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Tekia...TekiaTekia...
I N S I D E T H I S
I S S U E :
Upfront 2
Torah 3
Practical
Torah
5
Common Sense
Torah
6
Mirror Images 8
Following the
Living Torah
10
Sukkot 12
Read on...
M E S S I A N I C L I F E M A G A Z I N EP U B L I S H E D B Y T R E E O FL I F E M E S S I A N I C M I N I S T R I E S
O C T O B E R / N O V E M B E R 2 0 0 7V O L U M E 1 , I S S U E 1
Messianic Lifean ezine on the lifestyle for those who follow Messiah and Torah
If you love me keep My commandments...John 14:15
Welcome to the first issue of Messianic Life: an ezine on the
practical application of Torah for everyday life...
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P A G E 4
And again inIsaiah41:14: Fearnot, O worm
of Jacob, Omen of Is-rael, [for] Ihelp youthe word ofthe Lord andyour Re-deemer, theHoly One ofIsrael.
and Naomi as his ownbecause he would haveto purchase the propertyfrom both Naomi andRuth and Ruths namewould remain attachedto the inheritance. Why
is this important in thecontext of what we arestudying here?
The concept of thekinsman redeemer ap-plies to the Messiah Ye-shua because He is theonly begotten Son of theFather so therefore Heinherits the right to therole of kinsman re-deemer through His Fa-ther God. So how wouldthat affect us? It affects
us because if we graspthe concept of the kins-man redeemer we real-ize that if we were cre-ated by God through HisSon Yeshua then we areALL, each and everyone of us, related byblood to Yeshua. And ifthat were not enough inand of itself each andevery one of us who ac-cept Yeshua as Messiahbecome further en-
twined with Yeshuathrough the Ruach ofGod in that we becomespiritually connected toYeshua. So this extendsthe idea of the kinsmanredeemer right on downfrom Yeshua to you andme and everyone whowill ever be or has been.It is only through therejection of Yeshua asMessiah which causes usto then reject Him as
our kinsman redeemer.When we do this we areacting just like the rela-tive in Ruth who re-
jected the role of kins-man redeemer becausehe did not want to forfeithis own inheritance.
So having laid outthe premise for under-standing the concept ofthe kinsman redeemer
and the role he playslets get on with showinghow this role ties in Ye-shua to God and in do-ing that we can showthat God and Yeshua areentwined and that one
cannot exist without theother and that they are joined at the hip asthey say.Exodus-Shemot 15:13:With Your kindness Youguided this people thatYou redeemed; You ledwith Your might to Yourholy abode.
This passage ofScripture lays out that itis God who redeems. Hehas redeemed His peo-
ple and His people isIsrael. Now what weneed to consider at thispoint is who is Israel? IsIsrael just the Jewishpeople? Many wouldhave you think so be-cause the House of Eph-raim was scattered tothe four corners of theearth and only Judahreturned from their exileintact. But let us look atDeuteronomy 29:13-14.
Not with you alonedo I seal this covenantand this imprecation,but with whoever ishere, standing with ustoday before the Lord,our God, and withwhoever is not herewith us today.
The covenant thatwas established betweenIsrael and God involvedeach and every personthat was standing before
God that day and eachand every person whowas not there that day.What does that mean?The implication is verystrong that all who
joined themselves toIsrael would becomepart of Israel and enti-tled to the covenant thatGod made with Israel.That means you and me!
Job 19:25: But Iknow that my Redeemerlives, and that He will bethe final one remainingupon the earth.
Once again the con-cept of the Redeemer
but in this instance it isreaffirmed that the Re-deemer is a direct refer-ence to God. Why? Be-cause even in the Ortho-dox translation of theTanach the word Re-deemer is capitalizedindicating that the Re-deemer is God.
This idea is re-enforced in Psalm78:35: They would re-member that God was
their Rock, and the MostHigh God their Re-deemer.
And again in Isaiah41:14: Fear not, Oworm of Jacob, O menof Israel, [for] I helpyouthe word of theLord and your Re-deemer, the Holy One ofIsrael.
Isaiah 44:6: Thussaid the Lord, King ofIsrael and its Redeemer,
the Lord, Master of Le-gions: I am the first andI am the last, and asidefrom Me there is no God.
He is the Redeemerand God! This is fromthe mouth of theprophet Isaiah put thereby God Himself. Could itbe made any plainerthan this? God is theRedeemer and He isGod.
Isaiah 49:26: And I
will feed your tormen-tors their own flesh, andthey will become drunkon their own blood as onsweet wine; then allflesh will know that I amthe Lord, your Saviorand your Redeemer, theMighty One of Jacob.
Continued on page 32
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Practical Torah with Hank Ramirez
P A G E 5V O L U M E 1 , I S S U E 1
The Conflict between
being at work andbeing at the
Biblical Festivals
I have a new job that re-quires me to work rotatingshifts and come in at oddhours like 5:30 AM, 1:30 PM,
and 9:30PM. My boss affordsme some leniency in that hetries to ensure I have Fridayevenings free so I can lead theErev Shabbat Torah Class.
With Sukkot coming on theevent horizon at the end ofSeptember I am faced with aconflict. On the one hand I amconfronted with the fact that Ineed to provide for my familyand do my best to ensure that Iam an indispensable asset,
assuring continued employ-ment. On the other hand it ismy hearts desire to participatein the mitzvah of keeping theFeasts of the Lord. Feasts,which are not attendanceoptional according to Scrip-ture [Note 1].
On the one hand, G-d ismore concerned with life thanhe is with ritual [Notes 2].
In that same hand, G-d is moreconcerned with the perfection
of our heart than the perfec-tion of ritual performance[Note 3]. Then, on the otherhand, there is also that need tokeep the bill collectors at bay.Lastly, my wife is so muchmore fun to be around whenshe sees paychecks come in themail.
Being I am a part timeemployee I can request to getthe week off without pay. Or Ican request to be put on the
early shift, which will allowme to go to work AND attendthe Evening (Erev) festivities.
But what about the Sab-baths (Shabbatim) and thecommensurate days of rest? Ifmy boss agrees to assign me tothe morning shift I will stillneed to coordinate to have theShabbatim off. Somehow Ihave the impression that goingthrough all of these adminis-trative gymnastics would put
a bit of a frown on my bossface. So to be a blessing to him[Note 4] I need to make thingsas simple as I can and boilthem down to one of two sim-ple options.
My particular situation hasa small twist in it in that I havebeen asked to teach in themorning at a remote locationan hour and a half away fromwhere I live. So if I request towork just mornings and ask to
have the Shabbatim off, I willhave to also ask for an addi-tional day off on the appointed
day OR I will have to grace-fully decline the invitation tospeak.
The Sages admonish us tokeep the home as peaceful aspossible [Note5] and to do thisI need to consult with my wife.You may find that she cuts
through all of the clouds ofindecision and chooses a
course of action you were in-clining toward anyway. Thenagain she might come up witha third option that again clearsup what should be done. It isto be understood that she is amajor part of our participationin the Feasts and if you want
life to be worth living you willconsult with her [Note 6].
Having done all of the cal-culations concerning the lossof pay for the time off and de-
termining the best work sched-ule I can ask for, it is decisiontime. What do I value themost? Income? Fulfilling andliving out Torah? Doing what Ican to work and participate inthe Feasts? Such is the sharpedge of the Word of God [Note7], which side of the line am I?Am I soulish or spiritual?
The sages tell us thatheaven has accorded us a spe-cific amount of income each
week, nothing more and noth-ing less [Note 8]. This meansthat our decision to work,whatever it is, will not gain orlose us anything. Which couldmean that the money I earnedmight have to pay for the re-pair of a car accident incurredon the way home from work.
On the other hand, G-d
BLESSES us when we partici-pate in His Feasts [Note 9].
My final decision? I will ask
to be taken off the schedule forthe week by explaining to myboss the importance of theFeasts to me. It is a blanketmove for him, simple and ele-gant. It simplifies the week forme so I can actually relax and
REJOICE in the Feast withoutHaving to sweat bullets aboutgetting enough sleep and get-ting to work on time. It will
allow me to rest andfully participate in the
Feast as G-d intendedme to. Lastly, I will beable to be a blessingthrough my teachingcommitment.
[Note 1] Exodus 23:15,Exodus 34:24,Deuteronomy31:11
[Note 2] Luke 10:33[Note 3] 1Samuel
15:22, Isaiah1:11-12, Isaiah29:13
[Note 4] Romans 12:18
[Note 5] Shalom Bayitor ShalomBayis(Hebrew:
; " peace athome") is the
Jewish reli-gious conceptof household
harmony andgood relationsbetween manand wife.Tractate Shab-bat (23b)
[Note 6] 1Samuel 25:2-37
[Note 7] Proverbs21:19, Proverbs 27:15,Hebrews 4:12
[Note 8] Rabbi Pin-
chas, a per-sons suste-nance is meas-ured for himfrom RoshHaShanah
[Note 9] Deuteronomy12:6-7
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hebrew_languagehttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hebrew_languagehttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hebrew_language8/9/2019 Messianic Life
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P A G E 6
The
Proper
Standard
Common Sense Torah by Ran RicardWhat an honor I havebeen afforded to be apart of such a group ofTorah loving folks. It
shall be my singularprivilege to offer you allwhat I will call a BlueCollar perspective onTorah apologetics, orbetter yet CommonSense Torah.
The restoration ofYHVHs people Israel,reuniting the House ofEphraim and the Houseof Judah (Eze 37:15-28)
has begun. I believethose embracing the Mes-sianic movement todayare indeed the vanguardin that restoration proc-ess. We are the Peace-makers who bear the titleand the blessing of Hischildren. (Matt. 5:9)
More and more folksare being touched by theRuach HaKodesh (Holy
Spirit) and awakenedwith a hunger for theHebraic roots of theirfaith in Messiah Yeshua.But as exciting as that is,for many of us its almostas if weve awakened in aforeign place and thatcan be more than a littledisconcerting, it can bedownright scary. Someawaken angry, some con-fused and bewildered,but all of us have awak-ened hungry for thetruth.
It is my desire andwill be my welcomedtask to bring you yourfirst cup of coffee, ormaybe a refill and thenhand you off to otherswith greater knowledge
than I, so you may bestrengthened and con-tinue your new andcloser walk of obedience
with Messiah Yeshua.Now with that said, letsbegin;
Standard weight;measure, model, quality,etc. to which others mustconform; criterion; polewith a flag; flag esp. ensignof war; royal banner; up-right support; a. serving asestablished rule.(Websters New Encyclo-
pedia of Dictionaries)One of the first thingsI discovered as I began towipe the sleepy bugsfrom my eyes was that tobe obedient to The Fa-thers instructions I hadto change the standardby which I measured andexamined The Word.The Apostle Pauls writ-ings, for the most part,had always been thatstandard to which otherwritings in scripturemust conform. Espe-cially when examiningand understanding thenecessity of obedience tothe law. Pauls wordshave been the standardby which I have weighedand examined The Wordsince my youth. How-ever, now that The Holy
One has nudged meawake, I find that stan-dard stands in contra-diction to my Master,Messiah Yeshua.
So how do I explain mytransition from Pauls stan-dard to The Messiahs? Ireckon the first thing I tryto do is remember that
not long ago, I slept justlike those who mightquestion me now. I canchoose to either throw a
bucket of ice water onthem or gently nudgethem awake. When mybrother and I were chil-dren and he was taskedwith waking me forschool, there were lots ofshoes, socks and otherlaundry items thrown inanger when he used thebucket of ice water ap-proach (and oh how he
relished the ice waterapproach). Ive foundmy sleepy brethren willwake a bit cranky too,when I use the samemethod.
Since most commentsand questions will arisebecause of your new de-sire to be obedient to theTorah, those questionswill most likely center on
the law and whether it isto be obeyed. When thathappens, I tell my friendsthat because I believeexactly what Yeshua saysconcerning the law, that Ihave a choice to make;
Mat 5:17-18,"Do notthink that I have come toabolish the Law or theProphets; I have notcome to abolish them butto fulfill them. For truly,I say to you, until heavenand earth pass away, notan iota, not a dot, willpass from the Law untilall is accomplished.
Either I can believethat the Apostle Paul ismaking the words of Ye-
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P A G E 7V O L U M E 1 , I S S U E 1
shua null and void or I canbelieve that the Apostle Paulloved The Messiah literallyto his death and would neverstand opposed to what He
says and teaches. Then I tellthem that I choose the latter.Paul loved Yeshua and rec-ognized that He was The Sonof the Great I AM; He wouldeventually give his life inservice to Him. He wouldnever, ever contradict whatThe Son of The Living GODsays and teaches. And nei-ther should I.
The fact of the matter is
that Paul was a staunch be-liever in Yeshua. The fact ofthe matter is that Pauls ene-mies had to resort to lie abouthim; Act 21:21,and they havebeen told about you that youteach all the Jews who areamong the Gentiles to forsake
Moses, telling them not to cir-cumcise their children or walkaccording to our customs.
But Paul tells us in hisown words that he has done
nothing to violate Godscommands or contradict any-thing Messiah Yeshua has
said; Act 24:14,But this Iconfess to you, that according tothe Way, which they call a sect,I worship the God of our fathers,believing everything laid downby the Law and written in theProphets
Then I tell my friends Ibelieve every word Yeshua
has spoken to be the truthand know they believe thesame. Then I ask if it ringstrue to their common senseto use the words of Paul, orPeter or James or anyone forthat matter to nullify any-thing The Messiah has al-ready spoken and taught astruth (again referencingMatt. 5:17-18). Then I sug-
gest that perhaps we dontunderstand what those greatmen are really saying and itstime to put on our Bereanrobes and seek GODs glory,
It is the glory of God to concealthings, but the glory of kings isto search things out. (Pro25:2)
And some will clear theirthroats and watch the birdsdevour the seeds you cast.Others will listen and getexcited, but then fall back tosleep as the seed finds onlyrocky soil. A few will thinkhard on what youve said,
but their traditional teachingwill not allow the seedling togrow.
But a few, who have theears to hear, will listen andprotect the seeds you cast.They will nourish them andthey will grow and grow. and grow.
From our house to yoursSHALOM!Ran
P.S. And now a little aboutme.
I was raised and taught ina traditional fundamentalSouthern Baptist manner (yesthat includes heapin helpinsof fried chicken and tatersalad). After graduationfrom High School, I enlistedin the United States Navy,serving two tours of duty inViet Nam in the Brown Wa-
ter portion of that service.After discharge, I chose
the field of law enforcementfor my career, serving 20years with the Riverton,Wyoming Police Depart-ment / Wind River IndianReservation and four yearsas Chief of Police in Buffalo,Wyoming. While serving inthe capacity of Chief, a dear
friend came into my officeone day and dropped a copyof Batya Woottens book,Who Is Israel on my deskand challenged me to read it.
Not being one to ever shyfrom the proverbial throwngauntlet I read it.
Without telling my Brideanything about it, I then chal-lenged her to read it. Aboutthree quarters of the waythrough, she abruptly closedthe book, looked at me andsaid, Well now, this changeseverything. In our livestogether, I dont think there
has ever been a greater un-derstatement.Like many of you, The
Father has led us into a wil-derness experience; into aseason of learning, growingand relying on Him likenever before. It has been atime of transitioning frommilk to meat. Like many ofyou, we have no fellowshipsave that over the internet,the telephone and what peri-odicals we receive in the mailfrom our beloved teachers.
I currentlylive in Clever,Missouri withmy beautifulBride and com-rade in lifeBrenda. Wehave threegrown chil-dren, two
grandchildrenand two littlenoisy fur ballsknown as York-shire Terriers,Boomer andTwink, and agreat motorcy-cle for cruisingthe Missouri back roads.
But a few,
who have
the ears to
hear, will
listen and
protect the
seeds you
cast. They
will nourish
them and
they will
grow...and
grow...and
grow...
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P A G E 8
Mirror
Image
Effect
Mirror Images by David PenningtonI am persuaded that
what has been, will beand that especiallythrough the ministry of
the Messiah this concepthas been carried outmore times than weprobably have perceived.
It is not my pur-pose to just try to per-petuate the message ofthe virgin birth becausemost still believe this tobe actual fact. What Iwant to project into yourthoughts is why the vir-
gin birth, among otherevents that transpired,which should also begreater evidence of thetruth of the virgin birth.Without the birth beingthrough a virgin, therecould not be the birth ofbelievers since the resur-rection.
If we deny the truthof the virgin birth we in
turn deny our faith. Forwe are conceived andborn through a woman
espoused to herfuture husband,Messiah Ye-shua yet sheremains achaste virgin.
Just like Josephand Miriam(Mary).Ecc 1:9 Thething that hathbeen, it is thatwhich shall be;
and that which isdone is that whichshall be done: andthere is no new thingunder the sun.
Ecc 1:10 Is there anything whereof it
may be said, See,this is new? it hathbeen already of oldtime, which was be-
fore us.Ecc 1:11 There is no re-
membrance of for-mer things; neithershall there be anyremembrance ofthings that are tocome with those thatshall come after.The above quote is
one of the major reasons Ihave been guided into
the concept of what I callthe "Mirror Image Ef-fect". The reason of call-ing it mirror image isbecause in the reflectionof the mirror, everythingappears to be exactly thesame, which it isn't.When you face the mir-ror, your right hand be-comes the left hand ofthe reflection you haveprojected.
In the followingverses this projection hasbeen witnessed by thewords of the beings thatappear to the disciplesafter the ascension of Ye-shua. They said that inlike manner, as he went,so he shall come again.The difference, is that inthe ascension, the disci-ples were scattered
amongst the nations andin his return there will bea gathering of his disci-ples from the four cor-ners of the earth.Act 1:9 And when he
had spoken thesethings, while theybeheld, he wastaken up; and acloud received him
out of their sight.Act 1:10 And while they
looked stedfastlytoward heaven as he
went up, behold,two men stood bythem in white ap-parel;
Act 1:11 Which alsosaid, Ye men ofGalilee, why standye gazing up intoheaven? this same
Jesus, which is takenup from you intoheaven, shall socome in like manneras ye have seen himgo into heaven.In the next two
verses the Greek wordtranslates as virgin. Aswe, the body of believers(the body of Messiah) arepresented as a chaste vir-gin, this is mirroring thebirth through Mary(Miriam).
The new believer is
born through the blood(offering of Messiah) andwater (the mikvah thatdesignates our rebirth).Mat 1:23 Behold, a vir-
gin3933 shall bewith child, and shallbring forth a son,and they shall callhis name Em-manuel, which be-ing interpreted is,
God with us.2Co 11:2 For I am jeal-ous over you withgodly jealousy: for Ihave espoused youto one husband, thatI may present youasa chaste virgin3933to Christ.
G3933 ?
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P A G E 9V O L U M E 1 , I S S U E 1
parthenos -par-then'-os -Ofunknown origin; a maiden; byimplication an unmarrieddaughter: - virgin.
Another aspect is thatthe bread of the offeringcould not be partaken ofunless the man had refrainedfrom sexual relations withhis wife. In the case ofMiriam and Joseph, she hadnot only been a virgin butthey refrain from any sexualactivity throughout her preg-nancy. Once again mirroringthe idea of a chaste virgin.Mat 1:25 And knew her not
till she had broughtforth her firstborn son:and he called his name
JESUS.Just as Yeshua entered
into the Holy of Holiesthrough tearing the veil intwo, so He entered into thisworld through a veil whenhe was born. This was one ofthe reasons that Mary(Miriam was to be a virgin)
and the reason that the Torahwas so demanding on theprecepts of the virgin and thesigns of her virginity.Deu 22:13 If any man take a
wife, and go in unto her,and hate her,
Deu 22:14 And give occa-sions of speech againsther, and bring up an evilname upon her, and say,I took this woman, andwhen I came to her, I
found her not a maid:Deu 22:15 Then shall the
father of the damsel,and her mother, takeand bring forth the to-kens ofthe damsel's vir-ginity unto the elders ofthe city in the gate:
Deu 22:16 And the damsel'sfather shall say unto theelders, I gave my daugh-
ter unto this man towife, and he hateth her;
Deu 22:17 And, lo, he hathgiven occasions ofspeech against her, say-ing, I found not thydaughter a maid; andyet these are the tokensofmy daughter's virgin-ity. And they shallspread the cloth beforethe elders of the city.The womb represented
the Holy of Holies and the"hymen" symbolized the cur-tain (veil) that was beforethis Holy place. The onlyway to enter into the Holy of
Holies was with bloodthrough this veil. Yeshua inboth his birth and his death(his descending and ascend-ing) broke through theseveils and the sign of this wasthe water and the blood.
When the soldier tookthe spear and pierced theMessiahs side, out cameblood and water. The sametook place at the birth of Ye-
shua, when he broke throughthe hymen and exited thewomb, he was brought forthin the water and the blood.Mat 27:50 Jesus, when he
had cried again with aloud voice, yielded upthe ghost.
Mat 27:51 And, behold, theveil of the temple wasrent in twain from thetop to the bottom; andthe earth did quake, and
the rocks rent;When Yeshua was born,
the first major event thattranspired after his emerg-ing from the womb (Holiestof Holies) and the tearing intwo of the hymen (veil) washis initial intake of lifegivingbreath. This is the spirit thatmakes the child a living soul.
When he died on Golgotha,he gave up this spirit of lifeand the veil (representing thehymen) was rent in two.Gen 2:7 And the LORD
God formed man ofthedust of the ground, andbreathed into his nos-trils the breath of life;and man became a liv-ing soul.
The first thing to be tornin two when he entered thisworld was the veil (hymen)and the last thing to be tornin two upon leaving thisworld was the veil.
As you may see, it is asEcclesiastes says, What hasbeen, will be. It appears thatnearly every move, everyaction, nuance, and wordthat Yeshua gave us was tofulfill the words of Torah.My first choice to use in thiscolumn was the birth anddeath because it began andended his earthly mission.Following the words of the
angelic beings and sensingthat if he shall return as hewent, isnt it only plausiblethat as he came, he wouldleave?
Another reason for thisthought is because manyhave not grasped the impor-tance of knowing some of theconcepts behind the virginbirth. We may say that it isimportant, but fail to havethe reasons that it is. Hecame forth from an earthlywomb and the veil to bringsalvation but returned to theHeavenly Womb through theveil to give salvation. Afterhis ascension, he gave giftsunto man and the greatestgift of all was our salvation.
Heb 4:16 Let us therefore
come boldlyunto the throneof grace, that wemay obtainmercy, and findgrace to help intime of need.
Eph 4:8 Whereforehe saith, Whenhe ascended upon high, he ledcaptivity cap-tive, and gavegifts unto men.
A hint of thisvery fact is evi-denced in Johns
gospel account. Hereis a question to thosethat read this. Wherein John has the hintof this event beenrecorded?In the next issues Iwant to give moreevidence of this mir-ror image designand how perfectly itis woven throughout
the pages of the Bi-ble.
David Pennington ismarried to wife Ritawith a son Jared anddaughter Jessica(with five grandchil-dren). David hasbeen evolving in theMessianic fold for atleast fifteen years.
He started in thechurch over thirtyyears ago and wasordained into theministry abouttwenty years ago.David can bereached [email protected]
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P A G E 1 0
Rabbi Daniel Klut-
stein leads a Messi-
anic Congregation
in Hawaii and
works with other
groups...
Following the Living Torah Rabbi Daniel KlutsteinPrayer is a key element in
our spiritual walk. Here iswhat Isaiah says: Then
shalt thou call, and the
Lord shall answer; thoushalt cry, and he shall say,
Here I am. 14th verse: Then
shalt thou delight thyself inthe Lord; and I will cause
thee to ride upon the high
places of the earth, and feed
thee with the heritage of
Jacob thy father: for the
mouth of the Lord hath spo-
ken it.-ISA_58:9
Rav Shaul (Paul)
says: 1Th 5:17 Pray with-out ceasing.
What is prayer,
and how can one pray with-
out ceasing?
The Hebrew word
for prayer is Tephilah from
the root Palel . It means
supplication, intercession.Prayer is asking the creator
to answer our cries and de-sires by his grace, even
though we surely do not
deserve it. Prayer is com-
municating with our maker.Therefore what Rav Saul
says is Always communi-
cate with YHWH and 2
Cor 10:7 bring to captivityevery thought unto him
The Lord also pro-
vided His Spirit to help usas he Rav Saul says in Rom
8:26 Likewise the Spirit
also helpeth our infirmities:
for we know not what we
should pray for as we
ought: but the Spirit itselfmaketh intercession for us
with groaning which cannotbe uttered.
Which is the main
function of the gift of
tongues.Yeshua told us that
prayer open the gates of
heaven Mar 11:24 For this
reason I say to you, all
things whatsoever you ask
for in prayer, believe that
you willreceive them, and
they will be yours. And
also Mat 7:8 For everyonewho asks receives, and he
who seeks finds, and to him
who knocks it shall be
opened.
How many bless-ings do we robe ourselves
from by not asking with
belief (Emuna). This He-
brew word is loaded with
meanings, trust, and obedi-ence, trained by the word,
belief. Only an emuna
prayer is effective.
Yaakov (James)
teaches.
Jam 5:13 Is any ofyou suffering evil? Let him
pray. Is anyone in good
spirits? Let him sing
psalms. We need to realize
that 2Co 4:15 for all things
are for your sakes that theabundant grace might
through the thanksgiving of
many redound to the glory
of God.
Jam 5:14 Is anyoneamong you sick? Let him
call for the elders of the
assembly, and let them pray
over him, having anointed
him with oil in the Name of
the Master.Jam 5:15 and the
prayer of faith shall save the
sick, and the Lord shall
raise him up; and if he havecommitted sins, they shall
be forgiven him.
However this isqualified by Yaakov
(James) the righteous Jam
4:3 ye ask, and receive not,
because ye ask amiss, that
ye may consume ituponyour lusts.
He also add the
requirement of righteous-
ness which comes from ourturning away from sin and
accepting the atonement of
Yeshua.
Yeshua also told
us not to use it for religious
show
Mat 6:5 And whenthou prayest, thou shalt not
be as the hypocrites are: for
they love to pray standing
in the synagogues and in the
corners of the streets, thatthey may be seen of men.
Verily I say unto you, they
have their reward (men re-
spect). Mat 6:6 But thou,
when thou prayest, enterinto thy closet, and when
thou hast shut thy door,
pray to thy Father which is
in secret; and thy Father
which seethe in secret shall
reward thee openly.Mat 6:7 but when
ye pray, use not vain repeti-
tions, as the heathen do: for
they think that they shall be
heard for their much speak-
ing. We see this in the us-age of the rosary, which is
common to Catholicism,
Islam, and Buddhism. Un-
fortunately this also influ-
enced the rabbis like repeat-ing a psalm seven times to
forces YHWH to listen to
us and bind Satan.
Yeshua than
teaches us how to pray in
the so called Lords prayer:Mat 6:8 Be not ye therefore
like unto them: for your
Father knoweth what things
ye have need of, before yeask him.
Mat 6:9 after this
manner therefore pray ye:Our Father which art in
heaven, Hallowed be thy
name.
Mat 6:10 Thy
kingdom come. Thy will bedone in earth, as it is in
heaven.
Mat 6:11 Give us
this day our daily bread.Mat 6:12 and for-
give us our debts, as we
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forgive our debtors.
Mat 6:13 and lead usnot into temptation, but deliver
us from evil: For thine is thekingdom, and the power, andthe glory, forever. Amen.
Mat 6:14 For if ye for-give men their trespasses, your
heavenly Father will also for-
give you:
Mat 6:15 But if ye for-
give not men their trespasses,
neither will your Father forgiveyour trespasses.
From verse 8 we un-derstand that God does need our
prayers to know our need. We
need the prayer not God.
In a traditional Jewish
way using the Kaddish as amodel, Yeshua tell us to start
with praise. By so doing we
realize before whom we stand,
and gain confidence, so that ourneeds are no longer a mountain
but a small hill.
Only then can we pro-ceed with our petition, and end
with thanksgiving. The subject
of the prayer is also a lesson in
itself. First we should concern
ourselves with Gods kingdom,
and as Yeshua ambassadors
represent our Fathers interest,
not ours. We also reaffirmGods sovereignty.
Our request should be
for our needs not our cravings.We can only receive
Gods blessing when we dealt
with our sins. We need to show
the forgiveness we received
form God to others. We need
YHWH help to pass the test,
realizing what Rav Saul said1Co 10:13 There hath no temp-
tation taken you but such as iscommon to man: but God is
faithful, who will not suffer you
to be tempted above that ye areable; but will with the tempta-
tion also make a way to escape,
that ye may be able to bear it.
Rom 8:28 And we
know that all things work to-
gether for good to them that
love God, to them who are the
called according to his purpose.
Verse 9 tells us that weneed to build relationship with
God as a Father respect lovehim and obey him. Deu 10:12And now, Israel, what doth the
LORD thy God require of thee,but to fear the LORD thy God,
to walk in all his ways, and to
love him, and to serve the
LORD thy God with all thy
heart and with all thy soul.
Verse 10 Speaks of thecentral teaching of Yeshua The
kingdom. God already reignsin heaven. We need to establish
his kingdom on earth by accept-
ing the yoke of heaven. This is
called in Judaism Tikun Olam
(World fixing). We need tobecome a new creation by put-
ting of the old man.
Verse 11 Teaches us
that only when we center uponour Father, can we then attend
to our needs knowing his
loveand care for us, althoughtesting us at time for our sake.
Deu 8:16 Who fed thee
in the wilderness with manna,
which thy fathers knew not, that
he might humble thee, and that
he might prove thee, to do thee
good at thy latter end; Verse 12,
14-15 teaches us the importanceof forgiveness. We need to real-
ize that the Lord will deal with
us as we deal with others, asYeshua parable teaches when
the king throw in prison the
debtor who persecuted his
debtor after being forgiven by
the king Math 18 23-35.
Verse 13 is our prayer
that we will not be tested to thepoint of failure Heb 2:18 For in
that he himself hath sufferedbeing tempted, he is able to suc-
cour them that are tempted.
In conclusion: we need to com-municate with our heavenly
father, and putting him first, and
obedient, we will be blessed as
he seeks to bless his children.
I was borne to a Chas-
sidic family in Paris France
My grandfather of blessed
memory was France Orthodoxchief rabbi.
I grew up with theLove of the God, people andland of Israel.
After the early death ofmy father, we immigrated to
Israel.
I was later trained to
become an orthodox rabbi, but
lost my faith at 16.
In my twenties theLord reached out to me, and
called me to him through Ye-shua on the mount of Olive.
The Father than called me to
lead his people. He provided
free training at London Bible
College followed by Paris Uni-versity Jewish studies.
I was ordained in Paris
as a messianic rabbi, and lead a
congregation.I was then called to
represent Israel and France to a
messianic conference, whichlead to an invitation to become
associate rabbi at one of the
largest messianic congregation
in Maryland, where I also found
my wife.
The Lord led me to
return for a time to Israel, and
than back to the US.I was used in leader-
ship in major congregations in
Maryland, and later to lead myown
I accepted a call from
the messianic congregation in
Hawaii where I serve as their
rabbi.
In Hawaii we aim to
bring all closer to God in theirHebraic understanding.
I also oversee two mes-sianic congregations in Amarillo
Texas, Australia, and India.
I am currently beingused to reach out to the body of
believers, and bring them an
understanding of their roots
I visit different congregation,
and monitor internet discussion
group.
God bless
Prayer is a
key element
in our
spiritual
walk
Rav Shaul
Paul) says:
1Th 5:17
Pray
without
ceasing.
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Gilbert and Sa-
brina Suard live in
Israel and formerly
resided in France...
Meaning and Celebration of the Festival of Sukkot
or the coming back
of the Great King
The angel said to me,"Write: How blessed arethose who have been invitedto the wedding feast of theLamb!" Then he added,"These are Gods verywords. Revelation 19 :9
Sukkot means booth or tent, atemporary dwelling, re-minding us of the wan-derings of the people ofIsrael in the desert. It alsoreminds us that we are sojourners in the earth.
It is during the festival ofbooths that we eat and/or sleep for seven days inour own hand-made
booths. The roof must bemade of tree branches soas to be able to see thesky to remind us that it isG-d who protects us dur-ing our stay on earth.
It is the third festival thathas a solemn convocationand to which the Jewishpeople are to attend bygoing up to the Temple.
It is a rejoicing festivalwith two holidays; thefirst and seventh days. Itis celebrated on the 15thof the month of Tishri.
You are to keep the festivalof Sukkot for seven daysafter you have gathered the
produce of your threshingfloor and winepress.
Rejoice at your festivalyou, your sons and daugh-ters, your male and femaleslaves, the Lviim, and the
foreigners, orphans and
widows living among you.Seven days you are to keepthe festival for ADONAIyour God in the place
ADONAI your God willchoose, because ADONAIyour God will bless you inall your crops and in allyour work, so you are to be
full of joy! Deuteronomy16 :13-15
A particular command-
ment requires us to tietogether four fruits,forming the Lulav, alsothe name of the tallestspecie, the palm. It is tobe shaken in front of theSukkah.
These four fruits are:
The PalmThe Willow
The CitronThe Myrtle
These four species repre-sent the different types of
Jews, both pious and nonpious but all indivisiblein G-ds eyes:The citron (etrog) is deli-cious and smells good; itrepresents the scholarly
Jew in the Torah whopractices what he studies:
But those sown on rich soilhear the message, accept itand bear fruit! thirty,sixty or a hundredfold.
Mark 4:20
The myrtle (hadas) alsosmells good but is notedible; it represents the
person who forgetswhat he was taught:Likewise, those receivingseed on rocky patches are
people who hear the mes-
sage and joyfully accept itat once; but they have noroot in themselves. So theyhold out for a while, but assoon as some trouble or
persecution arises on ac-count of the message, theyimmediately fall away.
Mark4:16-17
The palm (lulav) is ediblebut has no smell; it repre-sents the one who owns
the knowledge but notthe works:
You believe that God isone? Good for you! Thedemons believe it too thethought makes them shud-der with fear! But, foolish
fellow, do you want to beshown that such faithapart from actions is bar-ren?
James 2:19-20 De 6:4
The willow (arava) has notaste nor smell; it repre-sents the one withoutTorah and withoutworks, but who still ispart of the Jewish peopleand needs to become in-tegrated within the com-munity so as to provokein him an awakening that
will bring him back to hisfaith:
My brothers, if one of youwanders from the truth, andsomeone causes him to re-turn, you should know thatwhoever turns a sinner
from his wandering pathwill save him from deathand cover many sins. Prov-
Gilbert andSabrina Suard,Israel
www.soucatdavid.israelinet.org
The RenewedCovenant by thelight of the Torah
http://www.soucatdavid.israelinet.org/http://www.soucatdavid.israelinet.org/http://www.soucatdavid.israelinet.org/http://www.soucatdavid.israelinet.org/8/9/2019 Messianic Life
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P A G E 1 3V O L U M E 1 , I S S U E 1
erbs 10:12 , James 5:19-20Therefore, the festival of Suk-kot is a call to fraternal unity,and it is a duty to invite oneanother under the Sukkahtorejoice together for G-ds
kindness. It is the festival offraternal love!
It is also the festival of waterand rain. Prayers are said tobring the first rains, blessingsfor the dried earth.
For this occasion, during theperiod of the Temple, sev-enty bulls were offered forthe atonement of the seventy
nations of the world!
The portion of the prophetswritings read at this time isthe messianic celebration ofSukkot in Zachariah 14.The eighth day is called Sim-chat Torah, the joy of the To-rah, a convocation to cele-brate the end of the annualreading cycle of the Torah.
What about the body of the
Mashiach, theKehila(assembly) of G-d today?
The good news is we are all in-vited to Jerusalem to celebratethe coming back of the GreatKing and His Reign togetherwith the people of Israel. He isthe source of living water and inHim we find the true fraternalunity, in the shelter of Hiswings. On that day, the earthwill be filled with His knowl-
edge. He will be proclaimedONE.
Then ADONAI will beking over the whole world.On that day ADONAI willbe the only one, and hisname will be the only name.Zachariah 14:9
G-ds plan to gather every-thing in Him will be fulfilled
so that we are one in Him,Jew and Gentile, the TwoHouses reunified under thesame G-d and His Torah. Butbefore anything, He has tocome back to Jerusalem, the
city of the Great King, and toinvite us all to celebrate Suk-kot and to celebrate Him, theLiving Torah!
It was also on that date thatYeshua decided to come inflesh to bring us the Light(see our study on the birth ofYeshua)
Pesach: the deliverance
Shavuot: the gift of the HolySpiritRosh Hashana: His comingbackYom Kippur: our sins havebeen forgivenSukkot: His messianic reignChanukka: He is the Light ofthe worldPurim: the defeat of Amalek
Lets prophetically celebrate
Sukkot while awaiting theglorious celebration to come,with Yeshua!
____________________
Celebration of thefestival
Build a booth keepingthe sky and the stars visible
Make decorations aboutIsrael; add garlands, kids
drawings, symbols of thetwelve tribes of Israel Jeru-salem.
Prepare a festive meal.Sfaradic Jews start the mealwith couscous which re-minds them of the manna inthe desert because of its nu-merous seeds.
Pomegranate is the typi-
cal fruit for Sukkot becauseof the seeds that are a re-minder of the manna andbecause of its crown, remi-niscent of that of the GreatKing.
If you were able to ob-tain Lulav, shake it in front ofthe Sukkah to symbolize fra-ternal unity.Start with the blessing upon
the wine, Kiddush(sanctification) then on thebread motzi (taken out of,dragged).
Blessed are you Hashem,our G-d, King of the uni-verse, Who created thefruit of the vine
Blessed are you Hashem,our G-d, King of the uni-verse, Who brought forththe bread from the earth
May the L-rd bless you inthis day of joy and fraternalunity, while we are awaitingthat day when we can rejoice
together in Jerusalem!
Chag SameachHappy festival!
Unless otherwise noted,Scripture quotations are from
the Complete Jewish BibleCopyright 1998-2004 byDavid.H.Stern. Published by
Jewish New testament Publi-cations.inc.www.messianicjewish.net/
jntp Distributed by Messianic Jewish Resources Interna-tional. All rights reserved.Used by permission.
Sukkot
means booth
or tent, a
temporary
dwelling,
reminding us
of the
wanderings
of the people
of Israel in
the desert. It
also reminds
us that we
are
sojourners in
the earth...
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P A G E 1 4
Yeshuas Birthdate by Gilbert and Sabrina SuardWas YESHUA reallyborn on December 24th ?
The Bible doesnt say
anything about it; insteadmany pagan divinitiesanterior to Yeshua wereworshiped at the wintersolstice, and especiallyon the 24th of December.For example, in the Baby-lonian TAMUZ cult (Ez8: 14), the temple dedi-cated to the divinity hadside windows in the di-rection of the sun. Dur-
ing the three lowest day-light of the solar year ,the sun did not shinethrough the windowsand the divinity wasmourned as for adead .Three days later onthe 24th of December thesun was visible againthrough the windowsand the pagan god wasworshipped as a resur-rected one.
Our L-rd was born onSukkoth
The Bible gives clear in-formation about the L-rdYeshuas birth date in theBook of Luke, the be-loved physician who wasa very accurate chroni-cler; we can see it in theBook of Acts in the narra-
tion of the journeys andtravels of the apostles.Luke was very worriedabout letting the nextgenerations after himuniversal and solid infor-mation. By the time ofLuke there were manycalendars in use in theMediterranean world
and they had few reli-ability. So Luke used, tolocate the events in time,several unmovable signs
like Thora prescriptionsand natural events likepregnancy time etc
Luke starts his letter witha declaration that leavesno place for doubt abouthis intention to write themaximum reality on thefacts:
Dear Theophilos: Concern-
ing the matters that havetaken place among us,many people have under-taken to draw up accountsbased on what was handeddown to us by those who
from the start were eyewit-nesses and proclaimers ofthe message. Therefore,Your Excellency, since Ihave carefully investigatedall these things from thebeginning, it seemed good
to me that I too shouldwrite you an accurate andordered narrative, so thatyou might know how well
founded are the thingsabout which you have beentaught. Luke 1:1
Many commentators saidthat there was no othertrack or historical docu-ment speaking about thisTheophilus. The transla-tion for this Greek nameis the one who loves G-d, so we can think thatLuke addresses his re-port to any present fu-ture reader who loves G-d and seeks His truth.
Text follows immedi-ately, relating the history
of the Johns birth:In the days of Herod,
King of Yhudah, there wasa cohen named Zkharyah
who belonged to the Aviyahdivision. His wife was adescendant of Aharon, andher name was Elisheva.Both of them were righteousbefore God, observing allthe mitzvot and ordinancesof ADONAI blamelessly.But they had no children,because Elisheva was bar-ren; and they were both wellalong in years. One time,when Zkharyah was fulfill-
ing his duties as cohen dur-ing his divisions period ofservice before God, he waschosen by lot (according tothe custom among the co-hanim) to enter the Templeand burn incense.Luke 1:5-9
belonged to the Aviyahdivision (Luke 1:5) and his divisions pe-
riod (Luke 1 : 8), are twotemporal signs that Lukehad chosen to situate hisnarration: sufficientenough and clearlyshowing the time inwhich those events oc-curred. Indeed these twotimely details lead usback to the book ofChronicles, in which thedivisions King Davidestablished to schedulethe work of the priestand the soldiers at the
Jerusalem Temple, areclearly explained.
There were 24 divisionsof priest all divided bylot:
They were assigned (periods
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of service) by lot, the one groupequally with the other, sinceboth the descendants of Elazarand the descendants of Itamarhad officers of the sanctuary andofficers of God. 1 Chronicles24:5the seventh for Hakotz, theeighth for Aviyah, 1 Chronicles24:10
There were also 12 army di-visions also divided coveringall the months the months ofthe year.
The people of Israel, registeredaccording to their clan leaders,
were drafted for army duty un-der captains of thousands and ofhundreds, and officers servingthe king, in divisions of 24,000each, for monthlong terms ofduty covering all the months ofthe year. 1 Chronicles 27:1
This repartition of the divi-sions of service at the Templeestablished by King Davidwas still in use in the time ofHerodius at the second Tem-ple period. This is the reasonLuke uses this chronology tosituate the birth of John theBaptist. Johns father, Zacha-riah, was on duty at the Tem-ple according to his division,on the 2nd part of the 4thmonth, the first month beingthe month of Nissan up tothe biblical calendar .(Ex12 :2) .
During his service, Zachariahis visited by the AngelGabriel, the guardian of Is-rael
But the angel said to him,Dont be afraid, Zkharyah;because your prayer has beenheard. Your wife Elisheva willbear you a son, and you are toname him Yochanan. Luke 1:13
Elizabeth becomes pregnant:.
When the period of his Templeservice was over, he returnedhome. Following this, Elishevahis wife conceived, and she re-
mained five months in seclu-sion, saying, Luke 1:23
This seventh month is themonth of Tishrey; it is a timeof holy convocations, thereare three of them:
First holy convocation:
Tell the people of Israel, Inthe seventh month, the first ofthe month is to be for you a day
of complete rest for remember-ing, a holy convocation an-nounced with blasts on the sho-
far. Leviticus 23:24
This convocation is alsocalled Rosh Hashanah, whichmeans: head of the year,traditionally admitted as thebirthday of the Creation. It isthe traditional Jewish NewYear although the Bible saysthat Nissan is the first month.
Second holy convocation:
The tenth day of this seventhmonth is YomKippur; you are
to have a holy convocation, youare to deny yourselves, and youare to bring an offering made by
fire to ADONAI. You are not todo any kind of work on that day,because it is YomKippur, tomake atonement for you before
ADONAI your God. Anyonewho does not deny himself onthat day is to be cut off from his
people; and anyone who doesany kind of work on that day, Iwill destroy from among his
people. You are not to do anykind of work; it is a permanentregulation through all your gen-erations, no matter where youlive. It will be for you a Shabbatof complete rest, and you are todeny yourselves; you are to reston your Shabbat from eveningthe ninth day of the month untilthe following evening. Leviti-cus 23:27-32
This is Yom Kippur, the Dayof Atonement. It is the holiestday of the year when the L-rd grants forgiveness of thesins. Until today the Jewishpeople had observed thisDay of Atonement with agreat reverence and it is aday of deep silent and devo-tion in Israel.
The Bible
doesnt say
anything
about it:
instead
many pagan
divinities
anterior to
Yeshua were
worshipped
at the
winter
solstice, and
especially
on the 24th
of
December...
1 NISSAN 1st
1st et 2nddivision ofpriest
2 IYAR 3rdet 4th
3 SIVAN 5th et 6th
4 TAMUZ 7th et 8thdivision ofAviyah
10 TEVET Elizabeth 6thmonth of pregnancy
11SHVAT
I
12ADAR
I
1 NIS-SAN
I
2 IYAR I
3SIVAN
I Miryams ninemonth of preg-nancy
4 TA-MUZ
I
5 AV I
6 ELUL I
7TISHRE
Y
I Yeshuas birth
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P A G E 1 6
The third holy convoca-tion:
Tell the people of Israel,On the fifteenth day of thisseventh month is the feast ofSukkot for seven days to
ADONAI. Leviticus 23:34
This Feast of Tabernaclesis Sukkoth; it is part ofthe three feasts calledshalosh regalim, the pil-grimage feasts. Sukkothis one of the three mainconvocations of the yearwith Pesach (Easter) andShavuot (Pentecost).Allthe men adult had to go
to Jerusalem to celebratethe L-rd and offer sacri-fices.
This is why there was nomore room in the inns in
Jerusalem and why theshepherds brought a bigamount of animals forthe sacrifices and had towatch them outside thecity all night long.
The eighth day of Suk-koth is Simchat Torah,the joy of the Torah. Wecelebrate the end of theTorah reading cycle andthe new starts withdances around the Torahscrolls. There is a greatrejoicing in the streets.
Yeshua said about Him-self that He came to fulfilthe Torah and His deedsare fully in synchronismwith the appointed timesof the Torah. He wasborn on the month ofTishrey for the Feast ofSukkoth and was circum-cise the eighth day (Luc 2-21) for Simchat Torah.
If we count back the ninemonths of pregnancy ofMiryam until the concep-tion by the Holy Spirit,starting from the 15th ofTishrey (Sukkoth), weobtained the end ofKislev. It is during thisperiod that the eight daysof Chanukah are cele-brated: Chanukah is theFeast of the Light and theconsecration of the Tem-ple:
He is the light of theworld
The L-rds birthday:
If Pesach has been re-placed by Easter, Sha-vuot by Pentecost andthe Shabbat by Sunday,the Feasts of Tishrey(Yom Kippur, Sukkothand Simchat Torah) re-mained intact and un-changed .Theyare a signfor us:
He is the head of theCreation (Rosh Hasha-nah).
He is the ultimate sacri-fice for all the people(scapegoat of Kippur)
And He invited all thenations of the world torejoice with Him, for theFeast of Sukkoth, in Jeru-salem at the end of thetimes!
Finally, everyone remainingfrom all the nations thatcame to attack Yerusha-layim will go up every yearto worship the king,
ADONAITzvaot, and tokeep the festival of Sukkot.Zechariah 14:16
Gilbert and Sa-brina, French and Israeli,Ephraim and Judah cou-ple, four children, back toIsrael a year now. Westarted a Messianic web-site in France and weteach people Torah andHebraic sources for 7years.
We wrote differentbooks:Messianic PassoverHaggadah; Shavuot: the callof Mount Sinai and the
gifting of the Ruach Hako-desh; Messianic commen-taries of the weekly Parasha.
We started a couple ofyears ago an InternationalDistance Messianic Yeshivaand have French speak-ing students from differ-ent countries. Our Ye-shiva material will soonbe translated into Englishand Hebrew and ourgoal is to reach our peo-ple here in the Land.
www.soucatdavid.israelinet.org
The Renewed Cove-nant by the light ofthe Torah.
http://www.soucatdavid.israelinet.org/http://www.soucatdavid.israelinet.org/http://www.soucatdavid.israelinet.org/http://www.soucatdavid.israelinet.org/http://www.soucatdavid.israelinet.org/8/9/2019 Messianic Life
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P A G E 1 7V O L U M E 1 , I S S U E 1
Killeen 1st Assembly of God
Jewish Roots DepartmentOverall Objectives:
To provide a venue for all those in the county who have a calling and a desire to
explore what it means to be Biblically Jewish as defined by Romans 2:12-29.
To teach and inform Christians that there is much to be gained by understanding
Jewish Biblical teachings as understood in Romans 3:1-2.
To provide a welcoming community for disfranchised Jews and Christians that they can
participate in - without the requirement of membership.
To celebrate the God given Sabbath and Feasts as best we can with a whole heart,
as taught in Exodus 20:10-11 and Leviticus 23:1-44
Friday Nights, 7PM
502 N. 38TH Street,
Killeen, Texas 76543
For more information
Call: (254) 394-1499 or 768-3593
E-mail: [email protected]
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P A G E 1 8
By
Koray
(Cory) J.
Lemmon
Living out Torah and Spirit in my LifeI begin at the
beginning of my faithjourney. I had no reli-gious affiliation when I
entered the Air Force in1959. My dog tags sim-ply read protestant.Since I was born inChristian America andsince I was not Catholic, Iassumed I was protes-tant. I had attended Sun-day school with aneighbor on several occa-sions and Easter Servicesa couple times, but I had
never heard of beingborn again.From the very
beginning I had an inde-pendent relationshipwith YHVH. My conver-sion experience wasunique in that it was notassociated with evangel-istic meetings, pastors,lay ministries, tracts oreven Churches. One eve-ning in 1962 while onmilitary duty in the FarEast and alone in a bar-racks, I came face to facewith myself. I didnt likewhat I had become. All Iknew about Yeshua wasthat if I sincerely ask Hewould forgive my sins. Irepented and experi-enced YHVH forgivenessand His saving grace thatevening in the name of
Yeshua. I didnt evenknow His true name.Yeshua turned my lifearound at that point.
My faith hasnever been bound to aparticular tradition, de-nominational creed orbelief system. Yeshua setme free from the bond-
age of sin and I had ex-
perienced my first newbeginning. All the won-derful ramifications of
the salvation experiencewere years down theroad. I had little knowl-edge of scripture. I hadno road map or instruc-tions. I had no founda-tions and no walls of pro-tection. I had begunbuilding at the roof ofsalvation instead of at thefoundation of knowl-edge. I took many side
roads that led away fromtruth. I got stuck in themuck of layers of tradi-tions. I learned that thesafest place to walk wasright in the center of Hiswill, but it was still amystery to know for cer-tain what His will was.A couple of times Inearly drowned in thewastewater of denomina-tional legalism. But, Hewas faithful to point meback, this is the Waywalk in it. So, I stum-bled along drifting firstto the right and then tothe left like a drunkensailor. Finally my jour-ney led me to investigatethe feasts of YHVH andthe rest is history.
It was not until Isaw Yeshua in the
broader context of thewhole Bible that Hemade the final leap intothe very fabric of my life.Torah shows me sin andwhat I needed to pluckup, tear down and tossfrom my life. The Ruachpersonalizes the Wordand teaches me through
the study of Scripture.YHVH sanctifies us dur-ing this process separat-ing through us to Him-
self through thought,word and deed.
This is what itmeans to be in YeshuahaMashiach. This iswhat it is to have themind of Mashiach. Thisis what it means to walkin Torah and Spirit.Mashiach Yeshua is morethan the principle charac-ter of an interesting
Book. He is the Book.He is Truth and Life andthe Way to it. He is morethan an anointed prophetthat spoke words ofdepth and lasting truth.He is those Words ofTruth. When we take theWords in we are takingHim in to our lives. He ismore than the perfectexample of Torah obser-vant living. He is the life.It seems as though eachdenominational teacherhas discovered some
jewel of truth and thanabandoned the search toosoon. I was never satis-fied with little pieces ofthe truth.Matthew 11:25:At thattime Yeshua answered andsaid, I thank thee, O Father,Lord of heaven and earth,
because thou hast hid thesethings from the wise and
prudent, and hast revealedthem unto babes.
The hardest peo-ple to share Truth withare those who have theirtheology welded in placeby years of scholarlyinstructions. These arethe comfortable and com-
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placent, who have no needfor new understanding ortheir sleep disturbed.
Hebrews 5:12:Forwhen for the time ye ought to be
teachers, ye have need that oneteach you again which be the
first principles of the oracles of
God; and are become such ashave need of milk, and not of
strong meat.
It is hard for me to
understand how so many canteach Replacement Theologyand that the Torah is done awaywith. There are still those who
teach that the Lords Day is
Sunday and Sunday is the
Christian Sabbath. There are somany errors that live on and are
held up only by mens words.
My heart goes out to those who
have closed their minds. Withall the learning tools we mod-
erns have at our disposal, how
will anyone have an excuse forperpetuating these falsehoods.
Matthew 7:22-23:Many will say to me in
that day, Lord, Lord, have we
not prophesied in thy name?
and in thy name have cast outdevils? and in thy name done
many wonderful works? 23And
then will I profess unto them, I
never knew you: depart from
me, ye that work iniquity.During my journey I
served in prayer groups, on
Church boards, in choirs, quar-
tets, as an evangelistic crusade
counselor, a local hospital night
Chaplin and I was a pastor for a
small church for 6 years. I
served in a Baptist Church,
Nazarene Church, BrethrenChurch; I even had a short flir-
tation with Catholicism, all the
Saints and Mary. I even learnedthe rosary mantra. I studied
other Eastern Religions in col-
lege. Even while I served I was
still a babe. I needed the foun-
dation. I was told that the New
Testament was all I needed and
that the Law had been done
away with. I was missing the
foundational words of Moshe,
the teachings of Solomon in
Proverbs, the Psalms of Davidand the writings of the prophets.
1 Peter 2:2:As new-born babes, desire the sincere
milk of the word, that ye may
grow thereby:
After experiencing the
Church System first hand as a
Lay Minister I decided to
walk away from mainstream
Christianity and search for the
old paths. I joined with afaith community that some re-ferred to as Amish, but were
actually Anna Baptist Brethren.
They stated they walked in obe-dience to the entire Bible, liter-
ally where ever possible. They
had uniform dress codes and
fences all over the place. This
was a community of believers
who did many things according
to scripture, but like all the otherdenominations they were yokedto the dictates and traditions setup by man ( Sunday Worship,
Easter, ect.,).
During the course of
my faith journey, I was baptized
7 times, according to differenttradition. One denomination
only recognized their own bap-
tism as valid. Another acceptedall baptisms. I was baptized
twice indoors and once outdoorsin moving waterduring freezingweather. I was dipped back-
wards one time for the Father,
Son and Holy Spirit, which
symbolized death, burial and
resurrection. I was baptized by
two difference denominations
that dipped me frontward onetime forward for each entity of
the Godhead separately. TheKJV bible puts an and be-
tween each.FatherandSon andHoly Ghostand the dipping had
to beforwardbecauseJesus
bowed his headand gave up the
ghost. Each denomination has
developed justification for their
particular traditions.
Finally, after literally
40 years of wandering in the
wilderness of tradition and cir-
cling the mountain of worship-ing on Yom Rishon (Sunday), I
faced it with Truth and it crum-bled before my eyes. Like Is-
rael, I had traveled a long way
to get there, but was home at
last.
Deut. 2:3: Ye have compassed
this mountain long enough: turnyou northward.
YHVH guides us in all
Truth if we search for it.When we live in Truth we livein Yeshua haMashiach for He is
Truth. Im O.K. now I can rest
in Torah. He is Torah. TheRuach is my teacher. He shows
me what to pluck up and pull
down.
When I left worshiping
in Church on Yom Rishon I be-
gan Sabbath worship with To-
rah observant believers. When Igave up eating unclean things Iwas prepared already to eatwhat YHVH declares as clean.
When I backed away from
EasterI replaced it withPass
Overandthe list continues to go
on.Anytime we reject a
pagan falsehood we need to
incorporate the truth into ourlives. Batyas books, Sterns
Complete Jewish Bible and agood Jewish calendar have beenhelpful to my wife and I for
these things. The entire Bible
seems new and exciting when
we read it with a Hebrew per-
spective.
After stumbling from
pillar to post searching for truthI discovered the Hebrew roots
of our faith and who I am in thebig picture. A friend shared
with me a copy of Dean andSusan Wheelocks Hebrew
Roots newsletter and a book by
Batya Wootten.Who is Is-
rael. Thus began my second
new beginning.
Now I study scripture
After stumbling
from pillar to
post searching
for truth I
discovered the
Hebrew roots
of our faith
and who I am
in the big
picture. A
friend shared
with me a copy
of Dean and
Susan
Wheelocks
Hebrew
Roots
newsletter and
a book by
Batya
Wootten
Who is
Israel.
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with excitement and pur-
pose. I worship with amulti-racial Torah obser-
vant spirit filled faith com-munity. There is true joythere and it comes forth in
Hebraic dance and praise. Ienjoy an intimate relation-
ship with YHVH and the
Ruach speaks to my heart
all the time. These are
things I had never experi-
enced before. I sit underthe teaching of Pastor Terry
Swedlund at Shalom AlYisrael
(www.shalomalyisrael.org).
His wife Shoshana
operates a Judaic gift shop
in the storefront meeting-house in Englewood, Ohio.
It is a great little congrega-
tion with wonderful teach-
ings and leaders with a realcommitment to teaching
Torah and Spirit. I praise
YHVH for such an oasis.I know who I am.
I am part of the remnant of
Israel, an alien in this land,
but a citizen of the
Commonwealth of Israel.
I am part of the body of
Mashiach, the chosen and
espoused bride of Yeshua.I am learning how to please
Him from Torah. He
honors my study as thehighest form of praise and
He communicates directly
to my heart through revela-
tion. There is no other book
or writings that can be
trusted completely. There
is not one man whos wordsare always true and without
error. The Bible is true inits original form and lan-
guage and it belongs to the
believer, cover to cover.I need no man -
made fences to keep me
from sin. I have YHVHs
boundaries presented
clearly in Torah. If I stay in
Torah I will stay in Him
and if I am truly in Him I
will be in YHVHs family,
the place of safety, my ref-uge.
In the end I learnedthere are several levels ofunderstanding in Torah. I
learned about the spiritualsignificance of numbers in
scripture. The Ruach used
this knowledge to change
my life. I believe since my
wife of 34 years had passed
away in 1998 that a man myage should be resigned to
living alone probably forthe rest of his life. In Au-
gust of 2005 I realized that I
had been grieving the loss
of my companion for seven
years. My new scripturalunderstanding of numbers
told me that my grieving
was complete. I also realize
that the eighth year that Iwas entering biblically
represents new beginnings.
For some reason I felt re-lease and encouragement
from this understanding.
Maybe YHVH is really
concerned about every as-
pect of our lives? Maybe
He is beginning to guide my
life in a very real and prac-
tical way?A short time there
after I met Sharon a won-
derful Torah observant Isra-elite believer. We began
eating dinner together and
sharing Erev Shabbat. We
believe YHVH placed us
together. The THIRD
NEW BEGINNING had
been given to me. I havenever known any couple
more compatible or happierthan we are. It was a mira-
cle that we even met. So, I
cant share how I live outTorah without this account
of how we met. When His
Way became our Way
YHVH blessed. Sharon and
I were married under the
chupah with joy and danc-
ing. Sharon is a dancer and
YHVH has turned my
mourning into dancing.
Psalm 30:11Thou hast turned
for me my mourning into
dancing: thou hast put off
my sackcloth, and girdedme with gladness; He had
turned our mourning into
dancing. . I look for
YHVH in everything. I
purchased the wedding ring
before I knew the spiritualsignificant of numbers. The
ring has eleven tiny dia-mond points on each side.
In scripture the number
eleven means disorder.
There is a small cluster in
the middle that connectsboth sides. Together the
two sides add up to twenty-
two which means light.
Yeshua is the light thatbrings order from chaos.
There are six small points
that make up a star in thecluster with one in the cen-
ter adding up to seven the
number of divine comple-
tion, or perfection.
The point is
YHVHs hand is guiding,
cautioning and encouraging
me now in new ways since Ibegan walking in the Torah
and Spirit.
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Torah by Terry W. Hayes
P A G E 2 1V O L U M E 1 , I S S U E 1
Greet-ings
in theNameof ourbe-lovedMes-siahYe-shua;and
welcome to the Lev HaTorah Heart of the Torah. Our
corner of the magazine willbe looking into the heart ofthe Torah and its applicationfor us today. Many comingback to the Torah struggle
with the issue of, How doesthe Torah and the Crosswork together? It is ourhope to help bring light tothis important issue in com-ing articles. We also will belooking into the various 613mitzvot and having discus-
sions on application. We willbe discussing Hebraic termi-nology to help you gain abetter understanding whatyou may be hearing, reading,and much more.
There are a lot ofquestions that a non-Jewishperson has when coming intothe Torah and the Hebraiccommunities. We want to
help do our part in address-ing them. The beauty of thissection is that I am non-
Jewish Israel, the congrega-tion I attend is one that hasrecaptured a lot of the He-braic forms of worship andwe use a lot of liturgy andhave a mens minyan thatmeets once a month for tradi-tional prayer. We are mostly
a non-Jewish community butour hearts is to restore the
ancient paths of our forefa-thers, therefore our commu-nity has taken on a more
Jewish flare. The beauty ofthis is; I feel I have a lot tooffer from our experience. Ifyou are one who is new tothe Torah and may be non-
Jewish, welcome to the jour-ney.
For our first teaching
we are going to look into,What is the Torah?
What is the Torah?
Most people whenthey hear the word Torah,they have one or two percep-tions in mind.
1. The Torah is the first fivebooks of the Bible, written byMoses.
2. The Torah is law and I amnow under grace, thereforethe Law has nothing to dowith me.
Both of these percep-tions are somewhat right.Their limited statement lacksthe complete understandingof what Torah truly is.
It is our goal in thisteaching to begin to open thedoors to the Torah, so onemay look inside and seewhat wonderful things thatour God gave us to live by.HaShem even told us in Hisown words that His Torahwould be our wisdom andunderstanding before the
nations in Deuteronomy 4:6.
So what is the Torahand what is it all about?
The word Torahcomes from an archery termyara, which means to hitthe mark to shootstraight. In understandingthis then one will see that theobedience of the Torah willcause you to, shoot straightand hit the mark.
Most equate theword law and Torah asbeing the same because ofsome misunderstanding ofthe word Torah by sometranslators in the past. Torahdoes contain law within itswritings but all Torah is notlaw. Within the Torah youwill find a few other thingslike, history, covenants, andlaws.
The laws contained
within the Torah are brokendown into three groups.
1. Testimonies: These arecommandments that aregiven by God that could notbe invented by man but arerationally comprehensible.Such as, Shabbat, Festivalsand dietary laws.2. Statutes: These are thecommandments that tran-scend our understanding andwhich we obey simply be-cause they are the word ofGod. Such as, the ashes of thered heifer, or laws of jeal-ousy.
Judgments: These are com-mandments that man wouldhave compelled man to de-vise even if they were not
Most equate the
word law and
Torah as being
the same because
of some
misunderstanding
of the wordTorah by some
translators in the
past.
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P A G E 2 2
given by God. Such as,the laws of restitution, Ifyou borrow somethingfrom your neighbor andit becomes stolen or lost
you are to make restitu-tion unto yourneighbor.
Now to give full un-derstanding to what theTorah is all about fromits own description youwill begin to see that the
Torah, are the Teachingsand Instructions of
HaShem.
In our culture thewords law andcommandments havebecome negative. TheHebrew word that istranslated into the Eng-lish as commandmentis mitzvah singular ormitzvoth plural. Theword mitzvah can meancommandment but it alsoconnotes much more.
Stated in the book, Mitz-voth A Sourcebook forthe 613 Commandments,author Ronald H. Isaacswrites,
Judaism has alwaysbeen a religion of actionand deed than belief andcreed. Learning was in-tended to lead to doing.To that end, Jewish con-duct has been governedby a series of command-ments, known in Hebrewas mitzvoth. The scope ofmeaning of the wordmitzvah is a wide one. Itdenotes commandment,law, obligation, anddeed, while connotinggoodness, value, piety,and even holiness.
Looking into GodsTorah, we will find thatHe asks us to do manythings. But the sum ofTorah is to love Adonai
our God with all ourheart, soul, and resourcesand to love our neighboras our self. All the Torahfalls into these two cate-gories. In future articleswe will look deeper intothese two great mitzvot.Y
HaShem (TheName) and or Adonai(My Lord) is used in ref-erence to the Sacred
Name Y-H-W-H in allour articles. This is doneout of personal convic-tion.
Out of personal con-viction the Lev HaTorahdepartment usesHaShem (The Name)and or Adonai (My Lord)in reference to the SacredName Y-H-W-H in all its
articles.
Terry, his wifeDoyala and their twodaughters Amber andAllison attend BethavaraHebraic Assembly inCleveland, TN whereTerry is one of the Torahteachers of the Bethavaracommunity.
In 2005 Terry began
Way of the King Minis-tries. The ministry is ateaching ministry reach-ing out to the Christianand Messianic world.The ministry has pro-duced one book,Counting the Omer aDaily reflection and Jour-nal Vol. 1. Terry is cur-rently working on his
first Messianic novel andfaith based short storyseries.
Ministry contact info:
Way of the Kingministries114 Stuart Rd. NEPMB # 235Cleveland, TN 37312
Email address:[email protected]
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P A G E 2 3V O L U M E 1 , I S S U E 1
We extend you an invitation to join us when youare in the Las Cruces, New Mexico area.We have Torah study on Tuesday evenings andShabbat service on Saturday morning at 10:00amfollowed by a pot-luck Oneg (lunch), and BibleStudy. We close out Shabbat with a shortHavdallah service.We would be happy to have you join us and if youare considering relocating to our area give us acall or drop us a line.Las Cruces has been rated as the #1 small city inthe nation. We are blessed with an abundance ofsunshine, mountains, desert, clean air and mildwinters.Etz Chayim-Tree of Life Messianic Congregation
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P A G E 2 4
As Fall ap-
proaches each yearmy thoughts turn tothe first settlers thatstepped upon thisnew land. It wastaught to us inschool that aboardthe vessels these
pilgrims brought withthem the many Christianpractices and traditionsfounded from Europesgreat Myths and legends.
I have encountered thosewho when finding that Ihave abandoned my an-cient Christian traditions,chiding me for disregard-ing the sacrifice made byour founding fathers forthe traditions they wereso willing to die for tothe future generations.
I found this eloquentrebuttal, to be worthy of
study and research. Afterall my fourth and fifthgrade information on thesubject was sparse atbest, and my recall ofthose studies I realizedwas even worse.
Christians frequentlyrefer to the Puritan Pil-grims as the FoundingFathers of their faith.Christian youths boast
this proudly wheneverthe State appears tocome into conflict withreligious ideals. Let usexamine exactly in his-torical documents whatreligious rights these Pu-ritans were being perse-cuted for in their home-land of England.
Here is a briefsummary of the escalat-
ing division culminatingin a historic event.
" The 24th of Au-gust 1662, is the date ofwhat Church History hascalled "The Great Ejec-tion". It was on that daythat almost 2,000 minis-ters of the Church ofEngland were ejectedfrom their churches, andpulpits, and homes, be-cause, "for consciencesake", as they put it, theycould not bring them-selves to submit to "AnAct of Uniformity" drawnup by Charles 11 and hisbishops.
Under Henry, theChurch in England hadbeen "reformed", but itwasn't long until many
were beginning to ques-tion whether or not thereform had gone farenough. These peoplebecame known as"Puritans". It was the Pu-ritans' desire to move theReformation right to thepoint where everythingthat had been added tothe Church during themiddle ages by thePopes of Rome would be
cast out, and not only thedoctrine of the Church,but the practice and thediscipline of the Churchbe "purified"; so theywere called the Puritans.
The main body ofopinion in the Church atthis time was that "thingsindifferent, which are nei-
ther contrary to Scripture,nor forbidden by it, may
be imposed by theChurch or some lawfulpower". The "things in-different" referred towere things such ascandles, crosses, vest-ments, and altars. ThePuritans held that noth-ing that was not entirelyconsistent with theteaching of the Bibleshould be maintained;"for, if they be kept in theChurch as things indiffer-ent", said John Hooper,who has been called "thefather of Puritanism","they will at length bemaintained as thingsnecessary."-Mayflower.com
We see here that the Pu-ritans rejected Crosses,Candles, altars and vest-
ments that made up theliturgical articles of theChurch. Could candlesand crosses be enoughto load pilgrims aboard aship making a journeywith known perils of dis-ease, scurvy, food short-ages and oftendeath? Let us examinefurther their holy dayobservance according tothe historical site of Pil-
grims.Org;
"The Pilgrims did notcelebrate Christmas andEaster. They believedthat these holidays wereinvented by man to me-morialize Jesus, and arenot prescribed by theBible or celebrated by theearly Christian churches,
Founding Fathers of Faithby Jeanette Cabrera
Pilgrims signing theMayflower Compact, in1620, on board the May-flower. The compact is alandmark in U.S. consti-tutional development.From an engraving byGauthier, after T. H. Mat-teson. (Courtesy, Libraryof Congress.)
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and therefore cannot be con-sidered Holy days. "It seemstoo much for any mortal manto appoint, or make an anni-versary memorial" for Christ,
taught the Pilgrims' pastorJohn Robinson." - PilgrimHall.org
The Puritans rejected themost Holy and revered daysof the Church, and this theyknew was no small issue foralready many believers hadpreviously been martyred forthis very reason. Once thePuritans disembarked theMayflower at MassachusettsBay they enacted this lawregarding the Christmas HolyDay;
" For preventing disor-ders, arising in several placeswithin this jurisdiction byreason of some still observ-ing such festivals as weresuperstitiously kept in othercommunities, to the greatdishonor of God and offense
of others: it is therefore or-dered by this court and theauthority thereof that whoso-ever shall be found observingany such day as Christmas orthe like, either by forbearingof labor, feasting, or anyother way, upon any suchaccount as aforesaid, everysuch person so offendingshall pay for every such of-fence five shilling as a fine tothe county."
From the records of theGeneral Court,Massachusetts Bay Col-onyMay 11, 1659
Banbury's ancient
High or Market Cross wasdemolished by the puritans
The first Thanksgiving,October 1621, by Brown-scombe
on 26th of July 1600. It stoodon a section of the MarketPlace in Banbury where it is
now commemorated by aplaque. Other Crosses previ-ously in the town were de-molished about the sametime. Although Banbury waswithout a cross for over250 years, the memory sus-tained no doubt by therhyme, Ride a Cock Horse toBanbury Cross, remainedwith the local populationthroughout that period. Itbecame a physical fact
again in 1859 when thecorporation of Banburyerected a new cross indecorated gothic form atthe most prominent road
junction in Banbury.
My journey into thesefounding fathers, remarka-bly resemble the very faithI am also embarked upon.I feel the edifying voices ofthose first settlers whorecognized that the faithof Christ and the Apostleswas even then being bur-ied under ancient PaganMyth and folklore.
Let us now be encour-aged and inspired to con-tinue in the work startedfor us in this land 400
years ago.
Ecclesiastes 1:9What has been will be again,what has been done will bedone again; there is nothingnew under the sun. Is thereanything of which one cansay, look! This is somethingNew? It was here already,long ago; it was here beforeour time.
Banbury Cross, BanburyMassachusetts
My journey
into these
founding
fathers,
remarkedly
resemble the
very faith I
am also
embarked
upon.
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P A G E 2 6
The Shunam-
mite Woman ~The NamelessHostess2 Kings 4:8-37
The story of the Shu-nammite woman is anexcellent illustration ofhow we as women areto live our lives beforeYHWH. Her story takesplace at the city
Shunem, located innorthern Israel in theterritory of Issachar.(Avishag who nursedKing David in his oldage was also fromShunem.) Scripture de-scribes her as a greatwoman, probablywealthy, highly re-spected and wellknown in the area. Herhusband was an olderman and they werechildless. These arethings that the casualreader will learn, butthere is so much moreto our nameless host-ess!
Obedience to Torah
In Hebrew Shunemmeans double restingplace.It was in veryclose proximity to theVia Maris, an ancienttrade route still in exis-tence today. It linkedEgypt with Damascusand is also known asthe International CostalHighway, and in an-cient times - Way ofthe Philistines. At thePhilistine Plain, theroad branches off intotwo directions. Onecontinues to follow theMediterranean, whilethe other heads moreinland towards the Jez-reel Valley. Shunemwas located close tothis road, and for those
traveling this may havebeen the perfect placeto rest and refreshyourself before con-tinuing on. Here wefind the Shunammitewoman at the very be-ginning of the passage,in obedience to Torah.
It fell on a day, thatElisha passed to
Shunem, where was agreat woman; and sheconstrained him to eatbread. So it was, thatas often as he passedby, he turned in thereto eat bread. (2 Kings4:8)
The prophet Elisha waspassing to Shunem,
probably from the ViaMaris, and there was agreat woman who con-strained him to eat.Please take note thatElisha was not askingfor bread, but the Shu-nammite woman inobedience to Torahoffered and encour-aged him to eat. Iwould go as far to saythat she did not do itfor him alone. Showinghospitality is a Torahcommand.(Deuteronomy 10:18)
In Biblical times hospi-tality was extremelyimportant. Travel tookdays, sometimes weeksand water was pre-
cious. There was alsorobbers and unsavoryindividuals to contendwith. One never knewwho to trust - prettymuch like today. Inthese days we cantravel quickly from oneplace to another, how-ever that does not re-lease us from helpingone another. The Shu-
nammite woman obvi-ously took this obliga-tion seriously since shewas in a location whereshe could see peoplewho were passing byto offer them suste-nance.
The definition of hos-
By Hadassah Veirs
Lessons andencourage-ment forMessianicWomenToday
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P A G E 2 8
our Father says He will
bless us. By showingkindness to theprophet, the Shunam-mite woman is now ina position to beblessed for that kind-ness. Instead she asksfor nothing. We arenot obedient becauseof what we will gainfrom it, but becausewe love our Father.When we help otherswe may sometimesexpect them to do thesame for us, howeverwe should have nosuch expectation. Theability of another torepay, or to do for usshould not come intoquestion. ...but youshall surely open your
hand to him, and shallsurely lend him suffi-cient for his need [inthat] which he wants.(Deuteronomy 15:8)We are to give suffi-cient for the need, notholding back, remem-bering that our re-sources come fromYHWH - not to sate onour own lusts and de-
sires, but in order tohelp those in need.Our being contentcomes from the knowl-edge that our creatorsupplies all of ourneeds. Not that I speakin respect to lack, for Ihave learned in what-ever state I am, to be
content in it.(Philippines 4:11)
Humility
This was also a humblewoman. Even thoughshe was a wealthy, andScripture refers to heras isha Gadol(a greatwoman), when she ad-dresses Elisha, she re-fers to herself as hishandmaiden - his ser-vant. Humble your-selves therefore underthe mighty hand ofGod, that he may exaltyou in due time. 1 Pe-ter 5:6
Faith
Last, but certainly notleast, the Shunammitewoman had great faith.When she is first toldthat she will have a
son, her first responsemay seem like a lack offaith: He said, At thisseason, when the timecomes round, you shallembrace a son. Shesaid, No, my lord, youman of God, do not lieto your handmaid.(2Kings 4:16) Her re-sponse here is not alack of faith as some
would suppose, butthe cry of a womanwho month aftermonth experienceddisappointment, andthen as the yearspassed, came to thecrushing realizationthat she would neverembrace a child of her
own. However, theprophet Elisha did notdeceive her, and shedid indeed have a son.We can only imagine
the joy of this womanalong with her hus-band, that her simpleacts of kindness andgenerosity led to thegift of a child.
Some yearslater the chid fell illwhen he was with hisfather. (2 Kings 4:18-19) The father had theservants take him tohis mother, where hedied on her knees atnoon. Her anguishmost certainly wouldhave been unbearablewhen she realized thatthe child had died, butwe do not read thatshe grieved at all. In-stead, she took him tothe room that Elisha
stayed in and laid himon the bed. When dis-aster strikes or we im-mediately seek YHWH,and those who areclose to him. For theShunammite woman itwas a perfectly naturalthing to lay her deadchild on the bed of theprophet.
At this point we
do not know if she hasrevealed her sonsdeath to anyone, butshe did ask her hus-band for a servant anda donkey so that shecould go quickly to theprophet. Her husbandimmediately ques-tioned her, He said,
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Why will you go to himtoday? it is
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