Response to “Israel and the Church”

 

 

A Response to: 

Israel and the Church:  the Differences

 (Zola Levitt Ministry)

 

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Original (black and red print) by Thomas S. McCall, Th.D.;

Response (in blue type) by James Wilson 

 

 

 

Dr. Thomas McCall, the Senior Theologian of our ministry, has written many articles for the Levitt Letter. He holds a Th.M. in Old Testament studies and a Th.D. in Semitic languages and Old Testament. He has served as Zola’s co-author, mentor, pastor, and friend for nearly 30 years.

 

 

Introduction

 

One of the great theological battlegrounds of orthodox Christianity throughout the centuries has been the nature and character of the Church, especially in relation to its biblical predecessor, Israel. The two major views are that:

 

1.        The Church is a continuation of Israel

 

2.        The Church is completely different from Israel

 

3.        The Minority View, which I (James) hold, is that the Church’s core is and always was Israel.

 

 

First View: The Church is Israel

 

The predominant view has been that the Church is the “new” Israel, a continuation of the concept of Israel which began in the Old Testament. In this view, the Church is the refinement and higher development of the concept of Israel. All of the promises made to Israel in the Scriptures find their fulfillment in the Church. Thus, the prophecies relating to the blessing and restoration of Israel to the Promised Land are “spiritualized” into promises of blessing to the Church. The prophecies of condemnation and judgment, though, are retained literally by the Jewish nation of Israel.

 

This view is sometimes called Replacement Theology, because the Church is seen to replace Israel in God’s economy. One of the problems with the view, among others, is the continuing existence of the Jewish people, especially with regard to the revival of the new modern state of Israel. If Israel has been condemned to extinction, and there is no divinely ordained future for the Jewish nation, how does one account for the supernatural survival of the Jewish people since the establishment of the Church, for almost 2,000 years against all odds? Furthermore, how does one account for Israel’s resurgence among the family of nations as an independent nation, victorious in several wars and flourishing economically?

 

 

Second View: Israel and the Church are Different

 

The other view, we believe, is clearly taught in the New Testament, but it has been suppressed throughout most of Church history. This view is that the Church is completely different and distinct from Israel, and the two should not be confused. In fact, the (NT) Church is an entirely new creation that came into being on the Day of Pentecost after Christ’s resurrection from the dead, and will continue until it is taken to Heaven at the Rapture return of the Lord (Eph. 1:9-11). None of the curses or blessings pronounced upon Israel refer directly to the Church. The Church enters into the Abrahamic and New Covenants, for instance, only by divine application, not by original interpretation (Matt 26:28).

 

This view has several major errors. First, the Church can never be extracted from Israel; Acts points this out:

 

Acts 7:38 This is he who was in the church in the wilderness with the angel which spake to him in the mount Sinai, and with our fathers, who received the lively oracles to give unto us.

 

The very core of the Church is Israel; remove that core, and there is no Church.

 

The Church never came into being at Pentecost; nothing came into being at Pentecost. That event was an example of a future event: a minature of it, as the text itself explains with reference to the prophet Joel.

 

The Rapture isn’t of ‘the Church,’ and no text states that it is. The Rapture will take all Saints living at that time. The very core of the Church will continue.

 

No part of the Church enters into the Abrahamic and New Covenants by any divine application; that is spiritualization, and it is Replacement Theology. The Covenants are literal, and directed toward those as the Scriptures describe.

 

This leaves all the covenants, promises, and warnings to Israel intact. Israel, the natural Jewish nation, is still Israel. To be sure, Israel has been side-lined during these past 1,900 years of the Diaspora. The Church has taken center stage in the Lord’s affairs as the Gospel has spread throughout the world. Nevertheless, God has carefully preserved the Jewish people, even in unbelief, through every kind of distress and persecution. Some- times, the professing Church itself (I speak to our shame) has been a cause of these persecutions to the Jews.

 

Israel has never been side-lined. ‘The Church’ that has taken center stage has been nearly all made of unbelievers, and has no part in the permanent plan of God, while the Biblical Church, with Israel at its core, and all who truly are born of God are added to this group—not as a replacement for Israel, but as participants in the congregation (church) of Saints. Israel remains distinct, and must necessarily always remain distinct as the Covenant itself declares: Israel is an ‘Am Segulah,’ a segregated people. Even Daniel’s prophecy keeps Israel distinct:

 

Daniel 7:27 And the kingdom and dominion, and the greatness of the kingdom under the whole heaven shall be given to the people of the saints of the most High, whose kingdom is an everlasting kingdom, and all dominions shall serve and obey him.

 

There are three entities: the people, the saints, and the most High. The people speaks of Israel; the Saints refer to all Saints, and especially non-Jewish Saints in this text, and the most High’s identity is obvious.

 

The group that has taken center stage for the past 1900 years of the Diaspora is described in a parable of a grain of mustard seed that grows into a tree—a monstrosity in which the birds (demons) can make their nests in its branches. That tree will be demolished.

 

What has been spread throughout the world isn’t the Gospel—that is, isn’t the Biblical Gospel; it is American Pagan Christianity in which sin is acceptable and the mere acknowledgement of faith, or doing particular denominational actions, brings one into the supposed Body of Christ.

 

The ‘professing Church’ consists of non-Saints who think they are Saints.

 

Not only has God preserved the Jewish nation, but He has also kept His promise to save a remnant of Israel in every generation. The remnant of (true) Israel in this age are the Jewish believers in Christ who have joined the Gentile believers, and form the Church, the Body of Christ (Rom. 11:5). In this respect, then, a part of Israel (the believing remnant) intersects with the Church during the Church Age. But this does not make Israel the Church, or vice versa.

 

It is a thoroughly Replacement Theological concept to state that “The remnant of (true) Israel in this age are the Jewish believers in Christ who have joined the Gentile believers, and form the Church, the Body of Christ.” If the writer had known proper theology, he might have stated something more like this: “The remnant of (true) Israel in this age are the Jewish Believers in Messiah who have been permanently joined to all Believers by the New Birth, and are a permanent part of the Church, the Body of Christ, whose very center is Israel (including Israel not in faith).”

 

There is no such thing as ‘the Church Age.’ It is the Age of the Gentiles in which pagan Gentiles have predominance over Jerusalem; this contrasts to the Day of Yehovah when Yehovah will permanently take Jerusalem to Himself.

 

In the future, both God’s warnings and promises to Israel will come to pass. After the Lord is finished with the Church Age, and has taken the Church to Heaven in the Rapture (1 Thess. 4:16-18), God will restore Israel to center stage on the world’s divine theater. First comes the devastating “Time of Jacob’s Trouble” (Jer. 30:7) also known as the Great Tribulation. This is a dreadful period of seven years, which begins relatively lightly during the first half, but intensifies into full focus during the latter half. During this time the world is judged for rejecting Christ, but, more specifically, Israel is judged, purged and prepared through the fiery trials of the Great Tribulation for the Second Coming of the Messiah. This is the bad news.

 

God never takes the Church to Heaven in the Rapture. He takes the Saints. The Church still remains, since all the plans of God have everything to do with the Church (with Israel at its core).

 

The concept that the Tribulation “begins relatively lightly during the first half, but intensifies into full focus during the latter half” is based on a reading error. It begins terribly heavy on Israel, and then it gets even heavier on the races trying to destroy Israel and be rid of Yehovah and His Messiah. When Yehovah begins the Tribulation, He will terribly slaughter among the Israelis.

 

The world is never judged “for rejecting Christ.” The world is judged for its attempts against Israel, Yehovah and His Messiah. Some of the greatest heroes and heroines of that time won’t even know who Yehovah and His Messiah are.

 

The good news is that, when Christ does return to the earth at the end of the Tribulation, Israel will be ready, willing, and eager to receive Him, and proclaim, “Blessed is He who comes in the name of the Lord” (Matt. 23:39). As the stumbling of Israel brought blessing to the world at Christ’s First Coming, the reception of Israel to Christ at His Second Advent will be like “life from the dead” (Rom. 11:15). The remnant of Israel which survives the Tribulation (some one-third of the Jewish people who enter the Tribulation), will be saved, and the Lord will establish His kingdom on the same earth and the same capital city, Jerusalem, that rejected Him centuries before. Israel will be the head of the nations, and no longer the tail, and all nations will send representatives to Jerusalem to honor and worship the King of Kings and Lord of Lords (Isa. 2:2-3; Micah 4:1). The Church will return with Christ, and will rule with Him for a thousand years (Rev. 20:1-5). He Himself told His disciples that they would rule over the 12 tribes of Israel in the restoration (Matt. 19:28). Thus, Israel has not been forgotten in God’s plan. While the Jewish nation still has a dark period facing it, there is a glorious finale to Israel’s long history.

 

The Professor McCall has events in the wrong order. He has Christ returning, and then Israel proclaiming, “Blessed is He who comes in the name of the Lord” (Matt. 23:39). What will occur will be the opposite (as the text itself declares). Yeshua will not even be seen until the inhabitants of Jerusalem will say, “Blessed is He Who comes with the Name Yehovah!”

 

His proportions are also incorrect. Far fewer than 1/3 of Israel will survive the Tribulation.

 

The Church won’t return with Christ; Saints will come with Him, and the Church will continue on Earth. There is no concept of The Church off planet Earth. There never has been. There are members of the Church, but the Church itself is always a congregation on Earth.

 

He stated, “all nations will send representatives to Jerusalem to honor and worship the King of Kings and Lord of Lords.” He didn’t mention the Zechariah 14:16 text that describes this in detail, including their mandatory participation in Succot (‘Tabernacles,’ ‘Booths’).

 

The Saints (not the Church) will rule with Messiah for a thousand years.

 

 

How Did the Church Decide the Demise of Israel?

 

The New Testament Church was very much involved with the vicissitudes (changes) of Israel. Jesus is an Israeli, as were all the apostles, and the concerns of Israel, spiritually and politically, were very much a part of their lives. The greatest struggles the early Church had were over the relationship between Israel and the Church, law and grace, and the fellowship between Jewish and Gentile believers in Christ (Galatians). Many of the Jewish believers were not comfortable with the Gentile believers at first; and as time went on and Gentiles began to predominate numerically, the attitudes were reversed. Galatians shows how the Jewish party tried to impose the Mosaic Law on Gentile Christians, and Romans shows how the Gentile party began to “boast against the branches” (Rom. 11:18), resenting the place of Israel in history and theology.

 

Professor McCall stated, “The greatest struggles the early Church had were over the relationship between Israel and the Church, law and grace, and the fellowship between Jewish and Gentile believers in Christ (Galatians).” This is totally false. I will word it correctly: “The greatest struggles the early pagans who thought they were the true Church had were over the relationship between Israel and the Church, law and grace, and the fellowship between Jewish and Gentile believers in Christ (Galatians). Even Peter was confused on this point for a while, but was soon corrected.”

 

He continued, “Many of the Jewish believers were not comfortable with the Gentile believers at first.” This was due to their being unclean, and to their not submitting to becoming physically clean as if they were becoming part of the People of Israel. They knew very well that a person could be a non-Jewish Saint, but they didn’t know how to deal with these folks because of the current teachings on becoming unclean by contact with the races.

 

Professor McCall wrote, “As time went on and Gentiles began to predominate numerically, the attitudes were reversed.” He was right: as Gentiles (not Saints) began to predominate; they claimed faith, but were not in faith.

 

Professor McCall incorrectly used the phrase, “Gentile Christians.” There is no such thing in the Bible. Once a person who used to be a Gentile is born of God, that person is a son or daughter of Avraham by faith—not an Israeli, but a son or daughter of Avraham. Now, should the person also join to Israel, the person then becomes an Israeli, but that is totally not necessary for the person to become a son or daughter of Avraham.

 

That Gentile party of which the professor spoke who “began to ‘boast against the branches’ (Rom. 11:18), resenting the place of Israel in history and theology, never consisted of folks who were born of God.

 

It took some time, perhaps a couple of centuries, but eventually the vast Gentile majority in the Church began to view Israel as a vestigial organ that had outlived its usefulness. In fact, the predominant Christian view was that the destruction of Jerusalem and the Temple by the Romans in 70 AD signaled the official and divinely-ordained end of the Jewish nation, never more to be re-instituted as a national entity. The fact that Jerusalem lay in ruins and the Jewish people were scattered over the world was seen as conclusive evidence that God was forever finished with national Israel. If there were any purpose for the existence of the Jewish people, it was to remind the world of the severe judgment of God upon a disobedient people.

 

The professor wrote of “the predominant Christian view” in this paragraph. Why didn’t he realize that this was the predominant anti-Semitic view of the uncircumcised?

 

If this harsh view of Israel were true, though, what of the promises of God to Israel in the Old Testament? For those who claimed to believe in the entire Bible as the Word of God, this was a great problem. How could a faithful God not keep His promises to His ancient people? To deal with this took extraordinary theological dexterity and alchemy. The theologians had to propose that Israel in the Scriptures did not really mean Israel, especially when it came to the promises of eternal blessing. Instead, Israel meant something else, something that came to be known in the New Testament as the Church. The Church became the new Israel, and through this remarkable transformation, wherever blessing is promised to Israel in the Old Testament, it was interpreted to mean the Church. This is Replacement Theology, in which the Church has become Israel.

 

The professor is right; only, he doesn’t know that he, himself, clings to Replacement Theology. This is a great problem at the present time. Many who have a real and determined interest in the Bible and in the God of the Bible, and who feel themselves thoroughly grounded in Truth and in Faith, having everlasting Salvation, hold to Replacement Theology, and therefore are in unbelief. The reason for this is because they fail to take the Scriptures literally, as does this professor. Not taking it literally is direct unbelief.

 

Replacement Theology was already around before the end of the First Century, but did not become the official position of professing Christian leadership until Augustine popularized the concept, primarily in THE CITY OF GOD, in the latter part of the Fourth Century. Augustine actually states that he was previously a Chiliast, meaning that he was a believer in the thousand-year reign of Christ on the earth after His return. This is the same as our current description of Premillennialism. However, he had come to the conclusion that this view was “carnal,” and had adopted the view that the reign of Christ would be something more “spiritual,” and would actually occur during the Church Age. Such a view necessitated the extinction of Israel, and the cancellation of all promises God made to the Jewish nation. These promises of blessing would now be fulfilled within the framework of the Church.

 

I agree with the professor in this paragraph; Augustine was a non-spiritual swine.

 

This view, which had been latent in Christendom, now flourished throughout the Byzantine world. From this point on, the theological legs were cut out from under Israel, and the predominant Christian theology was that there was no future for Israel. Replacement Theology has been the rule that has survived the Middle Ages, the Crusades and the Reformation in Church History. Only during the last Century or so has the Premillennial concept of the future of Israel come to the forefront in evangelical Christianity. Even so, it is a minority view.

 

The professor is incorrect in his assessment: “Only during the last Century or so has the Premillennial concept of the future of Israel come to the forefront in evangelical Christianity.” He is apparently unaware of groups, like the Puritans, who were confused about these things, but who didn’t dismiss the restoration of Israel and the reign of Messiah on Earth.

 

 

 

Does Israel’s Future Demean the Church’s Glory?

 

Some suggest that if Israel has not ceased to exist in its covenant relationship to God, and if Israel still has a future in the divine plan, this somehow diminishes the position of the Church. Is such a concern valid? It is almost as though the Church has been jealous of Israel, and afraid that if it recognized Israel’s future promises, it would somehow demean Christ and the Church. Nothing could be further from the truth.

 

Jealousy over Israel is the norm.

 

It is when the Church recognizes Israel that the true distinctiveness and glory of the Body of Christ becomes evident. This called-out body, composed of believing Jews and Gentiles during the Church Age, is the highest entity the Lord has created, superior to the universe, all the Angels, the nations, and Israel. Our Head, our Husband, our Friend is the Son of God Himself. We shall reign with Him when He rules the earth, and our 12 Founding Apostles will rule over the 12 tribes of Israel. The Angels themselves will study us forever as the greatest exhibit of God’s grace, and we will actually judge the Angels. This is our destiny, and this writer, for one, would not trade his position in the Body of Christ with any creature in the universe! Why, then, be disturbed over what God has promised the Jewish people? Why be jealous over the future destiny of Israel? How short sighted of us! Indeed, the Church’s finest and most distinctive hour will be when Israel is restored nationally and spiritually to the Lord at the Second Coming of Christ. We will return from Heaven with Him as His glorious Bride to rule Israel and the world. What more could we ask?

 

I thoroughly disagree with the statement, “This called-out body, composed of believing Jews and Gentiles during the Church Age, is the highest entity the Lord has created, superior to the universe, all the Angels, the nations, and Israel.” That is about as blatantly Replacement Theologically oriented a statement as one can make.

 

The professor then delves deeper into Replacement Theology: “Our Head, our Husband, our Friend is the Son of God Himself.” Jerusalem is the Bride and wife of the Lamb, as Revelation 21:9 and following show:

 

Revelation 21:9 And there came unto me one of the seven angels which had the seven vials full of the seven last plagues. And he talked with me, saying, “Come hither! I will shew thee the Bride, the Lamb’s wife!” 10 And he carried me away in the spirit to a great and high mountain! And he shewed me that great city: the holy Jerusalem, descending out of the heavens from God, 11 having the glory of God!

 

The professor then continues, “Indeed, the Church’s finest and most distinctive hour will be when Israel is restored nationally and spiritually to the Lord at the Second Coming of Christ.” Israel will be restored nationally and spiritually, and physically, before this Coming of Christ! That is a prerequisite to His coming!

 

Professor McCall then exclaims, “We will return from Heaven with Him as His glorious Bride to rule Israel and the world. What more could we ask?” I will tell you what more you could ask: You could ask this professor to believe the Bible, and not theological replacement. So, the Bride will rule Israel? Fat chance, unless Yehovah is a liar.

 

So, if we are not to suffer from spiritual myopia, we must recognize what the Lord is doing with Israel, not shrinking from it as though our own interests will be overshadowed. Rather, we rejoice in these developments, with full assurance that our own redemption draws ever closer.

 

 

 

 

Exodus 26: Abode, Curtains, Loops and Cuttings QA

Abode Half

The Abode, Curtains, Loops and Cuttings

With Questions and Proposed Answers

 

 

Background and printed text: Exodus 26

 

Exodus 26:1 And thou shalt make the Abode ten curtains: twisted byssus and blue and purple and earthworm crimson. Thou shalt make them Crooveem, work of a thinker. 2Length of the one curtain is eight and twenty via a forearm. And breadth is four via a forearm. The one curtain is one measure to all the curtains. 3Five of the curtains shall be friends, a woman unto her sister. And five curtains are friends, a woman unto her sister.

 

4And thou shalt make loops of blue upon the lip of the one curtain from the edge via a friend [female]. And established, thou shalt make via the lip of the edgemost curtain, via the second friendship. 5Thou shalt make fifty loops via the one curtain, and thou shalt make fifty loops via an edge of the curtain that is via friendship of the second. The loops are receiving, a woman unto her sister.

 

6And thou shalt make fifty clasps of gold. And thou shalt ‘friendship’ the curtains, a woman unto her sister, via clasps. And the Abode will be one!

 

7And thou shalt make curtains of goats to the Tent upon the Abode. Thou shalt make them eleven curtains. 8The length of the one curtain is 30 via a forearm, and the breadth is 4 via a forearm. The one curtain is one measure to eleven curtains. 9And thou shalt ‘friendship’ five of the curtains alone and six of the curtains alone. And thou shalt double the sixth curtain unto the circumcision, the faces of the Tent.

 

10And thou shalt make fifty loops upon the lip of the one edgemost curtain via ‘friendshipping’ and fifty loops upon the lip of the second ‘friendshipping’ curtain. 11And thou shalt make fifty clasps of copper. And thou shalt bring the clasps via loops. And thou shalt ‘friendship’ the Tent. And he shall be one!

 

12And the spread/diffusion of the excess is via the curtain(s) of the Tent. Thou shalt spread/diffuse half of the excess curtain upon my After of the Abode. 13And the forearm from this and the forearm from this is via the excess, via the length of the curtain. The Tent will be spread/diffused upon sides of the Abode from this and from this to blanket-cover him!

 

14And thou shalt make a blanket-covering to the Tent: skins of red rams and a blanket-covering of skins of takhashes from above.

 

15And thou shalt make the cuttings to the Abode trees of standing acacia. 16Ten forearms is the length of the cutting and a forearm and a half of the forearm is the breadth of the one cutting. 17Two hands are to the one cutting; they [the hands] are connecting, a woman unto her sister. Established, thou shalt make to all cuttings of the Abode. 18And thou shalt make the cuttings to the Abode twenty, a cutting to an extremity southward, rightward.

 

19And thou shalt make forty lords of silver under twenty: the cutting, two lords under the one cutting to two of his hands and two lords under the one cutting to two of his hands. 20And twenty cutting(s) are to the north extremity to the second piece of the Abode. 21And forty are their lords of silver. Two lords are under the one cutting and two lords are under the one cutting. 22And thou shalt make six cuttings to the sides of the Abode seaward. 23And thou shalt make two cuttings to the cut-outs of the Abode via the two sides. 24And they shall be their twin from below. And they shall be unified perfect-[ones] by his head unto the one sunk-impression. He will be established to two of them! They shall be to two of the cut-outs! 25And eight cuttings shall be. And their lords are silver. Sixteen are lords; two lords are under the one cutting and two lords are under the one cutting.

 

26And thou shalt make their bar trees of acacia. Five are to cuttings of one piece of the Abode, 27and five are their bar to cuttings of the second piece of the Abode. And five are their bar to cuttings of a piece of the Abode to two sides seaward. 28And the middle bar in the midst of the cuttings is fleeing from the edge unto the edge. 29And thou shalt observe the cuttings: gold. And thou shalt make their sunk-impressions gold: houses to their bar. And thou shalt observe their bar: gold!

 

30And thou shalt make-stand the Abode according-to his justice that thou wast shown in the mountain!

 

31And thou shalt make a Divider of blue and purple and earthworm crimson and twisted byssus, a making of thought. He shall make her—crooveem! 32And thou shalt give her upon four pillars of acacia, observances: gold. Their hooks are gold upon four lords of silver! 33And thou shalt give the Divider under the clasps.

 

And thou shalt bring the Box of the Testimonies to there from inside to the Divider. And the Divider shall separate to you between the Holy and between Holy of the Holies! 34And thou shalt give the cover upon the Box of the Testimonies in Holy of the Holies. 35And thou shalt put the Table from outside to the Divider, and the Menorah straight-in-front-of the Table upon the piece of the Abode southward. And thou shalt give the Table upon the north piece.

 

36And thou shalt make camouflage to the opening of the Tent blue and purple and earthworm crimson and twisted byssus, doing of variegation. 37And thou shalt make to the camouflage five pillars of acacia. And thou shalt observe them: gold! Their hooks are gold. And thou shalt melt-pour to them five lords of copper!

 

 

 

I. The Abode and its Curtains (verses 1-3)

 

Yehovah commanded Moshe to make the Abode, the structure that will be called the Tent of Appointment, ten curtains. These curtains must be made of byssus: a fine linen cloth made from thread (which is made of fibers twisted together).

 

The colors of this byssus must include blue, purple, and earthworm crimson. These are used to pattern Crooveem, Cherubim, the work of a thinker!

 

One curtain’s length is 28 forearms (cubits).

 

Its breadth is 4 forearms.

 

All the curtains have the same measure as the one curtain.

 

Five of the ten curtains are friends, connected so that a woman is connected unto her sister curtain.

 

The same is true of the other five curtains.

 

 

 

Questions

 

1.    What is an abode? It is a place where one occupies and normally sleeps (though it doesn’t have to be where one sleeps). It is a place where one stays for an extended period of time that can be from minutes to years (and even centuries). A dwelling, on the other hand, is where one sits; that can include an office; it isn’t necessarily where one sleeps, which is where one would abide.

 

2.    What is this Abode? It is a place where Yehovah will dwell in the midst of the Israelis (or just outside of the midst of the Israelis). This Abode will be a strange-looking structure in which every piece and every included item will tell a (true) story!

 

3.    How can an abode be made of just curtains? It won’t be made of just curtains; it will have columns/poles and ways of attaching the curtains to the columns. This section describes the curtains.

 

4.    Why must there be ten curtains? The number ten itself is a type in the Bible. One text gave me the clue to its type:

 

       Numbers 14:22 All those men that have seen my glory and my miracles that I did in Egypt and in the wilderness, and have tempted me now these ten times, and have not hearkened to my voice…

 

       This text combined with other texts gave me the impression that 10 is the number of testing (since testing and tempting are the same in Hebrew).

 

       If this is the case, the ten curtains typify some form of testing. Yehovah will be testing the Israelis, and the Israelis are called to test Yehovah to see that He is good.

 

5.    What is byssus? It is a fine form of linen. Linen is made from flax, a grass-like plant that grows wild in the Middle East. When the fibers of flax are made into thread, and when the thread is made into cloth, and when the cloth is formed into garments, the material is stiff. After it has been washed a few times, it softens. Linen that is used can become very soft; yet, it is as strong as cotton. Byssus is a special form of flax fiber that is distinguishable from normal linen garments for its qualities.

 

6.    What is twisted byssus? It is a quality-form of linen thread that (I propose) has then been twisted to make a much tougher material so that it can withstand weathering. The beauty of this material will show when it is used to make the Crooveem.

 

7.    What does byssus typify? The word shazar in Hebrew is the combination, “that (who) is a stranger.” The word stranger will show up in another phrase in this section.

 

       I didn’t figure what this blue, purple and earthworm crimson byssus typified until I saw it also used to form the Divider toward the end of this chapter. It was at that point that I figured what it typified. The Divider will be Yeshua’s flesh, as a text in Hebrews will explain about the veil. Thus, this combination will typify Yeshua (explained later).

 

8.    What does blue typify? This is the color of the sky; I propose that it typifies the heavens (as in the place where the throne of Yehovah is located, or the place from which Messiah will descend). Yeshua Himself came down from the heavens.

 

9.    What does purple typify? I understand purple to typify royalty. Such a person would be the highest in human rank. Yeshua Himself is true royalty who came down from the heavens.

 

10. What is earthworm crimson, and what does it typify? The Hebrew text can also read, second earthworm. The earthworm produces a form of blood that looks like human and animal blood. It is the lowliest of creatures, and it mainly lives underground. It is known for very little strength; yet, it can go through soil as if it is very strong.

 

       Since it will be used to color the byssus, I propose that the color of blood is in mind.

 

       When it typifies a person, it typifies the lowest in human rank. Yeshua wasn’t born in high society; he was born very poor. Had He been born into a family with any wealth, He wouldn’t have been born in an outside place, and He wouldn’t have been placed into a feedingtrough.

 

       Yeshua is the second Adam; therefore, this connects with His being the second earthworm because He humbled Himself to the lowest rank.

 

11. What are crooveem? They are cherubim—that is a plural word; one is called a cherub.

 

       Now, normally, a cherub will be an angel in the Bible: a messenger who is a spirit, not a human. A cherub isn’t some cute, cuddly angel; he is a mighty and powerful angel (who can appear as a man). One cherub easily could slaughter 100,000 humans in a very brief time if given the command. No human can hurt any of the angels, and angels don’t hurt angels.

 

       Sometimes, the Bible will refer to a cherub who is actually Yeshua—that is, deity. God can appear as He desires.

 

       There are two cherubim on the cover are the Storage Box (the Ark of the Testimonies). They both represent Yehovah.

 

       The reader, then, must discern (figure out and distinguish) whether the ‘crooveem,’ the cherubim, are angels or whether they are Yeshua. I cannot yet tell whether the crooveem that are part of the byssus curtains represent Yeshua or angelic beings; they could represent both.

 

12. Identify them in, “Thou shalt make them Crooveem…”: The ten twisted byssus with blue, purple and earthworm crimson curtains must be made into crooveem. I do not know whether the crooveem are colored into the curtains or whether the curtains were shaped into the crooveem.

 

13. How will these objects be made cherubim? The text doesn’t give this information. It only states that they must be the “work of a thinker.” The fabric of byssus is off-white; the blue, purple and crimson can be used to make other colors. Yet, cherubim will be evident in the work of what these curtains typify: in the work of Messiah in physical form.

 

14. Why must they be the work of a thinker? What does that mean? I propose several different things about this:

 

  • Yehovah, who designed the cherubim for the sake of those who shall be heirs of Salvation, put infallible thought into their design. The depictions (drawings or weavings) that picture these cherubim will show these things if they (the drawings or weavings) are done right. Thus, the Spirit of Salvation (Yeshua) is the thinker.
  • The persons who will draw or weave the cherubim into the curtains must be thinkers. They must think how to do the work (the Spirit of Yehovah will help them), and they must use their thoughts to perfectly picture the cherubim so that they will look exactly like what Moshe saw in Mount Sinai.
  • Making the Abode out of curtains and of twisted byssus and the colors specified will require a thinker. That person must do the work perfectly; the Spirit of Yehovah will supply whatever is necessary to perfectly think and to perfectly work. It is parallel to this text:

 

 

Philippians 2:12 Work out your own salvation with fear and trembling. 13For it is God Who works in you both to will and to do from His good pleasure!

 

 

 

15. If the length of one curtain is 28 cubits, what does the number 28 typify? I understand that two different numbers that are both types can be combined by multiplying them together to form a combined type. In this case, 7 X 4 = 28.

 

       Now, 7 typifies a complete cycle of something, like the seven days of the week. Thus, I propose that it typifies completeness. It is also the length of the Tribulation!

 

       4 tends to refer to the directions: north, south, east and west. Therefore, I propose that it indicates universality, which is a fancy word for everywhere or from everywhere, and under all conditions.

 

       If these are right, multiplying them will give completeness from everywhere and under all conditions.

 

16. Why is this the length of the curtain? The same word that means length also means to prolong, to grow long. Only when whatever this curtain typifies (Messiah’s flesh—His Body, the Brethren) is complete from all directions will this Abode be complete. There must also be ten of these curtains; the testing (of those over whom the curtain is suspended) must also be complete; it will be the final prolongation (the longest time) of this testing. The Tribulation will be the universal testing of all humans.

 

17. Why is the length of 28 via a forearm? What does the forearm typify? It is the word for mother, or her mother. While the forearm can refer to Yehovah’s forearm, it can also refer to Jerusalem:

 

       Galatians 4:26 Jerusalem which is above is free, which is the mother of us all.

 

       Then, it can refer to a woman who is behaving as a mother to at least one Israeli (an Israeli child, for example).

 

       (I will have to read on to see which one makes the most sense with the other types.)

 

       Whatever the type, it is via a forearm—it will be accomplished by means of the forearm or what it typifies.

 

18. What does the breadth typify, and why is it 4 via a forearm? The word for breadth also means to be or grow wide, be or grow large; to be widened, be enlarged. If the number 4 indicates universality as I proposed above, this shows that whatever the curtain typifies will grow larger and larger until it is universal: happening everywhere. (Something similar to this in terms of great growth, but opposite to this in that it is very bad will be what is described in the parable of the piece of mustard seed that grows into a giant tree. The Assyrian, a very bad guy, is described as a tree that overshadows the entire planet!)

 

       The ‘forearm’ will again be the cause.

 

19. What does a curtain typify? The word for curtain also is a verb that means, “He will sound her,” where sound means to cause an instrument or object to give a sound. It is used of a trumpet (and a trumpet is feminine).

 

       I propose that Yehovah will do the sounding of the trumpet, calling for humans to respond by coming and by saving the lives of others. The length of that sounding will be such that all from all directions (universally) will be called, and until all (completely all) have responded who will respond.

 

20. Why must all the curtains be one measure if the types proposed above are true? I propose that there will be 10 curtains; there will be ten trumpet-soundings and callings. They will all be the same measure: completely and universally. Altogether, they will be a test.

 

21. If five of the curtains will be friends, as a woman unto her sister, what does this indicate? It indicates that five of these trumpet-sounding callings will occur one right after the other, connected like a woman is to her sister (in terms of being born close enough together in time), and looking like relatives (the way that sisters favour each other).

 

       Since there are two groups of five, I propose that this shows that there will be a break between the soundings and the callings.

 

 

 

II. Loops (verses 4-5)

 

Yehovah commanded Moshe to make loops of blue. These loops must be connected upon the lip of the one curtain from the edge, and this connection must be via a friend.

 

The same procedure is established: Moshe must make the same via the lip of the edgemost curtain (the curtain at the far edge) via the second friendship (that is, by means of the second set of five connected curtains).

 

Moshe must make 50 loops by means of the one curtain. He must also make 50 loops by means of an edge of the curtain that is by means of friendship of the second curtain.

 

The loops are receiving! They receive, a woman unto her sister!

 

Questions

 

1.    What is a loop, and what does it typify? A loop is a cloth circle to which a clasp connects. (This is normal in the case of a cloth loop that hooks over a button as on a cape.)

 

       In the following drawing, the 50 loops (count them!) are on the left of the five pieces of cloth (that I made just blue for simplicity, since I have no idea how the cherubim looked in the fabric):

 

Abode Half

 

       The Hebrew word for loop also means, to the weary-[one], and it is feminine. This will describe what the loop typifies.

 

2.    What does blue typify? It is the color of the heavens. It is also related to a Hebrew word meaning completion, related to the verb to complete. The completion of all things will come from the heavens (not from man).

 

       When I combine the loops with blue, I have this: a completion is to the weary ones. I see this as a very happy ending. Those weary women will see a good and happy completion of their journeys to safety with the children and the others they have brought!

 

3.    What is the lip of a curtain? The lip of a human’s mouth is where it ends. The lip of the sea is the seashore. The lip of a river is a riverbank. The lip of a curtain is the edge of the curtain. (I drew all the loops on one edge, one lip, of one of the curtains.)

 

       If the curtain typifies the sounding that Yehovah will do, these weary women (who will be completed and will find the completion of the plan of God) will be connected to the edge of Yehovah’s sounding. (It doesn’t tell whether they will be on the front edge or the back edge of His sounding, but that is where they will be.) They will remain connected to His sounding, believing the sounding and the call, and will be the greatest examples of obeying His call to come to Mount Zion while saving lives.

 

       The loops of blue will be made of the same material (byssus) as the curtain, made from the curtain’s own material and made at the curtain’s edge, its extremity. The loops will be made via a friend.

 

4.    Who is this friend by which the loops will be made? I thought, “What female friend will make these loops complete and connected to the trumpet call?” I then thought, “The one friend who will participate in that call will be the woman Wisdom. Also, Mount Zion, the woman, will be likewise involved. She will be a friend to those who are weary.” She (Wisdom) will instruct them in what to do; she (Mount Zion) will lead them to herself.

 

5.    The text states, “thou shalt make via the lip of the edgemost curtain, via the second friendship.” It doesn’t state what must be made. So, what must be made? The loops themselves must be made by means of the lip of the edgemost curtain, and by means of the second friendship. Thus, they cannot be made and sewn onto the curtain; they must be made from the curtain itself.

 

6.    Why must the loops be made from the curtain itself? This shows that the loops are absolutely one with the curtain, and not from some other material (or type). The loops will be made from that call: from that sounding that the curtain typifies—and not from some other source. The loops are part of the material of the curtain (calling) itself.

 

       Yet, these curtains will have the very same appearance as the Divider described at the end of this chapter. Another text will tell what that Divider typifies: Messiah’s flesh. Therefore, we proposed that these things, typifying Messiah’s flesh, are therefore a type of the Body of Messiah. That Body consists of all the Israelis plus all the Israeli Saints! They will all finally respond to the call; they will either be what the loops typify or helpers of what the loops typify: the weary women who will bring the children, the elderly, those who cannot walk on their own, etc. to Mount Zion.

 

7.    What is this second friendship, and what does it portray? I am thinking that this second friendship is the second set of five curtains that will be connected with the first set of five curtains. The next graphic shows both sets of five curtains with their loops:

 

Abode Two Halves

 

8.    What is “friendship of the second”? I propose that it is the second set of five curtains with the 50 loops (portrayed as the set on the right above). If I am correct, this will be the second set of five callings that are connected together, and a second part of the Body of Messiah consisting of all the non-Jewish Saints!

 

9.    The text states, “The loops are receiving, a woman unto her sister.” What does this mean? The loops (I propose) will receive the gold clasps that will be mentioned next. The loops don’t do the clasping; they receive the clasps. The Hebrew word also indicates being in front. (Thus, I have drawn the loops as in front of the curtain’s edge: sticking out.)

 

       If the loops typify women who are weary because of the labour that they are doing, they will be receiving both strength and other women! They will receive even more as they continue, and will be given strength to continue in their calling.

 

       One woman who is helping and saving lives will receive another woman who is doing the same as a sister, gladly receiving her sister and helping with the responsibilities and dangers.

 

 

 

III. Clasps (verse 6)

 

Moshe must make 50 clasps out of gold.

 

The curtains must be ‘friendshipped’ together, a woman unto her sister, by means of the clasps. Once this is done, the Abode will be one!

 

Questions

 

1.    What are these clasps? They are structures that connect loops together. I have portrayed one clasp, but that doesn’t mean this is how they appeared. I don’t know how they appeared and how they were made. I do know they were gold. Here is my drawing:

 

Clasp

 

       I drew it to show that it can open, and it then can be locked closed. Again, I don’t know the form of the clasps that were really used or their mechanism.

 

2.    Why must the clasps be gold? The clasps are gold to show incorruptibility. The friendships that will form between the women (portrayed by the loops) will stand throughout time. Those friendships will be the truest form of love—not bonded by feelings, but by the mutual goals of saving lives. Such true forms of love are incorruptible. Such incorruptibility also indirectly shows the involvement of Yehovah; He is always incorruptible (incapable of rotting). Ruth and Naomi demonstrate this sort of love; Ruth is from the races, and Naomi is from Israel. Both were terribly devastated by sorrow. Ruth gives her first child to Naomi to be Naomi’s child. They raise the children together.

 

3.    What does “And thou shalt ‘friendship’ the curtains, a woman unto her sister, via clasps” mean? The clasps will hold loops together, causing a friendship (bond) between the connected curtains (and therefore, between all ten curtains):

 

Abode Whole

 

       Since the clasps are the connectors, the Spirit of Yehovah will be the One making these connections; they will be permanent and foundationed on Biblical love (seeking the highest, best interest on behalf of each other without regard to self).

 

4.    The declaration, “And the Abode will be one!” tells about what event? I propose that the next very lengthy text describes the two parts becoming one Abode. (Read it slowly, and think it through.)

 

       Ephesians 2:11 Therefore, remember that ye, once the Gentiles (races) in flesh who are called Uncircumcision [therefore, non-Jews] by that called Circumcision [therefore, Jews] made by hand in flesh, 12that at that time, ye were apart from Messiah, alienated from the commonwealth of Israel, and strangers from the Covenants of promise: not having Hope, and without God in the world! 13And now in Messiah Yeshua, ye who once were afar off are become near by the blood of the Messiah! 14For He is our peace Who made both one! And He broke down the middle wall of the fence—15the enmity—via His flesh, having annulled the teaching of commandments-in-decrees so-that He will create the two into one new man in Himself, making peace! 16And He will reconcile both to God in one Body through the cross, having slain the enmity by it! 17And having come, He announced the beneficial-proclamation: “Peace is to you who are afar off, and to those near!” 18For we both have access to the Father by one Spirit through Him! 19So then, ye are no longer strangers and sojourners, but fellow citizens of the Saints and of the Household of God, 20being built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Messiah Yeshua Himself being the cornerstone 21in whom all the building fitted together increases to a holy Temple in Yehovah 22in Whom ye are also being built together for a habitation of God via the Spirit! 1For this cause, I, Paul, prisoner of Messiah Yeshua for you races 2(if indeed ye heard of the administration of the Grace of God that was given to me towards you 3that He made known to me by revelation: the mystery, according as I briefly wrote before, 4by which ye, reading, are able to perceive my understanding in the mystery of the Messiah 5that was not made known to the sons of men in other generations as it now was revealed to His holy apostles and prophets via the Spirit)—6The races are to be joint heirs and a joint Body and joint partakers of His promise in the Messiah through the beneficial-proclamation!—7of which I became a slave according to the gift of the Grace of God given to me, according to the working of His power!

 

 

 

IV. Goat Curtains (verses 7-9)

 

Next, Moshe must make curtains using goats; these curtains are to the Tent that is upon (above) the Abode. The number of goat curtains is eleven.

 

The length of the one curtain is 30 forearms (cubits), and the breadth is 4 forearms (cubits).

 

The eleven curtains must all be the same measure as the one curtain.

 

Five of the curtains are ‘friendshipped’ together alone, and six of the curtains are ‘friendshipped’ together alone.

 

Moshe must double the sixth curtain unto the ‘circumcision’ (the very frontmost) of the faces of the Tent!

 

Questions

 

1.    What does a goat typify? The Hebrew word for goat is also the Hebrew word for strong, mighty, fierce. I normally render it as strength. (It is the same word from which the Uzi machine gun was named.)

 

2.    If the above answer is true, what does ‘curtains of goats’ typify? I proposed above that the word for curtain (singular) could also mean, “I will sound her.” The plural form (used in our present text) isn’t used in the Bible except for curtains (as far as I am aware). Thus, my proposal will be novel (new). I propose that the word can indicate soundings (like the callings of a trumpet in order to signal hearkening folks to begin to do something). If that is the case, ‘curtains of goats’ in Hebrew would also mean soundings of strong-ones, in which case the strong ones—those willing to take action when it needs to be taken in order to save lives at the risk of their own lives—are being called to action.

 

       A word directly related to the Hebrew word for strong ones means to flee for refuge. While these two ideas sound conflicting (why would a strong person flee for refuge?) they will come together during the Tribulation. The very strong ones will find others who are weak and afraid, and will take them to places of refuge, giving them boldness and strength during the time of that fleeing to refuge.

 

       Yehovah’s [trumpet] sounding to those who will hearken so that they will flee for refuge to Mount Zion will be a very basic part of the Tribulation. The flight for refuge (to Mount Zion) is often described in the Psalms, though Yehovah made sure that only careful readers would see this. (The ‘bad guys’ at that time won’t be able to understand this, and the ‘bad angels,’ the demons, won’t be able to quickly convince the human ‘bad guys’ of this! Thus, the ‘good guys’ will have time to flee to Mount Zion!)

 

3.    What is a curtain made of goats? It is a curtain that is made using goats, of course; yet, the text strangely leaves out what part of the goats. It could be made of goatskins; it could be made of goat hair; it could be made of both goatskins and goat hair; more importantly, it could be made from the entire goat including the bones of the goat. (The text doesn’t say, and therefore doesn’t limit the parts of the goats from which it can be made.) This curtain will have to span a distance that just can’t be spanned in the way it will be without its having a truss structure (like the structure of rafters in the top of a house). It would collapse with any rain, with snow, with wind, etc. were it not to have a truss structure. I propose that the bones of the goats will be used to devise this.

 

       Considering what the curtains of goats typifies is so important. Yehovah gave the command, and He also gave the Israelis wisdom to know exactly what to make and use from the goats, but the most important thing for readers to know is that the curtains of goats typify strong ones (persons) who do very important things!

 

4.    What is so important about the curtains of goats being made into a tent that is upon the Abode? First, the Abode and the Tent are separate, and are made of different materials! Yet, if one were below and looking upward, the two would look like layers with the Abode being the lowest layer and the Tent being the layer above! The support columns are the same for both. Think of the Abode as a giant blanket, and the Tent as being a slightly bigger blanket that is laid over the Abode blanket. (Only, the Tent won’t be just a blanket; it will have supporting structures built into it.)

 

       The Tent totally covers the Abode, as if it is a protection for the Abode.

 

       The Abode hasn’t yet been put on any poles. Its description is so far just material as if it is flat on the ground: a giant blanket. The curtains made of goats will next be made; they will be placed upon the five-curtain sets that are attached together that make up the Abode. These descriptions explain things to come in the order of events that will occur! (We will discuss these things as we explore the types.)

 

5.    Does eleven typify anything? I am not aware that the number 11 typifies anything. I do see where it will be used elsewhere in the Scriptures; for example, there are twelve tribes to Israel, and the tribe of Levi is normally removed from the tribes for certain reasons (they don’t normally participate in war, for example). The tribe of Levi was assigned to be busy with Spiritual things. Apart from such things like this, I don’t know about the significance of the number 11.

 

6.    Does the number 30 represent a type? I previously proposed that numbers that are types can be multiplied with other numbers that have types, combining the types. The number 3 can be a type, and the number 10 can be a type. The number 3 is used in the Shma (Deuteronomy 6:4): “Hearken, Israel! Yehovah, our Gods, Yehovah is one!” These three represent the most usual ways that Yehovah demonstrates Himself:

 

  • As Yehovah the Father
  • As our Gods who is the Messiah
  • As Yehovah the Spirit

 

 

       I have therefore understood the number 3 to be a type of Yehovah as He shows Himself in all forms.

 

       The number 10 is a type of testing/tempting. The following text showed me this:

 

       Numbers 14:22 Because all those men who saw my glory and my miracles that I did in Egypt and in the wilderness, and have tempted me now these ten times, and have not hearkened to my voice…

 

       When the two numbers (3 and 10) are multiplied, the type will be of testing Yehovah. This is normally exactly what a group should never do! Yet, there is a case in which this is the right thing to do: it is when Yehovah commands this, and when the person or group doing this is doing exactly what is right.

 

       Gideon once did this:

 

       Judges 6:39 And Gideon said unto God, “Thine anger shall not be hot against me; and I will speak but this once. I will test, na, but this once with the fleece. The dry shall now be only upon the fleece, and there shall be dew upon all the ground.”

 

       Yehovah did exactly as Gideon requested.

 

       Another example is found in the following text:

 

       Isaiah 7:10 And Yehovah gathered to speak unto Akhaz to say, 11 “Ask for thee a sign from Yehovah thy God. Make-deep a request or make-her-high to the above!” 12And Akhaz said, “I will not ask, and I will not tempt Yehovah!”

 

       (Akhaz was totally wrong in every way. Yehovah commanded him to do this.)

 

       Another example of testing Yehovah is shown in this text:

 

       Psalm 34:8 Taste-ye! And see-ye that Yehovah is Good!—happinesses of the valiant-[one]! He will trust via Him! 10His Saints shall see Yehovah! For there is no lack to His fearers.

 

       In some cases, folks are commanded to test Yehovah. While Israel previously tested Yehovah by sinning ten times, I propose that Israel will later test Yehovah by doing what is right ten times!

 

7.    Why is 30 the length of the curtain? I proposed above that the same word that means length also means to prolong, to grow long. What this Tent pictures will only be complete after testing Yehovah 10 times in a good way over the length of the Tribulation—that is what I am proposing.

 

8.    Why is the length of 30 via a forearm? What does the forearm typify? The same word meaning forearm is also the word for mother, or her mother. While the forearm can refer to Yehovah’s forearm, it can also refer to Jerusalem as a mother:

 

       Galatians 4:26 Jerusalem which is above is free, which is the mother of us all.

 

       It can also refer to a woman who is behaving as a mother to at least one Israeli, since the success of the plan of God will depend on such a woman doing what she must to save lives!

 

       (I will have to read on to see which one makes the most sense with the other types; perhaps they both will make sense!)

 

       Whatever the type, it is via a forearm—it will be accomplished by means of the forearm or what the forearm typifies.

 

9.    What does the breadth typify, and why is it 4 via a forearm? The word for breadth also means to be or grow wide, be or grow large; to be widened, be enlarged. If the number 4 indicates universality as I proposed above, this shows that whatever the curtain typifies will grow larger and larger until it is universal: happening everywhere.

 

       The ‘forearm’ will again be the means of bringing this all to pass.

 

10. What does “The one curtain is one measure to eleven curtains” mean? This means that all eleven curtains are exactly the same measure; they will typify exactly the same things. They are equivalent; one is not greater than or lesser than another.

 

11. Again, what does this friendshipping involve? It involves connecting them together.

 

12. How must they be connected together? They will be sewn together (though the text doesn’t cover the means, the stitch style, or anything like this). The text describes the connection as friendship.

 

13. Does the number 6 carry a type? When it does carry a type, it is the number of a man (that is, a man who isn’t born of God), one short of the number 7 that typifies completion. For example,

 

       Revelation 13:18 He who has understanding shall count the number of the beast: for it is the number of a man! And his number is Six hundred sixty and six!

 

       Thus, the ‘beast’ (the animal who represents either the Antichrist or the Antichrist’s false prophet) is labeled with ‘a trinity of’ three sixes: 6-6-6.

 

14. Does the number 5 carry a type? I have thought that it might, though I wasn’t certain.

 

       When the Israeli firstborn males were counted (Numbers 3:40), Yehovah commanded Moshe to take the number of their names. Yehovah then did a one-for-one exchange: one Levite for one firstborn male Israeli from the other tribes. (He commanded the same thing for their cattle.) Yehovah then took the Levites instead of the firstborn males from the other tribes. Now, there were more firstborn males than Levites. 5 Shekels of silver had to be collected for each person above the number.

 

       If the number 5 is a type, it seems that it will be associated with redemption. That is what I will use.

 

15. What is typified if the sixth curtain is doubled? If a curtain typifies a calling, and if this curtain is made of goats (strong-ones), the sixth curtain typifies that there will be a double number of strong ones who are called, and they will be added unto the circumcision. They will be the faces of the Tent! Thus, the number of actual curtains is now 12!

 

16. What does this Tent typify? A tent, in general, is a portable dwelling that can be taken down and moved to another place, where it can be put up (different from a mobile home or trailer that must be transported using some type of vehicle). It typifies folks on the move and traveling. It normally doesn’t typify folks who are staying permanently in one place.

 

       The word that means tent also means to shine, to give light. All who make up this tent will do exactly that: they will give light to others who desire to come, and who desire to also be and give light. (Light in the Bible is understanding.)  Those who have light will understand what is occurring so that they can live, so that they can help others to live, and even so that they can help others to live at the expense of their own lives.

 

       (A tent with occupants and candles gives light.) Israel has been assigned to be the light of the world. Yet, not Israel only:

 

       Ephesians 5:8 For ye were formerly darkness, but now are light in the Lord! Walk as children of light! 9For the fruit of the Spirit is in all goodness and righteousness and Truth, 10proving what is acceptable unto the Lord!

 

       Thus, the Saints who are non-Jewish are also light in the world!

 

17. What are the faces of the Tent? They are the part of the Tent that faces forward: the front of the Tent, just as the faces of a person are the parts of the person that face forward.

 

       The word faces is plural because all objects have more than one face—more than one turn. (The human face has many turns to it, like the turn around the chin, the turn around the cheeks, etc.)

 

       The faces of the Tent, in this text, are together called the circumcision. This describes the Israelis, since they will be obeying the command given to Avraham to circumcise all the males (that is, cut off the foreskin of the penis from all the males).

 

       The Israelis will be on the move. Regardless of who travels with them (and I am thinking that there will be more traveling with them than their own number), all groups that see them will see the Israelis: the circumcision. Enemies will view the entire group as being made of Jews. Thus, what the Tent typifies will have the appearance of being Jewish even though so many who go with the Israelis won’t be Jewish.

 

 

 

V. Loops and Friendship (verses 10-11)

 

Moshe next must make 50 loops. Those loops must be placed upon the lip of the one edgemost curtain by means of ‘friendshipping’ them.

 

He must make another 50 loops upon the lip of the second ‘friendshipping’ curtain.

 

Next, He must make 50 clasps of copper!

 

Moshe must bring the clasps by means of the loops! In this way, he will ‘friendship’ the Tent; and the Tent, like the Abode, will be one!

 

Questions

 

1.    Which lip of which edgemost curtain must be used to make the loops? The lip of the edgemost curtain at the opposite end of the doubled curtain must be used for the set with the seven curtains. (The sixth curtain was doubled; I proposed that this means that another curtain was added.)

 

2.    How will this ‘friendshipping’ be accomplished? It appears that this will be accomplished the same way that the connections were made in the Abode.

 

3.    Why must the clasps be made of copper? Copper is a type of justice/judgment. Thus, the seven-set of curtains and the five-set of curtains will be joined by justice between the loops—between the weary ones—the weary women.

 

4.    What does “And thou shalt bring the clasps via loops” tell the reader?

 

  • The clasps are copper, and therefore signify justice.
  • The word for clasps in Hebrew also means to sink together, to collapse.
  • The loops represent persons or groups.
  • These clasps join together those who are collapsing, sinking during the judgment of Yehovah, during the Tribulation!

       The loops typify female weary ones, since the Hebrew word for loops means to the weary-[ones], and is feminine in gender.

 

       Thus, women who have taken on responsibilities and are weary will be traveling toward Mount Zion. They will bring those who are affected by the collapsing/sinking of the judgment of Yehovah and who will respond by being willing to receive the love of the Truth, as well as being willing to participate in saving the lives of others!

 

5.    Explain the statement and the type found in the command, “And thou shalt ‘friendship’ the Tent”: Moshe (and later, Israel, acting in the same way that Moshe did in history) will bring the parts of the tent together, connecting them using the loops and clasps.

 

       Now, Moshe represents the Torah (Teaching) of Yehovah, and Yehovah Himself, as the following texts show:

 

       Matthew 19:7 They say unto him, “Why did Moshe then command to give a writing of divorcement, and to put her away?”

 

       Matthew 19:8 He says unto them, “Moshe suffered you to put away your wives because of the hardness of your hearts! But it was not so from the beginning!”

 

       Mark 1:44 And says unto him, “See thou say nothing to any man! But-rather, go thy way; show thyself to the priest, and offer for thy cleansing those things that Moshe commanded, for a testimony unto them.”

 

       Mark 7:10 For Moshe said, “Glorify thy father and thy mother,” and, “Whoso curses father or mother, dying, he shall die!”

 

       Luke 24:27 And beginning at Moshe and all the prophets, he expounded unto them in all the Scriptures the things concerning himself.

 

       Thus, the Teaching (the Torah) will be the means of ‘friendshipping’ the Tent together, to make of the two pieces one piece! Weary but willing women will bring men and women who are collapsing/sinking from the judgment of Yehovah, and will connect the Tent into one piece! Because the pieces are made of goats, which typify strong ones, those who have strength (these women) will bring these strong ones who have been called together into one Body! This will be true friendship!

 

6.    The text above (verse 6) stated, “And the Abode will be one!” This text (verse 11) states, “And he (the Tent) shall be one!” Why do both say the same thing? What does this show? They both show how the Abode of Yehovah and the Tent over the Abode will become One Body, joining Jewish and non-Jewish Saints and ‘good guys’ together! This is very important in Scriptures, and was the special proclamation given to Paul!

 

       They both say the same thing because there will be two events where groups will be joined together via women who will bring them together!

 

 

 

VI. Diffusion and Excess (verses 12-13)

 

Since the curtains of the Tent are larger than the curtains of the Abode, there will be excess goat material. The spread of the excess will be by means of the curtain of the Tent. Moshe must spread half of the excess curtain upon the afterwards (back end) of the Abode.

 

There will be an excess of one forearm by means of the length of the curtain of the Tent. This excess will be spread upon the sides of the Abode from this (side) and from this (side) to blanket-cover the Abode!

 

Questions

 

1.    Explain this spread/diffusion: The Hebrew word indicates both spreading out and diffusing. To diffuse is to spread out thinly, to scatter widely. This text explains that a group will be widely scattered for some purpose. This is akin to the matzah (the unleavened bread) in the following text:

 

       1 Corinthians 11:24 “This is my Body that is broken for you.”

 

       This Body will be spread out and diffused for the Israelis. That way, members of this Body will be able to benefit far more folks than they could if they were together in one place.

 

2.    What is the excess, and what does it typify? I can tell that it typifies persons; the other things normally do. The curtains typify the calling from the sounding of Yehovah. The following text explains what persons they typify:

 

       Numbers 3:46 And Yehovah spoke unto Moshe to say, 45 “Take-thou the Levites under every firstborn in the sons of Israel, a beast of the Levites under their beasts. And the Levites shall be to me: I am Yehovah— 46and the excess redeemed [by force] of the 3 and 70 and 200 [273] over the Levites from the firstborn of the sons of Israel. 47And thou shalt take five: five shekels to a skull via a shekel of the Holy-[One]. Thou shalt take ten gerah, the shekel. 48And thou shalt give the silver to Aharon and to his sons, redeemed-[ones] of the excess via them.” 49And Moshe took the silver of the redemption [by force] from the excess-[ones] over redemptions of the Levites. 50He took the silver from with a firstborn of the sons of Israel: 5 and 60 and 300 and 1,000 [1,365] via a shekel of the Holy-[One].

 

       In the above text, the word excess refers to the persons who were more than the count of the Levites among the non-Levitical firstborn Israelis. Each person had to be accounted by a payment of five silver shekels (a very low price in today’s currency). The silver is a picture of redemption by force—that is, freeing a person from a captive situation by a raid and rescue (rather than by a payment). I know this because there are two different Hebrew words used for redemption; this is the one that is used when force is used. Silver typifies both kinds of redemption: by force and by payment.

 

       The excess, then, pictures non-Levitical Israelis and others who are spread out via the sounding of Yehovah’s call, with that call being made to the Tent: to Israel, and to those who will be non-Israeli good-guys. That excess number of persons will be dispersed throughout the world. (Now, I could easily be wrong; the excess might be the Sheep/Goat non-Jewish good guys who help Israelis, the brethren of Messiah, who are in prison, naked, hungry, sick, etc.)

 

3.    What is my After of the Abode? If I consider Exodus 33:23, where the “After” refers to Messiah, this gives me a clue regarding how this word is used:

 

       Exodus 33:23 “And I will remove my palm. And thou shalt see my After. And they shall not see my faces.”

 

       That term, After, speaks of the Messiah: of Yeshua. He is the One Who comes after (in time). Yeshua is the dweller in the Abode.

 

4.    Why must the excess be spread upon this After if the identification above is correct? The group made of persons who are this excess will also be ‘hiding’ Salvation (hiding Yeshua: the After of Yehovah) among them!

 

5.    What does “And the forearm from this and the forearm from this is via the excess, via the length of the curtain. The Tent will be spread/diffused upon sides of the Abode from this and from this” describe? The lengths of the individual curtains made of goats are 30, whereas the lengths of the individual curtains made of byssus are 28. That means that the goat curtains are 2 forearms longer than the byssus curtains. If they are lined up so that the 2 forearm lengths are distributed evenly, there will be one forearm of goats hanging over one side, and one forearm of goats hanging over the other side.

 

       The following drawing shows a view of just the goats made into curtains. You will see that one curtain looks darker than the rest; I did this to show a doubling, even though this curtain wouldn’t really look darker; it would just be doubled:

 

Goat Curtains

 

       The following drawing shows a view looking upward (as if the person is lying on the ground, and the sets of curtains are suspended in the air above the person); the byssus curtain is blue in my drawing (when it should look like cherubim), and the goats-curtain is as shown in the previous drawing. The order would be the opposite if one were looking from above (once these things are set upon the acacia tree stumps).

 

Goat Curtain and Abode

 

       As you can see, the two curtain sets are evenly distributed, the goat curtain being the larger and the byssus curtain being the smaller. Thus, the goat curtain protects the byssus curtain. The length of one forearm is the width of the excess on each side (the sides appearing to be the top and bottom in this ‘landscape’ view).

 

6.    What does “Thou shalt spread/diffuse half of the excess curtain upon my After of the Abode” typify? The After of the Abode is supposed to be viewed as the back end of the Abode. Yet, it doesn’t really indicate a back end; it indicates one who comes after (as mentioned from Exodus 33 above). This is Yeshua Himself, the Messiah and Salvation of Israel.

 

       This excess curtain is an excess calling—one that isn’t part of the other major and open callings. Those who respond to these ‘quiet callings’ (I propose that these will be callings of their consciences telling them to help others who are in danger or are being mistreated) will include the ‘sheep’ in the so-called Sheep/Goat Judgment that starts in Matthew 25:31. (Those sheep are the ‘good guys’ who will give Yeshua’s brethren, the Jews, help during the Tribulation when they are being mistreated so badly.)

 

       Half of this group will be upon Yehovah’s ‘After’ (referring to Yeshua) Who dwells in this Abode (between the Cherubim) (the word upon also meaning by, beside). They will be in the company of Yehovah’s Salvation, and they will later be recipients of Yehovah’s Salvation. In the meantime, Yeshua (Salvation) will carry them as they do the work of saving the lives of His brethren, the Israelis.

 

7.    What will be the location of the final abode of the Messiah of Israel on this planet? This will be Mount Zion.

 

8.    What type (‘picture’) does “The Tent will be spread/diffused upon sides of the Abode from this and from this to blanket-cover him” give? First, the Tent entirely covers (blanket-covers) the Abode, the place where Yehovah dwells. Then, that Tent is spread/diffused upon sides of the Abode so that the Abode is never exposed from any side.

 

       Now, I propose that the Abode consists of the callings of Israel, while the Tent consists of the callings of both Israelis and non-Israelis who are spread/diffused and outside of the main bodies that together make up obvious Israel. Those who respond to the call are part of these callings; those who don’t aren’t part of the fabrics being described.

 

 

 

VII. Blanket-Covering (verse 14)

 

Moshe must make a blanket-covering to the Tent itself. This must be made of skins of red rams. Another blanket-covering must be made of the skins of takhashes from above the red-ram-skin covering.

 

Questions

 

1.    What do skins of a red ram typify? The word for skin comes from a verb meaning to rouse oneself, awake, awaken, incite. The word red is associated both with blood and with humans. (The first human was red in color.) The word for ram means might (as in great power along with moral fortitude: taking a stand to do what is morally right, and therefore what is right in the sight of God). Because of the way that the words skins of red rams are spelled in Hebrew, an internal and separate statement is being made: “the arousal of their might is from men,” where men is plural, which gives me the impression of indicating that the men come from very different cultures and backgrounds.

 

       If my observation is at all correct, this text indicates humans who have no connection with the Biblical faith, but who are awakened to action by what they are seeing, showing great might because of their consciences.

 

2.    Why is this described as a blanket-covering? This shows the roles that persons (that this covering typifies) will take: they will cover (at the risk of their own lives) the Israeli and non-Israeli ‘good guys’ who have responded to the callings of Yehovah. They will do what they can to protect them while still being without faith in Yehovah.

 

3.    What are takhashes? I have no idea what takhashes are, and I haven’t found a source that gives a definite identification. Their skins can be used; that is all that I know. I don’t even know if they are kosher or not! Curiously, identifying these creatures isn’t necessary to identify what they typify! (I have no doubt that the takhash will be identified later in Earth’s future history.)

 

4.    What do takhashes typify? The singular word takhash in Hebrew has another meaning: Thou shalt hush! This describes not using one’s mouth to express protest, complaint, or any form of communication that uses sound. (Communication can be expressed in other ways as long as sound-silence is used.)

 

       If this shows the type, takhashim describes folks who can be called ‘Hushers’—folks who will become very good at not giving away what they are doing, and whose communication forms will be without speaking out loud.

 

       The skins of takhashes, if I am right, will be the awakenings of the Hushers—folks who will say nothing, but who will do much for the groups responding to the callings of Yehovah at the risk of their own lives.

 

5.    Why are these two groups (covered by the descriptions of “skins of red rams and a blanket-covering of skins of takhashes” mentioned together? They will be either working together, or they will sometimes be acting as group. The ‘Hushers,’ for example, might be providing cover for those who show their might by following their consciences that arouse them to action!

 

6.    Why must these blanket-coverings be made from above? I propose that this shows two things: They are provided from above—that is, from the heavens: from Yehovah (though they won’t necessarily know this), and they will act as cover for these other groups who are directly responding to the callings of Yehovah.

 

 

 

VIII. Cuttings (verses 15-18)

 

Moshe next must make wood cuttings (logs) to the Abode. They must be made from standing acacia trees.

 

The length of one cutting is 10 forearms (cubits).

 

The breadth of one cutting is 1 and ½ forearms.

 

There are two hands to one cutting. Those hands are connecting, a woman unto her sister.

 

Established, Moshe shall make all the cuttings of the Abode the same way.

 

There will be 20 cuttings to the Abode. One cutting goes to a corner southward and to the right.

 

Questions

 

1.    What are these cuttings? They are cut logs. We figured this out because only two dimensions are given: the length and the breadth. Had these been boards, they would have three dimensions: the length, the breadth and the width. These are really entire pieces of acacia trees, and they are big!

 

2.    How tall are these acacia logs? They are ten cubits, which means that they are 15 feet long! That is a story and a half tall!

 

3.    How broad are these acacia logs? If they are a forearm and a half, they are 18 + 9 inches, or 27 inches. Thus, they are more than 2 feet in diameter. They are very large!

 

4.    How much would an acacia log of this size weigh? It would weigh about 550 pounds! (That is without the gold that will cover each.) It would take 11 men who could handle 50 pounds to move one of these logs!

 

5.    Why did Yehovah desire them to be so big? There will be several reasons. One practical reason is so that the weight of the curtains will not be able to cause sagging. (Those curtains will not be light; they will be heavy, too. They are large!)

 

6.    What does acacia typify? I said in the previous chapter (Exodus 25) that the word for acacia in Hebrew, shōt, means to fly at high speeds. It describes the end of a whip or of a flagellum (a microscopic whip of a one-celled creature that uses its whip to swim). (I propose that the branches of the acacia are very good for making a scourge/a whip!)

 

       If this is correct, trees of acacia typify stable, potentially fruit-bearing mortals (mortals are humans who can be killed or who can die, which describes all the folks you know) who will be able to travel at very high speeds (and, if the whip is part of this type, they will also be quick and strong to chastise those who don’t cooperate!). The travel that I am describing, if this is correct, will occur during the Tribulation as groups of these folks go toward Mount Zion during a time when travel anywhere in the world will be the most dangerous it has ever been, and when there are more obstacles (things in the way) to travel than there has ever been. These folks will be able to continue traveling as if there are no obstacles and as if there are few dangers.

 

       I will add that these acacia trees are stable in very harsh and hot conditions, being trees of the Middle East. Persons are compared to trees in the Bible (Psalm 1 is an example).

 

7.    The text describes two hands to each cutting. What are these hands, and what is their purpose? The hands are branching parts that connect to hands of the logs next to them. The appearance is that of cut trees holding hands with cut trees. These hands will stabilize the tall standing logs:

 

Acacia Hands

 

8.    What does “they are connecting, a woman unto her sister” tell the reader? These acacia beams with hands typify women (or groups that will be feminine in gender, like the ‘church’ is feminine in gender) who will uphold each other as they uphold what the curtains typify.

 

9.    What does “Established, thou shalt make to all cuttings of the Abode” mean? This same pattern will be used in all the construction. Thus, all these beams will be connected, one to another. (They will also later have rods that go through them farther down so that they will have more than one connection point.)

 

10. How many of these cuttings will there be? There will be a total of 40 (not counting the separating curtain, and not counting all that will make up the courtyard!), though this text describes the one set of 20 going to one extremity that is southward and rightward. It describes them separately because the one group of 20 will be separate from the other group of 20 (the Abode having two chambers) as they (the persons whom these cuttings typify) do their works and as they travel from their locations. One cutting will only have contact with two others; they will be holding hands with those two. (They each only have two hands.)

 

11. Why did Yehovah insist upon this structure being designed and made according to directions of east, west, south and north? Couldn’t it have been set up facing any direction? Since this structure tells a story (including a story about travelers), the structure’s construction must include such directions so that a reader can learn: From where certain ones will come? And, Where they are going?

 

 

 

IX. Lords of Silver and Twins (verses 19-25)

 

Moshe must make 40 lords of silver under the twenty cuttings. As for the cutting: two lords are under the one cutting to two of the cutting’s hands, and two lords are under the one cutting to two of the cutting’s hands.

 

There will be twenty cuttings going to the north corner for the second piece of the Abode. This will make a total of 40 of their lords of silver. Again, two lords are under the one cutting, and two lords are under the one cutting.

 

Next, Moshe must make six cuttings to the sides of the Abode toward the sea (westward).

 

Moshe must make two cuttings to the strippings-off (the disconnected section) of the Abode by means of two sides. Those two cuttings will be their twin from below. The two cuttings will be unified perfect ones upon the Abode’s head all the way unto the one sunk-impression. He will be established to two of the cuttings! They shall be to two of the strippings-off!

 

 

 

Questions

 

1.    What is a lord of silver? A lord is who a slave serves. A lord directs others and is responsible to and for others. A lord is like a king, but is over fewer subjects. Such a person can be called a master.

 

       A lord of silver is one who is in charge of others and who redeems (since silver is a type of redemption). Redemption is freeing one who is being held either by paying a price for the freedom or by using force. A lord of silver, then, is one who has mastery over redemption (of whatever kind is necessary).

 

2.    Why must there be forty lords of silver? First, I propose that the number shows how many there really will be who will be given the ability to redeem others who are being held as prisoners.

 

       Also, the number 40 itself is a type. It is 4 X 10, and both 4 and 10 are types. 4 is often used in connection with north, south, east and west, showing all directions, and thus 4 pictures universality—that is, something that takes place in all directions on earth. 10 is a number associated with testing/tempting. (When Yehovah does it, it is testing, which is always designed to be beneficial; when man does it toward God, it is usually tempting Him, which isn’t good.) The following is a text showing this number being used as tempting:

 

       Numbers 14:22 “…for all those men who have seen my glory and my miracles that I did in Egypt and in the wilderness, and have tempted me now these ten times, and haven’t hearkened to my voice…”

 

       When the numbers multiply, their types join together. Thus, 4 (universality) X 10 (testing) = 40 (universal testing). Universal testing is an opportunity for a group to completely and consistently do right. It is also used to stop a bad group so that it can’t do wrong. For example,

 

       Exodus 16:35 And the children of Israel did eat manna forty years, until they came to a land inhabited; they did eat manna, until they came unto the borders of the land of Canaan.

 

       In the case of this text, Yehovah gave Israel 40 years to determine whether or not the next generation would be willing to do the few and simple commands that Yehovah gave to Israel.

 

       There will be 40 lords of silver under twenty acacia cuttings to show that those who are represented by the acacia trees covered in gold will be founded on two kinds of redemption, and that they will be universally tested in order to prove that they will do only what is right!

 

3.    What does twenty typify? Twenty is 2 X 10. I proposed that 10 typifies testing.

 

       2, I propose, refers to the number of Bodies that will be functioning during the Tribulation until they become one. There will be a Body of non-Jewish Saints that will consist of scattered groups out to save lives of Jews (and their friends), and there will be a Body of Jewish Saints who will be doing the same. Now, the two Bodies will have a disagreement over how they view the Torah. The Jewish group will be convinced that the Torah (Teaching) consists of commandments in ordinances (in decrees: that Yehovah decreed the various commands, and seeing beyond those decrees, those public enactments of rules, isn’t what is important; just doing them is what is important). The non-Jewish group will be convinced that the Torah (Teaching) isn’t made of commandments in decrees (though I haven’t found the text describing how this group will view the Torah).

 

       The two groups will be tested while having at their foundation (what holds them stable during the Tribulation) the lords of silver—the drive and command to redeem Jewish prisoners (using payment or force).

 

4.    The text next describes the cutting. What does this cutting typify? A cutting of wood is split off from the roots and the branches in which it was located. A cutting is made from a standing tree. It is suddenly disconnected. I propose that each represents a person who fulfill the following:

 

       Matthew 19:29 And everyone who has forsaken houses or brethren or sisters or father or mother or wife or children or lands for the sake of my Name shall receive a hundredfold, and shall inherit everlasting life!

 

       (Everlasting life is portrayed by the wood being covered with gold, since gold pictures incorruptibility.) Each person who forsakes those things listed in the text above for the sake of Yeshua’s Name—that is, for the sake of Salvation, for the sake of saving the lives of others will become a pillar in the House of Yehovah:

 

       Revelation 3:12 I will make him who overcomes a pillar in the Temple of my God! And he shall go no more out! And I will write the name of my God upon him, and the name of the city of my God, which is New Jerusalem that comes down out of the heavens from my God! And I will write my new name upon him!

 

5.    Why are two lords under the one cutting? Each cutting (representing a person) will do his/her work by doing both kinds of redemption (payment redemption or redemption by force: freeing others from being prisoners).

 

6.    Why are these silver lords under one cutting to two of his hands? The hands typify works throughout the Bible. Each person represented by the cuttings of Acacia trees will use all of his/her works to provide redemption and to hold up what the curtains typify so that what the curtains typify are being carried and supported! These persons are great heroes and heroines!

 

7.    What does the wording, “two lords under the one cutting to two of his hands and two lords under the one cutting to two of his hands” show? This wording shows that each cutting will be doing the works of redemption independent of the other cutting, though each cutting will actually be totally connected to the cuttings next to it!

 

8.    Why is the Abode divided up into two pieces? This shows what will be true when what the Abode pictures will be fulfilled. There will be two separated main groups making up what the Abode typifies. They will be joined by 50 gold clasps, showing that the incorruptible God will join them, and that they will be joined by what never fails: genuine Biblical (and practical) love, but they will still be two separated bodies.

 

9.    What does the Abode typify? It is made of what the following typify:

 

  • The blue pictures the heavens
  • The purple pictures royalty
  • Earthworm crimson pictures the most humble and powerless
  • Twisted byssus pictures very strong righteousness
  • Cherubim are ministering spirits of God who have incredible strength

       While I propose that all these together show the ‘fabric’ of the Saints who form two Bodies that are finally connected together, they also picture Messiah in His fleshly form. He came from the heavens. He was royalty. He humbled Himself to the lowest rank. He demonstrated perfect and strong righteousness. He was the Angel Yehovah, and He commanded and commands all angels.

 

       John 14:23 Yeshua answered. And He said unto him, “If a man loves me, he will guard my sayings! And my Father will love him! And we will come unto him, and make our abode with him!”

 

       Yehovah and Yeshua will make visitations during the Tribulation.

 

       The Saints in the two Bodies will coordinate together with perfection, being the work of a thinker (the thinker being Yeshua).

 

10. What is the north extremity? It is the section of the Abode that is northward (and therefore leftward in the drawing):

 

Abode Directions

 

       Since directions in the Bible always use Jerusalem as the center of the compass, I propose that the text describes events that will occur north of Jerusalem—in the north extremity of the planet. (That section of the planet is called Gog in other places, meaning roof—the roof of land north of Jerusalem. It includes Moscow, and goes north from there.)

 

11. Why will the twenty cuttings in the north also have forty lords of silver? The same two types of redemption will occur there: redemption by payment and redemption by force, in order to save the lives of Jews and their friends.

 

12. What is the purpose of six cuttings (parts of standing Acacia trees) being made to the sides of the Abode toward the sea (and what sea is this)? I propose that these six cuttings typify six persons who will be active and successful leaders in the regions around the Mediterranean Sea, supporting and upholding those who are typified in the Abode.

 

13. What are these cut-outs? The Hebrew word means to cut off or out, to scrape, to strip off bark; to break: as in angles, corners. I propose that this will refer to those who are disconnected from other groups, considered unclean, broken—perhaps those who are like the Samaritans, the eunuchs or the sons of the Foreigner who are grasping via His Covenant: cut off or out, broken off from any of the groups, and yet part of the groups in Yehovah’s eyes:

 

       Isaiah 56:3 And the son of the foreigner joined unto Yehovah shall not say, to say, ‘Yehovah, dividing, divided from upon His people.’ And the eunuch shall not say, ‘Behold, I am a dry tree!’” 4For so said Yehovah to eunuchs who will guard my Shabbats and chose in what I desired, and are grasping via my Covenant, 5 “And I will give Hand and Good Name to them in my House, and good in my walls from [better than] sons and from [better than] daughters. I will give to them a Name of Hider that will not be cut! 6And the sons of the foreigner joined unto Yehovah to minister-to Him and to love Name Yehovah, to be to him to slaves and to bless Name Yehovah, and every guard of the Shabbat [fem.] from piercing him (her, Dead Sea Scrolls) and graspers via my Covenant, 7and I will bring them unto the Mountain of my Holy-[One]! And I will rejoice them in the House of My Prayer! Their ascensions of her and their sacrifices of her shall ascend to desire upon my altar! For my House shall be called House of Prayer to All the Peoples,” 8declared my Lords Yehovah, Gatherer of expelled-[ones] of Israel! “Further, I will gather upon him to his gathered-[ones]!”

 

       If I am right, they are on both sides of the Abode, and they are pillars just as the rest of the pillars, yet they are just outside of the rest of the pillars; still, they are right beside the Head (Yeshua)! (You can see them pictured above; they are the four circles that are outside of the rectangle in the drawing.)

 

14. What does “they shall be their twin from below” mean? When looking at them from on Earth, they will in every way be exactly like each other and the other pillars. There will be no way to distinguish them!

 

15. Explain, “And they shall be unified perfect-[ones] by his head…” These pillars will be unified: joined to the other pillars and to each other. They will be perfect ones, being and doing exactly what pillars must be and do without fail, and being pictures of persons who will be and do exactly as Yehovah designed them to be and assigned them to do, by His power. “By his head…” is by the Head of the Abode: by Yeshua.

 

       I understand the types to indicate this: The persons these pillars typify will be unified—that is, they will be joined to the other persons (that the pillars and the Abode typify) in every good work. They will be perfect before Yehovah, being and doing exactly what Yehovah designed them to do, and being obedient to all that Yehovah will tell them to do. They will later be positioned by Yeshua (the Head of the Abode) on His right hand and on His left hand in a place of great honour for their selfless heroism.

 

16. The next text refers to them as being unified “unto the one sunk-impression.” What is a sunk-impression? When I considered the Hebrew word behind this, I realized that the word indicated two things at the same time: something sunk into something else (that is, it is as if it has been pressed deeply into place in something else), and something impressed or pushed down until its shape is inside something else. Thus, I translated the word as sunk-impression.

 

       How does a sunk-impression look? I propose that a sunk impression of gold is made like a socket to fit into a hole through the tree so that a bar (described later) can be pushed through the tree. Here is a proposed picture:

 

Sunk Impression

 

       It is sunk into the tree and made of gold to act as shaft holder for the rod (described later) that goes through it.          

 

17. What does a sunk-impression typify? It is a means of connection through the tree. Since it is gold, it typifies incorruptibility. I propose that it typifies Yehovah Himself Who brings the connection of what the bar typifies through what the tree typifies. Since it normally goes through more than one tree, it stabilizes several trees and connects them into one structure! (Elaine later proposed that Biblical love, which never fails, is also therefore incorruptible; the gold can therefore show that the connection will be that type of love.)

 

18. How will they be unified unto the one sunk-impression? If the bars that go through these twin tree shafts connect to the end of the bar that goes through a line of trees, they will be unified unto the one sunk-impression through which the main bar goes. The V-shaped shaft in the drawing below goes through a tree. I have shown two shafts coming together to one shaft that goes into the sunk-impression through the tree shown:

 

V-pole in Tree

 

19. What does “He will be established to two of them” mean? This means that there will be two sets of these.

 

20. What does “They shall be to two of the cut-outs” mean? This means that they will be located on two of the cut-outs locations, which I propose indicates the corners (by the head: the darker curtain section in the drawing).

 

       These unified perfect ones who are connected to the two cut-outs of the Abode, where the Abode ends, and yet are right by the Head of the Abode have the same appearance as all the other cuttings (acacia tree pillars). Yet, they are given place to the right hand and to the left hand of the Head (Whom I propose to be Messiah, the opening of the Abode). They are also established on the same silver lords: two each, and are therefore founded on the same redemptions (by payment and by force).

 

21. Why is “And eight cuttings shall be” so important? If types multiply as I have proposed, 2 X 4 = 8. Now, 4, I proposed, typifies universality (north, south, east and west), and two, I also proposed, referred to the two Bodies: the Body of Israel, including Jewish Saints, and the Body of non-Jewish Saints. Both will be functional as separate units during a good part of the Tribulation. When those two are combined, the picture is of two Bodies universally functioning.

 

22. What information can the reader obtain by learning that their lords are silver? Their lords (their masters and rulers) are redemption! That is what drives them to work for others: to rescue them from being held by enemies!

 

23. Does the number sixteen typify anything? If the numbers multiply as I proposed above, the number 16 has several different ways to multiply to obtain it: 2 X 8, 4 X 4, 2 X 2 X 4, 2 X 2 X 2 X 2… When I run into that many choices, I begin to figure that I won’t know what types, if any, will be shown. I proposed that the number 8 pictures two Bodies universally functioning. This particular number, 16, however, refers to silver lords, and not to persons themselves. Thus, I will leave this one alone regarding types. (The number 16 can represent the number of times that redemption will be successfully done by these eight persons represented by the eight standing acacia trees!)

 

24. What does “two lords are under the one cutting and two lords are under the one cutting” mean? This shows that there will be two lords of silver under each of these cuttings, and not just under some of them.

 

       When I tried to see if I could draw two lords of silver that would be under one acacia tree cutting, at first I thought they might be different sizes. When I reread the text, I decided that this wouldn’t be right. So, I thought, “How can I draw two equal lords of silver under one cutting?” I then had an idea. Now, I am certainly not claiming that this is how these lords of silver appeared, but I wanted to show you my idea of how I could make them both equal, and yet both be under the tree pole at the very same distance and position:

 

Two Silver Lords

 

       The above is when the two silver lords are apart. The darkened portion on the ‘finger’ ends represents silver that comes upward to hold the acacia poles from sliding. When they are brought together, they look like the following:

 

Two Joined Silver Lords

 

       They can grasp the acacia tree poles by being pulled apart while the poles are standing on them, thus locking the poles. (You will have to use your imagination to see what I mean.) The following is a proposed view of the poles with the silver lords grasping them at the bottom:

 

Acacia Silver Lords

 

 

 

X. The Acacia Bar (verses 26-29)

 

This text always describes one bar. Moshe must make their bar (the bar is for the cuttings) trees of acacia. Five are to cuttings of one piece of the Abode, and five are to cuttings of the second piece of the Abode. Then, five are their bar to the cuttings of a piece of the Abode to two sides, seaward (westward).

 

The middle bar in the midst of the cuttings is fleeing from the edge unto the edge!

 

Moshe shall observe the cuttings: gold! He must make their sunk impressions gold; they are houses to their bar!

 

Moshe shall observe their bar; it is gold!

 

Questions

 

1.    Who is their in, “thou shalt make their bar trees of acacia”? They are the cuttings—the trees of cut acacia. They can also refer to the Abode and the Tent, since all the items together own the bar.

 

2.    Why is bar singular when the text describes five in one part, five in another part, and five on another side? While the text describes a number of these bars, the text assumes that there is only one bar holding the entire structure together. This is very important for the reader to know.

 

3.    What does this bar typify? The same word for bar also means to flee, to pass through, to hasten. The entire Abode and the Tent with the acacia poles typify this movement of the entire group that will be fleeing to Mount Zion, passing through the various areas of the world, hastening to get to safety.

 

       Yehovah showed how one large community could do this when He took Israel out of Egypt and walked Israel for years through inhospitable lands, feeding and prospering the Israelis and making sure that their shoes didn’t wear out. This will be done on a much larger scale in the Tribulation, though in much smaller individual groups over a much shorter period of time, yet coordinated with One Head (Messiah) until all the small groups form into one large group on Mount Zion!

 

       Since the bar is made of Acacia covered with gold, I understand that it typifies one who is mortal and who put on immortality. Yet, this being goes right through the persons typified by the standing cuttings of acacia trees. Thus, I propose that the bar typifies Yeshua who will be coordinating the fleeing of the entire Abode and Tent as it goes to Mount Zion.

 

       Combine this with what acacia typifies (humans who will be able to travel at very high speeds and, if the whip enters in, will be quick and strong to chastise those who don’t cooperate), and I propose that the picture of what will occur during this fleeing will be like a military operation designed to save lives under the strictest rule of the heroes/heroines (shown as acacia trees). Whatsoever they do will prosper (as it states in Psalm 1).

 

4.    Propose an arrangement of these bars so that what the text describes is in the pictures:

 

       The following drawings are arrangements that I proposed to meet what is required. Count them to see if I did it right. The first view is as if one is lying down on the ground and looking straight up: a child’s view. Yet, the whole structure would have to be suspended in the air to have this view!

 

Acacia Poles with Bars

 

       The next view is of the very front; I proposed four acacia pillars for this, and I proposed two bars going through them (the other three will be in back to make a total of five):

 

Front Pillars with Bars

 

       Next is the back of the front section of the structure (the structure has two halves: a front and a back, with the front called Holy, and the back called Holy of Holies):

 

Front Piece Back Pillars and Bars

 

       Now, only look at the bars; they are straight through and are not angled upward. (The parts that are angled upward are the hands that all the acacia pillars will have; I have drawn only two for this picture. The two hands reach up and grasp each other. They are also made of acacia wood covered with gold. I am thinking that they will support the Abode, the Tent and the skins along with the pillars.) So, if I count just the bars in the two pictures, I do have five.

 

       Next, I will show the two views of the back piece (the Holy of Holies):

 

Back Piece Near Front with Bars

 

Absolute Back Pillars with Bars

 

       If I count only the bars, this again has five.

 

       Next, I must see the two sides to see if I have five, with the middle bar extending all the way through:

 

Two Sides

 

       Now, the forked middle bar is still one bar (in my counting). Two acacia pillars are attached to the fork, one to each prong of the fork.

 

5.    Why must the middle bar flee from the edge unto the edge? This is described in the following text:

 

       Ephesians 4:1 I therefore exhort you—I the prisoner in the Lord, to walk worthily of the calling wherewith ye were called 2with all humility and meekness: with longsuffering, bearing with one another in love, 3being diligent to keep the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace: 4one Body and one Spirit, even as ye were also called in one Hope of your calling: 5one Lord, one Faith, one Baptism, 6one God and Father of all Who is over all and through all and in you all!

 

       That Middle Bar holds the entire structure together as one structure instead of being as two; it flees from edge to edge, coordinating the movement of the entire Abode and Tent so that all will remain together, and yet will be held as One Body. (The actual structure being built doesn’t move once it is put together, but it pictures movement in the types.) When the Saints and the ‘good guys’ flee during the Tribulation, Yeshua Himself will go with them and will be in their midst, coordinating everything from edge to edge over the entire planet! This will be like the wheel within the wheel in Ezekiel: a wheel that is huge with eyes all around its rim, a wheel that is moving at the speed of light on the earth, showing that Yehovah is omnivident: all-seeing at the same time! This Middle Bar flees from one side to the other with great speed doing coordination of all in the structure!

 

6.    Why will the cuttings be observed as gold? They will be entirely covered with gold! That gold typifies incorruptibility. The cuttings typify persons who are mortal (and therefore, capable of dying, and rotting: of corrupting). Yet, observing these heroes and heroines, they will seem like they are incorruptible, because they have put on incorruption: they have put on that faith that is Biblical, and they have been given Salvation (both physically and everlastingly)! Thus, those who see them work the great and miraculous works of God to save lives and to uphold the Abode, the Tent and the coverings will recognize them as incorruptible, their love as incorruptible!

 

7.    Why must their sunk-impressions also be lined with gold all the way through? The bar that (I propose) typifies the Messiah of Israel that goes through them and holds them is also made of wood covered with gold: corruption that has put on incorruption. Yeshua was born with a mortal body; He rose with an immortal body.

 

       The leaders of the heroes and heroines that are represented by the trees will remain connected, and they won’t fall or fail in their goals. Their faith will hold and remain; it won’t become corrupted.

 

       I propose that the sunk-impressions will be lined with the incorruptible gold to show that love, that doesn’t fail, will be what connects Yeshua, the bar, with all of the heroic leaders who uphold the entire structure. (I have proposed a definition for love: seeking the highest, best interest on behalf of another without regard to self.) The kind of love that these folks will show will be of this nature, and not of the regular ‘love’ that often fails that we see in normal society.

 

8.    Why does the text say, “Houses to their bar”? Each of the persons typified by the standing acacia trees will have these sunk-impressions. Those incorruptible gold sunk-impressions will be houses to what the bar typifies. If that gold also pictures the love by which these heroes and heroines will function, they will be filled with the Spirit of Yeshua Himself so that they will have both the power and the behaviour to do what is exactly right and according to Biblical love! Those who love Salvation (Yeshua) will guard His commandments (including His brethren)!

 

9.    What might be an image of this sunk-impression? I have proposed a drawing of the sunk-impression:

 

Sunk Impression

 

       It is gold, and it goes all the way through, acting as a sleeve for the bar so that there is a very perfect and tight fit.

 

10. Why must the bar be observed as gold? If the bar typifies Messiah, as I have proposed, He, being mortal in His flesh, also put on incorruption! What is seen, then, is what doesn’t fail, but what abides: that love (that saves lives)!

 

 

 

XI. Standing Abode (verse 30)

 

Moshe must cause the Abode to stand according to the Abode’s justice that Moshe was shown in Mount Sinai.

 

Questions

 

1.    Yehovah commanded Moshe to make the Abode stand according to his justice. What does this mean? Moshe was shown every detail about the Abode and its Tent, and all things that are part of this structure. (That is why he was in the mountain with Elohim 40 days and 40 nights!) The very way that this structure must be assembled shows a picture of Yehovah’s justice—of His rendering a right decision based on all facts. (Until we see how this structure is assembled, we won’t know the details of His justice in action; we can read about parts of His justice in Biblical texts.)

 

       The very size of this structure makes assembling it totally impossible unless it is assembled exactly right. Elohim showed Moshe how to assemble it so that it would go exactly together and be firm and safe, and so that no one will get hurt in the process! (The standing acacia trees are very heavy, and the ‘goat’ curtain is very long and wide, and also very heavy. It is covered with very heavy skins that are sewn together to form a huge covering!) Setting up this giant structure required a particular order, and that order also shows justice—the very justice that the Spirit of Yeshua will use when constructing together what this giant and impossible structure pictures (typifies) during the Tribulation! This structure typifies the Church on Earth with Israel at its core, and all living (mortal) Saints and all non-saint friends upholding Israel by the power of God and by the love of Salvation—saving lives (in both ways: physically saving lives, and seeing everlasting life come to folks).

 

       The angels that rebelled did so because they challenged Yehovah’s justice. Those demons will now see that Yehovah’s justice is perfect as what this structure typifies is constructed by Yehovah!

 

 

 

XII. Divider and Crooveem (verses 31-33)

 

Yehovah next commanded Moshe to make a Divider using blue, purple and earthworm crimson. The Divider must be made of twisted byssus, and it must be a making of thought! Moshe must make her crooveem (cherubim).

 

Moshe must give her upon four pillars of acacia; when anyone observes, the person will see gold.

 

Their hooks are gold upon four lords of silver!

 

Moshe must give the Divider under the clasps.

 

Questions

 

1.    What is the purpose of this Divider? It will separate between the Holy chamber and the Holy-of-Holies chamber: between the front of the Abode and the back of the Abode.

 

2.    What do blue, purple, and earthworm crimson typify? I previously proposed that blue typifies the heavens, purple typifies royalty, and earthworm typifies the lowest in rank of all, being the lowliest of the creatures that contain crimson blood.

 

3.    What does this Divider typify (besides being what it obviously is: a Divider)? The Hebrew word that translates to Divider comes from a word meaning to break, break down, crush (as in cracking nuts); to separate. It was used to describe oppression and rigour (crushing) in the following texts:

 

       Exodus 1:13 And the Egyptians slave-drove the children of Israel via crushing. 14And they embittered their lives via hard slavery: via mortar and via bricks and via every slavery in the field with all their slavery that they slaved via them via crushing.

 

       Leviticus 25:43 Thou shalt not rule over him with crushing, but shalt fear thy God.

 

       This idea of crushing has in it the idea of separating (like that which was done in American slave markets when families where broken up, crushing and separating the family units).

 

       Yeshua described a series of events that will take place during the Tribulation in the following statement:

 

       Mark 10:29 And Yeshua said, answering, “I say faith to you, there is no one who has left house or brothers or sisters or father or mother or wife or children or lands for the sake of me and of the beneficial proclamation 30if they shall not receive a hundredfold now in this time—houses and brothers and sisters and mothers and children and lands, with persecutions, and everlasting life in the age that is coming! 31And many first shall be last, and the last first.”

 

       Why will a person do this, and be right and righteous? It will be “for the sake of me—that is, for the sake of Yeshua; for the sake of Salvation—for the sake of saving the lives of others who are not direct brothers or sisters or father or mother or wife or children. This departure will become necessary when one’s own family will try to stop that person from doing the work of a hero/heroine during the Tribulation. Only heroes/heroines (and those whom they rescue) will gain entry to the Kingdom of the Heavens during the Tribulation, as Yeshua has been warning in almost all His parables.

 

       Another reason why a person will do this is for the sake of the beneficial proclamation (commonly known as the gospel, but without the meaning of the word gospel normally being provided). Every gospel in the Bible is a potentially beneficial proclamation. It is beneficial if the hearer will hearken. It is not beneficial, and it is often damning, if the hearer will not hearken. The Bible contains numerous gospels—numerous proclamations that are potentially beneficial. Without exception, every one is designed to save lives. The same will be true in the Tribulation. A person who departs from the above list of family members and real estate in order to save lives (which is the same as for the sake of the gospel) will be doing right.

 

       This Divider (I propose) pictures this division that will be necessary to be part of that group identified with the Holy of Holies. That group is described in the following text:

 

       Daniel 7:27 And the kingdom, and dominion, and the greatness of the kingdom under all the heavens shall be given to the people of the Saints of the Most High Whose kingdom is an everlasting kingdom! And all dominions shall serve and obey Him!

 

       This text describes three groups: the people, the Saints, and the Most High. Now, the Most High is obviously Yehovah/Yeshua. He owns the Saints—that is, the Saints of every race. Yet, the Saints in turn own one people: the People of Israel! Since ownership is expressed by the word holy in the Bible (holy only and always means owned), this text describes the holy people (of Israel) being owned by the Holies—that is, the holy ones—those from all the races whom Yehovah owns. Therefore, the inner chamber that we are discussing in Exodus 26 is made of those who are both holy and who are holy of holies: the owned of the owned ones!

 

       What will give entrance to this chamber is the oppression that will to break, break down, crush and separate those heroes and heroines from others unwilling to participate in these life-saving events; they will separate themselves to go and to stand with Israel and the Gods of Israel, becoming part of what that inner chamber typifies.

 

       Yet, there is another answer for what this Divider typifies! Proof of this answer will be found below in another question. I will just mention it here: It typifies Yeshua’s flesh!

 

4.    What does byssus typify? This word combines groping with stranger. I understand it to typify the groping of a stranger. This puts me in mind with an event that occurred with Isaac. Isaac was determined to bless his firstborn, Esau. Yet, that blessing belonged to Jacob, since Jacob had purchased the birthright. Now, Rebecca, a great heroine in the Bible for the act I am about to describe, saw that her husband, Isaac, was about to give the blessing to the wrong son. Isaac hadn’t remembered the speech that Yehovah had spoken to Rebecca years before when He stated,

 

       Genesis 25:23 “Two races are in thy belly. And two folks will be separated from thine internals. And a folk will be-bolder than a folk. And a many will serve a younger.”

 

       Isaac was about to prophesy that the many would serve Esau! Rebecca got to work and dressed up Jacob as Esau in order to deceive her husband, Isaac. She knew that Isaac was in danger, since what Isaac was about to state would be prophecy. Yet, Isaac couldn’t go back on what he promised to Esau; the only reasonable solution was to fool Isaac so that Isaac did what was right before Yehovah, and give the blessing to Jacob. In the meantime (and this is the point of my mentioning this), Isaac kept thinking that something was wrong; he groped Jacob to see if he truly was Esau; Jacob felt like a stranger to him in some ways. Thus, Isaac didn’t recognize Jacob (Israel), and he groped him to see who he was (since Isaac was almost totally blind).

 

       I propose that this twisted byssus will typify these tightly knit units that are in Yeshua. Like Isaac, they will bless Israel without necessarily knowing or understanding that it is Israel they are blessing, or that the Covenant includes a vow to Israel about Israel’s being served by many!

 

5.    Why does the text state that this Divider must be made, and that it is a making of thought? It will require real thought for one to separate himself/herself from his/her family and friends in order to do what is right. Israel itself must make this division among every rank; parents and children must divide up if they disagree about these life-saving occupations and actions. This is why the following text states what it does in Hebrew:

 

       Malachi 4:5 “Behold, I will send you Elijah the prophet before the coming of the great and terrifying Day of Yehovah! 6And he shall turn the heart of the fathers upon the children and the heart of the children upon their fathers lest I come and smite the land with a curse!”

 

       Upon normally means against when it is used this way in Hebrew! Much thought will go into a decision to turn against parents/children for the sake of saving the lives of others!

 

       This Divider must be made because the physical part of Yeshua was indeed made of the soil and from the seed of David!

 

6.    Why must this Divider be made cherubim? What does that mean? The cherubim of Yehovah will be totally involved in this separation. When Yeshua took a stand to do what was right, after having been tempted, the angels aided Him:

 

       Matthew 4:11 Then the devil leaves Him. And behold, angels came and ministered unto Him.

 

       If Yeshua needed angelic ministering, I am sure that those who do right under the terrible conditions of the Tribulation, losing all that is closest to them, will need the cherubim to minister to them.

 

7.    Why must she be given upon acacia? If acacia both pictures great strength and typifies speed, that separation will demand speed from those who enter into the Holy of Holies chamber, participating with Israel in the terrible plight of the Tribulation. What the acacia trees typify will uphold the Divider, putting on the Divider (as putting on Christ):

 

       Galatians 3:27 For as many of you as have been immersed into Messiah have put on Messiah!

 

8.    Why must there be four pillars? I propose that this will show that persons will come from the four directions: north, south, east and west, and will universally suffer this separation to do what is right. They must all come through Messiah’s flesh!

 

9.    Why will the pillars appear gold? This shows that the persons who do the work that these pillars typify will be granted incorruptibility; they will later be born of God (if they aren’t already).

 

10. What do these hooks typify? This is actually the very Hebrew letter vav itself! It is the number 6 in Hebrew. The letter vav looks like a nail or a straight hook:

 

Vav-Hook

 

       I propose that these hooks that are gold (and thus are incorruptible) will picture the incorruptible connection (how about love) between the Divider and the acacia pillars (standings). Those pillars show taking a stand and standing for what is right (I propose), and the hooks will connect the stand and the division together in a way that won’t deteriorate.

 

11. Why are they upon four lords of silver instead of eight? I propose that there will be only one kind of redemption that those who take this stand will need: the redemption with a price. Entering into that chamber will not be accomplished by force.

 

12. Why must the Divider be under the clasps? Consider the two types. The Divider typifies to break, break down, crush; to separate. It was used to describe oppression and rigour (crushing). It also pictures Messiah’s flesh: His coming in a physical, mortal body. Clasps typify sinking together, collapsing. Since the Divider is under the clasps, the crushing and divisive oppression, and yet the work of the Messiah, will occur under the sinking together and the collapsing that will bring those who truly fear Yehovah together to work together from various sources. Thus, Messiah’s work will function in the middle of the worst of the Tribulation!

 

 

 

XIII. Holy of Holies (verses 33-35)

 

Moshe next must bring the Box of the Testimonies to that location, from inside, and to the Divider. That Divider will separate to the Israelis between the Holy and between the Holy of the Holies!

 

Moshe must give the Divider upon the Box of the Testimonies in (or via) Holy of Holies.

 

Moshe next must put the Table from outside to the Divider.

 

The Menorah must be straight in front of the Table upon the piece of the Abode, southward.

 

Moshe must give the Table upon the north piece of the Abode.

 

Questions

 

1.    Why must the Box of the Testimonies be brought specifically from inside to the Divider? The Divider typifies the crushing oppression that will divide families, friends, households, etc., and it typifies Messiah Yeshua’s flesh. It is through these things that the Box of the Testimonies will be brought!

 

       The Box of the Testimonies will come to reside among the owned one of the owned ones (the Holy of the Holies): the People of Israel who are owned by the Saints of the Most High. That Box will contain those testimonies that Israel will finally believe, and that Israel and Israel’s friends will finally see fulfilled!

 

       The terrible division must happen first, however, before those things in the Box will be fulfilled. Israel will not turn to Truth until that division occurs as described.

 

2.    Why will the Divider separate to you (whoever they are) between the Holy and the Holy of the Holies? You are the Israelis. On this side of that Divider is the Holy chamber with its testimonial items. Now, Israel is holy (owned). Only when that terrible division occurs, however, will Israelis come to recognize that they are truly owned by all the Saints: that they are Holy (owned), and are owned by the Holies (the owned ones: the Saints of all races).

 

3.    Why must ‘thou’ (whoever he is) give the cover upon the Box of the Testimonies in Holy of the Holies at this time? Thou refers to Moshe, but I have elsewhere proposed that it refers to all Israel when Israel will have the perspectives and faith of Moshe. By doing what is right, Israel will give that cover (with Yehovah, our Gods, Yehovah as one on it) back onto the Box of the Testimonies of Israel! Before this time, Israel drove Yehovah off (since Yehovah would have otherwise greatly destroyed Israel for all of Israel’s adulterous idolatry). With Yehovah gone, it was as if the cover had been removed: as if Yehovah—our Gods—Yehovah wasn’t there. Now, the opposite is occurring; Israel is doing what is right, which invites Yehovah back as Israel’s cover.

 

4.    Why must the Table be outside to the Divider (and thus, in the Holy chamber and not the Holy of Holies chamber)? This Table is for those on the way to meet with Yeshua/Yehovah in Mount Zion. It has Matzah and incense: a place of food (the entirely righteous Body being represented by the Matzah) and prayer. It has no chairs; it isn’t a place to stay for long.

 

5.    Where is the Menorah if it is straight in front of the Table and upon the piece of the Abode, southward?

 

Abode Ark Menorah Table

 

       I did another drawing that was closer to show it better:

 

Abode Ark Menorah Table Larger

 

       It is quite small compared to all the room in the Abode! (Southward is to the right; thus, the Menorah is to the right of the Table in this picture, and is behind the Table from the opening of the Abode.)

 

6.    What does the Menorah typify? It typifies the seven Spirits of Yehovah described in Isaiah 11:

 

       Isaiah 11:2 And the Spirit of Yehovah will rest upon him—Spirit of Wisdom and Understanding, Spirit of Counsel and Valiance, Spirit of Knowledge and Fear of Yehovah!

 

       In listed form, the seven Spirits are:

 

  • The Spirit of Yehovah (the central shaft)
  • The Spirit of Wisdom
  • The Spirit of Understanding
  • The Spirit of Counsel
  • The Spirit of Valiance
  • The Spirit of Knowledge
  • The Spirit of the Fear of Yehovah

7.    Why must the Menorah be placed directly in front of that Table? The Spirits of Yehovah will give light (and thus Truth) to those who come to that Table, who come to the Matzah (typifying the Body of Saints who are unleavened—without sin, and typifying the prayers of those Saints) so that they will see the veil, the Divider that came because of the crushing oppression of both sin and enemies of Israel. That veil—that Divider—pictures Messiah Yeshua’s flesh:

 

       Hebrews 6:18 By two unchangeable things in which [it] is impossible [for] God to lie, we—who fled for refuge to lay hold on the Hope set straight-in-front—will have strong encouragement 19that we have as both a certain and firm anchor of the soul! And entering into that within the veil (Divider) 20where Yeshua entered for us: a forerunner according to the Order of Melchizedek having become High Priest forever!

 

       Hebrews 10:19 Therefore, brethren, having boldness for entrance into the Holies by the blood of Yeshua 20that He dedicated for us: a newly made and living way through the veil (Divider)—that is, His flesh, 21and a Great Priest over the House of God, 22we shall approach with a true heart in full assurance of faith, the hearts having been sprinkled from a wicked conscience, and the Body having been washed with pure water! 23We shall grasp the confession of the Hope unwavering! For He is faithful who promised! 24And we shall consider one another for provoking to love and to good works—25not forsaking the assembling of ourselves together even as the custom is with some, but exhorting, and by so much more as ye see the Day drawing near!

 

       Thus, the Menorah must be placed in front of that Table in order to give light to those who will go to and through that Divider, Yeshua’s flesh, in order to approach Yehovah in the only right way: by saving the lives of others and bringing them to Yehovah (just as Yeshua did, but for the everlasting Salvation of those whom He saves).

 

8.    Why must the Table be put upon the north piece? Upon entering into the Abode, the first item to be approached is that Table where Saints must consider one another in order to provoke each other to love and to good works! That is the Table where they will assemble themselves together in order to exhort (warn and prod each other to do right) because the Day of Yehovah has arrived!

 

 

 

XIV. Camouflage (verses 36-37)

 

Moshe must make camouflage to the opening of the Tent! That camouflage must be blue, purple, and earthworm crimson, and made of twisted byssus. The construction must be of variegation.

 

Moshe must make five acacia pillars for this camouflage. When he observes these pillars, he must see gold! Their hooks are gold.

 

Moshe must melt/pour to the pillars five lords of copper!

 

Questions

 

1.    Why must there be a camouflage to the opening of the Tent? Only those who are willing to receive the love of the Truth will be able to see the way into that Tent in which Salvation has made His Abode. That camouflage looks just like the Divider, which typifies Yeshua’s flesh: His mortal life. Those who come upon that opening who aren’t willing to receive the love of the Truth will look at the opening, but will only see camouflage; no opening will be seen. They will continue on their own ways. Those who come upon that opening who are willing to receive the love of the Truth will see Yeshua: that He came from the heavens, that He was indeed royalty, being the Son of the Father, Yehovah, that He lowered Himself to a human and a low-ranking human so that even strangers of many backgrounds and ‘variegations’ could come to Him, all of them being twisted together into one beautiful cloth.

 

2.    What does five typify? I proposed above that both five and the silver shekel (a coin) were used to show redemption: five shekels. I will now propose that the five pillars that hold up the camouflage typify this: Redemption is the foundation for the camouflage, as if Redemption is offering the otherwise hidden way into the Abode!

 

3.    What do the acacia pillars typify? I previously proposed that acacia typifies persons with great strength and mortality (who have put on immortality, as well as high-speed travel and even necessary chastisement to keep those who travel on the way to Mount Zion in line so that all in the group will live.

 

       If these things are correct, combine them with five pillars (standings) of acacia, not only designating the number of those involved in this, but also showing that redemption is the only way into the Abode!

 

4.    If the pillars of acacia are gold when observed, what does this show? This again shows that those persons whom the pillars will represent are mortals who have put on immortality, and when viewing them, what is seen is the gold that doesn’t fail: the love they show. (That form of love will be very tough!)

 

5.    Why are their hooks made of gold? The connections between the pillars and the camouflage are incorruptible! The connections between those persons who are founded on redemption and the camouflage, Messiah’s flesh, can never be corrupted; it is permanent! (Again, I am thinking that this gold also typifies Biblical love.)

 

6.    What does copper typify? It typifies justice/judgment, which often includes wrath. Yet, justice sometimes isn’t wrath; it can be a true friend to those who first find redemption!

 

7.    Why must these five lords of copper be melted/poured? This shows that the judgment/wrath of Yehovah is about to be poured out on all who don’t flee for refuge through redemption into the Abode!

 

       From the outside of the Abode (and courtyard), copper is most visible: judgment/wrath. Behind that camouflage is redemption; yet, that very redemption has at its base the very judgment and wrath of Yehovah! Therefore, one must start by going through Yeshua’s flesh: His mortal life and sacrifice in order to grasp the redemption that will take the person in through the opening of the Abode!

 

Temple: Destroy This Temple

Destroy This Temple

John 2:18 The Jews therefore answered and said to Him, “What sign dost Thou show to us that Thou doest these things?” 19Yeshua answered and said to them, “Destroy this Temple, and I will raise it up in three days!” 20The Jews therefore said, “Forty and six years was building this Temple! And Thou wilt raise it up in three days?” 21But He spoke concerning the Temple of His Body. 22When He was raised up from among the dead, His disciples therefore remembered that He had said this to them. And they believed the Scripture and the word that Yeshua had spoken.

 

To what Temple is Yeshua referring?

In verse 21, the text testifies that He spoke of the Temple of His Body. This is not Yeshua’s physical body. Had it been, the wording in verse 21 would have been different—more like this: “But He spoke concerning His death and resurrection.” Instead, this Temple is the Body of Christ—that is, the entire entity and group over which He is head.

 

The next text demonstrates that His Body is the Church:

 

Colossians 1:24 …who now rejoice in my sufferings for you and fill up that which is behind of the afflictions of Messiah in my flesh for His Body’s sake, which is the Church.

 

This body first consists of Israel, Messiah Yeshua’s property. Israel is and always has been the core of this Body. All Israelis in faith and out of faith together constitute this Body. As Israelis die in unbelief, they are removed from this Body. Thus, Israelis are temporary members unless they come to faith. Romans explains this:

 

Romans 11:16 For if the firstfruit is holy, the lump is also. And if the root is holy, so are the branches. 17And if some of the branches are broken off, and thou, being a wild olive, were grafted in among them, and partakest of the root and fatness of the olive tree with them, 18don’t boast against the branches! But if thou boast, thou bearest not the root, but the root thee! 19Thou wilt say then, “The branches were broken off so that I might be grafted in!” 20Fine! They were broken off because of unbelief, and thou standest by faith! Don’t be highminded, but fear! 21For if God spared not the natural branches—lest He also spare not thee!

 

I have drawn a representation of this tree:

 

Olive Tree

 

If an Israeli comes to faith, he/she is grafted into the tree again, now being a living branch.

 

Persons who are born of God are also added to the Israelis making up this Body. They are connected to Avraham, as the following text explains:

 

Romans 4:13 For the promise that he will be the heir of the world is not to Avraham or to his seed through the Torah, but through the righteousness of faith. 14For if they who are of the Torah are heirs, faith is made void and the promise is made of no effect 15because the Torah works wrath. For where no law is, no transgression is. 16Therefore [the promise]is of faith so that [it] is by grace to the end the promise will be sure to all the seed—not only to that which is of the Torah, but also to that which is of the faith of Avraham (who is the father of us all, 17as it is written, “I have made thee a father of many nations”) before Him Whom he believed—God Who makes-alive the dead and calls those things that are not as though they were—18who believed in hope against hope so that he will become the father of many races according to what was spoken: “So shall thy seed be.”

 

Some non-Jewish folks who become Saints join themselves to Israel, and are thus named on another branch in the above picture.

 

There is another group to consider. They are non-Jewish, non-believing friends of the Israelis who will risk their lives for them during the Tribulation. (They will become part of that Body in faith later, after the Tribulation). They are often described in the Bible, with two texts specially describing them: Matthew 25:31 and following, and Psalm 1. They are the ‘sheep’ in the so-called Sheep/Goat Judgment of Matthew 25. Messiah states this of that event:

 

Matthew 25:31 When the Son of man shall come in His glory, and all the holy angels with Him, He shall then sit upon the throne of His glory. 32And all races shall be gathered before Him. And He shall separate them one from another as a shepherd divides sheep from goats. 33And He shall set the sheep on His right hand, and the goats on the left. 34Then the King shall say unto them on His right hand, “Come, ye blessed of my Father! Inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world! 35For I was hungry, and ye gave me food! I was thirsty, and ye gave me drink! I was a stranger, and ye took me in!—36naked, and ye clothed me! I was sick, and ye visited me! I was in prison, and ye came unto me!” 37Then the righteous shall answer Him, saying, “Lord, when did we see thee hungry, and fed, or thirsty, and gave drink? 38When did we see thee a stranger, and took in, or naked, and clothed? 39Or when did we see thee sick or in prison, and came unto thee?” 40And the King shall answer and say unto them, “Faith I say unto you! Inasmuch as ye have done unto one of the least of these my brethren, ye have done unto me!” 41Then He shall say also unto them on the left hand, “Depart from me, ye cursed, into everlasting fire prepared for the devil and His angels!! 42For I was hungry, and ye gave me no food! I was thirsty, and ye gave me no drink! 43I was a stranger, and ye didn’t take me in!—naked, and ye didn’t clothe me!—sick and in prison, and ye didn’t visit me!” 44Then they also shall answer Him, saying, “Lord, when did we see thee hungry or thirsty or a stranger or naked or sick or in prison, and did not minister unto thee?” 45Then He shall answer them, saying, “Faith I say unto you! Inasmuch as ye didn’t to one of the least of these, ye didn’t to me!” 46And these shall go away into everlasting punishment, and the righteous into everlasting life!

 

Messiah classified the sheep-side folks with the following descriptions:

 

 

  • Blessed of my Father (verse 34)
  • Inheritors of the kingdom prepared for them from the foundation of the world (verse 34)
  • Righteous (verse 37)
  • Entering into everlasting life (verse 46)

While they are not yet part of that Body of Messiah, they certainly will be!

 

The Temple as a Type

The Temple is a type: an item that is important in itself, and properly pictures and portrays another item that is far more important, along with events that happen to that item. Every temple in the world (I propose—if the word isn’t being used in some other way) is a living quarter for a god; that is what a temple is designed to be. The Temple of the Body of Messiah is a residence for the God of Israel. That Temple (that is, the answer to the type, and not the type itself) will experience a fragmentation (I will explain that shortly), and then it will be brought back together within a three-day period.

 

What does the word translated destroy truly mean?

Translators did great violence against the text when they applied their own theology to the translation instead of leaving the word alone with its normal meanings. The following are the acceptations given in Thayer’s lexicon for this word:

 

To loose any person (or thing) tied or fastened; bandages of the feet, the shoes; of a husband and wife joined together by the bond of matrimony; of a single man, whether he has already had a wife or has not yet married; to loose one bound, i.e. to unbind, release from bonds, set free; of one bound up (swathed in bandages); bound with chains (a prisoner), discharge from prison, let go; to loosen, undo, dissolve, anything bound, tied, or compacted together; an assembly, i.e. to dismiss, break up; laws, as having a binding force, are likened to bonds; to annul, subvert; to do away with, to deprive of authority, whether by precept or act; to declare unlawful; to loose what is compacted or built together, to break up, demolish, destroy; to dissolve something coherent into parts, to destroy; metaph., to overthrow, to do away with.

 

The basic flavor of this word isn’t to destroy; it is to separate into various parts; to break up a whole item into parts. It can include scattering a group into smaller groups, and this is what will happen during the Tribulation. What the Temple represents (typifies) will be separated into small units to save the lives of Jewish folks (and others).

 

Who does the destroying?

Yeshua said, “Fragment this Temple…” He spoke to the Israelis when He said this. Jewish leaders in Israel will be the Israelis responsible for this during the Tribulation by making a covenant with death:

 

Isaiah 28:14 Therefore, hearken-ye-to the saying of Yehovah, men of the scoff, the rulers of this People that is in Jerusalem. 15For ye said, “We cut a covenant with Death!” and, “We made a vision with Sheol!” “The scourge is gushing! For he passed! He will not come-to us! For we placed a prevarication, our shelter! And we were hidden in a lie!” 16Therefore, so said my Lords Yehovah, “Behold, I am establishing a stone in Zion—a chosen stone, a corner, preciousness of a foundation—a foundation of the Believer. He will not hasten! 17And I will place justice for a commandment and righteousness for a plummet. And hail shall sweep-away the shelter of the prevarication; and waters shall gush-away the hiding-place! 18And he shall cover your covenant with Death. And your vision with Sheol will not stand. The scourge that will pass-over gushes! And ye shall be to him for treading! 19He will take you from the time-of his passing-over! For in the morning, in the morning he will pass-over, in the day and in the night! And he shall be only frustration to understand a report!”

 

That covenant will drive all Israelis who fear Yehovah to either leave the area or to work underground. They will have to work in small groups if they will save lives of other Israelis. Yehovah will have already sent many Israelis to the farthest locations throughout the world long before this time for their preservation and protection. This will be the backdrop to the time of Jacob’s Tribulation. While this fragmentation will last for a few years, the last part of the gathering itself will be within three days (I will show my evidence for this shortly).

 

The Hosea text

Hosea 5:15 “I will walk. I will return to my place until they declare themselves guilty and seek my faces! They will seek me sunrise in their Tribulation!” Hosea 6:1 “Come! And we shall return unto Yehovah! For He tore, and He will heal us! He smote, and He will bind us up! 2He will make us alive after two days! He will raise us up in the third day! And we shall live in His sight! 3Then we shall know! We shall follow on to know Yehovah! His going forth is prepared as the morning. And He shall come unto us as the rain—as the latter, former rain unto the land!”  

 

These Israelis know the exact timings of these events! He will raise up that Temple (consisting of Israelis and all His Body) in three days.

 

The Significance of Three Days

Why do a number of texts refer to events that are three days or within three days? If anyone will have a hope during terrible times, knowing when those times will end is vital. Some have given up just before the end of the terrors in previous terrible times, not realizing how close they were to the end. They might have endured to the end, had they known.

 

At the same time, being too specific will give information to enemies; they may use that information to commence a terrible slaughter in vengeance. Thus, Messiah has given information that is specific to the week, but not to the day or the hour:

 

Matthew 24:29 “Immediately after the Tribulation of those days, the sun shall be darkened and the moon shall not give her light. And the stars shall fall from the heavens, and the powers of the heavens shall be shaken. 30And then the sign of the Son of man shall appear in the heavens. And then all the tribes of the earth shall mourn. And they shall see the Son of man coming in the clouds of the heavens with power and great glory. 31And He shall send His angels with a great sound of a trumpet; and they shall gather His elect together from the four winds—from one end of the heavens to the other. 32Now learn a parable of the fig tree: When his branch is yet tender, and he puts forth leaves, ye know that summer is nigh. 33So likewise, when ye shall see all these things, ye know that it is near—at the doors. 34Faith I say unto you, this generation shall not pass until all these things are fulfilled. 35Heavens and earth shall pass away, but my words shall not pass away. 36But no one knows of that day and hour—no, not the angels of the heavens, but only my Father.”  

 

Mark 13:24 “In those days, after that tribulation, the sun shall be darkened and the moon shall not give her light. 25And the stars of heaven shall fall, and the powers that are in the heavens shall be shaken. 26And then they shall see the Son of man coming in the clouds with great power and glory. 27And then He shall send His angels. And they shall gather together His elect from the four winds: from the uttermost part of the earth to the uttermost part of the heavens! 28Now learn a parable of the fig tree: When her branch is yet tender and puts forth leaves, ye know that summer is near. 29So ye in like manner, when ye shall see these things come to pass, know that it is nigh: at the doors. 30Faith! I say unto you that this generation shall not pass until all these things are done. 31Heavens and earth shall pass away, but my words shall not pass away. 32But no man knows of that day and hour—no, not the angels that are in the heavens or the Son, but the Father. 33Take ye heed! Watch and pray! For ye don’t know when the time is, 34as a man taking a far journey who left his house. And he gave authority to his servants, and to every man his work. And he commanded the porter to watch. 35Watch ye therefore! For ye don’t know when the master of the house comes: at even or at midnight or at the cockcrowing or in the morning, 36lest coming suddenly, he finds you sleeping! 37And what I say unto you I say unto all: Watch!”

 

These two texts refer to the gathering as well as the coming of the master (the Messiah). The gathering will be within a three-day period within the last week of the Tribulation; the coming of the Messiah will be exactly 1,290 days after the False Prophet of the Assyrian (antichrist) sets up an image of the Assyrian in the Temple:

 

Daniel 12:11 From the time that the daily [sacrifice] shall be taken away and the abomination that makes desolate is set up, there shall be a thousand two hundred and ninety days.

 

Thus, any reader can know the very day of Messiah’s coming (once the abomination—a ‘living’ statue of the Assyrian that has power to kill—has been set up). The gathering is a different issue. Messiah Himself doesn’t know the day or the hour. Any careful reader can know the week in which the gathering takes place (it will be within the last week of the Tribulation). If the person knows the week, the person will also know the month and the year once the abomination has been set up.

 

These three-day periods are long enough that enemies will not believe them, and they are short enough that those who truly hope and believe will be able to easily wait. Another text refers to a shortening of the length of a day during the last part of the Tribulation, so that the maximum of three days that one must wait will not be 72 hours, but instead will be 48 hours:

 

Matthew 24:21 For great tribulation such as was not since the beginning of the world to this time, no, nor ever shall be, shall be then. 22And except those days shall be shortened, there shall no flesh be saved! But those days shall be shortened for the elect’s sake.

 

The amount of the shortening is specifically described:

 

Revelation 8:12 And the fourth angel sounded. And the third part of the sun was smitten, and the third part of the moon, and the third part of the stars, so as the third part of them was darkened. And the day shone not for a third part of it, and the night likewise.

 

The last phrase describes a shortening of a day and a night by a third. Thus, a 24-hour day/night cycle becomes a 16-hour day/night cycle. The most any Saint will have to wait to be gathered is 48 hours.

 

Raising it up

The Hosea text above mentioned raising up: “He will make us alive after two days! He will raise us up in the third day! And we shall live in His sight!” The word translated raised used here includes the following acceptations: to arouse (from sleep, from death), cause to rise, to awake; to recall the dead to life; to cause to rise from a seat or bed, etc. The purpose of the Temple’s fragmentation into its various parts will be to save lives. When the antitype of the Temple (that very real Body of persons of which the Temple is a picture) is caused to rise, all its various parts will ascend Mount Zion, literally rising up that very large mountain. (Mount Zion is presently quite small; it will become a great mountain during the Tribulation.) While the Temple (that is, what the Temple typifies) will be fragmented for quite a while, the gathering will bring it all together on Mount Zion within the period of three days by the act of Yeshua.

 

For those who thought that this text referred to Yeshua’s death and resurrection, Yeshua said in this text that He (not Yehovah the Father) will raise this Temple up, whereas Yehovah was the one who raised Yeshua from the dead:

 

Romans 6:4 Therefore we are buried with Him by baptism into death so that, just as Messiah was raised up from the dead by the glory of the Father, even so we also shall walk in newness of life.

 

1 Peter 1:21 …who by Him do believe in God Who raised Him up from the dead and gave Him glory so that your faith and hope will be in God.

 

The Matzah in the Passover

Yeshua stated the following:

 

1 Corinthians 11:24 And when He had given thanks, He broke it and said, “Take! Eat! This is my Body that is broken for you! Do this in remembrance of me.”

 

Luke 22:19 And He took bread. And He gave thanks. And He broke it and gave unto them, saying, “This is my Body that is given for you. Do this in remembrance of me.”

 

What did this show-and-tell act of taking Matzah, breaking it, telling them to take, telling them to eat, then telling them that this is His Body broken/given for them portray? Why did Yeshua break Matzah, and then tell them to take, to eat, and that it was broken for them?

 

In order to understand the answer to this question, another question must supercede: Whom did the disciples represent when Yeshua spoke to them in so many recorded discourses? The disciples themselves often found Yeshua’s words very confusing. He said things to them that didn’t make sense to them—at least, not to all of them. For example,

 

John 14:1 “Let not your heart be troubled. Ye believe in God; believe also in me.”

 

He said, “your (plural) heart (singular) as if they all had one heart, one mind. Then He said, “Ye believe in God.” That was true, except for Judas Iscariot. When He said, “Believe also in me,” He implied that they didn’t believe in Him. That was true of Judas Iscariot, but not of the rest of the disciples. The rest definitely believed in Him. I noticed these types of comments made by Yeshua throughout His ministry, and finally figured that He spoke to the disciples through the disciples to another group of disciples during the Tribulation. Those disciples will believe in Yehovah the Father, and won’t know who the Messiah is. Thus, we would call them unbelievers regarding Yeshua.

 

When Yeshua took the Matzah, broke it, and told them to take it, He was commanding them to receive something important. Matzah itself typifies a group (of persons) that is without sin, since leaven is a type of sin. If they take that piece of Matzah, they are receiving a small part of the Body of Messiah—a small group of folks (who are very likely fleeing for their lives, since the fulfillment will be during the Tribulation.

 

After they received this, He next told them to eat it. In the Bible, eating anything is becoming participant with it. That is why offerers of sacrifices ate of the sacrifices. It is also why Messiah said,

 

John 6:49 “Your fathers did eat manna in the wilderness, and are dead. 50This is the bread that comes down from the heavens so that a man may eat of it and not die. 51I am the living bread that came down from the heavens. If any man eats of this bread, he shall live forever. And the bread that I will give is my flesh, which I will give for the life of the world.” 52The Jews therefore strove among themselves, saying, “How can this man give us flesh to eat?” 53Then Yeshua said unto them, “Faith! Faith, I say unto you, except ye eat the flesh of the Son of man and drink His blood, ye have no life in you. 54Whoso eats my flesh and drinks my blood has everlasting life. And I will raise him up at the last day. 55For my flesh is food indeed, and my blood is drink indeed. 56He who eats my flesh and drinks my blood dwells in me, and I in him. 57As the living Father has sent me, and I live by the Father, so, he who eats me, even he shall live by me. 58This is that bread that came down from the heavens—not as your fathers did eat manna, and are dead. He who eats of this bread shall live forever.”

 

Anyone who eats Passover bread (Matzah), or better, what it typifies, has become participant with what it typifies: pieces of that sin-free section of the Body of Messiah. That is why Messiah stated, “This is my Body that is given/broken for you.” Those folks who are part of the Matzah groups will risk their lives to save the lives of those Jews who are disciples, yet who have not come to faith in Yeshua; they make up the you.

 

Are the Temple and His Body Two Different Entities?

The expression, “Temple of His Body” gives the impression that they are two different identities. Had Yeshua spoken to the Jewish crowds in Greek, this might have been obvious. He spoke in Hebrew. If He used Aramaic, it is a variant of Hebrew. In either case, a Hebrew expression with of in it nearly never provides the equivalent Hebrew word for of; it is constructed into the phrase by the order and sometimes form of the first noun. For example, saying “the men of the city” in Hebrew would sound like this: “the men the city,” “men city,” or “men the city.” One speaking or reading Hebrew would know to supply the concept of the word of. Yet, there are cases where a reader or a hearer might not know whether the of is appropriate. Consider this phrase: the angel of the Lord. Now, suppose that “the Lord” is actually Yehovah; it would be, the angel of Yehovah. Is this angel one of the beings that Yehovah created, or is it Yehovah Himself? The Bible shows cases for both. In some cases, this is a separate being from Yehovah, and not deity; in other cases it is Yehovah Himself.

 

  • When it should be rendered the angel of Yehovah, the angel is a separate being.
  • When it should be rendered the Angel Yehovah, the angel is Yehovah Himself in messenger form, a reference to the Messiah.

If Yeshua is referring to the physical structure known as the Temple, the one that will be built during the Millennium, I have not seen a reference indicating that it will be built in three days, and I do not expect it to be built that rapidly. If Yeshua is referring to the Temple consisting of His Body, I have every expectation that He will assemble it to Mount Zion within the three-day gathering period. If this is the case, the Temple and His Body are one entity.

 

Did the Disciples understand this?

Verse 22 states, “When He was raised up from among the dead, His disciples therefore remembered that He had said this to them. And they believed the Scripture and the word that Yeshua had spoken.” The Spirit of Yehovah is giving readers an infallible editorial comment on what took place.

 

  • After Yeshua was raised up from among the dead, His disciples therefore remembered that He had said this to them. That does not tell the reader what they understood, but only that they remembered this statement.
  • His disciples believed the Scripture. What Scripture did they believe? That was something written. Which text was in mind? I propose that the Hosea 5 and 6 text given above was what they identified with what Yeshua had said. They believed that text. If this is the case, look again at that text:

Hosea 5:15 “I will walk. I will return to my place until they declare themselves guilty and seek my faces! They will seek me sunrise in their Tribulation!” Hosea 6:1 “Come! And we shall return unto Yehovah! For He tore, and He will heal us! He smote, and He will bind us up! 2He will make us alive after two days! He will raise us up in the third day! And we shall live in His sight! 3Then we shall know! We shall follow on to know Yehovah! His going forth is prepared as the morning. And He shall come unto us as the rain—as the latter, former rain unto the land!”

 

If they believed this, what did they believe about this text? What timing did they consider this text to hold? Did they properly understand it? I ask, because I remember another text where they thought they understood what Yeshua was saying, and they didn’t. They had set the wrong timing on Yeshua’s words. One example is when Messiah said the following:

 

Luke 22:36 He then said unto them, “But now, he who has a purse, he shall take it, and likewise his scrip. And he who has no sword, he shall sell his garment, and buy one. 37For I say unto you that what is written must yet be accomplished in me: ‘And he was reckoned among the transgressors.’ For the things concerning me have an end.” 38And they said, “Lord, behold, here are two swords.” And He said unto them, “It is enough.”

 

They did not understand timings.

 

 

Exodus 22 Thieves, Property Destruction and Loss, the Occult QA

Thieves, Property Destruction and Loss, the Occult

With Questions and Proposed Answers

 

 

Background and printed text: Exodus 22

 

Exodus 22:1 If he will find the thief in shoveling, and he struck him and he died, there are not bloods to him. 2If the sun rose upon him, bloods are to him! Making peace, he shall-make-peace! If there isn’t to him, and he shall be sold via his theft. 3If, being-found, thou wilt find the theft in his hand, from ox unto ass unto lamb of lives, he will make-peace twice.

 

4When a man will burn a field or a vineyard, and he will send her burner, and he will burn in another field, he will make-peace: he will make-good his field and he will make-good his vineyard! 5When a fire will exit, and her exit is thorns, and a stack or the arising or the field will be eaten, making-peace, he will make-peace—the kindler with the kindled!

 

6When a man will give silver or utensils unto his neighbour to guard, and he will be stolen from the house of the man, if the thief will be found, he shall make peace twice! 7If he will not find the thief [or, “If the thief will not be found”], and the husband of the house will approach unto the Elohim if he did not send his hand via the errand of his neighbour!

 

8Concerning every speech of transgression, concerning ox, concerning ass, concerning lamb, concerning form-fitting-garment, concerning every perishing that he will say that “He is this,” the speech of both of them will come unto the Elohim. Whoever Elohim will ‘culpabilize,’ he shall make-peace twice to his neighbour.

 

9When a man will give unto his neighbour an ass or ox or lamb and any beast to guard, and he will die or he will be broken or he will be captured, there is no seer, 10a vow of Yehovah shall be between both of them if he did not send his hand into an errand of his neighbour. And his husbands shall take [sing.]. And he will not make-peace. 11And if, stealing, he will steal from with him, he will make-peace to his husbands. 12And if, tearing, he shall be torn, he will bring him unto the torn-[one]. He will not make-peace.

 

13And when a man will ask from with his neighbour, and he will be broken or dead, his husbands are not with him, making-peace, he shall make-peace. 14If his husbands are with him, he shall not make-peace. If a hire, he came via his hire.

 

15And when a man will ‘sucker’ a ripe-[woman] who is not betrothed, and he will lie with her, endowing, he will endow her to him to a woman! 16If, refusing, her father will refuse to give her to him, he will weigh silver as a dowry of the ripe-[women].

 

17A witch shall not live.

 

18Every bedder with a beast—dying, he shall-be-caused-to-die.

 

19A sacrificer to elohim shall-be-kherem [devoted to destruction]—except not to Yehovah, Him alone.

 

20And thou shalt not cheat a sojourner. And thou shalt not oppress him! For ye were sojourners in the land of Egypt!

 

21Ye shall not humiliate any widow and orphan. 22If, humiliating, thou wilt humiliate him, but-rather, screaming, he will scream unto me! Hearkening, I will hearken-to his scream! 23And my nose will heat! And I will kill you via sword! And your women will be widows and your children orphans!

 

24If thou wilt bring-near silver with my people, with the humble-[one] with thee, thou shalt not be to him as a creditor! Ye shall not put upon him a bite! 25If, binding, thou wilt bind a fitted-garment of thy neighbour, unto the coming [setting] of the sun thou shalt return him to him. 26For He is her blanket-covering, hers alone. He is his garment to his skin. Via what will he bed? And he shall be, when he shall scream unto me, and I will hearken! For I am favorable!

 

27Thou shalt not lightly-esteem Elohim.

 

And thou shalt not curse the carrier in thy people!

 

28Thou shalt not delay thy fullness and thy weeping. Thou shalt give to me a firstborn of thy children. 29Established, thou shalt do to thine ox, to thy flock. Seven of days he will be with his mother. In the day the eighth thou shalt give him to me!

 

30And ye shall be mortals of Holy-[One] to me.

 

And ye shall not eat flesh of a torn-[one] in a field. Ye shall sling him to a dog!

 

 

 

I. A Shoveling Thief (verses 1-3)

 

If an owner or a responsible person finds a thief in the process of shoveling to dig into a location to steal valuables, and if that person struck the thief so that the thief died, the person who struck the thief is not guilty of bloods—that is, of murder.

 

Now, if the sun rose upon the thief, and the person struck the thief so that he died, bloods are to him—that is, he is guilty of murder or manslaughter!

 

If the thief is caught, the thief must make peace! If he has nothing valuable with which to make peace, he will be sold by virtue of his theft.

 

If an animal such as an ox, ass or lamb is found in his hand (that is, in his possession), he must make peace twice—twice the amount he stole.

 

 

 

Questions

 

1.     Who finds this thief, and what are the circumstances under which he finds him? Either the owner of the property or someone who is acting on behalf of an owner discovers a thief in the process of digging his/her way into the area where valuables are kept or where animals are kept. The scene must be dark! If the person clearly sees the thief because there is enough light, this rule does not fit that case!

 

2.     Suppose that the thief isn’t shoveling, but instead is cutting wire or is breaking in by some other means; does that mean that this command cannot be applied? Yehovah nearly always writes His commands in this format. He gives one or two examples; the reader then can extrapolate (a good word meaning to figure out other examples that also fit the rule even when those examples are different from the rule) to other situations. Thus, if the thief is cutting the wire fence to break in, and it is very dark, and the other person strikes the thief so that he dies, “there are no bloods to him.”

 

3.     What does “there are no bloods to him” mean? That means that he did not commit murder or even manslaughter by killing the thief! Those bloods represent future generations (of the thief, in this case); if there are bloods to anyone, that person has committed murder or manslaughter, stopping all future generations that might have yet been born.

 

4.     Must the person try to kill the thief if it is very dark? There is no command to try to kill the thief. This command protects the person who is trying to stop the thief if it is dark because the thief might have a weapon, and the other person wouldn’t be able to see this!

 

5.     What does “If the sun rose upon him, bloods are to him” mean, and why is this? This means that if the sun is up so that there is enough light (in this case, to see whether or not he has a weapon), killing him will be murder! This is because killing a person without proper reason is either murder or manslaughter, and in this case it would be manslaughter.

 

6.     The text states, “Making peace, he shall make peace!” Who must make peace, and how must he make peace? The thief must make peace! He must pay restitution for his attempt to break in and steal!

 

7.     The next statement is, “If there isn’t to him, and he shall be sold via his theft.” What does “If there isn’t to him” mean, and what must occur if this is the case? “If there isn’t to him” means that he doesn’t have anything of value with which to make restitution (that is to make peace by paying for his crime). If this is the case, he, himself, is the valuable item that must be sold! He becomes a slave!

 

8.     What does “thou wilt find the theft in his hand” mean? This means that the stolen item or items is found on his person: in his hand, in his pocket, among the items on his wagon (if he has one).

 

9.     What kinds of stolen items are mentioned in this text? The stolen items are living animals!

 

10.  If he makes peace twice, does this mean that the animal that he stole is one of the two animals that he must give to the owner? No! He must return the original animal(s), and he must give two more of the same kind of animal(s)!

 

11.  If the animal that the thief stole is very valuable, how will this small ‘fine’ stop him from trying this again? The judges in the gates of the cities of Israel can do more to such a man who tries stealing again and again. First, if he cannot pay for the theft, he becomes a slave, and will serve for six years. The judges can order him beaten if he keeps trying to steal. If he tries to steal while it is dark, he can be killed without anyone doing wrong!

 

 

 

II. Burning a Field (verses 4-5)

 

When a man will burn a field or a vineyard (see questions to learn why), and he is the one who sent the field’s burner—that is, he started the fire, and the fire will burn in another field not belonging to the person, the fire starter must make peace. He must make-good the field he burned and/or the vineyard he burned.

 

When a fire will exit—that is, go out of bounds, and the exit is because of thorns, and a stack of hay or the arising (that which is growing) or a field will be eaten by the fire, the one who started the fire must make peace. The kindler of the fire must make good on what was kindled!

 

 

 

Questions

 

1.     Why would anyone desire to burn his own field or vineyard? This is a normal way to diminish pests (like harmful bugs). Israeli farmers still use this technique (or, they did when I was there).

 

2.     What does “and he will send her burner” mean? It means that the man himself sent the flame that will burn his own field.

 

3.     The next part states, “and he will burn in another field.” Was this intentional? No! It wasn’t intentional. He had no intention of his fire going beyond his own lands.

 

4.     Why does he have to make peace if the land owner next door was also going to burn his own field? If the land owner was going to burn his own field, and if the fire stopped at the border of that man’s field, and if nothing was harmed or destroyed, there would be no need of peace. This text doesn’t assume all of this, however. It assumes that the field next door had valuables in it, like a growing crop, or like an ox cart, or like a house, etc. The one who started the fire must make peace regarding the losses he caused.

 

5.     What if the fire was just accidental—that is, the man who started it took every precaution so that it wouldn’t go into another man’s field, but the winds picked up at the last moments, and took the fire into the next field? It doesn’t matter what caused the fire to go beyond the fire starter’s field; working with fire always can potentially do this! Thus, if the person desires to take risks by starting a fire, he will be held responsible for what the fire does!

 

6.     Suppose that a man burns ten other fields, and he cannot pay for them; what will occur? He must make good on each field. If he cannot do this, he will become a slave of each field owner, one after the other (I propose), serving each for six years, along with his family members. (All family members living on that property are owned by the land, and are therefore ‘saleable’—meaning that they can be sold as valuables to the land. Again, I am claiming that the land owns the persons on it; I Iearned thisfrom the book of Ruth. When Naomi’s land was redeemed, Ruth was redeemed with the land.)

 

7.     What does “When a fire will exit, and her exit is thorns” mean? This refers to a fire going out of control, and following a trail of thorns (usually these plants burn very well and very rapidly, and are not crop plants). Thus, this fire could have been set for any reason, and the fire went out of control by lighting thorn plants.

 

8.     What is a stack? It is plant material or wood that has been carefully placed so that it is tall and doesn’t take much room. Thus, it has been stacked. It can be hay (as in a haystack); it can be wood; it can be anything that the person who stacked it desired to keep.

 

9.     What is an arising? This can refer to a growing crop that has arisen from the soil; this could be a melon hill; it could be anything that is coming up from the ground and is desirable to the person who has that land.

 

10.  If a stack, an arising or a field is eaten, what has happened? The fire has done the eating! In Hebrew, fire eats, which is to say that fire consumes.

 

11.  Suppose that the one who starts the fire burns up another man’s field, and the one who starts the fire has a crop of the same value as the crop of his neighbour that he accidentally burned. What is the justice, according to the Torah? The justice is that the entire crop of the one who started the fire will belong to the neighbour whose crop was burned! Since that might mean that the man who started the fire and his family won’t have food for next year, he and his family might need to become a slave to the man whose crop was burned. (It pays to be very careful.)

 

 

 

III. Safeguarding Valuables (verses 6-7)

 

When a man will give silver or utensils unto his neighbour to guard, and what he entrusted to his neighbour is stolen from the house of the man safeguarding it, if the thief will be found, the thief must make peace by giving twice the value.

 

If the one who was entrusted to keep the goods isn’t found, the husband of the house (the man entrusted to guard the goods) will approach unto the Elohim. He must affirm that he did not send his hand (participate in the theft), taking advantage of the errand of his neighbour.

 

 

 

Questions

 

1.     Who will make peace twice? The thief will make peace twice! He will return the item, and then he will give items that are worth in total twice the value of the items he stole.

 

2.     Some religions and cultures cut off hands for theft. Why is the Torah so lenient, and why are those cultures so harsh? Which is better? The Torah appears to be lenient; the reason for the theft is never mentioned or considered. Some steal in order to eat. Now, the Torah always commands that the corners of fields must be left to the poor, the sojourner, the widow, the orphan, etc. Also, all gleanings (all food items left over after harvest) must be left to them. Yet, there are times when no food crop is ripe in the fields. Some Israelis would rather steal than become slaves to their neighbours. Thus, the lenience of the sentence isn’t so lenient, but it also isn’t very harsh.

 

          Some steal because they covet what another has; the lenience of the sentence doesn’t take into consideration the loss of trust that the community has for such a thief, and it doesn’t take into consideration what the judges at the gates of the city might do if the thief tries this more than once. (They can beat the man or woman for bringing fear into the community, and they can order the man or woman to be enslaved if he/she cannot pay.)

 

          Now, other religions and cultures that do not stick to what the Torah teaches include some that cut off hands for theft. This harsh sentence is due to several factors:

 

  • Anger over thefts
  • Contempt for human life
  • Contempt for the Gods in whom image the person is made
  • A desire to bring terror to others to stop them from stealing
  • Contempt for the poor (since the wealthy either wouldn’t steal, or could easily bribe their way out of such a sentence)
  • An unwillingness to be responsible for poor neighbours, and a desire to just have them… go away
  • Contempt for the Torah of Yehovah

          Each of these reasons for such a harsh sentence finds fault with Yehovah, the Gods of Israel.

 

          The better sentence is the Torah’s sentence, since it permits a would-be thief to become a true friend of the victim (if both of their characters permit). The thief, say, becomes a slave of the person from whom he attempted to steal. During that time of slavery, the thief might truly gain a love for the slavemaster, and the thief might turn from theft to become a truly productive and gracious member of Israeli society. Now, had his hand instead been cut off, he likely would have become very bitter against the one from whom he was trying to steal, and his ability to function in society would have been greatly reduced. It is better to potentially make a true friend than to take vengeance, and even worse, to take vengeance that is far harsher than what is right in the eyes of the True and Living Gods.

 

3.     Who is this husband of the house? He is the owner of the house where the valuables were being guarded when they were stolen.

 

4.     Suppose that the thief isn’t found. The text states that the husband of the house must approach unto the Elohim. Where will he go to do that, and who are the Elohim? The Elohim are the Gods—that is, the Gods of Avraham, Isaac and Israel. Approaching unto Him, then, will involve coming to the altar of Yehovah that is in front of the Tent of Appointment (a special tent in which all items and all actions explain things to come). This tent is described this way:

 

          Hebrews 9:1 Indeed, the first Tent therefore also had ordinances of service and a worldly sanctuary. 2For a Tent was prepared: the first in which are both the Menorah and the Table and the Matzah of the faces that is called holy. 3And after the second veil is a Tent that is called holy of holies 4having a gold censer, and the ark of the Covenant having been covered round in every part with gold, in which is a gold pot having the manna, and the rod of Aharon that sprouted, and the tables of the Covenant. 5And above it are cherabim of glory overshadowing the lid…

 

          This is where the High Priest (and other priests) function. Yehovah’s faces are from inside that chamber called holy of holies where that box called the Ark is located. Thus, approaching this Tent is approaching unto the Elohim!

 

5.     What is the man’s purpose for approaching unto the Elohim? The text continues, “if he did not send his hand via the errand of his neighbour!” Thus, this man must vow before the Elohim that he didn’t send his own hand by some means to obtain what his neighbour entrusted to him!

 

          The expression, “if he did not send,” indicates the need for this vow. Now, if the man vows that he didn’t, and he actually did, he has not only stolen, but he has lied using a vow! The Elohim will go after him for that violation so that all Israel will fear!

 

 

 

IV. Speeches of Transgression (verse 8)

 

In every case where a transgression has occurred, folks will testify. Every speech that is part of that testimony must come unto the Elohim (the Gods) whether the testimony refers to a transgression involving an ox, ass, lamb, a form-fitting garment, or anything living of value that dies (perishes). Elohim will indicate the guilty person; that person must make peace twice to his neighbour.

 

 

 

Questions

 

1.     What is a speech of transgression? It is what a person says to either accuse another of transgression or to claim one’s own innocence after having been accused of a transgression.

 

2.     What is a form-fitting garment, and why is that listed? It is a garment that is made to perfectly fit a person. Thus, it is a very valuable garment. Making such a garment took so many hours of work, that it would be worth thousands of dollars if one were made that way today. (All thread had to be extracted from wool or from plants, and spun by hand; the thread had to be woven into fabrique by hand; the fabrique had to be dyed by hand; the fabrique then had to be cut by hand; it then had to be sewn to other cut fabrique by hand; it then had to be tailored by hand. Just making the thread for the fabrique would have taken weeks.)

 

3.     What does “concerning every perishing” mean? This refers to an argument over why an animal died, and whose fault it was.

 

4.     What does “He is this” mean? It is a short way to express that one person is claiming that this is the way something occurred. It could be the person accusing the other of negligence or wrongdoing, or it could be the person stating that he is innocent, and the other person is the negligent or wrongdoing party. Both are claiming to know facts: “He is this!”

 

5.     How can their speeches come unto the Elohim? The Elohim, the Gods of Israel, will hear these speeches; He will know which speech is right (if either is right), or what the truth is. Now, those involved in this argument must come unto the Tent of Appointment in order to give their perspectives and claims before the Elohim.

 

6.     What does “Whoever Elohim will ‘culpabilize’” mean? This means whoever Elohim will find guilty. Culpability means guilt or responsibility for whatever took place.

 

7.     How will Elohim point out who is culpable? This is one of the purposes of a priest! He is an intercessor (one who stands between, since inter- means between, and –cessor means to stand) between a god and a human. The priests of Yehovah are intercessors between Yehovah and the Israelis (and others who come to Yehovah’s priests). Thus, a priest or several priests will hear all the sides of an argument, and Elohim will give them exactly the right justices. (Now, if the priests are corrupt, they might decide to ignore the speeches of the Elohim, but Elohim will later go after those wicked priests.)

 

8.     Will the decisions made always be according to justice if these procedures are followed? They will if they are made before the Tent of Appointment, if the priests are not corrupt, and if Elohim is still there with them. (He later departed from Israel because the Israelis refused to do right; He has promised to return to Israel when all the Israelis are ready to do right.)

 

 

 

V. Responsibility When Guarding Animals (verses 9-12)

 

When a man will give to his neighbour an ass, ox, lamb, or any beast to guard, if the animal will die or will be broken or captured by someone else, if there is no seer—that is, no witness to what occurred, both the guard must vow to the owner that he didn’t send his hand into an errand of his neighbour—that he didn’t participate in the harm, destruction or loss.

 

The husbands (the owner) will take the dead or harmed animal (if it is still there), and he will take the vow. The guard will not make peace; he pays nothing.

 

If on investigation it is found that the guard had stolen from his neighbour, he will make peace with the owner.

 

If the animal is found torn, the guard will bring the animal to the owner; the guard will not make peace; he will pay nothing.

 

 

 

Questions

 

1.     Why must they both vow to each other? If either one is guilty of the harm or loss, a vow will bring Yehovah into the justice. Now, not just the death or harm of an animal is involved, but also a vow to Yehovah! This raises the seriousness of any crime to a much greater level. Even if one of the two hired someone else to cause the harm or death, the vow will bring Yehovah into the picture, and Yehovah will know and identify the wrongdoer!

 

2.     Why wouldn’t a person who was taking care of his neighbour’s animals just be up front with what took place if one of the animals died or was harmed? He probably would be up front about it if he had nothing to do with it. On the other hand, if the one taking care of his neighbour’s animals hurt one of the animals, say, in a fit of rage over some other issue, he might try to claim that it wasn’t his fault, when it truly was his fault!

 

          Suppose that the neighbour who owned the animals intentionally entrusted them to his neighbour whom he hated, and later came and killed several of them in order to produce trouble for his neighbour. His vow before Yehovah would probably be that he had nothing to do with it, and it was his neighbour’s fault for not watching. Yet, Yehovah will both know the truth and will reveal the truth of what took place.

 

3.     Again, why is husbands (plural) used instead of husband when the text assumes just one by having a singular verb? The person who is the husbands of the animal or animals takes care of them in all ways, is responsible for them in all ways, and can use them in every permissible way.

 

He/She is the husband who

 

  • takes the animals to pasture;
  • helps the animals with birthing if needed;
  • finds help for diseases and wounds;
  • shears the animals if shearing is appropriate;
  • milks the animals (or acquires others who will milk the animals);
  • keeps the animals within the confines of the pasture (so that the animals don’t go into someone else’s field).

4.     Why does Yehovah hold no guilt for the person who was guarding his neighbour’s animals, during which time the animals were harmed or died? If Yehovah had penalized neighbours for deaths or injuries over which the neighbours had no control, this would cause neighbours to refuse to guard their neighbours’ animals! Yehovah instead desires neighbours to care for each other and to be willing to serve each other!

 

5.     Verse 10 states, “and his husbands shall take.” What shall they take? They shall take the wounded or dead animal(s). Even dead, the animals belong to the owner; he/she must take the animals.

 

6.     Won’t this leave bad feelings between the neighbours? If the neighbours believe the vows made, since Yehovah will be judging the vows, there should be no bad feelings. If, on the other hand, the owner doesn’t believe the vow, and also doesn’t believe that Yehovah truly ruled the way he did (or just doesn’t believe in Yehovah), I have confidence that bad feelings will be present!

 

7.     If he doesn’t make peace, does that mean that the neighbours will remain in a state of anger (like war) with each other? If they desire to do that, they will. If they fear Yehovah, they won’t. Making peace has everything to do with restitution—that is, paying for what was damaged or lost. In this case, no payment will be made as long as neither one did evil toward the other.

 

8.     Explain the circumstance behind “And if, stealing, he will steal from with him”: The neighbour who is guarding the animals of his neighbour decides to steal some of the animals from those he is guarding; for example, he may take some of his animals, and mix them into his own animals, claiming that they are his own and claiming that his neighbour’s animals were captured (rustled). Once this is brought to light, the neighbour who did this must return the animal(s), and must make peace (I propose that two more animals of the same value, or a monetary sum equal to two animals, must be given).

 

9.     The next statement reads, “And if, tearing, he shall be torn, he will bring him unto the torn-[one].” Explain this circumstance; what is occurring? One of the animals that the neighbour is guarding has been torn open by either an animal or a human; the torn animal may be alive, or may be dead. The guarding neighbour must bring the owner to the animal.

 

 

 

VI. Borrower’s Responsibility (verses 13-14)

 

When a man will ask to use something from his neighbour, and what he is using from his neighbour becomes broken or dead while he is using it, if the husbands (the owner or the responsible party over the item, not referring to the borrower) are not present when this occurs, the man who asked to use the item or animal must make peace.

 

If the husbands (the owner or the person who is normally responsible for the animal or item) is with the one who desires to use it, no peace will be made.

 

If instead of being borrowed the animal or object is hired (that is, rented), and is broken or dead in the process of being used, the price of the hire is all that will be paid; that was the risk in hiring the animal or object out.

 

 

 

Questions

 

1.     What is the man asking from his neighbour? He is asking to use something; it is an animal, in this case.

 

2.     How did the animal become broken or dead? The text doesn’t give this information, and this information isn’t necessary for justice to be done.

 

3.     What does “his husbands are not with him” mean? The owner who loaned the animal wasn’t present with the animal died or became broken.

 

4.     Why doesn’t the borrower have to make peace if the husbands are with the animal? The owner is responsible for his own animal as long as he is present! As soon as he has departed and is no longer in the area of the animal, the borrower is totally responsible!

 

5.     Suppose that the owner is walking away from the loaned animal, and goes behind a barn. Suppose that the animal drops dead at that moment; must the borrower make peace? Yes!

 

6.     Explain “If a hire, he came via his hire”: If the animal isn’t borrowed, but is hired (which is like being rented), and damage occurs, the hire agreement price is all that the one who hired the animal must pay. The hire includes the possibility of damage occurring without the one doing the hiring being at fault. (If this isn’t agreeable, no one must hire out an animal to another person! That is strictly voluntary, and a way to earn money.)

 

 

 

VII. Suckering a Ripe Woman to Have Sex (verses 15-16)

 

When a man will ‘sucker’ (fool) a ripe woman (that is, she is old enough to get pregnant without danger), and the woman isn’t betrothed, and the man will lie with her (have sexual intercourse with her), the man must endow her to himself as his woman (his wife).

 

Now, if the woman’s father refuses to give her to him when he offers the dowry (the payment that is a bride price), the man who ‘suckered’ the woman must weigh out the amount in silver that is a normal dowry for ripe women, and must give that amount to the woman’s father; he gets nothing else from this deal.

 

 

 

Questions

 

1.     What is a ripe woman? This is a woman who is physically mature enough to have children without extraordinary danger. The age of ripeness varies from race to race and person to person.

 

2.     If he suckers her, what is he doing in this text? He is tricking her into having sexual intercourse.

 

3.     What is betrothed? It is exactly the same as being married, except that the two have not yet come together to participate in sexual intercourse. In order to get out of a betrothal, a divorce must occur.

 

4.     What does “he will lie with her” mean? This means that he will have sexual intercourse with her.

 

5.     What does endow mean? It means to agree to marry and to pay the bride price. This price can be very expensive. In today’s money, for example, it might be, say, $25,000, or more or less, depending on status in society and many other factors.

 

          The bride price is because when a family loses a daughter by her getting married, that family now has one less person to work to help with all the chores. Therefore, the bride price helps the family to find someone else to take the daughter’s place as a worker.

 

6.     What does “he will endow her to him to a woman” mean? This means that he will pay for her (the bride price) and will make her his woman—that is, his wife. Thus, he made a commitment once he suckered her into having sex with him.

 

7.     What occurs if she was already betrothed or if he was betrothed when he did this to a woman to whom he isn’t betrothed? If she was already betrothed, and he suckered her into sex, they have committed adultery. Thus, the teachings regarding adultery will be used.

 

          If, on the other hand, he was betrothed, and she didn’t know it, and he suckered her into having sex with him, and it is established that she didn’t know, though this also adultery, the judges at the city gates will consider; I propose that they will put the man to death, and will spare the woman.

 

8.     What did he do to ‘sucker’ her—that is, to fool her into having sex? One way would be to take advantage of her ignorance regarding sexual matters. While the Israelis were and are very open regarding sexual things, and intentionally so, so that most won’t be fooled, it is possible that an Israeli girl might not have understood how sexual intercourse works, and a man might intentionally give her the wrong impression.

 

          Another case, however, might be when she knows about sexual matters, and the man promises her that he will marry her to himself and take care of her, when truly he has no intention.

 

9.     Suppose that the woman ‘suckers’ the man into sexual intercourse; what would be the ruling on this? The ruling would be exactly the same with the man being the responsible party to betroth the woman to himself. The Torah (Teaching) of Yehovah is designed such that the Israelis are all responsible to teach each other its commands. Thus, a young man must learn the Torah in order to stay alive!

 

10.  Why would her father refuse to give her to him? She is valuable to the family, and her father already knows that the man will not treat his daughter with respect. The father has good reason in his own mind to refuse to give her to him. (If she truly loves this man who suckered her, and if he truly loves her, he can now demonstrate to her family that his character will be better from now, on.)

 

11.  Must he pay in silver? Yes! Silver is a type in the Bible, and pictures redemption. He, the man who ‘suckered’ the woman, must redeem her.

 

12.  What is a dowry? It is the bride price that a man or his family gives to the family of the woman whom the man is taking for his own.

 

13.  What is the dowry of the ripe women? It is the normal amount that an Israeli man gives to acquire a woman in Israel when she is just ripe. (This isn’t the same as a dowry for, say, a widow, since I don’t think that a widow marrying required a dowry.)

 

14.  What will occur if the man and his family cannot afford the dowry? The man becomes the slave of the father or mother of the woman he ‘suckered.’ (It is totally permissible to beat slaves.)

 

15. Suppose that the father of the woman determines that this man will have his daughter has a wife, but the daughter doesn’t desire to have this man as her husband; what does the Torah teach regarding this? If the father insists, the man obtains the woman as his wife. Yet, most fathers will consider the desires of their daughters. If this father will do as the daughter desires, and will therefore take the dowry amount, but not give the daughter, he can then later obtain another dowry sum for her from another man! Therefore, the father has good incentive to consider the wishes of his daughter.

 

16.  Suppose that the woman becomes pregnant from this ‘suckering,’ and suppose that the father refused to give his daughter to him; who is responsible to rear the child? The daughter and her father (and her mother, also) will rear the child.

 

17.  Suppose that the woman’s father is dead, and she is living with her mother; does her mother’s say in these matters work the same as the father’s say? The Torah shows types—that is, pictures of things to come. Every detail as it is written will be one of those types. That doesn’t mean that the Israelis cannot decide matters that are not directly described; they can, and they must. Thus, we propose that the mother can make the decision if the father is dead or incapacitated. (The father and the mother are one.)

 

 

 

VIII. Dead Witch (verse 17)

 

Under no circumstance is a witch to be permitted to stay alive in Israel.

 

Questions

 

1.     What is a witch? She is one who uses and makes drugs and potions, she casts spells, and she contacts demons who act as family spirits (familiar spirits) in order to either manipulate others or to help manipulate others and have power over them. She uses pain, pleasure, fear, and other senses to do this manipulation.

 

2.     What is the male version of a witch? He is called a warlock.

 

3.     If an Israeli becomes a warlock, must he also die? The Israelis must put a warlock to death just like a witch.

 

4.     Why is Yehovah so against witches? Witches teach others to manipulate for selfish and destructive purposes. Witches teach idolatry by giving the impression that demons are gods and are good. Witches employ drugs that cause victims of the drugs to do what they would not otherwise do, and witches supply drugs to others who will use the potions to harm others and to lower their resistance to sin!

 

5.     Are all witches ugly hags? Many witches are truly pretty and can be very nice. Yehovah has commanded against what they do when they are practicing their witchcraft.

 

6.     Should we kill witches today? Yehovah gave this Teaching to Israel. He did not command this teaching to any other group. Yehovah will judge those who are outside of Biblical faith, and those who believe the Bible have no business judging others regarding their religions and idolatries. Thus, a person who fears Yehovah today will be kind to witches, and will not participate in witchcraft.

 

 

 

IX. Lethal Bestiality (verse 18)

 

Every person in Israel who has sex with an animal must be put to death.

 

 

 

Questions

 

1.     What is a bedder with a beast? It is a person who has sex with animals. It has nothing to do with sleeping with an animal in one’s bed.

 

2.     Why must such a person be put to death? Yehovah sees this as a terrible perversion and a great evil. (It also can bring some of the most violent diseases into human populations.)

 

3.     Should we put such persons to death today? Yehovah gave this command to Israel, and not to any other race. God will judge those outside of the race of Israel. If they of the other races desire to make laws regarding such practices, they can do so.

 

 

 

X. Devoted Idolater (verse 19)

 

Anyone who sacrifices to gods (not referring to Yehovah) will be devoted to destruction as the property of the false gods. That person will be put to death and will not be permitted to live.

 

Sacrificing to Yehovah, and to Him alone, is permissible.

 

 

 

Questions

 

1.     What does kherem—that is, devoted to destruction mean? The Arabic word harem comes directly from this word. When it refers to an object, if the object isn’t an animal, it becomes the property of Yehovah and can never be the property of a human. If it is Yehovah’s property, it can be kept as such, or destroyed as such.

 

          If it refers to an animal, the animal must be slaughtered.

 

          If it refers to a human, the human must be slaughtered! (In the Arabic custom, the women who belong to a man’s harem are for the use of the man. If they try to leave the harem in order to be a regular citizen or to leave the land, or if they are unfaithful, they are put to death if caught. This is not part of the Biblical practices.)

 

          The idea of being devoted—completely put to one particular use and purpose—shows how strong this is, since a person is devoted to destruction, and cannot be redeemed.

 

2.     The text states, “A sacrificer to elohim shall be kherem.” Why would a person who sacrifices to elohim be killed? The word elohim means gods. I have always capitalized elohim (Elohim) when the text is referring to Yehovah. I don’t capitalize it when it refers to gods other than Yehovah. In this text, an Israeli is a sacrificer to other gods that are not Yehovah. That Israeli person must be killed.

 

3.     Suppose that a sojourner from some other race comes to stay a while in Israel, and is normally a sacrificer to other gods besides Yehovah; must the Israelis kill that person? These commands only have to do with Israelis, and not with sojourners from among the other races. Now, a sojourner in the land of Israel must refrain from doing sacrifices to other gods while in Israel. The person certainly can continue to believe in his/her own gods, but sacrificing to them while in Israel mustn’t be done. (If the person truly wants to sacrifice to his/her god(s), he/she can simply go outside of the borders of Israel, and do the sacrifice there; then he/she can return back into the borders of Israel.) If a sojourner insists upon doing a sacrifice to false gods within the borders of Israel, that sojourner must also be put to death. The Israelis must warn sojourners about these things in order to protect them from violating. Sojourners must be protected, and therefore they must be warned so that they won’t violate while in the Land of Israel.

 

4.     To whom are the Israelis permitted to do sacrifices? They are permitted to do sacrifices to Yehovah, and to Him alone.

 

 

 

XI. Cheating and Oppressing a Sojourner (verse 20)

 

Yehovah commanded Israel to not cheat a sojourner. Israel also must not oppress a sojourner. The reason is given: the Israelis were sojourners in the land of Egypt!

 

 

 

Questions

 

1.     Why would an Israeli desire to cheat a sojourner? The Israelis (with few exceptions) were not fearers of Yehovah, and did not hold faith in Him. That is one reason why He gave them the Torah (Teaching). Thus, the Israelis will desire to sin at various times in various ways. Cheating a sojourner can be easily accomplished since the sojourner doesn’t know how much things are worth in this land and in this culture of Israel. A sojourner doesn’t have relatives who can come and help against a powerful Israeli. The sojourner is helpless in so many ways. Therefore, an Israeli who is evil might take advantage of the sojourner.

 

          Of course, there are other Israelis who might be willing to stand up for the sojourner, but Yehovah isn’t assuming this; His command is against cheating a sojourner, period. (A sojourner is a person from another land who is on a journey to another land, and whose journey is continuing. A sojourner can remain in a foreign land for years, and still be a sojourner.)

 

2.     What does oppress mean? It means to mistreat, to put into a difficult situation without cause, to hassle, to threaten, to berate, to treat meanly, etc.

 

3.     What is wrong with oppressing a sojourner? Yehovah has special consideration for sojourners! He takes mistreating sojourners very personally. The Israelis were sojourners in the land of Egypt! Yehovah therefore struck hard against the land of Egypt in order to open the way for the Israelis to leave, and to bring the Egyptians to a willingness to send them on their way!

 

          Yehovah also sees the future. Sojourners will often be His property during the Tribulation. He will see how others treat His property, and He will respond!

 

4.     The Israelis were sojourners how long in the land of Egypt? They were sojourners 430 years!

 

5.     What famous command fits this text?

 

          Luke 6:31 As ye would that men should do to you, do ye also to them likewise.

 

          This is a little different from the so-called ‘Golden Rule’: Do unto others as you would have them do unto you. The Luke text is a little stronger.

 

 

 

XII. Humiliating a Widow and an Orphan (verses 21-23)

 

The Israelis must not humiliate any widow, and they must not humiliate any orphan. If Israel humiliates him, screaming, he will scream unto Yehovah, and Yehovah will hearken to his scream! Yehovah’s nose will then heat, and He will kill the Israelis via sword! The women of the Israelis will become widows, and the children of the Israelis will become orphans!

 

 

 

Questions

 

1.     What is the difference between being humble and being humiliated? Being humble is voluntary; being humiliated is being forced. I propose that the word humble has this definition: knowing where one stands in terms of rank and responsibility, and living that way. Now, if a person doesn’t know his/her rank and responsibilities toward others, and therefore doesn’t live according to the person’s true rank and real responsibilities, the person isn’t humble. Instead, the person is either arrogant (‘stuck up’) or irresponsible, and will mistreat others. The Bible describes this as pride; pride is never good in the Bible.

 

          Humiliation, then, is being forced into a rank that isn’t true (usually a lower rank, but sometimes a higher rank to cause failure), and being given responsibilities (or being held responsible for things that the person didn’t do) that don’t belong to the person and don’t fit the person.

 

          The Hebrew language doesn’t have separate words for humility and humiliation. The difference is whether it is voluntary or forced.

 

2.     Why would Israelis humiliate a widow? If they take advantage of her because of her inability to defend herself, her property, her standing in Israeli society, her weakness, etc., they are humiliating her. Some Israelis who don’t fear Yehovah might do this openly, but others might take steps that involve a widow and that humiliate her without realizing what they are doing. Yehovah gives this command and warning, therefore, so that Israelis who fear Him will consider before they do anything that involves a widow.

 

          The land that belongs to a widow will be considered valuable; others around the widow might want to take her lands. (Some of the Israelis who fear Yehovah will instead help the widow so that she can keep her lands and stay on them.)

 

3.     Why would Israelis humiliate an orphan? Those who don’t fear Yehovah might view an orphan as truly an unimportant person who is also helpless, and might therefore push the orphan out of the way of their plans or take what belongs to the orphan, figuring that the orphan won’t find help. Others might not know that they are humiliating the orphan, but Yehovah will still see it that way. Therefore, the Israelis must be very cautious to make sure that they aren’t humiliating an orphan by the decisions that they make.

 

4.     Who is him in, “thou wilt humiliate him”? Him refers to the widow or the orphan! Though it is masculine, the widow, who is a woman, is being viewed as an offspring of Adam—that is, generically.

 

5.     What will this widow or orphan do if she/he is humiliated? She/He will scream unto Yehovah! (This is true even if this person doesn’t directly pray to Yehovah!)

 

6.     How will Yehovah respond to this scream? Yehovah will hearken! He will become furious! He will then send a sword against the Israelis (the entire group!) so that their women will be widows and their children will be orphans!

 

7.     Why will Yehovah react so strongly, that He will kill many for the sake of a few mistreated individuals? Is this justice? It is! It is Yehovah’s justice! He holds all Israelis responsible for what one or two individuals do! Therefore, the Israelis will show wisdom if they stop their fellow Israelis from such behaviours! They must consider such Israelis as bringing a threat of destruction on the whole group!

 

8.     Is making Israeli women widows when those women did nothing wrong, and making Israeli children orphans when those children did nothing wrong, truly justice? It truly is justice! The women did nothing wrong, but they also didn’t stand up for the widows and orphans who were being mistreated when they heard about them! (They will hear about them. If they can’t hear about them because of the evil leaders of society keeping the news of them from becoming public, it is time for Yehovah to take Israel apart and give Israel into the hands of enemies!)

 

 

 

XIII. Lending to the Poor (verses 24-26)

 

‘Bringing silver near’ to a humble one of Yehovah’s people (the People of Israel) is akin to lending. It is making silver available. The Israelis must not be to this humble one as a creditor—that is, as one who is lending, and who therefore pressures this person to pay the amount owed. The text continues to command that the Israelis must not put ‘a bite’ upon him; that bite will include charging interest.

 

Israel is permitted to take collateral—that is, to take something of value in the process of lending. Taking this collateral item is called binding. If the form of the binding is a fitted garment, it must be returned to the humble one ‘unto the coming of the sun’—that is, by sunset. The reason is given: this garment is the humble person’s being’s blanket covering; it belongs only to the person’s being. It is the person’s garment to the person’s skin. Yehovah asks, “Via what will he bed?”—that is, in what will he sleep? If Israel does take this humble person’s fitted garment, and doesn’t return it at sunset, this person will scream unto Yehovah, and Yehovah will hearken! Why? Yehovah favours!

 

 

 

Questions

 

1.     What does bring silver near mean in this text? It means to make it available. We call that lending. However, it is a particular kind of lending; not a business lending. It is lending to a person who is very poor, and who greatly needs this silver. These texts have nothing to do with business lending, which is investing money into the business of another in order to earn a return on the business. Do not confuse these two.

 

2.     Why does the text specify, “If thou wilt bring-near silver with my people”? This command only has to do with the people of Israel. It is not a command regarding lending to those of other races who have become poor. Israel isn’t responsible for folks of other races in their own countries and lands. The Israelis must deal properly with Israelis.

 

3.     The text states, “with the humble one with thee.” What does being humble have to do with a text on lending? This humble person is very low in rank or has become very low in rank because of no silver. This person knows his/her rank because of this.

 

4.     What does “thou shalt not be to him as a creditor” mean? This means that this Israeli (who is thou in, “If thou will bring-near silver with my people…”) must not treat the Israeli to whom he loaned the silver as if that Israeli owes him interest on the loan.

 

          A creditor is a person who lends money or goods in order to make more money from the interest on the loan.

 

          The interest is a certain amount of money charged or gained from lending the money in the first place. For example, I might lend you, say, $50 if you agree to pay me $55 back! The interest is $5.

 

          No Israeli is permitted to behave as a creditor toward a humble Israeli in need of the silver. Therefore, no interest can be charged or taken.

 

5.     What is a bite in, “Ye shall not put upon him a bite”? A bite is a piece of the earnings from the loan. It is called a bite because it is like what a loan shark does: he lends and then charges high interest with strong threats if the loan isn’t repaid with the high interest. The term loan shark is just like this Hebrew term, bite!

 

6.     Verse 24 started out with thou and thee—both being singular. It then switched to ye, which is plural. Why did Yehovah change it from singular to plural? Verse 24 starts with an individual lending to another Israeli. When it switches to ye, it shows that all of the Israelis are now responsible for what this one Israeli does! (The text then switches back to the individual.)

 

7.     What is this binding mentioned in verse 25? In English, this is called collateral. Collateral is some form of the borrower’s property that the person borrowing promises or temporarily gives to the lender so that the lender has something of value while the borrower has the loan. In the case of this text, the valuable item is a fitted garment; that would be worth quite a bit of silver. The lender will take and hold that fitted garment until the borrower pays back the loan.

 

          Binding the fitted garment is taking and holding it until the loan is repaid.

 

8.     Verse 25 continues, “unto the coming [setting] of the sun thou shalt return him to him.” What does this mean? The “coming of the sun” is sunset. (It appears to come down to the land.) Thus, as the sun is setting, the lender must return the fitted garment to the borrower for each night! The garment is a blanket cover! Yehovah does not permit an Israeli to keep the only blanket cover of another Israeli overnight! When the morning comes, the lender can then again take and hold the fitted garment—that is, until the next sunset!

 

9.     Who is her in, “For He is her blanket-covering, hers alone”? This refers to the person’s being, which is always feminine (regardless of the gender of the person).

 

10.  What does “For He is her blanket-covering, hers alone” mean? This means that the fitted garment is the blanket covering for only that person’s being; it wasn’t made for anyone else, but was dedicated to that one person’s being.

 

11.  Explain, “He is his garment to his skin”: He, the fitted garment, is his, the man’s, garment to his, the man’s, skin—what he needs in order to not be exposed to the weather.

 

12.  Who is asking the question, “Via what will he bed?” Yehovah is asking the question. Since Yehovah is asking it, it is a question that already has an obvious answer: He won’t have what he needs in which to sleep! That garment also acts as his pajamas!

 

13.  Why would a person scream unto Yehovah if his or her fitted garment were being held by the lender? Whether the temperature is cold, and the person who borrowed the silver didn’t have enough cover, or whether the temperature is warm, and the garment helped keep insects off—there could be many reasons. While the lender was doing a favour for the borrower, still, mistreating the borrower by holding his/her fitted garment during the night is a great offense to Yehovah.

 

14.  What will Yehovah do when He hearkens? Yehovah will cause the Israelis to be without proper clothing in the very same way! This means that they will necessarily either be prisoners or will be on the run, since they cannot obtain proper clothing.

 

15.  Yehovah said these things to the Israelis about their treatment of other Israelis. Suppose that an Israeli lends to a sojourner who has become poor, and holds a fitted garment overnight from the sojourner; suppose the sojourner screams unto Yehovah the Gods of Israel. Will Yehovah hearken, or will He ignore the shouts of the sojourner?

 

          Leviticus 19:33 And if a sojourner sojourns with thee in your land, ye shall not vex him. 34And the sojourner who dwells with you shall be unto you as one born among you! And thou shalt love him as thyself! For ye were sojourners in the land of Egypt! I am Yehovah your Gods!

 

          Thus, Yehovah will indeed hearken!

 

16.  Some folks in some other cultures greatly mistreat sojourners. What does Yehovah do in other cultures and races regarding sojourners? Yehovah burned every citizen to death in four cities (Sodom, Gomorrah, Admah and Zeboim) because of what they did to sojourners! That included little children, babies, animals, the elderly—He burned them all to death. Yehovah sees. He will take down any culture that mistreats sojourners, orphans, widows, etc.

 

 

 

XIV. Lightly Esteeming Elohim (verse 27)

 

Israel must not lightly esteem (that is, consider of little value) Elohim.

 

 

 

Questions

 

1.     What does lightly esteem mean? It means to consider something of little worth, value, rank, importance, etc.

 

2.     How does a person behave who lightly esteems Elohim? That person lives, speaks and reacts as if Elohim isn’t important, isn’t worth fearing, doesn’t have to be obeyed, and so on. Such a person will treat others made in Elohim’s image in the same wrong ways! That person will sin without considering the consequences, and will teach others to do the same.

 

3.     Since the word Elohim is the same word used in verse 19, and since the Hebrew language doesn’t have capitalization (which means that a reader in Hebrew won’t see any difference), how can the reader tell that this refers to the Gods of Israel instead of the false gods of the races? This sentence is connected to the next sentence by and, showing that they are connected: “Thou shalt not lightly-esteem Elohim. And thou shalt not curse the carrier in thy people!” This section isn’t speaking about the false gods, but about the True Gods and the leader that the True Gods has appointed (that leader being called a carrier).

 

          A reader must figure out many things like this: by looking around the text. All the texts surrounding a text that are connected with that text together are called the context (where the prefix con- means with; thus, context means with the text).

 

 

 

XV. Cursing the Carrier (verse 27)

 

The carrier is the leader. If Israel curses the carrier in Israel’s people, Yehovah will react!

 

 

 

Questions

 

1.     What is a carrier? That is a person who carries the responsibilities of governing and leading a people.

 

2.     Are there many carriers in this world (besides in Israel)? Yes, there are! There are carriers in all cultures! They are the leaders who govern, who lead, often who judge, who go to war, etc.

 

3.     Who chooses the leaders in all cultures, races, lands, etc.? Since some come to power by violence, some by being elected, some by power, some by birth, and some by other means, who truly chooses the leaders? All leaders are brought to power by God:

 

          Romans 13:1 Every being shall be subject to authorities above. For there is no authority except from God! And those who are authorities have been appointed by God 2so that he who sets himself against the authority resists the ordinance of God! And they who resist shall receive judgment to themselves. 3For, the rulers are not a terror to good works, but-rather to evil. Dost thou desire to not be afraid of the authority? Practice the good, and thou shalt have praise from him! 4For he is a slave of God for good to thee! And if thou art practicing evil, fear! For he wears the sword—not in vain! For he is a slave of God, an avenger for wrath to him who does evil! 5Therefore [it is] necessary to be subject—not only on account of wrath, but also on account of conscience! 6For ye pay tribute also on this account! For they are ministers of God attending continually on this same thing! 7Therefore render to all their dues—to whom tribute: tribute; to whom custom: custom; to whom fear: fear; to whom honour: honour. 8Owe ye nothing!—to no one!—unless to love one another. For he who loves the other has fulfilled Torah!

 

          Thus, even very wicked leaders are still brought to power by God; He has given them opportunity to do good and to practice what is right, bringing justice. Even if the wicked leaders came to power by committing murder, Yehovah still has given those leaders opportunity to do right (though very few leaders of this world will do right, and will do it consistently). Yehovah determines all ranks in this world!

 

4.     What is wrong with cursing the carrier in the people of Israel if the cursing is done in private where no one hears and where no harm is done? Since Yehovah appointed the carrier, cursing him is cursing what Yehovah has done! That shows a terrible disrespect toward Yehovah! Instead, one who fears Yehovah will do what is right (even if it is the opposite of what the carrier commands to do, since Yehovah is higher in rank than the carrier), and will show respect toward the carrier. That means that the person could be disobeying the carrier if the carrier’s commands are wrong in the eyes of Yehovah, while still showing respect to the carrier. This happened in the scroll of Daniel:

 

          Daniel 3:14 Nebuchadnezzar spoke. And he said unto them, “Is it true, Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego? Don’t ye serve my gods, and don’t ye worship the gold image that I have set up? 15Now if ye are ready: that at what time ye hear the sound of the cornet, flute, harp, sackbut, psaltery and dulcimer, and all kinds of music, ye shall fall down and worship the image that I have made, good! And if ye don’t worship, ye shall be cast the same hour into the midst of a burning fiery furnace. And who is that God that shall deliver you out of my hands?” 16Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego answered and said to the king, “Nebuchadnezzar, we are not careful to answer thee in this matter. 17If it is so, our God whom we serve is able to deliver us from the burning fiery furnace. And He will deliver us out of thine hand, king. 18And if not, be it known unto thee, king, that we will not serve thy gods, and we will not worship the gold image that thou hast set up.”

 

          Since Yehovah sent and assigned the carrier, even cursing the carrier in one’s mind isn’t an appropriate response to wrong actions of the carrier in the people of Israel. (Cursing the carrier in any people is likewise not so wise.)

 

 

 

XVI. Giving Firstborn (verses 28-29)

 

Israel must not delay Israel’s fullness (Israel’s harvest) and Israel’s weeping (also referring to the dripping of juices that are produced by squeezing fruit, but consider the type!).

 

Israel must give a firstborn of Israel’s children to Yehovah. Israel must do the same thing to Israel’s ox, to Israel’s flock. The firstborn will be with his mother seven days. Israel must give him to Yehovah in the eighth day.

 

 

 

Questions

 

1.     What is this fullness? It is the abundance of any crop in any year.

 

2.     What does delaying the fullness involve? It involves putting off taking out the Biblically commanded portion and doing with it as Yehovah commanded. One of those portions is called the tithe; it is a tenth of any crop and a tenth of the increase of cattle, sheep, etc. The tithe (that is, the tenth) must be set aside right away, since delaying may involve forgetting and making excuses to not give it.

 

3.     What is thy weeping? When grapes are squeezed, they produce a drop of liquid that is like a teardrop. When grapes produce very well, much wine can be produced. Squeezing the grapes to obtain the juice causes the squeezed grapes to ‘weep;’ once the wine is produced, a portion of that belongs to Yehovah. If Israelis delay to give this, they are doing wrong.

 

4.     What do the fullness and the weeping typify? I propose that they typify two things in the Tribulation. When the Israelis see their brethren in distress, and they have an idea that they can rescue them, and the fullness of their compassion prods them to bear fruit (that is, to do good works that save lives), they must not delay to take action! Delay will mean that they won’t take action, and it will mean that those needing to be rescued can die. The weeping, I propose, typifies the reaction that the Israelis have as they see their brethren being destroyed during the Tribulation. If they delay their weeping, they might harden themselves so that they will only think of saving their own lives. If, instead, they weep, they will then be in position to take action, since grieving is often the first step to taking action in such cases. If they don’t weep, they won’t have consolation. If they do weep, they can then become very strong for their brethren.

 

5.     The next statement, “Thou shalt give to me a firstborn of thy children,” uses a firstborn instead of the firstborn. Why is it worded this way, and how can the ‘thou’ do this? First, the command is to one identified as thou. This is singular. The wording is designed to point to all Israel as one unit; it could have been worded ye, referring to the Israelis. Thus, Israel must give to Yehovah a firstborn of Israel’s children. I propose that this points to Yeshua Who is a firstborn of Israel’s children.

 

          Now, this command includes each Israeli giving a firstborn, and other commands go along with this. Yet, the picture it shows is as important as the command itself.

 

          The way Yehovah commanded the Israelis to give Him the firstborn human child was not to sacrifice the child. Instead, the child had to be redeemed by an animal (which was only a type, and not a real replacement) being sacrificed in order to picture Yeshua who really was sacrificed. Yehovah commanded the following:

 

          Numbers 3:12 “And I, behold, I have taken the Levites from among the children of Israel instead of all the firstborn who opens the matrix among the children of Israel! Therefore the Levites shall be mine 13Because all the firstborn are mine. For I sanctified unto me all the firstborn in Israel—both man and beast—on the day that I smote all the firstborn in the land of Egypt! They shall be mine! I am Yehovah!”

 

          Thus, the Levites serve Yehovah as His property as a replacement for all the firstborn of the Israelis being taken.

 

6.     Why must Israel also give a firstborn of an ox and of a flock? Yehovah uses these animals as types to remind (or point out to) the Israelis of the importance of giving the firstborn to Yehovah, and of giving Yeshua to Yehovah.

 

7.     Why must an ox or a goat or a sheep firstborn be with its mother seven days before being given to Yehovah? A small point is so that the animal mama won’t overly grieve, since she will have fed her young for seven days. I propose that taking the firstborn immediately on the first day can be harmful to the mother.

 

          Yet, the seven days are a type. A week is a complete unit of time in the year. Giving the young on the eighth day is like circumcision being done on the eighth day. These lengths of time will be fulfilled during the Tribulation when Israel’s heart (as a group) will be circumcised on the eighth day. Israel as a whole will give Yeshua, the Lamb of God, to Yehovah (as if they were there at the time of Yeshua’s being sacrificed on the cross).

 

 

 

XVII. Owned (verse 30)

 

The Israelis shall be mortals (that is, alive in their bodies that can die—not referring to being in their bodies that cannot die) of the Holy One of Israel, belonging to Yehovah.

 

 

 

Questions

 

1.     What does “And ye shall be mortals of Holy-[One] to me” mean? A mortal is a person capable of dying (and therefore not referring to a person who has already died). The Holy One, known also as the Holy One of Israel, refers to Yeshua—the One whom Yehovah sent to Israel to save Israel from sin and death, and to provide Salvation for all.

 

          This text shows that the Israelis will belong to this Holy One of Israel Who will in turn belong to Yehovah! Thus, the Israelis will belong to Yehovah!

 

 

 

XVIII. Eating Torn Animals (verse 30)

 

If the Israelis find a torn animal in a field, they must not eat that animal. They must sling that animal to a dog!

 

 

 

Questions

 

1.     What is a torn one? It is animal that has been killed by another animal.

 

2.     What is wrong with eating the flesh of a torn animal in the field? The Israelis either don’t know how the animal died, or they do know, but in either case, the animal that killed the other animal could be rabid or diseased.

 

          The blood of the animal wasn’t properly drained, but stayed inside of the animal.

 

3.     What does eating flesh of a torn one typify? Since a torn one is a victim of an animal that is or is not identified, Yeshua was not a torn one. He was a sacrifice. Eating the flesh of a sacrifice is right when the sacrifice is right; that shows participation with what the sacrifice typifies. Even Yeshua spoke well of eating His flesh. (His flesh is like the fruit on a fruit tree; it is there to be eaten, and isn’t for the benefit of the tree itself. Picking the fruit doesn’t kill the tree.)

 

4.     What does “in a field” tell the reader? It means that the tearing took place out where no one saw it occur.

 

5.     Why must the Israelis sling this torn carcass specifically to a dog? A dog is a perfect type of an unclean animal, and therefore pictures an unclean person. The torn one, I propose, will picture a false god, and the dog an unclean idolater. If I am right, the dog eats of the false god. (It won’t hurt the dog.)