Shabbat Bible Study for 21March2020
©2020 Mark Pitrone & Fulfilling Torah Ministries
Exodus 10:1-29 – Isaiah 19:1-25 – Psalm 47 – Matthew 24:29 – 26:30
Links:
Worldwide Angelic Wrestling – 5 part sermon on YouTube [links worked 1.5.20]
Pt.1 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I9qDGjyXXiw
Pt.2 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EPkav6v4cnk
Pt.3 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eRLiL2OPva8
Pt.4 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vrb8q2Ohw_k
Pt.5 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FWYj4bPPRzc
Shemoth 10.1-11 – We are back to the regular triennial parshoth. The Heart Hardening Score so far is Y’hovah 3: Paroh 3: haSatan 2. KJV says, “GO in unto Paroh”, but the Hebrew command is, “Bo el-Paroh” – “COME to Paroh”. In fact the annual portion begins here, as well, and its title is “BO”, which means, “COME”. So the inference I draw is that Y’hovah was with Paroh, influencing everything he did and everyone around him. Y’hovah had personally hardened all the hearts in the court of Paroh. New score Y4:P3:S2. This is the end game and Y’hovah is positioning Paroh and what’s left of his men so that he will have to capitulate. This heart hardening is not just Paroh’s, but all his chief advisers’ hearts, as well. This heart hardening has 3 purposes: first) that Y’hovah’s signs would be seen by everyone and that there would be no mistaking WHO was working; b) so that every memory in both Egypt and Israel would be clearly imprinted so that the story would be told for ever, generation to generation; 3) and so that Y’hovah would gain the glory and there would be no mistaking exactly who He is. The word of these plagues was already making its way into the larger world and the fear of Y’hovah and of his children Israel was spreading. That fear was so deeply rooted that Amalek would not come out to fight openly with Israel, but the order of battle would be set forever, as well – any time Amalek would go out against Israel in open warfare Amalek would be slaughtered, so Amalek could only know success by nipping at Israel’s heals in a guerrilla warfare against stragglers – women, children and old men – like they fight Israel today. They fight like hyenas and aged lions on their last legs, unable to take down even a sheep in its youth and strength.
So the demand and the warning go out to Paroh, “Let my people go or the locusts will come and eat what’s left of all your greenery.” Basically, let my people go or I will turn your nation into a wilderness. “This is your chance. If you don’t accept this one time deal, you won’t get another chance.” BTW, if a SALESMAN pulls this on you, tell him to pound salt and get away from him. It’ll cost you a bundle in the long run. But Paroh had some small experience with Y’hovah doing what he said he’d do. Not only will the locusts eat all the green in your fields, but they will even get into your homes and eat what they can from there, as well. As soon as the ultimatum was given Moshe and Aharon did an about face and left his presence. They didn’t wait to be dismissed, didn’t back out bowing, just turned their backs on him and left. THAT had to stick in his craw.
Paroh’s advisers advised him, “Let these people go, already! We’re already destroyed! But we have a chance to come back from the brink if we don’t suffer any more plagues!” So Paroh called M&A back and said, “Go serve Y’hovah. Who’s going with you?” He was willing to let SOME of Israel go, but not everyone. He knew that once Israel was gone 3 days out that they would continue until they got home to Canaan. And he said so! He said, “No way am I letting you all go! You take the men 3 days out, but leave their families. That was what you sought at the first!” Of course, Moshe’s original demand was exactly what he said here except that Paroh didn’t let him get the whole thing out before he interrupted him and sent him away. Now Paroh sent Moshe away. Maybe that was what he wanted – to feel like HE was the one in charge. Q&C
Vv.12-29 – As soon as he was out of Paroh’s house Y’hovah told Moshe to stretch out his hand with the staff in it and the locusts would come on a strong east wind (contrary to normal west to east prevailing winds in the northern hemisphere) next morning. And sure enough, with the dawn there came a cloud of locusts that darkened the sky and then the ground. The locusts were literally everywhere. You couldn’t see the ground for the locusts. All the grass and leaves and fruit on the trees were devoured by this hoard out of the east [perhaps a picture of the Kings of the East in the last days?]. When Paroh saw what happened, he actively sought out Moshe, confessed his sin before Y’hovah and Moshe, asked to be forgiven and pled with him to ask Y’hovah to take the locusts away. So Moshe went out and entreated Y’hovah, who sent a WEST wind to take the locusts back to the east and into the Red Sea (a clue to Paroh about his own end?). When Paroh was sure the plague was over Y’hovah hardened his heart again and he again refused to let Israel go. New score Y5:P3:S2. One more heart-hardening to come.
I don’t think the locusts were in the land more than a few hours, and there were so many that they ate everything left that was vegetable. But it probably isn’t much passed noon, perhaps time for the evening offering. Y’hovah doesn’t even send Moshe back to give Paroh warning. I think he is just fed up. He said, “You want to live in darkness? Well, here ya go!” Moshe spread out his hands to the heavens (no staff) and memory of the cloud of locusts must have looked like noonday sunshine, because a darkness fell on Egypt like had never fallen before. This was a ‘thick darkness’, one that could literally be tactilely felt, as if you could actually grab handsful of the darkness. This darkness was not merely the absence of light. If it were, all you’d need do is light a lamp and chase the ordinary darkness away. But the Egyptians could not even light a lamp, and had they been able to do so it would not have illuminated anything. This was darkness as a special creation of Y’hovah. And it seemed to get worse, so much so that the Egyptians could not even get out of bed for fear of having nothing to put his feet on, that everything except what they could actually feel themselves on just didn’t exist. Imagine the abject terror. Could this be a description of ‘outer darkness’? While this plague went on, did Egypt weep and gnash its collective teeth? Here are the 3 uses of ‘outer darkness’ in the KJV:
But the children of the kingdom shall be cast out into outer darkness: there shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth. (Matthew 8:12)
Then said the king to the servants, Bind him hand and foot, and take him away, and cast him into outer darkness; there shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth. (Matthew 22:13)
And cast ye the unprofitable servant into outer darkness: there shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth. (Matthew 25:30)
Paroh relents a bit further by telling Moshe to take all Israel, but to leave his livestock and Moshe said “Nothin’ doin’! We’d need to have animals to offer, and Y’hovah had not made it plain which he was going to want offered. But Paroh knew that without the Hebrews, his economy would fail. His nation had been blessed because Israel was there. To lose the source of his blessing would absolutely cripple his economy as he knew it. Of course, the plagues had done that already, so by now, it was the control, more than the wealth, he didn’t want to lose. So when Moshe refused his compromise, Y’hovah hardened Paroh’s heart for the last time and Paroh threw Moshe out of his court and told him never to darken (pun intended) his door again or he would kill him. And Moshe said, “You’re right. You won’t see my face again.” Final Score was Y6:P3:S2.
Did you notice that the darkness was never lifted? Scripture says the darkness lasted 3 days, but spiritually it never lifted. Shortly after the end of the 3 days of physical darkness it was time for the evening offering on the day of the Passover offering. Egypt probably rested from their terror for a few hours before the blessed natural darkness came to Egypt – but they would find a decided lack of blessing in it before the night was over. Q&C
YeshaYahu 19.1-10 – Is Yah speaking of the nation of Egypt, or the world system that she typifies? And is he speaking of Egypt at the time of the prophecy, or the world system in the end of days. Of course, you know the answer is, “YES!” As he speaks of the nation of Egypt we have seen at least a partial fulfillment occur in 2011’s Arab Spring, with Mubarak’s ouster and the rise of the Moslem Bro’hood, we see Egypt’s heart failing and the good counsel being destroyed. Mubarak may have been a tyrant (or he may not – who’s word should we take), but he kept Egypt’s word to Israel and knew WHY he did so. Because it was in his own and his nation’s best interests to keep the terrorists attention on Israel – he played both sides against the middle very well for 30+ years. The Bro’hood finally figured it out and targeted him for removal. That this same thing is happening to other Moslem tyrannies in the area, in conjunction with possibly man-made ‘natural’ disasters and their ensuing chaos accompanying the political chaos in the Middle East shows how the action is being taken in a concerted global effort, which could only be orchestrated by haSatan himself (within the permissive will of Avinu, of course.) It will be coming to a head, soon. {I review this on 5Jan2020, Trump has just had the Iranian Al Quds leader killed and things are heating up once again. As I share this, if in fact I do, it has been 10 weeks since that murderous Iranian general met his Maker. I guess we’re witnessing the physical result, NOW.}
But we are not ignorant or blind that these things should take us by surprise or that we should even begin to worry about them, because Y’hovah is in control of it all, and whatever comes of it is for our good and His glory. V.4 has Egypt given over to a cruel lord, a fierce king. Can anyone say “12th Madhi”, the possible Moslem Anti-Messiah that Iran’s ayatollahs have worked so hard [unsuccessfully] to bring to power? With the numerous man-made disasters we’ve seen in the last decade or 2, it won’t be VERY long before the ocean and wind currents distribute all the destruction globally and the waters of Egypt (and the world system) will be unfit for use. As the plagues struck Egypt, and she refused to acknowledge Y’hovah’s supremacy, the same will come against the Moslem Bro’hood and its suppliers/handlers in the NWO.
As I read the KJV and saw ‘brooks for defense’ I thought of moats around castles, and when I looked at the Tanakh, guess what it said. Exactly. Moats. I would have expected it to be the opposite. The water will dry up (whether literally or metaphorically – water that kills or mutates fish and you can’t drink might just as well not be there) and the reeds and rushes will whither and die – as the waters are turned foul worldwide, the most basic commerce will dry up, too. Fishermen will have nothing to catch, and if they did, it would be deadly to eat. The fishing trade will dry up with death of the waters. As a spiritual metaphor, the ‘fishers of men’ or missionaries standard practices won’t work, even the service work they do today, like caring for the sick and the poor, will wither and dry up as hunger and disease turns more general, even in the ‘rich’ nations of the earth. Q&C
Vv.11-17 – Tso’an and Noph are major cities at the opposite ends of the nation of Egypt, like New York and Los Angeles in the US [though not as distant from each other]. Noph is better known to us as Memphis, which was the capital of Upper Egypt, near Cairo: Tso’an was in the NW Nile delta, near what is now Alexandria. I think the princes were the priests of the local deities. Just because one is the son of a wise man doesn’t mean he is wise, also. Wisdom is usually not just imparted, but also learned. These princes/priests are either stupid or just gullible, and accept what the powers that be say without question. Their followers are perhaps even dumber or more credulous than their priests/ministers. And that is pretty much the state of the average person today – too dumb or just too lazy to learn the truth for themselves. And that especially goes for the average believer, who accepts deliverance from eternal death as the end of the Way to Life, and that more abundantly. They don’t see that they can become more like their Mashiyach in this life by obeying his commandments. They just trust their pastors to do the legwork for them and don’t take the time to study for themselves. And most pastors like that, because they, like many rabbis, then have control – Nicolaitans. They like being both head and tail. The problem is that the truth loses, until an enterprising young Egyptian (worldling, if you will) calls on the Name of Y’hovah, and what Y’hovah says comes to pass. People will take notice and Egypt will ‘vive’ (Jer.16.19). We’ve seen a partial fulfillment of v.17 in Sadat/Mubarak, who did not sue for peace/continue in it with Yehudah because they were nice guys. They were just smart enough to know when fear should be a motivator. Not fear of Yehudah, but fear of the Elohim who gave Yehudah to his land.
V.18 – The city of destruction may be Heliopolis/Alexandria, where the scripture was nearly destroyed by the translation of the LXX into Greek. Ptolemy commissioned the work of translation into Greek. According to Tractate Megillah 9 of the Talmud,
‘King Ptolemy once gathered 72 Elders. He placed them in 72 chambers, each of them in a separate one, without revealing to them why they were summoned. He entered each one’s room and said: “Write for me the Torah of Moshe, your teacher.” God put it in the heart of each one to translate identically as all the others did. (From Wiki on Septuagint)
That was in the 3rd C. BCE. The original order was for Torah in Greek, but eventually the order grew into the whole Tanakh. The rabbis would not translate the Hebrew scriptures into an unclean tongue and purposely mistranslated some Hebrew words, so that one who knew Torah would know right away that the translation was spurious. From the same Wiki article:
Starting approximately in the 2nd century CE, several factors led most Jews to abandon use of the LXX. The earliest gentile Christians of necessity used the LXX, as it was at the time the only Greek version of the Bible, and most, if not all, of these early non-Jewish Christians could not read Hebrew. The association of the LXX with a rival religion may have rendered it suspect in the eyes of the newer generation of Jews and Jewish scholars. Perhaps more importantly, the Greek language—and therefore the Greek Bible—declined among Jews after most of them fled from the Greek-speaking eastern Roman Empire into the Aramaic-speaking Parthian Empire when Jerusalem was destroyed by the Romans. Instead, Jews used Hebrew/Aramaic Targum manuscripts later compiled by the Masoretes; and authoritative Aramaic translations, such as those of Onkelos and Rabbi Yonathan ben Uziel.
What was perhaps most significant for the LXX, as distinct from other Greek versions, was that the LXX began to lose Jewish sanction after differences between it and contemporary Hebrew scriptures were discovered. Even Greek-speaking Jews tended less to the LXX, preferring other Jewish versions in Greek, such as that of the 2nd century Aquila translation, which seemed to be more concordant with contemporary Hebrew texts.
I lean pretty heavily to Heliopolis/Alexandria being this city of destruction. If this is true, the people there can swear all they want but will have a hard time convincing anyone of their sincerity. Q&C
Vv.19-25 – It is possible that v.19 is referring to the Great Pyramid, which is built at the only place on earth that I know of where there is a border in the middle of a nation. Cairo/Noph/Memphis is at the border of Upper and Lower Egypt, meaning it is in the midst of the united Egyptian nation, as well. What is even more amazing to me is that the Great Pyramid sits at the exact center of land mass on the earth, meaning that a line drawn due north/south through the center of the Pyramid describes the longest distance over land in the world, and the same is true of a west/east line through the center of the pyramid. It is also more perfectly aligned to the geographical poles than ANY other building on earth, even after 4000 years of existence. The closest we’ve been able to come is about 3 seconds further off. Info comes from the book The Great Pyramid Decoded by E. Raymond Capt. Mr. Capt makes a pretty good case that the Pyramid is the altar and pillar that is a sign and a witness to Y’hovah Tzavaoth, Yeshua haMashiyach in the placement, measurements and passages in the pyramid. The ‘they and them’ of v.20 are the 5 cities of v.18. Will there be a grassroots vival in them? Will the people there remember the way Y’hovah delivered Israel from Egypt and call out to him for similar deliverance from bondage and oppression? When he does deliver Egypt, they will offer every kind of offering there is ‘in that day’. That phrase generally means in the day of Y’hovah’s wrath, and specifically the ‘Battle’ of Armageddon. I think that at the same time the Yehudi see just who it is that answers their call of “Hosheanu” and respond with “Baruch haba b’Shem Y’hovah”, many Egyptians will see him, remember what Y’hovah did to them in the ‘day of battle’ and turn to him for deliverance. Remember that he will offer them Shalom before he enjoins the battle, and that those who turn to him SHALL receive Shalom with Y’hovah Tzavaoth (cf.27.4-5). Y’hovah is ever merciful, even to those who despise him. He will smite Egypt, but he will also heal Egypt.
And in those days there will be a highway between Egypt and Assyria traveling through Israel and the 3 shall be in close alliance under the King Mashiyach. In Mr. Capt’s book, he speaks of ‘the Christ angle’. It is arrived at by taking the angle of the descending passage which is about 26°18’9.7”. If we take that angle and draw a line starting at the point of the capstone of the pyramid and using the east/west line as the base, a line is drawn from approximately Cairo, through Bethlehem and Jericho. And if we extend that line it passes almost exactly ½ way between Babylon and Nineveh in what was once Assyria. Will the highway Y’hovah prophecies follow that line? It’s purely speculative, but it surely could. And the highway will join all of the Abrahamic mandate; Ammi from Lo-ammi, Ruchamah from Lo-Ruchamah through Yisrael his firstborn. I kinda like it. Q&C
Psalm 47 – Seldom does a psalm falling into the Torah portion fail to amaze me that it fits so seamlessly into the readings. This one is no exception. In the KJV, it’s not as apparent as in the Tanakh. Which says, “All you nations, join hands; sound the shofar to Elohim with a cry of joy.” This could be Mashiyach at his return to join battle offering the soldiers arrayed against him Shalom with Elohim [Is.27.4-5]. This psalm describes how they will respond to Y’hovah, and how Y’hovah will respond to them. There is a word play in v.3 using the words amim, peoples/nations, and umim, meaning tribes/peoples. This is a simple restatement for emphasis. The 3-nation alliance under King Mashiyach will be Israel, Egypt and Assyria. When Assyria came and carried off 10-Israel, he also took Egypt and then TRIED to take Yehudah, 2-Israel. But ChizkiYahu went directly to Y’hovah with his plea for deliverance and Y’hovah honored that humility from Yehudah’s king, killing off 185,000 soldiers overnight (Is.39) without Yehudah’s need to fire an arrow. Yehudah was a small ‘bubble’ of freedom completely surrounded by the Assyrian Empire, much as Israel is today a small bubble of ‘democracy’ surrounded by Moslem dictatorships. The map looked pretty close to what it looks like today. But she does not trust her Y’hovah, even as he is being faithful to her. When the present nation of Israel fully puts her trust in Y’hovah, he will deliver her again. Unfortunately, she has further dregs to drink before she comes to the end of herself and cries out to Y’hovah for deliverance. But this psalm is addressed to the people of the nations of the world who put their trust in Y’hovah. It is written specifically to US!
In v.4 he says that Y’hovah will choose our inheritance for us. He will assign us the tribe under which we will gain our inheritance, for the best we can do is speculate on which tribe we are descended from, IF we are descended from any at all. When we sound the shofar and put our hands together to praise him, Elohim will go up for us, while sounding his own shofar in reply. Rabbinic tradition has Y’hovah’s shofars as those of the ram at the Akeida; the left horn blown from Sinai when he delivered the Torah to us, and the right horn to be blown when he comes to earth to reign from Yerushalayim. If that is true, this is the right horn of the ram from the offering of Yitzhak. V.6 intimates that Elohim and the King are one. V.7 says it plainly. Elohim reigns, not will reign, but reigns right now over the goyim. The princes, the leaders of ALL the people of Elohim will be gathered together. Let me draw another possible explanation of these leaders from an allusion made in The Great Pyramid Decoded;
“The top piece, or capstone, was never set, having been rejected by the builders. It should be pointed out that the capstone (Head Stone) is also called the chief cornerstone, since all the four corners of the building converge in One Stone at the top. Thus, it alone, of all the stones in the structure, is the one that is over all the four corners.”
But WAIT! There’s MORE! What we see of the pyramid these days is the structural stones, the capstone was to be installed on top of the ENTIRE structure, including the finely polished white limestone casing stones that were dislodged by an earthquake in the 13th C. CE. The local people started using these casing stones in buildings elsewhere in the area, they used the pyramid as a quarry. If the shifting sands had not covered some of the dislodged casing stones, noone in our day would have suspected they had ever even existed. Writing about the cement used on the casing stones, Sir Flinders Petrie said:
“The mean thickness of the joints is one 50th of an inch; and the mean variation of the cutting of the stone from a straight line and from the true square, is but one 100th of an inch in the length of 75 inches up the face.” That they were able to maintain these tolerances despite the area and the weight of the stone to be moved – some 16-20 tons each – is seemingly almost impossible. (Here’s the point, folks) This feat was duplicated in ALL the casing stones, which were estimated to have numbered 144,000.”
Might the princes of v.9, the leaders of all the people, be the 144,000; 12,000 from each of the tribes of Yisrael? The case can certainly be made that the 144,000 are the Magen Y’hovah – Y’hovah’s Shield for his people in the time of Ya’acov’s trouble. Q&C
Matt.24.29-26.30 – No WAY I can treat this Brit HaDashah portion – 98 verses – except by paragraphs. All the parables deal with being watchmen. What do you think that means to us? So here we go with 24.29-35 – Looks like Yeshua gave us a time frame for our return to haAretz, doesn’t it? When he comes back to earth, he will send out the angels to gather his elect from the 4 winds, the north, south, east and west, the 4 corners of the earth. The fig tree here deals with the withered fig tree, and it represents the Sanhedrin, who have a great show of righteousness but no fruit. You are about to see the result of the fruitless Sanhedrin, who will kill Yeshua out of jealousy for their position and standing with the people. Also, AS the fig tree develops leaves to let you know summer is near, so when you see Yeshua coming in the clouds, you’ll know the Kingdom is at hand. Until we see him in the clouds, the people of the world still have a chance, regardless how SLIM a chance it is. Only after he returns bodily and makes the final offer of Shalom (Is.27.4-5) and they take their individual decisions will the chances totally dry up.
When he says ‘this generation’, what does he mean? Many think this is a specific period of time, like 20, 30 or 40 years. I try to think in definitions, not just interpretations, of words though. Generation means ‘production of something’, and when talking about humanity this passage means ‘as long as humans are still reproducing’, as long as we’re generating more humans. That makes this part of the prophecy VERY open ended. Of course, with current events going the way they are, humanity may be making itself generation-less before long, as we alluded to earlier. And besides, v.35 just restates v.34. By the way, do you understand how radical v.35 is? He said, “The creation of Elohim will cease, but not MY WORDS!” Do you understand now WHY 26.3-4 happened? He made himself above the creation – the generation – of Y’hovah Elohenu! If he truly WAS merely a man, he had just blasphemed WAY beyond someone saying his Spirit was Y’hovah’s in the flesh of a man.
24.36-41 – GREAT RAPTURE PASSAGE, EH? NOT! Things will look pretty normal to the casual observer. Those of us who are familiar with the scriptures about the days of Noach can see the signs of the times happening right now. Genetic engineering could be how the giants were created in Noach’s days. The rise in technology today might be a recurrence of the same rise of knowledge then. The rapture rangers love this passage, saying that Noach was taken out of the world before it was destroyed. But the world wasn’t destroyed – only air-breathing life that was not on the ark was destroyed. As = ‘in the same manner’. In the same way that the wicked were removed and the righteous were left, so everyone and thing on the ark were left to replenish the earth. It was the WICKED that were taken away. Besides, if it meant Noach, it would have said ‘him’ not ‘them’.
Vv.42-51 – We are admonished to watch for things like happened in the days of Noach, and one familiar with scripture would be blind to not see it. We don’t know the HOUR when our Master comes, but we CAN know the times and seasons, the oth and the moad in Hebrew, the semeion (token, usually supernatural) and kairos (appointment/set time) in Greek. The righteous servant is always watching for his Master’s return. The wicked servant gets lazy; convinced the Master won’t be back any time soon. How many people say, “I’ve heard all this stuff for years and NOTHING ever comes of it. Leave me alone.” You can keep telling them, but they refuse to entertain what you say because you’ve been warning them for years and your warnings have not panned out. KEEP telling them how current events have convinced you that the time is short, because even the lo tzaddik shophet finally acquiesced to the nagging woman. Lk.18:
1 And he spake a parable unto them that men ought always to pray, and not to faint; 2 Saying, There was in a city a judge, which feared not God, neither regarded man: 3 And there was a widow in that city; and she came unto him, saying, Avenge me of mine adversary. 4 And he would not for a while: but afterward he said within himself, Though I fear not God, nor regard man; 5 Yet because this widow troubleth me, I will avenge her, lest by her continual coming she weary me. 6 And the Master said, Hear what the unjust judge saith. 7 And shall not God avenge his own elect, which cry day and night unto him, though he bear long with them? 8 I tell you that he will avenge them speedily. Nevertheless when the Son of man cometh, shall he find faith on the earth?
The greek word xlated pray is proseuchomai, ‘to wish toward.’ Don’t stop witnessing to them. Nag them. One day Y’hovah may soften their hearts. Q&C
25.1-13 – Now come the KOH parables. The 10 virgins parable has been done to death, but there is still some lingering misunderstanding among us about the nature of the virgins. This does NOT necessarily relate to this time, but it definitely will after Y’hovah makes his final offer to the armies in the field at Armageddon. The timing of this parable – all the following parables is POST-Armageddon, and I know this by the use of the FIRST word in ch.25 – “Then”. It means ‘when these things have taken place’, not before. These parables are, IMO, prophetic of the kingdom of Heaven on earth – the Millennial reign of Melech Mashiyach ben David. The 10 each have lamps. 5 are wise and have brought vessels of oil for their lamps; 5 are foolish, and have not made provision. Please understand that the wedding of Mashiyach has not yet taken place, and these were ALL to be bridesmaids. NONE are the Bride. The sleeping maids get the call to make ready. When they get up to light their lamps, the foolish realize that their lamps are empty and ask the wise to sell them some oil. But the wise had made provision and knew they had enough oil to burn their lamps until morning, but not enough to burn twice what they’d made provision for. So they told the foolish they didn’t have enough oil for them both, the foolish would have to provide their own oil – go out and buy some from a merchant. But, of course, it’s midnight and there are no businesses open. So, the foolish need to wait until morning to buy oil. While they wait at the business’ doors the Bridegroom comes and calls the maids to the Feast. The wise were brought to the marriage – not to BE married. They are bridesmaids, not brides. The doors are shut behind them.
When the foolish virgins arrive to find the doors shut tight, they call to the groom to let them in, but he says, “Whodaheckareyou?” The foolish virgins did not make ready, did not obey until it was too late. We need to be ready for the Bridegroom’s appearing. Keep your accounts with Y’hovah short so you can quickly trim your lamp and fill it with oil.
Vv.14-30 – The parable of the talents. Here the Master is leaving and will return at some time in the future that is not pinpointed. So he leaves his servants in charge of certain amounts of his possessions, in proportion to their abilities. When he returns he sees that the servant of greatest ability to whom he’d given much had done much with it, and he elevated his position in the household. Then he came to the servant of medium ability to whom he’d given what he proportionally could deal with and he did well with it, and was also promoted, perhaps to the place of the first servant. When he came to the one of little ability he found that he was actually of no ability, or, rather of no drive or imagination to do anything beyond his meager responsibilities. All he could do was follow orders, and that not very well. This guy thought about his punishment if he LOST the talent, and not about his reward if he worked his talent. He thought of his Master the way the average Xian has been taught to think of the Elohim of the ‘OLD Testament”, one who expects us to be absolutely faultless in our lives, so rather than fail honestly, they just refuse to try. The Master then rebukes him for not at least putting the stuff in an interest bearing bank account. So the Master decided to give the unjust servant what he really wanted (as Y’hovah Elohenu always does) and took his talent away and gave it to the one who proved he was capable of handling the responsibility. And here we are, back in the Torah portion for today, “You want to live in darkness? Well, here ya go!”, the unprofitable servant is in the midst of an ‘outer darkness’ that can be felt. Q&C
Vv.31-46 – The only ‘like’ or ‘as’ used here is to describe how a shepherd separates his flocks, so this is probably not a parable. A common misconception is that sheep are good and the goats are wicked. But it doesn’t say that here anywhere. All it says is that the shepherd keeps the sheep with the sheep and the goats with the goats. And the nations are not likened to either. What happens here is that one type of nation goes to his right hand and the other type to his left. Those nations who treat his people well will go into the Millennial Kingdom, to be taught Torah properly. Those who treat his children like red-hared stepchildren will be sent to the ‘everlasting fire’ to be consumed ‘en nihilo’ – into nothing. This everlasting fire is, I think, the fire that will burn all of creation out of existence at the yet future ‘Big Bang’, when Y’hovah stops speaking his creative word that to this day sustains the earth and heavens and all that in them is.
The nations that treat Yisrael well, by which I mean all who place their trust in Y’hovah, are rewarded because Yisrael is Mashiyach’s body. They had no idea that they were doing so, but they were showing their fear of Y’hovah when they treated Yisrael with respect, like they would family. Do you notice that they didn’t know Master Y’hovah until this moment? Master doesn’t say, “As you did to some schmoe on the street”, but ‘as you did to my brethren’. He’s watching how nations treat 10 and 2 Yisrael, not each other. If they are walking in Torah, knowingly or not, according to Rom.2, they are righteous.
12 For as many as have sinned without Torah shall also perish without Torah: and as many as have sinned in Torah shall be judged by Torah; 13 (For not the hearers of Torah are just before Elohim, but the doers of Torah shall be justified. For when the Gentiles, which have not Torah, do by nature the things contained in Torah, these, having not Torah, are Torah unto themselves: 15 Which shew the work of Torah written in their hearts, their conscience also bearing witness, and their thoughts the mean while accusing or else excusing one another;) 16 In the day when Elohim shall judge the secrets of men by Yeshua haMashiyach according to my gospel. (Romans 2:12-16)
If the nations treat Y’hovah’s people according to Torah, they are rewarded in Mashiyach’s Kingdom. Y’hovah is merciful in all he does. By the same token, those nations who mistreat Yisrael will be punished in the everlasting fire we spoke of before. I think that fire that was made for haSatan and his shadim will be everlasting and will be localized in ‘outer darkness’ after the creation is consumed in the nuclear fission that will occur at the removal of Y’hovah’s sustaining Word. HaSatan knew what was up when he rebelled against Y’hovah and did it anyway. He has a LOT more culpability than any man, because he knew the glory of Y’hovah and coveted it for himself. Sucks to be him.
No sooner did Yeshua finish this discourse, than the priests, scribes, elders and the Kohen Gadol plotted to kill him. He had said that he was greater than the very creation of Elohim, after all. Remember that Y’hovah created by his Word, if creation would pass away, so would Y’hovah’s Words. But Yeshua’s would remain (24.35)!? If Yeshua is not Y’hovah in the flesh, he is a blasphemer himself and the false Sanhedrin conspiring to kill him wasn’t in a conspiracy – they were right.
The woman with the alabaster box, and the resulting betrayal of Yehudah COULD have been on the 2nd day of Pesach week, but not necessarily. I think it’s stuck in here to explain why Yehudah did what he did. The 5th day that week was ULB1, and now it’s the 2nd day. Next day, 3rd day of Pesach week, talmidim are sent into town to prepare the Pesach meal. This is not technically a seder, because that was on the 4th day that week. This was the ‘Mashiyach’s Supper’, as I hear the Lubavitchers call it, looking forward to Mashiyach’s coming. It was a kind of training session by a rabbi for his talmidim, so they could have the Seder with their families over Pesach/ULB1. Some consider this a Seder, though it is not Pesach. This seeming contradiction is understood in some branches of Hebraic thought. Yeshua said he was eating the Passover with his talmidim, so I expect it was something akin to what the orthodox keep.
The account of the meal is quite truncated, speaking of the announcement of the betrayal, the 3rd cup after supper and the sending of Yehudah for the betrayal. According to the custom, when the groom offers the cup, he drinks from it first, and then passes it. The talmidim knew what he was proposing– that they would be his metaphorical Bride, the body of Mashiyach, as Paul tells us in Eph.5. When they drank each from that cup, they accepted his ketubah – Yehudah included. Yeshua will not drink of the fruit of the vine again until he does so with us all at the consummation of the marriage. After they sung Ps.136, they went over to the Mount of Olives and the Garden of Gethsemane for the betrayal and capture. Q&C
End of Shabbat Bible Study
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