Wednesday, August 5, 2015

MISSION POSSIBLE, IN HIM

Our Creator created us below, that we may all become aware of and attain what is above, in this life, bringing the 2 in perfect harmony, just as Yeshua did; and he created the Adversary to oppose that effort like a weight opposes our effort to push it, that we may mature in that reality. Our mindset must be to recognize and acknowledge, in our beloved Mashiach, we have been made to be able to push it (fixing our minds on what is above).

It is the very reason mankind (male and female) is called
אדם [adam]. We have the physical component of דם [dam=blood], and the spiritual component of א [aleph=God]. All temptations involve ignoring our aleph, and living only according to our dam. Our mission in Mashiach, should we choose to accept it, is to live as the the two connected, that we manifest our aleph in our dam, knowing that it is He who is the source of both the willing of it and its manifesting.

Ronen

Saturday, July 18, 2015

YABAM AND MESSIAH PART 2

Perez was the result of the yabam unknowingly performed by Judah with Tamar his daughter in law.

Remember from the last post that there were two major differences from the yabamim of the daughters of Lot and Tamar from what is normal. They were done by virgins (in the case of Lot's daughters) and fathers (in both cases).

The common link both share is that of the source of yabam...by means of a father.

Let us now see how this all connects to the birth of Yeshua.

The lineage of Yeshua given by Luke traces his lineage through the line of humans all the way back to Adam, the first human. However, he goes one step further back than that, when he says:

...Adam, the son of God...(Luk 3:38).

God is the original Father of all humanity. Keeping in mind the law of begettings, which says that kind produces after its own kind (cats produce cats, dogs produce dogs, etc, including its characteristics), Adam sinned before any children were born to him. Therefore, any children he had would be after his kind (born in a dead condition, as God said...'in the day you eat of it you will surely die').

Adam had no other male next of kin through which the righteous Messiah (the seed of the woman) could come, since every male born could only produce children in the same dead condition as he.

Our original Father however, left us clues in the events of Lot's daughters and Tamar as to how he would go about bringing an untainted Messiah through the line of fallen humanity.

Just as Lot and Judah, as fathers, continued their respective family lines through their daughters, so to our Father would do the same through his daughter Miriam.

Just as Lot's daughters were virgins, so to would Miriam be a virgin.

Just as the first born to Lot through one of his daughters was named Moab (from father) and Ruth, coming from that line of peoples, continued the line through which Messiah would come, so to would the Messiah be 'from Father', the original Father, our Creator. 

That he is the original Father of Adam, and thus, all humanity, we can see how Messiah would affect every human from Adam on.

God himself became the one who performed yabam with Miriam, in yet another set of unusual circumstances, which were hinted at all the way back in Torah. It the spiritual fulfillment of what was shown physically in Genesis.

This needed to be done, if you remember, because Adam (due to sin) was left unable to continue the birthings (תולדות), filling the earth with offspring bearing the image of God.

Ruth, in her circumstance, with the only other instance of the word in its full spelling, shows us how that image would be restored.

It would have to be done by the Father himself by means of a virgin. I will say it again...this was spoken of and verified back in the Torah. Yeshua was the first true son of Adam (as he called himself on more than one occasion), and also the restoration of the true image of God. God's purpose of filling the earth.

Matt 1:1 in the Aramaic reads:

The book of the birthings of Yeshua the Messiah; son of Dawid, son of Abrahamכּתָבָא דִּילִידוּתֵה דּיֵשׁוּע משִׁיחָא בּרֵה דּדַוִיד בּרֵה דַּאברָהָם 

Here we see, once again, in full spelling, the Aramaic equivalent to toledoth. It is yalidutheh, which I underlined.

Thus the 1st century writings continue tracing these birthings from Creation...to Ruth...to Yeshua. There are no other instances of the word, meaning that in Yeshua the original birthings are realized for all humanity.

In such a way, Yeshua, by his life, restored the original image of God lost by Adam, and by his death and resurrection, restored that same image to all humanity who died in him by killing that humanity in his body on the tree.

Ronen

YABAM AND MESSIAH PART 1

Continuing on with the next part (TOLEDOTH- FULL AND DEFECTIVE SPELLINGS) why would the birthing record found in the book of Ruth start with Perez? I believe it had to do with the ancient custom of יבם (Yabam). If you look up the word in Strong's concordance (H2992), it will say that the word is of doubtful origin. However, in my research, the few words sharing this root all convey the action of exaltation; whether literally (such as Behemoth), or figuratively (a raising up from a lower state).

It is the figurative meaning that is intended here, as Deu 25:5 indicates:

If brothers dwell together, and one of them die, and have no son, the wife of the dead shall not be married outside to a stranger: her husband's brother shall go in to her, and take her to him as wife, and perform the duty of a husband's brother (ייבם) to her. 
(Deu 25:5)

This custom was a provision made for a woman where, if her husband died, either the husbands brother, or nearest kinsman, would take her to be his wife, care for her, and raise up children in the name of the father, thus continuing the family name, which was very important to do, for no one wanted his lineage ended. This, rather than being a 'duty to perform', was actually an 'exalting' of the bereaved woman.

Ruth is an entire book devoted to just such a custom. However, there are 2 examples of this practice taking place found in the book of Genesis:

1. Lots daughters, who laid with their father to continue the family line. This was a warped performance of Yabam, because...
    a. The father ended up being the one performing this act. (While warped, this fact is important to know)
    b. They were virgins, never having known a man. (Keep this in mind, for this is an important piece of the puzzle as well)

2. Tamar, who lost a husband named Er when God put him to death, then properly had yabam performed for her by Ers brother Onan, who refused to provide the seed to continue the family line of Judah and was struck down by God as well. Judah had a 3rd son, yet kept him from Tamar because he was afraid he would lose him as well. Tamar then deceives Judah her father in law into thinking she is a prostitute and he lays with her and unknowingly ends up performing yabam with her. Tamar knew how important it was to continue the family line, which Judah admits when he finds out what happened.

In both instances, it is a father who is performing yabam, one in which virgins are involved, and both acts being done outside the bounds of what was considered normal yabam.

When we get to Ruth, we see a third example of yabam, where a man named Boaz performs yabam for her, which would normally mean that the line of her first husband, Chilion (Rth 1:2), was being preserved.

Yet, I ended my last post with the question of why it was that Perez was chosen to start the list of the lineage line. (Rth 4:18)

Perez was the child born to Tamar, continuing the line of Judah back in Genesis 38. We now have a link between these 2 actions of yabam being performed. The first event also can be linked, because the first child born to Lot from his daughters was named Mo'ab (From Father). He became the father of the Moabites, and this was where Ruth was descended from. I think this is a good spot to end this post. I will pick it up in the next one.

Ronen

TOLEDOTH- FULL AND DEFECTIVE SPELLINGS

I want to pass on something that might possibly show a purposeful design behind the way certain words are spelled in the Hebrew text...what is called 'full spelling', when every letter in pronouncing the word is used, and 'defective spelling', when certain letters are missing, most often a waw or yod.

The word I want to examine is Toledoth, which refers to genealogical histories. It occurs 39 times in the Tanahh. 37 of those times it is missing one of the waws, either spelled תולדת or תלדות.

Here is what is interesting to me. The very first time it appears is in Gen 2:4, and it is spelled in full, תולדות. This happens to be before Adam sinned.

As we move on from there, every other appearance of the word occurs as one of the two defective spellings, until we get to Ruth. However, back in Genesis there is one defective spelling (the only one) in which BOTH waws are gone. It is found in Gen 25:12, where it is spelled תלדת. This is the most defective spelling of the word, and it happens to be the genealogical histories of Ishmael, the son born of the flesh from Abraham; a son who would grow to become the great desert dwellers of the Middle East, and enemies of the Hebrew people. Apparently the unique spelling of the word here shows us a low point in the genealogical histories.

As I said, this continues until we get to the book of Ruth, where once again, we find the only other time this word contains the full spelling תולדות. This is a clue that what is happening with Ruth here contains some important significance. What is very fascinating about the context is in the one starting this genealogical history:

And these are the genealogical histories of Perez. (Rth 4:18)

Stay tuned for my next article which will share why...

Ronen

Saturday, July 11, 2015

PURPOSE OF DUALITY REVEALED FROM BEGINNING

The beginning is contained in the end, and the end revealed from the beginning.

When we look at the stated purpose of our Father revealed through Paul, who wrote,

He has more for us: With all wisdom and with all understanding, he made-known the secrets of his desire. He had set in action early-on with his guidance for the fulfilling of time by the Messiah, that everything in heaven and in the land would-be new from the-origin. (Eph 1:8-10 ARTB)

we can liken his desire to the seed, hidden as one would hide a secret. And what is a secret? It is something hidden waiting to be revealed. The sapling coming from the seed is the revealing of that secret.

This principle can help us understand how it is that by, or in the Messiah, everything in heaven and in the land would be 'new' (meaning to be head up into the original condition) which is from the origin.

Heaven and land make up one of many dualities in creation. Just speaking of the human creature, we are made up of many dualities...2 arms, 2 legs, 2 nostrils, 2 eyes, 2 lips, 2 brain hemispheres, 2 lungs, etc. We look at life in duality as well...good bad, up down, in out, front back, positive negative, yin yang, etc.

Why do these exist? Expressly stated, it is that we may have a part in learning to resolve dualities in life, to bring an expression of oneness out of seeming opposing forces, and ultimately to recognize how every duality comes from one source, the origin of all, our Creator and Father.

This can be plainly seen all the way back in the first book of Scripture, Genesis, in the creation of woman. Keep in mind the secret desire of our Father given through Paul as you read the account in Genesis:

Yahweh God said, "It is not good that the man should be alone; I will make him a help as his counterpart." He made the rib, which Yahweh God had taken from the man, into a woman, and brought her to the man. The man said, "This is now bone of my bones, and flesh of my flesh. She will be called Woman, because she was taken out of Man." Therefore a man will leave his father and his mother, and will join with his wife, and they will be one flesh. (Gen 2:18, 22-24)

Everything that makes a woman a woman was contained in the original man. He separated those aspects from him and formed a separate person as a counterpart for him. Man and woman would exist in duality, one taken (revealed) out of the other.

Moses added the purpose of existence of the two coming together as a married couple...to be one flesh. This is the heading up of duality on a physical and earthly level into the original condition, namely, for the man and his woman to exist as a unit, not each going their own way.

It has been quite a learning process for me, with many failures. I so appreciate though, the deep spiritual and practical significance of recognizing this truth as it relates to every relationship, married or otherwise.

On a greater level, all of creation came out of the Word, the Expression of God. And fittingly, he resolved the apparent contradictions of dualities in that same Word, as his Son Yeshua. He is the union of all in heaven and on earth. May he open our eyes to resolve these same duality contradictions by our recognition of all things headed up in himself, by means of his Son.

Ronen

Saturday, July 4, 2015

EMBER AND FLAME

Blow on a candle flame, calmly burning, and you extinguish the flame.

Blow on an ember, smoldering upward, and you ignite it into flame.

In relationships, there is a time to blow and a time not to.

Ronen

TRUTH AND FALSEHOOD

The word for truth in Hebrew is אמת. It consists of the first letter of the alephbet, the middle letter, and the last letter.
The word for falsehood in Hebrew is
שקר. It consists of three letters all right next to each other.

We can learn something from these two words on a deeper level, concerning what makes up truth, and what makes up falsehood.

Truth involves letters that begin at the beginning, continue through the middle, and on until the very end of the alephbet.

Truth therefore, can be said to be when we look at the entire picture of something.

In contrast, falsehood involves letter that begin, continue, and end all together at a limited part of the alephbet.

Falsehood therefore, can be said to be when someone only looks at a small facet of the whole of something.

In everything we experience in life, may the mental picture I hope I have put in your minds serve us all well in being able and equipped to always see and speak the truth in all things.


Ronen

THEMES OF THE TEN WORDS

According to the sages, the 10 words (often called commandments) found in Exodus 20 are broken down a little differently than normally understood in most Christian circles. Here is how they are listed:

  1. I am YHWH your Elohim
  2. You shall have no other Elohim
  3. Do not use His name in a worthless way
  4. Guard Shabbat
  5. Honor your Father and Mother
  6. You shall not murder
  7. You shall not commit adultery
  8. You shall not kidnap
  9. You shall not bear false witness
  10. You shall not covet

These were written on 2 tablets. Why not just 1? There is a hidden symmetry that can be discovered when we look at these 10 words listed side by side, facing each other, on 2 tablets. Here is how they are said to have been listed:

1st pair: I am YHWH your Elohim..........................You shall not murder
2nd pair: You shall have no other Elohim.................You shall not commit adultery
3rd pair: Do not use His name in a worthless way...You shall not kidnap
4th pair: Guard Shabbat...........................................You shall not bear false witness
5th pair: Honor your Father and Mother..................You shall not covet

Each pairing here, when you meditate on the principles of each side, reveals a symmetrical principle that links the two together, showing how they are related, and a deeper meaning behind the reason for the mitzwah (connection) given. The reveal 5 principles that govern all relationships.

Here is the connection I see for each one. Perhaps you will see the same, or maybe something a little different, but hopefully you will gain a greater appreciation for the reason he chose these particular points of contact out of the 613 mitwot listed to express the 10 realities (that is what these actually are, not commandments as people typically understand that term).

1st pair = Recognize the right of existence in everyone aside from yourself.
2nd pair = Recognize the essense of everyone and be loyal concerning it.
3rd pair = Recognize the boundaries in everyone and respect them.
4th pair = Recognize the truth in everyone and bear witness to it.
5th pair = Recognize contentment as a unique individual.

I thought about going into more depth explaining why I see these, but I feel it would be more beneficial for you all to think on these for yourself and see with your own eyes.


Ronen

Thursday, July 2, 2015

ANCIENT HEBREW CONCEPT OF BEING A CHILD OF GOD

 "I know you-are the seed of Abraham, but you-are seeking to have me killed because you-have not enough of my word. I have spoken the-things that I saw next-to my Father. The-things that you-have seen next-to your father, you-are doing." They answered and said to him, "Our own father is Abraham." Jesus said to them, "If you were the children of Abraham you would be doing the deeds of Abraham. Now behold: You are seeking to kill me, a fellow that speaks truthfully with you, one-which hears from God. Abraham never did this! You-are doing the deeds of your father." Jn 8:37-41 ARTB


Being a child of one's parents in Eastern culture is not quite the same as it is in Western culture. Yeshua gives us a glimpse into this when he says the above.

First, notice who Yeshua is addressing:

When he spoke these-things many believed in him. Jesus said to those Jews that believed in him, "If you will continue in my word, you-are truly my disciples. Jn 8:30,31 ARTB

Here we have believers, those who believed in Yeshua. This would, back in those days, have made them his disciples, or taught-ones. Yet, he gives the criteria of what it means to TRULY BE a taught-one...continuing in his word.

This entire scene defines for us what being a child of God is, from his perspective.

Yeshua acknowledges that these ones are the seed of Abraham. They came from his loins and are, by Western definition, automatically sons. This is biologically true. Yet, because they were seeking to kill him, one who was only speaking what the Father showed him, he spoke of another Father that they were looking at and imitating.

He thus defines what it means to be a child of a father...to imitate the father. When they say their father is Abraham, he does not say that they are not his seed, for he just acknowledged such previously. He speaks of whether they truly are Abraham's children, which, while strange to western ears, is not the same as being Abraham's seed.

The seed aspect has to do with source.
The child aspect has to do with behavior.

To those that receive him, those that believe in his name, he grants to them the authority that they would be the children of God. Those not from the blood, and not from a desire of the flesh, and not from a desire of a fellow, but they were begotten from God. Jn 1:12,13 ARTB

I used to confuse this with becoming a child of God in the normal biological sense that takes place in the physical world. I have now come to see this from the distinctives found in Yeshua's words to those who believed in him.

There has been debate back and forth as to whether these verses support the view that one is born first (born again), then believes in him, or whether it is believing in him that causes one to be born. This post is not concerning that.

The aspect of source and behavior is laid out here in the following way:
...were begotten from God = seed = source.
...receive him, believe in his name = child of God = behavior.

I believe this is why Yeshua said that such belief in him, (which, according to his other words, included remaining in his word) would allow for being given AUTHORITY to be children of God [to live in relationship with the One who begat them, imitating him). This reminds me of Ephesians 5:1, where they were encouraged to be מֵתּדַּמֵין (ones who resemble) God, as little children.

Ronen

Thursday, May 28, 2015

BILL OF DEBTS...AND TORAH-HOW RELATED...HOW DIFFERENT?

Col 2:14, in the KJV reads: Blotting out the handwriting of ordinances that was against us, which was contrary to us, and took it out of the way, nailing it to his cross;
Just what is the 'handwriting of ordinances'? Most explanations come from an examination of the Greek text, since that is what most are familiar with. 


One common understanding of this verse is to say that 'the handwriting of ordinances' is referring to the Law...Torah; and that it, Torah, which was against us, was taken from the midst, and affixed to his cross.

Although an examination of the Greek text can help in gaining a proper understanding of this verse, I would like to do an examination from the Aramaic text, the text I typically use as my base study text, to see what extra insights it might yield.

The phrase in question, in Aramaic, is שטר חובין. The first word, שטר, in this context, refers to a written bill, and hearkens us back to Num 11:16, where Moses was instructed to gather 70 men to help in the bearing the burden of the people. One of the things they were called were שטרים, translated usually as 'officers'. Their specific function though, based on what they were called, 
שטר, meaning 'to write', was to help Moses, and later Joshua, in the keeping of records by writing them down.

We can see so far then that this first word is referring to a specific type of writing, having to do with records, bill keeping, a tally of sorts.

With that in mind, let us link that understanding to the 2nd word in the phrase we are considering in Col 2:14...חובין.

Taking off the suffix ין (our), what does חוב mean? It carries the meaning of being bound up, whether liable for a debt, or liable for punishment, to be guilty of either.
Taken together, this phrase is referring to a handwritten record of one's debt, what one owes. Nothing more, nothing less.


To understand how this relates to Torah, and yet is distinct, we can use the example most are familiar with...that of a credit card.

Each credit card starts with terms and conditions...what they will do, and what you are required to do. This is what is agreed to in writing before the credit card is even used.

The terms and conditions that come with having a credit card, I would liken to Torah.

Terms and Conditions=Torah

This is related to, but separate from, the following:

Any debt incurred against myself that appears listed on a monthly bill, below the terms and conditions, I would liken to שטר הובין (our debt bill). This of course tells me what I owe, and until that debt is paid off, I am bound up in a debt that is against me.


Credit Card Bill=Bill of Debt

When my credit card debt is paid off, and erased, the actual credit card and my agreement with it remained. I still keep the credit card and its conditions in my possession, but, unlike before, I no longer have the bill of debt looming over me telling me what I owe. 

I see the two as related, but in need of being kept in distinction, to understand what Paul was saying.

Ronen

Read more: http://ancient-hebrew.proboards.com/posts/recent#ixzz3bR0vH7Pu

Friday, May 15, 2015

ANCIENT HEBREW MEANING OF 'REMNANT'.

Many express the idea of a remnant as something chosen apart from the rest...simply to be set apart from the rest...with the rest being discarded in some way. This, for example, is how some believe in the view of predestination; whereby God chooses some to be saved, and lets the rest burn in hell forever.

Understanding the word that the Creator chose to express the concept of 'remnant', I believe will give an entirely different and more awesome picture of what it means.

The concepts of remnant, and related concepts of remain, left over, etc., are contained in the word שאר (sha'ar). While it does contain the idea of something left over, or remaining, there is more to it than just that. We can see this by another word with the same root, שאור (se'or). This is the word for 'leaven'. Understanding how leaven functioned will give us a wonderful picture as to how a remnant similarly functions.

Back then they did not use yeast packs to make risen bread. Instead, they made dough and allowed it to sit and ferment (when the yeast already in the dough starts to flourish). This initial step can take several days to accomplish, and since they made bread on a daily basis, they would take a small portion of the initial dough and save it for the next days batch, adding it to that batch. The yeast would then take over that lump quickly and they would take another bit from that batch to save, then bake that new loaf, and so on.

Herein we find the marvelous purpose of what it truly means to be 'left over', or a 'remnant'. It is not merely for our own benefit, but is intended that what we are infected with (spiritually speaking) would permeate the next generation of 'dough', that it would be like us. :)

With this the writings agree:

And blessed in you and in your seed are all the families of the ground.
(Gen 12:3)

And I will deliver thee from the people of the Judaeans, and from other nations; to whom I send thee, to open their eyes; that they may turn from darkness to the light, and from the dominion of Satan unto Alaha; and may receive remission of sins, and a portion with the saints, by faith in me.
(Act 26:17-18)

For, if the first - fruits [are] holy, then the mass [is] also: and if the root is holy, then also the branches.
(Rom 11:16)


Ronen

Sunday, January 11, 2015

WRATH OF THE....L...LAMB

(Rev 6:16)  They told the mountains and the rocks, "Fall on us, and hide us from the face of him who sits on the throne, and from the wrath of the Lion.

If it read this way, it would make so much more sense, for a lion's wrath can truly strike terror in the heart of any man.

Yet instead, we read of 'the wrath of the Lamb'. I truly hope you do not read past this lightly. This statement should make us truly think deeply about what wrath is all about. The apparent anomaly (deviation from the norm) speaks in a very deep way of the character of our Father and his Son.

Please consider what it might be speaking to your heart (not logic, but intuition) to know that one characterized as a lamb, actually a lambkin (a baby lamb)...


causes men of the greatest might to want to hide in the rocks.

Ronen