Category: Biblical Basics

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Turning Tables

Here in Egyptalon, it’s a language issue. The Hebrew language. One day, the tables will turn:

“For at that time I will change the speech of the peoples to a pure speech, that all of them may call upon the name of the LORD and serve him with one accord.” (Zephaniah 3:9)

This echoes the three principles of the fall moedim, which are a step of sorting the sealed righteous from the intermediates from the wicked. Prayer to purify, repentance to seal, charity to the suffering to prove the heart change and willingness to serve the Kingdom.

The first principle, prayer, is a practice of purifying the speech, measuring one’s own prayer against the standard of the Word.

Those sealed with the Name of YHVH are one as He is One. They do not bear the many names of individual idols, but they are a unified, accurate reflection of His image as a nation apart. In a sense, because we tend to impose our face over the face of Elohim (“no other gods in front of me”), the world sees a distorted representation of His Name in us, especially when we assemble all our individual gods that we sometimes choose to place before obedience to YHVH. Too often, we are not a representation of Him, but of our mixed obedience and unreliable loyalty to His Oneness. In that sense, it is also a hearing issue: “Hear, O Israel, YHVH our Elohim, YHVH is One.”

At the end of days, “The LORD shall be King over all the world, on that day the LORD will be One and His Name one.” (Ze 14:9)

There will be no misrepresentation of the Holy Name in that day. Because the names, or reputations of people will reflect the holiness of the Word, His true reputation will be known by all the living.

The blasphemous names of the Great Harlot in Revelation may be a reference to traditional thought about how even in slavery in Egypt, Israel maintained a vital connection to the Promise of the Fathers: their names in exile. The Israelites’ Hebrew names, uncorrupted with Egyptian names, set them apart, even the tribes of Joseph, Ephraim and Menashe. They retained a “pure speech,” Hebrew, even though many among them descended into idolatry. 

They were still a nation apart because of their literal names, but a name is also reputation. Their sexual purity retained the identity of the nation through the generations. Only when the greater part of the nation maintained sexual morality could they retain their identity with their family, clan, tribe, and nation. These two identifiers, speech and sexual morality, set them apart in Egypt.

James, who addresses the “twelve tribes scattered abroad” places emphasis on Godly speech in order to keep one’s Bridal garments unstained, the Bridal Bridle:

“If anyone thinks himself to be religious, and yet does not bridle his tongue but deceives his own heart, this man’s religion is worthless. Pure and undefiled religion in the sight of our God and Father is this: to visit orphans and widows in their distress, and to keep oneself unstained by the world.” (Ja 1:25-27)

James emphasizes three aspects of the bridal garments as the three pillars of the fall moedim:

Controlling the tongue by keeping the waters pure, also a prayer practice
Exercising practical holiness by alleviating the suffering of those in distress, charity
Sealing the fountain with repentance, which aids #1 by not allowing new pollutants to fall in.

See how great a forest is set aflame by such a small fire! And the tongue is a fire, the very world of iniquity; the tongue is set among our members as that which defiles the entire body, and sets on fire the course of our life, and is set on fire by hell. For every species of beasts and birds, of reptiles and creatures of the sea, is tamed and has been tamed by the human race. But no one can tame the tongue; it is a restless evil and full of deadly poison. With it we bless our Lord and Father, and with it we curse men, who have been made in the likeness of God; from the same mouth come both blessing and cursing. My brethren, these things ought not to be this way. Does a fountain send out from the same opening both fresh and bitter water? Can a fig tree, my brethren, produce olives, or a vine produce figs? 

Nor can salt water produce fresh. (Ja 3:5-12)

In a play-on words, James warns against both sins of the tongue and sexual immorality, for the “sealed fountain” is thought to refer sometimes metaphorically to the holy marriage bed, each spouse sealing the fountain from outside persons: husbands sealing their fountains from all but their wives, and wives sealing their cisterns from all but their husbands.

So apart from the easy understanding, which is that our speech should be free of cursing, scorn, and gossip, and we should maintain holy marriage beds, how else can we understand the language of a Hebrew?

“A garden locked is my sister, my bride,

A rock garden locked, a spring sealed up.” (So 4:12)

The tongue, as James pointed out, is like a fountain, a spring. Israel is referred to as a

·     Locked garden

·     A locked rock garden

·     A sealed spring

It’s pretty easy to figure out. The Bride of Messiah is being restored to the Garden of Eden. It is a locked garden, protected by cheruvim with fiery swords; it is a locked rock garden, the palace of King Messiah, the representation of the Rock of Ages; it is a sealed [as with a signet] spring, watered by the rivers of Eden sourced from the Upper Garden, flowing from the very Throne of Adonai. It is not approachable in a state of sin, let alone inhabitable.

The first mention of gal/galeed is the heap of stones that witnessed to the uncrossable barrier of the Promised Land to Laban and other idolators who did not repent and make the journey with Jacob’s family:

“’Behold this heap and behold the pillar which I have set between you and me. This heap is a witness, and the pillar is a witness, that I will not pass by this heap to you for harm, and you will not pass by this heap and this pillar to me, for harm. The God of Abraham and the God of Nahor, the God of their father, judge between us.’ So Jacob swore by the fear of his father Isaac. Then Jacob offered a sacrifice on the mountain, and called his kinsmen to the meal; and they ate the meal and spent the night on the mountain. Early in the morning Laban arose, and kissed his sons and his daughters and blessed them. Then Laban departed and returned to his place.” (Ge 31:51-55)

It was the last meal Jacob and his family were to have with the Laban, the unrepentant idolator.

Israel is to be a locked garden, a stone of witness. Having preserved her identity, pure speech and marital fidelity in the exile, she returns to the Land of Promise given to Avraham. They set a barrier beyond which neither can cross without Heavenly authorization, a seal of approval from the One Who plants the Garden.

Israel’s wilderness journey was semi-supernatural: garments that didn’t wear out, shoes that didn’t wear out, and daily bread and fresh water. It was their preparation to cross into the realm of the Garden in the Promised Land. Alas, the Golden Calf and the Evil Spies delayed the crossing of the Hebrews, an identity that means those who have crossed over. It weeded out those of impure sexual habits, including idolatry, and those whose tongues had not been purified in the journey. What the Hebrews did retain after they finally finished the journey and crossed over was their Hebrew language.

Their language and the marriage bed were two important “preservatives” of the Hebrews in Egypt. These two practices preserved their recognition and witness of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob as forefathers, both through descendancy and language. These two things should characterize Israel as they await the Greater Exodus in the Wilderness of Egypt, the Wilderness of the Peoples (Ezek 20:35-36), which gives them a double exile.

While Egypt was one exile, Babylon took the Jews to another, rooted in the confusion of the languages earlier at Bavel. It occurred because humankind wanted to make a name for themselves, not to build the Name of The Holy One. One. One. Not the many confused names, but ONE. One Word. This is difficult to us, for we suffer in a double exile, slavery in a land of idols as well as a confused world of many blasphemous names.

Through Yeshua, however, Adonai has provided a way even for the non-native Israelite to be identified in the wilderness of exile both through language and descendancy.

·     “Abraham’s seed and heirs according to the Promise.” (Ga 3:29)  We are therefore bound to protect the sanctity of the marriage bed and to shun sexual immorality in our homes, for we are descendants of Avraham by faith.

·     Our pure “Hebrew” speech. Torah.

The Torah is the language we embrace and speak in the “Wilderness of Egypt and the peoples.” While we speak many languages, Adonai is returning us to His pure language, Hebrew. It begins by accepting His whole Word, His true representation, in whatever language we can understand it. This begins our journey back to the pure language. Don’t put more emphasis on learning Hebrew than learning and practicing what it says!

I love learning Hebrew, but in this dual exile of Egyptylon, we must begin with learning Torah in our own language. Along the way, we will pick up different levels of skill. Some will learn words like Shabbat, shalom, todah, and those associated with the feast days. Others will become fluent in Biblical or modern Hebrew. What matters is learning in obeying! This is our one clean, daily source of our pure speech.

Remember, two things will characterize, or unify, the Bride in exile: pure speech and sexual morality.

The Torah is the “language” in exile, but sexual morality must still be practiced as Sarah and Joseph in Egypt. “Do not even eat” with sexually immoral believers because it is conscious idolatry:

“Do not be idolaters, as some of them were; as it is written, THE PEOPLE SAT DOWN TO EAT AND DRINK AND STOOD UP TO PLAY.” “But actually, I wrote to you not to associate with any so-called brother if he is an immoral person, or covetous, or an idolater, or a reviler, or a drunkard, or a swindler—not even to eat with such a one.” (1 Co 5:1-13)

Licentiousness characterizes those who serve the god of this world, not the Holy ONE of Israel. When it is time for the Greater Exodus, those of pure speech and holy vessels will exit their exiles to enter the locked Garden.

Until then, we must lovingly but firmly turn the tables on those who would enter our believing communities practicing sexual immorality. We must not invite them to our Shabbat or feast tables if they know the Word and intentionally transgress it. It is a departure both from pure speech and respect for the Elohim of Avraham, Isaac, and Jacob when such sin is deliberately committed without a desire to repent and taking steps to do so.

We are a heap of stones, a witness to the locked garden.

What if they don’t know? Teach them!

Start with the Big Ten. In the Big Ten, the observance of Shabbat is presented along with not committing adultery. Upon the commandments prohibiting adultery and idolatry, other commandments concerning sexual morality hang. They can be taught in kindness.

And when we address disobedience, we should do so in such a manner that the one being excused from the table feels as if we are on his/her side, pulling for his or her success, confident of a desire to change.

They should feel as though if they make this big decision, we would be the first person they would come to for help and guidance. Our table is open and ready when they return.

We should be a safe place to fall so it is easier for the disobedient brother or sister to learn how to stand as true Hebrews. When a fallen brother or sister returns, that table turns full circle.