Tag: Hanukkah

“We had a wonderful Sukkot in the Land. And then when we woke up on October 7th, something had changed. And I guess long story short: k-boom. A lot of k-booms. And you find out who you are inside. I think when the k-booms start going off, and you have no control over them… You know, I think most people are used to–at least familiar with-weapons, that it’s probably not going to go–it’s not supposed to go off-unless you do specific things to make it go off. But when you have no control over what’s going over your head, it’s a completely different dynamic.

And so, I’m still learning how to deal with that one. I’m not used to being shot at. It’s different. So I’m glad to be here tonight. It’s good to be back with Jacob’s Tent. And the larger tent that we see often around the feast times. And what I want to do tonight is not necessarily seem Chanukah-forward. But I think we’re in a time where we need to be encouraged because if you’re like me, since October 7th, you’ve kind of been stuck in a certain place.

It’s hard to know what’s on the horizon, but you definitely know what’s behind you. And so you’re beginning to ask yourself: “All this that I’ve been learning, you know He’s brought me out of some system that I was in and maybe happy with, maybe unhappy with, but He brought me out of that system. And I can’t help but think He brought me out for some reason in this generation in particular. I wasn’t born in a different generation. I was born into this generation.

And we know every generation has its tribulation. That’s not new. Is this the tribulation of our generation? And I think the answer’s going to be “yes” to that. I’ve not experienced anything like this. I’m used to them lobbing rockets at Sukkot, that’s what they do. If you didn’t go to Israel because they lobbed a few rockets, you would never go to Israel. But this is different. And it really feels as though everything we have been doing has prepared us for this moment in time. What’s on the horizon? We don’t know. That’s why I feel a little bit stuck in a certain place. I feel like everything’s outside our control right now, but hasn’t it always been? It’s always been outside of our control. He’s been preparing us for this time when it’s going to feel so much as if things are out of our control. And the good news is, there is no Plan B.

In the beginning, there was plan A. We would like to think that our sin is just so powerful that Adonai just has to keep coming up with new plans like B, C, D, E, F. He never did. He never changed His mind. He never changed the goal. Now, it might be taking us a little longer to get there, but He hasn’t changed His mind, and the purpose for which you have been called hasn’t changed because there is a war in Israel. That has not changed. He has been preparing you for this moment.

What I want to do is take a look at the history that has brought us to this point. We might call it prophecy, we might not. I mean, what people usually call prophecy, I just call deep Torah study. There’s no prophecy without Torah. And so as we look at some of the prophecies, and tonight I want to look at a passage in the Song of Songs of all things, we think it’s a love song but it’s actually a prophecy of the return of the exiles. And this is the way that the rabbis construe it. This is not Hollisa Alewine sitting too long with too many cups of coffee. This is the way the rabbis have put it together. The only thing I can see that’s missing from the way they’ve put it together is the fact that they haven’t yet recognized Yeshua as that Messiah that they’re talking about.

Part of that you can see even in the gospels when it was teaching about the circumstances surrounding Yeshua’s birth. We have all sorts of things: Shepherds by night. Stars. We have peace on earth. We have all of these things that are associated with the particular season, and we say well what happened here? I want to go back and look at what happened in order to figure out why Herod was so upset that the wise men were there and why in particular he was upset. I want to go back to Abraham because he’s our forefather. And it doesn’t matter whether you’re descended from Abraham by blood or by faith, you are still a child of Abraham and Sarah. And so I want to call this: Three Wise Men and a Red One.

And I know, we don’t know for sure that there were Three Wise Men; we just tend to say that because there were three specific gifts. I want to trace this prophecy to Abraham all the way up to the time of Herod and the birth of Yeshua and see if there’s something about those three gifts that should ring a bell with us, but should also encourage us about this particular moment in time in which we live. Because I believe one of the problems that the Jews of the first century had with Yeshua is that they were expecting what we are experiencing. They were 2,000 years too early. But on the other hand, we don’t want to be lulled to sleep. What we want to do is look at the prophecies of Micah and Isaiah and say “What should we look for next, and how should our feet be planted?” And understand we’re still part of Plan A.

He still had a plan to gather us in. He’s not abandoned it. And that’s the danger of just studying prophecy in isolation. It’s like an amusement park. It’s fun. It’s exciting. But if you get on the rollercoaster it always ends up back at the same stop. If you get on the Ferris wheel, you still get off at the same place. If you eat the cotton candy, you still get sick to your stomach. This is prophecy as it’s usually taught. It’s exciting and we get to sit around and speculate as to who’s got the right insight to the prophecy.

But so many times, if we’ll just go back into the Word, back into the Torah, and we look at some of the insights from the people who have studied those prophecies for thousands of years, it might be much simpler than it seems. It doesn’t have to be an amusement park. That’s when we can turn it into the field. The field has the Word in it. And so we have to labor in that field like a farmer, with patience. Not on a rollercoaster ride, not with cotton candy, but planting very patiently until we can see that fruit of that labor. You don’t see a lot of farmers in the field screaming at each other, and holding their hands up. Right? It’s a much more serious approach. But there is joy at the harvest. And I want us to have some of that joy tonight. Where we can see the end. Where we can see the seed He has planted thousands of years ago, and there’s no Plan B. And we get to be part, hopefully, of that harvest.

So if you would turn in your Bibles to Song of Songs 4:6, we’re going to look at the passage from Song of Songs 4:6 to verse 8 and that’ll be our text for tonight and for tomorrow. We’ll stay on this same section. We’re going to look at the promises made to Abraham and see, “Why is there always conflict over Jerusalem? Why is there conflict over the Temple Mount? Why can the nations not just leave Israel alone?” I think it’s for the same reason that Adam and Eve had an entire garden full of trees and there was one they couldn’t just leave alone. You tell people they can’t have that one thing, and that’s exactly what they’re going to covet.

But this starts out, this is very beautiful, it says:

6“Until the cool of the day when the shadows flee away, I will go my way to the mountain of myrrh and to the hill of frankincense.

So I’m going to do a quick significance definition for you. If you like to take notes, this is where you would take notes. In prophecy, often there is a significance to particular terms. The mountain? That can be either Mount Sinai, or it can be the Temple Mount. In this case, it’s going to be the Temple Mount. This is the mountain of myrrh, and the hill of frankincense. It’s also called the Holy Hill. So we’re talking about the Temple Mount right here.

I will go my way to the mountain of myrrh and to the hill of frankincense.

Where is the Messiah coming to? He’s coming to the Temple Mount. It’s called the Mountain of Myrrh and Frankincense because this is where the incense offerings are offered. And if we understand what those incense offerings are about, we understand these are the prayers of Israel being offered up on behalf of the nations. And one thing to remember about the incense service is it could not be conducted without animal sacrifice. The coals had to come from the outer altar. If there’s no animal sacrifice–this is going to make sense when we talk about the Beast–if there’s no animal sacrifice, there’s no incense service. The Beast has to be sacrificed. He says,

7You are altogether beautiful, my darling, and there is no blemish in you.

8Come with me from Lebanon, my bride, may you come with me from Lebanon. Journey down from the summit of Amana, from the summit of Senir and Hermon, from the dens of lions, from the mountains of leopards.

So that’s what we want to do: let’s unpack these. Tonight, tomorrow. Let’s take a look at these terms and say, “What exactly is this prophecy about?” It’s about the return of the exiles.

First of all, let’s look at the summit, or the mount, the “head,” of Amana. Now some of you who can speak a little bit of Hebrew, you can hear a word in there that you’re familiar with. Amana sounds a whole lot like…? Emunah. Right. Exactly: faith. So let’s turn to Genesis 15:5 through 7. Let’s go back to father Abraham. Because in the end, I can’t remember exactly how Brad used to put it, but in summary it’s always been about a land, a covenant, and a people. A land, a covenant, and a people. And I want to show you how that land, covenant and people are very specific and set aside as it pertains to the other nations. So it says,

5And He took him outside and said, “Now look toward the heavens, and count the stars, if you are able to count them.” And He said to him, “So shall your descendants be.”

“So shall your descendants be.” What is He talking about? That many? It can be. That’s the plain sense of the verse. But we also understand that the stars sometimes in Scripture represent principalities and powers. And He’s saying, “Your descendants…” if we look at the significance, “…will be like these principalities and powers. They will rule over the earth someday.” That’s a pretty big promise.

6Then he believed in the LORD; and He reckoned it to him as righteousness.

He believed. There’s our emunah. The heh-amin.

7And He said to him, “I am the LORD who brought you out of Ur of the Chaldeans, to give you this land to possess it.

So the promise is to Abraham, to his descendants, and it’s about a specific land. And this belief–you know we talk a lot about faith. There was even a movement called Word of Faith movement. Faith is a big thing if you’re a believer. But what exactly should this faith focus around? Faith in Yeshua? Yes. But let’s go even farther back. How would the people of the First Century even come to look at Yeshua in faith? They would look back to their father Abraham as a pattern. So the heh-amin, the faith, it…was reckoned to him as righteousness because he believed. He believed that that specific land would be given to his descendants to possess.

To this day a very small percentage of the earth believe. Whether we talk about believing that the people who are there are the descendants of Abraham…there’s all sorts of conspiracy and protocols and things out there that are trying to subvert the position of the Jews within the covenant. But it really goes back to: does Adonai have the right to promise this little piece of land to these people? Do we believe it? If we believe it, it can be among those things that are accounted to us as righteousness.

Let’s look at another passage, very similar, Genesis 17:1 through 8. And this was when Avram was 99 years old.

Now when Abram was ninety-nine years old, the LORD appeared to Abram and said to him, “I am God Almighty; walk before Me, and be blameless. I will establish My covenant between Me and you, and I will multiply you exceedingly.” Abram fell on his face, and God talked with him, saying, “As for Me, behold, My covenant is with you, and you will be the father of a multitude of nations. No longer shall your name be called Abram, but your name shall be Abraham; for I have made you the father of a multitude of nations.

Right there we know that Abraham’s descendants will be out among the nations.

I will make you exceedingly fruitful, and I will make nations of you, and kings will come forth from you. I will establish My covenant between Me and you and your descendants after you throughout their generations for an everlasting covenant, to be God to you and to your descendants after you. I will give to you and to your descendants after you, the land of your sojournings, all the land of Canaan, for an everlasting possession; and I will be their God.

Now how many times did He repeat Himself in that passage as if we didn’t hear Him the first time? He knows we’re not hard of hearing. But He also knows that we need to hear things more than once to get it. It’s about a covenant between Abraham and his descendants concerning this particular land that He has established. You cannot talk about the covenant without talking about the Land. And you can’t talk about the land and the covenant without talking about the descendants of Abraham. Those three things are the essentials if we’re going to talk about faith, emunah.

If we are going to come from the summit of Amana, there is a summit of faith we must reach. And who is first associated with faith? Abraham. If we are descendants of Abraham, we have to exhibit that same kind of faith. Even though Abraham is told, ‘this is going to be a land of your sojourning’, in other words, ‘Abraham, you’re not really going to be able to call this your home. But your descendants will come back and they will be able to call it home.’

So let’s look at another passage, Genesis 13:17. And again, it’s about a specific land area and a specific people group. Again, talking to Abraham:

Arise, walk about the land through its length and breadth; for I will give it to you.

And I emphasize “I”. Adonai is giving to Abraham and his descendants this specific land. It’s not for people to give it to Abraham or his descendants. Human beings do not give that land. Ever. A human being cannot transfer that land. It’s not under our authority, even as the tree of knowledge of good and evil was not under our authority. And it never will be ours to buy, to sell, to trade, to give away, to conquer. It’s always His. And it’s these terms that the nations have always coveted.

Everything we just read…? The nations have coveted that tree. Out of all the trees in the world, they want this tiny piece of Land that’s promised to a specific group of people. And what is the big thing today? You have some people who would tolerate a few Jews in the land, but they would never tolerate Zionism. Zionism is the hot word.

It’s Zionism to which they object so strongly because Zionism is associated with this covenant of an eternal promise between the Creator of the universe, Abraham, and his descendants. They can’t tolerate that. Because as long as there are people on earth who hold that covenant, then there is proof that there is still an Elohim. That there is One GOD.

That’s what they’re fighting. They’re not fighting Jews. Jews are just in the way. They’re fighting their Creator. They want to say, “I get to subjectively choose my boundaries.” And we all do that to an extent, don’t we? We all want to define our own boundaries? And then we look into the Word and we say, ‘well I can’t do that anymore, because the Word says this is My boundary.’ We can’t be like King Solomon and say, ‘well that one doesn’t apply to me, that one doesn’t apply to me, that one doesn’t apply to me.’ We don’t get to do that. We have to say, ‘His boundaries apply to me in every area. It’s just a matter of me learning where those boundaries are. That’s the only question: have I learned them yet? And as I learn them, will I accept them? Or will I rise up like Cain and kill my brother? Will I rise up like Esau and try to kill my brother? Will I rise up like Ishmael and mock my brother?’

And so there’s a deep human disease that has been here from the time of the garden, and it’s coveting that which is not yours. Because as long as it’s not yours, you’re not GOD. If you can’t possess it, then you’re not in control. Adonai is the only one who gets to define what is acceptable sacrifice to Him. He’s the only one who can define acceptable behavior for a human being. No matter what your race. No matter what your nation. He’s the one who defines the boundaries. He made the design of the earth, He determined the inheritance of the nations, the reward of the nations, and Cain and Esau didn’t want to live within those boundaries. In fact, have you ever heard bigger crybabies? I mean cry baby, cry baby. What did Cain say, “My punishment is more than I can bear.” Well bless your heart. Criminals tend to get like that in the courtroom, don’t they?

Here’s what Esau does, Genesis 27:34, once he finds out that Isaac has given the blessing to Jacob.

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!”

Esau said to his father, “Do you have only one blessing, my father? Bless me, even me also, O my father.” So Esau lifted his voice and wept.

It’s all about crybaby. The Father in Heaven may not have given us something and we sit around and cry, “Do you just have one blessing? Could I have one too? Could I have what he has?” We look at things and we covet them. Well we’re supposed to covet the better gifts. But if it’s not your gift? It’s not your gift.

And so what will Esau do? Esau is the Red One. Since we’re going to talk about Three Wise Men and a Red One – Esau is the Red One. He came out red and hairy all over. And he’s referred to in Jewish literature as Admon. The permanent red one. Edom. And so there’s Esau, which is bad enough, and there’s the worst end of Esau, which we call Amalek, may his name be blotted out.

Here’s what Esau wants to do. He wants to dominate. He wants to possess. He will kill if it serves those ends. But to him, simply maintaining control and power is usually to his satisfaction, that he is more powerful than Elohim. If he’s just got the power, he’s convinced he’s god. It doesn’t matter how many names he calls on. How many times he says it’s great. That’s not what he believes; he believes he’s great.

Amalek, remember, was a descendant of Esau. And it’s worse. It’s the worst end of Esau because he will kill you. He’s not there to just control you. Amalek is there to kill you, and he will kill you through craft. He will kill you through animal violence. He’s much more on board to actually exterminate the Creator. Esau wants to control so he can say, “You don’t control me. I control me. I’m god.” Amalek actually wants to exterminate the Creator Himself. If he can get rid of the people of the covenant, then he’s to step one.

But this is it, controlling the covenant people and their assigned habitation has always been the key to the aims of the Beast. The Beast is nothing new in Revelation. The Beast was created on Day Six. On the same day as a human being. And as we look at those four beast kingdoms – as we look at Babylon, we look at Medo-Persia, we look at Greece, we look at Rome, and then the systems, the organizations that have spread over the earth today in the feet – it has always been their aim to control the assigned habitation of Abraham’s descendants.

Whether it’s the Temple Mount itself or even those nations that were prophesied to Abraham, that’s why their systems have been established all over the world. By the way, the leopard spots? Of Greece? If you go back into the Hebrew, the word can actually refer to organizations. And that’s what Greece had. Greece brought us medicine, literature, education, philosophy, politics, and the military. Rome comes along, they might change the names of the gods, but they perfect those systems of organization. And to this day we go to coliseums. And to this day we use the Latin language when we talk about medicine. Those systems, those leopard spots, were perfected by Rome and now they’re in every nation on earth still trying to control people.

Now I’m not a conspiracy theorist. I mean, surely there are conspiracies out there; it’s not my job to find them. It’s my job to find Yeshua and point out that he ultimately will defeat the Red Beast.

It’s so funny sometimes when people think they’ve found the anti-christ. Like it wasn’t that hard, was it? I mean, seriously? Every generation has one. It’s not unusual to find an anti-christ. What is unusual is to find somebody who will follow Yeshua with a whole heart as a descendant of Abraham and never stop believing that Plan A is still in effect. If we look at the resistance that is mustered by these Beast Kingdoms, we can see again that pointing to the stars, not just as numerous those stars, but one day, Abraham, your twelve tribes, they will judge from the twelve gates of Jerusalem. They will judge the earth with king Messiah. They will take their rightful place, what they were created to do with Plan A–it was to be a special people who will rule and reign from Jerusalem. Still Plan A, folks.

He’s still raising us up. He’s teaching us how to be prepared to know His Word, to know how to judge nations, to have something on the resume other than a name and a phone number. And that’s why learning these Torah portions, it’s critical. How are you going to judge the nations? How are you going to be a star of Abraham if you don’t know the fundamentals of the Torah? What other measurement do you think He’s going to use? U.S. Constitution? Fine choice, but that’s not it.

His Word stands forever. And we can see that in history, like in the Book of Daniel, you had Gabriel. Daniel is praying. He needs an answer. Gabriel is coming with an answer. But he’s resisted by the Prince of Persia. And it takes one more thing to overcome the Prince of Persia. The Prince of Persia is assigned to Persia. It’s his job to defend the interest of Persia. And those powers are very single-minded. They just do one thing. They don’t really multitask. And so a message is coming that is going to prophesy the overthrow of Persia. Does he want that message to go through? No, that’s his job, to maintain that nation and its boundaries. So he stands against Gabriel which means “the strength of El.” But MikhaEl, Michael, comes along and he breaks through. Because “who is like El”? There is none higher. Even that created entity called the Prince of Persia had to bow to Who Is Like Unto El. There’s no one higher. He’s a created being. Even the devils believe and tremble.

They must obey when they’re confronted with the strength and that oneness of Elohim. And we can see there will come a time in the book of Revelation when it says these stars will be moved out of their places. These principalities and powers will be moved out of their places over the nations. Because who is supposed to arise? The star of Jacob is going to arise, and with him, the descendants of Abraham who were created to rule and to reign from Jerusalem. They’re going to take those places of judgment under King Messiah.

So let’s get a little more detailed. Let’s go to Isaiah 41. And I wanted to find a word here so we’ll understand this envy of the nations against Israel. And it–I know for you guys, you’re probably like me–there is no pretense of logic and reason in the world today as it pertains to the modern state of Israel. There’s nothing that even makes sense. And there’s a reason it doesn’t make sense. He’s dividing people out. He’s unmasking them. And it’s all going to come down to: Do we have a Creator? Do we accept Him as Supreme and the One to assign our job as human beings? Is He the only One worthy of worship? If you don’t believe that, then you’re going to have trouble with the logic and the reason of Zion because the Torah is going to go forth from Zion. There is only one measure. What are they fighting against? A few Jews and tanks? That’s not who they’re fighting. They’re fighting The One Who holds the Covenant. And He says, “Only by this will the world be judged.” They don’t want to be judged by that.

In Isaiah 41:1 (ESV), I want to look at verse 1 and then skip down to 8 through 10. I want you to see who it’s addressed to. It says,

Listen to me in silence, O coastlands;

let the peoples renew their strength;

let them approach, then let them speak;

let us together draw near for judgment.

So the nations, the coastlands, the peoples, He says “renew your strength” and I want you to approach Me and we’re going to have judgment. There’s nothing scarier to me than Adonai saying, ‘Come on, approach the bench. Let’s hear your case.” Then we skip down to verse 8, He says,

But you, Israel, my servant,

Jacob, whom I have chosen,

the offspring of Abraham, my friend;

you whom I took from the ends of the earth,

and called from its farthest corners,

saying to you, “You are my servant,

I have chosen you and not cast you off”;

No Plan B.

10fear not, for I am with you;

be not dismayed, for I am your God;

I will strengthen you, He’s telling the nations, ‘strengthen yourself if you can,’ but He’s telling the people of Israel, “I will strengthen you.” It’s not by your strength, it’s by His.

I will help you, I will uphold you with my righteous right hand.

His righteous right hand Yeshua. Now do we want to be part of the coastlands who approach the throne in our own strength for judgment? Or do we want Yeshua, our advocate, standing beside us? And standing in his strength. Standing in his righteousness. I want Yeshua. I can’t stand on my own strength anyway. So the coastlands are being challenged: “approach for judgment.

To define who these coastlands are, even though the internal text tells us it’s the nations. Alright? Can you see the inner definition within the verse there? The coastlands are the nations? The specific word is actually “ee” (???). Which is kind of a funny word to me like “ee”, “ee”. And “eeyeem” (????????) would be plural. Coastlands. All that means is a habitable spot, dry land, a coast, an island. But it can be any habitable dry land. It doesn’t have to mean like the beach. The coastlands. The first mention of coastlands is going to be Genesis 10:5 (NASB 1995). It says,

From these the coastlands of the nations were separated into their lands, every one according to his language, according to their families, into their nations.

So the coastlands of the nations indicate this is where He set their boundaries. He set their boundaries the same way He set Abraham’s boundaries. And He set it according to language and family. These were the nations’ assignments. The nations didn’t like where they were assigned. Did you ever get a seat assignment you didn’t like? You ever get – you ever sit next to that one on the plan? They’re going to fall asleep on your shoulder and drool? Yeah. Or they’re going to stick their dirty feet up on the back of your seat? Some people, we don’t like our assignments. But in this case we better like our assignment.

What they have been doing from the beginning is to reassign the boundaries and to absorb the descendants of Abraham. It’s not under their authority. They don’t get to change where the boundary is. But they want to. And the Messianic reign is going to be a time when the nations apparently will be forced to retain those assigned territories. Now does everybody have to go back from where they came from? I don’t know. I don’t intend to be here. I intend to be somewhere in the land as a descendant of Abraham. Because I believe. I believe.

The children of Abraham will also live in peace on their assigned territory. And you say, ‘well where am I? Where am I supposed to be?’ You all know Galatians 3:29 (NASB 1995):

And if if, conditional you belong to Christ, then you are Abraham’s descendants, heirs according to promise.

Heirs according to the promise. What promise? The land, the covenant, the people are the promise. You have a people and you have a land. Whether you’re there yet or not, it’s just a matter of yet. But if you believe on Messiah, then you are entitled to become an heir in that assigned territory to Abraham’s descendants. And you say, “But I don’t know what tribe I come from?” Most Jews don’t either. After the destruction of the second temple, most of the records were lost. Usually the Levi’im, the Levites and the priests, know who they are. They say it’s going to be Elijah’s job at the End of the Days to sort everybody out into their tribal territory. So they don’t know either. You’re not alone.

You say, “But what if I don’t have any blood relation to Abraham.” Ezekiel 47:21 (NASB 1995) says,

So you shall divide this land among yourselves according to the tribes of Israel.

Not according to what the nations tell you. According to the tribes of Israel.

You shall divide it by lot for an inheritance among yourselves and among the aliens who stay in your midst, who bring forth sons in your midst. And they shall be to you as the native-born among the sons of Israel; they shall be allotted an inheritance with you among the tribes of Israel. 23“And in the tribe with which the alien stays, there you shall give him his inheritance,” declares the Lord GOD.

There’s still no Plan B. You’re still there. If you believe. And if you belong to Messiah, then you are Abraham’s descendants. So I don’t know if you are an Issacharite, a Gadite, a Zebulonite, it doesn’t really matter to me. It basically, according to Ezekiel, just whatever ‘–ite’ you feel like that morning, then go there. Join yourself. And that route into the land, going back to the time of Abraham, as we look back at the text that we started with in the Song of Songs, it talks about (NASB 1995, chapter 4):

Come with me from Lebanon, my bride, may you come with me (down) from Lebanon. Journey down from the summit of Amana, also in Lebanon

From the summit of Senir and Hermon, is actually on the Israeli side today, but we’re talking about the same area – it’s in the northern part of Israel, the southern part of Lebanon. Abraham came down through that route. He came down through Haran. And from Haran we know that eventually his journey did take him to the mountain of myrrh and the hill of frankincense. It took him to mount Moriah where he offered Isaac. And then later, the offspring of Jacob would also be seen camped according to this passage of prophecy without a blemish.

So yes, Abraham, proto-prophecy, he goes to the mountain of frankincense and myrrh. But then remember the prophecy of Balaam. Later as Israel is coming out of Egypt, they’re returning to the land, they’re returning to their inheritance, Balaam looks out at Jacob’s tents and he says, “How lovely are your tents, O Jacob. Your dwelling places, O Israel.” (Numbers 24:5) It’s one of the most beautiful prophecies of the Bible and–do you guys sing that on Shabbat? It’s prophecy. You’re singing of yourself without a blemish. You’re saying, “Well, I don’t know about that. ” He’s seeing forward, ok? It’s not exactly this moment.

What He’s seeing is far into the millennial reign. He seeing that far where no longer does this bride have any blemish. She’s become perfect. And so that prophecy is actually a song of return to the land. It’s the gift and a sacrifice without blemish. What gifts do you bring to the altar? That without a blemish. Israel will be a sacrifice like it’s Messiah – without a blemish.

And again, this is where are located the mountains mentioned here. Not just Amana, the mountain of faith like Abraham. And remember, Abraham is reckoned as righteous because of his faith. How are we reckoned as righteous? The same way. Because of our faith. So let’s look at that verse 8 again in the Song of Songs, chapter 4. It says,

Come with me from Lebanon, my bride, may you come with me from Lebanon. Journey down from the summit of Amana, from the summit of Senir and Hermon, from the dens of lions, from the mountains of leopards.

Right there you hear two of the Beast kingdoms mentioned. You hear Babylon the original beast kingdom, the golden head of the image. You hear about the leopard of Greece. You hear about the bronze belly, two of those beast kingdoms. And so He’s asking us, ‘come out of the belly of the beast. Get out of the head of the beast.’ Remember, the golden head of Babylon is associated with the lion. Get out of the lion’s head. Get out of the head of the beast. Journey down with Me from there. Come out of the belly of Greece. Get out of those organizations that have first, enticed you. And if you couldn’t be enticed, then they coerce you, and the Greek pattern, since we’re talking about Chanukah at this season, since you couldn’t be enticed or coerced, then you would be killed.

He’s saying, get out of that belly. Get out of the belly of the beast. But you’re going to have to journey down. We’re all stuck out here in the kingdoms of the beast. How do we do that? He says, the way to do that is to journey down. Journey down. Abraham was told, ‘Lech Lecha – go for yourself, walk the land, inspect the land.’ He had already done that. You say, ‘Why is he being told to do that again?’

Because he’s told to arise. That’s very specific language in prophecy that can pertain to ‘resurrect’. Arise, come up to a different level. I want you to see the garden hovering over this land. I want you to see Plan A, Abraham. Because I want you to see your descendants here. I want you to see your descendants as occupying a land that’s more than sand and rocks. I want you to see the realm above it, so arise and walk and see the garden that is here. Inspect it. This is the land that your offspring are going to possess. There is a natural Israel, and there is a garden that is hovering just above it that is waiting to be married back to the natural land.

So He says tashuri. In Hebrew, tashuri, ‘journey down.’ (Behold, Look, https://biblehub.com/hebrew/7789.htm) And shur, if we look it up in Hebrew, means go around for inspection. That’s what lech lecha means to Abraham, go around and inspect the place. See something here you’ve never seen before. Spy it out. Survey it. Observe it. Perceive it. Regard it. And it can even mean “lurk”. Like an animal. Lurk around. Observe.

That word is first mentioned, tashuri, like ‘come on Bride, journey down, I want you to come with me. You’re blameless. You’re walking out your faith now. Come with me.’ So let’s go to the first mention of shur. Come with me, journey with me, regard. It goes back to Numbers 23:9 (NASB 1995). The first uses of shur. This is the prophecy of Balaam concerning Jacob’s tents. He says,

As I see him from the top of the rocks, and I look at him (shur; I’m observing him, I’m regarding him, I’m perceiving him) from the hills; behold, a people who dwells apart, and (they) will not be reckoned among the nations.

They’re different. He sets their boundaries. The nations do not set their boundaries. Journey down, you’re going to come to a place where the nations cannot set this boundary because it was eternally set by the Holy One of Israel. And then if you skip down to Numbers 24:17 (NASB 1995), he’s still prophesying. He says,

I see him, but not now;

I behold him shur, same word, I perceive, I regard, but not near;

A star shall come forth from Jacob,

A scepter shall rise from Israel,

And shall crush through the forehead of Moab,

And tear down all the sons of Sheth.

So if we take those first uses of the word ‘shur’ for ‘journey down’ that we’re seeing in the Song of Songs, we say ‘Okay, what’s the prophecy of the Song of Songs about?’

It’s about what Balaam is seeing right here. He’s seeing into the future. He’s even seeing the Garden. Remember how he talks about the buckets of water that are flowing? He’s seeing Israel planted in the garden. And remember the beloved says ‘Come, come journey with me.’ He says, ‘You are altogether beautiful my darling, there’s no blemish in you.’ Well clearly Israel was blemished at that time. But there will be a time. Because in between those two uses we saw of “shur” for journey down. Numbers 23:21 (NASB 1995), it says,

He has not observed misfortune in Jacob; nor has He seen trouble in Israel; the LORD his God is with him, and what did He say to Abraham? ‘I will be with you.’ And he says, And the shout of a king is among them.

How can they be without a blemish? How can they be without iniquity? How can they be without wickedness? They can be without wickedness because the Lord his God is with him and the shout of a king is among them. Teruah. You know what a teruah is, when we play all those different notes on Rosh Hashana, on the feast of trumpets, it’s about resurrection from the dead. How can they be perfect? They are resurrected in perfection. That’s how Balaam is seeing them. Resurrected in perfection and not reckoned among the nations. They are now back in their assigned territory. And the shout of the king is going to scare any nation that would presume to move a boundary stone. I dare say they wouldn’t get a finger near a boundary stone at that time. We are perfect in our resurrection in our Messiah. The shout of a king is among us.

So we know we are in exile. We know we are in the belly of the beast. We know we are in the head of the beast. But we are told to come out. ‘Come out from among her.’ We have to live in the world, but we don’t have to be of the world. And sometimes we feel like Adonai is not looking. He won’t see this. Or we hadn’t heard from Him in awhile, He probably won’t care if I do this. That’s not smart thinking. Because I think more than ever before as we look around at what’s going on in history, we have to say He’s watching. And it’s in Hosea 13:7, Adonai is prophesying about Israel in exile. He says:

So I will be like a lion to them; like a leopard See how He’s using the Beast kingdoms? I will lie in wait by the wayside.

Lie in wait by the wayside, that word is SHUR. “I’m watching them.” He’s actually lurking out here among the Beast Kingdoms watching us. Waiting. He’s lurking to do good for us. He’s lurking to bring us out of the belly of the beast. He’s lurking to clear up our heads. Our confused heads. We get out here in the world and we get confused about what we’re seeing. We get confused about what we’re hearing. And He’s like, ‘No, stay in My Word. Stay in My Word. Believe. There is no Plan B. You stay in My Word, and I will be lurking right next to you to do good. To deliver you.’

He sent Israel away for idolatry. But He’s still lurking to redeem us from the Red Beast of Exile. From Edom’s domain. There’s specifics that we’re given in this prophecy to help us understand how the return from the exile will occur. It’s going to connect with our passage from Song of Songs, and it’s from Hosea 14:4. Israel has been sent into exile. There it is called night. Sometimes if you see “night” in prophecy it means “a time of exile”. And here’s what He’s lurking to do for us. He says,

4I will heal their apostasy, I will love them freely, for My anger has turned away from them. 5 I will be like the dew dew also represents resurrection by the way to Israel; He will blossom like the lily, and he will take root like the cedars of Lebanon.

Where are we supposed to come from? Come down with me from Lebanon. He’s saying, “Come on!”

6His shoots will sprout, and his beauty will be like the olive tree and his fragrance like the cedars of Lebanon. 7Those who live in his shadow will again raise grain, and they will blossom like the vine. His renown will be like the wine of Lebanon. 😯 Ephraim, what more have I to do with idols? It is I who answer and look after you.

That word there for ‘look after’? It’s our word, shur. I’m lurking out there in the nations. Here, He says, “I’m looking after you.’ You might be out in Lebanon. Where did Jacob go to find a bride? To Lebanon. He went into exile to find a bride. And now He’s saying, ‘Come away with me my love. I’ve been looking after you, Ephraim. Ephraim, you’ve been out here among the nations as punishment for your idolatry, but I’m not angry with you anymore. I’m going to resurrect you. I’m going to be the dew of Israel. You’re going to blossom like the lily. Even in these lands of your exile, you’re going to start to take root and emit a fragrance like the cedars of Lebanon.’ He says, ‘It is I who answer and look after you’:

I am like a luxuriant cypress;

From Me comes your fruit.

And this is what Adonai is doing. He’s lurking out here in the nations to resurrect His people, the descendants of Abraham, from their idols. And then they can be immersed in His Word and emit this fragrance of Lebanon. Because the meaning of Lebanon, other than a place of exile for Jacob, has several meanings. Sometimes it’s a euphemism for the Temple because the bones of the Temple were made from the cedars of Lebanon. So imagine the fragrance inside the Temple.

You are little temples, and you, as you study in His Word and follow hard after Adonai, you obey Yeshua, and you will start to smell like a cedar tree. You are a little Temple. And you are going to come with Him from Lebanon, but you will begin to thrive out here in Lebanon. You will begin to thrive in the place of your exile because He says you’re putting down these roots, shoreshim. You’re learning where you came from. And He’s preparing to take you back there. There’s still Plan A, but He has to teach proper behavior, and you have to accept the boundaries. You can’t define your own commandments. They’re not subjective. You have to obey My commandments, and then I will then place you on the mountain of myrrh and frankincense.

Now there’s other meanings to Lebanon. It can also mean pride. But it can also relate to Eden-like conditions. He’s preparing us to bring us back that same route that Abraham took. What route did he take? Faith. He believed.

What route is he bringing you? Faith. Because you believe you’re doing something. Because you believe, you’re studying Torah portions. You’re studying to show yourself approved. Because you believe, you’re developing an identity with Israel. You’re coming out of replacement theologies that say, “Well it doesn’t really matter what happens to the Jews because we’ve replaced them all.” No. Your thinking is getting untwisted. And it’s beginning to become fragrant.

So we know that the boundaries of Israel according to the millennial boundaries, it’s much bigger than it was even in the time of the 12 tribes. Much, in fact, it goes all the way to the Euphrates River. The only time we know that that occurred was during the era of King David. He actually did make war as far as the Euphrates. I don’t know of any other time that the boundary would have extended that far, but it makes sense that the son of David would also extend the boundary to the Euphrates because remember, He’s going to dry up the Euphrates to entice the kings of the East. ‘Come on in.’ Where did the wise men come from? Didn’t they come from the east? That was a good trip. The one in Revelation doesn’t sound like it’s going to be a good trip.

Our passage is focusing on Lebanon. If we’re looking at the time of Abraham, it’s saying, ‘This is prophesying how we’re going to retrace his steps,’ at least his spiritual steps. The sages say those mountains that are referred to in the passage would be considered North and West. And sometimes directions are more symbolic than actual, like you wouldn’t necessarily look at a compass to get the answer. You would look at their symbolism. That’s the area from which Abraham had to go to retrieve Lot. When Lot was stolen and taken off, he had to go through there. And so those kidnapped were retrieved from the territory of Dan. In fact, to this day it’s referred to as Dan. If you’ve been up there you can actually see the altar that was built. The pagan altar that was built up there.

Dan held the northern banner. Of the encampments of the tribes, it was Dan who was in the north with two other tribes. But what those four encampments represented was the directions of the four winds, and we know we’ve got the angels of the four winds. We’ve talked about the principalities and powers. Eventually, the tribes of Israel will judge. And again they will ascend to rule and reign with King Messiah. And they’re going to judge four-square Jerusalem with its twelve gates.

The rabbis say Messiah is hidden in the North. Tzafon is North in Hebrew. It means hidden. So it’s a play-on word. So they say that King Messiah is going to come from the North. He’s been hidden in the North. But they also say that the Divine Presence is concealed, or hidden, in the West. And they say this Presence–you might have heard it called the Shekhinah, based on shaken, which means to dwell–they say that the Divine Presence is out there, like the prophecy says, lurking among the exiles. He’s not forsaken them. And when the time comes, those exiles will come from the West with Messiah from the North. And they will come over these mountains that it’s talking about in the Song of Songs. And they say that’s what’s going on. The Presence of Adonai is out here among the nations represented by the West watching over them.

And what they’re saying is not necessarily for you to think by literal direction. It’s giving you spiritual directions. They’re saying when the exiles come home, it’s because they’re coming home through covenant faith. They’re coming through emunah, just like our father Abraham. Those exiled children will come back into the kingdom of Kingdom Messiah. In the same way that our forefather Abraham was credited for righteousness for his faith, they say his descendants will come the exact same way. Is that not preached in pretty much every church? Habbakkuk 2:4 (NASB 1995), it says

Behold, as for the proud one, his soul is not right within him; but the righteous will live by his faith.

We will live by faith. In fact if you look at Amana in the Song of Songs, it’s a play-on Word. It’s “her faith”. Her faith. Come away with me, my Bride. Come with your faith. The children of Abraham, the daughters of Jerusalem, they’re going to return to the head, the origin, the rosh, the head, the peak of her faith, which is going to be the Star of Jacob that Balaam saw through prophecy. The star of Jacob. The shout of a king is among them making them perfect in their faith. And He says there’s a scepter, there’s a royal king among them. There’s a shout of a king among them, and they are going to return in perfection with this king to the mountain of frankincense and myrrh.

And so just to wrap it up for tonight before tomorrow when we get into the specific fears that Herod would have had and the language of the seven shepherds and the eight princes, and the Red One, let’s read Matthew 2:10 through 12. It’s talking about the wise men. It says,

When they saw the star Which star would that have been? The star of Jacob. Amen., they rejoiced exceedingly with great joy. After coming into the house they saw the Child with Mary His mother; and they fell to the ground and worshiped Him. Then, opening their treasures, they presented to Him gifts of gold, frankincense, and myrrh. And having been warned by God in a dream not to return to Herod, the magi left for their own country by another way.

So two out of the three gifts: They brought the frankincense and the myrrh. We know the context now. It’s prophesying of the return of the exiles. They’re coming to this infant Yeshua and saying, ‘Here is the star of Jacob. Here is the scepter that will arise from Judah. And he will return the exiles from the nations.’ He will regather them according to every Jewish expectation this is what King Messiah must do. And then there’s the third gift. It’s the gold. And where does the gold come from? The twelve tribes were set in gold. They were carried on the priest’s shoulders. There’s the onyx stones. The names of each tribe are inscribed, and each is set in that gold filigree. And so here is a priest of Israel who is going to bear the exiles home on his own shoulders. And what does it say? The Government will be on his shoulders.

It will be.

So the gold, the frankincense and the myrrh weren’t random. It was a mindset within the way Jews think about scripture. They know that this passage in the Song of Songs is prophesying the return of the exiles. The disciples knew about it, they asked Yeshua, ‘At this time are you going to restore the kingdom? Are you going to gather them in?’ And he says, ‘It’s not really for you to know that right now.’ And when Yeshua is challenged in the Temple during the time of Chanukah, he’s asked a very specific question, and he gives a very specific answer. He starts talking about sheep. Tomorrow we’ll talk about those sheep and how the exiles actually do get home.

Maybe a better title would be The Circumcised Heart vs The Red One.

In last week’s epsiode, we referenced the Jewish expectation of the Seven Shepherds during Chanukkah. It explains why Yeshua (salvation) was challenged specifically about his Messiahship during Chanukkah at the Temple:

Bare Your holy arm and hasten the end for salvation – Avenge the vengeance of Your servant’s blood from the wicked nation. For the triumph is too long delayed for us, and there is no end to days of evil, repel the Red One in the nethermost shadow and establish for us the seven shepherds. 

The siddur explains the key players of the Chanukkah liturgy: “The Red One (Admon) refers to Esau/Edom, whose descendants brought the current exile. The seven shepherds of Micah 5:4 will conquer Israel’s oppressors.” (Scherman, p. 832) The Red One whose descendants brought the “current exile” is Rome. In Daniel’s vision of the Beast, Rome’s iron legs were mingled with clay in the feet and toes, representing the many beast “systems” that have now infected the nations of the world.

The Chanukkah prayer refers to the Seven Shepherds and Eight Princes prophecy of Micah, which gives us a glimpse of how the Kingdom of Heaven will one day defeat and repel the infected world systems. The central shepherd of the seven is thought to be David, and the eighth of the princes to be Messiah. (Micah 5:5)

Although Roman Christianity went to a solar calendar and began to observe “Christmas,” they retained the date of the 25th (although it now fell in a solar “month” of December instead of Kislev). Their holiday still includes original Chanukkah symbology associated with prophecy and its institution as a second Sukkot: shepherds and sheep, the birth of a king, a prince of peace, a sukkah, a light to the nations, etc. as depicted in the Gospels. When King Messiah returns and re-calibrates the earth with its Scriptural calendar month, Chanukkah will not be so hard for them to understand. They’ve been awfully close to the Chanukkah prophecies of Messiah in the Books of Haggai and Micah all this time!

King Messiah will rule and reign during the Seventh Millennium, preparing the world for the Eighth Millennium, a period associated with “circumcision.” A circumcised heart no longer struggles against the Spirit of its Creator and no longer desires to dominate the Creator with its own will. The Red One is simply the great world systems attempting to keep human pride over its Creator alive and dominating the rule of the world (or so it may seem).

The Feast of Trumpets (Rosh HaShanah) kicks off the fall season of feasts that includes Atonements and Sukkot. Sardis, which represents Rosh HaShanah in the Book of Revelation, literally means “Red Ones.” Enemies scatter when the Torah goes forth on Shabbat, and the Red Ones along with the Wicked One are scattered in winter, Chanukkah.

The other mention of “winter” in the Brit HaChadasha (New Testament) was the inquiry addressed to Yeshua in the Temple:

At that time the Feast of the Dedication took place at Jerusalem; it was winter, and Jesus was walking in the temple in the portico of Solomon. The Jews then gathered around Him, and were saying to Him, ‘How long will You keep us in suspense? If You are the Christ, tell us plainly.’ 

King Solomon dedicated the First House, so it was no accident that Yeshua was questioned in the portico of Solomon. Are you the Prince of Peace? Are you the prophesied Eighth Prince King Messiah? “The Jews” ask Yeshua if he is the 8th Shepherd Prince desired at Chanukkah to deliver the Temple from the Romans, Edom, the Red One, The Wicked, the Abomination that Causes Desolation. Because Messiah Son of David is the last of the seven shepherds, the Jews say that it is time for Yeshua to speak plainly…and he did! 

Yeshua spoke of himself as the central Shepherd, the Son of David, calling sheep, but he says that the doubters cannot hear his voice. In the desire for short-term deliverance from Rome (also called Edom), the doubters had forgotten long-term salvation spoken of by the prophets in the context of the Seven Shepherds. Deliverance from the Red One is not merely deliverance from Rome or any other regime in a given generation, but deliverance from the Red One within the man that wars against the Ruach Adonai (Spirit of Adonai).

Apart from the Ruach, the man is nothing more than a human who conforms himself to the image of the beast-serpent, icons in Revelation that are familiar to Bible readers. Because Adam and Eve disregarded the Spirit of the commandment and conformed themselves to the soul-driven desires of the beast, they fell to their earthy, animal nature. Without the Ruach, what differentiates a man from a beast? Such a man becomes a Red One, for his base substance was taken from the earth (adamah) like a beast, and the earth’s Hebrew root is also the root of the color red (adom). 

Like every human being who has ever lived, those who challenged Yeshua in the Temple at Chanukkah were looking for the “Red One” to be vanquished outside of themselves. If only Assyria, Babylon, Greece, or Rome could be vanquished… Those things, however, are outside the control of the individual. The Red One within is under control of the individual with the help of the Ruach HaKodesh, the Comforter sent from the Father. 

The serpent-beast appeals to a human being at the level of his soul (appetite, emotion, desire, and intellect). He entices the soul to dominate the ruach within a man. If the serpent can seduce the man with his “red” desires to dominate the Ruach within, then the beast is the victor. The man’s ruach, however, longs to connect with the Ruach HaKodesh, the Spirit of God that sets him apart from the animal kingdom. The evil inclination may be described as that animal soul striving against obedience to the spiritual commandments, for Paul writes that the Law is spiritual.