2024 Torah Commentary

Genesis 1, Genesis 2, Genesis 3

In the beginning, after God had set in motion a perfect and good physical and spiritual world where Heaven and Earth could dwell together, he rested the Seventh Day and sanctified it. Adam and Eve were naked, and yet they were not ashamed. We should not think of the Word of God in a worldly way, but rather in Spirit and Truth. Adam and Eve were vulnerable with God, with Yeshua (Jesus), who walked around in the garden with them every evening as each new day began. There wasn't a single thing that was not shared among the Creator with our father and mother, and they cherished the relationship they had with one another. There was potential as the evening came, a need to be satisfied, and after a night of rest, for six days of the week, Adam and Eve, in partnership with God, would work on understanding Eden, categorizing it, and then spreading the plan out into the whole creation. On the seventh day, each week, they rested and came together with God to feast on all of the wonderful things God had made for them, to cherish His plans to prosper them with thanksgiving and gratitude, and to enjoy one another's company. This is the paradise that awaits all of God's children who love Him and keep His commandments.

God does not tempt Man, for He is good. He does not create traps or tricks, for He has no darkness in Him at all. He created free will, so that Man could choose to love Him or not. He didn't want robots; He wanted friends who would choose Him. The Tree of Knowledge represented that free will choice God granted us the liberty to pursue; namely, the choice to betray Him and disobey His commandments. He explained that it wasn't the right move, He warned there would be consequences, and He provided every possible blessing for doing what He desired. And yet the Nachash, usually translated "serpent," was the one who whispered against God's will, because this sorcerer did not want to share God's affection with man. He sought out to destroy God's friend through deception—a deception that persists to this day; and that is this: He said: God didn't really mean it when He said you will die if you violate His commandments. He lied. God meant it, and He still means it. The punishment for sin is death, but thanks be to God that He came in the flesh to live perfectly and die for our sin so that we could start with a clean slate and make better choices, following Him in all of His ways.

Genesis 4, Genesis 5, Genesis 6

To Cain, the LORD gave a Word that we ought to take to heart, He says: “Why are you angry? Why so downcast? If you are doing what is good, shouldn’t you hold your head high?" This is remarkable, for the LORD, when He came in the flesh, told us that to even harbor anger in our heart is akin to the sin of murder, a violation of the 6th commandment (Mt. 5:21-22). Our heart ought not concern itself with what others do to us. We ought not fret concerning our circumstances, and especially not in contrast to others' circumstances around us. We ought to be content—but also grateful! Shouldn't we hold our head high? Shouldn't we look to God and thank Him for every opportunity to grow closer to Him and every blessing He shares with us? This was Abel's (Havel's) heart attitude, in contrast to Cain's, and this is why the LORD accepted Abel's offering, but not Cain's. When we love Yeshua (Jesus), we can't just say that we love Him and begrudgingly go about our day, moaning and groaning about every little thing. The LORD desires our hearts to cherish our relationship with Him and go to Him for every concern, and He will help us. He will write His law on our hearts so we can become obedient to Him, which always leads to abundant blessing.

The second Word to Cain that followed the first is just as important. The LORD says: "And if you don’t do what is good, sin is crouching at the door—it wants you, but you can rule over it (CJB).” Psalm 37:8 says pointedly, "Cease from anger, and forsake wrath; Do not fret—it only causes harm." You see, Cain did not cease from anger, but he let it fester to the point of murder. Anger is murder in the heart, and unless we take the anger captive, by the power of the Holy Spirit, we have nothing to expect but judgment. Even if we don't follow through on the anger, it can still lead to bitterness and resentment, and the Holy Spirit cannot dwell in the heart of someone who is harboring such darkness. The LORD said, "pray for those who persecute you or spitefully use you." Paul wrote, "don't let the sun set on your anger." Cain murdered, and was thus forced to wander as a vagabond. His heart did not repent, but sin led to more sin, unto death. Abel, for his part, is the first martyr, and his blood cries from the ground beneath the altar until the day when all of those who will be martyred join him. Abel will be one of the Saints raised to rule with Messiah Yeshua for 1,000 years, and He will not face the second death. Think about that.

The issue with darkness, like anger and bitterness, is that it spreads to others. Yes, there were spiritual beings who rebelled against their appointed station and produced children with women, resulting in the Nephalim. Their spirits became the demons we face even today. And yes these demons certainly influenced man and brought great evil onto the earth, a real and present danger. But these demons have no power over us when we walk according to the righteousness of Christ. God gave Man dominion over the earth, and it was Man that gave up his dominion to the evil ones. God wouldn't allow this to continue forever, and His plan involved three efforts to wipe out this perversion. Yes, there was a flood of water to destroy evil, and a flood of fire is reserved for the End, but today we understand that Yeshua came to take dominion back according to His intent, and it is available for any one of us in Him. When our heart is obedient to the LORD in all of His ways, and our words and actions follow through on this obedience with His help, then through Him we have authority over demons, we have power over evil. Yes, sin wants to overcome us, to destroy us, but we can rule over it in Yeshua. This is the calling for all who want to live.

Genesis 7, Genesis 8, Genesis 9

Noah is a model for us. Multiple times God said that Noah was righteous, even blameless. This does not mean he was without sin, but it does mean his heart was aligned with God's law and he desired to keep it because he loved God. Were there other righteous men before the time of the flood? It's hard to say. We know there were murders galore, because the thoughts and intents of men's hearts were only evil continually. Were many of those who were murdered among the first martyrs, following in the footsteps of Abel, while the murderers themselves were following in the footsteps of Cain? Remember: Yeshua Himself said: "only God is good." God created Man to be good, and He also created Man with a free will, which allowed man to vary from being good. We have now seen three examples, amplified in magnitude, of man choosing evil over good. First Adam and Eve chose to rebel against God's commandment and were sentenced to die. Then Cain chose to murder his brother, a violation of God's commandment, and was cast out from among society, to wander like a vagabond in his unrepentant misery. Cain's heart spread to all of mankind, and only a small remnant remembered God and the commandments He taught to Adam, Seth, Enoch, Methuselah and Noah.

For his part, Noah obeyed the LORD fully, because he had faith in what God had said. For this he was saved. He entered the one door that was available to him to escape judgment. He was able to convince his family to join him, and though he may have invited others, they did not change their ways and follow after the LORD like him. The End Days will be like this, Yeshua said in Matthew 24, and we can expect that fewer and fewer people will follow God's commandments, even while saying they love the LORD. They will think only wickedness continually, paying the LORD lip-service, while disregarding what the LORD has said. But hypocrites won't be the only ones cast into the lake of fire, so too will those in outright rebellion against God's commandments, and those who flaunt their sin, despite His great gift of grace that He offers to us all. There will be no more flood of water to wipe out all flesh, and we can count on this promise of God, but there will be fire that will devour all who do not turn to Yeshua as their savior and then walk in His ways. We can count on it. And so we too ought to repent, to walk in God's ways alone, rather than our own ways, and to follow our Savior Yeshua, rather than our own desperately wicked hearts.

It is in Christ's righteousness alone that we can trust, and we know this because Noah, the man saved from the flood, fell into sin not long after his salvation. He got drunk. Was he condemned to hell? Without repentance, he surely would have been. But we see judgment come upon those who celebrated his sin—specifically Canaan—and that tells us that Noah repented. He turned back to God and followed Him. Thank God we have an intercessor, Yeshua, who can forgive us from our sins when we repent and turn back to Him and all of His ways. We can't continue in our sin once we become aware of it, but we must do as Noah did and repent. Likewise, we ought to behave like Shem and Japheth, who made the effort to help their father who was suffering from the consequences of his sin. They covered his nakedness; and they gave him a chance to recover and turn back. This is what Yeshua desires for us. He forgives us fully, even while we are in the midst of our sin, but He also calls us to stop sinning and follow after Him instead. Without repentance there is no chance for eternal life. The judgment comes upon all who refuse to turn away from sin when confronted with it, but mercy comes upon all those who turn back to the LORD and walk in His ways.

By way of interlude, I want to point out that there is great scientific evidence that shows the flood was a historical, worldwide event, and the consequences of that event can be seen in all of the world today. Answers in Genesis does a great job at the Ark Encounter in Kentucky explaining all of this. Yeshua believed in the flood, and He spoke about it. Peter used the flood as an example, explaining that we must be like Noah and believe in the promises of God by keeping the commandments of God, especially in these last days leading up to the coming of our LORD. Read 2 Peter 3 in its fullness, for we do not want to be counted among the scoffers in the Last Days who say, "Where is the sign of his coming?" These signs are all around for those with eyes to see. The evidence that God did what we read about in today's reading is also all around us. We ought to examine it with the assumption that the Bible is true, or at least consider the evidence without bias one way or another. The starting bias matters, but one thing I know for sure is this: I would rather side with the One who was there and made it all happen than Man today, who was not there and can only guess about what happened, especially without a relationship with the LORD.

Regarding individual Scriptural verses that seem to say something that our heart wants to hear, but only benefits our flesh and not our Spirit, we must be careful not to practice "isolational analysis," or poor exegesis, for this can cause a false understanding of Scripture. In Deuteronomy 12:15, God tells Israel: "you may slaughter and eat meat within all your gates, whatever your heart desires, according to the blessing of the LORD your God which He has given you; the unclean and the clean may eat of it, of the gazelle and the deer alike." This is similar to what God says in Genesis 9:3, "Every moving thing that lives shall be food for you. I have given you all things, even as the green herbs." It is also similar to the controversy in Romans 14, where Paul writes "For one believes he may eat all things, but he who is weak eats only vegetables." Do these verses contradict Leviticus 11 and Deuteronomy 14, where God expressly commands His people to eat only what He considers to be clean meat? Did God change His mind between Deuteronomy 12 and Deuteronomy 14? The answer is: "certainly not!"

Even in Genesis 7, the beginning of today's reading, God identified "clean" animals, of which 14 came on the ark, and "unclean" animals, of which only two came on the ark. When God said you may slaughter and eat meat, whatever your heart desires, everything that moves, we must understand that God does not lie. He does not contradict Himself. He doesn't change His mind back and forth like a man does. Thus, we must be mindful of what God says we may eat within "the whole counsel of God," and it is God's definition of what meat can actually be defined as food that we ought to consider within the parameters of "everything that moves." God has declared that swine, mice, bats, lobster, vultures, tigers and the like are not considered meat—they are not food—and thus they are not included in God's permissive language here nor anywhere else in Scripture.

So what is the purpose of God's Word to Noah that he can eat animals? Prior to the flood, man could only eat from "every seed bearing plant," and only vegetables were meant to be food. After the flood, potentially due to major ecological changes, God allowed man to eat clean meat, which He defined both before and after this statement. The word clean here is not present in the verse, but it is implied by the context and logic. Specifically, Noah brought seven pairs of clean animals on the ark, and only two unclean animals. If Noah were to suddenly slay an unclean animal for food, the species would go extinct. This could not be what God desired, and nor can it be what he permitted. On the contrary, when God told Noah to bring seven pairs of clean animals on the ark, He knew that He was going to allow man to eat from this meat after the flood subsided, and the species of animal would be just fine. Later in Scripture, in more than two places, God identified specifically for all of His people what He means by food when it comes to eating meat. God did not go from strictness, to permissiveness, to strictness and then permissiveness again. At the first, He required vegetarianism, but then He allowed clean meats to be eaten, and from there things have remained the same.

Genesis 10, Genesis 11, Genesis 12

We like to blow past the genealogies, and maybe even the story of Bavel, the Hebrew name for Babylon. The tower at Babel, or Babylon, is a pivotal point of human history, and it affects us greatly even today. We can see that Nimrod was "a mighty hunter before the LORD." He wasn't offering his game to the LORD, but was standing up to the LORD's face by doing this. In other words, this verse is saying that Nimrod was in rebellion against God, standing upright face-to-face in a direct challenge of His authority. We see this theme continue as Nimrod leads the whole city he founded up against God, building the tower, even claiming that this tower was taller than the flood waters the LORD had used to destroy the Earth. There's so much here. Do you know people who rebel against God because in their flesh they do not like what the LORD did by flooding the Earth? Do they even stop to ponder why the LORD did this? It's about sin and rebellion, yes, but also in direct challenge to the LORD's authority as the one who can command us to obey Him. A command does not have to be followed, and in the case of antediluvian men, as well as the men of Bavel, they actively rebel against it.

To this day, it is not Eve that is held up as the rebel in the garden story, nor is it Adam, but the Nachash that is held up as the deceiver and rebel; specifically, the Spiritual rebel. But in the tower of Babel, it is Nimrod who takes the place of Nachash, and now man Himself is actively and purposefully standing up against their Creator and challenging His authority. Nimrod is the human rebel, and he is still regarded as such to this day, celebrated as the son of Satan in every single pagan religion. I could go much further into this history, but I leave this to you to research on your own. Every pagan practice and worship ceremony that we have today dates back to Nimrod, who resurrected them from the antediluvian period. The descendants of Noah, who was the righteous and blameless man saved by God, have descended into evil—rebellion against God—just like their antediluvian ancestors. In brief, they too were following after demons. Think about this one fact: God promised that He would not flood the Earth again to destroy all flesh, and yet Nimrod disbelieved the LORD's promises to the extent that he built a tower higher than the floodwaters so God "couldn't" flood the Earth again—as if God was limited in what He could do.

As we read this, we ought to ask ourselves the question: Do we believe in the promises of God? Do we believe in His story (His account of what actually happened)? For the record: my answer is "yes." It's fascinating when we look at all 70 nations/people groups/ethnicities that came out of Babel, from the land where God confused our languages, that each have a flood story account in their culture, though their story was passed down by oral tradition and confused with their pagan traditions they received from Nimrod. The Bible's account is the only one that we can have confidence in, because we know that "the generations of the sons of Noah" were recorded in written form for all to see, and passed down in written form throughout the ages. The word "generations" or תּוֹלְדָה (toledoth) means "written account of men and their descendants." Moses wrote down "all the words of this Torah" (Deut. 31:9, similarly Exodus 24:4, Deut 31:26, etc.), as we read many, many times. For Genesis, which came before His time, Moses compiled histories that were written down and archived by his forefathers. Moses is stating this plainly by using the word "toledoth" in his account of these days in Genesis 10.

Nimrod and those who followed him did not believe God's account of history, passed down by his forefathers, and they did not believe in God's promises. We know this because he was literally afraid of God flooding the Earth again, when God said He wouldn't do this, and he took action to rebel against God because of his disbelief. Rather, he believed in his own strength, in his own ability, and in the power of man to do whatever he set his mind to, apart from God. This is Satanic! God does not endure with this type of rebellion, but he takes action against it and brings his judgment upon the rebellious. God confused the languages of men and separated them into 70 different nations apart from him so that He could prevent men from ever coming together apart from Him again, though we would do this one more time before the end. In doing this, God also called out Abram from Babylon, and set Abraham apart as a nation set apart from the rest. What made Abram special is that he followed in the footsteps of Noah, of Methuselah, of Enoch and of Seth. God called him to come out, and he went out. We can see it in the text. He believed God and this was accounted as righteousness, but his belief was not contradicted; he acted on it accordingly.

Our faith is doing, and not just hearing only. And Abram would serve as an example for us as the "children of Abraham." While we do stumble from time to time, as Abraham did, our agreement with the LORD and subsequent obedience (that presents as evidence of our agreement with the LORD) is what separates us from the world and makes us the children of the LORD. The world is represented by Nimrod and his followers, who believed Satan and desired the life of those who were drowned in the flood. The faith is represented by Abraham, who is called out to be separate and to seek an unknown path while trusting fully in the LORD on account of belief in His accomplishments (creation, redemption) as well as His promises (deliverance, eternal life). When we have this faith, we also ought to act in a way that reflects we love the LORD who made these promises, by doing the things that He desires even though we don't understand why or what the end result will be.  Read Matthew 21:28-32. This parable explains Abraham, who was living in Babylon and following in the sins of his fathers who had followed Nimrod, but then later obeyed the LORD and went out from among them to be a man of God. He is our model to follow, and it will be our treat to uncover His ways in the coming days.

Genesis 13, Genesis 14, Genesis 15

Who are the children of Abraham? In John 8:39, Yeshua said: "If you were Abraham’s children, you would do the works of Abraham." Abraham "[did] nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit. Rather, in humility [he] value[d] others above [himself], not looking to [his] own interests but ... to the interests of the others." (Philippians 2:3-4). He gave Lot the opportunity to select the best land available, the land of Sodom, which was almost as fertile and lush as the Garden of Eden. For doing this, the Most High said He would bless Abraham in the land of Israel, his grandson. We learn that Lot's desire for worldly riches worked out against him, for Sodom was a sinful land with sinful men. It was therefore judged by the sword and attacked, but Abraham selflessly pursued the aggressors, defending Lot, his family and his countrymen. He did not lot one of his own get taken out by the enemy. For this, he was offered the world by the king of Sodom as a reward, but he didn't take a reward from him, preferring instead to give 10 percent of everything He had in thanksgiving for victory in battle to the King of Righteousness and Peace, a prophetic template for Yeshua, who represented the MOST HIGH, in the city that would become Jerusalem.

The LORD came to Abraham in visions, explaining that He would be rewarded for His faith. He praised the LORD, but He also sought Him in prayer, petitioning Him in a time of need, wondering how His promises would be fulfilled. How would Abraham have an heir from his own body when Sarah his wife was barren? The LORD promised a son, and Abraham believed the LORD's promise, and this faith was credited as righteousness. It's critical for us to believe in the LORD's promises, which at this point entail our salvation when we trust in Yeshua and follow Him by keeping the LORD's commandments, and eternal life when we endure in this faith and grow in it until He comes in judgment, or until we fall asleep in the grave. Will we mess up on the Way? Of course, as Abraham also did. However, our faith must not waiver. Even when we mess up and face the consequences for our misunderstanding of the LORD's will, we must continue to trust Him. He has made a New Covenant with us through the blood of Yeshua, much like the covenant he made here with Abraham with the blood of animals, but better. There will be years of exile, years of misunderstanding, years of failure, but the LORD will ultimately return us to Him and His promises when we trust in Him.

Genesis 16, Genesis 17, Genesis 18

When we take matters into our own hands, disaster often strikes. Such is the case with the birth of Ishmael, who would be a thorn in his brothers' side from then until now. Abraham should have known better when Sarah asked him to do this; he should have denied her this request and waited on the LORD. Despite Abraham's presumptuous sin, which the LORD would work out for good by caring for Hagar and her son, He would still bring the promised son to Abraham and Sarah 13 years later, after Sarah had passed the age of childbearing. With the LORD, all things are possible. Abraham and Sarah should have waited on the LORD. Let this be a lesson for us. Rather than act presumptuously, we ought to wait on the LORD's promises.

It would have been incredible to eat with the pre-incarnate Yeshua and his two angels. Abraham's hospitality for them exemplifies the Gospel. Whenever a stranger or other house guest comes to visit, we ought to treat them in this way.

It is good to know that the LORD would save a place from destruction if 10 faithful are found there. I'm hopeful to build up such a minyan at our church of faithful followers of Yeshua who are all-in on following Him in every way. With about 15-25 coming regularly, we're almost there.

Genesis 19, Genesis 20

In Luke 17:32, Yeshua said, "remember Lot's wife." Read the rest of that chapter; Lot's story is a prophetic picture of the End Times judgment of God. He will take out His faithful and save them from destruction, but He will not save those who hold onto the world and all that is in it. In 2 Peter 2:7, the Apostle confirms this interpretation, explaining that God "delivered RIGHTEOUS Lot, who was oppressed by the filthy conduct of the wicked." Do we grieve over the wickedness around us every day, praying for the LORD to keep us from it, or do we take part in the wickedness? Do we practice the hospitality of LOT who entertained angels, pleading with them to come into our house of prayer for protection. Do we DO the great commission, to make disciples, to baptize them in the name of the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit, do we teach them the commandments of God? (Mt. 28:18-20). Lot did this, and it is his example in Sodom that we ought to follow. The parable of Lot and the end times ends when Lot's wife looks back, for this is the last warning to us that we must take to heart.

As to the more disturbing nature of this story, remember from Genesis 6:2, "the sons of God saw the daughters of men, that they were beautiful; and they took wives for themselves of all whom they chose." Why did the men of the city want to copulate with the angels? Because they would gain the power and wisdom of the gods from this! They were evil and pagan and they knew the story of their pagan fathers going back to Nimrod at Babel. They wanted the forbidden knowledge offered by Nachash to Eve in the Garden. Lot, understanding all of this, offered something righteous: his virgin daughters. He didn't mean to cast them out to rape and destruction, but in marriage. We must remember that Lot was righteous! He was exhorting the people to return to righteous ways.

Nonetheless, his daughters had picked up the ways of the world and looked to worldly gain and reward rather than the salvation that God had just drawn them out from. They sought to create descendants by their father. It's possible that the world population was still small enough that this would have been considered acceptable, but more likely they were acting presumptuously. Lot, for his part, allowed himself to get drunk, and drunkenness is sin precisely because it leads to this type of end: we let our guard down and are susceptable to sin. Lot's drunkenness is not a sin that leads to death, but it is sin, and the consequences of it are chaos destruction. The people of Ammon and Moab would plague Israel, the people of God, for many, many generations, even though they were brothers.

Abraham did not sin by telling Avimelech that Sarah was his sister; it was a true statement. His fear was actually warranted, also. He acted shrewdly and likely saved his own life. Consider what had just happened to Lot in Sodom. The Gentile nations were embroiled in sin and the likelihood that they would have killed Abraham and taken Sarah was high, for she was a beautiful woman. They did take her, and God intervened. For his part, Avimelech was actually acting in righteousness, a prophetic template for the Gentiles who would later be called into the House of God through Yeshua. It was because God could see his heart that he was spared, for his punishment would have been death for committing adultery if he was left to his own devices, even in his ignorance. Adultery is a sin leading to death without repentance. We know he was righteous because he listened to the voice of God who called out to him on Sarah and Abraham's behalf. For this, Avimelech was actually grafted in to relationship with Abraham through covenant, and this too is prophetic for the righteousness Jews and Gentiles share together in Christ. Our own hearts ought to be like Avimelech's, listening to the voice of God and obeying it without fail.

Genesis 21, Genesis 22, Genesis 23

After 100 years of life, Abraham finally fathered his promised son. This miraculous birth, and the miraculous sacrifice that would follow, would foreshadow the coming of our Messiah Yeshua, who is God in the flesh. Isaac was not God nor the son of Yahweh, but the LORD brought forth this living, historical parable so we would know who Yeshua was when He came. It’s a prophetic template of the highest value, and He used a faithful man He called out from the world—Abraham—to show the world His entire plan. This was a veiled plan, one that would not make sense to Abraham or his contemporaries or even the many thousands of believers who lived from that day until the first century AD, when Messiah Yeshua was born, but this was for good reason. The LORD had to hide this plan from the Evil One to make sure he did not understand what the LORD planned to do to restore His creation. If Satan knew that Yeshua had to die so He could be raised to save us from our sin, then Satan would not have led the effort to have him murdered through Judas Iscariot (Luke 22:3). The promises of Yahweh had to be available for those of us afterward so we could see them and believe, but obscure enough so as to not give away His plan to the enemy. The brilliance and magnificence of our LORD is ever on display in every Word of Scripture and it makes me cherish the Word all the more.

Regarding the LORD’s instruction for Abraham to sacrifice Isaac, there are a few things to say. Firstly, let Scripture interpret Scripture: Hebrews 11:17-29 explains, “By faith Abraham, when he was tested, offered up Isaac, and he who had received the promises offered up his only begotten son, of whom it was said, ‘In Isaac your seed shall be called,’ concluding that God was able to raise him up, even from the dead, from which he also received him in a figurative sense.” The LORD had explained that Isaac was the son of promise for Abraham. He wasn’t about to take him away from him just 12-20 years after he was miraculously born, and certainly not before he had children of his own. Abraham knew the LORD’s character, he knew that his friend Yahweh HATES human sacrifice and considers it an abomination (Deuteronomy 12:31, 18:10, etc.), and Yahweh’s character never changes. He simply trusted the LORD’s promises and took action to obey His Heavenly Father—something we ought to learn from. God stopped him from misinterpreting the command, and the LORD had never intended him to carry it out. The command served two purposes: 1) To serve as a prophetic template for Yeshua, the promised Son of God, so we could read the Word and see evidence for His coming, and 2) to test Abraham’s faith. Abraham had acted on his own to father Ishmael and didn’t wait for God. God fulfilled His promise anyway, but wanted to test Abraham to make sure He truly had repented and turned toward the LORD. Abraham passed the test.

The LORD’s plan was to use Isaac as a prophetic template for the coming of the Son of God. Isaac was to be sacrificed into a life fully devoted to the LORD in all of His ways. Paul writes in Romans 12:1: “I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that you present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable to God, which is your reasonable service.” This is the sacrifice that the LORD had in mind for Isaac. What’s more, because God HATES human sacrifice in all its forms, we have to reason through a few apparent paradoxes. How then did Yeshua (Jesus) come to sacrifice Himself for our sin if the LORD HATES human sacrifice? We read in Numbers 23:19: “God is not a man, that He should lie, Nor a son of man, that He should repent. Has He said, and will He not do? Or has He spoken, and will He not make it good?” God Himself would take accountability for His own creation and come in the flesh (see Philippians 2:5-11) so that He Himself, a sinless eternal One, would die for our sins. Know that Yeshua is Yahweh, and there is only one God. The Son was the physical image-bearer of God Himself, and He is God and always will be God. This is how the LORD could sacrifice His Son, the one who came in the flesh, because it was He Himself who sacrificed Himself. Only God Himself could atone for our sins, and no substitute would do. This is also why there is salvation through no other means than faith in Yeshua.

Abraham purchased land to bury Sarah in what would become Israel; it was actually quite a bit of land. This purchase has deep significance, considering that Abraham insisted on buying the land and not taking it for free. The thirteenth-century sage Rabbi Yitzchak bar Yehudah, wrote, “According to Leviticus 27:16, the value of land in biblical times was 50 silver shekels for … 75,000 square … (cubits).” He continues, “Thus, the area purchased by Abraham [with 400 silver shekels] was … 600,000 square cubits.” He adds: “A square cubit is the approximate area occupied by an upright human being.” The Rabbi explained that when we understand that the generation of Jews who left Egypt totaled about 600,000 heads of households, and so too were the men from the second generation roughly 600,000 in number who entered the Promised Land, we should note that the first purchase of land in Israel “included a share for every Jewish soul,” a type of prophetic promise to Israel’s future inheritance of the land, through the seed of Sarah. I agree with this prophetic picture, but I think it’s deeper than this. Who is the seed of Sarah—the Promised Son? As explained earlier, it is Yeshua! So here’s my conclusion: Abraham valued land for burial greater than he valued land for living in (he lived in tents his whole life). He wanted a place where Sarah’s body could be preserved, as well as his and his descendants so that they could be raised up on the Last Day by the Promised Seed into the eternal Kingdom. Hebrews 11:8-10, Ecclesiastes 7:1-2 and Philippians 1:21 inform this interpretation. Yeshua told us we were to sell everything we have to buy a place in the Kingdom of God, and I think Abraham’s purchase is allegorical for this.

Genesis 24, Genesis 25

Abraham had such faith that his servants relied on the grace of Yahweh to bless them in their missions for their employer. As He asked for Yahweh to provide at the well, so He provided and he boldly spoke in faith about his mission, which the LORD made successful. This too is how we ought to live, relying on the LORD to fulfill His will in our lives, believing that because He said it, it will be as He said. Rebecca for her part was a faithful woman wanting to be obedient to Yahweh, and she went with Abraham's servant without hesitation to fulfill the will of the LORD and to become the wife of inheritance. Women should aspire to be like Rebecca, who grasped onto the Son of promise and let go all of the things of this world, not even looking back while leaving them behind.

Meanwhile, Abraham had given his entire inheritance to Isaac, just as Yeshua has inherited all of the Heavens and the Earth as the Son of God, and the other brothers were only given a stipend and sent away. I find it interesting that Isaac and Rebecca's story is minimal in Scripture outside of their marriage of promise and their interaction with their sons. For such a celebrated and promised son, I would think to see more of his story. We know he was obedient to God and obedient to his father, even carrying the wood on which to make the sacrifice, just like our LORD. His minimal coverage points to another day when the prophesy of the promised Son would be fully realized in Yeshua.

Of critical importance for later interpretation our reading concludes with two key points: 1) Rebecca was a prophetess. The LORD spoke to her and explained that there were two nations in her womb and the older would serve the younger, which is a reversal of regular cultural inheritance. Usually the oldest son got the double portion and the younger one received only a third of the inheritance, but such would not be the case here and Yahweh Himself said Jacob would receive the inheritance, which is symbolic for eternal life in God's Kingdom. Nevertheless, the prophesy that Esau would serve Jacob does not damn Esau to hell; for Esau's own free will would determine his destiny. Yeshua has said that the greatest among us will be our servants, and so Esau had a real opportunity to live a righteous life of God. He rejected it repeatedly, which leads to point 2) Esau sold his birthright legitimately to Jacob, and Jacob did not steal it from him. Jacob was 100 percent righteous in claiming the birthright later on from his father on account of this, and yet he still hesitated to do it. His mother Rebecca, the prophetess, would insist on it, because as we learn here it is better to obey God and not man, when the two are in conflict. For his part, Esau despised his birthright in the Kingdom of God and valued the world more. Woe to anyone else who does the same.

Genesis 26, Genesis 27, Genesis 28

Isaac made two covenants with Avimelekh, a Gentile who had known Abraham and his relationship with the LORD. Though Isaac was concerned for his life on account of his wife, Avimelekh had a heart for the LORD and rebuked him, concerned that any adultery would bring a curse upon him and his land. But the LORD prospered Isaac as he had promised, and thus Avimelekh cast Isaac away from him so that the competition would not lead to bloodshed. Isaac found a place to settle in Beersheba, the house of the seventh well, and there He called upon the name of Yahweh. These wells represent the living water of God, and it's interesting that the Philistines as symbolic demons had been filling them in with earth. Is this not how Satan tricks God's people to fall away, by filling them with the things of this world? Isaac, for his part, dug them all out by focusing on the Kingdom of God and thus restored the living water of God in his life. Avimelekh had seen enough. He made covenant with Isaac a second time, representative of the New Covenant wherein Gentiles are grafted in to Israel through Messiah Yeshua. Now the children of Abraham would live in peace with the Gentiles around them on account of the blessings from the LORD.

In the story of Isaac's blessing upon Jacob, we must understand that Jacob was honoring his mother, who directly commanded him to impersonate Esau. She was disobeying her husband only so much as God had given her direct Word to do so—He had earlier told her that the elder child would serve the younger—and we must serve God first. Rebekah told Jacob that any sin involved in what he was doing by obeying her would be on her, and thus Jacob is blameless in what he did. Rebekah, for her part, is also blameless, because she was obeying God. Esau, for his part, was trying to weasel his way back into the first-child status, even though he had already sold his birthright to Jacob. If anyone here is at fault, it is him, for he should have been an honorable man and recognized that the birthright no longer belonged to him. His desire to murder Jacob because of his own choices further reflects his evil heart, and this root of bitterness would not leave Esau or the people of Edom for their entire existence until God wiped them out for helping the Babylonians raid Judah. Esau made a bed of evil, and would die in it. Despite all of Jacob's later kindness to his brother, Esau would never stop trying to steal what he had sold away.

Rebekah for her part, would now request that her husband send Jacob to her people to find himself a wife, rather than marry one of the wicked Canaanite women living around them. Esau, being the evil-hearted man that he was, married two of them, and Rebekah could not bear God's chosen son marrying into such a people. You can see here on a matter that was not prophesied or commanded by God to the contrary, Rebekah rightly turned to the headship of her husband and relied on his decision regarding Jacob. He was in agreement with his wife's suggestion, and away Jacob went to Laban. On the way, the LORD appeared to Jacob and confirmed that he would be the chosen vessel to continue the LORD's priesthood on the Earth. From him, the Son of God would be born, and He Himself appeared to Jacob to tell him this. Jacob pledged to serve this Word of Yahweh should He go with him on his journey, and as we know, the LORD has said, "I will never leave you nor forsake you." Jacob pledged to give a tithe to the LORD, and the LORD would bountifully bless Him because of His humble heart willing to put the LORD first. Jacob's heart is one we ought to emulate.

Genesis 29, Genesis 30, Genesis 31

Jacob's time with Laban is symbolic of Israel's time in Israel. While the acquaintance was sweet at first, it later soured and devolved into slavery. Laban was a liar and a cheat. Even after making Jacob work seven years for Rachel, he gave him Leah, forcing him to work another seven years for the one he loved. Then he worked another six years for speckled and brown sheep, but Laban took all of the speckled and brown sheep out of the flock for himself before Jacob could take his wages. God provided Jacob with a blessing because he loved the man who had become his enemy, and despite all this ill treatment, he put his head down and did the work, never thinking anything evil. Because he had a heart of gold, God directed Jacob to return to the Promised Land and he greatly blessed him on his way out. As a prophetic foreshadow to Israel escaping Egypt, Jacob left with a fortune and left Laban with nothing. Just like Pharaoh chased Israel after they had left, so did Laban, and the scoundrel even tried to claim that Jacob had no right to his wives whom he had worked for or the sheep that he had agreed upon. The LORD intervened and made sure Jacob would return to the land of his fathers with the bounty he had earned.

The whole nation of Israel, except for Benjamin, was born in the bondage of Laban. Leah and Rachel became rivals of one another, which led the LORD to later clarify in Leviticus 18:18: "Nor shall you take a woman as a rival to her sister, to uncover her nakedness while the other is alive." While the concept of a kinsman redeemer would be unveiled, that a man would take his brother's wife if his brother died, the LORD clarified that what Jacob did should not be done. Granted, it was no fault of his own. Laban forced his hand in the matter. The rivalry lead to the two sisters' servants also becoming Jacob's wives and children ultimately came from all four women. There is a lesson amidst all this chaos, though: Rachel was not granted children until she humbled herself before the LORD and prayed, while Leah had already been humbled by being the unfavored wife and God blessed her greatly on account of her humility. We ought to praise the LORD and thank Him for the bounty He provides us even when what's happening to us in the world is not ideal. His blessings abound, and they are greater than our expectations when we simply trust in Him.

Genesis 32, Genesis 33, Genesis 34

The saga of Jacob and Esau continues, and in Gen. 32-33 we see the Gospel of Yeshua come to life. Jacob loved his enemy, and even though he was afraid of him, he did what was right. He strategically sent his house forward, ensuring that he would not lose everything if Esau made good on his promise to murder his brother. This is wisdom. We might see a lack of trust in the LORD's promises in this episode, but it would be unfair to expect perfection from Jacob when we have not achieved it ourselves. Are we not afraid when the enemy confronts us directly? Do we not struggle to turn our hearts toward the LORD and trust Him when the prospect of destruction stands in front of us? Do we go before the LORD and wrestle with Him and plead with Him to take away our fear and build up our faith and trust in Him? I know I do. Jacob prevailed in his wrestling match with the Angel, who was the pre-incarnate Yeshua, which we know because Jacob says, "I have seen the face of God and lived." The face of God is Yeshua; He is the very visible image of the living God. And so we learn, when we are afraid, when we are to face an insurmountable enemy or problem, we ought to spend our nights in prayer with the LORD, pleading for His blessing. We MUST NOT LET GO until we receive the blessing, all while knowing we don't deserve it on account of our sin. This is how intense our prayers must be.

Isaac had blessed Jacob, making him master over Esau, and yet as Esau's master, Jacob presented himself as a servant. In Mark 10:43, Yeshua said, "whoever desires to become great among you shall be your servant." He loved his enemy, the one who wanted to murder him, before he even saw him. This is what Yeshua asks of us, and we can see the result: Esau did not murder his brother, even though he approached with a foreboding army of 400 MEN! What could be missed here we cannot skip: Esau offered to lead Jacob into the land. This is not a kind gesture, but rather an attempt to usurp Jacob's rightful place as first born, which he was given by the LORD, purchased with a bowl of red stew, and given by his father Isaac at the command of his mother Rebecca. When Jacob refused, Esau tried again, offering to leave his men with Jacob. Jacob kindly refused this gesture, indicating that he would go at the pace of his cattle and his children, and rather than go to Seir, the land of Esau, he went on to Succoth, the place of dwelling in tents. Jacob, like his fathers Isaac and Abraham, preferred to live in tents than to permanently establish a dwelling on the earth. He knew His home was in Heaven and the Promised Land was not here on this Earth.

Jacob even loved his enemies to the extent that he would have forgiven the man Succoth for raping his daughter Dinah, but his sons Levi and Simeon took vengeance into their own hands, making Jacob stink among the inhabitants of the land. The LORD says, "vengeance is mine, and I shall repay." While the punishment for rape is death, should we take the law into our hands? Jacob, by his own words, says "no," and I believe he's correct. It is only at the direction and guidance of the LORD, within the proper structure, that justice ought to be done. If you skip ahead to the blessings and curses Jacob gives his children at the end of his life, both Levi and Simeon are cursed to live amidst their brothers and not inherit any land of their own, which has great spiritual significance. It was because of what they did in Succoth. Even Reuben would lose his first-born status for sexual sin—he slept with his father's wife—leaving Judah and Joseph with firstborn status and the inheritance respectively. In any case, Jacob continued to wander throughout the Earth, not finding a place to lay his head, just as our LORD Yeshua said about Himself. He didn't find a place to call home, because his home was in the Kingdom of God. That being said, Jacob was not about to take the offer of Succoth and Hamor to intermarry with their sinful sons and vice versa. We ought not yoke ourselves with unbelievers, for it will lead to our ruin, but the end in this story does not justify the means, and that is the lesson.

Genesis 35, Genesis 36, Genesis 37

The beginning of Genesis 35 teaches us about spiritual warfare. If we are going to go to Beth-El, the house of God, to build an altar to worship the LORD, just as Jacob did, we first have to set aside all of our idols, which means any idea, object or activity that we elevate above our love of God and the commandments He has given to us. We cannot go before God in prayer if we carry any sin in our hearts with us, we must "get the sin out of the camp." We can't even dabble in the sin of idolatry, because Yeshua is a jealous God. We can't just leave our idols behind us, either, but we must bury them so they are gone forever. When we do this, everyone around us in the world will look upon us and know that our hearts are for the LORD. They will observe what we are doing and fear God. Our example will show them that God is real and He blesses those who devote their entire hearts to Him.

In fact, when we throw off all of our thoughts, words, deeds and property that we elevate above Yeshua and put the LORD first in our lives, above all else, He will come to us and bless us, and God greatly blessed "Jacob" by giving him the honorarium "Israel." Jacob would no longer strive among men (the meaning of his name) to put others first before Himself and obey the law of Christ, but now he would also strive before God (the meaning of Israel) and aim to elevate God above everything else in his life. Israel loved God and loved his fellow man, and in his actions and his very name, which God identifies with when He says, "I am the God of Jacob," we see the whole law and prophets fulfilled and verified.

For his part, Esau would turn his back on God one last time and go off to live in Edom, where he would raise up a nation that would later be destroyed by God on account of its bitter jealous and hatred for the people of God. Esau never forgave his brother to the point that his descendants continued this grudge to their own destruction.

As Ya'akov (Jacob) "continued living in the land where his father had lived as a foreigner, the land of Canaan," we must understand the meaning of this in its fullness, which the writer of Hebrews explains. Consider this in Hebrews 11:8-10: "By faith Abraham obeyed when he was called to go out to the place which he would receive as an inheritance. And he went out, not knowing where he was going. By faith he dwelt in the land of promise as in a foreign country, dwelling in tents with Isaac and Jacob, the heirs with him of the same promise; for he waited for the city which has foundations, whose builder and maker is God." And so we see here in Genesis 37 that Jacob took up the mantle of his fathers; he lived as a foreigner in the land promised to him, because he knew that the land He was promised was a future kingdom that God would bring down for all of His children who love Him and keep His commandments through the son of promise. This is the only inheritance Jacob cherished, and we must follow in his example.

Joseph presents a prophetic template for the first coming of Yeshua. He is a dreamer of dreams, a prophet, and His prophesy comes true, which is important for understanding. Consider Deut. 18:22, Jer. 28:9 and Ezek. 33:33, among so many other verses, that explain that a prophet is verified when his word comes to pass. When a true prophet goes out by speaking the Word of God and teaching its truth, he will be hated by those who do not know God. We know, as Yeshua said, “A prophet is not without honor except in his own country, among his own relatives, and in his own house” (Mark 6:4). We know, a prophet may even be put to death for speaking the Truth of God's Word. But like Jacob, who knew his reward was in Heaven, Joseph would store up treasures in heaven. Our life is not about glory or honor or blessing, but about giving God glory and honor and blessing, and God will exalt those who humble themselves in this life like Joseph, who spoke the Truth no matter the consequences. Joseph's brothers sold him into slavery in Egypt and sacrificed a goat to fake his death for their father, just as Yeshua's brothers sold him over to the Romans. This sacrifice, the blood that was shed, would bring great blessing, but not until much later.

Genesis 38, Genesis 39, Genesis 40

Judah's story with Tamar teaches us a few things about God's law; namely, that we ARE our brother's keeper, and that Tamar, despite her apparent sin, was righteous. Like Jacob, who simply claimed the birthright God had already given to him, which Esau sold to him, Tamor claimed the right of a son that was due to her from her kinsman redeemer. Deut. 25:5 teaches that if a brother dies without a son, the living brother ought to take his dead brother's wife as his own and give her a son for his brother's name. Onan failed to do this for his brother Er with Tamar, and thus God killed him. Instead of give Shelah to Tamar, which the law requires, Judah hid him away. Judah was guilty for this (Shelah was too young for that responsibility). Ultimately, Tamar would claim her right and ensure she was redeemed by sleeping with Judah. When Judah discovered Tamar was pregnant through "harlotry," he was ready to burn her to death, which is the law's punishment for harlotry, but then she produced his signet ring, which rightfully belonged to her son Perez, Yeshua's ancestor, forcing Judah to admit, "she has been more righteous than I." This act of humility and repentance restored Judah for his own sin, and everything worked out for good.

It is possible that Joseph, the step-father of Yeshua, had another kinsman redeemer in his own history, if we are to believe that both Luke and Matthew's genealogies represent Joseph's heritage? Was Joseph the son of Heli, the son of Matthan/Matthat (Luke 3:23-24), or the son of Jacob the son of Matthan (Matthew 1:15-16)? Were Heli and Jacob brothers? Did one of them die, leaving it to the other to be his kinsman redeemer? It's certainly possible, for this is one way to explain the disparity between the two genealogies. Assuming this is correct, and I believe it is, then it may be that Matthew wanted to point out how Joseph, the step-father of Yeshua, was the son of Jacob. By doing this, Matthew would be pointing back to the Joseph and Jacob of Genesis and identifying Yeshua as the prophetic son of Joseph's story. However, this latter Jacob would be the kinsman redeemer, the biological father of Joseph the husband of Miriam, while Heli would have been the brother who died. Joseph would be known as the son of Heli in Luke's Gospel because Luke's aim in writing his Gospel was to give a historically accurate account. According to the law, Joseph would be Heli's son on account of the fact that Jacob had redeemed his brother's name.

As we move into the story of Joseph, which really deserves a book to be written about it rather than the couple paragraphs I have time for, it's important to remember that Joseph's brothers sold him into slavery at the hands of the Ishmaelites, who took him down to Egypt. Similarly, Yeshua's brothers sold him over to Pontius Pilate the Roman, who then sent him to his death on the cross. Joseph prospered in Egypt at first, just as Jesus prospered when he was sent to Pontius Pilate; the Roman governor liked Yeshua and wanted to release Him. Joseph became elevated to the highest position in Potiphar's house, but then on account of false accusations against him, he was sent into the dungeon. This was the case for Yeshua, who was falsely accused by the woman (Israel), who was committing adultery with false gods (their fealty to Rome itself above God), and then he was sent off to the cross. Like Joseph, we must flee from sexual immorality (1 Corinthians 6:18), and like Yeshua, we must strive to "be perfect, therefore, like your heavenly Father is perfect." (Matthew 5:48). Despite this, we will be persecuted, even killed, just like Joseph and Yeshua.

In prison, Joseph was next to two accused men who were punished there with him, just as Yeshua was hung next to two criminals. And in both cases, one of the criminals was given hope about a future life in the kingdom, while the other was condemned for presumptions/rebellious sin. And just as Joseph was forgotten in the dungeon, so too did all of Yeshua's followers flee when He was taken to the cross. This is the type of teaching that Yeshua gave to the men on the Road to Emmaeus, Luke 24:27, where we read, "And beginning with Moses and all the Prophets, He explained to them what was said in all the Scriptures concerning himself." We ought to be looking for the Truth in every word, from Genesis to Malachi, and then beyond into the New Covenant writings. Joseph is a true prophet of God, and every Word he spoke came to pass. Yeshua was a prophet like unto Moses, and every Word He spoke has and will come to pass. When we understand that the Word of God is living and powerful and sharper than any two-edged sword, we can see that it defines sin and exposes the Truth, so we can look into it like a mirror. If our heart is to pursue God in all of His ways, then the Word will show us where we fall short so we can repent and return to God.

Genesis 41, Genesis 42

As Joseph was raised out of prison and made the ruler over the kingdom of Egypt, so too was Yeshua risen from the grave and restored to ruler over Heaven and Earth. The historical allegory continues. Joseph had a first born called Mannasseh, meaning "causing to forget," and a second son Ephraim, meaning "for God has made me fruitful in the land of my misfortune." In Yeshua's first coming, God forgot our sins by His blood, and in His second coming He will take us out of the great tribulation and will raise us up into fruitful, eternal life right here on Earth. Pharaoh made Joseph the ruler of Egypt, he was like Pharaoh in every way, and the people of Egypt even were made to worship him. He brought provision of bread to all who came before him. For his brothers, Joseph returned their money and still gave them bread. For believers, repentance is the price for the bread of life, and the brothers repented. They said, “We are in fact guilty concerning our brother. He was in distress and pleaded with us; we saw it and wouldn’t listen. That’s why this distress has come upon us now.” This confession of sin is what led to their great blessing, but Joseph would test them first, as God also tests us before He allows us into His Promised Land.

Genesis 43, Genesis 44, Genesis 45

The historical parable of Joseph is evident from the text to any believer today, for it is clear he is a prophetic template for Yeshua, who died so that all of his brothers and sisters could live. What might be missed, and must not be missed, is the story of Judah's repentance and Benjamin's gift from his brother, a multiple of five above his brothers (too deep to explain today). I'll get to Benjamin in an upcoming reading when Jacob blesses him, but for now suffice it to say that what happens to Benjamin is a foreshadow of the Apostle Paul, his descendant, who received a ministry from Yeshua to preach to all the nations.

Consider for a moment that Judah is the one who recommended the brothers sell Joseph into slavery. At least he didn't have a murderous heart like the others, but he very much did his brother a great evil in exchange for a little money, just like Judas did toward Christ. Unlike Judas, though, Judah came to full repentance. Joseph tested his brothers by setting up a situation where Benjamin, their father's new favorite son, would be enslaved. Jacob would have died at hearing the news, and Judah knew this. For the sake of his brother and their father, he offered up himself instead. Judah had learned his lesson. He wasn't going to repeat his error from the past. Joseph could not contain himself at this point and he revealed himself to his brothers. He forgave them, all on account of Judah's total reversal. Does not our Savior Yeshua do the same for us? When we repent of our sins and completely walk away from them, showing through our actions that we have adopted the heart of God, the LORD forgives us from sin and cleanses us from all unrighteousness. In the eyes of God, Judah was now blameless for what he had previously did, and Joseph, as the prophetic representation of Messiah Yeshua, fills the role of forgiving him completely.

Genesis 46, Genesis 47, Genesis 48

Israel was given preference in the land of Egypt, and this story now becomes a prophetic template for the End Days that we are now living in (following the advent of Messiah Yeshua). The Gentile Egyptians gave everything they had just so Joseph (a template for Yeshua) could give them the bread of life, which they could then produce fruit with, giving 20 percent back to the kingdom. Our life ought to resemble this, for Yeshua said to sell everything we have to follow Him, and He will provide what we need. Israel lived in Goshen, set apart, and was not subject to this arrangement, perhaps a foretell of the time they would deny Messiah Yeshua and live set apart in the world as a prophetic nation in the flesh—a prophetic canary in a coal mine. Joseph's life reflects the Messiah's first coming and the aftermath, and this finale to the story paints this picture well, for it is what we observe in the world today. That being said, it is imperative for everyone to call upon the name of Yeshua to be saved, whether Jew or Gentile. Yeshua is the only way in the Spiritual Promised Land, which is yet to come. David's life prophetically represents the second coming of Yeshua, and so we will learn more about that later.

Israel and his children would also be shepherds of the sheep of the LORD, whether Jew or Gentile, leading all the people of the world as a nation of priests to the LORD by their example. This is metaphorically represented in this story when Pharaoh asked Joseph to put his brothers in charge of his sheep in the fertile fields of Goshen. They were called to be shepherds by the LORD, and without Israel, we would not know Messiah, who was born of Judah. We must be grafted-in to this nation in order to follow after the LORD, for salvation is to the Jews, our Savior Himself said.

As far as Israel is concerned, he too was a prophet, and he would spend some significant time prophesying the future for his sons, even up to including their captivity in Egypt and their later return to Canaan. Today we read about his prophesy to Ephraim and Manneseh, and there are two things of note here. Jacob gave Joseph a double portion inheritance, which belongs to the eldest son, but he gave the birthright to Judah in tomorrow's reading. This in itself foretells the first and second coming of Messiah, for He is the Messiah son of Joseph (literally via his step-father and prophetically via Joseph) and the Messiah son of David, the son of Judah, who would serve as the Messianic King forever and ever. And so it should not be a surprise to us that His divinity is also declared by Jacob the prophet today, for Jacob blessed Joseph and his sons by the name of the God of His fathers, the God who was His shepherd, and the Angel (divine messenger) who rescued him from all harm. The Hebrew grammar of this sentence is such that the God identified in the first and second part is identical with the Angel in the third part. Jacob is describing the complex, triune nature of God, and Yeshua is the Angel that is referred to here, one in being with the Father.

Genesis 49, Genesis 50

Genesis 49 requires intense study, and I do intend to preach a series on it, if the LORD wills it. Jacob's prophesies for his sons are specifically relevant for the LAST DAYS, or the "acharit-hayamim," and the Last Days refer to the time after the resurrection of Yeshua, and so we have been living in them for the past 1994 years, since AD 30. The prophesies of Joseph and Judah are obvious, for both serve as a sign for the coming of Yeshua; Joseph for the first coming, Judah for the second coming. As Jacob spoke of Joseph, Yeshua is a fruitful plant by a spring and his branches breached the wall that separated Jews and Gentiles, he was attacked fiercely, but he rose from the dead and was given blessings to everlasting, taking dominion of the deep, the earth and the heavens, offering those blessings to all of His followers.  

As Jacob spoke of Judah, Yeshua's brothers (all Israel) would acknowledge Yeshua before his return. The LORD Himself said, "You will not see me again until you call out, "Blessed is He who Comes in the Name of the LORD." While a lion's cub presently (fierce vengeance in wait), he still stands over the pray. Who would dare to provoke Him? Hebrews 10 says: woe to those who "insult the Spirit of grace." He will not ever lose His dominion, and when He comes the people will obey Him, because obedience belongs to Him. When he washes his clothes in wine and his robes in the blood of grapes, this looks back to the crucifixion, but also forward to the grapes of wrath. The LORD's robes will be soaked in the blood of vengeance when He repays those who have denied Him or opposed Him. His teeth are white like milk, for His vengeance is coming on those who do not uphold the righteousness He taught us by giving us an example of how to live out God's commands. He calls to us now from this prophesy and so many others to put our love and trust in Him and obey His commands.

Benjamin's prophesy also speaks to the early Church, for Paul the Apostle is of the tribe of Benjamin (Philippians 3:5), and he began as a ravenous wolf in the morning, a false teacher, a Pharisee who was devouring the prey. Read Acts 9:1 where Saul/Paul was still breathing murderous thoughts about the early Messianic Jews. He was on a mission to Damascus to arrest these Christians and bring them back to Jerusalem for punishment when Yeshua appeared to him and asked him why he was persecuting the people of God, ordering him to repent and preach the Gospel, which is something that Paul did. And yet in the evening he was dividing the spoil, for the LORD called Him to be an Apostle to the Gentiles and he went out to every nation, including Israel, preaching Yeshua as the Messiah, and there was so much of a harvest of Saints this spoil would need to be divided among many teachers after Paul's death.

The balance of the prophesies requires further study, but we know that Jacob had not forgotten Reuben's adultery, and we see a representation of this in 1 Corinthians 5. This sin causes his removal from firstborn status and his weakness among the people of God. Even though we read in 2 Corinthians 2 that the man was forgiven, would he be effective in building the kingdom of God? Levi and Simeon were the violent ones, murdering all of the men of Shechem, and for this they would also be divided among their brothers and have no earthly inheritance. Their focus must completely turn to Heaven for them to have any hope. Dan was a viper by the way looking to take out the horse and his rider for he led rebellion against the LORD in Israel, turning to pagan gods and even re-erecting golden calfs at both ends of his territory. His people would later trap some of the children of Israel into this depravity. Zebulon would spread out across the sea, Ishachar would become servants in other nations. Gad would be defeated in war. Asher would provide food for the Messiah. Naphtali would roam the forests multiplying. Jacob himself would be buried in Israel, awaiting the Last Day, the coming of Messiah Yeshua, to raise Him up into His kingdom.

After Jacob's death, Joseph's brothers worried that he would bring vengeance upon them. Though Joseph had already forgiven them for their sins against him, they still had fear of him. Joseph wept about this. They were so afraid to face him, even though he had shown them mercy. We read in Zechariah 12:10, "they shall look upon Him whom they pierced," and mourn... Ultimately, they openly request their brother's forgiveness, and Joseph offers it freely, explaining that God had used their evil for good, their unbelief to reach the whole world with the bread of life. Now they would enjoy the fat of the land for as long as Joseph reigned. In the prophetic sense, Yeshua's reign is forever, and thus we must recognize Israel's place as His promised people who will dwell in the best land forever. Like his father Jacob, Joseph asked for his brothers to carry his bones up out of Egypt and bury them in Israel, for this is where he wanted to await the coming of Messiah to raise him up on the last day. Moses, when he left Egypt in the great Exodus, did not neglect to take Joseph's bones, as we shall see. Presumably, he too is buried in the cave with his father, grandfather and great-grandfather Abraham, from which Yeshua will raise them up.

Exodus 1, Exodus 2, Exodus 3

God's prophesies to Abraham, Isaac, Jacob and Joseph had come to pass, and a new Pharaoh arose that did not know Joseph. We can see this conquest historically in the record, and it is a couple hundred years prior to the time most archaeologists opinions. According to Biblical archaeologists who have shown the evidence (Patterns of Evidence-The Exodus and Associates for Biblical Research), we can deduce that the date and Pharaoh of the Exodus was 1446 BC; the Pharaoh who killed Hebrew children was Amunhotep I, 1532-1511 BC; Pharaoh's Daughter who adopted Moses was Hatshepsut, 1526 BC; the Pharaoh of Moses' flight to Midian: Thutmoses II/Hatshepsut, 1498-1485 BC; and the Pharaoh of the Exodus was Thutmoses III: 1485/1464-1431 BC. When we consider this timeline, all the archaeological evidence proves this story is historically accurate. While true, God has also presented us with a historical, living parable in the Exodus story with a twist on his historical, living parable in the Genesis story. While Pharaoh was metaphorical for God the Father in Genesis, and Joseph representative of Yeshua, now Pharaoh represents Satan in the Exodus story and Moses is representative of Yeshua. Yeshua was "a prophet like-unto Moses," per Scripture.
 
In this light, we see that Moses first went to His people, the Israelites in Egypt, and delivered them from the slavery of an Egyptian master, but they rejected his authority, so he went off to Gentile Midian and rescued the 7 daughters of Reuel/Jethro from false teachers, and they brought him in and married him into the family. They fully accepted him as their deliverer. These daughters are representative of the seven churches in Revelation. This was the same story for Yeshua, who went first to Israel, and was rejected by its leaders, and then he was preached to the Gentiles, who accepted Him. However, Moses then went up on the Mountain of God to speak with Yahweh, the One Who Was, Who Is, and Who Will Be, as Yeshua also has returned there to His throne, the One Who Was, Who Is and Who Will Be. Likewise, God would send Him to Israel a second time, and this time He would deliver them and they would follow Him out of bondage into His marvelous freedom. As the story progresses, we will also see a metaphor for the Christian walk: saved by the blood of the lamb, baptized in the Sea of Reeds, and wandering in the wilderness, fighting against the enemies of Truth on the way to the Promised Land, where Yeshua will ultimately lead us.

Exodus 4, Exodus 5, Exodus 6

“Moses was a very humble man, more humble than anyone else on the face of the earth,” according to Numbers 12:3. We MUST be humble before the LORD, and the LORD will use those of us who have such a heart for His purposes, just as He did Moses. We can see Moses’s humility on display in Exodus 4 when he initially resisted the LORD’s call. Moses wasn’t quite ready to jump on such a challenging mission—he didn’t think he had it in Him to do it. Importantly: He was right. Without the LORD, not a single one of us can stand up against the enemy, but with the LORD, all things are possible (Luke 1:37). However, when Moses said, “O my Lord, please send by the hand of whomever else You may send,” this is when “the anger of the LORD was kindled against Moses.” We must not mistake fear or doubt with humility. We must be careful not to talk ourselves out of obeying the voice of the LORD. Faith leads to obedience, or else that faith is dead.

The Apostle James leaves no room for ambiguity on this point when he writes, “But do you want to know, O foolish man, that faith without works is dead?” (James 2:20). He also wrote, “lay aside all filthiness and overflow of wickedness, and receive with meekness the implanted word, which is able to save your souls. But be doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving yourselves” (James 1:21-22). In other words, when the LORD, through His Word, whether written or implanted on your heart by His Holy Spirit, commands us to do something, we had better do it, for in fact this obedience is a sign of humility. With the LORD’s anger, Moses got the point and headed off toward Egypt. Moses’s ultimate obedience aligns with Yeshua’s parable in Matthew 21:28-31a, where we read: “A man with two sons told the older boy, ‘Son, go out and work in the vineyard today.’ The son answered, ‘No, I won’t go,’ but later he changed his mind and went anyway. Then the father told the other son, ‘You go,’ and he said, ‘Yes, sir, I will.’ But he didn’t go. ‘Which of the two obeyed his father?’ They replied, ‘The first.’” And they replied rightly.

When Moses presented the LORD’s Word to the people of Israel in Egypt, they listened at first, but then the going got tough and they rejected him. Pharaoh increased the Israelites’ workload when Moses first explained the LORD’s command to “let My people go, that they may hold a feast to Me in the wilderness” (Exodus 5:1). The people didn’t deny the LORD, but they absolutely denied that Moses was His messenger, when they said, “Let the LORD look on you and judge, because you have made us abhorrent in the sight of Pharaoh and in the sight of his servants, to put a sword in their hand to kill us” (Exodus 5:21). Even when the LORD gave Moses a prophetic message from the LORD, explaining that He would deliver them with “an outstretched arm,” prophetic for the Messiah Yeshua's mission in the world, they denied him because of their anguish of spirit and cruel bondage. Despite rejection by the majority of people—a people who claimed to know the LORD, mind you—the prophet persisted in his calling, but first he turned to prayer.

When Yahweh confirmed His mission for Moses to stand up against Pharaoh, Moses replied, “Behold, I am of uncircumcised lips, and how shall Pharaoh heed me?” This was not false humility, and in fact this very word was repeated by prophet after prophet in Scripture. One of the more powerful examples of this is found in Isaiah 6:5-7, where we read the prophet respond to the LORD’s call on his life:  “Woe is me, for I am undone! Because I am a man of unclean lips, and I dwell in the midst of a people of unclean lips; for my eyes have seen the King, the LORD of hosts.” Subsequently, the LORD sent a Seraphim to Isaiah and touched his lips with a glowing coal, saying “Behold, this has touched your lips; and your guilt is taken away and atonement is made for your sin.” We need atonement before we can go to battle for the LORD, and our atonement begins with humility. Even Yeshua began His ministry saying, “repent and hear the good news.” In order to repent, one has to stop what they’re doing, confess it as sin, and go the other direction. Moses did this very thing and we must also remember to do this thing, even in the midst of a mission the LORD has sent us on.

Then the LORD said to Moses in confirmation of his mission: “Behold, I have made you as a God to Pharaoh, and Aaron your brother shall be your prophet. You shall speak all that I command you … but Pharaoh will not heed you, so that I may lay My hand on Egypt and bring My armies and My people, the children of Israel, out of Egypt by great judgments." When we understand the spiritual lessons that the LORD is teaching us here, we can align this verse with what Yeshua said for our benefit: “Behold, I give you the authority to trample on serpents and scorpions, and over all the power of the enemy, and nothing shall by any means hurt you.” (Luke 10:19). It may read like doubt when Moses returned to the LORD to ask Him about his next steps, but that is not what is going on. Rather, it’s a lesson for us, it's good modeling for how we ought to continuously approach the LORD’s altar with humility and praise.

Yes, the LORD may have sent us on a mission, He may have called us to preach, to evangelize, to lead worship, to lead set-up, to go up against the spiritual hosts of wickedness, to participate in any other type of ministry, and this calling was authentic, just as it was for Moses. But along the way, the enemy will come in and try to take us off course—this isn't a maybe; it is going to happen—it's guaranteed. He will present obstacles we don’t expect. He will try to discourage us, frighten us, even make our mission from the LORD seem impossible to fulfill. This is the time when we ought to double-down in prayer and return to the LORD, saying, “Yeshua, I am a man of unclean lips. How can I possibly do this thing for you. I can’t go unless you come with me.” And this is precisely what the LORD did for Moses. Yeshua said, “If you love me, keep my commandments.” The next thing we read concerning Moses is this: “Then Moses and Aaron did so; just as the Lord commanded them, so they did.” We know everything we need to know from this simple verse. The power of the LORD would be displayed through Moses and Aaron on account of their faith, and so too will the LORD work through us when we show agreement with His will in this very same way.

Exodus 7, Exodus 8, Exodus 9

The purpose of the plagues against Pharaoh were meant to bring glory to Yahweh, to elevate Him in the minds of men above the gods of Egypt, or any other gods, so that the whole world would know that Yahweh has no equal, He is God Most High, El Shaddai, the Creator of the Heavens and the Earth and everything in them. The LORD says, "by now I could have stretched out my hand and struck you and your people with such severe plagues that you would have been wiped off the earth." He sent water to wipe out all life except for Noah, his family and the animals on the ark, so surely He could do anything else. He continued, "But it is for this very reason that I have kept you alive—to show you my power, and so that my name may resound throughout the whole earth." This was accomplished, for even Jethro later says in Exodus 18:10-11: “Blessed be Yahweh, who has delivered you out of the hand of the Egyptians and out of the hand of Pharaoh, and who has delivered the people from under the hand of the Egyptians. Now I know that Yahweh is greater than all the gods; for in the very thing in which they behaved proudly, He was above them.” At the End, every knee will bow and tongue will confess that Yeshua is Yahweh, to the glory of Elohim, the Father of all life, and a repeat the Exodus plagues will come upon the world leading up to this day, according to Revelation 15-16.

I want to show you a powerful Truth, which is unveiled in Scripture, regarding the spiritual battle of the Exodus story. In brief summary, consider for a moment that the LORD confused the languages of men at the tower of Babel because the men said in Genesis 11:4, “Come, let us build ourselves a city, and a tower whose top is in the heavens; let us make a name for ourselves, lest we be scattered abroad over the face of the whole earth.” Nimrod had led this direct rebellion against the LORD’s command to Noah and his sons to “be fruitful and multiply and fill the earth” in Genesis 9:1, a command that was intended to be a blessing for mankind, to be co-creators and stewards of the Earth in partnership with God. The men incorrectly interpreted God’s commandment as a curse, instead, and this led to judgment upon them, just as it will in the Last Days. In the same way that Eve had help coming to a similar conclusion in the Garden of Eden, when Nachash (the serpent) tricked her into thinking she would not die by eating the forbidden fruit in Genesis 3, a violation of God's commandments, it’s understood by many that the men at Babel also had help from divine beings who were in rebellion against God and in league with the enemy.

The tower whose top was “in the heavens” may have been a type of portal into the spiritual realm. Based on this interpretation, we might conclude that the LORD confused men's languages into 70 forms (Genesis 10) specifically to ensure His commandment was fulfilled, but also to upset the plan for man to rebel against him in agreement with some of His rebellious spiritual beings. God disowned the nations at this point, later calling Abraham and his chosen descendants out from them to create a nation of people for Himself through Isaac and then Jacob. This is confirmed in Deuteronomy 32:7-9, where we read: “Remember the days of old, consider the years of many generations. Ask your father, and he will show you; your elders, and they will tell you: when the Most High divided their inheritance to the nations, when He separated the sons of Adam, He set the boundaries of the peoples according to the number of the children of Israel. For the Lord’s portion is His people; Jacob is the place of His inheritance.”

The LORD also condemned the divine beings that He had appointed to oversee the 70 nations, because of their rebellion. We can see this play out in Psalm 82 where God explained that He would kill these “gods” like men specifically because they showed partiality to the wicked, making the foundations of the earth unstable. Further, in the same Psalm, we also read the LORD foretell His final act: the risen Messiah would arise to judge the Earth and restore all of the nations to Himself. For its part, Egypt, or Mizraim in Hebrew, had been founded by a descendant of Ham, the cursed child of Noah. The descendants of Ham had created their own mythology based on the original stories purportedly invented in Babel, as all nations had done. These stories seem to have very similar themes, which represent an inverse of the true story of Creation and the flood account and its aftermath that is explained in Scripture. One of those myths made its way into Egypt, and that brings us back to Exodus. According to this interpretation, Moses, as a prophetic template for the coming Messiah, would begin the process of overthrowing and humiliating these divine beings that had risen up in Egypt against the LORD. Consider also Psalm 2 as a summary of this.

In the Exodus story, God’s ultimate victory over the whole world would be symbolized by the blood of the lamb in Egypt, a prophetic microcosm of the whole story, if you will. Before that final plague, the LORD would display His glory in Egypt by literally showing everyone with eyes to see how every single “god” they looked up to was as good as dead when put up against the power of the Most High. Consider Exodus 7:14-25, when God instructed Moses to change the water of the Nile into blood, the LORD was declaring His supremacy over the Egyptian god Khnum, the purported guardian of the river’s source, Hapi, the imagined Spirit of the Nile, and Osiris, who supposedly used the Nile as his bloodstream. When the LORD commanded Moses to bring forth frogs in Exodus 8:1-15, He expressed supremacy over Hapi, the supposed frog goddess. God covered Egypt with lice in Exodus 8:16-19 using the dust of the earth, overcoming Seb, the Egyptian god of the earth. The LORD brought flies in Exodus 8:20-32, overpowering the lord of the flies called Uatchit in Egypt. Through Moses, God affected the herds in Egypt with pestilence in Exodus 9:1-7, humbling Ptah, Hathor, Mnevis and Amon, the supposed gods associated with bulls and cows.

The boils brought forth in Exodus 9:8-12 overpowered Sekhmet, the spirit of epidemics and humiliated Serapis and Imhotep, the purported gods of healing. The hail mixed with fire from Exodus 9:13-35 might have disgraced Nut the Egyptian sky goddess and Shu the god of the atmosphere. The locusts of Exodus 10:1-20 took on Serapia, who did not have the power to fulfill his assignment protecting Egypt from locusts when facing up against the Creator of locusts. The thick darkness of Exodus 10:21-29 showed Yahweh’s supremacy over Ra, Amon-re, Aten, Atum and Horus, the Egyptian sun gods as well as Thoth the moon god. And finally, with the death of the first born identified in Exodus 12:29-36, Yahweh brought final judgment on all of Egypt’s gods, including Pharaoh himself, who considered himself to be the son of Ra, the sun god. He also may have been bringing vengeance on Pharaoh for his father’s move to drown the Israelite baby boys in the Nile. Yes, God, by His Right Arm, the prophetic expression of the pre-incarnate Yeshua, who is the visible action of God in the World, would show His supremacy over all other goes. There is no God like Yeshua, for He was, He is, and He will forever be God Most High.

Exodus 10, Exodus 11, Exodus 12

Within the final instructions to Israel before the people left Egypt, the LORD explained the important details of remembering the Passover because it would remind Israel of God's power to encourage them in future battles and point toward the future redemptive work of the cross, and still, the cross would not end the celebration. The Passover seder is followed by the seven-day feast of Unleavened Bread, which starts in the evening on April 22 this year and culminates on Monday, April 29. The LORD described this celebration in Exodus 12:18-20, where we read: “In the first month [of Aviv/Nisan], on the fourteenth day of the month at evening, you shall eat unleavened bread, until the twenty-first day of the month at evening. For seven days no leaven shall be found in your houses, since whoever eats what is leavened, that same person shall be cut off from the congregation of Israel, whether he is a stranger or a native of the land. You shall eat nothing leavened; in all your dwellings you shall eat unleavened bread.’”

This feast applies to us, for Yeshua who kept the Passover on the night He was betrayed, said, “Do this in memory of me” (Luke 22:19). He also said, “I will not drink of the fruit of the vine until the kingdom of God comes,” pointing forward to Passover celebrations even into the age to come. When we keep the feast, we remember the LORD’s deliverance of Israel in Egypt and we remember Yeshua’s deliverance of all His followers from sin and death, and both salvations were based in the blood of the lamb, but we also look forward to the Promised Kingdom that He has said He will bring us into when we follow Him in all of His ways. He will drink the cup with us at that time, this time not in suffering, but in celebration of the Kingdom. When we read Ephesians 2:11-22, which explains that as Gentile believers in Messiah Yeshua, we have been brought into Israel, we are "no longer strangers and foreigners, but fellow citizens with the saints and members of the household of God" through the blood of Messiah Yeshua. The household of God is Israel, and in Romans 11, Paul explains that we have been grafted-in to the One Olive Tree as wild branches among the native branches. Isaiah 43 prophesies this same very thing.

We read in Exodus that those who partake in the feast must be circumcised, but we know from Paul's writing in particular, but also Peter's, that we as Gentile grafted-in believers have been circumcised in our hearts by the Holy Spirit (Romans 2:25-31), the circumcision made without hands (Colossians 2:11). Thus, in order to participate in the Passover, we must have received the Holy Spirit following our faith in Yeshua—this is a requirement for keeping the feast. Read 1 Corinthians 11:17-34, where Paul is discussing the Passover. He wrote, those who eat or drink in an unworthy manner eat or drink judgment on themselves because they do not understand Messiah Yeshua. Some even get sick or die because they eat the Passover improperly, with sin unconfessed or hearts that do not treat it with the solemnity that it requires. The Passover is the highest holy day of the year, for all who follow Yeshua to remember forever, but we must remember it with faith and awe, and not as if it is just another meal.

The Apostle Paul, exhorting his Gentile disciples, after listing a whole host of sins, said in 1 Corinthians 5:7-8: “Therefore purge out the old leaven, that you may be a new lump, since you truly are unleavened. For indeed Christ, our Passover, was sacrificed for us. Therefore let us keep the feast, not with old leaven, nor with the leaven of malice and wickedness, but with the unleavened bread of sincerity and truth.” This passage brings the whole concept together. Yeshua, our Passover Lamb, our Unleavened Bread, served as the sinless sacrifice on our behalf so that we can be freed from the curse, which is bondage to sin and death. This is a free gift of grace that we cannot earn. We now celebrate the feast in memory of Him, by introspectively removing any sin within us so that we can sincerely abide in His Truth, which is defined by His righteous law. As we move to keep the feast, it’s not enough for us to remove leavening agents from our homes—and this we should certainly do—but we also ought to remove any sin from our hearts, for “a little leaven, leavens the whole lump,” Paul explained in Galatians 5:9. This is akin to James’ statement, “If you really fulfill the royal law according to the Scripture, ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself,’ you do well; but if you show partiality, you commit sin, and are convicted by the law as transgressors. For whoever shall keep the whole law, and yet stumble in one point, he is guilty of all” (James 2:8-10).

Thanks be to God for His grace, which saves us, and not our works, so that none of us can boast. Nor does our knowledge or understanding save us, but our love toward God and one another. In another iteration of Paul’s statement in Galatians, he exclaims in 1 Corinthians 5:6, “Your boasting is not good. Do you not know that a little leaven leavens the whole lump?” In context, He’s referring to those Christians in Corinth who were showing too much grace toward a man who was committing sexual immorality, for we cannot “turn the grace of God into lewdness.” And so we ought to be mindful of this delicate balance in our faith between the severity of God that punishes sin and the mercy of God that forgives those who truly repent and come with humility before His altar—there is a narrow path toward Messiah Yeshua that sits between legalism and lawlessness. When we walk it, keeping our eyes on Messiah, depending on His righteousness defined by His law and understood by His Spirit, which convicts us and guides us; when are are looking to daily build upon our growing relationship with our Creator who redeemed us by His blood and circumcised our hearts by His Spirit, then the power of God will help us to defeat the enemy in our lives. He is the victor, and in Him we too can be victorious. We remember His great sacrifice for us during His feast each year.

Exodus 13, Exodus 14, Exodus 15

Israel went on a roundabout route, through the desert by the Sea of Suph, the Sea of Reeds. They did NOT go on the highway through the land of the Philistines, which was close by, so that the people would not see war at this time. Look at a Google map with satellite imagery of the Sinai Peninsula and you can see the exact route they took. It will be VERY IMPORTANT for you to ignore a lot of other people's ideas of which way they went or which sea they crossed for you to see the route (most Bible maps have this wrong), but it is quite evident by observing the land and reading the text. There is a wide desert plain that Israel walked down on the west side of the Sinai Peninsula, which is east of the Gulf of Suez, and then when you round the southern most tip you will see in the terrain that the plain narrows and then ends up against a mountain range. Israel would have turned back at the mountain range and watched the Egyptians approach at that very spot, which is called Sharm El-Sheikh today. Then the LORD, at Moses's hand, would have opened the Sea at southernmost part of the Gulf of Aqaba, and there Israel would have crossed into Midian. "Patterns of Evidence: The Red Sea Crossing," a two-part series, shows massive amounts of evidence to support this theory. This theory is also supported by "The Associate for Biblical Research." Let me know if you'd like the links and I'll send them to you.

The LORD's cloud by day and fire by night led Israel but also defended them from the enemy. The Holy Spirit works with us the same way, by leading us according to the law of God, which God has written on the hearts of those with faith in Jesus, and by keeping the enemy's attacks from destroying us, so long as we keep our faith in the LORD. We are tempted by fear, doubt, discouragement and disbelief, but the LORD calls us by His Word to keep our eyes on Him, so we do not sink in the waters, but walk on them or through them to safety. We can tear down strongholds the enemy has on us, so long as we keep our eyes on Him, for Yeshua is the one who saves us. It is up to us to have faith, and to endure in it, and to think and act in a way that bears this out. The whole rest of the Exodus until the second generation enters the Promised Land is about this very thing. The Sea of Reeds crossing represents our baptism, when our faith in the blood of the lamb is put to the test. Will we step out in faith and show the world we believe. Will we accept the burial of our sin and fleshly life and come up the other side as a new person in Messiah? We must, or we won't make it to the Promised Land. Those who maintain their disbelief die in the wilderness.

There are moments of fear and even terror when the enemy approaches us as new believers, just as Israel went into a frenzy as Pharaoh approached. Moses redirected their hearts to God, as the Holy Spirit of Yeshua now helps us when the enemy attacks. When we have faith in Him, He delivers us from all sin and death. When we trust in Him, He will destroy the enemy as we give Him thanks and praise, and we don't have to do a thing except walk forward in faith. He will guide our steps as the enemy stumbles trying to tear us down. Our souls will reign victorious with Christ on the other side. The praises that Israel gives to the LORD on the other side of the sea is of great significance, for this is how we might feel after our baptism as a new man or new woman in Christ. But this is just the beginning of our journey. Many tests will come. Many trials and tribulations. And some of those tests will be immediate. The Israelites lost faith in God almost immediately following the Sea of Reeds miracle. Where was God? Why did He leave them without water? He didn't, but they had to believe. The LORD provided mightily, something I'll discuss more later, this living water for Israel, as He does for us, but we cannot look back at our former life in bondage to sin and death, or we will die. We have to trust in Christ and keep our eyes on Him.

Exodus 16, Exodus 17, Exodus 18

The Israelites had already forgotten all of the great things God did for them. He had taken them out of their bondage in Egypt and rescued them through the midst of the Sea. How could anyone see those things and believe God was going to allow them to die? I've been there and I understand. I have seen miracles too numerous to describe, bountiful blessings, and I have heard His voice quite audibly speaking with me. There's no doubt in my mind that God has my back and wants what is in my best interest, and yet when things don't look just right, I have grumbled and complained. I want to make a bold statement here: We can't keep grumbling and make it into the Kingdom of God. Hebrews 3:15, quoting Psalms, says, “Today, if you will hear His voice, do not harden your hearts as in the rebellion,” and in Hebrews 4:11: "Let us therefore be diligent to enter that rest, lest anyone fall according to the same example of disobedience." God has patience, but rather than complain we ought to praise God and rejoice always, in good times and bad, for the LORD is bringing us through all things to mold us into the men and women He wants us to be. It is rebellion to complain. Instead we ought to speak life, and life only, which is the Word of God.

For all of their grumbling and complaining, which is rebellion against God and His promises, a sin against Him, God brought the sword against Israel as a judgment in the form of the people of Amalek. We know already that all the people of the land had heard of the Exodus, so from the Amalekites standpoint, we do have to wonder why they thought they would succeed where Pharaoh failed. They were doomed. But God still brought judgment on Israel for their persistent sin, as the prophet explains in Ezekiel 14. And yet Moses sought mercy, and stood up for the people of Israel and raised his hands in praise and worship of the LORD, and this is the anecdote to all grumbling and complaining. In 1 Thes. 5:16-18, Paul writes: "Rejoice always, pray without ceasing, in everything give thanks; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you." We can't always stand alone, and nor could Moses. He grew weary, and so Aaron and Hur held his arms up and put a rock under him for him to sit on. As Moses brought thanksgiving and praise, Israel defeated Amalek, and God swore that Amalek would be completely wiped out on account of their hatred of God's people. We ought to take this to heart, also, for it is a sign of what is to come in the End Days.

The LORD has also explained certain principles for His Sabbath that He has commanded upon all people. Only enough manna for each day came for five days, and then on the sixth day the LORD gave double so all could rest on the seventh day. God wants us to depend on what He gives us day-by-day—"give us this day our daily bread"—and only on preparation day does He give us extra resources to get everything ready for the Sabbath so we can rest and spend time with Him. This is a blessing, and it can only be known by those who pursue God with a heart that desires to love Him and keep His commandments, just as He has asked. For those who try to take more than they need or who try to work when God has commanded them to rest, there will be a reckoning; we cannot say "LORD, LORD," and then cheat God. Our greatest blessings come from obeying God, not out of blind fear, but out of a wholehearted desire to please Him. We are His bride, and the bride must please her bridegroom, or He may cast her away and bring another out for Himself. We ought to desire to be with the bridegroom for His rehearsal dinner. The Marriage Supper of the Lamb is coming, and we must make ourselves ready. Many are called, but few are chosen. Rest is a light yoke indeed.

Exodus 19, Exodus 20, Exodus 21

It is because of grace that we are saved, not by works so that no man may boast (Ephesians 2:8). Yahweh explained this to Moses during this episode of the Ten Words, but we don't learn this until later in Deuteronomy. The shadow of it is here in Exodus 19. First, here's Deuteronomy 9:5: "It is not because of your righteousness or the uprightness of your heart that you go in to possess their land, but because of the wickedness of these nations that the LORD your God drives them out from before you, and that He may fulfill the word which the LORD swore to your fathers, to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob." The LORD took Israel out of Egypt by the blood of the lamb, in the exact same way He takes us out of the bondage to sin and death by the blood of the LAMB of GOD, who takes away the sins of the world. It is because of grace that we are saved, and nothing else saves us. And yet, we are God's workmanship, His Creation, and we were created for good works and we ought to walk in them. (Ephesians 2:10). The model is here in Exodus 19: Because God has saved us by His free gift of grace, it is incumbent on us to sanctify ourselves in Him by our belief and then obey His commandments because we love Him, and because we know they are for our good.

Yahweh said in Exodus 19: "You have seen what I did to the Egyptians, and how I carried you on eagles wings and brought you to myself. Now if you will pay careful attention to what I say and keep my covenant, then you will be my own treasure from among all the peoples, for all the earth is mine; and you will be a kingdom of priests for me, a nation set apart.’" This is a combination of Ephesians 2:8-10 and Matthew 28:18-20. You can see here that it is grace that saves us, and the LORD does all of this work, even raising us up on eagle's wings to help us rise above sin and death. We confess with our mouths and believe in our hearts that Yeshua is Yahweh and Elohim has raised Him from the dead, and we are saved (Romans 10:9). Because He has saved us, we have to pay careful attention and keep His covenant—for us, the New Covenant, which Yeshua said plainly: "If you love Me, keep my commandments..." and I will give you "the Helper," the Holy "Spirit of Truth." (John 14:15-18). The Holy Spirit seals us, it raises us up on Eagles wings convicting us of wrongdoing and leading us in the righteousness of Christ. Once we are there, living a life in Messiah Yeshua, we then become a nation (people) of priests, grafted-in to Israel, who are to "make disciples," "baptize them in the Name of the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit," and "teach them all the things [Yeshua has] commanded [us]." He is with us in this.

The difference here in the Old Covenant is that the common people cannot approach the Mountain of God, and even the priests must be fully sanctified. The men couldn't even sleep with their wives before hearing the commandments of God from His voice. Thunders and lightnings fell down as the Ten Words were given, just like there were voices and torches in Acts 2 when the Holy Spirit wrote the Ten Words on the hearts of the Apostles. The Words were written on stone here, now they are written on our hearts, but they are the same Words and we have the same obligation to keep them, if we love Yeshua and desire to follow Him. It is Yeshua, indeed, who makes it so we can come near to the Mountain of God, and we are told in Hebrews 12:25: "See that you do not refuse Him who speaks." Read Hebrews 12:18-29, which explains all of this. When we say, as the Israelites did, "Everything the LORD has said, we will do," we had better turn our hearts to Him and away from the world so that we are not found to be "hypocrites," for liars will not inherit the kingdom of God (Revelation 21:8). God comes near to us so that we may develop the appropriate fear/respect/reverence for Him, and understand His holiness, and Yeshua has said: "Therefore you shall be perfect, just as your Father in heaven is perfect" (Matthew 5:48)

When the Israelites feared death from the Voice of God, they told Moses, “You, speak with us; and we will listen. But don’t let God speak with us, or we will die.” God later said this was good, and sent a "prophet like unto Moses," namely Yeshua, to be our eternal Mediator, and He would fulfill this very request. Now we have Yeshua, who allows us to come near to the Mountain of God and not fear death, and yet we cannot go to the mountain if we are lawless in heart. Yeshua made this very clear in Matthew 7:21-23, where even among those who call out "LORD, LORD," those who "practice lawlessness" will be cast out. John wrote: "Sin is lawlessness" (1 John 3:4), and Paul wrote that "we know the law is good, if one uses it lawfully" (1 Timothy 1:8), and to use it lawfully is to interpret it "in Spirit and Truth" (John 4:23-24), for "the law is Spiritual" (Romans 7:14). The law is this: Yahweh is God, and there isn't another equal to Him (Yeshua is Yahweh), we cannot worship any created thing or any work of our hands, we cannot preach falsely or speak falsely against God, we must remember to keep His Sabbath Day holy and refrain from work, we must honor our parents, we must not murder, we must not commit adultery, we must not steal, we must not bear false witness and we must not covet anything in our heart that doesn't belong to us. This law is not burdensome, but rather it is a delight to all who keep it with their whole heart (1 John 5:3).

In Exodus 21, the LORD provides ordinances, which are applications of the law, and they are beautiful and good. A slave that desires to remain with his master, because he loves him, will have his ear marked with an awl in the door. This may sound painful and brutal until you realize the Spirit of the law is this: When we hear the Word of God and desire to follow it, because we love our Master Yeshua, we will permenantly mark our ears/hearts with it and surrender our lives to Him. The rest of the details here are mercies. For instance, "whoever curses his father or mother must be put to death." Thank GOD for His grace and mercy and that we are all new men in Christ! But God forbid we curse our father or mother once we become Christians, lest we die the second death! The LORD has commanded us to honor our father and our mother, and this we ought to desire to do. The LORD also makes it clear that abortion is murder right here in Exodus 21:22-25. If you injure a pregnant woman but she and her baby live, then there is simply a retribution given as the husband sees fit, but if the baby dies, the one who attacked the woman in order to cause this ought to lose his life. God's justice is good, it is pure and it is holy. We ought to obey!

Exodus 22, Exodus 23, Exodus 24

Note in Exodus 24:4, we read: "Moses wrote down ALL the words of Yahweh." This is SO important, and it is one of many "witnesses" of this Truth in Torah. The Jews contend that their Mishnah and their Talmud, etc., which were LATER written down after the advent of Messiah, were given to Moses on Mt. Sinai by God and passed down as "oral tradition." Moses's own testimony directly rejects this idea. Moses wrote down "KOL" (כֹּל), which means ALL of God's WORD, including everything, excluding nothing. If we believe the Word of God—and I do—that means that this Torah is the law—the instruction of God—and nothing outside of it is law. Yeshua confirmed this when He came. In Matthew 15:3, He asked, "Why do you also transgress the commandment of God because of your tradition?" The tradition He referred to was the "oral tradition," or the "oral law," allegedly passed down from Moses. The "commandment of God" He referred to was this Torah, this written Word that was given to Moses directly from God. Mark 7 is a parallel admonishment against tradition. If you want to know what Yeshua meant when He said in John 14:15, "If you love me, keep my commandments," we ought to read the Torah (Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers and Deuteronomy), ...

...for everything in Torah can be summed up with the Sh'ma from Deut. 6: "Love the Lord your God with all your heart, soul, mind and strength" and Lev. 18: "Love your neighbor as yourself." Even Yeshua's exhortation to "love your enemy" can be found in Torah. Consider: "If you come upon your enemy’s ox or donkey straying, you must return it to him. If you see the donkey which belongs to someone who hates you lying down helpless under its load, you are not to pass him by but to go and help him free it." Is this not the command of Christ, "But I say to you, love your enemies, bless those who curse you, do good to those who hate you, and pray for those who spitefully use you and persecute you, that you may be sons of your Father in heaven; for He makes His sun rise on the evil and on the good, and sends rain on the just and on the unjust" (Mt. 5:44-45. The LORD commands restitution for theft; even for accidental damage to a neighbor's property. He pronounces death on those who murder or do abominable things, such as practice witchcraft or sexually abuse animals. This justice isn't ours to deliver; the LORD has said, "vengeance is mine, I shall repay." As Paul instructs in 1 Corin. 5: "deliver such a one to Satan..." Pray they repent!

Reading through these "ordinances" of the LORD gives me such great joy, for it unveils the LORD's heart to us and it also shows us examples of what the LORD means by His commandments, which are higher than these ordinances. When the LORD says, “Anyone who sacrifices to any god other than Adonai alone is to be completely destroyed," this is an ordinance for the commandment, "You shall have no other Gods before Me." When the LORD says, "Keep away from fraud, and do not cause the death of the innocent and righteous; for I will not justify the wicked," this is an ordinance for the commandment, "you shall not bear false witness against your neighbor." The LORD isn't giving us these commandments so that He can punish us for violating them, rather He is giving them to us so we can understand the difference between good and evil—righteousness and lawlessness—obedience and sin. Paul writes, "For I would not have known covetousness unless the law had said, “You shall not covet” (Romans 7:7). When we understand sin, and when we understand the punishment for sin is death (a second death that the LORD brings upon the guilty), then we understand the need for our Savior Yeshua and our salvation becomes all the more urgent.

At the same time, we must recognize that our salvation in Yeshua does not give us license to sin, but the contrary. Paul writes: "But if, while we seek to be justified by Christ, we ourselves also are found sinners, is Christ therefore a minister of sin? Certainly not!" (Galatians 2:17). In Jude 1:4, we learn that "ungodly men ... turn the grace of our God into lewdness and deny the only Lord God and our Lord Jesus Christ." So those of us who have been called to follow Messiah Yeshua, must do so by "walking the way He walked" (1 John 2:6) and follow these commandments and ordinances of God, not out of blind fear, but out of a deep desire to become more like Christ. How can we seduce a virgin and sleep with her and then leave her defiled without consequences? The LORD instructs us to pay the father the bride price, even if we don't marry the woman, for under the law of God he will not get the bride price for a defiled woman from a righteous man. While this may seem archaic to us, the Spirit of this law is to wait until you are properly married before sleeping with your wife, for this is the greatest good that God intended for our good, and it was this way from the beginning, when God said in Gen. 2:24: "That is why a man leaves his father and mother and is united to his wife, and they become one flesh." In 1 Corinth. 6:16, Paul verifies that we cannot sleep around and stand righteous before God for this very reason—and remember: "Christ is NOT a minister of sin."

What Moses experienced on Sinai was unique in his generation, for the blood of Christ had not yet been shed. He and a select number of Israel's leaders were able to dine with God, to sit at His table on the top of His Holy Mountain. This may have been a mountain in Midian (now Saudi Arabia), but it was spiritually the Mountain of God. The LORD revealed His heavenly realm to these men, but not to Israel as a whole, for they saw a consuming fire and believed Moses was dead, as we'll read in the next chapter. God gave Moses tablets of sapphire stone, and on them the Word of God had been written by the finger of God. As we read at the end of Hebrews 11, we have a much better covenant. Now the Word of God is written on our hearts, if we allow Him to write it there, and we too have access to the Mountain of God through Yeshua, who is one Mediator and High Priest. What Moses will make a copy of as an example of the Eden that is to come, we will really experience if we endure in our faithfulness until the LORD returns. Do we practice for His coming by keeping the feasts that He has commanded us to keep, by bringing our first and our best before His heavenly throne and offering them up in joy and thanksgiving and celebration with Him? If have no desire to rehearse our reunion with Him in this time, how can we expect Him to share eternity with us when He comes? The LORD's commandments are all relevant to us, so let us keep the feasts in sincerity and truth. Whether or not we do this could be a strong reflection on our heart toward the LORD. His heart is for us, but He salso said, “... Seek and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you" (Mt. 7:7). We will find the LORD when we seek Him with all of our heart. (Jer. 29:13)

Exodus 25, Exodus 26, Exodus 27

Three times in Egypt, we read about how the LORD told the people of Israel that they would loot the Egyptians when they were freed from bondage there. Note the following:

"...And I will give this people favor in the sight of the Egyptians; and it shall be, when you go, that you shall not go empty-handed. But every woman shall ask of her neighbor, namely, of her who dwells near her house, articles of silver, articles of gold, and clothing; and you shall put them on your sons and on your daughters. So you shall plunder the Egyptians.” (Exodus 3:20-22)

"Speak now in the hearing of the people, and let every man ask from his neighbor and every woman from her neighbor, articles of silver and articles of gold.” (Exodus 11:2)

"Now the children of Israel had done according to the word of Moses, and they had asked from the Egyptians articles of silver, articles of gold, and clothing. And the LORD had given the people favor in the sight of the Egyptians, so that they granted them what they requested. Thus they plundered the Egyptians." (Exodus 12:35-36)

The LORD asked Israel to request these articles from the Egyptians so they would have them later to build His sanctuary, but He would not demand these articles from them, for the LORD is looking for a people with willing hearts. He would only build His dwelling place among them from materials given by those who had a willing heart. We read: “Tell the people of Isra’el to take up a collection for me—accept a contribution from anyone who wholeheartedly wants to give. The contribution you are to take from them is to consist of gold, silver and bronze; blue, purple and scarlet yarn; fine linen, goat’s hair, tanned ram skins and fine leather; acacia-wood; oil ... spices ... onyx stones and other stones..." It's fascinating to consider this. The LORD had commanded Israel to loot the Egyptians, as if these slaves were victorious in battle over their masters. And because the battle was the LORD's, and all Israel had to do was hold their peace, this is exactly what happened. God made Israel successful in a literal conquest of Egypt. This loot was God's additional gift to Israel so they could build a sanctuary where He could dwell with them, but He would only accept what the people would give wholeheartedly for this purpose.

Does we not experience this also in our lives? Does God not give us everything we have, including the promise of eternal life with Him? How much are we willing to give Him back wholeheartedly to further His Kingdom here on Earth? Yeshua said we ought to be willing to give everything we have, and then He would reward us with eternal life, the precious pearl without price. In the wilderness, the LORD desired to build His tabernacle and its implements for a similar purpose; namely, so He could dwell among His people in the wilderness. The LORD has always found a way to dwell among His people, in a "garden of Eden" or a "holy mountain," and the tabernacle would represent this intersection between Heaven and Earth. He desires this greatly, for He created us so He could dwell among us. He told Moses: "They are to make me a sanctuary, so that I may live among them." Today, in the New Covenant, He builds His dwelling place within us, for His Spirit comes to dwell within His people who keep His commandments out of a deep love for Him and faith in all of the wonderful things He has done for us as well as all of the wonderful things He has promised for us. Don't you know you are the temple of God? So long as we purify ourselves with the blood of Yeshua and subsequently walk in His righteousness, the Spirit of God will come to us. He will not leave us nor forsake us.

All of the implements of the Tabernacle, the ark of the covenant, the menorah, the table of incense and the table of shewbread were made "just as you were shown on the mountain," God told Moses. While God showed Moses the design literally on Mt. Sinai, He was showing His prophet a vision of the Mountain of God in Heaven, where the throne room of God actually rests. Read Hebrews 8:1-6: "Now this is the main point of the things we are saying: We have such a High Priest, who is seated at the right hand of the throne of the Majesty in the heavens, a Minister of the sanctuary and of the true tabernacle which the Lord erected, and not man. ... as Moses was divinely instructed when he was about to make the tabernacle. For He said, 'See that you make all things according to the pattern shown you on the mountain.' But now He has obtained a more excellent ministry, inasmuch as He is also Mediator of a better covenant, which was established on better promises." This doesn't by any way diminish what the LORD was doing for Moses in the wilderness, but it states its purpose was as a model of what was coming for those of us who trust in Messiah Yeshua.

Moses literally created a model of the Heavenly court. The ark of the Covenant represented the throne of God and the covering cherubs, and the testimony inside of the ark represented the Word that dwelt within the heart of our Father, Who came into the world and became flesh. The menorah represented the spirits of the complete people of God, as we read in Revelation 1, and the oil that burned forever is God's spirit that dwells in us and gives light to the world through our works. The shewbread represented the body of Christ displayed constantly as a reminder that we can come before God because of what He did on the cross. The altar of incense represented the thanksgiving, praises and prayers of the Saints, that rise up to God as a sweet-smelling aroma. Finally, the altar of sacrifice showed the LORD's love for his creatures, whom God's people would eat after sacrificing them there on the altar. The LORD requested the blood to be poured out, the best part to be offered to Him and the meat to be consumed in His presence, for this was His gift for His people's nourishment at the expense of these beasts. It is a more honorable way to eat a steak, to be sure. Ultimately, the sacrifices also prophesied the sacrifice of Messiah Yeshua on the cross, the one-time sacrifice for the forgiveness of sins, and by this too we could stand before God's throne and not be destroyed.

Exodus 28, Exodus 29

The New Covenant has replaced the old, and so we now worship as Exodus is describing "in Spirit and in Truth." Hebrews 9:11-15 reads: "But when Messiah came as high priest of the good things that are now already here, he went through the greater and more perfect tabernacle that is not made with human hands, that is to say, is not a part of this creation. He did not enter by means of the blood of goats and calves; but he entered the Most Holy Place once for all by his own blood, thus obtaining eternal redemption. The blood of goats and bulls and the ashes of a heifer sprinkled on those who are ceremonially unclean sanctify them so that they are outwardly clean. How much more, then, will the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered himself unblemished to God, cleanse our consciences from acts that lead to death, so that we may serve the living God! For this reason Christ is the mediator of a new covenant, that those who are called may receive the promised eternal inheritance—now that he has died as a ransom to set them free from the sins committed under the first covenant."

In the New Covenant, Yeshua is our high priest and mediator instead of Aaron and Moses, Yeshua is our sacrifice for sin instead of bulls and goats and rams, the Tabernacle is now our body instead of a tent of meeting or building in Jerusalem, and the law is written on our hearts instead of on tablets of stone.

Everything else you're reading now applies to our bodies and the Body of Messiah, and we ought to take it seriously. Peter wrote in 1 Peter 2:9 concerning those who know Yeshua as their God: "you are a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for God’s own possession, to proclaim the virtues of Him who called you out of darkness into His marvelous light." We are not the laymen in our readings of Exodus who have no access, but we are the priests who minister for Christ according to the Great Commission: To go forth and make disciples, to baptize in the name of the Father, Son and Holy Spirit and to teach the commandments of God. Consider the beauty of Aaron's garments and then note how beautiful our LORD God Yeshua is in the Spiritual realm. "He has a name written on His robe and on His thigh: KING OF KINGS AND LORD OF LORDS," we read in Revelation 19:16. Read about the Word of God who became flesh. It's all there. His head is donned with "many crowns," and written on His turban is a name only He knows. His robes are scarlet, dipped in blood, and we are set apart for the LORD because of Him. He bore our guilt.

The blood is daubed on Aaron's ear, hand and toes to symbolize the beginning and end of Him, it's daubed on the altar to purify it, for blood is the price of sin. The blood atones for all of His sins, and all the sin of the world, and when Aaron was purified in this way he could go before God and ask for the people's sins to be forgiven. But now the blood of Messiah daubs the beginning and end of us, and the altar in our hearts, and we no longer need a human intercessor. He is our mediator—our only intercessor needed—and we can go out and reach those who don't know Him because of what He has done for us.

While only the priests would eat of the sacrifices offered to the LORD, for He has given us all food to eat, now we too can partake in meat and eat the sacrifices. How could we eat a single bite without offering thanks and praise to our God who created those animals so that can eat them to sustain ourselves? How can we put bread on our table without waving it in the air and acknowledging that God has given us both the wheat to make flour and the knowledge and skill by which to grind it, combine it and bake it on a fire? Everything that sustains us comes from God, in the physical realm and in the spiritual realm. How much better is the Lamb sacrificed on the cross who offered His body for our food, and His blood shed for our sins, for us to drink? This spiritual food will sustain us for all eternity, and not just for a day or year.

Exodus 30, Exodus 31, Exodus 32

Regarding the altar of incense, note that God commanded Aaron to burn fragrant incense upon it every morning as he prepares the lamps, and then again when he lights the lamps at dusk. In Spirit and in Truth, God is commanding us to pray when we rise up, and before we lie down at night. We can see in Revelation there are two witnesses to this Truth that the incense represents the prayers of the Saints (those who trust Jesus and keep the commandments of God), and here in Exodus 30 we can see that God has commanded us to pray when we rise and before we lie down:

Revelation 5:8b: "Now when He [Yeshua] had taken the scroll, the four living creatures and the twenty-four elders fell down before the Lamb, each having a harp, and golden bowls full of incense, which are the prayers of the saints."  

Revelation 8:3-4: "Then another angel, having a golden censer, came and stood at the altar. He was given much incense, that he should offer it with the prayers of all the saints upon the golden altar which was before the throne. And the smoke of the incense, with the prayers of the saints, ascended before God from the angel’s hand."

Note the command for the census as the chapter continues. The LORD said, when you take a census, ensure to take a tribute for the LORD. To not do this brings pestilence as punishment. Now we know why Israel was punished with pestilence when David took a census of Israel in 2 Samuel 24 and 1 Chronicles 21, without giving tribute.

The episode of Bezalel the son of Uri, the son of Hur, of the tribe of Judah is one that should encourage any Godly artist, for it is quite clear that the Holy Spirit will fall upon anyone who desires to create beautiful art or music to the glory of God, according to His commandment. These acts of praise must be done in accordance with God's will, for we can see that Aaron's creation of a golden calf at the request of the people ends in great disaster, for the people were worshipping the golden calf as if it was God itself. This dichotomy gives us great insight into the meaning of the Second Commandment. The LORD has not commanded us to avoid all graven images or similar art forms; rather, He has commanded us not to make these objects for worship, which includes prayer. They ought to serve as memorials to remind us of God; they are never to serve as an object of prayer.

The people of Israel said, "we don't know what has become of [Moses]," and this was their reason for asking Aaron to craft the golden calf.  Note what Peter says in 2 Peter 3: "scoffers will come in the last days, walking according to their own lusts, and saying, 'Where is the promise of His coming?'" Yeshua is the "prophet like unto Moses," and the people who were Christians wander off after the things of the world and the flesh, and they worship other things besides God because they believe He is tarrying too long in Heaven. Where is this promised Kingdom of God, people ask today. They might even make the evil assumption that it is our duty to bring it about ourselves. This is what the Israelites tried to do. Peter goes on to say that the LORD delays because He wants every single soul that might be saved through Him to have the opportunity to turn their life over to Him. Moses had this same desire. He even offered up himself to the LORD so that some of the people might be saved who did not stop the evil from happening around them. Peer pressure is a difficult hurdle for the sheep of God to jump over.

Note: Moses and His brothers slayed 3000 men and women who had willfully sinned by encouraging the worship of this idol, and so too will any Christian who does the same. This sin is among the most serious, and the LORD does not take it lightly, but note what the LORD says to Moses: "Those who have sinned against me are the ones I will blot out of my book." This is an eternal law of God, and because we are all sinners, we need Yeshua to save us and intercede for us, just as Moses had saved Israel by offering up himself and interceded for them by removing the sin from the camp. The New Covenant is better, because we have the victory of Yeshua on the cross to look back at, but we can learn so much more about the law of the covenant, now written on our hearts, by understanding the Torah of God. If we willfully sin against God after being saved, Paul tells us in Galatians 2:17 that Christ is not a minister of sin. But God is patient and merciful, kind and long-suffering, and He does not bring about the final judgment YET because He wants everyone to come to repentance. Today if you hear His voice, harden not your heart as in the rebellion in the wilderness. Repent, and follow Yeshua.

Exodus 33, Exodus 34, Exodus 35

Paul writes in 2 Corinthians 13:1, "Every matter must be established by the testimony of two or three witnesses," and this concept itself is repeated several times in Scripture. One may wonder why Scripture seems to repeat itself, but we should not wonder, because God tells us: Every matter is established by a testimony of two or three. Thus, when God repeats commandments, such as to keep His Sabbath Day Holy, to keep His feast days holy, and to avoid idolizing anything besides Him, we ought to pay attention. He repeats that we ought to willingly offer up our treasure and talent to His purposes a second time, and He will send His Spirit to guide our hand when we do. All of these concepts are invaluable to the faith today, and have everything to do with following Yeshua.  Our God is Holy, He wants us to know Him, and He will make a way for us so that we can know Him, if we so choose to do what He asks of us. Because we find favor (grace) in the sight of God, He will come with us as we wander in the wilderness on the way to the promised land. But we must accept His grace and respond to it with loving obedience, showing we appreciate the gift that has been given to us.

If we want to understand who God is and what His true nature happens to be, there is no better place than Exodus 34, where He directly explains Himself. He said: I AM "Yahweh, Yahweh, merciful and gracious, longsuffering, and abounding in goodness and truth, keeping mercy for thousands, forgiving iniquity and transgression and sin, by no means clearing the guilty, visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children and the children’s children to the third and the fourth generation”
(Exodus 34:6-7). These qualities of God can be seen lived out by the Son. The consequences of sin may carry on from generation to generation, but each person has the opportunity to accept the LORD's mercy and walk according to His way instead. He forgives iniquity, transgression and sin, three different types of rebellion against Him. He accepts those of us who repent, on account of His lovingkindness, His grace and His goodness, and He teaches us His Truth for our own good. He will not clear the guilty, meaning that those who refuse to confess their sins and repent will be punished with eternal death, and the consequences of their actions will carry on. He calls His people toward Himself to dwell with Him, trust in Him, and do as He instructs.

Exodus 36, Exodus 37, Exodus 38

The LORD made a nation out of the sons of Israel when He took them out of Egypt, 603,550 men, not counting women and children, and they looted the Egyptians at the command of God, who is "a man of war," who was victorious over Egypt for His own glory, so that all the world would come to know Him. He chose Israel as a nation of priests to bring the Truth of God's Word to all men. With what they took out of Egypt, they freely gave 1,930 pounds of gold and 6,650 pounds of silver, among so much more, to devote to the tabernacle and all of its implements. They gave so much that Moses had to ask them to stop giving. While this was a wonderful gesture, and reflects a generous heart, which we ought to have, we also have to pause and consider whether they were truly honoring the will of God. Yes, God had commanded them to build this meeting place, and they were right to build it. This tabernacle was a beautiful place, meant to represent the Garden of Eden where God would meet with His people. Bezalel was inspired by the Holy Spirit to build it, and it was a good and wonderful thing.

But we ought to reflect on the idea that this physical place to meet with God was only part of the deal. God wanted a people set apart for Himself to worship Him, to give Him thanks and to do the things He commanded them to do for their own good. But the people weren't willing to do what the LORD had commanded, and this led to their destruction. The Book of Hebrews literally says their bodies were "scattered in the wilderness," and warned that we also would face such an end if we don't learn from their disobedience. Despite the surface level faith of this first generation of Israel coming out of Egypt, there was no depth to their faith. They made a show of faith, but they didn't do what the LORD really wanted, which was to show their love by obeying His will. Ultimately, this was why the LORD came in the flesh, so through faith in Him we can be forgiven for our shortcomings and start over with a clean slate once we recognize the error of our ways. Now, the LORD desires us to make a beautiful place in our hearts where He can dwell, and when He dwells there, we ought to desire to do the things He has commanded for our good.

Exodus 39, Exodus 40

It took Israel an entire year of wandering in the wilderness before they set up a place for the LORD to meet with them, and meet with them He did. His presence remained on the tabernacle and His glory filled it up, so even Moses couldn't enter the tent but could only stand in front of it. The LORD so loves His people that He literally came down to dwell with Israel and created a model of His heavenly throne room so they could interact with Him. He does the same through us with His Holy Spirit. When the cloud of God's presence was taken up, the people followed it wherever it would lead, and whenever it sat still, the people would sit still. Yeshua said something to Nicodemus in John 3 that applies this historical reality to us. He said, "Do not marvel that I said to you, ‘You must be born again.’ The wind blows where it wishes, and you hear the sound of it, but cannot tell where it comes from and where it goes. So is everyone who is born of the Spirit.” If we are born of the Spirit, we go where the LORD directs us and we rest when He commands us to rest. We don't know where we're headed next, but that's OK, because we fully trust the LORD. This entire life is built upon increasing our trust and love in the LORD each and every day.

Aaron's garb was beautiful, and it serves as a type for the raiment of our High Priest Yeshua, whose glory cannot be matched by anyone. On Aaron's head, His turban read, "set apart for Yahweh." Are we set apart for Yahweh by the blood of the Lamb? Do we have the same dedication as the One who told us, "Whoever believes in me will do the works I have been doing, and they will do even greater things than these, because I am going to the Father. And I will do whatever you ask in my name, so that the Father may be glorified in the Son. You may ask me for anything in my name, and I will do it" (John 14:12-14). We are to be a people set apart for the LORD, increasing our faith with each trial and tribulation, increasing our praise and thanksgiving with every blessing. Let us have a similar report to the people of Israel: "exactly as the LORD had ordered, they had done it." But let us also put our hearts behind that work knowing that the LORD rewards those who love Him and keep His commandments. Let our trust endure, our faith endure, and our hope endure, for His promises are true and His mercy endures forever.

Leviticus 1, Leviticus 2, Leviticus 3

The LORD spoke to Moses from the tent of meeting while Moses stood in front of it. Today, all men have the potential to know the LORD like this, if they give their lives to Him and put Him first. We have a one-time sacrifice in Yeshua for sin that is far superior to the bulls and goats offered for sin in the wilderness, and He was a male without blemish, the Lamb of God; wheat without leaven, the Bread of Life. His blood was sprinkled on the altar as He ascended to the Father in Heaven. As He approached His throne, His blood trickled on the floor as a trail leading right up to the Mercy Seat. Think about this as you read about Yom Kippur (the Day of Atonement) in the coming days. The peace offerings are still conducted today and we ought to be mindful when we go to our grills to offer up praise and thanksgiving to the LORD, eating only what the LORD has commanded. The organs and the fatty tissue surrounding them ought to be left for the LORD, the blood poured out—because the life/soul is in the blood, and we ought not eat it, but the meat is reserved for our enjoyment, to be eaten with gratitude along with our oil and bread. The LORD provides us with all we need; we ought to follow Him because of this all the days of our lives.

Leviticus 4, Leviticus 5, Leviticus 6

When we read Leviticus 4 and read, "if anyone," "if the entire community," "when a leader," or "if an individual among the people" ... "commits a sin inadvertently and does something against any of the commandments of the LORD considering the things which should not be done, he is guilty. If the sin which he has committed becomes known..." he or she must then make an offering for it. This law of God is eternal, but the sacrifice for the sin has been changed. We read in Hebrews 10:14: "by one offering Yeshua has perfected forever those who are being sanctified," and then the author cites the new covenant in verses 16-18, stating "I will put My laws into their hearts, and in their minds I will write them" and "their sins and their lawless deeds I will remember no more." The author concludes: "now where there is a remission of these, there is no longer an offering for sin." Let's put this all together: The law and the prophets are eternal. Yeshua said not one jot or title would be done away with. If we sin unintentionally, we're guilty and worthy of death, specifically when we become aware of our sin. We MUST make atonement for it. Yeshua has made atonement for it, and so we must go to Him and repent. He Himself instructed us: "go and sin no more" and "be perfect as Your heavenly Father is perfect." The Mercy of God is such that in the new covenant, we are forgiven through Christ, but we still must go before Him to confess and then repent, which is to walk in righteousness from that point forward.

As we read into Leviticus 5, we see "If a person who is a witness, sworn to testify, sins by refusing to tell what he has seen or heard about the matter," "if a person touches something unclean," "if he touches human uncleanliness," "if someone allows to slip from his mount an oath to do evil or to do good," these are guilty, and "a person guilty of any of these things is to confess in what manner he sinned and bring his guilt offering to Adonai for the sin he committed..." The same as above applies, we must go before the LORD Yeshua, confess our sins and repent and go and sin no more. Likewise, "If anyone acts improperly and inadvertently sins in regard to the holy things of Adonai," "If someone sins by doing something against any of the commandments of Adonai concerning things which should not be done," we're guilty, even if not aware for it, and through Yeshua we can be cleansed. This is the reason we must approach His altar with a humble and contrite heart, knowing that there is not a single one of us without sin, and in our hearts we ought to strive to obey Him because we love Him, and work out our salvation with fear and trembling, desiring to obey.

Likewise, “If someone sins and acts perversely against Adonai by dealing falsely with his neighbor in regard to a deposit or security entrusted to him, by stealing from him, by extorting him, or by dealing falsely in regard to a lost object he has found, or by swearing to a lie — if a person commits any of these sins, then, if he sinned and is guilty, he is to restore whatever it was he stole or obtained by extortion, or whatever was deposited with him, or the lost object which he found, or anything about which he has sworn falsely. He is to restore it in full plus an additional one-fifth; he must return it to the person who owns it, on the day when he presents his guilt offering." The guilt offering is our prayer to Yeshua following confession to the one we have wronged as well as the LORD and prior to making restitution as the law prescribes. We must make restitution in the manner described here.

The offering must be burnt outside the camp, just as Yeshua Himself was crucified outside the gates of Jerusalem, and His prayers for us while dying—"Father, forgive them, for they do not know what they're doing," went up to Heaven as a sweet-smelling aroma. For our part, we must change our garments. We must take off our "filthy rags" and put on the righteousness of Messiah Yeshua. We must go and sin no more.

Leviticus 7, Leviticus 8

When the Israelites brought their offerings to the priests for guilt or for sin, some parts would be burnt up for the LORD, other parts burned outside the camp, and the meat would be consumed by the priests. For peace offerings, some of the meat would go to the priests, and while Scripture doesn't say what would happen to the rest of it, presumably it would be eaten by the owner of the sacrifice. In this time, we would not have grilled our own meat, but we would have gone to the priests to offer it up to Yahweh and let them cook it for us. The best parts of the meat would be the priestly reward, while the people would enjoy some of the meat, from my reading. As Aaron and his sons were consecrated for the priesthood, a special ceremony ensued. Yeshua also was specially prepared for burial, and there are many parallels to his coronation and that of Aaron, for Yeshua is now our eternal High Priest. More study is needed in these sections.

Leviticus 9, Leviticus 10

The glory of the LORD is something we have not "seen" necessarily in our present experience, but we will see Him in it when He returns. His blood replaces the blood of bulls and goats, but we must maintain the heart of humility and contrition that is described in Leviticus 9 and 10. Aaron's two sons died because they offered an unauthorized sacrifice of fire. What did it entail? We don't know, but it was likely a carry-over sacrifice from pagan Egypt. We cannot mix the Holy and the profane. It is a death sentence for our soul. We must separate pagan practices from the practices that Yeshua has instructed us, and make sure that we do not have any other gods besides Him, for He is a jealous God. He does not want to share our affections with any other tradition or power, for He is preeminent and desires a people who worship Him as such. His holiness is perfect, and it is incumbent on us to recognize it in this way.

Leviticus 11, Leviticus 12

The LORD has said what is good for us to eat as those who are grafted-in to Israel by the blood of Messiah Yeshua, and that is described in Leviticus 11 in detail. Want to know what meat is food, and which meat is not food? It's all here, nice and concise. People have proposed all kinds of ideas on why these laws exist for practical reasons, but God's laws are not just meant for practicality, but also to show we love Him and are a people set apart for Him. That is the case for God's food laws in a major way, for God says so Himself: He said "I am Yahweh your God; therefore consecrate yourselves and be holy, for I am holy; and do not defile yourselves... Its purpose is to distinguish between the unclean and the clean, and between the creatures that may be eaten and those that may not be eaten." Noah was aware of this law before it was given at Sinai, for seven pairs of clean animals and two pairs of unclean animals entered the ark. His sacrifice following the flood was of clean animals, for to use an unclean animal would have made it extinct. God told Noah to eat meat, which is here defined clearly in Leviticus 11. Noah didn't write as specificity as Moses, but he still understood the law. The law is eternal.

A woman is "unclean" after giving birth to a child for practical reasons, but why the longer period when giving birth to a girl? One thought I've come across that I agree with is that a baby girl has the same potential to bear new life that the mother does, and in recognition that such new life is not yet possible, she remains celibate for a period for both herself and her daughter. When she has a boy, this same requirement is not there. The LORD is highlighting the co-creative power that He gave to women; to share in the process of creating new life with Him. When a woman is fertile, she is "clean" because she can create new life, and when she gives birth or has her period, she is "unclean" because she cannot create new life. The idea here is that the sacred responsibility of bearing new life is given to women, and women are held in high regard and set apart for the time when they can co-create with God to make a distinction between this life-giving power and the time period when new life cannot come forth.

As a side note: We also see that the sacrifice for a boy or girl is a lamb for a bunt offering (prayer) as well as a dove for a sin offering—in other words, a peace offering to recognize the original sin and make atonement for it. But if a woman cannot afford a lamb, she will offer two doves or two young pigeons instead. In Luke 2:24, Mary offered two turtledoves for Yeshua, who was the Lamb of God, indicating that she was poor physically but rich indeed spiritually.

Leviticus 13

When we are unwell and contagious, we ought to isolate ourselves until we are well so we do not spread our illness to others. When we are well, we can resume our daily activities and go about the world. Any mold or mildew infecting a garment may destroy a whole wardrobe or even a home if it spreads; it ought to be removed so it doesn't infect the whole house and make people ill.

Likewise, when a person is sinning the and will not repent, we have to remove them from the church so that they do not spread their licentiousness and infect the rest of the body. If they confess their sin in humility and repent, they may come back in forgiveness (See 1 Corinthians 5 and 2 Corinthians 2). A person spouting false doctrine and/or failing to receive instruction also must be removed from the church body, lest they infect the whole flock. This is a serious matter and cannot be taken lightly. It ought not be the exception, but the hard and fast rule. Sin cannot be allowed in the camp with the rest of the body of believers or the whole body can be destroyed.

Leviticus 14, Leviticus 15

Continuing from Lev. 13, Lev. 14 shows how a person with leprosy (sin) ought to be brought back into the Body. They ought to go to the priest and show themselves for examination. Today this may be the pastor or the pastor and his elders. They will have a conversation with the person and determine whether he is truly repentant, whether the sin is truly behind him, and whether he is ready to submit to Godly authority. If no, he remains outside. If yes, then he is presented before the whole Body and rededicated as a forgiven member of the Body. In Christian circles, we might lay hands on the man or woman at the front of the church and say a prayer over them, so the whole church knows to welcome him or her back as a brother or sister. Notice also how there ought to be follow-up the next day to make sure the clean heart was not just a temporary emotional swing. The LORD has sacrificed for us, so a humble and contrite heart that is teachable and persistent in faith is what we're looking for. Notice also how the LORD makes provision for a wealthy man or a poor man; their sacrifices are commensurate with their ability to bear them. We should keep this in mind when deciding how to rededicate a sinner who was lost but now is found, and praise the LORD, for He and His angels will certainly be celebrating in Heaven.

Clearly, leprosy of a house means mildew or mold or some other infestation, perhaps even rodents or insects. When this is happening, we cannot allow it to persist, or the house will be lost. Mold or mildew has to be removed. Insects or rodents need to be killed and their pathways blocked up. Rot in the wood of a house has to be repaired. Our shelter is in the LORD, but He also provides us with His law so that we know how to care for the shelter He provides for us. We are partners in this life with Him.

On a Spiritual level, leprosy (tzara‘at) in a house is very dangerous. It means there are demons or other spiritual hosts of wickedness that have some kind of authority or attachment that is allowing them to bring havoc to our dwelling place. It is incumbent on us to identify what it is and get it out of the house. Are we watching something on TV/computer screen/phone we shouldn't watch? Are we reading something we shouldn't read? Are there pagan symbols, idols or anything else in the house that is allowing the demonic activity? These things must be removed, and then it is incumbent on us to bless the house and restore it under the authority of Almighty God by anointing it with His Holy Oil, which is the Holy Spirit. Olive oil on all the doors and windows, with prayer, is a good symbol to use when doing this, but first the house must be cleansed of evil.

Regular body functions reflect our spiritual state. Being unclean does not necessarily mean that we are sinning, it may just mean that we have to spend some time in self reflection and purification of heart so that we can realign ourselves with the LORD and His law. A woman's cycle sets her apart because she has lost her co-creative power that God has given her. It's not that she's less of a person when she is cycling; her potential to be a co-creator is still there, just dormant. And there is ceremony that recognizes when her co-creative power returns. This is a celebration, for women have been given a great gift in their childbearing, and those who have many children are considered extremely blessed by God. God's first commandment was to "go forth and multiply." It's all related. Likewise, a man with a seminal emission has lost that potential to create life in his relationship with his wife. The LORD has asked us to recognize this in our thinking by taking a bath or shower, which is often a very contemplative time for us. Consider that this time ought to be spent focusing on our relationship with the LORD and on restoring ourselves to purity so we can stand before Him. We all need to be purified daily—thank God for Yeshua, yes, but we still must "die daily," as Paul writes. The LORD is looking for those of us who have humble and contrite hearts; these He will dwell with.

Leviticus 16, Leviticus 17, Leviticus 18

Following the disrespect Aaron's sons showed toward the worship of the LORD, bringing pagan traditions into the tent of meeting to worship Him with "strange fire," the LORD instructed Israel concerning The Day of Atonement (Yom Kippur), and He declared it a permanent ordinance. We read: “It is to be a permanent regulation for you that on the tenth day of the seventh month you are to deny yourselves and not do any kind of work, both the citizen and the foreigner living with you. For on this day, atonement will be made for you to purify you; you will be clean before Adonai from all your sins. It is a Shabbat of complete rest for you, and you are to deny yourselves. “This is a permanent regulation." Paul talked about keeping the Day of Atonement in Acts 27:9, "Now when much time had been spent, and sailing was now dangerous because the Fast was already over, Paul advised them..." The Day of Atonement is also upheld in the Book of Hebrews 9-10, where we understand its Spiritual meaning, particularly Hebrews 9:11-12, "Messiah came as High Priest of the good things to come, with the greater and more perfect tabernacle not made with hands, that is, not of this creation.

"...Not with the blood of goats and calves, but with His own blood He entered the Most Holy Place once for all, having obtained eternal redemption." Yeshua, our High Priest, is also the Mediator of a New Covenant, and in the New Covenant we keep Yom Kippur as a day of atonement, to deny ourselves with fasting and doing no work, looking to Yeshua as our High Priest who made atonement by His blood. He purified us from all sin and has made a way for us to follow Him into eternal life. We read: "The High Priest anointed and consecrated to be High Priest in his father’s place will make the atonement ... and he will make atonement for the priests and for all the people of the community. This is a permanent regulation for you, to make atonement for the people of Isra’el because of all their sins once a year.” Because of Yeshua, we can come boldly before the throne of grace. Because of His sacrifice, because He walked up to the altar dripping blood from His own wounds on the cross, sprinkling His great sacrifice one time for us, we ought to dedicate this Day of Atonement to Him and thank Him for His gift.

When we read the law about sacrificing peace offerings in front of the tent of meeting lest we be cut off, how might we as Christians fulfill this law? When we read that sacrifices made outside the camp are made to goat demons, what does this mean for us? Paul explains in 1 Corinthians 10:15-22: "Therefore, my beloved, flee from idolatry. I speak as to wise men; judge for yourselves what I say. The cup of blessing which we bless, is it not the communion of the blood of Christ? The bread which we break, is it not the communion of the body of Christ? For we, though many, are one bread and one body; for we all partake of that one bread. Observe Israel after the flesh: Are not those who eat of the sacrifices partakers of the altar? What am I saying then? That an idol is anything, or what is offered to idols is anything? Rather, that the things which the Gentiles sacrifice they sacrifice to demons and not to God, and I do not want you to have fellowship with demons. You cannot drink the cup of the Lord and the cup of demons; you cannot partake of the Lord’s table and of the table of demons. Or do we provoke the Lord to jealousy? Are we stronger than He?" Consider also what the LORD told the Samaritan woman in John 4:21-24: ...

"Woman, believe Me, the hour is coming when you will neither on this mountain, nor in Jerusalem, worship the Father. You worship what you do not know; we know what we worship, for salvation is of the Jews. But the hour is coming, and now is, when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth; for the Father is seeking such to worship Him. God is Spirit, and those who worship Him must worship in spirit and truth.” Thus, when we sacrifice a clean animal as a peace offering to the LORD, we MUST bring this sacrifice to the altar of the LORD as a peace offering, we MUST give thanks to the LORD for the meat that He has given us for our well being, for our shalom. We must NOT mix the holy with the profane and engage in any pagan practices at all when grilling our meat. We cannot drink the blood. We cannot eat without giving thanks to Yeshua. The tabernacle we come before is now the authentic tabernacle in Heaven, but we still must come before it and offer thanksgiving and praise. To forget to do this is to forget the LORD and what He has given us.

Leviticus tells us plainly: "the life is in the blood." The soul is in the blood. Do animals have souls? Yes they do, and the soul flows through the animated being the LORD has made. But their souls of animals don't live beyond the flesh—we read in Psalm 49:20, "Man in his pomp yet without understanding is like the beasts that perish." The beasts perish; they do not persist past physical death. Man, who lacks understanding, also perish. They don't persist past physical death. However, when we have understanding, that Yeshua is God and has risen from the dead, and we put our faith in Him, fulfilling His Word in our lives, we gain understanding and inherit eternal life. In our state of salvation, we ought to offer thanksgiving to God for the meat we eat.

Man is composed of the flesh, the Spirit of God breathed into the flesh, and the soul that results from this union. When we die, the Spirit of God returns to Him (this is not our identity, but His), the flesh decays, and the soul sleeps in the grave waiting for the Last Day, when Yeshua will raise us up, for He has said: "I will raise you up on the Last Day" (John 6:39). Our souls will be resurrected on the Last Day when we have the faith of Yeshua and keep the commandments of God.

The LORD plainly states in Leviticus 18 that as His people we are not to participate in the practices of the pagans who live around us. We MUST be a people set apart. Paul also makes that clear in much of his writing. The LORD's 7th commandment states, "you shall not commit adultery," and clearly that has plain meaning, but in Leviticus 18 and 20, the LORD spells out the "sexual immorality" that we also must exclude from our lives. In Acts 15, abstaining from "sexual immorality" is one of four things that new Christians must do as soon as they come into the faith. Leviticus 18 and 20 explains to us what God means by "sexual immorality," and we should consult these chapters when teaching new disciples of Yeshua what it means to follow the commandments of God. If we practice these things, according to Paul in 1 Corinthians 5, the church has the right to throw us out for Satan to deal with us. Only with humble, repentant hearts can we be invited back into church and forgiven (2 Corinthians 2). People who practice sexual immorality or any of these things described here in Leviticus 18 must be admonished without reservation. We cannot allow such sin within the Body of believers. But we must also forgive those who truly repent.

Leviticus 19, Leviticus 20, Leviticus 21

The LORD told Israel in Leviticus 19: "You people are to be holy because I, Yahweh your God, am holy." Yeshua, speaking the same Word as the Father, because He is One in Being with the Father, said in Matthew 5:48: "Therefore you shall be perfect, just as your Father in heaven is perfect." Can we accomplish this? Not without the Holy Spirit indwelling us—absolutely not. However, with the Holy Spirit, "all things are possible with God" (Matthew 19:26). So how do we obtain the Holy Spirit. Yeshua told us in John 14:15-18: "If you love me, you will keep my commandments, And I will pray the Father, and He will give you another Helper, that He may abide with you forever—the Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive, because it neither sees Him nor knows Him; but you know Him, for He dwells with you and will be in you." It's interesting, because to be holy as the LORD is holy—to love the LORD—is "the greatest commandment," according to Yeshua in Matthew 22. The second greatest commandment is also here: “‘Do not hate your brother in your heart, but rebuke your neighbor frankly, so that you won’t carry sin because of him. Don’t take vengeance on or bear a grudge against any of your people; rather, love your neighbor as yourself; I am Yahweh." To love one another, we must correct them to walk according to God's commandments.

And so it amounts to this: 1) God created us and everything He created was good, but in His love for us, He gave us free will so that we could choose to love Him. 2) God commanded us to obey Him for our good and warned us about the consequences for disobedience: death. 3) We disobeyed Him, and the punishment for this was death—not physical death, but eternal death. We all disobey Him, for there is not one without sin, and thus we are all subject to destruction. 4) God Himself, being accountable for His creation which He made with free will, came in the flesh as Yeshua to show us how to keep His commandments, and He did so flawlessly, and He asked us to follow Him. ... 5) God sacrificed Himself on our behalf, the ONLY worthy sacrifice, to redeem us from the punishment for our sins, which is death, and then He rose, conquering sin and death. 6) This is why Paul writes that we are saved by grace, not by works, so none of us can boast. We cannot earn this salvation. It is impossible. But our salvation is only the beginning of the way toward God's kingdom. 7) Because of our love for our Savior, for what He has done for us, we decide in our heart to keep His commandments; we do the works that He has prepared beforehand and walk in them. 8) He knows our hearts, and will help those who are earnestly seeking Him with our whole hearts. He expects us to ask Him to help us, and He has promised to do so. 9) We must endure in our faithfulness, because He is faithful to us, until the end. 10) Like He was risen, we too will be risen up on the Last Day to everlasting life with Him, if we follow Him by keeping the commandments of God and the faith of Yeshua.

Remember, Paul wrote in Romans 12:19: "Do not avenge yourselves, beloved, but leave room for God's wrath. For it is written: "Vengeance is Mine; I will repay, says the Lord." This comes from Deuteronomy 32:35. While God gives authority to governments to take vengeance for Him according to His law, which is why we must be subject to governing authorities, we must not take vengeance into our own hands. As Peter explains in 2 Peter 3: "The Lord is not slack concerning His promise, as some count slackness, but is longsuffering toward us, not willing that any should perish but that all should come to repentance." He desires this, but He won't force it, because our God is a God of love. Yeshua said, "Repent, for the Kingdom of God is at hand." He expects us "to follow Him," to "go and sin no more," and to fully rely on Him to help us, but He also expects us to obey His commandments, to study His Word day and night, for when we fill our hearts up with His Word, it will become a part of our words and our actions, and it will be very difficult for us to sin any longer. He helps us when we obey Him. It's kind of like when Joshua asked the priests to step into the raging Jordan River. The waters did not part and make way for them to pass until they first took a step of faith. This is the same for our own walk in righteousness.

Our transformation is not a magical, automatic thing, but requires our faithfulness. The LORD Yeshua said, "seek and you shall find, knock and the door will be opened to you." The LORD said earlier, "You will seek me and you will find me when you search for me with all of your heart." There is no quick fix in this faith, it takes total dedication. The LORD will spit the lukewarm out of His mouth (Revelation 3). The LORD is long-suffering, as we read earlier in Exodus 34, He is merciful and gracious, kind, and want to forgive those who sin against Him, but He will not heal the guilty. Thus, while the punishment is death for many things that we do to sin against Him, He also gives us time to repent. He tells us what is good and what is evil and He waits for us to choose what is good, constantly imploring us to make the right choice for our own good. :He has shown you, O man, what is good; And what does the LORD require of you But to do justly, To love mercy, And to walk humbly with your God?" (Micah 6:8). For those who won't repent, they will face the punishment that has been levied against them.

Regarding any personal choices we might make that are evil, we can only start from the place that we are at when we decide we want to give our whole heart to the LORD. The LORD "HATES" divorce, He says in Malachi. He also hates adultery, and even the LORD Yeshua has made it clear adultery is the ONLY cause for divorce. Those who find themselves divorced, remarried, having committed sins along the way, cannot go back. The consequences for these sins will be lived out, but the LORD does not want us to multiply sin upon sin. If we are remarried, we are remarried, and the LORD calls for us to love our wives and devote ourselves fully to them, loving them as He loves the church. That means protect them and sacrifice everything for them, while also leading them as the head of the household in the way they should go, which is toward the LORD and only toward the LORD. The wife ought to obey her husband, not one who is a tyrant, but one who is a loving servant, and because of His love for her she ought to praise him and do everything she can to help him. This is a model of how the church ought to respond to Messiah Yeshua Himself. Paul writes, "For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord." "Are we then to keep on sinning so grace may abound," he also asks. "Certainly not." Wherever we find ourselves, we must "go and sin no more."

Here are the differences between the Old and New Covenant: In the Old, Moses and Aaron and their successors were the Mediator and High Priest, but now Yeshua replaces their roles. The Temple was in the Tabernacle in the wilderness, in Shiloh, and then in Jerusalem, but now it is in the Body of believers in Messiah Yeshua, and He is its corner stone. The sacrifices were bulls and goats and lambs and turtle doves, but now the sacrifice is Yeshua on the cross. The law was written on tablets of stone, veiled in its spiritual meaning from those who read it, unable to save, but now the law is written on the tablets of our heart, and with the Holy Spirit directing us how to interpret it, it can make us into the very image of Christ. Everything else remains the same. The LORD has given us an eternal law to follow, which He commanded us to read and study day and night so that it could be written on our hearts. Now that the veil of understanding has been taken away by the Spirit of Christ, we ought to keep it with all diligence and desire, because it is life to us. The LORD does not desire a bastard faith, but a wholehearted faith. He wants us to die to self, to follow Him in His ways, rather than our own ways, for He knows what is good for us.

I would personally not get a tattoo. The LORD has said we ought not do that. If you have one, ask Him what He'd like you to do about it. He will tell you if you earnestly seek Him. It may be enough to repent, but perhaps He will want more from you? He will explain it.

There's so much in these three chapters. I weep reading them because of the glory of God's law—I love it so much. He has told us what is good. I'd love to comment on so much of it, for Yeshua and the Apostles have taught us how to keep ALL of these laws, and their teaching is so beautiful to me. The LORD is the same yesterday, today and forever. Our heart ought to be to serve Him, because He loves us and does everything for us that we could ever imagine when we simply trust Him and do what He asks.

Leviticus 22, Leviticus 23

When we approach the LORD to offer Him thanks and praise, we can come boldly before the throne of grace, according to Heb. 4:16, and yet not without full faith and trust in our mediator Yeshua. Faithfulness, which purifies us, is identified by obedience to His commands with the intense desire of our own heart. We cannot have any blemish when we come before the LORD, meaning that we cannot appear with any sin. The LORD said in Matthew 5:23, if you remember your brother has anything against you, leave your gift at the altar and make amends with/forgive your brother and then return to offer your gift. If we are offering thanksgiving to the LORD, a nice sirloin steak on the grill for a Shabbat meal, for instance (cooked before sunset, of course), then we ought to do so with thanksgiving. We don't just repeat rote words and call it "grace," but we earnestly seek the LORD in prayer and offer Him true gratitude for what He has given. This is why the LORD says in Leviticus: “When you offer a sacrifice of thanksgiving to Adonai, you must do it in a way such that you will be accepted." Do you really mean it, or are you going through the motions? Our heart condition is what matters MOST! We are not to profane the Holy name of Yeshua (Jesus)!

When the LORD announced His Holy Convocation Days, we must pay special attention to the Words the LORD used here, because the nuance has eternal meaning. Leviticus 23 is the one chapter of the entire Bible that gave me true faith in Yeshua and led to my walk in the LORD with earnest thanksgiving and praise—and this is NOT a small matter.  Firstly, the LORD said these are HIS "appointed times" that we ought to celebrate as He instructed. They aren't our feasts. They aren't the feasts of the Jews. They are the LORD's Feasts. Think of Him being the Master of a Kingdom (and He is), and He invites YOU to come into His castle to dine in His dining room, and you receive the invite. Would you go? Read Matthew 22:1-14, because the parable of the wedding feast is about this very thing. What will your heart condition be? Will you accept the invite from the LORD, who has made all things and redeemed all who call upon His name? Or will you make up a lame excuse or your own rationale to not go? Worse: Will you listen to other men who have made up lame excuses to not go? What will the LORD who invited you to HIS FEAST think of that? He asks us, "Who do you say that I AM"? If you truly believe HE IS GOD, as I do, then there is no other answer than to show up in our best wedding garment, and not only that, but with our first and our best offering for our host.

There's one thing the LORD hates even more than NOT showing up at His feasts, and that is when we invent our own feasts on which to worship Him while ignoring the ones He has told us to come to. That is the very subject of Isaiah 1, where the LORD says, "The New Moons, the Sabbaths, and the calling of assemblies—I cannot endure iniquity and the sacred meeting. YOUR New Moons and your appointed feasts My soul hates; they are a trouble to Me, I am weary of bearing them. When you spread out your hands, I will hide My eyes from you; Even though you make many prayers, I will not hear. Your hands are full of blood. Wash yourselves, make yourselves clean. Put away the evil of your doings from before My eyes. Cease to do evil, Learn to do good;..." Lest we believe that the LORD doesn't want us to pray to Him any longer, we must read this section carefully. The LORD is saying that He HATES when we do things our own way. He wants us to do things HIS way. He hates when we sin and then come before Him to worship. He hates when our hearts are far from Him, but then we offer Him lip service on Sunday, a day on which he did not command us to worship him, or on some other pagan festival. He wants us to come to HIS HOLY CONVOCATION. He commands it!

These feasts are HOLY CONVOCATIONS, meaning that they are appointed times of the year when the LORD wants us to gather before Him, and these are Sabbaths, meaning that we are to do no work, we are to not cook or clean, we are to kindle no fire, we are to avoid buying and selling and we are to give our hearts fully to Him in devotion, for He is the LORD of the Sabbath. And He made the Sabbath for us, not us for the Sabbath. It is good for us to do these things His way—they will be a delight to us when we keep the LORD's Days the way the LORD has directed us. Read Isaiah 56:1-8 and Isaiah 58:13-14, for this explains the LORD's heart beat. As holy convocations, it is a commandment of the LORD that we come together. In Hebrews 10:22-25, the writer exhorts us to "not forsake the assembling together, as is the manner of some" and in fact, He writes to do this all the more as the Last Day approaches. If you take the Greek words, "assembling together," they are the same words as the LORD's in Leviticus 23: "Holy convocation," they mean the same thing. The words is episunagógé (ἐπισυναγωγή) in Greek. The Word in Hebrew is mikrah (מִקְרָא), and it also means gathering together. They are holy assemblies commanded by the LORD.

Thus, the LORD lists these feasts and clarifies which feasts belong to Him each year. They are the weekly Sabbath (seventh day—Saturday), the Passover Seder at evening on the 14th of the first month, the first and last day of the Feast of Unleavened Bread (the first day of Unleavened Bread is the same day as Passover), the Pentecost, the Day of Trumpets, the Day of Atonement, the First Day of the Feast of Tabernacles and the Eighth Day, which is the day after the last day of the Feast of Tabernacles. First Fruits, which is a day that clearly foretells the resurrection of our LORD, is actually NOT a holy convocation day, but it is mysteriously called out here as being a day on which we ought to make a wave offering to the LORD, which is worship. The LORD when He came in the flesh said "Do this in memory of Me" when He celebrated His last Passover Seder meal with His disciples, and then He was sacrificed as the unblemished Passover Lamb and the Unleavened Bread, our sinless and perfect sacrifice on the first day of Unleavened Bread. The Sabbath during Passover week was the next day, and thus that Sunday was First Fruits, the day He rose as our First Fruits of salvation and literally went to wave Himself before the Father in Heaven.

Importantly, at the Seder itself, which has four cups symbolizing four different things, the LORD said in Matthew 26:29: "But I say to you, I will not drink of this fruit of the vine from now on until that day when I drink it new with you in My Father’s kingdom.” The fourth cup of the Passover Seder is the cup of the kingdom. The third cup of the Passover Seder is the cup of salvation represented by the advent of the Messiah. The first cup represented the lamb's blood from the Exodus story. The second cup represented the exile from the Babylonian captivity. The third cup is the cup Yeshua held up to them and offered as the cup of salvation from sin by His blood. The fourth cup is the cup of the Kingdom, and represents our union together with Him forever in His Kingdom because of His blood sacrifice. He won't drink it until He returns, which means that Passover has not been completely fulfilled, and yet we will celebrate it with Him in His Kingdom. Thus, we "do this in memory of" Yeshua when we celebrate it each year, just as He Himself commanded. He appeared the first time to the Disciples on First Fruits, resurrected, and then again on the last day of the Feast of Unleavened Bread. He comes to us on His Holy Feast Days, and all we have to do is go to Him and accept His invitation to dine with Him, to be with Him when He desires to be with us.

Yeshua told us the Pentecost would come, and told His disciples to be in Jerusalem for the Feast Day, just as the LORD commanded. This was also the day that God gave the 10 Commandments on Sinai. Just like He wrote the commandments on tablets of stone on Pentecost (Shavuot), He wrote the commandments on our hearts on the very same day. We celebrate this day in memory of the Holy Spirit's advent into all flesh, even the flesh of Gentiles, but we also celebrate and worship the LORD on this day, for He has called for such a celebration. The Feast of Trumpets is the day that heralds the coronation of the King, the second coming of Yeshua, and it has both historical and future realizations. He will return "at the last Trumpet." Coincidentally, the Feast of Trumpets is the only convocation that takes place on the New Moon, which means that we have to "watch" just like He said, and truly "no one knows the day or the hour." He will return during the middle of the night, which of course has spiritual significance also. The Day of Atonement was realized when the Jews chose Yeshua BarAbbas over Yeshua the Messiah, preferring a worldly rebel over the savior of the world, but it will be realized again on Judgement Day, when the LORD separates the sheep from the goats.

Finally Tabernacles has multiple realizations. The LORD tabernacled with Israel in the wilderness, and then He was born on the first Day of the Feast, laid in a manger outside the home of a relative, most likely within one of the tents that had been set up for the Feast. He was circumcised on the Eighth Day, a double entendre. In Zechariah 14:16, we understand that "it shall come to pass that everyone who is left of all the nations which came against Jerusalem shall go up from year to year to worship the King, the LORD of hosts, and to keep the Feast of Tabernacles." The Feast of Tabernacles will be an eternal celebration even after the Second Coming of Yeshua. Even after the final battle. It is a permanent memorial that represents Jews and Greeks coming together as one Body in Messiah Yeshua. It shows us that we are the Tabernacle of God, and when we come together as one Body, He dwells with us and within us. The Eighth Day is a new beginning, and it represents the New Heaven and the New Earth, which will last forever. When we celebrate all of these feasts each year, we worship the LORD the way He desires and we confess that we believe both in what He has accomplished as well as what He has promised. How could we not celebrate the way He has asked us to celebrate together with total peace and joy?

Leviticus 24, Leviticus 25

Pure oil from crushed olives must burn continually as light in our lamps, and Yeshua explained in His parable of the 10 virgins that the wise virgins had enough oil to burn. The oil to burn in our lamps comes from our fruit being cultivated, plus some persecution. If we are out spreading the Gospel, teaching the commandments and practicing what we preach, we are bound to bear fruit, for the LORD's Word never returns to Him void. And on top of this, we are bound to suffer persecution, for the enemy does not like it when we bear fruit for the Kingdom of God. However, when our olives are crushed, our fruit is used for God's purposes, we then can burn our lamps continually and never run out. All of our persecution, trials and tribulations cause growth in our faith and in our maturity. The incense and bread also must be burned and arranged before the LORD each Sabbath—it is essential for us to come together for prayer and to share in the Word of the LORD. We are to eat from the Word in the holy place, where we come together with other believers.

The LORD is serious about His commandments, and He will punish those who violate them; but His intent is that our hearts change to obey them, and He helps those who seek Him. The LORD is just and kind, desiring the foreigner to be treated the same way as the citizen, but move into the next chapter to understand this more fully. The Hebrew slaves ought to be treated fairly and released after 7 years, while the foreigners can be enslaved forever. When properly understood, the foreigner who becomes one with Israel is no longer a foreigner and can only go into servitude for 7 years, while unbelievers and pagans will not have that same luxury. Nonetheless, even the stranger within our gates must rest on the Sabbath. We see this same justice extend into the Jubilee year, when all lands must be returned to their original owners. There is a reset every 50 years so that all who had gotten ahead and all who had fallen behind will be brought back as brothers. The LORD sees us all as equally valuable as part of His Body, whether a hand or a foot. What's interesting to note is that Yeshua began preaching during a Jubilee year, and He came to set the captives free. It is likely His return will also be in one of these years—when is debated.

The Shemitah year is also debated, but we kept the Shemitah on our property two seasons ago and let our gardens go wild. We were told that we would never be able to tame them. But last season, the eighth year, we had more crops then we knew what to do with and we're still eating them. What a blessing the LORD provides when we obey them. Some might say we're not in Israel so the land doesn't apply, but as grafted-in believers in Yeshua, we are a part of Israel, and so the land God has given us is the tiny little acre in Derry, NH, and we dedicated it to Him. Thus, I firmly believe this law applies to us, and as evidence of that, the LORD blessed us greatly with our crops. Praise be to His name!

Leviticus 26, Leviticus 27

The last line in Leviticus says, "These are the commandments which Adonai gave to Moshe for the people of Isra’el on Mount Sinai." Earlier in Exodus 24:4 we read, "And Moses wrote all the words of the LORD." There are several witnesses to these very important facts. From this we can deduce a few important things: 1) Yeshua, who is one with the Father, gave His commandments to Moses. They are not the law of Moses, though they are often referred to in this way, they are the law given by God to Moses. 2) Moses wrote down every single Word the LORD spoke, and none were excepted. This is important when considering that the Jews developed an oral tradition, claiming that it came from things the LORD commanded but Moses didn't write down. There is zero Scriptural evidence for this happening, and in fact, the evidence suggests quite the opposite. There was no oral law given to Moses—it's a lie. The oral law, which is now in the Talmud and Mishnah, was likely developed during the Babylonian captivity. This oral law is the one Yeshua criticized in Matthew 15 and Mark 7.

It is very clear from reading Scripture that God gave Moses every single commandment, and Moses wrote every single commandment down for us in Torah. There aren't any others to follow than what we read here. This is really important when reading Leviticus 26, which is repeated in Deuteronomy 28, for there are curses on the people of God for consistently violating the commandments of God, and blessings when the people of God keep the commandments. To understand why these commandments apply to us, we have to understand that through Yeshua, we are grafted-in to Israel (Read Ephesians 2 and Romans 11 for two witnesses to this, and also Isaiah 43 and 56 as a prophesy of this). Thus, the land the LORD gives to His people is the land for which these principles apply. For me, that's an acre in Derry, NH. What is it for you? We ought to be mindful of the LORD's commandments so we receive the blessings in this life, and not the curses, and then eternal life in the life to come.

I want to note as an example that when America was an untamed land, wild beasts roamed the land, the sword (arrow) flew wildly, and there was much pestilence, but when the people of God inhabited the land, the wild beasts were tamed and moved into the wilderness, the wars ceased and the pestilences were cured, among other things that are noted here in our reading. Today, mountain lions, wolves and coyotes are spreading into inhabited areas, pestilence is growing and the sword is looming. The people of America have turned against God, and we will continue to receive God's judgment unless we repent as a people. Individuals can be saved out of a sinful land, but the land itself will be judged. We need to get to work spreading the Gospel of Yeshua and teaching the commandments if there is any hope of saving America from destruction. Because I don't see that happening, my goal is simply to pull as many up out of the fire as possible, and let the LORD sort out the details. As for me and my house, we shall serve the LORD.

Numbers 1, Numbers 2

We can note here that considered adults by God in His Word are those men who are 20 years and older, and this is also who we ought to count as men in the church. While someone prior to 20 can be baptized, they don't reach the age of accountability where they MUST make this choice or risk eternal punishment until 20. In another example, those younger than 20 can come to Passover even if they don't yet believe, but once they reach 20, they must believe or should not participate. Below 20, they are still under their father's covering.

Consider this: All of these 603,550 men, with only two exceptions, died in the wilderness. Joshua and Caleb were the only two who made it to the Promised Land from that number. In other words, only those younger than 20 made it in plus Joshua and Caleb. While this is an interesting prophetic picture of the disparity between the first and second covenant system, and the New Covenant system is far superior, it is also a warning to us that we must be diligent to make sure we are among those who make it into the Kingdom of God.

Let's look at these numbers by ratio and do a thought experiment: There are 124 million men, 20 and older in the United States today. If we consider this story prophetic, which it is, only 411 men alive in the United States today are truly following the LORD the way He wants to be followed. Taking this same number to the world population of 8.1 billion, men, women, and children, that's 26,813 people in the whole world who are truly following the LORD. The point isn't that only these 411 or 26,813 will be saved, the point is that when the LORD says that His Way is narrow, He really means it. Only a remnant of believers truly follow Him. We must be diligent to make sure we are among them.

Finally, something to note about Numbers 1 and 2 in particular is the formation that these men formed in the wilderness. All of Israel literally pointed to the cross of Christ. Their formation around the tabernacle formed a cross shape, with the tabernacle in the center. With Messiah Yeshua at the center of the cross, He saved the whole world. Israel would be a nation of priests who would disclose the True God to the World, and then this very Messiah would rise up from their midst to save all of humankind who believes in His gift of grace on the cross and therefore follows the commandments of God with help from the Holy Spirit. Our heart condition ought to match up with His. Is Christ at the center of our life, and is His law at the center of our heart. Do we desire to seek Him more than anything else? These are very important questions we ought to ask as we travel ourselves through the wilderness toward the Promised Land.

Numbers 3, Numbers 4

The LORD preserved all of the firstborn of Israel by the blood of the lamb, and thus on account of this salvation, they were called to serve the LORD by obeying Him and doing His will. In exchange for the firstborn, the LORD took the Tribe of Levi as a whole and then 1365 shekels of silver to account for the disparity of 273 males (five shekels each, about two ounces of silver) that could not be redeemed by the sons of Israel. This Levitical Priesthood fulfilled all of the duties of the Tabernacle of the LORD, and not one of them was involved with any other thing. Within the family, duties were divided and each member had to remain within their territory as set apart to the LORD for His purpose.

Today, we follow the High Priest who is after the order of Melchizedek rather than the order of Aaron. This was one of five viable changes between the Old Covenant and New Covenant that are spelled out in Scripture. To read the prophesy of this, read 1 Samuel 2:27-36, where God said He was going to do this, and then in Hebrews 7:17, and throughout the book of Hebrews, this concept is fully explained. Peter explains in 1 Peter 2:9 that we are all now part of this royal priesthood after the new order under Yeshua, and thus the Holy Spirit directs each of us according to the measure of faith that we have with our gifts. See 1 Corinthians 12. The symbolism of what we're reading in Numbers is eternal, for it is relative to the patter of what God showed Moses on the mountain—in other words, what exists in Heaven. As followers of Yeshua, we still fall under this order of having different roles within the body, and we must obey God rather than the dictates of our own hearts. There is only one High Priest, and His name is Yeshua, praise be to His name.

Numbers 5, Numbers 6, Numbers 7

The LORD emphasizes many times that we must keep His camp clean, and this MUST be our focus as congregations of the Body of Christ today. We cannot allow sin to remain within the camp. See 1 Corinthians 5 as our New Testament example.

A woman who is unfaithful to her faithful husband, a man of God, once presented before the altar of God will get venereal disease and severe abdominal pain, while a woman who is faithful to her godly husband will bear fruit for Him and bear many children. An unrepentant adulteress will die the second death within the New Covenant, which is a "far worse punishment," as explained in Hebrews 10:29.

The Apostle Paul made a Nazirite vow (Acts 18:18) within the New Covenant environment, and we can, too, according to this Word here. I would not recommend doing this unless the LORD directly calls us to this purpose, to be set apart as holy, and to devote oneself to prayer.

I personally give the priestly blessing read at the end of Numbers 6 each week, in both Hebrew and in English. I often feel the Holy Spirit powerfully working in the congregation during this time, for the LORD indeed blesses us. Pastor Daniel has an amazing five-part sermon series on this blessing, which can be found here: https://www.cornerfringe.com/media/series/q7t2z8b/the-blessing.

The people of Israel each brought similar gifts to consecrate the altar that God asked them to dedicate to His Name. When God calls us before His altar, should we not bring our first and our best, as well as our entire hearts to give Him full thanksgiving and praise? God expects each of us to bring our first and our best to Him, and we each out to do so without hesitation.

Numbers 8, Numbers 9, Numbers 10

The lamps of the menorah, which represents the complete assembly of God's chosen people in Messiah Yeshua (see Revelation 1), must cast their light forward. Yeshua said not to put our lamp under a basket, but on the lamp stand. We must let our light shine forth before men, and show them the reason for the hope that is in us, and it is this: Yeshua, the light of the world, dwells in us, and He has saved us from the curse of death and shown us how to live in righteousness—praised be to His blessed name. Our very lives ought to be a living Gospel, showing everyone we meet that we worship Yahweh and obey His commands.

Mike nailed it regarding the Levites being a priesthood set apart. We are washed clean by blood of Yeshua, but we must walk forward set apart from the stain of the world. Think about when Yeshua washed His disciples feet and asked us all to do likewise. It wasn't necessary for us to wash our whole bodies, as Peter suggested, because Yeshua made us clean, but when we walk about the world, our feet would pick up the filth that surrounds us. That is why when we come together to worship, we must wash each other's feet in fellowship, cleansing off the filth from the week, exhorting one another to endure in our faith.

The Passover festival is SO important to the LORD, that it is the one Holy Day that has a do-over it if is missed on account of defilement. Yeshua said to "do this in memory of me." Paul said to "keep the feast." Over and over again the LORD makes it abundantly clear that Passover is a feast we ought to keep as a memorial forever, for on that day the blood of the Lamb was shed for our sins, once for all time, and the unleavened bread was waved on the cross for all to see. We ought to remember His sacrifice and the new covenant of His blood the way He instructed, and if we can't do it because of defilement, we even have a second chance to do it. It should not be missed by any believer in Yeshua, for it is truly His feast.

As the cloud hovered over the tabernacle when the LORD instructed His people to sojourn, and as it moved when it was time for the people to move, so too must we move with the Holy Spirit, wherever He leads us, and remain and wait in place when He tells us to wait. As Yeshua told Nicodemus in John 3: "the wind blows where it wishes, and you hear the sound of it, but cannot tell where it comes from and where it goes. So is everyone who is born of the Spirit.” Numbers reads: "At Yahweh's order, they camped; and at Yahweh's order, they traveled — they did what Yahweh had charged them to do..." This is how we ought to live our lives in faith.

The trumpet ought to be blown for summoning the community for prayer, which is spiritual battle. When we go to battle in prayer, the trumpet ought to be blown first, announcing to the enemy that the living God is rising up to bring victory for His people. When God is for us, who can be against us? The trumpet ought to be blown on Shabbat and the Holy Feast days as a sound of rejoicing, and on the New Moon, along with prayer and feasting. How could we not relish the opportunity to come before the LORD with other faithful believers and enjoy His company? I look forward to each opportunity with glee. The Shofar blast brings peace in my heart.

When Moses went to his brother-in-law Hobab the Midianite and asked him to come with Israel to be their eyes, it might seem like Hobab turned back, but the syntax of the text makes it clear that he went with Moses. This will be important as we read through the rest of the Tanakh, as the Kenites are descendants of Re'u'el/Jethro and prove themselves to be extremely faithful followers of Yahweh, even more so than the Israelites and the people of Judah. Track this genealogy as we read; they are a powerful people of God, grafted-in Gentiles who had become a part of Israel.

Pastor Kraig Dorney preached about Psalm 68 today and I thought about it when reading Numbers 10:33 and your comments, Dad. He's coming to visit and preach at First Fruits next week. We're all very excited. Think about David, when he went up against Goliath, saying in paraphrase, Who is this uncircumcised Philistine who is insulting the armies of the living God. He had no fear, because of His faith in Yahweh. The enemies are scattered in the same way that smoke is blown away by a gentle breeze; the enemy stands no chance against God Most High!

Numbers 11, Numbers 12, Numbers 13

The LORD hates when we complain, because it is a sign of disbelief and ingratitude. Has the LORD not given us everything we have? Will He not give us everything we need? Will He not fulfill His promises? He has and He will, and this is faith, the kind of faith that moves mountains and tears down strongholds; the kind of faith that defeats even the most giant of enemies, because God is the one who does the fighting for us.

In the wilderness, it is the ones who longed to return to Egypt, the land of bondage, who were destroyed by plague. Maybe all of them craved meat, and the LORD gave them so much meat they would no longer desire it, but only some of them desired to return to bondage, and these are the ones who died. If we look back at our life of sin and consider it superior to our life with Messiah Yeshua, we will have rejected Him in the same way and there is nothing to expect but death. We must look forward, as Paul writes, "I press toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus" (Philippians 4:13).

When Moses grew weary of the LORD's call on HIs life, he became depressed, saying to the LORD, "If you are going to treat me this way, then just kill me outright!—please, if you have any mercy toward me!—and don't let me go on being this miserable." I'm sure we've all been in this place before where death seemed like a better way than the troubles that have gathered all around us, but this is also a sign of doubt in the LORD's goodness and His promises, for death itself is a curse and the LORD does not desire it for us. Remember: "Yeshua wept" at the death of his friend Lazarus (John 11:35). The Apostle Paul writes, "let us not grow weary while doing good, for in due season we shall reap if we do not lose heart" (Galatians 6:9). Whenever we feel this way, we should follow Moses's example and go to the LORD in prayer, and He will help us. He will lift us up on Eagle's wings and bear us on the breath of dawn (Psalm 91).

The LORD poured His Holy Spirit into 70 elders along with Moses, and two who were not with the group prophesied in the camp. As if this had been a problem, this was brought to Moses's attention, and He said, "I wish all of Yahweh's people were prophets! I wish Yahweh would put his Spirit on all of them!” This is a good prayer, and it came to fruition in the New Covenant, when the Holy Spirit fell upon all flesh (Joel 2:28), and when we accept Yeshua as LORD and obey Him out of love for Him (John 14:15-18), the Spirit enters us and fulfills this prayer. In 1 Corinthians 14:5, the Apostle Paul echoed Moses's prayer, saying, "I wish you all spoke with tongues, but even more that you prophesied; for he who prophesies is greater than he who speaks with tongues, unless indeed he interprets, that the church may receive edification." The purpose of prophesy is to take the Word of God and apply it to real life. This is a real hope for all who obey the LORD in faith, for we all ought to read the Word of the LORD daily and with the Holy Spirit apply it to our lives.

Moses had an Ethiopian wife? Zipporah was from Midian, not Ethiopia. There is debate on this passage. The word is כּוּשִׁי or Kushi, and it means Kushite, or Ethiopian. Others from Israel pronounce the word Kaasha, which means beautiful, and argue that Moses only married one wife. Regardless of what view you take, the message is the same. The people were jealous of Moses, that God spoke with Him face-to-face, and even Aaron and Miriam rebelled against him. Miriam, being a woman, complained about Moses's wife as an act of jealousy. But Moses was more humble than any man on the Earth, so he took the matter before God. This is what we ought to do with any controversy in the church; we ought to take the matter to God in prayer. The LORD answered saying that Moses was his chosen vessel to lead the people and no one ought to dispute that. He gave Miriam leprosy for a week to punish her for her rebellion. She was repentant, but still had to deal with the consequences of her sin. This is true of us also. The LORD will forgive, but we still have to deal with the consequences of sin. We ought to consider one more very important lesson here: God calls the leaders of His people, His pastors/prophets/teachers. The NT verifies this. They are not elected by the congregation, but they are called by God. The people should not question this calling, but they absolutely should judge their leaders according to their fruit, for Yeshua said we would know a true teacher vs. a false teacher by their fruit (Mt. 7:16)

We are beginning to read about the people's rejection of God's divine purpose for them, to inherit the Promised Land. They see worldly things instead of the amazing miracles God has done for them, and this leads them to disbelief. There were giants in the land, the descendants of the Nephalim. NOTE: This means angels continued to rebel against God after the flood and continued to mate with human women. I believe this is what happened in Babel, because Nimrod himself was called "a man of renown," which refers to this type of hybrid. The children of Nimrod and his ilk were inhabiting Canaan, and the LORD wanted them wiped out. The flood accomplished this, but the evil ones persisted, and so God wanted to use Israel in this second iteration to wipe them out. Israel did not believe that God could use them in this way, and so they would die in the wilderness—all of them who denied the LORD and disbelieved His Word. This is a lesson to us. We too face spiritual battles in our lives, we face against an enemy that is far stronger than us, and we cannot defeat them on our own, "For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this age, against spiritual hosts of wickedness in the heavenly places" (Ephesians 6:12). Without God, it's impossible, but with Christ living in us we can defeat any of these enemies and continue this battle until Yeshua Himself returns to finish it. He wants to use His people to fight with Him, even though He doesn't need us, because He desires the glory that comes from our faith. Remember this next time you are facing a spiritual battle and know, as Joshua and Caleb did, that when the LORD is for us, who can be against us? The enemy is nothing but smoke in the wind with the strength of the LORD and our faith in Him.

Numbers 14, Numbers 15, Numbers 16, Numbers 17

If we who are called to follow Yeshua ever ask the LORD why He saved us and brought us along this difficult path to the Kingdom of Heaven, we too ought to be consumed in an instant. But we have an intercessor on the throne of Heaven—Yeshua—who experienced this life on His own and died sinless for us so that our sins of doubt and unbelief can be forgiven, but only when we repent and walk in the newness of faith by following after Yeshua and doing what He did. The woman grabbed His blue tassels, knowing that the commandments of God lived out in faith are what bring life, and she was healed of her disease. Hebrews 10:28-29 reads, "Anyone who has rejected Moses’ law dies without mercy on the testimony of two or three witnesses. Of how much worse punishment, do you suppose, will he be thought worthy who has trampled the Son of God underfoot, counted the blood of the covenant by which he was sanctified a common thing, and insulted the Spirit of grace?" When Yeshua tires of His own people rejecting Him and the commandments He gave through His servant Moses, His wrath will be unlike anything we've seen in the Old Testament. He will consume not just the rebellious ones in front of Him, but the entire world will literally be consumed with fire.

The unforgivable sin against the Holy Spirit is to deny the LORD, because it is only by faith in Yeshua that we can be saved. It is by the Holy Spirit we can confess that Yeshua is Yahweh, to the glory of our Creator, Redeemer and Deliverer. But those who say LORD, LORD and practice lawlessness will never stand in His presence. It will be even worse for those who, like Korah, claim that everyone who calls on the name of Yeshua will be saved regardless of how they live their lives. What did Korah complain against Moses; namely, that Moses's humble obedience to Yahweh, by which he led all of Israel, was unnecessary and unwarranted: "After all," Korah said, "the entire community is holy, every one of them, and Yahweh is among them.” This is a lie from the pit of Hell, and God made sure we all know it: Death swallowed up these rebels whole, for "rebellion is as the sin of witchcraft, and stubbornness is as iniquity and idolatry" (1 Sam. 15:23). In order to be counted among the holy ones of God, the saints who will inherit His kingdom, we must keep the commandments of God AND the faith in Yeshua (Revelation 14:12). And he who minimizes the least of these commandments will be called least in the Kingdom.

The time is now to heed this warning from Numbers 14-17, for the LORD is slow to anger, rich in grace, forgiving offenses and crimes; yet not exonerating the guilty, but causing the negative effects of the parents’ offenses to be experienced by their children and even by the third and fourth generations." It is time now to throw off the ignorance of our preceding generations, for the time of grace is coming to an end. The LORD intercedes for us; He forgives us; He calls us to Himself, but He also calls for us to "go and sin no more." Thank God we have this "Prophet like unto Moses," Yeshua the Messiah (Deut. 18:15), whose blood ensures the LORD does not consume us in an instant, who is "longsuffering toward us, not willing that any should perish but that all should come to repentance" (2 Peter 3:9). What love He had for us to suffer and die, despite our insolence. We ought not be proud in His grace, but fear! He forgives, but not so we can sin again. He is NOT a minister of sin (Galatians 2:17).

We were warned in Hebrews 3-4, but particularly 4:11-13: "Let us therefore be diligent to enter that rest, lest anyone fall according to the same example of disobedience. For the word of God is living and powerful, and sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing even to the division of soul and spirit, and of joints and marrow, and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart. And there is no creature hidden from His sight, but all things are naked and open to the eyes of Him to whom we must give account." The LORD is not slack considering His promises, but wants us all to repent, to change from following our own heart to following after His heart instead, just like David. He forgives, just as we ask, but our corpses will be scattered in the wilderness just like theirs if we persist in our sin. The Holy Spirit offers gentle nudges to bring us back on course, just as the LORD led Israel with the soft movement of His cloud, but He also took out those who caused His people to rebel against Him, and ultimately He took out those who followed after them, also. He will do the same for us. Only Joshua and Caleb who were faithful and acted on their faith entered the Promised Land. The same will be true for us.

Numbers 17, Numbers 18, Numbers 19

Hebrews 9:11-15: "Messiah came as High Priest of the good things to come, with the greater and more perfect tabernacle not made with hands, that is, not of this creation. Not with the blood of goats and calves, but with His own blood He entered the Most Holy Place once for all, having obtained eternal redemption. For if the blood of bulls and goats and the ashes of a heifer, sprinkling the unclean, sanctifies for the purifying of the flesh, how much more shall the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered Himself without spot to God, cleanse your conscience from dead works to serve the living God? And for this reason He is the Mediator of the new covenant, by means of death, for the redemption of the transgressions under the first covenant, that those who are called may receive the promise of the eternal inheritance."

The tabernacle service was a physical representation of what Messiah Yeshua would do in the spiritual realm for us. Rather than Aaron and Moses as High Priest and Mediator between God and man, living in the camp, we now have Yeshua as High Priest and Mediator between God and man living with an eternal destiny.

The rod that budded was among the items kept in the Holy of Holies, as we read in Hebrews 9:3-5: "behind the second veil, the part of the tabernacle which is called the Holiest of All, which had the golden censer and the ark of the covenant overlaid on all sides with gold, in which were the golden pot that had the manna, Aaron’s rod that budded, and the tablets of the covenant; and above it were the cherubim of glory overshadowing the mercy seat." Each of these things points to Yeshua. The rod that budded reflects a dead piece of wood that not only lived but also bore fruit, just as Yeshua's dead body lain in the tomb and then rose again and brought about a new Kingdom borne in the hearts of all who believe. He sits on the mercy seat in Heaven, and intercedes for us there. The covenant is written on our hearts as we read and digest the Word daily. The manna is that bread that we cannot live without, found written right within this book we're now reading, which Yeshua lived out by example for us. It is more precious than fine gold, and worth more than the entire world. Let the Cherubim say "Worthy is the Lamb that was slain to receive power, and riches, and wisdom, and strength, and honour, and glory, and blessing."

Numbers 20, Numbers 21, Numbers 22

The people had worn down their leader Moses with their fears, doubts, discouragement and disobedience, and Moses had reached a breaking point. When they complained yet again, at Meribah, God told Moses, "tell the rock to produce its water." In Exodus 17:6, God had commanded Moses, saying in front of the rock at Horeb, "Behold, I will stand before you there on the rock in Horeb; and you shall strike the rock, and water will come out of it, that the people may drink.” Do you see the difference? Don't miss this lesson! The first time the people contended with Moses about water, God commanded Him to strike the rock. The second time the people contended about water, God commanded Him to speak to the rock. We often find ourselves falling into religious habits. Because a prayer or practice "worked" the first time, God must want us to do the same thing every time. NOT SO! God wants us to go to Him in prayer and wait for His instruction. He then expects us to follow His command, to do what He has said, not what our own heart desires or repeat mechanically as we have done in the past. The enemy had worn Moses down, and he fell victim to religious habit, which kills, rather than obey the voice of the living God in relationship with Him.

The story has more depth than this. Not only did Moses disobey the LORD's instruction, He also took credit for the water coming from the rock, saying "shall we bring you water from this rock?" All Moses had to do was say: "in the name of Yahweh, let living water pour forth," but He failed to give God the glory and took it for himself. God is good and gave His people water, but Moses himself would now die in the wilderness; he would not enter the Promised Land with God's people in the flesh.

The rock of salvation is Yeshua, our LORD and our God, and from Him pours living water. He wants us to come to Him, to speak with Him, and to wait on Him, even when we are losing patience in the situation that we are in. He says wait! And then at the appointed time, the LORD delivers in such a way that only He can receive the glory because only God Himself can be the explanation for the miracle that we witness.

While the wilderness experience in Numbers is a historical physical allegory for our own wilderness experience in this life as we approach the spiritual Promised Land, it's important to note that Moses and the people of Israel are all God's chosen people, and their second generation would enter the Promised Land. And so again, God is showing us in His Word that we must wait for the appointed time of God to see His glory, and it will come if we have faith. Like Miriam, Aaron and ultimately Moses, we all must die in the wilderness. Only a select few will be physically alive when Yeshua comes to bring us into the Promised Land. But at the same time, when Yeshua comes, a multitude will be raised up to enter the land with Him. Though we die, we will all be made alive on the Last Day with Him, so long as we have faith in Him and keep His commandments. And while we are here, the LORD is going to challenge us in every way imaginable to make us into the men and women He desires us to be. We are not to balk at these challenges, but embrace them and rejoice in them, for they are making us into the image of God that He designed.

What's interesting in Numbers 21 is that God gives the people a second chance to fight against giants without going back on His Word that only the second generation will enter the land. Sihon, king of the Amorites, and Og, the king of Bashan, were rulers over demonic portals (study this, you'll see). Their lands were full of giants who had been born of rebellious divine beings, just like in the days of old, the antinomian days. Many wonder why God not only permitted but commanded Israel to destroy these people—men, women and children—and often settle on the idea that they were "only evil continually," just like the men, women and children God destroyed in the great flood. This is true, but it's deeper than this. These men, women and children were hybrids (divine beings and humans) who were living in complete rebellion against God's created order. Bashan is the very place where the divine beings, usually called fallen angels or demons, descended to mate with human women. This is an allegory for the spiritual battle that we're reading here. God wants us to utterly destroy the spiritual hosts of wickedness, and establish His Kingdom in its place. He's using Israel to fight these battles in Numbers, but now He uses us, those who are in-dwelt by His Holy Spirit.

God also protected the people from Balak and Balaam—He protected those who had repented and were without sin, that is. Balak is wrong for his intent to destroy Israel, and will suffer for it as we'll see. Balaam is a complex character, a Gentile sorcerer who came to know the LORD, but then fell away. We read a similar story of Simon the sorcerer in Acts 8:9-25, though the story ended better for Simon than Balaam. Balaam is more of a tragic character, who serves as a microcosm for the underlying lessons God is teaching here in Numbers. Though Balaam obeyed God by not going with Balak's first men, he made the same error as Moses when the second set came. God said, "If the men have come to summon you, get up and go with them, but DO ONLY WHAT I TELL YOU." Instead of waiting on the LORD to tell him to go with the men, Balaam woke up the next morning and eagerly saddled his donkey, causing God to grow angry with him for his disobedience. The donkey incident is fascinating, that God would use such a miracle to prove a point, but God does this all the time and we ought to offer praise and wonder rather than doubt. We ought to do only what God tells us, and all will be well with us. As we'll see, Balaam is now on the right track, but he will later fall away.

Numbers 23, Numbers 24, Numbers 25

Last year, the LORD explained the episode about Phinehas to me in a way that I had never seen before, and I want to share it with you as an addendum to my comments, because I can't possibly give you all 9,000 words of my sermon here. The message, "Stand Against the Enemies of God," was delivered on location at 60 Bailey Ave., Manchester, NH for First Fruits Ministries Sabbath celebration on July 15, 2023. The message looks at some more controversial Old Testament passages regarding Phinehas's swift action to spear Zimri and Cozbi on account of their sexual immorality in Numbers 25 and Israel's resultant destruction of Midian in Numbers 31. There are no contradictions or inconsistencies in these passages, for they relate directly to today's world, the modern church and the coming judgment of the world. Watch this video to learn how followers of Yeshua should be handling themselves on account of what Scripture teaches in these verses. Here's the sermon video: https://youtu.be/ulusHaJezQc?si=O19DPIC53Rh956eq Here is the sermon PDF archive: https://tinyurl.com/2743d2uh

Balaam was a "saved Christian," for all intents and purposes, who even exclaimed, “This is the speech of Balaam, son of Beor; ... the speech of him who hears God’s words; who sees what the Almighty sees, who has fallen, yet has open eyes." As Christians, we who were once fallen, can see by the power of the Holy Spirit all that God has for us. We can confess Yeshua, something that Balaam Himself did, and we can proclaim God's mercy for His people—a grace they don't deserve—on account of His righteousness, something Balaam also did. And those who sought after God's righteousness would live, while those who fell away after "the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes and the pride of life" would be destroyed, both in this world and in the age to come. This story of Balaam is a prophetic template for those of us today who would confess Yeshua is Yahweh and that the power of God raised Him from the dead. We ought to read His story very carefully, for it can be summed up by Hebrews 6:4-6. Balaam blew it in this exact way, as we can read in Numbers 31:16, Joshua 13:32, Jude 1:11 or Revelation 2:14. The pull of the flesh and the world were too much for Him, and He turned away from God, despite being such a powerful witness to the Truth.

Many Christians who were saved will fall away from their salvation just like Balaam in the Last Days, as Yeshua Himself said in Matthew 24:12 (also Paul in 2 Thessalonians 2:1-3), and this is, in fact, what makes Balaam's prophesy about the Last Days so much more important for us. Notice: “I see Him, but not now; I behold Him, but not near; a Star shall come out of Jacob; a Scepter shall rise out of Israel, and batter the brow of Moab, and destroy all the sons of tumult. And Edom shall be a possession; Seir also, his enemies, shall be a possession, WHILE ISRAEL DOES VALIANTLY. Out of Jacob One shall have dominion, and destroy the remains of the city.” We who come to faith in Yeshua are grafted-in to Israel (see Romans 11, Ephesians 2, Isaiah 43, Acts 10-11), and we must be a part of Israel through faith in Yeshua to "do valiantly" in these Last Days when all of the nations will come up against her—both the physical Israel as well as the spiritual Israel. The true faith is being challenged by demons who stand on every high place all around and attempt to curse us, and when their curses fail, they seek to pull us away into their own depravity. We must endure until the end to be saved! Phinehas shows us the heart we need to possess.

Look at this verse and know it is a true prophesy of God regarding Israel: "Blessed be all who bless you! Cursed be all who curse you!” Take this to heart, for He also says, "Who has counted the dust of Jacob or numbered the ashes of Israel? May I die as the righteous die! May my end be like theirs!” This needs to be our heart, and if it is, what is said of Israel will be true of us, who are grafted-in to Israel through Yeshua: "One can’t put a spell on Jacob, no magic will work against Israel." This is the identical message to Romans 8:31-39, we are untouchable and the enemy cannot destroy us so long as we are living with faith in Yeshua, whom we love by keeping His commandments. In this way, we will die as the righteous die, and the next thing we will know is resurrection unto eternal life (1 Corinthians 15). As Balaam looked down on Israel, he couldn't help exclaiming this truth: “How lovely are your tents, Jacob; your encampments, Israel! They spread out like valleys, like gardens by the riverside, like succulent aloes planted by Yahweh, like cedar trees next to the water." So will it be of those who trust in the LORD and lean not on their own understanding, as we read in Revelation 22:1-5.

And Balaam, looking down on Israel, saw their formation, which was literally in a sign of a cross as described in Numbers 1-4. The king who will be higher than Agag, whose kingdom will be lifted high; He is the one who is coming to devour the nations who rebel against Him. But those who are a part of Israel will have water flow from their branches; our seeds will have an abundance of living water as we go out to plant the Word of God in the hearts of men and women. Who can stand against those who endure in the commandments of God and the faith of Yeshua (Revelation 14:12)? Our Father in Heaven is not a man that He should lie, Balaam said, and many use this verse to deny Yeshua, but they miss the very point of the verse. Our God came in the flesh like a man, but He is not a man that lies, which is to say that He was without sin. Only our sinless king could redeem us by His blood. This verse actually confirms Yeshua's divinity and shows us that He and Yahweh are one in the same God, for our God is one (echad אֶחָֽד). When He says something, He will do it; when He makes a promise, He will fulfill it. This is the faith we need to endure in this life through all of the trials and tribulations that are going to come and withstand the temptations.

What a tragedy it is to lose one who once saw the majesty of God's plan for Israel, its redemption through grace, to the lust of the eyes and the pride of life, to this worldly fortune our King said we must give up in our hearts in order to purchase a place in His Kingdom. Balaam taught the women of Moab and Midian to seduce the men of Israel in their untouchable state, and this led to their total destruction. Beware of wolves in sheep's clothing, Yeshua said. Paul said he warned us day and night with tears about such men who preach that we can inherit Heaven and still live like Hell. There is a disparity between what happens to the women of Moab and the women of Midian, as you will see in the upcoming readings, and the reason is simple. The women of Moab brought Israel men out of the camp to lie with them and worship their demon gods, but the woman of Midian came into the camp of Israel, and Cozbi even went into the Tabernacle of Yahweh to practice her dark arts. Cult prostitution is the sin of Cozbi and Zimri, and in the very place where God's Spirit dwelt, while all Israel watched. If Phinehas had not thrust them through with the spear, God would have wiped out the whole nation.

God would have been just to destroy Israel had Phinehas not acted as swiftly as He did, and God promised Him peace for this act. Zeal for God's house consumed Him, and our Savior Yeshua similarly drove out sin from within the Temple in Jerusalem, those who sought to profit off the sacrifices offered by the poor. For her part, Cozbi was prompted by the elders of Midian to bring this evil into God's house. She was a witch, sent to do her witchcraft within the temple, to purchase the souls of Israel for the Devil through cult prostitution right in front of their eyes. If she was allowed to continue—if Israel had allowed this heinous evil in their midst—all would have been lost. We must take this to heart also. We cannot allow sin into the church, or the church will be destroyed. Paul says as much in 1 Corinthians 5. Grace does not cover lawlessness, and God has said through the Apostle Paul in Romans 1 that even those who silently stand by while sin happens among them approve of the sin itself, and they too will be destroyed. We MUST stand up like Phinehas and call out sin, and we MUST NOT allow sin to come into our churches. We MUST call out false teachers, who say any kind of sin is acceptable within the church. The health of the whole church depends on our vigilance like Phinehas, and like Yeshua, who cast the evil out to Satan.

Numbers 26, Numbers 27

Chronologically, Numb. 26 and 27 represent the last acts of Moses before he died, and 40 years had nearly passed. The census at the end of Numbers is 40 years after the previous census. All but Joshua and Caleb from that first generation had died, and Moses was about to die. We read: "These are the ones counted by Moshe and El‘azar the cohen, who took a census of the people of Isra’el in the plains of Mo’av by the Yarden across from Yericho. But there was not a man among them who had also been included in the census of Moshe and Aharon the cohen when they enumerated the people of Isra’el in the Sinai Desert; because Adonai had said of them, 'They will surely die in the desert.' So there was not left even one of them, except Kalev the son of Y’funeh and Y’hoshua the son of Nun.” What I find most fascinating is that there is roughly the same amount of people in the two census counts. While the 1st generation would die in the wilderness, the 2nd generation would be led by Joshua into the Promised Land. Moses, at the Word of the LORD, commissioned Joshua as the new Mediator. He would be a prophetic template for Yeshua, and He would lead those alive and resurrected into the Kingdom of God forever. Look for the parallels as we read on.

God is so just as to ensure there is a plan for daughters who have no brothers, that they also will receive their inheritance. Women typically marry into a new family and receive the inheritance of their husbands, and as we will see, this will be the case for these women, also, but God so desires His people to receive what belongs to them that a man with only daughters will pass his inheritance on to them. There is no partiality with God. Men and women are equal in His eyes, but also equal within His created order that gives different roles. A father and husband cover their women, they protect them and provide for them, while a woman loves her husband and guides him with her counsel, just as Messiah protects and provides for us, and saves us from all evil, while we offer Him love and praise and pray to Him to meet our needs according to His will.

These next few chapters are an interlude in the story arc that we've been reading regarding Balaam. Note as we get to Numbers 31 that the story continues there. Don't lose track.

Numbers 28, Numbers 29, Numbers 30

The LORD’s feast days are such a blessing for us to keep, and He reminds us every chance He gets to keep them the way that He has designed. There’s not just a testimony of two, but of 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, more… These beautiful, burnt offerings—we should think of them as clean meat we grill for a feast— are meant to be a blessing to all the people who come to celebrate with the LORD. Yes, Yeshua is our sin offering, but these other offerings are for us to enjoy at the LORD’s table. Why anyone would not want to come to the Lord‘s table and eat with him on the days he has asked us to be there is beyond me. Accept  the invitation! There is no greater blessing in this life than to fulfill the LORD’s holy days. Come and worship and pray before his altar and enjoy the fellowship of your fellow Saints, because of what He has done for us. It is literally a preview of Heaven.

Numbers 30, Numbers 31

Numbers 30 is important instruction for understanding a father's role and a husband's role as being the spiritual head of his house.

For Num. 31, take a look back at the sermon link I put in the notes a few days ago. Remember that the women of Moab had caused the Israelites to sin outside the camp, but the women of Midian entered the camp of Israel and Cozbi even entered the Tabernacle to commit abominable sin within God's house and Phinehas ended the LORD's wrath by spearing both Cozbi & Zimri through. Had he not done that, all of Israel would have been destroyed because they would have tolerated temple prostitution within God's house. Now we learn that the Kings of Midian had put the women up to this, and God is calling out His wrath of destruction against their counsel. All of Midian who engaged in this type of abomination was destroyed. When the Israeli men showed mercy on the women and children, God said "no," there would be no mercy. We can't understand this from a modern context, but from an ancient one. If Israel had taken these women and children into the camp, they would have continued to multiply their abominations and the cancer of sin would spread. We must look at this in a spiritual context. If we cannot, by the power of Yeshua, cast out the evil spirits that are causing people to sin, it is important to separate them from our holy congregations.

Numbers 32, Numbers 33

Moses permitted Reuben, Gad and half the tribe of Manasseh to settle on the other side of the Jordan river so long as they stuck together in courage with their brothers to complete the mission the LORD had called them to. We ought to have this same mentality with our believing brothers and sisters no matter where we live. If there is a mission the LORD has called us to work together, we should not rest at peace in our homes until we fulfill that mission together. In the plains of Moab, Yahweh explained that mission to Moses: "you are to expel all the people living in the land in front of you. Destroy all their stone figures, destroy all their metal statues and demolish all their high places. Drive out the inhabitants of the land and live in it, for I have given the land to you to possess." The people of Canaan were either cross-breeding with demons or they were worshipping demons, and the LORD desired to use Israel to remove this impurity from His designated land. They could not persist there. In fact, if they did persist there, they would become as thorns and thistles—a constant temptation for Israel to sin and fall away from worshipping God to the point that some would fall away, and thus be destroyed in the same way. When the LORD calls us on a mission to cleanse a person, a house, a property or a region from the influence of evil spirits, we ought to persist in the spiritual battle until it is done, lest we fall victim to the work of the enemy. He has called us for this purpose.

Numbers 34, Numbers 35, Numbers 36

The physical land of Israel has been designated by God, and anyone who opposes this possession will be cursed, as the LORD has said, anyone who blesses you shall be blessed and anyone who curses you shall be cursed. So let us be a people who blesses physical Israel in this world, without compromise.

The LORD designed the land so that instruction and mercy would be widely available to everyone. His design is a model for our own communities. Our churches that offer good instruction from the law of God and the Gospel of Yeshua should be in the center of our lives and we ought to provide mercy to the ones the LORD has been merciful to, lest we forego our own forgiveness.

The murderer must be put to death, for innocent blood defiles a land and sets it up for judgement. The manslayer must be set apart, for the blood he shed, even accidentally, defiles the land. The city of refuge is retribution for his carelessness, for life is precious in the eyes of the LORD. We ought to read these verses carefully, for the LORD will not hold us guiltless for shedding innocent blood, and our nation is swimming in it through the Satanic practice of abortion. We need to mourn against this great evil and speak out against it boldly. We ought to repent if we are guilty in any way and the LORD will provide mercy at the death of the High Priest. When the High Priest dies, the manslayer who was banished for his carelessness can return to his own land. When Yeshua died on the cross, He enabled all sinners who repent to receive back the inheritance they lost through their sin. We rise up again, as He rose from the dead, as new men and women when we confess our sins, and turn to do His will with all faith in Him as our savior who cleanses us from all unrighteousness.

The LORD has set aside a specific inheritance for each of his tribes, and it is fairly demarcated so that all of us will be satisfied. No tribe will lose inheritance due to circumstances, and no tribe will gain. The LORD will make everything right, whether we are male or female, slave or free. In Ezekiel 47:21-23, we learn how this applies to us. There, the LORD says: “Thus you shall divide this land among yourselves according to the tribes of Israel. It shall be that you will divide it by lot as an inheritance for yourselves, and for the strangers who dwell among you and who bear children among you. They shall be to you as native-born among the children of Israel; they shall have an inheritance with you among the tribes of Israel. And it shall be that in whatever tribe the stranger dwells, there you shall give him his inheritance,” says the Lord God.” We must be grafted-in to Israel to receive our inheritance through Messiah Yeshua!

Deuteronomy 1, Deuteronomy 2

By the end of Numbers and beginning of Deuteronomy, there were two months remaining in the 40th year. The LORD would move Israel into the Promised Land with the 2nd Generation at His appointed time, in the same way that He will return at the appointed time and bring His people into the Promised Land forever. We can and should read Deuteronomy as a sermon to the second generation of Israelites who were about to enter the land, but also as a sermon to those of us of the new covenant who are about to enter the Promised Land forever. As Moses began his sermon, he retold the structure God set up to lead Israel, with leaders of 1000, 100, and 50 and 10 in each tribe. The judges would go to God themselves to understand how to handle each matter by applying the law God gave to Moses, and they would escalate the problem all the way up to God Himself—for Moses would ask God for a ruling—if it was not otherwise understood. The LORD did all that He promised, but He also turned His back on the disobedient, and wouldn't even listen to their prayers. When the first generation had died out, the LORD began to defeat His enemies, using Israel as His sword. He would build their confidence in Him and prepare them for the total conquest of all evil.

Deuteronomy 3, Deuteronomy 4

God is jealous in that He will not share our love and affection with anyone or anything else; His commandment is that we put Him first before all. We cannot love God and mammon, a word that is often mistaken to mean money, but actually means anything of heaven or earth that is not God. If we put anything before God, He will cast us off in judgment so we can pursue whatever it is that we have loved more than Him. When we do this, we will find despair and want, and it will not be satiated apart from God. Yah allows us to discover on our own that He is the only one who can completely fulfill the desire we have in our hearts for eternity. And so, when we are in the isolation of false pursuits, and when we realize we must confess our sin and turn back to the LORD, He will be waiting there for us. Moses prophesies: "from there you will seek Yahweh your God; and you will find Him if you search after him with all your heart and being." Our jealous God desires ALL of us—our entire heart and being. Moses predicts: "...In the End of Days, you will return to Yahweh your God and listen to what he says; for Adonai your God is a merciful God. He will not fail you, destroy you, or forget the covenant with your ancestors which he swore to them.”

Deuteronomy 3 is an incredible account of the LORD's victory over the rebellious demons that came to the Earth at Mt. Hermon. They spread out from there into Bashan in the northern region and into Canaan into the southern region of Heshbon. Og was the last of the Refa'im in Bashan; He was a giant, a child of the fallen angels. Sihon the king of the Amorites was another hybrid bastardization of God's creation. These are among the ones who frightened the first generation of spies that went into southern Israel. The LORD was beginning His promised victory, a victory He desired to share with His children Israel. Before Israel crossed the Jordan, the LORD allowed Moses to witness this great victory over Og in the north and Sihon in the south to give him a taste of God's glory that would be further revealed throughout the land. Moses gets it: "Your eyes have seen everything that Adonai your God has done to these two kings. Adonai will do the same to all the kingdoms you encounter when you cross over. Don’t be afraid of them, because Adonai your God will fight on your behalf." It is faith in Yahweh that allows us to participate with Him in spiritual battle, and when we go according to His will and fight, there will be victory in Him.

Moses instructed Israel to listen to the laws & rulings of the LORD. He reminded them of their youth, when the LORD spoke from the midst of thick darkness in fire, smoke and lightening. He said the LORD's instruction is for our good; so that we can live and take possession of His promised Kingdom. This was a physical reality for Israel, but a spiritual reality to followers of Yeshua. The law is given for wisdom and understanding and to attract others to the LORD when they observe His people keeping it. When we truly love the LORD Yeshua, He will help us keep His commandments, leading us to make disciples and teach them with the same instruction. He warns us to be careful not to fall away into lawlessness, so that we do not lose the glory of God that has been given to us. We ought to hold the LORD in awe, and desire Him with every fiber of our being so that our children can follow after us and do the same. We must be careful not to fall after sin as the Israelites who were destroyed outside Ba'al Peor, but rather remain loyal to Yeshua and follow Him leaving all else behind. Yeshua, showing His jealous nature, stated clearly: "whoever of you does not forsake all that he has cannot be My disciple" (Lk. 14:33). Our God is unchanging.

Deuteronomy 5, Deuteronomy 6, Deuteronomy 7

In Rom. 7:12, Paul writes: "So the law is holy, and the commandment is holy and righteous and good." Yeshua chose Paul to teach the law to Gentiles who didn't know it. The Truth is eternal, and we read similarly in Deut. 6:25: “It will be righteousness for us if we are careful to obey all these commandments before Yahweh our God, just as he ordered us to do." Our LORD Yeshua said, "If you love me, keep my commandments" (Jn. 14:15). He even cited Deut. 6:4-8, calling it "the greatest commandment," and it is also the first. In Deut. 5, we read: "I am Yahweh your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, where you lived as slaves." To be saved we must confess with our mouths: "Yeshua is Yahweh" (Rom.10:9). This is the same commandment. To acknowledge God is the first commandment, and intermixed with it is our duty to love Him by keeping His commandments, because He has rescued us from bondage to sin and death. We're meant to have relationship with Him, for He has given us grace to know Him. We have a faithful God, who "extends grace to those who love Him and observe His commandments ... but he repays those who hate him to their face and destroys them." (Deut. 7:9-10). It's relationship: to obey is love, to disobey is hate.

When we love the LORD and keep His commandments, it's not enough to keep this to ourselves, but we must obey the Great Commission to make disciples, to baptize in the name of the Father, Son and Holy Spirit, and to teach the commandments to these students of the LORD (Mt. 28:18-20). Again, this is part of the greatest commandment, for we are first to love the LORD with all our heart, being and strength, which is to obey His commandments, but we are also to talk of them in our homes, when we are traveling outside the home, when we go to sleep and when we rise up. We are to tie them to our hands, meaning that we ought to obey God's commandments with our every action, and we are to put them between the frontlets of our eyes, which means we ought to think about them always. Not only this we are to put them on the doorposts of our houses and on our gates, so that when we go out or come in we are putting the commandments of God first in our lives. By this we know that we know God, if we keep His commandments (1 John 2:3).

The Ten Words are a great summary of the whole of God's commandments, but surely they are not the extent of them. We are commanded to 1) Confess that Yahweh/Yeshua is God; 2) Not worship anything at all besides Him; 3) Not use His name falsely in prophesy or vanity; 4) Keep the seventh day set apart and holy for the LORD, resting from all our work, while making sure no one else is doing work for us; 5) honor our parents with respect and obedience when young and care for them in their old age; 6) not murder, but also avoid anger in the heart; 7) not commit adultery, but also avoid lust with the eyes; 8) not steal, but also avoid desire of what doesn't belong to us; 9) not testify falsely about another person; and 10) not covet anything that the LORD has not given us, but rather be content and grateful for what we have been given. These are summed up by the greatest commandment—to love the LORD our God—and the second greatest—to love our neighbor as ourself, which are found in Deuteronomy 6 and Leviticus 19 respectively. They are summed up elsewhere: Ecclesiastes 12:13-14, Micah 6:8 and so many other places. But they are also powerfully valid on their own and explained by all of Torah, the Prophets, the Gospels and the Epistles.

When Israel feared the LORD's Voice, we ought to share this sentiment. These commandments are life to us, and thanks be to God we are free from sin through Messiah Yeshua so that we can obey His Voice and "go and sin no more." We have to be careful lest we ignore His Voice and risk death, for our God is a consuming fire, and "since we are receiving a kingdom which cannot be shaken, let us have grace, by which we may serve God acceptably with reverence and godly fear." (Hebrews 12:28-29). The LORD agrees with this sentiment, as Moses reported: "Yahweh heard what you were saying when you spoke to me, and Yahweh said to me, ‘I have heard what this people has said when speaking to you, and everything they have said is good. Oh, how I wish their hearts would stay like this always, that they would fear me and obey all my commandments; so that it would go well with them and their children forever.'" Yes, I pray that our hearts remain reverent to the LORD, not obeying Him out of blind fear with a veil still over our eyes, but obeying Him in love because we can see without the veil through Messiah Yeshua (2 Corinth. 3). Let these commandments serve as a mirror to us that convicts us to become increasingly like the image of God every day.

When we are walking in love, trust and obedience to the LORD, we can defeat the enemies of darkness. We must remember that other people are not our enemies, but they are victims, for our enemy is NOT "flesh and blood," but our enemies are "principalities ... powers ... rulers of the darkness of this age ..., [and] spiritual hosts of wickedness in the heavenly places" (Ep. 6:12). Nonetheless, we cannot intermarry with the unfaithful, and nor can we worship with them during our Sabbath celebrations, because they are under the control of the enemy. The LORD has commanded us: "Do not make any covenant with them. Show them no mercy. Don't intermarry with them." If we disobey, these unbelievers will turn our hearts away from the LORD, not the other way around. When Yeshua ate with tax collectors and sinners, he went out to them and taught them the Truth. He instructed them to "believe" and to "sin no more," but He did not call them in to follow Him until they turned themselves toward Him. He told many to depart from Him. We must keep this in mind. We cannot bring anything "detestable" into our house. Spiritually, we have the power in Yeshua to cast out demons, but the people who are caught up by them have to be willing to cast them off.

Deuteronomy 8, Deuteronomy 9, Deuteronomy 10

It's important to recognize that all of God's children from Genesis to Revelation are saved by grace alone. The LORD reminds Israel of this right here: "It is not because of your righteousness, or because your heart is so upright, that you go in to take possession of their land; but to punish the wickedness of these nations that Adonai your God is driving them out ahead of you, and also to confirm the word which Adonai swore to your ancestors, Avraham, Yitz’chak and Ya‘akov. Therefore, understand that it is not for your righteousness that Adonai your God is giving you this good land to possess. 'For you are a stiffnecked people!'" The LORD disciplines and chastens those He calls as sons, by His grace, as we read in Hebrews 12:7-11, and He leads us along His narrow path from the time of Abraham to this very day. In the OLD Covenant, it was strange for a Gentile to be saved, but now in the New Covenant, all Gentiles can be saved through Messiah Yeshua as grafted-in children of Israel. Everything we read in Israel's history is a prophetic template for what we experience in our walk with Yeshua today. We face the same giants in our lives that the Israelites did, but now at the Spiritual level, and God is still strong enough to drive them off when we have faith. Because of our faith, we ought to work ever harder to walk according to the commandments, because they are life to us.

Deuteronomy 11, Deuteronomy 12

Deuteronomy 11 and 12 are a great example of how we cannot take one verse out of context and practice isolational analysis of that one verse, for the context around the verse is critical for understanding God's message to us. I'm going to show you a few examples.

The LORD says: "Therefore, you are to love Yahweh your God and always obey his commission, regulations, rulings and commandments. Today it is you I am addressing — not your children, who haven’t known or experienced the discipline of Yahweh your God, his greatness, his strong hand, his outstretched arm, his signs and his actions which he did in Egypt to Pharaoh the king of Egypt and to his entire country."

If we were to take this passage at face value, we might say that the commandments and the whole Word of God only apply to Israel—but not all of Israel even. This verse at face value says that just this first generation that is entering the Promised Land has to keep the commandments. The idea appears absurd, and it is absurd. The LORD later makes clear we understand the Truth, which is that the commandments and the whole Word of God applies to anyone who calls upon His name and seeks His blessing.

The LORD says: "Therefore, you are to store up these words of mine in your heart and in all your being; put them on your hand as a sign; put them between the frontlets of your eyes; TEACH THEM CAREFULLY TO YOUR CHILDREN, talking about them when you sit at home, when you are traveling on the road, when you lie down and when you get up; and write them on the door-frames of your house and on your gates — SO THAT YOU AND YOUR CHILDREN WILL LIVE LONG IN THE LAND YAHWEH SWORE TO YOUR FATHERS that he would give them for as long as there is sky above the earth."

Through Yeshua, we are grafted-in to this promise by becoming part of Israel, we read in Ephesians 2, but without Yeshua, we are strangers and foreigners and have no place in the Kingdom of God.

Another example has to do with food laws, which we've read about clearly articulated in Leviticus 11, and they will be repeated in Deuteronomy 14. You might look at a verse such as Genesis 9:3, which reads: "Everything that lives and moves about will be food for you. Just as I gave you the green plants, I now give you everything," and assume there is some sort of "Noahide covenant" that applies to us that allows us to eat all animals, even snakes and scorpions, but somehow the Mosaic covenant does not apply to us that limits us to certain animals for food. This is twisted theology and it comes from a place of misinterpreting Scripture in context. All of Scripture applies to us. God even says directly: “Everything I am commanding you, you are to take care to do. Do not add to it or subtract from it.” Ought we obey the voice of God or the voice of man? As for me and my house, we shall serve the LORD. I want to show you the example next, and it looks an awful lot like Genesis 9:3.

In Deuteronomy 12, we read: "you may slaughter and eat meat wherever you live and whenever you want, in keeping with the degree to which Yahweh your God has blessed you." AND "When Adonai your God expands your territory, as he has promised you, and you say, ‘I want to eat meat,’ simply because you want to eat meat, then you may eat meat, as much as you want." Does this mean we can eat pork or shellfish? Absolutely not, and the context makes this clear. First of all, we have to "keep with the degree to which Yahweh... has blessed us," meaning that we have to obey His commandments. We also have to understand that "meat," in Deuteronomy 12 and Genesis 9, are defined by God in Leviticus 11 and Deuteronomy 14. But if we look closer, the context is right here within the text. After we read, "you may slaughter and eat meat wherever you live...," the LORD says, "the unclean and the clean may eat it, as if it were gazelle or deer." The clarity becomes even stronger when He says, "IF the place where Yahweh your God chooses to place His name is too far away from you; then you are to slaughter animals from your cattle or sheep, which Yahweh has given you., and eat on your own property, as much as you want. Eat as you would gazelle or deer; the unclean and clean alike may eat it." This is straightforward: Gazelle, deer, cattle and sheep are clean animals, and people may eat the meat of clean animals whether the people have gone through the ceremonial cleansing necessary for sacrificing meat in the tabernacle. But blood, you see, defiles CLEAN meat. It is imperative we recognize this, because when James gives Gentiles coming into the faith four things they MUST do IMMEDIATELY upon becoming Christians, he explains they cannot eat meat with its blood, that has been strangled or that has been sacrificed to an idol, and then he also prohibits ALL sexual immorality, noting that Christians will learn the rest of Torah as they attend church each Sabbath day. As in Deuteronomy 12, so in Acts 15: the meat Gentiles must eat is clean meat, for that is the definition of meat, and new Christians must be careful not to eat clean meat that has been defiled. This is all Torah, and it is consistent throughout.

Deuteronomy 13, Deuteronomy 14, Deuteronomy 15

Deuteronomy 13 is an expansion of the second and third commandment, to not worship any other god and to not use the LORD’s name in vain. Whether we encounter Christians following pagan traditions, saying they honor God, or pagans literally leading others directly into the worship of other gods, both types cannot be allowed in our church communities. As Christians, these are the enemies Yeshua asked us to love by sharing with them the Truth of Scripture, but also dusting off our feet and walking away if they will not hear. To put someone to death, we excommunicate ourselves from them, or them from us, whichever makes more sense in the context. The Torah specifies that even if these people are family members or close friends or neighbors, they cannot dwell among us. This is how serious false prophesy is! A wolf in sheep’s clothing will literally devour a flock and send everyone astray. They must be removed. This is an imperative that the modern church simply does not take seriously enough. Even Jesus said that we must leave “houses or brothers or sisters or father or mother or wife or children or lands,” for His name’s sake, and then we “shall receive a hundredfold, and inherit eternal life.” I pray for everyone I love to come to a full knowledge of the Truth, for this is the path to eternal life. But I do take very seriously this teaching, because we cannot allow the holy place to be defiled, and the holy place is the heart the LORD is preparing for His Kingdom and all with ears to hear. To love the LORD, this is the first and greatest commandment, and we must put it first.

I wrote about Deuteronomy 14 yesterday, and I really want to point you all back there for it gives the heart of this chapter, but there are a few things to add. Deuteronomy 14 is a second witness to what the LORD said is OK to eat and what is not OK to eat in Leviticus 11. All things are established on a testimony of two or more witnesses, and these laws defining what is food and what is not food is firmly established and also confirmed, and not one jot or title will be abolished until the Earth and Heaven are no more. We must guard ourselves against the interpolation of New Testament verses that do not mean what many commentators say they mean, for the LORD Himself said that not one word ought to be added to or subtracted from this Torah forever. He said this again in Matthew 5. We might try to come up with a fleshly explanation for these laws—such as that certain meats contain toxins or other problems that modern cooking techniques have somehow solved. While such teachings are simply untrue on the surface, they are also not even the reason for these laws. The LORD has made clear His reasoning: “because you are a holy people for Yahweh your God.” My parents sometimes said, “Because I said so” as a reason for me to do something, and this is God’s version of doing this as our Eternal Father. He wants us to be a people set apart to Him through Jesus Christ, and this is one of the ways He has commanded us to set ourselves apart. He asked us to obey. My response: Yes, LORD! Nothing but blessings result and I’m not missing anything. I promise!

My family kept the Shmittah year in the growing season of 2022 and our gardens turned into fields. One observer even noted that he didn’t think anything would ever grow there again because of how difficult it would be to reestablish the gardens. Not only were the gardens simple to reestablish, our produce in 2023 is literally still stocking our storage shelves the LORD provided so much, just like He said He would. As we come into the knowledge of the Truth further, we will ask the Holy Spirit to show us how to obey the LORD in new and even better ways. All I know is that every time we give Him our heart, He returns blessing and nothing but blessing. He is a good, good father, and when we listen to Him, He pours on His love in ways that were previously unimaginable. When we bring our gifts to each Sabbath celebration to share in celebration of the eternal feast that is coming, there is always enough and often and abundance, no matter who shows up. There is peace and joy, and nothing but peace and joy, that result when people who are honoring the LORD come together to worship Him bringing their blessing for the LORD freely out of the love they have in their hearts for Him and His people. The LORD always provides what we need, even when we don’t think there will be enough, when our heart is to serve Him and put Him first. He is a good, good Father!

Deuteronomy 16, Deuteronomy 17, Deuteronomy 18

Yeshua said to us, "Do this in memory of me," when he shared the unleavened bread of Passover on Passover with His disciples, and also rose the cup of wine for His disciples, to join Him in new covenant with Him. His commandment: DO THIS... Do what? Keep the Passover feast, which was a shadow of what had come, the Passover Lamb, the Unleavened Bread, He was sacrificed on our behalf, and He commanded us to memorialize His action, which the Exodus prophesied, by keeping the feast. We can read the metaphor into the feast, and it is certainly there, but then we also have to keep the feast, for this is what God has commanded, and Yeshua, who is God, did not do differently.

That leads to the question: Where is the place where God has chosen to put His name? That location has changed. It was the Tabernacle in the wilderness, then it was Shiloh, and then some say it was Mt. Gerizim, others say Jerusalem, but Yeshua set things straight and made them clear in John 4:21-24: "Jesus said to [the Samaritan woman at the well], ...

“Woman, believe Me, the hour is coming when you will neither on this mountain [Mt. Gerizim], nor in Jerusalem, worship the Father. You worship what you do not know; we know what we worship, for salvation is of the Jews. But the hour is coming, and now is, when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth; for the Father is seeking such to worship Him. God is Spirit, and those who worship Him must worship in spirit and truth.” In 2 Cor. 3:3, Paul writes, "You are a letter from Christ." Jeremiah 31:33 prophesies, the law will be written on our hearts and God Himself will sit on the throne there. "Don't you know you are the temple of God," Paul wrote (1 Cor. 3:16). Today, we keep the feast as a Holy Convocation, because God commanded it in Lev 23, which means that we gather together to worship the LORD on these days and where two or more are gathered in His name, there He is also. But we aren't to do this whenever we choose, but on His appointed days, because God desires us to keep HIS feasts, not our own. He is worthy of our praise and adoration and we ought not be so presumptious as to believe we as men know better. We ought to worship God during all of His appointed times with one another, the way God specified.

I think it is one possible interpretation that the Passover, the seventh Day of Unleavened Bread, the Pentecost and the Feast of Tabernacles are celebrated at "the central sanctuary," but that isn't what the text says. It says this: “You may not offer the Passover sacrifice within any of your towns that the Lord your God is giving you, but at the place that the Lord your God will choose, to make his name dwell in it, there you shall offer the Passover sacrifice, in the evening at sunset, at the time you came out of Egypt. And you shall cook it and eat it at the place that the Lord your God will choose. And in the morning you shall turn and go to your tents.” Thus, the sacrifice of the lamb should not be made in any of the towns the LORD is giving you, but the celebration ought to take place at "the place that the LORD your God will choose, to make his name dwell in it." See my comments above, for I believe God when He came in the flesh told us that place is no longer Jerusalem, but anywhere we happen to be, for the LORD has chosen to put His name on us and we now worship in spirit and in truth, or in other words, according to the Word of God as interpreted by the Holy Spirit. NOTE: Yeshua was the last sacrifice for sin in Jerusalem, and therefore He has replaced all temple sacrifices, but the Passover is a feast forever that He told us to celebrate in Spirit and Truth in memory of Him wherever we happen to dwell. This is the day we memorize our one-time sacrifice for sin, eating with bitter herbs and unleavened bread, but no lamb, for the Lamb of God is risen!

When we bring offerings to the LORD, whether offerings of our time and service or offerings of meat that we bring to the feasts, from the Sabbath to the Passover, from Pentecost to Tabernacles, we ought to bring our first and best. Malachi writes about how the people were bringing damaged goods as offerings, and God asked through His voice, "Would you offer these damaged goods to your governor?" We're talking about the God who created the Heavens and the Earth and everything in them, the God who came in the flesh and showed us how to live a perfect life and then died and rose from the dead so our sins could be forgiven through Him and we can follow Him into eternal life. Is He not worth our first and our best? How could we say otherwise? Why is God even having to remind us of this? Because we repeatedly serve our own interests and follow after our own heart and He does not want to destroy us in our sins, but He would rather have it so we repent, we turn and we live with Him forever. He wants us to build a relationship with Him, and in that relationship, He wants to be treated with the same love that He has offered to us, not to treat His love as a secondary thing that we can take for granted.

The LORD is jealous, and He demands our worship. It is the 1st and 2nd commandment, and imbued in the 3rd and 4rth. It is the Greatest Commandment. In fact, it is required for salvation. If we do not confess that Yeshua is Yahweh, we cannot be saved, but it's more than this, we also have to believe in our heart hat He has risen from the dead (Romans 10:9). We have to make Him LORD in our life, which means His rule is what matters to us, and not the rule of another, which includes self-rule. We can't sit on our own heart's throne and be saved; we have to surrender the throne to Yeshua. If anyone comes into the church and takes one of the little ones away from this understanding, Yeshua Himself said it would be BETTER for such a person to be thrown into the depths of the sea with an anchor around their ankle. This is the one who does what is wicked before the LORD, by worshipping other gods, worshipping themselves, practicing sorcery of any kind or doing anything at all that puts trust in some other "spiritual" power besides the Holy Spirit of God. These people cannot worship with us, for their idolatry will spread like a cancer and destroy the church, and when they're thrown out, the remainder of the people will know to follow God.

In Deut. 17 into 18, the LORD explains what He expects of His kings and priests, and we are ALL kings and priests in Yeshua (1 Peter 2:9). As kings, we cannot be foreigners, and this one is simple; namely, we can't be unbelievers. We can't multiply horses (fancy cars, or jets), we can't return to Egypt (sin), we can't acquire MANY wives, especially not unbelievers who turn us away; we can't acquire excessive wealth. We ought to have a copy of Torah and read it every day as long as we live, so we know how to honor God and keep His commandments, and then we can teach others.  As priests, we have no inheritance among our brothers, meaning that this world is not the kingdom we should care about, but our inheritance is with God in His kingdom. We have a right to the provision the LORD has given to us, and we ought to be grateful for it. We ought to be highly motivated to serve the LORD, and we ought to warn one another to avoid the abominable practices of the world, such as sacrificing our sons and daughters to Satan at Planned Parenthood. The LORD heard His people Israel and sent a prophet like unto Moses, and His Word we must listen to, because it is the Word of God. We CANNOT listen to any prophet that says anything contrary to Him.

Deuteronomy 19, Deuteronomy 20

God takes justice seriously within the community. The innocent must be given refuge and the guilty must be judged, but remember that judgment belongs to the LORD and He shall repay. How then do we parse judgment being brought "before Adonai, before the cohanim and the judges in office at the time"? God's appointed governments can also bring righteous judgment upon a person. The punishment for murder is death, and God has said there is to be no mercy for the guilty. The death penalty ought to be used far more frequently, and both murder and violence would be reduced, if not go away. I love how the LORD later says if a man bears false witness against his neighbor, accusing him of murder that he did not commit, and he is found out, the accuser ought to be punished in the same way as he intended for the one he falsely accused, which means the death penalty for a false accusation of murder. This is justice, and I do really wish that our government executed justice in this way; we would have a lot less crime—maybe even none at all, and nor would our society be falling apart as it is today on account of false and baseless accusations. The LORD is good and His judgments are right.

The LORD wants men who wholly trust in Him, without fear, and who are not distracted by anything, such as a new wife or an engagement, to go to war for Him. His attention to details like this show His love and also shows His commitment to fully destroying the enemy. If we are unfortunate to face a just war, this ought to be the goal of any armed forces. Israel's battles against the Canaanites were a hybrid of physical and spiritual battles. They battled men, but those men who were the progeny of fallen angels who had done all manner of evil against the LORD. Destroying every trace of this evil was the only way for Israel to take the land for the LORD. We should also consider the allegory for spiritual warfare here, for we cannot in any way be frightened or distracted when we face the spiritual hosts of wickedness and the principalities of darkness in the present age. We must fully trust in the LORD and rely on His command, for He is the LORD of hosts and He is in charge of all battles against the darkness. As light bearers, we need to be fully committed to following our Commander In Chief, Yeshua, and trusting in His command, and in faith we will have total victory in Him; no evil spirit shall remain that has not been cast down.

Deuteronomy 21, Deuteronomy 22

The LORD demands life for life, blood for innocent blood spilled, and so the closest town to a discovered murder victim must atone for that murder by sacrificing a cow. Blood for blood—it is the law. Yeshua died so that our sin might be wiped clean from us, so that we can go and sin no more—not so we can keep on sinning. A land that accumulates innocent blood is due for judgment. There will come a time when there is no righteous acts that can save a land from judgment; only complete and total repentance among the all the people of the land. Pray for repentance and speak the Truth of God's Word boldly in our land, for we have spilled inconceivable amounts of innocent blood.

A rebellious son—such as I was as a late teenager—deserves to be taken to the gates of the city and be stoned to death. In modernity, the son ought to be sent to a remedial camp or, if old enough, kicked out on his own with no resources. Repentance is the only way a rebellious son may remain in his father's house.

One who is hung on a tree for a capital offense is cursed, but he also must not remain on the tree overnight. Such was the case for our LORD Yeshua, who was cursed for our sins, transgressions and iniquities so that we might be redeemed. He was not left hanging on the tree until evening, but was brought down and lain in Joseph's tomb before sunset in obedience with this law. Thank God He has given us this opportunity to walk righteously before Him by following Yeshua into eternal life.

We are to love our neighbor and our enemy by caring for their straying livestock until they claim it back. It is our duty to make sure a lost thing returns to its rightful owner. We are to show mercy to animals when we take their young for our use, not wiping out a whole family of animals to satisfy our own desires, but leaving the mother when we take the young. Mixing an ox with a donkey, two kinds of thread or two kinds of seed; these are three completely different illustrations that the LORD put together to explain metaphorically that we ought not mix the holy with the profane, the believer with the unbeliever and create a situation where two are unequally yoked, where the wheat grows with the tares, or where the righteous are with the unrighteous.

There is nothing new under the sun, and I could comment on this with a novel, but it is quite clear that a woman ought not wear men's clothing and a man ought not wear women's clothing. It's an abomination to the LORD and should not be tolerated.

The LORD shows mercy as well as righteous judgment in the ancient rites of boy meets girl and explains the proper order of things. A man cannot claim his wife is not a virgin to try and get out of his marriage with her and he will be punished for doing this while being forced to remain with his wife for life. He can't even take a wife of a conquered foreign land without showing her honor. The LORD explained retroactively that what Jacob did by loving Rachel more than Leah was not righteous, and this explains why when reading those stories Leah produced many sons while Rachel remained barren until the very end of her life.

Regarding sexual depravity, the law is just, and we have an example in John 7:53-8:11 of Yeshua enforcing it without partiality. There, the men brought a woman caught in the very act of adultery before Him to trap Him, and asked whether she should be stoned. We don't know what Yeshua wrote in the sand, but we do know that the man was also caught in the very act and he was not being brought to Yeshua as well as the law requires. Were all of the accusers guilty of adultery with her? When a man and a woman are caught in adultery, the penalty is death for them both. God hates partiality (Leviticus 19:15). In the New Covenant, the penalty is the second death for unrepentant adultery, meaning eternal judgment in Hell. This is a far worse punishment, as explained in Hebrews 10:29, for those who insult the spirit of grace. However, the woman in John 7-8 must have had a repentant heart, for Yeshua forgave her sins, something only God could do by His own authority. In doing this, however, Yeshua showed us one of the most valuable lessons in the New Testament: Because we have been saved by grace, we ought to "go and sin no more," as He told the woman, "so that a worse thing doesn't happen to you," as he told the man by the pool of Bethesda in John 5 who was caught up in idolatry. The only worse thing than death is the second death, and that awaits all who practice lawlessness.

The woman who does not call out in the city when a man seduces her is the woman who desires to engage in the act, and by not calling out for help to prevent the seduction, she is guilty and he is guilty. This isn't rape. It's fornication or adultery, and the punishment is death for them both—the second death in the New Covenant, without repentance. However, the girl who is in the countryside who is taken by a man is free and clear of any wrongdoing, while the man in this situation is put to death. Not only does the LORD call rape a sin punishable by death, he likens it to murder. "The situation is like the case of the man who attacks his neighbor and kills him," the LORD says. I think it's critical to understand this section, for the LORD is just and His law is good, righteous and holy. When two are caught in the act of fornication, when neither are married or betrothed, the section concludes, the law treats this fornication as an act that requires marriage. The man owed the girl's father a dowry and they cannot get divorced from this marriage all of their days. The two have become one flesh, as we read in Genesis, something the LORD later refers to directly. For those with past sins, repent and go and sin no more. The LORD's grace is abundantly available for those who change their ways and follow Him from the point of confession.

A man is not to have relations with his father's wife. Read 1 Corinthians 5 and 2 Corinthians 3 if you don't believe the LORD takes these acts seriously any longer. Such a man ought to be tossed out to Satan, apart from the church, so by this judgment he might come to repentance. Upon such repentance, he is welcomed back with forgiveness, but apart from that positive ending, he is to remain as a tax collector and a sinner (Matthew 18). We MUST have humble and contrite hearts to follow after Yeshua, going and sinning no longer, doing the things that He did, walking the way He walked. Our salvation by grace is only the beginning of our walk with Him, and it is by no means the end goal. May the Holy Spirit of the Father and the Son sanctify us all to obey His Torah and walk in all of His ways.

When we look at Acts 15 and James says new Christians ought to avoid "sexual immorality," he is referring to that which is described in these chapters as well as in Leviticus 18 and 20. Scripture defines Scripture; it is a light to our feet and a lamp to our feet, showing us the way we should go.

Deuteronomy 23, Deuteronomy 24

The beginning of Deuteronomy 23 outlines three areas where men are not allowed in the assembly of Yahweh, which spiritually means the Kingdom of God. Two have clearly come to a conclusion: One who is born of two people who ought not marry and those of the Ammonites or Moabites down to the 10th generation. Ruth was a Moabite, and married Boaz, and became a mother of David and eventually Yeshua Himself. According to what I have heard (not verified), she was married to Boaz after the 10th generation. That leaves the man with crushed or damaged testicles; which is something that I personally have to take seriously as one who has been sterilized prior to understanding the Truth. Does this mean I'm damned? I believe Yeshua has washed me clean of this sin. God says in Isaiah 58, "my salvation (Yeshua) is about to come and my righteousness (Yeshua) is about to be revealed ... and the Eunuchs who keep from defiling the Sabbath" will be considered "higher than sons and daughters" in the Kingdom of God. All three of these Laws prohibiting access to God's assembly were thus meant to be temporary, as Scripture itself testifies, but this also reveals an even greater Truth. While the nations were cast away from God's grace at Babel, "strangers and foreigners with no hope" as Paul says in Ephesians 2, they have been brought near and made one with the nation of Israel through Yeshua's sacrifice. This is worth 7 Hallelujahs!

There's too much to write about concerning why the separation between Jews and Gentiles persist, but it comes from both sides: The Jews created tradition that limits Gentile access and requires certain non-Scriptural procedures for converting to Judaism (Paul discusses this in great detail in Galatians), and Christians who were antisemitic and married to their pagan ways refused to take on the Biblical commandments of God by labeling them Jewish. But Paul writes, largely in Romans 11 and Ephesians 2, that Yeshua came to make all people one in Him—that is, anyone who accepts Him as God who came in the flesh, died for our sins, and rose to pave the way for us to follow Him into eternal life. We all follow Him for salvation and glorification, by walking in the way He walked. This Torah law obviously applies: "When you enter your neighbor’s field of growing grain, you may pluck ears with your hand; but you are not to put a sickle to your neighbor’s grain.” In Matthew 12, Yeshua and His disciples were picking the heads of grain on the Sabbath as they walked through their neighbor's wheat field, and the Rabbis accused them of doing work on the Sabbath. Based on the Torah principle, they were not doing work nor violating the Sabbath.

Ritual prostitution and homosexuality were practices among those worshipping Baal Peor in the months leading up to Moses's sermon in Deuteronomy. This was raw for the children of Israel listening to Moses, for thousands of their brothers had just fallen in the wilderness to this deception. The LORD reminded Israel not to engage in this abominable behavior. Sadly, many in America and across the whole world have reengaged in such ritual prostitution, even bringing it to the level of religious observance. There is a whole month—June—that is dedicated to worshipping the goddess Ishtar who is behind these practices along with Baal Peor. Anyone taking part in these practices is directly rebelling against God, not just by worshipping their own sexual depravity, but holding up "Pride" as a virtue, when God has made it clear that He will resist the proud but give grace to the humble (James 4:6, Proverbs 3:34). In Romans 1, Paul makes it clear that even those who approve of those practicing these things, even if they don't practice them themselves, will be judged by God. Without repentance, this judgment will be final. It is incumbent on us as Christians to call out anyone who says they are Christian but honor this demonic activity.

As grafted-in members of Israel, we ought not charge interest on any loan to a fellow Christian or even a non-believing Jew, but we are permitted to charge interest against unbelievers. This is a great illustration of our relationship in the world as grafted-in members of physical Israel. As members of spiritual Israel, God will judge us according to our heart's desire to keep His commandments and profess faith in Yeshua, and so there remains a judgment for the people of God. Our job is to encourage one another in the meantime to practice righteousness rather than lawlessness so that we can be counted among His people. We also ought to show compassion toward the poor among us by allowing them grace when lending to them and giving them an opportunity to work for their sustenance. Providing jobs to people in our companies, even if they have fallen short in their own lives, is one way we fulfill Torah. As my brother Dan said, it is also evident that the poor must work for their wages, for even Paul has said, "If you do not work, you shall not eat" (2 Thessalonians 3:10). This principle is laid out here in Torah.

Deuteronomy 25, Deuteronomy 26, Deuteronomy 27

The LORD executes dignity for the wicked man being punished, for the beast of burden, and for the deceased man of Israel.

The duty of a husband's brother ensures each man will have an inheritance in the Land of Israel, which is a prophetic template to the desire the LORD has for each of us to lean in toward His grace and be saved. He has predestined us all to be saved, but we must accept His offer of salvation through Yeshua in order to realize the LORD's will on our life.

The LORD cares so much for the inheritance that a woman who grabs and potentially injures a man's testicles ought to be severely punished.

Remember the LORD's judgment on Amalek when we read about King Saul, who refused to obey the voice of the LORD in Deuteronomy 25 to annihilate Amalek in retribution for their murderous heart.

The LORD wants us to celebrate with Him using our first and our best, and He desires that we remember the depths He has raised us up from in humility, for this is how we fight the battles that we presently face. When we remember what the LORD has done for us, it is easier to believe that He will fulfill His promises in the future, and we will be victorious by the Name of the LORD in all that we do according to His will.

The LORD desires for us to set up memorials to remember His commandments as well as the consequences for violating them. His written Word is more accessible to us than it has ever been in human history. It is easier than ever to remember the LORD's commandments and do them, and yet our hearts are still desperately wicked. The moment that we become followers of Yeshua, His Holy Spirit writes the Word of the law on our hearts so that we can follow it with the help of His Holy Spirit.

Deuteronomy 28, Deuteronomy 29

I have a friend named Kristopher who was in prison as a hardened criminal when he read Deuteronomy 28 for the first time. He told me that he reasoned with himself, "Huh, I'm experiencing all of these curses described here because I have lived a life in disobedience to God's commandments. My ceiling is even bronze and my floor iron, and there is a yoke of iron around my neck. What would happen if I obeyed His commandments? Would I receive these blessings described here?" On that day, my friend Kris decided to give his life to obeying God, even setting aside a time of rest—each Saturday for the Sabbath—and this led him to accept Yeshua as His savior, who wiped clean this "curse of the law" described here. Kris has never looked back. He entered a prison work program; which led to his early release and a career; he met his wife; he is buying a home; and he is expecting his first child this year. Yeshua has not only forgotten all of His former sins, but He has blessed Him abundantly just like the Word describes. He is sold out for the LORD, putting God first in His life, loving nothing more than Yeshua who saved Him. I pray that none of us need to go through the curses to receive the blessings, but let us not fall away nor look back and look only forward so that the upward call of God in Messiah Yeshua ultimately brings us home.

Yeshua took on the curse of the law Himself. His father and mother even took him as a young child into Egypt, something God promised would never happen to Israel unless they were living under the curse. He has freed us from this curse of the law, if we give Him our life. We are still subject to this curse when we disobey God and turn our back on Him. The New Covenant is far superior in every way to this Sinai covenant, but its elements are eternal and have been replaced only by Yeshua as our way back to God, if we so choose Him, and not a false Yeshua or another Gospel. The Yeshua of the Gospel said, "If you love Me, keep My commandments." He did NOT say "because of what I did, you can do whatever you want and you don't have to keep my commandments"—this is what Satan says to Eve in the garden, and he says the same thing from pulpits at most Christian churches today. God said this: "I am not making this covenant and this oath only with you [Israel]. Rather, I am making it both with him who is standing here with us today before Adonai our God and also with him who is not here with us today." This covenant is eternal, and anyone who was a stranger and foreigner has been assumed into the "household of God" (Israel) through Yeshua, and what He has done (Ephesians 2). What a blessing indeed to be wiped free of the curse of the law, so that we can follow the law in Christ and be led to everlasting life by His Holy Spirit.

Importantly, God has revealed His Torah to us. He has revealed His correction through the prophets. He has revealed Himself and the intent of His heart to us by coming in the flesh as Yeshua. He has revealed His salvation through His death and His redemption through His resurrection. While we may have many questions about the things God has not revealed yet about His ultimate plan, such as the "day or hour" of His return or what the Millennial Kingdom looks like or what the New Heaven and New Earth will be like and what we will do when we live in it, He has revealed all of these things I've mentioned, and these things that have been revealed belong to us and our children forever so that we can observe all the words of this Torah. To those who know Yeshua (Jesus), to those who truly know Him, this is what it means to follow Him and there is nothing but blessing in doing so. The ultimate blessing will be life eternal in God's Kingdom, and the joy in this is not being there but in being there with Him, the one whom we love most and above everything else in this world. Our relationship with Yeshua grows stronger with every act of obedience, because it is action that shows our love for Him.

Deuteronomy 30, Deuteronomy 31

Both in Deuteronomy 30 and 31, the LORD acknowledges His omniscience by stating that He knows Israel will forget Him, and mess up, and therefore suffer judgment. The LORD also knew that Adam and Eve would sin. These two acknowledgments here in Torah show us that God also had to have a plan from the beginning to solve this problem. He predestined our salvation through Yeshua, who would serve as the propitiation for our sins. The LORD also knew that the misery we would experience—not because He had caused us to suffer, but because we ourselves brought on our own suffering through disobedience—would cause us to reconsider the Word of the LORD, and in our deprived state we would repent and return to Him and His Word. In this testimony of two—our faith in Him and our obedience to Him—He would fully restore us and make us better than our fathers were. In Yeshua, we all have an opportunity to repent and follow after Him into eternal life. How much worse will it be for those who reject Him? How much better for those who turn to Him with all their heart, soul, mind and strength?

Two times we read: "Then Moshe wrote down this Torah and gave it to the cohanim ... and to all the leaders of Isra’el." AND "Moshe kept writing the words of this Torah in a book until he was done." There are several other witnesses to this fact, but even in this testimony of two the matter is established, "for all things are established on the testimony/witness of two or three." There was no such thing as the "oral tradition" or "oral law," as the Jews claim, and there is no other law outside of what Moses wrote down in this book. Not only that, but Moses literally wrote down the whole Torah, and it was not written by anyone else afterward. It may have been copied later by scribes, but Moses recorded the Torah according to the Word of God. This means that the Hebrew writing actually precedes the writing of any other culture, which is contrary to what historians claim—no surprise there. The Word of God is true, and it is the oldest and most accurate account of the world's history and God's relationship with man that there is. We ought to consider every Word of it as if it is life to us, because it is. Moses offered the Torah as a witness against God's people, whether they would love Him and keep His commandments and live, or choose to disregard Him and die.

The LORD prophesied right here in Deuteronomy that He would later circumcise the hearts of New Covenant believers so that we will love the LORD with all of our heart and being and live. He also said that the commandments He gave through Moses are "not too hard for you, it is not beyond your reach." He continued, "the Word is very close to you—in your mouth, even in your heart, therefore, you can do it!" On the one hand we have life and good, and on the other, death and evil. He commanded us to "love Yahweh your God, to follow His ways, and to obey His commandments, regulations and rulings, for if you do, you will live and increase your numbers and Yahweh your God will bless you in the land." Yeshua said, "If you love Me, keep My commandments." John wrote: "this is the love of God, that you keep His commandments, and His commandments are not burdensome." As Yeshua fulfilled all of the commandments, He also asked us to walk in the way He walked, to pick up our cross and follow Him. We are to fulfill the commandments also, and the message of Scripture has not changed, but is consistent from the beginning to the end.

Deuteronomy 32, Deuteronomy 33, Deuteronomy 34

Yeshua is our rock, His ways are perfect, and all His ways are just! I will proclaim the name of Yahweh! Declare the greatness of our God! He is trustworthy, righteous and true. Let His teachings come upon us by His Holy Spirit as rain that waters the Earth and brings forth fruit from its trees.

The LORD gave each nation a heritage following Babel and divided all the nations of the Earth according to the number of Israel's population; He assigned the nations each their own divine overseer, a principality, if you will, but Yahweh Himself oversaw Israel, the least significant of all people, to make them a people unto Himself. He would come forth Himself from among them and bring the nations back to Him, judging the gods who failed them to die like men (Psalm 82). Yeshua is the judge who went down into Sheol to proclaim His victory over them, and He has triumphantly united all peoples to Himself by His death and resurrection. Gentiles are no longer strangers and foreigners, but grafted-in to this fertile Olive Tree through faith in the Messiah Yeshua. (Ephesians 2).

The right hand of God, Yeshua Himself, brought a fiery law for us, and it burns up all that is unrighteous and makes pure those who rely upon Him. May the LORD help Judah so she no longer has to fend for herself. Levi failed in its calling to teach Israel the Torah, but Yeshua brought a new priesthood as the King of Righteousness that would elevate all the nations. May Benjamin's son Paul live securely in the eternal throne room for he truly rests between the shoulders of the Most High, and may Joseph ride on the eternal hills with the LORD's favor shining upon Him, destroying all who stand against God. Zebulun, Issachar, Gad, Asher and Naftali will receive their inheritance, but  Dan's prognosis does not look promising as a lion cub from Bahan, the very place where the divine overseers rebelled. As for all of Israel, God will ride on the clouds of Heaven when He returns to rescue her from the rebellion of all the Earth. Let us be counted among the Olive branches, for Israel is a peopled saved by the LORD, by the double-edged sword that proceeds with fire from out of His mouth—it is the Word of God. The kingdoms of this world shall become the Kingdom of the LORD and of His Messiah, and He shall reign forever and ever! Amen!