Tag: counting the omer
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.
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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.
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Dr Hollisa Alewine – Footsteps of Messiah Part 68 (Asher’s Oil)
When folks begin studying prophecy, it is common for them to identify which prophecies have been fulfilled and which haven’t, especially as it pertains to Yeshua. When the feasts of Adonai are fully grasped, this adds another burst of enthusiasm for identifying which feasts Yeshua has already fulfilled and which he has yet to fulfill. For some, there is a bit of smugness, as if to entice those who don’t keep the feasts to join in so they’ll understand prophecy, too.
Well, sure, the feasts are for everybody, but there’s no need to be smug. Prophecy is not a one-and-done proposition, and this is part of the richness of the feasts, which cycle with the years. It’s easy to see that Yeshua fulfilled the spring feasts of Passover, Unleavened Bread, and Firstfruits of Barley. On the other hand, doesn’t the writer to the Hebrews spend multiple chapters explaining how Yeshua fulfilled the fall feasts, especially Yom HaKippurim?
So did he, or didn’t he?
Ummmm…
Yes.
Let’s turn to the Shavuot as the axis of the feasts to unpack the cycle of prophecy, at least until some future time when prophecy will cease:
Love never fails; but if there are gifts of prophecy, they will be done away; if there are tongues, they will cease; if there is knowledge, it will be done away. (1 Co 13:8)
This doesn’t mean that there will no longer be any gift of prophecy; it simply means it becomes inoperative. The spiritual gifts in the world to come will become unnecessary, for the righteous will be in perfect tune with the realm of the Ruach (Spirit). The challenges that necessitate these gifts will no longer exist. The spiritual pillars that are now commemorated with “time” will be part of our internal clocks, which don’t need calendars, just a well-tuned ruach, for in that day, the trees will bear fruit every month even though there will be no sun or moon to signal seasons or even day and night. Days, months, hours, years, and so forth, will form a reality that until now we only experience with the natural “clocks” of Creation. Let Shavuot guide into understanding of how Yeshua’s footsteps might sound.
Having left behind the salvation of Passover, Shavuot is the appointed time to grow from milk to solid food by Rosh HaShanah. As at Sinai, it requires a willingness to “do and hear,” or receive the Word of Moses and Yeshua. The Ruach enables this process:
“And I, brethren, could not speak to you as to spiritual men, but as to men of flesh, as to infants in Christ. I gave you milk to drink, not solid food; for you were not yet able to receive it. Indeed, even now you are not yet able, for you are still fleshly. For since there is jealousy and strife among you, are you not fleshly, and are you not walking like mere men?” (1 Co 3:1-3)
For though by this time you ought to be teachers, you have need again for someone to teach you the elementary principles of the oracles of God, and you have come to need milk and not solid food. For everyone who partakes only of milk is not accustomed [“inexperienced”] to the word of righteousness, for he is an infant. (Heb 5:12-13)
Paul and the writer to the Hebrews do not expect the non-Jews to whom they write to continue in milk. Jewish tradition says a remnant of the nations desired the Torah when it was offered at Mt. Sinai. In Acts 2 at Shavuot, this desire was satisfied for the proselytes from the nations, and they returned to their nations with the Good News of salvation and covenant. Along with verses from Psalm 119, Psalm 67 is read each day of the counting of the omer to Shavuot. These peoples are to mature to Sukkot:
God be gracious to us and bless us, and cause His face to shine upon us—Selah. That Your way may be known on the earth, Your salvation among all nations. Let the peoples praise You, O God; let all the peoples praise You. Let the nations be glad and sing for joy; for You will judge the peoples with uprightness and guide the nations on the earth. Selah. Let the peoples praise You, O God; let all the peoples praise You. The earth has yielded its produce [people]; God, our God, blesses us. God blesses us, that all the ends of the earth may fear Him. (Ps 67:1–7)
Shavuot commemorates both the giving of the Torah at Sinai as well as the Firstfruits of the Wheat harvest. The Seed of the Word is beginning to mature, ready to commit to the covenant anew, to learn and grow to the fullness of Sukkot, which celebrates the ingathering of everything: winevat, threshing floor, fruit of the ground, fruit of the tree, flocks and herds.
The fruit of the olive tree, however, creates a link between Sukkot and the next Passover. Because olives just begin ripening at Sukkot, it is too early to bring tithes, and perhaps even firstfruit in some late-ripening years. Processing the olive fruit is time-consuming, and it can take several weeks to harvest, process, store, and do the accounting necessary to separate tithes for the priests and Levites. The late winter fiscal year for tree fruits also affects when tithes and firstfruits might be brought. Season overlaps season, and feast overlaps feast, never disconnecting:
“Behold, days are coming,” declares the LORD, “When the plowman will overtake the reaper and the treader of grapes him who sows seed; when the mountains will drip sweet wine and all the hills will be dissolved.” (Amos 9:13)
These cycles of the feasts explain why a prophecy may be fulfilled many times, never exactly the way it was previously, but according to that template. New generation, new fulfillment.
The blessings upon the tribes are sometimes oblique, but the blessing on Judah is fairly straightforward, an excellent example of the growth principle.
“Judah, your brothers shall praise you; your hand shall be on the neck of your enemies; your father’s sons shall bow down to you. Judah is a lion’s whelp; from the prey, my son, you have gone up. He couches, he lies down as a lion, and as a lion(ess), who dares rouse him up? The scepter shall not depart from Judah, nor the ruler’s staff from between his feet, until Shiloh comes and to him shall be the obedience of the peoples. He ties his foal to the vine, and his donkey’s colt to the choice vine; he washes his garments in wine, and his robes in the blood of grapes. His eyes are dull from wine, and his teeth white from milk.” (Ge 49:8-12)
Milk grows teeth for solid food. Wine is for grownups, especially associated with the Feast of Sukkot. At Sukkot, the Torah scrolls are re-rolled to start reading in the new cycle with Genesis (Bereishit). Judah has grown strong adult teeth to digest the Word. Inheritance is for the mature, not infants or children. A child who will inherit is taught, guided, rehearsed, and prepared to manage that inheritance. Some will faithfully grow in each feast cycle so that they may inherit the Kingdom. Others will live as little children perpetually, unwilling and unable to manage tasks assigned by the Holy One.
Judah is the focus of the above Messianic prophecy, but a rule of Scripture is that it must first apply at the simple level. What applies to Messiah Yeshua will also apply to Judah and Israel, for it is understood that each tribe has some measure of every blessing, but the blessings identified with them are evident and characteristic. For instance, there were kings from other tribes, but Judah is assigned the scepter and dynasty. Israel is a royal priesthood, but Judah will provide the king, and the Levites provide the priests.
In Judah’s blessing, he is identified both with a young donkey and its mother; it is a blessing of both growth and continuity that is echoed in the lion symbols. Judah is first a cub (gur aryeh), next a lion (ari), and then a lioness (lavi). Even though context presents child, male, female, all three symbols collectively are “he,” yet they symbolize the same tribe. Believers as individuals mature from nursing children to mature adults to adults with the ability to nurse new believers:
“But we proved to be gentle among you, as a nursing mother tenderly cares for her own children.” (1 Th 2:7)
The Corinthians and Thessalonians were once “strangers to the covenant,” yet the apostles who ministered to them refused to allow them to remain little cubs in the Word. They were supposed to grow to solid food and become teachers of the Word. The whole Word. The term for “cub” in Judah’s blessing is gur aryeh. Gur shares the same two-letter root with the ger, the Hebrew word for stranger. A stranger in Israel is just a newcomer to the Word, but he or she will not stay a cub.
The stranger in Israel is there to learn, grow, and engage the covenant, not to remain a stranger. They are to become fellow-citizens with all the rights and obligations of Israel when they take the covenant yoke of Kingdom with Yeshua. The good news is that putting your neck in the yoke with Yeshua means that he is strong enough to make the burden easy, and he won’t drag you along if you need more learning time. He has sent the Ruach HaKodesh to teach us.
As long as these cycles of the feasts continue, until the resurrection of the dead, we have the opportunity to do two kinds of growth each year:
grow in a new cycle individually, like the shoots of the olive plant that will mature the fruits at Sukkot
grow together as Israel into the vine of Sukkot maturity
Dr Hollisa Alewine – Footsteps of Messiah Part 67 (What Have I Done?)
What have I done today?
Other than talk to the carrots, that is.
By now, I should have the newsletter teaching completed, pasted in the latest news from the orphanage, recommended a new book, and dropped in a reminder to register for REVIVE and mention that a new bloc of discounted rooms for the conference is now available. I should have answered a dozen emails and a phone call. I should have cleaned my bike chain and lubed it. I should have made something fresh for Erev Shabbat instead of being happy with plating up leftovers. I should have sprayed the north side of the house with cleaner. I should have. Should have.
But I didn’t.
My mom of blessed memory called them the “Shouldsandoughts.”
I did blanch, cold-shock, and vacuum-seal four freezer bags of asparagus from the garden. And make a maple-bourbon-pecan sauce for the sweet potatoes for oneg tomorrow. After that, I went back to the garden. Seems like I always go back to the Garden when I’m in this state of mind.
Yesterday, I received word that Rick Daviscourt passed away, may his memory be for blessing. You may not know him. In fact, I never met him in person. We emailed and texted about Torah things and the ministries, how to support one another, but I can’t even remember how I first knew about his ministry. He has a girls’ home in Peru we support whenever we can, called Restoring Hope International. Rick was providing the girls a Torah-based home to be safe in.
On March 22nd, Rick knew his diagnosis and prognosis, and he sent out his final newsletter. He wrote:
“I want to thank all of you who have been praying for me and personally encouraging me through my battle with pancreatic cancer. Honestly speaking, most of us will struggle in one way or another in our lives. So, I really do not consider my struggle as being more important than the next person’s difficult struggle. I have met and continue to meet people who seem to have it much worse than what I am going through – even if they are enjoying perfectly good physical health. Life on this planet, unfortunately, causes great obstacles for many of us – sooner or later.
Even though my Whipple Surgery was successful in removing the tumor in my pancreas, it did not stop there. Now, after even more chemotherapy, this cancer has spread to different areas of my liver and continues to spread in that organ. I have been given 6 months to live.
I am so grateful to our Creator for having given me this many years of life, most of which have been happy and productive for me! In several weeks, I will turn 67. And many of you have greatly helped to enrich my life’s experience through your support and encouragement. You are so appreciated!
Being able to work with God in starting our children’s home in Peru has been such an honor and privilege for me. What an adventure that has been!
With respect to those who are dealing with serious illnesses, etc…, I would like to reference the Book of Job, in the Old Testament. Neither he nor his friends had the least little idea as to why he, Job, became so ill and lost so much, including his children. His supposed friends were accusing him of this and of that – all of which were untrue. His wife told him to curse God and die… Also, it is very important to take into account what the apostle Paul wrote in Romans 8:28 to the end of that chapter. First of all, a person cannot come to God – to Christ – unless God calls and draws that person to our Savior and Messiah. That person must love Him, God, with all his/her heart and soul (Deuteronomy 11:13). In my case, I have dedicated my life – both internally and externally to this end. I remember very well, the morning when our Lord invited me to give my life to Him. I will never, ever forget that special moment. So, as many of you already know, there are no easy “Canned Answers” to many of the complex issues of our lives and world. Some things are not for us to know…”
Day before yesterday, Rick was heavy on my heart, and I wasn’t sure why. Prayer is the only option at such times, and I sent a donation, not knowing anything additional I could do. Yesterday I found out he’d passed away. So that was it. Can you grieve over a person you’ve never met face-to-face?
So today, I went to the garden. I pulled suckers from the tomatoes, nodded to the poblanos, anchos, and jalapenos to keep up the good work, and guided the cucumber vines up their cages. I kneeled and picked away the weeds from the beets and carrots by hand because they’re too young and tender for the hoe. I suggested that they get a move on with their growing so they’d be easier to deal with. I’m getting too old and stiff to crawl around in the dirt. Did they have any idea why good people like Brad, Rick, Charles, and Mark left us so soon? No, they didn’t, but I left them in neat rows to think about it. Some things are not for us to know, remember?
The cranberry beans, green beans, and Jacob’s cattle didn’t have any answers, either, but they endured the hoe without too much complaining. The cantaloupes and watermelons were pretty quiet, too. Just sat there and yellow-flowered me, which I take as a grin. The potatoes needed some shovel work, which I think they appreciated. I told them to give me a holler if they saw any of those striped beetles. It looked like something chewed the tomatillos, but they’re tough, and they get tougher as the summer wears on. I’ve picked tomatillos even after a light frost.
You’d like my homemade salsa verde.
Then I hoed the other garden with the corn and purple hull peas and butternut squash. I noticed some of the pole beans I’d planted to grow on the corn stalks were breaking the surface. The Three Sisters garden. They were all coughing dust, though. We need a good rain. Good rain. Not a gully-washer.
Even the weeds weren’t too committed to the heavy clay. The purple hull peas have been passed down from my grandpa. My Uncle Jimmy gave me some to get started years ago. He started his from Grandpa’s. We’re not sure how many generations they go back. I just thought you’d like to know that. Most of them are in the Garden now. My relatives, not the peas. With Rick. And Brad. And Charles. And Mark. If I had to have a last meal, I think it would be purple peas and cornbread and sliced tomatoes and watermelon. Funny how people on death row get to pick a last meal, but the saints, not usually. Maybe none of them would have a taste for it anyway.
I finished up by checking the sweet potatoes and raised beds. All good. Sweet strawberries, but they’re not big talkers, and you have move the leaves away to find them and get them before the ants do. “Consider the ant, thou sluggard.” I doubt a sluggard would be reading Proverbs anyway. So here I am considering the ant. Not to worry. They don’t eat much.
Tomatoes are volunteering in the strawberry, asparagus, and onion beds. You have to weed them out, but I leave a couple. I think they’re the little yellow pear tomatoes. Later in the summer, it’s like candy on the vine.
The sun chokes are getting tall. They’ll make pretty yellow flowers as tall as the sunflowers I let grow around the bird feeders. It’s too early for persimmon and pawpaw fruits to set, but the apple trees look good. It will be a race to see whether the deer will clean out the fruit from the lower branches before we do. The fig tree is spreading, and even though I thought the new cherry tree was dead, I see a little branch sprouting out the bottom. A definite maybe.
Some things are not for us to know. Yet.
Memories must do for now. Ever notice how deeply the grooves are cut into the record of memories? No wonder records used to get stuck and just go round and round. Like today. When you can’t concentrate, you concentrate.
Like Rick wrote, a “Canned Answer” would be an insult to both the deceased and their Creator. When great, righteous people are transplanted into the Garden, they deserve our continued wonder. We should challenge our own ideas about what we “deserve” quantified in mere years and whether what can be accomplished there is somehow of less value than what we can accomplish here. Maybe the goodness there is exactly what they deserve, and because we see only the carrot top, and the deep red strawberries hide from us, we struggle round and round.
This week, our Torah portion Bamidbar includes a census of the tribes for war. The army of Israel is not like other armies. Israel must first “pass muster” with Adonai Tzvaot, the Lord of Armies. When Israel falls into idolatry and other serious sins, their army is usually defeated, even routed shamefully. Israelite soldiers must pass a test of courage even before they are admitted to the ranks:
Have you betrothed a wife, but not married her? Go home.
Have you built a house, but not lived in it? Go home.
Have you planted a vineyard, but not consumed its fruit? Go home. (Dt 20:3-8)
Such a person is planning to fail! He started with good plans, then at some point, he could not envision a successful outcome, one of the jobs we accomplish in prayer-work. If he fell in battle, then someone else would marry his wife, live in his house, and tend his vineyard. In fact, both the “house” and the “vineyard” are sometimes used as euphemisms for a wife, the wise woman and the Proverbs 31 woman who builds the house and is the fruitful vine. The wife, in turn, symbolizes the work of the Holy Spirit in his life (see Workbook Four). The Ruach (Spirit) is what implants successful vision within a believer.
Relating this to the No Place for Chickens Part Two last week, the spiritually deficient soldier did well at first, planning and imagining his life in the future, but when the enemy approached, he was unable to also plan and envision a victorious outcome to his prayer. This cowardice would become a cancerous discouragement to his fellow soldiers. A soldier planning a desolate house will be rewarded with a desolate house, for he does not remember the exhortation of the war priest:
“Hear, O Israel, you are approaching the battle against your enemies today. Do not be fainthearted. Do not be afraid, or panic, or tremble before them, for the LORD your God is the one who goes with you, to fight for you against your enemies, to save you.” (Dt 20:3-4)
If the soldier cannot go forward with confidence after that reminder, he’s hopeless in battle!
In the following lament over Jerusalem, Yeshua evokes two important passages in the Torah:
1) the Ruach Adonai hovering over the surface of the waters at Creation and (Ge 1:2)
2) the torah of the hen and chicks, which assures the chicks’ safety if they will stay under their mother’s wings or in the nest with her. (Dt 22:6)
The Jewish sages say that the Ruach hovering over the Creation waters was Messiah, whose obedience would bring order out of chaos, light out of darkness. The verb used for “hovering” is merachefet, which describes how a mother bird beats her wings violently to call her chicks. Also in the tradition, the palace of King Messiah is located in the Garden of Eden. It is called Kan Tzippor, or “The Bird Nest.” King Messiah’s job is to gather the Father’s chicks back into the Garden, to minister the Word to them so that they can be restored to their original habitat. Frequently, the chicks are obstinate:
“Jerusalem, Jerusalem, who kills the prophets and stones those who are sent to her! How often I wanted to gather your children together, the way a hen gathers her chicks under her wings, and you were unwilling. Behold, your house is being left to you desolate! For I say to you, from now on you will not see Me until you say, ‘BLESSED IS HE WHO COMES IN THE NAME OF THE LORD!’” (Mt 23:37-39)
What can be derived from Yeshua’s lament?
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Dr Hollisa Alewine – Footsteps of Messiah Part 65 (No Place for Chickens Part Two)
Prayer makes you think.
For instance, who was better prepared for what happened after midnight in the Garden of Gethsemane, Yeshua or his disciples? Why?
Apparently, Peter needed to go to bed with the chickens, and by the time the cock crowed three times the next morning, he’d denied Yeshua and run away. Just hours before, Peter didn’t imagine such a thing were possible.
An often-quoted proverb helps us to understand the inner process of prayer:
“As a man thinks within himself [b’nafsho], so is he…” (Pr 23:7)
“B’nafsho” is “in his soul.” The soul is defined as a bundle of appetites, emotions, desires, and intellect. The soul thinks. We don’t usually hear the beginning or the end of the proverb, though. The beginning of the proverb is:
“Do not eat the bread of a selfish man or desire his delicacies…”
The rest of the verse is:
“…he says to you, ‘Eat and drink!’ But his heart [lev] is not with you.”
The heart is sometimes seen as the mind, interconnected with the soul. Even scientists understand there is a “heart brain” that communicates with the head brain. In context, the proverb warns us that in spite of the generous words he says, a selfish person’s silent soul and heart think the opposite and wish that you would not accept.
The connection between prayer and the proverb is that it is possible to pray one thing with the lips, yet not to really believe it or want it to come to pass. It is possible to pray one thing and think the opposite. Yeshua struggled in this like we do, yet he prayed the perfect solution in the Garden of Gethsemane:
“Nevertheless, not my will, but Yours be done.”
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Dr Hollisa Alewine – Footsteps of Messiah Part 64 (No Place for Chickens Part One)
Thanks to the availability of rabbinic reference books, most people now understand that the rooster crow in Jerusalem wasn’t likely on the Temple Mount. When Yeshua warns Peter that he will deny Yeshua by the third rooster crow, the meaning is likely referring to the official Temple trumpet blowers, who signaled the Temple’s daily activities from special posts on the Temple Mount. To this day, you can view the tumbled stone on which they stood, which was found lying in the rubble at the base of the Temple Mount in 1968.
It is forbidden to raise fowl in Jerusalem because of the “Holy Things”, [fowl may bring impurity in to sacrificial items] nor may priests raise them [anywhere] in the Land of Israel because of [the laws concerning] pure foods. (Mishnah Bava Kama 7)
On the other hand, the rooster was used to signal the trumpet blowers when it was daylight, which was especially important on feast days with so many to accommodate in the services. Where was this rooster? Perhaps just outside the city walls, in which case, he would be easily heard.
The Temple was no place for chickens.
Now that you are called into covenant of royal priesthood with the Holy One of Israel, a little Temple sent to the nations, there’s still no room for chickens. There’s no room for a people too afraid to obey the Word.
The appearance of Yeshua as the conqueror in Revelation is one of authority, and his feet are bronze, just like the bronze sea of the Temple. Seas in Scriptures often represent the peoples. The washing of water by the Word is what Yeshua sacrificed himself for on the altar. It is also what a royal priesthood is called to do. No chickens.
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Dr Hollisa Alewine – Footsteps of Messiah Part 63 (The Foot Festival to Straying or Sealing)
It doesn’t take long to learn about Passover and Sukkot, but Shavuot? What, exactly, are we supposed to do? There is a lot of celebration, storytelling, camping, and general hilarity during our bookend feasts of Passover and Sukkot, but I’ve had more than one email or student question concerning Shavuot and what to “do.” Just eat dairy products? Just stay up all night reading Torah? That’s it?
No, no, that’s not it. Shavuot forms the axis of the foot festivals. They are called foot festivals because these are the feasts that Israel was expected to walk to three times per year. The more fortunate could ride donkeys. As we listen for the footsteps of Messiah, then where else should we listen the most closely? Yes, the foot festivals.
Two most important themes of Shavuot are the bringing of the firstfruits of the wheat and commemorating the giving of the Torah at Mount Sinai.
Our working text in the Footsteps of Messiah comes from Song of Songs Chapter 4:1-5. In past newsletters, we related these two symbols, a flock of goats and clean sheep as the nation of Israel come up from her two washings, the crossing of the Reed Sea and the three-day washing to prepare for the visitation at Mount Sinai to receive the Torah. The goats represent the Israelites descending from “Mount Gilead,” or the “Mount of Witness,” symbolizing Sinai, where they witnessed the Words in fire, smoke, hail, and rain:
How beautiful you are, my darling, how beautiful you are!Your eyes are like doves behind your veil; your hair is like a flock of goats that have descended from Mount Gilead. Your teeth are like a flock of newly shorn sheep which have come up from their washing, all of which bear twins, and not one among them has lost her young. Your lips are like a scarlet (shani) thread, and your mouth is beautiful. Your temples are like a slice of a pomegranate behind your veil. Your neck is like the tower of David, built with layers of stones on which are hung a thousand shields, all the round shields of the warriors.Your two breasts are like two fawns, twins of a gazelle that graze among the lilies.
The goat’s hair formed a covering for the Tabernacle: “All the skilled women spun with their hands, and brought what they had spun, in blue and purple and scarlet material and in fine linen. All the women whose heart stirred with a skill spun the goats’ hair.” (Ex 35:25-26)
After the “mount of Witness,” the Israelites begin to work under the inspiration of the Ruach HaKodesh with Betzalel and Oholiav. As an aside, it is a given within the ancient Jewish way of viewing the Revelation at Sinai, that the offer of the Torah was made to the other 70 nations on earth as well as to Israel. Out of those 70, there was a remnant who desired the Torah, yet only one nation that unanimously, and with ONE VOICE replied, “We will do and we will hear.”
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Mark Call – Pesach/Passover teaching (final day) from Shabbat Shalom Mesa
This week marks the final Sabbath and ultimately 7th day of the Feast of Unleavened Bread, as well...
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A Torah Home Is a Home That Counts
In today’s episode, we talked about how a Torah home is a home that counts. We’ll talk about...
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