Wednesday, November 14, 2012

Isaac's Exile: Dreams Unfulfilled



Isaac's Exile: Dreams Unfulfilled
Rabbi Yehudah ben Shomeyr

Then Isaac sowed in that land, and received in the same year an hundredfold: and the Lord blessed him. And the man waxed great, and went forward, and grew until he became very great: Gen. 26:12-13


You’ve heard the saying, “bloom where you’re planted.” Well, this is precisely what Isaac did. Due to Abimelech breaking his covenant to Abraham and thus Isaac, Isaac is forced to dwell in Philistine territory. Did Isaac complain, “LORD, Abimelech has broken his treaty with me and my father and he threw me out of the land for no good reason, except that he is jealous and threatened by the success You have brought me. Do something about LORD!” No, Isaac decided to bloom where he was planted.


Then Isaac sowed in that land, and received in the same year an hundredfold: and the Lord blessed him. And the man waxed great, and went forward, and grew until he became very great: Gen. 26:12-13


You may have been falsely accused or even put out by a jealous minister or ministry. Big plans for ministry of the fulfillment of a lifelong dream may have just been kicked out from underneath you like a three legged stool. You may have experienced some set back due to a divorce or a loss of a job. You may have experienced some set back or have been stopped just shy of reaching your goal and wonder why. Why; is at this point irrelevant. Romans 8:28 makes it so. Our only responsibility is to trust GOD and not blame Him. Trust that He will be your defense and see you through this time of disappointment and exile. After all, was it not in exile on the isle of Patmos that John received his famous Revelation that ends our Cannon of Biblical text? Great things happen in exile, it did for Isaac.


Then Isaac sowed in that land, and received in the same year an hundredfold: and the Lord blessed him. And the man waxed great, and went forward, and grew until he became very great: Gen. 26:12-13


Isaac’s exile was setting the stage for the nest big move of God in his life. Exile is a chance for blessings and growth that will help us reach our ultimate destiny in Him. Exile in Egypt set the stage for Joseph to be able to save his whole family from famine. Exile allowed Moses to regroup and grow into the leader GOD needed to bring his people out of Egypt in the Exodus. Exile allowed Daniel to set up a school for sages we know as Magi that would eventually come bearing gifts for the young King Yeshua Messiah. Exile raised up Ezra’s, Nehemiah’s, and Zerubbabel’s that rebuilt Jerusalem. Exile may not be a walk in the park, but sometimes is necessary for the fulfillment of GOD’s will for your life.


Judah's Wicked Sons



Judah's Wicked Sons
Rabbi Yehudah ben Shomeyr

And it came to pass at that time, that Judah went down from his brethren, and turned in to a certain Adullamite, whose name was Hirah. And Judah saw there a daughter of a certain Canaanite, whose name was Shuah; and he took her, and went in unto her. And she conceived, and bare a son; and he called his name Er. And she conceived again, and bare a son; and she called his name Onan. And she yet again conceived, and bare a son; and called his name Shelah: and he was at Chezib, when she bare him. And Judah took a wife for Er his firstborn, whose name was Tamar. And Er, Judah's firstborn, was wicked in the sight of the Lord; and the Lord slew him. And Judah said unto Onan, Go in unto thy brother's wife, and marry her, and raise up seed to thy brother. And Onan knew that the seed should not be his; and it came to pass, when he went in unto his brother's wife, that he spilled it on the ground, lest that he should give seed to his brother. And the thing which he did displeased the Lord: wherefore he slew him also. Gen. 38:1-10(KJV)


We see here that Judah married a Canaanite woman. Canaanites come from Noah's grandson Canaan, whose father was Ham. The Canaanite peoples were a conglomerate of many tribes of peoples who descended from Ham's son Canaan which includes the original Egyptians prior to the Hyksos were black people. As a matter of fact, mankind from Adam to Noah was black. Scientifically it had to be such for us to have the variety of skin tone we have in the peoples of the world today. Skin tone, which is called melanin has to be present before there can be a lack of it. It wasn’t until Noah’s three sons who were each born with different degrees of melanin that they set the stage for the various colors of peoples of the world. Ham and hence Canaan was like Noah; black. So Judah being from Shem had a burnished orangey bronze color to his skin and as we see in the passage above, he married a black Canaanite woman and thus the Tribe of Judah was likely darker than the other tribes which came from Leah and Rachel. Bilhah and Zilpah were thought to be Cannanite women and so in the beginning a good portion of the Tribes of Israel were brown or even black. We still have Black Hebrews today, most notably the Igbo tribe of Nigeria who is by and large descended from Zilpah’s son Gad and Gad’s sons Eri, Areli and Arodi. So thus being said David, Solomon and even Yeshua were not white, nor were they black, but likely a reddish bronze skin color with wavy hair. David was indeed described as “Ruddy” meaning “Red” (I Sam 16:12; 17:42).


Have you ever wondered what Er did to offend GOD to the point that He deemed him “evil” and slew him?


First off, Er means, “Enemy” and or “Awaken”. Speaking of the enemy or our fallen nature that had awakened in Er. Jasher 45:23-24 says that Er refused to impregnate his wife Tamar, refusing to fulfill the Divine mandate to “Be fruitful and multiply (Gen. 9:1).” He used his wife Tamar for nothing more than to satisfy his sexual desires. He had reduced his helpmeet to an object and did not treat her as a wife, nor did he fulfill her needs and desire for a family. This is what the LORD deemed as “evil” or “wicked” which means in the Hebrew; “twisted” and or “perverted.”


According to the Torah, the brother next in line is to marry the dead brothers widow and sire children in his name.


If brethren dwell together, and one of them die, and have no child, the wife of the dead shall not marry without unto a stranger: her husband's brother shall go in unto her, and take her to him to wife, and perform the duty of an husband's brother unto her.And it shall be, that the firstborn which she beareth shall succeed in the name of his brother which is dead, that his name be not put out of Israel. Deut. 25:5-6


Onan did the very same thing Er did and “spilt his seed on the ground.” But Onan went a step further in his evil (perverseness) by not only dehumanizing Tamar and using her for his own sexual pleasure, but refused to sire a child in the name of his dead brother as the Torah commanded, and so GOD slew Onan, whose name means “complaining” and “sorrow.” Onan caused Tamar “sorrow” and Onan “complained;” “If my brother refused to give Tamar children, why should I? After all, it’s Er’s fault he didn’t leave any children to preserve his name, so why should I do that for him!?”


And Onan knew that the seed should not be his; and it came to pass, when he went in unto his brother's wife, that he spilled it on the ground, lest that he should give seed to his brother. Gen. 38:9


This passage has been grossly taken out of context to condemn the act of masturbation upon the grounds of “spilling seed,” when masturbation has nothing to do with the passage above and why GOD slew Er and Onan. It has EVERYTHING to do with; 1. the failure to see a wife as a human being and not an object. 2. Refusing to, “be fruitful and multiply.” 3. Refusing to obey Torah and sire children on behalf of a deceased brother.


If you want a passage condemning the act of masturbation you will not find any. There is no verse that says, “Thou shalt not masturbate.” The closest you will get is what Yeshua said…


Ye have heard that it was said by them of old time, Thou shalt not commit adultery: But I say unto you, That whosoever looketh on a woman to lust after her hath committed adultery with her already in his heart. Matt. 5:27-28

Tuesday, November 13, 2012

Who Sold Joseph: Ishmaelites or Midianites?



Who Sold Joseph: Ishmaelites or Midianites?
Rabbi Yehudah ben Shomeyr

Gen. 37:25-28 (KJV) And they sat down to eat bread: and they lifted up their eyes and looked, and, behold, a company of Ishmeelites came from Gilead with their camels bearing spicery and balm and myrrh, going to carry it down to Egypt. And Judah said unto his brethren, What profit is it if we slay our brother, and conceal his blood? Come, and let us sell him to the Ishmeelites, and let not our hand be upon him; for he is our brother and our flesh. And his brethren were content. Then there passed by Midianites merchantmen; and they drew and lifted up Joseph out of the pit, and sold Joseph to the Ishmeelites for twenty pieces of silver: and they brought Joseph into Egypt... And the Midianites sold him into Egypt unto Potiphar, an officer of Pharaoh's, and captain of the guard.

If you read the text carefully you will notice that it seemed a bit disjointed and perhaps even a bit contradictory. I mean, who did Joseph get sold to anyway, the Ishmaelites or the Midianites!? And in turn which one sold Jospeh into slavery in Egypt!?

We know from the Scriptures that Ishmael is a son of Abraham through Hagar (Gen. 16:1-16; 25:12) and Midian is also a son of Abraham through Keturah (Gen. 25:1-2). Some Rabbis believe that Keturah is Hagar who converted to Abraham’s faith and God and the name change indicated her conversion and Abraham took her back as a wife after the death of Sarah. Changing ones name upon converting to a religion is very common with Christians and Jews in foreign countries, indigenous folk who convert take on a Christian or Jewish name to publically profess their conversion. So at best Ishmael and Midian are brothers, at least; half-brothers, both having Abraham as their father.

Let’s see if we can clear this little conundrum up, shall we? According to the book of Jasher (Josh. 10:13, II Sam. 1:18) in chapter 42, the sons of Israel saw the Ishmaelites first on the horizon and either due to hilly terrain of that region the Midianites which were ahead of the Ishmaelites were hid in a valley behind a hill or because the Midianites came in the opposite direction of the Ishmaelites, which was more likely the case, the Sons of Israel, despite seeing the Ishmaelites first, ended up meeting the Midianites first. As the Midianites arrived in the area of Schechem where Israel’s sons were tending the flock, the Midianites happened upon the dry well or pit, where the sons of Israel threw Joseph into. They opened the mouth of the well intending to quench their thisrt and saw Joseph and pulled him up and out. By this time the sons of Israel found Joseph with the Midianites and ask what they were doing with their rebellious slave whom they tossed in the well to smarten him up. The Midianites offered to take Joseph off their hands and was sold to the Midianites first. As the Midianites left, they ran into the Ishmaelites headed their way and sold Joseph to them because they began to feel bad about what they had done and suspected Joseph was not a slave but a kidnapped victim. Thus Genesis 37:36 which says Midian sold Joseph into slavery in Egypt, should be understood in the context that via the Midianites Joseph was sold into Egypt by the hand of the Ishmaelites as stated clearly in Genesis 39:1


Gen. 39:1 And Joseph was brought down to Egypt; and Potiphar, an officer of Pharaoh, captain of the guard, an Egyptian, bought him of the hands of the Ishmaelites, which had brought him down thither.

Mystery solved. So it pays to be familiar with the extra Biblical texts, especially ones mentioned by the Scriptures themselves such as the Book of Jasher.  

Monday, November 12, 2012

Go With the Flow



Go with the Flow
Rabbi Yehudah ben Shomeyr

We are creatures of habit and love the security and familiarity of boundaries, routines and things that are set in stone. But we are described in the Scriptures as water (Prov. 21:1) and clay (Isa. 64:8) to be routed and plied in the hands of Almighty GOD. Not to say we should toss structure out the window and go with every fleeting whim. And not to say that there isn’t any absolutes to go by spiritually. What I am saying is that within the bounds of structure is plenty of room for something new, for some variety in our spiritual life, routine and our relationship with GOD; we shouldn’t be dependent upon routine.  You can still have order and freshness simultaneously (I Cor. 14:40). Our relationship with GOD is like with any couple, no matter how much you love each other dinner and a movie every weekend is predictable and becomes stale and boring. We should wake up and set about our spiritual regiment but be willing to obey and go in a totally different direction should the Holy Spirit guide us to do so. In other words you don’t have to pray the Amidah every day or in the same way. Maybe you will wake up and find that GOD wants you to shut up and listen to Him for a while. We need to recognize when this happens and be willing to toss our routine to the side temporarily.

One of the problems is when we witness and are involved in a mass movement of GOD like that of a Brownsville or Azusa Street Revival and we think we have arrived and it should always be like this and when it peters out, we become disillusioned and wonder what has happened. When this happens, we should thank God for such an experience and look for the new move of the Spirit on the horizon and not try to drum up or recreate an old movement of GOD.

Isa. 43: 19a Behold, I will do a new thing; now it shall spring forth; shall ye not know it?

Ezk. 36:26a I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit in you


Obey, do not quench the move of the Spirit in your daily walk (I Thess. 5:19).