BIBLE STUDY -- YHVH’S PROPHETS

THE CALL OF JEREMIAH

From Jeremiah 1; 7:1-20

Long ago a prophet named Jeremiah lived in the town of Anathoth in the land of Benjamin. He was a priest, the son of a man named Hilkiah. Adonai spoke to Jeremiah and gave him several messages. The first message came in the thirteenth year after Amon’s son Josiah began to reign as king of Judah. Other messages came later, when Josiah’s son Jehoiakim ruled as king of Judah, and still others at various times until Jerusalem was captured in the eleventh year of the reign of Josiah’s son Zedekiah. At that time the people were taken from Jerusalem to live in a strange land. In His first message to Jeremiah, Adonai said, [I knew you even before I created you in your mother’s womb. I consecrated you before you were born and appointed you to be a prophet to the nations of the world.] Jeremiah himself tells us how he answered: [But, Adonai, how can I do that?] I argued. [I’m too young and I don’t know how to speak.] [Don’t tell Me that you are too young,] Adonai replied. [You shall go wherever I send you and say whatever I tell you. You must not fear the people, for I will be with you and protect you.] Adonai put out His hand and touched my mouth. Then He said to me: [Look! I have put My words into your mouth. Today I have placed you over nations and kingdoms, to warn some that they will be destroyed and to encourage others that they will be built, making them strong and great.] Then Adonai spoke again to me. [What do you see, Jeremiah?] He asked. [A rod made from an almond tree,] I answered. [Right! And I will use this rod to make sure My Word is followed,] Adonai said. Adonai asked me another question: [What do you see now?] [A boiling pot, ready to tip over toward Judah from the north,] I answered. [Great trouble will boil over from the north, spilling upon the people of this land,] Adonai said. [I will call forth the armies of the northern kingdoms to come to Jerusalem and place their thrones at the city gates and along its walls, and also along the walls of the other cities of Judah. This will be My judgment against the people for burning incense to other gods and worshiping the idols they have made with their own hands.] [Now tie up your robe to prepare for travel,] Adonai continued. [Tell them whatever I Command you to say. Do not fear them, or I will make you look foolish before them. I want you to see that today I have made you like a fortified city which is too strong to capture, and like an iron pillar and bronze gates too massive to break down. None of these people will subdue you, neither the kings of Judah, her princes, or her people. They will struggle to overcome you, but I will protect you.] Adonai gave me further Instructions. [Go to the gate of the temple of Adonai and warn them with this message from Me,] He said. [Tell them to listen to My Message, for I am warning them to change their ways if they want to continue living in this land. Warn them that they must not listen to those who say I would not destroy My temple. Tell them they may stay in the land only if they change their ways, stop taking advantage of orphans, widows, and foreigners. Tell them they must stop their needless killing and putting other gods in My place. Only then will I let them remain in this land which I gave to their ancestors. Are these people foolishly thinking I will not destroy Jerusalem because the temple is here? Do they think they can murder, commit adultery, lie, worship Baal and these other strange gods, and then come to this house which bears My Name and say that they are safe, only to go out again and keep up their evil practices? Has My house become a den of thieves in their eyes? I see all these wicked things that are going on!] Adonai also said, [Tell them to go to Shiloh, where I first dwelt in the tabernacle. Show them what I did to that city because of the wickedness of the people. Now I will do the same to My house in which they trust, the temple at Jerusalem, because they keep on doing these evil things and refuse to listen to Me or answer Me when I call. I will send these people away from Me, just as I did their relatives, the descendants of Ephraim. You, Jeremiah, must not even pray for these people or cry out for them or plead with Me for them, for I will not hear you. Don’t you realize what they are doing in the cities of Judah and in the streets of Jerusalem? Can’t you see how their children gather wood, and the fathers build fires, and the others make cakes for the queen of heaven? Don’t you see them worshiping other gods, and provoking Me to anger? Are they hurting Me? Not really; they are just hurting themselves. Therefore, I will pour out My anger and wrath upon this place, on both man and animal, as well as on the trees and plants. The fire will burn and not be put out.]

COMMENTARY --- THE PROPHETS: WHO THEY WERE AND WHAT THEY DID

In the Old Testament, prophets discovered they had been chosen by YHVH in several different ways. Sometimes they had a vision, either of YHVH Himself in some form or of something mysterious that could be explained only by YHVH. They might hear a voice, YHVH’s voice, telling them of their role. Whatever way it happened; the prophet’s call could occur at any time in his life. It could mark the beginning of a lifetime function, or it could mean he would be used by YHVH only once. The prophet was YHVH’s messenger. Having received the divine message, the prophet could not rest until he had spoken it to the people. And proclaim it he did, often at the risk of his own life. Part of the reason a prophet’s life was such a dangerous one was because the Hebrews believed speech had some magical powers. If someone prophesied a bad event, the fact that he said it aloud helped make it happen. It is no wonder that there were so many false prophets, predicting peace and good times. It was not only what people wanted to hear; it was also what they believed the {prophet} was helping bring about. Especially in the time of the judges and early kings of Israel, several prophets sometimes lived together in a community. Others lived with temple workers. Some married and had families. Still others lived and worked alone, except for a small circle of disciples who devoutly followed the master’s teachings. These early prophets were easy to recognize. They dressed in unfinished animal skins or some sort of rough simple clothing. It is believed they had some kind of mark on their foreheads, but just what is not known. They may have cut their hair in some identifying way, since the Hebrews believed that the essence of a man’s strength and personality lay in his hair. Prophets appeared most often during difficult times in the life of the Hebrews. Both socially and politically, things were changing quickly. The people had begun to turn from YHVH and His Laws and rely instead on warfare and wealth to make their lives pleasing. The prophets reminded them of their error and punishment if they did not change. There were far more prophets whose names and works were not recorded in the Bible than those who were, especially during the time of the kings and the time of the Exile. Malachi was the last of the prophets recorded in the Old Testament. No other is mentioned from his time until the time of John the Baptist, a period of more than four hundred years.

BIBLE STUDY -- 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.

Something that causes such confusion with the Paul’s letters today is, we are reading them through two thousand years of tradition and man made doctrine while trying to defend those same traditions and doctrines that have no defense. We can’t say on one had Paul writes the law was done away with while on the other hand he writes 1 Thessalonians 4:7— 8, “For God has not called us to impurity, but to holiness. Anyone, then, who rejects this command does not reject man but God, the very One who gives you His Holy Spirit.” Paul is explaining how to apply Leviticus and Ezekiel to shelves of the people who would have first read his letter.

"And I saw the dead, small and great, stand before God; and the books were opened; and another book was opened, which is the book of life: and the dead were judged out of those things which were written in the books, according to their works."

Re 20

Thought for Today: Tuesday September 30

What is your fear today? Do you fear the future? Do you fear life’s burdens that sometimes seem almost overwhelming? Do you fear death? Most people -- including many, many believers – fear everything except YHVH! People even fear satan more than YHVH – fear of the creation rather than fear of the Creator! Yet it is Him whom we should fear most of all. Yeshua can put an end to fear for all who trust in Him. He is the answer to any fear you may have. After all, YHVH’s power is greater than the powers of evil, and “neither death or life, neither angels or demons, neither the present or the future or anything else in creation, will be able to separate us from the love of Elohiym that is in Yeshua Moshiach our Adonai” (Romans 8:38-39)

When Elyon gave to the nations their inheritance, when he divided mankind, he fixed the borders of the peoples according to the number of the sons of God.
Deuteronomy 32:8

Elyon (the Most High) and El Shaddai (God of the Mountain) are names for God that remind his people that the minor gods of their high places are nothing compared to Him. He is the Highest, the only true God of the Mountain.

The borders of Israel might be set by the number of God's people in relation to the world. Look at the map and remember this: "Narrow is the path and few who find it."

New episode, When What You ‘re Taught Doesn’t Match What You Read. Listen where you get your favorite podcasts, use the player on our homepage, watch on You Tube, Rumble or The Torah Network’s Torah Tube.

Therefore do not be foolish, but understand what the will of the Lord is...submitting to one another out of reverence for Christ.
Ephesians 5:17,21 ESV

Mutual submission within the body of Christ *because of Christ in the body*.

If you can't set your ego aside and be a team player once in a while, even when you think there's a better way, then you are creating an autoimmune condition in the body of Christ.

The Bible uses rain as a metaphor for a spectrum of good and evil. A #merism in a single word. At one extreme is drought. At the other is hail and fire. Righteousness and life are right in the middle. Moses prays that his speech will fall like light rain, the perfect good for Israel.

The Song of Moses begins and ends with praise for the God of Heaven. Much like the Lord's Prayer as taught by Yeshua.

Deuteronomy 32 #haazinu #biblepatterns

UPDATE POST:

It has been almost a year since my last update. There are a few things that have happened or are coming soon and I wanted to do another one.

- I hit 1,000 comics recently! I know I am excited about that fact. You can see the 1,000th comic here: https://thestraightandnarrow.cfw.me/comics/1000
- The new Torah 4 Churchies book is available in paperback or e-book! You can get it here: http://amazon.com/author/straight_n_narrow
- I have been working on the website again. I am hoping to have that up sometime this year.
- Portions Series 2 will be wrapping up with Sukkot. I will have completed the whole Bible at that point. I do not plan on starting another Portions Series at the moment. What I will do is change Fridays to another As The Torah Scrolls comic. Saturdays has been my random Throwback posts. I will change this to a Throwback Portion comic and move the random to Thursdays.

Thank you all for being part of this journey with me. I pray that the comic continues to bless you and yours. May YHWH bless you and keep you. Shalom!