Category Archives: Bible, General

Natan’s Commentary on the Song of Solomon—A Marriage Made in Heaven!

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How many times have you read the Song of Solomon? Probably not too many. What do you do this book? How do you interpret it? What’s the significance of it to the life of the redeemed believer? Is it merely a flowery Hebraic love poem or does it contain some hidden, deeper spiritual message? Bible commentators have various views on the meaning and significance of this little book. Most Bible students kind of leave it alone assigning it to the category of somewhat irrelevant Hebraic love poetry, and there it sits, gathering dust on the shelf as we’re not sure what to do with it. Well, it’s time to take his book down off the shelf and blow the dust off it and examine it through enlightened eyes to see what wonderful, hidden, deep spiritual mysteries and truths it contains with regard to our common salvation.

Many years ago, YHVH revealed to me the hidden message behind the Song of Solomon. It has to do with the betrothal, wedding and the happy married life of YHVH Elohim/Yeshua and his bride—redeemed Israel, or the Israel of Elohim as Paul describes the saints in Galatians 6:16. This is the story, the spiritual journey of not only a nation—redeemed Israel, but of the individual as well. You can plug yourself into the continuum of this odyssey.

I’ve been sitting on this commentary for twelve or thirteen years, and this is the first time that I’ve published it. I pray that it blesses you.

The Song of Solomon—The Outline of the Song of Solomon as It Relates to the Biblical Hebrew Wedding

The Three Main Phases to the Jewish Wedding and the Biblical Feasts

1) Betrothal (Shitre Erusin) – Passover, Unleavened Bread and Pentecost

2) Consummation and the Wedding Feast (Nesuim) – The Feast of Trumpets, Day of Atonement and Feast of Tabernacles 

3) Together for Eternity (Olam Haba) – The Eighth Day picturing the New Jerusalem

Overview of the Song of Solomon: The Three Main Phases and Sub-Phases of the Wedding in the Song of Solomon

Song 1:1–3:5 — The Betrothal Phase (Erusin)

a) The Ketubah. The young man prepares a marriage contract or covenant which he presents to the young woman and her father called a ketubah (writing). This is a formal written document which stipulates the terms of the proposal he is making.

b) The Bride’s Price or Mohar. This is the price the young man is willing to pay the father for the father’s permission for the young man to marry his daughter.

c) The Cup of Acceptance. If the marriage contract and the bride’s price are acceptable to the father, the young man would pour a cup of wine for his intended and would hold it out to her. If she would accept it and drink it then this would be her acceptance of his proposal. The bridegroom would then prepare for the joyous occasion of the upcoming marriage by bringing gifts for his beloved which would be tokens of his love for her. After the young man left to return to his father’s home, the bride would begin to prepare herself for the upcoming marriage ceremony. She would start with a ceremonial cleansing (or mikveh) whereby she would purify herself in preparation for her husband. At this point the young couple were betrothed.

The Preparation Phase

a) The groom would go to prepare a place for her. Though the couple was legally bound in marriage they would not cohabit. The groom would return to his father’s house and begin to prepare a wedding (honeymoon) chamber for his wife. This process would take up to a year or more. Only when the father of the groom would approve that the chamber was ready would the groom be released to get his bride.

b) The bride would make herself ready. While the groom was preparing a place for his bride, she would be busy preparing herself by making herself beautiful. When the young bride would leave the house she would wear a veil to show that she was “spoken for” and that she was no longer available since she was “bought with a price”. She was consecrated to her bridegroom.

Song 3:6–6:1 — The Reunion Phase

a) Upon receiving word from the father the wedding chamber was complete, the groom would steal away to fetch his bride. She would not know the day or the hour of his coming, so she had to be continually ready for his arrival. She had to be ready at a moment’s notice. She and her bridesmaids had to make sure they had plenty of oil in their lamps in case he came at night.

b) Coming for the bride. The coming of the groom would be a surprise to the bride. He would come accompanied by his two groomsmen (or two witnesses). When the wedding party would get close to the bride’s house they would give a shout and blow the ram’s horn (shofar) to let the bride know they were coming. They would charge right into the house and carry off the bride and bridesmaids.

Song 3:6–8:4 — The Wedding Phase or Nuptials (Nesuim)

c) The wedding party would arrive at the groom’s father’s house where the newlyweds would enter the wedding chamber and consummate the marriage and honeymoon for seven days. This established their covenant union. During intercourse, blood is spilled proving that the bride was a virgin.

The Celebration Phase

The celebration would last for seven days while the newlyweds are in celebrating their honeymoon. Following this would be the marriage supper which is given in honor of the newlyweds. 

Song 8:5–14 — Eternity Together (Olam Haba)

The newly married couple begins life together.

Erusin/Betrothal/Engagement or Kidushim (i.e. becoming set-apart) (Song 1:1–3:5)

Natan’s Commentary on the Song of Solomon

In this section, the bride and bridegroom are falling in love; getting to know each other, have minimal contact, and are separated from each other except for brief rendezvous.

The Betrothal Phase (Erusin) Part 1—Getting to Know Each Other/Falling in Love (Song 1:1–2:7)

Song 1

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How to Easily Understand the Hard Sayings of Paul

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2 Peter 3:15–16, Paul…hard to understand. If the writings of Paul are confusing as 2nd Peter 3:15-16 affirms, then why did the Holy Spirit write confusing things through Paul and not through others?

Why Paul Is Difficult to Understand

Paul was hard to understand in the first century as Peter states in 2 Peter 3:16–17, and he’s hard to understand now in the twenty first century, as we will discuss below. In fact, it might be said that if it was hard for Paul’s contemporaries (those who knew him and ministered with him) to understand him, then, logically, it follows that it will be even much harder for those of us to understand him who live 2000 years later and who didn’t know him or work with him. To the former point, Peter writes, 

And account that the longsuffering of our YHVH is salvation; even as our beloved brother Paul also according to the wisdom given unto him hath written unto you; As also in all his epistles, speaking in them of these things; in which are some things hard to be understood, which they that are unlearned and unstable wrest, as they do also the other scriptures, unto their own destruction.  Ye therefore, beloved, seeing ye know these things before, beware lest ye also, being led away with the error of the wicked, fall from your own stedfastness.

Again, if Paul was hard to understand in his day, how much more 2000 years later!

For those living and working with Paul, he was hard to understand because of his intellect and education. He was one of the top Jewish scholars of his day with an intellect to match it. You weren’t taught by Gamliel, the grandson of Hillel the Great, the founder of the Hillel School of Phariseeism and considered by some modern Jews to be the greatest sage of the common era, unless you were the top of your class in Judaism! This was the same Paul who was well-travelled, multi-lingual, could debate with the Greek philosophers of Athens, could quote Greek literature from memory and was from a wealthy and prominent family who were Roman citizens because of their wealth and influence. By contrast, most of Yeshua’s other disciples were from the backwoods regions of the Galilee and were common tradesman. Today it would analogous to a logger from Oregon or a fur trapper from Alaska suddenly linking up into a working relationship with a PhD professor in physics or philosophy from Oxford, Cambridge, Harvard or Yale universities. 

Now scroll forward 2000 years. Since then, we have nearly 2000 years of church history with all of its institutionalized traditions, syncretistic belief systems, man-made doctrines, anti-Semitic theologies and so on to have to wade through. The very purveyors of these church traditions are also the same people (the Christian leaders and “scholars”) who are translating our Bibles. This means that they’ll often be translating the biblical text in ways that agree with their best (often anti-Torah) understandings of Scripture. 

It is this Babylonian mixture of truth and error (man made doctrines and traditions of men along with questionable if not faulty Bible translations) out of which most of us have come. We have to somehow weave our way through this tangled religious theological web and mess and figure out what is truth and what is error, what to keep and what to toss out, who is right and who is wrong, what is wheat and what is chaff. This isn’t easy to do especially when we’ve been indoctrinated, even brainwashed by the church to view Paul, the Torah-law and the rest of the Bible in a certain way through the lenses of those who have taught us their viewpoints be they right or wrong. One’s attempt to separate the precious from the vile and the holy from the polluted promises, justifiably so, to be a daunting and frightening proposition. That’s why the majority of people will prefer to stay in the comfort zones of their churches and man made traditions, rather than to step out into the unknown and unexplored wilderness of being a truth seeker, and, like a modern-day archeologist, to dig down to the bedrock of biblical truth. To step out of the boat of the church system means that, like Peter, you have to have a higher measure of faith than those who will remain safely and comfortably in the boat of their religious traditions. It means that one has to keep their eyes on Yeshua and follow his voice, or else sink into the spiritual watery depths of spiritual confusion. It means that you have to role up your sleeves and get to work, and put on your rubber muck boots and slog through the muddy dung in the barnyard of men’s religious traditions, some of which are good and many of which are vile, to get to the solid high ground of biblical Truth.

Unlocking the Mystery of Understanding Paul

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The Prophetic Implications of the Sixty Six Books of the Bible in Isaiah

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Isaiah 1–66

This article was inspired by the comments made on this blog a few months back by John from Tasmania. He got me thinking about it, and I researched it out, and this article is a result of that. Thank you John!

A case can be made that the first 39 chapters of the Isaiah are representative of the 39 books of the Old Testament or Tanakh, and that the last 27 chapters of Isaiah focus more on the coming Messiah, the preaching of the gospel as contained in the 27 books of the New Testament or Testimony of Yeshua. 

Isaiah Part One (chapters 1–39) focuses on calling national Israel to repentance for its spiritual apostasy and predicts judgment upon her if she fails to turn from her wicked way. YHVH’s judgment against Israel largely comes at the hands of those heathen nations surrounding Israel. Isaiah devotes a many chapters pronouncing divine judgment upon those nations, who touched YHVH’s anointed Israel.

Amidst the woeful message of Israel’s apostasy and impending judgment, the prophet also offers many glimmers of hope for backslid Israel including giving prophecies concerning the coming Messiah, the return of Israel’s captive exiles, the Messianic Age or Millennium that will come upon the earth at the end of days, as well the coming of what has become known as the New Testament or the Testimony of Yeshua.

In Part Two of Isaiah (chapters 40–66), the central theme is the Messiah, his coming kingdom—in short, the message of the gospel. In fact, the term gospel or good news originates from the book of Isaiah. Also included in this section of the book are numerous prophecies concerning the regathering of the Israelite exiles back to the land of Israel, divine judgment against heathen nations, the Millennium, the New or Everlasting Covenant, the rebuilding of the temple and the rebirth of the nation of Israel in the end times.

It is evident that there is thematic overlap and commonality between part one and two of the book of Isaiah. This is because the message of repentance from sin, divine judgment against sin, the mercy of YHVH and redemption of his people are relevant universally applicable down through ages because people don’t change and neither do YHVH’s standards or righteousness. However, in my opinion, Isaiah part two seems to place more emphasis what gospel themes, hence it’s prophetic allusions to the Testimony of Yeshua.

Now, let’s make an overview list of the main themes of each section of Isaiah and with their corresponding chapters, so that you can see what we’re talking about.

Isaiah Chapters 1–39

  • Holy or Set-Apart Spirit, The—Isa 27:13; 30:21; 32:15
  • Israel, Blessing Upon—Isa 32:15–20; 31:4–5
  • Judgment Upon Israel for Sin—1:7–9 , 15, 24–24; 2:10–21; 3:1–24; 4:4; 5:8–30; 6:11–13; 7:18–25; 8:5–10, 14–15, 22; 9:8–21; 10:10–14; 17:3–6; 22:1–25; 23:1–18; 24:1–23; 28:1–15; 28:1–15, 17–22; 29:1–8; 30:1–7; 31:1–3; 32:9–14; 33:1, 10–14; 
  • Judgment Upon Israel’s Enemies—Isa 10:5–19; 13, 14:3–32; 15:1–9; 16:1–14; 17:1–14; 18:1–7; 19:1–24; 20:1–5; 21:1–16; 23, 24; 25:10–12; 26:21; 30:27–33; 34:1–17
  • Messiah, The Coming—Isa 7:10–15; 8:13; 9:6–7; 11:1–5, 10; 12:1–3; 26:1, 18; 28:16–17; 29:16; 33:17–24; 35:1–10
  • Millennium or Messianic Age’s Coming Predicted, The—Isa 2:2–4; 4:3–6; 11:6–10; 33:17–24; 27:13; 35:6–8
  • Mercy Upon Israel, Divine—Isa 14:1–2
  • New Testament or Testimony of Yeshua Predicted—Isa 8:16–20 (v. 20 cp. Rev 1:2)
  • Prophetic Words or Instructions for People of That Day—Isa 7:1–9; 8:1–4; 36:1–22; 37:1–35; 38:1–20; 39:1–8
  • Remnant of Israelites to Return from Babylonian Exile—Isa 10:20–23
  • Redemption or Salvation—Isa 4:4; 25:9; 26:1, 10, 19; 29:17–24; 30:15–26; 31:4–5; 33:22–24
  • Repent, Call for Israel to—Isa 2:5–21; 12:1–3; 28:23–29; 30:6–17; 31:6; 32:9–15
  • Second Exodus, The—Isa 11:11–16; 27:13
  • Torah, Rebellion Against—Isa 30:9

Isaiah Chapters 40–66

  • Babylon Israel’s Enslavers, Judgment Upon—Isa 47:5–15; 48:14
  • Babylon, Come Out of—48:20; 52:11
  • Gentiles, Called to Salvation—Isa 60:1–16; 65:1; 66:18–21
  • Gospel Message Predicted, Preaching of—Isa 40:9; 41:27; 52:17; 60:1
  • Holy or Set-Apart Spirit Outpouring Promised—Isa 44:3–5; 59:21; 63:11, 14
  • Hope for and Blessings Upon Israel—Isa 41:15–20; 43:18–21; 44:1–5; 44:24–26; 49:14–26; 51:1–3; 52:1–13; 54:1–17; 55:1–13; 56:1; 57:1–2; 60:1–22; 61:4–11; 62:1–12; 63:7–14
  • Islam or Edom, Divine Judgment Against—Isa 63:1–6
  • Israel, End Times Restoration of the Nation of—Isa 48:1; 52:1–12
  • Lake of Fire, Last Days Judgment Against Unrepentant Sinner in the—Isa 66:14–17, 24
  • Messiah’s Coming Predicted—Isa 40:1–5; 41:4, 10; 42:1–7; 43:3; 44:6, 24–28; 45:15, 21; 47:4; 48:12; 49:1–13, 26; 50:4–9; 52:7, 13–15; 53:1–12; 56:1; 59:16–21; 60:16; 61:1–3 
  • Millennium or Messianic Age’s Coming Predicted, The—Isa 65:17–25; 66:10–13; 22–24
  • New or Everlasting Covenant Predicted—Isa 42:21; 55:3
  • New Heavens and New Earth Predicted—Isa 51:6; 65:17; 66:22
  • Redemption and Salvation Promised—Isa 43:25; 44:22–23; 45:8; 46:13; 49:24; 51:5–8; 52:3, 10; 53:1–12; 55:1–3; 61:10; 65:1
  • Repentance, A Call to—Isa 43:22–24; 48:1–22; 51:4–9; 55:6–7; 57:3–21; 58:1–14; 64:1–12; 65:2–7; 66:1–4
  • Righteousness, A Call to—Isa 56:1–8; 58:1–14
  • Second Exodus Predicted—Isa 43:1–7
  • Sin and Idolatry, Turn From—Isa 44:9–20; 46:1–12; 56:9–12
  • Temple Rebuilt for the Messiah to Come to Predicted, The—Isa 45:1
  • Torah, Return to—Isa 42:21–25
 

Truth (capital T) versus truth (small t)

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Psalm 117:2, Truth…forever. The Hebrew word for truth is emet spelled aleph, mem, tav, which are the first, middle, and last letter of the Hebrew alphabet or alephbet. This teaches us that the truth or Word of YHVH Elohim contains everything there is to say about everything, that it is the beginning, middle and end of everything and is complete; there is nothing that can be added to it. 

To wit, Scripture reveals that Yeshua the Messiah as the Word of Elohim incarnate is the beginning and the end of everything and the aleph and the tav (or to express this in Greek terms, the alpha and omega). As such, there is nothing to add to the this Truth, for truth is unchangeable, immutable and is eternal. Those who add or subtract from it do so at their own peril (Deut 4:2; 12:32; Rev 22:18–19) thinking that they know better or more than the Creator. This is not only folly, but is the epitome of rebellious hubris and is succumbing to the deceptive lie of the serpent who deigned to suggest to the first humans that one not only had the right but the ability to question the Word of the Almighty. All the serpent and man can do is to counterfeit and pervert divine Truth, not replicate or improve on it, for it is already perfect and complete. 

So why capitalize the word Truth? This is to differentiate divinely revealed truth from general truth. The fact that two plus two equals four is truth, but it’s not eternal or divine Truth. Two and two equaling four is truth on earth, but it may not be truth in other realms of existence. Truth on the other hand is true in all realms of existence whether on earth, in the second heaven of outer space or in the third heaven of YHVH’s spiritual existence and for all eternity. This is because Truth is an expression of truth at a much higher level; it is the revelation of Elohim’s very character and nature. It is who he is.

So what is Truth? We must look to the Bible to define its own terms and nowhere else, for it alone contains Truth and divine Truth is to be found nowhere else. To define its terms from any outside or extrabiblical source is to diminish its meaning and to arrive at an incomplete truth. The Bible is a self-contained vessel and needs no outside validation, substantiation or explanation. As such,the Bible defines the Truth as the Torah-commandments of Elohim (Ps 119:142, 151). This is logical and should be no surprise, since the Torah are the very words of Elohim given to man whether in spoken or written form. They are not the words of man and thus a reflection of the mind of man, but of the Creator. This is why the Torah cannot be abrogated, done away with or added to or subtracted from. It is ridiculous and ludicrous to think the this can be done. This is why any theological argument, philosophy or religious tradition of man that attempts to so is absolute insane foolishness and is laughable. How can that which was created think itself to be wiser than that which created it? Man doesn’t even posses the mental capabilities to comprehend Truth, much less change it or understand the ramifications and consequences of adding or subtracting from it? He cannot, so it’s best to accept Truth, to leave it alone and to bring his life into accord with it.

Moreover, Scripture reveals that Yeshua the Messiah is the Word of Elohim incarnate, and that as such he is Truth (John 14:6). And no wonder, for in his preincarnate state, he was the Word of Elohim that created all things and that spoke that same Truth to the first humans, to the patriarchs, to Moses and the Israelites, to the biblical prophets, which is the same truth that emanated from his mouth when he manifested himself in flesh-form as Yeshua the Messiah and was recorded in red letters in the Gospels, and was then transmitted to his disciples and his sent-ones apostles to be spread abroad to the ends of the earth from then until now. 

Yeshua is the same Truth who declared in the very last verses of the last book of the Bible that, “Surely, I come quickly.” The author of that book then completes that book and the Bible with the word amein meaning “truthfully,” which derives from the Hebrew word emet spelled aleph, mem, tav/<NT. If he is coming back quickly with the sharp sword of the Word or Truth of Elohim coming out of his mouth to judge the nations and all people on the basis of that Truth and to mete out rewards and punishments accordingly, does it not behoove the wise and discerning person to bring his or her life in accordance with the whole Truth of the Torah-Truth-Word, mind, heart, will and character of YHVH Elohim and Yeshua the Messiah who is the divine expression and manifestation of Elohim? Amein!

 

What about the book of First Enoch?

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In the comments section of this blog, one of our readers asked an excellent question that I asked myself for years.

I’m having trouble taking Enoch 1 seriously. Is there some compelling evidence that makes it seem to be authentic?

Here is my answer just for Coleen, and hopefully you’ll find it enlightening as well.

The Book of First Enoch Validated with Cautions

I appreciate your concerns about the book of First Enoch and am happy to address them. For many years, I was extremely skeptical about its authenticity, and have even expressed these reservations in times past on this blog. However, when I’m not sure about something, I try to keep an open mind realizing that new information on a subject may change my understanding of it. This has been the case with the book of First Enoch. Let me briefly explain.

There are a whole boatload of folks out there in the Biblical truth restoration movement who have a little information, have done a little study on a subject for several years, and because of easy access to mass audiences on the internet and through social media, they put out a whole plethora of ideas about anything and everything. Because they may know a little more than the next guy, who is tuning in for the first time, they’re perceived as being experts. A third grader is an expert in the eyes a first grader. But now where is that same third grader when placed up against a person who has a doctorate on that same subject? Sadly, we have a lot of third graders running around trying to teach us a lot of things about subjects they know little or nothing about. This includes the book of First Enoch.

With regard to the book of First Enoch, let me confess that I’m not an expert. I’m the third grader in the room on this subject. But as Henry Ford once said when challenged about his lack of formal education, “I may not be the smartest, but I can hire the smartest to work for me.” In my case, I can read what the experts scholars have to say on the subject of First Enoch, and as well-exercised biblical lay scholar, researcher, prolific writer and teacher for decades, hopefully by now I can get to the truth of a matter.

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“Each man’s money…”—A Biblical Discrepancy?

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Genesis 42:27–28, 35, His money…each man’s bundle of money. Some modern biblical scholars suggest a discrepancy in this account, thus ostensibly proving that this story draws from two different oral traditions and documents that have been combined to form the biblical narrative we now have. So what are the facts?

For example, J.C.L. Gibson states that “the brothers were dumfounded when they open their sacks at a staging post, on their first return form Egypt, and find their money in them (Gen 42:27–28). It is a dramatic moment, but it is stretching our credulity more than a little to find that they were likewise dumfounded on finding the money after they had returned to Canaan” (Gen 42:35; Language and Image of the Old Testament, pp. 39–40). 

There is, however, one small detail that this University of Edinburgh Old Testament professor fails to take into consideration. The Bible doesn’t say in Gen 42:27–28 that each of the brothers opened his sack as the author incorrectly states, but, rather, that “one of them opened his sack…” and that when they got home “they emptied their sacks….” The fact is that only one man opened his sack (that had presumably been sown shut) in order to provide food for the brothers for their journey home, but when they got home, all the brothers “emptied their sacks” (v. 35) presumably to transfer the grain into more secure storage vessels than sacks were the grain would be subject to destruction by fungus, weevils, moths and rodents. 

So the brothers were dumfounded the first time when the one sack was opened to find the money, and then dumfounded again when all of their sacks were opened at home to find each man’s money. 

Considering that grain sacks are sown shut with a large needle and small cordage, and that once a sack is open, it is difficult to keep the contents from spilling out—especially when being transported over a rough path in a jostling cart—it is highly unlikely that the brothers would have opened any more sacks than necessary except to supply their food needs along the way. This is why only one sack was opened, and not all of them, just as the biblical account tells us.