It's Time!!!

The reason mind, body and spirit being connected so important has been the subject of many books and videos from various perspectives with most focusing on health. When man was created all three came together at the same time (Genesis 2:7). Mind, body and spirit are each a witness not only for overall health or joy or peace, they witness truth as well. Deuteronomy 19:15, “A lone witness is not sufficient to establish any wrongdoing or sin against a man, regardless of what offense he may have committed. A matter must be established by the testimony of two or three witnesses.”

BIBLE STUDY --- YHVH’S PROPHETS

DESTRUCTION AND EXILE

HOW JERUSALEM WAS DESTROYED

From Jeremiah 51:59-52:34

This is an account of some of the earlier days of King Zedekiah’s reign as king of Judah and the events that led to the destruction of Jerusalem. On one occasion Jeremiah took YHVH’s message to Seraiah the son of Neriah and grandson of Maaseiah, the quartermaster of King Zedekiah. It was during the fourth year of Zedekiah’s reign when Jeremiah wrote on a scroll many of the terrible judgments YHVH would send against Babylon and gave the scroll to Seraiah. [When you are exiled to Babylon, read all these words,] Jeremiah instructed Seraiah. [Then say, ‘Adonai, You have promised to destroy Babylon so completely that neither man nor beast will live in it again and it will be desolate forever.’] [When you have finished reading the scroll, tie a stone on it and throw it into the Euphrates River. Then say, [‘As this scroll sinks into the river, so shall Babylon sink because of the punishment Adonai will send upon her, never to rise again.’] Zedekiah, like Jehoiakim, was a wicked king. He was twenty-one when he became king and ruled for the next eleven years in Jerusalem. His mother’s name was Hamatul, the daughter of Jeremiah of Libnah. Adonai grew increasingly angry at the evil in Jerusalem and Judah until He cut His people off from Him. Then He permitted Zedekiah to rebel against the king of Babylon. During the ninth year of Zedekiah’s reign, on the tenth day of the tenth month, Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon came with his army against Jerusalem, set up camp around the city, and laid siege to it for the next two years. By the ninth day of the fourth month, the famine was so severe in Jerusalem that there was nothing to eat. The Babylonian army broke through the walls and invaded the city, but Zedekiah and his soldiers escaped through a gate between the two walls, at a point behind the palace garden. They tried to go through the Babylonian army camps toward the Arabah, but King Zedekiah was captured in the plains of Jericho, and his army was scattered, Zedekiah was then taken to Riblah in the land of Hamath, where King Nebuchadnezzar passed judgment on him, killed his sons and his nobles before his eyes, and then blinded him by gouging out his eyes. The king of Babylon put Zedekiah in chains and took him to Babylon, where he put him in prison until he died. On the tenth day of the fifth month, which was also the nineteenth year of King Nebuchadnezzar’s reign, Nebuzar-Adan the captain of the king’s bodyguard came to Jerusalem and burned the city, including the temple, the palace, and all the houses. His army broke down the walls of the city. Then he gathered the survivors, including the craftsmen and the Jews who had earlier deserted to the Babylonians, and took them back to Babylon with him. However, he left some of the poorest people behind so that they could take care of the vineyards and plough the fields, thus keeping the land under cultivation. Nebuzar-Adan cut up the great bronze pillars of the temple, as well as the bronze laver and its base, and took the metal to Babylon. He also took back with him the bronze vessels of the temple -- pots, shovels, snuffers, basins, and pans. The gold and silver vessels of the temple were taken as well. It is difficult to estimate the weight of the bronze that was taken from the pillars and the layer and its base. They had been made in the days of King Solomon. Each pillar was twenty-seven feet high, eighteen feet in circumference, and were hollow with the bronze about three to four inches thick. Bronze ornamental work made up the top seven and a half feet of the pillars with one hundred and ninety-six bronze pomegranates around it. Nebuzar-Adan took a number of the leaders of Judah to King Nebuchadnezzar at Riblah. These included Seraiah the chief priest, Sephaniah the second priest in charge, three temple guards, an army officer, seven members of the king’s council who were found in the city, and the secretary of the army commander who drafted the people of the land into the army. Sixty other important men who were hiding were discovered and taken as well. At Riblah the king of Babylon put these men to death, but he took the survivors to Babylon. During the seventh year of Nebuchadnezzar’s reign, he had taken three thousand and twenty-three people of Judah as captives to Babylon. Now, eleven years later, he took eight hundred and thirty-two people from Jerusalem. Five years later Nebuzar-Adan took another seven hundred and forty-five, so that a total of forty-six hundred people were taken. Thirty-seven years after King Jehoiachin had been. imprisoned in Babylon, Evil-Merodach became king of Babylon. On the very first day of his reign, he brought Jehoiachin from prison, spoke kindly to him, and placed him in greater favour than all the other kings who had been brought to Babylon. Evil-Merodach gave Jehoiachin new clothes and brought him daily to eat at the king’s table. Until the day he died, he was given an allowance to take care of all his daily needs.

COMMENTARY

HOW PRISONERS OF WAR WERE TREATED

In the days of the Assyrian and Babylonian conquests, the sight of an approaching army spread fear inside the city to he attacked. Defeat was almost certain, and the choice between death and capture was a terrible one. The moment they broke through the walls, enemy soldiers invaded the town, looting temples and palaces. unless a treaty was made, fixing the amount of tribute, the soldiers set fire to houses, walls, public buildings and trees. With hands or feet in chains, and rings through their lips or noses, the prisoners of war were led before the victorious king. He sentenced some to slavery by putting his foot on them. A few he pardoned. Others, given to the executioner, were tortured before they died. The more fortunate were beheaded or thrown into furnaces immediately. Even captive kings and officers did not escape such treatment. Some sentenced to be deported faced death too, along the way to Mesopotamia. Ancient records show that food supplies from Mesopotamia often met the convoys several weeks later than scheduled. By that time, many of the deportees, already weakened by hunger, disease and fatigue, had died. Some who survived the trip worked as slaves of the state on roads, fortresses, irrigation canals and royal farms. Those sentenced to be temple slaves cared for the flocks and grounds owned by powerful Babylonian priests. Prisoners of war sold as private slaves in the market stood the best chance of buying back their freedom, since slaves in Babylonia and Assyria could own businesses and were allowed to keep money. More fortunate deportees settled as free people, even though under strict supervision. Some, like the Jews in Babylon, were allowed to keep their own religions. The policy of deportation was meant to force conquered peoples to blend in with the Mesopotamians. Once they intermarried, the conquerors reasoned, they would be less likely to rebel. Many deportees found their new societies ready to accept foreign ideas and talents. Palestinian bakers, weavers, merchants and scribes practiced their trades profitably. Shipbuilders from Ionia, Egypt and Philistia filled the Euphrates with sturdy vessels. The work of Phoenician craftsmen graced Mesopotamian temples and palaces.

BIBLE STUDY --- YHVH’S PROPHETS

JEREMIAH STILL REJECTED

THE MURDER OF GEDALIAH

From Jeremiah 41-43

Sometime in October Ishmael the son of Nethaniah and grandson of Elishama, a member of the royal lineage of King David, came to Mizpah with ten top officials of the king. Gedaliah held a banquet for them and while they were eating Ishmael and the men with him arose and murdered Gedaliah, the man the king of Babylon had appointed as governor of the land. Ishmael also murdered the other Jews who were with Gedaliah, as well as the Chaldean soldiers stationed at Mizpah. These murders were still unknown the next day when eighty men approached Mizpah with beards shaved, clothing torn, and bodies cut, bringing their offerings of grain and incense from Shechem, Shiloh, and Samaria. Ishmael met them with tears in his eyes and invited them in to see Gedaliah. But when the eighty men came into the city, Ishmael and his men murdered them also and threw their bodies into a cistern. Only ten of the eighty were spared because they had said, [You should not kill us for we have wheat, oil, barley, and honey hidden in the fields.] The cistern where Ishmael threw the bodies of these men was the one which King Asa had made to help him defend Mizpah against King Baasha of Israel. Ishmael next captured the remaining Jews who were left behind in Mizpah, the king’s daughters who lived there, and all the other people whom Nebuzar-adan, King Nebuchadnezzar’s captain, had left there in Gedaliah’s care. Ishmael took his captives and set out for the land of the Ammonites. When Johanan the son of Kareah and the captains of the forces which were with him heard of Ishmael’s evil deeds, they went out to fight against him, overtaking him at the great pool by Gibeon. When the captives saw Johanan and his forces coming, they broke away from Ishmael and ran to join Johanan. Ishmael then escaped with eight other men and hid in the land of the Ammonites. Then Johanan took all these captives who had been with Ishmael, including women, children, and eunuchs, and went with them to Geruth Chimham, which is near Bethlehem. From there he planned to take them away into Egypt, for they were afraid of what the Chaldeans would do when they learned that Ishmael had murdered Gedaliah, whom the king of Babylon had appointed as governor of the land. All these people, including Johanan and his captains and the least to most important of the people, came to Jeremiah for advice. [Pray for those few of us who are left in the land,] they said. [Ask Adonai what we should do and where we should go.] [I have heard your request and will pray for you,] Jeremiah answered: [Whatever He tells me, I will share with you and will withhold nothing.] [May Adonai put a curse on us if we fail to follow His counsel,] they said. [We will obey all that Adonai tells us to do; whether it is good or evil, we will do as He says so that things may be well for us.] After ten days, Adonai spoke to Jeremiah and told him what he should say to the people. [If you remain in this land,] Adonai said, [I will build you up and not tear you down, I will plant you and not uproot you. I am sorry for all the trouble you have had. You must not fear the king of Babylon as you do, for I will be with you and keep him from harming you. I will have compassion on you and cause him to have compassion on you and let you live in this land. But if you refuse to live in this land and determine to go to Egypt, thinking you will escape war, alarms, and hunger, I tell you that the war you seek to escape will follow you to Egypt, and the hunger you fear will also follow you, and you will die there in the land where you seek refuge. You who go to Egypt will die there by war, hunger, and disease, and none shall escape. As My anger was poured out on the people of Jerusalem, so it will also be poured out on those who run away to Egypt. You will become a curse to the people of that land and will never again return here to your own land. I warn you not to go to Egypt.] Jeremiah warned the people further and reminded them that they had asked him to pray for YHVH’s guidance. [You sent me to Adonai to pray for you,] Jeremiah said. [And you promised to do whatever Adonai would instruct you to do. I have told you today what Adonai has said, but in the past, you never obeyed Adonai’s Instructions which He gave through me. Let me warn you once more that you will die from war, hunger, and disease if you insist on going to Egypt.] When Jeremiah was through speaking, Azariah the son of Hoshaiah and Johanan the son of Kareah and all the other proud leaders argued with him. [You are lying!] they said. [Adonai didn’t tell you these things. Baruch the son of Neriah has set you against us to give us into the hands of the Chaldeans so they can put us to death or take us away as captives into Babylon.] These leaders would not obey the voice of Adonai and stay in the land of Judah. Johanan and the other captains of the forces rallied the people of Judah who had returned from other lands, and headed for Egypt. These people included men, women, children, the king’s daughters, and all those whom Nebuzar-adan had left with Gedaliah, Jeremiah, and Baruch. When they entered Egypt, they went to Tahpanhes. While the people were there at Tahpanhes, Adonai spoke to Jeremiah again. [While the men of Judah watch, bury large stones in the mortar of the pavement at the entrance to Pharaoh’s palace at Tahpanhes. Tell them that this is what I will do, ‘Adonai will bring Nebuchadnezzar, king of Babylon, here to Egypt. And My servant Nebuchadnezzar will set his throne on these rocks that I have buried, spreading his royal canopy over them. ‘He will conquer the land of Egypt, killing those who deserve to die, and capturing those whom I have marked for captivity, while others die from disease. He will burn the temples of the gods of Egypt, destroying the idols and capturing the people of the land. He will clothe himself with the treasures of Egypt as shepherd clothes himself with his cloak. He will do all these things without harming himself. He will even break down the obelisks of Heliopolis which are in the land of Egypt, and he will burn the temples of the gods of Egypt with fire.’]

COMMENTARY

EGYPT: REFUGE FROM DANGER

Like Abram, later generations fled to Egypt to escape famine or danger. Some Hebrews even made the land their home. But others knew Egypt only as a land of captivity or as a conqueror. For Joseph, the land of the Nile was an unknown and hostile place. Sold by his brothers to traders who took him to Egypt, Joseph eventually became governor. When a famine struck Canaan and his brothers came to Egypt for grain, Joseph persuaded his family to move there. The Hebrews settled in the pastureland of Goshen on the borders of Egypt. But Joseph’s descendants were not so fortunate. Another pharaoh forced the Israelites to work as slaves. By the time the Hebrews left to make Canaan their home, Egypt had already been great for nine centuries. When King David attacked the Edomites generations later, Hadad, one of the royal family of Edom, fled to Egypt. The pharaoh gave the Edomite his wife’s sister to marry and allowed their son to grow up with his own children. When David died, Hadad returned to Edom even though the pharaoh wanted him to remain. The years to come saw peace between Egypt and Israel. Solomon made an alliance with Egypt by marrying pharaoh’s daughter. For a wedding gift, pharaoh captured Gezer, one of the Philistine cities never conquered by Israel, and gave it to Solomon. The same pharaoh probably welcomed Solomon’s rival Jeroboam, who hid from Solomon in Egypt. Jeroboam returned home to rule after Solomon died. Meanwhile pharaoh invaded Judah, looting Rehoboam’s palace and the temple. A later Egyptian invasion, during the reign of Asa, failed. Intent on building an empire in Syria and Palestine, the Egyptians resorted to diplomatic conspiracy instead of military force. Their tactics influenced rulers in that region to resist their Mesopotamian masters. After an Egyptian-inspired revolt under Hoshea resulted in Israel’s exile to Assyria, the Assyrians penetrated Palestine and controlled Egypt for a while. Later, the Egyptians marched out to help Jerusalem under Nebuchadnezzar’s siege. Even though the Egyptians were defeated and withdrew, the Jews turned to Egypt for refuge, fearing Nebuchadnezzar’s revenge at the murder of Judah’s Babylonian governor. They forced Jeremiah to go with them to the land he had denounced all his life. In Egypt the Jews found Syrians, Greeks and other Jews who had settled there earlier. They worshiped a collection of many pagan deities, and this encouraged the new exiles to do so too. But even in Egypt, the Jews were not safe from their enemies. Nebuchadnezzar probably invaded the land twenty years later. The lasting conquest of Egypt was to come with the Persian invasions.

"Doth he thank that servant, because he did that which was commanded unto him? I think not.
So likewise ye, when ye have done all those things which are commanded you, say, We are unprofitable servants: we have done that which was our duty to do."

Lk 17

Thought for Today: Monday October 06

Remember today, only what is built on solid foundation of the Moshiach will last. Yeshua said: “Everyone who hears these Words of Mine, and puts them into practice, is like a wise man who built his house on the rock” (Matthew 7:24) Also remember, following the Law cannot give you access to heaven BUT sin is the transgression of the Law. “Everyone who sins is breaking YHVH’s Law, for all sin is contrary to the Law” (1 John 3:4) By following the Law, you know not to sin and that is why Yeshua also said: “If you love me, keep My Commandments” (John 14:15) Except the Moshiach into your life today, gain access to eternal live and show Him that you love Him through His Commandments.

Salvation… | #salvation

Honor widows who are truly widows.
1 Timothy 5:3 ESV

For a widow to be deserving of support by the community, she needs to be beyond marriageable age, of good morals, contributing to the congregation in some way, and bringing honor to God's name.

“The rod and reproof give wisdom”

Pr 29