Lechem...
Bread... Dec 13, 2014
**************************************************
Sh’ma
**
13 Dec 2014
~ 21 Kislev 5775
Torah parashah ~ Vayeshev (He continued
living)
B’re’shiyt (Genesis) 37:1 - 40:23
***
We know that Chanukah starts Tues - 16 Dec and
goes until the evening of Wed 24 December.
And so i want to talk about Chanukah today...
But i want to start with “LECHEM”
Lechem = bread in Hebrew.
Bread is mentioned 361 times in the KJ version of the bible.
Lamed - chet - mem
lamed
= lead, teach, yoke forward, tongue, control
chet
= fence, outside, half, divide, protect
Mem =
chaos, might, blood, out of, what , how
Strong’s # H3899 and it is defined as “bread,
food, grain.”
D’varim 3:8
RSTNE p 144
“And
He humbled you and allowed you to hunger and fed you with manna, which you knew
not, neither did your ahvot know; that He might make you know that man does not
live by lechem only, but by every word that proceeds out of the mouth of YHWH
does man live.”
Yochanan (John) 6: 47-51 RSTNE p 760
“Amein,
Amein, I say to you, He that believes on Me has everlasting chayim (life).
I am
the lechem (bread) of chayim (life).”
*~*~
Interesting how YHWH works.
This week i was talking with a lady who is a
christian... and she was saying how a teacher/ pastor seems to “really
minister” to her for awhile and then that is it - not at all later.
I told her... what i see is that ministers
typically learn some piece of truth... it might be a thread or maybe a huge
rock or maybe a mountain... but it is only some truth...
and they speak it
and people - (who are starving) declare this good
food and RUN after it.
And it does (usually) have TRUTH in it...
And it is helpful....
but if you look at the ministers... they just keep
serving that bread.
They keep on doing and saying what they did and
said last week and last month and last year.
They will still be teaching “THIER MESSAGE”....
as long as someone will listen.
but the message doesn’t change and grow - it just
is.
And it was GREAT for the time it was released
in...but that is all there is... and they keep passing out that bread and
passing it out....
And they have stayed - at least mostly - stuck in their wonderful
revelation they have taught for the last 2 or 52 years... and not much has
changed.
Well what i know is YHWH keeps showing more..
keeps inviting his people to more....
~
A long time ago i read an interesting statement
that went something like this...
“Churches are bakeries... We are supposed to go
there and get hot fresh bread that is life giving.
The problem is that most churches today only serve
old stale bread - they don’t bake it
there... they get it somewhere else...
or perhaps better stated they - the churches
- don’t even know they are supposed to
be baking and serving BREAD.”
~
And we can say - that we get that and that is way
too bad... and how awful that is...
Oh but there is a huge problem that comes for us
with this idea of “FRESH BREAD”....
and that is... we like the idea that says... we
just want to be COMFORTABLE.
we want to know what we know ...
we want to know who we are....
we want to know what we believe
and we just want to keep on believing and
understanding that....
because every time things change - it seems HARD.
and Every time a leader teaches something new...
every time a leader stands up and says...
“You know.. i am really sorry but i taught that
wrong... now what i understand - based on the Word of YHWH is ____ . So we are
changing.”
Every time a leader says “okay here is more of the
truth”
some of us say “OKAY! Glad to know it!!”
and others of us say.. “Are you kidding? MORE CHANGE!!!”
and then we feel a bit lost and adrift for awhile,
because we
don’t know what to do with all of it
and we don’t really know who we are and how we fit
in our place in the world... with this big change.
and also there must be something that goes
something like...
“are you kidding me?!! Do you know how much i have changed
already??!!! and now you are telling me there is more change!!??”
**
If you’ve been here awhile...and if you don’t know
this yet... it will make sense as i tell
you today...
Ongoing - i have prayed that YHWH would keep me in
a place of learning.
So that i never serve old bread. ....That i always and only serve FRESH
LECHEM....
....A place of always getting more truth.
~
The problem might be then... that
1. Things are always changing as we learn more
truth.
2.
Things don’t seem as settled - at least not as much as we’d like to feel
comfortable.
3.
Most of us just feel like we need to know what we know and have that not
be changing.
4. The teacher - Janet - looks pretty
clueless... always changing things. :)
The reality is...
there is a lot of change at HLM.
But core stuff - that YHWH loves us and has a plan
of restoration - in Messiah Y’shua...
and that we are called to live kadosh (holy) and be
righteous priests ...
...
this is not changing...
But as we keep asking him how to be kadosh
(holy)...
....we are learning more about what that means
and...
.... so things in how we live and how we serve Him
change as we learn more...
and these changes aren’t very easy sometimes.
So the question we might consider ...
do we want old lechem or fresh lechem??????
If’ it is fresh lechem we want.... we have to know that means ----on going change
as we understand more and more of the Word of
YHWH.
****
That said... i have been learning some things i
want us to consider:
This week i listened to Matthew Nolan’s last
Shabbat teaching...on Chanukah.
I have prayed about this. I have talked about this. i have cried about this.
So i want to offer this to you.
It is hard to hear.
The more i sit with it... and read Torah... the
more in am convinced ... but wow is it
not the easy answer !!
~~***~~***~~***~~***
Chanukah... according to Matthew Nolan.
Let’s start with simple things:
The Hebrew word for Chanukah is used 8 times in
Tanakh
and it means “dedication”.
It refers to the dedication of the altar in the
front of the tent of meeting.
~~**~~**~~**~~**~~
Before we go any further...
.... let’s talk about what we have known of
Chanukah.
The story of Chanukah ....
As
part of his attempt to rule the world, Antiochus Epiphanies signed a
peace
treaty with Isra’el.
(side
note – What do we know about the prophecy of the end times and the peace
treaty… it will NOT be honored!!)
A brother of the high priest of Isra’el,
Joshua
(who
changed his name to the Greek name Jason) offered Antiochus a peace treaty that
gave Antiochus power to rule over Isra’el
--in
return for protecting Isra’el.
The treaty also offered Antiochus money in
return for making Jason high priest in Isra’el.
Jason
also promised to build a temple dedicated to the Greek God Phallus
and
a gymnasium in Jerusalem
-which
would be dedicated to Greek athletics
-
and which would be a recruitment center.
Citizens
of Israel and of the world could come to
the
gymnasium and sign up to become citizens of Antioch in significant
alliance
with the Greek world government.
Antiochus
accepted the peace treaty,
And
Jason became high priest in Isra’el
Antiochus
marched off to Egypt to expand his empire.
As
he marched into Egypt, Antiochus was successful with his armies in conquering
the Egyptian kingdom south of Israel.
As
he was winning a big battle, a message was sent through a messenger from the
Senate in Rome: "Give up Egypt or Rome will invade and attack Syria."
Antiochus
tried to stall and tried to negotiate out of it.
The
messenger took out a sword and drew a circle with it in the sand around
Antiochus
and
said "you may not leave the circle until you give your answer to
Caesar."
Antiochus
was forced to make a decision -- he chose to back down and give up Egypt, which
made him very angry.
In
his wrath, Antiochus marched up from Egypt through Isra’el.
Then
an infuriating bit of information was shared with him.
THE
PEACE TREATY WAS BROKEN
Jason
had lost his high priesthood and was fighting to get it back.
In
addition, he had received the incorrect message that Antiochus
Epiphanies
was dead.
So
-- Jason was now fighting to take over the kingdom.
This
word got back to Antiochus.
Imagine
how Antiochus Epiphanies responded after just having lost Egypt and now finding
that people in Jerusalem were fighting over his kingdom, thinking he was dead
in Egypt.
He was so angry that he ordered his lead
commander to destroy Jerusalem.
History
records that they did just that.
They
killed thousands of Jews and took many of them into slavery.
They
hacked and knocked over the porticoes in the Temple.
They
robbed many of the Temple vessels.
On
Kislev 25 in the year 168 BC, Antiochus marched into
the Temple and
built
a statue in the outer courtyard to the god Zeus, the chief god in Greek
paganism.
He made the face of the statue of Zeus look
like himself.
Then
he sacrificed a pig to this statue.
Not
only did he offer the pig as a sacrifice, he took the blood from the pig and he
sprinkled it in the Holy of Holies.
He
poured its broth on the Holy Scrolls before cutting them to pieces and burning
them.
Then
he ordered his men to make the Temple a shrine to Zeus.
(
I find it interesting that Christians call Y’shua “Jesus” or HaZeus!!! Do you get this picture of deception
here??!!)
Next
he came up with a new law, which he spread throughout the land.
This new law abolished all the religious
practices of Isra’el.
Antiochus
abolished the sacrifices, allowing only the pig, an unclean animal to be
sacrificed.
He
abolished circumcision.
The
soldiers came to Modeem – and demanded Mattathias perform the pig
sacrifice…. They picked out the leader
of the community so the people would follow.
Mattathias
refused
Because
he knew if the compromise was made then the Torah would be destroyed,
and if they didn’t have Torah, they didn’t
have truth...
if
they didn’t have truth they
wouldn’t have YHWH….
…They
didn’t have anything…
He
would not forsake YHWH and His instructions.
He
refused.
But
another priest stood up and was going to do it.
BUT…
Mattathias and his sons….tore down the
Greek altar
and
drove off the soldiers with the battle cry….
….“Whoever
is for YHWH, follow me!”
This
was the beginning of the Hebrew rebellion.
Mattathias’
oldest son was nicknamed “Judah Macabee” = “the hammer”....because he fought so
hard.
Mattathias,
his 5 sons, and probably many others….engaged the Greeks in guerrilla warfare
to win Isra’el's independence – for three years.
Because
of their bravery and leadership, the Hebrews miraculously won the war with the
Greeks and regained their freedom to worship the one true God of Isra’el.
--The Temple which was desecrated when
Antiochus Epiphanies
sacrificed
a pig on the altar. The temple was recaptured by the Maccabees and rededicated
back to YHWH.
**
Mattathias
stod up in righteous anger and refused to sacrifice pig!
Judah
the Maccabeus reclaimed the temple and rededicated it.
And
then begins the oil story.. how in cleaning they found some oil but not
enough...
And
the short story of the oil goes like this... there is oil, but not enough.......because
it takes awhile to make it and let it sit to purify it...
the
light burned for 8 days...
**
Well,
that is a great story...but according to many Jewih Rabbis - it simply isn’t
true...
The
military part is true.
But
allegedly - the oil part is just a legend.
***
We
have to look and see what the Scriptures say.
We
know that historically there was a defiling of the temple
we
know that there were the battles of the Macabees
We
are not disputing these things
and
we know there was a rededication of the temple
we
also know Y’shua was born and there was a bright star and shepherds in a field
but
just just because we know those things
--
doesn’t mean we have to connect them
with christmas trees etc
often
times what happens is we marry HIS-story and tradition
I
don’t want to jump out of the frying pan into the fire
and
in fact, maybe i did.
*
2 times in Daniel 3 the word
“chanukah” is used in the dedication and worship of the image of Nebikinizer in Babylon
**
another interesting point...
Blessing that goes with chanukah
baruch atah adonai eloheinu melech ha olam asheer
kadishnu barmitzvo tov vitsivanu lel hadlig ner shel chanukah
in the English:
blessed are you YHWH our lord our god soverign of
the universe who has sanctified us with his commandments and commanded us to
light the lights of chanukah
who has commanded us to light the Shabbat candles
- for shabbat too
that
is simply not true...
many people recite these blessings
even believers in Y’shua... recite these blessings and say that YHWH
commanded us to do these things.
He did not command us to get two candles out on
Shabbat and light them!
He did not command us to light the lights of
Chanukah.
---- yet a
religion of man says he did!!
as believers we need to question these things
**
The story is that Antiochus Epiphanies - was angry
and he was in battle and killed many and then tried to take over places by
having the priests sacrifice pig...
Antiochus Epiphanies
he named himself Epiphanies.. which means “god
manifest”.
isn’t that interesting?...
Yochanan (John) 10: 22-39 p 766
Do you think it just might be possible that in
John 10 -
-- Y’shua is saying...
“I am the Epiphanies... I am YHWH manifest!!” ??
**
According to Mathew Nolan’s research.. .
Chanukah is about Jewish people separating from
everything that is not Jewish.
While Y’shua embraced gentiles... lost sheep of
the house of the Northern Kingdom of Isra’el.
*
the Macabees were a military victory for the
Jewish people....
and some
say that the story of the oil was added because the rabbis that were in charge
-
- were
afraid of offending Roman rule...
- ...so
instead of glorifying the revolutionary military victory
-
- -
they made the focus about YHWH
- to keep themselves and all the Jews safer.
**~~~~~~*****
Some thoughts ....
I like the story of how Mattithias Macabees stood up for YHWH and did what was
right in the midst of what was probably a clear threat of death.
I like reading the story that the Macabees fought
and overcame - the under-dogs won!
I really like the story of YHWH doing a miracle
and the oil lasting 8 days when it should not have.
I like the idea of a celebration that is sort of
like Christmas... because in all honesty - i have wonderful wonderful family memories
of Christmas...
i like giving gifts to my family and friends.
and as silly as it may sound - i like lighting
candles.
But it doesn’t matter what i like!!
We can even say well -
in Yochanan
8:12 Y’shua says “I am the light of the world.”
and we can look at the candles and be reminded of
that light.
BUT IT DOESN’T MATTER WHAT I LIKE!!
**
Points to consider
1. Despite the Messianic/Jewish blessings that
SAY - Yah “commanded us to light the lights of Chanukah and Shabbat - That is not true.
YHWH did not command us to light lights.
2. YHWH gave us the 7 branch Menorah. He did not give the 9 branch Chanukia... and
9 is about illuminati.
3. Just because Y’shua was at the temple during
Chanukah doesn’t mean he was celebrating Chanukah - he could have - and
probably was there to bring rebuke.
4. Chanukah is not a FEAST OF YHWH.
So....
Some questions to consider....
1. Can we get together and light candles and give
gifts?
2.How is celebrating a feast of man - albeit
pagan based - not like the Golden calf??
- IF we say we are doing it to worship YHWH.
3. Can we get together and give gifts and not
have it be a “feast of YHWH??... and not say we are doing Chanukah??
My greatest concern is - YHWH did not tell us to
celebrate it.
and i don’t want to be in disobedience.
Is it possible that the Jewish end of the spectrum
really is as messed up as the Christian end??
It is hard to be faced with more change...
But what if we are learning about this... so we
can learn to be more obedient and understand YHWH’s Truth...?
That is what we ask for.... FRESH BREAD.
I don’t want stale bread!
I invite you all to ponder these things and seek
YHWH diligently.
What i know i must do - is serve HIM as best as i
understand.
I want FRESH BREAD.
AMEIN.
