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Why Yehovah Chose Israel

Why Yehovah Chose Israel

Edited by S. Spencer

Why did Yehovah choose the race of the Israelis, especially considering that other saints came before them? What is the need to have a group to give the picture when there were already individuals who gave the picture?

 

1. Principalities and Authorities

Ephesians 3:8 This grace was given to me, the less than the least of all the saints, to announce the beneficial proclamation among the races—the unsearchable riches of the Messiah—9and to enlighten all what the fellowship of the mystery is that has been hidden from the ages—in God Who created all things by Messiah Yeshua 10that the multifarious wisdom of God will be now known to the principalities and the authorities in the heavenlies through the assembly 11according to purpose of the ages that He did in Messiah Yeshua our Lord.

 

Yehovah determined to demonstrate his “multifarious wisdom” to the angels (principalities and authorities in the heavenlies). He determined to use the assembly (the church, the Body of Messiah), purposing this throughout the ages.

 

A significant portion of the angels rebelled, having a view that Yehovah did not use wisdom in His plan. All angels (including demons) have a purpose given in the following text:

 

Hebrews 1:13 But to which of the angels said he at any time, “Sit on my right hand, until I make thine enemies thy footstool”? 14Are they not all ministering spirits sent forth to minister for them who shall be heirs of salvation?

 

Job himself had the head demon as a guardian angel:

 

Job 2:3 And Yehovah said unto Satan, “Hast thou considered my servant Job—that there is none like him in the earth, a perfect and an upright man, one who fears God, and eschews evil? And he still holds fast his perfection although thou move me against him to destroy him without cause!” 4And Satan answered Yehovah and said, “Skin for skin! Indeed, all that a man hath he will give for his life. 5But put forth thine hand now and touch his bone and his flesh, and he will curse thee to thy face!” 6And Yehovah said unto Satan, “Behold, he is in thine hand. But save his life!”

 

Satan had to guard this man even while he painfully and severely pushed him to deny Yehovah (Job never did).

 

Job is a prophet. How can one know this? Consider Yehovah’s words:

 

Job 42:7 And it was, that after Yehovah had spoken these words unto Job, Yehovah said to Eliphaz the Temanite, “My wrath is kindled against thee and against thy two friends because ye have not spoken of me right as my servant Job. 8Therefore take unto you now seven bullocks and seven rams. And go to my servant Job. And offer up for yourselves a burnt offering. And my servant Job shall pray for you—for I will accept him—lest I deal with you after your folly in that ye have not spoken of me right like my servant Job.

 

How could he have spoken right throughout all these chapters, since he covered many topics? He spoke things about Yehovah he could have not known. For example,

 

Job 19:6 Know now that God hath overthrown me, and hath compassed me with his net.

 

How could Job have known this without prophesying? Job also stated,

 

Job 19:22 Why do ye persecute me as God, and are not satisfied with my flesh?

 

Consider both texts. Are they true in Job’s case? If Job is prophesying, however, he is speaking absolute Truth for another. Psalms written by David, for example, do not speak of David’s experiences, but do show the voice of others (of Israel in the Tribulation, for example). Job did the same thing.

 

His prophecies regarding Israel are vital to a full understanding of Israel’s future. Israel will experience what he experienced.

 

Satan learned that Job’s faithfulness to Yehovah was not because he was ‘paid’, since Satan removed all that he had (except for his wife, and she was necessary to keep him alive), and Job remained faithful. Satan and all the angels will learn the same thing about all the Saints, and about the Assembly, the Church.

 

I already noted the following Hebrews text:

 

Hebrews 1:13 But to which of the angels said he at any time, “Sit on my right hand, until I make thine enemies thy footstool”? 14Are they not all ministering spirits sent forth to minister for them who shall be heirs of salvation?

 

Since all angels are ministering spirits sent forth to minister for them who shall be heirs of Salvation, and since Israel’s assignment has always been to be ministering beings sent forth to minister to the world about the Salvation of Yehovah, it is only appropriate that the entire group of messengers (the Israelis) be used to prove a point to the angels by perfectly demonstrating that ministry for a thousand years! That will show the manifold Wisdom of God!

 

2. The Church

The Church consists of all Saints added to Israel (the core of the Church). How can one know this? A major clue is found in the following text:

 

Acts 7:37 This is that Moses who said unto the children of Israel, “Yehovah your God shall raise up unto you a prophet of your brethren like unto me. Ye shall hear Him.” 38This is He Who was in the Church in the wilderness with the angel who spoke to Him in Mount Sinai, and with our fathers who received the lively oracles to give unto us.

 

Church is Congregation.

 

Exodus 16:1 And they took their journey from Elim, and all the Congregation of the children of Israel came unto the wilderness of Sin, which is between Elim and Sinai, on the fifteenth day of the second month after their departing out of the land of Egypt.

 

Thus, a Biblical reader must think of Israel when considering the Church, just like one must think of Israel when considering the olive tree in Romans 11. And just like the Romans 11 olive tree, when anyone comes to faith, Jewish or non-Jewish, that person is grafted into that Tree, and is made part of that Church.

 

Where can one find that the Church doesn’t exist without Israel? The Ephesians 5:25 text below will demonstrate that Messiah died for the Church. He loved her. He didn’t die for a congregation that had not yet existed, but for one that already existed, for Messiah stipulated,

 

Matthew 15:24 “I am not sent but unto the lost sheep of the house of Israel.”

 

Thus, the Church was already established. Another text also expresses that the Church was already established:

 

Matthew 18:15 Moreover if thy brother shall trespass against thee, go and tell him his fault between thee and him alone. If he shall hear thee, thou hast gained thy brother. 16But if he will not hear, take with thee one or two more, that in the mouth of two or three witnesses every word may be established. 17And if he shall neglect to hear them, tell unto the church. But if he neglect to hear the church, let him be unto thee as a gentile man and a publican.

 

This text assumes that a gentile and a publican are not considered in this group called the church, but are instead outside.

 

Saints (Jewish and non-Jewish) are added to the church:

 

Acts 2:47 And the Lord added to the church daily such as should be saved. Future paragraphs will explain how the Church can consist of Israel not in faith, yet have Jewish and non-Jewish Saints both added to that Church.

 

Israel is in unbelief at the present time (that status not being altered by the few individual Israelis who believe), and thus the core of the Church is in unbelief:

 

Ephesians 5:25 Husbands, love your own wives even as also the Messiah loved the Assembly and gave-up Himself for her 26so that He will sanctify, having cleansed by the washing of water in the Word, 27so that He will present her to Himself the glorious Assembly, not having spot or wrinkle or any of such things, but rather that she will be holy and blameless.

 

She is presently unsanctified and unclean, anything but blameless, but she won’t be in the future. She is in this condition since just after her beginnings (after the time of Jacob). All Saints have been added to her as part of her as described in Romans 11:

 

Romans 11:16 For if the firstfruit is holy, the lump is also holy. 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 partake of the root and fatness of the olive tree with them, 18boast not 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 will be grafted in!” 20Fine! They were broken off because of unbelief, and thou standest by faith. Be not highminded, but fear! 21For if God spared not the natural branches—lest he also not spare thee! 22Behold therefore the goodness and severity of God—severity on them who fell, but goodness toward thee if thou continue in His goodness. Otherwise, thou also shalt be cut off! 23And they also shall be grafted in if they abide not still in unbelief, for God is able to graft them in again. 24For if thou were cut out of the olive that is wild by nature, and were grafted contrary to nature into a good olive tree, how much more shall these be grafted into their own olive tree who are the natural branches?

 

Israel is the core of the Church regardless of Israel’s coming late into the Biblical scene. The same is true of Messiah’s being the Salvation of the world. His coming and sacrifice long after the world was created does not diminish its effectiveness toward those who lived and died in faith before that coming and sacrifice.

 

The Church, then, has been assigned the position of showing the Wisdom of God to angels.

 

3. The Church as a Group Versus the Individual Saint

If individual Saints demonstrated their characters from the beginning, why did Yehovah also have to have a group give a picture?

 

I will not claim to give Yehovah’s mind and His many reasons for doing what He did; I can propose a few reasons.

 

A group of angels rebelled. A group of angels did not see Yehovah’s multifaceted wisdom. Angels are not tempted in the same ways man may be tempted; man can be tempted in far more ways. If a group of humans with far more possibilities for temptations and reasons to compromise (under great duress) can stand firm with the Truth and righteousness, the excuses the rebellious angels might supply will be futile. If this group additionally stands firm not seeing Yehovah (as the angels see Him), but having to live by faith, they will remove even more challenges to Yehovah’s wisdom. Then again, if this group may be freely tempted by angels who desire its fall (as a group and as individuals) and this group stands firm, the wisdom of Yehovah will be even more apparent.

 

4. Why Yehovah Chose Israel

Deuteronomy 7:6 For thou art an holy people unto Yehovah thy God. Yehovah thy God hath chosen thee to be a special people unto Himself above all people that are upon the face of the earth. 7Yehovah did not set his love upon you or choose you because ye were more in number than any people, for ye were the fewest of all peoples. 8But Yehovah hath brought you out with a mighty hand and redeemed you out of the house of slaves—from the hand of Pharaoh king of Egypt because Yehovah loved you and because He would keep the oath that He had sworn unto your fathers.

 

Deuteronomy 10:12 And now, Israel, what doth Yehovah thy God require of thee but to fear Yehovah thy God, to walk in all His ways and to love Him, and to serve Yehovah thy God with all thy heart and with all thy soul, 13to keep the commandments of Yehovah and His statutes that I command thee this day for thy good! 14Behold, the heaven and the heaven of heavens is to Yehovah thy God—the earth also with all that is in her. 15Only Yehovah had a delight in thy fathers to love them, and he chose their seed after them—you above all people, as it is this day!

 

Yehovah chose Israel because of his oath to and delight in the fathers (Avraham, Isaac and Jacob). In order to ‘unchoose’ Israel, He would have to change His mind about the fathers. Once He chose their seed, that choice was fixed by the faithfulness of Yehovah.

 

5. All Israel Will Be Saved

The entire group of Israelis will be saved with a permanent Salvation:

 

Romans 11:26 And so shall all Israel be saved as it is written, There shall come out of Zion the Deliverer, and shall turn away ungodliness from Jacob. 27For this is my covenant unto them when I shall take away their sins.

 

Isaiah 45:17 Israel shall be saved in Yehovah with an everlasting salvation. Ye shall not be ashamed nor confounded world without end.

 

Jeremiah 31:31 “Behold, the days come,” saith Yehovah, “that I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and with the house of Judah—32not according to the covenant that I made with their fathers in the day that I took them by the hand to bring them out of the land of Egypt, which my covenant they broke although I was a husband unto them,” saith Yehovah. 33 “But this shall be the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days,” saith Yehovah: “I will put my law in their inward parts and write it in their hearts. And I will be their God, and they shall be my people. 34And they shall no more teach every man his neighbour and every man his brother saying, ‘Know Yehovah!’ For they shall all know me from the least of them unto the greatest of them!” saith Yehovah. “For I will forgive their iniquity! And I will remember their sin no more!”

 

Jeremiah 32:37 Behold, I will gather them out of all countries whither I have driven them in mine anger and in my fury and in great wrath. And I will bring them again unto this place. And I will cause them to dwell safely. 38And they shall be my people, and I will be their God. 39And I will give them one heart and one way that they may fear me forever for the good of them and of their children after them. 40And I will make an everlasting covenant with them that I will not turn away from them to do them good. And I will give my fear in their hearts so that they shall not depart from me. 41Yea, I will rejoice over them to do them good! And I will plant them in this land assuredly with my whole heart and with my whole soul.

 

Ezekiel 37:24 And David my servant shall be king over them. And they all shall have one shepherd. They shall also walk in my judgments and observe my statutes, and do them. 25And they shall dwell in the land that I have given unto Jacob my servant, wherein your fathers have dwelt. And they shall dwell in her—even they and their children and their children’s children forever. And my servant David shall be their prince forever. 26And I will make a covenant of peace with them. It shall be an everlasting covenant with them. And I will place them and multiply them, and will set my sanctuary in the midst of them for evermore. 27My tabernacle shall also be with them. I will indeed be their God, and they shall be my people. 28And the races shall know that I Yehovah do sanctify Israel when my sanctuary shall be in the midst of them for evermore.

 

Ezekiel 39:25  Therefore thus saith the Lord GOD; Now will I bring again the captivity of Jacob, and have mercy upon the whole house of Israel, and will be jealous for my holy name;

 

Ezekiel 39:26 (Literally) “…and they shall carry their calamity and all their trespass that they trespassed via me in their dwelling securely upon their soil, and there is no fear-causer, 27in my returning them again from the peoples. And I will gather them from their enemies’ lands. And I will be sanctified via them to the eyes of many races. 28And they shall know that I am Yehovah their Gods via my exiling them unto the races. And I will collect them upon their soil. And I have left none from them any more there. 29And I will not hide my faces again from them, that I poured out my spirit upon the house of Israel,” saith my Lords Yehovah.”

 

Zephaniah 3:13 The remnant of Israel—they shall not do evil and they shall not speak lies. And a tongue of deceit shall not be found in their mouth. For they shall feed and lie down, and none shall make them afraid.

 

Titus 2:14 Who gave himself for us, that he might redeem us from all iniquity, and purify unto himself a peculiar people, zealous of good works.

 

I propose that these texts demonstrate both the range of the Salvation (all Israel) and the endurance of the Salvation (that is, every Israeli will be born of God from that time to the end of the planet’s existence). This especially makes sense since a number of these texts deal with the Israelis as a group, not only as individuals. (Literal renderings of these texts demonstrate this even stronger.)

 

No such possibility exists for the angels that rebelled. The following text that only pertains to humans nevertheless explains this justice:

 

Hebrews 6:4 For it is impossible for those who were once enlightened and have tasted of the heavenly gift and were made partakers of the Holy Spirit 5and have tasted the good word of God and the powers of the world to come, 6if they shall fall away, to renew them again unto repentance, seeing they crucify to themselves the Son of God afresh and put Him to an open shame.

 

Jude 1:6 And he hath reserved the angels that kept not their first estate, but left their own habitation, in everlasting chains under darkness unto the judgment of the great day.

 

The angels that rebelled knew exactly what they were doing and what the consequences would be. Yehovah made no redemption/salvation for them; they are creatures of sight, not of faith. Yet, Yehovah determined that all His creatures would know His wisdom and justice in their judgments and/or rewards. The angels who rebelled cannot clearly see His justice until they see a group that turns to do righteousness by faith (and not by sight), turning from sin, and continually walking righteously before Yehovah in spite of the worst conditions all creatures have ever seen. Once Yehovah has demonstrated this point, all rebellious angels will be locked up for 1,000 years:

 

Revelation 20:7 And when the thousand years are expired, Satan shall be loosed out of his prison. 8And he shall go out to deceive the nations which are in the four quarters of the earth, Gog and Magog, to gather them together to battle, the number of whom is as the sand of the sea.

 

Isaiah 5:14 Therefore, Sheol widened her being and opened her mouth without statute! And her majesty descended, and her crowd and her noise and her triumph into her!

 

 Yet, Yehovah’s plan is not finished. He will release these angels for one more opportunity to gather as many human rebels as possible in their attempt to overthrow Messiah at the end of the Millennium. He will thus use these demons to show who is and who isn’t an enemy of Messiah. This is the last service these demons will do (as far as I know). Israel (the group and the individuals) will be the center of the action also at this point.

 

Is there a time after the millennium when some Jews will again sin? No. Will the rebellious ones be unbelieving ones of other races? Yes. Once the Israelis have the Torah written on their heart, they will do what is right, just as the children born to them will do right. Those children will be born in sin, but will refuse to sin.

 

6. Frequent Attempts to Annihilate the Jews

How strange it seems that the Jews (as individuals and as a group) are repeatedly targeted for annihilation throughout history. One of the first attempts was when a particular Egyptian Pharaoh commanded the Jewish midwives to drown all Jewish males just after they were born, a command the midwives refused to obey:

 

Exodus 1:15 And the king of Egypt spoke to the Hebrew midwives of which the name of the one was Shiphrah and the name of the other Puah. 16And he said, “When ye do the office of a midwife to the Hebrew women and see them upon the stools, if it be a son, then ye shall kill him. But if it be a daughter, then she shall live.” 17And the midwives feared God and did not as the king of Egypt commanded them, but saved the men children alive.

 

Jewish tradition holds that Laban was the first one to attempt annihilation of the Jews (a tradition to which I also ascribe, because it has some merit). Try finding a reason for the many attempts (including Hitler’s ‘Final Solution’); it defies reason. If one includes the demons and their desire to remain free, and to never be placed into the Lake of Fire and Sulfur, the reason is apparent. The ‘hope’ of the unsaved world is in Israel’s destruction, since Messiah cannot return if Israel is destroyed:

 

Matthew 23:37  “Jerusalem! Jerusalem—thou that kills the prophets and stones them who are sent unto thee, how often would I have gathered thy children together even as a hen gathereth her chickens under wings, and ye would not! 38Behold, your house is left unto you desolate! 39For I say unto you, ye shall not see me henceforth till ye shall say, ‘Blessed is He Who comes with the Name Yehovah!’”

 

If Jerusalem’s citizens do not make this declaration, Messiah cannot come. If the Jews are annihilated, Jerusalem’s citizens will be gone. Yehovah’s plans are not ‘thwartable’, however. He has invested His entire plan (including the resurrection of the dead) in the existence and Salvation of the Jews! (Read on if you want to see what I’m talking about. I know that this contrasts to modern Christianity’s views. I am not going to leave folks of a race other than Israel, who hold the faith of the God of the Bible, hanging without support.)

 

John 4:22 “Ye worship ye know not what! we know what we worship. For Salvation is of the Jews.”

 

Though Yeshua was speaking to a Samaritan woman about the Samaritans, He could have been speaking to the vast majority of members of ‘Christianity’ today and throughout the centuries. Most claiming Christianity have no investment in the continuance (let alone Salvation) of the Jews, and thus have no investment in the Biblically described and defined resurrection of the dead. Every attempt against Jews/Israelis is an attempt against Yehovah and His Messiah.

 

A reader might point out that the Jews are not innocent, and that the majority of Jews are in unbelief. Paul knew this, and his ministry was always for the benefit of the Jews no matter where he went or to whom he wrote. Of course they are not innocent, and they have been diligent workers against their own Salvation! But Yehovah’s plans are still invested in them and will always be until His plans are fulfilled. Anyone who has the Biblical Hope will also have an investment in the aid and Salvation of the Jews (both as individuals and as a group), for their very resurrection will depend on the Salvation of the Jews! Messiah Yeshua will not return until all Israel has been saved, and no resurrection of the dead will occur until Yeshua returns! Anyone truly born of God will intuitively realize his connection to the Jews in many ways, and will have the strongest investment in the Salvation of the Jews. Those who neglect and/or reject the Jews as central to the Biblical theme neglect/reject their own Salvation! If faith comes by hearing/hearkening, and hearing/hearkening comes by the Word of God, anyone claiming faith who has not hearkened to the Word of God (whether through ignorance or neglect) is a liar. The Bible explains this relationship to Israel from its beginning, and it never swerves from this thrust. Only a damned fool (meant in the most literal sense, not as an insult) will claim Salvation and will ignore or stand against the Jews.

 

7. So, Why did Yehovah Choose the Jews?

He chose the Jews because of Wisdom, because of His oath to the fathers and because of His love for the fathers.

 

What is your stand regarding the Jews? Will you be as the ‘righteous’ in (Matthew 25:31 and following) who are willing to risk everything (including the lives of their own families) to help Yeshua’s brethren (the Jews) during the Tribulation, or will you be as the other group (the folks in the ‘goat’ group) who do not, and who are summarily damned in spite of their claims of faith?

 

 

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Fasting

Various Forms and Reasons for Fasting

Fasting from Distress and Inquiry

Judges 20:26 And all the children of Israel and all the people ascended. And they came unto the House of God. And they wept and sat there before Yehovah. And they fasted that day until evening, and offered ascensions and ‘peaces’ before Yehovah. 27And the children of Israel enquired of Yehovah—for the ark of the covenant of God was there in those days; 28and Phinehas the son of Eleazar the son of Aaron stood before it in those days—to say, “Shall I yet again go out to battle against the children of Benjamin my brother, or shall I cease?” And Yehovah said, “Ascend. For I will deliver them into thine hand tomorrow.”

The Israelis were in a fix. They had attacked one of the Israeli tribes for a moral issue, and both sides of the attack took great losses. The Israelis now needed to know whether they should continue the attack or stop. The tribe of Benjamin was being brought to extinction; yet the rest of the tribes could not ignore the moral issue.

A fast of this nature will occur because of the loss of appetite. How could they eat when they were in the process of exterminating a brother? Yet, how could they stop when that brother was not addressing the gross immorality?

2 Chronicles 20:1 It came to pass after this also, the children of Moab and the children of Ammon and with them besides the Ammonites came against Jehoshaphat to battle. 2And there came some that told Jehoshaphat, saying, “There cometh a great multitude against thee from beyond the sea on this side Syria! And behold, they are in Hazazontamar (that is Engedi)!” 3And Jehoshaphat feared. And he set himself to seek Yehovah. And he proclaimed a fast throughout all Judah. 4And Judah gathered themselves together, to ask help of Yehovah. They even came to seek Yehovah out of all the cities of Judah.

Ezra 8:21  And I proclaimed a fast there at the river of Ahava that we might humble ourselves before our God to seek from Him a right way for us and for our little ones and for all our substance. 22For I was ashamed to require a band of soldiers and horsemen from the king to help us against the enemy in the way. For we had spoken unto the king, saying, “The hand of our God is upon all them for good that seek Him, and His power and His wrath is against all them that forsake Him.” 23So we fasted and besought our God for this. And He was entreated by us.

Nehemiah 1:1 The words of Nehemiah the son of Hachaliah. And it came to pass in the month Chislev in the twentieth year as I was in Shushan the palace 2that Hanani, one of my brethren, came—he and certain men of Judah. And I asked them concerning the Jews who had escaped who were left from the captivity, and concerning Jerusalem. 3And they said unto me, “The remnant that are left of the captivity there in the province are in great affliction and reproach! The wall of Jerusalem also is broken down and the gates thereof are burned with fire.” 4And it came to pass when I heard these words. And I sat down and wept, and mourned certain days, and fasted, and prayed before the God of the heavens. 5And I said, “I beseech thee, Yehovah God of the heavens, the great and terrible God Who keeps covenant and Grace for them who love Him and observe His commandments, 6Thine ear shall now be attentive and thine eyes open, and Thou shalt hear the prayer of thy servant that I pray before Thee now day and night for the children of Israel thy servants. And I am self-confessing the sins of the children of Israel that we have sinned against Thee. Both I and my father’s house have sinned. 7We have dealt very corruptly against Thee and have not kept the commandments nor the statutes nor the justices that Thou commanded Thy servant Moses. 8Remember, na, the word that Thou commanded Thy servant Moses, saying, ‘If ye transgress, I will scatter you abroad among the races! 9But if ye turn unto me and keep my commandments and do them; though there were cast out from you unto the uttermost part of the heaven, yet will I gather them from thence! And I will bring them unto the place that I have chosen to set my name there!’ 10Now these are Thy servants and Thy people whom Thou hast redeemed by Thy great power and by Thy strong hand. 11My Lords, na, Thine ear shall now be attentive to the prayer of Thy servant and to the prayer of Thy servants who desire to fear Thy Name. And prosper, na, Thy servant this day. And grant him mercy in the sight of this man!” For I was the king’s cupbearer.

 

 

Mourning Fast

1 Chronicles 10:8 And it came to pass on the morrow, when the Philistines came to strip the slain, that they found Saul and his sons fallen in mount Gilboa. 9And when they had stripped him, they took his head and his armour, and sent into the land of the Palestinians round about to carry tidings unto their idols and to the people. 10And they put his armour in the house of their gods. And they fastened his head in the temple of Dagon. 11And when all Jabeshgilead heard all that the Palestinians had done to Saul, 12they arose—all the valiant men—and took away the body of Saul and the bodies of his sons. And they brought them to Jabesh. And they buried their bones under the oak in Jabesh. And they fasted seven days. 13And Saul died for his transgression that he committed against Yehovah, even against the word of Yehovah that he didn’t keep, and also for asking counsel of one who had a familiar spirit to enquire of it. 14And he didn’t enquire of Yehovah. Therefore He slew him and turned the kingdom unto David the son of Jesse.

1 Samuel 31:11 And when the inhabitants of Jabeshgilead heard of what the Palestinians had done to Saul, 12all the valiant men arose and went all night. And they took the body of Saul and the bodies of his sons from the wall of Bethshan. And they came to Jabesh. And they burned them there. 13And they took their bones, and buried them under a tree at Jabesh. And they fasted seven days.

The viciousness of enemies against King Saul and his sons, along with their deaths, took away the appetites of those fighting men. Israel had also suffered a defeat. Those men didn’t desire to eat. They mourned. That mourning is further described:

2 Samuel 1:12 And they mourned and wept and fasted until evening for Saul and for Jonathan his son, and for the people of Yehovah and for the House of Israel because they were fallen by the sword.

Another type of mourning occurred before a death; it was a mourning over a great slaughter about to take place. The king had just agreed to permit a slaughter of the Jews and taking all their belongings. The following shows their response:

Esther 4:3 And in every province, whithersoever the king’s commandment and his decree came, there was great mourning among the Jews, and fasting, and weeping, and wailing; and many lay in sackcloth and ashes.

The Jewish queen also responded:

Esther 4:16 “Go! Gather together all the Jews that are present in Shushan, and fast ye for me, and do not eat nor drink three days, night or day. I also and my maidens will fast likewise. And so will I go in unto the king, which is not according to the law. And if I perish, I perish.”

The following text gives yet another example of a mourning fast:

Psalm 69:8 For I carried reproach concerning Thee! Calamity covered my faces! 9I was alienated to my brothers and a foreigner to children of my mother. 10For the zeal of Thy House ate me. And reproaches of Thy reproachers fell upon me! 11And I wept in the shutting of my being. And she was for reproaches to me. 12And I gave my garment sack[cloth]. And I was to them for a proverb. 13Sitters of the gate will meditate via me, and guitar-songs drinkers of strong-drink. 14And I— My prayer is to Thee, Yehovah, the time of desirability, Elohim. Via the multiplicity of Thy Grace, answer/humble me in the Truth of Thy Salvation [masculine]! 15Rescue me from mire! And I will not sink. I will be rescued from my haters and from great-depths of waters!

I rendered the word fast literally in this text.

 

Fasting for Request

2 Samuel 12:13 And David said unto Nathan, “I sinned against Yehovah.” And Nathan said unto David, “Yehovah also put away thy sin. Thou shalt not die. 14Nevertheless thou hast given great occasion to the enemies of Yehovah to blaspheme by this deed. The child also that is born unto thee, dying shall die!” 15And Nathan departed unto his house. And Yehovah struck the child that Uriah’s woman bare unto David. And it was very sick. 16David therefore besought God for the child. And David fasted, and went in, and lay all night upon the earth. 17And the elders of his house arose. And they went to him to raise him up from the earth. But he would not. And he didn’t eat bread with them. 18And it came to pass that the child died on the seventh day. And the servants of David feared to tell him that the child was dead. For they said, “Behold, while the child was yet alive, we spoke unto him, and he would not hearken unto our voice. How will he then vex himself if we tell him that the child is dead?” 19But when David saw that his servants whispered, David perceived that the child was dead. And David said unto his servants, “Is the child dead?” And they said, “He is dead.” 20And David arose from the earth, and washed, and anointed himself, and changed his apparel, and came into the house of Yehovah, and worshipped. And he came to his own house. And when he required, they set bread before him, and he did eat. 21And his servants said unto him, “What thing is this that thou hast done? Thou didst fast and weep for the child while it was alive. And when the child was dead, thou didst rise and eat bread!” 22And he said, “While the child was yet alive, I fasted and wept. For I said, ‘Who can tell whether Yehovah will be gracious to me, and the child will live?’ 23But now he is dead. Why should I fast? Can I bring him back again? I shall go to him, but he shall not return to me!”

This event shows the basics of fasting. David did not, indeed could not eat while this crisis was ongoing. His appetite was gone. His concern was at its highest level. He wasn’t on some sort of religious cleansing mission. A life was at stake. He wasn’t playing games; he was deadly serious. He was fasting for request, because his appetite shut down until he obtained an answer.

Another example of fasting for request is in the following text:

Psalm 35:13 But as for me, when they were sick, my clothing was sackcloth. I humbled my being with fasting. And my prayer returned into mine own bosom.

The speaker had verbally violent enemies. When those enemies became sick, the speaker put on sackcloth, and humbled his own being via fasting for the sake of those enemies.

 

 

Fasting for Violence (Then for Fear)

Please read the entire chapter:

1 Kings 21:1 And it came to pass after these things, that Naboth the Jezreelite had a vineyard, which was in Jezreel, hard by the palace of Ahab king of Samaria. 2And Ahab spoke unto Naboth, saying, “Give me thy vineyard, that I may have it for a garden of herbs, because it is near unto my house. And I will give thee for it a better vineyard than it; or, if it seem good to thee, I will give thee the worth of it in money.” 3And Naboth said to Ahab, “Yehovah forbid it me, that I should give the inheritance of my fathers unto thee.” 4And Ahab came into his house heavy and displeased because of the word that Naboth the Jezreelite had spoken to him. For he had said, “I will not give thee the inheritance of my fathers.” And he laid him down upon his bed and turned away his face, and would eat no bread. 5And Jezebel his wife came to him. And she said unto him, “Why is thy spirit so sad, that thou eatest no bread?” 6And he said unto her, “Because I spake unto Naboth the Jezreelite. And I said unto him, ‘Give me thy vineyard for money—or else if it please thee, I will give thee another vineyard for it.’ And he answered, ‘I will not give thee my vineyard.’” 7And Jezebel his wife said unto him, “Dost thou now govern the kingdom of Israel? Arise and eat bread, and thine heart shall be merry! I will give thee the vineyard of Naboth the Jezreelite!” 8So she wrote letters in Ahab’s name. And she sealed them with his seal. And she sent the letters unto the elders and to the nobles that were in his city dwelling with Naboth. 9And she wrote in the letters, saying, “Proclaim a fast! And set Naboth on high among the people! 10And set two men—sons without a yoke—before him to bear witness against him, saying, ‘Thou didst blaspheme God and the king!’ And then carry him out and stone him! And he shall die!” 11And the men of his city, even the elders and the nobles who were the inhabitants in his city, did as Jezebel had sent unto them, and as it was written in the letters that she had sent unto them. 12They proclaimed a fast and set Naboth on high among the people. 13And there came in two men, sons without a yoke. And they sat before him. And the men without a yoke witnessed against him—even against Naboth—in the presence of the people, saying, “Naboth blasphemed God and the king!” And they carried him forth out of the city and stoned him with stones. And he died. 14And they sent to Jezebel, saying, “Naboth is stoned and is dead.” 15And it came to pass, when Jezebel heard that Naboth was stoned and was dead, that Jezebel said to Ahab, “Arise! Take possession of the vineyard of Naboth the Jezreelite that he refused to give thee for money! For Naboth is not alive, but dead!” 16And it came to pass, when Ahab heard that Naboth was dead, that Ahab rose up to go down to the vineyard of Naboth the Jezreelite, to take possession of it. 17And the word of Yehovah came to Elijah the Tishbite, saying, 18 “Arise! Ascend to meet Ahab king of Israel who is in Samaria! Behold, he is in the vineyard of Naboth where he ascended to possess it. 19And thou shalt speak unto him, saying, ‘So says Yehovah, “Hast thou killed? And hast thou also taken possession?”’ And thou shalt speak unto him, saying, ‘So says Yehovah, “In the place where dogs licked the blood of Naboth, dogs shall lick thy blood—even thine!”’” 20And Ahab said to Elijah, “Hast thou found me, my enemy?” And he answered, “I have found thee! For thou hast sold thyself to work bad in the sight of Yehovah! 21Behold, I will bring bad upon thee! And I will take away thy posterity! And I will cut off him who pisses against the wall from Ahab, and him who is shut up and left in Israel! 22And I will make thine house like the house of Jeroboam the son of Nebat and like the house of Baasha the son of Ahijah for the provocation with which thou hast provoked me to anger and made Israel to sin!” 23And Yehovah also spoke of Jezebel saying, “The dogs shall eat Jezebel by the wall of Jezreel! 24 The dogs shall eat him who dies from Ahab in the city. And the fowls of the air shall eat him who dies in the field!” 25And there was none like unto Ahab who sold himself to work wickedness in the sight of Yehovah, whom Jezebel his wife stirred up. 26And he did very abominably in following idols according to all things as did the Amorites whom Yehovah cast out before the children of Israel. 27And it came to pass, when Ahab heard those words, that he tore his clothes and put sackcloth upon his flesh. And he fasted and lay in sackcloth, and went softly. 28And the word of Yehovah came to Elijah the Tishbite, saying, 29 “See thou how Ahab humbles himself before me? Because he humbles himself before me, I will not bring the bad in his days. But I will bring the evil upon his house in his son’s days!”

Religious ‘swine’ can proclaim fasts in order to sucker folks into cooperation with self-seeking plans. I personally have no doubt that most fasts that are called by religious folks will be of this nature. These fasts can harm folks (either the participants or those who are targeted by the religious leaders) and can be used to obtain support to kill the innocent.

Ahab humbled himself before Yehovah after his wife’s plot was opened to him. Ahab knew the wrath of Yehovah, and he knew he was in trouble. He feared Yehovah. That fear wasn’t to Salvation, but it was a real fear. The man quit eating. He didn’t play fasting games (like removing just certain foods, and living on other foods). Yehovah noted this.

 

Fasting for Shame to Turn to Righteousness

Nehemiah 9:1 And in the twenty and fourth day to this month the children of Israel were assembled via fasting and with sackclothes. And soil is upon them. 2And they separated the seed of Israel from all children of a foreigner. And they stood. And they confessed concerning their sins and iniquities of their fathers. 3And they stood upon their standing. And they called via a scroll of the Teaching of Yehovah their Gods a fourth of the day. And a fourth they are confessing and prostrating to Yehovah their Gods.

These Israelis knew that they had much reason for shame before Yehovah. They desired to learn the Torah (Teaching) in order to do right.

 

Fastings in Remembrances

Esther 9:29 And Esther the queen, the daughter of Abihail, and Mordecai the Jew wrote with all authority to confirm this second letter of Purim. 30And he sent the letters unto all the Jews, to the hundred twenty and seven provinces of the kingdom of Ahasuerus, with words of peace and truth 31to confirm these days of Purim in their times appointed according as Mordecai the Jew and Esther the queen had enjoined them, and as they had decreed for themselves and for their seed, the matters of the fastings and their cry. 32And the decree of Esther confirmed these matters of Purim. And it was written in the book.

The fastings continued after the event, and became part of Jewish traditions. I know of no such fastings over this event today.

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Diluting Jewishness by Racial Mixing

Diluting Jewishness by Racial Mixing

 

Can Jewishness be diluted by intermarrying with other races? Can a person be 1/16th Jewish? Adolph Hitler thought so, and he employed educated genetics experts to ‘solve’ the ‘Jewish Question’.

Neither Hitler nor his scientists knew the Bible. They assumed that the gene that determines race could be diluted. The Bible teaches otherwise, telling of 144,000 Israelis from 11 tribes (one tribe has double the amount, another is not listed):

Revelation 7:4 And I heard the number of them who were sealed. And there were sealed an hundred and forty and four thousand of all the tribes of the children of Israel.

This event will occur after many centuries of intermarriages. How can they be preserved without interbreeding that makes for terrible genetic consequences?

Consider also the following text:

Genesis 10:5 By these were the isles of the races divided in their lands—every one after his tongue after their families in their races.

The races are established. If they could be diluted, races would not now exist. For example, if a person could be 1/16 Hungarian, 1/16 French, 1/16 Welch, 1/16 German, 1/16 Scandinavian, 1/16 Scottish, etc. until 16 races were specified, this person would not be of any race, each race being too small a portion of his makeup.

Consider the alternative. Every human (normally) has two sets of genes. One set is obtained from the person’s mother, the other from the person’s father. Now, suppose a Jewish man of the tribe of Dan marries a Canaanite woman (I do not recommend this). Suppose a Jewish woman also from the tribe of Dan marries a Canaanite man. They have children, one being a son, the other a daughter. Suppose those children marry and have children. The following shows all the possible genetic racial offspring (according to what I am proposing), where ‘C’ represents the Canaanite gene and ‘D’ represents the Tribe of Dan gene:

 

The Canaanite/Dan woman who has a child with a Canaanite/Dan man can produce a child who is ‘CC’ (pure Canaanite), ‘CD’ (another Canaanite/Dan combination), ‘DC’ (another Canaanite/Dan combination) and ‘DD’ (pure tribe of Dan).

If you followed that, suppose that the darker (yellow) combination is the result: ‘CD’ (which is Canaanite/Dan). This grows up and has a child with a pure-blood German. The following shows the potential combinations (where ‘G’ is for the German gene:

 

This can result in a ‘CG’ (Canaanite/German) offspring or a ‘DG’ (Tribe of Dan/German) offspring.

Now, suppose the result is a Tribe-of-Dan/German offspring (shaded in yellow), and suppose this person grows and has a child with an Ethiopian/Lebanese person. The following combinations can result:

 

The offspring could be Tribe-of-Dan/Ethiopian, Tribe-of-Dan/Lebanese, German/Ethiopian or German/Lebanese. Suppose it is the Tribe-of-Dan/Lebanese combination (shaded in yellow). Suppose this person grows and has a child with a person who is a combination of Russian and Tribe of Dan (from another very distant lineage). Any of the following offspring could come:

 

The offspring could be Tribe-of-Dan/Russian, Tribe-of-Dan/Tribe-of-Dan (thus, pure Tribe of Dan), Lebanese/Russian or Lebanese/Tribe-of-Dan. If the offspring is purely Tribe of Dan, these combinations (that could be extended over thirty centuries) would preserve the Tribe of Dan in a pure way, while making sure that inbreeding does not harm the offspring. The person might have blue eyes, blond, curly hair, Egyptian features, a Russian height, etc., yet still be racially purely from the Tribe of Dan.

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The Other Flood of Genesis

The Other Flood: Genesis 1:1-1:2

 

Genesis starts out in the following manner (translated literally):

Genesis 1:1 In the beginning Elohim created the heavens and the land. 2And the land became chaotic and a mess. And darkness is upon the faces of the deep. And the Spirit of Elohim brooded over the faces of the waters. 3And Elohim said, “Be, light!” And light was.

This simple beginning gives information that requires much thought. Please consider this with me as I express thoughts that I had. (Feel free to challenge all or any part of those thoughts.)

 

Beginning

The term beginning is unspecified. That doesn’t mean that it isn’t specific. Its timing is most certainly specific, but Yehovah did not give that information in this text. The reader therefore must consider the question, “What beginning is this?” It was the beginning of the heavens and the land, of course. The Bible refers to land as one of two types: a specific area of habitable (or inhabitable) soil not including any seas or oceans (like the Land of Israel), or the entirety of habitable (or inhabitable) soil on the planet. Thus, land doesn’t include what is on Mars or the moon. Planet earth is in mind.

While the heavens and the land began at this time, that still doesn’t explain the beginning, because a beginning describes a series of events, not a series of objects. I have thus far concluded that this was the beginning of the plan of Yehovah for humans; I haven’t yet found evidence to change this perspective.

 

Creation

I next considered creation. This word means to cause something to come into existence. It can including making and forming things, but it normally indicates a finished product’s new existence. (Texts would specify if anything created were unfinished.) Thus, Elohim caused the heavens and the land to exist where they previously did not.

 

Was and Became

The next verse starts, “And the land became chaotic and a mess.” The verb I rendered became normally means to be (including was, will be, is, are, am, etc.). Lot’s wife was not a pillar of salt before she peered after her; she became a pillar of salt (the text uses the same verb). I therefore saw that this verb can indicate a change of state. That doesn’t prove that it does. I needed more evidence before arriving at that conclusion.

The same word translated chaotic (Tohu) is used in a related text:

Isaiah 45:18 For so said Yehovah Creator of the heavens─He is the Gods, and the Former of the land and her Maker. And He ‘foundationed’ her. He didn’t create her chaotic. He formed her to dwell.

I knew from this that Yehovah didn’t create her (the land) chaotic. Thus, I knew that Genesis 1:2 was not describing the form of the land at the beginning, but something that it became. Thus, I had what was proof for me. My connections with Isaiah 45:18 were the following:

  • Both spoke of the Creator creating.
  • Both spoke of the creation of the heavens.
  • Both spoke of the land.
  • Both spoke using chaotic—the very same word.

Thus, I had four points of reference, and I knew that both texts referred to the same event.

 

Darkness

I thus considered the darkness. I did not disregard verse 3 and the only event that Yehovah did on Day 1: He caused the light to be. (Verse 4 states that He saw the light; it does not mention the heavens and the land. Thus, I knew that the creation of the heavens and the land were not on Day 1.) I therefore concluded that He did not appreciate that darkness that was upon the faces of the deep. I now had three negatives: chaos, mess, and darkness. I could tell that Elohim was not pleased with the situation in verse 2.

 

Brooding

I now encountered a fourth negative: “The Spirit of Elohim brooded over the faces of the waters.” I was curious about the meaning and flavour of this term. According to William Gesenius, the brilliant (and rarely incorrect) lexicographer, the word mrakhefet “is used of birds which brood over their young; of a mother cherishing her infant; of Elisha cherishing the dead body of the child; also of a voice descending from heaven and hovering in the air; also to pity.” I thus saw emotion in this word, not merely a positioning (as in hovering). Elohim reacted to what He saw, and His reaction was listed in the rest of the chapter. He determined to change what He saw into something else: something alive.

 

No Land

I also noted that no land was visible. (I looked ahead to verses 9 and 10.) Only later did land appear. Yet, land had been there in verse 1. I therefore concluded that verse 2 described a flood.

 

Violence

Since I knew about another flood (in Genesis 6), I began connecting both together to obtain a reason for this first flood. Yehovah hates violence, and He reacts to rampant violence. He killed every land animal and human in Noah’s flood. I noted that He killed every land animal (except those that went into the Ark). He didn’t kill the animals because they sinned, but to instruct man.

I saw fossilized bones of extinct animals. (I also saw reconstructions of bones, skin, hair, etc. that were from man’s imaginations.) I could not ignore the fossilized bones. Yehovah left them there for a record and for a warning. (The stars also are a record and a warning, and the firmament will also be.) Archaeologists found victim’s bones inside the jaws of larger creatures in some of their digs. Those records show a type of violence that seems like what one would expect from a wolf that attacks a sheep, but that isn’t the case. There is a difference between killing and obtaining food, and just killing. I could not prove this, but I noticed it.

 

Extinction

I also noted that many animals became extinct. They were extinct before the flood of Genesis 1:2. (They would have had to survive that flood had they been alive afterward, or they would have had to be created in one of the days listed in the rest of Genesis 1.) Elohim makes things right. Why were they extinct? The only way all of the land animals would be extinct at one time, while the sea life was not extinct, would be Yehovah doing what He did in Genesis 6.

Some have held that all the land dinosaurs were represented on Noah’s Ark along with the other species present today. They obviously did not do the measurements. The Ark was three stories tall. Some dinosaurs have been at least that tall. Some of those same persons have held that babies of all the animals were on the ark. Babies eat quite a bit, some more than their parents while they grow, and the animals were on the Ark for a little over one year. The volume of animal matter would far exceed the Ark’s volume if prehistoric species are included. Then those who hold such ideas would have to have a mass extinction after the animals left the Ark. This would show Yehovah as having little sense, since humans would not bring the extinction of most species, but would instead use them for various work animals.

 

No Fish Extinction

As I noted above, no fish were harmed in the flood in Noah’s day. Scientists found fossils of sea creatures, and they studied them for their ancient designs. Then a man caught one of these extinct sea creatures (the coelacanth) off of Africa; it was enjoying life, quite alive: “The coelacanths, which are related to lungfishes and tetrapods, were believed to have been extinct since the end of the Cretaceous period, until the first Latimeria specimen was found off the east coast of South Africa, off the Chalumna River in 1938.” (Wikipedia) Yehovah made a distinction between sea life and land life in Noah’s flood, and I was now convinced that the same was true in the Genesis 1:2 flood.

 

Time

I therefore considered the amount of time that elapsed between Genesis 1:1 and 1:2. If Genesis 1:2 described a flood and its destruction, I knew Yehovah would wait to do this since He always waited in Biblically described destructions. Time would also be required for His peaceful creation to become entirely violent (since entire violence alone is enough for Yehovah to destroy a place). I had no way to tell how long this would be. I do not believe in Carbon Dating, since that assumes a certain initial quantity of radioactive carbon, and I don’t care for data drawn using assumptions. Since fossil records can be plentiful, I considered that many years would have passed. When scientists speak of multiple millions of years, I don’t have reason to argue. I know that the stars, sun, moon, humans and other things created in the six days of Genesis 1 are only about 6,000 years old, and that Yehovah created the stars’ lights already arriving to the earth. (Otherwise, we would not be able to see stars that are more than 6,000 light years away.)

 

Evolution

Some equate dinosaurs with evolution. In their views, if one believes in dinosaurs, one espouses evolution; and if one believes in evolution, naturally that person believes in dinosaurs. I am not of these perspectives. I know there were dinosaurs. I know that scientific evolution that involves species turning into completely different species is not true. Species can adapt to new environments.

I hope these considerations have been helpful. Yehovah has always given man warnings, and has sometimes used animals for that very purpose. Wise humans will study animals (living and extinct) to obtain these warnings.

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About the Ark of the Covenant

About the Ark (of the Covenant)

 

 

The Ark originally was in the heavens before it was made on earth. Yehovah told Moshe to make all the items pertinent to the Tabernacle (which I will now call the Tent of Appointment according to the Hebrew literal meaning) after the pattern that Yehovah showed him:

 

Exodus 25:9 According to all that I show thee, the pattern of the Tent and the pattern of all the instruments thereof, even so shall ye make.

 

Moshe oversaw the construction of copies, not of originals. Both the Temple and the Tent were already in the heavens. Moshe oversaw the Tent, and Solomon later oversaw the construction of the Temple. Both are types (show-and-tell pictures of things that are more important than the types, and real). All the utensils are types.

 

The Ark is also a type (if what I am saying is true).

 

Hebrews 8:1 Now this is the sum of the things that we have spoken: We have such a High Priest Who is set on the right hand of the throne of the Majesty in the heavens,  2a Minister of the sanctuary and of the true Tent that Yehovah pitched, and not man. 3For every High Priest is ordained to offer gifts and sacrifices. Therefore it is of necessity that this man has somewhat also to offer. 4For if He were on earth, He would not be a priest, seeing that there are priests that offer gifts according to the Torah 5who serve unto the example and shadow of heavenly things, as Moses was admonished of God when he was about to make the Tent. For, “See,” He says, “that thou make all things according to the type showed to thee in the mountain.”

 

The Ark was completed, and certain items were placed inside of it: Aaron’s rod that budded, flowered, and fruited, a gold urn with manna, and the two stone writing-slates (tablets) with the Ten Statements (the ‘ten commandments’).

 

Numbers 17:8 And it came to pass, that on the morrow Moses went into the Tent of witness; and, behold, the rod of Aaron for the house of Levi was budded, and brought forth buds, and bloomed blossoms, and yielded almonds.

 

Hebrews 9:4 …that had the golden censer, and the ark of the covenant overlaid round about with gold, wherein was the golden pot that had manna, and Aaron’s rod that budded, and the tables of the covenant…

 

That earthly Ark was later captured by the Palestinians when Israel wasn’t doing right. The Palestinians looked into it, and Yehovah struck the Palestinians with terrible hemorrhoids and an outbreak of rats. Their occult practitioners explained why: that is, that Yehovah wasn’t pleased, and they determined to return the Ark back to Israel to stop this terrible scourge.

 

The top of the Ark was made of pure gold. This is not a known item at our present time, since pure gold is clear as crystal:

 

Revelation 21:18 And the building of the wall of it was of jasper: and the city was pure gold, like unto clear glass.

 

Revelation 21:21 And the twelve gates were twelve pearls; every several gate was of one pearl: and the street of the city was pure gold, as it were transparent glass.

 

The lid of the Ark was made of one piece of gold uncut in its making, and turned so that it was the shape of the lid and two cherubim (a particular type of angel) facing each other with their wings toward each other. The cherubim faced downward, and thus through the lid to the items in the box. The box itself was made of wood covered with pure gold, so that the wood could be seen as if behind glass. Inset into the box were telescoping carrying rods that could be retracted into the box. All these things are types—every detail.

 

The Ark later was without several of its items, those items probably having been taken when the Ark was captured.

 

While the Israelis had a death sentence for handling the Ark (unless they were the specific priests in a specific order that had the responsibility to handle it), no such death penalty was placed on folks from the other races who might touch it when capturing it. Yehovah didn’t appreciate the Palestinians and their attitude, and He struck them as mentioned, so that they feared.

 

Once the Ark was constructed, Yehovah commanded that a cover be made, and that cover always be used when transporting the Ark. Thus, the Israelis never saw the Ark again once it was finished and sanctified by blood. This is also a type. They saw a covered object being carried, but the Ark was not seen. It was kept in the Tent except for a time when it was kept in a person’s home, covered, no one touching it.

 

One Israeli was struck dead by Yehovah when he reached to steady it when it was being improperly transported on an oxcart. This Israeli had become lax, the Ark having been in his father’s home. He was not a priest, and he had no right touching it for any reason. The oxen stumbled, but that did not mean that the cart was in danger.

 

When the Babylonian captivity occurred, all things in the Temple (including the Ark with a much larger set of Cherubim) were captured. As far as I know, this is the last time the Ark was in Israel, though Jewish tradition claims that it was also in the Temple that was destroyed in 70 A.D.

 

Many fables of the Ark have circulated. Even in the Millennium, I have found no indication of an Ark in the Millennial Temple, since what it typifies will be present. It cannot directly be used for instruction, since no one will be permitted to enter the Holy of Holies in the Millennium any more than at previous times. Since its description is in good detail, teaching what it typifies will be far more important and useful.

 

The original Ark not made by human hands is where it always was: in the heavens.

 

Revelation 11:19 And the temple of God was opened in heaven, and there was seen in his temple the ark of His Covenant.

 

It is called by various names:

 

Ark of the Testimony

 

Ark of the Covenant of Yehovah

 

Ark of the Covenant

 

Ark of Yehovah

 

Ark of God

 

Ark of the God of Israel

 

Ark of the Lord Yehovah

 

Ark of His Testament (Covenant)

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Who Killed Yeshua?

Who Killed the Messiah?

By K. Fry

 

Was it—

Pontius Pilate-Gentile Roman Governor?

  A-Matt 27:2 through 58
  B-Mark 15:1 through 15
  C-Luke 23:1 through 24
  D-John 19:1 through 31
“I am innocent of this man’s blood.” He had the Messiah whipped and flogged (Scourged)

 

The Israelis?

  A-Matt 27:16 through 26
  B-Mark 15:7 through 15
  C-Luke 23:18
  D-John 18:40
“Give us Barabbas, not the Messiah!” These were the Israelis. John 18:31 “Then said Pilate unto them, ‘Take ye him, and judge him according to your law.’ The Jews therefore said unto him, “It is not lawful for us to put any man to death.”


The Soldiers of the Governor (Not Roman Soldiers)?

A-Matt 27:27
B-Mark 15:15 They led Him away to be crucified.
C-Luke 23:36 They mocked Him.
D-John 19:2 They put the crown of thorns and a Purple Robe on the Messiah.
E-John 19:23 They crucified the Messiah and parted the Messiah’s robe.
F-John 19:34 They pierced His side, and blood and water came out.

The Gentiles?

A-Matt 20:19

Yehovah?

A-Isaiah 53:10 “Yet it pleased Yehovah to bruise him; he hath put him to grief: when thou shalt make his soul an offering for sin, he shall see his seed, he shall prolong his days, and the pleasure of Yehovah shall prosper in his hand.”
B-Matthew 26:39 “And he went a little further, and fell on his face, and prayed, saying, ‘O my Father, if it be possible, let this cup pass from me: nevertheless not as I will, but as thou wilt.’”
1-Luke 22:44 “And being in an agony he prayed more earnestly: and his sweat was as it were great drops of blood falling down to the ground.”
C-Matthew 27:46 “And about the ninth hour Jesus cried with a loud voice, saying, ‘Eli, Eli, lama sabachthani?’— that is to say, ‘My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me?’”
Mark 15:34 “And at the ninth hour Jesus cried with a loud voice, saying, ‘Eloi, Eloi, lama sabachthani?’ which is, being interpreted, ‘My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me?’”
D-John 3:16 “For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.”

Yeshua?

A-John 10:15 “As the Father knoweth me, even so know I the Father: and I lay down my life for the sheep. 16 And other sheep I have, which are not of this fold: them also I must bring, 17 Therefore doth my Father love me, because I lay down my life, that I might take it again. 18 No man taketh it from me, but I lay it down of myself. I have power to lay it down, and I have power to take it again. This commandment have I received of my Father.”
B-John 4:34 “Jesus saith unto them, ‘My meat is to do the will of him that sent me, and to finish his work.’”
C-John 12:27 “Now is my soul troubled; and what shall I say? Father, save me from this hour: but for this cause came I unto this hour.”

All Humanity?

A-Romans 3:23 “For all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God.”

The High Priest?

A-Matthew 26:57 “And they that had laid hold on Jesus led him away to Caiaphas the high priest, where the scribes and the elders were assembled.”
B-Matthew 26:58 “But Peter followed him afar off unto the high priest‘s palace, and went in, and sat with the servants, to see the end.”
C-Matthew 26:62 “And the high priest arose, and said unto him, ‘Answerest thou nothing? what is it which these witness against thee?’”
D-Matthew 26:63 ‘But Jesus held his peace. And the high priest answered and said unto him, ‘I adjure thee by the living God, that thou tell us whether thou be the Christ, the Son of God.’”
E-Matthew 26:65 “Then the high priest rent his clothes, saying, ‘He hath spoken blasphemy; what further need have we of witnesses? behold, now ye have heard his blasphemy!” (Blasphemy was punishable only by death).
F-The only person who was legally authorized to approve a sacrifice that Yehovah would accept was the High Priest.
G-John 18:31 “Then said Pilate unto them, ‘Take ye him, and judge him according to your law.’ The Jews therefore said unto him, ‘It is not lawful for us to put any man to death.’”

 

Yeshua-The High Priest?

A– John 10-17 “Therefore doth my Father love me, because I lay down my life, that I might take it again. 18 No man taketh it from me, but I lay it down of myself. I have power to lay it down, and I have power to take it again. This commandment have I received of my Father.”
B-Yeshua had the authority as High Priest to cause Himself to be the final sacrifice.

Who Killed the Messiah?

Who didn’t?