Lesson date: Rosh Chodesh Month 4/5854AA

In verse one we see the Children of Yisrael turning and “went up the way” to Bashan – H1316 – בּשׁן  – bâshân BDB Definition: Bashan = “fruitful”. Psa 22:12  Many bulls have surrounded Me; Strong ones of Bashan have encircled Me.

Eze 39:18  “Eat the flesh of the mi ghty, drink the blood of the princes of the earth, of rams and lambs, of goats and bulls, all of them fatlings of Bashan.

Both David and Ezekiel are using Bashan as the symbol of richness, fruitfulness. Remember that we have discussed Bashan before and this area is the area of Mt. Hermon. Here is ne of our clues as to its location: Psa 68:15  A mountain of Elohim is the mountain of Bashan; A mountain of peaks is the mountain of Bashan.

Bashan/Mt. Hermon has 3 distinct peaks, is covered with snow for several months each year and the snow melt runnoff is what makes the land so fruitful. Also, look at the description of Caesaea Philippi in the B’rit Hasasha: Mar 8:27  And יהושע and His taught ones went out to the villages of Caesarea Philippi. And on the way He asked His taught ones, saying to them, “Who do men say I am?”

In Debarim 3:4 we see that Bashan was a collection of 60 cities, not just a single city. This is said in the same manner of “cities of Sedom and ‘Amorah” which was a collection of cities including Admah, Tseboyim, and Tso’ar. We see the exchange between Lot and the angel identified as יהוה in Genesis 19:20-21 that the angel was supposed to destroy this city as well but he spared it for Lot’s sake.

Looking back to verse we once again see that Og and all his people have already been given to the Yiraelites all they have to do is have the faith to claim the victory.

Also, we know that Og and his people were giants, of Amorite descent, and had to be “put under the ban” = H2763 – חרם – châram – BDB Definition: 1) to ban, devote, destroy utterly, completely destroy, dedicate for destruction, exterminate and charam is the origin of the word Hermon and Hormah. Don’t forget, all of this was foretold in Genesis 15:16 when יהוה entered into covenant with Abraham. The Amorites and their neighbors were corrupted seed from the angels and human women and had to be wiped out so as not to corrupt the human bloodline.

In verse 11 we see something that I believe has been greatly misunderstood and that is the reference to Og’s bed. I do not believe Og actually used this bed for sleeping, although he may have. This bed’s dimensions are given so that the ancient Hebrew reader of this passage would make the connection between Og’s bed and the bed of Marduk that was in the ziggurat of Etemenanki, which was believed to be the site of the Tower of Babel. This bed was the place where the god Marduk (Ba’al) would arrive once a year, in sping naturally, and have intercourse with his lover, Zarpenitu and bring life to the world again. This bed would have shown that Og had his kingdom based on “divine right” having inherited it from Marduk and also had the knowledge of Babel/Marduk. Also, remember our discussion of Marduk when we studied Daniel, that Marduk was the god that Nebuchadnezzar worshiped before he lost his mind and was later restored by יהוה .

What we see is that Og – Oḡ – עוֹג – Strong’s H5747 means, ‘long-necked’ was one of the last of the “long-necked” giants. How do we reconcile this with our ‘walk on the way’? There are many ‘long-necked’ giants that will be nay sayers and road blocks on our ‘way’ or ‘path’ but, we cannot let them cause us any confusion or cause us to stumble. The word for ‘way’ once again is: is דֶרֶךְ dereḵ – Strong’s H1870 which means, ‘way, road, distance, journey, path’. How important is the way? Gen 3:24  and He drove the man out. And He placed keruḇim at the east of the garden of Ěḏen, and a flaming sword which turned every way, to guard the way to the tree of life.

Joh 1:23  He said, “I am a voice of one crying in the wilderness, ‘Make straight the way of יהוה,’ as the prophet Yeshayahu said.”

Joh 14:6  יהושע said to him, “I am the Way, and the Truth, and the Life. No one comes to the Father except through Me.

The way we go, the way we turn and the obstacles along the ‘way’ are very important. Let’s look at derek in the pictographic Hebrew –  krd-

d the tent door of the tabernacle

r chief, top ,first or begging ((rosh as in rosh chodesh, the first, or head, of the month))

k to bend, curve, tame or subdue (open hand)

“Coming to the Door of the tent, we submit to our Head (Messiah).” ((Remember, in Hebrew verbs come before direct objects.))

Yoḥanan/John 10:19 “I am the door. Whoever enters through Me, he shall be saved, and shall go in and shall go out and find pasture.”

Please look at the following passages of scripture: Joh 6:53  יהושע therefore said to them, “Truly, truly, I say to you, unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Aḏam and drink His blood, you possess no life in yourselves.

Joh 6:54  “He who eats My flesh and drinks My blood possesses everlasting life, and I shall raise him up in the last day.

Joh 6:55  “For My flesh is truly food, and My blood is truly drink.

Joh 6:56  “He who eats My flesh and drinks My blood stays in Me, and I in him.

Joh 6:57  “As the living Father sent Me, and I live because of the Father, so he who feeds on Me shall live because of Me.

Joh 6:58  “This is the bread which came down out of the heaven, not as your fathers ate the manna and died. He who eats this bread shall live forever.”

Joh 6:59  He said this in a congregation, teaching in Kephar Naḥum.

Joh 6:60  Therefore many of His taught ones having heard, said, “This word is hard, who is able to hear it?”

Joh 6:61  But יהושע knowing within Himself that His taught ones were grumbling about this, said to them, “Does this make you stumble?

Joh 6:62  “What if you see the Son of Adam going up where He was before?

Joh 6:63  “It is the Spirit that gives life, the flesh does not profit at all. The words that I speak to you are Spirit and are life.

Joh 6:64  “But there are some of you who do not believe.” For יהושע knew from the beginning who they were who did not believe, and who would deliver Him up.

Joh 6:65  And He said, “Because of this I have said to you that no one is able to come to Me unless it has been given to him by My Father.”

Joh 6:66 From then on many of His taught ones withdrew and were not walking with Him any more.

Everyone thinks that what Yeshua taught was easy but this says that even His own disciples withdrew and were not walking with Him, they were not walking in the WAY anymore. They could not overcome their firmly entrenched “doctrines of men”. They could not think in the spiritual but only in the fleshly. Were some of these that left Him of the original 70 that He sent out. Seventy nations of the world, seventy elders of Yisrael, 70 palm trees coming out if Egypt. Just like pastors tell about Peter’s lack of faith that caused him to sink beneath the waters, I have yet to see any of them walk on water, so pastors also call the apostle Tomas, Doubting Tomas. He was not doubting, he wanted prove so, that he would not serve a ‘false’ Messiah.

Yoḥanan/John 20:27-28 “Then He said to T’oma, “Bring your finger here, and see My hands. And bring your hand and put it into My side – and do not be unbelieving, but believing.” 28 And T’oma answered and said to Him, “My Master and my Elohim!”

What did he declare? You are my Master and Elohim.

Yeshayahu/Isaiah 53:1 “Who has believed our report? And to whom was the arm of יהוה revealed?”

To Tomas because he had the good sense and the faith to ask for proof of his Messiah. Look what Sha’ul says when challenged about his faith: Ma’asei/Acts 24:14-16 “And this I confess to you, that according to the Way which they call a sect, so I worship the Elohim of my fathers, believing all that has been written in the Torah and in the Prophets, 15 having an expectation in Elohim, which they themselves also wait for, that there is to be a resurrection of the dead, both of the righteous and the unrighteous. 16 “And in this I exercise myself to have a clear conscience toward Elohim and men always.”

In Debarim 3:4 there is a phrase: Deu 3:4  “And we captured all his cities” guess what we find? Another nuance in Hebrew. Here it is in KJV+: Deu 3:4 And we tookH3920 (H853) allH3605 his citiesH5892

H853 is the Aleph – Tav. It foreshadows the coming of Yeshua. Look to Matthew 28: Mat 28:19  “Therefore, go and make taught ones of all the nations, immersing them in the Name of the Father and of the Son and of the Set-apart Spirit,

This was radical. It had never been said before. Look what Naaman said: 2Ki 5:14  Then he went down and dipped seven times in the Yardĕn, according to the word of the man of Elohim. And his flesh was restored like the flesh of a little child, and he was clean.

2Ki 5:15  And he returned to the man of Elohim, he and all his company, and came and stood before him and said, “See, now I know that there is no Elohim in all the earth, except in Yisra’ĕl. And now, please take a gift from your servant.”

2Ki 5:16  But he said, “As יהוה lives, before whom I stand, I do not accept it.” And he pressed on him to accept it, but he refused.

2Ki 5:17  Then Naʽaman said, “If not, please let your servant be given two mule-loads of earth, for no longer is your servant going to make a burnt offering and slaughtering to other mighty ones, but to יהוה.

2Ki 5:18  “יהוה grant forgiveness to your servant in this matter: when my master goes into the house of Rimmon to worship there, and he leans on my hand, and I bow down in the house of Rimmon; when I bow down in the house of Rimmon, יהוה, please grant forgiveness to your servant in this matter.”

2Ki 5:19  Then he said to him, “Go in peace.” And when he had gone from him some distance,

Naaman realized that יהוה was not in any other nation of the world but Yisrael and begged for 2 (two) muleloads of dirt from Yisrael so that he could worship in Yisrael.  When יהוה divided the world He gave the 70 nations to the angels and kept Yisrael for Himself: Deu 32:8  When the Most High divided the nations, when he separated the sons of Adam, he set the bounds of the nations according to the number of the angels of God.

Deu 32:9 And his people Jacob became the portion of the Lord, Israel was the line of his inheritance.

In verse 8 Moses says that they captured from Wadi Arnon (Rushing Stream) to Mount Hermon (the tallest mountain in their inheritance). Then Mosheh began to parcel out the inheritance to Reuben, Gad and the half tribe of Menashsheh.

The same command we saw in verse 2 we see again in verse 22 “Do Not Fear” which would be Lo Iyrah!! Why should they fear? Look where they are camped; in the valley opposite Beyth Pe’or, the House of Ba’al Pe’or, the god of the broad gap, broad opening or broad way. They had already lost thousands of their people to this god in Numbers 25 because of a woman named Kozbi (lie, falsehood). What was the falsehood? You can go by the broad way and serve god. But we can’t, we must go by the Narrow Way and serve יהוה.

Mat 7:12  “Therefore, whatever you wish men to do to you, do also to them, for this is the Torah and the Prophets.

Mat 7:13  “Enter in through the narrow gate! Because the gate is wide – and the way is broad – that leads to destruction, and there are many who enter in through it.

Mat 7:14  “Because the gate is narrow and the way is hard pressed ((afflicted)) which leads to life, and there are few who find it.

Ahavah,

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Lesson date: 6/12/5857AA

Before I even get started, yes, there will always be giants to deal with in our walk in the Way. Some of the giants may look a lot like our jobs, maybe economics, could be health issues, maybe even marital problems. Whatever form they manifest in, they are problems so huge they threaten our faith in YHVH and His Son Yeshu’a Hamashiach.

I have fought giants all week and I finally killed one but, giants are like the kids’ game ‘Whack-A-Mole,’ as soon as you defeat one there is another to take its place. Here is a tip that I have learned over the years, most giants in my life are of my own making:

Exo 23:27 “I shall send My fear before you, and cause confusion among all the people to whom you come, and make all your enemies turn their backs to you.

Exo 23:28 “And I shall send hornets before you, which shall drive out the Ḥiwwite, the Kena‛anite, and the Ḥittite from before you.

Exo 23:29 “I shall not drive them out from before you in one year, lest the land become a waste and the beast of the field become too numerous for you.

When I pray for help with the giants in my life YHVH uses something as insignificant as an insect to drive them out so, just how big was this giant anyway? Seen any giants lately? How did it get to be so important in my life?

Verse 1-3 – We clearly see in Verse 1 that in order to battle the giant king known as Sihon – H5511- tempestuous, warrior, we had to move our focus from following the way clearly marked by Yeshu’a in the column of fire/cloud to conquer this enemy. After the enemy was conquered they could now “turn” back to the Way and begin making progress in their journey but then, here comes another giant Og.

Notice in Verse 2 they YHVH states, “for I have given him and all his people and his land into your hand.” In other words it has already taken place and all they had to do was go through the motions. In other words they had to have faith enough in Yah’s Word to do what they were commanded to do, like following Torah.

We have talked about Og of Bashan before, Og = long-necked, and we discussed long-necked giants last Shabbat, and Bashan = good smooth ground, fruitful: Psa 22:12 Many bulls have surrounded Me; Strong ones of Bashan have encircled Me.

Eze 39:18 “Eat the flesh of the mighty, drink the blood of the princes of the earth, of rams and lambs, of goats and bulls, all of them fatlings of Bashan.

Both David and Ezekiel use Bashan as a modifier meaning “fruitful” or numerous. Honestly, we could find an entire day talking about Bashan and its importance in Scripture and prophecy but, we won’t today.

Verses 4-10 – We are given the scope of the possession which included 60 cities basically in the region of modern day Golan heights (Argob – stony), Mount Hermon and the southwestern corner of Syria. The name Hermon comes from the word “charam” which means to put under the ban or utterly destroy. Men women and children were killed because they had the bloodline of fallen angels in them and could not be allowed to corrupt the bloodline of the Children of Yisra’el, especially that of the Messiah, Yeshu’a.

The Tsidonians called Hermon “Siryon” or sheeted (with snow), and the Amorites called it “Senir” or snow mountain. To go from -1,412 feet at the Dead Sea to 9,232 feet above sea level on Mount Hermon in a very short distance it was a marvel in the ancient world. In fact, the Jordan River is feed by the snowmelt of the Mount Hermon watershed.

Verse 11 – This is a statement of fact that people need to understand in its context. The bedstead that is mentioned is NOT necessarily the size of Og. He may have been taller than 14.25 feet or he may have been smaller. This is much like the throne of King James of England. There is a piece of rock positioned  just below the seat of the throne. That piece of rock was half of the rock used by Jacob to rest his head on in Genesis 28:11. It was a symbol of King James’ divine right to rule. The same is true of the bedstead mentioned in this verse because everyone of the ancient world would have recognized the dimension of the bed as being the bed used by the pagan god Marduk and his lover Sarpanit to make love in, in late winter, to bring fertility back into the world. ((Both gods Marduk and Sarpanit had more than one name based on who worshipped them. Marduk would equal Jupiter.))

Marduk was the god of choice for Babylon and especially Nebuchadnessar. Tell me if you have heard this story: There was a god by the name of Ea, who had a son named Marduk. Marduk inherited the power of magic from his father and could do mighty things, so mighty in fact that they were greater than the power of Ea. So, Ea recognizing the fact that his son was more powerful than he was conceded the reign over to his son, peacefully. Normally, succession was by killing the weaker god but Marduk was such a loving god he allowed his father to live just in the background, more or less. Later on, during the time of Cyrus the Great, Marduk morphs into another god named Bel or Ba’al which means Lord. ((This is the subject of the apochryphal book of Bel and the Dragon which is about Daniel’s humiliation of the god Bel.))

Verses 12-17 – Dividing the land.

Verses 18-21 – Leaving behind the distractions so the warriors can fight.

Verse 22 – Here is the most important verse in this chapters. How do we defeat the giants that rear their ugly heads in our lives: “Do not fear them!” Why not? They are big, ugly powerful, stronger than us, how can we hope to persevere? For יהוה your Elohim Himself fights for you.’

Rom_8:31 What then shall we say to this? If Elohim is for us, who is against us?

Ahavah,