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Dr Hollisa Alewine – Footsteps of Messiah Part 148 (The Geography of Wrath Part One)
The Geography
of Wrath
The grapes of wrath are perhaps one of the most terrifying passages in Scripture:
Who is this who comes from Edom,
??With dyed garments from Botzrah,
??This One who is glorious in His apparel,
??Traveling in the greatness of His strength?—
?“I who speak in righteousness, mighty to save.”
?Why is Your apparel red,
??And Your garments like one who treads in the winepress?
?“I have trodden the winepress alone,
??And from the peoples no one was with Me.
??For I have trodden them in My anger,
??And trampled them in My fury;
??Their blood is sprinkled upon My garments,
??And I have stained all My robes.
For the day of vengeance is in My heart,
??And the year of My redeemed has come.” (Is 63:1-4)
Why would Yeshua come from Edom and Botzrah?
Out of many reasons (because of Edom’s modern identity), one Torah prophecy-template is that it retraces part of the route of the exodus from Egypt and the southern journeys to the Promised Land. Yeshua went to the wilderness to be tested in his first coming, and he overcame in forty days of testing what the Israelites took forty years to do.
The difference in the Greater Exodus is that the slaves in exile will come from many nations, not just Egypt. It is the geography of Edom that ties it all together, for it is an ancient commercial intersection of the world. In the Shabbat livestream, we’ll look at maps to help decipher the prophecy, but we’ll do the best we can here in the newsletter with words.
Edom and Israel present in conflict in the geography of the South. The region is separated by the north/south running Great Rift Valley in which two great tectonic plate continually rub against one another and move the earth. In his appearance on the Mount of Olives, Yeshua’s feet cause a great earthquake right along this valley from Jerusalem all the way to the Red Sea in the South.
In times of Israel’s spiritual awakening, Israel/Judah controlled the South from Tamar (Ovot/Oboth) all the way to Etzion-Geber (Eilat). It is a vital trade route between East and West, North and South, from ancient times.
In times of Judah’s apostasy, Edom controlled it, often in trade treaties with powers such as (first) Egypt, then Assyria, Babylon, Greece, and Rome. Their relatives are the mighty merchants the Nabateans, who controlled trade over the land of the South much as the Phoenicians controlled maritime trade.
Esau/Edom was a “man of the field,” controlled by the nefesh, or soul, the beast nature. The most cunning beast of the field is the serpent (land) or his counterpart in the water, the crocodile. These two, the serpent and beast, are in league in the Revelation, and will be judged together, the authority of the serpent wielded by the beast. For a review of these principles, see “A Concise History of the Beast” on YouTube, Workbook Four: The Scarlet Harlot and the Crimson Thread, and Workbook Two: The Seven Abominations of the Wicked Lamp.
When Yeshua comes from Edom, the perfect man has subdued both the scarlet beast and his source authority, the serpent. His march is a way of “splitting the sea” in the sight of all nations to make a way of salvation for his exiles and the nations:
“When I have brought them again from the people, and gathered them out of their enemies’ lands, and am sanctified in them in the sight of many nations…”(Ezek 39:27)
The Jewish sages parse the verses of the Exodus that describe the splitting of the waters of the Reed Sea to imply that the waters of every nation were split at exactly the same time so that the miracle could be viewed by all nations (another lesson!).
From even before the time of the Exodus, Egypt the serpent and Edom the beast collaborated in harvesting copper [nechoshet] from the South. The Hebrew word for serpent is nachash, sharing a root with copper, which is plentiful in the South. The copper serpent in the wilderness reminded the Israelites of the real disease from which they needed healing: soul sickness.
If you’ve seen pictures of the Arava in the South, you’ve noticed how similar the red rock is at Timna to Petra (Sela). The South, or Arava, is where “The King’s Highway,” the Spice Route, and other travel routes intersected. Over the centuries they connected the Far East with the ports of the Great Sea (Mediterranean) and Egypt in the West, Assyria and Babylon in the North, and the Arabian kingdoms of the South. In other words, they were coveted, conquered, and controlled in turn by:
Egypt the Crocodile Serpent
Assyria, who is not counted as a “beast” kingdom because it never conquered Jerusalem, was assimilated into the provinces of the first beast kingdom
Babylon the Lion
Medo-Persia the Bear
Greece the Leopard
Rome the Conglomerate Monster spread over the earth.
Recently, the American president expressed a desire to open an overland route from the Red Sea through Israel to the Mediterranean for trade. It was used thus when Egypt began overcharging to use the Suez a few years ago and before the Houthis choked off the sea route. The South is still an important area to world trade.
Botzrah was the capital of Edom. It is adjacent to Petra (Sela), the stronghold of the Nabateans. It is thought the Nabateans are the descendants of Nevaiot, the brother-in-law of Esau and son of Ishmael, who grew up in the Wilderness of Paran, the region of Edom.
Sela is Hebrew for “rock,” and the major city was later renamed Petra, a Greek name meaning rock. In ancient times, the ENTIRE REGION of the South from the Arabian peninsula to the Sinai peninsula was referred to as Arabia or Arabi, from the Hebrew root arav, thus, the Arava. Without knowing this, it is easy to mistake modern Saudi Arabia for the “Arabia” of English translations of the Bible.
Botzrah and Sela are very close to one another, and Seir is in the same area. Mount Seir and the Wilderness of Paran generally apply to the area south of these cities. Yeshua’s garments dyed in blood suggest he’s conquered the commercial trade of the beast kingdoms connecting the world.
Yeshua the Messiah will come to bring salvation and the redemption of “human souls” from slavery to the image of the beast whose head was in Babylon comes. He will accomplish this by trampling the nations in his wrath. Sukkot, the Feast of the Nations, is a time of both offering first fruits of the grapes as well as drinking wine to celebrate Adonai’s provision. The return of Yeshua mentions grapes of wrath that will precede the peaceful days of his millennial reign in which the obedient nations will come to worship and obey him.
To represent this wrath upon the world’s commercial systems, Yeshua comes “from Edom.” In the encampment in the wilderness, the Southern three tribes camped under the standard of Reuven, which was the man. The lion was to the East, the eagle to the North, and the ox to the West. Revelation describes this destruction of the commercial system that trafficks in human souls:
“And the kings of the earth, who committed acts of immorality and lived sensuously with her, will weep and lament over her when they see the smoke of her burning, standing at a distance because of the fear of her torment, saying, ‘Woe, woe, the great city, Babylon, the strong city! For in one hour your judgment has come.’
And the merchants of the earth weep and mourn over her, because no one buys their cargoes any more cargoes of gold and silver and precious stones and pearls and fine linen and purple and silk and scarlet, and every kind of citron wood and every article of ivory and every article made from very costly wood and bronze and iron and marble, and cinnamon and spice and incense and perfume and frankincense and wine and olive oil and fine flour and wheat and cattle and sheep, and cargoes of horses and chariots and slaves and human lives. The fruit you long for has gone from you…” (Re 18:9-13)
”Human lives” is “human souls,” referring to the nefesh, the human soul enslaved to its innate sensuality: appetite, emotion, desire, and intellect…
The deception, or sorcery of the beast Edom, The Red One, is to manipulate human desire, the “fruit you long for,” into believing the cargoes are “good things,” when the truth is that they are instruments of the serpent’s fruits of death. Truly good things come from the Father who makes the disciple into a kind of first fruit to be restored to the Garden, planted along the River of Life to in turn disciple the nations with their fruit and healing leaves of the “Word of Truth.”
Let no one say when he is tempted, “I am being tempted by God”; for God cannot be tempted by evil, and He Himself does not tempt anyone. But each one is tempted when he is carried away and enticed by his own lust. Then when lust has conceived, it gives birth to sin; and when sin is accomplished, it brings forth death. Do not be deceived, my beloved brethren. Every good thing given and every perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of lights, with whom there is no variation or shifting shadow. In the exercise of His will He brought us forth by the word of truth, so that we would be a kind of first fruits among His creatures. (Ja 1:13-18)
Yeshua’s arrival from “Edom” with his garments dyed in blood suggests that his “coming” is to destroy the deception of the beast, not just in the South of Israel geographically, but according to what the South symbolizes in the history of world trade and how it augmented the beast kingdoms all the way to its present “toes.”
In the Song of Songs, the Bride invites the Beloved to the Garden, but she does not have the strength to assist Him. As in the crossing of the Reed Sea, she must “stand still and see the Salvation,” just as the nations are standing still, watching, helpless to stop the destruction that will lead to the restoration of human life.
This suggests the template of the first Exodus [and Creation], when Israel cried out for help, then the nations witnessed salvation.
“…For the day of vengeance was in My heart, and My year of redemption has come. I looked, and there was no one to help, and I was astonished and there was no one to uphold; so My own arm brought salvation to Me, and My wrath upheld Me.” (Is 63:4-5)
The shoresh, or Hebrew root, of “I looked,” ?????, is used the first three times in Genesis. First in 15:5 to Avraham: “Look at the stars, count them if you’re able, so shall the number of your descendants be.” This is the counting of fruitful descendants, the saved children of Avraham. This is a look forward to prophecy fulfilled for all Israel.
The second two times it is mentioned in the escape of Lot and his family from the destruction of Sodom (19:17,26) In v. 26, Lot’s wife “looked” back, and turned to salt. She mourned the luxuries left behind.
How attached are we to the luxuries of the world? When Yeshua comes to lead us away from the nations enslaved to commercialism, will we instead be too attached to our luxuries and conveniences to follow him home whole-heartedly?
“Behold, this was the guilt of your sister Sodom: she and her daughters had arrogance, abundant food and careless ease, but she did not help the poor and needy.” (Ezek 16:49)
If even those whom he’s saved from Egypt and Sodom can’t let go when the beast system is exposed and destroyed, no wonder Yeshua tramples in anger. In Numbers 16:13, the “Lot’s wives” among the Israelites in the wilderness even complained that Moses had led them FROM a land flowing with milk and honey, not to it.
May we not be frozen in our longing for the world’s riches so that we cannot desire the journey of resurrection with Yeshua. “It is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God.” (He 10:31)
In this podcast, we will take a look at maps of the South that will illustrate the geography of the Messiah’s victory over the Beast.
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Torah Teachers’ Round Table – Tanakh Edition – Hosea chapter 12
Torah teachers Mark Call, Mark Pitrone, and Ray Harrison, continue the study of the Book of the prophet Hosea, into chapter 12. And it sure looks like the argument against Ephraim fits the USA as well as it did the Northern Kingdom. And, yes, the indictment of the...
Now Is The Time w/Rabbi Steve Berkson | Peace in a World Not His | Part 3
Can peace and joy spring forth from tragedy? In his opening comments Rabbi Steve Berkson describes how Passover which coincides with the death, burial and resurrection of Yeshua Messiah that, although tragic at the time, provide a memorial for us today that can allow...
Dr Hollisa Alewine – Footsteps of Messiah Part 147 (Gambling on a Day Like Purim)
Gambling on
A Day Like Purim
THE GAMBLER
The threat of adultery appears repeatedly in the story of redemption. Sarah and Rivkah were put at risk with Pharaoh and Avimelech. By legal custom, Tamar was to have married Judah’s youngest son, but Judah had delayed the marriage, so it was thought that Tamar had committed adultery when she began to show her pregnancy. Rahab was thought to be a harlot. However, each of these women proved themselves righteous, courageous, and faithful in affirming the promise of a Land, a Covenant, and a People in Israel.
Although subtler, the question of fidelity is also present in the Scroll of Esther. Esther has requested that the Jews fast and pray for three days. On the third day, associated with resurrection, she approaches the King. Perhaps she knew when she resigned herself, “If I perish, I perish,” that although the risk required her voluntary surrender to that possible death, it could also become a resurrection day in a number of ways. On this third day, Queen Esther requests that the King and Haman attend a wine banquet.
The wine banquets hold two mysteries. First, wine is associated with the Feast of Sukkot, which is a time to bring the first fruits from the wine vat. Esther is positioning herself to negotiate salvation not simply for the Jews, but prophetically for the first fruits from among the nations where the Jews have been scattered. In the winepress of the King’s wrath, Esther becomes a waving lulav of hadassah branches at Sukkot, waving for the four corners of the Earth where Israel is scattered.
The second mystery is found in the Hebrew grammar of Esther’s invitation. In Esther 5:4, she requests, “If it please the King, let the King and Haman come today to the banquet that I have prepared for him.” There is the problem. The subject is plural, “the King and Haman,” yet the pronoun is singular, “him.” She should have said, “a banquet I have prepared for them.”
This plants a seed of doubt in the King’s mind. Is she preparing the banquet for him or Haman?[1]
The King and Haman attend the third-day wine banquet, but Esther still conceals her motive for inviting them…or is it him? Instead of giving a direct answer, Esther requests that they attend another wine banquet the following day, the fourth day. In Revelation, the message to the fourth assembly, Thyatira, marks the transition with the fourth day from “tribulation” to “great tribulation.” The King knows Esther is troubled, nevertheless he is even more troubled by nightfall. He can’t sleep!
What is he thinking about? Perhaps the relationship between his Queen and his second-in-command, Haman. Why would a woman kept in seclusion with her maids and eunuchs request only Haman’s presence along with the King’s? How did she know Haman? The King had been the subject of assassination plots before, so what was Haman up to? Not coincidentally, this tribulation of mind keeps the King awake that fourth night, which had already begun at sundown that evening.[2] The text reads more literally than usually is translated in English. It would be better translated as, “The sleep of the King was shaken.” He calls for the record books to be read.
At this point, the King hears about Mordechai’s intervention on his behalf when two of his high officers plotted to kill him. At last, a loyal subject, this Jew Mordechai. And wasn’t Esther his Queen the one who’d actually informed him of the plot? No wonder the King was troubled. At this opportune moment, Haman enters to request permission to hang Mordechai in advance of the decreed destruction upon the Jews. Speak of the devil!
The King tests Haman with a question, but Haman’s pride prevents him from grasping the questions hidden within the question, which might be, “Haman, what are you up to? Are you trying to steal my kingdom and my queen? Second-in-command and my ring aren’t enough for you?” The King asks Haman what should be done with a man the King desires to honor. Haman gives the worst possible answer, at least in terms of his personal safety. He suggests adorning the man with things the King has worn or used: a crown, a robe, and a horse.
From the King’s troubled perspective, this is virtual confirmation of his suspicions. Haman wants his throne. King Achashverosh orders Haman to do those very things for Mordechai, whom Haman has come to request permission to kill. In fact, Haman had constructed an etz on the third day on which to hang Mordechai. The same Hebrew word for tree, etz, is used for “gallows.” The resurrection Spirit of Etzah, the Third Spirit of Adonai, is pushing something hidden to the surface, and the fourth day has indeed become a turning point for the king, Esther, Haman, Mordechai, the Jews, and the 127 provinces.
At the second wine banquet, the King persists in asking Queen Esther what her hidden problem is. To his horror, he finds out that Haman indeed wants to take what is his, his beloved Queen of all the provinces, the unifying symbol of his kingdom. It is not as he suspects, though, that Haman wants to kill him and possess his Queen; instead, Haman desires to kill the Queen. In a rage, the King walks into the garden, and Haman again does the worst possible thing he could do: he flings himself at Esther on her cushion.[3] When the King returns, he finds Haman in this very compromising position. Had Esther not already revealed Haman’s intent to kill her, the King may have come to a different conclusion about their relationship.
The wrath of the King is executed upon Haman and his family, and King Achashverosh gives Esther and Mordechai his signet ring and full authority to write whatever decree they can that will annul the wrath already decreed. They could not reverse his previous decree, but they could write something that would definitely make the wicked among the provinces think twice before they attacked the Jews. To make something of no effect is to make it null, but it does not mean that the original decree or vow did not exist. Its strength has simply been neutralized. With Esther and Mordechai writing with the King’s authority, the People of the Covenant are preserved among the provinces to one day return to their Land.
Some conclusions may be appropriate here. The name of Esther’s fast and feast is Purim. Most assume, as the text hints, that the purim, or lots, cast by Haman against the Jews are what characterize this holiday. Sound-alike words can offer additional hints to Biblical themes and its internal commentaries. The fall feasts’ central theme is coverings, which is derived from the middle feast in the fall, Yom HaKippurim. Creation Gospel Workbook Two offers a more complete explanation about the hints to coverings associated with the clouds of the Feast of Trumpets and the winged birds with feathers on the Fifth Day of Creation, but Sukkot is an obvious covered shelter of leafy branches.
What about Yom HaKippurim, the Day of Coverings, itself? The kaphar of kippur means a covering, atonement. On Yom HaKippurim,[4] the High Priest can see the covering cherubim in the Holy of Holies when he enters in a cloud of incense, and he makes a covering of blood on the Mercy Seat of the Ark of the Covenant. On the seven-branched menorah, Yom HaKippurim is chiastic[5] to the Feast of Unleavened Bread.[6] During the Days of Unleavened Bread beginning with actual Sabbath day of Unleavened Bread, Israel fasts from all forms of leaven, but on Yom HaKippurim, Israel fasts both food and water for a day. The days of fasting that Esther proclaims for the Jews is during the days of Unleavened Bread.
Ki in Hebrew means “like, similar to.” Pur is a lot, an object of chance that determines fate. The suffix im designates plural. On Yom HaKippurim, the High Priest drew lots, or purim, to designate the fate of the two goats, one L’Adonai, and one L’Azazel. The goat L’Adonai is slaughtered and its blood sprinkled on the Mercy Seat of the Covenant. L’Azazel is taken to the wilderness with all the sins of the nation and pushed over a precipice. In this sense, Yom HaKippurim is “A Day like Purim.” One figurative goat is hanged, while the blood of the other is admitted into the Throne Room, the Holy of Holies, and it covers all Israel in safety. Yeshua becomes the “second-in-command” by virtue of his sacrifice.
There are other parallels between Purim and Yom HaKippurim. On Yom HaKippurim, the High Priest must make atonement first for himself; that is, he must cover himself. Afterward he makes atonement for the people. Two specific atonements are required that day. Esther also makes two trips to the “Holy of Holies,” the King’s inner chamber of his home where one enters only by invitation. Only the King’s mercy would spare any uninvited intruder.
This is the same principle applied to the Holy of Holies in the Temple. Only the High Priest is invited at a specific time; any other intruder faces death. Interestingly, though, the blood is applied to the Mercy Seat of the Ark of the Covenant.[7] The very name of the Covenant is Mercy, and this is exactly what Esther receives. To merit this mercy, however, Esther must shed her blood, at least figuratively. She must first acknowledge that she deserves to lose her life for approaching, which is the example of the Yom HaKippurim goat that dies “before the Lord.”
The first trip to the inner chamber results in Esther’s request for the King to save her life personally, just as the High Priest has to make personal atonement. The second trip is to petition for his help in saving the Jews against his earlier decree, which could not be rescinded. It is on the second trip to the inner chamber to touch his scepter that Esther receives the signet ring and the means to annul the evil decree against her nation among the 127 provinces.
The role of the sacrificed goat may also be pictured by Mordechai’s actions. Mordechai was elevated to second in the Kingdom, for he risked his life by refusing to bow to Haman. As a result, he was covered in the King’s robes in honor and given the royal horse and crown. In a sense, Mordechai also sacrificed his own adopted daughter Hadassah by insisting that she go to the King unbidden. Scripture appears to present a virtual sacrifice as equivalent to an actual physical death of an animal. Merely the acceptance of one’s death for the sake of the Land, Covenant, or People may substitute for the actual death, which may or may not follow. Peter’s acceptance of his method of death and the reason for it supports the other examples of the patriarchs, matriarchs, heroes, and heroines of Scripture.
Queen Esther’s sacrificial role as a co-heir, “up to half the Kingdom,” protected her far-flung people Israel among the nations. Esther knew that going before the King unbidden would be a walk through the valley of the shadow of death, but like the goat L’Adonai, she says, “If I perish, I perish,” and she puts on the royal coverings to approach the inner chamber of the King’s house. The Ten Awesome Days of repentance between The Feast of Trumpets and the judgment of Yom HaKippurim have a parallel with Haman’s ten sons hung with him in judgment. Even the problem with rescinding the King’s decree is related to the principles of Yom HaKippurim, which brings atonement for the nation. The decree was “a public law known by the people of the King’s provinces – so transgression would be a public offense like the sin of Vashti.”[8]
The changing of garments at Yom HaKippurim demonstrates some connections to Esther. In her first visit to the bedchamber of the King, Esther wears very simple garments upon the Chief Eunuch’s advice. This wins her personal favor. The High Priest also removed his official ornamented garments when he visited the Holy of Holies on Yom Kippur. When she goes to invite the King to a banquet, Esther changes to royal robes.
This second trip to the inner chamber seems the reverse practice of the High Priest, but a clue is given in the Book of Hebrews, which explains an additional priestly pattern, the pattern of the royal priesthood of Melchi-tzedek, which Yeshua fills. This makes sense. Esther dresses in the simple fashion of the Levitical priesthood’s entrance to the Holy of Holies on her first visit to the King, but her successive trip merits the garments of a royal priesthood. Types and shadows are concealed throughout the Scroll of Esther.
One thing we know. King Achashverosh, whose authority was challenged and insulted by a queen who refused to take her place at his side before the nations, selected a virtuous and courageous queen who would. Queen Esther became every man and woman’s Queen, for her anonymity made her perfect to represent every people, no matter the social class or humble beginning. Vashti’s banishment was to ensure “every man should rule his own home and speak the language of his own people.”
The King recognized the diversity of Sukkot fruits over which he ruled, and he needed a woman who would nurture them and give each of them rest in their own languages, a provision symbolized by the Holy Spirit on Shavuot (Acts Two). Judaism recognizes that the Torah was offered to the 70 nations at Mount Sinai on Shavuot, each in their own tongue. Shavuot is a preparation for the diversity of gifts at Sukkot. Queen Esther is a woman who embodies the Ruach HaKodesh according to the pattern of the matriarchs. The heart of her husband safely trusts in her to gather the nations. Queen Esther perfectly fulfills her husband’s need to draw together his Kingdom in unity.
[1] Fohrman, 2011, p. 44
[2] Jews reckon days from sundown to sundown, or evening to evening, the pattern of Genesis One.
[3] This links the question mark of fidelity with the adulterous woman in Proverbs who has spread coverings upon her couch.
[4] The literal name of the day is Yom HaKippurim, the Day of Coverings or Atonements
[5] See the Appendix
[6] See Creation Gospel Workbook One
[7] The “Covenant” is the Torah, the Book of the Covenant ratified between Adonai and Israel at Sinai. A copy of the Torah was put into the Ark of the Covenant as a testimony. This Ark was also called a Mercy Seat, or throne of mercy. The primary description of the Torah Covenant is mercy.
[8] Zlotowitz, 2003, p. 78
Mark Call – Torah Teaching for Portion “Ki Tisa” and ‘the Golden Calf’ from Shabbat Shalom Mesa
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Torah teachers Mark Call, and Ray Harrison, this week minus LP, continue the study of the Book of the prophet Hosea, from chapter 9, through chapter 11. Again, there's an emphasis by the prophet on the Creator's hatred of idolatry, even when modern pagans call it "The...
“Come out of her, My people” Show ~ Mark Call weekly
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Dr Hollisa Alewine – Footsteps of Messiah Part 146 (Jackals and Ostriches)
Jackals and Ostriches
You’ve jumped into the last of a series that began with The Gift Horse, Watch the Smoke, Wetter than Water, The Treehouse: Sketches of the Millennial Kingdom and Hamas: The Violence of the Mind. Click on the links to start at the beginning.
“Behold, I will do something new, now it will spring forth; will you not be aware of it?
I will even make a roadway [derek] in the wilderness [midbar], rivers in the desert. The beasts of the field will glorify Me, the jackals and the ostriches, because I have given waters in the wilderness [midbar] and rivers in the desert, to give drink to My chosen people.” (Is 43:19–20)
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Mark Call – Parsha “Tetzaveh [and Zachor]” teaching from Shabbat Shalom Mesa
Parsha "Tetzaveh" (Exodus 27:10 - 30:10) continues the description of elements associated with the still-to-be-built 'tabernacle in the wilderness,' this time beginning with the priestly garments for Aaron and his sons. The Erev Shabbat Reading begins with "command"...
Torah Teachers’ Round Table – Tanakh Edition – Hosea chapters 8-9
This week the Torah teachers, Mark Call, and Ray Harrison, and Mark Pitrone, continue the study of the Book of the prophet Hosea, chapter 8 and then chapter 9.
“Come out of her, My people” Show ~ Mark Call weekly
This week a speech on the floor of the chamber of the US House of Representatives revealed more than just what has been accomplished now that the nation again has an elected President: Those who hate this republic, and its citizenry, and have sought to destroy both,...
Dr Hollisa Alewine – Footsteps of Messiah Part 145 (Hamas: the Violence of the Mind))
Hamas:
The Violent Mind
If this is your first newsletter, you’ve jumped into the last of a four-part series that began with The Gift Horse, Watch the Smoke, and Wetter than Water, and The Treehouse: Sketches of the Millennial Kingdom. Click on the links to start at the beginning.
Nard and saffron, cane and cinnamon, with all trees of frankincense, myrrh, and aloes, with all the chief spices. A garden spring, a well of living waters, streaming from Lebanon. (So 4:14-15)
In this mini-series about the relationship between the Bride and Bridegroom in the Song of Songs, we’ve viewed an amazing level of prophecy of the millennium in the Song. In the journey, we’ve seen how Scripture projects the reality of the millennium: there are people who have prepared, and people who haven’t.
Last week we took a boat ride from the South up the River of Life with the “fish” from the nations. Although there are those among these nations who survived the tribulation that precedes the millennium, they weren’t completely prepared to serve the Kingdom of Heaven. They yet needed instruction on how to approach The Holy One and survive the entry into His gates in Jerusalem. Although Zechariah prophesies that they will, it is Ezekiel and John (in Revelation) who tell us how they prepare to stand before a Presence that can kill flesh-and-blood who appear in presumption before Him.
It is not as though The Holy One wants to destroy flesh-and-blood that He created to fellowship with Him. It is simply the reality of who He is relative to what He created. To stand in His Presence, He uses a variety of “space suits” so that we can draw close without harm from the intense glory. In a sense, it comes down to glory, which is beautiful.
When we acquire His glory through obedience, putting on the “space suit” that allows us to occupy that space near Him, it will only protect us insofar as we acknowledge that He is the Creator and bestower, the instructor and source of that glory. When human beings use the glory of Elohim to draw attention to themselves, diverting praise to themselves or twisting/omitting the instructions, then as a mere creation stealing the praise of Elohim, they can die. That’s just a rule of the universe, like earth’s gravity. Nothing personal.
Because the Father created us for fellowship with Him and longs for fellowship with us, then imagine how angry He is when those gifted with His Word in this world fail to teach others how to put on that space suit. Whether just a basic resurrection to eternal life or resurrection as a royal priest, Bride, and pillar in His Presence in the Temple, the Father wants to bring as many as possible as close as possible to His Presence.
Last week we took a close look at the prophecy of Song of Song 4:13, and this week, we progress to the next verse which is similar:
· Nard and saffron, cane and cinnamon, with all trees of frankincense, myrrh, and aloes [some, balsam oil], with all the chief spices. A garden spring, a well of living waters, streaming from Lebanon. (So 4:14-15)
These verses pair the spices for the incense service of the Temple with their location: the Garden of Eden where four rivers flow. The prophetic element is that in the millennium, the Heaven and Earth once again “marry” as Elohim intended, the perfect spiritual Heaven touching the purified place of the earth. In Yeshua is this perfect picture of Heaven and earth “married.” The Land of Israel, particularly Jerusalem and Judah, will achieve an unprecedented level of holiness so that the third heaven descends:
· “It will no longer be said to you, “Forsaken,”
Nor to your land will it any longer be said, “Desolate”;
But you will be called, “My delight is in her,”
And your land, “Married”; for the LORD delights in you,
And to Him your land will be married.” (Is 62:4)
The Holy One Himself will provide the living waters from the Garden spring of Eden. This may explain how the miraculous River of Life flows from the Temple Mount, first east into the Kidron Valley, then south to the Salt Sea, the Arava wilderness, and then to the Red Sea. At that point, the purified, holy earth of the Temple and the living waters of “Lebanon” above have kissed, producing healing waters that become a type of interstate waterway for nations to come up and worship at the feasts as Zechariah prophesies (Zech 14:16-19).
Here, however, is the dilemma, and perhaps it explains why the journey begins on the waters:
“Every cooking pot in Jerusalem and in Judah will be holy to the LORD of hosts; and all who sacrifice will come and take of them and boil in them. And there will no longer be a Canaanite in the house of the LORD of hosts in that day.” (Zech 14:21)
How this ritual purity is acquired is the subject of Vayikra (Leviticus). It contains the holies of the space suit. Personal ideas of what constitutes holiness is nothing but filthy rags. The Father’s prescribed preparation is engaged with obedience. While those nations learn, they have the benefit of the cleansing water of the River of Life. Water is one of the things by which humans may be purified for service and appearance in holier places of the Presence. Fire is another.
If the household cooking pots in Jerusalem and Judah are pure enough for pilgrims to the feasts to boil their sacrifices in, then that is an incredible level of holiness! The fishermen along the River of Life and the trees of righteousness, shoots from the “Branch,” the Tree of Life, have an important job to do in preparing the noble ones among the nations to make pilgrimage to the Holy City. They are a royal priesthood:
· But you are A CHOSEN RACE, A royal PRIESTHOOD, A HOLY NATION, A PEOPLE FOR God’s OWN POSSESSION, so that you may proclaim the excellencies of Him who has called you out of darkness into His marvelous light… (1 Pe 2:9)
“Excellencies” is Strong’s G703, which is “moral excellence, purity.” Its cognate in Hebrew is hod, or glory, as used in Zechariah 6:12-13:
· Behold the man whose name is The BRANCH; and he shall grow up out of his place, and he shall build the temple of the LORD: Even he shall build the temple of the LORD; and he shall bear the glory, and shall sit and rule upon his throne; and he shall be a priest upon his throne…
Teaching the nations who approach the proper purity of preparation for the Holy City and while in the Holy City falls to Yeshua’s disciples who “fish” the River of Life for those approaching the Holy Land. They explain the moral excellence of glory. Rebellion against the Word of Adonai or even ignorance of the Word of Adonai has consequences: violence and death. There is no bold approach to the Throne of Grace without repentance in hand as a sacrifice of the personal will.
First, however, a royal priesthood much teach the fish what sin is, what obedience is, what impurity and purity are, and even the principles of Shabbat rest. Failing to live a life of moral excellence disqualifies one from the royal priesthood just as failing to wear all eight garments disqualifies a high priest from service. We teach both by example and instruction in the Word. This leads to a purification of the mind, which the rest of the body will follow. Once the mind is straight, all the limbs will be straight, for the mind is connected to the heart.
Not to teach the moral excellence of the Torah, particularly purity and Shabbat, is literally to do violence to the Torah and the One Who gave it. Adonai desires people to enter His sanctuary, and he uses the righteous, His royal priesthood to do so just as He used the Levitical priesthood to teach the twelve tribes of Israel. Instead, they taught hamas:
· “Her priests have done violence [hamas] to My law and have profaned My holy things; they have made no distinction between the holy and the profane, and they have not taught the difference between the unclean and the clean; and they hide their eyes from My sabbaths, and I am profaned among them.” (Eze 22:26)
· “Her prophets are reckless, treacherous men;
Her priests have profaned the sanctuary.
They have done violence to the law.” (Zeph 3:4)
????? ; hamas; to be violent; by implication, to maltreat:—make bare, shake off, violate, do violence, take away violently, wrong, imagine wrongfully.
The teaching of the Word is a River of Life that flows from the holy mountain.
The Levites’ cities were to be a place the tribes could immerse in the purity of the Word so that they could ascend the Holy Mountain at the appointed feasts. These are the times His Presence is the most manifest.
Melekh Shlomo’s palace was called “The House of the Forest of Lebanon.” It was located adjacent to the Temple Mount with its own special entrance to the Temple. Water will flow from the Temple Mount in the millennial kingdom. As our verse in the Song of Songs says, it flows from “Lebanon,” a euphemism for the buildings of the Temple and the royal palace, which was called “The House of the Forst of Lebanon”:
· He built also the house of the forest of Lebanon; the length thereof was an hundred cubits, and the breadth thereof fifty cubits, and the height thereof thirty cubits, upon four rows of cedar pillars, with cedar beams upon the pillars. (1 Ki 7:2)
· And all king Solomon’s drinking vessels were of gold, and all the vessels of the house of the forest of Lebanon were of pure gold; none were of silver: it was nothing accounted of in the days of Solomon. (1 Ki 10:21)
The forty-eight assigned cities of the Levites were so that each tribe had access to Torah teachers, or “wells,” of Torah knowledge like they did in the wilderness with the Rock, Messiah. Symbolically, that is four wells of Torah per tribe, and four is symbolic of the Ruach HaKodesh (remember your Workbook One lessons?). It’s not just Torah, it was to be LIVING Torah that purifies the mind, leading to purification of the body. Likewise, there are four rivers that circle Eden.
The Hebrew word for ”brain” or “mind” is mach, or moach, which is where we get machshev, for computer: situated place for a “brain.”
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• For WHO HAS KNOWN THE MIND OF THE LORD, THAT HE WILL INSTRUCT HIM? But we have the mind of Christ. (1Co 2:16)
• Thanks be to God through Jesus Christ our Lord! So then, on the one hand I myself with my mind am serving the law of God, but on the other, with my flesh the law of sin. (Ro 7:25)
It was the Levites’ job to instruct the twelve tribes in the excellence of the Torah so that the twelve tribes could approach in a proper states of holiness and enjoy Him as He wanted to enjoy them. Human minds tend to rebel against wearing the space suit because it pinches our flesh! When our minds are purified and healed by the Living Water of Yeshua, the LIVING Word, we acquire Yeshua’s mind, which desires holiness and life.
If we reject the living instructions of our Creator, we do hamas, violence, to the Word of Elohim our Creator, killing and destroying, trampling and mutilating, twisting and omitting, descending deeper and deeper into a cult of death. The violence humans do to His Word, they also do to fellow human beings, for having put themselves in the place of Elohim, human beings become drunk with blood. The mind becomes a stench, a desolate field of death, not the spiced fragrance of the blessed field of Eden. Hamas stands between the thirsty and the well of Living Water. They drink death, but are never satisfied.
On the other hand, a royal priesthood instructs the nations about the purity of the Living Word. They are swimming instructors in the River of Life, assisting eager swimmers to heal their minds while they learn. When they attain Jerusalem for their fragrant appearance before the Holy One in HaMakom, The Place, that space suit will fit just fine!
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