Understanding Trees...
July 20,2013 ~ Av 13, 5773
This week’s Parashah #45 Va’etchanan (I pleaded)
starts with D’varim /Deuteronomy 3:23....
.... i hope you are continuing to read the Parashah’s ... but
today we are going to talk about - understand trees...
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Sh’ma
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Understanding Trees...
(from Brad Scott’s teaching “As the tree....”)
Last week i asked you to consider that the Torah stars with two trees and it ends with one tree.
Yesha’Yahu /Isaiah 65:22 cjb p 540
“They will not build and other live there, they will not plant and others eat; for the days of my people will be like the days of a tree, and my chosen will themselves enjoy the use what what they make.”
We are learning that very often in the word... the words mean something else...
for example “many waters” is a word for many different kinds of people.
Well, the word TREES often refers to people.
People... trees... and words... “as the days of the tree - so are the days of my people.”
even though we are reading about trees... the reality is we are reading about people
B’resheet /Genesis 2:9 cjb p 2
“Out of the ground Adonai, God, (YHWH Elohim), caused to grow every tree pleasing in appearance and tov/good for food, including the tree of life in the middle of the garden and the tree of the knowledge of tov/ good and ra/evil.”
B’resheet /Genesis 2:15-17 cjb p 2
“Adonai, God, took the person and put him in the garden of Eden to cultivate and care for it. 16 Adonai, God, gave the person this order: “You may freely eat from every tree in the garden 17 except the tree of the knowledge of tov/good and ra /evil. You are not to eat from it because on the day that you eat from it, it will become certain that you will die.”
Two trees.
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Yesha’Yahu /Isaiah 4:2 cjb p 441
“On that day, YHWH’s plant/ branch/ netzer will be beautiful and glorious....”
Brad Scott says .... The Septuagint translated the same verse that we read - “On that day the branch shall be beautiful and glorious ...”
.... as - “in that day the branch shall shine gloriously in counsel on the earth to exalt and glorify Isra’el...” !!!!
So even the Greek translators see “the Branch” as counsel.
The reality is that many many times in Scripture - Messiah is referred to as parts of a tree... and even the Rabbis and the Greek translators knew this!!
Yochanan 15:5 cjb p 1351
“I am the vine and you are the branches. Those who stay united with me, and I with them, are the ones who bear much fruit; because apart from me you can’t do a thing.”
.... He is called the branch too b/c we are one with Him.
Y’shua is not called the branches - he is called THEE Branch.
We are the branches...b/c we are grafted into him.
Okay.... so that is one side.... but remember since the prince of the air is hasatan... there is another side around us....
Remember how we talk often that YHWH creates, and hasatan corrupts and twists, ...or wicks Yah’s creation - mixing enough truth with his lies to make them believable.... so there is another side...
Brad Scott says.....”All the things of a tree that are used to describe Y’shua and His people - are all the same terms that the enemy will use to describe himself. Hasatan is going to be a fruit and he is going to be a branch”... because he is trying to deceive.
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You know how we talk about the Hebrew language having cousin words...
Let’s look at one of the cousin words /cognates = “etz”
= ayian saide = etz = Hebrew word for tree... two letter root
But we need a third letter root to get the full context of the meaning.
so when we place the feminine ending (“ah” sound) at the end of a root - we get = “etzh”
“etz” = hebrew word for “counsel”.
Now remember if YHWH has righteous counsel, then we can be sure that hasatan has unrighteous counsel.
What has that got to do with the tree?
It has to do with the fruit of the tree.....
When you go back to the beginning - there are two trees in the garden.....
The Etz Chayim / Tree of Life and
the etz ra and tov - tree of function and dysfunction/ good and evil.
Everything comes from these two trees.
I often say - there are two powers in the world... YHWH and hasatan... if something is not of YHWH it has to be from hasatan.
and remember - “good” is not necessarily Godly.
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I am going to tell you right now....
The Ezt Chayim/ Tree of Life - is the SEED of YHWH - the Word... The Living Word...
The tree of the knowledge of good and evil - is the seed of enmity - hasatan ....
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When you consider that before Adam and Chava /Eve - ate from the Tree of the knowledge of good and evil... they only had the Seed of YHWH in them... because they ate from the Etz Chayim.
Until.... they ate of the seed of hasatan...the fruit of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil..... then they had the seed of the enemy in them....
and that is how sin is passed down...
We all are born with the seed of the knowledge of good and evil....
So -- you can see why - in our flesh we try to do what is right and sometimes we do really good things... and sometimes we do things from the other side of that tree... and they are wrong - evil.
But even the “good” is not necessarily Godly.
Do you see how this works in our lives??
This is why, only living through the good seed - the seed of YHWH and eating from the Etz Chayim / Tree of Life.... YHWH the Living Word... can we function from a place of righteousness!
So eating from the Etz Chayim / Tree of LIfe/ the Living Word - is always going to produce GOOD - righteous fruit....
...while eating from the tree of the knowledge of tov and ra / good and evil - may produce fruit that is good fruit, but it will produce fruit that is bad as well.... and that “good” fruit - is not necessarily Godly.
Example... Yoga - at first produces good things ... more flexibility and relaxation.... and these are positive things..... but yoga opens the doors to hasatan in our life...
remember how we said - everything in the spirit realm is based on legal right?...
Well every position in yoga is a worship position to a hindu god.... so if i do that.... even if i only “mean well”....
i am opening doors for hasatan to come in.
I have read many many quotes from hindu yogis and they say.... “there is no such thing as christian yoga - it is all about worshiping hindu gods.”
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Another example of good not being Godly....
Contemplative thought/ and mediation....
i have listened to many people (good christian people - with the best intentions of serving the Living God) .... who talk about doing these things and how they started to see ugly demonic faces.... and it was scary.
These ugly demonic faces were not some figment of their imaginations.... they were demons... invited in because the person doing contemplation and or meditation - had their minds open....
and if you leave your mind open - hasatan will come in!!
just like if you leave the door to your house open - mice will come in.
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This is where i think the phrase i hear at hospice very often comes in....
People say - “Well s/he was a good person.”...
Well that is nice... they were “good”...but if they don’t have the seed of LIFE - they only eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil.
and you have to have the SEED to have eternal life.
So what counsel do you want to follow??
This is why it is so important who you “listen” to....
If someone is a counselor or pastor and they don’t understand Torah/ the Living Word of YHWH....
then what will they give you?.... but THEIR opinion, and that will be from the tree of tov and ra.... so it will be good sometimes and sometimes it will not be good - it will be BAD, and it probably won’t be Godly at all.... it will be “nice christianity”.... but remember - nice christianity doesn’t line up with the Word of YHWH.
We are supposed to get counsel from the Etz Chayim/ Tree of Life.
We are supposed to understand what Aveniu /Father says is righteous and what Aveniu /Father says is holy.
....Not what men think is good or evil, righteous or unrighteous, holy or profane...
.... Just what YHWH says.
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Let’s look at “etz” - “tree” in the four levels of understanding Scripture....
remez - the whole idea of remez is prophetic......seen by fruit and leaves.... the end of the tree - the last thing you see... the prophetic level
pashat = branches and the trunk = part we always see... even in winter. right in front of us all along- don’t see fruit and leaves.
drash - search something out = roots of the tree... roots searching through the ground looking for the sun and water...
sod = seed... the thing that is hidden.
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TREES...
.... there are 2 trees in garden
tree of chayim, and tree of ra and Tov
The tree of Chayim /life is mentioned in the Word exactly 10 times.
- It is a Picture of Torah... the commandments / instructions
- If we eat from this tree we have abundant life and live eternally
- 10 times/ 10 commandments which represent the 613 mitzvot... the instructions.
The tree of tov and ra is mentioned twice in the Word
= The number 2 = # of division
= good on one side and evil on other
= good fruit and evil fruit.
After B'resheet 2:17, we never hear it again in Word...b/c Father said to Adam and Chava /Eve - not to eat from that tree... “for you shall surely die”
... based on how trees work and how they did things then....people ate the seeds in most fruit.
most of us now throw the seeds out and don’t eat them.
they even produce seedless grapes now and Brad Scott says.....they aren’t good for you...get grapes with seeds and eat the seeds!... - lots of minerals and nutrition.
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So the assumption is...
if you eat of the tree - you will eat the seeds and produce the fruit of that, and you will pass that down in generations..
Romans 5:12 - 21 cjb p 1407
“Here is how it works: it was through one individual that sin entered the world, and through sin, death passed through to the whole human race, inasmuch as everyone sinned.”......
(continue reading through vs 21)
- It is people that are being rooted up - not trees in this scripture.
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Tree of LIFE -- ETZ Chayim
- Mentioned 10 times
- Of the 10 times...three of them are in B’resheet /Genesis, three are in Hitgalut /Revelation, and 4 times in Mishlei / Proverbs
- Why is Mishlei /Proverbs significant?
- Because ...
- the book of Mishlei /Proverbs is all about these two trees.
- It is a book of contrast between righteous and unrighteous.
IE - Prov 1:7-8 “the fear of YHWH is the beginning of knowledge - but fools....”
Prov 10:1-2 wise/ fool
B’resheet /Genesis
2:9
3:22
3:24
Proverbs / Mishlei
3:18 (chapter 3 about not forgetting Torah)
11:30- fruit of righteous is tree of life
13:12 hope deferred - desire cometh is tree of life
15:4 wholesome tongue
Hitgalut /Revelation
2:7 speaking of church of Ephesus - ear let him hear/ understanding... to eat of the tree of life...
22:2
22:14
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Y’shua is described in the beginning as the Etz Chayim - the Tree of Life,
and He is described as the one tree in the end....
Yesha’Yahu /Isaiah 11:1 cjb p 454
“branch” netzer = Messiah
“netzer” translated as a branch but we are talking about a PERSON.
“netzer” = to preserve the continuity of something.
Remember - “like kind produces like kind”... apples = apples
Why early disciples called Netzerem (Nazarenes) ....
Because they were a group acting like the Netzer... Living as the BRANCH / Y’Shua did!!
Yesha’Yahu /Is 11:10 cjb p 454 - root of Jesse
Yochanan /John 15:1-2 cjb p 1351 - true vine
Galatians 3:16 - cjb p p 1454 - “SEED is Messiah”
Luke 1:41-42 cjb p 1288 - fruit
but there is....Enmity - who wants to kill and destroy... and “instead of tree” ... there is an “anti-tree”.
This is not Etz Chayim, the Tree of Life...but the “other” concept used in Mishlei /Proverbs - describing the fools...
B’resheet/ Genesis 3:15 cjb p 3 - an animosity/ enmity
D’varim /Deut 29:18 cjb p 232
Let’s look at... Yesha”Yahu 14:12-17 (description of hasatan/ lucifer)
Look in D’varim 14:19 cjb p 458
“But you are discarded, unburied, like a loathed branch...”
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Yechezk’el /Ezek 37: 10- 28 cjb p 691 - two sticks....
“stick” - but the word is “etz” = TREES
“son of man” describes Yechezk’el,
but “son of man” also describes Messiah
trees and wood are really people, but ultimately talking about human beings.
when read in Yechezk’el 37:16-20 it is obvious he is saying to “the son of man”....
So on one level Yah is talking about Yechezk’el/ Ezekiel, but on another level ... this is a prophecy that is talking about Y’shua and what He is going to do with the two sticks/ trees...
this is clearer when we look at Yechezk’el 37:21 - say to them... “thus sayeth Adonai YHWH”.... I will take and I will make.... HE is going to do it.
what he is teaching us - as the time he is speaking to Ezek - seen as trees or sticks...but later on - he says I will do this... saying this is really talking about sticks and trees... but people.
Y’shua is also a son of man - he will bring those two sticks / TREES together...
See that He is telling the son of man to put the sticks/ TREES together, but ultimately it is the Father who is going to do this.
What if - we took Yah literally here????
.... what if you really took to branches from a tree and you really did
write in one tree “for Isra’el” and the other “ .....for Yosef”... suppose you do this... on paper... ??
Let’s do this..... and see what you see...
Yechezk’el 37:15 cjb p 691
Take a verticle pole and write on it
in Hebrew.... “yehuda validma Isra’el carvorav”... from top to bottom vertical
== “for Judah and the children of Isra’el his companions”
Then on the horizontal beam / stick you wrote in Hebrew....
“layosef etez Efryim ecobed Isra’el carvorav”
If you wrote that from right to left b/c Hebrew is from right to left...
across the other piece of paper/ “stick”
and you joined them together to form a TAV in Hebrew... a cross/x.. based on ancient TAV
TAV = “the sign or the covenant”
Y’shua said i am going to give you only one sign... pointing to his crucifixion
which was a TAV
If literally you did what i just explained....... to write on the sticks...
where the VAV is in YaHuda... on one stick
and where you see the word ___ “all the house of Isra’el... on the other stick.... and cross them / over lap them where these are...
the two would come together to form a cross/ TAV...
Right where the vav met - speaking of the other house...
(just write letters not vowels)
Yahuda / for Judah... head... heart would be right where two sticks come together... VAV = hebrew letter of the nail.
right where head is.. sign - “this is Y’shua, king of the Jews...”
also true that Y’shua refers to this image in
Yochanan /John 10:15-16 cjb p 1343
“... I lay down my life on behalf of the sheep. 16 Also i have other sheep which are not from this pen; I need to brig them, and they will hear my voice; and there will be one flock, on shepherd.”
= He is going to bring the two and put them together - on the tree...
Just as HE is calling today - for the Northern Kingdom - Isra’el and the Southern Kingdom - Judah to teshuvah and RETURN to the covenant.... so the bride can be spotless and whole....
YHWH told us in Ezekiel 37... and then he did it on Golgotha.
...AMEIN.
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