Beha'alotkha (In Your Making Go Up)

(This week's Torah Portion is Beha'alotkha, and I originally wrote and posted this to my previous blog on 06/26/2007.)

TORAH: Bemidbar (Numbers) 8:1-12:16
HAFTARAH: ZekarYah (Zechariah) 2:14-4:7
KETUVIM NETZARIM: 1 Corinthians 10:6-13; Revelation 11:1-19

Num 8:1 And יהוה spoke to Mosheh, saying,
Num 8:2 "Speak to Aharon, and say to him, 'When you set up the lamps, let the seven lamps give light in front of the lampstand.' "
Num 8:3 And Aharon did so. He set up the lamps to face toward the front of the lampstand, as יהוה commanded Mosheh.
Num 8:4 And this is the work of the lampstand: beaten work of gold, from its base to its blossoms it is beaten work. According to the pattern which יהוה had shown Mosheh, so he made the lampstand.

This lampstand is also called a menorah. It has 7 branches. There is a very large menorah outside of the Knesset building in Jerusalem--

The menorah is also included in the emblem of Israel standing between two olive branches--
This is based on the vision in ZekarYah (Zechariah)--

Zec 4:11 Then I responded and said to him, "What are these two olive trees, one at the right of the lampstand and the other at its left?"
Zec 4:12 And I responded a second time and said to him, "What are these two olive branches which empty golden oil from themselves by means of the two gold pipes?"
Zec 4:13 And he answered me and said, "Do you not know what these are?" And I said, "No, my master."
Zec 4:14 And he said, "These are the two anointed ones, who stand beside the Master of all the earth."

These two are also described in Revelation--

Rev 11:3 "And I shall give unto my two witnesses, and they shall prophesy one thousand two hundred and sixty days, clad in sackcloth."
Rev 11:4 These are the two olive trees and the two lampstands that are standing before the Elohim of the earth.

There are two groups of people who use the menorah--the Jewish and Messianic believers in YHWH, the Elohim of Avraham, Yitshaq and Ya'acob. These are the remnants of the House of Yehudah and the House of Yisra'el.

That the House of Yehudah and the House of Yisra'el are the two witnesses referred to in Revelation is confirmed in Yehezqel (Ezekiel)--

Eze 37:15 And the word of יהוה came to me, saying,
Eze 37:16 "And you, son of man, take a stick for yourself and write on it, 'For Yehudah and for the children of Yisra'el, his companions.' Then take another stick and write on it, 'For Yoseph, the stick of Ephrayim, and for all the house of Yisra'el, his companions.'
Eze 37:17 "Then bring them together for yourself into one stick, and they shall become one in your hand.

According to Strong's Concordance, the Hebrew word 'etz' translated as 'stick' in this passage from Yehezqel may more appropriately be translated as 'tree'. 'Etz' is the word translated 'tree' in references to the "tree of life".

The seven lampstands in Revelation are menorahs--

Rev 1:12 And I turned to see the voice which spoke with me. And having turned, I saw seven golden lampstands,
Rev 1:13 and in the midst of the seven lampstands One like the Son of Adam, dressed in a robe down to the feet and girded about the chest with a golden band.

Rev 1:20 "The secret of the seven stars which you saw in My right hand, and the seven golden lampstands: The seven stars are messengers of the seven assemblies, and the seven lampstands which you saw are seven assemblies.

These seven assemblies are not 'churches'. No Greek word meaning 'church' is used in the Ketuvim Netzarim ('New Testament'). The Greek word 'ekklesia' here translated as 'assembly' (and in some translations wrongly translated as 'church') was used to translate the Hebrew word 'qahal' in the Septuagint, a Greek translation of the Hebrew Scriptures ('Old Testament'), in about 280 B.C., and this word was used to refer to the people of Yisra'el.

The writers of the 'New Testament' had the same understanding of the word 'ekklesia' as the translators of the Greek Septuagint did--an assembly or congregation of the people of Israel.

Mosheh made the menorah "according to the pattern which YHWH had shown" him, so why did this pattern require seven branches in the menorah? Consider this--

Rev 1:4 Yohanan, to the seven assemblies that are in Asia: Favour to you and peace from Him who is and who was and who is coming, and from the seven Spirits that are before His throne,

There are seven Spirits before the throne of YHWH, and here we are given a description of them--

Isa 11:2 The Spirit of יהוה shall rest upon Him – the Spirit of wisdom and understanding, the Spirit of counsel and might, the Spirit of knowledge and of the fear of יהוה,

The seven branches of the menorah hold seven lights.

Mat 5:14a "You are the light of the world."

In order to be "the light of the world", we need to come out of the darkness and manifest the light of these 7 Spirits--

1. The Spirit of YHWH.
2. The Spirit of wisdom.
3. The Spirit of understanding.
4. The Spirit of counsel.
5. The Spirit of might.
6. The Spirit of knowledge.
7. The Spirit of the fear of YHWH.

Mat 5:16 "Let your light so shine before men, so that they see your good works and praise your Father who is in the heavens."