O Tannenbaum, O Tannenbaum du bist ein edler Zweig!

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: Dec 7, 2010

News Letter 5846-045
4th day of the 10th month 5846 years after creation
The 10th Month in the first year of the third Sabbatical Year
The Third Sabbatical Year of the 119th Jubilee Cycle

December 11, 2010

Shalom Brethren,

This week I am going to show you where we get the notion to have a Christmas tree and how our ancestors in Israel kept it. I am also going to show you how the infamous Christmas tree is in fact a prophecy and each year when they cut down the tree they are in fact reminding themselves of this prophecy that is throughout your bible. At least that is what they are supposed to be doing.

No I am not endorsing the Christmas tree. Like Yehovah I am condemning it because of what it represents.

If you did not listen to the Jono show last weekend then I strongly urge you to do so. Jono opened it with what I would call a WOW moment. He interviewed one of his neighbors who had planted thousands of acres of crops and was at that very moment watching them being destroyed by the flooding rains and hail and locust. And this was especially disheartening having endured 10 years of severe drought. Jono tells him about the interview he did with me a couple weeks before and The Prophecies of Abraham which predicts this very thing. It is a must listen to show. You can do so at http://www.truth2u.org/2010/12/joe-dumond-joe%E2%80%99s-conclusions-from-leviticus-2620-confirmed.html or at http://www.truth2u.org/category/joseph-dumond

This was an awesome testimony. All praise goes to Yehovah for this coming together as it has. Others who have listened to it have said that this is very sobering. Take the time to listen to this interview and share it with others.

Here is the news that is also been reported in Australia. http://www.abc.net.au/news/stories/2010/12/06/3085724.htm?section=justin
Wheat crops devastated by rain.

Now while this disaster is going then the people of OZ have to deal with Locusts which have sprung up despite a huge spraying effort the past year. http://www.abc.net.au/news/video/2010/12/06/3085557.htm
And then more terrible storms and rain, http://www.abc.net.au/news/stories/2010/12/07/3086835.htm?section=justin
And the news is now reporting just how bad the staples are, that they are being destroyed by the rain. This is the worst of times in a life time after the severe drought of the past ten years. http://www.abc.net.au/news/audio/2010/12/06/3085573.htm?site=news

But first I have an email from last week’s News letter about Abortion that I want to share with you.

While i thank you for your weekly newsletters ( i have gleaned much from your understandings); I ask you to be sensitive when referring to issues such as abortion. I am a not so young female who ; in ignorance of the law, undertook an abortion in my early twenties. Much regret and remorse has been my overshadowing in my last twenty years or so…….while I remain sorrowful for my decision…..I am repeatedly touched by people such as yourself continually reporting on abortion statistics………it only deepens my inner feelings and in fact inhibits my ability to forgive myself.

I fully understand the advent of grandchildren as my son and daughter in-law are due to give birth to their daughter in early march 2011………i only ask that you guard you newsletters with the realization that people like me read and take them to heart – no writings could further deepen our regret on our past decisions but current and future writings ‘cut us to the core’ ….while trying to recover from such events

with all respect and the hope of YHWH’s blessings…..Name withheld

Brethren which sin is worse, to tell a lie or to commit a murder; to be a pedophile or to hate your brother? To curse the name of Yehovah or not to break the Sabbath? There is no sin that is worst than any others.
Romans 3: 23 for all have sinned and fall short of the esteem of Elohim,
1 John 3:4 4 Everyone doing sin also does lawlessness, and sin is lawlessness.

If you have aborted a child you have sinned. There is no getting around this. But it is no greater a sin than breaking any of the other ten commandments. Luke 17: 3 “Take heed to yourselves. If your brother sins against you, rebuke him, and if he repents, forgive him. 4 “And if he sins against you seven times in a day, and seven times in a day comes back to you, saying, ‘I repent,’ you shall forgive him.”

Now for the last while I have been condemning of the Chanukah celebrations because they miss the mark. One of the ways they miss the mark is because they make no mention of what was said at the first dedication of the Temple of Solomon.

At the real dedication of the Temple by Solomon we can read what Solomon said in his prayer to Yehovah during Sukkot. You can read this in 1 Kings 8: 26 “And now, O Elohim of Yisrael, please let Your word come true which You have spoken to Your servant Dawid? my father. 27 “For is it true: Elohim dwells on the earth? See, the heavens and the heavens of the heavens are unable to contain You, how much less this House which I have built! 28 “Yet, shall You turn to the prayer of Your servant and his supplication, O ???? my Elohim, and listen to the cry and the prayer which Your servant is praying before You today? 29 “For Your eyes to be open toward this House night and day, toward the place of which You said, ‘My Name is there,’ to listen to the prayer which Your servant makes toward this place. 30 “Then, shall You hear the supplication of Your servant and of Your people Yisrael when they pray toward this place, when You hear in Your dwelling place, in the heavens? And shall You hear, and forgive? 31 “If anyone sins against his neighbor, and he has lifted up an oath on him, to cause him to swear, and comes and swears before Your altar in this House, 32 then hear in the heavens, and act and rightly rule Your servants, declaring the wrongdoer wrong, bringing his way on his head, and declaring the righteous right by giving him according to his righteousness. 33 “When Your people Yisrael are smitten before an enemy, because they have sinned against You, and they shall turn back to You and confess Your Name, and pray and make supplication to You in this House, 34 then hear in the heavens, and forgive the sin of Your people Yisrael, and bring them back to the land which You gave to their fathers. 35 “When the heavens are shut up and there is no rain because they sin against You, when they pray toward this place and confess Your Name, and turn from their sin because You afflict them, 36 then hear in the heavens, and forgive the sin of Your servants, Your people Yisra’?l – for You teach them the good way in which they should walk – and shall give rain on Your land which You have given to Your people as an inheritance. 37 “When there is scarcity of food in the land; when there is pestilence, blight, mildew, locusts, grasshoppers; when their enemy distresses them in the land of their cities; any plague, any sickness, 38 whatever prayer, whatever supplication made by anyone of all Your people Yisrael, each knowing the plague of his own heart, and shall spread out his hands toward this House, 39 then hear in the heavens, Your dwelling place, and forgive, and act, and render unto everyone according to all his ways, whose heart You know. Because You – You alone – know the hearts of all the sons of men, 40 so that they fear You all the days that they live in the land which You gave to our fathers.

It is us humans who make one sin worse than the others. All sins make us impure. Our righteousness is as a woman’s filthy rag.

Isaiah 64: 6 And all of us have become as one unclean, and all our righteousness’s are as soiled rags. And all of us fade like a leaf, and our crookedness’s, like the wind, have taken us away. 7 And there is no one who calls on Your Name, who stirs himself up to take hold of You; for You have hidden Your face from us, and have consumed us because of our crookedness’s. 8 And now, O ????, You are our Father. We are the clay, and You our potter. And we are all the work of Your hand. 9 Do not be wroth, O ????, nor remember crookedness forever. See, please look, all of us are Your people! 10 Your set-apart cities have become a wilderness, Tsiyon has become a wilderness, Yerushalayim a waste. 11 Our set-apart and comely House, where our fathers praised You, has been burned up with fire. And all that we treasured has become a ruin. 12 In view of all this, would You restrain Yourself, O ????? Would You keep silent and afflict us beyond measure?

I will be speaking on this very soon. Impurity and the laws of Niddah.

So although you may have sinned and had an abortion and you may feel terrible for having done so, now is the time to repent and seek Yehovah and begin to keep Torah. Now is the time to seek His righteousness. He will forgive if you seek Him. There is no sin so great that He can’t forgive it. Know and understand this. He will forgive you if you seek Him. The real question is will you forgive yourself and then begin to do His will and help others.

It is once again that time of year and you have no doubt heard all the arguments for and against the keeping of Christmas. They are the exact same ones people used for the keeping of Chanukah. We are not doing it as the pagans do. We do not keep those traditions. What we do is dedicated to Jesus or to Yehshua depending on which one you keep.

Today all over you hear people saying bring Jesus back into the Christmas story. Or keep the Chanukah season about the Maccabees and not the Chanukah bush. People say they do not do the traditions but stick to the true story. They will read the book of Maccabees or if they are Christian they will read the book of Luke which was part of our Torah study last week. But in both cases they are trying to justify why they should continue to keep this pagan time of the year.

Read how the Puritans kept Christmas. Most people think highly of the Puritans so this should be interesting.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Christmas_in_Puritan_New_England

Christmas celebrations in Puritan New England (1620-1850?) were culturally and legally suppressed and thus, virtually non-existent. The Puritan community found no Scriptural justification for celebrating Christmas, and associated such celebrations with paganism and idolatry. The earliest years of the Plymouth colony were troubled with non-Puritans attempting to make merry, and Governor William Bradford was forced to reprimand offenders. English laws suppressing the holiday were enacted in the Interregnum, but repealed late in the 17th century. However, the Puritan view of Christmas and its celebration had gained cultural ascendancy in New England, and Christmas celebrations continued to be discouraged despite being legal. When Christmas became a Federal holiday in 1870, the Puritan view was relaxed and late nineteenth century Americans fashioned the day into the Christmas of commercialism, liberal spirituality, and nostalgia that most Americans recognize today.

Puritan view of Christmas

Christmas was a target in the ideological warfare of the European Protestant Reformation.[1] Most Anabaptists, Quakers, Congregational and Presbyterian Puritans regarded the day as an abomination while Anglicans, Lutherans, the Dutch Reformed and other denominations embraced the holiday and joined Roman Catholics in celebrating it.[1][2] When the Church of England promoted the Feast of the Nativity as a major religious holiday, the Puritans attacked it as residual Papist idolatry.[1]
The Puritan community in New England heaped contempt upon the holiday, called it ‘Foolstide’,[3] and suppressed attempts to celebrate the day for several reasons. First, no holy days were sanctioned in Scripture,[1][4] and secondly, they saw men dishonoring the Lord by engaging in the most egregious and excessive behaviors during the Christmas season.[1][4] The Puritan also argued that December 25 was ahistorical, and Jesus was more likely to have been born in September or October. They regarded the selection of the December date as an early Christian hijacking of a Roman festival,[1] and, in their view, to celebrate a December Christmas was to defile oneself by paying homage to a pagan custom.[1] The Puritan view prevailed in New
England for almost two centuries.[4]

The Puritan year was one of the most leisure less ever adopted by mankind with approximately 300 working days compared to the 240 typical of worldwide cultures from Ancient Rome to modern America.[5] Days of rest in the New England calendar were few, and restricted to Sabbath, election day, Harvard commencement day, and days of thanksgiving and public humiliation.[5] Non-Puritans in New England bridled at the loss of the traditional holidays of England such as Christmas and eschewed the strictures against the merrymaking, gaming, feasting, sporting, and revelry associated with them.[5]

Christmas in Puritan New England

The Plymouth Pilgrims put their loathing for the day into practice in 1620 when they spent their first Christmas Day in the New World toiling in the fields, building their first structure, and going about routine tasks – thus demonstrating their complete contempt for the day.[6]

A year later on December 25, 1621, Governor William Bradford led a work detail into the forest and discovered some recent arrivals among the crew had scruples about working on the day.[1][5] Bradford noted in his history of the colony, Of Plymouth Plantation:
“On the day called Christmas Day, the Governor called [the settlers] out to work as was usual. However, the most of this new company excused themselves and said it went against their consciences to work on that day. So the Governor told them that if they made it [a] matter of conscience, he would spare them till they were better informed; so he led away the rest and left them.”[7]

When the Governor and his crew returned home at noon they discovered those left behind playing stool-ball, pitching the bar, and pursuing other sports.[6] Bradford confiscated their implements, reprimanded them, forbade any further reveling in the streets, and told them their devotion for the day should be confined to their homes.[1]

Massachusetts and Connecticut followed the Plymouth colony in refusing to condone any observance of the day.[1] When the Puritans came to power in England following the execution of King Charles I, Parliament enacted a law in 1647 abolishing Christmas, Easter, and Whitsuntide.[1][6] The Puritans of New England then passed a series of laws making any observance of Christmas illegal.[8] A Massachusetts law of 1659 punished offenders with a hefty five shilling fine.[6][8]

In the article about Chanukah being Mithraism I showed you how the Festival of Lights which is what Chanukah is, is the same as Christmas and as Deepavali and Chaharshanbe Suri which are the exact same pagan festivals with different names celebrated by different cultures wrapped in different coloured Christmas paper. It is all Mithraism, the worship of Mithra which Yehovah hates. Keep reading and learn why!

This week I have to tell you about the infamous Christmas tree. You all know the song

O Tannenbaum, O Tannenbaum du bist ein edler Zweig! Du grĂŒnest uns den Winter, die liebe Sommerzeit
O fir tree, o fir tree,
You are a noble branch.
You become green to us in the winter
As to the summer time.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/O_Tannenbaum
A Tannenbaum is a fir tree (German die Tanne) or Christmas tree (der Weihnachtsbaum). Its evergreen qualities have long inspired musicians to write several “Tannenbaum” songs in German.

The best known version was penned in 1824 by a Leipzig organist and teacher named Ernst AnschĂŒtz. The melody is an old folk tune. The first known “Tannenbaum” song lyrics date back to 1550. A similar 1615 song by Melchior Franck (1573-1639) goes: „Ach Tannenbaum, ach Tannenbaum, du bist ein edler Zweig! Du grĂŒnest uns den Winter, die liebe Sommerzeit.“

http://www.funtrivia.com/askft/Question8733.html
The use of evergreen trees in connection with celebrating the Christ mass at the winter solstice is believed to have originated in Germany in the 1500’s. There were instances of many families, whether rich or poor, celebrating the holiday with fanciful decorations on fir trees. There are even references to the selling of Christmas trees in the villages were gathered from the forests. Over the next couple of centuries, the tradition of the Christmas tree was established from London to Lisbon, and from Paris to St. Petersburg. In the late 1700’s, during the American Revolution, Hessian mercenaries introduced the custom to this country. The Germans are also given credit for introducing the Christmas tree in Canada, where in 1781 a German immigrant named Baron von Riedesel put up the first Christmas tree (a balsam fir) in Sorel, Quebec. Equally famous is Charles Minnegerode, another German immigrant, who is fondly remembered for having introduced the custom in Williamsburg, Virginia, in 1842. The first documented instance of the retailing of Christmas trees in America occured in 1851, when a Pennsylvanian by the name of Mark Carr hauled two ox sleds loaded with trees down from the Catskill Mountains to the city of New York.

I have shared this little bit of trivia about the German people bringing the tree to North America for one reason. The Germans are descendants of the Assyrians who came from Asshur. Asshur was the leading group of people who followed Nimrod. When Nimrod was executed it was Asshur that helped to glorify him. One of those ways was by the emblem of the fir tree.

Some people dare you to find where we are told to keep Christmas in the scriptures. Today I am going to show you. We are not told to keep Christmas, but ancient Israel did keep it long before there was ever a Yehshua or a Jesus. This week I am going to show you so that you will know that our ancestors, the Twelve Tribes of Israel also kept Christmas just like many of you now do. And it is still wrong!

We will begin in Jeremiah 10: 1 Hear the word which ???? speaks to you, O house of Yisra’?l. 2 Thus said ????, “Do not learn the way of the gentiles,1 and do not be awed by the signs of the heavens, for the gentiles are awed by them.2 Footnotes: 1Lev. 18:3, Dt. 12:30 & 18:9, Ezek. 11:12 & 20:32, Eph. 4:17, 1 Peter 4:3. 2Dt. 4:19 & 17:3. 3 “For the prescribed customs of these peoples are worthless, for one cuts a tree from the forest, work for the hands of a craftsman with a cutting tool. 4 “They adorn it with silver and gold, they fasten it with nails and hammers so that it does not topple. 5 “They are like a rounded post, and they do not speak. They have to be carried, because they do not walk. Do not be afraid of them, for they do no evil, nor is it in them to do any good.” 6 There is none like You, O ????. You are great, and great is Your Name in might. 7 Who would not fear You, O Sovereign of the nations? For this is Your due, for among all the wise men of the nations, and in all their reigns, there is none like You. 8 They are both brutish and foolish, an instruction of worthlessness is the tree. 9 Silver is beaten into plates; it is brought from Tarshish, and gold from Uphaz, the work of the craftsman and of the hands of the smith; draped in blue and purple; all of them are the work of skilled ones.

Jeremiah lived during the fall of Judah in 586 BC. Yes in 586 BC Jeremiah was scolding not just Judah but Israel who had already gone into captivity 137 years previously. Jeremiah was scolding all of the tribes for cutting down trees and fastening them with nails and decorating them with silver and gold.

Burt Ives sings the Christmas song Silver and Gold in the movie we all watched called Rudolph the Red nose reindeer.

Stephen also spoke of Christmas just before he was stoned in Acts 7: 42 “So Elohim turned and gave them up to worship the host of the heaven, as it has been written in the book of the Prophets, ‘Did you bring slaughtered beasts and offerings unto Me during forty years in the wilderness, O house of Yisra’?l? 43 ‘And you took up the tent of Molek?, and the star of your mighty one Kiyyun, images which you made to bow before them.

This star is today the Star of David and is often put at the top of the Christmas tree. Kiyyun Molech is none other than Nimrod whom we have already talked about. But the Star you can read about, where I show What Pagan sign represents your faith. The star is another symbol of Nimrod.

http://www.ccg.org/english/s/p222.html
Acts quotes Amos 5:25-27 to show that Israel, and now Judah, had always been idolaters.

Amos 5:25-27 “Did you bring to me sacrifices and offerings the forty years in the wilderness, O house of Israel? 26 You shall take up Sakkuth your king, and Kaiwan your star-god, your images, which you made for yourselves; 27 therefore I will take you into exile beyond Damascus,” says the LORD, whose name is the God of hosts. (RSV)

The terms Sakkuth and Kaiwan are rendered in the RSV and held to designate known Assyrian deities. While in the wilderness, Israel had a pure direct relationship with God that did not require sacrifice (Jer. 2:2-3; Hos. 2:14-20; 9:10). The MT is held by Green (Interlinear Bible) to read the booths of your king (SHD 5522 and 4428) and Kiyyun (SHD 3594), your images (SHD 6754) the star (SHD 3556) of your gods (elohim). The term kiyyun is actually derived from SHD 3559 kuwn (pronounced koon) to stand erect, hence as a statue and thus an idol or phallus.

To this day, the star of the god Remphan or Kaiwan or Chiun stands on the Israeli flag as the star of David, which it is not. It and the crescent moon stand on the flag of Islam also, symbolizing the Morning Star of the planet, which is the god of this world (2Cor. 4:4). It is of note that the terms Kaiwan/Kiyyun and Remphan are understood to be interchangeable from New Testament and Old Testament. The Septuagint (LXX) renders the text the tabernacle of Moloch and the star of your god Raephan (’Raiphan) (cf. Brenton’s translation of the LXX).

The Peshitta has the term Malcom and Chiun in Amos 5:26.

But you carried the tabernacle of Malcom and Chiun your idol, the star which you made a god to yourselves.

Moloch and Malcom are the same deity. Thus the tabernacle or Sukkoth was understood to be that of Moloch and the star was of Raiphan as at the translation of the LXX, or Malcom and Chiun from the Aramaic (cf. Lamsa’s translation of the Peshitta). We are dealing with the fertility rites of Moloch and the Raiphan system. This fertility system has underpinned Israelite idolatry from the Exodus, through the kings, and at the time of Amos, and right after the captivity to the time of the Apostles.

The Soncino commentary sides with the identification of the deities as the Assyrian Siccuth and Kaiwan, the latter being Saturn.

So let us see where the Christmas tree comes into religion and what it represents.

From BRYANT: the first figure, the divided bull, is from vol. iii. p. 303; the second, the god on the fish, from the same vol., p. 338. The former is just another symbol of that which is represented by the mighty tree cut asunder (see Christmas and Lady-day). That tree represented Nimrod as “the mighty one” cut in pieces in the midst of his power and glory. The divided man-bull symbolises him as “The prince” who was cut asunder in like manner; for the name for a prince and a bull is the same. The fish over the bull shows the transformation he was supposed to undergo when put to death by his enemies; for the story of Melikerta, who with his mother Ino was cast into the sea, and became a sea-god (SMITH’s Class. Dict., “Athamas,” p. 100), is just another version of the story of Bacchus, for Ino was the foster-mother of Bacchus (SMITH, sub voce “Dionysus,” p. 226). Now, on the second medal, Melikerta, under the name of Palaemon, is represented as triumphantly riding on the fish, his sorrows being over, with the fir-tree, or pine, the emblem of Baal-Berith, “Lord of the Covenant,” as his ensign. This, compared with what is stated … about the Christmas-tree, shows how the fir-tree came to be recognised in the character of the Christmas-tree. The name Ghelas above the divided bull and the fish is equivocal. As applied to the fish, it comes from Ghela, “to exult or leap for joy,” as dolphins and such like fished do in the sea; as applied to the divinity, whom both the fish and the bull represented, it comes from Ghela, “to reveal,” for that divinity was the “revealer of goodness and truth” (WILKINSON, vol. iv. p. 189).

http://www.a-voice.org/tidbits/xtree.htm
A more modern source concurs ‘Baal-Berith (the Babylonian Tammuz) was symbolized as an evergreen, or immortal tree. The Christmas tree, then decked with gold (deity), and silver (unlimited provision), represents the deified, reincarnation life of Nimrod, which has sprung forth from the dead tree stump.’15 From yet another online source the following information is cited, ‘Since the earliest of times, trees, especially green evergreens, were worshipped by the pagans. To them it represented life and freshness. Since it was EVER green, it always had life. The trees were worshipped as symbols of life, fertility, sexual potency and reproduction (emphasis in original).’16

Remember what we just read in Jeremiah about the tree being decorated with silver and gold.

Referring back to another old source we turn to Alexander Hislop. He has this to say about the origin of the Christ ‘mass’ tree, ‘The Christmas tree, now so common among us, was equally common in PAGAN ROME AND PAGAN EGYPT (emphasis in original). In Egypt that tree was the palm tree; in Rome it was the fir; the palm tree denoting the Pagan Messiah as Baal-Tamar the fir referring to him as Baal-Berith. The mother of Adonis, the sun god and great mediatorial divinity, was mystically said to have been changed into a TREE, and when in that state to have brought forth her divine son. If the mother was a tree, the son must have been recognized as the ‘Man the branch.’ And this entirely accounts for putting the Yule Log into the fire on Christmas-eve, and the appearance of the Christmas tree the next morning. The Christmas tree, as has been stated, was generally at Rome a different tree, even the fir; but the very same idea as was implied in the palm-tree was implied in the Christmas fir; for that covertly symbolized the new-born God as BAAL-BERITH, ‘Lord of the Covenant,’ and thus shadowed forth the perpetuity and everlasting nature of his power, now that after having fallen before his enemies, he has risen triumphant over them all. Therefore, the 25th of December, the day that was observed at Rome as the day when the victorious god appeared on earth, was held as the Natalis invicti solis, ‘The birthday of the Unconquerable Sun. Now the Yule Log is the dead stock of Nimrod, deified as the sun god, but cut down by his enemies; the Christmas tree is Nimrod redivivus – the slain god comes to life again.’17

Please note here that in different cultures the same pagan gods were often worshipped with different names. Once again a modern source will be cited for the final time. ‘The first decorating of an evergreen tree was done by pagans in honor of their god Adonis, ( sounds a lot like ADONAI does it not…) who after being slain was brought to life by the serpent Aesculapius. The representation of this slain god was a dead stump of a tree. Around this stump coiled the snake Aesculapius symbol of life restoring. And lo – from the roots of the dead tree comes forth another and different tree – an evergreen tree symbolic to pagans of a god who cannot die! In Egypt this god was worshipped in a palm tree as Baal-Tamar. The fir tree was worshipped in Rome as the same new born god as Baal-Berith, who was restored to life by the same serpent, and a feast was held in honor of him on December 25th called the “Birthday of the unconquered Sun.” Now in Babylon’s “Mystery” system of idol worship the sun was called “Baal,”so when Tammuz the son of the queen of heaven was worshiped as God he was also reverenced by the name of Baal. .the Roman Catholic Church has brought down through the ages to us, the paganism of Baal or the worship of the sun, mingled with the worship of Aesculapius the serpent.’18

Now knowing and understanding that the Fir tree dates back to Nimrod and how he was cut down by Shem and executed. (you can read this article in  Shem and the Execution of Nimrod A Prophecy for our time). That tree then becomes the Yule log or the branch which is another name for Yehshua the BRANCH. Now consider carefully what is being said when we read: Around this stump coiled the snake Aesculapius symbol of life restoring. The Serpent Satan is claiming to be able to give and restore life. Restore life to what, a Christmas tree? No, to Nimrod and his government.

We now must go to Daniel where Yehovah gives a prophecy using the very same pagan symbols knowing exactly to whom they applied.

In Daniel the fourth chapter we read of how Nebuchadnezzar the King of Babylon had a dream. Read the following in light of what you have just read about the Christmas tree.

1 Neb?uk?ad?netstsar the sovereign, to all peoples, nations and languages that dwell in all the earth: Peace be increased to you. 2 I thought it good to declare the signs and wonders which the Most High Elah has worked for me. 3 How great are His signs, and how mighty His wonders! His reign is an everlasting reign, and His rulership is from generation to generation. 4 I, Neb?uk?ad?netstsar, was at rest in my house, and prospering in my palace. 5 I saw a dream and it frightened me, and the thoughts on my bed and the visions of my head alarmed me. 6 So I issued a decree to bring in all the wise ones of Bab?el before me, to make known to me the interpretation of the dream. 7 So the magicians, the astrologers, the Chaldeans, and the diviners came in, and I related the dream to them, but its interpretation they did not make known to me. 8 And at last Dani’?l, whose name is B?lteshatstsar, according to the name of my elah, came before me. In him is the Spirit of the Set-apart Elah. So I related the dream to him, saying, 9 “B?lteshatstsar, chief of the magicians, because I know that the Spirit of the Set-apart Elah is in you, and no secret is too difficult for you, explain to me the visions of my dream that I have seen, and its interpretation. 10 “Now the visions of my head on my bed were these: I looked, and saw a tree in the midst of the earth, and its height great. 11 “The tree became great and strong, and its height reached to the heavens, and it was visible to the ends of all the earth. 12 “Its leaves were lovely, and its fruit plenty, and in it was food for all. The beasts of the field found shade under it, and the birds of the heavens dwelt in its branches, and all flesh was fed from it. 13 “In the visions of my head on my bed, I looked and saw a Watcher, even a set-apart one, coming down from the heavens. 14 “He cried aloud and said this, ‘Hew down the tree and cut off its branches, strip off its leaves and scatter its fruit. Let the beasts flee from under it, and the birds from its branches. 15 ‘But leave the stump of its roots in the earth, even with a band of iron and bronze, in the tender grass of the field. And let it be wet with the dew of the heavens, and let his portion be with the beasts on the grass of the earth. 16 ‘Let his heart be changed from man’s, let him be given the heart of a beast, and seven times pass over him. 17 ‘This matter is by the decree of the watchers, and the command by the word of the set-apart ones, so that the living know that the Most High is ruler in the reign of men, and gives it to whomever He wishes, and sets over it the lowest of men.’ 18 “This dream have I seen, I, Sovereign Neb?uk?ad?netstsar. And you, B?lteshatstsar, reveal its interpretation, since all the wise ones of my reign are unable to make known to me the interpretation. But you are able, for the Spirit of the Set-apart Elah is in you.” 19 Then Dani’?l, whose name was B?lteshatstsar, was stunned for a short time, and his thoughts alarmed him. The sovereign responded and said, “B?lteshatstsar, do not let the dream or its interpretation alarm you.” B?lteshatstsar answered and said, “My master, the dream is to those who hate you, and its interpretation to your enemies! 20 “The tree you saw, which became great and strong, whose height reached to the heavens and was visible to all the earth, 21 whose leaves were lovely and its fruit plenty, and in it was food for all, under which the beasts of the field dwelt, and on whose branches the birds of the heavens sat – 22 it is you, O sovereign, for you have become great and strong. And your greatness has grown, and has reached to the heavens and your rulership to the end of the earth. 23 “And as the sovereign saw a Watcher, even a set-apart one, coming down from the heavens, and he said, ‘Hew down the tree and destroy it, but leave the stump of its roots in the earth, even with a band of iron and bronze in the tender grass of the field. And let it be wet with the dew of the heavens, and let his portion be with the beasts of the field, till seven times pass over him’ – 24 this is the interpretation, O sovereign, and this is the decree of the Most High, which has come upon my master the sovereign: 25 “That you are going to be driven away from men, and your dwelling be with the beasts of the field, and you be given grass to eat like oxen, and you be wetted with the dew of the heavens, and seven times pass over you, till you know that the Most High is ruler in the reign of men, and that He gives it to whomever He wishes. 26 “And they that gave the command to leave the stump of its roots of the tree: your reign remains yours, from the time you come to know that the heavens are ruling. 27 “Therefore, O sovereign, let my counsel be acceptable to you, and break off your sins by righteousness, and your crookednesses by showing favour to the poor – your prosperity might be extended.” 28 All this came upon Sovereign Neb?uk?ad?netstsar. 29 At the end of the twelve months he was walking about the palace of the reign of Bab?el. 30 The sovereign spoke and said, “Is not this great Bab?el, which I myself have built, for the house of the reign, by the might of my power and for the esteem of my splendour?” 31 The word was still in the sovereign’s mouth, when a voice fell from the heavens, “Sovereign Neb?uk?ad?netstsar, to you it is spoken: the reign has been taken away from you, 32 and you are driven away from men, and your dwelling is to be with the beasts of the field. You are given grass to eat like oxen, and seven seasons shall pass over you, until you know that the Most High is ruler in the reign of men, and He gives it to whomever He wishes.” 33 In that hour the word was executed on Neb?uk?ad?netstsar, and he was driven from men and he ate grass like oxen, and his body was wet with the dew of the heavens till his hair had grown like eagles’ feathers and his nails like birds’ claws. 34 And at the end of the days I, Neb?uk?ad?netstsar, lifted my eyes to the heavens, and my understanding returned to me. And I blessed the Most High and praised and made Him great who lives forever, whose rule is an everlasting rule, and His reign is from generation to generation. 35 And all the inhabitants of the earth are of no account, and He does as He wishes with the host of the heavens and among the inhabitants of the earth. And there is none to strike against His hand or say to Him, “What have You done?” 36 At the same time my understanding returned to me, and for the preciousness of my reign, my esteem and splendour were returning to me. And my counsellors and nobles sought me out, and I was re-established to my reign, and excellent greatness was added to me. 37 Now I, Neb?uk?ad?netstsar, am praising and exalting and esteeming the Sovereign of the heavens, for all His works are truth, and His ways right. And those who walk in pride He is able to humble.

This tree is none other than Babylon. This tree and this dream are relived each year when you cut down your Christmas tree. This tree of this mighty empire was cut down, Just as Nimrod was cut down so too was Babylon. He was in fact giving a prophetic warning of a future event.

In the dream was this line ‘Hew down the tree and cut off its branches, strip off its leaves and scatter its fruit. This is exactly what Shem had done to Nimrod. Cutting him down and sending each of his limbs and body parts to all the nations of the world at that time as a warning against the apostasy than Nimrod had been teaching them.

Also in this prophecy is another line-16 ‘Let his heart be changed from man’s, let him be given the heart of a beast, and seven times pass over him.

The man was Nimrod and the government he ran grew into the Metropolis of Nineveh and it grew into the Empire of Babylon of which Nebuchadnezzar was now in charge of. This system which began with the thoughts of one man grew into the government which in the bible is constantly referred to as the beast. The Beast is representative of the government that runs this empire back then and does so even to this very day. That beast is now rising up under the Assyrians who are today known as the Germans and the European Empire.

We read in Revelation of a woman that rides the Beast. This is the government of Nimrod.

(You will notice that this modern image of Europa riding the beast is the very same description of the myth of Europa and of the whore in Revelation. Notice that the bull is the beast, and is the same thing Israel made a golden image of at Sinai after coming out of Egypt. This bull or Beast or Government is also depicted on the following coin with the tree.)

This time during this dream it occurred in the life of Nebuchadnezzar.

But we are given another huge clue in Chapter three when Nebuchadnezzar had the dream about the great image.

Just as the serpent Aesculapius is a symbol of being able to restore life, so are the bands of bronze and iron around the stump a symbol of restoring life. It is in chapter 2 that we read what these bronze and iron bands represent.

We read in Daniel 2 an extremely interesting story.
1 And in the second year of the reign of Neb?uk?ad?netstsar, Neb?uk?ad?netstsar had dreams. And his spirit was so troubled that his sleep left him. 2 And the sovereign gave orders to call the magicians, and the astrologers, and the practisers of witchcraft, and the Chaldeans to declare to the sovereign his dreams. So they came and stood before the sovereign. 3 And the sovereign said to them, “I have had a dream, and my spirit is troubled to know the dream.” 4 And the Chaldeans spoke to the sovereign in Aramaic, “O sovereign, live forever! Relate the dream to your servants, and we shall reveal the interpretation.” 5 The sovereign answered and said to the Chaldeans, “My decision is firm: if you do not make known the dream and its interpretation to me, your limbs shall be taken from you, and your houses made dunghills. 6 “But if you reveal the dream and its interpretation, you shall receive gifts, and rewards, and great esteem from me. So reveal to me the dream and its interpretation.” 7 They answered again and said, “Let the sovereign relate to his servants the dream, and we shall reveal its interpretation.” 8 The sovereign answered and said, “I know for certain that you would gain time, because you see that my decision is firm: 9 “If you do not make known the dream to me, there is only one decree for you! For you have agreed to speak lying and corrupt words before me till the time has changed. So relate the dream to me, then I shall know that you shall reveal its interpretation for me.” 10 The Chaldeans answered the sovereign, and said, “There is no one on earth who is able to reveal the matter of the sovereign. Because no sovereign, master, or ruler has ever asked a matter like this of any magician, or astrologer, or Chaldean. 11 “And the matter that the sovereign is asking is difficult, and there is no other who is able to reveal it to the sovereign except the elahin, whose dwelling is not with flesh.” 12 Because of this the sovereign was enraged and very wroth, and gave orders to destroy all the wise ones of Bab?el. 13 So the decree went out, and they began killing the wise ones. And they sought Dani’?l and his companions, to kill them. 14 Then with counsel and wisdom Dani’?l answered Aryok?, the chief of the sovereign’s guard, who had gone out to kill the wise ones of Bab?el – 15 he answered and said to Aryok? the sovereign’s officer, “Why is the decree from the sovereign so urgent?” So Aryok? made the decision known to Dani’?l. 16 And Dani’?l went in and asked the sovereign to give him time, and he would show the sovereign the interpretation. 17 Then Dani’?l went to his house, and made the decision known to H?ananyah, Misha’?l, and Azaryah, his companions, 18 to seek compassion from the Elah of the heavens concerning this secret, so that Dani’?l and his companions should not perish with the rest of the wise ones of Bab?el. 19 Then the secret was revealed to Dani’?l in a night vision, and Dani’?l blessed the Elah of the heavens. 20 Dani’?l responded and said, “Blessed be the Name of Elah forever and ever, for wisdom and might are His. 21 “And He changes the times and the seasons. He removes sovereigns and raises up sovereigns. He gives wisdom to the wise and knowledge to those who possess understanding. 22 “He reveals deep and secret matters. He knows what is in the darkness, and light dwells with Him. 23 “I thank You and praise You, O Elah of my fathers. You have given me wisdom and might, and have now made known to me what we asked of You, for You have made known to us the sovereign’s matter.” 24 So Dani’?l went to Aryok?, whom the sovereign had appointed to destroy the wise ones of Bab?el. He went and said this to him, “Do not destroy the wise ones of Bab?el. Bring me in before the sovereign, and I shall show the interpretation to the sovereign.” 25 Then Aryok? brought Dani’?l in a hurry before the sovereign, and said thus to him, “I have found a man among the sons of the exile of Yehud?ah, who does make known to the sovereign the interpretation.” 26 The sovereign answered and said to Dani’?l, whose name was B?lteshatstsar, “Are you able to make known to me the dream which I have seen, and its interpretation?” 27 Dani’?l answered before the sovereign, and said, “The secret which the sovereign is asking – the wise ones, the astrologers, the magicians, and the diviners are unable to show it to the sovereign. 28 “But there is an Elah in the heavens who reveals secrets, and He has made known to Sovereign Neb?uk?ad?netstsar what is to be in the latter days. Your dream, and the visions of your head upon your bed, were these: 29 “As for you, O sovereign, on your bed your thoughts came up: What is going to take place after this. And He who reveals secrets has made known to you what shall be after this. 30 “As for me, this secret has not been revealed to me because I have more wisdom than anyone living, but for our sakes who make known the interpretation to the sovereign, and that you should know the thoughts of your heart. 31 “You, O sovereign, were looking on, and saw a great image! This great image, and its brightness excellent, was standing before you, and its form was awesome. 32 “This image’s head was of fine gold, its chest and arms of silver, its belly and thighs of bronze, 33 its legs of iron, its feet partly of iron and partly of clay. 34 “You were looking on, until a stone was cut out without hands, and it smote the image on its feet of iron and clay, and broke them in pieces. 35 “Then the iron, the clay, the bronze, the silver, and the gold were crushed together, and became like chaff from the summer threshing-floors. And the wind took them away so that no trace of them was found. And the stone that smote the image became a great mountain and filled all the earth. 36 “This is the dream, and its interpretation we declare before the sovereign. 37 “You, O sovereign, are a sovereign of sovereigns. For the Elah of the heavens has given you a reign, power, and strength, and preciousness, 38 and wherever the children of men dwell, or the beasts of the field and the birds of the heavens, He has given them into your hand, and has made you ruler over them all. You are the head of gold. 39 “And after you rises up another reign lower than yours, and another third reign of bronze that rules over all the earth. 40 “And the fourth reign is as strong as iron, because iron crushes and shatters all. So, like iron that breaks in pieces, it crushes and breaks all these. 41 “Yet, as you saw the feet and toes, partly of potter’s clay and partly of iron, the reign is to be divided. But some of the strength of the iron is to be in it, because you saw the iron mixed with muddy clay. 42 “And as the toes of the feet were partly of iron and partly of clay, so the reign is partly strong and partly brittle. 43 “And as you saw iron mixed with muddy clay, they are mixing themselves with the seed of men, but they are not clinging to each other, even as iron does not mix with clay. 44 “And in the days of these sovereigns the Elah of the heavens shall set up a reign which shall never be destroyed, nor the reign pass on to other people – it crushes and puts to an end all these reigns, and it shall stand forever1. Footnote: 1Dan. 7, Ps. 22:28, Jer. 30:11, Joel 3:16, Obad. 15-17, Hab. 3:12-13, Zeph. 3:8, Hag. 2:22, Rev. 11:15. 45 “Because you saw that the stone was cut out of the mountain without hands, and that it crushed the iron, the bronze, the clay, the silver, and the gold, the great Elah has made known to the sovereign what shall be after this. And the dream is true, and its interpretation is trustworthy.” 46 Then Sovereign Neb?uk?ad?netstsar fell on his face, and did obeisance before Dani’?l, and gave orders to present to him an offering and incense. 47 The sovereign answered Dani’?l, and said, “Truly your Elah is the Elah of elahin, the Master of sovereigns, and a revealer of secrets, since you were able to reveal this secret.” 48 Then the sovereign made Dani’?l great and gave him many great gifts, and made him ruler over all the province of Bab?el, and chief of the nobles, over all the wise ones of Bab?el. 49 And Dani’?l asked of the sovereign, and he set Shad?rak?, M?yshak?, and Ab??d?-Neg?o over the work of the province of Bab?el, and Dani’?l in the gate of the sovereign.

When the Babylonian empire fell in 539 BC it was taken over by the Medes and the Persian. They were the arms of Silver.
But we read around the tree were bands of Bronze. This is represented in the dream of the statute by Alexander the Great and Grecian Empire which would reawaken the Empire once again to a new life. This Empire would last a short time and then begin to grow weaker and then back to sleep after the death of Alexander.

It was not only the Empire of the Babylonians that would have a great influence on pollution of the Torah, but so did the Hellenist and then later again so did the Romans mixing the truth of Torah with false teachings.

The band of Iron is once again awakening the Babylonian Empire and this great image of Nebuchadnezzar when the Holy Roman Empire comes to life.

We know that these empires are the work of Satan’s system and not of Yehovah’s. Satan is again the symbol around the stump of the Christmas tree that was cut down. Satan has given it renewed life. It is a fake and not the resurrection that scriptures speak of. But he does keep resurrecting this unholy empire that stretches back to the time of Nimrod and to Babylon.

If you look up Aesculapius you will be directed to Asklepios or Asclepius. He was in Greek mythology a Doctor, One who practices with ointments. Pharmaceuticals if you will, Witchcraft.

He is depicted with a stick and serpent wrapped around it and is able to raise people back to life. Once again we see Satan trying to copy Yehovah. In Numbers 21 we read how Moses raised up a serpent on a pole so that the people would be healed of the snake bites. This pole was symbolic of the tree that Yehshua was to be nailed to later on which Yehshua tells us of himself in John 3:13-14.

Satan is trying to mimic the Messiah. But once again we are shown how the serpent of Moses ate up the serpents of Pharaoh in Egypt in Exodus 7:11-12.

In chapter 5 of Daniel we read another great prophecy of the hand writing on the wall. This is the exact time when the Babylonian Christmas tree was to fall just as Nebuchadnezzar did in Chapter 4, And just as Nimrod did by the hand of Shem.
I have to point out something to you. In the Prophecies of Abraham I show you how the destruction of this tree occurs at the same time in the Sabbatical cycle throughout history. You really should read the book to learn about this.

But in chapter 5 we are told when the tree would spring back to life once again. Although the bands indicate a resurrection during the Grecian and then the Roman empires, the expression Mene, Mene, Tekel Upharsin tells us exactly when this stump would come back to life.

From The Prophecies Of Abraham I share the following.
http://www.remnant-prophecy.com/Remnant-Prophecy/2520-5.htm
MENE, MENE, TEKEL, UPHARSIN

Now Belshazzar saw the message that the hand had written on the wall, and the message troubled him. Now why did it trouble him? Could he understand the message on the wall? In part he did. It wasn’t just the handwriting on the wall, it was the message that he wanted to understand because it was written in his language. What was actually written there was a number.

Each of the words written there was a measurement of weight.
25 And this [is] the writing that was written, MENE, MENE, TEKEL, UPHARSIN. (Daniel 5:25)

The four words stood for MENE = 50 SHEKELS, MENE = 50 SHEKELS, TEKEL = I SHEKEL, UPHARSIN = 25 SHEKELS

THE TOTAL EQUALED 126 SHEKELS.
The Bible says in Ezekiel:
12 “And the shekel shall be twenty gerahs
” (Ezekiel 45:12)
THE SHEKEL IS 20 GERAHS:
Exodus 30:13; Leviticus 27:25; Numbers 3:47; Numbers 18:16; Ezekiel 45:12

20 x 126 = 2,520 GERAHS, OR SEVEN TIMES

He saw the number on the wall and he didn’t understand what it meant. Daniel comes in and discerned that this was not a good thing. You see, Daniel understood what the 2,520 meant—scattering. He knew it meant God’s judgment on the kingdom. That’s why he said, ‘Your kingdom is weighed and wanting, divided, numbered and finished!’

THAT NIGHT BELSHAZZAR’S KINGDOM WAS FINISHED.
He had transgressed pass the point of no return. His kingdom would be rent from him.
MENE, MENE, TEKEL, UPHARSIN = 2,520 or, The Scattering.

This destruction of Babylon was the beginning of the prophetic message of Belshazzar’s grandfather, Nebuchadnezzar. Nebuchadnezzar or Babylon was restored after the seven year period in which Nebuchadnezzar was insane. Belshazzar was the beginning of this prophecy and after the 2,520 year period Babylon would be restored.

During those seven times, or years which is 2520 days, (7 x 360 = 2520), Nebuchadnezzar’s reasoning was taken away. He couldn’t see clearly, but at the end of that seven times, Yahweh restored his understanding.

23 And in the latter time of their kingdom, when the transgressors are come to the full, a king of fierce countenance, and understanding dark sentences, shall stand up. (Daniel 8:23)

Understand brethren, that Nebuchadnezzar represents Satan and all of his empires down through the ages. He may be in a stupor at the moment, but soon he will understand the very deep meanings of Scriptures. Get ready!!

Belshazzar’s lack of humility and refusal to learn the lessons of history visited upon his grandfather resulted in grave consequences for his kingdom. As we have already quoted Edmund Burke, the philosopher, who so aptly put it: “Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it.”

Just like ancient times, people are going to be amazed at this future system. They are going to marvel, “Who is like the Beast?” (Verse 4), just like mankind did long ago when they marveled at the immensity of Babylon’s nine-story walls and said, “What’s the use? If you can’t beat ‘em, join ‘em.”

Yehovah further defines this future system with its mix of political and religious power as “Babylon” in Revelation 17:1-6. In verse four the politico-religious system is identified as “having in her hand a golden cup full of abominations.” Note that a religious vessel is being used in a wrong fashion just like long ago on that night before Babylon fell.

When we add the 2,520 years to the year that Cyrus defeated Babylon in 539 B.C., we end up in the year 1982 C.E. When we add seven more years onto that, we come to 1989 C.E.

In both 1982 and in 1989 the Pope told the world to come back to its roots. A clear reference to this mighty tree that once was; the pope was telling people to get back to their Christian catholic roots.

The German wall came down in 1989 helping to reunite East and West Germany and Europe. Then in the news recently have been those statements by Pope Benedict. You can read much of what has been happening by going to an article by Barry Chamash at http://www.cephas-library.com/israel_welcome_to_jerusalem_pope_benedict_xvi.html as we watch the pope set up his ruler ship from Jerusalem.

Remember the snake that was wrapped around the tree.

Now in the last days as I have shown you repeatedly in “The Sabbatical and Jubilee” teachings found at  and in “The Prophecies of Abraham“.

These last days this stump of the Fir tree which represented Nimrod and Satan is coming back to life, being resurrected by Satan. This last empire of Babylon is taking shape in Europe as we write. An army is being created. Germany which before Babylon was known as Assyria is leading this empire to it last resurrection. It will soon come down on the USA and UK in full military force to which we will lose just as we did in 723 BC when Israel was vomited out of that land.

The Christmas tree is a yearly reminder of the impending destruction of the USA and UK. The Christmas tree spoken of in Jeremiah and spoken of by Stephen just before he was killed was also used in prophecy by Daniel. In chapter 2, 3, 4, 5, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11 and12 Yehovah through Daniel shows in separate chapters things surrounding this Christmas tree also known as Nimrod and Babylon. He does this to warn us of what is to come based on the history of what already has been.

When the watcher spoke in Daniel 4:13 “In the visions of my head on my bed, I looked and saw a Watcher, even a set-apart one, coming down from the heavens. 14 “He cried aloud and said this, ‘Hew down the tree and cut off its branches, strip off its leaves and scatter its fruit. Let the beasts flee from under it, and the birds from its branches.

It is the same as reading in Revelations 18: 4 And I heard another voice from the heaven saying, “Come out of her, my people, lest you share in her sins, and lest you receive of her plagues.1 Footnote: 1Jer. 51:6 & 45. 5 “Because her sins have piled up to reach the heaven, and Elohim has remembered her unrighteousness’s. 6 “Render to her as she indeed did render, and repay her double according to her works. In the cup which she has mixed, mix for her double.

In both cases we are warned to get away from the falling tree so we do not get hurt.

Those who do not know history will be caught up in it when it is repeated. How much are you studying? How much TV are you watching? How much time are you wasting now when we are in the last stretch of these last days? Yehshua will be here in less than 23 year, what are you doing to get ready? If you did not know this then watch the Sabbatical and Jubilee DVD and read the book the Prophecies of Abraham.

Yehshua is coming and He is going to cut down this Christmas tree which is the worship of Nimrod for the last time. He will not decorate it but instead will utterly destroy it so that it never comes again.

Triennial Torah Cycle

We now return to our 3 1/2 year Torah studies which you can follow online.

We are now in our 39th week since we began this first year of this 3rd Sabbatical cycle of the 119th Jubilee cycles since Adam and we began at Aviv 1 which was March 20, 2010 on the Gregorian calendar. I do hope you are reading each of these chapters as we come to them and not just my own comments on them. Read it yourself and let Yehovah inspire you.

 

Gen 41       2 Sam 11-12       Ps 82-84        Luke 3 – 4:30

Genesis 41

Is this not amazing? I am in awe of what you are about to see. We have just been showing you the Christmas tree and how it is a symbol of Nimrod and is to be cut down by Yehshua just as Shem cut down the mighty Nimrod.

Now in Chapter 41 we are going to read about how Pharaoh who is representing Satan is also having a dream. Not just any dream but one that plays directly into when that Tree is to be cut down.

In Genesis 41 we are talking about the seven good year and the seven bad years of Egypt.

First thing I want to point out is in verse 14 that Joseph shaved and it is not mentioned as sin. Just a little shot at those who think the wearing of a beard is a commandment.

If you remember last week we told you how Joseph never gave Yehovah credit for the interpretation of the dreams he had been given. Now in verse 16 he does.

I am going to be referring to The Prophecies of Abraham which I strongly urge you all to order and read. The charts I am going to refer to are in the book.

When I was writing the Prophecies of Abraham I was told by a friend to take a look at the seven years of Feast and famine. I did and could not understand how these two blocks of seven years fit the Sabbatical cycle, because they just did not match any Sabbatical cycles. It was not until I laid them out chronologically by date that the answer came to me by Yehovah.

You really do need to look at the charts of when Joseph lived and notice when the seven year of plenty are. They come at a very specific time in the life cycle of the Beast power which in Joseph’s day is that of Egypt and Pharaoh.

These seven years of plenty begin right in the middle of the 4th Sabbatical cycle. Not at the beginning but in the middle. They end in the middle of the 5th Sabbatical cycle and the seven years of famine begin. The famine years end in the middle of the 6th Sabbatical cycle.

It did not make sense all by itself. But when I compared it to our last Sabbatical cycle and those things I had learned about it, I was excited and blown away.

In the middle of the 4th Sabbatical cycle, which is the cycle of the Sword which is to come to Israel- The USA and UK countries as well as the State of Israel itself, in the middle of this cycle they are destroyed by the combined forces of Europe and the Muslim nations. Europe and the Muslim nations led by Germany are the end time Beast power.

After the Beast Power has destroyed the “Great Satan” of the United States, and her allies, and after the Beast Power (a united European and Muslim power led by Germany) has dealt with the “Little Satan” of the State of Israel, the world will say, “Who is able to make war with him?” And the world will marvel at the power of this Beast and there will be a number of years when the world will be prosperous which begins after the destruction of the USA in 2020 C.E. The actual number of years to be seven; The Seven years of Plenty from Genesis 41.
4 So they worshiped the dragon who gave authority to the beast; and they worshiped the beast, saying, “Who is like the beast? Who is able to make war with him?” (Revelation 13:4)

Once we get to the seven year of plenty in the middle of the 5th Sabbatical cycle which is 2027 CE. The two witnesses will begin to say to the world and to the Beast power to let the children of Israel go. Keep in mind the 5th Sabbatical cycle is the one of captivity and now the two witnesses are beginning to speak out in the middle of this time. They will speak for three and a half years and will begin to speak during the fall Holy Day season in the year of 2026 and conclude at Passover 2030 when they are killed by the Beast Power.

The two witnesses are going to go before the Beast Power and demand that the Tribes of Israel, which are in Captivity, to be released. That Captivity begins in the year 2024 C.E. They will tell the Beast Power, in a similar fashion as Moses and Aaron did just before the Exodus, to set the Americans, the English, the Australians, the Canadians, the Jews the Dutch the Norwegians and Swedes and other nations of north-western Europe free so they can go to the Land of Israel and worship the Creator.

The Beast Power will not allow it, the same as Pharaoh would not let Israel go either during the time of the Exodus and the Beast Power will send assassins to kill these two witnesses who will defend themselves in a supernatural way. But the Beast will make things harder on those who are in captivity and the people will not bare it.

These two witnesses will command for the rain to stop all around the earth for three years. By the end of this three years, the nations of the world will be searching for every Israelite from around the world and bring them to Jerusalem by the year of Shabbat Shuva, the year of return, in order to obey the two witnesses. You can read more about this in the article at; “Why Israel Returns to the Land in 2030 and Why they Leave again, and the How the Two Witnesses Cause this to Happen.

One-quarter of the earth’s population will have died from war and starvation by 2030 C.E. as a result of the decree of the two witnesses. And this is why the world is searching for those Israelites to bring them back to Israel so the curse will end.

8 The beast that you saw was, and is not, and will ascend out of the bottomless pit and go to perdition. And those who dwell on the earth will marvel, whose names are not written in the Book of Life from the foundation of the world, when they see the beast that was, and is not, and yet is. (Revelation 17:8)

This Beast that was and is not is often made out to be the European Union and rightfully so. But it is more than that, it is this great tree that we talked about in the beginning of this News Letter. It is the Beast of Nimrod, which was and is not, it is the beast of Nebuchadnezzar who for a time was not there to run his government and then was. This great fir tree is or has been there ever since Nimrod and is still there today only most can’t or won’t see it. But when it begins to wield the power that it will soon have we are all in grave danger.

Do not forget the Scriptures we have covered previously covering the blessing of Isaac and the wrath of Esau in the Book of Genesis:
40 “By your sword you shall live, And you shall serve your brother; And it shall come to pass, when you become restless, That you shall break his yoke from your neck.” (Genesis 27:40)

The beginning of the years of plenty for Egypt, which symbolizes Babylon, is to start when Esau throws off the bonds of Jacob, which is the whole house of Israel. Notice that the years of plenty for the Beast Power start in the middle of the period for the years of war and when the USA is to be destroyed. Esau will have broken the yoke of Jacob at that time in 2020 C.E.

This compares to the beginning of the seven years of plenty in Joseph’s day.

Read what then happens to Esau after they have broken the bonds of Israel. We learn of this when we read Daniel and Revelation: 15 “I, Daniel, was grieved in my spirit within my body, and the visions of my head troubled me. 16 I came near to one of those who stood by, and asked him the truth of all this. So he told me and made known to me the interpretation of these things: 17 ‘Those great beasts, which are four, are four kings which arise out of the earth. 18 But the saints of the Most High shall receive the kingdom, and possess the kingdom forever, even forever and ever.’ 19 Then I wished to know the truth about the fourth beast, which was different from all the others, exceedingly dreadful, with its teeth of iron and its nails of bronze, which devoured, broke in pieces, and trampled the residue with its feet; 20 and the ten horns that were on its head, and the other horn which came up, before which three fell, namely, that horn which had eyes and a mouth which spoke pompous words, whose appearance was greater than his fellows. 21 I was watching; and the same horn was making war against the saints, and prevailing against them, 22 until the Ancient of Days came, and a judgment was made in favor of the saints of the Most High, and the time came for the saints to possess the kingdom. 23 “Thus he said: ‘The fourth beast shall be A fourth kingdom on earth, Which shall be different from all other kingdoms, And shall devour the whole earth, Trample it and break it in pieces. 24 The ten horns are ten kings Who shall arise from this kingdom. And another shall rise after them; He shall be different from the first ones, And shall subdue three kings. 25 He shall speak pompous words against the Most High, Shall persecute the saints of the Most High, And shall intend to change times and law. Then the saints shall be given into his hand For a time and times and half a time. 26 ‘But the court shall be seated, And they shall take away his dominion, To consume and destroy it forever. 27 Then the kingdom and dominion, And the greatness of the kingdoms under the whole heaven, Shall be given to the people, the saints of the Most High. His kingdom is an everlasting kingdom, And all dominions shall serve and obey Him.’ (Daniel 7:15-27)

Esau will become 10 Kingdoms having made the secret deal in Psalm 83 and helping to defeat the nations of Israel. They then will pursue and kill those saints whom they can find.

7 But the angel said to me, “Why did you marvel? I will tell you the mystery of the woman and of the beast that carries her, which has the seven heads and the ten horns. 8 The beast that you saw was, and is not, and will ascend out of the bottomless pit and go to perdition. And those who dwell on the earth will marvel, whose names are not written in the Book of Life from the foundation of the world, when they see the beast that was, and is not, and yet is. 9 Here is the mind which has wisdom: The seven heads are seven mountains on which the woman sits. 10 There are also seven kings. Five have fallen, one is, and the other has not yet come. And when he comes, he must continue a short time. 11 And the beast that was, and is not, is himself also the eighth, and is of the seven, and is going to perdition. 12 The ten horns which you saw are ten kings who have received no kingdom as yet, but they receive authority for one hour as kings with the beast. 13 These are of one mind, and they will give their power and authority to the beast. 14 These will make war with the Lamb, and the Lamb will overcome them, for He is Lord of lords and King of kings; and those who are with Him are called, chosen, and faithful.” 15 Then he said to me, “The waters which you saw, where the harlot sits, are peoples, multitudes, nations, and tongues. 16 And the ten horns which you saw on the beast, these will hate the harlot, make her desolate and naked, eat her flesh and burn her with fire. 17 For God has put it into their hearts to fulfill His purpose, to be of one mind, and to give their kingdom to the beast, until the words of God are fulfilled. 18 And the woman whom you saw is that great city which reigns over the kings of the earth.”(Revelation 17:7-13)

Do not fear any of those things which you are about to suffer. Indeed, the devil is about to throw some of you into prison, that you may be tested, and you will have tribulation ten days. Be faithful until death, and I will give you the crown of life. (Revelation 2:10)

Notice in the chart above that the year of Shuva when Israel is brought back to the Land of Israel after the Two Witnesses have caused the rain to stop in all the world, that Πof mankind dies, and when Israel is brought back for the year of Shuva in 2030 C.E., at Passover the sheep will be slaughtered. This is when the great martyrdom takes place. It is the fifth seal in Revelation.

9 When He opened the fifth seal, I saw under the altar the souls of those who had been slain for the word of God and for the testimony which they held. 10 And they cried with a loud voice, saying, “How long, O Lord, holy and true, until You judge and avenge our blood on those who dwell on the earth?” 11 Then a white robe was given to each of them; and it was said to them that they should rest a little while longer, until both the number of their fellow servants and their brethren, who would be killed as they were, was completed. (Revelation 6:9-17)

We are told to eat the Passover meal in haste with our shoes on and to be ready to go at a moment’s notice. We do this in preparation for this time yet future, when at Passover we will have to flee for our lives.

11And thus you shall eat it: with a belt on your waist, your sandals on your feet, and your staff in your hand. So you shall eat it in haste. It is the Lord’s Passover. (Exodus 12:11)

Let me summarize one more time for clarity.

In 2020 C.E. the USA & the UK will be defeated by the German led forces united with the Muslim nations. Once this is accomplished, the land is divided amongst the victors. This is the beginning of the seven years of prosperity for the victors. This is the exact same thing that Joseph said about Pharaoh’s dream with the fat cows. Seven years of plenty for Egypt which represents the End Time Beast Power of European and Muslim forces.

The years of Captivity begin with the year of 2024 C.E. This is the time when the two witnesses will be gaining notoriety on the world scene. They have to be known to the world in order for the Beast Power and the world to take note of them. Today I know of many who claim to be these two witnesses, but no one listens to them. Somehow after 2024 C.E. these two witnesses will become world renowned.

Then they will warn the Beast Power to let the Israelites return to the Land of Israel or there will be no rain starting in 2027 C.E., which matches when the seven years of Drought came in Joseph’s day.

And I will give power to my two witnesses, and they will prophesy one thousand two hundred and sixty days, clothed in sackcloth.” (Revelation 11:3)

They will begin to prophecy at The Day of Atonement in 2026 C.E. and will be killed at the start of the Martyrdom of the Saints at Passover 2030 C.E. They are to speak for 3 œ years and:

These have power to shut heaven, so that no rain falls in the days of their prophecy; and they have power over waters to turn them to blood, and to strike the earth with all plagues, as often as they desire. (Revelation 11:6)

Because of the curses on the world by these two witnesses, Œ of all men will die and the fourth seal of the Pale Horse which concludes just before the final 3 œ years of the Great Tribulation and as I have said earlier this final 3 œ years is when the two witnesses will be killed and they are the beginning of the Martyrdom of the Saints which takes place at Passover when all of Israel will have been gathered from throughout the entire earth and brought back to the Land of Israel as commanded by the two witnesses.

During these 3 œ years leading up to the Martyrdom of the Saints is the first half of the seven years of Drought. During the Great Tribulation the last 3 œ years, the world will continue to experience Drought on a massive scale. Many more people will die.

It is during this time that those who remain faithful will be fleeing to Moab to be hidden for this time period. It is also during this time that Yehshua will rise up.

And it is precisely because of these coming events that we desire to have established farms that can sustain the saints during these droughts. But I have found few that share this vision.

2 Samuel 11-12

Once again we see the hand of Yehovah in these Newsletters. Last week I wrote you about Abortion and then this week I compared it to other sins. Which was worse?

In 2 Samuel we read how David fell for the beauty of Bathsheba. I find it amazing also since I was going to be talking to Jono about the Laws of Niddah, that in verse 4 it says And Dawid? sent messengers, to fetch her. And she came to him, and he lay with her – for she was cleansing herself from her uncleanness – and she returned to her house.

In my king James it says she was done her impurity.

Here we have the King of Israel a man after the heart of Yehovah committing adultery with Bathsheba and it is concerned about her impurity? If your stealing someone else bread does it matter if your hands are dirty?

I just found that very strange. And then David plots to cover up his sin by having Uriah come and lay with his own wife. And Uriah being very noble does not. So now David plots even more and has a whole army maneuvering around just so Uriah would be killed in action. But others of Israel also fell during this murder of Uriah and Joab was also a part of it.

So instead of Abortion David kills Uriah.

Now when you read chapter 12 I want you to pay very close attention to what Nathan says. This was a huge scripture in my life as I continued to sin and would not stop.

After reading how Yehovah had given so much to David and would have given him so much more if he wanted it, he then announces the penalties he is going to incur. And Nathan says in verse 13 And Dawid? said to Nathan, “I have sinned against ????.” And Nathan said to Dawid?, “Also, ???? has put away your sin, you shall not die.

Yehovah has forgiven David and now he shall not die. David was about to be given a death penalty for this sin. The man after Yehovah’s own heart was about to be killed but because he repented as soon as he had seen it, Yehovah removed the death penalty from him and placed it upon the child that was to be born to David and Bathsheba. Think about this the next time you feel that urge to go and do a sin. Think about it.

We next read that Bathsheba gave birth to Solomon which means Yehovah love him. But he was not first in line for the throne so this part here is troublesome to me at this date. Absalom should be first in line for the throne and because of this trouble is coming.

Psalm 82-84

http://www.ucg.org/bible-commentary/Psalms/81
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In Psalm 82, Asaph delivers from God “a word of judgment on unjust rulers and judges…. [He shows] God presiding over his heavenly court [verse 1]…. As the Great King (see…Ps 47) and the Judge of all the earth (see 94:2; Ge 18:25; 1Sa 2:10) who ‘loves justice’ (99:4) and judges the nations in righteousness (see 9:8; 96:13; 98:9), he is seen calling to account those responsible for defending the weak and oppressed on earth” (Zondervan NIV Study Bible, note on Psalm 82).

Observe in verses 1 and 6 the term “gods” (Hebrew Elohim). This plural word can refer to a plurality of gods (usually false gods) or in a singular sense to the one God (or God family) comprising more than one Being-God the Father and God the Son, Jesus Christ. To learn more about this terminology and the nature of God, see our free booklet Who Is God?

Here the term “gods” refers to human beings-“children of the Most High” (verse 6). Consider that when God created the plants and animals of the earth in Genesis 1, He made them to reproduce each “according to its kind.” But in the same context, God said of humanity, “Let Us [the Father and the reincarnate Christ] make man in Our image, according to Our likeness” (verse 26)-language denoting producing a child in one’s image (compare 5:3). So man was made according to the God-kind. Yet this initially is in an incomplete sense of resembling God in appearance on a physical level and having an intelligent and creative mind (though still unimaginably inferior to God’s). God ultimately intends for man to be a spiritual creation completely in His likeness.

Jesus would later use Psalm 82:6 to confound the Jewish religious authorities who were upset because He declared Himself the Son of God. Reminding them that their own law (Scripture) referred to human beings as “gods,” he asked them why they were so upset at Him for merely saying He was the Son of God (John 10:31-37).

One godlike characteristic human beings were given at man’s initial creation was that of having dominion over the earth-representing Him as ruler over creation (Genesis 1:26-28). For many, this dominion would extend over other human beings. Yet for the most part, people have not taken after God’s nature in the way they have fulfilled this responsibility. Rather, they have taken advantage of and abused each other. Psalm 82 addresses this failing. It is in fact a message for everyone-but applies all the more to those who are in positions of power, who have the capacity to help others in the ways called for in verses 2-4.

Verse 5 speaks of the colossal failure of human misrule. Commenting on this verse, the Zondervan NIV Study Bible notes: “They ought to have shared in the wisdom of God (see 1Ki 3:9; Pr 8:14-16; Isa 11:12), but they are utterly devoid of true understanding of moral issues or of the moral order that God’s rule sustains (see Isa 44:18; Jer 3:15; 9:24)…. When such people are the wardens of justice, the whole world order crumbles (see 11:3; 75:3…).”

Clearly the human beings addressed in Psalm 82 as gods are not truly gods in an ultimate sense-as God says they will die as mere mortal men, falling “like every other ruler” (verse 7, NIV). Yet for those who submit to God’s ways, other passages show that men can receive eternal life and divine glory as spirit-born members of the God family.

Thankfully, while the current societal order will fall to pieces, the ultimate world order God has ordained will stand (75:3; 93:1). As the concluding verse of Psalm 82 calls for, He will intervene and set all things right in all nations. For all nations will at last be His, not just as His property but as His true children in His likeness-not only of form, but of character.

Psalm 83, the last of Asaph’s psalms and the concluding psalm of the second cluster of Book III, implores God to rouse Himself against a confederacy of national enemies conspiring to wipe out Israel-these nations here declared to be God’s enemies (compare 81:14-15).

We earlier read Psalm 83 in the Bible Reading Program along with the account of the chariots of Mesopotamia helping the Ammonites against David’s army (see the Bible Reading Program comments on 2 Samuel 10; 1 Chronicles 19; Psalm 60; Psalm 108; Psalm 83). This may be what is meant in Psalm 83:8: “Assyria also has joined with them; they have helped the children of Lot.” The nations of Ammon and Moab were both descended from Abraham’s nephew Lot. Yet there is a larger coalition mentioned in verses 5-7, containing nations not mentioned in 2 Samuel 10 or 1 Chronicles 19. However, some of these, having been subdued by David in earlier campaigns, could have been in revolt on this later occasion (see the Bible Reading Program comments on Psalm 60). Of course, considering that other prophecies of various nations here describe them rising up together against Israel in the end time, Psalm 83 may well be an end-time prophecy of “Asaph the seer” (see 2 Chronicles 29:30). Perhaps the song is dual in meaning-with an ancient coalition prefiguring a similar confederacy of the last days.

In the list of conspiring enemies, the foremost and perennial enemy of Israel is given first-Edom (Psalm 83:6), the nation descended from Jacob’s brother Esau. David subdued the Edomites prior to the fight with Mesopotamian forces (see 2 Samuel 8; 1 Chronicles 18). But since the Syrians were also earlier subdued and rebelled at the time of the later conflict, it is possible that the same thing happened with the Edomites. In an end-time setting, which seems applicable here, the Edomites may be found among the Palestinians in Israel and Jordan, among the Turks, among the Iraqis and other Middle Eastern peoples and, due to immigration, in growing numbers in Europe. (For more on the Edomites and their modern identity, see the Bible Reading Program comments on Obadiah, Isaiah 34 and 63, Jeremiah 49:7-22 and Ezekiel 35.)

The Ishmaelites, listed second (Psalm 83:6), are the Arabs generally-descended from Abraham’s first son Ishmael. The Arab nations of today stretch from across North Africa to Iraq.

Third on the list, Moab (same verse), as mentioned above, was, along with Ammon, descended from Lot (see verse 8). As with the Edomites, David subdued the Moabites prior to the fight with Mesopotamia’s chariots (see 2 Samuel 8; 1 Chronicles 18). But, as with Edom, it may be that the Moabites rebelled during the later conflict. The Moabites are probably to be found today among the Palestinians in Jordan and Israel and among other Middle Eastern peoples.

Listed fourth are the Hagrites (verse 6). The Israelite tribes of Reuben and Gad fought against the Hagrites in the days of Saul (1 Chronicles 5:10, 18-19). As was noted in the Bible Reading Program comments on 1 Chronicles 5, the name Hagrites perhaps denotes descendants of Ishmael’s mother Hagar (and thus Ishmaelite or related tribes). The conflict with the Trans-Jordanian tribes would make these north-ranging Arabs. Assyrian inscriptions mention Hagrites as part of an Aramean (i.e., Syrian) confederacy (Zondervan, note on Psalm 83:6). Thus, the Hagrites are perhaps to be identified in modern times with the Arabs of Syria.

Fifth is Gebal (verse 7). As The Nelson Study Bible notes on Ezekiel 27:9, Gebal was an important Phoenician port city “between Sidon and Arvad (see Josh. 13:5; 1 Kin. 5:18). It was called Byblos by the Greeks and Romans, and Gubla by the Assyrians and Babylonians.” The Phoenician city is today known as Jbail or Jubayl in Lebanon, 25 miles north of Beirut. Yet the name Gebal, related to the Arabic Jebel, is simply the word for “mountain,” and many believe another location could be meant. “Some interpreters…conclude that the reference here is to a place or region in Edom [southern Jordan], south of the Dead Sea near Petra” (Zondervan, note on verse 7).

Sixth on the list is Ammon (same verse). It was the conflict with Ammon that led to the fight against Mesopotamia’s forces. The Ammonite capital, Rabbah, is now Amman, the capital city of Jordan. Like the related Moabites, the Ammonites today are probably to be found among the Palestinians in Jordan and Israel and among other Middle Eastern peoples.

Seventh is Amalek (same verse). The Amalekites were a hostile Edomite people of southern Canaan (Numbers 13:29) who ambushed the stragglers in the Israelites’ rear ranks when they came out of Egypt. For this ruthlessness God said He would have war with them from generation to generation and eventually cause them to be wiped out (Exodus 17:8-16; Deuteronomy 25:17-19). Though suppressed under Saul and David, the Amalekites remained. They appear to have eventually ranged over a large territory-some migrating all the way up into Central Asia (see the Bible Reading Program comments on Obadiah and Esther 3). The Amalekites today may be among the Palestinians, Central Asian Turks and other Middle Eastern peoples.

Philistia, land of the Philistines, eighth on the list (Psalm 83:7), was located along the southwest coast of Israel. David had subdued the Philistines prior to the engagement with the Mesopotamian forces (see 2 Samuel 8; 1 Chronicles 18). But, as with Edom and Moab, it could be that the Philistines revolted at the time of the fight against Mesopotamia. A significant portion of the area of ancient Philistia is today the Palestinian Gaza Strip-Gaza being one of the ancient Philistine cities. The Philistines gave their name to Palestine, the name used by the Greeks and Romans for the land of Israel. And there may be some Philistines among the Palestinians of today.

Listed ninth are “the inhabitants of Tyre” (Psalm 83:7). It might seem problematic for this to apply to the time Asaph wrote-as King Hiram of Tyre was closely allied to David and Solomon. The same problem exists for a Phoenician Gebal if that is the city intended, as Gebal was under Tyre’s dominion. Yet it could be that there were rogue elements in Tyre favorable to the Mesopotamians against Israel. Perhaps this is why the wording “inhabitants of Tyre” is used instead of just Tyre. On the other hand, it could be that the psalm simply did not concern events of Asaph’s time-that it was instead exclusively a prophecy of the end time. In a modern setting, Lebanon could be indicated. However, modern descendants of the Phoenician Tyrians, along with modern descendants of the Babylonians, may be found in southern Europe (see the Bible Reading Program comments on Isaiah 13:1-14:2). And ancient Tyre prefigured the end-time European-centered Babylonian commercial system of the last days (see Ezekiel 27; Revelation 18).

Listed tenth and last is Assyria (Psalm 83:8). This was probably the principal Mesopotamian power involved in the conflict with David. In a modern setting, the land of Assyria could perhaps indicate northern Iraq. However, it could be that the modern descendants of the ancient Assyrians are intended-apparently, as noted in the Bible Reading Program comments on Isaiah 10:5-34, to be found among the Germanic people of Central Europe. As the same comments note, the early Catholic theologian Jerome applied Psalm 83:8 to the Germanic tribes invading western Europe along the Rhine.

In modern times, all the various Middle Eastern peoples listed here have fiercely opposed the people of Israel (foremost among “Israel” being the United States and Britain) and Judah (the Jewish people, including the modern Israeli state)-constantly plotting and conspiring against them and at times actually fighting them militarily or through terrorism, with many shrieking “Death to Israel!” and “Israel into the sea!” After the Arab states came together in the Arab League at the end of World War II, one of its first major actions was a joint attack on the Israeli state when it was established in 1948. Conflict has erupted numerous times since, with Israel fighting several wars for survival against overwhelming odds.

As for European involvement, Germany fought America and Britain in World Wars I and II and waged the terrible Holocaust against the Jews. The Germans were allied with the Ottoman Turks in World War I and with anti-Semitic Arabs in World War II-the Muslim Grand Mufti of Jerusalem, Hajj Amin al Husseini, finding common cause with the Nazis. As pointed out in a recent article, “In late March 1933, al-Husseini contacted the German consul general in Jerusalem and requested German help in eliminating Jewish settlements in Palestine-offering, in exchange, a pan-Islamic jihad in alliance with Germany against Jews around the world” (David Dalin, “Hitler’s Mufti,” Human Events, Aug. 3, 2005). And since the formation of the state of Israel shortly after World War II, Germany and other European nations have politically and economically supported the Palestinian cause against what they see as Israeli “occupation” and “oppression.”

This decades-long hostility (with its intermittent wars and intifadas) may be what is meant in Psalm 83, though the song could parallel other end-time prophecies in foretelling a more concerted and severe onslaught closer to the end of the age.
Asaph calls on God to deal with the enemy forces as He dealt with seemingly overwhelming enemies before (verses 9-12). “As with Midian” (verse 9) refers to God’s victory accomplished through Gideon in Judges 7. “As with Sisera, as with Jabin at the Brook Kishon” (Psalm 83:9) refers to God’s victory accomplished through Deborah and Barak in Judges 4-5. Oreb, Zeeb, Zebah and Zalmunna (Psalm 83:11) were leaders of the Midianites killed by Gideon and his men (Judges 7:25-8:21).

Asaph then calls for judgment on the enemy nations-remarkably for the cause of redemption. He asks that God would pursue, frighten and shame the enemies so that they would repent and seek a relationship with God (verse 13-16). He further prays that they be dismayed, confounded forever and shamed and that they perish (verse 17). Is there a contradiction here? Some think Asaph seeks for the enemies to repent but, if they still refuse, for them to then be destroyed. That may be, but the passage is not directly worded that way.

We should realize that the word translated “forever” in verse 17 does not necessarily mean for all eternity as in modern English usage (compare Exodus 21:6). Indeed verse 18, which says that the punishment is so that the enemies will know that God is “the Most High over all the earth,” appears to hint at the second resurrection. For how will these enemies know anything if they are dead forever? While the lesson will of course be learned by those left alive, a straightforward reading of these verses would seem to say that the lesson is for those who perish. The desire in verse 18, then, seems to be that the mortal defeat the enemies experience from God in this age will convince them of His sovereignty when they are raised in the future-leading them to the repentance mentioned in verse 16. (Jesus spoke of this resurrection to repentance in Matthew 11:20-24 and 12:41-42, and the Bible mentions it in several other references. To learn more about God’s plan to offer salvation to all human beings who lived without a proper understand of His ways, see our free booklet What Happens After Death?)

“Righteousness…Shall Make His Footsteps Our Pathway” (Psalms 84-87) September 9-14
As in the superscriptions of Psalms 8 and 81, al gittith in the superscription of Psalm 84 denotes either a song of the winepress or, as in the NKJV, one played “on an instrument of Gath”—Gittite being the adjective form of this Philistine city.

Psalm 84, “the first of the six psalms that make up the final group of Book III…expresses yearning for fellowship with God, who dwells in his temple in Zion and from alone come security and blessing. References to God as [‘Lord of hosts’ or] ‘Lord Almighty’ [NIV] and a prayer for ‘our shield,’ the Lord’s ‘anointed,’ form distinctive links with the final psalm of the group (for the former see 84:1, 3, 8, 12 and 89:8; for the latter see 84:9 and 89:18, 38, 51). The five psalms thus introduced [85-89] are four cries out of distress arranged around a central song (Ps 87) that celebrates God’s special love of Zion and the care he has for all its citizens. Of these four, the first (Ps 85) and the last (Ps 89) are communal prayers, and the remaining two (Ps 89; 88) are prayers of individuals. They all make much of God’s [‘mercy and truth’ (NKJV) or] ‘love and faithfulness’ [NIV] (see 85:7, 10-11; 86:5, 13, 15; 88:11; 89:1-2, 5, 8, 14, 24, 28, 33, 49) and his ‘saving’ help (see 85:4, 7, 9; 86:2, 16; 88:1; 89:26). And three of them share another key concept, ‘righteousness’ (see 85:10-11, 13; 88:12; 89:14)” (Zondervan NIV Study Bible, note on Psalms 84-89).

Of this final cluster of six psalms, four are labeled in the superscriptions as coming from the sons of Korah. Psalm 84, one of these Korahite psalms, is “a prayer of longing for the house of the Lord. In tone and perspective it stands close to Ps 42 [another Korahite psalm] and may reflect similar circumstances. If so, the author (presumably a Levite who normally functioned in the temple service), now barred from access to God’s house [perhaps during a time of national calamity]…gives voice to his longing for the sweet nearness to God in his temple that he had known in the past. References to God and his temple and to the ‘blessedness’ (see vv. 4-5, 12) of those having free access to both dominates the prayer and highlights its central themes” (note on Psalm 84).

In verses 1-2, the psalmist’s unsatisfied longing leaves him faint, his whole being aching to be in God’s presence. While this could be merely figurative, it could just as well be literal. Perhaps through long prayer, fasting and mourning, he really was weak to the point of fainting.

In verse 3, “the psalmist is jealous of the small birds that have such unhindered access to the temple and the altar. They are able even to build their nests there for their young—the place where Israel was to have communion with God” (note on verse 3). These birds have found a home with God, which the psalmist himself desires. What a great blessing it is to have God’s house as your home (verse 4). We should recognize that the house of God in these verses is also representative today of God’s Church and, in an ultimate sense, of God’s Kingdom and family for all eternity.

In verse 5, the words translated “whose heart is set on pilgrimage” literally mean “‘in whose hearts are (the) highways,’ i.e. the highways the Israelites took to observe the religious festivals at Jerusalem (Zion, v. 7)” (note on verse 5). The pilgrimage here is also figurative—that of following the pathway of return to God and of pressing onward to His Kingdom. On this journey, as we see in verse 6, even difficult circumstances (represented by the Valley of Baca or Weeping) will be washed over with God’s blessings (symbolized by springs, rain and pools). We should recall here Psalm 23, where God as our Shepherd leads us through the valley of death-darkness (verse 4) on the way to dwelling in His house forever (verse 6).

The journeying pilgrims “go from strength to strength” (84:7). The Nelson Study Bible comments: “As one nears the temple, the rigors of the journey become tolerable, for the joy of the approaching arrival strengthens the soul” (note on verses 5-7). Even so, as God’s people today continue through life, they build character and rejoice more and more as the time draws ever closer when God’s Kingdom will be established on the earth. “God’s saints on their hopeful way to Zion experience anew the bountiful hand of God as their ancestors did on their way through the Desert of Sinai to the promised land (see 78:15-16; 105:41; 114:8)—and as their descendants would on their return to Zion from Babylonian exile (see Isa 41:17-20; 43:19-20; 49:10)” (Zondervan, note on Psalm 84:6)—the return from Babylonian exile in the end time being the primary focus in these passages. Spiritual Israel, the Church, follows the highway to God today. Physical Israel and the other nations on earth will follow at Christ’s return.

In verses 8-9 the phrases “our shield” and “Your anointed” refer to the king of Israel (see 89:18, 20). Why would this prayer for the king be included here by the psalmist? “Only as God blesses the king in Jerusalem [perhaps in giving him victory against enemies preventing journey to the temple] will the psalmist once more realize his great desire to return to his accustomed service in the temple” (note on verses 8-11). Of course, in an ultimate sense, the figure of the anointed king looked forward to the future Messiah, whom God will send to establish His Kingdom.

The psalmist concludes that the privilege of spending a single day in God’s house is better than a thousand days anywhere else (verse 10). He moreover says that just being a doorkeeper (often considered to be a menial servant) in God’s house is worth more than living (presumably the life of luxury) among the wicked (same verse). As a point of consistency, helping to validate the psalm’s superscription, we should note that it was the Korahites who served as doorkeepers or gatekeepers at the tabernacle and temple (1 Chronicles 9:17-27; 26:1-19). This was in fact a “trusted office” (9:22, 26).

Some reckon from Psalm 84:10 that the post of “doorkeeper” will be a position held by some of God’s saints in His coming Kingdom—those on the bottom rung, it is derogatorily inferred. First of all, we should recognize that such a position of responsibility would not be a bad thing, as is commonly implied. Yet, secondly, we are told that angels rather than glorified human beings will serve as gatekeepers of the New Jerusalem (Revelation 21:12). And thirdly, the psalmist appears to have been referring to his own particular service or simply using metaphoric language to draw a contrast—or both. In no way is the passage meant to teach that “some will be only mere doorkeepers in God’s Kingdom.” Yet we are told something here about whatever positions God’s people occupy in His Kingdom: “No good thing will He withhold from those who walk uprightly” (Psalm 84:11).

Verse 12 assures us that happiness comes through trusting in God. Be assured that He will deliver on His promises. Whatever circumstances prompted the composition of Psalm 84, this song, given its current placement in the Psalter, “now voices the devotion to and reliance on God that motivate the remaining prayers of the group it introduces” (note on Psalm 84).

Luke 3-4:30

Again in this study I find it awesome to read in the first few verses of Luke 3 that John preached for you to baptise as an outward showing of your repentance and for the remission of sins.

Most people have no idea what sin is.

It is found as we have already said above in 1 John 3:4 4 Everyone doing sin also does lawlessness, and sin is lawlessness.
The law is the Ten Commandments and if people would read Exodus 20 they would then know what this law is that they are not keeping. There are no exceptions. If you want to be righteous you need to keep the law. Psalm 119:172 My tongue sings of Your word, For all Your commands are righteousness.

If we want to be righteous then we need to keep the Commandments and to stop saying I will keep them all except that one. No exceptions. Then once you repent from doing this then to be baptised by total immersion in living waters; that is flowing water.
Once again in verse 9 John is speaking to the Pharisees and is telling them they too are of the same tree we have been talking about in this whole Newsletter. In verse 8 john demands that they show fruits of their repentance and the people ask how they do it. He then tells them, point blank to stop doing certain things and to help those who are lacking.

We next read about the temptations that Yehshua goes through with Satan and this reminds me of one of my first articles. I am going to quote it here for you and it too ties into all we have been talking about today. Awesome.

I do not know from where I received this information but I have found it to be true none the less. I believe it was an e-mail.
I came across this Bible study from Bullinger. FYI
 THE SERPENT OF GENESIS 3

Taken from Appendix 19 of “The Companion Bible”

In Genesis 3 we have neither allegory, myth, legend, nor fable, but literal historical facts set forth, and emphasized by the use of certain Figures of speech (see Ap.6).

All the confusion of thought and conflicting exegesis have arise from taking literally what is expressed by Figures, or from taking figuratively what is literal. A figure of speech is never used except for the purpose of calling attention to, emphasizing, and intensifying, the reality of the literal sense, and the truth of the historical facts; so that, while the words employed may not be so strictly true to the letter, they are all the historical events connected with them.

But for the figurative language of verses 14 and 15 no one would have thought of referring the third chapter of Genesis to a snake: no more than he does when reading the third chapter from the end of Revelation (ch. 20.2). Indeed, the explanation added there, that the “old serpent” is the Devil and Satan, would immediately lead one to connect the word “old” with the earlier and former mention of the serpent in Gen. 3: and the fact that it was Satan himself who tempted “the second man”, “the last Adam”, would force the conclusion that no other than the personal Satan could have been the tempter of “the first man, Adam”.

The Hebrew word rendered “serpent” in Gen. 3.1 is Nachash (from the root Nachash, to shine), and means a shining one. Hence, in Chaldee it means brass or copper, because of its shining. Hence also, the word Nehushtan, a piece of brass, in 2 Kings 18.4.

In the same way Saraph, in Isa.6.2,6, means a burning one, and, because the serpents mentioned in Num. 21 were burning, in the poison of their bite, they were called Saraphim, or Seraphs.

But when the Lord said unto Moses, “Make thee a fiery serpent” (Num. 21.8), He said, “Make thee a Saraph”, and, in obeying this command, we read in v.9, “Moses made a Nachash of brass”. Nachash is thus used as a being interchangeable with Saraph.

Now, if Saraph is used of a serpent because its bite was burning, and is also used of a celestial or spirit being (a burning one), why should not Nachash be used of a serpent because its appearance was shining, and be also used of a celestial or spirit being (a shining one)?

Indeed, a reference to the structure of Gen. 3 (on p.7) will show that the Cherubim (which are similar celestial of spirit beings) of the verse (Gen.3.24) require a similar spirit being to correspond with them in the first verse (for the structure of the whole chapter is a great Introversion). The Nachash, or serpent, who beguiled Eve (2 Cor. 11.3) is spoken of as “an angel of light” in v.14. Have we not, in this, a clear intimation that it was not a snake, but a glorious shining being, apparently as angel, to whom Eve paid such great deference, acknowledging him as one who seemed to possess superior knowledge, and who was evidently a being of a superior (not of an inferior) order? Moreover, in the description of Satan as “the king of Tyre” it is distinctly implied that the latter being was of a super-natural order when he is called “a cherub” (Ezek. 28.14,16, read from v.11-19). His presence “in Eden, the garden of ‘Elohim” (v.13), is also clearly stated, as well as his being “perfect in his ways from the day he was created till iniquity was found in him” (v.15), and as being “lifted up because of his beauty” (v.17).

These all compel the belief that Satan was the shining one (Nachash) in Gen. 3, and especially because the heart was lifted up because of thy beauty, thou hast corrupted thy wisdom by reason of thy brightness: I will cast thee to the ground. I will lay thee before kings, that they may behold thee” (v.17).

Even supposing that these things were spoken to, and of, an exalted human being in later days (in Ezek. 28), still “the king of Tyre” is not compared to a being who was non-existent; and facts and circumstances which never happened are not introduced into the comparison.

There is more about “the king of Tyre” in Ezek. 28: 11-19 that was literally true of “the prince of Tyre” (v. 1-10). The words can be understood only of the mightiest and most exalted supernatural being that God ever created; and this for the purpose of showing how great would be his fall. The history must be true to make the prophecy of any weight.

Again, the word rendered “subtle” in Gen. 3.1 (see note) means wise, in a good sense as well as in a bad sense. In Ezek. 28.12 we have the good sense, “Thou sealest up the sum, full of wisdom”; and the bad sense in v.17, “thou hast corrupted thy wisdom” (referring, of course, to his fall). So the word rendered “subtle” is rendered “prudent” in Prov. 1.4; 8.12; 12.23; 14.8; and in a bad sense in Job 15.5. 1 Sam.23.22 Ps.83.3.

The word “beast” also, in Gen. 3.1 chay, denotes a living being, and it is as wrong to translate zoa “beasts” in Rev. 4, as it is to translate chay “beast” in Gen.3. Both mean living creatures. Satan is thus spoken of as a being “more wise than any other living creature which Jehovah Elohim had made”. Even if the word “beast” be retained, it does not say that either a serpent or Satan was a “beast” but only that he was “more wise” than any other living being.

We cannot conceive Eve as holding converse with a snake, but we can understand her being fascinated by one, apparently “an angel of light” (i.e. a glorious angel), possessing superior and supernatural knowledge.

When Satan is spoken of as a “serpent”, it is the figure Hypocatastasis (see Ap.6) or Implication; it no more means a snake than it does when Dan is so called in Gen. 49. 17; or an animal when Nero is called a “lion” (2 Tim.4.17), or when Herod is called a “fox” (Luke 13.32); or when Judah is called “a lion’s whelp”. It is the same figure when “doctrine” is called “leaven” (Matt.16.6). It shows that something much more real and truer to truth is intended. If a Figure of speech is thus employed, it is for the purpose of expressing the truth more impressively; and is intended to be a figure of something much more real than the letter of the word.

Other Figures of speech are used in v. 14,15, but only for the same purpose of emphasizing the truth and the reality of what is said.

When it is said in v. 15, “thou shalt bruise His heel”, it cannot mean His literal heel of flesh and blood, but suffering, more temporary in character. When it is said (v.15), “He shall crush”, it means something more than a skull of bone, and brain, and hair. It means that all Satan’s plans and plots, policy and purposes, will one day be finally crushed and ended, never more to mar or to hinder the purposes of God. This will be effected when Satan shall be bruised under our feet (Rom. 16.20). This, again, will not be out literal feet, but something much more real.

The bruising of Christ’s heel is the most eloquent and impressive way of foretelling the most solemn events; and to point out that the effort made by Satan to evade his doom, then threatened, would become the very means of insuring its accomplishment; for it was through the death of Christ that he who had the power of death would be destroyed; and all Satan’s power and policy brought to an end, and all his works destroyed (Heb.2.14. 1 John 3.8. Rev.20.1-3,10). What literal words could portray these literal facts so wonderfully as these expressive Figures of speech?

It is the same with the other Figures used in v.14, “On thy belly shalt thou go”. This Figure means infinitely more than the literal belly of flesh and blood; just as the words “heel” and “head” do in v.15. It points for the eyes of our mind the picture of Satan’s ultimate humiliation; for prostration was ever the most eloquent sign of subjection. When it is said “our belly cleaveth unto the ground” (Ps.44.25), it denotes such a prolonged prostration and such depth of submission as could never be conveyed or expressed in literal words.

So with the other prophecy, “Dust shalt thou eat”. This is not true to the letter, or to fact, but it is all the more true to truth. It tells of constant, continuous disappointment, failure, and mortification; as when deceitful ways are spoken of as feeding on deceitful food, which is “sweet to a man, but afterward his mouth shall be filled with gravel” (Prov.20.17). This does not literal “gravel”, but something far more disagreeable. It means disappointment so great that it would gladly be exchanged for the literal “gravel”. So when Christians are rebuked for “biting and devouring one another” (Gal. 3.14,15), something more heart breaking is meant than the literal words used in the Figure.

When “His enemies shall lick the dust” (Ps.72.9) they will not do it on their knees with their literal tounges; but they will be so prostrated and so utterly defeated, that no words could literally depict their overthrow and subjugation.

If a serpent was afterward called a nachash, it was because it was more shining than any other creature; and if it became known as “wise”, it was not because of its own innate positive knowledge, but of its wisdom in hiding away from all observation; and because of its association with one of the names of Satan (that old serpent) who “beguiled Eve” (2 Cor.11.3,14).

It is wonderful how a snake could ever be supposed to speak without the organs of speech, or that Satan should be supposed able to accomplish so great a miracle.

It only shows the power of tradition, which has, from the infancy of each one of us, put before our eyes and written on our minds the picture of a “snake” and an “apple”: the former based on a wrong interpretation, and the latter being a pure invention, bout which there is not one word said in Holy Scripture.

Never was Satan’s wisdom so craftily used as when he secured universal acceptance of this traditional believe: for it has succeeded in fixing the attention of mankind on the letter and the means, and thus blinding the eyes to the solemn fact that the Fall of man had to do solely with the Word of God, and is centered in the sin of believing Satan’s lie instead of Jehovah’s truth.
The temptation of “the first man Adam” began with the question “Hath God said?” The temptation of “the second man, the Lord from heaven” began with the similar question “If Thou be the Son of God”, when the voice of the Father had scarcely died away, which said “This IS My beloved Son”.

All turned on the truth of what Jehovah had said.

The Word of God being questioned, led Eve, in her reply, (1) to omit the word “freely” (3.2,cp.2.16); then (2) to add the words “neither shalt thou touch it” (3.3, cp.2.17); and finally (3) to alter a certainty into a contingency by changing “thou SHALT SURELY die” (2.17) into “LEST ye die” (3.3).

It is not without significance that the first Ministerial words of “the second man” were “It is written”, three times repeated; and that His last Ministerial words contained a similar threefold reference to the written Word of God (John 17. 8,14,17).

The formed temptation succeeded because the Word of God was three times misrepresented; the latter temptation was successfully defeated because the same Word was faithfully repeated.

The history of Gen. 3 is intended to teach us the fact that Satan’s sphere of activities is in the religious sphere, and not the spheres of crime or immorality; that his battlefield is not the sins arising from human depravity, but the unbelief of the human heart. We are not to look for Satan’s activities today in the newspaper press, or the police courts; but in the pulpit, and in professors’ chairs. Wherever the Word of God is called in question, there we see the trail of “that old serpent, which is the Devil, and Satan”. This is why anything against the true interests of the Word of God (as being such) finds a ready admission into the newspapers of the world, and is treated as “general literature”. This is why anything in favour of its inspiration and Divine origin and its spiritual truth is rigidly excluded as being “controversial”.

This is why Satan is quite content that the letter of Scripture should be accepted in Gen. 3 as he himself accepted the letter of Ps.91.11. He himself could say “It is written” (Matt.4.6) so long as the letter of that is conveyed by it; and so long as it is misquoted or misapplied.

This is his object in perpetuating the traditions of the “snake” and the “apple”, because it ministers to the acceptance of his lie, the hiding of God’s truth, the support of traditions, the jeers of the infidel, the opposition of the critics, and stumbling of the weak in faith.

NOTES :
1. Ezekiel 28:11-19, who is quite a different being from “the Prince of Tyre”, in verses 1-10 who is purely human.
2. It is remarkable that the verb nachash always means to enchant, fascinate, bewitch; or of one having and using occult knowledge. See Genesis 30:27; 44:5,15. Leviticus 19:26. Deuteronomy 18:10. 1Kings 20:33. 2Kings 17:17; 21:6. 2Chronicles 33:6. So also is the noun used in Numbers 23:23; 24:1.
3. Greater than that wrought by God Himself, who opened the mouth of Balaam’s ass.

Most people who have been arguing with me about whether or not they should keep Chanukah have been trying to use reason and logic. They want to use sentimental reasoning to justify their keeping of it. The same goes for Christmas. They get very frustrated with me when I quote them scriptures.

Duet 4: 2 “Do not add to the Word which I command you, and do not take away from it1, so as to guard the commands of ???? your Elohim which I am commanding you. Footnote: 1See also 12:32, Prov. 30:6, Rev. 22:18-19.

Duet 12: 29 “When ???? your Elohim does cut off from before you the nations which you go to dispossess, and you dispossess them and dwell in their land, 30 guard yourself that you are not ensnared to follow them, after they are destroyed from before you, and that you do not inquire about their mighty ones, saying, ‘How did these nations serve their mighty ones? And let me do so too.’1 Footnote: 1See also 18:9, Lev. 18:3, Jer.10:2, Ezek. 11:12 & 20:32, Eph. 4:17, and 1 Peter 4:3 31 “Do not do so to ???? your Elohim, for every abomination which ???? hates they have done to their mighty ones, for they even burn their sons and daughters in the fire to their mighty ones. 32 “All the words I am commanding you, guard to do it – do not add to it nor take away from it.1 Footnote: 1See also 4:2, Prov. 30:6, Rev. 22:18-19.

Proverbs 30: 6 Do not add to His Words1, Lest He reprove you, Footnote: 1Dt. 4:2 & 12:32, Rev. 22:18-19. and you be found a liar.

Eve tried to reason with and talk with Satan in the garden. Yehshua did not; he came back at Satan with scriptures each and every time, Even when Satan gave him scriptures. You must use all the scriptures and not just the ones that soot you.

Back in Luke 4:18 this is speaking of an acceptable year. Most people assume it is a Jubilee year. When we compare it to all other known Sabbatical and Jubilee years we can then know for sure it was a Sabbatical year and not a Jubilee one. The year was 28 CE and this was a Sabbatical year. An acceptable year.

And again I must say wow, because as we read the last part of this week’s Torah study we see Yehshua rebuking those in Capernaum. He is talking about Elijah and Elisha. What is Yehshua telling them that makes the crowd so angry?
Yehshua said that no prophet was welcome in his own country. He then tells them how there were many widows during the time of Elijah in Israel but Elijah did not go to any of them and instead went to a widow in the Phoenician town of Zarephath. One of the greatest prophets, Elijah went to stay with gentiles.

As if that was not bad enough, Yehshua then says to them that Elisha who had asked for a double portion of Elijah’s spirit did not stay and heal any of the many lepers in Israel but instead healed only one and he was Syrian.

Yehshua is telling His countrymen that they will not believe those things a prophet tells them but those in foreign country will.
And these good believers sought to throw Yehshua off the cliff that was in the town.

And many of you think the things I say make you mad. I have a good teacher to emulate.

We now continue to study the 613 laws of Torah which we can read at http://www.jewfaq.org/613.htm
We are doing 7 laws each week. We shall study laws 269-275. We also have commentary, with editing from me, again from http://theownersmanual.net/The_Owners_Manual_02_The_Law_of_Love.Torah

269 That houses sold within a walled city may be redeemed within a year (Lev. 25:29) (affirmative).

(269)Houses sold within a walled city may be redeemed within a year. “If a man sells a house in a walled city, then he may redeem it within a whole year after it is sold; within a full year he may redeem it. But if it is not redeemed within the space of a full year, then the house in the walled city shall belong permanently to him who bought it, throughout his generations. It shall not be released in the Jubilee.” (Leviticus 25:29-30) The rabbis missed the entire point here. Any piece of property could be redeemed—not only during the first year but anytime. Its redemption value would be determined by how much time had elapsed between one Jubilee and the next. The point here is that houses within walled cities weren’t really considered part of one’s inheritance. Thus there was a “grace period” of one year during which the original owner could exercise “seller’s remorse” and buy his house back for its full purchase price, but after that, the sale was finalized: permanent ownership passed to the buyer. The only exception to this rule was houses owned by Levites; theirs could be redeemed anytime and reverted automatically to their possession at Jubilee, because for them, their homes were their only temporal inheritance.

We should ask ourselves: what is the significance of a home’s location within or outside of a walled city? After all, houses outside, even if they were in established villages, were subject to the same Jubilee rules as any other property. Remember, this is all being addressed to an agrarian society: the distinction seems to be that houses in villages or in the countryside were assumed to be associated with plots of land upon which crops could be grown—fields, orchards, or vineyards. City houses were not. Thus the issue is fruitfulness: the only meaningful inheritance is one that can be expected to bear fruit. Our inheritance as believers is the Spirit of Yahweh living within us, and its fruit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control (see Galatians 5:22-23). If we aren’t enjoying this harvest, maybe it’s because we’ve sold our inheritance.

270 Not to remove landmarks (property boundaries) (Deut. 19:14) (CCN85).

(270)Do not remove landmarks (property boundaries). “You shall not remove your neighbor’s landmark which the men of old have set, in your inheritance which you will inherit in the land that Yahweh your God is giving you to possess.” (Deuteronomy 19:14) Landmarks delineated the boundaries of a family’s property—their inheritance. The Hebrew word for “remove” in this passage is nasag, which is indicative of retreat, not removal. So if a sneaky person (a ganab: see #274) wanted to reap a few more bushels of barley, he could conceivably move the boundary marker a few yards onto his neighbor’s side of the line—effectively stealing his land, his inheritance.

Therefore, it is equally incumbent on us not to encroach upon our neighbor’s spiritual inheritance—his eternal life. How could we do that? By retreating from the truth, by tolerating false and errant doctrines, by moving the landmarks of our faith: God’s scriptures determine the correct position of our doctrinal inheritance, but alas, much of today’s religious establishment (both Jewish and Christian) has gone into the business of “landmark removal,” the subtle shifting of what is presented as “God’s truth.” By the way, the rabbis can take no comfort in the idea that “men of old” have set the landmarks—a term they would be tempted to apply to themselves in a doctrinal sense. The word is ri’shon in Hebrew: it means “first in place, time, or rank.” (S) In other words, Yahweh Himself set up the landmarks of truth at the very beginning of our existence.

271 Not to swear falsely in denial of another’s property rights (Lev. 19:11) (CCN30).

(271)Do not swear falsely in denial of another’s property rights. “You shall not steal, nor deal falsely, nor lie to one another.” (Leviticus 19:11) Although the rabbis are certainly justified in condemning perjury, the verse supporting their mitzvah is far broader in scope. It is not restricted to property rights but is applicable to every facet of life among God’s people. In fact, this is but one example of how to fulfill the overall summary commandment of the passage, stated in verse 1: “You shall be holy, for I, Yahweh your God, am holy.” Holy (qadosh or qodesh) means set apart, consecrated, sacred; in other words, not common or profane. Thus one facet of being holy as Yahweh is holy is abstaining from theft, deception, and falsehood. Lest you think that this is so obvious no one could possibly miss it, I hasten to point out that all three of these things were expressly authorized—even encouraged—in the Islamic scriptures.

Maimonides assigned separate mitzvot to each of these three things (see also #272 and #274), so it behooves us to look at the Hebrew roots for each of the prohibited activities. This is apparently the second of the list, translated “deal falsely” in the NKJV. The Hebrew word is kahas or kachash, a verb meaning: “to lie, to cringe, to deny. It means to deal falsely about something or with someone, the opposite of being truthful, honest. It is used of denying or disavowing something, of deceiving or lying to a person with respect to something. It naturally takes on the meaning of concealing something…. It takes on the meaning of cringing of fawning before the Lord.” (B&C) That’s right, folks, Yahweh hates the obsequious obeisance that so often passes for religious observance—He calls it a lie, and pointedly instructs us not to do it.

272 Not to deny falsely another’s property rights (Lev. 19:11) (CCN36).

(272)Do not deny falsely another’s property rights. “You shall not steal, nor deal falsely, nor lie to one another.” (Leviticus 19:11) Same precept, different mitzvah. This time Maimonides is focusing on: “lie to one another.” The Hebrew word is saqar—“a verb meaning to engage in deceit, to deal falsely. The notion of a treacherous or deceptive activity forms the fundamental meaning of this word. It is used to describe an agreement entered into with deceitful intentions; outright lying; and the violation of a covenant.” (B&C) A major part of “being holy as God is holy” is being forthright and truthful with people. Yahshua was described as a man in whom there was no guile.

273 Never to settle in the land of Egypt (Deut. 17:16) (CCN192).

(273)Never settle in the land of Egypt. “When you come to the land which Yahweh your God is giving you, and possess it and dwell in it, and say, ‘I will set a king over me like all the nations that are around me,’ you shall surely set a king over you whom Yahweh your God chooses; one from among your brethren you shall set as king over you; you may not set a foreigner over you, who is not your brother. But he shall not multiply horses for himself, nor cause the people to return to Egypt to multiply horses, for Yahweh has said to you, ‘You shall not return that way again.’ (Deuteronomy 17:14-16) The rabbis have concocted a rule that isn’t really there in scripture (except in a metaphorical sense). In a delicious bit of irony, Maimonides himself, a Spaniard by birth, eventually settled in Cairo. What was he thinkin’? Anyway, the context shows that he wasn’t paying attention to the main point. Moses here is giving the people instruction concerning their future kings—instructions most Israelite monarchs blatantly ignored: don’t rely on your own military might (symbolized by horses bought from Egypt), and don’t make marriage alliances (symbolizing compromise—see v.17) with the surrounding pagan nations.

We’ll search the scriptures in vain for a prior prohibition against Jews ever re-settling in Egypt. What we do find is, “According to the doings of the land of Egypt, where you dwelt, you shall not do.” (Leviticus 18:3) Egypt, as we have observed, is a consistent biblical metaphor for the world and its values. Israel was brought out of Egypt—they were set apart from the other nations, consecrated as Yahweh’s holy people. So yes, they were not to “go back” to Egypt in the sense that they were not to return to the world’s ways. But that one went right over Maimonides’ head. One wonders if the twisting of God’s precept here is an attempt to discredit Yahshua—who did indeed (as an infant) “settle” in Egypt for a short time. Hosea prophesied it, sort of: “When Israel was a child, I loved him, and out of Egypt I called My son.” (Hosea 11:1) Not the most definitive of prophecies, but then again, prophecy seldom drops truth into your lap like ripe fruit—you have to climb the tree to get it.

Speaking of prophecy, one of the most indicting prophetic passages in the entire Bible speaks of “going back to Egypt.” If Israel did not keep Yahweh’s precepts, He said, they would be warned, then chastised, then punished, and finally, if they did not repent, they would suffer unspeakable deprivations, all of which were totally avoidable. The very last thing on the list—the worst thing that could possibly happen—was, “And Yahweh will take you back to Egypt in ships, by the way of which I said to you, ‘You shall never see it again.’ And there you shall be offered for sale to your enemies as male and female slaves, but no one will buy you.” (Deuteronomy 28:68) It is my sad duty to report that this very thing happened to the Jews within a generation of the rejection and crucifixion of Yahshua—and as a direct result. Titus’ Roman legions sacked Jerusalem in 70 AD. A million Jews died during the siege—600,000 of them from starvation. Josephus reports that 97,000 were shipped off to Egypt to be sold as slaves, creating such a glut in the market that their value fell to almost nothing. God had done precisely what He’d warned them He’d do if they rebelled, but the rabbis of Israel refused to see the connection between their crime and the punishment they received.

274 Not to steal personal property (Lev. 19:11) (CCN34).

(274)Do not steal personal property. “You shall not steal, nor deal falsely, nor lie to one another.” (Leviticus 19:11) This is the last of the series of three mitzvot wrung out of this one verse (also see #271 and #272). The first two had very similar meanings (don’t lie or deal falsely), and as we’ll see, this prohibition is far closer to the first two than the English translation “steal” would imply. The Dictionary of Bible Languages with Semantic Domains defines the verb ganab as to: “(1) steal, be a thief, i.e., take items without permission by the owner, but usually by stealth and not force; (2) kidnap, i.e., seize a person for sale or servitude; (3) do secretly, i.e., act in a manner that is not publicly known; secretly steal into an area; (4) blow away, sweep away, i.e., a motion of the wind to make linear motion of an object; or (5) deceive, i.e., cause another to hold a mistaken view, and so wrongly evaluate a situation.” It’s clear, then, that the word’s emphasis is not on the taking, but on the sneaky manner in which the thief works. (Ganab can also be used as a noun: a sneaky thief.) Again, part of “being holy” is being straightforward, open, and honest with your neighbors.

275 To restore that which one took by robbery (Lev. 5:23) (CCA68).

(275)Restore that which one took by robbery. “If a man steals an ox or a sheep, and slaughters it or sells it, he shall restore five oxen for an ox and four sheep for a sheep. If the thief is found breaking in, and he is struck so that he dies, there shall be no guilt for his bloodshed. If the sun has risen on him, there shall be guilt for his bloodshed. He should make full restitution; if he has nothing, then he shall be sold for his theft. If the theft is certainly found alive in his hand, whether it is an ox or donkey or sheep, he shall restore double.” (Exodus 22:1-4) The verse that was cited by Judaism 101 to support this mitzvah (Leviticus 5:23) doesn’t exist, so I’ve taken the liberty of choosing an appropriate substitute. As we’ve seen before, restoration, not incarceration or mutilation, is Yahweh’s primary strategy for dealing with property crimes in Israel. The rabbis got that part right. But it’s not a simple case of Okay, you caught me, so I’ll give back what I stole. There are penalties, appropriate and in kind. If you still have the evidence in your possession, you must return it, plus another one just like it. In God’s economy, crime doesn’t pay—it doesn’t even break even.

But what if you’ve already sold the bleating booty, or eaten it? If you stole a sheep, you’d have to return four of them. And if you stole an ox, you’d give back five. The difference, apparently, is that in addition to stealing property, when you take a man’s ox, you’ve also stolen the victim’s ability to cultivate his land—you’ve taken his tractor as well as next month’s barbecue. Moreover, the government doesn’t receive the “fine.” It’s the victim who’s reimbursed for his trouble. Then there’s the question of what to do if the thief is as broke as he is stupid. If he doesn’t have enough to pay the victim double or four or five times the value of what was stolen (depending on the circumstances we’ve outlined) then he himself is sold into slavery. There’s no such thing as having nothing left to lose. If only American jurisprudence worked this logically.

Further, we’re given instructions on what to do if the thief is caught in the act. He is presumed to be armed and/or dangerous; therefore, the victim is not held to blame if he kills the thief while protecting his property. But there are limits: the victim can’t come back and murder him in cold blood the day after the crime has been committed. Yahweh demands restoration, not retribution.

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