Is Israel merely the land of the Jews, or is it the land of the G-d of Israel, entrusted to the Jews, rather those of Israel who hold as authoritative the written Torah of the Bible? And does it also belong to the soon to be discovered other 10 tribes who will one day return to their patrimonial land, those only who have left their idolatry and embraced not only the Jewish people but the Eternal G-d of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob?
The events over the past few months have split the country in two if we believe the media, that Israel is in a state of Civil Emergency. Yet is this the truth? Much of what Media channels tell us is inflated or outright lies. Is there indeed a struggle between left and right? Yes, there is a struggle and the extent to which this is a problem has much to do with support from those who hate Israel and deny Israel’s right to a true democracy. The struggle is exaggerated and made bigger by the lies being told. The left is claiming they want democracy but the outcome of what they are clinging to is not at all democracy. Democracy is about a country run by it’s elected officials. Judicial reform is the solution to bring the country under the rule of it’s elected government. But what if that government is not following Torah? That is a big IF!
What if the people do not want to serve One who is the Giver and rightful Owner of the Land? What then? Are we creating another self-governed state elected by a populace that does not hold themselves accountable to obey the Torah? Will we create a state run by the secular Zionists who have no fear of Hashem? Or will, perchance those who wish to form another nation, not “Under G-d”, finally see the Arm of the Lord working and pack their bags and multi-million dollar enterprises and return to what they believe is the “Land of Plenty”?
The Haftorah for this week speaks about this problem and the call to trust and return to righteousness. (Isaiah 51). The chapter begins specifying to whom is the call and the blessing:
“1 Hearken to Me, ye that follow after righteousness, ye that seek the LORD; look unto the rock whence ye were hewn, and to the hole of the pit whence ye were digged.”
Those who follow after righteousness are called to hearken שמעו (Shema in the plural). Again we see this in verse 7 and defined as those “in whose hear is My law.”
“7 Hearken שמעו unto Me, ye that know righteousness, the people in whose heart is My law; fear ye not the taunt of men, neither be ye dismayed at their revilings. 8 For the moth shall eat them up like a garment, and the worm shall eat them like wool; but My favour shall be for ever, and My salvation unto all generations. 9 Awake, awake, put on strength, O arm of the LORD; awake, as in the days of old, the generations of ancient times.”
Several people I have spoken with in the past few weeks have reacted negatively to my insistence that Israel does not need the United States anymore (never did really). When I have stated that the Eternal is looking after Israel and that it is time for Israel to rise and shine, they hang their heads and say, “but…”
We saw above that those who know righteousness are not to fear the mocking media and those in the nations and even in Israel who hate the Truth, but rather to trust and watch (שמעו) for the Arm of the Lord. You can see a list of references to who is this Arm in my article: Defining Isaiah 53…An Arm, a Servant and Who is We?
Why is it that the Arm of the Lord is told to awaken and put on strength? Is there someone out there that knows and hearkens to righteousness but is afraid to rise and become strengthened to do the work that he is called to do? Who awoke in times of old, in past generations to lead G-d’s people? If we look at the call of Moses, of Jeremiah, of Isaiah, we will see their timidity in accepting the call to rise and lead. Who will arise and lead today? Are there any agencies who are not paid off by globalists and godless nations and entities that want to divide and destroy this nation and barter it off to those who have no right to it? When we divide the land to make peace (ie the two state solution) we are taking part in the scheme prophesied in Daniel 11:39?
“39 And he shall deal with the strongest fortresses with the help of a foreign god; whom he shall acknowledge, shall increase glory; and he shall cause them to rule over many, and shall divide the land for a price.” What does it mean to divide the land for a price (profit, bribe, money, etc)?
Perhaps the signing of the Oslo Accords by Yitzhak Rabin had something to do with this. And we know he did not last long. He was assassinated by a zealous Israeli Zionist. See article here. The Oslo Accords was clearly an attempt to get Israel to lie down and drink the kool-aid of the nations desire to divide and destroy the Land of Promise.
But the Haftorah continues its wake up call:
“17 Awake, awake, stand up, O Jerusalem, that hast drunk at the hand of the LORD the cup of His fury; thou hast drunken the beaker, even the cup of staggering, and drained it. 18 There is none to guide her among all the sons whom she hath brought forth; neither is there any that taketh her by the hand of all the sons that she hath brought up. 19 These two things are befallen thee; who shall bemoan thee? desolation and destruction, and the famine and the sword; how shall I comfort thee? 20 Thy sons have fainted, they lie at the head of all the streets, as an antelope in a net; they are full of the fury of the LORD, the rebuke of thy God.”
The sons of Israel, even the Zionists are afraid, they believe we have to get along with the nations so that we can have our land even when the nations want to take it away and give it to those who never deserved it. And some of those Arabs realize that it does not belong to them. See what Sheikh Ahmad al-Adwan is reported to have said in a publication by MIDA: Read the whole article here.
“ ‘The Palestinians are murderers of children, elderly and women. They attack the Jews, use children as a human shield and hide behind them without mercy, as though they weren’t their own flesh and blood. And all this to deliver a false message, as though the Jews are the hostiles and not them.’ … ‘All should know that the Holy Land is their [the Jews’] land and that Jerusalem is the direction towards which they pray and during their readings and ceremonies, as God said in the Koran; ‘Turn then Thy face in the direction of the sacred Mosque” (in Mecca) [Koran 2:144]. This verse effectively cancels out the prayer towards al-Aqsa (the Temple Mount) and all traditions regarding al-Aqsa for Muslims.’ His unusual statement was published in the pro-Palestinian daily al-Quds al-Arabi, after which it made its way to hundreds of Arabic websites, forums and facebook pages – all of them fiercely attacking and criticizing him.”
But the good news is that there are some out there who trust YHVH and though they are timid and see themselves as unworthy to stand up and do the work that is before them, they are listening. May they see the Hand of Hashem working so that they will arise and do his bidding! The Haftorah ends with the following verse in Isaiah 51:
“22 Thus saith thy Lord the LORD, and thy God that pleadeth the cause of His people: behold, I have taken out of thy hand the cup of staggering; the beaker, even the cup of My fury, thou shalt no more drink it again; 23 And I will put it into the hand of them that afflict thee; that have said to thy soul: ‘Bow down, that we may go over’; and thou hast laid thy back as the ground, and as the street, to them that go over.”
Perhaps what gives those who seek righteousness strength to arise is when they see Hashem place the cup of staggering into the hand of the enemy. Let us watch and see! Hearken שמעו oh Israel!
When Israel hastily left Egypt, they wrapped up their dough without adding a leavening agent. This was the precursor for the observance of the feast of unleavened bread or Hag HaMatzot which was defined at Sinai as a statute binding for all time for Israel. The Feast of Passover, as commanded in the Bible included a complete cleansing of leaven from the homes of the Israelites and a seven day diet of unleavened bread, this was given as a perpetual memorial of their escape from Egypt. But what, if anything did leavening have to do with Egypt and what is involved in it’s prohibition?
Some have said that the practice of leavening bread was part of the idolatrous practices of Egypt. That this bread was used in sacrifices to the Egyptian gods. This is something I once believed, and certainly is an aspect to consider—But if that was the bottom line reason for Israel’s command to observe the Feast of Passover, then why is there in the second biblical feast Shavuot (the Feast of Weeks), the command to make two loaves made with leavening? This makes no sense if leaven represents Egypt and idolatry. I mean, if the principle of leavening was evil, so now why were we to resume the practice? What can possibly be involved here?
Perhaps if we look at the way ancient breads were leavened we may see something in the ingredients that would give us a clue…
For several years now I have experimented with the process of making sourdough bread. As I understand it, this was always the way that bread was leavened before the invention of modern yeast.
For me, learning to ferment sourdough, has been interesting and a challenge! If you don’t have any bacteria, the flour base will rot, and you can’t put a tight lid on the jar while it ferments, you have to let the outside air which supplies oxygen and the environmental bacteria in this air. If that air has bad bacteria, it is contaminated—and when exposed to unhealthy bacteria, I have found that it produces a strange taste and smell. I have lived and made bread in parts of Israel where there is a clean desert atmosphere, and there the taste is excellent. But not all the areas in Israel create good sourdough, at least not from my experimentation.
Sourdough starter takes its flavor from fermentation caused by bacteria in its environment. I have lived in several countries and the taste of my sourdough has varied in each place. Since I make my starter from scratch and do not import it, it depends on local bacteria in the flour and the atmosphere to make it ferment. It seems that the atmosphere of the country is absorbed in the fermentation process. Now maybe I am taking a deep dive here—jumping to conclusions in that thinking. But let’s work through this!
What was wrong with Egypt for the people of Israel? Basically, they suffered under slavery in a system of idolatry, correct? There were other things, unclean, non kosher standards, perhaps also things having to do with Egyptian burial practices…
But what was right with Israel’s making their own leavened dough starting in the desert as commanded at Sinai in regards to the Feast of Weeks? Actually, the offering of the wave sheaf which precluded and thus was also mandatory for the feast of weeks, according to the Torah, was not to be kept until they entered theland. Leviticus 22:10-17.
But the instruction was given there so we would assume that it was legitimate for the Israelites to make bread sometime in the desert (though there was little if any grain to make flour from as far as I know). Was the desert a cleaner place? It definitely had less idolatry, except when Israel made the golden calf.
Do idolatrous practices pervade the atmosphere? Can disobedience cause alterations in the environment? What about immorality? Can it actually affect the physicality of the world? Can the physical world be destroyed by sin? I leave that to your judgment. Is it possible that the very air becomes contaminated with altered bacteria in an unclean or immoral environment?
We have been living in an apartment near Tel Aviv a city that celebrates its Pride Parade and leads the world in this sin. Sorry if that offends people, but being part of the land of Israel, Tel Aviv should honor the commands given by Him who gifted Israel to the people who keep His covenant. But can the air and the food be contaminated this way?
And what does that have to do with my sourdough? Well, I can’t seem to get the bread to come out right here. Perhaps this old decaying apartment is the cause, perhaps the air outside is too humid. But, the bread tastes wrong. It is not at all like the bread I made in the north of Israel. There is a strange strain of bacteria here which I cannot define other than to say that the very air is contaminated by something that tastes rotten.
Perhaps, like I said, I am taking a deep dive here into something that is half physical and half spiritual, but let me tell you, the atmosphere is not good here in many ways. It is almost as if a curse is hanging in the very air around us. And it is affecting the bread I make. I suppose I could import a sourdough starter and then I would not have the problem in my bread making, or would I?
When we think of the laws of the Torah, though many of them are a mystery, we see that observance of these laws brings both spiritual and physical blessings. We can restore the land! How? Not by saying extra prayers (Isaiah 1:15-17) in the synagogue or being sure to kiss more mezzuzot, but by obedience to the Torah and it’s simple commands, even though the spiritual meaning may be a mystery to the human mind. So what’s the bottom line?… Obedience is better than sacrifice.
1Sa 15: “22 But Samuel replied: “Does the LORD delight in burnt offerings and sacrifices as much as in obeying the LORD? To obey is better than sacrifice, and to heed is better than the fat of rams. 23 For rebellion is like the sin of divination, and arrogance like the evil of idolatry…”
The 53rd chapter of Isaiah is one of the key chapters Christians use to convert Jews to Christianity. It is often claimed by Christians that Isaiah 53 is a “forbidden chapter” by the Jews because of of it’s “clear reference to Jesus.” It is in fact, a difficult chapter to understand, even if not taken out of context as Christians attempt to reinterpret it. If a few verses are taken and laid side by side with the New Testament story of the Passion of Christ it seems to make a complete match, especially when Christian translations of Isaiah are used. But there is a problem with this match. Perhaps there is something that even the rabbis of Judaism have missed. Rabbinical commentaries mostly favor the view that the Servant in Isaiah is consistently Israel. But there are problems with this view also.
There are a few key terms in the passage that must be defined. Their context can be shown from other parts of Isaiah, especially in chapter 52 for which the last few verses are an introduction to Isaiah 53. There are other verses on the same subject throughout the Tanakh. Who is the “the Arm of YHVH?” and who is the “Servant”? Who gives the report and who hears it?– and besides that, who is “all of us?”
Who is the Arm ofYHVH? Isaiah 51: 9-10 (for Hebrew, click here)
9. “Awake, awake, put on strength, O arm of YHVH; awake, as in the ancient days, in the generations of old. Art thou not it that has cut Rahab in pieces, and wounded the dragon?” (תַּנִּין) (Also rendered “serpent” in the Tanakh.) 10. “Art Thou not He which dried the sea, the waters of the great deep; that made the depths of the sea a way for the ransomed to pass over?”
The Arm of YHVH is the Eternal Himself. Can anyone question who it was that “dried up the sea and opened a path for the people to cross over?” This was/is not a mortal man.
Here are other verses from the Tanakh that refer to the Arm of the L-RD:
Exo 6:6 Wherefore say unto the children of Israel, I am YHVH, and I will bring you out from under the burdens of the Egyptians, and I will rid you out of their bondage, and I will redeem you with a stretched out arm, and with great judgments: (Hebrew)
Exo 15:16 (Hebrew)Fear and dread shall fall upon them; by the greatness of Thine arm they shall be as still as a stone; till thy people pass over, O YHVH, till the people pass over, which thou hast purchased.
Deu 4:34 (Hebrew) “Or hath God assayed to go and take him a nation from the midst of another nation, by temptations, by signs, and by wonders, and by war, and by a mighty hand, and by a stretched out Arm, and by great terrors, according to all that YHVH your God did for you in Egypt before your eyes?”
Isa 52:10 (Hebrew) “YHVH hath made bare His Holy Arm in the eyes of all the nations; and all the ends of the earth shall see the salvation of our God.”
Take a look at these verses as well: Deu 11:2, Isa 30:30
After reading what the Bible says, can we make the Arm of YHVH into an entity or person that acts for Him? Does this make sense? The Arm of YHVH cannot be a prophet, nor Moses nor can it refer to a Messiah figure, though the “servantof YHVH” as we are going to see, is human and will be strengthened by this “Arm”. How do I know that the Arm strengthens the Servant.
An arm is the part of the body that executes or acts in a physical sense. To detach the arm from the body, we render it useless! The Arm is not something or someone separate from God Himself. No, not a man; not a prophet; not a messiah; not a human king. The Eternal manifests his will with His Arm.
When we start dissecting the Eternal into parts rather than a whole we get into strange interpretations that take away from the Unity of G-d and this amounts to confusion.
Num 23:19 – “God is not a man, that he should lie; neither the son of man, that he should repent: hath he said, and shall he not do?”
So if God is not a man then why do people say that He is a man? Or even part man? Does God need man to do things for Him? Did He need Moses or was Moses blessed to be used as a spokesperson? Did God even need Moses to speak? Didn’t Israel ask Moses to speak to them because they could not bear the voice of YHVH? Exodus 20:19. So the Eternal allowed this as it was all the people could bear.
So mortal men can speak or act under the direction of YHVH, but as tools or vessels, not as a power independent from Him. The effort to fragment the Eternal God and separate Him into pieces is a grievous mistake. That He is “One” is stated clearly in Deuteronomy 6:4– the Shema (שמע).
So as we approach Isaiah 53, we see the first verse speaks of this Arm.
Isaiah 53:1: “Who would have believed our report? and to whom is the arm of YHVH revealed?”
Again, who is this Arm? The passage mentions the Arm (which is not a man, but the power of God displayed in physical manifestation and this Arm strengthens whom it will). We already discovered who is the “Arm,” but the verse asks for the identity of the one(s) to whom this “Arm” is revealed. That is a BIG difference and to be a bit redundant, the “Arm” is not the one to whom the Arm is being revealed. So to whom is the Arm revealed?
The Isaiah 53 passage addresses the following entities:
Those who are listening to the report (from Chapter 52)
Those who give the report (from Chapter 52)
The “Arm” of YHVH) 53:1
The righteous servant (introduced in chapter 52).
“us all” 53:6: “Us all” seems to be the same group that give the shocking and unbelievable report (Note it is plural-our report–לִשְׁמֻעָתֵ֑נוּ). But who are those who are shocked by this unbelievable report?
Eze 37:21 “…then say to them, Thus says the YHVH Elohim: Behold, I will take the people of Israel from the nations among which they have gone, and will gather them from all around, and bring them to their own land.
“so shall he startle many nations; kings shall shut their mouths: for that which had not been told shall they see; and that which they had not heard shall they perceive.”
Those who are shocked by the report are the kings and nations of the world, and what they “perceive” is not the story of someone dying for the sins of the whole world, but that Israel is being restored as a people (nation). And there is an Arm of Deliverance working through a “righteous servant” among them. How can this be? (Perhaps this idea is not apparent at this point, but bear with me!)
Let me run this by you! … If the kings and nations of the world are shocked by “the report,” it is something they are not aware of. For 2000 years the kings and the nations have persecuted the Jews for not accepting the Christian religion. So, they would by no means be shocked to hear what is being revealed if it is about the same theories they have always believed.
And those who give the report may not be the same ones that hear the report. Each person as he perceives the revelation, shares it and those who hear also share. So whom is it that gives the report? Apparently the overwhelming surprise to the nations that Israel is being restored opens the eyes of the world and this happens when the “Arm of YHVH” has been revealed. This is what shocks the world! The Arm that has empowered the “righteous servant” and delivered the people of Israel to return to their land and rise above their enemies. But we must see who this “righteous servant” is in a bit.
“All we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned every one to his own way; and YHVH has caused the iniquity of us all to fall upon him.” Who are the “sheep?”
Eze 34:6 “they wandered over all the mountains and on every high hill. My sheep were scattered over all the face of the earth, with none to search or seek for them.”
1Ki 22:17 “And he said, “I saw all Israel scattered on the mountains, as sheep that have no shepherd. And YHVH said, ‘These have no master; let each return to his home in peace.’”
12 “Therefore prophesy, and say to them, Thus says the L-RD G-d: Behold, I will open your graves and raise you from your graves, O my people. And I will bring you into the land of Israel. 13 And you shall know that I am the L-RD, when I open your graves, and raise you from your graves, O my people.” To be taken from the graves is to be removed from the COUNTRIES where they have been exiled and returned to the land of Israel!
Jer 50:17 “Israel is a hunted sheep driven away by lions. First the king of Assyria devoured him, and now at last Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon has gnawed his bones.”
US All–the sheep represent Israel.
The majority of Israel–“us all”– caused the suffering of the righteous servant. So who would that be?
The Eternal willed for the iniquity of Israel to fall on His Righteous Servant. But before we assume that this is some kind of vicarious atonement or that the Righteous Servant is someone who takes the place of the ones who sin, we must remember all that we learned above. The application of Christ to this prophecy is clearly a misfit, as well as his being a bearer of the sins of the whole world. It is about Israel’s disobedience to the covenant for whom the Righteous Servant suffers. He does not suffer for the world but because of those who transgressed the Everlasting Covenant. The Torah was given to Israel, not to the nations. But how is it that he suffers if he is not doing this as an atonement for Israel? We’ll get to that but first, we remember that God never made a covenant with the nations other than the covenant given after the flood in the rainbow promise not to destroy all flesh again by a flood. We remember the covenants with Abraham, Isaac, Jacob and then Israel at Sinai. There is no covenant of law in the Tanakh for the rest of the world. And why? Because Israel was to teach the world—that is, to be a light to the nations… and this still is not being done…not yet. God gave special instructions in the Torah to those who wanted to join Israel. The stranger or proselyte had to enter into the covenant through the covenant of circumcision and obedience to the Torah including eating of the Passover. Otherwise there was no covenant for them.
“and the YHVH has caused the iniquity of us all to fall upon him”
Exo 12:48-49: “But if a stranger resides with you and celebrates the Passover to YHVH, all of his males are to be circumcised, and then he shall come near to celebrate it; and he shall be like a native of the land. But no uncircumcised male may eat it. One law shall be to him that is home-born, and unto the stranger that sojourns among you.”
Num 15:15 “One ordinance shall be both for you of the congregation, and also for the stranger that sojourns with you, an ordinance for ever in your generations: as you are, so shall the stranger be before the L-RD. 16 One law and one manner shall be for you, and for the stranger that sojourns with you.”
Numbers 15:29 “Ye shall have one law for him that sins through ignorance, both for him that is born among the children of Israel, and for the stranger that sojourns among them.”
Israel had the responsibility to instruct the nations to follow G-d’s ways–we were to be a light to the nations.
Isa 2:3 – “And many people shall go and say, Come ye, and let us go up to the mountain of the L-RD, to the house of the G-d of Jacob; and he will teach us of His ways, and we will walk in his paths: for out of Zion shall go forth the law, and the word of the L-RD from Jerusalem.”
Isa 60:3 – “Nations will come to your light, and kings to the brightness of your dawn.”
“By oppression and false judgment was he taken away; and of his generation who considered? For he was cut off out of the land of the living, for the transgression of (my) people to whom the stroke was due” or more precisely, “was he smitten”.
Where or what is the land of the living? (מֵאֶ֣רֶץ חַיִּ֔ים) Me-eretz Haim—The land of life or living land) Is this not Israel? Did not the righteous prophets suffer right along with the rebellious and were they not exiled as well? The transgression (Pesha) of my people (Ami) caused the righteous to be cut off along with the rest of Israel. Most translations refer to this as the land of the living. They also indicate that somehow this righteous servant is cut off (along with the rest of Israel) from life to go to the grave or Sheol. Certainly in some cases it is the grave, but if we look a little closer, it fits a bit better with the exile which is almost like death, for the land is what connects Israel to the promises and thus the life promised by the Creator. If the prophet or righteous servant is being exiled, he also is being cut off from the land of life-(Israel) a fate worse than death for the sons of the promise. And he is cut off along with the sheep (Israel) with whom he suffers the same fate, not vicariously, but along with them.
What was it that makes the Righteous Servant (or Remnant) suffer?
In verse 8. “…for the transgression of my people (מִפֶּ֥שַׁע עַמִּ֖י) was he smitten,” the translation “for” is used but this is not correct. Biblical Hebrew shows that a “mem” placed as a prefix before a word means “from” or “because of”, not “for”. This means it was the sins of “my people” that hurt the servant. It was not about YHVH making the servant into some kind of atoning sacrifice or whipping boy for the rest of them. The idea that somehow the servant appeases the wrath of God is what often comes to mind through English translations of Isaiah 53. No, and let me repeat: The servant, whether it be a prophet, messiah or just a few righteous people, suffers the same sicknesses, exiles, persecutions and everything else along with those “to whom the stroke was due.” They do not live in a separate world completely protected from all evil.
The righteous servant of the Eternal suffers because of the sins of Israel who were exiled as a result of their sins. These are the people to whom the stroke (punishment) was due. The question looms today, why are the majority of the Jews not in the land of Israel? Why are they still scattered to the nations? Originally because of their continued idolatry and seeking after the sins of the nations. And shamefully, it has not been about Israel being a witness to the nations, though that would have been ideal. And the continued exile shows the consequence for involvement in idolatry and for bowing to the rule of the nations in preference to their Deliverer YHVH.
Here are some corroborating verses about Israel being exiled:
Isa 2:6 – “Therefore thou hast forsaken thy people the house of Jacob, because they be replenished from the east, and are soothsayers like the Philistines, and they please themselves in the children of strangers.”
Deu 28:25 – “YHVH shall cause thee to be smitten before thine enemies: thou shalt go out one way against them, and flee seven ways before them: and shalt be removed into all the kingdoms of the earth.
Jer 15:4 – “And I will cause them to be removed into all kingdoms of the earth, because of Manasseh the son of Hezekiah king of Judah, for that which he did in Jerusalem.
Isa 5:13- “Therefore my people are gone into captivity, because they have no knowledge: and their honorable men are famished, and their multitude dried up with thirst.”
And the “cutting off” of the righteous servant, what is that about?
As we saw above, this appears to be speaking of death and the grave (Sheol) where no man is living, but I think there is something deeper here.
Perhaps the “righteous servant” refers to a righteous “remnant” that hold fast to the covenant of the Eternal even amidst their mistaken brethren? It is not, in my opinion, a single person, though it at times could refer to a prophet or messiah figure who will be strengthened by the “Arm of YHVH” to do great things for Israel, and in the view of an End Time application, this seems viable.
Again, the remnant suffer right along with those whose sins have brought the exile and punishment. Some died with them in the terrible persecution of the inquisitions of the dark ages and in the holocaust of the 20th century. Others suffered under derision and betrayal and shame by our own people.
I would like to explore a little more in reference to the symbolism of death and the grave? Check out this passage:
Eze 37:11-14: “Then he said to me, “Son of man, these bones are the whole house of Israel. Behold, they say, ‘Our bones are dried up, and our hope is lost; we are indeed cut off.’ 12 Therefore prophesy, and say to them, Thus says YHVH Elohim: Behold, I will open your graves and raise you from your graves, O my people. And I will bring you into the land of Israel. 13 And you shall know that I am YHVH, when I open your graves, and raise you from your graves, O my people. 14 And I will put my Spirit within you, and you shall live, and I will place you in your own land. Then you shall know that I am YHVH; I have spoken, and I will do it, declares the YHVH.” Here the exile is equated with death and the places of exile with the grave.
Can it be possible that the verses about death in Isaiah 53 has nothing to do with a righteous person dying for, or even because of the sins of Israel? At times this has been the case, but could it be that being taken away captive along with the rest of the Jewish people was/is a fate worse than death and the countries became their prisons and symbolized death to the Jews? When we see the promises of Israel being gathered back from the nations, it becomes even clearer.
Eze 28:25 “Thus says YHVH Elohim: When I gather the house of Israel from the peoples among whom they are scattered, and manifest my holiness in them in the sight of the nations, then they shall dwell in their own land that I gave to my servant Jacob.”
Eze 36:24 “I will take you from the nations and gather you from all the countries and bring you into your own land.
Look again at this section from Eze 37 which I quoted above:
Do we need more evidence for this idea that death and the grave refer to the exile and the countries in which the people of Israel are trapped? If we look at Isaiah 52, which sets the context for 53, we see…
Isaiah 52:1-3: “Awake, awake; put on thy strength, O Zion; put on thy beautiful garments, O Yerushalayim, the holy city: for henceforth there shall no more come into thee the uncircumcised and the unclean. Shake thyself from the dust; arise, and sit down, O Yerushalayim: loose thyself from the bands of thy neck, O captive daughter of Zion. For thus says YHVH, You were sold for nought; and you shall be redeemed without money.”
Here Isaiah sets the stage for what he says in Isaiah 53. The deliverance of the chosen people from their captivity and the cleansing of Jerusalem from those who do not belong there.
Isaiah 52:5: “And now what do I have here?” declares YHVH. “For my people have been taken away for nothing, and those who rule them mock,” declares YHVH. “And all day long my name is constantly blasphemed.”
52:9-12: “Break forth into joy, sing together, O waste places of Yerushalayim: for YHVH has comforted his people, he has redeemed Yerushalayim: YHVH has made bare His holy arm in the eyes of all the nations; and all the ends of the earth shall see the salvation of our God. Depart, depart, go out from there, touch no unclean thing: go out of the midst of her; be clean, you that bear the vessels of YHVH. For you shall not go out with haste, nor go by flight: for YHVH will go before you; and the God of Yisrael will be your rearguard.”
Here we see the Arm of YHVH acting to deliver His people from the places where they have been exiled. But then the chapter goes into who the Servant is in order to set the foundation for what follows in chapter 53.
Here is a list of the rest of the references for “my servant” in the book of Isaiah. As an author, Isaiah must show what he is referring to.
Isa 20:3: My servant Isaiah
Isa 22:20: My servant Eliakim
Isa 37:35: My servant David
Isa 41:8, Isa 44:1: My servant Jacob/Israel whom I have chosen
Isa 44:2: Jacob, My servant, Jeshurun whom I have chosen (Jeshurun יְשֻׁרוּן) means upright one, which ties into the righteous remnant).
Isa 44:21: Jacob and Israel, My servant
Isa 45:4: My servant Jacob and Israel, My chosen
Isa 49:3: My servant Israel
Isa 41:9 “you whom I took from the ends of the earth, and called from its farthest corners, saying to you, “You are my servant, I have chosen you and not cast you off”;”
Isa 42:1, 19: “1 Behold my servant, whom I uphold, my chosen, in whom my soul delights; I have put my Spirit upon him; he will bring forth justice to the nations. … 19 Who is blind but my servant, or deaf as my messenger whom I send? Who is blind as my dedicated one, or blind as the servant of YHVH?”
Isa 43:10 “10 “You are my witnesses,” declares the YHVH, “and my servant whom I have chosen…”
Isa 49:6 “he says: “It is too light a thing that you should be my servant to raise up the tribes of Jacob and to bring back the preserved of Israel; I will make you as a light for the nations, that my salvation may reach to the end of the earth.””
Isa 52:13 “Behold, my servant shall act wisely; he shall be high and lifted up, and shall be exalted.”
The references to My servant in Isaiah seem to change in the latter part of the book to a special servant or maybe a righteous remnant who are empowered by the Arm of YHVH. Note above in chapter 49:6, the servant is commanded to raise up the tribes of Israel and bring them back from the exile. In chapter 42, we see the servant empowered by the “spirit” of YHVH:
Isa 42:1-8: “1 Behold my servant, whom I uphold, my chosen, in whom my soul delights; I have put my Spirit upon him; he will bring forth justice to the nations. 2 He will not cry aloud or lift up his voice, or make it heard in the street; 3 a bruised reed he will not break, and a faintly burning wick he will not quench; he will faithfully bring forth justice. 4 He will not grow faint or be discouraged till he has established justice in the earth; and the coast lands wait for his law. 5 Thus says God, YHVH, who created the heavens and stretched them out, who spread out the earth and what comes from it, who gives breath to the people on it and spirit to those who walk in it: 6 “I am YHVH; I have called you in righteousness; I will take you by the hand and keep you; I will give you as a covenant for the people, a light for the nations, 7 to open the eyes that are blind, to bring out the prisoners from the dungeon, from the prison those who sit in darkness. 8 I am YHVH; that is my name; my glory I give to no other, nor my praise to carved idols.”
The Servant not only brings the exiles home, he brings justice to the nations and establishes law and order. We certainly need that now!
In chapter 49 we see parallel information for the righteous remnant or messiah of Isaiah 53.
5. “And now, says YHVH that formed me from the womb to be his servant to bring Yacov back to him, that Yisrael should be gathered to him, and I was honored in the eyes of YHVH, and my God was my strength.”
6. “And he said, It is too slight a thing that you should be my servant to raise up the tribes of Yacov, and to restore the preserved of Yisrael: I will also give thee for a light to the nations, that my salvation may be to the end of the earth.”
7. “Thus says YHVH, the Redeemer of Yisrael, his Holy One, to him whom man despises, to him whom the nation abhors, to a servant of rulers, Kings shall see and arise, princes also shall prostrate themselves, because of YHVH who is faithful, and the Holy One of Yisrael, who has chosen thee.”
8. “Thus says YHVH, In an acceptable time have I answered thee, and in a day of salvation have I helped thee: and I will preserve thee, and give thee for a covenant of the people, to restore the land, and to assign desolate inheritances to their owners.” 9. “That thou mayst say to the prisoners, Go forth; to them that are in darkness, Show yourselves. They shall feed in the ways, and their pastures shall be on all high places.”
Why is God pleased to crush or bruise the righteous servant?
In other words, why does it seem that God is happy with the death or affliction of the righteous? Is there something about this affliction that purifies them or those around them?
Isa 53:10: “But it pleased YHVH to crush him by disease: if his soul shall consider it a recompense for guilt, he shall see his seed, he shall prolong his days, and the purpose of YHVH shall prosper in his hand.” (we do not find the phrase “crush him by disease” (דַּכְּאוֹ֙ הֶחֱלִ֔י) in most Christian translations. I wonder why?)
This same verse in the KJV has two errors. The words “Sacrifice for sin” is not there in the Hebrew. And secondly, the word for disease or sickness is omitted. This disease (according to Christian translations) is placed upon him for soul guilt: הֶחֱלִ֔י אִם־תָּשִׂ֤ים אָשָׁם֙ נַפְשׁ֔וֹ . The idea in the translations is far from the truth. The servant suffers sickness which is placed upon him like everyone else. Could it be that when the majority falls ill because of their deviance, he also bears the infirmity? Nowhere does it suggest that he is making an atonement for others sins through his suffering.
Isa 53:11: “He shall see the travail of his soul, he shall be sated with seeing: by his knowledge did my servant justify the righteous One to the many, and did bear their iniquities.”
The “servant” justifies the Holy Righteous One, which means his life glorifies the Creator, and His Covenant before those with whom he associates. And this even while suffering because of the sins of his generation. What does it mean to bear their sins? It surely does not mean that these righteous ones take on the sins themselves, but to bear with their sins, and to rebuke and chastise where needed. And they do receive the penalty of exile and plague and persecution right along with those whom they associate.
Work of the High Priest on the Day of Atonement
If we look at the High Priest’s work in the Tabernacle we see that Aaron, on the day of Atonement, represented the entire congregation. He represented them in the process of atonement for their transgressions. He, as it were, carried (bore) their sins into the Sanctuary and placed them on the head of the sacrifice which was the instrument for atonement. But Aaron was not the instrument of atonement—He was the appointed servant in this case. What is this sacrifice today? What is the instrument that brings reconciliation between God and man? A broken and contrite spirit? Repentance? Something else? But, I hope we see clearly that the servant does not serve as a substitute for the guilty. He can represent them, help them, suffer along with them, but the Bible is clear that the innocent do not pay for the sins of the guilty…
Eze 18:20: “The soul who sins shall die. The son shall not suffer for the iniquity of the father, nor the father suffer for the iniquity of the son. The righteousness of the righteous shall be upon himself, and the wickedness of the wicked shall be upon himself.”
Isa 53:12: “Surely I will give him a portion with the great, and he shall divide the spoil with the strong; because he has poured out his soul to death, and was numbered with transgressors; but he bore the sin of many, and made intercession for the transgressors.”
Moses made intercession for Israel and the righteous prophets of all times have done the same. We see Elijah on Mt. Carmel. Aaron stood between the living and the dead to make intercession. And these of the righteous remnant do this for those around them.
In summary, we see the Arm of the Eternal (YHVH), strengthening, by His Spirit, the Servant (Righteous Remnant or Messiah) so that he rises up to deliver Israel from the Exile in all the nations where they have gone, the “us all” of Isaiah 53. My people lost in the Exile, will be, as it were, resurrected from the graves of captivity and returned to the land of Israel where they will, along with the Servant, be delivered, repentant, exalted and when God purifies and restores Jerusalem, they will be there to teach the nations to worship the God of Israel who has delivered them from Exile, a fate worse than death.
May it be soon!
Ariella
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A couple of days ago, my husband Binjamin and I drove from the North of Israel back to our apartment south of Tel Aviv. As we were creeping slowly in rush hour traffic, I noticed rainbow flags draped over the overpass together with the Israeli flag. Yes, we had to return our rental car to an agency in another city on Friday morning because of the Pride parade that was to take place this weekend.
My question is, why in Israel? Why in the land that the LORD has given to those who keep HIS covenant? My personal disgust aside, why is anything like this happening in this country? Is there something that says that humans can now decide what their covenant with the Most High God will be?
Is nothing sealed in stone as eternal?
And why call it pride? and why use the sign of the Everlasting Covenant given to all mankind by God after the flood. It appears that humanity is proud of their rebellion against the Creator of the Universe and this time it is taking over the entire globe…almost. I wonder sometimes when I see Jewish people embracing this abomination whether Hashem is still merciful and going to take it on the cheek, or if He now will somehow disqualify the people who carry His Name, at least those who are defying Him through this vulgar defiance. Is a Jew inherently Holy because He was once chosen to be Holy. When the Bible says… “Be ye Holy for I am Holy…”(Leviticus 19:2), I take it to mean that there is a choice to be made in order to continue to be chosen.
We hear the phrase used by Christians: “Once saved, always saved.” Well that is not far off from the belief that Jews are somehow superior because we were once the chosen people. Read the Bible. How many times does it say that if an individual or nation disobeys Hashem’s covenant, he or it will be cut off?
“And I will give the men that have transgressed my covenant, which have not performed the words of the covenant which they had made before me, when they cut the calf in twain, and passed between the parts thereof” Jer 34:18
It makes no sense whatsoever for the Eternal to promise unconditional status to a people regardless of their behavior.
“Now if you will indeed obey My voice and keep My covenant, you will be My treasured possession out of all the nations—for the whole earth is Mine. 6And unto Me you shall be a kingdom of priests and a holy nation.’ These are the words that you are to speak to the Israelites.” Exodus 19:5-6.
And this behavior is clearly not in accordance with the Covenant given on Sinai. I don’t care how many branches of Judaism justify it, there is no way you can get around what was commanded in black and white. And NO, there is no gray there.
“If there is a man who sleeps with a male as those who sleep with a woman, both of them have committed a detestable act; they must be put to death. They have brought their own deaths upon themselves.” Leviticus 20:13
The Bible speaks of the male act of homosexuality. It does not mention lesbianism, however when the Creator of the Universe told mankind to be fruitful and multiply, it certainly did not indicate that the female with female sexual relationship qualified.
I honestly wonder where this is all going and how the King of the Universe will react? Or will He? Has he left humankind to it’s own devices and consequences? God forbid!
Oh Hashem, rise and let your enemies be scattered! Take back your Holy people where-ever they are, now “sighing and crying for the abominations in the land.” Ezekiel 9:4
Read the entire chapters of Ezekiel 8-9 to see what the Eternal does.
Yours for a time of peace in a land swept clean of these abominations!
Mainstream Judaism claims that “baseless hatred” between the varying factions during the era of the Second Temple was the reason for its destruction. See My Jewish Learning
“The Jewish Amoraim attributed the destruction of the Temple and Jerusalem as punishment from God for the “baseless” hatred that pervaded Jewish society at the time.” Wikipedia
This exemplifies the reasoning claimed for the story of the Oven of Akhnai from the Talmud, circa 2nd century CE. The story shows the rabbis’ desire to solidify the beliefs of Judaism into one stream and avoid sectarianism in Judaism and this would be accomplished by establishing Torah Law on the studied opinion of the majority of the leading rabbis. They claim as the basis for their authority:
Deu. 17:11
“According to the sentence of the law which they shall teach thee, and according to the judgment which they shall tell thee, thou shalt do: thou shalt not decline from the sentence which they shall shew thee, to the right hand, nor to the left.”
A closer examination of this text shows that this is not it’s context—see the entire chapter. A thorough look at Deu 17 reveals:
1. The context concerns disputes -verse 8, it was not about authority over Torah Law as given on Sinai nor its openness for change by the leadership of the day.
2. The context involves the case where there is a controversy in a town over a matter that the people of that town cannot resolve without outside help, in this situation, the people of the town were to take the matter to the Cohanim and Levites, see verse 9. (Note, there is nothing here to establish the authority of Yeshiva-trained rabbis as a qualified replacement for the Torah designated hierarchy of Priests and Levites, yet strangely today, this has become the recognized authority of the Jewish people.) How did this happen?
3. The resolution to the case in Deuteronomy had to be completed “in the place that YHVH should choose” not wherever the leadership chose to work on it. See verse 9. This refers to the Holy Mountain in Jerusalem where the Temple should stand—not some diasporic location wherever there is group of recognized rabbis. So how did a chief rabbi of England or New York or any other country come to be if the Holy Mountain where the Temple stood was to be the place of Torah authority?
In the story of the famous Oven, already mentioned, the change that this sect of leadership made was that the laws of Torah not be interpreted by individual groups of Torah students nor by Heaven itself, but by they themselves whom they established as the majority at the time. And thus they claimed were given this authority by G-d Himself. They quoted the following verse:
“It is not in heaven, that you should say, ‘Who will go up to heaven for us, and get it for us so that we may hear it and observe it?’ Neither is it beyond the sea, that you should say, ‘Who will cross to the other side of the sea for us, and get it for us so that we may hear it and observe it?’ No, the word is very near to you; it is in your mouth and in your heart for you to observe” (Deuteronomy 30:12-14).
This verse as it is used here, was taken out of context. Look at the first part of this chapter in Deu. 30:
1 And it shall come to pass, when all these things are come upon thee, the blessing and the curse, which I have set before thee, and thou shalt call them to mind among all the nations, whither the YHVH thy God hath driven thee, 2 And shalt return unto the YHVH your God, and shalt obey his voice according to all that I command thee this day, thou and thy children, with all thine heart, and with all thy soul.
To whom should those in Exile return? To YHVH their G-d, and “obey His voice, not to a self-appointed leadership who have reinterpreted the Torah to their own understanding. (And yes they have added to and taken from the original words of Torah and have assumed the right to do this by ridding themselves of Heaven’s Voice and altering Scripture to fit their claim.
First of all those in the Exile– (the exile itself was a result of not following the voice of The LORD your GOD), these must return to listen to His voice—not that of any group. That is what we saw in Deuteronomy 30:1-2, and also:
Deu 4:30
“When thou art in tribulation, and all these things are come upon thee, in the latter days, if thou turn to the LORD thy God, and shalt be obedient unto his voice; 31 For the LORD thy God is a merciful God; he will not forsake thee, neither destroy thee, nor forget the covenant of thy fathers which he sware unto them.” (Note this does not say that they should go study with the rabbis or join a Yeshiva to know what is the correct Halakhah of YHVH, simply put: it says to turn to Him, and remember the covenant that He gave to the forefathers).
Deu 30:8
“And thou shalt return and obey the voice of the LORD, and do all his commandments which I command thee this day.” (Again taken from Deuteronomy 30, the same chapter where verses 12-14 are used to qualify the rabbinic stand against hearing Heaven’s voice. Look again! It says to “do all his commandments which I command thee this day. This is Moses speaking, right? So do we obey the voice of Moses or not?)
Rabbinic thought conveys the following:
“This idea is reflected in another well-known Midrash relating to the giving of the Torah. Moshe Rabbeinu, the Gemara (Menachot 29b) tells us, is transported to the Beit Midrash of Rabbi Akiva and is disheartened that he cannot follow the discussion. Only when Rabbi Akiva explained the source of a law as being halacha leMoshe miSinai was Moshe pacified. Note the Gemara does not say that Moshe now understood the conversation. He did not, but that mattered little; what mattered was that this law originated with him at Sinai. Just as scientific principles are developed and applied in all kinds of ways far beyond what the one who discovered such could ever imagine, so Torah ideas are developed and applied to an ever-changing world. Halacha as the intersection of an unchanging Torah and constantly changing reality can look very different in different time periods or places. Only by “changing” the halacha given at Sinai can we assure the continued relevance of Sinai.” Quoted from Torah in Motion
But this thought is a polar opposite to what the Bible says! Was the Torah as given to Moses to be eternal?
Speaking of the End Times and the final return of God’s people, Mal 4:4 states:
“Remember ye the law of Moses my servant, which I commanded unto him in Horeb for all Israel, with the statutes and judgments.”
Neither is this argument–that the Torah is to be observed as the leadership of the day decides– born out in God’s instructions to Joshua when he was called to lead the people of Israel.
Jos 1:7
“Only be strong and very courageous, that thou mayest take heed to do according to all the law that Moses my servant commanded thee. Turn not from it to the right or to the left, that thou mayest prosper whither soever thou goest.”
And no, they do not listen to God. I refer in particular of the above incident of the Oven of Akhnai, where the majority of the rabbis clearly stated that they do not listen to Heaven. (And this became a standard from that point onward).
There are many things to be discovered about who what when and why the Rabbis came to replace the chosen priesthood of YHVH and how they now had the right to shoulder full responsibility for the definition of law and the direction of the Jewish people. How did this change in leadership which has completely stolen and replaced the direction of Heaven and God’s ordained priesthood come to be? It has been a long journey which started back in the days before the building of the second Temple. It happened in Babylon and Persia, where the Jews were exiled after having left the worship of the Eternal, schools were established in these lands of exile and the authority over the people was switched out of the Hands of God to the self-imposed leadership of Yeshiva-trained rabbis. It almost seems a direct copy of what we see in the hierarchy of the Roman Catholic religion. And the question is, who copied whom? But we will save that for a later discussion.
“The Rabbis, in dramatic fashion and super hyperbole, make very clear that it is the Rabbis and not G-d who determine Jewish Law. To phrase it somewhat differently, it is the Rabbis who are authorized to interpret G-d’s Torah, even over the objections of the Divine author Himself[2]. It matters little what G-d had in mind. It sounds heretical, but such is the nature of Torah and the will of G-d.” See Torah in Motion by Rabbi Jay Kelman.
And as I mentioned earlier, it was the voice of the majority that was to rule in basic Torah Halakhah, even in the case where Heaven itself was in the minority: see following:
“In the Talmud the phrase aḥarei rabbim le-hattot was converted into a decisory canon: “where there is a controversy between an individual and the many, the halakhah follows the many” (Ber. 9a). The sages of the Talmud explained the existence of this rule as a practical necessity, for if the Torah had been given in the form of an exhaustive codex, “the world could not have existed” (TJ, Sanh. 4:2, 22a; cf. Mid. Ps. 82:3). The halakhic opinion that has prevailed is that the law is decided in accordance with the view expressed by a majority of the scholars, and this is so even if in a particular matter a heavenly voice (see *Bat-Kol) should declare that the law is according to the minority opinion (BM 59a).” Jewish Virtual Library.
One thing we see from this is the attempt to cover up the real reason for the destruction of the second Temple. It is universally believed that Sinat Chinam or “baseless hatred” was the principle reason for the destruction of the Temple by Rome. We have seen that it had a lot more to do with the desire of the rabbis to change the validity of the Torah of Moses and replace it with an Oral Torah–one that they could manipulate by popular rabbinic vote.
It is as if the Almighty got up from His Earthly dwelling, packed His bags and shook off the dust from the mountains of man made laws and left the Holy Precinct. And as if He remarked: “They want to create their own Torah, then let them, and see what happens when my Throne is no longer in My House! And that is pretty much what happened.
Ezekiel 9:8-9:
“And I fell face down and cried out, “Oh, Lord GOD, when You pour out Your wrath on Jerusalem, will You destroy the entire remnant of Israel?”
9He replied, “The iniquity of the house of Israel and Judah is exceedingly great. The land is full of bloodshed, and the city is full of perversity. For they say, ‘The LORD has forsaken the land; the LORD does not see.’ 10But as for Me, I will not look on them with pity, nor will I spare them. I will bring their deeds down upon their own heads.”
Ezekiel 5:11:
“Therefore, as I live, declares the Lord GOD, surely, because you have defiled my sanctuary with all your detestable things and with all your abominations, therefore I will withdraw. My eye will not spare, and I will have no pity.”
This is what happened which set the stage for two millennia of Jews to embrace the twisted truths that were taught—the very things the ancient rabbis who came out of Babylon used to establish their throne of leadership and replace the Seat of the Most High God. But can we make a change today?
