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Scripture Studies

What We Can Learn from Jonah, the Mixed Up Prophet

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25 Life Principles the Book of Jonah Can Teach Us

  • When YHVH gives you some specific and direct marching orders, don’t disobey him no matter how difficult or distasteful they may seem to you. You may not pleased with the unexpected consequences of your disobedient actions. Jonah found this out the hard way.
  • Before pointing our fingers at Jonah for declining the mission YHVH had given him, how many of us have done the same no matter how small or large the assignment?
  • When we disobey YHVH (i.e. sin) instead of peace and tranquility, YHVH brings storms into our lives to redirect us back to him.
  • When YHVH tells us to do one thing, and we want to do something else, we, at this time, must bring every thought of ours captive into obedient compliance to our Messiah (2 Cor 10:5).
  • When we rebel against fulfilling a divine mission, YHVH will pursue us to get us back in line with his perfect will for our lives.
  • Sin and rebellion puts us into a spiritual state of sleep, so that we’re oblivious to the consequences of our actions upon us and those around us.
  • We cannot hide or run away from our sin and rebellion. It will be exposed, even if YHVH has to use heathens and strange circumstances to do so.
  • Only when we humbly confess our sins and repent will the storms of YHVH’s judgment cease and the sea of life made calm.
  • Jonah, to his credit, owned his sin and took full personal responsibility for it without blaming others or making excuses. He didn’t want others to suffer for his folly. He was willing to accept the consequences of his sin. Because of this, YHVH showed him favor, prepared a fish to swallow him, and then gave Jonah three days in the fish’s belly to ponder his errant ways.
  • When in a place of trouble and distress, Jonah prayed and expressed his faith in YHVH. When facing distresses in our own lives, how often do we fail to cry out humbly to our merciful Father in heaven?
  • The eyes of YHVH are on the righteous, and his ears are open to their cry. (Ps 34:15)
  • The righteous cry out, and YHVH hears, and delivers them out of all their troubles. YHVH is near to those who have a broken heart, and saves such as have a contrite spirit. Many are the afflictions of the righteous, but YHVH delivers him out of them all. (Ps 34:17–19)
  • We should be ready and willing to pray anywhere at anytime. Jonah prayed in the belly of a fish. What excuse do we have for not praying no matter when or where in our time of distress?
  • Jonah was a spiritual backslider, yet he repented and YHVH heard and accepted his prayer. Jonah’s example should be an encouragement to any backslider no matter how grave the sins he has committed against the Creator.
  • As Jonah’s three-day tenure in the fish’s belly was prophetic of Yeshua’s time in the grave, so Jonah’s “resurrection” from the depths of the sea points to the resurrection of our Messiah as Yeshua himself so declares in Matthew 12:40. Jonah’s faith in the Creator along with his “death” and “resurrection” points sinners to the Messiah who alone can save us from the sting of sin which is death. Our only hope of victory over death and the grave is through Messiah and the resurrection from the dead he promises to those who are his.
  • Upon repenting of his backsliding and being mercifully delivered from certain death, Jonah humbly submits to YHVH’s mission to preach repentance to the people of Nineveh. Jonah had to repent of his own sin before he was meat for the Master’s use. Jonah accepted the yoke of his mission, and fulfilled his mission with great boldness. When YHVH gives us a mission, we must be bold to fulfill it faithfully and without hesitation. We must be willing to go when and where and to whom he tells us. We must faithfully  do exactly as he has commissioned us, to proclaim what he has commanded us and nothing more or less.
  • When YHVH gives you a prophetic word for someone, don’t let your personal emotions cloud your perspective. Don’t forget that you’re merely YHVH’s spiritual mailman who is delivering his mail, not yours. Period. Jonah let his anger for Nineveh (Israel’s mortal enemy) cloud his judgment.
  • A prophet must accept his divine mission without any preconditioned biases against the message’s recipient and must remain as emotionally neutral and unbiased as possible. He should focus only on fulfilling his mission as YHVH wishes and remain impartial and personally emotionally detached, so as not to pollute the purity of the divine message.
  • No matter how many miraculous things YHVH does in a prophet’s life, and no matter the magnitude of the message, the greatness of the recipient of the prophetic word, or the importance of the mission, a prophet needs to stay humble (small in his own eyes) before YHVH.
  • Prophetic words of judgment are always conditional upon the recipient’s response. If they refuse to repent, the word will come to pass. If they repent, YHVH will relent and the judgment will pass.
  • The Ninevites wholeheartedly fasted, prayed and repented of their sin, and YHVH in his mercy spared them. This is the key to averting YHVH’s well-deserved judgment upon individual sinners and a sinful nation.
  • Don’t wish harm on others no matter how evil you think they are or how much you think they deserve YHVH’s judgment. At all times, orientate your heart and thoughts to that of the Father. He is merciful, gracious, patient and longsuffering and so should we be. His mercy triumphs over his judgment.
  • Don’t wish judgment or destruction on your enemies. If you do, YHVH might spare your enemies and bring judgment on you just to teach you humility. We all deserve YHVH’s judgment, and were it not for his merciful grace, where would any of us be? Instead, we must seek the well-being of our enemies through their repentance and salvation. The missionary of YHVH must pursue his divinely inspired endeavors with a heart of love and mercy that overshadows any personal feelings he may have to the contrary. This is getting in tune with and acting out the heart of our Heavenly Father.
  • Jonah, in not being pleased over the Ninevites’ repentance and YHVH sparing them judgment, evidenced his own self-righteous pride toward the heathens. After all, YHVH had miraculously and mercifully delivered him when he was a backslidden sinner. For Jonah not to show the same grace to the Ninevites that YHVH had shown to him was a manifestation of prideful hypocrisy. We must be quick to extend the same mercy and grace to others that YHVH has shown to us. After all, YHVH loved us all while we were yet sinners (Rom 5:8)!
  • The conversion of sinners should bring the saint great joy, not sullen anger as occurred with Jonah. In this situation, he manifested a despicably carnal and rotten attitude!
  • There are few things as repugnant as a saint who falls prey to his base and carnal passions. In this case, Jonah was acting like pouting, puerile prophet who instead of being joyful at the salvation of sinners wished ill on them. Yeshua declares that the angels in heaven rejoice at the salvation of one lost sinner, yet all Jonah could do was to manifest a vindictive spirit.
  • Jonah was a conflicted prophet who spewed both sweet and bitter waters from his mouth. He was a true prophet of Elohim who manifested some truly noble and saintly character traits, to be sure, but he was conflicted in that he had not conquered some of his most carnal and base passions. Such prophets are a liability to the kingdom of Elohim. When in tune with YHVH’s Spirit, they are capable of much good, but when under the control of their own perverse, moody and sinful nature, they are perhaps a greater liability to the kingdom of heaven then they are an asset to it.
 

The Prophetic Implications of Yeshua Being a Carpenter

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Hebrews 3:3, He who built the house. Yeshua is the builder of his spiritual house—the church. Interestingly, his earthly father trained him to be a carpenter. Often the physical or natural and spiritual dimensions parallel each other.

The idea of Yeshua being the Creator  of all things including humanity (Heb 1:10; John 1:3, 10) and being the builder of his spiritual house provides us with an important truth. How is it that the death of Yeshua—one human—could pay for the sins of the whole earth—many humans? Simply this. Yeshua in his pre-incarnate state as the Word of Elohim created all humans. His life is more valuable than the lives of all those he created, since he is the Creator, even as life of the builder of a house has more value than all the houses he builds. This is why Yeshua could pay for the sins of the whole world, and why his life was more valuable than those of all the humans that have ever lived in the history of the world.

 

The Prophetic Implications of Divorce in Light of the Two Houses of Israel

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The teaching that follows is a prophetic view of divorce (and remarriage) as presented in the Scriptures, nothing more or less. The reader may be thinking at this moment that the author in presenting this teaching is really “going out on a limb.” Perhaps so, but keep in mind that there are those who go out on a certain “limb” that is weak only to have it break off from under them, and then there are others who venture out on a different “limb” and what they say later proves to be accurate. The former are discredited, while the later are considered prophetic forerunners as they are helping to move the open-minded into the deeper areas of spiritual and Scriptural truth and into the deeper waters of the heart of YHVH Elohim. We will leave the reader to decide which this teaching is.

For the record, let it be stated at the outset that this teaching neither condones nor condemns divorce. This is the position of Scripture, by the way. It is not YHVH’s perfect will for divorce to occur, but sometimes reality dictates otherwise. Furthermore, in this paper we  shall see that Scripture never presents divorce as a positive occurrence, but as something that is regrettable. Additionally, nothing in this paper should be viewed as advocating divorce. And finally, for the record, the author is happily married to his first and only wife and his best friend and partner in life. Divorce is not even a word in his marital vocabulary, by the grace of YHVH.

Yeshua Teaches on Divorce

While on this earth, Yeshua taught on many subjects pertaining to all areas of human existence—136 in all. He taught on everything from angels to worship, from money to taxes, sexuality to celibacy, fasting to food, joy to sorrow and yes, on the subject of divorce, as well. In Matthew 19:1-12 we read,

“And it came to pass, that when Yeshua had finished these sayings, he departed from Galilee, and came into the coasts of Judea beyond Jordan; and great multitudes followed him; and he healed them there. The Pharisees also came unto him, tempting him, and saying unto him, ‘Is it lawful for a man to put away his wife for every cause?’ And he answered and said unto them, ‘Have ye not read, that he which made them at the beginning made them male and female, and said, For this cause shall a man leave father and mother, and shall cleave to his wife: and they twain shall be one flesh? Wherefore they are no more twain, but one flesh. What therefore Elohim hath joined together, let not man put asunder.’ They say unto him, ‘Why did Moses then command to give a writing of divorcement, and to put her away?’ He saith unto them, ‘Moses because of the hardness of your hearts suffered you to put away your wives: but from the beginning it was not so. And I say unto you, Whosoever shall put away his wife, except it be for fornication, and shall marry another, committeth adultery: and whoso marrieth her which is put away doth commit adultery.’ His disciples say unto him, If the case of the man be so with his wife, it is not good to marry. But he said unto them, ‘All men cannot receive this saying, save they to whom it is given. For there are some eunuchs, which were so born from their mother’s womb: and there are some eunuchs, which were made eunuchs of men: and there be eunuchs, which have made themselves eunuchs for the kingdom of heaven’s sake. He that is able to receive it, let him receive it.’”

The prophet Malachi says that YHVH hates putting away, a Hebraism for divorce (Mal. 2:16). Yet Yeshua says above that in the Torah (the Books of the Law) divorce was permitted if one of the parties had a hardened heart resulting in irreconcilable differences. Adultery was cause for divorce if the offending party refused to repent, but Yeshua, by implication, does not seem to limit divorce for reason of adultery only.

YHVH’s Marriage to Israel: An Historical Overview

YHVH Marries the Nation of Israel

The Hebrew Scriptures are the history of YHVH choosing a spiritual virgin bride from among the nations of the world, preparing that bride for marriage and then entering into a spiritual, marital and covenantal relationship with that bride. That bride was the nation of Israel whom YHVH married at Mount Sinai. The Torah-law was the marriage agreement (See my teaching where the Jewish wedding is outlined historically and prophetically in a biblical context available on our web site and entitled, The Bible: A Love Story—The Story of Two Lovers—How YHVH’s Set-apart Feast Days Are the Outline of that Love Story: A Plan of Redemption). Ezekiel describes the marriage between YHVH and Israel succinctly as follows:

“And when I passed by thee, and saw thee polluted in thine own blood, I said unto thee when thou wast in thy blood, Live; yea, I said unto thee when thou wast in thy blood, Live. I have caused thee to multiply as the bud of the field, and thou hast increased and waxen great, and thou art come to excellent ornaments: thy breasts are fashioned, and thine hair is grown, whereas thou wast naked and bare. Now when I passed by thee, and looked upon thee, behold, thy time was the time of love; and I spread my skirt [kanaph which is the corner of a talit] over thee, and covered thy nakedness: yea, I swore unto thee, and entered into a covenant [i.e., a marriage covenant or ketubah] with thee, saith the YHVH Elohim, and thou becamest mine” (Ezek. 16:6-8; read verses 1-43 for context).

One Nation (Wife) Becomes Two Nations or Houses

Now at the foot of Mount Sinai YHVH married one (spiritual) woman comprised of several million Israelites who were descendants of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob comprising of 12 tribes. Those 12 tribes remained as a single national entity for 500 years until the death of King David’s son, Solomon. When Solomon’s son Rehoboam became king over the nation of Israel the northern ten tribes of Israel revolted against Rehoboam and under the leadership of Jeroboam seceded from Israel and formed a separate nation whose capital was Samaria. In countless places Scripture refers to this nation as the House of Israel, or Ephraim, named after the largest and most prominent tribe of the Northern Kingdom.

Those Israelite tribes which remained loyal to Rehoboam were named the house of Judah after the most prominent tribe of the Southern Kingdom.

Whereas YHVH had married the nation of Israel at Mount Sinai, 500 years later that nation split into two. It was still the nation of Israel, but it was like a woman with a split personality who acts like two people. Indeed… (to continue reading this article, go to http://www.hoshanarabbah.org/pdfs/divorce.pdf)

 

Does the Epistle to the Hebrews Belong in the New Testament Canon?

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[The following is excerpted from a larger work by the same author entitled, “Can You Trust the New Testament Canon as YHVH’s Divine Word?” This work is available upon request and will be posted on our web site.]

The Uniqueness of the Bible

The Bible. There has never been any book like it. Its authors included kings and peasants and it was written over a span of 1500 years and 40 generations by 40 authors writing from palaces to jail cells. It was first translated into a foreign language circa 250 B.C. and has since, in whole or in part, been translated into several thousand languages or dialects. It has survived time. Though printed on perishable materials and recopied countless times over the past 2000 years by hand and by press, the main style and message of this book has never changed. The Bible has withstood vicious attacks of its enemies as no other book. Since Roman times, governmental and religious authorities have tried to ban it, burn it and outlaw it, but to no avail. It is still the most widely published and read book of all time (McDowell, pp. 13–24). Why?

Many have willingly given their lives to translate it, smuggle it, distribute it, preach its message or even simply possess a copy of it. Why? More than two billion people on earth today, about one-third of earth’s population claim to be followers of the Bible. Why? Nearly 50,000 people are currently martyred each year for refusing to budge from their faith in the Bible’s message. Why?

The answer is simple. Regardless of the language into which the Bible has been translated, regardless of the liberal or conservative biases of the translators, one thing is certain: The redemptive and salvation message of the Bible always comes through. It is a life-changing message of hope. Why? Because its pages contain words that have the power to change lives dramatically for good, for eternity. Why? Because these words are Continue reading →

 

Cleanliness Is Next to Godliness

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Open toilet bowl isolated. File contains a path to isolation.

Deuteronomy 23:10–15, When the army goes out. With regard to the sanctity of the camp, the Jewish sages teach that whereas other armies triumph by force of numbers and arms, Israel’s success is in the hands of Elohim, and, therefore, its army’s most potent weapon is its righteous behavior (The ArtScroll Stone Edition Chumash, p. 1055).

Holiness and righteousness (i.e., obedience to YHVH’s commands coupled with trusting faith in Yeshua and in his blood atonement) can help us defeat our enemies (see Rev 1:5; 12:11, 17; 14:12).

Though the phrase, “Cleanliness is next to godliness” is not found in the Scriptures, it is nevertheless a true statement in light of this Torah passage.

 

Incest Versus Fornication

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Deuteronomy 23:2, A child of incest shall not. Mamzer (translated in the KJV as bastard; NKJV one of illegitimate birth) means “a child of a prohibited marriage.” Contrary to popular opinion, this is not referring to one born out of wedlock (the result of fornication or premarital relations), but rather the fruit of an incestuous or adulterous relationship (The ArtScroll Stone Edition Chumash, p. 1054).

According to S. R. Hirsch, a Jewish Torah scholar, a mamzer was disadvantaged legally in no other way except that he was excluded from the assembly or congregation (qahal) of YHVH. According to The Theological Wordbook of the Old Testament, the Hebrew word qahal is equivalent to the Greek word ecclesia, which is commonly translated as church in the NT (ibid., vol. 2, p. 790).

What does Torah’s treatment of a mamzer say about YHVH’s view of the sanctity of marriage and the family and the upholding of such as a cornerstone institution within the assembly of the saints? Hirsch comments on this verse, “[A] mamzer accordingly represents, by his existence, a sin against those laws by which God wishes marriage in His qahal to be elevated out of the sphere of simply physical association by that which [the Talmud in] Kiddushin [73a] expresses” (Judaica Press The Pentateuch/Deuteronomy, p. 456).

In the Torah, premarital sex isn’t a capital offense. When it happened, the man was either to marry the young lady, or he was to pay a fine to her father. Incest, however, like homosexuality, was an abomination in YHVH’s eyes (Lev 18), thus it would stand to reason that YHVH would take a harder stand on the product of such a sexual union. The point is to teach his people not to get involved in such sinful sexual practices in the first place.

Would excluding certain individuals who oppose traditional marriage and define it in ways contrary to biblical definition now be politically correct in our society? Discuss the implications and what the saints can do to protect the sanctity of the congregation of the believers from those who would thumb their noses at the Word of the Creator of the universe, the very Author of the marriage institution.

 

Blog Scripture Readings for 9-11 Through 9-17-16

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THIS WEEK’S SCRIPTURE READINGS FOR STUDY AND DISCUSSION:

Parashat Ki Tetze — Deuteronomy 21:10 – 25:19
Haftarah — Isaiah 54:1-10
Prophets — Amos 9:1-15; Obadiah; Jonah; Micah 1:1-16
Writings — 1 Chronicles 24:1 – 29:30; 2 Chronicles 1:1-17
Testimony — Titus 2:1 – 3:15; Philemon; Hebrews 1:1 – 4:16

Most of this week’s blog discussion points will be on these passages. If you have general comments or questions on the weekly Scripture readings not addressed in a blog post, here’s a place for you to post those. Just use the “leave a reply” link below.

The full “Read Through The Scriptures In A Year” schedule, broken down by each day, can be found on the right sidebar under “Helpful Links.” There are 4 sections of scripture to read each day. One each from the Torah, the Prophets, the Writings, and from the Testimony of Yeshua. Each week, the Torah and haftarah readings will follow the traditional one-year reading cycle.

Weekly Blog Scripture Readings for 9/11 through 9/17/16.