Rosh Chodesh 2--Trembling At His Word

(Last night the new moon was sighted in Israel, so the second month of the Scriptural calendar has begun. I originally wrote and posted this to my previous blog on 04/22/2007.)

Readings:

Bemidbar (Numbers) 28:1-15

YeshaYahu (Isaiah) 66

Kefa Alef (1 Peter) 2:4-10

Each Rosh Chodesh (Head of the Month) I read these special readings.

Isa 66:1 Thus said יהוה, "The heavens are My throne, and the earth is My footstool. Where is this house that you build for Me? And where is this place of My rest?

Isa 66:2 "And all these My hand have made, and all these that exist," declares יהוה. "Yet to such a one I look: on him who is poor and bruised of spirit, and who trembles at My Word.

There is nothing we can offer to the King of the heavens who created and owns everything, but amazingly enough, He does look for those who are poor and bruised of spirit and who tremble at His Word. What an awesome opportunity--to be precious to the Almighty!

But when was the last time you trembled at His Word?

The first time I read this, it hit me like a ton of bricks. I felt like the wind had been knocked out of me. I wasn't sure I had EVER trembled at His Word! That was pretty scary to realize, especially in light of:

Mat 7:21 "Not everyone who says to Me, 'Master, Master,' shall enter into the reign of the heavens, but he who is doing the desire of My Father in the heavens.

Mat 7:22 "Many shall say to Me in that day, 'Master, Master, have we not prophesied in Your Name, and cast out demons in Your Name, and done many mighty works in Your Name?'

Mat 7:23 "And then I shall declare to them, 'I never knew you, depart from Me, you who work lawlessness!'

Often we are told that 'fearing' YHWH means we 'respect' Him, but does respect cause you to tremble? Fear means fear, plain and simple. It should scare us to death to face Him:

Luk 12:5 "But I shall show you whom you should fear: Fear the One who, after killing, possesses authority to cast into Gehenna. Yea, I say to you, fear Him!

And face Him we will:

Rev 20:12 And I saw the dead, small and great, standing before the throne, and books were opened. And another book was opened, which is the Book of Life. And the dead were judged from what was written in the books, according to their works.

He is the only person we should ever fear, but we definitely need to fear Him because if we don't, we are fools:

Pro 9:10 The fear of יהוה is the beginning of wisdom, And the knowledge of the Set-apart One is understanding.

If we aren't fearing Him, then we haven't even started to learn of Him.

We need to have fear and trembling in order to work out our own deliverance:

Phi 2:12 So that, my beloved, as you always obeyed - not only in my presence, but now much rather in my absence - work out your own deliverance with fear and trembling,

Phi 2:13 for it is Elohim who is working in you both to desire and to work for His good pleasure.

If we don't have proper fear of YHWH, we can ask Him for it, and He is faithful to give it to us:

Jer 32:39 'And I shall give them one heart and one way, to fear Me all the days, for the good of them and of their children after them.

Jer 32:40 'And I shall make an everlasting covenant with them, that I do not turn back from doing good to them. And I shall put My fear in their hearts so as not to turn aside from Me.

Jer 32:41 'And I shall rejoice over them to do good to them, and shall plant them in this land in truth, with all My heart and with all My being.'

Can you imagine the King of the universe actually REJOICING over you?!! Wow!

Yom HaZikaron (Memorial Day)

(Today is Israel's Memorial Day. I originally wrote and posted this to my previous blog on 04/23/2007.)

Today is Memorial Day in Israel, when the fallen soldiers and victims of terrorism are remembered. As I read about this day on Wikipedia, a couple of things stood out. One is that there is a nationwide moment of silence:

"The day opens the preceding evening at 20:00 (8:00 pm), given that in the Hebrew calendar system days begin at sunset, with a one-minute siren during which most Israelis stand in silence, commemorating the fallen and showing respect."

It made a lot of sense that the Israelis decided to schedule their Memorial Day consecutively with their Independence Day:

"Scheduling the memorial day right before the independence day is intended to remind people of the price paid for independence and of what was achieved with the soldiers' sacrifice. This transition shows the importance of this day among Israelis, most of whom have served in the armed forces or have a connection with people who were killed during their military service."

Without the ultimate sacrifice paid by those fighting for independence, there would be no Independence Day for the living to celebrate.

A friend shared with me an email from someone who recently made aliyah (immigrated to Israel). The writer spoke of how moving the Yom HaShoah (Holocaust Memorial Day) remembrances were and also spoke about how the events at Virginia Tech last week had affected him. I hadn't realized until reading that email that the horror at Virginia Tech had taken place the day after Yom HaShoah.

It was touching to read the perspective of this man who is both an American and now an Israeli. He shared his observation that the way the United States commemorates its Memorial Day "doesn't come anywhere near" the way Israel commemorates its memorial days--Yom HaShoah and Yom HaZikaron.

This caused me to spend some time thinking about it, and it is somewhat difficult to imagine a siren sounding for a whole minute here in America on Memorial Day, much less most Americans stopping what they're doing to stand for that one minute in silence in memory of the fallen.

Perhaps the United States should move its Memorial Day to July 3.

Leviathan

(I originally wrote and posted this to my previous blog on 02/28/2007.)

Reading: YirmeYahu (Jeremiah) 41-42

Chapter 41 is devoted to a description of this beast, which Strong's defines as:

H3882
From H3867; a wreathed animal, that is, a serpent (especially the crocodile or some other large sea monster); figuratively the constellation of the dragon; also as a symbol of Babylon: - leviathan, mourning.

I believe the final verse more fully reveals the identity of this beast:

Job 41:34 He sees all that is haughty. He is sovereign over all the sons of pride.

We do not want to serve this king because YHWH opposes the proud. Ya'acov (James) gives us important instructions about this:

Jam 4:6 But He gives greater favour. Because of this He says, "Elohim resists the proud, but gives favour to the humble."
Jam 4:7 So then subject yourselves to Elohim. Resist the devil and he shall flee from you.

As long as we are subjecting ourselves to the King of Kings, the beast will not be around.

Tulip Time

I think I finished crocheting this project last summer, and for the longest time I was looking for the embellishments the pattern called for in order to totally complete the project.

It's probably been at least 2-3 months since I finally found all the embellishments I needed, and I STILL haven't sewn them on in order to classify this as a finished project.

I just LOVE the crocheting part, but the sewing part not so much, so it's been sitting in my cabinet in its 99% completed state all this time. All it lacks is weaving the sheer lilac ribbon through the waistline for a sash and through the booties for ties, and the little white lace flowers and lilac roses need to be sewn onto the yoke of the dress and the toes of the booties.

I suppose the reason I've procrastinated this for so long is that none of my loved ones were having babies. Now there are two babies on the way (genders as yet unknown), so I definitely need to get this to the 100% completed state and get another baby girl item and two baby boy items started and completed in order to be totally prepared for these two upcoming births.

The picture above is what Tulip Time is supposed to look like after all the embellishments are added. This pattern is from a book called Beautiful Baby Boutique (designer Rebecca Leigh), and I love all the patterns and will probably make all of them eventually.

Appearances

(I originally wrote and posted this to my previous blog on 02/26/2007.)

Reading: YirmeYahu (Jeremiah) 37-39

Jer 37:7 "Thus said יהוה the Elohim of Yisra'el, 'Say this to the sovereign of Yehudah, who sent you to Me to inquire of Me, "See, Pharaoh's army which has come up to help you, shall turn back to Mitsrayim, to their own land.
Jer 37:8 "And the Chaldeans shall return and fight against this city, and take it and burn it with fire." '
Jer 37:9 "Thus said יהוה, 'Do not deceive yourselves, saying, "The Chaldeans shall go away from us," for they do not go.
Jer 37:10 'For though you had smitten the entire army of the Chaldeans who are fighting against you, and there remained only wounded men among them, they would get up, each man in his tent, and burn the city with fire.' "

YHWH has been warning Yehudah over and over again through YirmeYahu what is coming upon them, but they keep trusting in false hope. They have renewed confidence that the siege is over because of Pharaoh's army chasing the Chaldeans away, but YHWH makes it clear yet again that Nebukadretstsar the sovereign of Babel will be triumphant and that their only hope is to surrender to his army because Yerushalayim will be burned.

He wants them to know that even if it looks like the entire Chaldean army is dead, those not quite dead will STILL get up and burn the city. That image reminded me of the horror movies where the serial murderer seems to finally be stopped by having been stabbed or shot multiple times or fallen from several stories or caught on fire or electrocuted--appearing to be thoroughly dead--only to rise up and keep coming after his intended victim.

YHWH shows us over and over how His Word is Truth and WILL stand no matter how things may appear, whether circumstances are painting a picture of false hope or false despair. This is why we need to have ears that listen to His Voice and eyes that focus on Him instead of circumstances.

Kedoshim (Holy Ones)

(Today's Torah portion is Kedoshim. I originally wrote and posted this to my previous blog on 04/30/2007.)

Readings:

TORAH: Vayikra (Leviticus) 19:1-20:27
HAFTARAH: Yehezqel (Ezekiel) 20:2-20; Amos 9:7-15
KETUVIM NETZARIM: MattithYahu (Matthew) 5:43-48; Kefa Alef (1 Peter) 1:13-16

In Vayikra 19, YHWH continues to instruct us in how to be set apart (holy):

Lev 19:2 "Speak to all the congregation of the children of Yisra'el, and say to them, 'Be set-apart, for I YHWH your Elohim am set-apart.

He starts by restating a summary of what is generally known as the first 5 of the 10 Commandments:

Lev 19:3 'Each one of you should fear his mother and his father, and guard My Sabbaths. I am YHWH your Elohim.
Lev 19:4 'Do not turn to idols, and do not make for yourselves moulded mighty ones. I am YHWH your Elohim.

He stated them this way previously:

Exo 20:2 "I am YHWH your Elohim, who brought you out of the land of Mitsrayim, out of the house of slavery.

When I was taught to memorize the 10 Commandments as a child, this vitally important commandment was omitted. He wants us to know who He is so that we will worship Him and not some other god. He identifies Himself specifically by Name and by deed and wants us to recognize and acknowledge Him the same way.

Exo 20:3 "You have no other mighty ones against My face.
Exo 20:4 "You do not make for yourself a carved image, or any likeness of that which is in the heavens above, or which is in the earth beneath, or which is in the waters under the earth,
Exo 20:5 you do not bow down to them nor serve them. For I, YHWH your Elohim am a jealous El, visiting the crookedness of the fathers on the children to the third and fourth generations of those who hate Me,
Exo 20:6 but showing kindness to thousands, to those who love Me and guard My commands.

When we adore anyone or anything more than YHWH, to Him it is like we are shoving it in His face. A much neglected part of this commandment is the prohibition of images--not only are we not to bow down to them nor worship them, we're not even to make them for ourselves, yet many wear them on their bodies and decorate their homes with them.

Exo 20:7 "You do not bring the Name of YHWH your Elohim to naught, for YHWH does not leave the one unpunished who brings His Name to naught.

For most of my life, I didn't know the Name of YHWH because it has been brought to naught by translators who inserted substitutes instead of preserving His Name intact.

If you want to see how serious YHWH is about His Name, look at The Scriptures version, in which His Name is preserved in Hebrew.

It is quite an eye-opener to see how prevalent His Name is on nearly every page, revealing how emphatic He is about wanting us to know His Name!

In Hebrew, His Name is spelled (from right to left) with the Hebrew letters Yod-Hey-Vav-Hey:

יהוה

The name Yehudah (Judah-the tribe from which Yeshua Messiah came) is spelled with the Hebrew letters Yod-Hey-Vav-Daulet-Hey:

יהודה

If we remove the 'daulet' (the 'd' sound), we may come close to the correct pronunciation of the Name of YHWH -- 'Yehuah'.

'Jehovah' is not correct because Hebrew does not have a 'J' sound, and English didn't even have a letter 'J' as recently as 400 years ago. This is also how we know that the Messiah's name is not 'Jesus'. His Name is Yeshua, which means 'Salvation of YH' (YH is the shortened poetic form of YHWH).

Many Bible translations are pretty candid in their introductions to explain that they have substituted 'LORD' for the Name of YHWH. But what is sad about that is that the word for 'Lord' in Hebrew is 'Ba'al'. You may remember Elijah having a show-down with the priests of Ba'al (1 Kings 18).

Another name frequently used as a substitute is 'God', which originally came from German (Gott) and is pronounced exactly like the name of the Hebrew tribe of 'Gad'. What YHWH uses as a title for Himself is 'Elohim', Hebrew for 'Mighty Ones', which makes a lot more sense.

Exo 20:8 "Remember the Sabbath day, to set it apart.

The Sabbath day is the seventh day of the week, which is from sundown to sundown. Using the worldly names, it is from sundown on Friday until sundown on Saturday. In addition to the weekly Sabbath, there are 7 annual Sabbaths:

1. The 1st day of Chag HaMatzot (Feast of Unleavened Bread)
2. The 7th day of Chag HaMatzot
3. Shavuot (Pentecost)
4. Yom Teruah (Day of Trumpets)
5. Yom Kippur (Day of Atonement)
6. The 1st day of Sukkot (Feast of Tabernacles)
7. Shemini Atzeret (Eighth-Day Assembly)

Sabbath days are set apart by not working, buying or selling on those days and by assembling ourselves together to worship and focus solely on YHWH.

Exo 20:12 "Respect your father and your mother, so that your days are prolonged upon the soil which YHWH your Elohim is giving you.

Learning to respect and fear our parents (whom we can see--natural) is essential to learning how to respect and fear YHWH (whom we cannot see--spiritual):

1Co 15:46 The spiritual, however, was not first, but the natural, and afterward the spiritual.

These first 5 of the 10 Commandments show us how we are to love YHWH.

In this Torah portion, YHWH also elaborates on how we are to love our neighbor:

• By taking care of the poor, the deaf and the blind
• By not stealing, lying, deceiving or swearing falsely
• By not oppressing, robbing or withholding wages overnight (instead of paying workers at the end of the work-day)
• By right-ruling in disputes and not showing partiality to the rich, nor to the poor
• By not slandering or hating
• By reproving an erring brother
• By not taking vengeance or bearing a grudge.

Lev 19:18 'Do not take vengeance or bear a grudge against the children of your people. And you shall love your neighbour as yourself. I am YHWH.

YHWH is also serious about purity and gives us practical ways to remain mindful of that:

Lev 19:19 'Guard My laws. Do not let your livestock mate with another kind. Do not sow your field with mixed seed. And do not put a garment woven of two sorts of thread upon you.

Other instructions YHWH gives in this chapter are:

• Do not eat blood
• Do not practice divination or magic
• Do not shave your head or beard
• Do not mutilate your flesh with cuttings or tattoos
• Do not make your daughter a whore
• Do not consult mediums or spiritists
• Guard His Sabbaths
• Reverence His set-apart place
• Respect and care for the elderly
• Treat the stranger as you would a brother, loving him as you love yourself
• Be honest in all business dealings and legal cases

Lev 19:37 'And you shall guard all My laws and all My right-rulings, and do them. I am YHWH.'"

He expects us to be faithful to guard and do all these things.

In chapter 20, YHWH requires the death penalty for certain offenses:

• Child sacrifice
• Cursing father or mother
• Adultery
• Sexual relations between men
• Marrying a mother and daughter
• Sexual relations with animals
• Being a medium or spiritist

The death penalty is only to be carried out by the nation (not by individuals) and only on the testimony of two or more truthful reliable witnesses.

All of His instructions are for one purpose:

Lev 20:26 'And you shall be set-apart to Me, for I YHWH am set-apart, and have separated you from the peoples to be Mine.

Mat 5:48 "Therefore, be perfect, as your Father in the heavens is perfect.

1Pe 1:13 Therefore, having girded up the loins of your mind, being sober, set your expectation perfectly upon the favour that is to be brought to you at the revelation of Yeshua Messiah,
1Pe 1:14 as obedient children, not conforming yourselves to the former lusts in your ignorance,
1Pe 1:15 instead, as the One who called you is set-apart, so you also should become set-apart in all behaviour,
1Pe 1:16 because it has been written, "Be set-apart, for I am set-apart."

If we want to be His and live in His presence forever, we must be set-apart to Him because He is set-apart.

Eze 20:20 'And set apart My Sabbaths, and they shall be a sign between Me and you, to know that I am YHWH your Elohim.'

If we are not setting apart His Sabbaths, then who is our elohim?

Amo 9:8 "Look, the eyes of the Master are on the sinful reign, and I shall destroy it from the face of the earth, except that, I do not completely destroy the house of Ya'aqob," declares YHWH.
Amo 9:9 "For look, I am commanding, and I shall sift the house of Yisra'el among all the gentiles, as one sifts with a sieve, yet not a grain falls to the ground.

YHWH did not completely destroy the house of Ya'acob (used here to refer to the Southern Kingdom of Judah). The house of Yisra'el, though, was so scattered among the gentiles that they became indistinguishable from the gentiles. But YHWH knows who they are and sifts them out, "one from a city and two from a clan":

Jer 3:14 "Return, O backsliding children," declares YHWH, "for I shall rule over you, and shall take you, one from a city and two from a clan, and shall bring you to Tsiyon.

Are you listening for His voice? Is He calling you back to Him to be among His Kedoshim?

Feeding the Multitudes

(I originally wrote and posted this to my previous blog on 02/26/2007.)

Reading: MattithYahu (Matthew) 13-16

Mat 16:6 And Yeshua said to them, "Mind! And beware of the leaven of the Pharisees and the Sadducees."
Mat 16:7 And they reasoned among themselves, saying, "Because we brought no bread!"
Mat 16:8 But Yeshua, aware of this, said to them, "O you of little belief, why do you reason among yourselves because you brought no bread?
Mat 16:9 "Do you still not understand, neither remember the five loaves of the five thousand and how many baskets you picked up?
Mat 16:10 "Or the seven loaves of the four thousand and how many large baskets you picked up?
Mat 16:11 "How is it that you do not understand that I did not speak to you concerning bread, but to beware of the leaven of the Pharisees and Sadducees?"
Mat 16:12 Then they understood that He did not say to beware of the leaven of bread, but of the teaching of the Pharisees and the Sadducees.

Somehow, Yeshua reminding His disciples of these two events, the feeding of the 5000 and the feeding of the 4000 and the numbers involved--5/5000/12 and 7/4000/7 respectively--made it clear to them that He was warning them against the teaching of the Pharisees and the Sadducees.

I spent some time researching this and found all kinds of explanations for what the numbers symbolized. In some cases, the mathematical formulas used were too complex for me and went over my head. In other cases, it just didn't add up or was stretched too far to try to make it fit a specific ideology. I even tried using those numbers and various functions on my calculator to try to see if there was a pattern that might clue me in to exactly what clicked in the disciples' heads, but I didn't discover anything conclusive from playing with the numbers.

In the previous chapter, Yeshua pointed out that the Pharisees taught "commands of men" (15:9), and later on it is said of the Sadducees that they "say there is no resurrection" (Matt. 22:23). These are both false teachings that Yeshua corrected, calling the Pharisees hypocrites (Matt. 15:7) and telling the Sadducees they had gone astray and didn't know the Scriptures (Matt. 22:29).

In the case of the Pharisees, they had added to YHWH's teachings by insisting on "commands of men", while the Sadducees took away from YHWH's teachings by saying "there is no resurrection", so both are in violation of:

Deu 4:2 "Do not add to the Word which I command you, and do not take away from it, so as to guard the commands of יהוה your Elohim which I am commanding you.

At the feeding of both multitudes, at first there is too little (5 loaves for 5000, 7 loaves for 4000), and then the people are fed and satisfied (receiving just the right amount), and then afterward, there is too much (12 baskets and 7 baskets of leftovers).

The Sadducees can be seen in the before picture--too little/taking away from the Word. The Pharisees can be seen in the after picture--too much/adding to the Word. But Yeshua Messiah (the Living Word) fed the people the perfect amount--the Bread of Life.

Yom HaShoah (Holocaust Memorial Day)

(Today is Yom HaShoah. I originally wrote and posted this to my previous blog on 04/19/2007.)

Readings:

Debarim (Deuteronomy) 4:30-40
Hitgalut (Revelation) 6:9-11

The Roman date of April 15, 2007, was the day set aside as Holocaust Memorial Day this year. I still vividly remember visiting the Dachau concentration camp in Germany when I was 12 years old. It was almost impossible to believe that what happened there actually truly did happen even though we could see all of the pictures in the museum, walk where the barracks were and touch the ovens in the crematorium. The mind just doesn't want to comprehend such evil actually taking place.

Today in the news, we are hearing the same rhetoric that was heard from Germany 70 years ago. Not only do we hear voices calling for the extermination of Jews and that Israel should be wiped off the map, but we also hear chants of "Death to America". Not only that, but there have already been genocidal campaigns in Cambodia, Rwanda, Bosnia, Kosovo and Darfur.

It is sad to see the same indifference to evil that manifested back in the 1920s, 1930s and 1940s. As one Holocaust survivor put it: "When someone tells you he wants to kill you, believe him." We need to wake up and stand fast against evil instead of remaining in denial about it.

No matter what evil may be happening, we need to remember that YHWH is Elohim and put our trust in Him.

Deu 4:39 "And you shall know today, and shall recall to your heart that יהוה Himself is Elohim in the heavens above and on the earth beneath; there is none else.
Deu 4:40 "And you shall guard His laws and His commands which I command you today, so that it is well with you and with your children after you, and so that you prolong your days on the soil which יהוה your Elohim is giving you for all time."

Pineapple Square Afghan Progress

I've been working on this Pineapple Square Afghan bit by bit along with other projects over the past couple of months. I'm crocheting it with Red Heart Super Saver yarn in 'Painted Desert' on a J hook, and I really love this colorway.

Finally all six of the 23 x 23-inch squares are completed and sewn together, so it's actually starting to look like an afghan now. It's also getting somewhat uncomfortable to work with since it is afghan size now and the weather is getting warmer (hotter!) every day.

I still have to crochet the border, which is a three-round border, so I'll probably do one round at a time in between trying to get caught up on the Ravelry CAL Afghans, which are each in various stages of progression, and the 200 Crochet Blocks CAL Afghans, which I haven't started yet other than getting some of the yarn I need for them.

I really love this afghan, so I'll be a little sad to see it go once it's completed. I hope the recipients enjoy it as much as I have enjoyed making it.

The pattern for this afghan is in a booklet called Pineapple Afghans, which I purchased from Frugal Knitting Haus.