Who me? An adulterous woman?

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Numbers 5:11–31, The adulterous woman. This passages deals with a curious ritual involving wives suspected of adultery called the Law of Jealousies that seems to have nothing to do with anything relating to you and me. Yet, upon closer analysis, we see that it’s actually an amazing prophecy that relates to every redeemed believer who has ever lived and that Yeshua the Messiah is at the center of it. 

In this ritual the woman is hauled before the priest, her head is uncovered and, according to Jewish tradition, her dress is ripped open just above her breasts (b.Talmud Sota 7a). She then has the choice to drink a concoction of earth from the floor of the tabernacle mixed with the set-apart (kadosh) water from the bronze laver into which is dipped a piece of paper that contains the curses written on it. If she is guilty of the charges of adultery when she drinks the bitter waters, her belly shall swell and her thigh (Heb. yarek or side or loins, which are the seat of procreative power) shall rot as a result of a divine judgment. If she is guiltless, the bitter waters will have no effect on her. If she refuses to drink the bitter water and her husband still suspects her unfaithfulness, then he is free to divorce her, even though she has admitted no guilt. According to Jewish tradition, this legal procedure was carried out by Israel’s highest court in Jerusalem (ibid. 7b).

Some biblical commentators see a parallel here between the adulterous woman and the trial and execution of Yeshua at the cross. On the surface, this explanation may seem improbable, but as we go on, we will see otherwise and much more besides. 

As we begin to disambiguate the meaning of this curious ritual, consider this. We know that YHVH likened his relationship to Israel to a marriage (Ezek 16). However Israel (both houses) didn’t remain faithful to her (their) marriage covenants (Ezek chapters 16 and 23; Jer 3; the entire book of Hosea). Under the Torah, adultery was a capital offense (Lev 20:10). Of course, YHVH was faithful to his marriage covenants with Israel. He is not a sinner (i.e. a violator of his own Torah, 1 John 3:4). With whom was the fault then for the failure of the marriage? It was with the house of Israel and the house of Judah! (See Heb 8:7–8.) All of YHVH’s people have sinned (violated YHVH’s Torah) and fallen short of his glory (Rom 6:23), and the Scriptures are clear that the penalty or wages of sin is death (Rom 3:23 and Ezek 18:4).

“But I am a Gentile Christian, not an Israelite,” you may respond. “Neither I nor my ancestors was ever an Israelite who was spiritually married to YHVH. Therefore, I am not guilty of spiritual unfaithfulness. I have not broken any marriage covenants with YHVH.” In response, first, who did Yeshua come to redeem? He came to redeem the lost sheep of the house of Israel (Matt 15:24). Scripture likens all wayward sinners to the lost sheep who have gone astray (Isa 53:6). Moreover, Paul equated Gentile believers with the house of Israel (Rom 9:25–29 and compare with Hos 2:23; Isa 10:22–23). 

Secondly, Jacob, the father of the twelve tribes of Israel, on his deathbed gave a curious prophesy concerning who the descendant of Ephraim and Manasseh would be (Genesis 48:14–16). In this scripture passage, Jacob speaks of a Messenger from heaven who had redeemed him from all evil, and he makes the sign of the Paleo-Hebrew letter tav over his grandsons, which is the sign of the cross.He then speaks of these descendants of his growing into a multitude in the midst of the earth, or becoming like fish in the sea of humanity (see the Orthodox Jewish ArtScroll Stone Edition Chumash/Tanach translation of this verse). Who are these descendants who have as their religious symbols the sign of the cross and the fish and speak of a Redeemer or Savior? Obviously only Christian-type people fit this description. Therefore, spiritually speaking, are you not that adulterous woman? 

Thirdly, elsewhere in the Bible, Paul clearly states that ALL those who have put their trusting faith in Yeshua the Messiah are Israel and Abraham is their father (Rom 4:16; 9:8–11; Gal 3:7, 9, 14, 28, 29.)

Now that we have established that all believers in Yeshua are related to the descendants of Jacob and are thus Israelites (Paul call the saints “the Israel of Elohim,” Gal 6:16), let’s ask the next question. At the cross we know that Yeshua bore upon himself all of our sins (Isa 53:4–6). Did he also bear upon himself our guilt for committing spiritual adultery when in our ignorance we disobeyed the commandments of Elohim when we sinned by serving, worshipping and obeying other gods (e.g. self, money, pleasure, sex, education, power, approval of others, drugs)? Indeed! He died in our place by becoming like the adulterous woman that we were. Moreover, Scripture tells us that his trial and crucifixion were like his drinking a bitter cup (Matt 26:39, 42; John 18:11). Furthermore, Yeshua was hauled before the highest religious court in the land of Israel in Jerusalem to stand trial prior to his death (Matt 26:57–68). Like the adulterous woman on trial in Numbers 5, he was stripped of his garments (see Matt 27:31), and while on the cross, his side was ripped open by the Roman soldier’s spear (John 19:34). As a substitution for us, he took the curses that was against each of us for adultery that in times past would have been written down on paper (Num 5:23). With this in mind, Paul addresses this very thing in Colossians 2:12–15, with special emphasis on verse 14, where he states that Yeshua took the curses or penalties for our violating YHVH’s laws that were against us and paid each the sin-debt or penalty in full for each of us when he died on the cross. For those who are washed in Yeshua’s atoning and redeeming blood and have been buried with him in water immersion or baptism (Col 2:12 cp. Rom 6:3–11), the devil, like a prosecuting attorney, and who is the accuser of the brethren (Rev 12:10 cp. Job 1:6–12; 2:1–6), no longer has any charges to lay against us, since Yeshua paid in full the legal debt for our sins before courts of heaven (Col 2:15). 

Few Bible students understand this glorious truth of how we are all like the adulterous woman, and how Yeshua took upon himself the charges that were laid against us because of our sins and paid the price in full when he died on the cross. The Scriptures predicted his horrific yet glorious event in the time of Moses down to the smallest detail some 1,500 years before it occurred. Give Elohim the glory!

 

Natan’s Shavuot Notes

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The Feast of Shavuot—A Brief Explanation

Shavuot is the third festival in YHVH’s cyclical parade of annual sacred appointed times. It is also known as the Feast of the Harvest of the First Fruits (Exod 23:16), Day of First Fruits (Num 28:26) and the Feast of Weeks or Shavuot (which is Hebrew for weeks, Exod 34:22; Deut 16:10, 16; 2 Chr 8:13). Shavuot falls fifty days “from the day after the [weekly] Sabbath” (NKJV) that falls during the Days of Unleavened Bread, and hence the derivation of the name Pentecost (meaning “to count fifty”) as recorded in the Testimony of Yeshua (or New Testament/NT, Acts 2:16). 

According to the first-century Jewish historian, Flavius Josephus, the concept of counting fifty was expressed by the Jews of that day by the Hebrew word Asartha (Ant. III, x, 6). The 19th century Jewish scholar S. R. Hirsch in his Torah commentary refers to it as Azereth (The Pentateuch-Leviticus, p. 663). Both of these references seem to pointto the Hebrew word VRMG atzerah (or atzereth, Strong’s H6116/TWOT 1675c) meaning “an assembly or solemn assembly.”

  • YHVH through his Torah (the law of Moses) instructed his people that Shavuot was…
  • a day of rest where laborious or servile work was prohibited (Lev 23:21)
  • a commanded assembly (Lev 23:21)
  • a time when the priests offered up offerings and sacrifices (Lev 23:18–20)
  • a time when all males were to bring the tithes of the increase of their income (Exod 23:14; Deut 16:16)
  • a time when the priests were to offer up as a wave offering to YHVH two loaves of leavened bread made of the freshly harvested wheat (Lev. 23:17–20)
  • to occur where YHVH would place his name and all were to go there to celebrate it (Deut 16:11)
  • a time of rejoicing (Deut 16:11)
  • to be forever (Lev 23:21)

An Agricultural Festival With Prophetic Implications

Ancient Israel was an agricultural society that had a spring harvest of grain and a fall harvest of fruit. The spring harvest consisted of the smaller barley harvest, which began during the Days of Unleavened Bread, and the much larger wheat harvest occurring fifty days later at Shavuot. Both the barley and wheat harvests were prophetic pictures symbolizing new life and new creation, and both were presented to YHVH by the priests for his acceptance—a sheaf of barley on First Fruits Day on the Sunday during Hag HaMatzot (the Feast of Unleavened Bread, Lev 23:10–11), and two loaves of leavened wheat bread on Shavuot (Lev 23:17).

On First Fruits Day, the priests of Israel would raise the newly harvested barley and wave it before YHVH for his acceptance. This was a prophetic picture of Yeshua who upon his resurrection Saturday evening, and subsequent ascension to heaven later on the first day of the week to be accepted by the Father (John 20:17) at the exact time the priests were waving first fruits sheaf of barley heavenward. Literally, Yeshua was the first to resurrect from the dead, and can thus be called the first of the first fruits of the resurrection from the dead.

Fifty days later Pentecost occurred when the priests offered to YHVH the two loaves of leavened bread made of wheat from the first fruits of the larger of the two spring harvests. This foreshadowed the larger harvest of souls during the time period from the giving of the Ruach HaKodesh (the Set-Apart Spirit) until Yeshua’s second coming. We are at the close of that time period now as the end of the age draws near. The Feast of Pentecost in Acts chapter two ushered in this time period with the harvest of thousands of people (Acts 2:41,47). It must be inserted here that an even larger harvest of people for the kingdom of YHVH is yet to occur during the fall feast days, which corresponds with the largest harvest of the entire year—the fall fruit harvest. This spiritual harvest will occur just prior to and after the return of Yeshua as an innumerable multitude of people come to faith in Yeshua out of the great tribulation (Rev 7:14) and when many more will be saved during the Messianic Age (or Millennium) itself.

The Prophetic Implications of the Feast of the Harvest of First Fruits

As we have seen, The Feast of the Harvest of First Fruits is another name for Shavuot (Exod 23:16; 34:22; Num 28:26). At Passover time, the barley (Exod 9:31 cp. chap. 12) was ready to be harvested in the land of Israel. Fifty days later at Pentecost, the larger wheat crop was ready for harvest (Exod 34:22). Barley and wheat were the two main grain crops of Israel (Deut 8:7–8; 2 Chron 2:15; Jer 41:8). In the late summer, the larger harvest of fruits and vegetables occurred. 

These three harvests coincided, as noted above, with Israel’s three pilgrimage festivals: Passover, Pentecost and the Feast of Tabernacles. The success of these three harvests was contingent upon the arrival of the fall (early or former) rains and the latter rains of the spring upon the land of Israel. In biblical and Jewish thought, these rains are prophetic of an outpouring of the Spirit of Elohim upon the earth, as well as of an outpouring of YHVH’s Torah-understanding and glory. This two-fold aspect of YHVH’s Word (spirit and truth) is expressed in many ways in many places throughout the pages of Scripture: 

  • spirit and truth (John 4:23–24; 1 Pet 1:22)
  • letter and spirit (2 Cor 3:6; Col 1:6)
  • grace and truth; the truth in love (Eph 4:15)
  • truth and life (John 14:15)
  • judgment and mercy (Jas 2:13)
  • power and authority (Luke 4:36)
  • word and spirit (Eph 6:17)
  • Moses and Elijah
  • “Old” and “New Testaments”
  • Mount Sinai and Mount Moriah/Zion
  • the two houses of Israel (the Jews/Judah emphasizes the letter of the law/the Torah, while Ephraim/the Christians emphasize the spirit of the law/grace/Yeshua. 

The land of Israel and the rain and harvest cycles are spiritual shadows of future outpourings of YHVH’s Spirit and the revelation of his Written Word upon people’s lives as they accept Yeshua and allow his Spirit to teach and instruct them concerning the ways of Elohim. The early rain and the latter rain also teach us about the pouring out of Elohim’s Spirit in a corporate way upon all flesh. The early rain prophetically points to the outpouring of the Set-Apart Spirit during Yeshua’s first coming and the latter rain points to the outpouring of his Spirit during Yeshua’s second (The Seven Festivals of Messiah, by Eddie Chumney, pp. 97–98). Chumney goes on to note that the concept of harvest represents the salvation of people with the spring harvest representing those who would receive Yeshua as Messiah in the present age and the fall harvest representing those who would come to Messiah at the end of the present age (ibid., p. 98).

The Giving of the Torah at Mount Sinai on Shavuot

Not of secondary importance to what we have already discussed regarding important things that occurred on Shavuot, was the giving of the Torah at Mount Sinai that occurred on this day as well. On Shavuot, YHVH “married” Israel (Ezek 16:1–13) when he formulated a covenantal agreement with her to which to which she agreed when she said “I do” three times (Exod 19:8; 24:1–8). The Torah was the basis of that covenant, or the marriage vows, if you will to which Israel swore allegiance.

YHVH gave his people the words of life to live by, but because of the hardness of their hearts they were not able to be faithful to his Torah. Like a wife who says “I do” in response to her wedding vows, but cannot remain faithful to her marriage covenant, so Scripture likens Israel to such a woman who became a spiritual harlot (Ezek 16:14–34). 

In spite of Israel’s apostasy and spiritual whoredoms, YHVH had made promises to Abraham and to his descendants that were unconditional in nature. Whether Abraham’s descendants remained faithful to YHVH or not, YHVH’s promises to Abraham were inviolate. Though the Israelites had violated the vows they made to YHVH at Mount Sinai, he revealed to the ancient Hebrew prophets that he would eventually formulate a second renewed covenant with Israel, and this time he would pour out upon them his Spirit and write his Torah-laws in their hearts (Jer 31:31–33; 24:7; Ezek 11:19; 36:25–27).

On Passover at the last supper, YHVH-Yeshua betrothed himself to Israel all over again (Matt 26:28; 1 Cor 11:25). As a seal or pledge of this betrothal, he promised to send to his disciples the Comforter or Set-Apart Spirt (John 14:26; 15:26; 16:7; Eph 1:13–14). This occurred on the day of Pentecost when he poured out his Spirit upon Yeshua’s disciples. Each received the fire of his Spirit (Act 2:1–4). In this, YHVH fulfilled his promise to give his people a heart of flesh to replace their heart of stone, thus empowering or enabling them to keep his Torah-commandments (Heb 8:7–13). In other words, Yeshua, the Living Torah-instructions of YHVH, came to take up residence within the very hearts and minds of redeemed believers through the indwelling and empowering presence of his Set-Apart Spirit. In so doing, Yeshua is living out or fulfilling his Torah from within each redeemed Israelite believer even as he himself lived out or fulfilled the Torah-Word of YHVH when he walked this earth. 

We can enter into this same renewed covenant with Yeshua who is the Living Torah and our heavenly Bridegroom when we do as the Apostle Paul says in Romans 10:9 and 10 and confess with our mouths the Master Yeshua and believe in our heart that Elohim has raised him the dead.

Romans 10:13 goes on to say, “Whoever shall call upon the name of the Master shall be saved.” Yeshua also said, “Whosoever therefore shall confess me before men, him will I confess also before my Father which is in heaven” (Matt 10:32). After confessing him, repenting of our sins, we must then be baptized and be prayed over to receive the Spirit of Elohim (Acts 2:37–41). Then one must continue to walk steadfastly in the truth of the gospel message, stay in fellowship with like-minded believers, and maintain a personal relationship with YHVH through personal devotional prayer (Acts 2:42).

Isn’t this a beautiful picture of YHVH’s love and care for his bride—his people? This is all part of the wonderful plan of salvation/redemption that YHVH laid out thousands of years ago to bring people into a life-giving relationship with himself through his instructions in righteousness—the Torah. This has all being accomplished through Elohim’s Son, Yeshua the Messiah, the Living Torah who now leads and guides his people through the wilderness of life not via a pillar of fire over a physical tabernacle, but through the fire of the Ruach HaKodesh living in the spiritual temple of each individual believer’s heart and mind, which guides them spiritually from within.

On Shavuot the first century redeemed believers were divinely empowered with the Ruach HaKodesh, called the immersion in the Ruach HaKodesh (or the baptism of the Set-Apart Spirit, Acts 1:5,8). As a result of the empowerment of the Spirit of Elohim, we see Peter being transformed from a spiritual mouse (compare John 20:23 with John 21:3) into a spiritual lion or dynamo (Acts 2:14–41). The immersion or saturation in the Sprit or Ruach is for the purpose of being empowered with supernatural gifts and enablements (the gifts of the Ruach, see 1 Cor 12) in order to be equipped to go out into the harvest field of human souls spiritually empowered and ready to bring in the spiritual harvest of souls. On the day of Pentecost, YHVH wrote the Torah into the hearts of the redeemed believers by the Ruach, and then supernaturally empowered them to take both the message of Torah—the light of his truth—coupled with the good news of the Redeemer, Messiah Yeshua—the Living Torah word of Elohim—to a lost and dying world. This is the fundamental message and purpose of Shavuot in the Book of Acts.

More Notes from Natan’s Pen

Natan’s Bible Commentary Notes

Leviticus 23:15, Day/morrow after the Sabbath. The Pharisees and their modern successors, the rabbinic Jews, begin the counting of the omer leading up to the Feast of Weeks from the first day of the Feast of Unleavened Bread, which occurs on the fifteenth day of the first month. The problem with this is that the Tanakh never refers to any of the biblical holidays as Sabbaths with the exception of the Day of Atonement (Isa 58:4–10 cp. 13). Therefore, from the evidence in the Tanakh and by strict biblical definition, it is a stretch to refer to the first day of Unleavened Bread as a Sabbath. Therefore, the Sabbath mentioned in this verse must be referring to the weekly Sabbath, and can’t be referring to the first day of the feast of Unleavened Bread. 

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Blog Scripture Readings for 5-31 Through 6-6-20

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Parashat Nasso — Numbers 4:21 – 7:89
Haftarah — Judges 13:2–25
Prophets — Jeremiah 24:1 – 30:24
Writings — Ruth 4:1–22; Lamentations 1:1 – 5:22
Testimony — 1 John 4:1 – 5:21; 2 John; 3 John; Jude; Romans 1:1 – 2:29

Our new annual Scripture Reading Schedule for 2019-2020 with daily readings is available to download and print. If you are still working through 2018-2019’s Scripture Reading Schedule, the link will still be available on the right sidebar under “Helpful Links”. If you are using a mobile device or tablet, the link may be below, meaning you’ll need to scroll down instead.

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 or the “share your thoughts” box 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 5/31 through 6/6/2020.

 

Free Shavuot Study Resources from Hoshana Rabbah

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Tomorrow, Sunday May 31, is Shavuot, the Feast or Weeks or Pentecost, the third of YHVH Elohim’s seven biblical festivals (see Lev 23). To help you to celebrate this joyous festival whether you are alone or with other people, over the years, we at Hoshana Rabbah Biblical Discipleship Resources have developed a number of free resources.

We often get asked the question, “What am I supposed to do on the feasts?” To start with, do what the early Hebraic believers did when they got together. Check out Acts 2:42–47; 20:20; 1 Cor 14:26; Col 3:16 and Eph 5:18–19.

Additionally, check out our free resources:

Articles on the Feast of Weeks/Pentecost: https://www.hoshanarabbah.org/teaching.html#feast

YouTube Videos on on the Feast of Weeks/Pentecost: Go to our channel and then click on the Sabbath and Biblical Feasts playlist and scroll down until you come to videos dealing with Shavuot/Pentecost.

https://www.youtube.com/HoshanaRabbahhttps://www.youtube.com/HoshanaRabbah

On Natan’s Bible Study Blog, check out the many other articles and resources on the Feast of Weeks:

https://hoshanarabbah.org/blog/?s=Shavuot&submit=Search

Finally, for a slide presentation of a Shavuot service with prayers, recitations and liturgy, go to https://www.hoshanarabbah.org/shavuot.html and https://www.hoshanarabbah.org/shavuot/shavuot_service.html.

So what’s stopping you from celebrating the Feast of Pentecost as the Bible commands? JUST DO IT!

Love, grace, blessings and shalom to everyone in Yeshua the Messiah!

 

The flowers of my garden rejoice and declare the glory of YHVH Elohim!

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Shabbat shalom everyone, and have a chag sameach Shavuot (joyful feast of Pentecost) tomorrow (Sunday, May 31, 2020)!

The Bible on flowers…

 I [i.e. the saints in the eyes of Yeshua, the Bridegroom] am the rose of Sharon, And the lily of the valleys. Like a lily among thorns… (Song 2:1–2)

His [i.e. Yeshua to his bride, the saints] cheeks are like a bed of spices, banks of scented herbs. His lips are lilies, dripping liquid myrrh. (Song 5:13)

The fig tree puts forth her green figs, and the vines in blossom give a good smell [i.e. Yeshua in the eyes of his bride-saints]. Rise up, my love, my fair one, and come away! (Song 2:13)

For lo, the winter is past, the rain is over and gone. The flowers appear on the earth; the time of singing has come, and the voice of the turtledove Is heard in our land. (Song 2:12)

A garden enclosed is my sister, my spouse [i.e. the bride of Yeshua, the saints], a spring shut up, a fountain sealed. Your plants are an orchard of pomegranates with pleasant fruits, fragrant henna with spikenard, spikenard and saffron, calamus and cinnamon, with all trees of frankincense, myrrh and aloes, with all the chief spices— a fountain of gardens, a well of living waters, and streams from Lebanon. Awake, O north wind, And come, O south! Blow upon my garden, that its spices may flow out. Let my beloved come to his garden And eat its pleasant fruits. (Song 4:12–16)

 I will be like the dew to Israel; He shall grow like the lily, and lengthen his roots like Lebanon. His branches shall spread; His beauty shall be like an olive tree, And his fragrance like Lebanon. Those who dwell under his shadow shall return; They shall be revived like grain, And grow like a vine. Their scent shall be like the wine of Lebanon. (Has 14:5–7)

Finally, may this be the story of your life…

The wilderness and the wasteland shall be glad for them, and the desert shall rejoice and blossom as the rose; it shall blossom abundantly and rejoice, even with joy and singing. The glory of Lebanon shall be given to it, the excellence of Carmel and Sharon. They shall see the glory of YHVH the excellency of our Elohim. (Isa 35:1–2)

I took this photo several days ago from the front door of my house.
 

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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