpose of rejoicing in God and deriving pleasure from the splendor of His Presence; for this is true joy and the greatest pleasure that can be found. The place where this joy may truly be derived is the World to Come, which was expressly created to provide for it; but the path to the object of our desires is this world, as our Sages of blessed memory have said (Avorh 4:21), "This world is like a corridor to the World to Come."
The means which lead a man to this goal are the mitzvoth, in relation to which we were commanded by the Lord, may His Name be blessed. The place of the performance of the mitzvoth is this world alone.
Therefore, man was placed in this world first - so that by these means, which were provided for him here, he would be able to reach the place which had been prepared for him, the World to Come, there to be sated with the goodness which he acquired through them. As our Sages of blessed memory have said (Eruvin 22a), "Today for their [the mitzvoth's] performance and tomorrow for receiving their reward."
When you look further into the matter, you will see that only union with God constitutes true perfection, as King David said (Psa 73:28), "But as for me, the nearness of God is my good," and (Psa 27:4), "I asked one thing from God; that will I seek - to dwell in God's house all the days of my life..." For this alone is the true good, and anything besides this which people deem good is nothing but emptiness and deceptive worthlessness. For a man to attain this good, it is certainly fitting that he first labor and persevere in his exertions to acquire it. That is, he should persevere so as to unite himself with the Blessed One by means of actions which result in this end. These actions are the mitzvoth.
The Holy One Blessed be He has put man in a place where the factors which draw him further from the Blessed One are many. These are the earthy desires which, if he is pulled after them, cause him to be drawn further from and to depart from the true good. It is seen, then, that man is veritably placed in the midst of a raging battle. For all the affairs of the world, whether for the good or for the bad, are trials to a man: Poverty on the one hand and wealth on the other, as Solomon said (Pro 30:9), "Lest I become satiated and deny, saying, `Who is God?' or lest I become impoverished and steal..." Serenity on the one hand and suffering on the other; so that the battle rages against him to the fore and to the rear. If he is valorous, and victorious on all sides, he will be the "Whole Man," who will succeed in uniting himself with his Creator, and he will leave the corridor to enter into the Palace, to glow in the light of life. To the extent that he has subdued his evil inclination and his desires, and withdrawn from those factors which draw him further from the good, and exerted himself to become united with it, to that extent will he attain it and rejoice in it.
If you look more deeply into the matter, you will see that the world was created for man's use. In truth, man is the center of a great balance. For if he is pulled after the world and is drawn further from his Creator, he is damaged, and he damages the world with him. And if he rules over himself and unites himself with his Creator, and uses the world only to aid him in the service of his Creator, he is uplifted and the world itself is uplifted with him. For all creatures are greatly uplifted when they serve the "Whole Man," who is sanctified with the holiness of the Blessed One. It is as our Sages of blessed memory have said in relation to the light that the Holy One Blessed be He stored away for the righteous (Chagiga 12a): "When the Holy One Blessed be He saw the light that He had stored away for the righteous, He rejoiced, as it is said (Pro 13:9), `The light of the righteous rejoices.' " And in relation to the "stones of the place" that Jacob took and put around his head they said (Chulin 916), "R. Yitzchak said, `This teaches us that they [the stones] gathered themselves into one spot, each one saying, "Let the righteous one lay his head upon me." Our Sages of blessed memory drew our attention to this principle in Midrash Koheleth, where they said (Koheleth Rabbah 7:28) - 'See the work of God...' (Ecc 7:13). When the Holy One Blessed be He created Adam, He took him and caused him to pass before all the trees of the Garden of Eden. He said to him, `See how beautiful and praiseworthy are my works; and all that I have created, I have created for your sake. Take heed that you do not damage and destroy my world.' "
To summarize, a man was created not for his station in this world, but for his station in the World to Come. It is only that his station in this world is a means towards his station in the World to Come, which is the ultimate goal. This accounts for numerous statements of our Sages of blessed memory, all in a similar vein, likening this world to the place and time of preparation, and the next world to the place which has been set aside for rest and for the eating of what has already been prepared. This is their intent in saying (Avoth 4:21), "This world is similar to a corridor ...," as our Sages of blessed memory have said (Eruvin 22a), "Today for their performance and tomorrow to receive their reward," "He who exerted himself on Friday will eat on the Sabbath" (Avodah Zarah 3a), "This world is like the shore and the World to Come like the sea ..." (Koheleth Rabbah 1:36), and many other statements along the same lines.
And in truth, no reasoning being can believe that the purpose of man's creation relates to his station in this world. For what is a man's life in this world! Who is truly happy and content in this world? "The days of our life are seventy years, and, if exceedingly vigorous, eighty years, and their persistence is but labor and foolishness" (Psa 90:10). How many different kinds of suffering, and sicknesses, and pains and burdens! And after all this - death! Not one in a thousand is to be found to whom the world has yielded a superabundance of gratifications and true contentment. And even such a one, though he attain to the age of one hundred years, passes and vanishes from the world. Furthermore, if man had been created solely for the sake of this world, he would have had no need of being inspired with a soul so precious and exalted as to be greater than the angels themselves, especially so in that it derives no satisfaction whatsoever from all of the pleasures of this world. This is what our Sages of blessed memory teach us in Midrash (Koheleth Rabbah), "'And also the soul will not be filled' (Eccelesiastes 6:7) What is this analogous to? To the case of a city dweller who married a princess. If he brought her all that the world possessed, it would mean nothing to her, by virtue of her being a king's daughter. So is it with the soul. If it were to be brought all the delights of the world, they would be as nothing to it, in view of its pertaining to the higher elements." And so do our Sages of blessed memory say (Avoth 4:29), "Against your will were you created, and against your will were you born." For the soul has no love at all for this world. To the contrary, it despises it. The Creator, Blessed be His Name, certainly would never have created something for an end which ran contrary to its nature and which it despised.
Man was created, then, for the sake of his station in the World to Come. Therefore, this soul was placed in him. For it befits the soul to serve God; and through it a man may be rewarded in his place and in his time. And rather than the world's being despicable to the soul, it is, to the contrary, to be loved and desired by it. This is self-evident. After recognizing this we will immediately appreciate the greatness of the obligation that the mitzvoth place upon us and the preciousness of the Divine service which lies in our hands. For these are the means which bring us to true perfection, a state which, without them, is unattainable. It is understood, however, that the attainment of a goal results only from a consolidation of all the available means employable towards its attainment, that the nature of a result is determined by the effectiveness and manner of employment of the means utilized towards its achievement, and that the slightest differentiation in the means will very noticeably affect the result to which they give rise upon the fruition of the aforementioned consolidation. This is self-evident.
It is obvious, then, that we must be extremely exacting in relation to the mitzvoth and the service of God, just as the weighers of gold and pearls are exacting because of the preciousness of these commodities. For their fruits result in true perfection and eternal wealth, than which nothing is more precious.
We thus derive that the essence of a man's existence in this world is solely the fulfilling of mitzvoth, the serving of God and the withstanding of trials, and that the world's pleasures should serve only the purpose of aiding and assisting him, by way of providing him with the contentment and peace of mind requisite for the freeing of his heart for the service which devolves upon him. It is indeed fitting that his every inclination be towards the Creator, may His Name be blessed, and that his every action, great or small, be motivated by no purpose other than that of drawing near to the Blessed One and breaking all the barriers (all the earthy elements and their concomitants) that stand between him and his Possessor, until he is pulled towards the Blessed One just as iron to a magnet. Anything that might possibly be a means to acquiring this closeness, he should pursue and clutch, and not let go of; and anything which might be considered a deterrent to it, he should flee as from a fire. As it is stated (Psa 63:9), "My soul clings to You; Your right hand sustains me." For a man enters the world only for this purpose - to achieve this closeness by rescuing his soul from all the deterrents to it and from all that detracts from it.
After we have recognized the truth of this principle, and it has become clear to us, we must investigate its details according to its stages, from beginning to end, as they were arranged by R. Pinchas ben Yair in the statement which has already been referred to in our introduction. These stages are: Watchfulness, Zeal, Cleanliness, Separation, Purity, Saintliness, Humility, Fear of Sin, and Holiness. And now, with the aid of Heaven, we will explain them one by one.