So many of the images and songs seen and heard this week are focused on the birth of our Messiah. Amid the food, décor, gifts and commercial festivities, there is nothing wrong with remembering that He came as an infant; as long as we remember that He came for one purpose
and that was to die.
John 12:32
He said Himself and I if I am lifted up …
I will draw all peoples to Myself.
Very few of us have any understanding of the reason why Jesus Christ/Yeshua Hamashiach died. If sympathy is all that people need then the cross of Messiah is ridiculous, redundant and there is no need for it. What the world needs now is not emotional, sentimental, ‘love sweet love’ feelings, but major surgery. In the moments we find ourselves face to face with those who are lost spiritually, we should recall the image of the reality of Jesus/Yeshua on the cross. If a lost soul can reach our Heavenly Father by any other means, then His death on the cross was pointless and unnecessary. If we think we are helping lost souls only with sympathy, understanding and nothing else, are we not traitors to the truth of why He came?
Each of us must have a right relationship with our Heavenly Father through Messiah; and pour out our lives in helping others in His Way, not in the ways of humanity that ignores the Father and the Cross of Messiah. The foundation and ways of so many of the religions of the world are, to serve in a pleasant attitude with a nonconfrontational manner.
However according to the scriptures, our only priority must be to present Messiah crucified and to lift Him up all the time.
I had made up my mind not to think about anything while I was with you except Jesus Christ, and to preach him as crucified. 1 Cor. 2:2.
The truth is, that every belief that is not rooted and grounded in the cross of Messiah will lead people in the wrong direction. Our words will be compelling to those with whom we are speaking only if we ourselves believe wholeheartedly in Jesus/Yeshua and are trusting in the reality of redemption through His shed blood at the cross. Our usefulness to our Heavenly Father depends entirely on an honest, truthful relationship with Messiah that is strong, and continually growing and bearing fruit.
All believers are called to expose sin and to reveal Jesus/Yeshua as Savior; and because of this we cannot always be over friendly nor be given to compromise. There are times and situations that call for strong correction in order to accomplish major spiritual surgery. Our Heavenly Father has not called us us to give great talks but to lift up Jesus Christ/Yeashua HaMashiach and Him crucified.
The Lord has dealt with us in a deep way and similarly we must be willing to help others, being ready with pertinent scriptures and not be afraid to apply those which will make the truth undeniable.
Within the first verses of the New Testament we read:
Behold a virgin shall be with child and bear a Son and they shall call His name Immanuel which is translated God with us.
Matthew 1:23
His Birth is history to us…
that Holy One who is to be born
will be called the Son of God. Luke 1:35.
Jesus Christ/Yeshua HaMashiach was
born INTO this world not FROM it.
He did not emerge out of history, He came INTO history from the outside. Messiah is not the best human being the human race can boast about, He’s a being for whom the human race can’t take any credit at all. He’s not man becoming God but God incarnated into our physical likeness. God came into human flesh from outside of it. His life/chaim, is the holiest and the highest, entering through the most humble of doors, a baby. Messiahs birth was the advent, the appearance of our Heavenly Father God in the form of a physical human being.
Galatians 4:19 concerns His birth in us My little children for whom I labor in birth again until Messiah is formed in you.
In the same way Messiah came into human history from outside of it, He must also come into each and every one of us from outside. The question we must ask ourselves this season is:
Have we allowed our own lives to become a Bethlehem for the Son of God to be Immanuel to us? Have I opened the door of my heart for Messiah to be a House of Bread through me?
The town of Bethlehem was prophesied to be where Messiah would be born. Micah 5:2
Beit lechem in Hebrew means House of Bread. Laid in a feeding trough, He was and is the Bread of Life and He dwells in our house/ our physical self where He can feed us spiritually.
We cannot enter the realm of the kingdom of God unless we are born again from above by a birth unlike physical birth. John 3:7 You must be born again from above.
Yeshua/Jesus’ words are not simply a command but a fact based on the authority of His Father. The evidence of this new birth is that we have yielded ourselves so completely to the Father that Messiah is formed in us and His nature begins to work through us. The fact that God came, and the evidence was there in the flesh; is what made redemption possible for each one of us, for whosoever will receive Him.
Although we have clear scriptural references that Messiahs birth was not exactly on 25th December, religious traditions give us the perfect opportunity to tell people the real reason for the season, lets’ make the most of it. Previous posts on related themes with many more insights are listed below for new readers. Hannukah was a time of dedication and lighting lights to lift up the light of our world – Jesus/Yeshua Messiah, Lord and soon returning King.
However we celebrate, let’s keep our eyes on Him, the author and finisher of our faith, and keep looking up for our redemption is closer now than when we first believed.
One day soon there will be true shalom, peace on earth!
Soon and very soon we are going to see the Sar Shalom – Prince of Peace and King of kings. There have been many babies born that became kings but only one King that became a baby!
Shalom aleikhem
chaverim and mishpachah!
Peace to friends and family.
Shavua Tov, Have a blessed week.
Make certain Messiah Jesus/Yeshua is your Redeemer, Savior, Lord and soon returning King and that you have a personal relationship with Him.
It’s all about Life and Relationship, NOT Religion.
You are very precious in His sight.
Not sure ..you can be…
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.
We know of many names for the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob in the scriptures, and also that they are not mere titles; but they tell us of our Heavenly Fathers character, His attributes, describing Who He is. As well as us knowing Him by His names, we are also better able to understand how He protects, sustains us and intervenes in our situation when necessary.
This reinforces that He is faithful – emeth – אֶמֶת
He is the One Who will bring us through to victory.
The Hebrew word translated faithfulness
means: steadfastness, firmness, fidelity.
The faithfulness of God means that our Heavenly Father is: unchanging in His nature,
faith (1), faithful (2), faithfully (6), faithfulness (10), lasting (1), nor* (1), right (1), true (18), truly (4), truth (80), truth that you may correctly (1), truthful (2)
Genesis 32:10 HEB: הַחֲסָדִים֙ וּמִכָּל־ הָ֣אֱמֶ֔ת אֲשֶׁ֥ר עָשִׂ֖יתָ NAS: and of all the faithfulness which KJV: of all the mercies, and of all the truth,which thou hast shewed INT: the lovingkindness all the faithfulnesswhich have shown
One name we know very well from Psalm 23 is
the Lord our Shepherd.
Shepherd in Hebrew is Rohi.
Yahweh Rohi means: The Lord My Shepherd.
In Psalm 23, David calls upon his Shepherd to be his guide through both the good and the dark places in life. A shepherd feeds his flock and leads them to green pastures. Ezekiel 34:11-15. Yeshua/Jesus – our Good Shepherd is leading us, protecting us, delivering us, hearing us, feeding us, and so much more. When we allow Him to be all of these things to us, really allowing the Lord to be our Shepherd, then David’s words I shall not want will be ours too.
If the Lord is our Shepherd, then we are His sheep. Psalm 100:3 says Know that the LORD, He is God; It is He who has made us, and not we ourselves; We are His people and the sheep of His pasture.
In Micah chapter 2 there is another reference to His people being as sheep:
Micah 2:12-13: “I will surely assemble, O Jacob, all of thee; I will surely gather the remnant of Israel; I will put them together as the sheep of Bozrah, as the flock in the midst of their fold: they shall make a great noise by reason of the multitude of men. The breaker is come up before them: they have broken up, and have passed through the gate, and are gone out by it: and their king shall pass before them, and the Lord on the head of them.”
The Hebrew imagery and tradition gives us a great picture of a shepherd making an overnight place of protection for his sheep by building a makeshift rock wall up against the hillside.
When he lets the sheep out in the morning, the shepherd makes a hole/ a break, in the fence/wall by removing some of the stones. Then he steps through the break/gate and the sheep follow after him. They have been tightly corralled all night and the sheep push one another, all trying to get through at the same time, which in their eagerness to get out breaks the wall further, widening the opening. Finally they all break through out into the pasture and run after their shepherd.
In this passage the breaker and the king are one and the same person but, as the rabbis interpret it, the breaker is Elijah, and their king is the Messiah.
In the New Testament we can relate this to Matthew 17:12/13 where Yeshua/Jesus says But I say to you that Elijah has come already, and they did not know him but did to him whatever they wished. ….….Then the disciples understood that Hespoketo them concerning Johnthe Baptist.
The rabbis teaching on this passage in Micah 2 is that Elijah would come first as the breaker, the one who would make the first hole in the rock. He goes before the Messiah to prepare the way for Him.
The Messiah is the king who follows Elijah and leads the sheep through the gate to the kingdom of God. The ones following the Messiah will be so anxious to pass through the gate, that they will deliberately widen the gate, like the sheep, ready to get out of their pen and into green pastures.
in Matthew 11:12:it reads “And from the days of John the Baptist until the kingdom of heaven suffereth violence, and the violent take it by force.”
The word violent in the Matthew passage in the Greek is biastes which carries the idea of breaking forth.
In the Aramaic the word used is qetira which has the idea of breaking away from a restraint.
In Jesus/Yeshuas day the teaching in Micah was well known and He was possibly referring to this passage in Micah when He spoke in Matthew 11:12 of taking the kingdom of God by breaking out or removing any restraints.
The translation of the Greek word biastes or of the Aramaic word qetira as violent, gives the impression of aggressive anger rather than the idea of an eager desire to be near the Messiah and unfortunately can be misleading.
What seems clear is that John the Baptist is the breaker here. He makes the breach/hole in the rock wall/gate and goes forth as he has opened the way. He is the Elijah that the rabbis suggest in their teaching on Micah 2. Now as the King, Yeshua/Jesus leads the people/sheep through, and they are so eagerly desiring to enter into the kingdom, like the sheep they break through the gate rushing to the Messiah and the kingdom of heaven.
if in this instance, Yeshua/Jesus is referring to the rabbis, then He is not talking about taking the kingdom by aggression and violence, but is referring to this imagery. This picture was one, which every one listening to Him knew from the old testament. This being, that the people/sheep will be so eager and excited to break out of their old traditions in order to follow the Messiah and enter the kingdom of Heaven; that they will biastes or qetira, that is, they will break down the narrow gate and widen it so that more and more can quickly break through.
In 2 Samuel 5:20 there is another picture of the Lord and of breaking through:
And David came to Baal-perazim, and he smote them there, and said, The Lord has broken through my enemies before me, like the bursting out of great waters. So he called the name of that place Baal-perazim [Lord of breaking through].
He hath overpowered and scattered them, as waters, when they make a breach in a bank, overflow and carry all before them.
20 And David came to Baal-perazim, and David defeated them there. And he said, “The Lord has broken through my enemies before me like a breaking flood.”
Strongs 1188
Baal Peratsim: “possessor of breaches,”
a place in Palestine
Original Word:בַּעַל פְּרָצִים Transliteration:Baal Peratsim Phonetic Spelling:bah’-al per-aw-tseem’
From ba’al and the plural of perets; possessor of breaches;
2 Samuel 5:20 HEB: דָוִ֥ד בְּבַֽעַל־ פְּרָצִים֮וַיַּכֵּ֣ם שָׁ֣ם NAS: came to Baal-perazim and defeated KJV: came to Baalperazim, and David INT: came David to Baal-perazim and defeated there
2 Samuel 5:20 HEB: הַה֖וּא בַּ֥עַל פְּרָצִֽים׃ NAS: he named that place Baal-perazim. KJV: the name of that place Baalperazim. INT: place he Baal-perazim
1 Chronicles 14:11 HEB: וַיַּעֲל֥וּ בְּבַֽעַל־ פְּרָצִים֮וַיַּכֵּ֣ם שָׁ֣ם NAS: So they came up to Baal-perazim, and David KJV: So they came up to Baalperazim; and David
1 Chronicles 14:11 HEB: וַיֹּ֣אמֶר דָּוִ֔יד פָּרַ֨ץ הָֽאֱלֹהִ֧ים אֶת־ NAS: God has broken through my enemies KJV: God hath broken in upon mine enemies INT: said and David has broken God enemies
1 break or burst out, from womb Genesis 38:29 (J; with accusative of congnate meaning with verb); from enclosure Micah 2:13.
break or burst out, from womb with the breaking of the waters just prior to giving birth.
1 chronicles 14:11 Baal-perazim. — Lord, or owner, of breaches, or breakings forth. “Baal” may refer to Jehovah ( comp. 1Chronicles 9:33, Note); and perāzîm may have also meant the fissures or gullies.
God has broken through my enemies by my hand, like a bursting flood.
So David and his men went up to Baal-perazim, where he defeated the Philistines and said, “Like a bursting flood, God has burst out against my enemies by my hand.”
2 Samuel 5:20 HEB: דָּוִד֒ וַיֹּ֕אמֶר פָּרַ֨ץ יְהוָ֧ה אֶת־ NAS: The LORD has broken through my enemies KJV: The LORD hath broken forth upon mine enemies INT: David said has broken the LORD enemies
Strong’s Concordance 6555
parats: to break through
Original Word: פרַץ Transliteration: parats Phonetic Spelling: (paw-rats’) Definition: to break through
NAS Exhaustive Concordance
Word Origin a prim. root Definition to break through NASB Translation became…prosperous (1), breaches (1), break (2), break their down (1), break down (1), break forth (1), breaker (1), breaking away (1), breaks through (2), broke (1), broke down (1), broken (3), broken down (5), broken through (2), destroyed (1), distributed (1), employ violence (1), everywhere (1), increase (1), increased (3), infrequent* (1), made (1), made an outburst (1), outburst* (2), overflow (1), sinks (1), spread (3), spread abroad (1), tear down (1), through (1), tore down (2), urged (4).
Strongs 6559
Peratsim: a mountain in Isr.
Original Word: פְרָצִים Transliteration: Peratsim Phonetic Spelling: (per-aw-tseem’)
The breaking out of the sheep – the place of the breaches.
This is the place they left their gods and they were burned up completely. It’s a place of a spiritual battle.
David had a similar experience when he encountered the Lord fighting for them in 2 Samuel and 1chronicles. He described it as like a river bursting over its banks and overwhelming his enemies, a similar scene to the sheep rolling out over the stone walls, pictures the rush and flow or the breaking through.
Yeshua/Jesus our shepherd, our Messiah – our breaking through. He is Lord of breaking through.
Whatever prison we are in, whatever situation seem to have us penned in, He is the Way out, He is the breach that leads to our freedom. He is Lord of breaking through. Just like a river bursting over its banks, after the water has risen to the point beyond capacity, our Heavenly Father promises that we will never be tested beyond what we can handle and then the break through comes!
No temptation has overtaken you except what is common to mankind. And God is faithful; he will not let you be tempted beyond what you can bear. But when you are tempted, he will also provide a way out so that you can endure it.
God is faithful, and he will not let you be tested beyond your strength, but with the testing he will also provide the way out so that you may be able to endure it.
1Corinthians 10:13
He is the Lord our Shepherd, the One who makes a breach in the wall for us to rollout over the wall and follow Him like a overflow of rushing water eager to enter into His kingdom!
He is the Lord of the Breaking through. He is the place of the breaches. He is baal Perazim, He is the spiritual break through and the natural breaking through in our situation and circumstances.
Ba’al P’ratzim – Lord of breaking through.
Baal Peratsim: possessor of breaches.
It is time to burn our idols and any thing that we put before the Lord in our lives. David said God has broken through my enemies by my power like a river breaking through its banks. Because he obeyed the Lord’s command… the victory was assured.
Its time for us to paratz – to break through. John went before Messiah and Messiah has gone before us and opened the WAY. He knows where you are and your situation, He has not forgotten you… the Lord of breaking through has made a Way for you. Keep your eyes on Him, your Good Shepherd is about to call you out by name.
Read Micah 2:12,13 again…..
We are grafted into Israel through Messiah, Who is The breaker.… Who has come up before them: and passed through the Veil, the Gateway, the Dalet, the Door to the Father.
He is the King who has passed before us… the prison door is open wide what are we still doing inside?
He is the Lord our breakthrough,
believe it,
receive it
and see the salvation of the Lord today.
Shalom aleikhem
chaverim and mishpachah!
Peace to friends and family.
Shavua Tov, Have a blessed week.
Make certain Messiah Jesus/Yeshua is your Redeemer, Savior, Lord and soon returning King and that you have a personal relationship with Him.
It’s all about Life and Relationship, NOT Religion.
You are very precious in His sight.
Not sure ..you can be…
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.
HEB: תַֽעֲשֶׂ֨ה־ לְךָ֥֣ פֶ֣֙סֶל֙ ׀ וְכָל־ תְּמוּנָ֡֔ה NAS: You shall not make for yourself an idol, or any KJV: Thou shalt not make unto thee any graven image, or any likeness INT: shall not make an idol any likeness
Original Word: פֶסֶל Part of Speech: Noun Masculine Transliteration: pesel Phonetic Spelling: (peh’-sel) Definition: an idol, image
This commandment is once again brought to our attention by Messiah Jesus/Yeshua in Matthew 22:15-23
In this passage the Pharisees and the Herodians really thought that they had Him trapped when they questioned Him about paying taxes.
Who were the Herodians?
The Herodians (Herodiani) were a sect of Hellenistic Jews. Herodian, one of a party of influential Jewish supporters of the Herodian dynasty (c. 55 bc–c. ad 93), which ruled in all or parts of Palestine and neighbouring areas.
At the time of Yeshua/Jesus, there were certain groups—the Pharisees, the Herodians, and the Sadducees—that held positions of authority and power over the people. Other groups were the Sanhedrin, the scribes, and the lawyers. Each of these groups held power in either religious or political matters. The Herodians held political power, and most scholars believe that they were a political party that supported King Herod Antipas, the Roman Empire’s ruler over much of the land of the Jews from 4 B.C. to A.D. 39. The Herodians favored submitting to the Herods, and therefore to Rome, for political expediency. This support of Herod compromised Jewish independence in the minds of the Pharisees, making it difficult for the Herodians and Pharisees to unite and agree on anything. But one thing did unite them—opposing Yeshua/Jesus. Herod himself wanted Him dead (Luke 13:31), and the Pharisees had already hatched plots against Him (John 11:53), so they joined efforts to achieve their common goal.
The first appearance of the Herodians in Scripture is Mark 3:6, “Then the Pharisees went out and began to plot with the Herodians how they might kill Jesus.” Messiah had been doing miracles, which caused some of the people to believe in Him for salvation, and that threatened the power and position of the Pharisees, the Sadducees, and the Herodians. The Herodians again joined with the Pharisees to challenge Him, to see if they could trap Him in His words by a trick question, to either discredit Him or to get Him to stop preaching (Matthew 22:16).
Jesus/Yeshua regarded the two groups as in unity against Him and warned His followers against them. “‘Be careful,’ Jesus warned them. ‘Watch out for the yeast of the Pharisees and that of Herod’”(Mark 8:15). Yeast in this context is false teaching, the rejection of Yeshua/Jesus as the Messiah, and hypocrisy. Many scholars believe that the Herodians looked to Herod as a messiah, a savior of sorts who would put the Jewish land in favor with the Roman Empire and bring blessings to them. His presentation of Himself as the Messiah was a threat to the Herodians’ attempt to make Herod the influential political power in the land.
In the future, the Bible tells us that many will be deceived by the antichrist and will view the antichrist as a “messiah.” He will be a political leader as well as a false religious leader, and he will promise peace and prosperity through his political programs. The Herodians at the time of Jesus/Yeshua were also focused on political goals rather than the eternal goals that Messiah proclaimed. They thought Herod might bring temporary peace politically. But Messiah came to bring us eternal salvation, by dying on the cross to pay for our sins. The lesson we learn from the error of the Herodians is that we are not to trust in man, as they trusted in Herod (Psalm 118:8). We are to put our trust in the Messiah Yeshua/Jesus and let His will be done in our lives and on the earth.
If He said yes, the Jewish leaders would stand against Him for supporting a pagan government and probably bring Him before the Sanhedrin for breaking the law.
Paying tax to a foreign government was considered paying a tithe to the government. This was not forbidden by Mosaic law but it was by the oral traditions of the fathers, which were written down later and became the Talmud. The Talmud was not considered to be inspired but it was authoritative; and to violate the teachings of the tradition of the fathers was a chargeable offence to be heard before the religious court or Sanhedrin.
Had Yeshua/Jesus said no, and agreed with the teachings of the tradition of the fathers, the Roman government would have arrested Him for treason.
For this seemingly no win situation, His response was very wise as well as interesting, when He says render to Caesar that which is Caesar’s and to God that which is Gods’.
Why did this really embarrass the Pharisees and Herodians?
On the surface it sounded like He was basically saying that it was alright to pay the taxes, in other words to pay them with Roman money and not the coins issued by the Temple. We must remember that there were both types of coins in circulation at that time. The temple tax was required of Jewish males over age 20, and the money was used for the upkeep and maintenance of the temple.
In Exodus 30:13–16, God told Moses to collect this tax at the time of the census taken in the wilderness.
In 2 Kings 12:5–17 and Nehemiah 10:32–33, it seems the temple tax was paid annually, not just during a census. This half-shekel tax wasn’t a large sum of money, but roughly equivalent to two days’ wages. According to the tractate Shekalim in the Talmud, the temple tax was collected during one of the these Jewish festivals: Passover, Pentecost, or Tabernacles.
The Temple Tax is also mentioned in the New Testament in Matthew 17:24–27.
After Jesus/Yeshua and His disciples arrived in Capernaum, the collectors of the two-drachma tax came to Peter and asked,“Doesn’t your teacher pay the temple tax?” The leaders may have been attempting to prove Yeshua/Jesus’ disloyalty to the temple or His violation of the Law. Peter affirmed that Jesus/Yeshua did pay the temple tax.
Yes, he does,” he replied.
When Peter came into the house, Messiah was the first to speak. “What do you think, Simon?” he asked.
“From whom do the kings of the earth collect duty and taxes—from their own children or from others?” Peter replied that kings collect from others because their children are exempt. Yeshua/Jesus’ point was that, since the
Temple was His Father’s House, He was exempt.
Why should the Son of God pay a tax to His own Father?
Even though Yeshua/Jesus, as the Son of God, and His disciples were exempt from paying the temple tax, they would pay it in order to not offend the Jewish leaders Matthew 17:27.“But so that we may not cause offense, go to the lake and throw out your line. Take the first fish you catch Open the mouth of the first fish you catch, and you will find a large silver coin. Take it and pay the tax for both of us. and you will find a shekel.
Yeshua/Jesus then instructs Peter to throw out a fishing line, which would result in a catch. When Peter opened the fish’s mouth, he found a coin that happened to be the correct amount for the temple tax for them both.
Messiah used the question about the temple tax to teach a lesson. True Christians are free, but they must sometimes relinquish their rights in order to uphold their witness and not cause others to stumble. True freedom is not serving ourselves but others. Galatians 5:13.
Going back to Messiah’s reply to the Pharisees and the Herodians, we have no doubt heard many sermons on how clever this response was but was it ever explained why it was so clever? On the surface it seems like His enemies had Him right where they wanted Him.
Messiah Yeshua/Jesus calls them hypocrites in verse18.
Why did He call them hypocrites?
Jewish literature contains information about the second commandment that may explain in more detail and offer a possible answer to this question to help us to understand.
We saw at the start of the post that the second Commandment in Exodus 20:2-17 and Deuteronomy 5:6-2 says that you shall not make any graven image.
The word for make in Hebrew is ashah
this is followed by the word leka which means you.
Ashah leka has the idea of:
taking something to ourselves.
We are not to take for ourselves any graven image.
As already noted this word for
graven image is pesel
which means
to carve out or fashion something that is seen.
This carving or engraving may be of wood or metal.
We are not to take upon ourselves anything that is fashioned or to take on the representation or the mun/temunah, which is a likeness or physical manifestation of anything in the heavens above or the below or in the sea.
Original Word:מִין Transliteration: min Phonetic Spelling: (meen)
‘Show Me the coin of the tribute.’ And they presented to Him a denarius. Matthhew 22:19.
Obviously the Jews were aware that a metal coin had an image engraved upon it. If that image was in the likeness of someone who was considered a god, which Caesar was in those days, then to process or to even carry such a coin was in violation of the second commandment. With this in mind when Messiah Jesus asked the Pharisee to produce a coin he pulled out a coin with Caesars likeness on it. These particular coins were called the tribute coin. It has the picture or image of Caesar Augustus Tiberius and the inscription Caesar Augustus Tiberius son of the divine Augustus.
To any Jew this was blasphemous as it claimed that Caesar Augustus Tiberius was a god. Because carrying this coin was in violation of the second commandment, Yeshua/Jesus used their own oral traditions to point out their hypocrisy. In his over zealous attempt to prove Yeshua/Jesus wrong the Pharisee may have overlooked the fact that he was admitting to idolatry by having such a coin in his pocket. The teaching they followed and understood was that to carry such a coin meant that he worshipped that god so by possessing that coin he was declaring that he worshiped a Roman god which was also Roman money.
Their attempts to trip Messiah up were exposed and He reversed their trap back on them. However during this exchange, Messiah put this commandment into its proper perspective.
Render unto Caesar that which is Caesar’s is not simply a reference to paying taxes with Roman currency, it was speaking of worship. The reason this Pharisee had Roman coins was probably because he was involved in business deals with the Romans which was not against the law, however Jesus/Yeshua knew his heart and what was not alright was that in his heart, money was his god.
Similar to the story of the rich young ruler. This Pharisee had broken the second commandment to make money, the Lord God King and creator of the universe was not first and foremost in his life, money was.
What Messiah was pointing out was that they were accusing Him of breaking oral law, traditions of the fathers, which was not Torah, when they were breaking the second commandment by having such a coin in their possession.
This was what He was referring to as being hypocritical and we must remember that Messiah knew their thoughts Matthew 9:4 Knowing their thoughts, Jesus said, “Why do you entertain evil thoughts in your hearts?
And Jesus knew their thoughts, Matthew 12:25-30
Luke 5:22 Jesus knew what they were thinking and asked, “Why are you thinking these things in your hearts?
John 2:25 No one needed to tell him about human nature, for he knew what was in each person’s heart.
The question we should ask ourselves is:
are there any graven images in our possession?
As we approach the ‘Christmas season’, our thoughts turn to gifts and lighting decorations and maybe less towards the greatest gift ever given, Who became the Light of the world. Let’s make certain our Heavenly Father /Messiah are first and foremost in our thoughts and the direction of our lives and that we are not carrying any pesels or coins of hypocrisy.
Though not one of the 7 festivals Moedim/ Appointed Times of the Lord, Chanukah began last evening and concludes 15th December.
As we light the lights of Chanukah let’s focus on Messiah, the light shining into this dark world and allow His Spirit in us to draw the lost to His saving grace.
Whether lighting the lights or not, Happy Hanukkah to every reader!
Make certain Messiah Jesus/Yeshua is your Redeemer, Savior, Lord and soon returning King and that you have a personal relationship with Him.
It’s all about Life and Relationship, NOT Religion.
You are very precious in His sight.
Not sure ..you can be…
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.
Egypt we know is a type of the world, and all the systems and kingdoms of this world belong to the adversary. We know this because in Luke 4:6 The Devil said to Him, I will give You their splendor and all this authority, because it has been given over to me, and I can give it to anyone I want.
And Yeshua/Jesus did not argue with him and later in John 18:36Yeshua/Jesus said to him, My Kingdom is not from this world; if my Kingdom were of this world, my servants would be fighting that I would not have been delivered up to the Judeans
In 2Corinthians 6:17
we are told:
Wherefore come out from among them, and be ye separate, saith the Lord, and touch not the unclean thing; and I will receive you,
Do we still have a foothold in both kingdoms?
Are we trying to straddle both at the same time?
What the Hebrew nation were required to do was to leave Egypt behind. The ways of the world were in them and the Egyptian gods had become their gods.
Their culture had become entwined with theirs and developed root systems that were influencing their whole way of life and belief system.
They had been slaves for so long many had forgotten the reason their ancestors had moved to Egypt in the first place. In light of todays world systems and cultures, have we as Messianic believers truly come out of Egypt?
Are we truly delivered from bondage?
After their physical deliverance from Egypt, in order to get Egyptian culture, and the unclean spirits that were behind their culture, out of the Israelites they had to walk away from the source and leave it all behind them.
These desires came from the unclean spirits and were attached to their flesh and to their mindsets. Their flesh screamed when God gave Moses the new instructions and boundaries for living a life based on His ways, clean, holy and set apart to Him. Doesn’t our carnal nature sometimes do the same? Their flesh cried out for what they had left behind!
We are told they longed for the melons, garlic, cucumber and fish.
Meanwhile, the rabble among them had a strong craving for other food, and again the Israelites wept and said, Who will feed us meat? We remember the fish which we ate freely in Egypt, the cucumbers, the melons, the leeks, the onions, and the garlic; Numbers 11:4,5
As we have been looking at the days of Noah, Lot and the end times; recall Lot’s wife who turned back; looking longingly at what she had left behind……….. this is dangerous and can be deadly for believers.
Luke 9:62 records words that were spoken by Yeshua/Jesus, No one, after putting his hand to the plow and looking back, is fit for the Kingdom of God.
Jesus/Yeshua was careful to explain that those who considered becoming His disciples would be well advised to first count the cost. (Lk 4:28) Because there was no going back once one stepped onto His path, and that it was better to have not begun the journey at all rather than to start and then give up.
These were strange examples in Numbers 11 and some scholars have noted that they were more likely references to the freedom of sexual perversions they had enjoyed in the Egyptian culture. It was very much like today, extremely liberal with an ‘anything goes’ mentality, the same as was prevalent in the city of Sodom.
The new instructions were restrictive to their life and behavior, and for the mixed multitude who left Egypt with the Hebrews, it was too narrow and strict; and their appetites and desires lusted after the old ways of promiscuous freedom. Many of the mixed multitude were no doubt those who murmured, complained and influenced others to be discontented. Numbers 11:4-6. The mixed multitude were not of the family of Isaac and Jacob/Israel.
and comes from the root word Avah, which means lusting after bodily desires, not just food but sexual desires as well; and in this case it was more than likely a reference to forbidden sexual relationships.Sexual vices were acceptable for Egyptians but not under Moses.
Lusting – ה,תאוו
Numbers 11:4-6: And the mixed multitude that [was] among them fell a lusting: and the children of Israel also wept again,
Numbers 11:4 HEB:אֲשֶׁ֣ר בְּקִרְבּ֔וֹ הִתְאַוּ֖וּ תַּאֲוָ֑ה וַיָּשֻׁ֣בוּ NAS: were among them had greedy KJV:that [was] among them fell a lusting: and the children INT: who were among had greedy again
Strongs 183 avah: to incline, desire, covet, greatly desire, be desirous, long, lust after.
Original Word: אָוָה Part of Speech: Verb Transliteration: avah Phonetic Spelling: (aw-vaw’) Definition: to incline, desire
In verse 6 it reads, there is nothing at all,
in Hebrew; Eyn kel bilethi.
Literally means: without any responsibility or law.
This promiscuous freedom and perversion leads to jealousy hatred, extreme selfishness, abuse, crime, and a total disregard for other people. It is the single-most destructive force to the family unit, which is why our Heavenly Father dealt so harshly with these foreigners, because potentially they would destroy the sanctity of the families among the children of Israel. When individuals get pleasure from material things it is mostly by comparing what they have to what their neighbors have. So although they could enjoy every taste they wanted in the manna which was provided, they gained no pleasure from it because everyone had exactly the same.
Today many countries of the world have lifted off all restrictions in lifestyles, to what was once frowned upon and illegal; and not even thought of in Christian circles, let alone allowed.
Acts 14:15 And saying, Sirs, why do ye these things? We also are men of like passions with you, and preach unto you that ye should turn from these vanities unto the living God, which made heaven, and earth, and the sea, and all things that are therein:
Leviticus 17:7 And they shall no more offer their sacrifices unto devils, after whom they have gone a whoring. This shall be a statute for ever unto them throughout their generations.’
7 They must no longer offer any of their sacrifices to the goat idols[a] to whom they prostitute themselves. This is to be a lasting ordinance for them and for the generations to come.
The word in 17:7 is se’irm – goat idols,
which many Hebrew scholars identify with the
Egyptian goat deities.
The Egyptians did not make a distinction between lamb, sheep and goats and they were very similar in appearance. Sheep, rams and goats were worshipped in association with the gods/unclean spirits/demonic entities, named banebedjedet and knhum. The words for ram and soul sound the same in the Egyptian language and because of this, the ram or sheep deities were at times believed to be the appearance of other gods. Scholars say that these two previously mentioned entities, were the earliest known Egyptian deities and were originally the gods of the source of the Nile river.
The annual flooding of the Nile brought with it silt and clay. It was believed the sheep/ goat gods created the bodies of human children from this silt and clay; which was then placed in the mothers wombs. This may help us to understand why Pharaohs daughter was fascinated by the child, (Moses), she found floating down the river Nile as she would have considered it a direct gift from the god knhum.
It is believed she was bathing in the Nile at the time for ceremonial purposes in hopes to bring about a pregnancy. This association gives insight into the killing of the firstborn among the Hebrews and the final plague of the death of the firstborn of the Egyptians.
It was also significant in the placement of the Passover lamb, which to the Egyptians was a picture of the god khumn. When the Hebrews took a lamb, the Egyptian deity, into their home for 4 days with the intention of slaughtering and eating it; it would have caused a significantly bad reaction, angering the Egyptians who would have seen this act as a total disrespect of one of their important gods. Furthermore to actually kill one of their gods and use its blood to protect the Hebrews from the last plague of the death of the 1st born was the final insult to Pharaoh who was considered a direct descendant of the gods.
Leviticus 17:8 warns the children of Israel to keep from sacrificing to the se’irm or the goat/sheep god.
7 They must no longer offer any of their sacrifices to the goat idols[a] to whom they prostitute themselves.
The wilderness was believed to be the home of field demons and unclean spirits associated with the goat and sheep. The god pan is pictured as a goat demon, half man half goat, who would play a flute and dance among the sheep. The wilderness home of these field demons/spirits was regarded as the place where such diseases as leprosy had their roots. In Leviticus 14:7. In an act of religious blending of more than one religious belief into a new system, birds would be offered to these sheep/goat gods as an act of atonement. The soul of the bird would be released to carry the disease back to the desert. While worshipping and serving the One True God, Creator of the Universe, many Hebrews were also justifying a service to pagan gods just to ensure some extra protection against diseases.
Is there a possible connection to what the Apostles were addressing in Acts 14:15.?
and saying, Men, why are you doing these things? We also are men with the same nature as you, and preach to you that you should turn from these useless things to the living God, who made the heaven, the earth, the sea, and all things that are in them,
Does Acts 14:15 seem to reflect this ‘religious combining’, which was well established in the first century, and was condemned by the Apostles? Some Jews had formed their own interpretations of their Hebraic laws which would allow them to seek favors from pagan gods, while at the same time serving the One true living God. It seemed they had created ‘loopholes in the laws’ to accommodate their pagan worship, exceptions to the rule so to speak. It seems shocking, however, we should not be too quick to condemn them seeing as popular sports events and modern special traditional holidays have been known to dictate whether meetings/services are postponed or even cancelled because they were scheduled at the same time!
Genesis 35:2-5 turn aside from the gods of the foreigner which are in your midst cleanse yourselves and change your garments and then we will rise..
We need to come completely out of Egypt … out from among them and all their traditions and worldliness and be not partakers of their ways.
2John 1:11 and Ephesians 5:7
Let no one deceive you with empty words, for because of such things the wrath of God is coming on the sons of disobedience. Therefore do not be partakers with them.
8For you were once darkness, but now you are light in the Lord. Walk as children of light,
A final warning from Messiah is in Revelation 18:4 KJV: And I heard another voice from heaven, saying, Come out of her, my people, that ye be not partakers of her sins, and that ye receive not of her plagues.
This is important for believers in Messiah Jesus/Yeshua if we do not want to experience the plagues described in this book to come upon us. The questions we must ask ourselves are:
Have we truly and fully come out of Egypt/the world or do we still have one foot in it?
Do we still have any idols in our lives that take precedence over our Heavenly father that we need to cast down?
Shalom aleikhem
chaverim and mishpachah!
Peace to friends and family.
Shavua Tov, Have a blessed week.
Make certain Messiah Jesus/Yeshua is your Redeemer, Savior, Lord and soon returning King and that you have a personal relationship with Him.
It’s all about Life and Relationship, NOT Religion.
You are very precious in His sight.
Not sure ..you can be…
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.
It’s time to remember 
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