Iḇ`rim (Hebrews) 13:1-25 TS2009
[1] Let the brotherly love continue. [2] Do not forget to receive strangers, for by so doing some have unwittingly entertained messengers. [3] Remember the prisoners as if chained with them, and those being mistreated, since you yourselves also are in the body. [4] Let marriage be respected by all, and the bed be undefiled. But Elohim shall judge those who whore, and adulterers. [5] Let your way of life be without the love of silver, and be satisfied with what you have. For He Himself has said, “I shall never leave you nor forsake you,” [6] so that we boldly say, “יהוה YeHoVaH is my helper, I shall not fear what man shall do to me.” [7] Remember those leading you, who spoke the Word of Elohim to you. 🔎Consider the outcome of their behaviour and imitate their belief.🔍 [8] Yeshua Mashiach is the same yesterday, and today, and forever. [9] Do not be borne about by various and strange teachings. 🔎For it is good for the heart to be established by favour,🔍 not with foods which have not profited those who have been occupied with them. [10] We have a slaughter-place from which those serving the Tent have no authority to eat. [11] For the bodies of those beasts whose blood is brought into the Set-apart Place by the high priest for sin, are burned outside the camp. [12] And so Yeshua also suffered outside the gate, to set apart the people with His own blood. [13] Let us, then, go to Him outside the camp, bearing His reproach. [14] For we have no lasting city here, but we seek the one coming.
🔎[15] Through Him then, let us continually offer up a slaughter offering of praise to Elohim, that is, the fruit of our lips, giving thanks to His Name.🔍
[16] And do not forget🔎to do good and to share, for with such slaughter offerings Elohim is well pleased.🔍 🔎[17] Obey those leading you, and be subject to them, for they watch for your lives, as having to give account. Let them do so with joy and not groaning, for that would be of no advantage to you. [18] Pray for us, for we trust that we have a
🔎good conscience, desiring to 🔎behave well in every way. [19] But I particularly encourage you to do this, that I might be restored to you the sooner. [20] And the Elohim of peace who brought up our Master Yeshua from the dead, that great Shepherd of the sheep, through the blood of the everlasting covenant, [21] make you perfect in every good work to do His desire, working in you what is pleasing in His sight, through Yeshua Mashiach, to whom be esteem forever and ever. Amĕn. [22] And I call upon you, brothers, bear with the word of encouragement for I have written to you in few words. [23] Know that brother Timotiyos has been released, with whom I shall see you if he comes shortly. [24] Greet all those leading you, and all the set-apart ones. Those from Italy greet you. [25] Favour be with you all. Amĕn.

FROM THIS WEEK’S TORAH PORTION – SH’LACH-L’KA:

This should settle all dispute:

Bemidbar 15:16

“One statute is for you of the assembly and for the sojourner who sojourns with you – a statute forever throughout your generations. As for you, so for the sojourner shall it be before YHWH. One Torah and one judgment shall be for you and for the sojourner who sojourns with you.”

And a second witness:

Bemidbar 15:29

“For him who is born among the children of Yisra’el and for the sojourner who sojourns in their midst, there is one Torah for him who makes a mistake.”

And a third:

Shemoth 12:49

“There is one Torah for the native-born and for the sojourner who sojourns among you.”

But it won’t settle all dispute for many of you, will it? Some of you will argue that this only applies to the Jews and not Gentiles, or was only valid under the “Old Covenant,” or that we are “under grace” and no longer bound to the law, or that Yeshua fulfilled the Torah so we should no longer keep it, or that we are only to keep certain laws now and not others (keep the supposed “moral laws” and not the “ceremonial” or “sacrificial” laws), or or, or… (ad infinitum, ad nauseam). You may say you are still learning or trying to decide which commands you should keep, or whether to keep them at all. You will argue and make any excuse to continue in the doctrines and traditions of your old religion and not to keep the clear and forever commands of your Creator, YHWH.

Well okay, go ahead. Argue. Refuse Him. Hold onto your traditions, your former religion, your apologetics, your “yeah buts..,” your sin and your rebellion. But remember this: nothing you can say, reason, or argue changes these commands, these witnesses, this eternal Word of the Most-High.

If you would think to argue about this, fine, go ahead – but don’t argue it with me, argue it with HIM. As for me and my house, we will serve YHWH. He said these things, so they are true. “Forever.”

FROM THIS WEEK’S TORAH PORTION – SH’LACH-L’KA:

Do you, or don’t you?

“And YHWH spoke to Moshe, saying, ‘Speak to the children of Yisra’el, and you shall say to them to make tzitzith on the corners of their garments throughout their generations, and to put a thread of blue in the tzitzith of the corners. And it shall be to you for a tzitzith, and you shall look upon it, and shall remember all the commands of YHWH and shall do them, and not go after your own heart and your own eyes after which you used to go astray, so that you remember, and shall do all my commands, and be set-apart unto your Elohim. I am YHWH your Elohim, who brought you out of the land of Mitsrayim, to be your Elohim. I am YHWH your Elohim.’”

If not, why not? It’s a commandment.

FROM THIS WEEK’S TORAH PORTION – SH’LACH-L’KA:

Faith or no faith? It is entirely up to you – but you may be sure that YHWH is ALWAYS true to His Word.

“And Moshe sent them to spy out the land of Kena’an, and said to them, ‘Go up here into the South, and go up to the mountains, and see what the land is like, and the people who dwell in it, whether strong or weak, whether few or many, and whether the land they dwell in is excellent or evil, whether the cities they inhabit are in camps or strongholds, and whether the land is rich or poor, and whether there are forests there or not. And you shall be strong, and shall bring some of the fruit of the land.’ Now the time was the season of the first-fruits of grapes. So, they went up and spied out the land from the Wilderness of Tsin as far as Rechov, near the entrance of Chamath. And they went up through the South and came to Chevron. And Achiman, Sheshai, and Talmai, the descendants of Anaq, were there. Now Chevron had been built seven years before Tso’an in Mitsrayim. And they came to the wadi Eshkol, and cut down from there a branch with one cluster of grapes. And they bore it between two of them on a pole, also of the pomegranates and of the figs. That place was called the wadi Eshkol, because of the cluster which the men of Yisra’el cut down from there. And they returned from spying out the land after forty days. And they went and came to Moshe and Aharon and all the congregation of the children of Yisra’el in the Wilderness of Paran, at Qadesh. And they brought back word to them and to all the congregation, and showed them the fruit of the land. And they reported to him, and said, ‘We went to the land where you sent us. And truly, it flows with milk and honey, and this is its fruit. BUT the people who dwell in the land are strong, and the cities are walled, very great. And we saw the descendants of Anaq there too. The Amaleqites dwell in the land of the South, while the Chittites and the Yevusites and the Amorites dwell in the mountains. And the Kena’anites dwell by the sea and along the banks of the Yarden.’ And Kalev silenced the people before Moshe, and said, ‘Let us go up at once and take possession, for we are certainly able to overcome it.’ But the men who had gone up with him said, ‘We are not able to go up against the people, for they are stronger than we.’ And they gave the children of Yisra’el an evil report of the land which they had spied out, saying, ‘The land through which we have gone as spies is a land eating up its inhabitants, and all the people whom we saw in it are men of great size. And we saw there the Nephilim, sons of Anaq, of the Nephilim. And we were like grasshoppers in our own eyes, and so we were in their eyes...’”

YHWH didn’t ask whether or not the people of Yisrael should go up to war against the people of Kana’an. He simply told them to go spy out the land and bring back a report prior to doing that. The decision to go to war had already been made by Him, and He didn’t ask their counsel about it. They were to do so with complete faith in Him for their victory, as He had already promised.

As it was for them, so should it be with us – when YHWH has instructed you to do something, whether verbally or through His written Word, just do it. Don’t second-guess Him. Have faith.

“...And the men whom Moshe sent to spy out the land, who returned and made all the congregation grumble against him by bringing an evil report of the land, even those men who brought the evil report about the land, died by the plague before YHWH. Of those men who went to spy out the land, only Yehoshua son of Nun, and Kalev son of Yephunneh remained alive.”

The plague here in this passage was, of course, tzara’at – leprosy, because the spies had brought back an evil report. As we have seen consistently in past Torah portions, the penalty for lashon hara (evil speech) and rechilut (gossip) is always the same.
Whether they might be true or false, consider your words.

Many of God's chosen ministers work long thankless hours or they work in unusual manners or circumstances. We are often tempted to take the former for granted and to shun the latter.

https://soilfromstone.blogspot.....com/2010/05/judge-m

There was an apocryphal work attributed to Eldad and Medad, who prophesied in Numbers 11:26. Only one line remains from the original, quoted in another apocryphal work called the Shepherd of Hermas: "The Lord is near unto them that turn to Him, as it is written in Eldad and Medad...". This one surviving bit is almost exactly the same as Psalm 145:18, "YHWH is near to all who call on him."

It would be really neat to know exactly what they prophesied, but most prophecies don't actually say anything new. They just rephrase or re-illustrate what God has already told us.

https://open.substack.com/pub/....silvertrumpetradio/p

Just something on my mind:

After Bible reading and prayer tonight, when you lay your head on your pillow to sleep, take 5 minutes and imagine that your life is a movie. A film production, that many, many audiences are watching the show. And imagine that the audiences shout to you to stop that thing you are doing or about to do. What would that one thing be that is against your faith in Yeshua? Need to correct or to forgive before lala land close your eyes for the night?

And a young man ran and told Moses, “Eldad and Medad are prophesying in the camp.”
Numbers 11:27 ESV

Young man is na'ar. Throughout Torah, this term is used for those who bear burdens, run errands, and follow orders. They are faithful servants, but not decision makers. This young man did the right thing in reporting events to Moses rather than trying to intervene on his own initiative.

This entire parsha (ch 8-12) describes the highest and lowest authorities in the two major branches of government of ancient Israel: The Levites from high priest to lowest clan, and the executive branch from Moses to the lowest errand boy.