Join Our Sabbath Meetings

There are many people in need of fellowship and who are sitting at home on the Sabbath with no one to talk to or debate with. I want to encourage all of you to join us on Shabbat, and to invite others to come and join us as well. If the time is not convenient then you can listen to the teaching and the midrash after on our YouTube channel.

What are we doing and why do we teach this way?

We are going to discuss both sides of an issue and then let you choose. It is the work of the Ruach (Spirit) to direct and to teach you.

The medieval commentator Rashi wrote that the Hebrew word for wrestle (avek) implies that Jacob was “tied”, for the same word is used to describe knotted fringes in a Jewish prayer shawl, the tzitzityot. Rashi says, “thus is the manner of two people who struggle to overthrow each other, that one embraces the other and knots him with his arms”.

Our intellectual wrestling has been replaced by a different kind of struggle. We are Wrestling with Yehovah as we grapple with His Word. It is an intimate act, symbolizing a relationship in which Yehovah and I and you are bound together. My wrestling is a struggle to discover what Yehovah expects of us, and we are “tied” to the One who assists us in that struggle.

Today, many say Israel means “Champion of God”, or better — the “Wrestler of God”.

Our Torah sessions each Shabbat teaches you and encourages you to constantly challenge, question, argue against, as well as view alternative views and explanations of the Word. In other words, we are to “wrestle with the Word” to get to the truth. Jews worldwide believe that you need to wrestle with the Word and constantly challenge Dogma, Theology, and views or else you will never get to the Truth.

We are not like most churches where “The preacher talks and everyone listens.” We encourage everyone to participate, to question and to contribute what they know on the subject being discussed. We want you to be a champion wrestler of the Word of Yehovah. We want you to wear the title of Israel, knowing that you not only know but are capable of explaining why you know the Torah to be true with logic and facts.

We have a few rules though. Let others talk and listen. There is no discussion about UFO’s Nephilim, Vaccines or conspiracy-type subjects. We have people from around the world with different world views. Not everyone cares who is the President of any particular country. Treat each other with respect as Fellow wrestlers of the word. Some of our subjects are hard to understand and require you to be mature and if you do not know, then listen to gain knowledge and understanding and hopefully wisdom. The very things you are commanded to ask Yehovah for and He gives to those who ask.

Jas 1:5  But if any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask of God, who gives to all liberally and with no reproach, and it shall be given to him.

We hope you can invite those who want to keep Torah to come and join us by hitting the link below. It is almost like a Torah teaching fellowship talk show with people from around the world taking part and sharing their insights and understandings.

We start off with some music and then some prayers and it’s as though you were sitting around the kitchen back in Newfoundland having a cup of coffee and all of us enjoying each other’s company. I hope you will grace us with your company someday.

Sabbath services begin at 12:30 PM EDT where we will be doing prayers songs and teaching from this hour.

Shabbat Services will begin at about 1:15 pm Eastern.

We look forward to you joining our family and getting to know us as we get to know you.

Joseph Dumond is inviting you to a scheduled Zoom meeting.
Topic: Joseph Dumond’s Personal Meeting Room

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The Perpetual Calendar

We have available from our website a calendar you can use to keep track of the days of the month based on when the Barley is ripe and when the moon is sighted. ALl you have to do is download it. https://sightedmoon.com/perpetual-calendar/

With the new year about to begin, you can learn about the calendar as you record it. This is a great tool to have and it is free to anyone who wants it.

History of the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO)

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Palestine_Liberation_Organization

The Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO; Arabic: منظمة التحرير الفلسطينية Munaẓẓamat at-Taḥrīr al-Filasṭīniyyah) is a Palestinian nationalist coalition that is internationally recognized as the official representative of the Palestinian people; i.e. the globally dispersed population, not just those in the Palestinian territories who are represented by the Palestinian Authority.^[14][15][16] Founded in 1964, it initially sought to establish an Arab state over the entire territory of the former Mandatory Palestine, advocating the elimination of the State of Israel. However, in 1993, the PLO recognized Israeli sovereignty with the Oslo I Accord, and now only seeks Arab statehood in the Palestinian territories (the West Bank and the Gaza Strip) that have been militarily occupied by Israel since the 1967 Arab–Israeli War.

It is headquartered in Al-Bireh, a city in the West Bank. As the officially recognized government of the de jure State of Palestine, it has enjoyed United Nations observer status since 1974.^[17][18][19] Prior to the Oslo Accords, the PLO’s militant wings openly engaged in acts of violence against Israeli civilians, both within Israel and outside of Israel.^[20][21][22] Consequently, the United States designated it as a terrorist group in 1987, though a presidential waiver has permitted American–PLO contact since 1988.^[23][24] Mediated talks between the Israeli government and the PLO in 1993 (the Oslo I Accord) resulted in the PLO recognizing Israel’s right to exist in peace and accepting United Nations Security Council Resolution 242, while Israel recognized the PLO as a legitimate authority representing the Palestinian people.^[25] Despite the Israel–PLO Letters of Mutual Recognition, in which PLO leader Yasser Arafat renounced “terrorism and other acts of violence” against Israel, the PLO continued to engage in militant activities, particularly during the Second Intifada (2000–2005). On 29 October 2018, the PLO Central Council suspended the Palestinian recognition of Israel, and halted all forms of security and economic cooperation with Israeli authorities until Israel recognizes a Palestinian state on the pre-1967 borders.^[26][27]

At its first summit meeting in Cairo in 1964, the Arab League initiated the creation of an organization representing the Palestinian people.^[28] The Palestinian National Council convened in Jerusalem on 28 May 1964. After concluding the meeting, the PLO was founded on 2 June 1964. Its stated “complementary goals” were Arab unity and the liberation of Palestine.^[29]

The PLO began their militancy campaign from its inception with an attack on Israel’s National Water Carrier in January 1965.^[24] The group used guerrilla tactics to attack Israel from their bases in Jordan (including the West Bank), Lebanon, Egypt (Gaza Strip), and Syria.^[30]

The most notable of what were considered terrorist acts committed by member organizations of the PLO were in the 1970s. The 1970 Avivim school bus massacre by the Democratic Front for the Liberation of Palestine (DFLP), killed nine children, three adults and crippled 19. In the late 1960s and early 1970s, the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine, the second-largest PLO faction after al-Fatah, carried out a number of attacks and plane hijackings mostly directed at Israel, most infamously the Dawson’s Field hijackings, which precipitated the Black September crisis.

In 1972, the Black September Organization carried out the Munich massacre of Israeli Olympic athletes. In 1974, members of the DFLP seized a school in Israel and killed a total of 26 students and adults and wounded over 70 in the Ma’alot massacre. The 1975, Savoy Hotel hostage situation killing 8 hostages and 3 soldiers, carried out by Fatah. The 1978, Coastal Road massacre killing 37 Israelis and wounding 76, also carried out by Fatah.

From 1967 to September 1970 the PLO, with passive support from Jordan, fought a war of attrition with Israel. During this time, the PLO launched artillery attacks on the moshavim and kibbutzim of Bet Shean Valley Regional Council, while fedayeen launched numerous attacks on Israeli forces. Israel raided the PLO camps in Jordan, including Karameh, withdrawing only under Jordanian military pressure.^[31]

This conflict culminated in Jordan’s expulsion of the PLO to Lebanon in July 1971.

The PLO suffered a major reversal with the Jordanian assault on its armed groups, in the events known as Black September in 1970. The Palestinian groups were expelled from Jordan, and during the 1970s, the PLO was effectively an umbrella group of eight organizations headquartered in Damascus and Beirut, all devoted to armed struggle against Zionism or Israeli occupation, using methods which included direct clashing and guerrilla warfare against Israel. After Black September, the Cairo Agreement led the PLO to establish itself in Lebanon.

In the late 1960s, and especially after the expulsion of the Palestinian militants from Jordan in Black September events in 1970–1971, Lebanon had become the base for PLO operations. Palestinian militant organizations relocated their headquarters to South Lebanon, and relying on the support in Palestinian refugee camps, waged a campaign of attacks on the Galilee and on Israeli and Jewish targets worldwide. Increasing penetration of Palestinians into Lebanese politics and Israeli retaliations gradually deteriorated the situation.

By the mid-1970s, Arafat and his Fatah movement found themselves in a tenuous position.^{[citation needed]} Arafat increasingly called for diplomacy, perhaps best symbolized by his Ten Point Program and his support for a UN Security Council resolution proposed in 1976 calling for a two-state settlement on the pre-1967 borders.^{[citation needed]} But the Rejectionist Front denounced the calls for diplomacy, and a diplomatic solution was vetoed by the United States.^{[citation needed]} In 1975, the increasing tensions between Palestinian militants and Christian militias exploded into the Lebanese Civil War, involving all factions. On 20 January 1976, the PLO took part in the Damour massacre in retaliation to the Karantina massacre. The PLO and Lebanese National Movement attacked the Christian town of Damour, killing 684 civilians and forcing the remainder of the town’s population to flee. In 1976 Syria joined the war by invading Lebanon, beginning the 29‑year Syrian occupation of Lebanon, and in 1978 Israel invaded South Lebanon in response to the Coastal Road Massacre, executed by Palestinian militants based in Lebanon.

The population in the West Bank and Gaza Strip saw Arafat as their best hope for a resolution to the conflict.^{[citation needed]} This was especially so in the aftermath of the Camp David Accords of 1978 between Israel and Egypt, which the Palestinians saw as a blow to their aspirations to self-determination.^{[citation needed]} Abu Nidal, a sworn enemy of the PLO since 1974,^[32] assassinated the PLO’s diplomatic envoy to the European Economic Community, which in the Venice Declaration of 1980 had called for the Palestinian right of self-determination to be recognized by Israel.

Opposition to Arafat was fierce not only among radical Arab groups, but also among many on the Israeli right.^{[citation needed]} This included Menachem Begin, who had stated on more than one occasion that even if the PLO accepted UN Security Council Resolution 242 and recognized Israel’s right to exist, he would never negotiate with the organization.^{[33][verification needed]} This contradicted the official United States position that it would negotiate with the PLO if the PLO accepted Resolution 242 and recognized Israel, which the PLO had thus far been unwilling to do. Other Arab voices had recently called for a diplomatic resolution to the hostilities in accord with the international consensus, including Egyptian leader Anwar Sadat on his visit to Washington, DC in August 1981, and Crown Prince Fahd of Saudi Arabia in his 7 August peace proposal; together with Arafat’s diplomatic maneuver, these developments made Israel’s argument that it had “no partner for peace” seem increasingly problematic. Thus, in the eyes of Israeli hard-liners, “the Palestinians posed a greater challenge to Israel as a peacemaking organization than as a military one”.^[34]

After the appointment of Ariel Sharon to the post of Minister of Defense in 1981, the Israeli government policy of allowing political growth to occur in the occupied West Bank and Gaza strip changed. The Israeli government tried, unsuccessfully, to dictate terms of political growth by replacing local pro-PLO leaders with an Israeli civil administration.^[35]

In 1982, after an attack on a senior Israeli diplomat by Lebanon-based Palestinian militants in Lebanon, Israel invaded Lebanon in a much larger scale in coordination with the Lebanese Christian militias, reaching Beirut and eventually resulting in ousting of the PLO headquarters in June that year. Low-level Palestinian insurgency in Lebanon continued in parallel with the consolidation of Shia militant organizations, but became a secondary concern to Israeli military and other Lebanese factions. With ousting of the PLO, the Lebanese Civil War gradually turned into a prolonged conflict, shifting from mainly PLO-Christian conflict into involvement of all Lebanese factions – whether Sunni, Shia, Druze, and Christians.

In 1982, the PLO relocated to Tunis, Tunisia after it was driven out of Lebanon by Israel during the 1982 Lebanon War. Following massive raids by Israeli forces in Beirut, it is estimated that 8,000 PLO fighters evacuated the city and dispersed.^[36]

On 1 October 1985, in Operation Wooden Leg, Israeli Air Force F-15s bombed the PLO’s Tunis headquarters, killing more than 60 people.

It is suggested that the Tunis period (1982–1991) was a negative point in the PLO’s history, leading up to the Oslo negotiations and formation of the Palestinian Authority (PA). The PLO in exile was distant from a concentrated number of Palestinians and became far less effective.^[37] There was a significant reduction in centres of research, political debates or journalistic endeavours that had encouraged an energised public presence of the PLO in Beirut. More and more Palestinians were abandoned, and many felt that this was the beginning of the end.^[38]

The Second or Al-Aqsa Intifada started concurrently with the breakdown of July 2000 Camp David talks between Palestinian Authority Chairman Yasser Arafat and Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Barak. The Intifada never ended officially, but violence hit relatively low levels during 2005. The death toll, including both military personnel and civilians, of the entire conflict in 2000–2004 is estimated to be 3,223 Palestinians and 950 Israelis, although this number is criticized for not differentiating between combatants and civilians.^{[citation needed]} Members of the PLO have claimed responsibility for a number of attacks against Israelis during the Second Intifada.^{[citation needed]} The PLO has been sued in the United States by families of those killed or injured in attacks by Palestinians. One lawsuit was settled prior to going to trial.^[39][40] The other went to trial. The PLO was found liable for the death and injuries of US citizens in a number of terrorist attacks in Israel from 2001 to 2004 and ordered to pay a judgment of $655.5 million.^[41] The verdict was overturned on appeal for a lack of US federal jurisdiction over actions committed overseas.^[42]

The ideology of the PLO was formulated in the founding year, 1964, in the Palestinian National Covenant.^[29] In 1968, the Charter was replaced by a comprehensively revised version.^[43]

Until 1993, the only promoted option was armed struggle.^{[citation needed]} From the signing of the Oslo Accords, negotiation and diplomacy became the only official policy.^{[citation needed]}

In April 1996, a large number of articles, which were inconsistent with the Oslo Accords, were wholly or partially nullified.^[44]

At the core of the PLO’s ideology is the belief that Zionists had unjustly expelled the Palestinians from Palestine and established a Jewish state in place under the pretext of having historic and Jewish ties with Palestine. The PLO demanded that Palestinian refugees be allowed to return to their homes. This is expressed in the National Covenant:

Article 2 of the Charter states that ″Palestine, with the boundaries it had during the British mandate, is an indivisible territorial unit″,^[43] meaning that there is no place for a Jewish state. This article was adapted in 1996 to meet the Oslo Accords.^[44]

Article 20 states: ″The Balfour Declaration, the Mandate for Palestine, and everything that has been based upon them, are deemed null and void. Claims of historical or religious ties of Jews with Palestine are incompatible with the facts of history and the true conception of what constitutes statehood. Judaism, being a religion, is not an independent nationality. Nor do Jews constitute a single nation with an identity of its own; they are citizens of the states to which they belong″.^[43] This article was nullified in 1996.^[44]

Article 3 reads: ″The Palestinian Arab people possess the legal right to their homeland and have the right to determine their destiny after achieving the liberation of their country in accordance with their wishes and entirely of their own accord and will″.

History of the Shah of Iran and Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini

https://www.history.com/this-day-in-history/shah-flees-iran

Faced with an army mutiny and violent demonstrations against his rule, Mohammad Reza Shah Pahlavi, the leader of Iran since 1941, is forced to flee the country. Fourteen days later, the Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini, the spiritual leader of the Islamic revolution, returned after 15 years of exile and took control of Iran.

In 1941, British and Soviet troops occupied Iran, and the first Pahlavi shah, who they regarded with suspicion, was forced to abdicate in favor of his son, Mohammad Reza. The new shah promised to act as a constitutional monarch but often meddled in the elected government’s affairs. After a Communist plot against him was thwarted in 1949, he took on even more powers. However, in the early 1950s, the shah was eclipsed by Mohammad Mosaddeq, a zealous Iranian nationalist who convinced the Parliament to nationalize Britain’s extensive oil interests in Iran. Mohammad Reza, who maintained close relations with Britain and the United States, opposed the decision. Nevertheless, he was forced in 1951 to appoint Mosaddeq premier, and two years of tension followed.

In August 1953, Mohammad Reza attempted to dismiss Mosaddeq, but the premier’s popular support was so great that the shah himself was forced out of Iran. A few days later, British and U.S. intelligence agents orchestrated a stunning coup d’etat against Mosaddeq, and the shah returned to take power as the sole leader of Iran. He repealed Mosaddeq’s legislation and became a close Cold War ally of the United States in the Middle East.

In 1963, the shah launched his “White Revolution,” a broad government program that included land reform, infrastructure development, voting rights for women and the reduction of illiteracy. Although these programs were applauded by many in Iran, Islamic leaders were critical of what they saw as the westernization of Iran. Ruhollah Khomeini, a Shiite cleric, was particularly vocal in his criticism and called for the overthrow of the shah and the establishment of an Islamic state. In 1964, Khomeini was exiled and settled across the border in Iraq, where he sent radio messages to incite his supporters.

The shah saw himself foremost as a Persian king and in 1971 held an extravagant celebration of the 2,500th anniversary of the pre-Islamic Persian monarchy. In 1976, he formally replaced the Islamic calendar with a Persian calendar. Religious discontent grew, and the shah became more repressive, using his brutal secret police force to suppress opposition. This alienated students and intellectuals in Iran, and support for Khomeini grew. Discontent was also rampant in the poor and middle classes, who felt that the economic developments of the White Revolution had only benefited the ruling elite. In 1978, anti-shah demonstrations broke out in Iran’s major cities.

On September 8, 1978, the shah’s security force fired on a large group of demonstrators, killing hundreds and wounding thousands. Two months later, thousands took to the streets of Tehran, rioting and destroying symbols of westernization, such as banks and liquor stores. Khomeini called for the shah’s immediate overthrow, and on December 11 a group of soldiers mutinied and attacked the shah’s security officers. With that, his regime collapsed and the shah fled.

The shah traveled to several countries before entering the United States in October 1979 for medical treatment of his cancer. In Tehran, Islamic militants responded on November 4 by storming the U.S. embassy and taking the staff hostage. With the approval of Khomeini, the militants demanded the return of the shah to Iran to stand trial for his crimes. The United States refused to negotiate, and 52 American hostages were held for 444 days. Mohammad Reza Shah Pahlavi died in Egypt in July 1980.

They Shall Not Appear Before Yehovah Empty

We are about to begin the Fall Holy Day season.

At Mount Sinai, there was a tithing system in place that was part of the Covenant to which all of Israel agreed.

To build the Tabernacle, Yehovah requested a volunteer method of offering.

Contributions for the Sanctuary

Exo 25:1 And Jehovah spoke to Moses, saying,

Exo 25:2 Speak to the sons of Israel that they bring Me an offering. You shall take an offering from every man that gives it willingly with his heart.

Exo 25:3 And this is the offering which you shall take of them: gold, and silver, and brass,

Exo 25:4 and blue, and purple, and scarlet, and bleached linen, and goats’ hair,

Exo 25:5 and rams’ skins dyed red, and dugong skins, and acacia-wood,

Exo 25:6 oil for the light, spices for anointing oil and for sweet incense,

Exo 25:7 onyx stones, and stones to be set in the ephod and in the breast-pocket.

Exo 25:8 And let them make Me a sanctuary, so that I may dwell among them.

Exo 25:9 According to all that I show you, the pattern of the tabernacle, and the pattern of all the instruments of it, even so you shall make it.

Yehovah required each family to give a tithe of their produce and herds to support the offerings and the priesthood at the Tabernacle.

Lev 27:25 And all your judgments shall be according to the shekel of the sanctuary, twenty gerahs shall be the shekel.

Lev 27:26 However, the first-born of an animal, which should be Jehovah’s first-born, no man shall sanctify it, whether an ox, or sheep, it is Jehovah’s.

Lev 27:27 And if it is of an unclean animal, then he shall redeem it according to your estimation, and shall add a fifth part of it to it. Or if it is not redeemed, then it shall be sold according to your estimation.

Lev 27:28 However, no devoted thing that a man shall devote to Jehovah of all that he has, either of man or animal, or of the field of his possession, shall be sold or redeemed. Every devoted thing is most holy to Jehovah.

Lev 27:29 Nothing devoted, which shall be devoted of men, shall be redeemed, but shall surely be put to death.

Lev 27:30 And all the tithe of the land, of the seed of the land, or of the fruit of the tree, is Jehovah’s. It is holy to Jehovah.

Lev 27:31 And if a man will at all redeem anything of his tithes, he shall add to it the fifth part of it.

Lev 27:32 And all the tithe of the herd, or of the flock, all that passes under the rod, a tenth shall be holy to Jehovah

Lev 27:33 He shall not search whether it is good or bad, neither shall he change it. And if he changes it at all, then both it and the change of it shall be holy. It shall not be redeemed.

Lev 27:34 These are the commandments which Jehovah commanded Moses for the sons of Israel in Mount Sinai.

Here is a prophetic meaning of passeth under the rod: The Rabbis say that when a man gave the tithe of his sheep or calves, he shut them in one fold, in which was a narrow door, to let out but one at a time. He then stood by the door, with a rod dipped in vermilion in his hand, and as they passed he counted them with the rod; and when the tenth came he touched it, by which it was distinguished as the tithe calf, sheep, etc. Jer 33:13; Ezk 20:37; Mic 7:14

Jacob also promised to give a tithe of all that Yehovah gave him almost 300 years before the Exodus. I share this, so you know this understanding preceded Mount Sinai.

Gen 28:20  And Jacob vowed a vow, saying, If God will be with me, and will keep me in this way that I go, and will give me bread to eat and clothing to put on,

Gen 28:21  and I come again to my father’s house in peace, then shall Jehovah be my God.

Gen 28:22  And this stone which I have set for a pillar shall be God’s house. And of all that You shall give me, I will surely give the tenth to You.

While at Mount Sinai, Yehovah took the tithes that were offered to Him and gave all of them to the Levites. This was to be given to them forever.

Num 18:19  All the heave offerings of the holy things, which the sons of Israel offer to Jehovah, I have given you and your sons and your daughters with you, by a law forever. It is a covenant of salt forever before Jehovah to you and to your seed with you.

Num 18:20  And Jehovah said to Aaron, You shall have no inheritance in their land, neither shall you have any part among them. I am your part and your inheritance among the sons of Israel.

Num 18:21  And behold, I have given the sons of Levi all the tenth in Israel for an inheritance, for their service which they serve, the service of the tabernacle of the congregation.

Num 18:22  Neither must the sons of Israel come near the tabernacle of the congregation from now on, lest they bear sin and die.

Num 18:23  But the Levites shall do the service of the tabernacle of the congregation, and they shall bear their iniquity, a statute forever throughout your generations, that among the sons of Israel they have no inheritance.

Num 18:24  But the tithes of the sons of Israel, which they offer as a heave offering to Jehovah, I have given to the Levites to inherit. Therefore I have said to them, Among the sons of Israel they shall have no inheritance.

In Deuteronomy, Yehovah tells Israel to take ten percent, a tithe, of all their increase and spend it on themselves. This is not the same as the tithe sent to the Levites throughout the year. You are to collect this tithe so that you and your family can go to the Feast and celebrate it with Yehovah. If you make $50,000 a year, then that is $5000 you are to spend on yourself and your family for all three Chags. Do any of the Churches tell you about this tithe? Pay yourself 10%.

Deu 14:22  You shall truly tithe all the increase of your seed that the field brings forth year by year.

Deu 14:23  And you shall eat before Jehovah your God in the place which He shall choose to place His name there, the tithe of your grain, of your wine, and of your oil, and the first-born of your herds and of your flocks, so that you may learn to fear Jehovah your God always.

Deu 14:24  And if the way is too long for you, so that you are not able to carry it, or if the place is too far from you, which Jehovah your God shall choose to set His name there, when Jehovah your God has blessed you,

Deu 14:25  then you shall turn it into silver and bind up the silver in your hand, and shall go to the place which Jehovah your God shall choose.

Deu 14:26  And you shall pay that silver for whatever your soul desires, for oxen, or for sheep, or for wine, or for strong drink, or for whatever your soul desires. And you shall eat there before Jehovah your God, and you shall rejoice, you and your household

Deu 14:27  and the Levite within your gates, you shall not forsake him, for he has no part nor inheritance with you.

Yehovah also said that you are to take that tithe for you and your family and go to the place Yehovah chooses. You are not to eat it wherever you want.

Deu 12:11  then there shall be a place which Jehovah your God shall choose to cause His name to dwell there. There you shall bring all that I command you, your burnt offerings, and your sacrifices, your tithes, and the heave offering of your hand, and all your choice vows which you vow to Jehovah.

Deu 12:12  And you shall rejoice before Jehovah your God; you, your sons, your daughters, your menservants, your female servants, and the Levite that is within your gates (because he has no part nor inheritance with you).

Deu 12:13  Take heed to yourself that you do not offer your burnt offerings in every place that you see.

Deu 12:14  But in the place which Jehovah shall choose in one of your tribes, there you shall offer your burnt offerings, and there you shall do all that I command you.

Deu 12:15  However, with all your soul’s desire you shall sacrifice and eat flesh in all your gates, according to the blessing of Jehovah your God which He has given you, the clean and the unclean, one may eat, as of the gazelle, and as of the hart.

Deu 12:16  Only you shall not eat the blood. You shall pour it on the earth like water.

Deu 12:17  You may not eat inside your gates the tithe of your grain or of your wine or of your oil, or the first-born of your herds or of your flock, or any of your vows which you vow, or your free-will offerings or the heave offering of your hand.

Deu 12:18  But you must eat them before Jehovah your God in the place which Jehovah your God shall choose; you, and your son, and your daughter, and your manservant, and your maidservant, and the Levite within your gates. And you shall rejoice before Jehovah your God in all that you put your hand to.

Deu 12:19  Take heed to yourself that you do not forsake the Levite as long as you live on the earth.

Deu 12:20  When Jehovah your God shall make your border larger, as He has promised you, and you shall say, I will eat flesh, because your soul longs to eat flesh; you may eat flesh, whatever your soul desires.

Deu 12:21  If the place which Jehovah your God has chosen to put His name there is too far from you, then you shall kill of your herd and of your flock which Jehovah has given you, as I have commanded you, and you shall eat in your gates whatever your soul desires.

Deu 12:22  Even as the gazelle and the hart is eaten, so you shall eat them. The unclean and the clean shall eat of them alike.

Deu 12:23  Only be sure that you do not eat the blood. For the blood is the life. And you may not eat the life with the flesh.

Deu 12:24  You shall not eat it. You shall pour it on the earth like water.

Deu 12:25  You shall not eat it, so that it may go well with you and with your sons after you, when you shall do what is right in the sight of Jehovah.

Deu 12:26  Only your holy things which you have, and your vows, you shall take and go to the place which Jehovah shall choose.

Deu 12:27  And you shall offer your burnt offerings, the flesh and the blood, on the altar of Jehovah your God. And the blood of your sacrifices shall be poured out on the altar of Jehovah your God, and you shall eat the flesh.

Deu 12:28  Be careful to hear all these words which I command you, so that it may go well with you and with your sons after you forever, when you do the good and right in the sight of Jehovah your God.

As we continue to read Deuteronomy, Yehovah instructs us to look after the Levite, the widow, and the orphan after three years. We have been doing this here at sightedmoon.com, collecting and distributing people’s tithes to the widows in the 3rd and 6th years of the Sabbatical Cycle. We are now in the 1st year of the Sabbatical Cycle.

Deu 14:28 At the end of three years you shall bring forth all the tithe of your increase the same year, and shall lay it up inside your gates.

Deu 14:29 And the Levite, because he has no part nor inheritance with you, and the stranger, and the fatherless, and the widow, who are inside your gates, shall come, and shall eat and be satisfied, so that Jehovah your God may bless you in all the work of your hand which you do.

This was Yehovah’s system of tithing. It was part of the covenant made on Mount Sinai, and it was to be kept forever. But then something happened.

From the time Israel became betrothed to Yehovah until they crossed the Jordan River, it was 42 years. From the time they crossed the Jordan until the Ark was moved to Jerusalem, it was approximately 367 years. It was about 287 years from the crossing of the Jordan until Samuel died. It was at that time that Israel demanded Samuel to give them a king like all the other nations. Under Yehovah’s direction, Samuel reluctantly chose King Saul to rule over the people, but he gave them a stiff warning.

Israel Demands a King

1Sa 8:1 And it happened when Samuel was old, he made his sons judges over Israel.

1Sa 8:2 And the name of his first-born was Joel, and the name of his second was Abiah, judges in Beer-sheba.

1Sa 8:3 And his sons did not walk in his ways, but turned aside after ill gain and took bribes and perverted judgment.

1Sa 8:4 And all the elders of Israel gathered themselves and came to Samuel to Ramah.

1Sa 8:5 And they said to him, Behold, you are old, and your sons do not walk in your ways. Now make us a king to judge us like all the nations.

1Sa 8:6 But the thing was evil in the eyes of Samuel, when they said, Give us a king to judge us. And Samuel prayed to Jehovah.

1Sa 8:7 And Jehovah said to Samuel, Listen to the voice of the people in all that they say to you. For they have not rejected you, but they have rejected Me, that I should not reign over them.

1Sa 8:8 According to all the works which they have done since the day that I brought them up out of Egypt even until this day, works with which they have forsaken Me and served other gods, so they do also to you.

1Sa 8:9 And now listen to their voice. Only, you shall surely protest solemnly to them, and show them the kind of king who shall reign over them.

Samuel’s Warning Against Kings

1Sa 8:10 And Samuel told all the Words of Jehovah to the people who asked a king of him.

1Sa 8:11 And he said, This will be the privilege of the king who shall reign over you. He shall take your sons and appoint them for himself, for his chariots, and his horsemen. And they shall run before his chariots.

1Sa 8:12 And he will appoint commanders over thousands, and commanders over fifties, and some to plow his ground and reap his harvest, and make his weapons of war and weapons for his chariots.

1Sa 8:13 And he will take your daughters to beperfumers and cooks and bakers.

1Sa 8:14 And he will take your fields and your vineyards and your olive-yards, the best, and give them to his servants.

1Sa 8:15 And he will take the tenth of your seed and of your vineyards, and give it to his eunuchs and to his servants.

1Sa 8:16 And he will take your male slaves and your slave girls, and your finest young men, and your asses, and put them to his work.

1Sa 8:17 He will take the tenth of your sheep, and you shall be his servants.

1Sa 8:18 And you shall cry out in that day because of your king whom you have chosen for yourselves, and Jehovah will not answer you in that day.

The Lord Grants Israel’s Request

1Sa 8:19 But the people refused to obey the voice of Samuel. And they said, No, but we will have a king over us.

1Sa 8:20 And we shall be, also we, like all the nations, so that our king may judge us and go out before us and fight our battles.

1Sa 8:21 And Samuel heard all the words of the people, and he repeated them in the ears of Jehovah.

1Sa 8:22 And Jehovah said to Samuel, Listen to their voice, and make them a king. And Samuel said to the men of Israel, Every man go to his city.

From this point forward, Israel gave a tithe every year except the 7th year, when they had no produce and the 2nd tithe, they gave every 3rd and 6th year. The tithe they paid to themselves to keep the feasts also did not change. Notice that Yehovah does not change His system. What was now added would be the demands of the King to rule over them. The King would take a tithe from them.

Then, in 723 BC, Israel was taken into captivity and never returned to the land. Then, in 586 BC. Judah went into captivity, with Zedekiah being their last king. From the time Judah returned from captivity until John Harcanus, Judah had no king but was ruled over by a  Knesset Hagedolah (Great Assembly) convened by Nehemia and Ezra.

At the end of Nehemia 9 all the people make a covenant again with Yehovah.

Neh 9:32 And now, our God, the great, the mighty, and the fearful God, who keeps covenant and mercy, let not all the trouble that has come upon us, on our kings, on our rulers, and on our priests, and on our prophets, and on our fathers, and on all Your people, since the time of the kings of Assyria to this day, seem little before You.

Neh 9:33 But You are just in all that is brought upon us, for You have done right, but we have done wickedly.

Neh 9:34 And our kings, our rulers, our priests, and our fathers, have not kept Your Law, nor listened to Your commandments and Your words with which You testified against them.

Neh 9:35 For they have not served You in their kingdom, and in Your great goodness which You gave them, and in the large and rich land which You gave before them, and they did not turn from their wicked works.

Neh 9:36 Behold, we are servants today. And the land that You gave to our fathers to eat its fruit, and its good, behold, we are servants in it.

Neh 9:37 And it yields much increase to the kings whom You have set over us because of our sins. And they rule over our bodies, and over our cattle, at their pleasure, and we are in great distress.

Neh 9:38 And because of all this we are cutting a sure covenant, and write it, and our princes, Levites, andpriests are sealing it.

We then read the list of men who signed this covenant in chapter 10 and how they vowed to keep the Torah, much like many of you have done once you learned about the Sabbath and Holy Days. 

Neh 10:28 And the rest of the people, the priests, the Levites, the gatekeepers, the singers, the temple-slaves, and all those who had separated from the people of the lands to the Law of God, their wives, their sons, and their daughters (everyone who had knowledge, and who had understanding),

Neh 10:29 were holding fast to their brothers, their honored ones. And they entered into a curse and into an oath, to walk in God’s Law which was given by Moses the servant of God, and to be careful to do all the commandments of Jehovah our Lord, and His judgments and His statutes.

Neh 10:30 And we swore that we would not give our daughters to the people of the land nor take their daughters for our sons.

Neh 10:31 And if the people of the land should bring goods or any food on the Sabbath day to sell it, that we would not buy it from them on the Sabbath or on the holy day, and that we would leave the seventh year, and the interest of every debt.

Neh 10:32 Also we put commands upon ourselves, to charge ourselves yearly with the third part of a shekel for the service of the house of our God,

Neh 10:33 for the showbread, and for the continual meal offering, and for the continual burnt offering, of the sabbaths, of the new moons, for the set feasts, and for the holy things, and for the sin offerings to make an atonement for Israel, and for all the work of the house of our God.

Neh 10:34 And we cast the lots among the priests, and the Levites, and the people, for the wood offering, to bring into the house of our God, according to the houses of our fathers, at times appointed year by year, to burn upon the altar of Jehovah our God, as it iswritten in the Law

Neh 10:35 and to bring the firstfruits of our ground, and the firstfruits of all fruit of all trees, year by year, to the house of Jehovah;

Neh 10:36 and to bring the first-born of our sons, and of our cattle, as it is written in the Law, and the firstlings of our herds and of our flocks, to bring to the house of our God, to the priests who minister in the house of our God;

Neh 10:37 and that we should bring the firstfruits of our dough, and our offerings, and the fruit of all kinds of trees, of wine and of oil, to the priests, to the rooms of the house of our God; and the tithes of our ground to the Levites, and they, the Levites, might have the tithes in all the cities we farmed.

Neh 10:38 And the priest, the son of Aaron, shall be with the Levites, when the Levites take tithes, and the Levites shall bring up the tithe of the tithes to the house of our God, to the rooms, into the treasure house.

Neh 10:39 For the sons of Israel and the sons of Levi shall bring the offering of the grain, of the new wine, and the oil, to the rooms where the vessels of the sanctuary are, and the priests who minister, and the gatekeepers and the singers. And we will not forsake the house of our God.

But shortly after making this vow they stopped looking after the Levites and Nehemia rebukes them for this. Again this is very similar to many of you who expect those teaching you to do so for free.

Neh 13:10  And I saw that the portions of the Levites had not been given to them; for the Levites and the singers, who did the work, had fled each one to his field.

Neh 13:11  And I contended with the rulers and said, Why is the house of God forsaken? And I gathered them together and set them in their place.

Neh 13:12  And all Judah brought the tithe of the grain and the new wine and the oil into the treasuries.

Neh 13:13  And I made treasurers over the treasuries, Shelemiah the priest, and Zadok the scribe, and of the Levites, Pedaiah. And next to them was Hanan the son of Zaccur, the son of Mattaniah. For they were counted faithful, and their office was to distribute to their brothers.

Neh 13:14  Remember me, O my God, concerning this, and do not wipe out my good deeds which I have done for the house of my God, and for the offices of it.

At this same time, another prophet, also known as Ezra, spoke but the Bible records his name as Malachi.

The editors of the 1906 Jewish Encyclopedia implied that Malachi prophesied after Haggai and Zechariah and speculated that he delivered his prophecies about 420 BC, after the second return of Nehemiah from Persia,^[4] or possibly before his return. The Talmud and the Aramaic Targum of Yonathan ben Uzziel identify Ezra as the same person as Malachi. This is the traditional view held by most Jews and some Christians, including Jerome.^[5][6][7] This identification is plausible, because “Malachi” reprimands the people for the same things Ezra did, such as marrying foreign pagan women. Malachi also focuses extensively on corrupt priests; which Ezra, a priest himself who exhorted the people to follow the law, despised. According to Josephus, Ezra died and was buried “in a magnificent manner in Jerusalem.”^[8] If the tradition that Ezra wrote under the name “Malachi” is correct, then Josephus meant that he was buried in the Tomb of the Prophets, the traditional resting place of Malachi. This would also explain why Ezra does not refer to a prophet named Malachi, while he did refer to other prophets such as Haggai and Zechariah. Others ascribe the book to Zerubbabel and Nehemiah; others suggest that Malachi was a separate person altogether, possibly a Levite and a member of the Great Assembly.^[9]

Ezra or Malachi spoke the following:

Robbing God

Mal 3:6  For I am Jehovah, I change not. Because of this you sons of Jacob are not destroyed.

Mal 3:7  From the days of your fathers, you have turned aside from My statutes, and have not kept them. Return to Me, and I will return to you, says Jehovah of Hosts. But you say. In what way shall we return?

Mal 3:8  Will a man rob God? Yet you have robbed Me. But you say, In what have we robbed You? In the tithe and the offering!

Mal 3:9  You are cursed with a curse; for you are robbing Me, the nation, all of it.

Mal 3:10  Bring all the tithe into the storehouse, so that there may be food in My house. And test Me now with this, says Jehovah of Hosts, to see if I will not open the windows of Heaven for you, and pour out a blessing for you, until there is not enough room.

Mal 3:11  And I will rebuke your devourer, and he shall not decay the fruit of your ground against you; nor shall your vine miscarry against you in the field, says Jehovah of Hosts.

Mal 3:12  And all nations shall call you blessed; for you shall be a delightful land, says Jehovah of Hosts.

Mal 3:13  Your words have been strong against Me, says Jehovah. Yet you say, What have we spoken against You?

Mal 3:14  You have said, It is vain to serve God; and, What profit is it that we have kept His charge, and that we have walked as mourners before Jehovah of Hosts?

Mal 3:15  And now we are calling the arrogant blessed. Not only are the doers of wickedness built up, they also test God, and escape.

The Book of Remembrance

Mal 3:16  Then those fearing Jehovah spoke together, each man to his neighbor. And Jehovah listened and heard. And a book of remembrance was written before Him for those who feared Jehovah, and for those esteeming His name.

Mal 3:17  And they shall be Mine, says Jehovah of Hosts, for the day that I will make up My treasure. And I will pity them as a man has pity on his son who serves him.

Mal 3:18  Then you shall again see the differencebetween the righteous and the wicked, between him who serves God, and him who does not serve Him.

Many people will not read this section in this newsletter. As soon as they see the subject is tithing, they skip right over it. Others will come up with all sorts of excuses. They are paying 30-50% in taxes and can’t afford to tithe. Yes, this may be true, but Samuel warned us this would happen, and Yehovah did not withdraw the tithing laws. By asking for a King, we made it harder. It is our own fault. So, you cannot use the amount of Taxes you pay as an excuse for not tithing.

Either you are going to keep the covenant, or you are not.

Yehovah is daring you all to test Him. Read it again in verse 10. test Me now with this, says Jehovah of Hosts, to see if I will not open the windows of Heaven for you, and pour out a blessing for you, until there is not enough room.

Others will say that you are only to tithe what you grow off the land. I have yet to receive one tomato from anyone. To be honest, very few grow anything, and yet you all make a living off the land via products taken from the land.

Everyone wants the blessings Yehovah offers them; they just do not want to do what He asks them to do. And they most certainly do not want to tithe and then they wonder why they are always struggling.

Another excuse people use is that we have no idea who the Levites are today. Those who are Jewish do not believe in Yehshua and we are not going to tithe to them. So what do we do?

Brethren when I was in the Worldwide Church of God we tithed. I paid as much as 50% in taxes. Some years with the 3rd tithe year I was paying out close to 80% of my income. At this same time I was being promoted and my income was increasing year after year. I bought a house and I had it paid off in 5 years time. I also had car payments and paid them off. And we had two small newborns. The math does not work. It does not make sense. And yet that is the truth in my case when I first began this walk.

I had all the excuses I have just shared with you above. I tithed faithfully to the Church. It did not matter to me if they were Levites or not. They were teaching me and I was learning so much from them about the Holy Days. Even though I was not tithing to the Temple, I was being blessed by Yehovah. I was tithing to Him, not some church. What the church did was between them and Yehovah. I just to do my part to Yehovah. He protected me when I thought for sure I was about to be fired. The whole company changed from working seven days a week to working five days. I was no longer in conflict about the Sabbath. I got more raises. It was an exciting time for me as I documented each year, watching my yearly income grow and the tithes I paid out, grow.

We do not have a Temple. I may or may not be descended from Aaron. But I am teaching you and have done so since 2005. You can see our newsletters have gone out almost every week non-stop since 2006.  I have conducted tours to Israel at cost and not made money on them. I have never demanded you tithe to me. sightedmoon.com has supported a number of other ministries since 2014. I think I have demonstrated our worthiness to be supported.

But if you would rather support another ministry, then I would recommend only these three. Nehemia Gordon of Nehemia’s Wall (https://www.nehemiaswall.com/support), Keith Johnson of Biblical Foundations Academy (https://bfainternational.com/give/) and Rabbi David Fohrman of Aleph Beta (https://members.alephbeta.org/donate).

I am sharing this teaching on Tithing because I know most of you are not doing it. You are not receiving the blessings Yehovah promised you when you do tithe. But many of you continue to complain about not having enough or the hardships you are enduring. Put Yehovah to the test and discover if He is real or not, if He keeps His word or not. Only you can prove Him. The question is, as always, whether or not you will test Him as He told you to.

You talk about keeping the covenant. The Churches all say the Old Testament laws are done away with, except the tithing laws. You claim to be in covenant with Yehovah and strive to keep that covenant, but you refuse to pay anyone your tithes. No, they are not your tithes; they are Yehovah’s tithes you owe Him. Are you in covenant or not?