I found another terse comment from the so-called “Rabbi’s” daughter. Here is what she said followed by my comments:
The messiah is not Hashem the Father
Here is my comment:
You are correct. Yeshua is NOT HaShem because HaShem is a non-existent entity and a silly made up name by the rabbinic Jews as a result of a false, pagan doctrine they plagiarized from the Babylonians called the ineffable name doctrine. Scripture reveals nearly 7,000 times in the Tanakh that the name of the Elohim the Father is YHVH or Yehovah. Scripture also reveals that the name of Elohim the Son or Yeshua the Messiah is also YHVH. This is Bible 101.
Moreover, Scripture reveals that the Father is Elohim and that Yeshua is also Elohim. Elohim is a compound unity (the Hebrew word for this, in case you didn’t learn this in schul is echad) comprised of the Father, the Son and Holy Spirit.
The sephirotic “tree of life” in rabinic Jewish mysticism.
Doesn’t the sephirotic tree as your own “rabbis” teach define Elohim not just as being three entities but as being, what, ten entities of which the Father, Son and Ruach are only three? Do you deign to toy with me thinking that I don’t know these things that you rabbinic Jewish folks keep so well hidden from the Christians? The Trinity doctrine has nothing on you guys! You teach that the Godhead is ten!!!
Yes, Yeshua is not the Father, yet he and the Father are one. He said if you’ve seen him, you’ve seen the Father. Make of this what you will. Neither your brain nor mine is capable of comprehending the exact nature of the “Godhead,” so let us leave it there before we get into water that’s way over both of our collective heads.
Besides why to you care who Yeshua is? You don’t believe that he’s the Messiah anyway, so take a hike and stop trolling this blog. The gate here is now shut to you unless you show a genuine change of heart. Be blessed…
The following comment came into this blog’s comment section today. I permitted it to be posted as an opportunity to comment. The writer purports to be the daughter of a “rabbi” whatever this is supposed to mean. By her comments, she is not a believer in Yeshua the Messiah, but proffers arguments against Yeshua’s Messiahship from the Orthodox Rabbinic Jewish perspective. Her arguments, though seemingly convincing on the surface, are actually quite shallow and easily refuted. Her knowledge of Scripture is superficial and of Jewish history is lacking, I point out in my rebuttal.
The reason I post this is for your education, so that you can help any fellow believers you know who are being swayed by the Antimissionary arguments of the rabbinic Jews.
Elsewhere, I have written extensively on some of the subjects she brings up. At the end of this post, I will post some links for those who care to go further.
Now here is the comment from the “rabbi’s” daughter:
Most people dont realize the role of Messiah, who have come o/o christianty and into a melting pot of teachings of which most only hold partial truth. Take into account the original language in which the Scriptures were written i.e. Hebrew, Aramaic… There are some words that were not translated but transliterated. The world “Messiah” is one of those words, from the Hebrew Mashiach. In Greek it is Christos. I know I’m preaching to the choir on this but let me explain to help you understand. So what does Messiah or Christ mean? It means someone who was anointed or SELECTED by YHVH ELohim, the Father, as ruler, king (1Kings 2:10-12). Hence, in the bible there are many Messiah’s. Examples: The temple priest Lev. 4:3, 6, 16, 6:22; The patriarchs Ps. 105:15; 1 Chron. 16:22; King Saul 1 Sam. 12:3, 5; 24:6, 10; 26:9, 11, 16, 23; 2 Sam. 1:14, 16, 21; King David 2Sam. 19:21; 22:51; 23:1 Ps. 18:50, 20:6, 28:8; King Solomon once in 2 Chron. 6:42, the pagan king Cyrus Isa. 45:1, the future messianic figure 1 Sam. 2:10, 35, Ps. 2:2, 89:51; 132:10, 17; Dan, 9:25-26; Hab. 3:13. AS you can see there are many “christs/messiahs” who preceded Y’shua. The title Messiah can not mean Hashem ELohim Himself, because Messiah or Christ (anointed) is the AGENT of the One True God (John 17:3) As messiah Y’shua/jesus, who is prophet, priest and king. That’s because The Father anointed him above all predecessors i.e. his companions Heb. 1;9. It is for this reason that Y’shua taught men to pray each day for the coming Kingdom of his ELohim, YHVH, and Father (Matt. 6:10) The role of the Messiah(s) throughout all of the ages was to point mankind BACK to the FAther and to His Torah.
None of the prophecies of Daniel nor any other biblical prophet relate to Yeshua/Jesus nor to the Christian writings.
Allow me to be more clear: Jesus never reigned as King of Israel. Messiah will. Jesus never ruled as judge of Israel. Messiah will. Jesus did not rebuild the Temple. Messiah will. Jesus did not bring all Jews Home to Israel. Messiah will. Jesus did not establish world peace. Messiah will. Jesus did not end warfare. Messiah will. Jesus did not oversee the Torah being written on the consciousness of the world. Messiah will. Jesus’ followers increased antisemitism, he did not destroy it. Messiah will end it.
Jesus did not end world hunger. Messiah will. Jesus did not bring idolatry to an end. Messiah will. Jesus not bring global justice. Messiah will. Jesus not restore the Ten Houses. Messiah will. Jesus did not end all diseases. Messiah will. Jesus never sat on the throne of David. Messiah will. David was not his paternal father/anscetor as required of Messiah, Messiah will will be a paternal descendant of David haMelech. Jesus did not lead all Jewish into becoming Torah observant. Without a Jewish father Jesus had no Land Rights in Israel. Messiah will. Jesus was not accepted by our sages and rabbis. Messiah will be.
There are SOOO many prophecies and conditions Jesus did not meet! Several people have come much closer than he. David Ben-Gurion came MUCH closer and he was not even religious! This is why the Christian apologists had to draw on the baseless claim of a “second advent.” Nothing in Scripture supports that. Messiah, when he comes, will establish Israel and meet all of the requirements and be accepted by our people as foretold. The you guys of the other nations will come to us as Noahidim (Zechariah 8:23). I do not care if people choose to worship a god-man our father’s did not (read Deuteronomy 13) but as me, my household and this group, we worship HaShem alone. Missionary activities are not permitted here. Y’shua may or may not be the returning Messiah, we will have to see, only Hashem knows. Y’shua even said that himself.
Natan’s response:
Let me be blunt, which you will probably not like. A serious disease requires a strong medicine. In this case, we are talking about the disease spiritual blindness based on bigotry and ignorance of the Truth of the full counsel of the Bible, the Word of Elohim and aquiescence and submission to the traditions of men by which the Word of Elohim is made of none-effect. Moreover, this is my blog, and I am duty-bound to point out many things that you have said that are not true biblically. Your comments, though containing some truths, are also full of a number of egregious and unbiblical errors, and are evidence of the fact that spiritual blindness has come upon (some of) Israel and the Jews as Paul the apostle, the Jewish Torah scholar par excellence, who was discipled by Gamaliel the First, the grandson of Hillel the Great, stated in his epistle to the Romans (Rom 11:25).
On this blog, we take a strong and firm stand against those who deny the Messiahship of Yeshua the Messiah—against the so-called Jewish “anitmissionaries.” Frankly, the only reason I have not deleted your anti-biblical, Antimessiah spiel is because your comments give me an excuse and an opportunity to address some important fallacies in what you say. So thank you. From now on, however, you will not be able to make posts to my blog quite so freely no that I know your heretical biblical position.
Exodus 19:2,Before the mountain.The children of Israel coming to Mount Sinai and preparing themselves to meet YHVH Elohim and to receive his instructions in righteousness is symbolic of the spiritual path that all humans must take if they want to meet their Maker as we will learn in the brief study below.
Throughout history, humans have invented a whole boatload of religions and philosophical ideologies in an effort to reconcile man to heaven. The Creator has placed eternity in the heart of man (Eccl 3:11); therefore, humans instinctively know that there is something more to this physical life—there is something “out there” beyond each of us that beckons us to a higher place—something eternal and spiritual. Humans instinctively know that they must improve themselves morally in order to get there. This is because the Creator has given each of us a conscience, that like the needle on a compass, points us to true north. The problem is that (a) man does not know how to get there and (b) he has internal (i.e. his rebellious and lawless sin nature or his flesh; Jer 17:9; Rom 8:6–8; Jas 3:15) and external forces (i.e. the world the devil, and All the invented religions of the world; Jas 3:15) that keep him from find the way. All of these false paths lead everywhere else but to true north. In an effort to get to their Creator and to fulfill the inner longings of their hearts, man has invented religions and philosophies to get him to “heaven” through his own efforts but without dealing with the root reason that man has prevented from coming into the presence of his Creator. One thing keeps man bound to this earth, lost and confused; it is sin. No matter what his or her religious or philosophical efforts may be. It is impossible for one to pull oneself up by one’s own bootstraps. Until each human deals with the sin issue in his or her life, he will not progress one inch toward heaven.
Only one religion, ideology, philosophy or whatever you want to call it deals with the sin issue, and that is the Truth of the Bible. Until each man recognizes that his sin has separated him from a perfect, holy (totally pure, set apart and transcendent) Elohim and that only by going through the spiritual cleansing process that heaven prescribes for the disease called sin can one find the answers to the deeper questions of life, resolve the sin issue that separates earth from heaven and then eventually come into the presence of one’s Creator during and after this physical life.
Through Moses, a prophetic picture of Yeshua the Messiah, YHVH led the Israelites to the foot of the Mount Sinai representing the presence of Elohim; it was a symbolic picture of heaven on earth.
To experience the presence of Elohim, humans must not only consecrate themselves before hand, but then one must climb upward spiritually to meet YHVH. This is done through a process of spiritual consecration or sanctification and involves getting cleansed from the defilements or rudiments of the world, flesh and devil (Jas 3:15; Col 2:8, 20), even as the Israelites cleansed or consecrated themselves physically in preparation to meet their Maker (Exod 19:10–11, 14).
A spiritual relationship with Elohim through the cleansing blood of Yeshua is the only cleansing process which is acceptable to YHVH Elohim by which humans can transcend spiritually. There is no other way (1 Pet 1:2; 18–19; 1 John 1:7; Rev 1:5; 7:14; Heb 10:19–22; 9:12; 12:24; Matt 26:28; Eph 1:7). Yeshua is literally the only way to the Father in heaven (John 14:6; Acts 4:12). He is the spiritual ladder that each person must climb (John 1:51) to get to the top of Mount Sinai representing the exalted presence of Elohim (Gen 28:12). He is literally the gate or door to heaven (Gen 28:17; John 10:7–9; 14:6).
The book of Exodus’ account of the children of Israel coming into the presence of Elohim is an illustrative example of the process that each of us must go through to meet our Maker on his terms, not our terms.
Of course, this cleansing process or spiritual journey did not start at Mount Sinai for Israelites. It started back in Egypt when they put their faith in the blood of the lamb to save them from Elohim’s judgment against sin, and when they deleavened their lives, and then passed through the Red Sea. These are all symbolic and prophetic pictures that point to the steps that each person must take if they want to see Elohim. These steps include acceptance of Yeshua the Messiah, the Lamb of Elohim and his death on the cross, putting sin out of one’s life, and then being baptized for the remission of sins.
These truths should be as plain to see as the nose on one’s face, but human pride and rebellion against the Truth of Elohim have blinded most humans from reality. Now that you know this simple Truth, what will you do about it?
Is your view of the Messiah actually a cartoon character?
Luke 23:38,The King of the Jews. The placard that the Romans placed on the cross just above the head of Yeshua reflected the Jewish people’s prevailing politically correct view concerning their Messianic expectations. Their expectations of who they wanted the Messiah to be were not in accordance with heaven’s plan, which is why some denied him and others yelled, “Crucify him!”
The Tanakh (Old Testament) reveals that two Messiahs were to come: the Conquering King Messiah or Mashiach ben David and the Suffering Servant Messiah or Mashiach ben Yosef. Because the boot of Roman tyranny had been resting heavily on the neck of the Jewish people for some 150 years, the Jews were hoping for and, therefore, were placing their confidence in the Conquering King Messiah, who would, in their eyes, miraculously deliver them from Roman rule and oppression. This prevailing notion was even the mindset of Yeshua’s closest disciples. This is why when Yeshua predicted his death in Jerusalem at the hand of the Jews, Peter vehemently declared that this would not happen (Matt 16:21–23). Then when Yeshua failed to fulfill the people’s expectation of a Conquering King Messiah, this is when Judas betrayed his Master as a false messianic figure. This is probably why Peter denied Yeshua at the eleventh hour; because his deepest expectation of the Messiah’s mission as the Conquering King were not being met, and thus doubts about Yeshua’s Messianic claims rose to the surface in Peter’s mind at that critical hour and in confused discouragement he turned his back on the Messiah. This is why the Jewish people insisted that the Romans crucify Yeshua—he had failed to meet their expectations.
The Roman placard that was nailed to the cross, therefore, was simply a Roman mockery of the Jewish people’s prevailing misguided messianic expectations. Their conquering king was being pitilessly crucified as Rome’s sovereignty over the Jewish people remained concretely intact.
Sadly, the Jews’ expectations were not lined up with heaven’s divine will. In reality, the Jews, and even to some degree, Yeshua’s disciples, had created a Messiah in their own image—a caricaturized or cartoon Messiah that, to one degree or another, had become an idol in their minds replacing the true Messiah.
What are our hopes and expectations concerning Yeshua the Messiah? What cartoon view of the Messiah have we created in our minds? Were Yeshua to return today, would most Christians even recognize and accept him? The biblical reality of a first century, Torah-teaching and Torah-observant Jewish rabbi hardly fits with the stereotypical westernized, Greco-Roman caricature of the Christian Jesus.
Moreover, when Yeshua, just before his return, sends his two witnesses to preach the gospel in Jerusalem (Rev 11:7–12), will people, including mainstream Christians, accept their message, likely a Hebraic one, if it does not line up exactly with traditional Greco-Roman Christian theology? How about when Yeshua shortly thereafter sends an angelic messenger to preach “the everlasting gospel” to those who dwell on the earth (Rev 14:6–7)? Will mainstream Christians accept this message—likely a Hebraic-centric one that will contain overtones of Torah in it? It is hard to say. Some will and some will probably not, since it may not line up with “the historic Christian faith,” as most Christians have been taught, which, to one degree or another, is ambivalent if not outright antagonistic toward YHVH’s Torah-law.
Whatever may be our views and expectations concerning the Messiah and his return, we would be wise to be certain that they are grounded in the full counsel of YHVH’s Word from Genesis to Revelation, which is intensely Hebraic in context. Moreover, it would also behoove us to hold in a loose grip our expectations on how we think end time events will roll out. If we are expecting one thing to happen and something else happens, we may find ourselves, at the very least confused and our faith shaken, or at the most, we may even deny Yeshua as Judas and Peter did. He who thinks that he stands, take heed lest he fall (1 Cor 10:12).
To be sure, if one stays in a close, daily and intimate relationship with Yeshua the Hebraic Messiah, and follows the Lamb of Elohim wherever he leads day-by-day, one will have nothing to be concerned about.
Luke 18:1–8, “And he spoke a parable unto them to this end, that men ought always to pray, and not to faint; saying, ‘There was in a city a judge, which feared not Elohim, neither regarded man. And there was a widow in that city and she came unto him, saying, “Avenge me of mine adversary.” And he would not for a while, but afterward he said within himself, “Though I fear not Elohim, nor regard man, yet because this widow troubles me, I will avenge her, lest by her continual coming she weary me.”’ And the Master said, ‘Hear what the unjust judge said. And shall not Elohim avenge his own elect, which cry day and night unto him, though he bears long with them? I tell you that he will avenge them speedily. Nevertheless when the Son of man comes, shall he find faith on the earth?’”
Though Yeshua’s people have been treated unjustly by this world’s political and justice systems, and though they have had to struggle for every shred of justice due them, the day is coming just prior to and at the return of Yeshua when the scales of justice will be balanced in the saints’ favor. This parable speaks to the time in the near future when the wicked will be punished, YHVH will avenge his own elect, and the righteous will be rewarded. Good will triumph over evil.
This final balance of the scales of justice will occur in the time period between the last trumpet, which occurs on Yom Teruah (the Day of the Blowing of Trumpets) and Yom Kippur (the Day of Atonement) when the saints will receive their heavenly rewards (1 Cor 15:51–57; Rev 11:15–18) and the wicked will receive theirs (Rev 14:14–Rev 16:21).
What You Can Do
Yeshua admonishes us to pray always and do not faint in anticipation for the day of his return to come. It will be then that the righteous will reap the rewards of righteousness if they do not grow weary in the meantime for their well doing (Gal 6:9).
What are the criteria that Yeshua the Just Judge will use to determine the levels of rewards his saints will receive at this coming? While salvation is a free gift not based on one’s works (Eph 2:8), there are levels of rewards in the Elohim’s kingdom, which will be based on one thing: works! Yeshua clearly teaches that each man will be rewarded according to his works (Matt 16:27 cp. 25:14–30). Whether one will be the least in Yeshua’s kingdom (the lowest level of rewards) are greatest (the highest level of rewards) will be determined by how faithful we were in following the Torah. Yeshua clearly states this in Matthew 5:19! On judgment day, the wicked will be rewarded according to their works (Rev 18:6; 20:12 cp. Matt 25:14–30) and the righteous according to theirs (Rev 20:12,13 cp. 19:8, NKJV, NIV or NAS).
“And it came to pass, as [Yeshua] went to Jerusalem, that he passed through the midst of Samaria and Galilee. And as he entered into a certain village, there met him ten men that were lepers, which stood afar off. And they lifted up their voices, and said, ‘Yeshua, Master, have mercy on us.’ And when he saw them, he said unto them, ‘Go show yourselves unto the priests.’ And it came to pass, that, as they went, they were cleansed. And one of them, when he saw that he was healed, turned back, and with a loud voice glorified Elohim, and fell down on his face at his feet, giving him thanks. And he was a Samaritan. And Yeshua answering said, ‘Were there not ten cleansed, but where are the nine?’ There are not found that returned to give glory to Elohim, except this stranger [lit. sprung from another tribe, foreigner or alien]. And he said unto him, ‘Arise, go your way, your faith has made you whole.'”
Prophetic Points to Analyze
verse 11— the midst of Samaria and Galilee
verse 12— ten men that were lepers
verse 12— that stood afar off
verses 14–15— they were cleansed … healed
verse 16— he was a Samaritan
verse 18— stranger
Samaria and Galilee were Roman provinces comprising of the ancient territories of the Northern Kingdom of Israel, the home of the ten northern tribes. As noted earlier, Yeshua spent much of his time ministering in that region and in much of what he taught, as well as the venues where he ministered, in the meanings of the geographical names, and in the terminologies used in describing his ministry activities, we can find a deeper or allegorical prophetic meaning relating to his ministry to the lost sheep of the house of Israel. This account of the ten lepers is no exception.
These ten lepers lived in the historic region of the Northern Kingdom, house of Israel or Samaria. The number ten corresponds to the number of tribes that historically had lived in that area. These tribes were: Ephraim, Manasseh, Reuben, part of Levi, Gad, Asher, Naphtali, Dan, Zebulin and Issachar. (Judah, part of Levi and Benjamin comprised the Southern Kingdom, or house of Judah; Simeon is omitted, for it is thought that they were assimilated into Judah in accordance with the Genesis 49:5–7 prophecy, and that their land inheritance was surrounded by that of Judah.) But when the ten northern tribes were exiled from the land of Israel they became strangers or aliens in the countries of their captivity. These terms are used throughout the Scriptures in reference to the scattered tribes of Israel. These lepers, because of their disease, were likewise aliens from their fellow Israelites in the land of Judea where they currently were living.
The term “leprosy” scripturally, was a generic term for any infectious skin condition and does not necessarily relate to the modern term leprosy that is a disease involving the slow rotting away of the flesh. Samson Raphael Hirsch, the nineteenth century Jewish Torah scholar, shows that the biblical skin condition of tzaraas is unrelated to leprosy and therefore is an erroneous translation in our English Bibles.Here is a brief study on the skin disease the Torah calls tzaraas and some of the spiritual implications of this ailment. It is quoted from the author’s own Torah commentary.
Leviticus 13 discusses various skin disorders known as tzaraas. The KJV uses the word “leprosy,” but this is a mistranslation. The [Jewish sages] teach (and so does Christian biblical commentator Matthew Henry in his commentary) that these skin disorders “[were] a plague often inflicted immediately by the hand of [Elohim].”
Tzaraas is a result of sins of the mouth such as slander, gossip, murder with the mouth, false oaths and pride as well as sexual immorality, robbery, and selfishness. For proof of this the [Jewish sages] cite the similarity between the Hebrew word for “skin disorder” (m’tzora) and the word “one who spreads slander”(motzeyra). They say that these skin disorders are “divine retribution for the offender’s failure to feel the needs and share the hurt of others. YHVH rebukes this antisocial behavior by isolating him from society, so that he can experience the pain he has imposed on others—and heal himself through repentance.”They then cite the examples of Miriam’s skin turning white when she slandered Moses. We must not forget what occurred to Gehazi and to king Uzziah, as well (2 Kgs 5:27; 2 Chr 26:19, 21).
It would be well for us to pause at this moment and to consider our own behavior with respect to our tongue. Thankfully, we’re under the grace of Elohim. But in the book of Acts, Ananias and Sapphira found out what happens when one sins with one’s mouth and Elohim pulls back his hand of grace. They were instantly struck dead. As we get closer to the end of the age and the return of Messiah it is likely that Elohim will begin to require greater spiritual accountability of his people, especially of leaders, in the areas we are discussing. He wants to instill within his people the true fear of YHVH-Elohim and a repentant and contrite heart, and to turn people away from lukewarmness. It is likely that such rapid judgments as happened to Miriam, Korah et al, Gehazi, Uzziah, Ananias and Sapphira and others in the Scriptures will begin to occur soon, in our day, and may already be occurring.
The time for playing fast and loose with our mouths and other members of our bodies is over. We are all being called to account by Elohim. Be hot or cold, not in-between! Yeshua is not coming back for a Babylonian (half world and half Word-orientated lifestyle), sin-spotted bride, but one who is without spot and wrinkle.
The skin disease, tzaraas, was like a red flag which if a person had it was regarded as a judgment from Elohim for the sin of slander, gossip, murder with the mouth, false oaths and pride as well as sexual immorality, robbery, and selfishness. That person was considered to be physically and spiritually contagious and so was put outside the camp of Israel until the disease was gone. According to Samson Raphael Hirsch, quarantine was a means of shocking the victim into recognizing his moral shortcomings and driving him to repentance.
It is the skin disease of tzaraas that the ten men of Luke 17 most likely had making them ritually impure and causing them to be legally banned from social contact with the rest of Jewish society. It was these social outcasts of the region of the historic homeland of the lost sheep of the house of Israel to which Yeshua was reaching out. These men knew they were spiritually and physically unclean and they cried out to the only one who could heal and save them—Yeshua the Messiah, whose very name means “salvation.”
Similarly, in the end times, the house of Israel (or the Christian church) will begin to recognize that many of its Torahless religious traditions have been inherited lies handed down from previous generations (Jer 16:19), that she has failed to remember her Torah-based marriage covenants with YHVH (Mal 4:4–6), and that the foreign lovers to which she turned spiritually did not satisfy her like YHVH her husband once had (Hos 2:7). The house of Israel (and the house of Judah) will eventually return to YHVH (Hos 2:6–7) in covenantal relationship (Jer 31:31, 33). They will no longer be a rejected people (Hos 1:6, 9). YHVH will begin to call his people to come out of the filth of Torahlessness and spiritual Babylon (Rev 18:4) and urge them to stop forgetting his Torah (Hos 4:6; 8:1, 12). YHVH pleads with both Judah and her sister Israel (Ephraim) to return to him from their backslidden spiritual condition (Jer 3:6–14). Hosea prophesied that both the houses of Ephraim and Judah will acknowledge their sin against YHVH (the sin of breaking their covenants with him and syncretizing themselves spiritually with the customs of the heathen nations around them, Hos 5:3), and begin to seek YHVH eagerly (Hos 5:15). Hosea then prophesies that Messiah will return after three days (or in the third millennium) to “revive,” resurrect or resuscitate them spiritually and give to Israel new life (Hos 6:1–2), after which she will live in Messiah’s sight during the Messianic Age (or Millennium, verse 3).
Yeshua’s encounter with the ten lepers is an allegorical picture of this. After the Messiah healed the lepers, he instructed them to present themselves to the priests whose duty it was, according to the Torah, to declare that they were physically healed and ritually clean. This pronouncement on the part of the priests cleared the way for the former lepers to legally integrate themselves back into Jewish society without fear of retribution or ostracism.
It is interesting to note that one of the ten “lepers” was a Samaritan. These people were highly shunned and disdained by many in the Jewish culture of the first century. This mixed race people lived in the historic lands of the house of Israel. They were most likely comprised of Northern Kingdom Israelites and heathen Gentiles that the Assyrians had transplanted into northern Israel when they conquered that nation. Here Yeshua is reaching out to this people whom the Jews despised and rejected. Hosea prophesied that the house of Israel would mix herself with the nations of the world (Hos 7:8; 8:8), yet Yeshua reached out to these same type of people when he ministered to the Samaritan woman at the well (John 4), and when he commanded his disciples to take the gospel to Samaria (Acts 1:8).
This account of Yeshua’s ministry to the ten “lepers” teaches us that even though some lost and scattered Israelites may be in a state of extreme spiritual contamination and pollution brought on by sin, YHVH’s grace is open to all—even those whom society shuns and considers to be at the lowest echelon.
Ezekiel 34 paints a clear picture of YHVH’s sheep who have been lost and scattered, but who YHVH, the True Shepherd, will regather. His sheep are starving spiritually, have been pillaged by evil and covetous shepherds and ravished by spiritual diseases and predators. Yeshua is that true Shepherd whose arms of love are still open wide (as they were while he was hanging on the cross). He takes upon himself the burdens of all lost Israelites who are returning to him and promises to heal and to feed them, and to give them beauty for ashes, the oil of joy for mourning, and the garments of praise for the spirit of heaviness.
What You Can Do
We must follow the example of Yeshua and reach out to anyone regardless of their race or religious affiliation and offer them the good news of spiritual healing and salvation through Yeshua the Messiah. The disease of sin has made all humans impure and separated us all from a loving relationship with YHVH Elohim through Yeshua. Only as we as come into contact with Yeshua the Savior , place our trust in him, and receive his mercy can we be made whole.
Yeshua the Messiah was not your typical dinner guest. In fact, by today’s standards, he would have been considered impertinent, impolite, politically incorrect if not downright rude in how he treated his hosts. But since Yeshua was sinless in all that he did and totally led by the Spirit of Elohim, his behavior, as unconventional as it may seem, cannot be faulted. Why is this? This is because Yeshua always had one goal in mind: to advance the kingdom of his Father, to spread the light of Truth in the darkness of human delusion, lies and false concepts—to be spiritual salt and light wherever he went. Yeshua was always loaded for bear, so to speak. Luke chapter 14 is a perfect example of this.
Luke 14
Luke 14:1, House of one of the rulers. Yeshua was invited to a Sabbath meal at the home of a Pharisee who was a ruler (likely a wealthy member of the Sanhedrin). Had Yeshua been a typical man, he would have engaged in the customary small talk of a polite and gracious dinner guest not wanting to offend his host. Yet Yeshua was not there to schmooze—to curry anyone’s favor in an effort to gain personal influence. As he required his own disciples to maintain a salty or spicy demeanor at all times (Matt 5:13; Luke 14:34–35), he was definitely up to the task to lead his disciples by example. The following discussion that Yeshua initiates is what some may consider to be a prime example of how to insult one’s host and the other guests.
First, Yeshua confronts a controversial issue head on by asking a question, and then by healing one of the other invited guests on the Sabbath, which was a Pharisaical taboo, though not contrary to the Scriptures (Luke 14:2–6).
Next, Yeshua takes some of the guests to task who were prideful social elites and religious status-seekers. He challenges them to humbles themselves and let Elohim exalt them in the eyes of men (Luke 14:7–14).
Yeshua then raises the discussion around the table to a higher level when he tells the Parable of the Great Supper (Luke 14:15–24). Doubtless, a few of the guests were made to feel awkward, since they likely resembled some of the characters in Yeshua’s story.
At this dinner table, there was no small talk of sports, the weather, one’s job or other tidbits of gossip. On the contrary, Yeshua was showing his disciples, and us, how to be salt and light wherever we go, even at the risk of offending one’s hosts, and all for the greater good of expanding the kingdom of Elohim in the lives of men.
Of course, it should go without saying that in being salt and light, one has to be totally led by the Spirit of Elohim or else more harm than good will be done.
Luke 14:18–24, Make excuses. This passage is a continuation of Yeshua’s previous discussion and must be seen in that context. Buying a piece of property and a yoke of oxen and getting married is equivalent today to buy a new home, a new car and getting married. These are among the three most notable, expensive and life-changing events to happen in a person’s life. In the eyes of a secular-minded man, to put one’s religion ahead of these things seems weirdly strange. Such a person will likely be viewed as a religious fanatic, extremist, a Bible thumper or Jesus freak. Yet such a reordering of priorities in one’s life is required of a person who desires to enter YHVH’s everlasting kingdom (Luke 14:15). The path to this lofty goal is narrow and sadly few will choose it.
Luke 14:26–33, If any man comes to me. This discourse is also a continuation of Yeshua’s previous thoughts, both of which were part of a larger discussion relating to the kingdom of Elohim that Yeshua initiated while at the dinner party of a rich Pharisee who was a ruler (likely a member or the Sanhedrin, Luke 14:1). In this part of the discussion, Yeshua continues the line of thought on what is required to enter the kingdom of Elohim. First, one must count the costs to enter the kingdom, which in the world’s eyes is high. Next Yeshua sets himself squarely in the position of being the door to entering the kingdom, and then demonstrates in the most graphic terms that one must love him above all else including close family members and even one’s own life if he wants to be part of YHVH’s kingdom. Such a man, for certain, would be viewed by his secular contemporaries as a religious fanatic! Yet this is what Yeshua requires of his disciple (Luke 14:33).
Luke 14:26, Hate his father and mother. Some people will quote this verse out of context thus turning Yeshua into a cruel, hateful and demanding tyrant. The key to understanding this clause is to read the rest of the sentence, which ends with the word, “yes, and his own life also.”
Unless they are psychotic, no one hates their own life. In fact, the Torah enjoins us “to love our neighbor as ourself,” which is part of the shema (Lev 19:18), and which is a partial summation of the entire Torah.
Even though the Greek word for hate is miseo meaning “to hate or detest,” Yeshua is using hyperbole here to make the greater point that to be his disciple, one must love him more than anything else. The world calls this fanaticism, but the world’s evaluations are based on hypocrisy. No one questions the almost worshipful fanaticism of a sports fan (short for fanatic) or a rock star groupie! This is socially acceptable. Thousands will fill vast arenas and stadiums adoringly hooting and hollering over their favorite team or rock music star, but when it comes to getting excited about Yeshua, well, that’s fanaticism.
What Yeshua hyperbolically is telling us in this verse is that we must love him more than anyone or anything including our closest family members…and even our own life. We must follow his example in that he laid down his life for us, and so we must be willing to do the same for him. The bottom line is that serving Yeshua must be the highest priority in our life!
Luke 14:34–35, Salt is good. Yeshua then ends his discussion with a pithy analogy involving salt. What is the hidden message in this? Elsewhere, Yeshua states that his disciples are to be salt and light in this world (Matt 5:13–14). In this passage, Yeshua implies the same thing and concludes that salt that has lost its saltiness is useless.
Salt is a necessary ingredient to the body’s survival. It also helps to enhance the flavor of the food it seasons, and it stand out if too much is added. Salt also acts as a food preservative in that it prevents spoilage by killing pathogens.
Yet Yeshua warns against salt losing its saltiness. How is this possible? This occurs through dilution. If Yeshua’s disciples are to be like spiritual salt to the world, then they can lose the quality as a seasoning, life preservative, killer of spiritual pathogens. This will occur if they allow their priorities and spiritual focus to become watered down, and if the cares of this life take precedence over the service and obedience to Yeshua as he outlines in the previous verses. This is a how a disciple of Yeshua loses his saltiness and becomes useless to the kingdom of Elohim.
