This week, because of the Fall Holy Days, and as we near the conclusion of the Torah cycle, Mark Call of Shabbat Shalom Mesa fellowship elected to take a look at a double-parsha; first, Vayelekh (Deuteronomy chapter 31) and then Ha'azinu (chapter 32) - where Moses...
This is a special week, beginning what will almost certainly be a "special" month, even if it ends up spectacularly Evil. There have already been two massive, X-class, Earth-directed CMEs this week, arriving soon, and that may be just a harbinger of the fireworks...
News and commentary for Tuesday, 1 October, 2024.
We have returned from India - Thank you all for your prayers. While journeying, we were taught many lessons on waiting for our Heavenly Father to work His plan. That brought me to Psalm 25, where David encourages us in our waiting to not give up or think that YHVH is...
The Bride’s Wilderness Laundromat
The wilderness journey brings up all sorts of practical questions. Practical questions often lead to impractical, but not impossible, answers. Although the Israelites looted the Egyptians, it is unlikely that the garments lasted for forty years in the harsh desert. How did they keep up with the laundry? What about the children born who would need clothes of their own?
Having done my laundry in the Aravah several times, I know from experience that clothes hung on a line to dry have a coating of sand by the time they dry and I take them down to fold them.
The pillars of cloud and fire, as well as the cloud cover in which the Israelites walked, provided supernatural assistance in these practical questions. The hint is found in the following verses:
•“Your clothing did not wear out on you, nor did your foot swell these forty years.” (Dt 8:4)
•“I have led you forty years in the wilderness; your clothes have not worn out on you, and your sandal has not worn out on your foot.” (Dt 29:5)
Egyptian clothes surely wear out. The sandals even more so with a nation on foot. These supernatural garments and shoes must have come from somewhere. The Midrash explains:
•“From where did they obtain clothing to wear throughout the forty years that the people of Israel spent in the Wilderness? They were from what the ministering angels clothed them. Thus it is written, ‘I clothed you (Israel) in rikmah (Ezekiel 16:10).
Rikmah is a royal garment.” (Midrash Rabbah Shir HaShirim 4§23)
The hint in Ezekiel is that these splended, durable garments were garments of royalty, fit for a royal priesthood. They were also fit TO a royal priesthood.
It was thought that the supernatural garments grew with the person like a shell grows with the chilazon, the snail from which techelet (blue) dye is extracted for tzitziyot to remind Israel of the mitzvot. From infant to adult, the garment grew. This helps us understand how the commandments grow with us when we continue to set our affection on what is above, learning to use what is below for the service of Heaven. The commandments become bigger and stronger in their protection and beauty as we grow because they are growing with us!
This passage in Ezekiel is thought to describe Israel’s bridal agreement to betrothal at Mount Sinai when they said, “We will do and we will hear”:
•“Then I passed by you and saw you, and behold, you were at the time for love; so I spread My skirt [wing, kanaf] over you and covered your nakedness. I also swore to you and entered into a covenant with you so that you became Mine,” declares the Lord GOD. Then I bathed you with water, washed off your blood from you and anointed you with oil. I also clothed you with embroidered cloth [rikmah] and put sandals of porpoise skin on your feet; and I wrapped you with fine linen and covered you with silk. I adorned you with ornaments, put bracelets on your hands and a necklace around your neck. I also put a ring in your nostril, earrings in your ears and a beautiful crown on your head. Thus you were adorned with gold and silver, and your dress was of fine linen, silk and embroidered cloth.” (Ezekiel 16:8-13)
Israel the Bride was at the time for “love,” or able to Shma, to hear and to love with all her heart, soul, and strength. At that time, the ministering angels were thought to clothe Israel with miraculous garments that did not wear out and give them the sandals that did not wear out. They were also given two royal crowns, one for “we will do” and one for “we will hear.” After the golden calf, those crowns were taken away and the “jewelry” were retrieved, but the miraculous royal garments and sandals remained upon them. (Dt 8:4) Like the Kohen HaGadol, every member of the royal priesthood was clothed in “garments of honor and glory.”
The Midrash asks:
•But did the clothing not need washing? “The pillar of cloud, which accompanied the nation throughout their journey in the Wilderness, brushed against the clothing and cleansed them.” (ibid 4§23).
The garments could withstand the fire of the pillar of cloud because they were manufactured in Heaven. These were garments with the smell of the blessed field, a place of eternal life. The fire actually refined the garments instead of destroying them!
Likewise, Yeshua’s garment of salvation and robes of righteousness, which we may put on, have a Garden fragrance of eternal life and a royal priesthood, a fragrance of Lebanon, as Chapter Four of Song of Songs says. Lebanon is from lavan, which means “white.” Salvation and obedience are white robes from the pleasant Land of the Garden. A great “cloud of witnesses” to the commandments of God and the testimony of Yeshua wears clean, pressed white garments:
•“When the Lamb broke the fifth seal, I saw underneath the altar the souls of those who had been slain because of the word of God, and because of the testimony which they had maintained; and they cried out with a loud voice, saying, “How long, O Lord, holy and true, will You refrain from judging and avenging our blood on those who dwell on the earth?” And there was given to each of them a white robe; and they were told that they should rest for a little while longer, until the number of their fellow servants and their brethren who were to be killed even as they had been, would be completed also.” (Re 6:9-11)
If, according to Rashi, the garments were also pressed daily, does that seem too fantastic? Perhaps not! The cloud and fire was the Bridegroom’s way of keeping the Bride’s garments of glory washed, pressed, and perfectly sized:
•“Husbands, love your wives, just as Christ also loved the church and gave Himself up for her, so that He might sanctify her, having cleansed her by the washing of water with the Word, that He might present to Himself the church in all her glory, having no spot or wrinkle or any such thing; but that she would be holy and blameless. So husbands ought also to love their own wives as their own bodies. He who loves his own wife loves himself; for no one ever hated his own flesh, but nourishes and cherishes it, just as Christ also does the church, because we are members of His body.” (Eph 5:25-30)
Remain in the Word, and the spiritual water and fire will clean your salvation garment and robes of Yeshua’s righteousness daily. It will even give them a fine pressing so that there is not even a wrinkle in your commandment-keeping as you journey through the wilderness of the peoples. No wrinkles also means you’ve grown into them and matured in the journey. What might have seemed overwhelming at the beginning of the journey, you’ll find was nothing to worry about. Your garments grew with you, and you grew into the garments!
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This teaching begins a new series of teachings on the subject of darkness and light. From Genesis to Revelation the Bible has much to say and teach us about these two things that we humans experience in our physical world. While darkness and light are two separate...
In Luke 14:1-14 we see Yeshua teaching about honor and shame using the example of the seating arrangement at a wedding feast, making the point about how shameful self-exaltation can be and how honorable it is to have genuine humility. As He was teaching He used a...
The Wild Kingdom
As we approach the High Holy Days, we prepare to read a passage of Scripture on The Feast of Trumpets called The Akeidah. It refers to the binding of Isaac. A key verse is this:
Isaac spoke to Abraham his father and said, “My father!” And he said, “Here I am, my son.” And he said, “Behold, the fire and the wood, but where is the lamb for the burnt offering? Abraham said, “God will provide for Himself the lamb for the burnt offering, my son.” So the two of them walked on together.” (Ge 22:7)
For now, notice two things:
1. Isaac respectfully addresses Avraham, “My father.”
2. Avraham responds, “Hineni.” “Here I am, my son.”
They are in unity as to what is about to happen. Avraham will sacrifice Isaac, and Isaac will be figuratively resurrected from the dead. From henceforth, there is no question as to the line of succession. Two sons. One will be labeled “a wild donkey” (Ge 16:11-12), and one will receive the promise of a Land, Covenant, and People to pass along to his offspring. Although Avraham longed for Ishmael to live before Adonai, the birthright was awarded to the one who would sacrifice himself. The son walks with the father. The Son walks with the Father.
When it is time for Isaac to in turn bless one of two sons, he nearly makes a mistake. Rivkah his wife knows that Esau unburdened himself of the birthright for a bowl of stew. He “hated” the promise, though later he sought it carefully with tears when he realized he wasn’t entitled to the blessings if he didn’t accept the birthright. Believers are not so different today. They quickly claim the promises, but when it comes to the obligations of the Torah, they are nowhere to be found. They’re just playing a wild game. In order to deceive Isaac, Rivkah instructs Jacob to dress in Esau’s special garment and to put goat skins on his arms.
“So he [Jacob] came close and kissed him; and when he smelled the smell of his garments, he blessed him and said, “See, the smell of my son is like the smell of a field which the LORD has blessed…” (Ge 27:27)
Although the voice didn’t add up to Isaac, the pleasant field fragrance was apparently a singular aroma, one not easily duplicated or confused with another. Where did it come from?
The sages say it was from the blessed field of Creation, the garment Elohim made for Adam when he drove the first couple from the Garden. The garment was handed down to Noah, but after the Flood, the fear and dread of mankind fell upon the animal kingdom. With the special garment, though, the animal kingdom continued to have no fear. It still held the fragrance of obedient Eden. The animals would approach anyone wearing the garment, recognizing his authority in the Creation. It is thought that eventually Nimrod “the mighty hunger before the Lord” took control of the garment, which gave him power over the animals. When people saw this special power, they submitted themselves to him, giving him dictatorial power. At some point, Esau killed Nimrod and took this pleasant garment for his own:
Then Rebekah took the best (chemdah) garments of Esau her elder son, which were with her in the house, and put them on Jacob her younger son. (Ge 27:15)
????????? ??????? ???????????? ?????? ??????? ???????? ????????? ?????? ??????? ????????? ???????????? ??????????? ??????? ?????????
???????? chemdâh feminine of H2531; delight:—desire, goodly, pleasant, precious.
Chemdah [chamud/chamuda] can apply to precious things like jewelry or clothes, but it especially applies to the Land of Israel, the reflection of the Garden above it. Here are some examples of its use in context with the Land:
“Then they despised the pleasant land; they did not believe [??????????] in His Word…” (Ps 106:24)
“…but I scattered them with a storm wind among all the nations whom they have not known. Thus the land is desolated behind them so that no one went back and forth, for they made the pleasant land desolate.” (Zech 7:14)
Israel, “the pleasant Land,” is the most beautiful inheritance one may have among all the nations that the peoples may inherit. Those who bear the lingering fragrance of obedience founded on their belief, or faith, will be collected from the nations to inherit with “sons”:
‘Return, O faithless sons,’ declares the LORD; ‘For I am a master to you, and I will take you one from a city and two from a family, and I will bring you to Zion.’ “Then I will give you shepherds after My own heart, who will feed you on knowledge and understanding. It shall be in those days when you are multiplied and increased in the land,” declares the LORD, “they will no longer say, ‘The ark of the covenant of the LORD.’ And it will not come to mind, nor will they remember it, nor will they miss it, nor will it be made again. At that time they will call Jerusalem ‘The Throne of the LORD,’ and all the nations will be gathered to it, to Jerusalem, for the name of the LORD; nor will they walk anymore after the stubbornness of their evil heart. In those days the house of Judah will walk with the house of Israel, and they will come together from the land of the north to the land that I gave your fathers as an inheritance. “Then I said, ‘How I would set you among My sons and give you a pleasant land, the most beautiful inheritance of the nations!’ And I said, ‘You shall call Me, My Father, and not turn away from following Me.’ (Je 3:14-19)
That’s the key. Those who return will say, “My Father” and not turn away from Him and His commandments as Esau did. Esau, the Red One, the wild red beast of Revelation, is a human in whom the soul practices subjugation of the spirit. The spiritual authority of the Father is only their second thought, hindsight, with regret for the goods lost, not necessarily the rift with the Father. As an example, Esau took two idolatrous wives without his parents’ permission, and only later did he take a daughter of Ishmael.
Esau only regrets selling his birthright when he realizes the “loot” of the blessing was also forfeited. The scarlet beast is fully invested in the economic system to satisfy his soul. He serves the Father to obtain the goods and crown. He loves competition and games because he loves to win. That’s why he hunts. Not just to eat, but to win. The taste of wild game is the reward of the hunt, fueling feelings of superiority and dominance over the creation. In Esau’s case, he doesn’t even want to wear the garment of the blessed field to hunt the wild game for his father. It’s not enough of a challenge if the animals just walk up to him. It wouldn’t have the taste of “wild” game.
Notice the difference and progression of these “my fathers” related to garments:
Then he [Jacob] came to his father and said, “My father.” And he said, “Here I am (Hineni). Who are you, my son?” (Ge 27:18)
Then he [Esau] also made savory food and brought it to his father; and he said to his father, “Let my father arise and eat of his son’s game, that you may bless me.” (Ge 27:31)
When Esau heard the words of his father, he cried out with an exceedingly great and bitter cry, and said to his father, “Bless me, even me also, O my father!” (Ge 27:34)
Jacob approaches in shepherd-skins and says, “My father.”
Esau approaches and orders his father to arise, eat what he has hunted instead of shepherded, and bless him.
Only after Esau realizes what has happened is he humbled to plea, “O my father.”
Yeshua explains that real “food” is not wild, but obedient work on the obligations of the birthright: “Jesus said to them, ‘My food is to do the will of Him who sent Me and to accomplish His work.'” (Jn 4:34)
So, who are you, my son? Who are you, my daughter? Are you wearing the garment with the fragrance of obedience in Eden? Are you serving the Father for the loot, or to sacrifice for the sake of all the souls who will be added to the Kingdom?
Now is the time to examine our garments. Do they smell of the fruitful, sown seed of the diligent servant who went weeping on his way, carrying a bag of seed? Or do they smell of wild game?
When the last shofar blows, he who wept first will reap gladness and joy. He who practiced disobedience will weep last, find out that his reward was only in the physical world, the here and now. His garment could not withstand the fiery swords of the cheruvim at the entrance to the blessed field.
Seek first the Kingdom, the birthright of the redeemed. It may feel as though you are bound, but you will resurrect to more riches than eternity can hold.
At the resurrection, only then all the things of the blessings will be added to you.
Walk on with the Father. Forever.
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News, commentary, and a look at some of the most important stories for the week ending Saturday, 14 September, 2024.... ...including the 'debate' that wasn't - although we all knew exactly what was coming.