Gone on Vacation: Happy Sukkot!

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Shalom Everyone,

It’s that time of year again — time to head out into the wilderness to celebrate Sukkot (the biblical Feast of Tabernacles). This year, it starts on the evening of Sept. 21 and ends on Shemeni Atzeret on Sept. 29.

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My family and I will be loading up our personal gear as well as well as the ministry stuff (sound equipment, etc.) into our vehicles and trailers and heading over the mountains into the intermountain region of Central Oregon. There, we will be joined by others from several states and Canada for eight days of celebration, teachings, fellowship and group activities. You can read all about it on our Sukkot Northwest website at http://sukkotnw.org.

This all means that I won’t be posting anything on this blog for a while. I will I be out of cell service most of the time, but if I find a wi-fi hot spot somewhere, I’ll upload some photos of our event as I did last year.

To learn more about the biblical Feast of Tabernacles, I invite you to read my teaching on the  subject at http://www.hoshanarabbah.org/pdfs/sukkot.pdf.

Maybe next year some of you can join us if not in Jerusalem, then here!

Sukkot

 

Shabbat Shalom: It’s Yom Kippur (on the biblical calendar)

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Yom Kippur is a day of contradictions and contrasts: Joy and sorrow. Rewards for the righteous and judgments for the wicked rebels. Joy for the righteous when Satan and his demons, death and Babylon are destroyed by the King of kings.

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On this day the high priest of ancient Israel went into the holy of holies of the Tabernacle of Moses (and later the temple in Jerusalem). There he sprinkled blood on the mercy seat (Heb. kapporet) and the ground seven times. Atonement was made for the high priest himself, his family as well as for all Israel. On this day the sanctuary, tabernacle, the priesthood and the all Israelites were cleansed. It represented corporate or community cleansing and entering into a deeper and more intimate relationship with YHVH.
The Passover and Day of Atonement are related though different:

  • Pesach (Passover) is the time of the sacrifice or atonement for personal sin—initial repentance from sins committed before being born again.
  • Yom Kippur (Day of Atonement) is the time of the atonement or covering of the individual’s as well as the corporate sins of Israel committed in ignorance (Heb 9:27) during the past year. On-going repentance is needed by the individual believer as well as the community of believers in order to stay in right-standing (called righteousness) before YHVH (1 John 1:9).

It is important to note that the shedding of innocent blood for the remission of sins is a central theme to both the Passover and the Day of Atonement (Yom Kippur) events. The question may rightly be asked, Continue reading →

 

New Video: Wake Up! Look Up, Yeshua’s Coming Draws Near!

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The cry is going out to the saints of Yeshua: Wake up! Don’t be discouraged by the crazy things going on around you in the world. Yeshua is coming, the bride must prepare herself. He’s at the door of a lukewarm church and is knocking to be let in. The Bible is true, and the end times prophecies are being fulfilled. The fall biblical feasts are a prophetic picture of this, so get your spiritual house ready!

 

New Video: Sighting the New Moon

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In this video, Congregation Elim sights the new moon that determines the first day of the seventh month of the biblical calendar and the beginning of the biblical holiday of Yom Teruah (the Day of Trumpets/Shofar Blowing) 2013.

 

New Video: Yom Kippur & the Spiritual Benefits of Fasting

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Besides the Bible commanding the saints to do so, why do we “afflict our souls” (i.e., fast) on Yom Kippur? What are the spiritual benefits? How does it bring you closer to and in unity with your Creator and your fellow man? Why should fasting be part of your spiritual growth regimen? Learn how fasting makes your spirit man stronger and your flesh nature weaker — all in this video.

 

Blog Scripture Readings for 9/15 through 9/21/13

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Parashat V’zot HaBerachah — Deuteronomy 33:1 – 34:12
Haftarah — Joshua 1:1 – 1:18
Prophets — Zechariah 10:1 – 14:21; Malachi 1:1 – 4:6
Writings — 2 Chronicles 32:1 – 36:23
Testimony — Revelation 16:1 – 22:21

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.

Chag Sameach from HoshanaRabbah.orgMay you have a joyous Feast of Tabernacles (Chag Sukkot) celebration!

Weekly Blog Scripture Readings for 9/15 through 9/21/13.

*** This Parashah is usually read on Shimchat Torah, the day after Shemini Atzeret (The Eighth Day, following the Feast of Tabernacles). We’ve taken liberty to insert it here.

 

Preparing for Yom Kippur (Sept 17) — Why Do We Fast?

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What Is Fasting?

It [the Day of Atonement or Yom Kippur] is a day to afflict your souls (Lev 16:29 and 23:27) or literally “to humble ourselves.” The word afflict is the Hebrew word anah (Strong’s H6031) meaning “to oppress with the idea of humility or meekness in mind coupled with the idea of a suffering life rather than with one of worldly happiness and abundance” (The Theological Wordbook of the Old Testament, vol. 2, p. 682). The JPS Jewish Study Bible translates the phrase afflict yourselves as “you shall practice self denial.” Although this verse does not specifically mention fasting as a component of Yom Kippur, Jewish understanding on the term afflict your souls is firm that this refers to fasting (the ArtScroll Tanach Series Vayikra/Leviticus Commentary, p. 404). With this view in mind, the pre-eminent nineteenth-century Orthodox Jewish sage, Samson Raphael Hirch in his commentary translates afflict your souls as “starve your vital spirits” (The Penteteuch-Leviticus, p. 678). However, there is a scriptural link to be found between afflicting one’s soul and fasting (i.e., abstaining from food). That link is to be found in Isaiah 58, which some Bible commentators believe is a reference to Yom Kippur. In verses three and eight, the terms afflict [one’s] soul and fast are used synonymously. The word for fast is the Hebrew word tsuwm (Strong’s H6684) meaning “to abstain from food.” We also see the connection between fasting and afflicting the soul in Psalm 35:13 where David states, “I humbled/afflicted my soul with fasting.”

Yom Kippur-afflict soul

Additionally, rabbinical thought teaches that Leviticus 23:27 suggests five afflictions that one must endure on Yom Kippur: no eating and drinking, no washing oneself, no anointing oneself, no wearing leather shoes, and no cohabitation. It is suggested that these five afflictions correspond to the five times the term soul/nephesh are found in this passage (i.e., verses once each in 27 and 29, twice in 30, and once in 32; see Baal HaTurim’s commentary on Lev 23:27).

Christian commentators, Keil and Delitzsch begin to connect the dots for us as to why fasting is tied to atonement. We read,  Continue reading →