Understanding Torah

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Latest Podcasts in Understanding Torah

Hollisa Alewine – Footsteps of Messiah Part 155 (Walking on Water Part 6 – Water in the Rock, or Rock in the Water?)the Rock,

Hollisa Alewine – Footsteps of Messiah Part 155 (Walking on Water Part 6 – Water in the Rock, or Rock in the Water?)the Rock,

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.

Now Is The Time w/Rabbi Steve Berkson | Love and Torah | Part 2

Now Is The Time w/Rabbi Steve Berkson | Love and Torah | Part 2

Torah, or “the Law” – what’s love got to do with it? Rabbi Steve Berkson unpacks and verse by verse illuminates the Gospel of John chapter 14 and 1 Corinthians chapter 13, also known as the “Love Chapter”. This teaching series is packed full of vital information that...

Mark Call – Torah Teaching for Parsha “Bemidbar”

Mark Call – Torah Teaching for Parsha “Bemidbar”

The Book of Bemidbar, or Numbers, which begins with the reading this week (Numbers 1:1-4:20) is apropos both in English, and in the Hebrew names. It certainly has LOTS of Numbers, and for very good reasons, and it takes place 'B'midbar,' or "In the Wilderness." Mark...

Torah Teachers’ Round Table – Apostolic Edition – II Corinthians conclusion

Torah Teachers’ Round Table – Apostolic Edition – II Corinthians conclusion

The Torah teachers, Mark Call and Ray Harrison, are now joined again by Pete Rambo, as they complete the study of Shaul or Paul's Second Letter to the Corinthians. Of all the ways that this letter has been 'twisted,' and - as they have suggested - even inverted from...

Now Is The Time w/Rabbi Steve Berkson | Love and Torah | Part 1

Now Is The Time w/Rabbi Steve Berkson | Love and Torah | Part 1

Torah, or “the Law,” often raises questions about its connection to love. Rabbi Steve Berkson begins this teaching series with a song reference, What's Love Got to Do With It, to emphasize his determination to reveal how the giving of the Torah by our Creator and our...

Hollisa Alewine – Footsteps of Messiah Part 154 (Walking on Water Part 5 – Is it something in the water?)

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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Mark Call – Torah Teaching for Double-Parsha “Behar-Bechukotai”

Mark Call – Torah Teaching for Double-Parsha “Behar-Bechukotai”

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Torah Teachers’ Round Table – Apostolic Edition – II Corinthians chapter 7 thru 10

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The Torah teachers, Mark Call and Ray Harrison, continue the study of Shaul or Paul's Second Letter to the Corinthians, and some of the ways that it has been 'twisted,' and even outright inverted from the original meaning and context, from chapter 7 into chapter 10.

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