deuteronomy 10:12-20, the father's love

Read Deu 10:12-20 at the Bible Gateway.

“And now, Israel, what does the LORD your God require of you, but to fear the LORD your God, to walk in all His ways and to love Him, to serve the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul, and to keep the commandments of the LORD and His statutes which I command you today for your good? Indeed heaven and the highest heavens belong to the LORD your God, also the earth with all that is in it. The LORD delighted only in your fathers, to love them; and He chose their descendants after them, you above all peoples, as it is this day. Therefore circumcise the foreskin of your heart, and be stiff-necked no longer. For the LORD your God is God of gods and Lord of lords, the great God, mighty and awesome, who shows no partiality nor takes a bribe. 18 He administers justice for the fatherless and the widow, and loves the stranger, giving him food and clothing. Therefore love the stranger, for you were strangers in the land of Egypt. You shall fear the LORD your God; you shall serve Him, and to Him you shall hold fast, and take oaths in His name.” Deu 10:12-20

I saw a chiastic structure in this section:

1A) Deu 10:12-13 what the Lord requires;
  1B) Deu 10:14 the greatness of God;
    --> X Deu 10:15-16 We love Him (circumcise your heart) because He first loved us;
  2B) Deu 10:17-18 the greatness of God;
2A) Deu 10:19-20 what the Lord requires.

The Father's love, delight in, and acceptance of us is the center from which all things flow. Our own circumcised heart of love toward the Lord, the fear of God which is the beginning of wisdom, and true obedience to the Lord's will, all flow from the heart that knows his Father's love.

The three actions the Father took on our behalf revealed in the central axis are:

delight: Strong's H2836, in Hebrew chashaq, q?j, chet - shin - quph. We have seen this before! The pictographs paint the picture of being bound together with a concentrated emotion, or maybe even being bound together for eternity.

love: Strong's H157, in Hebrew ahab, bha, aleph - hey - bet. We have seen this before! The pictographs paint the picture of love which reveals the heart of the father, or the strong emotion and actions inspired by the revelation that one's family is a gift from YHVH.

choose: Strong's H977, bachar, rjb, bet - chet - resh. We have seen this before! The pictographs paint the picture of the choicest animal for sacrifice which was slaughtered outside the fence; thus also the examination, the process of choosing, to determine which animal was the choicest.

So what is the Lord saying, when He says, He delighted in (chashaq) our fathers to love (ahab) them, and chose (bachar) us, their descendants, above all peoples? He bound Himself together with us, so that the connections and the entanglements formed could not be undone; and when He bound Himself together with us, He did this for all time. He bound Himself together with us because He loved us, His heart quickens with strong emotion and longing at the thought of us, and the actions He takes on our behalf are born of that strong emotion and longing. The actions He takes on our behalf reveal His Father's heart of strong love for us. Because we are the seed of those He bound Himself to out of a heart of strong love, He has examined us and chosen us as the choicest above all peoples.

What if someone is not a physical descendant of Abraham? Jesus and Paul taught us that Abraham's seed, whom God set His love upon and chose as well pleasing to Him, are those in whom the Word of God (the seed, who is Jesus Christ, Mar 4:14, Joh 1:1, 14) finds a home (Joh 8:37-47, Rom 9:6-8).

genesis 5:21-24, enoch walked with God

Read Gen 5:21-24 at the Bible Gateway.

All of the parshas from Gen 5:1-31 follow the same pattern, with one exception. Establishing a pattern is a teaching tool of Torah, and breaking an established pattern is another teaching tool of Torah.

Gen 5:1-5 (stumah): the mortality of Adam (his name means “man”).
Gen 5:6-8 (stumah): the mortality of Seth (his name means “appointed”).
Gen 5:9-11 (stumah): the mortality of Enosh (his name means “mortality”).
Gen 5:12-14 (stumah): the mortality of Kenan (his name means “possessed of sorrow”).
Gen 5:15-17 (stumah): the mortality of Mahalalel (his name means “praise of God”).
Gen 5:18-20 (stumah): the mortality of Jared (his name means “descend”).
Gen 5:21-24 (stumah): Enoch walked with God and did not die (his name means “teaching”).
Gen 5:25-27 (stumah): the mortality of Methuselah (his name means, “his death shall bring”).
Gen 5:28-31 (stumah): the mortality of Lamech (his name means “despairing”), and the birth of Noah (his name means, “comfort, rest”).

Gen 5:21-24:
The history of Enoch is different from the history of all the other patriarchs. God says something about Enoch that he doesn't say about any of the others, even Adam or Seth. Enoch walked with God. And he did not die - God took him. The asumption is that he was taken to heaven alive as Elijah was. God is teaching us by breaking the pattern previously established in Torah, that man suffers mortality, but the man who walks with God does not die.

The Hebrew word “walk” is used one time previously in Genesis: when God walked in the Garden in the cool of the day (Gen 3:8). When God walked in the Garden, that was when He was coming to meet with man! In Gen 3:8, God walks with man; in Gen 5:22, man walks with God.

“Walk” is Hebrew halak, Strong's H1980, ilh hey - lamed - kaph, from an even more primitive root, il lamed - kaph.
l lamed: this is the shepherd's staff, so it also means whatever a shepherd does with his staff - teach, guide, direct, correct, exercse authority or discipline.
i,k kaph: the open palm, also blessing, welcome, giving.

The lamed - kaph root is the picture of the staff in the palm, as a nomad would grasp when he went anywhere, thus “to walk.” (Our English word “walk” is from this Hebrew root: see the l - k, the lamed - kaph? Hebrew is the mother tongue, from which all the languages were divided at Babel.)

The addition of the h hey on the front: the hey is the picture of the man with his arms upraised in wonder, worship, exclamation, astonishment. Thus it often indicates revelation. So ilh hey - lamed - kaph is to walk a revealed path - to walk a journey, thus to live a lifestyle (to walk a journey through life).

Now Enoch was a prophet (Jud 14-15) who warned of two judgments to come which would destroy all the earth: the first by water, the second by fire. When his son was born, he prophesied that when his son died, the first judgment would come, thus he named him Methuselah, “his death shall bring.” Methuselah is the longest- lived person in the Bible at 969 years; thus even in this age, we see God extending grace, and delaying the time of judgment to give as many as possible time to repent!

The theme of the parsha stumah from Gen 5:21-24 is Enoch walked with God, and did not die.

parashah sefer (record), genesis 5:1-6:8

We study the Torah according to the triennial cycle every Sabbath (Why?). being aware of the teaching tools employed by Torah, and looking for them, so that we can get the message God is trying to convey.

Today is the 4th Sabbath of the triennial cycle: parashah (Torah portion) Sefer / Record, Gen 5:1-6:8 (read at Bible Gateway or the Hebrew Bible in English).

Additional readings for this week:
Prophet: Isa 30 / Psalm: Ps 4 / History: Job 7-8 / Gospel: Mat 23 / Apostolic: Rom 1

Parsha (paragraph) divisions in this week’s Torah portion:
Gen 5:1-5 ends in a parsha stumah, a weak paragraph division.
Gen 5:6-8 ends in a stumah.
Gen 5:9-11 ends in a stumah.
Gen 5:12-14 ends in a stumah.
Gen 5:15-17 ends in a stumah.
Gen 5:18-20 ends in a stumah.
Gen 5:21-24 ends in a stumah.
Gen 5:25-27 ends in a stumah.
Gen 5:28-31 ends in a stumah.
Gen 5:32-6:4 ends in a parsha p'tuchah, a strong paragraph division.
Gen 6:5-8 ends in a p'tuchah.

The theme of the parsha stumah from Gen 5:1-5 is the mortality of Adam.
The theme of the parsha stumah from Gen 5:6-8 is the mortality of Seth.
The theme of the parsha stumah from Gen 5:9-11 is the mortality of Enosh.

And so on and so forth, so that it can be said of the parsha stumahs from Gen 5:1-31 that their theme is the mortality of man. God is employing one of the teaching tools of Torah, which is to establish a pattern.

However, one of the parsha stumahs in this section breaks the pattern previously established - this is also a teaching tool of Torah. The theme of the parsha stumah from Gen 5:21-24 is Enoch walked with God, and did not die.

The theme of the parsha p'tuchah from Gen 5:32-6:4 is first, the depravity of the sin which had leavened the earth; and second, that the mortal flesh of man strives with the immortal Spirit of God.

God cleansed His “house,” the earth, of the sin which had leavened it, just as on Unleavened Bread, which we just finished celebrating, we cleanse our houses of leaven: “Therefore purge out the old leaven, that you may be a new lump, since you truly are unleavened. For indeed Christ, our Passover, was sacrificed for us.” 1 Cor 5:7

The theme of the parsha p'tuchah from Gen 6:5-8 is that man will be exiled from the earth as judgment for sin.

In order to see the big picture painted by this parashah, we need to back up to the last parsha p'tuchah, so that we can “see” the entire paragraph with all its sub topics:

Gen 3:22-24 (stumah): Adam is exiled (from Eden) as judgment for sin.
Gen 4:1-26 (stumah): Cain is exiled from the presence of YHVH as judgment for sin.
Gen 5:1-5 (stumah): the mortality of Adam (his name means “man”).
Gen 5:6-8 (stumah): the mortality of Seth (his name means “appointed”).
Gen 5:9-11 (stumah): the mortality of Enosh (his name means “mortality”).
Gen 5:12-14 (stumah): the mortality of Kenan (his name means “possessed of sorrow”).
Gen 5:15-17 (stumah): the mortality of Mahalalel (his name means “praise of God”).
Gen 5:18-20 (stumah): the mortality of Jared (his name means “descend”).
Gen 5:21-24 (stumah): Enoch walked with God and did not die (his name means “teaching”).
Gen 5:25-27 (stumah): the mortality of Methuselah (his name means, “his death shall bring”), and the prophecy of coming judgment.
Gen 5:28-31 (stumah): the mortality of Lamech (his name means “despairing”), and with the birth of Noah, the prophecy of coming rest (Noah's name means “comfort, rest”).
Gen 5:32-6:4 (p'tuchah): the depravity of the sin which had leavened the earth.
Gen 6:5-8 (p'tuchah): man will be exiled from the earth as judgment for sin.

By making Gen 3:22-6:4 a single strong paragraph, God is teaching us about three exiles as a result of sin - Adam's exile from Eden, Cain's exile from the presence of YHVH which was with Adam's family, and mankind's exile from the earth in judgment (“I will blot out man from the earth,” Gen 6:7a). Sin precedes each of these exiles. BUT! In the face of mortality, sin, and judgment, we find that Enoch walked with God and did not die; and Noah walked with God and found grace in the eyes of YHVH!

Finding Messiah in Torah

Here is the Gospel presented in Genesis! Not only overtly in the history of Enoch and Noah, but also covertly as a second witness of confirmation: notice that the first ten patriarchs before the Flood tell the prophecy of Elohiym's plan of salvation in their names. “Man is appointed mortality possessed with sorrow, but the blessed God shall come down, teaching; and His death shall bring the despairing, comfort and rest.”

“For I am God, and there is no other;
I am God, and there is none like Me,
Declaring the end from the beginning,
And from ancient times things that are not yet done,
Saying, ‘My counsel shall stand,
And I will do all My pleasure.” Isa 46:9-10

Listen, if anyone needs proof that the Bible is a supernatural book not born from the imagination of men, this is only one proof of multiplied thousands which we will find in its pages.

genesis 6:5-8, “I will blot out man”

Read Gen 6:5-8 at the Bible Gateway.

It just so happens there is another chiastic structure in Gen 6:5-8:

1A) 6.5 YHVH saw the wickedness of men;
  1B) 6.6 YHVH's sorrow over the wickedness of men;
    -->CENTRAL AXIS 6.7a “YHVH said, “I will blot out man whom I have created from the face of the land, from man to animals to creeping things and to birds of the sky;”
  2B) 6.7b YHVH's sorrow;
2A) 6.8 YHVH saw (in the eyes of) Noah with favor (or grace).

This is the first occurrence of the word “grace” in the Scriptures. The first occurrence provides the definition.

Grace is Strong's H2580, chen /j, from the primitive root, Strong's H2603, chanan /nj, chet - nun - nun. The ancient pictographs are of the fence, and seed upon seed. Chen, then, is the fence that continues; i.e., when nomads encamped in a place, the families set up their tents so that all the tents formed a circle - a continuous fence. The tribal clan lived and worked within the circle, within the continuous fence. It was home. It was the place of family, of beauty, freedom, and mercy.

Noah was found to be within YHVH's continuous fence; he was found to be of the Lord's family.

Brad Scott on the mountain top meaning of chen.

Why was YHVH sorry with all the other men, but Noah found grace with Him? In the next verse (Gen 6:9), we see that Noah was a righteous man who walked (halek) with God. Torah is not teaching salvation by works, because God is clear that Noah found grace; however, Torah is teaching that righteousness and walking with God accompanies grace and salvation. Torah is painting a picture of two kinds of men: those who align themselves with God, and who, as a result of that alignment, walk with Him, and those who align themselves against God, choosing to walk their own way - not in the revealed path.

This parsha also reveals to us that the heart of God is grieved over wickedness and sinfulness. He isn't just looking for opportunities to squash sinners like ants, gleefully; but evil and wickedness grieves His tender and loving heart.

genesis 5:32-6:4, the nephilim

Read Gen 5:32-6:4 at the Bible Gateway.

This parsha begins differently than the previous parshas. Instead of saying “Person x lived y number of years, and begot Person z,” it says, “Noah was five hundred years old, and begot Shem, Ham, and Japheth.” We soon discover that Noah's history deviates from the history of the previous patriarchs (Enoch excepted). It seems that the Torah makes an abrupt change of subject and begins talking about sons of God and daughters of men. But in fact, the entire passage from 5:32-6:4 stays on the same topic, as we can tell from the paragraph divisions! It is our job to discover how the seemingly disparate elements relate a single topic theme.

God is providing us detail as to why Noah's history, which will continue, deviates from the pattern previously set. In fact, this parsha forms a chiastic structure:

1A) 6.1 daughters of men born;
  1B) 6.2 sons of Elohiym took them for wives;
    --> CENTRAL AXIS 6.3 “My Spirit shall not strive with man forever, because he is also flesh; nevertheless his days shall be one hundred and twenty years;”
  2B) 6.4 children of the sons of Elohiym;
2A) 6.4 that the daughters of men bore to them.

So what was going on here? The sons of Elohiym were most likely angelic beings who had rebelled against YHVH when Lucifer fell and earned the name satan for himself (which means, “adversary”, Rev 12:7-9). Thus they are called fallen angels. In the literature of the ancient world, “sons of God” is a term used for both good and evil supernatural beings. I believe what the enemy was trying to do here, since God had told the woman that her seed would crush Satan's head, was to pollute the gene pool so that the Promised Seed could not come.

The children of these demonic unions were called nephilim, an ancient Hebrew word of uncertain meaning. The KJV renders it “giants,” and it is true that most cultures contain giant myths, who were great in size and strength, but were mostly evil. These giants were demi-gods, i.e., the sons of the “gods” united with human women. Sound familiar? Only in Greek mythology are the demi-gods counted as heroic (the Greeks exalted the serpent as the revealer of secret wisdom); in all others the giants were terrible evil beings who were feared.

Nephilim is Strong's H5303, from the primitive root naphal, Strong's H5307, lpn, nun - pey - lamed. The nun n is the seed (or sperm), also sons or descendants; the pey p is the mouth, also blow, scatter, or edge; and the lamed l is the shepherd's staff.

lp, pey - lamed, is its own primitive root meaning judgment, i.e., the mouth speaking from authority (the shepherd's staff). Thus nephilim is “sons of judgment,” the sons of those who were judged unworthy of heaven - fallen angels.

Jude in the New Testament talks about Enoch, who was a prophet, and who wrote a book of prophecy (however not included in the canon as it had been heavily edited at some point after the Flood) about this particular sin of the fallen angels, and the wickedness of men who followed them:

“And the angels who did not keep their proper domain, but left their own abode, He has reserved in everlasting chains under darkness for the judgment of the great day;” Jud 6

“Now Enoch, the seventh from Adam, prophesied about these men also, saying, “Behold, the Lord comes with ten thousands of His saints, 15 to execute judgment on all, to convict all who are ungodly among them of all their ungodly deeds which they have committed in an ungodly way, and of all the harsh things which ungodly sinners have spoken against Him.”” Jud 14-15

Now that this sin in particular, immorality with fallen angels, is singled out before the account of the Flood, might give us a clue as to why God chose to destroy mankind. Noah was perfect in his generations (Gen 6:9), i.e., one valid understanding of the Hebrew is that Noah was pure in his genetics, his gene pool. All the other men were destroyed so that the gene pool could not be corrupted again, and the Promised Seed could come.

The theme of the parsha p'tuchah from Gen 5:32-6:4 is that the mortal flesh of man strives with the immortal Spirit of God.

genesis 5:1-5, the mortality of adam

Read Gen 5:1-5 at the Bible Gateway.

“Book” in verse 1 is the Hebrew word sefer which means a written record. This is additional evidence from the beginning that Genesis is not an orally transmitted (i.e., evolved) mythology of the Hebrew people, but beginning with Adam, this history was written down.

As Adam was God's son, so Seth was Adam's son. From the very beginning of Genesis God is revealing who He is to man: Creator, then Judge, but just as importantly, Father.

The son whom Adam begot, was Seth. No mention is made of Cain or Abel. This is because Abel was dead and could not bear children to continue Adam's line, and Cain, although alive and bearing children, was shown, in the last parashah, to be fathering a line of children who did not know the presence of God and who followed in their father's footsteps in doing evil. Thus, by following the geneaology through Seth in this parashah, Torah is making a distinction between two families of men in the earth: the family of Cain, the unrighteous seed who rebelled, and the family of Seth, the righteous seed who obeyed.

This is a sixth teaching tool of Torah: comparison, and contrast. God places two different geneaologies next to each other, why? So that we can discover, by comparing them, how they are similar or different.

Then we discover that after bearing other sons and daughters (Josephus states that Adam bore thirty-three sons and twenty-three daughters), Adam died, after 930 years. God promised him that if he ate the fruit, he would die, and so he did.

The topic of the parsha stumah from Gen 5:1-5 is the mortality of Adam.

“counting the omer”

“And you shall count for yourselves from the day after the Sabbath, from the day that you brought the sheaf of the wave offering: seven Sabbaths shall be completed. Count fifty days to the day after the seventh Sabbath; then you shall offer a new grain offering to the LORD.” Lev 23:15-16

Counting the omer is what Jews call this time of counting seven Sabbaths or counting fifty days following the Feast of Firstfruits. It is called that, because when the fifty days are completed, we come to the next feast, the Feast of Weeks, in which an omer (a unit of measure of volume) of new grain - wheat - is offered to the Lord. So the time between the firstfruits offering of barley (on the Feast of Firstfruits), and the firstfruits offering of wheat (on the Feast of Weeks) is known as counting (up to) the omer.

This is the only instruction we have for the period leading up to Weeks. All we are asked to do is count. Some people have special devotions for each day, and do extra things, however; nothing but counting is necessary.

Now it is interesting that seven Sabbaths pass - seven sevens. Seven in Hebrew is from the root word sheva, which means to complete or finish a cycle. Seven is found everywhere in Scripture in context with completion and rest.

Brad Scott at Wildbranch Ministry has posted a fascinating study on the number seven and its meaning in Hebrew, and as it is used in Scripture.

It is also interesting that fifty days pass. Fifty is the number most associated with the Spirit of God in the Scriptures. Every fifty years, Israel was to keep a year of Jubilee, a year of liberty from debt and bondage (Lev 25:8-10). In fact, the instruction for the year of Jubilee mirrors, by years, the counting of the omer that we do in days every year, from Firstfruits to Weeks. That is not a coincidence.

“Now the Lord is the Spirit, and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty.” 2 Cor 3:17

Brad Scott at Wildbranch Ministry has also posted a fascinating study on the number fifty and its meaning in Hebrew, and as it is used in Scripture.

Every year that I keep the practice of counting the omer, I gain more insight into why God has this practice in the Bible, why He considers it righteousness, and how it relates to my new life in Jesus Christ my Lord!

why I began celebrating the seventh day sabbath

In April of 2007, I knew of one person in my life, a Christian, my maid of honor at my wedding, my friend who was instrumental in leading me to the Lord over 30 years ago, who celebrated a day of rest on the seventh day, as Scriptures command for the Sabbath day. We had already been celebrating the feasts of the Lord; we had for several years. We attended a church which holds a big feast of Tabernacles celebration every year. This previous year, the pastor was saying that one year, a conflict came up in the schedule (this must have been before we were going there) and they decided to have the Tabernacles on a different day than the actual day, thinking it would make no difference to the Lord (being ignorant Gentiles -- his words) and the presence of the Lord, which is so strong among us during this celebration, was absent that year. He said it mattered to God that we celebrate His feasts according to His calendar.

So I was thinking about that on a Friday in April of 2007, when I looked up in Leviticus 23 to remind myself of the command concerning the feasts. I knew this, but had forgotten it -- the weekly feast of Sabbath is the first feast listed. I asked myself, “Why do we celebrate all the feasts but this one?” I spoke with my husband, who believes that Sabbath- keeping is no longer required, and I asked him, “Would you mind if I kept the Sabbath on Saturday? I am curious to discover what will happen.” He had no objection, so I prepared dinner for that evening, and extra food for the next day, and cleared up all my work.

Then when the sun began to set, I excused myself from the family, went into my “prayer closet,” and prayed to the Lord, “I am not exactly sure what to do, but the Scriptures say that in six days You made the heavens and the earth, and rested on the seventh day, and hallowed it; and we are to keep the seventh day holy -- the seventh day is beginning, so here I am to honor You.” These words were barely out of my mouth when the presence of the Lord descended so powerfully upon me that I could not speak any longer. I ended up worshiping the Lord for several hours, but it seemed like only a few minutes had passed. I slept like a baby that night, and had the most peaceful day the next day, filled with joy. We attend church Saturday evenings anyway, and as we were coming out of the assembly of the believers that night, the sun was setting. I told the Lord, “That was the most beautiful seventh day I have ever experienced -- thank You for making the Sabbath for man.”

My next task was to study all that the Scriptures say concerning the Sabbath, and why the Church does not celebrate this day. From my experiment on that Friday evening in April of 2007, it seemed to me that the Lord was pleased and blessed my Sabbath day of rest.

the spring holy days

The spring feast days are three, and all fall within a one week period of each other: Passover, Unleavened Bread, and Firstfruits.

passover

At Passover, God judged Egypt in the 10th plague, and the firstborn of every man and beast in Egypt died on the same night (Exo 12). The Hebrews, however, placed the blood of the lamb on the doorposts of their houses, and the angel of death “passed over” them. Thus they were liberated from Egypt and slavery on that night.

Nearly fifteen hundred years later, on the 14th day of the first month, the day of Passover, as Israel was preparing their lambs for sacrifice, Jesus our Messiah was nailed to the cross, and He became our Passover Lamb (1 Cor 5:7). John the Baptist said of Him, “Behold! The Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world!” (Joh 1:29). When we apply His shed blood to the doorposts of our hearts, the angel of death passes over us.

Notice this is something we must do. The Lamb has been slain from the foundation of the world (Rev 13:8), but we must apply His blood to our households and our hearts. God does not do it for us. He has provided the Lamb for Himself (Gen 22:8), but we must, by faith, receive His sacrifice for ourselves! The Egyptians did not, and they were not delivered from the angel of death. When we apply the blood of Yeshua to the doorposts of our heart, God redeems us from the kingdom of darkness (a type of Egypt), where we were kept in slavery and bondage to sin (Rom 6:6-7).

Jesus commanded His disciples to keep the Passover in remembrance of Him - His death, burial, and resurrection which was to come (Luk 22:19). Passover commemorates the death of Jesus on the cross, and all that His death accomplished (Isa 53:3-10) - our redemption and deliverance from slavery and sin!

unleavened bread

The week which followed the Passover meal was Unleavened Bread, for Israel left Egypt in haste with their dough unleavened. For one week they ate unleavened bread. At the end of the week, on the seventh day, God delivered them through the Red Sea and drowned the Egyptian army which was pursuing them to bring them back into slavery.

Leaven is a allegory of sin. For just as yeast in dough begins as a small foothold, but soon multiplies until the whole lump of dough is leavened, so sin begins as a small foothold in our hearts, and can then multiply until it has leavened our whole heart with sin. As Israel removed leaven from their houses in preparation for Passover and Unleavened Bread (Exo 12:15), likewise, we ought to examine our hearts and our homes, and remove every trace of sin which might have gained a foothold, so that we can also celebrate this feast in sincerity and truth (1 Cor 5:8) - not giving lip service to the freedom from sin that God has purchased for us with His own blood, while we harbor secret sins in the recesses of our hearts.

firstfruits

When Israel entered the Promised Land, on the anniversary of their deliverance from Egypt, they offered up the first and best portion of the barley harvest in thanksgiving to God, for He had made them to cease wandering, and had brought them into a good Land, and gave them new life after winter, and an abundant harvest (Lev 23:9-14). This feast of Firstfruits has been celebrated every year since, on the Sunday following Passover, during the week of Unleavened Bread.

Three days and nights following Yeshua's crucifixion on Passover, He was raised from the dead with new life, on the feast day of Firstfruits. He is the firstfruits of the resurrection (1 Cor 15:20). Just as His body was buried a natural body, but raised up a spiritual body, one day our bodies too will be clothed with immortality, and this corruption will put on incorruption (1 Cor 15:42-45). Until that day, it is by the resurrection of Jesus that we too have become a new creation in this life (2 Cor 5:17).

summary

The work and ministry of Jesus our Messiah as described by the three spring holy days, and the transforming effect it has upon us who receive Him by faith, is summed up by Paul in Romans:

“What shall we say then? Shall we continue in sin that grace may abound? Certainly not! How shall we who died to sin live any longer in it? Or do you not know that as many of us as were baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into His death? Therefore we were buried with Him through baptism into death, that just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, even so we also should walk in newness of life. For if we have been united together in the likeness of His death, certainly we also shall be in the likeness of His resurrection, knowing this, that our old man was crucified with Him, that the body of sin might be done away with, that we should no longer be slaves of sin. For he who has died has been freed from sin. Now if we died with Messiah, we believe that we shall also live with Him, knowing that Messiah, having been raised from the dead, dies no more. Death no longer has dominion over Him. For the death that He died, He died to sin once for all; but the life that He lives, He lives to God. Likewise you also, reckon yourselves to be dead indeed to sin, but alive to God in Messiah Yeshua our Lord.” Rom 6:1-11

Passover = death. At the Passover, Messiah was crucified, and we too have been united with Him in the likeness of His death. It is our old man who was crucified with Him.

Unleavened Bread = burial. During Unleavened Bread, Moses led Israel through the Red Sea on dry ground, and so Israel was baptized into the sea (1 Cor 10:1-2). Likewise, Messiah's body was in the ground during the feast of Unleavened Bread, and we also were buried with Him through baptism into death (Rom 6:4). Just as His body was done away with, or buried, so our body of sin was likewise done away with, or buried, so that we should no longer be slaves of sin. For Unleavened Bread is a picture of freedom from sin (leaven).

Firstfruits = resurrection. On this day, Messiah was raised from the dead, and just as He was raised from the dead, so we too might walk in newness of life! When we keep the spring holy days in sincerity and truth (1 Cor 5:8, walking a pure walk of new life free from sin) we bear witness to the death, burial, and resurrection of Jesus our Lord!

parashah hen haadam (behold the man), genesis 3:22-4:26

We study the Torah according to the triennial cycle every Sabbath. (Why?)

We must understand the paragraph divisions in Torah, which are inspired by the Spirit and preserved by Moses and the Jewish scribes (but discarded by the English translators), are key to help us understand what God is trying to tell us. He wants to be understood, and has provided these helps to aid us! We must also understand how the Spirit teaches through Torah by common theme.

Today is the 3rd Sabbath of the triennial cycle: parashah (Torah portion) Hen HaAdam / Behold the man, Gen 3:22-4:26 (read at Bible Gateway or the Hebrew Bible in English).

Additional readings for this week:

Prophet: Jer 1 / Psalm: Ps 3 / History: Job 5-6 / Gospel: Mat 28 / Apostolic: Rom 3

Parsha (paragraph) divisions in this week’s Torah portion:
Gen 3:22-24 ends in a parsha stumah, a weak paragraph division.
Gen 4:1-26 ends in a parsha stumah.

In Gen 3:22-24, God exiles Adam and Eve from Eden in response to their sin. He said that it was so that he would not also take a fruit from the tree of life, and live forever (vs. 22). God had told them that if they ate from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, they would die. God did not lie to them. The death they experienced in that moment was not the death of the mortal body (although from that instant their mortal bodies began to die, i.e. age), but the death of the spirit. Their spirits were now stained with the knowledge of what was evil.

We need to just tuck into the back of our minds, that rebellion = sin = death.

God does not want Adam and Eve to now live forever, in the state of spiritual death which they were now in. If they ate of the tree of life while they were in a state of spiritual death, they would live forever in a state of spiritual death. He did not want that, because He had a plan to redeem us from death (Gen 3:15). So to protect them, He exiled them from Eden.

Now we see that rebellion = sin = death = exile.

When we are in a state of spiritual death, we cannot be where God is. We must be exiled from His presence – not because He doesn’t love us anymore. But because sin cannot abide in His presence - it would mean death for us. Therefore, exile.

Gen 3:22-24 parsha topic: exile is a consequence of sin and death.

In Gen 4:1-26, we see a repeating pattern of knowledge, sin, death, and exile (repetition is the second teaching tool God employs in Torah). Cain and Abel grew up with the knowledge of good and evil. Abel chose to do good, while Cain chose to do evil. We can see this from the talk God had with Cain afterwards - it seemed as if Cain knew what it was that was “doing well,” (Gen 4:7), and that God was encouraging him to choose to do well instead of choosing to do sin.

Gen 4:7 is the first occurrence of the word “sin” in the Bible. In Scripture, a Hebrew word’s first occurrence also provides its definition. This is the fourth teaching tool of Torah.

The Hebrew word is chattath, Strong’s H2403, from the root word Strong’s H2398, chata, afj chet - tav – aleph (see the original meaning of the Hebrew at the Ancient Hebrew Alphabet Chart).
j chet: the fence or dividing wall, also, outside, divide, or halve.
f tet, originally a tav: the crossed sticks, x, mark, sign, target.
a aleph: the ox head, strong, powerful, leader.

When looking at the ancient Hebrew, we have to remember that God designed the language in stick figures, and it was meant to be understood by five- year- olds looking at the pictures, who did not even know how to read yet. The picture is telling us: outside the target, strongly. Sin is being strongly outside the target. Strongly missing the mark. The target is God’s way of doing well. Sin is outside of doing well. Not off by a little bit. You want to avoid pork, and you clean the pork out of your house, but you discover one day that pop tarts have gelatin in them. Ooooops! That is not sin. That is not strongly missing the mark. That is a mistake.

This history of Cain and Abel helps to define sin for us. Cain deliberately disobeyed. The heart attitude he consistently displays is one of pride, resentment, stubbornness, rebellion, and selfishness. There is not a glimmer of remorse or submission to God's will anywhere in this narrative. Sin - strongly missing the mark - had made itself Cain's master. He had bowed the knee to it and not to God.

Furthermore, in comparing last week's parashah with this one, we see that God deals with these two instances of sin in exactly the same way. Lay both instances out side and side, point for point, and see. Comparison is the fifth teaching tool of Torah. His disciplinary style is the perfection of wisdom. He is the model for any parent wishing to learn how to handle the disobedience and sin of their children effectively for their good, and for the peace of the home.

Gen 4:1-26 parsha topic: exile is a consequence of sin and death.

Finding the Messiah in Torah

Jewish tradition states that Cain and Abel brought their offerings on the 14th of the month in which the barley was in its head – Passover! You see, God set up the sun, moon, and stars to mark His appointed times on the 4th day of Creation (Gen 1:14, “seasons” is the Hebrew word moed, translated “feast day” many other places in Torah). God’s holy days have been holy to Him from the very beginning. The reason major historical and spiritual events seem to take place on His days are because they are His days in the first place.

Abel was killed on Passover – the righteous by the unrighteous. By this we understand that Abel was a type, a foreshadow, of Messiah who was to come (Heb 11:4, 12:24). The Torah reveals Messiah to us, and in this Torah portion, the Torah teaches us that the Messiah, when He comes, will be righteous, however killed by the unrighteous on God’s appointed holy day of the 14th of the month of Aviv - the month of ripening barley. This identification from the Word of God helps us – Jews – everyone - recognize Messiah when He comes.

God's Word is amazing! This is the Sabbath following Passover, and this Torah portion teaches us about Messiah's death at Passover!

parashah toledoth (generations), genesis 2:4-3:21

We study the Torah according to the triennial cycle every Sabbath. (Why?)

We must understand the paragraph divisions in Torah, which are inspired by the Spirit and preserved by Moses and the Jewish scribes (but discarded by the English translators), are key to help us understand what God is trying to tell us. He wants to be understood, and has provided these helps to aid us! We must also understand how the Spirit teaches through Torah by common theme.

Today is the 2nd Sabbath of the triennial cycle: parashah (Torah portion) Toledoth / Generations, Gen 2:4-3:21. (Read at Bible Gateway or the Hebrew Bible in English.)

Additional readings for this week:
Prophet: Eze 28 / Psalm: Ps 2 / History: Job 3-4 / Gospel: Mat 4:1-11 / Apostolic: Rom 5

The first teaching device which the Holy Spirit placed in Torah are His paragraph divisions! In Torah scrolls, copied without change from the original which Moses wrote on Sinai, there are two different types of paragraph divisions - a strong division and a weak division. Last week we learned about the first paragraph division, the strong paragraph division. This week we will learn about the second paragraph division, the weak paragraph division, marked by the Hebrew character stumah. (I mark the ends of these paragraphs in my English Bible with a penciled- in “s”.)

Gen 2:4-3:15 ends with a parsha (paragraph) stumah, a weak paragraph division.

Every portion of Scripture that ends in a stumah division indicates a continuation of a theme or topic.

That such a long passage ends with a stumah, means that God considers the entire passage from Gen 2:4-3:15 a single paragraph with its own main idea - and that the paragraph is a sub theme of a greater topic.

Gen 3:16 ends with a stumah.
This means God considers this single sentence its own paragraph, teaching its own sub theme of a greater topic.

Gen 3:17-21 ends with a parsha p'tuchah, a strong paragraph division.
This means that God considers this section to be its own paragraph with its own sub theme; furthermore, that the entire passage from Gen 2:4-3:21 is teaching an overarching theme, with three sub themes (as the end of Gen 2:3 was where the last p'tuchah was found).

Right away in the beginning of this Torah portion, there is the establishing of a new pattern, which is different from the pattern established in the previous section. In last week's Torah portion, every time God is mentioned, the Hebrew word used is Elohiym, a masculine plural noun meaning Supreme Being; i.e., He who created the heavens and the earth. This name reveals Elohiym’s plurality of being, His might and creative power, and His character of righteousness, justice, and sovereignty.

But in this week's Torah portion, in almost every place that God is mentioned, it is translated as LORD God. The Hebrew for this is YHVH Elohiym. We are introduced to the four letters, the tetragrammaton, the personal name of Elohiym, meaning “I AM,” the self- existent One; also He was, He is, and He will be, or the eternal One. The personal name of Elohiym is pronounced Yehovah or Yahweh.

So why the change? Last week we saw that the second teaching tool God uses in order to instruct us is to establish a pattern in His Word (the first tool is the paragraph divisions of p'tuchah and stumah). This week we see a third teaching tool God uses in His Word - breaking a pattern previously established. Whenever we see a break in a pattern, we should ask ourselves, “Why the change?” Because the change is there deliberately; God is trying to tell us something!

My theory is that there has been a change of author. In Gen 2:4, “This is the account of the heavens and the earth,” the word “account” is the Hebrew toledoth, meaning generations, or history, or even, book. That this section of Genesis is a very ancient written record, and not an oral record until the time of Moses, has been proven by clues embedded in the Torah scroll. Who was the one who wrote it down? Well, the only man alive to witness the events recorded in this section was Adam. He is the author, under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit (thus it still remains the Word of God).

That begs the question, then who wrote last week's Torah portion, from Gen 1:1-2:3? The answer must be, logically, the only one alive to witness the events recorded therein - God. He gave the history from Gen 1:1-2:3 to Adam, and Adam, beginning in 2:4, added his own eyewitness account, or toledoth. This is why the creation account in Gen 2 seems to differ from the creation account in Gen 1. They are not contradictory, but just the same events witnessed from two different perspectives. God relayed His account chronologically; however, Adam relayed his account according to a different criteria - thematically. We get in trouble when we expect every narrative in Scripture to be chronological. Understanding this eliminates half the charges of contradictions in the Bible out there. :)

Back to the paragraph stumah from Gen 2:4-3:15. What is the point of this paragraph, the main idea? Whenever we are faced with a section of Scripture bounded by the Lord's paragraph markers, we should ask ourselves, “Why is this section a single paragraph?” What is the point God is trying to get across, by including all these verses (or limiting to these verses) in this paragraph? There is no right or wrong answer. The Holy Spirit will reveal things to us as we seek Him and ask (Joh 16:13).

The topic that I came up with, is that Disobedience to YHVH's Command is the definition of Sin. For it is this incident, the Fall of Man, by which Sin is introduced into God's perfect Creation (as we can see by reading the Apostolic portion of Scripture that accompanies this Torah portion). Notice that God does not end the paragraph, however, until He has given the promise of the Seed of the Woman, who will crush the head of the serpent! Even now, at man's worst moment, God is extending grace and hope to him!

The theme of the paragraph stumah from Gen 3:16 is the curse on the woman. The theme of the paragraph from Gen 3:17-21 is the curse on the man. The word translated “pain” for the woman in verse 16 and the word translated “toil” for the man in verse 17 is the same word in Hebrew: itstsabon. They received the same curse as a result of their sin: toil, or work. The woman's work, I believe, is moreover lifelong, just as the man's is. Her work is in not only bearing children, but rearing them, in making the home for her and her husband and her children to dwell in. His work is in provision - he goes out from the home, and procures by toiling the food (or material things) necessary to sustain himself and his family.

Notice that in the woman's curse, she is also placed in submission to her husband. In Torah portion Bereisheet, both the man and the woman were given equal dominion over the creation. Neither of them were subservient to the other. Now God creates a hierarchy: man, then woman, then creation. Creation is still subject to the man and the woman, but woman is now subject to her husband (not just any man). Who is the man subject to? YHVH, and all mankind and creation is also subject to YHVH through the man's dominion. He exercises dominion in order to bring his wife, his children, and the creation into obedience to YHVH.

The men and women (and children) who understand God's authority, order, and plan, and who order their lives in cooperation with Him and not in opposition to Him, will bring blessings upon themselves (see Psalm 1 from last week)!

So now that we have main ideas for the weak paragraphs, let's see what the main idea is for the strong paragraph, from Gen 2:4-3:21.

Gen 2:4-3:21 ends in a p'tuchah.
a. Gen 2:4-3:15 (stumah) Sin is disobedience to God's command.
b. Gen 3:16 (stumah) The curse on the woman - work (painful toil).
c. Gen 3:17-21 The curse on the man - work (painful toil).

What comes to my mind for the main idea of the entire section is that Sin Brings the Curse of Work. Can it be that sin brings the curse of works on mankind as well - working in order to earn righteousness before God? And here is another instance of the Lord's grace: He established the seventh day as a day of rest, holy to YHVH, before sin, the curse, or work ever entered God's perfect world. Yes, we have been cursed with work as a result of our disobedience. But every seventh day, God lifts the curse of work on our lives, and allows us to rest from our painful toil, as we remember that YHVH is our gracious and loving Creator, to whom we owe worship; to whom we bow the knee!

Finding Messiah in Torah

This week Messiah leaps off the page. He is the Seed of the Woman promised in Gen 3:15, who crushes Satan's head and restores mankind to the perfection, communion with God, and rest we experienced in the Garden before the Fall of Man. He erases the effect of sin on His perfect Creation! There is an entire book in the fact that God chose to represent Messiah as the seed. In fact, my Hebrew teacher, Brad Scott, did write a book about it: The Principle of the Seed. It is fascinating and life- changing and I recommend it!

how we celebrate passover

Even though we have celebrated Passover for ten years now, we are still very much learning how to celebrate the Passover. We do not celebrate it exactly as the Jews do; we try to excise the traditions of men and include the fulfillment of Jesus (Yeshua). So we are developing our own way of celebrating the feast to fulfill its purpose of a memorial for ourselves, and to teach the children. It is subject to change as the Lord continues to teach us. But the following is what we have done so far. This is our understanding to date, subject to change as God reveals more from His Word to us. I encourage everyone to search out the Scriptures for themselves do as the Word reveals!

This feast is the only one where part of the menu is commanded: roast lamb, bitter herbs, and unleavened bread (Exo 12:8-9). Before the Feast of Firstfruits, we do not eat fresh produce, but stored (Lev 23:14). Therefore our appetizers, sides and desserts for Passover are made with root vegetables, frozen or canned vegetables from the previous harvest, and dried or stored fruits (such as apples).

Now the 15th day is a High Holy Sabbath – the 1st day of Unleavened Bread (Lev 23:6-7). It can fall on any day of the week, not necessarily a Saturday. It is always a day of rest. The 14th day is the Day of Preparation, to get ready for the rest on the High Holy Sabbath. I do my deep cleaning beginning with the sighting of the new moon (so that I can remove the crumbs thus swept up on the 15th day, which is the 1st day of Unleavened Bread; Exo 12:15); I spend the 14th day cooking the Passover meal that night, and prep work for the next day, the 1st day of Unleavened Bread.

We have our Passover meal of roast lamb, bitter herbs, and unleavened bread at sundown or in the evening of the 14th day, the Day of Preparation.

Passover is about our deliverance and redemption out of one kingdom, the kingdom of darkness, which is the spiritual Egypt (Rev 11:8), of slavery to sin (Col 1:13-14, Rom 6:14), so that we can be brought in to another kingdom, the kingdom of heaven (Mat 4:17), where we live in freedom (Gal 5:1 - not freedom from righteousness, which the Law defines, but freedom from sin, Rom 6:18-19). It is about changing citizenship (Phi 3:20-21, Heb 11:13-16, 12:28)! The history telling and Scripture reading which follows is designed to remind us of this.

Begin while the food finishes cooking. Mom lights the seven candles, and Dad pours the wine, blessing it, and breaks the unleavened bread, blessing it. As we begin our meal with wine, bread and appetizers, Dad reminds us that the Last Supper which instituted Communion was a Passover supper, and that when we eat the bread and drink the wine tonight, we will be partaking in the body and blood of our Lord. Dad notes to everyone that the bread is striped and pierced, just as Jesus was for us (Isa 53:5, Psa 22:16) - He is the true Bread which comes down from heaven and gives life to the world (Joh 6:32-35)! – and that the wine is the cup of the New Covenant in His blood (Luk 22:15-20). Dad warns us (1 Cor 11:23-29) not to eat or drink without examining ourselves. The two weeks we just spent examining the house and cleaning every scrap of leaven out of it (Exo 12:15) is an object lesson from God for us, His children, that we are likewise not to let the leaven of sin find a foothold or a home in us, but to diligently sweep it all away.

Mom brings the food to the table. Dad blesses the food; and everyone eats.

During the meal, Dad reads (or tells, or has the family take turns reading) the Exodus story from Exo chapter 12, then the story of Jesus’ crucifixion from Joh chapters 18 and 19. He reminds us that Jesus is our Passover Lamb (Joh 1:29, 1 Cor 5:7), who has delivered us from the angel of death (Joh 11:25-26) and has set us free from slavery to sin (Rom 6:14).

Mom gets the dessert ready to serve. Dad explains that by the blood of Jesus, we have been adopted as sons into God’s family (Gal 4:4-5); we have changed our citizenship from the world to the kingdom of heaven (Phi 3:20-21, Col 1:13-14), where Jesus is not only Savior, but also King (Rev 17:14). Now that God has redeemed us, or bought us back, we are no longer our own, since we have been bought with a price (1 Cor 6:19-20). God is at work in us every day, through His great love and grace, to accomplish our sanctification (Phi 1:6, 2 The 2:13), or set-apartness from the world and all its ways.

Can we just stop at this moment and break down into tears of joy for all that God has done for us? And then we eat dessert!

We conclude our meal looking forward to the coming kingdom of Yeshua when He will eat and drink the Passover with us (Luk 22:15-16).

Amen. Come, Lord Jesus!

Then following supper, it is my dream that we can leave our timidity behind and spend the evening praising and worshiping the Lord together for the great deliverance He has wrought for us, in song and dance, just as Israel did when God delivered them through the Red Sea (Exo 15:1-20). Let the joy of our salvation break forth, and overflow! Let the Redeemed of the Lord say so (Psa 107:2)! And not just in a church service!

Passover menu recipe index

when we celebrate passover

“On the fourteenth day of the first month at twilight is the Lord's Passover.” Lev 23:5

It seems fairly straightforward, but there are as many as twelve different calendars in use among the Jews and Messianic believers in Yeshua to complicate things! We do not have to worry about calendars; all we have to do is find out from Scripture when the first month is; and then when the first day of the month is; and by counting, we can always know with certainty when the fourteenth day of the first month is!

“Now the Lord spoke to Moses and Aaron in the land of Egypt, saying, “This month shall be your beginning of months; it shall be the first month of the year to you.”” Exo 12:1-2

What month is “this month”? The month that the Lord brought the children of Israel out of Egypt, as can be clearly seen by reading all of Exodus chapter 12. This is the same month in which God was pouring plagues out on Egypt, culminating with the Passover, the 10th plague, in which all the firstborn of Egypt died on that night. The 10th plague, we know, took place on the 14th day of the first month, at about midnight. It just so happens that God built in an unalterable time clock into the narrative, so that no matter who tries to change the calendar, God's people would always know when the first month arrived.

Two weeks before the 10th plague, the death of the firstborn, the 7th plague was being poured out on Egypt, which was the plague of hail. The entire story of the plague is told in Exo 9:13-35. What is interesting, though, is this detail which Scripture records:

“Now the flax and the barley were struck, for the barley was in the head, and the flax was in bud.” Exo 9:31

When the plague of hail was poured out, the barley was in its head. The Hebrew word for this is aviv (or abib in some translations) - which just means, “ripening.” It wasn't in bud, nor was it fully ripe and ready for harvest - it was in the head, or ripening. That the month of ripening barley is the first month of the year for the Israelites, is confirmed over and over again in Scripture:

“On this day you are going out, in the month Abib.” Exo 13:4

“The Feast of Unleavened Bread you shall keep. Seven days you shall eat unleavened bread, as I commanded you, in the appointed time in the month of Abib; for in the month of Abib you came out of Egypt.” Exo 34:18

“Observe the month of Abib, and keep the Passover to the Lord your God, for in the month of Abib the Lord your God brought you out of Egypt by night.” Deu 16:1

So, when the first day of the month occurs, in which the barley is ripening, or aviv, that month is declared to be the month of Aviv, and the Passover is kept 14 days later, at twilight. This means that no one knows for sure when the first month is going to be. It will be in the spring, all right - but you cannot print a calendar for 10 years from now and know whether that month will begin in March, or April - you have to be watching and paying attention. And the theme of watching for the (feast) day(s) of the Lord - His appointed time - appears all throughout Scripture, from Genesis to Revelation.

Now when is the first day of the month? From ancient days and throughout Scripture, the first day of the month was reckoned from the sighting of the new moon. The Jews themselves declare this to be the case, and the way they have always determined when the biblical months begin. The day following the sighting of the new moon was always celebrated as a feast day in ancient Israel (Num 29:9; 1 Sam 20:5; 2 Kin 4:23; Isa 66:23).

Furthermore, David shows us that the three set feast days fall at the full moon, which occurs 14 to 15 days following the sighting of the new moon:

“Blow the trumpet at the time of the New Moon, at the full moon, on our solemn feast day.” Ps 81:3

It just so happens that the feast days of Passover, Weeks, and Tabernacles (the three feast days in which the men were commanded to appear at Jerusalem) all fall on the 14th or 15th day of the month, at the full moon - which shows that the first day of the month was reckoned by the sighting of the new moon.

If you have ever watched the moon in its waxing and waning through the night sky, you know that the first sliver of the new moon appears on the western horizon after the sun sets, but then it sets too, anywhere from an hour to a few hours afterwards. The next night it rises 45 minutes to an hour later so that it sets an hour later - and 14 to 15 days later, when it is full, it rises in the east just when it is dark, so that for a few nights every month, the moon illuminates the night as the sun illuminates the day. But then it rises 45 minutes to an hour later every night, so that when it is waning, there comes a time when the moon is not seen in the night sky at all. It is mirroring the rising and setting of the sun, which means the brightness of the sun completely blocks out any chance of seeing the moon during the day. The next time the moon is seen after its waning - it is a sliver again, a "new moon" - really the old moon appearing to be "renewed," which is its meaning in Hebrew.

This is why I have the moon calendar on the sidebar of this site - so everyone can determine what month it is, according to God's timetable.

why we celebrate passover

Passover is coming up next week on Wednesday March 31.

We celebrate all of the Lord's seven annual feast days because by doing so, we bear witness of Jesus our Messiah until He comes!

Passover is the first annual feast day of the seven. We celebrate the Passover because it is an eternal commandment to do so (Exo 12:17-18) for all the generations who join themselves to the God of Israel (Lev 24:22, Eph 2:11-13) through Israel’s renewed covenant (Jer 31:31-34, 1 Cor 11:25). Israel's covenant has been extended to all Gentiles through the shed blood of Jesus! The opening of the covenant from just one nation, Israel, to every nation, does not then negate that covenant (Gal 3:15-18)! God's Word is eternal, even the Word He spoke in Exodus (Isa 40:8). (If God spoke this, then what is true of God's Word is true of Exodus and the other books of Torah as well!) Even Jesus said not one jot or tittle of God's Word would pass away, even of Torah (Mat 5:17-19)!

On top of that, it is prophesied in Scripture that in the kingdom of Messiah all nations would celebrate the Lord's feast days (if the vision Ezekiel sees in chapters 40-48 - especially see Eze 45:21 -is of the millennial kingdom, and since some of its description is repeated in Revelation, many think it is). And, at the Last Supper (a Passover supper), Jesus told His disciples He would eat the feast with them when He comes in His kingdom (Luk 22:15-16)! God has not developed an objection to His holy days.

Because of this, Paul exhorted the Gentile believers in Jesus to celebrate the feast (1 Cor 5:8)! The Corinthians were Greeks, not Jews.

Since Jesus was crucified on the day of Passover - He is our Passover Lamb (Joh 1:29, 1 Cor 5:7) - celebrating this feast is a significant way, for us, that we can commemorate this most important day every year. Not only that, but it is an object lesson, a visual aid God commanded fathers to employ to teach their children about God's deliverance and redemption (Exo 12:24-27). It is a God- ordained way to pass the faith, so to speak, from the generation of the parents to the generation of the children.

And that, dear family and friends, is why we celebrate the Passover every year (it is not to obtain salvation by works of the Law, just to put your mind at ease). We are grateful to our Redeemer and Deliverer!

parashah bereisheet (in the beginning), genesis 1:1-2:3

We study the Torah according to the triennial cycle every Sabbath. (Why?)

We must understand the paragraph divisions in Torah, which are inspired by the Spirit and preserved by Moses and the Jewish scribes (but discarded by the English translators), are key to help us understand what God is trying to tell us. He wants to be understood, and has provided these helps to aid us! We must also understand how the Spirit teaches through Torah by common theme.

Today is the 1st Sabbath of the triennial cycle: parashah (Torah portion) Bereisheet / In the beginning, Gen 1:1-2:3. (Read at Bible Gateway or the Hebrew Bible in English.)

Additional readings for this week:
Prophet: Isa 40 / Psalm: 1 / History: Job 1-2 / Gospel: Joh 1:1-28 / Apostolic: Col 1

The first teaching device which the Holy Spirit placed in Torah are His paragraph divisions! In Torah scrolls, copied without change from the original which Moses wrote on Sinai, there are two different types of paragraph divisions - a strong division and a weak division. This week we will learn about the first paragraph division, the strong paragraph division, marked by the Hebrew character p'tuchah. (I mark the ends of these paragraphs in my English Bible with a penciled- in “p”.)

Gen 1:1-5 ends in a parsha (paragraph) p'tuchah, a strong paragraph division.
Every portion of Scripture that ends in a p'tuchah division completes teaching an overarching theme.

Gen 1:6-8 ends in a parsha p'tuchah.
Gen 1:9-13 ends in a p'tuchah.
Gen 1:14-19 ends in a p'tuchah.
Gen 1:20-23 ends in a p'tuchah.
Gen 1:24-31 ends in a p'tuchah.
Gen 2:1-3 ends in a p'tuchah.

Notice that in today's reading, each p'tuchah, each strong paragraph division, occurs at the end of each day of creation.

The chapter divisions and verse divisions in our English Bibles were added many thousands of years after the Holy Spirit set His paragraph divisions into the text. The chapter and verse divisions were added by medieval Catholics with an anti- Torah bias. Here we see the bias in play as the seventh day, the Sabbath, is cut by the chapter division from the first chapter outlining creation week, where it belongs. It was added to the second chapter of Genesis, which was held to be allegorical in the Middle Ages. This allowed the Church to ignore the command to celebrate the Sabbath without feeling guilty about it. The Protestant church inherited its anti- Torah bias from the Catholic church!

The paragraph divisions which the Holy Spirit has set into the text are the first device God uses to teach His Word to His people. Since each day is set into its own strong paragraph, we understand that God is teaching us that each day of creation is significant. Each day has its own work, its own purpose, and its own completion. He is the doer of the action of creating, in each day. All the paragraphs taken together reinforce that YHVH is God, the Almighty God, the Maker of heaven and earth. And since He is our own Creator, He is our own God, and no other. This is the historical understanding that we humans need in order to bow our knee to Him in submission to the 1st Commandment.

Something else that becomes apparent as we look at each section divided into its paragraphs: the days of creation are significant. There are Hebrew words for other lengths of time, such as years or eons, if those units of time were meant. But God chose the Hebrew yom - “day” - the regular 24 hour day. It sometimes comes as a shock to people that a day as a unit of time, is one of the few that do not depend on the sun or moon for marking it. Anyone can look up in any second- grade science textbook and see that a 24- hour day is the time it takes for the earth to revolve on its axis one revolution. No sun or moon is needed, even a light source is not needed - although God provided one (we are not told what it is; perhaps it was Himself and His Word? Psa 119:105). He created light (energy) on the first day. He also created the earth (matter), the day (time), and the heavens (space) on the first day - the building blocks of our physical universe.

Another thing which becomes apparent as we look at each section divided into its paragraphs: each day begins with the same phrase, “Then God said,” day after day, exactly the same. (This illustrates the second device the Lord uses to teach us His Word - patterns and repetition, to draw our attention to the pattern!) So we see that God brought into being, that which did not exist, by His Word.

“But God has chosen the foolish things of the world to put to shame the wise, and God has chosen the weak things of the world to put to shame the things which are mighty; and the base things of the world and the things which are despised God has chosen, and the things which are not, to bring to nothing the things that are,” 1 Cor 1:27-28

How does God bring a thing which is not, into being, so that He might bring to nothing that which is? He speaks His Word, and it happens. What was in Gen 1:2, when God began, was formlessness, nothingness, darkness, even vanity - one translation of the word “void.” He brought those things to nothing, by bringing into existence the things which were not: form, light, matter, energy, time, space, and life. He did this by speaking His Word.

What “is not” in our lives? Is there a reality that we wish was brought to nothing? We must speak God's Word to it. When God was faced with darkness, He said, “Light.” When He was faced with formlessness, He said, “Form.” When He was faced with emptiness, He said, “Life.” If we are faced with unbelief, we must speak the Word of God of faith to it. If we are faced with fear, we must speak the Word of God of love and peace. If we are faced with lack, we must speak the Word of God of provision. We must not let that which counters God's Word cross our lips! And the things which are not will bring to nothing the things that are.

Finding the Messiah in Torah

When we read the Gospel reading for this Torah portion in Joh 1:1-28, we discover that the Word that God spoke to create light and every other thing, is Messiah. It is through Messiah Yeshua that God the Father made every thing that has been made (Col 1:15-17) and He continues to uphold the universe by the Word of His Power, Messiah Yeshua (Heb 1:3)!

Admittedly, some of these things are mysteries. How can a person be a word and a person at the same time? But God is showing us, that He is what comes out of His mouth; that what He speaks is what He is and who He is. Words cannot be divorced from persona or character, because “Out of the abundance of the heart, the mouth speaks,” (Luk 6:45). So when someone tells a lie, or speaks a curse, or mocks or ridicules, they are really shedding some light on the condition of their heart - which would be at best mixed with dross, unrepented sin, or impurities, and at worst completely unregenerate!

daniel 12, the abomination of desolation, part six

Previously: definition of abomination of desolation

Read Daniel chapter 12 at Bible Gateway.

Daniel's final reference to the abomination of desolation is in Dan chapter 12:

“At that time Michael shall stand up, The great prince who stands watch over the sons of your people; And there shall be a time of trouble, Such as never was since there was a nation, Even to that time. And at that time your people shall be delivered, Every one who is found written in the book. And many of those who sleep in the dust of the earth shall awake, Some to everlasting life, Some to shame and everlasting contempt. Those who are wise shall shine Like the brightness of the firmament, And those who turn many to righteousness Like the stars forever and ever. But you, Daniel, shut up the words, and seal the book until the time of the end; many shall run to and fro, and knowledge shall increase.” Dan 12:1-4

“At that time, Michael shall stand up.” At what time? At the time when the king of the north comes to his end, Dan 11:45. The angel is still on the same topic. There has not been a break in it just because we have had a chapter division. So “At that time” links this passage with the passage in Dan 11 about the king of the north, who, we saw, was fulfilled by Antiochus Epiphanes in every particular.

But this passage also makes it clear that the events being discussed take place at the time of the end. So what is going on? Antiochus Epiphanes lived over 2000 years ago.

One possibility comes from a principle well established in Scripture, that the history of the patriarchs and Israel is history, but also prophecy. In Gen 22, God called Abraham to sacrifice his only son Isaac. Whoa, Isaac was not Abraham's only son! But the history prophesies of the Father sacrificing His only Son, the Promised Seed, the Seed of the woman (Gen 3:15). How about the history of Pharaoh taking Abraham's wife, resulting in plagues on Pharaoh's house, so that his wife is restored to him and he is sent out of Egypt laden with the riches of Egypt (Gen 12:10-20)? This history prophesies of Pharaoh enslaving Israel, the wife of YHVH the Father (Jer 31:32); which resulted in plagues on Egypt, so that Israel was restored to YHVH and sent of out Egypt laden with riches (Exo 1-12). And this history continues to prophesy, when we realize that Egypt is a type of the kingdom of darkness from which YHVH is delivering the Bride of Messiah! And there are so many examples of this recurring cycle of history as prophecy through the Old Testament.

So this means that Antiochus is a type, and that this history of Israel prophesies of another like him, and the history of the king of the north will repeat. And at that time, Michael will stand up, and the events of this chapter will be fulfilled.

The angel goes to explain that at that time, there shall be a time of trouble for the people of Israel, greater than any time of trouble before it, but that Israel will be delivered from it. Not all Israel will be delivered, though - only those whose names are found written in the Book. And then, those who sleep in the dust of the earth shall awake, to either everlasting life or everlasting death.

The angel is still giving Daniel event markers. The time of trouble, the great deliverance, but only of those whose names are written in the Book of Life, and the resurrection - these are the event markers. So we can speculate all day long, but the truth is, we won't know for sure what these event markers are until they come to pass. Prophecy is not so much a crystal ball into the future, as a verifier that God's Word is true, in which He spoke the end from the beginning. But these visions are sealed until the time of the end - that is, they won't be understood. But at the time of the end, they will be - by those who are wise and who understand - because they have to do with the time of the end.

Now I do have a theory. And that is, that Hitler also fulfills some of these prophecies concerning the king of the north. Did he set up an abomination of desolation? YES - he sacrificed the Jews as an olah, a whole burnt offering, in the ovens of the concentration camps. The definition of olah, remember, is a holocaust - the ascending up of the smoke. I myself keep in the back of my mind the possibility that the Holocaust was Israel's prophesied time of trouble, which was unequaled by anything in history before it. The Holocaust certainly fits that criteria. And a remnant of Israel was delivered, and he has been returned to his own Land with a great deliverance. But is that THE time of trouble? We will not know for sure until history of this age has finished.

“Although I heard, I did not understand. Then I said, “My lord, what shall be the end of these things?” And he said, “Go your way, Daniel, for the words are closed up and sealed till the time of the end. Many shall be purified, made white, and refined, but the wicked shall do wickedly; and none of the wicked shall understand, but the wise shall understand. And from the time that the daily sacrifice is taken away, and the abomination of desolation is set up, there shall be one thousand two hundred and ninety days. Blessed is he who waits, and comes to the one thousand three hundred and thirty-five days.” Dan 12:8-12

This is the final reference to the abomination of desolation in Daniel. If, as we saw in Daniel chapter 11, it was Antiochus Epiphanes who took away the daily sacrifice and set up the abomination in the Temple (and he did do that), then from that date to another significant date, there will be 1290 days. So I did some math. Guess how many days are in 3-1/2 years, more or less? 1290.

There is one school of interpretation that says that every reference to 3-1/2 which is in prophecy, is referring to the same event in historic time. I don't agree. I think 3-1/2 is a significant number which occurs throughout Scripture (like 7 and 40 do), but nowhere does it say that every reference to it must be to the same event.

Certain spiritual events which take place in historic time seem to occur in the same time frame. It rained for 40 days and nights during Noah's Flood; Jesus fasted and was tempted for 40 days, and Israel wandered in the wilderness for 40 years. Just because all of these things were “40,” does not mean they all refer to the same event in historic time. It just means, 40 means something signifiant in the spiritual realm. And likewise I think 3-1/2 means something significant in the spiritual realm, but that does not mean everything 3-1/2 must refer to the same event.

Case in point: we saw in Dan 9 that 3-1/2 years after Messiah was anointed, He was cut off; and then 3-1/2 years after that, He confirmed the covenant with many. This event took place in real historic time. In our passage above, we see that 3-1/2 years after the abomination of desolation, something significant will happen.

Something significant did happen: 3-1/2 years after Antiochus set up the abomination in the Temple, Judas Maccabees and his forces (those who knew their God and who did exploits, Dan 11:32) retook Jerusalem and the Temple, and purified it. Antiochus set up the abomination in 167 BC, and Judas retook Jerusalem and the Temple in 164 BC, toward the end of the year. This is the event that Hanukkah celebrates every year.

So what does the 1335 days refer to? I don't know - we are given no details about it, other than it seems to be a blessed event.

On one level, it appears that the abomination of desolation passages have already been fulfilled, before Jesus was even born. But then, we realize that Jesus referred to the abomination of desolation as a future event in Mark 13. We saw previously, that a second instance of an abomination of desolation occurred, that was future to Jesus' time: when Caligula tried to set up his statue in the Temple in 39 AD, and did set up his statue in synagogues throughout the Empire, which ultimately brought about the desolations perpetrated on the Jews and on Jerusalem in 70 AD and 135 AD.

Bunny trail: 70 AD is 20 x 3-1/2 years from the time that Jesus was born, more or less. And 135 AD is 40 x 3-1/2 years from the time that Jesus was born, more or less. Not sure if that means anything, but what an interesting bit of trivia.

On yet another level, the angel linked the historic events surrounding Antiochus to the time of the end in this chapter. Does that mean that Israel is in for yet another go round? Well, we saw that Israel has already been through the Holocaust. But if that was Israel's time of trouble, Dan 12 makes it clear that the end is the next event on the stage of world history. And so we seem to be entering into it.

The case can be made that the prophecies in Daniel concerning the abomination of desolation have already been fulfilled. And the case can be made that they have been fulfilled, not just once, but several times, and may be fulfilled yet again. Only God is so great, that He can tell what will happen in the future, and from that same passage, we can see it fulfilled in exact detail not only once, but in layers upon layers. Truly He is the great and almighty God and there is none like Him!