The Meaning of the Eighth Day Feast-Pt 9 Written in the Stars

Joseph F. Dumond

Isa 6:9-12 And He said, Go, and tell this people, You hear indeed, but do not understand; and seeing you see, but do not know. Make the heart of this people fat, and make their ears heavy, and shut their eyes; lest they see with their eyes, and hear with their ears, and understand with their hearts, and turn back, and be healed. Then I said, Lord, how long? And He answered, Until the cities are wasted without inhabitant, and the houses without man, and the land laid waste, a desolation, and until Jehovah has moved men far away, and the desolation in the midst of the land is great.
Published: Jan 1, 2015

News Letter 5850-041
11th day of the 10th month 5850 years after the creation of Adam
The 10th Month in the Fifth year of the Third Sabbatical Cycle
The Third Sabbatical Cycle of the 119th Jubilee Cycle
The Sabbatical Cycle of Earthquakes, Famines and Pestilence

January 3, 2015

Shabbat Shalom to the Growing Family of Yehovah, Shalom Shalom,

I have to tell you what has taken place this week. Yehovah has been at work and I, as usual, did not see it at all. Last month we applied for a booth at the NRB conference in Tennessee. The following week we were declined and no reason was given. Our team of 7 other people wrote a combined letter appealing the decision, hoping for another examination and permission to go to the Conference. We also placed an ad campaign weeks before we were declined and it was to come out each week leading up to the convention promoting our books, DVD’s and web site. Each week this ad comes out has had problems. Wrong ad for the wrong day and broken links. In spite of my complaints and the holiday season, nothing as yet has been rectified in this.

My prayers have been crying out to Yehovah over and over, that He cannot let what is coming come unless He warns the rest of the 12 tribes of Israel about what is about to come upon them. I had felt that if we were able to get a booth at the NRB convention we could have a shot at meeting someone who had an Radio or TV Station or someone who would sponsor us and help us to get this message out. That was my goal.

We had 7 brethren who now understood this message and have already been teaching it and promoting it, lined up to come. I had even talked them all (almost all) into wearing formal Kilts and blowing the Shofars 3 times a day to attract attention to our booth. We had it all planned out, but then we were denied flat out.

I was depressed and miserable. I had no idea how I was going to get this message out there. Yes, lots and lots of people are now talking about the Sabbatical and Jubilee years. Great, but far too many are being led astray by the false teachers telling them they did not have to keep it and/or it was in the year 2014. Again I got angry with Yehovah and cried for something to help us get this message out to the 12 tribes of Israel. The last four weeks I have heard nothing.

This past Monday I had a radio interview with Hebrew Nations Radio and it started out to be a disaster and then turned around and was a nice interview. On Monday I also got a phone call asking me to come to Switzerland to speak at Passover to people from France, Italy, Germany and Switzerland. This came about after a man had met me at our booth in Jerusalem this past Sukkot and bought all our books and DVDs. He has been watching and reading and now wants to know if I would come.

If any of you live near Berne, Switzerland and can interpret German or Italian or French, please do write me. We are still discussing the final details and this is not yet confirmed. We are just planning it.

Also on Monday, I got another email while I was on Hebrew Nation Radio asking me to do another interview on Lamb Radio. I have 4 ads on Lamb Radio the past year and although I did not know what the show was, I thought I would do it anyway.
As Mitch Houston, the host of Out Cry Ministries and I talked, we agreed to do a show together. It was then suggested that we keep on doing the show until we have completely covered in detail the Sabbatical year teachings. Further on in our talks it was suggested I co-host the show, and then after that the door was open for whatever we wanted.

I was excited and Mitch was excited, as were Krista and Craig to have me on the show. Listen to them as they talk about me coming on the show this Tuesday. You will also notice when this show began. December 3, 2014. Yes, Tuesday evenings from now on I will be on this show at 9 PM Central time, 10 PM Eastern. But for now I want you to listen to what I am about to share.

Notice they just started this show December 3, 2014. I applied to the NRB with full payment on November 27, 2014. On December 5th, 2014 I was notified that our application was denied. We then appealed the following week and have not heard anything.
It was around this same time that Mitch held a home group meeting and was told by one of the ladies in that meeting that he should go and watch the videos at sightedmoon.com. Mitch had never heard of me or sightedmoon.com before that moment. He said he would check me out and then promptly forgot about it. Just last week, which is about 3 weeks after that first mention of my site, a friend of both Mitch and myself told Mitch to go and watch my stuff. Jason, our mutual friend, was with me in Israel this past Sukkot. I had taught on Shabbat one day to his family and his friends family and it had to be done in Spanish for the one mother who spoke no English. It was a lot of fun and a great Shabbat meeting and teaching and eating. That Shabbat came about as a result of my not being able to meet another friend I had just bumped into. Jason could not get into the Messianic Synagogue as it was packed out, so he called me asking what I was doing. I had no plans and had missed my friend so I went to his place and taught. I had not known Jason before this and we had only just been introduced the day before. Jason would later that week come and help me in the booth at the ICEJ convention. Super nice guy.

So Jason told Mitch to get in touch with me and he sent me an email on Monday which I told you of above.
But wait, it gets even better. Mitch and his wife just started this Messianic walk about 3 years ago. They were traveling across the country as a singing group going to churches and conferences getting people stirred up “spiritually”. As they began to learn the truths about Yehshua they then began to share them to those religious groups they were singing for.  One by one they would be dropped from coming back. But they continued to tell these people that God had a name and they should use His name. They also told them they needed to keep the Holy Days and the Sabbath. They eventually ended up with no sponsors for income and no places wanting them to sing. It was in November 2014 that they met the owner of Lamb Radio and were asked to help out with the whole station.

That is the background history leading up to this moment of our starting on this new journey. We have more to announce next week. Yehovah is in charge and while I was trying to reach some large radio or tv station, Yehovah was setting up His mustard seed station and host and team. I am so excited to be apart of this new direction we are about to begin.

We need your prayers and we want you to call in and ask your questions. We want you to be a part of our discussion so send you your email questions and lets talk about it.

As I get this news letter finished to send out, I was about to ask if there were any groups in Holland or England that I could come and teach at for the last half of the Days of Unleavened Bread. I have just spoken with a man who teaches Torah from Pakistan and is in Europe doing that as well. He is very outspoken and does not care what people say, but only cares about sharing what Yehovah says. I have now introduced him to the Sabbatical years and he wants to learn these things. We will see shortly whether or not he begins to teach it to those in Pakistan and other areas. You can pray for him to understand this and begin to teach it to those people where he is able to travel.


OIL

I want to share with you something I am seeing. Here is a chart for a price of oil per barrel from 2003 up to Dec 2008. If you remember in my video from the Prophecy Club we were commenting on the price of oil in March of 2008 and I was warning you at that time about the coming recession which began just 6 months later in the fall of 2008.

The Sabbatical year began in 2009 at Aviv. Rabbi Cahn claims that 2008 is a Shmita year and uses this information as part of his proof. Look at the chart and think about it.


On this next chart is the price of oil for the past 10 years up until this week. You will notice that the price of oil began to drop drastically in 2008 and was at the bottom by the time the Sabbatical year began in 2009. Now look at today. The Sabbatical year is one year away and begins in 2016 at Aviv. Oil is dropping in front of this coming Sabbatical year.

Now lets look at the price of oil since it came to be a commodity on the market. And let us compare the price of oil to each Sabbatical year.
Aviv 2016 is the next one. Here is the beginning of each Sabbatical year going back to 1862. What you will see is that after each Sabbatical year the prices go up. Almost without exception. Coming into each Sabbatical year the prices were tanking and bottomed out by the time of the Sabbatical year began, not in all cases but in many of them.

  • Aviv 2009
  • Aviv 2002
  • Aviv 1995 Aviv 1996 was a Jubilee to Aviv 1997
  • Aviv 1988
  • Aviv 1981
  • Aviv 1974
  • Aviv 1967
  • Aviv 1960
  • Aviv 1953
  • Aviv 1946 The Jubilee year was Aviv 1947- Aviv 1948
  • Aviv 1939
  • Aviv 1932
  • Aviv 1925
  • Aviv 1918
  • Aviv 1911
  • Aviv 1904
  • Aviv 1897 The Jubilee year was Aviv 1898-Aviv 1899
  • Aviv 1890
  • Aviv 1883
  • Aviv 1876
  • Aviv 1869
  • Aviv 1862

 

This next chart, although hard to see, has all the recessions and depressions from 1790 to 1965. I have coloured the Sabbatical and Jubilee years in yellow. You may get some help from this site for actual recession years. This chart is also in the original teaching from the Prophecy Club.


What I am showing you with the price of oil and with the recession and depression charts is this one simple fact. This same simple fact that most people forget and the fact that Rabbi Cahn has overlooked.

Lev 25:20  And if you shall say, What shall we eat the seventh year? Behold, we shall not sow nor gather in our increase! 21Then I will command My blessing on you in the sixth year, and it shall bring forth fruit for three years.

Not all, but many times as the Sabbatical year is about to begin, the economy tanks and takes a nose dive, leading into a recession or depression which lasts for year. When your child is being bad, do you still give them the ice cream cone you had promised earlier? No, you take it away and you punish the child.

We are the children of Yehovah. We Israelites are to be His chosen people through whom He was to teach the rest of the world. We have not kept the Sabbatical years. We have not kept the Holy Day or the Sabbath. So why do you all expect to get a double portion in the sixth year of the Sabbatical cycle? What I see Yehovah doing is taking away a double portion before the Sabbatical year begin. This is what Rabbi Cahn is calling the shmita when in fact it is actually the 6th year. Our blessing has been turned into a curse and instead of reaping abundance we are reaping economic disaster.

The last time the price of oil dropped so much was just before the economic recession began in 2008. (See the second chart above) Are the USA and UK now keeping the Sabbatical year? No, they are still rebelling. Should they be blessed with a double portion. No, and I would expect a double portion to be taken away from them.

But those of who have shown Yehovah that we will obey and that we did keep the last Sabbatical year, I am hoping for a double portion. For those of you who will be keeping this commandment for the first time. He will bless you for doing your best and trying. But your double portion I would not expect until just before the next Sabbatical year in 2023-2024.


Witness in the Stars

I hope you have been able to study out those things we have been sharing with you about the Eighth Day Feast and how it wraps all the other Feast days into itself. How all the other Feast Days point to this one day of the wedding. Many a sermon is given at this time or around this feast day about death and dying and what happens to those who die. Again we have explained this briefly in our video that we have had a link for you to watch each week for this entire series.

Why do many pastors talk about the dead and death at the time of the Eighth Day Feast? What happens to you at death, where are Grandma and Grandpa? What about my two children that died before they had a chance to live? What about all those other children, or those who never heard of Jesus or Yehshua or Yehovah? What about all the rest of mankind who have ever lived, where do they fit into the plan of Yehovah?

We have shown you that they are not in hell nor are they in heaven. We have also shown you in this series that they are asleep and waiting for that time when they come out of the grave.

In this series we have also shown you that Yehovah’s desire is to dwell with us here on this earth and that He is going to bring His Kingdom to the earth in the 8th Millennium. At that time Yehovah is going to marry His bride. We have shown you many times now that Yehovah is the one we killed on the tree at Passover in 31 C.E. Yehovah is Yehshua. They are one and the same person, not two and not three. And we have shown you that the Holy Spirit is shown to us in the image of water and that Yehshua said;

Joh 7:38 He who believes on Me, as the Scripture has said, “Out of his belly shall flow rivers of living water.” 39 (But He spoke this about the Spirit, which they who believed on Him should receive; for the Holy Spirit was not yet given, because Jesus was not yet glorified.)

We have also shown you how each and every Holy Day of Lev 23 points to this the 8th Day Feast. The Wedding of Yehovah with mankind.
In the weeks to come you will learn how Abraham was told to Sefer the Stars and we are told that it meant to count the stars.
Lets look at it.

Gen 15:5 And he brought him forth abroad, and said, Look now toward heaven, and tell the stars, if thou be able to number them: and he said unto him, So shall thy seed be.

Gen 15:5 And he brought him forthH3318 (H853) abroad,H2351 and said,H559 LookH5027 nowH4994 toward heaven,H8064 and tellH5608 the stars,H3556 ifH518 thou be ableH3201 to numberH5608 them: and he saidH559 unto him, SoH3541 shall thy seedH2233 be.H1961

The word “tell” the stars is;

H5608   ???   sa?phar   saw-far’
A primitive root; properly to score with a mark as a tally or record, that is, (by implication) to inscribe, and also to enumerate; intensively to recount, that is, celebrate: – commune, (ac-) count, declare, number, + penknife, reckon, scribe, shew forth, speak, talk, tell (out), writer.

We are to declare the stars, connect them or sefer them to see what they show us.
They reveal the plan of Yehovah and yet many people have fallen for the lie Satan has put forward that we are not to consider them because that is “Astrology” and that is evil.
When Yehovah created the planets and the stars, He set them in the firmament of heaven and said, in Genesis 1:14–

“Let them be for signs and for seasons.”

Here the word “signs” is othoth (plural of oth, from the root to come). Hence, a sign of something or some One to come.

Jeremiah 10:2 Jehovah says, “And be not dismayed at the signs of the heavens, for the heathen are dismayed at them.”

The word “seasons” does not denote merely what we call the four seasons of the year, but cycles of time. (Note there are only two season in the bible, Summer and winter) It is appointed time (from the verb to point out, appoint).

H4150     ?????   ???   ????     mo??e?d mo??e?d mo??a?da?h     mo-ade’,mo-ade’,mo-aw-daw’
From H3259; properly an appointment, that is, a fixed time or season; specifically a festival; conventionally a year; by implication, an assembly (as convened for a definite purpose); technically the congregation; by extension, the place of meeting; also a signal (as appointed beforehand): – appointed (sign, time), (place of, solemn) assembly, congregation, (set, solemn) feast, (appointed, due) season, solemn (-ity), synagogue, (set) time (appointed).

We shall continue from this point with Bullinger’s Witness of the Stars.
It occurs three more times in Genesis, each time in connection with the promised Seed–

Genesis 17:21, “At this set time in the next year”;
Genesis 18:14, “At the time appointed I will return”; and
Genesis 21:2, “At the set time of which God had spoken.”
Genesis 1:14 is therefore, “They (the sun, moon, and stars) shall be for signs (things to come) and for cycles (appointed times).”

Here, then, we have a distinct declaration from God, that the heavens contain not only a Revelation concerning things to come in the “Signs,” but also concerning appointed times in the wondrous movements of the sun, and moon, and stars.

Some years ago it was my privilege to enjoy the acquaintance of Miss Frances Rolleston, of Keswick, and to carry on a correspondence with her with respect to her work, Mazzaroth or, the Constellations. She was the first to create an interest in this important subject. Since then Dr. Joseph A. Seiss, of Philadelphia, has endeavored to popularize her work on the other side of the Atlantic; and brief references have been made to the subject in such books as Moses and Geology, by Dr. Kinns, and in Primeval Man; but it was felt, for many reasons, that it was desirable to make another effort to set forth, in a more complete form, the witness of the stars to prophetic truth, so necessary in these last days.

To the late Miss Rolleston, however, belongs the honor of collecting a mass of information bearing on this subject; but, published as it was, chiefly in the form of notes, unarranged and unindexed, it was suited only for, but was most valuable to, the student. It was she who performed the drudgery of collecting the facts presented by Albumazer, the Arab astronomer to the Caliphs of Grenada, AD 850; and the Tables drawn up by Ulugh Beigh, the Tartar prince and astronomer, about AD 1450, who gives the Arabian astronomy as it had come down from the earliest times.

Modern astronomers have preserved, and still have in common use, the ancient names of over a hundred of the principal stars which have been handed down; but now these names are used merely as a convenience, and without any reference to their significance.

Psa 19:1 To the Chief Musician. A Psalm of David. The heavens declare the glory of God; and the expanse proclaims His handiwork. 2 Day to day pours forth speech, and night to night reveals knowledge. 3 There is no speech nor are there words; their voice is not heard. 4 Their line has gone out through all the earth and their words to the end of the world. In them He has set a tabernacle for the sun, 5 and he comes forth as a bridegroom from his canopy; he rejoices as a strong man to run a race, 6 going forth from the end of the heavens, and its course is to their ends. And there is nothing hid from its heat. 7 The Law of Jehovah is perfect, converting the soul; the testimony of Jehovah is sure, making the simple wise. 8 The Precepts of Jehovah are right, rejoicing the heart; the Commandments of Jehovah are pure, giving light to the eyes. 9 The fear of Jehovah is clean, enduring forever; the judgments of Jehovah are true and righteous altogether, 10 more to be desired than gold, even much fine gold; sweeter also than honey and the honeycomb. 11 And Your servant is warned by them; in keeping them there is great reward. 12 Who can understand his errors? Oh make me pure from secret faults; 13 and keep Your servant back from presumptuous sins; do not let them rule over me; then I shall be upright, and I shall be innocent of great transgression. 14 Let the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart be pleasing in Your sight, O Jehovah, my Rock and my Redeemer.

For more than two thousand five hundred years the world was without a written revelation from God. The question is, Did God leave Himself without a witness? The question is answered very positively by the written Word that He did not.

In Romans 1:19 it is declared that, “that which may be known of God is manifest in them; for God hath showed it unto them. For the invisible things of Him from the creation of the world are clearly seen, being understood by the things that are made, even His eternal power and Godhead; so that they are without excuse.”

But how was God known? How were His “invisible things,” i.e., His plans, His purposes, and His counsels, known since the creation of the world? We are told by the Holy Spirit in Romans 10:18. Having stated in v. 17 that “Faith cometh by hearing and hearing by the Word (the thing spoken, sayings) of God,” He asks, “But I say, Have they not heard? Yes, verily.” And we may ask, How have they heard? The answer follows–“Their sound went into all the earth and their words (their teaching, message, instruction) unto the ends of the world.” What words? What instruction? Whose message? Whose teaching? There is only one answer, and that is, THE HEAVENS! This is settled by the fact that the passage is quoted from Psalm 19, [one] part of which is occupied with the Revelation of God written in the Heavens, and the part with the Revelation of God written in the Word.

This is the simple explanation of this beautiful Psalm. This is why its two subjects are brought together. It has often perplexed many why there should be that abrupt departure in verse 7–“The law of the LORD is perfect, converting the soul.” The fact is, there is nothing abrupt in it, and it is no departure. It is simply the transition to the second of the two great Revelations which are thus placed in juxtaposition. The first is the Revelation of the Creator, El, in His works, while the second is the Revelation of the Covenant Jehovah in His Word. And it is noteworthy that while in the first half of the Psalm, El is named only once, in the latter half Jehovah is named seven times, the last being threefold (Jehovah, Rock, and Redeemer), concluding the Psalm.

It is a remarkable fact that it is in the Book of Job, which is generally allowed to be the oldest book in the Bible, * if not in the world, that we have references to this Stellar Revelation. This would be at least 2,000 years before Christ. In that book the signs of the Zodiac and the names of several stars and constellations are mentioned, as being ancient and well-known.
* Job is thought by some to be the Jobab mentioned in Genesis 10:29, the third in descent from Eber.
In Isaiah 40:26 (RV) we read:–

“Lift up your eyes on high,
And see who hath created these,
That bringeth out their host by number:
He calleth them all by name;
By the greatness of His might,
And for that He is strong in power,
Not one is lacking.”

We have the same evidence in Psalm 147:4 (RV).

“He telleth the number of the stars;
He giveth them all their names.”

Here is a distinct and Divine declaration that the great Creator both numbered as well as named the stars of Heaven.
The question is, Has he revealed any of these names? Have any of them been handed down to us?
The answer is Yes; and that in the Bible itself we have the names (so ancient that their meaning is a little obscure) of Ash (a name still connected with the Great Bear), Cesil, and Cimah.
They occur in Job 9:9: “Which maketh Arcturus (RV the Bear), Orion, and Pleiades, and the chambers of the south.” (Marg., Heb., Ash, Cesil, and Cimah.)

Job 38:31,32: “Canst thou bind the sweet influences (RV cluster) of the Pleiades (marg., the seven stars, Heb. Cimah), or loose the bands of Orion (marg. Heb. Cesil)? Canst thou bring forth Mazzaroth (marg., the twelve signs. RV, “the twelve signs”: and marg., the signs of the Zodiac) in his season? or canst thou guide Arcturus with his sons (RV, the Bear with her train; and marg., Heb., sons).”*
* Note the structure of this verse:

  1. The seven stars,    B. Orion,
  2. A. The twelve signs,                                                                             B. Arcturus.

Isaiah 13:10: …”the stars of heaven and the constellations thereof”…
Amos 5:8: “Seek him that maketh the seven stars (RV, the Pleiades) and Orion.”
Then we have the term “Mazzaroth,” Job 38:32, and “Mazzaloth,” 2 Kings 23:5. The former in both versions is referred to the Twelve Signs of the Zodiac, while the latter is rendered “planets,” and in margin, the twelve signs or constellations.
Others are referred to by name. The sign of “Gemini,” or the Twins, is given as the name of a ship: Acts 28:11, Castor & Pollux.
Most commentators agree that the constellation of “Draco,” or the Dragon (between the Great and Little Bear), is referred to in Job 26:13: “By His Spirit He hath garnished the heavens; His hand hath formed the crooked serpent (RV swift. Marg. fleeing or gliding. See Isaiah 27:1, 43:14).” This word “garnished” is peculiar. The RV puts in the margin, beauty. In Psalm 16:6, it is rendered goodly. “I have a goodly heritage.” In Daniel 4:2, it is rendered, “I thought it good to show,” referring to “the signs and wonders” with which God had visited Nebuchadnezzar. It appears from this that God “thought it good to show” by these signs written in the heavens the wonders of His purposes and counsels, and it was by His Spirit that He made it known; it was His hand that coiled the crooked serpent among the stars of heaven.
Thus we see that the Scriptures are not silent as to the great antiquity of the signs and constellations.

Cancer (the Crab)

With regard to the sign of CANCER, one thing is certain, that we have not got the original picture, or anything like it.
It does not agree with the names either of its three constellations which have come down to us, or of its stars.
In the ancient Denderah Zodiac it is represented as a Scarabaeus, or sacred beetle. * In the Zodiac of Esneh and in a Hindu Zodiac (400 BC) it is the same.
* The Scarabaeus, passing its early existence as a worm of the earth, and thence issuing as a winged denizen of heaven, was held sacred by the Egyptians as an emblem of the resurrection of the body.
According to the Greeks, Jupiter placed this Crab amongst the signs of the Zodiac.
In Sir William Jones’s Oriental Zodiac we meet with a crab, and an Egyptian Zodiac found at Rome bears also the crab in this sign.
The more ancient Egyptians placed Hermanubis, or Hermes, with the head of an ibis or hawk, as the symbol of the sign now allotted to CANCER.
The Denderah name is

 Klaria,

or the cattle-folds,

and in this name we have the key to the meaning of the sign, and to the subject of this chapter.
The Arabic name is Al Sartan, which means who holds or binds, and may be from the Hebrew to bind together (Gen 49:11). There is no ancient Hebrew word known for the crab. It was classed with many other unclean creatures, and would be included in the general term “vermin.”
The Syriac, Sartano, means the same. The Greek name is Karkinos, which means holding or encircling, as does the Latin, Cancer, and hence is applied to the crab. In the word Khan, we have the traveller’s rest or inn; while Ker or Cer is the Arabic for encircling. The ancient Akkadian name of the month is Su-kul-na, the seizer or possessor of seed.
(It is my personal opinion that this means held in the palm of His hand. Read Isaiah and look at the word for Palm)

Isa 49:16  Behold, I have carved you on the palms of My hands; your walls are forever before Me.

H3709     ???      kaph      kaf

From H3721; the hollow hand or palm (so of the paw of an animal, of the sole, and even of the bowl of a dish or sling, the handle of a bolt, the leaves of a palm tree); figuratively power: – branch, + foot, hand ([-ful], -dle, [-led]), hollow, middle, palm, paw, power, sole, spoon.

H3721    ????     ka?phaph     kaw-faf’

A primitive root; to curve: – bow down (self).

The sign contains 83 stars, one of which is of the 3rd magnitude, and seven are of the 4th magnitude, and the remainder of inferior magnitudes.

In the centre of the Sign there is a remarkably bright cluster of stars, so bright that they can be sometimes seen with the naked eye. It looks like a comet, and is made up of a great multitude of stars. Modern astronomers have called it the Beehive. But its ancient name has come down to us as Praesepe, which means a multitude, offspring.
The brightest star, z (in the tail), is called Tegmine, holding. The star a (or a1and a2), in the lower large claw, is called Acubene, which, in Hebrew and Arabic, means the sheltering or hiding-place. Another is named Ma’alaph (Arabic), assembled thousands; Al Himarein (Arabic), the kids or lambs.
(Again I say to you read the scriptures to see these truths jump out at you. Acubene, the secret hiding place in the palm of His hand.)

Psa 27:5  For in the time of trouble He shall hide me in His shelter, in the secrecy of His tabernacle He shall hide me; He shall set me up on a rock.

Isa 49:2  And He has made My mouth like a sharp sword; in the shadow of His hand He has hidden Me, and made Me a polished shaft. He has hidden Me in His quiver,

Psa 91:1  He who dwells in the secret place of the Most High shall rest under the shadow of the Almighty.

Psa 17:7  Set out Your wonderful loving-kindness, O Savior of those seeking refuge in You, by Your right hand, from those who rise up against me. 8  Keep me as the pupil, the daughter of the eye; hide me under the shadow of Your wings, 9  from the face of the wicked who strip me. Those against my soul, My foes, encircle me.

Psa 31:20  You shall hide them in the secrecy of Your presence from the pride of man; You shall hide them in a shelter away from the strife of tongues.

 North and south of the nebula Praesepe are two stars, which Orientalists speak of by a name evidently of some antiquity. Asellus means an Ass, and one was called Asellus Boreas, the northern Ass; while the other, Asellus Australis, is the southern Ass. *

* The Ass was the emblem of Typhon, the king who smites or is smitten.

(In prophecy is this not speaking of the King of the North Assyria and the King of South Islam?)

This connects it with the Tribe of Issachar, who is said to have borne upon the Tribal standard the sign of two asses.
This is doubtless the reference in Jacob’s blessing (Gen 49:11, RV):

“Issachar is a strong ass,
Couching down between the sheepfolds;
And he saw a resting-place that it was good;
And the land that it was pleasant;
And he bowed his shoulder to bear,
And became a servant under task work.”

Have we not here the gathering up of the teaching of this sign–
Messiah’s redeemed possessions held fast.
Here we come to the completion of His work. In CANCER we see it with reference to His redeemed, and in the next (the last) Sign, LEO, with reference to His enemies.

(Cancer is the completion of His work. It is in Cancer that we are redeemed and protected. But this constellation has three other complimentary constellations that also tell a very important story.)

The three constellations develop the truth. What is now called Ursa Minor is the Lesser Flock; Ursa Major gives us The Sheepfold and the Sheep; while Argo, The Ship, shows the travellers and the pilgrims brought safely home–all conflict over.
To accomplish this, we see the true Issachar bowing his shoulder to bear. He could say, “My soul is bowed down” (Psa 57:6). He became a servant, and humbled Himself to death. He undertook the mighty task of saving His people from their sins. “Their Redeemer is strong” (Jer 50:34); for help was laid on “One that was mighty” (Psa 89:19). And His redeemed shall come to a resting-place that is good, and to a land that is pleasant. No earthly Khan on earth affords them a home. They look for a heavenly home, and in the many mansions of the Father’s house they shall find eternal rest.
Here we see that sheltering home to which the names of these stars point; where the assembled thousands (Ma’alaph) shall be received into the true Klaria, even the “everlasting habitations.”
These are now to be shown to us.

1. URSA MINOR (The Little Bear)
The lesser sheepfold

Ursa Minor (the Little Bear)
Here we come to another grievous mistake, or ignorant perversion of primitive truth, as shown in the ancient names of these two constellations.
It is sufficient to point to the fact that no Bear is found in any Chaldean, Egyptian, Pesian, or Indian Zodiacs, and that no bear was ever seen with such a tail! No one who had ever seen a bear would have called attention to a tail, such as no bear ever had, by placing in its very tip the most important, wondrous, and mysterious Polar Star, the central star of the heavens, round which all others revolve. The patriarchal astronomers, we may be sure, committed no such folly as this.
The primitive truth that there were two, or a pair of constellations is preserved; and that of these two, one is larger, and the other smaller. But what were they? We have the clue to the answer in the name of the brightest star of the larger constellation, which is called Dubheh.
Now Dubheh  means a herd of animals. In Arabic, Dubah  means cattle. In Hebrew, Dohver,  is a fold; and hence in Chaldee it meant wealth. The Hebrew Dohveh,  means rest or security; and certainly there is not much of either to be found or enjoyed with bears! The word occurs in Deuteronomy 33:25 “As thy days so shall thy strength be.” The Revised Version gives in the margin, “So shall thy rest or security be.” This accords with what we have already seen under CANCER: “Couching down between the sheepfolds, he saw a resting-place that it was good.”
Here are the two Sheepfolds, then; the Greater fold, and Lesser; and here is the rest and security which the flocks will find therein.
But in Hebrew there is a word very similar in sound, though not in spelling–dohv, which means a bear! So we find in Arabic dub; Persian, deeb and dob. We can see, therefore, how the Hebrew Dohver, a fold, and Dohv, a bear, were confused; and how the Arabic Dubah, cattle, might easily have been mistaken by the Greeks, and understood as a bear.
The constellation, which we must therefore call THE LESSER SHEEPFOLD, contains 24 stars, viz., one of the 2nd magnitude, two of the 3rd, four of the 4th, etc.
The brightest star, a (at the point of the tail), is the most important in the whole heavens. It is named Al Ruccaba, which means the turned or ridden on, and is today the Polar or central star, which does not revolve in a circle as does every other star, but remains, apparently, fixed in its position.
But though the star does not revolve like the others, the central point in the heavens is very slowly but steadily moving.
When these constellations were formed the Dragon possessed this important point, and the star a, in Draco, marked this central point. But, by its gradual recession, that point is sufficiently near this star Ruccaba, in the Lesser Sheepfold, for it to be what is called “the Polar Star.” But, how could this have been known five or six thousand years ago? How could it have been known when it received its name, which means the turned or ridden on? That it was known is clear: so likewise was it made known in the written Word that the original blessing included not merely the multiplication of the seed of faithful Abraham, but it was then added, “And thy seed shall possess the gate of his enemies” (Gen 22:17).
This star was called by the Greeks the “Cynosure.” ARATUS seems to apply this term to the whole of the seven stars of the Lesser Bear. Mr. Robert Brown, Jr., shows that this word once supposed to be Hellenic, is non-Hellenic, and possibly Euphratean in origin, from a word which he transliterates An-nas-sur-ra, and renders it, “as it literally means, high in rising, i.e., in heavenly position.” (Euphratean Stellar Researches). Is not this the primitive truth of the Revelation? Will not this Lesser Fold be high, yea, the highest in heavenly position?
The Polar Star has been removed from the Dragon, and is now in the Lesser Fold; and when the Dragon shall be cast down from the heavens, the heavenly seed will be safely folded there. But this is the Lesser Sheepfold. These are they who all through the ages have been “partakers of the heavenly calling,” who desired a better country, that is, a heavenly; wherefore God “hath prepared for them a city,” the city for which Abraham himself “looked.” This was no earthly city, but a city “whose builder and maker is God” (Heb 11:10-16). These have always been a smaller company, a “little flock,” but the kingdom shall be theirs, even the kingdom of God, for which they now look and wait. They have not yet “received the promises; but, having seen them afar off” by faith, they “were persuaded of them, and embraced them, and confessed that they were strangers and pilgrims on the earth” (Heb 11:13). Their Messiah has accomplished “the redemption of the purchased possession,” and in due time the redeemed will inherit it, “unto the praise of His glory” (Eph 1:13).
The bright star b is named Kochab, which means waiting Him who cometh. Other stars are named Al Pherdadain (Arabic), which means the calves, or the young (as in Deut 22:6), the redeemed assembly. Another, Al Gedi, means the kid. Another is Al Kaid, the assembled; while Arcas, or Arctos (from which we derive the term Arctic regions), means, according to one interpreter, a travelling company; or, according to another, the stronghold of the saved.
But there is not only the heavenly seed, which is compared “to the stars of heaven,” but there is the seed that is compared to “the sand of the sea”–the larger flock or company, who will enjoy the earthly blessing.
The north star is at the end of the little dipper and is about 5 hand breadths from the big dipper as shown in the picture.

We must interrupt Mr. Bullinger at this point and show you what this lesser sheepfold is. You know it today as the little Dipper. We have written about it in our book The Prophecies of Abraham. And we have as one of our very first articles the explanation of this constellation about the 24 Elders. YOU DO NEED TO READ THIS ARTICLE TO GRASP THE PURPOSE OF ALL THESE TEACHINGS ON THE 8TH DAY.

In short, this constellation is showing us the first wave offering which takes place on the day after the weekly Sabbath during the days of Unleavened Bread. Once you understand who this small or lesser sheepfold is and that it is related to the larger one then you can understand the first wave offering and how it is tied into the second wave offering at Pentecost.

2. URSA MAJOR (The Great Bear)
The fold and the flock

Ursa Major (the Great Bear)
Of these it is written–

“But in Mount Zion there shall be those that escape,
And it shall be holy:
And the house of Jacob shall possess their possessions.”
Obadiah 17-19, RV

It is a large and important constellation, containing 87 stars, of which one is of the 1st magnitude, four of the 2nd, three of the 3rd, ten of the 4th, etc. It always presents a splendid appearance, and is perhaps, therefore, the best known of all the constellations.
In the Book of Job (9:9, and 38:31,32) it is mentioned under the name of Ash. “Canst thou guide Ash and her offspring?” which is rendered in the AV, “Arcturus and his sons,” and in the RV, “The Bear with her train” (marg., “sons”). The Arabs still call it Al Naish, or Annaish, the assembled together, as sheep in a fold. The ancient Jewish commentators interpreted Ash as the seven stars of this constellation. They are called by others Septentriones, which thus became the Latin word for North.
The brightest star, a (in the back), is named Dubhe, which, as we have seen, means a herd of animals, or a flock, and gives its name to the whole constellation.
The star b (below it) is named Merach (Hebrew), the flock (Arabic, purchased).
The star g (on the left of b) is called Phaeda, or Phacda, meaning visited, guarded, or numbered, as a flock; for His sheep, like the stars, are bothnumbered and named. (See Psalm 147:4)
The star e is called Alioth, a name we have had in Auriga, meaning a she goat.
The star z (in the middle of the tail) is called Mizar, separate or small, and close to it Al Cor, the Lamb.
The star h (at the end of the so-called tail) is named Benet Naish (Arabic), the daughters of the assembly. It is also called Al Kaid, the assembled.
The star i (in its right foot) is called Talitha.

The names of other stars all give the same testimony: El Alcola (Arabic), the sheepfold (as in Psa 95:7; and 100:3);

Psa 95:7  For He is our God, and we are the people of His pasture, and the sheep of His hand. Today if you will hear His voice,

Psa 100:3  Know that Jehovah, He is God. He has made us, and not we ourselves; we are His people, and the sheep of His pasture.

Cab’d al Asad, multitude, many assembled; Annaish, the assembled; Megrez, separated, as the flock in the fold; El Kaphrah, protected, covered (Heb. redeemed and ransomed); Dubheh Lachar (Arabic), the latter herd or flock; Helike (so called by HOMER in the Iliad), company of travellers; Amaza (Greek), coming and going; Calisto, the sheepfold set or appointed.

There is not one discordant voice in the rich abundance of this testimony. We have nothing to do here with the Grecian myths about bears or wild boars. We see only the innumerable seed gathered by Him who scattered (Jer 31:10).

Jer 31:10  Hear the Word of Jehovah, O nations, and declare it in the coastlands afar off. And say, He who scattered Israel will gather him and keep him, as a shepherd keeps his flock.

Many are the Scriptures we might quote which speak of this gathering and assembling of the long scattered flock. It is written as plainly in the Book, as it is in the heavens. The prophecies of this gathering are as conspicuous in the Word of God as the “Seven Stars” in the sky. It is difficult even to make a selection from the wealth of such promises; but few are more beautiful than that in Ezekiel 34:12-16:

“As a shepherd seeketh out his flock
In the day that he is among his sheep that are scattered;
So will I seek out my sheep,
And will deliver them out of all places where they have been scattered in the cloudy and dark day.
And I will bring them out from the people,
And gather them from the countries,
And will bring them to their own land,
And feed them upon the mountains of Israel by the rivers
And in all the inhabited places of the country.
I will feed them in a good pasture,
And upon the high mountains of Israel shall their fold be:
There shall they lie in a good fold,
And in a fat pasture shall they feed upon the mountains of Israel.
I will feed my flock,
And I will cause them to lie down, saith the Lord GOD (Adonai Jehovah).
I will seek that which was lost,
And bring again that which was driven away,
And will bind up that which was broken,
And will strengthen that which was sick:
But I will destroy the fat and the strong;
I will feed them with judgment.”

It is of this judgment with which this book, and indeed the whole Revelation, ends, in the next and final chapter.
But before we come to that we have one more picture in the third constellation of this Sign, which combines the first two in one.

Here in this second constellation known as the big dipper or the greater bear or the greater sheepfold is pictured in the Feast of Shavuot, which we have explained in our article Pentecost’s Hidden Meaning, which we asked you to read after the the section of the little dipper. These are the plans of Salvation that Yehovah has laid out before you since the creation of the stars.

The first wave offering during Unleavened Bread represents those raised from the grave who had lived prior to the death of Yehshua – Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, Moses and the like. We read of the 24 elders in heaven now. Yehovah is preparing the administration of the Kingdom. These 24 are first. The next group to be raised up will take place at Shavuot and will be all those who died in the faith from the time Yehshua came out of the grave up until the time He returns just before the 7th Millennium. These then will rule with David here on earth for the 7th Millennium.

What we are now about to read is what the Eighth Day feast shows us-the resurrection of the rest of mankind-everyone who has ever lived since the creation of Adam, and they will be shown the truths of the Torah, which is the laws of the Kingdom. They will judged at the Great white throne judgment we read about in Revelation.
And then the wedding of Yehovah takes place with the Bride of Israel and the rest of mankind who are now grafted into Israel.

 3. ARGO (The Ship)

The pilgrims safe at home

Argo (the Ship)
This is the celebrated ship of the Argonauts, of which HOMER sung nearly ten centuries before Christ. Sir Isaac Newton puts the expedition of the Argonauts shortly after the death of Solomon (about 930 BC). While Dr. Blair’s chronology puts it at 1236 BC.
Whatever fables have gathered around the story there can be no doubt as to its great antiquity. Some think that the story had its origin in name, as well as in fact, from the Ark of Noah and its mysterious journey. All that is clear, when divested of mythic details, is that the sailors in that ship, after all their dangers and toils and battles were over, came back victorious to their own shores. The “golden fleece,” for which the Argonauts went in search, tells of a treasure that had been lost. “Jason,” the great captain, tells of Him who recovered it from the Serpent, which guarded it with ever-watchful eye, when none else was able to approach it. And thus, through the fables and myths of the Greeks, we can see the light primeval shine; and this light, once seen, lights up this Sign and its constellations, so that their teaching cannot be misunderstood.
ARATUS sings of Argo:

“Stern-foremost hauled; no mark of onward-speeding ship.
Sternward she comes, as vessels do
When sailors turn the helm
On entering harbour: all the oars back-water,
And gliding backward, to an anchor comes.”

It tells of that blessed home-coming, when–

“The ransomed of the LORD shall return
And come to Zion with songs,
And everlasting joy upon their heads;
They shall obtain joy and gladness,
And sorrow and sighing shall flee away.”
Isaiah 35:10

It tells of the glorious Jason (the Graeco-Judean equivalent of Joshua or Jesus), of whom it is asked:

“Art thou not it which hath cut Rahab,
And wounded the dragon?
Art thou not it which hath dried the sea, the waters of the great deep;
That hath made the depths of the sea a way for the ransomed to pass over?
Therefore the redeemed of the LORD shall return,
And come with singing unto Zion,” etc.
Isaiah 51:9-11
“For the LORD hath redeemed Jacob,
And ransomed him from the hand of him that was stronger than he.
Therefore they shall come and sing in the height of Zion,
And shall flow together to the goodness of the LORD.”
Jeremiah 31:11, 12

This is the return of the great emigrant-ship (Argo) and all its company of travellers (for this is the meaning of the word Argo).
In Kircher’s Egyptian Planisphere Argo, is represented by two galleys (as we have two sheepfolds), whose prows are surmounted by rams’ heads; and the stern of one of them ends in a fish’s tail. One of the two occupies four segments of the sphere (from TAURUS to VIRGO), while the other occupies the four from LEO to CAPRICORNUS. One half of the southern meridians is occupied with these galleys and their construction and decorations. Astronomers tell us that they carry us back, the one to the period when the Bull opened the year (to which time VIRGIL refers); and the other to the same epoch, when the summer solstice was in LEO–“an era greatly antecedent to the Argonautic expedition. How else, they ask, do we account for the one ship having her prow in the first Decan of TAURUS, and her poop in the last decan of LEO? or for one galley being freighted with the installed Bull, and the other with the solstitial Lion?” (Jamieson’s Scientific Display, &c.)
These are the words of an astronomer who knows nothing whatever of our interpretation of the heavens which is set forth in this work.
It will indeed be a large vessel, the true Argo, with its company of travellers, “a great multitude which no man can number.” All this is indicated by the immense size of the constellation, as well as by the large number of its stars. There are 64 stars in Argo (reckoning by the Britannic catalogue); one of the 1st magnitude, six of the 2nd, nine of the 3rd, nine of the 4th, etc. Only a small part of the ship’s poop is visible in Britain.
Its brightest star, a (near the keel), is called Canopus or Canobus,  which means the possession of Him who cometh. Other star-names are–Sephina, the multitude or abundance; Tureis, the possession; Asmidiska, the released who travel; Soheil (Arabic), the desired; and Subilon, the Branch.
Is not all this exactly in harmony with the rest of this sign? And is not this what is written in the Book?

“Therefore, fear thou not, O My servant Jacob, saith the LORD;
Neither be dismayed, O Israel:
For, lo, I will save thee from afar,
And thy seed from the land of their captivity;
And Jacob shall return and be in rest,
And be quiet, and none shall make him afraid,
For I am with thee, saith the LORD, to save thee.”
Jeremiah 30:10, 11
“Lift up thine eyes round about, and see;
All they gather themselves together, they come to thee;
Thy sons shall come from far,
And thy daughters shall be nursed at thy side,
Then thou shalt see, and flow together,
And thine heart shall fear and be enlarged;
Because the abundance of the sea shall be converted unto thee…
Who are these that fly as a cloud?
And as doves to their windows?
Surely the isles shall wait for me,
And the SHIPS of Tarshish first, to bring thy sons from far.”
Isaiah 60:4, 5, 8, 9

The whole chapter (Isa 60) should be read if we wish to understand the great teaching of this Sign, which tells of Messiah’s secured possessions, the safe folding of His blood-bought flock, the blessed return of His pilgrims, and their abundant entrance into everlasting rest.

“There is a blessed home
Beyond this land of woe,
Where trials never come,
Nor tears of sorrow flow;
Where faith is lost in sight,
And patient love is crowned,
And everlasting light
Its glory throws around.
O joy, all joys beyond,
To see the Lamb who died,
And count each sacred wound
In hands, and feet, and side;
To give to Him the praise
Of every triumph won,
And sing through endless days
The great things He hath done.
Look up, ye saints of God,
Nor fear to tread below
The path your Saviour trod
Of daily toil and woe;
Wait but a little while
In uncomplaining love,
His own most gracious smile
Shall welcome you above.”

Brethren these three decans of the constellation Cancer other wise known as the sheep fold shows the three hags when Mankind will be raised back to life at. The first is the lesser sheep fold which is the first hag of Unleavened Bread. The Second is the greater sheep fold which is the resurrection of many more at the second hag of Shavuot.
The third and final decan is the Great Ship Argo and it is represented by the third hag of Sukkot and the Eighth Day when Yehovah will wed His bride and dwell with man on earth.
Look up into the skies and read the plan of salvation written down from the very beginning of time. Understand the rich and awesome meaning of each of the Holy Days and how they all point to the Eighth Day when all mankind will dwell with Yehovah here on earth.
The Eighth Day Feast is the most meaningful and the greatest Feast as all those who never knew nor believed will be alive to learn the truth. Your family and mine together living in harmony under the rules of His Kingdom with HIm here on this earth with Peace and bounty for all. Then the glory of the universe will be at our disposal to explore and settle. Out future potential is unimaginable and exciting.


3 1/2 Year Torah Study

We continue this weekend with our regular Triennial Torah reading

Ex 23   Isaiah 30-33    Ps 139     John 11

More Than “Thou Shalt Not…” (Exodus 23)

God revealed to Israel laws that prohibit slander, backbiting and lying. All these are based on the Ninth Commandment, “You shall not bear false witness against your neighbor.” God Himself is not a respecter of persons and commands that we treat all people equally. He looks on the attitude of our heart, which is manifested in how we live each day. Obedience to God is much more than just following a list of dos and don’ts. The law tells us to perform acts of service for others. Even though we may have a problem with our fellow man, if we fail to help him when there is a need, we have broken God’s law.
God also revealed laws that regulate mankind’s relationship with the environment. One of these laws, the land Sabbath, is recorded in this chapter. The purpose of this law was to allow the land to regenerate the nutrients in the soil. When followed, this would allow for a much healthier crop to be harvested in the future. Today, man disregards this law and dumps all kinds of chemical fertilizers and pesticides on the soil. There indeed is a way that seems right to a man, but the result is the way that leads to all kinds of unforeseen problems-including, ultimately, death (Proverbs 14:12; 16:25).
Interestingly, there was another purpose to the land Sabbath law-to allow the poor to glean whatever produce grew on its own in the year when the land wasn’t planted or harvested (and there would certainly be produce for them in the vineyards and orchards). Thus, even this law promoted loving treatment of one’s neighbor, particularly those who were less well-off. Moreover, it was also an act of faith-as the Israelites had to trust God to meet their needs during the year they neither planted nor harvested crops.

“Speak to Us Smooth Things”; “This Is the Way; Walk in It” (Isaiah 30)

Because of the threats against them from the Assyrian Empire to the north, Israel and Judah sought help from the empire to the south—Egypt. Hoshea of Israel had sought help from So, king of Egypt (2 Kings 17:4)—to no avail. Judah apparently did so during Hezekiah’s reign, as described by the Assyrian general who attacked Jerusalem (Isaiah 36:6). And they did not seek God’s counsel in the matter.
Isaiah is told to write the message from God on a scroll—”that it may be for time to come, forever and ever” (verse 8). Yes, it was a message for Isaiah’s day. But it is one for our day too—the very reason we are reading it right now! The people didn’t want to hear God’s commandments (verse 9). They didn’t want to hear any warning message (verse 10). In fact, they demanded that their religious leaders tell them only the things they wanted to hear.
It is the same today. People do not like correction and rebuke, as needful as they are: “It’s dangerous for a patient to ask [his or] her doctor only for good news. Once a serious illness is diagnosed it can be treated. If that same illness is simply denied, it is likely to kill. It’s the same with God’s words through the prophets. Their warnings may not be pleasant. But only if we listen and take them to heart is there hope” (Bible Reader’s Companion, note on verse 10).
Despite the rebellion of the people, God will at last humble them and bring them to repentance—offering them salvation at the return of Yeshua. And they will at last flourish.
In Isaiah 11:9, God said of the millennial rule of Yeshua, “They shall not hurt nor destroy in all My holy mountain.” And now we get a glimpse of how this will be ensured. God says: “Your teachers will not be moved into a corner anymore, but your eyes shall see your teachers. Your ears shall hear a word behind you, saying, ‘This is the way, walk in it,’ whenever you turn to the right hand or whenever you turn to the left” (29:20-21).
What this is saying is that godly teachers will no longer be persecuted and driven into a corner—out of sight and ignored. Instead, people will generally welcome God’s guidance. Moreover, it is stated that when people start to veer out of line from God’s law, a voice will remind them of what they should do. (We will consider what this means in a moment.) The voices will be those of their teachers, whom they will at times actually see. And amazingly, the teachers, the priesthood of that time, will be the glorified followers of Yeshua from this age—at last made perfect to rule with Him over all nations.
Now, what are we to make of this instructive intervention? It clearly does not refer simply to general instruction. A word “behind” someone implies that he is caught in some action. So does that mean people will be completely prevented from sinning every time they start to entertain a wrong thought? That just does not make any sense. People will still have to choose the right way and then exercise the character to do right and think right continually, for they must develop holy righteous character through this process. It is most likely that people will be allowed to make mistakes in order to learn from them—perhaps even commit crimes like lying and stealing. Where there are flesh-and-blood human beings, there are a host of problems. And no doubt, there will be even then.
Yet imagine if a person were about to commit a serious violent crime against another person—rape or murder for instance. Surely the incidence of such attempts would be diminished through general righteous instruction. But that alone would not utterly eliminate impulsive actions. God, however, says that people will not be allowed to hurt or destroy in all of His Kingdom. The answer? They will hear a word behind them—to mercifully guide them into right thinking if they will be so led. And if not, they will be restrained and perhaps punished. God’s saints, the “policemen” of the world to come, will not allow people to afflict terrible atrocities on one another. Such evil is allowed today because this is not God’s world. The Kingdom age is a different story—for then it will be God’s world.
We can perhaps also envision people who go through a period of drifting from God and His ways. Eventually, such people may need to be directly confronted by their teachers. The fact is that we don’t really know how often such intervention will be required. It will probably be reserved for drastic situations rather than as a matter of course. On the other hand, people seeing their glorified teachers and receiving general instruction from them will likely be more commonplace.
If you commit to God now and remain faithful to Him, yours will be one of the voices providing guidance and direction to human beings in that amazing time to come.
Finally, God states that He will be the One to destroy the Assyrians, not Egypt (verse 31). This is apparently part of the prophecy of end-time events, of which the destruction of Sennacherib’s army in Isaiah’s day was a forerunner. Notice the reference to Tophet in verse 33. “Tophet, located south of Jerusalem, was the place where the valleys of Hinnom and Kidron met. It was probably a deep, wide pit containing a bonfire of blazing wood, where children had at times been burned to death as offerings to pagan deities (2 Kin. 23:10; Jer. 7:32, 32; 19:6, 11-14). The area has filled in significantly through the centuries” (Nelson Study Bible, note on Isaiah 30:33).
It is interesting to note that God says Tophet was prepared for the ruler of Assyria—here a reference to the end-time European dictator known as “the Beast” in Revelation. God said in Joel 3 that the destruction on His enemies at the end would occur in the Valley of Jehoshaphat, which is often identified with the Kidron Valley (see highlights on Joel 3). And Yeshua used Gehenna (Gai Hinnom—the “Valley of Hinnom” outside Jerusalem where trash was burned) to represent the coming “lake of fire,” which, according to the book of Revelation, will burn up the wicked. In Revelation 19:20, we learn that the Beast and his accomplice the False Prophet will be cast into the “lake of fire,” which appears to be a reference to this place of Tophet, where the Kidron and Hinnom Valleys meet. Christ will evidently ignite Hinnom (Isaiah 30:33) and will perhaps keep it burning throughout the Millennium, since Satan (the ultimate ruler of Assyria) is cast into the lake of fire where the Beast and False Prophet were cast—and he is cast there at the end of the thousand years (Revelation 20:10). Thus it is a fire in the same place if not the very same fire. This fire will eventually engulf and purify the entire earth, burning up all the incorrigibly wicked (compare verses 13-15; 21:8; 2 Peter 3:10-12; Malachi 4:1, 3)

Deliverance Is from God; The Righteous King (Isaiah 31-32)

Chapter 31 restates much of the theme of chapter 30: The people were looking to Egypt for help instead of looking to God. And ultimately Assyria would fall, but not because of Egypt. This was true of the destruction that came upon Sennacherib’s army in Isaiah’s day. And it will also be true of what happens at the return of Yeshua—when He destroys the armies of the nations, including Assyria, that come against Him.
Indeed, this is all primarily an end-time prophecy, since chapter 32 carries right on from God’s victory. The king who would reign in righteousness was not a reference to Hezekiah, who already sat on the throne of Judah. Rather, this speaks of the reign of the Messiah. Verses 5-8 describe how, under His righteous rule, there will be no more labeling of right as wrong and wrong as right. Everything will be seen for what it truly is. Evil will be decried and judged, and good will at last be exalted.
Verse 10 says, “In a year and some days…” The King James Version has “many days and years.” The literal wording is “days upon a year” (Jamieson, Fausset & Brown’s Commentary, note on verse 10). If it really does mean a year and some days, this was perhaps a reference by Isaiah to the coming destruction of Sennacherib in 701 B.C. The women and daughters of verses 9-11 are possibly understood to mean “the cities and villages of Judea” (note on verses 9-20). Many of them will be ravaged and destroyed. Jerusalem will not be: “Not Jerusalem itself, but other cities destroyed by Sennacherib in his march… However, the prophecy, in its full accomplishment, refers to the utter desolation of Judea and its capital [Jerusalem] by Rome [soon after Christ’s first coming], and subsequently [by the end-time resurrection of Rome—the final Assyria and Babylon], previous to the second coming of the King (Ps. 118:26; Luke 13:35; 19:38); ‘the joyous city’ is in this view, Jerusalem” (note on verse 13).
But the days of trouble will not last forever. On the day of Pentecost, when the Holy Spirit was given to the apostles, Peter cited the book of Joel to explain what was occurring (Acts 2:16-21; Joel 2:28-32). Of course, prophecies of God pouring out His Spirit were not limited to Joel. Isaiah 32:15, for instance, also describes this outpouring—though, as with Joel, its ultimate fulfillment is yet to occur, when God’s Spirit is available to all mankind (see also Isaiah 44:3; Proverbs 1:23; Ezekiel 39:29; Zechariah 12:10).
It is this outpouring of God’s Spirit, in concert with the direct rule of Yeshua, that will at last bring peace to the world. For God’s Spirit (Isaiah 32:15) enables righteousness (verse 16)—the keeping of God’s commandments (Psalm 119:172). And the keeping of God’s commandments results in peace (Isaiah 32:17)—which Yeshua Himself will maintain throughout His rule (verse 18).

Ambassadors of Peace Weep; Then Jerusalem a Quiet Home (Isaiah 33)

This “woe differs from the others in that it is addressed to Assyria, not to Judah [that is, it starts out that way]. By focusing exclusively on Assyria’s defeat and Judah’s salvation, the prophecy magnifies Judah’s exalted King (vv. 3, 5, 10). This woe oracle consists of an introduction of the main themes of the oracle (vv. 1-6); an emphasis on Judah’s need for salvation and the LORD’s provision of that need (vv. 7-13), and its spiritual impact on sinners (vv. 14-16); and a conclusion showing the majestic King in His beauty (vv. 17-24)” (Nelson Study Bible, note on chap. 33).
In verse 7, we see how the hopes of the ambassadors for peace have been dashed. How often this has been true—particularly of Jerusalem. This ancient city’s name means “Possession of Peace.” But of all the war-wracked and violent places on the earth, Jerusalem has been one of the worst. Thankfully, God will at last intervene for His people. He will defeat the enemies of peace and establish it permanently. Yeshua will reign in Jerusalem—a “quiet home.” It will at long last live up to its name and truly be the city of peace.
Incidentally, many believe that America’s Founding Fathers considered verse 22 as part of their justification for establishing three separate branches of government in the United States—the judicial, legislative and executive branches.

Prayer for the all-knowing God to punish the wicked and to examine and lead His servant (Psalms 139)

In Psalm 139 David acknowledges, in great wonder and awe, God’s omniscient care in guiding his life and expresses his solidarity with God against the wicked.
God has searched within David and his life and knows everything there is to know about him. He carefully investigates each facet of David’s life to discern all his actions-from when he gets up in the morning to when he goes to bed at night (verses 1-2a). God is thus familiar with all David’s patterns, habits, preferences and ways of doing things. Moreover, God looks penetratingly into David’s heart to discern his inner motives and secret thoughts (verse 2b). In fact, God knows David so well that He anticipates his words before they are spoken (verse 4). God has an exhaustive knowledge of David-just as He has of us (see Hebrews 4:13).
The beginning of Psalm 139:3 is variously translated: “Thou compassest [i.e., encompass] my path” (KJV); “You comprehend my path” (NKJV); “You discern my going out” (NIV); “You search out my path” (NRSV); “You sift my path” (J.P. Green’s Literal Translation). The latter is probably the correct sense (Strong’s No. 2219). The Expositor’s Bible Commentary renders the phrase as “You have winnowed me” (note on verses 1-6). The idea is apparently that God sifts all our actions, “putting them through a sieve, as it were, so as to discover every detail about them, what has motivated them, what effect they have upon me and upon others, in fact, everything conceivable about them” (George Knight, Psalms, Vol. 2, The Daily Study Bible Series, comments on verses 1-6 ).
Yet the purpose of God’s intimate knowledge of His servants is not to play “gotcha” and condemn us. Rather, as verse 5 makes plain, God’s intention is to protect and guard us-to keep and hold onto us, to steady and guide us, as the objects of His care. God’s all-knowing understanding and concern is just too mind-boggling for David to take in (verse 6).
In verses 7-12, David remarks on the fact that there is nowhere he can go to be out from under God’s watchful oversight-for God is everywhere (omnipresent) through His infinite Spirit (see verse 7). There is no way to be concealed from Him. He can see and reach everywhere, all the time, day and night, light or dark. For some this might seem a negative thing-that is, there is no escape! But David clearly did not mean it that way, for he says that no matter where he is, God will lead him and uphold him (verse 10). He is greatly encouraged by the fact that God is all-seeing and all-knowing. Incidentally, the word “hell” in verse 8 is translated from the Hebrew sheol, meaning pit or grave, thus explaining David’s statement about making his “bed” there (i.e., his deathbed). So nothing, not even the grave, will separate us from God’s caring oversight of our lives-for His intervening hand will lead us even from death (compare Romans 8:35-39).
In verses 13-16 of Psalm 139, David reflects on the fact that God’s care in his life was there from its very beginning, acknowledging God’s oversight in his conception and prenatal development. Where the NKJV says that God “covered” David in his mother’s womb (verse 13), other translations render this “knit me together” (NIV) or “wove me.” The Hebrew here literally means entwined, implying weaving but perhaps the weaving of a fence or cover of protection (Strong’s No. 5526). In any case, David praises the miracle of life and birth of which he is the product (verses 14-15).
In this he remarks that God saw him “made in secret, and skillfully wrought in the lowest parts of the earth” (verse 15). The location here is not meant literally, but is rather a metaphor for a dark, mysterious, unsearchable and unfathomable place. Such is God’s workshop in the cells of the human embryo within the womb! The unformed “substance” in the next verse is a reference to the embryo.
In the latter part of verse 16 David says that all the days prepared for him were written in God’s book before these days commenced. What does this mean? Some would use this verse to argue that every day of David’s life was completely mapped out in advance-and to argue that the same applies to us. This, however, violates the principle of free will and choice-which we find repeatedly in Scripture (compare Deuteronomy 30:19). Furthermore, “all…the days” does not have to mean each and every day but could mean the days taken as a whole-a lifetime. Based on this, others might argue that the verse means merely that David’s lifespan was generally predetermined from his genetics since conception. While possible, is seems likely that more is intended.
Commentaries typically maintain that David used the metaphor of a book to portray God’s exquisitely detailed plans for each person-plans He has in mind before a person’s birth. Elements of David’s life, at least in a general sense (particularly his reign over Israel), seems to have been plotted out by God ahead of time (while still allowing David free will as to whether to serve God or reject Him). And this plan may have been written in an actual spiritual record, rather than this signifying a mere metaphor. David in another psalm remarked that his tears were written in God’s book (Psalm 56:8), which seems to be the same as the book of remembrance for those who fear God in Malachi 3:16. This may or may not be synonymous with another book David mentions, the book of the living (69:28), apparently equivalent to the Book of Life, God’s heavenly registry of the righteous (see Exodus 32:32-33; Luke 10:20; Philippians 4:3; Hebrews 12:23; Revelation 3:5; 13:8; 17:8; 20:12, 15, 17; 22:19). David’s reference in Psalm 139 could also be to the “Scripture of Truth,” the Bible of heaven as it were, wherein a lengthy prophecy of the future was already inscribed before it was given to Daniel to write down in his own book as God’s written revelation to us (see Daniel 10:21).
The theme of one’s purpose in life is a key topic in the Bible. Note what God announced to the Jewish nation in exile: “For I know the thoughts that I think toward you, says the LORD, thoughts of peace and not of evil, to give you a future and a hope” (Jeremiah 29:11). Indeed, David remarks in the next verse of Psalm 139 on how precious and countless are God’s thoughts toward him (verses 17-18).
The end of verse 18 then states, “When I awake, I am still with you.” Perhaps the point is that David is amazed to consider that every day he wakes, he is still in God’s care-returning to the thought at the beginning of the psalm of God observing His “sitting down and…rising up” (verse 2). Yet some suggest that he is speaking in a future tense of his resurrection-remarking in the context of verse 16 that after the passing of his days, he will awake from death and even still be with God.
Enraptured as he is with God’s intimate and all-seeing care in his life-demonstrative of God’s care for all His servants-David still can’t help but think about the wicked who, despite God’s wonderful intentions over which he’s been musing, still cause trouble for him and all of God’s people (as highlighted in the next five psalms). As he closes Psalm 139, David expresses the wish that God would justly deal with this outstanding problem. God has, in fact, already pronounced a death sentence in His law against the bloodthirsty and the blasphemous. David is here supporting the carrying out of that sentence (verses 19-20).
David then unequivocally declares that he hates those who hate God and rebel against Him, loathing them and hating them with a perfect or complete hatred (verses 21-22). Many today are disturbed at such language in light of Yeshua’s instruction in the New Testament: “Love your enemies, bless those who curse you, do good to those who hate you, and pray for those who spitefully use you in and persecute you” (Matthew 5:44). Indeed, caring for one’s enemy was also an Old Testament directive (compare Exodus 23:4-5; Proverbs 25:21).
But we should consider a number of factors here. First, as in other psalms, the hatred David is speaking of in Psalm 139 should be understood primarily in the sense of rejection and strong aversion. Note his words in verse 19 calling on the bloodthirsty to get away from him. That is, David wants nothing to do with them. He won’t support them or make common cause with them. He will not befriend them or accept their friendship, for he counts them as his enemies (verse 22). This is a second point to emphasize. David’s hatred here does not equate to personally taking vengeance or even mistreatment on a personal level. It equates to counting the wicked as his enemies. He opposes them. If they are God’s enemies, then they are his enemies. That brings us to a third factor to note here. David is not declaring hatred for those who merely bear him personal ill will, but for those who hate and rise up against God. Of course, those who bore David animosity usually did so on the basis of opposition to God and His law-yet it was this rather than personal hurt that was the basis for David’s declared hatred against them. In essence, David was declaring his complete solidarity with God against God’s enemies.
None of this, by the way, precludes following the New Testament instruction to pray for one’s persecutors and to do good to them. Even given the strong words David spoke, he still could and may well have followed what Christ would later explain-as he clearly did in his dealings with Saul. Indeed, we should be careful to not misconstrue Christ’s teaching in this regard. Consider that praying for one’s persecutors obviously does not mean praying for their success in persecution. It primarily means praying for their long-term well-being, realizing that God intends to eventually lead them to repentance. It may include praying that He will lead them to repent soon -at least of their present antagonism and offending behavior. Barring that outcome, praying for enemies could even mean asking God to exercise judgment on them to stop them from their evil and greater guilt. Doing good to persecutors, loving our enemies, does not mean supporting them in their evil plans or making common cause with them. Recall what Jehu the seer said to King Jehoshaphat of Judah for his joint operations with evil King Ahab of Israel : “Should you help the wicked and love those who hate the LORD? Therefore the wrath of the LORD is upon you” (2 Chronicles 19:2). As is stated here, we are not to “love” the haters of God in this sense. Rather, we are to oppose them.
David ends with a prayer that God will search his heart and investigate his anxieties to see “if there is any wicked way in me” (Psalm 139:24). Some commentators relate his request to his declared abhorrence of God’s enemies-the idea being that he is asking God to search his heart to see if his expressed thoughts are the product of a righteous stand with God or born out of personal concerns. Other commentators understand the verse as a general request that God examine him for any wickedness-that is, having discussed wickedness in others, that God check to see if there is wickedness to be dealt with in him. David deeply desires to be led out of wickedness and, as he says in verse 24, into the way that leads to everlasting life.
As a final note, if the first part of the superscription of this psalm, “To the Chief Musician,” actually belongs to the previous psalm as a postscript, then the same phrase at the beginning of the superscription of the next psalm may actually be the postscript of this psalm.

John 11

Yeshua is informed that one whom He loved was sick, El’azar. His response shows us He knew what was to take place and that this too was so that the great esteem of Elohim would be made manifest and also the esteem of the Son of Elohim. Even after He received the news, He remained where He was with His taught ones two more days. After two days, He then went to Yehudah.
His taught ones were fearful for Him for they knew the last time He was in Yehudah He was nearly stoned by them. When Yeshua told them plainly that El’azar had died and was not merely sleeping, they decided with the leadership of T’oma to go with Him. When they arrived, El’azar had been in the tomb already for four days.
As they approached Beyth Anyah both Martha first and then Miryam went out to meet Yeshua and both said, “Master, if you had been here, our brother would not have died.” Yeshua testified that He is the resurrection and the life and that El’azar would rise again. Martha professed her belief in Him and that He indeed is the Messiah, the Son of Elohim.
They brought Yeshua to the tomb and He ordered the stone blocking the entrance to be rolled away. He prayed to the Father aloud so that all would hear Him for their benefit. He called El’azar to come forth, and he did. Many were amazed and believed on Yeshua but some went away from there and told the Pharisees what had happened. The Pharisees took counsel and let it be known their greatest fear and it was this: The Romans shall come a take away from us both PLACE and NATION if the people believe upon Yeshua. This is when Qayapha prophesied that one Man should die for the nation, and not the nation only but for to gather together into one the children of Elohim who were scattered abroad.
From that time on, the plotted to kill Him and as the Passover approached again, they spread the word to be looking for Yeshua so that they could seize Him.

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