Tag: Aaron

A Mysterious Broken Vav, A Spear And A Bone?…

The genealogy of the High Priests was focused on in previous posts…

High Priest in Hebrew: כהן גדול – kohen gadol;

With definite article:  ha’kohen ha’gadol,

                              the high priest;

In Aramaic: kahana rabba.

Recall that the High Priests belonged to the Jewish priestly families and traced their paternal line back to Aaron.  He was the elder brother of Moses, through Zadok, a leading priest at the time of David and Solomon.This tradition came to an end in the 2nd century BC during the rule of the Hasmoneans, when the position was occupied by other priestly families unrelated to Zadok.

Even though Aaron was the first High Priest mentioned in the Book of Exodus, the legendary passage revealed the first man who assumed the title of High Priest of God was Enoch. He was succeeded by Methuselah, Lamech, Noah, Shem, (or Melchi zedek), Abraham, Isaac and Levi.

These priests are referred to as ‘descendants of Aaron,’ in the biblical traditions drawn upon by the writer of Chronicles. Aaron had 4 sons:  Nadab, Abihu, Eleazar and Ithamar.However, Nadab and Abihu died before Aaron (incident of offering strange fire); so only Eleazar and Ithamar had sons. Chronicles records, one priest, Zadok, from Eleazar’s descendants and another priest, Ahimelech, from Ithamar’s descendants, were designated by King David to help create the various priestly work groups.

Aaron received from the Lord the promise of priesthood, it meant his children and their descendants would be part of the Levite priestly class called the Kohanim.

At the time his grandson Phineas had already been born, which meant he did not automatically receive the honor of Kohanim; and possibly also due to the fact that Phineas’s father, Eleazar, had a wife who was a Gentile. Exodus 6:25. She was a daughter of Jethro, a former Midianite priest called Putiel.

With these facts in mind, this post is connected to Aaron’s grandson, Phineas.

Phineas performed a very serious act during the rebellion at Baal Peor recorded in Numbers 25:10 – 30:1.

He killed a Prince of the tribe of Simeon, Zimri, (son of Zurishaddai, called Shelumiel;) because Zimri was engaged in rampant immorality with Cozbi a princess of Midian.

Those that were following Zimri’s leadership, as head of the tribe of Simeon, were the ones that partook the most in the sin of their leader.

Because of this blatant rebellion against Torah, a plague broke out amongst the people and 24,000 people died from this terrible disobedience.

If it was not for the zealous and righteous anger of Phineas, perhaps the entire tribe of Simeon would have been destroyed.

 The plague affecting Israel was stopped by God due to Phineas’ zeal.

https://www.blueletterbible.org/kjv/num/25/11/t_conc_142011

25:11  פִּֽינְחָס בֶּן־אֶלְעָזָר בֶּן־אַהֲרֹן הַכֹּהֵן הֵשִׁיב אֶת־חֲמָתִי מֵעַל בְּנֵֽי־יִשְׂרָאֵל בְּקַנְאֹו אֶת־קִנְאָתִי בְּתֹוכָם וְלֹא־כִלִּיתִי אֶת־בְּנֵֽי־יִשְׂרָאֵל בְּקִנְאָתִֽי׃

קִנְאָה –  qin’ah – in my jealousy.

It took something to kill a family member, from one of the 12 tribes, and he would have had to count the cost. Here is another example of the sacrifice of the lives of the few for the many.

Phineas took a spear (the instrument by which sin was judged/death) and went into the tent and killed both the Zimri, his Israelite relative and his mistress.

Following this righteous act showing zeal for his God, the Lord rewarded him by making him a Kohen, Priest and promised him a covenant of peace.

He blessed him for his action because his heart motive was truly out of concern to stop any further deaths of the children of Israel that had been caused by these two individuals.

There is a spiritual principle here with this action, showing how to stop the plague of death, which is the consequences of sin.

This story tells us that the plague was not going to stop until someone paid with their life for Israel’s sins. In this case, we discover that it was the leaders of the rebellion that had to die to save the sins of their brothers.

Jesus/Yeshua did the same for us. Did He not take upon Himself the sin of all the people, shouldering all of it Himself?Was He not also thrust with a spear causing the life-giving water and blood to flow for all mankind?

(Spear, the instrument by which sin was judged and His death confirmed!)

Was not the plague of the law of sin and death destroyed the second He breathed His last?  

It is Finished!

Behold I am giving to him my covenant of peace.Hineni noten lo et-beriti shalom.

Hebrew word for covenant is Berit

(which is also a popular Norwegian/Scandanavian name)

The Hebrew word berit, is most often used to express the idea of covenant, and originally meant a shackle or chain.Later it came to mean any form of binding agreement. The covenant in the Biblical contexts combines God’s free offer of a special relationship and the people’s willing response in faith by agreeing to take the obligation to worship and obey only this God, Yahweh.

This was a further promised for his descendants, as a covenant of a perpetual priesthood, brit kehunat olam;(because he had been zealous for his God and made kafar/ atonement for all of Israel.)

Here it would appear, is a clear type of Yeshua/Jesus the Messiah and His Greater Priesthood; those of whom He is First-Fruit.

The copying of scrolls was the only way to reproduce the Torah and it was critical the scribes made certain to keep the Scriptures unaltered over the generations since Moses. 

Because of this there are strict guidelines concerning the writing of the Scriptures.

It is called, ‘Soferut Laws for Sefrei Torah’.

Writing Torah requires that each letter to be well-formed in the Hebrew script. No letters must touch other letters.

None can be badly formed, illegible or broken!

Here is the mystery of the broken VAV. 

In the ancient scrolls, Numbers 25:12, there is an exception to this rule.

It concerns only the Hebrew letter VAV.

This letter is part of the word Shalom

as it is normally written but here it is like this.. (m o l sha – in the Hebrew letters reading from r to l.)

Recall the Pardes of the last post and the levels of understanding in the Scriptures; like the layers of an onion.

Peshat- literal- the plain meaning – Pinchas righteous indignation the census and the holy days.

Remez – just beyond the literal = God’s character = a God of Salvation Redemption = Hidden glimpses of promised Messiah – broken VAV and in the 7 Appointed times of the year – moedim = application for us in our lives today – to be on fire for Him zealous in our love.

DRASH –to seek deeper by comparison- anomalies such as Enlarged letters e.g. broken vav small yod and enlarged nun– symbolism.

SOD further research e.g.– Dead sea scrolls and Gematria numbers equaling the value of each letter and torah code.

And look at this broken VAV on a SOD (Mystery) level. 

This broken VAV is a picture of the broken-ness of the Messiah for our ultimate deliverance, our salvation.

How is this possible as Jesus/Yeshua never had a broken bone in His body?

How was He broken for us?

Here the letter vav represents the number of man, six, and the broken vav represents a man that is broken.

In this verse, (pasuk), the man has been broken for the sake of a covenant of peace that brought atonement to Israel, a clear picture of Messiah Yeshua and His ultimate deliverance and restoration for us.

The ‘broken word’ shalom, can also be read as  שָׁלֵם – shalem.

(Phonetic spelling – shaw-lame)

Meaning COMPLETE, which indicates that the covenant is one of finality, perfection and completion.Repairer of the breach.

Restorer – bringing complete reconciliation to the broken relationship between God and man,

the broken covenant renewed,

He came to heal the broken hearted.He came to heal the broken in spirit those who have been crushed by the serpent, whose head He came to crush.When we think of His brokenness as He told us to do in remembrance of Him, at the breaking of bread.He says it in His own words this is My Body, BROKEN for you. He is the Bread of Heaven and of Life.

Manna = the pieces that are made at the breaking, it’s the spiritual connecting of each of us into one body of believers. One New Man.

We, as Messianic believers, understand that the promise to Phineas. It was a clear fore-telling of the Glory of the Greater Priesthood of Yeshua/Jesus, after the Order of Melchi-zedek, indestructible and everlasting.

The glory which is REVEALED to those who the Father has called. The same resurrection glory that raised Yeshua/Jesus from the dead WILL quicken our mortal bodies and make us alive in Him.

The broken vav promises us that His is restored.

Remembering from a previous Post that the vav, (in the paleo hebrew alef bet), is the…

The nail, peg, hook, symbolizing joining together; making sure; becoming bound; nailed to.

The nail that secures!

It is written in the Hebrew Scriptures of Deut. 5:15 that the Lord made the heavens and the earth by the Zeroah.

So it was by the Zeroah that everything we see, the universe itself, came into existence.

Ah Lord GOD! behold, thou hast made the heaven and the earth by thy great power and stretched out arm, and there is nothing too hard for thee. Jer. 32:17

When He brought the Hebrews out of Egypt on Passover, with miracles and wonders it is written that He did so by the Zeroah; and concerning salvation, it is written that the Lord will make known His Zeroah and all the earth will see the salvation of God.

Isaiah 53 contains the prophecy of one who will be wounded and crushed/BROKEN for our sins who will die for our judgment and who by His death will bring us healing life and redemption.

The ancient rabbis identified this one as the Messiah.

The opening verse of the chapter Isaiah 53, ‘who has believed our report and to whom has the Zeroah of the Lord been REVEALED?‘

The Zeroah is the one who dies for our sins and it is also the BONE of a LAMB which is the most mysterious object on the Passover table.

click link  below for more on Seder Plate
 https://www.minimannamoments.com/midweek-mannabite-secrets-of-the-seder-plate/

The death of the Lamb would be the death of Messiah and connects back to Isaiah 53. Zeroah however, was also there at creation because the Zeroah is the power of God, that which accomplishes the will of God is the arm/Zeroah of the Almighty.The first letter of Zeroah is Z – In Hebrew, Zayin.

Zayin and the Crownlets: Zayin is the 7th letter. The pictograph for Zayin looks like a sword. In the classical script the Vav on its head there is a large crown! There are 3 marks on the top of the letter Zayin. 8 hebrew letters are given this special mark by attaching to them 3 crownlets or ‘tagin’.The mystery of the ZAYIN is that its considered a crowned VAV. In the same way the VAV represents ‘Yashar’ – a straight line from God to man- so ZAYIN represents ‘or chozer’ or ‘returning light’. It is in itself a paradox meaning both ‘weapon/sword’ yet derives its root from a word meaning ‘nourishment/sustenance’. The word for war milchamah contains the word lechem/bread. Sometimes war = fighting for survival and therefore able to find food and be nourished.

They are collectively called ‘sha’atnezgets’ letters. Some sages comment that they are small zaynin (swords) and function as spiritual weapons e.g.in Ps.91

Zayin is the Crowned Man (Yeshua/Jesus) equipped with the Sword of Holy Spirit/Ruach HaKodesh. It is not hard to see that, since VAV represents MAN and ZAYIN is the crowned VAV (that is the Crowned Man), it is clear that ZAYIN represents Messiah Yeshua, the true King of the Jews while Zayin also represents a sword = the Word of God and Holy Spirit.

And here is another paradox, the arm of the Almighty, who was witnessed as weak, BROKEN and dying on a cross – was the manifested love of God and there is no greater power than that – dying to self that we might find life.

If we have ever dropped anything on the floor and seen it shattered into a million pieces, we know that there is no hope of ever putting it back together. Even if we glue every bit, it would never be the same as it was before. Jesus/Yeshua is the great renewer. The first mention of the re-new-ed covenant was to Jeremiah in the Hebrew Scriptures, Jeremiah 31:31 – 34. Telling of the covenant that had been broken, so it would seem that the re-new-ed covenant is born of brokenness.

It exists because of brokenness and it was first spoken of in the days when the land of Israel lay in ruins in the wake of judgment.

It’s the covenant God made for those who had fallen from grace, a covenant for the broken.

The covenant is not just for Israel but is given to everyone and its nature is the same for all.All have sinned – all have BROKEN His precepts – we have all failed – all fallen and become BROKEN in someway.

So the re-new-ed covenant, is the covenant God gives to all who have sinned, all who have failed and fallen; and all who should have no hope of any covenant with God, those who don’t deserve it. It’s the covenant He makes with them regardless of what ever they have done and it has a very special power.

It is the power to put together that which is BROKEN.

The power of restoration and healing.

The power to pick up and bring together all the broken pieces of our lives.The covenant of the BROKEN –  the VAV – symbolizing joining together, making sure, becoming bound, nailed to. The nail that secures. Hosea 14:4 – 7; John 8:9 – 11

There is another mystery, a secret hidden in the translation and it can only be seen in the original language.

 John 19:23–24; 1John 3:16.

It’s in the question that says, ‘to whom has the ARM of the lord been REVEALED?’

Revealed in Hebrew is niglatah.MI HE’EMIN LISHMU’ATEINU UZERO’A HASHEM AL-MI NIGLATAH?

Who has believed our report and to whom is the arm of Hashem revealed?

Isaiah/YESHAYAH 53:1

53:1  מִי הֶאֱמִין לִשְׁמֻעָתֵנוּ וּזְרֹועַ יְהוָה עַל־מִי נִגְלָֽתָה׃

זְר֫וֹעַ  Strong’s Hebrew: 2220 zeroa arm shoulder     זְרוֹעַ     zerowa

Messiah Yeshua/Jesus is the ‘arm of the Lord’

These words open the 4th and last of Isaiah’s ‘Servant Songs’, 4 prophecies describing the “Eved Adonai”, the “Servant of Adonai”, Who suffers and dies.The Arm/Zeroah of The Lord is REVEALED to those open to seeing it, even right here.

The arm of The Lord is being revealed in this very question.

It’s in the word galah גָּלָה  

גָּלָה Strongs H1540 https://www.blueletterbible.org/lang/lexicon/lexicon.cfm?Strongs=H1540&t=KJV

גָּלָה gâlâh, gaw-law’; a primitive root; to denude (especially in a disgraceful sense); by implication, to exile (captives being usually stripped); figuratively, to reveal:— advertise, appear, bewray, bring, (carry, lead, go) captive (into captivity), depart, disclose, discover, exile, be gone, open, plainly, publish, remove, reveal, shamelessly, shew, surely, tell, uncover.

Gesenius’ Hebrew-Chaldee Lexicon.

Revealed is a translation of the Hebrew word niglatah but niglatah means much more than revealed. Niglatah means to be taken captive.

The KJV translates Strong’s H1540 in the following manner:

 uncover (34x), discover (29x),

 captive (28x), carry away (22x),

 reveal (16x), open (12x),

 captivity (11x), shew (9x),

 remove (6x), appear (3x),

So the arm/zeroah of the Lord, the power of God will be taken captive. The Messiah was taken into captivity, arrested he became a prisoner.Niglatah also means to put to shame/disgraced.

So the arm of the Lord will be put to shame and disgraced.

Messiah was put to shame mocked degraded and condemned as a blasphemer.And niglatah also means stripped, naked, exposed and laid back. So the arm of the Lord will be stripped, naked and exposed. So Messiah was stripped of His garments and exposed ‘naked’* on the cross.

(*The Hebrew understanding of naked means, to remove all clothing except a loin cloth.)

It is the most famous image in this world, that of one who has been taken captive, stripped, naked and exposed.

It’s the arm of the Lord revealed the power of the almighty. But how could the strongest power in existence be revealed in the death of a naked man on the cross?

That is the revelation of the arm of God the strongest force in the universe the power of the almighty the power of love.

Most religions teach that salvation comes from the one who needs to be saved, an arm reaching up to heaven.

Only one message is different – the Gospel.Salvation is just the opposite:

It’s an arm, the zeroah of the Lamb of God reaching down from heaven.

We need to stop struggling and striving to be good enough.

Stop seeking to save ourselves. We can’t, and we don’t have to.

Messiah is Heaven’s ARM reaching down to us.

In biblical prophecy, its the Zeroah, the Arm of God. Wherever we are, wherever we’re not, just grasp on to heaven’s arm and He will do the rest.Not only does this story tell us that in order to receive life more abundantly, you must first die to the flesh and take up our cross and follow Him, it also tells us how Father/Yahweh feels about people that are sold out and zealous for Him.

He loves people with zeal and passion, people that love what He loves and hate what He hates.

In the story of Phineas IS The REVEALING.  The Niglatah, the baring of God’s Holy Arm was personified as a type of Messiah in Phineas (priest) with His spear the instrument of his zeal to save his family the children (sheep) of Israel.The broken covenant symbolized by the broken VAV in shalom/peace was restored by His zeal as fulfilled in Yeshua as the sacrificial lamb on Passover, the Zeroah/arm of Pesach.

In the brokenness, due to the severing of the connection with His Father, when He said, ‘why have you forsaken Me’? Sin causes separation from God.

His substitutionary sacrifice was the restorer of the breach, (of the relationship that was breached/broken); and we are now reconciled to the Father and this IS the gospel message.

We are ministers of reconciliation telling of the promise of the Berit Shalom – His covenant of peace – which was there in the VAV, the nail, that secures and joins together that which was broken.He was broken that we may be made whole.

The Hebrew word ‘kanaw’ qana’ קָנָא means: zealous, jealous, competitive.

It carries with it the idea that no one can come between you and the one you love – jealous for God.Love is stronger than death – it’s the glue that holds everything together and is revealed… with

a broken vav,

a shank bone of a sacrificial lamb,

the zeroah arm of the Lord given in love,

for a covenant of peace,

with our High Priest after the order of Melchi-zedek,

Who is alone the One who can put everything back together.

His brokenness was not in His BONEs but

in a better WAY of TRUTH that leads to LIFE.

Derek – Emet – Chaim = Yeshua/Jesus

Shalom Aleichem – שָׁלוֹם עֲלֵיכֶם

Peace be upon you!

Are you saved? Are you broken?

PLEASE Don’t leave this page without making that life-saving decision – time is running out. Don’t miss the day of your visitation!

This life is NOT all there is!

You are not here by chance!

SAY THE FOLLOWING FROM YOUR HEART RIGHT NOW…Don’t put it off one more moment…

Heavenly Father I come to you in the Name of Jesus asking for forgiveness of my sins for which I am truly sorry. I repent of them all and turn away from my past.

I believe with my heart and confess with my mouth that Jesus is your Son and that He died on the cross at calvary to pay the price for my sin, so that I might be forgiven and have eternal life in the kingdom of Heaven. Father I believe that Jesus rose from the dead and I ask you to come into my life right now and be my personal Savior and Lord and I will worship you all the days of my life. Because your word is truth I say that I am now forgiven and born again and by faith I am washed clean with the blood of Jesus. Thank you that you have accepted me into your family in Jesus’ name. Amen.

You are now Born Again by the Holy Spirit of the Living God and you are part of the ever growing family of believers. You will never be the same again!

A Mystery … Why Was The Priest In The Water?

… And What’s The 2000 year old connection to Abraham meeting a King?

The identity of this mysterious figure has been a puzzle to many since the writing of the Torah by (Mosheh) Moses)..(Torah, pronounced Towrah, comprises the first 5 books of the Bible.)

His name is “Melchizedek.” According to Genesis 14:18 was both the King of Salem and Priest of El Elyon.EL ELYON: The Most High God. This name emphasizes God’s strength, sovereignty, and supremacy. In Genesis 14:20, Melchizedek said to Abram, “blessed be God Most High, who has delivered your enemies into your hand!” He understood that the Lord is extremely exalted.

The God who gives height and dignity to our low places.

 To those who have “eyes to see and ears to hear,” it may not be a complete mystery as to who this man ‘was’ and ‘is’. However providing proof of his identity is not the focus of this post, so only a basic background is presented to assist in the understanding of the connection and leaves the reader to draw their own conclusions from the following scriptural evidence.

The scriptures reveal the plans of Elohay Ha Elohim God of All ‘gods’.

ELOHAI. MY GOD

The name of God most often used in the Hebrew Bible is the Tetragrammaton ( YHWH יהוה ). …. Elohai or Elohei (“My God”) is a form of Elohim along with the first-person singular pronoun enclitic. It appears in the names “God of Abraham”

A plural of majesty, the term Elohim

Strong’s Hebrew: 430. אֱלֹהִים (elohim) — God, god – Bible Hub

biblehub.com/hebrew/430.htm

elohim: God, god. Original Word: אֱלֹהִים.  Spelling: (el-o-heem’)

The name commonly used for God in the Old Testament is the Hebrew word Elohim

 

the singular form El and Elah.

Strong’s Hebrew: 433. אֱל֫וֹהַּ, (eloah) — God

‘elohiym … ‘ĕlōwhay ‘ĕlōwhāy ‘ĕlōwhê eLoah eLoha eLoHai eloHei

Lord my God (Adonai Elohai)

Leviticus 16 gives us the instructions through Moses for all Yisra’el on how to keep the Appointed Times Of Adonai including that of the Day of Atonement Yom Kippur (pronounced Yowm Kippur).

The biblical feast of Shavuot commemorates the giving of the Torah on Mt. Sinai over 3000 years ago. (It is also the birth and death day of King David.)The drama of the events at Mount Sinai is well known: It was the third day, in the morning, that there was thunder and lightning. A heavy cloud was on the mountain and there was a very loud sound of the shofar. All the people in the camp trembled. Moses brought the people toward God out of the camp. They stood at the foot of the mountain. The entire Mount Sinai was enveloped with smoke, for God had descended upon it in fire. Its smoke rose like the smoke of a furnace and the entire mountain trembled violently (Exodus 19:16-18)

The national response was ‘Na’aseh v Nishma‘ which means, “We will do, and we will hear.“

This declaration amounts to a commitment to carry out Hashem’s commandments –

even before hearing what the observance of those commandments actually involves. 

Only someone who is totally willing to shape their entire life around Torah observance, as the supreme act of love toward Hashem, would be willing to make such a commitment.

Click links for more on Shavuot & Yom Kippur and Appointed Times of Adonai

https://www.minimannamoments.com/50-days-later-an-earthly-and-spiritual-harvest-pentecost-shavuot/

https://www.minimannamoments.com/at-one-ment-with-the-one-you-love/

If you are familiar with the 7 Appointed times Adonai, then the following note concerning the scapegoat and lots will be arbitrary.

However a brief explanation will be helpful here to enhance a more complete picture.

The High Priest (Kohen ha’Gadowl) was to take two goats and present them before YaHuWaH at the entrance to the Tent of Meeting.He was to cast lots for the goats, one for YaHuWaH and the other for “Azazel” which literally means: “the goat of removal” or “the scapegoat.” Two goats were to be brought before him. He would place his hands on their heads and confess the sins of the people. One would be slaughtered as a sacrifice to YaHuWaH.

  (YaHuWaH Is used Here its the Name of God YHWH with vowels added Yud Hey Vav Hey)

The scriptures tell us that the second goat is to be offered to “Azazel,” which is a Hebrew word that literally means the following in the Hebrew Strong’s Concordance:

#5799 ‘aza’zel az-aw-zale from 5795 and 235; goat of departure; the scapegoat:–scapegoat.

The root-words for “Azazel,” are #5795 (ez) which means “she-goat,” and the other is #235 (azal) which means “to go away.”

The idea behind the scapegoat is that it is to be sent out into the desert, separated from the people “as far as the east is from the west” (Psalms 103:12).

He escapes death,

but

he carries the sins of the people with him to his dying day!

They sinned, he suffers.

They were guilty, he pays the price.

That’s what the word “scapegoat” has come to mean: “an innocent person who takes the blame for the guilty party.”

From our viewpoint today looking back, we clearly see a real and specific picture of Messiah Jesus/Yeshua’s substitutionary life and subsequent death.

(As we are seeing, everything is connected and therefore we need to take a quick look at The High Priest before unfolding more of the mystery or it will not make sense.)

The High Priest (pronounced Kohen ha’Gadowl) ha’gadol, the high priest; Aramaic: kahana rabba) was the title of the chief religious official of Judaism from the early post-Exilic times until the destruction of the Second Temple in Jerusalem in 70 CE.

Previously, in the Israelite religion including the time of the kingdoms of Israel and Judah, other terms were used to designate the leading priests; however, as long as a king was in place, the supreme ecclesiastical authority lay with him.

The official introduction of the term “high priest” went hand in hand with a greatly enhanced ritual and political significance bestowed upon the chief priest in the post-Exilic period, certainly from 411 BCE onward, after the religious transformations brought about by the Babylonian captivity and due to the lack of a Jewish king and kingdom.

The high priests belonged to the Jewish priestly families that trace their paternal line back to Aaron, the first high priest of Israel in the Hebrew Bible and elder brother of Moses, through Zadok, a leading priest at the time of David and Solomon. This tradition came to an end in the 2nd century BCE during the rule of the Hasmoneans, when the position was occupied by other priestly families unrelated to Zadok.

Predecessors of Aaron:

Even though Aaron was the first high priest mentioned in Exodus, the legendary passage revealed the first man assumed the title of high priest of God is Enoch who was succeeded by Methuselah, Lamech, Noah, Shem, (some say this was Melchizedek), Abraham, Isaac and Levi. They are very intricate pieces of clothing.

Comprising a linen tunic, finally woven colored fabrics,

Click link for more on the special blue dye used for the robes https://www.minimannamoments.com/mysterious-secret-of-the-hilazon/

a breastplate

of precious stonesbells and pomegranates (said to have 613 seeds = to 613 laws of Torah

around the hemand a crown of gold.This was all part of the old covenant and he served as the mediator of that covenant between the people and God.In ancient Israel the ones ordained by God to offer up the sacrifices were the priesthood, the sons of Aaron who came from the tribe of Levi one of the 12 sons of Jacob/Israel.

This is important to establish their lineage because of where we are going. God is a God of detail and precision and nothing was left to chance! Nor is anything a coincidence.Charts showing the line of Levites priestly calling

Holy, Kadosh in Hebrew, is that which is separate, set apart for the purposes of God and Israel was called to be a Holy nation.

To be a holy nation it had to be a separate nation. Within the 12 tribes of Israel were the Levites, as Gods ministers, this was a more holy calling than the rest of the tribes.

So they had to be separated from the rest of Israel. Then from the tribe of Levi God called the Cohanim, the Priests with a Holier calling.

From the priests, God called the High Priest with an even holier calling. So the Cohanim had to be separated from the Levites.

The high priest had to be separated even from the priests.

The ordinary garments of the priest Exodus. 28:39-43;39:27-29

The officiating priests wore 4 pieces of garments: Ex.28:42 (1) white breeches Ex. 28:40 (2)White Linen garment; (3)White linen sash; (4)White turban. (Only by birth can one be a priest.)

The other Levites were employed in more menial tasks, such as the housekeeping of the tabernacle, keeping oil in the lamps, transporting the Ark of the Covenant, taking down and setting up the tabernacle when moving, and related tasks in assisting the priests The priests could offer sacrifices for the people, burn incense on the altar, and teach the law. The Aaronic (or Levitical) Priesthood thus functioned only within the tribe of Levi, and the right to have it conferred upon one was determined by lineage and worthiness. The lineal restrictions of that Aaronic (Levitical) Priesthood were lifted when the law of Moses was fulfilled, and thereafter the offices of the priesthood were conferred upon worthy men without limitation to the tribe of Levi. Numbers 8. (10)

Every degree of holiness, was matched by an equal degree of separation. That which is Holy must be separated.

The priestly divisions or sacerdotal courses; (Hebrew: mishmar (מִשְׁמָר)); are ritual work groups in Judaism. According to 1 Chronicles 24, they were originally formed during the reign of King David.

These priests referred to as “descendants of Aaron.” In the biblical traditions upon which the writer of Chronicles drew, Aaron had four sons: Nadab, Abihu, Eleazar and Ithamar. However, Nadab and Abihu died before Aaron (incident of offering strange fire); and only Eleazar and Ithamar had sons. In Chronicles, one priest, Zadok, from Eleazar’s descendants and another priest, Ahimelech, from Ithamar’s descendants, were designated by King David to help create the various priestly work groups.

Sixteen of Eleazar’s descendants were selected to head priestly orders while only eight of Ithamar’s descendants were so chosen. The passage states that this was done because of the greater number of leaders among Eleazar’s descendants. Lots were drawn to designate the order of ministering for the heads of the priestly orders when they entered the temple in Jerusalem.

Each order was responsible for ministering during a different week and shabbat and were stationed as a watch at the Tabernacle. All of the orders were present during biblical festivals.

Their duties involved offering the daily and Jewish holy day sacrifices (korbanot in Hebrew), and blessing the people in a ceremony known as nesiat kapayim (“raising of the hands”), the ceremony of the Priestly Blessing.

Following the Temple’s destruction at the end of the First Jewish Revolt and the displacement to the Galilee of the bulk of the remaining Jewish population in Judea at the end of the Bar Kochva Revolt, Jewish tradition in the Talmud and poems from the period record that the descendants of each priestly watch established a separate residential seat in towns and villages of the Galilee. (The location of the Galilee is obviously significant)

They maintained this residential pattern for at least several centuries in anticipation of the reconstruction of the Temple and reinstitution of the cycle of priestly courses.

Specifically, this Kohanic settlement region stretched from the Beit Netofa Valley, through the Nazareth region to Arbel and the vicinity of Tiberias. 

In the synagogues in subsequent years, there was a custom every Sabbath, of publicly recalling the courses of the priests; a practice that reinforced the prestige of the priests’ lineage. Such mention evoked the hope of return to Jerusalem and reconstruction of the Temple.

This is all important because of who was ministering in his appointed cycle was non other than Zechariah, a priest of the course of Abia/Abijah,who was performing his priestly service and the Temple of Jerusalem.

Luke 1:5-2:20. Clearly explains this story it is carefully placed in geography and time. Luke relates this not as a timeless legend, but as an historical event.

Zechariah in his youth had married a woman named Elizabeth. They had never had any children and now That they were “well along in years” (Greek probaino, KJV “stricken”) may indicate that they were over sixty, since sixty years was considered “the commencement of agedness.”; They were “upright” (NIV) or “righteous” (KJV, Greek dikaios), not meaning perfectly sinless, but “pertaining to being in accordance with high standards of rectitude, upright, just, fair.”

They were a kosher, respected, priestly couple who took seriously what it meant to obey God in every way that they knew. They lived in dark days, during the bloody reign of Herod the Great (37 to 4 BC). Yet life went on, and for most of the year, Zechariah and Elizabeth live in a small village “in the hill country of Judea,” south of Jerusalem (Luke 1:39), except when Zechariah’s priest-division is on duty in the Temple.

According to Mosaic law, priests weren’t required to marry a wife from the Tribe of Levi (Leviticus 21:7, 13-15), but for a priest to have a wife from Levi’s tribe was considered a twofold honor.

Zechariah belonged to the priestly division of Abijah/Abia

from the tribe of Levites.

Religious workers in Israel were divided into two groups, Priests and Levites. All were descended from the Tribe of Levi, but, additionally, the priests were descendants of Moses’ brother Aaron. Priests were set apart for a special ministry in the Temple with regard to the worship of God that took place there. 

“Once, when Zechariah’s division was on duty and he was serving as priest before God, he was chosen by lot, according to the custom of the priesthood, to go into the temple of the Lord and burn incense. And when the time for the burning of incense came, all the assembled worshipers were praying outside.” (1:8-10)

The priests were divided into 24 groups or divisions (1 Chronicles 10:7-18), of which Zechariah’s “division of Abijah” is eighth in the rotation. Priests and their families would live in Jerusalem or in various nearby villages, but when their division was called up for duty for a week, twice each year, the priests would come to Jerusalem to work in the Temple.

Each day about 50 priests would have been on duty, with perhaps 300 on duty during a given week.

Every priest had a specific amount of days each year to perform those tasks and it was done in rotation. 

Luke 1:9 This day, Zechariah is “chosen by lot” to go inside the temple and burn incense on the Altar of Incense in the Holy Place. It is considered a great honor. Since there were a large number of priests, no priest was allowed to serve as the officiating priest more than once in his lifetime. Sometimes the high priest himself officiated. Jeremias remarks:

“For the incense offering, two priests had to help the officiating priest who was chosen by lot for the office. One brought glowing coals on a silver firepan from the Altar of Burnt Offering to the Altar of Incense in the Holy Place. The second took from the officiating priest the bowl in which the dish of incense had lain until the censing was finished.”

As the officiating priest, it was Zechariah’s job to place incense on the heated altar and then prostrate himself in prayer.

The incense represented the prayers of the people.

Outside, the people were reciting this prayer during the incense offering: “May the merciful God enter the Holy Place and accept with favor the offering of his people.”

It was at that point that an angel of the Lord did indeed enter the Holy Place. (1:11-17)  The angel Gabriel comes to Zechariah and told him Elizabeth would in her old age give birth to a child. and announced the identity of his son.

God fulfilled the ancient hopes of Israel through the fulfilling of an old couples long lost hopes for a child. And this is highlighted because behind Zechariah’s name is a mystery.

Zechariah’s real name was Zicharyah.

Zicharyah means ‘God has remembered’.

Elizabeth’s real name was Elishevah.

Elishevah means ‘the oath of God’ or ‘God is my oath’ Ex.6:23

Zicharyah and Elishevah where joined in marriage so, “God has remembered’ was joined to ‘the oath of God”!

The marriage of the two lives created a prophetic message.

God has remembered the oath of God.

This was a sign to Israel that God had not forgotten his promise but in actual fact was about to fulfill it. When God remembers his oath/ promise then the oath/ promise bears/ brings forth life. So here Elishevah will have a baby who will be known as John the Baptist. However his real name in Hebrew is Yochanan, which means ‘the grace of God/”Yahweh is gracious”.

God’s remembrance of his oath/ promise causes the birth of the grace of God.’ The grace of salvation, the very thing that would come forth out of John, fulfilling His promise/oath.

When Zicharyah/ ‘God has remembered’, gave praise to the Lord, he was declaring that God had performed the miracle, to remember His Holy Covenant, the promise/oath which He swore to Abraham.

God never forgets His promises nor ever breaks his Word, for He is always watching over it to perform it and even out of the broken, the barren and the seemingly impossible, comes – the Yochanan, (the impossible/the miracle).

He was the only priest in the history of the levitical priesthood whose birth was announced by an angel in the sanctuary of the priests.

Leviticus 26:40 – 42; Luke 1:4 – 17, 72 – 73;

You are to call him John (1:13d), which means, the grace of God or”Yahweh is gracious” which, when we think about it, was John the Baptist’s chief message: baptism for the forgiveness of sins.

Announcement of the Birth of John… When the baby is born:

He will be filled with the Holy Spirit even from birth (15c). Under the Old Covenant, to be filled with the Holy Spirit was rare — the privilege of a few prophets priests and kings only.

During this time, outside the Temple….“Meanwhile, the people were waiting for Zechariah and wondering why he stayed so long in the temple. When he came out, he could not speak to them. They realized he had seen a vision in the temple, for he kept making signs to them but remained unable to speak.” (1:21-22). 

(Due to the subject of the post and the need for extra details in tying it all together, the conclusion follows in part 2! )

Shalom!

SAY THE FOLLOWING FROM YOUR HEART RIGHT NOW…Don’t put it off one more moment…

Heavenly Father I come to you in the Name of Jesus asking for forgiveness of my sins for which I am truly sorry. I repent of them all and turn away from my past.

I believe with my heart and confess with my mouth that Jesus is your Son and that He died on the cross at calvary to pay the price for my sin, so that I might be forgiven and have eternal life in the kingdom of Heaven. Father I believe that Jesus rose from the dead and I ask you to come into my life right now and be my personal Savior and Lord and I will worship you all the days of my life. Because your word is truth I say that I am now forgiven and born again and by faith I am washed clean with the blood of Jesus. Thank you that you have accepted me into your family in Jesus’ name. Amen.

You are now Born Again by the Holy Spirit of the Living God and you are part of the ever growing family of believers. You will never be the same again!