Shalom and good morning. Our teaching this morning will be from GENESIS 30.14-20.
READ GENESIS 30.14-20
GENESIS 30.14 Reuben of course is Jacob’s first son, born from Jacob’s first wife Leah.
MANDRAKES – DOODAHEEM – possibly jasmine, violets, mandrakes – Webster’s – a narcotic (such as a drug), a short-stemmed European plant of the nightshade family having a fleshy, often forked root somewhat resembling a human form. Mandrakes in this setting could also be a basket of figs. Mandrakes, perhaps induce fertility to help produce children, or being fragrant bring about good feelings.
Anyway, Reuben gave them to his mother Leah. But Rachel her younger sister and second wife of Jacob wanted some of those mandrakes, perhaps hoping they would help her have chlldren. She was barren.
30.15 So here is another squabble between the 2 sisters Leah and Rachel, Jacob’s 2 wives.
30.16 FIELD – SAHDEH – ground, soil, land, the field.
Jacob was a farmer as were most Jewish people in the days of the Bible. And GOD spoke to them often in agricultural terms. For example:
HOSEA 10.12
SOW TO yourselves in righteousness. That is, learn righteousness which is obedience to Torah, and live your life according to GOD’s Word, Law and Commandment.
REAP IN MERCY – reap means harvest. When you sow to yourselves righteousness, you will receive mercy and kindness from the Lord God.
BREAK UP your fallow ground. Fallow ground is cultivated land that if plowed correctly, can grow crops. Thus Repent, and turn to The LORD, and obey Him by obeying Torah. BE NO LONGER FALLOW GROUND LIEING IDLE, BUT RATHER BECOME GODLY..
For it is time TO SEEK The LORD. Yeshua says in Matthew 6.33, “Seek The LORD in righteousness”. Seek Him by being RIGHT with GOD. And being Right with God comes by believing in Messiah and obeying Torah.
TILL HE COME and rain righteousness upon you, us. When He comes, Messiah will pour His righteousness upon us, and also teach us His righteousness.
So GOD is saying, learn righteousness, learn to be right with GOD, believing in Messiah, and obeying Torah. And you will receive His mercy and kindness.
Repent and turn to GOD. Serve Him in obedience to Torah. Seek Him in righteousness. Do what is right, live by Torah. Till He comes and rains on us His righteousness and teaches us righteousness.
Matthew 24.32-33, Luke 6.43-44
Good fruit is obedience to Torah. Serving GOD by obeying His Law. That is how a believer in Messiah Yeshua must live. That is the fruit of a Believer in the Messiah Yeshua.
Back to
GENESIS 30.16-18 ISSACHAR – YEESAHSKHAR
He will bring a reward
HIRE – SAHKHAR – reward
Now Jacob has 9 sons from his wife Leah, her maid servant Zilpah, and Rachel’s maid servant Bilhah, but Rachel was still barren. Their names are Reuben, Simeon, Levi, Judah, Dan, Naphtali, Gad, Asher and Issachar.
Issachar was of course, the father of the tribe of Issachar. And when the children of Israel came into the land of Canaan some 600 years after his birth, the tribe of Issachar was given their parcel of land in Israel, and it was rather small compared to the others because there were fewer people in that tribe.
The land of the tribe of Issachar was located at the Sea of Galilee where the Jordan River flows down to the Dead Sea. Issachar is in the region of Nazareth. And the Jordan River is the boundary today that separates Israel from Jordan, that is the country of Jordan.
The Tribe of Issachar had a reputation for wisdom and understanding.
1 CHRONICLES 12.32
UNDERSTANDING – BEENAH – understanding, and perfect knowledge, and wisdom, as in understanding times, to know what Israel should do.
Mt. Tabor is in the land of Issachar in Israel. And the Bible says, “So Barak went down to Mt. Tabor, and 10,000 men after him”.
JUDGES 4.1-4
30.19-20 ZEBULUN – ZEHVOOLOON – habitation, or a permanent home.
The inheritance of the tribe of Zebulun is also a small parcel of land bordering Issachar to the west. THE CITY OF NAZARETH IS LOCATED THERE, not far from the Sea of Galilee. That is where Yeshua spent some 30 years of His life though He was born in Bethlehem of Judah.
Let’s look at one of Isaiah’s prophecies of the coming of Messiah Yeshua. These words were written some 700 years before Messiah’s birth, and 1st coming.
ISAIAH 9.1-2
VERSE 1 – DIMNESS – MOOAHF – darkness, i.e. not knowing GOD, not obeying Him, death.
VEXATION – distress, anguish, suffering, sorrow
LIGHTLY AFFLICTED – lightly regarded, the people in the Galilee were lightly respected.
JOHN 1.45-46
VERSE 2 – DARKNESS – KHOSHEHKH. Darkness, ignorance and death, because of not knowing GOD, and disobeying Him.
SEEN A GREAT LIGHT – Yeshua.
Yeshua lived in Nazareth, travelled around the Galilee, taught in the Synagogue there and did many healings and miracles.
THE LIGHT the people saw was of course YESHUA AND HIS TEACHINGS. PROVERBS 6.23
COMMANDMENT – MEETZVAH – a Commandment and The Torah, The Law of Moses. Yeshua taught then and today the Commandments and The Law of Moses, for all mankind to obey.
Without The Law and GOD’s Commandments is darkness and not knowing GOD. But with His Law and Commandments we have light. We obey GOD and know Him and have life.
Back to the land of Zebulun and Nazareth. Miriam and Joseph lived in Nazareth a city of Galilee and that is where the angel Gabriel announced to Miriam that she would give birth to The Jewish Messiah.
LUKE 1.26-33
It was the city of Nazareth in Israel in the land of Zebulun where Joseph and Yeshua’s Mother Miriam brought the Child from Egypt.
MATTHEW 2.19-23
No Scripture or Prophet calls Him a Nazarene but this saying may come from Isaiah 9.1-2 commenting that Yeshua lived in the region of Nazareth, a Nazarene(?)
Yeshua taught in the Synagogue in Nazareth in the land of Zebulun, In Israel.
LUKE 4.16-19
One of Yeshua’s great teachings is, “Repent, for the kingdom of Heaven is at hand”.
MATTHEW 4.12-17, 23
REPENT – turn
to GOD and obey Him. Two excellent scriptures that teach what Repentance is are found in Ezekiel 18.21-22 and Ezekiel 36.27.
Let’s look at two of Jacob’s other sons, Gad and Asher, and a little of their history.
GENESIS 30.10-11 GAD – GAHD – Gad’s name is written in the Torah as bah gahd meaning good fortune or fortune has come.
Listen to this. The land of the tribe of Gad in Israel would be in today’s Jordan. That is the country of Jordan. In fact, Jordan’s capital city Amman is in Israel in Gad. Thus part of Israel is occupied by Jordan.
The Jabbok River is between Manasseh to the north and Gad, and this is where Jacob wrestled with GOD and where GOD changed Jacob’s name to Israel.
GENESIS 32.22-32
30.12-13 ASHER – AHSHER – happy
The land of the tribe of Asher is the most northern territory of Israel. It’s on the coast of the Mediterranean Sea and extends north to Sidon in Lebanon. So, Lebanon also belongs to Israel. The City of Tyre is some 30 miles south of Sidon and Yeshua preached The Word of GOD there.
MATTHEW 15.21-28
VERSE 27 I’ll take the crumbs. I’ll take whatever Words of GOD you say to me, and whatever you do for me. And He healed her daughter.
Joshua had some words of wisdom and encouragement for the children of Israel when the tribes came into the land. And these words apply to us today, and always will.
JOSHUA 1.1-9
Before we bring this message to a close, let’s talk about the 12 tribes in Revelation 7 where the tribes of Dan and Ephraim are missing.
REVELATION 7.1-8
The tribes of Dan and Ephraim are left out of the 12 tribes of Jacob, because Joseph, Jacob’s 11th son, is counted for 3 tribes. The tribes of Jospeph, Manasseh and Ephraim. But the two tribes of Dan and Ephraim are left out in this writing of John. Why?
1. Some say they were left out because of idol worship. Not true. In the darkest hours in the history of Israel, many Jewish people worshipped graven idols. That’s one of the foremost reasons we were exiled in 586 B.C.E.
2 CHRONICLES 25.1, 14-15; 2 CHRONICLES 28.1-2
2. Others say it was a Scribal error that does not include Dan and Ephraim. Also not true.
3. Others say John made an error leaving the two out. Also not true.
4. Yet others say Dan is left out because the anti-Christ comes from the tribe of Dan. Nonsense.
5. There is no Biblical reference why they are left out, and GOD is sovereign.
I do believe however, that these 144,000 Jewish people will preach the Truth and be witnesses for the Jewish Messiah Yeshua throughout the world at a time in the future before Messiah’s return.
Messiah said, The Truth shall make you free. And you shall know The Truth, He said, and The Truth shall make you free.
Here is The Truth the 144,000 Jews will preach throughout the world. The Truth is this. GOD and Messiah are The Truth. GOD’S Word and His Law and Commandments are The Truth. And by obeying them, which includes believing in Messiah Yeshua, you are set free from your sins because Yeshua is your atonement, your only atonement to forgive your sins (Jeremiah 31.31-34). GOD forgives your iniquity, and remembers your sins no more. The result, GOD with you in this life, and eternal life in the Kingdom of Heaven, forever.
That is what the 144,000 Jews will preach.
Shalom, Ira Weinstein
Month: March 2011
PURIM IN PERSIA
Shalom. Our teaching this morning is about a Jewish Holiday that celebrates a great victory over an anti-Semitic tyrant by the name of Haman, and the many Persians in that day who sought to exterminate the Jewish people in the great Persian empire some 2,400 years ago. That holiday is Purim. The heroes of this story are a beautiful Jewish girl by the name of Esther whom the Persian king chose to be his queen, and Esther’s Uncle Mordecai. Purim is a two day holiday. It starts tonight at sundown and ends Monday evening at sundown.
And here is the action that made Purim such an important holiday in Judaism that GOD brought to an end in happiness and celebration.
ESTHER 3.8-11
DIVERSE SHAHNAH – different, different from anything all people follow.
SUFFER THEM YAHNAKH – allow them to live.
DESTROYED – destroyed utterly, not allow one to escape.
Let’s look at some history before we move into the Purim story. In 586 BCE, some 724 years AFTER Joshua led the children of Israel into the Promised Land, The LORD their GOD, The GOD of Israel exiled them out of the Land. He had them deported from Israel to Babylonia, today’s Iraq, because of their persistent disobedience to Him. The Bible says, “Moreover, all the chiefs of the Priests, and the people transgressed very greatly (all disasters are brought on because of disobedience to GOD). After the abominations of the nations, and they polluted the House of The LORD which He had hallowed in Jerusalem”.
2 CHRONICLES 36.11-21
The Persians, under Cyrus the great, some 47 years later captured Babylon in 539 BCE and conquered the entire Babylonian Empire which included Israel. And Cyrus the great, king of Persia, moved by The GOD of Jacob, passed an edict allowing all the Jewish people to return to Israel and build The House of their GOD, the 2nd Temple.
2 CHRONICLES 36.22-23, ISAIAH 44.24-28
The 70 year exile GOD decreed for His People was complete and fulfilled upon the completion of the 2nd Temple in Jerusalem.
EZRA 6.14-15
– The 6th year of the reign of Darius, king of Persia, was 516 BCE (Verse 15).
– The exile was to last 70 YEARS according to the commandment of GOD.
– From the exile of the Jewish People in 586 BCE to the completion of the 2nd Temple in 516 BCE is 70 years.
JEREMIAH 25.11-12, JEREMIAH 29.1011
Thus, the events that brought on Purim took place in Persia, today’s Iran, some 59 years after the Persians conquered the Babylonian Empire. As a point of interest, the 2nd Temple in Jerusalem was not completely built. And the story of Purim is found in The Book of Esther.
ESTHER 1.1-4 This is The Great Persian Empire: from India to Ethiopia on today’s map would include India, Paqkistan, Afghanistan, Iran, Iraq, Israel, Syria, Lebanon, Jordan, Turkey, Greece, Egypt, Sudan and Ethiopia.
Jewish people lived in every one of those countries.
Shushan the Palace in Persia, today’s Iran, was not far from the Persian Gulf that separates Iran and Saudi Arabia. Also Shushan was about 200 miles west of where Abraham was born in Ur of the Chaldees, today’s Iraq.
Media, as in Persia and Media was in today’s northern Iran in the area of Teheran, not far from the Caspian Sea, and Russia.
King Ahasuerus was also known as Xerxes. He was powerful, and seemed to be inept.
The King threw a 6 month feast for all his nobles and princes, and there were no restrictions on the amount of wine that was drunk.
And after the 6 months, he held another feast for 7 days, for everyone in his palace.
And his queen Vashti, held her own feast for the women that lasted 7 days.
1.10-12 She refused possibly because he was so drunk, and because of the will of GOD for what was coming.
So the king asked his advisors what he should do? Dump her, they said, and get yourself a new queen.
2.1-2 His counsellors suggested he hold a royal beauty contest for the most beautiful virgin girls in the empire. The king would then make his choice. Esther was one of those girls.
2.5-8 And for 12 months, the girls were taught how to apply makeup and sweet aloes, and Esther was the favorite of the king’s chamberlains.
2.10 And Esther told no one she was Jewish.
2.16-17 And the king loved Esther above all the other girls and he made her queen of Persia.
2.21-23 Mordecai apparently had an office in the king’s court in the palace, and he overheard a plot to kill the king.
3.1-2 Now the story starts to heat up. An Agagite and a Jew, or an Amalekite and a Jew. GOD does not like Agagites who are descendants from Agag, King of the Amalekites, because they did their very best to kill the Children of Israel when they came out of Egypt in the Exodus. Haman was a descendant of king Agag, king of the Amalekites and Haman was an Amalekite.
EXODUS 17.8-16, DEUTERONOMY 25.17-19, 1 SAMUEL 15.1-35
So this Haman was an Amalekite whom The LORD despised because they hated GOD’s People and sought to destroy them. And I believe Mordecai knew Haman was an Amalekite who despised GOD and hated The Jewish People.
3.4-15 Haman shows his contempt for the Jews charging the people of the Persian Empire to slaughter all the Jews. And Ahasuerus was not innocent either.
4.1-3 Mordecai was in tears, the Jews fasted and wept.
4.11-17 and Mordecai warned Esther.
5.1-2 Esther requested the king attend her banquet with Haman, today, the same day, she prepared for Haman.
5.7-9 Haman was crazy happy and had a gallows 80 feet high built to hang Mordecai, Verse 14.
6.1-2 The king couldn’t sleep that night. And even though GOD is not mentioned in this story, The LORD is preparing deliverance for His People: READ VERSES 13-14
7.1-10 Haman’s plot to kill the Jews is exposed, and then he was hanged on the gallows he made for Mordecai.
8.1-2 Queen Esther gave her Uncle Mordecai Haman’s office and authority.
8.8, 11 Persian law did not allow reversal of the King’s decree to kill the Jews, but the Jewish People were granted permission to stand for their lives and defend themselves against those who would attack them.
8.16-17 And many in the Empire became Jewish.
9.1-5, 10 And the Jews defended themselves against those who attacked them.
9.15-17 And again, The Jewish People defended themselves, and stood for their lives and killed 75,000 that sought to kill them.
9.20-32 Purim is not a sabbath unless it falls on a Sabbath, Saturday.
10.1-3
VERSE 3 He sought the good of his people and spoke for the welfare of all his descendants.
There are times in our lives when major problems arise, but then The LORD our GOD works a great miracle and delivers us.&nb
sp; Just as He did for Noah and his family at the flood. And for Lot when GOD destroyed Sodom and Gomorrah, and at The Red Sea for His Chosen People. And at Purim when Haman sought to massacre the Jews. But GOD delivered each and every one with joy and celebration.
Psalm 37 reads in part, “Delight yourself also in The LORD, and He will give you the desires of your heart. Commit your way unto The LORD trust also in Him, and He shall bring it to pass. Rest in The LORD and wait patiently for Him. The law of His GOD is in his heart. None of his steps will slide. But The Salvation of the righteous is of The LORD. He is their strength in the time of trouble. And The LORD shall help them, and deliver them from the wicked, and save them, because they trust in Him”.
Shalom, Ira Weinstein
WHY DID GOD CHOOSE JACOB WHEN SO MANY SCORN HIM ? GENESIS 30.9-13
Shalom. This morning our teaching will be from Genesis 30.9-13, and we have given this message a title. Why did GOD choose Jacob when so many today scorn him?
READ GENESIS 30.9-13
GENESIS 30.9-11 Now it’s Leah’s turn to give her husband Jacob her servant Zilpah to bring forth more children for Jacob. And Zilpah, Leah’s maid servant had a son and Leah named him Gad, meaning either troop or good fortune.
Initially, Leah had 4 sons by her husband Jacob. Their names were Reuben, Simeon, Levi and Judah. But Rachel, Jacob’s 2nd wife was barren, so Rachel gave Jacob her servant girl Bilhah, and Bilhah had 2 sons by Jacob. And their names were Dan and Naphtali.
30.12-13 And again, Leah gave Jacob her servant girl Zilpah, and she had another son, and Leah called his name Asher meaning happy.
So, why did GOD choose Jacob when so many people today scorn him? And yet, Jacob is GOD’s Chosen, and this is brought to light as Scripture unfolds. And we know from Scripture that Jacob was disobedient to GOD according to the words GOD spoke to Moses about Jacob and his life in the Book of Genesis. Jacob had four wives, Leah and Rachel and their two maidservants Zilpah and Bilhah, and that’s wrong when GOD’s Law speaks of a man having only one wife.
GENESIS 30.3-5 AND VERSES 9-11
WIFE – EESHAH, wife in all 4 Scriptures.
Now years earlier, the same husband, maidservant scenario took place with Jacob’s Grandparents Abraham and Sarah, because Sarah told her husband Abraham, The LORD has prevented me from bearing children.
GENESIS 16.1-3
WIFE – EESHAH – wife
Abraham listened to his wife Sarah and Ishmael was born from her servant Hagar.
There’s a lesson to be learned here, The LORD says, “Rest in The LORD and wait patiently for Him. Delight yourself also in The LORD and He will give you the desires of your heart”. (Psalm 37)
But, back to Jacob and his 4 wives. That practice of the wife giving her husband her maidsertant to conceive children for his wife was an ancient near-Eastern tradition but unlawful with GOD. I believe Abraham knew that and so did Jacob. It was and stilll is GOD’s Law for a man to have 1 wife, not 2 or more. And yet Abraham is GOD’s Chosen also.
GENESIS 1.27-28, GENESIS 2.24
1 wife. That is GOD’s commandment and law from the Creation.
And Yeshua repeats the very same Law, because He Himself is GOD, Elohim.
MATTHEW 19.3-6
But yet, GOD chose Jacob. And also there was a lot of bickering and arguing in Jacob’s family. Sort of like most all families. It started with Jacob and his twin brother Esau wrestling with each other in their Mother’s womb even before they were born . Then the well-known troubles between Jacob and Esau after they were born. Esau wanted to kill Jacob. Then Jacob was tricked by his Uncle Laban into marrying Leah before he married Rachel. Now he has 2 wives. And then came the arguments between the 2 wives, Leah and Rachel. And then Jacob ends up having 4 wives, Leah, Rachel and the 2 servant girls who so far had 8 sons by Jacob; Reuben, Simeon, Levi, Judah, Dan, Naphtali, Gad and Asher. And he’s not finished. And Jacob’s life was filled with troubles, and much of that grief came from his sons. And yet, GOD chose Jacob.
GENESIS 47.7-10
PILGRIMAGE – his stay on earth
EVIL – RAH – bad, troubling, wicked and evil
Abraham died at 175
Isaac at 180
Jacob was 130 years old at the time of his conversation with Pharaoh. He died at 147.
Thus, Two of the great greats of GOD’s special family, Abraham and Jacob disobeyed GOD, and yet GOD chose them to be His own treasure, for His own purpose, and yet they disobeyed GOD’s Law. Let me say this. So have I. So have all of us broken GOD’s Law, His Torah. Maybe we, and I’m speaking to men, do not have two wives, or four wives, but John defines sin in 1 John 3.4 as breaking GOD’s Law. John writes, “Whosoever commits sin, trangresses also The Law, for sin is the transgression of The Law. Jacob broke GOD’s Law, and yet GOD chose him. Why?
Somewhere along the way, GOD forgave Jacob and his Grandfather Abraham their sins, and saved them and they lived entirely by GOD’s Laws. And yet Messiah’s 1st coming was not for another 2,000 years. And no, GOD did not forgive their sins and save them because they believed in the future coming of Messiah Yeshua for atonement. Their atonement in those days came from the sacrifice of clean animals, AND OBEYING GOD. But everybody who sacrificed animals for atonement in those days according to GOD’s Law was not forgiven their sins, nor were they saved because they rejected GOD’s Law as most people do today. But Jacob and Abraham were forgiven their sins by The LORD GOD, and He saved them. And GOD chose them. GOD chose Jacob, and we know He forgave him his sins, and saved him, because GOD refers to himself as The GOD of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. Yeshua says in Luke 13.28, that we will see Abraham, Isaac and Jacob and all the prophets in the Kingdom of GOD.
And again, Yeshua said in Matthew 8.11, and I say unto you that many shall come from the east and the west, and shall sit down with Abraham, Isaac and Jacob in the Kingdom of Heaven. GOD chose them. GOD forgave them and saved them, and Jacob who is scorned by so many is in the Kingdom of Heaven today, because GOD chose him.
After all, GOD, The GOD of all Creation, The One GOD, The only True GOD, and there is none else beside Him, The LORD, The King of Israel, the 1st and the last, and beside Him there is no other GOD. He is The One GOD of Creation, The LORD GOD Who calls Himself THE KING OF JACOB in Isaiah 41.21. GOD chose Jacob and changed his name to Israel, the name of GOD’s Chosen People, and the name of their land, Eretz Y’Israel, The Land of Israel. Israel is called in Luke 1.33, The House of Jacob. GOD’s Temple is called in Acts 7.46, The Tabernacle for The GOD of Jacob. The Prophet Isaiah writes in Isaiah 41.8 “But you Israel are My servant, JACOB WHOM I HAVE CHOSEN, the seed of Abraham My friend, actually in Hebrew OHHAHVEE, meaning My love. Isaiah 44.1-2 reads, “Yet now hear O Jacob My servant, and Israel whom I have chosen. Thus saith The LORD that made you, and formed you from the womb which will help you. Fear not O Jacob My servant and you Jesurun or Israel whom I have chosen”. And Verse 21 reads, “Remember these O Jacob and Israel, for you are My servant. I have formed you. You are My servant, O Israel. You shall not be forgotten of Me”. Isaiah 48.20 reads, “The LORD has redeemed His servant Jacob”. And Isaiah 49.6, “And GOD said, it is a light thing that you should be My servant to raise up the tribes of Jacob, and to restore the preserved of Israel, for I will also give you (GOD is speaking about Messiah) for I will also give you
for a light to the Gentiles that you will be My Salvation unto the end of the earth”. GOD said, “Jacob have I loved but Esau have I hated”, Malachi 1.1-2. GOD is called The Mighty GOD of Jacob in Psalm 132.5, and Isaiah 29.23 refers to The LORD GOD as The Holy One of Jacob, and The Mighty One of Jacob is Isaiah 60.16.
Why did GOD choose Jacob? And why did GOD choose Jacob when so many today scorn him? Scorn is a word meaning open dislike and disrespect, extreme disdain, contempt and derision and something contemptable. Someone unworthy or despised. You don’t believe me? Get a Bible Dictionary and read what they write about Jacob. But GOD chose Jacob.
He loved Jacob. He named His Chosen People after Jacob, and GOD calls Jacob by the name Israel. So why did GOD choose Jacob? The answer is this. It was GOD’s sovereign choice. His undisputed, independent choice. His choosing Jacob was not dependent on what Jacob did, but by GOD Himself Who does the choosing, FOR HIS PURPOSE.
ROMANS 9.9-11
ELECTION – EK-LOG-AY Selection, selection by GOD, and chosen.
EPHESIANS 2.8-10
GRACE – GOD’s kindness, His lovingkindness.
SAVED – delivered from eternal death in hell because GOD has forgiven our sins.
FAITH – belief in Messiah
WORKMANSHIP – a special creation for GOD
GOOD WORKS – obedient to GOD, His Word and Torah.
WALK IN THEM – we should live in them by obeying Torah.
BEFORE ORDAINED – GOD appointed us, and chose us before the Creation to be His and to walk in His ways, obeying Torah.
Let’s go back in time because GOD’s choice of Jacob was made a long time ago, even in eternity, before the Creation. And GOD saw Jacob as perfect. And GOD made him perfect. Yet, even though in his early years, he messed up.
GENESIS 25.24-27
Remember, these words are from GOD Himself. All the words of the Book of Genesis are from The LORD GOD, that He gave to Moses, and Moses recorded them for all the world to read, and learn by them.
PLAIN – In Hebrew is Tahm; complete and perfect
GOD saw Jacob as perfect. Why? Because GOD loved Jacob. GOD loves everyone He chooses. And Jacob loved GOD. I believe that as Jacob grew into adulthood, he obeyed every word GOD spoke. And GOD forgave Jacob his sins as He forgave his Grandfather Abraham his sins, and saved them. That was also preordained.
GENESIS 15.6 I believe this applies to Jacob as well
BELIEVED (in The LORD) AHMAHN – firm, faithful, to trust in GOD and believe in GOD, be true to GOD, be established and steadfast in GOD.
RIGHTEOUSNESS – TSEHDAHKAH – being right with GOD, and pleasing to GOD.
And following belief in GOD, and also for us, following our belief in Messiah, should and must come obedience to GOD, which Jacob did just as his Grandfather Abraham obeyed GOD.
GENESIS 26.4-5
And it is GOD Himself Who makes our works in us, just as He did for Jacob. Do we believe in Messiah or not? Do we obey Torah or not? GOD has made our works in us.
ISAIAH 26.12
ORDAIN – SHAHFAHT – established and appointed
PEACE – SHALOM – peace
WROUGHT – PAHAL – made
WORKS – MAHAHSEH – actions, good or bad. Do we obey GOD or not? Do we believe in Messiah? Either way, GOD has made our works in us.
So GOD chose Jacob by his own sovereign and independent choice, for GOD’s own purpose. The very same reason and purpose GOD chooses us.
EPHESIANS 1.4
HOLY – clean and pure from sin. That comes only from belief in Messiah, and obedience to Torah. Holy also means being dedicated, devoted and loyal to The LORD GOD and Messiah.
WITHOUT BLAME – without sin. That comes only from believing in Messiah, and obeying Torah, fully. AND OBEYING TORAH INCLUDES BELIEF IN THE JEWISH MESSIAH YESHUA.
And finally, how do we know we are chosen by GOD? Here’s the answer. We know we are chosen if we believe in Yeshua The Messiah. And along with our belief, we live our life according to Torah, just as Yeshua did, and just as the Prophets and the Apostles lived their lives, according to Torah.
1 PETER 1.4, EPHESIANS 2.20
(1 PETER 1.4)
ELECT – EKLEKTOS – means chosen
FOREKNOWLEDGE – PROGNOSIS – beforehand, i.e., before time.
SANCTIFICATION OF THE SPIRIT – made holy and pure and perfect through The Holy Spirit Who lives in us.
OBEDIENCE – to Torah, The Law of Moses.
SPRINKLING OF HIS BLOOD – GOD gave us atonement for our sins. That’s GOD’s promise in the T’NAKH, (Jeremiah 31.31-34)
So, why did GOD choose Jacob? Because GOD loved Jacob as He loves all of us Whom He chooses. And it was GOD’s sovereign choice, for His purpose. And as GOD had a purpose for Jacob, He also has a purpose for each and every one of us whom He chooses.
Shalom, Ira Weinstein
PSALM 91 – THIS IS A PROMISE OF GOD. BELIEVE IT!
In these days of wars and rumors of wars, Middle Eastern turmoil, sham Israeli peace treaties to divide their Land, famines, pestilences, and earthquakes, recessions and depressions, false prophets and false teachers, and abounding iniquity. And as the end approaches toward the great and final tribulation, and the birth-pains increase faster and faster, and as Daniel writes in his prophecy in Daniel 12.4, “But you O Daniel, shut up the words, and seal the book, even to the time of the end. Many shall run to and fro, AND KNOWLEDGE shall be increased”. Many think that that knowledge is technology and technology over the years has increased phenomenally.
Then there are our own personal concerns of everyday life. Our welfare, our families, our well being and health, our security and protection. And for many of us, our eyes are focused on none other than Yeshua The Messiah, our GOD and our Redeemer, The Creator of Heaven and earth, The Holy One of Israel.
So with that said, our study this morning will be on one of the most uplifting writings in Scripture, a writing of comfort and encouragement, a writing of GOD’s love and mercy for His servants and His Chosen. A writing that teaches that those who seek shelter and protection ONLY in the Most High, CAN LIVE WITHOUT FEAR, FROM ANYONE, AND ANYTHING. Thus, our study this morning will be from Psalm 91.
READ PSALM 91.1-7
91.1 DWELLS YAHSAV – to live as a resident as you and I live in our home.
SECRET PLACE SAYTAYR – means PROTECTION and TRUTH. We’ll speak of truth a little later in the Message.
THE MOST HIGH – ELYONE – the supreme and Most High, The GOD of Creation, The Holy One of Israel.
ABIDE LOON – remain, continue, stay permanently
under the SHADOW – SHADOW is TSAYL – His defence.
THE ALMIGHTY – SHAHDY – The most powerful, GOD ALMIGHTY.
Thus, he or she who dwells in the secret place of The Most High, in His Truth and protection, shall continuously be defended by The Almighty, The Supreme and Almighty GOD, The GOD of Creation, The King of Israel.
Very comforting words indeed. And how often does GOD and Messiah say to us, fear not, don’t worry? He says that a lot.
91.2 REFUGE MAHKHAHSEH – shelter, safety, protection.
MY FORTRESS MAHTSOOD – my defence
MY GOD in Whom I will trust.
MY GOD EHLOHY
In Him will I trust:
TRUST BAHTAKH; hide for safety, shelter and protection, and be confident and sure in The LORD your GOD, in Whom you and I will put our complete and absolute confidence in.
The armies of Israel’s enemies came against Jehoshaphat, king of Judah to battle. And the king sought The LORD and put all his confidence in The LORD GOD, and GOD answered him.
2 Chronicles 20.1-4
GOD is our refuge and shelter, our protection and defence. My GOD, in Him will we trust. That’s why Messiah’s Name is Yeshua, Salvation. He HELPS us, cares for us, rescues us, saves us, and gives us victory.
91.3 The snare of the fowler. Actually a trap set for a bird. But here it means an underhanded plot devised against you or me that is evil and treacherous. And GOD will deliver us.
DELIVER NAHTSAHL – deliver, snatch you away from the evil plot, rescue you, and GOD will get RID of the one(s) with the evil plan.
And GOD will deliver you from the noisome pestilence, and dreadful, destructive and contagious plague. GOD will deliver you from it. That is His promise.
91.4 GOD will cover you with His feathers. Poetic words meaning, GOD will protect and defend you.
And under His wings shall you trust. What does PROVERBS 3.5 say? Trust in The LORD with all your heart, and lean not to your own understanding. That is, don’t rely on yourself or others, but rather trust in GOD with all your heart, as King Jehoshaphat did, and GOD The Most High will bring you success, and bless you.
His truth shall be your shield and buckler; that is, GOD will SURROUND YOU, He will protect and defend you.
Let’s go back to Verse 1. “He that dwells in the secret place of The Most High”. The secret place of The Most High is His protection and His Truth. If you dwell in His Truth, all these blessings will come upon you. So, what is GOD’s Truth? His Truth is HIS WORD, HIS JUDGMENTS, HIS LAW, and HIS MESSIAH. And His Truth endures FOREVER.
GOD’s Word is Truth. Psalm 119.43
WORD DAHVAHR – GOD’s Word, every word He speaks, His advice, His answer, His Commandment, His counsel, His decree, that is, His Law, His Judgments, His Message, His Promise, His Purpose, His Reason, His Saying and Sentence, His Thought and Good News, and as Yeshua says in Luke 4.4, “Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every Word of GOD”.
GOD’s Law is Truth, that is The Law of Moses.
PSALM 119.142
Your righteousness is an everlasting righteousness. Meaning, You LORD GOD are always and forever righteous. You always live according to Your Law, always and forever.
And Your Law is Truth; In Hebrew – VEETORATKHAH EHMET.
GOD’s Law, The Law of Moses, is Truth.
GOD’s Judgments are Truth. PSALM 19.9
JUDGMENT – MEESHPAHT – GOD’s Judgments, His verdicts or sentences for a crime or penalty, etc. and His Judgments or penalties or rewards, if you will, ARE ACCORDING TO HIS LAW OF MOSES.
Thus, the Judgments of The LORD are true. They are Truth.
Messiah Yeshua is The Truth. Because He is GOD and GOD is Truth.
And GOD’s Words are in Him, and GOD’s Words are Truth.
DEUTERONOMY 18.18-19, EPHESIANS 4.21
And GOD’s Truth endures forever. PSALM 117.1-2
TRUTH OR TRUE EHMEHT The best definition of truth is this. GOD’s Word is the Truth. Messiah is The Truth. GOD’s Law and Judgments are the Truth. And His Truth endures forever.
Thus, he or she who dwells in the secret place of The Most High, in His Truth and protection, shall remain under the shadow and protection of The Almighty.
91.5-9
VERSE 7 – For example, Noah and his family lived through the world’s greatest cataclysmic disaster the world has ever known, to this day, and without a scratch, because Noah lived by GOD’s Truth. He trusted in GOD also, and he had The LORD’s protection.
And Lot and his family escaped Sodom and Gomorrah without a scratch, but LOT’s Wife fell victim to disobedience.
2 PETER 2.4-9
And GOD saved the children of Israel at the Red Sea because they are His Chosen, and GOD will save all others, Jewish and those who are not Jewish who are His Chosen and His servants who serve Him and obey Him. EXODUS 14.26-31, PSALM 91.7-9, ISAIAH 26.2
91.10 This is a promise of GOD. Believe it.
91.11-12 GOD gives His angels charge over you and me. GOD commands His angels to keep us, and protect us from all danger wherever
we go.
PSALM 34.7, HEBREWS 1.14
Minister (Hebrews 1.14) attend to us as servants.
91.13 ADDER PEHTEHN, a viper, a poisonous snake.
I don’t think the writer means that we should as of now start looking for poisonous snakes and lions and other dangerous critters to trample on. But I believe what’s being taught here is that GOD will deliver us from every danger that may come our way. As He delivered Daniel from the lions by shutting their mouths, and GOD delivered Noah and his family, and Lot and his 2 daughters, and the Children of Israel from Pharoah. And as GOD delivered David from Goliath in the biggest mismatch of the century, and GOD delivers and will deliver you from every danger, even those you don’t see with your eyes.
2 TIMOTHY 4.17-18, LUKE 10.19-20, JEREMIAH 20.11, EPHESIANS 6.12-18
(LUKE 10.19) NOTHING SHALL BY ANY MEANS HURT YOU.
ANY MEANS – not at all, never
91.14-16
VERSE 14 Knowing GOD’s Name is explained in 1 John 2.3
Verse 15 This is GOD’s promise to you. Believe it!
Verse 16 LONG LIFE – OHREKH YAHMEEM, Forever, eternal life
Will I satisfy him or her. SATISFY – SAHVEYAH, to fill with satisfaction, having plenty.
SHOW him My Salvation. SHOW – RAHAH – We will SEE Messiah, GAZE at Him, LOOK UPON Him, And Messiah will APPEAR to you.
MY SALVATION YEHSHOOAHTEE – My Salvation is My Yeshuah The Messiah, The GOD of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob.
PSALM 17.15
BEHOLD KHAHZAH – See Him
David writes, “I in righteousness will see You.” In Hebrew; Ahnee betsehdek – I in righteousness
David will be pure, perfect, righteous, lawabiding, right with GOD as will we when we see GOD Face to face in the Millennium and eternity in Heaven.
And I shall be SATISFIED. SATISFIED SAHVEYAH – fully satisfied, there will not be an ounce of disappointment.
When I AWAKE with Your likeness. Can this be the Resurrection? I think so.
With your LIKENESS – LIKENESS TEHMOONAH
Meaning, the likeness of GOD. We will be like Him, we will have the same Spiritual body as our GOD and Messiah, we will be pure and clean from sin and sickness and death. We will be beautiful as He is beautiful. We will have the same Spiritual body He has. “Let Us make man in Our image after Our likeness” He said in Genesis 1.26. We will be like Him when we are with Him in the Millennium and Eternity in Heaven, in happiness and joy forever.
1 JOHN 3.2
Let’s clear something up. When we are in the flesh, that is our earthly body, we cannot see The Face of GOD. But, when we are in our Heavenly and Spiritual body, we will be like GOD and Messiah, and we will see Him as He is. EXODUS 33.20
Why will GOD give us such an awesome gift? Because He loves us. JOHN 17.23
The key to this extraordinary teaching in Psalm 91 is this. That we dwell in the secret place of The Most High. In His protection, and in His Truth. And GOD’s Truth is Messiah Yeshua, The Full Word of GOD, His Judgments, and His entire Law of Moses. And as Psalm 117.2 reads, “For His merciful kindness is GREAT toward us, and The Truth of The LORD endures forever. Praise ye The LORD.”
Shalom, Ira Weinstein
DAN AND NAPHTALI; GENESIS 30.1-8
Shalom. Our teaching this morning is from GENESIS 30.1-8.
READ GENESIS 30.1-8
GENESIS 30.1-2 VERSE 1 ENVIED KAHNAH – jealous
VERSE 2 “Am I in GOD’s stead?” i.e., Is it I instead of GOD who has withheld from you the fruit of your womb, that is, from bearing children?
GENESIS 30.3-5 Perhaps having children by the wife’s servant because the wife was barren was permissable in those NATIONS in the Middle East, and lawful. Sarah also said to her husband Abraham (Genesis 16.2), “The LORD has kept me from bearing children. Go into my maid Hagar. Perhaps I will have children by her.” And Ishmael was born to Abraham and Sarah.
From the beginning it was always GOD’s will for a man to have 1 wife and not more. This is GOD’s Law and Commandment. It is part of Torah, The Law GOD gave to Moses. Yes, I know there were a number of great men in the Bible like David and Solomon and others who had more than 1 wife, but it was wrong. It was contrary to GOD’s Word.
GENESIS 2.24
ONE FLESH ONE; One, united into 1, joined together in 1.
One person
FLESH BAHSAHR – Person
WIFE EESHAH Wife, SINGULAR
I think of The Scripture that says, “Learn not from the heathen for their customs and laws are vain”. They are empty, unsatisfactory and wrong. Rachel was brought up, of course, by her mother and father, who were heathen.
JEREMIAH 10.1-3
VERSE 1 HEAR SHMAH Hear and obey
THE LORD YEHHOVAH – GOD
THE WORD – dahvahr word, decree (law) commandment
VERSE 2
Do not learn the way of the heathen.
Learn lahmahd – Do not be taught by them, do not learn their ways.
WAY DEHREKH Their way of life, their customs, behavior, manners.
THE HEATHEN Goyim. According to Strong’s Concordance, heathen are Gentiles, heathen, nations, that is foreign nations, all nations other than Israel.
GOD gave Israel His Word, Laws, Commandments and Covenants not only for Israel to live by but for all humanity to do, and to follow. But the nations outside of Israel are taught not to obey GOD’s Word, His Laws and His Commandments, but their own doctrine taught by men rather than the Commandments taught by GOD. Learn not the way of the heathen, GOD teaches.
DISMAYED – frightened
VERSE 3 Customs of the people (the heathen).
CUSTOMS KHOOKOTE – Laws, commandments, decrees, ordinances, statutes, even appointed times, i.e. Much of the world is taught that Sunday is the Sabbath rather then the seventh day Saturday Sabbath as The Lord has appointed for all.
VAIN HEHVEHL -empty, vain, unsatisfactory, meaning, they are bad, not good, and not pleasing to GOD. For example, the Law of Moses is dead, abolished, no longer in force. in other words, GOD’s Word is dead. Learn not the way of the heathen, GOD commands us.
Here is what GOD teaches all humanity.
JEREMIAH 31.10
Hear The Word of The LORD O you nations.
Sheemoo dahvahr YEHHOVAH goyeem
HEAR – SHMA – hear and obey
WORD – DAHVAHR – GOD’S Word, His answer, His Commandment, counsel, decree or Law, judgment, language, message, promise, speech, spoken word, thought, tidings, i.e. His good news, His work. Every Word He speaks.
ISLES EEYEEM – islands, countries
DECLARE NAHGAHD – Stand boldly, announce, expose, explain, praise, declare plainly,
speak.
GOD calls on all the world, all the nations, all the isles and countries afar off to obey Him, to obey His Word found written in His Book, The Bible.
Back to
GENESIS 30.4-6
DAN DAHN – JUDGE – READ VERSE 6
Dan was the 5th son of Jacob and the ancestor of the tribe of Dan. Jacob’s first 4 sons by his wife Leah were Reuben, Simeon, Levi and Judah. And the inheritance of the tribe of Dan that was allocated to them when GOD brought the children of Israel out of Egypt into the Promised Land which became Eretz Y’Israel, The Land of Dan was a small parcel of land bordering The Mediterranean Sea to the East, the parcel of land allocated to the tribe of Manasseh to the North, Ephraim and Benjamin to the West and Judah to the South and North of the region where the Phillistines lived.
The cities in the land of Dan. JOSHUA 19.40-48
A few memorable events recorded in Scripture happened in The Land, the tribe of Dan inherited. Jonah went to Joppa, a city on the Mediterranean coast, where he had his famous voyage. Joppa was in Dan.
JONAH 1.1-4
JOPPA – A city in Dan
TARSHISH – probably a city or region in the Southwestern coast of Spain, West of Gibraltar. He didn’t get very far.
Peter, by a supernatural act of GOD, raised the woman Tabitha from the dead in Joppa, the former region of Dan. Joppa was a coastal city in Israel.
ACTS 9.36-43
GOD sent an angel to Cornelius telling him to send men to Joppa to bring back a man named Peter. He is staying with Simon, a tanner, whose house is by the seaside. And he will tell what you must do.
ACTS 10.1-16
1. This vision has NOTHING to do with food.
2. It’s a parable in a vision teaching that GOD saves Gentiles along with Jewish people, those who fear GOD, work righteousness, that is obey GOD’s Law of Moses, and believe in Yeshua The Messiah. They are accepted with GOD. Verses 15, 28, 34-36.
Samson was from Dan.
JUDGES 13.2-25, JUDGES 16.23-31
SAMSON SHEEMSHONE – sunlight
I believe the ending of this story has to do with those who hate Jewish people and their Land of Israel.
Back to
GENESIS 30.7-8 NAPHTALI My wrestling. READ VERSE 8
Naphtali was Jacob’s 6th son, and the ancestor of the tribe of Naphtali. Their inheritance of land in Israel, was in the North, which today would be from the Sea of Galilee on the Jordan River to Southern Lebanon not too far from Beirut.
JOSHUA 19.32-39 The land of Naphtali
Hazor was a Canaanite city in Northern Canaan before it fell to the chi
ldren of Israel and became a city within the inheritance of the Tribe of Naphtali. Hazor was ruled by a king, Jabin, king of Hazor. And Israel had to defeat this king to conquer all Canaan, the country GOD gave to the children of Israel for an everlasting possession.
As well known, The LORD took the children of Israel out of Egypt by the hand of Moses, after being there for 430 years. The last 400 years as slaves. GOD led His people to the Sinai Peninsula in Egypt, and there at Mt. Sinai, The LORD GOD gave the people the 10 Commandments, and they built their Tabernacle, the portable tent which was their Temple, which The LORD gave detailed instructions to Moses in a Heavenly vision. The Tabernacle travelled with them on their entire 40 year journey in the wilderness, to the Promised Land. And it was used until Solomon built the 1st Temple.
After less than a year in Sinai, the people moved on, and came to The Red Sea. Pharoah changed his mind and wanted the children of Israel back in Egypt as slaves. But GOD had other plans for His People. And Pharoah sent his army out after GOD’s People, but GOD opened the Sea for the israelites to pass through on dry ground. And with the Egyptian army charging after Israel, The LORD dropped the ocean on them; killing every Egyptian warrior.
The LORD, choosing Moses to lead His People of 3 million including a mixed multitude who were not of Israel before the Exodus, led them in the wilderness crossing into today’s Saudi Arabia and Jordan. They conquered the Northern part of Jordan giving it to the tribes of Reuben, Gad and Manasseh. Then they conquered Southern Canaan giving that land to Simeon, Judah, Benjamin, Dan and Ephraim. And now it was time to conquer Northern Canaan according to the Word GOD gave to Moses, of which the tribes of Issachar, Zebulon, Asher and Naphtali would occupy after Israel put all Canaan to the sword, according to GOD’s Word. And we read about the conquest of Northern Canaan and Jabin, King of Hazor which was in the future inheritance of Naphtali. This reading is not for the faint in heart. And king Hazor was an obstacle to overcome. But with GOD, there are no obstacles. He gave all the land of Canaan whose borders go to The Euphrates River, to Israel for an everlasting possession, 3,500 years ago, and GOD never changes.
JOSHUA 11.1-23
VERSE 6 Hough their horses. Hamstring them by cutting a large tendon in their rear leg; thus disabling the horse.
VERSE 16 This Goshen was in the Southern part of Judah, not to be confused with the Goshen in Egypt.
In summary:
GOD’S Word is permanent. It never changes. GOD created and established His People Israel, The Jewish People from Abraham, Isaac and Jacob and the 12 Tribes of Israel. He established the Tribes in Israel as GOD promised. And gave them His Law and Commandments to pass on to all the world, which the nations as a whole reject.
Thus, 2,600 years ago, GOD commanded His Prophet Jeremiah to teach His People this important instruction, for all GOD’s people, Jewish and non-Jewish. “Learn not the way of the heathen.” Do not be taught by them because their customs and law and statutes are vain and empty. Their statutes are not of GOD but of men. They abolish GOD’s Laws and Commandments and replace them with their own laws.
This is the way of GOD’s People, whether you are Jewish or not Jewish. Believe in The Messiah Yeshua and obey The Word of GOD. His Law, His Commandments, His Statutes and His Covenants. Obey them and do them. That is the heart of the servant of GOD. That is the person Yeshua has accepted.
Shalom, Ira Weinstein