Shabbat Bible Study for 7Jan2023

©2023 Mark Pitrone & Fulfilling Torah Ministries

Year 1 Sabbath 41

Genesis 43:24 – 44:17 – Jeremiah 42:12-17, 1 Kings 3:15 – Psalm 37 – Luke 19:37-48

Links:

http://www.encyclopedia.com/topic/balm_of_Gilead.aspx 

“Why is honey kosher?” Chabad.org. Retrieved November 30, 2010 

This week we finish our correspondence with the annual Torah portion Meiketz. We’ll do it again next year, probably somewhere in Leviticus.

Gen.43.24-34 – Yoseph’s steward brought water for their feet and, while they were washing them, gave provender to their animals. 22 years before, Yoseph was steward of Potiphar’s house and is now steward of Pharaoh’s kingdom. While this steward had no real power, I think he was probably the most trusted man in the house and Yoseph’s confidant, and that he knew who these guys were and what was going to transpire that day. If anyone in Egypt, besides Potiphera and Asenath, knew Yoseph’s heart, it was this steward. I would not be surprised if there was a David and Jonathan relationship between them. And he gave Yoseph’s brothers serious and close attention and deference, as will the people of J’lem in our Brit portion today. The Schottenstein’s Chumash notes say that this steward was actually Menashe. If that were true, he would be only between 6 and 13 years old, so it is not likely. That Yoseph trusted him is obvious, so it is someone he had probably known since soon after his arrival in Egypt: perhaps another servant of Potiphar or another prisoner in the lockup. 

While they were waiting for Yoseph to come for lunch, they got together the present sent by Yacov: 

take of the best fruits in the land in your vessels, and carry down the man a present, a little balm, and a little honey, spices, and myrrh, nuts, and almonds: 43.11

Balm is a healing ointment. When Yoseph was sold into Egypt, the Ishmaelites from Midian who carried him down were dealing in this balm. From that source of ALL truth – Wikipedia – the article on Balm of Gilead:

Balm of Gilead is a balm (healing compound) made from the resinous gum of the balsam poplar (Populus candicans), a North American tree species. It takes its name from the allusive Biblical phrase “balm in Gilead”, referring to the balm or balsam carried from Gilead by the caravan of merchants to whom Joseph was sold by his brothers.

Also;

The herb’s name derives from the ancient region of Gilead in Palestine [actually transJordan], known for the great healing powers of its balm. Balm of Gilead is mentioned several times in the Bible (e.g., Jeremiah 8:22). The writings of Pliny the Elder indicate that the tree was brought to Rome in the first century CE. The historian Josephus recorded that the Queen of Sheba made a gift of balm of Gilead to King Solomon.

And they [Joe’s Bros – edit] sat down to eat bread: and they lifted up their eyes and looked, and, behold, a company of Ishmeelites came from Gilead with their camels bearing spicery and balm and myrrh, going to carry it down to Egypt. (Genesis 37:25) 

Seems to me that if it’s Balm of Gilead, Shlomo had it right across the Yarden in Gilead.

So Yoseph’s brothers carried down to him as a gift the exact same stuff the merchants took for sale in Egypt, plus some nuts and almonds. I doubt that the irony was lost on Yoseph, or that it didn’t affect his response to them and BenYamin. The honey was probably date syrup, and not what we call honey, which is technically bee puke. Sorry. It’s true.

Pure honey is considered kosher even though it is produced by a flying insect, a non-kosher creature; other products of non-kosher animals are non-kosher.

From the article at chabad.org, “Why is honey Kosher?”

Honey consists of nectar, which bees gather, store and transport to their honeycombs. While in the bee, the nectar is broken down and transformed into honey by enzymes in the bee. But it is not actually digested by the bee. So the honey is not a product of the bee itself–as is milk.

Semantics, IMO. Honey IS a product of nectar x enzymes of the bee + regurgitation of the product + the fanning of that product to partially dehydrate it. But, then, I’m not a rabbi, so … But, since scripture says that tzadikim eat honey, it must, then, be a biblically clean food.

V.26 shows the first complete fulfillment of Yoseph’s dream in 37.7, when all 11 of his brothers’ sheaves bowed to his. Then in v.28 they actually make obeisance to him. Obeisance is deferential courtesy or respect, like Barry Obama in the presence of a Muslim monarch or Raul Castro – without the drooling and the bootlicking. The Yacovson brothers’ obeisance was in regard to the Egyptian’s kindly inquiry for their father’s life and health, I think, and not any ‘worship’ or necessarily submission to anything but his political authority in Egypt. 

The Stone’s Tanakh has Yoseph asking somewhat sarcastically if this is their ‘Little  [hakaton] Brother’, not younger brother (KJV), who is now about 31-32 years old and has 10 children of his own – hardly a frail boy who couldn’t make the trip last time, which was the implication of the bro’s description of him back then. Schottenstein Chumash gives the rabbis’ impression that it was the resemblance to Rachel in BenYamin that caused the emotions to well up in Yoseph. They also think that BenYamin had told Yoseph of his 10 children back in Cana’an, all named in remembrance of his older brother Yoseph, and that helped to draw the emotion from him, as well. If true, how much he’d missed! Yoseph went to another room to weep and compose himself. [ Schottenstein’s Chumash, pg.268, v.30-31 note].

His first conversation with BenYamin was an intensely emotional experience for Yoseph. Benyamin told him that he had 10 children, each of whom he had named to commemorate the tragedy of his lost brother. When Yoseph heard the extent of BenYamin’s devotion to his memory, his feelings became enkindled (Midrash). And when Yoseph realized that he still could not reveal his true identity to BenYamin and that he would inflict further suffering on him in the matter of the goblet [ch.44], he became very emotional and had to leave the room to cry (Haamek Davar). When he regained control of his emotions, Yoseph washed his face and ordered that the meal be served.

When He returned, Yoseph ordered the food brought out. The steward had set 3 tables; 1 for Yoseph alone, for his position would not allow him to eat with either the Hebrews or the help, 1 for the Egyptian servants and soldiers and 1 for the Yacovsons. In this we can see the work of Mashiyach in reconciling Yehudah and Yoseph and in setting a difference between Yisrael and the world. The steward had the Yacovsons seated in birth order, which surprised them. Then the steward put 5X the food in front of BenYamin as before any other, which should have been a clue to the rest (5X the food – Elohim be gracious to you, my son; yachnecha b’niy). But for Hebrews, they were not too quick on the uptake – right over their heads. Or maybe it was just because they were drunk that it didn’t register. Q&C

44.1-17 – Yoseph had one last test for the Yacovsons. This test would tell him a lot about how the boys had matured (or not) over the years, and how far he could trust them. First, he pulled the same deal he did last year (I assume it was a full year – on this I really COULD be wrong – it may have been longer), the donkeys were laden with as much as they could safely carry, complete with their money back in the sacks. But this time he had the steward put his silver goblet in BenYamin’s sack. The way the KJV reads, I think the steward may have put BenYamin’s dough IN the silver goblet in his feed sack’s mouth. 

Yoseph waited until they were JU-u-u-ust over the horizon, when he sent the steward to catch them and spring the surprise on them. “WhaddayaNUTZ?” the steward asked [in a Mark paraphrase], “Couldn’t you have chosen a slightly LESS conspicuous thing to steal? Like maybe his chariot? Did you think he wouldn’t miss his favorite coffee mug? Especially first thing in the AM, y’know?” well, noone stood up as leader out there, all of them protesting their innocence. Had they not come back with the money they’d found in their sacks AND the money to buy again? Had they not brought their brother to prove their worth as men? Then they said the fatal words of v.9, 

“With whomsoever of thy servants it be found, both let him die, and we also will be my lord’s bondmen.”

If I’ve said it once, I’ve said it a thousand times, when the legal authority asks a question, answer it truthfully, but add NOTHING to the straight answer; it always leads to more trouble than you bargained for. The steward, knowing the score, said, “As you say.” They started with Reuven and worked their way down to BenYamin, where the cup was stashed. Can you imagine what went through the brother’s minds then? The more larcenous of them probably thought, “You stupid KID!” and the most righteous of them probably thought, “You stupid KID!” Meanwhile, BenYamin’s eyes had to be like saucers! “How the heck did THAT get there?” Now, imagine the return to Succoth. The trip that had taken less than an hour on the way out must have felt like DAYS going back. And, by embellishing in what I can only infer was a prideful manner, they had pronounced their own doom. Notice also, that beginning with the return back, Yehuda was back in the leadership role. [The last couple of weeks I’ve made it a point to tell you to offer government officials nothing more than what they ask. When civil authority asks you a question, answer truthfully EXACTLY what they ask and no more. In this wicked world’s system, government’s job is to part you from 2 things, your property and your liberty. Do NOT help them by running off at the mouth, because that is HOW they part you from what is yours. If you are being detained for any reason, even a traffic violation, assume that it is investigatory, looking for anything to incriminate you. You have the RIGHT to remain silent. Do so!] The steward had said, “No. Just the one with whom it was found will be my servant.” Now think of what this steward had done for the Yacovsons – he’d brought everything they needed, washed their feet, housed and fed their animals, at least overseen the preparation of the food, probably given them all overnight lodging that he’d prepared in Yoseph’s house while they were all partying down. Now BenYamin was going to be doing all the work FOR the servant of Yoseph. 

When they got back to his house, Yoseph verbally slaps them around, “WhaddayaNUTZ? Couldn’t you have stolen something a little LESS conspicuous? Like my chariot? Did you think I’d NOT miss my favorite coffee mug first thing in the AM?” Yehudah, taking charge as the tzadik, says to Yoseph, “What can we say? How can we clear ourselves? The goblet was found in my little brother’s grain sack. None of us knows how, but those are the facts. It must be judgment from Elohim for he has discovered our iniquity and this is our punishment. So we are ALL your servants.” In saying this, I think Yehuda is trying to save his brothers and himself the return to Yacov’s mourning. But Yoseph said, “No. That wouldn’t be right. I’ll just keep the guilty party with me and let y’all go back home.” Yoseph is fulfilling Torah in this, “for the soul that sinneth, IT shall die.” (Ez.18.4&20) Yehudah knew that the loss of BenYamin would kill their father, and didn’t want that to happen, because it WAS his idea to sell Yoseph into slavery that got this whole thing started. Ultimately it was his fault that his father would grieve himself to death. Next week’s Torah portion has Yehudah revealing to Yoseph his transformation into a tzadik since they’d been apart. Q&C

Jer.42.12-17 – Ch.41 sets up the action and prophecy in ch.42. In vv.1-3, the leaders of the group who are thinking of going down to Egypt ask YirmeYahu to enquire of ‘Yah Elohecha’, Yah, your Elohim (NOT Yah Elohenu, Yah OUR Elohim) and in vv.5-6 they agree to do whatever Yah tells him they should do. 10 days later, the Word of Yah came to YirmeYahu and he went to speak it in their hearing. Yah promised in vv.9-12 that if they would stay in haAretz, that he would bless them and protect them, they need not fear Babylon.

The 1^st verse of our portion is the last Word of Yah’s blessing to them. He will show them mercy as he has always wanted to do and that he would do so THROUGH the king of Babylon. If they would just obey him as they had promised they would, he would cause the king of Babylon to allow them to return to their own land. Whada-ya-say!? 

Then in v.13 he tells them what will happen if they renege on their promise and he starts the sentence with ‘BUT’. That is a conjunction of negation. ‘But’ means ‘exactly the opposite’. He told them how he would bless their obedience and then he told them how he would judge their intransigence and rebellion. A Mark paraphrase goes like this: “If you decide to do your will instead of mine, ESPECIALLY after you asked me for it and said you’d obey it, here’s what I’ll do TO you: 1) the sword you fear will follow on your heals and find you there, 2) the famine you fear will follow close on your heals and you will die in the famine, those who do not die by the sword, and I’ll add pestilence that follows hard on the heals of the sword and the famine. It’s up to you. Choose wisely.” [Remember the Templar knight in The Holy Grail Indy Jones movie] Do you think they shema’d? Not on your life. Or, more importantly, their lives!

We are all people who have promised Yah that ‘what he has told us we will do’, just like Israel at the foot of Mt. Horeb. We have told him that we will obey his Word for us. Now, we are on the verge of Babylon conquering our land, here in America and truly, everywhere else in the world. Many of us are fleeing because we are taking literally, “Come out of her my people!” I have a friend who has ‘coined’ an expression; “Many have taken spiritually that which Yah means to be taken literally, and taken literally that which He means to be taken spiritually.” The question we need to ask is this, “Where in the world will we be able to escape the New World Order/Anti-Messiah’s system? Is THIS haftarah something we need to heed?” Did Yah not promise to set up this remnant of Yehudah in their own land in a place like Goshen, where he could keep them set apart unto him and bless them and their work? Where is his ‘Goshen’ going to be? Was not Goshen set apart unto Yisrael IN Egypt? Then why are so many looking to run away from Egypt? IS the Egyptian exodus a TYPE of the Second Exodus? I think it may be.

1Ki.3.15 – Schlomo had just become King after the death of David, and had just had a personal ‘chat’ with Yah and was told that he would be given wisdom like noone else had ever had due to the nature and heart of his request before Yah. I seriously doubt that he chose THAT time to breech Torah by going into the Holiest and stand before the ark of Yah and also do the offerings himself. He was NOT in usurpation of priestly duties mode, but in full humility and thanksgiving mode. The Temple was not built, yet, and the tabernacle was in Gibeon [which is the Hivite city that became a vassal of Yisrael in Joshua 9&10]. He brought the animals to offer and gave them to the priests to actually offer them. And standing before the altar, which was outside the tabernacle’s sanctuary, he was standing before the ark of Yah, which was only a few cubits away – especially if the Shekinah was still present there, as it had been in the wilderness. Let’s put these two passages together. 

The pilgrims who came to America from England and Holland believed they were leaving Babylon and Egypt and coming to the land of promise in 1620. Are we now very nearly EXACTLY as far removed from them in time as YirmeYahu was from Schlomo – roughly 400 years? Move your head vigorously in the vertical plane. What I am NOT saying is that if Yah is moving you to leave you shouldn’t. You need to do what Yah is telling you to do. What I AM saying is that He’s done this before and given a remnant of his people an opportunity to obey him fully AND not go ahead of him in their own strength, even while Babylon was ruling that part of the world. I think he wanted to leave a righteous remnant to keep the land viable while the rebellious majority was in exile, and that against the day of the exile’s return. When these men rebelled and went into Egypt for safety, they left Yah’s land to the Samaritans, and made it that much more difficult for the returning remnant to settle back in haAretz. I am saying, wait on the Ruach of Yah and his leading before you go on your Wilderness Camping trip. He HAS blessings for you right where you are, IF he wants you there. Q&C

Ps.37.1-10 – This psalm is an instruction book for living in the Time of Yacov’s Trouble. There are 5 times the Psalmist uses the phrase, yiyrshu:Aretz, ‘inherit the earth or land’, vv. 9, 11, 22, 29 and 34. Inheriting haAretz is a gracious provision from Yah. Twice he says dwell in the land and twice he refers to the inheritance. That’s at least 9 references to our inheritance as Yisraelites, whether native born or engrafted.

Do you see how vv.1-3 of our Psalm tie directly to our haftarah in YirmeYahu? Don’t worry if Yah’s Spirit has not called you out of this land. Stay where he wants you to be or go where he wants you to go. Just stay in his will and follow his lead. Don’t let iniquitous men dictate how you relate to Yah, and iniquitous men may sound all spiritual and ‘Torah observant’. Just because you’ve been called to go doesn’t mean everyone has been called to go; and just because you’ve been called to stay doesn’t mean everyone has been called to stay. Each must follow Yah as Yah calls him, and not necessarily as Yah calls his neighbor. You trust Yah and obey him and you will dwell in the land and truly be fed – that sounds like both physically and spiritually to me. 

Look at all the instructions we’re given in the first 7-8 verses: Trust in, Delight in, Commit your way to, Rest in Yah. To trust Him is to obey Him. To delight in Him is to want your heart to be like His and so to have all the desires of your heart. To commit your way to Him is to trust Him to bring it to pass, to bring forth your righteousness and your judgment into the light of day. To rest in Yah is to WAIT for His leading and then follow it in HIS time, for those who wait on HIM yiyrshu:Aretz; they inherit the Land. In light of our haftarah today, the wicked men will only have power for a short time, and Yah will protect us in that time if we trust Him enough to do as He says (and does the evening news NOT sound like this is coming to fruition before our eyes?). He promised to protect those Yehudim if they’d obey like they promised.  When they refused, He let them have their desires – death by sword, famine and disease. He’ll always give us the desires of our hearts, and we prove what those desires are by our trust, or lack thereof, in His Word. 

Vv.11-19 – Yeshua quoted this verse when He said “Blessed are the meek; for they shall inherit the land.” But who else inherits the land? Those who wait on Yah (9) inherit the land. The righteous (29) shall inherit the land. Those who are blessed (22) shall inherit the land. All those descriptions are interchangeable, for the meek (11) are blessed of Yah because they are righteous and obedient and they wait on Yah. And we’ll see that inheritance in its fullness when the wicked are vanquished. We have the personal, initial, spiritual fulfillment of this promise in the Olam Hazeh [this world]. We’ll see the intermediate physical inheritance in the Millennial Kingdom and the ultimate inheritance in the Olam Haba [the world to come]. 

Vv.12-17 reminds me of Ps.2.1-5. The wicked think they’re all that and a bag of chips, when they are NOTHING in the presence of Yah Tzavaoth. If they can do anything in His presence beside cower in fear they will just look silly. Everything they do to try to show their independence of Yah will turn around and bite their backsides. That’s what is called the ‘law of unintended consequences’. “GEE! We didn’t mean to throw the world into a deep freeze and kill off whole regions’ agriculture with the aluminum chaff in those chemtrails. We just wanted to slow the effects of global warming.” Whenever humanity tries to outsmart Yah, He gives them the desires of their hearts – usually in spades. But take heart, you meek and upright, because your inheritance is l’olam tihyeh – to the world that will be. You will not be ashamed nor will you suffer in the famine. Q&C

Vv.20- – All that will be left of the wicked will be the particulate matter in the smoke. Let me say that again; All that will be left of the wicked will be the particulate matter in the smoke. In the time of trouble, the righteous will mercifully give and not lack, and both the giver and the recipient shall inherit the land, while the cursed will be cut off from the land. The fact that this fire produces smoke tells me that it’s after Armageddon and not post millennial. THAT fire will be momentary and ALL consuming – no smoke.  My ex libris is in v.21, “The wicked borroweth and payeth not again”. It kinda shames people into returning a borrowed book. But the righteous is a merciful giver. When what we do is in Yah’s order our way is delightful. Even when we fall we don’t stay down because Yah picks us up. In all David’s life, which was considerably long, he’d never seen a righteous man begging for food. The righteous man is also prudent. He makes provision for lean times, like Yoseph did in Egypt. Yacov never begged for food, though he DID have to go buy some. Buying is not begging. Yacov had provided for the eventuality of a general famine by laying aside some silver and gold to purchase what he could not grow for himself. That is biblical wisdom and prudence. Prov. 22.3 and 27.12

A prudent man foreseeth the evil, and hideth himself: but the simple pass on, and are punished.

The tzadik is ever merciful; he gives to the needs of others. When we depart from evil, we are showing our good judgment. When we do good, when we obey him, we prove that we are His and He protects us. Tzadikim speak wisdom because the Torah of Elohim is in their hearts – David speaks of the new covenant 400 years before its introduction in YirmeYahu 31. How can that be? Do you suppose it was known beforehand? 

Receive, I pray thee, the law from his mouth, and lay up his words in thine heart. (Job 22:22)

Job?! Isn’t that the OLDEST book of the Bible? Didn’t it predate Moshe’s books? You should all be moving your heads in the vertical plane. 

We need to see vv.32-33. The wicked watch for us, to accuse us of crimes that are no crimes. This describes the law-enforcement growth industry that exists today all over the world. Everyone listening to me prattle on today are probably guilty of a crime that you’ve committed just while you’ve been sitting there listening to me prattle on. The ridiculousness of our all-pervasive and unlawful legal system has gotten that crazy. Yah wants you to know that HE doesn’t hold the righteous guilty of anything that they have trumped up against him and He will not leave him (you) to suffer because of that stupidity. Remember the admonitions of the last few weeks to keep your trap shut when they are doing their investigations? Shema to it. Answer ONLY what they ask and volunteer nothing to them, because they are going to find a way to bring charges against you by the words of your own mouth. You have the right to remain silent. Use it. How many more times will I make that point today?

Wait on Yah and guard His Way, He will not leave you. The wicked may seize power for a while, but Yah will see to them in His time, and it will not be long before He delivers us. My life’s verse is in 37a – “Mark, the perfect man!” I’m kidding, of course. But this means that you need to watch the complete man, the tzadik, who is upright, because his end will be Shalom. If you are upright, living Torah out of love for the Father who gave his Son to buy you out of bondage, you will know Shalom. Shalom is not the cessation of conflict with other men or nations. It is cessation of conflict with Yah, agreeing with Him. When we have Shalom w/Yah, we will be the targets of the wicked’s arrows. They will hate us because we have such peace. Jealousy is their motivation, and pride is what keeps them from the same Shalom. But when all men have Shalom with Yah, the natural result will be the cessation of conflict among men. When they are doing everything in their power to shatter our shalom, the more we live in it, the crazier they will get. But Yah will deliver us from the wicked when He destroys them by the Word of His mouth. He is our strength and our Yeshua when we trust him. What have we to fear? Q&C

Lk.19.37-48 – It was the 10^th day of the 1^st biblical month in the week of Yeshua’s ministry. He had had His disciples go into town and borrow the foal of an ass. Some of His disciples laid their tallitoth on the foals back, while others were laying them in the street for the foal to walk on as He entered J’lem. When He got to the east gate that faces the Mount of Olives, all of His disciples began giving thanks and praising Yah, shouting, “Barchu haMelech haba b’Shem Yah! Shalom b’Shamayim! V’Kavod b’Elyon” Bless ye the King who comes in the Name of Yah! Shalom in Heavens and Glory in the Highest. Yeshua was presenting Himself as King to the religious authorities. But if they accepted Him as such, the political positions they’d built themselves under Roman rule, including the purchase of the high priesthood by political influence, would cease to exist. Please note that the Pharisees that asked Him to control His rabble were from among them – the Pharisees came from the same multitude. These were Pharisees who believed Yeshua was Messiah who were asking Him to curb the other’s enthusiasm – probably for fear of losing their positions. I think these may have been of the party who questioned Sha’ul about the need to circumcise converts into Judaism before allowing them to be mikvah’d into the Way. When Yeshua answered them, “If I shut them up, the very stones would take up the chorus”, I think they began to think twice about their allegiance with Him. This was the time of Yisrael’s visitation. YeshaYahu refers to this day

And what will ye do in the day of visitation, and in the desolation which shall come from far? to whom will ye flee for help? and where will ye leave your glory? (Isaiah 10:3)

Yeshua wept over the decision the Jews, the leaders of the Hebrew religion, were going to make about Him. What follows is speculation. I think that had they made Shalom with Yeshua, the glory would have come to Yisrael right then. He STILL would have had to die as the Pesach Lamb, but they would have had no part in it. They would have suffered for 3 DAYS at the hands of Pilate until He rose from the death Pilate would have subjected Him to, but when He rose, He’d have set up His kingdom on the spot. He would have been TICKED at the world system, and everything from that point would have been entirely different than it has been and is. For one thing, I would not be pontificating on PalTalk – at least not in the same capacity I do now. He wept for the city and for THEM, not for what would happen to Him as a result of their rejection. No matter what, He had to die the death of the adulterous woman (Num.5), but Plan B2 would not be necessary. Once again, man was given a choice (remember again  Indiana Jones’ Raiders; the Holy Grail) of 1) the Tree of Life, acceptance of the King, or 2) the tree of knowledge, rejection of the King. And once again, we, as the Templar said, “chose poorly”. Had they chosen Him and Plan B1, the city would not have been destroyed by Rome 40 years hence, the people would not have been dispersed as Yisrael had been, and Yisrael; chol Yisrael, Ephraim and Yehudah in diaspora; would have been regathered then. EVERYthing would necessarily have been different than it has been. 

Then He went up to the Temple complex and presented Himself for inspection as the Pesach Lamb. For the next 4 days He would be there to be inspected by the Priests for blemishes. And, while they would not pronounce him acceptable, Pilate did – 4 times. Since the High Priest would not perform his duty, the civil authority did it for him. Here is a principle that has worked for time in memorial – when believers refuse to do their duty, the civil government steps in and does it for them, and ALWAYS in a much LESS efficient manner. We don’t care for the widows and fatherless, so the civil government creates a welfare state. We don’t care for the sick and injured, the civil government imposes its version of ‘care for the sick’ on all of us. Because we refuse to do our duty, we lose the liberty to do our duty. So we can stop blaming the politicians for our lost liberty. We didn’t lose it: we threw it away.

When He was cleansing the Temple He quoted from 2 prophets, 

Even them will I bring to my holy mountain, and make them joyful in my house of prayer: their burnt offerings and their sacrifices shall be accepted upon mine altar; for mine house shall be called an house of prayer for all people. (YeshaYahu 56:7)

Is this house, which is called by my Name, become a den of robbers in your eyes? Behold, even I have seen it, saith Yah. (YirmeYahu 7:11)

Well, Yah in the flesh of Yeshua certainly did see it, didn’t He? And the zeal of Yah Tzavaoth addressed that blasphemy. He came back every day for the next 4 days and noone was able to find fault with Him according to Torah.

Please notice that the people LOVED Him and attended to His every word. It was the political leadership of the Hebrew religion, whom John calls “the Iudaoi” 64 times in his gospel, that were threatened by Him. The words ‘the’ and ‘Jews’ appear in the same verse 238 times in the entire Bible, so John’s gospel uses more than ¼ of ALL the uses in scripture, and 80% of its use in the gospels. I think “The Jews” does not describe all adherents to Judaism. “The Jews” describes the power structure of Judaism. So when the church says all Israel rejected their Messiah, it is just wrong. The people of Israel LOVED Yeshua. “The Jews” feared Him. Kinda sheds new light on Rom.9.6, doesn’t it? Q&C

What follows I from my study inThe Life of Yeshua haMashiyach – an Hebraic Perspective – ©2001-2022, 2013 Mark Pitrone and Fulfilling Torah Ministries.

183). Triumphal entry into Jerusalem, (Mat.21:1-11, Mk.11:1-11, Lk.19:29-44, Jn.12:12-19, 6th day, late afternoon, 9 Abib) –  The triumphal entry [TE] is what it’s called by the church. But he was not entering in triumph, really. Rome’s generals entered the city in triumph after a great series of battles and came to demand the people accept Caesar as their king. Yeshua will come in absolute triumph when He returns as the King of the Universe to exercise the vengeance of Yah on the kings of the earth. He came into Jerusalem as the Lamb of Elohim on the very day the High Priest, Caiaphas, had gone down to the sheepfold in Bethlehem to pick out the Official Passover Lamb [the OPL] for the nation. It is probable that Yeshua entered the city ahead of the High Priest, since the greeting He got was the one that, for generations, had been reserved to the lamb brought by the High Priest. “Hosheanu! Hosheanu! in the highest! Baruch haba b’Shem Yah! Blessed is he that cometh in the name of Yah! Hosheanu! in the highest!” Hosheanu is Aramaic/Hebrew and means, ‘Deliver now!’ The reason this was not really a triumphal entry [TE] is that the majority in the multitudes were asking for political salvation, not spiritual. For it to have been a triumph, they would have had to accept his offer of the Kingdom of Heaven. They wanted David’s kingdom and the physical, political glory that went with it, not necessarily Mashiyach’s Kingdom and the Spiritual life that comes with it.

His entry on Friday night [NOT the TE] was a scouting expedition. Mark tells us that after all the folderol, He looked around and left the city for Bethany, at the foot of the Mount of Olives.

Yochanan tells us that there was a multitude in Jerusalem for the purpose of keeping the Feasts of Pesach, Unleavened Bread (Chag haMatzoh), and Early First Fruits (Chag haBikkarim). All of these feasts occur in an 8-day period, of which I believe Yeshua completely fulfilled every one. Much of the multitude had come for two other reasons, at least. 1) to see this Rabbi everyone was talking about who had raised Lazarus from the dead, and 2) to see Lazarus. Some were curiosity seekers, others were really believers in Mashiyach ben David, of whom most would turn against Him when He refused to knuckle under to the great temptation of wiping the Roman soldiers off the face of the land and TAKING His Kingdom by force. A few were there to witness their redeemer, the Mashiyach ben Yoseph in the flesh. We are blessed to have a Saviour who, though a man of flesh and blood like us, was empowered by the Spirit of Yah alone. He was able to keep the big picture in mind and defer His gratification to the will of the Spirit of Avinu in Him. As a fallen man, I would have succumbed to the temptation and resorted to force. Patience is truly a virtue of which I have very little knowledge. Fortunately for us, Yah is constantly proving His patience with us, as we run blindly toward our desires without waiting on His timing.

The Pharisees who believed didn’t much like the tumult, or the stealing of the high priest’s thunder that was going on. They said to Yeshua, ‘shut these people up! The priest is coming with the lamb and they’ve already celebrated his entry.” Yeshua said, “If I shut these people up, the very walls of the city would holler praises to Yah.” Of course, this just ticked the Pharisees off even more. Mainly because, in their hearts, they knew He was right. And PLEASE remember that these were “certain Pharisees”, not by any means ALL Pharisees. These particular Pharisees were in the Jews’ [leaders of the Hebrew religion’s] pockets.

Yeshua’s prophesy of the destruction of Jerusalem has yet to be completely fulfilled. He said that not one stone would be left upon another, but the Western wall of the Temple still stands. The ultimate fulfillment is yet future, I believe in the very NEAR future. The total destruction of the city will occur, IMO, during the ‘time of Yakov’s trouble’. AntiMashiach (who is not necessarily against Mashiyach, but exactly the opposite; a false Mashiyach, cf. Mat.24) and his hordes will trample the city under foot. It will be this total destruction that will cause the houses of Yehudah and Ephraim to cry out to their Elohim, Yah Tzavaoth, Yah of hosts, who will hear their cry and come swiftly to redeem them. It will be then that they’ll look upon Him whom they’ve pierced, and realize they killed their Mashiyach 2000 years before. They’ll realize the folly of their reliance on Talmud above scripture and secular nations above Yah, and they’ll repent and turn to Him in faith that He can and will redeem their land and their city and their souls. And He will. Q&C

185). Cleansing the Temple (Mat.21.12-13, Mk.11.15-17, Lk.19.45-46 & 47-48) – Yeshua went into the Temple area and cast out the merchandisers and overturned the tables of the moneychangers. His problem with the merchandisers was not their business, which was necessary, but their exorbitant fees for the less than perfect animals they sold and that they did business within the Temple precincts. 

His problems with the moneychangers were both their business and their high exchange rates. The priests had come up with a great scam to separate the people from their money. They’d decided that the money used in the real world was not ‘holy’ enough for use in the Temple, so they made their own currency – Temple money. Talk about serving God and mammon! The money changers were robbing the people who had to use the Temple money to purchase the animals for sacrifice at the feasts, in this case lambs of the first year, whether sheep or goat. Then the sellers robbed them again with their high prices for inferior goods. The implication is collusion on the parts of the priests, the moneychangers and the merchandisers. All of this took place in the Temple precincts, which was forbidden in Tanakh (Is.56.1-8, esp. v.7 & Jer.7, esp. v 11 – quoted above). All the financial transactions should have been done outside the gates of the Temple. Of course, the ‘Temple’ got a cut of every transaction, and the priests were in control of the Temple treasury, so the priests felt that the decrees of scripture could be set aside. The priests, BTW, were NOT sons of Aharon, but Edomites who had bought their offices from king Herod whose authority was from Rome! Very cozy! Thieving swine!

Yeshua had come in the afternoon before and scoped the joint, I think, so He could be efficient in His work this day. He knew how they were set up, how close in proximity they were to each other and went about His business with zeal and relish. I think this had been a thorn in Yah’s side. The sellers of sheep and doves were necessary, for those who lived and worked in cities could not raise their own animals for sacrifice. They would have to bring cash and purchase their Pesach lamb. And the sellers, being in business, had to make a profit. But to make an obscene profit was to defile the Temple as well as themselves. The Torah prohibited usury between brother Hebrews as robbery, so this robbery was not a good thing either. I suspect that the priests allowed Gentiles to do these services to get around those laws against ripping off your brother. This is kind of like the tradition of Corban, where the son could deny his parents their rightful care in old age by saying all his wealth is promised to the Temple. It was a ‘wicked’ twisting of the law to further the ends of the religious powers. Yah hates it and so, therefore, does Yeshua. This is a case of righteous wrath.

Meanwhile, the Jews, the leaders of the religion in J’lem, were looking for something with which to accuse Yeshua of Torah violation, but they feared the people’s testimony because they, the people, listened carefully to every word Yeshua spoke and would have screamed bloody murder if they, the Jews, had brought a false accusation to the Beit Din. Q&C  

End of Shabbat Bible Study