Lesson date: 6/20/5854AA
Verse 1 – The first word is once again – shamar – H8104 and that is important but the second word is even more important because it now intensifies the meaning. The second word is את – H853, pointing to something prophetic in this passage and, I think everyone knows what that might be. When the Greeks translated the book of Revelation and saw that Yeshua called Himself the Aleph and the Tav they thought He was referring to the Hebrew aleph-bet and wrote alpha and omega, but He wasn’t. He was referring to all the times the Aleph Tav was supposed to have focused our attention to His coming in scripture. He was also identifying Himself as the (א) Urim and the (ת) Thumim, the Light and the Truth.
We see in Leviticus 23 that YHVH calls His Holy Days Sabbaths and for good reason: Mat 12:8 “For the Son of Adam is Master of the Sabbath.”
Mar 2:28 “So the Son of Adam is also Master of the Sabbath.”
Luk 6:5 And He said to them, “The Son of Adam is Master of the Sabbath.”
He is essentially telling His apostles, “Hey, remember the Sabbath and keep it holy because I AM the reason for the sabbaths.”
Please note my vocabulary. In the early days of the “church”, the elders would have the Jews inform them as to when the holy days began, since they were Romans and had no idea how to sight the moon, or in the words of Debarim 16:1 “guard the New Moon”. But by the time of the Council of Laodicea, this should have been a big clue in and of itself, it was now “illegal” to keep the sabbath. Hasatan was moving mankind further and further away from worshipping YHVH and more toward worshipping Mystery Babylon and her 33,000+ daughters.
I bet you are thinking, “Okay, I get that but it says it is a remembrance that YHVH brought us out of Egypt. So, what is the big deal?” Right? Rev 11:7 And when they have ended their witness, the beast coming up out of the pit of the deep shall fight against them, and overcome them, and kill them,
Rev 11:8 and their dead bodies lie in the street of the great city which spiritually is called Sedom and Mitsrayim, where also our Master was impaled,
Where was the Master impaled? Jerusalem. What happened in Jerusalem? It was the center of Judaism, just like Rome is the hub of the Christian religion. Why must we commemorate coming out of Egypt by eating Unleavened Bread? Mat 16:6 And יהושע said to them, “Mind! And beware of the leaven of the Pharisees and the Sadducees.”
Mat 16:11 “How is it that you do not understand that I did not speak to you concerning bread, but to beware of the leaven of the Pharisees and Sadducees?”
Mat 16:12 Then they understood that He did not say to beware of the leaven of bread, but of the teaching of the Pharisees and the Sadducees.
Mar 8:15 And He was warning them, saying, “Mind! Beware of the leaven of the Pharisees and of the leaven of Herodes.”
Luk 12:1 Meanwhile, when an innumerable crowd of people had gathered together, so that they trampled one another, He began to say to His taught ones, first, “Beware of the leaven of the Pharisees, which is hypocrisy.
What did He mean “which is hypocrisy”? Luk 13:15 Then the Master answered him and said, “Hypocrite! Does not each one of you on the Sabbath loosen his ox or his donkey from the stall, and lead it away to water it? You see, each one of them was breaking the Fourth of the Ten Words by making the ox or donkey work on the Sabbath yet 53 times in scripture they challenged Him over the miracles He did on the sabbath. They had taken YHVH’s Words and perverted them. This is the leaven we must got out of our system, the perversion of His True Word, Yeshua. Rome accomplished that on a huge scale for Christianity.
Judah and Benjamin went into Babylonian captivity using paleo-Hebrew and came out using Aramaen-Hebrew, changed the months, changed the laws, even changed their aleph-bet. Did Rome do less?
Verse 2 – the Pesah or Passover. We now recognize that Yeshua was our Passover lamb but do we keep that day as a memorial, or do we keep Easter(Ishtar)?
Verse 3 – Once again we are being exhorted to come out of Egypt.
Verses 4-8 – explains to us how to “shamar”: keep, observe the Passover.
Verses 9-10 – these verses have tremendous meaning in my life and I won’t bore you with the details again. I do want to highlight the phrase “put the sickle to the grain” because this represents the initiation of the harvest. So, from the initiation of the harvest to Shavuot is 49+1=50 days. The Greeks didn’t understand the significance of 50 days so they just called Yah’s Holy Day – Pentecoste – fiftieth. The final ‘tay’ sound at the end of the word was dropped by English speakers in the 17th century.
Verse 11 – once again we are reminded of our responsibility to care for the orphans and the widows. Remember, this is very serious, because even the angels will be judged because of the fatherless and the widows. (Psalms 82)
Verse 12 – how many times have we seen this very same exhortation? Have we truly come out of Egypt? Please refer to the study guide from last week “Come Out of Her My People”. This is what we are commanded to do.
Verse 13-16 – now you may be wondering, “What happened to Yom Teruah and Yom Hakippurrim? We are not commanded to assemble at the place where YHVH will put His Name. Do we? Yes, we do anyway. No, I am not implying that YHVH’s temple is in Normangee. Please re-read Numbers 6:27 and also these verses: 1Co 3:16 Do you not know that you are a Dwelling Place of Elohim and that the Spirit of Elohim dwells in you?
1Co 3:17 If anyone destroys the Dwelling Place of Elohim, Elohim shall destroy him. For the Dwelling Place of Elohim is set-apart, which you are.
1Co 6:19 Or do you not know that your body is the Dwelling Place of the Set-apart Spirit who is in you, which you have from Elohim, and you are not your own?
2Co 6:16 And what union has the Dwelling Place of Elohim with idols? For you are a Dwelling Place of the living Elohim, as Elohim has said, “I shall dwell in them and walk among them, and I shall be their Elohim, and they shall be My people.”
We are just a couple of weeks away from Yom Teruah. Please remember the significance of this appointed time. Yeshua said He would return: Mat 24:36 “But concerning that day and the hour no one knows, not even the messengers of the heavens, but My Father only.
Mar 13:32 “But concerning that day and the hour no one knows, not even the messengers in heaven, nor the Son, but only the Father.
Mar 13:33 “Take heed, watch and pray, for you do not know when the time is –
I would be willing to bet the word Yeshua used here was “shamar”.
Prepare your hearts and minds for Yom Hakippurim.
Verse 19 – shows us that bribery is not illegal but a sin in the Kingdom of Heaven.
Verse 20 – “Follow righteousness, righteousness alone” and what is righteousness?
Psa_119:142 Your righteousness is righteousness forever, And Your Torah is truth.
Isa_42:21 It has delighted יהוה, for the sake of His righteousness, to make the Torah great and esteemed.
Isa_51:7 “Listen to Me, you who know righteousness, a people in whose heart is My Torah: do not fear the reproach of men, nor be afraid of their revilings.
2Ti_3:16 All Scripture is breathed by Elohim and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for setting straight, for instruction in righteousness,
What scripture existed at the time that Sha’ul wrote this? Not the B’rit Hadasha (NT). The Tanakh, Original Writings or, if you prefer, the Old Testament. And, what did Sha’ul say it was good for? Instruction in righteousness, verse 20 all over again.
Remember the old commercial where a hand breaks an egg and places it on a hot skillet? Close your eyes and imagine on the pain Yeshua endured for our sakes and that is righteousness. Yeshua walked and taught the perfect Torah in His life: Joh_15:10 “If you guard My commands, you shall stay in My love, even as I have guarded My Father’s commands and stay in His love.
Joh_14:15 “If you love Me, you shall guard My commands.
Mat 22:40 “On these two commands hang all the Torah and the Prophets.”
What were the two commands? Love Elohim with all your heart, mind and being (First 5 commands) and love your neighbor as yourself (Second 5 commands).
And, if you thought Sha’ul taught against Torah, think again:
1Ti 6:13 In the sight of Elohim who gives life to all, and of Messiah יהושע who witnessed the good confession before Pontius Pilate, I charge you:
1Ti 6:14 that you guard the command spotlessly, blamelessly, until the appearing of our Master יהושע Messiah,
Remember, the word command above is a singular plural just like deer. John was the “beloved” apostle surely he taught us that Torah was done away with, right?
1Jn 2:3 And by this we know that we know Him, if we guard His commands.
1Jn 2:4 The one who says, “I know Him,” and does not guard His commands, is a liar, and the truth is not in him.
1Jn 2:5 But whoever guards His Word, truly the love of Elohim has been perfected in him. By this we know that we are in Him.
WRONG! What about Sha’ul?
1Ti 4:13 Until I come, give attention to reading of Scripture, to encouragement, to teaching.
2Ti_3:16 All Scripture is breathed by Elohim and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for setting straight, for instruction in righteousness,
Debarim 16:20 all over again.
Ahavah,
Lesson date: 9/28/5857AA
Without a doubt, one of the things that causes the most controversy in this walk will be keeping Aviv/Abib. Why? Because our modern society in mostly divorced itself from the land and crops of the land.
Verse 1 – What is Abib? It is the first month of the new year: Exo 12:1 And יהוה spoke to Mosheh and to Aharon in the land of Mitsrayim, saying,
Exo 12:2 “This new moon is the beginning of new moons for you, it is the first new moon of the year for you.
How do we know when that was? Exo 9:30 “But as for you and your servants, I know that you do not yet fear before יהוה Elohim.”
Exo 9:31 And the flax and the barley were struck, for the barley was in the head and the flax was in bud.
Exo 9:32 But the wheat and the spelt were not struck, for they were late crops.
H24 – אָבִיב – ‘âbı̂yb – aw-beeb’ – From an unused root (meaning to be tender); green, that is a young ear of grain; hence the name of the month Abib or Nisan: – Abib, ear, green ears of corn.
When is the barley in the Aviv (ear or head) stage? When will it be? What constitutes the “head” stage, etc. etc. etc. This one topic is hotly debated and I will not get into it here other than to say, “we must all keep growing in the Word.”
What I will comment on is why there is a lunar calendar, rather than a solar calendar. If you use a solar calendar you can know with a high degree of certainty, when a day of the year will be for hundreds or even thousands of years in the future. It is for this very reason that we do not keep a solar calendar. If we keep a lunar calendar then we must depend on YHVH to show us the proper time. How many times did Yeshu’a, while on Earth, us to “Watch” or to “Lift up your heads”? And, of course the most misunderstood phrase yet is, “No man knows the day or the hour.” All of these focus our attention on the appearance of the sliver of the moon. There is only one month that has a feast day to YHVH on the first day of the month and that is the Seventh Month and the feast day is Yom Teruah. If you look at each time the phrase is used in the B’rit Hadasha it is also accompanied by Yom Teruah language such as “A shout”, “voice of the Archangel” “The trumpet shall sound”. All of this points us to Yom Teruah for the return of the Messiah. The Greeks kept a solar calendar and none of this made sense to them and then came the Romans from who came the Christians who also chose the solar calendar so they have no idea what is being spoken of in these passages.
For more information about this, I highly recommend Brother Joe Dumond’s book, “It was a Riddle, not a Command.” It is a very good primer on Torah in general, not just the topic of Yom Teruah.
Please don’t ask about the equinox. There is no command to keep the equinox in fact there is a command to not worship YHVH as the pagans worshipped their gods and equinox worship among the pagans was very common and is also the foundation of the modern day celebration of Christmas. What is now called December 22-25 was when the celebration of the feast of the equinox took place. It was called the Yule or Yuletide and this was the time that the Vikings would raid the Norman area of France and steal the women they liked or kill the others, all the men and take the children as booty. The tide in the area of Normandy would go unchanged for those 3 days of the year and make it much easier for the Viking to land on the beaches during that period of time. Later, many Vikings settled in the area and that is how it got the name of Normandy, from the Norse men who came every year and finally settled there. ((Yes, I know that from 22-25 is 4 days but the tide would only appear for 3 days during that time. It is a range of days.))
Verse 2 – The slaughter of the Pesach (This is the word from which the church derived the term Paschal Lamb) on the 14th day of the Abib. But it is on the 10th day that the lamb is selected to look for any defect. If a defect is found the lamb is declared “unclean” and can still be eaten but not used as a sacrifice to YHVH: Deu_12:15 “Only, whatever your being desires you shall slaughter and eat, according to the blessing of יהוה your Elohim which He has given you, within all your gates. The unclean and the clean do eat of it, of the gazelle and the deer alike.
Deu_12:22 “Only, as the gazelle and the deer are eaten, so you are to eat of it. The unclean and the clean alike eat of it.
Deu_15:22 “Eat it within your gates – the unclean and the clean alike – as the gazelle, and as the deer.
Also, each of the last 4 days of Yeshu’a’s live He went to the temple and was pronounced acceptable and even Herod said that Yeshu’a was innocent on the 14th day.
Verses 3-8 – The feast of Unleavened Bread or Chag Matzot. There was found to be no sin in Yeshu’a and we commemorate this during this period of time. Also, Yeshu’a was lifted up as the Wave Offering, First Fruits, of the barley, Yom HaBikkurim. Remember, the Romans only crucified Yeshu’a after the insistence of the High Priest who convinced the people to do so. The High priest is the one who “lifts up” or waves the Bikkurim.
Verses 9-12 – I know this will be a controversial topic but I want to make the point that we are moving into the Feast of Weeks. We are to count 7 completed weekly sabbaths to arrive at 49 days. We are counting weeks: Lev 23:11 ‘And he shall wave the sheaf before יהוה, for your acceptance. On the morrow after the Sabbath the priest waves it.
This is in reference to the weekly Sabbath not the feast day Sabbath. The church misunderstood that the Feast of Unleavened Bread was called a Sabbath in Lev. 23 and thought it referred to the weekly Sabbath and that is how “Good Friday” came to be but by the same token many among the Torah keepers fail to see that the goal is to count weeks and the Chag Matzot could take place on any day of a particular Abib so it you count Chag Matzot as a sabbath you will not end up with the required number of days after 7 Sabbaths.
Verses 13-17 – The Feast of Booths, The Feast of Tabernacles, the Feast of the Ingathering, The Feast of Rejoicing all refer to the same feast held on the 15th day of the 7th month, Sukkot. This is where a bunch of crazy people get together and spend the night outside, in all kinds of weather including a hurricane, have a great time fellowshipping with their brothers and sisters. And, yes, I am one of those crazy people because I love Sukkot almost as much as Pesach. At some point in time, I imagine that Von and I will reach a point to where we will not be able to keep the feast but I hope not. Yah willing.
Please note that Yom Teru’ah and Yom HaKippurim are skipped as is Shemini Atzereth which are all very important in Yah’s Kingdom but this is a review of the 3 times that all the males go to Yerushalyim and present themselve before YHVH. When YHVH comes down to down with mankind on Earth we will still be keeping these feast days, especially Sukkot: Zec 14:16 And it shall be that all who are left from all the nations which came up against Yerushalayim, shall go up from year to year to bow themselves to the Sovereign, יהוה of hosts, and to celebrate the Festival of Sukkot.
Zec 14:17 And it shall be, that if anyone of the clans of the earth does not come up to Yerushalayim to bow himself to the Sovereign, יהוה of hosts, on them there is to be no rain.
Zec 14:18 And if the clan of Mitsrayim does not come up and enter in, then there is no rain. On them is the plague with which יהוה plagues the nations who do not come up to celebrate the Festival of Sukkot.
You might as well get used to doing it now. Remember, this is a shadow of what is to come: Col 2:16 Let no one therefore judge you in eating or in drinking, or in respect of a festival or a new moon or Sabbaths –
Col 2:17 which are a shadow of what is to come – but the Body of the Messiah.
This is exactly what Dr. G.A. Miles told me in 1979 while I attended Washington Bible College. If I understood the Leviticus 23 Feasts (Sabbaths) of YHVH I would understand the “ministry” of Jesus. (His words). How true.
Verse 18-20 – Judges = H8199 – שׁפט – shâphat – BDB Definition: 1) to judge, govern, vindicate, punish
Officers = H7860 – שׁטר – shôṭêr – BDB Definition: 1) (Qal) official, officer
Gates = H8179 – שׁער – sha‛ar – BDB Definition: 1) gate 1a) gate (of entrance) 1b) gate (of space inside gate, i.e. marketplace, public meeting place)
Isn’t it odd that all 3 of these words begin with a “Shin”? Why do you think that is?
Verses 21-22 – Forbidden forms of worship. Surely nothing like this happens today, right?
Ahavah,
CahalTx 