Exodus 6 Remembering the Covenant QA Supplied

Remembering the Covenant

Questions and Proposed Answers Supplied

Background and Printed Text: Exodus 6:2-9

Exodus 6:2 And Elohim spoke unto Draw [Moshe]. And He said unto him, “I am Yehovah [He-Will-Be, He-Is, He-Was]. ³ “And I appeared unto Father-Of-A-Crowd [Avraham], unto He-Will-Laugh [Isaac] and unto He-Will-Heel [Jacob] via Mighty-[One]-My-Breasts [El Shaddai]. And my name is Yehovah [He-Will-Be, He-Is, He-Was]! Was I not known to them?

⁴ “And I also made-stand my Covenant with them to give the land of Canaan to them, the land of their sojournings that they sojourned in her.

⁵ “And also I, I hearkened-to the groaning of the children of Israel whom the Egyptians are enslaving them. And I remembered my Covenant.

⁶ “Therefore, say-thou to the children of Israel, ‘I am Yehovah [He-Will-Be, He-Is, He-Was]! And I will exit you out from under the burdens of the Egyptians! And I will rescue you from their slavery. And I will redeem you via a stretched out arm and via big justices! ⁷And I will take you to me to a people. And I will be to you to Gods. And ye shall know that I am Yehovah [He-Will-Be, He-Is, He-Was] your Gods Who exits you from under the burdens of the Egyptians! ⁸And I will bring you unto the land that I carried my hand to give her to Father-Of-A-Crowd [Avraham], to He-Will-Laugh [Isaac] and to He-Will-Heel [Jacob]. And I will give her to you, an inheritance. I am Yehovah [He-Will-Be, He-Is, He-Was].’”

⁹And Draw [Moshe] spoke establishment unto the children of Israel. And they didn’t hearken unto Draw [Moshe] from shortness of spirit/wind and from hard slavery.

I. Appearances (verses 2-3)

Elohim again communicated with Moshe, first identifying Himself: “I am Yehovah.” He then associated Himself with Avraham, Isaac and Jacob: “And I appeared unto Avraham, unto Isaac and unto Jacob via El Shaddai.”

Yehovah again stated, “And my name is Yehovah!” He then asked Moshe a question: “Was I not known to them?”

Questions

1. Why did Yehovah start by identifying Himself as Yehovah?

It is like His signature, but He begins with His signature instead of ending with it.
He is declaring that He will be, He is, and He was—there will never a time when He isn’t! (False gods will last for only a very short time.)
He is giving the reason for His authority to command.

2. Who is El Shaddai? He is one of the forms in which Elohim makes appearances. He is known as Mighty One, My Breasts because He is very mighty, never having any difficulty overcoming any enemies or obstacles, and yet He is like a mother toward a very young child who breastfeeds and nurtures that child.

3. What does “And I appeared unto Avraham, unto Isaac and unto Jacob via El Shaddai” mean? This means that Elohim appeared to the three men in the form of El Shaddai. He could have appeared as the Captain of Yehovah’s Hosts; He could have appeared in the form of a fire; He could have appeared as the Angel Yehovah, and He could have appeared in other ways. Instead, He chose this one form.

4. Why did Elohim find it necessary to again state, “And my name is Yehovah”? This teaches careful readers that Elohim and Yehovah are the same being. Some readers will learn that Elohim is Yeshua. Thus, Yehovah and Yeshua are truly the same! Yet, Yeshua’s roles will be different, and He will intentionally limit Himself in many ways in order to do the work that He will do.

5. Why did Elohim ask, “Was I not known to them”? He reminded His audiences that Avraham, Isaac and Jacob knew Elohim by His Name—by the Name Yehovah! This is important because of many individuals who will not believe that He desires for His Name, Yehovah, to be used. Others will claim that ‘Jesus’ and Yehovah are not the same. Those three, Avraham, Isaac and Jacob, knew El Shaddai as Yehovah, and they knew Yehovah!

II. Promised Land (verse 4)

Yehovah next spoke in the past tense as if what He described had already happened: “And I also made-stand my Covenant with them to give the land of Canaan to them, the land of their sojournings that they sojourned in her.”

Questions

1. What does making a covenant stand involve? It involves two steps: giving the covenant (that is, declaring it), and fulfilling it. No covenant stands if it is not kept.

2. What is a Covenant? It is a vow that often involves a sacrifice (and therefore a god), or if not a sacrifice, it still involves a god as the one who watches to see if the covenant is kept.

When Yehovah gave the Covenant, Yehovah vowed using Himself as the agent to guard the Covenant.

A Covenant is far more than a promise, and it is more than a vow. It always involves two (or more) persons and a god/God.

3. Who are them in, “I also made-stand my Covenant with them”? They are Avraham, Isaac and Jacob; yet, they also include one other: their seed, referring to the Messiah.

4. What does “the land of their sojournings” mean? That is the land in which they sojourned—they traveled on their journey to some destination.

5. Who is her in, “… that they sojourned in her”? She is the land.

III. Hearing and Remembering (verse 5)

Yehovah now responded to their present predicament: “And also I, I hearkened-to the groaning of the children of Israel whom the Egyptians are enslaving them. And I remembered my Covenant.”

Questions

1. Why is the pronoun, I mentioned twice in, “And also, I, I hearkened to the groaning …”? This shows that Elohim Himself truly hearkened to the groaning. He was very personally involved.

2. When Elohim heard their groaning, why didn’t He just use His power to stop the Egyptians and to make life much better for the Israelis instead of going through this whole process of taking them out of Egypt? Elohim’s desire is that those made in His image determine to do right in whatever circumstances they are, showing valiance and correct faith. If He had just stopped their problems, they would have done no thinking about life or the God of Israel. They would have just continued as pagans. (They did continue as pagans, but what they experienced will later convince Israelis to turn to Yehovah from paganism.)

Helping folks by doing for them instead of helping folks by assisting them often hurts them more than helps them. When they participate to do what is right while struggling to achieve the goal, the benefits are very great, and can be lasting for life.

3. Why were the Egyptians so mean to the Israelis? There are several reasons:

The Egyptians feared them
The Egyptians were afraid of their rapid rate of population growth
Yehovah Himself caused the Egyptians to hate the Israelis:

Psalm 105:23 Israel also came into Egypt. And Jacob sojourned in the land of Ham. 24And He greatly increased His people. And He made them stronger than their enemies. 25He turned their heart to hate His people, to subtly deal with His slaves.

4. The text states that Elohim remembered His Covenant. Had He forgotten it? He had not forgotten. This remembrance will be with action: He will do something about the situation of the Israelis because of the Covenant. Whenever the Bible states that Yehovah remembered or Elohim remembered, He is about to take action.

IV. I Am, I Will, I Am (verses 6-8)

He next gave Moshe the speech to say to the Israelis: “Therefore, say-thou to the children of Israel, ‘I am Yehovah [He-Will-Be, He-Is, He-Was]! And I will exit you out from under the burdens of the Egyptians! And I will rescue you from their slavery. And I will redeem you via a stretched out arm and via big justices! 7And I will take you to me to a people. And I will be to you to Gods. And ye shall know that I am Yehovah [He-Will-Be, He-Is, He-Was] your Gods Who exits you from under the burdens of the Egyptians! 8And I will bring you unto the land that I carried my hand to give her to Father-Of-A-Crowd [Avraham], to He-Will-Laugh [Isaac] and to He-Will-Heel [Jacob]. And I will give her to you, an inheritance. I am Yehovah [He-Will-Be, He-Is, He-Was].’”

Questions

1. What was the first thing that Moshe was told to tell the children of Israel? He must tell Israel that the God speaking these things is Yehovah. That declaration includes that He will be, He is, and He was!

2. When the Bible says children of Israel, are they little children? The word children in the Bible never indicates age, and therefore it doesn’t indicate being young. The Bible might use the word youths for children who are young. Instead, the word children only indicates that they came from a particular father (Israel, in this case) by birth or by joining.

3. Yehovah said, “And I will exit you out from under the burdens of the Egyptians!” How long will that take? It will take months. Yehovah must prepare the Israelis; they wouldn’t obey if He didn’t prepare them. (They hardly obeyed as it was!)

4. What is the difference between these two statements: “I will exit you out from under the burdens of the Egyptians” and “I will rescue you from their slavery”? The difference is this: Being exited from under the burdens doesn’t mean that the Israelis are no longer slaves; it only means that their work load has been greatly lightened. Being rescued from their slavery means that Egyptians will no longer reign over the Israelis.

5. What does redeem mean? There are two kinds of redemption in the Bible:

redemption by price, meaning that someone or something has been taken from some sort of held state (like a captive) by another paying a ransom price. The person might be a captive by kidnapping, but more often the person will be a captive (slave) by some other circumstance that isn’t a kidnapping (in the Bible).
redemption by force, meaning that someone or something has been taken from some sort of held state (like a captive) by a forceful rescue operation.

6. What kind of redemption will Yehovah do in this case? A reader might think that this will be a forceful rescue, but it won’t be. Yehovah will make the Egyptians willing. Instead, this is a redemption by price.

7. If the answer to the above question is the correct answer, how will this occur? Obviously, Elohim must pay the price. That didn’t occur during this entire event. This switches readers far into the future to the time of the Tribulation. Yehovah will stretch out His arm on the world through great attacks against the bad guys, and some folks (Saints and even non-saints) will give their lives to save the Israelis. Elohim will do those big justices during this time.

Yet, there is another time when He stretched out His arm and did big justices; that was when He was crucified. His being the sacrifice for sin and for redemption was an act of big justices! He provided Salvation and redemption for all so that those who will grasp them will obtain their benefits.

8. What will be the result of this redemption via a stretched out arm and via big justices? The result will be that Elohim will take the Israelis to Himself; they will be His people.

9. What is a people in the Bible? A people is a group of individuals who have a common culture, and therefore interact well with each other. A people is one group; peoples are more than one group.

10. What does “I will be to you to Gods” mean? Elohim/Yehovah will be all the Gods of the Israelis! They will claim Him as their Gods, and He will openly demonstrate Himself as their Gods! Thus, He will do miracles and demonstrate great power.

11. Elohim said, “And ye shall know that I am Yehovah your Gods Who exits you from under the burdens of the Egyptians.” Did this occur in Moshe’s day? No! This awaits another event that is very similar, but will occur thousands of years from now! The Israelis under Moshe never figured that Yehovah exited them; they thought that Moshe and Aharon did!

12. Which land is in mind in, “I will bring you unto the land”? That is the land that was formerly called Canaan, but will become known as the Land of Israel.

13. Yehovah said that He carried His hand. What does that mean? Yehovah’s hand can refer to the Messiah, and it always refers to His power. He directs with His speech or with His hand (and sometimes with both). When He shows His power, He uses His hand. (This is how a very young child sees the hand of adults.)

14. Who is her in, “I carried my hand to give her to Avraham …”? She is the Land (of Canaan/Israel).

15. The Israelis will later have to fight their way into the land of Canaan. Elohim states here, “I will give her to you, an inheritance.” Why would anyone have to fight for an inheritance? No one in the Bible has to fight for an inheritance. The timing in which this will occur is much later in history, and far into the future from our time. When the Israelis went into the land of Canaan, they did have to fight! Later, when Elohim gives the Land of Israel to the Israelis as an inheritance, they won’t fight for it; Yehovah will fight for them!

16. This paragraph ends with, “I am Yehovah.” Why does He say this again? The Israelis don’t know that He is Yehovah. Only when they truly know that He is Yehovah will they have faith in Him!

V. Shortness of Spirit (verse 9)

Moshe spoke with certainty to the Israelis: he spoke establishment unto them. They didn’t hearken to him; they were out of breath, and were being worked far too hard to hear him.

Questions

1. What does “Moshe spoke establishment unto the children of Israel” mean? What Moshe spoke was exactly what Yehovah told him to speak.

Once the Israelis will hearken to him, they will be established!

Whatever is established is firmly placed. If it isn’t established, one cannot be certain that it will stay where it is put or that it will do what it is supposed to do.

2. What does hearken mean? It means to listen and to obey—to do and to believe what was said.

3. Why didn’t the Israelis hearken unto Moshe? They were too out of breath from the difficulty of their slavery. They heard Moshe saying words, but they saw things only getting worse!

June 29, 2010July 5, 2017

Exodus 6 Remembering the Covenant

Remembering the Covenant

Background and Printed Text: Exodus 6:2-9

⁴ “And I also made-stand my Covenant with them to give the land of Canaan to them, the land of their sojournings that they sojourned in her.

⁵ “And also I, I hearkened-to the groaning of the children of Israel whom the Egyptians are enslaving them. And I remembered my Covenant.

⁹And Draw [Moshe] spoke establishment unto the children of Israel. And they didn’t hearken unto Draw [Moshe] from shortness of spirit/wind and from hard slavery.

I. Appearances (verses 2-3)

Yehovah again stated, “And my name is Yehovah!” He then asked Moshe a question: “Was I not known to them?”

Questions

1. Why did Yehovah start by identifying Himself as Yehovah?

2. Who is El Shaddai?

3. What does “And I appeared unto Avraham, unto Isaac and unto Jacob via El Shaddai” mean?

4. Why did Elohim find it necessary to again state, “And my name is Yehovah”?

5. Why did Elohim ask, “Was I not known to them”?

II. Promised Land (verse 4)

Questions

1. What does making a covenant stand involve?

2. What is a Covenant?

3. Who are them in, “I also made-stand my Covenant with them”?

4. What does “the land of their sojournings” mean?

5. Who is her in, “… that they sojourned in her”?

III. Hearing and Remembering (verse 5)

Yehovah now responded to their present predicament: “And also I, I hearkened-to the groaning of the children of Israel whom the Egyptians are enslaving them. And I remembered my Covenant.”

Questions

1. Why is the pronoun, I mentioned twice in, “And also, I, I hearkened to the groaning …”?

3. Why were the Egyptians so mean to the Israelis?

4. The text states that Elohim remembered His Covenant. Had He forgotten it?

IV. I Am, I Will, I Am (verses 6-8)

Questions

1. What was the first thing that Moshe was told to tell the children of Israel?

2. When the Bible says children of Israel, are they little children?

3. Yehovah said, “And I will exit you out from under the burdens of the Egyptians!” How long will that take?

4. What is the difference between these two statements: “I will exit you out from under the burdens of the Egyptians” and “I will rescue you from their slavery”?

5. What does redeem mean?

6. What kind of redemption will Yehovah do in this case?

7. If the answer to the above question is the correct answer, how will this occur?

8. What will be the result of this redemption via a stretched out arm and via big justices?

9. What is a people in the Bible?

10. What does “I will be to you to Gods” mean?

11. Elohim said, “And ye shall know that I am Yehovah your Gods Who exits you from under the burdens of the Egyptians.” Did this occur in Moshe’s day?

12. Which land is in mind in, “I will bring you unto the land”?

13. Yehovah said that He carried His hand. What does that mean?

14. Who is her in, “I carried my hand to give her to Avraham …”?

15. The Israelis will later have to fight their way into the land of Canaan. Elohim states here, “I will give her to you, an inheritance.” Why would anyone have to fight for an inheritance?

16. This paragraph ends with, “I am Yehovah.” Why does He say this again?

V. Shortness of Spirit (verse 9)

Moshe spoke with certainty to the Israelis: he spoke establishment unto them. They didn’t hearken to him; they were out of breath, and were being worked far too hard to hear him.

Questions

1. What does “Moshe spoke establishment unto the children of Israel” mean?

2. What does hearken mean?

3. Why didn’t the Israelis hearken unto Moshe?

February 16, 2009August 23, 2016

Drinking The Blood of the New Covenant

Drinking The Blood

Of the New Covenant

Introduction

A number of faiths under the title of Christian hold to views of transubstantiation, the belief that Jesus’ literal blood and flesh is ingested in order to partake in the body of Christ. Because of my literalist views, I wanted to see if Biblical texts would support this. The following is what I found.

The Four Texts: Matthew

Matthew 26:26 And as they were eating, Yeshua took bread. And He blessed and brake and gave to the disciples. And He said, “Take! Eat! This is my Body.” ²⁷And He took the cup. And He gave thanks. And He gave to them, saying, “Drink ye all of it. ²⁸For this is my blood of the New Covenant that is shed for many for the remission of sins. ²⁹But I say unto you, I will not drink henceforth of this fruit of the vine until that day when I drink it new with you in my Father’s kingdom!”

In case you were unaware, questions regarding the Body (verse 26) have led some of us to conclude that this is not Messiah’s physical body, but the Body of Christ, the Church. Passover Matzah (unleavened bread eaten at Passover) pictures the Church without sin, leaven and vinegar being types of sin and bitterness. Manna pictures the Bread of Life, Messiah.

Messiah stated that this is His blood of the New Covenant, shed for many for sin remission. What portrays His blood?

The Four Texts: Mark

Mark 14:22 And as they did eat, Yeshua took bread. And He blessed and brake. And He gave to them. And He said, “Take! Eat! This is my body.” ²³And He took the cup. And when He had given thanks, He gave to them. And they all drank of it. ²⁴And He said unto them, “This is my blood of the New Covenant that is shed for many. ²⁵Verily I say unto you, I will drink no more of the fruit of the vine until that day that I drink it new in the kingdom of God.”

The expression, my blood of the New Covenant, had me puzzled. Was Messiah claiming that the cup contained His blood?

The Four Texts: Luke

Luke 22:15 And He said unto them, “With desire I have desired to eat this Passover with you before I suffer. ¹⁶For I say unto you, I will not any more eat of him until it be fulfilled in the kingdom of God.” ¹⁷And He took the cup. And He gave thanks. And He said, “Take this and divide among yourselves. ¹⁸For I say unto you, I will not drink of the fruit of the vine until the kingdom of God shall come.” ¹⁹And He took bread. And He gave thanks. And He brake. And He gave unto them, saying, “This is my body that is given for you. Do this in remembrance of me.” ²⁰Likewise also the cup after supper, saying, “This cup is the New Covenant in my blood that is shed for you.”

A different wording can portray a different meaning. The last line (verse 20) reads, This cup is the New Covenant in my blood that is shed for you, indicating that the cup is the New Covenant, whereas in the texts above the cup seemed to be Messiah’s blood of the New Covenant, making the cup the blood.

The drink sacrifices (‘drink offerings’) and texts where grape juice is called the blood of the grapes come to mind. I found no text where anyone drank of the drink sacrifices; they were always entirely poured out. The following are the blood of grapes texts:

Genesis 49:10 The sceptre shall not depart from Judah, nor a lawgiver from between his feet until Shiloh comes. And unto him is the gathering of the people, ¹¹binding His foal unto the vine and His ass’s colt unto the choice vine. He washed His garments in wine and His clothes in the blood of grapes. ¹²His eyes are red with wine and His teeth white with milk. Deuteronomy 32:9 For Yehovah’s portion is His people. Jacob is the lot of his inheritance. ¹⁰He found him in a desert land and in the waste howling wilderness. He led him about. He instructed him. He kept him as the pupil of His eye. ¹¹As an eagle stirreth up her nest, fluttereth over her young, spreadeth abroad her wings, taketh them, beareth them on her wings, ¹²Yehovah alone did lead him, and no strange god is with him. ¹³He made him ride on the high places of the earth that he might eat the increase of the fields. And He made him to suck honey out of the rock and oil out of the flinty rock, ¹⁴butter of kine and milk of sheep with fat of lambs and rams of the breed of Bashan, and goats with the fat of kidneys of wheat. And thou didst drink the pure blood of the grape.

Since the Bible uses blood for grape juice or wine, I knew I could use this evidence in our Passover texts.

The Four Texts: 1 Corinthians

1 Corinthians 11:23 For I have received of the Lord that which also I delivered unto you that the Lord Yeshua, the night in which He was betrayed, took bread. ²⁴And when He had given thanks, He brake. And He said, “Take! Eat! This is my Body that is broken for you! Do this in remembrance of me.” ²⁵After the same manner also the cup, when He had supped, saying, “This cup is the New Covenant in my blood. Do ye this in remembrance of me as often as ye drink.” ²⁶For as often as ye eat this bread and drink this cup, ye do show the Lord’s death till He comes. ²⁷Therefore whosoever shall eat this bread and drink the cup of the Lord unworthily shall be guilty of the body and blood of the Lord! ²⁸But let a man examine himself, and so let him eat of the bread and drink of the cup. ²⁹For he who eateth and drinketh unworthily eateth and drinketh damnation to himself, not discerning the Lord’s Body!

I therefore put the Matthew, Mark, Luke and 1 Corinthians texts together to see what Messiah said in its entirety. I first constructed a four-column table, and carefully separated the texts into sections to set them in a parallel order:

Matthew	Mark	Luke	1 Corinthians
		Luke 22:15 And He said unto them, “With desire I have desired to eat this Passover with you before I suffer. ¹⁶For I say unto you, I will not any more eat of him until it be fulfilled in the kingdom of God.” ¹⁷And He took the cup. And He gave thanks. And He said, “Take this and divide among yourselves. ¹⁸For I say unto you, I will not drink of the fruit of the vine until the kingdom of God shall come.”
Matthew 26:26 And as they were eating, Yeshua took bread. And He blessed and brake and gave to the disciples. And He said, “Take! Eat! This is my Body.”	Mark 14:22 And as they did eat, Yeshua took bread. And He blessed and brake. And He gave to them. And He said, “Take! Eat! This is my body.”	¹⁹And He took bread. And He gave thanks. And He brake. And He gave unto them, saying, “This is my body that is given for you. Do this in remembrance of me.”	1 Corinthians 11:23 For I have received of the Lord that which also I delivered unto you that the Lord Yeshua, the night in which He was betrayed, took bread. ²⁴And when He had given thanks, He brake. And He said, “Take! Eat! This is my Body that is broken for you! Do this in remembrance of me.”
²⁷And He took the cup. And He gave thanks. And He gave to them,	²³And He took the cup. And when He had given thanks, He gave to them.	²⁰Likewise also the cup after supper,	²⁵After the same manner also the cup, when He had supped,
saying, “Drink ye all of it.
		saying, “This cup is the New Covenant in my blood that is shed for you.”	saying, “This cup is the New Covenant in my blood.
	And they all drank of it.
²⁸For this is my blood of the New Covenant that is shed for many for the remission of sins.	²⁴And He said unto them, “This is my blood of the New Covenant that is shed for many.
			Do ye this in remembrance of me as often as ye drink.”
²⁹But I say unto you, I will not drink henceforth of this fruit of the vine until that day when I drink it new with you in my Father’s kingdom!”	²⁵Verily I say unto you, I will drink no more of the fruit of the vine until that day that I drink it new in the kingdom of God.”
			²⁶For as often as ye eat this bread and drink this cup, ye do show the Lord’s death till He comes. ²⁷Therefore whosoever shall eat this bread and drink the cup of the Lord unworthily shall be guilty of the body and blood of the Lord! ²⁸But let a man examine himself, and so let him eat of the bread and drink of the cup. ²⁹For he who eateth and drinketh unworthily eateth and drinketh damnation to himself, not discerning the Lord’s Body!

I then reconciled the texts in order, avoiding excluding information, preserving the colors to identify from which books each part derived. All four Texts put together were as follows:

And as they were eating, Yeshua took bread. And He blessed. And He brake. And He gave to the disciples. And He said, “Take! Eat! This is my Body that is given/broken for you. Do this in remembrance of me.”

20Likewise also He took the cup after supper. And He gave thanks. And He gave to them, saying, “This cup is the New Covenant in my blood that is shed for you.” And they all drank of it. ²⁸ “For this is my blood of the New Covenant that is shed for many for the remission of sins. Do ye this in remembrance of me as often as ye drink. ²⁹But I say unto you, I will not drink henceforth of this fruit of the vine until that day when I drink it new with you in my Father’s kingdom, the Kingdom of God!” ²⁶For as often as ye eat this bread and drink this cup, ye do show the Lord’s death till He comes. ²⁷Therefore whosoever shall eat this bread and drink the cup of the Lord unworthily shall be guilty of the body and blood of the Lord! ²⁸But let a man examine himself, and so let him eat of the bread and drink of the cup. ²⁹For he who eateth and drinketh unworthily eateth and drinketh damnation to himself, not discerning the Lord’s Body!

I then examined the reconciled paragraphs above:

Messiah knew He would be suffering, and greatly desired to eat this Passover with the Israelis. It would be His last participation in a Passover meal until its fulfillment in the Kingdom of God. (The event is prophetic, speaking of things to come rather than of things in the past.)

Messiah took the cup. He gave thanks (in Hebrew, confessions). He told the Israelis to take the cup and to divide this one cup among themselves. Messiah did not drink, but will do so when the Kingdom of God shall come (teaching that the Kingdom of God has not yet come).

Messiah took Matzah during the meal. He blessed Yehovah. He broke the bread, dispensing it to the Disciples. He then told them to take the Matzah. They did, and He told them to eat it, declaring that the Matzah is His Body that is given and is dispensed for them (for the Israelis). The word broken, referring to bread, indicates piecing it for eating, not shattering as in a broken heart. Messiah told them to do break and piece Matzah to each other in remembrance of Him.

He took the cup after they had eaten the Passover like He had during the meal. He again gave thanks to Yehovah. He gave it to them, telling them that the cup is the New Covenant in His blood that is shed for the Israelis. He did not relate the cup’s contents with blood at this point, but the whole cup and its contents with the New Covenant. This New Covenant is made in His blood, and His blood is shed for the Israelis. His Disciples all drank from this cup, confirming the New Covenant in His blood.

Messiah continued His explanation, stating that the blood He mentioned above is His blood of the New Covenant that is shed for many—not just the Israelis—for sin remission. They are to do this same thing in remembrance of Messiah as often as they drink!

Messiah reminded them that He will not drink of this fruit of the vine until that day (the Day of Yehovah) when He drinks it new with them in His Father’s Kingdom, the Kingdom of God.

Paul later explained what the Passover Matzah and the Passover wine cup portrayed—Messiah’s death—until Messiah comes. Anyone who eats the Passover Matzah and drinks the Passover wine in an unworthy manner is guilty of the Body and the Blood of Messiah! A participant must make sure he isn’t partying, but is participating in a solemnity, and must show consideration for others. Failure to do so shows that a person is not discerning the Body of Christ, and eats and drinks condemnation to himself!

Ezekiel 44:4 Then he brought me the way of the north gate before the house. And I looked, and behold, the glory of Yehovah filled the House of Yehovah. And I fell upon my face. ⁵And Yehovah said unto me, “Son of man, mark well and behold with thine eyes, and hear with thine ears all that I say unto thee concerning all the ordinances of the House of Yehovah and all the laws thereof. And mark well the entering in of the house with every going forth of the sanctuary. ⁶And thou shalt say to the rebellious—to the House of Israel, Thus saith Yehovah Yehovah, House of Israel, let it suffice you of all your abominations ⁷in that ye have brought strangers uncircumcised in heart and uncircumcised in flesh to be in my sanctuary to pollute it—my House, when ye offer my bread, the fat and the blood! And they have broken my Covenant because of all your abominations. ⁸And ye have not kept the charge of mine holy things, but ye have set keepers of my charge in my sanctuary for yourselves. ⁹Thus saith Yehovah Yehovah, no stranger uncircumcised in heart nor uncircumcised in flesh shall enter into my sanctuary, of any stranger that is among the children of Israel.

This indictment is very serious.

The Three Covenants

A careful reader, using a proper translation, will discern three covenants in the following text:

Hebrews 8:1Now the sum of the things that we have spoken is: 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 tabernacle 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 have 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 tabernacle: for, “See,” saith He, “thou make all things according to the pattern showed to thee in the mount.” ⁶But now hath He obtained a more excellent ministry by how much also He is the mediator of a better Covenant that was established upon better promises. 7For if that first had been faultless, then should no place have been sought for the second. ⁸For finding fault with them, He saith, “Behold, the days come, saith Yehovah, when I will make a New Covenant with the House of Israel and with the House of Judah—9not according to the Covenant that I made with their fathers in the day when I took them by the hand to lead them out of the land of Egypt. For they continued not in my covenant, and I was an husband to them, saith Yehovah. ¹⁰For this is the Covenant that I will make with the House of Israel after those days, saith Yehovah; I will put my laws into their mind, and write them in their hearts. And I will be to them a God, and they shall be to me a people. ¹¹And they shall not teach every man his neighbour and every man his brother, saying, ‘Know the Lord!’ For all shall know me from the least to the greatest. ¹²For I will be merciful to their unrighteousness, and their sins and their iniquities will I remember no more. ¹³In that He saith, A new, He hath made the first old. Now that which decayeth and waxeth old is ready to vanish away. ¹Then verily the first had also ordinances of divine service, and a worldly sanctuary. 2For there was a tabernacle made—the first in which is the candlestick and the table and the showbread—which is called the sanctuary.

The following texts consider one of the three Covenants:

Zechariah 9:9 Rejoice greatly, O daughter of Zion; shout, O daughter of Jerusalem! Behold, thy King cometh unto thee! He is righteous and saved, lowly and riding upon an ass and upon a colt the foal of an ass. ¹⁰And I will cut off the chariot from Ephraim and the horse from Jerusalem. And the battle bow shall be cut off. And He shall speak peace unto the races. And His dominion is from sea to sea and from the river to the ends of the earth. ¹¹As for thee also, I have sent forth thy prisoners out of the pit in which is no water by the blood of thy Covenant. ¹²Turn you to the strong hold, prisoners of hope! Even to day do I declare I will render double unto thee ¹³when I have bent Judah for me, filled the bow with Ephraim and raised up thy sons, Zion, against thy sons, Greece, and made thee as the sword of a mighty man. ¹⁴And Yehovah shall be seen over them. And His arrow shall go forth as the lightning. And the Lord Yehovah shall blow the trumpet and shall go with whirlwinds of the south. ¹⁵Yehovah of hosts shall defend them! And they shall devour and subdue with sling stones! And they shall drink. They shall make a noise as through wine. And they shall be filled like bowls, as the corners of the altar. ¹⁶And Yehovah their God shall save them in that day as the flock of His people, for they are the stones of a crown, lifted up as an ensign upon His land. ¹⁷For how great is His goodness, and how great is His beauty! Grain shall make the young men cheerful, and new wine the maids.

The pit in which is no water (verse 11) sounds like Sheol, like the side in which unbelievers are kept until judgment. This text sounds like another reference to Ezekiel 37’s resurrection of the whole House of Israel. The prisoners will be sent forth by the blood of thy (Daughter of Zion’s) Covenant. This Covenant preserves life!

Hebrews 9:19 For when Moses had spoken every precept to all the people according to the Torah, he took the blood of calves and of goats with water and scarlet wool and hyssop, and sprinkled both the book and all the people, ²⁰saying, “This is the blood of the Covenant which God hath enjoined unto you.”

This text refers to the following:

Exodus 24:1 And He said unto Moses, “Come up unto Yehovah—thou, and Aaron, Nadab, and Abihu, and seventy of the elders of Israel—and worship ye afar off. ²And Moses alone shall come near Yehovah, but they shall not come nigh. And the people shall not go up with him.” ³And Moses came and told the people all the words of Yehovah, and all the judgments. And all the people answered with one voice, and said, “We will do all the words that Yehovah hath said.” ⁴And Moses wrote all the words of Yehovah. And he rose up early in the morning and builded an altar under the hill, and twelve pillars, according to the twelve tribes of Israel. ⁵And he sent young men of the children of Israel who offered ascendings and sacrificed peaces-sacrifices of oxen unto Yehovah. ⁶And Moses took half of the blood, and put into basins, and half of the blood he sprinkled on the altar. ⁷And he took the Scroll of the Covenant, and read in the audience of the people. And they said, “We will do all that Yehovah hath said, and will be obedient.” ⁸And Moses took the blood. And he sprinkled it on the people. And he said, “Behold the blood of the Covenant that Yehovah hath made with you concerning all these words!”

In verse 1, Moshe, the higher priests and seventy elders came to worship Yehovah at a distance. Moshe then approached alone. He then went back to the Israelis and told them all the words of Yehovah, and all His justices. The Israelis agreed to fully do all Yehovah had said.

Moshe then wrote all the words of Yehovah. He arose early, built an altar under the hill, and erected twelve pillars, one for each tribe. Men were sent to offer oxen, the peaces-sacrifices and ascendings unto Yehovah.

Moshe next divided the caught blood from the oxen, placing half into basins and sprinkling half on the altar. He then read the Scroll of the Covenant so that the Israelis could hear it in its entirety. The Israelis again agreed to do and be obedient to all Yehovah said.

He then took the basins of blood, and sprinkled it on the people of Israel. He told them to behold that blood of the Covenant Yehovah made with them concerning all these words.

They were sprinkled with literal blood. They did not drink it.

Hebrews 10:29 Of how much sorer punishment, suppose ye, shall he be thought worthy, who hath trodden under foot the Son of God, and hath counted the blood of the Covenant, wherewith he was sanctified, an unholy thing, and hath done despite unto the Spirit of grace?

Contempt for the blood of the Covenant or for the Covenant itself is very serious.

Hebrews 12:24 And to Yeshua the mediator of the New Covenant, and to the blood of sprinkling, that speaketh better things than that of Abel.

Hebrews 13:20 Now the God of peace, that brought again from the dead our Lord Yeshua, that great shepherd of the sheep, through the blood of the everlasting Covenant…

Having viewed these texts and having sorted out the four texts describing Messiah’s final Passover until He returns, I found no evidence for drinking blood, whether in literal form or in pictorial form. One more text had to be considered, however.

John 6: 41 The Jews then murmured at Him because He said, “I am the bread that came down from heaven.” ⁴²And they said, “Is not this Yeshua son of Joseph, whose father and mother we know? How is it then that He saith, ‘I came down from heaven?’” ⁴³Yeshua therefore answered and said unto them, “Murmur not among yourselves. ⁴⁴No man can come to me except the Father Who hath sent me draw him. And I will raise him up at the last day. ⁴⁵It is written in the prophets, ‘And they shall be all taught of God.’ Every man therefore who hath heard and hath learned of the Father cometh unto me—⁴⁶not that any man hath seen the Father save he who is of God—he hath seen the Father. ⁴⁷Verily, verily, I say unto you, he that believeth on me hath everlasting life. ⁴⁸I am that bread of life. ⁴⁹Your fathers did eat manna in the wilderness, and are dead. ⁵⁰This is the bread that cometh down from heaven, that a man may eat of it and not die. ⁵¹I am the living bread that came down from heaven. If any man eat of this bread, he shall live for ever. 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, “Verily, verily, 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 eateth my flesh and drinketh my blood hath 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 eateth my flesh and drinketh my blood dwelleth in me, and I in him. ⁵⁷As the living Father hath sent me, and I live by the Father—so he who eateth me, even he shall live by me. ⁵⁸This is that bread that came down from heaven—not as your fathers did eat manna, and are dead—he who eateth of this bread shall live for ever.” ⁵⁹He said these things in the synagogue as He taught in Capernaum. ⁶⁰Therefore many of his disciples, when they had heard, said, “This is an hard saying! Who can hear it?” ⁶¹When Yeshua knew in Himself that His disciples murmured at it, He said unto them, “Doth this offend you? ⁶²And if ye shall see the Son of man ascend up where He was before? ⁶³It is the Spirit Who quickeneth. The flesh profiteth nothing. The words that I speak unto you are spirit and are life. ⁶⁴But there are some of you that believe not.” For Yeshua knew from the beginning who they were that believed not, and who should betray Him. ⁶⁵And He said, “Therefore I said unto you that no man can come unto me except it were given unto him of my Father.” ⁶⁶From that, many of His disciples went back and walked no more with Him. ⁶⁷Then Yeshua said unto the Twelve, “Will ye also go away?” ⁶⁸Then Simon Peter answered Him, “Lord, to whom shall we go? Thou hast the words of everlasting life. ⁶⁹And we believe and are sure that Thou art that Messiah the Son of the living God.

Was Yeshua commanding folks to bite His arm and suck His blood? A careful examination will answer this.

Messiah claims to be the bread that came down from heaven, referring to Manna sent to the Israelis in the desert. He might as well claim also to be the Rock that followed them:

1 Corinthians 10:1 Moreover, brethren, I would not that ye should be ignorant how that all our fathers were under the cloud, and all passed through the sea, ²and were all baptized unto Moses in the cloud and in the sea, ³and did all eat the same spiritual food, ⁴and did all drink the same spiritual drink. For they drank of that spiritual Rock that followed them. And that Rock was Christ.

If no one has a difficulty with the Rock being Messiah Himself, from which living waters flowed, what is hard about Messiah being the Manna? Such matters distinguish faith from unbelief.

Folks present knew Yeshua and His parents, and wondered how His claim of being the Manna could be true. He determined to settle the matter by stating that no one could come to Him unless Yehovah the Father draws him to Yeshua. Messiah will resurrect all such folks in the Day of Yehovah.

Messiah quoted the prophets, and I am supposing it to be the following text:

Isaiah 54:11 Thou afflicted, tossed with tempest, not comforted, behold, I will lay thy stones with fair colours, and lay thy foundations with sapphires. ¹²And I will make thy windows of agates and thy gates of carbuncles, and all thy borders of pleasant stones. ¹³And all thy children are taught of Yehovah. And great is the peace of thy children!

Jerusalem is being addressed, and the children of Jerusalem are the Israelis. The timing is the End Times, starting in the Tribulation and continuing throughout the Millennium. The text speaks of folks who are taught directly by Yehovah. Folks who have heard and have learned from Yehovah will come to Messiah! They won’t see Yehovah the Father directly, because at that time Messiah alone will see the Father. Anyone who believes on Messiah Yeshua has everlasting life (present tense).

Messiah then spoke about the bread of life: I am that bread of life. The Manna pictured this, but Messiah is the bread of life. The Israelis’ fathers ate Manna, and it didn’t save them; they died. Messiah is describing the Bread of Life—it is what comes down from the heavens so that a man may eat from it and not die (for ever). Messiah Yeshua is the living bread that came down from the heavens. If anyone eats of this bread, he will live forever, just like folks who eat of the Tree of Life.

The bread Messiah will give is His flesh; He will give it for the life of the world. I thought about how the Scriptures use flesh:

Romans 11:13 For I speak to you Gentiles, inasmuch as I am the apostle of the Gentiles. I magnify mine office ¹⁴if by any means I may provoke to emulation my flesh, and might save some of them.

If Messiah gave His own bodily flesh for the life of the world, why did He take it back again when He rose from the dead? He gave Himself into the hands of violent folks, but salvation came through His blood. During the Tribulation, however, the Jewish folks will be given into the hands of sinful men, and many will die. Through their deaths will come the life of the world:

Romans 11:15 For if the casting away of them is the reconciling of the world, what is the receiving but life from the dead?

Verse 52 shows that some of the folks hearing Messiah weren’t getting it. Yeshua’s response was even more cryptic: Except ye eat the flesh of the Son of man and drink His blood, ye have no life in you.

Look at the following verses:

John 1:14 And the Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us. And we beheld His glory—the glory as of the only begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth. John 6:51 I am the living bread that came down from heaven. If any man eat of this bread, he shall live for ever. 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, “Verily, verily, 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 eateth my flesh and drinketh my blood hath 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 that eateth my flesh and drinketh my blood dwelleth in me, and I in him.

Could He be referring the Word of God made flesh, the Lamb of God? If so, what would His blood be? If it refers back to the cup (discussed above in the four reconciled texts), the Covenant of Messiah in His blood, an eater and drinker of Messiah’s flesh and blood has participated in His Covenant; and only one circumcised may do so:

Exodus 12:43 And Yehovah said unto Moses and Aaron, “This is the statute of the Passover. No stranger shall eat of him. ⁴⁴But every man’s servant that is bought for money, when thou hast circumcised him, then shall he eat of him. ⁴⁵A foreigner and an hired servant shall not eat of him. ⁴⁶In one house he shall be eaten. Thou shalt not carry forth the flesh abroad out of the house, neither shall ye break a bone of him. ⁴⁷All the congregation of Israel shall guard him. ⁴⁸And when a stranger shall sojourn with thee, and will guard the Passover to Yehovah, all his males shall be circumcised. And then he shall come near and guard him. And he shall be as one that is born in the land. For no uncircumcised person shall eat of him. ⁴⁹One law shall be to him that is homeborn, and unto the stranger that sojourneth among you.”

John 6:54 shows Yeshua’s seriousness regarding these things, because He repeats, Whoso eateth my flesh and drinketh my blood hath everlasting life. And I will raise him up at the last day. If He flesh refers to the Manna and His blood refers to the waters of life in the Rock when He appeared as the Rock, this also makes sense. Verse 57 uses the expression, Shall live by me. This reminds me of other texts:

Habakkuk 2:4-b The righteous-one by his faith shall live. Deuteronomy 8:3 And He humbled thee and suffered thee to hunger, and fed thee with manna—which thou knewest not, neither did thy fathers know—that He might make thee know that man doth not live by bread only, but by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of Yehovah doth man live. Romans 1:17 For therein is the righteousness of God revealed from faith to faith: as it is written, The just shall live by faith. Romans 10:5 For Moses describeth the righteousness which is of the law, That the man which doeth those things shall live by them.

Eating of Messiah the Manna is associated with faith, and differs from merely tasting:

Psalms 34:8 Taste and see that Yehovah is good. Blessed is the man trusting in Him.

Yeshua refers to the bread in the third person in verse 58: He who eateth of this bread shall live for ever. This is similar to what He said to the woman He met at the well and what He said in the verses above in John 6:

John 4:14 But whosoever drinketh of the water that I shall give him shall never thirst. But the water that I shall give him shall be in him a well of water springing up into everlasting life. John 6:35 And Jesus said unto them, “I am the bread of life. He who cometh to me shall never hunger. And he that believeth on me shall never thirst.”

Messiah Yeshua said these things in a synagogue. His own Disciples (He had many besides the twelve) found this a very hard saying that could not be heard (verse 60). Yeshua asked the Disciples directly whether this offended them. Would it still offend them if they saw the Son of man ascend back into the heavens?

Yeshua then clarified the point (verse 63) by explaining that the Spirit of Yehovah makes alive. The flesh (physical body made of skin, muscles, bones, etc.) doesn’t profit; eating Messiah’s arm would not do any good. The words He spoke unto them are Spirit (breath) and are life. The words must be eaten. Some of His Disciples didn’t believe Him, like Judas Iscariot. No one can come to the Word of Yehovah unless Yehovah the Father gives ‘it’ to him. (Does ‘it’ represent the Word, faith, life, hearing, Manna, the Spirit of Yehovah, or something else?) Yeshua lost many Disciples by this communication. His Twelve didn’t go away. Peter knew Yeshua had the words of everlasting life, and he spoke for the other eleven (though he was mistaken about Judas Iscariot) affirming their faith and certainty that Yeshua is the Messiah the Son of the living God.

1 Chronicles 11:17 And David longed, and said, “Oh that one would give me drink of the water of the well of Bethlehem that is at the gate! ¹⁸And the three brake through the host of the Philistines, and drew water out of the well of Bethlehem that is by the gate. And they took and brought to David. But David would not drink of it, but poured it out to Yehovah. ¹⁹And he said, “My God forbid it me that I should do this thing. Shall I drink the blood of these men who have put their lives in jeopardy? For with their lives they brought it!” Therefore he would not drink it. These things did these three mightiest. 2 Samuel 23:14 And David was then in an hold, and the garrison of the Philistines was then Bethlehem. ¹⁵And David longed. And he said, “Oh that one would give me drink of the water of the well of Bethlehem, which is by the gate! ¹⁶And the three mighty men brake through the host of the Philistines. And they drew water out of the well of Bethlehem that was by the gate. And they took and brought to David. And he would not drink thereof, but poured it out unto Yehovah. ¹⁷And he said, “Be it far from me, Yehovah, that I should do this—the blood of the men that went in jeopardy of their lives!” Therefore he would not drink it. These things did these three mighty men.

King David recognized that by drinking the water these men obtained at the risk of their lives, he would be drinking their blood. Messiah obtained the waters of life by shedding His own blood, and all who participate in what Messiah obtained are drinking His blood in the very same way.