Hebraic Communities of New Mexico - Hebraic Communities of New Mexico - Returning to the ancient paths.

Exodus 18:1 to 20:26
Isaiah 6:1-13
Matthew 5:1-48
Acts 6:1-7
Hebrews 12:18-29
1 Peter 2:9-10

Exodus 18:1-12

Chapter eighteen is totally devoted to Jethro/Yitro, Moses’ father–in–law, who has cared for Moses’ family and kept them safe while Moses led the Israelites out of Egypt. Scripture emphasizes the fact that Jethro was Moses’ father-in-law twelve times in this chapter alone. Could it be that by this repetition Yahweh is wanting us to understand “in-law” to mean that Jethro was walking “in-covenant” with Him and that Jethro had put His faith in the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob and obeyed Yahweh’s principles? This would have been a huge transformation for the former Midianite priest.

Jethro joins Moses where the Israelites are camped at Raphidim (a day’s journey from Mount Sinai) and to present his family to him. We witness an immense mutual respect between the two men. Upon seeing each other they embraced and went into the tent. Entering into or dwelling in a tent is a reference to being in or studying Torah and meeting in Yahweh’s presence. While in the tent, Moses shared how Yahweh miraculously delivered Israel and defeated Pharaoh and his army. This delighted Jethro. Hearing the news greatly confirmed Jethro’s belief in Yahweh and he declared, “Now I know that Yahweh is greater than all the other gods.” Then “Jethro brought the burnt offering and other sacrifices before Yahweh.” How was Jethro given the understanding and insight to do this unless he had studied Torah? After the worship sacrifices, Aaron and the elders of Israel came and broke bread with Jethro in the presence of Yahweh, confirming that Jethro had indeed come into a covenant relationship with Yahweh.

A Father-In-Law’s Advice – Exodus 18:13-27

It looks as if Jethro and Moses celebrated the Sabbath together as this next section in Scripture opens with Moses going back to work. “The next day Moses took his seat to serve as judge for the people” (Exodus 18:13).

Jehtro proved an invaluable help to Moses by teaching him how to delegate adjudicate Yahweh’s principles among the people. When Jethro observed Moses serving the people, he asked, “Why do you alone sit as judge?” Moses answered, “Because the people come to me to seek God’s will.” We are given a major key here, especially for those who teach Yahweh’s Word. Moses was not teaching the people to seek Yahweh for themselves but rather making them dependent on him for everything. This would weaken Moses physically and emotionally as a leader and would impede the raising up of a strong army for Yahweh. The people needed to be shown how to be led by Yahweh and lean on Him for their own needs.

Jethro was given great insight and wisdom by the Holy Spirit/Ruach HaKodesh in guiding Yahweh’s people. He began to teach Moses how to administer good leadership on a broader scale allowing Moses the freedom he needed. This also facilitated a way to educate Yahweh’s people on how to self govern themselves by teaching them how to walk in the living principles and how to discern the way of holiness through obeying Yahweh’s instructions by distinguishing between holy and unholy, clean and unclean and observing His Sabbath/Feast days.

Jethro shared with Moses that he should raise up men who had a heart after Yahweh, “men who [revered] Yahweh, trustworthy men who [hated] dishonest gain” to act as judges for the people at all times. This would allow Moses to focus on handling the more difficult cases.

This order of teaching the people would lighten the load of “government” and would bring more effective leadership (Ezekiel 44: 23-24). The people would not be so dependent on Moses and could be better equipped to govern and encourage themselves through personal responsibility.

 “If you do this and Yahweh so confirms this, you will be able to stand the strain.” After Jethro had helped Moses set the camp in order, he returned back to his own country (Exodus 18:20-21; Acts 6:1-7; 1 Timothy 3:1-14).

‘No more shall every man teach his neighbor, and every man his brother, saying, “Know Yahweh,” for they all shall know Me, from the least of them to the greatest of them,’ says Yahweh. ‘For I will forgive their iniquity, and their sin I will remember no more’ (Jeremiah 31:34).

No longer will a man teach his neighbor, or a man his brother, saying, 'Know the Lord,' because they will all know me, from the least of them to the greatest (Hebrews 8:11).

Mount Sinai – Exodus 19

“In the third month after Egypt – on the very day [the 15th day] – they came to the Desert of Sinai.” Arriving at Mount Sinai was the fulfillment of the word Yahweh gave to Moses.

Certainly I will be with you, and this shall be the sign to you that it is I who have sent you: when you have brought the people out of Egypt, you shall worship Yahweh at this mountain (Exodus 3:12; 12:17).

When they arrived at the mountain, Moses went up to see Yahweh. This was the same place where he had witnessed the burning bush earlier (Exodus 3:1-2).

You yourselves have seen what I did to Egypt, and how I carried you on eagles' wings and brought you to myself. Now IF you obey me fully and keep my covenant, then out of all nations you will be my treasured possession. Although the whole earth is mine, you will be for me a kingdom of priests and a holy nation. These are the words you are to speak to the Israelites (Exodus 19:4-6).

“Speak These Words to the Israelites” – 1 Peter 2:9

After the death and resurrection of Yeshua the Messiah, Peter addresses the twelve tribes of Israel in Acts 3:11-26 and later in two letters 1 and 2 Peter. He very carefully obeyed the commandment Yahweh gave in Exodus 19:5-6 to “speak these words [given at Mount Sinai]to the Israelites.” A remnant from the twelve tribes who had come to Jerusalem for the Feast of Pentecost/Shavuot heard Peter make known to them their heritage and that they were the descendents of the Israelites who stood with Moses at Mount Sinai. Peter showed them their identity as the people of Israel and because of their forefathers’ disobedience to the Message given at Mount Sinai, the twelve tribes had become a scattered people living among the nations. Upon hearing Peter, the Israelites experienced a heart change and returned to the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. They were ready to obey the original message, their Marriage Covenant given them at Mount Sinai. With Peter’s exhortation, the returning “lost sheep of the House of Israel” were ready to embrace the giver of the Covenant, Yeshua, with all their heart. Yeshua was the message and the fulfillment of Torah. Torah pointed to Yeshua; He is the goal, not the end, of Torah. (Romans 10:4) Peter informed “God’s elect, strangers scattered throughout [the world]” that they were the people being restored to walk in a redeemed lifestyle, when he later wrote, “You are a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people belonging to Yahweh, that you may declare the praises of Him who called you out of darkness into His wonderful light (Acts 3:11-26; 1 Peter 2:9; Exodus 23:14-17; Deuteronomy 16:16; 29:14-15; Jeremiah 50:6; Matthew 10:6-7; 15:24).”

This would have been a remarkable event for Peter. Not only did the people with him observe the same Feast (Pentecost/Shavuot) that Moses and the Israelites did at Mount Sinai, but they kept it on the exact date; fifty days after Passover. The Israelites continued to honor His Feast thousands of years later – even after Yeshua’s death and resurrection. These historical events reveal to us that Yahweh’s appointed Feasts are not only eternal Covenants but prophetic and time responsive. When Yahweh’s calls us to meet with Him at His appointed Feast Days, these times and dates match His Heavenly Court sessions, that is why, when we obey Yahweh’s instructions, we see these dramatic signs and wonders as Moses and Peter did. Prophetic events yet to happen on earth are revealed at His appointed Heavenly Kingdom times. What happened with Moses at Passover and Peter at Pentecost/Shavuot in their day will be a re-occurring events in the future. The bigger event, the Wedding, is concealed until its appointed time. This will happen during the Fall Feasts. Our job, during the unfolding of Yahweh’s plan, is to observe His Feast Days at their appointed times as rehearsals, as they are part of our Marriage Covenant.

When Moses went back to see the people, he summoned the elders and set before them all the words Yahweh gave him to speak. The people all responded together, “We will do everything Yahweh has said,” we will fully obey and keep His Covenant. The very words spoken were clearly a betrothal response in a covenant set between the people of God and their Maker. As believers, we have been given a legal marriage document called in Hebrew a Ketubah. This acts as a legal, binding, covenantal agreement given by Yahweh to His Bride (Exodus 19:4-8).

You Are a Royal Priesthood and a Holy Nation

The Counting of the Omer

At the time the Israelites left Egypt, the consecration for the royal priesthood began. The seven-day period after the Feast of Passover called Unleavened Bread was a reference to a set-apart consecration time for the people. They had left Egypt, an unclean place (realm of death), and were separating themselves that they might worship Yahweh and return to the Promised Land of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. The Israelites had a change of status when they crossed the Red Sea, leaving the realm of death behind. Now the redemption stage in their lives began, beginning with the seven-day period of eating unleavened bread, which is still celebrated today through the Feast of Unleavened Bread (Leviticus 23).

They had been delivered from Egypt physically, now they were learning to be restored, and needed to be separated from any contamination left from an Egyptian influence such as a worldly mindset or slave mentality that could bind them spiritually, mentally and/or emotionally. The redemption stage transformed their hearts. This is called heart circumcision or redemption of the soul. Their bodies were physically out of Egypt, but now their souls and minds needed restoration. Four hundred years was a long time to be away from home (outside the land of Israel). Impurities and iniquities inherited from their forefathers, along with the abuse they endured as slaves for so long in Egypt, may have been affecting their lives. It was imperative this all be cleansed from them.

The Feast of the Counting the Omer was the next phase of purification. A cleansing period of seven weeks or fifty days, it is another Feast we still observe today. This Feast has a prophetic significance of preparation for the nation of Israel that especially focuses on how His people were not only a royal priesthood but also a holy nation set apart for Yahweh; a nation learning to walk in a Heavenly Court with Kingdom principles (Exodus 19:5-6; 1 Peter 2:9).

Passover is the call of the Bride (the priesthood of Yeshua); the seven-day feast of Unleavened Bread is a consecration time for the royal priesthood; the counting of the Omer, seven week feast, is the consecration time for the holy nation of Israel (Leviticus 23; Exodus 19:5-6; 1 Peter 2:9).

An omer was a measurement (about two quarts), in this case of unleavened bread called manna. This is what Yahweh delivered to the Israelites each morning, like dew, all the days they traveled through the wilderness. During this feast of Omer, they were to count an omer of manna a day for fifty days or seven weeks. This was also a time the Israelites were to examine their ways and their hearts, so that by the time they reached the Mountain of Yahweh where they would enter into betrothal, the first stage of the wedding, and they would be prepared to meet Him in body, soul and spirit – echad - as one in agreement with Him.

Yahweh had chosen the Children of Israel, all twelve tribes, to enter into a Covenant relationship with Him to be His Bride. He had promised this to Abraham and his descendants after him. The Israelites were the children of Abraham coming out of Egypt to worship Him are now being prepared to enter the next phase of their redemption called the betrothal. Today, if we are in Yeshua, we are Abraham’s seed.

Therefore know that only those who are of faith [in Yeshua] are sons of Abraham (Galatians 3:7).

And if you are Christ's/Messiah’s, then you are Abraham's seed, and heirs [to the Marriage Covenant given at Mount Sinai through Moses] according to the promise [Abrahamic Covenant] (Galatians 3:29).

The Three Stages of a Biblical Marriage

The three stages of a Biblical marriage are: the Betrothal, the Marriage and the Celebration.

The Feasts Days or moedim of Yahweh follow this pattern. The Feasts we enter into each year are called rehearsals for the Bride that she might prepare for her wedding day.

• Passover is the calling out of the Bride to separate herself
• Shavuot/Pentecost the betrothal of the Bride; the giving of the Marriage Covenant
• (Yom Kippur the Wedding Day)
• Feast of Tabernacles the celebration (reception) after the wedding called the Wedding Supper of the Lamb.  

All God’s Feasts establish the Bride in her identity as Israel, Yeshua’s firstborn. They show her how to walk in the realms of Yahweh’s Kingdom. Why is it important to keep Yahweh’s Feasts? They are symbols and signs for the Bride. Like a road map, they point the way to her wedding day. The fifty-day counting of the Omer will bring the Bride to the Feast of Shavuot, which epitomizes the receiving of the Marriage Covenant and the betrothal stage of the wedding. The Bride becomes legally married at this point but does not live with her husband until the wedding day. By keeping these Feasts, called divine appointments, the Bride will not miss her betrothal and will be well on her way in her preparations for her wedding (Matthew 25:1-13; 22:1-14; Luke 14:15-24).

The importance of Mount Sinai in the book of Exodus is that it represents the betrothal stage of the wedding. All who are in Yeshua are being drawn by the Holy Spirit/Ruach HaKodesh to come and participate in the Passover, Feast of Unleavened Bread and Pentecost/Shavuot each year, Heavenly Kingdom appointments that bring the Bride to her Bridegroom. Yahweh asks us to rehearse these days so we will never forget our vows but continue to prepare for His return. The vows spoken at the betrothal were kept for us as a reminder. Our Bibles, specifically the five books of Moses: Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers and Deuteronomy, are our Ketubah. Without the understanding of the Marriage Covenant (ketubah), how can a Bride keep her vows and prepare to meet her Bridegroom? As believers and part of Israel we need to have our walk match our confession, and celebrate the Feasts at their appointed times.

Consecration – Exodus 19:10-11

Yahweh stipulated a three-day consecration time for the Bride before she came to meet her Betrothed at the Mountain of Yahweh. As in a wedding, the Bride makes herself ready. She changes her clothes and washes herself before putting on clean clothes. This is called a mikvah and is for a change of status. On the third day a very long blast was heard and a cloud covered the mountain. The cloud covering became the chuppah or covering under which Yahweh came out to meet His bride.

Lightning and thunder followed and a long, loud ram’s horn blast was heard. Fear struck the people as they watched. Then Yahweh uttered His ten famous words to the people that later came to traditionally be known as the Ten Commandments. In Hebrew they were called the Aseret HaDibrot, which translated means Ten Statements (Exodus 20:1-17).

When the Day of Pentecost [Shavuot] had fully come, they were all with one accord [echad] in one place. And suddenly there came a sound from heaven, as of a rushing mighty wind, and it filled the whole house where they were sitting. Then there appeared to them divided tongues, as of fire, and one sat upon each of them. And they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak with other tongues, as the Spirit gave them utterance (Acts 2:1-4).

As in a wedding there was an exchange of meaningful words before Yahweh and His Bride entered into His Covenant relationship for life. What was unsaid at the altar was all the other information it takes to make a marriage work. These ten spoken words by Yahweh to His people at Mount Sinai were an outline for the marriage, or family mission statement if you will. The Bridegroom was declaring His intentions to His Bride through prophetic language to bless her (ie: I will cause her to have no other gods before Me. I will cause her to remember the Sabbath and keep it holy). Following the exchange of vows at Mount Sinai, the Ten Statements were given fuller understanding in what is called the Mosaic Covenant (Exodus 19 to 24). The rabbis say that all 613 principles can be found in the Ten prophetic statements given at Mount Sinai. Understanding Yahweh’s teaching and instruction for marriage and obeying them consecrates the Bride as she enters her walk of redemption, bringing her toward holiness, ready, without spot or wrinkle, to her Bridegroom on His wedding day.

I am YHVH your Elohim

Thou shall have no other gods before Me.

Thou shall not take the name of YHVH your Elohim in vain.

Remember to keep the Sabbath day, to keep it holy.

Honor thy father and thy mother.

Thou shall not kill.

Thou shall not commit adultery.

Thou shall not steal.

Thou shall not bear false witness against thy neighbor.

Thou shall not covet.

All Yahweh’s Feast Days, which sanctify time like the Sabbath, belong in the fourth commandment about observing Sabbath. Dealing honestly with Yahweh, family, other and in business falls under not bearing false testimony and paying the tithe to Yahweh falls under thou shall not steal. A principle that does not have an apparent logical reason falls under number one, which constitutes a basic belief in Yahweh and the call to heed His commandments whether or not they make sense to us.

On Pentecost/Shavuot, Yahweh gave the Ten Statements. Within the Ten Statements is the entire Torah. Therefore it is quite sensible to continue in the tradition that has been for the last 3300 years and call Pentecost/Shavuot the Day of the Giving of the Torah.

It was Moses who led the Bride to her Betrothal at Mount Sinai in the Old Testament/Tanakh, and it is still Moses who leads the Bride of Yeshua to her Betrothal in the New Testament/Brit Chadasha today (Acts 2). Same Word/Yeshua, same message, same feast (Shavuot), same Bride, same Bridegroom! One book, one message, one Bride and one Bridegroom!

The words spoken at Mount Sinai are the same words Yeshua shared with the people in Matthew 5. The Beatitudes outline the whole message of the Ten Statements or categories given to the Israelites at Mount Sinai, but in a deeper heart level. Yeshua is the personification of the words spoken at Mount Sinai. The words spoken are flesh and live among us today. As part of Messiah, may we embrace all these words and learn to implement them in our lives to enjoy the fullness of what our Bridegroom has for us today as we prepare for our wedding day yet to come.

Therefore, since a promise remains of entering His rest [Sabbath / holiness], let us [believers] fear lest any of you seem to have come short of it. For indeed the gospel [ten statements given at Mount Sinai] was preached to us [believers] as well as to them[with Moses and the Israelites at Mount Sinai]; but the word which they heard did not profit them, not being mixed with faith/emunah in those who heard it (Hebrews 4:1-2).

Yeshua summarized the Ten Statements and the whole Torah in this one sentence: “And thou shall love Yahweh your Elohim with all your heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy might” (Deuteronomy 6:5).

Then one of the scribes came, and having heard them reasoning together, perceiving that He [Yeshua] had answered them well, asked Him, ‘Which is the first commandment of all?’ Yeshua answered him, ‘The first of all the commandments is: “Hear [Shema], O Israel, Yahweh our Elohim, Yahweh is one. And you shall love Yahweh your Elohim with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your mind, and with all your strength.” This is the first commandment. And the second, like it, is this: “You shall love your neighbor as yourself.” There is no other commandment greater than these’ (Mark 12:28-31 ref. Leviticus 19:18; Zechariah 8:17; Matthew 5:43; 19:19; 22:39; Mark 12:31; Romans 13:9-10; Galatians 5:14; James 2:8).

You have not come to a mountain that can be touched and that is burning with fire; to darkness, gloom and storm; to a trumpet blast or to such a voice speaking words that those who heard it begged that no further word be spoken to them, because they could not bear what was commanded: ‘If even an animal touches the mountain, it must be stoned.’ The sight was so terrifying that Moses said, ‘I am trembling with fear.’ But you have come to Mount Zion, to the heavenly Jerusalem, the city of the living God. You have come to thousands upon thousands of angels in joyful assembly, to the assembly of the firstborn, whose names are written in heaven. You have come to Yahweh, the judge of all men, to the spirits of righteous men made perfect, to Yeshua the mediator of a new covenant, and to the sprinkled blood that speaks a better word than the blood of Abel.

See to it that you do not refuse him who speaks. If they did not escape when they refused him who warned them on earth, how much less will we, if we turn away from him who warns us from heaven? At that time his voice shook the earth, but now he has promised, ‘Once more I will shake not only the earth but also the heavens (Haggai 2:6).’ The words “once more" indicate the removing of what can be shaken-- that is, created things-- so that what cannot be shaken may remain.

Therefore, since we are receiving a kingdom that cannot be shaken, let us be thankful, and so worship Yahweh acceptably with reverence and awe, for our ‘God is a consuming fire’ (Hebrews 12:18-29 ref. Deuteronomy 4:24).

 

Shabbat Shalom,
Julie Parker

Since its inception in 2003, Sheepfold Gleanings has been written under the pen name of Carl and Julie Parker. It will now be published under the author's name Julie Parker, with her husband Carl’s continued support and covering.

The Ten Commandments: Did you know? Andy Rooney http://www.recoverytimes.com/didyouknow.htm