Thought for Today: Monday April 24:

Make the least of all that goes and make the most of all that comes. Do not regret what is in the past but rather cherish what you have. Look forward to the future to all that is to come. And most important of all – rely moment by moment on Yeshua. May you be blessed beyond expectations today.

SERIES N --- THE EXILE --- LESSON 01

THE TEMPLE LOOTED

KING AMAZIAH OF JUDAH

From 2 Kings 12:21; 14:1-20, 2 Chronicles 24:27; 25

After King Joash of Judah was assassinated and buried, his son Amaziah became king in his place. This happened during the second year of the reign of King Joash of Israel. King Amaziah was twenty-five when he began to reign and he ruled over Judah for twenty-nine years. His mother was Jehoaddan, a native of Jerusalem. During the early part of his reign, Amaziah practiced the things that were right in YHVH’s sight, though he did not always do so willingly. When he had become well established as king, he executed the men who had killed his father, but he did not execute their children. That was because Adonai had Commanded in the Law of Moses that fathers should not be punished for their children’s sins and children should not be punished for their father’s sins, but that each person should be punished for his own sins. At one time Amaziah assembled the leaders of Judah and organized them by their clans. Then he took a census and found that there were three hundred thousand men of military age, at least twenty years old, who could handle the spear and sword. King Amaziah also hired one hundred thousand trained men of Israel, paying them one hundred talents of silver, about two hundred thousand dollars. After he had paid them the fee, a prophet brought the king this message from Adonai. [You must not hire these men of Israel,] the prophet said. [Adonai is not with them. If you take them with you to fight your enemies, Adonai will cause you to be defeated because of them, for He has the power to give you victory or defeat.] [But I have already paid them all that money!] Amaziah protested. [Let them keep it, for Adonai can give you much more,] the prophet answered. Amaziah listened to the prophet and sent the hired soldiers back to Ephraim. That made them furious and they went home very angry. King Amaziah however, took courage and led his own army to the Valley of Salt where he struck down ten thousand men of Seir. He captured another ten thousand and forced them over the top of a cliff where they were dashed to pieces on the rocks below. When Amaziah returned victorious from the battle, he brought with him some of the idols of the Edomites, the people of Seir and set them up at home to worship them. Adonai was angry with him because he bowed down to these idols and offered sacrifices to them. Adonai sent a prophet to Amaziah with a message. [Why do you worship the gods of the defeated people when they could not even spare their own people from you?] the prophet demanded. [Why do you give me advice when I have not asked for it?] the king demanded in return. [Be quiet or I will have you executed!] The prophet however, gave the king one more message before he left. [I am sure that Adonai now will destroy you, for you have worshiped these heathen idols and refused His message which I bring.] King Amaziah called for his own counsellors to decide what they should do about Israel, for the hired soldiers of Israel had raided some villages of Judah from Samaria to Beth-horon on their way home. They had killed about three thousand people of Judah and had taken many valuable things from them. When Amaziah’s counsellors advised that he declare war on Israel, he accepted their counsel and sent a message to King Joash of Israel, [Come, let us go to war against each other.] Joash sent a message back to Amaziah in the form of a parable. [A bramble bush of Lebanon demanded that a great cedar tree of Lebanon give him his daughter in marriage. But at that very time a wild animal came by and crushed the bramble bush into the ground. You are boasting because you defeated Edom, but you had better stay home now. If you go out looking for trouble, you and the people of Judah will both be brought to ruin.] Amaziah however, would not listen; YHVH was arranging his defeat because he had worshiped the idols of Edom. Joash of Israel and Amaziah of Judah went to war against each other in a battle at Beth-shemesh, which was in Judah. Judah was defeated in that battle and the survivors fled back to their tents. King Joash captured Amaziah at Beth-shemesh and brought him back to Jerusalem as a prisoner. Joash destroyed about six hundred feet of the Jerusalem wall, from the Ephraim Gate to the Corner Gate. He took all the gold and silver and the temple vessels from the house of YHVH and carried them back to Samaria, along with Obed-edom, the man who guarded them. He also captured the treasures of the king’s palace in Jerusalem and took them, along with hostages, back to Samaria. The other adventures of King Joash of Israel are recorded in the Book of the Chronicles of the Kings of Israel. When he died, he was buried in Samaria with previous kings of Israel. His son Jeroboam became king of Israel in his place. King Amaziah lived for fifteen years after King Joash died. His further adventures are recorded in the Book of the Chronicles of the Kings of Judah and Israel. From the time King Amaziah turned from Adonai to worship idols, a conspiracy began to form against him in Jerusalem. Eventually Amaziah escaped to Lachish, but his enemies found him and assassinated him there. They brought his body back to Jerusalem on horses and buried him in the royal tombs.

COMMENTARY

THE WARS OF JOASH AND AMAZIAH

Joash came to power in Israel during the first few years of the eighth century B.C., and Amaziah took the throne of Judah only two years later. Both kings launched attacks against neighbouring lands and eventually faced each other on the battlefield. The result of the conflict between them greatly changed the relationship between the northern and southern kingdoms. Joash had inherited a country suffering from the oppression of Syria. His father Johoahaz had lost much of Israel’s land to that country and Israel was little more than a vassal under Syrian control. During Joash’s reign, the situation began to improve. Syria unexpectedly found itself facing an enemy much stronger than Israel. Assyria marched westward under Adadnirari III, destroying Syrian military power and seizing the wealth of Damascus. As Syrian pressure relaxed, Israel began to regain its strength. Joash led three devastating attacks on Syria and recovered the territory his father had lost. Joash’s victories also removed Syrian pressure from the southern kingdom, freeing Amaziah to turn his attention to regaining land lost to Edom fifty years earlier. He reorganized Judah’s army, which had been weakened by Syria and added mercenaries - hired soldiers from Israel. At the warning of a prophet, Amaziah dismissed the mercenaries and attacked Edom without aid. The armies met in the Valley of Salt, a deep gorge cutting an eight-mile path through chalk cliffs south of the Dead Sea. The Edomites were badly defeated; thousands were killed and the capital taken. Meanwhile, the mercenaries had taken revenge on Judah. Although they had been paid, they had lost the means of gaining more wealth - the booty that would have come with war. As they returned to Israel, they plundered and destroyed a string of Judean villages. In response, Amaziah issued a battle challenge to King Joash. The Israelite army was ready and strong, and Joash marched. At Beth-shemesh, the Judean army was defeated and Amaziah taken prisoner. The remaining Judean army fled, and Joash marched into Jerusalem without opposition. There he destroyed Jerusalem’s northern defences, gathered the wealth of the temple and the palace and returned to Samaria in triumph. The tables had been turned. With newly recovered strength, Israel had become the stronger power and almost made Judah into its powerless vassal.

"Cursed be he that maketh the blind to wander out of the way. And all the people shall say, Amen."

De 27

THIS WEEK
Acharei Mot-Kedoshim אַחֲרֵי מוֹת־קְדשִׁים
After the death/Holy

Torah : Leviticus 16:1-20:27
Prophets : Ezekiel 22:1-19
Gospel : Matthew 15:10-20

Portion Outline

Torah
Leviticus 16:1 The Day of Atonement
Leviticus 17:1 The Slaughtering of Animals
Leviticus 17:10 Eating Blood Prohibited
Leviticus 18:1 Sexual Relations
Leviticus 19:1 Ritual and Moral Holiness
Leviticus 20:1 Penalties for Violations of Holiness

Prophets
Eze 22:1 The Bloody City

In Matthew 24:15-22 Yeshua said that, when we see the Abomination of Desolation prophesied in Daniel 11:31, those in Judea should immediately flee to the mountains, that the greatest tribulation mankind has ever seen is about to begin. There are four general ways to interpret all Biblical prohecy, but only one of them fits what Yeshua said in this chapter.

https://rumble.com/v2k1qpk-has....-the-abomination-of-

Say to them, As I live, declares Adonai YHWH, I have no pleasure in the death of the wicked, but that the wicked turn from his way and live; turn back, turn back from your evil ways, for why will you die, O house of Israel?
Ezekiel 33:11

The closer a nation is to God, the quicker and more severe is the ruin brought on by their wickedness, but forgiveness awaits the penitent.

But the midwives feared God and did not do as the king of Egypt commanded them, but let the male children live. —Exodus 1:17

The lot is cast into the lap, but its every decision is from YHWH.
Proverbs 16:33

God gave us brains, spirits, and a Bible for a reason, and he wants us to exhaust those avenues before rolling dice or flipping a coin. Only cast lots when it is completely unclear which path is more righteous and more advantageous. If you do cast lots, go with it and don't doubt.

SERIES M --- PROPHESIES AND MIRACLES --- LESSON 25

ELISHA DIES

THE DEATH OF ELISHA

From 2 Kings 10:35; 13:1-25; 14:15-16

After a reign of twenty-eight years, King Jehu of Israel died and was buried in Samaria. Thus, while King Joash of Judah was repairing the temple and doing other things in Judah and Jerusalem, Jehoahaz became the new king in the northern kingdom of Israel. In fact, it was the twenty-third year of King Joash’s reign when this took place. Jehoahaz then ruled for the next seventeen years over Israel. Jehoahaz was an evil king and followed the practice of idolatry which Jeroboam had begun, causing Israel to sin. This made Adonai angry with Israel and He permitted King Hazael of Syria and his son Ben-hadad to defeat them. Hazael made life so miserable for the Israelites that Jehoahaz prayed to Adonai for help. Adonai listened to him and rose up able leaders to rescue Israel from the Syrians. But as soon as things settled down, Israel began to sin again. They kept on worshiping idols, as Jeroboam had led them to do and they also kept the Asherah idols in Samaria. Before long Jehoahaz had only fifty horsemen, ten chariots and ten-thousand foot soldiers left, for Syria had destroyed all the others, trampling them like dust under their feet. Then in the thirty-seventh year of the reign of King Joash of Judah, Jehoash the son of Jehoahaz began to reign along with his father in Samaria and continued as king for sixteen years. At last, Jehoahaz died and was buried with his ancestors in Samaria. The rest of his adventures are recorded in the Book of the Chronicles of the Kings of Israel. After the death of Jehoahaz, his son Jehoash {Joash} ruled as sole king over Israel. He also was an evil king and followed the idolatry which Jeroboam had introduced into Israel, causing Israel to sin. During the reign of Jehoash, Elisha was confined to his home with the illness which caused him to die. Jehoash went to see him and wept over him. [My father! My father!] he sobbed. [You are as important to Israel as our chariots and horsemen.] Then Elisha told the king to do something. [Take your bow and arrows,] Elisha said and the king did as he was instructed. [Now put your bow in your hands,] Elisha added. When the king did that, the prophet put his hands on the hands of the king. [Open the window toward the east,] said Elisha. When the king did that, Elisha ordered him to shoot, which he did. [That was Adonai’s arrow!] Elisha shouted. [He will give you victory over Syria, for you will conquer them at Aphek. Pick up those other arrows and strike the ground with them.] Jehoash picked up the other arrows and struck the ground three times. That made Elisha angry. [You should have struck the ground five or six times,] he said. [Then you would have completely defeated Syria. Now you will have only three victories over them.] After that, Elisha died and was buried. Some time later, a band of Moabites was coming through the land as they frequently did in the spring. They came near Elisha’s tomb as some men were burying a friend nearby. When these men saw the Moabite band, they quickly slipped their friend’s body into Elisha’s tomb so they could hurry away. As soon as the man’s body touched Elisha’s bones, he came back to life and stood on his feet. Throughout the reign of King Jehoahaz of Israel, the Syrians had oppressed them. But Adonai graciously kept Israel from being totally destroyed by King Hazael of Syria, for He remembered His Covenant with Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. When Hazael died, his son Ben-hadad became king of Syria in his place. As predicted by Elisha, King Jehoash of Israel had three victories over Ben-hadad and recovered the cities which Israel had previously lost to the Syrians. The other adventures of King Jehoash are recorded in the Chronicles of the Kings of Israel. When he died, he was buried in Samaria with the previous kings of Israel and his son Jeroboam II reigned in his place.

COMMENTARY

TOMBS OF PALESTINE

The earliest tombs found in Palestine, from thousands of years before the Israelites, were simply graves dug in the floor of cave dwellings. These were usually communal graves, with food, weapons and tools buried alongside individuals. Much later, people placed the dead in large pits with plastered sides. Flat stones covered the top, and stones marked it as a tomb. The same pit was used for burials over many years. Stone tombs called {dolmens} were the first ones built above ground. Stone slabs were braced together to form a three-sided room; a fourth slab across the top formed a roof. The tomb was covered with earth and never reopened. Eventually people began digging graves into the soft limestone hills, and they became the major type of tomb. Bones of the dead were placed in small chests called ossuary’s and then set in the cave. The same cave continued to be the collecting place until it became full. A simpler type of burial chest was the {cist} grave; a burial chamber cut to fit the individual and lined with stone slabs, forming a kind of underground chest. By Old Testament times, tombs were cut directly into rock-veined hills. The most common type was the shaft grave, in which a deep tunnel led to an underground cavern. The shaft was sealed at the bottom with a large stone. The Israelites carried the body into the tomb on a bier and placed it in the centre of the chamber. The bones were moved aside for each new burial. The need for more space led to the use of benches along the chamber walls, where funeral biers were placed. These benches eventually developed into niches hollowed into the walls. The shafts also disappeared, becoming steps leading to a main chamber room. Passageways inside the vault led into other rooms containing these burial niches. The great expense of cutting such tombs limited their use to families of wealth. The poor buried their dead as they had for centuries in shallow graves, cists and open caves.

Here's a list of New Testament passages for #biblestudy with #torah portion #achareimot ("After the death" #leviticus 16-18), along with links to related commentary and videos: https://www.americantorah.com/....2022/01/05/parsha-ac