News Letter 5846-028
10th day of the 6th month 5846 years after creation
The 6th Month in of the first year of the third Sabbatical Year
The Third Sabbatical Year of the 119th Jubilee Cycle

August 21, 2010

Shabbat Shalom Family,

This web site was started to teach about the Sabbatical and Jubilee years and has continued to show you the curses for not doing so. We can see them all the time in the news each night, as we do this week.

What I have not been able to tell you about is the blessings from those who have kept the Sabbatical year. A number of people did not plant last year and we stored up food and we did not harvest. So did it make a difference?

Here are some of the things I have noticed this year which is the 1st year of this third Sabbatical cycle.

My Potato Plants are large and potato bug free. I do not and have not used any chemical to control the bugs in my large garden 30’X 90’. But I have for the past 15 years always lost the fight against the potato bug. This year I have not one egg and not one plant eaten by any potato bugs.

Two years ago I planted four varieties of Grape vines. I also built a trellis for them with 1/4 inch wire running between ten foot tall cedar posts. This year I cut them back hard not being able to prune them last year. The grapes are so heavy that they are pulling the wire to the ground and pulling the post in. Some would say I built it wrong. I would disagree having built many fences and trellises that have never moved an inch in 20 years. I just have so many grapes that it is even amazing my wife.

My raspberry bushes have grown up past 8 feet high now. The berries were nonstop since early June. The berries were as big as your thumb and some of them were like Siamese twins or double berries. The Black berries are even higher and bigger.

I also planted 5 tomato plants of differing types. Every year I have planted them they are attacked by large caterpillars and they never grow over three feet. This morning I went out to see the garden and the weight of the tomato plants has destroyed the trellis I had made. They too are just loaded with tomatoes and they too are now up to eight feet tall. The cherry tomatoes are the size of small peaches. And the beef tomatoes are still getting bigger.

But the one thing that I am most pleased about is this. Every summer I have spent endless hours pulling weeds out of the garden only to have more come back in a few weeks time. I have weeded it once or twice at the most for a couple of hours this year and I still have no weeds.

Now I have also noticed that those bushes that my wife trimmed last year against my will are now dying or are in stress. Also in August every year we have had our lawn turn brown or die due to the lack of rain. This year we have not watered the grass once and it is still a beautiful green. While other places around the USA and the world and even around us here were being flooded, at our house we had nice rains that did no harm but only helped the plants and vegetables to grow.

Although I am constantly warning you of the curses that are coming to those who will not keep the Sabbath and Holy Days and Sabbatical years, I am most pleased to now report to you those blessings I am able to see having kept the Sabbatical year last year at the right time.

This past weekend my wife and I went to the Fergus Highland Games. Each year we have fall festivals all around us. The Alliston potato festival, The Shelburne Fiddleville and the Orangeville Fall Fair. Have any of you ever stopped and asked where these fall fair events came from? I have said this for years that it comes from the Israelites who kept the Feast of Tabernacles.

As I watched the hundreds of men in dresses, I mean kilts, I could see how this is a direct link back to Israel. The Israelites wore kilts and tartans and you can read more about them at http://britam.org/tartan2.html.

Yair Davidiy talks about the Bagpipes found in the bible. http://britam.org/Daniel/daniel3.html#Bagpipes

As I watched the men throw the hammer toss and the Caber toss and the Sheaf toss. I could not help but see the same manly men in the same kilts doing the same feats of strength two and three thousand years ago at the Feast of Tabernacles. And as we walked from booth to booth and looked at all the wares for sale, it occurred to me. If each one the tribes of Israel was to have a Scottish Fair or an Irish Fair or A Dutch fair all back in the Land of Israel today, it would show our lineage and history in a fall fair atmosphere during the Feast of Sukkot and we could teach in a good way the history of Israel and where all the tribes are now at today.

Just take a look at the flag for Scotland. I showed this to my wife. It is a red Lion standing up on a yellow background. The exact same lion standing up facing the same way only blue on a white background is the flag for Judah. You can learn more at http://www.britam.org/Questions/QuesScotland.html They both come from the same people as borne out by the banner they both fly over their respected nations.

I have asked for a list of Feast sites and I have received the following please feel free to contact them. Here again are some lists of places you could attend with people who are keeping these Feast Days using one or both calendars. Contact them and then join them.

http://7thday.web.officelive.com/fot2010_asia.aspx
http://beastwatchnews.com/sukkot_hub.htm
You can do a word search for Feast of Sukkot site 2010; or Feast of Tabernacles site 2010.

Our Feast site L’CHAIM EPHRAIM 2010 in Jerusalem is now 85% full. If this is where Yahovah is directing you to come for Sukkot then you do need to send an email or call Frank Mecklenburg at zionpath@yahoo.com 541-447-5723 and let him know you are coming.

Eliyah.com is waiting on the moon in Eminence, MO, also Yahweh’s Restoration Ministry is waiting in Indiana (www.yrm.org) I love your teachings and research. I’ve been doing the same type of study for many years since the WCG also. We now sponsor TriState Messianic Fellowship for scattered brethren in NE KY, SE OH,SW WV for feast days and monthly Sabbath meetings at this time. Ellis Wiley ellisw@windstream.net—-http://www.yaiy.org/feasts/2010fotplanner.html

www.feastgoer.org list most of the feast sites, regardless of the calendar issues. This site has some in France for those who are looking there.

From truth on the Web is this link as well http://welcome.to/GodsTabernacles
Enota Mountain Retreat Center, Hiawassee GA http://www.fot2010.org/amenities.html

There is something not right going on in Pakistan. Are you watching this unfold? What could be worse than floods that have displaced millions, killed thousands and destroyed huge swathes of farmland, a catastrophe the country will take years to recover from? The size of this catastrophe is greater than Katrina and Haiti.

The numbers are numbing: even before the floods, Pakistan seemed to be heading for economic collapse; after the floods, that appears to be all but a certainty.

The Government of Pakistan is not changing their carefree spending habits and is waiting for the western countries to come and bail her out. Trouble is the western countries have no money to help; not in disaster relief or financial aid. And none of them are running to help her at all. Compare this event to the Tsunami that hit Sri Lanka and India and Thailand; A world wide response of over 10 Million dollars; then for Haiti another world wide response of 5 Million dollars, Now for Pakistan there is barely anything said or done. Donations are over 200, 000 as of Tuesday August 17, 2010.

Even in Haiti the millions promised has not arrived. People still sleep in tents and have not been aided by those who said they would.

“What we see when we drive around Port-au-Prince is that the situation is pretty much as it was after the earthquake,” Hans van Dillen, a head of mission with MSF said at a July 8 media briefing from Haiti.

Half a year after the quake, “the rebuilding effort in Haiti has stalled,” according to the U.S. Senate Committee on Foreign Relations. That analysis is hardly unique.

Yet the task is monumental. Over 300,000 houses were destroyed or damaged by the earthquake, according to the Haitian government.

Read more: http://www.cbc.ca/world/story/2010/01/13/f-haiti-earthquake.html#ixzz0wg4rSbKf

So what does this mean for Pakistan? It means a country with a corrupt and bankrupt leadership in dire straits will do anything it wants. It means that the rest of the world is financially strapped and although they promise billions they just do not have it to give it away. It means the people of Pakistan will have to make do on their own. It means the Nuclear weapons in Pakistan could be sold off. You have Iran just two doors down the road and the Taliban in the back yard. Oh Yes they also have Osama Ben Laden and Al Queda living in the remote no mans land of Northern Pakistan, with access to Arab oil money. Hmm I wonder what will happen next.

On the other hand, when the coming disaster hits you and where you live, will there be any money left in the world that is going into a great depression? Will they come to help you the same way they have New Orleans which is still not rebuilt? Brethren you had all better have a supply of food and water and emergency supplies on hand to look after you and your family and your neighbour for about 6 months time. Plan for flood and tornado and earth quake and fires and mobs. Have a plan for your family and where they are to meet and how you will contact each other. Don’t give me that excuse you can’t afford it or yo don’t have room in your tiny apartment. YOU have to prepare, not anyone else, but you yourself must do what you need to do to protect and safeguard your family as best you can. Then leave the rest up to Yahovah. But begin to do something now.

Having seen this disaster about Pakistan, keep in mind the two other disasters taking place also at this time. Russia is suffering from a severe drought and has been overrun with wild fires. They have also now stopped exporting wheat because the current crop has withered away. Next door to Russia is China and they have a severe drought in the north and severe flooding in the south. Although they are currently reporting a bumper wheat crop as well as is India, the price of wheat continues to climb on speculation of shortages.

Owing to drought, India’s food grain production is estimated to fall by nearly 7 per cent, although wheat has set a record 80.98-million tonne output.

The production of food grains, comprising wheat, rice, pulses and coarse cereals, declined mainly due to the sharp fall in the output of rice and coarse cereals by 10 per cent and 17 per cent respectively. The fall in production had occurred on account of the drought that affected nearly half the country last year.

And as the price of bread climbs so do the number of people who can’t afford it around the world because they live on or below the poverty level.

Those who live on rice are also in trouble. Vietnam’s rice exports in January and February fell 24.9% in 2010. The industry is under serious threat in 2010 due to a heat wave of above 35 °C for at least three consecutive months as of March, 2010.

http://www.mg.co.za/article/2010-06-06-families-battered-by-rise-in-food-prices
Families battered by rise in food prices
JOE MCDONALD – Jun 06 2010 08:10

The global food crisis that dominated headlines in 2008 quickly faded in the US and other rich countries. Not so across the developing world where surging inflation has made scraping to
afford the next meal a grim daily reality.

Families from Pakistan to Argentina to the Democratic Republic of Congo are being battered by double-digit rises in the food prices that are dragging more people into poverty, fuelling political tensions and forcing some to give up eating meat, fruit and even tomatoes.

With food consuming up to 70% of family income in the poorest countries, rising prices are squeezing household budgets and threatening to worsen malnutrition, while inflation stays moderate in the United States and Europe. Compounding the problem in many countries: prices hardly fell from their peaks in 2008, when global food prices jumped in part due to a smaller US wheat harvest and demand for crops to use in biofuels.

Majeedan Begum, a Pakistani mother of five, said a bag of flour for bread, the staple of her family’s diet, costs three times what it did two years ago in her hometown of Multan. She can no longer afford meat or fruit.

“My domestic budget has been ruined,” said Begum (35).

The UN Food and Agriculture Organization’s food price index — which includes grains, meat, dairy and other items in 90 countries — was up 22% in March from a year earlier though still below 2008 levels. In some Asian markets, rice and wheat prices are 20 to 70% 2008 levels, it says.

Many governments blame dry weather and high fuel costs but critics in countries such as India, Argentina and Egypt say misguided policies are making shortages worse and collusion by suppliers might be pushing up prices.

No single factor explains the inflation gap between developing and developed countries but poorer economies are more vulnerable to an array of problems that can push up prices, and many are cropping up this year.

Farmers with less land and irrigation are hit harder by drought and floods. Civil war and other conflicts can disrupt supplies.
CONTINUES BELOW

Prices in import-dependent economies spike up when the local currency weakens, as Pakistan’s rupee has this year.

Costs also have been pushed up by a rebound in global commodity prices, especially for soy destined for Asian consumption. That has prompted a shift in Argentina and elsewhere to produce more for export, which has led to local shortages of beef and other food.

The global financial crisis hurt food production in some countries by making it harder for farmers to get credit for seed and supplies.

‘Ratchet effect’
In Mauritania in West Africa, rice prices doubled over the first three months of the year, according to the World Food Program. Over the same period, the price of corn rose 59% in Zimbabwe and
57% in neighboring Mozambique.

In Kinshasa in the Democratic Republic of Congo, Mami Monga pays $25 for a box of fish that cost $10 a year ago. The price of a 25kg bag of rice has doubled to $30.

“Today I am obliged to buy half the food I used to buy mid-last year,” said Mami, a mother of five.

Kinshasa shopkeeper Abedi Patelli said prices rise when the exchange rate of DRC’s currency falls. “But when our currency improves against the US dollar, prices don’t fall,” he said.

“They remain steady.”

WFP spokesperson Greg Barrow said poorer countries can suffer a “ratchet effect” that locks in price rises due to high transportation costs and limited competition.

“Prices dropped fairly dramatically toward the end of 2008 on international markets but we found prices remained relatively high in many local markets in developing countries,” said Barrow.

After the cost of food rises, “it tends to take a long time to go down”, he said.

The FAO said the double blow of the global recession and high food prices has pushed 100-million people into poverty.

Opposition parties have organized protests in Pakistan. In Egypt, a 50% jump in meat prices in recent weeks has helped to fuel demonstrations outside parliament over wages and other economic issues.

“I am afraid that I will wake up one day and not able to get enough bread for my 12-member family,” said Aboulella Moussa, a doorman at a Cairo apartment building.

Eating less
People interviewed in a number of countries said they are coping not just by cutting out expensive items but by eating less — a trend that has stirred concern about malnutrition.

In the 2008 inflation spike, WFP found families in some countries skipped meals or switched to eating corn husks or other low-quality produce. “Over the long term, this would lead to the
effects of chronic malnutrition,” Barrow said.

“It’s expensive, so we eat less,” said Seema Valmiki (35) who is raising three children in New Delhi with her husband on his 6 000-rupee ($135) monthly income as a driver.

Valmiki can no longer afford meat, fruit or fish and has put off buying her children new school uniforms, toys and a bicycle.

“If we buy them fruit, we can’t buy them food” like rice, dal and vegetables, she said.

In China, food costs rose 5,9% in April over a year ago — a modest rate for a country that suffered 20%-plus inflation in 2008. But it was enough to prompt the communist government to try to reassure the public with pledges that prices will ease as the spring harvest comes in. It also threatened to punish price gouging in a new effort to cool inflation.

Even in moderately prosperous nations such as Venezuela, shoppers say they can no longer afford meat and scour markets for bargains.

In Argentina, soy production has taken over more than 13-million hectares of grassland once used to raise cattle and replaced less profitable wheat and corn as well, driving up prices in supermarkets.

Argentina’s government has responded with higher taxes, export limits, controls on supermarket prices of meat, wheat and corn, subsidies to food producers and pay hikes of 30% for union workers. The moves have temporarily eased the pain but beef producers have thinned their herds in response to government intervention and the price of meat has doubled in the last year.

“Before, we would eat meat three times a week. Now it’s once, with luck,” said Marta Esposito, a 45-year-old mother of two in Buenos Aires. “Tomatoes, don’t even talk about it. We eat whatever is the cheapest.”

Venezuela’s 30,4% inflation is among the world’s highest.

The oil-rich country is a major food importer and its bolivar has tumbled against the dollar, forcing up prices in local markets. In April, food prices rose 11% over the previous month.

The Venezuelan government has imposed price controls and arrested some shopkeepers for violating them. But the controls have led to shortages of beef, sugar, corn meal and butter, forcing the government to allow some prices to rise by 20% this year.

Elsewhere, rising prices highlight a more basic problem: making sure farm productivity keeps pace with burgeoning populations.

India’s food prices were up 17% in April over a year earlier but the government hopes normal rainfall this growing season will increase supplies. The rise has been driven in part by growing demand from the rural poor, who can afford to spend more on food thanks to government debt-relief and job-creation programs.

Longer term, experts say India, with more than one billion people, has to speed up growth in farm production if it is to keep up with demand.

“Our capacity to feed every Indian is systematically declining with time,” said Harsh Mander, who was appointed by India’s Supreme Court to monitor hunger. “World markets can’t bail us out.” – Sapa-AP

http://ca.news.yahoo.com/s/reuters/100815/n_top_news/cnews_us_pakistan_floods

August 15, 2010

At least 500,000 tonnes of wheat have been destroyed by the floods. At Kot Addu in southern Punjab, thousands of bags lay ruined as workers were unable to move them quickly enough from rising floodwater.

“The river swallowed everything. We have no house no business, nothing to eat, nothing to wear,” said Nizam Ali, an Afghan refugee living in northwest Pakistan. “No one is helping us, it now looks as if we have no other choice but to go back to Afghanistan.”

Wheat, cotton and sugar crops have all suffered damage in a country where agriculture is a mainstay of the economy.

U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon urged foreign donors on Sunday to speed up aid to Pakistan as the government warned of new waves of floods that have already disrupted lives of a tenth of its 170 million people.

Swollen by torrential monsoon rains, major rivers have flooded Pakistan’s mountain valleys and fertile plains, killing up to 1,600 people and leaving two million homeless.

Six million people still need food, shelter and water and medicine, the United Nations says. Pakistan’s government, already facing a Taliban insurgency, now faces the risk of social upheaval and long-term economic pain.

With an area roughly the size of Italy affected by floods, government and foreign aid has been slow in coming and the United Nations has warned of a second wave of deaths among the sick and hungry if help does not arrive.

Only a quarter of the $459 million aid needed for initial relief has arrived, according to the United Nations. That contrasts with the United States giving at least $1 billion in military aid last year to its regional ally to battle militants.

The U.N. has reported the first case of cholera amid fears that disease outbreaks could spread with survivors sleeping in makeshift tarpaulin tents. Some beg or loot.

The Prophecies of Abraham and the Curses of Leviticus 26 continue to ring true and louder with each passing month. How much longer are you going to ignore them? How much longer will you continue to ignore Yahovah and His commandments? You think you are saved by grace? If you will not obey all of His commandments, then think again. Soon it will be your stomach that aches and it will be your children in North America with the bloated stomachs and nothing but skin and bones. Soon it will be you that prophecy speaks about eating the flesh of your own sons and daughters. Why will you not repent now and turn to Yahovah? Why must you wait until you are chowing down on little Johnnies arm? Yet scriptures do say in five places even when you are eating your own children you will not repent. It is coming brethren, have you read the book or watched the DVD yet?

We spoke to you a few week’s ago about how Hyperinflation could not be avoided in North America. How much will your food cost then? How many meals will you skip in order to pay the bills? How will you survive then? I have shown you what the scriptures are telling us. Terror, then drought and severe weather, followed by pestilence famine and earthquakes. After this is war and starvation and captivity. You are reading the headlines from around the world for 2010 and much of it from August 2010. Yet you still will not believe me.

You can read more articles describing the Rising food Prices at http://foodpricesrise.com/

For the rest of this month and next as we approach the Fall Holy Days I would like to explain them for all of our New Brethren. This week we shall show you some insights into the Feast of Trumpets which is the first one to come up on the 1st day of the Seventh Month.

This week I am going to use a sister I have had the pleasure of talking to a number of times and she has interviewed me on her pod cast many times as well. But I would also like to urge those of you who can to come forward with a gift offering for her. With the US economy in shambles she has been caught in the financial squeeze.

One of the reasons many of the Levites stopped teaching was because Israel stopped giving them the Tithe. They had to go out and make a living. Those that teach you from week to week also eat ever day the same as you do and have bills to pay. Some of them have no other income to support them. If you could help her then she can continue to teach the many she is showing how to keep Torah.

In addition to the article below I have one which explains why Judah does not know the Meaning of this Day of Blowing the Trumpets.

© Copyright Double Portion Inheritance Ministry
September 2009
http://www.DoublePortionInheritance.com/

Yom Teruah “Day of Blowing” aka Feast of Trumpets “The Day that No Man Knows”

By Maria Merola

This year in 2010, according to the Aviv Barley Calendar, the Feast of Trumpets (called Rosh Hashanah by Rabbinic Judaism) commences at sundown on Friday, September 10th. The Rabbinic Calendar will be celebrating this holiday at sundown Thursday, September 9th.

Matthew 24:36-37 But of that day and hour knoweth no man, no, not the angels of heaven, but my Father only. But as the days of Noah were, so shall also the coming of the Son of man be.

Many of us have read the famous quote of our Messiah in the four gospels when he declared that his second coming would come at a time “that no man knows.” But how many of us knew that he was actually making a reference to the Feast of Trumpets? The Feast of Trumpets is known by Jews as “The Day That No Man Knows.” And why is it called this? Because it is the feast that can only be determined by the sighting of the new moon, and so “no man” can calculate the exact day or hour of when this feast day will begin.

In ancient Jerusalem, two witnesses were to stand on the walls of Jerusalem and “watch” for the first sighting of the new moon. When the Father in heaven decided to allow the new moon to appear in the sky, then the “two witnesses” would sound the shofar (trumpet) and all the people in the city would immediately drop what they were doing, and they would run to the temple for the celebration of the Day of Blowing (in Hebrew Yom Teruah). The temple doors were only open for a short period of time, and if they failed to make it to the temple before the doors were shut, those who were slack in running to the temple were left out of the feast because the “doors were shut” and once they were shut, no man could get in. Because this feast was to begin at sundown, they had to make sure that their oil lamps were filled so that they could find their way in the dark towards the temple. In those days, there were no street lights, and so they had to carry their oil lamps to help them find their way. In Matthew 25, Yeshua gave us a parable of ten virgins. Only five of the virgins were wise and had their oil lamps filled when the bridegroom came. But the other five foolish virgins had not prepared themselves by filling their lamps with oil. When the “Day That No Man Knows” had arrived, the two witnesses sounded the “last trump” and the five wise virgins were ready to go into the marriage. But the foolish virgins had no oil in their lamps so that they could see their way around in the dark.

Many of these inhabitants of Jerusalem would be working in the fields or grinding at the mill (Matthew 24:40-42) , and when they heard the sound of the shofar (trumpet) they knew that their work was finished and they had to run towards the temple before the doors were shut. The person who was alert and listening for the sound of the trumpet was “taken” by the sound of the trumpet; this was his signal to run towards the temple. But the person who was not alert and not watching, would not hear the sound of the trumpet, and they would be “left” in the field or grinding at the mill, unaware that the day had come. Yeshua likened himself to the “thief in the night” who would come at an hour “that no man knows” and for these people who were not watching with their oil lamps filled, “sudden destruction” would come upon them as a woman in travail and it would be too late for them to escape God’s wrath.

The Thief in the Night

We often make reference to this term “thief in the night” from the scriptures, but how many really know what the metaphor of the “thief in the night” is all about? In order to understand this metaphor, we must know historically who the thief in the night was. In ancient Jerusalem, the High Priest in the temple (Cohen Gadol) would make his rounds each night to make sure that the other priests were doing their duty of keeping the fire burning on the brazen altar. The commandment in the Torah was to never allow this fire on the altar to go out. If a priest was on duty to watch the fire by night, he was not allowed to fall asleep on the job, for if he did, the fire would not stay stoked and the fire could go out and this would bring judgment on Israel. The priests were also commanded not to have wine or strong drink while serving in the temple. Alcohol in their blood stream would defile their worship and cause them to become drunk, lazy and sleepy.

Because the Cohen Gadol (High Priest) came at an hour when they were least expecting him to show up, the priests began to nick name him “the thief in the night.”

If the priest on duty fell asleep and was not watching the fire on the brazen altar, the High Priest would show up and find him sleeping on the job. The High Priest would then take some hot coals from the altar, and scoop them up in a shovel. He would then dump some of these hot coals on the priest’s garment who had fallen asleep. The priest who had fallen asleep would be suddenly awakened by the smell of hot burning coals and his garment on fire. He would immediately strip off his clothes as fast as he could in order to prevent from being burned. At the end of his shift, the other priests would see him naked without his garment, and he would be ashamed because all the other priests would know that he was caught falling asleep on the job. Yeshua is our High Priest after the order of Melchisidek (Hebrews 7:17-21) and we his followers are a royal priesthood (1st Peter 2:9). We are admonished not to be like those priests who would fall asleep on the job. We are given a command to watch, and keep our garments so that we will not be ashamed when our Messiah returns.

Revelation 16:15 Behold, I come as a thief. Blessed is he that watcheth, and keepeth his garments, lest he walk naked, and they see his shame.

The Apostle Paul was also making a reference to the New Covenant Israelites when he said to them “you have no need that I write to you about the appointed times of the Lord” in other words the “moedim” the Feast Days of the Lord. Why did Paul have no need to write to them about these things? Because they were all keeping the “Sabbaths” or Feast Days of Yehovah!

1st Thessalonians 5

1 But of the times and the seasons, brethren, ye have no need that I write unto you.

2 For yourselves know perfectly that the day of the Lord so cometh as a thief in the night.

Paul and the Thessalonians were well aware of this metaphor concerning the High Priest and the thief in the night. They practiced these things in the temple year after year and there was no need to explain it to them. If they continued to keep the appointed moedim of the Lord as he had commanded them to do forever, they would not be overtaken by surprise.

3 For when they shall say, Peace and safety; then sudden destruction cometh upon them, as travail upon a woman with child; and they shall not escape.

Paul knew that these followers of Messiah were not in darkness because they were keeping their “oil lamps filled” and ready for the day when it arrived. They would not be overtaken by “the day that no man knows” without oil in their lamps. Their High Priest, Yeshua would come not as a thief in the night for them, because they would not be in darkness!

4 But ye, brethren, are not in darkness, that that day should overtake you as a thief.

5 Ye are all the children of light, and the children of the day: we are not of the night, nor of darkness.

As priests in the order of Melchisidek, we must not be like those priests who would be found drinking alcohol on the job, getting drunk and falling asleep. We are given clear warning here to “watch” and be sober. The Greek word here for “sober” is “nepho” which literally means “to abstain from wine.”

6 Therefore let us not sleep, as do others; but let us watch and be sober.

7 For they that sleep sleep in the night; and they that be drunken are drunken in the night.

8 But let us, who are of the day, be sober, putting on the breastplate of faith and love; and for an helmet, the hope of salvation.

9 For God hath not appointed us to wrath, but to obtain salvation by our Adonai Yeshua Messiah.

For those who are walking in the light, and the truth of scripture, we will all go through tribulation as part of the purifying process to be made ready as a bride without spot or wrinkle. But we are not appointed for the day of God’s wrath, for we will all be changed as we put in incorruption.

As children of the light, we will all be honoring the Holy Feast Days that Yehovah commanded us to keep forever because they are “holy convocations” or “rehearsals” for these future events that are yet to come.

Yehovah established an everlasting covenant with Israel and he gave us a “sign” that he alone was YEHOVAH their God. What exactly is this “sign” that he has given to “ALL ISRAEL” for ALL GENERATIONS, FOREVER? The sign of his everlasting covenant with Israel are his “Sabbaths” and Holy Feast Days. He declared that through these “Sabbaths” we might know that he is Yehovah who sanctifies us and sets us apart.

Ezekiel 20:12 Moreover also I gave them my sabbaths, to be a sign between me and them, that they might know that I am YEHOVAH that sanctify them.

Ezekiel 20:20 And hallow my sabbaths; and they shall be a sign between me and you, that ye may know that I am YEHOVAH your God.

Leviticus 23:23-25

23 And YEHOVAH spake unto Moses, saying,

24 Speak unto the children of Israel, saying, In the seventh month, in the first day of the month, shall ye have a sabbath, a memorial of blowing of trumpets, an holy convocation.

25 Ye shall do no servile work therein: but ye shall offer an offering made by fire unto YEHOVAH.

Here we see that Yehovah is commanding us to have a memorial of blowing trumpets and he calls it a “holy convocation” in other words, a rehearsal. The offering that we make to him on this day is an offering by “fire” in other words our own lives are presented to him as a living sacrifice. We allow the fire of the Holy Spirit to purge and purify our lives so that we will be ready for the day when he comes for his bride. Yeshua is coming for a bride without spot or blemish. We must be ready to be purified by suffering, trials and tribulation in order to be ready for the “Day That No Man Knows.”

When the 1,260 day ministry of the “Two Witnesses” is finished, the “seventh angel” will sound, and we shall all be changed in the twinkling of an eye at the “last trump.”

Revelation 11:12-15 And they heard a great voice from heaven saying unto them, Come up hither. And they ascended up to heaven in a cloud; and their enemies beheld them….And the seventh angel sounded; and there were great voices in heaven, saying, The kingdoms of this world are become the kingdoms of our Lord, and of his Messiah; and he shall reign for ever and ever.

Now is the season of preparation as we once again rehearse for these prophetic events that are soon going to happen. Please tune in this Sunday Night to learn more about Yom Teruah, the Day that No Man Knows!

Shalom in Yeshua,

Maria Merola

http://www.DoublePortionInheritance.com/

Ron Fraser the trumpet.com

When the radicals descended on Washington a year ago, few realized how quickly they would trash what was once the most powerful freedom-loving country on the planet.

Occasionally an enlightened voice makes itself heard above the Babel of the chattering classes which all appear so blind to the current state of the nation and the grave risk this poses to world peace. At the end of July, one such voice rang loud and clear above the fray in an attempt to inject some sanity into the intelligentsia, so oft guilty of slavishly toeing the liberal party line. It was a British voice, and it sounded off in one of Britain’s remaining dominions, in Sydney, Australia.

The Age newspaper summarized British historian Niall Ferguson’s recent address to an eminent gathering of academia for his John Bonython Lecture for the Center for Independent Studies under the headline, “Decline and Fall of the U.S.”

The edited version of Ferguson’s dramatic speech began with these words (emphasis mine throughout): “In the history of empires the end is abrupt, and those that rely on them need to be ready.

“All empires, no matter how magnificent, are condemned to decline and fall. We tend to assume that in our own time, too, history will move cyclically—and slowly. Yet it is possible that this whole cyclical framework is, in fact, flawed.

What if history is arrhythmic—at times almost stationary, but also capable of accelerating suddenly, like a sports car?”

Then, borrowing a phrase from the greatest prophet of all, Ferguson challenged his audience with the question, “What if collapse comes suddenly, like a thief in the night?” Alarmist? No! Just a sane, sound assessment of the history of empires of the past. This is a true realist speaking, a man with a sound grasp of the trends of history that he sees very clearly pointing to the demise of a once and singular superpower of our age, the United States of America.

After listing a number of empires that fell suddenly, Ferguson goes to the empire that disappeared as suddenly as it had arisen, the greatest of them all, the British Empire: “The sun set on the British Empire almost as suddenly. So, what are the implications for the United States today?

“The most obvious point is that imperial falls are associated with fiscal crises—sharp imbalances between revenues and expenditures, and the mounting cost of servicing a mountain of public debt.”

Ferguson is, of course, not the only astute commentator to see America’s drastically ballooning debt posing the greatest of gambles on the future of this once singular greatest nation on the planet. There is an increasing number of sensible, concerned and common-sense observers of America’s demise who are speaking out in grave warning as to the impending crash of the U.S.

A former Washington bureau chief for Forbes and Financial World magazines, James Strodes, writes in the current edition of the American Spectator, “[T]hings may be worse than we know. … [T]here is good reason to worry that the federal government faces a far greater deficit burden than most Washington officials will admit to. … American Social Security and Medicare health insurance schemes (whose trust funds are currently empty) balloon that debt overhang to $70.7 trillion, close to five times gdp” (July-August 2010).

Niall Ferguson reminds us, “[H]alf the U.S. federal debt in public hands is in the hands of foreign creditors. Of that, a fifth (22 percent) is held by the monetary authorities of the People’s Republic of China” (op. cit.).

This is a terrible strategic challenge for the United States.

Of what use is American military power when its economy is so powerfully leveraged to a nation that has publicly declared that the U.S. is its number-one enemy?

James Strodes points, in addition to the federal deficit, to the dangerous condition of the finances at state level in America: “More than 30 of the 50 state governments are in severe deficit.”

Ferguson and Strodes agree completely on one aspect of this unsustainable course of the current spend-spendspend U.S. administration: It is inviting catastrophe of the worst order—the imminent collapse of America as a nation.

Niall Ferguson rightly points out that “The fiscal position of the U.S. is worse than that of Greece. But Greece is not a global power. In historical perspective, unless something radical is done soon, the U.S. is heading into … postwar Britain territory.” He then equates the situation in America to another globally historic moment, of which Sir Winston Churchill famously said, “all the alternatives have been exhausted” (op. cit.).

Ferguson’s observation that “the U.S. is on an unsustainable fiscal course, with no apparent political means of self-correcting,” equates with Strodes’ observation that the great and foolish gamble the current U.S. administration has taken is that of a gambler at the blackjack tables in Las Vegas who is playing the gamble of his life—what is known as a “double down.” In this play of plays, “After drawing their two cards they are allowed to double the size of their bet if they will take only one more card in their quest to get closer to 21 than the dealer. It is a high-risk bet ….”

How high are the stakes in Washington’s great gamble with the U.S. economy? “[A]ll the alternatives have been exhausted. … [T]he U.S. is on an unsustainable fiscal course, with no apparent means of self-correcting.”

The current U.S. administration has simply bet the house on that one card against the very real prospect of a double-dip crash in the economy of irreparable proportions. As Strodes muses, in relation to the impending fall of the U.S., “There is another blackjack phrase that comes to mind. It’s when the next card drawn to your hand takes you over 21. You are ‘busted’!”

Prophecy has declared that the global financial system would collapse and trigger a third round of world war. This is America’s current great gamble. America is, in reality, gambling against the prophesied odds stacked against it. It’s a lose-lose situation! There’s no way out. It’s just a matter of time before Niall Ferguson’s headline is fulfilled and we see the sudden decline and fall of America! And that time is fast running out!

Triennial Torah Cycle

We continue this weekend with our regular Triennial Torah reading which can be found online

We are now in our 23rdweek of this 3 ½ year study.

Gen 25

Genesis Chapter 23 deals with Sarah and her burial; Genesis chapter 24 discusses Rebekah and her marriage to Isaac, and chapter 25 talks about Keturah.

“Isaac brought her to the tent of Sarah, his mother.”

Sarah’s death left a vacuum on two levels: Abraham was left without a wife and Isaac without a mother. The first was filled by Keturah, Abraham’s new wife, while the second was filled by Rebekah. Rebekah entered Sarah’s tent as Isaac’s wife, and survived Sarah as the second matriarch of Israel for all future generations.

Rebekah may be perceived as filling the void left by Sarah, even though she did not marry Abraham. Proof of this is to be found in Abraham’s command to his servant, as to how to evaluate a bride suitable for his son:

“The servant said to him: Perhaps the woman will not agree to follow me to this land; shall I then take your son back to the land from which you came? Abraham said to him: Guard yourself lest you take my son back there. Yahveh, the Elohim of the heavens, who took me from my father’s house and from the land of my birth, and who spoke to me and promised to me, saying, ‘To your seed I shall give this land’, He will send His angel before you, and you will take a wife for my son from there. And if the woman will not agree to follow you, you will be free of this oath; only do not take my son there.” Genesis 24:5-8

The woman destined to be Isaac’s wife was tested as to her willingness to leave her birthplace in Haran and to journey to an unknown land. Thus, she too, fulfilled the commandment that was given to Abraham: “Go from your land and from your birthplace and from your father’s house, to the land, which I will show you.” Without this test of faith, she was not worthy of inheriting Sarah’s heritage and becoming Abraham’s daughter-in-law. Interesting that we too are being tested in the same way taday.

Abraham’s servant tested Rebekah in another character trait so important to Abraham – hospitality. And this has been a recurring theme throughout many of our studies.

“Behold, I am standing by the well, and the daughters of the townspeople are coming out to draw water. Let the girl to whom I shall say, ‘Please let down your pitcher and let me drink,’ and she will answer, ‘Drink, and I shall water your camels, too’, let her be the one whom you have destined for your servant for Isaac; thereby shall I know that You have shown kindness to my master.” Genesis 24:13-14

Rebekah, Abraham’s daughter-in-law, was thus evaluated in terms of the two founding pillars of the Nation of Israel: Kindness and Faith.

Sarah lived for 37 years after the birth of Isaac. She was 90 when he was born and Abraham was 100. Now Abraham is 137 and he is taking on a new wife by the name of Keturah.

Isaiah 60:6 mentions Camels from Midian and Ephah and Sheba bringing gold and incense to the Temple and to Israel to praise the Almighty.

“THE MULTITUDE OF CAMELS SHALL COVER THEE, THE DROMEDARIES OF MIDIAN AND EPHAH; ALL THEY FROM SHEBA SHALL COME: THEY SHALL BRING GOLD AND INCENSE; AND THEY SHALL SHEW FORTH THE PRAISES OF THE LORD [Isaiah 60:6] .

The exact identifications of these peoples are problematic though several probably candidates exist.

On the whole they are to be identified with the descendants of Keturah and Abraham.

[Genesis 25:1] THEN AGAIN ABRAHAM TOOK A WIFE, AND HER NAME WAS KETURAH.
[Genesis 25:2] AND SHE BARE HIM .. JOKSHAN…AND MIDIAN.
[Genesis 25:3] AND JOKSHAN BEGAT SHEBA
[Genesis 25:4] AND THE SONS OF MIDIAN; EPHAH…ALL THESE WERE THE CHILDREN OF KETURAH.

The Descendants of Keturah traditionally settled in Central Asia and its neighbourhood including Afghanistan.

Abraham then dies at the age of 175 and is buried in the cave of Machpelah which we discussed in a previous study.
We are then given the Descendant of Ishmael and his death. And if you are to just stop and think of it; today all of these descendants to Abraham are those who hate the descendant of Isaac and seek to kill them.

Isaac marries Rebeccah at the age of 40 in 2088 AC or 1749 BC. And then we read of the prophecy given to her about the twins in her womb. Which were born when Isaac was 60 in the year 2108 AC or 1729 BC.

22 And within her the children struggled together, and she said, “If all is right, why am I this way?” So she went to ask ????. 23 And ???? said to her, “Two nations are in your womb, and two peoples shall be separated from your body. And one people shall be stronger than the other, and the older serve the younger.” 24 And when the days were filled for her to give birth, and see, twins were in her womb! 25 And the first came out red all over, like a hairy garment, so they called his name ?saw. 26 And afterward his brother came out, with his hand holding on to ?saw’s heel, so his name was called Ya?aqob?. And Yitsh?aq was sixty years old when she bore them.

We read in verse 32 of Esau selling his birth right to Jacob for a bowl of red soup. Esau did not value his birth right and Jacob did. And because of this deal we read in the last verse how Esau despised Jacob. I also want to point out to you the fact that Esau was noted as a hunter. In 3700 years things have not changed much. Esau still despises the children of Israel to this day and this is where it comes from.

In this one chapter we have now read of most of those who will give birth to those who hate the Israelites. Now would be a good time to reread the article News Letter 5845-059 6929 The Hunters and The Fishers. The Hunters Cometh! https://sightedmoon.com/sightedmoon_2015/?page_id=608

1 Sam 3-5

http://www.theseason.org/1Samuel/1Samuel3.htm The Word of the Lord was rare in those days. The Word of God was not taught, or only very seldom as it ought to be taught in it’s entirety, chapter by chapter and precept by precept to the people. This is quite obvious why this would be, for the priests had become nothing but thieves and beggars; rip off artists behind the cloth. It is time to wake up and look around us today, for this is a type and warning as to what is going on today. What are you being taught in your church house today? It is God’s Word and not man’s word that we must understand. The blessings come when we learn and do those things that God has instructed us. Get off the calf path and return to Yahovah’s path of truth.

So in Samuel’s day, Samuel was a student blessed of God and learning under the hand of Eli. Samuel was directed and anointed by God to bring forth the Word of God to the people. Samuel will make God’s Word precious again to these Israelites.

I Samuel 3:10 “And the Lord came, and stood, and called as at other times, “Samuel, Samuel.” Then Samuel answered, “Speak; for Thy servant heareth.”

Back in Genesis 22:11 we see where the Lord called Abraham; “And the angel of the Lord called unto him out of heaven, and said, “Abraham, Abraham:” and he said “Here am I.” There are seven duplications in the Scriptures where God has spoken directly to men. I’ll list them here for your clarification; First here in Genesis 22:11; Genesis 46:2 to Jacob. In Exodus 3:4 God called again to Moses out of the burning bush, and Moses answered “Here am I”. So we see why Eli instructed Samuel here in I Samuel 3:10 to also answer “Here am I”.

In Luke 10:41 God called to Martha when she was questioning Mary’s duty to Jesus; Luke 22:31 tells of the Lord’s calling to Simon while at the Lords table during the last supper;[ I also as do you question the authors reasoning for including these two previous examples but I have left them in as he has said;] and in Acts 9:4 Christ is calling out to Paul on his way to Damascus to persecute the Christians. “And he [Paul] fell to the earth, and heard a voice saying unto him, “Saul, Saul, why persecutest thou Me?”.

Any time that something is given in groups of seven, it is important to take notice of what is being said. God also gave us seven trumpets, seven seals, seven signs and so on, in His speaking through Jesus Christ. It is a good study into those times that God actually spoke to men that is recorded in the Word of God. God can speak to men any way He chooses, but that contact is not like many preachers use loosely, that God would tell them where to park their car, eat or any other simple thing and is nothing but using common sense. When God speaks to people, you can be assured it is to give instructions like recorded about in the seven verses stated. God is direct and to the point and that is His way. When God speaks it is for a purpose, and for those that He calls, it is clear what the purpose is.

God spoke seven times in this fashion to men [women] and here He is speaking directly to Samuel. Today God speaks to us through His Word and the instruction of His Spirit, the Holy Spirit. When you hear that voice of His Spirit speaking through His Word, listen and respond to His instruction. He loves you and would never give you wrong instructions.

The word “tingle” in the Hebrew text is “astonishment”. This “thing” that God shall do in Israel will cause all the people that hear of this event, to be astonished. Though this “thing” is a series of things, however the start will be with Eli and his sons. There are great changes that God is going to make, for remember that because of Eli and his sons, the Judgeship is going to be removed from the priesthood, and placed in a monarchy, or state of government outside the temple or church. God is going to cause a separation between the church and the state of God’s people, and that carries on right down to our day in America and England.
Eli has a good idea that whatever God said to Samuel, it was not good news. Eli knew that he had failed in his duties to his office as both High Priest, and as the Judged of Israel. This is a prophet speaking to the boy Samuel, and Eli was warning Samuel about withholding any part of the Words that God told to him. Eli was a good man but he just did not practice discipline. This is the prime message to our generation living today at the end of this earth age of the flesh. We must discipline ourselves in the Word of God, and stop paying attention to men’s traditions. God is the boss and He says will happen, and what our duty is to discipline ourselves in His Ways. If you don’t focus on the Word of God in our generation, it will be easy to slip right into the ways of the world, the traditions of men, and be deceived at the coming of Satan to this earth. Satan is coming and with all his fallen angels for God’s Word says he will.

I Samuel 3:19 “And Samuel grew, and the Lord was with him, and did let none of his words fall to the ground.”

What this is saying is that God’s Words were held priceless with Samuel. Samuel absorbed all of God’s Words and he applied them to his life. This applies to us today just as it did Samuel for God has let us know exactly what we are to expect in our generation, and He has let us know what He expects from His elect also. If you study any of God’s Word, learn that portion well, for what good is it to read the entire bible in one year, and still remain ignorant to what God is telling you. This is one reason we are reading the bible over the 3 ½ year Torah schedule. Don’t let those Word’s fall to the ground, but plant them in your mind, and make them part of your life, just as Samuel did. Samuel grew up with God’s Word, and the Lord was with him and blessed Samuel.
Read with understanding, and when you read something that you do not understand, put it aside and pray about it. In time the Spirit of God will reveal it all to you. Samuel retained the Word of God and God allowed Samuel to be the last Judge over Israel.

Following Samuel, there would be no more judges to reign, but the Israelites would fall under a monarchy.

IN chapter 4 we read how Eli’s sons used the ark in the same fashion that a sorcerer would use the tools of their trade. This is exactly what was done to the ark. It was just something like a magic wand and Eli’s two sons were going to use it to win this war. Not so according to Yahovah.

The people did not go to Eli to see God direction for them. It was just said that “all Israel knew that Samuel was of God”, but did they go to Samuel for their instruction? Eli was very old, yet he was still God’s Judge for Israel. Samuel was the young man that was being groomed by God to take over Eli’s position, yet the Israelites looked on this young lad as just another kid. God was taken completely out of the picture in all matters when it came time for the battle, and the Israelites went to war without God on their side. The army of the Israelites did not ask for the blessings of God and His protection into their battle plans. They just ran to the field like a mob, and the Philistines were ready for this approaching mob, and four thousand men fell in the battle.

Apply this to your life and what do you do when it appears that a battle is coming upon you, and the troubles of the day are ganging up on you. Do you bring God into the picture and turn those troubles over to Him for guidance and help, or do you charge out to do battle with the enemy without the direction of God and His will. If you seek God’s help, it will make you the winner, however without God on your side, the battle gets mighty tough with many losses.

This news of the heavy losses in battle against these Philistines went all the way back to Shiloh, and to the elders of Israel. Israel at this time was a nation controlled by the tabernacle, and the leaders were the elders within the tabernacle. These religious leaders are going to determine what should be done on their own, for Eli or Samuel still had not been sought for instructions and the wisdom from God. When they went to battle without God, and they lost their battle; and when they lost their battle they now blame the losses on God.

Do you ever blame God for your errors in judgment when you have left God out of your problems? Do you blame God for the losses when you act on your own without seeking what the Lord would have you do? Then when the losses come, do you blame God for your own stupidity? That is what these church elders have done when their battle was lost. So they in turn compound their stupidity with more stupid acts. Remember that God ordered that the ark of the covenant remain in the tabernacle, hid by a vail from the people, and remain in the seclusion of the Holy of Holies. The Ark of the Covenant was the binding object of the covenant that God made with His people, and now these wicked elders wanted to defy God, and use His Holiest of items to be used in their acts of sorcery against the Philistines. Can you see anything wrong with these elders thinking?

“Let us fetch the ark of the covenant out of Shiloh unto us”, these elders of the church are not the High priest, and it is not their right to see or even touch the ark. “That when it come among us, it may save us out of the hand of our enemies.” The use of the ark was for sorcery purposes, for they were trusting in the object, the ark of the covenant, and not God for their victory. They have cut God out of their plans, and defied the use of God’s special holy place, as well as the ark that was set up to make the connection between Him and them.

Who is suppose to save us? Our Father is suppose to save us. The Elders of the tabernacle have made a religion out of the ark of the covenant. They are saying, get this religious thing with us and it will save us. At no place here did they say God will save us. Stop and think in your own life of those things that you rely on to do your saving, that you have placed between you and God, and use this chapter to learn from these Israelites mistakes. If you want to be successful and blessed by God, don’t repeat the mistakes that these foolish men have done, for it will cost not only the lives of thousand of more soldiers lives, but their freedom. These elders failed in their duties to know the Word of God and follow it in detail, and did not do their duty. The did not consult the Father before they went into battle. Yet at the same time old Eli sat by and did nothing to stop this evil thing from happening. The sons of Eli wanted to be the center of attraction, and the ark of the covenant was paraded before the people and right into battle.

Of course the lesson for this chapter is that we are never to leave God out of our plans. God wrote you a letter called our Bible, and He speaks to you through that entire letter, from Genesis to Revelation. Paul reminded us that those things that are written in the Old Testament are “ensamples” which means “examples” of other things that would happen even in our day.

I Corinthians 10:11 “Now all these things happened unto them for ensamples: and they are written for our admonition, upon whom the ends of the world are come.”

“Admonition” means “warnings” from God to you and I living in the final generation. They are written to those that live when the ends of this earth age will come into being, and we are seeing the events of the prophecies of the end times coming to pass before our eyes. All of the mistakes of Eli and his two wicked sons are written here so that you and I would not fall into the same trap that they were in.

I Samuel 4:9 “Be strong, and quit yourselves like men, O ye Philistines, that ye be not servants unto the Hebrews, as they have been to you: quit yourselves like men, and fight.”

This general is commanding these Philistines to be strong and stand up and act like men. This is the same message that God gave Job after he had been listening to those four men rambling on for thirty eight chapters with nothing but their babblings. God told Job to stand up and act like men, and this general is telling his men to stand up and act like men. To “quit yourself” is to stop worrying over what is before you, and use your heads to prepare for battle.

This is the same message that is directed to you and I during our rough times. Let the Spirit of God come over you and assist in reasoning and planning. Don’t ever allow the enemy to see whatever fear that you may have in your mind. Think your actions through clearly before you and talk. This is exactly what the Philistines did do.

“Forty” in Biblical numerics stands for “probation”. Eli was a good man, but he simply could not discipline people. Eli tried to be too good to those around him, and to sweet in all that he did, to where there was no back bone when it came to standing up for those things that he knew were right and just. Eli knew what the ark of the covenant was and how God instructed that it be kept. Yet when the elders and the people came for the ark, and turned it into a form of idolatry, Eli did nothing but he stood by and watched. There are a lot of Eli’s in the world today, they are good people, but when it comes to discipline in matters under them and in their lives, they fall apart. They stand by when the precious things of God, and His Word and turned into nothing but traditions and religious forms, for they simply do not want to hurt someone’s feelings or offend their emotions.

The way that a true man of God speaks, is to sound out, “STOP” when he or she sees that God’s Word is being violated. There must be discipline and wisdom within the man of God to take a stand when it becomes known and necessary. A true man of God is not afraid to make a difference and offend when it becomes necessary. To be godly is to make a stand when you see that something is wrong, as Eli’s two sons were, and take steps within your own power to make an end to it. God expects it from His spiritual warriors. How you doing in your life?

I Samuel 4:20 “And about the time of her death the women that stood by her said unto her, “Fear not; for thou hast born a son.”” But she answered not, neither did she regard it.”

God is cleaning house in all of Eli’s family. Because of the death of her husband Phinehas , and the loss of the Ark of the Covenant, she knew that God had departed from the whole family, included herself and her son. There would be no more priests in the lineage of Eli, and she knew it.

I Samuel 4:21 “And she named the child Ichabod, saying, “The glory is departed from Israel: because the ark of God was taken, and because of her father in law and her husband.”

In the Hebrew tongue, “Ichabod” means that “the glory has departed” from Israel. The glory of God was in the promises and testimony that the ark of the covenant represented. It was now in the camp and fortress of the Philistines. She knew that it was because of her father-in-law and her husband that it was gone.

I Samuel 4:22 “And she said, “The glory is departed from Israel: for the ark of God is taken.”

God has a way of taking care of the things and people that are His. He will take care of the ark, and He also will see that it is returned to where it should be. God doesn’t need soldiers to win his victories, for we will see that he will make the Philistines very miserable as long as that ark of the covenant is within their camp. In the end these Philistines will be begging the Israelites to take the ark of the covenant back. God does not need Israel to get the ark returned, and though he doesn’t need the help of His people, He likes to see their obedience in the things that they do.

God does not need your help to bring a message to others, nor does he need you to do any part of His plan, but He allows us to become part of His plan so that He can bless us for being obedient to His Word. When we bring God into our plans, and ask for His help when our problems come, than he will work on our behalf. God will not interfere in your affairs when you do not want Him there, so it is you that must ask for the help. When you seek God’s help in accordance with His Word, that God will bless you for the very fact that by faith you sought after His help. God loves you, and it makes Him happy when He can act on your behalf, because you asked Him for it, and you had the faith to know that He would give it to you. Almighty God has emotions just as you and I do, and when His children seek His help, He finds pleasure defending them, just like you would for your child.

Chapter 5
“Dagon” is the name of the fish god, and the word “Dagon” means “great fish” in the Hebrew tongue. This is the same heathen god that the Assyrians of Ninevah worshipped in Jonah’s day. They believed that God was a great fish and thus this god had it’s head in the form of a fish. It is none other than Nimrod.

Those of you who have the symbol of the fish on the back of your car or on your necklace, consider what you are wearing. Although you think it represents Christianity, which it does, the pagan Christianity that does away with keeping the Torah, this symbol of the fish has nothing to do with the Yahovah who has created the fish. It is an abomination to Him because in truth it represents Nimrod and his false worship. You need to take these symbols and throw them out in the garbage immediately.

I Samuel 5:6 “But the hand of the Lord was heavy upon them of Ashdod, and He destroyed them, and smote them with emerods, even Ashdod and the coasts thereof.”

These “emerods” are what we call today, Hemorrhoids or piles today. Other places in the Scriptures refer to them as “tumors”. These hemorrhoids are also part of the curses that Moses warned the children of Israel that would come upon them if they broke the commands and statutes that he gave to them. That next morning when they came to their temple they found their statue of Dagon beheaded. All the men of Ashdod, and all the other towns of the Philistines came down also with these hemorrhoids. There were not many men in Ashdod that found great comfort in sitting in their easy chairs that day.

The Septuagint and Vulgate say add that in the midst of their land rats sprang up, and there was a great death panic in the city. Note suspected of being the bubonic plague.

Gath was one of the cities that was taken by the Philistines, and was identified as the place of the wine press. The people of Ashdod decided to get the ark out of their cities and lands. The ark is now going from Gath to Ekron, and the torment will also follow to that city also. Along with the ark are all the hemorrhoids, and troubles that follow those that have this ark in their midst. God laid out in detail exactly what is to be done with the ark, how it is to kept, and who can and can not come in the presence of the ark. To follow those ways is to receive God’s blessings and to go against them will bring these diseases and even death. This even applies to our day today, for God has laid out His plan for the age of the flesh that we live in today, and when we follow those ways, which even includes the health laws, than we can expect to live with the blessings of God. To go against those ways, even in ignorance will only end in sickness and trouble.

Ps 51-54

http://www.ucg.org/brp/brp.asp?get=daily&day=26&month=July&year=2005&Layout=
Topic: 51) Prayer of repentance; 52) The wicked who trust in wealth destroyed, the righteous who trust in God’s mercy saved; 53) The foolishness of godless and corrupt mankind 54) Prayer for help against enemies
Godly Repentance; The Destruction of the Godless (Psalms 51-53) July 23-26

51) Prayer of repentance
We return now to psalms attributed to David, with Psalm 51 being the first in Book II of the Psalter that bears his name. We read this psalm earlier in conjunction with the event described in the superscription—that of the prophet Nathan confronting David after his sin of adultery and murder (see the Bible Reading Program comments on 2 Samuel 11 as well as 2 Samuel 12:1-13; Psalm 51; 2 Samuel 12:13-31; 1 Chronicles 20:1-3). David immediately confesses, “I have sinned against the LORD” (2 Samuel 12:9, 13). And here in his psalm of repentance, David provides a model of repentant prayer for all of God’s people when they sin. It may have been placed here in the Psalter as a response to the calling to account and instruction on sacrifices God gives in Psalm 50.

In Psalm 51, David doesn’t justify his actions or try to improve his position. He appeals to God for mercy, hesed—God’s unfailing, steadfast love (verse 1). David agonizingly faces what he has done and confesses it to God using all the basic Hebrew words for sin. The word “transgressions” (verse 1) is from the Hebrew pesha, meaning transgression in the sense of rebellion or revolt. “Iniquity” in verse 2 is from awon, meaning perversity, wickedness or fault. The word for “evil” in verse 4 is ra’, meaning something bad, wrong or hurtful. And the word for “sin” in these verses, hata, means to miss the mark. All essentially imply deviating from a standard—that is, from God’s standard.

In verse 4, David says to God, “Against You, You only, have I sinned.” This might seem odd, for David appears also to have sinned against Bathsheba, Uriah, other soldiers who were killed in the battle in which Uriah died, and the nation of Israel, over which David had a responsibility to govern righteously. Jesus later said that one person can sin against another (Matthew 18:15). So what did David mean?

Some take it to be a matter of comparison. That is to say, what he did against these others is nothing compared to what he has done against God. Yet the answer is probably more a matter of nuance in perspective. Sin, we must consider, is the transgression of the law (1 John 3:4, KJV). Since God is the one who defines the law’s standards, any violation of the law is against Him. Acting against another person is sin because God has set the rules of conduct forbidding this. The standard we have violated, the mark we have missed, is God’s. In this sense, sin itself can only be against God, the Lawgiver. It would certainly be proper to say that one has sinned in acting against another person. And it is easy to see that the statement could be shortened to say that one has sinned against another person. But here we should realize that while the affected person is the object of the action that is sin, he is not the object of the sin (or transgressing) itself, as it was not his law that was transgressed but God’s.

David’s statement in Psalm 51:5 has caused much confusion: “Behold, I was brought forth in iniquity, and in sin my mother conceived me.” This does not mean David’s mother sinned in conceiving him. Nor does it mean that David was born stained with “original sin,” as many maintain. Rather the Hebrew prefixed preposition b’, usually translated “in,” can also mean “into.” As Gesenius’ Hebrew and English Lexicon of the Old Testament says in one of its definitions of this word, it often occurs “with verbs of motion, when the movement to a place results in rest in it, into.” Thus, David is most likely stating that he was brought forth into iniquity and into sin. As with all human beings, sin had characterized his life from a young age.

In verse 6, David says that God desires “truth in the inward parts, and in the hidden part…to know wisdom.” It is one thing to know God’s truth in an academic sense. It is quite another to also live by it in our inward thoughts and motivations. This, David knew, is what God really wants. And whenever we repent, we must consider what it is that God wants from us. It comes down to an educated change and a lifelong commitment—and that we follow through.

David asks God to “blot out,” to “wash” and to “cleanse” him (verses 2, 9)—to thoroughly scrub him clean from His spiritual uncleanness (verses 6-7). In its note on verse 7, The Expositor’s Bible Commentary states: “The unclean, such as lepers, used to present themselves before the priest on the occasion of their purification. The priest, being satisfied that the unclean person had met the requirements for purification, would take a bunch of ‘hyssop’ and sprinkle the person with water, symbolic of ritual cleansing. Here the psalmist [David] petitions the Lord to be his priest by taking the hyssop and by declaring him cleansed from all sin.”

In this cleansing, David prays that God would create in him a clean heart and would renew a steadfast, faithful spirit within Him (verse 10). David realized he could not be faithful on His own. He needed God’s constant help. So he pleads to remain in God’s presence and to continue to have God’s Holy Spirit to help him—not himself cast out and that Spirit taken away as he knew he deserved (verse 11).

Guilt over what he had done was always present in David’s mind (verse 3). It took the joy and gladness out of life (verse 8). David figuratively refers to God having broken his bones (same verse), meaning that the overwhelming guilt he had from considering his sin in light of God’s laws made him feel hobbled or crushed and greatly humbled. He prays to be forgiven and relieved of this guilt (verse 14)—and that His joy would return (verse 12).

David declares what he will do when God restores him. He will teach others God’s ways (verse 13), He will sing about God’s righteousness (verse 14)—no doubt in public psalms—and he will openly proclaim God’s praise (verse 15). David was thinking outwardly, not selfishly about only himself. When we ask God for restoration, an important part of our motivation should be so that we can better serve Him and others.

In verses 16-19 we return to a major theme of Psalm 50—the kind of sacrifices God really wants (also touched on in Psalm 40). At the time he wrote, David was required to bring physical sacrifices to the tabernacle. And he no doubt did on this occasion soon after his confession before Nathan. Perhaps Psalm 51 was written as a song to accompany the sacrifice. Verse 16’s statement about God not desiring sacrifice “or else I would give it” should not be understood to imply that David would not bring a sacrifice.

The point is that he’ll give God whatever God wants—he’ll do whatever it takes—to be right with Him.

But David knows that God does not desire any physical sacrifices apart from the inner sacrifices of a right heart and mind—”broken,” meaning humble, and “contrite,” meaning repentant and obedient (verse 17). David used these same terms in Psalm 34:18. And the prophet Isaiah would later use them as well (Isaiah 66:2)—again in the context of the kind of sacrifices and service God is truly looking for. Psalm 51:19 uses the words “sacrifices of righteousness”—showing that it involves living the right way of life.

David concludes by asking God to “do good” to Zion or Jerusalem and to build its walls—meaning to bless and protect the people—including leading them to a right mindset—so that the people and their physical offerings would please Him (verses 18-19). This shows that God is pleased with physical offerings—but only when part of an inward devotion to Him and life of obedience. The holy city is likely here representative of the entire nation—and in a prophetic sense of spiritual Zion, the Church, as well as God’s Kingdom in the world to come.

It should be noted that Psalm 51 has, thematically, many points of contact with Psalm 25.

52) The wicked who trust in wealth destroyed, the righteous who trust in God’s mercy saved;
Psalm 52 is a maskil (perhaps meaning instructive psalm or, as the NKJV translates it, “contemplation”) of David—the first of four of these in a row. We earlier read this psalm in harmony with the story of the event mentioned in the superscription—when Doeg the Edomite, a servant of King Saul, told Saul of the high priest Ahimelech giving provisions to David and his men (see the Bible Reading Program comments on 1 Samuel 22:6-23; Psalm 52). Recall that Saul then ordered his men to execute Ahimelech and the other priests at Nob—which his men refused to do, whereupon Doeg carried out Saul’s order, slaughtering 85 priests plus additional men, women, children, infants and animals living in the city (verses 18-19). To the one son who escaped, David lamented that he was to blame for having put the priests in jeopardy (verse 22).

In Psalm 52, written on that occasion, David questions the intelligence of any “mighty” man that would boast about doing evil since God’s love and goodness will not be thwarted. Those who use their tongue for evil—such as in lying and passing on information to hurt innocent people—will be destroyed.

Doeg was apparently a wealthy man (verse 7)—perhaps having his pockets lined through spying and other misdeeds. Saul may have rewarded him handsomely after his massacre of the priests. Yet it is foolish to trust in money and evil accomplishments. This verse connects Psalm 52 with Psalm 49, concerning “those who trust in their wealth and boast in the multitude of their riches” (verse 6). Both psalms show that this is the way to destruction.

In contrast to the wicked, who will be uprooted from the land of the living (52:5), David says that he is like an olive tree (verse 8), which lives for hundreds of years. Indeed, planted securely “in the house of God”—ultimately not the ancient tabernacle but the family and Kingdom of God—he and the rest of the saints will flourish under the attentive care of the Master “forever and ever” (verses 8-9). The picture of the righteous as flourishing green trees ties back to the imagery of Psalm 1.

53) The foolishness of godless and corrupt mankind
Psalm 53 is another maskil of David. “To Mahalath” in the superscription, which may be part of a postscript to Psalm 52 (and also found in the superscription of Psalm 88 as part of a longer phrase), could represent the psalm being set to the tune of another song. Yet it might mean something else. The words have been variously interpreted as “On sickness,” “On suffering,” “To pipings” (on wind instruments) or “To dances” (or some sort of choreography).

Psalm 53 repeats much of Psalm 14 with some minor variation (see the Bible Reading Program comments on Psalm 14). The placement of nearly the same psalm here provides a further commentary on the sort of arrogant godless fool described in Psalms 49 and 52—and thus brings the cluster of psalms beginning with 49 to a close. It also helps to demonstrate that originally the various books of the Psalter were probably separate collections or hymnals.

One noticeable difference between the two psalms is that here the word Elohim (“God”) is used throughout rather than Yhwh (the Eternal or “LORD”).

The other significant difference occurs in verse 5. As the Zondervan NIV Study Bible notes on this verse, it “differs considerably from 14:5-6, though the basic thought remains the same: God overwhelms the godless who attack his people. Here the verbs are in the past tense (perhaps to express the certainty of their downfall).” As to God scattering the bones of the enemy, it means “over the battlefield of their defeat, their bodies left unburied like something loathsome (see Isa 14:18-20; Jer 8:2…)” (same note). However, it could also be that so many will be destroyed at the end that they will not be able to be buried for some time, such as when the godless army of Gog is destroyed (see Ezekiel 39:11-16).

The closing verse of Psalm 14 and of 53 are identical in expressing a great yearning for salvation, rejoicing and gladness when God restores His people to their land. This speaks prophetically of the future establishment of the Kingdom of God on earth.

“Be Merciful to Me, O God, for Man Would Swallow Me Up” Psalm 54
Psalm 54 is the third maskil of David out of four in a row. Neginoth in the superscription, which may be part of the postscript of Psalm 53, is probably correctly rendered in the NKJV as “stringed instruments” (and in the next superscription, which may be part of the postscript of this psalm).

Psalm 54 begins a cluster of seven prayers of David for help against enemies and betrayal at the center of Book II of the Psalter (Psalms 54-60). Note in going through these psalms that the main weapon of the enemy in most of them is the mouth. We earlier read Psalm 54 in conjunction with the account of the event mentioned in the superscription-when the people of Ziph informed Saul that David was hiding in that area (see the Bible Reading Program comments on 1 Samuel 23:15-29; Psalm 54).

These informants put David’s life in danger, as Saul was out to kill him. So David prays for God to save him by His “name” (verse 1), meaning everything God’s identity implies-who He is and what He stands for. He further asks God to vindicate him (same verse)-the context here meaning either to prove David right for trusting God (by God coming through for him) or to prove David, though a fugitive, in the right (by saving him and judging his enemies).

The “strangers” who have risen against David (verse 3) apparently refers to the Ziphite informants. And the “oppressors” seeking his life (same verse) would seem to refer to Saul and his officers. None of these, David says, are following God.

In verses 4-5, David declares his confidence in God to help him and his supporters and to punish his enemies. He prays, “Cut them off in Your truth.” The Expositor’s Bible Commentary states: “The resolution of the prayer lies in the conviction that God is just. He will not permit his children to suffer without vindication. The imprecation [or curse] is not vindictive but expressive of trust in divine justice. Evil must be repaid. The people of God believed in the boomerang effect of sin: ‘Let evil recoil [i.e., come back on those who perpetrate it]'” (note on verse 5).

Trusting in God’s deliverance, David says he will “freely sacrifice” to God (verse 6)-or “sacrifice a freewill offering” (NIV). This refers to a peace offering (see Leviticus 7:11-18; 22:18-30; Numbers 15:1-10), “given only when the worshipper wanted to say an extra-special thanks to God for his gracious, saving love” (George Knight, Psalms, Daily Study Bible Series, comments on Psalm 54).

God’s name, hearkening back to verse 1, is good-and worthy of praise (verse 6). Verse 7 may mean that deliverance has come in the midst of the song’s composition, though it perhaps more likely means that David has foreseen it clearly. Rather than including the NKJV’s interpolated words “its desire,” a better sense might simply be “My eye has seen what will come upon my enemies.”

Mark 1:29 – 2:28

In Mark 1:44 we are told that Yahshua told the Leper that He had just healed to go do according to the law of Moses those things a leper had to do once cleaned.

41 And ?????, moved with compassion, stretched out His hand and touched him, and said to him, “I desire it. Be cleansed.” 42 And immediately the leprosy left him, and he was cleansed. 43 And having strictly warned him, He immediately sent him away, 44 and said to him, “See, say none at all to anyone, but go show yourself to the priest, and offer for your cleansing what Mosheh ordered, as a witness to them.”

This law is found in Lev 14: 1 And ???? spoke to Mosheh, saying, 2 “This shall be the Torah of the leper for the day of his cleansing: He shall be brought to the priest, 3 and the priest shall go out of the camp, and the priest shall look and see, if the leprosy is healed in the leper, 4 then the priest shall command, and he shall take for him who is to be cleansed two live and clean birds, and cedar wood, and scarlet, and hyssop. 5 “And the priest shall command, and he shall kill one of the birds in an earthen vessel over running water. 6 “Let him take the live bird and the cedar wood and the scarlet and the hyssop, and dip them and the live bird in the blood of the bird that was killed over the running water. 7 “And he shall sprinkle it seven times on him who is to be cleansed from the leprosy, and shall pronounce him clean, and shall let the live bird loose in the open field. 8 “And he who is to be cleansed shall wash his garments, and shall shave off all his hair and wash himself in water, and shall be clean. Then after that he comes into the camp, but shall stay outside his tent seven days. 9 “And on the seventh day it shall be that he shaves all the hair off his head and his beard and his eyebrows, even all his hair he shaves off. And he shall wash his garments and wash his body in water, and shall be clean. 10 “And on the eighth day he takes two male lambs, perfect ones, and one ewe lamb a year old, a perfect one, and three-tenths of an ?phah of fine flour mixed with oil as a grain offering, and one log of oil. 11 “And the priest who is cleansing shall present the man who is to be cleansed, with these offerings, before ????, at the door of the Tent of Meeting. 12 “And the priest shall take one male lamb and bring it as a guilt offering, and the log of oil, and wave them as a wave offering before ????. 13 “And he shall slaughter the lamb in the place where he slaughters the sin offering and the burnt offering, in a set-apart place.[This is on the mount of Offence across the Kidron from the temple. It is outside the city] For the guilt offering, like the sin offering, belongs to the priest. It is most set-apart. 14 “And the priest shall take some of the blood of the guilt offering, and the priest shall put it on the tip of the right ear of him who is to be cleansed, and on the thumb of his right hand, and on the big toe of his right foot. 15 “And the priest shall take some of the log of oil, and pour it into the palm of his own left hand. 16 “And the priest shall dip his right finger in the oil that is in his left hand, and shall sprinkle some of the oil with his finger seven times before ????. 17 “And of the rest of the oil in his hand, the priest puts some on the tip of the right ear of him who is to be cleansed, and on the thumb of his right hand, and on the big toe of his right foot, on the blood of the guilt offering. 18 “And the rest of the oil that is in the priest’s hand he puts on the head of him who is to be cleansed. And the priest shall make atonement for him before ????. 19 “And the priest shall make the sin offering, and make atonement for him who is to be cleansed from his uncleanness. Then afterwards he slaughters the burnt offering. 20 “And the priest shall offer the burnt offering and the grain offering on the altar. And the priest shall make atonement for him, and he shall be clean. 21 “But if he is poor and is unable to afford it, then he shall take one male lamb as a guilt offering to be waved, to make atonement for him, and one-tenth of an ?phah of fine flour mixed with oil as a grain offering, and a log of oil, 22 and two turtledoves or two young pigeons, such as he is able to afford, and one shall be a sin offering and the other a burnt offering. 23 “And he shall bring them to the priest on the eighth day for his cleansing, to the door of the Tent of Meeting, before ????. 24 “And the priest shall take the lamb of the guilt offering and the log of oil, and the priest shall wave them as a wave offering before ????. 25 “And he shall slaughter the lamb of the guilt offering, and the priest shall take some of the blood of the guilt offering and put it on the tip of the right ear of him who is to be cleansed, and on the thumb of his right hand, and on the big toe of his right foot. 26 “Then the priest pours some of the oil into the palm of his own left hand. 27 “And the priest shall sprinkle with his right finger some of the oil that is in his left hand seven times before ????. 28 “And the priest shall put some of the oil that is in his hand on the tip of the right ear of him who is to be cleansed, and on the thumb of the right hand, and on the big toe of his right foot, on the place of the blood of the guilt offering. 29 “And the rest of the oil that is in the priest’s hand he puts on the head of him who is to be cleansed, to make atonement for him before ????. 30 “And he shall prepare one of the turtledoves or young pigeons, such as he is able to afford, 31 that which he is able to afford, the one as a sin offering and the other as a burnt offering, with the grain offering. And the priest shall make atonement for him who is to be cleansed before ????. 32 “This is the Torah for one who had an infection of leprosy, who is unable to afford for his cleansing.”

Take special not of the fact that the cleansing takes 7 days but on the eighth day he is cleaned and his sins atoned for. This is a huge teaching that will come out in the understanding of the eighth day of the Feast. You can read it at https://sightedmoon.com/sightedmoon_2015/?page_id=153

IN chapter 2 is one my favourite lines. 16 And when the scribes and Pharisees saw Him eating with the tax collectors and sinners, they said to His taught ones, “Why does He eat and drink with tax collectors and sinners?” 17 And hearing this, ????? said to them, “Those who are strong have no need of a physician, but those who are sick. I did not come to call the righteous to repentance, but sinners.”

Here is the one line many Christians use to excuse themselves from keeping the Sabbath or the fourth commandment.
23 And it came to be that He went through the grainfields on the Sabbath. And as they went His taught ones began to pluck heads of grain, 24 and the Pharisees said to Him, “Look, why do they do what is not right on the Sabbath?” 25 And He said to them, “Have you never read what Dawid? did when he had need and was hungry, he and those with him? 26 “How he went into the House of Elohim, while Eb?yathar was high priest, and ate the showbread, which is not right to eat, except for the priests, and he gave it also to those who were with him?” 27 And He said to them, “The Sabbath was made for man, and not man for the Sabbath. 28 “So the Son of Ad?am is also Master of the Sabbath.”1 Footnote: 1Mt. 12:8.

We explained this in great detail in 5846-10 https://sightedmoon.com/sightedmoon_2015/?page_id=636 when we covered Mathew 12 where this same subject is talked about. It is not breaking the Sabbath to pick grain by hand so that you can eat. But if you use a sickle to harvest it then you are working and this is wrong.

Do not let those who are ignorant of the law try to convince you to abandon the 4th commandment because they as Peter says do not understand the torah and twist it to their own destruction. 2 Peter 3: 15 and consider that the longsuffering of our Lord is salvation–as also our beloved brother Paul, according to the wisdom given to him, has written to you, 16 as also in all his epistles, speaking in them of these things, in which are some things hard to understand, which untaught and unstable people twist to their own destruction, as they do also the rest of the Scriptures.

Matthew 5:18For assuredly, I say to you, till heaven and earth pass away, one jot or one tittle will by no means pass from the law till all is fulfilled.

Yet many Christians try to teach you that the 4th commandment is now done away or changed to Sunday. No it has not or else Yahshua is a liar.

The 613 Mitzvot

We are also going to continue to study the 613 laws of Torah which we can read at http://www.jewfaq.org/613.htm
We are doing 7 laws each week and this week we shall study laws 156-162. We also have commentary, with editing from me, again from http://theownersmanual.net/The_Owners_Manual_02_The_Law_of_Love.Torah

156 Not to eat the flesh of a beast that died of itself (Deut. 14:21) (CCN86). See Kosher slaughtering.

(156)Do not eat the flesh of a beast that died of itself. “You shall not eat anything that dies of itself; you may give it to the alien who is within your gates, that he may eat it, or you may sell it to a foreigner; for you are a holy people to Yahweh your God.” (Deuteronomy 14:21) Here we have a slightly different scenario: an otherwise clean animal that has died of “natural causes,” either old age, disease, or accident not involving a carnivorous predator. An Israelite, being set apart for Yahweh’s purposes, was not to risk eating such meat, presumably for two reasons: first, it would be difficult to tell if the blood had been completely drained from the carcass, and second, it would have been hard to determine what role harmful microorganisms had had in the animal’s death. (Yahweh didn’t explain any of this, of course. He just said: trust Me.) Yet this situation clearly wasn’t as risky as eating the meat from an animal that had been killed by a wild predator (see #155), so Yahweh gave permission to give away or sell the meat to the foreigners living in close proximity with the Israelites.

This is one of the rare cases where Yahweh makes a specific distinction between “laws” that must be kept by Israelites but may be ignored with impunity by non-Israelites. This distinction goes a long way toward verifying my contention that the Law of Moses was to be acted out by Israel as the sign of a people set-apart from all others for Yahweh’s purpose. Its requirements, though useful and meaningful, were not religiously binding on gentiles—for instance, goyim believers were not asked to show up in Jerusalem three times a year to participate in the Feasts of Yahweh. That doesn’t mitigate the instructional value of the Torah for gentiles: we will joyfully and attentively heed its spirit and lessons if we know what’s good for us. And in cases like this, if steaks from a steer that died of old age were offered for sale by a Jew who wouldn’t eat them for religious reasons, it might behoove the discerning gentile buyer to pass on the deal.

157 To slay cattle, deer and fowl according to the laws of shechitah if their flesh is to be eaten (Deut. 12:21) (“as I have commanded” in this verse refers to the technique) (CCA48). See Kosher slaughtering.

(157)Slay cattle, deer and fowl according to the laws of shechitah if their flesh is to be eaten. “When Yahweh your God enlarges your border as He has promised you, and you say, ‘Let me eat meat,’ because you long to eat meat, you may eat as much meat as your heart desires. If the place where Yahweh your God chooses to put His name is too far from you, then you may slaughter from your herd and from your flock which Yahweh has given you, just as I have commanded you, and you may eat within your gates as much as your heart desires. Just as the gazelle and the deer are eaten, so you may eat them; the unclean and the clean alike may eat them.” (Deuteronomy 12:20-22) According to the rabbis, the phrase “as I have commanded” in this passage refers to the technique of Jewish ritual slaughtering known as shechitah. The authorized butcher, called the shochet, is to kill the animal with a quick, deep stroke across the throat with a perfectly sharp blade. This method is relatively painless, causes unconsciousness within two seconds, and allows a rapid and complete draining of the blood. Because it is recognized as the cleanest and most humane method of slaughter possible, this method is used widely, even in non-kosher slaughterhouses.

I’ve got no problem with their method of shechitah. But the context of the Deuteronomy passage reveals another issue, one more definitive of Yahweh’s admonition: “as I have commanded.” After telling them (again) not to adopt the pagan practices of the nations the Israelites were supposed to displace, Yahweh told them, “But you shall seek the place where Yahweh your God chooses, out of all your tribes, to put His name for His dwelling place; and there you shall go. There you shall take your burnt offerings, your sacrifices, your tithes, the heave offerings of your hand, your vowed offerings, your freewill offerings, and the firstborn of your herds and flocks. And there you shall eat before Yahweh your God, and you shall rejoice in all to which you have put your hand, you and your households, in which Yahweh your God has blessed you.” (Deuteronomy 12:5-7) God knew that His people were going to want to eat meat wherever they settled in the Land. And He said that was okay, as long as the meat was from a clean animal and the blood had been drained out properly (see verses 23-24; see also Mitzvah #168). But ritual sacrifices in which the meat was to be eaten were part of the prescribed Levitical worship, and these were to take place only at a designated central location He would choose (eventually to settle at Jerusalem). You could enjoy a nice steak wherever you were, but Yahweh didn’t want offerings made anywhere except where the Tabernacle/Temple and the Ark of the Covenant were. If you want to party with Yahweh, you have to go where Yahweh is hosting the party.

There is, of course, a practical application for us, even if we’re not Jews, even if we don’t live in the Land of Promise. We must meet God on God’s terms or not at all. People from Nimrod to Nadab and Abihu, from Ananias and Sapphira to Osama bin Laden, have attempted to force their way into the Kingdom of God, to sneak in through the side door, to do things their way. But Yahshua said, “I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through Me.” (John 14:6)

158 Not to eat a limb removed from a living beast (Deut. 12:23) (CCN90). See Kosher slaughtering.

(158)Do not eat a limb removed from a living beast. “Be sure that you do not eat the blood, for the blood is the life; you may not eat the life with the meat.” (Deuteronomy 12:23) The rabbis must have laid awake all night thinking up this stuff. I mean, whose mind works like that? All the Torah said was “Don’t eat blood.” (See #167.) So if that means you can’t cut the hind leg off a living animal and eat it, then okay, we won’t do that. Some things ought to go without saying, and this is one of them—which is probably why God didn’t say it.

159 Not to slaughter an animal and its young on the same day (Lev. 22:28) (CCN108).

(159)Do not slaughter an animal and its young on the same day. “Yahweh spoke to Moses, saying: When a bull or a sheep or a goat is born, it shall be seven days with its mother; and from the eighth day and thereafter it shall be accepted as an offering made by fire to Yahweh. Whether it is a cow or ewe, do not kill both her and her young on the same day.” (Leviticus 22:26-28) Remember what we discovered back in Chapter 3 (see Mitzvot #59-63) about the human parent/child relationship being symbolic of the relationship between our Creator and us? The present precept extends and clarifies the concept. This is actually a prophecy that predicts Yahweh’s amazing—dare I say illogical—mercy. All of the Levitical sacrifices ultimately point toward Yahshua’s death on a tree. Think of Him as the “parent” in this equation. Yahweh manifested Himself as a human being, only to be nailed to a tree bearing the sins of all mankind. If you or I had been God, we would have angrily turned the earth into a charcoal briquette before the sun had set, would we not? Don’t look so pious; you know it’s true.

But what did Yahweh do? He calmly continued with His plan of redemption, the course of action He had put in motion before the foundation of the world: no judgment “by fire” would be made until “seven days” had passed. Seven days? Yes, metaphorically, the complete appointed time of man on this earth—7,000 years (see II Peter 3:8), beginning with the fall of Adam, and ending with the close of the Millennial Kingdom. There is far more here than a mere plea for humanity and tenderness when dealing with livestock. This is an indication that no judgment (called here “an offering made by fire”) will fall upon sinful mankind until we have been given all the time in the world to repent and turn to Yahweh. But one way or another, God’s wrath is coming upon all of mankind. Either we will be protected from it—sheltered by the blood of our Messiah—or we will face it on our own. It’s our choice.

160 Not to take the mother-bird with the young (Deut. 22:6) (CCN189). See Treatment of Animals.

(160)Do not take the mother-bird with the young. “If a bird’s nest happens to be before you along the way, in any tree or on the ground, with young ones or eggs, with the mother sitting on the young or on the eggs, you shall not take the mother with the young; you shall surely let the mother go, and take the young for yourself, that it may be well with you and that you may prolong your days.” (Deuteronomy 22:6-7) As we saw in the previous mitzvah, the parallel relationships, parent-child and God-man, are in view. Here, however, neither judgments nor offerings are in the picture. Rather, God’s provision is seen: Yahweh’s Spirit (as the mother bird) is the one making the sacrifice; we are to thankfully accept the provision of sustenance and salvation being offered—at such great personal expense. The relinquishing of the hen’s “young ones or eggs” is a picture of God’s sacrifice of the Messiah.
But in this context, what would it mean to “take the mother with the young”? You can’t capture or kill God the way you might a bird in the field. Or can you? Some in this world, not content to gratefully acknowledge God’s provision, want to be seen as gods themselves—to be looked upon as providers, admired in all their fine-feathered glory, worshiped as lords of the air, while they exploit God’s people for their own gain. They covet the place and power of Yahweh, and by blocking others’ access to God (since they can’t actually kill Him) they conspire to take His place in the hearts and minds of the people who might otherwise benefit from Yahweh’s great gift. These verses in Deuteronomy are a warning to those who would usurp the place of God, whether through religion, politics, or commerce. Accept the Gift with thanksgiving; revere the Giver, and thereby “prolong your days.”

161 To set the mother-bird free when taking the nest (Deut. 22:6-7) (CCA74). See Treatment of Animals.

(161)Set the mother-bird free when taking the nest. “If a bird’s nest happens to be before you along the way, in any tree or on the ground, with young ones or eggs, with the mother sitting on the young or on the eggs, you shall not take the mother with the young; you shall surely let the mother go, and take the young for yourself, that it may be well with you and that you may prolong your days.” (Deuteronomy 22:6-7) This, of course, is merely the affirmative permutation of the previous mitzvah. Notice something, however: the instruction comes with a promise—the same promise that accompanied the Fifth Commandment. That shouldn’t be too surprising, since the precept, at its heart, is virtually the same: “Honor your father and your mother, that your days may be long upon the land which Yahweh your God is giving you.” (Exodus 20:12) Honoring our earthly father and mother is symbolic of our honoring our Maker, Yahweh. Leaving the mother bird unmolested while gathering her eggs is also a picture of honoring our Creator—gratefully availing ourselves of God’s sacrificial gift of salvation.

162 Not to eat the flesh of an ox that was condemned to be stoned (Ex. 21:28) (negative).

(162)Do not eat the flesh of an ox that was condemned to be stoned. “If an ox gores a man or a woman to death, then the ox shall surely be stoned, and its flesh shall not be eaten; but the owner of the ox shall be acquitted. But if the ox tended to thrust with its horn in times past, and it has been made known to his owner, and he has not kept it confined, so that it has killed a man or a woman, the ox shall be stoned and its owner also shall be put to death.” (Exodus 21:28-29) This has nothing to do with diet and everything to do with principles. First principle: no good comes from evil—the end must not justify the means, nor should the guilty prosper at the expense of the innocent. If one’s actions (or inactions) lead to death, there should be no “upside” to it for the negligent or guilty party. A modern twist on this is the idea of convicted criminals writing best-selling books about their crimes—making a fortune on others’ misfortune from behind bars. Thankfully, there are now laws prohibiting the practice. The Torah, it should be noted, always had one.

The second principle is that of personal responsibility. Accidents happen, but if they could have been prevented—even if such prevention meant inconvenience, expense, or risk to the one responsible—then they are no longer accidents, but crimes. I don’t think it’s too much of a stretch to apply this rule to one of Yahweh’s pet peeves: false teaching. If we tolerate false doctrine in our midst when it is in our power to bring the truth to light, we ourselves share the fault (see Ezekiel 3:18-19). To whom much is given, much is required.