Fulfilling Torah Ministries

January 18, 2014 Shabbat Bible Study

©2014 Mark Pitrone & Fulfilling Torah Ministries

Gen. 49:28 – 50:26; Zech. 14:1-21, Mic. 2:12; [No Ps.]; John 19:39-20:9

 

Gen.49.28-33 – Ya’acov had blessed his sons by prophesying about their roles, strengths and weaknesses (if any) and how they would be a blessing to all the families of the earth. He had already gotten Yoseph’s promise to NOT bury him in Egypt, but in his own grave at Machpelah near Hevron, in the field and cave Avraham had purchased from Ephron the Hittite. Now, he reiterates his desire and commands ALL his sons to ensure that his bones will be buried in haAretz, and NOT in Egypt. I think he did this to ensure that SOMEone would be able to do so, Ya’acov knowing that Paroh may not allow Yoseph to leave for any extended period of time. Paroh would be less likely to keep ALL Ya’acov’s sons from going to bury their father in his own sepulchre, bought with money from the former owners. Yoseph, as viceroy, perhaps, but not all 12 of them. Paroh, I’m sure, knew that Ya’acov was a wise and godly man, and would allow it in his case because of his status. So Ya’acov got ALL his sons’ promises that he would be buried in Mamre just in case Yoseph was unable to make the trip himself. Once he got their promises, he just curled up on his bed, and expired. No muss, no fuss. As it had been with his father and grandfather, when their time to die was upon them they knew, because their vitality had never left them until the last few days of their lives. When they started to feel very differently in a systemic sort of way, they knew their time was short. I would surmise that, like Avraham, Yitzhak and, later, Moshe, Ya’acov’s life’s natural force was not abated until the last day or 2 of his life. There is a very interesting [to me anyway] note to v.28 in the Schottenstein’s Chumash on pg.311.

50.1-9 – It is not normal for a Hebrew to be embalmed. The usual practice is for the family to bury their dead within 4 days. After 4 days, the body begins to show signs of decomposition and will even begin to smell like rotten, decaying meat – and anyone who’s ever smelt decaying meat knows that it’s about as nasty and pungent a stench as there is. Remember when Yeshua’s friend Lazarus died and when he finally got to Bethany Yeshua asked to have the stone removed from Lazarus’ grave.

Yeshua said, Take ye away the stone. Martha, the sister of him that was dead, saith unto him, Master, by this time he stinketh: for he hath been dead four days. (John 11:39)

The idea behind NOT embalming their dead was to not hinder the Word of Y’hovah,

In the sweat of thy face shalt thou eat bread, till thou return unto the ground; for out of it wast thou taken: for dust thou art, and unto dust shalt thou return. (Genesis 3:19)

So Hebrews bury their dead before the body sees ‘corruption’, defined as decomposition and rot, or within 4 days of death.

R. Or HaChaim, according to Schottenstein’s Chumash (pg.311, note for v. 2), said that a person like Yisrael, who had achieved the status of tzadik, would not decay at the same rate as your average ordinary person (or at all) based on (I think)

For thou wilt not leave my soul in hell; neither wilt thou suffer thine Holy One (chassid) to see corruption. (Psalms 16:10)

The reason he had the embalming done, according to some rabbis, was to not allow Ya’acov’s body to suffer the indignity of being a thing to worship because it would not naturally decay. Now, where they got this idea is beyond me (unless it was from their own nearly idolatrous veneration of the patriarchs, as if they were not just guys like you and me, and as they are revealed to us in scripture). The patriarchs were no more or less ‘holy’ than any of us can be. They had the same foibles as anyone else, which is one reason I know the Bible is true. Unlike the pagan scriptures, it shows its heroes to be just guys who screw up once in a while, but whose manner of life is to obey Y’hovah. More likely, he embalmed Yisrael’s body because it would be quite some time before the burial could be accomplished. It seems that it took the physicians 40 days to embalm the body, and that Egypt mourned for Ya’acov for those 40 and at least 30 more days for a total of 70 days of mourning in Egypt. If the passage is taken woodenly, it can be seen as up to 120 days before they left for Mamre. Then there would be a trip of 5-6 days to Mamre and Machpelah, the burial and then sitting shiva before the trip back – I would estimate at least 3 weeks to a month before they could return to Rameses.

When Yoseph made the case that he needed to go to Canaan, he did so to Paroh’s house, not directly to Paroh, possibly to get him used to the idea of Yoseph being gone for a month or 2. It could also be that this was a different Paroh than the one for whom Yoseph had interpreted the dream. Perhaps this Paroh was worried about Yoseph’s popularity with his household staff or the people. Perhaps he didn’t like that Yoseph had given 80% of the produce of his land to the sharecropping serfs. And I get the impression by the wording that Paroh wasn’t pleased that Yoseph would have to be gone for so long. I don’t think there was the same level of trust as the dreaming Paroh had once had in Yoseph. The cause could also be the prosperity of the Jacobson’s. The importance of establishing that Ya’acov had made Yoseph promise to bury him personally is seen in v.5&6. Paroh was kinda backed into a corner, and had to let Yoseph and his brothers go to Canaan. But in v.8 we see that their wives, children, livestock, et al., were left in Egypt as an earnest of their return – hostages? I think. This may have been the beginning, the first outright act, of Israel’s bondage to Egypt. Also, when they finally went to Canaan, they were escorted by chariots and horsemen. Was this armored cavalry to ensure their return, or just a large retinue in full military regalia to impress the natives? I think, YES! Q&C

 

Vv.10-14 – Why did they mourn at the threshingfloor of Atad? I thought they were going to Mamre. The Hebrew is goren haAtad and it means ‘field or threshingfloor of thorns.’ A few weeks ago, we talked about Yoseph’s wife, Asenath, and that she may have been Dinah’s daughter by Shechem, and that if that were the case, her name means ‘under a thorn (specifically, blackberry) bush.” Might there be a connection? Chumash has an interesting bit of tradition that says the kings of Canaan and the princes of Ishmael massed against the retinue to prevent the burial, but when they saw Yoseph’s royal Egyptian crown hanging on the coffin (possibly a duplicate of Paroh’s), they hung their own crowns on it in tribute to Yisrael. All the crowns, supposedly 36 total, made the coffin look like a field surrounded by thorns of gold, which is what gave the area its name, goren haAtad.

But it looks like they may have had more than one shiva, because they left Atad to go to Mamre for the actual burial. They continued their mourning during this journey, I think, because the Canaanites who witnessed the shiva called the place Avayl Mitzraim, the mourning of Egypt. That Yoseph’s crown may have been a duplicate of Paroh’s comes to my mind because of this designation. The Canaanites may have thought this was Paroh himself, who IS Egypt, and so called the place Egypt Mourns. I don’t know if it’s the same in the other services, though I suspect it is, but in the Navy, when a commanding officer steps aboard or leaves a Navy command (and not just his own), he is introduced as his entire command, “USS Enterprise, arriving”, or, “VP-64, departing”. In a legal sense, it is true. The commanding officer is like a king in his command – it all belongs to him and he is responsible for everything that happens there, which is why a CO is relieved when the junior ensign runs his ship aground while the CO is asleep in his stateroom. The CO is the sole living being aboard his ship, in a legal sense. Noone but the CO may use red ink in his pen, signifying that his blood gives life to the command. He is, in a sense, a ‘corporation sole’. The Canaanites may have thought that Yoseph was Paroh and his mourning would be the same as the entire nation of Egypt mourning.

The 12 boys carried Yisrael’s coffin into the land, the Chumash says perhaps all the way to Mamre – Machpelah, which is a plausible inference. There is nothing in the text that contradicts that, though I think it is probably a flight of fancy. Goren haAtad/Avayl Mitzraim was on the east side of Yarden. The crossing point would be around Yericho. The 12 would have to carry the coffin about 35 miles across the mountains of Yehudah, which is possible, but not likely. However, B’nei Yisrael DID carry his body OUT of the galut, exile, and into haAretz, signifying to me that chol Yisrael shall be saved (Rom.11.26). It is predestined. Q&C

 

Vv.15-21 – After Ya’acov’s body was buried, the 10 brothers became fearful that Yoseph would take retribution for the way they’d done him. They went from perhaps he will to he certainly will without taking a breath. They STILL felt guilty after these nearly 40 years. Now, that is guilt over one’s actions. Yoseph had assured them at least twice that he held no animosity towards them, but, were it they, they couldn’t imagine not holding a grudge over similar treatment. So they made up a story about Ya’acov commanding Yoseph to treat them mercifully. It seems that their attitude cut him to the quick. He had been their ruler for over 17 years and had never given any inkling of his hatred or despite of them, but had always maintained that he acknowledged the goodness of Y’hovah towards them and chol Yisrael being revealed through his personal bondage in Egypt. It was not they, but Elohim who’d sent him to Egypt to preserve not only their lives but also those of every person who’d come to buy grain from Paroh. So he forgave them again and they seemed to get it this time.

Isn’t that kind of how we are when we confess a sin to Y’hovah? When we’ve confessed our sin and turned away from it, Y’hovah has promised to forgive it or them. But we have a hard time forgiving ourselves sometimes. And other times, haSatan reminds us of those sins that were already forgiven. Y’hovah does not rescind his forgiveness. When he forgives our sins, he puts them in the depths of the sea and as far from us as east is from west. HE isn’t holding them over us like the Sword of Damocles. He has removed them from us. If we sin again, even after the same kind, when we confess it and repent of it, he forgives it again and removes it from us. He is faithful to fulfill his promises to us,

18 And I said, My strength and my hope is perished from Y’hovah: 19 Remembering mine affliction and my misery, the wormwood and the gall. 20 My soul hath still in remembrance, and is humbled in me. 21 This I recall to my mind, therefore have I hope. 22 Y’hovah’s mercies that we are not consumed, because his compassions fail not. 23 New every morning: great thy faithfulness. 24 Y’hovah my portion, saith my soul; therefore will I hope in him. 25 Y’hovah good unto them that wait for him, to the soul seeketh him. 26 Good that should both hope and quietly wait for the salvation of Y’hovah. (Lam.3.18-26)

If we’d only get it.

On pp.315-16, Schottenstein’s Chumash has a couple of interesting traditions and one very true observation to share for the prefatory notes on vv.15-21.

Yoseph stayed in Egypt until he was 110 years old, and died there. If he was 40 when Ya’acov and sons came to dwell in Goshen and Ya’acov died 17 years later, he was 57 when he buried his father and reconciled (again) with all his brethren. So, they lived in Goshen with Yoseph the viceroy for 53 more years. And they were uneventful years compared to the 22 before. Was there perfect harmony? It’s doubtful, but there was no major battle to deal with and no major rift in the family. Just before he died, Yoseph called his 11 brothers to him and made them make the same promise they’d made to Yisrael – “Don’t let my bones remain in Egypt when Y’hovah remembers you and delivers you from here.” Yoseph wants his bones laid to rest in haAretz, not the world. This foreshadows the deliverance of Ephraim from the galut, like his father’s. The brothers promised him, and 150 or so years later Moshe kept that promise to Yoseph. So, as Yeshua went into the ground for a certain amount of time (3 days and 3 nights) to be resurrected and removed from spiritual Egypt, so did Yoseph in literal Egypt (until the end of the 430 years).

When Torah reiterates itself in successive words, that is a promise that can be put in the bank and accrue interest. What Yoseph told his brothers was pakor yiph’kor, Y’hovah ‘will remember remember you’. That’s like Yeshua saying, “Me’od me’od amri atechem”, “Verily, verily I say unto you!” It’s Y’hovah’s Truth! Bank on it! If that’s not enough, Yoseph reiterates the same reiteration in the very next verse, “Pakor yiphkor Elohim atechem”. Elohim will surely remember you.

After that promise the traditional appendage to the books of Moshe is especially proper and salient:

Chazak! Chazak! V’nit’chazak!

Be Strong! Be Strong and be Strengthened!

Next week, we tart the book Shemoth/Exodus. Q&C

 

Zecharyah 14.1-5 – ZecharYah 14 seems to juxtapose a lot of prophecies of the messianic Kingdom with prophecies of the olam haba. Just be aware of that.

Whenever Y’hovah wants us to notice something, he tells us to ‘Behold’. This is an important thing to understand. The day of Y’hovah comes. But to whom is he speaking? At the end of ch.13, Y’hovah says this:

8 And it shall come to pass, in all the land, saith the LORD, two parts therein shall be cut off and die; but the third shall be left therein. 9 And I will bring the third part through the fire, and will refine them as silver is refined, and will try them as gold is tried: they shall call on my name, and I will hear them: I will say, It my people: and they shall say, Y’hovah Elohai.

Those who have come through the refining fire of tribulation are being told “Behold, the day of Y’hovah comes”. In other words, if you thought the LAST 3+ years have been bad, wait’ll you get a load of this. Speculation Warning!! After the tribulation I think[1] only a third of the people will remain in J’lem. And THOSE are the ones who will see the Day of Y’hovah’s wrath. The Day of Y’hovah’s wrath will be the days of awe just before Moshiach’s foot touches the mount of Olives. And now, after surviving the tribulation, they enter the Day of Y’HOVAH’s wrath, and ½ of the survivors will be carried away captive or killed. I think it’s this nearly complete destruction of all they thought would protect them and keep them safe that will finally bring them to the end of themselves. (Aside) What we’re seeing in the news recently is a partial fulfillment of this; the MONEY that Americans thought was ‘sound as a dollar’ is betraying us. We though our dollar was a solid rock upon which we could build an empire. We will soon see its utter destruction, because Y’hovah will not be mocked, nor will he allow his people to have other gods in his face – and that includes the dollar. They will finally give up on the promises of men and shuv toward the promises of Y’hovah, if only out of desperation. They will finally call on Y’hovah, the Elohim of Avraham, Yitzhak and Ya’acov for supernatural deliverance, and he will send his Moshiach to defeat the enemy armies.

The residue is NOT the remnant – these are 2 different words. Remnant in Zech. is Str. 7611, she’ayrith, which means a small, surviving portion. These are almost always believers. Residue is Str. 3499 yehther, which means an overabundance. These are the leftover unbelievers who may populate the Millennial Kingdom – IF they survive the Days of Awe. Zech. 14 is talking residue, unbelievers. Moshiach will come and fight for Israel and J’lem, even though most of them only called on his Name as a last resort. But even at THAT he is faithful to keep his promise. He who calls on the Name of Y’hovah shall be delivered (Yoel 2.32, Acts 2.21).

And Moshiach will fight ‘as in the day of battle’, which was when Paroh was wiped out with his armies in the Yam Suf after Israel had walked across it dry. On the day his feet stand on the Mount of Olives (Yom Kippur, one year in the not-too-distant future, I think), he will decimate the armies of Whoever is then Paroh. If it is THIS Yom Kippur, it will have to be the US, because we are present day Egypt, whom Israel trusts above Y’hovah her Elohim. The cataclysmic seismic events that will take place that day will boggle more minds than mine. From that source of all objective truth – Wikipedia (article on UzzYah):

A great earthquake is referred to in the book of the prophet Amos. Amos dated his prophecy to “two years before the earthquake, when UzzYah was king of Yehudah and Yerovoam son of Yehoash was king of Israel” (Amos 1:1, NIV). Over 200 years later, the prophet Zechariah predicted a future earthquake from which the people would flee as they fled in the days of UzzYah (Zechariah 14:5).

There is nothing in scripture to tell us where they fled in UzzYah’s days, so I haven’t a clue about where the people of J’lem will go. Perhaps someone in PTland knows? It looks like at least some of the people left in J’lem will flee through the rift created by the earthquake to Atzayl, which is … Only Y’hovah knows where. The root of the word Atzayl is atzal, which means to join. The rift created by this earthquake will join the seas, the Med and the Dead. So maybe? Maybe it speaks of joining Ephraim/Y’hudah? Q&C

 

Vv.6-21 – Light being not clear nor dark, sounds like enough light to see, but as if you were looking through foggy glass. Kinda like

For now we see through a glass, darkly; but then face to face: now I know in part; but then shall I know even as also I am known. (I Corinthians 13:12)

Paul is talking about how when we prophesy, we don’t see clearly enough to tell a lot of details, but can make out generalities. Also, to see darkly is like a parable – you can see the story told, but may not grasp the spiritual truth it’s meant to convey. That’s how it will be for those unbelievers who will populate the Kingdom. They will see, but not clearly understand the events that are occurring in front of their eyes, because the truth will still need to be spiritually discerned, and that will be impossible without Ruach guiding them. That there will be a light source other than the sun and moon is evident in v.7, because it will neither be day nor night in J’lem. This is sounding suspiciously like Rev.21-22, isn’t it? But this is actually during the Messianic Era, so there must be a foreshadowing of olam haba seen here.

And it’s pretty obvious that it isn’t the Ruach who’s telling the residue where to flee, because in v.8, water flows through the same rift, ½ toward the Dead Sea and the other ½ toward the Med (unless another sea is created in the seismic events), so it is NOT olam haba.

Y’hovah will be King over the whole earth, and Moshiach Yeshua will be King over all the earth and 1+1 = zero, carry the one. Moshiach = Y’hovah in the flesh. Moshiach will cleanse the land of the fallout so it can be safely inhabited, but those who fought against J’lem will get to suffer the death of the nukes they’ve lobbed at Y’hovah’s land and his city. There will be a rebellion in J’lem (v.13) and Yehudah will fight for her (v.14). The early years of the Kingdom will be pretty volatile, like the early years of many babies and their new parents. Both are selfish creatures, but the parents have (hopefully) been raised to think of others, at least once in a while. Children need to be TAUGHT selflessness. So the selfish adult will need to become selfless in relation to the child. The early years of the Kingdom will see similar growing pains. The next verses describe those who have never learned what is appropriate, or even allowed, in the presence of Y’hovah. If they’ll do as they’re told without an obvious attitude they’ll be able to watch their attitudes get really lousy. But, after a while they’ll get used to it, because if they don’t obey and suppress the attitude, they’ll experience cursing (Dt.28, 29 & 30). They won’t like it, but they’ll do it – and await the opportunity for rebellion that haSatan will provide them at the end.

Vv.16ff we see the last survivors who came through the fire and the siege and the earthquake and the rift, et al., get to come up every year to keep the Feast of Tabernacles. This will not make them ecstatic with joy. The Feast of Sukkoth includes 70 sacrifices over the 7-day period, and this will be the ONE Feast of Y’hovah that will be kept by everyone in the Messianic era. So, the question Xians ask me is this, ‘Will there be sacrifice made during the Millennial Kingdom?’ There must be, because sacrifice is a part of keeping the Feast. V.21 says that ‘those who sacrifice will….’, so it isn’t really a question of ‘will there be sacrifices.’ It is prophesied – it is predestined. The real question is, “Why will there be sacrifices, if scripture says there is no more sacrifice?” Because the only passage of scripture that actually says there is no more sacrifice is taken WAY out of context and used as a stand-alone proof-verse, a numbered sound bite. That verse in Heb.10 is dealing with the sacrifice for atonement on Yom Kippur.

Yeshua fulfilled the prophecies of the Atoning Sacrifice of the goats on Yom Kippur. Sins have been atoned for once and for all, never to be repeated, which is the whole point of the middle of the book of Hebrews. But there will still be free-will offerings of all types, as well as sin offerings to atone for light sins done in the fulfillment of weightier commandments. Cf. Yechezkel 40-48, lots of freewill offerings, no atonement.

Notice that the family that didn’t keep the feast one year is called Egypt the next, and if they don’t come up for the Feast, they’ll get to suffer a plague that will kill them. When the other folks who don’t want to go up see this, they’ll suppress their attitudes and observe the Feast, but unwillingly, as I discussed before.

The word in v.20 that is translated ‘bells’ is Str.#4698, m’tzilah which literally means ‘with quivering’, and I think it may refer more to the horse’s rider than an ornament. I think the same guy who is unwillingly coming to the Feast and who is suppressing his rebellious attitude is actually quaking in fear that he will be found out while bringing his offering before Y’hovah. Notice that in v.21, every pot in J’lem and Y’hudah as well as the ‘quivering’ of the person bringing the offering is kadosh l’Y’hovah, set apart unto Y’hovah. I think Y’hovah is accepting the worship shown in every offering made in obedience, whether willingly or in suppressed rebellion. The supplicant’s attitude is only affecting himself, not the Y’hovah who accepts the worship. Like in Philippians 1:

15 Some indeed preach Moshiach even of envy and strife; and some also of good will: 16 The one preach Moshiach of contention, not sincerely, supposing to add affliction to my bonds: 17 But the other of love, knowing that I am set for the defence of the gospel. 18 What then? notwithstanding, every way, whether in pretence, or in truth, Moshiach is preached; and I therein do rejoice, yea, and will rejoice.

Moshiach is preached and Y’hovah gets the glory. Same with the worship of sacrifice unto Y’hovah, no matter the motive. That he ‘gets away’ with his suppressed rebellion may get him to thinking that this Moshiach isn’t all that omniscient and may help him to think that haSatan may actually be able to pull off the Gog uMagog rebellion at the end of the Messianic era. Q&C

 

Micah.2.12 – Micah writes to chol Beit Ya’acov. The kings and the people of Y’hudah were becoming like their brethren Ephraim to the north, eschewing the things of Y’hovah for idolatrous syncretism. It is natural for people to follow the path of least resistance, like water and electricity. And that path is away from Y’hovah. When was the last time you saw water flow UPHILL? Often, in its search for the least resistance it will stop and pool until it is able to flow by gravitational attraction to ‘ground’, which in the case of water is sea level (which is NOT always the same, when measured from the center of the earth – there IS a ‘bulge’ at the equator). It is always easier for the natural man to follow false gods, for there are less expectations – and easier to meet. American believers are being more influenced by the pagan culture than the other way around, as Y’hovah intended. Believers are supposed to be what Reagan likened the United States to, “a shining city on a hill”. We are supposed to stand out against the culture, not blend in. Everything we do differently than the surrounding heathen – and that includes our Xian brethren – in our obedience to Y’hovah causes them to be uncomfortable. Our Xian brethren try to ‘evangelize’ us back to ‘the mainstream church of Jesus Christ’, as a prominent Xian radio teacher said of the WWCG about 10 or so years ago, when they left Sabbath and Feast keeping for Sunday and false festival keeping instead. Our obedience brings out the worst in the ‘go along to get along’ crowd. I sincerely think they do this in the integrity of their hearts and out of concern for our eternal well-being, but they truly fail to understand that Y’hovah’s people are SUPPOSED to be different from the pagan culture that surrounds them. And the blessings that accrue to us are supposed to witness to them and arouse their jealousy. The real HOPE that we have is supposed to awaken them to their relative LACK of hope, and move them to ask us of the hope that lies within us. Yes, believers who refuse to obey Y’hovah and who try to call us back to their syncretism are uncomfortable. THAT’s why they treat us with disdain. Don’t repay them evil for evil. Don’t castigate them for their ‘pagan idolatry’ in Xmas and Ishtar, et al worship. Obey Y’hovah, and love them when they despitefully use you;

43 Ye have heard that it hath been said [Mark edit – NOT ‘it has been written’.], Thou shalt love thy neighbour, and hate thine enemy. [Mark edit – Elohim NEVER says to hate your enemy. This is the only verse in KJV that these word appear in this order.] 44 But I say unto you, Love your enemies, bless them that curse you, do good to them that hate you, and pray for them which despitefully use you, and persecute you; 45 That ye may be the children of your Father which is in heaven: for he maketh his sun to rise on the evil and on the good, and sendeth rain on the just and on the unjust. 46 For if ye love them which love you, what reward have ye? do not even the publicans the same? 47 And if ye salute your brethren only, what do ye more? do not even the publicans so? 48 Be ye therefore perfect, even as your Father which is in heaven is perfect. (Mat.5)

It is their knowledge of their own incompleteness (imperfection) that makes them jealous of our relative completeness. Win them to Y’hovah’s Way by your manner of life. In that way, we will be used of Y’hovah as catalysts in his plan to ensure what he has predestinated – that “all Yisrael SHALL be delivered.”

V.12 affirms that Y’hovah SHALL do what he’s promised us – he SHALL call all Israel from the four corners of the earth, and join us with Y’hudah, as he very plainly said in Ezek.37, and somewhat more cryptically said in the rest of the prophets as well as in Torah and Brit Chadashah. He will SURELY assemble ALL of Ya’acov’s remnant. That is whom Paul speaks of in Rom.11.26; “all Yisrael shall be saved”. He is going to put us, both houses of Ya’acov, together AS the sheep of Bozrah and AS the flock in the midst of their fold. Bozrah was the capital city of Edom, and the main market for sheep in that part of the world. That word, ‘flock’, is from Str.# 5739 – eyder, a muster. When it was market time in Bozrah, everyone in the surrounding area would bring in their sheep to count them, negotiate the best price they could get and to sell them, like cattle drive time in Wichita or Dodge. But Bozrah was not just where they ‘mustered’ the sheep. It’s also where they slaughtered them, so in that way Bozrah was also like Chicago. Do you suppose THAT’s why YeshaYahu has Moshiach coming out of Edom and Bozrah with his garments died red?

The sword of Y’hovah is filled with blood, it is made fat with fatness, and with the blood of lambs and goats, with the fat of the kidneys of rams: for Y’hovah hath a sacrifice in Bozrah, and a great slaughter in the land of Idumea. (Isaiah 34:6)

Who is this that cometh from Edom, with dyed garments from Bozrah? this that is glorious in his apparel, travelling in the greatness of his strength? I that speak in righteousness, mighty to save. (Isaiah 63:1)

This is Y’hovah, Yeshua haMoshiach. And he is gathering chol Yisrael to the muster. This is a picture of the 1^st resurrection. Q&C

 

John 19:38-20:10 – Didn’t we just see Joe and Nic a few weeks ago? Joe went to Pilate for permission while Nic went for myhhr and aloes to bury Yeshua quick and dirty, because it was preparation day for the High Shabbat of ULB1. By touching Yeshua’s dead body and preparing it for burial, Joe and Nic made themselves ceremonially common for the Feast. The sepulchre was nearby and was cut out of rock and never used. There is another sepulchre that sounds like this in Tanakh. In Isaiah 22.15-16;

15 Thus saith Adonai Y’hovah Tzavaoth, Go, get thee unto this treasurer, unto Shebna, which is over the house, 16 What hast thou here? and whom hast thou here, that thou hast hewed thee out a sepulchre here, he that heweth him out a sepulchre on high, that graveth an habitation for himself in a rock? 17 Behold Y’hovah will carry thee away with a mighty captivity, and will surely cover thee. 18 He will surely violently turn and toss thee a ball into a large country: there shalt thou die, and there the chariots of thy glory the shame of thy adon’s house.

Shevna was a scribe and also treasurer of the Temple. He had a sepulchre hewn from stone. Yoseph’s tomb was hewn before he bought it and was unused. I think Yoseph bought the tomb Shevna had hewn, but never got to use because he had been exiled before he croaked. There are at least 2 words in greek that are translated as ‘new’. This one is Str. #2537, kainon, meaning ‘fresh’. The other is #3501, neos, meaning new in time. So this tomb may just have been unused, but cut from the stone 750 years before. I think Shevna absconded with Temple funds to purchase himself this property and carve out a high class sepulchre like the one the Patriarchs were laid to rest in – as I think it turns out, the very tomb in which Yeshua (and also into which both Ya’acov [in Hevron/Machpelah] and Yoseph [in Shechem]) was laid. And, by the way, Yeshua would be the rightful owner, since Shevna had stolen Y’hovah’s treasury money to purchase and carve it out.

What follows is from my work, The Life of Yeshua haMoshiach – An Hebraic Perspective.

239.) Yeshua’s body taken down – (Mat.27.57-58, Mk. 15. 42-45, Lk.23.50-53, Jn.19.31-38) … In our 4 accounts we get an insight into the character of Yoseph of Arimethea. He was a disciple of Yeshua’s (Mat.), but secretly because he was also on the council of the Sanhedrin (Mk., Lk.) and feared for his position (Jn.). He was not in favor of the crucifixion and spoke up about it (Lk); he’d voted ‘No’. So it looks like Yoseph had been a secret disciple of Yeshua, but came out of the closet with the decision to crucify him. It is therefore probable that Yoseph lost his place on the Sanhedrin and possibly that he was cut off – excommunicated – for this. He’d tried to be a voice of reason and righteousness on the council, but when push came to shove, he chose Y’hovah’s Word over traditions of men, and Y’hovah’s Son over his status and position of authority. He chose Y’hovah Yeshua haMoshiach over his own life. I can’t wait to meet him face to face.

240). Yeshua buried, (Mat.27.59-61, Mk.15.46-47, Lk.23.53, Jn.19.39-42, 1Cor.15.4) – Yoseph asked for the body of Yeshua. Arimathea is called Ramah in Hebrew. Ramah = high, or high place. 4 cities were called Ramah, and all were places of Canaanite worship, so Ramah/Arimathea was originally a place of pagan high places that Yisrael was supposed to destroy in Yehoshua’s time. In 1Sam.1.19, there is mention of Ramathaim in Ephraim, the birthplace of Samuel. In Mat.2.18 there is reference to

15 ¶ Thus saith the LORD; A voice was heard in Ramah, lamentation, bitter weeping; Rachel weeping for her children refused to be comforted for her children, because they not. Jer.31.15.

The Ramah spoken of there is often associated with Arimathea, as well.

Yoseph took the body and wrapped it in clean linen. Clean linen always to my knowledge signifies purity and righteousness in scripture. Linen was not your normal burial cloth. From Easton’s Bible dictionary we get this: “Heb. Sadin, fine linen. From this Hebrew word we get the greek word sindon, rendered linen in Mat.27.59…” Sadin is likely the root of the word ‘satin’, as well. Yoseph wrapped him in the finest cloth he could afford, and because of his position, he could afford almost anything.

The fact that he owned a rock-hewn burial chamber speaks to Yoseph’s wealth. After laying Yeshua’s body to rest, he rolled a great stone into the opening to keep predators of every kind, both human and animal, out. The stone would probably have weighed a couple of tons, and was unlikely to removed by any less than 4 large men + 2 small boys. If the garden tomb is the actual tomb, the rock was placed into a depression in the rock floor and was therefore VERY difficult to roll out of the way. Two Miriams saw where the body was laid for the purpose of returning after the weekly Shabbat to anoint the body properly for burial.  Q&C

 

243/244). Women came to the grave to anoint the body, find the tomb empty (Mat.28.1-7, Mk16.1-5, Lk.24.1-2, Jn.20.1-2) – There are some seeming discrepancies between the accounts. Matthew seems to say that when the Marys came out on the evening after the Sabbath the stone was already rolled away, while Mark and Luke tell us that it was early in the morning when they found the stone rolled away. The events of Mat.28.2-7 could have taken place the morning after the events of v.1, or the earthquake might have made them return home before doing a thorough investigation of it’s damage to the sepulcher, or it may have gotten too dark by then to actually see much. I am merely attempting to harmonize the accounts with that last, not make excuses or explain the seeming discrepancies away. The scripture is true. Of that we can be absolutely certain. But these accounts do not each have every detail. We must put them together to arrive at the whole truth that we are supposed to understand.

Mat.28.1 seems clear that Mary went out on the evening after sundown (as the first day was ‘dawning’- see section 241b), but before it was ‘dead dark.’ Mark lets us know that the following morning Mary Magdelene was expecting to have trouble with the stone. So there must be a sequential gap between Mat.28.1 and 28.5. Mary went to ‘see’ the sepulchre in the evening (possibly to be sure of the location), and to anoint Yeshua ‘very early’ the following morning, ‘when it was yet dark’. It was then that they couldn’t HELP but notice the stone already rolled away.

In Mat’s account the angel sat on the stone, while in Mark’s he is sitting on the right side of the INSIDE of the tomb. This is another allusion to this being THE angel of Y’hovah, or Yeshua, who is described as Y’hovah’s right hand,

Ex.15:6, “Thy right hand, Y’hovah, is become glorious in power: thy right hand, Y’hovah, hath dashed in pieces the enemy.”

Ex.15:11-12, “Who is like unto thee, Y’hovah, among the gods? who is like thee, glorious in holiness, fearful in praises, doing wonders? [12] Thou stretchedst out thy right hand, the earth swallowed them.”

Ps.17:7, “Shew thy marvellous lovingkindness, O thou that savest by thy right hand them which put their trust in thee from those that rise up against them.

Ps.44:3, “For they got not the land in possession by their own sword, neither did their own arm save them: but thy right hand, and thine arm, and the light of thy countenance, because thou hadst a favour unto them.

The angel told them to go and tell the disciples that Yeshua was risen from death, was going before them into Galilee and that he would meet them there. End of excerpt from The Life of Yeshua haMoshiach.

Between the end of Yochanan ch.19 and the beginning of ch.20, there is a three day and three night  plus a few hours parenthesis. It was the morning of the 1^st day of the week, while it was still dark. Mary Magdelene arrived at the tomb to prepare Yeshua’s body for burial and found that the stone had been rolled away from the tomb’s mouth. This could have been anytime between sundown and sunrise of the 1^st of the week. So she went to tell Kefa and Yochanan about it. They ran to the tomb to see what was what, and Yochanan arrived first, but waited to enter until Kefa got there. Of course, impetuous Peter didn’t even slow down when he got there, but went right in. Do you suppose he was a Reuvenite? Yochanan stooped to see inside and saw the linen graveclothes laying as they had been wrapped around Yeshua’s body and the face cloth neatly folded and set by itself. And he told us that when he saw the cloths he believed, though they didn’t yet know the scriptures that taught that Moshiach had to rise from death. Now, Yeshua had told them at least a couple of times that he must die and rise from the dead, but they still didn’t understand. What was it that Yochanan saw that caused him to believe? Perhaps the linen wrapping was still wrapped round and round, but there was no body in it? Q&C