Do not be overcome, be an overcomer!

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Deuteronomy 25:19, Blot out Amalek. The Hebrew name Amalek literally means “I am king.” Remember how the people of Amalek attacked the children of Israel as they were coming out of Egypt (Exod 17:8)? These heathens attacked the weary, stragglers and weak Israelites who were falling behind in the rear ranks (Deut 25:18).

The Israelites defeated Amalek militarily under the leadership of Moses and Joshua when Moses stood on a hill with his arms outstretched in the form of a cross (Exod 17:10–13). It was at this spot that Israel learned that YHVH Elohim was their spiritual banner (Heb. Yehovah Nissi; Exod 17:15).

There is a spiritual lesson in this story for us today. Amalek is a spiritual picture of the world, the flesh and devil that will attack and try to destroy us spiritually as we’re coming out of our own spiritual Egypt and beginning our trek through the wilderness of life en route to Promised Land of our spiritual inheritance, which is the kingdom of Elohim from heaven.

This reminds us of Yeshua’s Parable of the Sower (Matt 13:3–9) where the good seed of the Word of Elohim was sown on four types of soil. The seed failed to grow in the three types of soil representing the world, the flesh and the devil (Matt 13:18–23). This is another picture of Amalek.

What defeated Amalek? Joshua the valiant warrior defeated the Amalekites militarily, while at the same time Moses was perched on a hill over the battlefield with his arms raised to heaven. Both Joshua and Moses are a prophetic picture of Yeshua. Joshua’s Hebrew name is Yehoshua, which is the long version of the name Yeshua. At the same time, on the mountain Moses’ arms grew tired and had to be supported and in so doing took the form a cross. What are these things a spiritual picture of? Moses and Joshua combined form a prophetic picture of Yeshua defeating the world, the flesh and the devil at the cross on Golgatha’s hill. Only when Moses’ arms were raised up to heaven in surrender and supplication to the Almighty did Joshua experience victory over the Amalekites. Similarly, only through prayer and the intercession on our part and through the resurrected Yeshua the Messiah in heaven acting as our Great High Priest before Elohim’s throne will we be able to defeat the spiritual enemies that are attempting to prevent us from entering the Promised Land of our spiritual inheritance.

The enemies of our salvation will attempt to destroy us when were weak, tired and falling behind in our spiritual walk. However, when we determine to fight, we have Yeshua’s victorious death on the cross as well as his help in heaven to overcome our enemies.

One of YHVH’s covenant names is Yehovah Nissi or YHVH Is My Banner. A military banner is something used to help build the morale of troops during the battle. YHVH is our strength and morale booster in the time of battle, and through or faith in YHVH-Yeshua, we already have the victory over the world, the flesh and the devil!

This lesson illustrates the fact that the Scriptures contain many deep spiritual mysteries and truths that if it weren’t for the physical examples or prophetic shadow-types contained therein they might otherwise be obscured to us and too difficult to comprehend.

 

Yeshua Teaches About Divorce

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A commentary on Deuteronomy 24:1–4

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

Malachi says that YHVH hates putting away, a Hebraism for divorce (2:16). Yet Yeshua says in Matthew 19 that in the Torah divorce was permitted if one of the parties had a hardened heart resulting in irreconcilable differences. Adultery was cause for divorce if the offending party refused to repent.

YHVH married the whole House of Israel (i.e., all twelve tribes) at Mount Sinai and the Torah was the marriage agreement (See The Bible: The Good News – The Story of Two Lovers & YHVH’s Set-Apart Feast Days Are the Outline of that Love Story: A Plan of Redemption where the Jewish wedding is outlined historically and prophetically in a biblical context, available at http://www.hoshanarabbah.org/pdfs/love_story.pdf). Ezekiel describes the marriage between YHVH and Israel succinctly and allegorically in Ezekiel 16:6–8.

Yet because both the Houses of Judah and Israel committed spiritual adultery by whoring after foreign gods and lovers and failed to live up to their marital agreements they had made with YHVH at Mount Sinai when they said “I do” three times (Exod 19:8; 25:3, 7). YHVH sent prophet after prophet as recorded in the pages of the Tanakh (Hebrew Scriptures) in attempts to turn the heart of Israel back to him, yet her heart was hardened toward him and she refused to repent of her adulteries; therefore, YHVH was forced to do that which he hates and dissolve the marriage and divorce Israel.

In light of these issues, what are the prophetic implications of the divorce of YHVH from the nation of Israel and his future remarriage to the same nation? To understand this issue and to gain a deeper understanding of YHVH’s wonderful plan of salvation for his people, read “The Prophetic Implications of Divorce in Light of the Two Houses of Israel,” which is available at http://www.hoshanarabbah.org/pdfs/divorce.pdf.

 

Are Jewish fables and the Torah the same thing?

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Titus 1:14, Jewish fables. Many Bible teachers in the mainstream church teach that this verse refers to the Torah. They use it in attempting to prove that the commandments of the Torah are no longer valid for believers. Is this correct? In reality, Paul can’t be referring to the Torah here without contradicting himself elsewhere. In numerous places, he strongly upholds and defends obedience to the Torah (Rom 3:31; 7:7, 12, 14; 13:8–10; 1 Cor 7:19; 9:21; Gal 3:10; 6:2; 2 Tim 6:14; Tit 2:14) and even claims to follow it himself (Acts 21:24; 24:1425:8; 28:17; 1 Cor 9:21). He must be talking about the Jewish traditions of men, which Yeshua said in Matthew 15:3–9 and Mark 7:7–9 make of non-effect the word of Elohim.

In fact, this is exactly what Paul is referring to here in this verse when he says “Jewish fables and commandments of men.” This is not a reference to the Torah the commandments of which came from YHVH Elohim, and not from men. In the same verse, Paul contrasts these commandments of men with “the truth” from which men have turned away. What is this truth? The Bible defines its own terms. Elohim is the source of truth (Deut 32:4 cp. Pss 86:11; 89:14; 117:2), he is truth (Ps 25:10; 31:5; 33:4), and his Torah is truth (Ps 119:142, 151).

One example of a Jewish fable and a commandment of men would be the idea that one can’t be saved unless they’re first circumcised, which was the subject of the Acts 15 council. Paul vehemently fought this Jewish fable, and the whole Book of Galatians, for example, largely deals with this issue. If Paul had meant the Torah when mentioning “Jewish fables” then this makes Paul into a schizophrenic liar (since he promotes and lauds the Torah and claims to follow it elsewhere), and it makes the word of Elohim contradict itself, and it puts Paul at odds with Yeshua who upheld the Torah (Matt 5:17–19) and with himself when he said to imitate Yeshua the Torah-keeper as he himself did (1 Cor 11:1).

 

A video that the Spirit of Antichrist doesn’t want you to watch

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New Video: The Bridegroom Is Coming — Awake, Repent & Prepare!

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The sixth month of the biblical calendar occuring in the late summer is the time to awake spiritually, repent of sin and to prepare for the fall biblical festivals, which prophetically picture the second coming of Yeshua, the Heavenly Bridegroom of the saints. This video discuss how and why to get ready spiritually.

 

Blog Scripture Readings for 8-23 Through 8-29-15

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THIS WEEK’S SCRIPTURE READINGS FOR STUDY AND DISCUSSION:

Parashat Ki Tetze — Deuteronomy 21:10 – 25:19 
Haftarah — Isaiah 54:1-10
Prophets — Amos 2:1 – 8:14
Writings — 1 Chronicles 23:1 – 29:30
Testimony — 2 Timothy 4:1-22; Titus; Philemon; Hebrews 1:1 – 2:18

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

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

Weekly Blog Scripture Readings for 8/23 through 8/29/15.

 

Rules, rules and more rules…a good or bad thing?

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Deuteronomy 21–25

This portion of the Torah (Deut 21:10–25:19) contains 72 commandments, which is more than in any other Torah portion. In this passage there are rules pertaining to all aspects of human relations showing that the “Torah deals with the real world. It does not present a world where all people get along with one another or rush to take care of one another’s property. Instead, it ‘takes into account the grim reality that people do not achieve the desired observance of “you shall not hate others in your heart”’” (A Torah Commentary For Our Times, vol. 3, p. 150).

In studying this portion, one can easily miss the point of a particular command if one views it strictly in its pashat (most literal) meaning. For these commands to have relevance in our day, one must view them as principles that have a broad range of application. The specific examples Torah gives are merely representative of one of but many life situations to which the principle behind the example could apply. Keeping this in mind, this Torah portion will give you much to ponder pertaining to your day-to-day walk (or halakhah).

In these chapters we see a plethora of laws concerning many seemingly small details regarding human life. Many people in the church have the tendency to broadly sweep away these commandments with such dismissive cliches as, “We’re now under grace …” or “We’re not under the law anymore …..” But please observe how many of the civil laws of our nation regulating actions between various members of society are based upon YHVH’s laws found in the Torah. As we make our way back to a more biblically-based lifestyle and orientation, we begin to see that (a) YHVH cares about the details of our lives and (b) these laws, while sometimes hard to understand, are for our own well-being and blessing. Do you still nurse a “pick and choose” or “have it your own way” mentality with regard to YHVH’s biblical commandments choosing to follow the ones you want and making excuses why you can’t (or don’t want to) follow the rest? By doing so, what blessings are you depriving yourself of, and how are you hindering your love relationship with YHVH?

Some of the laws in these chapters may be hard to observe nowadays. With others, due to our church background, we may have the tendency to spiritualize them away, thus, in essence, rendering them of non‑effect in our lives and thereby placing ourselves above YHVH’s Torah-law and thus becoming a law unto ourselves. Is this not humanism: every man doing what is right in his own eyes instead of obeying YHVH whatever the cost? Who is the Master of your life? You or YHVH?

How do you view laws about women wearing men-type clothing, wearing fringes on the corners of your garments, mixed certain types of fibers in clothing, lending without interest, caring for the widows and orphans, personal hygiene, family purity laws (e.g. men not having sexual relations with their wives during their monthly cycles), removing blood from all meat before eating it, men wearing beards, faithfully tithing, following the biblical dietary laws, and observing YHVH’s Sabbaths (weekly and annual), etc.? These are lifestyle-changing laws, many of which go contrary to the mores of our society.

Are we not called to be a kadosh, set-apart, special and peculiar (i.e., treasured) people before YHVH? What progress are you making to bring your life into conformity to his standards of righteousness?