-1 August 2015 ~ 16
Av 5775
-Torah Parashah Va’etchanan ~ “I pleaded”
-D’varim (Deuteronomy) 3:23-7:11 RSTNE p 140
-Teaching from Skip Moen’s book Guardian
Angel
Torah Parashah Va’etchanan ~ “I pleaded”
-D’varim 3:23-7:11 RSTNE p 140
Moshe
tells Yisra’el how he pleaded with YHWH to let him enter the Promised
Land. Moshe continues to review the
exodus and tells people how to live...
D’varim 4:1-2
“Now
therefore listen, O Yisra’el, to the chukim and to the mishpatim, which I teach
you , for to do them, that you may live and go in and possess the land which
YHWH Elohiym of your ahvot gives you.
2 You shall not add to the word
which i command you, neither shall, you take away anything from it, that you
may shomer the mitzvoth of YHWH your Elohiym that i command you.”
~
What is chukim?? - this is very important we
understand that this is included in Torah...
Chukim =
the “IM” on the end makes it plural of “chuk”
Chuk = “An ordinance of Torah not fully
logical or understood, yet fully and eternally binding.”
So - it is the stuff YHWH says that we don’t
understand!!
~
and then the Torah gives instructions and
....
D’varim 4:27-31 p
141
Moshe knew/ prophesied they would be scattered
among the nations.
D’varim 5
= The Ten Living Words
D’varim 6:4-9
= The Sh’ma
This parashah ends with
D’varim 7:8-11
p 144
We need to remember this!
as we do a verse earlier in this parashah...
D’varim 4:31
p 141
“For
YHWH your Elohiym is an El of rachamim (mercy), He will not forsake you,
neither destroy you, nor forget the brit (covenant) of your ahvot (fathers),
which He swore to them.”
In this time of lots of change... we need to
remember this.
We know that within 30 days, 8 or 10 doctors who
treated and HEALED people with cancer - have died or disappeared.
We know that organizations who will not
support marriages that are different that Torah will lose their tax exemption.
Now we also know that the leader of this
nation - had decided that organizations that do not support abortion will also
lose their tax exemption.
And we will not be moved.
Take away the tax exemption - other nations
don’t have it... Still the tithing to
ministry will go on because that is Torah.
And still our faith will not waver...
But how i hurt for those who don’t understand
and can now read a word that has not only been very messed up by translators -
now NIV is TAKING OUT words!
And we just read YHWH’s instructions about
that!
Things are speeding up....
BUT we MUST remember that we can NOT worry about things we can not
control!!
We can know what is going on - but we can not
allow our brains to go ruminate about how scary it is... or imagine what it
might become.
We must “ruminate” / - and to use the word correctly
- meditate (not as pagans do) on the WORD of YHWH... so that we know EMET
(TRUTH)... both what it says and WHO HE
IS.
We have to keep our chins up and are stand -
STRONG.
This is a battle... and remember - we are
CALLED to be
mighty warriors of VALOR!! (Mishle (Proverbs) 31:10)
*****
***** ****
Skip Moen’s Guardian Angel.... #8
Review Handout:
B’re’shiyt
1:26-27 “And Elohiym said, Let Us make man in
Our image, after Our likeness: and let them have dominion over the
fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over the cattle, and over
all the earth, and over every creeping thing that creeps upon the earth.
27 So the Word of
Elohiym created ma in His own image, in the image of Elohiym He created him; male and female
He created them.”
Tselem -
“image” - is a
masculine noun
transferred
authority and order over what destroys.
To be created in
YHWH’s image is to reflect divine action.
Demut -
“likeness” - is a
feminine noun.
“Being human is
ACTING according to YHWH’s path to life.
It means standing against chaos.
.. It also means
knowing what is permitted and what is not and acting accordingly.
-To be
human is to ACT LIKE YHWH ACTS... to reflect His choices... It is not to BE
YHWH... but to reflect Him.
“Male” in Hebrew = zakar.
“to be sharp
pointed”
“To remember who
YHWH is and what He said and to act accordingly”
Man =“Ish” = to
show oneself to be strong and to fix in mind (remember)
Female in Hebrew = neqevah.
“to pierce”
“To single out”
and “appoint as a leader”
“A prepared
setting for precious stones” = “boundary setter”
Ishshah = woman
**
B’re’shiyt
2:5 “Avad”
- (translated as “till”) -
“to cultivate” is suggested by the context..BUT...AVAD means = “to work” or “to
serve”. Our work (what we are called to
do) is service and worship and restores us at the same time!
EDEN = is both masculine and feminine.
- “Actually connects - “delight and
fecundity.”
(Fecundity = abundant production /
fruitful)
“Eden is about to
give birth to wonder and awe...”
B’re’shiyt
2: 16-17
“And YHWH Elohiym commanded the man,
saying ‘Of every eytz of Gan Eden you may feely eat: 17 But of the eytz of the da’at of tov and
ra, you shall not eat of it: for in the yom that you eat from it you shall
surely die.”
-Was this command only about eating??....The
text reads...
“achol
tochel”. But it is REALLY = “achol achol”...
ACHOL =
Aleph-Kaf-Lamed= “the strength to control what is allowed”....
“In other words,
this verb for consumption already
incorporates the concept of control.
== ACHAL is no
longer just about food! This is about
complete satisfaction in JOY!!
“This is about
EVERYTHING YHWH gives in His place of delight!”
This scripture has:
2 double words
... which we miss in English
“freely eat” - “eat eat” = achol
tochel
“surely die” - “die die” = mot tomut
This is about being
- fully satisfied - achol tochel - that
only got translated as “freely eat”....
and about being EMPTY - total
lack = mot tomut.
YHWH is saying “It is “feast or
famine”... and it is your choice Adam.”
Adam’s choice is between YHWH’s design for DELIGHT and Adam’s own
decision to make his own garden in complete insufficiency. EMPTY.
And since then... we
have man’s choice = “the etz of the da’at of tov and ra.” = the tree of the
knowledge of good and evil.
This is how man has
worked it every since... not YHWH’s way
- the etz chayim / tree of life... where YHWH decides what is good. But man chooses the etz of the da’at of tov
and ra - where man decides... he might “mean well” - but he decides. :(
B’re’shiyt 2:18 - Helper = Ezer Kenegdo
“Ezer”
= “helper”
“kenegdo”
= “as in front of him”
“It is not Adam’s
productive energy that needs assistance.
It is his faithfulness to YHWH’s instruction. He needs a protector, encourager, and spiritual director. He needs someone assigned to keep him on the
straight and narrow. He needs one who
comes alongside for the express purpose of guiding his obedience.”
Her
role is the role of priest and spiritual guide for Adam!”
YHWH
“parades” the animals to Adam and he names them.
Chavvah
doesn’t come from something UNDER Adam, but FROM him - so she is his equal.
Biblical
worldview of sexuality = sacred gift from YHWH in direct opposition from the
common view of paganism (fertility cults) who saw it as a reflection of what the
“gods” did.... and a way to control. Sex
does NOT reflect divine identity but it does reflect order and harmony. Sex is
not about control it is about chay-yah (life).
“From a Hebrew perspective, Chavah, not Adam, is the concluding
masterpiece.”
“Man” = ISH = aleph yod shin =
a-y-sh
But the consonants of the word
for woman are not what we would expect.
The middle yod is replace by a shin making a double shin before the hey
is added.
“Woman” =Ishshah = aleph shin shin hey =
a-sh-sh-h.
We’d expect woman to be a-y-sh-h but this isn’t the case. why?
Eliminating the yod removes the pictograph of the strong arm. Man is the strong arm that consumes, but
woman is the strong consumer-destroyer (doubled) who comes from Man. They are identical in strength in pictograph.
They both start with aleph, which is “leader” - but then something
happens...
The HEY portrays the created connection between man and woman (i.e. the woman comes from man).
But what about the double shin in woman? The letter shin has multiple meanings, as do
most pictographs. Shin can mean -
consume, eat or destroy. - This makes
sense since what is consumed is destroyed.
“Is it possible that Adam’s word for woman (ishshah) is a statement of
her essence - that in offering the name “woman,” Adam recognizes she is both
the strength to consume and to destroy?”
YHWH does not give woman a proper name and in fact Adam doesn’t do it
until after the fall as far as we know.
Adam names her Chavah (B’re’shiyt 3:20)
- a name that seems to be connected to “making alive”.
“Adam is not NAMING this person Ishshah.
He is designating the functional role this new being will play. He is pronouncing her identity, not her
label. She is the one who is both potential consumer (complementing his role)
and destroyer (opposing his role).
Perhaps Adam sees the risk.
Perhaps he is somehow aware that this one’s role is both cooperation and
resistance. Perhaps he already sees
something of the role given to her by YHWH’s term ‘ezer kenegdo. Adam’s problem of being alone is resolved in
a way that presents the quintessential risk of free will. The one who would be his protector and
provider (the ezer) is also the one who can become his greatest opponent. She is perfect - as the potential nourisher
and sustainer AND the one who stands against him. She is the perfect enemy.”
**
“She faces two directions at the same time: one toward the man in productive cooperation
ad the other away from the man, opposing his efforts when he does not remember the
prime directive.
Her role is to stand apart from the man and challenge him to act in ways
that remember who he is and who YHWH is.”
= Ishshah is not a derivative of ish!!!
*
CHAVAH =
literally means = “the mother (source) -
the one who brings life - of all living/ all those who work/WORSHIP!!”
This is
her legacy.
YHWH chose EZER
to describe the woman.
It wasn’t Adam’s
word - ishshah and it wasn’t Adam’s name he gave her - Chavah
nor does the
text use the word for female - neqevah.
Ezer is used in
the Word 112 times (in various forms).
In about half of
them... EZER is used to describe YHWH’s
relationship to Yisra’el!!
“To be
the EZER, she is to play the same role with her man as YHWH plays with His
people Y’isra’el.
EZER is derived
from the verb “AZAR” = military aid, social and moral support deliverance,
salvation, enclosure (protection) and general assistance.
Mishle
31:10 p 565
“Who can find a virtuous woman? For
her price is far above rubies.”
“Virtuous” is the Hebrew Word is HAYIL
HAYIL is
connected with = strength, wealth, and warrior...
NOT moral virtues.
A better english
word would be VALOR.
So it would read
“Who can find a woman of VALOR.”
B’re’shiyt
(Genesis) 2:22 p 10
“And with the rib that YHWH Elohiym had taken from man,
He made a woman, and brought her to the man.”
(Janet’s note:
The English word “RIB” = which is spelled = tzadi- lamed- ayin
Is the Hebrew
word “TSELA” - In Strong’s it is defined as = side,
rib, beam)
The english word “MADE” = is spelled = bet-nun-hey
Is the Hebrew
word = “BANAH” =In Strong’s it is defined = build, rebuild and establish
This is a verb
and suggests a carefully constructed, according to plan, designed production.
......Adam was created but Chavah was
BUILT.”
**
KENEGDO occurs only once - right here - in
all of Scripture, and is made up of 2 Hebrew words: “KI” and “NEGED”.
NEGED is a preposition.
That means it is
saying... Chavah is a “helper before” or a “helper in front of”
KI is also a preposition meaning like
or as.
= 2 prepositions
put together to make a word.
Woman is the
“perfect enemy” of man.... meaning that
she will support and support when he is obedient to YHWH...but when he is not -
she will utterly defy and challenge him to serve YHWH.
“When she is
truly EZER KENEGDO, she protects her man as no other. She is his ultimate weapon against
unrighteousness, even when the unrighteousness is found within him. She is the boundary-setter, designed with
special awareness of YHWH’s intentions. She plays a role that he cannot play
(and visa versa!!), not simply in procreation but as the one who brings
reinforcements, encouragement and sustenance.
Furthermore she is the perfect opposition, the perfect enemy, when her
man steps away from obedience to YHWH.
She is YHWH’s gift to man and she is designed to bless man the way YHWH
blesses His people!
-- Her job is to
insure that he becomes all that YHWH intends him to be. Just as he does that for her as well.
** **
** ** **
** ** **
** ** **
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Now today....
What have we learned so far??...
Moen says...
= That
the text suggests she is designed for a specific purpose of encouraging and
maintaining obedience between her man and YHWH.
She is his helper - not because he has sinned
but because he has free will.
This is why YHWH brings the EZER immediately
after he says it is not good for man to be alone.
This goes really well with today’s Torah
Parashah...
“Adam as the first man is the zakar - the one
who is called to remember what YHWH says and do it...
Remembering is supposed to lead to direct
obedience.
“Sh’ma Yisra’el... is a call to remember and
obey!
Moen asks a question -
“Why can’t Adam have that perfect
relationship with YHWH without an EZER?”
“The answer is bound up in that very idea of
being a free moral agent. In other
words, the answer to this question is about the necessity of the Tree of the
knowledge of Good and Evil ....”
~~
But before we go further I want to read what
Moen writes about EZER - in addition to
what we already know... I think this will help clarify even more....
“The linguistic background of the term EZER
KENEGDO suggests this particular kind of helper has a keener sense of spiritual
awareness. There is an implication she
is the stronger of the two when it comes to understanding the spiritual
relationship of creation. For this
reason, she is equipped to offer
protection and guidance to her mate. For
this same reason, she is more vulnerable to spiritual deception.
The
very fact that she is the EZER means she is drawn toward the creative energy of
YHWH.
She
is designed for this role - a role that is expressed within her own body as she
brings new human beings into the world.
But
first she is the EZER KENEGDO of her mate, ready to act on his behalf to insure
that he becomes all that YHWH intends him to be.
Unless
she also embraces the BORDERS of that strength, she will be propelled toward
choosing to be a “better” EZER than YHWH designed her to be. ....
....
and that is the story of the first sin.”
~~
Before we get to the “great disaster” of the
first sin... we need to look at
something else..
B’re’shiyt 2:24
RSTNE p 10
Therefore shall a man leave his abba(father)
and his eema (mother), and shall cleave to his wife: and they shall be basar
echad (one flesh).”
That word - THEREFORE.... means that as the
result of something previously explained, the following happens.
Without the THEREFORE we won’t know WHY an
ISH (man) should forsake his parents and cling or cleave to his ishshah
(woman).
Adam comes up with the word ishshah.
Remember it is NOT a derivative if ish - as
we had expected!
She is bone of his bone and flesh of his
flesh... she comes out of or from him.
He sees her as the perfect compliment to
himself.
Once she has been taken from him, his
objective becomes - to be reunited with her.
Moen says
“He is to bring her back to him - to recreate
the unity so that they are once again basar echad (one flesh).”
THAT IS WHAT THE THEREFORE IS FOR.
THEREFORE
is
the Hebrew word = al-ken
pictograph of AL-KEN = looking toward the
open palm of life.
So this connects one insight from Yah’s
creation to another.
According to the pictograph, to move from one
truth to another is to move toward life.
“Since knowledge is always connected with
obedience in Hebrew, to see the insight is to act upon it.”
AL-KEN is about what we are to DO as a
result of what we understand.
The two word components of AL-KEN mean “What
is foundational and what is correct that leads to action.”
Moen says
“Man and woman are two elements of the same
original union. We are to bring about
the restoration of that union by an exclusive relationship that reunites the
single entity. That is the purpose of
marriage. It is not lust abatement,
economic cooperation or passionate possession.
IT IS RE-UNION.”
Let’s look at two verbs in that same
verse:
B’re’shiyt 2:24
RSTNE p 10
Therefore shall a man leave his abba(father)
and his eema (mother), and shall cleave to his wife: and they shall be basar
echad (one flesh).”
LEAVE = ASAV
= to leave, abandon, forsake or turn or cut loose.
The pictograph is = the leader cut off from
the house.
CLEAVE = DAVAQ
= = to cling, cleave, to join with.
The pictograph shows us - “a door to a house behind”.
If you attended Wed night teaching - you will
remember that we talked about how we see time... past and future...
The Greek way is that we have our backs to
the past and face the future...
BUT is anyone surprised that this is opposite
in Hebrew??!!
In Hebrew the FUTURE is behind us, out of our
sight. We can see where we have been but
not where we are going.
A good way to understand this is to think of
yourself in a row boat...
when you are rowing - you face where you have
been and you have your back to where you are going.
So back to the word pictograph of DAVAQ = “a
door to a house behind”... this is about going to a new house in the
future... as a couple does when they get
married!
When the man joins his EZER in their new
home... in the future from their wedding day.
Where they will be RE-UNITED basar echad!
If we skip thousands of years... to
Mattityahu 19:6
p 693
Y’shua is saying...
“Therefore they are no more two, but basar
echad. What therefore YHWH has joined
together, let not man put asunder.”
The phrase - “joined together” - doesn’t
really capture the overtones of the “very unusual verb syzeugnymi” - that is
used here in the Greek.
syzeugnymi - a Greek word that is mostly
translated into english as “joined together”... is better translated - “yoked together”.
Before it was the greek word syzeugnymi - it
was the HEBREW word = HAVAR.
HAVAR = is not just about “joining”. It is “pulling a load together”.
“Pulling a load together” implies that there
is work to be done TOGETHER.
To be
yoked is to share the same task.... the same YHWH given objective.
What does this mean?
It doesn’t mean to have the same employment.
BUt rather... “to live in yoked harmony,
recapturing what it means to be one again - in display of perfect redemption.
HAVAR = the deepest kind of community.
The pictograph = “a fence around a person in
a house”
Marriage is the fence around the house.
Then Moen explains the thing that he calls
The Prime Directive...
B’re’shiyt 1:28
“Be fruitful, multiply, and replenish the
earth, and subdue it; and have dominion over....”
He says “The Prime Directive is to act as
image-bearers of the heavenly kingdom here on earth so that His name may be
glorified in the unity of being one.”
“Yoked means pulling together, not pulling
apart. Yoked means deep friendship,
anchored in common commitment.”
But back to
AL-KEN - therefore...
THEREFORE means that there is something
BEFORE this idea of “leaving and cleaving”
Remember the verse says...
B’re’shiyt 1:25
“Therefore shall a man leave his abba and his
eema and cleave to his wife: and they shall be basar echad.”
“He leaves his childhood home and attaches to
his wife because YHWH meets his deepest need for companionship in the creation
of woman.”
The verb for this RE-UNION is not what we’d
expect in Hebrew.
In Hebrew, we’d expect it to say a man should
HASHAQ (cleave) ... because HASHAQ means “adhering to someone in love.”
But the Hebrew word translated as “cleave” is
not HASHAQ here, it is DAVAQ.
DAVAQ, Moen says, is about “superglue”!!
It’s about for example - gluing boards
together....
NOT about FEELING at all!!
“It’s the unbreakable commitment of fidelity,
loyalty honor and obedience that comes with the deepest of all human
relationships. It’s the kind of commitment the Word describes in Song
of Songs... passionate ownership, devoted sacrifice and sensual enjoyment.”
“It’s the husband in Mishle
(Proverbs) 31:29 (p 565) Where he is saying she is
better than all the others...
“Many daughters have done virtuously, but you
have risen over them all.”
Here that word that is translated
“virtuously” - from a chet- yod- lamed = should have been VALOR-ly(?)... as in
Mishle 31:10.
DAVAQ is the sticking together no matter
what.... it is COVENANT LANGUAGE.
THIS COVENANT LANGUAGE IS REINFORCED with....
another story that uses the same words...
and i am talking about the word TARDEMA
-we have talked about this before...
B’re’shiyt 15:12
p 18
“And when the shemesh (sun) was going down, a
TARDEMA (deep sleep) fell upon Avram; ...”
Moen says this word TARDEMA occurs only 7
times in the Word...
and the first time - is right there in
B’re’shiyt 2:21
“And YHWH Elohiym caused a TARDEMA (deep
sleep) to fall upon Ahdahm.
This shows us a connection between Ahdahm and
Avraham!
TARDEMA is a trance.
They were both put in a TRANCE... because
YHWH is the active agent of the covenant.
In both cases the man is passive and YHWH
does it!!
Moen goes on to say that there are really 2
covenants in marriage...
1. the promise of fidelity between the husband
and wife... and that it is important to note that the man makes the commitment,
not the woman.
“Therefore a man shall.....”
2. the covenant between the EZER and YHWH.
Moen says - YHWH’s work in creating the EZER
KENEGDO is connected to YHWH’s work in establishing the covenant of promise
with Avraham.
“The woman is
YHWH’s FIRST manifestation of promise.”
“The woman’s role is to provide shalom to
Adam. and the covenant with Avraham
results in Shalom for mankind.”
“The EZER is Yah’s answer for man being
alone... just as the covenant with Avraham is Yah’s answer from man being
separated from YHWH.”
Moen says -
“We once asked how the EZER KENEGDO could act
as a priest and guide in a perfect world.
We asked how she could be connected with the idea of forgiveness. Now we see the answer.”
“She has a covenant relationship with YHWH; a
covenant relationship that is built right into her very existence. Her connection to Yah is precisely what
equips her to accomplish the purpose of her existence - to bless her man. She is the physical manifestation of YHWH’s
grace, the one who guard shim and guides him toward harmony with the Creator
and the creation. She embodies the
attributes of the truest EZER.”
DAVAQ means more than just “glued together”
It implies fidelity and faithfulness.
It means holding on over the long run.
It’s an unbreakable word.
This word DAVAQ describes YHWH’s reliability
and consistency fastened to His covenant.”
A man is to cling to his woman the same way
we are to cling DAVAQ to YHWH.
It’s interesting to note that Moen says
“There are several other verses in the Word that portray the same analogy. In each one, YHWH is represented by the
woman, not the man. The Woman and YHWH
stand on the side of the covenant. The
Man is the beneficiary on the other side of the covenant.”
So the implications of this are:
1. The quality of marriage is determined by the
husband’s long term fidelity and attachment to his wife... breaking all other
human relationships and shift everything to her. She can not fulfill the role of EZER KENEGDO
unless he clings to her.
In
the same way - YHWH can not be our EZER unless we CLING to HIM!
Moen says ...
2. The comfortable orientation of the culture
toward male dominance and patriarchal thinking is not part of the Biblical
pattern. The role of the EZER is
established BEFORE the first sin. YHWH
assumes this role throughout human history.”
Moen says
“The EZER KENEGDO is designed to play a role
analogous to Yah’s role with HIS chosen ones.
BUT this raises a very thorny question.
If this is Yah’s engineered design, then how come virtually the entire
history fo the world has been operating on the assumption woman shold be a supportive or even
submissive role to men? How come we seem
to have it backwards?”
The answer requires a closer look at the
first sin....
and that is what we will do next time :)
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