A Fishy Tale But Not The One That Got Away!

When reading this passage we have all no doubt always understood Jesus/Yeshua was talking about paying taxes…..but which taxes? …And then, was there something more to the connection with the fish?

It’s a well known story in Matthew where Yeshua/Jesus sends Peter to catch a fish; telling him that there would be money in the fish’s mouth and that they would then use that money to pay the tribute tax for them both.

Matthew 17:24-27
And when they were come to Capernaum, they that received tribute money came to Peter, and said, Doth not your master pay tribute?

He saith, Yes. And when he was come into the house, Jesus prevented him, saying, What thinkest thou, Simon? of whom do the kings of the earth take custom or tribute? of their own children, or of strangers?

Peter saith unto him, Of strangers. Jesus saith unto him, Then are the children free.

Notwithstanding, lest we should offend them, go thou to the sea, and cast an hook, and take up the fish that first cometh up; and when thou hast opened his mouth, thou shalt find a piece of money: that take, and give unto them for me and thee.

This may sound strange to western ears and other than a miracle…how could there be money in a fish’s mouth?  Consequently many answer that question by saying just that… God, by way of a miracle, placed some money in that particular fish’s mouth.

Once again, understanding the eastern culture in which the Bible was written helps us to understand the story a little better. Again these are things to think on and further research for those inclined to do so, we should all be good Bereans; and here, research showed there are fish in the middle east called the Musht.  Describing them as small fish about six inches long with a large head.  Apparently they also have what we would call a bag, or a pouch under the mouth.

Pertinent articles tell us that after new Musht hatch, the parents keep them in the pouch for a short while to protect them.  Then when it is time, the parent fish will begin to pick up pebbles from the bottom of the sea and put them into the pouch.  This is done so the new fish will not be so comfortable because it’s time for them to leave!

These Musht fish basically eat plankton, so at certain times of the year you can find them in very shallow water.  At times they do pick up shiny objects, coins, gold etc… Whether this is the fish Peter caught is not certain/proven but it is interesting nevertheless.

Another custom:

We must remember that in Bible times, offerings to God were taken very seriously.  Sometimes there were those individuals who wanted to give an offering however they didn’t want to receive any recognition; because, many believed that if you received praise from men then you had already received your reward now in this world and they preferred to receive their reward in the one to come. People would throw their offerings into the waters in order to keep it private and threw their offerings into what was considered ‘holy waters’ would be best, but, depending on where one would be, any water would do.

Many traditions have grown over the years of throwing coins into a fountain or well for good luck.  The Trevi Fountain in Rome is a famous location as well as the Ganges River which is considered a holy river. 

In the scriptures Yeshua/Jesus told Peter to go to the sea, Galilee, cast in a hook, and take the first fish that came up.  He further told him that when he opened the fish’s mouth he would find a piece of money.

Peter was a fisherman and possibly was well aware that this type of fish could have a coin in its mouth but that it was a rare thing to catch one.

Think of the sequence of events that would have been needed: First, someone had to lose or throw a coin in the water. Then, a fish had to take that coin in its mouth and keep it there. That same fish then had to bite Peter’s hook even with a coin in its mouth and be caught. This cannot be explained away so easily.

Consequently, it may not have been such an amazing miracle that the fish had a coin in its mouth; but rather the more amazing miracle being that it was the very first and only fish that Peter caught!

Just as Peter did, we can have confidence in the promises of our Heavenly Father, by accepting that what He has promised is true and believing that He can and will supply all our needs. Furthermore we should not limit the manner in which He meets those needs.

The scripture tells us that the reason Peter had to find the fish was to pay the taxes but which tax?

While they were in Capernaum, those who collected tribute money approached Peter and asked, “Doth not your master pay tribute?” (v. 24).

This tribute was not a civil tax but a religious tax, also known as the temple tax. The amount due was a coin known as a didrachma, for a day laborer this was the wages equivalent of about two days work. This was based on Exodus 30:11­-16, which required every adult male to pay half a shekel as ransom money towards the building of the tabernacle. It is not clear from the original text whether this was to be an annual tax or, more likely, just a one-time tax towards the making of the tabernacle Ex. 26:20-25; 38:25-31. Later in Nehemiah, a similar tax was levied for the rebuilding of the temple Neh. 10:32-33.

Peter, answered the question in v. 25. However in reading the verse carefully..

He saith, Yes. And when he was come into the house, Jesus prevented him, saying,

when Peter went to tell Yeshua/Jesus, Who it says was in the house,

He prevented him,

or anticipated him, 

revealing His omniscience.

This is a gentle reminder that wherever we are, Messiah is the silent witness of our conversations and even what we think are our private thoughts. He asks Peter a question saying in other words:

Kings do not normally charge tax to members of their own family, but they do charge taxes from their subjects. Which am I?

An interesting question which, when we recall when Peter had declared just before in the previous chapter,

Thou art the Christ, the Son of the living God. 16:16.

Was this highlighting a change from His earlier confession? Again possibly a gentle reminder that as disciples we often live so differently from our con­fession without thinking twice about it.

Is this also the reason that Yeshua/Jesus called him Simon in verse 25, that being Peter’s former name and a reference to the fact he had acted so eas­ily and quickly according to his old nature?

We all need to be continually doing what Rom.12:2 encourages us to do….. renewing of our minds.

He says to Peter, What thinkest thou? 

or as we might say,

What are you thinking?

We need our minds to be on the things of God and not be distracted from what He has asked us to be doing.

It is recorded that every Jewish male over the age of 20 was required to pay the temple tax each year and the money was used for the upkeep and maintenance of the temple. In Exodus 30:13–16,

In Yeshua/Jesus day, the Temple tax 

literally. מחצית השקל  – the half shekel,

was a tax paid by Israelites and Levites which went towards the upkeep of the Temple in Jerusalem/Yerushalayim.

Yeshua/Jesus pointed out that a king does not order his own son/family to pay taxes.

Since Yeshua/Jesus was and is the Son of God, Lord and Owner of the Temple, He and His family/children should have been free from paying  taxes because for Him to pay the tax would be like paying taxes to Himself. When He says, The children are exempt. v. 26, meaning that because of our relationship/connection with Him, that which applies to Him applies to us also; and in this instance meaning, neither Messiah nor His disciples should have to pay the temple tax?

The reason why Yeshua/Jesus had Peter locate a hook and line and go fishing could also be that fish have always played an important role in Jewish tradition and mysticism. Fish called gefilte fish are still popular today.  Interestingly the word gefilte means fullness.  Fish have always been symbolic of God’s provision.  Fish lay many eggs and symbolize both prosperity and multiplication. We have looked previously at the pictograph for the letter N – nun or noon which is the word fish in the Hebrew and has the idea of flowing, going with the stream.

There is another possible reason why Messiah may have asked Peter to go fishing for the coin/money. There is a tradition that says before the Day of Atonement, all observant Jews go to a river to fish. Why? This is because the Talmud (Talmud-the written oral Law); teaches that men are like fish who are often as prey when the hooks and nets are set before them by the Yeitzer Hara /evil desires/temptations.  This tradition is a reminder that freedom from sin comes only through repentance and repentance for forgiveness of sins was also a common teaching during Yeshua/Jesus’s day. Was He offering Peter a chance to reflect on how easily it is to get hooked by the enemy and the coin in the fish’s mouth represented how the enemy can use money to get you hooked? 

The money collected for the temple tax was a fund also used to help the poor, which Messiah would not have objected to.  Peter would have thought that Yeshua/Jesus as his rabbi was teaching him something in this situation. 

The coin would have had to have been a Jewish or temple coin and not a Roman coin. Yeshua/Jesus told Peter he would find a piece of money in the fish’s mouth. The Greek word used for money is sater which means a silver coin. In Aramaic, the word used is ‘astra which is a coin worth about one shekel. Scholars believe this would have been one shekel in Jewish money and the tax was one half shekel per person, so one shekel would cover both Peter and Yeshua/Jesus.  The Roman coin usually had the image of a Roman emperor on it who considered himself a god and this would have violated the 2nd commandment particularly if it were brought onto temple grounds.  This is possibly why the temple had money changers in the court in order to change the pagan coins into one the priesthood approved as clean? It could also have been a reason why Messiah turned over the money changers tables; if they were piling up pagan coins and thereby violating the 2nd commandment right on the temple grounds by using paganism and idolatry to conduct their commerce? As a rabbi, Yeshua/Jesus was not going to allow it and by overturning the tables He was performing a task well within His authority as a master teacher, which is probably why the temple guard did not try to stop him?

Which coin was it?

Quoting the section from Mark, “Whose is this image and superscription?” From the answer, we understand that the coin must have had a portrait of a ruler and also have a superscription, or in other words the word Caesar was in the title and it would be a coin of the denarius or possibly drachm denomination. Apparently denarius coins of Julius Caesar s portrait did exist but were quite rare, and would not have been minted after 44 B.C., although certainly a candidate, it would not have been a common type of coin in circulation at the time.

There were coins of Augustus, which featured the word Caesar; he issued a lot of the denarius coins in his reign with his portrait on. This would have been from before Yeshua/Jesus’ birth into His young adulthood from around 27 B.C. – 14 A.D. and would probably be a more likely coin that was shown to Him.

Traditionally the most likely coin that was referred to as being the Tribute Penny, is the silver denarius which was the coin of emperor Tiberius, he reigned 14-37 A.D. and these coins also featured the title of Caesar on them. In the context of the time period described, these would have been the most recently-minted coins and therefore the most widely-accepted form of the Tribute Penny. 

Further information gleaned says that the shekel of Tyre was minted between 125 BC and 66 AD when the first Jewish war broke out. It was the standard coin and only coin accepted in the Jewish temple at the time of Messiah. One reference to the story of Yeshua/Jesus telling Peter to pay the temple tax for the two of them says it was a Tyrian shekel which was retrieved from the mouth of a fish.

How many times we read a passage and still miss some deeper meaning Matthew 22:20-21 for example

And He said unto them, whose is this image and superscription? They say unto Him, Caesars.  Then saith he unto them Render unto Caesars the things which are Caesars and unto God the things that are God’s.

The drachma was given for the roman tax.

Looking at the whole scenario a little more carefully, the Pharisees and Herodians were on a quest to trap Jesus/Yeshua in any way they could and this time they really thought they had Him trapped when they asked Him about paying taxes.

With the Roman guards no doubt standing nearby and the Pharisees also within hearing distance, a Pharisee asked Yeshua/Jesus if it was right to pay a tithe or 10% to the Roman government in taxes.

Why?

Because If He said yes, the Jewish leaders/Pharisees, would condemn Him for giving support to a pagan government and they would probably have brought Him before the Sanhedrin accusing Him of being a law breaker.

It was taught by oral law, not the written Torah Law, but the law as man wrote it, that to pay a tax was to pay a tithe and you could only tithe to God, not man.

Paying tax to a foreign government was considered as the same thing as paying a tithe to the government which was not forbidden by Mosaic law but it was by the Traditions of the Fathers.

Torah Law taught you were to give 10% of your earnings in a tithe. Tithe means ten and strangely coincidental, the Roman government demanded that you pay 10% of your income in taxes! So to pay the government 10% was like paying a tithe and the oral law forbade paying taxes that equaled 10%.

Time after time Yeshua/Jesus was condemning much of oral law as not being authoritative. For example the Torah teaching/instruction/Law, taught that no one could work on the Sabbath. Oral teaching/law or man’s interpretation of that teaching/law was that to heal on the Sabbath was considered work; therefore if a person healed someone on the Sabbath they were breaking Torah Law by ‘working’. Messiah healed on the Sabbath in direct violation of their oral law, which is why they called Him a sinner.

These traditions were later part of the forming of what is known as the Talmud. The Talmud was not considered to be inspired, but it was nonetheless authoritative instruction; and to violate the teachings of the tradition of the Fathers was a chargeable offense and that had to be heard before the Sanhedrin which was the religious court.

If Messiah answered no it implied He agreed with the teachings of the Tradition of the Fathers…then the Roman government could arrest Him for treason and for being disloyal to the Roman government and inciting others to also rebel!

Why did His response cause the reaction it did from the Pharisees and Herodians? When Yeshua/Jesus said: Render unto Caesar that which is Caesar and to God that which is Gods.  Matthew 22:20-21

Wasn’t He saying that it was alright to pay the taxes? Meaning in so many words.. just pay taxes with Roman money and not the coins issued by the temple.

Didn’t His enemies have Him right where they wanted Him?

Why did Yeshua/Jesus call them hypocrites in verse 18?

Reading around this subject in Jewish literature there is an interesting note about the 2nd commandment. Exodus 20:4: “Thou shalt not make unto thee any graven image in the likeness that is in heaven above or in the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the sea.”

Thou shalt not make

The word make in Hebrew is ashah which is followed by the word leka which means to you.

Ashah leka has the idea of taking something unto yourself.

So You are not

to take for yourselves any graven images.

The word for graven image is pesel

Pesel  letters: Pei Sade Lamed

which means:

to carve out and fashion something that is seen.

This carving or engraving could be done with wood or metal.

This is telling us that we are not to take upon ourselves anything that is fashioned to take on the representation which is a likeness or physical manifestation of anything in the heavens above or the earth below or in the sea.

This commandment is instructing the Jews to have no other gods before God Jehovah. They are not even to make that is the Hebrew word pasal which is an engraving or carving and it is not to be made for your own personal possession.

Obviously people recognized that a coin made of metal had an image engraved upon it however if that image was in the likeness of someone who was considered a god, then for a Jewish person to have or even carry with them such a coin meant they were violating the 2nd commandment.

What did Messiah say? He asked the Pharisee if he had a coin.

Yeshua/Jesus asked the Pharisee to show Him a coin, he took out and showed Him a coin with Caesar’s image or likeness on it.

When asked whose picture was on the coin. He said Caesars. Then Yeshua/Jesus said: Render unto Caesar that which is Caesars and to God that which is God’s.

As noted the first century, coins are called the Tribute coin and it has engraved on it the picture or image of Caesar Augustus Tiberius and the inscription

“Caesar Augustus Tiberius, Son of the Divine Augustus.”

This was blasphemous to a Jew as it was claiming that Caesar Augustus Tiberius was a god and also by carrying this coin with him the Pharisee was in violation of the 2nd commandment.

Messiah cleverly used their own Oral Tradition and their own twist on the Torah to trap them instead; and in his enthusiasm to trap Yeshua/Jesus, by having such a coin, he was admitting to a form of idolatry.

Apparently, their teaching pointed out that to ‘carry such a coin’ meant he worshipped that specific god. The Jews interpret this to mean that you cannot even possess an image of anything that declares himself or herself to be a god.

It is possible that this Pharisee could not read the Latin words, because it says on the coin:

Caesar Augustus Tiberius, son of the Divine Augustus?!

So, by having and carrying that coin he was declaring in other words, that he worshipped a Roman god which was Roman money.

At the same time Yeshua/Jesus put the correct understanding onto the 2nd commandment when He said, Render unto Caesar that which is Caesars, it was not a simple reference to paying taxes with Roman currency, it was speaking of worship.

Even if this Pharisee had Roman coins, it may have been because he had business deals with the Romans. The more likely point was that Messiah knew what was in his heart and that his god was money. He broke the second commandment, meaning his god was money not our Heavenly Father.

Was Yeshua/Jesus showing them that while they were accusing Him of breaking the Tradition of the Fathers, which was the Oral law, they were breaking the 2nd commandment by having such a coin. Messiah came to fulfill the law by pointing out the things added by men which were not from His Father and to teach people how to live correctly by the given Torah.

In the next verse of Matthew 22:21-22: They say unto him, Caesar’s. Then saith he unto them, Render therefore unto Caesar the things which are Caesar’s; and unto God the things that are God’s. (22) When they had heard [these words], they marveled, and left him, and went their way.

Matthew 22:22 tells us that everyone marveled and then left Him alone. What made them marvel about that statement?

Wasn’t He falling into the Pharisee trap, saying it was right to pay taxes?

In the Greek text the word marvel is ethaumasan. This is where we get the English word enthusiasm. It means to be astonished, amazed, surprised or stunned.

The word is damar in Aramaic which means to admire. It is in a form that means: so they were filled with admiration. So, it was the Pharisee who fell into Messiah’s trap.

The word render is yahav

which means: 

to allow which would be.. 

Allow Caesar to have that which is his

and God to have that which is his.

Allow  Yahav

יהב

Yod Hei Beth

Exodus 20:3-4: Thou shalt have no other gods before me. 4. Thou shalt not make (for your possession) unto thee any graven image, or any likeness [of any thing] that [is] in heaven above, or that [is] in the earth beneath, or that [is] in the water under the earth:

Not all Roman coins bore such a subscription Caesar Augustus Tiberius, son of the Divine Augustus. declaring the person pictured to be divine or a god.

What may have caused them to marvel was not just how Jesus/Yeshua knew the Pharisee would pull out that specific coin and not a temple coin, that is amazing enough. But was it the fact that He caught the Pharisee breaking the first commandment that really astounded the people?

In the Aramaic Yeshua/Jesus was telling the Pharisee something in the meaning of: Allow Caesar to be Caesar thinking he is a god. But allow God to be God and bear all the glory as the God of the Universe. You are carrying Caesar’s image thereby giving him the glory of considering himself a god? Then you turn around and accuse me of breaking man’s law when you are in direct violation of the very first commandment?

Yeshua/Jesus never answered the question and He didn’t have to because He took away the Pharisees right to even ask.

Simply put, by asking such a question when he was in personal violation of Torah teaching and the 1st commandment meant he was being a hypocrite…which is precisely what Messiah had called them.

We are to give to our Heavenly Father that which He has asked of us, and to do so willingly and to love Him first with ALL our heart, mind and strength…. He gave everything for us and the price was far beyond any coins with graven images on …. We can never repay the debt He paid for us in His own Blood

but….

we can give Him ALL that we are, and ALL that we have; and allow Him to make us into the person we are called to be and to serve Him while we still can…Our Father’s promise is to provide our needs and we should not limit His way of provision… a fish may swim to us or a bird may fly over with just what we need and just at the right time…

Shalom shalom mishpachah/family

and cheverim/friends!

It’s all about Life and Relationship,

NOT Religion.

You are greatly loved and precious in His sight.

NOT SURE?

YOU CAN BE..

SAY THE FOLLOWING FROM YOUR HEART RIGHT NOW…

Heavenly Father I come to you in the Name of Jesus/Yeshua 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/Yeshua 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/Yeshua 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/Yeshua. Thank you that you have accepted me into your family in Jesus’/Yeshua’s name. Amen.

The End From The Beginning & Signs Of The Times

I Am God, and There Is None Like Me, Declaring the End From the Beginning, and From Ancient Times the Things That Are Not Yet Done. Isaiah 41:4

Who hath wrought and done it, calling the generations from the beginning? I the LORD, the first, and with the last; I am He.

In Isaiah 46:10, God stated that He “declared the end from the beginning”, as well as “things that were not yet done”.

What this literally means is, that God not only declared the TIME of the end from the beginning, (meaning the 7 day creation story), but also that the creation story itself is actually prophetic.

A Translation could read:

From the beginning I revealed the end. From long ago I told you things that had not yet happened, saying, “My plan will stand, and I’ll do everything I intended to do.”

Are the end times upon us? According to those keeping a close eye on the strange happenings in Israel, the answer might well be “yes.”

Predictions about the end of the world seem to appear every time there is an unusual celestial phenomenon, such as a lunar eclipse/blood moon or a comet’s arrival,

but the notable signs in Israel are both more common and more bizarre.

Rabbis and prophecy watchers in Israel have been abuzz over several events which all took place at the end of 2018, they see them as positive signs of Messiah’s soon coming. MMM is not affirming that connection here, however, the signs are interesting enough to sit up and take note.

The 1st of the these strange occurrences was the birth of the first red heifer in 2,000 years on 5th sept 2018.

Many will be purified and purged and refined; the wicked will act wickedly and none of the wicked will understand; but the knowledgeable will understand. Daniel 12:10

The red heifer is described in the Book of Numbers.

“This is the ritual law that Hashem has commanded: Instruct B’nei Yisrael to bring you a red cow without blemish, in which there is no defect and on which no yoke has been laid. Numbers 19:2

One of the commands given to Israel in the Law of Moses requires the birth of the “Parah Adumah”, the red heifer. The sacrifice of the red heifer is to bring purification.

Red heifers are mentioned in rabbinic speculation concerning the end times. The birth of a red heifer, many believe, will herald the building of the Third Temple.  Some Christians believe that such an event will herald the second coming of Messiah Jesus/Yeshua.

One week after it’s birth the calf in question was given an “extensive examination” to see if she was actually “blemish free” as is specified in the Bible.

According to end times literature, the red calf “brings the promise of reinstating Biblical purity to the world” paving the way for re-establishing the Temple service and marking the final stage of redemption. It will be sacrificed prior to the construction of the Third Temple in Jerusalem.

Rabbinical experts have found that the calf is without blemish as defined by Scripture and thus is a ‘viable candidate for the Biblical red heifer.’

The event was being heralded as the first verified birth of a red heifer in two thousand years.

According to Jewish tradition, there will only be 10 red heifers in human history with the 10th heifer ushering in the Messianic era. 

Rabbi Moshe ben Maimon (Maimonides), the most renowned medieval Jewish scholar known by the acronym Rambam, wrote in his explanation of the mitzvah that “the tenth red heifer will be accomplished by the king, the Messiah; may he be revealed speedily, Amen, May it be God’s will.”

Rabbi Chaim Richman, the International Director of the Temple Institute, commented on this on their website.

“If there has been no red heifer for the past 2,000 years, perhaps it is because the time was not right; Israel was far from being ready. But now… what could it mean for the times we live in, to have the means for purification so close at hand? With the words of Maimonides in mind, we cannot help but wonder and pray: If there are now red heifers… is ours the era that will need them?”

The laws pertaining to the mitzvah are myriad and considered by the sages to be the archetypal chok, an inexplicable Torah commandment accepted solely on faith.

For believers we know that Messiah Jesus/Yeshua has fulfilled the mystery of this chok. 

click link for more on CHOK

https://www.minimannamoments.com/the-mystery-of-solomons-chok/

Before entering the land of Israel after the Exodus, the heifer was burned outside of the camp. In the days of the Temple, the heifer was taken to the Mount of Olives across a causeway built specifically for this purpose to ensure that there was no inadvertent contact with areas along the way that may have been contaminated by dead bodies.

Cedarwood, hyssop, and wool or yarn dyed scarlet are added to the fire, and the remaining ashes are placed in a vessel containing spring water to purify a person who has become ritually contaminated by contact with a corpse.

Water from the vessel is sprinkled on the subject, using a bunch of hyssop, on the third and seventh day of the purification process. The priest who performs the ritual then becomes ritually unclean, and must then wash himself and his clothes in running waters. He is deemed impure until evening.

No less stringent than the laws pertaining to the heifer are the laws pertaining to the site where the heifer is burned. Almost 30 years ago, Rabbi Yonatan Adler, who is also an archaeologist, performed an in-depth study into the textual references to the site where the red heifer was burned, publishing his results in the Torah journal. 

His calculations, based on the Holy of Holies being located where the Dome of the Rock stands today, led him to a spot where Dominus Flevit, a Catholic Church built in 1955, now stands. Archaeological surveys discovered unique characteristics of the site that corresponded to descriptions in the Talmud.

The 2nd oddity in Israel has baffled scientists across the world.

The Dead Sea is known for its overwhelming salinity; (Hebrew: יָם הַמֶּלַח Yam ha-Melah lit. Sea of Salt; Arabic: البحر الميت ‎ Al-Bahr al-Mayyit) is a salt lake bordered by Jordan to the east and Israel and the West Bank to the west. It lies in the Jordan Rift Valley, and its main tributary is the Jordan River.

The extraordinary abundance of salt in the water makes it both a popular tourist destination and an environment that is completely inhospitable to almost every form of life on the planet.

The Dead Sea is 377 m (1,237 ft) deep, making it the deepest hypersaline lake in the world. A hypersaline lake is a landlocked body of water that contains significant concentrations of sodium chloride or other mineral salts, with saline levels nearly 10 times the salt of the ocean, life in its brine is largely unknown. 

On the shores of the Dead Sea – more than 400 meters below sea level – are freshwater sinkholes, created as a result of dropping water levels. A young woman on a nature hike was shocked recently when she discovered freshwater ponds with fish on the shores of the Dead Sea. 

The sinkholes around its edges, have inexplicably been filled with fish!! An incongruous sight with powerful implications: a prophecy appearing before her eyes that seemed to contradict the laws of nature.

 Where the fish have come from is unknown, and they have been joined by the return of vegetation to the otherwise barren area.

The Bible, however, describes a very different picture of the region. Lot looked out on the valley where the Dead Sea is now and saw an incredibly fertile and well-watered region.

And Lot lifted up his eyes, and beheld all the plain of the Jordan, that it was well watered every where, before Hashem destroyed Sdom and Gomorrah like the garden of Hashem. Genesis 13:10 (The Israel Bible)

The Bible relates that the landscape changed when the fire and brimstone destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah turned the valley into a wasteland. Indeed, people who visit the Dead Sea today would find it difficult to envision a garden in the arid region.

This fits the prophets Zechariah and Ezekiel’s claims that the Dead Sea and the area around it would flourish with life before the world came to an end.

“And it shall come to pass in that day that living waters shall go out from Yerushalayim: half of them toward the eastern sea and half of them toward the western sea; in summer and in winter shall it be.” Zechariah 14:8 (The Israel Bible™) 

Then said he unto me: ‘These waters issue forth toward the eastern region and shall go down into the Arabah; and when they shall enter into the sea into the sea of the putrid waters the waters shall be healed. And it shall come to pass that every living creature wherewith it swarmeth whithersoever the rivers shall come shall live; and there shall be a very great multitude of fish; for these waters are come thither that all things be healed and may live whithersoever the river cometh. Ezekiel 47:8-9 (The Israel Bible)

In the Book of Ezekiel, the prophet speaks of what will take place in the last days.

The Jewish people will be regathered from the ends of the earth back to the land of Israel.

The Temple will be rebuilt.

And water will flow from Jerusalem to the Dead Sea.

As it flows, it will bring life from death and fish will swim in the waters of the Dead Sea. Fish have never been spotted in the Dead Sea… that is, apparently, until the end of 2018.

 

The 3rd eerie happening in Israel is enough to send shivers down the spine!

At around the same time of the birth of the red heifer, while Jewish people were praying at the Western Wall, a very different creature appeared.

A snake began slithering out from the stones in the Western Wall, interrupting the prayers being offered there. As the serpent is a creature often associated with evil, the event, the first of its kind to be recorded, sparked off more speculation concerning ‘dangerous times’ and the coming of Messiah.

Understandably, worshipers there at the time were in shock as it is one of Israel’s holiest sites. 

Is A Snake Appearing From Temple Mount Connected to the Messiah and Third Temple?

The snake was identified as a coin-marked snake, or leaden-colored racer, and it was not a small specimen either.

Rough estimates place it at over three feet long.

There is something ominous about the unexpected appearance of the animal so often associated with evil in the Bible in a place that is meant to be filled with worship.

Let them lick dust like snakes, Like crawling things on the ground! Let them come trembling out of their strongholds To Hashem our God; Let them fear and dread You! Micah 7:17 (The Israel Bible™)

The incident is considered the 3rd sign of the approaching Apocalypse.

The snake crawled out of the stones at the Wailing Wall in Jerusalem and frightened the dove it was trying to catch which was sitting on the wall.

https://youtu.be/IfVepVl5aHk
To see the dove fly away click either link
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IfVepVl5aHk

for the snake removal click

https://youtu.be/nGESS5zfRQI

According to Torah scholars, prophecy considered to be of EPIC PROPORTION has been fulfilled! 

When this snake came wriggling out from between the stones of the Western Wall it brought with it a message straight from Jewish mystical teachings; connecting the archetypal enemy of man with the High Priest in the Temple, and also, perhaps, serving as a harbinger of the Messiah.

Scholars noted as it flew away and found refuge within the rocks of the wall, so must the Jews remain close to their TORAH as evil closes in on the world.. 

Just as the dove is safe so long as it seeks shelter among the stones of the Temple Mount, the Jews are protected by the Torah commandments. When the dove comes out from the stones or the the Jews move away from the Torah, they are in danger.

Torah scholars also claimed the appearance of a snake coming out of the stones of the Temple Mount could be seen as an auspicious sign. In gematria (Hebrew numerology) nachash (snake)  נחש equals 358, the same as Moshiach (Messiah) משיח. An explanation is that the evil inclination, personified by the snake in Eden, will make a resurgence in the days before Messiah appears as holiness also increases in the world in the end-of-days.
Another connection between the lowly snake and holiness is implicit in the Hebrew words.
The letters of the word nachash can be rearranged to spell choshen (breastplate), worn by the Kohen Gadol (high priest) in the Temple. It is stated that the tikkun (fixing) of the snake would be accomplished in the Third Temple by way of the breastplate. Embedded in the breastplate were 12 precious stones, each representing a tribe of Israel. When faced with a difficult situation, the kings of Israel could inquire and the stones of the breastplate would shine in sequence, providing them with a divine response to their question. This was a Tikkun for the snake which gave a deceitful response to Eve.

The appearance of the snake was not the first frightening incident to take place at the Wailing Wall this year.

On 22nd July 2018 an elderly worshipper had a close call when a 100-kg (220 lb) stone suddenly fell from Jerusalem’s Western Wall (kotel) and crashed at her feet on to the egalitarian plaza, a prayer platform.

Jerusalem Antiquities authorities are investigating and say they will respect its ‘sensitivity.’

The Wall, is more than 2,000 years old. 

It became known by Europeans as the Wailing Wall, a translation of the Arabic, el-Mabka.

Rabbis look up to where the boulder fell from.

Could it be that….

?????????

Another sign appeared on Hoshana Rabba, the last day of Sukkot, when a large cloud of mist began billowing up from the ground inside the Temple Mount Compound, surrounding the Dome of the rock for several minutes. 

In October, a group of Jews praying on the Mount of Olives witnessed a large white cloud rise up out of the ground from the Temple Mount.

I wipe away your sins like a cloud, Your transgressions like mist— Come back to Me, for I redeem you. Isaiah 44:22 (The Israel Bible™)

Most were immersed in their holiday prayers and had not noticed but when it was pointed out, they confirmed the mist’s presence. The phenomenon lingered on the ground around the golden dome for more than 20 minutes.  

When Rabbi Yosef Berger heard of the sighting, he responded with equanimity.

“If you had told me that it happened any other day of the year, I would not have assigned it any significance,” Rabbi Berger told Breaking Israel News. “But to have this cloud appear on Hoshana Rabbah is highly significant and makes me happy, knowing the geula (redemption) is at hand.”

ALSO

Israel announces:

The Third Temple will be ready in 2019

Sanhedrin Invites 70 Nations to Hanukkah Dedication of Altar for the Third Temple

The altar built by the Temple Institute to be used in service in the rebuilt Third Jewish Temple.

As Breaking Israel News reported earlier this month, the Temple Institute in Jerusalem has completed the construction of the stone altar required for the sacrificial service in the Holy Temple.

The ceremony included the consecration of a stone altar prepared for use in the Third Temple. The declaration was intended as an invitation to the nations to participate in the Temple and to receive its blessings.

The altar is currently in the form of loose stone blocks ready to be transported to the Temple Mount and stored in a manner that will enable them to be transported and assembled at a moment’s notice. When complete, the altar will be a square nine feet on each side and five feet tall, and includes a ramp for the priests to ascend.

For believers neither building nor further sacrifices are required as we are the living stones of the Temple/Body of Messiah Jesus/Yeshua the building of the 3rd Temple is to fulfill Biblical end-time prophecy.

Interesting note: 70 is the number of languages that were given to divide and separate the people after the tower of Babel incident, are they now being re-assembled??

And yet another harbinger reported..

Is increasing Snowfall in Sahara Desert a Sign of Messianic Redemption?

Snow in the Sahara desert has been a rare phenomenon, yet the Algerian town of Ain Sefra experienced on its second snowfall of the winter.

Of course, a second snowfall in the same winter was even more unforeseen, amazed locals woke up to see the desert sands coated again in approximately half a foot of snow.

Such rare weather patterns may very well be a sign of the Messianic era as the prophet Isaiah speaks repeatedly of deserts blooming in his description of the end of days.

“I am about to do something new; Even now it shall come to pass, Suddenly you shall perceive it: I will make a road through the wilderness And rivers in the desert.”

 

Another significant occurrence is that of a Special Torah Scroll Written for Messiah has been Completed.

Rabbi Yosef Berger, one of the rabbis in charge of King David’s Tomb in Jerusalem’s Old City, took an enormous step towards making his year-long dream a reality.

Rabbi Berger’s dream was to write a Torah scroll to present to the Messiah upon his arrival. Since David’s Tomb, the burial place of the Messiah’s ancestor, is located on Mount Zion, Rabbi Berger is uniquely positioned to personally present the Torah to the Messiah.

The Rabbi believes that by writing a Torah scroll which includes all of Israel, and keeping that scroll on Mount Zion, it will fulfill the requirements to usher in the Messiah.

Rabbi Berger explained to how he learned this from Yalkut Shimoni, a collection of teachings believed to have been arranged in the 13th century. He quoted the text:

“’Rabbi Shimon Ben Monsia said, ‘No signs of redemption will be shown to Israel until they seek these three things – the kingdom of heaven , the dynasty of King David, and the building of the Temple.’ Writing a scroll housed on Mount Zion, where King David is interred, and adjacent to the Temple Mount, will accomplish all three goals in one action,” the rabbi explained.

In December, the first letters of the scroll were inscribed by Rabbi David Hai Abuhatzeira, the grandson of the prominent Moroccan Sephardic mystic Rabbi Israel Abuhatzeira, known as the Baba Sali.

At the time, Rabbi Abuhatseira urgently instructed the organizers of the project, “Write the Sefer Torah as fast as possible, you don’t have much time!…I hope you have a chance [to finish]!”

It appears that Rabbi Berger finished this stage of the project in time. Last Thursday, the ceremony to consecrate the new Torah scroll began at the Kotel (Western Wall) in Jerusalem and moved to the adjacent Ohel Yitzchak Synagogue, where the final letters were written by a collection of honored rabbis. Thousands of celebrants accompanied the Torah scroll to its new home at David’s Tomb on Mount Zion.

The ceremony was on the seventh day of the Hebrew month Adar, which is both the birth date and the Yahrtzeit (anniversary of the death) of Moses. Apropos to the momentous occasion, Rabbi Berger announced to the crowd, “Moses was truth, and his Torah was truth, and this Torah will never change.”

He then quoted from the book of Hosea
“For the Bnei Yisrael shall sit solitary many days without king and without prince and without sacrifice and without pillar and without ephod or teraphim; afterward shall Bnei Yisrael return and seek the LORD their God and David their king; and shall come trembling unto the LORD and to His goodness in the end of days.” (Hosea 3:4-5)

One final report is one that is related to the Feast of Trumpets/ Yom Teruah/Rosh Hashanah.

In the summer of 2016 there was a revival of the 4 horned variety of Jacob Sheep which got their name in the late 19th century because their spots and speckles match the description in the Book of Genesis of Jacob’s flock. 

And the flocks conceived at the sight of the rods, and the flocks brought forth streaked, speckled, and spotted. Genesis 30:39

Apparently their horns are very significant and used as shofars.

On 20th August 2018 Jacobs sheep were moved to the Temple grazing ground.

And you, O Migdal-eder, Outpost of Fair Tzion, It shall come to you: The former monarchy shall return— The kingship of Fair Yerushalayim. Micah 4:8 (The Israel Bible™)

Migdal Eder is also identified by the Prophet Micah as the place from which the dynasty of King David will be reestablished.

click link for more on Migdal Eder..

https://www.minimannamoments.com/a-lambs-tale-and-a-mysterious-tower/

After a journey from the other side of the world, the flock of 100 Jacob’s Sheep may have found a permanent home; Migdal Eder, a site designated for grazing animals destined for the Temple altar. They are currently in Gush Etzion awaiting the construction of facility in Migdal Eder (the tower of the flock) the place from which the Messiah is prophesied to come at the sound of the Last Trump!

Last but not least front and center in the news … There is also a strong indication of a Peace Deal in the not too distant future…..An agreement to divide Jerusalem and establish a PLO state is a tribulation event….

From a Biblical prophetic perspective, the reason why the God of Israel would allow these events to happen is because it will result in the end of the exile of the house of Jacob and the reunification of the 12 tribes of Israel (Ephraim and Judah).

We will to be “watchmen on the walls of Jerusalem” and we will not rest until the God of Israel makes Jerusalem a praise in the earth (Isaiah 62).

Rest assured, our Heavenly Father has all things in His control and in His timing for He has said…

From the beginning I revealed the end. From long ago I told you things that had not yet happened, saying, “My plan will stand, and I’ll do everything I intended to do.”

Shalom shalom!

Please Do Not leave this page without the surety in your heart that you have Him in your life and heart as the days draw ever closer to the end of the age..

NOT CERTAIN?

YOU CAN BE..

Make sure Messiah Jesus/Yeshua is your Redeemer, Savior, Lord and soon returning King and that you have a personal relationship with Him.

Its all about Life and Relationship, NOT Religion.

You are greatly loved and very precious in His sight.

He longs to give you the Shalom He paid the ultimate price for..

SIMPLY SAY THE FOLLOWING MEANING IT FROM YOUR HEART..don’t delay one more minute, SAY IT RIGHT NOW…

Heavenly Father I come to you in the Name of Jesus/Yeshua 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/Yeshua 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/Yeshua 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/Yeshua. Thank you that you have accepted me into your family in Jesus’/Yeshua’s name. Amen.

POETRY IN MOTION

Poetry in motion       בתנועה שירה

shiyrah, poez’yah,

piyut piyutiyut,  shiyr, poetiykah God’s poem/God’s song   האלים שיר

  שיר  האלים

שיר   song – sheer, zemer

The dictionary definition of Poetry describes it as a form of literature that uses aesthetic and rhythmic qualities of language—such as phonaesthetics, sound symbolism, and metre—to evoke meanings in addition to, or in place of, the prosaic ostensible meaning.

 Adonai/God/Hashem/Our Heavenly Father’s poem/song is His living breathing creation in perpetual motion which declares the very rhythm of Him who is life itself, in all its exquisite aesthetic qualities of patterns, colours, shapes and sounds.(guazu-falls)

שירה poetry, singing – shira

Psalm 145:10 the Scriptures declare that all creation is God’s work.

shir hashalom shel Elohim

Gods song of peace 

  שיר השלום של אלוהי

His handiwork 

In motion בתנועה

תנועה – motion

noun: t’nuah, niyah, t’zuzah; vkshh mshftyt

verb: imen, hech’evah, otet  

ידות מעשה   

Mitzpe Yadot      

Measurements are made

(as in creating, building and forming of matter.)

 The Extraordinary Iridescent Details of Peacock Feathers 

In Greek the word is ‘poema’, this is where we get our word poem. Poetry (from the Greek, ‘poiesis’, a ‘making’ or ‘creating’)

 and in the Hebrew

song, poem – shir

פּוֹאֶמָה   שיר

poemah   shiyr

So in one sense He is the poet of the universe.

         The poem of our existence was written by Him in the very fabric of our environment which is His creation. Our lives are the stanzas. His love for us and ours for Him are the elements of each rhyming iambic pentameter that echoes grace, mercy and loving kindness with every heart beat. The Hebrew for work is:  מְלָאכָה

‘melachah’ meaning ‘work’ Strong’s 4399  

 m’lekhet yad   יָד מְלֶאכֶת (they come in pink and green)

  The universe IS the poem, the song of God, created with every intention for our lives to be a work of beauty.

A beauty which can be found only by ‘knowing Him’, not in our own efforts. The poet of existence and of life itself. In whose love, your life can become not a dream but a poem of the living God, that will reflect the Life of Jesus/Yeshua in and through us. So we don’t need to strive to produce dead works, rather focus on living and as we are changed, we are ‘becoming His work’, His poem, His song, His Shir /Shiyr/שיר  A butterfly wing in macro detail.

 Pious, piety: Elohay Chasdi = God of my kindness to men or piety. (Ps 59:11) Resignation to the will of God is the whole of piety. We have twisted the meaning to being religious, starchy, narrow and unyielding it is applied to monasteries of reclusive monks and nuns. It is not an adjective we readily apply to ourselves but the real meaning is that it includes in it all that is good and is a source of the most settled quiet and composure of mind. Our resignation to the will of God may be said to be mature and perfect/complete when our will is resolved up into His and when we are resting in His will as our ultimate end and destiny in Him as being most just and right and good. It leads to the fullness of the kingdom of God within us as righteousness peace and joy in the Ruach Ha Kodesh.

Piety – אדיקות  

ש”ע)   דתיות ; תאדיקו )

דָּתִיּוּת   דְּבֵקוּת,   אֲדִיקוּת,

diykut, d’vekut, datiyut

In spiritual terminology, piety   אדיקות is a virtue. While people may understand its meaning differently, it is generally used to refer either to religious devotion or to spirituality, or often, a combination of both. A common element in most conceptions of piety is humility. An attitude of a repentant heart.(patterns are everywhere)

We are all called to put the ‘extra’ into ‘ordinary’.

For Jesus Himself said ‘greater works these will you do’.

Glass wing butterfly

Wings and tiny details, diverse and unique. The tensile capacity of a single strand of a spiders web, is greater in proportion than the strongest steel mankind can create from Earth’s rocks and elements. We need to see things from God’s perspective for He exists outside of our space-time continuum. He is not bound by our physical laws of light and gravity. He doesn’t need air to breathe or light to see. He is spirit and He is life itself in a capacity that we are yet to comprehend. His scripture tells us, when we see Him we shall be like Him. And the things of this life on Earth will grow very dim in the light of His glory and grace.

(Tiger eye or butterfly?)

The infinite diversity on this planet is incalculable. New species are still being identified every year. Macro feather detail of a House finch

With an untold billions of stars like our Sun with planets orbiting them we are but a speck in the cosmos and yet every hair of our head is numbered. Each soul is precious to the Lord. He came to seek and to save the lost. Luke 19:10

For the sole purpose of spending eternity together with us.

Jesus said if you have seen Me then you have seen the Father, I and the Father are one. We can see Him also in His creation everywhere around us if we will take the time to look.We all see God every day… sometimes, we just don’t recognize Him…We have heard it said that the devil is in the details. However it was the Lord who created the details in the first place. The devil has never been the original creator of anything, he just steals what was Gods and perverts it to aid his own evil schemes to deceive and destroy.Beauty in the eye of the beholder Hashem our creator GodIn Hebrew, every Hebrew prayer begins with this statement

Baruch ata Adonai Eloheinu Melech Ha Olam

Blessed are you O Lord my God King of the Universe.

It helps to remind us that He is the Creator of all things .

 Bereshit b’reshiyt – רֵאשִׁיתב – In the Beginning

Bet  ב . the pictogram indicates the house of the sign, the mark of creation. Creation itself is a house built by the Creator. The house itself is a sign

House as in ‘dwelling place’.

  Within the earliest Jewish traditions groups of scholars counted the number of times each letter appeared in the scriptures, (as well as the number of words verses paragraphs etc). These textual specialists were called Soferim (counters). The soferim ensured that Torah scrolls and the other books of the Tenakh (Old Testament), were identical, noting any unusual words or spellings and replicating them exactly through their scribal arts. Many Jews believe that Ezra the scribe instituted many of the practices of the Soferim. In this verse we are told that the heavens are ‘recounting’ the glory of God

The word mesaperim (are recounting), comes from the same Hebrew root as does soferim.

Every detail of the universe from great cosmic events to the bloom of a lily in the field recounts the glory of God

and is carefully written in His book, m’aseh vereshit – the works of creation.

Parallel to this idea the heavenly expanse raki’a is ‘telling’ of the work of God’s hands.The Hebrew word maggid means to explain or declare something in a conspicuous or obvious way, such as plainly telling the solution of a riddle. In Jewish tradition, the part of the Passover seder where the story of the Exodus from Egypt is clearly explained to the children at the table is called the maggid. Just as the order, precision, and enormous complexity of the physical universe reveals the glory and excellencies of the creator, so the vast heavenly expanse conspicuously displays the work of God’s hands. And though mankind may suppress this constant narrative through willful ignorance, they are forever without excuse, “for what can be known about God is plain to them, because God has shown it to them. For the invisible attributes of God, namely, His eternal power and divine nature, are clearly perceived in the things that have been made”. Rom 1:18-20Included are just a very small selection of creatures that we never normally see…(Giraffe Necked Weevil)

because its too small for our eyes to focus on, or too deep in the ocean,or too high in the sky.What’s out of reach to us is all part of His creation whether we know its there or not . Why make creatures of such great beautyand intricacies that no human has ever seen?Some only visible just recently with the help of science and technology.

Because His nature is LIFE and to create it.

Some macro photos of wings, feathers and sea life have no names, titles or description. Just simply focus on the images and their immeasurable and amazing display of colour and intelligent design, that in most cases will never be seen by human eyes and if so, only by way of photographs and still… He made them all. We have a truly omniscient Father who made all things for the praise of His glory just because He could. He formed everything to interact with a symbiotic harmony; played out in a rich and all encompassing symphony. Our world is a cacophony of sounds and a plethora of colors; mixed with love on a never ending palette that stretches beyond visible horizons. Everything continually expressing His creative nature both in the heavens above and upon this beautiful earth, our truly spectacular and infinitely diverse planet on which we live and call home. Hummingbirds are the smallest birds on the planet. A penny weighs 2.5 grams, and a hummingbird can weigh anywhere between 2 and 20 grams.

Psalm 19:1-4 The heavens are telling of the glory of God; and their expanse is declaring the work of His hands. Day to day pours forth speech, and night to night reveals knowledge. There is no speech, nor are there words; their voice is not heard. Their line has gone out through all the earth, and their utterances to the end of the world.

 As you look at the images and think about God’s creation:
(Pillars of the Carina Nebula.)

the heavens, the earth, the processes of life and nature, and every living thing, let Him fill you with such an overwhelming love for all that He is and all that He has done and is yet to do.So we can share more enthusiastically and effectively with those who have not heard, for He is love,as these pictures surely show!

‘For we are His workmanship created in Christ Jesus unto good works’. This verse is not recommending that we project good works as an image by self elevation, created out of pride and ambition.Not boasting of personal achievements and physical prowess and ‘movie star’ qualities out of our own talents, abilities and looks without God.

We congratulate ourselves on graduation from schools colleges and universities, many having yoked ourselves to a financial burden for the privilege, when we can study His word for free and yet we hardly give that subject of learning a second thought.
(Petrified dunes)

Get wisdom and get understanding, everything we need to live a successful life for the Lord is contained within the pages of One book.At times it appears our society is upside down for we are not taught to put God and His Word first place and are left wondering why we have problems. He needs to be the center of all we do, the pivot point for our life and nothing less. Our beauty comes from within, from His indwelling presence. The more we spend time in His presence the more we will radiate His glory outwards into the world.Ephesians 2:10 … we are not to be ‘strutting our stuff’ like peacocks, but to work, as the days grow darker we need to ‘bee’about our Father’s business. 

Psalm 145:9 because the Lord is good to all and His compassion is over all His works, all your works will praise you Lord and your pious ones will bless you.

The words of the well known hymn, ‘How great thou art’, bids us to consider all the works His hands have made.

After looking at the images above, the hymn written by Cecil Frances Alexander for children rings just as true today:  All things bright and beautiful,
All creatures great and small,
 All things wise and wonderful; The Lord God made them all.   Each little flow’r that opens,

Each little bird that sings,
 He made their glowing colors,
He made their tiny wings.The purple-headed mountains,
 The river running by,
 The sunset and the morning
That brightens up the sky. The cold wind in the winter,
The pleasant summer sun,
 The ripe fruits in the garden,
 He made them every one. The tall trees in the greenwood,
 The meadows where we play,
 The rushes by the water,
 To gather every day. He gave us eyes to see them,
 And lips that we might tell
 How great is God Almighty,
 Who has made all things well.

(Matthew 18:3 – Let’s never lose that childlike wonder.)