Prophet Pearls #3 – Lech Lecha (Isaiah 40:27-41:16)

In this episode of Prophet Pearls, Lech Lecha (Isaiah 40:27-41:16), as Isaiah spoke consolation to invaded Israel, Nehemia Gordon and Keith Johnson console the listener with the deep wells contained in the original Hebrew—nuances that bring even greater comfort from the promises of the Creator. Word studies include: “renewed” strength, “first and last,” “righteousness,” and “eternity”—with the significance of its second root. Gordon and Johnson consider the options concerning “who stirred up from the east” and discuss how the ancient Israelites knew who was speaking in this Portion’s fast-paced dialog. Gordon concludes with the comforting news implied by the winnowing process—not all nations will be carried away.

"For I, Yehovah your God, will hold your right hand, saying to you, Fear not, I will help you.'" (Isaiah 41:13)

I look forward to reading your comments!

Download Prophet Pearls Lech Lecha Transcript

Prophet Pearls #3 – Lech Lecha (Isaiah 40:27-41:16)

You are listening to Prophet Pearls with Nehemia Gordon and Keith Johnson. Thank you for supporting Nehemia Gordon's Makor Hebrew Foundation. Learn more at NehemiasWall.com.

Keith: Shalom chaverim shelanu! That means “peace to you our friends” in Hebrew. This is Keith Johnson with Nehemia Gordon ready to take another peek into the prophets to see if we can find some pearls to share with you. Shalom chaver sheli! Atta muchan? Are you ready?

Nehemia: Ani mochan! Shalom! I’m ready

Keith: I love it, Nehemia.

Nehemia: Let’s do it.

Keith: Here we are with Prophet Pearls, folks. We are so excited to let you know that we are at number 3. Really interesting, before we get started, Nehemia, there has been a little bit - I wouldn’t say a lot - very little, I had a couple of people call me with a little confusion. They said that they had listened to Prophet Pearls, but it sounded like it was old, and here we’re doing something new. Can you clarify the situation for us?

Nehemia: Yeah, so two years ago we actually recorded… four years ago we did Torah Pearls, and then at the end of that we decided - actually two years ago - to do Prophet Pearls, and we did two episodes, and I was going through some things in my life at the time - I was engaged in some serious spiritual warfare, and I ended up saying, “Look I just I have to take a break from ministry.” And honestly, I was done with ministry. I was quitting. I ran off to China, and so after only two episodes it stopped. What we did in the last two weeks is we essentially redid those two episodes.

Keith: So we got the fresh brand new Prophet Pearls.

Nehemia: So this is one that I’ve never done before. What… we’re doing number 3.

Keith: Okay, okay. So I’ve got to confess something. So we actually tried two years ago.

Nehemia: You tried it without me?

Keith: No! Well, if you remember - you probably don’t remember, you were a little... you were... well, let’s just say that…

Nehemia: Dealing with some issues.

Keith: We had already committed to doing it, so we did it and never put it up because it just wasn’t the same without you, and I’ve got to be honest with you, really, what I have to say is you bring such a perspective that people don’t get. I think I bring a perspective that people don’t get, and so trying to do it without you - it fell flat.

Nehemia: So what you’re really saying is doing Torah Pearls or Prophet Pearls without you and… each of us…

Keith: Well the spirit of it, trying to find common ground.

Nehemia: It’s not really Torah Pearls or Prophet Pearls without us.

Keith: That’s why we call it the original Torah Pearls, and of course we call this Prophet Pearls. So we only had two of those recordings that some people had actually heard, but now we are bringing this up, so if you haven’t had a chance to hear the first two, those are available at nehemiaswall.com and BFAinternational.com. And now this is the third one, so I’m very excited.

Nehemia: Those are the first two of the renewed Prophet Pearls.

Keith: Absolutely. So I want to say this: we have awesome friends who have been so gracious. We just got off tour. They actually sponsored this episode, and so throughout the Prophet Pearls, every once in a while, unfortunately it can’t be each time, but every once in a while we’ll share some people that as a result of the tour - we went on the Iron Dome Tour, and people were so excited about us doing Prophet Pearls.

We have some people we call Prophet Pearls Partners. And so these folks - actually James, and Jen, Joe, and Alyssa they’re from Colorado, and what I want to do is I want to share just a little bit about them. They actually agreed to be our Prophet Pearls Partners, but they actually do something really interesting. They’re involved in a ministry, actually in North Galilee, and they sent me a note, and here’s the note. It says that they had found out about a ministry called Revival in Galilee through a friend who moved there to live with a family and work alongside them by seeing posts on Facebook, photos, videos, etc. They were really inspired at the true simple expression of love and faith they take to the people. They hadn’t seen anything like it, and they wanted to make sure that we knew and that the listeners knew that the ministry that they’re involved in is a ministry of diversity of people from different backgrounds that have come together. And so our friends, our four friends who came together to be Prophet Pearls Partners, we want to give a shout-out to them, and of course to the ministry there called Revival in Galilee. And you should actually check on that, Nehemia - they do some work with the IDF.

Nehemia: Look, I’ll be honest. As a Jew, whenever I hear about a ministry in Israel I’m a little skeptical. [laughter] Are these Jews for Jesus or something? And so I looked into it, and it sounds like they’re just people who like to help poor people in Israel. They buy deodorant and soap for soldiers so some of the poor soldiers in Israel who’s basic needs aren’t provided by the army, they literally can’t afford it, and these guys have stepped in, so it’s actually…

Keith: So I will say that I had agreed to share that because it really moved me. I love anytime that I get a chance to hear about people that are taking care of the needs of people that are in need. I have a huge announcement, Nehemia before we get started. I wanted to say this right now. This is actually the second year that I’ve done this - very successful last year, we think we’re going to be even more successful this year. I want you to know that as a founder of BFAinternational.com, Halloween is canceled.

[laughter]

Nehemia: Are you telling me?

Keith: No, listen. Listen.

Nehemia: By whose authority do you cancel Halloween?

Keith: Just a second. We’ve had a meeting. We’ve decided. It’s been canceled, and here’s why I’m canceling it, folks. Nehemia and I are living together and he’s actually in the United States.

Nehemia: Somebody say, “separate rooms.”

Keith: Separate rooms - he lives in my house. But here’s what I’m a little concerned about; we’ve got a long-term battle about Halloween…

Nehemia: Not with me. I’ve never celebrated Halloween in my life.

Keith: Okay, but you’re here during Halloween so I just want you to know there’s no Halloween anywhere in the United States and especially here. The lights are out…

Nehemia: Wait, can I make a confession now? Okay. So last year I was in China, and I was a high school teacher teaching English, and they came to me, I mean the people who work in the school, and they said “We want you to teach the students about holidays from your culture” and I actually did teach about Sukot and Passover, but they specifically wanted me to teach them about Halloween.

Keith: You’re kidding me.

Nehemia: I’m not kidding you.

Keith: Did you teach them?

Nehemia: I taught them in my own way [laughing].

Keith: Don’t tell me you dressed up, Nehemia. Tell me you didn’t dress up.

Nehemia: Well, no I didn’t dress up, although I did confiscate like a like a hair rag for one of the girls.

Keith: And now let us begin.

[laughter]

Nehemia: That was just that she wouldn’t bring contraband to class anymore. No, but it was really interesting I taught them about that, and they were really perplexed. So, like you knock on the door and you get candy and you threaten to, like, harm people? I mean I’ve never celebrated Halloween, so I don’t really know. Them asking me to explain Halloween is like somebody asking me to explain Kwanzaa. Like I really have no clue what it’s about. I can look it up on the Internet, but I don’t really know. So what is this thing about Halloween?

Keith: Actually, I’ll tell you what…

Nehemia: Isn’t this a pagan holiday?

Keith: It’s not just a pagan holiday, it goes further than that. And I think what’s… really sort of what bothers me about it is our society is becoming more and more and more and more and more leaning towards promoting, and here’s the thing that probably bothers me the most - there are many United Methodist churches around the country that will celebrate Halloween with everyone else on the night of Halloween, and so that’s a struggle for me. I’d like to get to the Scripture if that’s alright with you.

Nehemia: Okay, let’s do it.

Keith: Let’s do it. Let’s open up Isaiah chapter 40, starting in verse 27, and I hope that people have at least two… maybe you’ve got at least two versions open. What we’re going to be doing, I’ve got about two, three books here, Nehemia’s got the special high-tech computer that allows us to quickly, on the fly find information. I called it a little bit of inspiration and even some revelation as a result of getting a look at the text and bringing this forward.

We’re looking at Isaiah 40:27. I’m reading out of the NIV, “Why do you say, O Jacob, and complain, O Israel, My way is hidden from the LORD.” And of course in my NIV it capitalizes LORD as a way for you to know that behind that capitalization of that L-O-R-D is the four letter name of God, Yud Hey Vav Hey, pronounced Yehovah according to the oldest most complete manuscripts that we’ve been able to interact with.

So, “My way is hidden from Yehovah, my cause is disregarded by my God. Do you not know? Have you not heard that He is the everlasting God? Yehovah is the everlasting God, the Creator of the ends of the earth. He will not grow tired or weary, and His understanding no one can fathom. He gives strength to the weary, increases the power of the weak, even youth grow tired and weary and young men stumble and fall; but those who hope in Yehovah will renew their strength. They will soar on wings like eagles; they will run and not grow weary, walk and not be faint.” I’m going to let you talk about it but first I’ve got to tell you something, Nehemia.

Nehemia: What’s that?

Keith: When I was at Trinity Evangelical Divinity School, you could pick a passage and do an in-depth paper about a passage. It could be no more than four or five verses, and this was the actual one… I was there for three and a half years, but this was one of the papers I did, and I am so excited to talk to you about this passage because it really, really blessed me. It gave me a picture of who He is and actually gave me a little picture of who I am. So I want to take a little bit of a swipe at this and see if you can bring some insight both from the Hebrew language and also personally. I guess the point was that the people… there was a complaining that was going on… “Where is God?” What was the context?

Let’s back up a little bit. We talk about history, language, and context. The context here, when I was in school, there was some interaction we had about some scholars who believed that there were two Isaiahs. Isaiah 1 and Isaiah 2.

Nehemia: Some say there are three Isaiahs.

Keith: I did hear about that. Actually did.

Nehemia: One of my professors at Hebrew University is one of the great champions of what he called “Duetero-Isaiah and Trito-Isaiah.” Two and three.

Keith: Wow, isn’t this amazing? At Hebrew University.

Nehemia: Where are the fourth and fifth, that’s what I want to know? [laughing]

Keith: So we’re right past the section that they’re concerned about. 39 and then 40 going forward. So a little bit of context - can you remind us again about the sections of Isaiah?

Nehemia: Right. So Isaiah was this prophet who began sometime around 750 BC and he saw the destruction of the Northern Kingdom in 732 and 721, and then the invasion of the southern kingdom, which almost was destroyed. Part of it was overrun, and so Isaiah’s message began as this message of rebuke. “Repent because you sinned.” And that’s really the first section of Isaiah, and then there’s a second section of Isaiah, and there really are three sections.

The second section of Isaiah is what’s called… there’s the warning and then there’s the punishment. He has a long section describing the punishment that will come, and the third section is what’s called in Jewish sources “The Nechama”- “The Consolation.” And those three sections - rebuke, or warning, punishment and consolation. And the consolation is… or really the comfort, is literally from my name - Nehemia, the nechama. The comfort is telling Israel, “You sinned, you were punished, there will be a reconciliation with God and there will be comfort; there is hope for you.”

Keith: Amen.

Nehemia: And then chapters 40 through 66 are the section which really we could call “The Hope.” The traditional Jewish sources call it “The Consolation”, “The Comfort”, but it’s really “The Hope.”

Keith: Well, here’s the deal - we’re going to do this, I want to jump right into this. You know we went… first time we did it, second time I came up the river, third time is yours. In this verse, Nehemia, it says, “Do you not know? Have you not heard that Yehovah is the everlasting God?” That’s what says in NIV.

Nehemia: The everlasting God? Okay.

Keith: Yeah. Tell me what it says in the Hebrew.

Nehemia: So in Hebrew it says “Elohei olam”, and the Hebrew word for the week is “olam.” Ayin Vav Lamed Mem.

Keith: Say that again slowly for the folks who don’t know.

Nehemia: I’m going to put it up on the website. Eim Vav Lamed Mem, and that’s the three-letter root. Every word in Hebrew has a three-letter root. The three letters are Ein Lamed Mem. That word, olam, means literally “the universe”, and when you say in Hebrew something is olam, eternal, what you’re really saying is that it exists for the duration of the universe. Now, God is beyond the universe, but we don’t even have a way of comprehending that.

Keith: Just before you go further, can you tell them what the grammatical structure is of olam? What is it?

Nehemia: Olam is a noun.

Keith: Awesome, folks. It’s a noun. Now he’s saying, “It’s obvious it’s a noun.”

Nehemia: Person, place or thing. I remember that from Sesame Street.

Keith: One of the things that we’re trying to do, one of the things that I’m really trying to do, and which I really learned as a result of our study together, is to not assume that people know, but to go to the very basics. And the basics are - and I say this sincerely - is that those letters, those are the Hebrew letters, there are 22 of them plus the final forms, basically there are 22 letters. He showed what the four letters are, but from a three-letter root. Now, just by you sharing that Nehemia, we’re going to build people’s ability to interact with this language that God chose to share this word in, and that’s through the number of things that we’re doing, we’ll talk more about that later. But you’ve shared that word, olam. Talk a little bit about that.

Nehemia: So what he’s saying here is, “Did you not know and have you not heard?” “Elohei olam Yehovah”, Yehovah is an eternal God, or God of the universe. Some people hear that and they say, “Wait a minute, the father is not the God of this world, there’s some other entity that’s the God of this world.” But no, in the Tanakh, in the Hebrew Scriptures, Yehovah, the Father, the Creator of the universe - He is the God of this world. He’s the God of everything, and when it says he’s Elohei olam, the God of the world, the God of eternity, what it’s really saying is, “You think there are things He doesn’t know? You think there are things He doesn’t see? You think He gets tired? That’s not how it is.”

And then he immediately starts to say, “He is the one who created the ends of the earth”, meaning He’s the God of eternity, literally the God of the world, and He created that very same world. Now there’s another thing here which is a very subtle little play on words, which you’ll appreciate because you talked about something like this in your book His Hallowed Name Revealed Again. So there’s a second meaning of the root Ein Lamed Mem, and what’s that second meaning of the root Ein Lamed Mem that you talked about…?

Keith: That which is concealed? [laughing]

Nehemia: Exactly. And so he starts off saying, “The people think my way is hidden from Yehovah,” but He’s the God of the universe, which is revealed in eternal. He’s not the hidden God. He’s the opposite.

Keith: That is amazing. That’s amazing.

Nehemia: He is the God of eternity, and you will see Him interact with history. He will interact with this universe. And so even though you think your way is hidden from Him and He doesn’t know what’s going on with you and doesn’t care about you, He cares about you personally and individually.

Keith: Now how do we know that? This is what’s really cool about the passage. It says, “He doesn’t get tired or weary, His understanding no one can fathom. He gives strength to the weary,” so now here’s the connection, “and increases the power of the weak. Even young men, youths, grow tired and weary, and young men stumble and fall.” Now for my verse that I was so excited about at the school, it says “But those who hope in Yud Hey Vav Hey, Yehovah, will renew their strength.”

Now Nehemia, you don’t know about this because you’ve been over in Israel for a long time. We in the United States who are listening know about something called the Craftsman tool…

Nehemia: What on earth is that? What?

Keith: And the Craftsman tool, you would go to Sears, you’d buy like a wrench and it would be a Craftsman, and if you were working on something and it broke, you could literally take it back to Sears and exchange it for a new one. Now, for the Hebrew language, tell us about the word “to renew their strength.” Tell us about the word, about renewal.

Nehemia: So there’s this phrase, and it’s really interesting because it only appears twice in the entire Tanakh, and it’s in this verse and the next verse, and that’s not a coincidence. The two passages are tied by this phrase. It says, “Those who hope in Yehovah,” literally, “will change strength.” And the image there, it’s translated as “renew strength”, but really the image there is “my battery has run out, I’m changing the battery.”

Keith: Do you know anything about this? Have you ever experienced it?

Nehemia: This to me is powerful because two years ago we did this passage - not this passage, but we started doing the Prophet Pearls…

Keith: We quit before we got here to this one.

Nehemia: And we quit before we got here, and it’s appropriate, because now that I can go forward and deal with this, I have replaced my strength. I’ve taken out the broken battery and said, “Yehovah, I need more strength.” And after two years, He has given it to me, and maybe for such a time as this I didn’t get to this passage, but really what a powerful God we have. Isn’t it amazing?

So two years ago, after we did the second episode, there were some things going on in my life and I really was done. And I’ll be honest with you - can I be totally honest? I wasn’t just done with ministry, I was done with the world. I ran off to China and… and now after two years my strength is renewed, and here it is. Those who hope in Yehovah, they will replace, they will change their strength. He’s going to give them new strength.

Keith: It’s almost like this… it’s almost like instead of you having to go to the store because of hope in Him, He just comes to your house and says, “Let Me exchange that for you. Let Me take what you don’t have and give it to you.” Now, here’s the next part that really caught my attention way back some years ago 1991, 1992, it says, you would expect it to be the other way, “They will soar on wings like eagles, they will run and not grow weary, they will walk and not be faint.” It almost seems anticlimactic. However, when you look at the context of what’s happening, who is Isaiah speaking to? Who is hearing this message when he speaks? Where are these people when they get this message? What’s the context?

Nehemia: That’s a really good question. [laughing]

Keith: That’s a great question, that’s a great question.

Nehemia: So what is the answer? And the answer is we don’t entirely know. In other words, is this something for Isaiah’s time or is this something for a future time? If it’s for his Isaiah’s time, that’s a no brainer. The issue here is they’ve been invaded by the Assyrians. The Assyrians have surrounded Jerusalem. There’s this great Assyrian inscription from the Emperor of Assyria where he talks about how he has Hezekiah shut up like a bird in a cage, meaning he’s besieged Jerusalem and he’s shut up, he can’t get out. And so the image here is, “we’re done.” I mean we’re surrounded by the superpower. The superpower of the day was Assyria. How on earth could this little tiny kingdom, this little country, one of the smallest countries in the world at the time and to this very day, surrounded by this mega superpower which had swept through the entire Middle East, conquered everything in its path, and this one lone prophet is telling the people “Do not give up. Trust in Yehovah, have hope.”

Keith: I want to know if I can venture out and say that Isaiah was speaking for then, Isaiah was speaking for now…

Nehemia: Amen.

Keith …and Isaiah is speaking for the future, and it wasn’t Isaiah - The everlasting God, the olam.

Nehemia: The Elohei olam, the God of eternity.

Keith: What is his name? Haya Hoveh Ihiyeh. I was, I am, I shall be. He was like saying, “Look Isaiah this is then…” and I mean isn’t that the part that’s so powerful?

Nehemia: And for those who aren’t aware, that’s actually the meaning of the Father’s name Yehovah. Haya - He was. Hoveh - He is. Ihiyeh - He will be.

Keith: And there’s a grammatical base for that which I love when we talk about, but let’s move on. Here we go, Nehemia. We’re about to get into a section where I think you’re going to probably need the napkin for a little dabbing of the sweat. I’m actually excited about it.

Nehemia: Can I just say one last thing about this phrase? The end of 31 says, “They will run and they will not be tired, they will go and they will not be weary,” and it’s my understanding, Keith, that you actually did some kind of running earlier in your…

Keith: What do you mean some kind of running, Nehemia?

Nehemia: No, you were some kind of little runner in high school or college or something?

Keith: What do you mean? In college, I was a state champion. I went to the University of Minnesota. Go Gophers! I was in the Big Ten finals of the 300 meters.

Nehemia: No idea what that means. Is that a big thing?

Keith: What are you talking about? It’s one of the toughest races in all…

Nehemia: So you were a runner, right?

Keith: I was a sprinter and a hurdler, and yeah, absolutely.

Nehemia: So from your experience as a runner, I have only read about this because, as you may have guessed, I’ve never really been an athlete.

Keith: I would have never guessed it.

[laghter]

Nehemia: So anyway, so it’s my understanding from what I’ve read that runners will, they’ll carb up the day before a race.

Keith: Yep. In fact we had a training table back in this time when we go travel to a city. We’ve got a big race the next day. What would they have? Pasta, pancakes, everything you can imagine. All the carbs you want.

Nehemia: So you get all these carbs, and what I understand now after reading books, is that it builds up your glycogen stores, and then you run and you run and you run. Now, in your case you were a sprinter, so it’s a different issue, but if you’re a marathon runner or a long distance runner, it’s my understanding after about two hours people - even the top athletes in the world they’ll what’s called “hit a wall.” Isn’t that right? Or some people call bonking.

Keith: Absolutely.

Nehemia: And what happens is – again, from the books I’ve read - and there’s a great scholar out there named Professor Tim Noakes who’s done some amazing work on this. He actually wrote the book on running, and he wrote in the 80s about how you need a carb up, and with some new research he actually went on television and took those pages from his book and ripped them out. Now, what he found out is that when you carb up, what you’re doing is you’re building up your glucose and your glycogen stores and you have about twenty five hundred calories you can burn and you’re maximizing that. But if you become keto-adapted - look that up - keto-adapted, then you have as much as 40,000 calories, and you’ll be like the man in this verse, where you’ll run and you will not be tired, you’ll walk and you will not be weary. There are these guys from Kenya who are from this one particular group, who are like some of the best runners in the world, and they are naturally in their culture, kedo-adapted, without really understanding the science. They know what to do, and these guys can run a whole marathon without drinking anything but water… actually, one guy does it without drinking any water, and without sucking on those sugar gels they have now for the runners.

And so when I read this I get so excited that I went through this difficult time and I could have given up. And now, I’ll be honest with you, I was close to giving up but I kept walking and it was my hope in Yehovah, and He wouldn’t let me stop running. I was able to keep walking, and even though I needed a break, I was able to push through and push through that zone. Hallelujah!

Keith: Would you let me get a little grace on this, because I think lots of people listening are on their spiritual journey. Some of them are early in the process, where they’re soaring.

Nehemia: They’re soaring like eagles.

Keith: Some of them are in the run phase, where they’re like, “Hey, I got all this new information.” But I know there’s a lot - I’ve got some friends out there I can call them the two witnesses, they’re in the walk phase. They’ve been walking for a long, long, long time, and I’m getting so old I’m starting to say, “Now, I’ve been walking for a long time.” And it’s really during the walking - now I can understand why that’s the climax of the passage. It’s the long walk where you’ve got to have that time where you stop. So I want to shout-out to all you guys that are soaring, those that are running, but especially for those that are walking. Keep on walking while we keep on reading.

Nehemia: Amen.

Keith: All right, here we go. Isaiah 41. Now I’m going to get you a Kleenex. Folks, we’re together, Nehemia and I are together. In fact, it’s really been interesting because we’re now living in the same house, being able to do this. We’ve got this setup - you guys, its really kind of funny. We’re in this setup…

Nehemia: It’s not funny.

[laugher]

Keith: In fact, I’m just going to confess right now. We had a crisis. The crisis is I’m operating on this old little iPad that’s cracked, and we tried to do this program earlier today, and it didn’t record. And so what I did…

Nehemia: We did the whole program! [laughter] And I said, “Okay now can I download the file?” and there’s no file. He’s got a four-year-old IPad 2 in the 21st century.

Keith: Yeah, it’s cracked. But what I did is, I went downstairs and I cooked you a steak. Did I not? A ketogenic-friendly steak so that we could keep on working. [laughing]

Nehemia: Now we’ve got the fuel.

Keith: Now we’ve got the fuel. Here we go. Isaiah 41, “Be silent before Me, you islands! Let the nations renew their strength,” and again those words just jump right off the page.

Nehemia: Switch out the power.

Keith. Switch out the power. “Let them come forward and speak; let us meet together at the place of judgment.” Now, Nehemia, what we’re going to do is we’re going to go to a section and I’m going to go ahead and read this section and hold off and come back to the beginning. Can I just go to the section? Read 1 through 4 or 1 through 7?

Nehemia: Let’s do 1 through 7, because in the Hebrew text that’s one single prophetic unit.

Keith: Okay here we go for one prophetic unit. I’m sorry, it’s 2 through 7, I made a mistake.

Nehemia: Well, in the Hebrew it’s 1 through 7.

Keith: You meant to say that you’ve got a 1 and you’ve got a 2…

Nehemia: No, no, you’ve got a 1 too.

Keith: You’ve got a 2? I read here, “Be silent…” That’s verse 1.

Nehemia: Yeah.

Keith: So this is verse 2.

Nehemia: Right.

Keith: And what you’re saying is…?

Nehemia: 1 through 7 in the Hebrew is one prophetic unit.

Keith: Okay. Here we go.

Nehemia: And the point is, the chapters don’t represent the prophecies of Isaiah. In the Hebrew texts there are these spaces and they indicate what the parameters of some of the prophetic units are.

Keith: Okay. Here we go, folks.

Nehemia: And by that, I mean he stood in a public square and he preached verses 1 through 7, on one particular day, verse 8 might have been a different year.

Keith: Last week if you missed it. Here we go. “Who has stirred up one from the east, calling Him in righteousness to his service”, it’s hard for me to keep reading. “He hands nations over to him and subdued kings before him. He turns them to dust with his sword, to windblown chaff with his bow. He pursues them and moves on unscathed, by a path his feet have not traveled before. Who has done this and carried it through, calling forth the generations from the beginning? I, Yehovah, the LORD, with the first of them and with the last I am He.” We’ll come back to that. “The islands have seen it and fear, the ends of the earth tremble they approach and come forward. Each helps the other and says to his brother, ‘Be strong.’” We can come back to that.

“The craftsman encourages the goldsmith and he who smooths with the hammer spurs a man who strikes the anvil, he says of the welding, ‘It is good.’ He nails down the idol so it will not topple.” You just took a sip of coffee so I’m going to get you before you get to speak, because, Nehemia, I’m going to put you on the spot. Are you ready? I want to put you on the spot and I want to put even those ancient Jewish commentators on the spot.

When we’re reading this, he says, “Who has stirred up one from the east calling him in righteousness to his service.” Two weeks ago, we talked about the eved. Last week you talked about David, the promise to David, personally to David and to his seed. You and I agreed.

Nehemia: Not just personally, the promise to David then being a symbol for all of Israel.

Keith: Now for this one, “Who has stirred up one from the east calling him in righteous to a service.” So what do your people, like you say “From your people, Keith,” how about your people? What do they do about this?

Nehemia: Well, let me let me start with when I read this verse in preparation for this recording, I read verses 1 through 7. I stopped and I said, “Okay, I’ve read this many times before, but if I’m totally honest I have no idea what this is talking about.” And I said, “Okay, since I don’t know what this is talking about, it’s not obvious. Now I need to go look at the commentaries and see how this has traditionally and historically been interpreted.” And I should point out that in Hebrew it’s actually far more complicated than it is in the English. [laughter] There are things in English that you can just, “Oh, well we know what that says.”

Keith: Trust him on that, friends.

Nehemia: We could actually spend the whole time, just like…

Keith: We could make this whole…

Nehemia: Really just in one or two words here, we could say, “Okay, well you translated that so simply and easily, but it not really clear what would any of it means. Certainly in the first few verses.” And so the question became, “Okay, how has this been historically interpreted?” I looked in the earliest Jewish sources, and what I found was that in the earliest Jewish sources this was interpreted as referring to Abraham, when it says, “Who has he aroused in the east,” literally “woken up.” Tzedek yekarehu leraglo. He had literally it says, “Righteousness he has called him to his feet.” And the interesting thing is I was looking at one of the modern day Hebrew linguists, one of the top experts in the Hebrew language, a professor in Israel named David Yellen, who has now passed away, and he was actually saying that this word tzedek - righteousness, in the context of Isaiah, and particularly these chapters of Isaiah in this part of the section, that the word righteousness very often could be translated as “salvation.” And he actually shows how there are places in the Tanakh, in this section of Isaiah in particular, where there’s a parallel between tzedek, salvation, or tzdaka - righteousness, or excuse me tzedek- righteous or righteousness, and the word Yeshua - salvation. And so we really can translate this, “Who is he woken up from the east. He calls him in salvation,” or “for salvation to his foot.” Wow. So who is God calling to stand next to him at his foot?

And so in the ancient Jewish sources that I looked at, they were pretty much unanimous that this is referring to Abraham. Now, why Abraham being called from the east? Well, he was from Aramia. He was Ur Kasdim.

Keith: And verse 8 says it…

Nehemia: Right, except that verse 8 is a different prophecy, meaning in Hebrew no one really disputes that verse 8 is a different prophecy, and you could say “Okay, well they’re related prophecies, that’s why they’re next to each other”.

Keith: Well, if I need it to fit… you could force to fit.

Nehemia: Okay, for sure. So the question I had when I was reading this, “Okay, are there any other explanations of this?” Because I can’t make head or tail of it. It’s saying he’s chasing people, and they’re saying, “Okay, that’s the four kings.” And I’m like, “Really? This is Abraham?” Like, if I only… if I stood in the public square in Jerusalem and heard Isaiah prophesying just verses 1 through 7, I don’t believe I’d ever come up with this being Abraham. I just can’t believe it. Really? Abraham… like, where did you get an Abraham in this passage?

In verse 8, sure he’s mentioned by name, and that’s the reason that this was chosen for the portion that parallels the Torah portion. Probably, the interpretation of this being Abraham is why they chose it, because there it’s Abraham being called from the east, and here it’s saying… But that was in a relatively late period, meaning long after Moses and long after Isaiah.

So in the time of Isaiah, what did this mean? Here’s the interesting thing - in later periods, in the 12th and 13th centuries there were these other rabbis who went back and said, “Okay, that’s what our ancient sages said,” the ancient Rabbis of the Talmud. But what does it really mean? And one of those rabbis suggested that, “Well, of course it’s not Abraham, because Abraham’s not even mentioned in the verse, and you really have to stretch it - he’s chasing people, and Abraham at one time in his life did that. And then we have here about his sword will be like… where is this? “His sword will be like dust,” or “will turn them into dust.” Like, that’s Abraham? Come on!

And so one explanation from the later rabbis is that this actually refers to Cyrus, which makes a lot of sense because in Isaiah 45 he mentioned Cyrus by name, and Cyrus is from the east. Cyrus was from Persia. The east relative to Israel. Other rabbis said, “Well, no wait a minute. Cyrus was later, and Cyrus is mentioned by name, it’s one thing, but what about the fact that in the period of Isaiah we have no good candidates that Isaiah’s people would’ve been interested in.” The Assyrians, who were right there at the doorstep, and the Babylonians, who came a few years later, who Isaiah by name predicted their coming, and they were only a few years off.

So here we have four candidates. Think about it. We’ve got Abraham, Cyrus, the Assyrians, and the Babylonians. What really surprised me as I was looking in these sources, and I admit I didn’t look in every source, but in the many sources I did look in I didn’t find a single Jewish source that suggested this is referring to the future king Messiah from the line of David. That’s surprising.

Keith: I was going to say we have five choices. That’s my choice. My choice is that we’re talking about the king, the Messiah, the one who clearly, if you’re speaking of the future, which both you and I are waiting for… In other words, when that happens, that he comes and does that, we could read this verse in that situation and they would be pointing to him and saying, “That’s what he does.”

Nehemia: Well here’s what I can say with confidence. So if you go back to verse 7 at the end, we’ve got these idolaters who are building their idols, and they’re putting nails so they don’t fall over, and these are the enemies that this person from the east is fighting, which again tells me, really? Abraham is fighting idolators? I guess, but idolaters didn’t really fit into the story. I mean, they weren’t a major part of the story. It was that his nephew was kidnapped, that was the issue there, not idols.

Keith: So no conspiracy though, Nehemia. Question: So the ancient Jewish commentators, many of them, a majority of them, would not see this as a Messianic passage. However, let me ask you a question. After all of that study, after all that looking, if I said to you, “I think there’s a fifth option and you say there’s a fifth option,” I say to you, “I’m going to stand on this as a Messianic picture.” Would you argue it?

Nehemia: Here’s what’s a little surprising to me - that there aren’t more ancient Jewish sources that did say that, because our image of the Messiah in Jewish history, and I think this is borne out from the prophets, is that we have this figure who is a warrior, who will bring world peace…

Keith: Come on with that.

Nehemia: …who will defeat the enemies of Israel, and of course there are those who will say that’s the second time, but Jews say it’s the first time. So the point is, why didn’t they say that? And I don’t have an answer to that, why they didn’t say that. But here it really made me think about an issue which I’d like to bring up, which is that a lot of times I’ll hear these people who engage in what’s called apologetics on the Christian side and on the Jewish side…

Keith: That sounds like a nice term for apologists.

Nehemia: Well, apologetics is actually just old Greek for defense, and the Jews prefer to use the term anti-missionary or counter-missionary, and their position is, “We’re not defending ourselves, but we are countering the missionary attempts to convert Jews.”

And I’ve seen these debates between very learned people who will have these apologetic missionary, counter-missionary debates, and I walk away from these things and I say, “I just don’t think this is the way to find the truth.” Because if I’m trying to find the truth, I can make a really good… I’m a clever guy, I can make really good arguments, I can make some wonderful arguments.

Keith: Are you saying if you’re trying to find the truth are you saying…?

Nehemia: I’m sorry - if I’m trying to win a debate.

Keith: Now you’re talking.

Nehemia: So let me correct that. If I’m trying to win a debate, I can say some really clever things, make some really good arguments, but then when you walk away from the debate you have… It’s like there’s that scene in the New Testament where they said to Yeshua, “That’s what you told them, what do you tell us?” [laughing] And there are actually stories like that with the rabbis where the rabbi would give an answer and his disciples would take him aside afterwards and say, “Yeah, that was what you told those guys, but what’s the real answer? We know that’s not the real answer. That was great for the debate, for the polemic, for the apologetic, but what’s the truth?”

And that’s what I want to challenge people, that I feel challenged myself. I don’t want to win a debate. I want to know what the truth of the Creator of the universe is. And if that means that I have to consider other perspectives and other possibilities, I don’t have a problem with that. And I look at this passage and I say, “Why wouldn’t we say this is referring to the Messiah?” Whoever the Messiah is, based on other passages, he fits the bill right here.

Keith: Well, I’ll tell you what. Here I thought you were going to have to get out clean. I was about to put you in a corner, and I was just I was going to push, push, push. Instead, you just brought it out. It’s like, “Listen, what’s the issue?” The issue of winning the debate versus finding the truth - they’re not always the same, are they?

Nehemia: And I could give you a long list of examples, but I won’t at the moment. But really, if you look at a lot of these arguments from the Christians and in the apologetics and the Jewish counter-missionaries, they say things where I know their disciples take them aside afterwards and they say, “Rabbi, that’s what you told the Christians, but what does it really mean? Come on. I know that’s not what it means.”

Keith: That’s powerful, Nehemia. Can I continue?

Nehemia: Bevakasha.

Keith: That’s very powerful. So we have that section there and he says: “The island… ” No, actually we want to go to verse 4 because I think this...

Nehemia: I love verse 4. [laughing]

Keith: “Who has done this and carried it through, calling forth the generations from the beginning? I, Yehovah, the LORD with the first of them and with the last, I am He.”

Nehemia: This is another thing that suggests that this isn’t Abraham, because the whole point of his prophecy here, and this is a theme throughout Isaiah, is, “How do you know I’m the real God? Because I foretold the future.” That’s Isaiah 43-66 this section of the consolations is predictions of the future where there’s going to be some kind of redemption. There was a redemption with Cyrus. There’ll be a final redemption, both the new heavens and the new earth in Isaiah 66.

So the point is there will be this final redemption, and I think that’s what this is talking about. There’s going to be some end times war that’s described in other places. The Messiah is going to get involved. The king from the line of David who’s going to be called awoken from the east. I don’t know what that means - “He’s going to be awoken from the east.” But it’s what it says in verse 2, and he’s going to come with salvation and he’s going to defeat and subjugate these kings and Yehovah is now saying, “When that happens, you’re going to know that I am the true God because I told you about it 3,000 years ago.”

Keith: [laughing] I think that’s amazing. That’s amazing. So here’s the deal, Nehemia. We’ve got all this left to do, and we’ve only got… We don’t have a boatload of time. What we did with the original Torah Pearls, and sometimes we’d go two hours…

Nehemia: Actually, one episode I think we recorded three hours, and after editing it was two and a half.

Keith: So let’s do this. Can we can I keep reading, and then… keep reading and we’re going to get just about the halfway part.

Nehemia: We know, but we’ve got to talk about the end of verse 4.

Keith: Oh yeah, absolutely.

Nehemia: Where he says, “I am He, the first and with the last I am He.” What’s interesting is, “with the last ones” is what it literally says achronim - in the plural. So what do you think of when you hear that verse? Give it to me straight.

Keith: When he says, “I am He”?

Nehemia: Well, when He says, “I am the first and I’m with the last.” What’s the immediate association you have?

Keith: My first thought… I’m just going to tell you… My first thought now is, because of this issue of knowing His name is, “He was, He is, and He shall be,” so that He fulfills the past, the present, and the future. If you’d asked me that ten years ago, I would have probably taken you maybe to Revelation or something.

Nehemia: Before you run ahead to Revelation, just again for the people who haven’t read your book His Hallowed Name Revealed Again, and haven’t read Shattering the Conspiracy of Silence, my book, and don’t know any Hebrew, the name Yehovah actually grammatically means Haya, Hoveh, Ihiyeh – “He was, He is, who He who will be,” and to the Jews out there who have gone to synagogue, I’m not telling you anything new; everybody knows that in the Jewish world. But for those who don’t, that’s actually the meaning of the name - Haya Hoveh, Ihiyeh - of the name Yehovah. It’s a combination of three forms of the Hebrew verb, and you’re right, when you hear, “I am the first and I am with the last,” that is… and we hear He’s the eternal God, Elohey Olam, there’s definitely that association between His name and this description of Him.

Keith: Yeah.

Nehemia: Now there are two other passages in Isaiah that this also brings to mind for me. One is Isaiah 44:6. It says, “Thus says Yehovah, the king of Israel and its redeemer, Yehovah of hosts, ‘Ani rishon va’ani acharon,’ I am the first and I am the last. In our verse it said, “I’m with the last” here He is saying, “I am the last.”

Umibiladay ein Elohim,” and besides me there is no God. Now, in the context of Isaiah 44, He’s speaking, I believe, to the Zoroastrians. They were people who believed there were two gods and lots of demigods, lower gods, and He’s saying to them, “Guess what? I’m the only game in town. There are no other gods. I’m the first one, I’m the last one.” And that actually has to with Zoroastrian theology, let’s not get into that now.

Isaiah 48:12: “Hear me Jacob and Israel who is called by Me. I am He. I am the first and even I am the last.” So again, I’m the first and I’m the last. So here we have three passages, two where it’s really clear Yehovah is the first and the last. And then of course you said Revelation. I think we should look at that because a lot of our listeners may be thinking of that. What does it say there? So… pull it up on my little Bible here in the computer.

Keith: Revelation - so what’s interesting about it is that when we’re doing study in the New Testament, which actually you challenged me on the issue of trying to look at the Hebrew gospel of Matthew, was the first time I really ever really had thought deeply about of the possibility of a source, of a Hebrew source beyond the Greek source. When I was in seminary, Greek was like king and Hebrew was an add-on. To think that in the New Testament there were actual manuscripts that were originally in Hebrew. One of those that’s been discussed and argued is that book of Revelation, because of its images and its words…

Nehemia: Even as Hebrew words like “abaddon”, which is avadon, and Armageddon, which is Har Megiddo. So there are literally Hebrew words in Revelation, and many scholars will say that Revelation was based on Hebrew sources. And there are definitely Hebrew images here.

So Revelation chapter 1 verse 8, and of course I’m looking at this as a book written by ancient Jews. My Bible is the Tanakh, the Old Testament, the Hebrew Bible. But it’s interesting to see how ancient Jews understood God. They say, “I am the Alpha and the Omega,” “The beginning and the ending.” Rishon acharon. Exactly what we just saw, “sayeth the Lord: which is and which was and which is to come, the Almighty.”

Keith: He might as well have said, “I am Yehovah.”

Nehemia: He did! No, and think about that. In the Hebrew, you wouldn’t have said, “Sayeth the Lord”, that phrase appears dozens of times, even hundreds of times in the Tanakh. And whenever we see in the English, “Sayeth the Lord”, that’s always either amar Yehovah - says Yehovah, or neum Yehovah - speaks Yehovah, and that in the English and the Greek becomes “Sayeth the Lord.” So basically it’s saying neum Yehovah or amar Yehovah: Hoveh, Haya, Ihiyeh. Those three forms of the Hebrew verb, they’re right here in Revelation, but translated into Greek, and in the Greek it’s, “which is to come”, but that’s just the Greek equivalent of the Hebrew Ihiyeh - He will be. He that is to come. So it’s actually a translation of His name right here in Revelation based on the Hebrew.

And then there are two other passages. The fourth, we’ll look at two others. “Then He said to me, ‘It is done. I am the Alpha and the Omega.’” Now, we’re not the first ones to tell you this, that Alpha and the Omega, those are the first and last letters of the Greek Alphabet. If this was based on a Hebrew source, it probably would have been “I am Aleph and I am Taph.” The beginning and the end, in case you didn’t know what that meant. And then he says, “To the thirsty I will give water as a gift from the spring of the water of life,” that’s right out of Isaiah - we read it last week, about giving the water.

Keith: Amen.

Nehemia: Revelation 22:13, “I am the Alpha and the Omega, the first and the last, the beginning and the end.” So three times in Isaiah, three times in Revelation – we’ve got six witnesses. Yehovah is Harishon, acharon - the first and the last, the Aleph, the Taph.

Keith: Amen. Okay. “The Islands have seen it in fear, the ends of the earth tremble. They approach and come forward, each helps the other and says to his brother Be strong!” I said to you before we were trying to do this, I said to look up Joshua chapter 1 verse 6, Joshua chapter 1 verse 8. He says, “Be strong and be courageous.” We were discussing about whether this is the positive or the negative. You brought up a really good point about that. In context, is this the brothers of the negative or the brothers of the positive?

Nehemia: That’s a really good point. So verse 7 is obviously the bad guys, they’re making idols. Verse 5 is the bad guys. It’s the nations are afraid and they’re being afraid of this man called from the east and they’re coming to battle, so verse 6. Is this a dialogue? Meaning verse 5 is the bad guys, verse 6 the good guys, or is 7 the bad guys? And often that will happen in the prophets, and I imagine, and I don’t know for sure, but I imagine Isaiah standing in the public square when he was proclaiming this, they would have been able to tell from his voice which side is being spoken here. But of course, now that it’s written down we’ve got to understand it from the context the best that we know how. So, “The man saying to his fellow, they will help, and to his brother he will say chazak!” Be strong! So are those then the islands, the enemies of this man called from the east? Or are those the righteous? I don’t know.

Keith: I want to speak to my sisters and my brothers out there who are really, really, really in the process, they’re in, walking they’re wanting to learn they want to understand the language, history and context of Scripture. I want to say to them, chazak!

Nehemia: Chazak.

Keith: Be strong.

Nehemia: Be strong. And even if we don’t take it from this verse, like you said, in Joshua and in Deuteronomy, there’s this image, chazak va’amatz, which means be strong and courageous, and I love in Joshua the passage you read the first time we did this – there, it has two meanings in subsequent verses. In one verse is talking about, “be strong and courageous in battle against the Canaanites,” and a couple verses later it’s being “strong and courageous in keeping the Torah.” Is that powerful?

Keith: … meditate on it day and night, and we’ve been meditating on this all day. And its already night.

Nehemia: And it’s deep into the night.

Keith: And it’s deep into the night. Can we continue now?

Nehemia: Bevakasha.

Keith: Awesome. It says here, “The craftsman encourages the goldsmith, he who smooths with a hammer, spurs on him who strikes the anvil. He says to the welding, ‘it is good’. He nails down the idol so it will not topple.” That image again shows up different times in Scripture. Jeremiah talks about it where people have these idols, and again, the challenge is to realize that they’re idols, that they’re not God, though the people have made them into gods that do not speak, that do not live, not breathe. They’re not real. People set them up, and honestly, there’s many idols that get set up in people’s individual lives.

Nehemia: So this is the point in the passage that he’s saying he’s going to call this one from the east who’s going to defeat the enemies of God, and those people are going to be trusting in their own idols, not in the one true God.

Keith: I’m going to now do what I call, Nehemia, a quick a little break because we are in the midst of some exciting, exciting things. And I’m just going to put this out right now to people that are listening. You challenged us on the tour - I’m talking about the marketplace of ideas. I talked about this before, and I want to lean into this. Each time I’d like you to give me an opportunity to bring people up to date in terms of what we’re doing beyond this. So it’s time for the Ministry Minute, can you just share a little bit about what’s going on with your ministry?

Nehemia: Yes. So my ministry… we each have different ministries, mine is called Makor - M A K O R. Makor Hebrew Foundation, and my website is Nehemiaswall.com, I know it’s confusing for some people. Nehemia’s Wall, that’s not a Facebook wall. That’s the wall that Nehemiah built in biblical times, and it was interesting - I was at the health club not far from your house, and when I first went in there I told them my name is Nehemia, and he said, “What kind of name is that?” And I said it’s like the guy in the bible who built the wall. About a month later I was in there and I walked in and he said to his colleague, “You know, he’s named after the man who built the wall.” And then he said, “Like in that movie World War Z.” [laughing] And I look up the scene, because I don’t remember that movie, and they actually built this wall to keep the zombies out. What a powerful image though. That the enemy is trying to get in and he builds the wall to protect the faithful.

So in my ministry we’re doing a bunch of things. We’ve got the Monthly Q and A that we’re starting. We encourage people sending questions, and won’t be able to answer all them, but we’ll definitely do some kind of teaching on some of these Q and A that we get all the time. Another thing is we’ve got what I call the support team studies - there are some exciting things going on in that. Go to Nehemiaswall.com to find out more.

And one of the really exciting things for me is that my book has been translated, The Hebrew Yeshua Versus The Greek Jesus, and the book we wrote together, A Prayer To Our Father, they’re both translated into Chinese, but The Hebrew Yeshua Versus the Greek Jesus book has been translated, in addition to Chinese, Spanish, a language called Serbo-Croatian – I’m not even sure what that is… and Icelandic. Recently it was translated into Urdu, and a video that goes with it was translated into Romanian, and they’re talking about doing a translation of the book into Russian. And those last three projects - the Romanian, the Urdu and the Russian book are things that we are trying to raise resources for. This is one of the projects we’re doing in the ministry that you’ve got to pay people to print books and publish books and make translations, and I should say like from these translations I don’t make a single penny. But it’s important for me to get this message out.

Keith: Awesome. Awesome. Well, I’d like to take a Ministry Minute. Other than the fact that we’ve canceled Halloween for the second year in a row, BFAInternational.com…

Nehemia: You’re a killjoy!

Keith: So one of the things that I’m very, very excited about, and I want to be really, really clear with people. My goal is to do exactly what our mission is, and the mission is to inspire people around the world to build a biblical foundation for their faith. So the things that I’m working on now through the BFA, Scripture Bytes, which is by the way, Nehemia - you win the award. You win the award for sharing that. So many people responded to your sharing that, it’s available on the front page of BFAInternational.com.

What I really am hoping that people will come in… and there are three levels to the ministry. One: the free. The person just comes, they don’t do anything, they don’t register. Sometimes people make fun of us about registering – “… registration.” But the blessing is there’s a lot of people who come and they see something, they don’t have to do anything. The free members get access to more information. So for example, we have a PDF for the Scripture Bytes, where if you’re a free member you just register, you’re a free member, you can actually get a written PDF that connects with Scripture Bytes, which is a new thing that we’re in the midst of right now. I think it’s week three right now. Ten-part series on the Ten Commandments. Again, Nehemia, thank you so much for that.

But also premium content, and that’s the one that you and I used to say, “What’s this premium content?” Now you understand it. It’s the idea that we’re giving people something, but also they’re helping us to be able to build the foundation for the other things that are to come. We’ve got things right now that are in the queue that it’s just a matter of a little provision and we would be able to do some amazing things. So at least I’m challenging folks to go to BFAInternational.com, see what’s available, certainly no pressure, but if you would choose to step in with us, like I like to say. Rather than a few people doing a lot, if everyone does a little, we can do something great. So that’s my ministry minute. I appreciate that.

Nehemia: And I’ve seen like the costs involved in some of these things, and just the example you said of Scripture Bytes, which has been shared as of this recording, by over 500 people.

Keith: More than that, plus the BFA site, that’s up to 700 people who shared it on social media.

Nehemia: Right. That have shared it. It’s been seen by, I believe something like 40,000 people, which blows my mind, and that’s in a short week. I mean, my Hebrew Yeshua Versus the Greek Jesus video has been seen by like 250,000 people, but that’s in ten years. And yours was seen by 40,000. That’s impressive.

So for those who say, “Well, wait a minute, everything should be free.” The people who criticize you for that, my response to that is first of all, things cost money. And secondly there are literally hundreds of hours of audio, video, and hundreds of pages of books that are free. And if that’s all you want to access, that’s fine. And look, I also get people who say, “Look, I can’t afford your book.” I send it to them for free.

Keith: Oh, we’ve been doing that for... we’ve always done that. And I think people realize that we’ve offered things, but I want to say that every time we do Prophet Pearls let’s take a minute to just share where we’re at, because we’re going to be around the world. There are going to be things going on over the next year that people want to hear about. Make sure that you sign up for Nehemia’s newsletter. They can go to Nehemiaswall.com.

Nehemia: Yep, Nehemiaswall.com. On the right-hand side, sign up for the newsletter, get updates about the new moon which we had just this past Shabbat, and other exciting things.

Keith: And of course, BFAinternational.com. Same thing – it’s always available for you. Let’s move on, Nehemia. We’re already all the way up to, I believe, here we are… We are at 11?

Nehemia: Well, 11 is not part of the section. [laughing]

Keith: No, no. 41, 41.

Nehemia: 41… Yeah. Okay, yeah. 11 is part of this section.

Keith: Thank you. You scared me.

Nehemia: … verse sixteen.

Keith: Yeah, okay. “All who rage against you will surely be ashamed and disgraced, those who oppose you will be as nothing and perish. Though your search for your enemies...” Again, and this is amazing.

Nehemia: Wait. Wait. What happened to verse 8?

Keith: We missed 8. We missed 8.

Nehemia: We’ve got to go to 8.

Keith: “But you, o Israel, my servant, Jacob, whom I have chosen, your descendants of Abraham my friend.”

Nehemia: I mean literally says ohavi - the one I love.

Keith: Yeah, the one I love.

Nehemia: And this is probably why the rabbis, by this principle, they have a juxtaposition - two things next to each other, so the last one was Abraham, even though Abraham is nowhere to be found in the passage. But definitely there is a message here about Abraham. Why is he mentioning Abraham here? What does Abraham have to do with it?

Keith: Well, first of all, we did say this earlier - the reason this section was selected, when we’re talking about the third section, we’re dealing with Abraham, which is Lech Lecha. Yeah, but why is he mentioning Abraham here?

Nehemia: What’s the function of Abraham in this passage? To me it’s pretty clear. Abraham had faith, and Abraham trusted him, and Abraham followed Him even though he didn’t know where he was going. So, this image of Abraham, who I love, is an image of, “Okay, I know you’re afraid,” and that’s what he says in verse 10, “I knew you were afraid. I know you’re worried, but don’t worry - I’m going to take care of you just like I took care of Abraham. I’m going to hold you by the hand like a father holds a child. Trust Me.” And that’s what this is about. And that’s what He says in verse 9. Read verse 9.

Keith: Ok, verse 9: “I took you from the ends of the earth, from its farthest...”

Nehemia: No, I’ve got to stop you. “I took you from the ends of the earth,” is what the NIV has?

Keith: That’s what the NIV says.

Nehemia: The word is hechzakti otcha. Excuse me, hechzakticha, which is from the same word as chazak, but as a verb, in this context, this hif’eel form of the verb. The hif’eel form of the verb means to grab hold.

Keith: Grammar alert, Nehemia, come on!

Nehemia: No, hechzakticha is, “I grab hold of you” from the ends of the earth. That’s why it’s talking about Abraham. Abraham is just like, “I took you from…”, No, Abraham! I’m calling you, “Abraham! Go to the land I will show you.” That’s what’s happening here. And then He says, “And from its far places I called you,” that’s the second half of that phrase in Hebrew. So we’ve got, “I grabbed hold of you and I called you,” and that’s why it’s about Abraham. And it’s even more obvious in Hebrew. I guess in English it’s really confusing.

Keith: “You are my servant. I’ve chosen you and have not rejected you.”

Nehemia: Right. So the servant here, I mean explicitly, is Jacob / Abraham.

Keith: Wow. “So do not fear for I am with you, so do not be dismayed, for I am your God, I will strengthen you and help you.” I love being able to just read Scripture.

Nehemia: I love this verse. Can I read this in Hebrew?

Keith: Please, do that.

Nehemia: Okay, we’re doing this new thing - this bonus where I’m going to read each section in Hebrew and we’re going to put it up on the website.

Keith: And I have to give him a lot of credit. He slows down, he reads it very… no I’m telling you Nehemia, it’s not an easy thing. You do it nice and slow and you read it. People can listen to it. We’re not expecting everyone to be able to understand. Nope, but they’ll pick out a word here and there.

Nehemia: Well, even if they can’t understand it, just feeling it and hearing it the way that the ancient Israelites heard it from the prophet is just so powerful. And I’ll tell you why I love this verse. I mentioned that two years ago I was really in a dark place. And during that dark time, this was a verse that got me through it. This is a verse that I actually memorized. And it’s a long verse. Let me read it: Al tira, ki imacha ani. Do not fear for I am with you. Al tishta ki ani Elohecha. And that literally means don’t look with apprehension, with fear, with worry. Don’t worry, for I am your God. Imatzticha. I have adopted you. Wow. That was really powerful for me. Af azarticha - and I even help you. Af tmachticha - I even hold you up. Biyemin tsidki - with my righteous right hand. And remember, we said righteous in this in this part of Isaiah, according to Professor David Yellen, means salvation. So, “With my right hand, salvation.” Man, this was a verse that got me through a really dark time.

Keith: I’ve got to tell you, Nehemia, when I hear it, it’s rhythmic to me. It’s powerful, it’s poetic. Wow. Folks, make sure that you’re reading a couple of different translations and every once in a while, maybe you’ve got a Key Word Study Bible or a Concordance, see some of those words, pick out those words and get to know those words. In fact, I want to challenge people also to bring questions. When you go to our sites, either of our sites, we’ll have this up and we encourage comments, and some of those comments maybe we can respond to, but other people are reading and other people are listening.

Nehemia: Can I read one comment we got? We talked about how the missionaries have this one position, the counter-missionary has this other position, and each one valiantly wins the debate, depending on who you ask. But I really don’t think that’s the way to find the truth, for me. I think for me we can get so much more out of the common ground. And really, to do that you first… you need to be confident enough in your faith. If you go into it where you are on the defensive - think about apologetics as defense. If you go into it on the defensive, then you’re not going to always get to the truth, because you’ll always be trying to defend yourself.

Keith: Before you read that, again, I want people to notice we’re not making any promises, but over time the reason that I called you, Nehemia, the reason I called you and asked you about Prophet Pearls, was off of a comment that you responded to, and I want people to know we take that seriously.

Nehemia: I didn’t know that.

Keith: Yeah, absolutely. So please go to both sites, make comments. If you get a good one, share it on both sites. So go ahead and read this. This is amazing.

Nehemia: But definitely Nehemiaswall.com. So this was an email I got from a man named Dennis from Chesapeake, Virginia. And he wrote… and this is after he has listened to the original Torah Pearls that we did four years ago and the current Prophet Pearls. He says, “I want you both to know that the original Torah Pearls and Prophet Pearls are so awesome. The focus on the common ground, Torah - uniting together. Focusing on Yehovah. When the day comes we quit trying to convert others to our beliefs and realize that above all else studying Torah, learning how to live by Yehovah’s instruction, it gives new meaning to, ‘You shall know the truth and the truth will set you free.’ The money ball is we do it together. Thank you.” And that really touched my heart when I got that email, and it just encouraged me that this focus on the common ground, rather than, “I need to win my debate, so I’m going to look for the best argument. And then when we’re outside the debate I’ll say something else because like what…”

But when we focus on the common ground, we don’t have to do that; we don’t have to be defensive. We can say, “I’m not afraid you’re going to tear down my faith. I know that you’re going to build up my faith and I hope I’m going to build up your faith because we’re striving towards this common ground of the Word of God, Yehovah.”

Keith: Amen. May it be. Well, it says here, Nehemia, “All who rage against you will surely be ashamed and disgraced, those who oppose you won’t be as nothing and perish. Though you search for your enemies you will not find them.” That would be nice.

Nehemia: Amen.

[laughter]

Keith: They find us. I can tell some stories about that. “Those who wage war against you will be nothing at all. For I am Yehovah your God, who takes hold of your right hand and says to you, ‘Do not fear, I will help you.’”

Nehemia: Wow, I love that image. I actually, if you look in the earlier passage, He says, “I support you, I hold you up, I support you with my righteous right hand or my right hand of salvation,” and if we wanted to get really pedantic and split hairs we could say, “Well wait a minute, in verse 10 He’s holding with His right hand. But in this verse, in verse 13, He’s holding with His left hand because He’s holding our right hand,” and I think you’re kind of missing the point there. God’s going to hold our hand the way a father holds the hand of the child.

And what I love here, is and this is really easy to miss… There’s another thing I got from Professor David Yellen, is that in verses 10 through 16 you have the structure that underlies the Hebrew poetry. You have three prophecies, or three sections of a prophecy, and in each section it has two statements – it has other statements as well, but there are two underlying statements, it’s the thread throughout these verses. It starts off al tira - do not be afraid, and then he says later azarticha - I will help you. And “help” is such a flimsy word. I’m sorry. It’s not what it means. It’s more than help. Help is I’m going to… we use this word in English “save”, but it has all these theological connotations. But if we can use the word “save” without theological connotations, what He’s really saying is, “do not be afraid, I will save you. I’m going to come to your aid.” And then a second time He says this: “Do not be afraid”, in verse 13, “I will save you. I will help you”, and again in verse 14, “Do not be afraid, I will help.”

Keith: Can I challenge you on something?

Nehemia: Bevakasha.

Keith: We use the word theological. What is the meaning of the word theological?

Nehemia: Well, I know what it originally meant - theos is God and ology is knowledge. The knowledge of God. But that’s not what theology means today.

Keith: No, no, no. So we talked about this before - how different terms get taken, they get used and they get turned around, and they also don’t mean what they originally meant. I actually want to start to lean into that a little bit, because what I want to know is, how does God think? What are God’s thoughts? What is God’s… and the Word of God is where we find that, am I right?

So in effect, we’ve always said we stay away from theology. We stay away from theology that’s being used to be pushed on and to change the meaning of Scripture, but we don’t stay away from theology in terms of its original meaning, the idea of God’s thought process. That’s the beautiful thing that I…

Nehemia: Well, you went to seminary. I’m sure you had the class in systematic theology.

Keith: And I hated it. It was the worst theology.

Nehemia: How often did they crack the Bible in systematic theology?

Keith: What are you talking about? The Bible was the book. It’s called Systematic Theology.

Nehemia: No, but the actual Tanakh, or the New Testament – was that ever opened?

Keith: That was the book.

Nehemia: So the book is called Systematic Theology, and what it does is it tries to develop this theological system that’s not about the Bible.

Keith: Many times it doesn’t fit. Many times it doesn’t fit.

Nehemia: Well, because what they do is figure out the system, systematically, and then they look for the verses to support it.

Keith: Yeah, well there’s always a method behind the madness. So let me continue reading. We’re almost done here. It says, “Do not be afraid, o worm Jacob, o little Israel.” And that’s again this sort of… this poetic thing that goes back and forth, makes a statement and then further explains the statement.

Nehemia: Can we talk about this worm and little Israel? So, what’s true today was true 3,000 years ago, 2,700 years ago, when the Assyrians had surrounded Jerusalem and had Hezekiah locked up like a bird in a cage, as the king of Assyria said, so it was this little tiny kingdom, a little tiny kingdom with an invisible God who nobody could see, surrounded by this superpower who had more gods than you could even count, and who were made of gold and silver and decked with fine linens and jewelry. So we were this little nation, and worm is like, the image is kind of obvious, I think, which is the lowliest thing there is. He’s crawling through the mud and He says, “Don’t worry. I know you’re a worm, Jacob, and you’re small, Israel,” ani azarticha, ani azartich. I will help you.

Keith: I Myself.

Nehemia: I Myself. So it’s really powerful. I think about today where Israel is this little country. You go to the United Nations and there are over 200 countries or something like that in the U.N., and there’s this one pariah nation, the nation that’s hated by all the other nations. Why? Because we’re God’s chosen people. And they give other reasons, but the bottom line is we’re God’s chosen people and they hate us and it’s okay. We don’t have to be afraid. He’s standing on our side holding our hand.

Keith: And we don’t know where we’re at in terms of history, and ultimately how it’s all going to work. Whether Israel is operating as biblical Israel all the time, but we know Israel is Israel. People from Israel, the land of Israel, both politically, socially and especially spiritually. That’s where I’ve gotten in trouble, is blessing Israel today and the Israel that was yesterday. Can I say something?

Nehemia: Yeah.

Keith: And the Israel that will come.

Nehemia: So you’re saying you’ve gotten in trouble with the replacement theology people…

Keith: Oh absolutely.

Nehemia: Who say the Church is the new Israel.

Keith: Well, not just that.

Nehemia: What we’ve read throughout the Prophets is, “Israel is Israel”. He’s never going to give up that promise.

Keith: And what’s in Isaiah here, “‘For I myself will help you,’ declares Yehovah, your Redeemer, the Holy One of Israel.” And how many times does Holy One of Israel show up here?

Nehemia: 31 times.

Keith: 31 times.

Nehemia: 25 of those are in Isaiah.

Keith: I’m going to push you, because we’re getting close. We’re actually almost over. “See, I will make you into a threshing sledge, new and sharp, with many teeth.” Got to stop.

Nehemia: Wow.

Keith: So tell us about tell us about what this image is here of this sledge with many teeth.

Nehemia: So in Israel there’s this great place just outside Jerusalem where they’ve got a reconstruction of these ancient agricultural implements, and some of them are actually authentic agricultural implements that were used up until the 20th century before mechanized things got into Israel. So this threshing sledge is something that was still used in the 20th century by primitive farmers in Israel, and it’s a slab of wood, a big rectangular piece of wood, and at the bottom of the wood are these sharp pieces of flint that you stick in the bottom and they’re attached in there, and then you drag that over the threshing floor. And what it does is it crushes the wheat and it separates out the kernel, the grain of the wheat, from the chaff. And then you take what’s called a winnowing fork and you stick it into this big mix of wheat and chaff seed and garbage and you throw it in the air and the wind comes and it blows away the chaff and then the grains that are the good part that you want fall to the ground because they’re heavier. And that’s the image here. He’s saying He’s going to send Israel against the nations like a sharp threshing sledge. A new one with sharp… actually in Hebrew it’s double edged - it’s really sharp. He’s going to thresh them and he’s going to winnow them, and what’s really exciting to me, is after Israel is done with the nations, there’s going to be the seed that’s left over. Not all of the nations will be destroyed, because there will be righteous among the nations and they will be left over afterwards. Hallelujah.

Keith: And may there be a remnant. “But you will rejoice in Yehovah and glory in the Holy One of Israel.” Nehemia, I have to tell you I know that we had to do this twice, but it got better each time. I really want to tell you that - I could talk about the Word of God literally all day. Don’t challenge me.

Nehemia: He’s done it. We’ve done it.

Keith: Folks, I want to tell you we are really going to always try to do our best to stay within an hour, but every once in a while we’re going have to go a little bit over because the Word of God calls for it. Anything else, Nehemia, before I bring closure to this? This has a been an amazing experience, and again more than anything, other than you hearing from us, we want you to crack the Word of God yourself and start studying.

Nehemia: And we want to hear from you.

Keith: We want to hear from you.

Nehemia: Amen.

Keith: So obviously we’re excited. If you’re not going to say anything, here’s what we have to say: so until next week, we pray that you will keep reading, keep listening and keep watching until we meet again. Amen.

Nehemia: Amen.

You have been listening to Prophet Pearls with Nehemia Gordon and Keith Johnson. Thank you for supporting Nehemia Gordon’s Makor Hebrew Foundation. Learn more at NehemiasWall.com.

We hope the above transcript has proven to be a helpful resource in your study. While much effort has been taken to provide you with this transcript, it should be noted that the text has not been reviewed by the speakers and its accuracy cannot be guaranteed. If you would like to support our efforts to transcribe the teachings on NehemiasWall.com, please visit our support page. All donations are tax-deductible (501c3) and help us empower people around the world with the Hebrew sources of their faith!

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  • Kristen says:

    Nehemiah, I’m so thankful for your teachings grateful Yehovah urged you back on air. There’s a very great amount of misinformation being spread by this Hebrew roots movement and I really had a crisis of “what am I doing” before I heard your podcast on Elohim’s true name. I value teachers that back up their work with Hebrew text and my desire has been to understand Hebraic grammar and expression (-those Torah pearls!) to get a greater understanding of scripture! I use your podcasts to teach my kid and husband every Shabbat- and it amazes me how much they’re captivated by the details you guys have together provided. Praise God! Please be encouraged, Yehovah is using you and His work through you is IMPORTANT.

  • Michael Harold says:

    To answer your question – He who will be stirred up from the East – is referring to the Star of the Messiah of David, Revelation 22:16. 2 Peter 1:19, Psalm 84:11, Matthew 2:1-11, Isaiah 10:17. The Star is hitting your body with electromagnetic energy at 670 million miles per hour – the speed of light. It creates your water through osmosis, gives you energy through the food He grows for you, water of Life, which no battery can operate without. It connects with your central nervous system and gives you the ability to move your muscles. He is the Light of Life, Yeshua, the Messiah, the RuachHakadosh, the consuming fire of Yehovah. He will arise from the East as he does every day, only on the day you are referring to He and the children of light will carry out His plan and fulfill His will for all mankind, which is salvation for those who love and receive Him and judgement for those who reject Him. Come to the light of Yehovah Elohim Yeshua Hamashiach, the light of this world. His word will be fulfilled on Earth as it is in Heaven. Amen.

    Love you ministry. Keep up the great work.
    Michael

  • Stephen says:

    Shalom from Liverpool UK. I just read the verse from Revelation 1 in the Ginsberg translation where he writes YeHoVaH with all the vowels points and for Almighty he writes Tzavaot. YHVH Tzavaot. HalleluYAH !

  • shell says:

    I had to listen on another device and couldnt comment then, but i wanted to make a point to come back for this: you are extremely valuable to a lot of people, a lot of us rely on you, and im so glad you did come back then. And, when this wasnt shared in the message, i felt like i should:

    Jer 20: v7. O LORD, thou hast deceived me, and I was deceived: thou art stronger than I, and hast prevailed: I am in derision daily, every one mocketh me.
    v8. For since I spake, I cried out, I cried violence and spoil; because the word of the LORD was made a reproach unto me, and a derision, daily.
    v9. Then I said, I will not make mention of him, nor speak any more in his name. But [his word] was in mine heart as a burning fire shut up in my bones, and I was weary with forbearing, and I could not [stay.]

    I dont know if it was a day or a month or 2 years, but jeremiah did the same thing. God knows what we need, He knows when weve been pushed too far and need to reset. Even when we say “im finished, im done with this, im leaving”, He is our father, and when were ready He welcomes his prodigal children home with open arms and joy

  • Kim McKay says:

    Thank you so much!! Great discussion. I always learn so much. You clarify so much!! Blessings to you both.

  • John Kaye says:

    Baruch Yehovah!!!

  • Louis Korkames says:

    In defense of apologetics (how’s that for redundant?!) I studied apologetics under William Lane Craig for a couple of years. What I appreciated about his style was that it was suitable to be used by anyone of Jewish, Christian, or Muslim faith. It’s focus was to present persuasive arguments for the existence of God our Creator, especially to those whose “rational” minds would not allow them to believe in such a thing. It’s main opponents were atheism and naturalism. Certainly there are those whose apologetic was aimed at defending a particular religion or sect. I never cared for those.
    Then, after all that, it occurred to me that YHVH did not use any fancy or complicated arguments; He simply appeared and spoke to Moses and the children of God, which was sufficient for most of them to believe!

    • Joy S. says:

      I find when I say “it occurred to me” that it was GOD teaching me, and I have to smile because He Just KNOWS our thoughts.

  • Linda Sack says:

    I totally needed this encouragement. I lost my only son recently and it is hard to deal…this was so helpful!

  • Igor says:

    Serbocroatian is a old name for a language which was used in ex Yugoslavia, That country dosent exist anymore, now those two languages are separated and people use Serbian and Croatian language (they practically sound the same) but they are now two separated independent states…for example you had Checoslovakia…they separated snd Now you have Check republic and Slovakia… Anyway, I read your book in Serbian and I really enjoyed.. Thank you 🙂

  • LG says:

    I didn’t know about how the different prophecies were divided until I listened to this episode. I have a BHS Hebrew Bible and in it I can see for myself how the prophecies are divided since the Hebrew manuscripts divide the prophecies into paragraph’s or separate them by “white spaces.” I was excited to see that the DSS also divide up the prophecies at the same places in similar was as do the Masoretic manuscripts 1,000 years latter! This is going to change the way I read the Prophets from now on. I’m going to mark in Bible where these breaks occur.
    YHVH bless you.

  • LOUIS KORKAMES says:

    Great! I appreciate the transcripts, where I can follow along and take time to digest the lessons. Sometimes I save the text or copy it into my e-sword notes. I looked this portion up because a friend is looking for more on Isa 41:10. This is perfect! God bless you!

  • Jimmy Fink says:

    Year after year, I relisten to these teachings. I am praying for Yahshua to return but only when HIS will be done. I’m so glad you came from the dark place because both of you have so much to offer .Blessings and God’s love.

  • Deborah Girdner says:

    “When the female of the scarlet worm species was ready to give birth to her young, she would attach her body to the trunk of a tree, fixing herself so firmly and permanently that she would never leave again. The eggs deposited beneath her body were thus protected until the larvae were hatched and able to enter their own life cycle. As the mother died, the crimson fluid stained her body and the surrounding wood. From the dead bodies of such female scarlet worms, the commercial scarlet dyes of antiquity were extracted. What a picture this gives of Christ, dying on the tree, shedding his precious blood that he might ‘bring many sons unto glory’ (Hbr 2:10)! He died for us, that we might live through him! Psa 22:6 describes such a worm and gives us this picture of Christ. (cf. Isa 1:18)” (Henry Morris. Biblical Basis for Modern Science, Baker Book House, 1985, p. 73)

  • Jeff says:

    I was reading Isaiah 45-66 before this came up. My heart is broken but I hear Yehovah saying to me to be of good courage.

  • Joy Kiddie says:

    Nehemia, I am delighted to hear you mentioning becoming keto-adapted. I am a formerly obese Dietitian (yes, you read that correctly) who reversed my own type 2 diabetes of 10 years and a whole host of other metabolic problems following a low-carb lifestyle and now help others do the same. Tim Noakes is a wonderful resource, as are Phinney and Volek (Art and Science of Low Carbohydrate Eating). Be well!

  • Jodi kutz says:

    I was feeling like I hit the wall and can’t seem to find the strength to press through. Actually praying Dear Father… helps me in my lack of faith. It’s a long lonely journey filled with many disappointment and cruelty… my hope and confidence always giving me courage and strength, a passion for HIS truth keeps me from being consumed by darkness. Your words today pierced through this wall of opposition and filled me with fresh hope! Thank you thank you Shabbat Shalom

  • Shaun Howe says:

    Excellent show as always. Is there somewhere I can find these breaks in the Hebrew texts that seperate the prophecies? It would be very appreciated.

  • yada75 says:

    When you read the story about Noah can you see the pun type inferences to the garment divided by lots?

  • daniel says:

    Shalom, gentlemen! When I hear the verse referring to Him coming from the East, I’m reminded He says that He is the bright and morning star(which comes from the East).

  • Joshua Reyna says:

    That was awesome! I love the details about everything but the Fathers name is off the chain!

  • Shabbat Shalom Mister Gordon,
    I´m listening to the 3rd Episode of Prophet Pearls and heard you speaking about how many translations there are of “The Greek Jesus vs. The Hebrew Yeshua”, but i heard nothing about a German translation. My Question is: Is there a German translation?
    If not, i already started to translate your book into German, but i need some help with integrating the Hebrew with punctuations in the Text, maybe you even know somebody who can print and publish it.
    If yes, please write me back, so I can promote the book and stop translating it 😉
    I appreciate your work.

    May Jehova bless you and keep you,

    Marcel Menard

  • Virgil says:

    Greetings:

    A quick observation, which I wouldn’t mind hearing your thoughts Nehemiah. Abram does not accept the spoils from the King of Sodom, but does accept the … “restitution” … if that’s what it can be called… from the Egyptians.

    Is it because the scenario is different? One the king (of Sodom) is trying to better himself (and I suppose his god) over the King of Salem, where as the King of Egypt was just saying “sorry we did this to you”.

  • shaun says:

    That makes a lot of sense there Nehemia, for these Rabbis, and people who learn the torah actually know to (shema), for Yehovah’s word is the biggest treasure in all the earth which kings search out and have it written on our hearts.

  • Alex Dillon says:

    I love, Love hearing in the Hebrew. I listen over and over and it helps me sleep at night. I’m even beginning to recognize some of the words. Thank you.

  • Carla Newton says:

    I do love you reading the Hebrew. And I agree with Keith you do it nice and slowly so I can follow even though I only know a few words of Hebrew. Thanks you guys for doing these. I learn so much from it.

  • Dan Herman says:

    I just love you two guys together again SO MUCH! It was quite touching to hear Nehemia’s testimony about hitting the proverbial wall. What i dislike SO much in apologetics/anti missionary content is totally absent from the work you two do together. I am so gratefull you went to china to get “rechargable batteries”!! Also, I’m goin out on a limb here, but i declare that to be the best prophet pearls of all time. Thus far. YHVH bless your ministry and all those who are helping it to grow!

    • Just wait, you ain’t heard nothin’ yet!

      • rion clark says:

        On lech lecha when you were talking about the East being Abraham. Reminds me of when Turkey in Syria will have thier back to the great sea and they face the sea to the east. My take on this was the sea to the east is the Caspian sea. With either russian or china troops against them. I have question on a scripiture Gen.6:3 could this verse mean 6,000-6,049 years. 120 jubilees means at least 120 however not 121 jubilees correct? The current year is 6,026 from Gen. 2:7 or year 11,993 from Gen.1:1. So this is Ha’Satan’s scripture YAH CALENDER pope calender Year ADAM breath of life

        GEN.1:1 YEAR 1 9981 B.C.E. (5967)
        GEN.1:5 DAYONE 1000 8981 B.C.E. (4967)
        GEN.1:8 DAYTWO 2000 7981 B.C.E. (3967)
        GEN.1:13 DAYTHREE 3000 6981 B.C.E. (2967)
        GEN.1:19 DAYFOUR 4000 5981 B.C.E. (1967)
        GEN.1:23 DAYFIVE 5000 4981 B.C.E. (967)
        GEN.1:31-2:1 DAYSIX 6000 3981 B.C.E. 33
        GEN.2:2-3 SABBATH 6001 3980 B.C.E. 34
        1ST SABBATH 1ST BLESSED THE 7TH DAY THEN SANCTIFIED THE 7TH DAY FOLLOW ELOHIM’S
        INSTRUCTIONS (MEANS THE TORAH) REST DIRECTIONS OR NOT TO ENTER ELOHIM DAY OF REST
        GEN.2:7 ADAM 5967 4014 B.C.E. 1
        GEN.2:21-25 EVE 5968 4013 B.C.E. 2
        GEN.3:6 SIN 6024 3957 B.C.E. 57
        GEN.3:21 SACRAFICE 6024 BY ELOHIM 3957 B.C.E. 57
        GEN.4:1 CAIN&ABLE 6037 BORN 3944 B.C.E. 70
        GEN.4:8 ABLE DIES 6067 3914 B.C.E. 100
        GEN.4:25 SETH 6097 3884 B.C.E. 130
        GEN.4:26 ENOS 6202 3779 B.C.E. 235
        GEN.5:2 IN THE DAY WHEN THEY WERE CREATED? PROOF DAY IS NOT 24 HOURS
        GEN.5:3 SETH 6097 3884 B.C.E. 130
        GEN.5:5 ADAM DIED 6897 3084 B.C.E. 930
        GEN.5:6 ENOS 6202 3779 B.C.E. 235
        GEN.5:9 CAINAN 6292 3689 B.C.E. 325
        GEN.5:12 MAHALALEEL 6362 3619 B.C.E. 395
        GEN.5:15 JARED 6427 3554 B.C.E. 460
        GEN.5:18 ENOCH 6589 3392 B.C.E. 622
        GEN.5:21 METHUSELAH 6654 3327 B.C.E. 687
        GEN.5:25 LAMECH 6841 3140 B.C.E. 874+56=930
        LAMECH BORN 56 YEARS BEFORE DEATH OF ADAM
        GEN.5:23-24 6954 3027B.C.E. 987-57=930
        ENOCH LIVED 365 YEARS ELOHIM TOOK HIM 57 YEARS AFTER ADAM DIED
        GEN.5:28 7023 2958 B.C.E. 1,056
        NOAH BORN 600 YEAR COVENANT BEGINNING FOR ADAM?
        GEN.5:32 7523 2458 B.C.E. 1,556
        GEN.6:3 MY SPIRIT WILL NOT STRIVE MAN FLESH. 120 JUBILEES=50YRS PER-TIME=6049 YEARS MAX.
        GEN.6:18 COVENANT “I WILL ESTABLISH” WITH NOAH.
        GEN. 7525-8125 2456 B.C.-1856 B.C.E. 1,558-2,158
        SHEM 600 YEAR COVENANT BEGINS SON BORN 2 YRS AFTER FLOOD
        GEN.7:11 7623 2358 B.C.E. 1,656
        THE 600TH YEAR OF NOAH 2ND MONTH 17TH DAY FLOOD BEGAN ENDS ADAMS 600 YR. COVENANT?
        GEN.9:28-29 7973 2008 B.C.E. 2,006
        NOAH DIED 2 YEARS BEFORE ABRAHAM’S BIRTH
        GEN.11:27-12:4 7975 2006 B.C.E. 2,008
        ABRAHAM’S BIRTH 2 YEARS AFTER NOAH DIED. ABRAHAM’S 600 YEAR COVENANT BEGAN ACTS 7:4
        GEN.11:10-32 7525-8050 2456 B.C.-1931 B.C.E. 1,558-2,083
        SHEM-TERAH DIED 205-75=TERAH’S AGE 130 SAME AS ADAM’S WAS 70 THE YEAR ABLE WAS BORN?
        DID ABLE DIE WHEN ADAM WAS 100? FOLLOWING ELOHIM AGE 56 OR 57 OR BOTH? AGE ENDED?
        GEN.11:26-12.4 8050 1931 B.C.E. 2,083
        ELOHIM COVENANT OFFER ACCEPTED ABRAHAM & MOVED

        GEN.14:1-15:21 8061 1920 B.C.E. 2,094
        BEFORE 8061 COVENANT CUT BY MELCHIZEDEK. ALSO THE 400 YR PROPHECY & ALIEN & AFFLICTED
        & THE FORTH GENERATION BETWEEN FATHERS & SONS SHALL COME OUT WITH GREAT SUSTANCE
        GEN.15:13-18 THEN AFTER THE COVENANT VALIDATION THE “SEED” WILL BEGIN THE AMOUNT OF
        YEARS & THE 4 TIMES BETWEEN GENERATIONS PLUS 1 TIME BY THE LAST GENERATION 5X80=400.
        GEN.17:24 8074 1907 B.C.E. 2,107
        ABRAHAM WAS CIRCUMCISED AT AGE 99.
        GEN.21:5 8075 1906 B.C.E. 2,108
        ABRAHAM HAD ISAAC AT AGE 100.
        GEN.22:16-18 8105 1876 B.C.E. 2,138
        SACRIFICE VALIDATION OF COVENANT ACCEPTED BY ELOHIM. EXO.12:39-44 & GAL.3:6-19=430 YEARS
        MATCHES WITH JACOB’S BIRTH 30 YRS. AFTER VALIDATION GEN.12:2-3
        GEN.25:26 8135 1846 B.C.E. 2,168
        JACOB BORN ELOHIM COMPLETES COVENANT “SEED” FOR TIMES DAN.4:=7X80=560 ABRAM-MOSES
        GEN.29:34 8215 1766 B.C.E. 2,248
        LEVI BORN HAD KOHATH WHEN ENTERING EGYPT
        GEN.47:9 8265 1716 B.C.E. 2,298
        JACOB & FAMILY MOVE TO EGYPT FOR 270 YEARS TIME ALWAYS STARTS AT THE BEGINNING
        JACOB 130 YEARS OLD + 270 YEARS EGYPT= 400 YEARS
        EXO. 8265-8402 1716 B.C.-1579 B.C. E. 2,435 MAX.
        KOHATH BORN BY 8265 LATEST LIVED 137 YEARS DIED BY 2,435 LATEST
        EXO. 8365-8498 1616 B.C.-1483 B.C.E. 2,398-2,531
        AMRAM BORN 100 YEARS LATER REASON FOR HIS NAME? LIVED 133 YEARS
        EXO. 8455-8575 1526 B.C. -1406 B.C.E. 2,488-2608
        600 YEAR COVENANT OF ABRAHAM’S BIRTH ENDED AT MOSES DEATH 120 YEARS LATER 2608
        EXO. 8535 1446 B.C.E. 2,568
        EXODUS ALSO START OF 1ST TEMPLE FROM EGYPT 7X80=560 YEARS DAN.4:ALL 7 TIMES
        EXO.16:1 ON THE 15TH DAY OF THE 2ND MONTH AFTER LEAVING EGYPT.
        1KINGS 6:1&37 9015 966 B.C.E. 3,048
        SOLOMONS 2ND TEMPLE 4TH YEAR 2ND MONTH 4X120=480 YEARS 4 PATRIARCHS &1 ½ TIMES
        JERIMIAH 9375 606 B.C.E. 3,408
        MOVED THE CONTINUAL SACIFICE AWAY & THE ARK OF COVENANT @ THE RETREAT OF EGYPT FROM
        NORTHERN ISRAEL 1ST ATTACK. 1,290 YEARS
        DAN.12:11 10,665 685 C.E. 4,698
        THE ABOMINATION THAT DESOLATES SET UP = DOME OF THE ROCK 1,335 YEARS
        DAN.12:12 12,000 2020 C.E. 6,033
        BLESSED IS HE WHO WAITS AND REACHES1,335 DAYS GO ON TO THE END YOU SHALL REST AT
        END OF DAYS 12,001 2021 C.E. 6,034 DONE?
        BEGINNING OF THOUSAND YEAR REIGN
        REV. 12,007 2027 C.E. 6,040
        7 YEARS END TIMES & DAYS
        REV. 12,008 2028 C.E. 6,041
        DAY OF YEHOVAH

        1967 WAS 119TH JUBILEE
        2017 WILL BE THE 120TH JUBILEE
        2020 WILL BIND HA’SATAN FOR 1,000 YEARS FALSE PEACE TREATY 3 ½ YEARS?
        2023 TISHRI NEED TO CALL ON YEHOWAH. UP HOLD THE TORAH 2/3 OR ½ OF ISRAEL WILL DIE?
        WHEN WILL THE 1,300 SACRIFICES OCCUR STARTS WITH DAY ENDS WITH NIGHT? last week.

  • Shelley says:

    As usual, I learned. And that pretty much is my definition of, happy camper. Thank you, to you both…!

  • UKJ says:

    Shalom,

    Isa 42:10 Sing unto the Lord a new song, [and] his praise from the end of the earth, ye that go down to the sea, and all that is therein; the isles, and the inhabitants thereof.

    I do have a question,

    Why a new song? —- Does this imply that the song of Moses is in process of being replaced?

  • UKJ says:

    Incredible, Jehovah be thanked for working out something wonderful through you both.

  • Sekartaji says:

    You are the Original Torah Pearling! Love love love!

  • Miri~ says:

    Powerful exhortation! I found a scrap of paper here in Is 41 in my Tanak dated Dec 2008, with these words written in Hebrew: al tedog, ani azor lach, (my ulpan Hebrew!) Is 41: 10-13. I was like that, Nehemia, just so beat down, I had no physical or mental strength- I was barely walking around- that I really cried out to the Father over & over, WHAT can I do? What in the world am I going to do? What in the world will I do?? That night in my sleep, I heard, IN HEBREW, these words! Another reason that this is so exciting is that it was the first time I had a dream in HEBREW! and sure enough, I did go on, as here I am today and pretty much functioning! bezrat ha shem YHVH. We need to remind ourselves of what YHVH has brought us through, to exhort ourselves and keep going! It’s good to write things down, because we may think we will remember everything, but time passes, and we forget and maybe fall down into a mental hole again, so keep records of the goodness of God! Love and Shabbat shalom from Miri~

  • Janice says:

    Pray for Rabbi Yehuda Glick; May HaShem send a Great and Comple Refuah to him.

  • Mike Leberte says:

    what is the hebrew understanding/ meaning of “islands” ?