Hollisa Alewine – Footsteps of Messiah Part 157 (The Child in the Sallyport: a Prison Story)
https://media.blubrry.com/hebrewnation/mcdn.podbean.com/mf/web/xnukrvq6v6uzptt3/Footsteps_of_Messiah...
Read More
Category: Torah Class – Hollisa Alewine
Hollisa Alewine – Footsteps of Messiah Part 156 (The Dead Messiah and Stickin’ Chickens)
I have chickens. They are not my chickens. They belong to the neighbor. He already had chickens in a chicken coop. Now he has ten more chickens. They are not in the chicken coop. They are in my yard. My flowers. Digging holes in the yard and around the foundation of the house. Pooping on the porch. Hanging out.
I tried playing red-tail hawk sounds really loud. I tried taking watermelon rinds and veggie scraps over to their property, but they still lurk in the shady spots and follow me around every time I go outside to work. They just stick around.
It took me a whole day to lay chicken wire under the flower bed mulch to keep them from destroying my carefully designed and freshly-planted flower beds.
We let the neighbor know, but so far, we still have sticken’ chickens.
I even told them the story of when Billie Idol went missing, but while they enjoyed story time, they don’t connect Billie’s demise to their current situation.
Chickens are like that.
When I was four years old, my first pet was a chicken named Slicker.
Grandma’s cat Fuchsia ate it.
I didn’t connect a cat to Slicker’s current situation.
I was telling a good friend about our sticken’ chickens yesterday, and we were chatting about the danger of Moses’ forty days of absence on the mountain. The Israelites and mixed multitude pretty much gave up on his return. In spite of every miracle they’d seen, they couldn’t wait forty full days for the next one. Not only that, they started breaking the Big Ten. An idol. Sexual immorality. You know the story. They’d been delivered from slavery in Egypt; they’d been immersed as a congregation in the Reed Sea; they’d witnessed the glory of Adonai and agreed to His covenant at the mountain…and yet, they had sticken’ chickens from Egypt. They went right back to feeding slavery to sin.
“For I do not want you to be unaware, brethren, that our fathers were all under the cloud and all passed through the sea; and all were baptized into Moses in the cloud and in the sea…” (1 Co 10:1-2)
The tunnel of the Reed Sea was like a birth canal. Immersion has always been a symbol of a resurrection that is more than symbolic. On the Third Day of Creation was a birth of life from the water to fruit trees. On the dawn of the Seventh Day of Passover, the Israelites completed a supernaturally fast, effortless journey through the Reed Sea.
Likewise, immersion (mikveh) is undertaken as a rebirth. The pattern is this:
• Water represents spirit (as does fire)
• The earth is the substance of mankind, adam
• When YHVH turns the sea into dry land as a way of escape, that which was spirit became substance/flesh in order to provide a new beginning for Israel/mankind, a resurrection from the sin decay of mere earth to earthly life with the spirit, a promise of wholeness and perfections completed from above
• New life follows a mikveh in Messiah, the Great Hand of YHVH.
This is the mystical picture of the Reed Sea. When YHVH turned the sea into dry land, he figuratively resurrected the Israelites. When the natural body dies, it returns to the earth. In Messiah Yeshua, the bared arm of YHVH, mankind is resurrected from earth through water.
“What shall we say then? Are we to continue in sin so that grace may increase? May it never be! How shall we who died to sin still live in it? Or do you not know that all of us who have been baptized into Christ Jesus have been baptized into His death? Therefore we have been buried with Him through baptism into death, so that as Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father, so we too might walk in newness of life. For if we have become united with Him in the likeness of His death, certainly we shall also be in the likeness of His resurrection, knowing this, that our old self was crucified with Him, in order that our body of sin might be done away with, so that we would no longer be slaves to sin; for he who has died is freed from sin.” (Ro 6:1-7)
When we turn back to sin, we’re not quite dead enough.
Few who entered the Reed Sea mikveh entered as newborns in physical age; Israelites and the mixed multitude entered in various stages of aging. In that sense, we understand why a mikveh symbolizes rebirth, yet it is available to all ages for their various reasons.
Regardless of the age entering it, emerging from the mikveh is a re-set upon emerging. Immersion is a type of resurrection, especially as the water becomes the “dry land” of burial. It is a fresh start for a newborn who has yet to choose sin.
Purities of obedience begin in the home…
“There are seven dwelling places listed in the Seder Gan Eden, and in each there is a righteous woman who teaches the Torah: Batyah, daughter of Pharaoh, Yocheved, mother of Moses, Miriam, sister of Moses, Huldah the Prophetess, Abigail, David’s wife, and beyond this point, the matriarchs, Sarah, Rebecca, Rachel, and Leah.” In one source, those who enter Gan Eden (the Garden of Eden) go through four transformations through their learning experience. Upon entry, the righteous individual is changed into a child and tastes the joys of childhood (Raphael, p. 187)… “When the Torah was first given, it was taught to the women first. It is written, ‘Thus shall you say to the house of Jacob’ – the women – ‘and tell the sons of Israel’ (Ex 19:3).” (Kaplan, p. 59)
Whether literal or not, the principle is that purity and obedience are first learned in the home, the domain of the mother: “My son, observe the commandment [mitzvah] of your father, and do not forsake the teaching [torah] of your mother.” (Pr 6:20)
Yeshua reiterated how important childhood is in entering the Kingdom without a habit of sin, without the pride of rebellion against the Word.
“At that time the disciples came to Jesus and said, “Who then is greatest in the kingdom of heaven?” And He called a child to Himself and set him before them, and said, “Truly I say to you, unless you are converted and become like children, you will not enter the kingdom of heaven. Whoever then humbles himself as this child, he is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven.” (Mt 18:1-4)
The humble child is like a slave, not yet inheriting, yet he/she already has everything. Children of every age are equal, yet honor and responsibility according to growth age.
There is no least or greatest in that sense. All are children. All begin as little children and need time to experience spiritual childhood because of its pure joy and lack of responsibility. Just because a child is precocious doesn’t mean he/she is ready for the keys to the Kingdom.
The Hokey Pokey of Eden
Yeshua said, “Unless you be “converted” and become like children…”
?????? stréph?; to twist, i.e. turn quite around or reverse (literally or figuratively):—convert, turn (again, back again, self, self about).
“Now I say, as long as the heir is a child, he does not differ at all from a slave although he is owner of everything…”(Ga 4:1)
Immersion into Messiah Yeshua mimics this growth principle, re-setting to childhood for a new cycle, preparing the child to inherit the Kingdom. No getting around it! What the child must not do is mistake himself or herself for the slave who has no inheritance! A slave inherits nothing! A slave has Egyptian sticken’ chickens of sin. A child, though awaiting and learning in the Father’s house, will inherit the estate. The child does not serve because of his past, but because of his future.
A child who hangs around slaves, however, may believe he is a slave. He may begin to mimic sins that are not his mother’s training for the inheritance of their father…and Father.
This principle is so elementary to our faith. We must mature in our faith, learning to be holy on earth because He is holy in Heaven, our inheritance. Through repentance and conversion, constantly turning around to live innocently according to the “new man” that was immersed in Messiah, we can mature in the Word to inherit the Kingdom:
“Therefore leaving the elementary teaching about the Christ, let us press on to maturity, not laying again a foundation of repentance from dead works and of faith toward God, of instruction about washings and laying on of hands, and the resurrection of the dead and eternal judgment. And this we will do, if God permits. For in the case of those who have once been enlightened and have tasted of the heavenly gift and have been made partakers of the Holy Spirit, and have tasted the good word of God and the powers of the age to come, and then have fallen away, it is impossible to renew them again to repentance, since they again crucify to themselves the Son of God and put Him to open shame. For ground that drinks the rain which often falls on it and brings forth vegetation useful to those for whose sake it is also tilled, receives a blessing from God; but if it yields thorns and thistles, it is worthless and close to being cursed, and it ends up being burned.” (He 6:1-8)
That’s horrible. Our continued sin crucifies and shames Yeshua again! It is as if we are among those screaming, “Crucify him! Crucify him!” It is as if we whipped Yeshua, spit on him, and drove the nails into his hands and feet. We are false witnesses, for while in one breath we speak of Messiah Yeshua, in the next breath we sin as if Yeshua is dead. If he is alive, we are his little children, learning, repenting, correcting, and trusting Yeshua the Living Word is alive in us. If we practice sin, we proclaim the death of Messiah, but not his resurrection.
If we don’t believe Messiah Yeshua is dead, then we need to cease dead works.
Dead works, too, are a testimony, not of Messiah Yeshua’s life, but of his death.
Let the world see the life of Yeshua in us resurrect us to increasing pure, holy, and faithful works when we trip over sticken’ chickens and fall. We can do the hokey pokey and turn ourselves around, but we must make the connection to our current situation.
Although I have sticken’ chickens during the day, at night, they go home to roost. Ultimately, that’s what sin does. It returns to the one who provides it a resting place. Those kinds of chickens should find no place to rest or roost in a believer. Yeshua lives. Let the little child arise from the waters of immersion, no matter what our age. Children were Yeshua’s greatest fans, and he always welcomed them with open arms, no matter how busy he was healing, teaching, and delivering the grownups.
How does water relate to the resurrection of the whole spirit, soul, and physical body? When we make transgressions, the spirit of grace offers a path of reconciliation with our Father, our King. If we sincerely repent and immerse, we come up a new creation, a new child. Forget the Fountain of Youth-this water is WAY better! It is a fountain of youth with an eternal inheritance!
As we wait for Yeshua’s return, let us not grow weary of waiting or become vulnerable to Egypt’s sticken’ chickens. An inheritance awaits.
“For we will surely die and are like water spilled on the ground which cannot be gathered up again. Yet God does not take away life but plans ways so that the banished one will not be cast out from him.” (Wise Woman of Tekoa in 2 Sa 14:14)
Read More
Hollisa Alewine – Footsteps of Messiah Part 155 (Walking on Water Part 6 – Water in the Rock, or Rock in the Water?)
Water in The Rock, or The Rock in the Water?
This newletter is lengthy, so let it serve for two Shabbats. There will be no newsletter next week due to visiting Jacob’s Tent services Up to the Mountain.
In the last several newsletters, we’ve taken a close look at the many prophecies embodied in Yeshua’s walk on the water of the Galilee in Matthew Fourteen. How different was Yeshua’s perception of the walk than Peter and the other disciples’! For the one who was the water in the Rock…and the Rock…in the wilderness for the Israelites, it was no problem to also be the Rock in the water to his students.
“He alone spreads out the heavens and treads on the waves of the sea…” (Job 9:8)
Sometimes it helps to put the Gospel of Matthew back into its original Hebrew text. While no one is certain of where that text might be (only fragments are known to survive), there is a version whose provenance can only be traced so far back in Jewish history, yet it is quite accurate considering it was used by a less-than-friendly readership. It is the Shem Tov’s Evan Bohan version from the Fourteenth Century. The differences between the Hebrew and Greek texts are not drastic.
To Yeshua, the stroll on the Galilee during the storm was perceived much differently than his students, who perceived it as dangerous, chaotic, and “contrary.” In the Hebrew Matthew version, the word for contrary is neged, or opposing, opposite. Neged has a good side, too, for Adam’s wife Chavah was his ezer kenegdo, or “helper opposite him,” which brings balance. When opposition is a helper, it is because in spite of the opposition, the overall purpose is to achieve unity walking in the Word. The opposite helper pulls the weight of the yoke beside the other, ensuring the burden does not get dragged in endless circles, but can go straight. For example, grace and truth are not opposed to one another. One cannot be practiced at the expense of the other. In Yeshua, they work together.
Sarah wasn’t such a good helper when she suggested Hagar as a solution to their problem, but she was a good helper when she advised Abraham to send away Ishmael, who had not internalized the righteousness of his father and threatened the inheritance of Isaac. The disciples did not see the waves of the storm as their ezer kenegdo, or helping opposition, but as a destructive force. They were just rowing in circles in the middle of the Galilee, taking on water.
Galilee does indeed imply circles in Hebrew, like a roll or spool, and a wave is a gal, pronounced gahl (not to be confused with other gals). This is perhaps what it has in common with the “circle of the earth,” and why from Isaiah’s prophecy, Galilee came to be called “Galilee of the Nations.” In Jewish tradition, Moses hid the Rock that followed them in the wilderness in the bottom of the Galilee before he died, which explains why Yeshua would have made his early home near the Galilee and begun his ministry there. The Rock was both the water in the Rock, the Rock, and the Rock in the water.
It also explains how Yeshua’s ministry prepared the way for the nations to hear the Gospel message from his disciples:
“But there will be no more gloom for her who was in anguish; in earlier times He treated the land of Zebulun and the land of Naphtali with contempt, but later on He shall make it glorious, by the way of the sea, on the other side of Jordan, Galilee of the Gentiles. The people who walk in darkness will see a great light; those who live in a dark land, the light will shine on them.” (Is 9:1-2)
As the region of the Galilee represented the Gentile nations in the time from Isaiah to Yeshua’s ministry, so the disciples were dispersed to proclaim the Light of the Word Yeshua to the scattered of Israel as well as the Gentiles who dwelled among the raging waves of tormenting wickedness.
Even as we are rescued, we are tested of the Ruach HaKodesh, the Holy Spirit, who also is described as a “Helper.” An ezer kenegdo may seem contrary, yet it is a necessary instrument of contention from the Father before we officially enter into “the bond of the covenant” with Him. While we said “We will do and we will hear” at many Shavuot feasts in our wilderness of the peoples, a final reckoning under the Shepherd’s rod will occur at a future Feast of Trumpets (Rosh HaShanah) so that the bond may be sealed at Yom HaKippurim before we enter into the chuppah of Sukkot with Yeshua:
“I will bring you out from the peoples and gather you from the lands where you are scattered, with a mighty hand and with an outstretched arm and with wrath poured out; and I will bring you into the wilderness of the peoples, and there I will enter into judgment with you face to face. As I entered into judgment with your fathers in the wilderness of the land of Egypt, so I will enter into judgment with you,” declares the Lord GOD. “I will make you pass under the rod, and I will bring you into the bond of the covenant; and I will purge from you the rebels and those who transgress against Me; I will bring them out of the land where they sojourn, but they will not enter the land of Israel. Thus you will know that I am the LORD.” (Ezek 20:34-38)
If there are rebels, they will be purged in the wilderness of the nations, but the testing and refining process will not feel good to any believer even if they are not sifted out by the test.
When we follow Yeshua, we will encounter the contrary waves of the Galilee, for we fish people in “Galilee” of the nations. For many walking with Yeshua, whether on land or sea, they realize that they are already a long distance from where they departed, but yet are quite a distance from where they are going. At this point, turning around might seem easier because that’s the way the wind is blowing. Just ride it wherever it blows, right?
It really isn’t the easiest way out of the storm, though. Hebrew Matthew 14:24 says the disciples’ boat was b’emtzah, or “in the middle of, the center of” the sea. It’s just as far to go back as it is to go forward, yet fear makes going back to the wilderness of Egypt, the starting place, seem less painful and scary than riding out the storm.
It isn’t.
When Yeshua steps into our “boat,” the journey will be over in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye. “So they were willing to receive Him into the boat, and immediately the boat was at the land to which they were going” even though the text states they were three or four miles along the water (Jn 6:21), and Matthew says they were in the center of the Galilee.
Yes, going forward feels like going nowhere because every stroke of the oars meets resistance. What discouraged Peter mid-walk was that the wind was chazak, or “strong.” A strong force was at work on the Galilee. The forces that test us ARE strong. The disciples could have no better object lesson of struggle not being against flesh and blood, but against “principalities and powers in high places.” No wonder the disciples thought Yeshua might be a not-so-friendly-ghost, or in Hebrew, a sheid (demon).
On the other hand, their struggle was against flesh and blood…their own fears and limitations to act in the storm.
“But the boat was already a long distance from the land, battered by the waves; for the wind was contrary.” (Mt 14:24)
Two words describe the reason for the disciples’ fear: “battered” and “contrary.”
The Greek word for “battered” is:
basaniz?
The KJV translates Strong’s G928 in the following manner: torment (8x), pain (1x), toss (1x), vex (1x), toil (1x).
to test (metals) by the touchstone
to question by applying torture
to torture
to vex with grievous pains (of body or mind), to torment
to be harassed, distressed
In Sodom, Lot was also tortured by the wickedness surrounding him:
“…for by what he saw and heard, that righteous man, while living among them, felt G928 his righteous soul tormented G928 day after day by their lawless deeds)…” (2 Pe 2:8)
The disciples were figuratively among the nations, “battered” by the waves, their righteous souls tortured at the level of Sodom’s wickedness.
In the Hebrew Matthew, the wording is slightly different: “The boat was in the midst of the sea, and the waves of the sea were driving it because the wind was contrary.”
While the Greek describes the waves as tormenting the disciples, the Hebrew is dachaf, which means pushing and shoving. Who or what are these deathly tormenting, pushing, shoving, waves driven by contrary, neged wind?
“When the waves of death surrounded me, the floods of ungodliness made me afraid.” (2 Sa 22:5)
It is ungodliness that tests us just as it tested Lot and every other righteous person in Scripture. Yes, ungodliness is very frightening. Every stroke of the oar that should impel us forward to the goal meets strong resistance. We’re pushed and shoved. Faith in Yeshua, however, can cause the storm to give it a rest.
Think of this. Although it feels as though we’re not stronger than the wicked waves, going wherever the contrary ruach shoves us, the opposite is true. In the boat with faith in Yeshua, we DO have control over the direction of the boat even in the storm. Obedience to the Word is a definite direction, not drifting. When we invite Yeshua into the boat, it shortens the journey to where we’re going. The longer we struggle against it alone with our fears, the longer it will take.
Yeshua is still the Rock in the water of the nations. When we walk on his Word, we walk on a solid foundation.
And eventually, the nations will stand still and watch the salvation of YHVH like the Israelites did while Yeshua arranged the waters of the Reed Sea for their journey home. The nations will have to watch Yeshua be the cloud, the bridge, the strong hand that leads His people to their destination in the City of Comfort. When the Israelites crossed the Reed Sea, the waters below them became dry land; the waters to their right and left hardened into brick-like stone walls, and the water above them was the cloud: “For I do not want you to be unaware, brethren, that our fathers were all under the cloud and all passed through the sea; and all were baptized into Moses in the cloud and in the sea…” (1 Co 10:1-2)
Remember this from the beginning of the “Walking on Water” mini-series:
“All the waters of the world were split when the sea was split. Ten miracles occurred at the sea. First, that it split. Second is that it was made like a dome or a roof and Israel walked under the water. The water was under, on the sides of and over Israel. Third, it was dry under them, so that Israel should not smear their feet with mud. Fourth, for the Egyptians, the earth was all mud and slime and they sank into it. Fifth, the water was congealed and hard as stone. Sixth, the water was not congealed completely, but it was congealed a section at a time. It was like large boulders, in the expectation that when the Egyptians would drown, the hard water would smash their heads, like stones. These pieces were on top of each other, like a brick wall.” (Tze’enah Ure’enah, Commentary to Beshalach)
Understanding the symbolism of the Galilee in relation to the crossing of the Reed helps us to make the connection between the Exodus from Egypt and the coming Greater Exodus. The ancient rabbis carefully read the Exodus text, and they saw the “stone wall” composition of the sea walls when it parted to make a way for Israel to cross the earth on its journey home. The pushing, shoving, tormenting waves of the world were frozen in place so that they could not move, forced to watch the salvation of YHVH’s strong right hand Yeshua as he led Israel to a supernatural existence:
“Terror and dread fall upon them;
By the greatness of Your arm they are motionless as stone;
Until Your people pass over, O LORD,
Until the people pass over whom You have purchased.
You will bring them and plant them in the mountain of Your inheritance,
The place, O LORD, which You have made for Your dwelling,
The sanctuary, O Lord, which Your hands have established.” (Ex 15:16-17)
When the Israelites completed their journey, the “stones” fell on one another, wicked smashing wicked.
Imagine what the gathering of Yeshua will be like. The wicked will be frozen, unable to move, while Israel exits the natural world and begins walking in the supernatural world of Eden. It’s a realm of heavenly waters where supernatural meets the natural, just above us.
Peter said to Yeshua, “If it is you, command me to ‘Bo!’”
?Yeshua said, “Bo!”
“Come up here!”
Step on up, students. There’s a Rock in the waters.
Read More
Hollisa Alewine – Footsteps of Messiah Part 154 (Walking on Water Part 5 – Is it something in the water?)
Is it something in the water?
“Count time! On your feet!”
When I worked at the federal prison, there was a particular officer with a funny voice, kind of like the drill sergeants at boot camp. It could penetrate cinder block walls, mainly because it had to. The best I can describe it is 50% drill sergeant, 35% smoker’s throat, and 15% helium.
When it was time for a “standing count,” inmates were required to stand up for the count. It made it easier for the officer to obtain an accurate count, and more importantly, the officer was sure the prisoner
1) was still alive and well, and
2) really there; it wasn’t just a lump of pillows under a blanket
When I worked with this officer, he called out in that boot camp voice, “Count time! On your feet!” You couldn’t not hear it. He said more colorful things than “Count time!” when inmates or staff caused him problems, but those are best not repeated.
We are quickly approaching Shavuot, the end of “Count time! On your feet!” The harvest time between Pesach and Shavuot is extremely busy agriculturally, but it only get BUSIER between Shavuot and the fall feasts of ingathering. If we’re struggling to stand, much less walk right now, we might need a fainting couch when the relentless summer heat hits.
Yeshua told the following parable:
“Other seed fell on rocky soil, and as soon as it grew up, it withered away, because it had no moisture. Other seed fell among the thorns; and the thorns grew up with it and choked it out. Other seed fell into the good soil, and grew up, and produced a crop a hundred times as great.”…“Now the parable is this: the seed is the word of God… Those on the rocky soil are those who, when they hear, receive the word with joy; and these have no firm root; they believe for a while, and in time of temptation fall away. The seed which fell among the thorns, these are the ones who have heard, and as they go on their way they are choked with worries and riches and pleasures of this life, and bring no fruit to maturity. But the seed in the good soil, these are the ones who have heard the word in an honest and good heart, and hold it fast, and bear fruit with perseverance.” (Lk 8:7-15)
The “fresh” Word does wonders in our lives. It makes for a fun Passover when we’ve renewed the joy of our salvation each year. A week or two into the count, though, the seed of the Word is in mortal danger. Seed is the promise of life, yet when the soil isn’t prepared, protected, nurtured, and watered, the fruit that could have matured in that field dies in the early stages.
As the omer count goes on, it’s harder to stand and be counted. A temptation comes, perhaps a “stones-to-bread” twisting shortcut of what the Word actually means, or the consequences of throwing one’s self off a height of risky behavior, hoping an angel will catch us, or even a brush with idolatry: greed, rebellion, sexual immorality, etc. Others will be choked by worries, busy-ness thorns that choke off the nourishment times of studying the Word needed to put down deep roots and to choke out the thorns instead.
But the Lord answered and said to her, “Martha, Martha, you are worried and bothered about so many things; but only one thing is necessary, for Mary has chosen the good part, which shall not be taken away from her.” (Lk 10:41-42)
Our busy days will be weighed in the balances of the Kingdom when we enter, and imagine how much of it will be taken away as we cross the threshhold to the Garden. And imagine what will not be taken away. Any time invested in the Word of the Father will remain, and in that Kingdom, it will continue to bear eternal fruit, especially if we’ve grown and pulled that fruit from the bitter waters of a test.
There’s something in the water during count time. What is it?
While walking through, under, on, and between water of the Reed Sea might feel miraculous and spectacular, the omer count time is also a time when the Father begins to test His Word in us. It will not feel so miraculous or spectacular.
This will bring back the bitter Egyptian taste of mistrust. The Egyptian masters coerced and abused their slaves*, and life only became worse, not better. Is YHVH the same kind of master? Is he an abusive father like Pharaoh, demanding everything, yet slow to deliver what was owed or not delivering at all? Our “childhood” walk to Shavuot will be characterized by a major test or two because “…as long as the heir is a child, he does not differ at all from a slave although he is owner of everything…(Ga 4:1)
Israel was the heir to the Promised Land, the Kingdom, yet they were being treated like slaves, forced to rely upon the Father at every stop along the way to Sinai, starting with the encounter with the bitter water. Remember as kids when we hated boring, long rides in the back seat (because we didn’t have “devices” for distraction back then!), doing chores, making our beds, or having to spend time at a family occasion when we could have been out playing with our friends?
Children are being introduced to the fundamentals of the Torah so that they can later become disciples, routine practicers of even the more exacting holy commandments required of a kingdom of royal priests. Before that betrothal into discipleship at Sinai, though, we learn the fundamentals of the faith and practice them. Remember? L’hitamen is the reflexive form of L’haamin, “to trust, to have faith.” L’hitamen means to practice, drill, and train.
Amen?
Some believers love count time. Some don’t. Some believers embrace test day; others develop a stomachache and stay home.
Really, can’t you divide most believers into those who view Moses’ instructions as sweet, the Tree of Life, and those who see them as bitter, distasteful, and unnecessary to their maturation into the Bride of Messiah?
In fact, we all swing between those two positions along the journey. As the Father prepares the Bride, He will gently wash, wash, wash. We must practice, practice, practice, drill, drill, drill, correcting our attitudes. How? In spite of the bitter taste of water, it tests the sotah. The test of the sotah called for the suspected adulteress to drink bitter water containing both the words of Torah and the sacred Name YHVH, which would be washed off in the water she drank.
If innocent, she would experience no harm and bear fruit. Good soil.
If guilty, both she and her adulterous partner would waste away. Dry soil. Summer heat. Unguarded against predators. Choked by non-Kingdom business. Not hearing, which means not doing, the Seed of the Word. Not enough practice in righteousness to balance the worries that always come.
Vulnerability leads to easy pickins for the adversary. Not the harvest of good barley and wheat, but the opposite. The adversary plucks up before the plant comes to maturity. Practice in righteousness slowly washes away the victim mentality of Egypt along with its vulnerabilities that invite predators; practice in the commandments sends down good roots that will find water when the topsoil is dry.
Count time is a vulnerable time. Practice.
The bitter water of Marah tested the Israelites who had just walked on water! Were they thinking of adultery/idolatry again? Or could they think through the problem, practice faithful thinking based on His Word and promises, and find sweetness in the situation? Actually bear good fruit because of the bitterness…in spite of it? Could they do what Moses did, which was to throw a “stick” (etz) into the water. An etz is a tree.
Trees are sometimes metaphors of human beings in Scriptures. (“I see men like trees walking…”) Sometimes we see ourselves in the water. That’s when we need to throw ourselves into the water. Go all the way under. If our reflection doesn’t look so good, it’s time to jump in the bitter water and sweeten it with our faithfulness.
When we pop back up, we’ll be surrounded by the concentric water circles waving and traveling outward. They remind us that we are maturing plants, and our faithfulness will have an impact on those around us that just keeps on going.
Don’t see anything?
Keep going under until you bob up and see fruit.
Keep drinking until it’s sweet.
If we will allow our bitter tests to be refreshed with washing of water by the Word, Yeshua, then where there were bitter memories of past wrongs and dashed hopes, there will be the seed of fresh fruit. It will be a great step in leaving the past behind and pressing forward.
The pomegranate represents the Torah because of its approximate 613 seeds, representing the 613 commandments. There is a fruit tree of the Word awaiting us in the water. Maybe Peter wasn’t really sinking in the water after all. Maybe he was just learning to stand and be counted, washing and polishing his commandment pips, learning to trust Yeshua to finish and perfect his childlike faith in bitter tests between then and Shavuot.
If we saw Yeshua, a Living Word, the Tree of Life, as our reflection in the water, it would transform the bitter test to a sweet one. How far do we need to go to change our attitudes about tests to conform to Yeshua’s attitude? It’s not different water. It’s not a different Word. It’s how we view the changes that need to take place in us in order to taste a hard Word as a sweet one.
If we wait upon the Father’s will and practice His Word, He will sweeten the water and improve our reflection in His time. He’ll teach us “the good part, which shall not be taken away.” Our reflection in the water will be transformed by the washing, sweet water of the Word. We need not be either thirsty or unclean in His Presence at Sinai.
There is something in the water. It is Yeshua. His solution to an ugly reflection at count time?
On your feet!
And jump in!
*Archaeologists have found potsherds scattered around the Egyptian pyramids and other building projects where workers scrawled their complaints onto the scraps of pottery. Perhaps the complaints were too dangerous to say aloud, and they contented themselves with scattering these anonymous grievances around the work camp for the supervisors to find. One of the main complaints was that they were shortchanged wages, which was sometimes goods, or the wages were slow to arrive.
Please SUBSCRIBE to our newsletter to get new teachings.
Read More
Dr Hollisa Alewine – Footsteps of Messiah Part 153 (Walking on Water Part 4 – The Underwater Army of Abaddon)
The Underwater Army of Abaddon – Walking on Water Part 4
In Walking on Water Part Three, we looked in depth at the Gospel of Matthew 14:22-33 account of Yeshua and Peter walking on water. Peter lost faith when he saw the wind, and he had to call on Yeshua.When it looks like the angels of the four winds, or princes and principalities, or spiritual darkness in high places (and low ones!) are bringing destruction, our confidence is in the right arm and saving hand of YHVH, Yeshua. For Peter, the last watch of the night, the time of immindent destruction, was too close for comfort. He knew that the “dry land” he walked on could turn to stones of destruction at any second.Yeshua said to Peter, “Come!” In Hebrew, he said, “Bo!” [???]That should sound familiar from our Reed Sea salvation as well:The sons of Israel went through the midst of the sea on the dry land,?????????? ???????????????? ???????? ?????? ?????????????The verb? Yavo-u! The collective congregation in plural form of Bo. Peter knew YHVH walking on water had happened in the past…if Yeshua was who he said he was, the son of YHVH, then wouldn’t he want the disciples to Bo! now in their present time of trouble as well? If it was Yeshua, then it wasn’t a “ghost,” a spirit assigned to the East Wind, but Salvation guiding the East Wind.This is an example to us that neither should we be distracted by the tempestuous spiritual forces being used to shepherd us into safe haven.In this newsletter, we need to review the dark spiritual forces of “Egypt” that were bound at the Abyss of the Reed Sea and how they play a role in the prophecies of Revelation. It’s a necessary layer of understanding to help us take the next step with Yeshua, the dry land, the resurrection, and the mystery of its mikveh.It also is an encouragement that even as we walk on the water with Yeshua when he says “Bo!”, he is marshaling the King of Abaddon and “Egypt” to take vengeance on the very adversaries who pursued us. He is surrounding us with a protective, pure tunnel of salvation.Please review the Chariots of the Abyss this week, and we will progress to the mystery of immersion in Messiah next week. Since each of these lessons of the mini-series builds on the previous one, it is recommended to print and review in order if possible.Also, if you want to review a related video, Chariots of Abaddon it is free to view on YouTube.Please SUBSCRIBE to our newsletter to get new teachings.
Dr Hollisa Alewine – Footsteps of Messiah Part 152 (Walking on Water Part 3 – When You Walk on Water, Remember This)
When You Walk on Water, ?Remember This – Part Three
In Walking on Water Part Two, we looked in depth at the Gospel of Matthew 14:22-33 account of Yeshua walking on water. The “fourth watch of the night” was our key phrase, helping us to understand the elation, terror, and sinking feeling Peter might have had as he processed:
a) Sababa! Yes! I can walk on water like it’s dry land! It’s like the Exodus!
b) Oy vey! It’s the last watch of the night, and the wind will allow the waters to return to normal at daybreak! I could be killed like Pharaoh’s army!
Yeshua, however, had authority over the wind frightening Peter with its ability to destroy armies and pound them into the abyss of a watery grave. Yeshua’s authority over the angels of the four winds and all other principalities and powers is a second key to understanding why Peter might have had that sinking feeling that his solid footing in the water might collapse.
One example is the destruction of Sodom and three other cities of the valley at sunrise. Oddly, the text describes Lot and his daughters as arriving in Zoar when the sun came up, yet, this is when the angel took them by the hand to depart Sodom! How could they be in two places almost simultaneously? It was humanly impossible to escape to Zoar that fast unless there was a supernatural quality to the angel’s “hand” that saved them.
Likewise, Yeshua took Peter’s hand when Peter cried out, “Lord, save me!” Yeshua walked him to the boat, and John adds a detail: “So they were willing to receive Him into the boat, and immediately the boat was at the land to which they were going” even though the text states they were three or four miles along the water. (Jn 6:21)
This, too, would be impossible if Yeshua’s hand of salvation weren’t supernaturally fast transportation. A boat is a symbol in Scripture not only of international commerce, but of how nations and continents are connected and interconnected. The fact that walking on water occurs on the Galilee is also symbolic. Galilee came to be known as “Galilee of the Nations” not only because of the diverse people groups that lived there during epochs of history, but because of Isaiah’s prophecy:
But there will be no more gloom for her who was in anguish; in earlier times He treated the land of Zebulun and the land of Naphtali with contempt, but later on He shall make it glorious, by the way of the sea, on the other side of Jordan, Galilee of the Gentiles. The people who walk in darkness will see a great light; those who live in a dark land, the light will shine on them. (Is 9:1-2)
While Peter made the connection between the Exodus past and a prophesied Exodus of the future, the Book of Acts suggests he didn’t completely internalize the commission to the Gentiles until much later. Perhaps he assumed that Isaiah’s prophecy was intended only for the lost Israelites among the nations who were to be restored by Messiah.
Indeed, the deportation of many Israelites and Jews occurred from that very area, yet the Greater Exodus will also draw many from every nation, tribe, and tongue just as it did in the first Exodus. All those who call on the Name of YHVH will be saved then as Peter demonstrated.
In Part One, we parsed the Hebrew text of Exodus 14:21 to see that the English translations of how the water was swept back all night didn’t do justice to the text:
“Then Moses stretched out his hand over the sea; and the LORD swept the sea back…”
But let’s read the literal words:
“And stretched Moshe his hand over the sea and will walk YHVH the sea…”
For modern English grammar purposes, let’s read: “and YHVH will walk the sea.”
It explained why Yeshua, the arm of YHVH, walked on water and why Peter believed it might be Yeshua instead of a “ghost”…and why he, too, might walk on water:
The sons of Israel went through the midst of the sea on the dry land,
?????????? ???????????????? ???????? ?????? ?????????????
In Part One, we consulted the Creation text of Genesis One to see that the parting of the sea was not only into two walls as artistry usually depicts, but it was like walking through a water tunnel. Water above, on either side, and below. And if below, why did Peter consider water walkable, or “dry land”? Again, the Hebrew text explains:
Then Moses stretched out his hand over the sea; and the LORD swept the sea back by a strong east wind all night and turned the sea into dry land, so the waters were divided.
????????? ?????????? ????????? ????????????? ????????
“And made the sea to dry land and split the water”
Incredibly, supernaturally, the Salvation of YHVH split the water and made the sea dry land. Made the sea dry land. Made the sea dry land. You’ll remember that some day if you are among the generation alive at the time of the resurrection. He will make the water into dry land and split the water, just as John prophesies that he will “split the sky”:
“The sky was split apart like a scroll when it is rolled up, and every mountain and island were moved out of their places.” (Re 6:14)
If that weren’t incredible enough, the Revelation continues along a strange thought found in the ancient Jewish commentaries on the crossing of the Reed Sea. We accept that Yeshua will catch the righteous dead and living into a “cloud” to meet him in the air, or sky, but we are resurrected, not just “ghosts” swirling and booing in the wind. We will have substance, and so will the cloud, just like the water of the Reed Sea.
If the water is somehow transformed into substance to provide that supernaturally swift last-watch-of-the-night ride to safe haven (literally) for the saved, then the rabbis’ comments concerning one of the miracles at the Sea make sense:
“The waters were split” [14:21]. All the waters of the world were split when the sea was split. Ten miracles occurred at the sea. First, that it split. Second is that it was made like a dome or a roof and Israel walked under the water. The water was under, on the sides of and over Israel. Third, it was dry under them, so that Israel should not smear their feet with mud. Fourth, for the Egyptians, the earth was all mud and slime and they sank into it. Fifth, the water was congealed and hard as stone. Sixth, the water was not congealed completely, but it was congealed a section at a time. It was like large boulders, in the expectation that when the Egyptians would drown, the hard water would smash their heads, like stones. These pieces were on top of each other, like a brick wall. (Tze’enah Ure’enah, Commentary to Beshalach)
The commentators describe changes in the substance of the sea. In the first miracle, the waters split, but not only the Reed Sea, but all the waters of the world so that the world could witness the salvation of Israel. Too fantastic? Not so much when we see that Yeshua walks on water on the Galilee in the territory of Galilee of the Nations! Prophetically, all nations would one day see the glory of the Father and how much He loves His creation, especially those who seek His Son.
Rahab tells the Israelite spies this forty years later: “For we have heard how the LORD dried up the water of the Red Sea before you when you came out of Egypt…” (Joshua 2:10)
He didn’t just part the waters, He dried them! And the nations knew it!
The fifth and sixth miracles are a little harder to swallow until we read John’s prophecy of what happens once the sky is split in Revelation:
“Then the kings of the earth and the great men and the commanders and the rich and the strong and every slave and free man hid themselves in the caves and among the rocks of the mountains; and they said to the mountains and to the rocks, ‘Fall on us and hide us from the presence of Him who sits on the throne, and from the wrath of the Lamb; for the great day of their wrath has come, and who is able to stand?’” (Re 6:15-17)
The pursuit of the righteous by the wicked among the nations will be swallowed up by great miracles at the Sea of the Peoples. They’ll first get all mucky and confused (already there!), then they’ll realize that the safe path for the saved by the Blood of the Lamb is not safe for those under the Wrath of the Lamb. It’s turning to smashing rocks!
Peter lost faith when he saw the wind, and he had to call on Yeshua. Remember this. When it looks like the angels of the four winds, or princes and principalities, or spiritual darkness in high places (and low ones!) are bringing destruction, our confidence is in the right arm and saving hand of YHVH, Yeshua. For Peter, the time of destruction was too close for comfort. He knew that the “dry land” he walked on could turn to stones of destruction at any second.
We, too, should not be distracted by the spiritual forces being used to shepherd us into safe haven. A time will come when it seems darkest that “immediately” we’ll find ourselves transported in a watery cloud of dry land nicknamed “Capernaum,” the place where Yeshua docked their boat (Jn 6:21). Capernaum in Hebrew is Kfar Nachum, or “City of Comfort.” Yes, it has the same two-letter Hebrew root, nach, as Noah. Yes, you will walk on water with Messiah.
Remember this when it seems Yeshua is nothing more than a ghost.
Remember this when he takes your hand and walks you through the water to a City of Comfort like the parable of Lazarus being escorted by angels to comfort while the rich man endured torment.
“Faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen.” (He 11:1)
Read More
Dr Hollisa Alewine – Footsteps of Messiah Part 151 (Walking on Water Part 2 – Sink or Walk on Water?)
Sink or Walk on Water?
Part Two
In Walking on Water Part One, we looked at the following account of Yeshua walking on water:
But the boat was already a long distance from the land, battered by the waves; for the wind was contrary. And in the fourth watch of the night He came to them, walking on the sea. When the disciples saw Him walking on the sea, they were terrified, and said, “It is a ghost!” And they cried out in fear. But immediately Jesus spoke to them, saying, “Take courage, it is I; do not be afraid.”
Peter said to Him, “Lord, if it is You, command me to come to You on the water.” And He said, “Come!” And Peter got out of the boat and walked on the water and came toward Jesus. But seeing the wind, he became frightened, and beginning to sink, he cried out, “Lord, save me!” Immediately Jesus stretched out His hand and took hold of him, and said to him, “You of little faith, why did you doubt?” When they got into the boat, the wind stopped. And those who were in the boat worshiped Him, saying, “You are certainly God’s Son!” (Mt 14:24-33)
Last week, we found one answer as to why Yeshua walked on water. We’ll look at some other answers next week, but our second question was, “Why was Peter afraid of the wind?” Hadn’t the wind been blowing just as fearfully up until then? He didn’t think about that before he crawled out of the boat?
Knowing what Peter knew about the dangerous time of the morning watch, the last watch of the night, we can venture an educated guess. To know what Peter knew, we refer to the Torah:
“When morning dawned, the angels urged Lot, saying, ‘Up, take your wife and your two daughters who are here, or you will be swept away in the punishment of the city. But he hesitated. So the men seized his hand and the hand of his wife and the hands of his two daughters, for the compassion of the LORD was upon him; and they brought him out, and put him outside the city.’” (Ge 19:15-16)
The sun had risen over the earth when Lot came to Zoar. Then the LORD rained on Sodom and Gomorrah brimstone and fire from the LORD out of heaven, and He overthrew those cities, and all the valley, and all the inhabitants of the cities, and what grew on the ground. But his wife, from behind him, looked back, and she became a pillar of salt. Now Abraham arose early in the morning and went to the place where he had stood before the LORD; and he looked down toward Sodom and Gomorrah, and toward all the land of the valley, and he saw, and behold, the smoke of the land ascended like the smoke of a furnace. (Ge 19:24-28)
Yeshua came to rescue the disciples from the windstorm in the last watch of the night [in Roman calculation, the fourth watch; in Hebrew calculation, the third watch]. From the texts above, we can see that the last watch of the night before the dawn is a dangerous time. Especially back then, who could know the precise moment when the sun would break the horizon, ending the last watch and beginning the timeframe of morning?
When the morning dawned, destruction could begin, rescue could end, or righteousness could view the destruction from afar, or “the place where he stood before the LORD.”
In this account of Genesis Nineteen, Peter could see the traditional explanation of the destination of three groups of people: the righteous (Abraham), the lukewarm (Lot and his wife and daughters), and the wicked (the cities of Sodom). Yeshua reminds the Laodiceans in Revelation of the danger of remaining in the category of the lukewarm, who ultimately cannot stand in the same place as the righteous in the Kingdom. It doesn’t mean they are not rescued, but it does mean they are not in good “standing” relative to the righteous.
At the crossing of the Reed Sea, Peter has this reference for destruction following the last watch of the night:
So Moses stretched out his hand over the sea, and the sea returned to its normal state at daybreak, while the Egyptians were fleeing right into it; then the LORD overthrew the Egyptians in the midst of the sea. The waters returned and covered the chariots and the horsemen (Ex 14:27-28)
The last watch is a time of uncertainty. No one knows exactly when the day will break. Peter knows the east wind that divided and congealed the water will cease blowing and the water will return to its liquid state at daybreak.
Perhaps in that moment he believes he, too, is “appointed to wrath” with the destruction of Israel’s enemies by the one coming from Edom with vengeance. The disciples acknowledge Yeshua as the “Son of God” when he saves Peter. It was a teaching moment for Yeshua to remind the disciples that not only did they believe in him as Messiah, they followed him completely. They were not appointed to a place of wrath, but to obtain a final salvation like their father Avraham, who stood in a righteous place of faith. What they’d just experienced was simply a little test, a tribulation. Yeshua asks, “You of little faith, why did you doubt?”
“…and to wait for His Son from heaven, whom He raised from the dead, that is Jesus, who rescues us from the wrath to come.” (1 Th 1:10)
“…hindering us from speaking to the Gentiles so that they may be saved; with the result that they always fill up the measure of their sins. But wrath has come upon them to the utmost.” (1 Th 2:16)
“For God has not appointed us to wrath, but to obtain salvation by our Lord Jesus Christ…”(1 Th 5:9)
The plan was never to save as few people as possible, but as many as possible, including the Gentiles. The disciples’ commission was to go to the nations and proclaim this compassionate salvation so that the Gentiles could choose to also stand in the place of righteous faith like THEIR father Avraham as well:
“…and the father of circumcision to those who not only are of the circumcision, but who also follow in the steps of the faith of our father Abraham which he had while uncircumcised…For this reason it is by faith, in order that it may be in accordance with grace, so that the promise will be guaranteed to all the descendants, not only to those who are of the Law, but also to those who are of the faith of Abraham, who is the father of us all…” (Ro 4:12, 16)
How could Peter preach to the Gentiles if he was doubtful that Yeshua would save him from the wrath upon the wicked? Before we blame Peter for being so unsure about his own salvation, how many times have we questioned our own relationship with Yeshua?
Or how many put more faith in their job security, ammo, food prepping, or withdrawing from personal evangelism in order to protect themselves from the coming wrath on the wicked rather than in Yeshua’s ability to make us stand in a place of righteousness or take us by the hand to walk us to our rescue?
We, too, sometimes doubt if we are making our “calling and election sure” or if Yeshua will save us from a time of vengeance upon the wicked. The Prophet Isaiah gives a chilling prediction and a comforting reassurance, just as Lot’s family received “the compassion of the Lord”:
“…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)
Both the saved tribes and Gentiles will be saved from the vengeance and wrath on the wicked or the lukewarm who choose to remain in wickedness rather than flee from it, holding onto the hand of Yeshua. It is Yeshua’s job to uphold the relationship of those who are saved for the Father. He is the Father’s “own arm” of salvation.
When we are too focused on our ability to hold Yeshua’s hand instead of his ability to hold ours, we falter in obedience, either failing to perform his Word out of despair to protect ourselves or proudly believing others don’t deserve to receive salvation and withdrawing our “righteous” selves from their presence. Neither response is the faith of Avraham, who ran to welcome guests so that he or recue his nephew so he could demonstrate the faithfulness of El Shaddai to His creation.
The people who laugh at your commandment-keeping today will come seeking you in a time of trouble.
The people to whom you could have ministered will arise and accuse you at the end of days. (Lk 11:30-35)
Yeshua tells Peter that he needs to practice his faith. Everyone has a little faith, but not everyone exercises it in a day of trouble, which is only a tribulation, not the inescapable wrath of the Lamb, which will leave no rock unturned in the search to root out the wicked from the earth.
We can learn from Peter’s doubt in the actual test of his faith. In fact, it’s a relief to know that men who literally walked with Yeshua didn’t get things right on the first try.
In 1 Thessalonians 2:16, Paul made a sobering prediction: those who hinder the process of proclaiming salvation to everyone will suffer the very wrath they presume they will escape! Not everyone is a great evangelist, but by practicing, exercising our faith in the Word, we will proclaim Messiah until he returns. A life lived faithfully according to the Word will never hinder those who could be saved. It will invite them to the Shabbat table so that they may see that the Lord is good.
The question is, are we practicing our faithfulness in front of those who have yet to receive Yeshua as the Messiah? Do we engineer our Shabbats, the Feasts of YHVH, kosher eating, etc., so that they do not bring attention to us, or do we let that light shine? If we don’t shine, thinking self-preservation is preferable to the salvation of others, how will they ever make the stand of righteousness that Avraham took?
Avraham stood in a very secure place, only seeing the smoke of Sodom from afar. He suffered no loss from the fires of Sodom (1 Co 3:13). Not like Lot and his family, to whom the smoke was probably clinging, and they suffered a huge loss in their rescue even though it was “the compassion of the LORD”: (1 Co 3:15; Jude 1:23): “…save others, snatching them out of the fire; and on some have mercy with fear, hating even the garment polluted by the flesh.”
Such a salvation was the result of keeping a low profile with friends and family, so much so that Lot’s sons-in-law thought he was joking when he finally spoke up, and the townspeople were furious at him.
The wrath of the Lamb was the risk Peter thought he was taking when he looked at the wind and waves in the last watch. We, too, can be distracted by the news, war rumors, economic woes, political maneuverings, and the abominable behaviors akin to Sodomite living with no boundaries, but we don’t have to worry about Yeshua’s wrath if we take his hand. He is the outstretched compassionate arm of YHVH, the Living Word of our salvation. Spiritual darkness in high or low places has no claim over our salvation, and we will be tested until we grow in our faith in Yeshua.
In Part Three in the next newsletter, we’ll take a look at another significant fear Peter likely had when he looked at the wind and waves. It will extend the idea of the danger of wrath and judgment coming at the dawning of the day. It will reinforce the prophecy that Messiah will come from Edom when he comes in wrath upon the Beast and the nations who serve him, for to come from Edom is to come from the east like the east wind that blew all night to make a way of rescue for the Israelites at the Reed Sea.
Yeshua’s authority over the angels of the four winds and all other principalities and powers is a key to understanding why Peter might have had that sinking feeling that his solid footing in the water would collapse.
Read More
Dr Hollisa Alewine – Footsteps of Messiah Part 150 (Walking on Water Part 1)
Passover:
Walking on Water
More specifically, Chag HaMatzah, or the Feast of Unleavened Bread.
Before I explain that, let’s begin with a not-rhetorical two-part question:
Why did Yeshua walk on water?
Why did the wind scare Peter?
Last week’s newsletter established the underpinnings of the WOW season (Walking on Water). Review:
The last watch of the night is a last opportunity to flee false security. It is the last opportunity to flee the people whose wicked agenda vexes the righteous Holy Spirit within. If one waits until the morning’s dawn to flee, he flees with nothing. Only the deeds of the righteous can follow them into the eternal Kingdom of Messiah, for those are the only eternally true and fit deeds.
The overturn of the cities of Sodom likely took place at Passover, for Lot baked unleavened bread for the angel of wrath.
The Wrath of the Lamb struck the cities of Sodom right at dawn, when Lot and his daughters reached safety and the last watch of the night becomes the past. Likewise, at dawn, after the strong East Wind completed its work of arranging the waters, the Israelites traveled through the waters to reach safety.
?The Israelites still had the flesh of the Passover lamb, bitter herbs, and matzah in their bellies. Having obeyed YHVH’s instructions, they were protected from the Wrath of the Lamb on Egypt and Pharaoh. All they had to do was Walk on Water, to escape to freedom. WOW!
So back to our question: why did Yeshua walk on water?
Read More
Dr Hollisa Alewine – Footsteps of Messiah Part 149 (The Geography of Wrath Part Two)
The Geography of Wrath Part Two
Before the LORD Destroyed Sodom
Last week, we looked at The Geography of Wrath, a preface to this lesson on the danger of the last watch of the night.
“Lot lifted up his eyes and saw all the valley of the Jordan, that it was well watered everywhere—this was before the LORD destroyed Sodom and Gomorrah—like the garden of the LORD, like the land of Egypt as you go to Zoar.” (Ge 13:10)
When Lot “lifted up his eyes,” he saw prophetically. Before their destruction, the five cities of the valley enjoyed an Edenic-like climate and prosperity, yet the prophetic phrase “lifted up his eyes” predicts a restoration of that area, which sits in the Arava.
Revelation predicts a great miracles of the two witnesses, which helps us to understand “Sodom and Egypt”:
“And their dead bodies will lie in the street of the great city which mystically is called Sodom and Egypt, where also their Lord was crucified.” (Re 11:8)
What Sodom and Egypt have in common is that those who were saved and set on a path of righteousness (Lot and the Israelites in the wilderness) looked back at what at enslaved them as more to be desired than the Garden of Eden, the authentic Promised Land, that lay before them if they would walk in their salvation.
When the bodies of the two witnesses are caught up from Jerusalem, it is a witness to be understood as a last warning to believers who, in those last days, continue to cling to the cargoes of Babylon, who persist in begging to go “by way of Zoar to Egypt” instead of repenting and returning to the righteous walk of salvation epitomized by Avraham. The night is far spent by then.
The commercial success of the five cities lured Lot in. The deception was that its fruitfulness “like the Garden” was to be desired over the fruitfulness of the stars promised to Avraham. Lot’s wife preferred the deception of luxury with wickedness over the promise of good gifts from above.The Midrash concerning Sodom details how travelers were lured in, then maimed or killed and their goods confiscated.
“When morning dawned, the angels urged Lot, saying, ‘Up, take your wife and your two daughters who are here, or you will be swept away in the punishment of the city.’” (Ge 19:15)
The sun had risen over the earth when Lot came to Zoar. Then the LORD rained on Sodom and Gomorrah brimstone and fire from the LORD out of heaven, and He overthrew those cities, and all the valley, and all the inhabitants of the cities, and what grew on the ground. But his wife, from behind him, looked back, and she became a pillar of salt. Now Abraham arose early in the morning and went to the place where he had stood before the LORD; and he looked down toward Sodom and Gomorrah, and toward all the land of the valley, and he saw, and behold, the smoke of the land ascended like the smoke of a furnace. (Ge 19:24-28)
Before Adonai destroyed Sodom, he sent warning of the wrath to come. Lot was aware of the blessings promised to Avraham, but he was also aware of the righteous life required for such eternal blessings. Lot chose precarious salvation over a life of obedience and teaching his children after him:
“For I have chosen him, so that he may command his children and his household after him to keep the way of the LORD by doing righteousness and justice, so that the LORD may bring upon Abraham what He has spoken about him.” (Ge 18:19)
Lot was troubled by the wickedness of Sodom, but not enough to forfeit living in it: “and if He rescued righteous Lot, oppressed by the sensual conduct of unprincipled men…” (2 Pe 2:7) It took the wrath of Adonai to remove him, not to abundant life, but bare salvation.
“Insignificance” is the meaning of the small city Zoar in which Lot requested to live, and so was his contribution to the Kingdom of Adonai compared to Avraham. Avraham viewed the valley of Sodom and saw the smoke of the cities ascending like the smoke of a furnace. Sodom’s is the fate of those who choose an easier life in the midst of wickedness, which they desire more than single-minded righteousness. They do not have the sense to even be aware of righteousness walking among them that might delay the wrath of Adonai upon them.
Just as the wicked among the Israelites in the wilderness believed Moses had taken them FROM a land flowing with milk and honey to a place of wrath, so the wicked repeatedly get it wrong. Just because the comforts and luxuries of Egypt and Sodom are “like” the Garden of Eden doesn’t mean it IS Eden. “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)
Likewise, the Israelites in the wilderness were given free food every morning, clothes and shoes never needed mending, and there was little to do but learn Torah. Nevertheless, many craved the foods and relative ease of farming life in Egypt (Dt 11:10) in spite of the horrors of its slavery. Perhaps this is why Zoar is described as “on the way to Egypt.” It describes those who have tasted the goodness of Adonai, yet the sensualities of the world taste better, and they are still enslaved to them even after their salvation:
“It is impossible for those who have once been enlightened, who have tasted the heavenly gift, who have shared in the Holy Spirit, who have tasted the goodness of the word of God and the powers of the coming age and who have fallen away, to be brought back to repentance. To their loss they are crucifying the Son of God all over again and subjecting him to public disgrace.” (He 6:5-6)
The smoke of the great furnace portends either great salvation and sealing in the Ruach HaKodesh or great wrath. There are two views of the “smoke of a great furnace.” In the first, the smoke of Mount Sinai accompanying the Presence of Adonai and His Word is a marvel to those who agree to walk in it:
Now Mount Sinai was all in smoke because the LORD descended upon it in fire; and its smoke ascended like the smoke of a furnace, and the whole mountain quaked violently. (Ex 19:18)
In the second, the smoke of the great furnace accompanies the wrath of Adonai upon the wicked:
He opened the bottomless pit, and smoke went up out of the pit, like the smoke of a great furnace; and the sun and the air were darkened by the smoke of the pit. (Re 9:2)
Avraham was in no danger of the smoke of Sodom; Lot was in grave danger.
Avraham walked after Adonai and His righteousness; Lot was merely vexed by the lack of righteousness, but not enough to devote his life to pursuing righteousness.
What Lot pursued was only “like the Garden of Eden.” Its grass always looks greener than the obedience required to pursue righteousness, but in the end, it is destroyed and overturned with wrath. The last watch of the night is a time of great danger to Lots of people who are believers, yet firmly attached to the comforts of a nominally and unenthusiastic righteous life.
The last watch of the night is a last opportunity to flee such false security. It is the last opportunity to flee the people whose wicked agenda vexes the righteous Holy Spirit within. If one waits until the morning’s dawn to flee, he flees with nothing. Only the deeds of the righteous can follow them into the eternal Kingdom of Messiah, for those are the only eternally true and fit deeds.
The overturn of the cities of Sodom likely took place at Passover, for Lot baked unleavened bread for the angel of wrath. Avraham and Sarah had received a message of new birth and laughter, for they were looking for the coming of travelers with whom to share a meal so they could “make souls” for the Kingdom (Ge 12:5). Lot’s concern was simply for the safety of the angels through the night watches. He was not looking to leave Sodom before the morning dawned. Perhaps the miracle is that he agreed to leave at all after the last watch of the night.
May we all view the coming Wrath of the Lamb like Avraham.
From above and far away.
Please SUBSCRIBE to our newsletter to get new teachings.
Read More
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.
Please SUBSCRIBE to our newsletter to get new teachings.
Read More
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
Read More
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)
Please SUBSCRIBE to our newsletter to get new teachings.
Read More
Donate to Hebrew Nation
