The Wild Kingdom

As we approach the High Holy Days, we prepare to read a passage of Scripture on The Feast of Trumpets called The Akeidah. It refers to the binding of Isaac. A key verse is this:

Isaac spoke to Abraham his father and said, “My father!” And he said, “Here I am, my son.” And he said, “Behold, the fire and the wood, but where is the lamb for the burnt offering? Abraham said, “God will provide for Himself the lamb for the burnt offering, my son.” So the two of them walked on together.” (Ge 22:7)

For now, notice two things:

1. Isaac respectfully addresses Avraham, “My father.”

2. Avraham responds, “Hineni.” “Here I am, my son.”

They are in unity as to what is about to happen. Avraham will sacrifice Isaac, and Isaac will be figuratively resurrected from the dead. From henceforth, there is no question as to the line of succession. Two sons. One will be labeled “a wild donkey” (Ge 16:11-12), and one will receive the promise of a Land, Covenant, and People to pass along to his offspring. Although Avraham longed for Ishmael to live before Adonai, the birthright was awarded to the one who would sacrifice himself. The son walks with the father. The Son walks with the Father. 

When it is time for Isaac to in turn bless one of two sons, he nearly makes a mistake. Rivkah his wife knows that Esau unburdened himself of the birthright for a bowl of stew. He “hated” the promise, though later he sought it carefully with tears when he realized he wasn’t entitled to the blessings if he didn’t accept the birthright. Believers are not so different today. They quickly claim the promises, but when it comes to the obligations of the Torah, they are nowhere to be found. They’re just playing a wild game. In order to deceive Isaac, Rivkah instructs Jacob to dress in Esau’s special garment and to put goat skins on his arms.

“So he [Jacob] came close and kissed him; and when he smelled the smell of his garments, he blessed him and said, “See, the smell of my son is like the smell of a field which the LORD has blessed…” (Ge 27:27)

Although the voice didn’t add up to Isaac, the pleasant field fragrance was apparently a singular aroma, one not easily duplicated or confused with another. Where did it come from?

The sages say it was from the blessed field of Creation, the garment Elohim made for Adam when he drove the first couple from the Garden. The garment was handed down to Noah, but after the Flood, the fear and dread of mankind fell upon the animal kingdom. With the special garment, though, the animal kingdom continued to have no fear. It still held the fragrance of obedient Eden. The animals would approach anyone wearing the garment, recognizing his authority in the Creation. It is thought that eventually Nimrod “the mighty hunger before the Lord” took control of the garment, which gave him power over the animals. When people saw this special power, they submitted themselves to him, giving him dictatorial power. At some point, Esau killed Nimrod and took this pleasant garment for his own:

Then Rebekah took the best (chemdah) garments of Esau her elder son, which were with her in the house, and put them on Jacob her younger son. (Ge 27:15)

????????? ??????? ???????????? ?????? ??????? ???????? ????????? ?????? ??????? ????????? ???????????? ??????????? ??????? ?????????

???????? chemdâh feminine of H2531; delight:—desire, goodly, pleasant, precious.

Chemdah [chamud/chamuda] can apply to precious things like jewelry or clothes, but it especially applies to the Land of Israel, the reflection of the Garden above it. Here are some examples of its use in context with the Land:

“Then they despised the pleasant land; they did not believe [??????????] in His Word…” (Ps 106:24)

“…but I scattered them with a storm wind among all the nations whom they have not known. Thus the land is desolated behind them so that no one went back and forth, for they made the pleasant land desolate.” (Zech 7:14)

Israel, “the pleasant Land,” is the most beautiful inheritance one may have among all the nations that the peoples may inherit. Those who bear the lingering fragrance of obedience founded on their belief, or faith, will be collected from the nations to inherit with “sons”:

‘Return, O faithless sons,’ declares the LORD; ‘For I am a master to you, and I will take you one from a city and two from a family, and I will bring you to Zion.’ “Then I will give you shepherds after My own heart, who will feed you on knowledge and understanding. It shall be in those days when you are multiplied and increased in the land,” declares the LORD, “they will no longer say, ‘The ark of the covenant of the LORD.’ And it will not come to mind, nor will they remember it, nor will they miss it, nor will it be made again. At that time they will call Jerusalem ‘The Throne of the LORD,’ and all the nations will be gathered to it, to Jerusalem, for the name of the LORD; nor will they walk anymore after the stubbornness of their evil heart. In those days the house of Judah will walk with the house of Israel, and they will come together from the land of the north to the land that I gave your fathers as an inheritance. “Then I said, ‘How I would set you among My sons and give you a pleasant land, the most beautiful inheritance of the nations!’ And I said, ‘You shall call Me, My Father, and not turn away from following Me.’ (Je 3:14-19)

That’s the key. Those who return will say, “My Father” and not turn away from Him and His commandments as Esau did. Esau, the Red One, the wild red beast of Revelation, is a human in whom the soul practices subjugation of the spirit. The spiritual authority of the Father is only their second thought, hindsight, with regret for the goods lost, not necessarily the rift with the Father. As an example, Esau took two idolatrous wives without his parents’ permission, and only later did he take a daughter of Ishmael.

Esau only regrets selling his birthright when he realizes the “loot” of the blessing was also forfeited. The scarlet beast is fully invested in the economic system to satisfy his soul. He serves the Father to obtain the goods and crown. He loves competition and games because he loves to win. That’s why he hunts. Not just to eat, but to win. The taste of wild game is the reward of the hunt, fueling feelings of superiority and dominance over the creation. In Esau’s case, he doesn’t even want to wear the garment of the blessed field to hunt the wild game for his father. It’s not enough of a challenge if the animals just walk up to him. It wouldn’t have the taste of “wild” game. 

Notice the difference and progression of these “my fathers” related to garments:

Then he [Jacob] came to his father and said, “My father.” And he said, “Here I am (Hineni). Who are you, my son?” (Ge 27:18)
Then he [Esau] also made savory food and brought it to his father; and he said to his father, “Let my father arise and eat of his son’s game, that you may bless me.” (Ge 27:31)
When Esau heard the words of his father, he cried out with an exceedingly great and bitter cry, and said to his father, “Bless me, even me also, O my father!” (Ge 27:34)

Jacob approaches in shepherd-skins and says, “My father.”

Esau approaches and orders his father to arise, eat what he has hunted instead of shepherded, and bless him.

Only after Esau realizes what has happened is he humbled to plea, “O my father.”

Yeshua explains that real “food” is not wild, but obedient work on the obligations of the birthright: “Jesus said to them, ‘My food is to do the will of Him who sent Me and to accomplish His work.'” (Jn 4:34)

So, who are you, my son? Who are you, my daughter? Are you wearing the garment with the fragrance of obedience in Eden? Are you serving the Father for the loot, or to sacrifice for the sake of all the souls who will be added to the Kingdom? 

Now is the time to examine our garments. Do they smell of the fruitful, sown seed of the diligent servant who went weeping on his way, carrying a bag of seed? Or do they smell of wild game? 

When the last shofar blows, he who wept first will reap gladness and joy. He who practiced disobedience will weep last, find out that his reward was only in the physical world, the here and now. His garment could not withstand the fiery swords of the cheruvim at the entrance to the blessed field. 

Seek first the Kingdom, the birthright of the redeemed. It may feel as though you are bound, but you will resurrect to more riches than eternity can hold.

At the resurrection, only then all the things of the blessings will be added to you. 

Walk on with the Father. Forever. 

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Rise Up Come Down, Jerusalem
(Part 2 of Charm School)

The haftarah (reading from the Prophets) supplies our study this week, a continuation from “Charm School” of the Torah portion Vaetchanan. It is Isaiah 51:12-52:12. Verses and 1 and 2 supply our question and answer:

Does Jerusalem, the Bride, arise at the resurrection or does she descend to be seated (dwell)?

YES!

First one, then the other.

The foreshadowing of the restoration is found a little farther along in Isaiah:

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)

This explains the “New Jerusalem” as Eden above able to once again “marry” the physical Land of Jerusalem and Israel from which she withdrew after the first sin. Once the Land is cleansed, those who could heed the command to “Arise” at the resurrection at the Last Trump will descend adorned with the ornaments of the written and lived Word, and they will be seated, or “dwell” (sheviyah) in the Bride’s renewed intimate Edenic habitation: 

Then I saw a new [renewed] heaven and a new [renewed] earth; for the first heaven and the first earth passed away, and there is no longer any sea. And I saw the holy city, new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, made ready as a bride adorned for her husband. And I heard a loud voice from the throne, saying, “Behold, the tabernacle of God is among men, and He will dwell among them, and they shall be His people, and God Himself will be among them, and He will wipe away every tear from their eyes; and there will no longer be any death; there will no longer be any mourning, or crying, or pain; the first things have passed away.” (Re 21:1-4)

Not all who were called will be fully clothed in the garments that allow them to pass into and out of the ”cloud” of New Jerusalem as they minister to the nations and kingdoms of the millennium. Although all were educated by Moses and the Ruach in the cloud in the wilderness, not all obeyed His compassionate mitzvot with joy, and they died either in the wilderness of the exodus from Egypt or the wilderness of the peoples in the last exile (Ezek 20:35). The Cloud expels rebels and practicing sinners. They evaporate in the Light of the Word, not the cloud.

Nehemiah explains their royal priestly semi-Edenic journey, reiterating the special garments in a cloud dwelling where the Lamp was the Lamb, the Word of God, and how they ruled and will again rule the peoples from this portable Jerusalem/Temple. (Re 21)

“You, in Your great compassion did not forsake them in the wilderness; the pillar of cloud did not leave them by day, to guide them on their way, nor the pillar of fire by night, to light for them the way in which they were to go. You gave Your good Spirit to instruct them, Your manna You did not withhold from their mouth, and You gave them water for their thirst. Indeed, forty years You provided for them in the wilderness, and they were not in want; their clothes did not wear out, nor did their feet swell. You also gave them kingdoms and peoples…” (Ne 9:19-22)

The bridal garments are garments of a royal priesthood tried in the wilderness, ready to reign and rule with Messiah Yeshua, the Living Word of the Father. He is Bread, Water, garments of righteousness, and peace that do not wear out, for those royal bridal blessings of eternal life are from the Garden above. The feet don’t swell because those feet are not exactly touching the natural earth after Jerusalem once again is married to the earth below. The Bride is adorned with beautiful mitzvot full of the Light of the Torah and the Lamp of the Word.

That is the Light with which they also will light the world when they have come to rest in the Holy City:

“I saw no temple in it, for the Lord God the Almighty and the Lamb are its temple. And the city has no need of the sun or of the moon to shine on it, for the glory of God has illumined it, and its lamp is the Lamb. The nations will walk by its light, and the kings of the earth will bring their glory into it. In the daytime (for there will be no night there) its gates will never be closed; and they will bring the glory and the honor of the nations into it; and nothing unclean, and no one who practices abomination and lying, shall ever come into it, but only those whose names are written in the Lamb’s book of life.” (Re 21:22-27)

The Lamb is the Word of God, full of light that calls the Bride to arise and shine, for her Light has come. She also wears garments of glory, the 24 garments of the Word that light the way for the nations. Gates that never close have no threat from the Beast, who always strives to carry burdens of commerce through the beautiful gates of glorious Jerusalem. 

You. You, Jerusalem below, are adorning yourself to arise, to prepare for your role as Jerusalem who will descend and dwell on earth to serve Adonai.

“You shall make holy garments for Aaron your brother, for glory and for beauty.” (Ex 28:2)

Each of the eight garments of the Kohen Gadol atoned for different sins, depending on

a) the sincerity of Israel’s repentance +

b) pure intention of the Kohen Gadol.

1. The Tzitz had the power to atone for brazenness, as it was worn on the Kohen Gadol’s forehead, Metzach is synonymous with brazenness.

2. The Mitznefet had the power to atone for haughtiness. It raises the Kohen Gadol’s height when wearing it.

3. The Ephod had the power to atone for idolatry.

4. The Chosen Mishpat had the power to atone for miscarriages of justice.

5. The Me’il Techelet had the power to atone for public slander, as the golden bells which were attached to its hem made noise while the Kohen Gadol walked, a reminder to guard our tongues.

6. The Ketonet Tashbetz had the power to atone for certain capital crimes.

7. The Avnet had the power to atone for sinful thoughts, as it was wrapped around the Kohen’s torso from just above his hips to just under his heart, where its end was tucked in.

8. The Michnasayim, which cover the Kohen from the waist to above his knees, had the power to atone for sexual misconduct. (The Temple Institute. 2-6-22)

Reb Tzadok HaKohen from Lublin writes: “The concept of Shabbat is mentioned twelve times in the Torah, and we know that everything on Shabbat is double, so essentially Shabbat is represented by the number twenty-four. This idea is also reflected in the fact that a bride adorns herself with twenty-four ornaments, and the Shabbat is referred to as the bride. A Torah scholar (familiar with the 24 books of the TANAKH) is akin to Shabbat, and the Priests and Levites were the quintessential Torah scholars of Israel, so it is appropriate that the Priests are referred to as Levites twenty-four times in Scripture.”

We are a royal priesthood, adorned with bridal garments more numerous than that of the Kohen HaGadol. If the Kohen HaGadol could die upon serving without all eight garments in place, so we should diligently study and apply the whole Word, lacking nothing. Whom we serve on Shabbat is the sum of those garments.

Like the 24 earthly courses of the kohanim and Leviim put on their garments of beauty and glory, we put on 24 garments of the royal priesthood. What “good” are our 24 garments of Yeshua’s righteousness? 

They shine the Light of truth, exposing sins, leading many to repentance, and atoning for them among the nations of the world where our little tabernacles are scattered…

Time permitting, we’ll give practical examples of how the priestly garments provide insights into how we can put on our 24 royal priesthood bridal garments each day to bring the Light of Yeshua to the nations and kingdoms among which we live.

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