Shir Hashirim to Shavuot

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: May 6, 2022

News Letter 5858-010
The 6th Year of the 4th Sabbatical Cycle
The 27th year of the 120th Jubilee Cycle
The 5th day of the 3rd month 5858 years after the creation of Adam
The 4th Sabbatical Cycle after the 119th Jubilee Cycle
The Sabbatical Cycle of Sword, Famines, and Pestilence
The 3rd year Tithe

May 7, 2022

Shabbat Shalom Royal Family of Yehovah,


The Third Tithe Year

Are you Keeping the Third Tithe Year?

I want to remind and ask you all, have you remembered the widows and the orphans this year thus far? Many of you have and I want to thank you on their behalf. I will keep reminding you about this responsibility for the entirety of this year.

2022 is the 6th year of the 4th Sabatical cycle. And anyone who has been reading our website for any time will know how to prove beyond all doubt when the Sabbatical and Jubilee years are. Once you have done that then you will know when the 3rd and the 6th year of the Sabbatical Cycles are. We are told to raise a tithe every third year for this cause.

Here is a very severe warning from Yehovah to each of us.

Exo 22:21  You shall neither vex a stranger nor oppress him, for you were strangers in the land of Egypt. You shall not afflict any widow or fatherless child. If you afflict them in any way, and they cry at all to Me, I will surely hear their cry. And My wrath shall become hot, and I will kill you with the sword, and your wives shall be widows, and your sons fatherless.

We have now sent out in time for Shavuot, our second gift offering that you sent in for the widows and orphans. We have also supported a couple of other ministries that aid us in doing this work. This will fulfill the Levite part of the commandment. It was our desire to get the funds to them in time for Shavuot as we are told to do in Deuteronomy.

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.

We will soon be making another gift to them. If you do not know of anyone in the faith who is a widow or orphan then you can send it to us. Make sure you write me to let me know that those funds are for the widows and I will see to it they get it. But if you do not write me then I will not know where to apply your donation.

I would like to share with you the responses we have received on your behalf.

I would like to thank and especially BLESS each and every person who has contributed to the Widow, Orphans & Levi tithes.
Your contributions are truly life-changing.

M. South Africa

May each one of you who has given to this cause, be blessed as Boaz was blessed by Yehovah for his generosity. May each one of be known for your support of the laws that will make the Kingdom of Yehovah strong and righteous. And may Yehovah bless you so that what you give is never missed and you never lack for your generosity towards Yehovah’s heart.


Shabbat Zoom Meeting

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 teach you and encourage 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 to explain 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 May 7 at 12:30 PM EDT we will be doing prayers songs and teaching from this hour.

Shabbat Services will begin at 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
Join Zoom Meeting

https://us02web.zoom.us/j/3505855877

Meeting ID: 350 585 5877
One tap mobile
+13017158592,,3505855877# US (Germantown)
+13126266799,,3505855877# US (Chicago)

Dial by your location
+1 301 715 8592 US (Germantown)
+1 312 626 6799 US (Chicago)
+1 346 248 7799 US (Houston)
+1 669 900 6833 US (San Jose)
+1 929 436 2866 US (New York)
+1 253 215 8782 US (Tacoma)

Meeting ID: 350 585 5877
Find your local number: https://us02web.zoom.us/u/kctjNqPYv0


Septennial Torah Portion

If you go to Torah Portion at our archived section, you can then go to the 6th year which is the 6th year of the Sabbatical Cycle, the one we are in now, as we state at the top of every News Letter. There you can scroll down to May 7, 2022, and see that this Shabbat we could very well be midrashing about

Exodus 39

Jeremiah 13-15

Proverbs 12

Acts 9

If you missed last week’s exciting discoveries as we studied that section you can go and watch past Shabbats on our media section.


Counting the Omer

We are now at the 50th day of Counting the Omer this Sunday, May 8, 2022.

Today is the seventh day of the seventh week of seven weeks. Today is the forty-ninth day of the counting of fifty days from the day of the waving of the Omer on the morrow after the Sabbath. Today is the seventh Sabbath of seven Sabbaths. Today completes the seventh week of seven weeks.

Psa 67:1  Elohim does favor us and bless us, Cause His face to shine upon us. Selah.
Psa 67:2  For Your way to be known on earth, Your deliverance among all nations.
Psa 67:3  Let the peoples praise You, O Elohim, Let all the peoples praise You.
Psa 67:4  Let the nations be glad and sing for joy! For You judge the peoples uprightly, And lead the nations on earth. Selah.
Psa 67:5  Let the peoples praise You, O Elohim; Let all the peoples praise You.
Psa 67:6  The earth shall give her increase; Elohim, our own Elohim, blesses us!
Psa 67:7  Elohim blesses us! And all the ends of the earth fear Him!

Day Forty-Nine | A Prayer of Thanksgiving Psalm 138:1-8

Psa 138:1  I give You thanks with all my heart; Before the mighty ones I sing praises to You.
Psa 138:2  I bow myself toward Your set-apart H??al, And give thanks to Your Name For Your loving-commitment and for Your truth; For You have made great Your Word, Your Name, above all.
Psa 138:3  On the day I called You did answer me, You made me bold with strength in my being.
Psa 138:4  Let all the sovereigns of the earth Give thanks to You, O Yehovah, When they shall hear the words of Your mouth.
Psa 138:5  And let them sing of the ways of Yehovah, For great is the esteem of Yehovah.
Psa 138:6  Though Yehovah is exalted, He looks on the humble; But the proud He perceives from a distance.
Psa 138:7  Though I walk in the midst of distress, You revive me; You stretch out Your hand Against the wrath of my enemies, And Your right hand saves me.
Psa 138:8  Yehovah does perfect for me. O Yehovah, Your loving-commitment is everlasting. Do not forsake the works of Your hands.

SHAVUOT | FEAST OF PENTECOST

This Feast of the fiftieth day has been a many-sided one and as a consequence, has been called by many names. The names are as follows:

  • Chag Ha-Shavuot or Hag Shabu’ot (Feast of Weeks)
  • Azeret shel Pesah (Closing Season Of the Passover)
  • Yom ha-Bikkurim (Day of the First-Fruits)
  • Feast of Shabua or Hagga di-Shebu’aya
  • Hag ha-Kazir (Feast of Harvest)
  • Azeret (Closing Festival)

Today is the fiftieth and final day of the counting from the day of the waving of the Omer on the morrow after the Sabbath. Today is the morrow of the seventh Sabbath, the Feast of Weeks, the Feast of Harvest, or the Day of First-Fruits.

Psa 67:1  Elohim does favor us and bless us, Cause His face to shine upon us. Selah.
Psa 67:2  For Your way to be known on earth, Your deliverance among all nations.
Psa 67:3  Let the peoples praise You, O Elohim, Let all the peoples praise You.
Psa 67:4  Let the nations be glad and sing for joy! For You judge the peoples uprightly, And lead the nations on earth. Selah.
Psa 67:5  Let the peoples praise You, O Elohim; Let all the peoples praise You.
Psa 67:6  The earth shall give her increase; Elohim, our own Elohim, blesses us!
Psa 67:7  Elohim blesses us! And all the ends of the earth fear Him!

Day Fifty | Praise Yehovah! | Psalm 150:1-6

Psa 150:1  Praise Yah! Praise ?l in His set-apart place; Praise Him in His mighty expanse!
Psa 150:2  Praise Him for His mighty acts; Praise Him according to His excellent greatness!
Psa 150:3  Praise Him with the blowing of a shophar; Praise Him with the harp and lyre!
Psa 150:4  Praise Him with tambourine and dance; Praise Him with stringed instruments and flutes!
Psa 150:5  Praise Him with sounding cymbals; Praise Him with resounding cymbals!
Psa 150:6  Let all that has breath praise Yah. Praise Yah!


Shir Hashirim

We are now at the 49th day and Sunday will be the 50th Day or Shavuot. It began with Wave Sheaf Day March 20, 2022, during the Passover season.

I have normally taught about the how the Barley represented those Saints who were dead and came back to life on Wave Sheaf Day. (Go to this link to learn about this subject and much much more.) I then show how these events that took place after Yehshua came out of the grave are representative of what is about to happen at the second wave offering at Shavuot. This is when the Dead in Christ will rise first and those of us who are alive will be changed in the twinkling of an eye.

1Th 4:16  For the Lord Himself shall descend from Heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel and with the trumpet of God. And the dead in Christ shall rise first.

1Th 4:17  Then we who are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds, to meet the Lord in the air. And so we shall ever be with the Lord.

1Co 15:51  Behold, I speak a mystery to you; we shall not all fall asleep, but we shall all be changed;

1Co 15:52  in a moment, in a glance of an eye, at the last trumpet. For a trumpet shall sound, and the dead shall be raised incorruptible, and we shall all be changed.

I have also in other teachings shown how both Wave Sheaf Day at Passover and the First Fruits offering  at Shavuot are both representing something even greater that takes place on the 8th Day Feast of Shemini Atzeret. This is huge to understand and yet the 8th Day Feast is one of two feast days that Judah does not know why they are keeping it. It is after all just mentioned in one line in Lev 23.

Lev 23:35  On the first day shall be a holy convocation. You shall do no work of labor.

Lev 23:36  Seven days you shall offer a fire offering to Jehovah. On the eighth day shall be a holy convocation to you. And you shall offer a fire offering to Jehovah. It is a solemn assembly. And you shall do no work of labor.

Lev 23:37  These are the feasts of Jehovah which you shall proclaim to be holy convocations, to offer a fire offering to Jehovah, a burnt offering and a food offering, a sacrifice, and drink offerings, everything on its day;

Lev 23:38  besides the sabbath of Jehovah, and besides your gifts, and besides all your vows, and besides all your free-will offerings which you give to Jehovah.

Lev 23:39  Also in the fifteenth day of the seventh month, when you have gathered in the fruit of the land, you shall keep a feast to Jehovah seven days. On the first day shall be a sabbath, and on the eighth day shall be a sabbath.

We have also shown you in other teachings how Shavuot is the 8th Holy Day since Wave Sheaf Day. This is exactly the same thing for the Jubilee year. The 50th Year Jubilee, is the 8th Year of Rest in every Jubilee Cycle. And the 8th day Feast is at the end of the 7 days festival of that represents the wedding of 7 days. It also represents the 8th millennium. We are now at the end of the 6th millennium with just 22 years left until the 7th begins.

With all of this in mind, this Shavuot I want to draw on all of these other truths but I want to do so in a very different way. Traditionally Shir Hashirim has been read after the Haggadah at Passover. And before I forget I want to point out that the Song of Songs has just 8 chapters. I do not know if the original Hebrew version is divided into 8 sections, but I wanted to point that out.

Shir Hashirim was originally written by King Solomon. He was the wisest of all men.

1Ki 4:29  And God gave Solomon exceeding great wisdom and understanding, and largeness of heart, even as the sand that is on the seashore.

1Ki 4:30  And Solomon’s wisdom was greater than the wisdom of all the sons of the east, and all the wisdom of Egypt.

1Ki 4:31  For he was wiser than all men; than Ethan the Ezrahite, and Heman, and Chalcol, and Darda, the sons of Mahol. And his fame was in all nations all around.

1Ki 4:32  And he spoke three thousand proverbs, and his songs were a thousand and five.

The title “Song of Songs” is a superlative, meaning this is the best one. Of the 1005 songs this one, The Song of All Songs, is the best. And yet there was a heated debate as to whether or not it should be included with the other books of the Torah.

For centuries, our sages have discussed whether the verses of “The Song of Songs” depicted heavenly or earthly love, the love between God and Israel, or between two human beings. Rabbi Akiva’s teaching: “All the writings are holy, but the Song of Songs is the Holy of Holies” can be read as his dismissal of this debate.

Let me now share with you one commentary on this because they say the most profound thing in their explanation.

The Song of Songs is the holiest of holies, not because it is a cryptic text that must be deciphered through an allegorical reading, but because it opens the door to an understanding of the Torah.

A celebrated dispute appears in the Mishna – in Tractate Yadayim. It concerns the books attributed to King Solomon: Proverbs, Ecclesiastes and the Song of Songs (Shir Hashirim, in Hebrew). The basic question is whether they should be included in the sacred canon – that is, in the Bible – or not. “Rabbi Akiva says: ‘God forbid that anyone should say that the Song of Songs renders one’s hands impure! The greatest day was the one on which Israel received the Song of Songs. All of the writings in the Bible are holy and the Song of Songs is the holiest of holies. If there was any dispute about a certain book, it was about Ecclesiastes’” (Mishna, Tractate Yadayim 3:5).

Various commentators have attempted to explain that Rabbi Akiva’s unique excitement over the Song of Songs is connected to the book’s allegorical meaning. According to this approach, the book, if interpreted literally, is not holy; instead, it must be read as an expression of God’s love for Israel, an allegorical interpretation that renders the Song of Songs holy.

That approach, however, is unsatisfactory. Can one say that the day Israel received a book whose sole meaning can be derived only through allegorical interpretation was truly the greatest of all days? After all, every book could be given an allegorical interpretation, by which it can be assigned whatever meaning a person desires. Moreover, there are other books in the Bible that eloquently express God’s love for his nation – such as Genesis, Exodus, Joshua, Judges, Isaiah and Esther. Why has the Song of Songs been given such a privileged status, as if its granting to Israel is almost as significant as God’s granting of the Torah to Israel at Mount Sinai?

The meaning of the Song of Songs for the sages becomes clear in the opening to the midrashic work Shir Hashirim (Song of Songs) Rabbah, where the discussion actually concerns a verse from Ecclesiastes (called Kohelet in Hebrew). Toward the end of the latter book, a verse sums up the intellectual achievements of Kohelet – its eponymous author, namely, Solomon (according to the sages): “And besides that Kohelet was wise, he also taught the people knowledge; yea, he pondered, and sought out, and set in order many proverbs” (Ecclesiastes 12:9). In the sages’ view, the phrase “he also taught the people knowledge” refers to the teaching of Torah.

This verse explains precisely what Solomon did for Torah study: His interpretive work is depicted with the terms “he pondered” (izeyn) and “he sought out,” two actions that are expressed in the phrase “and [he] set in order many proverbs.” The verb “izeyn,” which is commonly understood to mean “to balance,” is given another meaning by the sages: “It is written, ‘he pondered.’ What did he ponder? The Torah. In other words, he created a ‘handle’ (or ‘ears’ [from the word ozen, ear]) for the Torah. Prior to Solomon, no one created such figurative language for the Torah” (Shir Hashirim Rabbah 1:8).

Just as a potter makes a handle (“ear”) or two for a cup, similarly, argue the sages, Solomon provides a handle for understanding the Torah. This is the innovative interpretation that Solomon has created in the Song of Songs: He has fashioned figurative language for the Torah. This is Solomon’s main intellectual accomplishment: the joining together of figurative fragments that can serve as a handle for the Torah – a handle for understanding the Torah’s text. The midrashic work then goes on to illustrate precisely what Solomon has done.

The male protagonist in the Song of Songs addresses the female protagonist, his beloved: “O my dove, that art in the clefts of the rock, in the covert of the cliff, let me see thy countenance, let me hear thy voice; for sweet is thy voice, and thy countenance is comely” (Song of Songs 2:14). His beloved is like a dove hiding in the clefts of a rock and he urges her to emerge from her hiding place, to show herself and to allow him to hear her voice. According to the sages’ perspective, this image is a handle that enables one to understand text that appears in the Torah. The question is to which passage the verse should be applied.

Several suggestions are offered in Shir Hashirim Rabbah 2:31: “Rabbi Elazar argues: ‘It should be applied to the passage in the Torah describing Israel’s plight as it stands on the shores of the Red Sea [before God parts the waters.] The phrase “O my dove, that art in the clefts of the rock” refers to Israel hiding itself on the shores of the sea, while the phrase “let me see thy countenance” refers to the verse in the Torah, “Stand still, and see the salvation of the Lord” [Exodus 14:13]. The phrase, “let me hear thy voice” is the singing of the song of praise by Moses and Israel, as it is written, “Then sang Moses” [Exod. 15:1], while the phrase “for sweet is thy voice” is the song they sing. Finally, the phrase “and thy countenance is comely” refers to the fact that Israel points to the divine presence, saying, “This is my God, and I will glorify Him” [Exod. 15:2].’”

According to Rabbi Elazar, the verse in the Song of Songs is intended to illustrate the narrative of the parting of the Red Sea. The dove represents Israel and the rock the Red Sea, which hides Israel in its depths. The dove’s voice is the singing of the song of praise by Israel when it sees the Egyptians drowning in the sea. The word “This” in “This is my God” in that song of praise is interpreted by the sages as referring to the fact that Israel sees God in all his glory on the sea and that the Israelites actually point at the divine presence. Rabbi Elazar explains the words “and thy countenance is comely” as a description of the gentle and beautiful way in which the Israelites point at the divine presence. The handle that the Song of Songs provides for the verses in the passage depicting the parting of the Red Sea enables Rabbi Elazar to “get a grip on” the Torah text and to explain it.

Rabbi Akiva offers another solution: “Rabbi Akiva argues: ‘It should be applied to the passage in the Torah describing Israel as it stands before Mount Sinai. The phrase “O my dove, that art in the clefts of the rock” refers to Israel hiding in the shadow of Mount Sinai, while the phrase “let me see thy countenance” refers to the verse in the Torah, “And all the people perceived the thunderings” [Exod. 20:14]. The phrase “let me hear thy voice” is Israel’s voice before the granting of the Ten Commandments, as it is written, “All that the Lord hath spoken we will do” [Exod. 19:8], while the phrase “for sweet is thy voice” is Israel’s voice after they are granted, as it is written, “And the Lord heard the voice of your words, when ye spoke unto me; and the Lord said unto me: ‘I have heard the voice of the words of this people, which they have spoken unto thee; they have well said all that they have spoken’” [Deuteronomy 5:24].’”

According to Rabbi Akiva, the verse in the Song of Songs is a handle for understanding the passage in the Torah describing the granting of the Ten Commandments at Mount Sinai. Israel is the dove hiding in the clefts of the rock on Mount Sinai. God wants to hear Israel’s voice and the two phrases “let me hear thy voice” and “for sweet is thy voice” refer to Israel’s response before and after the Torah is granted.

Thus, the Song of Songs is the holiest of holies, not because it is a cryptic text that must be deciphered through an allegorical reading. Quite the contrary: In the sages’ view, it is an allegory in itself. The sages regard it as a very simple text whose images are clear and whose parables are easy to understand. According to the sages, the Song of Songs enables an understanding of another text that is truly enigmatic – the Torah. They see the Torah as a text that is inaccessible and, in their opinion, Solomon’s creation of figurative phrases in the Song of Songs opens the door to an understanding of the Torah.

The Song of Songs is one notch above the other writings in the Bible in terms of holiness not because of its esoteric nature, but because it paves the way for an understanding of the Torah’s text. Were it not for the Song of Songs, the Torah would lack a handle for a comprehension of its content.

We are told for each and every one of the 7 churches in Revelation 2 and 3 to pay attention.

Rev 2:7  He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches. To him who overcomes I will give to eat of the Tree of Life, which is in the midst of the paradise of God.

Rev 2:11  He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches. He who overcomes will not be hurt by the second death.

Rev 2:17  He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches. To him who overcomes I will give to eat of the hidden manna, and will give to him a white stone, and in the stone a new name written, which no man knows except he who receives it .

Rev 2:26  And he who overcomes and keeps My works to the end, to him I will give power over the nations.

Rev 2:27  And he will rule them with a rod of iron, as the vessels of a potter they will be broken to pieces, even as I received from My Father.

Rev 2:28  And I will give him the Morning Star.

Rev 2:29  He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches.

Rev 3:5  The one who overcomes, this one will be clothed in white clothing. And I will not blot out his name out of the Book of Life, but I will confess his name before My Father and before His angels.

Rev 3:6  He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches.

Rev 3:10  Because you have kept the Word of My patience, I also will keep you from the hour of temptation which will come upon all the habitable world, to try those who dwell upon the earth.

Rev 3:11  Behold, I come quickly. Hold fast to that which you have, so that no one may take your crown.

Rev 3:12  Him who overcomes I will make him a pillar in the temple of My God, and he will go out no more. And I will write upon him the name of My God, and the name of the city of My God, the New Jerusalem, which comes down out of Heaven from My God, and My new name.

Rev 3:13  He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches.

Rev 3:20  Behold, I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears My voice and opens the door, I will come in to him and will dine with him and he with Me.

Rev 3:21  To him who overcomes I will grant to sit with Me in My throne, even as I also overcame and have sat down with My Father in His throne.

Rev 3:22  He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches.

We are also told to pay attention to what Yehshua was saying about John and Elijah.

Mat 11:13  For all the Prophets and the Law prophesied until John.

Mat 11:14  And if you will receive it, this is Elijah who is to come.

Mat 11:15  He who has ears to hear, let him hear.

Solomon through the Shir Hashirim has made ears for us to hear the Torah. Are you listening? Do you hear?

I have included this Song of Songs as it pertains to both the beginning at Passover and to the concluding at Shavuot. As the sages argued for one or the other, I say both. The love began at Passover and is continuing (concluding) at Shavuot.

The Passover Haggadah, recounts how Yehovah brought us out of Egypt with an outstretched arm, overwhelming armies equipped with horses and chariots. Yehovah is wooing us. Like a bird doing the mating dance or a young man flexing his muscles in front of the girl he is hoping will notice him.

Solomon through the rich lyrics and voluptuous descriptions is reminding us of the lover’s gaze and the lover’s touch that we all sought from our first love. When we experience the Song as an image of a possible human relationship it leads us to a new image and understanding of our relationship with Yehovah.

We began by numbering the days of the Omer from the barley harvest to Shavuot. We are counting the days between liberation at Passover and revelation at Shavuot. Every year at Passover we begin anew our journey of love that culminates on Shavuot and this is symbolized in the  7 Sabbaths that we count representing the 7 days of the Wedding Feast or the 7 Millennial days. (You could also count each Sabbath as one of the 7 annual Holy Days, which I have not considered until now). In a Jewish wedding the bride walks around her groom 7 times. Is this also not reminding us of the 7 feasts.

The 8th Sabbath, Shavuot, which represents the day the Torah was given, (Which is Yehovah-the Word that became flesh) and the day the Holy Spirit was also given. Both of these great events connected to the betrothal and the Ketubah, represent the 8th Day of the Feast, and the conclusion to the courtship, engagement, marriage ceremony and consummation of the marriage.

Our joining ourselves to the Torah and becoming one with the Torah is the exact same thing as the two joined together becoming one flesh.

Satan is represented in the Shir Hashirm as the guards who beat the woman. Satan as a Cherub was to guard the way to the King or the throne of Yehovah.

But what has he done?

He has lied to us and told us that sex is evil. Sexual desires are dirty and something to be ashamed of. That we should look away from young lovers who seek each others touch and presence. Sex and carousing with your lover and even dreaming of it is not sinful. It is not evil.

Let us reclaim the joy of reading lyrics of love that that liberate body and spirit, a sacred text that lifts up a vision of passionate connections beyond authority and control. May our counting of the Omer be a time of expanding our understanding of love, both human and divine, so that we may be ready, to stand again at Sinai as if it was the first time each and every year. And to also ponder how this is just a foretaste of what is to come on the 8th Day, Shemini Atzeret after the 8th Millennium begins.

Son 1:1  The song of songs, which is Solomon’s.

The Bride Confesses Her Love

Son 1:2  Let Him kiss me with the kisses of His mouth; for Your love is better than wine.

Son 1:3  For Your ointments have a lovely fragrance; Your name is as oil poured out; therefore the virgins love You.

Son 1:4  Draw me, we will run after You. The King has brought me into his chambers; we will be glad and rejoice in You, we will remember Your love more than wine; the upright love You.

Son 1:5  I am black, but comely, O daughters of Jerusalem, like the tents of Kedar, like the curtains of Solomon.

Son 1:6  Do not look on me, that I am black, that the sun has looked on me. My mother’s sons were angry with me; they made me the keeper of the vineyards; but my vineyard I have not kept.

Son 1:7  Tell me, You whom my soul loves, where do You feed, where do You lie down at noon? For why should I be as one who is veiled beside the flocks of Your companions?

Solomon and His Bride Delight in Each Other

Son 1:8  If you know not, most beautiful among women, go in the footsteps of the flock; and feed your kids beside the shepherds’ tents.

Son 1:9  O My love, I have compared you to My mares among Pharaoh’s chariots.

Son 1:10  Your cheeks are beautiful with ornaments, your neck with chains.

Son 1:11  We will make you borders of gold with studs of silver.

Son 1:12  While the King is in His circle, my spikenard gives its smell.

Son 1:13  A bundle of myrrh is my Beloved to me. He shall lie all night between my breasts.

Son 1:14  My Beloved is to me like a cluster of henna in the vineyards of Engedi.

Son 1:15  Behold, you are beautiful, my love; behold, you are beautiful; you have doves’ eyes.

Son 1:16  Behold, you are beautiful, my Beloved, yea, pleasant. Also our bed is green.

Son 1:17  The beams of our house are cedar, and our rafters are of fir.

Son 2:1  I am the rose of Sharon, a lily of the valleys.

Son 2:2  As the lily among thorns, so is My love among the daughters.

Son 2:3  As the apple among the trees of the wood, so is my Beloved among the sons. I sat down under His shadow with great delight, and His fruit was sweet to my taste.

Son 2:4  He brought me to the banqueting house, and His banner over me was love.

Son 2:5  Feed me with raisin cakes, comfort me with apples, for I am sick with love.

Son 2:6  His left hand is under my head, and His right hand embraces me.

Son 2:7  I charge you, O daughters of Jerusalem, by the gazelles, and by the does of the field, do not stir up or awake my Love until He please.

The Bride Adores Her Beloved

Son 2:8  The voice of my Beloved! Behold, He comes leaping on the mountains, skipping on the hills.

Son 2:9  My Beloved is like a roe or a young hart. Behold, He stands behind our wall, He looks forth at the windows, peering from the lattice.

Son 2:10  My Beloved spoke, and said to me, Rise up, My love, My beautiful one, and come away.

Son 2:11  For lo, the winter is past, the rain is over; it goes to itself.

Son 2:12  the flowers appear on the earth; the time of singing has come, and the voice of the turtle-dove is heard in our land;

Son 2:13  the fig tree puts forth her green figs, and the vines with the tender grape give a good smell. Arise, My love, My beautiful one, and come away.

Son 2:14  O My dove, in the clefts of the rock, in the secret places of the stairs, let Me see your face, let Me hear your voice; for your voice is sweet, and your face is beautiful.

Son 2:15  Take us the foxes, the little foxes that spoil the vines; for our vines have tender grapes.

Son 2:16  My Beloved is mine, and I am His; He feeds among the lilies.

Son 2:17  Until when does the day blow, and the shadows flee away? Turn, my Beloved, and be like a gazelle, or a young deer, the stag, on the mountains of Bether.

The Bride’s Dream

Son 3:1  By night on my bed I sought Him whom my soul loved; I sought Him, but I did not find Him.

Son 3:2  I will rise now and go about the city, in the streets and in the broad ways; I will seek Him whom my soul loves. I sought Him, but I did not find Him.

Son 3:3  The watchmen going about the city found me. I said, Have you seen Him whom my soul loves?

Son 3:4  But a little while after I passed from them, I found Him whom my soul loves. I held Him and would not let Him go, until I had brought Him into my mother’s house, and into the room of her who conceived me.

Son 3:5  I charge you, O daughters of Jerusalem, by the gazelles, and by the does of the field, do not stir up nor awake my love until it pleases.

Solomon Arrives for the Wedding

Son 3:6  Who is this coming up out of the wilderness like pillars of smoke, perfumed with myrrh and frankincense, from all the merchant’s powders?

Son 3:7  Behold his bed, Solomon’s! Sixty mighty men are around it, of Israel’s mighty men.

Son 3:8  They all hold swords, instructed in war; each man has his sword on his thigh because of fear in the night.

Son 3:9  King Solomon made himself a litter-bed of Lebanon’s trees.

Son 3:10  He made its poles of silver, its back gold, its seat of purple, its middle was paved with love by the daughters of Jerusalem.

Son 3:11  Go forth, O daughters of Zion, and behold King Solomon with the crown with which his mother crowned him on his wedding day, and in the day of the gladness of his heart.

Chapter 4 is Yehovah speaking about His beloved, Israel. And that is you if you’re going to obey.

Solomon Admires His Bride’s Beauty

Son 4:1  Behold, you are beautiful, My love. Behold, you are beautiful; your eyes are like doves’ from behind your veil; your hair is like a flock of goats that appear from Mount Gilead.

Son 4:2  Your teeth are like a flock of shorn sheep, which came up from the washing; they all are bearing twins and not one is barren among them.

Son 4:3  Your lips are like a cord of scarlet, and your speech is becoming; your temples are like a piece of pomegranate behind your veil.

Son 4:4  Your neck is like the tower of David built for an armory, on which there hang a thousand bucklers, all shields of mighty men.

Son 4:5  Your two breasts are like two fawns, twins of a gazelle, feeding among the lilies.

Son 4:6  Until when the day blows, and the shadows flee away, I will go to the mountain of myrrh and to the hill of frankincense.

Son 4:7  You are all fair, My love; no blemish is in you.

Son 4:8  Come with Me from Lebanon, My spouse; with Me from Lebanon. Look from the top of Amana, from the top of Shenir and Hermon, from the lions’ dens, from the mountains of the leopards.

Son 4:9  You have ravished My heart, My sister, My spouse; you have ravished My heart with one of your eyes, with one chain of your neck.

Son 4:10  How fair is your love, My sister, My spouse! How much better is your love than wine, and the smell of your ointments than all spices!

Son 4:11  Your lips, My spouse, drop like the honeycomb; honey and milk are under your tongue; and the smell of your garments is like the smell of Lebanon.

Son 4:12  A locked garden is My sister, My spouse; a rock heap locked up, a fountain sealed.

Son 4:13  Your plants are an orchard of pomegranates, with pleasant fruits; with henna and spikenard,

Son 4:14  spikenard and saffron; calamus and cinnamon, with all trees of frankincense; myrrh and aloes, with all the chief spices;

Son 4:15  a fountain of gardens, a well of living waters, and streams from Lebanon.

Together in the Garden of Love

Son 4:16  Awake, O north wind; and come, south wind; blow on my garden, so that the spices of it may flow out. Let my Beloved come into His garden and eat His pleasant fruits.

Son 5:1  I have come into My garden, My sister, My spouse; I have gathered My myrrh with My spice; I have eaten My honeycomb with My honey; I have drunk My wine with My milk. Eat, O friends; drink, yea, drink abundantly, O Beloved.

The Bride Searches for Her Beloved

Son 5:2  I sleep, but my heart is awake. It is the sound of my Beloved that knocks, saying, Open to Me, My sister, My love, My dove, My undefiled; for My head is filled with dew, My locks with the drops of the night.

Son 5:3  I have put off My coat; How shall I put it on? I have washed my feet; how shall I defile them?

Son 5:4  My Beloved put in His hand by the hole of the door, and my heart was moved for Him.

Son 5:5  I rose up to open to my Beloved; and my hands dripped with myrrh, and my fingers flowing with myrrh on the handles of the bolt.

Son 5:6  I opened to my Beloved, but my Beloved had left. He passed on. My soul went out when He spoke; I sought Him, but I could not find Him. I called Him, but He did not answer me.

Son 5:7  The watchmen who went about the city found me and struck me; they wounded me. The keepers of the wall lifted my veil from me.

Son 5:8  I adjure you, O daughters of Jerusalem, if you find my Beloved, what do you tell Him? That I am sick with love.

Son 5:9  What is your Beloved more than another beloved, most beautiful among women? What is your Beloved more than another beloved, that you adjure us so?

The Bride Praises Her Beloved

Son 5:10  My Beloved is bright and ruddy, standing out among ten thousand.

Son 5:11  His head is like refined gold; His locks are bushy, black as a raven.

Son 5:12  His eyes are as doves’ eyes on the rivers of waters, washed with milk, sitting on a setting.

Son 5:13  His cheeks are like a bed of spices, a raised bed of aromatic herbs. His lips are as lilies dropping flowing myrrh.

Son 5:14  His hands are like rings of gold filled with jewels; His body an ivory plate overlaid with sapphires.

Son 5:15  His legs are like pillars of marble set on sockets of fine gold; His face is like Lebanon, excellent as the cedars.

Son 5:16  His mouth is most sweet; yes, He is altogether lovely. This is my Beloved, and this is my Friend, O daughters of Jerusalem.

Son 6:1  Where has your Beloved gone, most beautiful among women? Where has your Beloved turned? For we seek Him along with you.

Together in the Garden of Love

Son 6:2  My Beloved has gone down to His garden, to the beds of spices, to feed in the gardens and to gather lilies.

Son 6:3  I am my Beloved’s, and my Beloved is mine; He feeds among the lilies.

Solomon and His Bride Delight in Each Other

Son 6:4  O my love, you are as beautiful as Tirzah, as lovely as Jerusalem, as inspiring as an army with banners.

Son 6:5  Turn away your eyes from Me, for they have overcome Me; your hair is like a flock of goats that appears from Gilead.

Son 6:6  Your teeth are like a flock of ewes which go up from the washing; they all are bearing twins, and a barren one is not among them.

Son 6:7  Your temples behind your veil are like a piece of pomegranate.

Son 6:8  There are sixty queens, and eighty concubines, and virgins without number.

Son 6:9  But My dove, My undefiled is one alone. She is the only one of her mother. She is the choice of her who bore her. The daughters saw her and blessed her; the queens and the concubines saw her, and they praised her.

Son 6:10  Who is she who looks forth like the morning, fair as the moon, clear as the sun, awesome as armies with banners?

Son 6:11  I went down into the garden of nuts to see the greenery of the valley, to see whether the vine flowered and the pomegranates budded.

Son 6:12  I did not know, but my soul set me on the chariots of my princely people.

Son 6:13  Return, return, O Shulamite! Return, return, that we may look on you. What will you see in the Shulamite? As it were the dance of two camps.

Son 7:1  How beautiful are your feet in sandals, O prince’s daughter! The curves of your thighs are like jewels, the work of the hands of a skillful workman.

Son 7:2  Your navel is like a round goblet, which never lacks mixed wine; your belly is like a heap of wheat set about with lilies.

Son 7:3  Your two breasts are like two fawns, twins of a gazelle.

Son 7:4  Your neck is like a tower of ivory; your eyes like the fish-pools in Heshbon, by the gate of Beth-rabbim; your nose is like the tower of Lebanon which looks toward Damascus.

Son 7:5  Your head on you is like Carmel, and the hair of your head like purple cloth; the King is held captive in its tresses.

Son 7:6  How beautiful and how pleasant you are, O love, for delights!

Son 7:7  Your stature is like a palm tree, and your breasts are like clusters of grapes.

Son 7:8  I said, I will go up in the palm tree, I will take hold of its stalk. And please let your breasts be like clusters of the vine, and the smell of your nose like apples;

Son 7:9  and the roof of your mouth like the best wine for my Beloved, that goes down smoothly for my Beloved, flowing softly over the lips of sleeping ones.

Son 7:10  I am my Beloved’s, and His desire is toward me.

The Bride Gives Her Love

Son 7:11  Come, my Beloved, let us go out into the field; let us stay in the villages.

Son 7:12  Let us rise up early to the vineyards; let us see if the vine flowers, whether the tender grape appears, and the pomegranates bud forth; there I will give You my loves.

Son 7:13  The love-apples give a scent, and over our doors are all pleasant fruits, new and old, which I have laid up for You, O my Beloved.

Longing for Her Beloved

Son 8:1  Who could give You to me as my brother, who sucked my mother’s breasts? When I find You outside, I would kiss You; yea, they would not despise me.

Son 8:2  I would lead You, and bring You into my mother’s house. You would instruct me; I would cause You to drink spiced wine of the juice of my pomegranate.

Son 8:3  His left hand would be under my head, and His right embrace me.

Son 8:4  I charge you, O daughters of Jerusalem, why should you stir up or awaken my Love until it pleases?

Son 8:5  Who is this coming up from the wilderness, leaning on her Beloved? I awakened you under the apple tree; there your mother travailed with you; there she travailed and bore you.

Son 8:6  Set me as a seal on Your heart, as a seal on Your arm; for love is strong as death. Jealousy is cruel as the grave; its flames are flames of fire, a flame of Jehovah.

Son 8:7  Many waters cannot quench love, nor will the rivers overflow it. If a man would give all the wealth of his house for love, it would be scorned.

Final Advice

Son 8:8  We have a little sister, and she has no breasts; what shall we do for our sister in the day when she shall be spoken for?

Son 8:9  If she is a wall, we will build on her a palace of silver; and if she is a door, we will enclose her with boards of cedar.

Son 8:10  I was a wall, and my breasts like towers; then I was in His eyes as one finding peace.

Son 8:11  Solomon had a vineyard in Baal-hamon; he let out the vineyard to keepers; everyone for its fruit was to bring a thousand of silver.

Son 8:12  My vineyard, which is mine, is before me; you, O Solomon, must have a thousand, and for the keepers of its fruit, two hundred.

Son 8:13  You who dwell in the gardens, the companions listen to your voice; cause me to hear.

Son 8:14  Hurry, my Beloved, and be like a gazelle, or a young deer, the stag, on the mountains of spices.


The Chronology of Shavuot

In the year 1379 BC Passover took place and Israel left Egypt on the 15th day.

Num 33:3  And they pulled up stakes from Rameses in the first month, on the fifteenth day of the first month. On the next day after the Passover the sons of Israel went out with a high hand in the sight of all the Egyptians.

Passover in 1379 BC would have been eaten on the 15th. This was Saturday night with Sunday being both the 15th and Wave Sheaf Day. So now we have our counting of the Omer on the very same day.

1379 BC Passover Torah Cal

Here is the order in Numbers of when they pitched their tents each night.

Num 33:4  For the Egyptians buried all their first-born whom Jehovah had stricken among them. Jehovah also executed judgments upon their gods.

Num 33:5  And the sons of Israel pulled up stakes from Rameses and pitched in Succoth.

Num 33:6  And they pulled up stakes from Succoth and pitched in Etham, in the edge of the wilderness.

This is now where they turned south towards Nuweiba on the red Sea.

This is the canyon or Wadi Israel came through on to the beach at Nuweiba in Egypt on the Sinai peninsula.

Exo 13:17  And it happened, when Pharaoh had let the people go, God did not lead them by the way of the land of the Philistines although that was near. For God said, Lest the people repent when they see war, and they return to Egypt.

Exo 13:18  But God led the people around, by the way of the wilderness of the Red Sea. And the sons of Israel went up armed out of the land of Egypt.

Exo 13:19  And Moses took the bones of Joseph with him. For he had strictly sworn the sons of Israel, saying, God will surely visit you, and you shall carry my bones away from here with you.

Exo 13:20  And they moved from Succoth and camped in Etham, in the edge of the wilderness.

Exo 13:21  And Jehovah went before them by day in a pillar of a cloud, to lead them the right away, and by night in a pillar of fire, to give them light, to go by day and night.

Exo 13:22  He did not take away the pillar of the cloud by day, nor the pillar of fire by night, from before the people.

The day Pharaoh and his army crosses the Red Sea and is destroyed, is the 7th Day of Unleavened Bread.

Num 33:7  And they pulled up stakes from Etham and turned again to Pihahiroth which is in front of Baal-zephon. And they pitched in front of Migdol.

Num 33:8  And they pulled up stakes from before Pihahiroth and passed through the middle of the Sea into the wilderness, and went three days’ journey in the wilderness of Etham, and pitched in Marah.

This is where Israel came up out of the Red Sea. This is our group tour in March 2022.

In this next picture is a pin beside the mans foot. It marks the place where Solomon stood up a column to mark the place where Israel came out of the Red Sea. You can see just how wide and flat this area is.

This is the river bed leading up from the Red Sea. It is very flat and wide for the nation to walk up very easily.

This is now the 7th day when they went through the Red Sea to the 10th day at Marah. If you count each night they camped you will see that there are now 9 places of rest once they arrived at Sinai.

Num 33:9  And they pulled up stakes from Marah and came to Elim. And in Elim were twelve fountains of water, and seventy palm trees. And they pitched there.

Num 33:10  And they pulled up stakes from Elim and pitched by the Red Sea.

Num 33:11  And they pulled up stakes from the Red Sea and pitched in the wilderness of Sin.

Here is the place of the 12 wells and 70 palm trees.

We are told that it was now the 15th day of the 2nd month when they pitched at the Wilderness of Sin. So 30 days have now transpired. It is the 30th day of Counting the Omer. (Torah calendar starts their count from the the 16th and not the Sunday, so they are going to be one day behind our counting in these charts).

Exo 16:1  And they took their journey from Elim, and all the congregation of the sons of Israel came into the wilderness of Sin, which is between Elim and Sinai, on the fifteenth day of the second month after their departing out of the land of Egypt.

1379 BC 2nd Month

Here they cried for bread. The rest of Exodus 16 tells you that they were there in the Wilderness of Sin until after the Sabbath.

Exo 16:2  And the whole congregation of the sons of Israel murmured against Moses and Aaron in the wilderness.

Exo 16:3  And the sons of Israel said to them, O that we had died by the hand of Jehovah in the land of Egypt, when we sat by the flesh-pots, when we ate bread to the full! For you have brought us forth into this wilderness to kill this whole assembly with hunger.

Exo 16:4  Then Jehovah said to Moses, Behold, I will rain bread from the heavens for you. And the people shall go out and gather a certain amount every day, that I may test them, whether they will walk in My Law or not.

Exo 16:5  And on the sixth day it shall happen, they shall prepare what they bring in. And it shall be twice as much as they gather day by day.

Exo 16:6  And Moses and Aaron said to all the sons of Israel, At evening, then you shall know that Jehovah has brought you out from the land of Egypt.

Exo 16:7  And in the morning, then you shall see the glory of Jehovah. For He hears your murmurings against Jehovah. And what are we, that you murmur against us?

Exo 16:8  And Moses said, You will see when Jehovah shall give you flesh to eat in the evening and bread to the full in the morning, when Jehovah hears your murmurings which you murmur against Him. And what are we? Your murmurings are not against us, but against Jehovah.

Exo 16:9  And Moses spoke to Aaron, Say to all the congregation of the sons of Israel, Come near before Jehovah. For He has heard your murmurings.

Exo 16:10  And it happened as Aaron spoke to the whole congregation of the sons of Israel, they turned toward the wilderness. And behold! The glory of Jehovah appeared in the cloud!

Exo 16:11  And the Lord spoke to Moses, saying,

Exo 16:12  I have heard the murmurings of the sons of Israel. Speak to them, saying, You shall eat flesh at evening, and in the morning you shall be filled withbread. And you shall know that I am Jehovah your God.

Exo 16:13  And it happened at evening, the quails came up and covered the camp. And in the morning the dew lay all around the host.

Exo 16:14  And when the layer of dew had gone up, behold, there was a small round thing upon the face of the wilderness, small as the hoar-frost upon the ground.

Exo 16:15  And when the sons of Israel saw, they said each one to his brother, What is that? For they did not know what it was. And Moses said to them, This is the bread which Jehovah has given you to eat.

Exo 16:16  This is the thing which Jehovah has commanded: Each man gather of it according to his eating, an omer for a head, according to the number of your souls. Each one shall take for those who arein his camp.

Exo 16:17  And the sons of Israel did so, and gathered, some more, and some less.

Exo 16:18  And when they measured with an omer, he that gathered much had nothing over, and he that gathered little lacked nothing. They gathered each one according to his eating.

Exo 16:19  And Moses said, Let no man leave of it until the morning.

Exo 16:20  But they did not listen to Moses, but some of them left of it until the morning. And it became rotten with maggots, and stank. And Moses was angry with them.

Exo 16:21  And they gathered it every morning, each man according to his eating. And when the sun became hot, it melted.

Exo 16:22  And it happened, on the sixth day they gathered twice as much bread, two omers for one. And all the rulers of the congregation came and told Moses.

Exo 16:23  And he said to them, This is that which Jehovah has said, Tomorrow is the rest of the holy sabbath to Jehovah. Bake what you will bake today, and boil what you will boil. And that which remains over, lay up for you to be kept until the morning.

Exo 16:24  And they laid it up until the morning, as Moses said. And it did not stink, neither was there any worm in it.

Exo 16:25  And Moses said, Eat that today. For today isa sabbath to Jehovah. Today you shall not find it in the field.

Exo 16:26  Six days you shall gather it, but on the seventh day, the sabbath, in it there shall be none.

Exo 16:27  And it happened some of the people went out on the seventh day in order to gather. And they did not find any.

Exo 16:28  And Jehovah said to Moses, How long do you refuse to keep My commandments and My Laws?

Exo 16:29  See, because Jehovah has given you the sabbath, therefore He gives you the bread of two days on the sixth day. Each one stay in his place. Let not any one go out of his place on the seventh day.

Exo 16:30  So the people rested on the seventh day.

Exo 16:31  And the house of Israel called the name of it Manna. And it was like coriander seed, white. And the taste of it was like wafers with honey.

Exo 16:32  And Moses said, This is the thing which Jehovah has commanded: Fill an omer of it to be kept for your generations, so that you may see the bread with which I have fed you in the wilderness, when I brought you forth from the land of Egypt.

Exo 16:33  And Moses said to Aaron, Take a pot and put an omer full of manna in it, and lay it up before Jehovah, to be kept for your generations.

Exo 16:34  As Jehovah commanded Moses, so Aaron laid it up before the Testimony, to be kept.

Exo 16:35  And the sons of Israel ate manna forty years, until they came to a land in which people lived. They ate manna until they came into the borders of the land of Canaan.

Exo 16:36  And an omer is the tenth part of an ephah.

We do not have any other dates to go by so here are all the other places Israel camped until they got to Sinai.

Num 33:12  And they pulled up stakes from of the wilderness of Sin and pitched in Dophkah.

Num 33:13  And they pulled up stakes from Dophkah and pitched in Alush.

Num 33:14  And they pulled up stakes from Alush and pitched at Rephidim, where there was no water for the people to drink.

Num 33:15  And they pulled up stakes from Rephidim and pitched in the wilderness of Sinai.

Once we come to Mount Sinai then we are given our next date by which we can reckon the timing of these vents.

Exo 19:1  In the third month when the sons of Israel had gone forth out of the land of Egypt, on this day they came to the wilderness of Sinai.

Exo 19:2  And they journeyed from Rephidim, and came to the desert of Sinai, and had pitched in the wilderness. And Israel camped there in front of the mount.

1379 BC 3rd Month

The Invitation to meet. Moses first trip up Mount Sinai, Jabal AL Magla. And Moses is told to get the people ready for He was coming in three days time. We are not told if Moses went up on the 1st or the 2nd day of third month. So you are left to guess if you want.

Exo 19:1  In the third month when the sons of Israel had gone forth out of the land of Egypt, on this day they came to the wilderness of Sinai.

Exo 19:2  And they journeyed from Rephidim, and came to the desert of Sinai, and had pitched in the wilderness. And Israel camped there in front of the mount.

Exo 19:3  And Moses went up to God, and Jehovah called to him out of the mountain, saying, You shall say to the house of Jacob, and tell the sons of Israel:

Exo 19:4  You have seen what I did to the Egyptians, and I bore you on eagles’ wings and brought you to Myself.

Exo 19:5  And now if you will obey My voice indeed, and keep My covenant, then you shall be a peculiar treasure to Me above all the nations; for all the earth is Mine.

Exo 19:6  And you shall be to Me a kingdom of priests and a holy nation. These are the words which you shall speak to the sons of Israel.

Exo 19:7  And Moses came and called for the elders of the people, and laid before their faces all these words which Jehovah commanded him.

Exo 19:8  And all the people answered together and said, All that Jehovah has spoken we will do. And Moses returned the words of the people to Jehovah.

Exo 19:9  And Jehovah said to Moses, Lo, I come to you in a thick cloud, that the people may hear when I speak with you, and believe you forever. And Moses told the words of the people to Jehovah.

Exo 19:10  And Jehovah said to Moses, Go to the people and sanctify them today and tomorrow, and let them wash their clothes.

Exo 19:11  And be ready for the third day. For the third day Jehovah will come down in the sight of all the people upon Mount Sinai.

Exo 19:12  And you shall set bounds to the people round about, saying, Take heed to yourselves. Do not go up into the mountain, or touch the border of it. Whoever touches the mountain shall be surely put to death.

Exo 19:13  There shall not be a hand to touch it, but that he shall surely be stoned or shot through; whether beast or man, it shall not live. When the trumpet sounds long, they shall come up to the mountain.

Exo 19:14  And Moses went down from the mountain to the people, and sanctified the people. And they washed their clothes.

Exo 19:15  And he said to the people, Be ready for the third day. Do not approach a woman.

Yehovah comes after the 3rd day and Moses goes up the Mountain for the 2nd time. This is the 49th Day of counting the Omer and it is the Sabbath.

Exo 19:16  And it happened on the third day in the morning, that there were thunders and lightnings, and a thick cloud upon the mountain. And the voice of the trumpet was exceedingly loud, so that all the people in the camp trembled.

Exo 19:17  And Moses brought the people out of the camp to meet with God. And they stood at the lower part of the mountain.

Exo 19:18  And Mount Sinai was smoking, all of it, because Jehovah came down upon it in fire. And the smoke of it went up like the smoke of a furnace, and the whole mountain quaked greatly.

Exo 19:19  And when the voice of the trumpet sounded long, and became very strong, Moses spoke, and God answered him by a voice.

Exo 19:20  And Jehovah came down upon Mount Sinai, on the top of the mountain. And Jehovah called Moses to the top of the mountain, and Moses went up.

This is the Sabbath and 80 year old Moses is now making this very difficult climb up the Mountain to meet Yehovah for the second not counting the burning bush as the first one. But before anything takes place Moses is told to go back down and stop the people from touching the mountain.

Exo 19:20  And Jehovah came down upon Mount Sinai, on the top of the mountain. And Jehovah called Moses to the top of the mountain, and Moses went up.

Exo 19:21  And Jehovah said to Moses, Go down. Command the people, lest they break through to Jehovah to gaze, and many of them perish.

Exo 19:22  And let the priests also, who come near to Jehovah, sanctify themselves, lest Jehovah break forth upon them.

Exo 19:23  And Moses said to Jehovah, The people cannot come up to Mount Sinai. For You commanded us, saying, Set bounds around the mountain, and sanctify it.

Exo 19:24  And Jehovah said to him, Away! You go down, and you shall come up, you and Aaron with you. But do not let the priests and the people break through to come up to Jehovah, lest He break forth upon them.

Exo 19:25  And Moses went down to the people, and spoke to them.

Now we are going to read the Ketubah. The offering that Yehovah is going to give to the Children of Israel. He is making a proposal of Marriage to them. And they are going to accept.

Exo 20:1  And God spoke all these words, saying,

Exo 20:2  I am Jehovah your God, who has brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of bondage.

Exo 20:3  You shall have no other gods before Me.

Exo 20:4  You shall not make to yourselves any graven image, or any likeness of anything that is in the heavens above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth.

Exo 20:5  You shall not bow yourself down to them, nor serve them. For I Jehovah your God am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the sons to the third and fourth generation of those that hate me,

Exo 20:6  and showing mercy to thousands of those that love Me and keep My commandments.

Exo 20:7  You shall not take the name of Jehovah your God in vain. For Jehovah will not hold him guiltless that takes His name in vain.

Exo 20:8  Remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy.

Exo 20:9  Six days you shall labor and do all your work.

Exo 20:10  But the seventh day is the Sabbath of Jehovah your God. You shall not do any work, you, nor your son, nor your daughter, your manservant, nor your maidservant, nor your cattle, nor your stranger within your gates.

Exo 20:11  For in six days Jehovah made the heavens and the earth, the sea, and all that is in them, and rested the seventh day. Therefore Jehovah blessed the Sabbath day, and sanctified it.

Exo 20:12  Honor your father and your mother, so that your days may be long upon the land which Jehovah your God gives you.

Exo 20:13  You shall not kill.

Exo 20:14  You shall not commit adultery.

Exo 20:15  You shall not steal.

Exo 20:16  You shall not bear false witness against your neighbor.

Exo 20:17  You shall not covet your neighbor’s house. You shall not covet your neighbor’s wife, nor his manservant, nor his maidservant, nor his ox, nor his ass, nor anything that is your neighbor’s.

Exo 20:18  And all the people saw the thunderings, and the lightnings, and the noise of the trumpet, and the mountain smoking. And when the people saw, they trembled, and stood afar off.

Exo 20:19  And they said to Moses, You speak with us, and we will hear. But let not God speak with us, lest we die.

Exo 20:20  And Moses said to the people, Do not fear, for God has come to test you, and so that His fear may be before your faces, so that you may not sin.

Exo 20:21  And the people stood afar off, and Moses drew near to the thick darkness where God was.

Now those were the general outlines to the ketubah. Next Yehovah lays out the details of this contract for them to know and understand everything. We are going to read these over annually to make sure we keep them fresh in our minds.

Laws About Altars

Exo 20:22  And Jehovah said to Moses, So you shall say to the sons of Israel, You have seen that I have talked with you from the heavens.

Exo 20:23  You shall not make with Me gods of silver, neither shall you make to you gods of gold.

Exo 20:24  You shall make an altar of earth to Me, and shall sacrifice on it your burnt offerings and your peace offerings, your sheep and your oxen. In all places where I record My name I will come to you, and I will bless you.

Exo 20:25  And if you will make Me an altar of stone, you shall not build it of cut stone. For if you lift up your tool upon it, you have defiled it.

Exo 20:26  And you shall not go up by steps to My altar, that your nakedness be not uncovered on it.

Laws About Slaves

Exo 21:1  And these are the judgments which you shall set before them.

Exo 21:2  If you buy a Hebrew servant, he shall serve six years. And in the seventh he shall go out free for nothing.

Exo 21:3  If he came in by himself, he shall go out by himself. If he was married, then his wife shall go out with him.

Exo 21:4  If his master has given him a wife, and she has borne him sons or daughters, the wife and her children shall be her master’s, and he shall go out by himself.

Exo 21:5  And if the servant shall plainly say, I love my master, my wife, and my sons. I do not want to go out free

Exo 21:6  his master shall bring him to the judges. He shall also bring him to the door or to the door-post. And his master shall bore his ear through with an awl, and he shall serve him forever.

Exo 21:7  And if a man sells his daughter to be a maidservant, she shall not go out as the menservants do.

Exo 21:8  If she does not please her master, who has betrothed her to himself, then he shall let her be redeemed. He shall have no power to sell her to a strange nation, since he has dealt deceitfully with her.

Exo 21:9  And if he has betrothed her to his son, he shall deal with her as with daughters.

Exo 21:10  If he takes himself another wife, her food, her clothing, and her duty of marriage shall not be lessened.

Exo 21:11  And if he does not do these three to her, then she shall go out free without money.

Exo 21:12  He that strikes a man, so that he dies, shall be surely put to death.

Exo 21:13  And if a man does not lie in wait, but God delivers him into his hand, then I will appoint you a place where he shall flee.

Exo 21:14  But if a man comes presumptuously upon his neighbor to slay him with guile, you shall take him from My altar, so that he may die.

Exo 21:15  And he that strikes his father or his mother shall surely be put to death.

Exo 21:16  And he that steals a man and sells him, or if he is found in his hand, he shall surely be put to death.

Exo 21:17  And he that curses his father or his mother shall surely be put to death.

Exo 21:18  And if men strive together, and one strikes another with a stone, or with his fist, and he does not die, but keeps his bed;

Exo 21:19  if he rises again and walks abroad upon his staff, then he that struck him shall be set free. Only he shall pay for the loss of his time, and shall cause him to be completely healed.

Exo 21:20  And if a man strikes his servant, or his maidservant, with a rod, and he dies under his hand, he shall surely be punished.

Exo 21:21  But if he continues a day or two, he shall not be punished. For he is his money.

Exo 21:22  If men strive and strike a pregnant woman, so that her child comes out, and there is no injury, he shall surely be punished, according as the woman’s husband will lay upon him. And he shall pay as the judges say

Exo 21:23  And if any injury occurs, then you shall give life for life,

Exo 21:24  eye for eye, tooth for tooth, hand for hand, foot for foot,

Exo 21:25  burning for burning, wound for wound, stripe for stripe.

Exo 21:26  And if a man strike the eye of his servant, or the eye of his maid, so that it perishes, he shall let him go free on account of his eye.

Exo 21:27  And if he strikes out his manservant’s tooth, or his maidservant’s tooth, he shall let him go free on account of his tooth.

Exo 21:28  If an ox gores a man or woman so that they die, then the ox shall surely be stoned, and his flesh shall not be eaten. But the owner of the ox shall beset free.

Exo 21:29  But if the ox was apt to gore in time past, and his owner has been told, and he has not kept him in, but that he has killed a man or a woman, the ox shall be stoned, and his owner also shall be put to death.

Exo 21:30  If there is laid on him a sum of money, then he shall give for the ransom of his life whatever is laid upon him.

Exo 21:31  Whether he has gored a son, or has gored a daughter, according to this judgment it shall be done to him.

Exo 21:32  If the ox shall gore a manservant or a maidservant, he shall give to their master thirty shekels of silver, and the ox shall be stoned.

Laws About Restitution

Exo 21:33  And if a man shall open a pit, or if a man shall dig a pit, and not cover it, and an ox or an ass falls in it,

Exo 21:34  the owner of the pit shall make it good and give silver to its owner. And the dead shall be his.

Exo 21:35  And in the event the ox of a man damages the ox of a neighbor, so that it dies, then they shall sell the living ox, and they shall divide the money of it. And they shall also divide the dead ox.

Exo 21:36  Or if it is known that the ox has been apt to gore in time past, and his owner has not kept him in, he shall surely pay ox for ox. And the dead shall be his own.

Exo 22:1  If a man shall steal an ox, or a sheep, and kill it or sell it, he shall restore five oxen for an ox, and four sheep for a sheep.

Exo 22:2  If a thief is found breaking in, and is struck so that he dies, no blood shall be shed for him.

Exo 22:3  If the sun is risen upon him, blood is due for him. He should repay in full. If he has nothing, then he shall be sold for his theft.

Exo 22:4  If the theft is certainly found in his hand alive, whether it is an ox, or an ass, or a sheep, he shall restore double.

Exo 22:5  If a man causes a field or vineyard to be eaten, and shall put in his animal, and shall feed in another man’s field; he shall repay from the best of his own field, and the best of his own vineyard.

Exo 22:6  If fire breaks out and catches in thorns, so that the stacks of grain, or the standing grain, or the field, is burned up, he who kindled the fire shall surely repay in full.

Exo 22:7  If a man shall deliver to his neighbor silver or stuff to keep, and it is stolen out of the man’s house; if the thief is found, let him pay double.

Exo 22:8  If the thief is not found, then the master of the house shall be brought to the judges, whether he has put his hand to his neighbor’s goods.

Exo 22:9  For every case of trespass, for ox, for ass, for sheep, for clothing, for any kind of lost thing, which another claims to be his, the cause of both parties shall come before the judges. Whom the judges shall condemn, he shall pay double to his neighbor.

Exo 22:10  If a man delivers to his neighbor an ass, or an ox, or a sheep, or any animal to keep, and it dies, or is hurt, or driven away, no one seeing,

Exo 22:11  an oath of Jehovah shall be between them both, that he has not put his hand to his neighbor’s goods. And the owner of it shall accept it, and he shall not make it good.

Exo 22:12  And if it is stolen from him, he shall fully repay the owner of it.

Exo 22:13  If it is torn in pieces, let him bring it for witness, and he shall not make good that which was torn.

Exo 22:14  And if a man borrows from his neighbor, and it is hurt, or dies, and the owner of it not with it, he shall surely make it good.

Exo 22:15  If the owner of it is with it, he shall not make it good. If it is hired, it came for its hire.

Laws About Social Justice

Exo 22:16  And if a man lures a virgin who is not promised, and lies with her, he shall surely endow her to be his wife.

Exo 22:17  If her father utterly refuses to give her to him, he shall pay money according to the dowry of virgins.

Exo 22:18  You shall not allow a sorceress to live.

Exo 22:19  Anyone lying with an animal shall surely be put to death.

Exo 22:20  One sacrificing to a god, except it is to Jehovah only, he shall be utterly destroyed.

Exo 22:21  You shall neither vex a stranger nor oppress him, for you were strangers in the land of Egypt.

Exo 22:22  You shall not afflict any widow or fatherless child.

Exo 22:23  If you afflict them in any way, and they cry at all to Me, I will surely hear their cry.

Exo 22:24  And My wrath shall become hot, and I will kill you with the sword, and your wives shall be widows, and your sons fatherless.

Exo 22:25  If you lend money to one of My people who is poor beside you, you shall not be to him as a money-lender, neither shall you lay upon him interest.

Exo 22:26  If you at all take your neighbor’s clothing as a pledge, you shall deliver it to him by the time the sun goes down.

Exo 22:27  For that is his covering only, it is his clothing for his skin. In what shall he sleep? And it will be, when he cries to Me, I will hear, for I am gracious.

Exo 22:28  You shall not revile God, nor curse the ruler of your people.

Exo 22:29  You shall not delay giving the fullness of your crops and juices of your vintage. You shall give the first-born of your sons to Me.

Exo 22:30  Likewise you shall do with your oxen andwith your sheep; it shall be with its dam seven days. On the eighth day you shall give it to Me.

Exo 22:31  And you shall be holy men to Me. Neither shall you eat flesh torn by beasts in the field. You shall throw it to the dogs.

Exo 23:1  You shall not raise a false report. Do not put your hand with the wicked to be an unrighteous witness.

Exo 23:2  You shall not follow a multitude to do evil. Neither shall you speak in a cause in order to follow many in order to wrest judgment.

Exo 23:3  And you should not favor a poor man in his cause.

Exo 23:4  If you meet your enemy’s ox or his ass going astray, you shall surely bring it back to him again.

Exo 23:5  If you see the ass of him who hates you lying under his burden, and would hold back from helping him, you shall surely help him.

Exo 23:6  You shall not pervert the judgment of your poor in his cause.

Exo 23:7  Keep far from a false matter, and do not kill the innocent and righteous. For I will not justify the wicked.

Exo 23:8  And you shall take no bribe, for the bribe blinds the wise and perverts the words of the righteous.

Exo 23:9  Also you shall not oppress a stranger. For you know the heart of a stranger, since you were strangers in the land of Egypt.

Laws About the Sabbath and Festivals

Exo 23:10  And you shall sow your land six years, and shall gather in the fruits of it.

Exo 23:11  But the seventh year you shall let it rest and let it alone, so that the poor of your people may eat. And what they leave, the animals of the field shall eat. In the same way you shall deal with your vineyard and with your oliveyard.

Exo 23:12  You shall do your work six days, and on the seventh day you shall rest, so that your ox and your ass may rest, and the son of your handmaid, and the stranger, may be refreshed.

Exo 23:13  And be watchful in all that I have said to you. And make no mention of the name of other gods, neither let it be heard out of your mouth.

Exo 23:14  You shall keep a feast to Me three times in the year.

Exo 23:15  You shall keep the Feast of Unleavened Bread. You shall eat unleavened bread seven days, as I commanded you, in the time appointed of the month Abib, for in it you came out of Egypt. And no one shall appear before Me empty.

Exo 23:16  Also the Feast of Harvest, the first-fruits of your labors, which you have sown in the field. Also the Feast of Ingathering, in the end of the year, when you have gathered in your labors out of the field.

Exo 23:17  Three times in the year all your males shall appear before the Lord God.

Exo 23:18  You shall not offer the blood of My sacrifice with leaven, neither shall the fat of My sacrifice remain until the morning.

Exo 23:19  The first of the firstfruits of your land you shall bring into the house of Jehovah your God. You shall not boil a kid in its mother’s milk.

Conquest of Canaan Promised

Exo 23:20  Behold, I send an Angel before you, to keep you in the way, and to bring you to the place which I have prepared.

Exo 23:21  Be on guard before Him, and obey His voice. Do not provoke Him, for He will not pardon your transgressions. For My name is in Him.

Exo 23:22  But if you shall indeed obey His voice, and do all that I speak, then I will be an enemy to your enemies, and a foe to your foes.

Exo 23:23  For My Angel shall go before you and bring you in to the Amorites, and the Hittites, and the Perizzites, and the Canaanites, and the Hivites, and the Jebusites. And I will cut them off.

Exo 23:24  You shall not bow down to their gods, nor serve them. And you shall not do according to their works. But you shall surely pull them down, and surely you shall smash their images.

Exo 23:25  And you shall serve Jehovah your God, and He shall bless your bread and your water. And I will take sickness away from the midst of you.

Exo 23:26  Nothing shall cast their young, nor be barren in your land. The number of your days I will fulfill.

Exo 23:27  I will send My fear before you, and will destroy all the people to whom you shall come. And I will make all your enemies turn their backs to you.

Exo 23:28  And I will send hornets before you, which shall drive out the Hivite, the Canaanite, and the Hittite before you.

Exo 23:29  I will not drive them out from before you in one year, lest the land become a waste, and the beast of the field multiply against you.

Exo 23:30  By little and little I will drive them out from before you, until you have increased, and inherit the land.

Exo 23:31  And I will stretch your bounds from the Red Sea even to the Sea of the Philistines, and from the desert to the river. For I will deliver the inhabitants of the land into your hand, and you shall drive them out before you.

Exo 23:32  You shall make no covenant with them or with their gods.

Exo 23:33  They shall not dwell in your land lest they make you sin against Me. For if you serve their gods, it surely will be a snare to you.

After relaying all of this to the people of Israel, they, with one voice agree to do all that the Ketubah required of them. They said “Yes” to the marriage contract.

Exo 24:1  And He said to Moses, Come up to Jehovah, you and Aaron, Nadab, and Abihu, and seventy of the elders of Israel. And bow yourselves afar off.

Exo 24:2  And Moses alone shall come near Jehovah, but they shall not come near. Neither shall the people go up with him.

Exo 24:3  And Moses came and told the people all the Words of Jehovah, and all the judgments. And all the people answered with one voice and said, All the words which Jehovah has said, we will do.

This all took place on the Sabbath. Now after this, Moses does the following on the 50th Day. On the Day of Shavuot he builds this Altar and everything he spoke to the people about on Shabbat he has now written down into a book.

To make sure he has copied it correctly into the book he reads it again to the people and they again  agreed to what is written in the book.

Exo 24:4  And Moses wrote all the Words of Jehovah, and rose up early in the morning, and built an altar below the mountain and twelve pillars according to the twelve tribes of Israel.

Exo 24:5  And he sent young men of the sons of Israel who offered burnt offerings, and sacrificed peace offerings of bulls to Jehovah.

Exo 24:6  And Moses took half of the blood, and put it in basins, and half of the blood he sprinkled on the altar.

Exo 24:7  And he took the book of the covenant, and read in the ears of the people. And they said, All that Jehovah has said we will do, and be obedient.

Exo 24:8  And Moses took the blood and sprinkled it on the people, and said, Behold the blood of the covenant, which Jehovah has made with you concerning all these words.

Early on Shavuot, the 50th Day Moses built this altar and sacrificed peace offerings to Yehovah. By sprinkling the blood on the book and on the people this now becomes a binding blood covenant which gives the right for either party to kill the other one if they break this covenant.

But there in one more part to this marriage betrothal that must be done. It is the banquette and meal that they are now about to eat with Yehovah. This all took place on the day of Shavuot.

Exo 24:9  And Moses went up, and Aaron, Nadab, and Abihu, and seventy of the elders of Israel.

Exo 24:10  And they saw the God of Israel. And there was under His feet as it were a paved work of a sapphire stone, and as the essence of the heavens for clearness.

Exo 24:11  And upon the nobles of the sons of Israel He did not lay his hands. Also they saw God, and ate and drank.

Looking again at the calendar and knowing that this is taking place on the 1st day of the week, Shavuot, now read what happens. Yehovah dwells with them for 6 days on the Mountain. Then on the 7th Day the Sabbath after Shavuot Moses went up to the top and met with Yehovah.

Exo 24:12  And Jehovah said to Moses, Come up to Me in the mountain, and be there. And I will give you tablets of stone, and the Law, and commandments which I have written, so that you may teach them.

Exo 24:13  And Moses rose up, and his attendant Joshua. And Moses went up into the mountain of God.

Exo 24:14  And he said to the elders, You stay here for us until we come again to you. And behold, Aaron and Hur are with you. If any man has any matters to do, let him come to them.

Exo 24:15  And Moses went up into the mountain, and a cloud covered the mountain.

Exo 24:16  And the glory of Jehovah abode upon Mount Sinai, and the cloud covered it six days. And the seventh day He called to Moses out of the midst of the cloud.

Exo 24:17  And the sight of the glory of Jehovah waslike devouring fire on the top of the mountain in the eyes of the sons of Israel.

Exo 24:18  And Moses went into the midst of the cloud, and went up into the mountain. And Moses was in the mountain forty days and forty nights.

This Picture Randy Cates took of me, is showing the Cleft in the Rock to the left hand side and below it is a green plateau. The picture is deceiving as this plateau was very large and is quite far from us. On the right hand side of my should is green patch and to the right of it is the Golden Calf Altar.

This would have been the plateau where the 70 elders ate with Yehovah on Mount Sinai.

And this would have been thier view from the plateau looking up to where Yehovah was on top of Mount Sinai.


Another Love Story

Naomi Widowed

Rth 1:1  And it happened in the days when the judges ruled, there was a famine in the land. And a certain man of Bethlehem-judah went to live in the country of Moab, he and his wife and his two sons.

Rth 1:2  And the name of the man was Elimelech, and the name of his wife Naomi, and the name of his two sons Mahlon and Chilion, Ephrathites of Bethlehem-judah. And they came to the fields of Moab and stayed there.

Rth 1:3  And Elimelech, Naomi’s husband, died. And she was left, and her two sons.

Rth 1:4  And they took wives for themselves from the women of Moab. The name of the one was Orpah, and the name of the other Ruth. And they lived there about ten years.

Rth 1:5  And Mahlon and Chilion also died, both of them. And the woman was left without her two sons and her husband.

Ruth’s Loyalty to Naomi

Rth 1:6  Then she arose with her daughters-in-law so that she might return from the fields of Moab. For she had heard in the fields of Moab how Jehovah had visited His people in giving them bread.

Rth 1:7  And she went out of the place where she was, and her two daughters-in-law with her, and they went on the way to return to the land of Judah.

Rth 1:8  And Naomi said to her two daughters-in-law, Go, return each one to her mother’s house. May Jehovah deal kindly with you, as you have dealt with the dead and with me.

Rth 1:9  May Jehovah grant you that you may find rest, each in the house of her husband. Then she kissed them, and they lifted up their voice and wept.

Rth 1:10  And they said to her, Surely we will return with you to your people.

Rth 1:11  And Naomi said, Turn again, my daughters. Why will you go with me? Are there yet sons in my womb, that they may be your husbands?

Rth 1:12  Turn again, my daughters, go. For I am too old to have a husband. If I should say, I have hope, if I should have a husband also tonight, and should also bear sons,

Rth 1:13  would you wait for them until they were grown? Will you shut yourselves up, not to have a husband? No, my daughters, for it makes me very sad for your sakes that the hand of Jehovah has gone out against me.

Rth 1:14  And they lifted up their voice and wept again. And Orpah kissed her mother-in-law. But Ruth clung to her.

Rth 1:15  And she said, Behold, Your sister-in-law has gone back to her people and to her gods. Return after your sister-in-law.

Rth 1:16  And Ruth said, Do not beg me to leave you, to return from following after you. For where you go, I will go. Where you stay, I will stay. Your people shall be my people, and your God my God.

Rth 1:17  Where you die, I will die, and there I will be buried. May Jehovah do so to me, and more also, if anything but death parts you and me.

Rth 1:18  When she saw that she was determined to go with her, then she quit speaking to her.

Naomi and Ruth Return

Rth 1:19  And both of them went until they came to Bethlehem. And it happened when they had come to Bethlehem, all the city was moved about them, and they said, Is this Naomi?

Rth 1:20  And she said to them, Do not call me Naomi, call me Mara. For the Almighty has dealt very bitterly with me.

Rth 1:21  I went out full, and Jehovah has brought me back empty. Why do you call me Naomi, since Jehovah has testified against me, and the Almighty has afflicted me?

Rth 1:22  And Naomi returned; and Ruth, who was of Moab, her daughter-in-law, was with her, returning out of the fields of Moab. And they came to Bethlehem in the beginning of barley harvest.

Ruth Meets Boaz

Rth 2:1  And Naomi had a kinsman of her husband’s, a mighty man of wealth, of the family of Elimelech. And his name was Boaz.

Rth 2:2  And Ruth of Moab said to Naomi, Let me now go to the field and glean ears of grain after him in whose sight I shall find grace. And she said to her, Go, my daughter.

Rth 2:3  And she went. And she came and gleaned in the field after the reapers. And she happened to come upon a part of the field of Boaz, who was of the kindred of Elimelech.

Rth 2:4  And behold, Boaz came from Bethlehem and said to the reapers, Jehovah be with you. And they answered him, Jehovah bless you.

Rth 2:5  And Boaz said to his servant who was set over the reapers, Whose girl is this?

Rth 2:6  And the servant who was set over the reapers answered and said, It is the girl from Moab who came back with Naomi out of the country of Moab.

Rth 2:7  And she said, Please let me glean and gather after the reapers among the sheaves. And she came, and has kept on from the morning until now, but that she stayed a little in the house.

Rth 2:8  And Boaz said to Ruth, Do you not hear, my daughter? Do not go to glean in another field, neither go away from here, but stay here close by my maidens.

Rth 2:9  Let your eyes be on the field that they reap, and go after them. Have I not commanded the young men that they shall not touch you? And when you are thirsty, go to the vessels and drink of that which the young men have drawn.

Rth 2:10  Then she fell on her face and bowed herself to the ground, and said to him, Why have I found grace in your eyes, that you should take notice of me, since I am a foreigner?

Rth 2:11  And Boaz answered and said to her, It has been fully shown to me all that you have done to your mother-in-law since the death of your husband, And you left your father and your mother and the land of your birth, and have come to a people whom you did not know before now.

Rth 2:12  May Jehovah repay your work, and may a full reward be given you from Jehovah, the God of Israel, under whose wings you have come to trust.

Rth 2:13  Then she said, Let me find favor in your sight, my lord, for you have comforted me; for you have spoken kindly to your handmaid, though I am not like one of your handmaidens.

Rth 2:14  And Boaz said to her, At mealtime come here and eat of the bread and dip your bit in the vinegar. And she sat beside the reapers. And he handed her roasted grain, and she ate and was satisfied, and left.

Rth 2:15  And when she had risen up to glean, Boaz commanded his young men saying, Let her glean even among the sheaves, and do not rebuke her.

Rth 2:16  And also let fall of the handfuls on purpose for her, and leave them so that she may glean them, and do not rebuke her.

Rth 2:17  And she gleaned in the field until the evening, and beat out what she had gleaned. And it was about an ephah of barley.

Rth 2:18  And she took it up and went into the city. And her mother-in-law saw what she had gleaned. And she brought it forth, and gave to her what she had kept after she was satisfied.

Rth 2:19  And her mother-in-law said to her, Where have you gleaned today? And where did you work? Blessed is he who took notice of you. And she told her mother-in-law with whom she had worked, and said, The man’s name with whom I worked today is Boaz.

Rth 2:20  And Naomi said to her daughter-in-law, Blessed is he of Jehovah, who has not left off his kindness to the living and to the dead. And Naomi said to her, The man is near of kin to us, he is of our redeemers.

Rth 2:21  And Ruth of Moab said, He said to me also, You shall keep close by my young men whom I have until they have ended all my harvest.

Rth 2:22  And Naomi said to her daughter-in-law Ruth, Good, my daughter. You go out with his maidens so that they do not fall upon you in any other field.

Rth 2:23  And she kept close by the maidens of Boaz to glean until the end of barley harvest and of wheat harvest. And she lived with her mother-in-law.

Ruth and Boaz at the Threshing Floor

Rth 3:1  And her mother-in-law Naomi said to her, My daughter, shall I not seek rest for you so that it may be well with you?

Rth 3:2  And now, is not Boaz of our kindred, he with whose maidens you were? Behold, he winnows barley tonight in the threshing-floor.

Rth 3:3  Therefore wash yourself, and anoint yourself, and put your clothing upon you, and go down to the floor. Do not make yourself known to the man until he has finished eating and drinking.

Rth 3:4  And when he lies down, you mark the place where he lies, and you shall go in and uncover his feet and lie down. And he will tell you what you shall do.

Rth 3:5  And she said to her, All that you say, I will do.

Rth 3:6  And she went down to the grain floor and did according to all that her mother-in-law had told her.

Rth 3:7  And when Boaz had eaten and had drunk, and his heart was merry, he went to lie down at the end of the heap. And she came softly and uncovered his feet, and lay down.

Rth 3:8  And it happened at midnight, the man trembled and turned himself. And, behold, a woman lay at his feet.

Rth 3:9  And he said, Who are you? And she answered, I am your handmaid Ruth. And you shall spread your skirt over your handmaid, for you are a kinsman-redeemer.

Rth 3:10  And he said, Blessed be you of Jehovah, my daughter. You have shown more kindness in the latter end than at the beginning, in that you did not follow young men, whether poor or rich.

Rth 3:11  And now, my daughter, do not fear. I will do to you all that you ask. For all the city of my people knows that you are a woman of virtue.

Rth 3:12  And now it is true that I am your kinsman-redeemer. But there is also a kinsman nearer than I.

Rth 3:13  Stay tonight, and it shall be in the morning, if he will redeem you, well; he will redeem. And if he does not delight to redeem you, as Jehovah lives, then I will redeem you. Lie down until the morning.

Rth 3:14  And she lay at his feet until the morning. And she rose up before one could know another. And he said, Do not let it be known that a woman came to the floor.

Rth 3:15  Also, he said, Bring the veil on you, and hold it. And when she held it, he measured six measures of barley and laid it on her. And she went to the city.

Rth 3:16  And when she came to her mother-in-law, she said, Who are you, my daughter? And she told her all that the man had done to her.

Rth 3:17  And she said, These six measures of barley he gave to me. For he said to me, Do not go empty to your mother-in-law.

Rth 3:18  And she said, Sit still, my daughter, until you know how the matter will fall. For the man will not rest until he has finished the thing today.

Boaz Redeems Ruth

Rth 4:1  And Boaz went up to the gate and sat down there. And behold, the kinsman of whom Boaz spoke came by. And he said, Such a one! Turn aside, sit down here. And he turned aside and sat down.

Rth 4:2  And he took ten men of the elders of the city and said, Come sit down here. And they sat down.

Rth 4:3  And he said to the kinsman, Naomi, who has come again out of the country of Moab, sells a parcel of land which was our brother Elimelech’s.

Rth 4:4  And I said I will tell it in your ear, saying, Buy itbefore those who live here, and before the elders of my people. If you will redeem, redeem it. But if you will not redeem, tell me so that I may know. For there is none to redeem besides you. And I am after you. And he said, I will redeem.

Rth 4:5  And Boaz said, In the day you buy the field from the hand of Naomi, you must buy also from the hand of Ruth of Moab, the wife of the dead, to raise up the name of the dead upon his inheritance.

Rth 4:6  And the kinsman said, I cannot redeem for myself, lest I mar my own inheritance. You redeem my right to yourself, for I cannot redeem.

Rth 4:7  And this was the custom in former times in Israel concerning redeeming and concerning changing, to confirm everything. A man plucked off his sandal and gave it to his neighbor. And this was a testimony in Israel.

Rth 4:8  Therefore the kinsman said to Boaz, Buy it for yourself. So he drew off his sandal.

Rth 4:9  And Boaz said to the elders and all the people, You are witnesses this day that I have bought all that was Elimelech’s and all that was Chilion’s and Mahlon’s, from the hand of Naomi.

Rth 4:10  And also Ruth of Moab, the wife of Mahlon, I have purchased to be my wife, to raise up the name of the dead on his inheritance, so that the name of the dead may not be cut off from among his brothers and from the gate of his place. You are witnesses this day.

Rth 4:11  And all the people in the gate, and the elders, said, We are witnesses. May Jehovah make the woman who has come into your house like Rachel and like Leah, for these two built the house of Israel. And may you be blessed in Ephratah, and be famous in Bethlehem.

Rth 4:12  And let your house be like the house of Pharez, whom Tamar bore to Judah, of the seed which Jehovah shall give you of this young woman.

Ruth and Boaz Marry

Rth 4:13  And Boaz took Ruth, and she was his wife. And when he went in to her, Jehovah made her conceive. And she bore a son.

Rth 4:14  And the women said to Naomi, Blessed beJehovah, who has not left you this day without a redeemer, so that his name may be famous in Israel.

Rth 4:15  And he shall be to you as a restorer of life, and one who cheers your old age. For your daughter-in-law who loves you has borne him, she who is better to you than seven sons.

Rth 4:16  And Naomi took the child and laid it in her bosom, and became nurse to it.

Rth 4:17  And the women, her neighbors, gave it a name, saying, There is a son born to Naomi. And they called his name Obed. He is the father of Jesse, the father of David.

The Genealogy of David

Rth 4:18  And these are the generations of Pharez. Pharez fathered Hezron,

Rth 4:19  and Hezron fathered Ram, and Ram fathered Amminadab,

Rth 4:20  and Amminadab fathered Nahshon, and Nahshon fathered Salmon,

Rth 4:21  and Salmon fathered Boaz, and Boaz fathered Obed,

Rth 4:22  and Obed fathered Jesse, and Jesse fathered David.


 

0 Comments

Submit a Comment

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.