Hoshana Rabbah Blog

Midrash with Natan Lawrence

Hoshana Rabbah Blog

Three Times in a Year—Then and Now

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Exodus 23:14–19, Three times you shall keep a feast. The Scriptures teach us that during the three biblical pilgrimage festivals of Passover/Unleavened Bread, Pentecost and Tabernacles all Israelites were to leave their places of individual isolation and were to go up to where the presence of Elohim of Israel was. This sacred rendezvous was to occur according to the festival cycle or circle (Heb. chag) around the common sanctuary (where YHVH had chosen to place his name, Deut 16:2, 11, 15). 

In fulfilling this command,each Israelite would become conscious in a real way that he was connected to all the other members of the nation of Israel, with YHVH Elohim, and with the Torah (The Pentateuch—Deuteronomy, p. 310, by S. R. Hirsch). 

In biblical times, the Israelites would gather wherever the tabernacle had been placed. When the temple was built in Jerusalem, this city became the destination point for the Israelite pilgrims during these three biblical feasts. 

For the saints who celebrate the biblical feasts now, there is no temple in Jerusalem to gather around. The saints are now the spiritual temple of the Spirit of Elohim (1 Cor 3:16). Moreover, Yeshua has promised to be in the midst of his people when they gather together Continue reading →

 

Let’s clean up our language!

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Exodus 23:13, Make no mention of the name of other gods, neither let it be heard out of your mouth. (See also Ps 16:4.) Not only is YHVH against the worship of pagan deities and wants their names to be destroyed (Deut 12:3), but he says that he will take from the lips of his people the names of pagan deities (Hos 2:17), and eventually, he will restore a pure language (presumably one that is free of pagan names) to his people (Zeph  3:9).

Obeying this Torah principle today is difficult, since so many common words such the days of the week and some of the months of the year are named for pagan deities making normal communication without using these names difficult.

Nevertheless, the redeemed righteous of YHVH will endeavor to be mindful of this command and speak as cleanly as possible.

Since this commandment immediately follows commands regarding the weekly Sabbath and the biblical feasts, which are times YHVH has commanded his people to assemble, this is a clear remez or hint that YHVH’s saints should guard against mentioning the names of pagan gods when they gather together to worship Elohim. To mention the names of pagan deities is a slap in the face of the one and only true Elohim!

If one trains ones mind and mouth to use the biblical  Hebrew names of “God,” then one will be fulfilling this command. Here is a list of the common English names for deity and their biblical Hebrew equivalents:

  • God = Elohim, El
  • LORD = YHVH, Yah
  • Lord = Adonai
  • Jesus = Yeshua
  • Christ = Mashiach (Messiah)
 

God-Haters Control the US House of Representatives

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What more proof does anyone need that many of America’s political leaders are God-hating moral and spiritual degenerates? Increasingly, godless America, unless it repents, is like a you know what swirling around in a giant spiritual toilet bowl that is about to be flushed.

If this and other similar actions of the Democrat Party don’t offend you, then what’s wrong with you? And if you have a problem with my posting this article and spotlighting the moral repugnancy of these political leaders who are leading America down to hell, then you’re spiritually and morally sick too! Don’t bother to post your complaints here against me; trust me, they won’t see the light of day. Change the channel; my blog is not for you!

On this blog, we take no political sides. We’re on the side of truth and righteousness as defined by the Bible regardless of one’s race, political party, gender or any other manmade delineations. We give credit to anyone who stands for truth and righteousness regardless of their political affiliation, and when their words and actions disagree with the Bible, then we will criticize them as well and hold them accountable according to the Word of Elohim who will eventually bring the whole world into judgment (Rev 19:11–16).

From Fox News at https://www.foxnews.com/politics/dems-move-to-strike-so-help-me-god-from-oath-taken-in-front-of-key-house-committee

Dems to strike ‘so help you God’ from oath taken in front of key House committee, draft shows

By Gregg Re | Fox News

Texas Republican Rep. Louie Gohmert says that Trump’s decision to reopen the government without funding for a wall is part of his negotiation strategy.

A key committee in the Democrat-controlled House of Representatives is moving to eliminate the God reference from the oath administered to witnesses testifying before the panel, as part of a new rules package expected to be approved this week, according to a draft obtained exclusively by Fox News.

The draft shows that the House Committee on Natural Resources would ask witnesses to recite only, “Do you solemnly swear or affirm, under penalty of law, that the testimony that you are about to give is the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth?”

The draft rules also remove the phrase “his or her” throughout the document, changing those two pronouns to “their.” The rules additionally modify all references to the committee’s “Chairman” to instead refer only to the committee’s “Chair.”

Other rules changes relate to expanding the committee’s authority over natural gas in Alaska and fossil-fuel resources.

While many federal oaths include the phrase “so help me God,” some — most notably the presidential oath of office — do not.

The full committee is set to vote on the new language this week, and the rules would take effect immediately if adopted. Other committees were still in the process of finalizing their rules on Monday.

Republican leaders reacted with dismay to the proposed change, and suggested it was a sign of the Democratic Party’s leftward shift.

“It is incredible, but not surprising, that the Democrats would try to remove God from committee proceedings in one of their first acts in the majority,” House Republican Conference Chairwoman Liz Cheney, R-Wyo., told Fox News. “They really have become the party of Karl Marx.”

Spokespeople for the Natural Resources Committee did not immediately reply to Fox News’ requests for comment. The committee, which has oversight of national parks, wildlife and energy, is chaired by Democratic Arizona Rep. Raul Grijalva.

The proposed change was not the first time Democrats have sought to strike references to God in official party documents. In 2012, the floor of the Democratic National Convention erupted over a sudden move to restore to the platform a reference to God and recognition of Jerusalem as Israel’s capital — after heavy criticism from Republicans for initially omitting them. Democrats, though, were hardly in agreement over the reversal.

A large and loud group of delegates shouted “no” as the convention chairman (then-Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa) called for the vote. Villaraigosa had to call for the vote three times before ruling that the “ayes” had it. Many in the crowd booed after he determined the language would be restored.

Hard-left Democratic Rep. Ilhan Omar is facing backlash and accusations of homophobia after repeating baseless allegations pushed by MSNBC and liberal activists that South Carolina Sen. Lindsey Graham is being blackmailed into supporting President Trump. (AP Photo/Jim Mone)

The battle marked the biggest platform fight in either party’s convention, and signaled Democrats were worried the prior language could have been politically damaging in a tight election year.

A senior campaign official told Fox News at the time that then-President Barack Obama personally intervened to change the language in both cases. On the God reference, the official said the president’s response was, “Why did it change in the first place?”

The House panel’s proposed change comes as far-left progressive Democratic freshman in Congress, including Michigan Rep. Rashida Tlaib and Minnesota Ilhan Omar, have come under fire from Republicans for pushing what they call radical and unfounded religious-based attacks.

Omar, for example, wrote in 2012 that “Israel has hypnotized the world, may Allah awaken the people and help them see the evil doings of Israel.” Tlaib was accused of engaging in an anti-Semitic slur earlier this month by suggesting Republican politicians were truly loyal to Israel, not the United States.

Omar and Tlaib made history by becoming the first-ever Muslim women in Congress.

 

Did the Torah-law end with Yeshua?

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Luke 16:16, The Torah and the Prophets. Many people in the mainstream church view this passage as drawing a defining line between the so-called age or dispensations of law (in the Old Testament or Tanakh) and the age or dispensation of grace (in the New Testament or the Testimony of Yeshua). This in turn, in their minds, sets the Tanakh (which reveals the law or Torah) and Testimony of Yeshua (which supposedly reveals the concept of grace) at odds with each other. Is this a correct interpretation of this passage?

The evidence within the Testimony of Yeshua itself doesn’t support this common Christian interpretation, however. In no way is Yeshua annulling the Torah here, or else he would be contradicting what he clearly taught in Matthew 5:17–19.

Furthermore, Yeshua’s statement here can’t possibly mean that the Torah was now obsolete in the Testimony of Yeshua, since the apostles and early believers adhered to the Torah long after the passing of John the Baptist (Yeshua, p. 41, by Ron Mosely). Additionally, Paul’s statement in Romans 3:31 that the Torah is not voided by grace should dispel any notions that Luke 16:16 implies that the Torah would pass from the scene in the life of believers.

There are a couple of ways to understand this passage without doing violence to the Torah. First, it could be understood that Yeshua is saying that the Law and the Prophets were the only Scriptures in existence up to the time that John came on the scene. The implication is that more would soon come (ibid.).

A second way to view this passage is that Yeshua is stating that the Torah and the Prophets prophesied or pointed to the time when John would come thus ushering in the Messiah at which time there would be a change in the focus of the message of YHVH’s servants. Instead of just preaching about the Torah or that the Messiah is coming, now the message of “repent for the kingdom of heaven is at hand” (see Matt 3:2; 4:17) would be preached. This is a more expansive message that focuses now more on the salvation message centered on the death, burial and resurrection of Yeshua. This message also includes obedience to the Torah (e.g. Yeshua said, “If you love me, keep my Torah commandments” in John 14:15, also 1 John 2:2–6). Moreover, Paul clearly affirms the validity of the Torah for the New Testament believer in his forceful declarative statement in Romans 3:31,

Do we then make void the law through faith? Elohim forbid: yea, we establish the law.

The data found in the actual writings of the apostles confirms what Yeshua predicted in this verse. Of the some 8,000 verses in the Testimony of Yeshua, well over one-fourth of those verses contain direct references to the Person of Yeshua, while there are only about 260 direct references to the Torah. Yeshua himself confirms his own words as recorded by the Gospel writers. In the Gospels of Matthew and John, Yeshua spoke on 136 different subjects. The number one subject he talked about was himself (316 references), followed by his Father (184 references), then hypocritical leaders (177 references). The kingdom of Elohim comes in fourth place (77 references) and the Torah is in seventh place with 44 references. 

 

The Bible on Abortion

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Exodus 21:22, Hurt a woman with child. This passage is one of the strongest pro-life, anti-abortion verses in the Scriptures. Clearly, this passage teaches that life begins in the womb. The penalty for a man who is responsible for the death of an unborn child is death (v. 23.) Could any clearer statement be made about how the Creator feels about the sanctity of life? Here are some statistics about abortion:

  • 42 million abortions occur worldwide each year (that’s 115,000 per day).
  • In 2008, 1.21 million abortions occurred in the U.S.
  • From 1973 to 2008, 50 million legal abortions occurred in the U.S.
  • 22 percent of all U.S. pregnancies end in abortion.
  • In 2007, 84% of all abortions were performed on unmarried women.

At current rates, nearly one-third of American women will have an abortion.

(Sources of information: abortionno.org/Resources/fastfacts.html; guttmacher.org/pubs/fb_induced_abortion.html; abort73.com/abortion_facts/us_abortion_statistics/ — this is now a dead link).

Thankfully, as of this writing, the abortion rate in the US is slowly, but steadily dropping. In 2000 according to the National Right to Life (NRL), 1.36 million babies were aborted. The Center for Disease Control (CDC) puts the number at 857,475. In 2014 according to the NRL the number of abortions in the US dropped to 926,240. According to the NRL the total number of abortions performed in the US from 1973 to 2013 was nearly 58.6 million, while the CDC puts the number at nearly 51.9 million.

The murder of the innocent children is perhaps the greatest sin that a nation can commit. Abortion is a form of child sacrifice, which is something many ancient cultures practiced (e.g. the Aztecs, Incas, Phoenicians, pre-Islamic Arabs, and the biblical Canaanites). In the Bible, YHVH condemns the practice of the heathens and apostate Israelites who made their children pass through the fire in the worship of the demon-god Moloch (see Lev 18:21; 20:2–5; Deut 12:30–31; 18:10). YHVH placed on the nation of Israel a severe judgment for sacrificing its children to Moloch. He promised that their cities would be destroyed and that their nation be conquered by foreigners and that the Jews would be taken captive (see Jer 7:30–34; 32:35–36).

Exodus 21:22 clearly delineates the Creator’s position that human life begins at conception (see also Ps 139:13–16; Jer 1:5; Luke 1:15, 41, 44), not at birth. 

 

The Basics of Progressive Divine Revelation

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Learning the divinely revealed truths of Elohim and his ways of righteousness as found in the Bible is a step-by-step process that will last a lifetime.

Exodus 21–23, Basic principles of morality and righteousness. After having given the ten statements (or “ten commandments”), which forms the basic cornerstone of the whole Torah and out of which all the other Torah commands branch, Elohim now expands on these ten basic principles in chapters 21 to 23.

This passage contains the basics of how to love YHVH Elohim and one’s neighbor as oneself (the golden rule). Exodus chapters 20 to 23 contain the basic laws and principles for a society to function smoothly at a high level spiritually. They form the foundation of societal governance, which the new nation of Israel needed in order to survive spiritually (in right relationship with Elohim) and to survive physically and morally as a holy or set-apart nation surrounded by heathen nations.

It is also interesting to note that YHVH didn’t give Israel all 613 Torah laws at once, but introduced them to Israel little-by-little on an as-need basis and so as not to overwhelm them all at once. It was like a parent teaching a child one step at a time on how to act like an adult. YHVH started with the ten statements of Exodus 20, then expanded these ten into the basic laws of chapters 21 through 23, and he then goes from there instructing the Israelites in ways of righteous living. This teaches us another truth about how YHVH operates with men: He reveals himself to those who seek him slowly, methodically over time. He and his ways are too transcendently great and expansive for the mind of man to encompass all at once.

For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways, saith YHVH. For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways, and my thoughts than your thoughts. (Isa 58:8–9)

This measured method of divine revelation is exactly how the apostles chose to reveal YHVH’s truth to the new Gentile converts in Acts 15—little by little. First they heard the gospel message and came to Messiah, then they were given basic rules to follow in order to enter into the fellowship of the saints, then they would learn the laws of Moses over time each Shabbat.

Learning the divinely revealed truths of Elohim and his ways of righteousness as found in the Bible is a step-by-step process that will last a lifetime.

 

We’re back from Western Mexico

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Sandi and I just returned from a cruise to the west coast of Mexico in celebration of our 28th anniversary. Now it’s time to get back to work. YHVH granted us safe passage, despite some jet plane mechanical problems coming and going.

I will start posting articles again and open the comments section.

Today, my boys and I have a very large tree to remove, and I will be up in the tree for hours taking it apart piece by piece. A lot of rope work on this one. I’m getting to the age where someone else needs to do the climbing, but until I find someone with my skill level to take my spot, I still have to do most of the high tree climbing.

Here are a couple of pictures from Mexico. We still haven’t transferred most of the photos to our laptops yet.

Sunrises and sunsets at sea are incredible! Sunrises are definitely worth rising early for. As for sunsets, Sandi and I would spend hours watching them as they changed minute by minute—a kaleidoscope of colors. This is why we always get a balcony stateroom when we cruise, so we can watch the ever-changing, never boring movie screen of YHVH’s creation in front of, below and above us. We find savoring the natural wonders of nature much more thrilling and entertaining than the shows, music and party life on the ship, which, quite frankly, bore us. Some folks may think we’re weird, for this, but I don’t care. We’re wired differently than most people. On several mornings, I arose early to find an unoccupied deck on the ship where with the wind in my face, I’d sing and pray to Elohim as I welcomed the morning sun rising. I couldn’t help think about Mal 4:2; Ps 84:11; 2 Cor 4:6; John 8:12; 3:18–20; Rev 1:16.

Giant cacti in southern Baja California. Being a tree lover, these plants fascinated me. Had never seen any before.

Lady Gaga the wild brown pelican has learned to land on excursion boats and to take fish from tourists’ hands. Amazing fun. Maybe I’ll show you some video of this later.

A quiet paradise-like cove south of Puerto Vallarta.

A nuclear sunrise at sea.