Parasha Ki Tisa 5784 (2024) reading:

Shemote (Exodus) 30:11-34:35
Yehezqel (Ezekiel) 36-37 (all)
Mattityahu (Matthew) 15, 17, 23

Fair Use: Pro-Israel Content, Academic Content, Autistic Content:
The following text is a written version and may differ slightly from the video dialogue.

Shalom and welcome to Nazarene Israel. I am Norman Willis, and this is our parasha midrash for Ki Tisa for the members of the Genesis 35:11 alliance, which has a great nation Judah, at the core of a cluster of protestant-Josephite or Ephraimite nations.

B’reisheet (Genesis) 35:11
11 Also Elohim said to him: “I am Elohim Almighty. Be fruitful and multiply; a nation and a company of nations shall proceed from you, and kings shall come from your body.”

And not surprisingly, that is the political reality that we see today. And in our study on the Four Horses, we will show how this Genesis 35:11 alliance will probably continue to exist even through the Millennium. But despite the reality that we see, and despite what is written right on the page, the Orthodox rabbis continue to teach all of their people to pray daily for the deaths of all Notzrim of every kind (including Joseph) in the Birkhat HaMinim, which is article 12 of the Shemoneh Esreh, or the weekday Amidah.

“For the apostates [meaning anyone who has left Orthodox Judaism, such as Yeshua (or Jesus), and everyone who follows Him] let there be no hope! And uproot the kingdom of arrogance speedily and in our days! May the Nazarenes and [all] the [other] sectarians [or the other “minim”] perish, as in a moment! Let them be blotted out of the Book of Life, and not be written together with the righteous! You are praised, O Adonai, who subdues the arrogant!”
[Wikipedia, Jerusalem Talmud-Birkat haMinim]

And as we have already seen, this is the same pattern as in B’reisheet 4:8, where the older brother Qayin (or Cain) rose up against his younger brother Hevel, and killed him.

B’reisheet (Genesis) 4:8
8 Now Qayin talked with Havel his brother; and it came to pass, when they were in the field, that Qayin rose up against Havel his brother and killed him.

And as Rabbi Moshe ben Nachman (or the Ramban) reminds us, the actions of the fathers are a sign (or a portent) for the sons, meaning Yahweh works in patterns, and therefore, history repeats itself.

“It is indeed a great matter which our rabbis mentioned briefly, saying: “Whatever has happened to the patriarchs is a sign (or a portent) to the children!”|
[“The Deeds of the Forefathers are Signs (or Portents) for their Descendants”, Ramban commentary on Genesis 12:6, Sefaria]

And the problem is that the Judah-on-Joseph older-on-younger murder and enslavement pattern has been repeating itself ever since the older brothers Judah and Levi planned to murder our younger forefather Joseph, but then sold him into slavery instead, in B’reisheet 37:20, in “Parasha Vayeshev”.

B’reisheet (Genesis) 37:20
20 “Come therefore, let us now kill him and cast him into some pit; and we shall say, ‘Some wild beast has devoured him.’ We shall see what will become of his dreams!”

Thankfully, Elohim flipped it for good (as He always does)—and used our forefather Joseph’s suffering to save the lives of Judah and Levi and the other brothers. (So, if you are suffering for righteousness’s sake, remember that, and be thankful. You might get an opportunity to save Judah and Levi’s lives.)

But still Judah and Levi hate Joseph and have wanted to kill or enslave Joseph and his children ever since the dream of the sheaves. They hate Joseph for being a prophet. And that is why they kill the prophets. So, please pray that the older brothers Judah and Levi will wake up to what is going on, so they do not incur more blood guilt then they already have, by killing more Josephite Notzrim.

(And we are not sticking up for Esav—we are trying to get Judah and Levi to not kill more of Joseph.)

Proverbial bride or couch-sitters?

I hesitate to say that this is the most important parasha of the series, because they are all critical for our understanding. But it is a big problem both for Judah, and for Ephraim that both houses really have no idea what the Torah of Elohim’s ketubah really is.

Because Elohim did not say to replace His words with our own words in the Talmud, and then worship ourselves such that we obey ourselves. Elohim did not say to establish our own Torah, but to obey His Torah forever. And Elohim did not say to behave like lounge lizards, raiding His spiritual food pantry, sitting on His sofa, and eating all His spiritual food, and then never doing any work.

Judah works—just at the wrong thing. Ephraim knows what the right thing to do is—he is just lazy as a stick of Ephraim. (And Judah is crooked as a stick of Judah.) If you put crooked and lazy together, what do you get? A lazy crooked stick?

As we will see, Ephraim needs to stop sponging and mooching. Yahweh does not like it when we try to treat Mashiach Nagid’s kingdom like a thing of the world, trying to see how much we can get from Him for how little. (We can understand that people have been abused by Esavite leadership in the past, but is it not our fault that we chose to listen to Esav?)

We are going to talk a lot about relationships. It has been said, “It is not a religion, it is a relationship.” But what relationship? The relationship Mashiach Nagid wants is when we behave as His Proverbs 31 war bride, putting Him first in everything, and obeying His voice in all things, to support Him in His spiritual warfare. And if we do less than that, is our fiancé pleased? Or does He have us up on court martial charges for disobedience?

Stay tuned. But only if you want to survive what is coming.

Introduction: Administrative announcements

We have a few administrative announcements, because there is so much to cover in these parashiot. We were going to try to do short parashiot studies in order to put more emphasis on the documentaries (which really need more focus and attention). But we are getting good questions in the comments section, and it seems like genuine understanding has not made its way into the mainstream yet.

(Usually, you see other ministries copying our works, and changing them a little, to make them sell better, rather than present the straight word.)

And if Ma’asei (Acts) 15 requires us to do a real Ma’asei 15 parashiot, then I cannot stand not to do a job as well as I can. And the parashiot are an evangelical tool par excellence—but only if people act on what they learn. But in an environment where 90% of Ephraim is not going to come home, and where discipleship takes so much time, I must stay in prayer, and then make my very best parashiot for you as I can, and then let Elohim work out all the rest.

Ma’asei (Acts) 15:21
21 “For Moshe has had throughout many generations those who preach him in every city, being read in the synagogues every Sabbath.”

Please pray for the documentaries—but for now, the parashiot just keep getting longer, because I can tell that people just do not understand their Bibles. So, we need to help put things in perspective for the house of Ephraim (and for those of Judah who are listening).

The length keeps getting longer, because we need to help people to realize why they are going to get killed if they keep doing nothing. And I need more time for the documentaries, but the documentaries will not do anyone any good if they have a fleshly or a carnal perspective, rather than a spiritual kingdom perspective like we need to have to survive.

With longer parashiot, it means more illustrations, but our editor is also on total overload, like the whole rest of the staff. (May Yahweh please bless and keep those few handful of families and individuals who are voting their confidence in Yahweh with their hard-earned dollars, and pesos, and rand.)

Most of Judah is not listening, because he is too busy doing the wrong thing. And most of Ephraim still thinks drinking from all the fountains is better than finding Elohim’s true messenger, and ignoring the book salesmen, and the disorganization salesmen. Ephraim loves disorganization. And it seems that Ephraim is a born rebel, maybe ever since great-matriarch Asenath’s milk.

The sad thing I must tell you is, for us to help people realize the times we are in, and what needs to be done, we must cover more content. But since our editor is already overworked, we must post less Scripture quotes than we could if His people were being faithful. (We are sorry about it. We would like to do better for you, but sadly, we are very much beyond our limits right now. So, please pray that Yahweh will send support by the elect He wants to save and bless.)

Torah Portion

We have a lot of very important material to cover this week. The local power utilities went out again, and we lost another day to a pagan Esavite festival, so let us jump right into the Torah portion.

Shemote (or exodus) 30:12
12 “When you take the census of the children of Israel for their number [which we should only ever do when He directs], then every man shall give a ransom for himself to Yahweh, when you number them, that there may be no plague among them when you number them.”

There are many different opinions on this, both on the Talmudic side, and among Notzrim. But when Yahweh tells us to take a census, we need to pay a half a shekel (or two days’ wages), so that we will not have a plague among us, when we obey Elohim’s commandment to number ourselves.

People ask, “Why do we have to pay a tax when Yahweh tells us to number ourselves? What is with that?”

And the reason is pride. It is normal for leadership to take pride and a sense of strength in numbers. Only, we are not to look to ourselves for numerical power and strength. We are not supposed to number our troops (or our nuclear warheads, or anything like that) to see how powerful we are—or whether we think we can win this or that particular war. Because the battle belongs to Yahweh, not to us. So, we see this as a reminder to stay humble, and remember that physical numbers mean nothing–and this tax is just a tangible reminder of that fact.

But what is so interesting is that in Mattityahu 17:24-27, Yeshua did not respect this tax, even though He kept the written Torah of Moshe perfectly.

Mattityahu (Matthew) 17:24-27
24 When they had come to Capernaum, those who received the temple tax came to Kepha and said, “Does your Teacher not pay the temple tax?”
25 He said, “Yes.” And when he had come into the house, Yeshua anticipated him, saying, “What do you think, Shimon? From whom do the kings of the earth take customs or taxes, from their sons or from strangers?”

26 Kepha said to Him, “From strangers.” Yeshua said to him, “Then the sons are free.
27 Nevertheless, lest we offend them, go to the sea, cast in a hook, and take the fish that comes up first. And when you have opened its mouth, you will find a piece of money; take that and give it to them for Me and you.”

Esav uses this as proof that Yeshua did come to do away with the written Torah of Moshe, even though Yeshua says the exact opposite in many places. We will see why in this parasha, and what it has to do with our relationship with Elohim.

As we are going to see, there are different qualities of relationship with Elohim. And different levels of intimacy with Him. But all of them depend 100% on our doing what He says with a glad heart, knowing that He is a man of war, and that He is at war, and He is not looking for a loose rabbinical canon, or a lazy Ephraimite lounge lizard for a bride. (We will come back to this at the end of this parasha.)

There is also a bronze basin in Shemote 30:17-21 that we will see again in the Brit Chadasha section. (Hopefully, you already read the portion.)

Shemote (Exodus) 30:18-21
18 “You shall also make a laver of bronze, with its base also of bronze, for washing. You shall put it between the tabernacle of meeting and the altar. And you shall put water in it,

19 for Aaron and his sons shall wash their hands and their feet in water from it.
20 When they go into the tabernacle of meeting, or when they come near the altar to minister, to burn an offering made by fire to Yahweh, they shall wash with water, lest they die.

21 So they shall wash their hands and their feet, lest they die. And it shall be a statute forever to them—to him and his descendants throughout their generations.”

Special anointing oil

We want to handle this carefully, but here is a very controversial subject among Ephraimites, so we will read Yahweh’s words for what they actually say, and then we need to conform to His words. (And not the other way around. And I cannot recommend that practice enough!) We are talking about the anointing oil that is to be used on Aharon and on his sons, and on both altars, and on basically everything in the portable Garden of Eden ‘show-Him-respect’ space that we are supposed to be tending and keeping for Him, at His command.

Starting in Shemote 30:23, it tells us that Yahweh spoke to Moshe, saying to make a special anointing oil that would only be used for the things that pertain to Him and the portable bistro that we are building for Him.

Shemote (Exodus) 30:23a
23a Also take for yourself quality spices-five hundred shekels of liquid myrrh, half as much sweet-smelling [Hebrew, ‘bosem’, meaning ‘sweet’ or ‘aromatic’] cinnamon [‘kin-naw-mone’] (two hundred and fifty shekels),

There are two types of cinnamon. It is probably talking about Ceylon cinnamon here, because Yahweh will list Saigon cinnamon (or cassia, which is what most people call cinnamon) in just a moment.

Shemote (Exodus) 30:23b
23b two hundred and fifty shekels of [very] sweet smelling [aromatic] cane, [Hebrew, ‘kaneh bohsem’].

‘Bohsem’ is a doubling of ‘bohs’, which means, ‘fragrant’, or ‘sweet smelling’. ‘Kaneh bohs’ would be ‘sweet smelling cane’, or ‘fragrant cane’, whereas ‘kaneh bohsem’ (with the doubling) means “very sweet-smelling cane” or “very fragrant cane”, which is a pretty good descriptor of what cannabis is. (And some people hate this, but it is also a solid linguistical match. ‘Kaneh bohs’ – ‘Canna-bis.’)

Shemote (Exodus) 30:24
24 five hundred shekels of [sweet, aromatic] [calamus, or what they call ‘sweet flag’], according to the shekel of the sanctuary, and a hin of olive oil.

Psychoactive ingredients

I did not write this stuff, so do not blame me. But the only one of those components that is not psychoactive is the olive oil. (And some people even think that olive oil also has an effect on your mood and your mental state.)

Ceylon cinnamon and Saigon cinnamon (cassia) are not very psychoactive, but they do have perception altering properties. Calamus (sweet flag tea) is definitely psychoactive. It used to be used as a traditional eye remedy, and also as a perfume or an essential oil fragrance. And verse 30 tells us to anoint Aharon and his sons with it, and set them apart, that they may minister to Yahweh as priests.

Shemote (Exodus) 30:30
30 And you shall anoint Aharon and his sons, and consecrate them, that they may minister to Me as priests.

Okay, so Yahweh wants this stuff on them, and on the whole restaurant, maybe as a perfume? (We do not know.)

Shemote (Exodus) 30:31-33
31 “And you shall speak to the children of Israel, saying: ‘This shall be a set-apart anointing oil to Me throughout your generations.
32 It shall not be poured on [a regular] man’s flesh; nor shall you make any other like it, according to its composition. It is set-apart, and it shall be set-apart to you.
33 Whoever compounds any like it, or whoever puts any of it on an outsider, shall be cut off from his people.”

Proper usage

If you go online and search for “Biblical anointing oil”, you will find people who make what they think is this formula (with balsam rather than kaneh bosem), to sell openly on the internet, or in stores. (They probably do not know that kaneh bohs is cannabis, because most versions translate kaneh bohs as “balsam”.)

But I have written to these Ephraimites, to ask them if they are trying to commit suicide. And they always say things like, “Oh no. It does not mean that. We are all the priesthood now anyway, so we can all put this all over ourselves!” And, again, I usually ask them, “Are you trying to commit suicide?”

If we are all the priesthood now (like Korach’s rebellion, like what they are saying), then how do you explain Ma’asei 6:4, which tells us that there is to be a separated priesthood in the Melchizedekian Order?

Ma’asei (Acts) 6:4
4 “But we will give ourselves continually to prayer and to the ministry of the word.”

And why did Shaliach Shaul give Shaliach Titus instructions for appointing elders in Titus 1:5?

Titus 1:5
5 For this reason I left you in Crete, that you should set in order the things that are lacking, and appoint elders in every city as I commanded you—

And why are we given standards for congregational elders and deacons in Timotheus Aleph (First Timothy) 3, if there is no structure, and no commanded organization? (What do you need elders and deacons for?)

The real sad truth is that Ephraim does not read Scripture with an intent to enter in, or obey. Ephraim reads Scripture to gain knowledge without obedience. (Knowledge puffs up!)

The Messianics cannot answer any of these questions, but they do not change. And that is because they read for Greco-Roman Babylonian knowledge, rather than for the purpose of entering into an obedient relationship with Elohim. They read it to confirm that they think they are cool. But how often do they read it to see what they do not yet know and need to begin doing? (As if we [you know], believe what Scripture says?)

(So, they are the 90%. And they are committing slow suicide, which is what they are doing. But they do not listen.)

Incense

Shemote (Exodus) 30:34
34 And Yahweh said to Moshe: “Take sweet [aromatic] spices, stacte and onycha and galbanum, and pure frankincense with these sweet spices; there shall be equal amounts of each.”

There are various opinions about what some of these are, but it is clear that they are all fragrant (or aromatic). Many believe that myrrh gum resin is in this list. And additionally, frankincense is psychoactive (especially when you put it with myrrh gum resin). So, it seems Yahweh wants psychoactive incense as well.

Now up to here, this is all just factual information—the big question is, what do we do with it? These specific compounds are intended for use only by the Levitical Order in the portable Garden of Eden restaurant. They are not intended for use by anyone other than the Levitical Order in a cleansed altar environment. They will certainly make some kind of anointing oil for the third temple (or the anti-Yeshua temple), but we are hoping not to participate in that one.

And there will certainly be an anointing oil for the fourth temple (which comes only after the Tribulation and Armageddon), and these formulas will be the ones used. (We do hope to partake of the fourth temple [or Ezekiel’s temple]—just not the coming Talmudic temple. We are holding out for a Tanach temple!) In the meantime, we do not use this oil or this incense in Yeshua’s renewed Melchizedekian Order.

Yahweh’s herbs

However, that is not to say that we cannot use these herbs, because we know that they used these herbs back in Tanach times. If you do an internet search for “Bible herbs”, there are all kinds of different websites that talk about the herbs themselves, and what they were used for, and their medicinal values, etc. And we need to realize that Yahweh intended for us to have knowledge about his plants.

And not to draw this out, but sometimes people have questions (especially on this subject). And we have several articles on the website regarding diet, natural medicine, and human health—they are near the end of Nazarene Scripture Studies volume five and the start of volume six. I highly recommend those studies. (We started to make a book on the subject, but we are running out of time and resources.) …And we recommend knowing about essential oils and natural antibiotics for protection against the next version of biochemical warfare!

Serious disciples

While we are here, we have a few more administrative announcements: We are so glad that so many people are taking an interest in Scripture. However, a little bit of discipline goes a long way. And I hope to say this the right way, but Ephraim and Judah are out of time. So, to say it directly, we know is it so easy to ask every question in the comments, and basically expect a spiritual adult to “spoon feed you” the answer.

Our administrator Moises built a very good search feature into the website, and we really are so overloaded here it is difficult to explain. The comments are much better now, but we still have a few people who seem to want to be spoon fed everything, rather than use the search feature. And sadly, we still have some Excusephraimites looking for excuses to get out of the marital contract.

If you are looking for a way to get out of doing what Yahweh says because of Yeshua’s sacrifice, I am so sorry to have to be the one to tell you, but that is not a White-Horse Josephite spirit. Quoting Yeshua or Shaul to ‘do away with’ the Torah is a Red-Horse-Esavite spirit, and you need to repent of it.

And it is insidious, which is why the 90% will not make it. But if your name is Esav, then please go somewhere else. (And do not go away mad—just please, go away.) Because we have a hard enough time with the future 10%, who will be willing to obey Elohim to save their lives.

My assistant and the contact staff do not need to be arguing with people who do not want to know. My instructions are to block arguers, and only respond to those who want to learn how to become disciples, according to all that Yeshua said. And I realize that some people feel it is their job to argue with us, and convince us to hire them, or obey them, or tell them they do not need to keep the written Torah of Moshe. And with all the respect, and with all the love, we just do not have time.

(All Satan must do is to stop us from having time to do the necessary things, and we are just not going to go there.)

So, I am sorry to have to put it just exactly this way, but we kind of need to get the message across. So, just to say this, in Mattityahu 28:20, Yeshua does not tell us that our job as His servants is to play wet nurse to a bunch of spiritual infants who want to stay on the bottle, and be spoon fed, and not organize, and not contribute.

Mattityahu (Matthew) 28:20
20 “teaching them to observe all things that I have commanded you; and lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age.” Amein.

I realize that Esav has taught the opposite thing for a very long time now, but when we came out of Esav in the Protestant Reformation, we were supposed to ditch Esav’s doctrine. Okay? The Church used Shaul to explain away Yeshua, and the Church uses Yeshua to explain away His Father Yahweh. And Scripture is written in just such a way as to make that possible—precisely to separate the sheep from the goats. So please stop expecting us to treat you like the Church. (We know you do not mean to be offensive, or insulting, but we do not like it when people who claim Yeshua’s sacrifice expect us to bottle-feed them.)

In Yeshayahu 28:1 we read about the spiritual drunkards of Ephraim, who are also still on the bottle.

Yeshayahu (Isaiah) 28:1
1 “Woe to the crown of pride, to the spiritual drunkards of Ephraim, whose glorious beauty is a fading flower which is at the head of the verdant valleys, to those who are overcome with spiritual wine.”

And we can try to help you with some milk, but really we need the Ephraimites to get tired of diapers, and pray about learn to prefer solid food. Because Yeshua does not want a child bride. You cannot be wearing pampers and come meet Him under the chuppah. Okay? No huggies on the battlefield. (The Talmud and the Quran are in favor of child brides—Yeshua is not.) So, if you want to be married to Yeshua, you need to pray and ask Yahweh to help you become a Proverbs 31 war bride (because that is where it is at).

Rather than treating Yahweh like a thing of the world and seeing how much you can get for how little, you need to be asking yourself, “How much can I do to help Yeshua’s kingdom grow?”.

It is a Little Red Hen situation. And if we are spiritual adults (rather than spiritual babies), we need to not only pull our own weight, but we also need to be providing for others. And that means that we all should be looking forward to providing for others in such a way as to build Fivefold unity on the unified Foundation of Apostles and Prophets.

And the other independent ministries are working against that commanded Fivefold unity. And you can tell there is no fear, because people read right past Ephesim 2:20 and Ephesim 4:11 like they are not even there.

Ephesim (Ephesians) 2:20
20 having been built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Yeshua Mashiach Himself being the chief cornerstone,

Ephesim (Ephesians) 4:11
11 And He Himself gave some to be apostles, some prophets, some evangelists, and some pastors and teachers,

What kind of relationship is that? Is that the kind of relationship our Commander and King is going to accept from His war bride on the battlefield? Or, not? (We would say not.)

Our thankless job in Nazarene Israel is to immerse spiritually mature disciples who are eager to do everything they can to help Yeshua build His kingdom, with the end goal of bringing mankind back into spiritual subjection to Elohim, like it was always supposed to be in the Garden. Now, I hate to say this, this is going to sound so harsh, but if you are not eager to do everything that Yeshua said, then really, you are kind of on the wrong channel, so to speak. (Do you know what I am saying?)

I mean, there are dozens, if not hundreds of Red-Horse Protestant channels who will sell you a broad, easy road. And there is no shortage of Messianic Pink Horse channels either. So, why come here wanting to change us? Why come here trying to get us to tell you that you do not have to follow a narrow and afflicted path? Why not just go to another website that is already disobeying? (Can you see where we would not appreciate demonic voices trying to turn us from the narrow and afflicted path?)

We still have a lot of Excusephraimites who want us to excuse them from the marital covenant ketubah—and we are never going to tell you that that is okay. You can keep trying to turn us if you want, but my instructions are to block you.

And we have many who ask us to spoon feed them personally for free. (That is a classic!) Others want us to change the doctrine to suit them. The nicest way I can say it is, this is the channel for those who want to know what Yeshua wants, so they can do it, and survive. And if that is not you, and you do not like the doctrine, then please, just go away, please.

And to be clear, what I mean is, do not go away mad—just go away. Because we do not need people who have no idea what their Bibles really say, wasting our time, trying to get us to follow Esav.

And to be clear, we want comments and questions from people whose heart is set on serving Yeshua, who want to dedicate themselves to Him like a Proverbs 31 war bride, and to labor on His account, to help bring first Judah and Joseph, and then Ishmael, and then the rest of humanity back into the proper relationship with Him. (If that is not you, then you are in the wrong place.)

If you want to be a Proverbs 31 war bride and help to bring mankind back into the proper relationship with Elohim, then we are so glad you are here. Because our job is to immerse true disciples who have a heart to help Yeshua bring the earth back into spiritual subjection to Himself and His Father, of the kind that existed in the Garden of Eden. And we are supposed to do all of that in His absence, which is why He already gave us all the instructions we need in His word. We just must follow them. (And it does not sound nice, but all others need not apply.)

So, when you do write in the comments, will you please ask yourselves, “How will this help us to organize and grow our body, so that we can help Yeshua bring fallen mankind back into spiritual subjection to Him, and His father?” Because that question helps us to understand the right relationship we need to establish, which is one of service to Him. And I hope we are saying things in ways that everyone can understand and appreciate, but time is very short, and we do not have time to waste. Thanks very much for understanding.

Judeo-Christian war on Yah’s plants

Back to the Torah portion and the Judeo-Christian world’s war on plants. We know there will be objections to this, but one verse we should all be aware of is B’reisheet 1:29.

B’reisheet (Genesis) 1:29
29 And Elohim said, “See, I have given you every herb that yields seed which is on the face of all the earth, and every tree whose fruit yields seed; to you it shall be for food.”

That does not mean you can go around freely eating every plant that has seeds, because some of them will kill you. For example, foxglove or monkshood will kill you right now! (And foxglove grows wild where I grew up, so you must train children not to eat non-identified flowers or plants.) However, they used to get digitalis from foxglove—and digitalis used to be an important heart regulation medicine that can extend life for some people. Monkshood is another plant that is deadly in its raw form, but when it is properly prepared, it is useful for treating a variety of medical conditions, and it can greatly extend life.

So, this is not to say that everyone should go around eating every plant. However, at the exact same time, does it make sense to criminalize plants that Yahweh gave to us for food, and for medicine And why do Judeo-Christian societies criminalize plants that the Creator gave us, when they have natural medicinal values? Do we not like Yahweh’s medicines? Do we prefer chemical medicines to natural ones?

I had one popular Ephraimite minister try to tell me that that post-flood, B’reisheet 1:29 no longer applies, because now we have good and bad plants. And that cannabis is a bad plant, and Yahweh expects us to destroy it, even though it meets Yahweh’s qualifications in B’reisheet 1:29.

B’reisheet (Genesis) 1:29
29 And Elohim said, “See, I have given you every herb that yields seed which is on the face of all the earth, and every tree whose fruit yields seed; to you it shall be for food.”

I am late-diagnosed autistic, and for me, I do not want to call cannabis a miracle cure, but kind of. My life is completely different now with medical cannabis. And it is always amazing to see the hostility with which Bible people treat the creation (and natural medicine). I could tell the Ephraimite minister in my personal experience, that it is almost like a miracle cure for me, and he did not care.

Just for self-defense, (because I have been told of other ministers who also talk trash about me, and about Yahweh’s natural medicine), let us cover a few more verses here.

In Yeshayahu 43:24, Yahweh accuses his people Israel of not buying him any good sweet (or fragrant) cane with money. (Basically, Yahweh is complaining that our forefathers were not buying His priests any of the good stuff, for use in His restaurant.)

Yeshayahu (Isaiah) 43:24
24 “You have bought Me no sweet cane with money, Nor have you satisfied Me with the fat of your sacrifices; But you have burdened Me with your sins, You have wearied Me with your iniquities.”

And then by Yirmeyahu 6:20, the situation has changed. Now our forefathers are bringing Yahweh fragrant cane from a far country, because in context, they are ignoring everything else that He says to do.

Yirmeyahu (Jeremiah) 6:20
20 “For what purpose to Me comes frankincense from Sheba, And sweet cane from a far country? Your burnt offerings are not acceptable, Nor your sacrifices sweet to Me.”

When we reflect on this, we must ask ourselves, “What is the deal?” It is kind of like when people send in their tithes, but they do not really want to be disciples. (It is like, what is the point?) If we are not going to do the full job, then, are we trying to buy Elohim off, (whether with kaneh bohsem, or some other thing?) Or what do you call that?

In Yehezqel 27:19, we read that the tribe of Dan used to trade kaneh bohs, and we know it was widely used in ancient times.

Yehezqel (Ezekiel) 27:19
19 Dan and Javan paid for your wares, traversing back and forth. Wrought iron, cassia, and cane were among your merchandise.

We lost a lot of time this week, so we do not have time for the article. But if you do an internet search, you can see that archaeologists have found that cannabis was used in the temple in Jerusalem in ancient times—at least in the anointing oil.

And to be clear, we are not trying to promote anything except an understanding and acceptance of Scripture. And we do not get why Judeo-Christian people would criminalize plants that our people were given for consumption, and which were used in ancient times, especially when they are good for you! So, sadly, some people will always talk trash (the evil tongue, lashon hara), but we just do not worry about that, because ‘time wounds all heels!’

Obedience to government

Now, Romim 13:1-8 tells us that we need to obey the governing authorities that are placed over us, whether in the land, or outside the land.

Romim (Romans) 13:1
1 Let every soul be subject to the governing authorities. For there is no authority except from Elohim, and the authorities that exist are appointed by Elohim.

In Nazarene Scripture Studies Volume One, we have a study regarding “Obedience to Government”.

There are exceptions. But for the most part, as long as we can witness our faith, and as long as we are not putting our lives, liberty, or physical safety and health in the way, we are to obey the governments that have been placed over us. That means we are, generally speaking, to be law-abiding. If a law does not comply with the written Torah of Moshe, then one of the things under democracy is that you can petition to have it fixed.

Older generations of Americans and other countries understood cannabis to be healthy. And it did not need to be regulated. And there are some very good documentaries out there which argue that fragrant cane was criminalized precisely because it can be beneficial for human health, when taken in responsible ways.

Yah’s medicine vs chemicals/pharmaceuticals

Satanists do not like human beings (and you Lurianic Kabbalists, you know who you are.) If something is good for human beings, Satanists (including Kabbalists) want to find sneaky ways to take it away from everyone else (but not themselves).

Galatim 5:20 prohibits “sorcery”.

Galatim (Galatians) 5:19-20
19 Now the works of the flesh are evident, which are: adultery, fornication, uncleanness, lewdness,
20 idolatry, sorcery [G5331, pharmakeia], hatred, contentions, jealousies, outbursts of wrath, selfish ambitions, dissensions, heresies,

And if you look that word up in the Greek, it is as follows

Strong’s Greek G5331
Pharmakeia; from 5332
Medication (“pharmacy”), that is, (by extension) magic (literally or figuratively): — sorcery, witchcraft.
[Strong’s Concordance]

Strong’s Greek G5332
Pharmakeus; from 5332a; a druggist (“pharmacist”) or poisoner, i.e. (by extension) a magician: — sorcerer.
[Strong’s Concordance]

We talk about this more in the other studies, but what Yahweh is prohibiting in Galatim 5:20 are not the same plants He authorizes the responsible use of in B’reisheet 1:29.

B’reisheet 1:29
29 And Elohim said, “See, I have given you every herb that yields seed which is on the face of all the earth, and every tree whose fruit yields seed; to you it shall be for food.”

Rather, what is really prohibited here are chemical-poison medicines. Because rather than strengthening your body (like natural medicines do), chemical poisons poison your body. When we talk about chemotherapy, this is precisely the kind of poisoning that we are told to get away from. And we could talk forever on this subject. I was born with autism and scoliosis, and a few other health problems, so I have researched this a lot. And what is regulated is not any plant in raw form bearing seed, but rather chemical poisons.

(And in other places, alcohol is also regulated, probably because it is altered by man. So, you need to regulate it, because we people are not nearly so smart as we think.) Anyway, let us move on because we have got a lot of other material to cover this week.

The original Torah

Up until this point, we have been talking about the Priesthood of the Firstborn (or the Firstfruits Priesthood). And what we need to understand is that the Firstfruits Priesthood is supposed to operate on a very intimate level with Elohim. And some of the principles are the same as we will find in the Melchizedekian Order as well.

If you recall, five Torah portions ago (in “Parasha B’shelach”), in Shemote 15:26, Elohim was still addressing the Priesthood of the Firstborn, and He was talking about human health.

Shemote (Exodus) 15:26
26 and [Yahweh] said, “If you diligently heed the voice of Yahweh your Elohim and do what is right in His sight, give ear to His commandments and keep all His statutes, I will put none of the diseases on you which I have brought on the Egyptians. For I am Yahweh who heals you.”

[Because He is Yahweh our Creator, who has all power over the material realm.]

All we had to do at that point was to listen for His voice, and do what He said, including all (meaning all) of His written commands (because those are also things that His voice said). Hearing and obeying His voice was the Torah up until this point!

If you do not get anything else from this parasha, just remember that hearing and obeying His voice was the Torah up until this point! And that includes all His written commands, (because those are also things that He said, and why make the Creator of the universe repeat Himself, when it is good for us to read and do, right?) (Because that is the relationship He wants, right?)

And just as a personal testimonial, I was born with autism, and scoliosis, and some other health issues, and learning to submit to Yahweh’s words has made all the difference for me. I credit obedience to Yahweh’s voice with major improvements in my health. (And we can explain that some other time.)

The covenant-breaking mistake

But now let us take a shift. Because now we are going to see our forefathers make the biggest mistake ever, and it is going to cost us all everything we have talked about up to this point. And this particular sin is right up there with the original sin, which got us knocked completely out of the Garden, and cost us dearly. And we still have never really recovered. And just wait until you see how we lost everything, almost as bad as the fall in the Garden.

And we will keep coming back to this sin again, and again, and again. Because it completely redefines what it means to “keep Torah”, because the Torah is going to change as a necessary result of our disobedience. (And the fact that Yahweh changed the Torah does not mean that Yahweh invalidated His own Torah. So, do not go trying to tear the book of Shemote out of the canon!)

Shemote (Exodus) 32:1
1 Now when the people saw that Moshe delayed coming down from the mountain [40 days and 40 nights], the people gathered together to Aharon, and said to him, “Come, make us [visible] elohim that shall go before us—for as for this Moshe character, the man who brought us up out of the land of Egypt, we do not know what has become of him.”

Now there is some dedication from our ancestors, huh? Does that sound like spousal commitment from a proverbs 31 war bride? (No!)

Shemote (Exodus) 32:5
5 So when Aharon saw it, he built an altar before it. And Aharon [what a guy!] made a proclamation and said, “tomorrow is a feast to Yahweh.”

Get this! Our forefathers made up their own day of worship, and ascribed it to Yahweh. Any relation to Purim, Hanukkah, Sunday, Easter, or Christmas? Any relationship to the Orthodox Jewish Birkhat HaChamah, or (get this) the “Day of Worshipping the Sun”, where you literally worship the sun once every 28 years? (And let us not even talk about the Lunar Sabbath—good night!)

Yahweh never says to do these days of worship. They are 100% man-made.

Shemote 32:19
19 So it was, as soon as [Moshe] came near the camp, that he saw the calf and the dancing. So Moshe’s Anger became hot, and he cast the tablets out of his hands and broke them at the foot of the mountain.

(Covenant broken! Good feeling gone!)

And this cost us almost everything! This cost us all way more than we think! Torah will never again be “Just hear and obey my voice, and do what I say”, because we proved ourselves unworthy. Now we will get a (race-based) Levitical Priesthood, with a mechanical, “paint by numbers” approach to relating to Yahweh. And this is all because we did not choose to dedicate ourselves to become His Proverbs 31 war bride! Bad choice—bad result! Bummer deal. Do either Judah or Ephraim understand that we are still paying today?

I have not met any other minister or rabbi who even has a clue what we lost. And you try to tell people what we lost, and they do not want to believe you, because the alternative means self-discipline. And obedience to Elohim. (And neither house wants that!)

Shemote 32:25-29
25 Now when Moshe saw that the people were unrestrained [or undisciplined] (for Aharon had not restrained [or disciplined] them, to their shame among their enemies),

26 then Moshe stood in the entrance of the camp, and said, “Whoever is on Yahweh’s side—come to me.” and all the sons of Levi gathered themselves together to him.

27 And he said to them, “Thus says Yahweh Elohim of Israel: ‘Let every man put his sword on his side, and go in and out from entrance to entrance throughout the camp, and let every man kill his brother, every man his companion, and every man his neighbor.’”
28 So the sons of Levi did according to the word of of the prophet Moshe. and about three thousand men of the people fell that day.

29 Then Moshe said, “Set yourselves apart today to Yahweh, that He may bestow on you a blessing this day, for every man has opposed his son and his brother, [to establish Yahweh’s standards inside the camp].”

This is one of the most important passages in all of Scripture, especially if you have a desire to serve. Because Aharon did not think that it was his job to restrain (or to discipline) the people. Not to speak ill of the dead, but Aharon made a broad, easy road for the people, so to speak. He was a Laodicean. He thought it was his job to answer to the people, rather than answer to Yahweh.

And do you remember last week in “Parasha Tetzaveh”, that even King Shaul thought democracy was the way to go? Even King Shaul thought that his job as an anointed leader of Yahweh was to listen to the people, rather than Elohim. And that is exactly what the Saturday Night Live people, and the book salesmen, and the disorganization salesmen are doing. They are not doing what Elohim said. Rather, they are pandering to the people. They are not trying to lead the people to do what Elohim said. They are trying to make money by talking about what Elohim said. They are trying to adapt Elohim’s rules for the people.

And it is as profane as the day is long. And they are leading the people to their destruction, for personal gain. For mammon. But do you think Ephraim cares? Ephraim likes it! But what happened to Levi? Levi was chosen because he obeyed the words of Elohim, rather than men. But so, what does he do today? Today, Levi defends the Talmud, rather than the words of Elohim in the Tanach.

And the saddest part is that nobody even seems to understand what happened, or how much we have lost. Or that more than 99% of each house are presently headed off the cliff. (And does it not seem like most people do not even want to know?) The prophet (Moshe) is gone for less than six weeks (talking with Elohim), and so we decide that we want to make up our own calendar. And we want to do our own thing!

Brothers, can you imagine getting engaged to marry, and then your fiancée does not want to do what you ask her to do? She says she wants to be with you, and she says she wants to obey. She agrees to hear your voice or follow someone clean who can. She says she wants to help you bring mankind back into subjection. But then you say, “Hang out here while I go talk to your prophet”, and less than a month and a half later she is looking for a replacement for you?

And you are a man of war, and you are at war. And you need help! So, if the war bride talks a good game, and says “I do”, and agrees to do everything, but the reality is that she has her ears switched off, and her heart is not really in helping you, then now you must give her a “paint by numbers” routine. Now you must spell everything out longhand. Now you have to give her a great big, long list of “do’s” and “do nots”.

You know, we could be developing our skills as a painter of the Monet, or the Renoir, or the Rembrandt level—but if we do not really care, now we need a paint by numbers routine, because we just do not care enough to follow the original method. We abused His trust. And that means putting the training wheels back on the bicycle. And both Judah and Ephraim think of this as an improvement! (Rather than a dire consequence!)

So, instead of just listening to your Husband talk with you, and doing all that you can for Him with all your heart, all your soul, and all your strength, now we must put those little painted feet on the ground, so we know exactly where to walk, and where to stand in line, and that kind of thing. Because we did not care. Do you know what I am saying?

It is like with the Garden. Elohim gave us an opportunity to be His helpmeet in love and respect. But we did not behave worthy of this good treatment, so He had no choice but to bust us down a few notches. And the big problem is that there would be no way to come back up to the top level until Mashiach Nagid would arrive at the end of the second temple era, as it says in Daniel 9:25-26.

Daniel 9:25-26
25 “Know therefore and understand, that from the going forth of the command to restore and build Jerusalem until Messiah the Prince, there shall be seven weeks and sixty-two weeks; the street shall be built again, and the wall, even in troublesome times.
26 “And after the sixty-two weeks Messiah shall be cut off, but not for Himself; and the people of the prince who is to come shall destroy the city and the sanctuary. The end of it shall be with a flood, and till the end of the war desolations are determined.”

So, remembering that it is a wartime environment, and that spiritual lives are at stake, if we as the firstfruits are not willing to walk worthy of the Firstfruits Priesthood model with its ethic that all we have to do is to listen to Him, and support Him as best we can, then Elohim has no real choice but to decommission the Firstfruits Priesthood that He wanted us to keep, and to replace it with the Order of Levi.

And Levi is cruel! And the Levitical Order is a race-based ministry (which is second best)! And it is our own fault! If we do not want to paint by inspiration, then He must make us paint by numbers. (And you have an alleged “613 color splotches” there on the canvas, instead of a masterpiece.) If we do not want to be trustworthy, then we put ourselves on the outside! Instead of running the finest seventy-star restaurant, we make a portable jail for ourselves.

He is not going to lower His standards, just because we want Him to. And every time we fail Him, or are unfaithful to Him, it costs us in His eyes. I mean, think about it. Are things the same after our disobedience in the Garden? Is this fallen world the same as Paradise? Is a relationship the same after an adultery? Is a relationship the same after we have been unfaithful? (Is there not a terrible cost?)

Every time we fail, and every time we are unfaithful, Elohim has no real choice but to put new restrictions on us. And to trust us less. When you defile something, Yahweh no longer uses it. You do not get the same rewards. And so today, we have Levi crowing about an alleged “613 points of Torah” which they completely ignore, and which is not what Elohim meant, to start with. And I have not met a single rabbi who understands this!

We did not want to obey in the Garden, so we got kicked out. And now Elohim must bring us around the hard way. Elohim raises up Noach first, and then Israel, and after He forges us into a single nation in the iron furnace, He is going to use our nation and our two houses to establish first the millennial reign, and then bring in Ishmael, and the rest of mankind.

So, we go into Egypt, and then after we have become a single nation Elohim calls us out of Egypt, and gives us the Firstfruits Priesthood. And as we already saw in Shemote 19:5-6, the deal was this:

Shemote (Exodus) 19:5-6
5 “Now therefore, if you will indeed obey My voice and keep My covenant [referring to the record of all His words], then you shall be a special treasure to Me above all people; for all the earth is Mine.
6 And you shall be to Me a kingdom of priests and a set-apart nation.’ These are the words which you shall speak to the children of Israel.”

But the deal is conditional! We must listen carefully for His voice, and do what He says eagerly, including all (meaning all) of His written commands. Not part! Not just the easy stuff! Because that is the kind of relationship the King of everything wants from His people! He does not want Levi rewriting His word!

You know, I mean, come on, dudes! Do you want to marry a woman who is going to go around rewriting, redefining, and replacing everything you say? I mean, seriously. Levi, what makes you think that Elohim likes that? And Ephraim. Does He want a bunch of sloths sitting on the sofa, eating all His spiritual food, and not doing any work? What does He want sloths for? Sloths are not clean animals! (Hello?? Hello?? is Ephraimbody home?) (I mean, it is great that she reads Scripture. But she is not dedicated!)

Do you want to go out to war with a helpmeet who is as lazy as a stick of Ephraim, and who is not dedicated to helping you win the war? And she does not really do what you ask? (Why does Elohim want to marry that when He could marry a Shaliach Shaul, an Eliyahu, or a Moshe?)

It is called consequences!

Coming back to the history, because we showed Yahweh that we did not really want to obey Him, and that nothing had really changed much since the Garden of Eden, Yahweh said that he would not go up among us, lest He consume us on the way.

In Shemote 33:2 Elohim said that He would send His Messenger before us, to drive out the inhabitants of the land. (And in other portions we will see that Messenger was Yeshua.)

Shemote (Exodus) 33:2
2 And I will send My Messenger before you, and I will drive out the Canaanite and the Amorite and the Hittite and the Perizzite and the Hivite and the Jebusite.

But in verse 3, Elohim told us that He was not going to go up in our midst, lest He consume us on the way. Because we do not listen, and we do not care, which means that we do not love Him—and moreover, we are a stiff-necked people, although we need more than just a chiropractor and a massage. (Sadly, some of us need a good swift kick!)

Shemote (Exodus) 33:3
3 “Go up to a land flowing with milk and honey; for I will not go up in your midst, lest I consume you on the way, for you are a stiff-necked people.”

And then like we saw before, in Shemote 33:7, Moshe now had to take His tent and pitch it outside the camp, because Elohim was no longer going to come inside of our camp, because our attitude was stinky.

Shemote (Exodus) 33:7
7 Moshe took his tent and pitched it outside the camp, far from the camp, and called it the tabernacle of meeting. And it came to pass that everyone who sought Yahweh went out to the tabernacle of meeting which was outside the camp.

The whole point of making a tabernacle was to make a portable Garden of Eden where we could show Elohim that yes, we did care enough about Him to do everything His way this time! Because that would mean that our hearts had changed. And if we did everything His way, it would show Him respect. But a war Elohim, does not need an assistant who is too busy doing her hair and nails to help Him with the war.

Why would He want that? If you are the commander of the army, do you want troops who not only read your instructions, but do them? Or do you want troops who skip over any instructions they do not like? Which one would you choose?

Faithful war brides

Shemote (Exodus) 34:4
4 So he cut two tablets of stone like the first ones. Then Moshe rose early in the morning and went up Mount Sinai, as Yahweh had commanded him; and he took in his hand the two tablets of stone.

In Shemote 34:4, the good feeling is gone, and now Moshe must do extra work. Now Moshe the servant must cut a new set of stone tables and bring them up to Yahweh. And this is why we have more work under the Levitical arrangement than if we had maintained the Firstfruits Priesthood arrangement. It is more work, and not as good if you need to paint those little feet on the ground, so that people know where to walk! Which is what we have now under the Levitical arrangement.

The idea of “613 commandments” is a rabbinical one, and that whole approach is not what Elohim wanted. And Levi crows about the so-called “613 laws”, and then they go to replace them with the Talmud. And for his part, Ephraim wants to read things, but he does not want to organize like the Renewed Covenant says, because he does not want to do anything that is not easy, or free, or undisciplined.

And in Shemote 34:14, Yahweh tells us that He is a jealous Elohim, and that He is jealous of our attentions, and of our obedience, which indicate respect and love.

Shemote (Exodus) 34:14
14 (for you shall worship no other elohim, for Yahweh, whose name is Jealous, is a jealous Elohim),

They talk about the “seven love languages”. Yahweh wants His helpmeet to listen to Him, and do what He says. (Usually, it is the wife that wants her husband to listen to her—only this time, it is the other way around!)

And we just do not get it. Yahweh’s “love language” is obedience to His voice! He wants His wife to listen to Him, and respect Him enough to do what He says, gladly, the first time! (I mean, how simple can it be?) This is the relationship that Yahweh wants, is that He is a busy war Elohim, and we are supposed to be His faithful war bride, who wants to do everything in our power to help bring the rest of mankind back into spiritual submission to Him and His spirit, through the sacrifice of Mashiach Nagid.

That is why Daniel 9:26 says that He had to be cut off (but not for Himself) just prior to the destruction of the second temple.

Daniel 9:26
26 “And after the sixty-two weeks Messiah shall be cut off, but not for Himself; and the people of the prince who is to come shall destroy the city and the sanctuary. The end of it shall be with a flood, and till the end of the war desolations are determined.”

Think about it. If you were a jealous war Elohim, would not you want that from your spouse? So, why not just give it to Him? It is either that, or suicide by disobedience! (Pick one!)

Haftarah

Now let us jump to our haftarah prophetic portion. And we come to Yehezqel 36 and 37. And this is one of those passages that Talmudic Judah does not believe, because Talmudic Judah believes Ephraim does not come home as Ephraim, but only either as converts to Orthodox Judaism, or as so-called “Noachide slaves”. Just reading these two chapters disproves the Talmud 100%, because the prophetic trajectory is completely different!

And this is one of those passages that it is so easy for Ephraim to read, and tell himself that there is nothing to do, because Yahweh is going to do all the work! But let us read it more carefully, because Ephraimite lives depend on it.

Yehezqel (Ezekiel) 36:16-17
16 Moreover the word of Yahweh came to me, saying:
17 “Son of man, when the house of Israel [Ephraim] dwelt in their own land, they defiled it by their own ways and deeds; to Me their way was like the uncleanness of a woman in her customary impurity.

(Do not tell me, let me guess—we said we were “keeping Torah”, even though we were doing something else, right?)

So, we got ourselves kicked out, and we got the sword drawn out after us (just like in the Garden, because that is the deal). But do not we in Ephraim kind of think that really, we are doing everything alright today, because even though we are not doing everything the Renewed Covenant says to do, we profess lip service to Mashiach Nagid? Mashiach Nagid means “Mashiach the Director”—but we in Ephraim (and those Jews who are sojourning with us) do not do what He directs?

Ezekiel 36:20
20 When [we] came to the nations, wherever [we] went, we profaned [His] set-apart name, when [the people] said of [us], “These are the people of Yahweh, and yet they disrespected him, and disobeyed him—and yet they have gone out [He had to kick them out] of His land.”

What Ephraim may not realize is that it reflects badly on Elohim, because it seems like we His own wife blows Him off! It reflects badly on Him—so, Yahweh has to do something.

Yehezqel 36:24 says that that is why Yahweh will take us from among the nations and gather us out of all countries (or “all the lands”, meaning every tribe and tongue and nation), and bring us into our own land.

Yehezqel (Ezekiel) 36:24
24 For I will take you from among the nations, gather you out of all countries, and bring you into your own land.

Then verse 26 says that He will give us a new heart and a new spirit. (Does not that mean that there is something wrong with the heart and the spirit we now have? Or why else do we need a new one?)

Yehezqel (Ezekiel) 36:26
26 I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit within you; I will take the heart of stone out of your flesh and give you a heart of flesh.

And then in chapter 37, it is the same story, but from a different angle. And if you want more information on this, we cover this in more detail in our study on Revelation and the End Times (or Revelation Simplified on YouTube).

Yehezqel (Ezekiel) 37:1
1 The hand of Yahweh came upon me [Yehezqel] and brought me out in the Spirit of Yahweh [meaning this is a vision], and set me down in the midst of a valley; and it was full of [dry] bones.

And in Chinese medicine and other eastern medical systems, the spirit is thought to reside in the bones after death. And after the body had decomposed, they put the bones in what that is called an “ossuary”, or a “bone box”. There were very many bones here, because these are the bones of the whole house of Israel. (And it is possible that this is both houses, but we believe this is a reference to the northern house of Israel, or Ephraim.)

Yehezqel 37:4-5 Yahweh tells Yehezqel to prophesy to the bones (or to the spirits of the spiritually dead house of Israel).

Yehezqel (Ezekiel) 37:4-5
4 Again He said to me, “Prophesy to these bones, and say to them, ‘O dry bones, hear the word of Yahweh.”
5 “Thus says Yahweh Elohim to these bones: “Surely I will cause breath [or spirit] to enter into you, and you shall live.”

Yehezqel (Ezekiel) 37:6-7
6 “I will put sinews on you and bring flesh upon you, cover you with skin and put breath [or spirit] in you; and you shall live. Then you shall know that I am Yahweh.”
7 “So I prophesied as I was commanded; and as I prophesied, there was a noise, and suddenly a rattling [or an earthquake, ra’ash]; and the bones came together, bone to bone.”

In Hebrew the word for ‘shaking’ (or rattling) is ‘ra’ash’, which is the modern Hebrew word for a seismic event. In the Revelation study, we tie this either to the earthquake at seal 6, or to the earthquake at trumpet 7, which comes just before Armageddon. And since it is a vision, it could have more than one manifestation. We just must be aware of the sequences, and the relationships, and then we will wait and see.

And I will keep saying it—only 10% of Ephraim is going to come home, and we need to make sure it is us. Do not forget that Yeshayahu 10:22 (and other verses like it) tell us that the vast majority of Ephraimites will not come home, because they did not participate in Yeshua’s Little Red Hen program. (At least, not in a good way!)

Yeshayahu (Isaiah) 10:22
22 For though your people, O Israel, be as the sand of the sea, a remnant of them will return; the destruction decreed shall overflow with righteousness.

For the 10% who come home, Yahweh says “I will put My Spirit in you, and you shall live, and I will place you in your own land. Then you shall know that I, Yahweh, have spoken it and performed it,” says Yahweh.’”

Yehezqel (Ezekiel) 37:14
14 “I will put My Spirit in you, and you shall live, and I will place you in your own land. Then you shall know that I, Yahweh, have spoken it and performed it,” says Yahweh.

And we cover a few scenarios in the Revelation study, but now let us look in the second half of Ezekiel 37.

A stick, a nation, a people

Yehezqel (Ezekiel) 37:16a
16a “As for you, son of man, take a stick [or a tree] for yourself and write on it: ‘For Judah and for the children of Israel, his companions.’”

So, one olive tree there. And we look this word stick (or tree) up, and it is Strong’s Hebrew H6086.

Strong’s Hebrew H6086
עֵץ etz; from 6095; a tree (from its firmness); hence, wood (and a plural of sticks):
[Strong’s Concordance]

What we are really saying here is that Judah would take a stick (or a tree) for himself, which he did all the way back in 1897, with the first Zionist congress, over 100 years ago now. Judah formed an organization to represent themselves on the world political scene—that is a stick. And then 51 active and organized years later, Judah has a country. The principle here is that if you organize, you get a country. Esav organizes, and Esav has many countries. Ishmael organizes, and Ishmael also has many countries.

After that, Yahweh continues,

Yehezqel (Ezekiel) 37:16b
16b “Then take another stick [or another tree] and write on it, ‘For Joseph, the stick of Ephraim, and for all the house of Israel, his companions.’”

And we break this down in the Revelation study, but this means that Ephraim also must organize, to represent his cause on the world political scene, before he can come home. Only, our stick of Ephraim must be based on a single Foundation of Apostles and Prophets, as it says in Ephesians 2:20.

Ephesim (Ephesians) 2:20
20 having been built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Yeshua Mashiach Himself being the chief cornerstone,

And our stick must use Fivefold unity to refine itself.

Ephesim (Ephesians) 4:11
11 And He Himself gave some to be apostles, some prophets, some evangelists, and some pastors and teachers,

Our stick has Biblical rules. So, does anyone want to go home?

Yehezqel (Ezekiel) 37:17
17 “Then join them one to another for yourself into one stick [or one living tree], and they will become one in your hand.”
[Meaning we will become one nation, combined Judah and Joseph.]

And the Talmudists do not want this to happen, because they deny Yeshua. But it will happen, because Yahweh says it is going to happen. And for those with ears to hear, that is what the Great Commission is all about. The Great Commission and the Fivefold unity is what builds Ephraim a stick. And then after we come home, we will get a new unified government. (And we show the sequence of events in the Nazarene Israel study.)

Verse 24 tells us that after we come home, King David His servant shall be king over both Judah and Joseph, and we shall all have one shepherd—Yeshua. And at long last, we will walk in his judgments and obey his statutes, and do them.

Yehezqel (Ezekiel) 37:24
24 “David My servant shall be king over them, and they shall all have one shepherd; they shall also walk in My judgments and observe My statutes, and do them.”

There are many different opinions as to whether it is a descendant of King David’s that is raised up, or whether king David is physically resurrected, or what. (And I guess we will just have to see.)

Some theories tell us that this will be Yeshua, but as we show in Revelation and the End Times, it cannot be Yeshua, because Yeshua will not be here on earth during the Millennium. (As we show in the Revelation study, Yeshua makes a cameo at the start of the Millennium, and another cameo at the end of the Millennium–but He is not here during the Millennium. And there are many reasons for that, which we cover in the Revelation study.)

Let us come back to verse 24, which tells us that the future 10% of us who survive Isaiah 10:22 will (finally, and at long last) walk in His judgments, and obey His statutes, and (wait for it…) do them!

Yehezqel (Ezekiel) 37:24
24 “David My servant shall be king over them, and they shall all have one shepherd; they shall also walk in My judgments and observe My statutes, and do them.”

Excusephraimite plague

We have one brother who keeps insisting in the comments section that it is not essential that we actually do His commandments (like verse 24 says)–but that we only need to “want to” do them. (He says, “We do not have to do them right now–we only need to “want to” do them.”)

You know, and bless your heart, this is just another example of Excusephraim wanting to excuse himself from the wedding. He does not want to wear the wedding garment of loving obedience to Yeshua. And I apologize if we misunderstand anything, but just to take the argument at face value, the insanity of the position ought to become plain if we just think about a simple husband-and-wife analogy. Maybe we want to be Proverbs 31 brides—only, is wanting the same as doing? (No!)

Unless we are misunderstanding something, here we have Excusephraim trying to tell us that it is exactly the same to ‘want to” help establish Yeshua’s kingdom in His absence, as to “actually do it”. (I wonder if he gets this from his children.)

“Ohh, daddy, I wanted to pick up my room—I just did not do it.”
“I wanted to put out the fire before it burned down the house, I just did not do it.”
“I wanted to follow Yahweh’s rules–I just did not.”
“I wanted to help build Yeshua’s kingdom, and that is why I did not.”

You know, bless your hearts, can we have an end to the excuses please?

Brothers, it is not good to idealize to getting out of the marital covenant. It shows continuing rebellion against Yahweh’s authority, AND a lack of faith. It does not qualify as defecting back to Him. So please, stop it! Please, knock it off! Please stop with the word games, because Yahweh is not impressed. If you want to be part of the 90% that die because of that kind of attitude, then please, I ask you please to find some other channel, because it hurts too much to watch brothers commit slow suicide.

Legalism

We also have someone accusing us of “legalism” for wanting to obey the full marital contract. And his thesis seems to be that wearing the wedding garment by obeying Yahweh’s Torah and helping Yeshua to get His kingdom is “legalism”.

Okay, you do not know what legalism is. Obeying Yahweh is not legalism. Legalism is where you make a checklist of your own man-made rabbinic decrees, and you think that if you obey your own man-made rabbinical decrees, then you are saved, because you are obeying the Rabbinical Order.

The difference is that legalists obey their own alleged authority. And you can be legalistic by thinking, “I rested and read on shabbat, and I watched some YouTube videos!”, and by saying “I keep Torah, and therefore I am good!” And there is no obedience relationship, and no helping to build Yeshua a kingdom in His absence (like the comment snipers). And in the rabbinical version of legalism, we become the authors of our own salvation. We just must obey our own authority.

Do not believe me? What we are talking about is, the rabbis make up their own man-made rulings and decrees, such as are recorded in the Talmud, and they follow those instead of listening for Yahweh’s voice, and obeying His covenant. So, in that parallel universe, your so-called “salvation” is reckoned by whether you submitted to the Rabbinical Order, or not.

For example, Devarim 4:2 tells us not to add to the word which Elohim commands us, nor to take anything away from it.

Devarim (Deuteronomy) 4:2
2 “You shall not add to the word which I command you, nor take from it, that you may keep the commandments of Yahweh your Elohim which I command you.”

Because if we change His commandments, then they are no longer His commandments. And it is no longer His bridal covenant. It is no longer His wedding contract. For example, in Talmud Tractate Eruvin 21b, some arrogant rabbi wrote as follows.

“New and old, which I have laid up for you, O my beloved,” the Congregation of Israel said before the Holy One, Blessed be He, and continued: Master of the Universe, I have decreed many decrees upon myself through the enactments and ordinances of the Sages, more than what You decreed upon me in the Torah, and I have fulfilled them. These are the new laws which were added to the old ones stated in the Torah.”
[Talmud Tractate Eruvin 21b, Sefaria]

Meaning, “Therefore I am even more righteous! These are the new Talmudic and rabbinical laws, which were added to the ‘old’ ones that You commanded in the Torah, in direct violation of Your words in Deuteronomy 4:2 and many other places.” “Thanks for making us demigods, so we can do what we want!”

And that is the rabbinic position. But Ephraim’s position is not much different. And 90% of Ephraim’s position is just not to comply, and expect a wedding anyway.

If you are going to redefine “legalism” as obedience to Elohim’s Torah, then can we plug that into Yehezqel 37:24, where Elohim tells us that finally, and at long last, the house of Ephraim will do what He says?

Yehezqel (Ezekiel) 37:24
24 “David My servant shall be king over them, and they shall all have one shepherd; they shall also walk in My judgments and observe My statutes, and do them.”

You want it that Elohim will rejoice, because at long last we will be legalists? (Come on dude. Wake up!) If your wife obeys you, is she a legalist? If your children obey you, are they legalists? If you obey your boss at work, are you a legalist? When you obey your division commander, are you a legalist?

Bless their hearts, the comment snipers have some legacy Red-Horse attitudes that they need to fast and pray to get rid of! And they had best take heed, lest they fall. And they had better start thinking about what Yahweh wants, instead of focusing on what they want. (Because, who is the Elohim? Them? We do not think so.)

His tabernacle with us

Now here is a principle. National unity takes place around a clean altar of Elohim. And that is because your cult forms your cult-ure, which shapes your national identity. A cleansed altar of Yahweh brings His people together three times each year, in His house. It unifies the nation by keeping His commandments to lift up His name. And that is why verses 27 and 28 tell us that His tabernacle (or His cleansed Levitical altar) also shall be with us; and that He shall be our Elohim, and we shall again be His people.

Yehezqel (Ezekiel) 37:27-28
27 “My tabernacle also shall be with them; indeed I will be their Elohim, and they shall be My people.
28 And the nations also will know that I, Yahweh, sets Israel apart, when My sanctuary [His portable Garden of Eden] is in [our] midst forevermore.”

And it is our job to set it up. (And again, we do not plan to participate in the coming Talmudic temple, because that will be an anti-Yeshua, pro-Talmud, “Kill the Josephites!” temple–and it will be profane).

Brit Chadasha

So, we are running long, and I am not sure if our parasha video editor Oscar will have time to edit everything in the video, but let us come to our Renewed Covenant portion in Matthew 15:1.

Rabbinical traditions vs obeying Yahweh

Mattityahu (or Matthew) 15:1-2
1 Then the scribes and Pharisees who were from Jerusalem came to Yeshua, saying,
2 “Why do Your disciples transgress the tradition of the elders? For they do not wash their hands when they eat bread.”

Esav teaches that this word “tradition” refers to the Torah commandment of the brazen laver in Shemote 30:17-21.

Shemote (Exodus) 30:18-21
18 “You shall also make a laver of bronze, with its base also of bronze, for washing. You shall put it between the tabernacle of meeting and the altar. And you shall put water in it,
19 for Aaron and his sons shall wash their hands and their feet in water from it.

20 When they go into the tabernacle of meeting, or when they come near the altar to minister, to burn an offering made by fire to Yahweh, they shall wash with water, lest they die.
21 So they shall wash their hands and their feet, lest they die. And it shall be a statute forever to them—to him and his descendants throughout their generations.”

But it does not mean that.

And if you have ever been around Orthodox Jews, they wash their hands with a special two-handled cup, in a special traditional (meaning man-made) ritual called “Netilat HaYadaim” (or “the washing of the hands”). And this tradition probably derives from the brazen laver (or the bronze washbasin), but it is not the commandment of the brazen laver, because it replaces the commandment of the brazen laver. (And if we had more editing time (or more editors) we could put up a picture of the cup, but below is an example from Wikipedia.)

[Handwashing in Judaism, Wikipedia]

Tax-free bride or drunkards of Ephraim?

And because we are out of time, let us go to Mattityahu 17:24, to understand how much the sin of the golden calf cost us. And how much it continues to cost us, because we do not want to obey like a loving Proverbs 31 bride.

Mattityahu (Matthew) 17:24-27
24 When they [Yeshua and His disciples] had come to Kephar Nahum [Capernaum], those who received the temple tax came to Kepha and said, “Does your teacher not pay the temple tax?”

25 And Kepha said, “Yes.” And when he had come into the house, Yeshua anticipated him, saying, “What do you think, Shimon? From whom do the kings of the earth take customs or taxes, from their sons or from strangers?”

26 And Kepha said to him, “From strangers.” Yeshua said to him, “Then the sons are free.” [Meaning, we should not have to pay this tax.]

27 “Nevertheless, lest we offend them, go to the sea, cast in a hook, and take the fish that comes up first. And when you have opened its mouth, you will find a piece of money; take that and give it to them for me and you.”

And people ask, “Yeshua kept the Torah perfectly, so why would Yeshua say that He and Kepha were free from the temple tax that was derived from the tax that His Father commanded through Moshe?”

And there are other theories, but do you remember two weeks ago, in “Parasha Terumah”, we talked about the Firstborn Priesthood, and how the Firstborn Priesthood had a greater level of intimacy with Elohim? Because instead of paint by numbers (or worship by numbers, or following little feet on the pavement) there was supposed to be an active, loving dedication relationship that was grateful to be chosen for the elite job.

Most people think Biblical queens sit around in the harem, doing their hair and their nails, when in actual fact, any wise king is going to have to put His bride to work. And it takes hard work to be queen! And the Commander is at war—but He has His Proverbs 31 war bride, who listens for His voice, and is there helping Him, so that He has no lack of gain.

So, is the Commander’s left-hand woman subject to the same taxes and requirements as the rest of the people, who do not have that kind of an intimate giving supporting relationship with Him? No! Because she is going all out to help Him, and they are not. And Yahweh chose her out of the masses of Israelites because she is already giving Him her all (like a Proverbs 31 war bride does). And she does not just “want to” help Him—she actually does help Him!

And this is one of the harder things to admit to ourselves. But let us see through a glass darkly. How many of us assume that we already have this kind of true loving support relationship, so that we ought to be tax free? And how many of us are drunkards of Ephraim, and we are just fooling ourselves? Are we already doing all we can to build Yeshua His kingdom in His absence? Or do we just want to be (even though we are not really)? Are we His truly tax-free bride who is doing her all to coordinate the war effort for Him in His absence? Or are we fooling ourselves, because it is easier?

Please pray for both houses to see ourselves as Yahweh sees us.

Shabbat shalom.

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