Category: Weekly Torah Portion Reading

Mark Call – Torah Teaching for Parsha “Ha’azinu”

by Mark Call | Oct 4, 2025 | Biblical Basics, Biblical History, Come Out of Her My People - Mark Call, News, Old Testament & New Testament, Personal Improvement, Shabba Shalom Mesa - Mark Call, Understanding Torah, Weekly Torah Portion Reading, Who Are We? | 0 |

Parsha “Ha’azinu” (Deuteronomy (chapter 32) is the second-to-last reading in the...

Dr Hollisa Alewine – Footsteps of Messiah Part 167 (A Host of Troubles)

by Hollisa Alewine | Sep 28, 2025 | Biblical Basics, Biblical History, Torah Class - Hollisa Alewine, Understanding Torah, Weekly Torah Portion Reading | 0 |

A Host of Troubles

Then the LORD sent Nathan to David. And he came to him and said,

“There were two men in one city, the one rich and the other poor.
The rich man had a great many flocks and herds.
But the poor man had nothing except one little ewe lamb which he bought and nourished; and it grew up together with him and his children. It would eat of his bread and drink of his cup and lie in his bosom, and was like a daughter to him.
Now a traveler came to the rich man, and he was unwilling to take from his own flock or his own herd to prepare for the wayfarer who had come to him; rather he took the poor man’s ewe lamb and prepared it for the man who had come to him.”

Then David’s anger burned greatly against the man, and he said to Nathan, “As the LORD lives, surely the man who has done this deserves to die. He must make restitution for the lamb fourfold, because he did this thing and had no compassion.”

Nathan then said to David, “You are the man!

The rich man was quite a host! The hospitality he offered his guest was not real hospitality at all. He faked his compassion for the weary traveler. He was so stingy that he killed another man’s beloved pet and passed it off as his own sacrificial gift for the guest’s benefit.

This would be a prime place for a political commentary on the current state of affairs in the United States’ political situation, but the reader is intelligent enough to understand that facet of the parable. Fake hospitality deceives people into thinking the host really cares and has compassion. What the wicked host offers is nothing more than someone else’s hard work and property.

To review from last week’s text in this heavenly hospitality series, a righteous guest seeks a righteous home for hospitality, and he/she has the authority to bless that home with peace:

“Do not acquire gold, or silver, or copper for your money belts, or a bag for your journey, or even two coats, or sandals, or a staff; for the worker is worthy of his support. And whatever city or village you enter, inquire who is worthy in it, and stay at his house until you leave that city. As you enter the house, give it your greeting. If the house is worthy, give it your blessing of peace. But if it is not worthy, take back your blessing of peace. Whoever does not receive you, nor heed your words, as you go out of that house or that city, shake the dust off your feet. Truly I say to you, it will be more tolerable for the land of Sodom and Gomorrah in the day of judgment than for that city.” (Mt 10:9-15)

Yeshua sent out his disciples as his messengers. They were to practice what they’d seen Yeshua do: teach, preach, immerse, comfort, exhort, rebuke, heal, and so on.

“Let love of the brethren continue. Do not neglect to show hospitality to strangers, for by this some have entertained angels without knowing it.” (He 13:1-2)

These are not random strangers who visit, but “brothers” in the faith. No doubt the rich man had some level of acquaintance with the poor man he robbed. He knew where and when to steal the poor man’s lamb, perhaps while the poor man was working or gone to the market. A lamb who was raised like his own daughter would not have been left unguarded very often. The rich man’s act was premeditated, cunning, a masquerade of righteousness over a filthy act of cruel robbery.

Strangely, Scripture links two concepts in the same neighborhood, called smikhut (placement). Those two concepts are lack of hospitality and fornication/adultery.

In David’s case, he was the adulterer “rich man” who slaughtered the poor man’s lamb to prepare for the guest. This was also in the neighborhood of hospitality to strangers and “angels” in Hebrews Thirteen. Just skip one verse down:

“Marriage is to be held in honor among all, and the marriage bed is to be undefiled; for fornicators and adulterers God will judge.” (He 13:4)

A wicked person may seem to offer hospitality, but the real motive is self-serving. They are not really serving the traveler or needy person; they are enhancing their own appearance of kindness. The hospitality is not for the benefit of the guest, but for himself. In the following account, the Messiah calls out fake hospitality.

While the host had the means to extend genuine hospitality toward Yeshua, he’d only invited him out of curiosity to hear a new word, listen for something with which to entrap his guest, or to look hospitable to the rest of the townspeople. Instead, an unwelcome visitor extends hospitality that Simon did not:

“Turning toward the woman, He said to Simon, ‘Do you see this woman? I entered your house; you gave Me no water for My feet, but she has wet My feet with her tears and wiped them with her hair…’ “You did not anoint My head with oil, but she anointed My feet with perfume. For this reason I say to you, her sins, which are many, have been forgiven, for she loved much; but he who is forgiven little, loves little.” (Lk 7:44-47)

The sinful woman understood the principle of hospitality better than the man who simply was curious to hear an insightful word from the teacher. Like many interactions in the Body of Messiah today, it would feed the host’s pride or critical skepticism, both of which fuel false feelings of self-worth. The repentant woman’s hospitality was of the kind that welcomed the Bridegroom to the Garden with incense of sacrifice.

Simon was thinking Yeshua didn’t know what kind of woman anointed his feet. What Simon didn’t acknowledge was it was the woman she used to be. She was repenting, bringing a sacrifice of her own, perhaps all she could afford, not someone else’s hard work of repentance. If she had been a loose woman, this was not the generous, hospitable woman who washed Yeshua’s feet intimately with her hair. She wanted a new relationship with Heaven through the Sent One, not a fake one. She wasn’t faking her interest in Yeshua. She wanted to change. She had more than a little love.

One way we signal this desire to truly repent is with generosity, especially to the needy and poor righteous. This is one of the “Big Three”: prayer, repentance, charity leading up to Yom HaKippurim.

Real charity.

Love much, be forgiven much. Real charity doesn’t care about who is in the room judging what kindnesses we give to a brother or sister. It wants a genuine relationship with Heaven. It doesn’t offer someone else’s work as their own. It does not seek its own reward for that gift. Any human being on earth can do an act of kindness that connects himself only to the recipient. One who desires to restores hospitality with the Presence of Elohim will see the face of the recipient as the face of Yeshua even if it is one of the “least of these.”

One who does not attribute his or her act of kindness to Heaven is usurping the very source of kindness inside every human being. This compassion is the stamp of the Creator! Even wolves will raise orphan pups and feed the wounded in their pack; how much more should human beings acknowledge that our Creator Elohim created us with a desire to help one another?

If that’s not plain enough, then consider this: A person who takes credit for being compassionate and charitable is offering someone else’s gift as his own. Compassion was something planted in us by our Creator. Gifted. We are all re-gifting generosity to bring Heaven down among us.

Sodom and her four satellite cities were known for lewd behavior. In rebuking Israel, Ezekiel points out another symptom of their wickedness:

“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 Tribe of Benjamin was nearly wiped out for rapacious inhospitality.

Likening Israel to Sodom recalls Sodom’s lack of hospitality to visitors. They were beyond inhospitable and stingy, they were lewd and murderous. They moved the Presence of Adonai farther away from the cities, not closer to it. Ever wonder why one of the “angels” didn’t continue on to Sodom with the other two (Ge 19:1)? Perhaps the one Avraham called YHVH wouldn’t set foot in it.

And like Yeshua told Simon, gratefulness to Heaven for our own undeserved gifts should affect how we receive and love guests.

Avraham had already rescued the Sodomite cities in order to recover his nephew Lot when they were carried away as spoils of war. Were they grateful and generous to others in need after their rescue? No, they did not become grateful hosts to righteous guests. They became worse. And dared anyone to judge them for it.

Yet, the Day of Judgment arrived for Sodom and for King David’s adultery and manslaughter of another for his own sin. Later, David repents and writes,

“Against You, You only, I have sinned and done what is evil in Your sight, so that You are justified when You speak and blameless when You judge.” (Ps 51:4)

May we repent before Yom HaKippurim if we have mistreated brothers who are the face of Yeshua at our table. (Mt 25:45)

Mark Call – Torah Teaching for Parsha “Vayelekh”

by Mark Call | Sep 28, 2025 | Biblical Basics, Biblical History, Come Out of Her My People - Mark Call, News, Old Testament & New Testament, Personal Improvement, Shabba Shalom Mesa - Mark Call, Understanding Torah, Weekly Torah Portion Reading, Who Are We? | 0 |

Parsha “Vayelekh” (Deuteronomy (chapter 31) is one of the final chapters in the Torah,...

Dr Hollisa Alewine – Footsteps of Messiah Part 166 (Idols or Angels?)

by Hollisa Alewine | Sep 21, 2025 | Biblical Basics, Biblical History, Torah Class - Hollisa Alewine, Understanding Torah, Weekly Torah Portion Reading | 0 |

Idol or Angel?

Scripture commands us not to make images of things in the earth or in the heavens to worship them. This means different things to different people, even within the Jewish community. It is one of those commandments that drives the reader to its multiple other mentions in Scripture to make full sense of it: “You shall not make for yourself an idol, or any likeness of what is in heaven above or on the earth beneath or in the water under the earth.” (Ex 20:4)

Some may not possess any figured images, applying the mitzvah very strictly. Others may give their children dolls or have animal sculpture for decoration, applying additional context for the mitzvah, which is having an image for the purpose of worshiping it or acknowledging its power:

You shall not make for yourselves idols, nor shall you set up for yourselves an image or a sacred pillar, nor shall you place a figured stone in your land to bow down to it; for I am the LORD your God. (Le 26:1)

In this application, a person avoids images of known gods, demons, or symbols denoting such, but does not avoid having photographs, artwork, or objects in the shape of animals or heavenly bodies, etc. The Tabernacle and Temple were decorated with images of both heavenly and earthly objects according to a Divinely-prescribed pattern.

The range of interpretations is not unusual, and it lends itself to investigation so that one can learn more about the mitzvah by tracking down every mention of images as idols. This week, we’ll take a look at a song traditionally sung on Erev Shabbat to usher in the Divine Presence on Shabbat, for Shabbat is a moed, an appointed time when the Creator of the Universe promises to visit those who tend His Garden. Shir HaShirim (Song of Songs) 5:1 has been our working text for understanding the repopulation of the Garden when the Bride and Bridegroom join the Divine Presence at the wedding feast of resurrection:

I have come into my garden, my sister, my bride;

I have gathered my myrrh along with my balsam.

I have eaten my honeycomb and my honey;

I have drunk my wine and my milk.

Eat, friends; drink and imbibe deeply, O lovers.

This sumptuous wedding meal inaugurates the reign of Messiah Yeshua, for he will return to earth with his holy ones to rule and restore the earth to the purpose for which the Father created it. What we have learned the last few weeks is that earthly hospitality to the righteous brother or sister is the Torah’s pattern of preparation for the restoration of all things. Following our lesson on Avraham and the angels last week, let’s pick up this week with Yeshua’s reiteration of hospitality. A righteous guest seeks a righteous home for hospitality, and he/she has the authority to bless that home with peace:

Yeshua sent out his disciples as his messengers. They were to practice what they’d seen Yeshua do: teach, preach, immerse, comfort, exhort, rebuke, heal, and so on. The disciples were messengers, sometimes called shliachim in Hebrew for “sent ones.” Another word for messenger in Hebrew is malak:

???????? m?l?âk; to despatch as a deputy; a messenger; specifically, of God, i.e. an angel (also a prophet, priest or teacher):—ambassador, angel, king, messenger

Last week’s lesson on Sodom was important to Yeshua’s instructions to his disciples, who were being commissioned to function like the three “men” (anashim) in Genesis 18:2 who visited Avraham. One was called LORD (YHVH) in 18:13, and then when they approached Sodom, the two angels were called malakim (Ge 19:1).

Although the LORD said He was on a mission to investigate the cries of the righteous, poor, and needy in Sodom, Scripture specifies “two angels” continued on to Sodom. Even if YHVH did not continue on after His bargaining session with Avraham to spare Sodom, those He sent functioned on His behalf.

Some scholars say each of the three performed a specific task. The LORD blessed Avraham and Sarah and revealed the plans to them; one angel destroyed the cities; and one angel oversaw the deliverance of the Lot’s family. Although they worked together, each focused on one aspect of the mission. This is a good example of an “angel” representing the Most High. They acted on His behalf, and anything done to them for good or bad was as if it were done to the Holy One Himself.

So why did Scripture call the angels “men”? It demonstrates the importance of hospitality as a preparation for the reign of King Messiah and the return of the Presence of Adonai to His holy city Jerusalem. It is the Garden precept, an opportunity for human beings to show their Creator that they are ready for the return to the Garden. They will do and be the things for which the Creation was prepared for them.

The Holy One enjoys visiting and walking with His unique creation, mankind. As a result, He visits them on this earth while they prepare, both through heavenly malakim and earthly malakim. Because we aren’t always sure which is which, we treat what we think are earthly malakim with the same hospitality we would heavenly ones, for they represent Yeshua himself:

“Let love of the brethren continue. Do not neglect to show hospitality to strangers, for by this some have entertained angels without knowing it.” (He 13:1-2)

These are not random strangers who visit, but “brothers” in the faith. What does this have to do with worshiping idols?

It brings us back to that beautiful Erev Shabbat song, “Shalom Aleichem.” Some believers might object to singing the song, saying that it is the worship of angels or speaking to spiritual beings we are not supposed to address. I think this is a basic misunderstanding of the hospitality principle of the Kingdom and the meaning of malak, a messenger of the Most High, whether heavenly or earthly guest bringing the Presence with him/her by virtue of their faithful walk in the Word. Servants of the Most High sent with a blessing from Heaven for the Shabbat home they visit.

By hosting the righteous guest to the Shabbat table, the host has opened his home to the Most High Himself. The host is now part of the work Heaven sent that malak to do even though all the host did was prepare his or her home for the guest with good food and drink, a place to rest comfortably and safely, and a place to wash up from the journey.

Knowing what you know now about Yeshua’s instructions to greet a host’s home with shalom and to bless it with shalom before leaving it, read the song:

Peace be unto you, ministering angels, angels of the Most High, coming forth from the King of kings, the holy One, blessed be He.

May your coming forth be in peace, angels of peace, angels of the Most High, coming forth from the King of kings, the holy One, blessed be He.

Bless me with peace, angels of peace, angels of the Most High, coming forth from the King of kings, the holy One, blessed be He.

May your departure be in peace, angels of peace, angels of the Most High, coming forth from the King of kings, the holy One, blessed be He.

We sing the song not just for the blessings promised to the host home, but for the opportunity to welcome the Divine Presence to fellowship with us at the weekly moed. How Shabbastic is that?

And about those blessings…if your righteous guests are not aware they have the authority to bless your home when they enter and leave, do mention it! Just like honoring one’s father and mother comes with a promise, a righteous host can expect the guest to speak specific blessings that bring shalom, or completeness, to his household. Don’t let that guest leave without blessing you! Be like Jacob, and hang on until they give up that blessing! (Ge 32:26)

You might say, well, you know what? When I go to somebody’s house, I probably won’t heal anybody, or teach a Torah portion. I may not lead somebody to salvation and immerse them.

It doesn’t matter. Your very presence is a blessing of peace, for you are the stand-in messenger of Yeshua. The King of Kings. So be an angel, a malak. Speak what that family needs to make them whole spiritually and physically.

Mark Call – Torah Teaching for Parsha “Nitzavim”

by Mark Call | Sep 21, 2025 | Biblical Basics, Biblical History, Come Out of Her My People - Mark Call, News, Old Testament & New Testament, Personal Improvement, Shabba Shalom Mesa - Mark Call, Understanding Torah, Weekly Torah Portion Reading, Who Are We? | 0 |

Parsha “Nitzavim” (Deuteronomy (29:9-thru chapter 30) is the parsha that Mark Call...

Dr Hollisa Alewine – Footsteps of Messiah Part 165 (Be My Burning Guest)

by Hollisa Alewine | Sep 14, 2025 | Biblical Basics, Biblical History, Torah Class - Hollisa Alewine, Understanding Torah, Weekly Torah Portion Reading | 0 |

Be My Burning Guest

I have come into my garden, my sister, my bride;
I have gathered my myrrh along with my balsam.
I have eaten my honeycomb and my honey;
I have drunk my wine and my milk.
Eat, friends; drink and imbibe deeply, O lovers.”

Last week, we learned:

“Of all the righteous ones of Scripture, Avraham and Sarah were the best known for hospitality to strangers, especially when they received the three angels. (So 5:1)

Good gardening is good hospitality to the voice of Adonai, His holy Presence. Because human beings, particularly believers walking in the Way of Yeshua, are in His image, practicing hospitality toward people of faith is an especially sweet fruit of the Ruach HaKodesh.”

Hospitality prepares us to be a part of the Garden of Eden conversation in the Scripture above. We can both invite the Bridegroom hospitably and remain in the Garden because we possess the vital character of hospitality without which a human cannot remain in the Garden. We can be a worthy guest…and friend…who will bless the Garden.

To get a better handle on this trait, let’s take a careful look at what hospitality is. What does the word mean?

Hospitality:

Middle English hospital, “residence for pilgrims and travelers, charitable institution providing residence for the poor and infirm,” “guest accommodations” (probably by ellipsis from hospit?le cubiculum “sleeping room for guests”), noun derivative of hospit?lis “of a guest, of hospitality, hospitable”

The Hebrew word for “guest” is kara ?????

The KJV translates Strong’s H7121 in the following manner: call (528x), cried (98x), read (38x), proclaim (36x), named (7x), guests (4x), invited (3x), gave (3x), renowned (3x), bidden (2x), preach (2x)

Outline of Biblical Usage
to call, call out, recite, read, cry out, proclaim
(Qal)
to call, cry, utter a loud sound
to call unto, cry (for help), call (with name of God)
to proclaim
to read aloud, read (to oneself), read
to summon, invite, call for, call and commission, appoint
to call, name, give name to, call by

The Book of Leviticus is “Vayikra” [“and called”], a book of holies, our calling to create a sanctuary of holiness for YHVH. This hospitality “preaches” His Presence to the earth and His desire to dwell with us. The Torah describes to us our holy “calling.” Not only that, Adonai listens to the cries / proclamations of human beings, especially the poor and distressed.

Somewhere in this world, your name can be proclaimed to Heaven, either in frustration, agony, and pain,
or in gratefulness, relief, and consolation.

How this works is that the needy “give name to” the situation in that home or community. A guest can “summon” Adonai’s attention for blessing or chaos. He will actually come investigate the call for Divine help or proclamation of gratefulness!

• Now the LORD appeared to Abraham by the oaks of Mamre, while he was sitting at the tent door in the heat of the day. When he raised his eyes and looked, behold, three men were standing opposite him; and when he saw them, he ran from the tent door to meet them and bowed down to the ground, and said, “My Lord, if now I have found favor in Your sight, please do not pass Your servant by. Please let a little water be brought and wash your feet, and make yourselves comfortable under the tree; and I will bring a piece of bread, so that you may refresh yourselves; after that you may go on, since you have visited your servant.” (Ge 18:1-5)

Avraham understood what a special opportunity he had. Without a guest, who would bless? Righteous guests are given a Divine mandate to bless or destroy a home. It’s an apocalyptic opportunity symbolic of the end of days.

Washing feet and providing a safe place to rest with food is the ancient practice of hospitality to guests, especially honored guests. Yeshua told his disciples to honor one another, not a new commandment, but an affirmation and demonstration of an old pattern of hospitality. It strengthens bonds of holiness and signals a desire to return to the ultimate place of hospitality, the Garden.

Abraham and Sarah’s [Pesach] hospitality was rewarded with a resurrection of their reproductive process.The messenger guest told them that they would have a son at the appointed time next year. The righteous guest has the Divine ability and OBLIGATION to bless a righteous host. In this respect, the blessing is mutual. The host blesses the righteous guest with three basic things, and the guest blesses the host with something that will bring shalom to the household. This is a Biblical pattern and principle.

• “Truly, truly, I say to you, a slave is not greater than his master, nor is one who is sent greater than the one who sent him. If you know these things, you are blessed if you do them.” (Jn 13:16-17)

Yeshua teaches the Garden principle of hospitality. With hospitality, one didn’t wash the whole visitor, but his feet. It is an act of extreme humility, making the benefactor the servant and the guest the recipient of unearned hospitality. Yeshua washed his disciples’ feet to demonstrate the principles:

• “You are My friends if you do what I command you. No longer do I call you slaves, for the slave does not know what his master is doing; but I have called you friends, for all things that I have heard from My Father I have made known to you. (Jn 15:14-15)

This relationship with his disciples echoed El Shaddai’s relationship with Avraham, the father of hospitality, which was based on believing Elohim, Who credited him with righteousness. Hospitality to the angelic messengers (possibly a pre-incarnate visit with Yeshua) resulted in an actual friendship with the Creator of the Universe. (Is 41:8; 2 Ch 20:7; Ja 2:23)

As a result, Adonai revealed to Avraham not only the specific household blessing of having a son whom he would name Yitzchak, but the destruction of the five cities of Sodom. He didn’t want His friend to be caught off-guard in either the blessing or the destruction.

Likewise, Yeshua regularly updated his disciples on coming events, both good and bad. When he washed their feet at Pesach, he told them what was about to happen. From the hospitable foot-washing, Yeshua continues and points out the disciples who would betray him: the one who betrayed his hospitality of bread and rest at the seder:

• “I do not speak of all of you. I know the ones I have chosen; but it is that the Scripture may be fulfilled, ‘HE WHO EATS MY BREAD HAS LIFTED UP HIS HEEL AGAINST ME.’ From now on I am telling you before it comes to pass, so that when it does occur, you may believe that I am He. “Truly, truly, I say to you, he who receives whomever I send receives Me; and he who receives Me receives Him who sent Me.” When Jesus had said this, He became troubled in spirit, and testified and said, “Truly, truly, I say to you, that one of you will betray Me.” (Jn 13:19-21)

Yeshua is re-living the encounter with Avraham, a time when Avraham and Sarah would BELIEVE the promise and receive the power to conceive Isaac a few months later. Yeshua reiterates that when we receive a righteous guest, we receive the One who sent him or her, just as we receive the Father when we receive Yeshua.

When we show hospitality to a guest, our generosity welcomes the Presence of Elohim to His Garden. As He was the benefactor, yet served the undeserving creation, so we must restore our sense of hospitality to welcome Him first like a “guest” so that His Presence no longer must ascend and descend due to sin, idolatry, adultery.

Good hospitality creates a little sanctuary for blessing.

Good guests respect the sanctuary and bless the host’s service.

This is the fractal of the greater principle of the Sanctuary and the Garden; the host blesses the guest who blessed the host. This is the practice of the Temple:

Behold, bless the LORD, all servants of the LORD,
Who serve by night in the house of the LORD! Ps 134:1

O house of Israel, bless the LORD;
O house of Aaron, bless the LORD; Ps 135:19

O house of Levi, bless the LORD;
You who revere the LORD, bless the LORD. Ps 135:20
?
The LORD has been mindful of us; He will bless us;
He will bless the house of Israel;
He will bless the house of Aaron. Ps 115:12

A righteous guest seeks a righteous home for hospitality, and he/she has the authority to bless that home with peace:

• “Do not acquire gold, or silver, or copper for your money belts, or a bag for your journey, or even two coats, or sandals, or a staff; for the worker is worthy of his support. And whatever city or village you enter, inquire who is worthy in it, and stay at his house until you leave that city. As you enter the house, give it your greeting. If the house is worthy, give it your blessing of peace. But if it is not worthy, take back your blessing of peace. Whoever does not receive you, nor heed your words, as you go out of that house or that city, shake the dust off your feet. Truly I say to you, it will be more tolerable for the land of Sodom and Gomorrah in the day of judgment than for that city.” (Mt 10:9-15)

What of INhospitality, though? Are there consequences for being inhospitable?

The answer to that question is found in the nine times “Sodom and Gomorra” are mentioned in the New Testament, or Brit HaChadasha. Yes, inhospitality is a thing. A very bad thing.

Sodom and Gomorrah were famously wealthy, greedy, inhospitable, murderous, and sexually perverted (more on that in a coming newsletter). They oppressed the guests and the needy, who cried out to their Creator at the inhospitality:

• And the LORD said, “The outcry of Sodom and Gomorrah is indeed great, and their sin is exceedingly grave. I will go down now and see whether they have done entirely as the outcry, which has come to Me indicates; and if not, I will know.” (18:20-21)

When we are inhospitable and stingy, especially to righteous visitors or the poor and distressed, their cry has a direct line to the Heavenly ear. The Holy One WILL conduct a thorough investigation. In the case of Sodom and its daughter cities, the cries were not only accurately describing the inhospitality, but they were ENTIRELY accurate.

And the cities were burned. Destroyed with a spirit of burning.

• “For the LORD your God is a consuming fire, a jealous God.” (Dt 4:24)

In the verse above, it is in the context of the penalty for idolatry. Colossians 3:5 compares greed to idolatry. Inhospitality is like idolatry.

• “Know therefore today that it is the LORD your God who is crossing over before you as a consuming fire. He will destroy them and He will subdue them before you, so that you may drive them out and destroy them quickly, just as the LORD has spoken to you.” (Dt 9:3)

When a city is stingy, greedy, perverted, and sheds blood, it will be burned with fire eventually. The one thing Lot got right was a last-chance opportunity to be hospitable to the One Who burns with fire.

A righteous guest is to seek a righteous home for hospitality, and he/she has the authority to bless that home with peace. It says much that the angels at first declined to spend the night in Lot’s home. The spiritual ambiguity in his home made their reaction like the up-and-down visit to the Garden after Adam and Eve sinned.

Vayikra 6:13 says, “Fire shall be kept burning continually on the altar; it is not to go out.” Vayikra is our holy calling, our proclamation to the world that the House of Prayer for All Nations is a hospitable place for all to come meet the Bridegroom…while there is still time. How is our home fire burning for righteous guests and the needy? And is it hospitable to them?

Somewhere in this world, your name is proclaimed to Heaven,
either in frustration, agony, and pain,
or in gratefulness, relief, and consolation.

Mark Call – Torah Teaching for Parsha “Ki Tavo”

by Mark Call | Sep 13, 2025 | Biblical Basics, Biblical History, Come Out of Her My People - Mark Call, News, Old Testament & New Testament, Personal Improvement, Shabba Shalom Mesa - Mark Call, Understanding Torah, Weekly Torah Portion Reading, Who Are We? | 0 |

Parsha “Ki Tavo” (Deuteronomy (26:1-29:8) is almost certainly the most famous, and...

Dr Hollisa Alewine – Footsteps of Messiah Part 164 (A Leaning Lady)

by Hollisa Alewine | Sep 7, 2025 | Biblical Basics, Biblical History, Torah Class - Hollisa Alewine, Weekly Torah Portion Reading | 0 |

A Leaning Lady

Of all the righteous ones of Scripture, Avraham and Sarah were the best known for the hospitality to strangers, especially when they received the three angels. (So 5:1)

“Given to hospitality” is not a light characteristic to the righteous. It is integral. It was incorporated into the believers’ daily habits in the Books of Acts, and it is a vital quality for an elderwoman of the congregation…

The number 60 is signified by the Hebrew letter samekh, which means to support, sustain, to lean upon, ordain:

• “Moses did just as the LORD commanded him; and he took Joshua and set him before Eleazar the priest and before all the congregation. Then he laid his hands on him and commissioned him, just as the LORD had spoken through Moses.” (Nu 27:22-23)
??????????? ?????????? ?????? ???????????? ????????? ??????? ???????????????????

The appearance of the letter samekh is round, like a wheel. A burden may be moved more easily in a wheeled cart than dragged or carried, and to ordain someone for ministry is to infuse them with the spiritual strength to be that person who eases the burdens that others must carry for the Kingdom. The anointing of the ordination is to help that servant bear the suffering for that ministry in the Kingdom. As those who ordain must lean their hands upon the one receiving the ordination, so others will lean upon him or her to ease their suffering.

Those who plead for an anointing may not understand exactly what they’re asking for. With the anointing comes the suffering!

By the age of 60, the individual is considered to have committed his or her best physical years to the royal priesthood, slightly different from the Levites, who formally served from ages 25 to 50 (Nu 8:23-26). This did not preclude them from assisting their younger brothers, serving as mentors. The holy Mishkan/Mikdash work was physically demanding as well as exacting.

At the age of 60, a righteous woman has achieved an age where she needs physical support as her due for devoting her life as a royal priestess to the support of the righteous community and her family. She is still a teacher and mentor to the younger, but as others have leaned upon her, now she must lean upon others for physical support:

• “A widow is to be put on the list only if she is not less than sixty years old, having been the wife of one man, having a reputation for good works; and if she has brought up children, if she has shown hospitality to strangers, if she has washed the saints’ feet, if she has assisted those in distress, and if she has devoted herself to every good work.” (1 Ti 5:9-10)

The age of 60 suggests that she has fulfilled the days of her ordination to every good work. Just as Levites were still entitld to portions from the Temple gifts after retirement, so a righteous elderwoman is entitled to eat from the common fund of the congregation she’s served.

Paul defines for Timothy the behaviors that are elderwoman good works according to the Word:

1 bringing up children
2 showing hospitality to righteous strangers
3 washing the feet of the righteous (extended hospitality as in #2)
4 recognizing and assisting those in distress

A reputation is a “name,” and Ruach-filled women who demonstrated this vital attribute of a good name were entitled to full benefits from their congregations in old age. It was NOT the responsibility of the government, but her congregation if her family was unable to provide.

Hospitality is that vital in doing good works, both to relieve the distress of the righteous as well one’s own family. Through her hospitable good works, the elder woman has offered aromatic spices as a royal priestess, making the Holy Name famous. Those aromatic spices are those of good reputation that the Bridegroom Messiah Yeshua will gather into the Garden.

Honoring other believers with hospitality is not just an old lady fruit of the Ruach. It is expected of EVERY believer as an outworking of love.

Remember, love is not always an emotion. Love can be a preference for one thing over another or one person over another in a specific situation. This does not negate Peter and James’ admonitions that “God is not a respecter of persons.” It explains it:

• “The LORD said unto my Lord, Sit thou on my right hand, till I make thine enemies thy footstool?” (Mt 22:44 KJV)
• ‘Behold, I will cause those of the synagogue of Satan, who say that they are Jews and are not, but lie—I will make them come and bow down at your feet and make them know that I have loved you.” (Re 3:9)

• Opening his mouth, Peter said:“I most certainly understand now that God is not one to show partiality, but in every nation the man who fears Him and does what is right is welcome to Him.” (Acts 10:34-35)

For context, the “synagogue of Satan” or “seed of Satan” meant something specific in the First Century. It meant someone who misapplied the Words of Scripture, twisting them like a serpent. The Hillel Pharisees, with whom Yeshua’s teaching frequently aligned, welcomed converts to the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, seeing them as children of Abraham, the person who first came to YHVH in faith from a house of idolatry.

The Shammai Pharisees, Sadducees, and other sects rejected Gentile converts. In fact, they did not believe the Gentiles had a place in the World to Come, so they took advantage of the Gentiles who came to the Temple to purchase a sacrifice. If the Gentile did not know to designate his coins to the person at the moneytable, the moneychanger (who exchanged tokens for the sacrifice) would divert the money to the Temple fund for repairs and upkeep, not the sacrifice the Gentile believed he/she had purchased with the money. This infuriated Yeshua! This was not the purpose of the Temple! This was the synagogue of Satan, twisting the Torah to exclude unsuspecting Gentiles. The Shammai Pharisees looked the other way when this happened.

The House of Prayer for all nations was for the “man who fears what is right.” He was welcome there, no matter his lineage or economic situation. This is what the Hillel Pharisees taught, which is what Peter and Paul (a Hillel Pharisee) later affirm, and which John establishes as the norm in his “synagogue of Satan” reference. A righteous Gentile will find himself assigned a higher place in the Kingdom than those who sought to exclude him.

Yet, it is not “right” for the visitor to desecrate the sanctuary in which he is a guest, for to do so would be inhospitable to that very relationship he seeks in the House. Both those who serve and those who visit are obligated to bless one another, which brings down the blessing of peace from the Voice of Elohim, especially through the Birkhat HaKohanim (Aaronic Benediction). One new man.

• “Then they came to Jerusalem. And He entered the temple and began to drive out those who were buying and selling in the temple and overturned the tables of the money changers and the seats of those who were selling doves; and He would not permit anyone to carry merchandise through the temple. And He began to teach and say to them, “Is it not written, ‘MY HOUSE SHALL BE CALLED A HOUSE OF PRAYER FOR ALL THE NATIONS’? But you have made it a ROBBERS’ DEN.” (Mk 11:15-17)

Inhospitality to those seeking the Voice of Adonai is inhospitality to the Presence of Adonai Himself.

Those who are judged and sentenced to the Kingdom “footstool” by Adonai are enemies of the faith, whether through hostility to Him and His holy ones or unrepentant hypocrisy. A fellow believer should be honored, loved [preferred], and judged according to his active faith, not his bank account. We judge our own assemblies with righteousness according to our brotherhood:

• “My brethren, do not hold your faith in our glorious Lord Jesus Christ with an attitude of personal favoritism. For if a man comes into your assembly with a gold ring and dressed in fine clothes, and there also comes in a poor man in dirty clothes, and you pay special attention to the one who is wearing the fine clothes, and say, ‘You sit here in a good place,’ and you say to the poor man, ‘You stand over there, or sit down by my footstool,’ have you not made distinctions among yourselves, and become judges with evil motives?” (Ja 2:1-4)

The key is that both visitors to the synagogue were righteous men seeking to worship and hear the Word read on Shabbat. To look at two righteous men and show favoritism to the rich one IS wicked. Since we are to judge within our own communities, James says we are evil judges to do such a thing. Favoritism is to be shown the righteous over the wicked, not to set a fellow-believer in a lower place because he lacks money, power, or fine appearance.

• “Since we have gifts that differ according to the grace given to us, each of us is to exercise them accordingly: if prophecy, according to the proportion of his faith; if service, in his serving; or he who teaches, in his teaching; or he who exhorts, in his exhortation; he who gives, with liberality; he who leads, with diligence; he who shows mercy, with cheerfulness. Let love be without hypocrisy. Abhor what is evil; cling to what is good. Be devoted to one another in brotherly love; give preference to one another in honor; not lagging behind in diligence, fervent in spirit, serving the Lord; rejoicing in hope, persevering in tribulation, devoted to prayer, contributing to the needs of the saints, practicing hospitality.” (Ro 12:6-13)

Practicing hospitality to fellow believers is “incense,” spices fit for the Mishkan.

• Let love of the brethren continue. Do not neglect to show hospitality to strangers, for by this some have entertained angels without knowing it. (He 13:1-2)

Hospitality to the “brethren,” the righteous guest, signifies one’s willingness to welcome back the Presence of Elohim on earth. The Hebrew cognate to xenos, the Greek word for guest, stranger, visitor, is oreach, (the Sept. for ??????)

The best food, drink, and resting accommodations were prepared for the visitor. Footwashing was a mandatory courtesy:

• “Please let a little water be brought and wash your feet, and rest yourselves under the tree…” (Ge 18:4) Also Ge 24:32; 43:24

Even entering the Holy Land, the feet of the priests were supernaturally and hospitably “washed” as they crossed over.

• “…and when those who carried the ark came into the Jordan, and the feet of the priests carrying the ark were dipped in the edge of the water (for the Jordan overflows all its banks all the days of harvest)…” (Josh 3:15)

And finally, Yeshua demonstrated the righeousness required of the elderwoman:

• “Then He poured water into the basin and began to wash the disciples’ feet and to wipe them with the towel with which He was girded… If I then, the Lord and the Teacher, washed your feet, you also ought to wash one another’s feet. For I gave you an example that you also should do as I did to you.” (Jo 13:5;14-15)

Yeshua did not wash the feet of the wicked, nor did he seek out those just looking for miracles or a feel-good sermon at his appointed time. He washed the feet of those who were committed to serving him both in this world and the World to Come. We should do good to all people, but ESPECIALLY to those of the household of faith. Yeshua was not interested in ordaining Lady Liberties, but the Leaning Ladies.

And Gentlemen.