Dedicated

This week's Sabbath reading portion is titled Naso, meaning "Elevate, Lift Up". I have always enjoyed Naso because it holds a wealth of new information everytime I study it. This Sabbath also falls around the LORD's Feast of Weeks/Shavuot/Pentecost. The reading begins in Num. 4, where Moses has been commanded to number the Kohaths, who were a family among the Levite priesthood. This is the very important command, given to Moses by God, from which we also get the title, Naso: "Take a (aleph-tav) census/sum of the sons of Kohath from among the children of Levi, by their families, by their fathers' house, from thirty years old and above, even to fifty years old, all who enter the service to do the work in the tabernacle of meeting." (Num. 4:2). These "Kohaths", a separate group from out of the Levites, will be commanded to carry the covered most holy furnishings from the Holy Place, and the Holy of Holies of the tabernacle. These furnishings would include, the ark of the Testimony (edu/ed/ud - witness, revelation/evidence of a thing, a witness of a people, a recorder a prince/return, restore, turn back, affirm, warn, exhort, admonish) with the Mercy Seat atop it, the table of showbread, the lampstand of the light, and the altar of incense. All of these items are of gold and have a direct connection to Christ. They would have previously been covered with cloths of blue, scarlet or purple, and badger skins. The Kohaths must carry these most holy furnishings with poles, and could not see nor touch the furnishings directly (see verses 4-15). Just in the two verses quoted above, there is so much important detail to be found in the Hebrew words used here, that I will have to summarize it for you. Let's start with the idea that from among the Levites, there is a group that is being separated out, or dedicated, by counting, to carry the most holy items found in the tabernacle, or Tent of Jehovah. The colors of cloth used to cover these items, blue (violet), scarlet and purple are the colors used in the tabernacle in general. These colors are found in a particular color spectrum, produced by a single wavelength of light, or a narrow band of light wavelengths, that goes from brilliant red through deep purple. The root meaning in Hebrew for this blue color spectrum (tekelet/sehelet) also relates to a concussion of sound. Another distinguishing characteristic of blue noise is that each successive octave increases by three decibels — this results in each octave packing as much energy as the two octaves below it combined. So we have light and sound waves going on here that create some serious energy output. We read an example of this concussive and colorful release of energy when the LORD descended on Mt. Sinai on Shavuot, or the Feast of Weeks/Pentecost, and gave the Torah, His Word, to His people. The ground shook so hard with concussive lightnings and thunderings on the Mount that the people were terrified. Now let's look at the meanings of the Hebrew words used concerning the Kohaths in the verses above, who are to carry the most holy items. First Moses must take (nasa - bear up (continuously), carry, forgive, pardon, accept, lift, desire, long for, love, rise up, endure, lift up the head of a prisoner, lift up the voice, to offer a gift) an aleph-tav count/sum (ros- chief, head, beginning, first, company, division, captain, rulers, highest, supreme, prince) of them. [The aleph-tav connected to a Hebrew word, as mentioned in previous posts, is the Hebrew equivalent to the Greek "Alpha and Omega" by which Jesus refers to Himself in Revelation.] Why does God number His people in this fourth Book of the Torah? By numbering them, God is setting them apart, or dedicating them, for a speific purpose or identity in Him. They are sons of Kohath (meaning "assembly"). These are a set apart assembly of the sons of God, the sons of the King. They are from among (tavek - within, in your midst, the middle of a thing from its being divided) the Levites. The Kohaths are to be separated out from the Levites by their families (mispaha/sipha - family, clan, people, nation, kind, aristorats/female bond servant that is an extension of a family or household). These Kohaths, or assembly, are to range from thirty years old (selosim/salos - age of royal duty/three, triad, stones) upward even until (ad - as long as, eternity, perpetuity of time, everlasting, evermore) fifty (grace x completion). The Kohaths are "all (kol/kalal - whosoever/made perfect, complete, to put a crown upon) who enter the service (saba - host, warfare, army, battle, service, assembled, mustered, warred, appointed time) to do the work (melaka/malak - workman/ambassador/messenger of the prophet, teacher, priest, king) in the tabernacle of meeting (ohel/ahal moed/ya'ad - the clean, shining, bright tent or covering of the congregation, conspicuous from a distance (see Mt. 5:14-16) of the vision of the espoused assembly appointed to a certain time to come with Him to such a place) ". To me, considering the meanings of all of the Hebrew words used in these two verses, this smaller group of Levites, the Kohaths, being separated out and dedicated here as the carriers of the golden furnishings of the Holy Place and the Holy of Holies, sounds very much like the called out assembly (ekklesia/church) of Christ, who carry Him in their hearts. Paul wrote in 2 Cor. 4:7-10: " But we have this treasure in earthen vessels...always carrying about in the body the dying of the Lord Jesus, that the life of Jesus may be manifested in our body." The Kohaths carried these most holy things for generations, without ever being able to see them. Jesus said to a disciple who had to see Him to believe: "Thomas, because you have seen Me, you have believed. Blessed are those who have not seen and yet have believed." (Jn. 20:29). In another part from this week's Sabbath Naso reading, there is a different dedicated group set apart according to the Law of Moses as given by God. This type of group will have an unusual role to play in Israel's future. These dedicated people of God are called Nazirites (nazir/nazar - undressed, separated, consecrated or devoted one, untrimmed as a Sabbath-year vine: see Lev. 25:3-5, a prince as being consecrated to God). A Nazarite, according to the law of the Nazarite, could be either a man or a woman. The individual would make a vow, sealed with an offering, "to separate himself to the LORD". He/She would abstain from any product of the grape vine, from applying a razor to his head (hair), or from touching the unclean dead (Num. 6:1-8). This Nazarite vow of separation is not necessarily a lifelong commitment, and can be for a specified period of time. Others in scripture who were Nazarites include Samuel, possibly John the Baptist, and, as we will see, Samson. Believers in Christ are also told in scripture to be spiritual Nazarites: "...For you are the temple of the living God...Therefore 'Come out from among them and be separate, says the Lord. Do not touch what is unclean, and I will receive you. I will be a Father to you, and you shall be My sons and daughters, says the LORD Almighty." (2 Cor. 6:17-18 from Isa. 52:11, see also Rev. 18:4-5, Jn. 17:14-17, Rom. 12:1-2). In the verse from Isa. 52:11, from which Paul was quoting above, the prophet also added: "Be clean, you who bear the vessels of the LORD", which also brings us back to the Kohaths above. I think we can also find another very important connection between the believer in Christ, and the Nazarite, in another portion of this week's Sabbath reading from Naso. It is found in Judges 13 and 16, involving the birth and life of Samson. Samson was a very unique individual in scripture, who was born under a Nazarite vow. His previously barren mother and father were to raise him as a Nazarite, and he was to remain one his whole life. His parents received the Word of the LORD from an Angel, as called in scripture, whose name is Wonderful, and whom the parents believed was God Himself (Judges 13:2-5, 17-22, see also Isa. 9:6-7). This child, who even while still in the womb, was under the Nazarite vow of separation or dedication, would have a very special purpose: "...and he shall begin to deliver aleph-tav Israel out of the hand of the Philistines (pelisti/palas - "immigrants"/to roll in ashes or dust)." (v. 5). It is noted above that the Hebrew word for Philistines, pelisti, means "immigrants". This is significant because we then have to ask, "Where were they from originally?" They were descendants of Mizraim, meaning "fortress, besieged, distress, adversaries, bulwarks, hemming in", a very oppressive spiritual stronghold (see Eph. 6:12, 2 Cor. 10:3-4), which is also known as Egypt. This is not about the ethnicity of a people, but the spiritual strongholds that rule over a region or nation. The Philistines did continually attack and oppress Israel at that time. Let's find out more about how Samson, whose (aleph-tav) name (Jud. 13:25) means "like the sun", sunrise, brilliant, shining shields, battlements", handled this, and how it applies to us. Samson had tremendous, supernatural strength that came out of his Nazirite vow, which included not taking a razor to his hair (se'ar/sa'ar - bristling up/bristle with horror, hurl as a storm, take away as a whirlwind, horribly afraid, sweep away as God's actions against the wicked). In another portion from this week's Sabbath reading, Samson went into the enemy territory of Gaza (Gaza/Azzah/az/azaz - strong, fortified/harsh, fierce, cruel, greedy, impudent, shameless/powerful, prevail). Gaza was also a royal city, and the greatest city in Syrian territory. When the Gazites heard that Samson was coming to see a woman (issa), they set up an ambush to capture and kill him in the morning (Judges 16:1-2). However: "...Samson lay low till midnight; then he arose (qum - rise up, continue, become powerful) at midnight (hesi/hasa/hasas - arrow of dividing/cut short, cut in two/cut off in the midst, shoot arrows, curtail), took hold of the doors of the gate of the city and the two gateposts (mezuza/ziz - gateposts/wild beasts, abundance, conspicuous), pulled them up, bar and all, put them on his shoulders, and carried them to the top of the hill that faces Hebron (third son of Kohath and grandson of Levi/heber/haber - in league with magical charms, spells, incantations) ." (v. 3). Samson, who, by his name, shone like the sun, pulled those heavy royal city gates right out of the ground, including the bar that locked them. Those gates of Gaza (powerful, fierce, cruel, impudent, shameless, prevail) did not prevail against him. This reminds me of what Jesus said about His church: "...on this rock (petra - rock, cliff, ledge, a man like a rock because of firmness and strength of soul) I will build My church, and the gates of Hades/Hell (abode of the wicked dead) shall not prevail against it." (Mt. 16:18). We also know that the wicked plans of the Gazites were cut off or curtailed at midnight, when Samson arose. Jesus told us in a parable that the cry went out that the bridegroom was coming (meaning the return of the Lord) at midnight (Mt. 25:6). "Midnight" also, by its meaning in Hebrew, means something has been divided, cut off, curtailed. Jesus used the same idea of curtailing (koloboo in Greek) when He said of the terrible times of the last days before His return: "And unless those days were shortened, no flesh would be saved; but for the elect's (elektos/eklegomai - chosen by God/chosen out) sake, those days will be shortened." (Mt. 24:22). By rising at midnight, the shining Samson curtailed the plan of the murderers of Gaza, which also saved his life and flesh. Why did he go to Gaza in the first place? He went to visit a woman. Although our translations calls her a harlot, the Hebrew word issa means "woman, wife, female". He "went in unto her", meaning that he "entered, went in, attained, gathered, brought, carried" her (see Judges 16:1). Jesus spoke about the bridegroom, which is Himself, entering in to the wedding: "...the bridegroom came, and those who were ready went in with him to the wedding; and the door was shut." (Mt. 25:10). From this Naso Sabbath reading in the Book of Numbers, which also comes at the time of the Feast of Weeks, or Pentecost, I can see God numbering and setting apart or dedicating His people in His purpose for them. I can also see us, the believers, in these scriptures, prophetically being included in that numbering and dedication. If you would like to know more about being separated and dedicated to the LORD, you can pray with me: "Father, we are celebrating Your Feast of Weeks, when the Torah was given to Your people on Mt. Sinai. The energy released at that time was so great that the ground shook, and the people feared. It is also on this Feast that the Holy Spirit was given to the believers in Christ on Pentecost (Acts 2), and again with such great power, that the world was turned upside down (Acts 17:6). You have called me to separate myself, and dedicate myself to You through Christ. On Pentecost and always, fill me with Your Holy Spirit so that I can walk in the dedicated path that You have set for me. Help me to continue in the revelation which the gates of Hell cannot prevail against - that Jesus Christ is Lord and Savior, the Son of God, to the glory of God the Father! In Jesus' name I pray, AMEN."

Army

This week's Sabbath reading portion takes us to the beginning of the fourth Book of the Bible. We call this the Book of Numbers, but the Hebrew title of this Book is B'midbar, meaning "in the wilderness", which is taken from the first verse of Chapter 1. So the first four books of the Torah in Hebrew are: B'reshiet, meaning "In the beginning", or Genesis, Sh'mot, meaning "Names", or Exodus, Va'yikra, meaning "And He called", or Leviticus, and now B'midbar, "in the wilderness", or Numbers. From the beginning of Numbers, the LORD ordered Moses, while the Israelites were in the Sinai wilderness, to take a census of every male twenty years old and over: "...all who are able to go to war in Israel. You and Aaron shall number them by their armies (saba - host, war, army, battle, appointed time, soldiers, go out to war, organized for war)." (Num. 1:3). The Israelites, who had been slaves in Egypt for over four hundred years, and certainly without having been trained to be warriors during their slavery, had faced enemy kings, and the trained armies of those kings, both before, and after they would enter the Promised Land of Canaan. The name and character of the LORD is as the Leader of warfare, Jehovah Sabaoth, the LORD of hosts, the LORD who commands armies as Scripture says: "The LORD is a man of war; the LORD is His name...Your right hand, O LORD, has dashed the enemy in pieces. And in the greatness of Your excellence You have overthrown those who rose against You." (Ex. 15:3, 6-7). The LORD revealed Himself to Joshua, who would lead the Israelites after the death of Moses, as "a Man...with His sword drawn in His hand", saying, "...as Commander of the army of the LORD I have now come.'...Then the Commander of the LORD's army said to Joshua, 'Take your sandal off your foot, for the place where you stand is holy." (Josh. 5:13-15). When Jesus returns, He doesn't come alone: "...His name is called The Word of God. And the armies in heaven, clothed in fine linen, white and clean (see Rev. 19:7-8), followed Him on white horses...He Himself treads the winepress of the fierceness and wrath of Almighty God. And He has on His robe and on His thigh a name written: KING OF KINGS AND LORD OF LORDS." (Rev. 19:11-16). Did you think that we, as believers in Christ, are not called to war? Paul wrote: "...Yet in all these things we are more than conquerors through Him who loved us..." (Rom. 8:36-39). However, our warfare, as well as our armor and weapons, are not physical, but spiritual, and not against flesh, but against spiritual powers (2 Cor. 10:3-6). However, the LORD's armies in the Book of Numbers have much to teach us, even as the LORD taught them. Each tribe, or division (Num. 1:16), had its own leader specifically appointed by the LORD, and each tribe was to camp under its own identifying standard and emblems (Num. 2:1-2), yet it was to be a unified army under the LORD as its Commander. As the divisions of the armies encamped, they were assigned placement to the north, south, east, and west, with the tabernacle of meeting at the center. The Levites were to encamp nearest to and surrounding the tabernacle (Num. 2:17). From above, the configuration of the camp would be in the shape of a cross, and they would move out from camp in this same configuration. Even the furnishings within the tabernacle were placed in a cross formation, so it became a cross within a cross. The LORD positioned Himself right in the middle of His armies. The greatest challenge to these armies, was not any physical enemy, but the knowledge of, and obedience to, the LORD as their Commander and their only source of victory. The same is true for us today, I think. In another reading from this Sabbath, David, who was a great warrior himself, prayed to the LORD to be saved from the wicked and the workers of iniquity (Ps. 28:3). David declared in his spiritual warfare: "Blessed be the LORD because He has heard the voice of my supplications! The LORD is my strength and my shield; My heart trusted in Him, and I am helped...and with my song I will praise Him. The LORD is the strength of His people, and He is the saving refuge of His anointed. Save Your people...shepherd them also, and bear them up forever." (v. 6-9). David was a soldier/king who understood that it is the LORD who delivers the offense and defense in warfare. In another portion from this week's sabbath reading, the LORD prophetically calls upon a new kind of army. Can you guess who they are? The reading is found in the prophet Hosea, whose name means "salvation". Hosea ministered prophetically in the Northern Kingdom of Israel, also called Ephraim, when the nation was divided into two kingdoms. At the beginning of his prophetic ministry, the LORD told Hosea to take a harlot for a wife, which would prophetically reflect Israel's harlotry in her marriage relationship with God. Hosea took (aleph-tav) Gomer for his wife. Her name means "complete, finish, to end either in completion or failure". Her father was named Diblaim, which means "two cakes, press together a cake of figs, conjoined with, dwell with, dwell together". We can see that the prophet is marrying a harlot, but from her name, and the name of her father, we can also see that something is being established here. Two things are being joined or pressed together to make something complete. Ezekiel prophesied of two sticks being joined together into one also (Ezek. 37:15-20). Then Hosea, "salvation", had three children with his harlot wife, Gomer, meaning "completion" as mentioned above. The "completion" meant here may, on one hand, signify the fullness of the judgment that God was ready to bring to the northern kingdom of Israel because of its faithlessness to Him. In another way, the meaning of the "completeness" of Gomer's name may point to the special work that God was planning to bring a restoration and completeness to Israel, as the LORD prophesied later in Hosea, as we will see. One child was to be named (aleph-tav) Jezreel, which means "God will sow/scatter". Jezreel refers to the place where Jehu had King Ahab's seventy sons killed in Samaria (2 Kings 10:11). When Jehu became king in Ahab's stead, he was as wicked as Ahab had been, and here in Hosea, God promises to end his family's reign in Israel, which was fulfilled when the northern kingdom of Israel went into captive exile to the Assyrian conquerors. Their sins, violence and idolatry caused them to lose the battle with the enemy. They forgot that the LORD is the center of their victory. As the meaning of Jezreel is "God will scatter", the LORD would scatter the inhabitants of northern Israel from off of their land. The LORD said of Jezreel: "I will avenge the bloodshed of Jezreel on the house of Jehu, and bring an end to the kingdom of the house of Israel....I will break the bow of Israel in the valley of Jezreel." (Hos. 1:4-5). As the LORD promised to break their bow, He was removing their own military power from them, and leaving them defenseless before their enemy. Jezreel and the valley it occupies played a role in many battles throughout Israel's history, and is believed to be the valley in which Armageddon, the prophesied end-time war, will occur. Both battle, bloodshed and judgment are associated with this place. Next, an (aleph-tav) daughter was born to Hosea and Gomer. The LORD told the prophet to name her Lo-Ruhamah, meaning "not having obtained mercy". The aleph-tavs connected to some of the words in these verses are, as the first and last Hebrew letters, a form of The Alpha and Omega in Greek, by which Jesus identified Himself in the Book of Revelation. Whenever we see the aleph-tav combination of Hebrew letters associated with a written word, it brings a special significance. Finally, a third child, a son, is born who was to be named Lo-Ammi, meaning "not a people". As the LORD judged northern Israel to Hosea, He then prophesied its great restoration. Instead of "Not a people", and "not having obtained mercy", the LORD said: "Say to your brethren, 'My people', and to your sisters, 'Mercy is shown'. Plead (rib - plead a cause, strive, contend, grapple, to pull) with your mother, plead;...Let her put away her harlotries from her sight, and her adulteries from between her breasts." (Hos. 2:1-2). The meanings of the children's names are changed, and they are to plead and contend with their mother, Israel, represented by Hosea's wife, Gomer, pulling on her to turn from her harlot ways, and go back to her first husband, the LORD her Salvation. (Hosea 2:7). Because of this, the LORD will "allure" His harlot wife into the wilderness (midbar: see above) to remove her from those things that draw her away from Him. The LORD planned to get His wife, Israel, alone. The LORD prophesied to Hosea that He would restore Israel to one who is His faithful betrothed (Hos. 2:14, 20). The LORD will answer the heavens, and cause the heavens to answer the earth. "The earth will answer with aleph-tav grain, with aleph-tav new wine, and with aleph-tav oil (yishar/sahar - oil, anointed, fresh new oil, to shine/press oil, glisten). They shall answer Jezreel ("God will sow/scatter"). Then I will sow her for Myself in the earth, and I will have mercy on her who had not obtained mercy; Then I will say to those who were not My people, 'You are My people!' And they shall say, 'You are my God!" (Hos. 2:21-23). The three things mentioned in the verses above: the grain, the new wine, and the oil, not only represent the LORD's renewed blessing and favor upon the land, but the spiritual blessing of restoration and communion, salvation and the glory of the anointing, and the Anointed One of God, the Messiah, or Christ in Greek. There was a prophetic warfare (pleading, contending, pulling) entered into through the naming of the three children of Hosea, but their names also represented another hidden participant in this spiritual warfare for the restoration of Israel. As we look at the names of these children, we are reminded of a scripture from Peter regarding those who have received salvation in Christ: "But you are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, His own special people, that you may proclaim the praises of Him who called you out of darkness into His marvelous light; who one were not a people but are now the people of God, who had not obtained mercy but now have obtained mercy." (1 Peter 2:9-10). Paul referred directly to the verse above from Hos. 2:23 when he wrote: "...that He might make known the riches of His glory on the vessels of mercy...even us whom He called, not of the Jews only, but also of the Gentiles? As He says also in Hosea: 'I will call them My people, who were not My people, and her beloved, who was not beloved. And it shall come to pass where it was said to them, 'You are not My people,' there they shall be called sons of the living God." (Rom. 9:23-26, Hos. 2:23, Hos. 1:10). We have a warfare role to play, as Hosea's children did, in the restoration of their mother, Gomer, who represented the wife of God gone astray, Israel. As believers in Christ, we do not replace Israel or the Jewish people, but we are spiritually joined with them as brethren, which completes both of us. One is incomplete without the other. As God promised, "All Israel shall be saved...that through the mercy shown you (meaning the Gentiles) they also may obtain mercy." (Rom. 11:26-31, Isa. 59:20-21). Paul makes a direct connection here between our salvation through Christ, and Israel's. This also is the spiritual warfare to which we have been called. The joining of Jews and Gentiles together in salvation will be nothing short of "...life from the dead...remember that you do not support the root (the Jews), but the root supports you." (Rom. 11:15,18). Although Jesus stated clearly: "I was not sent except to the lost sheep of the house of Israel," He then also ministered to a Gentile woman who cried out to Him in desperate need of a healing miracle for her daughter (see Mt. 15:21-28). From the double presence of the Cross within, and encamped around, the tabernacle "in the wilderness" that was set in the middle of the "armies" of Israel, to the prophetic warfare children of Hosea, to the spiritual warfare written of by the apostles, to the armies that accompany the return of Christ, the scarlet thread of salvation joins Jews and Gentiles together, as is the will of God through Christ. If you would like to learn more about this very special purpose in the "army" of God, you can pray with me: "Father, God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, God of Israel, lead us in the restoration and salvation work that You have established through Your Son, Jesus, for Jews and Gentiles alike to be joined together into one new man (Eph. 2:12-18). Bring this completeness to Your Body, Your army in the earth, as it is written in Your Word. Fill us with Your Holy Spirit, because as always, You are our victory, You are our strength, and we praise You. We ask these things in Jesus' name. AMEN."

BlessedMother

The following is a reprint of a post from May, 2018 for this Mother's Day. The newest Sabbath study titled "Restoration" immediately follows this reprinted entry. Be blessed this Mother's Day! Now, from May, 2018, the entry titled "Wife": The Book of Proverbs is a book of wisdom written by King Solomon. At the conclusion of this book, Solomon recounts the advice that his own mother gave him. His mother told him that one of the most important decisions he would make would be his choice of the woman who would become his wife, and the eventual mother of his children. So important a role does a wife and mother play in a household, even the household of a king, that his choice would make the difference between success and failure, between an everlasting godly legacy, or a descent into historical oblivion, between honor and dishonor. There is a great depth to the description in chapter 31 of the woman that the king, or any man, should marry. First in the description is that the woman should be virtuous (v. 10). In Hebrew, the word used here is different from what we might think. It means strength and might, especially in a warlike way. It means to be valiant and to show oneself strong. The root meaning includes travailing, writhing, to bring forth, to wait longingly. Her warfare is to bring something forth. The man has to "find" this woman. It means he has to detect or recognize her, discern her. Her price, meaning betrothal or marriage price, because she is so valuable, it is greater than the rarest gem on earth-the ruby. The word for "ruby" also signifies a corner, or turning point. Finding this woman is so spiritually powerful, that it becomes a turning point in the man's life. Her husband's heart can safely trust in her (v. 11). Her spiritual quality is such that she affects her husband's inner most mind, will, understanding, and seat of courage. He becomes "enheartened". His soul is productive enough "to make cakes". He becomes so inwardly confident and hopeful because of her presence in his life, that he fears nothing. He neither feels he has to offer himself as spoil, nor spoil others. She will do (deal bountifully, reward, benefit) him good, and not evil all the days of her life (v. 12). She seeks wool and flax (v. 13), which means that she inquires into and studies the makings of white garments (spiritual righteousness), even to the individual threads of which they are composed. Not only does she study it, but she puts these things into practice. She works (fashions, produces, puts in order) willingly (with delight) with her hands (open hands, or palms, of humble strength). This wife and mother does not just look to dress herself, but her whole household, in righteousness. Spiritually, she is like a conveyance that goes back and forth bringing spiritual bread: waging war, doing battle, overcoming, prevailing, and bringing that bread from and to distant places (v. 14). She stands, establishes, and fulfills, even in gloom and adversity, and consecrates and devotes prey, and spoil torn in pieces for all in her household, including future descendants. She establishes the statutes and decrees of the law to the younger members and servants (v. 15). She meditates and envisions wide spiritual places, an expansive future, and lays hold of these visions and establishes them for her progeny. The fruit that she establishes from these meditations is noble and worthy of kings (v. 16). This wife surrounds her waist and back (the weakest parts of the body) with prevailing strength and boldness, and with courageous strength, with military force, she produces and sows spiritual seed. She is pregnant with it (v. 17). She tastes (experiences) and understands her value in pleasing and producing beneficial results, and therefore, her light and glistening shine are not extinguished by adversity (v. 18). She is not idle. With a powerful stretched out hand, she sows rightness, direction, success, and advantage, and with the other open, humble hand, she seizes, impacts and lays hold of the environs or district around her (v. 19). She spreads and scatters with her humble hand to the poor, and wretched, and stretches out and looses her hand of power and strength to the oppressed, and abused in need of God's deliverance (v. 20). This wife is not terrified of the idea of white corpses or linens of the slain regarding her household as others are, because her household is arrayed with the bright, shining crimson (of the Blood). She creates (and as a wife, IS) larger coverings that spread out, containing many colors from fine alabaster white to purple and blue tinged with red. These colors of the coverings reflect her works and character of strength, honor, splendor, adorned with glorified majesty that she rejoices in now, and to the uttermost last of times (v. 21, 22, 25). Her husband is covered with respect. He has become known at the entrance of the city, also at the entrance of the temple, and the temple in heaven. Because of this respect, he dwells (as in a marriage dwelling) in the place of the older men who have authority and governing power over the earth and its inhabitants, over the land of the living (v. 23). In this wife's mouth is the wisdom that opens graves, commandments that dash them to pieces. Her language is from the Word of God, the instruction and teaching of scripture with a spirit of loving kindness, faithfulness, favor, beauty, goodness and even pity. She is diligent to keep watch closely over her household-their ways, doings, and walk. Even as she keeps watch over them, she shines and looks up. She does not slack in her vigilance (v. 26-27). Because of this diligence, her children of several generations become powerful, set, fixed, established, fulfilled, and her husband (lord) praises her ecstatically. (v. 28). This was a long entry, but so important regarding the spiritual value of a Godly woman, not only to her own household, but to all the vicinity around her. She is powerful in wisdom and influence, while remaining humble in her strength. Jesus dealt amazingly with women as the Spirit directed Him, often confounding and offending others, including His own disciples, by so doing. He revealed powerful truths to women, and even lost (on purpose) an argument with a woman, as she contended that even a Gentile could receive healing from the Messiah to Israel (Mt. 15:22-28). Jesus welcomed women engaging with Him in His ministry, and He even positioned Himself purposefully to encounter them, changing their lives, and the lives in their community (Jn. 4:5-30). Jesus even told one woman to come out of the kitchen!! (Lk. 10:38-42). However, this chapter of Proverbs not only speaks about an individual woman and wife, but about a wife of a king. We, collectively, are the wife of the King of Kings, the Bride of Christ. This chapter of Proverbs is the spiritual standard for all of us. Our Father has prepared a bride for His Son, the King.

Restoration

Do you need restoration from God? We live in an age that cries out day and night for the restoration work of God. As the priesthood of Christ, we are to know that there is a pathway to restoration, which we will read about in this week's Sabbath reading portion. Again we see a double title for this week. The two titles are B'har, meaning "on the mount" and B'chukkotai, meaning "In My statutes". Both of these titles have the addition of the Hebrew letter Beth placed before the words of the titles. The letter Beth, means house or family. The picture that this creates for me is of God building a house. That house is being built on the highest mountain of God, and it is a house built out of His Word (which is Jesus), which includes His statutes (see also Isa. 2:1-3). Jesus said: "In My Father's house are many mansions (mone/meno - dwellings, Holy Spirit indwelling believers/abide, endure, to continue, not to perish) ...I go to prepare a place (topos - space marked off from surrounding space, inhabited place, a passage in a book) for you." (Jn. 14:1-4). Jesus said that this truth that He was revealing also served as a guarantee that He would "come again, and receive you to Myself; that where I am , there you may be also." This house is a dwelling place for the Father, the Son, and His people filled with His Holy Spirit of Truth. This house that the Father is building is further described by Paul: "...you are...members of the household of God, having been built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Jesus Christ Himself being the chief cornerstone, in whom the whole building, being fitted together, grows into a holy temple in the Lord, in whom you also are being built together for a dwelling place of God in the Spirit." (Eph. 2:19-22). So, as we study this Sabbath's reading portion, we can keep in mind that a dwelling in the Spirit is being constructed. Both of these titles include readings from Leviticus, the Book of the priesthood, in chapters 25 and 26. These chapters deal with a very powerful form of restoration called the Jubilee. During the Jubilee year, all losses are cancelled, and all is restored back to the original owner. It is the year of liberty. The foundation for the year of liberty, or the Jubilee, is the Sabbath: "And you shall count seven sabbaths of years for yourself, seven tmes seven years...forty-nine years. Then you shall cause the trumpet of the Jubilee to sound on the tenth day of the seventh month; on the Day of Atonement you shall make the trumpet to sound throughout all your land. And you shall consecrate the fiftieth year, and proclaim liberty throughout all the land to its inhabitants. It shall be a Jubilee for you; and each of you shall return to your possession, and each of you shall return to his family. That fiftieth year shall be a Jubilee to you." (Lev. 25:8-11). Jesus, as the Messiah of Israel, identified Himself in the Sabbath and the Jubilee. First of all, He told us that He is the Lord of the Sabbath, the building block of Jubilee, as He added: "The Sabbath was made for man, and not man for the Sabbath." (Mk. 2:27). The Sabbath is not a legalistic or religious obligation, but a powerful blessing provided by God for His miraculous ways, as Jesus explained to a people who only knew the religious burden of the Sabbath (Jn. 5:17-18). The Word of the LORD to Isaiah was to reveal the truth of the Sabbath: "...call the Sabbath a delight (oneg/anag - pleasant, exquisite delight/delicate, dainty, soft, to be pampered, luxurious, be glad), the holy day of the LORD honorable...Then you shall delight yourself in the LORD; And I will cause you to ride on the high hills of the earth, and feed you with the heritage of Jacob your father The mouth of the LORD has spoken." (Isa. 58:13-14). The Sabbath is to be an exquisite delight - what a concept! That delight multiplies times itself (7 x 7) into liberty and total restoration (Jubilee). Jesus announced Himself as the fulfillment of the Jubilee while reading scripture aloud in the synagogue on a Sabbath (Lk. 4:15-19, Isa. 61:1-2a). The year of Jubilee is announced on the Day of Atonement, as mentioned in the above verses. Again we have the connection to Jesus, who is the fulfillment of our atonement (1 Jn. 2:2, 4:10). The Jubilee is a year of return - return to our possession, and return to our family, according to the above verses. To what possession do we return in Jubilee? God says that we are His possession, His treasured possession (Deut, 7:6-7, Ex. 19:1-8, 1 Pet. 2:9). To what family are we to return? God has told us that we belong to His family, and are named by His name (Jn. 1:12, Eph. 3:14-15, Rom. 8:14-17, Rev. 22:4). In the promise of Jubilee, we are guaranteed to return to our possession and family, which is God, not only after our death, but while we are alive, and also when we are changed and caught up to Him at the sound of the trumpet (1 Thess. 4:15-18, 1 Cor. 15:50-57). This last is the ultimate fulfillment of Jubilee. If God can open up heaven for our sake, caught up to Him in this amazing way, there is nothing that is impossible for Him to restore to us. The law of redemption is also given in Lev. 25, by which a loss of land to debt may be redeemed by a kinsman on behalf of the debtor, again bringing restoration. The LORD will use this concept of restoration provided by the law in the Book of the priests in order to restore a devastating loss to His people. First, here is the law as the LORD gave it to Moses: "The land shall not be sold permanently, for the land is Mine...and in all the land of your possession you shall grant redemption of the land. If one of your brethren becomes poor (muk - poor, low, depressed, sink down, pine away as in poverty), and has sold some of his possession, and if his redeeming relative comes to redeem it, then he may redeem what his brother sold." (Lev. 25:23-25). This is the law of the Kinsman Redeemer. The LORD used this law to establish the line of David as was told in the Book of Ruth, and ultimately the line of the Messiah, the Son of David, Jesus, who would be born centuries later. Jesus is our Redeemer as well, paying the price to buy back what we sold away, which was our souls, to darkness, sin and resulting death (1 Cor. 7:23, Gal. 4:4-5, Eph. 1:7, Titus 2:11-14, Heb. 9:12). In this week's Sabbath portion, the LORD used the law of the kinsman redeemer to make a prophetic promise of mercy to His people. Jeremiah, whose name means "whom Jehovah has appointed", was not only a prophet, but he was also a priest, born into the priestly line of his father, Hilkiah (meaning "my portion is Jehovah"). They came from one of the cities designated as belonging to the priests, which was Anathoth, meaning "answer to prayer" (see Jer. 1:1). Because the sins of God's people had polluted the land, God sent a mighty enemy, King Nebuchadnezzar of Assyria/Babylon, to lay siege to Jerusalem. This foreign king would eventually conquer Jerusalem and take its inhabitants a thousand miles away back to Babylon. He would also loot and destroy the temple of God. Jeremiah had been warning and prophesying that God would not give Judah the victory over this enemy. The people and their king would go into exile in a foreign land, according to the prophetic Word brought by Jeremiah (Jer. 32:1-5, Jer. 17:4). While Jeremiah was imprisoned by his king because of the prophetic Word that he spoke, his cousin, Hanamel (meaning "God is gracious"/mercy, favor), the son of Jeremiah's uncle, Shallum (meaning recompense, restore, repay, peace, covenant of peace), asked him to redeem his aleph-tav field (see Mt. 13:44) in Anathoth: "...for the rght of inheritance is yours, and the redemption yours; buy it for yourself." (v. 6-12). Jeremiah did exercise his right of redemption under the law, and bought the field. He redeemed the field even knowing, by the prophetic Word which the LORD had given him, that Judah and Jerusalem were about to fall to the Babylonian king. After Jeremiah redeemed the field, the LORD told him the prophetic significance of what he had just done: "Thus says the LORD of hosts, the God of Israel: 'Take these deeds...and put them in an earthen vessel (see 2 Cor. 4:6-7), that they may last many days.' For thus says the LORD of hosts, the God of Israel: 'Houses and fields and vineyards shall be possessed again in this land." (Jer. 32:13-15). The redemption of the priest's field became the prophetic promise of the redemption of the land of Israel. Although the people would be exiled, and the land forced into a Sabbath rest of seventy years, the LORD did not leave His people without a promise of restoration. In another of our Sabbath readings, the prophet Amos spoke of the widespread destruction and death that would come upon Israel. Amos was not a priest like Jeremiah, but, instead, was of humble status. He was a herdsman of sheep (noqed - marked with identifying punctures) from Tekoa (root meaning - drive a nail, strike, smite, thrust a weapon), which was near Bethlehem (see Amos 1:1). Although he was from the southern kingdom of Judah, Amos was called by the LORD to prophesy to the northern kingdom of Israel. A priest went before the king of Israel and accused Amos of being a conspirator because he prophesied that the king would be killed, and the people would be led away into captivity (Amos 7:10-11). One of the reasons that the LORD was bringing this catastrophe upon the land and people was because they resented His Sabbaths, His exquisite delights of restoration. They resented the Sabbaths because the Sabbaths interfered with their buying and selling (Amos 8:5-6). Leviticus 26 from this week's Sabbath reading recorded the blessings that would be received for forsaking idols, and observing and honoring the Sabbath, concluding: "I have broken the bands of your yoke and made you walk upright (qommiyut/qum - uprightness, elevation, as a freeman/raise up, arise, establish)." (v. 1-13). The LORD is building a house, and it is a house that inhabits the highest mountain in the Spirit, and is established in His Word (statutes), Jesus. If you would like to know more about what the LORD is building, you can pray with me: "Father in heaven, You are full of grace and mercy to those who love You, and seek You. You call me into Your house, where Jesus, my Kinsman Redeemer, has prepared a place for me. I praise and thank You for Your Sabbaths, made for man, and full of Your restoration glory. Teach me Your Word, and fill me with Your Holy Spirit, so that I can learn and understand Your paths (Ps. 25:4-5). They are paths that will lead me to green pastures of Your righteousness in order to restore my soul (Ps. 23:1-3). I ask this in Jesus' name. AMEN."

Zadok

We have been reading in the Book of Leviticus, which means "of the Levites" from the Latin. In Hebrew, this third Book of the Bible is called Va-yikra, which translates to "and He (the LORD) called". The Law that God gave to Moses to bring to the people of Israel is included in this Book, as well as the ministry of the priests and the Levites (the tribe of priests) who served in the tabernacle of God. We who believe in the Messiah, or Christ, Jesus, are also called to a priesthood before God (1 Peter 2:4-5, 9-10), as has been mentioned previously, so we will see what we can learn about the priesthood from this week's readings. This week's Sabbath reading portion titled Emor meaning ""say", covers Leviticus chapters 23 and 24. What is Moses to say to the children of Israel at the command of the LORD? The LORD gave feasts to His people to observe at appointed times of the year. He commanded that these feasts were to be kept throughout all generations: "And the LORD spoke to Moses, saying, 'Speak to the children of Israel, and say to them: 'The feasts of the LORD, which you shall proclaim to be holy convocations, these are My feasts." (Lev. 23:1-2). We may sometimes have difficulty relating to the Feasts of the LORD, however, the Feasts have a special quality and meaning that I think certainly applies to us and the world today. There are Feasts that take place in the spring, and Feasts that are appointed for the Fall, or harvest time. First mentioned of the Feasts is the Sabbath (Lev. 23:3). The Sabbath is treated as foundational to all of the Feasts. The identity of the Messiah is revealed in the Feasts. In the verses above, the LORD calls His Feasts holy. If we look at the meanings of the Hebrew words used in the two verses above from Lev. 23:1-2, we will find that these Feasts also are "appointed times to assemble and meet with the LORD, a fixed time for a betrothal, for an engagement in marriage between God and His people, summoned, called by name, invited, bidding of His guests to come to a rehearsal for future events, appointed assemblies where one will encounter God in an unexpected way". All of these qualities of the appointed Feasts of the LORD are very important in meaning, as we can see,, and not to be missed. These are the appointed holy Feasts of the LORD to which we are summoned by name: Passover-Unleavened Bread, First Fruits, Feast of Weeks (Pentecost), Feast of Trumpets (Rosh Hashanah), Day of Atonement (Yom Kippur), Feast of Tabernacles (Succoth)/Simchat Torah (see Lev. 23 for details). We will see that not only were these Feasts established by God, but they played a role in supernatural events between God and Israel. The priesthood ministered during these feasts, and played an important role in miraculous encounters with God. Our priesthood in Christ should also lead others into saving, supernatural encounters with the God of our salvation. In one of this week's Sabbath readings, Psalm 81, the writer, Asaph, the chief Levite singer under King David, called God's people to return to Him. Asaph's name means "gatherer, to gather together", which is appropriate, as he issued an invitation from God for His people to gather together again, and meet Him at His feasts: "Sing aloud to God our strength...Blow the trumpet at the time of the New Moon, at the full moon, on our solemn feast day. For this is a statute for Israel, a law of the God of Jacob." (v. 1, 3). The LORD said: "You called in trouble,and I delivered you; I answered you in the secret place (seter/satar - hiding place, covering, protection, shelter/concealed, hide oneself carefully) of thunder (ra'am - thunder, display of might, the whole circuit of the divine power)...". (v. 7). The "secret place of thunder" to me, is represented by Succoth, the Feast of Tabernacles, in which God instructs His people to build booths (enclosed coverings) out of the lovliest tree branches, and spend seven days within them. In its way, it is an intimate "secret place" under His green branches to meet with God, where He will display Himself within His provision of the finest fruits of the land. The booths built of camouflaging branches also represent the marriage canopy under which the bride and groom are joined together. It represents the place where God meets His bride, Israel, and Christ meets His bride, the believers. The LORD refers again to this shelter, His secret place, in Psalm 91: "He who dwells in the secret place of the Most High, shall abide under the shadow of the Almighty." (v. 1). Asaph the Levite is saying to us, "Do you need to return to God? He is waiting for you to meet Him in the secret place." This is also to be our message to others as the priests of Christ. In another Sabbath reading portion, the priest, Ezra, with the governor, Nehemiah, led the people of Jerusalem back to God after their return from a heartbreaking exile. They had been exiled from the land in the first place because they had exiled their hearts from God. The revival of their relationship with God followed their observance of Succoth, the Feast of Tabernacles (Neh. 8). Israel had not observed the Feast since the time of Joshua (v. 17), even though the LORD had commanded His people to meet with Him in His Feasts throughout all of their generations. When Ezra the priest read the law to all of the people, and the Levites helped the people to understand its meaning, the people wept in repentance for not keeping the Word of the LORD (Neh. 8:9). This reading before the people was done on the first day of the seventh month (v. 2), which would have been the Feast of Trumpets, a day that "is holy to the LORD your God." The people then began to gather what they would need in order to keep the coming Feast of Tabernacles. Again Ezra the priest gathered the people to explain what was required to observe the Feast so that they would understand (v. 13). He instructed the people to announce to everyone in Jerusalem and the other cities: "Go out to the mountain, and bring olive branches, branches of oil trees, myrtle branches, palm branches, and branches of leafy trees, to make booths, as it is written." (v. 15). After keeping the Feast of Tabernacles with very great gladness, the people were assembled, and entered into repentance confessing their sins, and the sins of their fathers, and they read the Book of the Law (Neh. 9:1-3). When we meet God in His secret place, our hearts are touched not only by His divine Almighty power on our behalf, but also His loving mercy towards us. The Levites (levi/lava - joined to, attached/abide, to unite, to cleave to), standing on the stairs (ma'ale/ala - ascent, lofty place/come up, offer, light, cause to ascend), again led the people by lifting up their voices and proclaiming the greatness of God, and the re-dedication of His people to their covenant with Him (Neh. 9:4-38). The Levites were positioned in the Spirit, joined to the LORD in a lofty place (the stairs), to cause the people to "come up" or ascend in praise and re-dedication. This is what we also can bring to the people as the priests, the joined ones to the LORD, who stand in the lofty place. In another reading from this week's Sabbath, King Solomon has just completed the newly built Temple of God in Jerusalem. He was ready for the furnishings to be brought in. Solomon assembled all of the elders of Israel in Jerusalem to bring up the ArK of the Covenant into the new temple: "The Levites took up the ark...the priests and the Levites brought them (the furnishings) up...Then the priests brought the ark of the covenant of the LORD to its place, into the inner sanctuary of the temple, to the Most Holy place, under the wings of the cherubim." (2 Chron. 5:1-7, excerpt). Only the priests and Levites were allowed to bear the ark and the other vessels of the LORD. All of these furnishings represent the identity of the Messiah, Jesus Christ, in their prpose before God. Only the priesthood of saints carry the physical presence of Christ before the people, not with hands of flesh, but, as the Levites did, using spiritual poles or staves (bad/badad - a part of the body [see 1 Cor. 12:27], branch [see John 15:5]/to separate oneself, be separate [see Rom. 12:1-2]). Scripture tells us that the placement of the ark in the temple occurred on one of the Feasts of the LORD that is appointed for the seventh month (2 Chron. 5:3). Because all of the men of Israel were assembled with the king in Jerusalem, it was most likely the Feast of Tabernacles. The job of the Levites and priests was not done yet, however: "the priests...and the Levites who were the singers...stood at the east end of the altar, clothed in white linen, having cymbals, stringed instruments and harps, and with them one hundred and twenty priests sounding with trumpets - indeed it came to pass when the trumpeters and singers were as one, to make one sound...saying, "For He (the LORD) is good, and His mercy endures forever', that the house, the house of the LORD, was filled with a cloud, so that the priests could not continue ministering...for the glory of the LORD filled the house of God." (v. 11-14, excerpt). The united voice and instruments of the priests and Levites ushered in the manifestation of the glory of God. No wonder the spirits of darkness have done all that they can to keep the members of the priesthood of believers in Christ from being unified in sound. The instruments mentioned above have these meanings in Hebrew: "sounded, surround with a stockade, separated from the open country, call aloud, proclamation, to call together, to quiver with vibration, a vessel, a weapon, a jewel, armor, to finish, end, accomplish, fulfill, destroy". This alone should teach us a great deal about our priesthood, if we will seek it. Finally, this week, the Sabbath portion brought us to a prophetic vision in Ezekiel chapter 44. Ezekiel received a vision from the LORD of a temple, unlike any temple that had existed before. He saw an eastern outer gate of the temple that the LORD Himself had entered. According to the prophetic vision, the same gate will be used only by "the prince", who will be able to sit in the gate and eat bread before the LORD (Ezek. 44:1-3). The Eastern Gate is associated with the appearing of Messiah, the Prince of Peace, whom we know to be Jesus Christ. Daniel the prophet also wrote of the Messiah to come as "the Prince" (Dan. 9:25). Also connected to this temple of Ezekiel's vision will be a new priesthood. The LORD explained to Ezekiel: "But the priests, the sons of Zadok, who kept charge of My sanctuary when the children of Israel went away from Me, they shall come near Me to minister to Me; and they shall stand before Me to offer to Me the fat and the blood,' says the LORD God. 'They shall enter My sanctuary, and they shall come near My table to minister to Me, and they shall keep My charge." (Ezek. 44:15-16). The Zadok priests were to eat only of the holy sacrifices made to the LORD (Ezek. 44:29-31, Lev. 22:7-8)). In Ezekiel's vision, the Levites had become so corrupted by idolatry that they were no longer fit to minister before the LORD, and their corruption had caused all of the house of Israel to fall into iniquity: "...therefore I have raised My hand in an oath against them,' says the LORD God, 'that they shall bear their iniquity. And they shall not come near Me to minister to Me as priest, nor come near any of My holy things, nor into the Most Holy Place; but they shall bear their shame and their abominations which they have committed..." (v. 12-13). Priests who minister before God cannot be covered with abominations and iniquity, neither then nor now. What is the meaning behind the new Zadok priesthood who will be accepted by the LORD? Zadok/sadak in Hebrew means "righteous, just/cleansed, justified, save, to absolve, to acquit, to purge oneself". Malachi also wrote prophetically of a priesthood, purified, purged and refined by the Messiah Himself so that they may be able to minister in righteousness. (Mal. 3:2-3). Speaking in the same meaning as the Zadok priesthood, Paul wrote of those who have turned away from sin and come to Christ: "...But you were washed, but you were sanctified, but you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus and by the Spirit of our God." (1 Cor. 6:11). The Zadok priests of Ezekiel's vision will be clothed in linen garments as they minister before the LORD (Ezek. 44:17). The Book of Revelation speaks of the Bride of the Lamb (Jesus) being "arrayed in fine linen, clean and bright for the fine linen is the righteousness (sadak in Hebrew) of the saints." (Rev. 19:8). The Zadok priesthood was given a specific charge by the Word of the LORD in the vision of Ezekiel: "And they shall teach My people the difference between the holy (see Lev. 22) and the unholy, and cause them to discern between the unclean and the clean. In controversy they shall stand as judges, and judge it according to My judgments. They shall keep My laws and My statutes in all My appointed meetings (Feasts), and they shall hallow My sabbaths...I am their inheritance...I am their possession." (Ezek. 44:23-24, 28, see also Eph. 1:13-14, 17-23). The Zadok priesthood of righteousness appears to be very similar to our priesthood in Christ. Handel wrote a glorious piece of music titled "Zadok the Priest". Called one of the most triumphant moments in classical music, I recommend a listen to Handel's "Zadok the Priest", if you have a chance. This Sabbath's reading portion taught me something new about not only the Feasts of the LORD, but especially about the ministry of the priesthood before God and the people. If you would like to learn more about these holy things of God, you can pray with me: "Heavenly Father, I thank You for Your desire to meet with Your people at appointed times, and to manifest Your greatness before them. You have created a place where we can come to You in the tabernacle of Christ's salvation in the beauty of holiness, where we can dwell all the days of our lives. Through Your Son, You have called me to a priesthood to minister to You and the people by the Holy Spirit, handling the holy things of God, teaching others Your Word so that they can understand, in unity ushering in the glory of God. You have given me linen garments of righteousness, not by any works that I do, but by the sacrifice of Your Son of righteousness, Jesus. You only are my inheritance and my possession. I pray these things in the name of Jesus, AMEN."