Wednesday, August 8, 2012

AZAMRA Bible: Ezekiel 19-20

Can we do תפילות prayers for:

AZAMRA?

So that through them The האור Light, רפואה The Healing and The ואהבה Love of ישועת יהוה Yeshuath YHWH may come back to הארץ The Land of Israel?
BS"D KNOW YOUR BIBLE: Ezekiel 19-20
Study Notes by Avraham ben Yaakov

EZEKIEL CHAPTER 19

The two short allegories contained in the present chapter complete the series of prophecies that began in Chapter 8 v 1, "in the sixth year, in the sixth month…" (i.e. SIX YEARS AFTER the exile of King Yeho-yachin and King Tzedekiah's ascent to the throne, and FIVE YEARS PRIOR to the destruction of the First Temple).It was in that year that Ezekiel was carried by a RU'ACH, "wind" or "spirit", from Babylon to the Temple in Jerusalem to witness the abominations of the people and the withdrawal of the Shechinah from the city (chs 8-11), after which he was brought back to Babylon to prophesy to those who were already in exile there, delivering various reproofs veiled in allegory and metaphor (chs 12-19). The prophecy in the present chapter is the last of that year, for the following chapter is dated to "the seventh year in the fifth month" (ch 20 v 1; see the commentary there).

"And you, take up a lament for the princes of Israel" (v 1). The three "princes" that are the subject of this lament are the righteous King Josiah's three wicked sons, who ruled in Jerusalem in the period culminating in the destruction of the First Temple: Yeho-ahaz (II Kings 23:31ff), Yeho-yakim (ibid. vv 34ff) and Tzedekiah (II Kings 24:17ff). Not included is Yeho-yachin, the son and successor of Yeho-yakim, whom Nebuchadnezzar exiled after only 3 months, replacing him with Tzedekiah.

The first of the two allegories in the present chapter is that of the lioness and her cubs (vv 2-9). "What a lioness was your mother…!" (v 2). The mother lion is the House of Josiah (Metzudas David ad loc.). "And she brought up one of her cubs… and it learned to catch prey; it devoured men (ADAM)" (v 3). This refers to Yeho-ahaz, who robbed his own people Israel, who are called ADAM (see Rashi ad loc., cf. Ez. 34:31), and who was taken by Pharaoh Necho to Egypt where he died, as told in II Kings 23:33-34 and alluded to in v 4 of our present chapter.

Verses 5-9 allude to how Pharaoh Necho replaced Yeho-ahaz with another of the "lioness' cubs" – Yeho-ahaz' brother Yeho-yakim – but the latter pursued the same sinful path, as told in Jeremiah (22:18, ch 36:1-32 etc.), and "the nations set upon him on all sides" (v 8 of our present chapter, cf. II Kings 24:2) and he was ignominiously captured by Nebuchadnezzar, dying on the road to Babylon.

The second of the allegories in this chapter (vv 10-14) is that of a fruitful vine that grows too tall and proud and is then cut down in fury. This alludes to Tzedekiah, the last king of Judah, and recalls the lengthier earlier allegory in Ezekiel 17:5-10 & 13-21. "And a fire has gone out from the rod of her branches" (v 14 of our present chapter) – "It is because of the transgression of her kings and leaders that all this evil has come upon her" (Rashi ad loc.). This teaches that the leaders of the people are expected to be the exemplars of the righteousness required of the Holy Nation, and when the leaders fail, this is the root cause of Israel's troubles.

CHAPTER 20

* * * In accordance with the Sefardic custom, Ezekiel 20:1-20 is read as the Haftara of Parshas Kedoshim, Leviticus 19:1-20:27 * * *

"And it was in the seventh year in the fifth month on the tenth of the month" (v 1). The fifth month is the month of Av, and the tenth day of Av was destined to be the day when the Temple was destroyed (for although it was set on fire on 9 Av, the conflagration continued for the whole of the 10th). The present prophecy came to Ezekiel four years before this occurred. "Each year God sent him one prophecy with which to reprove the people, and even though he was sent other prophecies in between, the first of his prophecies in any given year was the one that is specifically dated to that year" (RaDaK ad loc. Cf. Ezekiel 1:2 and 8:1).

RaDaK continues: "His telling the month and the day of this prophecy was a hint that this would be the date on which Jerusalem was destined to be destroyed. The coming of the elders to the prophet on that day was arranged by God so that they should hear the reproof on that day, because it was on account of their sins and those of their fathers that the Temple was to be destroyed. Now these elders who came to seek out HaShem were Tzaddikim from among those who went into exile with Yeho-yachin, and when God said to them, 'I shall not be inquired of by you', it was on account of the sins of their generation. Perhaps they came to inquire if the exiles in Babylon would ever return to the Land of Israel… Seder Olam states that these elders of Israel were Hananiyah, Mishael and Azariah (Daniel 1:6, 3:12 etc.)."

If the elders themselves were righteous, those whom they represented were less so, to go by the explanation by Rashi (on v 1) as to what the people were saying. "If He won't listen to us, we too shall not be punished for our sins, for it means He has already sold us and He has no further claim against us. We are like a slave whose master has sold him or a woman whose husband has divorced her: They simply have no further connection with one another!" (Rashi's comment here is founded on verse 32 below in accordance with the interpretation that will be explained in our commentary.)

In verse 3 God tells the prophet to respond that He will NOT answer the people's inquiry, i.e. He will not send a prophecy with specific information, which would be a sign of great favor. This implies that the people were in disfavor. But Rashi points out that "At the end of this book, Ez. 36:37, he says, 'I SHALL be inquired of by the Children of Israel'. This is one of the places that teaches us that the Holy One blessed be He MAY go back on an evil decree" (Rashi on v 3).

Instead of providing the people with the information they wanted about how long the exile would last, God reproves them in a lengthy review of the history of their rebellions from the time of the birth of the nation in Egypt. Verses 5-9 recount God's self-revelation to Israel while still in Egypt in order to redeem them and lead them to the Promised Land. But from the very outset, "They rebelled against Me and did not want to listen to Me…" (v 8) – "It was hard for them to give up idolatry" (Mechilta). "These were the wicked, who made up the majority of Israel, who died in the three days of darkness" (Rashi on v 8). Yet despite the rebellion, God redeemed them in order to keep His promise to the Patriarchs, so as not to desecrate His name (v 9) as if He did not have the power to do so.

Verses 10-16 tell the next stage in the saga of rebellion during Israel's sojourn in the wilderness. Even after God's spectacular self-revelation in giving them the Torah and mitzvos, they would not listen. "They did not go in My statutes…" – "They tried Me with the golden calf"; "…and they greatly desecrated My Sabbaths" – "Some of the people went out to gather manna" (v 13 with Rashi's glosses).

Verses 17ff continue the saga, implying that God would have wiped out the people in the wilderness but for His compassion. Instead, He asked the new generation born to the rebels in the wilderness to observe His life-giving Torah, yet they too failed to keep it. "I too lifted up My hand to them (=swore) in the wilderness, declaring that I would scatter them among the nations" (v 23). Here we see that later cycle of exiles that afflicted Israel was already decreed when they were in the wilderness, and Moses warned them there that this is what would befall them if they sinned (see Deut. 4:25ff).

"So I too gave them statutes that were not good… and I defiled them through their gifts…" (vv 25-6). Rashi explains: "I delivered them into the power of their evil inclination so as to cause them to stumble in their sins… The very gifts that I instituted – to dedicate every firstborn to Me – I delivered into the power of their evil inclination, which caused them to hand those very firstborn to the Molech god. These are the 'statutes that were not good'" (Rashi ad loc.).

In vv 27-9 the saga of rebellion continues with the people's entry into the Land of Israel, where instead of affirming God's unity through offering sacrifices only in the Temple in Jerusalem, they scattered to all the hills and natural beauty spots, each making his own altar of pride.

In verses 30ff the prophet is commanded to address the people of his own generation directly, as if to say: After all this history of rebellion, what are YOU going to do???

In verse 31 God swears that He will not be inquired of by the House of Israel, implying the withdrawal of His direct, detailed providence (HASHGACHAH PRATIS) from the people, signified by the absence of prophecy.

"But that which comes into your mind (HA-OLEH AL RUCHACHEM) shall never come about, that you say, 'We shall be like the nations…'" (v 32). After the lengthy preceding catalog of Israel's rebellions, one might have thought that God's patience would have been exhausted and that He would reject them for ever more ("replacement theology"). But this important verse tells us otherwise. The rebellious Israelites of Ezekiel's day thought that if God had rejected them (by taking them into exile without revealing the date of their redemption), this gave them a carte blanche to assimilate with the surrounding nations. Many Jews in modern times, despairing of Mashiach, have come to the same conclusion. The phrase in verse 32, HA-OLEH AL RUCHACHEM, "that which arises in your RU'ACH, spirit, mind" is the basis for the rabbinic teaching that the OLAH sacrifice comes to atone for rebellious thoughts and doubts (Vayikra Rabbah #87).

However, God says that this thought of complete assimilation that has come into their minds "SHALL MOST SURELY NEVER COME ABOUT" (v 32). This is because God will never allow Israel to assimilate and disappear, even if He has to rule over them "with a mighty hand and a stretched out arm and outpoured anger" (v 33). An example of this "outpoured anger" in modern times was when the proportion of assimilated Jews in Europe rose to over 50% in the 1930's, provoking a fury that while indiscriminately wiping out six million Jews, religious and non-religious, also indirectly lead to the establishment of the State of Israel, a huge ingathering of the exiles and the ongoing Torah revival that is taking place in our generation.

Thus verses 34ff depict the final redemption and ingathering of Israel at the end of days, which we have reached in our times. "And I will bring you into the wilderness of the nations" (verse 35). Rashi (ad loc.) states that this is the same wilderness in which the Children of Israel journeyed for forty years. Does this allude to the countries of the nations in which Jews have lived during the long exile? Or could it be that the "wilderness of the nations" contains an allusion to the United Nations, where Israel is subjected to daily remonstrations???

Verse 36 teaches that the final redemption will be an event quite as great and cataclysmic as the redemption from Egypt. God will bring the people back under the discipline of the Covenant (v 37) and purge out the rebels (v 38). Verse 40 promises the restoration of the Temple services in Jerusalem. "And I shall be sanctified through you in the eyes of the nations" (v 41) – "Through you I will be sanctified in the eyes of the nations when they will see that My hand has ruled" (Metzudas David ad loc.). "This will be in the war of Gog and Magog" (RaDaK ad loc.). At the end of days Israel will look back over their history and understand the root cause of the suffering they endured in exile – their own rebellions (v 43) – and this new level of self-understanding will keep them bound to the service of God forever after.

ABY

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Please Say Yes to Abba Yahweh and His Laws.

It is written in the Koran:
‘1. Surah Al-Fatihah:

1. In the Name of Allah, the Most Beneficent, the Most Merciful.
2. All the praises and thanks are to Allah, the Lord of the 'Alamin (mankind, jinns and all that exists).
3. The Most Beneficent, the Most Merciful.
4. The Only Owner (and the Only Ruling Judge) of the Day of Recompense (i.e. the Day of Resurrection)
5. You (Alone) we worship, and You (Alone) we ask for help (for each and everything).
6. Guide us to the Straight Way
7. The Way of those on whom You have bestowed Your Grace, not (the way) of those who earned Your Anger (such as the Jews), nor of those who went astray (such as the Christians).

This is the 'start' in the Koran......

For more, what the Koran is teaching about: ‘Muslims Hate Jews, Christians all other faiths’ ‘Their Guide Book says to kill, behead and burn all non-believers’ click:
Index of The Quran (Satanic Verses of violence to us)

For more information about the development of these ‘Chaldean’ in our days go to our News-Blog: http://thewatchmenfromisraelnews.blogspot.co.il/

Please read the Mitzvoth go to: Positive Commandments and the Negative Commandments), easy to read. It is very important to know them. I don’t ask you this to become a good Jew! But to learn who you really are. That you can find your real identity. In a good understanding of the rest of The Scriptures. And that you understand that Rabbi Shaul is talking to a real Israel,

1Co 10:1 I do not want you to be without da'as (knowledge), Achim (brothers) b(in) 'Moshiach, that Avoteinu (our fore Fathers, you Yehudah and Ephraim! Nobody else.) all were under the anan (cloud),

(‘Achim (brothers) b(in)Moshiach are Yehudah and Ephraim (no other people) who were all under the anan (cloud). The seed (literal) of Abraham, Yitzhak and Ya’acob) read it for yourself :)

Exo 13:21 And Yahweh went before them (Yehudah and Ephraim -Israel) by day in an ammud anan (‘Pillar of a cloud), to guide them haderech (the Way); and by lailah (night) in an ammud eish (‘Pillar of fire), to give them ohr (light); so they could travel yomam valailah (day or night);

Exo 13:22 He took not away the amud heanan (‘Pillar of a cloud) by day, nor the ammud haeish (‘Pillar of fire) by night, from before HaAm (the people, Yehudah and Ephraim) and passed through the sea.
Exo 14:22 And the Bnei Yisroel (Yehudah and Ephraim) then went into the middle of the yam (sea) upon the yabashah (dry land); and the mayim (waters) were a chomah (wall) unto them on their right, and on their left.

Exo 14:23 And the Egyptians pursued, and went in after them into the middle of the yam (sea), even kol sus (all horses) Pharaoh, his chariots, and his parash (rider).

Exo 14:24 So it came to pass, that when came the watch of the boker (morning), Yahweh looked down on the machaneh Mitzrayim (camp of Egypt) through the ammud eish (pillar of fire) and of the anan (cloud), and caused confusion over the machaneh Mitzrayim (camp of Egypt),

Exo 14:25 And turned awry their chariot wheels, that they drove them with difficulty; so that the Egyptians said, Let us flee from the presence of Yisroel (really when Yehudah and Ephraim where together, not like today); because Yahweh fighting for them against the Egyptians,
So let we further listen what Rabbi Shaul has really to say:)

1Co 10:2 And all into Moshe Rabbenu were given tevilah (a ‘mikwah’ immersed) in the anan (cloud) and in the sea,

1Co 10:3 And all of the same spiritual okhel (food) ate [SHEMOT 16:4,35; DEVARIM 8:3; TEHILLIM 78:24-29],

1Co 10:4 And all of the same spiritual drink drank, for they were drinking from a spiritual TZUR (Rock) following them [SHEMOT 17:6; BAMIDBAR 20:11; TEHILLIM 78:15; 105:41], and that TZUR was Moshiach (Yeshuah – Yeshuah Yahweh).

And now one of our neviim:

Hab 2:3 For the chazon (vision) is yet for a mo’ed (an appointed time); it speaks of HaKetz (the End), and does not lie; though it tarry, wait for him

Moshiach— see: Sanhedrin 97b, ‘It has been taught; R. Nathan said: This verse pierces and descends to the very abyss:11 For the Vision is yet for an appointed time, but at the end it shall speak, and not lie: though he tarry, wait for him (Moshiach); because it will surely come, it will not tarry.12]; because he (Moshiach) will surely come, and will not tarry.

(11) Just as the bottom of an abyss cannot be reached, so is it impossible to grasp the full purport of this verse (Rashi).
(12) Hab. II, 3.

Believe…..

Hab 2:4 Hinei (behold), his nashamah (soul) which is puffed up is not upright in him; but the tzaddik (righteous) shall live by his emunah (believe).

Through Moshiach, Yeshuah from Yahweh who give you emunah (believe)…..

Gen 15:6 And he believed in Yahweh; and He credited emunah (faith)] to him as tzedakah (righteousness).

Please read the whole book of HaNavi Habakuk?

The Koran teaches us that you have to die…….

But, please Yudah (Jews) and Ephraim (most Christians) Listen to His Voice:

Hab 1:12 Art thou not mikedem

(‘everlasting’ also said of Moshiach, indicating Moshiach’s eternal divine nature: Dan 7:14 And there was given Him (Moshiach) dominion, and honor, and sovereignty, that all people, Goyim, tongues, should pey-lammed-chet. [1] (worship as deity) (see Dan 3:12, serve, reverence as deity Him (Moshiach). His dominion is an everlasting dominion, which shall not pass away, and His (Messianic) Kingdom that which shall not be destroyed.] see Michah 5:1[2];)

Yahweh Elohai (my Elohim) Kedoshi (my Holy One)? We shall not die. Yahweh, Thou hast appointed them (these Chaldean) for mishpat (ordinance); O Tzur (Rock), Thou hast ordained them (these Chaldean) for reproof.

Maran Rabbeinu Yeshuah and Rabbeinu Shaul are teaching that you, Yehudah and Ephraim all Israel, come together to the same point as where you were when you said:

Deu 5:27 Go thou near, and hear all that Yahweh Eloheinu (our Elohim) shall say; and speak thou unto us all that Yahweh Eloheinu shall speak unto thee; and we will hear it, and do it.

But don’t ‘make’ from one of them Rabbeinu Yeshuah, Rabbeinu Shaul or Mosheh Rabbeinu another ‘mighty one’ but accept them in your live for what they really are….

Please take it serious what Abba Yahweh is telling us in:

Deu 18:15 Yahweh Eloheicha (your Elohim) will raise up unto thee a Navi (prophet) from among thee, of thy achim (bretheren), kamoni (like me.....

Exo 32:30 The next day Moshe said to the people, "You have committed a terrible sin. Now I will go up to Yahweh; maybe I will be able to atone for your sin."); unto him ye must listen;

Deu 18:16 According to all that thou desired of Yahweh Eloheicha (your Elohimin) Chorev (to be burnt dried up, ruined, wasted) in the Yom HaKahal (day of the congregation), saying, Let me not hear again the voice of Yahweh Elohav (your Elohim), neither let me see this eish hagedolah (‘great fire’) any more, that I die not.

Deu 18:17 And Yahweh said unto me, They have well-spoken that which they have spoken.

Deu 18:18 I will raise them up a Navi (prophet) from among their achim (brethren), like unto thee, and will put My words in his mouth; and he shall speak unto them all that I shall command him.

Joh 10:18 No one takes it from me, but I lay it down of my own accord. I have samchut (authority) to lay it down, and I have samchut to receive it again. This mitzvah I received from HaAv (the Father).

Deu 18:19 And it shall come to pass, that whosoever will not listen unto My words which he shall speak Bishmi (in My Name), I will require it of him.

Joh 8:28 Therefore, Rebbe, Melech HaMoshiach said to them, When you perform the hagbah (lifting up) of the Ben HaAdam, you will have da'as (knowledge) that Ani Hu [YESHAYAH 41:4; SHEMOT 3:14-16], and from myself I do nothing, but as HaAv (the Father) of me taught me, these things I speak.

Rebbe, Melech HaMoshiah Yeshuah – is Yeshuah Yahweh. Like it is said in:

Gen_49:18 I have waited for Thy Yeshuah (Salvation), Yahweh.

Exo_15:2 Yahweh is my oz and zimrah (song of praise), and He is become to me Yeshuah (salvation); He is Eli (my Elohim), and I will praise Him; Elohei Avi (the Elohim of my Father), and I will exalt Him.

And not a half-god, or another mighty-one who came between HaShem and us! (Not, ‘It Suph’!) I believe many of us (Jews and Ephraimites!) have to learn that!

[1] Dictionary of the Talmud. M. Jastrow p. 1178 פלח